My editorial last week brought a large number of comments, with some exceptionally penetrating contributions to the discussion. I cannot respond to all of these, although I enjoyed reading them, and I want to thank our contributors and say that we really do read them and take note of what is said.

Confession should always come first, so I want first of all to acknowledge that although I knew the lesbian roots of BLM, I had not investigated the full extent of its commitment to LGBTQ+ objectives such as the destruction of the family and Judeo-Christian roots. So, I agree with those who have said that we cannot walk with them and that Wilberforce would not have done so.

Fatalistic Thinking

The issue that I wish to pick up is the statement that our Judeo-Christian heritage has already been lost, and that it is too late to do anything to shore up either the church or the world; we have just got to sit and wait for the second coming of Jesus. I know that is a characterisation of what was said, but it is a reflection of the thinking in a number of the comments last week.

I just want to say that this kind of fatalistic attitude is quite foreign to the gospel, and it is a betrayal of the Great Commission! I will keep declaring the gospel of salvation in the Name of Jesus to my dying breath. And I will not be silenced by opposition from the world, or scorn from within the Church.

I will keep declaring the gospel of salvation in the name of Jesus to my dying breath.

The Power of the Gospel

Fatalism is a cancer that eats into the body, saps the strength and leads to death. Of course, our Judeo-Christian heritage has not been lost just because the institutional churches are crumbling! The true ecclesia – the Body of Christ – is the Bible-believing remnant that is still alive and well, with small groups of believers meeting for prayer and Bible study despite the pandemic and all the other problems that confront us today.

Certainly, we live in challenging times, but the gospel has not lost its power! God did not give up on the world when they crucified his Son! Instead, he entrusted the gospel of salvation – the good news of God’s good purposes for the human beings whom he created in his own image – to a small group of ordinary people; fishermen like Peter and John; women like Mary and Martha. And they not only stood firm against the appalling cruelty of Rome, but they conquered the greatest empire the world had yet known.

Firm Faith

If ever we cease declaring a gospel of hope for a cruel and debauched world, we have ceased to preach the gospel of Jesus. But ever since God first revealed his word to Abraham there has been a cost involved in holding firm to the faith. As the list in Hebrews 11 shows, men and women of faith overcame all the obstacles an unbelieving world could throw at them – and that kind of faith is still available to us today.

It is never too late to declare the truth to an unbelieving world! Jeremiah was still calling for repentance in Jerusalem when the Babylonian army were outside the walls laying siege to the city – because he knew that if there were repentance among the people, even at that late hour, God could intervene and work a miracle of salvation. That is the kind of faith that we need today. God is calling each one of us to think beyond our own salvation and care for others in a way that we may never have done before – including unbelievers.

It is never too late to declare the truth to an unbelieving world!

It is true that we cannot rely upon church leaders to declare the truth to a godless world. Many of them have already succumbed to the great deceiver. They have compromised the gospel and polluted the institutional churches to such an extent that they no longer deserve the protection of the Lord. God does not give up on the Church, but he does allow leaders to make their own decisions, so we may expect to see the crumbling of these institutions in the not-too-distant future unless there is repentance. But this does not mean the end of the gospel, neither does it mean that God has withdrawn his presence from among his people – the true believers.

Shaking of the Nations

It is more than 40 years ago since I began hearing God’s promise to shake all nations, and the prophecies of Haggai 2 and Hebrews 12 came alive for me as a promise that I would see in my lifetime. It is certainly with us now and the shaking has spread to the Church – Christians are being shaken into fulfilling or complying with God’s purposes. In fact, the churches should have been shaken first! They should have been in the forefront of the changes needed in the nation – playing a pro-active role and not just reacting negatively in the great period of social change through which we have lived. I was never told to stop preaching a gospel of hope: because if we stop preaching a gospel of hope, we will have stopped preaching the gospel of Jesus!

Forty years ago, in our Ministry team, we were told that the shaking would reach such an intensity that people would start crying out, “O God, what has gone wrong?” At that point there would be a new openness to truth. The scales would begin falling away from blind eyes and the opportunity would be there for believers to declare the word of the Lord; and as a result, many would be saved.

I do not believe we have yet reached that point. The shaking of the nations is likely to get much more intensive and believers need to hold fast to their faith. Those who are not part of a small group of intercessors need to know that they are not alone. As Elijah was told, when he thought he was the only one left, that God still had another 7,000 faithful believers, you too can be sure that you are not alone (1 Kings 18:18).

The greatest need today is to mobilise the intercessors to call upon God

Preparation and Mobilisation

God has already taken to the battlefield using his weapons of plague and disease, and we need to understand the nature of the battle and what he is doing. The greatest need today is to mobilise the intercessors to call upon God to fulfil his purposes in shaking the nations. And to strengthen the faithful remnant for the task he has prepared for each one of us.

Today is a day of preparation – for studying the word of the Lord to know God’s purposes and what he requires of his people – of what to say and how to say it when the time is right. Paul reminds us that;

....we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words (1 Cor 2:12-13)

I believe the day will come when God will empower the faithful remnant to reap a harvest among those who are open to the truth before the second coming of Jesus. We all need to be watching and praying – looking for the signs when the fields are ripe for harvest.