Do not be hasty to point the finger at MPs.

No-one can deny that the nation is in a great crisis. The antics in the House of Commons in the past couple of months have been exposed to the world through television and reports in the British press. It has not been a pretty sight to see all our politicians shouting at each other and no-one listening to anyone else. Passions have been reaching fever pitch, yet no clear majority view has been emerging.

The plain truth is that nobody knows what to do or how to solve the problems that face the nation. Most of our MPs know what they do not like, but they are short on solutions.

The massive majority of the vote to reject Theresa May’s deal brought together people with vastly opposing views; but they were all in agreement on one thing – they did not like what was on offer. Even the Remainers who prefer to stay within the European Union voted against the deal because it would have reduced Britain to the status of having to observe EU rules and regulations without having any say in their formulation.

No Standard of Truth

As we have said many times in these editorials, there are no political solutions to the problems confronting the nation and this is the reason why there is such confusion. Our MPs do not understand the issues, because they have lost the objective standard of truth provided by the biblical foundations of our Judeo-Christian faith that has provided stability and direction for the nation over many centuries.

Without that standard of truth there is no yardstick for measuring different proposals. It allows the propagation of lies and the use of fear to promote proposals that have no basis in truth, such as the fear of leaving the EU with ‘no deal’. It is said that this will collapse the British economy. But less than half of our exports are linked to the European Union and Europe sells us £95 billion more in goods annually than we sell to them!¹ That’s the trade deficit with the EU.

As we have said many times in these editorials, there are no political solutions to the problems confronting the nation and this is the reason why there is such confusion.

It is clearly a pack of lies that our economy will collapse! Once we are free of obligations to the EU, we can do deals with the rest of the world and our economy will flourish if we put our trust in the Lord. But the truth is hidden from the British people by the lies of those who have no trust in God and no understanding of the way he blesses a nation that is founded upon righteousness and the teaching of the word of the Lord.

Lack of Vision

But who is to blame for the fact that our politicians have little or no knowledge of biblical teaching? Why are there so few voices in Parliament championing Judeo-Christian values? And why do only a minority of committed Christians engage in politics?

The simple answer to these questions is that church leaders and preachers do not rightly handle the word of the Lord, so the truth of God’s word does not get embedded in the lives of churchgoers, let alone those who have loose connections with the Church.

This is largely because most preachers lack prophetic vision - they no longer fearlessly declare the word of the Lord in their churches, or prophetically relate biblical teaching to social and national issues. They give nice, cosy little homilies on biblical themes that lack the dynamic thrust of the two-edged sword of the Lord. So, we now have a generation of closet Christians with no mission to transform the nation. If the whole word of the Lord is not heard in church, it will not reach out into the nation.

Silent Church

Let me put a plain question to all those of you who go to church regularly: when was the last time you heard the minister address national issues in the context of the word of God? Do you regularly hear from the pulpit the teaching of the Bible – both the word of God through the Prophets of Israel and the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus and taught by the apostles – expounded and applied, not only to personal and local issues, but also to national issues that our politicians and leaders are having to face?

In your church do you pray for the nation? Do you have intercessions for those in authority (1 Tim 2:2), where you pray for your town council, or your city council, or your Member of Parliament, or the Government, or the Queen?

If the whole word of the Lord is not heard in church, it will not reach out into the nation.

Why is the Church so silent on national issues and so separated from the world in which we all live? When was the last time you heard a sermon unpacking the Bible and applying its truth to current issues? Do you ever hear the preacher explaining the word of the Lord revealed through the Prophets in the Bible – Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel?

When did you last hear the basic teaching of the Torah expounded in your church?

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deut 6:4-7)

This surely shows that responsibility for passing on the faith rests not only with church leaders, but with ordinary believers. Do you impress biblical teaching in your conversation with your children or grandchildren? Do you talk about the word of the Lord at home and when you walk along the street?

We have no right to criticise our Members of Parliament for not knowing biblical truth if we have not rightly handled the word of the Lord in our own family, or among our friends and neighbours.

Reformation Starts with You and Me

Of course, the nation is in a mess; but who is really to blame? In biblical times God always held the preachers and prophets responsible for the nation – as Jeremiah said:

My people do not know the requirements of the Lord…actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely…From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. (Jer 8:7-11)

Can the same charge be levelled at the Church today? Not just the preachers: all of us, to some extent, bear responsibility. Should we not all be weeping before the Lord in repentance? The reformation of the nation does not start in Westminster: it starts in the Church - with you and me.

References

1 Statistics on UK-EU trade. Research Briefing, House of Commons Library, 30 November 2018.