When 20-year-old Sudesh Amman stabbed two Streatham shoppers with a kitchen knife on Sunday before being shot dead by police, Britain groaned with a heavy sense of déjà vu, remembering the incident at London Bridge in late November when ostensibly ‘de-radicalised’ Usman Khan claimed two lives in a similar attack.
The irresponsible early release of two men posing such an obvious danger to the public exposes serious flaws at all levels of our penal system. But it also points to a deeper problem: that as a society, we lack an ultimate solution to fundamentalist Islam. Just like our mental health crisis, we have containment strategies and coping mechanisms (which function with varying degrees of success), but no solutions.
Culture of Denial
Underneath this political bankruptcy is a moral and spiritual blindness which makes us incapable of grasping reality.
We cannot bring ourselves to acknowledge that the doctrines of Islam might be the problem – and that some belief systems might truly be better (and some might be worse) than others. That would mean we have to face up to some uncomfortable truths: like the objective goodness of our Christian heritage, the supremacy of the Bible, the very existence of right and wrong, the reality of God.
As a culture, we are in such deep denial about God that we also deny the reality of the spiritual realm, which means we cannot recognise the spiritual drivers of jihad for what they are - demonic. We have become hamstrung by irrational political correctness – at the very time when we ought to be on the front foot against a bloodthirsty, ruthless enemy bent on our total destruction.
Cracks in the Wall
Such a situation exposes the vulnerabilities of our proud, self-sufficient, secular culture – cracks in the wall that could mean collapse at any moment (Isa 30:12-14). Meanwhile, the enemy within is also at our gates, with Turkey already beginning the process of repatriating thousands of ex-ISIS fighters in its custody to their home countries.1
At the same time, a tidal wave of problems is sweeping the rest of the world, from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to record-breaking wildfires, from civil wars in the east to culture wars in the west. At the time of writing, the coronavirus outbreak has taken over 600 Chinese lives and infected tens of thousands, spreading to at least 25 other countries.
A locust plague of 'biblical proportions' is devastating East AfricaDevastation of ‘biblical proportions’ is also being caused by record-breaking swarms of locusts destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of crops and pasture land in East Africa, a region already weakened by civil war, droughts, floods and poverty. The invasion could grow up to 500 times bigger by June if not brought under control, threatening a full-blown humanitarian crisis.2 Swarms have also spread through the Middle East to Pakistan, which declared a state of emergency last weekend.3
Underneath our political bankruptcy is a moral and spiritual blindness which makes us incapable of grasping reality.
A Clear Warning
All these things ought to sound together as one clear warning: humanity is not as strong or as safe as we might think. We are vulnerable, within and without. We are not in full control of our lives. In an instant, everything can change – without a warning, everything on which we depend can fall apart.
Even the ‘progress’ of which we are so proud - technological, political, military – has often served only to make our lives more precarious (global connectivity aiding the quick spread of disease, for instance), while our ‘enlightened’ postmodern culture has paralysed us with political correctness and inexcusable naïveté.
But truly, God is allowing the nations to be shaken for this very reason: to cause humans to feel their own weakness; to recognise their need of him, stop trusting in themselves and accept his offer of rescue and security.
Two Responses
There are really only two responses to the plethora of problems we are seeing today: drawing near to God in humble faith and trust, or hardening our hearts in rebellion, as Pharaoh did in response to the plagues meted out upon ancient Egypt.
Many people today recognise that something is deeply wrong with the world, but refuse stubbornly to be humbled by it. Instead, they chart their own course to salvation without reference to the God who made them, his good principles and the undeniable truths he has built into Creation.
Choosing instead to loathe these foundational truths of our existence – gender, family, civilisation, Creation itself – they blame them for the world’s ills and seek to invert and overturn them, leading to anarchy, tyranny and destruction. The radical green movement provides a particularly good example of this - listen here to a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion boasting of their true beliefs and agenda.
Shining Like Stars
But “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isa 40:28). The swarms of locusts are at his command (e.g. Ps 105:34). He alone can protect in times of plague and disaster (e.g. Ps 91). Only he can remove the scales from the eyes of those blinded by deceptive ideologies (Ps 146:8; Luke 4:16-21). And one day, every tongue will confess that he is Lord (Phil 2:10-11).
It is only those who recognise these things and build their lives upon them now, today, who will be able to discern the signs of the times and know how to respond. Only those who have their lives founded upon the Rock of Ages can truly be secure when everything else is shaking.
Such people in this day and age ought to stand out a mile, as much-needed witnesses to those who are afraid and searching for truth: shining among them “like stars in the sky as [we] hold firmly to the word of life” (Phil 2:15).
“You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:14-16)
References
1 See this report from NBC News. A further 90,000 fighters and their dependents are currently being held in Kurdish-run detention centres in Syria, according to the Gatestone Institute.
2 Huge swarms of locusts invade Kenya, Somalia. VOA News, 3 February 2020
3 Pakistan declares national emergency after its worst locust plague in 27 years... Daily Mail, 3 February 2020
