Editorial, Prophecy Today, July/August, 1986
Through the mouths of many witnesses at Carmel the word was given that God is shaking the nations. This shaking has already begun and will gain momentum in the next few years. The shaking began in 1914 with the First World War. By the time that war ended some of the most powerful empires in world history had disappeared. Others were clearly in decline and the entire face of Europe, Russia, the Middle East and North Africa had changed. The Prussian Empire went, the Austria Hungarian Empire went, the dynasty of the Czar that had ruled Russia for more than a thousand years was shattered and replaced by the world's first Marxist regime. The Ottoman Empire that had kept Palestine under Muslim rule for centuries was finally crushed and the way was paved by the Balfour Declaration for the return of the Jews and the eventual establishment of the State of Israel.
The shaking of the nations continued with the traumas of economic recession in the 30s, with the bloodshed and destruction of the Second World War in the 40s, with the rise of nationalism and the independence of many ex-colonial nations in the 50s, with the social libertarian movement throughout the western world in the 60s, with the permissiveness of the 70s and with the rising tide of terrorism and violence of the 80s.
Today, the shaking of the nations is gaining momentum through a series of natural and manmade disasters. There has been a considerable increase of earthquake and volcanic activity in the second half of this century culminating in the destruction of Mexico City – the world's largest urban complex – with the loss of nearly 10,000 lives. The two leading nations of the world have both suffered humiliating reverses to their boasted technology during the first half of this year. The year began with the mid-air disintegration of America's much published space shuttle flight carrying the first civilian into orbit around the earth. This disaster was seen on television by hundreds of millions of viewers in many nations around the world. A second unmanned space shot four months later also ended in disaster.
But still the Americans are pressing on with their space programme of so-called Star Wars research, according to official announcements from the White House. No-one appears to have stopped and asked the question 'ls God saying anything to us concerning this? Does God really want man to set up battle stations around the globe from which to rain down death and destruction upon the cities of the world?'
The hope of the world is that as the shaking continues and men lose confidence in men they will be open to the word of God and turn to him in vast numbers.
The Russians too have suffered a humiliating blow to their technological pride with the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. The radiation cloud leaked into the atmosphere polluted the air for thousands of miles around and caused alarm throughout the nations of Europe. It was not simply a failure of technology that was the cause of embarrassment to the Russian leaders but the secrecy surrounding the whole fiasco and their failure to warn other nations of the dangers of radioactive fallout.
Chernobyl has shown the world the true face of the Russian leaders. It was three weeks before the Russian people were told by their leaders the extent of the disaster, the scale of which was so great that the truth could not be suppressed. Jesus once said, “There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known and brought out into the open” (Luke 8:17). This is certainly true of the Russian regime. Their evil deeds cannot be concealed from the world for ever. News of persecution of both Jewish and Christian believers and the monstrous cruelty inflicted upon any who dare to oppose the authority of the state and Marxist philosophy continue to write the 20th-Century history of Russia in blood.
The Chernobyl disaster is the first major sign of the shaking of the Soviet grip on Russia. Famine and economic breakdown are upon the horizon. They will bring much suffering to the Russian people. We need to pray for them - especially the believers and the persecuted, as the burden of suffering may fall heaviest upon them. But through it all God will work out his purposes to liberate his people and free them from the yoke of tyranny.
There are many signs of the shaking of the nations in Europe as the economic recession continues to bite deep into national resources, as industrial and social unrest continue and violence and moral corruption increase. The assassination earlier this year of the Prime Minister of Sweden, a nation priding itself on its neutrality, plus acts of terrorism and violent outrages that are occurring throughout Europe are shaking the nations, both leaders and people.
This shaking of the nations is really a shaking of man's confidence in man; the shaking of his confidence in his own ability to solve all problems, his confidence in his technology, in his wisdom, cleverness, power and might. The hope of the world is that as the shaking continues and men lose confidence in men they will be open to the word of God and turn to him in vast numbers. This is the repentance of the nations for which God is calling, that men may receive salvation through Christ. This is the gospel that Christians are called upon to proclaim through the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. As Christians respond to the challenge of the times, as witnesses of all that we have seen and heard from the Lord, so the Body of Christ will become a prophetic people.
First published in Prophecy Today, Volume 2(4), July/August 1986. Please also see this report on the 1986 Carmel gathering.