Clifford Hill comments on the increasingly underhand tactics being used by the Government.

What is happening to our British sense of fairness and honesty? The whole of our relationship with the European Union, from its foundation, has been marred by misinformation and a lack of transparency.

Edward Heath was the Prime Minister who took us into the EU, assuring us that we were only entering a 'trade alliance' - although later admitting that he knew this was not the whole truth.¹

David Cameron toured EU capitals last year trying to negotiate reforms which he said were essential to our remaining in the European Union, but the reforms presented to us lacked clear details. The Government's Remain campaign has, since, been notable for a lack of facts and a surfeit of speculation and scare stories.

Are we now descending into tactics that look extremely like electoral rigging? The Electoral Commission has called on Bristol City Council to scrap an EU referendum 'how-to-vote' guide being sent to postal voters (see below), over claims it favours the Remain campaign.²

If you've received a voting guide like this (with a pencil hovering in the Remain box) please get in touch below! pic.twitter.com/ug1YxMtaiJ

— LEAVE.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) May 30, 2016

Next Issues of Prophecy Today

In this issue of Prophecy Today and over the next two weeks we will try to present some of the issues that are rarely dealt with by our political leaders. Today we are re-publishing an article by the late Viscount Tonypandy (a former Speaker of the House of Commons) which we originally published back in May 1997. In this thought-provoking article he warned about the political consequences of being drawn closer into the European Union.

We are also re-publishing an article by Dr Clifford Denton on the significance of the Coronation Oath, which we believe is also highly relevant to the situation today where closer integration into the European Union would bring about profound changes in our national life.

My major concerns are for the spiritual state of the nation and the future for young people, who (according to the polls) are more likely to vote to stay within the EU. Many of them are listening to Government propaganda saying that their future jobs depend upon Britain being part of the EU. But the reverse is true. It is young people who are suffering most in the Eurozone. More than half of all young people in Spain and Greece are unemployed – long-term unemployed with very little prospects of earning a living wage.

The 2015 figures for youth unemployment in Spain were 49.9%, Greece 49.7%, Croatia 43.6%, and Italy 42.7%.³ The latest figures (April 2016) published by the EU show an increase in youth unemployment in Spain 51.7% and Greece 51.1%.⁴

These figures for youth unemployment are an utter disgrace to the European Union and they should be a warning to Britain's young people. Britain's youth unemployment increased slightly during the past year from 15.7% to 16.1% but Germany, the mastermind and dominant power in Europe, remains with the lowest rate of youth unemployment in the EU at 7.4%. The future prospects of employment for young people are most likely to get worse in the EU because of the commitment to an unworkable single currency policy that tries to force all the national economies into one mould.

Young people are more likely to vote to stay in the EU - but across the Eurozone, it is young people who are suffering most.

An Alliance Not by My Spirit

My concern for the spiritual health of the nation is because it is the major determinant of both physical health and prosperity. This has been amply demonstrated in the history of Britain when even those who were only nominal Christians acknowledged that it was the high level of faith and prayer that enabled us to survive the Battle of Britain, when the nation stood alone against colossal odds across the Channel.

In the history of Israel there are numerous examples of that tiny nation surviving against mighty empires when they put their faith in God. It was the major task of the prophets to steady the nation in challenging times. A good example is when the nation faced the danger of invasion from the mighty Assyrian Empire. Instead of calling the nation to prayer the leaders were planning an alliance with Egypt and they sent a large gift on the backs of donkeys and camels to buy the Egyptians' help (Isa 30:6).

Isaiah was outraged. He said:

Woe to the obstinate children, declares the Lord, to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance but not by my Spirit... Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended upon deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly in an instant. (Isa 30:1, 30:12-13).

His illustration of the wall related to a city wall built of stone in two sections with the centre filled with rubble. This often included the city waste which, in time, rotted and built-up pressure within the wall so an engineer had regularly to inspect the wall for bulges due to the corruption inside. Hence Amos speaks of God setting a 'plumb line' against the city wall to measure its spiritual health (Amos 7:8).

The spiritual health of the nation is the major determinant of both physical health and prosperity.

Isaiah saw so much corruption, lies and deceit, that he feared sudden collapse unless there was a total change in the spiritual health of the nation. He knew that righteousness exalts a nation and brings the blessings of peace and prosperity. He said, "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength" (30:15).

I believe that this is the message that needs to be heard in Britain today. Of course there are many unknowns facing the nation if we decide to leave the European Union, but if we put our trust in God there is no doubt that that he will bless both the health and the prosperity of the nation.

Putting Our Hand into God's Hand

Britain has faced many challenges in the past. Many historians believe 1940 to be the darkest hour in our history when King George VI called the nation to have faith in God. In his 1939 Christmas message he said,

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown". And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way." May that Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.

If only the nation today had this kind of faith, we should have no fear for the future!

References

1 See one of our previous articles, Future Hope or Great Deception?

2 EU Referendum: Row over 'biased' postal vote form. BBC News, 30 May 2016.

3 Unemployment statistics, Eurostat.

4 Ibid.