Prophecy Today’s role has traditionally been to watch what is happening in the nation and on the international scene and give advance warning where we see trouble ahead.
Today we foresee dark clouds ahead, but bright light breaking through the clouds.
We do not have to rely upon the accuracy of polls to know that there is trouble ahead following the General Election. The plain fact is that as a nation we have turned our backs upon the word of God: we have rejected truth, we have spurned all the warning signs and now the great shaking of the nation is about to hit us with unrelenting fury!
What can we expect to see? The Bible has plenty of examples of what happens when a nation rejects God’s moral and spiritual standards of truth. Deuteronomy 28:20 says “The Lord will send on you confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to.” The leaders of our nation will not know how to deal with the shaking of the political system that will affect us all. The social stability of the nation and the economy will be shaken.
What can Christians do? Yes, of course, we must pray for the Lord to exercise mercy in the midst of judgement. But we believe God is calling for action as well as prayer!
Christians are being presented with the greatest opportunity for evangelism we have had for many years. God is calling for the church to be the Prophet to the nation: to be active in bringing help and stability to the nation in a time of turmoil.
God is calling for the church to be the Prophet to the nation.
What can Christians do?
First, we have to explain what has gone wrong. This was always the task of the prophets in biblical times and it is the task of the church today. As a nation we have turned truth upside down, calling good evil and evil good. Isaiah 5:20 says “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”
As a nation we have turned truth upside down, calling good evil and evil good.
We have grossly failed to teach our children right from wrong, so that most of them are sexually active by the time they leave school and there is an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases among young people.
We have undermined and destroyed stable family life. The lives of millions of children have been shattered by family breakdown, which has also caused massive mental health problems (eg depression and suicide among adults) and has had a disastrous effect upon the economy.
Each family breakdown triggers a demand for another house, so we have a housing crisis: and family breakdown causes more people to be supported by the state. The Centre for Social Justice estimates the cost of family breakdown at £44 billion a year1 – a huge drain on the nation’s wealth.
What are Christians doing?
Christians are already active in supporting their local communities through Food Banks, Street Pastors, Mums and Toddlers Groups, Senior Citizens Lunch Groups and in hundreds of other ways. This needs to be increased and used positively to help people to understand what’s gone wrong in their lives and what to do about it. One-to-one sharing of our faith with our neighbours in the community will have a transforming effect.
New Unity
The social situation we are about to face will demand new unity among churches and Christian groups across the country. Fresh vision and action will not only transform local situations but it will transform relationships between churches which will command a blessing from God.
Day of Opportunity
A day of great opportunity lies ahead. God is shaking everything and Christians need to understand what he is doing. Already there is widespread disillusionment among Muslims in the wake of the Islamic State. Reports from Egypt and other parts of North Africa and the Middle East speak of large numbers of Muslims accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Here in Britain many Muslims are turning to Christianity in cities like Leicester where churches are active among them. But the whole population in Britain is going to be shaken by the political and social upheaval on the horizon.
If Christians will rightly respond to what God is saying to us today this could result in a great spiritual awakening and transformation in the nation.
This is a day of good news as the storm clouds approach. We should keep our eyes fixed upon what God is doing – the fields are white for harvest!
References
1 Family Breakdown, Centre for Social Justice
