Coronavirus, nationhood and the spiritual battle over boundaries

Boris’s deal and the prospects for regaining our independence.

What next for beleaguered Britain?

God is about to do mighty things in and through Britain.

The old adage “a week is a long time in politics” is now laughable, as the political scene changes day by day and hour by hour.

A call to believers to battle for the nation.

I don’t often have a sleepless night worrying about the state of the nation. But I did on Wednesday night after watching the chaotic scenes in Parliament that led to the expulsion from the chamber of the leader of the Scottish Nationalist MPs, followed by their mass walkout.

No, I wasn’t worrying about the possibility of another Scottish Referendum and the breakup of the Union, or about the effect upon our parliamentary democracy of the battle between the Lords and the Commons over Brexit. I was worrying about Bible-believing Christians in Britain being no longer involved in the battle for Brexit.

I am convinced that it was praying, Bible-believing Christians who, through their intercession in the days leading up to the historic 2016 Referendum, helped to produce a majority in favour of leaving the European Union. That this was achieved despite the predictions of the pundits and the enormous effort of the establishment, European and world leaders and the mainstream media, all trying to persuade Brits to stay shackled to the EU, is nothing short of miraculous.

But the Referendum battle was only a minor skirmish in comparison with what is happening now, as the Remainers mobilise their forces to reverse the decision and force Britain to stay within the European Union. That is their intention - nothing less - despite all their protests that they are only trying to ensure good trade deals.

My greatest worry is that I sense that many Christians no longer watch the news and follow the developments in the Brexit process because they are tired of it all, or because it’s all so depressing. Yes, it is! But if Christians opt out of the battle the consequences are unbelievably disastrous. The Bible reminds us that "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labour in vain” (Ps 127).

If Christians opt out of the battle the consequences are unbelievably disastrous.

Have Christians Given Up?

Britain’s prospective release from the European Project and its demonic powers offers a wonderfully open future, potentially full of prosperity and new life. But this can only be achieved where there is sufficient faith in God to allow for his guidance and blessing to be influential in our national affairs.

My fear today is that many Christians have given up battling in prayer for Britain. Yes, I know what I wrote a year ago about not simply praying for prosperity, but that did not mean that we should not pray for God to use these times of trouble to bring a spirit of repentance into the nation.

I strongly believe in God’s promise given through Jeremiah: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer 18:7).

I note that Jeremiah kept calling for repentance right up to the time when the Babylonian army surrounded the walls of Jerusalem: he knew that if the people put their trust in the Lord they would have been kept safe from the most powerful army in the world, even at that late hour. God would have done something at the last moment to save his people!

But the huge danger today is that many Bible-believing Christians have grown weary of the battle raging among our political masters. What came to me during my sleepless night was that many Christians do not understand the nature of the battle: it is not just a political battle, or a fight to save our democracy; it is part of a major spiritual conflict over the Judeo-Christian heritage – and future - of Western civilisation.

Many Christians do not understand the spiritual nature of the battle.

Spirit of Lawlessness

I believe we have reached a period in the history of the world where the most incredible spiritual battle is taking place - both in the heavenlies and upon earth - for the future influence of the biblical revelation of truth given through the advent, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It may be that what we are seeing is the release of the ‘man of lawlessness’ to which Paul refers in 2 Thessalonians 2. The spirit of rebellion against God, together with the rapid rise of anti-Semitism and the increase in the persecution of Christians in all parts of the world, are symptoms of the great spiritual battle that is raging in our lifetime.

Button worn this week by demonstrators outside Parliament.

Paul warns believers not to underestimate the spiritual powers of darkness that are involved. He says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).

My fear is that most Christians do not understand the nature of this battle. They “have eyes but do not see…ears but do not hear” (Jer 5:21; also Mark 8:18). But Paul wrote that God’s plan was to use the ‘community of believers’ (the congregation of saints) “to make known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph 3:10)!

Sounding the Call

If I am right in what I believe I am hearing in my quiet times, the world is rapidly moving into a period of incredible turmoil, with Europe and Israel at the centre of the battle. Once the civil war in Syria is over the attention of the Islamic world will turn to Israel and Britain needs to be free of European shackles if we are to respond as we should before God.

The greatest need today is for Bible-believing Christians, not only in Britain, but across the world, to recognise the nature of the battle and to seek the Lord for the right prayer strategy. Then, the forces of light may be mobilised by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring his message of salvation to the nations and overcome the spirit of death that is driving the nations to destruction.

A trumpet call to prayer must be sounded among Christians – and we can all play our part in this.

Cracks in the EU, revolution in Turkey and racial tension in the USA - Clifford Hill looks at what the word of God says about these times.

It is often said among clergy that the most popular song requested for funeral services is Frank Sinatra's 'I did it my way'. The song describes various incidents in life and boasts "I faced it all and I stood tall: and I did it my way".

I think I would be really scared to go to my grave boasting that throughout my life I have done everything my way, but clearly this song strikes a chord with very many people as it epitomises the spirit of the age.

Maybe this is why so many people voted for Brexit – not because they were expressing a desire to be free from secular humanist rules and regulations from Brussels, but because they saw this as a chance to register a protest against all those in authority. It is the desire to be free – to do what we want, to be in charge of our own lives – that's what most people want, not just in Britain, but all over the world. It's very much in evidence in Europe.

Leaving the EU

Britain's decision to leave the European Union has inspired populist movements throughout the Continent. Political parties in no fewer than 18 Eurozone nations are demanding a referendum to decide whether they also can leave the European Union. Austria's highest court has ruled that the recent presidential election must be re-run due to voting irregularities. The Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer only lost by a handful of votes and is very likely to win the re-run. He has declared that one of the first things he will do is to hold an 'in/out' referendum on the EU. There are similar demands from populist parties in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Hungary, and even in Germany.

There is a rising tide of nationalism in Europe

Of course, European leaders are watching these developments with alarm knowing that their Empire building plans for a 'super-state' are being challenged by a rising tide of nationalism in most of the member countries. In Britain political leaders are trying hard to hold things together against a tide of dissent. Conservative Party leaders are closing ranks despite the disappointment of losing the referendum, while the Labour Party is tearing itself apart on a wave of rank and file rebellion against the intellectual idealists who have run the Party for decades.

Trump and ClintonMary Altaffer & Chuck Benton/AP/Press Association Images

But it's not just Europe that is going through a period of increasing instability. The same spirit of rebellion against authority propelled Donald Trump to the top to the disgust and horror of traditional Republicans. But his opponent, Hillary Clinton, is also seen as part of the hated establishment who have run America for many years - so the outcome of the forthcoming Presidential election is by no means certain.

America is teetering on the brink of what the New York Post described as "Civil War", with racial tensions between African-Americans and the white population the highest they have been for 50 years – since the days of the protest movement led by Dr Martin Luther King.

Trump's speech appealed to the angry and the frustrated.

Trump's speech accepting the Presidential nomination was deliberately targeted to appeal to the angry and the frustrated. This indicates that a highly dangerous and toxic campaign lies ahead at a time when community relationships in the USA are at an all-time low due to the number of gun crime incidents – not just the shooting of young black men by the police but multiple murders of innocent people by gunmen using sophisticated weapons that are freely available in the USA. The need for a statesman of exceptional ability to lead the nation has never been greater in America. Yet most unbiased observers can only view the future with anxiety or even alarm for the future of the world in a highly unstable period of history.

Spirit of Rebellion

It was the spirit of rebellion that triggered the Arab Spring and still drives the Civil War in Syria and the tribal war in Iraq. The same spirit of rebellion can be seen in many other parts of the world, the latest being Turkey with its failed coup that is being used by President Erdogan to subdue all resistance to his becoming a national dictator. 50,000 people are said to have been arrested – not merely members of the military who staged the coup – but judges and teachers and journalists and civil servants – anyone suspected of being a hindrance to the absolute power of the President.

By declaring a state of emergency Erdogan already has the power to rule by decree without being subject to Parliament. So democracy, which he claimed to be defending, by calling the people out onto the streets, is now virtually dead in Turkey. The implications of this are unknown for the European Union who have been relying upon Turkey to stem the tidal wave of migration from the Middle East.

So where does God come into all this?

The Word of God

So where does God come into all this? Does the Bible give us any understanding of what is happening today and how we should be praying? Psalm 2 comes directly to the point. It says that the spirit of rebellion among the nations is not just against earthly rulers, it is against God – because he is perceived as the ultimate authority. "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains', they say, and throw off their fetters...."

In the New Testament, Paul's letter to Timothy describes what we're seeing in many parts of the world today. He says "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to parents.... brutal... Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power... In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived" (2 Tim 3:1-5, 3:12-13). Jesus strongly warned about deception, "Watch out that no one deceives you" (Matt 24:4).

Anarchists' Activity

That warning is particularly significant this week because there is a lot of activity among New Agers and occultists as well as anarchists who want to show their defiance of convention. There is the big 'Tomorrowland' heavy-metal festival at Boon in Belgium, a meeting of Satanists in California and the Gay Pride March through the streets of Jerusalem this weekend.

Of course we should not be fearful of these things! We know there are plenty of people who love to dabble in the occult simply to demonstrate their rejection of faith in God, which was no doubt the motive behind the Satanists' ritual at the opening of the Gotthard Tunnel between Switzerland and Italy last month.¹

As Christians we have to be realists and recognise what is happening in the world around us but remember that "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). And the solemn promise of God is "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isa 41:10).

References

1 Hill, C. D-Day for Europe. Prophecy Today, 10 June 2016.

Clifford Hill asks: could Britain be revived to follow God once more?

What will happen next week if Britain votes to leave the European Union? We hear so much about the dire economic consequences of leaving, but very little about the benefits and the prosperity that could follow - if there were a Christian initiative.

Could Britain become a nation under God - and what would this look like?

There is still a statistically significant number of active Christians in Britain and many prayer meetings have been planned over the next week, drawing together thousands of believers fervently calling upon God for his blessing upon the nation. Will their prayers be effective?

What is God Seeking in His People?

God does not rely upon numbers in making his decisions for judgment or blessings. God told Abraham that if he could find just ten righteous persons in Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities would be spared. So what are the things God looks for in his people before pouring out his blessings? It is certainly not large numbers, nor even moral righteousness, although his people are certainly expected to become righteous.

Moses reported to Israel:

The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. (Deut 7:7-9) [emphasis added]

God looks for a particular quality: he primarily looks for people of faith whom he can use in working out his purposes in the world.

Need for Faith

The definitive statement of this mission for Israel is in Isaiah 42:5-9:

This is what the Lord says – he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the Earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

God is a covenant-keeping God who never breaks his promises, but human beings are prone to faithlessness and falling into sin. When this happened with Israel and they cried out to God for forgiveness and help, he willingly forgave them and restored prosperity and blessings to them with a fresh command to do his work in the world – to open eyes that are blind by reflecting God's presence with them.

God is never unfaithful to his people – but when his people are unfaithful to him, he willingly forgives and restores if they return and cry out to him.

That promise was given to Solomon at the dedication of the Temple in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

A similar promise was given to all nations through the Prophet Jeremiah, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned" (18:7-8).

Need for Repentance

What God also looks for is sincere repentance among people who are determined to do something about the moral and spiritual state of the nation; who are prepared to pray in accordance with Isaiah 59:12: "Our offences are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on God...Truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey".

That prayer was offered by the people who were captives in Babylon – they prayed on behalf of the whole nation. God's response was "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever, says the Lord" (Isa 59:21).

This promise could be available for Britain if even a small number of righteous individuals pray in line with the will of God and are determined to put their lives under the direction of his Holy Spirit for transforming the nation.

God is looking for repentant people who are prepared to pray about the moral and spiritual state of their nation.

Need for Action

What is required is not just faith and repentance - we also need to do something about the state of our nation, where the proportion of the population professing a Christian faith continues to decline year on year. "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17).

We are meant to be Christ's ambassadors, through whom God can reveal his nature and purposes and through whom the Holy Spirit can be poured out, as in the days of revival described in this week's article by Clifford Denton, when people's lives were transformed by the Spirit of God.

The result could be a nation under God.

A Radiant Future?

What would such a nation look like? Isaiah 35 gives a picture of such a transformation, when the land blossoms with the glory of the Lord through the presence of his people who are filled with his Spirit and radiating his presence to all around them!

Of course, in taking great steps of faith there are hardships and anxieties, and it does require each believer to be involved. But the Lord urges his people to "strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, be strong, do not fear; your God will come" (Isa 35:3-4).

The details of the blessings that can be expected when a nation puts their trust in the Lord are set out in Deuteronomy 28:3-8:

• "You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country." - Peace and security will cover the whole land.
• "The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock – the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks." - The health of the population and the land will be guaranteed.
• "Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed." - The economy will prosper.
• "You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out." - Borders will be secure.
• "The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated." - There will be protection from terrorism and war.
• "The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to" - The nation will experience great prosperity and blessing in all its endeavours.

Surely this scenario is far better than anything being promised by our political leaders!

There is hope yet!

Over the last two months, high profile arguments for and against the UK remaining in the EU have rarely - if ever – laid out an exciting vision for the future. It is up to those who know the ways of God to set out such vision, considering our history and our future based on the Lord's promises.

As a nation we have reached an important fork in the road. Recently on Prophecy Today UK we have tested some contemporary prophecies that warn us of serious consequences of remaining in the EU. Within those same prophecies is hope for the future, should we decide to come out.

A walk with God into the future, as a nation, is the exciting vision that has been missing from the political campaigns so far. We have walked with him before and we can again - so let us pause and consider our history – and what hope in God might bring for our future.

Looking Back to God's Grace on Britain

1. The Welsh Revival

If, through an outpouring of grace and mercy, Almighty God were to revive our nation, it would not be like the action of some centralised bureaucracy. Each of us would be touched personally by the living God.

The Welsh Revival is well-documented, with records telling us of how God came powerfully to the chapels across Wales in 1904-5. A wave of repentance swept the nation, impacting a generation and saving 100,000 souls. It also triggered awakenings in the rest of Britain and further afield in Scandinavia, North America, Europe and elsewhere.¹

Let me personalise this a little.

My wife's favourite aunt lived in Merthyr Tydfil. Auntie Flor had been the headmistress of the primary school that was destroyed in the Aberfan disaster of October 1966 (thankfully, this happened a few years after she retired). Before this, she had always lived in this mining community of South Wales and knew all about the peaks and troughs of Welsh valley life.

A walk with God into the future, as a nation, is the exciting vision that has been missing from the political campaigns so far.

Her father was a Deacon in the local Baptist Church, and proud she was of her Christian roots. She was a child at the time of the Welsh revival and was proud to have sat under the preaching of Evan Roberts, the 26-year old former collier who led it.

I asked her one day, "What are your best memories of Christianity in Wales?" I can hear her voice in my mind's eye. "Dew", she said in the Welsh way, "After the revival, everyone went to Chapel on Sunday morning except those who were too ill to leave home. You would look out of the window and see a sea of people, all going past our window, down the street, on their way to Chapel."

The many revivals embedded in our history witness to us down through the years, so that a little child called Florence could still testify many decades later to what God had done, holding firm to her faith through all the ups and downs of human experience.

2. The Methodist Revival

Before this, in the 18^th Century, another great revival had swept across our nation. God took hold of John and Charles Wesley and of George Whitfield and demonstrated the power of his Spirit to transform Britain.

The historian JP Green, in his book A Short History of the English People (1874, Macmillan), described Britain prior to the revival in these terms:

The English clergy of the day were the most lifeless in Europe...The greater part of the prominent statesmen of the time were unbelievers in any form of Christianity, and distinguished far by the grossness and immorality of their lives...Purity and fidelity to the marriage vow were sneered out of fashion...The masses of the poor were ignorant and brutal to a degree which is hard to conceive...In the streets of London at one time gin-shops invited every passer-by to get drunk for a penny, or dead drunk for twopence... (p736)

There were almost no schools or religious education, no effective policing, many uncared-for poor people, outbreaks of mob violence and unjust penalties for many crimes. That was the background - but not the main point being made by Green at this point in his book. He went on to say of that time:

In spite however of scenes such as this, England remained at heart religious. In the middle class the old Puritan spirit lived on unchanged, and it was from this class that a religious revival burst forth...which changed after a time the whole tone of English society. The Church was restored to life and activity. Religion carried to the hearts of the people a fresh spirit of moral zeal, while it purified our literature and our manners.

A new philanthropy reformed our prisons, infused clemency and wisdom into our penal laws, abolished the slave trade, and gave the first impulse to popular education. The revival began in a small knot of Oxford students, whose revolt against the religious deadness of their times showed itself in ascetic observances, and enthusiastic devotion, and a methodical regularity of life which gave them the nickname of 'Methodists'.

The sinful nature of Britain before the revival was shameful, but God was gracious and led to repentance multitudes of individuals who came under the power of the Gospel. As a result of this, the nation changed with such continuing momentum that God's grace, despite all, brought us to the second half of the 20^th Century before Britain as a whole began to slide back towards levels of sin comparable with the time before the Methodist Revival.

This tells us that, despite all, there is still hope for our nation – hope fuelled by our records, memory and testimony of what God has done before.

The lasting impact of the Methodist Revival on a sinful Britain tells us that there is still hope for our nation - hope fuelled by testimony of what God has done before.

What Might our Nation Yet Become?

God's grace meets us at point of need. The witness of the Welsh Valleys, ringing with hymns of thanksgiving to the saving grace of the Gospel, brings tears to our eyes even now - a hundred years later. Such is the beauty of God's ministry, in what we term 'revival', meeting the people at their point of need.

Perhaps the need of ordinary families in our nation now is like it was in the Welsh Valleys, but perhaps the conditions in the UK today are more like the days prior to the Methodist Revival. JP Green's description of the days prior to that revival only need a little adapting to describe the days in which we live.

The particular needs of our day are worthy of prayer. We have dwelt much upon the decline of our nation over the years in Prophecy Today, bringing warnings and interpreting the signs of the times, such as Amos might have done for Israel (see Amos 4). Due to our ungodliness, it is as if our wall of protection has been breached, leaving us vulnerable. Yet, might future historians look back and observe (like JP Green did over a century ago) that despite all these things, there was a remnant of faith in the Christian Church that turned to prayer, which God answered?

Could the Gospel once more be preached across the nation leading to repentance, so that laws which displease God will be reversed, literature, art and music purified, the media cleansed, education of children renewed, and all aspects of our society centred on biblical truth?

Will future historians look back and observe that despite the nation's rebellion, there was a remnant of faith in the Church that turned to prayer, which God answered?

The ways in which God promised he would bless Israel if they walked with him as a nation are expressed in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. Dare we believe such promises could come to pass even now, in our own families and in our communities? This week's editorial lays out some of these promises for us to consider before God.

Conditions for Revival

A revived nation will not come about without repentance, the key to which is the preaching of the Gospel. Some of us who have hoped for and prayed for revival over the years, and who have watched the nation decline instead, have sometimes wondered if ours was a false hope. In human thinking it is impossible...but God.

Jeremiah 18:7-8 gives us the promise and the conditions. Jeremiah was at the potter's house, where he was shown that God could re-model a nation just as the potter can re-model a vessel on his wheel.

The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull it down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. [emphasis added]

Anyone who has come under the convicting power of God's Spirit knows that we are not alone – God himself helps us and brings us to the repentance he requires.

Beyond the Referendum

Is it possible to see withdrawal from the EU as the first steps of repentance, helped by God? Can we see beyond the political campaigns? Can we go on to further steps of repentance buoyed up in the prayers of Christians and the proclamation of the Gospel? Will God help us in this?

As our nation declines, in human thinking true revival seems impossible...but God. He will help us, if we are obedient to the conditions he puts before us.

I have no doubt that he will, but we must fulfil any conditions that he puts before us. That is the seriousness of the fork in the road, the decision point, our nation has reached, and the way we walk afterwards, even if we take the decision to leave the EU.

There will be far-reaching consequences, whichever path we take, but there is no doubt about the wonderful things that the Lord will do in our nation if we respond to his invitation. He has helped us before, and can help us again.

References

1 For further information, see the Wikipedia page on the Welsh Revival. You may also be interested in Voices from the Welsh Revival 1904-1905 by Brynmor Pierce Jones. Bryntirion Press, 1995.

Ian Farley reviews 'The World Turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power' by Melanie Phillips (2010, Encounter Books, 408 pages)

This book presents a systematic analysis of Britain's decline of national consciousness. Phillips, an incisive journalist who describes herself as a liberal who "has been mugged by reality",¹ explains that the book arose from a personal sense of "perplexity and cultural disorientation" (p.ix).

This emerged as she recognised that public discourse on certain matters has departed sharply from reality, with fantasy recalibrated as facts and evident truths dismissed. Her book is wide-ranging and full of fascinating analysis with illustrations from recent history and insights drawn from more distant events.

Phillips' argument is that a widespread rejection of the only basis of reason - which she concludes to be Judeo-Christianity (more specifically the Hebrew scriptures) - has led British society on a descent into a kind of mass derangement in which truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and aggressor, are all turned upside-down: "Concepts such as truth and justice have been stood on their heads, with the result that irrationality and perversity are now conspicuous in public life" (p288).

Wholesale Departure from Logic

Phillips, who is of Jewish descent but is non-practising, does not try to persuade people to agree with her. Rather, she aims to explain to herself how we have arrived at this situation, making the case that the departure from logic and reason is because "objectivity has been replaced in large measure by ideology" (p.xi).

Phillips argues that in British public life, "objectivity has been replaced in large measure by ideology".

The reader is forced to make some decisions of principle in reading this book: is Islam in its very nature violent? Is science (contemporary science that is) actually uprooted from reason? Has the British educational system degenerated so much that it can only turn out young adults incapable of objective thought? Is the press simply utterly biased? Has the whole church establishment in England sold out completely to defending Palestinian aggression, violence and implacable hostility to Israel?

These are tricky questions but they are of fundamental importance. Phillips wants to make you think about them and not swallow what may be the predominant narrative in the public domain. She has a host of fascinating quotations from public figures in all areas of life which are then analysed critically and exposed. Animal rights, climate change, environmental concerns and feminism are each put under the spotlight and found wanting. Much of the book is about the loss of objective truth and the emergence of a world that is now simply focussed on 'me'.

The heart of this stimulating and challenging text lies in these two sentences: "The Middle East impasse is the defining issue of our time. It is not an exaggeration to say that the position an individual takes on the conflict between Israel and the Arabs is a near infallible guide to their general view of the world" (p265). Phillips' chapter on the misrepresentation of Israel is especially good – in fact, it is worth purchasing the book for this chapter alone.

Much Food for Thought 

If you are looking for a book on how to vote in the Referendum on Europe, this is probably not it, though there are some trenchant observations on the EU's systematic dismantling of its Christian heritage - as well as the complete failure of the UN to be an impartial force in diplomacy.

Phillips comments: "Moral and cultural relativism and an explicit rejection of Christian ethics...are embedded in the European Union and its transnational institutions such as the European Court of Human Rights" (p340). More broadly, however, the general substance of the book may well prove a relevant contribution to your vote thinking.

Phillips also explores why Britain is at the forefront in the West's irrationality and dislocation of reason from religion. This specific focus is very illuminating, exposing our loss of national identity and the crumbling of the religious beliefs which previously underpinned our moral codes.

Phillips explores why Britain is at the forefront in the West's irrationality and dislocation of reason from religion.

If you have a concern about the state of the nation and the British Church, there is much in this hard-hitting book to give you food for thought. Answers, however, are left to the reader to find.

'The World Turned Upside-Down' is available to purchase from a variety of online retailers, including Amazon for £6.74.

References

1 Beckett, A. The changing face of Melanie Phillips. The Guardian, 7 March 2003.