The Government's propaganda may put people off, or it may deceive them - just as the nation was deceived in the 1975 EU Referendum.

British people dislike bullies. We have a strong sense of fair play and on big issues we like to weigh the evidence and make up our own minds. We are an island people and we value our independence. We do not like being bullied. This is why the huge pressure being put upon the electorate by the Government and their overseas friends, international leaders, big business corporations and bankers may prove to be counter-productive.

The Government promised to help the undecided by publishing the facts. Instead, they have spent £9 million on a blatant piece of propaganda trying to persuade us to stay in the European Union. The front page title of the booklet gives the game away. It says nothing about a presentation of the facts. Its title is "Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK". It then states "The UK has secured a special status in the reformed EU".

We should surely be entitled to ask, what 'special status'? And in what way is the EU 'reformed'? Are the British people once again being deceived by lies from powerful politicians - as we were 40 years ago?

More Deception?

What is happening today looks very similar to how we were tricked into entered the European Union. Ted Heath, the Prime Minister who did the original deal in 1973, readily admitted before he died that he had lied to Parliament and to the British people because he knew that we were not simply joining a trading group but that the intention was always to work towards the formation of a United States of Europe in which we would all lose our sovereign identity.¹

This fact was deliberately kept hidden from the British public when we voted at the 1975 referendum on whether or not we should stay in the 'European Economic Community' ('Common Market') as it was then described. In those days it was largely a trading group with nine member states, whereas today the EU is a very different beast, with 28 members in a tightly regulated organisation bound by treaties, such as Maastricht and Lisbon, and controlled by an unelected Commission backed by an enormous bureaucracy, with institutions such as the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice exercising enormous power over our own parliament and legal courts.

In 1975, we were asked to vote on whether we should stay in a small trading group of nine countries. Today, the EU is a very different beast.

When the Maastricht Treaty was being negotiated there were attempts by churches to get some reference to the Judaeo-Christian heritage of Europe but this was strongly resisted by secular humanists, who prevailed.² The resultant European Union is not only deliberately a godless - in fact, God-denying - organisation, but it is also systemically corrupt, as demonstrated by the fact that it has not been able to persuade the auditors to endorse its accounts for at least the past five years.³ In this country, if a company were in that situation they would not only be prosecuted but they would not be allowed to continue in business.

Miracles in the Past

So how should Christians decide on such an important issue? We surely have to recognise the moral and spiritual battle for the soul of Britain that is involved in the present referendum debate. Christians need to know what God is saying to us, not least by looking at the recent history of Britain in a biblical context. This enables us to understand the purposes of God and what he requires of a nation with a strong Judaeo-Christian heritage such as Britain's.

There are still many people in the older generation who remember that God worked a miracle at Dunkirk in 1940, saving our army from annihilation and giving us victory in the Battle of Britain in the skies. Even Churchill acknowledged in Parliament that it Dunkirk was a "miracle of deliverance".⁴ Those were days when the whole nation turned to prayer.

It was also at a time of national prayer that Hitler took the irrational decision not to invade Britain. It is now recognised that if the German invasion had taken place in 1940 nothing could have stopped them conquering Britain. Dad's Army would no doubt have fought valiantly but German Panzer tanks would have been rolling down Whitehall within days. 

When a nation puts its destiny in the hands of God it can expect miracles to happen. It has happened in the past and it can happen again today – if there is a sufficiently strong believing remnant in the country.

When a nation puts its destiny in the hands of God it can expect miracles to happen. It has happened in the past and it can happen again today.

Opportunity for the Remnant

Of course we know that as a nation we have spurned our spiritual heritage: we have passed many ungodly laws and we no longer deserve to be called a Christian nation. But there is undoubtedly a strong remnant of believers in the older generation and there are many indications of young people coming to faith in Jesus – possibly in reaction to the mess their unbelieving parents have made of the nation. It is the middle generation who are missing in many churches up and down the country today.

Believing Christians know that as a nation we deserve judgement but we also know the love and mercy of God who has given a solemn promise, "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).

The Referendum debate is bringing believing Christians to prayer throughout the country. Many prayer meetings are organised for this weekend, St George's Day, 23 April, and many more are planned between now and 23 June. These prayer meetings give us a chance to seek the Lord and know what he is saying to the nation so that we can pray in line with God's will and vote accordingly.

Word on the EU, 2015

We have already nailed our colours to the mast in this magazine but we know many Christians who are still undecided. We respect their integrity and we therefore encourage them to join other Christians in prayer where they can spend time spreading the whole issue before the Lord who will surely answer in clarity.

If you have not yet decided which way to vote, we encourage you to join with others in prayer and spread the issue before the Lord.

Alongside this article we are printing a prophecy from David Noakes that has already been widely circulated. I was with him when he received this prophecy towards the end of last year. David and I have been close friends and colleagues since the early days of the old printed magazine, Prophecy Today.

We have shared a platform at hundreds of meetings over the years and I have heard him prophesy many times, but I have never heard him bring a word that is as directional as this. In publishing it today, please understand that we are not saying that this is a direct word from the Lord. We offer it in love and humility to our fellow believers for weighing and testing, and we offer it as part of the process of seeking the word of the Lord for Britain today.

References

1 E.g. Quote from PRO/FCO 30/789, Sub-committee of official committee on monetary aspects of UK entry to EEC, 1970. The Heath Government's positive response: PRO/CAB 164/771, Informal talks with the European Commission and the exchange of views with member countries during the negotiation period, 1970.

2 E.g. Anderson, MJ. Ungodly Ways: The Dark Side of the European Union. CRISIS Magazine, 1 June 2003.

3 Waterfield, B and Dominiczak, P. EU auditors refuse to sign off more than £100billion of its own spending. The Telegraph, 4 November 2014.

4 Speech to the House of Commons, 4 June 1940. Transcript available via The Churchill Society.

This magazine believes that Britain needs to take a step of faith and vote to leave the EU.

The first signs of hope for the future are beginning to creep into the British press as journalists right across the political spectrum dismissed the draft agreement with the EU as a Cameron con-trick designed to keep Britain in the European Union.

After racking up thousands of air miles travelling around European capitals trying to reform the European Treaty, the Prime Minister failed to achieve his primary objective of securing British control over our own borders. He also failed to stop the massive burden upon our welfare system of child benefit payments made to East European migrants working in Britain, sent for the support of their children back home.

Europe Will Not Relinquish Power

The temporary break upon welfare payments to migrant workers is dependent upon Britain proving that the strain upon our economy is unsustainable. But even this is dependent upon Brussels - the EU still retains control of the final decision. There is a hint that Britain might be allowed the right to block any EU laws that are considered detrimental to the best interests of our nation. But again, in this the EU maintains control, as Britain would have to persuade at least 14 EU member states to agree!

In the opinion of this magazine, the European Union is clearly not going to relinquish any of its power to Britain or any other single nation-state, as this would undermine its ultimate objective of total control over Europe through the establishment of a European Super-State.

Ultimate ObjectivePrime Minister David Cameron with President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, Thursday 4 February. Steve Parsons/PA Wire.

This objective of a 'United States of Europe' was there right at the beginning, in the 1972 foundation of the 'European Common Market' which Edward Heath signed in 1973 on behalf of the British people. Before signing, Heath was told by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Kilmuir, that Britain would suffer a loss of sovereignty in three respects:¹

1. Parliament would surrender some of its functions
2. The Crown would lose some of its power
3. Our courts of law would be subordinate to the European Court of Justice

Heath ignored this and deliberately lied to the British public, saying "There is no question of eroding any national sovereignty".² Behind the scenes, however, his government wholeheartedly endorsed the Werner Report which laid out plans for "the ultimate creation of a European federal state".³

Back in 1972, European leaders agreed that there would be a slow motion takeover of national governments. The Treaty of Rome in 1986 followed by the Maastricht Treaty took huge steps towards the formation of an EU Constitution that enforces its laws over all nations within the European Union.

Slowly but surely, the EU has formed a massive unelected bureaucracy that exercises control over member states. The EU is already well on the way to achieving its ultimate objective of forming a European State with its own currency, its own parliament, its own defence programme, space programme, banking system, legal system and Supreme Court - through which it can exercise control over all its member states, in the same way as the Soviet Union exercised totalitarian control over its satellite states.

The EU is well on its way to achieving total control over all its member states – in the same way as the Soviet Union exercised totalitarian control over its satellite states.

For the past eight months our Prime Minister has been touring the capitals of Europe trying to get a deal that he can present to the British people that will persuade us to stay under the control of Brussels. The plain fact is that David Cameron has discovered that the European Union is incapable of reform! It will never surrender its control!

Myth of Economic Ruin

Will our Prime Minister have the courage to admit the truth to the British people? If he does not, in the next five months we can expect to see a deliberate campaign of deception orchestrated by Number 10 of even greater magnitude than was inflicted upon the nation by the Heath Government back in 1973. They will primarily play the 'fear' card – warning Britain's workers that their jobs will be in peril; warning the public that prices of ordinary household goods including food will all go up; warning that our trade will suffer because EU markets will be closed to us.

All this is a pack of lies because Britain pays into the EU far more than we gain! Back in 1972 by joining the European Common Market, Britain was forced to break all its Commonwealth Preference Trade Treaties which had disastrous effects upon the economy of countries such as New Zealand who supplied much of our lamb and butter. We have never apologised to them!

The government may well play the fear card that our economy and quality of life will be in peril if we leave the EU. But all this is a pack of lies.

The British Commonwealth has roughly a third of the world's total population. By leaving the EU we would be able to trade freely with the Commonwealth, without being constricted by the controls exercised over us by Brussels. We would be free from the Common Agricultural Policy which has almost brought our dairy farmers to bankruptcy, as well as the disastrous Fisheries Policy which has oppressed our fishermen and given away our rights to fish in our own waters.

By exiting we would be freed from the immense burden upon our economy of paying billions of pounds into the EU to support a corrupt oppressive system run by unelected officials, who every year fail to get a clean audit report on their accounts.⁴

Step of Faith Required

If David Cameron does go ahead and allow the British people to choose their own future in June 2016 the question then would be: will the public have the courage to take a great step of faith and choose freedom, or will they voluntarily choose to be enslaved by a corrupt totalitarian system?

This is where faith really matters! If we were truly a God-fearing nation prepared to put our trust in the Lord, we would have no fear in going forward under our own traditional British constitution, which has defined the relationship between Government and people for 800 years (since the signing of Magna Carta) and which is reaffirmed in our national Coronation Oath.

If we were truly a God-fearing nation, we would have no fear in stepping out on our own.

If we were a God-fearing people, we could draw comfort and strength from the record in the Bible of God's dealing with his covenant people Israel and his promises that apply to all nations. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promised: "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).

Are We Prepared to Lead the Way?

Bible-believing Christians know that God has been warning Britain for a long time that we have been allowing secular humanist politicians to pass legislation that is offensive to God, driving the nation towards the breakdown of family life with disastrous social consequences.

Through hardships of storm and flood and economic austerity, God has been warning us that as a nation we are heading for unimaginable disaster! But in his mercy, we are now being offered an opportunity to shake off the atheistic secular controls of Brussels and put our trust in God. If we are prepared to take a step of faith by leaving the European Union and repenting for the past, God will undoubtedly bless the nation.

The Church should be leading the way in this by public repentance for our share of responsibility for the godless state of the nation - and by proclaiming our confidence in the Lord that if we turn to him, he will undoubtedly bless the nation with prosperity and the healing of our social divisions and broken relationships - bringing love and joy and faithfulness into family life.

We are being given an opportunity to shake off the secular controls of Brussels and put our trust in God. Will we take a step of faith – and will the Church lead the way?

The forthcoming referendum gives the nation the opportunity to choose our future in the same way as Joshua presented a choice to the people of Israel to choose to live under the slavery of men or under the blessing of God. He said, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household we will serve the Lord" (Josh 24:15).

References

1 PRO/FO 371/150369, EEC Relations with UK, 1960.

2 White Paper, 1971.

3 Quote from PRO/FCO 30/789, Sub-committee of official committee on monetary aspects of UK entry to EEC, 1970. The Heath Government's positive response: PRO/CAB 164/771, Informal talks with the European Commission and the exchange of views with member countries during the negotiation period, 1970.

4 Waterfield, B and Dominiczak, P. EU auditors refuse to sign off more than £100billion of its own spending. The Telegraph, 4 November 2014.