The spiritual battle for Scotland is raging

What’s the spiritual significance of the Notre Dame fire?

The newspapers have been full of accounts of the blaze that was within half an hour of destroying the whole structure, and several have even mentioned divine intervention to save the building. But has anyone asked the question, “Is God saying anything to France through this fire?”

The inferno at Notre Dame was horrible to watch on television. Certainly, my heart went out to the Parisian crowds standing in silent disbelief, some weeping in the streets, others too numb even to weep. Their iconic monument that symbolised the city and held hundreds of years of history was being destroyed and they were powerless to help. But I could not help wondering if the crowds were mourning the loss of a national place of prayer, or just an historic monument.

When any national disaster takes place, it is always right to seek if God is conveying something important to the nation, which in biblical terms is a ‘sign’. A good example is the way Jesus dealt with a tragedy that had shaken the whole of Jerusalem when the Tower of Siloam collapsed, killing 18 people (Luke 13:4).

I did not hear any of the clergy or political leaders in Paris speaking of the spiritual significance of the fire: if I missed some important statement I will gladly apologise. But the most outstanding comment I heard was President Macron’s determination to rebuild the burnt-out structure and restore the building to its former glory.

Of course this is laudable, but it surely misses the significance of this event which is clearly in the context of God shaking the nations. I believe God is sending a warning shot to France that they are in grave danger of losing the spiritual soul of the nation. They need to see this fire in the context of what is happening to churches all over France, where two church buildings a day are being attacked by various forms of vandalism or arson, reportedly carried out by Muslims who are attempting to wipe out Christianity in France.¹

When any national disaster takes place, it is always right to seek if God is conveying something important to the nation.

The Church Under Attack

Last month, the 800-year-old Basilica of Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb now mainly occupied by Muslim immigrants, was heavily vandalised with considerable damage to the organ and stained-glass windows. The alleged perpetrator, identified by his DNA left on the altar, is currently before the courts. He is said to be a Pakistani immigrant who speaks no French and has only been in the country two months.² This is reported to be his third offence.

A report from the Central Criminal Intelligence Service of the French police, according to Le Figaro, says that between 2016 and 2018 there have been thousands of cases of church vandalism in France, with 1,045 cases in 2017. In 2018, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 541 anti-Semitic acts, 100 anti-Muslim acts and 1,063 anti-Christian acts.³

France is said to have the greatest amount of anti-Semitic activity in Europe, with gangs desecrating Jewish cemeteries and synagogues: but the desecration of churches is outstripping other forms of vandalism. The Catholic hierarchy has kept silent about these episodes, not wishing to give publicity that might encourage copycat action. In any case, the Church has enough trouble on its hands dealing with the revelations of clergy sex abuse and a chronic shortage of priests.

The politicians also don’t want to speak about the anti-Christian attacks: they fear being dubbed Islamophobic by the left, or stirring more anti-immigrant sentiment on the right. They also have enough problems on their hands with the Yellow Vest protests and the rising level of street violence, as anti-establishment populist sentiment grows across France.

The Church has been a stabilising influence in the country for many hundreds of years - until recently, when there has been a catastrophic fall in church attendance. The question now is: will the Notre Dame fire spark a resurgence of faith, a return to prayer and support for the Church, or will the issue quickly be forgotten and the protesters soon be back on the streets?

I believe God is sending a warning shot to France that they are in grave danger of losing the spiritual soul of the nation.

Revolution or Reformation?

France has had its fair share of political upheavals and revolutions, its Joans of Arc and its Napoleons, but it has never had the equivalent of Germany’s Martin Luther or Switzerland’s John Calvin. Perhaps what is most needed in France today is a Protestant Reformation breathe new life into the Church - a resurgence of the 16^th Century Huguenots (who were persecuted and eventually expelled), to bring a fresh Bible-based reformation to restore the soul of the nation.

References

1 Read more at the Gatestone Institute.

2 Pakistani Migrant Faces Trial for Smashing Historic Church Holding Tombs of French Kings. Breitbart, 16 April 2019.

3 Statistics as reported by The Times.

Britain is lost unless Bible-believing Christians speak up.

It is not easy being a Bible-believing Christian in Britain or any of the Western nations today. 30 years ago there were prophecies that Christians would soon be facing persecution. These seemed like wild predictions – such things could never happen in nations with centuries of Christian tradition!

Today, every day there is news of Christians losing their jobs because of taking a stand upon biblical principles, or Christians being taken to law charged with so-called ‘hate’ offences because they’ve quoted the Bible or refused to bake a cake with an LGBTQ+ slogan on it.

For British Christians an increasing problem is discerning between ‘fake news’ and the truth. Our national broadcaster, the BBC, once world-famous for trustworthy reporting founded upon biblical principles of truth and integrity, has been taken over by a consortium of secular humanists, including LGBTQ+ activists and Israel-haters. Their influence can be seen in everything from soaps and entertainment programmes to news broadcasting.

The search for truth is becoming increasingly difficult in an age when we are battered on every side with different media reports that are usually more ideological than factual. Where can we find truth and integrity today?

Today, every day there is news of Christians losing their jobs because of taking a stand upon biblical principles.

Battle Between Good and Evil

Of course, there are plenty of warnings in the Bible such as:

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim 3:1-5)

We all know people like this and we read about them every day in our newspapers and on the internet. But we also know of people from around the world who responded to the call for help to go and rescue boys trapped underground in a Thailand mountain. They willingly risked their own lives - and one of them actually died - in an effort to save the boys. It is an inspiring story of human bravery and self-sacrifice. Clearly there is something of great worth in our human nature that responds to such needs (as our Managing Editor describes in her article this week).

It is these two sides of our human nature, the good and the bad, that are reflected in the national life of both Britain and the USA at the moment. We are witnessing a conflict between the opposing forces of light and darkness.

Nations Torn Asunder

Both nations are being torn asunder by battles over God’s instituted truths - including gender. In the USA there are numerous legal cases being fought over the rights of transgender people to use public toilets or attempts to ban therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction.

In Britain our Government is considering a similar ban and Prime Minister Theresa May last week pledged support for making transgender processes easier. She either doesn’t understand the nature of the battle or she is deliberately forsaking her professed Christian principles for the sake of alleged political gain.

Both Britain and the USA are being torn asunder by battles over God’s instituted truths.

It is small wonder that the British Government is in disarray, the Cabinet torn apart by resignations and disagreement over the proposed Brexit terms to be offered to the EU. Once biblical standards of truth are abandoned, chaos and confusion inevitably follow: everyone makes up their own rules. This is what is happening, not only in Britain, but in all the Western nations, where their biblical heritages are being deliberately challenged.

The fundamental issue is a clash between human beings and God: do we follow our own human rules or do we accept the word of the Lord?

Rejecting the Nature of God

Paul neatly sums up the issue: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Rom 1:18). Paul says that the nature of God has been revealed in Creation and that once we reject the God of Creation we are driven by the destructive powers of darkness. This is why we are beginning a short series of study articles on Creation today, which we hope all our readers find helpful in their search for truth.

The Apostle Paul says that once we stop believing in God we don’t believe nothing, we believe anything! We worship all kinds of images in our idolatry. In Romans 1: 24-31, Paul outlines three stages in the degradation of humanity:

1. Human beings exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship created things rather than the Creator, which leads to engaging in all kinds of sexual impurity.
   
2. The second stage is “exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones” which includes all kinds of homosexual acts.
   
3. The third stage is when God gives human beings over “to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice”
   

I leave our readers to decide which stage we are in but we cannot ignore the fact that Britain and all the Western nations are immersed in an intense spiritual battle for their very souls, which will determine the history of humanity for the next 100 years or more.

Britain and all the Western nations are immersed in an intense spiritual battle for their very souls.

Answer to Prayer

I believe that it was in answer to prayer that God enabled the British people to vote to leave the secular humanist European Union. But the rich and powerful are combining with big businesses in a campaign to try any way they can to force Britain to reverse the decision – thus keeping us under the yoke of Brussels.

There are powerful forces in the media sponsored by big business feeding fake news and lies to the British public in a desperate attempt to keep us shackled to the EU. They say that our economy will collapse, whereas the reverse is more likely to be true! It is the profits and investments of the global conglomerates that may be hit by Brexit, but small businesses will be released from EU rules and regulations that inhibit their growth.
I believe that a time of great prosperity under the blessing of God awaits Britain if we can only shake ourselves free from the European Union.

A Prophetic Voice?

But why do we never hear a prophetic voice from the churches in Britain? Is it because the preachers don’t take the trouble to study what’s going on in the nation, or do they care so little about the word of God that they never apply the Gospel to current events? Why do we not hear the words of Amos thundering from every pulpit in the land, “Let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream!” (Amos 5:24).

Surely it is time for Christians to wake up and recognise the severity of the great spiritual battle that is raging in the heavenlies and on earth as the forces of darkness seek to destroy our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Wake up, Bible-believing Christians! Speak up in the ‘silent’ churches! Come together in small groups to spread these things before the Lord and join the battle for truth before it is too late!