The whole nation has been caught up in a few days of joyous celebration in the past week – recognising the significance of the Platinum Jubilee of our Queen. It was as though everyone breathed a sigh of relief and went partying in an effort to get away from all the sombre news that had been suffocating the nation for many weeks. As the comedian Lee Mack said, the great party at the gates of Buckingham Palace gave a new twist to the word ‘partygate’.

It was right that the nation should recognise the selfless spirit of service and duty with which Queen Elizabeth II has served the nation through the past 70 years. Her sense of loyalty, uprightness and moral integrity was in strong contrast to the events described in Sue Gray’s report of the goings-on in 10 Downing Street under the watch of our Prime Minister. The whole nation has felt a sense of shame as these humiliating scenes have been broadcast to the world.

It was right that the nation should recognise the selfless spirit of service and duty with which Queen Elizabeth II has served the nation through the past 70 years.

God’s hand limiting the turmoil?

But it is highly unjust to load upon one man all the blame for the mess the nation is in today. We all knew at the General Election that Boris Johnson was a man who was easy-going in matters of rules and regulations and even in personal morality. But that was why he was so attractive to many voters who saw him as being “just like us!” The nation gave him the biggest majority any politician has had for decades. Now, driven by a relentless media, the lynch mobs have been having a field day.

Despite the media-generated calls for resignation, a small majority of MPs gave Boris a vote of confidence. This may indicate the hand of God in protecting the nation from chaotic political upheaval at a time when we are about to enter the most catastrophic days in the life of the nation since Dunkirk – which had its anniversary rather overshadowed this year by the Jubilee celebrations.

God’s intervention in the past

Let me take this opportunity of reminiscing on events that I, and a diminishing number, still vividly remember. It was a desperate situation – most of Europe had already fallen under Nazi oppression. France had just surrendered under the rapidly advancing Panzer divisions, leaving the British army stranded on the Continent and desperate to return across the Channel to defend the homeland from inevitable invasion. On 27th May 1940, the German High Command announced: “The British army is encircled, and our troops are proceeding to its annihilation”.

It shows the amazing things that can happen when small numbers are motivated to do great things.

The plight of the nation had been recognised in London and King George VI had called the whole nation to a Day of Prayer on Sunday 26th May. The response was almost universal with churches overwhelmed by the numbers attending. Then three things happened that all appeared to be miraculous:

• A spirit of confusion clouded the German High Command. Irrationally, Hitler ordered his generals to halt the advance towards the West coast of France.
• A storm of extraordinary fury grounded the German Luftwaffe from 28th May for several days allowing the British forces to make their way to Dunkirk.
• A great calm followed which settled over the English Channel with low cloud cover allowing an armada of little boats to ferry the waiting soldiers from the beaches out to the Royal Navy warships and return to Dover. 335,000 men were evacuated from Dunkirk when Churchill had been told to expect only about 30,000 to be rescued.

This amazing feat was due to the response of ordinary citizens risking their lives on behalf of others. It is also a parable of great significance for us today. It shows the amazing things that can happen when small numbers are motivated to do great things.

Challenging times

The great question facing Christians today is whether or not the small Bible believing remnant left in the nation can be mobilised to offer effective leadership in the extremely challenging days that are facing us. Just look at the facts. The economy is facing unprecedented times, with job vacancies outstripping available labour, creating a highly volatile market, and demands for wage increases are soaring, with railway strikes threatened that could cripple the movement of freight at a time when diesel prices are jumping and petrol reaching £2 a litre. With inflation already at almost 10% and household energy bills expected to jump by another 40% by October, despite the windfall tax, millions will not be able to heat their homes. With food prices already rising, we will all be affected by the global food shortage being created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

We are facing an unprecedented time of social upheaval as well as economic severity and food shortages. The challenge to law and order is likely to be increasingly severe, especially with rising levels of violence in the nation. Widespread protests are likely to occur once all these factors coalesce and we may see blood on the streets before the end of this year.

Power in prayer and repentance

But this is what we have been prophesying in Prophecy Today since the 1980s. God has been warning us that these things would happen. We were told that the time was coming when God would shake all the nations and the Bible reveals that God’s weapons are war, plague, and famine. This, of course, does not mean that God actually sends all these things – he does not have to – the wickedness and violence of human nature create the conditions for all these things to happen. But God knows the timing and he is always in control, although he rarely intervenes directly in human history.

God is doing something remarkable in mobilising the small groups of praying Christians in the same way as he energised the small ecclesia in New Testament times, enabling them to stand firm in days of persecution, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to witness to their neighbours and to carry the gospel of salvation to the ends of the Roman Empire.

The Lord alerts those who are listening to him and, despite the institutional churches being at their weakest for centuries at a time of great threat to the whole of humanity, God is doing something remarkable in mobilising the small groups of praying Christians in the same way as he energised the small ecclesia in New Testament times, enabling them to stand firm in days of persecution, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to witness to their neighbours and to carry the gospel of salvation to the ends of the Roman Empire.

This is his intention today and he is reminding his people of the power that is available to each and every believer. In days of crisis there are three ‘Ifs’ in the promises of God. They are:

• IF – you will seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 29:13-14)
• 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. (Jeremiah 18:7-8)
• IF – my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my Face and turn away from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and I WILL HEAL THEIR LAND. (2 Chronicles 7:14)