“Yeshua put before them another parable. ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, then went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.’”The servants asked him, “Then do you want us to go and pull them up?” But he said, “No, because if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot some of the wheat at the same time. Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I will tell the reapers to collect the weeds first and tie them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn’”" (Matt 13: 24–30)
Momentous year
1967 was a year of immense contrasts: in America the ‘summer of love’ ushered in the heady mixture of hippie music, hallucinogenic drugs, anti-war sentiment and free love. Martin Luther King was seeing his Christianity-principled civil rights movement reach a pinnacle which would lead to legally recognised racial equality - though it cost him his life. Christianity also saw a bright revival in the middle of the ‘summer of love’, with thousands of hippies turning to Jesus, as illustrated and charted in the recent film ‘The Jesus Revolution’.
At the same time, America and Russia faced each other on the battlefields of Southeast Asia, where North Vietnamese fighters pioneered the modern use of tunnels to revolutionise the battlefield. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the burnt-out carcasses of Egyptian & Syrian tanks and planes were the place markers of the Six-Day War, where Israel - forged in the crucible of the Holocaust - pre-empted the Arab armies who had planned to destroy her and won a shattering victory.
This understanding is brought into greater focus when consideration is given to the growth of the Messianic Church in Israel which in 1967 numbered literally a handful but today numbers 100s of fellowships.
In the process Israel liberated Jerusalem, placing the city under Israeli control for the first time in some 1,830 years, an act that a significant number of scholars interpreted as the biblical ‘end of the times of the Gentiles’. This understanding is brought into greater focus when consideration is given to the growth of the Messianic Church in Israel which in 1967 numbered literally a handful but today numbers 100s of fellowships.
Enter the Fab Four
Meanwhile in Great Britain, the legal revolution (which had begun in the early 1950s with the legalisation of witchcraft) took Britain further away from God with the passing of the Abortion Act and Sexual Offences Act, thereby legalising abortion and homosexuality. The Beatles, seemingly inspired by the ‘summer of love’, released ‘All You Need is Love’, an almost ‘Pauline’ song in its declaration that love is everything.
This followed John Lennon’s assertion a year earlier that, “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus.” This seemed an interesting statement from a man who was busily distancing himself from his boyhood Christian roots. However, the truth contained in Jesus’ words, ‘by their fruits you shall know them’ (Matt 7) was visibly demonstrated as John Lennon withdrew to his gated estates, luxury cars and solitude. A marked contrast to Martin Luther King, who in the spirit of Christ, continued to pour himself out in search of equality.
A marked contrast to Martin Luther King, who in the spirit of Christ, continued to pour himself out in search of equality.
John Lennon’s writing partner, Paul McCartney, was maybe not quite as far down the road, which may have contributed to their split. In 1970 he penned ‘Let It Be’, which contained the lyrics.
“When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be;
And in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me,
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.”
I suspect that Catholics hoped, and John Lennon suspected, that Paul was still influenced by his Christian upbringing and by those values that remain embedded within British consciousness. The ultimate irony was that in 1985’s Live Aid concert, an event utterly grounded in the Christian principle of charity and love to others, as Paul McCartney began to perform ‘Let It Be’, the mic for his vocals failed, and the words were not heard. In fact, he had to go into the studio afterwards and record vocals into the film of the concert.
Unbeneficial forces
Here is the mystery of faith. It seems that with every step Christianity takes, there is an opposing force looking to twist it and apply it to something distinctly unbeneficial. Undoubtedly Martin Luther King’s pursuit of civil rights, building on the Christian foundations of the Great Britain-inspired prohibition of the Slave Trade, was absolutely the right thing. ‘In Christ there is neither Hebrew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female, we are one new man’. Yet it was just two years later, in 1969, that the Stonewall Riots, seemingly spontaneous but actually well prepared, triggered the assertion that homosexuals should benefit from the same equality.
It seems that with every step Christianity takes, there is an opposing force looking to twist it and apply it to something distinctly unbeneficial.
Today, just 50 years on, the same assertion is being championed for the plethora of genders that are apparently in play, and for paedophiles as well. How did we get to where we now stand - where the Western world has demonstrably chosen to consciously pursue the permissible, but unbeneficial, path of free love (and where the Western world is also seeking to imprint its path upon everything and everyone)?
In our universities and colleges, particularly in theological studies, students are precluded from using sources older than 20 years, a self-correcting path of totalitarian thinking that would never be imposed upon Islamic thinking. Nations in the developing world are only granted financial packages if they sign up to modern Western values, with seemingly little regard for the fact that the values being replaced by these modern ones originated in the Christian West. Having said that, it may be precisely because of that.
Defining trends
I find it fascinating that in the fifty-plus years since what we can call the ‘end of the times of the gentiles’, we have seen three significant trends, all of which demonstrate the reality of the ‘wheat and tares’ passage in Matthew:
- Ungodly lifestyles. These include: the rise of casual drug usage (invariably associated with the occult in history); unbridled sexual activity (encompassing every possible flavour); over 10 million abortions in the UK; no-fault divorces (ushering in contract-based marriage).
- The embedding of replacement theology – the belief that the church has replaced Israel.
- The development of higher critical thinking amongst a significant tranche of Christian theologians.
Spirit-filled believers are called to extend God’s love to all and are equally called to choose what is both permissible and beneficial.
Each one of these has served to create what is euphemistically called ‘clear blue water’ between Bible believing, Spirit filled Christians and the world, including those ‘socially acceptable’ Christians who make lifestyle choices. Some commentators speak of litmus tests. The reality is that this could not be further from the truth. Spirit-filled believers are called to extend God’s love to all and are equally called to choose what is both permissible and beneficial.
But extension of love is a world apart from acceptance of that same love. God’s standards are unchanging. Just as God will not short-circuit His Holiness to save His people from inconvenience, He will not change His standards to increase His covenant community. It is not that God's love does not extend to those dabbling in the occult, denying Israel’s centrality in scripture, or reshaping those scriptures to be perceived as socially acceptable. It is that there are people who choose to cling to their preferences rather than obey God’s principles.
The Almighty’s displeasure
An insight into YHWH’s opinion on the idea of seeking social acceptability in church matters may be found in this little episode: Pope Francis signed off the Fiducia Supplicans, allowing the blessing of same sex marriages, on December 18th, 2023. The previous day, the Pope’s birthday, lightning struck the statue of St Peter at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolas in Argentina, the country of Francis’ birth. There were two statues at the church, St Peter and St Paul. Despite the presence of lightning rods around both statues, the halo of St Peter and the keys held in his right hand were destroyed, along with Peter’s hand. St Paul’s statue was untouched.
Some will claim coincidence. But across the aisle, these events will be seen as a clear signal of the Almighty’s displeasure.
Is it coincidence that in the Pope’s home city, on his birthday, and just one day before a phenomenally controversial piece of Catholic practice is signed, the statue of St Peter, from whom each Pope claims succession, has the halo that signifies holiness and the keys that signify access to heaven suddenly destroyed? Some will claim coincidence. But across the aisle, these events will be seen as a clear signal of the Almighty’s displeasure.
My sense is that this is simply another crash on a path that started with the collision of world views that – it would appear to me – first occurred in that most eventful of years: 1967.
Nick Thompson worked extensively in national newspaper marketing teams in the 80s and 90s. He currently lives in North Lincolnshire and works in software development and football. He is a Trustee of Prayer for Israel and a member of the Prophecy Today Editorial Board.
