Counting the other costs of the pandemic

Society’s basis for fairness and justice

Turbulent days may be ahead – but all is not lost

Encouragement amid the battle for Britain.

Two years ago, I reported that I believed God was telling me to stop praying for the nation, which upset some people. But the reason was because God was shaking everything – and we believed that more shaking was to come. He was going to shake the banks, industries, high street stores, political parties, Government - all the human institutions in which people put their trust. I warned about the danger of praying against the will of God, by praying “Peace, peace” when the Lord was saying “There is no peace”.

Today, everything is being shaken like never before! Our objective remains to pray that the shaking will be effective! But also, I believe God is encouraging us to begin to look beyond the present crisis to the times of blessing and prosperity that will follow if there is repentance and turning right now – which is the object of the great shaking.

The thing I find most encouraging is the enormous amount of prayer in the nation – clear, focused, mature prayer, from Bible-believing Christians.

Truth and Hope

Earlier this week, my wife and I were guests at the Annual Meeting in London of Transform Work UK, an organisation that Monica and I founded nearly 20 years ago. It gave us the opportunity of reminiscing and bringing a word of encouragement to them. We had the joy of listening to reports from Christian leaders in commerce and industry of what God is doing today.

Transform Work UK (TWUK) provides a link and purpose for thousands of praying Christians in their places of work. We spoke of the founding principles that warned against the danger of becoming little groups who just did ‘Sunday Church’ on weekdays. From the beginning, the objective was to get the Gospel into the workplace, to make an impact upon the economy, to make a difference in working conditions, to benefit employees: in short, to establish both biblical truth and biblical ethics in industry and commerce.

The thing I find most encouraging is the enormous amount of prayer in the nation – clear, focused, mature prayer, from Bible-believing Christians.

We reminded them of one of the founding members, Jeff, who worked for the Audit Commission. Jeff couldn’t stop sharing his faith with anyone who would listen and over lunch one day he talked to one of the Board Members about the biblical values of integrity, faithfulness, loyalty and love for one another at the heart of the Gospel. This led to the setting up of ‘Christians in the Audit Commission’ as part of their Human Resources. They were given an office and direct access to the Board and to the Chairman, who said that these were the ethical values that needed to be at the heart of the Audit Commission’s work.

It was thrilling this week to hear reports of regional group leaders (known as ‘Ambassadors’) from around the country and news of the impact Christians are making in industry and many other parts of the workplace today.

We heard from Christians in banking, in the motor industry, in local and national Government, in the railway network and numerous others. One man related how he had just led someone to Christ during his lunch hour.

There is even a praying group in 10 Downing Street, and a young man in Theresa May’s constituency enthusiastically reported how his group prays for her on a daily basis.

Great Need for Prayer

I have no doubt that prayer is playing a major part in the struggle to complete a satisfactory Brexit deal. All discerning Christians have known for a long time that the battle to untangle Britain from the tentacles of the European Union would be long and hard, because it is not simply a political tussle - it is a major spiritual conflict.

At the beginning of the TWUK meeting I gave them a scripture which I believe was a word from God for them. It was “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtain wide, do not hold back; lengthen your chords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and the left” (Isa 54:2).

I did not know that Ros Turner, the leader of TWUK, had based her annual message on Jeremiah 29, where the word of God to the exiles in Babylon was to build houses and plant gardens, to increase in number and not to decrease. The same word also instructed the exiles to pray for Babylon, which must have seemed outrageous to the people of Israel whose land had been overrun by this enemy. But that was part of God’s good plan for their future prosperity.

I believe God is encouraging us to begin to look beyond the present crisis to the times of blessing and prosperity that will follow if there is repentance and turning.

I believe that God is now telling Christians in Britain to pray not only for Brexit, but for Brussels! Yes, pray for Brussels! The EU leaders are incredibly worried about the possibility of Britain leaving without a deal which would have a terrible impact upon the EU economy. Of course, they are holding out to the last minute to try to stop Britain leaving the EU; just as are the secular liberal elites in the Westminster Parliament – by any means necessary. Of course, delaying Brexit or forcing another referendum in the current climate of violence and social media hatred would bring violence onto the streets of British cities and chaos across the nation.

Never has there been a greater need for prayer – focused, targeted prayer - since the days of Dunkirk and the 1940s’ threat of Nazi invasion! Nor has there been a greater need to mobilise the little groups of praying Christians in the workplaces, in homes and churches across the nation!

God Longs to Forgive

The next few weeks is going to be the most important time in the history of Britain since the Second World War. Christian intercessors - alone, in small groups or in large gatherings - could focus their prayers with words from Jeremiah 29, praying specifically for repentance and willingness to seek agreement in Brussels and Westminster.

To my surprise, I believe God is saying that he has not finished with Europe, which used to be the most Christian continent in the world, taking the Gospel to many nations. Despite its gross backsliding, God is longing to forgive and to restore. Britain’s departure from the EU will cause an enormous shaking which could be God’s way of opening eyes that are blind.

Through the mountain of prayer that is ascending to heaven from Britain and all over Europe right now as the nations are gripped with anxiety for the future, God is at work using this situation to work out his good purposes. And if we will allow him, he will guide the decision-making and ensure his good plans will give both a future and a hope to Britain and to Europe.

His word is “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord” (Jer 29:13-14).

A warning sign to the nation.

Carillion’s collapse is not only a disaster for its 43,000 employees but a blow to the whole national economy, with up to 30,000 businesses affected in Carillion’s wider network. Of course, all our politicians have gone into ‘blame game’ mode.

The only MPs who can claim to be guiltless of the policy that led to this Private Finance Initiative (PFI) are those on the far left who opposed this dangerous venture into the state trying to get its public services on the cheap.

The short answer is – it is not possible! There is no such thing as free money.

PFI was an idea generated in John Major’s Government but implemented when Gordon Brown was in charge of the Treasury in Tony Blair’s New Labour Government. So, both our main political parties have egg on their faces for the monstrous folly that has put millions of pounds into the pockets of venture capitalists at the expense of the British taxpayer.

Reckless Debt

At a time when interest rates were high and the Government wished to keep borrowing to a minimum it must have seemed attractive to let private investors put up the capital for big construction projects and to delay purchase of the assets over a period of many years. But buying anything on the ‘never-never’ only delays the pain. We are now told that projects valued at £60 billion are costing the British taxpayer £199 billion.

Both our main political parties have egg on their faces for this monstrous folly

It seems almost beyond belief that our politicians could be so incredibly naive to put our hospitals and schools in the hands of these greedy rogues, who have lined their own pockets at public expense. In simple terms, the Government handed out contracts for the building of hospitals and schools paid for largely by foreign investors, who have leased them back to the Government at exorbitant rates of interest in conditions that make vast profits for the investors.

Even after Carillion had issued ‘profits warnings’ indicating that it was in financial difficulties, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling awarded them a contract on part of the High-Speed Rail (HS2) construction.

Carillion have been in trouble for a long time but instead of following a policy of clearing their debts on each project before moving onto the next, they recklessly increased their debts in a kind of commercial Ponzi scheme, by taking on more contracts to help pay off the interest on earlier commitments. Eventually the point was reached where their debt mountain became so massive, and the profits had all been squirrelled away by greedy management, that it became impossible to pay off the debts and the banks would not lend any more.

Day of Reckoning

This has all the feel of the darker side of capitalism and was probably the kind of operation that Marx had in mind when he said that capitalism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction. I’m not making a case for Marxism, but simply pointing out that there were some things that he got right.

The fundamental weakness of Marxism lies in its dogma of ‘economic determinism’ which sees all human beings as products of their environment. All thought thereby becomes conditioned by matter, because it is a product of matter in motion, which philosophically sets aside the whole notion of human accountability.

It is beyond belief that our politicians put our hospitals and schools in the hands of these greedy rogues, who have lined their own pockets at public expense.

It was this conviction of human accountability to God that was the driving force behind the ministry exercised by the prophets of Israel recorded in the Bible. Listen to this from the Prophet Amos:

You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample on the poor…You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. (Amos 5:10-12)

Amos then goes on to tell the leaders of the nation who are eagerly awaiting the Day of the Lord that it will be a day of darkness not light, because God is a God of truth and justice who holds human beings accountable for their actions.

It is this accountability to a higher authority that is missing in our secular humanist society today. The very existence of these concepts of truth and justice depend upon our recognition of the God of Creation who built these values into the fabric of the universe. When we take God out of the equation we actually destroy the whole structure of society because there are no ultimate values or accountability. Without God we human beings are on our own to make up our own rules that suit our particular needs at the time.

The Underlying Problem

But we live in a moral universe that we ignore at our peril, as the Carillion debacle vividly portrays. The big question now is whether or not our political masters will have the courage not only to take responsibility for clearing up the mess of the disastrous policy of former Governments, but to recognise the reason why the nation is having to bear the huge cost of this folly.

We live in a moral universe that we ignore at our peril.

Will we recognise that by departing from the ‘gold standard’ of the word of God we have brought all this trouble upon ourselves? And will we come humbly before God seeking his ways that lead to blessing and prosperity?

It may be that God has allowed the Carillion economic disaster to come upon us as a warning sign to the nation that all is not well; and that unless we face up to the bigger moral and spiritual problems in the nation we will never get the economy right or solve the nation’s social problems.

Some thoughts about Hurricane Harvey.

The fierce storm with hurricane-force, 120 mph winds that hit the State of Texas in the USA last week has been headline news in the UK as well as in America.

The unprecedented quantity of rain that has been dumped on and around the city of Houston has caused enormous damage and left thousands homeless, triggering a major rescue operation. Amazingly the loss of life has been very small but the damage to property has been colossal.

We would like to express our condolences to all those who have suffered. Texas is known for its Christian population – so what is God saying to his people, especially those in the ‘Bible Belt’ of the USA? Many of the volunteers taking part in rescue operations expressed thanks to God for their own survival as they rescued others, which was a good witness on British TV.

We know that only those who are resident in Texas and who both know their Bibles and are aware of the moral and spiritual condition of their communities are able to know what God is saying through this natural disaster. But as a Brit who has family ties to the US and a genuine love for the country, I would like to offer some thoughts in this editorial.

The 1987 Hurricane

Back in 1987, on 16 October, a mini hurricane hit the south-east coast of England with winds gusting well over 100 mph causing enormous damage to buildings and ripping up some 15 million trees, smashing cars and power lines, blocking roads and rail travel from the south coast to London. It affected the richest area of the UK and for the first time in history the stock exchange in London was unable to open as its workers could not reach the capital.

The storm struck at 4am when hardly anyone was out of doors, so there was a minimum loss of life. But the damage to property was immense, affecting many of the richest houses in Britain, with trees crushing Rolls-Royces and Ferraris. If the storm had struck a few hours later in rush hour, the death toll would have been enormous. Amazingly also, the storm only affected the south-east area of England – 50 miles north of London there was hardly a breath of wind!

Texas is known for its Christian population – so what is God saying to his people through Hurricane Harvey?

We wrote about this at the time in the magazine Prophecy Today, asking if there was any word from the Lord. 48 hours after the hurricane, world stock markets began tumbling and London experienced the worst crash of all with millions of pounds wiped off share values. ‘Hurricane Friday’ was followed by ‘Black Monday’ in the City as winds of panic swept through the world’s financial markets and judgment on the rich nations began.

Hurricane damage, 1987. See Photo Credits.We saw this as the final warning about greed and corruption in the financial affairs of the nations. There had been many other warnings but this one was so specific, confined to property and in the richest area in the UK – its message should have been obvious even to those who never read the Bible.

History shows, however, that the warnings were ignored which eventually led to the great economic upheavals in 2008 when many great financial houses collapsed – and from which the economy has still not recovered.

The Rich in Laodicea

Today the oil-rich state in the richest nation in the world has been hit by a far greater hurricane and storm than the one that hit Britain 30 years ago. Also this week, floods have done enormous damage in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. Is this just coincidence, or is God saying something significant about the financial affairs of the world?

Here is another ‘coincidence’ – in the year AD 17, exactly 2,000 years ago, an enormous earthquake hit Asia Minor (now part of Turkey) destroying the great city of Laodicea, the richest city in the region. It was part of the Roman Empire at that time and Rome offered financial help in rebuilding, but the city elders refused saying that their own resources were perfectly adequate! They were adamant that they had sufficient wealth to meet their own needs and had no need of any help!

We saw the 1987 hurricane in England as the final warning about greed and corruption in the financial affairs of the nation.

40 years later the Apostle Paul, on the road between Antioch and Ephesus, stopped at Laodicea, newly rebuilt with amazing buildings. The people were rich, proud and self-sufficient. Paul planted a church there leaving a man called Epaphras in charge, who also oversaw the nearby congregations in Hierapolis and Colossae.

The three cities were joined by a huge stone aqueduct carrying water from the hot springs of Hierapolis at the top of the mountain to Colossae in the valley.¹ The water would have been lukewarm when it reached Laodicea and when writing his letter to the church in Laodicea the Apostle John charged the Christians with being lukewarm in their faith (Rev 3:16).

The message at that time was, “You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev 3:17). This must have been a devastating message for the Christians in Laodicea who were all living nice comfortable lives very similar to those of their non-Christian neighbours. The message to them was a call for repentance and to recognise the extent to which they had imbibed the values of their rich neighbours, ignoring the plight of the poor down in the valley at Colossae.

Take Note!

I wonder if this is saying anything to our Christian friends in Texas? It is for them to take it before the Lord in their prayer times and it is not for us to judge. But in Britain we know that there is still huge corruption and unrighteousness in the financial affairs of our nation where top businessmen, officials and celebrities are paid vast sums of money while the poor struggle to make ends meet.

This same injustice can be seen on a vast scale on the world scene where two thirds of the world’s population go to bed hungry every night. The rich nations with their control of global monopolies, patents and copyrights wield power over other economies, ensuring that wealth stays concentrated in the hands of the rich and the poor are kept in their place.

In Britain we know that there is still huge corruption and unrighteousness in the financial affairs of our nation.

The God of Creation who holds the nations in his hands as a drop in a bucket (Isa 40:15) scoffs at the nations, according to Psalm 2:4, when they do not realise their feeble situation and attempt to throw off all restraint in their greed and avarice. But to ignore the laws of the God of the Bible who hates injustice and oppression (Jer 7:3-11) is foolhardy and dangerous: it leads to disaster which comes suddenly without further notice when all the warning signs have been ignored.

Christians throughout the rich nations of the West should be taking note of the warning signs of the great storms that hit Texas and the financial centre of India this week. When God gives warning signs they should never be ignored. The message Isaiah received was, “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly in an instant” (Isa 30:12-13).

May the rich nations of the world take note!

References

1 See: Hill, C and Hill, M, 2005. Ephesus to Laodicea. Handsel Press, Edinburgh, p94f.

The economy is unexpectedly buoyant in the wake of the Referendum - were the doom-mongers wrong?

What has happened to all the forecasts of doom and gloom that were heard in the run-up to the Referendum, predicting what would happen if Britain voted to leave the EU? George Osborne, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, even said that he would be forced to bring in an autumn budget with swingeing tax increases.

The Governor of the Bank of England hinted at a collapse of the British economy. The President of the IMF predicted dire consequences and even President Obama said that Britain would be last in the queue for trade deals with the USA. A whole army of world leaders conspired to scare the British people into voting to remain within the European Union.

Well, the British people demonstrated their independence! As an island people we have been used to standing alone. We have faced a hostile world many times in our history and we have not only survived but thrived. So what is happening today?

Certainly the pound has fallen in value which has affected British holidaymakers going overseas (although it has staged a partial revival in the past 24 hours), but apart from that there's been little noticeable change. We have certainly not seen unemployment rising, house prices falling and the economy collapsing.

General Feel of Buoyancy

In fact, unemployment has fallen – at least the number of those claiming unemployment benefits has fallen. Share prices have risen and the market seems buoyant. Retail sales were up by 1.4% in July; house prices continued to rise; lots of tourists came taking advantage of the weaker pound. Even the weather was good through much of August and our Olympic athletes came home with pockets full of gold. So there's been a general feel of buoyancy in the nation and hope for the future. The doom-mongers have been defeated – or so it would seem!

An army of world leaders conspired to scare the British people into voting to remain – have the doom-mongers been defeated?

Most of the nation is slowly going back to work. The children will soon be going back to school. The MPs will be returning to Westminster. The 'silly season' for journalists will soon be over and the real issues in the nation will have to be faced. Of course, before we really get down to business we will have to live through the annual political circus of the 'conference season' and the media moguls can flex their muscles with the entertainment provided by the Corbyn/Smith contest in the Labour Party and the delights of division among their supporters.

No doubt unemployment will fall farther in the next few months as we recruit thousands of new employees into the Civil Service to deal with the complexities of disentangling our legal system from the European Union. We also need to recruit a small army of skilled trade negotiators and lawyers to deal with the trade arrangements and constitutional agreements in everything from leaving the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Market to dealing with immigration and the multitude of foreigners living in Britain and Britons living in Europe.

Time of Unprecedented Change

But what is the real situation in the nation? Apart from all the constitutional and commercial complications, what can be said about Britain's health? No, I'm not talking about the NHS, or the junior doctors' strike and waiting times for operations. I'm concerned about the cultural and spiritual health of the nation in a time of significant upheaval.
What we are facing as a nation is unprecedented. We don't know where we're going or what the future holds and we have never been in such a position before.

During the 20^th Century our fathers and grandfathers reluctantly fought two world wars to preserve our independence, democracy and concept of civilisation. As a nation they did not want to go to war but they saw no alternative. They did not know the future or the outcome but even in the darkest days they had confidence that what they were doing was right and that in the end righteousness would prevail – it was a matter of faith. They believed in the God of the Bible, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and they took a stand upon the conviction that the hardships they were enduring would be justified by the outcome, because God blesses those who take a stand for moral and spiritual righteousness.

During the darkest days of two world wars, the British people did not know the future, but faith carried them through.

Today, the majority of the nation does not share that faith. Only 43.8% of the nation regard themselves as Christian and 48.5% say they are non-believers – they have no faith in any kind of supernatural being – they are alone in the universe.¹

The big question Christians have to face is whether or not the strength of our faith is sufficient to carry the nation. We know that Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah and he was told that if he could find 10 righteous individuals God would spare the city. Jeremiah was told "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find that one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city" (Jer 5:1). So clearly God does not wait for everyone in a city or nation to be righteous before he pours out his blessings.

Blessings for Faith

Is God blessing Britain today through the many thousands of Christians who prayed for a vote to leave the EU? They believed that God wanted Britain to separate from the un-godly and unrighteous institutions of the European Union and to find a new relationship with our European neighbours through which God would demonstrate the blessings of righteousness and faith.

Is the strength of faith left in Britain sufficient to carry us through?

The Prophet Malachi faced a similar situation in Israel when he was told that if the people put their trust in the Lord and behaved in righteousness, God would not only bless them, but use them to evangelise their neighbours. He said, "'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,' says the Lord Almighty. 'Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land, says the Lord Almighty'" (Mal 3:10-12).

If all those who prayed (and voted) for Brexit would now seek to live in right relationships with God and their neighbours, sharing their faith and concentrating their prayers upon seeking God's blessing upon the nation, the promise given to Malachi could become true for Britain. The British people, who have long been a thorn in the flesh of the EU, would then become a blessing to Europe!

References

1 British Social Attitudes survey, published May 2016. See also coverage by The Guardian. The proportion declaring no religion peaked in 2009 at 51% and has since been falling, reports Inspire Magazine.

'Preparing for the Economic Storm: the Church in an Age of Austerity' by Derrick Burns (New Wine Press, 2013, 158 pages, available from Roperpenberthy for £8.99)

This is a well-researched and informative book on an important current topic: the turmoil in national economies that threatens to turn into a global storm. The author provides many relevant facts and figures and a perceptive analysis of those countries most in financial trouble. Helpfully, he states early in his book the key questions he will attempt to answer: what is God doing? How does he use economic storms? How can we prepare for tough times? What kind of church does God require and how can we raise up new leaders?

The author outlines how the Western world has worshipped capitalism and economic prosperity, and boldly declares that such idolatry brings nations down. Already cracks are beginning to form. Unrestrained corporate greed and a short-term gain mentality mean excessive spending will inevitably continue, both individually and nationally. This can only lead to more debt and eventual collapse, though he is cautious as to when and how seriously.

The situations in Greece, Spain and France come under scrutiny, as does the severity of the challenges the United States now faces. The spotlight also falls on the United Kingdom which has forsaken its calling to the gospel and turned its back on God, following materialism and consumerism instead. Consequently, we are heading for the same storms.

The call of this book is for God's people to free ourselves from idols of greed and be ready for the coming storms"

The author recognises this is part of the shaking of the nations as predicted in Hebrews 12:26. In particular, "God is deliberately allowing the economic storms to challenge Western idols built on money, self-centredness and success". (p74) The call is for God's people to free ourselves from these idols now in order to be ready for the storms and to be able to help others who will struggle in these difficult economic times. We must heed the warning signs and shake off complacency before the storms hit.

The book contains many references to historical figures and events as well as key Biblical passages, in particular the fat and lean years in the Joseph account. The aim is to bring prophetic insight and practical wisdom to bear on personal lifestyles as well as on national issues. Indeed, a main strength of the book is the wealth of practical advice for individuals, churches, charities and other organisations, advice designed to create a new focus and flexibility to adapt to changing times. This guidance is important otherwise we might feel helpless in the light of his stern message.

The author stresses the need for the church to be thinking now about what kind of mission we will face in the future and how to father new spiritual leaders for the next generation. Mature Christians must help equip newer believers and build up gifts of prophecy and discernment.

The Church needs to prepare and be ready- not just for changing times, but for new opportunities for the gospel."

The overall message of the book will be an eye-opener for those not aware of how God acts in judgement, but there is also reassurance. God does provide in times of hardship. His Kingdom operates according to a different economy. If we understand the times and what God is doing then there will be great opportunities for the gospel.

Here is an illuminating challenge to prepare for a more difficult future than we might otherwise contemplate. It is a prophetic book in that it analyses the present in clear Biblical terms. Alarm bells should ring but not in an over-alarmist clamour- this is a book to read prayerfully and then share, not shelve.