God is working his purposes out.

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking to a packed fringe meeting at the Church of England Synod in Westminster. There were a number of bishops and clergy of all ranks and the general atmosphere was one of deep concern for the state of the nation. The meeting was in Church House alongside Westminster Abbey and I think we were all aware of events across the road, where our politicians are struggling with seemingly intractable problems.

If any of those attending the meeting came expecting, or even hoping for, easy answers or joyful tidings, I’m afraid they would have gone away disappointed. The primary message I had to give was that God holds the Church responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation. I had been asked to speak about my latest book, ‘The Reshaping of Britain: Church and State since the 1960s’. I spoke about the last four Archbishops of Canterbury who I’ve known and worked alongside; and I spoke about the lack of a prophetic voice from the Church giving leadership to the nation in a time of revolutionary social, economic and political change.

It was not a comfortable message and in the short time of discussion it was clear that there are no easy answers to the situation. How do you bring creative, biblically-based change into an organisation as massive as the Church of England? I was only able to repeat what I’ve said so many times that there will be no revival in the nation until there is repentance in the Church. Of course, this is no easy message for those who are dealing with a multitude of pastoral problems in their congregations.

Right Understanding

One of the clergy asked, “Should we be encouraging young people in our churches to go into politics?” I know it is a very lonely and difficult place for Christians in the House of Commons at present. If there were a significant number of those who uphold biblical values and whose trust is in God, it would undoubtedly change the dynamics of politics and that should be a future hope and objective for all church leaders.

But I think it would take away a lot of our fear about the present political mess in the nation and our vast array of social problems if we simply understood what is going on. This means discerning the difference between the social engineering that has been driving the nation for the past 40 or 50 years generated by secular humanist advocates, and what is divine activity initiated by God.

It would take away a lot of our fear about the present political mess in the nation and our vast array of social problems if we simply understood what is going on.

Most Christians do not think in these terms because we do not rightly handle the whole word of God. We concentrate upon the Gospels and Epistles, but neglect to study the biblical Prophets, whom God used to reveal his nature and purposes to humanity in preparation for the coming of Messiah. Without a thorough understanding of this background we can never understand what God is doing in the world today. I said yesterday that this should be the major concern of church leaders today.

Listen to this from Isaiah 45:7: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” All the Prophets recognised that God creates disaster! But he is more than ready to change disaster into prosperity!!! In fact, that is God’s purpose! He is longing to see his children enjoying the blessings of those who uphold righteousness and live by the standards of truth he has revealed in his word over many thousands of years.

Shaking All Things

God is at present shaking all the nations, as he first revealed to the Prophet Haggai in 520 BC, the significance of which for today is explained in the New Testament in Hebrews 12. You can see this in the upheavals and bitter Brexit divisions in Britain, in the rise of the populist movement in many countries throughout Europe, and in the fear of the Brussels elite at what may happen in the EU election in May this year.

You can see it in the USA, where there has never before been such bitter division between Republicans and Democrats. You can see it in the upheavals in South America, in Venezuela; similarly in Africa, especially in Nigeria in recent days, in the Middle East, in the distressing humanitarian crises in Yemen and Syria, and in many other parts of the world.

It is not only the nations that are being shaken, but all the great institutions in which we human beings put our trust – including the Church! Right now, the Roman Catholic Church is being torn asunder by having to face the sexual sins of its clergy over many decades that are being revealed to the public. Successive Popes have delayed the day of reckoning for many years, but the Vatican is having to face the uncomfortable truth that a system of forced celibacy in a social climate of sexual libertarianism is a recipe for disaster! Large numbers of clergy have misused their spiritual power for sexual gratification, exploiting vulnerable children and adults. The day of judgment has arrived, and this has not just been brought about by social pressure, but by the judgment of God.

All the Prophets recognised that God creates disaster! But he is more than ready to change disaster into prosperity!

For Love

Why is God shaking everything? It may be amazing to those who do not study the whole word of God – but when God brings judgment upon the evil institutions of humanity it is an expression of his LOVE!

God so loved the world that he gave his own Son to save humanity from self-destruction. But our tiny minds simply cannot comprehend the magnitude of God’s purposes without the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit to flood his truth into our lives.

Let me give a small illustration of the great truth that I’m trying to convey. For more than 30 years I have been trying to teach a basic sociological truth that when you weaken and undermine the family, you destroy the social fabric of society, because the family is the linchpin holding everything together. This is what we have done in Western society and this is the underlying cause of knife crime, gang warfare, drug use, bullying, depression and suicide. We have crucified truth and produced an age of fake news, lies, hatred and violence, driven by the forces of darkness that we have embraced.

But amidst all this, God is working out his purposes to bring human beings to the point where they recognise that they have no solutions to the problems they have created. When they begin to cry out ‘O God, what has gone wrong?’ God knows they will be then open to the truth. He is calling upon his Church to be ready for a great spiritual awakening! Not a revival of the old institutions that we call churches, but a genuine new openness to the truth, met by a Church that genuinely both lives and declares the unchanging word of God.

That is the way disaster will be turned into prosperity! And the good news is that we may not be far from the turning point!

Turmoil, division and anarchy: where is God?

The Prime Minister has seen off the challenge to her leadership and secured another 12 months before she can be challenged again. But has this changed anything at Westminster?

The failed leadership coup has shown that one third of the parliamentary Conservative Party is against their own Prime Minister, reflecting the division in the nation that is becoming increasingly vociferous.

Britain is not alone in being a divided nation. France is in an even more serious situation with open warfare on the streets and widespread social dissatisfaction with the ruling elite. President Macron is fighting for his political life in a battle that looks even more dangerous than Theresa May’s. The rise of populist movements in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and even in Germany, is threatening the stability of the European Union.

These political eruptions make it increasingly difficult for Brussels to make concessions to the Brexit deal, despite signs that they would like to help Theresa May in her search for a solution that would win the vote in the British Parliament.

So what’s going on? Why did 117 Conservative MPs vote against their own leader? Is it possible to solve the Irish border situation and get a Brexit deal that satisfies everyone? We could add at least a hundred more unanswerable questions to the mounting pile of imponderable conundrums facing us in the world today. It seems that in every part of the world there are social, political or economic problems, or even open conflict threatening to destabilise the globe – and that’s without throwing in environmental problems like climate change!

Need for Spiritual Clarity

How do we read the situation facing us as we send off our Christmas greetings and contemplate the frightening prospect of another year with all the old problems unresolved and even more on the horizon? Is there something very simple that we are all missing? Is there another dimension that would enable us to see the whole thing from a different perspective? It’s like watching snooker on a black-and-white television – it just doesn’t make sense; you can’t know what’s going on. Change to colour TV and suddenly it all becomes clear.

It seems that in every part of the world there are social, political or economic problems, or even open conflict threatening to destabilise the globe.

Paul describes this situation: he says that there are some things that can only be understood if they are viewed from a spiritual dimension. He says: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).

Among the hundreds of prophecies in the Bible, the one that makes the most sense in our present situation is the little word from Haggai 2:7 that we have quoted lots of times in Prophecy Today UK and in the old printed magazine of the same name: it is that God is shaking the nations.¹ And not only the nations; that prophecy says that God will also shake the whole of the heavens and the earth – in other words, all of Creation. Why would God do such a thing? There has to be a reason!

Clearly God does not want to see the destruction of his Creation and the annihilation of human beings. But the Bible makes clear that God will do what is necessary to soften hard hearts and get people’s attention – because he desires all people to come to a knowledge of him and respond to his offer of salvation.

Anarchy Arising

There are plenty of other passages of Scripture that speak about terrible destruction coming upon the nations of the world. Since the invention of atomic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, passages such as Isaiah 24, which describes the devastation of the earth’s surface, have taken on a new significance.

I am not saying that God is warning us of the imminent risk of nuclear warfare. But I do foresee that large parts of the world are moving into a highly disturbing time of anarchy – of the challenge to law and order, of urban warfare – even repeating the kind of civil war that has devastated Syria in the past seven or eight years.

In Britain the demand for a ‘People’s Vote’ may sound innocuous, but it could very quickly lead to the kind of open conflict on the streets of London and other cities similar to that which is taking place on the streets of Paris.

Prolonged and Confusing Battle

In order to understand the significance of the battle within the Conservative Party, which is a reflection of the division in the whole nation, we have to see the spiritual forces that are at work. This is a battle between post-modernist, globalist, atheist forces, born in the 18^th-Century Enlightenment, and Britain’s centuries-old Judeo-Christian heritage. In the last decades, it is the latter that has been losing ground in this battle. The Brexit crisis has simply brought everything to a head; the outcome will determine the future, not only of Britain but of the whole Western world.

In order to understand the significance of the battle within the Conservative Party, which is a reflection of the division in the whole nation, we have to see the spiritual forces that are at work.

This is why it is such a prolonged and confusing battle that is so difficult to understand. It is actually a battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light. I am not saying that all the politicians who voted against the PM are the goodies and the others are the baddies – or vice versa! I doubt if many of them really understand the true nature of the battle and the spiritual significance of what is happening in our lifetimes.

We are moving towards what Christians call the end times – the turbulent days foretold in Scripture leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. We can only understand what is happening in our daily news bulletins when we see it in the context of the whole revelation of truth in the Bible. I believe this is why so many Christians are getting into small groups to study the Bible and to pray together in these confusing days.

D-Day

The secular humanists are fighting very hard to keep Britain locked into the European Union: this is why they have seized upon the Irish border as the weakest point in the Brexit agreement: a way for them to continue to exercise power over Britain.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the best solution would be for Britain to leave with no deal at all, which would also save paying £39 billion to the EU. It would probably cause some economic disruption for a short period but in the end would lead to far greater prosperity and new opportunity to seek the blessing of God upon the nation.

We greatly need to pray to God to protect Britain in the turbulent days leading up to D-Day – 29 March 2019.

Editorial note: Do visit our ‘Pray for Britain’ section on the website, where new prayer resources have been uploaded since last week. Please also consider attending a number of special prayer days coming up soon:

• Saturday 26 January: A Day of Prayer and Fasting for God to Deliver our Nation from Chaos! The SSE Arena, Wembley, 10am-6pm. Organised by David Hathaway and Eurovision. Dr Clifford Hill will be speaking.
  
• Monday 18 – Wednesday 20 March: Issachar Ministries conference, ‘Brexit: Hardship or Harvest?’. Swanwick, Derbyshire.
• Friday 29 March (Brexit Day): A Day of Prayer in Westminster. Organised by Issachar Ministries. With Dr Clifford Hill, David Hathaway and others.

See the News Page for further details of these events and to book tickets.

Notes

1 See also Hebrews 12:25-27. 

Brexit’s woes in spiritual perspective.

I knew I had to write about Brexit in this week’s editorial, so this morning I listened to the news more carefully – a depressing experience. I turned to my Bible for a word of comfort.

It fell open to the fall of Jerusalem and the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The word of the Lord came to me strongly, “This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips…The Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath” (Jer 7:28-29).

Of course, that was written to Israel, a nation in a covenant relationship with God, but Jeremiah was also given a promise for all nations: “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).

With these scriptures in mind we can turn to Brexit and ask what God is saying to us and to the people of Europe. What is God doing to work out his purposes today?

Rebellion Leads to Destruction

We cannot deny that Britain and the nations of the European Union have all turned away from the word of God. Though they have had the Gospel for more than a thousand years, each of these nations has been invaded by secular humanist philosophies that have devoured their good Judeo-Christian heritages. Europe has adopted an atheistic culture and God-denying policies that have, in large measure, brought us to the disastrous situation we face today.

The European Union is imploding under the weight of multiple crises. Its leaders are terrified of seeing Hungary, Poland, Italy and other key nations breaking away from the union as populist movements gain momentum across the continent.

The European Union is imploding under the weight of multiple crises.

In desperation, the Brussels gravy train, frightened that it is going to lose power and wealth, is trying to close ranks, punishing Britain in order to frighten off rebel elements in other nations. Of course, British politicians should know that they will never get a good deal from Brussels! The EU’s tactic now is to delay and delay – always holding out the hope of a deal but never actually concluding one, so that Britain continues to pay vast sums into EU coffers, but never actually walks away free.

The EU elites are exploiting the confusion they know surrounds British politicians of all persuasions in Westminster. But Christians should not be surprised at this confusion - because it is a classic sign of the judgment of God promised upon those who deliberately turn away from his truth: “The Lord will inflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind…You will be unsuccessful in everything you do” (Deut 28:28-29).

The Shaking of the Nations

For those who are familiar with the whole word of God in the Bible, it is obvious that we are going through a period which was revealed to the great Prophets of Israel more than 2,500 years ago. God said that there would come a time when he would bring judgment upon all the nations by shaking everything – the world of nature, politics and every structure of society: which is precisely what we are seeing today (see Haggai 2:6-7, cf. Hebrews 12:26-27).

As well as economic and political turbulence and societal breakdown, we are also seeing incredible storms, hurricanes and tsunamis hitting many parts of the world – as well as earthquakes and famines. The terrible wars and bloodshed in Syria and much of the Middle East, the upheavals taking place in Venezuela, Brazil and many other parts of the world, are all evidence of the great shaking of the nations.

Jeremiah’s Revelation

The great revelation that was given to the Prophet Jeremiah is one that we ought to be studying today. Jeremiah was facing the destruction of his country and the demolition of his city, Jerusalem, by the Babylonian army. His prayer (Jer 32) enabled him to see beyond the immediate tragedy and understand what God was doing: how, through it all, he was working out his purposes.

It is obvious that we are going through a period of worldwide shaking, revealed to the great Prophets of Israel more than 2,500 years ago.

The prayer began with the words, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you!” Then Jeremiah came to his central conundrum: although he knew that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, he had been told by the Lord to buy a field at Anathoth - already enemy-occupied.

In his prayer Jeremiah said to God, “Though the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign Lord, say to me, buy the field with silver and have the transaction witnessed” (Jer 32:25). God’s response revealed to Jeremiah the significance of this symbolic act: “As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them. Once more fields will be bought in this land…because I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord” (Jer 32:42-44).

Jeremiah realised that God had to allow a whole generation to suffer judgment before they would repent and be open to the truth. This is the way that God has always dealt with nation-wide rebellion – starting with Israel’s grumbling in the wilderness. And it enables us to understand what he is doing today in allowing the turmoil that is enveloping the nations.

God’s ultimate purpose, of course, is to see as many as possible come to a knowledge of salvation in Jesus – restored to right relationship with God and able to enjoy all the blessings he has to bestow upon his children. But persistent rebellion only brings more destruction.

If we are truly to understand the ‘Brexit Battle’, we have to see it in the context of the purposes of God revealed to us in the Bible. This is not just a little political wrangle. We are at a major crossroads in the history of the world and the unfolding and working out of the purposes of God.

Being Careful in Prayer

This is why Christians need to be very careful how they pray. We have said many times before on Prophecy Today that if we pray “Peace, Peace” when the Lord is saying “There is no peace!” we will actually put ourselves against God. We have to understand God’s nature and purposes and ensure that our prayers are aligned with what he is doing today.

Jeremiah’s prayer enabled him to see beyond the immediate tragedy and understand what God was doing: how, through it all, he was working out his purposes.

If we do this, declaring God’s truth and his good purposes to our godless generation so that people can understand what has gone wrong, and if this leads to a spirit of repentance and turning away from the ways of darkness, Britain will undoubtedly see days of revival come through this time of great shaking. This is the other message we have been emphasising recently on Prophecy Today.

Bible-believing Christians will undoubtedly ask, where does the Second Coming of Christ fit into this scenario? The answer is that it is not for us to know the times the Lord has set in his own timetable: but we may be nearer to that event than any of us knows. We have to obey the command of Jesus to “Watch and pray”.

A new series on the ‘elementary principles’ of Hebrews 6:1-2.

We begin a series about the basic requirements of the Christian life, as set out by the writer to the Hebrews. It is a timely reminder of the necessity for a proper grounding in the principles of life in Christ.

True Salvation

One of the reasons why there are unnecessary problems in the life of some Christians is because certain foundational truths have not been established. If the foundation of a building is weak those weaknesses affect the superstructure. Cracks will appear and things will come out of alignment, all detracting from the strength of the building. So it is in a Christian’s life.

Some years ago after living and ministering in New Zealand, we returned to England. My son, who was then 12 years of age, soon discovered there was a difference in the standard of education between New Zealand and England. For example, he had done no language study, apart from English, and found himself in a class where the students had already had about two years teaching of French and Latin.

Three years later we attended a parent-teacher evening and in conversation with the French master, he said, “I cannot understand your son, Stuart. He is clever and does well in his exams, but from time to time he makes the most elementary mistakes.” We reminded him that he had missed the initial teaching of the basics of the language. Although he had learned much, because the foundational teaching of the language had not been properly laid, the defects were manifested.

Before foundational truths can be established it is important to ensure that a person is a true Christian. Many people call themselves Christians, but are not. Therefore, it may be a good investment of a few minutes to check up on the reality of our profession of faith. Although this may seem a strange introduction to this series, I believe there is a precedent for it. At the end of Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, in which he had encouraged. taught, and corrected, he asks them to do something: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; text yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test” (2 Cor 13:5).

One of the reasons why there are unnecessary problems in the life of some Christians is because certain foundational truths have not been established.

He gives a clear definition of what a Christian is; someone with Christ in them. So the first question to ask ourselves is, ‘am I in the faith? Is Christ in me?’ He did not ask others to examine us, but made it personal. Here is a check-list of biblical references to help in this self-examination.

A person who has a right relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ knows it without any shadow of doubt. This assurance is given by the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Rom 8:16) and as John puts it, “Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart” (1 John 5:10).

John Wesley, the great preacher, used to say to his congregations, ‘make sure you have the witness'. You are not a Christian because someone says that you are, but because you have that inner knowledge given by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes people have come to me and said, ‘can you help me, I have never been sure whether I am a Christian or not.’ My response has been, ‘yes, I do want to help you, you are not.’ A true Christian knows.

Another proof is that there has been a change in your life. Something has happened. Paul puts it this way, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). A true Christian has a desire to obey God. John puts it bluntly but clearly, “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him’, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3, 4). The Lord Jesus made this challenging statement, “Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 7:21).

Another evidence of the reality of Christian experience is that we love other Christians. Before one becomes a Christian there is little or no desire to be with people who want to worship God, read the Bible, pray and talk about Jesus. They are not, ‘one of us’, and we are not ‘one of them’. However, when the miracle of salvation takes place there is a change of attitude which leads to a change of company! Again John says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14).

The Apostle Paul gives a clear definition of what a Christian is: someone with Christ in them.

So, what is the result of the examination? Do you have the assurance of the Holy Spirit? Has there been a change in your life? Do you live to do the will of God? Do you love other Christians? Every true Christian will be able to say with Paul, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Tim 1:12).

If, however, you failed the test and sincerely desire to know God as your Father and Jesus Christ as your Lord, obey the word of God. Acknowledge your need. Agree with the Bible when it says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6) and, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).

Remember the cry of the tax collector in Luke 18:13, “God have mercy on me, a sinner”. If we have one good word to say for ourselves we are not candidates for God's salvation, because he is only the Saviour of sinners. Look to the Lord Jesus. He is the only Saviour. He is the only way to God. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The first step to salvation is to believe in the Lord Jesus. Believe what is true, that Jesus is the Son of God, who loves you, died for you and took the punishment for your sins at the Cross. Jesus who, “died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3). Receive him as your Saviour.

Having acknowledged your sin and repented, believing he died for you and rose again, ask Jesus to come in to your life, yielding it totally to his Lordship, knowing, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbands will, but born of God” (John 1:12). Now confess him as Lord, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9).

Now look at the record, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11,12). We move on now to the foundational truths.

The first step to salvation is to believe in the Lord Jesus. Then, having acknowledged your sin and repented, believing he died for you and rose again, ask Jesus to come in to your life, yielding it totally to his Lordship.

Foundational Truths

The Lord Jesus told a story about two house builders. One built his house on a rock and when the storms and floods came his house stood firm. The other built his house on sand and his house was completely demolished when the deluge came.

As the storms and winds of adversity face the church of God it is imperative that Christian lives are solidly laid on the foundation of Jesus Christ, and on the truth of God's word. It is a sad fact of life that many Christians remain in the kindergarten of faith and never move on to maturity.

The writer to the Hebrews emphasises this point. He was writing to Christians who had just come through severe times of persecution and were on the threshold of even greater opposition. After declaring the glorious wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ, greater than angels, greater than Moses, “the apostle and High Priest of our confession. Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him”, he pauses to express a certain fear. That fear was that some who had been truly born again would fail to go on to maturity.

One of the reasons for their immaturity was a failure to have certain truths established in their lives. He wants them to get beyond the ‘milk bottle’ stage. He complains that instead of their being able to teach others they themselves still need to be taught the elementary truths. In chapter 6 of Hebrews these truths are described in the New King James Version as repentance from dead works; faith toward God; the doctrine of baptisms; of laying on of hands; of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

The purpose of this short series is to teach these basic truths to ensure that they have been established in your life so that you can go on to maturity.

First published as a mini-book in 1992 by PWM Ministries, entitled ‘The Biblical Basis of First Principles’. Edited for online publication May 2018.

Hope in the midst of scandal, shaking and scepticism.

“You are...terminated!” No, this was not a line from Doctor Who and his eternal battle with the Daleks. It was a message from the President of the USA to the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, given to him whilst he was speaking to his staff.

To British ears this sounds unreal. No British employer would dismiss a member of staff in this peremptory manner. “You’re fired!” only happens on TV shows like The Apprentice. In fact, employment law in Britain protects employees from arbitrary dismissal.

So what’s going on in America? It was known that the FBI were investigating the links between Trump and Russia during the presidential election campaign. Were the FBI getting too close to the truth for President Trump? Political commentators in the USA began immediately to compare this dismissal to when President Nixon did the same a year before the Watergate scandal caused him to resign the presidency.

Even the smallest whiff of a similar scandal is immensely damaging to the President – but it is more than that, it comes at a time when the whole political establishment in Europe and America is sailing in troubled waters that are likely to produce some notable shipwrecks.

France: The People’s Choice?

Just look at what’s happened in France this week! The people have just elected a new president, but nearly half the population either did not vote or spoilt their ballot paper in protest at the choice they were offered. All the candidates from the main parties failed to get popular support in the first round of voting so the choice was between two rank outsiders.

The winner, Emmanuel Macron, only formed his En Marche! party last year. But, Surprise! Surprise! The man who was supposed to be a rank outsider - the populist ‘people’s choice’(especially young people, who have flocked around him) – has been endorsed by the outgoing Labour Party President Hollande and even more emphatically by the former Labour Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who says that the Labour party in France is finished and dead - and he has now joined En Marche!.¹

The whole political establishment in Europe and America is sailing in troubled waters that are likely to produce some notable shipwrecks.

Emmanuel Macron. So, what’s going on? It looks as though the people of France have been fooled by a gigantic con trick. The populist choice, the man who the people have embraced, turns out to be an ex-banker who made a fortune through investment banking, became the Minister for the economy in the outgoing Labour Government and is a stooge of Brussels, an enthusiastic supporter of the EU! How long will it be before the French people wake up and realise that they’ve been conned - the old political elite that has governed the country for decades is still in power!

The USA: Increasing Disillusionment

Is the same thing already happening in the USA? Trump’s 100 days’ honeymoon is over. His election promises have not yet been fulfilled: he hasn’t built his wall and Mexico are not going to pay for it. He has not reformed Obamacare and he’s not even managed to control immigration. The people put their trust in a rich businessman rather than a politician, but will he do any better than the politicians?

We are living in a day of disillusionment. Throughout the Western world, people are expressing dissatisfaction with the ruling elite who have held power for decades. ‘Change’ is in the air. It’s the one thing everyone wants. No one quite knows what it is they do want – they just know what they don’t want: they don’t want what they’ve got!

It’s this air of uncertainty that is hanging over most of the Western nations and can be seen especially in Europe, in America and in Britain, where we are facing a Brexit-driven General Election. But surely Christians should be seeing this as an enormous opportunity! It is an opportunity to present a new and living way! Why are not churches actively leading the way and presenting the way of righteousness, truth and prosperity to the people? Why is there so little evidence of the Gospel in the marketplace?

Declaring the Whole Will of God

We frequently hear from people all over the country who say that in their church they never hear the preacher refer to current affairs or apply the Gospel to the great issues of the day.

No one quite knows what it is they do want – they just know they don’t want what they’ve got! Surely Christians should be seeing this as an enormous opportunity!

I had a Sunday off last month and I went to worship at a local Baptist church, where the Minister preached a message from Ephesians. This was fine - but afterwards I learned that he had been working his way through Ephesians, line by line, for the past two years! However good Ephesians is, it does not give a rounded gospel. Paul, speaking to the Ephesian elders on his last visit to the region said, “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27, emphasis added).

Surely it is the whole word of God that is needed in the Church today, if we are to understand what is happening in the world around us and what God is requiring of his Church. There are many churches where the preachers never use the Old Testament, so the whole word of God, especially that delivered through the Prophets, is never heard.

Shaking All That Can Be Shaken

Christians will never be able to understand the word of God for today if they are cut off from the Hebraic roots of our faith. In this magazine, for many years, we have been warning that the days were coming when God will shake everything. There’s plenty of evidence of this happening now, in our lifetime.

Many people have said to us that God would never shake the Church because it is the Body of Christ. But surely it is the people, the disciples of Jesus, who are the Body of Christ – not the institutions that we call churches!

It is the whole word of God that is needed in the Church today, if we are to understand what is happening and what God is requiring of us.

In Hebrews 12:26f we are told that it is God’s intention to shake everything that human beings have created, “so that what cannot be shaken may remain” which will prepare the way for the Kingdom of God.

One of the principles that is embedded in the world of nature, part of God’s Creation, is that seeds have to fall into the ground and die before new life can be produced. It may be that the whole of Western civilisation has become so corrupted that all its major social institutions – the economy (banks), society (political parties) and even the denominations that we call ‘churches’ will have to die for genuine new life to spring from them.

Signs of Hope

But in this time when God is shaking the nations, there are also many signs of new life - especially in the vast and rapid growth of the church in China and Indonesia and other places where Christians have been suffering hardship and severe persecution.

Meanwhile, though traditional denominations continue to decline in the West, there are encouraging signs of new life here as well. In Britain we see:

• The churches that are growing are ones where the whole word of God is preached, where worship is lively and prayer is focused and meaningful.
  
• Increasing numbers of believers are meeting in house fellowships for prayer and Bible study.
  
• Many Christians are involved in practical programmes of outreach into the community, such as street pastors, food banks and holiday clubs for children.
  
• Many are also active in a wide range of voluntary organisations seeking to promote Godly values in society.
  

In these times of enormous social change and upheaval, we not only need to note what is happening in the socio-political and economic spheres, but also to note (and celebrate!) what God is doing through his people.

North Korea is causing international consternation, Europe is covered in confusion and the outlook for the Middle East seems bleak. Can Isaiah 24 shed any light on the world this week?

In every region of the world there is increasing tension and growing conflict. In the Far East North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile soon after testing what they claim to be a hydrogen bomb. Even China is expressing concern at their inability to restrain the renegade state thirsting for war.

In the Middle East the civil war in Syria has entered a new and highly dangerous stage with the Russian bombing of Aleppo. And the whole of Europe is covered in confusion through the mounting migration crisis triggering both economic and social instability.

Failed Peace Talks

The UN-brokered peace talks bringing together the warring parties in Syria broke down after only three days. This was seemingly the result of the Russian bombing of Aleppo which is said to have infringed UN Resolution 2254 mandating the talks, which required an end to air-strikes and the provision of humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones.

In every region of the world there is increasing tension and growing conflict. But what is God doing?

The Russians, in support of Bashar al-Assad's forces, are attacking the so-called 'moderate rebels' who have been trained by the USA and supplied with American arms to overthrow Assad. This is increasingly drawing the Western powers into conflict with Russia and the Iranian/Iraqi alliance which is supporting Assad. Also in the midst of this confused conflict there is the Islamic State which is against them all – pursuing its own radical Islamist objectives.

Migrants attempt to cross from Macedonia into Serbia.America and Europe

With America now fully involved in an internal battle for the White House between such unlikely contenders as Trump and Sanders (not the Colonel!) on opposite wings of the political chicken, there is unlikely to be any firm foreign policy initiative coming from Washington as Obama free-wheels through his final year.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Europe intensifies as the social backlash grows against the 1,000,000-plus migrants who poured into the EU last year as people react to incidents such as the Cologne sex attacks. Today some 400,000 Syrians are trying to get into Turkey after fleeing the bombing of Aleppo and the advance of the Syrian government army.

The migrant crisis in the Middle East is rapidly becoming a vast humanitarian disaster, with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan all saying they cannot cope with any more refugees and the European Union desperately trying to organise its border defences and establish 'Fortress Europe'.

But God...

But what is God doing in all this mess? Is God no longer in control of the nations as the Lord of history? Isaiah claimed the opposite, saying that God holds the nations "in his hands as a drop in a bucket" and that he "brings princes to nought and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing" (Isa 40:15, 23). Did this just refer to a bygone era - has God now withdrawn his power over the nations, leaving them to work out their own salvation?

Is God no longer in control of the nations as the Lord of history? Far from it! He still holds the nations in his hands as a drop in a bucket.

The Bible actually prophesies a time of intense instability throughout the world. Whether God simply allows it or actually initiates an era of vast conflict between nations and instability in the world of nature with earthquakes, hurricanes and storms, is not made clear. But there are three passages in the Bible where a great shaking of everything – the natural order of creation and the nations – is foretold. Isaiah 2:12-22 speaks of God "humbling the arrogance and pride of human beings". It says "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted and they will be humbled." That was probably written in the eighth century BC.

Haggai, writing two centuries later in 520 BC, was more specific in stating that God would "shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land". He would "shake all nations" (Hag 2:6-7). Written over 500 years later, about AD 90, Hebrews 12:26 says that the great shaking of everything will be a prelude to God establishing his kingdom on earth.

The Little Apocalypse

There is another passage of Scripture that is rarely read in church and is usually neglected by biblical scholars because its message is too difficult to handle. It is found in Isaiah 24, which scholars traditionally have referred to as 'The Little Apocalypse' because its language is extreme. It speaks of the whole earth being shaken and split asunder which former generations of biblical scholars have always classified as symbolic. It was never imagined that there ever could be a force capable of shaking the whole of the earth.

Today we know different. The splitting of the atom and the production of hydrogen bombs has caused us to revise our biblical theology. We now know that among the nations there are sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the world if they were all detonated at the same time and in the same region in an international conflict.

Isaiah 24 speaks of the whole earth being split and shaken by human sin. Until modern advances in weaponry, there was never a force capable of such a thing - but there is now.

This could literally fulfil the prophecies of Isaiah 24:

The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls – never to rise again.

The reason this will happen is given in Isaiah 24:5-6.

The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore the earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.

But is this a warning of the inevitable – or of what COULD happen? Is there still time for human beings to heed the warning and change the course of history?

Hope for the Future

The Bible also speaks of a time of peace. Isaiah 2, which foretells a day of judgment quoted above, begins with a beautiful picture of the word of the Lord going out from Jerusalem. It foresees swords beaten into ploughshares and nations no longer training for war.

The New Testament is full of hope for the future – that hope is founded on the return of Jesus to judge the nations and to bring a time of peace and justice which is what Hebrews 12 refers to as "the kingdom of God". Jesus himself spoke of this in Matthew 24 saying that there would be a great conflict among the nations, followed by a cosmic shaking which will be a prelude to his Second Coming.

These eschatological passages of Scripture often draw vastly different interpretations – but they nevertheless show that God is still the Lord of history! He holds the nations in his hands. He has allowed us free will to run the affairs of the nations until the time he intervenes through the Second Coming of Jesus.

How near that is, nobody knows; but the Bible says that he will come when least expected. That may be much sooner than anyone anticipates!