Lincoln’s stone of sorrow for historic persecution

Why the Arabs of Gaza and the West Bank truly need our prayers

Biblical principles and the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme

Evangelist Mark van Niekerk reports on his latest trip to the war-torn region

Holocaust refugees airlifted to Lakeland tranquillity

Yochana Darling shares the vision of a Mediterranean safe house for God’s persecuted people.

Hope amid brokenness.

In the wake of the closure of the Dubs scheme to bring in unaccompanied minors from the Calais migrant camps, how should Church and state respond?

The Government has come under fire this week for ending the ‘Dubs’ scheme to allow unaccompanied minors from the Calais camps to enter the UK.

Lord Dubs, himself a refugee from Nazism who came to the UK on the Kindertransport, who introduced the scheme, is outraged at the decision to end it. The Archbishop of Canterbury was described as “shocked” over the decision and has asked the Government to reconsider.¹

The Government’s argument, put forth by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, is that the French authorities did not want the scheme to continue because, "It acts as a pull. It encourages the people traffickers."²

So, is the UK really failing in its responsibilities?

Pledges for Syria

It has also been pointed out that the UK is one of the largest international donors to refugee aid as well as to humanitarian aid in general.

Britain hosted a conference last year to raise support from the international community to aid the crisis in Syria. Huge pledges were forthcoming (£9.6 billion in grants, £32 billion in loans), but a year on, which nations have actually put their hands in their pockets?³

• The US, Germany, the European Union and the UK have actually out-given their initial pledges. The next highest donors on the list are the Netherlands, Japan and Norway.
  
• Canada, Belgium and Spain have given more than they pledged.
  
• Ireland has also exceeded its pledge, giving now the same as Saudi Arabia, which has only given a fraction of its pledge.
  
• Little Estonia has donated more than China, not proportionally, but in actual cash. China promised £28m but has only given £2.4m. Estonia has given £2.6m.
  

There is a total list of 48 donor countries, but the top four, including the UK, have significantly out-given the others. We are also in it for the long haul, with pledges going up to 2020. Saudi Arabia and China are notably absent from this phase of giving.

Discerning a Right Response

Now, comparing ourselves to others is not the way to set our obligations. We are accountable to the Lord for our behaviour in every sphere of life. Comparing ourselves to others and pointing out their faults will not win favour with God.

So how should the British Government balance economic and social realities with our Geneva Convention obligations to refugees?

Christian campaigners point to the Bible’s commands regarding foreigners and those in need:

Iraqi refugee children at a camp in Syria. See Photo Credits.He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deut 10:18-19)

So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud labourers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. (Mal 3:5)

No stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveller… (Job 31:32)

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. (Matt 25:25-36)

It is also worth noting that tithing was intended to help (among others) foreigners:

At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no land allotted to them or any inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. (Deut 14:28-29)

When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Then say to the Lord your God: ‘I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. (Deut 26:12-13)

However, Scripture is also full of encouragements to be wise and discerning in all our ways.

In the light of all this, what do you think our Government should do? What should the Church do? Leave your comments below and have your say.

References

1 High Court challenge to UK's child refugee efforts. BBC News, 10 February 2017.

2. Ibid.

2 Coughlan, S. Who really paid up to help Syria? BBC News, 10 February 2017. All further quotes from here.

How can we celebrate the joys of Christmas in the midst of such a broken world?

This week leading up to Christmas has been utterly incongruous. Celebrations have been marred by news of the atrocious terror attack in Berlin, when a lorry was driven into crowds at a Christmas market in a repeat of the Bastille Day attack in Nice, this time killing 12 and injuring 48. Meanwhile, decorations and festivities have felt almost inappropriate as tens of thousands are being evacuated from Aleppo.

For those of us who celebrate Christmas, particularly with a desire to rejoice in the birth of the Son of God, how do we do so in view of a shaking, hurting world? Should we be indulging whilst others are suffering?

Rejoicing Amidst Suffering

I was led today to research some of the carols we sing at Christmastime. I have duly discovered that, like most great hymns, many of these were written by men and women of faith in challenging circumstances. They were inspired in the midst of struggle and strife to pen words about the hope offered to us by Jesus our Lord.

Refugees from Aleppo arrive at a camp near Idlib, Syria. AP/Press Association Images.

As such, these carols that we all know so well are far more than profound words set to beautiful music, to be sung for the sake of tradition. They have stories, emerging from turmoil and trial and speaking back to it. They are enduring reminders of the hope of the Gospel - particularly of its proclamation of life and light in the face of violence, fear and darkness.

Some Examples: Songs Born of Trial¹

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day was penned during the American Civil War by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Henry's son was a lieutenant in the Unionist army who had been severely wounded fighting in Virginia. Longfellow wrote the words as a poem on Christmas Day, 1863, emphasising the Gospel's promise of hope for peace amidst the trials of war.

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.'

Also during the American Civil War, O Little Town of Bethlehem was written by American bishop Phillips Brooks in Massachussetts. Brooks wrote the carol after a visit to the Holy Land in 1865, where he found such peace compared to the horrors of war back home that he was deeply moved.

No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

A few years earlier, in 1849, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear was penned – also in Massachusetts, this time by preacher Edmund Sears. Sears was a burnt-out pastor who, at the time, was extremely depressed about the state of the world, with news of revolution in Europe and recent war on his home territory between the US and Mexico.

And man, at war with man, hears not the love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing.

Across the pond, As with Gladness Men of Old came through English insurance broker William Chatterton Dix in 1859. During his 20s Dix was struck with ill-health and depression – and wrote many of his best-loved hymns during this time.

Holy Jesus, every day, keep us in the narrow way;
And when earthly things are past, bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide, where no clouds Thy glory hide.

More than a century earlier, Joy to the World was written (1719) by English pastor and prolific hymn-writer Isaac Watts. Watts came from a non-conformist family used to being chastised for their beliefs. Joy to the World is based on the second half of Psalm 98, and was actually written to glorify Jesus' Second Coming, rather than to celebrate his first! Its lesser-sung third verse states:

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found...

Perhaps most pertinent to the times in which we now live is Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, for which we have Charles Wesley to thank. Wesley, who also gave us Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, wrote Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus in 1744 after meditating on Haggai 2:7 and being particularly moved by the plight of orphans in his area. As with Joy to the World, this carol was intended to help people use Christmas to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus, as well as to commemorate the First.

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

A Cloud of Witnesses

So, it seems that there is not necessarily such a stark gap between our Christmas celebrations and this world of strife after all.

Those who have gone before us, who form part of the great cloud of witnesses (Heb 12:1), found a way to rejoice in the midst of difficulty. Their joy was not unthinking, selfish or insensitive – in fact, it was the more profound and laudable because they understood the glorious truth of Emmanuel, God with us, meeting and rescuing us in our brokenness, bringing light to our darkness.

The carols we sing at Christmas have stories - many emerged from turmoil and trial and speak back to it even today.

A Light Has Dawned

The tragedy that has unfolded through the history of humankind is this: we have been given a choice between light and darkness - but all too often we choose the darkness (as the terrible destruction of life in Berlin this week demonstrates vividly).

John's account of the birth of Jesus, so often read at Christmastime, states "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:5).

Towards the end of his life, Moses said to the people of Israel "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live!" (Deut 30:19). The festival of Christmas once again presents us with that same choice. Today, in the face of such reckless and evil destruction, our loving Father God urges us to choose life.

If we choose life, the Lord Jesus, who is the Light of the World, can dwell in us, transform us and shine out through us to others. The trials of this world, though grievous, will not overcome us but will instead be turned for good by the loving hand of the Lord.

Back to Christmas

Let us then respond to our first question – how can we celebrate this Christmas whilst others are suffering? Well, if we choose life and pursue it, selfish indulgence with flagrant disregard for the plight of others simply won't be a part of our lives. Instead, we will find ourselves experiencing a deeper kind of rejoicing – a thoughtful, loving and faithful jubilation that is not blind to suffering (indeed, quite the opposite), but is fixed first upon hope – in Jesus' death, resurrection and soon return – as the true and only solution to all the world's evils.

If we choose life, it may well be (and it is my hope) that this century will yet see its Wesleys and its Watts, its Whitefields and its Spurgeons, using Christmas to rejoice, to draw near God and to bring the light of life to millions. Who knows – the era of inspired carol-writing may not yet be over!

References

1 Carol information gleaned largely from Wikipedia, from which individual referencing information can be obtained. Also recommended is Christmas Carols by Andrew Gant (2014, Profile Books), a secular book which covers the historical origins of a broad selection of Christian and non-Christian Christmas songs.

Thousands of refugees and migrants continue to pour into Europe every day, fear of terrorism grows daily and the nations struggle to find a long-term solution. What does the future hold?

The boats keep coming. Overcrowded, unsafe boats flounder and capsize in the rough seas of the Aegean and still they keep coming – this autumn the number reaching Lesbos and other small Greek islands topped 7,000 per day.¹

People smuggling from Turkey to Greece across the dangerous seas is a multi-million dollar business. The people smugglers care nothing for humanity. They are making a fortune from the human misery of those who have lost everything in the war zones of Syria and Iraq – people so desperate that they will risk their lives boarding unsafe boats.

Looking for a Solution

Thousands are plucked from the sea every day and hundreds more simply drown, nameless victims of the greatest tragedy the Middle East has ever witnessed. This is the scene at the Eastern extremities of Europe.

At the other end of Europe, leaders of the EU nations are meeting to discuss desperate measures to deal with the crisis. How can they cope with the million strong flood of humanity that has descended upon Europe this year? How can such a human avalanche be absorbed among the nations? Even more urgently, how can it be halted, or even put on hold for a period, to give time for dealing with the situation in the war zones?

The humanitarian crisis engulfing Europe has no easy solution: neither is it a short-term problem that will be all over in a few weeks or months. Whole populations are on the move and there appears no end to the conflict that is destroying cities and towns across the Middle East and inflicting homelessness, injury and death on vast numbers of people.

The humanitarian crisis engulfing Europe has no easy solution – neither is it a short-term problem.

Europe on High Alert

The complexity is confounded by the mixture of migrants and refugees. The numbers are so great that it is impossible to discover who are the genuine refugees, who are the economic migrants and who are the jihadis slipped in among them by the Islamic State fighters.

Ever since the Paris atrocities on that notorious Friday 13 November, when at least one of the bombers had entered Europe through Greece posing as a refugee, the whole of the EU has been on high alert. The fact that the Paris bombers were a mixture of home-grown and migrant terrorists has added to the sense of fear and confusion.

Mass Fear

That fear and confusion is not confined to Europe but has spread to America as well. Just weeks after the Paris slaughter, a couple went on the rampage with automatic weapons in San Bernadino, California, slaughtering people as they were eating a meal together. President Obama used the occasion for an impassioned appeal for gun reform in the USA where he said that these mass killings were becoming routine.

The danger facing Europe is that mass killings will also become routine in the EU - unless the source of the problem in the killing-fields of the Middle East is dealt with effectively.

The danger facing Europe is that mass killings will also become routine here – unless the source of the problem can be dealt with.

Islamic 'Alliance'

Saudi Arabia has now announced the formation of a new military alliance of 34 Arab nations to fight terrorism. But who will they fight? Who do they define as 'terrorists'? Saudi Arabia has already beheaded more people this year than the Islamic State.² Their branch of Sunni Wahhabi Islam based upon the strict observance of Sharia law is rejected by half the Islamic world, including the coalition led by Iran which is presently fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a proxy conflict for several years, with Iran backing the rebels in Yemen who the Saudis have been bombing. So the chance of this new initiative bringing peace to the Middle East is virtually nil. The most likely outcome is to extend the conflict between the different branches of Islam.

But could this be within the purposes of God?

Though all-out war between Islam and the Western nations (which in some respects would be a war between Christianity and Islam) looks ever more plausible, it could be that internal conflict between the different sects of Islam will save us from World War III.

All-out war between Islam and the Western nations could be avoided – if Islam implodes due to the internal conflict between its various sects.

Looking Forward

In the New Year's Day issue of Prophecy Today we will look more closely at what is happening in the Middle East, particularly in the context of biblical prophecy. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has gone quiet - the world's attention is upon Syria. But what does the future hold?

References

1 IOM Monitors Mediterranean Migrant Flows: 7,000 Crossing Daily to Greece. International Organization for Migration, Press Release, 10 September 2015.

2 Saudi Arabia Beheads Nearly Twice As Many People As ISIS So Far This Year. MintPress News Desk, 25 August 2015.