Simon Pease reviews ‘Revelations of Jesus Christ from the Book of Revelation’ by Philip Wren (Christian Publications International, 2019)

Beware of easy prophecies of unconditional revival.

Are you investing in fake or fortune?

Visiting family and friends over the past fortnight naturally exposed me to conversations – and television programmes – with which I am generally unfamiliar.

Among these was the intriguing BBC programme Fake or Fortune which, for this particular episode, focused on a rather beautiful portrait passed down through an aristocratic family line.

As it was unsigned, no-one was sure who had painted it. It was generally accepted as the work of a high-calibre artist of the mid-19th Century which, if proved to be the case, would fetch around £8,000 at auction.

However, another expert was convinced it was the work of the famous Thomas Lawrence, which would increase its value exponentially to some half a million pounds! And, indeed, it proved to be one of his!

The Stakes are High

There’s a lot at stake over the question of who’s behind a particular work of art. I got to thinking how this inevitably also applies to the Creator of the world: is God behind the beauty of our Creation, or are we to put our trust in Charles Darwin’s ideas?

Come to that – who wrote the Bible? Was it God, or man? These are big questions, and the stakes are high in terms of the answers.

According to the Apostle Paul, the acknowledgement of God as Creator is of vital importance. In fact, he points out, the denial of such leads to a progressive unravelling of civilisation itself.

According to the Apostle Paul, denying God as Creator leads to a progressive unravelling of civilisation.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes that men suppress the truth by their wickedness (Rom 1:18) – and the first casualty is the truth that God is Creator (vv19-20). As a result, their thinking becomes futile and they worship created things rather than the Creator (v23). This in turn leads to sexual degradation and the shameful lusts of lesbianism and homosexuality (vv26-27).

At the same time, it leads to “a depraved mind” (v28) filled with “every kind of wickedness” – even inventing ways of doing evil (vv29-30).

In this letter to the 1^st-Century Christians in Rome, Paul was writing in the context of a civilisation that was well on its way to being unravelled – and remarkably comparable to 21^st-Century Britain! Strange, and yet we are constantly being told that things have ‘moved on’…

Whose Hand?

The psalmist wrote: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps 19:1).

Sir David Attenborough enthuses over the wonderful creatures God has made without ever mentioning their Maker, but sure to always emphasise how many millions of years it has taken each species to evolve. Yet Scripture says that God created the world in six days!

Yes, the stakes are high. Our values depend on recognition of whose hand is behind the canvas before us. A life lived in the knowledge of him through whom all things were made (John 1:3) – the greatest ‘artist’ of all time – will be truly priceless.

As Jesus asked, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Knowing Jesus is the key to life. “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

A life lived in the knowledge of him through whom all things were made (John 1:3) – the greatest ‘artist’ of all time – is truly priceless.

Rebuilding the Walls

I don’t believe the residents of Derbyshire’s Whaley Bridge, threatened by a breach in the reservoir above them, merely crossed their fingers as the BBC correspondent reported they were doing. When a further thunderstorm was forecast but subsequently passed over the village, I am apt to conclude that residents had taken to genuine prayer. There are no atheists in a trench, they say.

The church built on the Mount of Beatitudes – the reputed site of Jesus’ famous sermon. Picture: Charles Gardner

As exemplified by the Whaley Bridge crisis, the walls have broken down in British society. And as in Nehemiah’s day, when the walls of ancient Jerusalem were in ruins, we too must return to the God of Israel if we wish to rebuild our country on solid foundations.

Concluding his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

“But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matt 7:24-27).

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘God Behaving Badly’ by David T Lamb (2011, IVP)

This is an excellently-conceived and well-written book on an important theme, outlined in the subtitle: Is the God of the Old Testament angry, sexist and racist?

For Christians as well as non-Christians, this is a problem that has to be addressed. Certain parts of what we now call the ‘Old Testament’ seem to portray God in these terms, so how are we to settle this in our own minds and how should we respond to those who use this to attack our faith?

Combating Misconceptions

Lamb’s opening sentence is intriguing: “How does one reconcile the loving God of the Old Testament with the harsh God of the New Testament?” (p9). Read this too quickly and you’ll miss the point! The author often asks this question of his students and once they’ve realised he hasn’t misspoken a lively discussion usually ensues.

In the book, Lamb makes his initial point well. We are so fixated on the New Testament portraying a God of love that we forget how often the Old Testament shows him to be merciful, compassionate and slow to anger. We also forget how God’s angry side is still apparent once we cross the divide into the New.

Perhaps Lamb’s title should end with a question mark, just so that we are clear on the author’s intent. But we soon realise that he is very much wanting to clear God’s ‘bad reputation’ and set the record straight by examining as many biblical texts as possible across the diverse genres of Old Testament literature. His aims are to discuss many of the problematic passages in which God appears to ‘behave badly’ and combat the negative perceptions that arise from these.

Lamb sets out to clear God’s ‘bad reputation’, discussing many of the problematic passages in which God appears to ‘behave badly’ and combating the negative perceptions that arise from these.

Tackling Difficult Issues and Passages

Lamb tackles these issues one at a time, chapter by chapter. After three initial chapters on the topics of ‘angry’, ‘sexist’ and ‘racist’, he goes on to ask if God is violent or peaceful, legalistic or gracious, rigid or flexible, distant or near?

He places all of his discussions within historical context, for instance with reference to ancient Near Eastern texts, and also ends each chapter “looking at a relevant incident from the Gospels, showing how the particular characteristic of Yahweh is also manifested in the behaviour of Jesus” (p24).

As he goes, Lamb does not shy away from tackling difficult and controversial passages, such as the smiting of Uzzah dead simply for touching the Ark as the oxen pulling its cart stumbled. His explanation here is excellent – but you’ll have to read the book to discover it!

Safe Hands

The author writes in a way that convinces us that he has thought through every point he makes. Indeed, he has taught this often to his classes so the reader feels in safe hands. He employs occasional touches of humour where appropriate to lighten what could otherwise be a heavy and disheartening read.

Lamb mentions those who get round the ‘problem’ of God’s apparent bad behaviour by saying that those passages can be regarded as fictitious. Some today, like Marcion of old, say we can simply cut out those passages from our Bibles. Lamb’s counter-response is this:

While I find this conclusion attractive in one sense (the problem does disappear), I am unwilling to reject large sections of the Old Testament because the God it portrays doesn’t fit my perception of what he should be like. I continue to be troubled by Old Testament images of God, but I will work to understand them better by continuing to study the text on its own, within its biblical context and within its ancient Near Eastern context. (p102)

The author writes in a way that convinces us that he has thought through every point he makes.

Yesterday, Today and Forever

He ends the book with an epilogue summarising each of the eight chapters that have gone before. While all our questions may never fully be answered, he demonstrates that God is loving and gracious across the whole Bible, both as Yahweh in the Old and Jesus in the New. There is no discrepancy of character. Our God is fundamentally good, whichever part of the Bible we are reading.

After the epilogue comes a section of discussion questions, several for each chapter, making the book an excellent resource for study groups. There are also good endnotes, a sufficient bibliography to encourage further reading, and a very extensive Scripture index making it easy to look up any passage you might come across later in your Bible reading.

The author has tackled a difficult topic extremely well and his book is highly commended.

‘God Behaving Badly’ (205pp, paperback) is available from Amazon for £11.99 (paperback). Also in e-book form.

A meditation on Proverbs 28:2

In the last few days I have found myself pondering this verse in the book of Proverbs: “When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability” (Prov 28:2 NLT). It seemed particularly striking in the context of the political turmoil currently engulfing Britain and a number of other countries at the moment.

Of course, it is dangerous to apply Old Testament passages to any modern political system. The world has changed: no modern nation is like ancient Israel and I doubt that any politician would be elected in a modern democracy if they promised to ‘rule like King David’.

Nevertheless, despite the vast gulf of time and culture between that world and ours, there is much in the wisdom of the Old Testament that is profoundly relevant to 21^st-Century politics. Let me suggest that this verse has three truths.

The simplest truth first: stability is a good thing. Revolutions may be very exciting but after you’ve taken a country apart it takes a long time to put it back together again. Stability may not make headlines and isn’t the most exciting of political goals but it is a condition that allows law and order to exist and allows everybody to get on with their lives.

The Old Testament illustrates the value of stability as it recounts the history of God’s people after Solomon’s death. The northern kingdom, which increasingly drifted away from the worship of the one true God, had a turbulent history in which it was ruled by a long string of monarchs whose reigns were almost always brief, brutal and bloodstained. In contrast the southern kingdom, with a faithfulness to God’s covenant and the line of King David, had much greater stability and peace.

In the New Testament we see that Paul – whose experience with Roman rule was far from happy – could write, “Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity” (1 Tim 2:2 NLT). Stable times of peace are worth seeking.

There is much in the wisdom of the Old Testament that is profoundly relevant to 21^st-Century politics.

A second truth concerns the character of those who lead us. This side of heaven a sinful human race will always need people to lead and govern: without leadership we would have tyranny. Yet precisely because the role of leading a nation is a hard task, we must pray that those who rule us are indeed ‘wise and knowledgeable’.

In the Bible that phrase does not refer to the possession of a high level of intelligence or an advanced educational qualification (although there’s nothing wrong with either) but more to a humble and reverent attitude of mind that respects God and his law. In a world controlled by the media, it’s not easy for the modest, God-fearing individual to rise to the top but God is perfectly capable of ensuring their promotion. Let’s pray that this would happen more often.

The third point is that the morality of a people affects how they are governed. This seemingly simple truth – the spiritual version of ‘a nation gets the leader it deserves’ – is profoundly important. It’s very tempting in times of instability to look to politicians for the answer, something encouraged by the way that in any crisis there is never a shortage of individuals who, with a minimum of modesty and a maximum of confidence, put themselves forward as those who will deliver the nation from its ills. Yet history provides very few examples of leaders who have genuinely put everything right. On the contrary, there are many cases where the coming to power of a political leadership has led either to widespread disillusionment or to a dictatorship.

The teaching in this proverb and elsewhere in the Bible is that what really determines the fate of nations is not the individual at the top but the people themselves. Politics alone can’t truly fix a nation; God and godliness can.

Politics alone can’t truly fix a nation; God and godliness can.

There’s a fascinating and apparently true story that when Billy Graham visited Camp David in the 1960s, the then US president Lyndon Johnson said to him, “Billy, you ought to be president of the United States. If you do run, I’d like to be your campaign manager.” It was an offer that Billy rejected then, and continued to do so in the years ahead. He felt to seek political office would be to fall far short of his appointed task as evangelist. He also knew the truth of this proverb: the best way of effectively changing a nation is not by changing leaders, but by altering what people believe.

If you are genuinely called by God to be a politician, then I wish you well and I’m very happy to pray for you. But in the meantime, I’m going to stick to my calling of preaching the good news of Jesus. True and lasting change begins at the bottom and not the top.

Revd Canon J.John

Director, Philo Trust

www.canonjjohn.com / Twitter: @Canonjjohn

Reprinted with permission.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus’ by Lois Tverberg (Baker Books, 2017).

This book is the third in a worthy series on how understanding the Jewishness of Jesus can transform your faith. The previous two (Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus) are equally commendable, as the author always puts across important information in an accessible manner.

This third volume, as its title suggests, is more about the Bible that Jesus had, showing us how he would have understood it. The contrast is clearly demonstrated between our Greek/Western understanding and the Hebraic approach that is so necessary if we are to unlock the treasures within God’s word.

Emmaus Road Experience

The author’s aim is to provide us with an experience akin to that of the disciples on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24) when Jesus explained what they were missing by not having a complete picture of their scriptures.

The book is divided into three main sections. Part One is called ‘Repacking our Mental Bags’ and is intended as a starter to help us begin our journey into the Bible as Jesus knew it. Part Two, ‘How the Bible Thinks’, guides us further along the path into Hebraic thinking and how the ‘big picture’ ideas contained within the Bible are essential to an understanding of its message. The third part is entitled ‘Reading about the Messiah’ and aims to show him through Hebrew eyes.

Tverberg contrasts our Greek/Western understanding with the Hebraic approach that is so necessary to unlock the treasures within God’s word.

Although these are useful divisions there is no reason why the book cannot simply be enjoyed chapter by chapter and dipped into according to time available and the desire to learn certain aspects more thoroughly than others.

Going Deeper

Each chapter ends with ‘Tools and Reflections’ and ‘Thoughts for Going Deeper’. The book concludes with three useful appendices, one on the books of the Tanakh (Old Testament), one on Bible translations and, perhaps most helpfully, one containing ‘Thirty Useful Hebrew Words for Bible Study’.

There are good endnotes and recommended resources for further reading. In addition, there is a companion website which has a free PDF sample chapter to download (effectively the first 20 pages of the book).

Although much of this material is available in other books, Tverberg, co-founder of the educational En Gedi Resources Center, has the skill to take us back into the world of Jesus so we can listen afresh to what he said and see anew what he did.

‘Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How a Jewish perspective can transform your understanding’ (hardback, 285pp) is available from Amazon for £14.99. Also on Kindle.

For the next generation – and for this one.

The controversy begun by the remarks of Australian rugby player Israel Folau, supported by England’s number 8, Billy Vunipola, has caused a stir far beyond the game of rugby. Izzy Folau simply quoted the Bible in warning that those who practice homosexuality go to hell.

Biblical teaching says “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable” (Lev 18:22). And the Apostle Paul states explicitly, “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 6:9-10).

According to Paul’s teaching, practising homosexuals should be treated in the same way as drunkards, swindlers, slanderers in our society and not given preferential treatment or be allowed to promote their activities.

These rugby players are simply stating the obvious. It’s a bit like the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Everyone was simply copying everyone else in praising the Emperor’s non-existent clothes. It took an innocent child to state the truth: “The Emperor is naked!”.

The New Normal

Billy Vunipola is quite right in saying that “man was made for woman to procreate”.¹ Two men practising anal intercourse cannot create life any more than two lesbian women pleasuring each other can create a human baby. But our teachers are told to tell the children that these are normal relationships and that gay parents having children through adoption, surrogacy or artificial insemination creates ‘normal’ families.

We all know that the ‘new normal’ being taught to our children in state schools is a blatant lie! There is a mass of sound academic research to show that the only type of family that consistently produces good results for children is the happy, faithful, heterosexual married couple. But we have a Parliament that has passed a law forcing teachers to indoctrinate four-year-olds with the idea that it is quite normal for some children to have two mummies or two daddies, and that all forms of family are equal.

We all know that the ‘new normal’ being taught to our children in state schools is a blatant lie!

Slippery Slope

This is a reversal of truth, an utter lie that can only lead to the destruction of society. It is social engineering: trying to mould the minds of children to accept LGBTQ+ values before they are able to think for themselves. It was Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May who started us down this slippery slope, forcing the legalisation of gay ‘marriage’ through Parliament with the support of the Labour Party, against the wishes of more than a hundred Conservative MPs.

This virtually pronounced the death knell of the Conservative Party as the party of the family, and the party that works to conserve our heritage of biblically-based values - the Judeo-Christian foundation stones of Western civilisation.

It produced the Parliament that we have today consisting of 650 individuals who cannot agree on anything to give clear guidance for the future of the nation. The plain fact is that when they passed the Same-Sex Marriage Bill, Parliament brought judgment upon itself. It is, in effect, a Parliament doomed to fail, and no doubt that is how it will be known by future historians.

A Soulless Nation

Yes, of course we need to get out of the European Union, which is the most secular humanist political institution in the world. But leaving the EU will not solve our national problems or redeem our Parliament.

Indeed, this whole Parliament needs to be swept away and replaced by a new reforming group of politicians, not only with high moral principles but with an understanding of the Judeo-Christian spiritual convictions that have been at the heart of our Parliamentary system for hundreds of years and formed the bedrock of the British character that was admired by the world. We need a political revolution - and maybe, if we have to participate in the EU elections, we might just get one, as the result is likely to further shatter and divide our political parties.

Of course we need to get out of the European Union, but leaving will not solve our national problems or redeem our Parliament.

Meanwhile, the whole world is viewing Britain with amazement! They simply cannot understand what is happening in our Westminster Parliament, which for centuries has been renowned as a model of democratic government. Even those who were not great friends of Britain admired our stability and reliability. Today that has been shattered – maybe irretrievably; certainly it will not be easily retrieved.

Winston Churchill, reminding the nation of the great Christian heritage underlying the British Commonwealth of Nations, rightly warned that “A nation without a conscience is a nation without a soul, and a nation without a soul is a nation that cannot live.”²

The Message of Good Friday

This is where the message of today, Good Friday, offers the only hope for our nation. On this day nearly 2,000 years ago, God carried out an act of divine intervention into human history by allowing his own Son to commit his life into the hands of violent, hate-filled, sinful human beings. He willingly sacrificed his own life to make possible a new relationship with God the Father, Creator of the universe.

Through faith in Jesus we all have the opportunity, not only of forgiveness of our sins, but of actually entering into a new relationship with God that transforms our sinful human nature.

This is the good news that Christians have to proclaim to the world: that God has done something for us that we could not do for ourselves, in overcoming our self-centred propensity to love the world and indulge in everything that is evil and corrupt, rather than things that bring health and happiness and put the welfare of others ahead of ourselves.

Hope for Britain

As any sociologist will tell you, all forms of social change tend to go to extremes: the pendulum swings too far one way and then the backlash begins. The rugby players who have dared to tell the truth, bringing on themselves the wrath of the secular humanist establishment, may be a little sign that the backlash has begun.

There are many other signs that young people are open to the truth: they are fed up with the mess that the older generations have created and they are looking for a new way. Last week Charles Gardner reported on evangelism happening in schools in Doncaster – and since then we have heard other reports from elsewhere in the country of hundreds of young people giving their lives to Christ.

There are many signs that young people are open to the truth.

There is a group of Christian rap artists, singers and dancers based in Manchester who are touring northern towns and cities and seeing hundreds of young people respond to the Gospel. Next month there is a great Christian gathering planned in Trafalgar Square on Pentecost Sunday, when thousands of young people are expected to fill the Square and demonstrate their faith in Jesus.

For those who have eyes to see and an understanding of the times, these may be little signs of the turning of the tide. The message of this Good Friday, that Jesus is the hope of the world, is our only hope for a turning point in the history of Britain. This is certainly something to which we should be directing our prayers!

References

1 The Times, 13 April 2019.

2 Sandys, J, 2015. God and Churchill. London: SPCK, p182.

Our present chaos and our future hope.

“Write down the revelation” is a word from Habakkuk 2:2 that strongly came to me 40 years ago and resulted in me writing the book Towards the Dawn which changed the direction of my life, leading me to apply academic sociological concepts to contemporary issues in a new way. The new way brought together my training as a sociologist with my biblical theology, seeking understanding of how God was working out his purposes through the forces of social change that have been driving Western civilisation.

The book was written in 1979 – 40 years ago! It’s been long out of print and I’d not looked at it for decades, but last week I felt a strong urge to take my solitary copy off the shelf and read it again.

The book looked at the situation in Church and State, where we had largely turned away from biblical truth since the 1960s. Listen to this from page 72: “There are no certainties, no yardsticks, no basic principles to provide a compass point of reference by which the changes occurring in society can be evaluated and on the basis of which they can either be rejected, modified or accepted. Without such a yardstick all is uncertain and the result will be chaos.”

State of Chaos

Looking ahead to the future, I said: “With no certain basis to the values of society and an ever-increasing rate of change, the end result in terms of mounting chaos, normative anarchy, the breakdown of social organisation and the final disintegration of the entire social system is inevitable.”

This, of course, is exactly what we are seeing today. It is not only our Westminster Parliament that is in a state of chaos: the social scene is also chaotic with knife crime, gang warfare, drugs, domestic violence, school exclusions, family breakdown, mental health problems, fatherlessness, homelessness and thousands of other symptoms of a sick society.

But my purpose here is not simply to recount daily news items that you can see on TV, on social media, on websites and in the newspapers. I want to offer an answer to the questions in the minds of millions in Britain today – why is all this happening? What has gone wrong and is there anything we can do about it?

It is not only our Westminster Parliament that is in a state of chaos: the social scene is also chaotic.

Pulling the Linchpin Out

The simple answer is that we have rejected the basic standard of truth, and therefore we have no yardstick by which to measure the changes in the value system upon which all our personal and corporate behaviour is based.

The linchpin that held the whole of our civilisation together was the Bible, regarded as the revealed word of God, the Creator of the universe. Basic biblical truth provided us with our personal and social values of faithfulness, integrity, loyalty and trustworthiness which determined our relationships with other people in our families, workplaces, neighbourhoods and nation. When you pull out the linchpin everything collapses; which is what we have done.

The bad news is that even more danger faces us because our chaotic Parliament has announced its intention to change the divorce laws – legalising ‘no-fault divorce’, which will have a devastating effect upon marriage and family stability in the nation.

The State of Marriage in Britain

A new analysis of national statistics data published last month shows that marriage is already in a bad way in Britain. Only half of today’s teenagers will get married, in spite of survey evidence showing that the vast majority of teens want to get married.¹

Marriage trends follow family tradition: where there is divorce or family breakdown in a family, the next generation usually follows the same example. Whereas 91% of women and 86% of men in their 60s have been married at some point in their lives, current research projects that only 57% of today’s teenage girls and 55% of teenage boys will marry.

The linchpin that held the whole of our civilisation together was the Bible, but this linchpin has been removed – and so everything is collapsing.

Marriage of under 25-year-olds has virtually disappeared. In 1970, 81% of women and 62% of men had married by the age of 25: today, only 8% of women and 4% of men have done so. Marriage before the age of 30 has fallen from 85% to 21% for men and from 91% to 30% for women.

In Defence of Marriage

Nevertheless, study after study shows that marriage is the only relationship that provides a stable, happy and successful family life for children. Couples who marry are significantly more likely to stay together than those who don’t. Marriage provides the best outcomes for children. Teenage self-esteem is boosted in families with married parents and this affects their education and life chances. Teenage mental health is best protected in families with married parents.

All other types of family, especially re-constituted families bringing together children from different relationships, negatively affect the mental health of children, especially teenagers. Even in intact families, having married parents (cf. cohabiting) has a unique protective value on the mental health of young people, especially teenage boys.

Despite all this massive evidence in favour of marriage, our confused politicians in this chaotic Parliament are likely to nod through with little informed debate this new legislation for ‘no-fault divorce’ (which is being welcomed almost universally in the press), making it easy for people to break their marriage vows of lifelong fidelity and commitment to each other.

But on the subject of finding fault, it is not just Brexit that has produced this Parliament of 650 individuals who cannot find any agreement with each other on the most fundamental issue affecting the future of the nation for decades to come. It is we as a nation, who elected them - and we as a nation have despised our biblical heritage, casting out truth from national life.

Marriage is already in a bad way in Britain – and the Government’s plans to introduce ‘no-fault divorce’ will only make things worse.

Time for Fresh Vision

But there is still a remnant of Bible-believing Christians scattered across the nation – many thousands meet regularly in small groups for prayer and Bible study.

This remnant has undoubtedly been galvanised by Brexit, but it is surely God’s intention to rouse, organise and strengthen us further, not only to fervent prayer but to make our voices heard and to declare Gospel truth into the nation, for the sake of our children and grandchildren and their future!

We need to catch a fresh vision for the testing season ahead, seeking the Lord for what each of us should be doing. If the remnant began by petitioning their MPs to vote against this diabolical divorce bill, it might make them start to think about the real issues in the nation!

Moreover, regarding Brexit, while the rest of Britain remains ‘in purgatory’, seemingly until October, what is the Lord calling believing Christians to do? Ought we to march on London demanding that our MPs fulfil the declared wish of the people? We certainly ought to be reminding ourselves just why Brexit is so worth defending (I warmly recommend my friend Nick Szkiler’s short film on this).

Action and Prayer

Now is the time for action, as well as for prayer! I am reminded of Jean Darnall’s vision of the myriad prayer groups across the nation as little lights shining in a dark place, gradually becoming brighter as they link together and as the darkness intensifies. The little lights become a great light shining across the nation that overcomes the darkness and brings light, truth and salvation to Britain – even flooding across to the continent of Europe.

Although I do believe that things are going to get darker for a season, I also believe Jean Darnall’s vision will one day be fulfilled, because God still has good purposes for Britain.

References

1 Benson, H. Unfulfilled aspirations: Half of teens will never marry. Marriage Foundation, March 2019. All subsequent statistics taken from this document.

Has God revealed a way forward for the nation?

Editorial introduction: While at Issachar Ministries’ recent prayer conference at The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire, our Editor-in-Chief received a word from the Lord about the spiritual significance of the DUP. This word has been written out in letter form and sent today to Prime Minister Theresa May. In the letter, she is asked to consider praying with the DUP MPs for a way forward for the nation.

We copy the main text below and ask for your prayers that its message will be received as the Lord intends.

***

Dear Prime Minister,

A certain man walked through a nearby field and discovered a jewel of immense value. He sold everything and raised funds to buy that field. That was a parable that Jesus told about the Kingdom of God (Matt 13:44). You, Prime Minister, have within your grasp the precious jewel that Jesus described: it is the 10 MPs in the DUP, who are all committed Christians. They represent the only province in the United Kingdom which has adhered steadfastly to biblical standards on life issues.

They are despised and rejected by many of their fellow MPs in the House of Commons. But God loves to use those who are considered of no account. He raises them up to use them for mighty miracles, as is told in many biblical accounts. Gideon, for example, said that he was the least in his tribe, itself low-ranked by all the others – yet he was used mightily to save his own nation.

In numerical terms the DUP may not have much political significance, yet they are pleasing in the sight of God for their determined stand for biblically-based values – the true ‘British values’ that once defined our entire nation. I believe that this is why they have been elevated to the position of influence within the Government that they now hold.

The DUP represent the only part of the United Kingdom that has rejected the relentless advance of secular humanism and defended family values, for instance by refusing to allow abortion to pollute the land with the blood of the innocent. Northern Ireland has seen more than its fair share of the shedding of innocent blood through the years of the Troubles that divided the community and wreaked havoc in so many families and individual lives. Maybe it is because they have seen so much bloodshed that they defend fiercely the right to life of unborn children, and resist steadfastly the pressure to conform to postmodernist standards that have become the new normal in the rest of the UK.

Prime Minister, whether or not you personally support all of their political decisions, your Christian upbringing will have given you a knowledge of the teaching of the Bible which the DUP openly and publicly try to uphold. They are the priceless jewel that is within your grasp – the values of the Kingdom of Heaven which this nation so desperately needs.

Their value may not be recognised by most of their fellow MPs, but if you were willing to invite them into your home to spend time praying with you, I believe that you would immediately find the answer to the most intractable problems that you face.

There is a way through that will enable you to deliver Brexit to the British people, to whom you are utterly devoted. The DUP – this little group of Bible-believing Christians – are your jewel in the crown, given to you at this time, I believe, to help you find a way forward. Their value to you and to the British nation is priceless.

I’m sure you know the many accounts in the Bible showing that God loves to use those deemed small and insignificant to carry out his greatest miracles. In that way he gets all the glory, as happened with Gideon’s 300 and when Jesus used five bread loaves to feed 5,000. But this has also happened more recently, as I well remember from my boyhood. Prime Minister Churchill acknowledged that in the face of certain defeat, with our troops stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, our nation was only saved by the hundreds of little boats who responded valiantly to the call to rescue our men, accomplishing what the big ships could not.

In the current impasse, you truly need a miracle. But you have available to you a little group of Bible-believing Christians who represent the voters of Northern Ireland. I believe they hold the key to the conundrum that has defeated the finest brains in our Parliament. They bring a divine element of revelation into a situation that otherwise seems impossible.

Please allow them to sit with you, to pray with you and to seek the way of the Lord, to break through the impasse that has paralysed Parliament for far too long, as you yourself have acknowledged. Only through prayer and the power of God can our nation move forward into a new and blessed future – and in this regard, this small group of Northern Ireland MPs can help you in ways that no-one else can.

Yours sincerely,

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Editor, Prophecy Today UK / Director, Issachar Ministries

Why at a time of genuine crisis, the Church is conveniently absent.

Our Editorial this week focuses on the contributions of the British Church to our present situation of national confusion, division and existential crisis. By all accounts, there is no united, biblical, prophetic message coming from Christian leaders at this time, though one is sorely needed.

Indeed, there is a strong case for laying the blame for Britain’s predicament (partially if not entirely) at the door of the Church. But how did we get to this point, and where do we go from here?

The furore over Brexit, as we often note on Prophecy Today, forms just one part of a broader, multi-pronged assault on the West’s Judeo-Christian foundations that is telling on nations on both sides of the Atlantic. But while the USA has a strong conservative evangelical wing, well-supported and well-financed, pushing back hard against secular humanism, here in Britain there is no similarly coherent defence of our heritage.

The Christian voice in this country has always been multiple and fractured, which explains why over the past century no united front has been rallied to combat the enemies at our gates. In fact, our gates have largely been left open and unguarded, so the enemy has walked right in and made himself at home.

Shallow Roots

I have been reminded this week that our sorry situation has a long history, going right back to the establishment (or disestablishment) of Anglicanism.¹

Historically speaking, with the notable exceptions of many outstanding individual clergy, theologians and congregants, the CofE’s shallow theological roots have left it unable to withstand the onslaught of centuries of secularisation, two world wars and the pernicious spread of liberal theology. Since the 18^th Century, whilst many revivals have taken place outside church walls, the CofE has gradually become crippled by unbelief and moral and theological incoherence.

Since the 18^th Century, whilst revivals have taken place outside church walls, the CofE has gradually become crippled by unbelief and moral and theological incoherence.

The objective, intellectual and public aspects of the faith have been undermined, tipping the emphasis towards the subjective, the experiential and the private. This has strengthened the notion, popular inside and outside the Church, that faith and politics should not mix and that Christianity should be confined to matters of inner wellbeing, not to the direction of the country.

Thus, the religion of secular humanism, with its false claims of impartiality, has been allowed to ascend to prominence in the public realm, replacing ‘Christendom’, while clergy have been hamstrung by a loss of confidence in their own message. Despite its immensely privileged position, our established Church has been so weakened and divided as to be prevented from speaking the Bible’s wisdom fully and fearlessly, with united voice, into public life.

Joining in the Arson

Canterbury Cathedral.

This loss of confidence in the truth and power of the Gospel has opened up the CofE to all sorts of weird and wonderful theologies and spiritual practices, from New Age labyrinths and meditation to multi-faith celebrations hosting Muslim calls to prayer and pantheistic songs praising Hindu deities.

Instead of using their authority to defend unborn children, the precious covenant of marriage, the authority of Scripture and the unique superiority of biblical ethics, many clergy have been occupied with preaching the green agenda, LGBTQ+ ideology and multi-faith ‘partnerships’. The Gospel has been exchanged for an entirely different message, reframing sin in terms of social and environmental injustice, virtue in terms of ‘tolerance’, and salvation in terms of social service or good works.

In these senses, the established Church is culpable for behaving as Nero legendarily did during the Fall of Rome. Even worse: it has grabbed a torch and joined in the arson.

Warning Signs

And so we arrive at today’s frankly absurd situation where helter-skelters and explicit films are now used in cathedrals to ‘start spiritual conversations’ while genuine evangelists are refused entry.² The CofE’s quest for relevance without the anchor of biblical truth has led it into deep irrelevance.

Tell-tale warning signs – nose-diving membership, worsening splits within the ‘Anglican Communion’ at home³ and abroad⁴ – are ignored or misunderstood. The present Archbishop of Canterbury was last seen appointing a clergyman with big question marks over his views about the resurrection⁵ to lead ecumenical relations with Rome, while the House of Bishops busies itself promoting open celebrations of transgenderism.

The established Church is culpable for behaving as Nero legendarily did during the Fall of Rome. Even worse: it has grabbed a torch and joined in the arson.

Given all this, it is hardly surprising that as the chaos of Brexit unfolds, the established Church is not found reprimanding the country with biblical warnings and reminding it of Gospel truths, but simply telling people to be nice to each other as they disagree and – oh yes – joining in the scaremongering about a ‘no deal’ Brexit.⁶

Other Denominations

It is easy to take aim at the CofE, but other denominations fare little better. The Methodist Church, URC, the Church of Scotland and other long-standing streams have also declined as a result of abandoning truth.

Meanwhile, the smaller networks of ‘new’ churches and the host of independent evangelical and/or charismatic churches that have exploded onto the scene during the last century have failed to galvanise a united prophetic voice to the nation. Many have become institutionalised and remain divided, with their own theological and spiritual problems. Most notably, Replacement Theology has infected churches of all streams, which is not a recipe for right interpretations of Scripture nor for receiving God’s blessing.

So, while there are many instances of individually faithful congregations and leaders, the charge of losing confidence in the truth of Scripture and accepting ‘a different Jesus, a different Spirit and a different Gospel’ (2 Cor 11:4) applies far more widely than just to the CofE – which explains why so many faithful believers today find themselves isolated, unable to find a Bible-believing church.

What Next?

A bleak situation, then. But as we observed last summer with the series ‘Our Book of Remembrance’, God has long had his eye on Britain, blessing and reviving us many times in the past, despite our failures. We do not believe that God has finished with Britain, nor that he is unable to achieve his purposes through-and-despite our splintered, unfaithful, indecisive Church.

What, then, is next? We can all pray for prophetic voices to be raised up to speak Gospel truths into the public realm, but what is also needed is for the faithful remnant to be united and strengthened, for they are currently scattered and divided. For the task ahead, God will need true unity of spirit and purpose, and of brotherly fellowship, to be displayed by his people.

The true ‘ekklesia’ in Britain is no doubt a patchwork collective drawn from many different denominations, as well as prayer groups, house fellowships, isolated believers and new converts. Thankfully, God is more than able to stitch us together in him, by the work of the Holy Spirit, through the prayers of the saints. As one member⁷ of Prophecy Today’s new Facebook community observed this week:

The one very encouraging sign amidst all the confusion and division among both politicians and the public at large, and amidst all the horrendous scare-mongering and media bias on our TV screens and newspapers on an almost hourly basis – is the fact that a good number of Christians all over the country have sensed in their spirits the absolute necessity of being watchmen & women on the walls at this time, interceding before God in heaven for this desperate nation of ours. God IS our only hope in the days ahead, and we cry to Him for mercy. In the beautiful opening words of a revival hymn written by the late Rev Alex Muir of Inverness,

Lord, have mercy on our country
Turn our hearts to You again,
Though we’ve grieved Your Holy Spirit
By our deeds of sin and shame

Though our sins rise like a dark cloud
May our prayers rise even higher
Pleading for divine forgiveness
Pleading for the Heavenly fire.

References

1 See Phillips, M, The World Turned Upside Down, chapter 16 for a useful summary.

2 Exclusive: Evangelical ‘banned’ by Derby Cathedral receives widespread support. Christian Institute, 6 December 2018.

3 Davies, M. More than 100 Oxford clergy criticise bishops’ LGBTI guidance. Church Times, 9 January 2019.

4 E.g. see here.

5 See here and here.

6 See here and here.

7 Tom Lennie, re-printed with permission.