Why has God blessed Britain so much?

As we bring our short series to an end it is clear that we have barely scratched the surface of what God has done for Britain.

When God cut a covenant with Abraham, that he would be the father of many nations, and even when Jesus suffered on the Cross, making the New Covenant available to the whole world, it nevertheless remained hidden just how much God would do for nations such as ours. Yet history is full of testaments to God’s loving kindness towards the people of the British Isles.

But why have we chosen to write a book of remembrance, echoing Malachi 3:16?

Pleasing God Through Obedience

One reason is that we learn from the Book of Malachi that it pleased God for the people of Judah to recall his goodness to them (Mal 3:16-18). So, surely our remembrances might please God today in the same way – it is a good thing to do at any time.

Secondly, remembering is a principle built into the yearly cycle of the Feasts of the Lord. For example, at Passover deliverance from Egypt is remembered, which in New Covenant terms brings remembrance of the Lord’s sacrifice for sin – “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Quite simply, if we do not remember, then we will forget.

History is full of testaments to God’s loving kindness towards the people of the British Isles.

Thirdly, we live in days of great decline from the ways of God, particularly in Britain. In such days we can easily meditate only on the negative aspects of our times. Remembering God’s help in times past can give us a balanced perspective and, indeed, kindle our hope again, leading to thankfulness and renewed prayer:

Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)

Fourthly, we live in a generation where more and more people, especially the young, have little knowledge of what God has done for us in the past. They must be taught.

Understanding His Deeper Purposes

But I think there is also another reason, deeper down, to be understood. As we set out all that God has done and consider it in prayer before him, we may find that he grants us a new perspective on what he is doing now, today.

God is always moving forward in fulfilment of his covenant promises. Historically, Britain has been greatly used as part of this – as a base for sending forth the Gospel message around the world, and also in helping to fulfil God’s purposes for Israel – working to prevent satan from annihilating the Jewish race in World War II, and participating (albeit imperfectly) in enabling the Jews to re-establish the land of Israel.

If we can understand some deeper reasons behind the blessings God bestowed upon Britain, we might wake up to what he is doing in our day.

As we consider what God has done for us in the past, we may find that he grants us a new perspective on what he is doing now, today.

As the nations fall into disarray, having had 2,000 years of opportunity for hearing the Gospel, the scene is set for God’s final plans for Israel to be fulfilled prior to the return of the Messiah. To put the past in perspective might enable us to understand where the time-clock of covenant history is now, so that we might participate in rather than oppose the work of God today.

Would God be pleased with us if, in our Bible study and prayer groups, we spent some more time recalling past blessings and asking him to show us how to prepare for and pray concerning the future? I think this is the deeper reason why we have been led to begin writing our Book of Remembrance.

This is the final instalment in our short summer series 'Our Book of Remembrance'. You can read the rest of the series by clicking here.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Israel’s Anointing’ by Sandra Teplinsky (Chosen Books, 2008).

Sandra Teplinsky’s book ‘Why Still Care About Israel’ was reviewed previously on Prophecy Today and highly recommended. Now we feature her other main book of this kind, ‘Israel’s Anointing’.

The book, subtitled ‘Your Inheritance and End-Time Destiny through Israel’, aims to prepare God’s people for the closing events of this age (and beyond) by providing insights into God’s heart and purpose for Israel and how these apply to us personally as individual believers in Jesus.

Messianic Understanding

In the author’s own words, “the chapters build on each other, taking us from the ancient paths into the prophetic future” (p17).

Two of the chapters focus on single books – Ruth and Song of Songs, respectively. Chapter 3 uses the story of Ruth to illustrate the mystery of Jew and Gentile as ‘one new man’ and the recent unprecedented move of the Spirit, destined to increase in the coming years, that is causing a “global rejoining of Gentile to Jewish believers in Messiah” (p40). Chapter 4 features the Song of Songs to emphasise that Jesus is coming for a Bride.

The next two chapters are particularly impressive as Teplinsky explores two key themes, Sabbath rest and Torah. The chapter on the Sabbath contains many useful insights. Rather than just being a repeat of familiar arguments, we are given a feel for the importance and potential impact of a Sabbath rest.

Teplinsky aims to prepare God’s people for the closing events of this age by providing insights into God’s heart and purpose for Israel and how these apply to us personally.

Her explanation of the role of Torah is one of the highlights of the book. Here is a brilliant exposition set within the context of the covenants. The level of understanding that comes through these pages is perhaps one that only a Messianic Jew can provide.

The Physical and the Spiritual

Chapter 8, ‘From Zion’s Battlegrounds’, is a fascinating description of the military pressures and battles that Israel faces, especially over Jerusalem. Teplinsky’s proposition is that we can only properly understand the physical warfare once we have grasped the nature and intensity of satan’s heavenly rebellion against the God of Israel.

She convincingly explores the link between what Israel has to face on the ground and what the Church faces in terms of spiritual warfare. “The Israeli Defence Forces have been called to fight battles in the natural that both prefigure and reflect battles the Church is called to fight in the supernatural” (p136). As Christians often don’t see these supernatural battles or feel called to engage in them, they remain largely unaware of the real aspects of ‘Zion’s battlegrounds’.

One interesting extra detail is Teplinsky’s link between the role of women in the IDF and that of women in the Church as intercessors. Whatever reaction this might cause amongst her readers, the whole chapter is nevertheless well expressed and thought out.

Encouragement to Stand Firm

In later chapters Teplinsky focuses on aspects of Jesus’ return and its aftermath. She maintains a steady position based upon a straightforward reading of the biblical texts. Jesus will set up a Messianic Millennial Kingdom in line with that of his role as the fulfiller of the Davidic covenant. Righteousness and peace will ensue and the earth will be progressively restored.

Teplinsky’s proposition is that we can only properly understand the physical warfare once we have grasped the nature and intensity of satan’s heavenly rebellion against the God of Israel.

The planet will be in tremendous need of rehabilitation after the havoc wreaked by the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation, and “resurrected saints will play a thrilling role in overseeing the millennial operation” (p166). Without trying to explain every detail of this, we are simply encouraged to stand firm to the end in order to have a part in this eternal destiny.

The book concludes with an extensive bibliography, end notes and index. Overall it succeeds in its aim of providing insights into God’s purposes for Israel and how individual believers can engage with this. It will enable both Gentile and Jewish believers to grow in maturity and come together as ‘one new man’ in Messiah.

'Israel’s Anointing' (215 pages, paperback) is available from Amazon for £7.99.

Divine deliverance during World War II.

Continuing our ‘Book of Remembrance’ looking back on God’s faithfulness to Britain through the ages, this week we dwell on instances of divine intervention in our nation during times of conflict and threat.

Alongside David Longworth’s article on the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, it is also important to remember God’s intervention in World War II, not a century ago – a topic on which we often reflect on Prophecy Today, not least because it laid the groundwork for the re-establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 – the most important prophetic fulfilment of our times.

For example, both Dr Clifford Hill and David Longworth have discussed the miracles which allowed the safe rescue of British troops from Dunkirk in 1940, after the King called the nation to prayer and repentance. Thousands assembled outside packed churches to intercede for the Lord’s help, with thanksgiving and rejoicing in the aftermath also turning into intercession for deliverance in what became known as the Battle of Britain. You can read these articles here:

• The Miracle of Dunkirk (Dr Clifford Hill)
  
• Dunkirk: Divine Deliverance (David Longworth)
  

We have also been alerted recently to a leaflet featuring testimonies about God’s intervention from six of the most senior figures of the War. The Wartime Miracles leaflet is currently being circulated around UK churches by the Strengthen the Faithful team as part of a campaign “to give true Christians hope, encouragement and reassurance, which is so greatly needed in these unsettling and frightening times.”¹

Elsewhere on Prophecy Today, David Longworth has written about the lesser known Allied victory at El-Alamein (Egypt) in 1942, also preceded by a national day of prayer, which marked a turning point in the war and prevented the Nazi genocide of Jews in both Egypt and Palestine. You can read David’s article here:

• The Battles of El Alamein: Prayer and the Sovereignty of God
  

Finally, of course, these and many other points of divine intervention in the war were accompanied by faithful intercession from British Christians, especially at the Bible College in Wales, where students were led in fervent prayer by Rees Howells. This spiritual warfare has been mentioned many times on Prophecy Today, but we recommend particularly the following article by Dr Clifford Denton about how the Swansea intercessors supported the re-birthing of Israel:

• Israel Re-Born: the Fruit of Prayer
  

May God be praised as we give thanks for his marvellous action on our behalf in times past – and may we be inspired to give ourselves afresh to prayer for our otherwise helpless nation. The Lord has not finished with Britain yet!

Notes

1 Free paper copies of this leaflet can be obtained by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., stating ‘Wartime Miracles’ in the subject line.

Passion for the Gospel must be our motive in spiritual warfare.

My recent visit to the birthplace of the Welsh Revival has prompted me to add a third reflection on that great movement – with particular reference to the ministry of Rees Howells, whose biography I have recently rediscovered; a veritable treasure half-hidden on our bookshelves.¹

Rees was a product of the 1904 revival whose influence spread across the globe, but is perhaps best remembered for the intercessions he led during World War II which, in the opinion of many, probably did more for Allied victory than any amount of military firepower.

But when Rees and his Bible College students fought the great battles of the war on their knees, it wasn’t just for our freedom. Their prime motivation was to clear obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel, because Hitler’s regime blocked the path to fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission.

Not only was the Nazis’ atheistic ideology the very antithesis of Christianity, but the upheaval of ongoing war would continue to distract people everywhere from a consideration of their soul’s destiny.

Clear Scriptural Goal

And because the Swansea college’s chief concern was for the Gospel, they were also greatly burdened for the Jewish people, who were under threat of genocide. After all, the gospel is “to the Jew first…” (Rom 1:16). And if the Jews were destroyed, they could never be restored to their ancient land as the prophets had predicted, and Jesus could not return, for the Bible clearly states that the Jews must be back in the Holy Land before this happens (see Zech 12-14).

Rees and his students fought the great battles of the war on their knees – not just for our freedom, but to clear obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel.

The college company, however, knew what must take place (it is so important that Christians are familiar with scriptural prophecy) and thus had confidence to pray for victory as the Holy Spirit led them.

Their prayers during the Battle of Britain, for example, were informed by a very clear scriptural goal: “Every creature is to hear the gospel; Palestine is to be regained by the Jews; and the Saviour is to return.”²

An illustration of the influence of the Welsh Revival on the United Kingdom is among exhibits at the Moriah Chapel, the church where it all began in October 1904. Photo: Linda GardnerLaying Their Lives Down

Time and again the German forces were on the point of winning crucial battles when, quite inexplicably, the tide suddenly turned – and the only reasonable explanation was that God must have intervened miraculously in response to prayer.

These Bible students were laying down their lives as much as those young men at the front. From the time of Dunkirk, through the rest of the war years, the entire college (about 100 strong) prayed every evening from 7 o’clock to midnight, with only a brief interval for supper, in addition to an hour-long prayer meeting every morning, and very often at midday.

Passionate Young People

I have already mentioned how the Welsh Revival was ignited (humanly speaking) by passionate young people determined for God to come down and use them as his instruments.

Tragically, few of the UK’s young generation have even heard the Gospel, but among the few are outstanding men and women whom God has already touched, and the mantle is falling on them to usher in a new era of radical Christianity, filling the vacuum created by the hopeless, lifeless and meaningless ideologies of secular-humanism.

Will they be up for the task? Remember Gideon, who only needed 300 men to defeat the enemy, and young David – the anointed ancestor of Messiah Jesus – who required just a single well-aimed stone to slay an intimidating giant. I have met, come to know and even work with some passionate young people who are up for the fight.

These Bible students were laying down their lives as much as those young men at the front.

Just as the 1939-45 battles were fought chiefly by young men, so must the spiritual warfare for our nation be fought in the main by millennials.

If we are to pray for nations, we must first have the kind of passion for individual souls that Rees possessed in bucket-loads; he would fast and pray for a tramp, or drunkard, or village trouble-maker until he had gained victory – however long it took. He also learned to walk by faith for every move he made, refusing to make his financial needs known, trusting God for every penny. In the case of the Bible College, he began with just two shillings and saw God send him £125,000 (the equivalent of millions in today’s money) over the next 14 years.

In 1915 he and his wife Elizabeth went out to Africa as missionaries and witnessed marvellous revivals, accompanied by extraordinary healings, blazing a trail for a future student, Reinhard Bonnke, who would see millions drawn into the kingdom through his huge rallies across the continent.

Even the Queen of Swaziland came to faith. Rees reported: “I told her that God had one Son, and he gave him to die for us; and we had one son, and had left him to tell the people of Africa about God. She was very much affected by hearing that my wife and I loved her people more than we loved our own son.”³

The Bible says: “Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37). It’s that sort of commitment to which we are called.

Same Battles Today

Some of the issues that burdened the intercessors at Swansea are very similar to those we are faced with today. Anti-Semitism is once again raising its ugly head all over the planet, though no longer led by Nazis but by an unholy alliance between the hard left and fanatical Islamists. Are we going to let these tyrannical groups complete what Hitler failed ultimately to achieve – the destruction of the Jewish race and of civilisation as we know it?

Those wartime intercessors prayed Israel back into their own land, where they would be safe. But now the 70-year-old Jewish state is surrounded by implacable enemies bent on their annihilation. And even in Britain their future is threatened as a potential Prime Minister is apparently unable to deal with anti-Jewish sentiment in his party.

If we are to pray for nations, we must first have a burning passion for individual souls.

How can we forget? We hold Holocaust Memorials every year so successive generations will learn from history, but it cuts no ice with God-haters. The reason they despise the Jews is because they reject the God who has chosen them as the apple of his eye. He is, after all, the God of Israel, whom we Christians also worship. He wrote the Law on how to live – summed up in the Ten Commandments – at Mt Sinai. But the brave new world has replaced it with an ideology that makes our genes responsible for bad behaviour.

We are no longer categorised as either male or female, but there are now some 70 other ways to identify our gender – all of which makes Alice in Wonderland sound positively sane. No wonder we are faced with a shattering breakdown of family life along with a vicious attack on the sanctity of life and sexual morality.

But the word of God teaches that we are born sinners whose natural tendency to rebel needs dealing with. This was achieved by Jesus on the Cross, where he took the full punishment for our sins, paying for it with his blood. God’s own precious Son chose to die in our place so that we would not perish, but inherit eternal life.

The devil tries every trick to prevent us from acknowledging our deep need of life, love, hope and peace which can only be found at the Cross.

Sharpening Our Vision

When, as a Church and nation, we recover a passion for the Gospel as the only means of mending our broken society and restoring truth and righteousness to our once great country, then I’m sure revival will follow.

Most Western Christians have only a blurred vision of what the Gospel stands for, but our focus must be sharpened to the point where we are prepared to lay our lives on the altar for its truth, and for the freedom to proclaim it on our streets, in our prisons, in our churches, and in our schools and universities.

With such a sharpened vision, we will also gain a fresh understanding of God’s great end-time purpose for the Jews and be better prepared for the return of our Lord to this troubled world. Come, Lord Jesus!

Notes

1 I am indebted to Rees Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb (published by Lutterworth Press) for much of the background to this article.

2 Quoting the prayer journal entry for 14 September, 1940.

3 Samuel was brought up by Rees’s uncle and aunt, and later succeeded his father as Bible College Director.

‘There is no occupation', Arab pastor tells shocked young tourists

An international group of millennials have seen the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a new light after engaging with both sides – and being shocked by what they discovered.

A party of 11 young people from seven nations were brought together for the chance to understand issues from the point of view of those living there.

They were deliberately not primed to view things from any particular perspective in order to allow them to form their own conclusions through interviews and talks with representatives of both Israelis and Palestinians.

Their three-week trip was recorded on film for a feature-length documentary called Quest 4 Truth, now available on YouTube.

It was produced by Generation 2 Generation, a UK-based organisation founded by Andrew, Daniella and Daphne Kirk committed to inspiring the next generation with an uncompromising passion for Jesus and the Gospel.

Impact of Social Media

The group – from Germany, the USA, the UK, Norway, Japan, Brazil and South Africa – were introduced to community leaders in the Palestinian territories as well as in Israel itself.

Not surprisingly, most of them are strongly influenced by social media which generally portrays a narrative of Israel as big bullies of an oppressed people. Media bias had shaped their perception of the conflict, and they were profoundly shocked to discover that the truth was very different.

“I’ve been lied to,” said one. “You realise how false these stories are,” said another.

The Deputy Mayor of Bethlehem, Essam Juha, was forced to explain why a swastika was inscribed into the fabric of the hotel where they met him. He said it was because Israel had humiliated nations in the same way they had been treated.

“It was so hard for me to keep a straight face”, said Marlea, from New Orleans. “How dare they make that comparison [with the Holocaust]?”

Media bias had shaped the millennials’ perception of the conflict, and they were profoundly shocked to discover that the truth was very different.

After hearing how Palestinians see the Israelis as occupiers of their land, they were taken aback by the response of Arab pastor Naim Khoury, who asked: “What occupation?” And as he turned towards the windows, he added: “Where is the occupation? We are completely under the Palestinian Authority.”

The point was further brought home by a member of the group, who observed: “I have not seen one IDF [Israeli Defence Force] soldier, or Israeli flag.”

They also learnt that the throwing of rocks – and even Molotov cocktails – at Israeli soldiers is seen by Fatah, the PA’s ruling party, as non-violent activity.

Visiting ‘the Wall’

A further learning curve involved meeting Col Danny Tirza, architect of Israel’s notorious security barrier built to keep out terrorists, who said he wanted to be the first to begin taking it down when peace finally came. But in the meantime the murder rate from terrorism had been cut by 90%.

He said that those whose land had been split by the wall – only five per cent of which is concrete, the rest being a much more discreet wire fence – are offered compensation, but refuse to accept it for fear of being labelled collaborators.

Graffiti on the wall betrays the true ambition of Palestinian agitators, with a map showing all of geographical Israel as theirs. They have no wish to share the land, or establish a state beside Israel. They want all of it.

As historian Dr Michael Brown put it: “If the Palestinians put down their weapons there’d be no more war; if Israel put down their weapons, there’d be no more Israel.”

An ex-IDF soldier said: “They use our moral standards against us.” As an example, he explained how a terrorist suspect fled to a crowded residential area, knowing they wouldn’t open fire if civilians were at risk. And when the military had the place surrounded, the fugitive duly appeared on the roof in a bid to escape, at which point they shot him in the leg. But while supporting medics were bandaging him up, the soldiers were pelted with huge rocks. Israelis risk death because of the great value they place on life.

Israelis risk death because of the great value they place on life.

The youngsters hear from Israeli-supporting Stand with Us representative Shevy Kass on a visit to Sderot.Evidence of Apartheid?

Further observations on the Palestinians included – “They are victims of their own hatred” and “They are suffering a lot because of radical people in their community.”

In the southern city of Sderot, meanwhile, a rocket-proof playground has had to be built for children so that when sirens warn of regular incoming missiles from Hamas in nearby Gaza, the kids have an immediate bolt-hole.

The group also visited Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum where a tearful young British woman, Megan, was visibly shocked by the way her country – in charge of the region then known as Palestine – closed the doors to Jews trying to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. And on the question of Israel practising apartheid – a charge widely disseminated by the liberal left – she added: “I haven’t seen any evidence of it.”

Dr Brown emphasised the need for Israel’s self-defence by saying that anti-Semitism levels are as high now as they were immediately before the Holocaust. A Brazilian member added: “I believe the biggest reason for anti-Semitism is lack of knowledge.” And a German youth said: “The greatest enemy of anti-Semitism is the truth.”

Watch the full documentary by clicking here (Christian version) or here (non-Christian version).

The row has turned into a crisis.

You could be forgiven for missing it, because it has been all-but-buried by Brexit drama and limited mainstream news coverage. But Labour’s anti-Semitism row has resurfaced this week with vicious intensity – and is threatening to tear the Party apart.

Various explosive exposés in recent years have made the nation painfully aware that Labour has a deep-rooted anti-Semitism problem.

Now, as if things could get any worse, a furore has erupted because the Party has dared to create its own definition of anti-Semitism which waters down the international standard – effectively institutionalising its own anti-Semitic behaviour.¹

Seeing Red

Last week, a Labour sub-committee backed the diluted definition over the full International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition, which is widely accepted as an international standard and embraced by the UK Government, the CPS, the police and many local councils.

Predictably, Labour’s watered down version omits several specific examples of anti-Semitic behaviour to do with Israel, an area of discourse which has been a notorious sticking-point for the Party under Jeremy Corbyn and which today represents the main conduit for Western anti-Semitic attitudes and behaviour.²

The sub-committee’s decision sparked a huge backlash from MPs and provoked an unprecedented letter from 68 British rabbis, published in The Guardian over last weekend, urging Labour leaders to “listen to the Jewish community” and adopt the full IHRA definition.³ Hours later, the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, weighed in with the same message.⁴ On Monday night, a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party (with the noted absence of Corbyn) rebelled against the sub-committee, voting overwhelmingly to accept the IHRA definition in full.⁵

Labour’s watered down definition of anti-Semitism omits several specific examples of anti-Semitic behaviour to do with Israel, a notorious sticking-point for the Party under Corbyn.

Despite all this, Labour’s governing body, the National Executive Committee, upheld the amended definition on Tuesday, without recourse to a vote and with the full support of Corbyn, who was present. During the meeting, which was marked by bitter exchanges, NEC member Pete Willsman told the room that “Some of the people in the Jewish community are Trump fanatics – I’ll take no lectures from them” and rejected the open letter from the 68 rabbis by declaring their message “simply false”.⁶

Afterwards, a furious Dame Margaret Hodge – veteran Jewish Labour MP – saw red and approached Corbyn behind the Speaker’s Chair during the Commons votes on Brexit, reportedly calling him “an anti-Semitic racist” and adding, “It is not what you say but what you do, and by your actions you have shown you are an anti-Semitic racist.”⁷

Now, remarkably facing disciplinary action by the Party, Hodge has defended her actions in a Guardian article further laying into the Opposition Leader.⁸ A rally was held in Parliament Square on Thursday evening, and a number of Jewish MPs are said to be considering quitting the Party altogether.⁹

Willing Blindness

Having shattered Labour’s reputation as an anti-racist, pro-tolerance Party, Corbyn and his inner circle are stumping both MPs and ordinary citizens by remaining steadfastly committed to fostering this one particular brand of racism within Party ranks, blowing every possible opportunity to make amends with British Jews.

But, as Jewish author and blogger Melanie Phillips obligingly notes, Jeremy Corbyn is not the cause of Labour’s anti-Semitism problem – he is a result of it.¹⁰ For the anti-Semitism that embattles Labour today actually pervades the entire left wing of the political spectrum, being a natural consequence of its wholesale commitment to Palestinianism.

Corbyn and his inner circle have shattered Labour’s reputation as an anti-racist, pro-tolerance Party.

Through a potent cocktail of godless, anti-biblical ‘isms’ - postmodernism, secularism, humanism and liberalism - the left has blinded itself to the fact that Palestinianism is a fundamentally anti-Semitic endeavour that one cannot support meaningfully without eventually getting drawn into the same attitudes.

Yet, ironically, those subscribing to left-wing secular humanism consider themselves to be paragons of virtue, incapable of racism: always standing in solidarity with the oppressed. That is why Corbyn cannot even admit fully to the Party’s anti-Semitism problem: he genuinely cannot see it. Or, even worse, he can see it, and doesn’t care - or explains it away – because he patently agrees with its underlying premises.

Spiritual Battle

Thankfully, this blindness has not descended fully on MPs or ordinary Labour supporters, among whom there is now new opportunity to highlight the roots of this nightmare in a rejection of the God of the Bible. For, contrary to popular opinion, anti-Semitism is not a racism like any other, but is actually a demonic backlash against God, his chosen Land, people and covenant purposes. Not even Melanie Phillips quite grasps its true, spiritual nature - which is why it is ‘the longest hatred’, repeatedly raising its head around the world and throughout history, refusing to die.

How people align themselves in this spiritual battle – whether or not they even know it is there – places them on one side or the other of a promise made by God some 4,000 years ago, recorded in the Book of Genesis, that “Those who bless [Israel] will themselves be blessed, but those who curse [Israel] will be cursed” (Gen 12:3).

It is the outworking of this very promise today that is causing such division and strife in the Labour Party. Truly, Jerusalem is a cup of reeling that makes the nations stagger (Zech 12:2). Systematically siding with Israel’s enemies and behaving in a way which evidences his commitment to her ultimate annihilation, Corbyn has placed Labour under a curse – which will undoubtedly affect the entire nation should he ever ascend to the office of Prime Minister.

Corbyn has placed Labour under a curse – which will undoubtedly affect the entire nation should he ever ascend to the office of Prime Minister.

House on Sand

Mercifully, most people can still recognise that something has gone fundamentally wrong with the Labour Party, even if they don’t understand why. There is now fresh opportunity for multitudes to be challenged to think about the ‘why’: why a Party so devoted to ‘inclusivity’, ‘tolerance’ and ‘anti-racism’ is manifesting the exact opposite behaviour.

We can pray that God will use their wonderings to open their eyes, to see that the ideological house of the liberal left – in which the vast majority of our politicians now shelter - has been built not on rock, but on sand.

How both MPs and ordinary citizens respond to this current storm will fundamentally shape the future for British Jews and indeed for the entire nation – perhaps as much as or even more than Brexit. As for those in Britain who have committed themselves to Israel’s destruction,

Make them like tumbleweed, my God,

like chaff before the wind.

As fire consumes the forest

or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

so pursue them with your tempest

and terrify them with your storm.

Cover their faces with shame, LORD,

so that they will seek your name.

May they ever be ashamed and dismayed;

may they perish in disgrace.

Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD-

that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83:13-18)

References

1 Phillips, M. Institutionalising antisemitism in the British Labour Party. 20 July 2018.

2 Under Labour’s definition, calling Jews Nazis or Israel an ‘apartheid’ state could be permissible.

3 The 68 are said to represent 30,000 British Jewish households, from ultra-progressives through to haredi Orthodox. This show of unity is exceptional. See also, 68 rabbis from across UK Judaism sign unprecedented letter condemning Labour antisemitism. The Jewish Chronicle, 16 July 2018.

4 Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis writes unprecedented letter, warning Labour not to send 'message of contempt' to Jews. The Jewish Chronicle, 17 July 2018.

5 Labour MPs defy party leadership, vote to back IHRA definition of antisemitism. The Jewish Chronicle, 16 July 2018.

6 Labour rejects full IHRA antisemitism definition - but is accused of 'fudge' for pledging review. The Jewish Chronicle, 17 July 2018.

7 Stewart, H and Elgot, J. Labour MP labels Corbyn an 'antisemite' over party's refusal to drop code. The Guardian, 17 July 2018.

8 Hodge, M. I was right to confront Jeremy Corbyn over Labour’s antisemitism. The Guardian, 18 July 2018. 

9 Proctor, K. Jewish MPs may quit Labour as row grows over anti-Semitism. Evening Standard, 19 July 2018.

10 Phillips, M. Giddy at their boldness – but Corbyn didn’t cause Labour antisemitism. He’s its product. 30 March 2018. 

Christians are running to declare their support for Jews.

Welsh Christians are taking to the mountains for which their country is famous to declare their support for embattled Israel and British-based Jews.

Led by former Israeli Defence Force commander Matan Dansker, members and supporters of the Fathers House Sabbath Congregation in Shotton, Deeside, will participate in an 8km run along the beautiful Clwydian Range in North Wales with persecuted Christians also in mind.

Fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isa 52:7), it follows a similar event last year and will be part of a weekend of activities from 3-5 August at which Mr Dansker, who fought in Gaza, will speak about what is happening in the Jewish state.

Congregational leader Michael Fryer is determined to respond to the rising hatred of Jews in the UK, where the official opposition Labour Party has adopted a watered-down definition of anti-Semitism.

He said: “This is of great concern to us all, so we are highlighting the issues faced by the Jewish community here along with the anti-Israel rhetoric – and an Israeli flag will again be flown at the highest point on the mountain.”

He adds: “Christians are also facing unprecedented persecution in many Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries with mass slaughter and rape being reported in Nigeria. At the same time, the basic tenets of our Judeo-Christian faith are being eroded even here in the UK where Christians are being prosecuted for refusing to comply with immoral practices.

“Fathers House stands shoulder to shoulder with the Jewish community in the UK and we support a number of charitable programmes in Israel. We also support pastors and orphanages in India and Myanmar [Burma] and will hear from those directly involved with these initiatives during this gathering. We will also have a video link with an orphanage in Myanmar during which our children will share with their counterparts in song and drama.”

For more information, see www.fathershouse.wales – details of the run’s location will be given out on request to those wishing to take part, whether running or walking.

Photos of last year's run. Left: runners celebrate their achievement. Right: cheerleaders encourage competitors.

A world shaken by earthquakes and violence can soon expect the Prince of Peace

As the Western world wobbles, rumblings of earthquakes are sending out worrying signals in Israel. The two are connected, I believe.

A quick succession of quakes have rocked parts of Galilee, significantly the region where Jesus lived and conducted much of his earth-shaking ministry which changed the world forever.

He warned that his coming again would be preceded by a number of signs including strange weather patterns – and particularly an increase in earthquakes comparable to the onset of birth pains on a pregnant woman (Matt 24:7f). As they become more frequent and severe, we will know his coming is near.

It so happens that a very big one is due in Israel, according to geologists. When a 6.5 magnitude quake struck Galilee in 1837, it killed up to 7,000 people.¹

The Prophet Zechariah actually predicts that a devastating quake will accompany the return of the Messiah to Jerusalem. So we could be witnessing the closing stages of the present age. Are we ready to face the Judge of all mankind? Are we presiding over righteous laws?

The Bible Criminalised

Here in Britain, freedoms won at great cost are being jettisoned in favour of a new intolerance of those who hold the biblical views on which the country’s great institutions were founded.

You couldn’t make it up, but a man was arrested for reading the Bible outside St Paul’s Cathedral (apparently at the instigation of staff there)² where, nearly 500 years ago, the Bishop of London burnt copies of the Bible in protest at the effrontery of William Tyndale in daring to translate God’s word into a language we could all understand (i.e. not Latin). Tyndale was later burnt at the stake, with St Paul’s staff again implicated in this travesty of justice.

We could be witnessing the closing stages of the present age. Are we ready to face the Judge of all mankind?

The man recently arrested was simply reading aloud the King James Bible, virtually the same as the one for which Tyndale was martyred – 80% of the King James New Testament is Tyndale’s work.

It would seem that this incident is related to a case in Bristol early last year concerning the arrest of a street preacher when a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer told magistrates that publicly quoting from the King James Bible “in the context of modern British society must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter”.

It is against this background that Christian charity Barnabas Fund is campaigning to ‘Turn the Tide’ against the erosion of religious freedom and calling for a new law to protect it.

Violence and Chaos

Before returning from a visit to the capital earlier this week, I picked up a copy of the London Evening Standard³ and was greeted with the front page headline ‘How do we turn the tide?’ – referring to the latest teenage victim of the violence which has swept the city in recent months.

This is another sign of the end times. For Jesus also said: “Just as it was in the days of Noah [which were marked by violence], so will it be in the days of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26).

As the paper launched a special investigation into its causes, they are discovering – surprise, surprise – that its roots lie in what police call ‘adverse child experiences’ (ACEs). In other words, in the home, which is what many of us have been saying for decades.

The home is the breeding ground either for good or for evil, which is why it is so important for legislators to place the welfare of the family above all else. But instead the family is under severe attack from all sides.

But there is hope, according to a recent survey⁴ which found, among other things, that teenagers now enjoy spending more time with family. It certainly seems that they are crying out for meaning and purpose; for something bigger than themselves.

The home is the breeding ground either for good or for evil.

Suicide is another big killer among the young, fuelled in part by the superficial hedonism encouraged by the media which soon enough leaves its victims feeling empty and worthless. Violence is even perpetrated on a massive scale in the so-called interests of ‘health’ – nine million babies have been butchered before birth since the Abortion Act was passed more than 50 years ago. And we call ourselves civilised.

Peace, or War?

In addressing the protest against President Trump’s visit to Britain, Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “I wish to live in a world of peace, not of war.”⁵ Quite apart from the hypocrisy of such a statement from someone who has referred to terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah as ‘friends’ and has failed to effectively deal with anti-Semitism in his own party, it betrays extreme naivety. After all, Mr Trump managed to get the world’s most feared dictator to the negotiating table. Was that not a gesture of peace?

Yes, we all want peace, and it is possible, but only through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Yet there is a paradox here which needs to be understood. Jesus came as the long prophesied Prince of Peace (see Isa 9:6) who would ultimately bring war to an end at his second appearance when people “will beat their swords into ploughshares” (Isa 2:4).

But he also came as one who divides. “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt 10:34). This was a warning that choosing him would cause division even among families because he stands as the ultimate test of whether you are for or against God. He is God come in the flesh. Those who are for God choose him; those who are against God reject him, leaving them as enemies of both God and his disciples.

Jesus came as the long prophesied Prince of Peace who will ultimately bring war to an end, but he also came as one who divides.

And yet he has bridged the gap between sinful man and a holy God by taking the punishment for sin we all deserve. God the Father has heaped all our sins on him so that we can enter his presence free of sin, and at peace with both God and man.

In addition, the barrier of hostility between Jew and Gentile has been broken at the cross where Jesus died; that is where you will find true peace among men. It is no fairy-tale; I have seen both Jew and Arab embracing one another in reconciliation through their common love for Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, after discovering what he has done for them at the Cross (see Eph 2:14-18).

True Security

Meanwhile, as Israeli residents – especially in Galilee – watch out for further ground movements with a degree of trepidation, we are reminded of what the Prophet Haggai reports the Lord Almighty as saying: “In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations [the Messiah] will come, and I will fill this house with glory” (Hag 2:6f).

The New Testament Letter to the Hebrews reminds its hearers of this word, adding: “The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain” (Heb 12:26f).

The world around us is tottering. But are we secure? Are we living in a world which cannot be shaken because of our absolute trust in the Lord?

Notes

1 Jerusalem News Network, 9 July 2018, quoting the Jerusalem Post. 

2 Barnabas Fund, 10 July 2018.

3 17 July 2018.

4 Conducted by British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

5 Daily Mail, 14 July 2018.

Prince William’s vehicle stoned by children taught to hate

As support for the Palestinian cause drops even in the Arab world, news that Australia has cut a $7 million ‘lifeline’ to a PLO death-cult is welcome indeed. Maybe it’s also time for Britain to get real – especially in the wake of the barely reported stoning of Prince William’s vehicle – and acknowledge the need to stop encouraging terror with taxpayers’ money.

Australia has decided to discontinue direct aid to the Palestinian Authority because it suspects the cash is freeing up funds used to back political violence.¹ And we have recently learnt that the UK gave £20 million in aid to Palestinian schools, where they teach children to hate Jews and Jihad (holy war) and martyrdom.²

Learning to Kill

A report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education reveals that the PA school curriculum “utilizes a variety of tools to convince children – mostly boys – to risk their lives and die as martyrs”.

The UK has given £20 million in aid to Paestinian schools, where children are taught to hate Jews.

It goes on to highlight some of the lessons being funded by British aid. For example, a science textbook explains Newton’s second law of physics – on power, mass and tensile strength – by using an image of a boy with a slingshot targeting soldiers.

Meanwhile jihadists continue their desperate attempts to engage Western sympathy by stoking up further flames in Gaza, sending burning kites to destroy Israeli crops while also trying to force their way through the border fence in order to kill Jews.

Arab Leaders Losing Patience with PalestiniansJerusalem

The Saudi Crown Prince and heir to the throne indicated something of current Arab frustration with the Palestinians by saying that it was about time they accepted offers of peace and agreed to come to the negotiating table “or they should shut up and stop complaining.”³ Mohammed bin Salman, during a meeting with American Jewish community leaders, stressed: “There are much more urgent and more important issues to deal with – such as Iran.”

Clearly, the riots in Gaza are designed to provoke Israel to war, which would inevitably draw further criticism of the Jewish state for what the world is expected to regard as disproportionate response. And this would in turn elicit fresh sympathy for the Hamas intention of destroying Israel.

PLO Support Crumbling

But as a 46-year-old Palestinian put it: “Most people want nothing to do with the riots at the border fence. Hamas does not care how many Palestinians perish. What’s important to them is that the media continues to cover it.”⁴

Bassem Eid, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian and political analyst, speaks from experience when he says that Israel “was the only nation that had given us a chance of a better life. In my opinion, the Palestinian cause has nearly reached its conclusion…I am calling on my Palestinian colleagues to wake up to the truth. The time has come for us to value life over death.”⁵

Some Palestinians are bravely speaking the truth and calling on their colleagues to wake up to it.

United Nations Blamed

Col Richard Kemp, a former British Army commander, laid the blame for Gaza bloodshed squarely with the United Nations when he addressed that body in May, saying: “Your failure to admit that Hamas is responsible for every drop of blood spilt on the Gaza border encourages their violence and use of human shields. It makes you complicit in further bloodshed.”⁶

The self-inflicted wounding of Palestinian aspirations – caused by stubbornness to recognise Israel’s right to exist – will no doubt be reflected in President Trump’s much-heralded peace deal.

Prince William’s Car Stoned

The stoning of Prince William’s vehicle during his visit to PA headquarters in Ramallah may perhaps jolt British officials into some sense of reality. The children responsible for the outrage are taught to hate Jews and to blame Britain for handing ‘their’ country over to ‘infidels’ (non-Muslims).

Britain has consistently been a soft touch for Arab terror – riots and threats of mayhem have led successive Governments to capitulate to pressure and deny justice to Israel in the process. But a first-ever official visit to Israel of a British royal is surely time to repent of reneging on our Balfour⁷ policy of supporting the Jews, which brought blessing upon our nation (Gen 12:3).

Britain has consistently been a soft touch for Arab terror.

The Prince Promises Support

During his tour Prince William told the story of how his great-grandmother Princess Alice selflessly saved members of the Cohen family from the Nazis. He said it was “a matter of great pride” for his whole family. And after being horrified at what he witnessed during his visit to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, he said: “I am well aware that the responsibility falls now to my generation to keep the memory alive of that great crime as the Holocaust generation passes on. And I commit myself to doing this.”⁸

Israel is currently surrounded by implacable enemies committed to condemning them to another Holocaust. It’s not just a memory we need to keep alive – it’s also today’s Jewish people who are under increasing threat from anti-Semitism. We need to wake up as a nation and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Word of God commands us (Ps 122:6).

References

1 World Israel News, 2 July 2018
2 Torch magazine, Christians United for Israel, June 2018
3 Israel Today magazine, June 2018
4 Ibid
5 Ibid
6 Torch magazine, June 2018
7 Balfour Declaration of 1917 through which Britain promised to do all in its power to create a homeland for the Jewish people
8 Jerusalem News Network, 28 June 2018

Britain and the West succumbs to brainwashing on an unprecedented scale

We are currently witnessing a worldwide battle of the ages between truth and lies. And in recent days much of this has been focused on Israel – specifically at a conference in Jerusalem called GAFCON and on the northern borders of the Gaza Strip.

At the Global Anglican Future Conference, attended by nearly 2,000 Anglican leaders from around the world, a British evangelist warned of the Holy Spirit departing from the traditional Anglican Church if it continued to despise the authority of Scripture.

Rico Tice was giving an interview at the third such convocation of this body since its inception ten years ago for the purpose of maintaining the truth of the Gospel in the face of growing apostasy, including support for same-sex relationships.

Another Battle

Not many miles away, on the borders of Gaza, another battle for truth is being waged as the media is largely determined to spew out lies and propaganda in support of the Palestinian narrative.

It was reported that Israeli soldiers had killed a baby caught up in the riots over the alleged right of Palestinian refugees to return to Israel. But it later emerged that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had paid a Gazan family to lie about eight-month-old Leila al-Ghandour dying from tear gas inhalation rather than from a pre-existing medical condition.¹

The Global Anglican Future Conference was set up ten years ago to maintain the truth of the Gospel in the face of growing apostasy.

Readers may well wonder how Palestinians, or anyone else, can get away with so much deceit. But as Israel Today journalist Ryan Jones puts it, “many, if not most, Palestinians have no problem telling bald-faced lies in order to smear Israel and advance their own nationalist agenda. This is because Muslims are permitted to lie to ‘infidels’ in service to Islamic causes, a concept known as taqiyya”.²

The Prophet Isaiah spoke of such wickedness when he wrote: “…Justice is driven back and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey” (Isa 59:14f).

Heading Towards a Sterile World

What a shoddy business. And the same people who are so ready to condemn Israel for defending her right to exist are engaged in the wicked brainwashing of Western nations on an unprecedented scale into believing that same-sex relationships are perfectly normal.

LGBTQ+ supporters in Australia.Nazi Germany’s lies about the Jews led to the systematic murder of six million people. With few exceptions, the German people blithely accepted the doctrine that Jews were a cause of all their economic and other problems, partly due to the intimidating nature of rule under the Third Reich. It was a doctrine, much like today’s new teaching on sexual ethics, that brooked no dissent, with the result that those who objected often paid with their lives.

Today, going along with the gay agenda is seen by most as the only way to maintain respectability and acceptance in social circles. This is why, in Australia, where they held a referendum on the issue, same-sex won the day. But if all those who voted for it practised what they preached, that great southern continent would soon become extinct!

The 1930s propaganda of Josef Goebbels seeped through the German national consciousness, almost without a whimper of opposition, just as the same-sex issue has done in Britain and the West where the general populace is bombarded with stories and images on national television and elsewhere glamourising, justifying and sanctioning homosexual behaviour.

Same-sex propaganda has seeped through British national consciousness, as the general populace has been bombarded with stories and images glamourising, justifying and sanctioning homosexual behaviour.

And even our church leaders have succumbed to it, undermining the authority of God’s word in the cause of breaking down boundaries of decency and propriety that have underpinned our civilisation for centuries. We are fast heading for a sterile world where the traditional family is a thing of the past and where the future holds little hope.

Hopefully the world will soon wake up in shock at the devastation it has caused, and no-one will be able to say they didn’t know what was going on.

A Different Religion

At GAFCON, meanwhile, Rico Tice, a gifted evangelist on the staff of All Souls, Langham Place, and co-author of the much-acclaimed Christianity Explored course, revealed he had resigned from the Archbishops’ Evangelism Task Group because it meant having to submit to the authority of a Bishop – Rt Rev Paul Bayes of Liverpool – who validates same-sex.

“It’s a different religion”, he said, adding: “I think it’s a great wickedness to tell people who are on the road to destruction that they are not.”³

He went on: “There is no power in evangelism unless you’re submitted to Scripture.” And he suggested that God would remove his power from the institutional Church, as he did in the days of John Wesley, if there was no repentance.

He admitted that the problem had been compounded by Christians who have changed their position for emotional reasons because family members had turned gay.

The Truth Brings Freedom and Peace

Meanwhile the Archbishop of Uganda has threatened to boycott future meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Stanley Ntangali said:

Unless godly order is restored in the Anglican Communion, we shall not attend other meetings invited by Canterbury…The church of Uganda is an evangelical church, and we obey Christ and the authority of the Bible, and the apostolic faith. So we have no apology for the stand we have made and will continue to proclaim the gospel of Christ to the nations, uncompromisingly.⁴

The conference has written a Letter to the Churches challenging the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak the truth about the Gospel and human sexuality clearly and publicly and to discipline those within the Anglican Communion who have abandoned it.

In a similar way, lies about Gaza stir up trouble and strife in the Middle East which could erupt into a major war. Lies destroy society whereas truth brings freedom and peace, both among families and the wider world. Spreading lies about human sexuality could well cause as much, if not more, damage to the world at large than the tendency for Arabs to be economical with the truth.

Lies destroy society whereas truth brings freedom and peace, both among families and the wider world.

Appeasement Will Not Succeed

Prince William, on his tour of Israel, will hopefully have learnt from his visit to the Holocaust Museum that the anti-Semitism displayed by Palestinian Authority politicians has all the hallmarks of another attempt at genocide. After all, that is the oft-stated aim of Israel’s opponents.

The Prince’s great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, took sides in a previous conflict by hiding Jews who would otherwise have been murdered by the Nazis. Will the British Foreign Office allow him to take sides when Jews, now living in their own land, are equally threatened?

He says he wants peace – most of us do – but Neville Chamberlain’s experience should be a lesson to us all.

Notes

1 Jerusalem News Network, 22 June 2018, quoting Ynet News.

2 A Nation Reborn, Charles Gardner (Christian Publications International), p93.

3 Christian Concern, 19 June 2018. Click here to watch the full interview.

4 Ibid.