Is the end closer than we think?

A friend of mine, who is gifted in one-to-one evangelism, asked me a question a few days ago: would I write out for him all the scriptures relating to the return of Jesus? The reason, he said, was that he was finding himself talking more and more frequently about Jesus’ return, as he witnessed to those he met.

This was not an isolated incident. Increasingly, I am meeting Christians who are being led to consider the Lord’s return, and finding their interest expanding to want to read those hard passages relating to ‘end times’, that have been allowed to fade into the background for so many years.

Getting Perspective

We should pause to consider the bigger picture, not from our own perspective, but from the Lord’s.

There is always plenty to talk about these days, relating world affairs to the wisdom of Scripture. Indeed, we often need to be selective in Prophecy Today, as to which of the many burning issues of the week should be addressed for comment in our articles.

In the coming days, it will surely become increasingly more and more fast-paced, confusing and concerning. Yet, we should also pause to consider the bigger picture, not from our own perspective, but from the Lord’s.

The Bigger Picture

Many Christians in the UK are praying fervently for the outcome of Brexit, and that is right and good. It is my opinion that the UK, has indeed, been granted a window of opportunity to put matters right with God. I connect this to the remaining time that our Queen is on the throne, whose Coronation Oath, though already broken, defines a place to return in repentance to God.

However, coming out of the EU will merely be a step along the way. We can only imagine what may lie ahead in our witness and prayer, if the nation would also reverse the many unbiblical laws now deeply engrained in the hearts and minds of the people and our leaders. This will preoccupy Christians for some time yet.

“When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near”

Nevertheless, there is a higher reference point than those on earth, and Scripture instructs us to look upwards: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). This is what Jesus told us to do, nearly 2,000 years ago. The only question is whether we are, indeed, in the time frame to which he was referring.

Accident of History?

With the nation of Israel becoming re-established in their ancient Promised Land in 1948, one is prompted to think carefully about whether this is indeed a major sign of the soon coming of Messiah.

We could look upon the pressures and conflicts of the Middle East through political eyes, and see them as simply accidents of history, rather than fulfilments of a covenant promise. Or, we could look up and seek the Lord God for understanding, as to whether this is fulfilment of the prophecy, that the fig tree would bud again (Luke 21:29-31). If it is a sign, then, as we read in this passage from Luke, “the Kingdom of God is near”. And if this is a major sign, then so are the many other signs in the socio-political arena.

Tears and Laughter

There may be tears of sorrow in the coming days, when events occur that we cannot control, and it will be the poor who will suffer most, as always occurs when the leadership of nations goes astray. Our tears will lead to prayer, just as the tears of Jeremiah led to prayer, and moreover, when Jesus wept over the City of Jerusalem, as he knew what was about to come upon it (John 11:35; Luke 19:41-44).

God laughs because the world's rulers cannot succeed, any more than Satan can succeed, in preventing Jesus coming back to establish his Kingdom on this earth.

Yet, there is a contrast, as it says in Psalm 2:4: “The One enthroned in heaven laughs”.This picture of God laughing in the midst of a sorrowful, earthly situation is not his laughing at human misery, but at the rulers who take counsel together and lead the world astray.

God laughs because they cannot succeed, any more than Satan can succeed, in preventing Jesus coming back to establish his Kingdom on this earth, or, any more than they can quench the Gospel, with all its covenant blessing and promise, bestowed on his own people with multitudes still being saved throughout the world.

Time to Seek Understanding

Whatever our view of the end times, difficulty undoubtedly lies ahead, calling for perseverance. Nevertheless, one thing we must not do is to despair and give up. Looking earthwards at the escalating troubles will divert us from paying attention to the bigger picture of history that we can see by looking heavenwards and seeking God for peace and understanding.

This ‘big picture’ is absolutely certain to be fulfilled. It is locked into God’s unfolding, immovable covenant purposes, given first to Abraham, and then, finally, through the fulfilment of the promises to Jeremiah (see Ch. 31), fulfilled through Jesus the Messiah. The climax of these promises is his return.

One thing we must not do is despair and give up.

Thus, the question remains whether the signs all around us in this shaking world are the signs of his coming. If so, we must look up and seek God for understanding. The prophetic scriptures have too often been sidelined amongst Christians, because there is such division on their interpretation. Surely, it should be the opposite: that working together and seeking the Lord, we find a place of unity, through better understanding of what we have been told in the prophetic passages concerning the return of Jesus.

Let us, at least, seek to balance our concerns for the many issues filling our daily news with more earnestly seeking to understand how God is working out his end time purposes. It is surely time to look up.

Click here to read Dr Clifford Denton’s 2016 study series on the end times.

Politicians are missing the point on climate change.

But we know Someone who holds the future in his hands!

With the climate change protesters bringing London to a standstill in a bid to save the planet, and despairing Brexiteers having virtually given up hope of saving the kingdom from European predators, is there any future for us?

Yes, assuredly so, if we look to the rock from which we were hewn (Isa 51:1); to the One from Israel who brought us salvation. Jesus is doing a new thing in the land that gave him birth, and it carries a message of peace for us all.

What? Peace! You’re telling me Israel has a lesson of peace for us with all the bloodshed that is being spilled in the Middle East? Bear with me.

The ‘Peace Process’

As many in the UK have had their fill of squabbling politicians, so in Israel talk of peace is being treated with contempt. After decades of negotiations surrounding the ‘peace process’, most Israelis realise that they have no genuine partner with whom to make peace – and no longer believe peace is possible.¹

But there is a peace being enacted right before their eyes in the form of believers in Yeshua (Jesus) – both Jew and Arab – embracing one another out of a common love for the Jewish Messiah.

Congregations of such believers are meeting all over the land where Jesus once walked, and have become the ‘one new man’ referred to by the Apostle Paul in a letter to the early Christians, thus:

“For he himself [Christ] is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…” (Eph 2:14)

There is a peace being enacted right before their eyes in the form of believers in Yeshua – both Jew and Arab – embracing one another out of a common love for the Jewish Messiah.

One New Man

When Jesus died on the cross, he broke “the dividing wall of hostility” between man and God, and between Jew and Gentile. The barrier has been well and truly smashed, and I have witnessed the beautiful reality of this on several occasions, both in Israel and in Britain.

I have also just written of an Arab woman brought up to hate the Jews who, since finding freedom in Jesus, says: “I love the Jewish people because it is their God and their Messiah I’m following and he told me to love them.”²

When Moses was about to lead the Israelites through the Red Sea, he told them: “Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation [literally Yeshua] of the Lord [Yahweh].” ‘Yeshua’ (Jesus) means salvation; it still does, and it’s where true peace has been won!

Hypocrisy and Appeasement

Instead of peace, however, many people – even in Israel – are being taken in by hypocrisy. Speaking of discriminatory apartheid-type laws denying basic rights to Palestinians in Lebanon, Israeli Arab journalist, lecturer and film-maker Khaled Abu Toameh writes:

Palestinian leaders do not seem to care about the suffering of their people at the hands of Arabs. Yet these same leaders are quick to condemn Israel on almost every occasion and available platform.³

And Bassam Tawil of the Gatestone Institute points out that payments to terrorists and their families lie at the heart of Palestinian incitement to terror that drives the conflict there. For they are entitled to full salaries that are denied to others!⁴

Here in Britain, meanwhile, we are suffering the effects of political appeasers kowtowing to a godless empire supposedly set up to ensure lasting peace in Europe, when they ought to be defending our democracy, decency and sovereignty, as Churchill would have done.

Plumbing the depths of insanity, they have the gall to push ahead with an election to this body - three years after the public voted to leave it, and at a colossal cost of £100 million+.

When Jesus died on the cross, he broke “the dividing wall of hostility” between man and God, and between Jew and Gentile.

A Political Circus

This is surely a political circus led by clowns – a humiliating, soft-touch approach. No wonder that climate change ‘warriors’ have been so easily able to exploit this time of political weakness, grabbing the headlines to have their say on an issue no-one (but God) can do anything about.

The Bible tells us that “the earth will wear out like a garment” (Isa 51:6) and that the real Saviour of our planet, the Lord Jesus Christ, will one day usher in a new Heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1).

Meanwhile these anarchists are putting the country in grave danger of a terrorist strike as police resources are diverted elsewhere and more than a thousand arrests are made.

Writing this on ANZAC Day, when Australia and New Zealand remember the bravery of their soldiers in past conflicts, I conclude with the hope that sanity will prevail and we return as a nation to battles that are really worth fighting.

References

1 David Soakell, Christian Friends of Israel’s Watching Over Zion newsletter, 25 April 2019.

2 News & Views, newsletter of CMJ Israel. Testimony also available on YouTube courtesy of One for Israel.

3 David Soakell, 25 April 2019.

4 Ibid.

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.

How will God deal with Britain?

An incredible battle is raging over Britain. It is raging in the heavenlies above, and on the earth below, where it is centred upon our Parliament. Our MPs are in total disarray, fighting each other and not understanding the battle. Few of them realise that they are being driven by the powers of darkness intent on destroying this great nation that has turned its back upon God and despised its spiritual heritage.

The battle in the House of Commons is being fought between those who want to see Britain free from the European Union and those who want to see Britain continue enslaved to the rules and regulations of Brussels. It is as simple as that. But most of our MPs have no understanding of spiritual warfare and do not perceive the forces of darkness that are moving them like pawns on a chess board, driving them to destruction.

Come Out and Be Separate

The Prime Minister appears to have panicked under pressure and turned to Jeremy Corbyn, a notorious Marxist atheist, as her saviour, in a last-ditch attempt to get her deal approved by Parliament. As a professed Christian, has she never read the warnings in Scripture about being unequally yoked with unbelievers? The teaching of Paul could not be clearer:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

In verse 17 Paul urges “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.” This is an instruction that all our MPs should take to heart in dealing with Brexit. Undoubtedly, the best outcome for Britain and the most feared outcome for the EU is that we leave next Friday without a deal. But if that cannot be achieved, provided we leave with any kind of deal that leaves us free to make changes in the future, that would be better than a long delay with the possibility of never getting away at all, which is the objective of the majority in our present House of Commons.

Undoubtedly, the best outcome for Britain and the most feared outcome for the EU is that we leave next Friday without a deal.

Egypt…or Babylon?

A number of commentators, including prominent politicians, have compared the present situation with the time of Moses and the release of the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. But this is not the best biblical analogy, because we are not having to fight the EU for our freedom, as Moses fought Pharaoh. We are having to fight the morally corrupt and spiritually blind Members of our own Parliament, who do not understand the issues that face them.

A more instructive biblical analogy is the release of the faithful remnant of Israel and Judah from Babylon in 538 BC. Babylon had fallen to the Persians whose Emperor, Cyrus, issued a decree freeing all political prisoners. The people of Israel were free to return to the land of their forefathers, to rebuild Jerusalem and to restore the shattered economy, social structure, and towns and villages across the land.

A wonderful new opportunity was presented to Israel if they could face the one-thousand-mile trek across difficult country and undertake the great task of reconstruction and renewal. For many who had become comfortable in exile, the offer of freedom in the Promised Land was rejected for the fleshpots of Babylon. They were too comfortable and prosperous to risk embarking on an uncertain future.

But for those who had faith and vision and were prepared to put their trust in God, a wonderful new opportunity was presented. They obeyed the call to come out from Babylon and totally put their trust in God for the future. They were the faithful remnant who God would use to rebuild Jerusalem and prepare the way for Messiah and the coming Kingdom.

Yes, they had lots of hardships to face and difficulties to endure in the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its surrounding walls, but they had a shared vision which enabled them to work together, and God blessed their labours - especially when they rebuilt the Temple in the heart of the city and re-emphasised their faith in God at the centre of national life.

A more instructive biblical analogy than the Exodus is the release of the faithful remnant of Israel and Judah from Babylon in 538 BC.

Calling on God

This is surely a biblical parable for us today caught up in the conflict of Brexit with an unbelieving Parliament leading the nation.

The great unknown at the moment is precisely how God will deal with Britain. We know that judgment is thoroughly deserved for the way we have rejected our spiritual heritage, squandered the responsibilities we had for bringing the light of the Gospel to more than a third of the world’s population in the great Empire to which God entrusted us, and in the terrible way that we reneged on our promises to Israel - as Charles Gardner shows elsewhere in this week's issue of Prophecy Today.

Despite deserved judgment, we know that our God is loving and merciful – more ready to forgive than we are to repent. And we know that the Referendum result was a gracious allowance from God to give us a greater opportunity to return to him. Now is the time to petition God for his help to overcome the powers of darkness that are trying to sweep Britain into an abyss of chaos, which will inevitably result if we fail to leave the European Union within the next few weeks.

We ask all Bible-believing Christians to call upon the Lord for his mercy and intervention in what appears to be a hopeless situation. Let all the prayer groups and intercessors throughout the land acknowledge the plight of the nation before the throne of grace and call upon God for an outpouring of his power, which is the only means of saving Britain from the folly of its own leaders.

In the current confusion - our only hope is in God!

Parliament is sliding down the slippery slope of Romans 1.

Wednesday 27 March 2019 was a day that will be remembered in history as the occasion when MPs ‘took control’ of the business of the House of Commons in regard to Brexit. With all the attention on the process of Britain leaving the European Union, it is very easy to forget that there is still a trickle of ‘normal’ business being processed.

Earlier that day MPs had participated in four ‘deferred divisions’, recording their votes on paper. One of the votes was in the name of the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds. It sought approval for the draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019.¹

Whilst most people, including Christians, have focussed on Brexit, I have found myself asking if there was an element of divine arrangement in the RSE division being held that same day.

The EU and Scripture

Experience suggests that amongst Christians, individuals' responses to the EU are influenced by their eschatology. Here, therefore, I look back in time, rather than forwards, to a Scripture passage that provides an historical perspective through which to evaluate the vision behind a united Europe.

Acts 17 records Paul's speech to the people of Athens, in which he declared that the ‘unknown God’ could be known. He reasoned that this God made "from one blood every nation of men", and ordered "their times and the limits of their lands." He then explained why the Lord had put men in separate nations - "that they should seek the LORD...and find him."

Scripture traces the beginning of nations to the division of mankind at Babel (Gen 11). Their construction of the tower was accompanied by a desire to make a name or reputation for themselves, thus preventing them from being scattered. Their Creator frustrated their proud plans by confusing their speech and separating them. Paul explained how this was actually for mankind's benefit - to put our forefathers, and now us, in situations which would motivate us to seek for the Lord and find Him.

The vision behind the European Union - to eliminate wars by removing national identities - has similarities with the union of tower builders from Shinar. The fatal flaw in the present-day project is that mankind is seeking to achieve peace through their own efforts whilst excluding their Creator. Such a scenario, motivated by a desire to throw off the Lord's ‘fetters’, is described in Psalm 2. This quest turns our attention back to RSE.

The vision behind the European Union has similarities with the union of tower builders from Shinar.

RSE and LGBTQ+

Education Secretary Damian Hinds (left), Philip Davies MP (right).The new guidance should have been approved the previous Wednesday, but at the end of the debate,² one MP, Philip Davies,³ refused to approve the proposals. His action necessitated the following Wednesday's division, when he was joined by 20 others in rejecting the changes, whilst 538 supported them.

What had become clear in the previous week’s debate was that the majority of participating MPs perceived these measures to be promoting LGBTQ+ rights. Essentially, the guidelines distinguish between the ‘relationships’ and the ‘sex education’ aspects of the curriculum. The Government view is that parents' freedom to withdraw children from the latter should not apply to the former. It is under ‘relationships education’ in primary schools that the Department for Education wants children to learn, in Amanda Spielman's words, "that sometimes there are families that have two mummies or two daddies"⁴ and that is alright.

Others have discussed at length the reasons why this is a dangerous direction of travel and why the new guidance should be rejected.⁵ That is not my purpose here. Nor do I want to discuss the clash which this approach has already precipitated with Muslim parents at Parkfield School, Birmingham. Jules Gomes has helpfully highlighted where such secular stupidity will lead.⁶ My objective is to connect the overwhelming support amongst our political elite for forcing LGBTQ+ norms on young children with the failure of the self-same people to deliver Brexit.

Hopefully most Christians realise that Romans 1 is the passage which prophetically describes the judgment process in which Britain finds itself today. We are reaping what we have sown for centuries - the roots go back to the Enlightenment at least. The steady progression which Paul outlines begins with a refusal to recognise the Lord as God, leading to minds being filled with foolish things and senseless hearts being darkened. Idolatry comes next, followed by sexual immorality, as the Lord gives people over to the desires of their hearts.

Romans 1 is the passage which prophetically describes the judgment process in which Britain finds itself today.

The result is a society full of the awful attitudes and actions now bringing death to our streets and emotional and mental distress to many children. The consequences are unavoidable - though they know his law, "that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

If the same-sex marriage legislation did not convince Christians that Britain is now reaping the fruit of the unbelief it has sown for centuries, then I am not sure that this most recent decision will either - but it ought to!

The Consequences of Damaging Children

When Justin Welby, despite his evangelical credentials, spoke out in November 2017 in defence of Church of England schools allowing pupils to self-identify their gender,⁷ these words of Jesus came to mind; "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea" (Matt 18:6).

With that in mind, consider the ease with which the majority of our MPs agreed last week to teach unrighteousness to the nation's children. What does this say about the foolishness that now grips them?

The evidence is that they have been handed over to delusion, because they refused to receive a love of the truth.⁸ Is it any wonder therefore that they are unable to know what to do about Brexit?

Christians should recognise that we share a responsibility for what has happened. Mixture in the churches has meant that over the last two centuries we have collectively squandered multiple opportunities to challenge secularism. We too are reaping what we have sown. There is no room for us to point the figure at politicians when we have failed to stand for righteousness. Within ‘Bible-believing’ circles today there are those who are embracing unrighteousness, whilst the majority of the remainder remain silent.

Could the reason why it is Muslim parents who are rising up to challenge the secularism of the political classes be that Christians have forfeited their responsibility? If so, the outlook is far from good.

If as God's people we are no longer fit for his purposes, we need to seek him seriously to discover what we should do. When Israel lost its flavour, it was twice thrown out of the land. If the churches have lost their saltiness, then no amount of campaigning will rescue society.

Through Joel, the Lord told his people that it was time to "Return to Me with all your heart," adding "Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate...Who knows whether he will not turn and relent?" Christians need to do this earnestly, not to save the nation, but to ensure they are anchored firmly in Christ and prepared for what lies ahead.

Further update: The RSE guidelines are currently going through the House of Lords, where hundreds of letters of complaint have prompted a floor debate instead of just a vote. Read more on the Barnabas Fund website.

References

1 Find out more here.

2 Approval of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education (England) Regulations 2019. 20 March 2019, Hansard, Volume 656. Watch on Parliament TV here.

3 Philip Davies, MP for Shipley.

4 Ofsted says schools should teach pupils about same-sex couples. BBC News, 21 February 2019.

5 Why the Draft Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education Act 2019 should be rejected. Gavin Ashenden, 20 March 2019. And Izzy Montague, "parents are part of the problem" and why RSE is so controversial. Christian Concern, 29 March 2019.

6 Teaching Muslim kids gay sex is like force-feeding their fathers pork. 'Rebel Priest' Dr Jules Gomes, 12 March 2019.

7 Roberts, R. Church of England tells schools to let children 'explore gender identity'. The Independent, 13 November 2017.

8 Hardy, R. Receive the Love of the Truth. Amen.org.uk.

9 Hosea 10:12: "Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek The LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you."

No more pretending: MPs’ desire to thwart democracy is open and obvious.

Today, Friday 29 March 2019, was the day scheduled to be ‘Brexit Day’ – the day Britain left the European Union. Instead of being a day of triumph it has become a day of shame.

On Wednesday, our Members of Parliament decided to take matters into their own hands and take control of the business of the House. They spent the day debating a series of propositions designed to show the will of the House and finding a way through the impasse of Brexit.

At the end of the day when the votes were taken, not one single proposition was passed, not even the one that was whipped by the Opposition and was said to be Labour policy. The result was derisory! Not only did it fail to produce a shared vision, but it demonstrated to the world the ineptitude of our politicians who, left to themselves, without any Government direction, could not find any agreement on anything! They ended the day as they began – directionless, divided, disgruntled and dismayed – the laughing stock of the world.

Confusion and Obstruction

Certainly, all 27 members of the European Union are falling about laughing that the British could tie themselves into such knots and create such confusion.

The nearest any of the propositions got to acceptance was one that called for another referendum, going back to the people - which evidently sounded like a good idea to some MPs. Having completely run out of ideas themselves, they thought it would be a good idea to consult the people in the hopes that the close verdict of 2016 might swing the other way and enable Britain to stay under the umbrella of the EU, which is the real desire of some 500 of our MPs.

Our Parliament is directionless, divided, disgruntled and dismayed – the laughing stock of the world.

At last, the phoney war is over, whereby the majority of our MPs have hidden their real desire to remain in the European Union by opposing the terms of the Prime Minister’s deal. At least we now know that we have a Parliament that is incapable of delivering what the British people voted for in 2016; to leave the European Union. The vast majority of our MPs are opposed to this and are dedicated to obstructing the will of the people who elected them. This is a strange anomaly for a democratic nation with a long history of law and order.

The Battles Intensify

All 500 Remainers, however, recognise that, having triggered Article 50 to leave the European Union, the default position was that we should have left today, without a deal. Having asked the EU for an extension, we are now in their hands to set the date and terms of our leaving.

This is complicated by the European Parliament elections due in May: the EU want us to make up our minds, either to remain and thereby to participate in the elections, or to make a clean break and not disturb their election plans which already look threatened by populist parties gaining ground in many member nations.

Many in the EU would simply like Britain to disappear over the horizon as quickly and soundlessly as possible so that they can put their own house in order. But back in Britain, our MPs are concerned for none of these things. They each have their own agenda and, now that Mrs May has indicated her intention of early resignation, the leadership battles on the Conservative benches to grasp (or avoid!) the poisoned chalice have intensified.

Confession Vital

Will Brexit in any form take place? This is the question hovering over the nation today, which is being observed as a day of prayer by large numbers of Christians throughout the land. How should we be praying? We have said many times in these editorials that for our prayers to be effective, we need to understand what God is doing and how he is working out his purposes, to ensure that we do not pray against God.

Clearly, our prayers have to begin with a confession that we as a nation have turned away from our great biblical heritage and enacted many things in our Parliament that are directly against the teaching of the Bible.

The vast majority of MPs are dedicated to obstructing the will of those who elected them.

To mention just one issue: since legalising abortion in Britain we have killed nearly 9 million babies, thus filling the land with the blood of the innocent: every day a black bag filled with tiny babies is taken out of the back door of our hospitals after a day’s operations and thrown into an incinerator. In Jeremiah’s day they used to burn their babies in the Valley of Ben Hinnom just south of Jerusalem - it was called the ‘Valley of Slaughter’, which God condemned in the most forthright language (Jer 7:30-34).

But God is incredibly patient and lovingly forgiving when we come weeping before him confessing our sinfulness. There is a passage in Isaiah that beautifully expresses God’s attitude when we acknowledge that we have got things wrong:

This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (Isa 48:17)

Lifting Our Eyes

At least today we know what we are facing in our Parliament. We know there is no rational solution to our problems. We need a miracle to make a breakthrough. Only God can do that, but we know that our nation deserves judgment rather than mercy, so we have to come before God in humility, confessing our sinfulness.

In the knowledge of God’s faithfulness in the past and in the belief that he has good plans for the future of this nation, we have to call upon him for his help: confessing that we do not know what to do, but that our eyes are upon him.

Will you join thousands gathering today to intercede for Britain’s future?

Today in Westminster, a capacity congregation is gathering in the Emmanuel Centre to pray and intercede for the nation, while others are assembling in smaller groups around the country.

While the entire Brexit process has been bathed in prayer by faithful intercessors since before the Referendum in 2016, the need for prayer has only increased as the spiritual battle has intensified. Today (Friday 29 March 2019) should have been an historic day of freedom for Great Britain – a sort of ‘independence day’. But instead, the long and drawn-out struggle for Brexit continues.

Battle-weary though many undoubtedly are, the need to come before God on behalf of our nation, ‘standing in the gap’ not only for our national self-determination but also for the millions in spiritual darkness across our islands, has never been greater. With confession and repentance our central themes, please join with us today in searching for the heart of God and praying in line with his will.

If you would like to pray according to the programme being used in Westminster, its details are below along with a link to download the full document. However you are led by the Lord to pray, our fervent hope is that today the hundreds in central London will be joined by thousands upon thousands of brothers and sisters across this land, raising our voices in chorus to Heaven in this dark hour, petitioning the Lord for the mercy we so little deserve, but so desperately need.

Day of Prayer for the Nation

Westminster schedule

From 9:00am              Registration

10:00 – 10:45am       Worship

10:45 – 11:25am       SESSION 1: Government and Brexit

11:30am – 12:10pm SESSION 2: Church

12:15 – 12:55pm       SESSION 3: Israel and Antisemitism

1:00 – 1:40pm           SESSION 4: Secular Humanism

1:45 – 2:25pm           SESSION 5: Life issues

2:30 – 3:10pm           SESSION 6: Families

3:15 – 3:55pm           SESSION 7: Global Sexual Revolution

4:00 – 4:40pm           SESSION 8: Education

4:45 – 5:25pm           SESSION 9: Islam

5:30 – 6:00pm           SESSION 10: Unity and Spiritual Awakening

6:05 – 7:30pm           Summary and Challenge

The full programme includes session comments and starter points for prayer: click here to download.

Freedom won’t be won without a furious fight

Watching the television news of teeming London crowds calling for a second referendum over Brexit sent my spirit plummeting towards despondency – until the Lord reminded me of the Exodus!

I saw that they were slaves in a foreign land who had become so moulded by subservience to godless ideologies imposed on them that they were blinded to the fact that they were in chains.

And this filled me with hope, as I realised that the deliverance from Egypt of millions of Jews after 430 years of enslavement was no quick-fix arrangement – just like the tortuous negotiations involved in extricating ourselves from Europe (and we’ve only been tied up with them for 45 years!).

Let My People Go!

Moses was called by God to demand that Pharaoh let his people go, and what followed was a protracted battle of frightening proportions. And the Lord was well aware of this, for he said: “I know that the King of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him” (Ex 3:19).

In the same way, a ferocious spiritual battle for the soul of our nation is being enacted before our eyes. Back then, it took a disastrous ten plagues for Pharaoh to act, and that is something of what we are experiencing now, certainly in the spiritual realm of a nation whose heart has become hardened to the Gospel and the blessing it has brought on Britain over the centuries.

Plagues of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, the death of livestock, boils, hail and locusts were not enough to budge the king. The ninth plague – darkness – is perhaps where we are now in the UK with all the chaos, confusion and lack of clarity. But it’s also a sign of hope, as darkness eventually gives way to dawn, and it was the tenth plague that unlocked the door to freedom for the Israelites.

The deliverance from Egypt of millions of Jews after 430 years of enslavement was no quick-fix arrangement – just like the tortuous negotiations to extricate Britain from Europe.

The Sacrificial Lamb

The death of the first-born proved a step too far for the Egyptians, but what brought death to unbelievers was a lifeline for those who trusted in the God of Israel.

The Jews were instructed to daub the lintels and doorframes of their houses with the blood of a sacrificed lamb, and the angel of death would ‘pass over’ all who carried out God’s command. They were thus also able to pass through the Red Sea as on dry ground on their way towards the Promised Land.

The blood was the sign. Blood that had brought death to the Nile now brought life to all who trusted in God’s provision of a spotless, perfect lamb, prefiguring the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, who has taken away the sins of all who trust in him (Ex 12:13; John 1:29).

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who this week called on the PM to 'channel the spirit of Moses' and declare to Europe 'Let my people go!'Perhaps for Britain too, the Lord is looking for a Moses figure (not necessarily the Prime Minister, but who knows?) to lead us out of Egypt. We have worshipped Europe’s humanistic idols for too long. God has a destiny for Britain – in the past we have stood alone against tyranny and led the way in missionary zeal by taking the Gospel of Christ to the four corners of the earth. We even played a significant role in the restoration of God’s ancient people!

If we would only return to our first love for Jesus, and for the Judeo-Christian values which made our nation great, there is ‘a land of milk and honey’ within our grasp – of a people once again living at peace with each other, at ease with itself and devoted to the God of our fathers.

Miracle Needed!

Yes, there will be those who will long for the ‘leeks and onions’ – the way things were. But inheriting a land of promise will not come without a fight. Even after finally giving in to Moses, Pharaoh changed his mind and chased the Israelites all the way to the sea.

A miracle was still needed – and it came when Moses lifted up his staff and the waves parted. This prefigures the resurrection of Christ, on whom we once trusted as a nation.

That is the way out of the present stalemate – not a second referendum, or a half-baked deal. I like the way American preacher John Hagee put it when referring to Christ’s return on the TBN UK channel: “He’s not coming to say, ‘Let’s make a deal’. He’s coming to say, ‘This is the deal!’”¹

I also believe God is saying that at some stage we will be asked to ‘leave quickly’ (Ex 12:33) and that we should be ready to go at any moment (Ex 12:11), that we should not leave ‘empty-handed’ (Ex 3:21) and that, in some form, our eventual exit will have been the ‘long way round’ (Ex 13:17f). Or am I reading too much into these Scriptures? You decide.

If we would only return to our first love for Jesus, and for the Judeo-Christian values which made our nation great, there is ‘a land of milk and honey’ within our grasp.

Hope for the Future

Still on the subject of slavery, the late Selwyn Hughes pointed out that the abolition of the slave trade came about, not through the enslaved organising a revolt, but through the passion of a man set free by Christ to defy furious opposition over many decades in pursuit of his noble goal.²

LAND OF MILK AND HONEY: The verdant hills of Galilee. Photo: Charles Gardner

For all that we betrayed Israel in many ways over the past century, we did pave the way for her national restoration. But God was only able to use us in this way because of the biblical revelation of his purposes for the Jews given to faithful evangelical Christians of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Tragically, Christ’s first coming was met by a national rejection from his own people which led to their exile for nearly 2,000 years. Just as tragic is Britain’s current national rejection of Christ.

But think on this. That first Passover led to a national revival for Israel as they all trusted in God’s provision of a blood-soaked sacrifice, and prefigures a national revival still to come, predicted by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, when “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26).

Could Britain also be blessed with national revival through trusting once more in the blood of Jesus for her redemption?

References

1 TBN UK, 24 March 2019.

2 Every Day with Jesus, 24 March 2019, referring to William Wilberforce.