Who rules Britain?

Some years ago when I was teaching students in London University for the BSc Sociology, the question that had caused the most difficulty in that year’s degree paper on ‘Modern Britain’ was simply three words: “Who rules Britain?”

Student answers at the time ranged from the Queen to voters. They included the Government, the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, backbench MPs, the European Union, the Trade Union movement, bankers, the media, TV celebrities, political party activists, pressure groups and numerous other inventive suggestions.

Their answers revealed the complexity of our modern democracy where power is distributed over a wide range of institutions. They revealed the healthy checks and balances in our political system, but they also indicated a huge sense of powerlessness right across the nation. Nobody really has unlimited power.

The Queen has to sign whatever bills are presented to her - however much she may disagree with them. Whoever is Prime Minister continually has to look over their shoulder for those who are plotting to overthrow them. The Cabinet is there purely to do the bidding of the Prime Minister and may be summarily dismissed.

In a democracy, all political power is impermanent and transitory. Leaders exist at the whim of the public and face daily threats to their authority. The current challenges faced by both Theresa May and Donald Trump are cases in point: holding power in a democratic country is an uncertain and dangerous business!

Limits to power have been built in to our political system over centuries, but seasons of powerlessness can also be allowed by God to descend upon our national leaders.

There are limits to the exercise of power in every institution – even in dictatorships where mob rule can take over and wrest power from the hands of rulers like Mugabe as happened recently in Zimbabwe. But a sudden loss of power can also engulf leaders in a bank, or a great financial house such as Lehman Bros, or a shopping complex, or a manufacturer, or even in the Church.

Limits to power have been built in to our political system over centuries, but seasons of powerlessness and instability can also be allowed by God to descend upon our national leaders. In Britain today as the Brexit negotiations move towards deadlines, the sense of crisis is growing, but amongst both Remainers and Brexiteers there is also a growing sense of powerlessness!

This may seem like a negative thing, but it is actually a sign of great opportunity – if it is recognised by our leaders and responded to properly.

Why Powerlessness Can Be Good

Feelings of powerlessness are experienced at some point in life by all human beings. Circumstances conspire to leave us feeling unable to control and direct our lives as we would wish – and for each of us this presents a challenge: will we respond positively or negatively?

Negatively, feelings of powerlessness can lead to frustration, depression, mental illness and even suicide.

Positively, the recognition of our own powerlessness can also lead to creative thinking. Our objectives may be being frustrated, but if they are worthy we can think creatively to discover other ways of achieving them. If they are not worthy we may be forced to re-think our plans. More broadly, we might be challenged to re-evaluate who or what we serve, and in whom we are placing our trust.

This is the choice facing our political leaders in Britain today. They may well feel powerless in the face of a petulant EU, an angry electorate, divided MPs, concerned businesses and a media lynch mob. But this season in Britain’s history is nevertheless an opportunity to ask deeper, more creative questions about our future. What are we really seeking to achieve? What is in the best interests of the nation and what sort of people do we want to be? To whom, or to what, will we entrust our future?

Feelings of powerlessness are experienced at some point in life by all human beings: the question is, how will we respond?

It is not only Britain which is at a crossroads, but also the whole of Western civilisation. The General Election in Sweden last Sunday, which resulted in significant gains for the ultra-right populist Sweden Democrats, revealed public concern for the cultural threats posed by waves of mass immigration. The same concern for loss of traditional culture is to be seen in Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Austria, the USA, Australia and Britain, where populist movements are challenging previously dominant elite groups for control over the direction of social change.

Pro-Brexit protesters outside Downing Street, last week. See Photo Credits.These are all nations whose cultures have, to some extent, been built upon Judeo-Christian foundations for centuries. It is the loss of this heritage that is now being felt keenly by ordinary citizens in these nations; although many in positions of power do not recognise this.

The Only Answer

This is where national leaders in the Church should play a major part in redirecting the values and objectives of the state – calling upon political leaders to re-examine their objectives. What do we want from Brexit? There is opportunity today to re-emphasise Judeo-Christian values of truth, integrity, faithfulness, loyalty, generosity, unselfishness and all the other biblical ethics that have proved to promote prosperity and blessing in our history.

At the same time, there is also enormous opportunity in amongst the Brexit mess for Church leaders to teach the nation a biblical lesson about our own helplessness – our spiritual inability to pursue goodness and truth without God’s help. Probably the most insightful passage in all the Apostle Paul’s writings is in Romans 7 where he writes about his own personal experience of powerlessness. He confesses, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”

Billions of human beings today can say exactly the same thing: we don’t do the good things we want to do, but we find ourselves driven to do the very things that we hate. This is what leads to self-harm and depression among so many young people today.

Understanding and accepting our powerlessness in this ultimate spiritual battle against sin is the first step to rescue and recovery.

In answer to his own lament, the Apostle Paul points to the amazing, creative, transformative, life-giving power that came into his own life and can come to us. It comes when we cry out for help from Jesus, who through the Cross set us free from the power of both sin and death. Yes, in an instant, lives can be changed.

There is opportunity amid the Brexit mess for Church leaders to teach the nation a biblical lesson about our own helplessness – our spiritual inability to pursue goodness and truth without God’s help.

Revival?

And that goes for nations too! All that is needed now for revival to sweep across Britain is the recognition of our own powerlessness – individually and corporately - to resist the forces that are driving the nation towards devastating political and social destruction and blinding our leaders even to plain common sense.

Once we recognise that we have turned away from God’s truth and put ourselves outside his protection, and that on our own we are powerless to help ourselves, and once we cry out to God for help – his transforming power will come to our aid.

That would be revival! But revival cannot be organised. It is a sovereign act of God releasing a movement of the Holy Spirit among ordinary people like us. And right now, revival is the only hope for a better Britain. But it will not come unless believing Christians start declaring the truth and preparing the way through prayer.

We look set for a turbulent autumn and a winter of discontent.

Our political masters are back from their summer break, refreshed and reinvigorated and ready to set the world right. But do they come back to Westminster with any fresh ideas, or is it back to the same old policies, antagonisms and graft? Both main parties are riven asunder from top to bottom with division so we look set for a turbulent autumn and a winter of discontent, with the Brexit battle absorbing the Tories and anti-Semitism troubling Labour.

The resignation of Frank Field from the Labour Party whip and the bitter criticism of Jeremy Corbyn by Margaret Hodge are signs of the deep trouble in the parliamentary Labour Party. The outbursts from Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees Mogg and other strong Brexiteers who say that Theresa May’s Chequers plan is dead in the water are all adding to the sense of confusion and turmoil surrounding Westminster at the moment.

Signs of Judgment

But these are classical biblical signs of judgment. Deuteronomy 28 gives a list of curses that would come upon Israel if they turned their backs upon the word of God and got heavily into idolatry and rejection of the truth.

One of the consequences would be “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him” (Deut 28:20). This prophecy was certainly fulfilled in 586 BC when Jerusalem including the temple, the palace and all the great houses of the city were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army.

Coronation Oath

Of course, Britain is not in a covenant relationship with God as was the nation of Israel; but our Sovereign, on behalf of the nation, swore an Oath of Allegiance to the God of the Bible in her Coronation Ceremony in 1953. Since then, as a nation, we have steadily turned away from biblical truth, passing one law after another that is directly against the word of God such as: The Abortion Act 1967, The Divorce Reform Act 1969, The Children’s Act 1989, The Sunday Trading Act 1993, The Gender Recognition Act 2004, The Equality Acts 2010, and The Marriage Same-Sex Couples Act 2013.

"We have steadily turned away from biblical truth"

Warnings

It is simply not possible to do all these ungodly things without bringing upon the nation the retribution we deserve. Another warning in Deuteronomy 28:28 says, “The Lord will inflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind.” We are certainly seeing this among our politicians today. We have had the truth in the Bible for centuries and as a nation we have chosen to discard it and go our own way.

In so doing, Britain, that had been under the protective cover of God for 1,000 years, moved outside that cover of protection and what we are seeing today is the result. There is no greater example of the rejection of the ‘God dimension’ in public life than Jeremy Corbyn’s behaviour in regard to the Jews and Zionism. 

Zionism

Zionism is the recognition of God’s covenant with Israel that is at the heart of our Judeo-Christian faith. The promise goes right back to the time of Abraham: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2-3).

Has Corbyn never read the Bible? As leader of a major political party in Britain whose Sovereign has sworn on oath to uphold the word of God in the Bible, he surely should have some understanding of what this means and of his own responsibility for upholding biblical truth.

It is a simple historical fact that the people of Israel occupied the land of Israel for many hundreds of years until the Roman army slaughtered half a million Jews and drove the remainder out of the land, destroying Jerusalem, renaming it ‘Capitoline’ and renaming the land of Israel – ‘Palestine’ – ‘land of the Philistines’ – as a deliberate insult to the Jews. That was in AD 135 and they remained scattered across the globe until their land was restored to them in 1948. Until that date the hope of returning to their traditional homeland had been expressed in the term ‘Zionism’ since the 1890s. It was endorsed by British Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour in a 1917 Declaration which was endorsed by Lloyd George and Winston Churchill and became part of British foreign policy.

Anti-Semitism

But anti-Semitic prejudice has plagued the British Foreign Office ever since the 1920s and that is what we see reflected in Jeremy Corbyn and his followers today. Their get-out-of-jail-free-card added to the international definition of anti-Semitism this week allowing them to criticise Israel is a pathetic cover for the anti-Jewish prejudice at the heart of their policy. But the prejudice they are trying to conceal is not just a social attitude. It is, at root, a hatred of God and of the Covenant he made with the people of Israel through whom he has given his teaching (Torah) and revealed his nature and purposes in the Bible; and as Christians believe – He has also given us the Messiah, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Hope

Is there any hope for Britain? Of course there is! Bible-believing-praying Christians should be asking God to use this time of confusion to cause people to recognise our need of God’s help. The 100 young people who have died on the streets of London since the beginning of this year are evidence of a sick society that can only be cured by crying out to God for help. We have reached the stage in the corruption of society that only spiritual revival can cure! None of our problems can be solved by human ingenuity because at root they are spiritual rather than social problems that only God can solve.

None of our problems can be solved by human ingenunity.

Shaking the Nations

It is not only Britain that is in desperate need – the USA similarly is going through a time of political and social upheaval with President Trump under siege in the White House, and Democrats and Republicans hurling insults at one another in the run-up to the November mid-term elections.

Germany, Italy and many other European nations are also going through a period of political turmoil; so too is Australia. Throughout the Western world there are many signs that the great shaking of the nations prophesied in Scripture (Haggai 2:7 and Hebrews 12) are coming true in our generation.

We are rapidly moving towards the time when the situation will become so desperate that Christians will be battering the gates of heaven with their prayers calling upon God to send spiritual revival as the only hope of saving the nations from destruction!

Britain is lost unless Bible-believing Christians speak up.

It is not easy being a Bible-believing Christian in Britain or any of the Western nations today. 30 years ago there were prophecies that Christians would soon be facing persecution. These seemed like wild predictions – such things could never happen in nations with centuries of Christian tradition!

Today, every day there is news of Christians losing their jobs because of taking a stand upon biblical principles, or Christians being taken to law charged with so-called ‘hate’ offences because they’ve quoted the Bible or refused to bake a cake with an LGBTQ+ slogan on it.

For British Christians an increasing problem is discerning between ‘fake news’ and the truth. Our national broadcaster, the BBC, once world-famous for trustworthy reporting founded upon biblical principles of truth and integrity, has been taken over by a consortium of secular humanists, including LGBTQ+ activists and Israel-haters. Their influence can be seen in everything from soaps and entertainment programmes to news broadcasting.

The search for truth is becoming increasingly difficult in an age when we are battered on every side with different media reports that are usually more ideological than factual. Where can we find truth and integrity today?

Today, every day there is news of Christians losing their jobs because of taking a stand upon biblical principles.

Battle Between Good and Evil

Of course, there are plenty of warnings in the Bible such as:

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Tim 3:1-5)

We all know people like this and we read about them every day in our newspapers and on the internet. But we also know of people from around the world who responded to the call for help to go and rescue boys trapped underground in a Thailand mountain. They willingly risked their own lives - and one of them actually died - in an effort to save the boys. It is an inspiring story of human bravery and self-sacrifice. Clearly there is something of great worth in our human nature that responds to such needs (as our Managing Editor describes in her article this week).

It is these two sides of our human nature, the good and the bad, that are reflected in the national life of both Britain and the USA at the moment. We are witnessing a conflict between the opposing forces of light and darkness.

Nations Torn Asunder

Both nations are being torn asunder by battles over God’s instituted truths - including gender. In the USA there are numerous legal cases being fought over the rights of transgender people to use public toilets or attempts to ban therapy for unwanted same-sex attraction.

In Britain our Government is considering a similar ban and Prime Minister Theresa May last week pledged support for making transgender processes easier. She either doesn’t understand the nature of the battle or she is deliberately forsaking her professed Christian principles for the sake of alleged political gain.

Both Britain and the USA are being torn asunder by battles over God’s instituted truths.

It is small wonder that the British Government is in disarray, the Cabinet torn apart by resignations and disagreement over the proposed Brexit terms to be offered to the EU. Once biblical standards of truth are abandoned, chaos and confusion inevitably follow: everyone makes up their own rules. This is what is happening, not only in Britain, but in all the Western nations, where their biblical heritages are being deliberately challenged.

The fundamental issue is a clash between human beings and God: do we follow our own human rules or do we accept the word of the Lord?

Rejecting the Nature of God

Paul neatly sums up the issue: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godliness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Rom 1:18). Paul says that the nature of God has been revealed in Creation and that once we reject the God of Creation we are driven by the destructive powers of darkness. This is why we are beginning a short series of study articles on Creation today, which we hope all our readers find helpful in their search for truth.

The Apostle Paul says that once we stop believing in God we don’t believe nothing, we believe anything! We worship all kinds of images in our idolatry. In Romans 1: 24-31, Paul outlines three stages in the degradation of humanity:

1. Human beings exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship created things rather than the Creator, which leads to engaging in all kinds of sexual impurity.
   
2. The second stage is “exchanging natural relations for unnatural ones” which includes all kinds of homosexual acts.
   
3. The third stage is when God gives human beings over “to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice”
   

I leave our readers to decide which stage we are in but we cannot ignore the fact that Britain and all the Western nations are immersed in an intense spiritual battle for their very souls, which will determine the history of humanity for the next 100 years or more.

Britain and all the Western nations are immersed in an intense spiritual battle for their very souls.

Answer to Prayer

I believe that it was in answer to prayer that God enabled the British people to vote to leave the secular humanist European Union. But the rich and powerful are combining with big businesses in a campaign to try any way they can to force Britain to reverse the decision – thus keeping us under the yoke of Brussels.

There are powerful forces in the media sponsored by big business feeding fake news and lies to the British public in a desperate attempt to keep us shackled to the EU. They say that our economy will collapse, whereas the reverse is more likely to be true! It is the profits and investments of the global conglomerates that may be hit by Brexit, but small businesses will be released from EU rules and regulations that inhibit their growth.
I believe that a time of great prosperity under the blessing of God awaits Britain if we can only shake ourselves free from the European Union.

A Prophetic Voice?

But why do we never hear a prophetic voice from the churches in Britain? Is it because the preachers don’t take the trouble to study what’s going on in the nation, or do they care so little about the word of God that they never apply the Gospel to current events? Why do we not hear the words of Amos thundering from every pulpit in the land, “Let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream!” (Amos 5:24).

Surely it is time for Christians to wake up and recognise the severity of the great spiritual battle that is raging in the heavenlies and on earth as the forces of darkness seek to destroy our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Wake up, Bible-believing Christians! Speak up in the ‘silent’ churches! Come together in small groups to spread these things before the Lord and join the battle for truth before it is too late!

The World Cup, Brexit and what really matters!

They say that if you can’t beat them, you should join them! So if you don’t mind, I’m taking a little rest from ‘important matters of state’ to indulge in fond reminiscing over the joys of sport. But there is a serious point to it – a goal even! So bear with me.

I was a sports journalist for much of my career and know how incredibly addictive it can be. So when I stood up to lead a workshop at a recent Christian conference, I was in direct competition with Harry Kane and his heroes – as we kicked off at similar times – and I guess I was no match for the Three Lions.

I was later informed that half of those who had earlier indicated interest in my seminar had absconded to watch the football instead – in the chapel of all places! Which surely blows away any lingering doubts that football has become a religion in our country.

But back then I was delighted to hear the quarter-final result, rendering England a clear winner over Sweden. And I feel I contributed to that by virtue of my absence as the only game I had watched until then was against Belgium (in the group stage), which we lost 1-0.

Faith on the Pitch?

The national excitement stirred by a game which the churches of England helped launch into the stratosphere is amazing indeed. Many of our major football teams began life as church youth clubs to foster fellowship and healthy exercise as an alternative to drinking!

What on earth did we start? Many have become so passionate for the sport that they have forgotten about the source of all goodness. And yet good has still come out of it. For many of today’s football stars have come to know the Lord of glory and put him first in their lives.

In recent years, the world-beating Brazilians have made no secret of their faith, though this is likely to become less evident now - not only due to their shock exit from this year’s competition, but because FIFA, the game’s ruling body, has handed a ‘red card’ to expressions of faith on the pitch – in order not to give offence (at least six members of Brazil’s current squad are born-again Christians and, in 1994, the Brazilian team publicly honoured the Lord following their win)!

Many of our major football teams began life as church youth clubs to foster fellowship and healthy exercise as an alternative to drinking!

But when all the hoopla has finally died down, as worship leader Robin Mark puts it in one of his songs, “There is just one thing that matters: did I do my best to live for truth; did I live my life for you?”

As I said to my depleted audience last Saturday, there is something more important than the World Cup. There is also a world waiting to see if Britain will again take up the baton she dropped several generations ago when she forsook her love for the Gospel.

Meanwhile, in Westminster

But with the serious matter of Brexit still not finally, or effectively, resolved, Prime Minister Theresa May held a reception for LGBTQ+ supporters, assuring them that the Government would ease the path for those who want to change their gender.¹

Cabinet ministers who resigned this week over the Government's Brexit plans.

Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic springs to mind. I don’t blame David Davis and Boris Johnson for rocking the boat by resigning over Mrs May’s plan to keep us at least partially moored to the godless EU monstrosity. Was this perhaps a bid to bury bad news – Mrs May’s betrayal of the 17.4 million people who voted Leave in the 2016 Referendum – while everyone is glued to the football?

Undermining her ministers, as she has clearly done with David Davis,² and threatening them with the suggestion that they would have to take taxis home (rather than their chauffeured cars) if they didn’t toe the line, is no way to run a democracy.

She even stands accused of being a Judas. In his Daily Mail column, Richard Littlejohn said she had turned Britain into an international laughing stock, and asked: “How does she square that with her Christian conscience? How can she live with the knowledge that she has betrayed the British people? Every week this vicar’s daughter parades her piety, pictured leaving the Sunday service at her local church in Berkshire. Who knew her role model here on earth was Judas Iscariot?”³

Enough of Compromise!

If we wish to ‘rule the waves’ again as a global power worthy of respect, we need to rediscover our godly heritage.

And we can’t do that by being ‘unequally yoked’ with Europe (see 1 Cor 6:17). I appreciate this Scripture relates specifically to believers not being ‘hitched’ in marriage or business with unbelievers, but our nation does have an exceptional Judeo-Christian heritage, which has inspired all its great institutions and is unmatched in the rest of Europe. Witness, for example, the Latin inscription on the floor of our Parliament – itself the envy of the world – which translates: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain” (Ps 127:1).

If we wish to ‘rule the waves’ again as a global power worthy of respect, we need to rediscover our godly heritage – and we can’t do that whilst ‘unequally yoked’ with Europe.

Enough of compromise, dilly-dallying and appeasement of Brussels bullies who, when push comes to shove, have no teeth anyway. For the truth is, Europe needs Britain more than Britain needs Europe.

It’s time to break off from our European moorings – we are island people after all – or the ship of state will sink, just as the house of sand collapsed for those who heard the words of Jesus and failed to put them into practice (see Matt 7:24-27).

Heavenly Priorities

In conclusion, I return to my point about the importance, or otherwise, of the World Cup. A family member, presently going through the mill, rang me up from the other side of the world to congratulate me on getting through to the semi-finals – as if I had anything to do with it, apart from not watching it, that is!

But when he told me that he and his wife were trusting Jesus in their difficulties, I was filled with a joy no amount of sporting glory could ever give me. As Jesus said, heaven holds a party each time someone turns to the Lord (Luke 15:7, 10).

He also said: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

Notes

1 Daily Mail, 5 July 2018.

2 John Stevens in the Daily Mail, 9 July 2018, pages 1 & 2.

3 Daily Mail, 10 July 2018.

A call to believers to battle for the nation.

I don’t often have a sleepless night worrying about the state of the nation. But I did on Wednesday night after watching the chaotic scenes in Parliament that led to the expulsion from the chamber of the leader of the Scottish Nationalist MPs, followed by their mass walkout.

No, I wasn’t worrying about the possibility of another Scottish Referendum and the breakup of the Union, or about the effect upon our parliamentary democracy of the battle between the Lords and the Commons over Brexit. I was worrying about Bible-believing Christians in Britain being no longer involved in the battle for Brexit.

I am convinced that it was praying, Bible-believing Christians who, through their intercession in the days leading up to the historic 2016 Referendum, helped to produce a majority in favour of leaving the European Union. That this was achieved despite the predictions of the pundits and the enormous effort of the establishment, European and world leaders and the mainstream media, all trying to persuade Brits to stay shackled to the EU, is nothing short of miraculous.

But the Referendum battle was only a minor skirmish in comparison with what is happening now, as the Remainers mobilise their forces to reverse the decision and force Britain to stay within the European Union. That is their intention - nothing less - despite all their protests that they are only trying to ensure good trade deals.

My greatest worry is that I sense that many Christians no longer watch the news and follow the developments in the Brexit process because they are tired of it all, or because it’s all so depressing. Yes, it is! But if Christians opt out of the battle the consequences are unbelievably disastrous. The Bible reminds us that "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labour in vain” (Ps 127).

If Christians opt out of the battle the consequences are unbelievably disastrous.

Have Christians Given Up?

Britain’s prospective release from the European Project and its demonic powers offers a wonderfully open future, potentially full of prosperity and new life. But this can only be achieved where there is sufficient faith in God to allow for his guidance and blessing to be influential in our national affairs.

My fear today is that many Christians have given up battling in prayer for Britain. Yes, I know what I wrote a year ago about not simply praying for prosperity, but that did not mean that we should not pray for God to use these times of trouble to bring a spirit of repentance into the nation.

I strongly believe in God’s promise given through Jeremiah: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer 18:7).

I note that Jeremiah kept calling for repentance right up to the time when the Babylonian army surrounded the walls of Jerusalem: he knew that if the people put their trust in the Lord they would have been kept safe from the most powerful army in the world, even at that late hour. God would have done something at the last moment to save his people!

But the huge danger today is that many Bible-believing Christians have grown weary of the battle raging among our political masters. What came to me during my sleepless night was that many Christians do not understand the nature of the battle: it is not just a political battle, or a fight to save our democracy; it is part of a major spiritual conflict over the Judeo-Christian heritage – and future - of Western civilisation.

Many Christians do not understand the spiritual nature of the battle.

Spirit of Lawlessness

I believe we have reached a period in the history of the world where the most incredible spiritual battle is taking place - both in the heavenlies and upon earth - for the future influence of the biblical revelation of truth given through the advent, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It may be that what we are seeing is the release of the ‘man of lawlessness’ to which Paul refers in 2 Thessalonians 2. The spirit of rebellion against God, together with the rapid rise of anti-Semitism and the increase in the persecution of Christians in all parts of the world, are symptoms of the great spiritual battle that is raging in our lifetime.

Button worn this week by demonstrators outside Parliament.

Paul warns believers not to underestimate the spiritual powers of darkness that are involved. He says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).

My fear is that most Christians do not understand the nature of this battle. They “have eyes but do not see…ears but do not hear” (Jer 5:21; also Mark 8:18). But Paul wrote that God’s plan was to use the ‘community of believers’ (the congregation of saints) “to make known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph 3:10)!

Sounding the Call

If I am right in what I believe I am hearing in my quiet times, the world is rapidly moving into a period of incredible turmoil, with Europe and Israel at the centre of the battle. Once the civil war in Syria is over the attention of the Islamic world will turn to Israel and Britain needs to be free of European shackles if we are to respond as we should before God.

The greatest need today is for Bible-believing Christians, not only in Britain, but across the world, to recognise the nature of the battle and to seek the Lord for the right prayer strategy. Then, the forces of light may be mobilised by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring his message of salvation to the nations and overcome the spirit of death that is driving the nations to destruction.

A trumpet call to prayer must be sounded among Christians – and we can all play our part in this.

Italy’s new Government puts another strain on Brussels.

The wave of populism continues to sweep across Europe with Italy being the latest nation to feel its ‘people power’ unsettling the political establishment. But it is not only Rome that is fearing radical change: the shockwaves are reaching Brussels and shaking the EU. The past week has been one of turbulence in Italy with the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) doing a deal with the right-wing anti-immigration League after more than 12 weeks of haggling.

The two parties nominated Giuseppe Conte, a professor of law with no political experience, as Prime Minister and Paolo Savona – a fierce opponent of the Euro – as Finance Minister. Both were overruled by the President who refused to appoint them. President Mattarella was widely reported to be following instructions from Brussels with particular pressure from Germany. A compromise has been reached with Conte remaining as Prime Minister but Savona being moved to Minister for European Affairs and Giovanni Tria – who favours remaining in the Eurozone – becoming Finance Minister.

But Italy’s new populist Government still presents a headache for Brussels because both M5S’s leader Luigi Di Maio and the League’s Matteo Salvini – now Deputy Prime Ministers - are strongly Eurosceptic and have declared that the Euro is not good for Italy. The President’s intervention, far from steering Italy into calmer waters, enraged voters who support these two parties precisely because they are anti-EU and anti-establishment.

Justified Anger

The rise of the populist parties reflects the justified anger at the political class both in Rome and in Brussels. Italy has 30% of young people unemployed and more than 20% unemployment in the southern half of the country. Vital reforms have not been carried out by previous governments and the situation has been greatly exacerbated by the flow of immigrants coming across the Mediterranean from North Africa.

The shockwaves of populism are reaching Brussels and shaking the European Union.

Appeals to the EU for help with the migrant crisis have been ignored; so too have the desperate needs for tackling corruption and improving the country’s education and youth services. Italy’s economy has not grown for the past two decades, which has caused the people at last to rise up and say “Enough is Enough! We will not have these people ruling over us any longer!” Historically, this has been the cry of oppressed people throughout the ages.

The new Coalition, due to be sworn in today, plans to increase spending, cut taxes and disperse half a million immigrants across the Eurozone - to the horror of Brussels! The new populist Government in Italy takes power at the same time as Britain concludes its negotiations for exiting the European Union – all putting additional strain on the EU that could result in the collapse of the whole enterprise of a united Europe.

Resentment and Revolt

Even if Italy does not abandon the Euro, the shockwaves of its new populist Government’s policies will be enough to shake the EU to its foundations. Italy is the fourth largest economy in Europe and their national debt is already at 132% of GDP. No nation can go on spending more than it earns without courting disaster. But that is what Italy’s new Coalition plans to do – to increase spending massively in order to give a living wage to the poorest families which could send the Euro spinning out of control.

The plain fact is that Italians are contemptuous of their political establishment and of the Brussels hierarchy. In particular, they deeply resent the power exercised by Germany. They saw the brutal treatment of Greece by Germany’s bankers last year which was in line with the way the Nazis dealt with Greece in the Second World War. The Italians are determined that this is not going to happen to them. They want to shake off the power of the EU over them.

Even if Italy does not abandon the Euro, its new populist Government’s policies will be enough to shake the EU to its foundations.

Last week there was talk of impeaching the President for refusing to recognise the democratic will of the people. But this would have resulted in a General Election which was the last thing that Italy’s President or the EU wanted, because public opinion was swinging increasingly to the populists who could have won an increased majority. That is the strength of the populist movement sweeping the country, with its strong nationalist and anti-immigration sentiment which is likely to strengthen the same movement throughout Europe.

Demand for Justice

The demands of the people for justice and righteousness cannot be ignored for ever. There is something in our human nature that recognises corruption, lies, oppression and injustice as wrong. Perhaps it is because we are created in the image of the God of the Bible, who abhors these things. Truth, righteousness and justice are part of the nature of God, but corruption and lies are the works of the devil – the father of lies.

It looks as though the European Union is facing judgment day. The warning shots fired by Britain through Brexit and the many calls for reform from other nations across Europe have all been ignored by the liberal postmodernist intelligentsia that rules Brussels, enjoying wealthy lifestyles and practising oppression and corruption.

There is something in our human nature that recognises corruption, lies, oppression and injustice as wrong.

The populist movement is probably not a paragon of virtue! But God often uses imperfect instruments to accomplish his purposes. He even used Cyrus the Persian to deliver his people from Babylon. One thing the Bible makes abundantly clear is that God hates injustice and corruption. Here is a selection of verses from the biblical prophets that illustrate this:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…Who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent. (Isa 5:20-23)

Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth I will forgive this city. (Jer 5:1)

Sow for yourself righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love…But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception because you have depended on your own strength. (Hos 10:12-13)

They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. (Amos 2:6-7)

Woe to those who plan iniquity…They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance. Therefore, says the Lord: I am planning disaster against this people. (Mic 2:1-3)

Maybe the word of the Lord to the EU today is similar to that which he pronounced against Israel when their leaders were steeped in corruption:

Therefore, this is what the Holy one of Israel says: because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly in an instant. (Isa 30:12)

Amongst all the trouble, God is doing something among his people.

In last week’s editorial, ‘Days of Confusion’, we looked at the complex forces of change that have created the strife and uncertainty in the nation today.

During the past week we have seen George Soros, the arch secular humanist, adding to the confusion by trying to undermine the democratic vote of the British people to get out of the European Union. Volatility on the stock market and demands for Brexit clarity from the business world have all added to the clamour in the nation. But, of course, none of our leaders ask the most obvious question – “Is there any word from the Lord?”

I was really encouraged by the comments on last week’s editorial. They confirm my own sense of excitement that despite all the bad news and the trouble in the nation, God is doing something among his people – those who are not just praying, but who are also listening to him.

I’ve been drawn to Psalm 127 with the familiar words “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.” The second part of that verse is of great significance for us today: “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” From this we can derive the biblical truth that unless the Lord watches over the nation we will be wide open to every spiritual attack of the enemy.

This is precisely what happens when a nation such as Britain has a heritage of centuries of biblical truth; but in a single generation discards that truth, turns its back upon God to go its own way, and then is surprised when everything goes wrong.

What Can We Do?

What can we do about this? Well, first we can turn to what the Bible says about a nation that is facing disaster. A significant promise was given by God to the Prophet Jeremiah:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. (Jeremiah 18:7-8)

This promise was not just for the nation of Israel in a covenant relationship with God, but for any nation at any time, which makes it the most significant promise in the Bible for Gentile nations. It is of particular significance for nations such as Britain, the USA, Europe and other Western nations that have a Judeo-Christian heritage.

Unless the Lord watches over the nation we will be wide open to every spiritual attack of the enemy.

The reason for this is that the promise speaks about God having warned the nation.¹ It is only nations that know the God of the Bible that could recognise a warning from God. It is only nations that have known the truth that could justifiably be charged with having deliberately turned their backs upon truth and embraced false values.

Just look at the values that our politicians are promoting as ‘British values’: “equality, tolerance and the rule of law”. These are not British values! They are an invention of secular humanists drawing on atheist philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant and Marx!

Traditionally, British values have been drawn from the Bible. They are: JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS, TRUTH and INTEGRITY, FAITHFULNESS and LOVE. These used to be the values upon which all our political relationships, our business relationships and our personal relationships were founded! They are fundamental and eternal: not the trivial rubbish peddled by politicians!

One Example: Britain and Israel

Today, I want to take just one example of the way Britain has forsaken godly standards of truth, leading to the situation in which we now find ourselves.

It’s a well-known fact that the British Foreign Office is anti-Semitic and always votes with the Arabs against Israel in the United Nations. They even voted against the USA when President Trump had the courage to declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which every Bible-believing Christian, every Jew and every educated person knows is simply a plain statement of fact: Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since the time of King David, 3,000 years ago!

Traditionally, British values have been drawn from the Bible – they are not the secular humanist rubbish being peddled today.

Records show how the Foreign Office civil servants fought against Churchill in the 1920s when, as Colonial Secretary, he strove to implement the 1917 Balfour Declaration that the historic land of Israel should be a homeland for the Jews. In 1938 and ‘39 when the Jews were being murdered on the streets in German cities, Britain refused to let Jewish families come as refugees. We took several trainloads of Jewish children but let their parents go to Auschwitz to be murdered in the Nazi gas chambers.

The Exodus, after the British boarded in 1947. Public domain.An even more horrible crime was committed immediately after the Second World War, when the survivors of the death camps from around central Europe fled to Palestine but were prevented from entering by the British army. A leaky old ship called The Exodus carrying 4,500 survivors was rammed by two British cruisers and forced to turn away from Haifa. The most heinous crime was that all these people were deported back to prison camps in Germany! This was at the time when Britain was beginning to reject its biblical heritage and its values of truth and righteousness.

It was just at this time that the British Empire began to unravel. The greatest Empire the world had ever known began to collapse when it started to despise its own heritage, despite the miracles we had seen during the war that saved Britain when we stood alone.

Of course, I’m not saying that the Empire was perfect – we made lots of mistakes, but from my extensive travels around the world I have seen at first hand some of the good things that British rule brought to those countries. Also, today there are countless millions who embrace the Gospel because it was brought to them through the British Empire: that in itself is a godly heritage.

The Way Ahead

The peace and prosperity Britain enjoyed until the present generation was the fruit of a nation that honoured its biblical heritage. God watched over this nation because of its faithfulness.

This is surely significant: the hope for the future lies in the chaos and confusion in the nation forcing a recognition that we have departed from the ways of righteousness and truth.

If this recognition leads to repentance, there is no doubt that God will honour his promise not to destroy the nation, but to restore times of peace and prosperity…“If that nation that I warned repents of its evil…” As I said last year: I cannot just pray unconditionally for God’s blessing on the nation. But the promise of Jeremiah 18:7-8 is something worth praying for!

Notes

1 A possible exception to this is Nineveh. But there were significant settlements of Israelites in the region around Nineveh since the time of Shalmaneser in 722 BC (See 2 Kings 17:6). So the Ninevites might have known the God of Israel from them which would have prepared the way for Jonah’s warning.

But what is its spiritual significance?

The Prime Minister deserves our congratulations for her tenacity and skill in reaching agreement with the European Union to enable the Brexit negotiations to proceed to the next stage.

She has certainly worked incredibly hard together with David Davis and the team of negotiators to achieve this breakthrough despite all the derogatory comments of her critics and the wiles of her political opponents and the anti-Brexiteers.

According to reports this morning, Mrs May worked through the night to ensure full agreement on the Irish border before catching a plane from Northolt to Brussels for the final talks with Mr Tusk that resulted in the announcement from both of them that agreement had been reached.

Of course, this does not mean that Britain is finally out of the European Union, but it is a very significant step in that direction, which has been achieved despite enormous opposition from secular humanists determined to keep Britain under the control of the EU. This agreement recognises that Britain will leave the European Union in 15 months’ time, with or without a trade agreement, which has yet to be negotiated. That is the political and social significance of today’s announcement.

The Question Christians Should Ask

The question that Christians will be asking is, what is the spiritual significance of the announcement? If we think back to the Referendum of 2016 our conclusion in this magazine was that the two most significant factors that guided that result were a movement of social change and a powerful spiritual input.

We have said many times in our articles that the Brexit battle is primarily a spiritual battle and evidence of this has certainly been seen.

The social factor was the rising tide of populism in Europe and the USA. In Britain it was the anti-establishment sentiment among ordinary working people that strongly influenced the vote. But of even greater significance was the spiritual factor – the prayers of Bible-believing Christians who were convinced that God was giving the nation an opportunity of shaking off the shackles of the secularist, humanist European Union.

We have said many times in our articles that the Brexit battle is primarily a spiritual battle and evidence of this has certainly been seen as powerful personalities and media commentators have conspired to undermine the negotiations with the EU. But despite all the opposition, against all the odds and forecasts of doom and gloom, agreement has been reached that Britain will leave the European Union.

God’s Blessing?

Is this a sign of God’s blessing? I personally do not think that it is. I believe it is a sign of God’s mercy in the midst of judgment, which is what many Christians have been praying for. We know quite well that Britain is a nation that has despised its Judeo-Christian heritage. Successive governments have followed humanist agendas and deliberately turned away from biblical principles and values that are enshrined in our history.

Nevertheless, the God whom we know as the God of Creation, who holds the nations in his hands and guides their destiny if they put their trust in him, does hear and heed the prayers of his servants, even if they are but a tiny minority. The God who has been revealed to us through the prophets of Israel and supremely through our Lord Jesus Christ is a God who does not depend upon demographic majorities.

In fact, God loves to work through small numbers, as he has demonstrated time and again in history.

I believe that this is not a sign of God’s blessing, but one of mercy in the midst of judgment.

So what of the future? I still cannot pray for a great outpouring of blessings and prosperity upon the nation because I have not yet seen any signs of repentance – or even calls for such repentance from our Church leaders! I can nevertheless give heartfelt thanks to God for his mercy in still watching over this nation and allowing us the opportunity of regaining our sovereignty and having another chance to renounce some of the evil laws that we have put upon the Statute Book in the past 40 years.

There is Hope Yet

The agreement that has been reached today is an historic moment that not only has political and social significance, but has spiritual significance in showing us that God still has a purpose for this nation.

It remains to be seen whether or not our leaders recognise the hand of God in this – even to the extent of putting a little group of Bible-believing Christians, the DUP, holding the balance of power that enables the Government to continue.

Today is a day when we can rejoice greatly in the goodness of God and in his love and mercy. But we should not forget that his kindness is supposed to lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Let’s commit afresh to pray for this today.

Protests, confusion and cries of abuse have a common root.

In the week that we have been remembering the 500^th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, it is appropriate to look at Europe today where we see the widespread rise of protest movements. Luther’s challenge to the practices of the Catholic Church was a direct challenge to its authority. Today we are seeing challenges to authority in almost every part of Europe – but these stem from a very different spirit.

In Britain, our media never ceases to inform us of the chaos and confusion surrounding the Brexit negotiations. The confusion is not just in Westminster; it is also in Brussels. We are facing so many ‘unknowns’ – political, legal, commercial, as well as ideological. Our politicians and media commentators spend their time consulting their crystal balls trying to discern the future, but only succeed in generating greater confusion.

But Britain and the EU are not the only centres of confusion. Throughout Europe there are signs of growing discontent and dissatisfaction with policies that have been followed by traditional leaders for decades.

Uprisings Against Traditional Authority

Young people in particular are exerting influence, rising up to challenge traditional authority. France, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic have all voted for young leaders; part of a populist uprising across Europe.

The Catalan declaration of independence, challenged by the Spanish Government, has rapidly descended into chaos with their leader running away to Brussels. Austria voted last month for Sebastian Kurz, a 31-year-old right-wing leader who is said to be talking to the far-right Freedom Party in an attempt to form a government.

Throughout Europe there are signs of growing discontent and dissatisfaction.

The Czech Republic has also voted for an anti-establishment leader, Andrej Babis, who obtained 30% in last month’s election.

In Germany, the far-right ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) party won 94 seats in the Bundestag in September’s elections, which was the first time any such party has made gains in Germany since the 1930s. In Italy the two northern regions are seeking to organise a referendum to gain greater autonomy and the populist five-star movement (M5S) also elected a 31-year-old leader.

Abuse and Loss of Trust

Defence Minister Michael Fallon has lost his position because of the recent allegations about sexual misconduct at Westminster. See Photo Credits.Back in Westminster, confusion is not confined to the Brexit negotiations: politicians are greatly concerned by allegations of sexual impropriety among MPs, which has attracted much media attention with women queueing up to tell tales to journalists. ‘Someone touched my knee 20 years ago: I lost my confidence and it ruined my life.’ What a load of codswallop! Has the world gone completely mad?

Of course, if there are incidents of serious sexual malpractice or harassment there should be a safe place where complaints can be lodged and dealt with professionally, but the current politically correct hysteria is ridiculous. Is our society not sufficiently adult to be able to sort out relationships between the genders?

Two days ago I was in my study with the door shut and the young woman who does some cleaning for us was hoovering in the dining room. I heard her phone go and then she burst into loud crying. My wife was out so I immediately went to her and between uncontrollable sobs she managed to say that someone in her family had died. I had hardly ever spoken to her before but I simply took her into my arms and let her cry on my shoulder.

When she quietened down I told her I believe in prayer and could I pray for her? She nodded and I prayed, which brought about a total transformation. She said she used to go to Sunday School as a child but hadn’t been to church for years; so I talked about the love of God and gently gave her the Gospel. Far from accusing me of ‘inappropriate behaviour’, she was profuse in her thanks. We were just two human beings – one in distress and the other offering comfort.

Incidents of serious sexual malpractice should of course be properly dealt with, but the current politically correct hysteria is ridiculous.

Breakdown of Relationships

Surely, all the major problems we see in modern society come down to human relationships which have failed, broken or been abused in some way. The ongoing drama over Brexit and the political instability right across the Western world are but symptoms of this deeper, more systemic problem of human relationships.

In the same way, the current wave of sex scandals delighting the media has its origins in broken human relations – particularly the breakdown of marriage, but also a broader disintegration of trust and commitment to faithful and loving relationships. This is where Christian churches have much to teach secular humanists. In most churches, relationships are a strong uniting factor and churchgoers regularly exchange greetings with hugs or kisses, with no fears of sexual impropriety. Even in Anglican churches, often regarded as formal and cold institutions, sharing ‘The Peace’ is usually an opportunity for hugs all round!

When human relationships are based upon mutual respect and trust, we do not have to worry about political correctness or ‘inappropriate behaviour’. We can just be natural and free from inhibitions and fear of being misunderstood in our relationships with others.

Getting Our Relationship with God Right

But it is vital to recognise that these ideal human relationships are the outcome of a right relationship with God: recognising him as Creator, who made us all (both male and female) in his own image; as Father, who designed us for intimate relationship with him as his sons and daughters; and as Lord, who alone is the true authority, setting out right from wrong and holding us all to account.

When we get our relationship right with God, this automatically puts right our relationships with other human beings, because our whole attitude is different.

We do not seek to ‘lord it’ over others, because we know that we ourselves are no better or worse than they, and all are subject to God. We are enabled to love others and given wisdom to handle difficult times – dealing with differences, misunderstandings, or complex negotiations. Mutual respect in personal relationships leads to the same spirit prevailing over wider issues involving whole communities and nations.

When we get our relationship right with God, this automatically puts right our relationships with other human beings.

The basic problem in Western society today is that we have abandoned this biblical authority structure – once a fundamental part of our Judeo-Christian moral, social and political foundations, enjoyed by our forefathers. These were passed on to us, but they have been despised and rejected. We have rebelled against God’s good plan, inverting his model for right and blessed relationships and deleting God from the equation.

The Apostle Paul went to the heart of this issue by saying “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (Rom 8:7, ESV). The answers to our difficult personal relationships and our complex international relationships all lie in getting our relationship with God right.

It’s worth just meditating on a few verses from Psalm 119:

Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.
Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. (vv33-37)

Top-level turmoil is a biblical sign.

Day after day the news media is filled with reports of confusion in Whitehall, disagreements within the Cabinet and discontent among backbenchers.

Nobody is quite sure what’s going on and the general uncertainty at the top of the political spectrum is rapidly communicated, not only to the nation but also to leaders of the 27 other nations in the European Union with whom we are trying to negotiate an exit treaty.

The Bible tells us that ‘confusion’ is a direct consequence of turning away from God – rejecting his truth. Deuteronomy 28 lays out the great benefits and blessings that flow from being in a right relationship with God and keeping his commands to walk in his ways. It also sets out the consequences of rejecting the word of God.

Of course, these things were specifically written for the guidance of Israel, a nation in a covenant relationship with God. Nevertheless, the spiritual principle here is one that applies to nations such as Britain and the USA. They have publicly declared themselves to be nations that accept the Bible as the revealed word of God, which sets the standard for truth in the public square as well as in personal and corporate morality and ethics.

Having publicly recognised God’s truth, we have to bear the consequences of our rejection which are spelt out in Deuteronomy 28:20: “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.”

Departing from the Truth

The Prime Minister’s latest flying visit to Brussels will do nothing to rescue the Brexit negotiations with the EU unless there is public recognition of the way we have departed from the truth and despised the word of God.

However much we may have had sympathy for Theresa May in her ill-fated speech to the Conservative conference, it is hardly surprising that she choked on her words when in the same speech she declared that the greatest recent achievement of the Conservative Government was in changing the definition of marriage, defying the word of God and his created order.

Having publicly recognised God’s truth, we have to bear the consequences of rejecting it.

There is nothing more certain to bring judgment upon the nation than such an action. But God has not acted hastily. Successive governments in Britain have been conspiring to turn truth upside-down for many years. Despite Tony Blair’s personal acknowledgement of the importance of moral and spiritual values in society, the influence of secular humanist ideologies within the New Labour movement were strong.

Blairites and the Battle for the Family

Jack Straw, see Photo Credits.Notably, the rising influence of LGBT interests were seen in the Blair Government, where powerful Cabinet posts were given to homosexual individuals such as Chris Smith,¹ who took control of Culture, Media and Sport. This was exactly the area where LGBT values could be injected subtly into public life and was a notable triumph for the LGBT movement. Women in the Blair Government with strong feminist and secular humanist orientations, such as Clare Short and Harriet Harman, also opened the way for the promotion of ideologies harmful to the family.

Disputes within the Cabinet reflected this ideological battle for the preservation or destruction of the family. Jack Straw’s endeavour to promote measures that would strengthen family life were thwarted within the Cabinet and resulted in his failure to produce the White Paper he promised in his speech on 15 July 1998, when he welcomed the publication of the report ‘Family Matters’.²

All this underlines the reason why Britain is in such dire straits today. Many Conservatives were amazed when David Cameron gave his support to ‘same-sex marriage’ (SSM) in 2013. But this was not his brainchild: he had been present at a meeting of European leaders in 2010 when it was agreed that all EU member states should aim to legalise SSM by 2013.

Cameron knew the pressure would be on and, as an ambitious politician, he simply wanted to be ahead of the game. But in so doing he brought judgment upon himself that ended his political career. When will Western leaders learn that you cannot defy the word of God without incurring inevitable consequences?

Successive governments in Britain have been conspiring to turn truth upside-down for many years.

Understanding Europe’s History

All the confusion surrounding Brexit is a measure of the extent to which we have put ourselves outside the protection and blessing of God and at the mercy of the destructive secular humanist spirits driving the European Union.

There is so much history wrapped up in these Brexit negotiations. Europe has been torn apart by two devastating wars in the past 100 years. Emotions run deep in the national psyche of each of the European nations. Germany has, twice, recovered remarkably from the devastation and destruction of military defeat. Their dream of a united Europe under German domination through the European Union had almost been achieved. But once again Britain is the one nation standing in the way.

Britain has always been the stumbling block – the odd one out – even driving on the other side of the road, not conforming to European standards - a nation of nonconformists! Today, the nations that suffered defeat or the humiliation of five years of enemy occupation (and of having Britain to thank for their liberation) suddenly find themselves in a position of power over Britain. Our Prime Minister has asked for their help in devising a deal that she can sell to her unruly Cabinet and a divided nation.

But mixed into all this are massive spiritual issues, as the whole of Europe has been assailed by a secular humanist onslaught in the past half-century. Britain has been more successful than any other European nation in holding on to its Christian heritage, largely through the influence of our ageing Queen, whose Coronation Oath to uphold the Protestant faith spread a cover of protection over the land.

Brexit is a sign of God’s mercy towards Britain, giving us the opportunity of re-asserting our sovereign independence under the blessing of God. But that can only be achieved through the recognition of how God has blessed us in the past, especially in the lifetime of our parents and grandparents. But we have deeply offended him in our own generation and, sadly, most people in Britain do not understand the nature of the battle and its spiritual dimension.

Bible-believing Christians who do understand the times have a vital role to play in the future of Britain if we are to be successful in getting out of Europe.

We Have Work to Do!

This is where Bible-believing Christians who do understand the times have a vital role to play in the future of Britain if we are to be successful in getting out of Europe. A few months ago, I was told in my times of intercession to stop praying general prayers of blessing and welfare upon the nation, but to engage instead in prayer with a particular focus.

Jeremiah was warned against praying “Peace! Peace!” when God was saying there was no peace (Jer 6:14). We have to learn to pray in line with God’s will. Then our prayers will be a powerful force to bring the nation in line with the purposes of God. That could still happen with the Brexit battle, in which our prayers should be specifically directed by the Holy Spirit. For that to happen, each of us has to learn to listen to the Lord.

References

1 Chris Smith was the first openly homosexual Politician to be appointed to a major Government office in British history.

2 Family Matters, a Report to the Home Secretary, The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, from The Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group. Chairman: Lord Ashbourne, 15 July 1998.