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.

Why has God blessed Britain so much?

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

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

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

Pleasing God Through Obedience

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

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

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

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

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

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

Understanding His Deeper Purposes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Divine deliverance during World War II.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Israel Re-Born: the Fruit of Prayer
  

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

Notes

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

Times of refreshment: a look at historic revivals in Britain.

From Magna Carta to the abolition of slavery: the development of Britain's biblical laws.

Last week we looked at how the Gospel spread around Anglo-Saxon England and, independently, the Celtic fringes of Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland. We saw that Christianity was readily adopted by successive Anglo-Saxon kings, influencing their law codes and building into our developing nation early on a close relationship between Church and state. By the time of the Norman conquest, England could be viewed as one nation under God.

Over the next centuries, enormous battles proceeded as our political structures developed and matured. Major upheavals condensed around the introduction of checks and balances to the power of the monarchy, the development of Parliament and the judiciary; also the English Reformation and our departure from Roman Catholicism; also the fragmentation of British Protestantism thereafter.

This week, we look at how, through all this turbulence and complexity, our ‘unwritten’ constitution nevertheless came to reflect biblical principles and beliefs.

Six Centuries in Brief

Foundational to the British constitution and rule of law is Magna Carta (1215, confirmed as statute law 1297) - particularly its clauses guaranteeing freedom for the Church and the right to due legal process for all citizens. However, even though Magna Carta established in principle that the king was not above the law, it took several centuries to move Britain from the absolute rule of one sovereign (reliant on advisors and the support of regional landowners) to a Parliamentary democracy with checks and balances in place to hold both monarch and government accountable.

Although no political system is perfect, the fundamental idea of limiting the king’s power introduced a notable principle of humility into Britain’s governmental system, framed by the Christian belief that all men are answerable to God. During Henry III’s reign our first elected Parliament was convened (1265), starting the nation on a journey towards a representative democracy. Meanwhile, a parallel move away from autocracy also began within the Church, first with protest against Catholicism and then with dissent against the Church of England, and always with criticism of corrupt and unaccountable clergy.

Through six centuries of upheaval, our ‘unwritten’ constitution nevertheless came to reflect biblical beliefs and principles.

Several turbulent centuries of both international and internal conflict eventually culminated in the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688, when the ascent of William and Mary to the throne led to a new Bill of Rights being introduced guaranteeing, not least, freedom of speech and free elections,¹ as well as a Toleration Act granting freedom of worship to Dissenters. Importantly, the Coronation Oath was also revised to include a promise before God to “maintain the laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel” – a promise still made by our current Queen, to which we believe the Lord holds her.

These were truly landmark moments in the history of Britain’s politics and her position before God. Though they did not rid the nation of violence, poverty and persecution, they undoubtedly laid the foundation for later outpourings of Christian belief and repentance, not least by ensuring key Gospel freedoms. Over the next two or three centuries, Britain saw mass revivals of religious fervour, from the grassroots right up to the uppermost echelons of society, led by evangelists both within and without the established Church.

It was these revivals which changed British culture sufficiently that a host of righteous laws could then be passed including the abolition of slavery, laws preventing child labour and cruelty to animals, and laws promoting family values and protecting the vulnerable, all of which were added to the statute books in the 19^th Century.

Reflections

There are many ways of analysing the developments outlined above, which were in reality far more complex than my brief summary permits. Here, I want to highlight two ways in which the Bible was brought to bear on Britain’s political system and thence its people - by force and by free will – and to ask where God was in all of this.

Faith by Force

The explosion of the Reformation in Europe under Luther galvanised pressure for Church reform across the British Isles. However, Protestantism’s top-down, politicised introduction to England through Henry VIII’s notorious split from Rome in 1534 over the matter of his marriages, did not reflect popular critiques of Catholicism but rather political wrangling, and led to several decades of violent conflict, persecution, execution, revolt and exile. Ambition and power play combined with varying levels of piety and zeal in the persons of several different rulers, passing England back and forth between the two branches of Christianity.

The 16^th-17^th Centuries were marked by attempts to enforce either Catholic or Protestant belief and practice on the general public. Under Elizabeth I’s God-given lengthy reign, Protestantism finally triumphed and was firmly embedded into our national consciousness, but in the process, dissent and genuine calls for reform of the Church of England were outlawed and punished.

Charles I’s attempts to force English Anglicanism on Presbyterian Scotland prompted numerous military conflicts and fuelled the English Civil Wars. Cromwell’s ascent to power led to Puritanical standards being imposed - albeit probably in good conscience, but without long-lasting success.

Landmark constitutional freedoms combined with popular revivals to transform the fabric of British culture, such that a host of righteous laws could then be passed.

Then, following the restoration of the monarchy in the 1660s and the return of traditional Anglicanism, dissent was once again stifled through a series of laws known as the Clarendon Code, together with the infamous Test Act. Dissenters (later known as non-conformists) may have been allowed freedom to worship, but they were barred from holding public office or attending Oxbridge. Unofficial small group meetings were also banned.² Thousands of non-conformist clergy resigned and nearly two centuries of discrimination against Dissenters ensued.

Faith by Free Will

These centuries teach us, amongst other things, that the top-down enforcement of any kind of religious practice by the state cannot change men’s hearts. God has given mankind a measure of free will and the Gospel was ordained to spread by the preaching and hearing of the word, not by violence and coercion. Nevertheless, true faith was alive and well during those centuries and the Lord did not reject entirely the zeal of our rulers, nor did he abandon our island to tyranny. Instead, in ways we cannot fully comprehend, he worked in the midst of the upheaval and conflict.

John Wesley, preaching outside the church walls. See Photo Credits.He did this, vitally, through successive generations of individuals and groups who were raised up, often from the grassroots, to campaign for repentance, reform and a return to the plain truths of Scripture. Through all the ups and downs of Britain’s history, as soon as any one form of the faith became codified and ‘established’, particularly in the sense of outward displays of religiosity not reflective of genuine inner transformation, the Lord raised up prophetic servants to hold the establishment to account.

From Wycliffe’s outspoken criticism of Catholicism (mentioned last week) through Puritanism in Tudor England to non-conformist movements of the 18^th and 19^th Centuries, it has been the faithful living and witness of ordinary Christians, often in the face of significant persecution, that has born lasting spiritual fruit in our nation and gradually steered our parliamentary and judicial systems in a godly direction.³

For example, I have already mentioned that the 19^th Century saw a host of righteous laws added to our statute books, such as those campaigned for by the Clapham Sect (including, most famously, the abolition of slavery). These laws were the culmination of decades of faithful campaigning but they also owed significant debts to a general evangelical revival throughout Britain that, in the space of a generation, completely transformed its socio-cultural fabric (more on this next week). The Lord had raised up John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield outside of the institutional Church, and inside vocal evangelicals such as Charles Simeon, Henry Ryder and JC Ryle, to thunder Gospel truths from their pulpits and in the highways and byways, saving and inspiring millions. Their faithful service laid the cultural foundation for laws which in turn blessed a countless number.

It has been the faithful witness of ordinary Christians, often in the face of significant persecution, that has born lasting spiritual fruit in our nation and gradually steered our parliamentary and judicial systems in a godly direction.

Blessing Through Struggle

Arguably, Britain has been the more blessed for having a professing Christian monarchy and government over the years, even though this has also brought bloodshed and sorrow and has been shaped by the vagaries of political necessity as much as genuine belief. However, although the development of Godly laws in our nation and the general acceptance of biblical principles into our culture are due in part to this overarching system, they are just as much if not more due to successive generations of faithful ordinary believers, raised up by the Lord as prophets to the nation, calling people to account and crying for justice in the streets and in the pulpits.

It is God’s faithfulness to Britain that the failings of our professing Christian establishment have always galvanised passionate believers to pray, speak and work for change, for his glory. We cannot forget, especially today, that our godly heritage developed as the Lord blessed the struggle and sacrifice of many believers over long centuries of difficulty, which forced people to think seriously about what they believed and what they were willing to live and die for.

In biblical terms, Britain has taken after Jacob/Israel, wrestling long and hard to receive the blessing of a God-given identity. And by God’s grace, the result of this struggle by the 19^th Century was a degree of individual freedom and popular religious fervour which, combined with Britain’s imperial might, led to the Gospel being taken to virtually the whole world.

Next week: How God blessed Britain through successive revivals.

Notes

1 The 1689 Bill of Rights is credited with inspiring and influencing the US Constitution and Bill of Rights in the 18^th Century.

2 Similar penal laws were introduced to Ireland in 1695, mainly affecting Catholics, who were not emancipated until 1829.

3 These dissenting groups have always been split between those seeking to reform the establishment from within and those seeking to work outside of it. History seems to confirm that both strands are needed.

How Britain began to unite into one nation, under God.

Last week, Clifford Denton reminded us that God blessed Britain very early on with the arrival of the Gospel to our shores perhaps not a century after Jesus walked the earth.

Thanks particularly to Roman Christians who travelled here as part of Rome’s settlement of the island (AD 43-410),¹ the Gospel began its work of conversion amongst the pagan Celtic tribes. But Britain remained a patchwork of warring tribes and religions, with no central government. Then, c.410, the Romans abandoned the island.

This week, we fast-forward through faithful persons in our island’s history who, overseen by divine grace, together established Britain as one nation, united under the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Early Missions

After the Romans abandoned ‘Britannia’, British Christianity did not die out, but spread independently and developed its own distinctive flavour. But the soon arrival of Anglo-Saxon invaders pushed the fledgling Church to the western fringes of the island complex – to Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

A depiction of Augustine of Canterbury preaching to Æthelberht of Kent. JWE Doyle, 1864.

While the Gospel continued to spread here thanks to the efforts of devoted missionaries like Patrick (who was converted at 16 through dreams and visions from the Lord), Columba and Aidan, England was subsumed under Germanic pagan rule until the late 6^th Century. But God did not forget England nor its history of faith.

In 597, at the direction of Pope Gregory I,² a troop of 40 intrepid monks led by a prior called Augustine arrived on the shores of Kent. These missionaries reportedly almost bottled out on their way from Italy, halting in Germany and nearly turning back but for further encouragement from Rome. Mercifully, they found the courage to continue to Britain, where they were received favourably by Anglo-Saxon King Æthelberht, himself a pagan, but influenced by his Frankish Christian wife Bertha. This oft-forgotten duo, moved by the Father’s hand, opened the gate for the Gospel to be brought back to England, permitting preaching and funding the building of churches.

Anglo-Saxon King Æthelberht and his Christian wife Bertha, moved by the Father’s hand, opened the gate for the Gospel to be brought back to England.

What followed was the remarkable conversion of almost the entirety of Anglo-Saxon England – still then split into warring tribes – within the space of a generation. Britain saw pagan kings as well as thousands upon thousands of ordinary people converted and baptised, with no force or bloodshed. The genuineness of these conversions may have varied, but certainly biblical living and thinking came to define the tribal monarchies of Britain in extraordinary ways.

This was particularly the case for the kings of Wessex, such as Ine and Alfred, who started to integrate inspiration from Scripture into codes of laws from the late 7^th Century onwards. Alfred the Great’s legal code was prefixed with the Ten Commandments and it was Alfred who really laid the foundation for state laws grounded in Christian ethics, applied evenly to rich and poor and even to relationships with enemies (he famously baptised the invading Vikings rather than slaughtering them).

By the Lord’s direction, it was the house of Wessex which eventually prevailed across the land and united England from regional tribal kingdoms into one nation, under God.³

The ‘Dark Ages’

It is from these centuries that we derive our historic close relationship between Church and state, which can be dated right back to the early discipleships established between the Gregorian missionaries and the Anglo-Saxon kings. But for God’s unfathomable grace, those missionaries might have stopped in Germany, or the kings may not have welcomed them, or the Viking invaders may have triumphed, and things would have turned out very differently.

Yet, it is easy to romanticise and smooth out this period of Britain’s history. Paganism still persisted, arguments erupted between the Roman missionaries and the ‘native’ Church, and undoubtedly clergy became embroiled in royal power play. Nevertheless, the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ were actually marked by an extraordinary spread of the Gospel by missionaries who were as concerned for the fate of ordinary souls as for those of kings.

In the process, the Christian faith became inseparably intertwined with the development of a new nation. Biblical beliefs and ethics clearly influenced nascent codes of law, integrating into Britain’s early political culture Judeo-Christian principles of justice and mercy. Surely Almighty God was overseeing all of this.

The so-called ‘Dark Ages’ were actually marked by an extraordinary spread of the Gospel.

Speaking Truth to Power

After 1066, when the Anglo-Saxon elites were deposed by the Norman conquest, God made sure that England’s budding legal and administrative system was not tossed aside, but kept and gradually institutionalised by royal charters.⁴ Many of our major cathedrals were built, as well as Oxford and later Cambridge (both as religious schools). But these centuries were also flavoured by a corruption of both Church and state, civil unrest at home, power struggles abroad and tension with the papacy in Rome, which by then had become supremely dominant in Europe.

Under Norman rule, the Church became sought after for its wealth and political influence. However, God did not give Britain over to corruption, but chose this time to raise up reform movements calling for justice, greater autonomy for the Church from royal influence and greater independence for England from Rome.

John Wycliffe, Washington National Cathedral. The text is a variant of 2 Timothy 2:4: "No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer." See Photo Credits.It was against this backdrop that Bishop Stephen Langton led a protest movement of local landowners to pressure King John to sign the Magna Carta, which he did in 1215. In doing so, Langton raised the ire of both King and Pope, since Magna Carta checked the powers of the monarchy and represented a rebellion against Rome. However, crucially, it established protections and liberties for the Church and for ordinary citizens, laying a firm and just foundation for English statute law and later inspiring the US Constitution. Thanks to Stephen Langton, Magna Carta not only applied biblical ethics, but also gave glory to God, proving to be a foundational document in the establishment of Britain as a truly Christian nation.

Nevertheless, while Magna Carta guaranteed important freedoms, it did not prevent the continued corruption of the Church from power and wealth. Less than a century after Magna Carta was inscribed into English statute law by Edward I (who was also, less wonderfully, responsible for expelling Britain’s Jewish population in 1290), the Lord raised up a powerful prophetic figure in the form of Yorkshire scholar and dissident John Wycliffe.

Wycliffe’s writings vociferously attacked the pomp and corruption of the clergy. His criticisms of Roman Catholicism – he has been dubbed the ‘morning star’ of the English Reformation⁵ - brought him into constant conflict with the established Church.⁶ However, Wycliffe had the support of many priests and itinerant preachers who ministered outside of the institutional Church in a sort of non-conformist exile, suffering poverty in order to preach the Gospel to ordinary people. In Wycliffe, the faithful remnant around the nation found a spokesperson raised up by God to protest the ways in which British Christianity departed from the truths of Scripture.

In Wycliffe, the faithful remnant around the nation found a spokesperson raised up by God to protest the ways in which British Christianity departed from the truths of Scripture.

In fact, convinced of the centrality of the Bible as God’s revealed truth to all men, Wycliffe set about translating it from Latin into English, completing the project in the 1380s. And so, God chose this time and this man to make his word available to the masses, who before had been beholden to priests and unable to study Scripture for themselves.

Though the death penalty was eventually levied against those found in possession of an English Bible, Wycliffe jump-started the nation’s journey towards Protestantism which, according to Professor Linda Colley, “was the foundation that made the invention of Great Britain possible”.⁷

Faithful Servants

Æthelberht, Bertha, Augustine, Patrick, Columba, Aidan, Ine, Alfred, Stephen Langton, John Wycliffe…Britain’s Christian heritage is a wonderful and complex fabric made up of the faithful service of individuals guided by the Lord’s hand. These servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, many now forgotten or side-lined in historical accounts, were used powerfully of God to bear the truths of the Gospel to this land, into its laws and culture, and into the hearts and minds of its people.

As we look over the broad expanse of our history, whether we understand it fully or not, we witness the hand of God at work and the Spirit brooding over our nation. Surely it was not on account of our own righteousness, but on account of the Lord’s grace, that Britain was established over the centuries under the stabilising influence of the Bible, with freedom given to the sharing of the Gospel, and with faithful men and women being raised up to hold our institutions to account.

Next week: The establishing of biblical laws.

Notes

1 As well as archaeological remains of church buildings, Roman villa chapels have been uncovered, suggesting that house churches were alive and well in Roman Britain. See John Bradley’s The Mansion House of Liberty: The untold story of Christian Britain (2015, Roperpenberthy).

2 According to the Venerable Bede, Gregory had been moved by the sight of Anglo-Saxon boys being sold as slaves in the Roman marketplace, and resolved to send a mission to their place of origin. If this is true, how much we have to thank the Lord for arranging this encounter and moving the heart of the future pope.

3 This is generally attributed to Alfred’s grandson, Æthelstan, who also outlawed paganism in 927 and arranged for the Bible to be translated into Anglo-Saxon (Old English).

4 E.g. William II (1093), Henry I (1100).

5 Michael, E, 2003. John Wyclif on body and mind. Journal of the History of Ideas, p343.

6 Wycliffe distinguished between the visible, institutional Church and the true, redeemed Body of Christ, just as we would today.

7 Britons: Forging the Nation: 1707-1837. 1992, revised 2009, Yale University Press.

The Gospel message comes to Britain and beyond.

It began around 4,000 years ago. Abraham’s obedience to God was accounted as righteousness and God cut a covenant with him (Gen 15). At the time, though the nations who had scattered across the world from Babel knew nothing, God committed himself unconditionally to establishing for himself one day a community of faith drawn from every nation.

While Abraham was learning to be God’s friend, tribes who settled on the island later to be called Great Britain worshipped gods of their own imagination. They congregated for human and animal sacrifice at such structures as Stonehenge, without fellowship with the One True God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were neglected and lost, like all other nations across the world.

History moved forward. As God strove with his chosen people Israel through the times of the judges, prophets and kings, the Celtic tribes of Britain warred with each other - sometimes, perhaps, looking up into the universe wondering if there was a great god of Creation, but still having no means of becoming included in God’s covenant people.

But God did not forget his covenant with Abraham. In the fullness of time he sent his Son into the world and, through his sacrifice for sin, made forgiveness and salvation available to all.

While Abraham was learning to be God’s friend, tribes who settled on the island later to be called Great Britain worshipped gods of their own imagination.

Had this not happened, the tribes of the earth, including those in Britain, would no doubt have moved ever further away from God, and more quickly towards an ungodly alliance like the one at Babel. But God restrained their decline, dividing the nations in such a way that there would be a readiness for multitudes through history to hear the Gospel message and receive the truth gladly, by the same faith through which Father Abraham received the initial covenant promise.

Reminders still exist of Britain's pagan beginnings.Soon after the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, apostles trod the Roman roads in obedience to God, who had remembered his oath to Abraham. The history books are not clear just how and when it happened, but before Christianity was systematised in Britain by the Romans, the Gospel began its work of salvation among the Celtic tribes, having been brought to our shores perhaps barely a century after Jesus walked the earth.

This Sceptred Isle

Surely in this time of accelerating spiritual decline in Britain, which seems increasingly tribal and prone to strife, it is honouring to God for us to remember the great act of grace that established our nation, transforming it from pagan tribes to a kingdom avowedly under God. So magnificent was this transformation perceived that Shakespeare by the 16^th Century could describe our country as ‘this sceptred isle’.

Putting aside the often lukewarm or shallow responses our island people have displayed through the generations, there is nonetheless a thread of God’s grace that can be traced through 2,000 years to the present day. God found sufficient faith among our people to raise our nation high in the world. Is it not time to remember this and to study our history to uncover the multitude of testimonies of God’s goodness, putting aside all our pride, so that we might thank him afresh?

Going to the Nations

Not only did God bring the Gospel to Britain, but he also used our nation as a staging post to pass it on to other nations. There are many examples of the missionary zeal cultivated among those saved by grace in Britain. We can hear too much about the achievements of men in the establishment of the British Empire, but it was often despite man’s best efforts that God used us to take the Gospel to the rest of the world.

Consider, for example, the contending for the faith that led to the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ abandoning Britain to set up new colonies in what was called the ‘New World’, later the United States of America. The Mayflower Compact illustrates the way the truths of the Bible were by then so ingrained in the consciousness of British people that men and women would not settle for anything less than the pursuit of purity and the establishment of a truly Christian nation.

In this time of accelerating spiritual decline in Britain, it is honouring to God for us to remember the great act of grace that transformed our nation from pagan tribes to a kingdom avowedly under God.

The Pilgrims on board the Mayflower signed a document before landing on the shores of America. William Bradford was a key leader who recorded the resolution of intent regarding the new colony, which in more modern English reads:

The Mayflower at Plymouth Harbour (Halsall, 1882)."IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620."

In the following decades thousands more followed, among whom was the future first Governor, John Winthrop, on the ship Arbella. The passengers of the Arbella who left England in 1630 with their new charter had a great vision, which could be built on the foundation of the first pilgrims. They were to be an example for the rest of the world in right living according to biblical teaching. Referring to the Sermon on the Mount, John Winthrop stated their purpose quite clearly: "We shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us."

The Mayflower Compact became a foundational document that inspired the writers of the American Constitution over a century later, when the first 13 colonies along the east coast, from New Hampshire to Georgia, became the forerunner of the USA.

Not only did God bring the Gospel to Britain, but he also used our nation as a staging post to pass it on to other nations.

In Praise of God

Surely we can see God in all of this, not leaving us as pagan warring tribes to unite in some new form of Babel-worship one day, but to send us his Gospel and privilege us to be those who passed it on to others.

There are multitudes of details and testimonies from history which, if we remember them together, might fill us with a new humility and zeal of faith in this generation of decline.

Let us record our remembrances together in praise of God.

The cry for justice (Amos 5:24).

What is the reason for the leaders of the churches - Anglican, Roman Catholic, Free Church – being so conspicuous by their absence and silence concerning the definite increase of anti-Semitism, especially in the Labour Party? Where is their prophetic voice of solidarity for the despair and fear of the Jewish people, who have made such a great contribution at all levels of our society?

It is impossible to separate the events of the Bible with the Jewish people living in the Land of Israel and here in Britain. The very foundations of the Christian faith are based on the Torah (Laws) of Moses, the Psalms of David and message of the Prophets. Jesus the Messiah was Jewish, and lived this out faithfully – including being circumcised on the 8th day and participating in the Jewish Feasts, particularly Passover. The Christian Communion service is directly related to the Passover celebration. All of the 12 Apostles were born in the Land of Israel.

In the 19^th Century Bishop John Lightfoot from Durham, in discussion about God's purpose for Israel, emphasised “the miraculous preservation of Israel throughout history”. And in the 20^th Century, Dean Inge of St Paul's Cathedral said "The Jewish people stand at the graveside of their persecutors". Archbishop William Temple addressed the House of Lord in March 1943 concerning the tragic events befalling Jews in Europe: "We stand at the bar of history, of humanity and God. At this moment we have a tremendous responsibility and opportunity of showing mercy".

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s parents were dedicated Methodists. When he attended Sunday School at the local Methodist Church, he must have heard the famous story of Jesus and encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. In this conversation, Jesus stated "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). This tremendous truth is still valid today. Christianity owes an immense debt to the Jewish people.

So, I say again: why are our Church leaders silent as the scourge of anti-Semitism raises its ugly head in our nation once more?

Gerald Gotzen

UK Board Member of Jewish Voice Ministries International, Founder of Beit Shalom Project in Ethiopia, providing practical support for Jewish people who are waiting to make 'aliyah' to Israel.

Gospel opportunity in a changing age.

We often hear dire predictions about the future of Christianity in Britain due to the advanced age of many church congregations. The average age of those attending many British churches today is over 60 and the fear is that as this generation of senior citizens leave this world, more churches will be become redundant.

But a survey published last month paints a different picture and is very revealing about what is going on in the lives of young people.

The survey is in a new book called Faitheism by Dr Krish Kandiah.¹ His survey of young people up to the age of 25 found that 75% say they have no religion. Thus, we have a whole generation of young people who are totally unevangelised – who have no faith at all. But he found that more than half (51%) of this age group reported that they have had a positive experience of the Church and Christianity.

The Church’s Changing Position

This is a significant finding for a number of reasons, not least because it indicates a new openness to Christianity among young people under 25. The reason, according to Dr Kandiah, is that previous generations growing in the 1960s and 70s, at the time of maximum social change in Britain, were involved in the battles to liberalise the nation. At that time, Christianity was seen as being opposed to all the libertarian things that young people wanted. The Church was seen as an oppressor, on the side of the establishment and the ruling elite of the nation, and so naturally to be opposed by ordinary people.

The popular view of the Church of England was that it was the Tory Party at prayer. It was essentially conservative, standing against all forms of social change. This negative view of the Church as the embodiment of opposition to anything that would make life easier and more enjoyable for ordinary people was a great hindrance to the message of the Gospel getting through, especially to young people.

During the 1960s and 70s, the popular view of the Church of England was that it was the Tory Party at prayer. Today, things are different.

Today, things are different. The Church is no longer seen as powerful, as part of the establishment ruling the nation. Christians are no longer seen as posing a threat to the ambitions of the young. There are many stories in the press of Christians losing their jobs for standing by their faith or being prosecuted because of their beliefs.

Incidents like the bakers who refused to bake a cake with a message promoting homosexual marriage have had very positive publicity and young people see these Christians standing up for their beliefs against the oppression of the state. This is a total reversal of the experience of their parents 30 or 40 years ago.

These and many other similar incidents of the hardships experienced by Christians get circulated through social media and the press, causing young people not only to be more open towards Christianity but to be positively interested in finding out more about Jesus. He is seen as an anti-establishment hero who was hated by the authorities even though he only did good.

The Search for Meaning

There are two really interesting sociological facts here. The first is that Britain has only been a multi-faith nation for a single generation. Until the 1960s there were virtually no people of any religion other than Christianity in the UK. Despite the fact that millions of immigrants have come to Britain bringing their religions – Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Islam – there has been no measurable conversion of native British people to these religions. Probably the strongly negative publicity Islam has gained through many acts of terrorism has been influential in this.

Britain has only been a multi-faith nation for a single generation. In that time, young Brits have rejected the faith of their forebears – and they haven’t embraced the other religions now present in the country.

Instead of young people embracing other religions we have three quarters of those under 25 saying that they have no religion at all. The rejection of the religion of their parents has not caused them to seek other religions but simply to reject, or neglect, the faith of their forebears.

The second interesting fact is that the weakening power of the Church has had a positive effect upon more than half of the younger generation, at a time when there is great confusion in the nation. While our politicians are struggling to define what they call ‘British values’, the rest of the populace is experiencing a loss of firm, dependable sources of identity. Secularism is not providing them with the meaning and stability they seek. This is creating a new openness to religious beliefs and values among young people.

This openness, of course, could be dangerous. Jesus told a little parable about a demon being cast out of someone and seven more even more deadly coming in to occupy the vacancy. Openness is great, as long as it is met with truth – otherwise it could lead to even greater delusion.

Now is the Time

This is the challenge to Christians in Britain today: there is an incredible window of opportunity for evangelism, particularly during this time of political and social upheaval due to the Brexit negotiations. Many young people are trying to understand what’s going on in the nation: this is our opportunity to talk about social values, ethical principles and religious beliefs.

Now is the time to talk about the future of Britain outside the European Union. It is the time to talk about the history of Europe, the secularisation of the EU, and the whole subject of values and beliefs. It is the time to talk about the ultimate truths presented in the Bible and the basis of our Christian faith which transforms lives.

There is a new openness to religious belief amongst young people: this is an opportunity Christians must take.

Today there is enormous opportunity for older Christians to communicate their faith to young people. Grandparents are of particular value today in an age of family breakdown. In many families, grandparents are the one stable influence in the lives of children. These grandparents may not have done a very good job in passing on their faith to their children, but they have a second chance now to reach their grandchildren.

If all Bible-believing grandparents were to seize the opportunity of teaching the faith to their grandchildren, the whole social, moral and spiritual situation in Britain could be transformed in a single generation. 

References

1 Faitheism: Why Christianity and Atheism have more in common than you think. Hodder, 2018.

It is time to remember what God has done for Britain.

When Judah returned from Babylonian captivity under the ministries of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Prophet Malachi rebuked the nation for the corruption of the priests, the wickedness of the people and their presumption towards God. Some responded to the Prophet; they were those who feared the Lord, who spoke to one another and to the Lord and who recalled what God had done for them in times past. They wrote a book of remembrance that was pleasing to God (Mal 3:16-18).

There has been tremendous decline in our own nation over the present generation. Yet we have been a nation greatly blessed by God for hundreds of years of our history – blessings beyond our deserving.

Week after week, we bring warnings to the nation. Perhaps it is time, as in the days of ancient Judah, to write our own book of remembrance – a book of remembrance of what God has done for both Britain and us personally.

But where to start! There is a multitude of possible things to call to memory, including:

• How the Gospel came to our island in the early days of the Apostles and how God prepared people to accept its truth.
  
• How the truths of the Bible gradually took root and became part of our island culture.
  
• How the nation was united and increasingly governed through the laws of God.
  
• How many of our leaders gave personal witness to their faith in the God of Israel.
  
• How, at times of decline, God sent revival after revival.
  
• How God prospered our nation.
  
• How God protected our nation.
  
• How God used Britain to translate the Bible so that every person could read it in the English language.
  
• How God raised up British missionaries to send the Gospel across the world.
  
• How God gave British Christians insight into the significance of Israel, resulting in the Balfour Declaration.
  
• How God gave Britain custody over the Land of Israel, called the British Mandate, to prepare her for the return of her people.
  
• How God taught us how to care for one another through such institutions as the NHS and through protective laws.

The list is immense.

Over the remaining weeks of August at Prophecy Today we will replace the normal Editorial with extended versions of our ‘Thought for the Week’, our writers concentrating on a selection of themes such as those above.

We would like readers to respond by sending in other points of remembrance so that this can be our Book of Remembrance, through which we can join together to thank God for what he has done for Great Britain over many years.