The real reason for leaving the EU – come what may.

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.

Clifford Hill takes a look at David Cameron's recent negotiations with Jamaica in the light of Britain's history of slavery and oppression.

David Cameron's visit to Jamaica, where he refused to discuss reparations but offered £25 million towards building a new prison, has not been well received. Bruce Golding, former Prime Minister, described the offer as 'incomprehensible'¹ and urged Jamaica's Prime Minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, to reject the offer. He added that Britain is a rich country whereas Jamaica is a poor country and the offer of £25 million would only cover 40% of the total, leaving Jamaica to find 60% of the cost of building the prison. Jamaica would also have to pay to support the men convicted in British courts but deported to Jamaica.

David Cameron said that the agreement would mean "Jamaican criminals are sent back home to serve their sentences, saving the British taxpayer millions of pounds but still ensuring justice is done."²

But what kind of justice is this? The whole deal is weighted in Britain's favour. Even the £25 million on offer will be taken out of Britain's aid budget, which is supposed to be used for alleviating poverty and distress. But this is typical of Britain's cavalier attitude to justice in the Caribbean for more than 400 years. It was back in 1562 that Sir John Hawkins began the British slave trade, taking the first 300 captive Africans across to the Americas. The Spanish had been involved in this trade for many years but the British soon overtook them as the leading European slaving nation.

David Cameron's offer is typical of Britain's cavalier attitude to justice, suffered by the Caribbean for more than 400 years.

Slavery in Britain

Some slaves were brought to Britain, prompting the first Race Relations Act in British history - not in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in 1962, but during the reign of Elizabeth I in 1596. It was worded thus:

Her Majesty understanding that there are of late divers blackamoores brought into this realme, of which kinde of people there are alreadie too manie, consideringe howe God hath blessed this land with great increase of people of our owne nation...These kinde of people should be sent forth of the lande. (Acts of the Privy Council, 11 July 1596)³

It was said that the stench of an approaching a slave ship could be smelt in Kingston Jamaica two days before its arrival. The monstrous inhumanity of the Atlantic crossing that could take up to 3 months when facing contrary winds was followed by the unspeakable cruelty facing the Africans on the slave plantations of the Caribbean islands – all to feed the insatiable appetite for sugar in Britain. By 1800, some two thirds of the British economy was in some way dependent upon slavery and most Members of both Houses of Parliament were involved in the trade or plantation ownership.

After Emancipation

Even the Act of Emancipation in 1833 was laced with grotesque injustice for the Africans. The British Government paid £20 million to the 46,000 owners of slaves in Britain for the loss of their 'property'– that is £17 billion in today's money – but not a single penny to the Africans themselves who had suffered centuries of cruelty, oppression, loss of freedom, identity, culture, language and personal dignity.

Even their African names were taken from them which is why Caribbeans all have the names of their former British owners today: part of the legacy of slavery they still bear.

Even the Emancipation Act was laced with grotesque injustice, compensating slave owners but leaving former slaves with nothing. Today, our Prime Minister refuses to even discuss the subject.

'Modern' Britain

But our Prime Minister refuses even to discuss reparations. In fact, during an address to the Jamaican Parliament, Mr Cameron suggested that slavery is now in the distant past and it is time to move on. Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson has since published an open letter to Downing Street requesting a formal apology for Britain's history of slavery in Jamaica, and describing Mr Cameron's 'noble intentions' as being 'jarred' by this offensive suggestion.⁴ Political commentator Don Rojas has suggested that the Holocaust would never be talked about so glibly, and that Mr Cameron's remarks constitute "an insult to the entire Caribbean and black people around the world."⁵

Sir Hilary Beckles, academic and Chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, even challenged David Cameron about his own family history of plantation ownership, saying: "You are more than a prime minister. You are a grandson of the Jamaican soil who has been privileged and enriched by your forebears' sins of the enslavement of our ancestors".⁶

Investment Needed

I have lived and worked among African Caribbeans for much of my life and I know that what most of them would like is not the distribution of a pot of money, but for Britain to lead the way in investing in the future of the Caribbean Islands by stimulating the economy; helping small businesses; promoting education; founding a university with educational grants for bright students. In fact, Jamaican actor Danny Glover, a keen activist in the reparations movement, responded to Mr Cameron's offer with "keep your prison, give us schools, give us infrastructure, not prisons".⁷

David Cameron's comments that it is time to move on from our history of slavery have been considered offensive and have triggered strong reactions from many prominent Jamaicans.

This is the way we could help to compensate for the gross injustice the islands have suffered for hundreds of years. This would be the most effective way of expressing our remorse for the way our forebears built the cities of London, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, as well as the great country houses of the rich - on the proceeds of slavery. But to offer to help build a prison is to rub salt in the wounds of those whose lives we destroyed: it is adding insult to injury.

References

1 British Prison Deal to Further Burden Taxpayers - Golding, The Gleaner, Sunday 4 October 2015.

2 UK signs deal to send Jamaican prisoners home, press release, Prime Minister's Office, 30 September 2015.

3 An open letter from Queen Elizabeth to the Lord Mayor and Alderman of London, 11 July 1596, Acts of the Privy Council of England, vol 26 (1596–97), ed. John Roche Dasent (His Majesty's Stationery Office, London: Mackie, 1902), p16–7.

4 PJ Slams David Cameron...Are We Not Worthy? He Asks. The Gleaner, Thursday 8 October 2015.

5 Poyser, A. Cameron is Ignorant, says Danny Glover - American actor/activist calls for discussions on reparations to continue, The Gleaner, Tuesday 6 October 2015.

6 Beckles, H. Open Letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, The Gleaner, Monday 28 September 2015.

7 See note 5