What’s the spiritual significance of the Notre Dame fire?

The newspapers have been full of accounts of the blaze that was within half an hour of destroying the whole structure, and several have even mentioned divine intervention to save the building. But has anyone asked the question, “Is God saying anything to France through this fire?”

The inferno at Notre Dame was horrible to watch on television. Certainly, my heart went out to the Parisian crowds standing in silent disbelief, some weeping in the streets, others too numb even to weep. Their iconic monument that symbolised the city and held hundreds of years of history was being destroyed and they were powerless to help. But I could not help wondering if the crowds were mourning the loss of a national place of prayer, or just an historic monument.

When any national disaster takes place, it is always right to seek if God is conveying something important to the nation, which in biblical terms is a ‘sign’. A good example is the way Jesus dealt with a tragedy that had shaken the whole of Jerusalem when the Tower of Siloam collapsed, killing 18 people (Luke 13:4).

I did not hear any of the clergy or political leaders in Paris speaking of the spiritual significance of the fire: if I missed some important statement I will gladly apologise. But the most outstanding comment I heard was President Macron’s determination to rebuild the burnt-out structure and restore the building to its former glory.

Of course this is laudable, but it surely misses the significance of this event which is clearly in the context of God shaking the nations. I believe God is sending a warning shot to France that they are in grave danger of losing the spiritual soul of the nation. They need to see this fire in the context of what is happening to churches all over France, where two church buildings a day are being attacked by various forms of vandalism or arson, reportedly carried out by Muslims who are attempting to wipe out Christianity in France.¹

When any national disaster takes place, it is always right to seek if God is conveying something important to the nation.

The Church Under Attack

Last month, the 800-year-old Basilica of Saint-Denis, a Paris suburb now mainly occupied by Muslim immigrants, was heavily vandalised with considerable damage to the organ and stained-glass windows. The alleged perpetrator, identified by his DNA left on the altar, is currently before the courts. He is said to be a Pakistani immigrant who speaks no French and has only been in the country two months.² This is reported to be his third offence.

A report from the Central Criminal Intelligence Service of the French police, according to Le Figaro, says that between 2016 and 2018 there have been thousands of cases of church vandalism in France, with 1,045 cases in 2017. In 2018, the Ministry of the Interior recorded 541 anti-Semitic acts, 100 anti-Muslim acts and 1,063 anti-Christian acts.³

France is said to have the greatest amount of anti-Semitic activity in Europe, with gangs desecrating Jewish cemeteries and synagogues: but the desecration of churches is outstripping other forms of vandalism. The Catholic hierarchy has kept silent about these episodes, not wishing to give publicity that might encourage copycat action. In any case, the Church has enough trouble on its hands dealing with the revelations of clergy sex abuse and a chronic shortage of priests.

The politicians also don’t want to speak about the anti-Christian attacks: they fear being dubbed Islamophobic by the left, or stirring more anti-immigrant sentiment on the right. They also have enough problems on their hands with the Yellow Vest protests and the rising level of street violence, as anti-establishment populist sentiment grows across France.

The Church has been a stabilising influence in the country for many hundreds of years - until recently, when there has been a catastrophic fall in church attendance. The question now is: will the Notre Dame fire spark a resurgence of faith, a return to prayer and support for the Church, or will the issue quickly be forgotten and the protesters soon be back on the streets?

I believe God is sending a warning shot to France that they are in grave danger of losing the spiritual soul of the nation.

Revolution or Reformation?

France has had its fair share of political upheavals and revolutions, its Joans of Arc and its Napoleons, but it has never had the equivalent of Germany’s Martin Luther or Switzerland’s John Calvin. Perhaps what is most needed in France today is a Protestant Reformation breathe new life into the Church - a resurgence of the 16^th Century Huguenots (who were persecuted and eventually expelled), to bring a fresh Bible-based reformation to restore the soul of the nation.

References

1 Read more at the Gatestone Institute.

2 Pakistani Migrant Faces Trial for Smashing Historic Church Holding Tombs of French Kings. Breitbart, 16 April 2019.

3 Statistics as reported by The Times.

Swanwick conference unites intercessors for Britain’s future

Earlier this week, over 100 watchmen and watchwomen from all around Britain gathered at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire, united by a fervent concern for the state of the nation and a desire to be strengthened in understanding, intercession and action.

The two-day conference of discussion, prayer, worship and seeking the Lord was not intended to be an overly structured event dependent on front-led sessions with leaders and experts, but was planned in such a way as to emphasise Body ministry and the unique contribution of each member of the ‘ekklesia’ of God.

Plenary sessions with corporate worship were led by Dr Clifford and Mrs Monica Hill and supported by the Issachar Ministries and Prophecy Today UK teams. Prophetic songs were brought and each morning the shofar was blown. But the richness and depth of the gathering was really established in smaller groups, where time was spent praying together and sharing wisdom and insight.

Surprise Speakers

Surprise additional speakers were Andrea Williams of Christian Concern and Syd Doyle of Nations Light Ministries. Andrea updated those present on the state of the nation, forthcoming legislation and current issues facing Christians in the workplace. Apparently, the Christian Legal Centre are dealing with four or five new enquiries each week from Christians regarding workplace issues.

Andrea Williams speaking at The Hayes, Tuesday 19 March 2019. Photo: Prophecy Today UKShe also agreed with Clifford and Monica Hill that Christians are “living in Babylon” and that believers will need to begin to form their own businesses and schools to provide employment and education, which will provide safe environments for them and their children. Chiming with this assessment, the Hills’ Living in Babylon book and workbook were recommended particularly as a resource for prayer and study groups.

Syd Doyle encouraged conference with exciting stories of outreach to Muslims and others in various places. He was also moved and encouraged to hear Clifford’s word about the “jewel in the crown” role of the DUP in the Brexit negotiations, full details of which are in our Editorial this week and have been sent in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Perhaps most importantly, time was set aside to seek the Lord in quietness, after which prophetic words and pictures that had been received were shared with the whole group. It was during this session that Clifford received the word about the spiritual significance of the DUP.

Though the programme was a full one, time was made for fellowship over coffee and meals, allowing those present to establish and strengthen their own personal connections. Clifford and Monica took the opportunity to reminisce with stories about their 50 years of ministry, some of which appear in The Reshaping of Britain. One story that didn’t make it into Clifford’s latest book was his and Monica’s first meeting, over 60 years ago – on a tennis court at The Hayes Conference Centre!

A Way-marker

As the time progressed, the sense of the Lord’s presence and leading seemed to become more palpable. Those who came expecting quick-fix answers to the national situation will have been disappointed, as the long-term, complex nature of our spiritual battle was brought into view and the responsibility of each individual to seek the Lord for their own understanding and response was emphasised. This was not a gathering to hype up expectations of revival (which will not come without repentance in any case, as Clifford pointed out) – but collectively to face up to reality and “strengthen feeble arms and weak knees” for the task ahead (Isa 35:5; Heb 12:12), putting all things in the context of the nature and purposes of God.

As such, it was not an end-point or a culmination, but a starting-point for some and a way-marker for others. Some found Dr Hill’s session on Jeremiah 30-31 especially significant, as a way into developing our understanding of how Brexit and God’s plans for Britain might fit into his overarching covenant plans for Israel and his purposes for the whole world.

Others were inspired particularly by Andrea Williams speaking about the socio-cultural and political battles being fought in the nation – the worldly face of our underlying spiritual conflict. Still others were galvanised by Syd Doyle reminding us of our collective responsibility to make disciples, including amongst Muslims – “the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35).

We trust that the Holy Spirit will have reached and ministered to each delegate in a unique and special way. Each person was encouraged to think about how they could develop their own witness and ministry in their area, in unity with other believers. It is hoped that in the future, Issachar Ministries will be able to play a part in connecting up believers locally.

How the West was lost – and what God's people ought to do about it.

Editorial Introduction: Randall Hardy concludes his interview with Bishop Ashenden, who speaks about how believers can respond in these turbulent days.

Part 2: Paying the Price

RH: Many Christians, from a broad cross-section of Bible-believing backgrounds, are holding on to a hope that the secularisation of the West could be reversed. The bolder ones expect this to be the case. Do you see such hopes to be realistic?

GA: I've spent the whole of my adult life trying to reverse secularism in the West. I've done it energetically and I've done it in its heartland, which is the university where I spent 25 years arguing - enthusiastically and joyfully - for the Kingdom and for belief. I enjoyed tripping up my atheist friends with the weaknesses in their own arguments, but I have to say that no matter how many arguments I won, they didn't often result in the change of the human heart.

If I look at the extent to which the churches have changed human hearts in the West, however, whatever you put it down to, we haven't succeeded very well. So some of us can enjoy scoring points philosophically, but that isn't the goal and it doesn't achieve very much.

We ought to give some thought and pray for discernment to understand why we've lost so many hearts, but I think you have to take into account…the notion of spiritual conflict…and also the inevitable hubris of technological innovation.

I'd like to think that as time [goes] on and secular society [begins] to collapse under the weight of its own ambition and cleverness, we could [make] more impact on hungry human hearts. But long before that will happen, [I believe that] Islam will overtake us and we won't have the opportunity.

RH: For centuries the Western church has considered itself to have a role in governing the state. Do you think this has been helpful in fulfilling its main mission? How do you think Christians can most helpfully engage with the state in the future?

GA: The role of Christians is always to Christianise people and, again, the human heart. The Gospels ought to have taught us the danger of hoping to produce a Christian state, because of the constant danger of imbalance between the life of the Spirit and the life of the flesh, speaking theologically.

So the best Christianity can do is to infiltrate and infect the state for good, but its influence grows and wanes. There have been times when we've done that very effectively, partly because our rulers have been hungry for God, and [there have been] times when we have done it very badly, partly because our rulers have had hard hearts. But it's always ebbed and flowed. The great temptation is to imagine that we can capture the state for the Kingdom of Heaven, and that's a category error.

We ought to give some thought and pray for discernment to understand why we've lost so many hearts.

What we now find is that we live in a period of time when the state [is] resentful of Christianity…to some extent the animus we experience as Christians in [Britain] is driven by hatred and resentment of moral constraints that Christianity offered as an understanding of the virtuous life.

And in that sense we're experiencing a delayed reaction of revenge from a culture that is in rebellion against God the Father and the transformation He calls us to. [The culture] takes some delight in taking that revenge out on a weakened Church.

RH: The rise of secularism in the West and globally suggests that we face a very uncertain future. What advice do you have for Western Christians as they look ahead?

GA: I think the first thing I would say is make sure you understand the history of Islam, and don't believe the propaganda about the convivencia in Spain. The suffering of Christians and Jews in Spain reached the most dreadful scale - until Muslims were driven out by force.

There are only two ways to deal with Islamic ambition in history - and they're either to convert Muslims from Mohammed to Jesus, or to meet force with force. I'm still puzzling and praying about my own response to these two ways. I obviously prefer the first, and I don't know to what extent the second is accessible.

I think if Christians want to preserve any kind of safe space to worship Jesus without interference from the state, we need to enter the public arena with more courage than we've found in the recent past and tell as much of the truth about the human heart, the prophet Mohammed and Jesus the Messiah as we can, in the hope that some secularists will listen and that this will buy us a bit more time.

I think as I look at the history of Islam and the weakness of hedonistic secularism, my own sense is that we have to prepare for a Europe entering a period of darkness in spiritual terms, with the Church having to go underground.

I say that in the appreciation that the Holy Spirit is bringing renewal and new life to people in Russia and in China, and astonishingly within the heart of Islamic culture: Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whether we are paying the price of our faithlessness as a Church or the hubris of Enlightenment culture, it looks as though Europe is about to enter a period of darkness - so I'm grateful for the light that the Holy Spirit is bringing elsewhere in the world at the same time.

If Christians want to preserve any kind of safe space to worship Jesus, we need to enter the public arena with more courage and tell as much of the truth about the human heart, the prophet Mohammed and Jesus the Messiah as we can.

RH: You've just mentioned that Christians in places such as China and Iran, to name but a few, face intense persecution in various ways. How do you think their experiences can inform our thinking as Christians in nations where freedom is being eroded rapidly?

GA: Christians are always persecuted - even in Europe. As Christian voices have called rulers and populations to account; the Christian voices that have done that, whether they have been Catholic or Protestant, have always faced a reaction of anger and repression from the state.

When Christians aren't persecuted, it may be a sign that they're too deeply steeped in an accommodation to the culture around them. Jesus makes this very clear in the gospels.

So I think that when we look at people who love Jesus paying a very deep price in repressive states around the world, we ought to see them as an inspirational norm and perhaps count it as a privilege that we too may be called to suffer for him in ways that in our more relaxed society we have escaped up until this point.

You can read the first part of Randall's interview with Gavin by clicking here.

Author Biography

Gavin Ashenden read Law at Bristol University, before studying theology at Oak Hill Theological College in London. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1980, subsequently serving in a London parish for 10 years. He spent 23 years at the University of Sussex as a senior lecturer and senior chaplain, lecturing in the Psychology of Religion and Literature.

Over the years he has written occasional newspaper articles and worked for the BBC on a freelance basis presenting a weekly faith and ethics radio programme.

In 2008 he was appointed a Chaplain to the Queen. In 2017 he resigned from this position in order to be free to speak out for the faith in public. Later that year he resigned from the Church of England, convinced that its leadership was replacing apostolic and biblical patterns with the alternative values of Cultural Marxism.

He is now a Missionary Bishop to the UK and Europe in the Christian Episcopal Church.

You can find out more about Gavin’s extraordinary life, journey and ministry on his blog.

God’s call to intercession.

The Feast of Purim was celebrated in Jewish congregations last week. The Feast recalls the deliverance of the Jews at the time of Esther. Esther is often used as an inspiration for intercessory prayer. She was called, prepared and dared to go into the presence of the King to intercede for her people who were facing destruction under the hand of Haman.

How appropriate it is, therefore, to consider our own call at this time. The people of the UK are seeking deliverance from the EU, and we are also entering a time in the entire world when the rise of anti-Christian powers are threatening the survival of both Christians and Jews. This, then, is a time when many of us will receive the call to draw near to God.

In so doing, we will become intercessors on behalf of our people and become available to hear the prophetic word of understanding that can be shared with others.

God Looks at the Heart

This is a ministry that requires deep commitment and purity of lifestyle. The character of those whom God calls can be found in the scriptures. For example, in Isaiah 66:2, “on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.” Such character is not made in a moment, but is often the result of a lifetime’s walk with God.

It is a costly walk which results in a broken heart for others, such as when Jeremiah wept at what was to befall his own people. The Jews were about to go into Babylonian captivity – “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer 9:1).

This character in us reflects the character of the Lord Jesus, who wept over Jerusalem because of what was coming upon it, and of whom it was said that “in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his godly fear…he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 5:7, 7:25).

We live in a time when many of us will receive the call to draw near to God in intercession.

The Ministry of Intercession

The ministry of intercession was given to the Priests of the Old Covenant, who were called into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and Temple to make intercession for the people, to hear from God and to go out to teach the people what God was saying. At the time of Ezekiel their ministry was corrupted (Ezek 22:26-31) and this had kindled God’s wrath. Regarding their role of intercession, God said, “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but found no-one.”

This is how important the ministry of intercession is. It is a priestly calling that God expects to be taken up. For us, it is not the Levitical priesthood, but the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet 2:9). Jesus is our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. As we read in Hebrews 7:1-4, this means that Jesus the Messiah, like the Priest Melchizedek in Genesis 14, was appointed by God directly and did not inherit his ministry by being from the Tribe of Levi, as with all the Priests of the Old Covenant.

It was Jesus who answered the deepest call to be intercessor for his people: “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his own arm brought salvation for him; and his own righteousness, it sustained him” (Isa 59:15-17).

Called into God’s Presence

His call is now for us to join him in his intercessions for the people of this world. John 15:1-8 is a key passage, where we are called to abide in Jesus. Or, using another metaphor, just as Jesus clothed himself in his own salvation and righteousness, so we are to put on the full armour of Ephesians 6 and so put on Jesus (Rom 13:14). In this place of abiding in him or wearing him, we receive the inspiration of God so that our prayers can be in accord with Jesus’ own intercessions (verse 7).

It is in this place of inspired prayer that we can be sure that our prayers will be answered, not according to our human logic but according to the prompting of his Spirit. As such, our prayers are prophetic in nature. In the place of inspired and answered prayer, we will find the prompting of the Holy Spirit as to how to pray, sometimes in “groans that cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26-27).

What a privilege to be called into the very heart of God to fulfil this calling so utterly needful in the world that is shaking about us more and more every day. Like Esther, we must prepare ourselves to enter into the King’s presence and so fulfil our priestly calling on behalf of our people.

You may also be interested in: Prophets as Intercessors and Purim.

How the West was lost – and what God's people ought to do about it.

Editorial Introduction: In the first of a two-part interview by Randall Hardy, the former Queen’s Chaplain Gavin Ashenden gives his perspective on the spiritual state of Britain.

Part 1: Counting the Cost

RH: Many people/Christians in the West are confused by the rapid changes which are happening in society. What is your understanding of the times in which we live?

GA: We've been used to a period when Christianity has profoundly influenced the world we've lived in, but its influence has ebbed and flowed, so we've had, if you like, almost eddies of influence. To continue with that metaphor and to use tide instead, the tide of Christian influence is in our day running out fast and the extent to which it's run out has surprised everybody.

It's almost as if Christian influence has crumbled overnight for some of us, in the last couple of decades, in a way that would have been shocking if we could have foreseen it. So I think the effect it's had on us is to challenge our assumption that we could take the Christianisation of our culture for granted.

We clearly can't, and its disintegration in our own lives has been a cultural and spiritual shock, and I think also a theological warning.

RH: How far back in history do you see the roots of today's rapid changes reaching?

GA: I think it's helpful to have a bird's eye view of the last 2,000 years…if we do that from the perspective of our island, what we see is Christianity locked in a struggle with autocratic Roman culture and then, as it succeeded in converting the Roman Empire, it found itself facing paganism in Europe.

It converted paganism and set up the foundations for a deeper Christianisation of society. I'm one of the people who look to the Middle Ages as being an immensely impressive period, [when] the Christianisation of society went deep, with houses of prayer at the centre of society's life and the rulers being held to account for Christian values.

Like all life cycles, it was cyclical and the Reformation sought to bring new life to it, but the problem for the Reformation was it was overtaken by the Enlightenment.

The tide of Christian influence is running out fast - and the extent to which it's run out has surprised everybody.

So for the last 300 years we've been struggling with a growing rationalism which has fed human pride and amplified the theological question posed in the beginning of Genesis – ‘Just because you can achieve something, are you sure you can live with the consequences of taking those actions?’

What we discovered in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries is that we can't live with the consequences of our skilfulness.

So from the perspective of the end of the Age of Enlightenment, where we are now, we see that we've been overcome by a love of human cleverness, which has eclipsed people's sense of the need in their own hearts, and that's one of the reasons why it's so difficult to communicate the Gospel at what I think I might want to call the end of the Age of Enlightenment - which is where we live now.

RH: We have seen many churches embracing these changes and seeking to claim they are Christian values. Why do you think this is happening and where do you think it is a leading?

GA: When asked this kind of question, we need to agree what category of diagnosis we are going to use. We have the options of spiritual discernment on the one hand, or an analysis that flows from a reading of political and historical development on the other.

Christianity always needs to interpret itself in a way that the contemporary culture can hear. But that immediately throws up a danger. It makes it more vulnerable to taking on board the assumptions of that culture. It takes a very healthy and confident faith to preserve its roots in revelation, whilst still finding imaginative ways of communicating it to people who don't accept that source.

In our age the Church has become over-impressed by the intellectual and technological accomplishments of the last 200 years. To some extent, it has lost confidence in the miraculous and transcendent. So when society begins to experiment with different ways of understanding gender and sex which have nothing to do with the protection or nurture of the family, a misplaced vulnerability to the unbiblical ideas of social progress combined with a desire to be compassionate can produce a different matrix of theological priorities in the Church. Wanting to be seen as loving, we become instead indulgent and in need of approbation from those we live amongst, instead of challenging and helping them.

Using spiritual discernment, we find in Romans chapter 1 that there is a close correlation between idolatry in a culture and sexual and gender disorder.

It is no surprise that our idolatrous culture is experiencing profound confusion in matters of sexual identity and morality.

If we put these two things together, it is no surprise that our idolatrous culture is experiencing profound confusion in matters of sexual identity and morality. Sexual incontinence and confusion is one of the foremost by-products of idolatry. It is as if the ‘being made in the image of God’ becomes more obscured and society begins to image darker, more dangerous and disordered other ‘gods’ - in other words, the distortions that flow from the gravitational pull of the ‘ruler of this world’.

It will lead further and further away from an authentic Christianity into one of the usual perversions or diminutions of the faith; a ‘Christianity of convenience’. There is always the danger that Christianity becomes a kind of religious or spiritualised veneer used to give a kind of false comfort to genuine religious longings, but one which actually reinforces the selfish wills of the human heart rather than challenges and transforms them.

In my judgment, that is exactly the situation the Church of England has got [itself] into today. It refuses to allow its comfortable presuppositions to be challenged by the authority of Scripture and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, without which formative faith becomes relative religion.

RH: What do you believe are the implications for Western societies in the future?

GA: Western society appears to have run out of both inspiration and energy because it has put its eggs all in one basket. That basket is an inflated sense of what it can achieve. Western society has bought into a philosophy of improving utopianism - which is a misdiagnosis - and so Western society at the moment is faced with a choice, because it's challenged by two great religious solutions.

The first one is Christianity, which invites it to have a more realistic sense of its own fragility and to repent and throw itself into God's hand for re-making. And the other is Islam, which requires it to submit to an authoritarian re-ordering of society on theocratic terms, with power rather than mercy at the heart of it.

Secularism, which is effectively self-indulgence and intellectual pride, cannot stand in the way of Islam simply because Islam is so politically ambitious and so militarily equipped that secularists will find themselves unwilling to die for convenience's sake.

In that sense I've always believed that a secular society runs out of steam, unable to sustain its own utopianism. It's faced essentially with a choice between Mohammed and Jesus. It appears to have rejected Jesus, so it looks like it's going to get Mohammed.

RH: You've mentioned Islam and many people are concerned about its influence on Western nations in its variety of forms. You could say in many ways that this has become the fly in secularism's ointment. How do you see the relationship developing between secularism and Islam in the future?

GA: The real problem for secularism is it wholly misunderstands what Islam is. In its reliance on badly-educated secular Religious Education teachers, it's made the category error of seeing Islam as a kind of Arabic form of Judeo-Christianity. It's nothing of the kind. So far from being a cousinly Abrahamic faith, it is in fact the opposite of Christianity.

As a result of that, secularism has entirely underestimated both what Islam's ambition is and its determination to fulfil that ambition in a series of strategies which begin with mass immigration and end in force. By misunderstanding Islam, secular society finds itself undefended against it and worse than that, in its antipathy towards Christianity, it has decided to use Islam and Islamic immigration as a weapon to take what I think is revenge on Christianity.

Secular culture [cannot] sustain its own utopianism. It's faced essentially with a choice between Mohammed and Jesus. In rejecting Jesus, it looks like it's going to get Mohammed.

What it's done is to make a pact with a religious and political force that will in the end overcome it. Not unlike, I suppose, in one sense, the way in which the Anglo-Saxons paid a Danegeld to protect themselves against one enemy, only to find themselves overwhelmed by the very people they were seeking protection from.

RH: You have outlined the reasons you see behind the cultural changes in Western societies in recent decades. Are there any passages in the Bible which in your opinion shed light on these developments?

GA: The Bible ought to shape all our views - and does, of course. But I find myself looking particularly to the Gospel of John and to the Book of Revelation as providing ways to best understand the dynamics of the rapid shifts that we're experiencing during my lifetime.

And so I think I'd want to make a bridge between the Lord's Prayer and Revelation chapter 21, and say that I've increasingly come to see what Jesus taught us to pray for in the words "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done" not as something that can be achieved on the earth, where St John tells us that the main influence is the ‘ruler of this world’ and the Book of Revelation tells us that the earth is, if you like, the remedial Borstal for Satan and his angels after they lost the metaphysical fight with St Michael.

Instead, I see the new Heaven and the new earth as the place that we're being pointed to in Revelation 21 in a way that should direct our prayers and our energies. That's not to say that what takes place in time and space and history is unimportant, but it is to say that the Kingdom of Heaven is beyond time and space, and we're called to make the most direct journey possible towards it, living out all the Gospel values we can as we do so.

Next week: Part II: Paying the price.

Author Biography

Gavin Ashenden read Law at Bristol University, before studying theology at Oak Hill Theological College in London. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1980, subsequently serving in a London parish for 10 years. He spent 23 years at the University of Sussex as a senior lecturer and senior chaplain, lecturing in the Psychology of Religion and Literature.

Over the years he has written occasional newspaper articles and worked for the BBC on a freelance basis presenting a weekly faith and ethics radio programme.

In 2008 he was appointed a Chaplain to the Queen. In 2017 he resigned from this position in order to be free to speak out for the faith in public. Later that year he resigned from the Church of England, convinced that its leadership was replacing apostolic and biblical patterns with the alternative values of Cultural Marxism.

He is now a Missionary Bishop to the UK and Europe in the Christian Episcopal Church.

You can find out more about Gavin’s extraordinary life, journey and ministry on his blog.

Jeremiah's first public prophetic word.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first fruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 2:2-3)

This is the first word that Jeremiah was given to declare publicly in his ministry. Previously in his communication with God, the words he heard were for him personally. This first message to the nation was highly significant. Although Jeremiah knew that he was going to have to say some very hard things that would not be well received, this first word was a message of love which would have been easy for him to declare publicly. It was just what the young prophet needed to begin his ministry.

All the prophets of Israel constantly referred back to the history of the nation and what God had done for them. Here, Jeremiah is reminding the people of the amazing way God had cared for them, provided for them and protected them throughout their 40 years’ journey between leaving Egypt and entering the Promised Land.

Israel’s Spiritual Sojourn

For most of that period, Israel travelled through the desert. It was an exacting time for the tribal leaders and a time of enormous strain for Moses in maintaining order, discipline and unity among the tribes. But it was also a formative time when the Children of Israel became a nation.

There is nothing so powerful as shared hardship and danger in bringing unity to a disparate group of people. This is what happened to Israel in the desert. They were a group of nomadic tribes living in tents with no homeland, but the shared experience of facing the dangers and privations of the wilderness welded them together. They learned the value of community, co-operating in the gathering of manna, and caring for each other - especially the weak and the elderly.

The first word that Jeremiah was given to declare publicly was a message of love.

Above all, the sojourn in the desert was a spiritual experience that established them as a covenant people under God. They were his bride, newly brought into a sweet covenant relationship with him: a relationship of growing love and trust, as he practically demonstrated his love and his power in one miracle after another.

The first miracle was in persuading Pharaoh to let the people go. The deliverance from slavery was followed by the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and the disaster that overtook the Egyptian army who were closely following with the intention of once again reducing them to slavery. But God had amazingly delivered Israel and thereby demonstrated his love and his power to protect his soon-to-be covenant people in fulfilment of his promises.

This love and power was demonstrated numerous times by the Lord’s provision of food and water in the desert. Many times the Israelites would have starved or died of thirst if he had not provided for them. But the desert was not only a time for the people of Israel to learn about the very nature of God, it was a time for sealing their bond with God and learning to trust him completely.

Separation unto God

The desert was not a place of separation from God. It was a place of separation from the world and from foreign gods: for leaving behind the fleshpots of Egypt, for ridding themselves of the pariah mentality of a people in slavery. It was a time of separation unto God, where there were no worldly attractions to compete for their attention. The conditions of the covenant relationship could be fulfilled – “I will be your God and you will be my people”.

The great silence of the desert was filled with the presence of the Living God. It was here that Israel learned holiness – separation – as they learned to love and to trust the Lord. In this first message given to the young Jeremiah, God remembered the devotion of Israel, her dependence upon him and her love for him.

This was to set the scene for all the dramatic warnings of danger that Jeremiah later had to pronounce – none of which were intended to be declarations of judgment so much as loving calls to recognise the folly of breaking the covenant with God by running after false gods. Israel’s worshipping of bits of wood and stone had tragically put them outside the protection of Almighty God and at the mercy of cruel enemy armies.

Israel’s sojourn in the desert was a profoundly spiritual experience that established them as a covenant people under God.

God’s Suffering

This first message reminding the people of God’s great love and care for their fathers in the desert was followed by a plea that was full of pathos:

This is what the Lord says, “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They did not ask ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no-one travels and no-one lives?’

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal following worthless idols.”

God’s question, “What fault did your fathers find in me?” shows the pathos in God’s heart when his people are faithless and turn away from him. It is as though God was saying, ‘After all I have done for you, how could you possibly deny me and turn your back upon me?’

It is almost inconceivable in human relationships that someone would turn against you if you had spent your whole life caring for them. And yet, it does happen! The sense of rejection and personal suffering is intense in such circumstances. But this should enable us to understand the suffering in God’s heart when those whom he has loved and cared for turn against him and no longer trust him.

Foundational Teaching

This is the truth about the nature of God that was revealed to the prophets of Israel, that laid the foundation for the revelation of God as our Father which was at the heart of the ministry of Jesus. The Gospel Jesus gave to his disciples to take to all nations can never be fully understood and embraced without the foundation laid by the prophets of Israel.

God’s question, “What fault did your fathers find in me?” shows the pathos in God’s heart when his people are faithless and turn away from him.

Sadly, this is missing in so many churches today, where the preachers do not bother to preach the whole word of God – because they rarely study the life and teaching of the prophets of Israel.

If we do not learn from the history of Israel, that disaster struck them when they departed from the word of the Lord, we will make the same mistake again!

Surely, the preachers in Britain and all the Western nations should be declaring with all the energy and power of the Holy Spirit that, like the people of Israel in Jeremiah’s day, we too have turned our backs upon truth and embraced powers of darkness that are leading us to destruction.

We too worship bits of wood and stone in our consumerist society where we compete with one another to show off our possessions which are worthless. In so doing we make ourselves worthless to God in working out his purposes of communicating his love, his faithfulness and his good purposes to the nations. We become, like Israel in Jeremiah’s day, useless servants!

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

Jeremiah begins his prophetic ministry.

“Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, now I have put my words in your mouth. ‘See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant’” (Jer 1:9-10).

This was Jeremiah’s ordination: it was God’s act of initiating him into the ministry that he was to fulfil. His calling to ministry had been from pre-birth, when the Spirit of God began preparing him for ministry in his mother’s womb. Now, the moment had arrived when God spoke to him directly about the kind of ministry he was to fulfil.

Six Verbs, One Ministry

The six verbs in this sentence, four negative and two positive, indicate the direction Jeremiah’s ministry was to take. God was warning about the corrupt moral and spiritual state of the nation. This was so severe that much had to be torn down and removed from the nation’s life before there could be a positive outpouring of God’s blessing which would bring prosperity upon the land and its people.

These six verbs outline the whole of the ministry that Jeremiah was to fulfil over a 40-year period in Jerusalem. It would be a time of great turmoil and suffering. The uprooting and tearing down was to get rid of the greed, injustice, immorality and idolatry at the heart of the nation. Jeremiah eloquently describes this in his famous Temple Sermon in chapter 7. Corruption, greed and injustice were everywhere among the people and the leadership - both political and religious, from the King to the Chief Priest.

As Jeremiah said in one of his earliest declarations “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, Peace’, they say, when there is no peace” (6:13-14).

The corrupt moral and spiritual state of the nation was so severe that much had to be torn down before there could be a positive outpouring of God’s blessing.

An Almond Tree and a Boiling Pot

Jeremiah’s ordination was immediately followed by a question from God: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” he replied. He probably spoke out loud saying the word ‘almond’ in Hebrew (shaqed), which sounded like the word ‘watching’ (shaqad). The pun was not lost on Jeremiah and the Lord immediately responded “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

This was just the kind of confirmation that the young man needed. It was his first test, showing that he was correctly interpreting the word of the Lord, which indicated that he was ready to receive a revelation of the task that lay ahead. A second question prepared the way for a major revelation: “What do you see?” asked the Lord; “I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the North,” Jeremiah answered.

Some biblical scholars believe that Jeremiah received some kind of picture or ecstatic vision in responding to each of these two questions. But this is unlikely – Jeremiah was not an ecstatic visionary like Ezekiel or Habakkuk. Jeremiah broadly stood in the same type of ministry as Amos, Micah and Hosea, who did not see pictures but heard God speaking his word to them. They were watchmen observing what was happening around them. They then spread it before God to give them understanding, while listening for his word in response. They were then able to declare with authority, “Thus says the Lord!”

At the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, seeing an almond tree simply confirmed his calling: that he was now ready to interpret rightly the things that God brought to his attention (later on, for example, he was told to go to the potter’s shop and watch the potter at work through which God would speak to him). In this first revelation he probably saw a housewife pouring out a pot. He noted each detail – even the direction in which the pot was pouring, and from this God gave him the warning that judgment was going to come from the ‘Land of the North’ which was the popular term for Babylon, whose army always skirted around the Golan Heights to the Sea of Galilee and entered Judah from the North.

Jeremiah, like Amos, Micah and Hosea, did not see visions but heard God’s word by observing what was happening around them, spreading it before God and listening for his response.

Judgment and Warning

From that moment, Jeremiah knew that disaster was on the horizon for the nation, as God was warning that he would not protect an unrighteous city filled with the blood of the innocent, with violence and murder on its streets as well as immorality and greed among the priests, and idolatry even practised in the Temple.

Jeremiah knew that his ministry was to uproot and tear down these abominable practices by telling both leaders and the people that God was deeply offended by their lifestyles. Jeremiah’s task was to call for repentance with the promise of forgiveness, while at the same time warning about the consequence of failing to listen.

Jeremiah had to declare that God was a covenant-keeping God who would undoubtedly protect his people and ensure their survival. But he was also a God of righteousness who would withdraw his protective covering over the land and the people, for a time, if they did not heed the words of warning that he was giving through his spokesman.

From this first direct encounter with God at the beginning of his ministry, Jeremiah knew the end from the beginning. Judgment and disaster would inevitably fall upon the land, the people and the city of Jerusalem. Even the Temple would be destroyed, although everyone believed it was inviolable as the dwelling-place of God.

From the beginning of his ministry, Jeremiah knew that he was going to meet bitter opposition. The word came to him, “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.” He received an assurance that God would give him extraordinary strength in the face of extraordinary opposition. Right from the beginning, he received a promise that was to strengthen and sustain him throughout his long and turbulent ministry: “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declared the Lord (1:17-19).

Jeremiah was to declare that God was a covenant-keeping God who would not forsake his people, but he was also a God of righteousness.

Seeking the Lord’s Heart

It is this kind of ministry that we attempt to fulfil in Prophecy Today and Issachar Ministries: watching what is happening around us on the national domestic scene and observing the wider picture of what is happening among the nations in Europe and around the world, then spreading all this before the Lord and spending time listening for his response, so that we can know the word of the Lord for our times.

This is what the elders of the Tribe of Issachar did who came to King David at the time of his ordination, offering their services as watchmen and intercessors.

Of course, we don’t claim to be unique in this kind of ministry. We believe that all God’s people should be desiring to understand the times, and we are always open to hear from others who are seeking similarly to hear the word of the Lord.

But as Jeremiah was constantly troubled by false teachers and false prophets who gave words out of their own imaginations, promising peace and prosperity when God was calling for repentance and warning that disaster lay ahead, in the same way today there are many false teachers proclaiming another Gospel, and false prophets promising revival and glad tidings of peace and prosperity, when God is actually calling for repentance and turning.

This is why in recent weeks we have warned about the false teachings and false prophecies of the ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR). Of course, their messages are popular with the people, as were the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day. But those who know the whole word of God in the Bible and who genuinely seek for truth will surely recognise the true word of the Lord.

As Jeremiah declared in the letter he sent to the exiles in Babylon, the solemn promise of God is: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord (29:13-14).

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.

God is working his purposes out.

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking to a packed fringe meeting at the Church of England Synod in Westminster. There were a number of bishops and clergy of all ranks and the general atmosphere was one of deep concern for the state of the nation. The meeting was in Church House alongside Westminster Abbey and I think we were all aware of events across the road, where our politicians are struggling with seemingly intractable problems.

If any of those attending the meeting came expecting, or even hoping for, easy answers or joyful tidings, I’m afraid they would have gone away disappointed. The primary message I had to give was that God holds the Church responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation. I had been asked to speak about my latest book, ‘The Reshaping of Britain: Church and State since the 1960s’. I spoke about the last four Archbishops of Canterbury who I’ve known and worked alongside; and I spoke about the lack of a prophetic voice from the Church giving leadership to the nation in a time of revolutionary social, economic and political change.

It was not a comfortable message and in the short time of discussion it was clear that there are no easy answers to the situation. How do you bring creative, biblically-based change into an organisation as massive as the Church of England? I was only able to repeat what I’ve said so many times that there will be no revival in the nation until there is repentance in the Church. Of course, this is no easy message for those who are dealing with a multitude of pastoral problems in their congregations.

Right Understanding

One of the clergy asked, “Should we be encouraging young people in our churches to go into politics?” I know it is a very lonely and difficult place for Christians in the House of Commons at present. If there were a significant number of those who uphold biblical values and whose trust is in God, it would undoubtedly change the dynamics of politics and that should be a future hope and objective for all church leaders.

But I think it would take away a lot of our fear about the present political mess in the nation and our vast array of social problems if we simply understood what is going on. This means discerning the difference between the social engineering that has been driving the nation for the past 40 or 50 years generated by secular humanist advocates, and what is divine activity initiated by God.

It would take away a lot of our fear about the present political mess in the nation and our vast array of social problems if we simply understood what is going on.

Most Christians do not think in these terms because we do not rightly handle the whole word of God. We concentrate upon the Gospels and Epistles, but neglect to study the biblical Prophets, whom God used to reveal his nature and purposes to humanity in preparation for the coming of Messiah. Without a thorough understanding of this background we can never understand what God is doing in the world today. I said yesterday that this should be the major concern of church leaders today.

Listen to this from Isaiah 45:7: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” All the Prophets recognised that God creates disaster! But he is more than ready to change disaster into prosperity!!! In fact, that is God’s purpose! He is longing to see his children enjoying the blessings of those who uphold righteousness and live by the standards of truth he has revealed in his word over many thousands of years.

Shaking All Things

God is at present shaking all the nations, as he first revealed to the Prophet Haggai in 520 BC, the significance of which for today is explained in the New Testament in Hebrews 12. You can see this in the upheavals and bitter Brexit divisions in Britain, in the rise of the populist movement in many countries throughout Europe, and in the fear of the Brussels elite at what may happen in the EU election in May this year.

You can see it in the USA, where there has never before been such bitter division between Republicans and Democrats. You can see it in the upheavals in South America, in Venezuela; similarly in Africa, especially in Nigeria in recent days, in the Middle East, in the distressing humanitarian crises in Yemen and Syria, and in many other parts of the world.

It is not only the nations that are being shaken, but all the great institutions in which we human beings put our trust – including the Church! Right now, the Roman Catholic Church is being torn asunder by having to face the sexual sins of its clergy over many decades that are being revealed to the public. Successive Popes have delayed the day of reckoning for many years, but the Vatican is having to face the uncomfortable truth that a system of forced celibacy in a social climate of sexual libertarianism is a recipe for disaster! Large numbers of clergy have misused their spiritual power for sexual gratification, exploiting vulnerable children and adults. The day of judgment has arrived, and this has not just been brought about by social pressure, but by the judgment of God.

All the Prophets recognised that God creates disaster! But he is more than ready to change disaster into prosperity!

For Love

Why is God shaking everything? It may be amazing to those who do not study the whole word of God – but when God brings judgment upon the evil institutions of humanity it is an expression of his LOVE!

God so loved the world that he gave his own Son to save humanity from self-destruction. But our tiny minds simply cannot comprehend the magnitude of God’s purposes without the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit to flood his truth into our lives.

Let me give a small illustration of the great truth that I’m trying to convey. For more than 30 years I have been trying to teach a basic sociological truth that when you weaken and undermine the family, you destroy the social fabric of society, because the family is the linchpin holding everything together. This is what we have done in Western society and this is the underlying cause of knife crime, gang warfare, drug use, bullying, depression and suicide. We have crucified truth and produced an age of fake news, lies, hatred and violence, driven by the forces of darkness that we have embraced.

But amidst all this, God is working out his purposes to bring human beings to the point where they recognise that they have no solutions to the problems they have created. When they begin to cry out ‘O God, what has gone wrong?’ God knows they will be then open to the truth. He is calling upon his Church to be ready for a great spiritual awakening! Not a revival of the old institutions that we call churches, but a genuine new openness to the truth, met by a Church that genuinely both lives and declares the unchanging word of God.

That is the way disaster will be turned into prosperity! And the good news is that we may not be far from the turning point!

God must sometimes tear down in order to build up.

Why are our politicians still in confusion? Why is there no shared vision or clear strategy in Westminster after so many months of debate? Surely the simple answer has to be that there are no political solutions to the problems in the nation. But when will our political representatives realise that something is wrong and begin to look below the surface for the real problem – and the real answer?

The evidence that Britain is a sick society is all around in our daily news: the huge rise in knife crime in the past five years, young people dying on our city streets, the homeless sheltering in shopfronts, children becoming drug mules, self-harming, suicides, domestic violence, family breakdown, gambling addiction, alcohol problems, poverty, inequality - we could go on and on with an endless list of symptoms.

But they all come back to the same source – our society-wide rejection of truth, trust, faithfulness, integrity, justice, love, unselfishness, service and loyalty - all the values of the Gospel set out in the Bible that used to be taught to our children in every state school and in Sunday schools.

We have ditched the lot! So, our children have no yardstick by which to measure truth; and we are surprised when their world of social media, soaked in fake news and lies, leads them into depression, self-harming and suicide. The media rages against paedophiles who groom vulnerable children online, but are we not a nation of child abusers in the eyes of God? We have despised his word and we are reaping the harvest.

A Second Chance?

It’s time to face up to reality: Brexit will not solve our problems! But to remain in the EU would be even worse. And the worst possible outcome would be another referendum! The nation is already bitterly divided and calling for a so-called ‘People’s Vote’ is a recipe for civil war!

Maybe all the Brexit negotiations are pointless anyway as the EU itself appears to be set on a course for disintegration. Populist movements are gaining momentum across Europe which is likely to bring in a lot of hostile MEPs in the EU election in May. With Italy in recession and France and Germany not far behind, if Britain leaves without a deal and without paying its £39 billion settlement bill, it could be a fatal blow to the EU.¹

It’s time to face up to reality: Brexit will not solve our problems!

If Britain succeeds in getting out of the European Union next month in the face of massive opposition, I believe it will be a sign that God is giving us a second chance and an opportunity to deal with the social problems in the nation.

The Cost of Revival

At the Wembley Arena Prayer Day, I made two points which I believe are important:

1. God holds the Church responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation.
   
2. There will be no revival in the nation until there is repentance in the Church.
   

I apologise for referring again to the Wembley event. I’ve taken a lot of flak for appearing on that platform, but at the risk of indulging in self-justification, I really have to say that I still believe it was right for me to go there and say those two things – and possibly also to witness the teaching that is appearing in some of our churches!

I was a lone voice calling for repentance at Wembley, which should worry Bible-believing Christians because we know that judgment begins at the house of the Lord. If we do not recognise our responsibility for the state of the nation and repent before God, there really is no hope for Britain!

Why is it that when evangelicals come together for prayer, the predominant thing they want to do is to call upon God to send a revival? What they often don’t realise is that the cost of revival is repentance for our responsibility for the mess in the nation. We are part of a Church whose preachers have committed adultery, have broken their marriage vows, have indulged in sodomy, have lied and cheated. We have allowed Scripture to be manipulated in support of sinful lifestyles. We have tolerated televangelists with luxurious lifestyles and enjoyed the pronouncements of false prophets who have tickled our ears with promises of power, miracles, signs and wonders.

How do we dare to ask God to send a revival to such a Church? I am due to address a lunchtime meeting at the Church of England Synod next Thursday in London, and I intend asking how we can expect God to bless a Church that is not giving clear godly leadership to the nation in a time of great turmoil.

If Christians do not recognise their responsibility for the state of the nation and repent before God, there really is no hope for Britain!

Learning from Jeremiah

In the Prophet Jeremiah’s day, he faced a similar situation. The religious leadership of the nation, the Temple priesthood, were as corrupt as the rest of the population. Jeremiah said “I have seen something horrible: they commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are like Sodom to me, the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah” (Jer 23:14).

Do you not think that God is saying something similar to us, not only in Britain but in all the Western nations, where we have had the Gospel for centuries but we have turned away from the ways of righteousness – selling our inheritance for a mess of pottage?

Jeremiah was told that God’s purpose for the nation was peace and prosperity – Jeremiah’s task was to build and to plant. But there were six verbs in this instruction, not just two. They were “To uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” The nation was so advanced in corruption, immorality and idolatry, that a lot of things had to be removed from its culture before there could be blessing and prosperity.

God was giving notice to Jeremiah that he was about to shake the nation to its very foundations. The great institutions of state, its political and economic structures, including its religion, would all be shaken. Nothing would be spared. This is what happened in 586 BC when the Babylonian army tore down the walls of Jerusalem, destroying the Temple, the Palace and all the great buildings.

Is God today warning the Western nations that the whole of our civilisation is coming under judgment? How much uprooting and tearing down must be done before building and planting is possible again? Has God brought Islam into the West for judgment, or to expose its false teaching and bring about a Muslim harvest for the Gospel, along with a revival of true biblical Christianity in the West?

At a Crossroads

Surely today we are at a crossroads. It is not only Brexit that is a warning sign, but the populist movement that is spreading across Europe, and the huge divisions that are shaking America. The ‘Arab Spring’ began the shaking of Islam. God has promised to shake all nations – he has already started.

Surely it is time to search the scriptures for understanding of the times and come before the Lord with repentance, humility, trust and hope for the future.

Notes

1 It would not be good for the German economy if BMW build a plant in Britain to avoid paying a tariff on their cars (Britain is their best export customer)!

Confronting the pseudo-biblical beliefs of the NAR.

I feel I must speak further about the Prayer Day in the Wembley Arena last month. We have had a storm of emails and phone calls coming into the office. None of them have been abusive, but they have all expressed concern about the presence on the platform of speakers whose ministries are linked with certain pseudo-biblical beliefs and practices.

On the one hand I am very encouraged that so many Bible-believing Christians in the Arena, and those who watched online, are aware of the dangers facing the Church today. On the other hand, I am concerned that I was one of the speakers sharing the platform with the individuals in question, with whom I would not normally be associated.

Public Dissociation

Many of the emails have been critical of David Hathaway, whose ministry sponsored the event. For many years David’s ministry has been in Russia, Eastern Europe and in Israel, so our paths had not crossed until recently when he felt the Lord calling him to do evangelism in his home country. He has a passion for the gospel and he knows that our nation is in trouble, but having been absent from the church scene in Britain for so long, he trusted others to invite speakers to the Wembley Arena meeting. They brought in people of whom he had no knowledge and had never met.

I had accepted the invitation to lead the opening prayers of confession. I was expecting half an hour would be allocated for such an important part of a prayer day, but I was only allowed ten minutes. I left the Arena soon after the lunch break and I did not watch the afternoon’s footage until the following day. I was shocked to see some of the things that happened.

We have received many expressions of concern about the presence on the Wembley platform of speakers linked with certain pseudo-biblical beliefs and practices.

I want to take this opportunity of publicly dissociating Issachar Ministries and Prophecy Today UK from events in the second half of the Wembley Arena meeting. I was pleased to be involved in the act of repentance for the divisions between the black and white churches in Britain in the first half of the day. I have laboured for many years in inner-city areas of London longing to see such unity and believing that the day would come when God would use the vitality in the African and Caribbean churches to bring a fresh spiritual dynamic into the evangelisation of Britain. But I cannot endorse many of the other things that were spoken and prayed from the platform later during the prayer day.¹

Of course, I should have been aware that the enemy would do everything possible to spoil the day, but the amazing thing is that God can turn any situation around for good. When Joseph’s brothers sold him to the Egyptians, what they intended for harm, God used to work out his purposes for good. I believe God can do the same with the Wembley Arena meeting.

Its mixture of spirits reminded me of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and the days when the magazine Prophecy Today was at the forefront of the battle for biblical truth. But because of this mixture at Wembley, the issue of error in charismatic churches has been brought right back to the fore and there now seems to be fresh opportunity to challenge and expose it.

Battle for Truth

Today, the battle for truth has never been sharper, nor has there been a greater need for Bible-believing Christians to stand together and to exercise godly discernment. The teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) must be exposed or they will destroy the charismatic Church at the most critical period of history since the Second World War.

NAR Dominionist (‘Kingdom Now’) teaching is bringing ‘strange fire’ into the Church. In its crudest form states that we are in the last days and God has raised up a new group of ‘apostles’ with greater power and authority than the original apostles. Not only that, but individual believers are also granted unlimited power and blessing. Together, this ‘army’ are to found the Kingdom of God on earth, taking dominion over the nations and, in due time, when they have subdued all opposition to the gospel, Jesus will return and they will present the Kingdom to him. Dr Frances Rabbitts, our Managing Editor, has a long-standing interest in this subject and has written an excellent overview article which we are pleased to publish alongside this editorial. Please make it essential reading.

Because of this mixture at Wembley, the issue of error in charismatic churches has been brought to the fore and there now seems to be fresh opportunity to expose it.

Dominionism was the teaching of the ‘Kansas City Prophets’ whom John Wimber brought to Britain in July 1990. Bob Jones called them ‘Omega Apostles’ with more power than the ‘Alpha’ (i.e. first) Apostles and Paul Cain convinced John Wimber that he was the super-apostle with the task of presenting the Kingdom to Jesus. I spent a whole day trying to convince John that this was all based upon false prophecy. Sadly, he was deceived, but later repented and dismissed the Kansas City Fellowship and the Toronto Airport Fellowship from the Vineyard group of churches.

This is a sample of Paul Cain’s teaching:

If you have intimacy with God, they can’t kill you, they just can’t. There is something about you; you are connected to that vine: you’re just so close to Him. Oh, my friend, they can’t kill you…If you’re really in the vine and you’re the branch, then the life sap from the Son of the Living God keeps you from cancer, keeps you from dying, keeps you from death…Not only will they not have diseases, they will also not die. They will have the kind of imperishable bodies that are talked about in the 15^th chapter of Corinthians…This army is invincible. If you have intimacy with God, they can’t kill you.²

There is not a shred of biblical evidence to support this teaching but it had great appeal to people who had little knowledge of the Bible. It also appealed to church leaders with dwindling congregations who were longing for a revival and who grasped at anything that had popular appeal.

The harm that has been done since the 1990s to thousands of churches in Britain, America, Australia and throughout Europe is immeasurable. But the KCF teaching was not new; it had been around since the 1940s. It originated in 1948 in the so-called ‘Latter Rain Revival’ beginning in the Sharon Bible school, North Battlefield Saskatchewan, Canada. 

Latter Rain, or ‘Manifest Sons of God’ teaching (Rom 8:19) has never gone away since. It has a subtle appeal with its message of power to the powerless. Ever since the events in Toronto in the 1990s, Dominionist teachings and spiritual practices have been spread worldwide through books, music, the internet and through big Christian gatherings such as New Wine and Soul Survivor. Today it is almost impossible to find a charismatic church in this country that has not in some way bought into the influence of such as Bill Johnson and Bethel Church in Redding, California. It is also being promoted by a great many false prophets who use so-called words of knowledge and other spiritual devices to deceive the unwary.

The teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) must be exposed or they will destroy the charismatic Church at the most critical period of history since the Second World War.

The Centrality of the Word

We are in a battle for the truth that has been raging in the Church throughout the Western nations for the past half-century or more. No doubt it is because we are in such a critical period of history that the enemy is doing everything possible to frustrate the purposes of God. The only way that this battle can be won is through re-discovering the centrality of the word of God in the life of the Church.

At Prophecy Today UK we recognise the seriousness of the battle and intend producing a new series studying the biblical word of God as given to the Old Testament Prophets, beginning next week with the ministry of Jeremiah. He faced a similar battle for truth when the nation was facing a threat to its very existence – a message that has great relevance for us today.

References

1 With the exception of the contributions of Barry Segal on Israel and anti-Semitism.

2 Quoted in Blessing the Church? (Hill et al, 1995), p90.