Idolatry is not hidden from the Lord.

“Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my name, and say, ‘We are safe’ - safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching!” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 7:9-11)

This would rank highly among the most devastating pronouncements of any of the prophetic writings in the Bible. The phrase “I have been watching!” was designed to strike terror into the hearts of the people. It is part of Jeremiah’s famous ‘Temple Sermon’, spoken to the crowds at the gate of the Temple, in which he highlighted six outstanding sins: false religion, injustice, oppression, violence, idolatry and immorality.

Spreading Idolatry

This incident in front of the Temple is generally thought to have been delivered near the end of the reign of Jehoiakim in the late 7^th Century BC. Ever since the death of Josiah in 608 BC Jeremiah had been bringing warnings to the people of Judah and especially to those in Jerusalem about the idolatrous practices that were increasingly gaining a hold on the nation, especially in the countryside. These practices had now spread into the streets of Jerusalem and onto the rooftops of the houses.

The people were ignoring their covenant relationship with the Lord, which had been renewed by Josiah following the discovery of a scroll of the Torah while carrying out repairs of the Temple. Jeremiah had added his voice to the strong warnings about the consequences of breaking the covenant and worshipping foreign gods. It was not just at the hilltop shrines, but actually in the streets of Jerusalem that people were offering worship to the ‘Queen of Heaven’, the pagan goddess Astarte.

Ever since the death of King Josiah, Jeremiah had been bringing warnings to the people of Judah about the idolatrous practices that were increasingly gaining a hold on the nation.

Whole families were involved in idolatrous practices: “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger” (7:18).

The theme of the so-called Temple Sermon was designed to shock the people into facing up to the reality of the situation. They were not only indulging in idolatry of a particularly repulsive kind with Astarte, the goddess of fertility, but their social life was full of self-indulgence that included violence and immorality. They were breaking all the commandments at the heart of the Torah.

Safe?!

Jeremiah then reminded them of what had happened to Shiloh, the most ancient sacred place in Israel that had not been spared from destruction. Jeremiah recalled how the people in the northern Kingdom had not listened to any of the prophetic warnings God had sent to them, so he had allowed Shiloh to be destroyed. God was now warning that this would actually happen to the Temple in Jerusalem, in which the nation of Judah was putting its trust.

The word of the Lord was “I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.” Jeremiah was then told to stop praying for the welfare of the people of Judah: “Do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you” (7:16).

Three times Jeremiah was given the same command to stop praying for the welfare of the nation. This is the first, and it occurs in the midst of a most shattering passage where God spelled out to the people the reason why he was giving notice of his intention to withdraw his covering of protection over the nation, over the city of Jerusalem and over the Temple that bore his name.

Three times Jeremiah was given the same command to stop praying for the welfare of the nation.

Jeremiah must have almost choked when he spoke the words in today’s reading – “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal…And then say ‘we are safe’…? Safe?!” He thundered. “Safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my name, become a den of robbers to you?"

This was followed by the most devastating words in the whole of the prophecy: “‘But I have been watching’, declares the Lord!” God was watching and taking notice. He could see all that was going on that was in direct contravention of the teaching he had given to Moses. He was watching; and he knew that the people of Israel were breaking the covenant, thereby sealing the death warrant of the nation.

Timeless Message

500 years later, Jesus, who probably knew Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon by heart, said almost the same words as he swept through the outer courtyard of the Temple with a whip in his hand, driving out the sheep and the cattle, overturning the moneychangers’ tables, sending their money clattering to the ground, creating chaos and forcing the merchants to flee from his wrath. “My house will be a house of prayer for all nations”, Jesus declared, “But you have made it a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17).

2,000 years later this same message is coming to the nations of the West whose civilisation is crumbling before their eyes, but every warning has been ignored. They have eyes and ears, but they neither see nor hear. They have had the Bible for centuries; they know the truth, and yet they have deliberately turned away to worship the gods of this world. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (Rom 1:25). “‘But I have been watching!’ declares the Lord”.

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here for previous instalments.

Life on the front line of a changing society.

Editorial introduction: With the new Government pledging a huge recruitment drive for the police, it is timely to ask what life is like for officers (especially Christians) policing in 21^st Century Britain. Interviewing a Christian police chaplain, Paul Luckraft finds out what it’s like to work on the front line of a changing society.

With many changes happening in Britain, and not always for the better, it is natural to assume that those working in front-line services are subject to new pressures and increasing burdens. Those who have been in such jobs for a considerable period may now find things are very different from when they started. How do they cope? And will their situation become more difficult as society continues to decline, morally and spiritually?

One vital sector of our public services is the police force (or, more properly nowadays, police ‘service’), with their dual function of care and control, of serving the public and their needs while maintaining the law of the land.

What is it like to be a Christian in modern policing? What problems do officers and their support teams face in this era of political correctness, diversity and cultural Marxism?

To find answers I talked to a chaplain in the Metropolitan Police Service, to whom I will refer as ‘J’. The picture I gained wasn’t as depressing as I had feared - nevertheless, the policeman’s lot can hardly be described as a totally happy one.

Growing Discontent

According to J, one significant area of discontent among officers, especially senior ones, is the lessening sense of professional ‘family’ within particular stations and boroughs. Cost-cutting has meant facilities such as canteens have been reduced and opportunities to share together are more limited. Officers no longer feel cared for, or that they have the time to develop closer relationships among themselves that will benefit them in their work.

Cost-cutting has meant shared facilities have been reduced and officers no longer feel cared for.

This is just one small way in which they feel less respected and valued – but there are others, J went on. Those above them, local and national politicians, make decisions which make their jobs more demanding, but perhaps even worse is the attitude of large portions of society which routinely see officers as racists, bigots and/or as corrupt. Compounding all this is the media which frequently judges them, highlighting complaints and running stories which show them in a bad light.

‘PC’ PCs

Moving to the topic of political correctness, J illuminated how this radical social force no longer allows for traditional policing approaches, which worked extremely well in the past but which would now be frowned upon. Contentious methods such as ‘stop and search’ have to be handled with extreme care to show fairness and balance. Even when the main suspects are clearly known, the police dare not be seen to show bias against the criminal. As a result, time is wasted in searching others in order to avoid charges of targeting certain groups.

In the past, J continued, older officers would mentor younger ones and train them in ways which they knew worked. This doesn’t happen any longer and creates a disconnection between age groups, which is frustrating for senior officers as they cannot pass on best practice. Instead, new recruits come from police colleges already ‘fully trained’, which really means being taught how to behave as ‘PC’ PCs.

J reflected that being the custodians of the nation’s laws is a difficult enough job in and of itself; but nowadays society seems to have its own ‘rules’, separate and distinct from the laws of the land. One obvious example is that of drug-taking. The law may say one thing, but if large numbers of people are gathering despite this to smoke cannabis (for instance), what should the response be? In one case, J opined, thousands occupied Hyde Park for this purpose. Although the event was policed, all the officers could do was watch on.

Restricting Freedoms

One main concern is how to police the new laws on hate speech. In some cases, the required response might be clear, but in general this area is fraught with difficulty, especially if preaching the Gospel is involved. How should a Christian policeman react to being told to arrest someone preaching on the street, or giving out a tract? J summed up the overall dilemma caused by the hate laws succinctly: “Freedoms are being restricted in the name of freedom”.

According to J, the hate laws can be summarised as freedoms being restricted in the name of freedom.

It was pleasing to hear that at present, J finds no problems in representing the Christian faith within the Met itself. Good relations prevail with the top commanding officers who are always glad of his input and have an open door for him. Opportunities for J to speak and pray are regular, including at training days where it might be thought more problematic. Although individual officers may be less than enthusiastic, in general there is little opposition and many are glad of the listening ear and support that a Christian chaplain can bring.

Bettering Society

The goal of every police officer is to make society a better place. But today it is difficult to answer precisely how this ought to be done, especially in a way that all officers could agree with.
Speaking with J inspired and reminded me that as Christians, we should remain grateful for and supportive of our police officers, praying for them and encouraging any that we know personally, pointing them in the direction of the only true Way in which British society can genuinely be transformed for the better.

Find out more about how to encourage and support Christians in the police by connecting with the Christian Police Association.

Torah Portion: Numbers 19:1-22:1

Chukat ('Decree')

As we journey with Israel through the book of Numbers and come to chapter 20 we have the sense that we have been here before – both geographically, since the people are back at Kadesh from where the spies went in to explore the land, and also in terms of grumbling!

The Lord worked miracles to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt and met all their needs as they travelled, but as they went they only saw death and lack, and listed what they did not have: no grain, no figs, no grapevines, no pomegranates and no water “in this terrible place”. God knew that they needed water and had always provided it before, though it may not have been when or how they expected.

Moses and Aaron fell down before the Lord and His glory appeared to them. Moses was told to take his staff, gather the people, but then to SPEAK to the rock. That would have been enough for water to pour out and the Lord’s holiness to be revealed. One can feel Moses’ frustration and understand why he hit the rock instead - but he had not trusted Yahweh enough or recognised that this time He was working in a different way.

Do we sometimes present the Lord as less than He is by expecting Him to work in the same way as on a previous occasion? Circumstances may be similar but He tests us, always wanting us to grow in our faith so that others see more of His holiness.

The Son of Man, Lifted Up

We continue the journey around Edom and hear a familiar chorus of negativity: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” When the people were dying because of the venomous snakes that the Lord sent, they recognised their sin and prayed that the Lord would take the snakes away. The Lord did not remove them, but instead provided another way of salvation: to look up to the bronze snake on the pole and away from biting snakes.

The Lord may not clear our problems, but we can look away from them as we fix our eyes on Jesus for “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

Paul refers to lessons from this time in the wilderness to give strong warnings that “we should not test the Lord, as some of them did – and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble…” We have the accounts in the Torah as examples or types to teach us. “And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor 9:6-13).

Let us make the choice to look up to Yeshua, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2-3), and away from the circumstances that could cause us to grow weary and lose heart.

Author: Catharine Pakington

An opportunity is approaching that our new PM would do well to take.

Next week Britain will have a new Prime Minister and the first question he should be asking is, “Is there any word from the Lord?” This was the question King Zedekiah put to the Prophet Jeremiah shortly before the Babylonians broke through the walls of Jerusalem and began its destruction. What is God saying to Britain in these incredible days as the Brexit saga races towards the final conflict or consummation?

Several things have come to my notice in the last few days that may be significant. I was looking through some old papers and came across my notes of visiting the elderly leader (Mother Barbara) of the Russian convent in the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem back in the early 1980s. I heard how, as a young lady of 22 in Russia, she had met with Bishop Aristocoli who had given her the now-famous prophecy known as The 1911 Mother Barbara Prophecy (reprinted below).

I had not read it for many years but I remembered that some of its remarkable predictions have already come true, particularly the prophecy that Great Britain, whose empire covered one third of the world’s land space, would lose all her colonies and “come to almost total ruin”.

In last week’s editorial I spoke about the astonishing collapse of the British Empire, saying that it was largely due to the abandonment of our Judeo-Christian heritage. Then on Monday a friend telephoned from Italy. She lives in San Remo and reminded me that next April will be the centenary of the San Remo Resolution, which established in international law the legitimacy of the Arab states and Britain’s Balfour Declaration, heralding the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in what is now the State of Israel. 

Britain’s Sacred Trust

San Remo delegates, 1920, including David Lloyd George.

The San Remo Conference of Allied leaders and international lawyers was an extension of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The purpose was to set up three Mandates, one over Syria and Lebanon, one over Mesopotamia (Iraq/Iran) and one over Palestine – both East and West of the River Jordon. The Mandate for Palestine was entrusted to Great Britain as a “sacred trust of civilisation”¹ in respect of “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”.²

This was a binding resolution with all the force of international law. It was affirmed the following year by Winston Churchill, who told an Arab delegation in Jerusalem:

It is manifestly right that the Jews who are scattered all over the world should have a national centre and a national home where some of them may be reunited. And where else could that be but in the land of Palestine, with which for more than 3000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?³

The San Remo resolution was a binding resolution with all the force of international law.

Churchill also issued the following statement in 1922, as British Secretary of State for the Colonies:

When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a centre in which the Jewish people as a whole may take, on grounds of religion and race, an interest and a pride. But in order that this community should have the best prospect of free development and provide a full opportunity for the Jewish people to display its capacities, it is essential that it should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on sufferance. That is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of a Jewish National Home in Palestine should be internationally guaranteed and that it should be formally recognized to rest upon ancient historic connection.

Is it just a coincidence that the steep decline in the fortunes of Great Britain began in the 1920s (with the Great Depression and the General Strike) when Britain failed to meet its 'sacred trust' for a Jewish homeland by establishing the State of Israel?

Britain not only reneged on its promises in the 1920s and throughout the 1930s,⁴ but was still favouring the Arabs and resisting Jewish settlement in the early days after the Second World War – turning away leaking old ships loaded with Holocaust survivors seeking refuge in what had been promised as their new homeland – ships that sank in the Mediterranean with the loss of all those on board! Other Jewish would-be-immigrants were actually forcibly sent back to Germany, which was surely the height of inhumanity!

Having sold the Jewish people for barrels of oil, Britain under Prime Minister Clement Attlee (a Jew-hating atheist, like some in the modern Labour Party) actually refused to vote for the establishment of the State of Israel in the United Nations in 1947. We did not dare to vote against the resolution and offend the USA – but in order not to offend the Arabs and endanger our oil supplies, we abstained!!! From that day the British Empire rapidly disappeared from the map of the world.

No! I’m not making a case for colonialism! It was right that ex-colonial countries should have their independence and the freedom to develop in accordance with their own cultures, and I think we should applaud and do all we can to strengthen the ties between nations in the British Commonwealth. But I also think that the fortunes of the United Kingdom have been adversely affected by breaking our promises to Israel and the Jewish people, which were a ‘sacred trust’.

Is it just a coincidence that the steep decline in the fortunes of Great Britain began when we failed to meet our 'sacred trust' for a Jewish homeland by establishing the State of Israel?

Testing Times Ahead

I also believe that the next six or nine months are going to be times of incredible turmoil in the UK when we may indeed, as foretold in The Mother Barbara Prophecy, come perilously close to ‘total ruin’.

But the centenary of the San Remo Resolution in April 2020 will provide an opportunity for Britain to repent publicly of her broken promises and the anti-Semitism that has driven our Foreign Office since the 1920s (brilliantly portrayed in one of the 1990s TV episodes of Yes, Prime Minister⁵). Will our new Government, under a new Prime Minister, have the courage to confess the sins of the past? 

Theresa May, at her last Prime Minister’s Question Time this week, called upon Jeremy Corbyn to clear anti-Semitism out of the Labour Party – but will our new Prime Minister have the courage to risk the wrath of the Arab world and send a delegation to San Remo to clear the conscience of the nation? I believe the Lord may be saying that such repentance, though not enough to save Britain from the consequences of our unrighteous laws, would nevertheless be a vital step in the right direction.

Please join us in prayer as we seek the right way forward in this issue. Maybe someone will start a petition calling upon the Government to send an official British delegation to attend the 2020 San Remo Centenary to acknowledge publicly our historic wrongs.

The 1911 Mother Barbara Prophecy

This prophecy was given to Mother Barbara in 1911 by Bishop Aristocoli in Russia, shortly before his death and before she settled in Jerusalem:

“Tell the women they must belong absolutely to God. They must believe in the great things that are happening and that God is doing on the earth. They must prepare their souls, their children and their husbands. And they will have very much work to do for God. Oh, what a great work the women will have to do in the end times, and the men will follow them.

Not one country will be without trial – do not be frightened of anything you will hear. An evil will shortly take Russia and wherever this evil goes, rivers of blood will flow. This evil will take the whole world and where ever it goes, rivers of blood will flow because of it. It is not the Russian soul, but an imposition on the Russian soul. It is not an ideology, or philosophy, but a spirit from hell.

In the last days Germany will be divided in two. France will just be nothing. Italy will be judged by natural disasters. Britain will lose her empire and all her colonies and will come to almost total ruin, but will be saved by praying women. America will feed the world, but will finally collapse. Russia and China will destroy each other. Finally, Russia will be free and from her, believers will go forth and turn many from the nations to God.”

Cover of Eli Hertz's book on the legal aspects of the Jewish claim to the Land. Maps show the region before and after the division of British Mandate land to create Transjordan.

References

1 Article 22, Covenant of the League of Nations, signed in Paris, 1919.

2 San Remo Resolution, 1920. Read the full text here.

3 Taken from ‘Winston Churchill in Jerusalem, 1921’, Manchester Conservatives.

4 E.g. ceding 70% of the Mandate land to the Arabs (Transjordan, now Jordan). We recommend The Forsaken Promise (DVD) from Hatikvah Films for a fuller exploration of this issue.

5 ‘A Victory for Democracy’. Watch in full here.

God will hear the cries for justice – but will we?

It seems that our divided, weakened, chaotic Government is able to unite, occasionally, over things that really matter. Like matters of life and death. Last week, the Commons voted overwhelmingly to pass a measure which included the imposition of legalised homosexuality and abortion on Northern Ireland, where a strong biblical stance on the latter has hitherto saved 100,000 lives.

This week, despite impassioned speeches from pro-life peers and outcry from tens of thousands of Northern Irish citizens, the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill passed through the House of Lords with ease, including a further amendment from Baroness Barker agreeing even more relaxed abortion rules. The amended version was passed by the Commons on Thursday, 328 to 65.

The bill was intended to allow more time for Stormont to reconvene its devolved government, but has been hijacked to serve both pro-abortion and LGBTQ+ agendas. Taking advantage of Stormont’s political crisis, politicians in Westminster have displayed utter contempt for devolution by taking Northern Ireland’s social matters into their own hands (an amendment to give members of Stormont a say was not passed).

In a display of flagrant political opportunism, our MPs have fast-tracked through Parliament the imposition of one of the world’s most extreme abortion laws on Northern Ireland presumably because, like the BBC and the rest of the metropolitan liberal class – they genuinely believe they are morally right. They have a duty, in the ominous words of the BBC, to make sure that Northern Ireland is ‘brought into line’ with the rest of the UK.¹ They must ‘force the people to be free’.

On the Altar

Two biblical incidents have come to mind in these last few days as I have been pondering this truly terrible state of affairs. One is the infamous time in the history of Judah when the nation had degenerated to such an extent that even the kings began to sacrifice their children in pagan fire – affirming a practice for which Israel had already been judged (2 Kings 17:17) and which the Lord detests.

Both Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their sons to the Canaanite god Molech (see 2 Kings 16, 21), incinerating them just as today’s aborted babies are incinerated, looking to safeguard their own prosperity just as today’s parents choose abortion because children are considered too expensive, too inconvenient.

These kings provoked the Lord’s fierce anger and helped to seal his judgment upon Judah, with the promise that Jerusalem would be wiped out “as one wipes out a bowl – wiping it and turning it upside-down” (2 Kings 21:10-15, 23:26).

Both Ahaz and Manasseh provoked the Lord’s fierce anger and helped to seal his judgment on Judah by sacrificing their sons.

If this was the case for God’s covenant nation, how much more is judgment inevitable for Britain? To the Lord “a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Pet 3:8). Here children have been sacrificed on the same altar of convenience and prosperity for more than 50 years – and now we are exporting this detestable practice around the world – not just to Northern Ireland, but to poorer nations through our international aid and development programmes.²

Cries Drowned Out

When children were sacrificed in the flames to Molech, priests standing around the family would bang and clap, making so much noise that the child’s screams were drowned out.³ Just so today, the moral claims of the unborn are being drowned out by a cacophony of voices affirming to parents that they are doing the right thing – that it is their right to choose.

Meanwhile, the majority of people in the UK (who support a reduction in the upper limit for abortion, not its extension) are also being distracted from the cries of the unborn by a chattering, chaotic media class determined to keep all the focus on Brexit, on money matters, on Trump, on climate change, on sport…on anything else, really. “‘But I have been watching!’ declares the Lord” (Jer 7:11).

Your Brother’s Blood

This brings me to the second passage that has been on my mind this week: the story of Cain and Abel. Abel may not have been murdered in the womb, but he was murdered in secret, where his screams could not be heard, and by a blood relative, Cain. Adam and Eve may not have witnessed the attack, but the Lord saw, and the Lord heard:

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. (Genesis 4:9-11, emphasis added)

The word used for ‘cries out’ in this passage is the same word that is used to describe the Israelites crying out to God for deliverance from Egyptian slavery and from the oppression of the Canaanites. It connotes a screaming out for justice, for help, for intervention. In that vein, it is also the word used to describe the summoning of fighting men to go to war (e.g. Judg 7:23, 10:17) – a rousing call for aid in a time of distress. The implication in the story of Abel is clear – the spilling of innocent blood shrieks out to God’s sense of justice, summoning a fierce response.

As our MPs and peers casually nod through contemptible, murderous legislation, you can be sure that the blood of the innocent will scream out to the Lord – and that it has been doing so, from British soil, since 1967. How long will the Lord delay his response? Surely the chaotic turmoil of our current Parliament is the very least that we deserve – and likely only the beginning of judgment to come.

The blood of the innocent has been screaming out to the Lord from British soil since 1967.

Saving Souls

Elsewhere in this week’s issue of Prophecy Today, our editorial comments on the importance of Britain changing her attitude towards Israel and taking opportunities to confess our historic failure to support the Jewish people. This is indeed of vital importance to our nation’s future. But before God, do we not also deserve to be torn apart for what we are doing to these little ones – and for all the other ways in which sin is being allowed to pervade and corrupt our culture? If we supported Israel wholeheartedly, but did not repent in these matters, would he let us go unpunished?

For Christians, juggling these various claims on our prayers can be overwhelming. But the final point that needs to be made is this: the Gospel must head up our struggle for truth in all of these areas. Without the Gospel, we are fighting a losing battle on every issue – from abortion to freedom of speech, from sexuality to euthanasia.

“You have one business on earth,” said John Wesley to his fellow Methodists, “to save souls”. How much was Britain’s godly culture a wonderful outflow of the evangelical labours of such as Wesley? Conserving its last vestiges may buy us some time, but we cannot recoup what has been lost without true revival touching this land once again. This means not just political activism on our part, but Gospel witness. If the cries of the blood of the innocent do not galvanise us to this end, what will?

References

1 See here.

2 E.g. see here and here.

3 According to the Midrash.

Lifelong Labour supporter writes of anti-Semitism shame

As a lifelong supporter and one-time candidate of the Labour Party, Rev Alex Jacob is shocked and ashamed by its association with anti-Semitism.

The UK’s chief executive officer of the Church’s Mission among Jewish people (CMJ), an international Anglican society co-founded 210 years ago by William Wilberforce, Rev Jacob has written to party leader Jeremy Corbyn about the issue a number of times, but has yet to receive any reply or acknowledgement.

He has even offered to meet with Mr Corbyn and share his insight, warning that Corbyn’s leadership, along with the future success of the party, rest upon this issue, and that time is running out for decisive action to expose and uproot those individuals responsible for fanning the flames of anti-Semitism.

Conceding that he is clearly informed and shaped by his current position with CMJ, Jacob has assured Mr Corbyn that he is writing in a purely personal capacity and that his concern is not fuelled by any anti-Labour sentiment or wider political agenda.

Rev Alex Jacob. Photo courtesy of CMJ.He acknowledges that anti-Semitism has a variety of sources, including Christian circles which have “at times been seduced by misplaced theology and poor pastoral practice”.

Labour’s Worthy Track Record

Nevertheless, some of Jacob’s work colleagues and other contacts have expressed surprise at and even challenged his involvement with Labour, especially in light of its current problems. But he has rightly pointed out that Labour has traditionally been a great supporter of Israel:

Many of the early pioneering Zionists were strong socialists and, alongside this, the struggle for the full emancipation of the Jewish people was often linked to members of the emerging Labour and Trade Union movements, who saw this as a foundational issue of social justice.

He further writes that today’s party includes some outstandingly diligent Jewish MPs and councillors, that Labour has a strong and respected record of fighting fascism and is even committed to a just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which Israel can flourish within secure borders.

But such points are often obscured by images of Labour supporters waving Palestinian flags and singing songs calling for the total annihilation of Israel.

CMJ CEO Alex Jacob has written to Corbyn on a number of occasions about the issue of anti-Semitism, but has yet to receive any reply or acknowledgement.

Jacob even commends Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry for her recent comment that “…there are sickening individuals on the fringe of our movement who use legitimate support for Palestine as a cloak and cover for their desperate hatred of Jewish people and their desire to see Israel destroyed.”

And he adds: “Clearly, I would argue that such individuals must be identified and, after due process, expelled from the Labour movement. This must be a priority for you; time is running out for you to act decisively and expose and uproot such anti-Semitic individuals. I am sure that your leadership and the future success of the Labour Party rest upon this issue!”

Anti-Semitism Exposed

Meanwhile, virtual civil war has broken out within the party as it comes under increasing pressure – even from its own deputy leader Tom Watson – over its failure to deal effectively with the problem.

A BBC investigation for its Panorama programme has thrown further shocking light on the subject with the help of whistle-blowers, who have in turn provoked fury from colleagues amidst accusations of BBC bias, while Labour officials are accused of displaying “Stalinist levels of paranoia”.¹

The documentary, broadcast last week, aired allegations of interference by Mr Corbyn’s closest aides into the party’s complaints procedure. One official said her party was no longer a safe space for Jews after she was told “Hitler did not go far enough”.²

Izzy Lenga, who is Jewish, said she had heard Labour members denying the Holocaust in party meetings. Others told the programme how they had been called a ‘dirty Zionist’, a ‘Nazi’ and a ‘Jewish pig’ by members.³

Seeing Prophecy Fulfilled

In the light of Rev Jacob’s contribution to the debate, it might be helpful to retrace our historical steps to the founding, in 1809, of the mission he now leads.

Evangelical leaders acted on the biblical call to preach the Gospel “to the Jew first” (Rom 1:16) with the arrival in London’s East End of Jewish refugees from the pogroms of Russia – including the ancestors of Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who will be appearing on the popular BBC TV programme Who Do You Think You Are? on Monday night (22 July).

Also motivated by their debt to the Jewish people for the scriptures, and their Messiah, CMJ’s work expanded throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. And in focusing on Israel’s spiritual restoration repeatedly prophesied in the Bible (Jer 31:33; Ezek 36:26; Zech 12:10; Rom 11:26), they also helped prepare the way for the Jews’ return to the land from which they had been exiled for so long – this too in line with biblical prophecies.

Virtual civil war has broken out within the party as it comes under increasing pressure over its failure to deal effectively with the problem.

Because it is there – in the Promised Land – where Jesus will return as King of Kings and finally be recognised by those who pierced him. This is God’s great plan, and world events are rapidly heading towards its fulfilment. But the devil and his hordes will do everything to prevent that happening, which is why such a fierce battle is being fought over Jerusalem, and Israel, and why anti-Semitism is once more on the rise.

The psalmist predicted this some 3,000 years ago with these words: “See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.’ O God, do not keep silent…Let them know that…you alone are the Most High over all the earth” (Psa 83:2-4, 1, 18).

He won’t keep silent. He will wipe away every tear when he comes again, and there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-4)!

References

1 Daily Mail, 15 July 2019.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

So could the Gospel, if only it was broadcast more widely

In the midst of a grave political crisis, it was a welcome respite to have the nation’s spirits so gloriously lifted by our somewhat miraculous triumph in cricket’s World Cup.

Although initially favourites to break our longstanding duck¹ in the competition, we ended up having to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat at Lord’s. And before the heady champagne effect wears off, I believe we must grasp the vital spiritual lesson it teaches us.

The game that has become part of England’s DNA was beginning to lose its drawing power, thanks partly to greedy media moguls determined to milk as much money as possible from TV rights while denying a new generation access to the delights of the sport.

Even for me, Sunday’s sensational final was the first live television cricket I have watched for many years, as I do not subscribe to Sky. Now there are hopes of the game’s revival following what is surely the most scintillating thriller of a match ever staged in front of cameras. Yet its long-term future is only guaranteed, in my opinion, by its return to regular terrestrial TV.

At any rate, my hope is that this remarkable contest will help reinstate the game’s place at the centre of our culture – along with other important facets of our national life such as our identity as a Christian nation.

Revival Ahead?

I have written before of cricket’s link with the great 19^th Century missionary enterprise in China, when CT Studd, England’s greatest player in the early 1880s, gave up his fame and fortune for the Gospel. And there have been others, like Bishop David Sheppard, who also gave up bat for pulpit.

As much-loved broadcaster Henry Blofeld wrote in the Daily Mail² – “The dear old sport I love may be about to undergo a revival” – so my prayer is that this will be mirrored by a revival of Christian faith.

Cricket may be about to undergo a revival – so my prayer is that this will be mirrored by a revival of Christian faith.

A glimpse of such a prospect emerged during a recent stay in a Cotswold village, where I simply drooled over the perfectly-manicured serenity of its cricket pitch, but also took a walk across the fields before stumbling upon a tiny church which two lovely ladies were decorating with flowers. They waxed lyrical over the evangelical fervour of their vicar who was filling these country chapels with eager new disciples.

As Blofield noted in his report, “people who never watched the game before are now hooked.” I can certainly vouch for that as my wife Linda, who would normally roll her eyes at the mention of cricket, was as excited as I was. We were literally sitting on the edge of our sofa as the game built up to an almost unbearably tense crescendo. What a showpiece for the sport!

Denied Access

Well, the Christian Gospel is equally as thrilling – if not more so. It’s just that most of the estimated billion viewers of the cricket spectacle have not yet been truly exposed to it, having neither seen nor heard the true nature of the length and breadth, and of the height and depth, to which God has gone to rescue us from the shame and defeat of sin and degradation: how Jesus was nailed to a cruel execution stake so we could go free; how he was miraculously raised from the dead and is coming back in power and great glory to restore peace and justice to our broken world.

And just as many have been denied access to the glories of cricket over the past decade, a huge potential audience has been denied access to the real Gospel because the ‘movers and shakers’ of our brave new world have chosen to ‘take it off the air’, leaving those desperate for real answers to their many troubles having to feed off the hopeless message of secular humanism.

Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations and Paul, specifically with his fellow Jews in mind, asked: “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Matt 28:19; Rom 10:14).

Lasting Satisfaction

When all the cheering is over and the excitement has died down, many cricket fans will still be left feeling empty and unfulfilled, searching for another ‘fix’ that will inevitably fail to offer lasting satisfaction.

But the Gospel does. The Apostle Paul, in quoting the Prophet Isaiah writing 700 years earlier, declares: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9; Isa 64:4).

Few get more excited about a good cricket match than I do. But believe me, there is nothing to compare with what God has prepared for those who love and follow him.

The Christian Gospel is equally as thrilling – if not more so. But most people have not yet been truly exposed to it.

Zero to Hero

It was ironic indeed that it was New Zealand-born Ben Stokes who played a key role in England’s historic victory over his Kiwi compatriots – and also that England’s triumph was in fact led by its Irish-born captain Eoin Morgan. The Irish border may be something of a sticking point in our Brexit negotiations, but this monumental achievement owes much to our Irish connections.

As for Stokes, he’s had a troubled past, most notably with his involvement in an ugly punch-up a few years back, but with exemplary determination and courage he has been lifted from zero to hero.

In a similar way, our beloved country that helped spread the glorious Gospel throughout the globe has fallen into disgrace after turning its back on the very commandments which built up our great civilisation. Only that same Gospel can restore us!

References

1 A duck is a cricketing term for failing to score – in this case for failing to win.

2 Daily Mail, 15 July 2019.

Surely the Lord would protect his own Temple…

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”’” (Jeremiah 7:1-3)

This is Jeremiah’s famous ‘Temple Sermon’. It is one of the most important declarations in his recorded ministry. It summarises the moral and spiritual state of the nation during the reign of King Jehoiakim, about the year 604 BC, before the Babylonian invasion of the land in 598 BC.

Challenging the National Belief System

Jeremiah was told to stand at the gate of the Temple, probably at the time of a major festival when crowds would be flocking to the Temple to witness traditional religious practices, which Jeremiah had already said were useless. The word of the Lord was “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me” (Jer 6:20).

This was a major challenge, not merely to the religious establishment based at the Temple, but to the whole belief system of the nation. The belief in the inviolability of the Temple was a tradition that went back to the time of King Solomon and the Temple’s dedication. When he had completed building the Temple, Solomon called the whole nation to an assembly in Jerusalem where he declared that God had promised his father David that a temple would be built for the name of the Lord.

Solomon then offered a prayer of dedication, asking that when prayer is directed towards the Temple it would be heard by God and petitions would be granted. God’s response was “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices” (2 Chron 7:12).

The belief in the inviolability of the Temple was a tradition that went back to the time of King Solomon.

This was accompanied by the pledge: “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my name may be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”

If…

The belief became established that the presence of God in the Temple guaranteed its defence against all enemies. This was reinforced in the time of the 8^th Century BC Prophet Isaiah, who declared: “This is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: he will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!” (Isa 37:33-35).

This tradition was celebrated in the Psalms sung in the Temple, such as, “For the Lord has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his dwelling: this is my resting place for ever and ever; here I will sit enthroned” (Psa 132:13-14). But the Temple priests and prophets in Jeremiah’s time failed to notice the previous verse in this Psalm, which imposed a condition, “If your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them…”.

The Temple authorities also failed to recognise that the whole moral and spiritual situation in the nation was very different in Isaiah’s lifetime. When King Hezekiah received a threatening letter from Sennacherib, the Assyrian Emperor, insulting the God of Israel, both the King and the Prophet Isaiah spread the letter before the Lord in the Temple and cried out in prayer. Their prayer of faith was answered: “Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp” (Isa 37:36).

No doubt the Royal Temple authorities advising King Jehoiakim remembered what God had done to the Assyrian army and they were convinced that the same would happen to the Babylonian army. They were utterly convinced that God would never allow his presence in the Temple to be violated by a heathen army.

The Temple authorities were utterly convinced that God would never allow his presence in the Temple to be violated by a heathen army.

The Terms of the Covenant

Jeremiah’s great burden was that he appeared to be the only one who recognised that the promises given at the time of David and Solomon, and upheld during the time of Hezekiah, were made within the context of the covenantal relationship between the children of Israel and God.

The terms of the covenant went right back to the assembly at Mount Sinai when Moses received both the Ten Commandments and the Torah (Deut 4:10). From that time God’s protection was dependent upon the faithfulness of the nation to keep the commandments and to hold fast to his teaching. Jeremiah knew that the first commandment was absolute loyalty to God: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deut 5:7).

Idolatry was to be seen everywhere in Judah - not only in the countryside where people worshiped the local Baals, but there were idols to foreign gods at every street corner in Jerusalem. Even worse than that; there was idolatry to be found in the Temple itself.

Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon dismissed the popular chant, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” With devastating precision, he outlined the six sins of Jerusalem that were offensive to God which abrogated the protection that God had promised if the nation remained faithful to his commandments and his teaching. God’s blessing, his protection and prosperity, were all dependent upon the faithfulness of the nation and its leaders in keeping the covenantal relationship established in the time of Moses.

God has not changed! What was true in the time of Jeremiah is still true today. But will the nations learn the lessons of history that are clearly recorded for our benefit?

This article is part of a series on the life and ministry of the Prophet Jeremiah. Click here for previous instalments.