We must return to our roots – Labour PM Harold Wilson was devoted to the Jewish cause

I confess that the article I am about to write was initially intended only to address the important issue of roots – both of Christianity and of Western civilisation as a whole.

But I have been somewhat diverted along a different route, which I shall explain. So stay with me as I will eventually return to the roots of my story.

Labour’s History

In looking up a verse from Isaiah, where he refers to the “root of Jesse” (one of many prophecies of the coming Messiah, Jesus), I was reminded¹ of the fact that former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson had made much of a text from this passage in support of his Zionist views, spelt out in his book The Chariot of Israel² and clearly inspired by his strong Christian faith (I am reliably informed that both Harold and his wife Mary were Bible-believing Congregationalists, to which he also owed his brand of Christian socialism).

The text in question, Isaiah 11:11, refers to a second return of Jewish exiles,³ which trumps the notion that such prophecies were all fulfilled with the return from Babylon so that modern Israel has no right to their ancient land today.

I believe this is very significant in light of the ongoing controversy over rising anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, of which Wilson was a long-time leader and the only occupant of No. 10 Downing Street to have won four general elections.

By contrast, current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has openly embraced those who wish to destroy Israel.

Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has openly embraced those who wish to destroy Israel.

Our Godly Heritage

Writing for the Jewish Chronicle on the 50^th anniversary of Wilson’s first election victory,⁴ Robert Philpot dubbed him “the forgotten friend of Israel” who sprang to her aid in 1967 and 1973 and whose first overseas visit after leaving office in 1976 was to Israel, where he received an honorary doctorate and inspected a forest near Nazareth that had been named after him!

In Parliament he described the Jewish state “by any test…the only democracy in [the] region” and his book was described by his Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Jenkins as “one of the most strongly Zionist tracts ever written by a non-Jew”.

Tragically, however, his devotion to the cause of Israel contrasts sharply with today’s Labour left from whose ranks he originally hailed.⁵

Which takes me back to my starting point, for the survival of our Judeo-Christian civilisation will depend entirely on whether we remain connected to our biblical roots. If we cut ourselves off from our godly heritage, the ‘sap’ that gives us life, direction and purpose will no longer flow, with the result that our culture will wither and die like a tree pulled from the ground.

Gentiles Grafted In

Though some of the UK has just been blanketed in snow, nevertheless it’s that time of year when we begin to witness the shoots that produce flowers like snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils pointing the way to another springtime. These beauties come from roots (or bulbs) buried in the ground for many months.

Christianity was the new spring in the purposes of God that emerged from the roots of Judaism. According to St Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians, who had to be reminded that God was not finished with his chosen people, Gentile believers “now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root [of Israel]…You do not support the root, but the root supports you,” he thundered (Rom 11:17f).

If we cut ourselves off from our godly roots, the ‘sap’ that gives us life, direction and purpose will no longer flow, and our culture will wither and die like a tree pulled from the ground.

This should encourage us to put our trust squarely in the God of Israel, and his Son, the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David” (Rev 5:5), also prophesied by Isaiah as “the root of Jesse” (Isa 11:10) who will draw the nations (Gentiles) to himself.

In this respect it is also significant that there is a strain of Gentile ‘blood’⁶ in Jesus, through his ancestor Ruth, the Moabitess, King David’s great-grandmother, a wonderful woman of virtue who threw in her lot with her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi.

Spring is Coming

Still on this theme, Isaiah’s discussion of roots is related to a springtime for the nation of Israel that surely speaks of today, with its reference to a second return from exile, this time not just from Babylon but “from the four quarters of the earth” (Isa 11:11f) including “the islands of the sea” considered by some theologians to refer to the British Isles.

This passage also speaks of a coming millennial age of perfect peace when “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa 11:6, 9).

As for Israel, the Lord speaks emphatically of final restoration through the Prophet Amos, concluding with the words: “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted…” (Amos 9:15).

References

1 See Defending Christian Zionism by David Pawson (Terra Nova Publications, 2008), p104.

2 Ibid.

3 The text begins: “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people…”

4 Wilson, true friend of Israel. The Jewish Chronicle, 27 October 2014.

5 It is only fair to record that after chairing the debate in Parliament to mark Holocaust Memorial Day (January 27), my own MP, Dame Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central) said: “It is shocking that many British Jews are considering leaving this country…We must support those in our community who feel threatened. This means tackling and condemning anti-Semitism wherever we find it, including in the Labour Party.”

6 Obviously not actual blood, as Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary, though certainly ancestral as Jewish genealogy would confirm.

A house theologically divided against itself cannot stand.

In 8 January, the Anglican Centre in Rome issued a joint statement¹ with the Archbishop of Canterbury announcing the appointment of Dr John Shepherd as its Interim Director. Within days it came to light that he had preached a sermon in 2008 questioning the traditional view of Jesus' resurrection.

Immediately there were calls that Shepherd should resign,² and Justin Welby's judgment was openly questioned.³ Following the outcry Shepherd issued a statement seeking to clarify his beliefs⁴ but, as one commentator has observed, it far from confirms his orthodoxy.⁵

Shortly before this debate I was reminded of events 35 years ago surrounding the consecration of another resurrection-denier as a bishop. I believe that those events were a missed opportunity to steer the CofE away from the confused place it has now reached.

The Fire of 1984

A few weeks earlier a non-Christian friend had asked me if I could explain why CofE vicars were unable to understand the violent nature of Islam. My thoughts went immediately to the fire at York Minster which started 36 hours after the Archbishop of York, John Habgood, ordained David Jenkins as Bishop of Durham. Jenkins was on record as not believing in either Jesus’ virgin birth or the resurrection. In the early hours of the following Monday morning, ‘lightning’ struck the Minster, and the roof of the South Transept was consumed in flames. Many saw this as significant because that was the section of the Minster in which hands were laid on Jenkins by Habgood and others.

Faced with such a compelling set of circumstances, the Archbishops of the day did not heed the biblical injunction to ‘consider their ways’ (Hag 5:1). The Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, told The Times that “the Lord was on our side as we battled with those flames.” In a letter to the same paper, Habgood questioned the opinions of some who suggested that God was behind the incident, asking, “What kind of a god do your correspondents believe in?” He concluded that this was “the kind of world from which the Christian Gospel rescued us.”

Faced with such a compelling set of circumstances, the Archbishops of the day did not heed the biblical injunction to ‘consider their ways’ (Hag 5:1).

At the time many suspected that this denial of divine intervention was because the Church’s insurance policies did not cover ‘acts of God’, but were there more fundamental reasons behind their protests?

The South Transept of York Minster ablaze, 1984. PA/PA Archive/PA Images.Habgood’s god was shaped by the theology of deism, in which God takes no action in the world. This argument is consistent with Jenkins’ denial of the virgin birth and resurrection, for a prerequisite of both is faith that God is actively involved in our lives. The Archbishops therefore colluded in twin denials: the first being that Jenkins’ disbelief was of any consequence; secondly that the Creator remains involved with people.

Was God Serious?

It is easy for some Christians to react to major traumatic events when they occur with claims that they are expressions of divine anger. It is much harder to then watch through several subsequent decades of no apparent further consequences and still believe that God was serious when he broke out “like fire” (Amos 5:6) in 1984.

Elijah, however, did not meet the Lord in the storm, earthquake or fire, but through his still, small voice (1 Kings 19). God does not always work within our human time-frames; in order to understand his purposes, we must draw near him and listen intently.

Enoch was a prophet who warned of coming judgment 1,000 years before the Flood. Similarly, Israel rejected the Lord as their king over 1,000 years before Jesus’ incarnation, but they only spoke out their rebellion a few hours before his crucifixion (1 Sam 8:7; John 19:15). At this point there was no sudden thunder from Heaven, no immediate sword of the Lord - it was almost 40 more years before they reaped what they had sown.

When answering my non-Christian friend, I realised that many clergy are now incapable of discerning good from bad, unwilling to take God at his word and unable to understand his ways and purposes, as the recent debate around Rev Shepherd illustrates. But there are consequences of disbelief: throughout the Scriptures we discover that the Lord uses both nature and people to discipline those who are known by his name (Heb 12:4-8) and that he judges them more stringently than unbelievers.

The Lord uses both nature and people to discipline those who are known by his name (Heb 12:4-8) and judges them more stringently than unbelievers.

People Who Lack Knowledge

Israel was warned of the dangers of disbelief by various prophets. One was Hosea, who highlighted the consequences of not seeking truth, mercy and a knowledge of the Lord. Hosea specifically warned that God’s people would be destroyed for their lack of knowledge, adding, “Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (4:6).

Three decades after the York fire, we are in a situation where the ‘children’ of that generation are now in leadership. They bear all the signs of having embraced the disbelief of their forefathers and having forgotten the law of God. They are people who have not had their senses trained to discern between good and evil (Heb 5:12-14). Though the current Archbishop of Canterbury is from the evangelical stable, he seemingly approves of secular sexual ideologies which seek to eradicate all memory that the Lord created us male and female. Thankfully not all in the CofE agree – over 2,600 have now signed an open letter urging the House of Bishops to reconsider their position on transgender ‘celebration’ services.⁶

The CofE was built on disjointed foundations, and any house thus theologically divided against itself cannot stand (Matt 12:25). 35 years after the events of 1984, therefore, that we have arrived at this current state of affairs should be no surprise.⁷ But where is God?

It may seem that since 1984, the Lord’s response has involved little more than starting a fire. But if we join the dots of disbelief in that institution and elsewhere, we will appreciate that he has not forgotten, nor is he slow in fulfilling his promises: in fact, he is enduringly patient, wanting all to be given opportunity to come to know the truth (2 Pet 3:9). Only then, when it is his time, will he judge them in righteousness.

The Lord has not forgotten: in fact, he is enduringly patient, wanting all to be given opportunity to come to know the truth (2 Pet 3:9).

Many faithful clergy and congregations are ready to leave the CofE altogether, while others continue to hope that the tide will turn. There has never been a time like the present – as the hallmarks of judgment described in Romans 1 manifest across the nations - for believing Anglicans to seek the Lord’s heart and guidance.

I’m not sure if my non-Christian friend has accepted that the disbelief of their predecessors is the reason why many vicars are unable to discern the spirit behind Islam, but I pray that one day he will embrace the Son of God who was born of a virgin and whose transformed body was raised from the dead. Would that the leaders of the established Church would do the same.

References

1 Anglican Centre in Rome: Appointment of an Interim Director for the Anglican Centre in Rome.

2 Bird, S and Wyatt, T. Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy who disputes the resurrection of Christ urged to quit Vatican post. The Telegraph, 12 January 2019

3 Ashenden, G. The appointment of a heterodox priest as new Director to the Anglican Centre in Rome. ‘What would Jesus do?’ is not what Welby did.

4 Anglican Centre in Rome: A statement from the Very Rev Dr John Shepherd.

5 Believing in the body: Reflections of an Anglican Theologian.

6 See https://www.responsetohob.co.uk/.

7 The CofE is not alone. In most denominations leaders are falling over themselves to embrace the godlessness prevailing in the nation.

See also: 'Joining the Dots of Disbelief in the Church of England' by Randall Hardy.

Background links

July 9, 1984: Lightning bolt is responsible for catastrophic York Minster blaze | BT

Memories of York Minster fire in 1984 | York Press

How the York Minster fire sparked an unholy row in The Times | YorkMix

The fire at York Minster, July 9th 1984 | Prophetic Telegraph

THE UK DROUGHT 1984, Weather Vol 39(11) | DeepDyve

Frances Rabbitts reviews ‘The Noble Liar’ by Robin Aitken (Biteback Publishing, 2018).

If you have ever been irritated, confused or upset by the blatant liberal bias of our national broadcasting network, this book is for you. Written by an ex-BBC journalist and executive who spent 25 years at the Corporation, The Noble Liar exposes the BBC’s ingrained ideological slant, taking its cue from Plato’s concept of a ‘noble lie’: a myth told knowingly by those in power for what they perceive to be the greater good, and/or to further their own particular agendas.

Accessible, punchy and full of up-to-date examples (some well-known, some less so), this is an easy read and a personable, non-academic contribution to the growing reaction against the left-wing hegemony suffocating the British media class.

Naked Bias

From Brexit to Trump, Aitken unpacks obvious examples of naked bias in BBC coverage, backed up by research, statistics and quotes. He then delves into history to understand the reasons, both sociological and ideological, behind it.

As he makes his way through decades of ‘noble lies’ perpetuated by the BBC – surrounding subjects including feminism, abortion, multiculturalism and immigration – what emerges is not a conspiracy theory about evil masterminds seeking to indoctrinate the British population, but a picture of a Corporation overwhelmingly staffed by sincere liberal ‘believers’, acting in what they think is the public interest and genuinely blinkered to the possibility that they might be wrong.

What is refreshing about Aitken’s writing is that he provides a working example of what BBC reporters should be – accurate and fair-minded, impartial and honest, not imposing his own beliefs on his work. In fact, having read the book I am none the wiser as to his own opinions on any of the issues he covers – only that he tends towards conservatism, recognises that the BBC is chronically slanted in the opposite direction and wants to understand why.

Aitken provides a working example of what BBC reporters should be – accurate and fair-minded, impartial and honest, not imposing his own beliefs on his work.

Like Melanie Phillips, Aitken traces the origin of the issue to the left-wing’s reactionary hatred of Britain’s Judeo-Christian heritage – a hatred which increasingly unites even the most disparate of causes and victim groups. Aitken is brave enough to acknowledge that Christianity is the real foundation of everything that was once ‘great’ about Britain (including the BBC), and that no framework has yet been found to equal or replace it as the foundation of Britain’s national identity.

Meanwhile, still enjoying levels of cultural influence and public respect and a reputation for journalistic excellence that no other media group can command, ‘Auntie the apostate’ has despised her own heritage and is busy evangelising the masses with a new gospel:

The BBC is not some virtual mirror that society holds up and sees itself reflected back; a mirror changes nothing – it merely shows us what we look like. The BBC far more resembles a preacher; a good preacher does hold up a mirror to people and says, ‘Look, this is who you are’, but…then goes on to say ‘And this is what you should be’…it is the BBC’s role as preacher that we need to be aware of and closely examine. (pp244-5).

Facing the Consequences

Though there is no vitriol in Aitken’s analysis, neither does he hold back from stating the full implications of his arguments: that slanted, selective news coverage and the BBC’s near-total silence on the harmful consequences of liberal policies and laws, together with its undermining, dismissing and omitting of conservative voices, constitute a gross dereliction of the Corporation’s duty to open up controversial topics for fair, full exposure and debate.

These topics are of extreme national importance; therefore, the BBC has been directly complicit not only in the suppression of true debate, but in the deterioration of British society. Thankfully, Aitken finishes on a positive note, reminding readers that no ideology or culture is immune from change or challenge.

The implication of Aitken’s arguments is that the BBC has been directly complicit not only in the suppression of true debate, but in the deterioration of British society.

Cathartic Reading

At times, Aitken becomes so engrossed in critiquing left-wing shibboleths that concrete examples from BBC coverage seem to fall by the wayside. More of his own personal story could also have been included, even though this has previously been published in his other books. And there is no mention at all of the BBC's prejudice against Israel - a cornerstone of its liberal worldview. However, these criticisms don’t detract from the overall satisfaction of reading an author who clearly values truth over myths, facts over convenient fictions or strategic omissions – and has very valid points to make about British media bias.

For those wanting a more sophisticated philosophical exposition of leftist ideology, it won’t go deep enough – as per Aitken’s background, this is a journalistic commentary. However, it remains a very cathartic read – saying out loud everything you ever muttered inwardly about the Beeb – and will be accessible to all, regardless of belief, if obviously irksome for those who incline left.

‘The Noble Liar: How and why the BBC distorts the news to promote a liberal agenda’ (paperback, 288pp) is available widely in bookshops and online. On Amazon for £7.72. Available on Kindle for less.

Watch the New Culture Forum's interview with Robin Aitken about the content of the book by clicking here.

Notes

1 By ‘left-wing’ and ‘liberal’, we mean the particular strand of radical leftism, inspired by atheism, humanism and Marxism, that has come to dominate the mainstream media in the West.

2 This might have been expected given his former history with the BBC, covered in his first book, ‘Can We Trust the BBC?’ (2007). See also ‘Can We Still Trust the BBC?’ (2013), which focuses on the revelations about Jimmy Savile.

Torah Portion: Exodus 13:17-17:16 (Beshalach)

For the past 400 years Israel had been living in the midst of Egyptian gods who were cruel and selfish, who had to be appeased, who gave aid only on a whim but had to be fed in order to prevent them bringing harm on you.

Yahweh in the light of experience would have seemed too good to be true, probably just a bigger and more powerful version of the Egyptian gods. That’s how He managed to beat them with all those plagues. Yes, there was the 400-year-old promise of a home in Canaan, but the descendants of Israel didn’t know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So how could they trust Yahweh? Where had He been all this time? And why hadn’t He taken them straight to the land of milk and honey? At the sea with the Egyptian army almost upon them the Israelites had thought that they were about to die or be taken back to Egypt in chains. Had it all been one enormous charade for a bigger god’s amusement? In total panic they cried to Adonai and to Moses who calmed them down.

They then found out that this God indeed had His plan. He saved them in a most outstanding way, taking them through the sea but destroying Pharaoh’s army when it tried to follow.

So maybe Yahweh was trustworthy? Or was it with evil intentions that He was leading them out, to slaughter them in the hills and wipe them off the face of the earth (Ex 32:12)?

Testing

The pillar of cloud and fire now led the people into the Shur desert; three days with no water. They arrived at an oasis but couldn’t drink the water because it was bitter. Here it is: Yahweh’s going to poison us all to death! And so the grumbling started. But God showed Moses how to purify the water. It was at this oasis of Marah (‘bitterness’), over the water issue, that God tested the people and started to give them rules for living (15:25). Then the pillar of cloud and fire led the people to lovely Elim with good water and palm trees.

Next they were led into the Sin desert but by this time their food had run out. Here it is: Yahweh’s going to starve us all to death! Hence the grumbling again. But God used this to continue teaching. He gave the people meat and bread (quails and manna), using it to teach them to keep His Sabbaths and to know Him better.

They now travelled in stages as directed by Adonai and camped at Rephidim (later named Massah – ‘testing’ and Meribah – ‘quarrelling’). No water. Here it is: Yahweh’s going to leave us to die of thirst! This time the people quarrelled with Moses demanding “Give us water to drink!” (17:2) and tested Adonai by asking “Is Adonai with us or not?” God responded by instructing Moses to strike a rock from which water then flowed out.

Trusting

Ezekiel 23 talks about Northern Israel and Southern Judah as two women who as young girls were whores in Egypt. Hosea pictures Israel as a young whore that God brought out of Egypt. There are many prostitute slaves in the world today. Do any of us know how difficult it is for someone brought up in such an environment to believe that anyone would give them a new life as part of a royal family, with no ulterior motives? Isn’t the Cinderella story just a fairy tale?

I think God knew how hard it would be for such a people to trust Him: hence the time and trouble He went to in the desert to gain their trust. How many times have you and I messed up in our lives, expected a severe rebuke from God and been astonished to receive instead His love and mercy?

It was only at this point in the story, after several tests and trials, when Israel had grown to have a measure of trust in Yahweh, that they were faced with the first battle that they had to fight (17:8). The fledgling nation showed themselves ready for the first of many battles, knowing “Adonai is my banner” (17:15)!

Author: John Quinlan

When the Church has failed the nation, how can believers pray?

Christians across Britain are gathering for prayer this weekend in meetings in towns and villages, responding to the crisis in the nation. There is no central coordination of these meetings. They are simply a spontaneous reaction to the growing anxiety in the nation to the turmoil in Parliament as we get nearer to the date for leaving the European Union. I am due to speak at an all-day meeting in Wembley Arena, organised by David Hathaway’s Eurovision ministry and which is being live-streamed on the Eurovision website.

The meetings will no doubt bring together Christians who voted different ways in the 2016 Referendum, but the common cause today is to pray for a divided nation and for our political leaders who are striving to find agreement on an acceptable plan for leaving the EU.

Many of our politicians are among the 48% of the nation who voted to remain in the EU and they are still seeking ways to reverse the decision, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that a second referendum would plunge the nation into an unprecedented period of division and uncertainty, possibly even triggering violent confrontation bordering on civil war, stoked by social media.

The Days of Dunkirk

The present crisis is being referred to in the press as something we have not seen since the days of Dunkirk. This is a good parallel because in 1940 the nation recognised that there were no human solutions to the situation facing us, with our army stranded on the continent and the rest of Europe already conquered by the Nazis. Only divine intervention could save Britain from invasion and defeat.

The whole nation was called to a Day of Prayer by the King, joining together to call upon God for a miracle, which Prime Minister Churchill acknowledged in Parliament after an armada of little boats rescued our soldiers from the beaches of northern France.

The difference today is that we are no longer a God-fearing nation and it is only the Bible-believing faithful remnant who will be praying. But God is not a democrat looking for a majority. He loves to work through small numbers, as he did through Gideon’s 300. The big question for Christians today is how do we pray? We know perfectly well that our nation is ungodly and that few of our parliamentarians are born-again believers. So, how should we pray?

The present crisis is being referred to in the press as something we have not seen since the days of Dunkirk.

Record of the Church

I believe the answer lies in looking at the record of the Church in the affairs of the nation over the past decades of social change. In the immediate post-World War II period, the state Church had an Archbishop, Geoffrey Fisher, who was a high-ranking Freemason more interested in the Masonic Grand Lodge of England than in the affairs of Britain. He certainly had no interest in evangelism.

Fisher was followed by Michael Ramsay who was just as bad, and took no interest in the affairs of the nation during his 13 years as Archbishop, while Acts of Parliament were passed of enormous significance in changing Britain’s culture, such as the Race Relations Act, the Abortion Act, the Theatre Act, the Divorce Reform Act and the European Communities Act, which took Britain into the EU. When all these momentous bills were debated, the Church of England was silent. The only bill that Ramsay engaged with in the House of Lords was the measure to legalise homosexual acts, which he publicly advocated.

But Ramsay’s example of political silence was reflected across the whole Church in those days. I have wept before the Lord many times for my own failure to speak about what was happening in the nation. I was the Minister of a large London church preaching to 500 people on a Sunday in the 1960s, but I was not even aware of the Abortion Act that has been responsible for killing nearly 9 million unborn babies. I bitterly regret that I did nothing at that time.

Worse Than Silence

When I was a young man, church leaders were all telling young people not to get involved in politics, which was considered the domain of the devil. This was in total contrast to the Victorian era when the Bible was quoted regularly in Parliament. But in the 20^th Century, evangelicals came to consider social action to be alien territory. We left politics to others so we should hardly be surprised at what we’ve got today. But the Church of England’s record is worse than just silence.

In the 20^th Century, evangelicals came to consider social action to be alien territory: we left politics to others.

In the year 2000 an Education Bill was going through Parliament and a peer introduced an amendment calling for schools to teach that faithful marriage is the ideal form of family. This was fiercely opposed by Tony Blair’s Government who were strongly influenced by LGBTQ+ activists. The vote in the House of Lords was very close - but nine bishops voted with the Government. If they had voted the other way, the amendment would have been carried.

In the report to Parliament The Cost of Family Breakdown,¹ it was noted that the Church’s official representatives had voted against faithful monogamy as the ideal for family life despite massive evidence showing that all other forms of the family give inferior outcomes for children.

Confession and Weeping

Christians who are coming before the Lord this weekend to pray for the nation should recognise that we are all part of the wider Church that has failed to take an active role in getting the Gospel into the affairs of the nation during the decades when the greatest social changes have taken place.

Our prayers should be prayers of confession, weeping before the Lord as Jeremiah wept over Israel in his day, “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for my people” (Jer 9:1).

Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and if we love our nation we too should be weeping before the Lord. The words of the Prophet Joel give us hope for the future: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing” (Joel 2:13-14).

References

1 See Foreword by Norman Dennis, pp3-4. Download the full report here.

Battling with cancer, Billy Graham's daughter urges support for endangered Israel

Nearly three-quarters of a century has passed since the Red Army liberated the notorious Auschwitz death camp on 27 January 1945, a date now marked by the annual Holocaust Memorial Day here in Britain and elsewhere.

It is held with the intention of ensuring that it never happens again. But alas, anti-Semitism is back to haunt us, proving the point often made that we never learn from history.

Taking Sides

In the UK, we face the dreadful possibility of having a Prime Minister with strong anti-Israel sympathies if the party currently holding onto power by the skin of its teeth does not get its act together.

In the US, they have witnessed the ghastly spectre of a congresswoman who took ‘swearing in’ quite literally as she launched a profanity-laced tirade against President Trump upon taking office.¹

Democrat Rashida Tlaib and Representative Ilhan Omar are the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, with the latter having already expressed her opposition to Israel.²

Anti-Semitism has also been cited among issues affecting the Women’s March movement in America.³ In fact, it is on the rise worldwide, with left and right forming an unholy alliance against God’s chosen people.

Anti-Semitism is back to haunt us, proving the point often made that we never learn from history.

On the other hand, there is increasing support for Israel from unexpected quarters. Take Brazil, for instance. Its new President, Jair Bolsonaro, has boldly declared his intention of following the US lead in moving his embassy to Jerusalem. And Wilson Witzel actually requested the sound of a shofar to accompany his inauguration as a Brazilian state governor, so strong is his support for the Jewish state.⁴

Sheep and Goats

So, what does this mean? Nations, communities and individuals are lining up for battle (whether knowingly or not) in anticipation, no doubt, of the day of judgment when the sheep are separated from the goats (see Ezek 34:17; Matt 25:31-46; Joel 3:2) on the basis of how they treated the Jewish people.

In the midst of all this, the silence from most leaders of the Christian Church has been deafening – just as it was in Germany and elsewhere during the Shoah. I guess this is largely because of the dangerous and heretical Replacement Theology that has certainly swept through much of the British Church.

We should be witnessing stirring calls from our pulpits to stand with the Jews, but somehow church leaders don’t see the connection. That’s because they have been disconnected from the roots of their faith, and have forgotten that we worship the God of Israel, who has sent his Son as Messiah, first for the Jews and also for the Gentiles.

We owe them everything – the Law, the Prophets, the Patriarchs, the entire Bible (Luke being the only Gentile author) and most of all Jesus, who will soon return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5).

As the world lines up for battle, the silence from most leaders of the Christian Church has been deafening.

Message of Warning

Anne Graham Lotz.

That the Jewish state is once more under severe threat was illustrated by the surface-to-surface missile fired into Israel by Syrian-based Iranian forces on Sunday.⁵ Thankfully, it was successfully intercepted.

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham, is currently suffering severe side-effects from cancer treatment which she believes could be a message for Israel.⁶

Recalling that God had some of his prophets live out the message he gave them, she wonders if her current life and death battle relates to the Jewish nation, reborn just a week before she came into the world.

“The warning I feel deep within is that Israel is in danger of a surprise attack in this, her 70^th year,” she writes, urging them to return to the Lord (Joel 2:12-14) and us Gentiles to pray for the peace of Jerusalem “and for the whole House of Israel”.

If we truly love Jesus, we will love the Jews – as many of our Arab friends testify on finding peace and reconciliation at the Cross. Wake up, Church!

References

1 Jerusalem News Network, 6 January 2019, quoting INN.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid, quoting Algemeiner.

4 JNN, 6 January 2019, quoting Jerusalem Post and INN.

5 JNN, 23 January 2019, quoting Israel Today.

6 Joy! News (South Africa), 17 January 2019, sourcing Steve Warren at www1.cbn.com.

When the sadness of mourning is tinged with joy and gladness

With the tragic news of the teenager apparently encouraged by Instagram posts to commit suicide amidst evidence of the widespread availability of such material on social media,¹ here is a message of hope for depressed people desperately needing help.

I’m finally back home after a fraught and frantic, but fruitful, six weeks of saying goodbye to my dear mum, who died three days before Christmas, aged 95.

I am assured she is with the Lord as she made a personal confession in her last days while struggling with a combination of regret and pain. And if I had any doubt about the final state of her soul, my believing father-in-law confirmed matters in a call from his Hampshire home by telling us of a vision he had within minutes of her passing in the early hours of 22 December. He saw an angel covering her tomb as if to welcome her into the heavenly kingdom.

In Christ Alone

I had earlier encouraged mum to pray after me (out loud) something resembling a traditional sinner’s prayer, but with an emphasis on trusting in the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of her sins.

She had been a churchgoer most of her life but, as I shared with the congregation in her north London church at her funeral last Friday, her faith was more intellectual than personal and it was only because of what Jesus had done for her on the Cross that she was now safe in his arms.

There is hope for depressed people desperately needing help.

I realised many might have taken offence, but the Gospel is an offence – especially to our pride – as it teaches that the qualification for Heaven is not about ourselves or our own supposed goodness. It is entirely about Jesus, and the blood he shed for our sins. It was on this basis that the thief on the cross next to him qualified for paradise.

Such is the generosity of our Saviour who, in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, paid those who were hired for the last hour of the day the same as those who had borne the burden of the work in the heat of the day (Matt 20:1-16).

Giving up our Lives

In a world preoccupied with self and doing things ‘my way’, it is not a popular message.

As I shared with my brothers, sister, son, daughter and in-laws who descended on the family home from Australia, New Zealand and the north of England, following Jesus is about giving up your life, your independence, and handing it over to him.

Jesus said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-36)

It is only in following this advice that you will find perfect peace, along with the power and presence of God in your life. And yet most of us opt for struggling on in our own strength, stubbornly refusing to give up our independence.

Such a choice leads only to death and destruction, disharmony and a disconnect with our Creator, who made us in his image so we could enjoy fellowship with him, both now and forever.

And yet because Linda (my wife) and I have experienced this wonderful relationship for a total of 87 years between us, we had the joy and privilege of being able to share its truths with family at a traumatic time in their lives, offering the “God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3) and the hope of eternal life to all who trust him.

Only when we follow Jesus, giving up our lives to him and handing over our independence, do we find perfect peace.

Sharing the Hope

I was even able to share this hope with the funeral director – that we are assured of mum’s eternal destiny only through her trusting in the blood of Jesus prefigured in the Jewish Passover.

My son was duly asked to read the New Testament lesson (1 Cor 12:1-11) last Sunday, which prompted a wide discussion on our faith, and of its Jewish roots. And I was asked to read the Old Testament lesson (Isa 62:1-5) – “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent…” How fitting that was, in view of my love for Israel!

And my elder brother was grateful for a copy of my book, A Nation Reborn,² to take back to Sydney.

I was also able to encourage a delightful Jewish mother and daughter to trust God in the midst of their anxieties over Brexit on one of several visits to a local Italian restaurant. As St Paul encouraged the Roman Christians through all the trials they had to endure, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom 8:37).

In a beautiful passage about the joy of those who trust in the Messiah, the Prophet Isaiah wrote: “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come…to save you’” (Isa 35:3f).

References

1 Daily Mail, 23 January 2019.

2 Published by Christian Publications International and also available on Amazon.

Paul Luckraft interviews the author of ‘Mere Churchianity’.

In October 2018, we reviewed John Hampton’s book Mere Churchianity, a critique of what ‘church’ has become over the centuries and an explanation of the growing phenomenon of genuine born-again believers who have moved to the fringes of traditional expressions of church (or abandoned them altogether) in order to be more effective as followers of Jesus.

At the time the book struck me as one of the best of its kind: an astute analysis of the issue, expertly written with a touch of humour. I very much wanted to meet the author to find out more about him and how the book came to be written.

However, arranging a meeting with John wasn’t going to be straightforward as he currently teaches Maths at an international school in Germany. Eventually, we found some time during one of his brief visits to this country and a fascinating conversation took place, during which we discovered that we had many things in common.

On Fire for God

John comes across as a modest, even self-deprecating, person; he doesn’t advertise himself through the book as he prefers to remain behind the scenes. He described himself as having a strong sense of needing to be a ‘nobody’ in order to get the message across: he didn’t want to detract from the book itself or the Lord getting all the glory for it. Yet his personal story is actually integral to the book’s theme and an encouragement for others (doesn’t God usually look for ‘nobodies’?).

John was brought up in a tough area of Manchester and has a background in aeronautics, which remains a personal interest. He had no pretensions to be an author and pursued a career in teaching, largely abroad, including in Africa and Japan. It was this career path that contributed towards his spiritual journey.

Mere Churchianity struck me as one of the best books of its kind: an astute analysis of the issue, expertly written with a touch of humour.

In Japan John and his wife, Liz, met a small group of Christians who, despite not belonging to any church, demonstrated an on-fire love for God and Jesus that the couple had never encountered before. They enjoyed fellowship with these fellow believers for five or six years before returning to the UK, primarily as a result of the 1995 Kobe Earthquake.

Upon their return, John’s family re-joined a large charismatic fellowship on the south coast of England where they had been members 15 years before. But it didn’t take long for both he and Liz to realise that, compared to their experience in Japan, something was missing. This raised many questions in his mind: why were even the best churches in the West still so lacking in what the New Testament demonstrated? Why were even the most ‘renewed’ churches still so mechanistic and not ‘living the life’?

Lightbulb Moment

Troubled by this, John decided to make notes on his thoughts and record his experiences, in an effort to try and make sense of things. It was during this period that he describes having a ‘lightbulb moment’, when he suddenly saw what was fundamentally wrong: church had become ‘a thing in itself’.

This was in 1997, and did not come about by reading what others had written – rather, through prayer and observation. However, as John started to share this with others, they pointed him in the direction of other books which he began to read (including Stan Firth’s ‘Custom and Command’). To John’s relief, these confirmed what God had shown him. He had not gone mad! The Body of Christ was indeed being stunted by the Church repeatedly having become a self-supporting enterprise.

A Forced March

As John continued to write and organise his ideas, he realised that there was enough material to write a book, even though he had no authorship experience. So, how would this work out?

By 1999 the first draft was ready and a chapter plus outline was sent to some publishers. The reply was that it was a good effort and a possible book, but try elsewhere! Encouraging, but no progress. Perhaps God was saying ‘not yet’ rather than ‘no’?

Why are even the best churches in the West still so lacking in what the New Testament demonstrates?

A year later, John and his family relocated to Germany and the book was put on hold. Then God stepped in again, this time through a chat with some friends. The impetus was back. This (2007) seemed to be the right time to take it up again, but with the demands of a full-time teaching job and family life, plus efforts by the enemy to stall the project, this was not to be an easy process. John describes it as a ‘forced march’ over nine years. But this time it would happen.

The book finally came out via Amazon CreateSpace in 2016, as Flatlining, then in 2017 under the new (improved!) title of Mere Churchianity. John still does not think of himself as an author - but he has produced a thoroughly worthwhile book through inspiration, dedication and, perhaps most importantly, his own personal experience.

Read our review of Mere Churchianity by clicking here.