Football team tragedy is a parable for our times

A message for the Church.

No-one who saw the Grenfell fire on 14 June last year will forget it. It was a literal towering inferno that has had ramifications far beyond North Kensington. It cost the lives of 72 people, displaced not only the survivors but also hundreds who lived nearby and broke the reputation of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) as one of the best-run local councils in the country. More broadly, it exposed deep-seated problems of governance that have shaken the nation.

Over the forthcoming months, the Public Inquiry will reveal more that will no doubt embarrass (in different measures) the Fire Brigade, the Council, the Tenant Management Organisation, the 60+ contractors involved in the refurbishment, the Government department responsible for fire safety and standards, and no doubt a few Government ministers, as well as Parliament. Whether responsibility will be pinned on one or a few, or be much more widely spread, is conjecture. But it is clear that there were very many shortcomings, by many different organisations.

Precisely because of its size - it was the largest such tragedy in 25 years (Hillsborough and Aberfan are both comparable in terms of loss) - and the degree to which it dominated politics and the news for weeks after the fire had extinguished itself, Grenfell needs to be seen both politically and spiritually as a national event, raising national questions.

This is all the more so as - quite ‘coincidentally’ – further tower block fires broke out in Lewisham and Glasgow on the very anniversary of the Grenfell fire. Given that the main news on Thursday was the anniversary of Grenfell, it is as if God, in allowing two fires in similar buildings to break out that same day (although thankfully neither with fatalities) is really trying to get our attention.¹ But many may well have missed these news stories.

Grenfell needs to be seen both politically and spiritually as a national event, raising national questions.

Why Did God Allow Grenfell?

Why did God allow the Grenfell tragedy to occur? First, we need to stress that there was nothing particularly bad about those who died. In Luke 13, Jesus tells his listeners that those who died when the tower in Siloam fell were not worse sinners than others who dwelt in Jerusalem (verse 3). However, he is unequivocal in the following verse that his listeners nevertheless need to repent, lest they too perish.

In other words, the collapse of the Tower of Siloam was allowed by God in order to send a wider message of repentance to those looking on. Just so with Grenfell. Too few Christian leaders regularly acknowledge the degree to which we live in a fallen world, and repentance is a neglected concept. God is very holy and we are very much mired in our sin. We desperately need Jesus’s atoning death to pave the way for eternity.

I also believe God allowed Grenfell in order to expose the sin that lay behind the fire and its aftermath. In a previous article on this subject, I noted that if there was one sin of which RBKC (indeed, the UK as a whole) was perhaps guiltier than most, it was pride, itself the root of all sin.

Thousands join a silent march marking one year since the blaze.Additionally, I believe that God wants to get our attention, as believers and also as UK subjects. It is not his delight to punish, but to show mercy – he wants us to seek his face in serious repentance (not just with lip-service), that he might pour out forgiveness and that we might be restored. Undoubtedly, searching questions need to be asked: not just about who was to blame, but about our entire direction and destiny as a society.

For this reason, Grenfell is first and foremost a wake-up call to the Church, which in turn should bear the message of repentance to the nation. How the Church responds (or fail to respond) will have hugely significant consequences for Britain’s future destiny.

Emotion and Injustice

At a local level, the Church has a role to play in the aftermath of Grenfell which the Government simply cannot fulfil. In my previous article, I looked at the historic reasons for the lack of trust, lack of hope, latent anger and hatred which mark communities in and around Grenfell Tower. I explained that decades – even centuries – of deprivation and disenfranchisement now imbue this area with deeply felt emotions, made worse by the incredible affluence on display virtually next door, in the south of the Borough.

Grenfell is first and foremost a wake-up call to the Church, which in turn should bear the message of repentance to the nation.

But while these problems strike at the heart of Government, concerning as they do issues of decision-making, empowerment and stewardship of resources, they also involve complex social and spiritual problems that our secular Government is unable to properly address - and perhaps was never supposed to.

With a relatively narrow remit, we cannot expect the Inquiry to look into these things. This is where the Church must come in: we need to ask what the role of the Body of Christ should be, and how it can bring true hope and restoration into this situation, and more widely.

Re-Commitment Needed Desperately

As a result of wide-ranging criticisms, many RBKC councillors and staff have moved on and a governance review is underway. There is much yet to be done, but few serious observers would dispute that there has already been significant change.

Whether this could also be said of the local Church is a different matter. The churches immediately surrounding Grenfell Tower responded extremely well to the tragedy. However, their ecclesiology, missiology and theology vary so hugely (and in some cases are diametrically opposed), that the question needs to be asked whether they can all be meaningfully and genuinely Christian. This issue strikes at the heart of the direction in which different parts of the Church in Britain are progressing – and implicitly raises the question of what sort of a god they worship.

In my last article, I noted the need for a re-commitment to evangelism from both church leaders and ordinary Christians, all across the country. This point still stands. As the Public Inquiry has shown, many Grenfell Tower residents were Muslims. They need the true Jesus of the Bible just as much as do the wealthier across the Borough – as indeed does the country as a whole: it is the job of all churches to evangelise the lost – from whatever ethnic background or culture they are. Few of us have shared the Gospel as we should have done, with boldness and seizing all opportunities.

What is desperately needed is a wholehearted re-commitment from churches around the nation to God’s word and his purposes.

However, even a re-commitment to evangelism (while welcome) is not enough on its own. What is desperately needed is a wholehearted re-commitment from churches around the nation to God’s word and his purposes. This would transform not only our evangelism but much else besides – and empower the Church to respond to this tragedy prophetically, declaring its lessons to the nation, as well as serving locally.

The hour is late; the time has come for fearless proclamations of truth, made in the power of the Spirit of God, as well as demonstrations of God’s kingdom purposes - to say nothing of his love. The future of churches – indeed, entire denominations - that refuse this mandate is at stake, for “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt 7:19; also John 15:2).

A Wake-Up Call

While much else besides, Grenfell was a wake-up call to a slumbering Church which has lost its way. The true Church – the Bride of Christ - needs to discern the wider significance of the tragedy and the necessity of repentance just as much as those not yet in the Kingdom.

Many churches local to Grenfell have given fully of themselves and are still doing all that they can. But given that this is a national tragedy, it should be the case that churches across the country are also willing to help as needed – one obvious way being in helping to carry the burden of prayer and intercession: for hope and healing, for repentance and forgiveness, and for the fullness of God’s purposes to be worked out, including through the Inquiry.

The cost of the fire will be borne by survivors until they themselves die, and will continue to mark our society even after. But if Grenfell’s stark warnings about the nation’s precarious position before God cannot be learned and applied soon, it is undoubtedly the case that further destruction will follow. If we do not listen to God’s words, we will have to endure his works: the former may be challenging - the latter much more so.

Leading the way here, declaring the warning and holding out the offer of mercy to a lost nation, should be the true Church of God! If the Church senses the great urgency of the hour and responds as the Father wills, there is yet opportunity for great positive transformation in Britain that would, in some measure, mitigate the indescribable loss of Grenfell.

References

1 See news articles from the BBC, The Guardian and The Telegraph, for example.

Further Reading

Previous article on this subject: Reflections on the Grenfell Tower Fire. Prophecy Today UK, 15 December 2017.

Everett, A, Rev, 2018. After the Fire, Finding words for Grenfell. Canterbury Press, Norwich.

O'Hagan, A. The Tower. London Review of Books.

Some thoughts from Kensington and Chelsea.

One of our regular readers writes from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, reflecting on the aftermath of the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower six months ago.

It is six months since the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June which was caused by a catalogue of faults and failings currently being investigated.

More than anything else, it revealed a broken Council, a broken Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (the smallest and one of the most dense boroughs in Britain, and home to a number of very wealthy individuals) and, more widely, a broken Britain.

Given the magnitude of the fire and the number of displaced, it is very doubtful whether any council could have coped with the aftermath without help, the more so given the number of social houses available in the Borough (roughly one year’s supply for new tenants was destroyed in one night).

However, while the Inquiry will give its verdict on the causes of the fire, no-one would dispute that it took much too long for senior staff to assess the magnitude of the disaster, and act accordingly. The response of the Council was at best poor – it was slow, cumbersome and bureaucratic, whereas the response of both the wider and local community and of all the faith communities was fast, assured and compassionate.

Decades of Neglect

With a relatively narrow remit, the Inquiry is not likely to look at the origins of the lack of trust, lack of hope, latent anger, hatred and much more, prevalent among residents of North Kensington: some of these go back decades, and even longer.

North Kensington has always been poorer than South Kensington. Adjacent to Grenfell Tower is the site of the old potteries and piggeries – a really tough, deprived area in the late 19^th Century and early 20^th Century.

With its narrow remit, the Inquiry is not likely to look at the longer-term relationship between North Kensington residents and the Government, national and local.

In the 1950s Peter Rachman helped make Notting Hill notorious for his treatment of immigrants and others in low quality, privately rented flats, around the same time as the Notting Hill race riots (1958). Some of those involved founded the Notting Hill carnival in 1966.

The sense of neglect by local and central Government was also well exemplified by the building of the Westway (the M40 running into London) in the late 1960s, and the resultant demolition of many terraced houses in the area, running along an east-west corridor half a mile south of Regent’s Canal.

Notwithstanding the investment in the north of the Borough, for at least the last half-century there has not been any real sense of local people being listened to or given any empowerment.

Asking Difficult Questions

The reality is that many cities, towns and boroughs have ugly parts. Indeed, we all have ugly histories, and love to airbrush out that which does not accord with how we like to present ourselves – whether as individuals, churches, towns, cities or nations.

Given what has happened, we need to ask some difficult questions: how aware is much of the Borough of the problems within its boundaries, both historic and current? How aware are most residents a couple of miles away in South Kensington of the complexity of the situation in the north, and of their very different life chances, including life expectancy?

How are local Councillors and MPs to be judged? If we were elected, and held office, and judged, how would we fare? In this instance, given the resources of the Borough, what is the right way to evaluate the Council’s legacy? Could we - should we – expect more of our elected representatives? Indeed, can we do more? Or is Government trying to do too much, and being disingenuous by not admitting its inability to fulfil its promises?

Given what has happened, we need to ask some difficult questions about the Borough, its history and the capacity of those currently in power to effect change.

And yet…the failings evident in the Grenfell tragedy are also, in part, a consequence of the limits of local Government, which raises only about ¼ - ⅓ of its total revenues locally. Central Government (HM Treasury) seeks to control so much of what local Government aspires to do. This relationship requires a complete revamp - what are the purposes of each and therefore how should they be funded?

Wake-Up Call for Radical Change

The Grenfell fire needs to be seen as a wake-up call, indeed as a call for radical change, at least for the Kensington and Chelsea Council, if not for all levels of Government.

At the Council, such change is undoubtedly underway. Of its 37 Conservative councillors, at least 17 are not standing again – an unprecedented proportion – and it is far from given that all who stand will be re-elected. A number of senior staff too have moved on since June.

Time will tell the degree to which the change forced on the Council following the Grenfell tragedy was an opportunity taken or missed. But many of the issues facing residents of the Borough – lack of trust, lack of hope, not being listened to, not being empowered – apply throughout Britain! While there are undoubtedly many individual examples of good practice in local Government, they are rare.

Time will tell the degree to which the change forced on the Council following the Grenfell tragedy was an opportunity taken or missed.

In this case at least, the hope must be that the Council implements in full the essential changes needed to its structure and culture – and can in the future humbly encourage other councils to look honestly at their own shortcomings.

Where Are the Churches?

However, while radical change is needed in the Council, it also needs to be asked whether radical change is needed in other groups serving the community. The churches responded well to the Grenfell tragedy, but the differences among those closest to the fire are great and their beliefs are so diverse that it is doubtful whether they should all be called ‘Christian’.

This is a delicate issue that goes to the heart of the direction in which different parts of the Church are progressing – and implicitly raises the issue of what sort of a god they worship. The Grenfell Tower fire was a local issue of national importance, but to those with ears to hear, God was also speaking to us through it, trying to get our attention. If we don’t hear God’s words, maybe we have to endure his works.

There is an irony that the Grenfell tragedy took place in the smallest Borough, but which is also home to two of the largest churches in the country. Kensington and Chelsea is home to both Kensington Temple and Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), but both have been conspicuous by their absence since the initial aftermath of the fire.

Why Did God Allow It?

A key question that needs to be asked is why God allowed the Grenfell tragedy. Partly, it is because we live in a very fallen world. He is a holy God and we are sinners. Partly, it is because God was exposing the sin that lay behind the fire and its aftermath. If there was one sin of which the Council (in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) was perhaps guiltier than most, it was pride; itself the root of all sin.

Partly, it is because God wants our attention. He wants this, as with all judgment, to be restorative, but that requires us all, believer and non-believer, to repent. And it is undoubtedly partly because he wants us to seek his face more seriously than we have thus far.

The Grenfell Tower fire was a local issue of national importance, but to those with ears to hear, God was also speaking to us through it, trying to get our attention.

In what sort of a society do we want to live – and how do we change it? What place should Christianity have in the public square? More widely, in what sort of a God do we believe? In terms of national politics, what are God’s purposes for the UK, particularly through Brexit, and also in relation to Israel?

Lessons for the Church

Where do we go from here? Locally, churches need to evangelise the lost – whether rich or poor, from whatever ethnic background or culture. Evangelism needs to be an ongoing commitment that characterises everyday Christian life. This should not need to be said – yet it is not the case everywhere. Such evangelism - for the whole country - needs to be the responsibility of all, not just the professional leaders of churches.

It is critical that the true Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom, is preached and put into practice – which will mean some congregations in the country having much to learn as they start to evangelise. Likewise, for some churches, this will necessitate a radical repentance, pleading to God for mercy for their own sin - possibly not ever having evangelised - individually and collectively.

All churches need to engage with meaningful spiritual warfare, for the Church and for the nation: if we don’t, others, whose purposes may be nefarious, will do so. And all churches need to prepare for tougher times, or the faith of many current believers will not be sufficient for the days ahead.

The true Church needs to discern the wider significance and importance of Grenfell, to confess and repent as appropriate – in a way that has not yet been conceived, yet alone done.

Those in the true Church need to acknowledge the severity of the hour.

The Severity of the Hour

Those in the true Church need to acknowledge the severity of the hour – which means getting back to our biblical roots and renewed commitments to the word of God and its application to every area of our lives; to evangelism (particularly of those from a Muslim background); to engaging in spiritual warfare; to standing with Israel in prayer and action; to standing for Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith; and to being a Body genuinely characterised by grace and truth.

Finally, we need to be aware that the Second Coming of Christ might be much sooner (irrespective of how sudden it is) than many Christians seem to be expecting. Clearly, it is 2,000 years nearer than when Jesus was crucified and resurrected - but it is hard to know that from the way in which most churches operate.

We need not be dismayed - though the earth may shake around us.

The imagery of the Book of Revelation gives a picture of an immense end-time spiritual battle when the powers of darkness and evil are active. This seems very much like the day in which we live, eventually of course moving towards that glorious, victorious day when the Lord Jesus returns to bring in the Kingdom of God. Until then we will need to persevere through days of battle and trial.

Recent history shows us that the “wars and rumours of wars” that Jesus prophesied (Matt 24:6) are indeed a full part of our present-day human experience. Most recently, the horrific disasters in our nation show us that the physical fallout of the spiritual battle is coming very close to home.

Yet not all of the fallout is so easy to discern. Satan’s ways proceed on many fronts, including deception and flattery - so that those he manipulates can think good is evil and evil good.

Earthly Signs of a Heavenly Battle

Central to the battle for the UK is our withdrawal from the European Union. So-called ‘Brexit’ has not turned out to be as easy as was hoped. It has become the centre of the spiritual battle for our nation. Our spiritual adversary will use circumstances to gradually build doubts and cultivate mind-sets that could neutralise the fervour to withdraw cleanly from the EU.

Among those beguiled by the swirling tides of the spiritual battle is Tony Blair, who finds it difficult not to tinker away in the background. There have long been conspiracy theories about the grey-suited men of Europe who meet in private to influence world affairs from behind the scenes. The Bilderberger Group, for instance, a group of powerful politicians and businessmen, are known to have met regularly over many years to chart the course of Europe’s future.

Recent disasters in our nation show that the physical fallout of the spiritual battle is coming close to home.

Tony Blair. See Photo Credits.It is with such people that Tony Blair has been meeting recently, to now come forward with proposals for the UK to remain in a so-called ‘reformed’ EU in a new outer ring. We can be sure he is being beguiled by spirits of darkness to bring forward suggestions to compromise our withdrawal from the EU – all the while thinking himself Britain’s saviour. EU leaders are determined to keep Britain under the jurisdiction of EU law, which is the very thing from which we wish to be set free.

Similarly, there is a battle raging around the Prime Minister to bring her and the Government down. She herself is subject, directly or indirectly, to sinister spiritual attacks to weaken, confuse, disorientate, isolate and undermine confidence.

These are manifestations on earth of the spiritual battle in the heavenlies.

Earthquakes Ahead!

Why is it not as easy as we hoped? Are there more hard times ahead for the UK? This is the serious warning given by Clifford Hill in last week’s editorial. It made me think again of the prophecy that was given to Paul Slennett some years ago which I have supported, especially by sharing in the writing of the book Earthquake in the City.

Membership of the EU is not the only issue on the Lord God’s agenda for the UK. He also wants us to return to him wholeheartedly. This is the key to our understanding why, though we are moving in the right direction in coming out of Europe, that it is through troubled not easy times. The signs are that the Lord’s protection is not secure over this nation. There is a call to repentance in the midst of all else.

God wants us to return to him wholeheartedly – that’s why our exit from the EU is through troubled, not easy, times.

Paul Slennett heard from the Lord, at an Intercessors for Britain conference in 1989, that a “mighty earthquake is about to occur. An earthquake that will swallow up the whole city”. Was this to be a financial earthquake, a physical earthquake or both?

A physical earthquake is certainly possible; indeed, Dr Musson of the British Geological Survey gave a press release in 2010 that appeared in every national newspaper (either on Thursday 16^th or Friday 17^th September). He warned that London is overdue for an earthquake that could cause billions of pounds’ worth of damage.

There is some logic in the fact that God may remove protection from the nation sufficient to let such an earthquake occur. With the recent experience of the Grenfell Tower disaster, could we really experience such a physical catastrophe? Perhaps.

If we are speaking financially, the economic shaking that beset the nation in 2007 could easily have been a preliminary to further financial collapse yet to come. Whether a coming earthquake is financial, physical or both, it is becoming more and more possible in a previously protected nation for signs to occur that we have not before expected or experienced. These are serious days – days where we must listen to the prophetic word and test it prayerfully together.

God is not vindictive. It is not his pleasure to leave us vulnerable, but to call the nation to repentance so that he can justifiably return us to his protection. The shakings are not what God desires, but he will do or allow whatever is required to give the nation signposts back to him.

Everything Beautiful in its Time

There is redemption, even blessing, possible in all circumstances facing our nation. Let me illustrate.

At this time, I find myself in a challenging situation with the declining health of my wife at the latter end of our lives together. It has helped me understand God’s redemptive purposes in suffering, as is also applicable in many other circumstances of believers in troubled times. I have been reminded of Solomon’s teaching on the times and seasons of life, in Ecclesiastes 3. My prayer had been that God would make whatever he has in store for us as a family beautiful in his sight.

God is not vindictive. It is not his pleasure to leave us vulnerable, but to call the nation to repentance so that he can justifiably return us to his protection.

This, I believe, has turned out to be an inspired response to any difficult circumstances. I had not realised, until I recently had it pointed out to me, that this is exactly Solomon’s conclusion for God’s people in both good and difficult times. His conclusion is, in all times and seasons, “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecc 3:11).

Bible-believing Christians should be alert to the troubled times that lie ahead that may be the ‘mighty earthquake’ that has been prophesied. It is time to mobilise the intercessors, to draw near to God in faithful, fervent prayer for all God’s people and for our nation. We need not be dismayed - though the earth may shake around us. Whatever challenges lie ahead, the Lord can turn them into something beautiful if we put our personal trust in him.

Grenfell Tower and God’s purposes for Britain.

The Grenfell Tower disaster continues to fill our newspapers and will no doubt do so for a long time to come. Left-wing politicians see it as an opportunity to lambast a Conservative Council for neglecting the poor, the powerless and the immigrant. Anarchists are stirring up rage while seeking the opportunity for overthrowing an elected government.

Lawyers are rubbing their hands at the prospect of prolonged legal battles. Criminals are said to have spirited away huge amounts of gifts and clothing donated by the public, and millions of pounds have been donated to online appeals, some of which have been set up by crooks.

But what about the survivors who have suffered the cruel loss of loved ones reduced to ashes – and the loss of everything they own, their homes, passports, precious family photos and mementos? Who is caring for them? How are they coping with devastating bereavement and shock?

In this issue of Prophecy Today we are publishing an interview with the pastor of a local church that has been intimately involved with the survivors since the first hours of the fire. I also have spoken to this pastor and heard some of his amazing testimony to the grace of God. They have just been filmed for the BBC’s Songs of Praise, so some of these testimonies may well be broadcast to the world.

Warning After Warning

Jesus also had to deal with a tower disaster during his ministry in Jerusalem (Luke 13:4). Jesus saw this disaster, which God had allowed, as a warning that something was severely wrong in the city and unless people took heed, a greater disaster would occur. History shows the result of his warning being ignored. Less than 40 years later, Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Romans after a disastrous four years’ war.

Jesus also had to deal with a tower disaster during his ministry in Jerusalem – he saw it as a warning that something was severely wrong.

Christians who are alert to the times in which we are living know that God has been sending us warnings for a long time. Our nation has deliberately turned away from truth to embrace every kind of evil, from child abuse and gross immorality to lies and corruption in high places in the governance and commercial life of the UK.

We have deliberately defied the word of God, even to attempting to ‘re-define’ the founding principles of Creation. In so doing we have put ourselves outside the protection of God and we are already reaping the whirlwind of our own creation.

Is Repentance Still Possible?

Disaster will undoubtedly follow and I believe the Grenfell Tower inferno is the latest warning sign that God has sent to us. Of course, it is not too late for national repentance. Jeremiah was still calling for repentance when the Babylonian army was outside the gates of the city, because he knew that God could strike them down and save Jerusalem even at the last moment. But he also knew that there would be no repentance because of the blindness and wickedness that gripped the nation, so he knew that God would allow disaster to happen.

In the 40 years before the destruction of Jerusalem, God raised up three prophets – Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Jeremiah – all with a similar message. They each gave severe warnings; they each said that only repentance and turning to God would prevent disaster; and they each looked beyond the inevitable disaster to a time of restoration and blessing.

I personally believe that the people of Britain, America and Europe have all passed the point where repentance (although still possible) could save us from inevitable disaster. We are being driven by powerful forces of destruction. This is vividly illustrated in the spirit of death that is gripping many young people who are being driven to self-harm and suicide via the internet. In the same way, Western nations are being manipulated and steered by forces of evil.

I personally believe that Britain, America and Europe have all passed the point where repentance, though still possible, can save us from inevitable disaster.

Severe Testing – But with Purpose

Of course, these forces of darkness could be broken if there arose in the Western nations a powerful army of intercessors empowered by the Holy Spirit to scatter the darkness and heal the land. But there is little sign of this at the moment because churches are either gently sleeping in their cosy traditions or actively pursuing the policies of apostasy – the fruit of false teaching and rejection of the truth.

The three pre-exilic prophets of Judah were each told that God would actually use the disaster to further his purposes by sweeping idolatry, immorality and injustice out of the land to prepare the way for the new covenant relationship inaugurated by Messiah. The promises of restoration given by each of these prophets can be found in Jeremiah 31:27f, Habakkuk 2:14 and 3:16f, and Zephaniah 3:14f.

In the recent prayer times led by Issachar Ministries in different parts of the country where we have had intercessory gatherings to spend time together listening to the Lord, the outstanding words that have been received have been urgent calls for repentance, but also calls for strengthening the Body of believers to enable them to stand firm during the coming storm. Christians need equipping with the full armour of God, which is not only for defence but also for declaring the word of God in a hostile environment - that is, we must exercise the sword of the Spirit as well as raise the shield of faith!

The major revelation from these times of waiting upon God is that Christians in Western nations are going to go through days of severe testing, but those days will undoubtedly be followed by times of renewal, spiritual awakening and blessing.

Signs of Future Blessing

A little sign of future blessing can be seen in the Grenfell Tower disaster, out of which many people are entering into a new relationship with God - according to the reports we are hearing from churches in the area. Local Muslims in particular have been greatly shaken, not least because the inferno occurred during Ramadan, which they normally regard as a time of blessing; and because no Muslim would ever have his body cremated - yet so many have been reduced to ashes.

Christians in Western nations are going to go through severe testing, but those days will undoubtedly be followed by times of renewal.

There are reports of Muslims questioning their faith in the wake of Grenfell Tower, and the recent terrorist atrocities committed in the name of Allah, as well as the widespread tragedy unfolding in the Middle East – particularly in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, where Muslims are slaughtering each other. Many Muslims in Kensington are said to be responding to the love being shown to them by Christians and there is a new openness to the Gospel. Is this the beginning of a new harvest for the Kingdom?

Clifford Denton, whose wife Christine's family come from Aberfan, comments on the tragedy from a personal perspective.

On Friday 21 October 1966 I was travelling home from Cornwall on weekend leave from the RAF to visit my parents in South Wales, when the news on my car radio was dominated by the report of the Aberfan disaster. There are many disasters to face in the world but this was one that shocked our entire nation.

On the long car drive I resolved to go up to Aberfan, just an hour away from my parents' home, and join in the relief effort. This was especially poignant because my fiance's aunt had until quite recently been the headmistress of Pantglas Junior School, which suffered most in the catastrophe.

By the time my fiance and I arrived in Aberfan to join the hundreds of others who threw a spade into their car boot in order to do what we could, it was pitch black at night - to add to the black of the dark slurry that had engulfed this mining village. The darkness was only punctuated by the lights here and there where earth-moving machinery was operating. We did our best with our spades, in the slippery slurry on that wet night, but it was literally only scratching the surface in an emotional gesture. It was the professionals who completed the task over the next few days but it was all too late to save any lives, and the death toll mounted.

We went to Auntie Flor's house in Merthyr to wash the coal from our weary bodies, staying the night to bring some consolation to her as she remembered teaching staff with whom she had taught over many years and recalled many of the children who had died. Through the night, as we lay on our beds trying to rest, the clock she had received as a retirement present from the school chimed each hour.

We did our best with our spades, but it was literally only scratching the surface in an emotional gesture.

Looking Back

Since that day we have visited Aberfan a number of times. It is where my wife's family grave is situated, not far from where all those children from the disaster are buried.

Auntie Flor spent the last days of her life living with us in Banbury and I talked to her very much about life in Aberfan when she was a child in the early 1900s. Her family lived in a typical miner's cottage. She spoke of the Welsh Revival and of how every Sunday in those days every single person, except the sick and bedridden, went to Chapel – a river of people filling the streets on their way to Sunday Service.

Her father had been a deacon in Merthyr Vale Baptist Church and worked as a supervisor on the pithead of the local mine – the very mine that decades later would build up tip number 7, the fateful tip that was unsafe due to accumulation of water.

"When did all that end?" I asked her once, referring back to the picture of all those mining families moving as one to Chapel on Sunday. "Oh, it all changed after the Great War", was her answer. All communities of Britain suffered shock in that terrible war, and outward expressions of faith faded. How often this happens - doubts creep in about the Living God when trials hit us severely. So it is that the Aberfan disaster was and still is, 50 years on, a challenge to faith.

Why Does God Allow Such Things?

The question, "Why suffering?" is asked in every generation, especially when a disaster strikes of the immensity of that which came to Aberfan, when a generation of children was all but wiped out in one horrendous blow. Where was God on that day? Why did he allow it to happen?

We can all give opinions on the answer to these questions, but they challenge most deeply when we ourselves or our family, or indeed our entire community, is the subject of devastation. Did we do something wrong? The question is even harder to answer when a large percentage of the 116 children who lost their lives attended local churches. What do we learn?

Aberfan enjoyed revival in the early 1900s, but this all changed after the shock of the first world war.

The answer is clearer from the Bible than we often think. It is nevertheless a difficult truth to hold on to in times of trouble. We live in a fallen world where mankind exercises free will. God's purpose is to restore to himself for eternity those who seek to walk with him. That walk is in an alien world until the time that the Kingdom of God will come in fully. Then, but only then, will all pain and suffering cease.

Nevertheless, God has not left us isolated. He spoke to us through the prophets of Israel in ways that are recorded in our Bibles. His greatest commandments are to love him and to love one another. Our love for one another sets a high priority on care for one another. He makes it clear that neglect of care can leave blood on our hands for the lives of others.

More than this, he has shown that he shares in our pain. When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, seeing what would come on his people following a large-scale rejection of him, he showed that our pain is also his pain. If this was not enough his suffering on the cross, so that all who would believe would have a place reserved for them in heaven for all eternity, proved his great love for us.

Every one of the people who died in Aberfan was known individually by God and he knows their eternal destiny. His sorrow for the neglect of the mine-owners, who created an unsafe tip cutting corners on safety for financial reasons, matches the sorrow of the bereaved.

When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and then endured the Cross, he showed that our pain is also his pain.

Tests of Faith

As well as testimonies of doubts springing from the disaster of Aberfan there are also many testimonies of faith despite the pain. We can be thankful that God knew those many children who regularly attended the local churches and chapels and who had just come from their school assembly having sung the hymn 'All things bright and beautiful' prior to their deaths. Some from the community continue in our day to speak of good that came from the disaster, looking back over these 50 years. Though there is pain, continuing to reach out in trust to God is the good and right thing to do.

Those who suffer most in such disasters are the immediate family members, but surely next to them would be surviving teachers who had everyday contact with many of the children.

I can say for retired headmistress Miss Florence Havard that her faith never failed her right through her life. She died well into her 80s and she was always a beacon of light in the Christian community – in fact she was quite a character especially loved by children. She was able to balance, grow and maintain that faith that was born in the Welsh revival and matured through days of trial, through wars, national depression (which hit mining communities as strongly as any) and also a major disaster in her home town of Aberfan.

We Must All Take Responsibility

There is another twist in this story, however. The local MP, SO Davies, was a personal friend of Miss Havard. Mr Davies would often call around to her bungalow in Merthyr - one can only conjecture whether they had ever discussed that tip which hovered over the community, threatening to fall one day. At the tribunal, Mr Davies said he had often thought the tip was unsafe but been reluctant to bring it up officially, knowing there would be consequences for the work of miners in the community.

Following the disaster, it also came to light that the local Council had been warned about the tip in 1964 by one of its Councillors. The following year, two parents who also recognised the warning signs petitioned the then headmistress of Pantglas Junior School. She faithfully raised this at succeeding council meetings, but to no avail. Sadly, both the headmistress and children of those two parents all lost their lives in the disaster.

However small a contribution to the responsibility for not averting the disaster, does this not speak of shared responsibility much wider than the main colliery leaders and politicians involved? From the bottom to the top of society we must listen to one another and work together for the care and safety of all – this is in fulfilment of the second Great Commandments to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Can we learn something about this for the days ahead? Are we not corporately responsible for the safety of one another in our communities? Should this not be of the highest priority, especially when the world is becoming more and more unstable, when leadership is weakening and when finance is driving decisions more than care of one another?

Is it not God's intent that we all learn something from the lives that were needlessly lost and the families so sadly bereaved 50 years ago in Aberfan?

As well as testimonies of doubts springing from the disaster of Aberfan there are also many testimonies of faith despite the pain.

God Did and Does Speak

I would like to conclude by drawing attention to two poignant comments.

They both bring tears to the eyes - perhaps God still speaks to us through them this very day. We know from the story of Isaiah that God is not always to be found in the earthquake, fire and storm, but if we walk closely with him, he will be found speaking in the still quiet voice – a voice that comes prophetically from sometimes unexpected sources. Surely the following indicates that God did speak prior to the Aberfan disaster.

The first is the well-known story of Eryl Mai Jones (which has often been interpreted wrongly as psychic insight):

In early October 1966, a ten-year-old Welsh schoolgirl named Eryl Mai Jones had something important to tell her mother.

"Mummy," she said, "I'm not afraid to die."
"You're too young to be talking about dying," her mother said. "Do you want a lollipop?"
On October 20, Eryl Mai woke up after having a memorable dream.
"Mummy, let me tell you about my dream last night," she said.
"Darling, I've no time now. Tell me again later."
"No, Mummy, you must listen," she said. "I dreamt I went to school and there was no school there. Something black had come down all over it".¹

Her mother thought nothing more about the dream...Eryl Mai went off to Pantglas Junior School that day as usual. Nothing unusual happened. The next day, Friday, October 21, she did the same. But at 9:15 that morning, the coal tip gave way, sending tons of coal sludge, water, and boulders onto the village below. The avalanche mowed down everything in its path, including stone houses and trees, and swept toward the Pantglas School, where it crushed the back of the school.

In answer to the question, "Where was God on that day?" the answer is surely, both warning us and with us through this troubled world, offering help where needed, suffering with us on this journey to the day that is not yet but one day will be, of a New Heaven and a New Earth.

The second quote is, to me, both metaphor of shared sufferings which God was fully part of, shared by God and expressed through human love at its highest level midst the trials of this earth. Quoting from the website of Richard Poole, who lost a cousin in the Aberfan tragedy:

144 people died in the Aberfan disaster: 116 of them were school children. About half of the children at Pantglas Junior School, and five of their teachers, were killed. In one classroom 14 bodies were found and outside mothers struggled deep in mud, clamouring to find their children. Many were led away weeping.
The deputy head teacher, Mr Beynon, was found dead. "He was clutching five children in his arms as if he had been protecting them," said a rescuer.²

References

1 Precognition: The Aberfan Disaster. James M Deen, with reference to Barker, J.C. Premonitions of the Aberfan Disaster. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, December 1967: 168-181.

2 Ray Poole's Family History: Merythr Vale and Aberfan.

This week a number of our articles remember the Aberfan tragedy. In his editorial, Clifford Hill thinks particularly of those who lost their faith that day.

50 years ago today, at 9:15am on Friday 21 October 1966, 144 people died in Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. 116 of them were children, who were just beginning their lessons when their school was hit by a mountain of mud sliding down from a coal slag heap towering over the village.

The mudslide hit a farm cottage first, then hit the school and a row of houses before stopping. About half the children and teachers in the Pantglas school were killed. They had just reached their classrooms after leaving morning assembly, where they had been singing 'All things bright and beautiful', praising God for the beauty of the countryside.

The pathos of this tragedy still brings to tears to the eyes of those who remember that tragic day in the history of the valleys, and it can hardly fail to move those who today, 50 years later, read the accounts of eye-witnesses and survivors.

Decent Men Led Astray

There had been many warnings that the tip was unsafe due to the presence of a spring underneath, and heavy rainfall triggered the sudden slide. A board of enquiry was set up that concluded that the National Coal Board was largely to blame and legal liability for compensation was not contested. The report stated:

The Aberfan disaster is a terrifying tale of bungled ineptitude by many men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted, of failure to heed clear warnings, and of total lack of direction from above. Not villains but decent men, led astray by foolishness or by ignorance or by both in combination, are responsible for what happened at Aberfan.¹

The pathos of this tragedy still brings to tears to the eyes of those who remember that tragic day.

No one faced criminal proceedings, but those named (and others cleared) had to live with the disaster on their consciences for the rest of their lives. But it was not only officials in the National Coal Board whose lives were affected - everyone in the valleys will remember that day to the end of their lives. Many of them lost their Christian faith on that day. Typical of the comments on the BBC website is the following:

I was 14 at the time of the Aberfan disaster.
My school was very religious, and I had been trying to decide how much I believed in God. When the disaster struck it was the talk of the school, and in many of the classes we found ourselves discussing it with our teachers.
We particularly wanted to know why God would allow so many children to die.
The teachers had no answer. I turned away from the idea that there is a God. And that's my view, to this day.
John Adams, UK²

What is the answer that should have been given to John Adams and all the others who were asking similar questions? Today there are millions asking the same thing, not only of the Aberfan tragedy but of the terrible events we see on our TV news - such as what's happening in Aleppo, where human lives are being deliberately destroyed by bombs dropped upon women and children - not only killing but causing life-changing injuries.

Why doesn't God intervene? Hundreds of books have been written on the subject of human suffering, but the only authentic answers are to be found in the Bible.

The Power to Intervene

The Bible clearly teaches that God has given us freedom of will - to choose the truth, or to be driven to destruction by our own selfish and violent human nature. The Aberfan tragedy was created by human greed and mismanagement in creating a mountainous pile of coal slag and ignoring warnings about its unsafety. Also in this week's issue, Greg Stevenson lists alerts given before the disaster which were ignored, and Clifford Denton notes that God sent prophetic warnings ahead of time.

Many people lost their Christian faith on that day, asking why God didn't intervene.

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God gave warning after warning to the people of Jerusalem that disaster would strike the city unless there was a drastic change in the behaviour of the people. They all believed that they could do what they liked and there would be no bad consequences because God would defend the city from the Babylonians. They ignored the warnings with disastrous results.

God Shares Our Distress

When we wilfully ignore warnings we should not be surprised when tragedy overwhelms us. But incredibly, when that happens, God does not desert us. Isaiah expresses this emphatically; "In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old" (Isa 63:9). God actually enters into our tragedies alongside us and shares our distress.

This is the teaching of the God of the Bible: that when we bring disaster upon ourselves and cry out to him for help, he responds in love and compassion. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you...Do not be afraid, for I am with you." (Isa 43:2-5).

In the Midst of Trial

This does not mean that nothing will ever go wrong, or that we will not suffer hardship - but that in the midst of trial, God will never desert us. Jesus promised to be with his disciples for ever. "I will never leave you alone," he promised (John 14:18).

Jesus himself lived the message of God's love. He knew that his Father would not intervene to save him from a cruel death at the hands of evil men - but that by not intervening, God would actually use this suffering to work out his purposes of salvation to be available for all human beings.

God actually enters into our tragedies alongside us and shares in our distress.

Of course, I'm aware that the thoughts expressed on this page cannot possibly answer all the questions about human suffering. But I hope they may stimulate some of our readers to offer thoughts on this subject which may be a help to those who are struggling to understand why tragedies such as Aberfan occur. For myself I can affirm the words of the Apostle Paul, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life...nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38-39).

References

1 The Aberfan Disaster – Inquiries. The National Archives.

2 1966: Aberfan - A generation wiped out. BBC Witness, On This Day.