Maureen Trowbridge reviews ‘The Way of Wisdom: year of daily devotions in the book of Proverbs’ by Timothy Keller (2017, Hodder & Stoughton).

This year-long daily devotional based on the Book of Proverbs is truly inspiring. The wisdom found within its pages, brought forth so well by Timothy Keller, provides a clear understanding of the way we should live the Christian life.

It is also encouraging and challenging how reading through verses from Proverbs, alongside explanations and connections drawn to the words and teachings of Jesus, enables us to draw closer to God and deepen our relationship with him.

Comparing this new venture to his earlier book on the Psalms, ‘My Rock, My Refuge’, Keller says “Psalms is about how to throw ourselves fully upon God in faith. Proverbs is about how, having trusted God, we should then live that faith out. If the Bible were a medicine cabinet, Psalms would be the ointment put on inflamed skin to calm and heal it. Proverbs would be more like smelling salts to startle you into alertness.”

The daily readings are grouped into sets of topics, enabling the reader to accumulate various insights on specific themes, piecing together the wisdom that the book offers on subjects such as ‘Wisdom’, ‘Knowing God’, ‘Knowing the Heart’ ‘Knowing Others’, etc, ending with ‘Knowing Jesus, the true wisdom of God’.

The book is such a blessing and encourages in such a simple and unusual way that I have purchased a copy for myself to read during the coming year! Strongly recommended for its wisdom and special insight into what God has said to us through the Book of Proverbs.

The Way of Wisdom is available from the publisher in hardback and from most Christian book retailers. Also available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle forms.

Maureen Trowbridge reviews ‘The God-Life’ by Jim Graham (2016, Sovereign World).

This book by Jim Graham is an inspiring paraphrase of the epistles of Paul and, to quote the writer of the Foreword to this book, “the Word of God will impact our lives in a deeply informing way as we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the will and Word of God to us”.

Not every one of Paul’s letters is covered here, the selected seven being Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians. It is also fair to add that this is a very expansive paraphrase. What was originally a single verse or sentence has become a paragraph, often quite lengthy. The letter to the Romans, for example, takes over 70 pages of the book. But this arguably adds to the appeal of the book, making it a ‘proper read’. It also explains why the subtitle mentions that the letter are ‘as personalised’ by the author.

Reading through Jim Graham’s profound insights into Paul’s letters to the early churches, one feels again the safety and security we have with God in the Lord Jesus and all he accomplished for us through the Cross. As Graham sums it up, we must allow the God-life in us to be expressed through us.

Reading this book was such a blessing, and such a good way of understanding and taking in what God says in his word, that I have used it for some weeks as my daily reading book. It has reminded me constantly of the love and power of the Lord.

I strongly recommend this remarkable book for a deeper understanding of Paul’s letters to the churches. His teaching is brought to life in this paraphrase; I wish the book had been written some years ago so that I could have read it sooner!

‘The God-Life: Letters of the Apostle Paul as personalised by Jim Graham’ (228pp, paperback) is available from the publisher for £12.50. Also available as an e-book.

Isn't it amazing that with billions of people in the world, each one (even 'identical' twins) is different! Some years ago I visited my brother in Canada. While staying there I found a baker's shop in a small village nearby which had a notice on the door that said, “We sell 136 different types of bread” (all with different names!). I remember thinking there must be a story there, because I had also found that there were only 135 people resident in the village! So there was a different type of bread for each person; a type to suit every taste.

The Tanakh (Old Testament) reflects this appreciation of the uniqueness of each person – it is full of individual names. Try reading some of 1 Chronicles - there are 16 chapters almost full of Hebrew names, a clear expression of the significance of each individual person to the God who controls and upholds all things.

They were not perfect, but to our impartial Lord, they were all His children; each one was special, loved, of great worth and value, and cared for in a way that could meet every need (in the case above, even for their taste in bread! Though of course, we are not to live by bread alone - Matt 4:4; Luke 4:4 – repeated for importance!).

God's provision leaves none of His children behind

God provides what we need (not what we want), even in hard situations, because He wants to take care of us. He made us and wants to bless and mature us for the work to which He has called us. For each one of us there are special gifts available, suited exactly for our needs as individuals.

Depending on our upbringing, we know that some are quick developers and some are slower to reach maturity, and each have different natural gifts. When He gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples in the upper room at Pentecost, the tongues like fire came to rest on each of them (Acts 2:3). Every one received what they needed for the work to which they were called. None was left out.

By way of another example, when God calls His covenant people back to their land, He calls them all: “I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind” (Ezek 39:28, emphasis added).

God’s provision is a model for our response

But this works two ways: Paul encouraged all believers in the early church at Philippi to develop certain qualities which govern their lives - unity, love, fellowship, tenderness, compassion and humility: “Each (one) of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others – the attitude of Christ Jesus...taking the very nature of a servant” (Phil 2:1-5, emphasis added). Good advice for us too.

God treats each of us as individuals, His creation, and since He knows and cares for each one of us intimately, He knows what we each need. In relationship with Him He will provide these needs daily. Yes, Jesus is radically different from us, and we are different from each other (we each need different types of daily bread); but the point is that He knows these differences and is still more than able to provide.

With the attitudes of unity, humility and love for our Father and for others that Jesus showed us, we can by His Spirit echo David's words in Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Just as sheep feel no anxiety because they know that their shepherd sees to their every need, we can express our complete contentment in the knowledge that God knows all our needs. The more we are dependent upon Him (Yehovah Yireh – the One who sees the need and provides for it) the more we will each know His total provision, His daily love and the food of His Word – our daily bread.

Author: Greg Stevenson

People power and the hand of God.

This week we have seen the fall from favour of two powerful politicians – Mugabe and Merkel. They have each held power in very different societies but their downfalls are both linked to the rise of people power.

People power signals the awakening of ordinary people to the misuse of power among the ruling elite that has been the source of oppression for far too long. It is now even affecting cruel dictatorships such as the Mugabe regime, which has dominated Zimbabwe for decades.

The popularist backlash has begun: where will it end?

Angela Merkel’s problems stemmed from her unwise single-handed decision to welcome more than one million asylum seekers from the Muslim world and to try to force other EU nations to follow the same policy. Her nearest neighbours - Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria - have all resisted this pressure.

Populist Revolts

Other parts of the EU are experiencing something similar - a populist reaction against decisions made by those in power. In France, Macron’s sudden rise to prominence reflected a workers’ revolt against both left and right traditional political parties. But his failure to please the workers has brought them out onto the streets in protest.¹

It remains to be seen whether a similar pattern will be followed in Zimbabwe if the vast army of unemployed do not see radical change with their new President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Politicians in traditional parties throughout the EU are watching the growth of anti-establishment, populist movements with trepidation.

And what about the European Union itself? The cracks we have been forecasting in Prophecy Today UK are beginning to widen. The corruption at the heart of this evil institution with the gross rewards it pays to its unelected officials is becoming widely known and will bring its inevitable consequences. Politicians in the traditional parties throughout the European Union are watching the growth of anti-establishment, populist movements with trepidation.

The God Factor

Angela Merkel announces the failure of her coalition talks. See Photo Credits.

But the major factor that the Establishment does not recognise is the God factor!

Yes, certainly, the forces of social change that are sweeping Europe and other parts of the world, including traditional monarchies such as Saudi Arabia, are of sociological significance, but they also have theological significance! They are not simply generated by human ambitions or discontent: they all show signs of the guiding Hand of God!

The Prophet Haggai prophesying in the year 520 BC may not have known God’s timetable, but he certainly received a clear revelation of the purposes of God when he declared, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations…”.

We are certainly seeing a great shaking of the world of nature through storms, hurricanes, floods, droughts and earthquakes – arguably more than in any other period in recorded history; and we are also seeing a great shaking of the nations.

The forces of change that are sweeping Europe and other parts of the world all show signs of the guiding Hand of God.

This is where we need our Bibles more than sociological and political theory to give us a steer about what is happening and the likely outcomes of the forces of change that are driving the nations.

When we get a clear view of the nature and purposes of God, we have the necessary tools of analysis to enable us to understand what is going on in our world today. Without this knowledge we are left with our secular human frailty; alone in the universe, facing the gathering storms with winds of change reaching hurricane force and no compass or rudder to guide.

The two fundamental assets of the biblical prophets were: revelationary knowledge of the nature and purposes of God; and understanding of the sovereignty of God - that everything that happened was either because God directly willed it, or because he allowed it.

Exposing Injustice

So, what’s happening among the nations today? Certainly, we can see that in Europe and the West, God is exposing the corruption, injustice and oppression exercised by the ruling elite who misuse their riches and their power to pursue selfish aims and objectives.

As Jeremiah stated in his famous ‘Temple Sermon’ (Jer 7), God hates injustice and oppression. There is something in our fallen human nature that still reflects the image of God, in which we were created, that enables us to recognise injustice and oppression and to reject them. This is what is happening today as God turns on the light, exposing the corrupt financial, political and social systems of the modern world.

Mrs Merkel’s fall from power is likely to trigger elections in the new year which will benefit the far-right nationalist ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) party, or even the ex-Communist Left Party. This will further destabilise Germany and could possibly trigger the collapse of the European Union, already under threat because of Britain’s withdrawal.

The two fundamental assets of the biblical prophets were: revelationary knowledge of the nature and purposes of God; and understanding of the sovereignty of God.

This gives an enormous opportunity to Britain to review the whole policy of offering enormous sums of money to the EU to allow us to come out from under its oppressive regulations.

But is the British Government sufficiently spiritually aware of what is happening in the world that political decisions can be made in line with the purposes of God? This is evidently not the case – unsurprisingly, given how few MPs are biblical Christians. This is where Christians are greatly needed to make their voice heard in the nation and to bring a ‘God-perspective’ into national decision-making.

Church, Arise!

At present there is very little indication that God-centred direction will come from the Church. But it is the Church that should be the prophet to the nation. In the absence of the word of God thundering through the naves of our cathedrals and from the pulpits of our churches, perhaps people power may yet emerge from the pews!

It is surely time for Bible-believing Christians to find every opportunity in this media-saturated world to declare the word of the living God to this godless generation!

The authorities in Israel were forced to take note of the disciples: “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). May the backlash not only be seen on the streets, but in the churches as well!

Notes

1 E.g. Read more here.

How a hot seaside property unlocked the door to the nations!

Having lived in a ‘bubble’ during a lengthy tour of Israel visiting sites connected with the Gospel that has changed the world, it came as a shock to re-enter the atmosphere of nations in turmoil – Germany in trouble, Mugabe finally deposed in Zimbabwe and Britain continuing to fight both internal and external battles in the wake of Brexit.

There is perhaps a message in this strange transition – the countries in difficulty have been built largely on a Judeo-Christian ethos, but have begun to cast off its ‘shackles’ in favour of a no-holds-barred secular humanist system.

The Story of Cornelius

The last ten days of our four-week trip was spent at Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv, an old port city known in Bible times as Joppa, where the Apostle Peter had a vision that brought the good news of Jesus to the entire Gentile world.

He was staying at Simon the Tanner’s house (which is still there) and was resting on the rooftop when he fell into a trance and saw a vision of all kinds of animals, including those regarded as unclean by Jews.

This was not, as some suppose, a license to eat pork, but a supernatural message that he was not to regard Gentiles as being unworthy of God’s love. It coincided with a similar encounter experienced by a Roman centurion called Cornelius in the coastal city of Caesarea, some 40 miles north. Cornelius was a God-fearing man who loved the Jews, and an angel appeared to him saying that his prayers had been heard and he was to send for a man called Peter, who was staying with Simon the Tanner at his house by the sea. The rest is history.

Peter’s vision was not, as some suppose, a license to eat pork, but a supernatural message that he was not to regard Gentiles as being unworthy of God’s love.

Joppa: The Start of Western Civilisation?

Cornelius and his extended family heard the triumphant message of the Gospel and were filled with the Holy Spirit, just as the Jewish disciples had been on the Day of Pentecost. This opened the door for the good news to spread across the nations, bringing kindness, compassion and justice with it which helped to establish a powerful force known as Western civilisation.

Tragically, the Jewish people were exiled throughout the world within a generation of Jesus’ death and resurrection after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and massacred many of its inhabitants. And Christians eventually translated the Bible into hundreds of languages, further enabling the Gospel to spread.

But God had not forgotten the people with whom he had made an unbreakable covenant and, in fulfilment of many ancient prophecies, the scattered seed of Abraham finally took root in the Promised Land after nearly 2,000 years.

Israel’s Spiritual Restoration

Just as the Gospel was originally ‘exported’ from Joppa, so it has now become a re-entry point for Jews¹ – not only coming back to the land, but in being restored to their Lord.

My stay there was unplanned as I was initially prevented from returning to the UK due to new restrictions on ‘foreigners’ like me. Though South African-born and still a citizen of that country (my wife is British), I have lived in England for nearly 50 years. Yet I now apparently need a visa – though an inked stamp in an old passport sent over by neighbours eventually proved sufficient!

We stayed in a guesthouse which also hosts two Messianic congregations (Jews who follow Jesus) as well as a music school led by a former director of the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a very moving experience to witness hands and eyes lifted to the skies in adoration of the Lord in a revived form of ancient Hebrew as we worshipped together on a Friday night – the start of the Jewish Sabbath. Headsets were provided for Russian members and English visitors like us.

Just as the Gospel was originally ‘exported’ from Joppa, so it has now become a re-entry point for Jews – not only coming back to the land, but in being restored to their Lord.

Committed to the spiritual restoration of Israel, this peaceful oasis is perfectly placed to go some way towards achieving this divine goal, with its great potential for reaching out to Greater Tel Aviv where almost half the country’s Jewish population lives.

The whole ethos of the place beats loudly with a heart of love for the largely lost world around them, who find welcome, warmth and hospitality in this gem of an international community steeped in history and within a short walk of some of the most significant sites in biblical history, not to mention magnificent beaches.

Reality is Tough

Life in Tel Aviv is tough, rough and expensive! I watched poor people struggling as they waited in the swamp of a filthy launderette while others begged for food and wandered the streets with no apparent hope. But there are also swanky high-rise hotels and a bustling downtown area overshadowed by skyscrapers, with many indulging in a hedonistic lifestyle of clubs and coffee bars. But they are living in a bubble, afraid to confront reality.

I met one of them at the airport, a charming young lady commuting between London and Tel Aviv, confessing to being a ‘secular Jew’ yet listening with interest when I shared of our study tour learning about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. She admitted to being shocked when she left her ‘bubble’ to visit friends in the north who lived within the sound of exploding bombs across the border in Syria where violence continues to rage.

But even in Tel Aviv the mangled wreck of a beachside café stands as a stark reminder of the constant threat facing its inhabitants – a bloody terror attack killed 21 mainly young people enjoying a night out there just three months before 9/11.

Although in general we sensed an atmosphere of profound peace throughout our tour, there were a couple of incidents to remind us of the conflict that has raged here ever since the Jews began returning to the land. The IDF bombing of a Hamas terror tunnel raised a security alert as the organisation had promised vengeance, and a suicide bombing in a Druze village just across the border in Syria caused another alarm – and a long wait at a checkpoint.

Messianic congregations in Tel Aviv, committed to the spiritual restoration of Israel, are perfectly placed to help achieve this divine goal.

Turning and Returning

The resettling of Jews in Israel following their long exile is very reminiscent of the time of Nehemiah 2,500 years ago when they returned from 70 years in Babylon. Nehemiah was given authority by King Artaxerxes of Persia to restore the broken walls of Jerusalem, but his work was strongly opposed by others in the surrounding lands.

Now the Jews have returned once more to the Promised Land, and yet again they face fierce opposition. Nehemiah’s men built the walls using one hand for construction and the other to hold a weapon – exactly as Israel has developed since the birth of the modern state as ancient ruins have been rebuilt, barren wastes have been richly cultivated and wars have been won against all odds.

When, in Nehemiah’s time, the city was finally re-built and made secure, Ezra was assigned to read the Book of the Law, as a result of which the people repented of how far they had strayed from God’s rule. And now Jewish people are returning to the Lord once more in fulfilment of ancient prophecies, with Jeremiah adding that there will come a day when they will all know the Lord, “from the least of them to the greatest” (Jer 31:34).

If Jews are thus turning back to God, it means the return of Jesus is that much closer (Zech 12:10, 14:4; Rom 11:26). But what of the nations to whom the Gospel was graciously given? Will they be among the sheep or the goats on Judgment Day (see Matt 25:31-46). On the closing page of the Bible, Jesus says: “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Come, Lord Jesus!

Notes

1 Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport is not far away.

Tracing the hand of God in the re-gathering of the Jews to Eretz Israel.

On 31 October 2017 we celebrated the centenary of the writing of the Declaration by Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour “in regard to the establishment of a national home in Palestine for the Jewish people”, which started the process by which the State of Israel was created on 14 May 1948.

The Declaration was a letter of “sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to and approved by the Cabinet” for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. It was sent to the leader of the Jewish community in Britain, Lord Walter Rothschild, assuring him of the British Government's “best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this objective”, and was published on 2 November 1917.

This seminal event, in conjunction with the epic Battle of Beersheba (also on 31 October), heralded the end of the 400-year Ottoman occupation of the Land of Israel.

God’s Mo’ed

In God's calendar this date was a mo'ed: a set or appointed time in his promise to gather his ancient, scattered people back to the Land that he promised by covenant to give them (Gen 13:15, 15:18). There are many mo'edim in the scriptures (e.g. Gal 4:4; Rev 9:15).

1917 was both a confirmation of God’s faithfulness to his covenant and a footprint of the promised return of Messiah Yeshua.

The aggressive response to the celebration of its centenary, with many insisting that Britain 'apologise' for the Balfour Declaration, indicates God's hand at work.

In God’s calendar, 31 October 1917 was a ‘mo’ed’: an appointed time in his promise to gather his ancient, scattered people back to the Land.

In the Tanakh, the biblical mandate for Jewish presence in and return to the Land of Israel is clear (e.g. Gen 13:15, 15:18; Psa 132:13-14; Jer 32:37-38; Hos 2:23; Rom 9:26). God clearly states that Eretz Israel, the Land of Israel, is his choice for himself and his people.

But the prophesied return could not have happened without many people and situations being aligned. The letter sent to Baron Rothschild was but the latest step in a series of unlikely events that only the God of Israel could have arranged.

Figures of Faith

Many people in history anticipated the return of the Jewish people to Israel, believing God's promise to re-gather them from exile among the nations. These included:

• William Tyndale (1494-1536), a skilled linguist who translated the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek texts, allowing people to read and understand God's future plan for Israel’s return in their own language. An English Bible was placed in every parish.
  
• Henry Grattan Guinness, c. 1910. See Photo Credits.John Owen (1616-83), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, who wrote that Jews “shall return to their own land; they shall enjoy it for a quiet and everlasting possession, their adversaries being destroyed; they shall also be filled with the light and knowledge of the will and worship of God…and perhaps, shall be entrusted with great empire and rule in the world.”¹
  
• George Whitefield (1714-70) and John (1703-1791) and Charles Wesley (1707-88) established in all church denominations belief in God's promise to re-gather the Jewish people, and helped embed biblical authority in British society.
  
• Bishop Ryle (1816-1900), who taught that more than ten of the 16 prophets of the Tanakh expressly predicted a final gathering of the Jewish people in their own Land. He said “I ask you, then, to settle it firmly in your mind that when God says a thing shall be done - we ought to believe it”.²
  
• Henry Gratton Guinness (1835-1910), through studies of Daniel and of astronomy, considered that 1917 would be a very significant year for Israel, to do with their restoration. When General Edmund Allenby was depressed by lack of advance in ousting the Turks from what was called Palestine, a friend encouraged him with the words, “You may make all the mistakes in tactics or strategy, but nothing can prevent you from being in Jerusalem by the 31^st December”,³ citing Guinness’s prediction as proof. A letter published in the Daily Mail in January 1917 reminded readers that Guinness had said that this year is “one of the most important, perhaps the most momentous, of these terminal years of crisis.”⁴
  

Add to these the names of earlier supporters of a return of Jews to their Land: Cromwell, Rutherford, Gill (born 17^th Century), Rippon, Wilberforce, Simeon (18^th Century), Shaftesbury, Booth, Spurgeon, Hechler, Herzl, Moody (19^th Century), as well as Balfour, Allenby and Rothschild, and we can see how God prepared the ground for the restoration of his people.

The prophesied return could not have happened without many people and situations being aligned.

19^th Century: Preparing the Ground

In 1809, the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews (now CMJ, the Church's Ministry among Jewish People) was founded. Its purpose was to declare the Messiahship of Yeshua, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile (Rom 1:16), to teach the Church about its Jewish roots and to encourage the physical restoration of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. This work made the Jews jealous, and helped develop infrastructure such as schools and hospitals for their future return.

Christchurch, Jerusalem. See Photo Credits.In 1839-41 the British Consulate in Jerusalem, as a reward for helping the Turks repel Egyptian advances, was given orders for the first time to protect the interests of Jews, and in February 1840 permitted to build both a guesthouse and a chapel in the Old City (Christchurch).

In 1841 the first Bishop of Jerusalem, Michael Solomon Alexander, was appointed. And in 1849, George Gowler (Governor of Australia) returned to Britain and accompanied Sir Moses Montefiore to Israel to encourage investment in settlements for the returning Jewish people – all part of God's arrangements for the next century.

We must also remember the amazing and timely work of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the Lithuanian who went to Israel in 1881 and almost single-handedly restored the Hebrew language, following a vision of open heaven and a voice saying, “The renaissance of Israel on its ancestral soil”.⁵ His life’s work produced a working language that has helped to fulfil his vision to hold the Jewish people together and “conduct the business of life”.⁶ 30,000 followed his hearse when he died in 1922.

Britain's unbelief in God's work and timing was shown by the comment in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannia that “The dream of some Zionists, that Hebrew - a would-be Hebrew, that is to say - will again become a living, popular language in Palestine, has still less prospect of realization than their vision of a restored Jewish empire in the Holy Land”.⁷ How dull of hearing can our nation be!

Zionism and Chaim Weizmann

But there is more! The rise in Jewish Zionism in Europe; the pogroms and persecution in Russia in the 1880s; the publication of Der Judenstadt in 1896 by Theodore Herzl following the framed Dreyfus trial in Paris; Herzl's encouragement by William Hechler, an Anglican minister who was convinced of Jewish restoration to Israel; these and more led to Herzl's prophecy of a Jewish state within 50 years following the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897.

World War I, when God began a shaking of the nations that continues today, also produced situations that God used for his purpose and timing. The British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey remarked on the eve of WWI that "The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time". The political and social changes in Europe at that time altered situations irrevocably for whole nations, as well as for individuals.

World War I, when God began a shaking of the nations that continues today, also produced situations that God used for his purpose and timing.

One such individual was a chemist from Eastern Europe named Chaim Weizmann, who first met Arthur Balfour in 1905 while working in Manchester on the production of acetone for cordite needed for ammunition. He was an avid Zionist, and on 31 October 1917 (note the date) became President of the British Zionist Federation, working with Balfour to pen the Declaration.

God gave Weizmann favour with both the British and the American governments through 1915-1917 and he lobbied successfully to promote Jewish immigration to Israel in the face of British Mandate resistance. He became the first President of the new State of Israel.

Perfect Conditions

Despite all these historic arrangements, only in 1917 were conditions right for Balfour's declaration of intent and the British Government's agreement to act for its fulfilment.

Conditions were not right in 1916, because the PM (Asquith) was not a Zionist, or in 1918, when the War Cabinet had been disbanded and the (post-war) atmosphere was totally different. The miracle of the Balfour Declaration in 1917 was a mo'ed.

The British War Cabinet that God assembled in December 1916 at the collapse of the Asquith administration was interesting and unusual, being very cosmopolitan and composed mostly of Christians who supported a Jewish restoration to Israel. Each member, whether British or not, had a background and career that predisposed him to favour Balfour’s declaration, as Charles Gardner has outlined in this article.

Only the Lord could have arranged such a diverse group together for this mo'ed, at such a crucially important time.

From Intention to International Law

The Balfour Declaration in 1917 was a statement of intent only. But it was clearly central to God's purposes, and was later ratified in international law.

San Remo Conference delegates, 1920. See Photo Credits.After WWI, the break-up of the Ottoman Empire led to the formation of mandates in the Middle East: areas not yet ready for sovereignty but given to Britain and France to prepare for independent statehood. The League of Nations agreed unanimously to this at the San Remo Conference in Italy in 1920.⁸

France was given the Mandate for Lebanon, Syria, and Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Britain was given an extended Mandate for what was still called 'Palestine', which was not ready for statehood (many Jewish people had not yet returned, owing to Britain restricting immigration,⁹ and there was already Arab resistance).

Several other important outcomes of the San Remo Conference were:

1. 'Palestine' was now a legal entity. All previous agreements (e.g. the Sykes-Pikot Plan) were ended.
   
2. The Balfour Declaration was recognised and incorporated into international law.
   
3. Sovereignty over 'Palestine' was invested in the Jewish people. They became the beneficiary because of their historical connection to the Land of Israel.
   

The legality of the State of Israel thus stems from the 1920 San Remo Agreement (which is still valid international law), NOT the UN Partition vote on 29 November 1947.^10,11 But without the Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Conference would not have taken place.

Despite all these historic arrangements, only in 1917 were conditions right for Balfour's declaration of intent and the British Government's agreement to act for its fulfilment.

Onwards to Fulfilment

The journey from the San Remo Conference in 1920 to the re-creation of the State of Israel in 1948 is the subject of another article, but suffice to say that it was a spiritual battle every step of the way, as anti-Jewish forces (including within British politics and the military) sought to prevent the return of the Jewish people to their Land and to destroy the nascent state, both before and immediately after its creation.

All this time, God continued his preparation for the fulfilment of his mo'ed, for the re-gathering of his covenant people to Eretz Israel. Through the people and events of the day, even including those who resisted his purposes, we can see the orchestration of everything to serve his will and fulfil his word.

The birth of Israel in May 1948 was truly a miracle from the hand of the God of Israel, and in perfect accord with his timing.

• Isaiah 66:8: “Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day, or a nation be brought forth in a moment?” We know the answer to these questions: it is Yes! For God answers his own questions and keeps his promises.
  
• Isaiah 55:10: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth, and making it bud and flourish…so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
  

Amen and amen! Our response should continue to be as David’s was in 1 Chronicles 17:23: 'Lord, do as you have said.'

References

1 An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Second Edition, Volume 1, published in Edinburgh in 1812, pp443-455.

2 Are You Ready for the End of Time? Available online.

3 Guinness, M, 2005. The Genius of Guinness. Ambassador.

4 Ibid.

5 E.g. see here and here.

6 St. John, R, 1952. The Life Story of Ben-Yehuda: Tongue of the Prophets. Balfour Books, 2013.

7 Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911, Semitic Languages.

8 This was also confirmed by the Allied Supreme Council in April 1921 and accepted wholesale when the UN was formed in 1945.

9 The British military administration became more pro-Arab and anti-Jewish between 1920 and 1948, reneging on their Mandate responsibilities by severely limiting Jewish immigration during this time.

10 The legal right of Jewish people to the Land of Israel was further confirmed and ratified by the League of Nations in July 1922.

11 This proposed that part of the Land (west of the River Jordan) should be for the Jewish people, and part (east of the River Jordan – the area we now call Jordan, which in 1920 was part of 'Palestine') should be for the Arabs, although the Arabs immediately rejected this plan. No Jews were permitted to settle east of the river Jordan, though Arabs were allowed to settle west of it.

A selection of current happenings to inform your prayers.

Society & Politics

• Local Labour committee resigns following trans bullying: An entire local executive committee has quit in support of one of its members, who endured months of abuse and harassment from a transgender activist. Read more here.
  
• UK medical workers call for abortion decriminalisation: The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health joins a growing professional chorus of disapproval at the current law. Liberalisation will pave the way for abortion on demand, and without time limit – the ultimate aim of the pro-abortion lobby. Read more here.
  
• UK to buy Israeli Iron Dome for Falklands defence: As part of a bigger investment in defence of the Falkland Islands, the UK will purchase the Israeli-made command and control system used in Israel’s Iron Dome shield, at a cost of £78 million. Read more here.
  
• Calls to CAP surge after TV endorsement: Since acclaimed money expert Martin Lewis plugged Christian debt charity CAP on morning television, the charity has been overwhelmed with calls to its helpline. Read more here.

Church Issues

• Faith schools failing to comply with Government values teaching: Ofsted is concerned that compared to secular schools, faith schools are not applying the new Government teaching on British values with quite as much rigour. Read more here.
• Prominent evangelical resigns from Archbishop’s Council: Lorna Ashworth has quit the council, jointly overseen by Archbishops Sentamu and Welby, over the CofE’s ‘revisionist agenda’ and ‘heretical teaching’. Read more here.

Israel & Middle East

• IDF humanitarianism being unveiled? Though little-recognised in the West, the Israeli army’s work helping victims of the Syrian civil war is gradually getting more press exposure, at least in the USA. E.g. see here and here.
  
• Russia and Iran consolidate in Syria: Putin meets with Turkey and Iran to bring peace to ailing Syria and so strengthen Russia’s presence in the region, whilst Iran also looks to embed its position there by offering Assad help to rebuild. Iran has now all but completed its land bridge to the Mediterranean Sea.
  
• Lebanese PM puts resignation on hold: Hariri is back in Beirut and may well resume his former position, following diplomatic efforts led by French President Macron. Lebanon is caught in the middle of a standoff between Saudi Arabia and Iran that is causing many to fear an outbreak of regional war. Read more here.
  
• PA severs diplomatic ties with USA: Following Palestinian moves to prosecute Israelis through the International Criminal Court, the US closed down the PLO’s office in Washington, prompting this latest retaliation from PA President Abbas. Read more here.

Dr Clifford Hill concludes his comparison of the charismatic movement with the characteristics of the society in which it grew.

Sensuousness

The charismatic movement has encouraged the physical expression of emotion. The new songs, new forms of worship and freedom of expression have been a wonderfully liberating experience for millions of believers who felt repressed and oppressed within the institutionalised traditions of the mainline churches. The renewal movement came like a breath of fresh air in a stale room.

It brought new life and vitality not only to worship, but also to evangelism and outreach into the community in many churches. The experience of being filled with the Spirit is a transforming and life-giving event which no-one who has entered into it would ever wish to deny.

Yet this same liberating experience has had dangerous side-effects. The new liberty and freedom enjoyed by charismatics in their worship has extended into personal relationships where Spirit-filled believers are regarded as a specially-favoured group, honoured by God and thereby standing in a special relationship not only to him but to each other. The emphasis upon freedom and informality is accompanied by biblical teaching giving an emphasis upon 'grace' rather than 'law' which has tended to create an atmosphere of permissiveness in personal relationships.

There have been many casualties of this charismatic freedom, such as the church in South Wales in the early 1980s where a 'prophecy' was received that everyone should have a spiritual partner. They set about fulfilling this 'prophecy' regardless of sex or marriage relationships. Close partnerships often excluded a spouse and spiritual intimacy soon included physical intimacy. Even the pastor was caught up in this and had to come to repentance and renounce the policy before the whole church moved into disaster.

Other problems have occurred through practices associated with deliverance from demonic possession. In places, this included a teaching that demons need to be exorcised from their point of entry into the body. Those who have been victims of sexual abuse have been ministered to by the laying on of hands and anointing with oil in their private parts. There are indications that these practices have been much more widespread than the few highly-publicised reports.

The charismatic emphasis upon freedom and informality has often led to permissiveness in personal relationships.

The very widespread publicity given to the 'Nine-O'Clock Service', a Sheffield-based charismatic rave-type worship led by the Reverend Chris Brain shocked the nation in August 1995. The NOS was originally based at St Thomas' Crookes Parish Church under Robert Warren but complaints from neighbours about the noise led to its breakaway and independent operation under the unsupervised leadership of Chris Brain.

He used hard rock music, strobe lights and wild dancing by scantily-clad girls in his rave-type trendy services aimed to attract young people raised in the pop culture. The NOS aimed to make them feel at home and comfortable with the Gospel presentation.

Stephen Lowe, Archdeacon of Sheffield was reported in the press to have said that about 20 women had allegedly been sexually abused by Brain who practised intimate laying on of hands for healing and deliverance. Press reports linked Chris Brain with John Wimber, from whom he was said to have learned his healing practices. Wimber was reported in the press as saying, “We encouraged Chris's church and gave a gift to enable the Nine-O'Clock Service to get started."¹

Brain not only had links with Wimber but was also strongly attracted to Matthew Fox's New Age teachings. The lurid press reports indicated that the NOS was moving dangerously close to the inclusion of sexual practices as part of worship.

A major weakness of the charismatic movement is that its teaching has not had a strong emphasis upon moral values. Its anti-legalism has in fact left the door open for worldly standards of sexual freedom to become commonplace. Charismatic churches throughout Britain have suffered from adulterous relationships and marriage breakdown. This has been common, not only in house church streams, but also in the mainline charismatic churches.

There are no comparative figures available, but from personal knowledge of the church scene across the denominations I would estimate that the incidence of adultery and marriage breakdown among leaders and church members in the charismatic churches is considerably greater than in non-charismatic churches. This is further evidence of the influence of the world and especially of pop culture.

The anti-legalism of the charismatic movement has left the door open for worldly standards of sexual freedom to become commonplace.

Lawlessness

Untrained leadership in the new independent churches gave itself great freedom to develop along lines untrammelled by the kind of ministerial and clergy professionalism of leaders in the mainline churches.

From the earliest days there was difficulty over accountability. House churches were often led by a single leader who assumed autonomous control. Other fellowships developed team leaderships or elderships with shared authority. Even these could be highly authoritarian and were not accountable to church members' meetings, as in the mainline churches.

Over time there has been a coming together of most independent fellowships into 'streams' or sects, each with their own form of hierarchical authority. In some of these the top leader is recognised as an 'apostle' and the apostles of the different streams sometimes recognise a form of accountability to each other on a network basis.

Authority within the charismatic movement is a problem. The Pentecostal movement at the beginning of the century rapidly developed structures of organisation and accountability but the charismatic movement has produced no such equivalent. This is, no doubt, partly because the renewal has run right across denominational lines, from Roman Catholic to Brethren.

This lack of authority structure within the movement is also partly accounted for by the social environment in which it was born. The 1960s and 1970s were years of radical social change when all established mores and past traditions were being challenged. It was essentially a period of social anarchy which was birthed into the charismatic movement. It was a spirit that resisted traditional authority, yet its leaders often insisted upon a greater obedience to them by their church members than is accorded to ministers in the mainline churches, from which they broke away to seek a new freedom!

The Pentecostal movement rapidly developed structures of organisation and accountability but the charismatic movement has produced no such equivalent.

Attitudes to authority within the charismatic movement have tended to adulate leaders, especially those with high-profile ministries. This has had a serious detrimental effect upon the exercise of discernment by individual church members. The teaching of the leader is regarded as sacrosanct. Individual members are not encouraged to challenge their teaching or practices, which leaves the people wide open to deception if the leaders themselves go astray.

This teaching prepared the way for the rapid spread of the Toronto phenomenon initiated by Rodney Howard-Browne, who spent some years prior to Toronto working on his method of transmitting what he called his 'ministry of laughter'.

Speaking to a meeting in Birmingham in June 1994, he exhorted people to submit their wills to him and not to weigh what was happening. “Don't try to work it out with your natural mind,” he said, “for the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to the natural mind.” His hypnotic technique soon had the whole audience under his control falling about in uncontrollable laughter and physical jerks. Clearly none of them realised they were being duped with false teaching.

The mind of the believer is renewed by the Spirit of God (Rom 12:2) which also enables us to know the truth and to resist deception - provided we do not submit ourselves to charlatans and deceivers!

Power

John Wimber came to Britain in the 1980s to a nation steeped in a sense of powerlessness from loss of empire and world prestige. The Church was suffering from 40 years of steep decline which leaders were powerless to stem. Wimber came with a promise of power, divine power, Holy Spirit power, available to all Spirit-filled believers if they would allow themselves to be released from the shackles of tradition and let the Holy Spirit flow through them.

This message could not have been more apt. Power to the powerless. It was exactly what British Christians wanted. Leaders and people lapped it up. No more doom and gloom. No more struggling against uneven odds. Here was real power to give victory to triumph over the powers of darkness. The devil had had the Church on the run for far too long; here at last was the power to overcome the enemy.

John Wimber came to Britain in the 1980s with a promise of power, divine power.

Wimber taught that all adversity, including ill health, could be due to demonic activity. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, sickness could be overcome and even cancer healed. An even more popular promise was that ordinary believers could exercise the gift of healing provided they learned the techniques and had the faith. They could drive out demons and scatter the enemies of the Gospel.

Wimber also brought a new concept of evangelism, coining the term 'power evangelism'. This was just what charismatics wanted to hear. They were able to discard the old-fashioned Gospel presentations of Billy Graham and crusade evangelism with its calls for repentance. Here was something new and exciting. They only had to believe and the Holy Spirit would do it through signs and wonders which would astonish the unbelievers and bring them flocking into the Kingdom. It was a 'Kingdom Now' theology that appealed strongly to a generation raised on instant results, instant food, instant credit, instant news.

In 1990 Wimber came back with the Kansas City 'prophets', having embraced their Latter Rain teachings of a great end-time harvest to be reaped by an irresistible 'Joel's army' of overcomers, which fitted neatly into Wimber's concept of power evangelism. They even promised power to overcome the final enemy, death, and enable the elite company of the elect to be part of the final generation, the immortal Bride of Christ.

Four years later, just as the backlash of unfulfilled promises and false prophecy was plunging charismatic churches into gloom and the new churches had plateaued, the Toronto Blessing burst upon the scene with its new wave of promises of power - power in the most attractive form of all - power for self.

This came at a time of great vulnerability for British charismatics. Many leaders confessed to being spiritually dry, discouraged and disappointed. The great wave of prophecy had come to nothing. Promises to leaders that they would be preaching to multitudes in sports stadia and arenas and witnessing before princes and powerful leaders, all now had a hollow ring. Their leadership was on the line.

They threw themselves into some highly-publicised outreaches with expansive promises. The JIM campaign, which was supposed to produce 5 million converts, went off like a damp squib. So too did the Revival Fire campaign. Reinhardt Bonnke's much publicised and highly expensive £7 million campaign raised even higher expectations but proved to be the most spectacular failure of them all, with a mere 16,000 responses from a mail drop to 24 million households.

British charismatic and Pentecostal leaders were at an all-time low at the very moment when they heard that something new was happening across the Atlantic. A new fountain of spiritual life was flowing in Toronto promising a new filling of divine power. It was wonderful news to know that God was giving revival somewhere in the Western world where for 20 years we had only heard of news of great awakenings among the poor non-industrial nations, where church congregations were numbered in their thousands or tens of thousands.

British charismatic and Pentecostal leaders were at an all-time low at the very moment when they heard that something new was happening across the Atlantic.

But the most exciting news was that the blessing was transportable! Eleanor Mumford (wife of the leader of the South London Vineyard Fellowship) had been and got it, and brought it back, and passed it on to others. If she could do it, surely others could do the same. Here was real hope for hard-pressed pastors struggling to maintain their local church witness; they rushed to book their flights to Toronto.

Very few went to test the spirits in obedience to New Testament teaching. They were more interested in the simple pragmatic test: Does it work? Will it work for me? They reached out eager hands to any from the hastily-enlisted local leadership team who had got 'it' and would pass 'it' on to them. They fell about laughing, twitching and roaring, then hurried back to pass 'it' onto others.

The latest power trip had arrived! The child of the age - the age of powerlessness - had reached adolescence. As John Arnott, pastor of the Toronto Vineyard Church, put it “It's party time! We are like little children coming to their father to play.”

Conclusion

After decades of the charismatic renewal movement, all we have to show for it in Britain is a nation infinitely worse in its moral, spiritual and social behaviour, a nation facing economic collapse and social disaster, while many of those to whom God has entrusted the precious gifts of his Holy Spirit fall about in uncontrollable laughter.

There are many indications that we are near to the point when the world's economy will crumble and a period of unprecedented lawlessness will sweep across the nations.

If ever the Church was needed to take up the mantle of the prophet to declare the word of the Living God and the way of salvation as the only hope for mankind, it is surely today! The charismatic/evangelical sector of the Church believes the Bible to be the word of God and also acknowledges the presence and power of the Holy Spirit among his people. But today these very churches are being torn asunder by division, resulting from the excitement of fleshly manifestations which are a massive diversion and distraction, preventing the Church from fulfilling the real purposes of God.

The Holy Spirit has indeed been poured out in abundance throughout this century. The Spirit of God does indeed give us supernatural power - but it is not power for self-aggrandisement or power for self-fulfilment, or power to exercise power over other sinners, but power to declare the word of the Living God with power and authority.

When will we stop playing the world's games? When will we come to our senses like the prodigal son and return to the Father? Will the charismatic movement have to come to total disaster before we realise how grossly we have been deceived and how we have prostituted the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit and sold our birthright for a mess of pottage?

What is the answer to the question, 'Was the charismatic movement initiated by God?' We shall delay attempting to answer this, until we have considered other aspects of the history and development of the movement.

Next week: Peter Fenwick unpacks the roots of the Toronto Blessing.

References

1 Quoted in Today magazine, 24 August 1995.

First published 1995. Revised and serialised November 2017. You can find previous instalments in this series here.

Author and publisher Peter Sammons takes on the multi-faith agenda.

‘The Empty Promise of Godism: Reflections on the Multi-Faith Agenda’ (Glory to Glory, 2009). Review by Maureen Trowbridge.

In the foreword to this book the author discusses the common view that all religions are essentially the same. “What sort of God do we believe in? Can we logically hold the notion that all religions are sent by God?”

Sammons sets off to explore the claims of the multi-faith ‘godists’ vis-à-vis the authentic Gospel, the true and consistent nature of God and his unique characteristics as revealed in Scripture.

Before opening up the multi-faith agenda, Sammons wisely lays a strong foundation with several chapters on the Bible’s revelations of who God is. Sammons spends time unpacking the Ten Commandments, which show clearly the true heart of God, including the command that “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:3).

Then, as the rest of the book unfolds, there are clear explanations of what the author terms ‘godism’ (a more nebulous approach to spirituality that holds that all religions have something to offer but none have a monopoly on the truth) in clear and challenging opposition to the truth of Christianity. All the comments and explanations are backed up by the word of God.

For anyone who is perplexed by, or wishing to respond to, the common belief that there are various paths to God and that no one religion or belief holds all the answers, this is the book to read. The author finishes with the way to find a true faith and with the positive affirmation from Jesus that “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6).

I recommend this as an excellent and thought-provoking book for understanding and growing in the Christian faith, especially in the context of postmodern, multi-faith Britain.

The Empty Promise of Godism (382pp) is available from the publisher for £10 + P&P. Also available for free as an e-book.

‘The Prince of Peace; Finding True Peace in a World that Wars’ (GlorytoGlory Publications, 2015). Review by Rev Dr David Moore.

Peter Sammons’ ‘The Prince of Peace’ is aimed at a general readership, readily accessible also to those without any prior knowledge of the Bible. ‘Peace’ is here understood in the wide terms of the Hebrew word shalom (peace, wholeness, wellbeing, salvation, etc) and finds its focus and fulfilment in the person of Jesus Christ, the Messianic Prince of Peace.

This understanding enables the author to explore, in a semi-conversational style, a wide range of Bible-teaching: salvation and the Gospel, Jews and Gentiles, Israel in the purposes of God, other religions, world peace and eschatology (including Jerusalem/Zion). As such, it is a little ‘body of divinity’ which introduces the reader to the Gospel, the Bible and Christian theology.

For the more theologically literate Christian, the book is also of interest in that it clearly grows out of the conviction that Replacement Theology distorts the place of Jew and Gentile in the integral meta-narrative of Scripture. This holistic stance provides a key to biblical end time prophecy where there is often confusion over what applies to the Jews and what relates to the Church, the so-called ‘new Israel of God’.

‘The Prince of Peace’ should appeal to both the serious seeker and the thoughtful Christian alike.

The Prince of Peace (137pp) is available from the publisher for £8.99 + P&P.

About the author: Peter Sammons is a writer and publisher based in Essex. His publishing house, Christian Publications International (formerly GlorytoGlory Publications) supplies a variety of books and resources, with particular emphasis on Christian theology, healing and Hebraic roots. As well as books for purchase, the CPI website also hosts free and downloadable resources. Click here to find out more.

When arriving on Isle of Wight for a month of work this autumn, I was struck by the number of advertised events to do with lights. There had previously been summer events with illuminations but they had not registered with me. When questioning our Heavenly Father about what I should write for this week’s ‘thought’, the subject of light sprang to mind and was confirmed at church the following day when the speaker referred to this subject.

The precise thought I believe God gave me is that as the times grow darker, the lights that our lives potentially give off become far more noticeable and important.

In John 8, the day after the last day of the autumn festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles), Jesus was back teaching in the temple. He said in v12:

I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.

The darkening days of autumn following this festival may well have enhanced the picture that Jesus was giving. His listeners may have been led to consider the contrast portrayed in Psalm 107:10-12 which says:

Some lived in darkness, in death-dark gloom, bound in misery and iron chains, because they defied God’s Word, scorned the council of the Most High. So he humbled their hearts by hard labour; when they stumbled, no one came to their aid.

At Jesus’ words their hope may have stirred when recollecting that the same passage goes on in vv13-14 to say:

In their trouble they cried to Adonai, and he rescued them from their distress. He led them from darkness, from death dark gloom, shattering their chains.

Was Jesus this awaited rescuer?

Times of Great Darkness

It was in a time of great darkness for Israel when Jesus had made his home at Capernaum of Galilee and preached the Good News to the Israelites around the region. Because of the dark times of Roman oppression, people were looking to Adonai for the promised Messiah and would have seen Jesus’ light shine out all the more clearly. These same listeners may have recalled the prophecy in Isaiah 8:23-9:1 that Matthew (4:12-16), refers to:

Land of Z’vulan and land of Naftali, toward the lake, beyond the Yarden, Galil-of-the-Nations – the people living in darkness have seen a great light; upon those living in the region, in the shadow of death, light has dawned.

This same picture could apply to our rebellious British Isles and many other Gentile nations today. It is such darkness into which we are surely heading more and more. But it is also in times of darkness that our own lights may become most evident.

As part of Jesus’ explanation of Torah in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’, he told his disciples:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

As the darkness increases over our land, so we must let our light shine all the more!

Author: John Quinlan. All Scripture quotes from the Complete Jewish Bible.