Here’s hoping and praying the Prince’s visit will usher in a new era of support

No British royal has ever yet made an official visit to Israel. But now that ‘exile’ is about to end, appropriately enough, after 70 years – the period spent in Babylon by the Jews of old.

Prince William, the Queen’s grandson and second in line to the throne, will arrive in the country shortly after the celebrations of the Jewish state’s 70^th anniversary, which is expected to coincide with the controversial US Embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The historic visit will also take in Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

Foreign Office Appeasement

The long exile from the modern Jewish state by British royalty is perhaps complex, but seems to reflect Foreign Office policy, which generally amounts to appeasement of the surrounding Arab nations.

Last year a rumoured visit by Prince Charles, heir to the throne, was reportedly cancelled by the Royal Visits Committee on the grounds that it would “upset Arab nations in the region who regularly host UK royals”.¹

The royal family has historically always rejected Israeli invitations for official state visits, although individual members have visited the country in a personal capacity.²

The long exile from Israel by British royalty reflects Foreign Office policy, which generally amounts to Arab appeasement.

Although the Queen has travelled the world more than most, she has never set foot in Israel, the land which gave birth to the Christian faith she so devoutly follows. Prince Philip’s only trip was in 1994 to attend a ceremony commemorating his mother, Princess Alice, who is buried on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives.

Prince Charles has visited twice to pay respects at state funerals as well as fulfilling a longstanding wish to visit his grandmother’s grave, but these were not considered official tours.³

Royal Righteousness

Princess Alice of Battenburg.

It will be the most high-profile and politically sensitive trip yet for the 35-year-old Duke of Cambridge, and I suspect he too will want to visit the grave of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, recognised by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as ‘righteous among the nations’ for saving a Jewish family during the war.

As Princess of Greece, she hid Jewish widow Rachel Cohen and two of her five children in her home. Rachel’s husband had in 1913 helped King George I of Greece, in return for which the king offered him any service he could perform, should he ever need it.

When the Nazi threat emerged, his son recalled this promise and appealed to the Princess, who duly honoured her father’s pledge.

No doubt it was effectively out of her hands for the Queen to visit the Jewish state this year, but she has done even better than that by remaining a loyal, consistent and outstanding ambassador for the Jewish Messiah, whom she worships with undying devotion.

That said, now that the exile of official British royal visits to the Holy Land is finally over, I pray that our political, diplomatic and spiritual relationship with Israel will reach new heights of understanding and support, and thus bring blessing back on our own beleaguered land, plagued with infighting over Brexit along with threats to our freedom from the hard left and extreme right.

British Betrayal

We have betrayed Israel in her hour of need for long enough. A hundred years ago we were granted the great privilege of restoring Jews to their ancient land through an international treaty (at San Remo in 1920) that recognised their right to such territory.

Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice, is counted as ‘righteous among the nations’ and buried on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives.

But in the face of Arab opposition, boosted by riots and massacres, we backed down and thus failed to fully carry out our noble calling. To this day we have kept appeasing those who made the most noise and threats, so that we have even allowed ourselves to be taken in by United Nations-backed Palestinian propaganda downplaying Jewish links to Jerusalem, and the Promised Land as a whole.

So, shamefully, we refused to follow President Trump’s lead in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – it’s been part of Jewish history for 3,500 years while the Palestinians were not even drawn together as a people until recent decades.

In fact, there was a time not long ago when Arabs refused to be known as Palestinians. When 30,000 Jews, along with a few hundred Arabs, volunteered to serve with the British forces during World War II, they were permitted to wear a ‘Palestine’ shoulder patch. But the Arabs wouldn’t wear it: “We are not Palestinians; we are Arabs,” they responded.⁴

Biblical Significance?

The celebrations marking 70 years since Israel’s re-birth on 14 May 1948 are particularly significant as 70 is a number holding great importance in the Bible, of which the exile in Babylon was just one example.
On the other hand, it also has some experts worried as, despite its long history in the land, Israel has only been a united, fully sovereign state (not occupied by foreign armies, for example) on three occasions, lasting an average of 70 years so far!⁵

But the fact that the big birthday will coincide with the US Embassy move to Jerusalem, followed by an official visit from British royalty, is both intriguing and encouraging.

I realise that we now live in a secular humanist environment, but politicians and diplomats would do well to consider the Bible’s recording of God’s word to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse…” (Gen 12:3; Num 24:9).

Even more alarming is the stern warning from Isaiah: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined” (Isa 60:12).

The responsibility for Britain’s fortune or failure will inevitably have much to do with how we treat Israel.

There was a time not long ago when Arabs refused to be known as Palestinians.

Britain at the Crossroads!

We stand at the crossroads with a great opportunity to bless the Jews – to work with them towards a peaceful future in the Middle East or to work against them in appeasement of their enemies as we have done for much of the last century.

Which road will we take? Will we step out in faith – honouring the God of Israel – or succumb to fear of the repercussions?

References

1 Daily Mail, 2 March 2018.

2 Ibid.

3 Torch magazine, Christians United for Israel – UK, Dec 2016-Feb 2017.

4 Whose Land? by Dov Chaikin, Israel Today, January 2018.

5 See ‘How long will Israel’s third kingdom survive?’ Israel Today, December 2017.

Call for a new law to protect religious freedom

The erosion of liberties experienced by Christians in Britain has rolled back the clock to the Dark Ages before Magna Carta.

Now Christian charity Barnabas Fund, generally focusing on the persecuted Church abroad, has launched a campaign (and petition) for Parliamentary protection of religious practice within the UK.

In Turn the Tide (Isaac Publishing), they spell out the urgent need for reclaiming religious freedom with a new law.

Liberally illustrated by a number of recent case studies demonstrating how far we have fallen down the slippery slope, the Barnabas book calls for an Act of Parliament designed to cover seven specific areas, including the freedom to interpret Scripture without Government interference.

Responding to the Casey Review

This is a response to the 2015 Casey Review set up to examine the proliferation of extremism but, in its 2016 report, effectively suggesting the implementation of a Government-approved version of Christianity.

The report defined extremism as views “at odds with those of mainstream society” – including traditional views of sexuality which amounted to “taking religion backwards”.

Barnabas Fund has launched a campaign for Parliamentary protection of religious practice in the UK.

Turn the Tide says: “The use of this pejorative term in a government report implies an attempt to impose a government-backed definition of ‘modern British’ Christianity.” They clearly also see the merit of doing the same with Islam. All of which is more akin to the sort of ‘Big Brother’ arrangement existing in China.

Barred from Office?

Related to this is the apparent re-introduction by stealth of the ‘Test Act’, which in past generations excluded non-conformists and others from certain professions.

And from the experience of the 2017 General Election, it seems that it already applies to Christians, who are effectively being barred from office because they do not subscribe to politically-correct dogma, particularly on sexual ethics. Some candidates were for this reason deemed by the media to be “unfit” for public office and Liberal-Democrat leader Tim Farron later felt forced to resign because he was unable to reconcile his faith with the views expected of his position.

Because of this, Barnabas insists that a new law must include “freedom from being required to affirm a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to hold a public sector job or stand for election, work in professions such as teaching and law, or study at university.”

There have been a number of high-profile cases of people who have lost their jobs because they have dared to speak freely of their faith, or who have been taken to court because their consciences would not allow them to provide certain services, as in the case of Ashers Bakery, who refused to bake a cake with the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’.

We are witnessing the re-introduction by stealth of the ‘Test Act’, which in past generations excluded non-conformists from certain professions.

One of the most shocking cases was the recent suspension of Christian teacher Joshua Sutcliffe for calling a pupil a girl when she wished to be known as a boy. Quite apart from the obvious insanity of the ‘offence’ itself, the school had bizarrely conducted a survey of pupils’ religion which found that, out of 1,853 students, there were no – repeat no – Christians! And yet Mr Sutcliffe had been running a highly successful Bible Club at the school attended by over 100 pupils (bigger than most churches), which was subsequently shut down by the head.

You couldn’t make it up. I like the phrase I heard the other day: “We have become so open-minded that our brains are falling out.”

Recklessly Abandoning Freedom

As to the freedom we are so recklessly giving away, we are reminded that it started with the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, Clause 1 of which states: “The English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and its liberties unimpaired.”

Though it took centuries to work through, with martyrs burnt at the stake in the process, religious restrictions were gradually lifted until we became the envy of the world, with the liberty enshrined so wonderfully within our shores in time exported around the globe.

In commending Turn the Tide and calling on people of faith to speak up, Democratic Unionist MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said:

I am alarmed at the gradual erosion of the religious liberties and values that we have sought to uphold in this country for centuries. We live in a society today where there is growing intolerance among the metropolitan liberal elites towards those of us who take a faith-based approach to life. They speak much of diversity and inclusion but promote laws that undermine the values dear to Christians and practise the exclusion of people whose religious views they find ‘unacceptable’.

For more information, and to sign the petition, visit OurReligiousFreedom.org.

Amongst all the trouble, God is doing something among his people.

In last week’s editorial, ‘Days of Confusion’, we looked at the complex forces of change that have created the strife and uncertainty in the nation today.

During the past week we have seen George Soros, the arch secular humanist, adding to the confusion by trying to undermine the democratic vote of the British people to get out of the European Union. Volatility on the stock market and demands for Brexit clarity from the business world have all added to the clamour in the nation. But, of course, none of our leaders ask the most obvious question – “Is there any word from the Lord?”

I was really encouraged by the comments on last week’s editorial. They confirm my own sense of excitement that despite all the bad news and the trouble in the nation, God is doing something among his people – those who are not just praying, but who are also listening to him.

I’ve been drawn to Psalm 127 with the familiar words “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.” The second part of that verse is of great significance for us today: “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” From this we can derive the biblical truth that unless the Lord watches over the nation we will be wide open to every spiritual attack of the enemy.

This is precisely what happens when a nation such as Britain has a heritage of centuries of biblical truth; but in a single generation discards that truth, turns its back upon God to go its own way, and then is surprised when everything goes wrong.

What Can We Do?

What can we do about this? Well, first we can turn to what the Bible says about a nation that is facing disaster. A significant promise was given by God to the Prophet Jeremiah:

If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. (Jeremiah 18:7-8)

This promise was not just for the nation of Israel in a covenant relationship with God, but for any nation at any time, which makes it the most significant promise in the Bible for Gentile nations. It is of particular significance for nations such as Britain, the USA, Europe and other Western nations that have a Judeo-Christian heritage.

Unless the Lord watches over the nation we will be wide open to every spiritual attack of the enemy.

The reason for this is that the promise speaks about God having warned the nation.¹ It is only nations that know the God of the Bible that could recognise a warning from God. It is only nations that have known the truth that could justifiably be charged with having deliberately turned their backs upon truth and embraced false values.

Just look at the values that our politicians are promoting as ‘British values’: “equality, tolerance and the rule of law”. These are not British values! They are an invention of secular humanists drawing on atheist philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant and Marx!

Traditionally, British values have been drawn from the Bible. They are: JUSTICE and RIGHTEOUSNESS, TRUTH and INTEGRITY, FAITHFULNESS and LOVE. These used to be the values upon which all our political relationships, our business relationships and our personal relationships were founded! They are fundamental and eternal: not the trivial rubbish peddled by politicians!

One Example: Britain and Israel

Today, I want to take just one example of the way Britain has forsaken godly standards of truth, leading to the situation in which we now find ourselves.

It’s a well-known fact that the British Foreign Office is anti-Semitic and always votes with the Arabs against Israel in the United Nations. They even voted against the USA when President Trump had the courage to declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which every Bible-believing Christian, every Jew and every educated person knows is simply a plain statement of fact: Jerusalem has been Israel’s capital since the time of King David, 3,000 years ago!

Traditionally, British values have been drawn from the Bible – they are not the secular humanist rubbish being peddled today.

Records show how the Foreign Office civil servants fought against Churchill in the 1920s when, as Colonial Secretary, he strove to implement the 1917 Balfour Declaration that the historic land of Israel should be a homeland for the Jews. In 1938 and ‘39 when the Jews were being murdered on the streets in German cities, Britain refused to let Jewish families come as refugees. We took several trainloads of Jewish children but let their parents go to Auschwitz to be murdered in the Nazi gas chambers.

The Exodus, after the British boarded in 1947. Public domain.An even more horrible crime was committed immediately after the Second World War, when the survivors of the death camps from around central Europe fled to Palestine but were prevented from entering by the British army. A leaky old ship called The Exodus carrying 4,500 survivors was rammed by two British cruisers and forced to turn away from Haifa. The most heinous crime was that all these people were deported back to prison camps in Germany! This was at the time when Britain was beginning to reject its biblical heritage and its values of truth and righteousness.

It was just at this time that the British Empire began to unravel. The greatest Empire the world had ever known began to collapse when it started to despise its own heritage, despite the miracles we had seen during the war that saved Britain when we stood alone.

Of course, I’m not saying that the Empire was perfect – we made lots of mistakes, but from my extensive travels around the world I have seen at first hand some of the good things that British rule brought to those countries. Also, today there are countless millions who embrace the Gospel because it was brought to them through the British Empire: that in itself is a godly heritage.

The Way Ahead

The peace and prosperity Britain enjoyed until the present generation was the fruit of a nation that honoured its biblical heritage. God watched over this nation because of its faithfulness.

This is surely significant: the hope for the future lies in the chaos and confusion in the nation forcing a recognition that we have departed from the ways of righteousness and truth.

If this recognition leads to repentance, there is no doubt that God will honour his promise not to destroy the nation, but to restore times of peace and prosperity…“If that nation that I warned repents of its evil…” As I said last year: I cannot just pray unconditionally for God’s blessing on the nation. But the promise of Jeremiah 18:7-8 is something worth praying for!

Notes

1 A possible exception to this is Nineveh. But there were significant settlements of Israelites in the region around Nineveh since the time of Shalmaneser in 722 BC (See 2 Kings 17:6). So the Ninevites might have known the God of Israel from them which would have prepared the way for Jonah’s warning.

We must make up our mind whose side we’re on

Fine-sounding words are not enough. Actions speak much louder. The Apostle James berated those who boasted about their faith when it wasn’t matched by their deeds (James 2:14).

Britain’s new Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has said the United Kingdom “will always be Israel’s friend” and spoke of how the Jewish state is a “beacon of light and hope in a region where there is so much hatred and hurt”.

In addressing the Conservative Friends of Israel’s annual parliamentary reception, he also hailed “the wonderful blooming of democracy that is Israel”.

I was heartened by his resounding praise for the Jewish state, and do not doubt his sincerity, but he is part of a Government that in recent days has refused to follow US President Trump’s lead in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and which also continues to desist from applying a full ban on the Hezbollah terrorist organisation.

Mixed Messages

Both these actions encourage Israel’s enemies to believe they have our support for their bloodthirsty jihad (holy war) against the Jews, illustrated once more on Monday with the brutal stabbing to death of a 29-year-old Israeli rabbi at a bus stop in Samaria. Itamar Ben-Gal leaves a wife and four children.

This followed last month’s murder, also in Samaria, of a 35-year-old rabbi and father-of-six in a drive-by shooting outside Nablus (the biblical Shechem, home to Joseph’s Tomb and Jacob’s Well). Ten children in the area are thus left fatherless in the space of a few weeks.

Fine-sounding words are not enough – actions speak much louder.

At best, we are sending out mixed messages, the modus operandi of Palestinian politicians who have often been caught saying one thing to their Arab audience and quite another to the English-speaking world (for examples of this, see Palestinian Media Watch).

A view over Nablus (the biblical Shechem), where a Jewish rabbi and father-of-six was murdered. Picture: Charles GardnerOh yes, I know that diplomats are charged with seeking peace and should try, if at all possible, to accommodate all parties, but appeasement will only ever succeed in putting off the evil day of reckoning which, when it comes, will be much more difficult to unravel. The current Israeli-Palestinian conflict is itself an example of the persistent failure of short-term deals made to keep the ‘peace’ with Arab parties ever since the Balfour Declaration was published 100 years ago.

Instead of getting on with it and immediately implementing its declared goal – the resettlement of Jews from the diaspora in the Promised Land – we dithered and dallied for decades in a fruitless effort to please all parties. The enemies of Israel saw it as weakness, which they exploited to the hilt with violence that had us chasing our tails looking for a way out of the awesome responsibility we had been given.

Enemies on All Sides

Now, just days after marking Holocaust Memorial Day in Parliament and all over the country, we hear of rising anti-Semitism in Britain, Ireland and France.

The Community Security Trust, in their annual report on anti-Semitism, said there were 1,382 such incidents in Britain in 2017 – the highest annual figure since it began gathering data in 1984.¹

Our Government’s actions encourage Israel’s enemies to believe that they have our support.

In Paris, an eight-year-old boy was attacked in the second assault on Jewish children in the area in three weeks, drawing condemnation from French President Emmanuel Macron, rightly concerned at the prospect of losing yet more citizens as a result.² France has Europe’s largest Jewish community, but many have made Aliyah (emigrated) to Israel in the wake of increasing anti-Semitism in recent years.

The Irish Parliament, meanwhile, is considering a Bill that would boycott goods produced by Israeli companies based in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, with up to five years’ imprisonment awaiting offenders.³

Quite apart from the fact that such a boycott would also harm Palestinian workers, it is a shocking form of anti-Semitism which, not surprisingly, provoked anger from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with reported intervention from the United States. The Parliament has now postponed voting on the Bill, which is likely to be re-visited in the summer.

Falling into the Trap

From Britain’s point of view, the situation is aggravated by worrying in-fighting among the ranks of the Conservative-led Government – mostly over Brexit – which could open the door to a Labour Party with its own problems with anti-Semitism.

The Bible says: “When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order” (Prov 28:2).

The current Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an example of the persistent failure of short-term deals made to keep the ‘peace’ with Arab parties.

The Irish, like the South African Government, have clearly fallen into the trap, set by Palestinian propaganda, of seeing Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state. South African diplomat Clinton Swemmer told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva that apartheid, once used to describe black disenfranchisement in South Africa, now applies to Israel because of its policies towards Palestinians.

He said: “Israel is the only state in the world that can be called an apartheid state.”⁴ But as Dan Diker, of the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, points out, Swemmer is speaking for many who know little or nothing about Israel and never lived through apartheid. “There is not even one point of similarity (between apartheid South Africa and Israel),” Diker said, adding: “Our parliament, Supreme Court, universities, bathrooms, hospitals and everything else in Israel are fully integrated.”⁵

At the end of the day, the word of God is clear, “For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling…” (Ps 132:13).

Notes

1 Christians United for Israel, 2 February 2018.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 United with Israel, 25 January 2018.

5 Ibid.

The twin movements of social change turning British society upside-down.

I’m sure there must be days when our Prime Minister regrets having won the leadership contest for the Tory Party when David Cameron departed in 2016, after he backed the wrong side in the Referendum. The media assault upon Theresa May has intensified since her success in negotiating the first stage of Brexit with Brussels.

Those who are determined to keep Britain under the authority of the European Union are using every weapon at their disposal. They are actively seeking to destabilise the country by concentrating their fire upon Theresa May and her leadership in the hope of creating such confusion that public opinion will swing around against Brexit.

The central issue is not political and it is not economic. In fact, all the prognostications of gloom and doom from the Remainers have not happened. Unemployment has not soared, it has fallen; the economy has not collapsed, it is doing moderately well; we are not back of the queue in doing trade deals with America and other parts of the world; both the USA and China are eager to make trade agreements with Britain.

The central issue, as we have said many times before on Prophecy Today, is spiritual. In fact, the battle for Brexit is part of a much bigger spiritual war for the heart and soul of Britain - and the West at large. This war is changing the fundamental structure of our nation, and yet most people, even if they are aware of it, do not understand it.

The battle for Brexit is part of a much bigger spiritual war that most do not understand.

A Tale of Two Movements

If we are to understand the battle currently assailing Mrs May and the Brexit process, therefore, we must zoom out and take a longer-term perspective. Such a perspective reveals that there are two movements of social change running parallel in British society, which are also visible across the whole of Western civilisation.

One is the philosophical movement of secular humanism, the roots of which go back to 18^th Century Enlightenment philosophers, and through which emerged both the pseudo-scientific theory of Darwinian evolution and the political ideology of Marxism. Secular humanism seeks to set society free from the restrictions of religion and elitism to enable each individual to make their own decisions and to determine their own destiny in line with secularised principles of liberty and equality.

The second movement is far more deadly and destructive because its objective is simply social anarchy. This is the LGBTQ movement – the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and queer movement. Their major objective, quite publicly stated since the early 1970s and the rise of the Gay Pride Movement, is the destruction of the family, which they see as a fundamental ‘source of oppression’.

If the LGBT movement can destroy traditional family life based upon the covenant of marriage with its roots in Judeo-Christian biblical teaching, they can achieve their goal of a society entirely free of all restrictions, in which all forms of sexual activity, including paedophilia, are legal. That is what they are aiming to establish and that is what lies behind the most recent campaign to promote ‘transgenderism’ as a normal part of society, starting with little children in infants’ school.

There are two movements of social change running parallel in British society – secular humanism and the LGBT movement for sexual liberation.

Both of these movements of social change have a spiritual basis, being driven by the powers of darkness rather than philosophical concepts. Both became entwined about 30 years ago and since then have run parallel, feeding upon each other and causing confusion in the public square, such that the true objectives of each are not discerned. Both are fundamentally connected in with the EU project. So, the danger of the destruction of all our social institutions and the collapse of social order in the nation is not being perceived.

Church Decline and Weakness

All this has happened during a period of Church decline and weakness and when biblical truth has not been taught to children in schools or at home. We now have a situation where half the population have virtually no knowledge of the God of Creation and ultimate standards of truth. Only a tiny minority of those under the age of 50 have any knowledge of the Bible, upon which the whole basis of Western civilisation is founded.

It is this spiritual vacuum in the nation that has paved the way for a major assault upon truth, which has also given us today’s fake news, driven by the enormous power of social media.

Sadly, we have a generation of clergy and preachers who have little or no understanding of what’s going on. I remember my confusion when I began in my first church in London. I was fresh out of college and I was expected to preach twice on Sundays and minister to an ethnically mixed working-class congregation among whom I had never lived or had any experience. Virtually none of my theological education and training was any use to me. I had won my university’s prize in classical Greek, but it was about as much use as yesterday’s newspaper in dealing with the issues I now faced on a daily basis.

It was for this reason that I enrolled at the LSE to do a Masters in Sociology leading to a doctorate. I was determined to understand the forces of social change that were sweeping through society at a bewildering pace.

While forces of change have swept society at a bewildering pace, the Church has been in decline and weakness and biblical truth has not been taught to children in schools or at home.

As far as I’m aware, theological education of clergy has not changed much since my day, so most of them are like King Saul’s army facing the Philistines – “On the day of battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them” (1 Sam 13.22). If church leaders are not armed for the battle they will not be able to teach their people to understand the complex mission field that faces us today, nor equip them to fearlessly declare the truth to a dying nation.

Unconditional Affirmation?

Hence, we have the appalling ignorance of an Archbishop and a House of Bishops who have just declared, “The House of Bishops welcomes and encourages the unconditional affirmation of trans people”. Clearly, they do not understand either the biblical and theological significance, or the sociological significance, of what they’re doing. They are like the religious leaders who Jesus faced, “though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matt 13:13).

Writing about the new ‘liberal democracy’, which he sees as a quasi-religious movement that has swept away most of our Christian traditions, Dr Joe Boot says:

The seemingly unstoppable and rapid advance of this neo-Marxist and neo-pagan worldview, aided by a largely unprepared and ineffective church pulpit, means a religious revolution has left many Christians stunned, confused and often afraid to do anything but retreat or concede.¹

The plain fact is that we don’t know what to do to stop the total secularisation of our society in which, once the older generation has gone to glory, Christians will become a tiny, persecuted minority. Our greatest need is for clear direction from the Lord. In this editorial we have simply outlined the problem and not attempted to offer a response. That is what we hope to seek the Lord for in the next few weeks. We would greatly appreciate feedback from readers.

References

1 Boot, J, 2017. GOSPEL WITNESS: Defending and Extending the Kingdom of God. Wilberforce Publications, London, p2.

The crisis through the eyes of a patient.

Our editorials have long warned that British society is vulnerable to the shaking prophesied by Haggai and re-iterated in Hebrews 12. We have taken the stand that it is no use praying against this shaking because we would be praying against what God has determined to do.

We have already witnessed the collapse of many businesses in this country following the recession of 2007-8, which now looks more like an initial tremor than the major earthquake. The recent downfall of Carillion is a further sign of the continuing vulnerability of industry and our financial sector.

Yet, as was pointed out the week before last, we seem to worship our institutions as golden calves, looking more to establishing financial security than we look to the Living God. It is as if, as milk is drawn from a cow, our institutions might become healthy through the flow of our money (this also goes for our planned withdrawal from Europe). The National Health Service is one such institution.

It so happens that, over recent months, the NHS has had a major influence on my family life; but for the care we have received, my wife would not be alive today. So I would like to keep focusing on this as an example of where our society is and as a prompt for prayer.

Through the Eyes of a Patient

It is one thing to assess the NHS from frequent news reports of its struggles through the high pressure periods of Christmas and the New Year. It can be quite another to consider the inner workings of the system through the eyes of a patient.

It is one thing to assess the NHS from news reports of its struggles – it is quite another to consider its inner workings through the eyes of a patient.

Over the last few years our family has experienced almost every aspect of the NHS because of the developing chronic illness that befell my wife. We have needed, at various times, the support of our local GPs, pharmacists, health visitors, provision of aids for home support, outpatient hospital visits, and emergency ambulance service and hospital care during the intensely busy holiday period. I was even visiting my wife in hospital during the time when the Health and Social Care Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was visiting the same hospital (though not our ward!). Presently, we have need of social services and social care.

As a result of all this, personally I have arrived not to a point of judgment, but to the point reached by Jeremiah, the ‘weeping prophet’ (e.g. Jer 9:1). Jeremiah was a forerunner of Jesus the Messiah, who himself wept over Jerusalem and at the tomb of Lazarus.

Why? Because if you get into the heart of the NHS as a patient, you still find dedicated doctors, nurses and medical specialists, just as through all the years since its beginnings after World War II. If God is shaking the nation and if the NHS will be shaken as part of this, therefore, it must not be seen as a punishment to a totally ungodly system.

Appreciating Complexity

Indeed, if there is an element of judgment, perhaps we should all consider the part we have played in allowing things to get to this point. The NHS is vulnerable and some of us have taken it so much for granted that we put needless pressure on it.

As I waited for my wife to be taken from the ambulance to A&E on one recent visit, I had the opportunity of spending several hours ‘people watching’ in the waiting-room. Some clearly need not have been there, with transient troubles that could have been dealt with at home. Of course this is only part of the picture, but a pressurised system could be eased a little if we cherished it a little more and thought of one another more than ourselves sometimes.

Personally, I have arrived not to a point of judgment, but to the point reached by Jeremiah, the ‘weeping prophet’ (e.g. Jer 9:1).

Having said this, to me, the major problem for the NHS lies on its administrative side, from local management right up to parliamentary structures of oversight and planning. Adding to the pressure is the centralisation of hospital care and the closure of smaller regional healthcare centres, so that what was once personal and caring seems to be becoming more and more impersonal. Similarly, the separation of what is called ‘social care’ from the NHS seems wrong to me - finance-driven more than care-driven in its design.

These are enormous issues to consider but I touch on them to suggest that any shaking of our society in the coming days, which will likely impact the NHS as much as other national institutions and businesses, cannot be understood in a broad-brush way.

Getting to the Heart

How, then, are we to discover a path of prayer into the future? We need to find God’s heart, and obtain his perspective, which perhaps are hidden from us if we only observe our nation in worldly terms. The NHS is just one example; if we delved into any of our institutions we would find our hearts torn by their continuing potential and momentum for good, but with God written out of the balance sheets.

Intercession for Britain involves gaining a heart perspective; feeling the hurts more than judging the failures.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the film The Darkest Hour, portraying Winston Churchill’s struggles to lead Britain through the last world war, is currently being shown in cinemas. For anyone who was alive at that time and after, when people pulled together to rebuild and re-establish first a near-defeated and then a near-bankrupt nation, this must be a stirring film.

Yet the story behind the scenes is even more stirring. We must remember those who engaged in intercessory prayer for our nation through the war years and afterwards, who were given God’s own insights into the reality of the battle, physically and spiritually. Such prayer warriors, if alive today, would undoubtedly testify to their call to identify the true heart of a nation in crisis.

To know how to pray, we need to seek God’s heart, and obtain his perspective.

A Journey of Prayer

How then should we pray through our current crisis? God will show us if we are willing. My own path of learning has been through the illness of my wife, which has led me into the heart of Britain’s caring systems to experience both the pains of illness and the pains of the system – and also to witness rays of hope.

Are we willing to let the Lord show us his heart of compassion, as well as his displeasure, for the people of this nation? If so, he will lead us into experiences – perhaps quite unexpectedly - that draw us each into new depths of prayer. God is looking for those who will be willing to respond to this call.

Holocaust Memorial Day should drive us to our knees.

As we mark another Holocaust Memorial Day, held each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,¹ the ongoing nightmare experienced by the Jewish people – with anti-Semitism once again spreading like cancer – should drive us to our knees.

And I’m glad to say that our African brethren, at least, who have brought much-needed new life and vigour to the British Church, are doing just that by calling a special day of prayer focused on our fractured relationship with Israel.²

Wale Babatunde of the World Harvest Christian Centre in south London is particularly concerned by Britain’s failure to follow President Trump’s lead in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

This follows a series of betrayals over the years which have undone much of the goodwill fostered by the government’s pledge, through the Balfour Declaration 100 years ago, to do all in its power to re-settle the Jewish people in their ancient land.

Fortunately, African Christians know how to pray, so we are fully expecting God to shake up our complacency over Israel – both in Parliament and in the Church.

The Power of Words

My own MP, Dame Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central), has already chaired a debate on Holocaust Memorial Day in the House. In a report to her constituents, she said this year’s theme, The Power of Words, was a reminder that the Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers, but with hate-filled words. She added that words can also be a force for good through which we can demonstrate that we will not stay silent when such vilification and de-humanisation occur.

She’s right – and not staying silent includes speaking words in prayer. Many of us have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that it was prevailing prayer – not Spitfires and Hurricanes – that won the Battle of Britain. Rees Howells and his Bible College students in Wales were on their knees daily throughout the war.

It was prevailing prayer – not Spitfires and Hurricanes – that won the Battle of Britain.

In fact, according to Norman Grubb, in Rees Howells – Intercessor (Lutterworth Press), “the whole college was in prayer every evening from 7pm to midnight, with only a brief interval for supper. They never missed a day. This was in addition to an hour’s prayer meeting every morning, and very often at midday. There were many special periods when every day was given up wholly to prayer and fasting.” Howells told his students: “Don’t allow those young men at the Front to do more than you do here.”

Jerusalem – focus of conflict. But God calls us to pray for the peace of the city (Psalm 122:6).Over the Dunkirk period, Howells spent four days alone with God “to battle through and, as others have testified, the crushing burden of those days broke his body. He literally laid down his life.”

Enemies All Around

It’s time we did it again. Both Britain and Israel face an enemy just as terrifying as the Nazis, only subtler. This is the belief that we are no longer answerable to a heavenly authority, and that man is his own god – a secular-humanist view that has brought the beginnings of totalitarianism (that brooks no dissent) to a society once proud of its freedom. It was for this that my father’s generation risked their lives in World War II.

But as journalist Melanie Phillips has said on a tour of America, Israel is absolutely central to the recovery of Western values, which are based on the Hebrew Bible. “We’re in this together,” she told the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries radio programme.

Here is the stark reality of what is facing the Jewish people today: Iran is fast developing nuclear weapons with which to “wipe out” Israel (in the words of the Ayatollahs and Iranian presidents) and, ominously in the eyes of many, the Russian Bear has now established a foothold in the region.³ The current spat between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia further adds to the tension and Gaza-based Hamas is repeatedly firing rockets into the Jewish state, while Lebanon-based Hezbollah continues to pose a serious threat on its northern border.

Secular humanism has brought the beginnings of totalitarianism to a society once proud of its freedom.

Brutal Islamic State are also stalking the area, while the Palestinian Authority incites its people to murder and mayhem, and some Westerners are engaged in a boycott of Israeli goods on the pretext that they are oppressive occupiers of land not their own. But the truth is that, in most cases, Jews are being attacked simply because they are Jews, not for political or economic reasons.

Tragically, the South African government is fanning the flames of anti-Semitism with their ruling party, the African National Congress, having last month announced its intention to loosen diplomatic ties with Israel, citing alleged apartheid policies against the Palestinians along with America’s acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the nation’s capital.

Thankfully, the Zulu King is urging them to reconsider. Goodwill Zwelithini, monarch of South Africa’s largest ethnic group, praised the Jewish state for their help in curbing the devastation of drought through their cutting-edge water technology, along with the spread of HIV/AIDS through Jewish-sponsored medical circumcision.

Mountains Can Move!

But in both Britain and South Africa, we have a God in Heaven waiting to hear our cry for mercy. Jesus said we could move mountains with our faith (Matt 17:20, 21:21; Mark 11:23).

Let’s pray for the mountain of paralysing unbelief and complacency to be removed from our nations, in Jesus’ name!

Notes

1 27 January.

2 Taking place on Saturday 17 February, 10am-12:30pm, at the World Harvest Christian Centre, Enmore Road (entrance on Cobden Road), South Norwood, London SE25 5NQ.

3 And we in the West are in very real danger of unprovoked attack from Russia, according to Army Chief Sir Nick Carter. Daily Mail, 23 January 2018.

One voice in Westminster speaks volumes about Britain's social crisis.

In last week’s editorial we said that family breakdown was at the heart of many of the problems facing the NHS. Those problems continue to hit the headlines today and at least one voice in Westminster has recognised their source.

Lord Farmer, former Treasurer of the Conservative Party and outspoken advocate of family values has called for a ‘Minister for Family Breakdown’ to tackle the huge problems facing the nation.

Michael Farmer, a committed Christian, grew up in a chaotic family with alcoholic parents but became a successful businessman and has since devoted his life to championing the importance of strong and stable families in public policy. In an article in the Daily Telegraph this week he refers to the “devastating effect of family breakdown upon the lives of young people that affect their ability to succeed in life.”

He says that every department of Government is experiencing the costs of family breakdown and the public are at last beginning to recognise the serious problems it causes.

Family Matters

Politicians of all parties are guilty of causing the problems we are experiencing today. A new phase started in the year 1997, when the New Labour Government of Tony Blair had just been elected promising a whole new political arena. A lot of the new MPs were women – dubbed ‘Blair Babes’– some of whom had had a bad experience of marriage, and there was a lot of anti-men sentiment around in Westminster.

Divorce rates were high and family breakdown was just being recognised as a social problem. I was the Research Director of the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group. Jack Straw MP was Home Secretary and he offered Home Office support for the research we were carrying out on the health of the family in the nation.

At least one voice in Westminster has recognised that much of our NHS crisis owes to family breakdown.

Our report ‘Family Matters’ was presented in Parliament in July 1998 at a packed meeting in the Moses Room at which Jack Straw accepted the report and promised Government action to strengthen family life in Britain. But the White Paper he promised he was never able to produce, due to strong opposition in the Cabinet from the rising anti-family lobby, whose mantra was “There’s nothing wrong with the family, it is just changing”. They said that all types of family were of equal value. This was ignoring the truth that had been known since the time of Aristotle, who defined the worst inequality as the treating of unequal things as equal.¹

The Facts IgnoredLord Farmer of Bishopsgate, who has spoken out about the dire consequences of family breakdown. See Photo Credits.

The report noted the complex character of family structures. It stated:

Social analysts now refer to ‘first marriages’, ‘remarriages’, ‘cohabiting couples’, ‘lone-mother families’, ‘lone-father families’, ‘step families’, ‘multi-parent families’ [where children spend some time with one parent and some time with another], ‘multi-sibling families’ [where children from different unions live in a single household with one parent, or stepparent, or other carer]…²

It was noted that these ‘re-constituted families’ not only placed a stress upon the adults involved, but they had strongly negative effects upon the children, in terms of health, education, peer group relationships and life chances.

Research for the Report found that 98% of children involved in persistent youth crime came from broken homes. It concluded that if the present rate of marriage and relationship breakdown continued, it would have catastrophic effects upon the lives of children and young people, and upon the future stability of the national social structure.

Two years later, July 2000, we published another report, ‘The Cost of Family Breakdown’ which stated:

Britain’s children are suffering as never before, family fragmentation is a major cause of poverty, inequality and social exclusion. Yet there are few attempts to engage with ideas to strengthen family and marriage. Research shows that children are twice as likely to suffer adverse outcomes from family breakdown as those from intact families. This is a huge disadvantage in education, emotional and physical health, and in life-chances for employment and personal fulfilment. But ‘political correctness’ produces a kind of conspiracy of silence to ignore the facts, the outcome of which is to institutionalise the disadvantage of children and to promote depression and mental instability among adults.³

All these facts have been known for at least the past 20 years and yet they continue to be ignored by politicians so that generations of children in Britain are being denied the right to a happy, healthy home life that will enable them to be fulfilled in adult life.

It is surely time for our politicians to be held accountable for their crimes against humanity by continuing to ignore the words of Jack Straw MP who stated, “The family is the building block of society and marriage is the ideal form of family life” (in the Green Paper ‘Supporting Families’, published by the Home Office in 1998).

The facts about family breakdown have been known for at least the past 20 years, and yet they continue to be ignored by politicians.

Church Complicity

Sadly, the Church has no better record than the politicians. When Jack Straw’s words were published, an Education Bill was going through Parliament. A Peer introduced an amendment to the Bill in the House of Lords to ensure that “marriage is the ideal form of family life” was included in what should be taught to children. Tony Blair’s Government opposed it (against its own Home Secretary) but so too did nine bishops.

If they had voted for the amendment, it would have been passed. How strange! The official representatives of the Church of England voted against a measure to teach children the value of faithful monogamous marriage! So, the Church colluded with the state to destroy the biblical basis of family and marriage in Britain.

Isn’t it time we Christians acknowledged our part in bringing upon the nation the troubles we are now seeing in our NHS and everywhere else in the life of the nation – our overflowing prisons, our neglected lonely old people, our children who know nothing of the teaching of the Bible about what is right and wrong? Jesus said that it would be better for those who cause children to sin to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round their neck (Luke 17:2).

It’s time to recognise that the Church has been part of the conspiracy of silence that has allowed the nation to reject its Judeo-Christian heritage. Surely, repentance and weeping before the Lord should be high in our priorities.

But if Lord Farmer is right that there is a shift in public opinion towards recognising the problems created by family breakdown – then surely it’s time for Christians to break their silence and join him in the battle against the powers of darkness!

References

1 ‘Aristotle's Axiom’. Peter, LJ, 1979. Peter's People. NY: Morrow.

2 Click here for the full report.

3 Cost of Family Breakdown. Family Matters Institute, Bedford, 2000, p80.

The real reason why our NHS is in dire straits.

The New Year headlines and editorials around Britain are filled with crisis in the NHS, with the Government insisting that there is no crisis.

They say that the postponement of 12,000 operations and the appeals to the public not to go to A&E unless it is a real emergency are simply the result of careful planning. There’s nothing wrong with the NHS: all arrangements are in hand to get our health and care services through the winter.

The Government hopes that we will all be reassured by these statements; but still the reports persist of overcrowded hospitals, patients left on corridors for hours, ambulances queueing up outside A&E departments (for which the PM has now apologised) and elderly patients blocking beds because there is no place for them to go in the community.

Facing Up to Reality

So, what is the truth? Every year more and more money is poured into the NHS, more doctors and nurses are recruited, more operations are carried out, medical science advances, more diseases are being successfully treated, more and more people are living longer. But still the demands upon the NHS increase year on year and – as always – we have the usual New Year outbursts of anger that our great National Health Service, the pride of the nation, is not performing as well as we would like.

Without disputing the incredible work done by our health professionals, it is not excessive these days to suggest that the NHS is fast becoming the golden calf at the centre of our national religion, before which we bow our heads and worship.

Without disputing the incredible work of our health professionals, it is not excessive to suggest that the NHS is becoming the golden calf at the centre of our national religion.

We sacrifice our wealth at the NHS altar and in return we receive multitudes of pills and potions to satisfy our cravings and ward off the consequences of over-indulgence. We replace parts of our bodies in our search for eternal life hoping that they will never wear out. The noble origins of our tremendous health service are being augmented and warped beyond recognition to gratify our lust for physical wellbeing, long life and free promiscuity.

It is little wonder that despite everything we do to improve our great NHS, the demands upon it grow steadily year upon year.

Why is this? Why do we never stop to ask fundamental questions about the NHS and the health of the nation?

Ambulance waiting area outside St Thomas's Hospital, central London. See Photo Credits.

The Real Trouble

What is the real trouble with the NHS? It all comes down to 2 words – family breakdown!

Why are so many elderly patients bed-blocking in hospital because there’s no one to care for them in the community? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are so many beds in our hospitals occupied by mental health patients? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are so many people going to their GPs with depression? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are our care facilities in the community under such strain? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are there so many long-term people off work? The answer is – family breakdown.

Surely it’s time we recognised that the nation is sick! Why is the nation sick? The answer is – family breakdown.

What is Driving This?

Is there a simple reason why this is happening? There certainly is! We have abandoned our Judeo-Christian value system, which put family and community at the heart of the nation.

Former generations did not have everything right; there was plenty of evidence of injustice and an unequal distribution of resources. But there was one thing they did get right – faithful commitment in marriage, with love and care in the community at the very centre of national life – thanks to the efforts of evangelists and intercessors down the ages who helped establish the Bible as the moral foundation of British society.

Our nation is sick because of family breakdown – which has happened as we have abandoned our Judeo-Christian value system.

Happy, faithful, loving family life produces happy, stable, loving and healthy children. It is in the family where children are taught the basic values of community, of love for one another, of respect, of recognition of the rights of others, of dealing with disagreements in a non-violent manner, of finding pleasure in making others happy and of caring for one another.

All these things are a normal part of family life in a nation whose values are drawn from the Judeo-Christian heritage of the Bible. The Bible is the only blueprint in the world for marriage and the family that really works and leads to blessing – based as it is on God’s good design for humanity.

The Biblical Model

The teaching given by St Paul to the Christians in Corinth was brilliant. He based his teaching on Christian family and community upon the illustration of a body – a healthy body in which each of the parts performed their function. Each part was equally essential to the health, vitality and right functioning of the whole. He said “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Cor 12:21).

The Christians in Corinth were living in a hostile social environment with paganism all around them and increasing pressure from the government in Rome who hated Judeo-Christianity and tried to force everyone to worship the Emperor.

Our situation today is not very different and it is likely to get more difficult for Christians to witness to the truth in an increasingly hostile, secular humanist environment. It is essential, if our faith is to survive, that we not only teach the faith within our families, but in our community life we demonstrate the practical worth of biblical principles.

We have something of immense value to communicate here in the West, to nations that have had the truth for centuries but are now deliberately turning to false gods like Darwinism and Epicureanism, which deceive with their material trinkets and Godless hedonism. The West is totally neglecting – even denying - the fundamental values that lead to true health and well-being of both individuals and communities.

If our faith is to survive, we must not only teach the faith within our families, but in our community life demonstrate the practical worth of biblical principles.

Our Task

The New Year message that we need to convey to the world is to show the essential nature of biblical family and community, where love and respect for one another – putting others ahead of self – and finding true fulfilment in service become part of our nature. Only then will others begin to listen to the Gospel we preach.

Paul’s teaching on family and community defines the essence of love that needs to be taught and demonstrated by Christians today. He says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Cor 13. 4-8)

This kind of love cannot be taught in the classroom or studied in a university library. It must be lived out and conveyed in family life by those who have come to a personal knowledge of the love of God our Father through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of all.

But what is its spiritual significance?

The Prime Minister deserves our congratulations for her tenacity and skill in reaching agreement with the European Union to enable the Brexit negotiations to proceed to the next stage.

She has certainly worked incredibly hard together with David Davis and the team of negotiators to achieve this breakthrough despite all the derogatory comments of her critics and the wiles of her political opponents and the anti-Brexiteers.

According to reports this morning, Mrs May worked through the night to ensure full agreement on the Irish border before catching a plane from Northolt to Brussels for the final talks with Mr Tusk that resulted in the announcement from both of them that agreement had been reached.

Of course, this does not mean that Britain is finally out of the European Union, but it is a very significant step in that direction, which has been achieved despite enormous opposition from secular humanists determined to keep Britain under the control of the EU. This agreement recognises that Britain will leave the European Union in 15 months’ time, with or without a trade agreement, which has yet to be negotiated. That is the political and social significance of today’s announcement.

The Question Christians Should Ask

The question that Christians will be asking is, what is the spiritual significance of the announcement? If we think back to the Referendum of 2016 our conclusion in this magazine was that the two most significant factors that guided that result were a movement of social change and a powerful spiritual input.

We have said many times in our articles that the Brexit battle is primarily a spiritual battle and evidence of this has certainly been seen.

The social factor was the rising tide of populism in Europe and the USA. In Britain it was the anti-establishment sentiment among ordinary working people that strongly influenced the vote. But of even greater significance was the spiritual factor – the prayers of Bible-believing Christians who were convinced that God was giving the nation an opportunity of shaking off the shackles of the secularist, humanist European Union.

We have said many times in our articles that the Brexit battle is primarily a spiritual battle and evidence of this has certainly been seen as powerful personalities and media commentators have conspired to undermine the negotiations with the EU. But despite all the opposition, against all the odds and forecasts of doom and gloom, agreement has been reached that Britain will leave the European Union.

God’s Blessing?

Is this a sign of God’s blessing? I personally do not think that it is. I believe it is a sign of God’s mercy in the midst of judgment, which is what many Christians have been praying for. We know quite well that Britain is a nation that has despised its Judeo-Christian heritage. Successive governments have followed humanist agendas and deliberately turned away from biblical principles and values that are enshrined in our history.

Nevertheless, the God whom we know as the God of Creation, who holds the nations in his hands and guides their destiny if they put their trust in him, does hear and heed the prayers of his servants, even if they are but a tiny minority. The God who has been revealed to us through the prophets of Israel and supremely through our Lord Jesus Christ is a God who does not depend upon demographic majorities.

In fact, God loves to work through small numbers, as he has demonstrated time and again in history.

I believe that this is not a sign of God’s blessing, but one of mercy in the midst of judgment.

So what of the future? I still cannot pray for a great outpouring of blessings and prosperity upon the nation because I have not yet seen any signs of repentance – or even calls for such repentance from our Church leaders! I can nevertheless give heartfelt thanks to God for his mercy in still watching over this nation and allowing us the opportunity of regaining our sovereignty and having another chance to renounce some of the evil laws that we have put upon the Statute Book in the past 40 years.

There is Hope Yet

The agreement that has been reached today is an historic moment that not only has political and social significance, but has spiritual significance in showing us that God still has a purpose for this nation.

It remains to be seen whether or not our leaders recognise the hand of God in this – even to the extent of putting a little group of Bible-believing Christians, the DUP, holding the balance of power that enables the Government to continue.

Today is a day when we can rejoice greatly in the goodness of God and in his love and mercy. But we should not forget that his kindness is supposed to lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Let’s commit afresh to pray for this today.