NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 34 CREDO
` Your slain were not killed, nor did they die in battle'
The occasion this time was a supper meal at the end of 2003 with two comparatively young, thoroughly modern, secular people (with all that this expression entails) during which the question was posed that in the event of a conflict of world-wide proportions would the government of the day be able to unite the people of the country in a patriotic response, such as was seen in the two major world-wide conflicts during the past one hundred years - and particularly that unity of purpose seen in the 1939-45 conflict? Their answer forms the background to this Credo as we begin to consider the enormous change of public attitude that has occurred in the past fifty years. As ever, we need to set out the historical background before we turn to the unchanging Word of God and seek understanding of the times in which we live and of what we face, for without the background firmly established we could so easily drift into useless rhetoric which would disappear as easily as the early morning mist as circumstances change.

We are aware that the past few Credos have been focussing on the general historical background which has formed the State system under which we now live, and in setting this against Scripture we can see the basis of the political changes that are developing. Through this mentioned supper meeting at the end of 2003 we were taken from the general overall historical picture into the more specific area which has directly influenced individuals (and these individuals in particular, through their age, and therefore their general wealth) who will be the ones to whom politicans, seeking power, will direct their policies. With that understanding we are reminded of the words of a one-time Prime Minister of the UK who, when seeking to push through unpopular measures, said: "Society . . . there is no such thing as society" - forgetting the people who compose society, whose violent rejection of those policies finally led to her downfall!

First, then, the historical background, which will be brief as it has been set out in previous Credos. The background of necessity centres on events in Europe because for the past five hundred years (since the `Peace of Westphalia' in 1648) Europe has been the cockpit of wars centered on various Alliances and Treaties between various States in a system of `Balance of Power' strategy, and when these wars spilt over into the wider world theatre it was only because the European Empires had spread over the wider areas of the world in order to add to their wealth and power. Even the last two world war conflicts, and through into the `Cold War', (which was dominated by two Super Powers from outside the Western Penisular of Europe) were centered on the `cockpit of Europe'. The `Old World Order' prior to that was a tangled mass of rivalry and conflict between petty City State Rulers, Princes and Kings sprawling over the continent of Europe under the universal authority of the Popes - a vast area known generally as `Christendom'.

From 1648 various significant changes to the State in its various forms began to take place, eventually becoming what we now call the Nation State. As we have said, prior to this the `unity of Europe' was centered around the concept of Christendom under the dominance of the Pope, but after the Peace of Westphalia the `unity of Europe' was centered around the strategy of a `Balance of Power' between competing States. This strategy emerged through the devolution of civil power to a bureaucratic (State) authority which was able to concentrate and harness that power into a single entity which took on the form of a geographical area with established borders which needed to be protected. The final emergence was a legally established sovereign state system , which is seen in its various forms throughout the world at present. Through the turmoil of the last two major world conflicts (fought over three major ideologies) the victorious Democratic ideology now dominates the world scene. With the defeat of the ideologies of Facism and Communism the `unity of Europe', now under a democratic form of State sovereignty, faces its own challenge with the ever-increasing authority of an international order which acknowledges no sovereign-state borders . . . the emerging so-called New World Order! Readers of past Credos will recall that the formation of the Nation State, such as we know it today, came through what is known as the Wilsonian Doctrine. (The visionary American President Woodrow Wilson sought to bring in a New World Order based on the American Democratic form of government `for the people by the people' under the law of the Constitution.) The European State's need to harness the whole population of its country to meet the threat of total war led to the full emancipation of its people eventually through to the development of the modern Welfare State as we know it today - the total demands of the State had to meet the total demands of the people.

However the vision of Woodrow Wilson was for an international system of independent states based on a Republican form of government defined by Constitutional Law, such as forms the bedrock of American politics. Not so the European `bedrock', which is so deeply embedded in Monarchical feudalism that goes back over many, many long centuries. Even in modern-day European Republics, a scratch on the surface of popular political culture will reveal that their republican ethos is not that of the Americans. This can be clearly seen in the emerging European Union's Parliamentary systems and peoples, or equally seen in the near rejection of the authority of the United Nations by the Americans, dominated as it is by `Old Europe' centered on a `Balance of Power' strategy of Treaties and Alliances (and we need to remember that the United Nations was set up largely through the auspices of America as the epitomy of the Wilsonian Doctrine!). In the past age of a `Monarchical Brotherhood', where authority reached out into every part of the Greater European scene, where all kings were related to each other and ambassadors and diplomats were from the same arictocratic elite, State policy was mainly concerned with its own borders and with the protection of its own people. Parliament was in the main only `needed' when money was required for foreign wars. Not so, following the terrible events of the wars of the 20th century: Democratic governments have remained in power, but now as they concentrate on domestic affairs they need the supportive voting power of the national electorate, without whose support the government of the day would not long remain in power for it has to meet the needs - and eventually what has become the rights - of the people. Democracy has become caught in its own web!

This now brings us back to that supper meeting in late 2003 as we seek understanding of how that `change' has now become deeply embedded in the psyche of the people with which the political class will have to deal as they bring in the New World Order. Readers of earlier Credos will recall our understanding that `the Church' has entered into a biblical `Probation Period' of fourty years, during which the `character' of the Church would be tested. We set out the Scriptural principles of such periods of Probation in our booklet `Winds of Change - the LORD has a Controversy with the Nations' and space alone prevents us from repeating its contents in this short Credo. Sufficient to say that such Probation Periods begin with the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in God's people within a `Temple setting'. As the testing continues the character faults show through and so it ends in failure and the taking of God's people into captivity (or abandonment) . . . for a time!

Such a Probation Period began in 1967 with the taking back of the whole of Jerusalem - the eternal and undivided capital city of Israel - by the Israeli forces! This coincided with a move of God amongst His people in the Church, which quickly became labelled as `the Charismatic Movement', and was later seen as touching people of all and every religious persuasion over the whole world, leading in some cases to extreme fundamentalism amongst what are traditionally violent religious groups. The commencement of this Probation Period also saw in the so-called `Swinging Sixties', the `feminist movement' and the `sexual revolution'. This has led to anarchist groups such as `Animal Rights' and, sadly, in some religious protest groups this has led to `Pro Life' anti-abortion violence. What also occurred was the same dramatic change in the governing political world which has been the destructive driving force responsible for the chaotic social breakdown of the nation's cultural life. Although there should be no need to state the obvious, in a busy life change sometimes goes unnoticed as it becomes accepted as normal. If indeed we are near the end of a biblical Probation Period then sometime much earlier there must have been a choice presented for a rejection to have been made of either good or bad, for there can be no other way to judge the character of those under probation! The choice offered in the 1960's has clearly been rejected for we see the condition in which both the Church and the State find themselves some thirty-seven years later, and we would briefly set out that political choice which has been made before we thankfully turn to Scripture.

"We are in fact a much-altered people . . " - so spoke a Federalist politician in 1798 when lamenting in a public speech the decay in the morals of the fledgling American Republic. The decay in morals in a community are usually lamented as changes occur, but the world- wide Church in our age, when set into a biblical Probation Period, needs to be taken back to the Word of God in order to understand the significance of such a total global change as is happening. To gain an understanding of this change we need to step back to earlier years. The `war years' were fading in the minds of the people . . the memories of the grim struggle of the post war years were receeding . . an economical recovery was throwing up tender shoots of hope for a better life. We have seen how in order to harness the whole nation to the war efforts of the past two world wars the State bureaucracy had provided for the needs and aspirations of the whole community of people, thus setting the foundations for the Nation State as we know it today. People who in past centuries would not have set foot outside their local communities had been `shown the world', and without a doubt they were unsettled and confused by the pace of change and would not or could not settle back into the old way of life - the age of `individual worth' had broken into `community responsibility'! A choice was presented which became very obvious in the `Swinging Sixties' - a testing of the character of individuals within a State had started which was as real as any experienced in the Church.

Countries particularly in the West had in the past been economically driven by production in heavy steel works, ship building, coal mining, cotton and woollen mills, and the label `made in England' meant guaranteed quality in the economic life of the people, bringing wealth and prestige to the Nation. But from the beginning of the Probation Period in the sixties there was to be a dramatic shift in emphasis to a consumer driven economy. In turn this would move the political ethos from individual and collective pride in producing for the country into an individual and collective need for consumption. It would be but a short step into changing needs to rights - and we can hear again the cry of the Federalist politician (of 1798) "We are in fact a much altered people . . ". The very ethos of a Nation State committed to Liberal Democracy with universal suffrage and to the provision of the needs of individual people who compose the community, has within it the seed of destruction which will engulf a community of people whose burgeoning individual rights are subjected to community responsibilities - seen particularly in a production-driven society with pride and sense of collective achievement and excellence motivating their lives. It therefore requires an even shorter step for the State, in providing the needs of the individual (which have become rights), to be placed in a position of being unable to provide the moral leadership and discipline for the people under its governance. The State, in short, must become neutral in its moral judgement and cultural leadership, requiring society to become tolerant of the rights of its people.

It requires little more to be said of the details of the expression of the rights of individuals which are before us everyday, which are increasingly being `enforced' by the State system (which shows little toleration for moral leadership!). The homosexual lobby . . the feminist lobby . . the animal rights lobby . . pro-abortion versus anti-abortion groups . . the `colour' problem . . the inter-faith movement . . the deliberate destruction of marriage as the cornerstone of social relationships . . the adoption market (for such it is becoming) with homosexual and lesbian partners demanding the right to children of `their own' . . the bureaucratic forms which no longer dare print the words `husband or wife' on them in case `partners' are offended! As we have said, there is little need to add to the list - it can be added to one-hundred fold with very little effort. This, however, is the reality of a biblical Probation Period, the end of which we are now approaching, which for the first time embraces all aspects of social and religious life and is a world-wide phenomenon. "We are in fact a much altered people . . ", and such is the cry upon the lips of the `Prophetic Ministries' seeing what they consider to be the judgement of God in the constant natural and economic catastrophies and acts of terrorism constantly in the news - particularly in the nations which compose the Western Liberal Democracies. We would suggest, however, that the `judgements' spoken of lie much closer to home! Increasingly such ministries are looking and working for a restoration of the people to the moral standards and responsibilities of an earlier `golden age' as the panacea to these judgements.

The purpose of this particular Credo is to ask the question: `Is such thinking entirely Scriptural and is the `Christian Leadership' hearing correctly and understanding the message for the times in which we live'? Thus far we have only concentrated the words of this Credo on the political-social background of the nations of the Western Democracies. But now we have to bring into the picture `the Church' (who lives out her life within the confines of the Nation State) in order to see what has happened to her on her way to meet her Lord. It takes but few words of ours to note that the Church - which over the past few centuries has become deeply embedded in the affairs of Monarch and State - has become so thoroughly assimilated into the mood swings and developement of the State system as to become one with the secular State system that has finally emerged in our day and therefore unable to hear or respond to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. In the early days of the Probation Period there was new purpose and vigour in her general life - in the historical denominations as well as the various dissenting churches. The Gospel was proclaimed with great zeal and the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit brought countless numbers into new life in the Kingdom of God . . works of healing and deliverance followed the preaching of the Word . . the tired were invigorated and the Charismatic Movement was real, urgent and thrilling. But as the Probation Period deepened, the Church, in general, for so long indivisible from the culture of the West, moved from a `production ethos' into a `consumer ethos' of `my needs . . my blessings . . my experience . . my ministry'. This has developed, as with its secular counter-part, into `my rights' - and therefore all other's rights must be tolerated also, and so we now have `inter-faith dialogue' between all religions; members of unnatural relationships demanding blessings and `marriage ceremonies', and divorce and abortion are seen as personal rights within the `life' of the Church. But many within the churches are becoming increasingly alarmed and, being more aware of Scripture, look at the increase of wars, famines and plagues and natural disasters as the coming judgement of God upon the ungodly nations, although finding themselves in fear of speaking lest they offend others and so find themselves facing an intolerant State system which has long abandoned moral leadership and demands tolerance of the rights of all its people.

With this background in place we would thankfully turn to Scripture, and to the title of this Credo which is found in the twenty-second chapter of the prophet Isaiah. Firstly, it is well worth remembering the Dispensational nature of the understanding of the prophetic word - we see this in the words of the first chapter of Hebrews; `In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times . . '. Many prophets within the Church, looking for woes and lamentations, eagerly turn to the prophetic books of Scripture to speak denouncements on all and sundry and so, if it were possible, damage the witness of Scripture within and without the Church. The word `Dispensation' itself has a meaning of `management or administration', and within Scripture it therefore reveals the administration of God's purpose in His relationship with all of His created order in different ages and circumstances, and unless this is clearly seen it can lead to much confusion in understanding what has happened in different ages and what is happening today. In the first and second chapters of the Book of Genesis we see the Dispensation of Innocence and with the calling out of Egypt of the tribes of Israel and the giving of the Law (of Moses) we find ourselves in the Dispensation of the Law. Now, through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus (His finished work of salvation) we are living in the Dispensation of Grace. But the Scriptures reveal a coming Dispensation of Judgement, and beyond that the Age of the Millenium reign of Christ followed by the Eternal Order. Much discernment is needed as we read Scripture, for although it is all `God-breathed' and true in all accounts for all time, the content may well be intended for not only the Dispensation of the Age in which it was spoken but will find its total fulfillment in an Age yet to come.

So at last turning to Scripture we wish to gain understanding of our times from the opening words of the twenty-second chapter of Isaiah. This chapter is the heart of a collection of chapters set in the prophetic Book of Isaiah, with their opening words recorded as `burden and woes' concerning various nations. The word `burden' has a more correct meaning of `warning' and the word `woe' is more likened to the old English word `Ho' - a summons to hear the voice of unquestioned authority pronouncing what is going to happen! Within these chapters is a group known as `the little Apocalypse of Isaiah' - so entitled because of the detailed likeness to much of what is recorded in the Book of Revelation. This gives an indication that this `word', although spoken to the nations concerned at the time of Isaiah (in the Dispensation of the Law) will find its fulfillment in the coming Age of Judgement of the nations.

At the heart of this collection of Burdens and Woes we find chapter 22 speaking directly to the nation of Israel:

" An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision;
What troubles you now,
that you have gone up on the housetops . . . "
The Valley of Vision so-called by the prophet refers to Jerusalem, which is located in a disc- like area surrounded by high hills, and there is a sense of scorn in these words for they refer to the inhabitants' belief in the security of being a people chosen by God whose forefathers such as Abraham and David received visions from God. Now, threatened by the armies of Persia - which is understood from the reference to Elam and Kir (v 6) which were the north and south limits of those menacing forces - the people of Judah are troubled. It is from such Scriptures as these that modern-day `prophets' speak their messages of judgement upon the nations, and particularly those nations within the Western democratic countries, speaking of God's Judgement upon them because of the decadence that has swept over their countries within the last fourty years. We do need, however, to be cautious about joining in with such condemnatory pronounements for, Scripturally, God's Judgement upon the nations in this context is always related to their relationship with and their actions towards Israel - the excesses of those activities being the means through which the LORD was speaking to and dealing with His people.

That there is a final Age of Judgement which will completely fulfil the prophetic word is certain, but as far as it pertains to nations it must still be in the context of their dealings with Israel. (We find this recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, the outworking of which will be in the period of time known as `the Tribulation'). Neither can we refer to the judgement of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in order to justify such modern-day pronouncements of judgement, for that occurred in an earlier Dispensation before the Law. In the same manner we cannot use the words recorded in the Letter to the Hebrews wherein the writer states: "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens . . " which clearly indicates the beginning of the Age of the Law when Moses received the Law on the mountain `which cannot be touched', but also points forward to an Age yet to come which will bring in the Millenium Rule of Christ, and beyond that into the Eternal Order. We are now in the Dispensation of Grace and the final Judgement will only come at the end of this Age once the Church is removed. The Scriptural basis for what is occurring with increasing alarm can be found in Paul's Letter to the Romans, where he writes: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the Godlessness and wickedness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness . . ".

A careful reading of Paul's first chapter will remove much of the judgemental words that come forth today from `prophetic ministries' and may perhaps take us back to consider the words of God spoken to His people through Isaiah - words set in the heart of a collection of `Burdens and Woes' concerning the nations surrounding Israel: (Isaiah 22:2-5)

"O town full of commotion, O city of tumult and revelry.
Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
All your leaders have fled together;
they have been captured without using the bow.
All you who were caught were taken prisoner together,
having fled while the enemy was still far away!
Therefore I said, `Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly.
Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people'.
The LORD, the LORD of Hosts, has a day of tumult and
trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision;
a day of battering down walls and crying out to the mountains. "
The clear message spoken by the LORD to His people was that they had brought the coming calamity upon themselves and that they were already defeated . . already slain . . through their broken relationship with the LORD by having become so assimilated into the cultures of the surrounding nations which had so engulfed them already. The Hebrews had been called out of Egypt, forged into a nation and brought into the Land. They were formed into a Kingdom, bringing the Presence of God with them, in the Ark of the Covenant set in the heart of the Tabernacle, in order to build a Temple in which the manifest Presence of God would be made known in the Most Holy Place. The nation of Israel was called to witness to the world around them to the Holiness of God and the righteous requirements of God to all who would seek to know Him.

Throughout Scripture God is only revealed within a `Temple setting' - whether it was in the Garden of Eden or in the `Burning Bush' Moses saw, or in the Tabernacle he was instructed to build, for this was to be the place between `heaven and earth' where alone God would reveal Himself. The Tabernacle was a place of sacrifice and atonement and had no other purpose than to reveal what was required to those who would meet with God. It was through the desire of David to build a Temple for God that the final revelation of what would come through those sacrifices which led to atonement came. When Solomon finally built the Temple (according to the plans given to him by his father David) the foreshadowing of the coming Kingdom of Heaven was revealed. Inside the Most Holy Place, above the mighty cherubim over the Mercy Seat was the Chariot Throne of God, the meeting place between heaven and earth where the two would become one, for as Solomon sat upon that Throne he would become as the LORD ruling over the Sanctuary of the Temple, over the Land of Israel and extending the Kingdom to the farthest reaches of the known world. Such was the awesome calling of Israel, not merely to be a chosen people but a people chosen to physically reveal God to the nations surrounding the Temple in Jerusalem - a city of Peace and Righteousness. The Age of the Law was indeed intended to lead to the Age of Grace through belief in and acceptance of God's Sacrifice and Atonement. Now Isaiah, expressing the anguish of God, cries `Don't look with fear at the approaching armies of Persia. You are already slain through becoming like and assimilating into the cultures of those who would devour you. What is coming upon you, and those who follow, will take you deeper into the captivity which you are already in in order that in your distress I will regather you into the Land, and there the final day will come when you will be My witnesses'.

Today, in this Dispensation of Grace, the Temple setting is still with us, no longer located in any geographical area but scattered over the world wherever true believers in Jesus are located - individually or gathered together as a people. And the sole purpose of God's Temple remains the same - to present sacrifices, to reveal atonement and for the King to rule and reign on the Chariot Throne of God, the meeting place between earth and heaven. As Paul says in his Letter to the Ephesians: (Ephesians 2:6-7)

" And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. "

Again in the same Letter Paul brings in this Temple setting - and the reason for it:

" I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him who fills everything in every way. "

With this understanding we would bring this Credo to a close, and taking the message that the LORD was speaking through Isaiah to His people Israel through into the Church we need to hear what is being said to us today. What we are seeing in the calamities in many countries in the world are not the judgements of God upon their immoral and perverted activities. Those judgements are for a later Dispensation where man's wickedness in rejecting God's Salvation in Jesus will express itself more intensely than ever before! In fact we are told by Jesus Himself that `as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the Coming of the Son of Man'. Instead we are seeing that `the Church' has now become so deeply embedded in the culture of the `surrounding nations' of the countries where the people of God reside so as to be engulfed by the same activities they pursue. The Church has become engulfed by the consumer-driven culture by seeking more and more blessings leading to enjoyment of their rights as children of God. It has forgotten that it was called to be a `producing nation', witnessing to the Glory of God and proclaiming His salvation in Jesus.

"`The Church' has not been killed by the sword,
nor has it been slain in battle. "
BUT it has surely been captured as it has fled from the life that is to be found in proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and witnessing to God's Righteousness in being a called-out people, brought into a Temple setting to reveal His Glory to the `surrounding nations'. Now, as then, the `Temple' of the Church has only one purpose - to offer sacrifices by proclaiming Jesus as the only Sacrifice acceptable to God and the Salvation of His Atonement, and as His Body (the only Meeting Place between heaven and earth in this Dispensation of Grace) to rule and reign with Him in righteous judgement by eschewing, rejecting the unrighteous acts of the world in the life of the Church so as to enlarge His Kingdom by bringing many precious souls into it for as long as the present Age of Grace lasts. Judgement we can safely leave to God; salvation we can surely offer from God!

* * * * * * * *

For comment or for future Newswatch letters our e-mail address is:info@northernstyletrust.com

Our telephone No. is:(01493) 441891

Return