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WINDS OF CHANGE No 4

FORENOTE
As what follows is but a continuation of six previous booklets, written as we watched with growing concern the direction in which the `Western Church' was heading, we suggest that, in order to fully understand what follows those previous six booklets should be read in the order given below. The booklets concerned are in a series entitled `Winds of Change' and are as follows:

1. `Beyond The Storm . . . A Ripened Harvest' 6. `When The Blessings Stop' 2. `The LORD Has A Controversy With The Nations' 7. `Which Gospel Do We Preach?' 3. `To God's Elect . . Strangers In The World' 8. `Perception Without Prejudice'

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INTRODUCTION
In the booklet entitled `The LORD Has A Controversy With The Nations' we took the structural form of the Book of Jeremiah and presented a Scriptural Basis for a `Fourty-year Probation Period' being outworked in the nation of Israel. This fourty years of testing the nation's character began with the cleansing of the Temple and the restoration of Temple worship under King Josiah and ended with the disastrous time of King Zedekiah, which finally led to the destruction of the Temple and the people being taken into captivity in Babylon.

Using this Scriptural revelation we saw that the same 40 year Probation Period - the testing of the nation's character - was again outworked in Israel during the ministry of the early apostles, as recorded in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, beginning in AD 29 at the Feast of Pentecost when Peter stood up in the Temple compound and cried: `Men of Israel. listen to me . . .', until AD 69, when Paul wrote to Timothy: `I have fought the good fight and finished the race'. By AD 70 the armies of the Roman Emperor Titus had destroyed the Temple and once again the character-flaw of the nation of Israel was revealed as that 40 year Probation Period ended. We then suggested that in the midst of the `Jubilee' celebrations surrounding the 50th anniversary of the formation of the State of Israel sober consideration should be given to the real possibility of another 40 year Probation Period being outworked in the nation of Israel, beginning with the full restoration of Jerusalem in 1967. We leave the Bible student to prayerfully consider the implication of this possibility - and to particularly consider the outcome, if indeed such a probation period follows the pattern set out in the booklet `The LORD Has A Controversy With the Nations'.

So, as the Church and Israel are joined on a parallel historical journey, through the outworking of the New Covenant promised by God in the Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we then looked for the same Probation Period being outworked in the Church, which also began in 1967. What follows is but continued consideration of the outcome of that possibility.

WINDS OF CHANGE No.4

`Oh, Remnant of Judah . . do not go to Egypt'

Our title comes from the Book of Jeremiah: The Fourty-year Probation Period was drawing to a close and the people of the Kingdom of Judah were experiencing their own `anxiety factor' as they saw the destructive power of Nebuchadnezzar's armies drawing closer. But sadly they could not see the chastening hand of God in this appalling danger, and so Egypt, as in the past, appeared to them to be a place of safety until the danger was averted. The apostacy of the nation was now full blown and therefore they could not hear the voice of the prophet who had continually warned the nation of the results of their idolatry. Now the `remnant of Judah', those faithful people who had heeded the warnings of the prophet . . who had wanted to separate themselves from the apostacy . . were warned by God through the prophet Jeremiah: `Do not go to Egypt . . . My chastening hand will reach even there'! The whole Kingdom of Judah must be taken into captivity, and this included the remnant, for there in Babylon they would be needed to speak to a people who had lost their way but who would be kept intact in the `womb of Babylon' so that once the refining work of God was completed within them `a remnant would return'.

The `prophets' in the Church today also need to remember that God often takes His people into captivity in order to deliver them. To `go to Egypt' is - to use modern jargon - the soft option. Keeping in mind our suggestion that since 1967 the Church in the West has entered its own 40 year Probation Period - the testing of its character - our purpose here is to pause and reflect on what is unfolding in our natural lives in the national life of the country in which we live out our spiritual lives. But just as the Israelites of Jeremiah's time could not see the chastening hand of God in the advancing hordes of Nebuchadnezzar, so too God's people today, as they experience their own `anxiety factor', often fail to see the chastening hand of God - He who shapes and forms `everything in conformity with His will and purpose'. Some ministries point to the breakdown of the family unit as the root of the problem; others look for more apocalyptical reasons; many seek to separate themselves from the growing apostacy amongst their brethren and `go down to Egypt'; others seek to move the goal posts in order to accomodate the `new realities of life'! Upon reflection we have no doubt that most would agree that these `solutions and condemnations' are peripherals and a means of not facing up to what the Lord God is saying as we see the hordes of today's `Nebuchadnezzar' - thus causing a real anxiety factor within our national lives in this offshore island of the continent of Europe.

As we said in our booklet `Perception Without Prejudice', the world in which we live is in a constant state of change. The so-called peace which the European continent has enjoyed for the past fifty years is unnatural, for European history is one of continual wars and the forming and reforming of national boundaries through the various peace treaties at the end of those wars. No doubt most of today's `Euro-watchers' come from a generation whose history lessons at school were usually limited to an endless repetition of the dates of English Kings and Queens, whilst some, whose teachers were more enlightened, would doubtless have been taken through the complexities of the Corn Laws and the unrest arising in those days, and the glorious days of the Pitts. It is therefore inevitable that their perception of the current Euro-scene will be coloured by nationalistic jingoism. We also need to face the problem that most of the `prophetic revelation' in the Church today emanates from our colonial cousins across the Atlantic, whose expositions of European history start from their problems with King George - and the `Fourth of July' certainly has a nationalist ring to it.

Nationalism has a seaside-rock-like quality to it - no matter how far down the stick you bite, the same name still appears. Consequently, nationalism is deeply embedded into our national psyche, mainly due to history lessons that were taught in what were the twilight years of British imperial power. But `Euro-watchers' need to go beyond this narrow perception and begin to bring into their thinking the fact that a nationalist perception in turn narrows our own perception of the multi-coloured mosaic that is Europe - and in particular that small peninsular of Europe in which major historical dramas have been played out over the centuries, the backcloth against which several foreshadowings of the Antichrist and the False Prophet of the Book of Revelation have been seen. So if we are truly called to watch and pray during these days of the major chastening moves of God which are ushering in `the last days', we need to move beyond narrow nationalism and out onto the wider stage of Europe in order to prepare, warn and encourage those who may not see so clearly!

It is difficult to equate modern political leaders with the Kings and Queens, the Emperors, Dukes and Grand-Dukes of an earlier period - particularly as they have so often been presented as comic-opera personalities in countless films and cartoons. (Clearly `spin-doctoring', as it is now called, is not just a contemporary phenomenon; such a person as Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany was portrayed to the British people, for the purposes of war propaganda, as a vain, foppish idiot.) And again we need to state that modern western-style democratic governments are a recent development, and as such are varied in different European countries and fragile in their constitutional health. Indeed, any tinkering with the present voting system in this country (as is now being done) could well bring in not a presidential-style executive but a semi-permanent coalition of `quasi kings'! The `stage of Europe' was determined many centuries earlier, and those who strut upon that stage from time to time play out the same drama but wearing different clothes.

The drama was set down by faithful Daniel through his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the `States of World Empires' and his terrifying vision of a Fourth Beast `who frightened and disturbed him'.

Down the centuries this Fourth Beast has been interpreted as being a continuous imperial system, which when fully developed as Nebuchadnezzar's statue would stand at the end of time on two legs - the two power centres of imperial power. History tells us that these two legs of imperial power emerged from Rome - one leg being firmly planted in the West, in Rome, the other leg being firmly planted in the East, in Constantinople. However, with the steady onslaught of Islam forcing the eastern leg into what was known as Soviet Russia, Europe is identified as the stage for the outworking of a major part of Daniel's drama. The `western leg' has experienced continual wars between the two dominant `Frankish kings' of France and Germany and a host of client states. Consequently, the `eastern leg', an ever-watchful and anxious Frankish king known as Russia (for the heart of Russia, the Duchy of Muscovy, comes from the same original stock as the other dominant tribes of western Europe), has constantly sought to secure its southern borders against its dominant neighbour's ambitions. At the same time it has sought to regain its control over what was the eastern part of the divided Roman Empire centered on Constantinople. It is therefore upon this stage, and with the drama script in mind, that we need to watch and pray!

It is now openly said that Great Britain as we know it is unravelling, and although this is denied by the politicians this unravelling is coming about through various devolution legislation and the Northern Ireland Peace Accord which are working their way through the political system. It has been said that `the United Kingdom was a political invention of the time', and as with all inventions another `improved' invention is now taking shape under the title of `the European Union'. The Act of Union of 1704 of these island kingdoms came into being because of a perceived threat from continental Europe, and that threat came from dramatic changes occurring which threatened the balance of power in Europe and the growing power of the Roman Catholic Church as a political force over the affairs of the countries which formed the continent of Europe. The main incentive for the birth of the United Kingdom was therefore essentially religious because of the need to defend the reformed Protestant religion. Ireland was forced into that union at a later date because of the Catholic threat at the `back door' of Great Britain (the results of which are still with us today, even though Southern Ireland has regained its independence). The United Kingdom's Parliament has fought many long battles throughout its history to ensure that the Protestant faith is the central religious force in these islands, and the Kings and Queens called to rule Great Britain have always sworn an oath to uphold the Protestant religion. The `political invention' of the United Kingdom therefore raised up an invincible bulwark of the Political Protestantism against the perceived threat of Political Catholicism's growing power in continental Europe.

With the demise of a national religious ethos we come face to face with the fact that in these islands we are living in a post-Protestant religious era and the purpose for the existence of a United Kingdom no longer exists for a newer `invention' is taking its place! This is seen in the growing political, economic and social power of the European Union, and because of the death of religious life in these islands there is therefore no perceived threat to stop Great Britain unravelling and being drawn into Europe. Old prejudices remain - as is evident with the so-called Euro sceptics - but there is no economic or political reason why these islands should not `enjoy' the benefits of the new invention, for there is no perceived threat to stop them from being fully drawn into Europe. We are seeing a massive realignment of the balance of power, for this is what all European wars have been fought over. Pax Romana and, more recently, Pax Britannia, maintained the peace of Europe through intervention by war or by a show of arms to upstart Kings and Grand Dukes. We are now seeing a Pax Europa being outworked, and such a matter as the now-almost-forgotten `BSE ban' on meat exports is but the modern equivalent of a show of arms. In the past history of Europe the Kings and Queens, Emperors and Grand-Dukes who sought to extend their authority by war were quickly brought to heel by the dominant powers of the day, but the end result was still the same - the `Peace' would be maintained through treaties and alliances. At the end of each war some gained and some lost, boundaries were altered as countries were carved up amongst the victors, but the `rulers' were rarely deposed or executed and they bided their time and then made new alliances. The end result of Pax Romana, Pax Britannia, and the newer Pax Europa will always be the same - stagnation - and peace will never be known on this earth until the Prince of Peace reigns!

However, occasionally other players appear on the stage of Europe. History brands them as Upstarts (this is intended as a title and not a description of their ambitions, for they do not spring from kingly lines), and it is they who through seeking to upturn the `Pax' of their particular time stir the stagnation of Europe. We see their names written in history books, men such as Napoleon and, more recently, Hitler. As Upstarts they had to wage continual war because their existence depended upon dramatic victories and an appeasement of offended national pride, and when victories ceased their end was certain. As we said earlier, living as we do in a post-Protestant era in these islands (and the rising mother and child cult, centered on the late princess Dianna, which is bringing Roman Catholicism to the foreground of national religion, is evidence of that) we are seeing an unravelling of the United Kingdom, for there is no perceived threat to warrant its continuance. Great Britain is therefore set on a sure course of being fully drawn `into captivity' in an intergrated Europe. The danger is not in joining a succesful Europe but in joining a Europe that will not work, for this will lead to great economic and social distress. Then an Upstart will arise who will offer national salvation through war - and to follow previous historical convulsions in Europe it will be a war joining state and religion into a power not known before on this earth. A careful re-reading of the Book of Daniel will reveal the extent of the destruction of the Upstart who is to come! A coming perceived threat seen by the `king of these islands' will be the only way out of the maelstrom which will engulf Europe.

This leads us on to the position of the Church in theses islands, for it has access to the Throne of God for such a time as this. If we keep firmly in our minds that the Church in the West is living out its `spiritual life' towards the end of a fourty-year Probation Period, and as such it has lost sight of the external spiritual threat that gave it its sense of purpose, we can begin to see the apostacy into which it is sliding. The corporate body of the Church has been called into being for one primary purpose - that of proclaiming the ever-lasting Gospel of God, a salvation which is found only in Jesus Christ, who is the only way of escaping the coming judgement! It is called to keep itself pure and separated unto God, living a peaceful life within the various national countries in which it is situated, its purity coming from the revealing and enabling work of the Holy Spirit as the Church accepts the sole authority of Scripture. Its slide into apostacy has come as it has moved from the firm foundaton of the Word of God into the experiential realm, its emotional senses craving more and more sensational experiences, which leads inevitably to a changed lifestyle rather than a changed life. It now has a universal appeal, and just as surely as we are seeing the unravelling of the `rope' of the unified nation of Great Britain, as it loses its Protestant identity against the perceived enemy of Roman Catholic Europe, so now the Church willingly embraces all who share the same experiential and sensational experiences that spring up in `church life' from time to time.

The door has been opened wide enough by such activities for all who seek to escape from the insecurity of change without a changed life, and the Western Church is moving swiftly into the final years of its own Probation Period. And so just as the United Kingdom (united no longer in its individual calling) will be drawn into Pax Europa, so too the Church in the West will be drawn into a false eccumenicalism, a religious `Pax Christiana'. The false spirit at work in the recent so-called revival `Blessings' has done a thorough work! Look beyond the doctrinal errors; look beyond the sensationalism; look beyond the repeated searching for error in such groups as Promise Keepers or Men's Meet; look beyond the weakness of Alpha Courses (and the recent widespread acceptance and use of Alpha Courses could well be the means of gelling together what were once separated and often hostile Christian denominations and sects!) These, and more yet to come, are but the means of the `unravelling' of the true Church in the West - those who live by faith in the finished work of Jesus, those who accept the Word of God alone as their rule. As these moves of a spirit continue in the final years of this Probation Period the Church will increasingly be drawn into its own `Religious Europe' as surely as Great Britain will be drawn into a secular Europe. A new `Grand Alliance' is being formed, both secular and religious, which will sweep all but the most steadfast into acceptance of it.

We would suggest that the Lord has allowed this unravelling of Great Britain, its slide into Europe and into the new Grand Alliance, not because this country is more wicked than any other, but as a `mirror' to the Church in this country which lives in its own `post evengelical era'. In moving from its unique calling to proclaim the true everlasting Gospel, and in moving into an inward-looking, need-centered lifestyle, it is being allowed to enter into a new `Grand Alliance' with many strange religious bedfellows - and all in the name of unity! But as with the secular move amongst the countries which lie within Europe, the danger comes not from unification, for it makes sense for them to join together for the common good in a fast-changing and frightening world. The danger really lies in the fact that it will not work, and in the ensuing crisis many who longed only for a changed lifestyle will be lost - for in the subsequent religious turmoil be assured that a religious Upstart will emerge! The Book of Revelation describes him as `the Beast coming out of the earth (who had) two horns like a lamb but he spoke like a dragon'.

As these events unfold, the Church in this country will be led into a `captivity' as real as that experienced by the secular kingdom in which it lives. But we need to keep firmly in mind the knowledge that the Church is in the hands of God, and when He allowed the kingdom of Judah to go into captivity as a `whole people' it was in order that He might deliver them - once His refining work had been completed - and take them back into the land. The faithful remnant of Judah were warned not to go to Egypt . . they were needed in the captivity to speak to a people who were devastated, who were broken and at a total loss to understand how their God could have allowed such a calamity . . . the faithful remnant needed to be in the same captivity for they were one people, one nation, called to be a people separated unto God. Without such people as Ezekiel and Nehemiah there would have been no return!

If we are indeed living in the last years of a fourty-year Probation Period, the message that God spoke through Jeremiah to those who were steadfast in their trust in God will be the same today:

" Oh, remnant of Judah, the LORD has told you: `Do not go to Egypt'. "

There will be many who will speak of separation: `Come out from among them . . . go to Egypt . . .' but if we truly are one Body, and that Body is being taken into captivity, then the faithful `remnant of Judah' will be obedient and wait and pray for the deliverance they know a faithful God will bring about for His beloved people called into Christ Jesus.

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