Why did relative calm replace anticipated chaos? Prayer meetings were held in churches, halls, and home groups right across the land as Christians responded to the sense of urgency
Christians of all traditions united to pray for the nation in the run-up to the General Election. There was great fear that the country was going to be plunged into chaos. The polls all predicted no clear winner; so it looked as though there was going to be some kind of coalition, or government by a minority-administration securing its legislation on a vote by vote basis: doing deals with minority groups in the Commons and living with daily uncertainty.
Chaos expected
That daily uncertainty would have affected the whole nation, especially the economy. Foreign investors would have had no confidence in Britain’s ability to meet its normal business agreements and no doubt the pound would have suffered on the currency market. There would have been great instability on the Stock Exchange which would have had a strongly negative effect upon the nation’s economy. There was additional fear of a Labour/SNP partnership in government with unknown consequences that might have torn the Union apart.
Urgent prayer
Prayer meetings were held in churches, halls, and home groups right across the land as Christians responded to the sense of urgency concerning the state of the nation. There was widespread recognition that the nation thoroughly deserved the judgement of God and that the kind of chaos which was envisaged was justified. Christians also recognised that the disunity and weak witness of the church was largely responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation. So there was a lot of repentance among the prayers. Christians know that God holds the church responsible for the spiritual health of the nation and the lack of unity undermines the presentation of a clear message.
Destroying foundations
There is a verse in Psalm 11 which says “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” But the Hebrew literally says, “What have the righteous done?” This significantly alters the meaning of the question and it indicates the way God holds those who know his word responsible for the state of the nation. When secular/humanist forces are destroying the foundations of the nation, God says to those who know him and are listening to him, “What have you done whilst all this destruction has been going on?”
We have to ask ourselves what we in the Church were doing when our Parliament made major decisions that affected the life of the nation. Was there a strong and powerful voice representing the word of God when the decision was made to invade Iraq, or to bomb Libya, or to ‘redefine marriage’ which weakened family life that is part of the foundations of the nation?
Each of these decisions has had enormous consequences, both for Britain and on the world scene. Our invasion of Iraq has had tragic consequences that have led to the formation of the Islamic State and the slaughter of thousands of Christians, Yezidis and Shia Muslims. The bombing of Libya has left that nation without a stable government which has led to thousands of migrants from around Africa and the Middle East dying in attempts to reach Europe from the shores of Libya where people traffickers operate with unregulated freedom.
Prayers answered
The foundations of our nation and many others have been shaken by the decisions of politicians throughout the past century of human conflict and bloodshed. But the prayers of a multitude of Christians across the land for a stable government have certainly been answered. The question now is; what will a Conservative government do with the five years entrusted to them and will the Scots be content with the strong voice in Westminster they have achieved? These are big questions upon which the future of the nation depends.
What of the future?
Will the new Government not only care about the economy – steering the nation towards greater prosperity – but also care for the poor and the powerless? Will their tax reforms favour the rich: and will they use their Parliamentary majority to bring in boundary reforms that ensure their own powerbase in future elections, ignoring the gross injustice of a voting system that left nearly four million UKIP voters with only one Member of Parliament?
Christians who prayed for God’s mercy upon the nation should not only continue praying for the Government but should be making their voice (and the Word of God) heard in the places of political power in the land.
This article will also be available on the Prophecy Today website. This is a free site with cutting edge articles on the state of the nation and the world today, following in the footsteps of the printed magazine Prophecy Today, which was began 30 years ago and at one time was the UK’s largest Christian publication.
Currently the new site has the key prophecies received 30 years ago on Mount Carmel, Jerusalem, which are coming true today.