“Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you.”
1 Peter 1:20
By “these last times” is meant this present dispensation, the dispensation of grace under which we live, and they are called the last times chiefly for two reasons:
1. Because Christ was manifested in the last days of the legal dispensation of the old covenant, which now, as decaying and waxing old, was ready to vanish away (Heb. 8:13), which it did when at the destruction of Jerusalem the whole of the temple service, including the sacrifices offered there, was brought to an end. But
2. Another reason why the dispensation under which we live is called “the last days” is because it is the final revelation of God. It is “the time accepted,” “the day of salvation,” of which all the prophets have spoken (2 Cor. 6:2; Acts 3:24).
Christ is now upon his throne of grace; the great, the glorious, the only Mediator between God and men is now at the right hand of the Father; the Intercessor who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them, still lives to plead, as an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, as the great High Priest over the house of God. But he will leave the throne of grace to take his seat on the throne of judgment; and then “these last days” will close in all the glories of salvation to his friends, in all the horrors of destruction to his foes.
“Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
Psalm 81:10
When the Lord favours your soul with sweet access at a throne of grace, make the most of it. What should we think of the master of a vessel coming up the river, if, when the wind was favourable and the tide served, he would not heave her anchor, or hoisted but her fore-sail to the breeze, and would not take full advantage of wind and tide? Now it is so sometimes with our souls; a gale blows, a gale of grace on the soul, and the tide of faith rises. Is it not our wisdom, and is it not our mercy, at such a rare season, to make the most of it? If the Lord deign to give us an ear, is it not our mercy to tell him all that our souls desire?
Do you recollect what the prophet said to the king who only struck his arrows three times on the ground, and then stayed? “The man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice” (2 Kings 13:19). Sometimes it is so with us. When the Lord gives us some little access unto himself, we do not make the most of it. Satan casts in some fiery dart, some worldly circumstance distracts our mind, some filthy imagination rises up in our bosom; and instead of resisting the devil that he may flee from us, we give way to him; the opportunity is gone, the sweet moment is lost, and it may be months before we get the ear of the King again. It will, therefore, be your wisdom and your mercy, when the gale blows, and the tide rises, to spread every sail, and to get as far as you can on your course to the haven of eternal rest and joy.
The CRE (Christian Resources Exhibition) was held this year on 9th and 10th October at Milton Keynes – the first time the CRE has visited this area. Over 160 stalls were in evidence, promoting a range of products from holy socks, curious berries and Christian puppetry to church insurance, church furniture and church amplification, together with a wide-ranging variety of missionary organisations.
The backdrop to our stall comprised of full length portraits of Jon Huss, William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer and Martin Luther, which created considerable interest and comment, together with TBS (Trinitarian Bible Society) text posters which were much in evidence.
Vast supplies of free literature were handed out in specially prepared bags displaying Bible texts, including calendars (with Gospel texts), Gospel tracts, Christian Watch Newsletters, ‘Perilous Times’ books and various sundry booklets and leaflets – on abortion, LGBT, Conversion Therapy, the Authorised Version and National Borders.
Although the CRE is a Christian exhibition, it is sadly abundantly clear that many ‘professing Christians’ who spoke with us knew little or nothing of the Scriptures.
However, it was good to meet with several Christian Watch members who visited the stall – and we give God all the praise for His provision for us throughout the two days.
Next year – for its 40th anniversary – the CRE is returning to Sandown in Esher, Surrey and, if the Lord wills, Christian Watch will again be present to distribute God’s Word, together with good Christian literature, to all who pass by.
REMEMBRANCE Sunday is a solemn reminder of our distinctive identity and culture as one of the most important occasions in Britain’s national life. Its ceremonies are carried out in the context of a national and constitutional alignment with the historic Christian faith according to the Scriptures.
The contemporary liberal establishment, the elite class which now dominates all aspects of our national life, has, tragically, no comprehension either of this meaning or of the enormous benefits the Christian faith has brought to Britain, not least in the development of our parliamentary democracy.
Biblical Christianity, when keenly embraced by even just some of a nation’s citizens, carries with it an immense purifying influence on the greater whole – it is a source of salt and light, to use the Biblical metaphors. It makes society gentler and more wholesome. It makes the country a good place to live in. As King Solomon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells us, ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation’ (Proverbs 14:34). To cite a single example, it was not globalist secularists who initiated all the great social reforms of the 19th century, it was Bible-believing Christians.
The Bible has much to say about individual countries with distinctive borders; and it is abundantly clear that God deals with nations as nations. For example, in Isaiah 13-23 we have separate prophetic announcements concerning the God-ordained futures of ten different countries. So God judges individual nations in different ways according to whether or not they honour Him. Therefore, it is not remotely ‘unChristian’ for those belonging to a specific nation to have a distinctly national perspective. Furthermore, it needs to be emphasised that the very concept of nationhood ceases to have meaning if national borders are not controlled rigorously.
What was it that the honourable fallen whom we especially remember today actually died for if it was not the defence of their country’s borders and their unique cultural identity and way of life?
Another benefit they fought for and was worth fighting for was the personal freedom to hold views other than those the state tries to impose; something that was a major factor in being British. We now, however, live in a society where to maintain national identity is not valued at all, and where personal freedom of conscience is seriously under threat where, for example, Christians are losing their jobs for not accepting the dictates of LGBT activism. A society which bans silent prayer in public spaces.
There is enormous ignorance in modern Britain concerning the doctrine of God’s providence in respect of the destiny of nations. Many today might laugh in disbelief at the highly significant role which prayer played in getting through of some of the most challenging and testing times during World War Two. There were no fewer than 12 national days of prayer during the war, which were widely supported, as shown by packed churches up and down the land. People were humbled by the Nazi threat and the horrors of another war so relatively soon after the Great War. They realised that the ultimate solution lay not just in strong political leadership and military might, but in belief: that the hand of the sovereign God was also at work, and that His aid had to be sought.
Those days of prayer speak to us of a distinctive and unifying national identity linked unashamedly to the Christian faith. The modern idols of diversity and multiculturalism, along with rampant secularism and the abandonment of the Bible by compromised churches have, together, destroyed this Christian identity. Today such exclusively Christian national days of prayer would, perversely, be deemed harmful to social cohesion, or even unfair, because people of other faiths or no faith reside in the land.
In fact many in government as well as opposition circles deeply regret Britain’s departure from the European Union and would seek to draw us back into the EU fold and its globalist approach to political action. How many of the political leaders publicly paying their respects today as they should do, to the fallen, believe any longer in national self-determination as a fundamental and inalienable principle? How many understand that God Himself ordained nationhood from the earliest times in the world’s history, as is clearly demonstrated in Genesis 9-11?
Globalism, not nationalism, is the order of the day. The contemporary ‘progressive’ preference with politicians is for defining and tackling problems through global organisations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), rather than through the national parliament of a United Kingdom at Westminster.
This desire to dilute and emasculate British identity is also seen at the other end of the spectrum, in the agenda for further devolution and regionalisation of the UK, from citizens assemblies to a Council of the Nations and Regions as opposed to the single national gathering of parliament.
The contemporary Indian philosopher and author Vishal Mangalwadi sharing his insights into the influence of the Bible upon western society in The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization, points out that from the 16th century onward in Europe the translation of the Scriptures into national languages had a critical and beneficial effect upon the development of the national identities of Germany, the Netherlands and Britain. It was as people read God’s word in their own tongues that they became more aware of their identity as a distinct grouping in the sight of God.
In the 19th century, Mangalwadi also explains, it was Christian missionaries who worked on bringing system, form and structure to various Indian dialects, so as to translate the Bible into those tongues. This became, he says, a major factor in the development of what are today the national languages of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
In other words, Christianity is quite simply good for nationhood, because nationhood is the Lord’s own institution.
Thankfully, some in the West are finally waking up to the significance of nationhood and national identity. The outcome of the US election this last week can certainly be seen as a positive step in this direction. Belief in nationhood is not, however, enough on its own. The ultimate solution to all our national woes is not merely to rely on a certain political philosophy, but rather to engage in a national turning, in repentance and faith, to our precious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Peter Simpson
Pastor Peter Simpson has been Minister of Penn Free Methodist Church in Buckinghamshire since 1990, and is a keen open air preacher. He is the author of a book on World War II entitled ‘When a Nation Prays’, which is currently available on Amazon.
Christian Watch committee member, Pastor Peter Simpson, was involved in preaching the gospel at the Manchester Pride parade in the centre of the city on August 24th. He was alongside Pastors John Sherwood (Finchley, N. London), Pastor David Carson (Chester) and Mr Christopher Wild (also from Chester). They were helped by a small and valiant number of others in support. Various relevant portions of Scripture were on display, which the many thousands of people attending the parade could not help but reading.
The Manchester parade is big, taking some 3 hours to pass through the streets. The band of those witnessing was located on a major thoroughfare of the city on the parade route. What was especially distressing was seeing parents bringing their young children to watch the proceedings, and their encouraging them to wave LGBT flags in an act of celebration. Children were even on some of the floats in the parade. What appalling harm is being done to impressionable young minds by the public display of drag queens and others who were cross-dressing. This event was nothing less than a public trashing of God’s commandments. It was a specifically anti-Christian event in that it involved the public rejection and mockery of the Bible, which is the very word of God.
Parade supporters frequently tried to drown out the preachers by blowing trumpets, and cover up God’s word by waving rainbow flags in front of those witnessing. Drivers of parade-float lorries made a point of incessantly blowing their horns when in the front of the preachers, making it much more difficult for the amplified preaching to be heard. We are reminded of Zechariah 7:10 : “They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear”.
Many of those walking by the witnessing Christians uncannily adopted the same practice of shaking their heads and laughing, as if to say, How can anyone in this day and age hold such primitive and unenlightened opinions? However, one wonders if the laughter was in fact no more than a feeble device to try and shake off being suddenly confronted with the harsh reality and fearful consequences of ignoring Almighty God’s holy commandments.
At one point a large number of opponents stood in front of the preachers and their helpers repeatedly chanting : ‘God loves gays’. By this of course they meant that God finds their lifestyle acceptable, and condones their sin, not that He reaches out to
sinners in mercy, if only they will repent. This chant was actually bordering on the blasphemous, implying that the holy God happily embraces flagrant moral wickedness. This action was in effect no different to chanting, say, ‘God loves adultery’, which is listed alongside homosexuality in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as keeping men outside of the kingdom of God.
The fashion-following parade supporters, hopelessly captive to the spirit of the age, were obviously oblivious of Bible texts such as Luke 13:3, where the Lord Jesus declares, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”. To publicly lie and deceive many others about God’s righteous laws, and about His anger at the sins of men, is no minor aberration, but an arrogant shaking of the fist at Almighty God in an act of foolish and reckless rebellion. Furthermore, what a terrible guilt lies upon the false, Bible-denying churches which promote such lies and deception.
Out of love for their unbelieving neighbours the preachers did not shrink from speaking of the reality of the wrath of God and of the place of eternal condemnation for all the unrepentant, namely hell. At one point Pastor Simpson told the parade participants and supporters that they were merely conformists, the establishment, the mainstream, those who were meekly following the crowd. It really is about time that the homosexual activists ceased claiming that they are an oppressed minority. They have the complete upper hand, having won over the education system, big business and our major national institutions. This is demonstrated by the following list of some of the bodies involved in the parade :
The National Trust, Aldi, the Civil Service, the NHS, Cadent Gas, the Quakers, Cheshire Fire Service, Greater Manchester Fire Service, Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, AstraZeneca, The Science and Industry Museum, Wickes, Argos, the National Education Union, United Utilities (water company) and even the Royal British Legion.
One Roman Catholic young woman tried to justify her support of all that was taking place by saying that she went to church every Sunday. It was pointed out to her that church-going never saved a single soul, and the witnessing brother questioned what her church must be teaching her. Attending a place of worship is very important, but the message of the Christian gospel is all about inward transformation by means of repentance and faith. It focuses on the reality that “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). All need a complete radical inward change, because “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).
A parade supporter asked one of those witnessing, “Why do you care so much about what we are doing?” She was told that it is because all have immortal spirits, and as
Christians we care for our neighbours, and do not want to see them end up in hell. We want them to experience true “joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13), not the shallow and fleeting exuberance of fleshly indulgence, worked up as it is by music with a heavy beat and by the euphoria of belonging to a crowd.
Towards the end of the parade there were some meaningful conversations with some pro-LGBT young people, and at least two of them seemed to be genuinely moved by the Biblical arguments put forward to them, and were beginning to rethink their attitude. May the Lord work powerfully on their hearts and lead them into all truth, as indeed is now being prayed for the thousands who heard and saw the word of God being set forth in the midst of all the gross spiritual darkness which characterised this day.
