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.
THE London Pride parade held last Saturday in the centre of the capital is as good a barometer as any for illustrating the spiritual and moral condition of contemporary Britain. I and a small group of preachers and other Christians in support from all around the UK endeavoured to make a stand for Biblical truth and preach the gospel, as the centre of our capital was given over to a celebration of the trashing of God’s eternal moral law. The 32,000 people in the parade, and the many more thousands of members of the public cheering it on, were in reality engaged in a blatant anti-Christian and anti-God demonstration.
One would have thought that by now, having achieved all their objectives, the LGBT activists would be content with their victories of having won over society to their cause and of having redefined marriage in British law. Nevertheless, they still seem to have to take on the role of victim and campaigners against alleged inequality, despite having the fulsome praise of the establishment heaped upon them.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, led the parade. He stated: ‘This incredible event is a shining light for LGBTQI+ rights and shows why our city is a beacon for openness and inclusion – a place where you are embraced and celebrated for who you are.’ One wonders then if Bible-believing Christians who consider homosexuality to be sinful are also embraced and celebrated for who they are. From the behaviour towards them at the parade one could only conclude, Most definitely not!
Illustrating just how mainstream and establishment this event is, a random list of some of the parade participants: Hewlett Packard, Heathrow Express, the London Fire Brigade, Siemens, Tesco, the Institute of Biomedical Science, Cambridge University, London University, Coca-Cola, Transport for London, Historic Royal Palaces, the Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Scouts, the National Grid, the Bank of England, the Financial Ombudsman Service and M&S.
As the witnessing Christians held up relevant Bible verses, so many younger people walked by contemptuously laughing, leading me each time to ask them, ‘Why are you laughing at the Bible?; why are you mocking the word of God?; are you wiser than the God who gives you your daily breath?’ One wonders if they would be willing publicly to mock the Qur’an?
If there was one particular phenomenon which this event demonstrated, it was the complete failure of the mainstream churches in the last 50 or 60 years to proclaim what the Bible actually teaches. It exposes the churches’ utter unwillingness to confront head-on the fashionable trends in society for fear of not being seen to move with the times. It is as if the Biblical injunction, ’Be not conformed to this world’ (Romans 12:2) had never been written.
Repeatedly the witnessing Christians were told, ‘Jesus never judges anyone’. Vast numbers of young people evidently believe that the Christian faith is nothing more than a replication of 1960s hippie culture and of the Beatles’ creed of ‘all you need is love’. Have they never read, for example, the Lord’s words in Luke 13:3, ’Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish’?
Many parade supporters also shouted out, ‘Jesus loves everyone’, and so they were asked in response, Does that mean that everyone without exception ends up in heaven, no matter what they have done in their lives? Are you really arguing that the Son of God, to whom the Father has assigned the role of Judge (John 5:22), never actually will judge, and will always overlook and condone all sin? Must we now abandon the Apostles’ Creed which says of the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge the living and the dead’.
As the day progressed, it became increasingly apparent how the word ‘love’ is one of the most abused words in the English language. The mantra of ‘love is love’ was frequently chanted, but what does this expression actually mean? Does it mean that all types of love must be valid, such as, for example, adulterous love or fornication outside of marriage? What this parade made blindingly obvious was the complete absence of love, indeed the outright hostility and contempt, within the LGBT movement towards those who dare to challenge on Biblical grounds their worldview.
For those who would argue that the presence at the parade of Christians preaching about repentance also demonstrated an absence of love towards homosexual and trans people, our response is this: it is an aspect of profound love to one’s neighbour, if one sees him in danger, to warn him and to show him the means of escaping the danger, and to point him also to the means of receiving abundant blessing.
This parade was such a depressing snapshot of a collapsing civilisation. Sexual acts between men were simulated in front of the Christians as a means of expressing contempt for their presence. Young children were amongst the crowds watching this enormous event as men in scanty underwear, dressed in skirts, or in leather and as dogs, paraded through the streets. How tragic it was to see so many young people seemingly incapable of any valid response to a declaration of Biblical morality other than to make vulgar hand gestures, swear at and insult those whom they disagreed. Every time that they did this, this writer told them that he had just won the argument, because of the ad hominem nature of their response, devoid of actual substance.
The preachers endeavoured to explain to the many thousands of parade supporters that their conduct was exposing an utter susceptibility to the dictates of majority thinking. They were revealing their captivity to the spirit of the age. They are the conformists, the establishment, the mainstream, whereas to follow the Lord Jesus Christ is to come apart and be separate from the ways of this world. May the God of grace and mercy, who is also a terrifying Judge if there is no repentance, speak powerfully to their hearts.
Extracts from a sermon preached by John Newton in 1787
The usual judgment of mankind on almost every important point is so very different from the decision of Scripture that both cannot possibly be true. National prosperity is more commonly estimated by the extent of dominion, by the success of arms in war and the increase of riches and commerce in peace; whether righteousness flourisheth or not is seldom taken into account. And the prevalence of sin, of infidelity, dissipation and profligacy is deemed a small reproach compared with a diminution of power and wealth. When our fleets and armies triumphed over all resistance and spread terror and desolation to the remotest parts of the globe and the treasures of the East began to pour in upon us with an almost boundless profusion, this nation was supposed to be highly exalted. But nothing less than the progress of righteousness and the suppression of sin can render us truly honourable or take away our reproach if the Word of God, the great Governor of the earth, be truth. And this happy change would do it, though we should lose one province and one empire after another and we should be deprived of our boasted consequence among the nations of the earth.
The sentences in the Book of Proverbs are for the most part contrasted and we may therefore fix the sense of righteousness in this passage by considering it as the opposite to sin. Sin, which is the reproach of our nature, of every person, family, village, city and kingdom in which it is found, is that inward principle of the heart and that outward course of conduct which is contrary to our relation to God as His creatures and to the tenor of His revealed will. A right disposition of heart towards God and a conduct in all points regulated by the authority and rule of His Holy Word is this righteousness which exalteth a nation, and so far as this is wanting, the most powerful, opulent, civilized and enlightened empire, with all its supposed attainments, advantages and distinctions, is clearly the subject of reproach and contempt.
Consider how a nation (which is composed of a multitude of individuals) would be exalted if the character of the text was universally or even generally prevalent. Whatever be the situation of the righteous man, he is an ornament and a blessing to the community. If he be in authority, he ruleth over men in the fear of God. Whether seated upon a throne, or in a subordinate station in public life, his power, influence and example, so far as they extend, are employed in promoting the public good to encourage the love of righteousness in others, to vindicate the oppressed, maintain order and suppress wickedness. The God whom he serves teaches him for his station and supports him. His principles render him superior to the selfish craft which often passes for wisdom in the world and the fear of God secures him from that fear of man which bringeth a snare.
The righteous man is the true patriot, who wrestles for his country by prayer in secret and devotes his talents to promote the good of all around him. The righteous man in private life is a good citizen. He respects and obeys the Government and laws under which he lives. He is willingly subject to lawful authority (and obeys), not from constraint, or for the sake of filthy lucre, but for conscience’ sake. If he be rich, the grace of God teaches him to be humble, moderate and benevolent. If he be poor, it teaches him patience and contentment, to be quiet in the land, diligent in his calling. As a relative, the righteous man is a kind and compassionate master, a good husband, a punctual trader, a faithful, upright servant, in every relation endeavouring to approve himself to God and to do unto others as he would wish others in a like situation should do unto him. He is sober and temperate in all things, gentle, forbearing and forgiving, because in every situation he endeavours to adorn the doctrine of God his Saviour in all things, and is no farther directly concerned in the affairs of this life than to let his light so shine in his allotted department that others may glorify God on his behalf.
I think it undeniable that if this righteousness were diffused among all ranks and orders of men, there would be reason to say, Happy are the people that are in such a state. Discord, envy, hatred, prodigality, covetousness, sensuality and a long train of evils which fill the world with woe, would be banished from among them. Each one in his sphere would contribute to the good of the whole and God thus served and thus honoured, would be their bulwark and shield, a wall of fire round about them and a glory in the midst of them. But where sin, the neglect of God and of His laws, prevail – it is a present reproach – it will prove them a foolish and unwise, an ungrateful and base-spirited people. A want of public spirit in superiors, a readiness to sacrifice every valuable consideration to the selfish calls of ambition or interest – and, in the inferior [socially lower] classes, impatience of subordination, licentiousness under the pretence of liberty, the indulgence of hurtful passions – in general: dissensions, riots, weak counsels, rash enterprises, ruined fortunes and constitutions, distracted families, tyrannical masters, treacherous servants, bankruptcies, robberies, rapes and murders, crowded jails and places of worship almost empty would mark the character of the nation and of the times. And these things would in their own nature not only be a reproach, but tend to the ruin of the people.
God has sometimes shown His displeasure against sin by public and severe judgments – thus He brought a flood upon the old world and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. But if He only leaves a people to themselves, their ruin will be equally certain and perhaps equally terrible. He inflicted no heavier punishment than this upon the Jews after they had filled up the measure of their iniquities by crucifying the Son of God. He did not visit them with earthquakes or hurricanes, but He gave them up to the way of their own hearts. Their ruin quickly follows; they brought it upon themselves, with such a complicated concurrence of calamities as were never suffered by any other people upon earth.
Whether we are a people exalted by the love and practice of righteousness, or whether sin, enormous sin, be our reproach and a just cause for fear lest it involve us in ruin, I leave to your observation and to your consciences. I hope there are amongst you many righteous persons, and many more who feel some concern for the wickedness and misery around you. May God enable you, according to your several opportunities, to contribute to our national honour and to the removal of our reproach by joining heartily in the cause of righteousness and by discountenancing sin.
This will lead you to countenance the preaching of the Gospel, which is the appointment and power of God to salvation through faith in His Name. The people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The glorious Gospel of Christ is like the sun: when this light shines and is perceived, the darkness of iniquity and misery flee before it.
“Unto us a child is born;” in our nature, born of a woman: “Unto us a Son is given,” not merely a man-child, but, emphatically, a Son, the Son of God. This was the most precious gift, the highest proof and testimony of Divine love. The distinction and union of these widely-distant natures, which constitute the person of Christ, the God-man, the Mediator, is, in the judgment and language of the Apostle, the “great mystery of godliness,” the pillar and ground of truth….It is the central truth of revelation, which, like the sun, diffuses a light upon the whole system, no part of which can be rightly understood without it. Thus, the Lord of all humbled Himself, to appear in the form of a servant, for the sake of sinners.
“The government shall be upon His shoulder.” In our nature He suffered and in the same nature He reigns. When He had overcome the sharpness, the sting of death, He took possession of the Kingdom of Glory as His own – and opened it to all who believe in Him. Now we can say, He who governs in Heaven and on earth, and whom all things obey, is “the child who was born, the Son who was given for us”… [Those united to Him by faith] have, in one respect, an appropriate honour, in which the angels cannot share. Their best friend, related to them in the same nature, is seated upon the throne of glory. Since He is “for them, who can be against them?” What may they not expect, when He who has so loved them as to redeem them with His own blood “has all power committed unto Him, both in Heaven and on earth!”<
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;
they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”
(Isaiah 40:31)
The promises of God are all ‘yea’ and ‘amen’ in a precious Jesus; and revealed to the new-born soul by the Spirit of all truth, who takes up His ‘abode’ in that new creature for the very purpose of making manifest Christ formed in that heart, the hope of glory. And the first evidence is a cry unto the Lord for mercy, under the conviction of sin. And, however long or short a time it may be that the soul is in that condition – according to the sovereign pleasure of an all-wise Father – yet, sooner or later, that cry will be answered by the ‘Word which is spirit and life,’ in drawing it to a glorious Mediator, and also opening the sensible sinner’s ears to hear that all is accomplished by that ever-precious Redeemer; and begetting an earnest longing to know if his sins were laid upon Him, who hath blotted out the transgressions of His people with His own most precious blood; having first fulfilled God’s most holy and righteous law; yea, magnified it and made it honourable!
The next work of God the Holy Ghost is to open the eyes to behold glorious things in that ‘law of loving-kindness,’ grace and truth by Jesus Christ. The ‘eyes of the understanding’ being enlightened, this (new) creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God – ‘because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God’ (Rom. 8:19, 21). The heart is also opened to receive Him as the whole of salvation; this being the work of faith with power – faith which worketh by love (or Christ), because the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. Now, then, to come to the gracious declaration: ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength’ (or change, margin). From hearing, by the ear of faith, and seeing, by the eye of faith, they are now enabled to receive (or believe) with their whole (or new) heart, unto righteousness; according to another sweet promise: ‘They shall go from strength to strength.’ And that is not all: ‘everyone shall appear in Zion’; by living faith shall know that they are in the ‘city’ of the living God; and shall come with everlasting songs. One of these is, ‘In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.’ Another, ‘Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength, and my song; He also is become my salvation.’
Solemn words by J. C. Philpot in 1853 – based upon Joel 1
Where in our day, with all this material prosperity, is real religion and vital godliness, which are the evidence of grace? Does it flourish? Is the church, the Lamb’s wife, growing in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do ministers preach with power and savour? Is God deeply feared, are His promises firmly believed, are His precepts carefully obeyed and His ordinances highly prized. Is His Word dearly loved, His honour and glory earnestly sought? Are those who profess the truth humble, prayerful, watchful and spiritually minded? Are they walking as living witnesses for God and testifying to an ungodly world that they are children and servants of the Most High? Is the line of separation between the church and the world clear and distinct? And does she shine forth, “fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners”(S of S 6:10)?
Who can say it is so? Who can say of the church that she is flourishing and that her prosperity runs parallel with that of the world? We may rather take up Joel’s lament in verses 10 – 12 of the chapter we read, “The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl O ye vine dressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree even all the trees of the field are withered”.
Reflections on the significance and implications of the
Coronation Oath
By: Pev. Peter Simpson
(Pastor of Penn Free Methodist Church and CW Committee Member)
As we prepare for the Coronation of King Charles III in May 2023, we cannot over-emphasise the importance of this event with respect to our nation’s Bible-based constitution. The key element in the coronation service is the fact that it takes place in the sight of the Trinitarian God, and it involves specific promises made before Him, rendering the one who makes the promises, and the government which he represents, liable to the judgment of God, if such promises are broken.
The awesome solemnity of oath-taking is made clear in the book of Numbers, “If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth” (Num. 30:2). So the Coronation Service must never be viewed as some kind of delightful, quaint, but relatively meaningless ancient ceremony, nor can it be dismissed as mere pageantry. It is a deadly serious transaction with significance for the well-being of the whole nation.
The Coronation Oath Act 1688, which William and Mary swore to commences, ‘Will you solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of England and the dominions thereto belonging according to the statutes in Parliament agreed on and the laws and customs of the same?’ King Charles will have to swear to the same with the likely amendment to reflect the current state of Great Britain and the Commonwealth.
(This article is written in the knowledge that there is a broad range of opinion amongst evangelical Christians on the coronavirus and on how society should react to it. It is therefore offered for consideration in a humble and deferential manner – and in a spirit of brotherly love).
Britain is in desperate need of spiritual direction. Liberal secularism has fashioned the national mindset in such a way that responses to national crises are now totally different in character to, say, those which prevailed during World War Two.
Let us examine the current response to the coronavirus in the light of how the nation once dealt with the affliction of war. Covid-19 has, in fact, exposed the deep spiritual void in our contemporary national life; whereas during the Second World War, although the nation’s spiritual condition was far from thriving, there was still a general acceptance of the concept of God’s providence overruling in the affairs of men.
So, faced with a powerful enemy in the form of Nazi Germany, society understood that military might and strategy were not the only answers, but that there was also a need to seek the aid of the Almighty, He who determined the outcome of wars. Even the politicians publicly acknowledged this. As a result, the war witnessed no less than 12 national days of prayer, all widely supported throughout the land – and this revealed that society still broadly appreciated the words of Psalm 20:7 – “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the Name of the Lord our God”.
All in a matter of a few weeks, a virulent virus spreads over the globe. The pandemic Coronavirus – Covid 19 – has caused widespread disruption in every nation it has visited, many are calling these ‘unprecedented times’, times when the medical services have been stretched, often beyond capacity, in terms of hospital beds, staff and equipment. The price of oil, man’s liquid gold, has for the first time in its history reached negative territory. To add to these calamities the world’s economies are in danger of a great, possibly the greatest, recession ever.
When the Bible, the Word of the Living God, in the book of Amos speaks of the “lion roaring”; what does this mean? It means that God by The Lord Jesus Christ who is also called in Scripture “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah”, has roared out a warning to the inhabitants of the earth. How? By His acts of Providence in temporal judgements, we may say chastisements. Amos which speaks much of these Divine acts declares: “the lion has roared, who will not fear?”
It should be remembered that Almighty God who has sent out this warning holds in the hollow of His Hand all His creation and all events be they great or small. Lest any should ascribe these things to chance or the ‘natural way of things’, He asks by Amos: “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” The Puritans in the time of the black death had no doubt as to who had sent such a plague!
