Preposterousness

This doesn't need much addition from me.  Just prayer. Lots of it.  And Christ-reflecting action.  So join with me.  How can we change the flow away from God?

In England in the 1370s, John Wycliffe suffered persecution for daring to protest for biblical truth. In 1415 John Hus was burnt at the stake in Prague, Bohemia, for doing the same. On 31 October 1517 a German monk named Martin Luther risked martyrdom and worse - the Inquisition - when he launched his protest for biblical truth: Salvation by grace through faith, not by works. He sought reform but got division, and the Protestant Church was born. Religious liberty and the revival of biblical theology brought many positive consequences to the societies that embraced it.  

As prosperity grew so too did the rot of pride and arrogance.  Before long, Protestant societies were not only forgetting God and the truths that had given them their liberty, but were rejecting God as irrelevant. (Hmmm...sounds familiar.  Our pastor preached a message yesterday featuring God's call to not forget Him.  Humility means remembering how we achieved the prosperity; it's all God, whether we recognise that or not) William Wilberforce, though remembered primarily as an abolitionist, was passionate about Britain's need for spiritual reformation. Not only had the nation of his day largely forgotten God but its church had mostly returned to a works-based theology, believing that people merited salvation by being 'good' - and not as a consequence of being saved by grace through faith.  

The awakening and spiritual reform that Wilberforce launched turned the tide in the UK. But today nearly 500 years on from Luther and some 250 years on from Wilberforce, the UK is in trouble again and is desperately in need of a fresh awakening.

Moreover religious liberty is fading fast.

• All Nations Church in South London, was recently ordered not to use its sound system for its sermons or music so as to avoid offending its Muslim neighbours. A Christian office worker, Denise Haye, was recently sacked for expressing her disapproval of homosexuality.
• A Deputy Registrar with Islington Borough Council, Theresa Davies, was demoted because she refused to preside over same-sex civil partnership ceremonies.
• A Christian nurse with 40 years' experience, Anand Rao, was sacked after he suggested to a training seminar that distressed palliative care patients could try going to church.
• A Christian community nurse and professional foster mother (with 80 children's-worth of experience) was recently struck off the register for failing to prevent a 16-year-old Muslim girl converting to Christianity.
• A Christian homelessness prevention officer with 18 years' experience, Duke Amachree, was sacked by Wandsworth Council for sharing his faith with a client who had lost hope.
• Rev Noble Samuel of Heston United Reformed Church,  who debates Muslims on his TV Gospel program, was hijacked in his car by three Urdu-speaking assailants who grabbed him by the hair, ripped off his cross and threatened to break his legs if he continued broadcasting.

If the Equality Bill that is now making its way through parliament passes as expected, then persecution will increase dramatically. While Christians are being silenced, Islamisation is advancing, with Islamic fundamentalists appeased at every turn by short-sighted politicians who lack political courage and hanker after political gain. While Christians are fined, sacked and sued for expressing their faith, Anjem Choudary's Islam4UK is free to pump out its radical Islamic theology all across the country.

Some 5000 supporters of Islam4UK are expected to join a 'March for Sharia' from the House of Commons to Trafalgar Square on 31 October, which coincidentally (I think purposefully planned) is Reformation Day. As long as the various anti-Christian lobby groups can silence Christians by shutting down debate through anti-defamation, anti-vilification and anti-discrimination laws along with threats of violence, they will be on a winning trajectory with little resistance -- that is, until violent conflict erupts. Violent 'race' clashes are already on the increase. The UK is in trouble. (And not just the UK, though since we'll be moving to this part of the world in a few months, we are watching and listening for God's direction on how we need to be part of the change, His change, for this nation)

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT:

* God will greatly bless those Christians who are courageously defending gospel truths and values in the UK's courts and streets, that they will have abundant grace, wisdom and boldness from the Holy Spirit.

* as Muslims 'March for Sharia' on 31 October - Reformation Day - British Christians will remember the courage of Martin Luther and be motivated by the heritage they have in Wycliffe, Ridley, Wilberforce, Carey and others.

* revival will come to the UK Church so that the nation's Christians will step out boldly with gospel truths and values, being prepared to suffer and, in Wilberforce's words, 'be wholly indebted' to the God of grace for everything.

Source: by Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, with extra bits by me, as always.