Brexit, A Modern-Day Edenic Lie?

Only yesterday a tradesman called at our home to inspect and upgrade our smoke alarm system. As with most two-storey homes, we have two smoke alarms, one downstairs in the hallway, outside the kitchen door, the other upstairs above the landing, outside the bathroom door. I can understand the downstairs location. Cooking can be a risky business, and a slip up could cause the contents of the saucepan or frying pan to burn or smoulder, with thick smoke rising from the stove which would set off the alarm to screaming mode. 

But how a fire can start within a bathtub or shower unit is a bit of a mystery. Whether scalding my foot as I attempt to enter a bathtub of overheated water would set off the upstairs alarm or not, no doubt the makers of these gadgets had seen the wisdom to have such an instalment.

Can a bathroom generate smoke? Stock photo.

But it's not the gadgets in focus here but rather the tradesman who called by appointment. His broken English, as he introduced himself, quickly gave the game away. Another "foreign immigrant" stealing a job from an indigenous white Englishman who is left to live off Jobseeker's Allowance. Indeed, how terrible the European Union (EU) was to allow immigrants to invade our Sceptred Isles! The tradesman might have glimpsed into our kitchen whilst servicing the smoke detector and not realise that its excellent decor was also the work of non-indigenous foreigners, who also installed a new row of kitchen cupboards as part of their work schedule.

And the tradesman calls on the same day the UK leaves the EU. It was an apt reminder that the result of the 2016 referendum was due to the annoying fact that Britain was swamped by immigrants. Never mind that the total percentage of all immigrants into the UK was only 14% in 2018, the percentage from the EU is only a fraction of this, a mere 6%.

This added that it was the UK and not the EU who encouraged immigration, especially under Tony Blair's Government. And allowing them to live for six months without a job also was our idea, not the EU's. And then all the domestic problems, the kind which can afflict any nation: the wealth gap for starters, then the ailing NHS - which was brought about by our own austerity and the rise of the ageing British population, and not by immigrants, nor the EU. The decline of British industry came about mainly under Thatcher's Government and such resulting redundancy and the rise of crime is of our making and not from EU membership. Terrorism did not arise from EU membership either. Rather it was from the radical Muslims from the Middle East which isn't allied with the EU.*

But xenophobia against European immigration, Poles mainly, which was the main thrust to leave. After the result was declared on the next day, there was a sudden spike of racist and xenophobic violence thrown towards foreigners, again, mainly towards Poles but also to Asians too, who were not from the EU. These incidents were physical as well as verbal, making the reality of Brexit a massive disappointment to these citizens, encouraging them to uproot and return to their homeland with a bitter taste of British experience lingering in their mouths as well as giving the English a bad reputation. Hmm. Very Christian indeed!

Alongside the grudge against foreigners, the other reason why we voted to leave was to regain our independence and sovereignty. Ah, sovereignty. As one Facebook friend wrote about the newly-gained freedom, how wonderful it is to be free from the domain of the world's worst crooks. World's worst crooks? I thought they were locked up at Alcatraz Prison, an island jailhouse surrounded by the Pacific inlet of San Francisco Bay. Oh, wait! The prison closed down in March 1963. That is 32 years before I visited the site as a backpacking tourist in 1995. With a further 25 years leading up to the present day, 57 years is too long for the likes of Al Capone to settle in Brussels as a member of the European Parliament. Therefore, if my friend's evaluation of these members is correct, then we can only assume that at least one MEP is Capone's grandson.

Alcatraz housed Al Capone and other notorious criminals.

Having visited the EU Museum in Brussels only last year with my beloved wife, I find it strange that there seems to be a total ignorance on why the EEC, the forerunner of the EU, formed in the first place when Europe was still recovering from the ravages of war, and never again want any more of such a world conflict. The result is freedom of movement between countries, free international trade, a universal currency, and the ability for anyone to settle in a different country, including Brits settling abroad and continentals settling here, as well as a deterrent against another outbreak of a global war, certainly has made these "world's worst crooks" look like saints by comparison. Al Capone, you're forgiven!

This national pride (no humility?) national independence (from God?) and national sovereignty (never submit to God or to another nation or empire?) - are the threefold promise constantly put out by Leave supporters. Really, it's not about the strength or weakness of the Economy. It's all about national pride, independence and sovereignty. And a promise to rise in power sometime in the future? This long-sought imperial mentality? According to my experience in life, there is much said about "The Noble Englishman" being right at the top of Darwin's evolutionary chain. According to the Media, that's is what Brexit is all about, isn't it?

Promises of national glory. Prospects of a golden economic future. I can't help but hear the leaves on the trees of history shaking as if blowing in the wind, the flapping of the pages in the Bible. After all, isn't Brexit the very heart and soul of the fallen human psyche? These words continue to echo across a long, long period:

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:5.

If I can see a parallel between the Edenic Lie which led to the entry of sin and death to all men - and future national glory, then it's either a spiritual discernment I have or I'm insane or unrealistic. To be proud to be English, as it has been said to me, seems to imply shame of belonging to any other nationality, indicating an admission of superiority as a Noble Englishman. Indeed, that's what Brexit want to aim for, isn't it? National superiority?

I mourn over this. I just couldn't celebrate, whether at home or at Parliament Square with Nigel Farage exalting himself, while Big Ben remains stubbornly quiet, refusing even one bong, and no fireworks either. In fact, at the stroke of 23.00 hours on January 31st 2020, there was only one firework let off from a neighbour two doors away from our home. It was one of those fireworks which threw one explosive star after another into the air after just one igniting of the touchpaper. And that was it. Nothing at all resembling Bonfire Night or even New Year. Yet even Alex and I went briefly to the window to watch it.

Then the ensuring quietness of the night. The sense of normality lasting into dawn, but as Tony Blackburn's Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 attempting to bring cheer into our bedroom, I could still sense a death, the passing of something. A sense of isolation. A new beginning? It felt more like a horrible death. Furthermore, on the very same day when we were about to leave the EU, there was also news about how the coronavirus from China had already entered England within two patients, up north in Yorkshire. A very ominous timing indeed!

The world turns. The sun rises, the gentle wind sways the finer branches of the still-leafless trees of Winter, magpies continue to nest, elsewhere, rivers continue to flow, the waves of the sea continue to lap along the beach, clouds drift across the sky. On a more global scale, the Gulf Stream just keeps on flowing, bring warmer waters from the Carribean Sea, across the Atlantic Ocean, to give us milder Winters, whilst Canada and parts of the USA lay under a blanket of snow. And we continue breathing, wondering what has the future have in store for us.

Despite the continuous daily activity of the entire natural order which I could see, hear, and having awareness of, there is this other bad feeling in the air alongside the mournful sorrow. That is the sense of gloating of the Leaver's victory over us Remainers who had lost the original vote and is believed by them that through our ministers at Westminster, we tried our best to overturn Brexit (even if I wasn't involved.) That snooty look down the nose from the likes of Etonian Jacob Rees-Mogg, that smug attitude from other supporters, even from among churchgoers, the laughing and scornful tease from the street mob, shouting down the EU and its supporters in a derisory manner, making us feel small and maybe even embarrassed at their presence.

A pro-Brexit march in London.

And such awful titles such as Remoaner and Remainiac, the latter coined by disgraced Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins, one of Alan Sugar's The Apprentice fired candidates, who referred to all Remainers and Londoners alike as being barely distinguishable from the apeman, well behind on the evolutionary scale. Indeed, the Noble Englishman is definitely not a supporter of the EU!

And then there are my fellow brothers in Christ whom I know well. By their support of Brexit by some of them, including my closest friends, I had gotten the impression that Matthew 6:33 actually has Jesus giving the instruction:

But seek first your nation's sovereignty and its glory, and all these things will be added to you.

I'm aware of the seriousness of such tampering with God's Word. But if going by John's cry right at the end of the whole Bible, it's worth considering what the priorities of a believer's life should be.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33.
And John cries out:

He who testifies of these things, says, "Yes, I'm coming soon."
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen. Revelation 22:20-21.

The ushering of God's Kingdom. A Kingdom of peace and righteousness, and with the Curse of the Edenic Lie at last lifted from all Creation. Now that's the hope for optimism and nothing else which falls short should even be considered, especially if it causes so much pain, division and controversy.

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*The Guardian newspaper, February 1st, 2020.