A Promise Of Reassurance...

Mmm, let's see. Here in the UK, we have entered a third national lockdown. This new variant of the virus, which originated in the Kent region of Southern England, has spread rapidly across the country, giving us all the frights and dashing hopes of a recovery. It has now become illegal even to leave our homes without a proper reason, although the normal commute to work is allowed, providing that working from home is impossible. 

Covid-19 virus.

Thus, I assume that all the train, bus and taxi drivers, builders, plumbers, electricians, dustmen, landscapers, and other essential members of the workforce have to leave their homes for their shifts, but for the average pen-pusher, remaining in pyjamas and tapping away at a laptop whilst sitting up in bed, thus allowing his business suit and tie gather dust and attract moths as they hang neglected in the wardrobe. And such a cosy lifestyle is not only strongly recommended by our Government, but such a way of living could also be here permanently. Indeed, as if no man could change our national culture so rapidly as a tiny virus can.

And so, news comes in of a Scottish housewife letting a disabled relative into her house. But unfortunately, a curtain-twitcher phones the police and they arrive, two or three of them, and barge into the house to demand what's going on and threatening them with fines. Meanwhile, two young women take a stroll at a park surrounding a reservoir, each holding a paper cup of coffee. The police approach them and fines both of them for driving five miles out of their hometown of Leicester and accusing them of having a picnic.

Meanwhile, at a small village somewhere in England, a snitch gets a pub owner into trouble with the police for letting someone in, and threaten to close the pub down permanently. Another pub elsewhere had its car park full of parked vehicles. Another curtain-twitcher phones the police, and they arrive. In this case, the landlord was let off after explaining that the parked cars were an overflow from a nearby car-hire firm whose business has gone quiet since the start of the lockdown.

And so, the rate of infection rises rapidly, this time way surpassing the April peak of last year. With the infection-rate graph shown each evening on our TVs pointing directly skywards, also both the hospital admission-rate graph and the mortality graph each showing a steeper uphill climb, the nation wonders how much longer all this will go on, how many more will die, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Thus, any sense of optimism is held under strict scrutiny - if it hadn't dried up already. Even the prospect of a vaccine of three different brands seems to raise very little hope for optimism, except in the media, something quite different from the optimistic view of a golden future for our sovereign independent nation, a view held by Brexiteers.

And talking about Brexit, it was just over four years ago from this time of writing, after the Vote Leavers had won the 2016 Referendum and which was also coinciding with Donald Trump's election campaign across the Pond, when I found myself sitting in a pub with a couple of Christians, along with other Christian friends elsewhere. One issue I have found to be quite striking was that my Christian friends who voted Leave also favoured Republican Donald Trump to take over the Presidency from Barack Obama, rather than his rival Hilary Clinton.

The reason for this was easy to understand. Clinton supported elective abortions, Trump did not. Also, the latter was a very wealthy and successful businessman who, like our own Lord Alan Sugar, held his own US version of The Apprentice, or The Apprentice USA, therefore already well-known nationally. Thus, according to what I might have believed at the time, Trump was the icon of Make America Great Again, that is, under a free market, private profit, and although the American Constitution includes freedom of religion, yet Trump's manifesto would be under the banner of Christianity, as he claims to be a Christian himself. However, I was convinced at the time that his popularity among Christians, both here in the UK and in the States, was due to his stance against elective abortions.

But I was personally queasy about having Trump as their President. Nevertheless, I remained strictly neutral to hold the peace, even when my Christian friends supported him and he also seems well supported by Brexiteers.

And big-name Christian "prophets" - most of them had already died - such as Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Steve Hill, John Wimber, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, John Dawson, Benny Hinn, Paul Crouch, Yonggi Cho, Pastor John Kilpatrick (of Brownsville Assemblies of God, Pensacola) and other leaders of big churches, all, I assume, would have supported Donald Trump had they lived to this day. These leaders had several things in common, one being the Prosperity Gospel, a heresy that a Christian's level of spiritual health is defined by his wealth. Also, some of these leaders, or televangelists, offered personal prayers and promises of blessings for a fee. Thus, had you sent a fee and a prayer request to some of these leaders, you would have gotten a computer-generated letter back with your name on it, with the assurance that you are prayed for and your blessing is guaranteed.

But with so many request forms pouring in, it would be impossible for any single individual to be prayed for, yet the money poured in. One striking example was with the case of a man who sent a request with a considerable large fee to the Oral Roberts Foundation for his wife to be healed of cancer. After receiving an answer that prayers for her healing were already underway, his wife later died. A year later, another letter arrived from Oral Roberts, assuring the widower that after an intimate talk with God, God Himself reassured Roberts that the man's wife will make a physical recovery. Without a doubt, the widower was devastated! He then exposed the money-making scam lurking behind people such as Oral Roberts.

Donald Trump.

It was during that time in the nineties that teaching was going around many churches stemming from John Dawson's book, Taking our Cities for God: How to Break Spiritual Strongholds. Backed by C. Peter Wagner of Fuller Theological Seminary, and Pastor Jack Hayford along with others, prayers began to be offered to break the demonic strongholds over cities such as Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami, among others, including Calcutta, India. For one example, take Miami. On November 10 1989, Larry Lea, backed by 430 pastors and as many as 10,000 Christians, declared the demonic strongholds of Miami to be broken and its people released from such dominion. Particularly with the Strongman of Greed, which according to his own testimony, Lea had received a revelation from God that this stronghold will soon be broken and the wealth of Miami will go to the churches and individual Christians will be blessed with the released wealth.

That was more than thirty years ago, and so far the Stronghold of Greed is still in full power over Miami and as far as I know, the churches hadn't prospered in wealth to a higher level. Further instances of cities supposedly released from demonic strongholds proved to be equally fallacious, as moral decay continues to grow worse and worse during the ensuing decades.*

And here is the climax, thanks to a video made of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland which appeared recently on Facebook. During the 2020 US election campaign, Copeland stood up and declared that God Himself has said to him that Donald Trump will win the next election for a second term of office. But when Joe Biden received the greater number of votes, it was afterwards when Copeland shouted to his audience that the election result was fraudulent and the evil, Satanic forces must be broken in the name of Jesus! He then made a mockery of Joe Biden, which was followed by laughter so heinous that I almost felt my hair stand on end.

Is all this Biblical Christianity? Coming to think of it, what with Trump supporters raiding the Capitol Building and upturning its contents and involving the death of a police officer plus five other people, I can't help gasping when the rioters acted in the name of God and the glory of America! These were the very same people who would discriminate against Muslims, the reintroduction of black slavery if that was possible, and the deportation of other ethnic minorities along with Socialists, "for the glory of a white and prosperous America." And the ringleader was none other than Jack Kidd, an alma mater of Harrow Public School, thus a well-educated Brit and a descendant of an aristocratic family line, otherwise, during normal day-to-day living, an icon of respectability.  

With such prophets making fools of themselves, hence the detailed discussion above, could I look an atheist in the eye and boldly declare my allegiance to Jesus Christ? And would I stand up and declare with certainty a recent six-day Creation is a fact of history? And especially when the majority of my Christian friends who support Brexit also uphold Theistic Evolution?

And so the pandemic worsens, infections and hospitalisations increase, more people die of the virus, the vaccine faces a mountain of red-tape bureaucracy, a president is defeated and false prophets appear like woodworm out of old furniture - Help, stop the world, I want to get off!

But I doubt very much that a really major catastrophe will hit this country, Europe, and the rest of the world.

And that is simply the true saint is the salt of the earth. And even in these distressing times, there are still plenty of us around. And the Scripture I can give is the fascinating intercessory prayer made to God by Abraham, concerning the fate of Sodom - Genesis 18:16-33.

Here God says that if there are as little as ten righteous men in the city, God would spare the whole city for their sakes. A righteous man, according to God, is one whose faith in Him has resulted in God's own righteousness credited to him. It's this faith in God whose righteousness is imputed into his account whom the Almighty is referring to, and there was one standing there, Abraham, according to Genesis 15:6, and Lot, according to 2 Peter 2:6-10. With just one righteous person living in Sodom, it was deemed wiser to remove and relocate him rather than spare the whole city.

Ken Copeland laughing at Joe Biden, 2020.

If you and I are true believers, then we are the ones who, without the need for conscious effort, are keeping evil at bay and preventing the virus from killing everybody. Indeed, the Church is the salt of the Earth, despite being made up of imperfect people. The Church, the Bride of Christ, made up of different body parts placed at the right position in the body to make the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the virus can hit any one of us - Alex my wife was tested positive during the Spring of last year, and she is in the high-risk category due to having cancer.

Another proof that the pandemic will not wipe us out entirely, and that is God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This covenant ensures that they would inherit a particular area of land which will be theirs forever. And no stronger proof of the validity of the covenant is found than in Jeremiah 31:31-36 where God challenges anyone to break the covenant between night and day so that one no longer follows the other, or to measure the Universe and perhaps count all the stars within, or explore the very core of the earth - if any of these impossible tasks can be carried out - then God will break His covenant with Israel for what they have done.

Therefore, there are three active witnesses to reassure us that the pandemic - or any other disaster or natural catastrophe - will not wipe out the whole of mankind. They are the Bible, the Church, and Israel. And these three agree with each other. That is reassuring.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*From the late Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion, 1998, Harvest House Publishers.

Am I Being Morbid?

Being retired from work does give me several privileges. Aside from going to the gym up to three times a week, there is also the opportunity of visiting Bracknell Town Centre during a typical working day, especially around the time of the lunch period. And the fact that over here in what the Americans may refer to as "Downtown Bracknell," much of it is a huge building site, at a midst of a major redevelopment project, featuring a new shopping and leisure mall which will attract retailers and businesses which have not existed here before. 

Last week I passed a group of workmen who were milling around during lunchtime, and I overheard one calling out some instructions to another - in a foreign language, probably Polish. Suddenly, my perception of the construction project, the issue of immigration, and the result of the Referendum, all seemed to have come into focus. Many of the builders, if not the entire workforce, are no longer of the traditional English working-class builder, known for his drum-sized mugs of tea, a half smoked cigarette carefully poised between his fingers, and his casual humour as he wolf-whistles a passing young female, or as they say in their language, "a nice-looking chick." Rather, it looks to me that the redevelopment of Bracknell town centre is carried out by foreign workers who keep themselves mostly to themselves.

Reconstruction project at Bracknell town centre.

Like the time when we had a complete kitchen and bathroom overhaul, a project which lasted three weeks. Several different contractors were involved. The first took down all the old plaster and fittings, the next dealt with the plumbing, another took care of the electrical rewiring, another re-plastered the walls, still another installed all the new furnishings, another re-tiled the flooring, and the final contractor re-painted the walls and ceilings. Quite a number of workers we had in our house every weekday, and I'll be the first to say that they all done a magnificent job, up to professional standard. Yet every worker involved in the project were foreigners, even with a level of difficulty in speaking English.

So the cry of the indigenous Brits as we voted whether to remain in the EU or to leave and regain our national sovereignty - we voted to leave by a narrow margin. One of the main issues here being immigration - people from the European Union coming here and taking our jobs, often with low pay. As a consequence, employers are to be blamed for paying such low wages whilst at the same time the foreign workforce seems to be content enough not to protest and withdraw their labour, as the British workers were reputed for doing so on such a large scale. It was even noticed globally, particularly back in the 1970's, with the Winter of Discontent of 1978/9 reaching the pinnacle of the crisis, something I remember well. Maybe it was these Capital-versus-Labour conflicts which were a factor to this widespread immigration. Then after watching Degree-Inflation beginning to creep into the academic world during the 1990's, with more and more students choosing Further Education in preference to vocational apprenticeships, a culture of occupational snobbery began to rise. Young men in particular wanted to match their female colleagues in the professions, and therefore turned up their noses at traditional vocations for a desk in the office.

And so the dominant Prime Minister of that decade, Labour leader Tony Blair delivered his mantra: Education! Education! Education! - with Universities becoming the new yardstick for personal and occupational success. The Labour Government of the 1990's was also responsible for the Open Doors Policy, a relaxation of our national boundaries to allow greater freedom of movement across Europe, including into and out of the UK. No doubt, small businesses, retailers and farmers took advantage of the inflow of Europeans with a promise of accommodation and "a reasonable pay" - which although low by British standards, it was still higher than these workers would have received had they remained at their home countries.

And so with an added excuse of the NHS becoming clogged up with "Health Tourists" coming into the UK with their expectation of free treatment, when former Prime Minister David Cameron called for a Referendum to ask the nation whether to leave or remain in the European Union, the Vote to Leave won. And that despite that the clogging of the NHS was due mainly of the ageing indigenous population rather than health tourism - which makes up a tiny percentage of the patient flow - there is a certain high feeling of optimism, even excitement as not only the UK regaining its own sovereignty, but with great expectations of great glory equalling to imperial days. Indeed the modern Tower of Babel will one day be completed! 

And so with the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, is hardly completed when a group of highly professional, right-wing English Media journalists gets in on the act. This being the case of the gloating and sneering attitude towards us who voted Remain at last year's Referendum. One good example of sneering is quoted here, word for word, from Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn, in his article praising the victory of the new President. He writes:

One of the great joys of watching the unlikely rise of The Donald has been witnessing the deranged reaction of his opponents, who have behaved exactly like the hysterical Remain camp at home.

They still can't accept that they lost and will do everything in their power to prevent Trump (and Brexit) from succeeding. But they are doomed to failure.

A phalanx of Democratic politicians boycotted the inauguration, in a playground gesture of dissent. Like our own Remoaners, they saw everything which they disagree as "illegitimate" or "undemocratic".

The Daily Mail, Saturday January 21st - Page 17, emphasis mine.

This is totally untrue, we have not behaved like the protesters in the streets of Washington DC. Instead, Littlejohn looks to be exaggerating so to throw a stronger punch. In what way? Well, first of all, the majority of Remainers still believe that the result of the Referendum was democratic enough for the divorce from the EU to proceed. Secondly, and more to the point, I cannot recall even a single reported incident of Remainers causing violence in the streets here in the UK, throwing rocks, setting cars alight, and breaking glass shop-fronts of banks and McDonald's restaurants. These violent protests were against the rise of Donald Trump and this took place mainly at 12th Street of Washington DC. Yes, we might have made a verbal protest or two, but it looks to me that the vast majority of us who voted Remain accepted our loss with a level of grace. On the other hand, the murder of Labour M.P. Helen Joanne Cox in West Yorkshire by a deranged would-be Brexit voter just before the Referendum, is kept rather quiet by columnists such as Richard Littlejohn.

Scenes of the Anti-Trump protests in Washington DC 

I voted to remain in the EU, and after suffering the loss, all I did was make a few comments on Facebook. That was all. I certainly did not go out onto the streets to protest, not even on a peaceful level, let alone violently! Furthermore, I am against any idea of a second Referendum, as proposed by both Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson. Rather, we all have already voted. A result emerged. Those who voted Leave has won the vote. So let's get on with it.

Right-wing newspapers are glorifying both the victory of Brexit here in the UK and the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States. Both groups of supporters are extremely proud, self-confident, and optimistic for the future. I could even add that there were many evangelical churches in America who persuaded their members to vote for Trump. And here is the rub. Churches vying for a political leader. Quite contrary to how the Apostles felt about their leaders of their day.

Because although I voted to remain, I am also aware of the imminent: Death, which could happen at any moment. Especially as one retired, I have become more aware of this unstoppable journey to the grave. The apostles knew this as well, and lived as if each day might be the last. Suddenly, with such a realisation - everything in this world becomes irrelevant. What use is it for me if we leave or remain in the EU if God will call me home tomorrow? Oh more important, if my unbelieving friends, colleagues or neighbours were to die tomorrow without Christ in their lives? Yes, what then? Am I being morbid?

In Romans 13:1-7, Paul writes that there is no authority which has not been established by God. Therefore as Christians we are obliged to submit to those over us. The American believer has a duty to submit to Donald Trump as President as it is for us to submit to Theresa May as Prime Minister, whether we all agree with their policies or not. It is what Paul the apostle has written. Peter backs this up, exhorting us to fear God and to honour the King (1 Peter 2:17) - even if the Roman Emperors in Peter's day were at their peak of wickedness, and guilty of murdering potential rivals and family members. Both Paul and Peter knew that God himself has placed each one on the throne for the purpose of keeping evil in check. In this sinful world, the need for authority is a necessity.

There was something glorious about the ancient Roman empire. Despite the wickedness of its ruler, the Pax Romana has made the empire look glorious to the average Roman citizen, including richly aesthetic public buildings, marketplaces, forums, theatres, and of course - the public baths, so beautifully decorated, and areas of public gardens and its numerous fountains to delight the eye. Indeed, there was a lot of beauty in the ancient Roman Empire along with its economical and political stability. The kind of world which Donald Trump has aspirations for the USA, and for Brexiteers have for the UK. The wanting of the heart of every human being to restore his lost paradise, bathed in glory and earthly splendour, the Garden of Eden lost at the dawn of history. 

And that how poor Demas must have felt. Demas was a companion of the Apostle Paul out on an evangelical mission, along with Cresens, Titus, and Luke. In 2 Timothy 4:10-11, Paul writes that only Luke remains with him, after the departure of Titus to Dalmatia, Cresens to Galatia, and Demas having gone to Thessalonica, having loved this present world. 

With the richness and man-made glory of the Roman Empire, I can't blame the attitude of Demas, on how he was overcome by the beauty, political and economic stability of the world he lived in. But a few years ago I have read an online article written by one of the leaders of an evangelical church in the Californian city of Sacramento. This church, like I do, believes in Eternal Security of the Believer, and therefore I value many of its teachings. But one teaching I have objections with is that concerning Demas. According to this church, Demas was never a true believer, or else he wouldn't have deserted Paul for the love of this world, according to their reasoning, the promise of the true believer being kept by the power of God, as stated in 1 Peter 1:3-5. Therefore this church has classed Demas as a false convert, still in his sins, along with any other like-minded church-deserters as false converts. This is utter nonsense. Not only does this deny the beauty in the truth of Once Saved Always Saved, but also becomes a form of Lordship Salvation. Only in this case, a life of continuous performance being proof of salvation. Failure to perform adequately only leading to grave doubts whether he is truly saved, hence becoming a sitting duck for adverse spiritual forces. Surely, this kind of thinking can place an unbearable yoke on the neck of the believer.

Jesus advises us to seek the Kingdom of God and not to love this present world. This can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit within. It is an act of love. An act of love for God and his Kingdom which will surpass everything that is good in this world. Not only it's the work of God in the heart, but it also take time for such love to be reached, and it's easy to fall back from time to time. But that does not make us false converts. Rather, it's part of spiritual growth.

To the apostles, along with the majority of early believers, the Kingdom of God and its glory was so close to their own reality, that all the glorious things of this world had become like shadows by comparison. They honoured the Emperor in full knowledge that God has put him there to keep evil in check, but still their hearts yearned to be in the presence of their True King, the risen Jesus Christ who has atoned for their sins and has credited his own righteousness upon them, and made them children of God and heirs to his inheritance. Donald Trump cannot achieve any of these for his followers. Neither can Brexit bring such salvation to us either.

After Queen Elizabeth II Dies...

Queen Elizabeth II has been the longest and most successful reigning monarch of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth in all of British History, beating her closest rival, Queen Victoria, by a considerable number of years. Now that she is gone, a strong rivalry had arisen among her offspring. Prince Andrew, the Queen's second son, suddenly arose from his obscure position and killed his older brother Prince Charles, along with his wife Camilla. Then, in a fit of rage, he had both of Prince Charles' sons executed, William, along with his wife Catherine, and their two offspring George and Charlotte, along with William's brother Harry. Then as Prince Andrew went up to Westminster Abbey to claim the Throne, his younger brother Edward arrived at the imposing London Abbey and ordered a servant to assassinate his older brother to avenge for the murders of his own siblings. Then the youngest of the three male Princes would have the power to claim the Throne to became King Edward IX.

Prince Andrew, left, and Prince Charles.

Such a terrible scandal is fiction of course! But if such a conspiracy, which had its beginnings within Prince Andrew's ego was to see its actual fulfilment, how would the rest of the world react? And the shocks shaking the Church of England to the core, starting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, second to the Queen herself, and trembling violently through the entire ecclesiastical structure, along with every church of all denominations in the UK, Europe, and North and South America alike, along with all the churches in Australasia, together with every citizen in the western world, and even in the Middle and Far East would recoil with horror. Let's face it, Britain would never be the same again. More than likely the scandal would create a great victory for the Republicans who, like Oliver Cromwell before them, would have the King ousted, if not executed, but this time around, the UK and its Commonwealth would join countries such as France, Italy, Germany, the USA, and Russia in having a President as a permanent Head of State. From then on, such a scandal would feature in school history books for generations to come.

Not that something in that direction has never happened in British history. For example, of King Henry VIII's six wives, he had two executed and divorced two more, with another dying shortly after her childbirth of Edward VI. Only the sixth wife, Catherine Parr, outlived her husband to enjoy her latter days of widowhood. Yet this was the guy who fell foul of the Pope in Rome over the latter's refusal to grant permission to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, for failing to produce an heir to the Throne. So he thought: "I'll be the Head of the Church across England instead! To hell with the Pope!"

But such history is mild compared to the days of the Roman Empire. Because those were the days when bloodshed among the Heads of State were quite common. In fact, far more akin to the fictional tale of Prince Andrew's treachery described above. But back then it was all for real. One good example of a series of treachery has been recorded concerning the Julian-Claudius Dynasty. Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) was himself murdered by his 4th wife Aggrippina, most likely by serving him a dish of poisonous mushrooms. This was done to make way for her own son Nero, a great-nephew of Claudius, who in turn killed his own dominant mother. Preceding Claudius was Emperor Caligula, whose reign of less than four years between 37 and 41 AD ended when he was slain by a Praetorian guard. Rather than rule over the Empire with dignity, Caligula was known for his womanising, particularly in sleeping with his own sisters, along with paedophilia with both boys and girls. 

Then the life of Emperor Tiberius is well documented. Reigning between 14-37 AD, this fellow was on the Throne during the time Jesus grew up, died, buried and Resurrected. Rather than fulfil his role as Head of State, he spent much of his reign at the island of Capri as a paedophile, particularly with young boys, swimming in the sea and having sexual relations with them. Then there was Emperor Nero, with his unsubstantiated rumour that he played on the fiddle whilst Rome was burning. Reigning between 54 and 68 AD, when he committed suicide, he was regarded as one of the most cruel rulers in the Empire, willingly killing everyone who disagreed with him. So much blood was there in his hands that by the year 68 AD, the Senate eventually had to disown him, and refused to accept his authority, a decision which led to his suicide. It was during his reign that Saul of Tarsus was called by the Lord to minister as the Apostle Paul.  

Killings among Roman Emperors

Because of the Pax Romana instituted by Caesar Augustus (27 BC-14 AD), quelling the tribal wars which occurred frequently in the past, the people were so grateful that they wanted a form of worship. Unable to bow down to an abstract quality, it wasn't too long that the Emperor was deified, and eventually it became the custom for every Roman citizen to swear allegiance to Rome with the Emperor as Lord. And Lord as being more than mere employer or even Head of State, but Lord of all, as a god or divinity.

And that was why a true Christian believer was persecuted. First by the Jews for insisting that Jesus of Nazareth being their true Messiah has fulfilled the Law of Moses and thus making the Temple obsolete. But outside Judea, the Romans began to persecute Christian believers for saying that Jesus is the true Lord, the Eternal God, and not Caesar. Here was the conflict: Either one or the other was Lord - Caesar or this Jesus of Nazareth. If one declared Caesar as Lord, that was fine, the individual was allowed to carry on living normally. But if the person declared Jesus Christ as Lord, then he was seen as a traitor and faced the death penalty. Little wonder that Paul wrote on one occasion that no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3). The stakes were high. Confessing Jesus as Lord instead of Caesar in those days resulted in death.

But what I can see as something of an oddity is Paul's instructions to the church in Rome that everyone must submit to the authorities, as there is no authority that has not been established by God. And to add to this, the paying of taxes is a legal requirement (Romans 13:1-7). Paul then explains that the reason human governments are in place is to keep evil in check, with their servants punishing everyone who does evil, but offering praise to those who do the right things. For, he explains, the peacekeepers at the time did not carry their swords for nothing, neither does all the Police Departments in America at present carry guns in vain, nor do our forces here in the UK carry batons without a purpose. Therefore, although I do find it difficult to realise, the vote for us to leave the European Union has apparently been given the okay by God himself, even if I voted in preference to remain. Likewise, reports came out that many are shocked at the surprise victory of Donald Trump at last week's U.S. Presidential election. Reports of anti-Trump protests taking place at various cities - New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, and other cities, with a feeling of deep apprehension on what the future of the country under Donald Trump's administration will be like.  

Even with my own reservations over the future of the USA, I grew up with the notion that all those in authority, particularly in a Christian country, must be icons of Biblical morality. And so, over recent centuries they were, to a greater or lesser degree, with something as mild as a single case of adultery within Government making news headlines. But I wonder, with no fear of persecutions and with comparatively comfortable living we enjoy as Christians, does this make Christian living more difficult? Or put it another way, does our comfortable living weaken or even nullify the power of witness and evangelism? I imagine a believer standing at the Roman Senate, being asked who is Lord, with the death threat hanging over his head, or someone tied to a stake and literally being burned alive - just for declaring that through faith in Christ alone, without works, acquittal from God is available. Then I imagine a modern Christian professional, dressed in suit and tie, and totally indistinguishable from the moral atheist living next door, leaving his detached suburban home to climb into his flash car for a short drive to the office. Then he moans that prayer is hard work!

Prayer is hard work! And that is not from me, it was a statement made by one of our church Elders a few years ago. I think the churches of ancient times had much to pray for. They knew that no matter how evil and wicked their Emperor was, he was placed in authority by God. And they prayed for both the unsaved to believe, and for the believers to remain close to their Lord and to lead holy lives, not at all from a threat of losing their salvation, but as a shining example for their fellow men, drawing more to the faith. It was part of what they believed in, that the Roman Empire was not their home. They were seeking a far better country, a city whose founder and maker is God himself (Hebrews 11:10-16).

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33). This, I think, should be the life pattern for all believers in Jesus Christ. Seeking for God's Kingdom and his righteousness. Not seeking earthly nationalism. For it looks to me that commitment to nationalism, whether it be for Brexit over here, or for Donald Trump as the next American President, will spawn hatred and division. Over here, the Far Right has already made its mark, bringing division, misery and fear, especially to those born overseas. In turn, Trump, during his election campaign, has vowed not to allow Muslims into the USA and also to build a wall on the USA/Mexico border. Hatred, fear and division - for something which is earthly and transient. We as true believers in Christ should set our minds on the things above, where Christ is seated, and not on things of the earth (Colossians 3:2). Like that, love, peace, and joy of the Holy Spirit should reign in our hearts, regardless of how evil future Governments may turn out to be. Even if another Caesar would one day arise.