Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24: 4 - 14
The other day I went to a concert at The Royal Albert Hall, the iconic concert hall, in London. They searched our bags as we went in. Whilst we were waiting for the concert to begin, a young man asked me rather worriedly, if it was alright to bring food into the hall because they had searched his bag. I told him that I thought the security people were searching bags for bombs, not food. The young man obviously felt rather foolish when he realised the seriousness of the situation.
Over the last few days I have come to realise that we really are living in serious times. There have always been e mails floating around about how the west will be overrun by Muslims in 20 years time. I have not taken this too seriously as statistically it never seems to quite add up and many Muslims have no intention of overthrowing our nation and imposing Sharia law. However the events in the Middle East and especially what is happening in northern Iraq and Syria have changed my mind.
Christians are being martyred, persecuted and forced from their homes in huge numbers not just in the Middle East but in North Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Sudan, Nigeria to name but a few places. There can be a real tendency in the western church to think that this persecution is happening over there and we may pray and give to help them and even be thankful that it is not happening here.
However the rise of extreme violence, barbarism, terrorism and brutality on a scale not known for many years have forced me to realise I must stop worrying about the metaphorical food in my bag and start thinking and praying about the very real prospect of bombs in the bag of the person next to me.
Twice recently I have read that the Archbishop of Mosul in northern Iraq has said: "Our sufferings today are the prelude of those that you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future.... Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever-growing number of Muslims.... Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed into your home."
I report this not to frighten us because Jesus said not to be alarmed but to be aware, alert and praying. I have been asking God to show me how to pray and what I can do. It is early days yet but God has shown me a few things to pray and do practical things about.
Firstly Jesus assured us that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Never have we had so many nations in UK as today, so never have we had such an opportunity to preach the Gospel to them without ever leaving our shores.
Many Muslims from scattered communities are now in refugee camps with wonderful Christian organisations ministering to them both in terms of humanitarian aid and the Gospel. We can both pray and give to these organisations.
I have been praying for the gathering of intercessors to pray authoritatively with divine wisdom into these times. I pray our churches will awaken to these days and as individual Christians we will be alert and active in our faith and prayers.
This is not the time to fear but to rise up in faith. Many of us have been Christians for decades; now is the time to pay back the investment we have had into our lives in terms of teaching, ministry and prayer. I believe God is calling us to higher things and to fulfil a destiny and calling on our lives that has not yet been fully realised.
There are battles to be fought, prayers to be prayed, souls to be saved and God is calling each one of us to play our part. Hallelujah!
