Prayer Digest

Pray for local elections and for where Britain and British politics go next

With the local elections coming up on May 7th  and the electoral scene looking more unfamiliar than ever before, it is definitely not too early to be praying concerning the messaging that is going out and how it is received.

Times like these are discovering times, and in the recent Denton and Gorton bye-election, Labour missed a big trick by devoting their efforts to opposing Reform and failing to take account of the Green Party stalking up swiftly on the blind side. It is definitely time to take them more seriously! So far as Reform are concerned, the Greens’ major efforts to champion Gaza in Denton and Gorton represent a dangerous sign of advancing Islamisation in this country. Police have found no evidence however to corroborate ‘family voting’ pressure, which Reform claimed at the time. It is certainly significant, however, that the deputy leader of the Green Party was seen under an Islamic flag in London at a rally for Iran a few days ago.

All this led to the Times and the Sunday Times publishing extraordinarily strongly-worded and forthright columns since the bye-election, contending that the Green Party has moved a long way beyond environmentalism into extreme far-left thinking. They are advocating withdrawing Britain from NATO, for example, and legalising all drugs. Naively, their leader, Zack Polanski says that he will not only oppose Britain having nuclear weapons but will encourage Russia to lay its own down too. He clearly does not understand the depth of Russia’s commitment to its nuclear programme.

The Times went so far as to claim that Green’s polices are both ‘nuts and dangerous,’ whilst the Labour Party Chairman argued that ‘the politics of anger and easy answers offered by the Greens and Reform’ won’t deliver what the country needs. The fact that the Green Party won far more votes than the Labour, Conservative and the Liberal Party candidates combined in a supposedly very safe Labour seat shows that people are so desperate for change, and to register their protest against Labour, that they are sweeping up votes like a combine harvester!

Of all the countries in the G20, Britain is predicted to be the nation the worst affected by the conflict in the Middle East. Britain has faced many spiritual as well as economic challenges that over the years. Through the years, I have often taken comfort from a prophecy that was given in 1911 to the effect that Britain will come to the point of total collapse, but will be saved by praying women. Lord raise them up! Their prayers – along with all of ours – are desperately needed.

There was a time in the life of Israel when the Lord warned that even if Moses and Samuel were present, He would not intervene to save the nation. (Jer. 15:21) A parallel passage in Ezekiel 14:4 notes that Noah, Job and Daniel were great intercessors but that they would have been unable to do anything more than save their own souls, so irrevocable was the judgment pronounced against the nation.

These are hardly the sort of verses we would instinctively turn to as an incentive to round up a campaign of prayer for the nation! May the Lord yet show more mercy on us than we deserve!

The ratcheting up of international tensions and our complete unpreparedness for war

King Ethelred II was widely known as the Unready, but in reality, the word Unread was a pun on his birth name, which meant ‘well-counselled’ – signifying that he was ‘unwise’ and ‘ill-advised,’ and unable to resist constant Viking raids. He was followed by the godly Edward, a godly man known as the Confessor, who Winston Churchill described as the last of the Saxon kings. More than half Norman himself, he only went to be with his Lord in the early part of 1066. On his deathbed he declared, ‘The lights of Saxon England are going out,’ and in the gathering darkness he spoke of a time of evil that was coming upon the land. His inspired mutterings struck terror into the hearers – and we all know what happened later that year: the invasion that led to centuries of Norman rule and the oppression of the Saxon people.

Taken together with the memorable words of Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary on the eve of Britain entering World War I that “The lamps are going out all over Europe, and we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime,” this too was a grim ‘prophecy’ that the war would bring a long peaceful and civilized era of Europe to an end.

Resisting pressure from Tony Blair as well as Donald Trump to commit British forces to following Trump into action in his war with Iran, *Sir Keir Starmer has given the go-ahead for military action to be taken against Russian shadow fleet tankers that, in a brazen challenge to the Royal Navy and their French and Dutch counterparts, are defying sanctions and passing through the English Channel.*

Here then is a major potential flashpoint. Army units have been practising for this significant upping of the ante to try to enforce existing sanctions. Pray for these actions if and as they are taken – and the angry response that this is sure to arouse in Moscow.

Former First Sea Lord West said that all the cuts over many years have come home to roost at the same time leaving us in peril. We can only say again with our present First Sea Lord: “The Royal Navy is not ready for war.”

Despite Britain looking ever more like a sitting duck in the face of hostility from Russia, Iran, and China – despite years of warnings being sounded from the Head of MI5 and subsequent defence reviews – Sir Keir Starmer still refuses to give any deadline for when Britain will increase its defence spending, let alone to take the tough decisions that are actually needed to get the country onto anything approaching a military footing. We are living in a fantasy world, whilst Russia, despite its current severe economic strictures, is utterly committed to preparing for war.

Our lack of naval strength is out of touch with our needs as an island nation. We simply cannot afford to be without one. Germany itself has the smallest navy in its post-war history, and has been so short-staffed that it has ask members of the Luftwaffe to man its ships to fulfil its Nato obligations. To lead a NATO mission, we have even had to borrow a German ship to sail in! When Starmer talks about procuring a new batch of ships at the end of this article may this not be so much empty hot air but a reality – in time!

Somehow or other, navy-less Ukraine managed to improvise automated craft that either held at bay or sank elements of the mighty Russian Black Sea fleet. But swarms of small Iranian speed boats, (which is almost all it has left after intense American bombing has sunk its main naval units), represent a significant threat.

When you think of the long tradition of the Royal Navy, and the scale of current threats….To put it bluntly, ‘we ain’t got enough ships – and many of those we do have aren’t seaworthy!’ Neither would we have sailors to man them if we did have more!

Bless the Lord for King Alfred developing the first Navy to counter the threat of the Vikings. May a latter-day Alfred arise – or indeed a Churchill, who did so much for all the armed forces as the First Sea Lord!

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer was reduced to stammering stuttering as to why he has done nothing to implement crucial advances for all three services.

General Barons, a former top military commander has likewise sounded a warning in an interview to the BBC, that was quoted in the Independent, that our army is so small ‘it could barely seize a small market town on a good day.’ 

In a damning assessment of the military, General Sir Richard Barrons, who was one of the authors of a major defence review published last year by the government, warned that none of the services could do “anything substantial”.
See also this link.

My mind goes back to a British Defence Minister just over ten years ago who said he couldn’t see the point of investing in defence ‘because we don’t have any enemies.’ Really? What planet was he on?

To say we are living on borrowed time is a worrying understatement. Do read General Baron’s article and pray.

Compare and contrast our resources with Ukraine having to respond to 1000 aerial bombardments in just one day recently – or losing 10,000 people killed or wounded Ukrainians trying to defend Bakhmut, which is a small market town.

America’s desire is to dominate world trade and energy supplies – but at what cost to the planet?

I found myself thinking the other day of President Eisenhower’s beautiful prayer that he began his First Inaugural Address with in January 1953. It is a prayer that we can surely all say ‘Amen’ to irrespective of our political leanings!

By contrast, the present President declared only the other day that his main desire would be to control all of Iran’s oil! Combined with the 20% tariffs that he has slapped on the EU, which are causing major problems, this is all part of Trump’s offensive desire to dominate world trade. He already claims to control Venezuela’s oil, rather along the lines whereby America has taken a percentage of Iraq’s oil since leaving the country many years ago. (This is not something that most people are aware of, but it is very important. See this Reuters report.)

Yesterday, Donald Trump said that Britain can either sail up the Straits of Hormuz(!) – or get its energy supplies from the US. Trump’s reckless policy of ‘Drill baby drill’ cannot fail to have long-term implications for the planet.

One of the immediate steps Trump took from the outset of his second term as president was to slash scientific and bio-medical research, whilst continuing to call any thought of there being a climate crisis a hoax. These matters become still more relevant in the light of the additional threats to the environment the present war in the Gulf poses as one tanker after another gets hit by Iranian projectiles.

You will find this selection of topics and articles about what is happening in and to our planet behind the scenes interesting in themselves and a spur for prayer.

1) Something very strange is happening under Greenland’s ice

2) The very disturbing melting of the massive Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica

3) How Donald’s Trump’s championing of fossil fuels is causing numerous other countries to follow suit.

4) The following article sets this matter within the context of Trump’s authoritarian ‘playbook’ stance.

How the “New Science” of Nazi Germany has effected the devastating cuts to research in America

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. (Hos. 4:6) (Medical as well as spiritual!)

Donald Trump’s continuing insistence that climate change is a hoax is a serious challenge to the well-being of the planet, but his stance aligns with a significant portion of his white evangelical supporters, who prefer to believe that the earth is the Lord’s and that we cannot harm it. See this article Why many evangelicals believe that climate change is a hoax. 

Many other believers think entirely differently, following instead the line of Christians for Impact in seeing that caring for the Earth represents a biblical mandate (Genesis 2:15), and that we are called to steward the earth to the very best of our ability. It may not be our ‘permanent’ home, but God expects us to be good stewards of it. They also recognise that the very real effects of climate change affect the poor disproportionately.

It is true that the ‘Green’ agenda has in all too many ways and places become a ‘cult’ phenomenon, far removed from any concept of ‘stewarding for God,’ but the principles are important. Have a read of this article from Arocha, a project in Portugal that we have visited, and that some of you will be familiar with.

Follow me in this line of thought as we head back in time to Nazi Germany, as well as exploring what is happening now (or rather what is not happening) with regard to medical research in America.

READ MORE . . .

Prayer Push for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States

At this time when Donald Trump has been sending out what has been described as an ‘Epic Flurry’ of contradictory pronouncements, and doing his best to declare the war with Iran ‘won,’ Saudi Arabia has meanwhile been having to import all the food, medicine and other material that it and the other Gulf States need, using ports such as Jeddah Islamic Port on its west coast, now that the Straits of Hormuz no longer offer safe passage.

The Gulf States rely on this for 80-90% of their food supplies. If the Red Sea were to be blocked by the Houthis in Yemen, this would create a very major problem.

As it is, it must be exceedingly inconvenient to have to transport everything across that vast country. The Gulf States barely know who to be more angry with: America and Israel for starting this war against their express opposition to doing so, or Iran for targeting it without provocation.

It has been clear for some time that were Iran were to turn its missiles more fully on these bases in the Middle East (data centres, desalination plants, Microsoft, Amazon etc etc) the global economy would take an enormous hit – just as it would be if many more centres of energy are blown up.

At a wider level, it has long been concerning that Trump and his administration have been steering America increasingly along the lines of the Saudi model, as this article in Politico makes clear.

For both religious syncretistic reasons and concerns about idolising of wealth, this is certainly not a God-glorifying development – not to mention promoting such a close relationship with a known autocracy with a terrible human rights record. (one feels that it is not wise either to have given Saudi Arabia access to America’s most advanced NVIDIA chips: these will undoubtedly end up in the hands of the Chinese, who have been wanting them for a long time.

If you are familiar with the history of Saudi Arabia, you will identify with these verses:
Can a corrupt throne be allied with You—
a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?
The wicked band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death. (Ps. 94:20-21)

In this post, however, I am going to suggest that we move away from purely geo-political considerations to pray for the work of the gospel in the Gulf States, which have worked so hard to develop and market themselves as safe business, financial and tourism centres, but which strictly regulate any expression of the Christian faith amongst expatriates, whilst prohibiting absolutely the proselytizing of indigenous people.

Despite this great intolerance, there are nevertheless thought to be something to like three million believers spread among them, almost entirely made up of migrant workers from the Philippines, India, Europe, and Africa, rather than from the indigenous populations. (You may have noticed that the Philippines is now laying on flights to extract its civilians. This will majorly affect daily life in the Gulf States, that relies upon their labour, as well as depriving people back home of the money they would otherwise have been sent).

There are large churches in the UAE which has the highest percentage (10% of the nation), but no churches are openly permitted in Saudi Arabia, although there is a growing ‘underground’ church, which includes some Saudi people as well as ex pats. Not a few of these have been closed by the authorities in the last twelve months, however, with many being expelled. Some were told explicitly that this was because of their Christianity; others were given no reason. (We have likewise seen visa entry permission being refused in other regions in the Middle East, such as Turkey).

Some of you will have read Brother Andrew’s book Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Turn to Christ? which highlights the spiritual battle Christian converts in Muslim countries face on daily basis. Most converts never tell their family that they have become Christians, because the risk of expulsion and ‘honour killings’ is so high. Many therefore suffer acute spiritual loneliness.

This prayer cast for Saudi Arabia draws many of these themes together. As always it helps to actually see some of the people we are praying for!

Lord you can handle heat. You created the stars to be of unimaginable temperatures. We call upon You to handle the heat of this very intense situation in the middle East and to draw many to Yourself.

See also this prayer cast for Saudi Arabia

Let’s not forget the forgotten ones: The Reality of Russification

“Millions remain in hardship across Russian-controlled Ukraine”

Some time ago I highlighted an excellent program produced by NHK (Japanese television) called Daughters of Ukraine, Women on the front line. It is really worth watching.

NHK have now released a powerful two-part production called Under Occupation: The Reality of Russification, which affords “Exclusive footage that takes you inside Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. As residents are compelled to change citizenship, and even identity, they face stark choices: to adapt, remain silent, or resist.”

As many of you will be aware, Russia has launched its massive spring offensive with a staggering 650 full frontal attacks from various directions in just four days so far. But they have come at HUGE cost to themselves, and without any significant breakthrough thus far.

It is such a miracle of prayer, resilience, targeted help, ingenuity and courage that Ukraine has not capitulated. We pray that defences continue to hold in Donetsk and that Russia’s capacity to inflict so much damage on Ukraine weakens in the coming months. – despite President Trump’s continuing insistence that Zelensky hand over illegally gained territory to Russia. Yes, Lord, let Ukraine supernaturally hold on and more than hold on we pray, despite this unwonted pressure from Washington, and the recent 1000 daylight drone and missile attacks.

Ukraine has actually gone onto the offensive now and has seriously dented Russian oil trade in the Baltic region with very powerful strikes on a major terminal port and also a major refinery, near Leningrad and Moscow.

(This is from the first English language Polish broadcaster). Russia is incensed that it was British Storm Shadow cruise missiles that did great damage to the Kremniy El factory in the Russian border city of Bryansk, which is a critical plant for producing microelectronics for Russian missile guidance systems. Unsurprisingly, Russia has threatened to drop a nuclear bomb to take out the plant in Farnborough that makes these advanced weapons.

In the early days of the war, there was much pro-European and pro-American support. Those days feel a long way away now, with not only Trump but Orban in Hungary, and Slovakia and a right-wing president in Czech republic. Sadly, Péter Magyar, Hungary’s likely new leader, (IF the election on April 12th is a fair one) does not appear to be notably pro-Ukraine either. 

Pray for the Church following the installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury

Not everyone by any means felt enthused at the thought of Sarah Mullally becoming the new Archbishop of Canterbury, but when praying for her installation intercessors in Canterbury saw a picture of a mould in the shape of an archbishop that was set to crimp and contaminate the effectiveness of her ministry – especially when they saw Sarah being pressed into it. They set to work to pray for that mould to be smashed. Along similar lines, they saw puppet strings being held by white male hands, and one female hand in a green sleeve, which spoke amongst other things of envy. Again, they felt to pray to cut those strings.

⁠The staff she was given belonged to Archbishop Fisher. Fisher was a charismatic, who forged strong bonds with those who were beginning to experience charismatic renewal in the CofE in the 1960s. He was also instrumental in forging unity between all the denominations, including with the Catholics.

⁠Fisher had become Archbishop as the Second World War ended, and it was his gift of administration, and in coping with crisis that enabled him to help the rebuilding of the Church. after the war. it would be good to pray for Sarah’s practical, pragmatic nature to combine with her openness to the renewal of the spirit.

As the new archbishop came out into the centre of the city to bless the city, the diocese and the nation at the end of the service, the intercessors had a picture of a huge wick (as in an oil lamp), coming out of the ground outside the cathedral. They prayed for that wick to become a light that would burn brightly for the Lord.

Different things will stand out to different people, but I certainly witnessed the image of the mould. There are no words to describe how strong the pressures are that are placed on senior church figures to tone their spiritual fire and enthusiasm down to the point where it easily loses its cutting edge. Pray for Sarah not to be ground down by the many challenges the Anglican church is certain to pass through at home and abroad in the course of her archiepiscopate.

See my post that reminds us that The wind blows much more strongly at altitude