Evangelicals in the UK: Waging the Culture War with the Sword of the Spirit or the Axe of Mythology?

https://www.evangelical-times.org/a-biblical-response-to-the-rise-of-islam-in-the-uk/     

I've provided the link to the conference announcement but the UK-based Evangelical Times won't allow you to read it unless you register with their website. At that point, one can read certain articles sent via email, but even if registered you cannot read them on the website without a paid subscription, and there are other articles from which you are also excluded unless you pay.

I'm left wondering about how effective this strategy is as there are numerous articles I would read, but dismiss as I'm not going to pay what they're asking. It's as if I want to read them but not that badly and so in the end - I don't bother with them. I wonder how many others have the same response? I must say that while I might be interested, I also don't really want to support their work. So in the end, I'll take what they send me and give it a once over, but that's about it.

In this case I have the article in my email which purports to be a Biblical response to the rise of Islam in the UK. Out of courtesy I will only quote some portions of it.

It is certain that Christians must bear witness and proclaim the gospel. It's certain that Christians must hold forth a testimony that demonstrates this gospel. I'm afraid as many gravitate in the direction of the Right and figures like Farage and even Robinson this testimony will become confused.

I have no issue with expressing concern over the proliferation of Islam. My concern here is that the speaker, John-William Noble turns to mythology in order to make his case.

He states the following:

"We now live in a country which is no longer governed by God’s Word, and a church which has lost its prophetic voice upon the authority of God’s Word. We are a nation which increasingly embraces and is shaped by falsehood, worldliness and wickedness. In our rejection of God, societal erosion has become increasingly apparent in a nation of those who call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20)."

Noble seems to think that Britain was until recently (maybe the 20th century?) governed by God's Word and that only recently the Church has lost its prophetic voice.

Does he think the British Empire was Christian? Only a willful blindness can drive such a conclusion. Rapacious, thieving, murderous, and exploitative - a stain on the gospel testimony of Christ's Kingdom, the British Empire was an experiment in deceit and baptized evil. The fact that it glossed over its sins by means of a humanitarian veneer only makes it more pernicious. The fact that other empires may have been worse should be no cause for comfort. Britain was never Christian in New Testament terms. It was an expression of late Christendom that due to its history took on a specifically Anglo-centric and later British identity - which itself was something of a charade that attempted to pacify and include its subject peoples within the British Isles.

Stealing territory, fighting wars of conquest, appropriating resources, shifting populations, mass murder, and cultural coercion are not values found in the New Testament. The Anglican Church never had a prophetic voice. This was compromised at its inception under Henry VIII and then later with the Elizabethan Settlement. The nonconformist churches destroyed their testimony in the English Civil War and its aftermath. Their 19th century restoration to public life was not due to that prophetic voice (which they actually possessed in part after 1688) but due to compromise. As they re-entered the higher echelons of society and politics they did so as Enlightenment Liberals and increasingly as proponents of the imperial system of mammon and power.

Noble is delusional if he thinks the churches of Britain were bearing prophetic witness in the 19th and 20th century or if he thinks the Empire was somehow Christian. As others have pointed out, even during World War II, when Britain stood alone and seemed so small in opposition to Hitler, it was in fact the largest empire in the world with a population of over 500 million people. While many flocked to the Union Jack and many more were coerced, the fact that millions more did not eagerly seek enlistment (and many took arms in opposition and collaboration with the Axis) is a testimonial to the nature of British rule and the sentiment of its conquered subjects.

Societal erosion is palpable to be sure and yet we can debate the causes for this. For my part I would argue Enlightenment Liberalism itself, which is the basis of most modern thought regarding everything from epistemology and economics, to the individual and concepts of rights and the role of the state play a significant role in this deterioration. A great deal more could be said about materialism, psychology, and the like - but these topics are complicated when it comes to churchly discussion as many Christians have embraced some or all of these elements and their presuppositions.

As far as modern Britain (or the West for that matter) calling evil good and good evil - that's undoubtedly true, but I would also argue this same condemnation was in force during the 19th century and before - the periods that Noble would celebrate as being a time when Britain was Christian (as he sees it) and governed by God's Word.

Noble continues:

"This is the judgement of the Lord which has led to our nation being handed over to falsehood which threatens our nation’s heritage. The church has been willing to compromise and comply with what has taken place, and we must address that."

First of all as Christians, Britain (or America) is not 'our' nation. Our nation is Zion, the Kingdom of Heaven. These nations are part of this world and under the god of this world and his servants. The nation's heritage that he speaks of reminds us of Paul's statement regarding what he gave up for Christ. He had a noble heritage and yet counted it as but dung - and we must be willing to do the same.

And yes indeed Mr. Noble, the Church has been willing to compromise and comply and we must address that. He is referring to the theologically modernist bodies, the contemporary Anglican Church and the like. These groups are apostate and have been for several generations. But what of those that claim to uphold the Word of God and yet still fall prey to syncretism, idolatry, confused thinking, nationalism, and the embrace of mythology? Hadn't we better address those issues as well? Are they not as perilous and potentially deceptive? While a rainbow banner in a church auditorium is an abomination, why do many not see the Union Jack or the American Flag in the same light? Such symbols and ensigns have no place or part in Christian worship.

And no Christian who opens a Bible is going to be taken in by the rainbow banners but many are in fact deceived by the Union Jack/pro-Empire Christianity, the nationalism, and the mythologizing of Christendom.

Noble goes on and states:

"The United Kingdom is blessed with a rich heritage based upon Christian values and Biblical truth; this is the righteousness, which is found in Christ alone, by which any nation is built and blessed."

We could go on ad nauseam about the supposed heritage of Christian values and Biblical truth and just why such statements are nonsensical and do not stand up to Biblical scrutiny. Noble like many Evangelicals seems to confusing blessing with riches and power which (if he read his New Testament a little more carefully) he would understand that such a nation (built on the sword and mammon) is antithetical to the Kingdom of Christ and in fact constitutes the apostate imagery found elsewhere of a Bride turned Whore riding on the back of the Draconic Beast. It is having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof - a point further illustrated by the already precipitous decline in church attendance throughout the 19th century.

The point here is not to bash the United Kingdom - a country I have visited on multiple occasions, one that I'm rather fond of, one that many of my ancestors hail from. But let's not pretend that it's something that it isn't. Let's not glory in what is not worthy of glory. Let's not substitute or confuse Zion with any nation of this world.

Has it ever occurred to Noble that perhaps what is happening to Britain is in fact judgment for its empire? There's even something poetic about it. Europe as a whole is definitely at a watershed and I'm afraid it's going to turn very ugly. It's not unexpected but I lament the fact that so many Christians are being caught up in this and will probably participate in the worst that is to come.

Indeed, the world is full of problems and the angst over cultural transformation and collapse is something on everyone's mind and should be addressed by the Church, but we must do so with sober wisdom and through the lens of the New Testament and with a constant reminder of our true citizenship, of 'our' Kingdom which is in Heaven.

To answer the world's lies with myths and revisionist history driven by theological error is no panacea, it is like fighting plague with a dose of smallpox or by means of amputation. We can do better than that I think. We need discernment not demagoguery.