Redeeming a Nation (Timeless Teaching)

by Philip Quenby

  In confronting “the secret power of lawlessness ... at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7), we need to make choices. The choices that faced the nation in the run-up to civil war were momentous, but they were essentially the same ones that we currently face, albeit writ larger. We, too, must choose between competing visions of the kind of society in which we should live. We, likewise, must opt for rebellion or loyalty: rebellion against God or loyalty to him. We, also, must elect between right and wrong. It is of cardinal importance that our choices should not be based on delusions but should instead be firmly rooted in God’s truth.

  We will be aided in making correct choices if we recollect that “the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming.” (2 Thessalonians 2:8). This same breath which destroys “the lawless one” (2 Thessalonians 2:8) is the Spirit of God that gives life to, animates and sustains all things: the Lord “breathed into [Adam’s] nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7) and Jesus “breathed on [his disciples]” (John 20:22). Out of this same mouth “comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.” (Revelation 19:15). Jesus warns: “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” (Revelation 2:16). As St Paul advised, we should “not let anyone deceive [us] in any way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

  Conclusion.

  Macbeth’s actions were based on delusions: that murder could go unpunished, that a malign power might truthfully foretell, that a crime was needed to bring about what had been foretold, that good could be founded on evil. Instead, as he later wearily acknowledges, “Things bad begun grow worse by ill.”

  Charles I’s attempts to secure untrammelled power were similarly beset by delusions. He imagined that he could with impunity ride roughshod over the accumulated freedoms of the English, that he could dispense with Parliament and rule by decree and that his resort to force was justified. On 22 August 1642, he made what was effectively a declaration of war by raising his standard outside the walls of Nottingham castle. The place is called Standard Hill to this day. There he called on loyal subjects to join his army. In fact, few did, for Nottingham’s sympathies lay with Parliament. Nevertheless, the king had set his people on the road to a calamitous conflict, in which perhaps as many as one in twenty of the population may have died. He did it ultimately in pursuit of the delusion of power.

  We may smile at the delusions of those long dead and gone. We may be diverted by the delusions portrayed upon the stage. We may even be alert to the delusions of others. We are less apt to spot our own delusions. This land is at present in the grip of delusions of many kinds, but their ultimate source is the same: a denial of and rebellion against God. It is the greatest and most fatal delusion that any human being can entertain. From it springs all manner of evil. Amongst other outgrowths of this evil, we see in England an increasing lawlessness, apparent not just in crime statistics but in the erosion of habits of kindliness, politeness and consideration for others. It is time to wake from our long nightmare and start to repair the damage that this has done to the fabric of our society and to individual lives.

  In setting about this task, we should be mindful of “the coming of our Lord and our being gathered to him” (2 Thessalonians 2:1). The knowledge of Christ’s return is a balancing doctrine. It gives perspective to both present and future, thereby helping us to set priorities that honour God. It combats any tendency to fatalistic resignation, withdrawal from society and neglect of worldly duties. The fact that Jesus’ coming is imminent but is not yet should cause us to be alert and watchful. It should inspire us to be eager and active in working for the kingdom of God. It should caution us to be on our guard against delusions and to take to heart the teaching of our Saviour, to “keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just” (Genesis 18:19), to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving [our] own selves.” (James 1:22, KJV).

  In the Tempest, the latest of his completed works, Shakespeare observed that “We are such things as dreams are made on.” The statement encompasses and illumines two competing sides of human nature, achievement and aspiration: on the one hand lies an insubstantial and unworthy thing that is flown in the night; on the other, a thing of beauty that soars to the heavenly realms. We once had a dream of England that looked to the latter. There is no need to settle for the former. Rather, we should work with God to make of these islands a place in which the rightful order is restored and of which Caliban might exclaim: “O brave new world, that has such creatures in it!”

  19. Brother against brother

  Judges 5:19-23.

  Key word: partnership.

  Oliver Cromwell was a divisive figure in life and remains so in death. For many, his memory is indelibly stained by massacres at Drogheda and Wexford during his Irish campaign of 1649. For some he is the archetype of the Puritan bigot: a sanctimonious kill-joy and a hypocrite. Others remember him as the killer of his king, a war-monger and dictator whose standing army and rule through major-generals forever inoculated England against militarism. This Cromwell was a man whose religion was but a fig-leaf for ambition and expediency.

  There is another Cromwell. Ireland excepted, in war he was humane. In private life he was warm and fun-loving, readily showing emotion and crying easily, a caring father and a loving husband. He was a man who enjoyed music, dancing and practical jokes. He was at first in favour of accommodation with the monarch, until Charles I provoked the second civil war in 1648 and drove many to the conclusion that there would be no end to bloodshed as long as he lived. For Cromwell, the execution of the sovereign was a “cruel necessity,” not something that he deliberately sought from the start.[41] The king gone, he tried repeatedly to fashion a parliamentary form of the godly government he craved, until bitter experience proved this a chimera. As Lord Protector he steered a remarkably even course in the stormy post-war years, acknowledged abroad as a statesman and a man to be reckoned with. Far from seeking power for its own sake, after much agonising he turned down the crown when it was offered to him. Far from unbridled bigotry, he was in some respects notable for his toleration. He it was who was responsible for Jews being readmitted to England for the first time in more than three and a half centuries.[42] Far from being a doctrinaire Puritan zealot, he was usually pragmatic, responding to complaints about the religious affiliations of some of his appointees: “Sir, the State, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions.”

  We each inevitably bring prejudices to bear upon the past. Whatever those may be, the facts of this man’s life are arresting. At the outbreak of civil war in 1642, he was a relative nobody, well into middle age[43] and with no previous military experience. Yet within two years force of personality, coupled with fearsome tactical and organisational abilities, saw him command the Parliamentary cavalry at Marston Moor. The next year (1645) he was made second-in-command to Sir Thomas Fairfax, helped to form the New Model Army and, following decisive victory at Naseby, emerged as the leading voice of the army faction. From 1648 he was sole commander, and as such never lost a battle.

  New Model army.

  Cromwell’s record shows that he was not in general a bloodthirsty man, though in Ireland he seems to have given way to what he afterwards regarded as a godly rage. Undoubtedly he viewed war as a proving-ground and a means of testing God’s will. Of his part in the victory at Marston Moor he wrote, “We never charged but we routed the enemy ... God made them as stubble to our swords.” Nevertheless, where possible he sought to avoid armed conflict. Thus at the outset of his Scottish campaign he pleaded with the General Assembly of the Scottish Kirk: “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken.” Only when it became clear that a breach was inevitable did he lead his forces into Scotland in order to spare northern England from invasion. In his hands, the New Model army proved what a superbly disciplined instrument of warfare it had become. His victory over the Scots at Dunbar on 3 Septemb
er 1650 was one of the most shattering ever won by England: some twenty or so men killed against thousands of the enemy dead and taken prisoner. Exactly a year later he routed the forces that the future Charles II had led into England at the battle of Worcester, effectively ending any serious royalist military threat.

  As a soldier, Cromwell’s professionalism and preparation were always outstanding. He made great efforts, for instance, to ensure that his men were well mounted: “Then thundered the horses’ hooves – galloping, galloping go his mighty steeds.” (Judges 5:22). Good equipment, however, was only the starting point. He wanted an army that was not just well-equipped and well-led, but one whose soldiers were godly men. He sought “such men as had the fear of God before them and as made some conscience of what they did ... the plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for and loves what he knows.”

  Cromwell did not take needless risks in war, but neither did he flinch if the odds seemed against him. If victory were won in such circumstances, it was all the more evidence of God’s favour. Typically, as he raised himself in the saddle to unleash his cavalry at the start of the battle of Dunbar, he bellowed the opening words of Psalm 68: “Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered.” (Psalm 68:1). As far as Cromwell was concerned, the battles that he fought on earth were but mirrors and extensions of battles fought in heaven. This is a view endorsed by Scripture. The book of Judges pictures the very Creation as being involved in the battle between Israel and her Canaanite oppressors under the general Sisera. First is described the earthly battle: “Kings came, they fought; the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo, but they carried off no silver, no plunder.” (Judges 5:19). In parallel is the spiritual dimension: “From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, the age-old river, the river Kishon.” (Judges 5:20-21).

  New Model citizens.

  This spiritual aspect applies equally to civilian as to military matters. Immediately before and during the Civil War, Puritan preachers were fond of taking as their theme ‘Meroz accursed.’ The point they wished to drive home was that it was not possible to be neutral in the conflict between king and Parliament. The duty of all people was to “come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.” (Judges 5:23). In the event, substantial numbers of Englishmen disagreed with them: in various areas of the country groups called Clubmen flourished, equally opposed to both warring factions and prepared to use violence against either in order to keep the conflict away from their locality.

  The preachers had a point, however. Jesus said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:34-36, referring to Micah 7:6). Whilst Christ came to bring peace – peace between men and peace between men and God – the inevitable result of his coming was and is conflict. There is conflict between Christ and anti-Christ, between light and darkness, between God’s children and the devil’s. This conflict is a kind of civil war. It encompasses even members of the same family.

  Like the writer of Judges, Jesus emphasised that spiritual neutrality is not possible, telling his disciples that “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” (Luke 11:23). At first blush this might seem to sit uneasily with the fact that Jesus also says of “a man driving out demons in [his] name … ‘Do not stop him … for whoever is not against you is for you.’” (Luke 9:49-50). In fact, the context readily clarifies the issue. On both occasions, Jesus is speaking in relation to the driving out of demons. Now, we may not be entirely comfortable with it in our modern western culture, but the fact is that the Bible very clearly tells us that there is not just a personal God, but a personal devil as well. This personal devil, Satan (the accuser, the adversary) has legions of fallen angels (demons) in his service. Sometimes these demons have human beings so much in their power that we can speak of someone being ‘possessed’ by them.

  Jesus is telling us something of great moment: although like the Clubmen we may wish to sit on the sidelines, this simply is not possible. If we align ourselves with the Lord and honestly do our best to act in accordance with his teaching, we are on the side of good. If we do not, then our silence, our failure to act and complicity in the wrongdoing of others is as much help to the forces of darkness as if we actively took up arms in their cause. It is indeed the case that, for evil to prosper, it is only necessary that good men do nothing.

  New Model nation.

  This may sound melodramatic, so it is worth exploring. Jesus says: “he who does not gather with me, scatters.” In the cosmic conflict between God and the devil, the human soul is a battleground. God gathers souls to him: “[The Son of Man – Jesus] will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.” (Mark 13:27). The gifts of God’s Holy Spirit are things that build partnership and community, that gather people together in fellowship and love. St Paul tells us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23).

  By contrast, Satan tries to scatter, to disrupt the work of God and to prevent our gaining salvation. His objective is the opposite of God’s: that instead of gathering to God and drawing near him, we will be scattered and estranged from him.[44] Accordingly Satan’s works, the “works of the flesh,” destroy community and fellowship with God and amongst men through “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

  We need to nail our colours to the mast. What we do, every minute and second of every day, has eternal significance. We may feel like people of no consequence, we may think that we cannot affect the world, but that just is not true. With small steps, soft words and hearts that belong to Jesus, we can move mountains. If we wish to see our nation restored, we must work for the things that belong to God, to help rebuild partnership and community and thereby see our people gathered together in fellowship and love. There is no option but to engage ourselves fully in this work. If we do not, then the words spoken in the book of Judges will apply equally to us: “‘Curse Meroz’, said the angel of the LORD. ‘Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’” (Judges 5:23).

  Conclusion.

  Opinions of the Lord Protector tend to tell as much about the holder of the opinion as about the man they purport to describe. The very convolutions that he went through in trying to discern God’s will in trying circumstances were seen by those of his contemporaries who were against him as evidence that he acted in bad faith. The extraordinary turns of events that brought him to prominence and then to power were read as showing that he must always have acted through selfish ambition, for otherwise his rise was inexplicable. His acts of mercy, generosity and tolerance were deliberately overlooked to emphasise the instances that mar an otherwise fine record. He was undoubtedly a great man, but for all that he represents division rather than partnership.

  After the cold certainties of war, Cromwell found the messiness and compromise of politics frustrating. No longer was it possible to see God’s judgment delivered swift, sure and certain as on the battlefield. Such is the arena in which we must fight, murky and confusing though it may often be. For this we need a New Model Army to come into the battle zones of this land, bringing not death and the sword but the Word of God, his healing, cleansing power and his salvation: an army to fight not physical battles, but spiritual ones. Creating an army of this kind will mean amongst other things reclaiming men for God and making more room in our concept of what the Christian life entails for virtues that
we regard as masculine as well as those that we regard as feminine. We need to relearn how to fight for our faith, how to suffer and if need be die for what is right and good and true. We have to rediscover the need for taking personal responsibility, not just for our own spiritual health but for that of the land in which we live.

  An army needs leaders and it needs followers. We should ask God to raise up his spiritual army in this nation, to commission its officers and to enlist its rank and file, to form them into squads, companies and regiments, to drill and equip them so that they will be able to reclaim ground that the enemy has held unopposed for too long. We should pray for him to give us the impetus no longer to sit on the sidelines like the people of Meroz, but to engage fully in the battles ahead, “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10).

  Civil war marks the final breach of those bonds that hold us in one polity. Instead of cleaving together, nations cleave asunder. Instead of togetherness and understanding, there is discord and hatred. Instead of partnership, there is faction and the pursuit of selfish gain. Mercifully, there is no civil war in present-day England, but there is a distinct loosening of the ties that should bind us together in the bundle of life. A healthy land involves partnership at all levels of society. Sadly, that sense of mutual affection and responsibility is becoming weaker and rarer. God wishes to work in partnership with us to mend this brokenness. It is for us to proclaim this joyous message to our land, and to match our deeds to our words.