Lux Lucet

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. – Isaiah 1:7

Police respond to the terrorist attack on London Bridge, June 3, 2017.

Dear Britain, we need to talk. I know, I know, talking about sensitive subjects, that’s the very sort of thing we’d all prefer to avoid. And yet, sometimes the very things that are most difficult to discuss are the very things that most need to be discussed. In this case, the uncomfortable subject I have in mind is your ongoing, painful-to-watch civilizational collapse.

For my part, I’d rather not bring up the topic. It would be much more comfortable to keep my nose to the grindstone and carry on as if nothing were happening. And yet, after watching news of the third major terrorist attack in Britain in less than three months, I simply cannot hold my peace any longer. In the words of Isaiah, strangers are devouring your land in your presence. But for all that you do nothing. How can this be?

But in truth, your response is worse than nothing. For not only are you failing to address the collapse of your civilization, each new disaster seems to strengthen your leaders’ resolve to hasten the day when Great Britain, at least as it has been understood for centuries, no longer exists.

I write as an American, so you may be tempted to dismiss what I have to say as the arrogant ramblings of some know it all Yank, who would do well to keep his mouth shut.

But what I write, I write not out of a sense of boastfulness, as if I think Americans have all the answers, but rather out of a genuine sense of love and admiration for the people of Great Britain. What is more, although I’m not British, I do feel as if I have at least an indirect stake in seeing your nation preserved and prospering long into the future.

Why do I say this? For one, my last name. Very clearly it’s of British origin, Welsh to be more specific. So there’s that.

Then there’s the English language. Yes, I’m aware of the old joke, originating from one of your own authors, I believe, about England and America being two peoples separated by a common language. That’s definitely good for a laugh. And there’s some truth to it. But in the end, we do literally speak the same language as our native tongue. And that’s not nothing.

But there’s an even more profound bond that unites my interest to that of Great Britain than blood or language: a common faith. As a Presbyterian, my church is governed by the Westminster Standards, draw up at the Westminster Assembly in London in the 1640s. It’s the greatest Christian confession of faith yet written.

And time would fail me if I were to begin to write of all the sound, biblical teaching I’ve received from countless English, Welsh, and Scottish Christians going back to the time of Hugh Latimer right up to the present day. I owe these men a great debt of gratitude. They are my elder brothers in Christ and I thank God for their witness.

In light of all this, I ask that you consider what I have to say as the words of a friend and not those of a foe. And what I have to say is this: Although your nation is in grave danger, and although some of you seem to recognize this, it appears that you do not understand the reason why this is so.

Britain’s troubles are not rooted in Muslim immigration.  That is merely a symptom of a deeper problem.  Your troubles are not primarily political in nature, as if simply changing prime ministers would fix. They are not ultimately economic either.

In the end, the root Great Britain’s disease, the root of what is wrong with Europe, and the root of what ails America, is spiritual. We have, as did Judah in the days of Isaiah he prophet, forsaken the Lord and “are gone away backward.”

Your nation, my nation, the nations of Western Europe, not only have we shunned both the Law and the Gospel of God, but we seem hell bent on doing exactly the opposite of what he commands.

Consider, for a moment, the state of Christianity in your land. I could throw all kinds of statistics at you, how there are more people who attend mosques in Britain than who regularly worship in the Church of England, or that Muhammed is now the most popular name for baby boys in the UK.

The Didsbury mosque.  Built in 1883, it was formerly known as Albert Park Methodist Chapel.

But perhaps nothing illustrates the serious decline in British Christianity over the past century plus than the case of Manchester bomber Salman Abedi. As details came out about the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England on May 22, it was reported that he attended the Didsbury mosque.

As further details were released, it became apparent that the building that housed the Didsbury mosque was not originally a mosque at all. Built in 1883, it formerly was known as the Albert Park Methodist Chapel. But now this building where one the name of Christ was named, is become home to an Islamic suicide bomber.

Could a more symbolic or devastating commentary on the decline of Christianity in Britain be written than this?

Great Britain was a nation greatly blessed by the God of heaven. But along with great blessings comes great responsibility. As both the Old and New Testaments witness, there are great penalties that come with forsaking the Lord. Moses outlined what would happen to Israel if they turned their back on him. Isaiah witnessed to the truth of Moses’ words.

Paul warned the Romans that if God did not spare the natural branches (the Israelites) he would not spare them either.

In Revelation, the Lord Jesus threatened to remove the lamp stand from the church at Ephesus if they did not repent, a threat which apparently he carried out.

As Proverbs tells us, The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion. It is fitting to speak of lions in connection with England, as historically the lion has been the symbol of the nation.

And for centuries, England was bold as a lion. But what now? It seems as if many of the nations guardians flee when no one pursues.

Take, for example, the horrible case of the Rotherham child abuse scandal. For years, muslim gangs preyed on young girls in this English town, but the authorities did nothing for fear of be labeled racist. The testimony of one of the survivors is chilling,

I actually reported my abuse 14 years ago. I went to the authorities, my parents did. I say and gave video interviews with the police, I was willing to work with them.

But as soon as I said the names [the Muslim names of the perpetrators], I was made to feel as though I was racist and I was the one who had the problem.

I was specifically told not to comment on the ethnicity of the perpetrators…numerous times.

This abject failure on the part of the civil magistrates has been corroborated by a report commissioned by the Rotherham Borough Council. According to this report, police “regarded many child victims with contempt.” Apparently they were more solicitous of their jobs and avoiding charges of racism than they were of carrying out their biblically assigned duty to punish evildoers.

That this is this case is further supported by the report which notes, “Several staff [apparently referring to the local police department] described their nervousness about identifying the ethnic origins of perpetrators for fear of being thought as racist; others remembered clear direction from their managers not to do so.”

One of my very favorite English reformers is Hugh Latimer. Latimer was a committed Roman Catholic priest and hated the Lutheran “heresy” circulating among the students at Cambridge where he studied student. Upon his graduation, he preached a sermon against Philip Melanchthon’s teachings. But soon thereafter, he came to Christ through the witness of Thomas Bilney.

Latimer went on to become one of the boldest and most eloquent preachers of the Gospel in his day. He went on to serve as court chaplain to Henry VIII and was later burned at the stake under Bloody Mary for his insistence that transubstantiation was a historical invention.

Latimer and Ridley, October 16, 1555.

On October 16, 1555, as the flames were being kindled beneath the Nicholas Ridley, who was at the stake with Latimer, the aged saint comforted his brother in Christ by uttering the now famous words, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

Hugh Latimer was a true man of God, a believer in the Gospel of justification by faith alone. And because he was a man of God, he also was a man of courage. If Britain is to survive as a nation, it will happen because men once again take a stand on the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May the Lord have mercy on the British people and raise up a new generation of Latimers who are as bold as a lion for his truth.