a matter of choice

Choices have consequences – what if you don’t choose life…?

Believe it or not, Brexit was God’s idea, as was Trump, Boris Johnson and every other reality that you may vehemently oppose, even Jeremy Corbyn. I once brought up the Brexit question with a well-known Christian media personality who was appalled by my understanding; “You’ll be telling me next that wars are God’s idea too!” Duh? Had he not read the Old Testament? “Now I will give all your countries into the hands of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.”(Jeremiah 27:6). God has His Divine Hands on everything, the good and the not so good. 

Before we start feeling smug about this, we must also be open to the possibility that He may bring forth things that we Bible believers may find totally unacceptable. Here are three possible scenarios for 2019, each possibly resulting in the same conclusion.

1. Teresa May delivers a ‘hard’ Brexit, to the joy of ‘leavers’ but to the dismay of the rest, including fellow parliamentarians who force an early election, giving us a Corbyn government.

2. She compromises with a ‘soft’ Brexit, to a degree of joy from ‘remainers’ but not so for the die-hard ‘leavers’, who force an early election, giving us a Corbyn government.

3. There is a second referendum that angers the losers so much that they force an early election, giving us a Corbyn government.

Unfortunately, the only alternative to the Conservatives, who have rarely been weaker, is not the traditional moderate Labour party that most of us have grown up with, but rather the ideologically Marxist extremists. It’s a lose-lose-lose situation, I believe, and guess what … it may well be God’s choice, for His purposes, however distasteful it may seem to us. And the reason why I believe Labour will probably win the next election is that I think we are going to see a massive push by them to get the young to vote and, bearing in mind that a recent poll (1) had 65% of 18-24-year olds voting Labour, coupled with a growing national dissatisfaction with the warring Tories, the writing seems to be on the wall!

God’s choices aren’t always readily understood by the human mind. Did Jesus really have to die so horribly? Why so hard on the women and children during the Flood?  Did 24,000 really have to die at Baal Peor? Why give Simon so many chances? What’s the point of a wasp? Yet His Wisdom is Perfect and not to be challenged:

The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever.The decrees of the LORD are firm and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.(Psalm 19:7-11)

Our choices …

Rather than question His choices, we should examine ourselves. Imagine what Jewish history would have been like if they had chosen life!

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

Unheeded then, as now by many of us even some Christians, if the truth be told. We really don’t know what is good for us. Yes, we make choices, all of the time, but are they good choices? Which brings me to …

Into the madness

I knew the world was going mad when writing Into the Lion’s Den, but I had no idea how mad, and how quick the transition has been into the madness. The focus is on the choices we make. We know that the growth of humanism and individualism and ‘human rights’ has created an inward selfishness mindset of my choices are my own, whatever the consequences.And we have seen how this has impacted the growth in abortions and euthanasia decisions, as well as the explosion of addictive behaviours that serve only to feed the needs of the individuals, to the detriment of their responsibilities to family, society … and even their own bodies! And then came the madness. Here are three current news stories to illustrate this:

• Tony McGinn, from Los Angeles has made two choices. Born female, the first choice was to transition to a man and then marrying. The second decision was to identify as a dog, enjoying trips to the park with husband Andrew, along with other role-players!
• A 69 year old Dutch man called Emile Ratelband has gone to court to officially re-register as a 49 year old, his chosen age, in order to get more success with the ladies on dating websites.
• Theatre director, Anthony Ekundayo Lennon, a white Irishman, now identifies as a black man, despite being 100% Caucasian and has recently received a monetary grant offered to encourage black people in the arts.

These are seen as oddities, yet soon they will become as much a feature of our cultural climate as the well under 1% who identify as transgender. We are told not just to tolerate these personal decisions, but to celebrate them, as this is seen as “progress”. How is this ‘progress’?  In Marxism, the philosophy that drives our current post-modern, politically correct culture, ‘progress’ is a wrenching away from all that ‘restricts’ us and stops us from attaining our ‘true potential’, thus providing ‘personal freedom’. The reality is far different, because what Marxism views as ‘restricting’, that Judeo-Christian framework of Western Civilisation, actually provides us with more freedom than many realise.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1)

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17)

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom. (James 2:12)

Freedom or bondage?

What the Marxists see as freedomis, in fact, conformity, ultimately of the kind that you see in the enforced orthodoxy in North Korea. Allowing us to indulge our personal choices is to re-educate us against the absolute truths of the Bible, where choices are more black and white, as we read earlier: Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.

The choice is clear. Either we choose life, so that we may hold fast to the Lord, listen to Him and follow Him, or we choose anything else that seems right to us. If we choose the latter, then it may be that we are being prepared for the day where we will choose whatever they tell us to choose, because we have lost our foundations in the truth – and reality is whatever they tell us!

It could well be that a UK Labour government may hasten things along to that scenario. And this may be what God has in mind after all! If so, these verses will begin to take on new meanings:

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. (Philippians 1:27)

Let’s make the right choices now, and let us continually be looking to help others to make the most important choice of all, to follow Jesus Christ, the only hope for this world.

1 @survation 20th Oct – 2nd Nov