Right now the darkness over our nation has reached a new intensity. But just as the stars shine the brightest on the darkest of nights, the ‘Lord of all Hopefulness’ still reigns and His Star is still guiding those who choose to follow Him – even in the midst of extreme darkness.
In the UK the Abortion Act legalised the killing of the unborn. And now the Assisted Dying Bill has just legalised assisted dying through choice for terminally ill patients, with the support of the medical profession and the National Health Service.
All of this is in spite of the fact that, within the Palace of Westminster, the Government carries out its work beneath a massive mural, showing Moses bringing down the Tablets of the Law from Mount Sinai, the sixth commandment of which says, “You shall not kill.”
God’s commandment for the whole of mankind has now been dismissed by our Parliament as an irrelevant myth. Life is no longer sacrosanct. Both the beginning and the end of life are now under threat from human intervention, in a society which has reneged on its Judeo-Christian foundations.
Parliament is meant to be a window for the nation – through which light and truth and justice shine upon the people of the land. Tragically, as Jeremiah expresses it, “death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses.” (Jeremiah 9:21)
Today I am weeping with Isaiah who expressed the heart and words of God when he wrote: “I called but you did not answer. I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me” (Isaiah 65:12).
Abortion, gay marriage and now assisted dying have blown away the last shred of a legal spiritual covering which God intended to provide safety for the nation. How dependent we now are on the intercession of the saints, to keep the powers of darkness from blowing away everything we value and to maintain a witness in the nation that there is eternal life in Jesus, even in the midst of physical suffering and death.
God, and His prophets, were never afraid to speak out the consequences of rebellion against the laws of God. I have no idea what will be next for the British people, and other nations who walk this path, but I do know what Scripture says “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Today, however, as I write these words, is the first Sunday of Advent. Believers the world over are looking ahead to celebrate the event that penetrated the darkness with the light of eternity. Jesus was born under the reign of an evil King, who would murder hundreds of babies and behead John the Baptist, within a totally pagan Roman Empire which would eventually authorise the crucifixion of the babe of Bethlehem.
It was into this extreme darkness that Jesus came. It was in this darkness that the Light of the World shone, overcoming death itself and bringing hope, healing and eternal life to those who turned their hearts towards Him. The lost, the hurting and the broken flocked to the One who met the need of their broken hearts. Those in despair of a seemingly loveless religious system, that had lost its way in heartless pharisaism, found their deepest needs being met in Him.
And in this respect nothing has changed! The same Light still shines in the darkness. We may despair at the way secular humanism now dictates government policy in so much of our broken world, but Jesus is still shining in the darkness. He is still there for the hurting and the broken, who are still finding that the ‘Lord of all Hopefulness’ is their Redeemer and giver of life.
Could it be that God will even use this situation to touch the hearts of those who know, deep down, that the termination of life through deliberate human intervention is against God’s law? – A law that God has written on the hearts of men and women and which Satan is doing everything he can to blank off from the mind and understanding of mankind.
But who will hear and answer the cry of those who truly are asking the hard questions at a time like this? Governments may have deserted the ways of the Lord, but the words God spoke through Isaiah still resound from the pages of Scripture with an urgency from on high, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8). Who will go into the darkness carrying the light of truth in their hearts, bringing the good news of eternal life to those who may be seeking Him?
Every day of a human life is an opportunity for God to penetrate the darkness of a human heart and reveal Himself to them. To foreshorten those days is to rob a person who, in and through their personal suffering, may turn to God at the one time of their life when they have come face to face with the most important question of all, where will they spend eternity?
I sat at the bedside of a long-term friend. He and I had walked together through many ups and downs in business and life. Many times we had talked about Jesus and faith in God, but he always had too many other issues clouding his thinking. But, as he lay in Lancaster hospital, on the very edge of death, everything else had been swept from his mind. It was when he faced eternity, and nothing else mattered, that Jesus met him at his point of need and he was saved from eternal death.
We have an extraordinary and glorious truth to proclaim. I cannot just sit back and let my age be an excuse for doing nothing, when God is urging us forward to open Gates of Hope across the world. The old hymn ever echoes in my heart, “There’s a work for Jesus, none but you can do.” And that is equally true for every believer.
So, my prayer today is that the Lord Himself will stir your hearts to be part of God’s response to the darkness, so that as and when ‘the end of your day’ comes, you will be found still doing the works of the Kingdom of God!
Copyright © Peter Horrobin 2024.
Peter Horrobin is the Founder of Gates of Hope International. To find out more about the work please go to www.gatesofhopeinternational.com or, in its abbreviated ‘Go-High’ form: www.gohi.world. To receive regular updates about the work of GOHI, please register your name and email address on the website.
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Dear Peter
Thank you for once again sharing your thoughts, experiences and insights, which you have gained from years of teaching and studying God’s Word. I am always inspired by your writings and look forward to the next one.
God bless you.
THanks David – an important correction. Interesting how generational sin repeats itself – hatred of God’s people!
Thanks Peter.
Could I please make one comment? Herod Antipas who beheaded John the Baptist was the son of the other Herod who killed the children; not the same Herod.
Thanks, David.
Thank you Cynthia for sharing your heartbreak about Church. The real need of people ‘out there’ is not to be filled with an extra breakfast but for their emptiness to be filled with the love of Jesus – but most people won’t recognise their need until they are desperate – which is where the healing ministry comes in – healing for the broken-hearted and setting the captives free. Jesus went to the very lowest of society – people so broken that they had no problem being humble enough to confess their need.
Dear brother in Christ,
Sometime before our beloved Queen died, I felt the Lord say “When Queen Elizabeth dies, Great Britain will lose its spiritual covering.” I’m not at all surprised the way our country has gone down hill since then.
I also believe the Church hasn’t repented as the Lord has been telling us for years. We haven’t as a body been carrying out The Great Commission. We’ve been, in the main been putting on ‘shows’ or become a social club. My own Church is doing breakfast before the service expecting people to come in to hear the gospel. So far, the only church members have turned up. The prayer group that meets once a week at the moment has two people, myself and my husband and a dear lady who pops in for a few minutes.
We gave only ourselves to blame.
God rich blessing. Cynthia
Many thanks again Peter for stirring the hearts of all who read this message God bless you
Absolutely – faith without works is dead! Faith with works moves mountains.
Thank you Peter for your words of hope. We too are going through the same thing as the UK. But God… has a plan for the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. He has stirred many hearts who are willingly stepping up to be a voice in parliament for those who have none. A voice that echoes God’s heart for this hurting world. Please pray for ‘Australian Christian Party’ and that many in the UK will also answer the call of God for their nation. We are to be sheep nations, but this won’t happen through wilful prayer only, it is time for Prayer N’ Action. 🙏
Dear Peter thank you for your comments on the latest of mankind’s crazy and extremely dangerous ‘Laws’ opening the gates of hell to many I think how much our Lord and Saviour suffered at the hands of his creation and remained silent unto death He opened the way to full abundant life….. yes we can expect to suffer during our life time ButLife is a gift His gift to us we don’t own itIt comes as a huge blessing Thank you Jesus
Anne Thalmessinger
Thank you for pointing out that pain and suffering are not an easy option and that our compassion must always be with those who are making their final journey – whatever decisions they make.
Yes,indeed
Amen, Amen and Amen.
Thank you Abraham. It is always a relief to find that we are not alone in our thinking and our need for clarity of understanding in a very confusing world.
Thank you Susanna – I believe we will be all surprised when we see how in the darkness God raised up Christians of all persuasion to recognise their one-ness in Christ.
Dear Peter. Our Australian Government has also fallen away from Judeo- Christian beliefs. One state has even passed a law denying palliative care to babies aborted at term.Assisted dying is only about a week away from being legalised in it’s entirety.In this darkness , I see a wonderful movement beginning in our churches. They are uniting against the darkness. Christian’s are forgetting doctrine and their differences and uniting in Christ . Last weekend at a combined churches fellowship here on the West Coast of Tasmania, I witnessed Christian’s from Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal and many other denominations laying hands and praying for the Roman Catholic priest for his work and ministry. All things work for good for those who love the Lord & obey His commandments. The light of the church WILL surely shine brighter as the darkness grows around us.I believe we are being called to unite,reconcile, & keep looking up !
Dear Peter,
Thank you very much for your words.
For me they mean breathing a sigh of relief and hope for the restoration of Christian identity.
They not only help me to find clarity in a time when clarity is forbidden.
They speak into a place where there is an overwhelming need for revelation. Revelation of what kind of relationship the Father in heaven wants to have with us. Out of this come terrible, unthinkable decisions.
C. S. Lewis has already made it clear that time alone does nothing in relation to the fact of the guilt character of sin. Guilt is not washed away by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ.
However, the darkness has not overcome the light and the burning fire will not be extinguished.
Thank you for the hope and for holding up the plamline.
Thank you for your words and the light, dear Peter.
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, S. 61.
Thank you Peter, your words today are so in line with what I believe is happening in our country and the world ..as Christians we need to take a stand against this present darkness and pick up our swords of the spirit and use them like never before …
Jesus is our Hope and our Light
God Bless you don’t stop Peter X
In canada , as well as … we been killing people for decades n more ! Once sick , the family can choose to have the person ” comfortable” ; meaning they administrate morphin * regularly* so much that the heart soon let go !!! Freeing a bed , reducing the financial impact on the health system – at the same time we need to remain compassionate toward those choosing medical assit. Suicide because feeling sick , or in pain , is a real struggle , taking away the desire to live ! 🙁
Hi Peter,
Yes, the world is certainly becoming darker and undoubtedly will become darker still. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil ( Isaiah 5:20 ) As you rightly say the Lord will withhold His hand of protection and blessing over our nation. There is however no doubt that there is greater openness to the Good News of the Gospel. May we avail ourselves of every opportunity.
Blessing.
We need to stand strong and declare the glory of the LORD and for there to be an outpouring of GOD’S Holy Spirit to completely cover the whole of the UK, for there to be a revival and many souls to turn to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. With GOD anything is possible. HE still sits on the throne. HE can see what is going on. The enemy is upping the ante because he knows his time is running out. Praise be to HOD on high. Hallelujah. Even though I have lived in Australia over half my life I was born in England, so it is still dear to my heart. Let’s break the enemy’s hold on the UK by pray, pray and pray. Hallelujah and Amen! 🙏🙏🙏😊
Hi Thank u for your recent blog on assisted dying. I would just like to say that this was the second reading of the bill & still has more processes to go through before it becomes legal. With this in mind there is still time for our prayers against this bill to be answered – we need to pray fervently for a mighty miracle !