Having one’s ‘back against the wall’ is a familiar phrase. Probably originating in military terminology, it means to be cornered and having only one way forward, which is either a steep, risky route or fighting an enemy hand to hand, or both. Most of us have tasted this experience in the sense of being in a metaphorical ‘corner’ at least once in our lives. Sometimes, we have faced it, more than once. I had a testing period in my life of facing it regularly through illness. One can find oneself:
- without a job or a roof over one’s head;
- facing one’s funds running out within days; or hours;
- alone, abandoned, paralysed or disabled in some way, unable to help oneself, through effort;
- traumatised by some event or inner turmoil leading to a paralysis of will, mind or body;
- at the end of all one’s human options;
- experiencing some of all of the above, at once.
I call it ‘The Eleventh Hour Scenario’ and I believe that the Divine Hand fashions these scenarios just like a novelist tightens the screw, in the final chapter of a thriller, to bring about total darkness before dawn. A magnificent example of this appears in The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 36 when terrifying, warlike Assyrians, having conquered the Middle East, surround the walls of Jerusalem under the command of King Sennacherib in 701 BC. He is clearly a military leader not short on ruthlessness and overweening self-confidence. His message to King Hezekiah and the Jews is a mixture of taunts and mockery. His messengers try to bypass Hezekiah and his counsellors, who speak Aramaic, by speaking directly to the Jews on the walls, in Hebrew. The message is:
- Where are your resources and Egyptian allies (‘where are your friends, family and church when you need them?’)? In fact, the City had new walls and underground aqueducts which still exist, put in place by Hezekiah
- Who are you 'few' to stand against our numbers ('you are such a loser')?
- Where is your God? See how weak He is even in your own eyes and see how other gods have been crushed.('Your God should help you')
- Why trust your King and his God i.e. rebel against them now and save yourselves?
God says He has been blasphemed by Sennacherib and his messengers. As a result, says the Lord, in Chapter 37, the Assyrians will fail to conquer Jerusalem and Sennacherib will fall ‘by the sword’. Within a short time, the Assyrian hordes die, en masse through The Angel of God and only the remnant return home to Nineveh. Sennacherib is later murdered, according to the prophecy by his own sons. Amazingly, many of these facts are verified outside the Bible, in seals dug up and in the records of the Assyrians. The Eleventh Hour Rescue was, and is, real.
Today, like Hezekiah, people of faith are surrounded by enemies just as Jerusalem was (and is) encircled today. ‘The Eleventh Hour for Christianity in Europe’ is upon us and a new Technological Dark Age is dawning. The way that Europe is heading, today, unless there is a revival of the Christian faith within twenty years, historic churches, notably in the UK will be sold off in huge numbers during the 2030s and 2040s. A remnant of faithful will worship ‘underground’, as in the former Soviet Union. Christians may be hounded out of the public sphere. All this could happen within the lifetimes of many living today. The Christian West will return to the Hellenistic or Assyrian world, or even worse to a bleak, barren, atheist, technological dystopia, familiar from Hollywood films.
What can we do, both personally and nationally? The lesson is always the same. We have to give up our self reliance and human wisdom and turn (back?) to faith. We must put all our hopes in Him and admit that only He can ‘do it’. We must call on The Almighty and He will act on our behalf for, as He later shows Hezekiah, He can halt and even reverse Time i.e. change History.
I have long pondered why God specialises in creating The Eleventh Hour Scenario? The reason is that it is only when have exhausted all our own resources and all our self reliance that God acts, through His Son, in visible might and power so that:
a) we learn to live by faith alone and not by our human strength; and
b) all the glory for our rescue goes to Him, because there was no other explanation for our survival/escape.
Today, like Hezekiah, people of faith are surrounded by enemies just as Jerusalem was (and is) encircled today. ‘The Eleventh Hour for Christianity in Europe’ is upon us and a new Technological Dark Age is dawning. The way that Europe is heading, today, unless there is a revival of the Christian faith within twenty years, historic churches, notably in the UK will be sold off in huge numbers during the 2030s and 2040s. A remnant of faithful will worship ‘underground’, as in the former Soviet Union. Christians may be hounded out of the public sphere. All this could happen within the lifetimes of many living today. The Christian West will return to the Hellenistic or Assyrian world, or even worse to a bleak, barren, atheist, technological dystopia, familiar from Hollywood films.
What can we do, both personally and nationally? The lesson is always the same. We have to give up our self reliance and human wisdom and turn (back?) to faith. We must put all our hopes in Him and admit that only He can ‘do it’. We must call on The Almighty and He will act on our behalf for, as He later shows Hezekiah, He can halt and even reverse Time i.e. change History.
I have long pondered why God specialises in creating The Eleventh Hour Scenario? The reason is that it is only when have exhausted all our own resources and all our self reliance that God acts, through His Son, in visible might and power so that:
a) we learn to live by faith alone and not by our human strength; and
b) all the glory for our rescue goes to Him, because there was no other explanation for our survival/escape.
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