The Queen’s Sabbath Broadcast
The occasions on which Her Majesty the Queen has chosen to address the United Kingdom directly have been rare, with the exception of her annual broadcast on December 25. It ought to be a matter of great sadness to us that she broadcast to the nation on Sabbath, April 5. That she chose to do so on the Lord’s Day only emphasises the extent that watching, or listening to, Sabbath broadcasting has become well-nigh universal in the land.
The current coronavirus outbreak is certainly a national and international crisis of great magnitude, and the Sovereign took the opportunity to speak about the fact that the virus has brought “grief to some, financial difficulties to many and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all”. Sadly, that is indeed the case and such providential hardships may continue for a considerable period still. The Queen went on to praise those working in the NHS, care-workers and others engaged in essential services helping to fight the virus and its effects and emphasised the need for national unity and resolve: “We will succeed and that success will belong to every one of us . . . better days will return . . . we will meet again”. The tone of these words seem to reflect the man-centred confidence of many in places of authority, but they also reflect, to some extent, the godless and heedless spirit in which masses of our countrymen face the solemn reality of disease and death.
She added, “Though self-isolating may at times be hard, many people of all faiths, and of none, are discovering that it presents an opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect, in prayer or meditation”. Although many have requested the Queen and the Government to call for a national day of prayer (including the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Synod), this was the only hint in her address of the idea of prayer. That fleeting mention was, however, in a multi-faith context, with no reference to the true and living God, nor to our need of repentance from sin as a nation under the afflicting hand of the Lord.
Our Queen reigns as a Protestant monarch in a historically-Christian country but once again she did not use her considerable influence to direct the thoughts of millions to the Word of God and to the faith of Jesus Christ, which she has sworn to uphold. Nothing is more needful in a time of national emergency than to call upon the Lord in the day of trouble, and we fear even greater judgements coming upon the nation and our royal house if we do not acknowledge the need for the Lord’s mercy at such a time. It is plainly the duty of the Queen to call the nation to prayer and repentance, after the ex-
ample of the King of Nineveh, who said, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?” (Jonah 3.9). Indeed her own late father, King George VI, did so on a number of occasions during World War II.
AWM
Brexit
We should note the Lord’s kind hand in bringing the United Kingdom out of the European Union on 31 January 2020, after 47 years. The work was “done suddenly” in that the whole of 2019 had been spent in political wrangling and obstruction, with no fewer than three dates being vainly appointed for Brexit; but the powerful opposition to Brexit was abruptly silenced by a heavy defeat in a General Election in December.
The Free Presbyterian Church has been opposed to Britain’s membership of the European Union (formerly the European Community, and before that the European Economic Community) since membership was first mooted, as a bond inconsistent with Britain’s Protestant constitution and heritage. Her time in the European Union has been one of fearful religious and moral decline for Britain, but as the Christian Institute (CI) observed at the time of Brexit, many of Britain’s problems have been of her own making. The CI mentions bioethics (for example, destroying human embryos), goods and services equality law (used against the Ashers Baking Company), employment law, human rights law, and LGBT issues as cases in point. Very few of the issues fought by the CI have directly involved the EU. Nevertheless, the enemies of godliness in Britain have drawn strength from the European Union and have bitterly lamented our departure from it.
In his sermon on Deuteronomy 3:24-25 on a day of thanksgiving for the Glorious Revolution of 1688, John Flavel develops various doctrines, one of which is that “great mercies received (though there be yet greater than they to be expected) call for an answerable sense and acknowledgment in the saints” (Works, vol 4, p 312). Britain’s exit from the European Union is an answer to the prayers of many of the saints (many of them now deceased) over many years, and we should acknowledge that fact; but it does not in itself bring a revival of true religion. Flavel’s next doctrine is that “the beginnings of mercy and deliverance to the Church are convertible into some pleas and arguments in prayer for the perfection and consummation thereof”. Let us then convert the unexpected political mercy of Brexit into pleas and arguments in prayer for accompanying spiritual mercies.
DWBS
Coronavirus and the Homosexual Movement
The coronavirus has already affected the homosexual movement in at least three ways. First, homosexuals are not getting the publicity that they used to,
especially from the BBC. Presumably the BBC is finding that news items about homosexuality do not generate much interest at present. Two of the big homosexual events – the marches in London and Brighton – have been cancelled. For such an attention-seeking movement this must be a great blow. Second, the grossly promiscuous lifestyle of many in the movement has been severely curtailed, or entirely halted. Again, this is a severe blow to those for whom incessant promiscuity was so important. Third, the rainbow symbol, which the homosexual movement had hijacked, has abruptly been wrenched out of their hands and become a symbol of “hope” during the coronavirus crisis. We pray that the Lord will continue to diminish the power of this movement, and even destroy it altogether.
DWBS
Coronavirus and Abortion
The coronavirus is troubling Satan’s kingdom in many ways, but he is a resilient spirit and he will never give up the struggle until he is cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). On March 18 New Zealand greatly relaxed its abortion laws, a week before the country went into lockdown. The abortion law that the Westminster Parliament imposed on Northern Ireland last October came into effect on March 31; and the day before, Parliament announced that women in the rest of Britain would be allowed to use abortion pills at home for the duration of the Covid crisis.
Stephen Green of Christian Voice observed that the daily number of Covid deaths in the UK surpassed the 2018 average daily abortion rate (595 per day) on around April 3. Meanwhile the US state of Texas has banned abortion during the Covid crisis as “a non-essential medical procedure”, a decision that has been challenged in the courts. The coronavirus has reduced the levels of promiscuity for the time being, and it may be that abortion rates will fall as well. The lockdowns that so many countries have imposed have placed emphasis on the family structure of human life, and this may have a lasting beneficial effect.
DWBS