Posts Tagged ‘British values’

500 days

September 29, 2015

499 days ago I believe God spoke to me about tomorrow (30 September 2015). I believe that God was talking to me in terms of a coming crisis.

I was in a meeting in which we were discussing the challenges facing the United Kingdom and the nations and some of the consequences of the choices we have made in this generation, and I believe that I heard God say “500 days” to me. Over the past 499 days (more than 16 months) I have prayed and considered what God was pointing to. I believe He has highlighted for me two things in particular about 30th September 2015:

Firstly I believe God has been speaking to me about his countdown and directing me to think in terms of the urgency of the state of our nation and the global situation in terms of days rather than months or years. It is a matter of life and death.

Secondly I believe that God is warning us of a coming crisis in this nation and globally. I don’t know if this related to a specific event on 30th September 2015 or if this date will be a turning point in the history of our nation. Such a turning point might be apparent in time to come when we look back.

As an aside I should say that at the time that God spoke the words “500 days” to me I was either unaware of the Blood Moons that many have talked about – or if I’d heard I was pretty sceptical of attaching importance to the dates of a particular lunar eclipse.

I believe that God is warning us of a tremendous increased shaking (Hebrews 12) which will take place in human affairs as a direct consequence of doing things which are contrary to His direction, and a shaking in the earth, outside of human control, which is the hand of God shaking rebellious nations. The purpose of the shaking is to stop humanity on the road of foolishness and take our eyes off materialism, secular humanism and the deception of evil beliefs. God is loving and for the sake of our eternal wellbeing will shake us in this life to interrupt our path toward even more destruction.

We are already in the place of a perfect storm which is about to break: The global debt position is like a rotten wood beam holding up a building. It is utterly rotten and barely able to take the load, and will suddenly give way without warning; The pursuit of secularism in the developed nations, and now also in many developing nations, is promoting a spiritual death and hopelessness which is a form of national suicide; trust is evaporating; families are fragmenting, and the glue which holds communities together is decayed. All this leaves the United Kingdom (and many others) in a highly fragile state. All this can be traced back to an abandonment of authentic Christian values and deliberate removal of God honouring principles in government and society.

The shaking which will escalate from now is the hand of God. He wants our attention and He wants our repentance. Repentance means turning from our chosen path of humanly constructed wisdom to His ways. Righteousness primarily means ‘right relationships’. Right relationship with God and right relationships with each other. Unrighteousness brings a people down – nationally, locally and in the home. Some things work and some things don’t. God’s ways work. Opposing God does not.

The consequences of our actions in this nation and globally are about to become even more obvious.

Over the next few days I will publish some of what I believe God has been speaking to me about in these 16 months.

Ordinary People sense that something is wrong

July 17, 2014
A time to rebuild

A time to rebuild

Friends, it seems that we are living in a time of great madness – the generation who voted (or ignored) the abortion bill, now about to vote for (or ignore) the euthanasia bill. The painful irony of a generation who voted for death in the womb, voting for their own death. Maybe this is a picture of how we are behaving financially?

I am not here to present a programme for you to sign up to, a campaign asking you to give money, and I’m not asking that you agree with my analysis. I do believe that there is a crisis developing which will progress into a catastrophe and that God is offering hope. To draw from the hope He offers we must listen to Him.

The theme for this week is finance. What a theme! Hard on the heals of  a series of banking scandals. Even last week there was a story emerging of yet another ‘mis-selling’ allegation – one that will cost up to £22 billion. We have had the stories of the banks not lending, and yet interest rates are at all time lows. On top of all this the USA and UK have historically incredible national debt levels. The USA debt is now measured in tens of trillions. I can remember the incredulity across the media when it reached one trillion. On top of this are the committed expenditures – which make the existing debt look small. Many analysts are convinced that this is not repayable in a generation. It seems that we have borrowed exorbitantly from our children. This is intergenerational abuse.

Ordinary people sense that something is wrong. British people feel alienated, and this is not just to do with the European government – but in government itself. Democracy is now down to how a handful of marginal seats will vote. Without traditional values giving a framework of morality and ‘right and wrong’ people only vote for self interest, and what will be best for them and their family. What we really believe  has become blurred.

Jesus said your heart is where you put your money. There is a battle for our hearts and the heart of the nation. Are we going to resort to entertaining ourselves or pretend that it’s business as usual?

At a recent North West Christian Business Forum we had a time of prayer and waiting on God. One person brought a word which he believed was from God, and which resonated with a good number of those present. “Something is coming – for which you cannot prepare – only learn to listen to Me.”

At a time of national social crisis and confusion about values and priorities the prophet Micah spoke a word of hope. He described a coming turning point: “There is coming a time for re-building the walls, for extending your boundaries.” God is always truthful about the state of the people, and always offers hope and a way forward.

Saint Paul described the three key values of the Christian faith: “Faith, Hope and Love.”

In the business world we would do well to rebuild the walls and extend our boundaries by promoting these values in the more everyday business world terms: “Trust, Confidence and Compassion.”

John Manwell is Co-Founder of The Forum (www.nwcbf.org) and Liverpool businessman

This talk was a contribution to a daily prayer event in Liverpool Cathedral as part of the International Festival for Business #IFB2014