I am sitting in Glasgow airport heading back for Sydney, thankful for a wonderful visit to the Shetland Bible Week , but sorrowful to be leaving family and friends in a country which is now governed by a parliament led by incompetent, dishonest, clowns. If anyone thinks these words are too harsh – just have a look at last night’s pantomime in the UK parliament…orchestrated and led by the chief clown – the highly entertaining, highly partizan, self-absorbed, John Bercow..
Whether its the Speaker allowing a couple of hours for MPs to talk about himself in the midst of a national crisis, the SNP MPs behaving like drunken football fans, Labour MPs indulging in public school pranks, or Tories braying – the whole thing is a farce. This is the ‘parliament’ that has ‘taken control’. It’s almost as if they want to justify their handing over parliamentary sovereignty to the EU – if this is what they do with it!
I happen to be reading Vikings by Neil Oliver and these words struck me as relevant to the current situation.
“However complex and solid civilisation seems, it is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed. What are its enemies? Well, first of all fear – fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague and famine, that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees, or even planting next year’s crops….So if one asks why the civilisation of Greece and Rome collapsed, the real answer is that it was exhausted. “ p.94 (Kenneth Clark)
“Rome had lost her grip on Britannia by the start of the fifth century AD. A province increasingly riven by rebellion and unrest ceased to be worth the expense of its garrisons and governors” P.102
“Into this climate of uncertainty stepped the Germanic tribes described by Bede as Angles, Saxons and Jutes……Finding the place to their liking, they sent word home that Britain was a fertile land inhabited by cowards” Bede – Ecclesiastical History of the English People
We have a parliament which refuses to let the government govern, and yet which refuses to let the people decide on a new government. We have a parliament which wants to assert its sovereignty and does so by surrendering that sovereignty to a foreign power. We have a parliament which complains about the threat of mob rule in this country and then behaves like an unruly mob of school boys.
The above photo sums up just how far we have gone. The SNP leader rushes to congratulate and thank the Speaker of a Parliament he wishes to destroy….because that Speaker has aided him in that destruction.
It is desperately sad to watch. Actually heartbreaking. I have gone beyond anger and am actually sitting here in tears. I am thankful to be away from it. I’m not sure I could bear the pain of watching this whilst in the midst of it. At the moment the only solution I can think of is Cromwell’s! This clip seems prophetic!
Lord, have mercy…
David, I share your deep sadness. I’m glad you had a blessed time in Shetland though. As you return to Annabel and your family in Sydney, please continue to pray for this very disunited kingdom currently ruled by a mob of would be Pharaohs. May the waters part for us! Safe journey.
The song ‘Bring in the Clowns’ springs to mind.
It ends…
‘Bring in the Clowns,
There ought to be Clowns,
Don’t bother…
They’re here.”
David, I share your sentiments and emotions entirely. What you have written finds strong resonance within me as – last night – I watched the second of a two-part BBC programme entitled ‘The Rise of the Nazis’. It recounted that in a time of national instability Hitler overturned the democratic system in just three months. What we are seeing is those elected to represent the people seeking to overturn the Brexit which the people voted for. Boris Johnson is being accused of being a dictator but, I would argue, he is wrestling valiantly to free the UK from the tyranny of the EU: a tyranny which is being defended by the undemocratic behaviour of MPs and the liberal elite.
Clifford Hill (Prophecy Today) has written a very succinct and appropriate piece. https://www.prophecytoday.uk/comment/editorial/item/1571-a-rebellious-generation.html
I switched on at just right (maybe wrong) time that night to see what was going on in the House, and couldn’t believe my eyes. The ceremonial system which has signalled British strength and stability for centuries and attracted respect worldwide has been mocked, ridiculed – and possibly destroyed – by some of the very people who have previously revelled in its glory. But that’s fallen, human nature, taking over from Christian principles. We must expect it when a nation moves so far away from God.
I agree with you and have felt angry and totally upset by the whole nonsensical events happening in Parliament! I feel totally powerless and have realised that our MPS who we put in control have their own agendas and us the people don’t have any say and even though we vote some of them don’t listen! My faith in democracy has been destroyed. In all the years I have voted I have never before seen such a total abuse of power!
Sadly I can’t see a way through this and feel extremely disturbed by the total lack of respect from certain political parties and individual MPs!
Well said, David, summed up my thoughts much better than I could have expressed them.
I am appalled at the parliament’s total surrender to Europe.
It seems I have hung on to my British passport for too long, time become fully Australian.
Such a sad day.
Do you mean Thomas Cromwell, that notorious fixer whose bloody enforcement of the King’s will on people, Church and Parliament brooked no mercy or resistance until he fell foul of the increasingly crazed autocrat himself?
Or his later relation who first purged the House of Commons of dissenters, then closed it down altogether in favour of a military dictatorship – which nearly became a hereditary one?
Who beat the Scots into submission and ordered massacres in Ireland that have never been forgotten?
And who left such a chaotic state of affairs that the old régime was welcomed back with national relief and parties in the streets?
(Definitely not an outcome you would pray for!)
Thankfully God doesn’t say yes to all our prayers…
Oliver Cromwell
The numbers killed under Cromwell pale in comparison to the millions killed in the Middle East thanks in part to Blair…
I am heartened by your Godly reflections and exposure of propaganda here in Scotland. Over the years I have become increasingly alarmed by shallow belief systems weaving into the fabric of this nation, replacing faith in the Gospel of Christ that men and women died for. You give words to my concerns and courage to speak up. I join you in your prayer for mercy. Oh God please shine light on our foolishness and let us leave a legacy of righteousness for our children.
It’s not like the UK deserved any better leadership. I’ve heard it said that we tend to get the leadership we deserve, if so, God have mercy upon us! We’re like sheep without a shepherd- unless we’ve been found by the Good Shepherd- if so, let’s not forget that wonderful fact!
Oliver of course: a rhetorical question I presume. It’s interesting to note that Boris Johnson is simultaneously accused of acting like Charles I did (in 1629 when he suspended Parliament for 11 whole years, not the few extra days of Boris’s prorogation) and like Oliver Cromwell when he ejected the sad remnants of the Long Parliament. So he’s both a Roundhead and a Royalist, seemingly. Cromwell’s other crimes and misdemeanours are not relevant to this debate, but I don’t even think his expulsion of the Members of the House of Commons is either. The context is totally different. Boris in his embattled minority government is trying vainly to implement the will of the electorate in a free and fair referendum which the Government set up and of which it promised to enact the result. We Leavers cast our votes in that belief, the belief that we were doing something meaningful. What mugs we were. We hadn’t reckoned on the whole weight of the EU-loving British political establishment, as well the CBI, the TUC, the Bank of England etc. : all driven to a frenzy by this democratic choice. Also Boris (unlike Oliver) is offering an election. But the Remainers don’t like elections that aren’t rigged in advance, as the next Referendum will be. They won’t make that mistake again.
Meanwhile, back down here in Australia, homosexuals and their supporters continue to rip the Anglican Church apart. Here you go, since you wouldn’t have seen the 7:30 Report last night, Pastor David:
https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/two-priests,-an-enduring-love-and-a-church-that/11503400
I thought Gken Davies spoke very well on behalf of Calvinist Anglicans around the nation against this madness. It gives us hope to go on but a schism between GAFCON Dioceses and the loony liberals seems ever more likely.
I respect your willingness to engage with contemporary life and culture, David, but so often feel annoyed that you seem to overlook certain things. The scenes in Parliament were despicable. Bercow’s departure is a good thing. You are right to be heartbroken – the scenes were representative of a nation spiritually adrift. I agree with all that – and honour your tears before the Lord.
But those who are alarmed at the very mention of a No Deal Brexit are not, in every instance, motivated by a desire simply to defy the referendum result. In Northern Ireland, there is tension between business and farming, on one hand, and the DUP, on the other. It is fashionable to distrust experts and people who should be expected to know what they are talking about, but when the Ulster Farmers Union, for example, are alarmed about things, I pay attention. I don’t think every senior policeman who worries about the security implications of a No Deal Brexit or every medical expert who worries about the drug supply in the light of the same is part of ‘Project Fear’. Parliament is elected to scrutinise the Executive, and when a lot of intelligent people have these concerns at a time of crisis, MPs need to be on call.
I wish Boris Johnson well in trying to get a deal. But I also feel sad that 21 Tory MPs, many of them with a long and good record of service to their country, have had the Whip withdrawn. People like Ken Clarke, Nicholas Soames or Alistair Burt have served as politicians of integrity who have been unfortunate enough to have a different perspective on Europe. Burt is a deeply committed Christian. The point is often made that such people, whatever their convictions about Europe, sought to honour the referendum result by supporting Theresa May’s deal.
Brexit must come – if Britain is to be a democracy of integrity where people’s wishes count. But is the way to do it by neutralising the body elected to scrutinise on people’s behalf?
Thanks Brian – I agree with you. I have never said, nor thought, that all who are alarmed at the idea of a no deal Brexit are simply motivated by a desire to defy the referendum result. I too would share some of that alarm. It’s just that my alarm would be greater if there was no Brexit…
This is not about Parliament ‘scrutinising’ the executive. It’s about Parliament stopping the Executive from governing and then holding them prisoner by refusing to have a general election. I have no confidence in Parliament whatsoever. It has no interest in scrutinising. It wants to stop Brexit. May’s deal was dreadful. Worse than being in the EU – as Barnier boasted ‘we have made them into a colony’.
I cannot see anyway that any meaningful Brexit will be permitted to happen.
Brexit has proved very polarising and it is dispiriting to hear the anger and the vitriol from both sides of the debate.
Surely some Parliamentarians are not acting out of self-interest but trying to do what they consider best in a difficult situation? Some of them at a cost to their careers? Some might want to stop Brexit altogether, others a no deal Brexit which they think the referendum gave no mandate for.
This is a difficult issue in a local church down south where there are people with extremely strong views on either side. When we try to pray about it, even the praying can sound partisan.
I would love to see Christians discuss this with a better tone than the world and attribute some integrity to the other side. I don’t mean to go pious and avoid rigorous debate but I do think we should reflect on how we exercise our democratic right to express our views with 1 Peter 2:13-17. I’m not sure this piece gets it right.