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CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF REVIVAL

by Brian David Williams

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What is to be done when the peace and prosperity of a nation is disturbed by a massive onslaught of its enemies — by people displaying ingratitude and injustice and motivated by evil?

The situation in southern Africa in the late 20th century — and in the Christian nations of the world today — finds a counterpart in the Bible story of a king of Judah whose nation was oppressed and intimidated by a host of enemies.

Relying not upon military power but on God, the king called the people together to seek divine help. What happened as a result was a glorious revival — a spiritual awakening in which the people turned to God with enthusiasm and great rejoicing, resulting in the total overthrow of their enemies.

The extraordinary nature of their deliverance sets the pattern for revival today. God will not solve the nation’s problems until we realize the futility of our own efforts. God is waiting for us to recognize and acknowledge Him and our entire dependence upon Him for deliverance. Only then can victory come.

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CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF REVIVAL

“And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel.”

I WISH to speak about revival. We were driving away from the airport at Salisbury where we arrived on our first visit to southern Africa for ten years, and the brother in whose church we were going to minister the following day said, “I hope you have something edifying and helpful for the people, only we had one man here not long ago claiming that he had a special message from God, and his message was, Emigrate or be massacred.” Well, I assure you that I haven’t any message like that this evening! But there is a great need for this message to be preached in southern Africa today as in England, as indeed the whole of Western Christian civilization, and that is Awake or perish.

Crisis

   In this passage that we have been reading tonight we see a very close parallel to the situation, to the predicament, that faces us in this land. The Bible says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible says that “we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed” (2 Peter 1:19), and I thank God that we have this Bible, this Word of God, to turn to, to give us inspiration and encouragement and help and faith for these crisis days.
   You see, it was Solomon who said a very long time ago, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) — and therefore when we look at the world situation, when we look at the crisis particularly that faces us here in southern Africa, we have only to turn to the Word of God to see an exact parallel and to see the means by which God intends to deliver His people. I believe that the clue to our deliverance lies in revival. The message is Awake or perish; it is Revival or perish. This is the message for the whole Christian church. And so I see three things in this passage which I particularly want you to notice:
• firstly, the circumstances which lead up to revival
• secondly, the nature of revival
• thirdly, the lasting benefits accruing from revival.

Adversaries

   We are reading again in the Second Book of Chronicles, chapter 20: “It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle” (v1). Jehoshaphat was the godly king of Judah who reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-five years, 877–852BC (1 Kings 22:42, 2 Chronicles 20:31). He was a man who put his faith and trust in the Lord, a man who was raised up for his day and generation. “Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea [the Dead Sea] on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi” (v2).
   The Bible says that there was a great multitude that came against God’s people and, significantly, Jehoshaphat did not turn to his armed forces, he did not turn to the might and strength of his military power, but the Bible says that he turned to the Lord: “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD” (v3–4). With the deteriorating situation both in Rhodesia and here also in South Africa, the day is fast approaching when collectively, wholly, as God’s people we must gather together to ask help of the Lord, because our help is in the Lord God and in none else. “There is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God” (Book of Common Prayer).
   The Bible says that the people responded to the call of Jehoshaphat: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not Thou God in heaven?” (v4–6). I want you to notice here Jehoshaphat’s appeal to the person of the great God of Israel, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of history; the God of our forebears, who by His grace enabled Christian civilization to be brought to this great continent of Africa. “Art not Thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen?” (v6)

Why Communism?

   We need to understand that there is a God who reigns supreme; that there is a God in heaven, a God who raises up one and puts down another. The Bible says, “The Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Revelation 19:6). The Bible says, “The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Daniel 4:17, 25, 32). And as we behold the march of Communism — of this great atheistic godless materialism which has swept over two-thirds of the nations of the earth — we need to understand this fact, that it has happened in the divine economy, that God is not surprised nor taken unawares by what has happened; rather, the very power of Communism itself has been raised up by God to execute His wrath and judgments in the earth.
   The Bible says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17), and it behoves us to understand this fact, and to understand that there is a God who reigns supreme, a God who is waiting for us to recognize and to acknowledge Him, and to call upon Him and to seek Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. “Art not Thou God in heaven? and rulest not Thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in Thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee?” (v6)
   Now it seems to me that Western civilization is doomed, that Christian civilization must be annihilated unless we come to that place where we recognize the greatness of our God and we rely on Him to fight the battle for us. “Is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand Thee?” It is my conviction that Communism, this dreadful scourge, could have been wiped out decades ago if God’s people had paid the price, if God’s people had moved in revival power, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sanctuary

   Jehoshaphat prayed, “Art not Thou our God?” (v7) My dear friends, there is a God who reigns supreme, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). “Art not Thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham Thy friend for ever?” (v7, see also James 2:23) Can we not also say that this wonderful land has been given to God’s people as part of their Christian inheritance? “And they dwelt therein, and have built Thee a sanctuary therein for Thy name” — there is a sanctuary for the name of the most High God in southern Africa today and it is the sanctuary of Christian civilization — “saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in Thy presence, (for Thy name is in this house,) and cry unto Thee in our affliction, then Thou wilt hear and help. (v7–9)
   “And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom Thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit” (v10–11).
   You understand Jehoshaphat’s complaint. The Lord had told His people specifically that they were in no wise to harm the Ammonites, the Moabites and these others. They were not to touch them, they were not to harm them, they were not to kill them, they were not to destroy them (Deuteronomy 2:5, 9, 19). God’s Israel people had honoured that obligation; and I want you to see that their presence alongside Ammon and Moab and the descendants of Esau was the very guarantee of those peoples’ continued safety and security, the very essence of their continued existence. Am I stretching the parallel too far when I say that the presence of the white man in southern Africa is the very assurance of the black man’s continued safety and security and prosperity?

Terrorists

   We are faced with a situation today which is almost exactly parallel to that which obtained in Bible days. Jehoshaphat complained that these very people who were safe and secure and prosperous living alongside God’s people, had now turned against them and were trying to destroy them and wipe them off the face of the earth. And so we see today in southern Africa the incursion of Communist-inspired, Communist-financed, black terrorists who would like to take over Rhodesia and destroy everything that has been built up there; and here in South Africa there is an enemy actually within your borders that would do exactly the same thing.
   We are faced with a crisis of no uncertain dimensions, and I say to you with all the earnestness of my soul, How much worse has the situation got to become before God’s people wake up to the crisis, to the reality of the peril that threatens our continued existence as a Christian people? “Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit” (v11).

1.   CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO REVIVAL

   I am speaking about the circumstances leading up to revival. Revival is God’s work. Evangelism is man’s work; it is the church’s work, and we can evangelize, we can occupy till He come (Luke 19:13); we can win souls, and “he that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30). But, my dear brother, sister, there is nothing that we can do to work up revival except seek the Lord God with all our heart and soul, and cry mightily unto the Lord. They needed a revival in Bible days, and we have got to have revival in our day and generation; otherwise we have only a very few years left to enjoy everything that this Christian civilization and the freedom to minister the Word of God really means to us.
   “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us” (v12). The time is approaching when we are going to realize that we have no might against this great company that cometh against us. I hear some things said by some of the Lord’s people that make me cringe, that make me tremble in my shoes. They say, We are God’s people, we are God’s Israel, we are God’s chosen people, we are Christians; therefore nothing very serious can happen to us. My dear friend, what has got to happen before we wake up to the realization of what has happened in so many parts of the world?

Paying the price

   I believe that God can deliver us in South Africa. Make no mistake about that. I am not preaching gloom and despondency and defeatism. I believe that God is going to deliver us, but we have got to pay the price. If revival shall come, it shall come according to the terms laid down in God’s Word. And if God shall deliver us here in southern Africa He shall do it not because we are God’s people but because He is God; not because we are righteous but because He is righteous; not for our sakes but for His holy name’s sake.
   “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company” (v12). Revival comes when God’s people realize that they have no might. I mean, I am speaking tonight about the political situation but I am just as readily speaking about the church’s situation. If we are to have revival in our churches we have got to came to the end of our own resources first; and God will never send revival in our churches, God will never move in our assemblies, until we come to the end of our own might; until we come to the end of our own programmes; until we come to the end of our own sufficiency and realize the paucity of our efforts, and the stupidity of so much that we are doing that passes for the blessing and the inspiration of God but is like a stench in His nostrils.

A spiritual conflict

   “We have no might against this great company” (v12). My dear friends, we are engaged in a spiritual battle. Here in South Africa you are engaged in a conflict, and we are engaged in a conflict in Great Britain as well; and I do not believe that the problem here is an animosity between black and white any more than in Northern Ireland it is a battle between Catholics and Protestants, because it most certainly is not.
   The Bible says that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places” (Ephesians 6:12 margin) — and precisely because we are engaged in a spiritual conflict it has to be fought with spiritual weapons. The Bible says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). This applies to the nation; it applies to the church, for the church has to battle against lukewarmness and indifference and apathy (Revelation 3:16), and inclement weather sometimes! And we cannot overcome these things by our church programmes, by our singing or music or choirs or quartets or gospel singers. I love all those things, but they are no substitute for the Holy Ghost power of God.
   Now Jehoshaphat prayed, “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee” (v12). It is when we don’t know what to do that we start looking to Jesus, bless His holy name. “And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children” (v13). See then, first of all, the circumstances leading up to revival: a sense of utter hopelessness, a sense of despair, a sense of frustration, a sense of weakness, a sense of total inadequacy to face the situation.

2.   THE NATURE OF REVIVAL

   Then I want you to see the nature of revival. Let us see here from the Word of God exactly what revival is all about. The Bible says, “And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation” (v13–14).
   That’s what revival is! It is God’s Spirit being outpoured upon His people. The Bible says “Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” (Psalm 85:6). Praise the Lord! Revival is God moving upon His people in such a way that He gives them “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). It is God breaking down the barriers, snapping the fetters, sweeping aside all the obstacles and the hindrances and the barriers, pouring Himself out upon the congregation. Oh, the Bible says, “Give us a little reviving in our bondage!” (Ezra 9:8)
   The Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came in the midst of the congregation, and it was through the prophetic ministry that God moved. The Spirit of prophecy came upon a member of the assembly, and he spoke as Thus saith the Lord. Oh that God would move upon us in the power of His Holy Spirit so that we might get out of the rut of our evangelistic type of message and so that we might enjoy a new anointing where God’s servants, His ministers, might minister as Thus and thus saith the Lord! That’s revival!
   The Spirit of God came upon this man, and when we have got revival the Spirit of God can move upon us just like it did in Bible days! The Spirit of God came upon this man: “And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (v15).

Evangelism and revival are different

   My dear friends, evangelism is what we do, but revival is what God does. And if God should move by His Spirit and by His power I believe that the people would turn to God in their hundreds and thousands so that this church should not even be able to contain the people; and not just this Assembly: I mean every one of the assemblies, every one of the churches throughout this land.
   “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz” (v15–16). Notice the word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8). Notice how that God through His Spirit gives a supernatural revelation of the emplacement of the enemy. The Bible says, “Surely the LORD God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). “The secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him” (Psalm 25:14). God does not mean His people, His Church, to be in darkness, in ignorance, wondering what is going to happen next week, next month. The Bible says that if we will be right with God, God will show us everything that we need to know to fight this conflict.
   “Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle” (v16–17). Praise the LORD! They were only surrounded by thousands and thousands of a hostile enemy that intimidated them to the point that, humanly speaking, they were scared out of their wits! But God said through His Spirit, “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you” (v17). Oh what wouldn’t we give to see the salvation of the Lord with us?

Prostrated

   Thank God every time that souls get saved in the Assembly — that’s wonderful — but oh that God would pour out His Spirit upon us in a mighty deluge of power so that we might behold and see the salvation of the Lord come to pass! I am praying and believing for a revival where the Spirit of God is so mightily upon His people that sinners in the streets are prostrated under a sense of the presence of God, where hardened sinners are cut short in their sins, where they are brought face to face with the reality of the living God and fall upon their faces before Him, repenting of their sins, and being raised up in newness of life.
   “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD” (v17–18). That’s another feature of revival! You see, up until this point, God’s people have been praying; they have been seeking the Lord; they have been turning to God. But now God has moved by His Spirit; the prophetic utterance has gone forth in the midst of God’s people; and now the Bible says that led by their godly king, God’s people are worshipping the Lord. And my dear friend, we cannot worship the Lord while there is still a fear and a timidity and an anxiety; but God’s people can begin to worship the Lord when they are truly liberated in spirit. “They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

Worshipping the Lord

   The Bible says that these people were worshipping the Lord. What I want you to see is that now, in place of fear, there was a certainty; in place of anxiety, there was an assurance that they were going to get the victory. Humanly speaking they could not see how, but they saw it with eyes of faith. They knew it because God had spoken, and that was all they needed to know. So there ascended from God’s people a spirit of praise and worship.
   “And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high” (v19). That’s revival! “And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoah: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper” (v20). There are two things that God’s people are going to have to do:

Believe!

   • We have to believe in the Lord our God. “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established” (v20). Oh, the Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). Oh I am glad I am saved! Bless His name! “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established.” There is a crisis coming in South Africa, and it behoves every one of us to have a personal experience of the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Him as our own personal Saviour, to know the cleansing of the precious blood of Jesus, to know that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) — to have an assurance, a faith, a confidence in our heart (1 John 3:21), so that we shall be able to stand in the evil day (Ephesians 6:13).
   • We have to believe His prophets. “Believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper” (v20). And when God sends His servant in the power of the Holy Spirit, speaking as Thus saith the Lord, then believe the Word as it comes through the prophetic ministry; believe His servant, and then, the Bible says, so shall ye prosper. Praise the Lord!
   “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD” (v21). Now I notice that they were singers unto the Lord and not singers unto the people. The one thing that is the scourge of modern pentecostalism and evangelicalism today is this kind of craving for pseudo-spiritual entertainment. Brother, sister, I am not here tonight to entertain! “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for His mercy endureth for ever” (v21).

The beauty of holiness

   This is sublime! It is fantastic! It is incredible! When Jehoshaphat was face to face with this great army that would have invaded Judah and destroyed God’s people off the face of the earth, the Lord told him to start a choir! “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness” — that’s revival! — “as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for His mercy endureth for ever” (v21).
   “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” (Psalm 77:9) The Bible says His mercies are new every morning, and great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23). The Bible says, “His mercy endureth for ever” (1 Chronicles 16:34, 41; these same words occur 41 times in the Bible). Yes, dear friend, God wants to deliver us in southern Africa tonight. He says, “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them” (Ezekiel 36:37). “His mercy endureth for ever.” So that is the nature of revival.

3.   THE CONSEQUENCES OF REVIVAL

   Now I want you to notice some of the consequences of revival. The Bible says, “And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten” (v22). It is as though all those black terrorist hordes on the borders of Rhodesia and South Africa turned against each other and fought each other and destroyed each other. That is exactly what happened in Bible days.
   “For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped” (v23–24). O God, do it again! What are we waiting for?

More than they could contain!

   “And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much” (v25).
   Spiritual riches is a result of revival:
• God’s people enriched in all utterance (1 Corinthians 1:5)
• God’s people granted the spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Himself (Ephesians 1:17)
• the Church of God enriched by the nine gifts of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 12, Hebrews 2:4)
• God’s people graced by the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23, Ephesians 5:9)
• God’s people a savour of salvation wherever they go (2 Corinthians 2:14–16)
• God’s people blessed and prospered, financially, materially, spiritually (3 John 2)
• their land blessed and singularly owned of God (Deuteronomy 33:13).
   Praise His wonderful name! If we will make this battle that we are fighting God’s battle — if God shall fight the battle for us — then I believe that there shall be ushered in to this land a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity and blessing, and revival and spiritual victory.
   “And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah; for there they blessed the LORD” — that’s revival! — “therefore the name of the same place was called, The valley of Berachah, unto this day. Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy; for the LORD had made them to rejoice over their enemies” (v27). That’s the result of revival! “Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” (Psalm 85:6)

The house of God filled

   “And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the LORD” (v28). When God’s people — the whole population — turn to the Lord and fill the house of God, and God’s people are aglow with the Spirit, and the praises of God ascend to heaven, that’s revival!
   The last thing I want to say about revival is in these last two verses: “And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they had heard that the LORD fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about” (v29–30). Praise the Lord! That’s revival!
   Amen. May the Lord do it again for His name’s sake! Amen.

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THE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE THRONE

HER Majesty the Queen celebrated her 21st birthday in Cape Town, South Africa. There, as Princess Elizabeth, she broadcast to the people, dedicating herself to their service and to the service of the great Imperial family. She said:

   There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors — a noble motto, “I serve.” These words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did but through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple. I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great Imperial family to which we all belong. But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do. I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.

   Less than five years later King George VI was dead, and Princess Elizabeth — once again on a visit to Africa — had succeeded to the Throne. On 25 December 1952 the Queen made her first Christmas broadcast to the Commonwealth, a practice which had been commenced in the latter years of King George V and carried on by King George VI. Again, Her Majesty dedicated herself to the service of the people.

   At my Coronation next June I shall dedicate myself anew to your service. I shall do so in the presence of a great congregation, drawn from every part of the Commonwealth and Empire, while millions outside Westminster Abbey will hear the promises and the prayers being offered up within its walls, and see much of the ancient ceremony in which kings and queens before me have taken part through century upon century. You will be keeping it as a holiday: but I want to ask you all, whatever your religion may be, to pray for me on that day — to pray that God may give me wisdom and strength to carry out the solemn promises I shall be making, and that I may faithfully serve Him, and you, all the days of my life.

   So the Queen, who as a child made a personal commitment of her life to Jesus Christ (as did also her sister Princess Margaret), has sought to carry on the fine tradition and example of her predecessors. Yet today, in spite of those noble aspirations and the unsparing service which she has rendered to the nation, Her Majesty finds herself in the unhappy position of having her authority usurped and undermined by governments which have never had the true welfare of the people at heart, and of having to witness the rapid disintegration of the Commonwealth.
   Today, we are a people that have lost their way in the world. Once we were known throughout the world as a Christian people. We took the gospel to the ends of the earth, pioneered the great missionary movement, and, under God, we took the benefits of Christian civilization to all mankind. Half a century ago we were the proud possessors of an Empire upon which we could boast the sun never set. It embraced more than one quarter of all mankind and covered almost one-third of all the world. We were the greatest people in the world, and the reason for our greatness was the Word of God.

Victims of political ideology

   Now, today, all that has gone. Our great Empire has disappeared, the Commonwealth is crumbling, and we are treated with contempt by nations whom we helped to bring to birth. We have been reduced to a third-rate power with no apparent role left to fulfil. Our trade has diminished, the will and incentive to work seems to have gone. We seem to have become a people that is bent on pleasure. We have lost faith in God and faith in ourselves. Worst of all, we have allowed ourselves to become the victims of a political ideology which is resulting in the corruption of our society, and the rapid destruction of everything that was sacred and best in our British way of life.
   Can the monarchy survive? That is the question some are asking. With the diminishing influence of the Crown in our national life, will the Queen feel compelled to give up the Throne? Or will her authority be so increasingly undermined that the role of Sovereign will become no more than a meaningless anachronism in this modern age?
   This book contains a startling revelation concerning Britain’s Royal Throne. It exposes a conspiracy against the Throne so great as to be almost beyond comprehension. It is a conspiracy affecting every nation upon the earth, and, ultimately, the fate of every living person. Moreover, so subtle and insidious is the nature of this conspiracy that its very existence is undreamt of by the multitudes and too readily dismissed by others who doubt that such a sinister force could exist without its being common knowledge.

Blasphemy

   This conspiracy, however, is real. It menaces the very existence of millions of people. Moreover, it is openly revealed in the Word of God. It is alluded to by Paul when he says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness [or, margin, wicked spirits] in high places” (Ephesians 6:12). It is referred to by John who was inspired to write, “I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan,” and “the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie” (Revelation 2:9, 3:9).
   Benjamin Disraeli, a former Prime Minister of England and himself a Jew, once said (in his novel Coningsby, published in 1844), “The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.” These personages, the hidden powers behind this world’s intrigue and politics, have no less an objective than world government. They plan to rule the earth, to control all nations, to subjugate all people. Their aim is nothing less than world dominion, a counterfeit of that true beneficent world government which shall be established when Christ returns.

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• cover photo: Namaqualand, South Africa, in spring.