THE SIGN OF THE RAINBOW

Below is a picture that brings great joy to my heart. Several months ago the Lord put it on my heart to begin to pray for a spiritual awakening in England. If you look closely at this recent photo of a rainbow over London, you can see there is actually a double rainbow.

In Genesis 9 God explains the significance of the rainbow. Simply put, it is a sign of the covenant of God’s mercy and blessing.

Why is that significant and what does it have to do with why God led me to pray for England?

First, a little history. England is my ancestral home. My dad was born in England and his family moved to Canada right after WWI. Second, England was responsible for a large part of the colonization of North America. Although the colonies fought with England to be freed from its control, the United States and England have been close allies for well over a hundred years.

Two hundred years ago England was at the very heart of the effort to send missionaries to the unevangelized world. Men such as William Carey stepped out in faith, went against the grain of the large but apathetic church in England, and launched what became known as the “age of modern missions.” Because of these pioneer missionaries, the gospel was spread around the world. And yes, English preachers contributed to the evangelization of North America.

If you want to understand where America is headed spiritually and sociopolitically, it is helpful to understand what has happened to England. We are following in the footsteps of the nation largely responsible for our being here.

Two hundred years ago the church in England was large and prominent in the nation and today England is a spiritual wasteland. Slightly less than 6 percent of the population attends any kind of Christian church (Protestant or Catholic) and the percentage is continuing to decline. To say that England needs a spiritual awakening is a gross understatement. England is a secular nation that has forgotten or pushed away its Christian foundation. Islam is growing rapidly in England and will soon overtake Christianity in size.

America is not far behind England’s decline. Church attendance in America is falling. On a very good weekend about 18 percent of the population attends a Christian church of any kind, and in many parts of country church attendance is closer to 10 percent, with attendance steadily declining. The attention paid to a small number of megachurches does not change what is happening nationally.

Two hundred years ago the British Empire was the largest empire in the history of the world. A common saying until the 1950’s was, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” It was that large!

What happened? As the world changed, British colonialism was forced to retreat, but the British Empire began to disintegrate at an accelerated rate when Britain opposed the formation of the nation of Israel in 1948. What had been a slow weakening of the British Empire suddenly took on tremendous speed because England opposed God’s covenant with His people (see Genesis 12:1-3 and Genesis 17:18-21).

Our own nation has begun to waffle in its support of Israel. The U.S. is not the friend to Israel that it was a few decades ago. This is dangerous ground for the United States — it is dangerous to oppose God’s plan. When God spoke to Abram about the founding of the nation of which he would be the father, God said to him, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3).

The U.S. is headed down the same path of destruction that England has taken!

Our nation is troubled by both economic chaos and a deeply divided political system. As painful as these problems are, they are not the fundamental problem of the nation. Our nation is cursed by a lack of righteousness — a problem that reaches throughout the whole population.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach (shame) to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

When sin is glorified in a nation, the nation is weakened and debased. When Israel was living righteously, they were a great nation, but when they began to tolerate sin and turned away from serving God, all the nations around them abused them, raided them and took them captive. Is there something here for us to understand? Is our nation captive to the huge amounts of money the government has borrowed from foreign nations? Is our nation being raided and abused as foreign nations systematically raid and plunder our economic and military secrets through relentless cyber attacks?

“Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but sin overthrows the wicked” (Proverbs 13:6).

The lack of righteousness in our land will not be legislated back into place, and it cannot be held in place simply by our having the right laws. Righteousness must be established in the hearts of the people and the leaders. We desperately need a spiritual awakening to sweep through our land. 

God has already given us the answer to this dilemma but it lies in front of us as an unfulfilled promise:

“If my people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Every day I pray for a spiritual awakening in our nation. I believe it is the only answer for America. At the Lord’s direction I have added England to my daily prayer for awakening. I would welcome some company!