The referendum in the UK on whether to leave or remain in the European Union took place on June 23rd. The following day it was announced that the Brexit (Leave) campaign had won the day. You might have been forgiven for thinking that that was that; the vote taken and the decision reached, but what followed was astonishing.
David Cameron, the Prime Minister, resigned, and five candidates put their names forward to replace him. This was soon whittled down to two, with one of those two pulling out of a two horse race which would have been over a couple of months. This left Theresa May as the leader of the Conservative Party and new Prime Minister. Within a couple of days, Mr Cameron had left 10 Downing Street with Mrs May the new incumbent. Reports on BBC news stated that one of Mr Cameron’s greatest achievements was the introduction of same-sex marriage and made great play on this aspect of his term in office. In his last Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons, a comment was made that he should be congratulated on equalising “marriage” in the country. Mr Cameron stated that 30,000 same-sex people had married since the introduction of this practice. The God of the Bible states in His Word that such practices are an abomination, which is hardly a ringing endorsement of Mr Cameron’s so called “achievement”.
Nigel Farage resigned as leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), having achieved his long-held goal of helping to get the UK out of the EU, and other leading lights of the Brexit campaign also disappeared from the front line.
Meanwhile, the Labour party, which only 6 years ago was the party in government, became engulfed in their own civil war. Their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had a vote of “no confidence” in him, passed by 172 of his MP’s with only 40 supporting him. There is now to be a leadership contest which may have serious repercussions on that party, whichever way the vote goes.
In addition, the seven-year enquiry findings into the Iraq war, conducted by Sir John Chilcot, was finally revealed. “The Week” stated: “Crucially, the committee concluded (Tony) Blair had exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq – and in doing so, critics say, deliberately misled MPs into voting in favour of the invasion.” There is, and has been for a long time, a groundswell of opinion which is highly unfavourable towards Mr Blair over the Iraq war. This matter is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
All of the above happened in a 2½ week period! It was lightning fast, and there is a lesson for all members of the Church of God in this. For nearly 2,000 years, Christians have been looking forward to the return of Christ to this earth, but every date suggested so far has been wrong. This can promote a mind set that we may still have quite a bit of time left, but indications now are that the time may be close to Christ’s return. And things can happen quickly if it is God’s will.
We have seen an amazing series of events compressed into an 18-day period and the fall-out and repercussions will be seen and felt in the UK for some time to come; particularly, as the country removes itself from the EU – something that the Church of God had forecast many years ago and now it has come to pass. In addition, it will probably not be the last time that momentous events can happen so quickly. We may well have had a preview of things to come, and now is not the time for spiritual slumber.
Let us continually remember Luke 21:36: “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” It may be much sooner than many people think!
