And so, it has happened. It came – not as a bolt of lightning. Not as a flash of thunder. Not with a mighty roar like an earthquake. It did not come in the form of war, plague and famine. It came as the pale horse whose rider was named Death (Revelation 6:8).
The judgement of God has finally come upon the United Kingdom. Quietly. Silently. Like a thief in the night. It came in the form of an irrational, emotive and Godless parliament who this week voted to permit the killing of babies in the womb up until birth, and has now introduced the National Suicide Service, with its vote to permit assisted suicide. God has given us what we voted for.
God’s anger against sin can be seen in different ways, and for different purposes. Sometimes he acts directly – to correct and rebuke. Sometimes he gives us our just desserts. But the worst kind of punishment is that inflicted on the UK this past week. His greatest punishment is to give us what we say we want – autonomy. He lets us have it our way. And in the name of choice, we limit life. In the name of freedom we bind the poor, the sick and the disabled. In the name of humanity, we kill humans.
Paul told the Romans about this wrath of God. It “is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness”. It’s not as if we don’t know about God – he has made it plain to us. We have the glory of his creation – and for centuries we have had the teaching of his word.
It was that teaching upon which our society was based – with its values of equality, diversity, freedom and justice for all. But now that has all gone. Words are used, but they have no more meaning. Indeed, such is the perversity of our leaders that if the words have any meaning at all – they are the opposite of what was intended. Life has become death. Freedom has become slavery. And compassion has become cruelty. The truth of God has been exchanged for a lie. We have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity (Romans 1:18-32).
When the vote for assisted suicide (falsely called ‘assisted dying’ - it is not assisted dying, it is assisted suicide and therefore State-sponsored killing), the pagans rejoiced. Has anyone noticed how the self-styled humanists seem to have such a love affair with death? They danced, chanted and shouted for joy as though they had just won an election. And maybe they had? Their death cult has become triumphant – it is now the official doctrine of the State.
Another evidence of this cult of death and its twin, the cheapness of life, is the growth of what are termed ‘direct cremations’. Twenty per cent of funerals last year in the UK were direct cremations – that is, the body is cremated cheaply with no ceremony and no attendees. It’s much cheaper than a funeral and it’s a lot less bother.
Psychologically it allows families to just move on without having to think of the physicality or reality of death. There is no closure. I cannot help but think that such a cheap death reflects a cheap view of life. We are becoming a shallow, sick and sinful society. Dostoevsky argued those who wanted a truly great heart would experience suffering. We know better. We won’t permit suffering, so we will know nothing but superficiality – and ultimately even greater suffering.
And do not think that this is the end. It won’t stop there. The humanists have other Christian doctrines - and more humans - to kill. In the name of ‘compassion, equality and humanity’ there will be further additions – we will soon get to a point when euthanasia for the non-terminally ill will be permitted, when infanticide (post-birth abortion) will be legal, when involuntary euthanasia will be used to remove those unproductive elements of society who are only a burden on the economy. Mammon must have its sacrifices. Babylon must be fed. We will cut support for the disabled and justify their killing in the name of mercy.
CS Lewis warned us about this. It is the logical outcome of a philosophy of naturalism that denies the existence of the God who brings justice, beauty and love. He stated in his book Miracles that “Nature can only raid reason to kill”. What he meant by that was that it is natural to kill, and reasonable to save life. Have you noticed how the humanists want humans to be treated like dogs? After all they argue, if we can put down dogs then why not human beings?
Rationality has been thrown out of the window. We call the killing of thousands in the war in Gaza ‘genocide’, but the killing of 250,000 human beings every year in the UK through abortion ‘reproductive rights! Within a decade I suspect that the second highest reason for death in the UK (the first being abortion) will be the National Suicide Service. The State will be the greatest killer of its own people. The State will become the Pale Rider.
The death cult that has gripped the UK is an inevitable result of the rejection of our Christian roots. As Dostoevsky argued in The Brothers Karamazov, “if there is no God, all things are permitted.”
Euthanasia has been held back in the West until now, at least partly because of its association with Nazism and Hitler. But now we have made history as well as language meaningless, the brakes are off. Hitler would have thoroughly approved of this week’s votes. As his secretary Traudl Junge testified in her book, Until the Final Hour:
“He was not a member of any church, and thought the Christian religions were out-dated, hypocritical institutions that lured people into them. The laws of nature were his religion. He could reconcile his dogma of violence better with nature than with the Christian doctrine of loving your neighbour and your enemy. ‘Science isn’t yet clear about the origins of humanity,’ he once said. ‘We are probably the highest stage of development of some mammal which developed from reptiles and moved on to human beings, perhaps by way of the apes. We are a part of creation and children of nature, and the same laws apply to us as to all living creatures. And in nature the law of the struggle for survival has reigned from the first. Everything incapable of life, everything weak is eliminated. Only mankind and above all the church have made it their aim to keep alive the weak, those unfit to live, and people of an inferior kind.”
As for the old religion – the Christianity upon which the UK was founded – most of its leaders were silent. The Catholic Church spoke out with clarity – as did a number of evangelical and Reformed churches. But the so-called national churches were either silent or whispered so quietly that only the few who attend them could hear.
For example, the Church of Scotland this week trumpeted its support for the Scotland Demands Better campaign – a worthy campaign against poverty. But not one word about the two important votes on abortion and assisted suicide – both vital subjects for the poor, who are far more likely to be adversely affected than the rich and powerful. The Church of England expressed regret. Some evangelicals said that while assisted suicide wasn’t nice, we should not use strong and emotive language like calling it evil. Others wept and cried in frustration.
And Jesus I’m sure wept.
“And the Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled” (Genesis 6:6).
And the Pale Rider rode on – but he is not alone. Hades was following close behind him (Revelation 6:8). The death cult has only begun its work in broken Britain. There will be Hell to pay.
But it is not the end: “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15).
But that is not the end either. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away … and I saw that God’s dwelling place was with his people and there was no more death or crying or pain, for the old order of things had passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4).
“And I saw the river of the water of life, and the tree whose leaves were for the healing of the nations …” (Revelation 22:1-2).
“And I heard the Spirit say come. And I heard the Bride say come. And let everyone who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. And I heard Jesus say, ‘I am coming soon’” (Revelation 22:17).
Then it is the End. The end of the beginning. And the beginning of the endless glory. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
David Robertson is minister of Scots Kirk in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. He blogs at the Wee Flea.
