You won’t find them in politics.
What I have to deplore with mournful complaint is a general loss of good, a heaping up of bad…I sympathize with my country’s difficulties and troubles, and rejoice in remedies to relieve them.
– Gildas, The Ruin of Britain, British, 6th century[1]
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…
– 1 Timothy 4.1, 2
Loss of what is good, heaping up of what is bad: Gildas anticipated the observations of William Butler Yeats in his 1919 poem, “The Second Coming”: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity.” Both might have been writing about our day.
Looking back on his native Britain, sometime after the turn of the sixth century, Gildas surveyed the sorry state of civil and ecclesiastical society and cried out to God for “remedies to relieve them.”
He pleaded with God to raise up faithful men through whom revival might come.
He could not have known what would shortly ensue. Before the 6th century was over, Irish peregrini—wandering missionary/scholars—would begin leaving their homeland by the thousands to proclaim the liberating power of the Gospel to Scotland, Wales, Britain, and beyond to the European continent. The effect of their efforts over the next century-and-a-half was to bring revival, renewal, and awakening where previously the darkness of wrong belief and sin had long prevailed.
Some of those men—such as Colum Cille, founder of the Iona community—were trained and prepared for this great work by men whom Gildas had taught and encouraged through his writings, such as Finnian of Clonard, one of Gildas’ correspondents. Finnian himself was descended spiritually from one of the many thousands led to Christ by Patrick in the previous century.
In trying times, desperate times, it’s good to remember that God is sovereign and that His economy—not man’s—is charting the course of history. The remedies we require at every level of our society, and in every sector of it, will come from the sovereign pleasure of God, or not at all. And they will come, in the first instance, as spiritual remedies to the self-interest, corruption, doubt, and wrong belief that shroud men’s souls. In these areas of desperate need, politics, economics, education, and social engineering are of no avail. The remedies we need are spiritual.
Our nation is captive to false teachings, both in the civil arena and in many of the churches of the land. The sins of our unbelieving society are well known and duly decried. But why should they surprise or dismay us? Sinning is what sinners such as you and I do.
Among the churches, a form of “near Christianity” offers forgiveness of sin and the hope of heaven, together with a measure of happiness and fulfillment here and now, but little true spiritual vision, no determined path to holiness, no taste for self-denial or suffering, little inclination to call others to repent and believe the Gospel, and no power for turning rightside-up the morals and culture of our world.
The gospel embraced in too many churches today is not the Gospel of Patrick, Colum Cille, Gildas, and Columbanus. It’s not the Gospel of the Kingdom, but another gospel, a weakened, withdrawn, and withered palliative against the uncertainties and discomforts of our age in flight from God. It can only soothe us against these; it is no remedy for our ills.
Like Gildas, when we look upon our nation and the churches of the land, we should plead with God for the remedies of His Word and Spirit.
Beginning with faithful men—men of prayer. God wants all people to pray, but Paul was especially emphatic about getting men to take up this holy work (1 Tim. 2.1-8). Men who pray will connect with Jesus, abide in Him, rejoice in His Presence and love, bask in His grace and truth, and hunger and thirst for His righteousness.
Where are the faithful men who will call and lead the Church back to her true Gospel roots and mission? Where are the men who pray for revival, and who join with other men to seek this greatest of all remedies? Where are the men who will take up the mandate to live and to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, to call this generation to repentance, and to lead them in restoring all things to God? To stand on the wall together and give God no rest in prayer (Is. 62.6, 7)?
Christian men, look in the mirror: God is speaking to you. Your prayers can tap into the remedy we require. Will you stand in the gap for the Church? Will you pray for the progress of Christ’s Kingdom? Will you seek awakening for the world?
Or will the remedies which you might offer our sick and dying world remain on the shelf of your soul?
Questions for Reflection
1. Why are spiritual remedies the most needed remedies in our day?
2. How can you improve your prayer life to seek revival, renewal, and awakening more urgently and consistently?
Psalm 85.4-6 (Lyons: “O Worship the King”)
Restore us, O God, renew us in peace,
and cause all Your wrath against us to cease.
Will You evermore all Your wrath to us show?
Revive us that we may Your joy again know.
Give thanks
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Men of God, will you pray?!
Our booklet, If Men Will Pray, can help you help other Christian men to become warriors in prayer for Christ and His Kingdom. It is designed to help two men become more deeply engaged with Jesus in the ways described above. Order two copies today, and start with another believing brother to start a movement of prayer in your church. Order your copies of If Men Will Pray by clicking here.
Thank you.
Many of you are faithful and generous in praying for and supporting Crosfigell and The Fellowship of Ailbe. Thank you. May I encourage all our readers to seek the Lord about becoming a supporter of The Fellowship of Ailbe? It’s easy to give to The Fellowship of Ailbe, and all gifts are, of course, tax-deductible. You can click here to donate online through credit card or PayPal or Anedot, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
T. M. Moore, Principal
tmmoore@ailbe.org
All Psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] Winterbottom, p. 13.
