UK Correspondent Charles Gardner says faith-perspective account of past wars inspires challenge to view Iran conflict through God’s eyes
With echoes of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s statement on the current Middle East conflict that “this is not our war”, I have been reading of a very different response during World War II.
At that time, we knew we were in a battle of light versus darkness, and that, as a Christian nation, preventing an evil dictator from achieving his ambitions to rule the world was not up for debate. In the words of Winston Churchill, you could not negotiate with the devil. It was do or die.
In the case of Iran, after 47 years of hesitation and procrastination, Israel’s patience finally ran out after almost non-stop unprovoked attacks from the Ayatollahs and their terrorist mercenaries.
In 1939, we had arguably the world’s most powerful navy, according to the memoirs of naval surgeon Paul Houghton, as told in a book1 by his son Mark (Malcolm Down Publishing, 2025).
And even then, we had to fight for our lives to overcome Hitler, evidently with great assistance from the Almighty, backed up by national days of prayer and constant intercession from the likes of Rees Howells at the Bible College of Wales.
But I hadn’t realised until now how close we came to defeat in World War I (also covered in the book, though Paul was only a young boy at the time) – and that the Lord’s clear intervention was evidenced by many witnesses of angelic appearances.
In 1918 the nation held its breath, with many praying, as a furious German onslaught threatened to overwhelm the British Army. But one soldier reported: “At the focal point of the enemy’s advance at Bethune, the Germans concentrated [their fire] on a slight rise beyond the town. The ground here was bare [of our troops] – yet enemy machine guns and shells raked it from end to end with a hail of lead. And as the British watched, they saw the Germans throw down everything they had and flee in frantic panic…”2
Mark wrote that “these angelic armies helped turn defeat into victory for Great Britain”. But as soon as the guns fell silent, the pogroms that accompanied the Russian revolution revived the terror we had fought so hard to quell.
“Unarmed Jews were thrown off moving trains, drowned in rivers and ponds. They were raped, shot, cudgelled, sliced, burnt alive and mutilated. Old men, young men, women, children, babies, the wealthy and the dirt poor. More than 100,000 Jews were murdered from 1918 to 1921.”3
The Houghton family were devout Christians who understood the signs of the times, and Paul’s faith and deep knowledge of the Bible was the rudder that steered his course through the fire and water of many World War II battles.
“The pogroms lay in a pattern of events that put Jews on the path to the Holocaust and a repeat world war that would sweep Paul into its maw,” Mark writes.
It’s a sobering thought, challenging us to view the current conflict through God’s eyes, seeing the big picture of what is happening. For it’s not about tactics, the economics of oil supply or peace negotiations. It’s not even about President Trump. At the eye of the storm is the tiny, yet feisty, nation of Israel miraculously risen from the ‘dry bone’ ashes of the Shoah (see Ezekiel 37) to take on her implacable enemies.
But we British dare to sit on our hands cowardly refusing to seriously get involved. We are already under God’s judgment for betraying Israel yet again with our recognition of a Palestinian state (Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 60:12, Joel 3:2).
Witness the diabolical mess our crime-ridden nation is in. A pandemic of immorality and weak leadership has shattered our social cohesion and family-based structures. All because we have turned away from the fear of the Lord, which is “the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)
Constant U-turns in policy underline the utter folly of our leaders, supremely in respect of Israel.
Not wearing a watch, I don’t often check the time, and yet on the rare occasions that I have done of late, it always seems to be 9:11 – a sure reminder that these are urgent times. 911 is of course the emergency number to call in the United States, which made the Twin Towers atrocity of 9/11 so apt.
As it happens, it also relates to crucial chapters of the New Testament book of Romans reminding Gentile Christians of their responsibility to the Jewish people. I believe the dismissive statement that ‘This is not our war’ will come back to haunt us. We need to repent and call on the Lord for help!
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