Let me begin with an AI assisted synopsis …

Enoch Powell saw a river in 1968. A.W.Tozer saw a cross. Jeremiah 23 saw lying prophets crying ‘peace’ and angry prophets enjoying ‘blood’. Psalm 73 saw Asaph enter the sanctuary and see the end of the wicked — then stop envying them. Manchester 2017, Southport 2024, Nowak 2025, Ogilvie 2026 — that’s the river Powell feared. Crumlin Road’s 22 families, or 31 people, burned-out Black Christians — that’s the river he didn’t see. The Church can’t quote Powell to escape Leviticus 19:34. It can’t quote McKee to escape Leviticus 20:2 (both texts are about how Israel should treat the foreigner). The Righteous Branch does justice for the native old woman and for the foreigner. He gathers both, or He scatters both. Rivers of blood aren’t inevitable. But they are if we choose Powell without Tozer, or the McKee/Evangelical News peace-making, without Jeremiah or the Wickland/Murphy truth telling, without Asaph. The trumpet must sound justice and mercy, or Belfast drowns, the church splits, civil war ensues.

Before getting into what I want to say, particularly along the lines of the rising civil unrest I am seeing, along with widely different views among decent, God-fearing Christians, why and without wanting to sound pompous, I have earned a right to speak, which while attempting to be fair and balanced might otherwise be seen as taking a similar line to that of the much vilified, so-called “far right” – it seems the focus of the present government on where the threats lie. It was around the turn of the millennium, that I began my career as a full-time community activist, taking a considerable drop in income because I wanted to make a difference. One of the areas I worked in was among Black and Minority (BME) folk from all over the world. Many were recent immigrants and some asylum seekers. I feel a degree of satisfaction having helped many. I enjoyed good relationships with most, irrespective of religion. I took no delight that most asylum seekers were given a hard time in getting their claims dealt with, whilst from 2004 the Blair administration opened the floodgates for economic migrants when they need not have done so – arguably with a nefarious, globalist agenda. After that, various wars have taken place with the UK having to face housing some of the refugees that were a consequence of these wars (Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine etc.)

As for Christopher Wickland and Brett Murphy, they both offer a view of what needs to be happened to address the untoward effects of migration whilst Pastor Jack McKee and the Evangelical News, in an article it recently wrote, offer a view as to how we should be treating migrants, especially those caught up in the unacceptable rioting following the attempt in Belfast by Sudanese Hadi Alodid to behead Stephen Ogilvie in the open street, and the need to pray and seek peace. I am grateful to a friend for pointing out to me two scriptures: Psalm 73 and Jeremiah 23, as both help me in coming to a view as do the writings of A.W.Tozer.

This has been a particularly hard blog to write. Today I was told off by a lovely Christian lady for using swear words in my social media posting. She was right and I took the post down. But like many who vent their frustration and anger by posting using such language, they are beginning to wake up to what is really going on in our country and that the Unholy Trinity of media, politicians and elites are indeed unholy. On one hand we have the so called far right thugs which include righteously indignant grannies, being hunted down, accused of being the problem and punished, which is not helped by the element who are really thugs intent on venting their anger through violence against innocent foreign immigrants. Then, some feel if you are black or Muslim as opposed to white, British born, we don’t want to upset and thereby be accused of racism or Islamophobia. Then there are those who take the official line and don’t see why things like rape gangs in our UK cities led by Pakistani Muslims (an issue government refuses to tackle) are such a big deal. Then there is a pattern behind the Manchester, Southport, Nowak, Ogilvie incidents, to name but four, and that any anti-terrorist “Prevent” strategies or desired, sensible immigration policy by government have failed to prevent such ills and two-tier policing, despite denials by the so-called independent watchdogs to recognise these things are a reality, yet penalising white British folk for trivia.  

It has only been a few days since I wrote my “Whose Justice? Whose Wisdom? and the cases of George Floyd and Henry Nowak” blog (see here). Soon after, I learn of Stephen Ogilvie, a white Northern Irish man, who had been blinded in one eye, along with neck/back wounds when, according to witnesses, an attempted beheading took place perpetuated by Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese asylum seeker, who was granted leave to remain in the UK in 2023. The resultant outrage included riots and attacks on BME immigrants in Belfast and beyond.

I can also hark back to the Southport attack of 29 July 2024 when at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at the Hart Space in Southport, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana carried out a mass stabbing. He was born in Cardiff, Wales and his parents are originally from Rwanda. He had been identified as terrorist threat but police did not act on this and while a link to radical Islam had been claimed, the proof is insufficient. The next day, after a vigil, rioters attacked police and a mosque and 53 police officers were injured. More riots spread across the UK – London, Hartlepool, Manchester, Rotherham, Plymouth, Belfast. Hotels housing asylum seekers were targeted and rioters were arrested. Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeatedly called the violence “far-right thuggery”, whilst making little reference to the concerns of those, including many who did not riot, who were effectively ignored. Besides sharing the national grief, the way the Starmer administration had singled out the far right as being the main problem and then going after those deemed to be spreading hate speech rather than addressing legitimate concerns, and at the same time ignoring far worse, I found sickening.

None were isolated incidents and all pick up on common themes and concerns. Both Labour and Conservative governments have failed in their immigration policy and are not alone to blame for the underlying ills besetting the nation. I would like to go back further by citing the Manchester Arena bombing, 22 May 2017. Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a TATP nail bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena as 14,000 people, mostly children/teenagers, left an Ariana Grande concert. As a result, 23 were killed including Abedi and 1,017 injured.  Abedi was a British citizen, born Manchester. His parents were Libyan refugees. His accomplice, his brother, Hashem Abedi, was convicted of murder. Both Salman and Hashem Abedi were known to police/MI5 as having terrorist links, before the bombing, but nothing was done to stop them. Excuses have been put forward why the relevant “Prevent” strategy failed, but many see it as two tier policing not wanting to be seen to be racist of Islamophobic.  

The reason why I have mentioned four separate incidents is there are common factors. The first is that the perpetrators of the atrocities were first- or second-generation immigrants, the sort we (the UK) could best do without, as opposed to others, e.g. Christians escaping persecution who are not allowed in.  Concerning all the incidents, arguably, the government Prevent (terrorist) strategy has failed, as much out of political correctness as anything else. People are angry that with the Nowak murder, the facts came to light after long the incident. The police believed the racist accusing perpetrators rather than the victim bleeding to death. And as for the Ogilvie murder, especially given the hard time genuine asylum seekers have been given in the recent past, why was Hadi Alodid so readily been granted leave to remain?

So let me conclude, again helped by AI in piecing together facts …

Powell feared blood in the Tiber. He was right to fear it. But his only answer was numbers, law, and separation. The Church has an answer: a Cross in the river. At that Cross, the Righteous Branch does what Powell couldn’t and McKee alone can’t. He executes justice for Henry Nowak, for Axel Rudakubana’s victims, for David Ogilvie’s blinded eye. And He extends mercy to the sojourner, to the frightened Libyan kid in Didsbury, to the Black family on Crumlin Road who lost everything except their Bibles. Jeremiah 23 will not let us cry ‘peace’ …when Prevent fails three times with Rudakubana, or misses 18 warnings with Abedi. Psalm 73 will not let us cry ‘blood’ and enjoy it. Leviticus 19:34 will not let us hate the foreigner. Leviticus 20:2 will not let us excuse Molech. Belfast doesn’t need to choose between Powell’s warning and McKee’s welcome. God executes justice; He does what Powell couldn’t and the peace-making camp alone can’t. What the Church should be pushing is the need to choose the Cross and Him who was crucified and raised. Else, the trumpet is uncertain, the city drowns, and the Church splits — and Tozer told us 70 years ago what happens next.

Surprisingly, A.W. Tozer, is a Christian preacher hero of mine that managed to find the balance for the two camps I have seen being represented. In his “The Root of the Righteous, 1955” he writes: “The Holy Spirit is first of all a moral flame. It is not an influence; it is a Person… He comes to deal with sin and righteousness and judgment. It is not enough that we have truth; we must have the truth on fire. It is not enough that we have the fire; we must have the fire governed by truth.” Truth without fire is Powell: cold stats, no Presence, and the river still foams. Fire without truth is sentiment: warm hearts, burned houses, and the river still foams. Truth on fire — governed by the Cross — is the one thing that held both A.W.Tozer and Martyn Lloyd-Jones (another of my heroes of faith) together. Let us pray for Ogilvie’s eye, for Nowak’s parents, for the family in Didsbury afraid to walk to school, the grieving Southport and Manchester families, the Prevent officer who wanted to do his job but was prevented from doing do and those full of righteous anger as what they see taking place. Then demand justice that’s blind, and mercy that sees. That’s the Cross in the river.

It’s the only thing that will hold Belfast together. Choose the flame. Choose the truth. Choose the Cross. Or choose the river. Christians are divided into two camps. That’s a pity, because the Gospel we’re meant to live by and proclaim is the one thing to stop Belfast from bleeding and prevent the community from collapse. Even if the bleeding stops, there will be scars and the Church should be there to offer healing from Him who is the great healer. And the grief continues … since beginning this blog a story broke of a 30-year-old man, British-born of Pakistani heritage, who was arrested. A 17-yr-old girl was stabbed in the neck in daylight. That’s Molech, whatever the passport. I could say more, but let the facts speak.