The battle over Chick-fil-A reaches England

Reading, England Credit: Bill Nicholls/Wikipedia/Creative Commons 2.0

There has been an interesting development surrounding the planned forced closing of a Chick-fil-A restaurant in England. The store, that was England’s first Chick-fil-A restaurant, opened on October 10, 2019 at the Oracle Mall in Reading, England, a city of 320,000 located in Southern England.

Almost immediately, it was attacked by LGBT supporters opposed to the chain’s pro traditional family stand. Owned by the Cathy family, who are Christians, the chain has also financially supported Christian organizations such as the Salvation Army.

Within a week, the Oracle Mall caved to the demands of the protesters and announced that it would not be renewing the restaurant’s lease, meaning it would be forced to close in six months.

Ironically, in a news release announcing the decision, the mall stated that it was doing it so it could create “an inclusive space.” However, some argue that the act of closing the restaurant suggests it is not inclusive.

Despite being closed on Sunday (arguable the biggest sales day of the week), so employees can have a family day and even attend church, Chick-fil-A is now the third largest fast food franchise in America. Many suspect based on its current rate of growth, Chick-fil-A could overtake the current market leaders McDonald’s and Star Bucks in the near future.

Reading Pride, the organizers of the protest, even went one step further and wrote a letter to the British Parliament stating that it should take on the role of closing any businesses that don’t agree with the protesters’ views.

However, in response to this closure a group in Reading, CitizenGo, launched a petition stating the mall should allow the restaurant to stay open. To date nearly 18,000 people have signed the petition. You can sign the petition by clicking here.

In their petition, CitizenGo stated:

“This is an attack on religious freedom. Chick-fil-A are not in breach of any UK employment laws and do not discriminate against any customers, therefore there is no good reason why this popular restaurant cannot be allowed to remain open.”
CitizenGo petition

They add that:

“It is not the role of a commercial landlord to police the corporate values or religious beliefs of their tenants.”
CitizenGo Petition

Meanwhile, another Chick-fil-A had opened in Northern Scotland. Owners of Macdonald Aviemore Resort where the chain has set up stated that the restaurant is proving to be very popular.

Even ten years ago, I would have not thought this possible. But we are literally seeing how end times prophecy could be fulfilled in our lifetime. I don’t believe we are in that period spoken about in the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John’s written record of a vision he had of the end times. But it shows how easily it could happen.

In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John saw that people would not be able to buy or sell without the mark of the beast on their hand or forehead (Revelation 13:17).

This would include people not being able to run a business. Though, many end times scholars have thought this mark is referring to some type of computer chip being inserted under the skin, a device already starting to make an appearance.

Others are not so sure.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-6, the Jews were told to bind the word of God on their hands and foreheads.

⁶These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ⁸You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
Deuteronomy 6:6-8 NASV

If the mark of the beast is similar to what we see in Deuteronomy, then we are not talking about a computer chip, but rather a belief system. Because the Jews were told to bind the word of God on their hand and forehead, as a sign that this was in their heart.

To fulfill this commandment, the Jews use phylacteries, or small boxes containing scripture, that they strap on their forehead or left arm on special occasions.

Of course, this is not the only Chick-fil-A restaurant to be greeted with protesters. When a Chick-fil-A recently opened in Toronto, activists showed up on opening day, while crowds lined up down the street and around the corner waiting to get in.

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