Some of My Troubling Thoughts

Maybe the scriptures I have been preaching from since August are more urgently needed today than I realize. Time will tell. (My apologies for the length)

Ever since we arrived home from the morning service (12/15/2024) and enjoyed lunch with a wonderful couple, I have been unsettled in the center of my chest (that seems the best way to describe it – I’m trying to avoid the typical “Christian-eze” lingo and represent it as best as I can). I have felt this way at times when I didn’t feel like I “hit the mark” all that well in my sermon that morning, and today was one of those days, partly due to realizing that one of my pages was missing while I preached, and this threw me off a bit.

However, several other things are going on that are troubling. We who seek to “understand the times” recognize that the elites who control the Democrat Party and corrupt members of the Republican Party (and unelected operatives and financiers) do not want Trump to take office and are already engaged in efforts to sabotage the agenda of our President-elect and his incoming Administration. We also know that the rule of law means nothing to them, and they will lie and do whatever evil deeds they think they can to keep power. They care nothing about what is best for the American people but only desire to retain their power and the incredible wealth that comes with their current positions.

If you attend TCCC, you know I do not preach a verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, week-by-week method through the Bible on Sundays. I ask the Lord what He is saying to us – I do my best to hear and respond. This afternoon and evening, I began to ponder the possibility that the Scriptures I have focused on over the last several months are what we need to take hold of with greater urgency than we have.

The most recent verses that have spoken so loudly in my heart is 1 Peter 1:13-19 (NIV84), with a primary focus on verse 13: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”In this passage, I felt a strong impression to emphasize the three parts of this verse, especially the first one: “Prepare your minds for action.” We have already been through a turbulent election season, but could the " King Herods " plan some coming " action” of our day?

Tonight, as I type this, my thoughts revisit the simple point I made this morning (evident to all who read Matthew 2) that King Herod would do whatever he needed to hold onto the throne that he bribed and schemed his way into. It would not be the first time the power-hungry monarch, King Herod, used all means necessary to eliminate his competition for the throne.

Herod was greatly disturbed when the Wise Men arrived asking where the one who had been “born King of the Jews.” Herod knew his “gig was up” unless he could find and exterminate this child king. Likewise, the King Herod-types of today within places of power and influence see their “gig is up” if Trump assumes office and carries out his pledge to “trim the fat and waste,” so to speak. Donald Trump, as flawed as he is, is the first real threat to dismembering the multi-armed leviathan “deep state” that has come to the White House in many decades (century?).

We know some want to eliminate Trump. After the Senate Committee hearings, we realize these assassination attempts appear to have been “allowed” by the way the Secret Service withheld the proper coverage and surveillance that should have been standard operating procedure. It was the prayers of God’s people and God’s divine plan that these assassins did not kill him.

Currently, disturbing reports have surfaced about nuclear warheads that disappeared from Ukraine and may have arrived on US soil (maybe only one) – to target an American city. Some government sources are telling us that those swarms of drones are “sniffing” for signs of a nuclear signature (dirty bomb?). Some are concerned that there are those so determined to keep Trump and his agenda from coming into office that they would be willing to allow one to go off somewhere in the USA and then blame Russia to justify war and thereby keep Biden in office under a particular war-time law passed by congress?

Whether these are true or not, with the ongoing reports of mysterious drones in many states and all across the internet and the universal distrust in most government agencies, fear and anxiety are spreading. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that we learn what it means to be “self-controlled/sober”—to be alert and watchful as people who have “set their hope firmly upon the salvation that will be revealed when Christ returns.”

In times like these, Romans 15:13 becomes a pursuit as much as a prayer: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Remember, faith and trust in God are made for difficulty and crisis – so let us take hold of the concept that we serve and worship the “God of HOPE” who hears and “rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Heb. 11:6b), so we will not fear but know the joy and peace that comes from trusting the Father.

These realities bring me to the verses we have looked at in 1 John:

1 John 5:4-5 “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

OUR FAITH in the overriding authority of the Lord Jesus and God the Father enables us to overcome all this world, and evil bureaucrats attempt to cause us to fear and comply with their lies and falsehoods. Regardless of how things play out, any victories they may achieve will be momentary and fleeting. The victory belongs to the Lord.

Along that line, we have the assurance in chapter 4:4 that “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

These corrupt elements in places of power and influence are not done in their efforts to subvert the will of the American people – and that’s why we need to be interceding on behalf of our incoming president, his cabinet, and our country’s national security. We must earnestly seek the Lord to break up efforts to create any “false flag” events or similar national crises that could be used to keep Biden and his Administration in office beyond Jan. 20 for, supposedly, “our safety” and “for the continuity of power” during the crisis they manufacture.

We have God’s written Word to give us direction, insight, wisdom, and hope: Rom 15:4: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.”

And we have the assurance from Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with ALL of your heart.” This promise is from God almighty to any people, society, or nation who will turn to the Lord on His terms – with All of our hearts.

The urgent question to the Church today is: What will we say to those who do not know God or His Promises or Power should we experience a national crisis? How will WE respond to such a crisis? It is time to ask the Lord what it genuinely looks like to live according to these scriptures today. Then we will be a reassuring Light to the world, pointing them to the Only Hope of humanity: faith in Christ Jesus, the Lord and Savior of all.

If America ever needed Jesus’ Church to engage society – it is now.

[All images are AI-created and royalty-free from the Pixaby website]