A very dear friend of mine told me this week that she had gotten “the jab” long ago. It had to have been less than a year ago, but she had suffered no recognizable adverse effects. I’m still concerned because from what I’ve read, the effects on the immune system may not show up till a couple of years after the injections. So I just told her that I’m praying she doesn’t suffer vaccine injury. She answered with “God’s in control. Christians sometimes forget that.” I know she meant well, and she is still my dear friend. But I am still going to be praying for her.
This is where I insert a short list of all the craziness going on. Actually, it’s not really very short.
I would start with the fact that until I was 22 and out of the Air Force, I really never even knew anyone who was homosexual, nor had I seen someone who was homosexual, nor did I have any idea what a homosexual did for thrills. This was truly never talked about when I was growing up. That is not to say that the Bible never mentions homosexuality – it does! And it is clear about the matter. But in my lifetime, homosexuality has progressed from obscurity to … well, the intent is to make it mainstream, so it is constantly in our face, even down to children’s cartoons. The nation seems to have no more taboos, unless it is morality itself.
The moral decline, along with notably uncivilized, sometimes animalistic behavior in our fellow human beings, stands out as being unthinkable 50 years ago.
When I grew up, we were taught in school that our nation was a “melting pot,” where skin color didn’t matter – we all blend together into citizens of The United States, and we were proud of that. Now, the children are taught how to be a racist; to view others who have skin in various shades of brown (because nobody is really white or black or even “peach”) with suspicion and hate; to pick at them and gaslight them or to feel superior or inferior; to stay either angry or beaten into submission. Suddenly, our childhood heroes have become villains – Dr. Seuss, George “I Cannot Tell a Lie” Washington, Abraham “Free the Slaves” Lincoln, … who knew?
If that’s not enough, we can also transfer the same guilt or self-righteousness to whether we wear a mask in public or get a shot with an experimental drug. Finger pointing and yelling at one another is the order of the day.
But though we can point out someone else’s skin shade and shame them for it, or we can shame someone for wearing a MAGA hat or for not wearing a mask on an airplane, we are not allowed to even question someone for being so grossly obese that they cannot exit their house, or a man for dyeing his long, overgrown hair in rainbow colors, or Satanists for tattooing their eyelids. It’s also perfectly okay to cut off your nose (to spite your face?) or to give yourself horns by way of a plastic surgeon, or to claim you are a woman instead of a man or vice versa. And you are allowed (and encouraged) to bully the naysayers until they agree with you.
It is okay to blame cows for hurricanes while continuing to build condos on the beach. It is okay to blame Christians for spreading disease, but forbidden to fault the Chinese for creating the virus in the first place. And as everybody knows, kneeling in protest during the national anthem before a football game is acceptable, but not if you’re kneeling to pray.
What happened to the world? When I was growing up, there were censors. They bleeped out or rejected R-rated materials on TV shows, to save the innocence of the children. But it wasn’t about the marketplace of ideas – it was about dirty words.
But today, as I write this, I was censored three times on Facebook for my content. One was when I showed the “injection site” on my arm and expressed my chagrin over the “jab” inflicted by the weaponized mosquito. Another was when I shared a satirical Babylon Bee article explaining that the best way to convince people to get the shot was to scream at them until they agreed with you. The zealous algorithms of Facebook struck again and again, to promote the narrative that the Covid shot was safe and effective, never mind that 60% of serious hospitalizations of people with the Delta variant now were those who had had both of their shots.
Here’s a quote from George Orwell. I did look it up and he actually did say it, in his book, “1984:”
“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” ― George Orwell, 1984
When did we lose that freedom? Because it appears that if it is not allowed to speak the truth, for instance, that Planned Parenthood sells baby parts for profit, and if those who speak the truth are marginalized, mocked, and actually punished with fines and imprisonment, then this is not a free country anymore.
And if the attacks on our freedoms are not sufficiently challenged, but we complacently comply, we will lose them all. This will not give us peace in our society, but more weakness, violence, poverty, and anguish.
Meanwhile, we hear those who would remind us:
“Just remember, God’s still on the throne.”
And we wonder, where did they get that, anyway? It sounds like a line from a song. Did somebody make that up? Or is it true? What throne? Does it matter if He’s on the throne, when the world is going crazy, and He doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it?
But you can’t really say anything, because it will show that you doubt that God’s in control. And then, you would really be in the doghouse!
Is He? How do we know? Where does it say in the Bible that He’s on the throne, when the world seems crazy and out of control?
Does God control us? Is He a control freak? And what if I didn’t want to be controlled?
Is He on the throne, or will that come later? Jesus said we should be praying “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” Does that mean His kingdom is for a later date?
If Satan is the prince of the air, and Jesus is the Prince of Peace, is there a question at all about who will ultimately be King?
And one more: Is “God’s on the throne” an excuse for adopting an attitude of complacency?
If you’ve ever had any of these thoughts when someone shrugged and spouted off “God’s in control,” or “God’s still on the throne,” with no explanation, you’re not alone. It’s easy to wonder how “in control” He is when you pray every day at 3:00 that the Planned Parenthood in Lafayette will be shut down, … but it’s still there, one of only 4 places in the State of Indiana that still does abortions.
Here’s what I read this morning in Psalms:
For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders, And fills you with the finest wheat.
~Psalm 147:`13-14
But God, I have a relative whose daughter may be suffering from vaccine injury – at least, she’s having some questionable side effects. We have a crisis at the southern border, an invasion of foreign nationals “of epic proportions.” And we have runaway inflation that’s showing up at the grocery store and the gas pump. All of this has happened within the last six months ...
But it’s time to answer all these questions.
What and Where is God’s Throne, and is He on it?
God’s throne is referenced many times throughout the Bible.
“The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”
~Psalm 11:4
“The LORD has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all.”
~Psalm 103:19
“The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood, And the LORD sits as King forever.”
~Psalm 29:10
“Clouds and darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.”
~Psalm 97:2
“For You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness.”
~Psalm 9:4
These verses in Psalms alone give us a pretty clear picture that God is the King on the Throne, in Heaven. He is not, as some Deists would dare to believe, someone who dropped Man off on the planet and then over time, simply munches popcorn and watches him to see what he will do. Hardly! He is alive, well, active, approachable, and intensely interested in us.
God is pictured on His throne in more than one place, and identified as “The Ancient of Days,” or simply, “The Lord,” These references will aid in your study of what it is like in Heaven, with God on the throne. It is awesome!
~Isaiah 6:1-3
~Ezekiel 1:24-28
~Daniel 7:9-14
~Revelation 4
Jesus mentions God’s throne. He even warned people not to swear by it! He has predicted that He would be given the Kingdom of His Father when He comes in His glory, and then He would sit on the throne. And in Revelation, He promised believers who overcame that they would be granted the honor of sitting with Him on His throne.
Is God in Control?
We have a great example in Job, where we see God granting Satan an audience and allowing him to mess with His servant Job – to a point. He was not allowed to take Job’s life. Yes, ultimately God is in control of the world, and our lives, and what Satan is allowed to do here.
How is it, then, that evil men are allowed to plot and scheme, to martyr God’s people, to close churches and cause ⅓ of Christians to lose interest in going to a house of worship? How do we reconcile what seems to be a vast difference between God ruling and reigning, and what we see with our eyes all around us?
The disastrous state of the world is a direct result of sin. It’s because of mankind’s bad choices and our rebellion against God and His goodness, that we are in this mess at all, but God has allowed this to happen for His own reasons, which are far greater than our capability to reason.
Here’s something I also read in Psalm 147:
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
~Psalm 147:3
It is clear then, that there will always be brokenhearted, and there will always be wounded. In the 20th Century alone, six million Jews were slaughtered, and that’s only one example. But even so, and whatever we’re going through, God is there to comfort and to heal.
He’s there to comfort the family of the man who died when he and his riding mower fell into the pond last week.
He’s there to comfort the families whose fathers and grandparents have recently died, some of them alone in nursing homes on lockdown.
And He is with the little children who were abandoned alone in the desert by coyotes who smuggled them across our southern border. (Woe unto those coyotes!)
Woe to those coyotes! Clearly, David says in the Psalms:
“For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
~Ps. 1:6
“Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.”
~Ps. 147:5-6
And yet, many of these kinds of verses are just not fulfilled ... yet. But these are promises. There will be a day of reckoning, and then – the wicked will come to a disastrous end, for all of the evil they have foisted upon the world.
Is “God’s on the throne” an excuse for complacency?
I believe that it has become a Christian cliché. That’s why I have made a study of it, to find out and document the truth of the statement itself. But while it is undeniably true, it is also so easy to shrug off the problems of the world with a fatalistic attitude. And so, there are variants of the same fatalism:
“Don’t worry – the Lord is coming back soon!”
“The Bible says it’s going to get bad in the Last Days – there’s nothing we can do to stop that.”
If we, the Church, forget that we are the most powerful force on Earth, because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit of God … then we, by that bit of forgetfulness, have laid down the weapons of our warfare and surrendered to the enemy. We are to occupy until He comes. That is a battle instruction. There is no place for “Que sera sera” in the Kingdom of God.
The examples I’ve given above, where people are hurting and needy, or where the nation is in trouble, or where the world seems to be going crazy, mean there is action that needs to happen while we are occupying. We, as God’s soldiers, must participate however we can, with physical, material help, encouraging words and advice, or just some needed, sincere sympathy. For our friends in need and for the nation and the world, we need to pray without ceasing. Those prayers are not overlooked by our Father in Heaven, who is seated on His throne, nor by His Son Yeshua, the successor to the throne.
And when we pray, we may find that God is calling us to do more, and use our position of influence for changing our present circumstances or holding back the gates of hell – which, by the way, He stated unequivocally, could not prevail against The Church. And it goes without saying that if He gives us marching orders, that is not something to ignore. Faith, our faith in God, is a dead faith if we have no works to show for it. (For reference, see the Book of James.)
Our Future with The King:
After our life here is wrapped up, we the Church, who are a nation of kings and priests unto God, will rule and reign with Him for a thousand years.
Illustration by Susie Haley, for Revelation class,
Calvary Chapel Bible College in Indianapolis
Yes! Our God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And we will reign with Him on earth. Imagine that if you can!
“And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.’"
~Rev. 5:9-10
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
~1 Peter 2:9-10
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