Last week, I did not write you a blog post! That hasn’t happened in close to two years. However, many of you enjoyed the picture on my Facebook timeline of me in my wedding dress. I hadn’t been able to zip it up in many, many years, so it was a big event—besides having been married to the same man for 47 years!
But Eric and I were stressed last week over complicated tax returns for the LLC and the looming deadline, and the way the basement had been flooding again and the need to engineer a sump pump solution. We decided what we needed to do about these concerns was to not stay awake at night fretting over them as we had been, but to trust God and just “do the next thing.” At least we were not being shelled, and we needed to be grateful for that. It could be worse ...
Beyond the simple joy of our wedding anniversary, there has been a lot of anguish lately, and you are no stranger to that if you’ve seen even five minutes of a news report. Our church supports several missionaries in Ukraine and Russia, so escaping the slaughter has been on everyone’s minds. Some of our friends made it safely across the border out of Ukraine to countries that were not under attack, but then were so concerned about loved ones who couldn’t get out that they’ve been organizing rescue missions. Others are engaged in getting supplies and aid to Ukraine from here in the States.
Even so, missionary kids have severe PTSD from the whole ordeal, and they are worried about their friends and neighbors, who may be bombarded by the Russians—and that is a valid concern.
Some people are calling Putin a mad, power-hungry Nazi. Putin is calling Zalenskyy (the Jewish President of Ukraine) a Nazi. The neo-Nazis in Ukraine (yes, there are some!) are calling Putin a Jew and that’s why they’re fighting him so hard.
Some say we are in the era of “the second horseman” in Revelation 6—the one who rides the red horse of War. But some are sure none of that part of Revelation (the seal judgments) happens until after the Rapture of the Church.
Some say Putin is demon-possessed or maybe having “Roid Rage” from steroids taken for cancer treatment. I tend to be in this camp. Why else would he target for destruction a theater full of civilians with children or an art school, and continue to threaten everyone who opposes him with nuclear annihilation? Sobering news from the war makes Eric and I more conscious of squealing noises from our water heater that sound like approaching missiles, but I don’t think I would fit under my desk, the way we practiced atomic bomb drills in the ‘60s as kids.
Others believe Putin is working with President Trump to rid the world of sex traffickers in Ukraine, or of bio-weapons labs, and that a possible war between the U.S. and Russia is a trap of the Deep State. They say that both the U.S. government and the Ukraine government are corrupt. So what else is new?
Some say, after an impassioned plea to the U.S. Congress to help, and a call to President Biden to be the leader of the free world, that President Zelenskyy is actually the leader of the free world. Others say it’s actually NATO who is bombing Ukraine, not Russia.
Jane Fonda set the End of the World (climate doomsday) to eight years from now, and you know she’s an expert! Biden is getting ready to take the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps off the terrorist watch list and sign an even worse agreement than what Obama did, so that he can ostensibly become the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism. And our porous southern border has 170,000 people getting ready to invade the U.S. as soon as some Trump-era policies expire.
Wars and rumors of wars? Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom? Sounds like it to me! There are new ones every day, it seems, almost a free-for-all.
Jesus named these as but the beginning (the mild part!) of sorrows—birth pangs, or contractions—that will precede his Second Coming, along with famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. Lest we think we’re done with the pestilence part, notice that it is plural. And this week a 7.3 earthquake rocked Japan, the most powerful in a year. That barely made the headlines.
“And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
“All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
~Matthew 24:4-8
The nature of labor is a dramatic increase in the intensity, duration, and frequency of the contractions, resulting in increasing discomfort, to put it mildly. (Been there, done that.) It makes strong women cry out for drugs, or to ask if they can just not do this—usually a few minutes before they actually give birth. It doesn’t really compute at the time that there is actually no way to turn back now.
Jesus’ analogy to labor equates to an increase in each of these signs before the End of All Time and His return. Maybe we’ll even feel some of that pain, maybe even a lot of it, before we are removed from the earth. Yes, the pains may even reach North America.
So dive further into the text and see the action items Jesus gave us. As Christians, we remember Jesus said pretty often: “Follow me.” Nowhere did He bid us “follow the science.” With that in mind, what are Jesus’ instructions for these tumultuous times?
Take heed that no one deceives you.
See that you are not troubled.
#1 – Take heed that no one deceives you…
That seems a little difficult. Propaganda is everywhere! If you couldn’t trust the mainstream media for the last decade, why is it that they are suddenly reliable? And if they are not, then is anything that says the opposite of what they’re saying true?
Elon Musk provided internet service for the Ukrainians so their communications wouldn’t be cut off. But he said he was a free speech purist, so he refused to censor the Russian propaganda sites. Still, thousands of volunteer hackers are trying to sabotage the Russians, Chinese hackers are trying to sabotage us (as we know they did in the 2020 election), and cyberwarfare has become the weapon d’jour. The Anonymous hacker group says if you are inexperienced at keeping yourself safe, even if you are enthused about the cyber war effort—don’t participate.
Hardly anyone knows what to believe, but they want to know the truth. Where do you find true information? Rumble? The modern-day “prophets”?
Now look at the whole verse.
“And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.’”
There is a dearth of leadership in the world today. That’s why so many are still looking to President Trump, who was truly a great leader during his four years in office. It's why he can still command such tremendous crowds at rallies, and it’s why his endorsement is a golden ticket.
It’s why the world is spellbound by President Zelenskyy, wondering if he is strong enough to actually win a war against a nuclear superpower—a modern David and Goliath story. Is he the leader the world needs?
And, it is why the world has been plunged into chaos. It is so that a Man with a Plan will rise to the top and find an adoring world ready to follow him, even worship him. This week, Joe Biden repeated his belief in this coming “New World Order.”
We must be very very careful to only follow our Messiah, Jesus the Christ. The rejection of God’s Messiah opens the door for false ones. Some of the false prophets and leaders are already taking over entire denominations of the modern Church.
If we are to not be deceived, then what should we believe?
We can believe God’s Word. He says in His Word that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The governments of the earth have corrupted themselves, and it will only get worse.
He says that in That Day, when Jesus comes for us, the state of the world will be very similar to the days of Noah. Moses wrote of those days that every thought of man’s heart was always evil continually.
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
~Matthew 24:25
Supporting one government over another one because this one is the good guy, and that one is the villain is complex. We need to be careful about that and gather the best information we can.
But while we are still here, we are to trust God, believe His promises, push back against evil with fervent prayer and action, speak the Truth, believe that the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against God’s Church, and keep preaching the Good News of Salvation to a hopelessly anxious world.
“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
~Matthew 24:13
“See, I have told you beforehand … “
~Matthew 24:25
#2 – Be not troubled.
How do we do that? Psych meds? Melatonin? Yoga? Anxiety attacks are about as common as shopping trips right now.
First, we need to remember the “why” in the above: For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. These things have to happen before The End. Labor has to happen before the baby is born.
That Jesus Christ was executed on a Roman cross also had to happen, and the early Church understood this. Notice the following in their prayer for boldness in the face of persecution:
“For truly both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together in this city against Your holy Servant Yeshua, whom You anointed. They did whatever Your hand and Your purpose predetermined to happen …”
Acts 4:27-28 (Tree of Life Version)
By faith, we can believe that there are some things predetermined by God that must happen, and we are not to be in anguish about them. They are rough, but we can do this with His help.
We must not let our hearts be troubled. That’s rather like not letting our old blind dog out. She would kill herself if she went trotting through the front door by herself, and that’s a fact. And so we do not leave it standing open, leaving her vulnerable, but we take precautions to make sure the door is secure, especially if we will be gone for a while.
What precautions can we take to safeguard our heart against anxiety? O Christian, we need to rely wholly on God’s Word and His promises. (Isn’t that a lot like the answer to the first question about being deceived?)
I know it is imperative to read God’s Word daily. To be honest, most of the time, the only Bible verses that come to mind in a time of need are the ones I read that very day. Others will begin to materialize later, but slowly. The first thing I think of is, “What was that I read this morning?” So this is what I just read in Proverbs:
“Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;
For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.”
~Proverbs 23:17-18
If we are focused on Russian oligarchs and thinking how nice it would be to own a superyacht, our hearts will be troubled, because we’ll never own a superyacht. Maybe we won’t even own our own home. We may be hurt here: it’s an evil world. We may be subject to fighting in a war or evacuating to avoid being shelled. We could suffer abuse, persecution, or catastrophe.
But we have a Blessed Hope. This is the very best promise He could give us. The security in that promise to us is greater than any anxiety over what could happen to us on earth.
“… denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…”
~Titus 2:12-13
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
~1 Cor. 2:9
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
~Romans 8:18
Instead of being focused on this world and all that is wrong with it, we must keep our gaze on our Lord, the treasures in Heaven, the Hereafter… and even be a little fanatical about it. This promise, “And Your hope will not be cut off,” is a far better sleep aid than melatonin.
Next week, I will add another action item to the list, something very practical we can do.
“Our Father in Heaven, You are the One in Whom we hope, and You have never failed us. We know there are world affairs for You to deal with, wedding plans, Heaven to run, and billions of people in the world with bigger problems than our own.
“But we are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture, and we are listening for Your voice alone.
“Protect Your sheep from the wolves of the world, we pray, and provide us with comfortable still water and abundant grazing land. Watch over us as we safely sleep under Your constant care.
“For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.”
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