“Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God…” You may Find It even in the Coronavirus Quarantine

Joseph sold into Slavery

I would not say that God released the coronavirus around the planet, but I would say that He had a plan for good, within its release & effects on humanity.  Similar to Joseph’s brothers’ intentions for evil, when they sold him into slavery out of their jealousy & resentment of him.  Joseph, when victorious, spoke these words to them: “You thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good…” (Genesis 50:20)

It would have to have been within such a time as this – a time of lockdown & quarantine – when I would have been severed from most all of my normal activities – that I could finally face a central reality.  Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide.  And the alleged ‘refuge’ of being home & ‘sheltering in place’…well, to quote the Eagles’ song, ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ “Every form of refuge has its price.”  Escape from coronavirus became at times imprisonment.  Faltering hope turned into fear & despair. Demons, waiting at the door, found entrance.  Depression crushed.

As a Christian, I know there is, for me, only one truly effective Way to fight these things.

§

…but I’ve been believing (I thought) in this Way for over four decades, so why was I being so oppressed?  It would seem like I should have been in better shape than I was.  It should’ve been easier for me to fend off the demons & nightmares.

§

God causes the light to shine out of…what?…darkness.  Though we think we are in the abyss, perhaps instead we have been positioned for glorious breakthrough.

I have experienced anew the impact of 1 Corinthians 10:13,  the Scripture promising us that God will not give us more than we can bear, but with the hardship will provide a way of escape.

There came a point for me, about a month ago, where I had to jump off a spiritual cliff.  The price of remaining hunkered down (and I don’t mean the coronavirus quarantine!) in an ever-increasing darkness & hopelessness was too high.  I needed that way of escape.  And it was shown to me.

I learned that I had to make a conscious, deliberate choice, with a more-or-less ‘no going back’ clause attached to it.  This may sound simple to you – basic – and it is but I wasn’t doing it.  I don’t know what I was doing! but it wasn’t this:  I realized that the kingdom of God has to come first.  Whereas before the kingdom perhaps didn’t seem ‘real’, I couldn’t relate to it in certain moments & circumstances – and I think that’s to be expected, we live in a world system and also a tangible reality that affects our senses – now I had chosen to begin to superimpose what God says over what I’m feeling.  More than that, I had to toss aside that ‘feeling’, that dread, that fear.  It had to be an absolute choice.  And it sometimes had to be done, if necessary, minute-by-minute.

That may seem like an inconvenience or worse.  Getting really serious about it involves choosing an alternate reality for yourself, in any given moment, and even though you ‘trust God’, that can be scary at first.  Hard to do.

It’s worth it.

§§

We can experience some horrible sensations, and maybe can’t even put names to them.  But I’ve heard that only two basic emotions exist, love & fear. I myself accept that every other feeling is a version – by degrees – of these two emotions.   And we KNOW when we aren’t feeling love, so…combat the isolation, dread, despair, whatever emotion that grips you, with a related Scripture.  THINK on it.  If you can, take the time you need to see it through.  

 

You have to choose.

§

This isn’t a one-time action.  And we fall.  But because of the Lord, who holds our hand, we don’t remain cast down. (Psalm 37:24)

I have struggled with fear all my life, and still do.  I am 69 years old, and have believed in Jesus Christ for over 40 years.  Practicing what I have tried to explain to you just now is starting to bring a relief such as I have not experienced before…I need to do it every day, many times, but this is spiritual reality.  It is the kingdom of God being sought first, and He adds the rest (Matthew 6:33) – in my case, literal rest!  

It may be thought that seeking the kingdom of God first translates to actions.  While I wouldn’t say that’s not true, I think that the kingdom – that over which this King has dominion – begins with how He thinks & what He tells us in His Word.  My starting point in this is what He tells us about fear, anxiety, isolation and such, in relation to His character & promises TO US. Moreover, His character period!

For instance, if you really believe that God is faithful...think about it…always faithful…that right there causes me to exhale & feel safe.  You don’t need to be a Bible scholar, a student of Hebrew or an accredited theologian.  You do need to know – or learn – some of the Bible, and it’s a good idea to be reading it in order to primarily get to know God in Christ.  Use a concordance.  Focus on maybe just a few verses or even only one phrase, for a time.  Take small bites.

 

Keep it up.

ΑΩ

 

 

When I was first apprehended by Christ some 44 years ago, there was always someone declaring that Jesus was coming back soon.  From Day One of my salvation moment, this statement was constantly being made. But  I never sensed His imminent return.  I wondered why…besides, I had hoped to have a better life, in so many ways! before Christ’s return.  Well, right or wrong, that was how I felt.  

For the first time, NOW  I have finally sensed that the whole planet is being prepared for His return.

 

I think that’s what this coronavirus is about.

ΑΩ

 

Things God says….vs. the Shadowy Powers-that-Be behind the Scenes

“…be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

(Romans 12:2)

~~~

The depth & scope of this kind of renewal should rock your world, if you understand the absolute need for it.

On its surface, this exhortation seems to be saying that we need to learn to think differently, in order to escape becoming a ‘bad person’. But the impact of one’s mind eventually NOT being renewed, can be fuel for so much worse than that.

~~~

According to this Scripture, people are either ‘conformed’ or ‘transformed’. I would suggest that either one or the other is eventually going to tip the scales. I would also suggest that we are probably constantly being conformed, without even realizing it. So that just as LifeLock@ safeguards a person’s data identity in cyberspace, we need Someone to constantly safeguard our true life & identity in spiritual space – in Christ.

That which is formed in the spirit will often manifest in the temporal, visible real – either as something good, something apparently good, or something evil. So that to which we are conformed is critical, at the deepest & most minute level, because it may reproduce in various ways & forms, and in same cases exponentially. (I am talking globally here.)

~~~

…so the world/earth is inhabited by people, the same people who are being conformed or transformed as we speak. It stands to reason, then, that our environments will be influenced accordingly.

~~~

“If a ruler hearkens to lies, all his servants are wicked.” (Proverbs 29:12)

 

…so suppose that there is in place a president or a prime minister who ‘hearkens to lies’ – because throughout their life, they were ‘conformed’. This does not bode well for the climate thus created by his staff & subordinates, according to the above Scripture. Unless there is present within that group some who were ‘transformed by the renewing of {their} mind’, who will question & challenge narratives & agendas…the rest of us are going to be fed false, unhealthy information and subjected to detrimental (possibly in the extreme) laws & those things which result from these laws.

At least some of the time.

A way of fighting back against this system of manipulation is the renewing of your mind. Learning a different way of evaluating events, and overhauling one’s priorities & values, is a crucial weapon in this battle. Maybe THE only weapon that will yield the kind of lasting change needed in our world today.

…and make no mistake, this starts with you.

~~~

I want to relate these ideas to globalisation.

According to David Icke, author of ‘Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Center Disaster’, the powers behind the scenes find it relatively easy to essentially control what happens in our world. They only need to implement a few ‘key structures’. The first, says Icke, is to ‘impose the ‘norms’, what is considered right and wrong, possible or impossible, sane or insane, good or bad. Most of the people will follow those ‘norms’ without question…” (Enter: the media, advertising, ‘education’, certain religious practices…you get the picture…) Once a conditioning of the masses has taken place, peer pressure does the rest “…Facebook and almost every other major social media platform are turning hundreds of millions of people into a literal “herd” or “hive” mentality, otherwise known as “Groupthink”…” explains Michael DePinto, attorney & contributing writer on The Last Great Stand.

The imposition of the norm is then followed up by making it ‘very unpleasant’ for those who dare to buck the system. This unpleasantness can run the gamut from ridicule to ostracization and beyond.

“The most effective way to do this is to ensure that it is…a crime to be different.”

~~~

In addition to the ‘Groupthink’ agenda working to establish behavior-controlling norms, there also exists an agenda working to control our emotions. It is reported that Facebook “can basically make you feel whatever it wants you to” and   “Facebook wanted to see if it could spread feelings (“e.g., depression, happiness”) like the NIH spreads pathogens among monkeys.”

(…now that’s not a recipe for mental health distress, is it?)

~~~

…so we can get an idea of how devious conditioning could take root & spread, even worldwide. Elements that may not have our best interests as their goal could certainly be behind such actions, seeking to more easily shape and thus control populations & world agendas. Agendas that result in our detriment to their ‘increase’, i.e., power & money.

To some this logic may seem outlandish. Not to me.

…and so it seems imperative that we be at least aware of this possibility, and safeguard against it. Safeguard against being unwittingly sucked into the maelstrom of manipulations & opinions, and become shaped accordingly, to our loss. There are many paths and many ways that can be taken in this life, but you want to find & take the right One.

“…for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there which go in thereat…” (Matthew 7:13)  (Groupthink? Globalism? World system? New World Order? )

  ~~~

 

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. Not a way. THE Way. That way is narrow, but it leads to life (Matthew 7:14).  I have read that there is, in fact, only room for Jesus and you in that narrow Way. This does not mean that a person has to become a monk!  Jesus Himself did pray to the Father, that He did not ask for His people to be taken out of the world (but rather to be protected from the evil one {Groupthink? Globalism? World system? New World Order?} )…so don’t misunderstand the concept of being tight with Jesus Christ! But it behooves any one of us to turn to Him to find and enter the narrow Way that leads to Life, and to the “so great salvation” that is our escape (Hebrews 2:3).

 ~~~