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Thursday, April 2, 2020

Faith in the Face of Fear!


Dennis Edwards

Yesterday I had a very interesting day. Our dog was dying and in great pain so my wife asked me to take him early to the vetenarian to put her down. Off I went, but in my hurry I forgot to take with me my devotional book and my Bible, which I usually read in the morning for a good 30 minutes or more.

When I arrived at the vetenarian, I thought I would listen to a part of the Bible on my phone app while I waited, as two other owners of animals were in front of me. But while searching for the Bible app on my phone, I happened upon my whatsapp page and clicked on it. I saw two new messages. 

Normally, I try not to read messages from people until I have had my time of prayer and devotion with the Lord. I want to love the Lord first and keep Him first in my life and not allow my ministry to others to conflict with my relationship with Him. "Love the Lord thy God first, and then thy neighbour as thyself."

However, seeing I had a message from a Pastor friend, who usually sends good devotional material, I decided to open his message. But, I was in for a surprise with what I was about to hear and see. Today, it wasn’t a devotional reading at all. It was a half hour vídeo of a German Christian explaining the history of Corona Virus and how the whole response mode which the world was following had been written up over eight years ago in a study by some world organization. The title of the message was something like “Corona Virus Planned by World Masters.”

After listening to the first message, I then opened up the second message which was from a woman firend who had been a missionary in Africa some years ago. She normally doesn't send me anything "heavy" or controversail. Today, she sent me a half hour áudio from a pastor in South Africa. 

I had already been disobedient to my normal plan of reading, because I had opened a message before I had had my personal time with the Lord. Now, I continued in my disobedience. Again, it turned out not to be a devotional reading, but another heavy message about the origin and cause of the Corona Virus outbreak. 

The South African Pastor was saying that the quarenteen would lead to an economic crash and an obligatory vaccine which would include a biometric micro-chip. He concluded that the vaccine/implant could very well be the "mark of the beast" spoken of in the book of Revelation.[1] God has told us that true believers are not to accept such a mark even if it is obligatory. God has said that the mark would really have a spiritual signifance. The Pastor was explaining that those that accepted the vaccine may very well be receiving the “mark of the beast” and in fact be adoring Satan.

Usually, I’m not affected by these things as I am a student of the Bible endtime events and have studied quite a bit about the various interpretations of Bible prophecy. However, today it was different and I was caught off guard. What I seemed to be able to handle on a normal day, when I had had my time in God's word, my devotional time with the Lord first, affected me today differently. 

Suddenly, I felt like Peter when he looked at the waves.[2]  I got my eyes off the Lord and all I could see was that the dark days of Bible prophecy were nearly upon us. I lost that perfect peace we have when are minds are stayed on Him and Him alone.[3]  I got my eyes off of Jesus and saw only the horrific events of the book of Revelation that seemed like a giant monster ready to devour me.

I ended up feeling attacked spiritually, and very anxious. Thankfully, I realized what was happening and called up a close friend of mine from a prayer group I am a member of to ask for prayer. He, too, was needing prayer and we prayed together and immediately we both felt better for it. 

But the whole incident made me realize what kind of the affect our words can have on others. I have a whatsapp group of fifty people whom I share material with every day. The event of the day made me reflect on what type of material I was sharing with my group. In my bid to teach them Bible prophecy was I over emphasizing the horrors of the “Great Tribulation” and not emphasizing sufficiently “the victorious coming of the Lord?”

If we dwell on the fact that the rise of the Antichrist is coming with the mark of the beast, and pose the question “what are we going to do,” then we lose sight of the fact that the Lord promises to keep us through all these things. The night before I had been talking to a friend of mine from Australia who was asking me about Bible prophecy. I answered all his questions and he commented that he agreed with everything I had shared with him. I ended up saying, “Manuel, during the tribulation the Lord will be trying to protect us from the evil if we stay close to Him.”

My friend responed, “Dennis, I agree with everything you said, except the word “trying.” He said, “Dennis, the Lord is going to protect us from the evil.” I thought, “Wow, he puts the emphasis on the Lord and what the Lord is going to do. But I’m putting the emphasis on trying, my trying to keep close to the Lord. It sounds like my self-effort is what’s going to save me.” But my friend said, “Dennis, I believe everything you said except the word “trying,” because it is the Lord that is going to protect us.”

I thought, “Wow, he’s putting emphasis on the Lord’s sovereign power to save and protect us. He’s showing faith and trust in God’s power, while I don’t seem to have the same level of confidence in God’s word. I don’t seem to believe that God is going protect those He seals, like He says He will in His word.[4]  I seem to be thinking it’s going to be my own effort that will save me.”

God promises that He will be with us to the end of the world.[5]  He says we will be more than conquerors through Him that loves us.[6]  Even if something bad happen to us, He is going to give us the grace to bear it or a way to escape it.[7]  Therefore, we don’t have anything to worry or to fear about. We, as Christians, don’t want to transmit worry or fear to our friends and aquaintences. We are in God’s hands and nothing will happen to us, but what God allows to happen. He won’t let anything happen to us that He doesn’t give us the grace to confront and pass through.

Please, make sure you are spending enough time in personal devotion with the Lord in praise and prayer. Spend sufficient time with Jesus by reading your Bible or a good devotional book.  Anchor, found at the link: anchor.tfionline.com, has a reservoir of articles on many different subjects which you might find beneficial to study during today’s uncertain days.  We need to continually strengthen our relationship with the Lord, especially in difficult times like these. We need to be reading our Bibles or other devotional material daily.

I apologized to my “Daily Might” group for having shared with them some articles that may have promoted fear. We need to make sure our words are promoting faith and not fear. God is ultimately in control. He’s going to care of us and He’s going to give us the faith for whatever we have to go through. 

Corrie ten Boom who spent time in the Nazi concentration camps during WWII confessed to her father one day. She said, “Dad, I don’t have faith for getting caught by the Nazis.  Dad, I’m afraid I’m going to deny my faith. I can’t face persecution. I can’t face what’s coming.”

Her family had been helping Jews escape from Holland. They had a secret hiding place in Corrie’s bedroom for six people. They also helped the members of the Dutch Resistance. Corrie later wrote about it in her best selling book The Hiding Place. 

But with Corrie’s confession of fear her father wisely replied. He said, “Corrie, when you take the train from Haarlam where we live to go to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? A year ahead of time, a month, a week, a day?” 

Corrie responded, “No, Dad, you give it to me when you drop me off at the train station, at the moment I need it.”

Her father continued, “That’s right, Corrie, and that’s the same with God. You might not have the faith right now for suffering persecution, but don’t worry. If the time comes for you to suffer in that way, God will give you the faith to face it.” Whatever we have to face in the future, God is going to give us the faith to confront it. He even says we are going to do mighty exploits in the face of persecution.[8] 

Jesus has told us He will be with us to the end of the world.[9]  He has told us that, yes, in the world we shall have tribulation, but He has also encouraged us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world.[10]  Like Martin Luther wrote, “We shall not fear for God has willed His truth to triump through us.” 

Another friend of mine told me recently, “Dennis, you sound like you are worried because the days of the Antichrist seem imminent. But don’t forget Jesus is coming back. That’s where you need to keep your eyes. You need to keep your eyes on Jesus, not on the bad stuff.” Jesus even said, “When you begin to see these things come to pass, Look up, for your redemption draws nigh.”[11] I guess He knew we would start looking at the waves and forget about Him!

Remember, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.  But God has promised that His light shall shine upon us and we shall be His witnesses unto the ends of the earth.[12]  Whatever happens to us will be within His will and He will give us the grace to bear it, or save us out of it.  We will be overcomers like our forefathers in Hebrews 11 who were strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. They looked for another city, a heavenly one whose builder and maker is God,[13] where God Himself shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor pain, nor sorrow, nor sickness and the former things shall be passed away.[14]

Let us have a balance in what we share with others and not concentrate on the bad stuff so much that we discourage others and they run from us in fear. Bright days are ahead because Jesus is ultimately in control. He’s not trying to keep us, but He will keep us to the very end. If it is His will for us to suffer, He will be with us in our trial and give us the grace to bear it. Then we can say with Apostle Paul, “Oh, death, where is thy sting. Oh, grave, where is thy victory?... But thanks be to God who has given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.”[15]


[1] Revelation 13:16.17
[2] Matthew 14:28-32
[3] Isaiah 26:3
[4] Revelation 7:3
[5] Matthew 28:20
[6] Romans 8:37
[7] 1 Corinthians 13:10
[8] Daniel 11:32
[9] Matthew 28:20
[10] John 16:33
[11] Luke 21:28
[12] Isaiah 60:2, Acts 1:8
[13] Hebrews 11:13, 10, 16.
[14] Revelation 21:4
[15] 1 Corinthians 15:55, 56, 58

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