Boastful threats sometimes grow so great they threaten the gospel and the authority of Jesus Christ in the life of a believer. There is power in Christ to overthrow such threats but only in the good timing of the Father’s will. So we will see looming non-Christ powers grow up and sometimes look like they will occlude the light of Jesus Christ in our lives, and then suddenly divine power overcoming them, until they look likely to resurge again. There are three great powers looking likely to occlude Christ in the coming decades: USA (along with Israel), China, and Russia. There will always be a growth of these powers, in the coming few decades, alongside the dominance ever present from Europe, which is there standing on the sidelines like a supporter at a sports event. From time to time the way of the Father is to remind everyone who it is who will one day overcome them, Jesus Christ. God sends occasional signs of this: Miracles, and judgments, and the kind of events we call ‘acts of God’. Yet we are commanded to be patient and endure if we are among those called to be saints through these times. The hope is the coming of Jesus Christ who will end the growing dystopia. Uppermost in that hope is his great resurrection of his faithful, and along with it the transformation to immortality of the faithful still alive when he comes. Come Lord Jesus. But it is a great challenge in the meantime if you are to be faithful even though you know you are living in the very power system this Christ will overthrow. Do not serve the future dystopian system that power will one day become, if you can avoid it. And stay faithful to the one who will overthrow it at his coming. The next decades will be tough and we must tough it out while we live our lives. Serve Christ and not the Beast.
