OUR GOD REIGNS

 

       I see the writing on the wall, don't you? 
      In the past four years, the culture of our country and the world has drastically changed. With it, an ominous haze of disbelief and helplessness has attempted to weary most of us. Many of us tuned in or researched to stay abreast of things happening worldwide that could not be found on television.  

     Lately, while reading and studying the book of Daniel, I saw several times that God struck down kingdoms and leaders regardless of nationality due to their disdain and mockery of God and His principles. God allowed captivity, insanity, and death to befall wicked leaders, and calamity also fell on their citizens to wake them up to the fact that they were not gods. Idols are not true gods, but Yahweh is the one true God.  

     In Daniel chapter 5, I read about the mysterious hand that appeared in the middle of a carousing feast and wrote a message that was from an unknown language. Previous to its appearance, King Belshazzar brought in sanctified goblets captured from the Jewish temple when the Assyrians conquered and carried off captives years ago. Daniel was one of them. These sanctified temple implements were initially used for service to glorify the God of Abraham; this day, this raucous crowd desecrated them by serving wine to unholy individuals while they drank toasts to gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone: a sacrilege. This weak king, already faithless in his duty to his citizens, used his position to further himself and satisfy his desires and whims.

     God sent this mysterious message, which caused the king to quake in his sandals. He was unable to stand. Fear enveloped him. Daniel was called upon to decipher the message. First, he scolded the monarch for his negligence of duty and for forgetting the lessons learned by his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar, who went through years of insanity foraging like a wild beast for seven years all because he made statues for worship and even made his people worship him as a god. After restoring his sanity, he became a more humble man and acknowledged the One True God.

     Daniel refused any rewards offered for the interpretation because he knew what was happening that evening. He proceeded to let the king know that the Medes and the Persians were even now at his gates, invading because of his folly and immoral ways. 

     I sense a change occurring. The change in the climate today is not the one that so many in the news have been touting. No, it is a swing back to rational thinking leaning back towards nationalism and to sovereign decisions for the good of their individual countries with a rejection of ideas that impoverish their nation's economy and their citizens.

     In my previous post, God Are You For Real?, I paraphrased much of Isaiah 40 from the Message Bible. In verses 23-24, God tells Isaiah that he reduces rulers to nothing. He makes the elite of the earth seem like nothing at all. They barely get planted and take root in their position of power, and the Lord blows on them...they wither away. (TPT)

     Daniel also scolds the king that his ancestors failed miserably by not acknowledging the God who created them and gave them breath. This same Creator can take that breath back away from them. Leaders are in trouble when behaving like they are gods. 

     In recent years, citizens worldwide have stood up against policies that do not make sense for their prosperity or freedoms. I see some world leaders placed in office promoting common-sense policies again. Some are even believers who pray with their policymakers. Then, I also saw leaders who mysteriously perished or were taken out of power who attacked or did not support God's chosen people, Israel.

     New radical leaders are pulling their countries out of violence and spiraling economies. Peace and prosperity have returned. An admiring world looks on. A flicker of hope spreads. People lend an ear to hear the formula for their successes.*

     In the USA, we also see a massive following for common-sense candidates who denounce broken experimental new policies and stand for the rule of law: law and order. The candidates the masses flock to are the ones with plans to rid our economy of the many brakes deliberately placed on it. Candidates who want to see our country united, peaceful, and healthy again are heeded.

     But my thoughts here revert back to Daniel and the calamities these rulers brought on themselves, not due to politics nor due to inept policies that should have been shelved with no benefit to the citizens. Their fall was due to their disregard for God and his holy principles through their idol worship, debauchery, lewdness, and their murder of innocents through human sacrifice. 

     The most recent affront by a head of state to Almighty God was on March 31, 2024, in Washington, DC. The leader of the free world (much like Belshazzar), on this Holy day, Easter, disrespected our Savior, Jesus, as well as the majority of Americans who are Christians. His speech did not mention the name of the day, Easter. Instead, the day was touted as a day to celebrate things contrary to the worship of God. Children who eagerly waited for the egg hunt on the White House lawn were exposed to the lewd and unbecoming behavior of confused adults. All of this was flaunted in the face of a holy God and an unbelieving world.

     Yes, I see the handwriting on the wall. The sinful leaders and elites in this world who want to minimize us to mere slaves are also going to taste God's judgment either here or before the judgment seat of God. They are misled and blindly follow the orders of God's foe. 

     This is a travesty of disrespect toward all of mankind. But believers are on guard as watchmen and women. They stand in the gap in a spiritual war for our right to rule and reign here on this planet rather than the demonic powers that are pulling the puppet strings.

     Back to Assyria. At the end of that unusual evening, King Belshazzar was killed. Darius the Mede, then sixty-two years old, conquered and took over the kingdom. The tables were turned, and an evil despot was removed that quickly. The grim lessons of these monarchs in Daniel are encouraging me today. Hope is flying its banner. All is not lost.

     These next few months may look chaotic, but as millions in the USA and worldwide cry out to God in repentance for mercy and justice, we are being heard. The tide is turning because OUR GOD REIGNS.

*Do you want to read some encouraging news? Search speeches and interviews featuring President Bukele of El Salvador and President Milei of Argentina. Review the Netherlands' new policies and standards that have been agreed upon for candidates and voting in the EU parliament. Read about what voters are saying in France and Germany. Add any additional topics that are encouraging in the comment section below.