I can’t tell people what to do. I can tell people how I decide what I do for me, and hope that gives you some clues so you can decide for yourself.
Twice in just a few weeks, the Northern Plains of the US have suffered highly unseasonable storms, inland cyclones that have dumped excessive precipitation and icy temperatures. Already the flooding has killed thousands of food animals and destroyed crops, either in storage or by preventing timely planting. Prophetically I will tell you that’s not a message from God; it’s simply His wrath. The time for warning is past and now the punishment is here.
So food prices will go up during this calendar year much more from food shortage than from other causes. The effects of this will cascade onto other parts of the economy. And those who watch markets and finance are surprised the economy has not already imploded. It’s obvious it can’t go on like it is, but we also know it’s being kept alive artificially. We can see it plainly in how government, banks and big corporations do things. We can see how the mainstream media lies to cover up those actions. It’s a game of keeping the system running until the last bit of plunder is taken, and then pulling back to let it fall.
It will be slow, though there may be shocks along the way. Those of us who live through this, and are paying attention, will be deeply distressed at how this drags on and on at a slow pace. Worst of all, the folks who are in a position to make the decisions about things will not be jumping ship, but will stay in their positions to implement something even worse. At some point those who have nothing to lose will outnumber those who think they need to play along for their own benefit, and there will be violence. We can hope it will be aimed at the oligarchs running things, but I have my doubts about that.
Instead, I am confident God will find a way to crush them Himself. Unfortunately that means a lot of other folks will suffer along with them. That’s the way it works in this fallen realm of existence. My point has always been that this life isn’t worth so much anxiety in the first place. It’s broken and damned, and we need to get used to that. Instead of struggling for the things God promised those who obey His Word, let’s stop investing so much emotional energy in things that cannot follow us into eternity.
In John 6, Jesus fed 5000 to prove He had the food situation worked out. The issue wasn’t the human need, but the glory of God. If you invest yourself in the glory of God, everything else will take care of itself.
Then Jesus launched into a long conversation with the crowd and the Jewish leadership about how we should not struggle for temporal existence, in the sense that if we simply trusted in God in pursued His glory, the temporal existence would take care of itself. Trusting God means letting that temporal existence end when it ends, and on whatever terms it ends, and know that what comes afterward is beyond glorious. In other words, He offered a teaching that flatly said we should be otherworldly. I think it’s obvious that this world is badly broken.
And because it rests on the individual calling and mission from God, there’s no way I can decide what you should do to implement that kind of otherworldly life. I can share what I believe are the major considerations cast in the context of our lives here in America today, but I can’t tell you much more than that. If you lived under my wings here geographically, I suppose I could be more specific in my guidance, and you might be inclined to follow it since you would see for yourself that it’s working so well for me. But in this virtual setting, about the most I can do is call your attention to things you might miss in the work of considering what to do.
When we put that label “virtual” on things, it means there are limits.
