By Ian D’Souza

With the onslaught of bad / fake news inundating us day by day through the internet, social media networks and various news channels (all of which are very often the private agenda of vested interests), you will notice that we normally tend to receive news that suggests that the Devil is in charge, or that Man in his cleverness is steering society according to his plans.  So we talk about things such as The Deep State, Shadow Governments, The Illuminati, Globalists, One World Order, etc, which do nothing but incite fear in the heart of man. Though much of the above may be true, the problem with such fallacious thinking suggests that God has been relegated to the sidelines and appears helpless, impotent and unable to do anything.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Even though Satan has been designated as god of this world (2 Cor 4:4) as a result of the fall, God the Creator, is still sovereignly in charge of His entire Universe.

What is Sovereignty?  Sovereignty can be defined as having supreme authority, control, and power over all that has happened, is happening, and will happen in the future in all times across all history.  Christians define it as the ruler of the universe, God, having the right, the authority, and the power to govern all that happens and what has, is, or will happen being in accordance to His divine will. He has the right to achieve His purposes and has the power to bring about circumstances that dictate whatever He wills to come to pass.   He has complete control of everything and there is nothing that is done that is not done by or allowed through His will.   This is expressed by Paul in Romans 8:28 as he writes that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  (Jack Wellman – Patheos.com)

It would do us well to remember that both the devil and man are creatures created by God who alone is the Creator of everything.  To ascribe the same authority or power belonging to the Creator to any of His created beings is sheer foolishness, naïveté or rebellion at best.  Remember how man shook his fist at God when he created the mighty Titanic Cruise Ship (1912) much touted as “the ship that even God couldn’t sink”, only to see it sink on its very maiden voyage.  “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them” (Psalm 2:4).  King David on the other hand had a correct and healthy esteem of our Creator God.  In (Psalm 8:3-4) he states: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”  Man is like a minuscule Ant compared to the hugeness of His creation.  It behooves the question; If His creation is so huge and so great, how huge and great must He Himself be? Not for a single moment is the omnipotent God Almighty taken by surprise, caught on the wrong foot, nor back foot, nor does He ever lose control of anything. If any such thing was possible then He would cease to be God immediately. Being omniscient, He knows the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning. How is that possible?  Because He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8).   Right from before the foundation of the world, He knew how the end would pan out and planned accordingly.

There are others who give undue credit to the devil for all the chaos that prevails on this planet at present.  Yes, the chaos is huge in these end times and surely he (Satan) has a hand in much of the evil that is present.  But before that, we need to first note that though he is a supernatural being that hates God, he has been conquered by Christ’s death on the cross and is a defeated foe at present.

“When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.” (Col 2:15 Amp).

The Christian believer who has trusted Christ for his salvation has nothing to fear from the devil, for his life is now hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3) and he has the most potent force of heaven – the indwelling Holy Spirit within him.  Hence the scripture says: “…..greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). In other words, as Christian author Miles Stanford states: Satan is like a dog on a leash, the other end of which, is firmly held in the hands of our loving heavenly Father.  He (Satan) cannot do anything to the believer, or in the world, without the heavenly Father’s permission.  We see this amply demonstrated in the book of Job (Job 2:2-6) in the Old Testament and (Luke 22:31) in the New Testament.

All the world’s a stage at this point in history, with every country going through upheavals and turmoil of unbelievable magnitude such as never seen before.  It might surprise us to know that though God does not promote evil Himself, He allows it to go through because of the hardness/ rebellion of men’s hearts. He Himself is in perfect control moving all things towards an irretrievable end according to His divine plan already revealed in the sacred scriptures.

A few more scriptures to put God’s sovereignty in correct perspective:

• (Psalm 33:11): “The Lordnullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.
• (Prov 21:1): “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
• (Isaiah 45:6) states: “That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other”.
• (Psalm 115:3): “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
• (Isaiah 40:23): “who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.”
• (Zechariah 4:6): “…. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”
• (Mathew 19:26)” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
• (Heb 1:1-3): “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His [God’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power”.

So though things may seem to be going haywire these days at an accelerated pace, know this; that God is still sovereign and in total complete control of all things at all times.  Nothing happens without His knowledge.

The Book of Revelations already reveals the end-story and the fact that Christ will be both Victor and Judge in the end.  Knowing how life’s current history will end puts us at rest immediately and causes all anxiety to end.  The Christian need just rest in this truth no matter how much of hell may break loose all around him. Consider this end-of-game scenario already given us in the book of (Revelations 19:11-21):

The Coming of Christ (Rev 19:11-19)

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.  His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army”.

Doom of the Beast and False Prophet (Rev 19:20-21)

“And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh”.

If you have not yet trusted Christ as your Saviour, do not hesitate, do not harden your heart any longer, but today as you hear His voice calling out to you, turn to Him and put your trust in Him without delay, for the time is short.  “He said call on me and I will answer you” (Jer 33:3).  The good news is that this salvation is free as God Himself has done all that is needed.  All you have to do is put your trust in Him. God is redeeming the time perfectly and busy saving all those who turn to him in faith.  Having seen above that God is sovereign, let’s take a look at some good news regarding how God is moving which is not being reported by the media anywhere.

In their book: “2020 Vision: Amazing Stories of What God Is Doing Around the World” by Bill and Amy Stearns (2005), the following statistics are found which will gladden and warm your heart. [All statistics quoted below would be exponentially higher by this year 2017].

•  Every day another 74,000 people across the globe come to faith in Christ. That’s 3083 new fellow believers every hour of every day.
• An average of 3500 new churches are opening every week worldwide. Thousands of new ministries you’ve probably never heard of are diligently multiplying fellowships of new believers.
• God is using the electronic media of around 1050 national and international broadcasting agencies on more than 4000 Christian radio or TV stations. More than 3 billion people have viewed the Jesus film.
• More than one-third of the converts to Christianity in Turkey say they came to Christ because He appeared to them in a dream. There are at least 600 documented cases of Hindus and Muslims coming to Jesus through dreams and visions.
• There are an estimated 80 million believers in China today with an average of 28,000 becoming believers every day.
• Many believers have become disillusioned with institutional structures and are leaving them to work outside such formal church memberships. These are estimated at 112 million born-again Christians.
• Every day across the continent of Africa another 20,000 are added to the body of Christ raising the Christian population to more than 50 % today.
• In 1990 Korea was deemed to be a country impossible to penetrate, but today they are 30% Christian with around 7000 churches in Seoul alone. Several of these churches have more than one million members each.
• In Indonesia the last statistics available showed more than 2000 Muslims having turned to Christ.
• In the country of Papua New Guinea, the government has recently mandated Bible teaching in every school in the country.
• Throughout history, the growth in the body of Christ has outdistanced the increase in world population. In A.D. 1000 the ratio was 220 unbelievers for every one true believer in Christ.  By the 21^st century, the global ratio is around seven unbelievers for every one true-believer in Jesus Christ.  Clearly God is on the move!

Hence, my friends, do not be dismayed at the current trials and troublesome world events that are taking place, for the Lord has warned us as follows:

 “When you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately.” Then He continued by saying to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.  It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.  So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.” (Luke 21:9-15).

God is on the move, and we are called to be co-workers with Him in this great end-time harvest.  It is a privilege to be part of His program, knowing that there will be laid up for us a great reward.  May our hearts be encouraged to know that He is at work and that He is in perfect control, as always!