13 September 2022
An excellent reader question. It comes with a preface. This reader works in a business that allows him to encounter some of the global elite. There is no doubt in his mind that they regard the rest of us as cattle. They always get what they want. "Why would God create humanity in His image and leave the vast majority of humanity enslaved by this tiny fraction?"
An ancient question, indeed, with several answers, depending on how you look at it.
That we weren't created for this life should be obvious. Whatever "in the image of God" means, it doesn't apply to this fallen human existence. It's not supposed to be like this; our souls tell us that. Anyone who isn't seeking something better is already dead. Dissatisfaction is the hallmark of mortality. So the first answer is that, if this life wasn't such a crappy experience, if things went the way they should, who would ever seek the Lord? The first effort to call on God just outside the entrance to Eden was motivated by the thorns the ground sprouted for Adam and Eve.
This life is punitive in the first place. We all bear the stain of sin; we all have the same fatal flaw in that, when given freedom of choice, we will choose self-indulgence first. That was what defined the Fall. We chose to listen to our human capabilities instead of God's revelation. Why was Satan allowed to temp us? That was his job. He made a similar mistake regarding his own position in God's court, coming to the conclusion that he deserved the glory that passed through him on the way to God. His punishment was the nasty job of tempting us to do what he did, trying to capture some of the glory due God. Would it not be glorious to be like gods (Genesis 3:5)?
That choice removed us from our privileged position, same as Satan. Now we are forced to endure an unpleasant situation that makes him our Enemy and master. This is his world, in that sense. And in his world, everything is a lie. Mortality itself is a lie; the constraints of time and space are a lie. Our endless striving for what we cannot have is a lie.
In one sense, this life does not matter. What happens here is silly nonsense, and to think that it matters is the ultimate deception. Ruled by the elite? That's a lie. They don't rule, but everyone is playing along with it as if this were true. What will they have when it's all over with? Nothing. They die and are largely forgotten. And those who remember them live the same futility they did. Whatever it was they ruled wasn't worth having. They couldn't take it with them as they went off to roast in Hell.
In John 16:11, Jesus said that His death was the final condemnation of Satan for his failures. The Devil's power is highly limited; he's forced to operate within the same space-time constraints that limit us. Satan retains his eternal nature while he's forced to operate within a temporal system. It's very frustrating, you can be sure. He cannot leave this earth and enjoy the delights of Eternity. He's forced to be here with us. And then, Christ dies on the Cross and sets us free from Satan's dominion once and for all. Christ opened the way to Eternity, so that we can reject this world under Satan's dominion.
If you learn to expect futility from this life, then you are set free to enjoy the hidden glories that God scatters all over the place. If you can just get hold of the idea that human striving is nothing, that none of it matters in the first place, you'll have a lot more fun while enduring the futility. The whole point of being made in God's image is that we know this world is a lie. We know that our mission is not to get too wrapped up in what happens here. Rather, we use this setting as the place to find and shine His glory.
How did you come to place where you read this blog, and maybe believe some of what I write? How was it that the Lord moved in your life to cause you to hope in His glory? How did you come to reject what you saw and experienced in the flesh? Whatever it was, that path is open to every human born. Yes, I often affirm that going to Heaven is not open to all of humanity, that there's nothing we can do about that. However, the joys of the Covenant life are very much open to all of humanity. The truth of what this life is can be had. God told Israel that the truth was right there in their hearts, and all it took was opening their mouths to confess it (Deuteronomy 30:11-14). All that blather from Moses was not really necessary, because the truth is already etched in our souls.
In that sense, Scripture exists to make us sensitive to our convictions. If the Word isn't written in your heart already, then ink on paper won't be the Word for you, either.
If there is anyone guilty of keeping mankind locked behind the lies, it would be the people of God who have been granted the Covenant truth. How many of them are actually walking in the Covenant? Do they even know for themselves what's real? The Covenant is the revelation of God; it's the declaration of what is real and what isn't. The Covenant is what teaches us not to take this life too seriously. If there's anyone guilty of hiding that, it's believers who first hid it from themselves by taking this world too seriously. How did you break out of that Harlot Church nonsense? That's how everyone else is going to leave it, if they ever do.
The ruling elite don't create human misery; they simply share their own misery. They honestly believe this life matters, which is why they strive so mightily to rule it. But they don't rule; they are pawns of Satan. What they rule is just smoke and mist. At some point you have to disengage. There's nothing wrong with working hard and giving people your best, but there is something wrong with thinking it should result in good things for the rest of the world. You should know that it's all futility. But, you should also know that how you go about the everyday business of the world is part of your testimony to just how little it matters. You do things with excellence because excellence is the point, not the product. The excellence points back to something that they need to see, that you are content in a truly messed up life, since it's not that important in the first place.
God allows the elites to imagine they rule to mock them. God allows them to treat us poorly because that's how He drives us back into His arms. What they have is nothing. What we have is Eternity. Despite knowing that the majority of the world will not awaken, we still spread the Covenant message abroad to all. We do our part to walk in the Covenant, and that's as much as God puts in our hands.
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