Recently, I was listening to a podcast from the “Conversations that matter podcast” (hosted by John Harris). The title of the podcast was “Paint the World Black.” It was a documentary about BLM rioters by the thousands coming to their once-popular place of business and dismantling the building until it was just a cement block.
In the podcast/YouTube documentary, a business goes from stardom as one of the most popular businesses in Chicago to literally destroyed brick by brick within a few days. People changed their place of business and destroyed it until there was nothing left. During this time, they were preaching the gospel to the people and some came to Christ.
The situation made me think about all the ruins of the once grand and magnificent buildings that were once built by great nations with great wealth. They were all in shambles, just like their once popular business was. The business owners are on fire for the lord (in spiritual sense), so they preached the gospel to the rioters that came and destroyed their business. These rioters were domestic terrorists that terrorized our nation in a militant way that has not been known before. It can only be compared to movements like the Muslim terrorist group. The reason that they came to them in the first place was because one of the business owners rejected the ideology of black lives matter. He did not reject it because he thought black lives do not matter or because their lives were worth less than other lives, but instead because he rooted his belief that all ethnicities matter universally because they are made by God in his image. Since he will not bow to their will and repeat their mind's rise, they decided that his place of business was no longer going to exist. On that day and really most of 2020, these terrorists decided that anyone who would not agree with their religious fervor would be subjected to violence against their will.
Well, brick and mortar places all eventually break down, but God’s church cannot be destroyed. They could come and destroy all buildings that have the name church on them, that would not be enough to foil God’s plans. God haters could destroy all churches and all houses of Christians and God would still not be stopped. Ironically enough, many of the men known as patriarchs in the Bible, namely Moses Abraham and David, lived out in the fields. They need no place of worship or houses to abide in to love their God.
We must take care of that, even if we have one global nation or America comes under dictatorial control or America ceases to be a nation, God has not failed. God’s mission is not to maintain nations made by man but instead to be glorified primarily through the greatest story ever told, namely the plan of redemption the church finds itself the star character in. The bedrock story of all of mankind has a story of the romance of God, the father planning to find a bride for his beloved son, Christ. All of these other things are temporary blimps in the history of that story, they are merely the background to the greatest love story of all. The one where we truly do live happily ever after. Many people are discouraged at how much the left has become involved in attacking those who do not agree with them, but they are just testing and purifying at the church. If there is one thing we learned from graduation with Israel, is that God likes to use those that hate him to bring about his purposes in the world. The same big God that makes fun of the pagan idols he calls atheist fools (Psalm 14: 1) is the same God we have.
The devil has already lost. Jesus is constantly marching on and furthering his kingdom. You might not be seeing anyone being saved in your friend circles or in the local news, but God is saving people from their sins every day. The situation we are in is not new from the early church. Those who were in power did not like anyone else claiming another as lord other than Caesar. They were OK with them having their little rituals and festivals as long as they vowed to Cesar. At times, God will give Satan some rain to wreak some havoc in order to sober his church and keep us from apathy. I want to end with a few points to really drive us home. If you are struggling to see God through all this, find a book where the author speaks about a God who is big and mighty. I’ll provide a couple of big God book recommendations below to encourage you.
If God is good when he kills all Job’s kids, then God is good now.
If God is good when he has Joseph being enslaved in prison most of his life, then God is good now.
If God can destroy all the earth except for one family and still be perfectly good, then God is good now
If God can leave us people in slavery for hundreds of years to the Egyptians and still be good, then he is good now
If God can allow most of the apostles to suffer most of their life and I die for Christ sake and still be good, then he is good now.
And finally, if God can allow his own son Jesus to suffer a wrath he did not deserve for evil doers like us and still be good, then he is good now.
The big God book recommendations that help me be confident (con- with and fide- faith) outside of the Bible, of course, are:
(This is a door stopper, but it is honestly the main book I think all Christians should read. I don’t think it is a book you can read in one month, let alone one year. It is one of those you just read little by little almost devotionally. It gets you pondering who God is)
The other book is
(This book talks about our emotions and being satisfied in God. It talks about all the enjoyment that can be found in him.)
Tim Bankes II
Tim is a Christian author. His worldview that informs his writing is Calvinist, Baptist, and Libertarian. His main series is his Christian picture book series, "About God for Kids", where he discusses the attributes of God in a way kids can digest. He also wrote a Christian Romance novel, libertarian book for beginners, and Christian coloring books. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Biblical Studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He has written a book on freedom called “Are You Free” (If you are into listening to books I have it in audio also, Are You Free Audiobook )and he has written multiple children’s books about God. Be Sure to check out the podcast version of the blog, Labor for Truth Podcast. And check out “The Truth About” YouTube Channel. You can find his works at his amazon author page, https://amazon.com/author/timbankes. He even has a free digital ebook on how God is the creator. Get your free copy today at, Greater Creator .Also If you are into Christian Fiction, he has made his first book in his Futuristic Christian Fiction series free, Her Dying Wish