As alluded to earlier the world was set ablaze with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump nearly a week ago in Butler, PA. This shows that yet again we are in a state of unrest that is at a high level here and around the world.

In the past there were attempts on other presidents including Bill Clinton, Ronald Regan, John F. Kennedy and even more in time. Only a few accomplished what they set out to do. Such attempts always are a time that the world becomes forever changed as the issues become so volatile that people are willing to shed blood over them. In some cases like World War I the world was put into a global conflict where some countries lost half their population. The effects are still felt over 100 years later.

Years ago the question was asked, will mankind ever find peace? Will we ever see the times and the prosperity that man has envisioned in his own way? The answer for some may be a surprise, it’s NO.

As long as man continues to live in a world run by Satan and deliberately tries to exercise its own reality aside from God there will never be the kind of peace that some people try to say they can bring into this world. Mankind cannot live in peace because it is not in our nature to.

To lie in real peace takes an act of God in every literal sense.

Proverbs 16:7 says:

When man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

We see that it is God that makes the peace even in this simple verse that says so much. The same is true today.

It shows that even your enemies are in his control. If you please him then they are more scrutinized by Him. He also shows this when He says to Love and Pray for them in Matthew 5 as being Children of God. Their fate is in His hands then. And in Proverbs 25 and Romans 12. It shows us that by loving our enemies heaps coals on their head. Interestingly the heaping of coals on a person’s head in the days of Egypt was a sign of repentance. Again praying for them puts them in His sights and makes this a possible reality for them.

I believe that when Paul talked about forgiving enemies it was because of what Stephen did in Acts where he asked God not to lay the sin to their charge while being stoned. They laid Stephen’s clothes at Saul’s feet.  Later Paul was completely changed by Christ meeting him on the road to Damascus. The rest is history.

You may say, what about the end times, what about persecution and people being against Christians as we see rising in the world today?

We see even in the end times written in Revelation one of the 4 horsemen has the power to remove peace from the Earth. This means he removes what restraint there was keeping the peace at the time. All of it is under God’s control. The tribulation will be the worst of it mankind will ever see, but it still remains in his control. Even in the Millennium we see a rebellion in the end despite Christ being returned and present. They rise up against the city of the saints and are destroyed. He still is in control.

Like with Pharaoh in Egypt he hardened his heart to bring out the sin that was in it. The whole world goes through that too. As Children of God he tries to bring out his righteousness in us through trials and persecution. It still serves his purpose. It is an amazing thing to see in detail that God is so powerful that he can use a person’s sin for his purpose. We see that often in the bible.

Either way and no matter what HE is still in control. It is something as a believer in Christ and God that should give us comfort in times of trouble. As long as we live in this world there will be those times.

Happy Sabbath!

Your brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig