THE POWER THAT PRESERVES
Chin Up. Shoulders back. Hands out to others. Foot down!
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OCCUPY
"Don’t be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself." Philippians 1:28
As we stand in the face of pressures within and without, our sense of calm and poise is a sign. It is a sign to our fellow believers that the UNLIMITED is with us. It is also a sign to those who "oppose" God that for them things are not going to be well.
If you live in the reality of the Absolute Person and His Absolute Order, then enemies will naturally oppose you. Christ's UNLIMITED Kingdom automatically threatens the limited kingdoms, their petty tyrannies and small pursuits.
Don't worry. God's got you. And God's got THIS.
THE POWER THAT PRESERVES
Assassination attempts. Depression. Recession. Inflation. Pandemic. Climate emergency. Rebellion. Growing authoritarianism. Education gone crazy. Threats of war.
What to do? One of the best answers I have is summed up in the word “occupy.”
Here’s where that thought developed for me.
Jerusalem was sacked, burned, pillaged, demolished.
God’s people were taken captive. Daniel was among that number. He was made to serve the conquering king after he was stolen from his family and home.
For years before the “power from the North” descended upon Jerusalem, Jeremiah had warned, shouted, wept and cried out in the public places. He told God’s people that this captivity was coming. False prophets and priests calmed the people saying, “Peace, peace, all is well. Nothing to see here. Jeremiah is overreacting in typical fashion. Jerry is a fear-monger. Jerry is a religious nut, locked away in time. He has lost his relevance. There is fun all around, lots of gods we can enjoy and STILL go to Temple. Times have changed, everything is fine!”
When Babylon swarmed in, everything was taken. Even their most sacred vessels from the temple Solomon had built. The temple, the center of the life of God’s people, was torn down.
Jeremiah through the years of captivity continued to send prophetic words and letters to the people of God who were captive and enslaved in Babylon.
One such letter is recounted in Jeremiah chapter 29. I have been reading this chapter over and over for a few weeks. In this letter preserved in its entirety Jeremiah told them their captivity would last 70 years. (Incidentally Daniel found this letter when he was an old man and it prompted him to powerful intercession for its fulfillment. See Daniel 9).
It was not going to be quick. It was not going to last just one “election cycle.” It was going to last through two generations.
The theme of this letter from Jeremiah is, “Occupy. Do business. Do not DIMINISH. Give God something to work with when he breaks your captivity and sends you back to the land of Promise.”
Here are the exact words of his letter:
““This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and father sons and daughters and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease. Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.”
I hear often from people that they don’t want to bring kids into the world, they don’t want to develop a career because they don’t really have confidence in the future. They just kind of float along. This is fear-based living. It is the opposite of Jeremiah 29. It is the opposite of Luke 19:13 when Jesus Christ was teaching “do business until I return.”
Children are righteous seed we can sow into the world as we train them up in the way of the Lord. Our careers as believers are the Trojan Horse that gets the people of God into the bloodstream of the culture. God’s people are the salt of the earth, making it tasty to Him. God’s people are the aroma of Christ “TO GOD” first, then to others around us (2 Cor. 2:15).
Do not fear. Occupy, prosper, grow, seek the good of your city and nation until He delivers. Pharoah had to deal craftily with God’s people to convince them they were weak so he could enslave them (Exodus 1:10). They were actually FREE people who lived in land deeded to them. They were actually stronger and more numerous than the armies of Egypt but they acquiesced to the trickery and yielded up their freedom. That deliverance took over 400 years, but the UNLIMITED delivered.
Historically Daniel 9 and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the account of the end of the 70 years prophesied by Jeremiah. The UNLIMITED always delivers on His promises. We are living for those promises, not for ourselves.
Occupy.
SHAMELESS PLUG: 97% VALUE-LOSS DEPRECIATION
Rome debased it's currency by 95% in 200 years.
We in the U.S. have debased ours by 97% in 111 years. Roughly half the time.
That's right. The purchasing power of the consumer dollar as measured by the Consumer Price Index has dropped from 100 cents when the Fed opened for business in 1914 to barely 3 cents today. That is a 97% value-loss.
The Fed is "printing" 1 trillion dollars every 100 days or so, diluting every dollar you have in your bank account. That, in plain English, is theft.
Gold, silver and precious metals do not lose their value.
In 1965 silver was priced at $1 per ounce.
If you bought 2,500 ounces worth of silver in 1965 it was worth $2,500.
That would have bought you one new Ford Mustang.
If you still had that same 2,500 oz. of silver in 2021 it would be worth $67,000.
The base model Ford Mustang costs $30,920, so you could buy two of them.
But if you had $2,500 dollars in 1965 paper currency, TODAY it purchases what $75 would have purchased in 1965.
Folks, if you have one ounce of gold that's worth $2,500, it will be worth exactly what the currency supports 50 years from now. Gold and silver are God's store of value in the earth from the dawn of history.
Your retirement account in dollars is vulnerable to this inflation and money-printing. It is also vulnerable to being seized or taxed into oblivion.
What are the wealthy doing now? Securing their wealth with physical gold, silver, precious metals and other physical assets.
What are you doing about it?
I am a student of the times. Just as I was correct all during C19 debacle, I am correct now. Be smart and make plans.
I can show you how to have below wholesale prices on gold, silver and precious metals from direct U.S. Mint suppliers, better than wholesalers like Costco, better than the Burch golds, better than the 7K's.
Let’s talk.
TAVERN TALKS TUESDAY
Each Tuesday morning a group of men gather at The Mission Cigar & Social at 7am.
We tell stories.
We talk about life.
We give and receive prayer.
We talk about Jesus and life with Him.
If you are in the Mid-TN area, come join us next Tuesday morning.
Willie Horton, one of the owners of THE MISSION CIGAR AND SOCIAL, will be sharing some of his life-story with us. It is sure to be inspiring. We all love Willie!
Bring your coffee, your Bible, Febreze if you go to the office after, an open mind and open heart. You can purchase a cigar as well to enjoy your first cigar of the day.
Hope to see you there!
Looking Up! (Luke 21:28)
Tod Bell
Chief Tavern Host
P.S. Learning to do this more and more!
