After the best part of three years working as one of the editors for Prophecy Today, my time with the ministry is coming to an end.
Momentous change
This has been a personal decision, but not an easy one to make. I have enjoyed working with the team at Prophecy Today and Issachar Ministries, which is made up of mainly volunteers who are passionate about serving our Lord, and who care deeply about our world.
I have served during a season when there have been momentous changes in our world, not least starting my job a few months into the Covid pandemic. We have seen Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wreaking huge damage – in Ukraine itself, but also in the UK economic situation, leaving many in significant poverty.
It’s been challenging keeping up with everything that has been going on – not least trying to understand situations at deeper than just surface level. This, along with the polarisation of viewpoints – even among Christians – on so many topics (Covid, the lockdowns, the vaccines, Brexit, immigration, etc) led to me beginning to feel that it was all becoming rather draining.
Lord of the Rings
And so, if I am to leave you all with one last message, it would be this, based on one of my favourite works of fiction:
I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan – I must have read the whole epic work every year for the past 20 years! In this book there is a character called Denethor. Now, Denethor is a very clever man, and has governed the fictional country of Gondor pretty well for many years. But all the while, he has seen the ominous threat of the evil Sauron building up his domain just over the river in the dark, devastated land of Mordor. Unlike all the other ‘good’ characters, Denethor has secret access to one of the ancient Seeing Stones of Gondor, which, many centuries earlier, allowed the rulers to communicate at far distances with each other, and to see what was going on across and beyond their realm. Most had been destroyed.
Denethor found that he could only see these dangers – and it drove him, quite literally, insane – overwhelmed by the darkness in his head.
As Denethor sought to use this to help him know all that was going on, he could see all the threats that surrounded him. However, the enemy Sauron also had one. Through his own seeing stone, this powerful enemy was able to manipulate what Denethor saw – and keep him focused on those threats. As the climax of the novel builds, Denethor found that he could only see these dangers – and it drove him, quite literally, insane – overwhelmed by the darkness in his head.
Yet the main protagonists, whilst fully aware of the dangers around, also knew the one tiny hope that they had in the terror that surrounded them – the little hobbit sent to destroy the ring, which would bring down Sauron. They were not cowed, but rose to the challenge that could have overwhelmed them, each accomplishing their own task to defeat the evil.
Focus on Christ
Things have seemed bleak across the world for some time. Reading both mainstream and alternative news, dangers abound. As one person described it, it can seem like staring into the abyss. Yet we need to be so careful – as our enemy, Satan, seeks to use all means possible to fill us with fear. He’s happy to let us see evil machinations at work, if it will keep us focusing on those, and not where we should be looking.
we need to be so careful – as our enemy, Satan, seeks to use all means possible to fill us with fear.
For, whatever goes on in this world, our main focus needs to be Jesus – His Presence, His Kingdom, His reign.
Philippians 4:8 tells us: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Of course, Paul doesn’t mean to just think about fluffy bunnies and rainbows while the world around us sinks into oblivion. The passage means, first of all, focusing on Christ Himself. It means appreciating and thinking about all we have to be grateful for, all He has given us – food, beauty, nature, music, family, friends, kindness, love. It means seeking His peace and joy – learning, as Paul did, to be content in all circumstances. And it means looking for where He is at work.
Until He comes
We must seek to know Him in all that we do. Whatever darkness we come across, in our own lives, or online, we must bring everything to Him. And, lastly, we need to seek to know what He would have us do, to know our part in His plan to bring light into the darkness.
The deciding battle is already won – it is now just awaiting fulfilment.
God has good plans. We don’t know all of them. It may be that things will keep on getting worse until He comes again. Or it may be that, as so often has happened in the past, He will use His Church to keep on bringing more of His light into this world to push the darkness back further and further, until He comes again. But ultimately, He seeks to restore everything.
Our hope is not based, like the hobbits of Middle Earth, on a slim chance that a ring can be destroyed, but on a concrete reality of history – the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The deciding battle is already won – it is now just awaiting fulfilment.
We have our part to play in that fulfilment, as servants of God. Let us go forward, making God our leading light, letting Him draw us ahead, to fulfil the parts He calls us to play.
