Past Panic

There are all sorts of stimuli that can produce panic in our lives, and we can trust in the Lord to produce peace - the peace that passes all understanding, according to the Scriptures; peace that can enable us to stay calm and focused, despite what we may be experiencing at the moment. In John chapter 14, we can read these words of Jesus:
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The presence of our Savior produces peace.  That is a principle upon which a young lady named Lola relied on recently.  Lola is a high-profile individual and is in demand by the media. The Christian Post related that, regarding a recent visit to New York City:

During her marathon of interviews, Lola said, “I wasn't reminding myself of God’s truth and filling my mind in anxious moments with God instead of believing these lies that aren’t from God.”

She also reflected on the self-doubt she experienced during her time in New York City. “I’d wake up with all these anxious thoughts like, ‘What does this person think of me?’ or 'What if I said something wrong in that interview?'”

“When I feel really anxious, I start to feel really bad physically. I will feel dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous, just all of these really bad feelings,” she added. “And then I start to freak myself out, that there’s actually something physically wrong with me.”

This occurred during this incident in New York.  The article goes on to say that Lola said...

... “It was so scary because it was like everything felt like it was going in phases. It was like I couldn’t remember what I said five seconds ago.”

After going into her sister’s room at the hotel, Lola began playing worship music on the television. “I actually convinced myself I died. I literally was like I felt so out of body, I felt so disconnected from where I was. I literally was like, ‘oh my gosh, did I die.’”

Lola then called her “sisters in Christ” and began to feel "the presence of God" and the "peace of Jesus.”

In that conversation, she relates this: “Basically, what we did is we went through every single lie I was believing in that moment and I repented against the lie and I came out of agreement with what the enemy was telling me,”  The article says, "During that conversation, Lola said she and her sisters in Christ then replaced 'every lie I was believing with Scripture.'"  She added:

“There was a moment where the peace of God literally [...] washed over my mind. It felt like Jesus put His hand on me and instantly, every single feeling I felt was gone. It left. It literally was gone instantly. The second I start speaking Scripture over myself, the second I start replacing every single lie from the enemy with God’s truth, the power of God that I experienced was unexplainable.”

Lola shared these comments on her podcast. She comes from a show-business family and is a relatively new Christian...the Christian Post article reports:

Lola Sheen, the daughter of famous actors Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards, recently revealed how she drew closer to Jesus Christ during a "very bad panic attack."

The 19-year-old first began sharing her newfound Christian faith on Instagram in January when she posted a clip of her baptism and a follow-up post detailing how her embrace of Christianity made her life “worth living.”

The Christian community has certainly been calling attention to the arena of mental health. Because, when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, He has given us a new heart, a new life.  And, that includes the capacity to develop of sense of soundmindedness, according to 2nd Timothy chapter 1.  It's that stability of our minds that helps us to counter fear that the enemy would bring against us and to reject the anxiety that seems to be so prevalent. 

In an age that is conducive to producing panic, even to the extent of people being manipulated to act in a certain way, we can choose the way of Christ, which is a way of peace and security. But, we cannot effectively find that security in the world's answers - we must turn to the Scriptures and the abiding presence of God so that we reject fear and panic and accept God's faithfulness and His peace.

True Happiness

We are promised in our Declaration of Independence a God-given right to something called the "pursuit of happiness." And, indeed people pursue that in different ways - sometimes the tangible things will, such as financial resources, can produce a good feeling, maybe a sense of security and satisfaction. But, what about the intangibles, the happiness - and the joy - of the soul? Psalm 16 highlights that sense of joy that humans long for:
8 I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

The World Happiness Index was released recently, on what is called, "World Happiness Day."  It's a project of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University, according to an article at The Free Press.  The Gallup organization is also involved.

The involvement of the U.N., not necessarily favorable toward the U.S., certainly has a hint of globalism. And, indeed it seems the top countries are not named the "United States."  A Yascha Mounk at The Free Press contends:

...far from measuring how happy people are with some sophisticated mix of indicators, it simply compiles answers to a single question asked to comparatively small samples of people in each country:

“Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you feel you personally stand at this time?”

Wow, that's a subjective question, isn't it?  The piece goes on to say:

The obvious problem with this question, commonly known as the Cantril Ladder, is that it doesn’t really ask about happiness at all. We know from many surveys that people tend to give very different answers to questions about what makes them satisfied with their life and to questions about whether they are feeling good in the moment. Having children, for example, tends to raise parents’ assessment of how meaningful their life is; but notably it does not make them report higher levels of happiness at any particular moment, including when they are spending time with their kids. At most, a ranking based purely on the Cantril Ladder could therefore give us something called a World Self-Reported Life Satisfaction Report—and it’s easy to see why such an honest title wouldn’t entice many journalists to write about it.

Mounk notes: 

As August Nilsson and his colleagues painstakingly demonstrated, some of the specific language in the question—such as the metaphor of the ladder and its emphasis on the “top” as well as the “bottom step”—primes respondents to think about social hierarchies. Their conclusion is sobering: “The Cantril Ladder is arguably the most prominent measure of well-being, but the results suggest caution in its interpretation—the Cantril Ladder’s structure appears to influence participants to attend to a more power- and wealth-oriented view of well-being.”

He adds:

But perhaps the biggest problem with the World Happiness Report is that metrics of self-reported life satisfaction don’t seem to correlate particularly well with other kinds of things we clearly care about when we talk about happiness. At a minimum, you would expect the happiest countries in the world to have some of the lowest incidences of adverse mental health outcomes. But it turns out that the residents of the same Scandinavian countries that the press dutifully celebrates for their supposed happiness are especially likely to take antidepressants.

Certainly, the "Report" is focused on material things.  As the Fortune website notes:

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, professor of economics at the University of Oxford, leader of the Wellbeing Research Centre and editor of the World Happiness Report, tells Fortune. “Life satisfaction of young people in the U.S. has declined.”

He adds, “It is really disheartening to see this, and it links perfectly with the fact that it’s the well-being of youth in America that’s off a cliff, which is driving the drop in the rankings to a large extent..." De Neve also says: “In these Nordic Scandinavian countries, a rising tide lifts all boats, so the levels of economic inequality are much less, and that reflects in well-being as well...In Finland, most people will rate [their happiness] as seven or an eight, whereas if you look at the distribution of well-being in the States, there’s a lot of 10s out there, but there’s a lot of ones as well.”

Finland tops the chart at the happiest country on earth, followed by Denmark and Iceland.  The U.S. is at #24.

There were other factors that went into this ranking, such as the ability to trust others and the degree of social interaction. Fortune noted that "The report focused more this year on the strength of a country’s social support and how much people trust in others—a key predictor of personal well-being."  Plus, whether or not a person dined alone was also an indicator - over half of Americans are in the "dining alone" category.  Plus, there was an exercise about whether or not a respondent would believe that a person would return a lost wallet he or she found - apparently, Americans don't trust their fellow citizens to do that as much as, say, the enlightened Scandinavians. 

It all sounds rather random to me, but there are some principles that emerge.  First of all, if we want to determine what makes what would be termed a "happy" life, we should focus on enduring qualities such as satisfaction and ultimately, joy in the Lord. It's been said that happiness is dependent on externals and joy comes from within.   Financial resources can produce security and perhaps a measure of satisfaction, but we can be joyful in the Lord despite the size of our bank account, or lack thereof. 

The whole notion of trust in and interaction with our fellow citizens is certainly a legitimate cause of concern.  We have become a more segmented society, thanks to a greater use of the Internet and social media.  And, that can lead to relationships that might not be as healthy as they could be.  The Church offers people an awesome social structure in which people can enter into deep relationships and have fellowship together, functioning as a body through which they can find encouragement and a sense of belonging.  It's true, while we can abide in the Lord and find joy in His presence, we also know that He provides and works through human contact.

So, what makes us happy?  For the believer, we have to recognize in what or whom we can trust for the true sense of satisfaction - where we can go to experience joy.  The world cannot produce it; we have to look within.  And, God is everywhere - He has offered His free gift of salvation and a relationship with Jesus to the whole world.

Keep Speaking

There are consequences to what we say.  Sometimes our words can get us in trouble; that's why we have to allow the Holy Spirit to control our tongues.  But, there are times in which we speak Biblically-informed truth, and there are those who will want to shut us up and shut us down. 

In Acts 4, there was a so-called "council," led by the High Priest, who tried to keep Peter and John from doing the work of the risen Christ and attempted to shut them down. We can read this:
18 And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done.

Perhaps you have heard about the case of a real estate agent in Virginia named Wilson Fauber, who also has served as a minister. The Christian Post reported that while running for public office, he shared Biblically-based posts on Facebook about the sanctity of marriage.  The article stated that his attorney, Michael Sylvester...

...explained that Fauber “posted the biblical view on marriage,” sharing thoughts from the Rev. Franklin Graham on the matter. “He never faced any ... blowback or pushback,” Sylvester said.

Fauber’s social media post highlighting the biblical position on marriage came up when he was running for public office eight years later. Asked if he “still stands by his Christian beliefs on this topic,” Sylvester told CP that his client answered in the affirmative: “He loves everyone. He serves everyone. He doesn’t hate anyone, he doesn’t discriminate against anyone, but he stands with the Word of God.”

Seems the National Association of Realtors had implemented a rule that said that realtors "must not use harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”

In February of this year, Sylvester's organization, the Founding Freedoms Law Center, shared:

Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC) attorneys argued the final ethics appeal on behalf of our client, Wilson Fauber, who had been found guilty by the Virginia Association of REALTORs (VAR) of ethical violations, including “hate speech” against the “LGBTQ+ community” for Biblical messages he shared about marriage and sexuality on his personal Facebook page. VAR also found him to be in violation of another ethics provision simply for sharing publicly the ethics charges brought against him – VAR’s gag rule for anyone it seeks to punish. The VAR appeals panel has now ruled against Fauber, upholding the original decision as final.

Fauber is quoted as saying: “This is an attack not only on my Christian faith, but on every REALTOR who wishes to express their conscientious or faith-based opinions about important moral issues.”

You might say that Fauber's words and actions echoed what Peter and John said in Acts 4: "we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."  There may be loss involved for speaking out, for being obedient to the Lord.  

You might even be called a "biblical terrorist."  That's what happened to Julie Mauck, a Georgia real estate agent who faced harassment at the hands of transgender activists who wanted to shut her down and lose her job.  The Daily Signal reported on March 23:

Transgender activists tried to hound a Georgia real estate agent out of business because the realtor urged a public library to move a sexually explicit book out of the children’s section. When she sued, the judge dismissed her case.

Now, the Georgia Court of Appeals has taken up her case and her attorney just filed her official brief Thursday, a copy of which was exclusively provided to The Daily Signal. Her supporters say the case may set a precedent that gets to the heart of cancel culture.

“They completely misstated, misquoted me in order to try and cancel me,” Julie Mauck, the realtor, told The Daily Signal in a Friday interview. “They actually filed an ethics complaint for hate speech against me” based on the misquote.

She also recalled activists attacking her as a “biblical terrorist.”

When Mauck filed a defamation lawsuit against the activists, a trial court judge struck down the lawsuit, claiming that it violated an anti-SLAPP law (a law designed to protect people from frivolous defamation lawsuits).

There may be a price to pay for speaking out.  The spirit of cancel culture is strong, but there is a Spirit who is stronger.  And, if we're following the Holy Spirit, what we may lose on earth may in fact be a gain for the Kingdom, and we can be confident that God will take care of us.

There may be a price for obedience - but there's also a price for disobedience. And, obedience has its rewards, including the satisfaction of knowing that we are following the Lord. So, we have to make the choice: are we going to follow Christ and depend on Him to enable us to handle the consequences or are we making ourselves vulnerable to the consequences of disobedience?  

Considering the Ark

In Exodus 25, we find that Moses was given specific instructions - to build a sanctuary and what was termed an "ark."  This "Ark of the Covenant" was, as BibleStudyTools.com notes, "a symbol of the presence of God in the midst of His people is the common teaching of the Old Testament..."
8 And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
10 "And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height.
11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around.

The Ark of the Covenant has certainly been a subject of intrigue - the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, was centered around the search for the Ark by an archaeologist named Indiana Jones.  Now, comes news, maybe speculation, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has information related to the Ark's location.

The New York Post related recently:

The CIA claimed to have confirmed the existence of the Ark of the Covenant by way of remote viewing — aka extra sensory perception or ESP — alleging the mysterious and sacred object is guarded by “entities” with an “unknown” power, a recently resurfaced declassified document claims.

In a remote viewing session on Dec. 5, 1988, remote viewer #32 was tasked with identifying a target that, unbeknownst to them, ended up being the storied Ark of the Covenant, according to document, which was declassified on Aug. 8, 2000, and has been circulating on social media.

The Post quoted from a remote viewer named Joe McGoneagle - known as "Remote Viewer 1," saying that he "does not believe that this remote viewing is worth the paper it’s written on." The article quotes him as saying, “Using remote viewing against any target for which ground truth does not exist or is impossible to obtain, such as UFOs, UAPs, the surface of Mars, or the locations of historical relics, is a waste of time and resources,” adding, “If someone claims that remote viewing proves the existence of something, such as the Ark of the Covenant, they must produce the Ark to substantiate their claim.”

Worthy News recently published a report that not only has the CIA identified a location for the Ark of the Covenant, but the site of Noah's Ark, as well.  The article points out that:

Some historians believe the Ark of the Covenant was initially kept inside the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem before it disappeared during the Babylonian seige of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

There is also a legend that the artifact was taken to Ethiopia and now resides in a local church. However, the CIA document declassified in 2000 claims it was discovered in 1988.

However, the world’s most influential spy agencies didn’t only use sophisticated equipment or spies to find one of the most famous Biblical relics.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and several other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, employed individuals ‘alleged to have paranormal capabilities’ as means of acquiring intelligence about ‘distant events.’

So, if you go beyond the headlines, you find some questionable means in order to identify the location of the Ark of the Covenant. But, it has certainly aroused some curiosity. Writing in 2012 for the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry website, the late Jimmy DeYoung recounted having talked to "two rabbis and a Temple Mount expert who have gone on record as having been to the location of the Ark of the Covenant."

He wrote about King Josiah, who "...recognized the threat posed by the Babylonians and Egyptians. These two empires were battling each other at the time, and Israel was caught in the middle. To protect the Ark from being stolen by either nation, King Josiah—a man ahead of his time—ordered the Levites to put the Ark in a secret, secluded hiding place underneath what is now the Dome of the Rock." That is consistent with what those individuals to whom Jimmy referred said. So he wrote then, "The Ark of the Covenant has never left Jerusalem. I believe it now sits in a safe, secret, secluded hiding place prepared by God through King Solomon to protect it for when it will be needed in the last days in the next Temple—the Third Temple, the Tribulation Temple—that will be built shortly after the Rapture of the church."

I think it is intriguing that within the past few days, there have been news stories about the CIA's alleged involvement in finding the Ark of the Covenant, by what could be considered questionable means.  But, it is interesting that this "remote viewer," a.k.a psychic, mentioned "entities" that were guarding it.  That actually seems plausible.  That power was "unknown" to the psychic.  The Bible speaks against certain spiritual and mental practices that leverage the power of spirits or powers that are not of God.  What you may have seen here is some sort of supernatural conflict.  

Whether it's Indiana Jones or the CIA, there is fascination with this Biblical artifact. But, keep in mind, as Jimmy DeYoung wrote, "The Ark is a type or picture of the promised Messiah. When the real thing arrives, the type is unnecessary."  The Ark was a visible, anointed reminder of the presence of God with His people - because of sin, and because the Messiah had not come, God did not dwell in the hearts of human beings. But, He did manifest Himself upon them.  Jesus told His disciples during His earthly ministry that He would no longer be with them, but in them. 

We can truly come to know God through a relationship with His Son.  The presence of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, resides in our hearts to lead us and empower us to walk the Christian life.  Even though there may be fascination with the Ark of the Covenant, when you consider that represents the power and presence of Almighty God, it therefore becomes a challenge to the explorers to consider the significance of this incredible piece and consider the One who has come to earth to bring redemption for our souls.