When I recently read a comment made by a global financial icon it reminded me of when Jan and I worked in Eastern Europe and heard stories from people about what it was like to live under Communism.
In 2016, a man named Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF) gave a speech at a WEF gathering. He addressed eight topics revealing what the future will look like by the year 2030. Of the eight topics Schwab addressed, one topic had to do with the ownership of personal property. In his speech, Schwab said the following as point number one on his list of coming changes, “You’ll own nothing, and you will be happy about it.”
Within the Church, some feel the mention of such a comment is alarmist or something that creates unnecessary fear and suspicion. I would suggest the opposite is true. Knowing what is taking place in our world gives us the needed intel to inform us on how to pray and understand what is transpiring in our world.
Believers who suffered under that hard fist of Communism realized it was not first and foremost a form of government. It was the earthly expression of the spirit of death that used Communism to fulfill its goals. Today, any form of government can express evil. Political and social titles mean nothing. Follow the money to its source and you will discover the seat of its power.
At some point in the future, those who have never heard a warning or were not offered insight about how to connect our faith with the context in which we live will ask why so many remained silent. Noah warned of a coming flood. Jesus spoke of the end of time. John wrote the book of Revelation. Leadership must be informed about the context of our emerging reality or the followers of Jesus will be just as surprised as an unredeemed culture when we are caught flat-footed and uninformed.
Whatever we do not own, either by choice or force, will be owned by someone else, whether a dominant global corporation or a wayward government. What takes place when the forceful transfer of ownership happens is the loss of our ability to steward our possessions toward godly goals. This freedom of choice is how churches and missions have been funded for centuries.
The problem with dismissing the comment “You’ll own nothing, and you will be happy about it” as some conspiracy nut worldview is the abundance of Scripture teaching us how to righteously own and steward personal property. We are not called to relinquish the control of our personal property and hand it over to some central collective and expect a godly use of those resources.
Some say Jesus was a socialist. A few, and thankfully, very few believers think Communism best expresses a life of faith owning nothing and sharing everything without question or inquiry. The supporters of these forms of spiritual Socialism/Communism have used Acts 2 as an example of people coming to the temple and giving their money, products, and personal property to the apostles to dispense to those in need. It sounds great until you realize the dispensing of those goods was not by force, but by the exercise of the free will of the donor. While the experience of Acts 2 was a noble experience, it did not last long. Persecution soon came and dispersed the Church across the globe enabling her to fulfill the Great Commission.
Jesus and His father, Joseph, operated a carpenter business. They made a product, sold it, and received a profit from their labor enabling them to feed their family and save for the future. Jesus and His father lived neither as Socialists nor Communists. Re-forming Jesus into a version of Che Guevara, Mao or Stalin sounds hip to the historically uninformed, but it does not represent the biblical Jesus of Scripture or offer people anything close to freedom as they look into the future.
Our choices have consequences. So does living uninformed about the reality in which our faith is expressed. If everything we owned was someday taken from us, we would still be left wealthy beyond imagination. We will always have the Lord and His presence with us. That is our treasure. It is what my Eastern European friends taught me. While they endured great suffering at the hands of those who told them they would own nothing and be happy, they knew it was a lie, a lie that continues to surface throughout history.
Owning nothing..
Wild guess… That is why the IRS help wanted ads say must carry and be willing to use deadly force?
It is a constant struggle in my heart to go between being anxious and at peace. We have a special needs kiddo. Are states away from family. No friends. No church home.
Fear pops up and I have to constantly remind myself of all the times God provided when we had no way.
I have to lay that fear down and choose to embrace the knowledge that God has never abandoned us and has always provided for us through miraculous ways.
In the same breath, I do what I can to prepare my family for what is coming. Spiritually, physically and emotionally. I don’t remain idle.
I prayerfully ask where do I place my foot next. I have learned that I do not order my own steps the hard way.
We have needed a wheelchair for my son for over six months now. He has grown like a weed and is too tall for the portable electric chair we have.
I’ve searched diligently for months to find a used one that will fit his need to no avail.
Yesterday his chair stopped charging 100%. There was no way he could continue using that chair.. The ones I found that I could secure a loan for had payments that rivaled my car payment.
BUT GOD
I went on eBay and found a chair that fit his needs perfectly! I had been looking for MONTHS on eBay…and yesterday…it was posted.
The day his chair died.
This chair was better than anything I could have imagined. It had a lift seat, so he could use the stove and micowave. It was mid wheel drive, or the chair flipped around and it could be front wheel drive to go through grass so he could go fishing w his dad!
And it turned on a 19inch radius. That means its small enough to use in our home and to take our son out to our favorite junk stores that have narrow spaces!!
Insurnace would not have paid for the lift or the multi drive option. Insurance had us spending 7k out of pocket for chairs that didn’t fit our home.
It cost $300. Brand new, only used for two weeks.
In my vast experience living on this edge of constant calamity… I have found God to show up the very instant things run out.
So for anyone reading this who is anxious… Know that Gods timing can appear late, but in reality he is right on time.
I can tell story after story of hw God provides food, gas in the tank, shoes for my kids, job offers, rentals, furinture…. And so much more… Right on time. ( read that as my last minute lol!!)
He saved…out right delivered…me and my unborn daughter ‘last minute’ and had a fully furnished home for us 24 years ago.
I know its easy to say don’t worry.. But my life stands as a living testament to Gods provision, healing and grace.
He has done it for me.
He will do it for you.
😉
I’ll tell you another story of provision. I want you to not be afraid.
My husband and I were in our late twenties. (Old farts now) and ran a small children’s consignment store in a little rural town.
We had three kids at the time.
One of our kiddos had special needs that required an ultra refined hypo allergenic formula.
Back then it (20/years ago) cost $43 for a powdered can. Our kiddo went thru three cans a week.
Because of how wic counts assets, our store inventory counted as income even though we met wic income guidelines. So there was no assistance available for us.
My husband had lost his job (housing market crash he was a construction worker) so we were struggling big time.
There were two God moments in one week.
We were going home to a fridge with literally only a stick of butter in it. No flour. No can of corn. No loaf of bread.
My babies were hungry.
I had spent the change I had in the cash register to purchase our last meal…yesterday.
I didn’t even have pennies on my van floorboard to count up.
It was time to close. I prayed and asked God how to feed my family. He had given me these kiddos, they were his, I needed his help to feed them.
I know His voice. A still small voice…and a peace that passes ALL my understanding.
I heard him speak..keep the store open till 6pm.
So I did.
At six, I’ve got the kids gathered at the door to leave and am in the process of turning the lights out…
When onr of my regular customers comes dragging this HUGE MASSIVE TOTE on wheels to the door.
Its heavy. She is breathless.
She says Jamie, God told me to clean out my deep freezer and bring it to you. I didn’t think I would make it here before you would close!
You have to know I didn’t tell ANYONE we were struggling, much less that we didn’t have food. All I had done was pray.
It was farm raised chickens, her garden veggies she had frozen, homemade egg noodles…and sooo much more!!! It was better than anything I could ever afford on my own.
It was so heavy, and so huge I had to call my husband over to the shop because two women couldn’t lift it back into my van!!!
So that’s #1
Here comes #2 hope I don’t run out of space lol
So you know that kiddo that drank $150 of formula a week? I was out. Obviously, couldn’t afford groceries either (but God provided)
I’m back at my store again. Nothing in the till. Business was horribly slow.
I had one days worth of formula left. I kept looking at my little one running up and down the clothing isle playing w her siblings and trying not to sob hysterically.
She is my daughter that God saved abd delivered BOTH of us from homelessness. The one I almost gave up for adoption, but God made a way for me to keep her.
Once again, no on knew what was going on. I’m intensely private and choose to pray over things and not talk.
I spoke with God. You gave me this baby. You saved us. You made a way for her to be mine and not have to be adopted out. I choose to believe you will provide for her even when I can’t. I don’t know how. But I believe.
That same unexplainable peace covered my emotions.
Abother regular showed up at my store. She came in with her large brood of kids. As she was checking out somehow while we were talking allergies came up. She had a kiddo that was hyper sensitive to thosr proteins as well.
I said yup, Jo is like that too. Which formula do you use? Its so expensive!!
She said..no formula. We have goats. I milk em. I have tons of left over goat milk now that my little one is eating table food now, you want some?
I never mentioned I couldn’t afford it. Or that I was out.
I broke down in tears and explained to her how she was an answer to prayer.
Every three days she delivered quarts and quarts of fresh goat milk to my store for my daughter.
And you know what? My daughter was super small for her age. Her health issues stunted her growth. After switching from formula to goat she grew like a weed.
At 25 years old she looks like an amazon warrior lol! She is so tall and healthy! And that was from a kid that was in the 5% growth chart range.
God provides.
Always.
He has done it for me. He is doing it for you too.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this inspirational message. We know to always have hope, but this kind of encouragement really helps us continue to carry on well.
I’m in tears here at reading about your faith and trust in the goodness of God! 😭😭. Thank you for sharing and renewing and strengthening my faith with your testimony 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Bless you and thanks for sharing. My story of provision is an echo of yours. And continues to be so. Surely He is a loving Father who cares for His kids. Jehovah Jirah our provider.
Praise Him in His continuous faithfulness.
Blessings!
Thank you, Garris, for calling attention to this willful blindness that has overtaken the Church in the US.
By turning a blind eye to the aggressive tyrannical faith imposed on a global scale by atheistic collectivists, the Church is abandoning their duty to be good stewards of this Earth and righteous supporters of their fellow man.
If we are not willing to fight this movement, we will be complicit in the atrocities it is already committing.
Garris, I’m so thankful that leaders in the Body of Christ like you and Johnny Enlow and others are not afraid to call out this evil spirit at work in the world and the church. Ignorance most certainly is NOT bliss. As you say “follow the money” and find out who or what organizations are funding your church or church movement.
Wow… yes those are great stories thank you for sharing! He is Jehovah Jireh our God that provides!
Thank you Garris. Our voices must get louder in these days. Let the trumpet sound and those who have ears to hear respond in faith and trust that our God reigns.