Amen.
Right, the title of my sermon today is puppet governments.
Puppet governments. What's a puppet government?
Well, it's a government which is endowed with the outward symbols of authority
but in which direction and control are exercised by another power.
Now Daniel chapter 6 has one type of puppet government
but there are many types of puppet governments.
And we're going to see a few different types in a minute.
Now point number 1 out of Daniel 6, and obviously Daniel 6,
there's so much you can take out of Daniel 6 on many different topics.
Obviously there's a lot of pictures of Jesus Christ in there as well.
But point number 1 on Daniel 6 is the puppeteers.
So who are these puppeteers?
So have a look at verse 1 there, Daniel 6 verse 1.
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom and 120 princes
which should be over the whole kingdom.
And as we talk a lot, princes being principles leaders.
In verse 2, and over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first
that the princes might give account unto them and the king should have no damage.
Okay, so there's three presidents and the idea here is that the king should have no damage.
So basically it's kind of buck passing, isn't it?
And they're the ones responsible, it doesn't go back onto the king.
And you see that really in a lot of governments nowadays, don't you?
And we can see that in our own government in a way that I don't know,
it's hard to tell really how much power really does our monarchy have
but definitely that we have parliament, we have our MPs,
we have our prime minister which prevents our monarchy ever getting any damage.
Verse 3, it says here,
Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes
because an excellent spirit was in him
and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
So basically if he's not going to lead, then get Daniel to do it.
It sounds like a good idea because Daniel obviously is a man of God,
he has an excellent spirit, he's a hard worker.
Have a look at verse 4 and 5,
Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom,
but they could find none occasion nor fault, for as much as he was faithful,
neither was there any error or fault found in him.
Then said these men,
We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel,
except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
So obviously there's always going to be a problem, wasn't there,
with the difference between Daniel and these worldly and what we see are wicked men.
And then verse 7, just jump forward to verse 7,
All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, the princes, the counsellors and the captains
have consulted together to establish a royal statute
to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days,
save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now look at that again,
All the presidents of the kingdom,
that was obviously a lie, wasn't it, because Daniel didn't agree this,
the governors and the princes, the counsellors and the captains.
So who are these counsellors?
Who are these counsellors and captains which are now involved in this?
So we've got the presidents, we knew about them,
we've got the princes, but we've got governors, counsellors and captains.
And these people we never see named in the end, but there are counsellors and captains.
Have a little think about those for a second, verse 8 and 9,
Now a king established a decree and signed a right that it be not changed
according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which altereth not,
wherefore King Darius signed the writing and the decree.
Why did Darius sign it?
Why did Darius sign this writing and decree?
He's been persuaded to do it, obviously,
but there's obviously, you know, he's still wicked there, isn't he?
Why is he signing a writing and decree that's saying that basically that
anyone ask a petition of any god or man for 30 days save of him,
our king shall be cast into the den of lions.
Now maybe he's been flattered, maybe he's enjoyed that sort of,
you know, that idea that he's going to be like a god,
but Darius isn't innocent here, but sure, he's been manipulated.
Okay, so they obviously, they see Daniel praying.
Now jump forward to verse 12.
So Daniel 6, verse 12,
Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree,
Has thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition
of any god or man within 30 days save of the old king
shall be cast into the den of lions?
The king answered and said, The thing is true,
according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which altereth not.
Then answered they and said before the king,
That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah,
regardeth not the old king, nor the decree that thou hast signed,
but maketh his petition three times a day.
And then verse 14,
Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself,
and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him,
and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
Right, where's his power gone?
Where's his power gone?
They've manipulated it, haven't they, these people, they've manipulated it
to the point where he suddenly seems to have lost his power.
So this is the king here, the king of the Mede-Persian empire,
and he's lost his power.
Verse 15 to 16,
Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king,
Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and the Persians is,
that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.
The king spake said unto Daniel, Thy God, whom thou serviced continually,
he will deliver thee.
So basically, at that point, the puppeteers have succeeded, haven't they?
So the puppeteers, the people behind this, have succeeded.
They basically withdrew the power from him.
And there's a few clever ways they did that.
Now, the Bible has many other examples of people manipulating rulers.
Pilate is manipulated by the Jewish leaders through veiled threats,
we know that, don't we?
In John 19, 12, you don't have to turn, the Jews cried out, saying,
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend,
whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
There are those that flatter and manipulate,
like we saw recently in 2 Chronicles 24, 17.
Said, Now after the death of Jehoiada came the prince of Judah,
and made obeisance to the king, then the king hearkened unto them.
But turn to 2 Chronicles 22.
2 Chronicles chapter 22.
And these are the openly wicked controlling counsellors.
And have a look at verse 1.
2 Chronicles 22 verse 1.
And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead,
for the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the elders,
so Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign,
and he reigned one year in Jerusalem,
his mother's name also was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab,
for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord, like the house of Ahab,
for they were his counsellors after the death of his father,
to his destruction.
He walked also after their counsel,
and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael, king of Syria,
at Ramoth Gilead, and the Syrian-smoked Joram.
Okay, so Ahaziah there did evil because of his counsellors, didn't he?
That's pretty clear there.
It's the counsellors which were influencing him,
his mother, the former leadership still influencing him.
Proverbs 25 verse 4 to 5 says,
Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.
Take away the wicked from before the king,
and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
If only we could take away the wicked from our token leaders.
If only we could remove the wicked from our token leaders in this country.
Now the UK government has as a front puppet a man called Boris Johnson,
and then obviously there's Queen Elizabeth II.
Okay, now even publicly, even publicly,
there are all sorts of advisors and special advisors that most of us have probably never heard of.
There are current, these are the current special advisors at the top of our government.
I don't know how many names you might recognise.
We've got a Nicky DaCosta, these are called the special advisors.
They've got lots of advisors, these are the special advisors.
Again, these are in the public eye.
Nicky DaCosta, Jack Doyle, David Frost, Alex Hickman, Claire King, Oliver Lewis, Sir Edward Lister,
Manera Mirza, Dan Rosenfield, Allegra Stratton, Ben Warner, Liam Booth-Smith and Michael Webb.
Now just a few little bits of info on a few of these for your interest.
Manera Mirza, Manera Mirza, early on Mirza was involved, this is from her Wikipedia page by the way,
Mirza was involved in revolutionary politics, including being a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party,
specialist advisor to our government by the way,
a small group that dissolved in 1997, she contributed to its magazine, Living Marxism,
which was dissolved after losing a libel case to ITN over the Bosnian genocide.
The magazine was replaced by the spiked website for which she has written articles.
Many of Mirza's Revolutionary Communist Party colleagues became influential
in Conservative Party Eurosceptics, of the dissolution of their party,
while remaining closely associated with each other's endeavours.
What about Dan Rosenfield?
Prior to taking up his Downing Street appointment, Rosenfield had since October 2016
been chair of trustees of World Jewish Relief, having served as a trustee since 2013.
Rosenfield is married to Jessica Brummer and has three children.
His father-in-law is Alex Brummer, a journalist for the Daily Mail.
What a coincidence.
He is Jewish and has described Judaism as being central to his life, central to his life.
This is another special advisor for our government, slight conflict of interest there you'd think.
What about Allegra Stratton? She's an interesting one.
Stratton worked as a producer for the BBC on the Foreign Desk at The Times
and wrote for The Independent and The New Statesman.
She then joined The Guardian as a political correspondent,
presented the newspaper's Politics Weekly podcast with journalist Tom Clark.
Stratton returned to the BBC on the 20th of February 2012
as political editor of Newsnight, replacing Michael Crick,
who left to become a political correspondent for Channel Fog.
You see this merry-go-round here of different so-called independent news sources
behind the BBC, which we know isn't.
In November 2015, the BBC announced that Stratton was leaving to join ITV News as its national editor.
So she's gone over now to ITV.
She made her first appearance on ITV's News at Ten in January 2016
and co-presented Peston on Sunday with Robert Peston until April 18,
when she departed to spend weekends with her children.
In April 2020, she quit ITV News to become Director of Strategic Communications at the Treasury
under Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Now, by the way, we find out in a second that Rishi Sunak happens to be the godfather to her children
since way back in 2011, anyway.
Six months later, in October 2020, she was given the newly created role of Downey Street Press Secretary
to present proposed televised press briefings initially scheduled for launch in November 2020.
Stratton is made to James Forsythe, political editor of The Spectator magazine.
The couple of two children live in Canterbury, et cetera.
Future Chancellor Rishi Sunak was best man at their wedding, sorry, in 2011,
and they and Sunak are godparents to each other's children.
Okay, what a massive conflict of interest, and this is our independent news sources, apparently,
all just in cohorts with each other, and these are the special advisors to our government.
Now, this is out in the open. This is just clear as day. You can just look that up.
It's actually a lot harder nowadays to look up a lot of the other stuff, I've noticed,
but it's been a while since the start of researching governments and things,
but I found that quite interesting. Yeah, that's a little background of a few of our special advisors.
But, of course, it's the puppeteers that we don't know the names of, surely,
that are likely more influential, you would think.
But that's just a guess there. But turn to Micah 7.
Turn to Micah Chapter 7.
Okay, Micah Chapter 7. And this is talking of the leaders of Israel, and from verse 2.
The good man is perish out of the earth, and there is none upright among men.
They all lie and wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother with a net,
that they may do evil with both hands earnestly.
The prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward, and the great man,
he uttereth his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up.
The best of them is as a briar, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge.
The day of thy watchman and thy visitation cometh, now shall be their perplexity.
So, looking at verse 3 there, if you look at verse 3 again, they may do evil with both hands.
It says, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward,
and the great man, which is a rich man basically, he uttereth his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up.
So, it looks like the prince and judge ask for a reward, or maybe bribes you could call it,
and the rich man then gets his mischievous desire in return.
Turn to Matthew 20. Now, this verse has always really interested me, and maybe I'm reading into it.
Either way, there's plenty of other verses that give a similar concept,
but look at Matthew 20 and verse 25.
But Jesus called unto, sorry, but Jesus called them unto him and said,
Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,
and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
That's how I read that. You notice that, well, I've kind of put the accent there.
So, again, it might just be they're talking about the same people,
but the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,
so the princes, the leaders, exercise dominion over the Gentiles,
and they that are great, i.e. rich, powerful, exercise authority upon them,
and I read that as they exercise authority upon the princes.
Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I read that.
And we see that to this day, don't we?
So, we have these so-called leaders, then we see those that are rich and those that are money
exercise the authority upon them.
Proverbs 19.6 says, Many will entreat the favour of the prince,
and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.
And every man, that includes a prince, doesn't it?
So, they're friends to those that giveth gifts.
Now, with that in mind, these are some of the public knowledge gift-givers of our government.
Okay, John Gore, a million pound donated to the Conservative Party,
he's got a personal fortune of 1.5 billion, still not chump change, is it?
One million pounds, made from producing musicals such as Wicked and Chicago,
and what an apt name that is, Wicked.
Lubov Chernakin, okay, they received 200 grand from Lubov Chernakin,
the wife of a former Russian minister, the banker and wife of former ally Vladimir Putin,
was pictured with Theresa May earlier this year at the Goring Hotel in Belgravia,
this was last year, after £1,835,000 at a fundraising ball.
She has also regularly attended meals for people in the secretive Tory leaders group,
I don't know if you've heard of that, so that costs £50,000 a year membership to join
and you get access to the Tory party, to the government.
She also once paid £160,000 for a tennis match with Boris Johnson.
Expensive tennis match.
Mr Johnson, I'd love to know what surface they're playing, or maybe gold.
Mr Johnson later defended attending the match,
stressing it was very important to show we have no quarrel with the Russian people.
Yeah, very important.
Andrew Law, donation 200 grand.
This is a chairman and CEO of Caxton Associates, a hedge fund worth $3.9 billion.
Mr Law's wife Zoe is a famous make-up artist who has worked for Sienna Miller and Dido.
How lovely.
She helped organise the Tory's lavish black and white ball fundraiser in 2015.
They all get a little turn at getting involved, don't they?
Jeremy Knight Adams, 71-year-old property developer,
has previously attended leaders' group dinners, again, donation 100 grand.
So this 71-year-old property developer has previously attended leaders' group dinners
and is open to those who give 50 grand a year to the Tories to rub shoulders with the Prime Minister.
One of the latest projects in his name is a plan for a £200 million outlet village off the M5.
John Guthrie donated 50 grand.
He's from Broadland Properties.
His family is worth a lot.
Okay, he's again enjoyed the company of top Tories as part of the leaders' group.
Spencer McCarthy, this guy donated 150 grand.
This is from Churchill Retirement Group.
Okay, he's personally attended at least one of these leaders' group meals to rub shoulders with the PM.
Will Adderley, okay, his family are worth 1.4 billion.
He donated 500 grand.
Okay, this guy, 1.4 billion, and that's from the Dunhelm Furnishings Empire, you may have heard of them.
So he took over the day-to-day running from the group.
He's got also a private investment firm that made the donation to the Tories.
Edwin Healy, 100 grand.
His brother Malcolm and him are worth 1.6 billion.
Okay, that includes property and kitchens.
And then last one, John L Beckwith donated £250,000.
This 72-yard property magnate is a long-time Tory diner who has his name to part of a £303 million fortune according to the Sun Times Rich List.
Okay, now these are the ones that again are still public knowledge to a degree.
I doubt, I don't know if many people here are aware of all those people that are just donating massive amounts of money to our government.
And also that seem to just be able to get, you know, have access to our government, thanks to paying money for that.
But this is out in the public eye, this is out in the open, this is out in our media.
So that's still some form of public knowledge.
Now turn to Isaiah 56, and again talking about Israel's leaders in Isaiah 56, a very worldly Israel.
In Isaiah 56, and look at verse 10, okay, this is talking about the leaders.
His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand.
They all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his quarter.
Sounds like most politicians that, doesn't it? Sounds like most politicians to me.
Now I could spend a long time here going into the wealth accumulated by former Prime Minister and war criminal Tony Blair.
That's quite interesting where he's at now, up to 70 odd million he's worth.
The apparently disgusting lust evidenced by the blatant covering up of child abuse across Westminster that you might have heard of, or you might not have, sadly.
Or the connections with big vaccine manufacturers, the PPE contracts recently given out to friends companies.
But what about the coordinated bizarre response from governments worldwide to empty the hospitals of the sick elderly into cramped care homes.
Anyone heard about that? And that wasn't just this country, that was across the West.
Or the coordinated extreme responses to an illness with a 99.74% survival rate.
Again, across most of the world.
Makes you think, does it, that a lot of these puppeteers may have some common agendas, would you say?
Maybe some of these puppeteers have some common agendas.
Does that make me a conspiracy theorist? Well turn to Psalm 2.
Turn to Psalm chapter 2.
And from verse 1, Psalm 2, 1.
Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying,
Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cause from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.
Okay, it's obviously prophetic there, isn't it?
But look at verse 2 there.
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together.
So, could the kings of rulers be different people there, do you think?
The kings set themselves and the rulers take counsel together.
Maybe they're the same people, maybe they're not.
I mean, like we're seeing, there are some people that seem to be working behind the scenes anyway.
But regardless, they're taking counsel together against God.
The kings of the earth and the rulers take counsel together against God.
That's a common agenda, isn't it?
That's a conspiracy, isn't it?
Is that not a conspiracy?
Same story in Psalm 83.
If you just jump forward to Psalm 83.
And from verse 1, Psalm 83, verse 1.
Keep not thou silence, O God, hold not thy peace and be not still, O God,
for lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones.
They have said, Come and let us cut them off from being a nation,
that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
For they have consulted together with one consent, their confederate against thee,
the tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab,
and the Hagarenes, Gebel and Ammon and Amalek,
the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre.
Asa also is joined with them, they of Holpen, the children of Lot, see La.
Okay, so these nations' leaders have consulted together, haven't they?
And they've consulted together what people would call a conspiracy.
Now, as with Darius, whichever way you look at it,
the result is a wicked-bearing rule, isn't it?
So whether you want to think that there's people behind controlling it,
whether you want to think it's the leaders themselves,
the result is a wicked-bearing rule, and there are definitely, there are definitely conspiracies.
And, you know, obviously there's this term conspiracy theory, so people are very careful.
Well, the Bible says, the Bible's constantly giving examples of people conspiring
at high levels of power and government.
Okay, Proverbs 29.2 says,
when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice,
but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
And sadly the result, so often, especially right now,
we're seeing the wicked-bearing rule, aren't we?
Okay, so what's my point?
Well, number two, talking about Daniel 6,
point number two is going to be the Christian response to our puppet governments.
What's the Christian response to our puppet governments?
Okay, Romans 12.18 says,
if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
So where possible, without sinning, we should try our best to be good citizens, shouldn't we?
Okay, but without sinning, it also means not ignoring clear commands in scripture.
Okay, that also means not ignoring clear commands in scripture.
Now, have a look at Daniel 6, so back to Daniel 6 and verse 3.
It says in this, Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes
because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
So you see Daniel has an excellent spirit, I think he's hard working, he's honest, isn't he?
He's a real man of God. Verse 4 says,
then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom,
but they could find none occasion nor fault, for as much as he was faithful,
neither was there any error or fault found in him.
There was no error or fault found in Daniel. Verse 5,
then said these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel,
except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
And our goal should be to make them have to find fault against us concerning the law of our God, shouldn't it?
That's how we should behave under these wicked bearing rule.
Now that could be hard for us, that could be hard for a lot of people here
because like someone said to me last week, a lot of us are probably naturally fairly rebellious
to have even thought about something outside the box of what we can't see being brainwashed with
and being told is the way we should behave, the way we should live,
and we've looked and sought obviously, maybe not everyone sought, I don't know how much they have,
but we've at some point heard the Gospel and believed something which is completely opposite
to what the world tells us should be how we think and how we should believe.
So that could be hard for us. Now turn to Romans 13.
Right, Romans 13 though is so often used as a false doctrine.
Let's have a quick read of it. Romans 13 from verse 1.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive themselves damnation.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
For he is a minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid.
For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is a minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath's sake, but also for conscience' sake.
For for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing.
Render therefore to all their Jews, tribute to whom tribute is due,
custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour.
OK, now, here's an interesting point. In the NIV, this is what verse 1 says.
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established by God.
Now, that's very different, to let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,
for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God.
The highest power is God, yeah? If you're subject unto the higher powers,
that insinuates a chain of command that stops at God, doesn't it? Or starts at God.
The powers aren't the individuals but the ordinances of power, OK?
So, in verse 2 there, it says,
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God,
and they that resist shall receive themselves damnation.
So, we shouldn't resist the authority in our life, OK?
We shouldn't resist the authority, the position of authority in our life.
So, for example, kids shouldn't be resisting the authority of parents in their life.
Wives shouldn't be resisting the authority of husbands.
Churches shouldn't be resisting the authority of pastors,
but also local and national government is an authority in our life.
We should obey the higher power.
But how that works is, for example, in the church setting,
Pastor Thompson is above me, isn't he? Jesus is above him.
For example, say it was something arbitrary, or arbitrary for some,
compared with the law of God, something that's not clear in scripture.
Say I decided, look, I want to just preach at you guys for a lot longer, yeah?
You guys aren't hearing enough of my voice.
These hour-long sermons aren't enough.
We're going to cut it down to three hymns.
We're going to do three hymns in this church now.
We're going to stop doing the four.
I'm done with John at the front here leading for four.
I'm going to cut it down to three.
Now, we then have to do that.
John should then do that.
But then say Brother John then gets a call from Pastor Thompson.
Pastor Thompson says, no, I want four hymns.
What are you doing? Who should he listen to?
Pastor Thompson.
That's the way he should say to me, look, sorry, I spoke to Pastor Thompson.
He said it's four hymns. That's what we're doing, four hymns.
Now, in the same way, if Pastor Thompson told us to do something which he wouldn't,
but if he told us to do something which is against God,
we should then say, look, no, God's told us that we should do this.
And I don't think that would happen.
But in the home, the husband is a higher power, isn't he?
But God is the highest.
So if a husband's telling a wife that she needs to stop reading her Bible,
he's sick of her sitting there reading her Bible,
now I understand that she's literally reading it all day every day
and not doing any other duties.
But he says, I don't want you reading your Bible at all day by day.
You can do it once a week.
Well, God said to meditate on his law day and night, didn't he?
So for that, the wife should then disobey her husband.
So that's what we're talking about here with the higher powers.
Notice in Daniel 6 where the higher power was.
In Daniel 6, and keep a finger in Romans 13.
I might have told you a bit late there, but keep a finger in Romans 13.
Look at verse 8 here.
Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed
according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
So the king established it, but after that, look at verse 14 now.
Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself,
said, It's hot and dangerous to deliver him,
and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
Then in verse 15, then he's made a seminary of the king,
and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians
is that no decree nor statute which the king establishes may be changed.
And obviously they're not even by the king.
So the law was the higher power, and that's the same here.
The law is the higher power.
And I don't know if you know much about how laws work here,
but basically there's a process through parliament
that have to get voted on and passed through to create a law
and also to dissolve a law.
It's not just a case that someone just sets a law like that.
Okay, so even if the prime minister or even the queen,
who by the way, interestingly I was looking at this,
is actually outside of the law, by the way,
but if the queen tells you to break the law,
no, the law is your higher power there.
Okay, turn to Acts 22 with that in mind.
So turn to Acts 22.
Okay, at the end of Acts 16 we see Paul refer to the law as a Roman citizen.
It demands that the magistrates come and openly remove them from prison.
He's not just going to get ushered out quietly.
Paul wants it clear that they've done nothing wrong.
Now, Paul was a Roman citizen.
I think this is due to Tarsus where he's born.
It was designated as a free city by Rome.
Okay, now in Acts 22, in Acts 22 and verse 23,
As they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air,
this is so they're about to attack Paul,
the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle
and bade that he should be examined by scourging,
that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
And as a banner with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by,
Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned?
When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain,
saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman.
Then the chief captain came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou Roman?
He said, Yea.
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained by this freedom.
And Paul said, But I was freeborn.
And straightway they departed from him, which should have examined him.
And the chief captain also was afraid after he knew that he was a Roman
and because he had bound him.
So Paul has used the higher power here, hasn't he?
Paul has used the higher power and he's done nothing wrong here.
He's referred to the law here, which was the higher power there.
And I think as things continue to get worse in this country for Christians
and for many Christians across the world,
we need to be aware of what the higher power, what the law states, don't we?
We need to be aware because it's not just a case of,
well, the policeman said that or this person said that, so you've got to do it.
There is due process still in this country and there is a law
and the law is the higher power.
So, for example, we've experienced that recently with church services
because there were churches across the country just shutting their doors.
Oh, well, no, we've been told we should not do this, we should not do that,
we should not do that.
But with a bit of close examination, the should was just a government advice.
A strong advice, apparently, and the must was whether or not it was apparently government law.
So, all of these you should not sing, you should not do this,
whereas God is clear in scripture that we should be praising Him in song, isn't He?
And you've got pastors around the country just,
oh, no, no, we're not singing now because the government's told us that we can't.
No, the government said you shouldn't and they're clever with their wording, aren't they?
But same with the soul winning.
The soul winning is a voluntary and charitable service.
So, we've looked into that and, yes, we are allowed to go out soul winning
and obviously we're commanded by God to do it anyway.
But we can stand up and say, when I got pulled over recently by a policeman,
show him and just say, look, I've looked at it carefully
and everything we're doing is completely lawful and I said fair enough.
But I think had I not, maybe had I not been armed with that,
maybe he would have said, look, you shouldn't be doing that, go away.
So, we need to be aware of the law.
That's something we need to take some interest in
because that is our higher power in this country.
And if we don't know what the higher power is saying,
it can be manipulated and used against us.
Now, back to Romans 13 and verse 3, it says,
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
Are all rulers not a terror to good works?
I mean, if you look back over history as well,
we have the hindsight of history with certain rulers.
So, it's not saying that all rulers, is it?
But they shouldn't be. This is talking about proper rulers.
This is talking about the ordained power.
Okay, verse 4, For he is a minister of God to thee for good.
But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid,
for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is a minister of God,
a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Okay, so here's an instrument of God's chastisement.
Verse 5, Wherefore ye must needs be subject,
not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake.
For for this cause pay ye tribute also for their God's ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing.
Render therefore to all their Jews, tribute to him,
tribute is true, custom to him, custom fear to him, fear, honour to him, honour.
So, we submit to the powers of our life for conscience towards God, don't we?
Okay, it's for conscience towards God.
We pay tithes, taxes, respect, fear where appropriate.
In Matthew 22, 21, you don't have to turn there.
Jesus said, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's,
and unto God the things that are God's.
Now, 1 Peter 2 explains why we should try our best to follow government.
So, let's see why we should be trying our best,
when it's within the bounds of not sinning, to follow government.
Okay, 1 Peter 2, from verse 12, it says,
Having your conversation, which is behaviour,
having your conversation honest among the Gentiles,
that whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may by your good works, which they shall behold,
glorify God in the day of visitation.
It's all about our first job, isn't it, and that's getting people saved.
If our behaviour is honest, they're going to look at that,
but honest behaviour doesn't always mean following laws, does it,
because there are some laws and there are some ways
that our governments want us to live which aren't honest.
Okay, our good works, it says here,
that they may by your good works, which they shall behold,
and again, our good works are in God's eyes,
not in whatever the flavour of the month government tells us the good works.
So, basically, following a wicked puppet government's demands
isn't honest or good works, is it?
If the demands are anti-God, that's not going to then be honest or good works.
We're meant to be a shining light.
Verse 13 says, Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake,
whether it be to the king as supreme or unto governors,
as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers
and for the praise of them that do well.
Right, see the chain of command again, it's about the ordinance.
If the king as supreme, for example, has a law
and the police asks you to do something else, who do you obey?
The king, 100%.
He says here in verse 15, For so is the will of God that with well-doing
ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.
Okay, and if the law tells us to do something
and our government's telling us to do something else,
we obey the law, that's our higher power in this country.
Now, we don't want to give them anything to criticise us for
other than concerning the law of our God, like we saw in Daniel.
But concerning the law of our God, what if the law,
or an ordained power outside of the law,
commands us to do something against God's law?
Okay, so what if the law in this country
commands us to do something against God's law?
Well, have a look at Daniel 6, go back to Daniel 6 and verse 10.
Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed,
he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber
toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day
and prayed and gave thanks before his God
as he did aforetime.
Okay, Psalm 95 6 says,
O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Right, what's Daniel doing there?
Well, Acts 5, again, you don't have to turn it,
Acts 5 29 says, then Peter and the other apostles answered,
said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Okay, that's a clear principle in scripture.
Daniel 3 16, when they're told to worship the golden image,
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered,
said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
It's not even a question, is it? There's no question.
We're obeying the higher power and the highest power is God.
Okay, so simple, isn't it?
Obey the government where possible unless it's against God's command.
Okay, is that just how we do it?
Well, yes, but there's another one of God's commands
that we need to be aware of.
Turn to Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5 and verse 11, the Bible says,
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them.
For it is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done to them in secret,
but all things that are approved are made manifest by the light,
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
We're commanded to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness, aren't we?
Aren't we, Christian? And that's what we're commanded to do.
If pastors around this country hadn't stopped doing that,
then maybe things wouldn't have got this bad, would they?
If they hadn't stopped doing it,
hiding behind a false interpretation of Romans 13,
and they do, don't they?
They hide behind, well, you've just got to submit to government.
You do exactly what the government says,
to the point where they're refusing to sing at churches,
they're going against God's command,
they're not going out soul-winning for the last year,
they probably haven't even been giving it out of their tracks, most of them,
because they're hiding behind Romans 13.
That's what they're doing.
I was at a church a while back,
and Kent Hovind came in the conversation.
The pastor said to me,
Oh, well, I don't approve of him after he basically made a joke about the Clintons,
made a joke about Bill Clinton's wife being the one in power
or something else, disrespectful Romans 13, is what he said to me.
I mean, there are many things you could criticise Kent Hovind about,
but criticising that wicked adulterer, Bill Clinton,
and his evil wicked wife is apparently, according to him,
the reason that that's what he's got against Kent Hovind.
Well, tell that to Jesus, then.
Turn to Luke 13.
Luke 13, and from verse 31,
The same day there came certain of the Pharisee, saying unto him,
Get thee out, and depart hence, for Herod will kill thee.
And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox,
Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow,
and the third day I shall be perfected.
Now, I'm sure that Jesus wasn't calling him a cute little fox,
as our animal-loving world would call him today,
because, as we know, dogs are not really looked at in a nice light in the Bible, are they?
He called him a fox.
Now, talking of Herod, turn to Luke, back to Luke 3.
Turn to Luke chapter 3,
and it tells us of John the Baptist,
among them that are born of women, they have not risen a greater than John the Baptist,
reproving Herod.
OK, verse 19.
But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him,
talking about John the Baptist,
for Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,
and for all the evils which Herod had done,
added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
OK, that's for marrying his brother's wife.
OK, for marrying his brother's wife.
And that is, don't get me wrong, that is wicked, isn't it?
But our current Prime Minister moved into 10 Downing Street
with a woman that he was fornicating with, Carrie Symonds,
the first ever Prime Minister to live there, shacked up with his girlfriend,
in 10 Downing Street.
OK, that was after two marriages and a string of public adulteries.
That's our Prime Minister.
Who's reproving him?
What pastors, what churches around the country are reproving him?
They are, they're weak, aren't they?
They should be reproving him, it's wicked.
He's a fornicator, it's disgusting.
But it's not just adulteries, is it, that we're to reprove?
We should be reproving that, adulteries, fornication.
I mean, that man is wicked, he is wicked.
And he should be getting reproved, just like John the Baptist reproved Herod.
And John the Baptist, he had at stake his head being taken off,
at the whim of, well, Herod for Herodias' daughter.
But regardless, well, that's what we should be doing.
Look at Ezekiel chapter 11, because it's not just adulteries, is it?
Turn to Ezekiel 11.
And from verse 1.
Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me unto the east gate of the Lord's house,
which looketh eastward, and behold, at the door of the gate,
five and twenty men, among whom I saw Jasania the son of Asa,
and Pelotia the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief,
and give wicked counsel in this city, which say,
It is not near, let us build houses, city is a cauldron, and we be the flesh.
Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak,
Thus saith the Lord, Thus have ye said, O house of Israel,
for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
Ye have multiplied your slain in this city,
and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God,
Your slain, whom ye have laid in the midst of it,
they are the flesh, and this city is a cauldron,
and I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
Ye have feared the sword, and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord God.
And I will bring you out of the midst thereof,
and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
Ye shall fall by the sword, I will judge you in the border of Israel,
and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
This city shall not be your cauldron,
neither shall be the flesh in the midst thereof,
but I will judge you in the border of Israel.
Have a look at verse 6 there.
Ye have multiplied your slain in this city,
and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
Right, under this wicked government,
there were 207,384 abortions
for women resident in England and Wales,
the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced last year.
207,384 murdered babies in this country.
That's under this wicked puppet government, and under this monarchy as well.
Okay, that is disgusting, that is wicked,
and that needs to be called out, doesn't it?
That needs to be called out at churches around the country.
Because here Ezekiel was told to call out the wicked slain in the streets.
I mean, sorry, the wicked who were slain in the streets.
And these babies are just innocent babies, aren't they?
207,000, over 207,000.
And now what about this? In 2015, so this is back a few years back,
and this was just at the end of the 2010 to 2015 Lib Dem conservative coalition.
Okay, and I'll show you how this applies in a second.
The number of children adopted by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples and individuals
has reached record highs over the last 12 months,
with over 480 children placed in loving, stable homes in the last year.
The news comes as adopters and foster carers get ready to celebrate LGBT adoption and fostering week 2015,
a week-long event which marks a selfless dedication and contributions made by LGBT adopters and foster carers
to some of the most vulnerable children.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Adoption of Children Act,
which gave LGBT adopters the same legal rights as heterosexual adopters.
Since then, the number of children adopted by LGBT parents has grown year on year.
Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson has celebrated the start of the week by urging LGBT singles and couples
considering opening up their hearts and homes to those children in need of a loving, stable family
to take the first step on the journey towards becoming an adoptive or foster parent.
So this minister is encouraging this. He's trying to get them to come and adopt them.
We have invested £17 million of our taxpayers' money to boost voluntary adoption agencies
in recruiting and supporting adopters, including 400,000 to launch the first adoption service exclusively
for LGBT people with 400 grand to Barnardo's to recruit adopters for siblings with a focus on LGBT adopters.
Right, and this is my point, because despite a record proportion of same-sex couples adopting in England,
with one in seven adoptions in England to same-sex couples in 2019,
LGBT-plus people still report high expectations of discrimination from foster and adoption agencies.
One in seven, yet they make up apparently 2% of the population.
It was what I looked at recently, who claimed some sort of leaning to that way.
Yet one in seven adoptions, it should be one in 50 if you thought that just the couples were the same.
You know, there was the same amount of couples as people that claim they have some sort of attraction.
2% of the population, yet one in seven adoptions in England, and that's growing year by year
under this government, pushing it, promoting it, despite the fact that these people are statistically
much, much, much more likely to be convicted of sexual abuse against children.
It is disgusting. It's disgusting. And this madness is commonplace across the world, isn't it?
Where's the outrage from our Christian leaders? Where are our churches?
Talking about this and putting pressure on our government, getting the people of God to say what is going on.
They're hiding. No, they're not hiding, they're rolling out the red carpet.
And saying come to our church, we want to get you saved, we want to welcome you in.
And you could come and hang out with our kids down in the basement in the Sunday schools.
And you could come and just hang around and min around with us because we want you here.
We want to show how inclusive we are. It's disgusting. It's absolutely disgusting.
This government is disgusting and this government not only have blood on their hands for all the abortions,
but they've got all these abused children. They've got all that on their hands as well, haven't they?
It's disgusting. Turn to Micah chapter 3. Micah chapter 3.
And I said, here I pray ye, O heads of Jacob and ye princes of the house of Israel,
is it not for you to know judgment, who hate the good and love the evil,
who pluck off their skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones,
who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them
and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot and as flesh within the cauldron.
Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them.
He will even hide his face from them at that time as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
Thus saith the Lord, concern the prophets and make my people err,
that bite with their teeth and cry peace.
And he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
Therefore, night shall be unto you that ye shall not have a vision,
and it shall be dark unto you that ye shall not divine,
and the sun shall go down over the prophets and the day shall be dark over them.
Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded,
yea, they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of God.
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might
to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
Hear this, I pray ye, heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel,
who abhor judgment and pervert all equity.
They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.
The heads thereof judge for reward and the priests thereof teach for hire,
and the prophets thereof divine for money.
Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say,
Is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us.
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field,
and Jerusalem shall become heaps,
and the mountains of the house are the high places of the forest.
Verse 2, they hate the good and love the evil.
Verse 5, the love love preachers, isn't it?
The prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth and cry peace.
And verse 11, look at verse 11 here.
The heads thereof judge for reward and the priests thereof teach for hire,
and the prophets thereof divine for money.
And that's what it's about, isn't it? It's all about the money,
from the leaders to the sell-out preachers for their cosy little numbers.
Okay, now you might be thinking, but Daniel didn't reprove Darius or those puppeteers, did he?
No, Daniel spoke by his actions, didn't he?
Daniel spoke by his actions in Daniel 6.
But in Daniel 5, when given a platform, Daniel certainly wasn't shy, was he?
Look at Daniel 5 and verse 17.
Daniel 5, 17, then Daniel answered and said before the king,
when they're offering Daniel a reward here to interpret the writing on the wall,
let the gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another,
yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation.
Daniel didn't want his money for it, did he?
He said, O thou king, the most high god, gave him the most high god,
gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honour,
and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations and languages,
trembled and feared before him, whom he would he slew,
and whom he would he kept alive, and whom he would he set up,
and whom he would he put down.
Talk about Nebuchadnezzar here.
But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride,
he was deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him.
Make it clear, isn't he?
He was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beast,
and his dwelling was with the wild asses.
They fed him with the grass like oxes, body was wet with the dew of heaven,
till he knew that the most high god ruled in the kingdom of men,
and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
And thou his son, O Belshazzar, has not humbled thine heart,
O thou knewest all this, but has lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven,
and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee,
and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them.
And thou hast praised the gods of silver and gods of brass, iron, wood and stone,
which see not, nor hear, nor know.
And the god in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways,
has thou not glorified.
Then was a part of the hand sent from him, and this writing was written.
And this is the writing that was written.
Mimi, Mimi, Tikal, Uphazin.
This is the interpretation of the thing.
Mimi, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it.
Tikal, thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting.
Perez, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
Pretty clear there, wasn't he?
He reproved him, he rebuked him, he may even let go on his father as well, didn't he?
And he's made it clear, and Daniel doesn't in Daniel 6 and Daniel 5, he does.
So, that's a Christian response to our puppet governments.
Yeah, we should try and fall in.
Yeah, we should try where possible, as much as life in you live peaceably.
But, not only are we to go against what they tell us when it contradicts God's law,
but part of God's law is that we reprove it, is that we speak out against it.
OK, number 3, point number 3 of Daniel 6 is that the wicked will be punished.
The wicked will be punished.
Look at Daniel 6 and look at verse 19.
Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the dead of lions,
and when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel,
and the king spake said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God,
is thy God in thy service community able to deliver thee from the lions?
OK, then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever.
My God has sent his angel and has shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me,
for as much as before him innocency was found in me,
and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt,
then the king was exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den.
So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his God.
And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel,
and they cast them into the den of lions, them their children and their wives,
and the lions had the mastery of them, and break all their bones in pieces,
or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
OK, so in verse 21 there, Daniel's still obeying the protocol, isn't he,
of how to speak to the king.
And in verse 22 we see that Daniel there, he doesn't conclude that it was thanks to his light,
he doesn't try, you know, as Christians we could do this,
well, you know, thankfully I'm quite good with animals.
Well, he sensed the lack of fear in me or something else.
But no, Daniel puts it all to God, doesn't he?
But he does still highlight the clear conscience,
the clear conscience he has, including following God's law instead of the king's decree, doesn't he?
OK, verse 23, it says here at the end, because he believed in his God.
OK, because he believed in his God, and that's what it was all about.
And believing in his God is showing that by his actions and everything he did.
Now, verse 24, utter annihilation, isn't it?
The king commanded, they brought them, and they cast them into the den of lions,
them their children and their wives, and the lions had the mastery of them,
and break all their bones in pieces, or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
OK, so, it's not just them that get out, I mean, when you say,
I think that's a picture of just destruction in hell, isn't it?
Just, they're completely just annihilated, wiped out at the bottom of the pit.
And they're at the bottom of the pit, aren't they?
But, it's not just them, is it?
See, it's their children as well, the repercussions on their children.
And, I think there are, aren't there?
When people are wicked, when there's wicked people against God,
because that's what it was, really, it was against God and his people,
then the families get the repercussions.
A lot of the time, they'll be raised as reprobates anyway, won't they?
But, there's obviously a picture there as well of the Jews with Jesus Christ,
because how many followers of the Jewish religion, the Babylonian Talmud,
how many of them now, and carrying on to this day, are reprobate?
If they really believe that nonsense, and they're really calling Jesus what they call him in the Talmud,
and they believe that, well, what are they doing?
They're blaspheming the Holy Spirit, aren't they?
So, there are repercussions for families, and it's utter annihilation,
and they will be punished, or wicked get punished.
Isaiah 29.15 says,
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord,
and their works are in the dark, and they say,
Who seeth us? And who knoweth us?
And these are the people we're talking about.
Woe unto them. Woe unto them.
Because it can be quite frustrating, can't it?
You can be watching what's going on in the world,
you can take your keen interest, and it can be pretty frustrating.
You're thinking, how do they get away with this? How does this happen?
But we know what's going to happen to them, don't we?
Sometimes it is in this life. Turn to Job chapter 12.
Turn to Job 12.
Verse 17.
He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.
He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.
Okay, so that can happen in this life, can't it?
God will sometimes punish them.
God will, like it says here,
he'll lead them away spoiled, these wicked counsellors.
He'll make the judges fools.
Says that he'll loose the bond of kings,
he'll girdeth their loins with a girdle,
basically lead them about as he will.
He can lead princes away spoiled, and overthrow the mighty.
But, if it doesn't happen in this life,
don't have to turn there, but Psalm 145 verse 20 says,
The Lord preserveth all them that love him,
but all the wicked will he destroy.
And these wicked people will be destroyed, and too right.
When you see what goes on in the world, and when you really start to look,
and just recently this week,
just looking into some of this stuff again,
which in a way sometimes I keep away from a bit
because it doesn't half get you wound up.
You know, the wickedness, the wickedness
going on amongst our leaders, and the people behind them,
and the people manipulating them, it's absolutely disgusting.
What goes on, I mean, this covering up,
there's a lady in prison that whistle blew
on child abuse at a certain home,
which implicated a lot of people high up in Westminster.
She's still in prison.
She's in isolation there.
She's done nothing wrong.
They've just trumped up charges.
She's been in for years now.
And this is going on all over the place.
And it's not in the media, and it's not in the press,
and there's certain media outlets who are trying to expose this
and not getting much coverage.
It's absolutely wicked what goes on.
And amen that the wicked he will destroy.
And sometimes hell can be a hard doctrine, can't it, for us.
Sometimes it can when you're looking at just the average person in life.
And sometimes we can find that hard, but I tell you what,
when you really start to look into these people, amen, there's a hell.
Because what they get in this life couldn't be enough, could it?
It couldn't be enough.
They're getting destroyed one way or another.
And number four, last point, God will be glorified.
God will be glorified in the end.
When we behave how God wants us, God does get glorified, doesn't he?
Read Daniel 6, just the last bit, guys.
Daniel 6.
And from verse 25.
Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations and languages,
that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you.
I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom
men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is a living God and steadfast forever.
In his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed
and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
He delivereth and rescuerth, and he worketh signs and wonders
in heaven and in earth, who had delivered Daniel
from the power of the lines.
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius
and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
Okay, so I think from that, I reckon he's believed on the Lord.
The way he's talking, he's publishing peace,
he's acknowledging the fear of the one true God,
his power to deliver and rescue.
But either way, Darius has glorified God to all the people,
nations and languages that dwell in all the earth.
He's put that out to everyone, hasn't he?
And God has become glorified there,
and we won't turn there for sake of time,
but it's the same story at the end of Daniel chapter 2,
Daniel chapter 3, Daniel chapter 4,
and every time it's this exemplary behaviour from a Christian
that then results at the end, after some tough times,
a lot of the time it results in God being glorified.
God being glorified at the end of it.
We'll finish on Psalm 46.
Now whether or not that happens in this life of ours,
or whether or not it's after that, after the millennial reign,
at some point it's happening, isn't it?
And Psalm 46 and verse 10.
Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah.
And it can be hard, can't it?
It can be hard when you see this stuff.
It can be hard for those that are more in tune with this than others,
and when you're looking at what goes on in this world,
it can be tough.
But be still and know that I am God.
Follow God.
Live how God wants you to live.
That's what we should be aiming to do.
We should be reproving it without fear.
We should be refusing to go against our God
when the laws and when the people of the land try and tell us to do that.
And know that the Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
On that, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word.
Thank you for the great examples, especially in the book of Daniel,
how we should behave when there's bad, weak,
and also just purely corrupt leadership.
We pray that you help us to do things the right way,
help us to be those shining lights in what's becoming a darker and darker land.
We pray that you help us with that today especially,
to go forth now and preach your gospel, that light,
that light unto these people and get people saved
and not fear what the authorities might want to do to us.
Just live boldly as people like Daniel did.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.