Secular meaning of hope: ‘to cherish a desire with anticipation; to want something to happen or be true.’ It has been said that people can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope. The current coronavirus mainstream media hype seems to confirm the “hope” part of that statement. Should the food and toilet paper the panic-stricken crowd are presently stockpiling temporarily run dry, such hope may be gone for them. How sad it is to see people flocking like sheep to the supermarkets, based on fear-driven media hype. Such a shallow meaning of hope is the secular one! “False hope” is more accurate!
The entire world system operates on false hope; that’s all it’s capable of delivering. Yet how successful the system has always been in hoodwinking the people. What it promises in one hand it never fails to take away from the other. It builds up the hopes of people, only to smash them down when it believes the timing is right. Government forecasting, economic forecasting, financial and stock market forecasting; in reality, all of it about as trustworthy as weather forecasting! Yet for the most part, people will hang their “hope hats” on everything they hear or read about them. When the forecasts turn out to be wrong, they fall in a heap. It truly is the devil’s system! Very little of it based on sound principles; most of it based on speculations.
Biblical meaning of hope: ‘the confident expectation of what God has promised.’ Let’s look at the hope Jesus promised: Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock Matthew 7:24-25. No false hope for anyone embracing and acting on that promise! No caving in to coronavirus mainstream media hype either – or queuing at supermarket checkouts with trolleys stacked with food and toilet paper! The primary meaning of the promise is in reference to the salvation of one’s soul, the secondary meanings refer to the abounding, hope-filled life one lives in Christ.
False hope is all that’s left for people who are either ignorant of the gospel of Jesus Christ or who have rejected it; and I have spoken with hundreds of both. Let’s look at the “hope” promised for them – no hope, in fact! Now everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall Matthew 7:26-27. Such people are a sucker for every hype, lie, swindle and deception known to man. Worse: their children become victims of their foolishness as well. Why do the innocent suffer? They suffer as a result of the foolishness of the not so innocent. False hope is hopelessness!
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age (world) has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. Quote: “The description of the persons to whom the Gospel is hid, is here further carried on; in which the character of Satan is given, who is here styled the god of this world; just as he is by Christ, the prince of this world, John 12:31, not because he had any hand in the making of it, or has any concern in the government of it, or in the disposal of men or things in it; but because of his influence over the worst, and greatest part of the world; which lies in wickedness……,
……under the power of this wicked one, being led captive by him at his will; who have voluntarily given themselves up to him, and whose lusts they will do; and so declare themselves to be his children, and him their Father, yea, their god……” – John Gill. One surely knows it’s the devil’s world when viewing people in a supermarket shoving and hitting one another in desperation for toilet paper! Woolworths (and probably others) are selling what look to be 24-pack bundles; in queues one sees people’s trolleys with 4 bundles. That’s the maximum they’re allowed apparently – 96 rolls of toilet paper!! Only the god of this world could motivate people into doing that. From the short video clip I viewed there was more toilet paper stacked in trolleys than food!
Quite obviously then, the god of this world is the god of no hope! Jesus said he was a liar. If the best he can come up with in a time of crisis (perceived or otherwise), is limited to 96 rolls of toilet paper, it would be most wise for his followers to wake up, turn around and walk away. True, most of those panic-stricken people would tell you they’re not followers of any god, but that’s not true, it’s a deception. There are two spiritual kingdoms; they are not equal by any means, but at all times humanity is under the spiritual influence of either one or the other – the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light. The former is under Satan’s rule, the god of no hope; the latter is under God’s rule – the God of hope!
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit Romans 15:13. Let’s open this glorious promise up a little: the God of hope literally means the God of: “absolute confidence” “blessed assurance” “it’s gonna happen” “you can count on it” “never-broken promises.” The God of joy means: “calm delight” “great gladness of heart” “exceeding joy” “joyfulness or, filled with joy.” The God of peace means: “at rest” “quietness” “set at one again.” Believing means: “entrust one’s spiritual well-being to Christ” “faith” “commit” “trust.” Abound means: “superabound in quality and quantity” “abundance” “exceed” “excel” “increase” “overflow.”
All of the above made possible only by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ Himself, gifted to everyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord of his or her life. Power means: “miracle” “miraculous” “might” “force” “violence” “abundant ability” “strength” “mighty work.” No match for the Holy Spirit of God is the god of this world – the god of no hope! The person empowered by the Spirit of God, the God of hope, is never panic-stricken and never fear-driven, especially by the unprincipled, unethical, immoral crowd hell-bent on driving media hype! I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence Psalm 91:2-3.
Am I saying the coronavirus is of no concern? No. I’m saying don’t put your trust in the mainstream media. It’s not your friend, it’s your enemy. And no, I am not referring to the people sitting behind a microphone or sitting in front of a camera reading the “news.” I’m referring to the machine behind the scene, the propaganda machine pulling the strings – the modern day Wizards of Oz, highly skilled in knowing which ones to pull to make you panic-stricken and fear-driven. Such people are not concerned for your well-being. Their agenda is all about control – of your mind, your speech and your behavior. Extremely experienced they are at feeding the herd or mob or pack or gang mentality!
I’m saying put your trust in the God of hope. Ignore the uninformed, or the deceivers or liars who tell you God wants to control you; that’s what they want to do to you! Set to one side too, that which you may know or have heard regarding controlling religious leaders and groups. They’re not serving the God of hope either. They’re serving the god of no hope! And, it doesn’t matter if they call him Jesus – he’s not the Jesus of the Bible; he’s the devil’s Jesus! It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes (men of high estate) Psalm 118:8-9. Read the 8th & 9th paragraphs above again. The moment you trust, you will experience what’s written.
The God of hope vs the god of no hope. That’s the spiritual battle physically taking place before our eyes across the globe today. Guess who won? Why then, sickness and death? people ask. There were none at the beginning and there will be none in the new beginning. It all started in the garden when the man and woman rejected the God of hope and embraced the god of no hope. Why did they do that? They listened to the lie and embraced it as the truth. In doing so, they lost their fellowship with God. Jesus came to re-offer the fellowship but most people prefer to stick with the lie! The result? Chaos, panic and fear! Why else would human beings stock up with 96 rolls of toilet paper? Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest Matthew 11:28. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you;….. John14:27.