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The Reformation Herald Online Edition

Every Principle Repudiated

Living in the Days of Goliath
Liviu Tudoroiu

When my son was little, he loved to hear bedtime stories almost every night. But the one that he enjoyed the most, was the story of David and Goliath. After so many days and months, at least for me, sharing the same story halfway asleep it became very boring, so one night I asked him: “Tell me, son, why do you love this story so much?” With a smile on his face, he said: “Because David always wins.” The answer fell on me like a cold shower. Later on, I understood the well-intended providence of God—that through the mind and the language of a child, my attention would be called to this subject. As a result, I have taken serious time for prayer and meditation to restudy the subject, and the outcome has been phenomenal. That statement became a steppingstone for my faith till today. “Because David always wins.” With such childlike faith in the goodness and love of God, we should go through the times ahead of us and accept the challenging tests of our faith, knowing that no matter what will happen: Jesus always wins.

Danger on the horizon

It is human instinct that is making people feel the imminent approach of danger. With the many people I have spoken to in recent months, the majority of them recognize the significance of current events, fast moving the world towards unchartered waters. There has not been a single instance in human history where a planetary lockdown has been recorded—a time where all nations, governments and leaders of the world obeyed one voice and followed the same order, regardless of culture, race or intellectual exposure.

We recognize the curses of Goliath in the voice of those that want to rule the world in the darkest hour of humanity. With slow movements, approaching the prey, tyranny has begun to show its teeth. Behind the soft and humble public appearance, the beast specified in Revelation chapter 13, is preparing the ferocious, final, and deadly move. The “New Reset” scenario, the collapse of the economy at the expense of the working class, the manipulation and deceit bring us back in time, where Goliath’s infatuation and arrogance made the people of God to tremble.

In the morning when you wake up and turn on the news broadcast at the typical morning worship hour, you feel in the air you breathe the curses and abominable language of Goliath. Going to work the whole day you are haunted by the same voice of modern Goliath. Before going to bed you want to have the evening worship and you experience the same feeling, the curses of Goliath. Just try to imagine the despair of the people who are asking silently: “Lord, where are you?”

The dark premonitions of the new world order artisans with their “infinite” financial resources, the international political, economic and religious ramifications have one purpose only—total control. The fear of the future seems to benumb the mind, even of the most faithful ones who expect and believe in the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ten virgins depicted in the gospel according Matthew chapter 25 are asleep. Apparently, the world is abandoned in the hands of modern Goliath, but contrary to what our mortal eyes can see, we should always remember that apparent defeat will produce the sweetest victory.

What are we all facing?

At the present time, “We the People” are invited to receive a new digital identity—to be microchipped, being eventually perceived by the watchdog of the new world order, as useless consumers, polluting agents, crowding the world and consequently, a threat to the human species. For months we have been psychologically bombarded by the notorious voice of the modern Goliath—the “official voice” of technology, echoing from the top of the mountain the threat of death and extermination. Like in the time of ancient Israel, in the same manner the 2020 world shakes like a drunken man completely disoriented by the fear factor perpetuated by the propaganda machine.

We hear “officials” prophesying the second wave of the pandemic and more rigorous lockdowns. The well-known billionaire Bill Gates recently declared—with an impishly smug smirk on his face—“This will not be the last pandemic we face, so we . . . have to prepare for the next one, that, . . . you know I’d say, that will get attention this time.”1

Another nationally recognized figure is Dr. Anthony Fauci, who stated in a remarkably similar vein that: “Unfortunately we’re right now in the middle of what’s going to be referred to . . . as the mother of all outbreaks over the last hundred years. And we’re not even close to being finished with it yet.”2

Modern Goliaths

Acting like “gods” in the name of promoting the common good, dancing to the “tune” of climate change and the revenge of mother nature, the modern Goliaths do not feel the fear of losing control of the world. While, WE THE PEOPLE, like those great armies of Israel at that historical time, are depressed, allowing our courage to fail, barely whisper to one another, “Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up” (1 Samuel 17:25). The challenge of the New Normal terrifies all the people on the planet. “Fear” is the keynote that the rulers of the world have used to impair the free thinking of individuals. Looking around, you can perceive sporadically the few voices speaking faith and walking against the current.

Goliath is back for the final confrontation. He desperately fights like the one that lost everything, knowing that his time is short. “For forty days the host of Israel had trembled before the haughty challenge of Goliath, the Philistine giant. Their hearts failed within them as they looked upon his massive form, measuring six cubits and a span, or ten and a half feet, in height.”3 The apparent silence of God has seriously challenged the faith of the nation. But praise God, as always, He will send timely solutions. Exactly when the boldness of this New World Order system will elevate its shameful pretentions, God will intervene.

For forty days, Goliath was asking for a MAN, without the least anticipation that God Almighty would accept his provocation. “And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance” (1 Samuel 17:42). Goliath was completely taken by surprise. He could not believe his eyes what he saw. A “youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.”

Being intoxicated with self, Goliath was thinking that this was a joke for sure. Little was he realizing that few moments later, his infatuation and arrogance would be silenced forever. You see my beloved reader, God’s solutions for us in extreme situations are always surprisingly simple.

When Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the man after God’s own heart, the prophet was dazzled by the imposing appearance of the eldest son, “Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: . . . for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:6, 7).

In Hebrew history, when Naaman the Syrian, a mighty general who was a leper, came to Elisha the prophet, he was on the verge of losing the benefit of healing by rejecting God’s offer just because his expectation was not satisfied. “Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:11, 12).

So it will be today. The world will be surprised by the simplicity of God’s solution for the crisis. In His infinite wisdom, He will deliver us “not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). 

God is not mocked

The crisis that confronts the world today will have the same ending, for at least one reason: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). [Emphasis added.] God does not endorse iniquity under any circumstance, and He knows the moves of the enemy. The evil of this world has always been humiliated and defeated by the simple and humble instruments that are in total opposition to human extravagance. God is not revealed by the magnificence of the worldly power or wisdom but by that inner beauty and modesty of Christ’s character, hidden in His followers.

Today we have the tendency of looking to the coalitions of different forces, thinking of their potential and destructive power, making the same mistake as did the people of Israel. The protagonists of the Great Reset are fully deceived that the “New Normal” can be easily implemented by canceling the eternal, invincible Word of God, by making void His eternal Law and bringing to silence the voice of those who embrace the faith of Jesus Christ and keep the commandments of God. How little they know that God is not planning with them.

David’s visit to the battlefield was perceived as an act of pride and selfishness by his own brothers. Before fighting Goliath, David meets the opposition of his brethren, and shortly afterwards even the opposition of the king. Looking to David and Goliath with the eyes of human reasoning, the army of Israel was set for failure.

Looking from the secular standpoint of view at the colossal power of Babylon the Great and comparing it with the humble remnant of God, genuine Christianity is doomed to extinction. But the word of the Lord is going to be fulfilled, no matter what. We have only to fix our attention to Jesus, the Master of our salvation. With the eyes of faith, we’ll see the enemy as an atom fading out before the infinite God.

Now we are threatened with the second and third wave of pandemic. Our lives and the lives of our families are at stake. Famine and starvation will soon hit the land, but the mercy of God will not fail us. Don’t forget: “Jesus always wins.”

A parallel in Revelation

In this story of Goliath and David, we can find a fascinating coherence of the future prophecy of Revelation 13 versus Revelation 14. Looking to the eschatological scenario of this story, we find the following interesting facts: Goliath may be the symbolic beast and the message of the beast that is described in Revelation 13, fulfilling the criteria of the challenger that comes first, followed by David in Revelation 14, the symbol of the lamb, in opposition to the character of the beast.

God’s providence unveiled Goliath to forecast in prophetical language the intensity of the great cosmic conflict in between the government of Heaven and the new universal order proposed by God’s archenemy: “choose you a man for you and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us” (1 Samuel 17:8, 9).

Goliath is symbol of the dragon, the symbol of the beast and the symbol of the false prophet, and ultimately the symbol of the new world order. In the Book of revelation, we find the same development. And David is the symbol of Jesus Christ the authority of the power displayed in Revelation 14. The result is identical. As David is going to destroy Goliath, so in like manner, Jesus will destroy the new world establishment set by the beast power found in Revelation 13.

In a voice of outrage, Goliath says: “. . . Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field” (1 Samuel 17:44). Consequently, David by Inspiration replies with the word of God in the same manner: “This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:46). [Emphasis added.]

The two opposing statements are almost identical, and in reality, reflect the death penalty for those who refuse to obey the authority of the beast or the authority of God. Today humanity is in between these two threats, and our destiny is decided by our choice. There is no way out in the approaching conflict.

Soon we will be in the position of not being able “to buy or sell” (Revelation 13:17), but our God will not fail us. The Lord Jesus Christ will strengthen His people to stand against the Goliath of the 21st century. The 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer astutely observed: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”4

At first, the world and its leaders will ridicule the people of God that suffer intensely: “The wicked exult, and the jeering cry is heard: ‘Where now is your faith? Why does not God deliver you out of our hands if you are indeed His people?’ ”5

After seeing the whole world submit, the establishment is unexpectedly surprised by a small and insignificant group of people unshaken in their conviction and determined to die or live for Christ. They burst out in fury, being controlled by the same hatred as that manifested by Nebuchadnezzar on the plain of Dura. In this hour of darkness, the truth will be ridiculed at the beginning and then violently opposed. The final step will be when the truth will be self-evident and universally accepted. Unfortunately for some, it will be too late to change the direction of the world. They see now clearly the vain aspirations of their infatuation.

The rich and the poor of the world will be terrified to see the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the cloud of heaven. Exactly when they are ready to celebrate the victory over the faithful ones, the time when they think to toast the champagne as a sign of their earthly glory, they will see Jesus.

Their words of mockery will freeze on their faces, trembling like a reed blown by the wind, and will drag their bodies on the ground seeking death as a better choice, seeking shelter under the rocks of the earth, praying to the mountains to fall on them and cover them from the face of the “One” that is infinitely greater than them. It will be too late for regrets and remorse. It will be too late to undo all the criminal acts and reverse the bloodshed that cry against their conscience. Every second of their life before the King of the Universe is an unbearable torment for them. They know that it is too late. Indeed, as mentioned earlier, all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. 

Modern Goliath is hit by the Rock of Ages, straight on the “mark.” The huge beast collapses as the wrath of God falls upon him with overwhelming power. The sword that was threatening the world, terrifying the multitudes is turned against him. The throne of the Rome is covered in darkness, the merchants are speechless, the kings and the rulers of the world explode in rage against the beast. They feel deceived. They see now the faces of those that they had so cruelly treated and despised, now with the shining faces shouting victory at the sight of Christ.

Goliath is dead. The plagues are falling unmingled with mercy. Jesus is always winning. The tears and the sorrow, the scourge and mockery are gone. The earth is shaking like a drunken man; the tectonic plates are moving from their places; the graves are opened. There is the resurrection of the saints.

Trusting in the God of David

The angels sing, the saints sing, the children sing, what a joy, what a moment! God is always winning and His winning is for us. If you don’t know what to do with your life, if you don’t know what to choose for the future, take a minute and talk to Jesus. I think is the best thing we can do under the circumstances. He lives for you, my friend.

Goliath is the product of every generation in the history of humanity. David is God’s response that He has in storage to call the attention of the world, letting them know that God is watching. I would say in conclusion that in every age there has been a fight between good and evil. Sometimes darkness seems to win for a while, but God will intervene and shift the poles of power and give victory to freedom.

This winter will be a challenging time for all. Locked down in the house without any perspective for the future, may resurrect our spiritual inclinations. It’s the night and the power of darkness. But don’t forget the blessing of the Lord in Micah 7:7–9: “Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.” 

References
1 “The next pandemic will get attention this time” YouTube video uploaded by Cetavoir, Sept. 11, 2020. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-kq4YpyFp0
2 www.breitbart.com/news/u-s-adds-73k-more-cases-dr-fauci-says-end-of-covid-19-not-even-close
3 The Signs of the Times, August 10, 1888.
4 medium.com/@alan_46156/the-three-stages-of-truth-eddd98151f0a
5 The Great Controversy, p. 630. [Emphasis added.]