Posted September 24, 2026
Geopolitics are dominating the headlines again today:
However, it has always been the case that innocent people often suffer at the hands of the guilty. Cain’s offering was unacceptable to God, but rather than repent and amend his behavior, he murdered the brother whose offering was welcomed by the Lord (Genesis 4:1–8). Like Abel, many of the faithful “were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword” and were “destitute, afflicted, mistreated” (Hebrews 11:37).
You are paying higher prices at the gas pump because Iran wanted a nuclear weapon. Your journey through airport security is longer and more frustrating because terrorists want to weaponize airplanes. America spends more than $237 billion a year on law enforcement because criminals want to commit crimes.
Of course, none of this surprises our Lord. But the fact that he knows all about innocent suffering is less than encouraging when he seems not to do something about it. His omniscience can cause us to question his omnibenevolence: if God knows about Chinese Christians suffering under the cruelty of Xi’s Communist oppression, for example, why does he not intervene?
In Revelation 2, Jesus knows that his people in Smyrna have suffered “tribulation” and “poverty” (v. 9). But rather than remove or relieve their suffering, he calls them to endure it faithfully: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation” (v. 10a). With this promise: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (v. 10b).
Divine providence is such a mystery. God clearly knows what these Christians are “about to suffer,” but he does not prevent their suffering. Rather, he redeems their faithfulness for a greater reward than they would have experienced by a cessation of persecution.
Jesus warned us, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). John told his readers, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). Paul was adamant: “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). We cannot follow God on a planet where Satan is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and not expect to face temptation and opposition.
But the bad news is not the only news here.
China is home to the world’s largest persecuted church: under Xi Jinping, religious freedom has rapidly deteriorated, and Christian leaders who refuse to parrot government propaganda can expect lengthy imprisonments. However, as one Beijing pastor says, “It’s because we have to pay a cost that the gospel grows. People are curious as to who this Jesus is we are prepared to risk all to follow.”
They are curious, indeed: over the last four decades, Christianity has grown in China faster than anywhere else in the world.
“Presentism” is the philosophical view that only present things exist. In a sense, this makes sense: the only reality you can confirm personally is the reality you experience personally. When Anaximander of Miletus created the first known world map around 600 BC, he placed Miletus at its center. So do we: everywhere we look, we are at the center of what we see.
Vincent Van Gogh testified, “As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas, and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.” That’s because he didn’t live where I live. The first official day of fall felt just like the last day of summer, with a high temperature of 94 degrees that felt like 98. If a single leaf has changed color or fallen from a single tree, I missed it.
But if I presume that fall looks the same in Montana as it does in Texas, that’s only because I’ve never been to Montana. If I presume that the present suffering I am enduring is all there is to the story, that’s because I am not looking at suffering through the lens of Scripture.
Peter, an apostle who knew something about innocent suffering himself (cf. Acts 4:3; 5:40; 12:1–11), nonetheless assured us: “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10). God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:9), but that’s because his ways are better than our ways.
If he is perfect and we are sinful, if he is omnipotent and we are frail, and if he “is” love (1 John 4:8) and we are not, then how could it be otherwise?
The English theologian Thomas Fuller (1608–61) wrote, “It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth.” This is not true meteorologically: astronomers tell us that starlight remains at the same level the entire night. The longer the darkness persists, however, the harder it can be to believe that the night will end and the sun will rise.
But the author and podcaster Rebekah Lyons is right:
“Joy is not the absence of darkness. Joy is confidence that the darkness will lift.”
Why do you need to choose such joy today?
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” —Francis of Assisi
The post Xi Jinping visits DC as Chinese AI wages “multi-front war” against US appeared first on Denison Forum.
