Walk in Unity: Ephesian 4:1-16 :: By Sean Gooding

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Sean Gooding

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

8 Therefore He says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’ 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

Over the past few weeks, we have looked a lot at the individual responsibility that we bear before the Lord and as we see the end drawing near. But what about how we interact inside our local bodies, our local churches?

Paul endeavors, led by the Holy Spirit, to help us learn that in this 4th chapter of Ephesians. He will point out and call us to things that we need to do as a body, how we act and interact with each other, and as such, strengthen the body of Christ, the local church. The fact that we are fast approaching the return of our Lord and Savior should focus us on the work at hand. The time for lukewarm churches is past, and we should seek to be diligently working to help each other. We are challenged by Paul to walk worthy of the calling we have in Jesus. We are to take the way that we live with each other very seriously and not take each other for granted.

How then are we to carry ourselves as members of this church and in relation to each other?

We are to be lowly, gentle, and long-suffering. We are not to be pushy and always in defense of our own rights and wants. We are not to be driven by having our own agenda. We are to be lowly and gentle with each other. All too often, we can be harsh and use this as a call to be holy. But Jesus is gentle with us, and He came as a servant, lowly in His ways. We have to learn that, in the Kingdom of God, we are to be lowly, humbled, and that the highest calling is that of being a servant. Jesus came as a Servant, and we should seek to mimic Him.

We are called to be long-suffering. We all fail each other, we all mess up, we all say that wrong this, do the wrong thing, jump to the wrong conclusions, and it is inevitable that wrongs will come between us. We need to be forgiving and patient; we need to understand that we are all simply dust; we cannot read your mind, read your hints, know how you will react all the time, and sometimes we just put our foot in our mouth. Please forgive me, please cover my sins in love, and remember all that God has forgiven you.

In Matthew 18 21-35, Jesus tells us the parable of the unforgiving servant who refused to forgive his fellow servant even though he had been forgiven so much. In the same passage, Peter is reminded to just keep forgiving each other; don’t keep count, just keep forgiving and forgiving.

The bond of Peace. We are called in verse 3 to endeavor to keep the peace. Peace in a local church is had by hard work; it is a constant act that, if neglected, will end in the fall and destruction of that local church. Notice that we are aided and, in fact, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do this. Peace, lasting peace, does not come without hard work and with the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we are called to be submitted to the Holy Spirit. Is He leading our daily lives? Are we actively listening to Him and obeying Him?

There is no doubt that we are being led to forgive, to be humble, and to be gentle with each other, but we are defiant and think that these things are signs of weakness. But in Christ and because of Christ we can be these things, and these things – lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering – make our churches stronger. When these things are in place, when we are actively in submission to the Holy Spirit and to each other. When we set our goal as helping the other person be more like Jesus, and they set the same goal for us, then we can actively pursue unity and peace. The local church is more important than the association; in fact, there is no association without the local church.

Peace and unity are to be grounded in the Truth; that is why it is so important to be led by the Holy Spirit. He, we are told in John 16:13, will lead us into truth.

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Too many churches will sacrifice truth for peace and unity; this is not the peace and unity from God. The foundation of our peace, our unity, our lowliness, and our endeavors must be led and sustained by the Holy Spirit, who knows ALL TRUTH. In this local church at Ephesus and in other local churches, the power of the Holy Spirit was able to unite Jews and Gentiles into one body, which is proof that God can unite anyone at all in His power. Only true faith, only true submission, and a true desire for holiness can bring unity into a body of sinful men and women. These are all based on the truth of God’s word.

Obedience is always the foundation of unity (see verse 4-6): one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and so on. What truly unites us is that we are all children of God by faith in Jesus. This is the very foundation that we have to unite us. All else is division and confusion, to be honest. Now we can be cordial to unbelievers, and we can be nice to them. We can be friendly to them, but there can be no true unity unless we are in Jesus, and not only in Him, but also obedient to Him.

A lot of people talk about believing in Jesus; good, but do we obey Him? This is the real question. In John 14:15, Jesus says this, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Well, one of the most important commandments is here in the way that we treat each other, honor each other, and serve each other in the Lord’s local church.

Jesus is coming soon. Are we ready to meet Him and give an account?

A Different Kind of Cyrus :: By Annie Jensen

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isaiah 44:28).

“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 36:22-23).

“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17).

I believe this to be a very different Trump presidency from his previous one. I was not skeptical that Trump won, but that he was allowed back after the great lengths the tech oligarchs went to shut him out and virtually destroy him in 2020. If they silenced the voice of the people in 2020, why would they give us a voice now? Why give him a voice? Two other factors stood out to me. First, the oligarchs’ groveling when Trump won, and second, Trump’s fellowship with Elon Musk.

Throughout the first few months, I saw only economic decline. This helped solidify my sense that this was, indeed, a very different administration. I have a medical condition that occasionally prevents me from driving, so I spent part of winter and most of this past spring homebound, only getting out on weekends when my husband could take me out. He makes a solid income, yet we were struggling just before paydays. Since I wasn’t driving, there were no gas or maintenance expenses. I wasn’t doing online shopping. We don’t eat out. Where was all the money going? we wondered.

Our retirement accounts had shot up when Trump was inaugurated in 2017. However, at the beginning of his second term, our accounts were bleeding. Certainly, this was not the MAGA president I had voted and cheered for in 2017. Yet, now in 2025, many were thrilled, both in America and abroad, likening Trump to Cyrus, the Persian king.

Even after the economy improved, other factors were amiss, such as Trump boasting of buying Gaza and turning it into a paradise. Such a boast (if only that) should cause every Christian to pause, as God is clear that the land belongs to Israel, and those who will divide it (which is prophesied in Joel 3:2-8) will be judged. I also wondered about our sudden military involvement in Iran: What happened to America first? And as of late, we are also funding Ukraine again. What happened to abstaining from foreign wars?

All of this came together for me recently as I listened to an interview with Catherine Austin Fitts of The Solari Report. (Fitts was the Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner during the first Bush administration.) In this interview, she compared Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to a Judas Goat. (Before taking office under Trump, Kennedy was a health freedom advocate who litigated against Big Pharma and spoke against the COVID tyranny, but now wants every person using a wearable device within four years.) Fitts explained that a Judas Goat leads the goats to slaughter while sparing itself. She also spoke of the dangers of DOGE and Musk. Fitts argued that, taken together, both Kennedy and Musk will lead people into the planned control grid by disguising themselves as just another “goat” on our side.

The theatre of today’s politics and clickbait headlines distract and disguise what many conservatives may find easy to disbelieve: that a surveillance system is being built, even under this Trump administration. The irony is that all three men—Trump, Kennedy, and Musk—appear to be firebrands, independent of a Deep State or of their respective parties. Many people have pointed out that only Trump could have persuaded so many conservatives to take the Covid injection. If not for him, how many would have lined up for their shot under Biden or Harris, or any other Democrat-run administration?

Not having paid much attention to DOGE, I began researching what had happened back on Sunday, February 2, 2025, with the data breach in which Musk and his team accessed six trillion dollars in Treasury data. As Dr. Naomi Wolf pointed out in her essay “The Sack of Rome: Elon Musk’s Digital Coup,” despite reassurances that the files were “Read only,” Musk and his team (or a member) could easily have copied or “machine” read the data since there was no overarching security. In other words, the accessed data could have been taken or altered. Dr. Wolf explained that Musk’s team had “write privileges,” which would have enabled any one of them to upload the data to the Cloud or feed it to AI.

Though a federal judge ordered Musk to destroy any copied records, Dr. Wolf stated that such a judgment substitutes “20th century logic for a 21st century problem.” In essence, it’s possible that a campaign promise to eliminate government bureaucracy could have been transformed into a system that ensnares ordinary citizens before ultimately being transformed into a system that controls who and what a person can do in a society: the control grid.

A surveillance state/control grid is prophesied in the Bible. (See Revelation 13:16-17.) What is not prophesied is where, when (other than in the last 3.5 years of the Tribulation), and how it will come together.

There are several more aspects recently implemented by this administration that seem to advance a surveillance society. I will highlight a few, but I strongly encourage you to read this comprehensive and wonderfully informative list from Fitts, entitled “The Fast-Approaching Digital Control Grid: A Checklist of Trump Administration Actions to Date.”

  • The Genius Act was passed and signed into law on July 18, 2025, which allows federal regulation for stablecoins and requires them to be guaranteed by US dollars or another liquid Treasury asset. This could pave the way for digital money to replace cash and create a central bank digital currency (CBDC), thus enabling the government to control people’s money, if it so chooses.
  • Vast power has been given to ICE, enabling Immigration and Customs to extend their reach into not only other federal agencies (significantly the IRS and the Social Security Administration), but agencies that are state, local, and even private. Local law enforcement can also cooperate with ICE. This generally occurs in localities with more conservative-leaning politics. Cooperation can also be encouraged with financial and need-based incentives. Regarding this increased power, Anthony Kimery said, “The question is no longer whether ICE is building a surveillance state, but whether it has already built one without anyone noticing.”

Because of the Big Beautiful Bill, ICE is now the most well-funded law enforcement agency, and is quickly moving to increase detention facilities, with a goal of getting 100,000 more beds before the end of 2025. Many conservatives desire action against illegal immigration, yet at some point, what is intended for the undocumented could also be turned on legal citizens, and eventually, Christians during the Tribulation. This is not conjecture: again, it’s Bible prophecy that there will be a surveillance state (Revelation 13:16-17).

  • On March 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order mandating data sharing with the federal government and within and between agencies. (This is in addition to the data sharing that was given DOGE, in which Musk and his team had access to data at USAID, Education, Treasury, SSA, Labor, Veterans Affairs, Commerce, Health and Human Services, among others.)

The Trump administration has turned to Palantir, a data analysis and technology firm, to organize all of the data from across various state and federal agencies.

  • Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Health and Human Services Secretary, recently promoted wearable health devices that record medical data. He hopes every American will be wearing one within four years. Wearables can measure heart rate, heart rhythm, blood sugar levels, sleep quality, body temperature, a woman’s monthly cycle, among many other bodily functions. Also of note, the Surgeon General nominee, Dr. Casey Means, is a strong advocate for wearables. She is the co-founder of Levels, a health app that also offers continuous glucose monitoring through a sensor worn on your upper arm, lab work, dietician support, and AI-powered interpretation of your results.

Again, the list on Solari is very comprehensive and includes links to references with more information. I encourage you to read and see for yourself, to be a discerner of the times. Each day, our redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:25-28). Each day, it seems, another piece of this fearful and elaborate system is being locked into place.

Finally, I write this as one who has come to believe that there exists both Trump Derangement Syndrome and Trump Savior Syndrome. There is, however, only one true Savior, and that is Jesus Christ. Many of the Pharisees, Zealots, and, perhaps Essenes of Jesus’s day looked for their own agenda in Christ, but Christ came only to do God’s agenda: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30). It is more important than ever that we look to Christ,

Come, Lord Jesus, come!