God Knows How to Rescue
By Craig Manners
17th November 2025
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die," (Ecclesiastes 3:2)
Does God determine exactly when and how we die? Did God decide and set this even before we were born?
John Piper answers this, as I do and as most Bible believing Christians do, "Yes and yes. He does. God does determine when everybody dies and he did decide that in eternity."
Piper continues, "The first thing to say is that God governs with infinite wisdom and power everything that takes place. Ephesians 1:11 says God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” There is no reason contextually or biblically or theologically to limit that “all things.” So, God governs all things. That applies to the giving of life and the sustaining of life and the taking of life. He works everything, including when we are born and when we die, according to the counsel of his will. For example, in Acts 17:25, it says he is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Or, again, 1 Timothy 6:13, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus.”
I can put it more succinctly, God's Word, the Bible, makes it clear that God is fully in charge of when a person is born, and when they die, as He is all the details in between.
Interestingly though, God even says He orchestrates people's earthly departures for certain reasons and purposes.
"The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil." (Isaiah 57:1)
So, God takes some of His people to heaven to spare them from evil! That is something which we can see may be pertinent to the current times. We are living through what I would call particularly evil times. With the rise across the globe of godless, evil movements such as Islamism, Communism and what I call Rainbowism, all of which hate God and Christians, and will persecute them to the extreme, we are in for a period of potentially extreme evil.
I never like to leave things so dire, so let me quickly add that God's people can survive and thrive in ANY circumstance of earthly life, so please do not overly worry. Just think of Daniel!
But also think of another example of God rescuing His people.
"If God, "condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority." (2 Peter 2:6-10)
Lot was particularly sensitive to the evil of his time. He was distressed and tormented by it. But God had mercy on him and rescued him from that evil.
There is a clear message here for God's people and for those who oppose Him, which is worth repeating: "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority." Especially those who put themselves forward as Christian leaders.
While God can and does rescue His people from evil, it is clear that the perpetrators of the evil do not escape punishment.
The evil of our time distresses and torments many godly people, especially the elderly who find the spread of immorality, violence and tyrannical government authoritarianism very alarming.
Keep trusting God through these times. As alarming as it is, and may become, we must remain steadfast that God is still FULLY in charge.
Our present time is not unique, but it has the potential to become very chaotic very quickly. When you observe the unrelenting spread of Islamism across the UK and Europe, the spread of Communism across much of the Western world, and the depravity promoting continuing spread of Rainbowism, again across the Western world, and you assess the incompatibility and destructive power of each of these anti-God movements, it simply does not bode well for God's people.
HOWEVER, even though our times may soon become particularly evil, God still rescues His people, He still blesses them through the chaos on earth, He still judges the wicked.
Heaven is still our eternal destiny. Therefore, in reality, ALL IS WELL! But, only if you know Jesus.
To find out about this one life raft, this one way of rescue from the coming chaos, this ticket to Heaven please read about, seek, and find Jesus, accepting Him as your Saviour from this chaotic world. It is not difficult; all you have to do is turn to Him and ask Him to save you. Then just leave the rest to Him, you will be amazed.
I have written a few things to help you seek and find this eternal salvation HERE.
17th November 2025
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die," (Ecclesiastes 3:2)
Does God determine exactly when and how we die? Did God decide and set this even before we were born?
John Piper answers this, as I do and as most Bible believing Christians do, "Yes and yes. He does. God does determine when everybody dies and he did decide that in eternity."
Piper continues, "The first thing to say is that God governs with infinite wisdom and power everything that takes place. Ephesians 1:11 says God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” There is no reason contextually or biblically or theologically to limit that “all things.” So, God governs all things. That applies to the giving of life and the sustaining of life and the taking of life. He works everything, including when we are born and when we die, according to the counsel of his will. For example, in Acts 17:25, it says he is not “served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Or, again, 1 Timothy 6:13, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus.”
I can put it more succinctly, God's Word, the Bible, makes it clear that God is fully in charge of when a person is born, and when they die, as He is all the details in between.
Interestingly though, God even says He orchestrates people's earthly departures for certain reasons and purposes.
"The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil." (Isaiah 57:1)
So, God takes some of His people to heaven to spare them from evil! That is something which we can see may be pertinent to the current times. We are living through what I would call particularly evil times. With the rise across the globe of godless, evil movements such as Islamism, Communism and what I call Rainbowism, all of which hate God and Christians, and will persecute them to the extreme, we are in for a period of potentially extreme evil.
I never like to leave things so dire, so let me quickly add that God's people can survive and thrive in ANY circumstance of earthly life, so please do not overly worry. Just think of Daniel!
But also think of another example of God rescuing His people.
"If God, "condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority." (2 Peter 2:6-10)
Lot was particularly sensitive to the evil of his time. He was distressed and tormented by it. But God had mercy on him and rescued him from that evil.
There is a clear message here for God's people and for those who oppose Him, which is worth repeating: "the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority." Especially those who put themselves forward as Christian leaders.
While God can and does rescue His people from evil, it is clear that the perpetrators of the evil do not escape punishment.
The evil of our time distresses and torments many godly people, especially the elderly who find the spread of immorality, violence and tyrannical government authoritarianism very alarming.
Keep trusting God through these times. As alarming as it is, and may become, we must remain steadfast that God is still FULLY in charge.
Our present time is not unique, but it has the potential to become very chaotic very quickly. When you observe the unrelenting spread of Islamism across the UK and Europe, the spread of Communism across much of the Western world, and the depravity promoting continuing spread of Rainbowism, again across the Western world, and you assess the incompatibility and destructive power of each of these anti-God movements, it simply does not bode well for God's people.
HOWEVER, even though our times may soon become particularly evil, God still rescues His people, He still blesses them through the chaos on earth, He still judges the wicked.
Heaven is still our eternal destiny. Therefore, in reality, ALL IS WELL! But, only if you know Jesus.
To find out about this one life raft, this one way of rescue from the coming chaos, this ticket to Heaven please read about, seek, and find Jesus, accepting Him as your Saviour from this chaotic world. It is not difficult; all you have to do is turn to Him and ask Him to save you. Then just leave the rest to Him, you will be amazed.
I have written a few things to help you seek and find this eternal salvation HERE.