The Forest and the Trees
By Bud Hancock
The old saying, “You Can’t See the Forest for the Trees”, is an idiom that seems, on the surface, to be contradictory. But, in reality, it says a lot in a few words. The individual tree in a forest tends to grab and hold one’s attention and cause one to forget that the forest is made up of many trees. The saying alludes to allowing one’s self to focus on one small part of an issue, situation or problem, thereby missing the larger and more important issue or situation/problem.
In today’s world, we see many issues, situations and problems (trees) that grab our attention on a daily basis. With so many of them in view, we may tend to focus only on one or two of them and allow the larger import of ‘the forest’ to escape us.
The “Trees”
Several of the issues (trees) we see in daily headlines are:
1) Uncontrolled looting, burning and violence that occurred in the past eight months and continue to some degree in certain cities in the US. Though there are strident voices in the media and some political circles proclaiming that these were, and are, only ‘peaceful protests’, anyone with the IQ of a gnat knows this is simply not true. A peaceful protest does not leave business places in ashes with the lives of the owners destroyed, possibly permanently, nor does it leave victims severely injured or dead. Many have compared this behavior to a form of ‘terrorism’, and many more have a fear that the same thing will begin to occur in their communities.
2) The Coronavirus Pandemic. In my lifetime I have seen the appearance of many viruses and have experienced some of the worst, e.g. the Hong Kong Flu pandemic of 1968. As bad as that was, (and it was the sickest I have ever been), it resulted in the worldwide deaths of 1-4 million people and no more than 83,000 in the US. Even though it was extremely contagious, the economy remained open, people reported to work, children went to school and basically, life went on as usual. Now, the government’s response to this COVID-19 pandemic has caused a near complete shutdown of a healthy, growing economy, not only in the US but around the world. The shutdown was the cause of a tremendous amount of suffering , mostly due to job losses, market shortages, the nightmares of travel bans and increases in alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse and suicide.
What is the common denominator in both these ‘issues’? FEAR. Both of these ‘issues’ are highly charged with the ‘fear factor’. In the first issue, no one wants to be the victim of a mob of uncontrolled thugs, ready to do what they have shown themselves capable of doing in many of our largest cities. The thought of becoming such a victim paralyzes some so that they become willing to do anything necessary to avoid it, even capitulating to the illegal and unacceptable demands of the mob.
In the second issue, millions of people have become so gripped with fear that they publicly wear a mask, even in the privacy of their own homes and autos as a means of ‘stopping the spread of the virus’. While wearing the mask may sound like a reasonable response to a virus, there has yet to be any proof that the masks being recommended, even in some cases ‘mandated’, are able to stop a virus due to the extremely small size of the virus compared to the size of the openings in said masks. It has been suggested that wearing the masks might make people feel better about the feeble attempts made so far to ‘stop the spread’.
The constant demand to “Get tested!!!”, “Social Distance!!!” and “Wear the mask!!!” is whole-heartedly backed up by the MSM’s heavily reported burgeoning ‘cases’ of COVID-19, and the growing number of deaths attributable to the virus. The data presented on nearly every MSM news program, consuming most of the ‘news minutes’ of each program, as well as constant reports on Cable News channels appears to make COVID the plague of the century, if not the last 1000 years. However, the fact is that Big Government and Big Pharma PTB are in control of that data, and are able to manipulate it by calling any ‘positive test’ an actual case. Their reports and official narratives make it sound like every ‘positive test’ represents a person who is actually suffering from the COVID-19 viral symptoms, and they use the data to influence the public to consent to being tested, using the PCR test (which was never designed to be a diagnostic test, only a research tool).
3) A Seriously Flawed Election that caused more than a majority of Americans to consider the Congress, the Department of Justice as well as the entire American Judicial System to be no longer relevant. We all know how the demands for a complete investigation into the allegations of fraud turned out.
4) A new POTUS and administration now inhabits the ‘DC Swamp’. It appears that this new administration will be actively targeting many of those who supported the previous administration, labeling them as ‘domestic terrorists’ who are a threat to the nation. It remains to be seen how far this will go, whether it is just a short-term means of instilling more fear into the populace as a means of control, or whether it is a true ‘purge’ meant to guarantee permanent political control.
There are many other trees in our current view but these seem to be the ones most prominent in the minds of the people.
I’m not saying these are unimportant issues; on a national level, they certainly seem to be daunting problems. My concern is that, especially for the Christian, they may become serious distractions that will, if allowed, may obscure our view of the really important issues and decisions that will need to be made in order to successfully deal with them
Where is the Forest?
Unlike the individual trees, the possible distractions, ‘The forest’ is THE BIG PICTURE, the one that is so easily missed by focusing on just one, or several trees. I seriously believe that American Christians, myself included, are often guilty of missing the big picture because we have tend to focus so much on our own nation and its events, situations and prosperity, or lack thereof.
For many decades, especially after WW2, the USA was known as the greatest ‘superpower’ nation on earth. That term applies to the manufacturing might, the military might, the financial might and the cultural might of this nation. The USA has been the most influential nation in modern history and has more or less dictated the narrative of diplomacy between nations. For that reason, it has become very easy for Americans to think of the USA as the ‘center of all things’. I myself have been guilty of thinking this for a large part of my life, to the exclusion of considering the importance of other nations and peoples.
However, the truth is that the USA is only one of many nations that God refers to as the ‘Gentile Nations’. Of all the nations and empires that have existed, there has been only one that God considers “His Chosen People’: the nation consisting of the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, and in that nation lies Jerusalem, the only city where God stated plainly that ‘He placed His name there’ (2 Kings 21:4 KJV).
In these last days before the return of Jesus for His Church, His body, He is aligning all the nations on earth to be in the place where He wants them to be. The culmination of all things will occur in and around the land of Israel, when God draws all nations there to plead with them in judgment (Joel 3:2 KJV). It must be assumed that, if there is anything left of the United States when that occurs, then it will be represented among the nations there.
In the intervening period of time, many events will occur that will change nations and get them ready for judgment. In the case of the United States, the nation to whom God granted such awesome blessings, and which nation , after receiving those blessings strayed off into apostasy, forgetting God, it is not likely that the US will be anywhere close to a superpower after God’s purging and, sadly, it may not exist at all. In fact, as a result of the recent presidential election, we are seeing the new administration undoing all the positive work done by the previous administration and instituting the old policies of the Obama administration. The most troubling aspect of these changes is the potential this may have to decrease the security of, and endanger the safety of, Israel and her people, the Jews. It is no secret that the Obama policies were definitely anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian/pro-Iranian. His policies also made it much easier for Iran to join the nuclear-armed nations.
To sum up about the forest, all the events occurring around the world now are individual ‘trees’ that can be viewed due to the coverage of multiple media consisting of the press, television and social media. An old saying regarding how the MSM handles what it calls ‘news’ is: “If it bleeds, it leads”. It has been understood in journalism circles for decades that the use of news stories that induce fear to get the viewer/reader’s attention and hold it for as long as possible, especially if that attention translates into good or improved ratings for the providers. Another reason for using the ‘bleeds/leads’ process is to get the reader/viewer to believe that the provider of the information can help provide solutions to the problems presented in the news stories. Of course, most people would admit that the so-called ‘news providers have absolutely no idea how to solve any problem.
Conclusion
Along with many brothers and sisters in Christ, I consider myself an American Patriot who sincerely loves his country. Seeing the changes sweeping across the nation and around the world, it would be easy to remain intently focused on the changes being seen, as well as the effect they have on the USA, but, we must remember that we are, as Abraham was, only pilgrims and strangers seeking a better country, an heavenly one where we will experience all the riches of God and the fulness of all His promises (Hebrews 11:8-16 KJV).
It is still fine to have concern for our earthly country and its inhabitants who are so much n need of the salvation that comes through the blood of Jesus; this focus should be on practicing being the “salt” that preserves life and being the “light” which dispels the darkness and provides a means of all those who desire it to come into that light and find true peace and rest. We still need to remember who we truly are: As was Abraham and all the Old testament Saints listed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, we also are a people whose foundation is the word of God and that word is only received and retained by faith. Just as they all were, we are only temporary residents of this land; our true home, the one we have always hoped to find, is the New Jerusalem. That new city will never pass away; it will stand forever. That city, that land MUST be our focus. By faith we will get there as long as we remember that our faith provides the true focus, while fear destroys the focus. Keep the Faith, Fear Not!
Blessings!