Skip to main content
  • Need Help? (800) 652-1144

Day: November 3, 2023

Is the U.N. Plotting a Course Toward Communism?

The United Nations is gearing up for its “Summit of the Future” in 2024. Now, that doesn’t sound ominous. Does it? This summit reportedly will help the U.N. find pathways toward achieving its Agenda 2030, a global project announced by the U.N. in 2015. 

In September, the U.N. General Assembly convened in New York City. One of its key goals was to rescue and accelerate its pursuit of Agenda 2030 in preparation for the “Summit of the Future.” At this year’s meeting, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said, “Now is the time for a global plan to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are woefully off-track halfway towards their 2030 deadline.” 

This 2023 U.N. meeting was a sort of “midterm exam” for the U.N.’s Agenda 2030. The test results are in, and they are not good. With seven years to go, the U.N. is failing to achieve its goals, with only about 15 percent of its targets on track. The U.N., however, is not stopping the pursuit of Agenda 2030 – rather, it called on world leaders to redouble their efforts in pursuit of these goals. 

To this end, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a political declaration to accelerate the implementation of Agenda 2030. Buckle your seatbelts because the accelerator will be pushed to the floor.

What is Agenda 2030? It includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals for the world to reach by 2030. These 17 goals include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education and access to clean water and sanitation. 

Goals like zero hunger are neither evil nor diabolical. However, how the U.N. wants to achieve those goals is highly problematic. I will explain the problems with the U.N.’s solutions, but first, let’s give some perspective to the needs.

Worldview Askew

Only a heartless person would say goals like zero hunger are bad. I don’t want anyone going hungry anywhere in the world. I dare say the Christian worldview has done more to advance aid to the poor than any other worldview. Helping the hungry is noble and biblical. 

“It is an indictment of every one of us that millions of people are starving in this day and age,” the U.N.’s Guterres said at the September meeting. I think the indictment is more about worldview than about food distribution. Even the U.N. notes that our world produces enough food to feed more people than we have in the world today. 

I believe a biblical worldview would solve hunger. Sadly, statistics from the Barna Group reveal that only about 4 percent of Americans have a biblical worldview. If it is only 4 percent in America, can you imagine how low it is in other nations around the world? 

How can a biblical worldview solve hunger? Consider a personal story of this in motion. My grandmother grew up in a small community in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Her father died in his 40s, leaving his widow with six kids during the Great Depression. To say times were lean is an understatement. Thankfully, their community was made up of relatives and good Christian people. The government gave them zero help, but they made it through by relying on the Lord, hard work and the help of their godly family and church family.   

Each of these components arises from a biblical worldview. First, we realize that we are in God’s hands and He knows how to meet our needs. Secondly, we work hard to provide for our families. As God provides, we become a channel of His blessings to others. 

God’s Love in Action

The Lord gave my grandmother a heart for the needy, born out of her first-hand experience with hunger and want. As America moved from poverty to prosperity again, she and my grandfather built a godly home filled with love. They never forgot the hardships they endured and they became a channel of blessings to others. My grandmother loved Jesus and was a wonderful cook, so feeding people was a natural expression of her heart. She constantly provided friends and neighbors in need with meals. You could not step foot in her house without eating something, even if you just finished eating at a steakhouse.   

Providing for those in need is an expression of God’s love in action. God has been so generous to me, so I want to be a channel of His generosity to others. Imagine if our world lived out this biblical concept. No one would be hungry.

The U.N. is trying to address a spiritual worldview issue with a political and economic solution. I believe this directly relates to their failures thus far. Their solution? Throw more money at it. The U.N. Secretary-General challenged the member nations to provide an SDG stimulus package of $500 billion a year to help them meet the 17 goals.  

Recipe for Disaster

Massive questions are hanging in the air with Agenda 2030. First, how does the U.N. define terms like “zero hunger?” How will we know when there is zero hunger on Earth?
Is there a way to measure this goal?

The U.N. spells out its answer for us in Agenda 2030. For their zero-hunger initiative, they list five goals with three action steps. The U.N.’s first two goals to end hunger are what you might expect. They want to eliminate malnutrition by giving people year-round access to nutritious food. I see nothing to argue with here. 

Their third goal, to end hunger, is subtle, so I want to unpack it for you. Here is how they think we should solve world hunger, “By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.” 

Notice they want to double the income for the people groups listed by giving them “secure and equal access to land… [and] financial services.” 

This is blatant Marxist communism! The way they want to end hunger is by redistributing the wealth and by taking away private property ownership. They do not hide their plan. It is there for all to see.

Is it not curious that the last line of this goal says they want to double the agricultural productivity and incomes through “non-farm employment”? How do you improve food production by moving people out of farm employment? Here in America, some farmers are paid not to farm!

That is a big question that leads to a couple of other major topics—climate change and artificial intelligence. Simply stated, artificial intelligence and other technological advances could push humans out of the agricultural job market almost entirely. 

The climate change agenda also plays a major role in the global government. The fourth goal to end hunger states:

“By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.” 

Climate change permeates the entire 2030 Agenda. The term “climate change” is so ambiguous that it could be wielded to promote or defend anything. Global elites are using it to create guilt and fear so that people will get on board with their globalist government agenda.

My wife and daughter like to bake on occasion. I was surprised to learn that salt is often an ingredient in many cakes. Just about every recipe in a cookbook sprinkles in salt somewhere. So, too, “climate change” is sprinkled into every globalist agenda. Any time the global government elites need to motivate people to action, they sprinkle in “climate change.” But this is a communistic recipe for disaster.

A Better Way

I don’t share these things with you to bring fear into your life. I’m not fearful of the U.N.’s Agenda 2030. People devise plans that never come to fruition. Only God is in complete control. The U.N.’s “Summit for the Future” in 2024 is in response to the dismal progress they’ve made toward their goals since 2015. 

We need to be aware that our world will see a greater push toward these goals, and toward communism, as we approach 2030.

This is the time for those with a biblical worldview to be the city on the hill that cannot be hidden. We do not fight fear with fear or panic with panic. Instead, we should show others that there is a better way to live by living out a biblical worldview before the world. We have the solutions the world craves. 

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

[Josh Davis shares more about globalism at SWRC’s conferences and in his upcoming book, Rise of the One World Mind.]

Does the Bible Really Say “That”?

The New Covenant Provides Contemporary Wisdom

Capital punishment for homosexuality has been implemented by a number of countries. The death penalty remains a legal punishment for homosexuality in several countries and regions, most of which have sharia-based criminal laws. In some areas, first offenses have a lesser penalty, such as flogging.

With the seeming acceptance of homosexuality and its rapid proliferation in many parts of the world, some professing Christians in America are claiming that the answer is to execute homosexuals, allegedly, “because that’s what the Bible teaches.”

The number of professing Christians in the U.S. who make this claim is growing every day. This American phenomenon has been credited with ultimately producing Uganda’s harsh anti-gay laws.

According to an article in The Independent published in March 2014 titled “How Uganda was seduced by anti-gay conservative evangelicals,” critics of Uganda’s harsh anti-gay laws blame the views of American Christian fundamentalists.

They argue that it is not homosexuality that has been imported from America but homophobia. Roger Ross Williams, director of God Loves Uganda, said “The anti-homosexuality bill would never have come about without the involvement of American fundamentalist evangelicals.” 

One of the first to investigate links between American conservatives and the African anti-gay movement was a Zambian clergyman by the name of Kipya Kaoma. He explained that homosexuality was illegal in Uganda under existing colonial laws but, “Nobody was ever arrested or prosecuted based on those old laws. People turned a blind eye to it. Homosexuality was not a political issue.”

Is there any substance to these charges against American evangelicals? From my investigations, it seems that there is. There seems to be a growing movement among some Christians in our country to make the claim that, “the Bible teaches that homosexuals need to be executed.”

For example, a 2022 Newsweek headline read, “Pastor says ‘Solution’ to Gay People is Executions: It’s in the Bible.’ ” 

The article says, “Pastor Dillon Awes said that the ‘solution’ to gay people is presented in the Bible: ‘They should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.’ ”

Pastor Awes ministers at The Stedfast Baptist Church that moved this summer from Hurst, Texas, to Dallas. In a Sunday sermon focusing on the so-called “biblical solution to the problem of homosexuality,” Awes suggested that those who disagreed with his sermon were not real Christians because the execution of gays “is what God says.”

Tom Ascol, a well-known Calvinist Baptist pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Fla., blasted U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, when the senator called Uganda’s new “Kill the Gays Law” “horrific and wrong.” 

“Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ is grotesque and an abomination. ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse,” Cruz tweeted.

In response, Pastor Ascol quoted the book of Leviticus, writing, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

Ascol asked, “Was this law God gave to His Old Covenant people ‘horrific and wrong?’ ” 

Two hours later, Ascol tweeted, “Amazing how many professing Christians, even self-designated ‘conservative’ ones, are embarrassed by God’s Word. Just quote some unpopular words of God & watch what happens. Many so-called Christians react the same way that unashamed unbelievers do. It’s a commentary.” 

What Does the Bible Really Say?

But is it really true that the Bible teaches we should execute homosexuals? Is that the biblical solution to an issue that has become one of the main subjects of discussion in today’s world—capital punishment for gays?

For those who want to apply Old Testament penalties to sinners today, consider the implications of such a practice. Do you want to put adulterers to death? Do you want to put sabbath-breakers to death? And what about blasphemers? Surely, they need to be stoned. Should the same then be true for rebellious children, witches, sorcerers, and idol-worshippers—execution?

For New Testament Christians, the purpose and meaning of Mosaic law is not the same as it was for Jews under the Old Covenant. For the Jew in ancient Israel, Mosaic law provided a blueprint for the civil order, a Divine directive to be carefully followed. For the New Testament Christian, Mosaic law provides types and shadows of Jesus whose life and ministry fulfilled those types and shadows.

The laws of the Old Testament are provisional and temporary. The revelations of the New are permanent and final. In fact, Hebrews 8:13 clearly spells it out, “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

We should not execute sinners on the basis of a law that “decayeth and waxeth old,” or in modern terms, is “obsolete.”

A Matter of Chromosomes

God’s laws and standards are unalterable. There are males and there are females. It’s not a matter of choice but a matter of chromosomes. Is homosexual practice still wrong in God’s sight? Most assuredly, yes. Is there ever a circumstance in which God will approve of a “homosexual marriage”? Never. 

Just because I do not believe that homosexuals should be executed “because the Bible says so,” does not mean I am soft on the sin of homosexuality.

By now the reader knows that I don’t believe that practicing homosexuals should be executed. Please don’t think that I am soft on homosexual sin nor that I deny that homosexual practice is sinful behavior. I don’t deny that. 

What I do deny is that behaviors considered capital offenses in the Old Testament should be considered capital offenses in today’s world by those no longer living under the Mosaic covenant. All Scripture is given for us, but not all Scripture is about us. Old Testament law was given to guide the principles and practices of the Old Covenant community. 

We must not ignore the big differences between a Jewish theocracy and the New Testament church. Today, Jesus is building His church. This group is no longer defined by political and ethnic unity and obedience to the laws of a Jewish theocracy.

On the contrary, the church is a worldwide gathering of people from all nations, all ethnicities, scattered among all different political and national systems, and not identified with any one of them, unified only by their spiritual connections to the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As long as Christians keep claiming the Bible teaches that we must execute homosexuals, we will consistently misrepresent the Word of God, increase opposition to the outreach of the church, and be the architects of our own misery. 

The natural man is innately hostile to the message of salvation. Why feed that hostility by claiming that “the Bible says” when it really does not?

Elijah

From Genesis to Revelation the unseen power of God is manifested in a divine person, the Holy Spirit. The pristine power of God is Spirit. We read in Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Please note that Spirit is capitalized. 

This is the first formal introduction of the person of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. The Holy Bible reveals one God but three perfect and distinct personalities. 

It has always been difficult for carnal man to understand the ministry and the mighty personal power of the Holy Spirit. Selfish man understands might and power only too well when natural elements are visibly and tangibly unleashed. But God’s Word consistently cries out, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Zech. 4:6). 

It seems that Elijah had few earthly friends, but one heavenly companion whose friendship he would not trade for anything that the world had to offer. If Elijah had lived in present-day society, I am sure he would have been considered an eccentric and a recluse.

But Elijah had a secret. He knew the person and power of the Holy Spirit as few living mortals have ever known Him. Elijah knew great eternal truth hundreds of years before it was recorded in the canon of Holy Scriptures—namely, that the friendship of the world is enmity against God. 

The established world order of that day looked upon Elijah as an enemy, but he knew the friend that sticketh closer than a brother. 

Elijah served as a mighty prophet of God for about 10 years during the reign of Ahab, king of Israel. Now, Ahab was a very wicked king who introduced Baal worship into Israel and is subsequently known as the king that made Israel to sin. 

One day, Elijah appeared suddenly upon this idolatrous scene and had his first meeting with Ahab (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah delivered his brief message, that for several years there would be neither rain nor dew upon the land except by his prophecy,  and as sud­denly as Elijah had appeared, he was gone. 

The Holy Spirit not only kept Elijah hidden from the king for three years but also miraculously provided for Elijah’s needs during the terrible drought and famine. 

To the world, Elijah must have seemed like a vagabond. To King Ahab, he must have seemed like a religious old fanatic. 

At their first encounter, Ahab probably paid little attention to the prophet’s words, but when they met for the second time, about three years later, I believe the king must have trembled at the sight of that rugged, hairy old prophet. 

This time Ahab didn’t regard Elijah’s words lightly nor try to argue the case, but immedi­ately, he carried out his orders to the letter.

Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal is well known (1 Kings 18:25), and, of course, resulted in a mighty revival in Israel. 

Not only was Elijah a mighty man of God, who when he prayed, God answered by fire (1 Kings 18:37–38), but he was also an uncanny prophet.

It had not rained in Israel for three and one-half years. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and yet Elijah ad­vised Ahab to go eat his dinner in a hurry and make his journey back to the palace at once, or else be caught in a cloud-burst (1 Kings 18:41–46). 

Elijah gave Ahab a head start and still arrived in Jezreel before him. Ahab was riding in his chariot pulled by his swiftest horses. Elijah was on foot. But the hand (or Spirit) of the Lord was upon him, and he outran the horses. 

Do you need any more proof that Elijah was God’s man and knew the Holy Spirit intimately as friend? Did an angel ever cook breakfast for you? One did for Elijah! An angel not only cooked breakfast for Elijah, but dinner, too (1 Kings 19:5–7). 

The reason is evident in verse 8, “And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meal forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” 

The Holy Spirit must have dictated the recipe. As one of Christ’s precursors, Elijah’s marathon reminds us of the temptation of Jesus when He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil 40 days and 40 nights (Luke 4:2). 

When Elijah’s ministry was finished, God sent a fiery chariot, with horses of fire, to carry him bodily into heaven; and I do not believe Elijah was frightened at this awe-inspiring sight, for doubt­less the Holy Spirit was driving that chariot. 

From all the evidence, we must conclude that Elijah knew the Spirit of God intimately and personally. And yet, any born-­again believer can know a closer walk with the Holy Spirit than did Elijah. 

You say, how can this be? Since Jesus died on the cross and rose triumphant from the grave, the redeemed in Christ have a more perfect standing before God and a special relationship to the Holy Ghost. After the perfect atonement of Christ for sin was wrought on Calvary’s tree, and He had ascended back to the right hand of God Almighty, God sent the Holy Comforter in answer to the prayer of God the Son, to indwell every believer (John 14:16–-17). 

Before Calvary the Holy Spirit came upon certain individuals for prophecy and mighty miracles, but He never came to abide until Pentecost.

Feeling Anxious?

Try God’s Blueprint for Restful Living

Do you feel like Lot? He’s Abraham’s nephew who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. How could we possibly identify with him? 

Peter explains that Lot was “vexed” by the wickedness surrounding him in Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:6–8). The word translated as “vexed” in verse 7 carries the idea of being exhausted and worn down. Do you feel that way when you try to absorb all the bad news you hear? Verse 8 reveals Lot’s vexation was a continuous, daily experience. It tortured his soul living in Sodom and Gomorrah. The tragedies and wickedness around us make us long for deliverance.  

Millions of people identify with this feeling. Some call it “news fatigue.” 

Every time I check the news, I am reminded of the chaos that constantly surrounds us. Tragic wildfires in Hawaii and Western states claimed lives and destroyed homes. The war between Russia and Ukraine approaches 600 days. Earthquakes, pandemics, and severe weather threaten our sense of safety and security. Drugs, violence, and theft fill local news headlines around America. 

If that isn’t enough, the daily political upheaval reports frustrate and exhaust us. 

Stories we hear of moral depravity deepen our vexation. Schools have become an ideological battleground for gender identity and sexual orientation. Sexual perversion and rampant divorce erode families. 

Everywhere you look, sin seems to be having a heyday. 

I’ve not even mentioned the “news fatigue” caused by issues within the church like false teachers spreading a false gospel and churches that fall into apostasy.

One word explains how I feel when I consider the burden all this bad news brings—ugh! Is there a way to escape this weighty burden? Some recommend unplugging from all news. That might be helpful for a season, but it is not a long-term solution. 

We need to keep our eyes open to what is happening around us and we must fix our eyes on Jesus. How can we do that? 

God’s Word gives us a blueprint for living in the midst of a vexing world. Let’s look at 2 Timothy 3 to find solutions. 

Rest in What God Will Do

This chapter begins with a serious warning: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:1). Paul warns Timothy of the attitudes that will infiltrate the church. After he reveals the difficult days ahead, he reminds Timothy to place his focus on Jesus. The first reminder is to rest in what God will do.

In verse 9, Paul reveals what will happen to the false teachers, “But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” God knows how to expose those who oppose His truth and attempt to lead His children astray. Ultimately, they will one day stand before God, as Judge, to answer for their sin, but Paul speaks of the exposure of their lies in this lifetime.

The Holy Spirit brings discernment into the minds of believers. I once heard this described as a “baloney meter.” For example, when a new Christian with little training in God’s Word hears false teaching, they instinctively know something just isn’t right. Their “baloney meter” is going off. It is really the Holy Spirit alerting them to falsehood.

Some smooth-talkers can take bits of truth and mix them with lies to make something appear so good when it is really poison. The serpent used the same tactic with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden! He took a bit of truth and mixed it with a lot of lies. Since it appealed to Adam and Eve’s fleshly desires, they swallowed the fruit. They did not realize how big a hook was wrapped inside that tantalizing bait. 

The proliferation of lies in our culture wearies us. However, we rest in the fact that God hears the lies and knows how to expose falsehoods. He has promised that eternal judgment will come upon all liars (Rev. 21:8). God will not stand idly by and watch false teachers lead His children astray.

God invites us to speak His truth in love (Eph. 4:15). God’s truth is the greatest treasure on Earth. We cannot afford to let it be hidden by lies. That leads us to the second reminder.

Rest in What God Is Doing

Paul doesn’t sugarcoat it for Timothy, “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). That doesn’t sound very “restful” does it? Right before Paul penned these words, he wrote about his personal persecutions and remarked, “But out of them all the Lord delivered me” (2 Tim. 3:11b).  

Paul understood suffering would come. That is part of life in this sinful world. Standing for the truth will come with a cost. However, Paul knew the reward was far greater than the cost. Elsewhere he wrote, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17). How could Paul regard his suffering as momentary and light? He compared it to the greater eternal glory he would share in.

An eternal perspective gives us endurance amidst a bad-news world. He further explained, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). This is what fixing our eyes on Jesus looks like. 

Don’t let the bad news rob you of what God is doing in our world right now. Look around you and consider what God is doing in today’s world. This bad-news world will push us toward ungratefulness. Intentionally thank God for His blessings in your life and the evidence of His grace you see around you.

Paul was full of joyful praise no matter what he was going through. An eternal perspective will give us the strength to push through in this sinful world.

Rest in What God Has Done

How do we handle the growth of evil? Continue to rest in what God has done (2 Tim. 3:13–15). Paul instructs Timothy to continue in the truth he has learned from God’s Word. This is a powerful open secret to restful living in the last days.

The cure for today’s nonsense is a strong dose of God’s wisdom. The Bible exposes the world’s wisdom so that we can recognize it for the nonsense that it is. Forgive me for being blunt. Biblical illiteracy is the leading cause of restlessness among followers of Jesus today.

If we do not know God’s character, then we cannot live at rest. Lasting peace comes only from knowing the One who is peace. The more we know how great and how good He is, the easier it is to rest in Him. 

You see, your faith is only as good as the object you place it in. If I try to sit in a rickety old chair that wobbles, I will be cautious and my confidence will be shaken. However, if I sit in my favorite chair, I know I will rest comfortably and confidently. While my analogy is limited, I hope it helps. God is far greater than a favorite chair. We should rest comfortably and confidently in His character. When has He ever broken a promise?

Paul makes it clear that the object of our faith is Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). When we know Him, we can rest confidently that our salvation is secure. We can look forward to our “blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

When fear threatens to steal your joy, remember who Jesus is and what He has done for you. Rest in the fact that you are His.

Rest in What God Has Said

As this powerful passage continues, Paul details how God’s Word will equip us for life in the last days. In this context, we find one of the best-known verses of the New Testament. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). 

How can God’s Word navigate us through these perilous times? Paul gives four ways in this verse. Imagine we are on a road trip. We need to know which roads to take to arrive at our destination. That’s doctrine. Sometimes we take a wrong turn and stray from the path we should be on. Just like a map (or that pesky GPS voice) reveals we took a wrong turn, so, too, God’s Word reproves us when we step outside God’s boundaries. Nothing is much more frustrating for me than when I get turned around in unfamiliar territory. There is no rest or peace in those moments. 

The amazing truth is God’s Word doesn’t just reprove us, it also corrects us to get us back on the right path, like a helpful navigation system. Once I return to the right road, I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing I’m heading the right way. I’m glad God offers us correction along the way. Lastly, the map reveals each turn we need to take to arrive at the destination. God’s Word provides this “instruction in righteousness” so we can walk closely with Jesus along this journey.

What happens when we rest in God’s truth amid perilous days? We grow to spiritual maturity and we are well-equipped for all good works. In other words, we are ready to make a difference in the lives of others as we live at rest during chaotic times. 

Dwell upon the words of Jesus:

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28–29).