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24 Hours and the Butterfly Effect


HighBeamMinistry.com

Well, wasn’t January 6 exciting?


We all had an inkling that it was going to be a historic day. Here is an interesting headline from The Gateway Pundit – “The Next 24 Hours May Be the Most Important in US History – Will The US Remain Free Or Fall to Corruption and Communism? Soon We Will Know” (Source) Now 24 hours will not instantaneously change the United States of America, but it will most certainly set the stage.


A lot can happen in 24 Hours. On January 5, we were consumed with watching the Georgia elections. The Senate flipped from Republican control to a 50-50 split with VP-elect Harris as the tiebreaker. So essentially, Congress is now in Democratic party control.


And during the 24 hours of January 20, the United States will have a new President.


And that’s when the fun begins (he wrote with a little sarcasm).


I was taught that when people say something, you believe them. Scripture says, “A good person produces good out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil person produces evil out of the evil stored up in his heart, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart” (Luke 6:45).


In other words, no matter how hard a person tries, what they really believe, and feel will eventually be revealed through their words.


The January 6 electoral process and the January 20 inauguration are two 24 hour moments that will have deep implications for this nation.


After both of those 24 hour moments pass, the Democratic Party will have control of the levers of power in Washington. With the Legislative and Executive branches in hand, they will immediately move to establish their agenda. How do we know this?


They’ve already said they would.


Besides stacking the Supreme Court, the Democratic Party machine will maneuver to stack the Legislative branch by granting statehood to Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia (if they can subvert the Constitution regarding D.C.’s federal city designation). Then again, it doesn’t matter if any of their actions are Constitutional, a liberally-tilted Supreme Court will make sure it is. Doubt it? Just look at the ruling of the liberally-slanted SCOTUS since the 1960s.

  • Anti-God rulings against faith in the marketplace,

  • A newly-discovered (read concocted) “right” to kill an unborn child for any reason,

  • And a right to an unnatural marriage combination, same-sex unions. (But don’t worry, people, even more combinations and numbers of marriage partners are coming to make sure we have “love wins” diversity.)

How do we know these moves will be attempted? They’ve already said it.


So two short 24 hour periods will change the United States. Since the U.S. is so influential around the world, the world will change. How do we know this?


“Now we take Georgia, then we change America!” Sen. Chuck Schumer said. (Source) But what many missed was what he said just before he corrected himself.


“Now we take Georgia, then we change the world!” (Source) Realizing he was being recorded, he quickly slid on his mask and changed the words. But we know what he meant. (Dr. Freud, to your office please.) Believe what people say.


Two short 24 hour periods will have an effect on the United States and the entire world. Kind of like the oft-referred to Butterfly-effect. What’s the Butterfly effect?


The idea of the Butterfly Effect was introduced by Edward Lorenz (Source) a scientist who noticed during his climate calculations that a minute change in his equation can bring widely divergent outcomes in his computer-determined climate model. The Butterfly Effect “is the idea that small things can have non-linear impacts on a complex system. The concept is imagined with a butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon. Of course, a single act like the butterfly flapping its wings cannot cause a typhoon. Small events can, however, serve as catalysts that act on starting conditions.” (italics, mine) (Source)


I loved the program “24 hours” because the plot was designed to begin and wrap-up within 24 hours while we watched for 1/24th of a day. (Mind-bending, right?) Anyway, it was loads of fun because what started rough and evil was inevitably resolved to the betterment of society because the hero, Jack Bauer (played by Keifer Sutherland) stepped up and risked his life to defeat the bad guy.


Yes, it’s fiction, but there are a plethora of real-time 24-hour moments in history that have changed the world.


Some were huge. Some seemed insignificant. But all had an impact on the future.


In one 24-hour period, a gunshot “heard ‘round the world” ignited the Revolutionary War.


In one 24-hour period, another gunshot was also heard around the world as humanity’s first World War erupted.


In one 24-hour period, the successful test of a telephone birthed a communications revolution.


And in one 24-hour period, mankind stepped foot on the moon as we burst the bonds of earth.


Truly remarkable how 24 hours can change life so drastically? For us Christians, here are some examples from the Bible that are also remarkable.


In one 24-hour period, God freed an entire nation (Israel) from enslavement to another (Egypt, Exodus 12:14, 29, 51). Result? Israel became a nation on their God-promised land and has returned to it today. In fact, after nearly 2,000 years of absence Israel reconstituted as a nation in ONE DAY on May 14, 1948. This didn’t surprise God. He made it happen and even prophesied it about 2,600 years ago. Isaiah prophesied, “Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons” (Isaiah 66:8).


In one 24-hour period, God turned back an army (the Arameans) that was threatening to pulverize Jerusalem (1 Kings 7). Note the words, “About this time tomorrow…”. Yup. 24 hours.


In one 24-hour period, God brought the anti-God, immoral, and wicked King Belshazzar and the entire Babylonian empire down via the Medo-Persian army (“That very night…” Daniel 5:30-31).


24-hours can bring disaster. But 24 hours can release a world-wide, history-altering blessing even if it starts small.


In one 24-hour period, Jesus’ arrest, conviction, torture, and death radically changed the trajectory of human existence on earth, neutralizing sin that has soaked humanity since the Fall.


In one 24-hour period, Jesus’ resurrection radically changed the trajectory of humanity’s destiny for the afterlife, from inevitable death and separation from God to the assurance of eternal life in His presence.


In one 24-hour period, Jesus’ sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (for those familiar with the Feasts of the Lord, Shavuot – the Feast of Weeks) radically changed the trajectory of human dominion with the advent and advance of God’s kingdom.


And in one 24-hour period, Jesus’ return will radically alter the trajectory of the entire world’s future “to infinity and beyond” (hat tip to Buzz Lightyear).


But there is a downside to some 24-hour periods. Jesus’ death, resurrection, sending of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus’ return will seal Satan’s total and absolute defeat. Heh-heh, I didn’t say it would be a downside for us. And unlike Jack Bauer, Jesus gave His life to defeat the bad guy.


We may see amazing and wondrous things happen in 24 hour periods in 2021 that may radically alter our societal landscape forever because of two momentous 24-hour periods, January 6 and 20. A lot can happen in a short time.


But keep this in mind for 2021. God has given each one of us 365 opportunities to do something that may seem insignificant, but have a great effect (the Butterfly Effect) on the future of the world, or at least in your personal world and those whose worlds touch yours.


One tiny event in one short 24-hour period can change the world because God is with you at that moment.


So, what are you going to do with the 24-hours God has given you today?



Pastor Jay Christianson

The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts

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