For as insanely expensive that the price of beef has risen to over the years, it’s amazing how much ‘red meat’ is strewn everywhere these days for people to have feeding frenzies over. I’ll give you a moment with that one.

By the way, how do you like your red meat? Do you have a weakness for that meat that is seasoned heavily with political intrigue and wrappings and such? You know...wanting to get to the ‘meat of the issue’ and find out who is really behind the ‘deep state’.

Maybe you're more of a slow cooker type...savoring a ‘Christian Nation’ here in America while endeavoring to get all the right righteous people in key positions so we can ‘make America great again’?

Or is your red meat of choice wrapped up with all the internet ‘medical experts’ who are convinced ‘someone’ out there is trying to kill you with all their food dyes and vaccines and think you should be loading up on ivermectin.

I’m sure you are familiar with those whose meat is the sizzling social issues of the day trying to expose all the evil that Taylor Swift is promoting, or how major brands are tanking because of their attempts to go ‘woke’. Cracker Barrel seems to be the freshest burger on the grill these days.

Perhaps you are in that group that just likes whatever meat scraps are tossed your way in the daily news feeds that cook 24/7. Are the Epstein files keeping you awake at night with heartburn? Have you recovered from the spoiled meat that suggested Covid was a man made hoax? And which election was ‘rigged’ and stolen? (Depends on whether you lean to the left or right, politically I suppose)

Truth be told...I’m thinking about becoming a ‘spiritual vegan’ and giving up all that red meat entirely. And let me tell you why- I found out who is really behind the ‘Deep State’, and you won’t learn about it from Q-Anon, or however they spelled that on YouTube. (Remember all those folks who had ‘inside info’ on ‘something big’ that was about to go down leading up to the January 6 fiasco in 2020? Where the election was going to be overturned and the Clintons and Obama’s and others were going to be arrested and hauled off to prison? )

Before we get to the ‘meat’ of this lesson today, let’s get on the same page as to what ‘red meat’ and ‘deep state’ actually mean, in modern day lingo.

"Throw some red meat" is a common English idiom meaning to provide something exciting, stimulating, or challenging to a group of people, usually to elicit a strong reaction or to satisfy a particular interest. And... The term "Deep State" refers to a purported hidden network of power within a government, operating independently of the elected political leadership and pursuing its own agendas.

Let me share a biblical ‘theory’ as to who is really behind ‘deep state’ and responsible for tossing out all the ‘red meat’ that captures the attention and energy and passion of so many people today...and especially those who profess to be followers of Jesus.

Take a moment and go read 1 John 5:19, and Eph. 2:1-3. The ‘proverbial man behind the curtain’ who is ‘pulling all the levers’ is none other than the ‘serpent of old, the devil, a.k.a. ‘Satan’ who ...’deceives the whole world’ (Rev. 12:9). Those first two passages I gave you refer to him as the ‘wicked one’ and the ‘prince of the air’ And let me clue you in as to why he has no shortage of red meat to toss out there these days in order to keep people running in circles as they gallantly attempt to ‘expose the darkness’. It is all focused on keeping you and I from ‘doing the will of God’.

Yep...I’ve been around long enough now to see that curtain being pulled back and exposing the folly of man...and the ‘foolishness of God’s people’ (Jer. 4:22; 8:7; Hosea 4:6) And I’ve been right there in the mix of all of it all so don’t accuse me of thinking I’m perched up on some high ‘holier than thou’ podium.

And since we’re on the topic of eating meat, may I remind you of something Jesus told His disciples shortly after His encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. “My meat (food) is to do the will of Him who sent Me...”(John 4:34) Then, just two chapters later we read in John’s gospel where not long after Jesus fed the multitudes in miraculous fashion, He told His disciples: “Don’t labor and toil for food that spoils...but for the food that endures to everlasting life...” (John 6:27). Whose 'kingdom' are we to be preoccupied with? (Matt. 6:33) And what did Jesus make clear about this 'kingdom' in John 18:36?

There’s a lot we can learn from Jesus; would you not agree? And one thing we learn from studying His three years of ministry was how He resisted the pull from all directions to get caught up with all the drama and fanfare of the day, that certainly included political oppression, human suffering and heartache, divisions and factions, etc. Jesus stayed true to only doing what the Father commanded Him to do (John 14:31). And we would do well ourselves to follow His example (1 John 2:6). In fact, did He not say that those who actually love Him...will do just that? (John 14:15,21)

So maybe we should redirect our appetites and desires on eating the same ‘meat’ He did and get about the business of doing the will of the Father... ourselves. I mean...that does play a role in who actually goes to heaven, does it not? Did Jesus not say: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”(Matt. 7:21). So what exactly is...’the will of the Father’? That’s a great question! In fact Paul exhorts us to ‘not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is...” (Eph. 5:17). And a few verses before that, we read where we are told to ‘have no fellowship with the works of darkness, but rather expose them’ (11). I could be wrong, but me thinks our enemy has kept us busy trying to expose the wrong ‘works of darkness’. God’s going to deal with the world soon enough. He’s more concerned with that ‘darkness’ that resides in our hearts. And we would do well to shine the light of His word back on what really matters. Join me tomorrow?