Article by William Newton-Wordsworth in The Daily Declaration, 29th April 2026

A little over 2000 years ago, in the Olivet discourse (Matthew 24 &25), Jesus specifically instructed His followers as to the signs of His return to earth and the end of the age. As the calamitous signs He spoke of are becoming more evident, this is potentially very frightening for people. Yet Jesus specifically commands us not to be troubled, so it is vital that we understand what He meant.

The words of Jesus to “see that we are not troubled” is in some Bible versions translated as to see that we are not “alarmed”, “panicked”, “frightened”, “afraid”, “disturbed” or “terrified”. These words all mean that Jesus is instructing us that we should not be fearful in the face of end-time calamities. As Christians, we can realise they are occurring, resist being caught up in fearful worldly drama, and seek to do God’s will, whatever is happening in the world.

This sounds very simple, but in this world we have an enemy – Satan – whom many serve even without knowing or intending to do so. Satan is a deceiver, not just of a few who knowingly serve Him, but according to the disciple John, of the “whole world” (Rev 12:9).

Satan works in many ways, but one of his most effective weapons is fear. Those who consciously serve him know this and use it on a personal, national or international level to achieve their master’s evil objectives. Satan is a master of creating or using a crisis, and increasing it with lies and propaganda, to build fear in the people so that they are easily manipulated into obeying the world, not God.

Christians are not exempt from this. Whatever is happening in the world, it is up to us to focus on and obey Jesus, ensure that we are not troubled, and calmly and in faith in God take command over worldly fear and seek to do His will. This is what Jesus asks us to do, and what He is expecting.

Historically Recent Examples of Fearful and Troubling Calamities

I have some examples from historically recent calamities to illustrate the importance of Jesus’s instruction to see that we are not troubled.

In September of 2001, my wife Kelly was relaxing on a flight from Perth to Germany to perform concerts, when she distinctly heard God say to her, “Whatever is about to happen in the world, do not buy into it.” A few days after arriving in Germany, she walked past a TV shop and saw multiple televisions showing footage of a plane crashing into a skyscraper. At first, she thought it was another Hollywood drama, but soon she found out it was the now notorious event known as 9/11.

Almost immediately, the German media went into a frenzy of fear-based reporting, which similarly dominated news cycles throughout the world. Christians that Kelly was staying with and many others she knew went into a panic, with fears that it could be the start of World War 3. Fear was rife among the people, and over the coming days, all of Kelly’s organised concerts were cancelled due to the “crisis”.

Not surprisingly, with all the fearfulness, no concerts and being far away, Kelly began to feel she should return home. Since Kelly learned that Jesus comes when two or more are gathered in His name, she has led our family to pray about our ideas before acting on them. This is to develop the spiritual discipline to put aside what we think, to seek God’s guidance in prayer, and to do what He says, not what we feel. So before taking action, Kelly and I prayed together over the phone, asking guidance from Jesus as to whether she should return home.

The Lord confirmed what God had spoken to her on the plane and further instructed that Kelly remain in Germany for the next two weeks as planned, despite the widespread chaos and her concerts being cancelled. This Kelly did, despite it being a difficult time due to people being so troubled.

During the time that Kelly stayed in Germany, two very significant events occurred. The first was that God instructed her to be baptised on the 23^rd September, in which she experienced a powerful and life-changing baptism of the Holy Spirit. And on the last day she was in Germany, she had a meeting with executives of Germany’s biggest cinema chain, which led to a 30-concert tour throughout Germany.

The point of this story is that had Kelly succumbed to fear and returned to Australia, her profound baptism and her later extensive tour of Germany may never have happened. God has His plans for us, but we must be careful not to allow Satan to steal them.

Around two years later, Kelly and I went to the US, and every newspaper I read still carried at least one article about 9/11. It was clear from reading those articles at the time that the fear of terror and terrorists was being continually stoked by the media. These fears were ultimately used to justify the US-led global “War on Terror” that was carried out until 2021 and extended from Iraq to Afghanistan and other nations. Iraq was invaded on the basis that it had fearful “weapons of mass destruction”, but none were ever found.

The War on Terror has been assessed within the “Costs of War Project” (by the US-based Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University) as having displaced tens of millions of people across several nations in the Middle East, caused millions of deaths directly and indirectly, and cost trillions of dollars.

There are ongoing questions about what actually happened in the 9/11 crisis, which appeared to begin when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. However, what is very clear to me is that God Himself knew what was going to happen and what did happen, and He did not want Kelly to get caught up in the ensuing drama.

Jesus said to judge the tree by its fruit. The fruit of God’s instruction to Kelly was good. The drama in the world went on, but we were not a part of it. Our focus was on God, and that is what He wants, whatever is going on in the world. Jesus’ guidance in prayer as to what to do in times of trouble is a saving grace.

Resisting Fear and Deception During Covid

The Covid Pandemic is, I believe, a crucial example of why Jesus instructs us “not to be troubled” in the face of end-times calamities. One of the end-time signs Jesus prophesied was pestilence, and Covid is now one of the most infamous pestilences in history.

More people are realising each day that the Pandemic was a man-made crisis. It was built on a sea of lies, starting with the story that the SARS-CoV-2 virus arose naturally, but just happened to break out in the home city of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where gain-of-function genetic work was being carried out on the biggest collection of coronaviruses in the world.

As with the War on Terror, the media played a huge role in the Pandemic with their constant stoking of the fear of death. Covid deaths and danger were massively exaggerated early in the Pandemic with the help of the notoriously inaccurate PCR test, which produced up to 95 % false diagnoses. This meant that many of the deaths attributed to Covid were in truth caused by heart attacks, flus and other causes. Many of those who were recorded as having died of Covid, died of pre-existing and other illnesses. This is confirmed by official statistics that show almost no flu deaths during the height of Covid.

Increased deaths were also caused by effective medicines, including Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine, being prohibited from use, while potentially dangerous untested drugs such as Remdesivir and later experimental genetic vaccines, were permitted without having undergone usual safety testing. Wildly inaccurate computer modelling, especially by Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, London, greatly exaggerated the risks and potential death rates from Covid.

All of this was used to create the fearful illusion that Covid was an extremely dangerous and life-threatening virus to all, when in reality and based on medical statistics, it was more like a bad flu. Eminent doctors, scientists and citizens who spoke out against the fear-based rhetoric were censored and persecuted, and those who spoke fear and compliance with the worldly authority received saturation media coverage.

In the face of widespread fear of death in the Pandemic, as with the 9/11 constructed fear of terrorists, most people opted for faith in the illusion of safety given by the world. This included the promises of “safe and effective” and “trust the science” as repeated by governments, the authorities, and the false Christs (meaning false saviours), including prominent doctors and scientists.

To trust science above God is far from what Jesus would have us do. He said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). In the face of the War against Terror and of the pestilence of Covid 19, most people feared those who could kill the body above God and did not take heed of Jesus’s instruction to “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matt 24:4). This is what must be recognised by the “body of Christ” to prepare for what is to come.

I wrote in my previous article about “Fear of the Lord” being necessary to help us to be obedient to God. Jesus is expecting that we will have fear, awe and respect for God that is way above any worldly fears, troubles and desires. He is expecting that His followers who love Him will do God’s will. In the face of 9/11, did Christians in the US ask God if He wanted a Global War on Terror? Did they seek to do His will and do it, or were they manipulated by Satan and those who serve him, using fear?

In the Covid Pandemic, did the Christian leaders around the world ask God before they obeyed worldly authorities to be locked down and have vaccines? Did they act out of worldly fear of that which can kill the body, or did they ask God what to do, and do His will? Similarly, did each individual Christian ask God what His will was regarding complying with the mandates, or were they led by worldly authorities, including religious leaders, to obey the world and its prince? Were God’s people taking heed to the words of Jesus that no one deceives them?

God has asked me to write the book Warnings from the Living God to bring these questions before His people. Jesus has shown me that we are in the spiritual storm of the end times. He has shown me that to endure this storm to the end, we need to be standing on the Rock of God with and for Jesus, which is to obey Him. He does not want His people deceived by the Prince of this World and those who serve him. He wants His people to learn from what happened in the Pandemic, that we will be standing solidly with Him in the trials to come.

If you have complied with the Covid mandates and the tyranny of that time, and have realised that it was not God’s will, know that we serve a loving, merciful and forgiving Lord. As Jesus said, “Repent now.”

If you were injured or have health concerns about the effects of the vaccines, I believe the single best course of action you can take is to start by repenting to God of having taken them, and after repenting, ask for healing. Please also realise that there are natural health protocols to assist your health, including those suggested by Christian doctors.

I delve more deeply into what happened in the Pandemic in my book Warnings from the Living God, because God has shown me that Covid was a work of Satan and that it was not His will that His people comply with the worldly mandates, which were largely based on lies. Satan, the “father of lies”, is a murderer, a thief, a destroyer and a deceiver, who with the pandemic has fulfilled the words of the disciple John that he deceives the whole world.

God’s people need to learn from what happened in the Pandemic, so that they will be better prepared for the trials to come. To this end, I invite you to read “Warnings from the Living God – Are You Ready for Judgement Day?”, 

If you want to know more about what is next on God’s agenda go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net and watch for the coming book THE FINAL EMPIRE – The Millennial Reign of Messiah published by The International School of the Word (ISOW) with multiple authors. I wrote Chapter 4 – Jesus Rules with a Rod of Iron.