260 Epiphany 4: The Queen - Dominion as Submission
“I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” ~ Psalm 84
The Queen: Dominion as Submission
She moves with unmatched power, sweeping across the board with speed and precision. But make no mistake—her power is not her own. The Queen rules only because the King reigns. She does not stand alone, nor does she rule apart from Him. She is the Church, the Bride of Christ, extending His dominion with wisdom, grace, and unwavering purpose.
Revelation 12 paints the picture: A woman, clothed with the sun, standing in glory—yet hunted by a dragon. She is pursued, but not defeated. She flees, but not in fear. She is preserved, for God Himself has prepared a place for her.
“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God…” (Revelation 12:6)
Like the Queen in chess, she does not conquer by brute force. Her power is not in raw aggression, but in divine strategy. The enemy floods her path with lies, with chaos, with endless deception—yet the earth swallows it up. The attack fails. She advances, not by might, but by faith.
In the world’s eyes, retreat looks like weakness. But the wilderness is not defeat—it is preparation. Israel walked through it before the Promised Land. Christ endured it before His ministry began. We wait for a city with foundations built by God.
Chess requires it: the Queen must move wisely, knowing when to strike and when to flee. It is not hard to see why she is the weaker vessel. If she is hasty, if she is pompous, even a pawn may sweep her away.
“But the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood…” (Revelation 12:16)
The enemy cannot drown what God sustains. True authority is not about grasping for power—it is about aligning with the King. The Queen’s strength is unmatched, but only when she moves for the King, with the King, and in the name of the King.
This is where the world gets it wrong. It preaches power without submission, dominion without devotion. But the Queen does not reign apart from the King—she reigns because of Him.
Lose the Queen, and the battle turns desperate. But when she moves in wisdom, in faith, in rightful submission—she is unstoppable.
The enemy rages. The flood rises. The wilderness waits. But the Queen advances and the waters part, for the King reigns.
The rules of the game are clear: a Queen is nothing without her King.
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
R.J.M.F
On the Radar
Deep Seek
Is China eating our lunch? New AI app DeepSeek has spooked American markets, with its release wiping $600 billion off the value of chips giant, Nvidia. “This was all made possible because DeepSeek figured out how to weaken the link between AI progress and AI chips”, as DeepSeek reportedly used a cheap chip that requires less processing power. DeepSeek say they trained their model like a child, rewarding it when it got the right answer, punishing it when it was incorrect which helped avoid long lead times usually needed to refine the model. Mark Zuckerberg shrugged it off, saying he’s still investing a ton of money into AI. Still, Meta apparently assembled “war rooms” of engineers to work out how DeepSeek spent so little. Let’s say not everyone is convinced of the developers’ claims that it made a world-beating app for just a few million. OpenAI, the most recognizable AI brand, says there is evidence that DeepSeek used their training to make its model. “OpenAI claims DeepSeek crossed a line by using it to build a rival model.” Lifehacker says that like most chat bots, DeepSeek has some questions it won’t answer and also warns users to consider privacy once again – the app version records pretty much everything and stores your data in China.
The Blitz
Life
Birth, Death and Marriage
The terrible midair collision between a small passenger jet and a Black Hawk helicopter is still being investigated but all 67 passengers and crew are presumed dead after both aircraft ditched into the Potomac River. It is suspected that human error and staff shortages in air traffic control are to blame. (BBC, Wired) | Seven people have died after a small aircraft crashed over a busy Philadelphia street. (Time)
President Trump has issued an executive order banning federal funding from being used for the purpose of “transitioning genders” for anyone under 18. “Executive leaders and lawmakers will provide parents and children with a pathway to sue medical professionals who performed damaging transgender procedures.” (The Federalist, WNG)
A Tennessee bill aims to train tattoo artists to recognize signs of trafficking. (ABC News) |Washington state legislators are considering a bill to make clergy turn over information about child abuse revealed during confession. (WNG)
Family first: A tech agenda for conservatives. (First Things)
God be praised! California has dropped its legal action against pro-life journalist David Daleiden. Daleiden has faced almost a decade of lawsuits after he exposed Planned Parenthood’s trade in aborted baby organs. (Not the Bee)
Personhood is a gift. (Plough)
Law
Courts, Crime and Punishment
Former senator Bob Menendez has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption and accepting bribes from foreign governments. (ABC News)
Newly-surfaced bank records have linked Hunter Biden with a multi-million dollar bank fraud investigation. (ZeroHedge)
The Supreme Court of the USA has agreed to hear a case brought by a Catholic school that wants to join Oklahoma’s charter school program. (WNG, The Briefing)
Coming to America
President Trump has ordered that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay be repurposed to house suspected illegal immigrants offshore until they are deported. (Axios) | The president is proposing a deal where El Salvador would take any deportees that are rejected by their home country. (Not the Bee)
Politics
The Trump administration placed a freeze on almost $1 billion in aid programs. A memo issued by US Office of Management and Budget placed the stay on funds, ordering departments to review whether programs are in line with the administration’s objectives. The memo left a number of agencies confused about how to proceed. A number of USAID employees were placed on leave after reportedly trying to circumvent the order. A federal judge placed a temporary pause on the freeze to consider its constitutionality. (ZeroHedge, CBS, Time)
The Department of Justice has fired officials who were involved in investigations into President Trump before he took office. (NBC)
The White House says that the mysterious flocks of drones in New Jersey were authorized by the FAA for research and “various other reasons”. (Daily Wire)
Thousands of podcasters and content creators have applied for a space in the White House Press Briefing Room after the Trump administration announced it would reserve seats for digital media journalists. Four large media outlets, including the New York Times, have been ordered to give up their Pentagon office space in a new annual “rotation” announced by the White House. (Hollywood Reporter, NBC)
Treasure
Money, Markets and Jobs
President Trump has announced tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese goods, saying the US’ major trading partners are not doing enough to reduce drug and human trafficking into the USA. (ZeroHedge)
The price of gold hit a record high over tariff threats. (Mining)
An email sent to X staff reportedly revealed that the platform is “barely breaking even”. (The Verge) | Elon Musk’s dream of X becoming an “everything” app is a step closer, with the platform set to take payment in real time through a Visa partnership. (AP)
Heritage
Arts, History and Sport
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has asked Hans Zimmer to rework its national anthem. (The Guardian)
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa will get its own viewing room. (AP)
Health
Medicine and Food
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Ozempic for treating chronic kidney disease. (CNBC)
The largest study on cannabis use has found significant impact on working memory. (University of Colorado)
New study says strength training can benefit women during menopause. (BBC)
Five facts about our sense of smell. (Science Alert)
Smartphones and the current protein obsession. (Taste)
Hearts and Minds
Philosophy, Hacks and Human Connection
Assigning meaning to laughter is uniquely human, but what we laugh at and how we laugh can reveal a lot. (Sapiens)
“Enormous improvements in communication have made understanding more difficult.” Nicholas Carr interacts with Harold Innis’ overlooked insights. (The New Atlantis)
A study comparing pedestrians from 1980s and today found that Americans walk faster and interact with others less. “They seemed to be having fewer of the informal encounters that undergird civil society and strengthen urban economies.” (Bloomberg)
Could you benefit from a color walk? (Today)
The Elements
God’s Green Earth
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: Researchers find “geological features that point to a single massive flooding event that refilled the Mediterranean Sea.” (Gizmodo)
Knowledge
Science and Data
US start-up Boom Supersonic’s new XB-1 plane has broken the sound barrier during test flights, reaching Mach 1.1. The company hopes to return supersonic flying to commercial travel. (TechCrunch)
Astronomers believed they had discovered a new asteroid, only to find that the object was actually a Tesla which Elon Musk sent into space years ago. (Not the Bee)
SpaceX will rescue stranded NASA astronauts. (Just the News)
War and Rumors of War
Conflict and Weaponry
The President signed orders to reinstate servicemen dismissed from the military for not taking a covid vaccine. He also directed the Pentagon to devise a readiness policy that would ensure soldiers are prepared to deploy at short notice. The order doesn’t ban transgender people from the military but clearly has them in mind. Concern that a force which includes confused folks who are reliant on regular hormone treatments will be less lethal seems top of mind for newly-minted Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. (CBS)
President Trump has issued an order that the US should begin construction of a missile defense system, similar to that of Israel’s “iron dome”. (Daily Wire) | The president has also revealed that he ordered airstrikes on ISIS operatives in Somalia last week. (BBC)
Latvia has deployed a navy vessel to patrol the Baltic Sea after another underesea communication cable was severed, reportedly by a ship on its way to Russia. (Yahoo)
Jordan and Egypt have rejected calls from the Trump administration to resettle Palestinians in their respective countries, potentially while Gaza is rebuilt. The leaders of both Arab nations say relocation would undermine the formation of a Palestinian state, which they support. (Time)
World
Stories From Far Away
🇧🇷 The government of Brazil expressed outrage after 88 nationals deported from the US were handcuffed for the entire flight, reportedly without water or bathroom breaks. The flight was not related to President Trump’s deportation orders but “stemmed from a 2017 bilateral agreement.” (France 24)
🇰🇷 South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been indicted by federal prosecutors over his short-lived imposition of marital law. Yoon could face the death penalty, although SK has not executed anyone for a while. (AP)
🇪🇸 A US-based analytics firm says that a Chinese “Spamouflage” operation impersonating community groups in Spain is fomenting “calls for the Spanish government to be overthrown in response to deadly floods in Valencia.” (Graphika)
🇰🇷 Duck DNA has been found in both engines of South Korean plane which crashed last year, killing 179. (CBS)
🇯🇵 Japan has beat France in a world pastry competition. (Euro News)
Quickhits For The Eyebuds
🇵🇱 You may find some odd things in IKEA
🏔️ A dusting of snow on Bryce Canyon’s hoodoos
🖼️ Experts believe a garage sale painting is a lost Van Gogh
🐟 Staff at an aquarium in Japan have used cardboard cutouts of people to keep a sunfish company
🏂 Snowboarding prowess at the X Games
🧱 Minesweeper meets dungeon crawler
🛞 The most beautiful Mercedes ever made?
The quirky “Salaryman eraser” goes bald as it’s used…
Promo of Friends
A post from the Dark Shore Discord server. Our resident sound engineer, Hurin Thalion noted we have an opportunity to banish abortion. It is a long shot, but if you can join the fight, please do:
Good Word:
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Sweetness YouMay Have Missed:
This Week Preached:
Podcast Release:
Let us pray. Almighty God, You know we live in the midst of so many dangers that in our frailty we cannot stand upright. Grant strength and protection to support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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Amen