Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth Part III
Going Through The Fire
1. THE TRIBULATION BEGINS
When the asteroid or comet hits, most of the world will be plunged into near-total darkness by the clouds that will spread out from the impact site. Shortly afterward, the mysterious locusts that come out of the impact site will begin stinging people. There has been no historical precedent for the degree of fear and hysteria that will reign throughout the world. To the unsaved world, especially in the western world, the collision itself will not have been that big a surprise, insofar as the form of what will have happened. The mass media has been conditioning people, at least in the United States, to accept this as a natural disaster, however terrible, that could happen anytime, anywhere. Science says the collision could happen and just be bad luck for the whole world. As I write this, it is particularly questionable whether Christians will generally recognize this as the beginning of the Tribulation. The proof will be the locusts. The locusts will be a nasty surprise for everybody. Everybody except the Christians who were ready, that is. They will expect them, and they’ll be immune.
Sometime within the last day or so, maybe even the last few minutes, before the collision, a relatively small number of Christians worldwide will have received the Seal of the Living God. Whether they will know this, or whether there will be any outward physical sign of it, is impossible to say right now with certainty. It does seem probable that they will suddenly be aware of some manifestation of the presence of God in themselves that they never had before. The proof to themselves and everyone else will be when the prophecy of Psalm 91:7 & 8 begins to be fulfilled in them. The first cases of this will be when some of them survive the collision unharmed in what were otherwise areas of near-total destruction. But even they will have a rough time ahead of them. As stated elsewhere, the Tribulation should last at least 4 ½ years, probably more, (most likely 5-5 1/2 years) though definitely not a full seven. [1] But even a minimum 4 ½ year Tribulation will be worse than anything in recorded history. It will be a time of severe trial even for those who have the Seal. For Christians who don’t, it will be much worse.
For those readers who have not read the third booklet of this series, the Seal of the Living God is something, probably some kind of mark of ownership, that will be given to Christians who are ready just before the Tribulation begins. It is first mentioned in Revelation 7: 2-6. There it is given to "144,000 out of the twelve tribes of Israel". I have shown reason to believe that the people referred to are not Jews (as many interpreters of prophecy believe) , but Christians, the overcomers of the Church of Laodicea living at that time. The Book of Revelation says nothing about what the Seal is substantively. It makes it clear, however, what the Seal does for those who have it: It makes them immune to the plagues of God’s wrath during the Tribulation.
It is my hope and prayer that, by the time the Tribulation begins, that all Christians will have heard this message, regardless of how they heard it. If that’s the situation, at least they’ll know what’s going on. Again, the locusts will be the proof positive that it is the Great Tribulation that is happening. Given that information, the Christians will know what they have to do. As stated, most Christians will not be ready. They will find that out the hard way when, in the opening hours of the Tribulation, many are killed outright, or severely injured, along with the unsaved, as a result of the collision. Then they’ll have it driven home to them when the locusts start stinging them. At that time, Christians will need to turn to the Lord as they have never done before. But in doing so, those who weren’t ready should not expect any obvious help from the Lord right away. They will not likely receive any protection until the Third Woe begins. But if they don’t accept the consequences of their failure as God’s just chastisement, and get serious about getting right with the Lord, they won’t get protection even then. In the long run of the Tribulation, all the Christians who weren’t ready (those who survive the beginning of it, that is) are going to go in one or the other of two possible spiritual directions: Either they’re going to repent and start living they way they should have been living, or they’re going to fall away completely and take the Mark of the Beast. There will be no middle ground.
Review: The Great Tribulation
For those readers who have not read the third booklet of this series, "THE GREAT TRIBULATION", I will now summarize what will happen during that period. The Bible shows that the Tribulation will be divided into 3 distinct periods, called "woes". There may be (I believe that the distinction between the periods implies this) brief periods of respite between the "woes". The "woes" do not last equal periods of time. The first "woe" appears to last only about 5 months. The second will be more than 3 ½ years. The third should also last at least 5 months, but probably longer, especially if there are respite periods, though it must be less than 3 years. The main events are as follows:
thousand years. A limited creation event restores the earth. The Millenium begins.
A Great Chastisement
We must remember that the Tribulation is as much a chastisement on the Church of Laodicea as it is judgement on the unsaved world. The purpose of it, as far as Christians are concerned , it to bring the Laodicean Christians into the state of obedient faith that they should have been in before the Tribulation, instead of being guilty of the spiritual ills we have discussed [2] . Thus we read in Zechariah 13: 9; "I will bring the one third (that’s the Christians who survive the beginning of the Tribulation, i.e. the collision and the "army") through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say ‘This is my people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God’." So if you find yourself in the Tribulation, you’ve survived the beginning, but you realize that you weren’t ready (you may think you are ready now, but come then to the grim realization that you weren’t), then remember why you are in the Tribulation and get busy getting right with God.
In the following chapters I will lay down some major guidelines for what to do when the Tribulation has begun. There is even some advice for those who have the Seal of the Living God. As I’ve said before, some of this wouldn’t be relevant right now. And there would be little chance of what is relevant being put into practice. But if you find yourself in the situation I predict for most Christians, especially those living in Europe, western Asia, Africa and the Middle East, it will then be time to get together with other Christians and put these things into practice. I say with sorrow that I don’t believe that this will apply to Christians living in the Far East or on the American continent. Except for the Americans and Canadians who live along the east coast. Most of the rest, I’m afraid, will be dead, except for a smattering of overcomers and others who were just plain blessed lucky to survive.
The Two Beasts: Muslims
Again, the Beasts will probably be ostensibly Muslims. I don’t know how true this is in Europe, and elsewhere, but Christians in the United States are generally blissfully unaware of how much of a threat – and worse – Islam has been to Christians throughout its history. [3] Therefore, they don’t usually include Islam in their thinking about events related to the Second Coming. If what I said above proves true, it won’t really matter to most Christians in the USA. Especially in the western part of the country, they’ll be dead when the Beasts rise to power. It will matter plenty to the Christians who go through the Tribulation, because it will be the Muslims who will be taking control of most or all of the surviving world. The "king" will probably be a military dictator along the lines of Muammar al-Qaddafi or Saddam Hussein. Note that I don’t say it will be either of them, but I do see them as probable forerunners of the actual Beast. The false prophet, the second beast, will probably be someone like the Ayatollah Khomeini. There will be two differences: Unlike the Ayatollah, the false prophet will have obvious supernatural powers. Secondly, the "king" will be successful in taking control of the surviving world, whereas the two mentioned above, particularly Hussein, have tried and failed. These are the two primary identifying things that will alert Christians to who they are. Just how far into the Tribulation these things will happen, I can’t say, but it should be at least six months and possibly more than a year. The Two Witnesses will appear first.
The Two Witnesses
The Two Witnesses, if we take the 11th Chapter of Revelation to mean what it says, will be real men who are powerful preachers and who back up their words with miracles. Unlike Spirit-filled preachers who sometimes have gifts of healings, etc. to back up their preaching in our time, these men will work miracles of wrath. Plagues! But their message will be the most important for Christians and Jews that has been preached since the death of the Apostles. Their ministry will be the last call, period, for sinners to repent. When their ministry is over, there will be no more opportunity for repentance and salvation. Therefore, any Christian who is at all able to hear what they say should obey them to the letter. And though it may not be possible, if you can, it might be a good idea to try to go to them. They’ll probably be in Jerusalem or that vicinity. The Bible specifically says they will die there, although it doesn’t say that that is where their ministry begins. Understand that these men won’t be "nice guys". I consider it seriously possible that even Christians won’t like them. But I repeat, if you want to make it into Heaven or get any protection from God during the Tribulation, then listen to and do what they say.
Material Preparation?
I seriously recommend to all Christians that with the exception of what might be done short-term when you know that the collision is coming, no long-term material preparation be made whatsoever. There are multiple reasons why not. First of all, the Bible makes it very clear that only being spiritually prepared will help long term. Secondly, if you make material preparations, and the Lord tarries, i.e. the Tribulation doesn’t begin, you will have made a fool of yourself, (There have been many Christians who have done this.) which is a bad testimony if unsaved people know about it. Also you will probably have wasted your money, which is the sin of poor stewardship. Third, if the Tribulation starts and you have the misfortune to be in the 1/3m of the earth’s surface that is devastated by the collision, your efforts at material preparation are likely to prove futile. What will happen within that area, especially in places along the seacoasts, will be such terrible destruction that there will be almost 100% fatalities. Fourth, if you are in the other 2/3 of the earth’s surface, and aren’t ready spiritually, you have a 50/50 chance of being killed by the "army". Nothing but the Seal of the Living God will protect you from them. Finally, if you survive any or all of this, and it becomes known that you have a stockpile of food, medicines, drinking water, etc., you are likely to become the victim of a murder-robbery by unsaved survivors.
There are just a few things you might do in preparation. I know that this is an audacious thing to say, but if you can help it, you shouldn’t live anywhere within two thousand miles of the Pacific Ocean. I believe that the odds are overwhelming that the collision will occur in the Pacific, and if it does, then anyone within that area is almost certainly doomed. Aside from that, if you hear the collision is coming, and you have time, get away from any sea coast regions anywhere. (There may be tidal waves in the Atlantic, too, but not as bad as in the Pacific.) Get away from any mountainous place where you might be the victim of an avalanche. And try to get away from any place that is considered due for an earthquake. However, this is assuming, if this is relevant to you, that you have the time and the means. You might not. Also, if you have time and the means, it would probably help short-term to see what you could do to stock up on non-perishable food and drinking water. I’m talking only about last minute preparations. Don’t expect any material preparations to help long term. No matter what else you do, if you aren’t ready spiritually when the Tribulation starts, you are going to be in big trouble.
What Not To Do:
During the Tribulation, there will almost certainly be severe shortages of everything, even the most common necessities. Christians may be tempted to commit sin in order to get their needs met. They may, for example, be tempted to lie or steal to get food. Don’t do it! To do so will be to open yourself up to quick and severe reprisal from the Beasts. Remember that these men and their followers will be ostensibly Muslims. Muslims have very strict laws against such things, with brutal penalties. During the Tribulation, they will use those laws and penalties against Christians at every opportunity. Even the slightest infraction may result in painful, and perhaps fatal retribution. Unfortunately, if it happens that way, it won’t count spiritually as persecution and martyrdom. As it says in I Peter 4:15, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters". You must be super careful to be righteous in all you do during the Tribulation.
At some point during the Tribulation, you may very well be called upon to renounce your faith in Jesus Christ. This may literally be at gunpoint, or under the duress of torture. It may be, on the other hand, with the promise of reward in terms of food, water, freedom, etc. in return for your "conversion". It may even be with the hope of saving the lives of people you love. No matter why or how this happens, you must settle it in your mind never, under any circumstances, to renounce your faith. If you do, your salvation is gone and you are going to hell. On the other hand, if you stand your ground, regardless of the cost, you are going to reign with Christ. Set your hope on that and stand firm.
Above all, whatever you do or whatever is done to you, do not take the Mark of the Beast. You must be alert to the probability that the Beasts will use some kind of deception to try to get people to take the Mark. Revelation 13: 18 implies that it will not be obvious that it is the Mark: "Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast...". In other words, it may not look like what it is, and the circumstances under which it is given may also be deceptive. Again, don’t assume that it will have anything to do with computers (as has been frequently taught). Computers may be involved; I have recently learned that the Arab-Muslim world is getting into computers in a big way, but it isn’t necessarily so. The asteroid collision may rob the world of much of its electric power and electronic communication. If that happens, it will rob the world of computers in the process. We won’t know exactly what the Mark of the Beast is, or how it will be given, until we see it. So just keep an open mind about it, and once the Tribulation begins, and especially after the Beasts rise to power, keep your eyes open for it. Remember: if you take the Mark of Beast, even unwittingly, God Himself can’t save you. See Revelation 14:9 & 10.
When the Tribulation has started.....
So let’s say that the Tribulation has begun and you realize you weren’t ready. Now what do you do? The first thing you have to do is really face up to the fact. Accept that you as a Christian have been falling short of what God demands of you. You may have been one of those disobedient, rebellious Christians who are doing what is right in their own eyes and using their freedom in Christ as license to sin. There are many of them, and they usually have the attitude that anyone who tries to correct them is "judging". Is this you? Accept that you must do some major changing. But accept that the changing isn’t necessarily going to do you any material good during most of the Tribulation. However, if you do repent and start living the way you should, it will mean that you will reign with Christ during the Millenium. It also follows that there will be permanent rewards in eternity, beyond the Final Judgment. If you do repent, you certainly will be one of the saints living in the New Jerusalem, with the right to the Tree and Water of Life. There will probably be more than that, but the Lord hasn’t revealed it yet. The Bible does not promise any protection for the Christians who aren’t ready during the first two woes, and there will probably be only partial protection during the third. But the Bible does promise that the Christians who repent will finally be blessed. They will have paid for their failure with their suffering during the Tribulation [4] , and for the faithfulness they will have finally achieved, they will be greatly rewarded.
Why weren’t you ready?
You will need at that time to reflect on the basic failures of Church of Laodicea in which you participated and start doing some serious praying and meditating on what you need to get free of these things. The major failures are:
If you are a typical Laodicean Christian, as opposed to being an overcomer, you are guilty of at least some of these failures. And its because you messed up in some or all of these ways that you are now in the Great Tribulation without the Seal of the Living God. So what are you going to do now, besides suffer?
On the other hand, maybe you have the Seal and know it. You still have a very bad time ahead of you, at least in the material sense. You too need to know what to do. (And what not to do!)
I have advice for both of you. Read on!
2. Advice For Those Who Have The Seal of the Living God:
Some Christians, of course, will be ready. Approximately 144,000 of them. The Bible doesn’t say whether those who receive the Seal will know it. But if you have it, you will know it when you see people being killed right next to you and you aren’t even scratched. Christians who weren’t ready will know it when the locusts sting them but they don’t sting you. I mean this literally. If I understand the Bible correctly, that kind of thing will happen to those who have the Seal. They have nothing to fear from the wrath of God. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that they won’t suffer. First of all, they should be prepared to see family and friends – even some whom they thought were Christians – turn against them like never before. Jesus warned us about that (see Luke 12:52 & 53) even for the times in which we live. During the Tribulation it will be worse. This is heartbreaking, at the very least. After the Beasts rise to power, it may be deadly.
More than that, Christians who have the Seal are going to be the Number 1 targets for the wrath of Satan, via the Beasts. Satan will probably know who they are (see Revelation 12:17). He will probably be able to communicate this information to the Beasts. Christians who have the Seal must be prepared to face cruel imprisonment and martyrdom. But remember the promise of Revelation 13:10: "He who leads into captivity must go into captivity, and he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints." This is saying that whatever anyone does to a Christian will be done to them. This will be fulfilled in the latter part of the Third Woe, when the Beast turns against the leaders of traditional Islam. Trust the Lord; justice will be done. Muslims who persecute and martyr Christians in obedience to the Beast will also be persecuted and killed at his hands!
The persecution and martyrdom will not be pleasant while it’s happening. But know this: suffering for your faith is the greatest thing that you as a Christian can do in this world. Doing it faithfully will earn you rewards that can not be received any other way. So, in the words of I Peter 4:12 & 13, "Beloved, do no think it strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings." The Lord will give you the strength to endure it. But don’t expect it not to hurt! Don’t expect to die before it hurts, as some have treacherously taught that Christians will. Jesus didn’t get any relief from His pain on the Cross. That is why He cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" It may seem that God has forsaken you. Satan will definitely try to make you think so. But trust Him to keep His promise, "I will never leave you or forsake you". Just understand that if you suffer with Him, you will also be glorified with Him. As the old saying goes, "If you won’t bear the Cross, you won’t wear the Crown." Never will this be more true than during the Tribulation.
Those who have the Seal must be very careful not to let themselves slip in their Christian walk during the Tribulation. Such will be the hardship of the times that even those who have the Seal may be tempted to compromise their obedience for the sake of survival. Don’t do it! As Jesus said, "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the Crown of Life." If you have the Seal, you already have won the Crown! Don’t let Satan take it away from you! Satan’s power to destroy Christians is greater now than most Christians realize. During the Tribulation it will be at an all-time high. Even one minor outward slip-up could give Him the opportunity to rob you of your Crown. Be super careful not to sin in any way whatsoever. As Jesus also said in Revelation 16:15, "Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." Note that this statement is in the middle of the chapter that describes the solar catastrophe of the Third Woe. This statement being there is evidence that Christians will go through the whole Tribulation. Don’t make the mistake of setting your hopes on getting out of it before you are either martyred or the Lord comes. Even those who have the Seal may be vulnerable to being ensnared by false expectations.
The Need For Leadership
There will be a critical need for strong Christian leadership during the Tribulation. As previously stated, look to those who have the Seal. As shown above, you will be able to tell during the first "woe" who they are. Listen to them, even if they are people you didn’t think much of before the Tribulation began. You may be surprised by who gets the Seal and who doesn’t. Christians you looked down on may surprise you by receiving the Seal. On the other hand, you may have had a wonderful pastor who had a congregation in the hundreds or even in the thousands. Many people may have been "saved, healed and delivered" under his ministry. But if, say for example, one of those mysterious locusts stings him, then don’t listen to a word he says during the Tribulation. He wasn’t ready, and he may actually be in worse shape spiritually than you are. Apparent success in ministry is not a valid measure of a Christian leader’s spiritual state. Look at Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. During the Tribulation. Christians are going to need leaders who are really close to the Lord. You can be sure that those who have the Seal are.
And of course, look to the Two Witnesses, above all, once they appear. Even if you don’t like them.
3. "You won’t have to suffer for your faith": Satan’s Big Lie.
I submit to you that Satan’s most treacherous lie to the Christians of our time is the belief that they will not have to go through the Tribulation, and the idea that they will be taken out of it before it’s over is almost as bad. Either of these false expectations may be the cause of some Christians taking the Mark of the Beast and losing their salvation. Even if that doesn’t happen, both errors, and especially the former, will set them up for a terrible surprise and a disappointment that will seriously shake their faith.
Remember that Jesus told us, in Luke 21:35, that the Tribulation "will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth". This will include most Christians. The only exceptions will be the Christians who are ready. There are at least three major lines of teaching relevant to the Second Coming that are setting Christians up for a terrible surprise. The biggest, of course, is Pre-Trib Rapture. The second is the Amillenialist view that expects that Christ will return, the world will be judged, and the saints taken to Heaven, and that will be that. Then there is the "dominion" view that teaches that Christians will take the world for Christ and the Lord will return simply to take His earthly throne. (As stated elsewhere, I think that this theoretically could happen if Christians really started obeying God and uniting in prayer, but I don’t believe it will.) All these views contain an underlying belief that is dear to the hearts of Laodecian Christians. It is the belief that Christians in general won’t have to really suffer for their faith. The Pre-Tribbers are the most up front about believing this, but all three views believe it. Yet it is inconsistent with both the Scriptures and the history of the Church.
Corrie Ten Boom understood suffering for Christ as few living Christians do. In case you are not familiar with her, her entire family was arrested by the Nazis for helping Jews to escape the Holocaust. All of them were sent to the death camps, where most of them died. Corrie escaped as a result of a miraculous clerical error. She went on to be a powerful evangelist. The Lord used her story to bring many Christians to a life of deeper commitment to Christ. I’m one of them. I once heard her tell of a missionary who taught Pre-Trib Rapture to Christians in China before the Communist takeover. After the takeover, something in the vicinity of 20 million Christians were martyred in China. The missionary told Corrie, in tears, that some of the Chinese Christians, whom he had taught that they wouldn’t have to suffer "Tribulation", cursed him to his face before they died. For them, the Communist takeover was their "Great Tribulation". Their story forms a living parable of the damage that this false teaching can do. As any Christian should know, the history of our Faith is a trail of martyr’s blood, including Corrie Ten Boom’s family. Why should we be any different?
As has been previously stated in these booklets, those who aren’t ready will suffer the most during the Tribulation. They will suffer the chastening of God and the wrath of the Beasts. But the Bible does show that once the Tribulation has started, particularly during the Second Woe, they will realize how sinful they’ve been and repent. See Revelation 7: 13 & 14. But there are specific things that they must do if they hope to benefit from their repentance during the Tribulation. The warning of Revelation 16:15 applies to the penitents too. And they must do things that aren’t included in what has been said so far.
4. Unity: The Key to Survival
It has been said that one of the main reasons why Christians will go through the Tribulation is that they have allowed so much division to exist in the Church, while they know that the Lord wants unity. There are some Churches today that claim to be trying to restore unity to the Church as a whole. As I was writing this booklet, I discovered Web sites on the Internet that were run by about a half dozen such Churches. The shocking thing was that while each made that claim as being their purpose, each was simultaneously taking a hard line on a doctrinal position that would absolutely cause division. (I make no claim to trying to restore unity to the Church in this age; I believe it is useless to try.)
During the Tribulation, Christians must renounce their denominational differences and start agreeing in Christ as they never have done since the days of the Apostles. It has been well said that the word "denomination" should be spelled "A-B-O-M-I-N-A-T-I-ON". When the Tribulation begins, Christians must renounce being "Baptists" or "Methodists" or "Presbyterians" or whatever other unscriptural labels (and there are many, far too many such labels) they use to separate themselves from other saints, and just start regarding themselves as Christians.
Therefore one of the most important things that Christians are going to have to repent of is adhering to and fighting for the doctrines, whether Scripturally permissible or false, that cause needless division in the Church. As stated in the third booklet of this series, one of the meanings of the word "Laodicea" is "peoples opinions", and the other is "people judged". During the Tribulation, Christians will be judged, in part, because of their opinions; that is, their adherence to "doctrines" instead of real obedience. When Christians find themselves in the Great Tribulation without being ready, they must accept that many of the disputable doctrines that they have been clinging to and fighting for are really lies of the devil. Or at best, their attitudes towards these doctrines are of the flesh and not of God. (See Galatians 5:20.) As stated in the first booklet, a heresy is not necessarily a false doctrine, but rather a doctrine, or more specifically, a doctrinal stance, that causes division. [5] Christians will have to repent of believing in and/or fighting for any doctrine that needlessly separates Christians. If a person professes to be Christian, accept him as your brother. Don’t even ask what he believes about such and such. Only be concerned that he believes that Jesus Christ died for our sins and arose from the dead, and that he believes that Jesus will come again.
Unity among Christians will probably have serious material benefits once the Tribulation has begun. When the False Prophet starts making people take the Mark of the Beast, unity among Christians may keep many of them from starving to death. Christians will need unity such as hasn’t existed in the Church since the days of the first Church in Jerusalem following Pentecost. "Now the multitude of those who believed where of one heart and one soul; neither died anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common" (Acts 4:32). This is what Christians will have to do during the Tribulation. Christians will have to start fulfilling the conditions of love in action in I John 3:17 & 18: "But whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth." During the Tribulation, Christians must organize themselves to share their material resources, and they must not let doctrinal differences keep them from doing so. This is something we should always have been doing, but that Christians in our time rarely do, and then only in limited groups. During the Tribulation, doing this will be necessary for survival. Christians acting in unity will be able to accomplish the meeting of their needs more effectively than they could acting individually.
Christians will have to start looking out for each other in any way they can, to a degree that only happens now occasionally in isolated groups. Christians will have to start really "laying down their lives for their friends". This phrase, as used in John 15:13 is not about dying for your friends, as is commonly thought. Rather, by the context, it is about really being a servant to your friends. See verse 14, and also I John 3:16. All Christians must really start putting this concept into practice during the Tribulation. And the Lord will bless it.
Unity in Prayer
In addition to their lack of unity generally, Christians must repent of their neglect of prayer. During the Tribulation, Christians are going to need unity in prayer such as hasn’t happened since Pentecost. Christians must get serious about praying for each other. They must pray for their leaders. Strange as this may sound, yet most important, they must pray for the actual Second Coming of Christ. As has been stated previously, almost everything that happened in the Bible of major significance was an answer to prayer. The First Coming of Christ was an answer to prayer. The Bible identifies two specific people who were praying for His Coming, the Prophet Simeon and the Prophetess Anna. What is said about them also implies that they were engaged in persistent, prevailing prayer for His Coming. They were rewarded by being allowed to live to see their prayers answered, in the person of the Baby Jesus.
Believe it or not, even the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was an answer to prayer. As it says in Hebrews 5:7; "....who (Jesus) in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear." In other words, the Father’s answer to Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was not "No", as some Christians may erroneously think. Rather, it was "I’ve got a better idea", which is often His answer to our petitions. See Ephesians 3:20 & 21. Prayer brought the First Coming of Christ. Prayer brought the Resurrection of Christ. Prayer will bring the Second Coming. But not until Christians really unite in praying for it. Once the Tribulation has started, they must, and I believe they will. Especially during the Third Woe.
There is a miniature example of what will happen in Acts 12. The wicked king Herod had killed the Apostle James, and had imprisoned Peter, planning to kill him, too. The Church in Jerusalem held a marathon prayer meeting in response to this. God answered first by sending an angel to release Peter from prison, and then with the horrible death of Herod. Herein is a serious but little known spiritual truth: the united prayers of Christians will not only bring blessings to believers; they will also bring God’s wrath on evil doers. I have seen this happen, more than once. There is a Biblical type of prayer that is not well known, and maybe that’s just as well, because it is a serious and potentially dangerous kind of prayer. It is called "imprecatory prayer". It is, believe it or not, the Christian equivalent of putting a curse on someone or something. The purpose of it is to stop evil. It is a kind of prayer that all mature Christians should engage in, yet they must know what they are doing. In praying this kind of prayer, it is important not to be seeking personal harm to anyone, even though you must recognize that, as in Herod’s case. the harm may well come. Leave that to God’s sovereignty. If you knowingly seek harm to anyone in prayer, that will grieve the Holy Spirit and short circuit the power of your prayer. Worse than that, any harm to other people that you pray for may come back to you. Remember, the principle of sowing and reaping applies to prayer! The intent of an imprecatory prayer must be primarily to stop evil, and secondarily to seek God’s mercy and salvation for the people who are doing it. But understand that God may view the perpetrators of the evil as being beyond repentance. If He does, His answer to the prayer will be to destroy them.
I have seen several demonstrations of the power of united prayer to stop evil, beside the one mentioned in Section 1, Chapter 2. One of them was related to the Democratic Party Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1976. That was the one where Jimmy Carter was nominated to be the President of the United States. Remember that this was toward the end of the hippie-yippie-anti-Vietnam war movement. The police in New York City were afraid that the Convention would produce something like the riots that happened in connection with the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. They went to some serious extremes with security measures. But something that a group of Christians did, including yours truly, made their security measures wholly unnecessary.
The young, dynamic pastor of an on-fire Church in New York City got the idea of having a marathon prayer meeting on the street outside Madison Square Garden during the Convention. His Church was not allowed to set up directly outside the Garden, but was granted permission to used sidewalk space on the other side of 7th Avenue. We (I was very much involved) built a beautiful pavilion that displayed a big banner reading "100 Hours of Prayer for America". During the convention, a group of committed Christians took four hour shifts and prayed continuously throughout the whole time the Convention was in progress. During that time, a number of people who came by got witnessed to and some got saved. Several new members were added to the Church. A few of us, again including yours truly, got to share our faith in front of TV cameras. But that was just icing on the cake.
The violence the police were afraid of never happened, except for one small disturbance on 8th Avenue, on the other side of Madison Square Garden from where we were. Instead, a supernatural peace came down on New York City such as I have never experienced before or since. Neither has anyone else. It was so tangible that even the secular news media took note of it. The crime rate in New York, and not just around the Garden, took a noticeable drop during that period. The Convention itself seemed to be full of peace and love. For those 100 hours, the peace of Heaven came down on New York City.
I have seen more of the power of united prayer than that. During the late seventies, I, having seen the two incidents mentioned already, and having read the book by Derek Prince mentioned earlier, took it upon myself to organize a small anti-cult ministry that was based on the principle of united prayer combined with evangelism. One of my particular campaigns was against a parade that was held by the Hare Krishna cult that was called "The Festival of the Chariots". The central event of the festival was a parade highlighted by a parade of "chariots" carrying idols up 5th Avenue one day, and back down the next. Taking a cue from the book of Exodus, chapter 14, I got Christians to pray that God would break the wheels of those chariots. Now, I didn’t know that those chariots would also be carrying people. They were like huge hay wagons, and there were over 20 people on each "chariot", and if the wheels had collapsed while they were moving (which is what I wanted), many of them could have gotten hurt. I wouldn’t have prayed for that.
I also organized a street evangelism effort in connection with this, using tracts that gave the testimony of a Christian who was an ex-Hare Krishna. At the height of this event, I got to deliver a testimony concerning the Lordship of Christ and the truth of His Resurrection in front of a TV News camera. Part of it was broadcast. But the most interesting thing that happened was that there were supposed to be three of those "chariots" in the parade. As it happened, only two went up 5th Avenue, and only one went back. The day after the festival was over , "just by chance" I found out why the other two had dropped out. For some strange reason, they both had broken wheels.
I might add that around the same time, I did my best to encourage Christians to pray against the Moonies. Note that this was several years after the rally at Yankee Stadium. Not long after I started doing that, Rev. Moon was arrested, tried and convicted (I forget exactly what for) and went to prison. This didn’t stop the Unification Church, but it dealt a serious blow to their credibility as a religious movement. They’ve kept a lower profile in New York City, at least, ever since. There is limitless power in united prayer, especially when accompanied by fasting, and if used in connection with evangelism. Power to bring sinners to Christ, and power to stop evil. Power to really take the world for Christ. But this is power that the Church as a whole has not used since the persecution of Saul. And that neglect is one of the reasons why there will be a Tribulation and Christians will go through it.
Therefore, during the Tribulation, Christians must unite in prayer for the end of the reign of the Beasts and the actual Second Coming of Christ. This must be, and I believe will be, a major endeavor of the surviving Christians during the Tribulation, again especially during the latter part. In their prayers, they must not pray for evil to come to the followers of the Beast, but should seek God’s mercy for them. This, even though such mercy probably won’t be granted. Frankly, for those who take the Mark of the Beast, the greatest mercy they can hope to receive from God will be a quick death. That, many of them will get, especially at Armageddon. In the case of the Beasts themselves, pray for neither harm nor mercy. Pray for justice. God is a God of justice, and one thing that Christians can do, in any relevant situation, is pray for justice to be done. Leave the precise definition of that justice to God, but do pray for justice. That is all that will be needed, relevant to the Beasts. We already know what God will do to them.
There is an old saying that "the darkest hour is just before dawn". This will almost certainly prove true for Christians toward the end of the Tribulation. When the Tribulation is over, Christianity will have almost totally disappeared. As it says in Daniel 12:7, "...when the power of the holy people (that’s us!) has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished". This is not good news. There will still be living Christians, both those who have the Seal and the penitents. But they’ll be scattered and in hiding. Frankly, they may also be starving. They will be able to do virtually nothing that constitutes overt ministry. The one thing they will be able to do is pray. And that, I am sure they will do. They will be praying as I have described, and as I showed in the last booklet, their prayers will be answered. The Lord will come.
5. A Time For Testimony
A final, and perhaps the most difficult, requirement for Christians during the Tribulation is that they must be witnesses for Christ during that time. As the Book of Revelation (12:11) says of Christians during that time, in reference to the Beast, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives unto death". Testifying for Christ during the Tribulation isn’t just going to be the Two Witnesses’ job. It’s going to be the job of every Christian. In fact, it is really every Christian’s job now, but many Christians don’t do their job. That’s another reason why they will go into the Tribulation without protection. Once the Tribulation begins, every Christian will have to get "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord". [6] At least during the second "woe", there will have to be the biggest united mass evangelism effort by Christians that the world has ever seen. Every Christian who wants to be protected during the third "woe" had better get involved. And this in spite of the fact that it will be common knowledge that witnessing for Christ is likely to have fatal consequences. It will be like being back in the Church of Smyrna, only worse. This effort will end with the death of the Two Witnesses, and probably won’t even be possible after the third "woe" begins. But before that, every Christian must be involved in it. You must not try to run and hide!
The point is that even though you may not be an overcomer when the Tribulation begins, you can and must, like the "foolish virgins" (that's what you are if you aren't ready) become an overcomer after it starts. If you do, the promises given to the overcomers of Smyrna and Laodecia will come to you. If you don’t, you will probably lose your salvation. All Christians, at all times, are called to be witnesses for Christ. During the Tribulation, being a witness will be the price of salvation, even though that salvation will be very likely obtained by way of cruel imprisonment and/or martyrdom. Even then, the chances of materially "getting away with it" will be better if all Christians are doing it in unity. Face this: many Christians will not "get away with it". Many will seal their testimony with their blood. But those who do are guaranteed to reign with Christ.
To be ready for the Tribulation means being ready to be a courageous witness. That means you should get in the witnessing habit right now. Start developing personal evangelism skills. Start really learning and memorizing the passages of Scripture that are useful for evangelism. [7] Start learning the answers to the questions that unsaved people throw at Christians. Learn how to simply and clearly communicate the basic doctrines of salvation. Learn to practice what Campus Crusade for Christ calls "way of life witnessing", wherein you just automatically witness to everyone you have any kind of ongoing contact with. Start praying for, and cultivating with practice, the spiritual quality of "holy boldness". During the Tribulation you are going to need it. At the same time, learn how to be simultaneously bold and courteous. Christians have, by being rude in the way they presented their witness, turned many people off to the Gospel. During the Tribulation, rudeness in witnessing could cost you your life. It could be another way to give Satan an opportunity to destroy you. See II Timothy 2:24 &25. Go to work on being an effective witness for Christ now. Remember, overcomer or not, the more you are being obedient to the Lord now, the better off you’ll be once the Tribulation starts.
Once the Tribulation begins, if you are able to do so at all, start going with organized evangelism by any means with which you can accomplish it. If at all possible, Christians should do this in teams. They will be more effective that way, and it will be safer. Your efforts should at least follow the Biblical pattern of two-by-two; that is, the witnessing should be done in teams of at least two people. Don’t worry about what kind of response you get. Unfortunately, there probably won’t be much. However, there is reason to believe that many Jews, in particular, will turn to Christ during the Tribulation. It will probably help you in witnessing to them if you can show them, in accord with this message, that what is happening was prophesied in the Book of Revelation. This will also help in reviving backslider and lukewarm Christians who might not have heard this message. Part of your testimony will be to alert the whole world as to what is really going on. You can help prepare to do that by helping now to pass on the message of this ministry.
Afterword:
In conclusion, remember what Jesus said about the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24:21: "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be". It will be the worst thing that will ever happen to the human race. Bad things will happen during the Tribulation that have never happened before and that will never happen again afterward. Everyone will be hurting. But at least during the second "woe", (which is the longest part of the Tribulation) the Christians who weren’t ready will be hurting the most of all. You can’t take this too seriously. So get serious about being ready. Remember also what Jesus said in Luke 21:25: "It will come as a snare (which is to say, a terrible surprise) on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth". Christians will not be an exception to the rule Especially not those who aren’t ready. Don’t put off being ready. Like getting saved, if you put off getting ready "until later", you may never get the chance. There has never been a time when it was more important for Christians to be "Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth". So get ready and stay ready. Now!
Appendix: Samson; A "Stranger And Pilgrim" who failed.
In the Introduction, it was said, based on Hebrews 11:13, that the heroes of the Old Testament regarded themselves as "Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth". Let’s look briefly at their lives. As the Scripture says, "time would fail me" to consider everyone mentioned. Here we see descriptions of bold acts of faith that most modern Christians can barely relate to; Moses confronting Pharaoh, David facing Goliath, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Consider Noah, building the Ark and preaching righteousness for over a 100 years with no apparent converts outside his own family. These are stories we tell in Sunday School. Think of Abraham, leaving his family and homeland behind to go he-knew-not-where. We must fully realize that these are all things that really happened. They are not just allegories. All of these men had to take truly courageous stands for their faith. They took enormous risks in obedience to God. More than most Christians today are ever called upon to take. How many of us could take the kind of stands for our faith that they took? We may have to face the full fury of Satan via the Beasts. We will only be able to do it if we make a serious effort to be ready now.
But in the list of heroes in Hebrews 11, there is one name that in a way doesn’t belong. It is the name of Samson. Although we can assume he was a man of great faith, and although he did do what is was prophesied by the angel that he would do, namely beginning the deliverance of Israel from Philistine oppression, he was nevertheless, compared to the other heroes, a failure in his life and ministry. The reason was that he wasn’t sufficiently committed to being a stranger and a pilgrim. He let the world get to him in the person of a treacherous woman named Delilah. He considered his relationship with her more important than his Nazarite relationship with God, and he walked into a vicious betrayal with his eyes wide open. He lost first his eyes and his freedom, and then his life. This is a good parable of what may happen during the Tribulation to Christians who aren’t ready.
Yet Samson was one of the most superhumanly powerful men of God who ever walked the earth. He was very specially chosen. The Bible says that his birth was foretold by an angel, a distinction he shares only with John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. He was also, like John, a Nazarite from birth. He was clearly something very special. Just how special he was can be determined by studying the Biblical accounts of his miracles. He wasn’t just exceptionally strong, he was a real life superhero. I mean, if Batman or Spiderman were real people, and they had fought Samson, he would have defeated them easily. And he had his superpowers all the time, as long as he kept his relationship with the Lord intact. Contrary to popular opinion, his long hair wasn’t the source of his strength; the Holy Spirit was. See Judges 14:6. His long hair was just a token of the special covenant he had with God. He actually broke the covenant when he told Delilah the secret of his strength. He already had plenty of reason to believe that she would respond by giving him a haircut. See Judges 16: 6-15.
And, again, he wasn’t just exceptionally strong. In the verse referred to above, he killed a lion barehanded. Do you have any idea how much strength that would take? A traveler in Africa some years ago saw a lion jump a ten foot fence with a cow (circa 900-1200 lbs.) in its mouth. Samson had to have been far stronger than that lion. Again, Judges 16:3 tells of Samson ripping out the gate and gateposts of the city of Gaza. We’re not talking about a little garden gate. This was the gate of a fortified city. The kind of gate that it would have taken a battering ram to break through. He would have needed the power of a big bulldozer to do that. More than that, he put the gates, posts and bars on his shoulders and carried them to Hebron. First of all, those gates had to have weighed several tons! The distance from Gaza to Hebron is about forty miles. It includes a climb up a 3000 ft. mountain. More than that, he may have done it with Philistines in pursuit. So you see how strong he had to be. Not only that, but he was also super fast and super agile. This is shown in Judges 15: 4, when he caught the 300 foxes [8] . It would have taken forever to trap them. He must have run them down and caught them - barehanded. There is also reason to believe that he was invulnerable to injury when fighting. This would have been necessary when he tackled the lion and when he caught the foxes. It would have also been necessary when he killed the 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass (Judges 15:15). He couldn’t have killed that many if they had all been running away. The Philistines weren’t cowards. They were probably trying very hard to kill him. See I Samuel 4: 6-10.
If, instead of failing so tragically, Samson could have fulfilled his potential, he could have wiped out the Philistines. He was an invincible one-man army. He could have put a complete end to idolatry in Israel. He could have brought all the surrounding nations to their knees. And he could have lived at least twice as long as he did. Under his leadership, Israel could have become the most powerful nation of his day. Just the evidence of his superhuman power might have persuaded all the surrounding nations to start worshipping the God of Israel. This would have brought peace to Israel for generations. Samson could have been, in fact, a kind of Messiah. The circumstances of his birth certainly make it look like that was God’s idea. He was giving Israel a chance to fulfill their true mission as a nation. [9] Samson blew it all for a dangerous relationship.
God did allow Samson to get his strength back one last time, in the Philistine temple. But all he was able to do with it was to get final revenge, and he killed himself in the process. This is a good analogy to the fate of Christians who aren’t ready when the Tribulation begins. They may get right with God, and even receive the anointing of His Spirit, but it won’t do them much good during the Tribulation. However, being right with God will enable them to participate in the united effort in prayer that will bring the actual Second Coming of Christ. They will probably be able to reign with Christ in the Millenium. But they will have been saved, "so as through fire". That will hurt!
Anyone who allows anything the world has to offer come between himself and being ready for the Second Coming is being as foolish as Samson was. If you want to be ready, you must really be willing to deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow Jesus. [10] And don’t expect it to be easy.
Against the tragic failure of Samson, we have set the example of the glorious victory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the course of His ministry on earth, He did all that He set out to do: living a sinless, life, laying the foundation for the Church through His disciples, and above all, dying for our sins and rising from the dead. At the heart of His victory was the attitude expressed prophetically in Psalm 4:6-8, and quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7: "Behold I come to do thy will, O God!" And implied in this is, "and nothing but your will!" More than anything else, even beyond His being the Son of God, and being anointed with the Holy Spirit without limit, the secret of His success was His single minded devotion to doing His Father’s will; everywhere and in every way, regardless of the cost.
And don’t think it was easy. Samson could have said to himself, "there are other fish in the sea", and walked right out of Delilah’s door when she asked for his secret. But he gave right in to the temptation. On the other hand, think of Jesus sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. Do you know why He was sweating blood? It was because of the great emotional and spiritual battle that was going on inside of Him. He knew exactly what was coming if He didn’t get up and run away. His flesh no more wanted to go through with the arrest, torture and crucifixion than yours and mine would. His spirit was fighting his fear, and the fear wasn’t giving up easily. Few humans have ever known the severity of temptation that Jesus endured that night. He was already suffering for our sins long before He was nailed to the Cross. Jesus won the battle. And because He won, you and I can win. If we really fight the good fight; if we really run the race; if we really keep the faith! But to win, we must live for Him with the same single minded zeal that He had. We’re not likely to be ready for the Great Tribulation without it.
So I say to you, for the last time in this series:
Jesus REALLY is coming soon.
BE READY!!!
Notes for Part III