In part one we talked about how things are transpiring in our world, and in our nation, in the light of biblical prophecy. Many people are responding to these events, whether you're talking about natural disasters, or political ones, with fear and apprehension.
Some are reacting by conducting their lives in certain ways (preppers for example are stockpiling because of the scare of food shortages; due to impending gun control legislation [or is it being legislated?] others are buying up guns and ammunition, etc.) but how is the church of Jesus Christ to respond to these things that are transpiring in these biblical "last days"?
Those who are reading their Bibles and obeying what our LORD told us to do... "Watch and pray" as we observe the very signs that He spoke about (See Matthew ch. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21 for these signs) understand that we are in fact living in the last days prior to the Return of Jesus Christ - not a terror event for those who are ready for Him . . . but for those who are not? Or are even rejecting Jesus Christ and His claims? . . .
What ROLE WILL WE 'PLAY' ON THIS GLOBAL STAGE in its final acts prior to the LORD's RETURN?
More information has come to me recently regarding events in our world that should prove interesting for you to review . . .
Just as Nazi Germany and other regimes that centered around governmental control over their respective populations have slowly eroded the freedoms of the citizenry so too we are seeing this occur here in our modern world, and certainly no less in the United States of America - in the land of the once free, home of the used-to-be brave. Have a look at the following article:
AMERICANS BEING STRIPPED OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.
A quote from the above article at www.washington'sblog.com:
"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter."
Please note that not everything on this site is endorsed by the author of The RED PILL Consortium. I haven't had time to track down all of the items that are linked in this article re: our Constitutional rights, but many of them I am aware of, such as the strictly adhered to policy of arresting, detaining and incarceration of protestors who are within a certain parameter of public officials (whether the President or any associated with the Executive Branch at the Federal levels), the ever increasing governmental profile on what constitutes a 'potential terrorist' (there is a very long list at the article above!), etc.
The above article covers our Constitutional Rights under Amendments One through Ten and how our Federal government is overriding them, amassing greater power for itself, effectively being isolated from the American people and accountability to them!
You may well be interested in noting the 'Constitution-Free Zones' that parallel our national borders and in the name of security, have neutralized such Constitutional rights in these zones . . . which measure 100 miles inland from all of our borders! Note the States of Maine, almost all of New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Florida, and border cities such as Tucson, AZ (my current hometown), and most of the major U.S. cities on the coast of California. What will be going on in the Constitution-Free Zones? Read the article at Washington's Blog to read up and then do your own research to verify these claims.
Here is a report that I've heard now from different sources over the years (the first time in 1993), that the U.S. government has ordered the manufacture and delivery of thousands of . . . guillotines?!?
On an academic level this is rather interesting when one considers the primary method of execution in the last days of those who refuse their allegiance to the Beast, the son of perdition, is beheading:
REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Not only have these been produced (apparently 30,000 of them in total) and stored in ware houses in two different States, Montana and Georgia; they are ready for use. Likewise the DHS has ordered what amounts to nearly 1 billion rounds of hollow point bullets once the order is filled! We covered some of this in another RED PILL article previously:
KEEPING AN EYE ON THE EYE.
Here is the article for your own review:
Guillotines and Bullets. Information about the actual production and preparation for use of guillotines can be confirmed here. Also in the Guillotines and Bullets article it is described how FEMA will be the 'top dog' of operations once Martial Law is declared at the national level. Listed in this article (and on other articles on RED PILL) are internment/prison camps, state by state. There is a list of executive orders that have been put in place over the course of thirty years and can be activated at any time!
On a more local level, I have just come into some information regarding Tucson, AZ (my place of residence these days); apparently the City Council has surrendered many of their civil authority to the military:
TUCSON UNDER MARTIAL LAW NOW? This seems to be confirmed at the following report here.
So what do we make of all of this as Christians? As the disciples of Jesus Christ, how are we to respond to the potential threat of our way of life we have enjoyed as believers in God and His Holy Word, the Bible?
As our LORD told us already:
MATTHEW 10: 22 - 28
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
And again a couple verses dowm:
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Though this land of America has been founded (at the very least among the believing faith of its citizens if not its statesmen) on Holy Scripture and its principles. Yet this two hundred year history has been something rather unique in the world and throughout history. In most parts of the world, in most of the annals of history, Christianity has been opposed and many times violently so. Such time as we have previously enjoyed our civil liberties as Christians to live out our biblical faith overtly appears to be drawing to a close; yet with liberty or not from a civic standpoint - we must continue to live our lives with biblical faith.
We have long known as followers of Jesus Christ that this whole world lies in wickedness (1 JOHN 5:19) and that the god ("ruler") of this world is Satan (a.k.a. Lucifer; 2 COR 4:4), and that any who would prefer friendship with this rebel planet of sin and defiance against the rightful rule of the KING of RIGHTEOUSNESS is at enmity with God (JAMES 4:4). While the LORD God loves the souls He has made and always seeks the lost to bring them at His own invitation into redemption through the LORD Jesus Christ; He is utterly opposed to Satan and the kingdom of darkness, which all unsaved people belong to as children of darkness (EPH 5:8; 1 THESS 5:5).
It isn't any wonder, nor should we be surprised to know that as we live and breath on this planet, as citizens of heaven, members of the kingdom of God, we are in a very real sense, in 'enemy territory' and are in a war against Satan and his minions just as our Captain of our Salvation initiated its final battle plans when He infiltrated this wicked world at His incarnation!
The HOLY Crusade
Saints, we have a mission from the LORD and it is two-fold: WAR and PEACE is our mission - war upon Satan and all the principalities and powers in the form of spiritual warfare (EPH 6:10-18; prayer, sanctification, and the Gospel in delivering souls out of their destructive domain) and peace in offering to the lost souls the GOSPEL of PEACE (ROM 10:15; EPH 6: 15) by which they can find peace with God (ROM 5: 1-3).
We are at the command of our KING, to "love our enemies" and to "do good to those that hate" us (MATT 5: 44; LUKE 6: 27). We must always remember that we are ambassors of Christ to this world that hates us just as it hated our LORD and crucified Him, and our conduct should always reflect this holy office that our LORD has granted us. Ambassadors never deliver policies to the enemy that are contrary to the edicts and directives of their governments and they always rightly reflect the culture and protocols of their native land.
We are to do no less than deliver the Gospel message to our enemies and to conduct ourselves in accord to our native heavenly kingdom.To do anything less is dishonoring to our King in Whose Name we represent His Holy Order of the Kingdom.
I believe that this is the role every believer in this nation of ours is to play, but without hypocrisy or pretense (and persecution will deliver from the church any so-called Christians and pretenders of the faith!). We are to follow the Holy Script that has been penned for us by our Divine Director and not ad-lib anything at all, but to stay true to the words that we ought not to premeditate, but rely upon the Holy Spirit to speak through us those words of truth (MARK 13:11)!
For too long we saints have lived pampered and prosperous lives, growing comfortable in the world and growing cold towards the LORD. Satan has used prosperity and ease to accomplish what he could not with persecution, and he has won over many who are seemingly willing to capitulate to his will, but not all! And those few that are still faithful to the LORD, who have kept His Word and have not denied His Name are his primary targets now in this nation!
REVELATION 3: 7-9
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
I believe that the time has come that the church here in America will join the suffering and persecuted church the world over. Many of us have heard that the church in China is actually praying for persecution to come to America, that she might be cleansed of her impurities that would seek to rot the body from within - and it is difficult not to agree with this assessment or the prayer!
We need not fear pain, suffering, persecution, destitution, rejection and mockery . . . or blood and death; these are the very hallowed items of our heritage from the very birth of the church until now. Since they have done these very things to our King, how can we expect anything different?
JOHN 15: 17-19
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
I am reminded of the 19th century hymn written by James Russell Lowell:
Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever, ’twixt that darkness and that light.
Then to side with truth is noble, when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and ’tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses while the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.
By the light of burning martyrs, Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calv’ries ever with the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth,
They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.
Though the cause of evil prosper, yet the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.
We must rest assured that no matter what transpires in the days ahead, any wrong suffered by the saints of the living God, any injustice laid upon us, any pain or humiliation - nothing escapes the watchful eye of our LORD and for every ounce of suffering we endure, we shall obtain a ton of reward
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
It has often been the gleeful mockery of tormentors and inquisitors who have had saints strapped down and with instruments of pain laid out at their disposal for such wicked devices of the diabolical sort to taunt the tormented with such words as these:
"If your God is so Almighty and if He is so loving as you claim, then surely He would do anything to save His child, which you also claim to be, from such things as you are about to suffer! Let us test this theory and see if God comes to your rescue!"
To which our reply should be:
"The test is not God's love for me, but my love for Him. As for His test, He already endured it and has won the victory. He has been to the cross already, He has suffered all of my sins and those of the entire world and their punishments at the Holy Judgment of God the Father. He has demonstrated such love for me in this, and now it is my turn to demonstrate my love for Him in these small sufferings which cannot compare at the heights of their anguish with the least of those that He suffered!"
We shall be brave in the name of Jesus Christ our LORD; we shall face whatever adversity that comes our way, stamped with approval by our heavenly Father Who knows all things and will work all things together for the good of those that love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). May we glorify our LORD and honor Him by such faithful and unswerving loyalty and devotion that He is worthy, so very worthy of, no matter how dark the hour may get, no matter how wicked the age in which we live may become.
So let us keep our eyes to the skies and not believe the lies, for the LORD JESUS CHRIST RETURNS SOON FROM ON HIGH! MARANATHA! EVEN SO, COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!
May the LORD GOD and our FATHER grant to us the grace sufficient for these things! In Jesus Christ's Most Holy Name we pray!
