In countries where Christians are persecuted and suppressed Christianity is increasing rapidly. This has happened for example in China and more recently, in the Arabic world. How do persecuted Christians see their life and faith? What is the secret of their success and why the number of Christians tend to rise in the middle of persecution?
For Such a Time as This
By Karen Connell
God has a DESTINY or a predetermined course of events planned for this end time age that we are now living in and also for His special chosen people, called the Saints, who are the Bride of Christ. We who are part of God’s HOLY NATION are destined to do GREAT EXPLOITS for Him, such as bringing the message of deliverance from sin and Satan, to those who become willing to answer God’s call to become part of His family, by being born again. Being delivered from the kingdom of darkness and the evil plans of those who hate God and His people, is part of their destiny. In light of God’s destiny for His people in these last days, I immediately think of what was said to Esther, when she was faced with having to make the choice of entering into the destiny God had chosen for her, or to just play it safe and not put her life on the line for God and His people…
(Esther 4:14) If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief …will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were “destined” for just such a time as this?”
There are two very important things revealed in the above verse. Firstly, God had chosen Esther to SPEAK and EXPOSE the plans of the enemy that would have destroyed not only her and her family, but multitudes of God’s people as well. FULFILLING her destiny, however, was a CHOICE she knew could cost her life, but she chose to make that choice despite the cost.
Secondly, it is important to note the fact that God’s destined plan of delivering His people, was going to be fulfilled, even if she chose NOT to fulfill her part in God’s plan. For she was told deliverance for His people could “arise from some other place” if she chose not to fulfill her “destiny.” Not fulfilling our destiny at God’s appointed times, will have personal consequences for us, just as it would have for Esther, who was told, “If you keep quiet… you and your relatives will die.
Fortunately for Esther, her family and all of God’s people, her decision was to speak out about the enemies and expose them, which resulted in salvation for her, her family and the people of God.
The destiny God gave to Esther, is the same destiny that is given to every true follower of Jesus Christ…
(Ephesians 2:10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God pre-DESTINED that we should walk in them.
So what is it God PREDESTINED for every follower of Jesus?
(Mark 16:15-16) He said to them, “Go into all the world, and PREACH THE GOOD NEWS to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
(Matthew 28:19-20) Go ye therefore, and TEACH ALL NATIONS (ALT: disciple all ethnic groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost… Teaching them to observe all things WHATSOEVER (ALT: as much as) I have COMMANDED (ALT: accomplished in) you…
There we have it! Like Esther we are to open our mouths and preach the gospel and make disciples among all ethic groups.
The Fall of America is Due to Silent Christians
It greatly grieves me that professing Christians are so deceived about WHY what’s happening in this nation has been able to occur. It is not because of our politics or political leaders. It is because every follower of our Savior have NOT been preaching and teaching SINNERS the truth of the Gospel and making followers of Jesus among all people everywhere. Instead, professing Christians as a whole have been silent and have not fulfilled their preordained destiny. As a result, the forces of darkness have been able to prevail, not only in the lives of the unrepentant pagans and heathen, but also in the lives of God’s unrepentant people in this nation. It is a sad fact that for generations, professing Christians have been kept busy by demonic forces fighting among their selves in order to keep their denominational practices, tradtions and doctrines (of men) in tact. It is sickening to see the pride and hypocrisy among professing Christians who refuse to humble themselves and allow God to search their own lives and reveal any leaven that is present.
Since the birth of Christianity, the spiritual battle for the souls of humanity has been raging in the heavenlies and has manifested in the lives of humans here on earth. Those of us who name the name of Christ are supposed to be exposing the forces of darkness, by preaching the true Gospel message, yet the broad road leading to destruction is filled with professing Christians who do nothing about obeying the great commision, given by Jesus Chirst to those who profess to have put their faith in Him as His follower. Faith without works is dead. For too long, Christians have hidden their light (by NOT sharing the Gospel), because the light has been covered over by believing the lie of the enemy that says, “we should not push our religion on other people” and “we need to be loving by being tolerant of diverse beliefs.” By doing so the enemy has advanced to where we now find ourselves living in a Twilight Zone of insanity, just as the Bible said we would…
(2 Timothy 3:1-9) Interlinear Literal translation Bible *NOTE: My comments are in parenthesis
“This, however, realize that in the last days there will be present times of great danger and difficulty… This will be because people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive to parents, disobedient, ungrateful and unholy … unloving, relentlessly hostile, slanderers, no self-control, savage, no love for what is good (i.e. in God’s eyes). They will be treacherous, reckless, inflated with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather that lovers of God… They will possess a form of godliness, but the supernatural power (of true godliness) is contradicted and refused to be identified with, these turn away from.
In generations past, God was feared and honored and the Bible was the accepted standard for truth and practice in many, if not most American families. They attended church and children went to Sunday School and were taught right and wrong according to the ten commandments and the teachings of Jesus Christ. However, in a lot of Christian circles, ones personal “faith” was more or less a “private” thing, not something to be shared with everyone. After all, this was America, the land of the free, where everyone has the right to believe and freely practice their “faith” in whatever way made them happy. Being “tolerant” of others beliefs gradually became the order of the day, thus silencing individual believers, who didn’t want to appear “intolerant” (i.e. unloving).
Thus, telling people they were “sinners” and that Jesus Christ was the only way to be to “saved” from their sin, was seen as being condemning and again “intolerant” … paving the way for other false gospels like the “social-political gospel” and the “self-enhancement-prosperity gospel.” These false gospels did not preach on sin, repentance, and living the required death to self and the sanctified life. It is now all about ME-MYSELF and I.
Because the true gospel (that exposes sin) was not being preached by God’s people as a whole, the “silent majority” of Christians, chose to remain so, when public Bible reading and prayer that invoked the name Jesus Christ as our God, was removed from public gatherings. There was no outcry from Believers when abortion, same sex marriage and gay rights became issues. Why? Because political correctness produced silence and silence breeds apostasy.
God in His foreknowledge knew that in the end, there would only be a small faithful remnant, who are body members of the Bride of Christ. They would be willing to pay the price to remain on the narrow road leading to life and fulfilling the Great Commission of preaching the true Gospel of of Christ. His Bride is the dwelling place for the true Saints of God, who will live in the light of the glory of the Lamb of God and with Him, rule and reign in His Kingdom as Kings and Priests unto their God…
(Revelation 21″2-3, 9-10) 2Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God… 9Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God.
Those of us in these end times, who have counted the cost and taken up our cross to follow and obey Jesus Christ our Savior and King, indeed understand that this not only means we are putting to death to our self-centered, selfish lives, but are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice of being put to death for making our uncompromising stand for the truth, and for being a follower of the Lord. With each passing day persecution and being put to death, becomes more and more of a reality as we see the beast system being incorporated world wide. Jesus made it clear that as a true follower of Him we are to expect to become targets of persecution for His sake.
(John 15:18-20) 18“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.
Knowing these things are a distinct possability, we must arm ourselves, not with carnal weapons to be used against our enemies and persecutors, but with the spiritual weapons of truth and love. For our protection lies in our brestplate of righteousness and in our shield of fatih. For we represent the true and living God, the Savior of mankind, who came to destroy the works of the devil…
(1 Peter 4:1-2, 7,8) 1Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God… 7The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Amen
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WE WILL BE TESTED… Soon
Will You Pass or fail?
By: Rob Pue
https://sonsoflibertymedia.com/we-will-all-be-tested-soon/
As I was currently working on an article concerning how the APOSTATE CHURCH has ended up in the great deception in which it finds itself, my attention was drawn to this article by Rob Pue. I would like share some of what he wrote because what he says weighs heavily upon my spirit also. I pray you take to heart what he says, although like me, I am amsure you have heard words like these, from other quarters, but they do bear repeating. Here is some of what Rob has to say…
“I do believe we are in for some terrible times in the days and weeks just ahead of us now. It may be that our cities and small towns will burn — destroyed by the wicked. Surely many will be injured or killed. Many more homes and businesses will be left in ruins. I don’t want to be a pessimist, but I do believe that what we have allowed to happen here in our country under our watch, cannot be undone now. We’ve passed the point of no return. Yes, sadly, I believe war is inevitable. And unlike our parents and grandparents, I don’t think we’re up to the task.
For decades, “good church-going Christians” were content to simply attend church regularly and do no more. They viewed church attendance and tithe-giving as “their reasonable service” even as Bible-reading was removed from our public schools; prayer was banned from our public schools; the Ten Commandments of God were replaced by false “hyper-grace” (and the prosperity), gospel message(s) in our churches. “Political correctness” replaced bold, courageous leadership, leaving the people as sheep without a shepherd, to fend for themselves, and so they adopted the ideology of pop culture and chose to obey tyrants rather than God; (opening the door to) the murder of our own innocent unborn babies, sanctioned from the highest court in the land. Also, homosexuality was normalized, then pridefully celebrated. Now it’s actually TAUGHT to our children in the public schools as something perfectly natural and normal!
This, of course, has led to Christians being forced, under “rule of law” to accept, affirm and celebrate sodomy too. Those who refused and chose, instead, to honor God and HIS laws have been prosecuted and persecuted, some losing everything. And this, of course, led to the “transgender” phenomenon, which is now leading to the normalization and celebration of pedophilia…. yes, the raping of our children.
And all the while, the vast majority of our churches here in America did nothing — absolutely nothing — to stop any of it. When individuals and ministries HAVE stood up to fight for God’s Word and Truth, they’ve been quickly shouted down by the “pastors” in most of our American pulpits — if not publicly, then certainly privately. Trust me, I know of what I speak. They’ve been persecuted by the “PASTORS” themselves — called “unloving,” “unChristlike,” and worse. These cowardly hirelings have instructed their flocks to “stay away” from such “radicals” who actually DO as God’s Word says. They pretend to honor God with their lips, spewing sweet-sounding platitudes that tickle itching ears, but their hearts have been FAR from God for several generations now.
And so today, the churches have been deemed “irrelevant” and “non-essential,” and indeed, I dare say, most of them are. Oh, many still do preach from the Bible. But they preach AROUND the “hard” things. They would never DARE to speak a single word or offer a single BIT of sound teaching about any of the grievous sins that have brought us to this place of judgment we find ourselves in today — for fear of offending one carnal, sinful soul.
So if you wonder “what in the world is happening?” as you go out of your house and see walking “dead” men and women with hopeless, fearful, vacant eyes peeking out from behind their masks — or others fearfully hiding in their homes, peeking out from behind closed curtains — or others rioting in the streets, tearing down everything good and Godly this country once stood for while those who are supposed to uphold law and order have been ORDERED to “stand down and let it all burn,” please understand that the answer is clear. We had our chance decades ago to uphold righteousness. But we preferred our own comfort over confronting and exposing the evil when it first NEEDED to be confronted, exposed and put down. We blew it. We failed!
(Apostate Chritians are dwarfed by the millions of reprobates and wolves in the pulpits that have arisen in this world, who will not preach that) God is not only a God of beauty, kindness and love, (but also a God of righteousness, truth and holiness … therefore), the writing is on the wall. Further unimaginable Judgment is coming to America and the world. Soon. (parenthesis contain added coments by Karen Connell).
It is imperative that we As Remnant Believers, prepare physically for the worst. Surely there’s coming a day very soon when the persecution will greatly intensify against Christians — REAL Christians, I mean. Many of us will not be able to work. Instant communication, as we know it today, through the internet will not only be more strictly censored, but Christians will be targeted and persecuted for speaking truth, much worse than we already are. Christianity will be a “hate crime” and a “thought crime.” Will we be allowed to buy or sell without a vaccine or a digital “mark” of some kind? Very likely not. Yes, we must assemble ourselves together with others of likemind and like faith and prepare ourselves physically and be prepared to protect and defend the innocent around us and those we love.
But at the same time, we have the daunting task of preparing our hearts and minds spiritually. We must determine NOW how we’re going to respond when that persecution comes to each of us personally. Will we simply comply with evil in order to survive? Or will we stand strong for our Savior, and give our ALL for our Lord as He has given for us?
After Jesus was arrested in the garden, His best friends, His disciples followed behind — at a distance — too fearful of being associated with Him, lest they, too, suffer at the hands of wicked men. Many today are still following Jesus at a distance. Too afraid of being “called names” or afraid of the opinions of carnal men. How will they respond when the devil comes to THEIR door? I think I hear a “cock crowing” somewhere…
Friends, what I’m saying is that if we expect to hear those words “Well done, thy good and faithful servant,” then we must prepare our hearts and minds now for persecution we cannot even imagine — because it WILL be worse than we think. We must determine to lay down our lives for the Lord. I have no problem with that, because I know what awaits me. I’ll gladly stand for Jesus — I’ve already survived many trials and tests, and I’m more than ready to go be with Him.
But what if it’s not MY life I’m asked to lay down, but the lives of those I love — because of MY faithfulness to Christ? If my spouse or children or grandchildren were about to be tortured, raped or killed? Could I endure that? You see, these are the things we must prepare for — and make our minds up about RIGHT NOW, so we don’t falter or fail when our time of testing comes. Because know this: we will ALL be tested and it’s going to be difficult and painful and heart-wrenching. But only for a short time. Then, all who (endure to the end) will be saved and will inherit the new heavens and new earth where Jesus will set all things right again and this present evil will be destroyed. Stay faithful, and draw close to Jesus now… because that Great Day is quickly approaching.
