As we all know, there’s been a build-up to September’s supposed apocalyptic events including exercises like Jade Helm, which ended on the 15th with no discernible damage to the population. What’s going on?
Why has the expectation of Americans (in particular) been stirred up with talk of secret tunnels, Government stockpiling of equipment and food, martial law, internment camps, gun control, the need to flee from disaster, and much more? This goes along with the fear of a vicious campaign to eradicate Christianity.
While not being blind to the dangers, nor the validity of some of these reports, I want to suggest what is really happening: a subtle preparation for wholesale deception. What is taking place out of sight is the obfuscation of the genuine danger, so as to render it harmless in our eyes. But how?
Let me throw out a few pretty wild scenarios and perhaps some of this might eventually gel into reality.
Refocus The Fear
Here is a story of how an earlier dictatorship conned people into walking into their own doom. The Jews in the concentration camps were scared when they were told they had to be moved on to another camp. They feared what would happen to them, and they had no clear idea or information on the facts, just rumours that circulated about the horrors to come.
Filled with these fears, they were told to undress and get de-loused and showered, in preparation. Almost gratefully they did so, entering the shower blocks of their own free will, unaware that the showers themselves WERE their doom. There, as soon as they took their places – calmly and in some cases gratefully – the gas came and they all died.
You see, that which they feared DID NOT EXIST but they were duped into believing in it, simply to divert their attention from the REAL danger. They were distracted and blind to what was really going on, un till it was too late.
This very tragic story illustrates my point: “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. (See Note) The very rumour and expectation created by a cunning enemy drew their focus away from what was really going to happen. It made them pliable, willing even, to participate in their own demise.
False Witnesses
I am sure every Government and the very devil himself would far rather deal with millions of credulous, deluded or even willing citizens, rather than an angry mob.
The devil – who has the cunning of a snake – would rather persuade than kill. Perhaps being made to fear the worst, being troubled by multiple rumours, is in fact a ruse of the enemy to blind our eyes to the reality of what IS going to happen.
WHY is it that news reports all pointing in a certain scary direction have been circulated, or even manufactured, for months on end? More to the point, why are these reports coming from untraceable sources?
Suddenly there’s a rash of anonymous blogs springing up purporting to be conservative, Christian, anti-liberal, gun-totin’ preppers and patriots, all pumping out similar propaganda. Is it not strange that those who are so enraged with events that they are willing to go public with their opinions, are at the same time so reluctant to be known for who they are?
The distinguishing feature of many of these blogs is that they have no contact address, domain holder, profile, or author name. Nothing whatsoever can be discovered about who is writing these blogs. They are hiding every detail of their credentials. That alone should make them seem untrustworthy!
Added to which, a number of sources that are supposedly on our side are distinctly NOT.
Various ‘prophets’ stirring the apocalyptic pot have been traced back to new-age or even satanic sites, which should make us question their motives all the more. Are there many more who are being secretly recruited, to circulate disinformation? They claim so.
This is from their recruitment blog:
“…you will need your last name changed to something related to the Torah or Christian bible (example Bob Jonah). Half truths are the best deceivers. This is how you will know you are dealing with members without having to ask. You will be given an assignment … If you are in an authority position within a church (many of our members are) we can get you on a project immediately. If not, your first assignment will be “wolfing” sheep online so that we can see how effective you are…”
WHY ARE CHRISTIANS BELIEVING SUCH DECEIVERS?? It only took me three clicks to end up on the most depraved, horrifying and satanic blog that one of these endtimes ‘prophets’ belongs to. A site that openly admits their deception – saying that MANY are “within the church” and that their task is to ‘wolf’ the believers online.
Fear Not
We have every reason to be cautious and suspicious – that is common sense – but we should not be driven by nameless fears, nor be terrified into taking action by events that are mere predictions and not bible truths. Jesus warned us “fear not” when we see all these things begin to happen! Don’t be alarmed, he said. Don’t be deceived like the rest of mankind. Steady your course, hold on, be patient, and above all don’t drift off to sleep.
The real snake strike will come silently and without advance warning.
In India there is a very venomous snake called the Krait. During the day, it is sluggish and generally docile, hiding in a hole. It is seldom encountered by humans during the daylight hours.
But when darkness falls, it becomes active and extremely dangerous. It can creep unnoticed into the bed of a person sleeping on the ground and bite without detection. There is little to no pain. There is then progressive paralysis until the victim dies, still in their sleep. Even awakened, victims of the Krait often feel reassured that there is nothing seriously wrong, as the bite feels like that of an ant or mosquito.
Do you see the analogy? Our enemies have the subtlety of the snake, their master. While there is sun and light and activity, and we are fully alert, they hide in their holes, but when darkness begins to fall upon the world – as in these days – they start to become active and attack those who are sleeping.
Stay Alert
Jesus warned us to stay awake and pray that we might not be led into a time of testing. While our minds and hearts are alert we can combat the deceptions, but if we let ourselves become unwary, and drift off into slumber, the snake prepares to bite.
We may not even notice, but from that point on we are slowly dying from an internal neurotoxin that is paralysing the ability to think, speak or move. The victim cannot save himself at this point, it’s too late!
What I wanted you to get from that illustration is not just the dangers of falling asleep, but the nature of the attack. If you or I were asleep in bed and a robber noisily broke in and crashed about the house knocking everything over, we’d be out of bed like a shot to deal with it. But those who oppose us know better than to draw attention to themselves.
So why would “insiders” go public to reveal all that they have prepared? What kind of closely guarded secret is blazoned all over the internet? If the Government really were preparing to incarcerate a large portion of the population, why would they make it so obvious? Why would obvious military exercises take place with truckloads of soldiers and equipment barrelling down the streets for all to see?
Why would they allow youtubes and blogs to report on the fearful preparations for internment camps, and stir up fears of a military takeover? (Not only that, but many more scare stories currently circulating.)
The reason is the same as in the hellish Nazi concentration camps – to engender FEAR of what might come, so that the REAL snake-strike goes unnoticed.
Honey Not Vinegar
The devil wants as many followers as possible, and you can attract more insects with honey than with vinegar! It is the “honeyed tongue” we have to fear, not a military incursion nor wholesale extermination.
Many in the world are themselves deluded and probably believe they are doing us a favour by re-educating us. Some of the Nazis acted out of a sincere belief that this world needed cleansing in order to prosper the master-race (for the good of all) and perhaps many in these times feel the same way. They are convinced! And they want to convince us too. Only the truly stubborn who refuse to be duped will later on feel the full wrath of the devil.
So we are wrong to run around in a panic imagining a crack-down by armed police or the army. We are wrong to imagine the worst when we haven’t even perceived what “the worst” could actually be.
Don’t you see? Threats don’t make us weak, they strengthen us! In any plot to set up a new world religion and government, they would want to PERSUADE the public, not slaughter them. They want to woo Christians, in the hopes that the power of the Church could work FOR them not against them (rather like the Harlot riding the Beast.)
Already we have seen the preparations for that plan – increasing ecumenism, Chrislam, the Pope circling the globe to bring all religions together, churches throwing their weight behind the government’s policies — and not only today, but decades of preparation have gone into creating compliant inattentive sheep who fear to question their pastors. Indeed, sheep who cannot think or act without their pastors.
“Make Love Not War”
Open opposition and the use of force don’t create loyalty to the New World Order. No, you can only do that by trickery and re-education, and the use of a subtle deception. What worked for the unchurched masses, they argue, can work equally well for the churches: little by little gently steering them into denying the Lord and accepting another!
Added to which, the circulation of alarmist material – as well as creating panic in some quarters – highlights just which side we stand on. There is I am sure a growing list of those who are willing to jump at the first alarm, and those who hold back; those who redistribute the material without question, and those who question or even expose it. (Actually, to be in the second group is to be more at risk, since “they” fear most of all those who cannot be manipulated.)
The Kindly Teacher
Speaking of manipulation, I want to paint a picture of the possible course of events leading up to major persecution for Christians. As with other historic times of persecution, this will not come all at once, but there will be a honeymoon period where the sweet-talking deceivers try to persuade us to change sides.
You’d think that would not be easy. But is it?
If instead of the fearful internment and slaughter there comes a kindly and instructive re-education, would some believers be sucked in? After all, millions even today are willing to accept the ludicrous and unbiblical pronouncements made by TV ‘evangelists’ and modern-day ‘prophets’ almost without question. What if there were a plausible teaching that appealed to their ears and offered to ease the pressure on their lives, without any cost to their religious convictions?
No, we won’t round you up and shoot you, we won’t chop off your heads, we won’t snatch your bibles away and burn them. We are humane and gentle, we only want to HELP you. We care for you, we love you, we will not treat you badly nor force you, we simply want to speak to you about this astounding discovery that sheds new light on the death and resurrection of your Lord…
Water it Down
It’s not necessary to remove bibles, but simply to replace them with a watered down message. It doesn’t take a bloodletting to change minds (that, in fact, only strengthens conviction and the commitment to endure) but a gentle persuasion that drop by drop changes the entire course of the belief system so as to accept a different version of “the christ”. A little leaven is all it takes.
Only those who will not let go of the truth will resist, and those are the only ones who will end up under threat of imprisonment and death.
But do you not see here how the story of the ten bridesmaids is being played out in the modern day?
Imagine the scene with prominent historians and theologians, perhaps your local pastor also, hosting a get-together in your community where they reveal fascinating new information about a manuscript or an archaeological discovery that is presently touring the country. This discovery is unlike anything seen before, and you are being called to witness a turning point in human history (I know not what, but for the purposes of argument, bear with me).
Maturity is Vital
If you are the comfortable complacent kind of church-goer and adherent to the bible, who has just enough knowledge
and commitment to get along while things are normal (the oil in the lamp) then you might be intrigued by an exciting new teaching, unaware of the danger perhaps, willing to consider the bible in a new light.
During the follow-up sessions the kindly, very knowledgeable and winsome teachers work to show you how parts of your faith system have gone off the track.
The oil in your lamp in a time of darkness is now burning low, with all the pressures of life and doubts about your faith; but what will you call upon to defy this new teaching?
Will you turn to your Pastor? He’s on the top table and only confirms the teaching! Will you ask your neighbour sitting alongside you? She’s enthralled and won over! Indeed, everyone is.
Where you must turn is not the oil in your lamp (which has now run so low that it’s next to useless) but the oil in your VESSEL, your body, soul, mind and outer life. Has the truth of God permeated your outer life, have you been living out what you believe, and “building yourselves up in your most holy faith” (Jude 1:20) so as to be unmovable, steadfast, unshakeable? Do you have the truth of the bible throughout your MIND and LIFESTYLE as well as your SPIRIT?
You have the foundation of the building, but have you built a solid structure upon that foundation, something that will stand the test, a building that will take a shaking? Have you gone beyond the first principles of the faith, as God commands, to progress into maturity?
Hebrews 6:1-8 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto maturity; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. And this will we do, if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth plants fit for them by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God: but that which bears thorns and briars is worthless, and is near unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
Can you withstand wave upon wave of doubt washing over your consciousness, backed up by convincing facts that even the most intelligent cannot challenge? Can you stand fast in the truth when every fibre of your mortal being is pulling you towards a common conclusion? When every one of your acquaintance is opposing you? Or will you fall away? The bible says that in those testing days “the love of many will grow cold” – that is MANY, not some!!
Our Natural Cowardice
More to the point, this new truth would SPARE YOU THE PERSECUTION TO COME! Yes, you have been riddled with fears and troubles, heard story after story of growing persecution, but now you find that it’s not necessary to lose everything you have and be transported to a concentration camp. You can regain your hope, your LIFE! Simply and easily, with just a minor adjustment to your beliefs, and then you’ll be left alone to enjoy your life for as long as it takes before the Rapture.
Ah, but “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” Luke 17 32-33.
The only way to hang onto what is most important is to lose our love of this world, and even our own lives; to stop trying to preserve those things in order to gain eternal life. Those who made it through intact, in Revelation, were those who kept going even in the face of martyrdom: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives to the death”. (Rev 12:11)
The real battle is not over our physical bodies and our possessions, but our minds, our souls and our spirits. The struggle is to avoid coming to the conclusion that it’s a small thing to change our course and start compromising on the truth.
It will seem all too easy, all too persuasive, and it won’t trouble us too much if we have already made friends with the world.
If Christian persecution is more about the pressure to bend what we believe in the face of a threat, than about physical harm, who of us are immune from a moment’s consideration of the alternatives? There is the greatest danger – not so much the military might of the Government, but the deception that stalks in the night.
Throughout the bible, in almost every parable of Jesus, it is in the NIGHT that the greatest danger comes. “The night comes, when no man can work…” and like the disciples in Gethsemane, because of mental and spiritual exhaustion we cannot help but sleep.
And it is through the long watches of the night that the servants had to stay awake to wait for their Master.
Waiting and Watching
You are the doorman and you have to keep yourself awake, having been told your Master will return from the feast before morning. Hour follows long hour and at first you are annoyed that it’s taking so long and you really want to go to bed. You are not being rebellious or disloyal but you wish he’d hurry up.
But then time goes by, and you keep looking at the clock. Surely he should have been home by now? It’s long past midnight now, it’s one o’clock, two o’clock… and about three am you start to reason with yourself that something must have happened. Surely he’s decided to stay the night at his hosts’s home? Or you misunderstood his message somehow. You SO long for your bed! He wouldn’t treat you this way, would he?
Tired of Waiting
Around 4.30am with no sign of the return, you have had a nap, and you can hear the others stirring in the house. The maids are in the kitchen, the page boy is stumbling sleepily downstairs… you can hear the crackle of a warm fire, and the merry voices of your fellow-servants. A little breakfast and a warm drink wouldn’t hurt would it?
So you make your way to the kitchen and find they are laughing, fooling around and they have raided the Master’s wine cellar in his absence. Naughty! But he’ll never find out will he? You accept a drink, then another. A fight breaks out and now it’s your opportunity to hand out some physical punishment to that squirt you detest, who got you into trouble last week.
Just as you floor him, you hear the rattle of the front door. NO!!!! The Master has returned and you are not there! Now you are in BIG trouble.
Luke 12:35 Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
Matthew 24: 44-51 Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Truly I say to you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Few are the Christians today who believe they could be punished for slackness and disobedience, but this is what Jesus warned of and we should take heed.
The ultimate disaster in the parable above is to be “cut asunder” which many take to be a reference to a severe whipping, the same whipping that the unworthy servant endured in another parable found in the same discourse in which Jesus speaks of the last days and his return for his own.
Luke 12: (4) “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! … (8) everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God… (40) be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect. Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” And the Lord said, “Who then IS the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? [Clearly, in answer to Peter’s query, it was the Disciples! This isn’t addressed to unbelievers but to Christians.]
Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”
This passage (indeed the entire chapter) is worthy of a long serious study because it has implications for all of us. Can we be complacent, knowing that it’s possible to disobey and displease the Lord? I don’t know what the spiritual equivalent of a flogging is, but it sure will hurt.
For some it means exclusion from the Kingdom altogether. And other passages hint that it might mean being made to go all the way through the worst of the Tribulation instead of being rescued in the Rapture. Because firstly, those who are unworthy miss the time of his coming, and secondly they are “assigned a place with the unbelievers” who are left on earth “where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth” to learn to mend their ways, and quite probably to enter heaven through martyrdom instead of the Rapture.
Matthew 25:29-30 “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
If this seems harsh or scary, I apologise, but this is what the Lord Jesus said, not me. NOW while it is still daylight is the time to make amends, not later. If there is complacency, or sin, or cowardice, NOW is the time to deal with it not later. If there is ignorance of the bible and of God’s ways, or a poverty of spiritual things in your life, NOW is the time to change things.
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Excellent! I totally agree and in fact this sums up what I run around warning others of. The only detail is that I hold that the rapture is towards the end of the tribulation, hence all the deception by the wolves about a ‘pre trib’ rapture that will ‘rescue you from all those woes’ so you don’t have to worry about anything at all, etc. I know all the verses used to support that view and there is another possibility other than a rapture with each one of them, (like Rev. 3; 10 does not have to involve a rapture at all) but I don’t want to get into that here.
I LOVE your post and that is the antidote that the church needs today. The danger is not losing anything physical, it is losing our soul by denying the Lord. (Not a promoter of eternal security either.) Matthew 10; 32-33 makes that clear, and obviously He wasn’t speaking of unbelievers. That is the danger. We lose what we will lose anyway and gain what we can’t lose, or we lose what was eternal to gain something that we will only lose later anyway. (Persecution and martyrdom in perspective). You clearly see what I do going on all around us, the deception to scoop up believers into their plan for a one world religion, order, etc. while convincing them that this is what it is really all about. Win them with honey rather than tanks. They won’t suspect a thing until it’s too late. And we have people like John MacArthur telling folks that it’s “okay to take the mark of the beast” and still be saved, we have the infiltration leading the church under the pope, and telling them they will never ‘see’ the antichrist due to the rapture timing. It’s all so cleverly set up. All the ecumenism, the coming together for a ‘good cause’ of ‘loving your neighbor,’ yet they deny the first commandment; to love God above all else. Instead they deny Him with their interfaith gatherings, the dominionism, etc. and now the rainbow nazi gaystapo underway to single out the true sheep from the goats. (Loyal to the Lord Christians can never support or condone sin or participate in it in any way.) Those who pass the test will be loyal to Jesus on the easy day and on the hard day. This is all reminiscent of the time leading up to the holocaust and how the churches were engulfed by deception beforehand, and only a few resisted and those were the ones who graduated to the concentration camps and made the finish line in victory to the glory of God. Anyway, you nailed it!
So much to say, so little space. Your post should be on the billboards!
God bless!
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This message came just as I was struggling with fear attacks which occur because of past unbiblical involvements. The Bible does say that the occult causes fear to invade our lives and I found that to be true. When the Israelites failed to obey God, they fled from the enemy in terror. When they followed God, Gideon’s 300 could overcome thousands.
What you say is very true. Fear is the bottom line with terrorists and oppressive governments today – if they can make us afraid of them, they win. Acting out of fear would deprive us of wisdom and lead us to give up our freedoms in what we regard as the free world.
I find it interesting that the bridesmaids were not in outright sin. They were sleeping and many of today’s “Christian” venues are pursuing what is really self-hypnosis, the contemplative spirituality of the east and of Roman Catholicism. Contemplative “prayer” and the beat of their drums, all in pursuit of an “experience of God” are mind manipulation. People asleep when the Lord returns. Putting aside the mind is becoming spiritually desired when the Bible constantly warns us to wake up and to pursue the truth.
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