"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." Northwoods is a ministry dedicated to refreshing Christians and challenging them to search for the truth in Christianity, politics, sociology, and science
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"
Father God, thank you for the love of the truth you have given me. Please bless me with the wisdom, knowledge and discernment needed to always present the truth in an attitude of grace and love. Use this blog and Northwoods Ministries for your glory. Help us all to read and to study Your Word without preconceived notions, but rather, let scripture interpret scripture in the presence of the Holy Spirit. All praise to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Please note: All my writings and comments appear in bold italics in this colour
Matthew 24:15,16 - 15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
This prophecy of Daniel was repeated in two of the Gospels which indicates that it has yet to be fulfilled even though some attribute the fulfilling of the prophecy to Antiochus IV. Antiochus IV Epiphanes lived and died before Christ was born.
So, we must assume there is another fulfilling of this prophecy. But, who, when, and where?
The Abomination of Desolation has yet to reveal himself, or has he?
Does the Holy Place necessarily have to be in Jerusalem? Does it necessarily have to be a synogogue. Most commenters lean that way but would Jesus call the sudden erection of a synogogue a Holy Place when it's likely that Christians will not be allowed to enter?
Think through history and consider what Christian church was the greatest church, the most holy church in the 2000 years of Christendom. No, the Vatican is not a church, it is a throneroom for the Pope, a palace for his bishops, and has nothing to do with anything Jesus experience when He walked on the earth.
There is really only one place that qualifies, and that is the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Constantinople). The Hagia Sophia was the center of Christianity for about 1000 years. It was the largest building in the world for that same period.
On the morning of the day that Mehmed II finally conquered Constantinople for Islam, streams of light were seen rising from the Hagia Sophia. It was later turned into a mosque, then to a museum by Mustafa Ataturk after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Recently Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, turned it back into a mosque and he, himself stood in the altar and preached Islam. Is Erdogan the Abomination of Desolation? He is a radicalized Muslim with ambitions of reviving the Ottoman Empire.
Last July he spoke from the altar of the Hagia Sophia. In October, Jews were running for their lives from Muslim madmen.
Is this the beginning of the Great Tribulation? What do you think? Are we 'in it' already? If we are, things will happen this very year that will astonish us and fill us with terror. Is your faith ready for that?
I have great respect for John MacArthur although I've not been his biggest fan. However, his viewpoint on the Great Tribulation here is a grand slam home run, right out of the park.
This should be required reading for every Christian in the world, for what he said is accurate and will happen, soon.
Pastor John MacArthur, above, warned Christians against believing they can help God usher in his kingdom by seizing the reins of political power. | Grace Community Church
Pastor John MacArthur denounced Christian nationalism insofar as it is defined as an attempt to usher in the Kingdom of God on Earth through political means, but exhorted Christians to care about what is happening in their nation.
"There is no such thing as Christian nationalism," MacArthur said during a question-and-answer period last month at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles. "The Kingdom of God is not of this world. Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight.' His Kingdom is not of this world. The kingdom of this world is a separate world. They're not linked together."
MacArthur explained his belief that the prevailing religion or ideology of any nation bears no relevance to whether the Kingdom of God progresses according to His sovereignty.
"Nothing that happens in any nation, whether it's a communist nation, a Muslim nation, or a quote-unquote quasi-Christian nation, or an atheistic nation, nothing in that nation — politically, socially — has anything to do with the advancement of the Kingdom of God," he said. "Because the Kingdom of God is separate from that system. God, in His sovereignty, is building His Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, Jesus said."
"So the idea that you should link up some political effort, some political process, some social process, some gain of power or influence in a culture as part of the advance of Christianity is alien to Christianity," he said.
"You never have our Lord approaching anything like that, nor the apostles, and particularly the apostle Paul; he sought to gain no favor with the Roman Empire whatsoever, or for that matter with any other of the rulers that he ran into during his life."
MacArthur went on to clarify that he was not saying Christians should be "indifferent to what happens in the nation," stressing that they should vote for righteous leaders when they have the opportunity, which he noted is becoming increasingly difficult.
“We have to be the people who uphold righteousness. When we come to vote, we want to vote for that which is the most righteous option. Obviously, we can't vote in righteousness, but we have to vote in a way that reflects our commitment to the righteousness of God," he said, adding that Christians ought not to elect leaders who affirm abortion, LGBT behavior, or any other form of immorality.
"It gets harder, doesn't it, nowadays? Because even sometimes, when politicians are more conservative and anti-abortion, they may be sinful and wicked in some other categories. And it's very hard to find out who is really honest and who is simply dishonest and seeking power," he said.
"But in the end, we do what we can [politically] with the understanding that the responsibility of the Church is not to advance the kingdom of this world. That's a faulty viewpoint."
MacArthur, a premillennialist, suggested that Christians who believe they can assist God in establishing His kingdom by seizing the reins of political power are misguided and often driven by a mistaken postmillennial eschatology that believes Jesus will return following an extended period of Christian political and cultural dominance.
“And that is the view that the Church — somehow by influencing the culture — can bring in the Kingdom of Christ. In other words, it's the idea not that Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom, but that the Church establishes His Kingdom and then hands it to Him. That is not what Scripture teaches," he said.
The Great Tribulation
"What Scripture teaches is what we're learning from the book of Revelation: Things are going to get worse and worse and worse, and the end of human history is not the Church triumphant, reigning in the world and taking over the structures of human kingdoms. That's not what happens. At the end of human history, the believers are persecuted and murdered. And that’s the very opposite of what Christian nationalism would anticipate."
"So we believe the Bible teaches that things get worse and worse, headed toward the wrath of God, which we're seeing in Revelation. And then our Lord returns, Himself, to establish His Kingdom," he added.
Rob Reiner's recent anti-Christian nationalist documentary "God and Country" implied MacArthur is a Christian nationalist by featuring a brief clip of him saying, "No Christian with half a brain would say, 'We support religious freedom.' We support the truth."
The full context of his January 2021 sermon that appeared in the film shows that MacArthur was saying Christians should oppose "religious freedom" to the extent that it implies all religions are equal.
In his remarks, which were given days before President Joe Biden's inauguration, MacArthur predicted American Christians will face increased persecution from the administration in the name of religious freedom. He also repudiated the idea that Christians are on track to experience a golden age before the Second Coming of Christ.
"We don’t win down here, we lose," he said. "You ready for that? Oh, you were a postmillennialist, you thought we were just going to go waltzing into the Kingdom if you took over the world? No, we lose here — get it? It killed Jesus. It killed all the apostles. We’re all going to be persecuted."
"'If any man comes after Me, let him' — what? — 'deny himself.' Garbage of prosperity gospel. No, we don’t win down here. You ready for that? Just to clear the air, I love this clarity. We don’t win. We lose on this battlefield, but we win on the big one, the eternal one."
I saw someone on FB saying they are looking forward to the Millennium Reign when there will be no more sin in the world. Nowhere does the Bible say that. At the end of the Millennium Reign part of the world rebels against God again and there is a great war.
Sin is still there as it will be in Eternity in the New Earth. Rev 22:15 describes what lies outside of the New Jerusalem:But outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolators, and whoever loves and practices a lie. Sin will not disappear because Satan has been dealt with. As long as there is free will, sin will rear its ugly head, and there will always be free will, love cannot exist without it.
Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has accused Iran of wanting to wipe out Tel Aviv and of seeking world domination via "radical militant Islam." The warning comes after Tehran once-again threatened to destroy Israel.
In a pre-recorded message delivered during the Government Press Organization's annual Christian Media Summit on Thursday, the PM remarked that "Here in Israel, we are fighting a very visible enemy, radical militant Islam that is sweeping across the Middle East."
The terror that begins in Tehran seeks to destroy Israel,
dominate the world, and drive it into a dark abyss.
The premier's remarks coincide with threats issued by the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. He warned that any mistake made by Israel in its dealings with Tehran will only accelerate Iran's eradication of the Jewish state.
In his address, however, Bennett also noted positive developments in regional relations for Tel Aviv, claiming that Israel was "facing a new dawn" after creating ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain under the Abraham Accords, inked last year. The agreement saw Israel normalize relations with the two nations.
Israel's navy publicly participated in joint exercises with the UAE and Bahrain in a first-of-its-kind operation, which started on Wednesday. While it was not clearly declared anywhere, Tel Aviv's media has surmised that the drills were also to send a warning to Iran.
Tensions between Tehran and Tel Aviv have simmered dangerously close to boiling point in recent months, with the latter expressing grievances over Iran's nuclear program.
In October, Israel's foreign minister proclaimed that the nation "reserves the right to act at any given moment and in any way" and insisted the Islamic republic must not get hold of an atomic bomb.
Iranian government and military have a hatred for Israel that the average Iranian does not have. Their hatred is Satanic and there can be no doubt that when the Great Tribulation breaks out, it will break out of Iran. Their Mahdi, or 11th Imam, will be the anti-Christ described in the Bible. I fully expect him to appear in this decade.
Actually, I expect the Great Tribulation to end at about the end of this decade. The end of tis decade will also be the end of the 2nd millennium. Unfortunately, Cesar and Pope Gregory both erred when they zeroed the calendar on Christ's birth. They should have been zeroed on His Resurrection. It they had been, then this year would be 1991 and the millennium would end in just over 9 years - 2000 being the last year of the millennium.
Is it a bit silly to assume Christ will return 2000 years after He left? Maybe. But unfortunately, there are so many other signs arising that our year 2030 sounds just about right.
If you are a Christian and you think Jesus will come and take you home before things get really bad, you need to know that you will be tested and you must be prepared to die for God.
Siberian cult leader 'Vissarion' who claims to be ‘re-incarnation of Jesus Christ’
arrested over psychological violence
By Jonny Tickle
Police in Siberia have arrested three leaders of the notorious ‘Church of the Last Testament’ religious sect on suspicion of using psychological violence to extract income, resulting in “serious harm” to their followers.
Founded in 1991, the movement forbids its adherents from smoking, drinking or exchanging money, and they live as vegetarian subsistence farmers. The sect's creator, Sergey Torop, believes he is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ and brands himself as 'Vissarion’.
Jesus of Siberia 25:47
According to Russia's Investigative Committee, Torop, along with other leaders Vadim Redkin and Vladimir Vedernikov, will be charged with “creating a religious association whose activities involve violence against citizens.”
The three men were arrested in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, about 4,500 km (2796 miles) east of Moscow. The area has several villages built by followers of Vissarion, including one called Tiberkul, commonly known as “the City of the Sun,” which was constructed in 1995.
A member of the religious organization, Alexander Staroverov, posted several videos on Facebook showing masked men walking around the village, some of whom were armed.
The sect came under legal scrutiny on two separate occasions in 2020. In February, members of the church were interrogated as part of an investigation into corruption and fraud in the Istoki School, attended by the children of Vissarion's followers.In August, a criminal case was opened after representatives of Vissarion prevented journalists from filming inside the community.
The Church of the Last Testament became well known in the West in 2012, when Vice News released a documentary on its Youtube channel called ‘Siberian Cult Leader Thinks He's Jesus’. In 2014, a similar documentary called ‘Siberian 'Messiah’ was filmed by RT.
There are many cults and non-cult people who desire to create Heaven on Earth. The Bible promises that Jesus will return to Earth and rule over it for 1000 years before creating a New Heaven and a New Earth. When He does return, everyone will know it. He will not return in the middle of a Siberian forest, or on the streets of New York City as a woman. He will return to Mount Zion.
The Bible also warns that there will be many who come in his name prior to that time. Vissarion and his followers, by their isolation, will probably not be prepared for the coming of the real Christ. They must first be tried and tested which they have little possibility of passing while believing in a false Christ.
Dan 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Dan 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
This is a real cult and it is exploding in popularity all over the world.
It is not true Christianity; it has many similarities, but many great differences.
They infect my Twitter feed from time to time with their propaganda
and I have to remove them.
Please familiarize yourself with these people so that you know
how to answer someone who becomes interested in them.
When Jesus returns to Earth, everyone will know.
It will not be as a little Chinese woman in New York who wants your money.
Chinese police detained 18 members of a banned religious cult which believes Jesus has returned to grace the earth in the form of a woman.
The Church of Almighty God, or Quannengshen, believes Jesus was resurrected as a woman in China, and that she will wreak the apocalypse.
Zhao Weishan founded the cult in the 1990s and his wife, Yang Xiangbin is believed to be the ‘female Jesus.’
They both fled China in 2000 and claimed political asylum in the US.
The arrests were made in Zhejiang Province on Wednesday following an investigation into the cult, Xinhua reports.
"The cult's 'leaders' imposed spiritual control over the members," Changxing County police officer Dong Jianfeng said. "They were told that as long as they gave donations, the Almighty God would keep their illness at bay."
"Every member was willing to donate their money, and the amounts ranged from 10,000 yuan (US$1,481) to tens of thousands of yuan," he added.
Police seized computers, hard drives, 150 books and 460 pamphlets used by the cult, China News reports. They said eight of the suspects have been “re-educated” and denounced their cult beliefs.
That's a frightening term, 're-educated'. Many good people have been 're-educated' in China and have become little more than vegetables. I hope this is not the kind of 're-education' they are referring to.
The group came under fire in 2014, when its members were caught beating a woman to death in a McDonald’s when she refused to give them her phone number as they attempted to recruit her.
One of the murderers Zhang Lidong said in an interview: 'I beat her with all my might and stamped on her too. She was a demon. We had to destroy her.'
Two members, Zhang and his daughter, were executed for the murder in 2015.
The Church of Almighty God is accused of isolating members from family and friends and pressuring followers to give money to get salvation. Like Scientology, the more members donate, the higher they progress in the cult’s ranks.
The cult’s headquarters are now in the US.
Channel 4 news spoke with a member just after the McDonalds attack and claimed that there were at least a million members in the country.
The Church of Almighty God refers to the ruling Communist Party as the 'great red dragon'.
On its website, where one section is headed 'The Maturer the People Become, the Sooner the Great Red Dragon Will Collapse', the group describes the authorities as 'the persecutor of God and the enemy of God'.
China has previously cracked down harshly on groups it labels 'cults', most notably the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which was banned in the late 1990s.
16 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads,
17 that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom: Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred, sixty six.
We have the technology!
Swedish company implants microchips in employees
About 150 employees have thus far had microchips implanted in their hands.
By Ed Adamczyk
A demonstration of implanting a radio frequency identification microchip. The Swedish company Epicenter has about 150 employees with RFID chips implanted. Photo by Paul Hughes/Wikipedia
UPI -- About 150 employees the Swedish technology firm Epicenter agreed to have a microchip inserted in their hands, the company said.
The RFID, or radio frequency identification chip, is about the size of a grain of rice and will allow workers at the company to open doors automatically and use electronic devices more efficiently. The chip is implanted in an employee's hand.
"You can do airline fares with it, you can also go to your local gym, so it basically replaces a lot of things you have other communication devices for, whether it be credit cards, or keys, or things like that. It's an implant in the hand that enables them to digitize professional information and communicate with devices both personal and within Epicenter. Once 'chipped' with this technology, members can interact with the building with a simple swipe of the hand. Chips can also be programmed to hold contact information and talk to smartphone apps," Epicenter co-founder Patrick Mesterton told the Australian Broadcasting Company.
It can also count bathroom breaks, identify an employee's location and track cafeteria purchases, leading to invasion of privacy incidents and data collections.
Sandra Hoglof, employed by Epicenter subsidiary Eventomatic, said he had the chip inserted to be "part of the future,' adding, "I usually use a lot of things, like my keys, so this will give me access and help me a lot more."
There is no reason why these data cannot be directly linked to the internet, or to a database somewhere, which can be altered by someone with authority or the ability to hack. A person could instantly lose his ability to access the various things listed above. He could also lose the right to purchase the necessities of life once those stores have installed the recognition system. It will be no more difficult than installing debit or credit card readers, and much easier to use.
The Bible suggests that the Antichrist will use such technology to gain control of Christians and to coerce them into surrendering their physical selves and their very souls if they want to feed their families.
I contend that hundreds of millions of Christians will suffer and die in the 7 years of the Great Tribulation during which the Antichrist takes control of much of the world.
This story means that we now have the technology and will have the capability within about ten years for that to happen.
If you have ever read Deitrich Bonhoeffer, you will know that there is a cost to discipleship. Or if you read Jesus' instruction to Ananais to go and tell Saul what great things he must suffer for His name sake, you will know there is a cost to discipleship. How else could one be a real disciple without identifying with the suffering of Christ, or without the opportunity to glorify Christ through the manifestation of His character in very hostile surroundings? But what if you are not a determined disciple, just a friend of Jesus? Would you expect to be treated the same way? Probably not, but you might expect to be treated somewhat similarly; take Mary, Martha and Lazarus, siblings from Bethany, for example.
They did not follow Jesus around Judea but they were good friends, in fact, the Bible says Jesus loved them, which would indicate a special bond beyond the ordinary love that He has for us all. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet, despite this love, Jesus did not respond to Mary and Martha's call for help. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” What do you suppose was going through Mary and Martha's minds as Jesus ignored their request? They knew Jesus was special, that He had an amazing relationship with God, that God would give Him anything He asked. But He didn't ask; He didn't even bother to come until Lazarus had been dead for days. What were they thinking? What was Jesus thinking? Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.” Obviously, Jesus had a plan. It wasn't obvious to any of His disciples, nor was it obvious to Mary and Martha. They loved Jesus, and couldn't understand why he was so late coming to them. Nevertheless, they were kind in their words though one suspects a little bit of latent hostility when first Martha then Mary greeted Him with, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Then we see the reason why Jesus delayed His coming until it seemed too late: Jesus said to her (Martha), “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Martha's eyes had been opened to a more complete revelation of Who Jesus really is. But Mary arrives and repeats Martha's accusation: Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” Jesus wept, not for Lazarus, but for the suffering of Mary and the others who still did not get Who Jesus really is. Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” Mary and Martha and the others with them received the great blessing of an extraordinary revelation of Who Jesus is. They endured several days of intense grief and suffering before it came, but they would never doubt Jesus again. I had a similar experience where I asked God to prove Himself to me. He did! It was nothing short of terrifying how He did it, but I have not in 30 years doubted Him since, nor will I in the next 30 years. Do you have doubts about Jesus? Are you willing to allow God to prove Himself to you. He won't if you put limits on how He must do it - that means you don't trust Him. He won't prove Himself to you if you don't trust Him - that is not faith! When I asked God to prove Himself, I asked Him to protect my family; He did. He even protected me though the odds on my surviving that experience were very poor. I walked away without a scratch.
During World War 2 Corrie Ten Boom and her family were arrested by the Germans for the crime of helping Jewish people hide. She was sent to a concentration camp and endured great hardships, but she survived.
In 1974 Corrie Ten Boom wrote the letter shown below to warn Christians about the false teaching of the pre-tribulation rapture. This teaching is very popular in America, even though there is no scriptural basis for it. Many believers have bought into it because they have heard it taught by their pastor or by other Christian leaders, but we must study the scriptures for ourselves.
God has promised to deliver His people from the wrath of God, which will be poured out near the end of the seven-year tribulation period. However, there is a big difference between the persecution of Christians and the wrath of God. God never promised us that we would be protected from persecution. In fact, He promised us we would be persecuted just as Jesus was also persecuted.
The pre-tribulation rapture is a dangerous teaching because it will cause believers to be confused and even abandon their faith when they see tremendous persecution coming upon them during the tribulation. Many will fall away at that time, which is also foretold in the Bible. It is called the apostasy.
I am posting Corrie Ten Boom’s letter to help warn people while there is still time.
CORRIE TEN BOOM’S RAPTURE WARNING:
The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do. They are to be streams of living water, channels of mercy to those who are still in the world. It is possible for them to do this because they are overcomers.
Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They are representatives from Heaven to this dying world. And because of our presence here, things will change.
My sister, Betsy, and I were in the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck because we committed the crime of loving Jews. Seven hundred of us from Holland, France, Russia, Poland and Belgium were herded into a room built for two hundred. As far as I knew, Betsy and I were the only two representatives of Heaven in that room.
We may have been the Lord’s only representatives in that place of hatred, yet because of our presence there, things changed. Jesus said, “In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) We too, are to be overcomers – bringing the light of Jesus into a world filled with darkness and hate.
Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” for I have found where it is written that Jesus said,
“He that overcomes shall inherit all things: and I will be His God, and he shall be My son.”(Revelation 21:7)
This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive – but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.
Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick.
“Yes, the Lord will heal me,” Betsy said with confidence.
She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.
It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy’s death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.
There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.
In China, the Christians were told, “Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured.” Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,
“We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution, rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes, to stand and not faint.”
In Europe, Watchman Nee was asked to pray for the persecuted church in China at a large Christian conference. To everyone's surprise, he did not pray for the persecution to end, but for Christians to be faithful to the end.
I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next.
Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus’ sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, “Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation.” Then I write it down and learn it by heart.
When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, “Nothing could be any worse than today.” But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.
If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. (1 Peter 4:14-15)
I found myself saying, “Hallelujah! Because I am suffering (for the name of Christ), Jesus is glorified!”
In America, the churches sing, “Let the congregation escape tribulation”, but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.
Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.
The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, “Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?”
The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.
“When I was a little girl, I went to my father and said, “Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.” “Tell me,” said Father, “When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?” “No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train.” “That is right,” my father said, “and so it is with God’s strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need, just in time.”
My African friends were nodding and smiling. Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing, “In the sweet, by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.”
Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed. I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago.
But I must tell you something. I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.
How can we get ready for the persecution?
First we need to feed on the Word of God, digest it, and make it a part of our being. This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorize long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.
Next we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is not an optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.
In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other. But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting. The fruit of the Spirit should be the dominant force of every Christian’s life.
Many are fearful of the coming tribulation. They want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years, including the horrible Nazi concentration camp that I might have to go through the tribulation also. But then I read the Bible and I am glad.
When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord, we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us. That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through. No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes. Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you. For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has He ever left me, or let me down.
Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. (Job 13:15)
I know that to all who overcome, He shall give the crown of life. Hallelujah!
- Corrie Ten Boom – 1974 How absurd it is for us western Christians to think that God will spare us suffering through the Tribulation. The millions and millions of martyrs who have suffered and died for the Name of Jesus Christ must find it astonishing. Why should western Christians be spared when African and Asian Christians are tortured and slaughtered every day? How arrogant we can be!
And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. Revelation 6:11.
GARISSA, Kenya (TheBlaze/AP) — Al-Shabab gunmen rampaged through a university in northeastern Kenya at dawn Thursday, killing 147 people in the group’s deadliest attack in the East African country.
Four militants were slain by security forces to end the siege just after dusk. Some of the Christians were targeted for beheadings, according to several reports.
The shocking massacre came during “Holy Week,” the solemn week before Easter on the Christian calendar.
The masked attackers – strapped with explosives and armed with AK-47s – singled out non-Muslim students at Garissa University College and then gunned them down without mercy, survivors said. Others ran for their lives with bullets whistling through the air.
Amid the massacre, the men took dozens of hostages in a dormitory as they battled troops and police before the operation ended after about 13 hours, witnesses said.
Shocked students watch from a distance a few Km from the Garissa university college, Thursday
When gunfire from the Kenyan security forces struck the attackers, the militants exploded “like bombs,” Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said, adding that the shrapnel wounded some of the officers.
Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage said fighters from the Somalia-based extremist group were responsible. The al-Qaida-linked group has been blamed for a series of attacks in Kenya, including the siege at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013 that killed 67 people, as well as other violence in the north. The group has vowed to retaliate against Kenya for sending troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight the militants staging cross-border attacks.
Most of the 147 dead were students, but two security guards, one policeman and one soldier also were killed in the attack, Nkaissery said.
At least 79 people were wounded at the campus 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the Somali border, he said. Some of the more seriously wounded were flown to Nairobi for treatment.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was ordered in Garissa and three nearby counties.
One suspected extremist was arrested as he tried to flee, Nkaissery told a news conference in Nairobi.
Police identified a possible mastermind of the attack as Mohammed Mohamud, who is alleged to lead al-Shabab’s cross-border raids into Kenya, and they posted a $220,000 bounty for him. Also known by the names Dulyadin and Gamadhere, he was a teacher at an Islamic religious school, or madrassa, and claimed responsibility for a bus attack in Makka, Kenya, in November that killed 28 people.
One of the survivors of Thursday’s attack, Collins Wetangula, told The Associated Press he was preparing to take a shower when he heard gunshots coming from Tana dorm, which hosts both men and women, 150 meters (yards) away. The campus has six dorms and at least 887 students, he said.
When he heard the gunshots, he locked himself and three roommates in their room, said Wetangula, who is vice chairman of the university’s student union.
“All I could hear were footsteps and gunshots. Nobody was screaming because they thought this would lead the gunmen to know where they are,” he said.
He added: “The gunmen were saying, `Sisi ni al-Shabab,’” – Swahili for “We are al-Shabab.”
He heard the attackers arrive at his dormitory, open the doors and ask if the people who had hidden inside were Muslims or Christians.
“If you were a Christian, you were shot on the spot,” he said. “With each blast of the gun, I thought I was going to die.”
The gunmen then started shooting rapidly, as if exchanging fire, Wetangula said.
“The next thing, we saw people in military uniform through the window of the back of our rooms who identified themselves as the Kenyan military,” he said. The soldiers took him and around 20 others to safety.
The attack began about 5:30 a.m., as morning prayers were underway at the university mosque, where worshippers were not attacked, said Augustine Alanga, a 21-year-old student.
Kenyan police officers take cover outside the Garissa university college, Thursday, April 2, 2015
At least five heavily armed, masked gunmen opened fire outside his dormitory, turning intense almost immediately and setting off panic, he told the AP by telephone.
The shooting kept some students indoors but scores of others fled through barbed-wire fencing around the campus, with the gunmen firing at them, he said.
“I am just now recovering from the pain as I injured myself while trying to escape, Alanga said. I was running barefoot,” Alanga said.
As terrified students streamed out of buildings, arriving police officers took cover. Kenya’s National Police Service said a “fierce shootout” ensued as police guarded the dorms.
Three dorms were evacuated as the gunmen holed up in a fourth, and Kenyan Defense Forces surrounded the campus.
“I am saddened to inform the nation that early today, terrorists attacked Garissa University College, killed and wounded several people, and have taken others hostage,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a speech to the nation while the siege was underway.
After the militants took hostages, fears arose over the fate of some of the students, but the National Disaster Operations Center said all were eventually accounted for.
The U.S. condemned the attack, with White House spokesman Josh Earnest saying Washington was standing with the people of Kenya, “who will not be intimidated by such cowardly attacks.” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned it, reiterating his solidarity with the Kenyans “to prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism,” his office said.
Wetangula, who was rescued by troops, said one soldier instructed a group of students to run and to dive for cover at their command as they ran to safety.
“We started running and bullets were whizzing past our heads, and the soldiers told us to dive,” Wetangula said. The soldier told students later that al-Shabab snipers were perched on a three-story dormitory called the Elgon, he said.
Students of the Garissa University College take shelter in a vehicle after fleeing from an attack by gunmen in Garissa, Kenya, Thursday, April 2, 2015
Kenyatta has been under pressure to deal with insecurity caused by a string of attacks by al-Shabab.
In his speech to the country, he said he had directed the police chief to speed up the training of 10,000 police recruits because Kenya has “suffered unnecessarily due to shortage of security personnel.”
Kenya’s northern and eastern regions near the Somali border have seen many attacks blamed on al-Shabab.
Last month, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for attacks in Mandera county on the Somali border in which 12 people died.
Police said 312 people have been killed in al-Shabab attacks in Kenya from 2012 to 2014.
Last week, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for a siege at a Mogadishu hotel that left 24 people dead, including six attackers.
When you believe, as I do, that we are within 10 years of the beginning of the Great Tribulation, the advent of biometrics is just about perfect timing for the Mark of the Beast.
Man sues after being fired for refusing microchip in his hand
A man who believed his company's time-keeping scanners were the Mark of the Beast has won a lawsuit for forced early retirement.
In a hearing this week, the jury in Clarksburg, West Virginia, awarded Beverly Butcher $150,000 in compensatory damages, ruling he was forced to retire for his religious beliefs.
Butcher worked at Consol Energy in West Virginia until he complained Consul's biometric scans for time and attendance violated his Christian beliefs, according to the Associated Press.
The Exponent Telegram reports Butcher wrote to his employers, asking to be exempt from scanning his left hand.
Rev 13:15-18 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead; and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
A letter in the lawsuit "discussed the vendor's interpretation of Chapter 13, Verse 16 of the Book of Revelation contained in the Bible; pointed out that the text of that verse references the Mark of the Beast only on the right hand and forehead; and suggests that persons with concerns about taking the Mark of the Beast 'be enrolled' (meaning, use the hand scanner) with their left hand and palm facing up. The letter concludes by assuring the reader that the vendor's scanner product does not, in fact, assign the Mark of the Beast," according to The Exponent Telegram.
When the company refused to compromise with Butcher, he was forced into early retirement.
The jury found Butcher had sincere religious beliefs and had properly informed his employer.
The $150,000 is for salary, pension and court costs.
Company in Sweden preparing to microchip everyone
The chip allows employees to open doors and use the photocopier without a traditional pass card
Want to gain entry to your office, get on a bus, or perhaps buy a sandwich? We're all getting used to swiping a card to do all these things. But at Epicenter, a new hi-tech office block in Sweden, they are trying a different approach - a chip under the skin.
Felicio de Costa, whose company is one of the tenants, arrives at the front door and holds his hand against it to gain entry. Inside he does the same thing to get into the office space he rents, and he can also wave his hand to operate the photocopier.
That's all because he has a tiny RFID (radio-frequency identification) chip, about the size of a grain of rice, implanted in his hand. Soon, others among the 700 people expected to occupy the complex will also be offered the chance to be chipped. Along with access to doors and photocopiers, they're promised further services in the longer run, including the ability to pay in the cafe with a touch of a hand.
On the day of the building's official opening, the developer's chief executive was, himself, chipped live on stage. And I decided that if was to get to grips with this technology, I had to bite the bullet - and get chipped too.
The whole process is being organised by a Swedish bio-hacking group which was profiled by my colleague Jane Wakefield recently. One of its members, a rather fearsome looking tattooist, inserted my chip.
First, he massaged the skin between my thumb and index finger and rubbed in some disinfectant. The he told me to take a deep breath while he inserted the chip. There was a moment of pain - not much worse than any injection - and then he stuck a plaster over my hand.
Before trying my chip out, I wanted to know more about the thinking behind it. Hannes Sjoblad, whose electronic business card is on his own chip and can be accessed with a swipe of a smartphone, has the title chief disruption officer at the development. I asked him whether people really wanted to get this intimate with technology.
"We already interact with technology all the time," he told me. "Today it's a bit messy - we need pin codes and passwords. Wouldn't it be easy to just touch with your hand? That's really intuitive."
When I tested my chip, I found that it was not all that intuitive - I had to twist my hand into an unnatural position to make the photocopier work. And while some of the people around the building were looking forward to being chipped, others were distinctly dubious. "Absolutely not," said one young man when I asked him if he'd sign up. An older woman was more positive about the potential of the technology but saw little point in being chipped just to get through a door.
But Hannes Sjoblad says he and the Swedish Biohacking Group have another objective - preparing us all for the day when others want to chip us. "We want to be able to understand this technology before big corporates and big government come to us and say everyone should get chipped - the tax authority chip, the Google or Facebook chip." Then, he says, we'll all be able to question the way the technology is implemented from a position of much greater knowledge.
I've returned to Britain with a slightly sore hand - and a chip still under my skin which has my contact details on it. Not that useful, but no doubt more sophisticated chips will soon replace wearable technology like fitness bands or payment devices, and we will get used to being augmented. All sorts of things are possible - whether it becomes culturally acceptable to insert technology beneath our skin is another matter.
