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 TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by brother Greg

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[b]Tribulation Coming To America?[/b]
[i]by brother Greg[/i]

A warning to the church in america of coming tribulation

SUFFERING INEVITABLE

As Christians we are not free from tribulation and persecution. The Scripture says: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” There is a teaching and way of living in modern American Christianity that says: “I will not suffer.” Suffering in some circles is a evidence of your lack of faith or spiritual blessing from God. Nothing is further from the truth! The Scripture says: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind.” Later in the same chapter it says: “the end of all things is at hand.” Saints of God we need to “arm ourselves” with the mentality that suffering is going to happen. We are going to go through hard times and unless we are being taught this by God now we will not be able to stand when the storm comes. Tribulation is coming to America and as David Wilkerson said: “Only those washed by the blood and fully surrendered to Christ will survive.”


ESCAPE TRIBULATION?

Corrie Ten Boom shared this burdened message in 1974 named, Preparing for Tribulation. Here are some excerpts from that article: “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."

“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. 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.”


AFFLICTED, TORMENTED, AND DESTROYED!

We are so desensitized to reality in America that to spend anytime reading Church history seems to make the whole of modern day American Christianity seem false. The Scriptures speak of those who by faith followed God: "(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts and in mountain, and in dens, and in mountains, and in dens and and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Beloved, are you willing to associate yourself with this list of people? Or would you rather have your comfortable padded pews and climate controlled buildings to worship and pray in so our darling little knees won’t get hurt? Does not the Scripture say: "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts, which war against your soul." Oh may we be found truly to be those that are “strangers and pilgrims” in this world. We have so many precious promises to claim and memorize how about this one: “Marvel not, my brethren if the world hate you.” Oh it will let us never forget that.

Thomas Brooks wrote this over 300 years ago and their truths are just as timely and applicable today for us: “Let me give you a little abridgment of the sufferings of some of the early Christians, "of whom the world was not worthy."

1. In the reign of Hadrian the emperor, there were ten thousand Christians crowned with a crowns of thorns, thrust into the sides with sharp lances, and then crucified.
2. Others were so whipped, that their entrails were seen, and afterwards they were thrown upon sharp shells, and then upon sharp nails and thorns. And after all this cruelty, they were thrown to wild beasts to be devoured.
3. Multitudes were banished.
4. Others were pulled apart with wild horses.
5. Some were beaten and racked with bars of iron.
6. Others were cast into loathsome dungeons.
7. Some were burnt in the fire.
8. Others were knocked down and had their brains beaten out with staves and clubs.
9. Some were pricked in their faces and eyes with sharp reeds.
10. Others were stoned to death with stones, as Stephen was.
11. Some were dashed in pieces against millstones.
12. Others had their teeth dashed out of their jaws, and their joints broken.
13. Some were cast down from very high places.
14. Others were beheaded.
15. Some were tormented with razors.
16. Others were slain with the sword.
17. Some were run through with pikes.
18. Others were driven into the wilderness, where they wandered up and down, suffering hunger and cold, and where they were exposed to the fury both of wild beasts, and also to the rage of the barbarous Arabians.
19. Some fled into caves, which their persecutors crammed up with stones, and there they died.
20. Others were trodden to death by the people.
21. Some were hanged on gibbets with a slow fire under them.
22. Others were cast into the sea and drowned.
23. Some were slain by being thrown in mines.
24. Others were hanged by the feet, and choked with the smoke of a small fire, their legs being first broken.
25. Some were covered with oil, and then roasted with a soft fire.
26. Others were hung by one hand, that they might feel the weight of their whole bodies scorching and broiling over burning coals.
27. Some were shot through with arrows, and afterwards thrown into stinking prisons.
28. Others were stripped stark naked, and thrown out in cold, frosty nights; and burnt the next day.
29. In Syria, a company of Christian virgins were stripped stark naked to be scorned by the multitude, then shaved, and then torn in pieces and devoured by beasts.
30. Lastly, many women had the joints of their bodies pulled from another, and their flesh and sides clawed with talons of wild beasts to the bones, and their breasts seared with torches until they died.

And thus you have an account of thirty different ways by which the precious sons and daughters of God have formerly been afflicted, tormented, and destroyed! What heart of stone can read over this list with dry eyes? And now tell me, sirs, whether your sufferings are worth a naming in that day, wherein the sufferings of the precious servants of God in the primitive times are spoken of? Oh, no! Well then, take heed of making molehills mountains, and of crying out, "Is there any sorrow compared to my sorrow; or any sufferings compared to my sufferings?"


HOW TO SURVIVE

Corrie Ten Boom shares some very good practical exhortation on how to survive the tribulation and persecution coming: “How can we get ready for the persecution? First we need to feed on the word of God, digest it, 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 no 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.”

“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. “ And does not the Scripture in another place say: Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.” There is a time of “rejoicing” coming Saints of God!


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2007/1/13 19:51Profile
tjservant
Member



Joined: 2006/8/25
Posts: 1658
Indiana USA

 Re: TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by Greg Gordon

It is true. You may not want to believe it, but it is still true. You may NOT believe it, but it is still true.

God will give us the strength when it is required.

I have been thinking about the Corrie Ten Boom article all day.

Praise be to God !!

God Bless

TJ


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TJ

 2007/1/13 20:51Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
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 TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by Greg Gordon

Quote:
And now tell me, sirs, whether your sufferings are worth a naming in that day, wherein the sufferings of the precious servants of God in the primitive times are spoken of? Oh, no! Well then, take heed of making molehills mountains, and of crying out, "Is there any sorrow compared to my sorrow; or any sufferings compared to my sufferings?"



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Mike Balog

 2007/1/13 22:05Profile
Mattie
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Joined: 2004/7/23
Posts: 210


 Re: TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by Greg Gordon

Excellent article. Persecution and suffering are foreign to us in the West. alot of the american church's idea of persecution is either that it is happening because of sin or unbelief in our lives, or that it is something reserved for the "faithful" overseas in China, India, etc.

But it is definitely creeping its head in our country. I heard a preacher say once that "Those who inflict persecution on Christians - whether verbal or physical - are merely tools in the hand of God to make us stronger and more like Jesus"

Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, how much more His sons? The student desires to be like His master Jesus, we will be mocked, insulted, some beaten and killed for His name sake.

May our love for Jesus burn so brightly that the coming trials wouldn't extinguish the flame within us.

 2007/1/13 23:18Profile
Smokey
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Joined: 2005/2/21
Posts: 417
Edmonton Alberta Cda.

 Re: TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by Greg Gordon


Great and timely word. Time to draw as close as we can to the Lord.

Blessings Greg


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Greg

 2007/1/14 2:34Profile
kerrylou
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Joined: 2006/4/2
Posts: 36
Australia

 Re: TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by Greg Gordon

It is true; all who follow Christ will suffer persecution. I just wanted to comment on Corrie's words. I think she confuses "great tribulation" with "the great tribulation". The first is suffered by the Church since Christ came (and the prophets before that); the second is duffered by the world as God pours his wrath out.

I am pleased to see Corrie seeking to prepare others for such tribulation as she suffered herself. However, if you read her own account (The Hiding Place) I would hardly say that she was prepared herself yet God kept her. How? By the people he placed around her so that, when she had hardship and questions others were there to encourage her. Remember Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled." He said, "In the world you will have tribulations but, be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. Let us also not forget that "God will not allow us to be tempted more than we are able but, with the temptation He will make an escape for us".

I have not suffered much for the name of Christ (bullied, shunned and humiliated), but I have lived in Zimbabwe where others have suffered more [even their whole lives]. Not all will suffer the same. Many will die and many will be imprisoned yet there will still be many who remain relatively unscathed (as I have thus far). Except God reveal it to us we will not know what our lot may be but we can be certain that God's power will keep us.

Peter had been told of Christ that, one day he would be bound and led away. When Peter was first cast in prison; after James was beheaded he may well have thought his time had come yet, at that time God delivered him.

Be watchful for one another in prayer and be compassionate and be kindly toward those who afflict you that you may be known as the sons of God.


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Kerry

 2007/3/1 19:33Profile
Goldminer
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Joined: 2006/11/7
Posts: 1178
Alabama

 Re: TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by Greg Gordon




Well Dear Bro. Greg you have broken my heart. I know difficult time are around the corner for us in the USA. Others have been suffering for years. I don't know if it is tribulation or the great tribulation but I know it will reveal our true heart condition.

Last year after a very difficult period in my life, I need a break to get away and reflect. I went to IHOP in Kansas City. They were having a period of prayer and fasting before a conference and I felt I was to go at that time.

I spent almost the entire time reading the book "The Heavenly Man" by Pastor Yun. It too broke my heart. I was able to see in the light of the suffering of others my life is easy and painless. My heart broke for the tribulation that many in the church endure and I was oblivious to it. Yes I have heard of it in my 30+ years of being saved, Voice of the Martyrs, but I never really connected with it until that book. I saw how easy and sheltered I had it. I saw that opression from people around me was small compared to others suffering.

We truly are spoiled brats in the USA. We can't endure much. If someone speaks a unkind word to us we are undone.

I thank you Greg that you have given us just a little insight to grow us up. We need to come face to face with reality, however some will say it will never happen here. But I know it is on the horizon. May God have mercy on us.


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KLC

 2007/3/1 22:44Profile
awakenwithin
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Joined: 2007/1/31
Posts: 985
AZ

 Re:

If we want to live a godly life will endure suffering. We like our lives here in America. We like the fact we are safe. We don't even weep over our brothers and sisters who are being killed. How we need to be praying over them more. We need pray for America that we will awake up. STop wanting to have fun, and start living for Christ. And see we are at war. ANd if we are ready for battle we will fall. We need to be ready. We must be awake. Too many are sleeping, and don't know whats coming. WE love the world, and things it offers and our comfortable lives, so we don't want to suffering for Christ. If only we would see, dieing is even better. May God perpare His people. May God give us a heart to truly say living is for Christ and dieing is even better. Willing to die, for sake of Christ.
In His love
charlene


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charlene

 2007/3/2 1:15Profile
billy1980
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Joined: 2016/3/9
Posts: 312
Tennesse-

 Re: TRIBULATION COMING TO AMERICA? by brother Greg

More from Corrie Ten Boom's Letter.

"In the coming persecution we must be ready to help 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 Christians life. Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I to am a little bit afraid..."

"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 tribulation comes. Rather you will be strong in the power of [Jesus] who will not forsake you...Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him, for I know that to all who overcome. He shall give the crown of life. Hallelujah!"

Copyright: Fulfilled Prophesy LLC. Host Deasoft.


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Billy Witt

 2020/11/1 11:01Profile
staff
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Joined: 2007/2/8
Posts: 2227


 Re:

Hi All,
Corrie Ten Boom 'a great Christian warrior but is not in my opinion a reliable end times preacher and could not seperate the infuence of situation she was in (persecution )from the end times.
Its a case of because I am in persecution then all Christians go through the Great Tribulation.
She didnt seem to understand the difference between persecution and a period of time known as"The Great Tribulation".
Yes we will have persecution and tribulation in this life but to jump and say because of this fact all Christians go through the Great Tribulation is not theological sound as its based only on experience.
Put another way Corrie Ten Boom argument is based more on her experience of persecution rather than on Scripture,This does not negate her greatness urs staff

 2020/11/1 15:54Profile





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