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 Tribulation Coming To America? by Greg Gordon


[b]Tribulation Coming To America?[/b]
[i]by Greg Gordon[/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 fro 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!


_________________
SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2008/9/29 23:06Profile









 Re: Tribulation Coming To America? by Greg Gordon


Amen.

 2008/9/29 23:23









 Re:

Quote:
Tribulation is coming to America and as David Wilkerson said: “Only those washed by the blood and fully surrendered to Christ will survive.”



I would like to know how those who are professing christians and still in love with the world, full of lust and all manner of carnality are going to stand in the coming storm? There has to either be a great awakening or a great falling away. You have to be cold or hot.

Revelation 3:14-16

14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.




 2008/9/29 23:34









 Re:

The very beginnings of tribulations are upon us in the West. What we see going on now, and many of the saints have already touched upon it, is the seperation of the sheep and the goats. Many are the afflictions of the saints of God right now. They are dismayed at the terrible state of the "Church," and feel that they are not understood.

I say to all the saints right now, hang in there, the Lord is about to pour out His latter rain on the saints who have embraced His word, who have embraced Calvary, who have died to themselves , who daily pick up their cross and follow Him. It is not in vain, we run the race to win the price. And we do that so that we may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.

And when one trial is behind us we must forget those things behind and reach forward to the things before. So that we may press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

There are those who run after the things of God and there are those who run after the things of the world. To those who pursue Calvary, yes they will find death but they will also find eternal life in the Lord Jesus and a joy that is beyond measure. And in these coming calmatous times we shall be anxious for nothing, and in prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, our requests shall be known unto our God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding shall guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The fires that many of the saints have came through in these last many years is a refining fire and the gold that is purified in this fire will sustain us in the coming tribulation. And while the gold of this world goes up and down in value and is measured by mens desire of it, the treasures of Heaven begin and remain priceless. The peace of God. How great to know that the flames cannot destroy us and the waters cannot overwhelm us. For the Lord tells us that He will be with us when we pass through the waters and when one peers into the fiery furnace of our tribulation they will see "there is one like unto the Son of man," in there and they will be right. Jesus, the same yesterday today and forever who will never leave us nor forsake us............All to His Glory.........Frank

 2008/9/29 23:58
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Tribulation Coming To America? by Greg Gordon

This will prove to be difficult and even seemingly going against the grain but can I exhort us to a word of caution ...

Made mention of this elsewhere, the word [i]speculation[/i] and inferred how it affects and drives the market and by similarity - Christian's, you and me, all of us.

The 'this is that' of present circumstances does concern me for variety of reasons and that concern is that it may be premature. There is a lot of confusion out there and there is also a lot of [i]fear[/i] driving this by our media who must sensationalize practically everything and why not, is this not how they grab constituents, readership, viewers?

Far be it from me to even harbor the thought of lessening the seriousness of what is currently underfoot that is in no way the attempt or effort. What I am concerned about is the self - fulfilling prophecy that can be brought about and I must wonder if we ourselves might not become guilty of the same by joining in the fray.

To put it more plainly, it is too early to tell. Can we ... do we have the capacity to not jump to conclusions, to restrain the urge to [i]prophesie[/i], to become emotionally charged and charged up and as a byproduct of all this contribute to that which is being driven by fear and the resulting chaos that ensues.

Lest this gets misconstrued I am not advocating some nefarious balance, nor dulling the severity - In fact I would appeal to what Greg has written here as it's own antidote for sobriety of mind and spirit, especially that which was written by Thomas Brooks above, his own exhortation at the conclusion of the horrific accounts;

[i]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?"[/i]

We are not anywhere near this, nevertheless it ought to shake us up to think upon these things -What substance and character were these who the world was not worthy of made up of? It rattled me good reading it last night, feeling somewhat cold of spirit to be honest, before hand.

There are probabilities and possibilities. This may prove out to be just what is needed - a correction. It may be just what exactly needs to happen of natural consequence, without any interference of the government to prop it up and along. On the flip-side it may prove to have dire consequences for us all ... Which is it and who can rightly tell? If you have been following along and read enough, even the savviest and shrewdest (remember the Lords words in this regard?) are at odds over the outcome or even the remedy.

But for us ... The word, and it seems worth consideration in it's use, as a study, as to be taken to heart;

Watch.

Watch and pray.

Mar 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Mar 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.



_________________
Mike Balog

 2008/9/30 9:19Profile









 Re:

Hi Mike

Greg wrote "A warning to the church in america of coming tribulation."

This is the jist of his piece. Whether the present finacial crisis is part of it, is of little importance. I think some people, and I am not saying you, simply have a problem with the fact that tribulation is coming to America. And if it is coming, now or in the future, the people that Greg quoted in his piece are simply saying "be prepared." I think that is what Greg was getting at too. I think that is also the heart of David Wilkerson and others who speak after his like. Prepare for the worse, hope for the best and stay close to God.....brother Frank

 2008/9/30 9:34
broclint
Member



Joined: 2006/8/1
Posts: 370
West Monroe, LA

 Re: premature

Brethren if it would not seem to be too bold, I quote a very small excerpt from a recent message that I believe is applicable:

[i] "There is so much sin going on in this country that it is amazing that the very weight of it has not sunk us straight into hell. [/i]
[i]Psalms 9:16 - 17 (NKJV) 16 The LORD is known by the judgment He executes; The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation. Selah 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God.[/i]

[i]I cannot presume to know when God’s judgments are going to fall and we are not to try to ride the roller coaster of predictions and so-called prophecies every time a current event stirs our emotions and shocks our sensibilities with the horror of another sin. God does things in His own time just like He did in the case of the fullness of time for the Children of Israel. He had a set time for them to come out of Egypt and to judge Egypt for their wickedness and idolatry and also a set time to judge the Canaanite nations whose iniquity had reached the full mark.

The Word of God says this: [/i][i]Exodus 2:23 - 25 (ESV) 23During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25God saw the people of Israel—and God knew[/i]

[i]That verse sets a precedent. And the precedent is this: that tribulation for God’s people precedes judgment of the wicked. [/i]

My point being that there is as Brother Mike pointed out always that tendency among us to jump to the conclusion that "this is it"... Not at all taking away from Brother Willkerson's prophecies, and certainly not trying to add to those so clearly stated in scripture.

Jesus spoke of the time of "travail". From those of us who have been around that process, we know that sometimes that is long and sometimes it is short, but the dispostion of the whole matter is God's timing, not ours. And just like so many standing around in the hospital halls try to be the first one to say "when", a lot of forecasting gets it all wrong, even while some do a good job of aproximating.

The matter is not when, but the certainty of what God has said "will be", and that includes things that we have not yet seen in this country, whereas, as Brother Greg's other post, quoting Corrie ten Boon, and as a recent book,[u]Safely Home[/u] describes, we have only a vague imagination of.

Would to God that instead of the flurry of "aha's" from time to time, there were the constant and steadfast attitude that the Lord admonished us to have in regard to faithful servants... that we always be found so doing, for in such an hour..."

Not meant at all for a rebuke, and hope none is taken, but a simple reminder that there may be many more highs and lows on this roller coaster ride, and then again we may be already at the end of the ride.

God bless and keep all of us seeking to know Him and be like Him.

Clint


_________________
Clint Thornton

 2008/9/30 10:01Profile
ilive4only1
Member



Joined: 2007/1/22
Posts: 33
Texas

 Re: Tribulation Coming To America? by Greg Gordon

Quote:
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.”




So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you are willing to suffer for Christ, you have decided to stop sinning. And you won't spend the rest of your life chasing after evil desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
1 Peter 4:1-2

So let us study and memorize scripture daily. Let us immerse ourselves in it. Let it be a part of our walk and our talk. So shall we stand in Him.


_________________
Dyanne

 2008/10/19 9:32Profile
kathleen1
Member



Joined: 2004/8/5
Posts: 226


 Re: Tribulation Coming To America? by Greg Gordon

thanks for posting this, Greg...


_________________
Kathleen

 2008/10/19 9:40Profile





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