Spiritual Prepping

[SheWoff]

I saw this posted by a friend on another board and wanted to share it with yall here. It just struck a chord with me. Hope you enjoy it and get something out of it..

She



'CORRIE TEN BOOM AND THE RAPTURE'. - (from a letter she wrote in 1974)

"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." 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 overcometh shall inherit all things:
and I will be His God,
and he shall be My son."

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."

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 ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;
on their part evil is spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified."
(I Peter 3:14)

I found myself saying, "Hallelujah!

Because I am suffering, 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 said, "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, 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.

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, yet will I trust Him", (Job 13:15)
for I know that to all who overcome,
He shall give the crown of life.
Hallelujah!"

- Corrie Ten Boom - 1974

[Johnboy]

What a wonderful witness! May we be half as much as a witness as Corrie!

God Bless!

Johnboy

[Buttercup]

When I read this Corrie Ten Boom letter a few months ago I wrote about it my blog http://j1991t.bravejournal.com/ (as you can see I don't frequently make new entries :oops: ).
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Friday, March 9th 200711:07 AM
We've Been Duped
While We Await the Great Escape, Tribulation Looms Large

I suppose he thought he was doing the Lord’s work when the storyteller addressed the children that Wednesday night. His deep fog-horn voice and gray beard certainly captivated his young audience and made him appear like a sage before them. With every eye fastened on him, his parable began. It was a story, they soon learned, of his own creation; a story about two boys, each given blessings and gifts and then sent to journey down a road. The first boy was greedy and self-serving. He was stingy with his gifts, therefore, the path he had to walk on was hard and bumpy. There were potholes and thorns, twists and turns. This first boy barely made it to the Lord who was waiting for him at the end of the road. The Lord said to him, "Depart from me into everlasting fire." The second boy on the other hand was kind and generous. He shared the blessings he was given by God with those who were less fortunate. Because of his good deeds the path he journeyed was smooth and straight. His travels ended in the comforting words of the Father welcoming him into heaven. The story ended to the claps of small hands and grateful smiles from the Children’s Church leadership in the room.


The above account is true. My son was one of those eager learners seated at the feet of the storyteller that Wednesday night several weeks ago. Now while there is much theologically wrong with the story of the two boys, let it stand to illustrate a grave negligence I see on the part of the American Church today.

In our obsessive anticipation of the rapture, we’ve grown comfortable in our religious freedoms, cold toward the suffering of our persecuted brothers and sisters, and ignorant of biblical teachings on tribulation. While we await the great escape, the American Church is not preparing for what most assuredly lies ahead. Our nation, in its depravity and moral bankruptcy, is calling upon itself the very wrath and judgement of the Most High God. The true shepherds and watchmen of the Lord have sounded the alarm, but we have not heard. He has sent His warnings and yet we sleep on.

Historically, we have lived in a blessed country. We have enjoyed many years with a freedom of worship, speech, and assembly. We, in the United States, have the Lord and great people of faith to thank for protecting those God-granted privileges. Most of us in this land have never been harshly treated for our beliefs or suffered under any kind of religious persecution. In fact, to be a church attender in America today is quite pleasant. We sit in heated/ air-conditioned sanctuaries on cushioned pews. Emerging churches cater to our every desire. We can enjoy our own worship music preference and hear sermons that cheer us on. Like the children in the classroom with my son, we’ve been taught that because of our own goodness the Lord has blessed us with an easy road. If tribulation is discussed at all, the discussion is often prefaced with a teaching that the true Church will escape it through the rapture.

In 1974, Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom wrote in a letter, "In America, the churches sing, ‘Let the congregation escape tribulation’, but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived." She went on to say, "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." Now this article is not a debate about when or whether there will be a rapture, but I believe Corrie Ten Boom’s point is quite clear and relevant. For thousands of suffering believers world-wide tribulation isn’t an elusive abstract description of the future post-rapture. For them tribulation is real and it’s now. In fact according to a February 9, 2007 online article by WorldNetDaily, between 50,000 and 70,000 Christians today are suffering in North Korean prison camps alone. Daily, believers in that country are horrendously tortured and/or put to death.

Now if we follow the logic of the old man’s parable of the two boys or the prosperity preaching of our day, we might assume, like Job’s friends, that the many ‘potholes’ these persecuted Christians are encountering on their ‘road’ is an indication of sin in their lives. We may question their salvation or think that somehow we must be doing something "right" to avoid such calamity here in our own country. "Certainly, God would put an end to such evil things before tribulation reaches us," we think.

Tragically, we have settled ourselves down into the comfort of a dangerous theology. Yes, our Redeemer is coming! We who know Him will see him face to face; but regardless of whether His appearing is before, during, or after the Great Tribulation is inconsequential to this fact: We do not have the promise or guarantee that we, in the United States of America, as great as our country has been, will escape tribulation. This is the truth that is lacking in our pulpits and pews. In our arrogance we have overlooked scriptural warnings meant to prepare and console us. 1 John 3:13 says, "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." In 2 Timothy 3:12 we read, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." You will not likely find these promises in your daily devotional calendar. At a time when we need to be comforting those who are suffering with the truth of our coming Lord and preparing our own households for troubled times we are sitting comfortably in the mistaken notion that life will continue at the status quo.

As the Body of Christ in America, we need to use whatever glimmer of daylight we have left to prepare, because, in the words of our Lord, "the night cometh, when no man can work." (John 9:4) The unadulterated, often hard truth of God’s Word needs to be planted in our hearts and in the hearts of our children. Corrie Ten Boom added in her letter that it was the very words of the Lord that brought her through the trials of the Nazi death camp. She wrote, "During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy." The verse was 1 Peter 3:14 that reads, "But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: AND BE NOT AFRAID OF THEIR TERROR, NEITHER BE TROUBLED;"

Now permit me to ask some difficult questions. What scripture is hidden in your heart? When Bibles are outlawed, religious assembly is made illegal, and Christian literature and speech is banned will you be prepared? Is your spiritual house in order? Will you be able to offer hope to the thousands in this country who have been duped by a feel-good religion? Will you point them to our Lord Jesus, the One who is acquainted with grief and sorrow? We have a hope and a future rest in Him when He wipes away all tears. Until then he left us with this promise, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)