John wrote, “And [the end time saints] overcame [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” This was the words of “a loud voice speaking in heaven.”

In the wake of the recent political shift in this country of power toward socialism (whereby government, which always devolves toward corruption and tyranny, takes away or is given, in the name of protecting society, more and more of the individual’s constitutional, civil rights and liberties), there is a renewed and stronger effort to silence all Christians. Many believers are responding in fear, getting involved in political activism (some for the very first time in their lives). Emails are circulating calling on people to join organizations and to submit letters and emails to their congressmen. All this may do in the end is get one’s name on a list that will make rounding them up easier later on. Make no mistake – if the Lord is truly and personally leading one into political activism, by all means, one should press on with all the grace and protection the Lord bestows. But if one is truly motivated only by fear of how dark and bad things are getting, one will do much better to retire to one’s prayer closet and pray for further enlightenment and instructions.

Genuine Christians cannot be silenced - at least, not until God is finished using that person as a voice or example. The good news of Christ’s kingdom will be proclaimed afresh and anew to all nations and peoples as a witness no matter what the devil’s kingdom does to individual believers. The Lamb slain before the foundations of the world will claim the kingdoms of this world and there is nothing the devil can do to stop it from happening. Whatever caused the devil initially to rebel (it may very well have simply been the less-than-impressive appearance of the Man who was declared to be God’s Son rather than the beautiful and glorious cherub who, in his own opinion at least, was so much better qualified), the outcome for the devil will be utter and complete eternal disaster, ruin and destruction – and yet he refuses to surrender and cease his hostilities voluntarily. Rather, his fury will motivate him to great acts of murderous hatred against the true followers of Christ and God.

After the devil’s blunder in having the Lord of Glory crucified and after the kingdom of Christ was first established in the hearts of men (as signified by the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Day of Pentecost), the devil responded with open persecutions. The result was, in part, an explosive expansion of Christ’s kingdom. Seeing that this plan was as disastrous as crucifying Christ had been, the devil decided to infiltrate the believers. The spirit of antichrist (“against and/or in the place of Christ”) stirred up men to write errors and false doctrines and stirred up leaders to build ornate “Christian” temples that would ultimately be incorporated into a counterfeit that would eventually become the great falling away from the faith, the apostasy which both Christ and Paul clearly foretold. This scheme was so successful that, after two millennia, this counterfeit has become a beloved, well-respected and well attended institution among men – in much the same way that Judaism, by the time of Christ, had become an entrenched religious tradition capable of murdering the Messiah. Men most commonly call this institution created by the devil “church.” Those who claim to follow Christ but are incapable of recognizing this truth are victims of the devil’s deceptions.

“The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” was Tertullian’s observation and the devil noted it too. Under Hitler, murderous fury was unleashed against both Jews and Christians but the victims were first quietly and efficiently removed to camps well out of sight of most of Germany. Everyone knew what was going on but denial, fear of gaining the unpleasant attentions of the S.S. and desire to continue in the government’s and community’s “good graces” were sufficient encouragements to keep most Germans from doing anything about the concentration camps where millions were systematically murdered. It is certain that the devil noted it too and will, in the end time, probably remove the bulk of the bloodshed and murderous fury to camps where the “good” people (who could perhaps intervene if they weren’t caught up in deception) won’t be face to face with brutality even they would have difficulty condoning and which, as true believers respond with supernaturally divine love, joy and peace, has great potential to win them over to the Christ who enables His followers to suffer and die so well that other people are envious of their strength, courage and character.

The genuine follower of Christ, while it is natural to feel uneasy, uncertain or even afraid, does not need to (indeed must not) obey these darker emotions. Rather, he can rest his spirit and soul in the security of Christ and trust that even as he walks down the same road as his Savior did, God is still drawing all men unto Himself.

Let he who has ears hear.

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