Preparing for the Underground Church, Part 2
By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. I hope you are thinking about preparing for the underground church that we talked about last month. This month we’re going to take that subject up again and delve deeper into the necessary thinking that needs to take place in our minds. We can’t be too careful at this time in earth’s history. And it is difficult to express the concepts that God’s people need to own to comprehend what the underground church does. So, let’s get right into it and begin with prayer.
Our Father in heaven, we realize that we’re coming down to the very last of the end of time. Western nations are being prepared for chaos. People will be so upset that they will be out of control. Your faithful ones need to realize that they cannot get involved in the political issues of today. They need to spend their time preparing for the salvation of their souls and for the necessary work of the underground church. So, please join us today as we study, and help us to comprehend what we see around us. Send Your Holy Spirit to us today to open our minds to what You want to tell us. In Jesus name, amen.
The Bible has several examples of the underground church. They met in unofficial places and they were not recognized by the government. Let’s read some scriptures regarding this. First is 2 Corinthians 16:19.
“The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”
So, Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus had a church in their house. They also had a house in Rome. Let’s read about it in Paul’s letter to the Romans in chapter 16:3-5.
“Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.”
These were two of the network of underground churches that Paul was connected to. Another example is found in Colossians 4:15.
“Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.”
Laodicea was about 12 miles from Colossae, so the Colossians had communication and fellowship with them. Nymphas who lived in Laodicea also had a church in his house. You might say that it was a small group that could not afford a public building. But we should remember that the Jews were hostile to these Christians. And they took every opportunity to publicly shame them, discredit them and even do violence to them and persecute them. So, they had to meet privately, even secretly in someone’s home rather than have a public gathering. This is what an underground church does in times of persecution. A third example is Philemon 1:1, 2.
“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:”
Philemon and his wife Apphia had a church in their house also. Archippus could have been their son who was taking a leadership role when the main leader was not there. In any case this too was part of the underground church. Every Sabbath believers in Christ would gather in these homes for worship and fellowship, planning and organizing so as to minimize the possibility of arrest. These were sacred and hallowed places. The members of these churches recognized their vulnerability and they protected each other and the church very carefully.
Let’s look at one more. This was the house of Mary the mother of John Mark. Luke says the following in Acts 12:12.
“And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.”
They probably met regularly for prayer. This was their time of communion with each other and with the Lord. The Bible suggests that Philemon’s house was large for there was apparently a large congregation that was meeting there. This suggests that he was a wealthy and influential man, as we’re Aquila and Priscilla. This was the primitive church. It was not sophisticated. These were humble and consecrated believers. Persecution weeds out the insincere and compromised and it drives the church underground. People don’t choose to be members of an underground church during persecution if they’re not sincere. Why would a person give up his security and make himself vulnerable to hostile forces if he didn’t really believe in the cause with all his heart? Let’s look at a statement from Great Controversy, page 464.
“Notwithstanding the widespread declension of faith and piety, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word. Many, both of ministers and people, will gladly accept those great truths which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord’s second coming.”
Have you ever thought that one day you will have to be part of the underground church? Maybe you had the concept that you may not be able to fellowship with your public church now or sometime in the future. That’s why there are many self-supporting churches today. But even these churches haven’t really considered what the underground church is and how they will relate to it in the future.
Whenever you have persecution of the truth and those who uphold it, it is necessary for them to establish an underground church, if it’s not already established. The people of God need to find an alternate place to worship that is not registered with the government, not in a public space, and doesn’t have all the trappings that a public church has, like a 501(c)3 corporation, an administrative structure, a sign out front identifying the church, public evangelistic meetings, or other trappings of a public church.
There are many examples in the history of this type of thing. The Waldenses, for example, had their churches in private homes, in the forest, and other places. The Methodists experienced this too. And so did the Baptists in many parts of the world.
Once upon a time, I had an occasion to travel for a week with 50 independent Baptist ministers and tour Baptist history sites in New England. We went to the historical home of Isaac Bacchus who was the Congregational minister in Massachusetts. But when he became convicted of the Bible doctrine of believer’s baptism, he became a Baptist. At that time in Massachusetts it was illegal to be involved in another faith than the Congregational faith. Isaac Bacchus organized meetings for fellow believers in his attic. All fifty of us took turns going up into the attic to see the spot where Isaac Bacchus held his Baptist meetings. And instead of a baptistry, he conducted baptisms in the stream nearby.
These 50 independent Baptist preachers understood something about the underground church that I realize now but didn’t then. They were advocating that a church should not be incorporated with a 501(c)3 tax exempt status. Their issue was that a 501(c)3 tax exempt status ties the church to the government and gives the government authority over the church. And while we may not realize what that means, one thing we do know is that it publicizes to the government what the church is, where it is, and what it does. That may seem like it is too radical. But under persecution those issues that seemed extreme when there isn’t persecution become very real and important when there is. And the thing that most people don’t take into account is that what is done during a time of peace often comes back to haunt you when persecution arises.
Preparing for the underground church starts with understanding what the underground church is. The underground church is not underground, although there have been times when they had to meet in the catacombs or caves. But that does not define the underground church. When we talk about the underground church, we mean a church that is not tied to the government in any way. It does not have the legal or administrative trappings that a public church has. It is organized, but it is organized by other means than by a legal structure. During persecution, that organization is done largely by the Holy Spirit. And while the legal structure was important during a time of peace, it becomes unwieldy and unusable in a time of persecution.
The leadership of a public church is tasked with maintaining the viability of that church against all threats. This naturally pits public church leaders against those who believe the doctrines that are being persecuted. Public church leaders have to distance themselves from them. And they do this by becoming persecutors. A multinational church maintains its public presence in the countries where they have freedom, but they also try to maintain their public presence in countries where there is no freedom. This means that they have to compromise with the government in order to maintain their viability. The preservation of the institution becomes more important than the safety and spiritual success of the members and they will sacrifice the members in order to preserve the institution.
When the disciples started the Christian church, they had to be careful to not expose the believers unnecessarily to the authorities because of the Jews. The Jews were incessantly determined to stamp out the new doctrines. Jesus Christ, and his followers were the recipients of the brunt of persecution. They had to meet in underground churches. Paul became one of them.
When Saul was coming to Damascus and he was confronted by Jesus on the way, he was humbled, but the underground church in Damascus did not know that. So, when Ananias saw a vision of Jesus who told him to go to Straight Street and heal Saul of Tarsus, perhaps Ananias was a little fearful. After all, Saul had breathed threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Let’s read his response in Acts 9:13, 14.
“And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.”
The Lord didn’t rebuke him for a lack of faith but gave him further assurance of Saul’s conversion.
“But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
So, one of the key features of the underground church is suffering. And to prepare for the underground church you have to prepare your mind to suffer for Jesus sake. There is no school where you can go to learn or get a degree in suffering. You can only learn it in the school of Christ. You will only experience it if you fellowship with Christ in His suffering or for His cause. When you suffer for Christ’s sake you have begun to prepare your mind for the underground church. When you have been falsely accused, or misrepresented, or taken advantage of by your fellow church members, then you have begun to experience what the underground church is like. We cannot be in heaven unless we have passed through suffering for it is suffering that humbles us, purifies us, and makes us realize our humanity. These things make us ready to be compassionate and merciful toward others just as Jesus is compassionate and merciful to us.
Most of us have never thought that we would have to be part of the underground church. And unless we prepare our minds for suffering, we will never be ready to experience the underground church and do what it takes to make the underground church safe and protected as much as possible. If we don’t experience suffering, we will betray sacred trusts and carelessly waste resources.
As secularism, communism and Islam are gaining influence and power over various parts of the world, Christians must know what an underground church looks like and what it does, because they will be persecuted for Christ’s sake.
While the underground church is comparatively unknown, we may even have it right next door, but we are not ready to join it because we’re not trained for it. As far as the underground church is concerned, the whole world is its mission field. And tragic experiences and circumstances happen everywhere, so we have a duty where possible to help and instruct those who pass through them.
In Muslim nations, in China, and other places, many believers have become victims of persecution. Many have suffered alone in prisons and many have died. While this is a matter of the record, we are not happy about this. Yet we rejoice for we know that those who have been the victims of persecution and even death have witnessed in a powerful way for Christ. But it is very important to have instruction on how to do underground work and not be captured unnecessarily. Suffering cannot be avoided in the underground church, whatever measures are taken, but suffering should be reduced to a minimum.
What happens to the public church in a country when oppressive powers take over? Well, in some countries the terror starts right away, such as in Mozambique and Cambodia. In other places it all starts with religious liberty. In some countries they want to first destroy or infiltrate the established church, so they give religious liberty to all. That way they can strategically undo that established church. Some regimes come to power without having real power. They do not have people on their side. They have not organized themselves and their police departments, and the army, or whatever. So, it takes time.
So, there is a time of quietude when they are not aggressive against the targeted faith. But during that time of quietude, they infiltrate the targeted faith with informants. They find out their weaknesses and the sins of the pastors and other leaders. Maybe it’s love of money. Maybe it’s pornography or some other lust. Maybe it’s a hidden sin with which a pastor may be blackmailed. Then they pressured them out and put their own loyal leadership, disguised as ministers, into power in the church. Listen to this from Last Day Events, page 179.
“Many will stand in our pulpits with the torch of false prophecy in their hands, kindled from the hellish torch of Satan….”
And if they can’t find anything that compromises a pastor, they’ll falsely accuse him to get him out of the ministry and even the church. Hopefully, faithful pastors will migrate to the underground church. The lesson here is that pastors and leaders in the underground church must be clean and pure, so that nothing can be found in them that will compromise them. For if they are not, they will become informers to other members. While this process may be painful for the pastor, it is necessary to give him an experience of suffering that will make him an excellent leader in the underground church. Do you think your public church has been compromised? Is it ready for the underground church? Most public churches have no sense of the danger of compromise, so they cannot prepare their members for the underground church.
When all is ready, the persecution begins sometimes in one day, sometimes over many weeks and months, little by little. In any case, faithful believers must be prepared to assume the work of the underground church. Jesus, our Lord, told Ananias, go meet Saul of Tarsus on the street that is called Straight and straighten out his blindness, so that he can see the true realities of the gospel. “He is going to be one of My most effective underground pastors, one of My underground workers.” That is what Paul was, a pastor of the underground church. In fact, he started many underground churches. But it all started out by “showing him how many things he must suffer …”
In the former Soviet Union police officers had a course in arrestology. That is the science of how to arrest people so that nobody around will observe. They created a new name, arrestology. Maybe we need to create a new name also for a course in the school of Christ called sufferlogy. This is an intensely spiritual preparation. And it cannot be avoided.
In a public church it is enough to believe certain doctrines and be baptized. In the church of the underground it is not enough to be merely a member of it. You can believe and be baptized but you will not be a member of the underground church unless you know how to suffer for Christ’s sake. You might have the mightiest faith in the world, but if you are not prepared to suffer, then you’ll be taken, and you’ll be compromised, and you will betray your fellow believers in the underground church. You will get two slaps by the interrogator and you will declare everything. So, you can see that preparation of the mind for suffering is one of the essentials in your preparation for the underground church.
The faithful Christian does not panic if he is put in prison. The rank-and-file believer finds a new place to witness for Christ in prison. For a pastor prison is a new church. It is a church with little income, but with great opportunities for work. You can have a church in a common prison cell. You may have to learn some code in order to communicate, like morse code, but that prison cell is your church.
In public churches in the free world you may hear the singing out on the street, or there may be a bell that calls the people to worship. The people are free to come or not. If a man doesn’t like the sermon on one Sabbath he might not come the next, and maybe find another church. He might not come if it rains. In public churches in the free world members look at their watches. “He has preached 1/2 an hour already. Will he ever finish?”
But in the underground church you don’t have those time restrictions that people impose on you. And in prison you have your members and seekers with you all day. Nobody even has a watch. And they wouldn’t be concerned if they did. When they take your watches or phones away in prison, you have church members the whole week and can preach to them from morning until night. While they have no choice, there has never been so many conversions brought about as there have been in prisons. So do not fear prison. Look upon it as a new assignment from God.
What should we do about torture? Will we be able to bear it? Well, if you can’t bear it, you will end up putting someone else in prison, maybe many more believers. After all, that’s what the oppressors want you to do, to betray those around you. Therefore, there is a great need for preparation for suffering, which must start now before the hard suffering begins. It’s too difficult to prepare yourself for it when you are already faced with suffering or are in prison.
You have to steel your heart to resist the temptation to avoid suffering. This can only come by a close relationship with Jesus. You can tell yourself that you are not going to yield, but that is not possible unless you learn from Christ what it means to be a sufferer with Christ. You have to plan ahead. You have to plan now for the eventual temptation to yield to persecution and torture. You have to prepare yourself beforehand for all eventualities. You have to prepare for suffering. Jesus will give you strength. He will stand by your side like He did for the three Hebrew worthies. But you have to practice this in your life right now. You have to understand that humility and meekness are characteristics that you must have in your life in every area. Or you will fail to have the help that Jesus offers.
How much each one of us can suffer depends on how much we are bound with Christ’s cause; how dear His cause is to us and how much it means to us. When persecution starts there will be many big surprises. There will be well respected preachers and writers who have become traitors. Some of the most prominent leaders will be lights that will go out. Let’s read this from Prophets and Kings, page 188.
“The time is not far distant when the test will come to every soul. The observance of the false sabbath will be urged upon us. The contest will be between the commandments of God and the commandments of men. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and conformed to worldly customs will then yield to the powers that be, rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness.”
Are you ready for that? Are you ready for traitors to arise among us? They are probably already here. During the pandemic we witnessed some of those who, if they don’t repent and surrender their lives to Jesus, will be just this type of person. During the time of persecution and suffering sermons, theology and books will not help. Only God and the Bible will be of help. And you may not have your Bible with you so you better commit as much of it to memory as possible, and also deeply familiarize yourself with the rest. But it is the Lord that strengthens you during a time of trouble. Your faith in God is your strength. A Bible verse only gives you the promises of what God will do for you if you believe in the reality expressed by them. Since they are God’s truth, they come from Him. They express what God is like. And if you believe what they tell you God is like and trust God He can stand by you and cause you to endure anything. For if you are united with God, the reality of evil loses its power over you; it cannot break the Lord almighty. He has experienced dealing with it and has conquered it.
Like peeling an onion, persecution strips away the layers that we have built around us that are fake until we come to our core realities of our faith.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
The cross was an implement of torture. Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said that. He showed us how heavy this cross can be. We have to be prepared for that. Try to exercise yourself spiritually. You take physical exercise so that you can be more fit. Likewise with spiritual things. You must practice. There is time for prayer, Bible study, meditation and contemplation. I don’t know about you, but I need to improve in all of these areas. Read Hebrews 11. Try and understand what these people went through. Put yourself in their shoes. Let’s read verses 32-38.
“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”
Visualize what it would be like to be sawn asunder, or burned at the stake, or devoured by lions. Think of yourself as being beaten, or being in danger of being burned, etc. How do I behave when I am confronted with these things? Maybe I won’t be thrown to the lions, but I will have to suffer at the hands of men who would be much worse than lions. Decide here and now whether you wish to pledge allegiance to Christ. We have to make the preparation now before we are imprisoned or persecuted in any way.
In prison you lose everything. You are undressed and given a prisoner’s suit. No more nice furniture, nice carpets, or nice curtains. No more nice food. You don’t have your family with you. You don’t have your library with you. And you will never see a flower. Nothing of what makes life pleasant remains. He who has renounced the pleasures of life beforehand is able with Christ’s help to resist those who oppress him. That’s what it’s like when persecution comes. And you have to prepare for it now. We have to learn to do without. I’m not used to that. So, I have to train my mind to do without.
Doubt is a big problem during persecution. To every one of us doubts come, but do not allow doubt to undermine and subvert your faith in the doctrines of the Bible. Every doubt is a little wedge that makes you a potential traitor. It’s easy to allow yourself to doubt when everything is going fine, but when you are tortured for your faith, those doubts are transformed into treason because you have to decide to live or die for this faith. And if you have doubts about what you believe, you will compromise others and yourself. So, don’t live with doubts but seek their solution. One of the key preparations of an underground worker is to find the solution to his doubts. If you do not find the solution you may have made a mistake somewhere in understanding what the Bible means. So you keep working on it until you find it.
Torture hardens you and strengthens your decision not to tell the police anything. There is always a moment of crisis when you’re almost ready to write and pronounce the name of your accomplice in the underground work, or to say where the secret printing shop is, or the location of the secret meeting. You have been tortured so much that nothing counts anymore; the fact that you should not have pain also does not matter. At that moment if you consider that nothing matters including that you should not have pain, then you have overcome the crisis and it gives you an intense inner joy. If they cannot get anything from you in that moment, they will abandon torturing. They know its continuation to be useless. Your mind is your most important defense when you are being tortured.
Remember the body of Christ was flogged. It has always been flogged. It’s been flogged for 2000 years. It was flogged by the Roman emperors. It was flogged by the Nazis. It was flogged by the communists, and it still is in China. You belong to the body of Christ so you can expect to be flogged too. When you are converted to Jesus you consciously become a part of His body, that body is a flogged body; a mocked body, a spat-upon body and one crowned with a crown of thorns, with nails driven into the hands and feet. We must accept this as our possible future fate. We must not think of Christ as having suffered and been crucified over 2000 years ago. The sufferings of Jesus in His body must become a reality for us today.
Jesus said in Matthew 10:37, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
He said this right after he said in verse 9, “And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”
We have to be prepared for our own families to become traitors to us. Therefore, we have to love Christ more than our families. And when our young children are taken away from us because we are considered unfit to raise them, it will be a severe trial. But Christ can take care of your children. They have to make their own decisions possibly at a young age. But you cannot betray Christ.
When Jesus was on the cross he suffered greatly, and his mother was in front of him suffering too. They loved each other, but the glory of God was at stake and here any human sentiment must be secondary. Only when we take this attitude once and for all can we be prepared for the underground church and its work. Only Christ, the Great Sufferer, the Man of Sorrows, must live in us.
Some prisoners were beaten to death, and there will be others in the future. You have to choose between dying with Christ or becoming a traitor. What is the value of continuing to live when you will be ashamed to look in the mirror, knowing that the mirror will show you the face of a traitor? To think in this manner is the first requisite for being an underground worker, and especially an underground pastor. What’s more important is for an underground pastor’s wife to think this way. She has to encourage her husband to do his work no matter what the consequences may be. She has to push him to work and to fight. She must sacrifice herself.
Another thing we need to learn in the underground church is to be silent. Pastors, by their very profession, are loquacious people; people who speak. But nobody can preach well who does not listen well. Pastors will find that more people are converted because the pastor listens to them. People have so many burdens on their heart, and there is nobody who has patience to listen to them. If somebody finds a man or woman who listens, he is won without much talk in the underground church, silence is one of the first rules. Every superfluous word you speak can put somebody in prison. You can’t mention the name of anyone for any reason. Or that person could be taken to prison.
You cannot learn to be silent overnight. When the whole country has become hostile to your faith that’s not the time to begin to learn to be silent. You have to learn to be silent from the moment of your conversion really. But in any case, learn to be silent now and for the future. Become a Christian who speaks little but with great weight. We are used to talking very much and not saying very much. But we should be exactly the opposite. We should talk a little but say important things. So become a man or woman of few words.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”
We say so many words that really mean nothing. “How do you do?” “Fine.” “Isn’t the weather lovely today?” “Yes, the weather is beautiful.” And so goes the conversation. But what good are those words? We’re all used to them and we think nothing of them. But they are really of no value. They’re just idle words. But even simple words like these can perhaps do damage to the underground church. Do we take the words of Jesus earnestly? We’ll be judged by them. Every idle word will be brought to judgment. I don’t know about you, but I have to improve a lot in that area. A word of praise about your sibling, if it is not necessary, may mean catastrophe. For example, somebody comes to visit you and you say, “Oh! I am so sorry that you were not here before, brother W. has just left. The visitor could be an informer. Now he will know that brother W. is in town! Keep your mouth shut. Learn to do this now.
When psychological torture is used, and you are in solitary confinement, and you forget just about everything you ever knew, and you forget everything about the Bible, just pray. And when you can’t pray anymore, you just tell God that you love Him and that you want to live with Him.
Not the slightest quarrel is permitted in the underground church. Every quarrel in the underground church means arrests, beatings, and perhaps death. Our adversaries will watch and listen. They’ll have their informers in the underground church. Whenever there is a quarrel, there are reciprocal accusations. The one would say to the other “when you were with Brother Smith, you did this, etc. So, the police get Smith. Quarrels always bring up names and bring out facts.
The Bible in 2 Timothy 2:24 says, “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.”
And in Philippians 2:3 it says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
This is wise and essential counsel for the underground church. There must be no disputes or arguments. Start today to learn to be a saint. It will be too late to start to be holy when persecution starts. You won’t know how to start being a saint. You have to start it now. If in the case of a hostile environment it would be essential not to quarrel, the best thing is not to quarrel now. Even a family quarrel can lead to persecution and death. The preparation for the underground church and work is much deeper than for a normal Christian worker. It has to become a much more real part of life. And during the time of persecution or oppression it is dangerous and means imprisonment and perhaps death.
These are some of the principles that are essential to the underground church. I hope you have learned something today.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we see that we are nearing the time of the final persecution of God’s people. We have not been trained for this nor do we have the mentality that it takes to live in such circumstances. So please help us to understand what we have heard today. Give us insights into how we can prepare for what is surely coming upon God’s people. We cannot rely on organizations, the government, institutions, or even the church. We can only rely on You. Help us to develop a walk with You that is invincible. And we’ll praise You for Your Providence and Your guidance and Your protection throughout all eternity. In Jesus name I pray, amen.