By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry. I’m so thankful that you joined us today because today’s message is especially practical and useful to those who wished to have medical and religious freedom but cannot. I hope you will gain much from today’s message. We are living in a time unprecedented in world history. There have been pandemics before, but not like this one where governments around the world have shut down economies and societies and taken away many freedoms from their people on the scale that this one has. At the same time, we are at the very end of time and things will only get crazier and the rights and the freedoms to move about and to carry on as you were before the pandemic began will be restricted, more and more. This is a dry run for the Sunday law, which will be handled in similar ways.
As we begin, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, what a privilege it is to live at this time in earth’s history. But Lord we’re not ready for an overwhelming surprise in the near future. We pray that You will help us and in Your great mercy be kind to us and help us to surrender all to you. Please Lord help us to be overcomers. We need to have victory over the enemy. Our lives need to reflect the lovely Jesus. Please give us Your grace and Your power. As we study today, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts and minds that we may discern what you wish to tell us. In Jesus name, amen.
2 Peter 1:19 says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”
It is impossible to predict everything that will happen in detail, at the end of time, but if we are paying attention, we can see pretty accurately from the events taking place around us how the final events will unfold. We receive warnings in other areas of what will happen and how the final events will be handled. We can also tell from Bible prophecy what will occur in generalities. But as we move on in time, we will see specifically how these things will play out. And we will have very little notice on some of them. And they will be surprising. But if we are intently watching, we will not be surprised, but we will be prepared if we have brought our lives into harmony with God and have followed His counsel in every area.
The Bible is the basis of our prophetic understanding. World events are telling us the details of how the prophetic events recorded in scripture will play out. The Bible is the only thing that can be relied on in these last days, when truth is scarce. It is the one source of truth in a post-truth world. The Bible will give you a clear understanding of truth and the priorities that we need to have, not the Internet, not The History Channel, not the mainstream news. These things will only confuse and disorient us. But if you have Bible prophecy as the basis of your faith and as the basis of your confidence and understanding of the future, you can see just how accurate prophecy is. You can then prioritize events and fit the important ones into the grand scheme of Bible prophecy. The closer we get to the end of time, the more important the Bible will become to us. It is the bedrock of our faith.
Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 21:25 and 26. The words of Jesus are very relevant to our times and our circumstances. In fact, He spoke them to His disciples when they asked Him a question about the end times. His words are about the time just before He would come again.
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”
People have been crazed by fear. But Jesus spoke words of comfort. “Be not afraid,” he often said. “Fear not,” He counseled us. “Peace be unto you,” He said to His disciples when they were fearful. We are to fear God, not men. Men and their great leader, the enemy of all mankind, wants you to fear man. But Jesus speaks peace to the soul. Whatever troubles you, whatever afflicts you, you are to have your heart at peace, trusting in the goodness of God, His protection, and His love.
Already the people are being trained to look for scapegoats among their neighbors and even their friends and families. The unvaccinated are being treated like scapegoats. They are being blamed for the continuation of the pandemic. And if you are afraid of vaccination or have convictions that prevent you from taking the vaccine jab, you will gradually be isolated and proscribed; at least that is the trajectory of government and society at the moment. It is a form of persecution. They don’t care whether you have full disclosure concerning the vaccine or whether you can make a fully informed decision. Anyone who is unvaccinated will feel pressure to comply with the vaccine mandates. Anybody who is insecure in their convictions, or not settled in them, will eventually take the jab.
As COVID Resurges, Vaccinated Americans Rage Against Holdouts [1]
This is the same way the Sunday law will be handled. If you are not settled in your conviction of the importance of the 4th commandment, and the obedience you owe to God, you will comply with the Sunday law. When your livelihood and lifestyle are threatened, when you are ostracized by your family and friends, when you can’t go to the grocery store and purchase food, you will comply if you are not faithfully following Jesus, the pattern. Jesus was non-compliant with society and its pressure to compromise, but He was gentle and kind to those who ran amok of the political or social agenda of the day.
Listen to this compelling statement from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5 page 463. “The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith. And at that time the superficial, conservative class, whose influence has steadily retarded the progress of the work, will renounce the faith and take their stand with its avowed enemies, toward whom their sympathies have long been tending. These apostates will then manifest the most bitter enmity, doing all in their power to oppress and malign their former brethren and to excite indignation against them.”
Did you hear that? There will be a lot of people who will try to excite indignation against God’s people. What is indignation? That’s anger, deep seated anger coming from self-righteousness. It assumes one’s own rightness and demonizes those who are non-compliant as evildoers. Let me read on.
“This day is just before us. The members of the church will individually be tested and proved. They will be placed in circumstances where they will be forced to bear witness for the truth. Many will be called to speak before councils and in courts of justice, perhaps separately and alone. The experience which would have helped them in this emergency they have neglected to obtain, and their souls are burdened with remorse for wasted opportunities and neglected privileges.”
Do you see what I mean about strange things happening? Yes, I am talking about church members, including even leaders of conferences, unions, and divisions, and even many of the general conference. Your friends and even church entities that you have supported and given your loyalty, will attempt to lead you into disobedience to God and bitterly oppose the faithful ones who stand firmly for the truth and for God’s law. And they will stir up your fellow members against you if you are faithful. The institutions that you love and have respected will turn on you. You cannot expect comfort or succor or defense from the most trusted human sources. You must start to think about this now, because when these things burst upon us as an overwhelming surprise, you have to be ready to stand on your own. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is. The structure will continue to comply with the government as they always have done in the past. And they will stir up other members to be angry with you, and turn on you. You can’t expect support from them.
So, what do you do when all your friends have forsaken you, and have turned their backs on you, and they breathe out the venom of spite against you? Even kindness and common courtesy will be scarce. This will be very hard for you if you are not used to standing on your own and being free. For the enemy wants to take away freedom from everybody, especially from God’s faithful people. After all, he hates God’s people. It will be extremely difficult for those who are prone to being with their groupie friends and need their companionship to feel secure. Maybe this pandemic has been training for the future. The isolation and social distancing has been a very good education for some. If you have a strong relationship to God, you can survive it. But if you don’t, you will be very insecure and be tempted very powerfully, to comply with the Sunday law.
Think about it. What will it be like to be stripped of everything that you knew and depended on in the past? Everything will be ripped out from underneath you? Yes, God can train you in a very short time if you are following His will for your life. But if you disobeyed Him and haven’t followed the Lord in every area even though you knew what His will was, how can you expect the Lord to sustain you through the time of trouble.
2 Peter 1:10 says we are to make our calling an election sure. That can only be done through trial and test after trial and test. We add virtue after virtue.
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”
I have recently been asking the Lord to give me patience in my soul when I get behind a slow vehicle. I used to complain, even out loud. My wife knows. But when I started to pray that specific prayer, you wouldn’t believe how many slow pokes got in front of me. It seemed like every trip; another slow vehicle managed to get in front of me. I was surprised that the Lord worked so quickly and so often to answer my prayer to give me lots of practice. I bet those other drivers had no idea that they were cooperating with God for my salvation.
Well, what about the vaccine mandates that are in your face? I’m not saying the vaccine is the mark of the beast, or that people who have received the vaccine are going to ultimately turn against God and His truth. But I see in this vaccine issue, the training wheels for the big crisis of the end of time. It’s a form of preparation. It’s only a small test really, but it is a test of the fortitude of your convictions. Or at least you can see what the time of trouble will entail. Your convictions of the truth will be tested to the max against your lifestyle and your livelihood. To survive in the way that you have in the past will be impossible. You won’t know what to do. You will be largely in uncharted water, unfamiliar territory, lost in a sea of confusion and uncertainty, unless you have learned the lessons of this pandemic and other major events in recent history.
And you have to think about that time ahead of time. You can’t just go on blindly from day to day thinking that things will go on as they always have before, or that they will get back to normal. It won’t happen. God works in the shadows. He is working for your salvation, and even the things that happen in the world that are not very pleasant. He is preparing for a more difficult time, a more significant event.
The unvaccinated will be unable to shop in some grocery stores, which until now, were considered to be essential and that people should not be restricted from them just because they are unvaccinated. But now things are changing. The noose is tightening on those who refused the jab.
Listen to this. “The German newspaper BILD reports that the state of Hesse has passed a motion that will allow food stores to decide whether they want to BAN unvaccinated people from entering…The pressure on the unvaccinated grows and grows!
“In Hesse, all retailers, including the supermarket, can now decide for themselves whether they want to implement the 3G rule (vaccinated, tested, or recovered) or the 2G rule [Just vaccinated or recovered, without the testing option] – so far there have been no access restrictions in supermarkets to give everyone the option of basic services…
“The so called 3G rules still require anyone wanting to enter a building to prove they have tested negative, but the 2G rules remove that option altogether.
“The German government had excluded supermarkets and stores selling essential items from most restrictions, but Hesse’s government has now put this decision into the hands of the stores.
“The federal state is home to more than six million people and includes the major city of Frankfurt.
The move means that a total of eight federal states in Germany now allow businesses and event organizers to institute the so-called 2G option.”
German State Allows Food Stores To Ban The Unvaccinated [2]
There will certainly be other places outside of Europe that will do this too.
A digital environment provides a very easy way to check, verify and track people who have had the jab. Vaccine passports are starting to be used in many places to get on public transportation, enter buildings, and now for shopping. Friends this is ominous. Once digital passports are in place and the people are used to them, it will be easy to cut off those who do not comply with the decree when the Sunday law is enacted. And they can track you and your friends with whom you associate, just through your smartphone.
I tell you; the mechanisms are being put in place one by one. The first time I saw this in action was right after 9/11, when United States, under the emergency proclamation of President Bush, and later the Patriot Act, began using the methods of the Roman Catholic inquisition, even though they were rather dubious and ineffective. Torture in secret prisons, indefinite detention, trial by tribunal instead of by jury of peers, and other methods were used to try to ferret out the terrorists. They first said these methods were just for foreign fighters, but then they expanded it to any American citizen who was involved as well. They were called illegal or enemy combatants. This abridged the rights guaranteed to American citizens in the constitution of the United States. I saw this as ominous too, since we are told in Great Controversary, page 591 that the methods of the inquisition will be resurrected at the end of time. Listen, “[Rome] is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men. She is piling up her lofty and massive structures in the secret recesses of which her former persecutions will be repeated.”
Then in the same Great Controversy, page 608 it reads, “As the defenders of truth refuse to honor the Sunday-sabbath, some of them will be thrust into prison, some will be exiled, some will be treated as slaves To human wisdom all this now seems impossible; but as the restraining Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from men, and they shall be under the control of Satan, who hates the divine precepts, there will be strange developments. The heart can be very cruel when God’s fear and love are removed.”
I saw that the restraining spirit of God was being withdrawn from men back in 2001 after 9/11. And it is still going on today. But the Spirit has been withdrawing even more as men reject God. Men are treating those with convictions of truth with disdain and with the same spirit that has driven persecution in the past. This does not go unnoticed in heaven. God is testing man to see what kind of metal they are made of. His Spirit of restraint is gradually being taken away from the earth and from human minds. Men are becoming monsters.
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, page 16, says, “It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who shall be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended.”
Did you hear that? Celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past will be blended. What does that mean? Under the final events of earth’s history, the latter reign will be poured out on God’s faithful people. At the same time the anger against them will be increased by governments and society to a fevered pitch, as they go against oppressive laws and new social norms. These two things will be happening at the same time. Think about that. Isn’t that amazing. I’ve thought about this before but now we are in a circumstance where we can actually see that the Holy Spirit is being withdrawn from the world. But where is the Holy Spirit going? The answer is: He will be poured out on faithful souls everywhere in the latter rain.
Since 9/11 it’s been a long gradual march to where we are now. But that march has wound its way from enhanced interrogation methods, to surveillance, to censorship, and now the removal of freedoms for a few maligned individuals. The unvaccinated are being separated from the vaccinated and treated quite differently. The ultimate target is your religious freedoms, and government leaders are determined to take them way eventually. They are already doing this gradually in some areas. I have been watching all this for 20 years and I see the handwriting on the wall. We are almost there, and never before have we been so close to the end of time.
Never has there been such an intense war on national sovereignty, with the pathetic and meager efforts along America’s southern border. And never has there been such a war on personal sovereignty as with the COVID restrictions. Government leaders want you to know that you are under their control. The enemy of all good hates personal sovereignty. And he has been at war with it for longer than 9/11. He has been much more subtle in the past than he is now. It’s as if the gloves have come off in the all-out assault on your personal liberty. It is out in the open now. It is no longer subtle. And in case you’re wondering, he will succeed. How do I know? Listen to this from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 451, “Our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government…”
And this will happen all over the world to the extent that each government allows constitutional freedoms.
Listen to this from holy scripture. Revelation 13:7 says this, “And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
The enemy will gain the ascendancy for the last great struggle for control of the human mind. He will be allowed to create a lot of pressure for them to submit to his will, especially upon God’s people, eventually. But he can never force you to sin. He can try to coerce you. He can try to pressure you through fear. He can get the whole world to oppose you, but he cannot force you to sin. Every angel in heaven will come to your aid so that you don’t have to sin. You may end up in prison. You may end up as a martyr for God’s cause. You may have all kinds of inconveniences. But those are the means by which you will strengthen your backbone. I recommend that you lower your expectations for the future. In fact, make them very low.
Revelation 13:8 goes on to say that, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
The enemy’s goal is simple. He wants to have the worship that is due to God alone. Isaiah 14:12 and 13 say, “How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
To be like the Most High means that you are worshipped and obeyed. Satan wants the worship and obedience of all human beings, and he is bending every effort to make it so.
Friends, what should you do? Do you go along with him, or are you going to stand independent and sovereign? Friends, you can’t go along with him even in a little way, if you are going to be saved. But the only way to remain free in spirit and in obedience to God, will be to disobey the laws that Satan imposes on the human race that conflict with the Bible and conscience.
I can’t say whether it is wrong for you to get the vaccine, for instance. We don’t have that kind of inspired guidance. Each person has to be convinced in his own mind. And the Holy Spirit has to do the convincing. I can only teach you the principles and tell you the parallels that I see. But I don’t think it is my job to convict you one way or the other. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. But you should pray and study your Bible, especially Bible prophecy and seek the Lord to know what you should do.
If you are a recent convert, and you have a spouse that is not a believer, and you’re not free to do everything that you read in the Bible or Spirit of Prophecy, pray and just take it one day at a time. Let the Holy Spirit do the convincing. You may be surprised.
I know someone who had an unbelieving spouse. She was convicted to leave the city, but her spouse was not. She prayed earnestly for some time, and after a while, amazingly, the spouse eventually wanted to leave the city, just as the person had been praying. The Holy Spirit can do anything for the believer who is willing to do anything that the Lord requires.
How should God’s faithful people think and plan for the future? How should they adapt to changes in their freedoms and abilities to navigate a new society? How should they think about staying free? I hope that the following practical counsel will be of great help to you.
First of all, be adaptable. That means being flexible. Be willing to work with people that you don’t think you get along with very well. I don’t think petitions, lawsuits, protests and these types of things will help much. So, don’t put your efforts in them. Stay aloof from political reforms. Governments will just become more abusive and inflexible. Put your efforts into the three angel’s messages. Hand out truth-filled literature wherever you can, like the Last Generation magazine.
In Jesus’ day the Roman government was dictatorial, tyrannical, And abusive. Listen to this from Desire of Ages, page 509, “The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive; on every hand were crying abuses,—extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Saviour attempted no civil reforms. He attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority or administration of those in power. He who was our example kept aloof from earthly governments. Not because He was indifferent to the woes of men, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. To be efficient, the cure must reach men individually, and must regenerate the heart.”
Jesus is our example. Governments today are much the same as governments back then and are becoming more so by the day. They can be just as abusive and oppressive now and will become much worse as time goes on. There are forces among government leaders that are hidden to the public. These forces want to take away your freedoms and are following their general, Satan. The emphasis of your life needs to be on winning souls.
Do you remember the statement from Education, page 228 about France? Let me read it to you again, “At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.”
Godlessness and atheism are taking the world by storm these days. There is a famine in the land. Listen to Amos 8:11, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
There is a determined resistance to anything that is Christian. Especially in the cities are these sentiments developed. This is also developed in the universities and educational and scientific institutions of the world. And when atheism, or secularism takes over the control of governments, very bad things happen. And you can know what is going to happen. When men throw off the restraints placed upon them by God’s law very wicked and abusive society evolves, followed by anarchy. We have an example before us in history.
Here is a statement from the book Great Controversy, page 584.
“Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. When the standard of righteousness is set aside, the way is open for the prince of evil to establish his power in the earth.”
So, the future for God’s people is rather difficult. Ultimately there will be victory and eternal life for them. But between now and then there are some things that are going to happen to them that are really bad, or that seem really bad. It is not God’s plan for His people to fight for their rights. We are to follow His example and work for souls, not work for government reform.
Christ was “oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. That’s Isaiah 53:7.
That’s the way governments tend to be. And they stir up their citizens to be angry at the wrong people. And people want a scapegoat so they can pass the blame to someone else. And it will get worse as God’s people are seen to be the enemy and are demonized as villains. Already they are painting people who are unvaccinated as the cause of the continuation of the corona virus crisis. The unvaxed are being blamed for the rise of variants and mutations. Of course, they are not, but people think that way because of government and the media propaganda. They are trying to pressure everyone to get the vaccine. That’s why they are talking that way. This is the way it will be handled during the Sunday law crisis. God’s people will be first isolated, then demonized, then persecuted. That is the enemy’s mode of operation.
But why is the government and the media trying to paint people that way? It is because they want to justify using these measures and to have dictatorial control over all the people.
I think there will come a time, maybe it is already here, that you will have to push past your discomfort, fears, and doubts to survive. But in order to keep your mental health and to be sympathetic, and empathetic toward others, you will have to have total confidence in Christ. That’s the only way. You have to have an abiding, secure, and invincible hold on the truth, which is Christ. Your fears may seem overwhelming, but Jesus stands by your side.
Here is a statement from Letters and Manuscripts, Vol. 17, Letter 115,
“There is no bondage in perfect love. It casts out all fear of what this one will say or that one will say. It binds us up with Christ. Selfishness is expelled from the hearts of those who love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves.”
Be proactive. Take the council of the Lord as it reads, and follow it, even if it doesn’t seem like it makes sense. There have been quite a few times in history when the instructions of the Lord seemed unreasonable and didn’t make sense, but it was dead accurate. Think of Noah and the prophecy that there was going to be a flood. That was the end of the world for them. Noah had lots of instructions to go with it. It didn’t seem to make sense. But everyone who didn’t believe Noah perished in the flood.
Today, we have council from the Lord to leave the cities for country homes in retired places. It doesn’t make sense to some people. But it is about to become very evident that God’s counsel is very accurate.
There are a number of systems that are designed, or that will be used, to control and oppress God’s people. Some of them will also be used to strip them of their wealth, some of their livelihood and some of social comfort but all of their freedom.
For instance, if you have funds in the stock market, or mutual funds, or other investments, you should be making plans to get out. And while most people can’t avoid the banking system completely without creating chaos in their lives, it would be wise to experiment with the barter system wherever possible. And I also recommend a cash backup system stashed away for about six months to survive, if things turn against you, at least in the immediate future.
Also, in harmony with God’s council, get free as much as possible from the food system. It is being taken over by the elites in the great reset that is taking place around the world. That means to grow your own food and connect with other local farmers. Your diet may not be as broad as it is right now when you can buy from the system that transports food for long distances. But it is a survival necessity to become independent of the food system. Of course, the time will eventually come, when you will be like Elijah and have to live completely and solely upon the Lord for your daily bread and water.
The energy system will not always be available due to blackouts and brownouts that are certainly coming. They are already coming to places like China. Do what you can to at least have an alternative heating system if you live in a place that gets cold at certain time of the year, such as a wood burning stove on which you can put a pot of beans or other things to slow cook.
Prepare to lose your job if you are not self-employed, or a government contract. It may not happen, but you should have some mechanism to earn money on your own and not be dependent on a traditional job. We are seeing this happen with regard to the vaccine. In most places you can choose to have the vaccine and keep your job. Or choose to stay unvaccinated and lose your job.
If you choose the former the principle remains. You are still dependent on that job to maintain your lifestyle and to survive. Think about everything you do. For instance, think about how you would get along if you lost your job through disobeying some mandate or law. What would you do? Most people have never thought about this until the pandemic. There have been programs run by the government to help people get through that pandemic. But what if you are barred from those government programs? You have to think about your survival.
That’s why it’s important to leave the cities and have a home in the country where you can grow your own food. And you can’t learn to grow your own food overnight. You have to work at it constantly for a period of years actually. To become independent of the system is actually pretty hard and it takes some intentional thinking and planning. This should be happening now in your life. Don’t just keep going on expecting everything to fall in place when the time comes. It won’t.
Preparation for the time of trouble is a spiritual preparation. You have to develop the fortitude of mind, and your character has to be like steel to succeed. But it also has physical consequences that directly affect your life. Yes, God will look after those who didn’t have the knowledge to prepare. Maybe they found salvation in the last moments of time. But those who had advanced warning, cannot depend on that. They have to obey God and follow His counsel.
There are other forms of dependency and control. Welfare checks, Social Security checks and Veterans Administration checks will all be cut off one day. And probably soon. If you live in the US, your 401K will likely be unavailable to you when you need it. So, you better prepare for that too. If you live outside the US, similar welfare, military services and retirement schemes will eventually be cut off. You don’t want to get to that time unprepared. I’m not saying you have to get off these things now, but you should have a plan for when the time comes.
Accept reality and work to get free of the system as much as possible. And work towards getting out of system completely, for this is where it is headed for God’s people. This is not easy. That’s why you have to be intentional. Think about it and plan for it.
Stock some supplies of food and essentials. I hate to sound like a prepper, but you need to prepare for the various crises ahead. The time of trouble is another matter. But before that time there is some very difficult times coming upon this world. Remember, men’s hearts fail them for fear. It wouldn’t hurt for you to be prepared for three to six months.
But now let me talk to you spiritually about all this. Maybe you’re feeling afraid and vulnerable. I don’t blame you. The scriptures provide comfort for God’s people. Psalm 91 is a classic example.
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”
A lot is going to happen, but you don’t have to be afraid, because God is with you. Be content with whatever situation arises. The greatest preparation for what is coming is the preparation of the soul. Calmness of soul when you are threatened on every side is a Christlike virtue. Learn to experience peace, Bible peace, when all around is chaos.
And one more thing before I close. I want you to think about how you are going to continue to be involved in church. When fellow church members have cancelled you for your faithfulness for one reason or another, or the organization has moved against you or against your convictions in some impersonal way or by some policy, what then?
You may have to become involved in an underground church. Underground churches are common in some places around the world where religious liberty doesn’t exist. This is coming to America, and other developed countries. I have been saying this for years, though I have not been using those words, necessarily. The nucleus of underground churches already exists in developed countries. They are self-supporting churches. And there is probably one somewhere around you. I’m not saying that some of them don’t have some problems, but I’m saying that the nucleus of underground churches exists. I believe they will become more relevant as time goes on.
Underground churches should not be hiring pastors, organizing conferences, or have an official means of collecting tithe, performing marriages, or legally incorporating themselves. A legal corporation makes him visible to the government. Not only does that place them in the line of fire, but it targets their pastors and leaders. Give it much more thought in the future, how these churches will operate. Consider every aspect.
But God’s true people will have to meet in secret like in the past. They will have to make do without the structures that they are used to today. But my guess is that they will thrive very well as underground churches. The Huguenots did it in medieval France. The Waldenses did it in medieval Italy. And they established underground churches throughout Europe. They could not depend on the established church, or the organized church of their day. But it is time to think and plan for this existential crisis of the church.
The scriptures say in Isaiah 26:20 to those who live at the end of time,
“Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
Friends, that time of trouble is coming very soon. Please plead with God to make you ready, especially spiritually, for the times ahead. World leaders are planning for other pandemics including variants of the current one, like the delta version of coronavirus. They are also planning for other emergencies, in crises like electrical grid takedowns, climate change lockdowns, and other things that threaten our livelihood. But my guess is that we will be in the viral pandemic for a long time, if not forever. We will just have to get used to living with it. But it’s just a sign that Jesus is coming soon. It’s one of the most life altering things that could have happened to the human race. And the elites of the world are using this pandemic to get more control, to make more poor people, and to bring the world back to the Middle Ages of Roman Catholic domination, all in modern life.
More bad news is coming friends, but also there is better good news! Jesus our Lord and Master is returning soon. I want to be ready, don’t you?
Let us pray. Father in heaven, we are sobered by the times in which we live. And it can be overwhelming at times. But we know that when we trust in You completely, You will stand by our side without a doubt. So, we pray that we can get used to trusting in You. Please stand by our side. Please help us plan for the future. And may we be faithful servants of the Most High. In Jesus name, amen.