Persecution Archives - Leaving Laodicea

A Glimpse at Life Under God’s Daily Anger

by Steve McCranie | Sep 7, 2023

Wrath That Lingers

As the old Puritan prayer reads, “From Your wrath, good Lord, deliver us.” Today, such a sentiment seems foreign, even offensive, in our modern church culture. After all, haven’t we matured from the medieval superstition of the wrath of a vengeful God? Isn’t our God of today a God of love, acceptance, and inclusivity? Yet how quickly we forget that the Lord our God remains “a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29), before whom we all must one day stand, regardless of how uncomfortable that truth might make us feel.

The Scripture pulls no punches in revealing the reality of God’s righteous anger unleashed against all ungodliness. Romans 1:8 states, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men.” That’s present tense, today. And the word all, means just that, all. Perhaps no verse captures the persistence of God’s anger toward those who continue in disobedience more than Psalm 7:11, which reads, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” The word angry means “enraged, indignant, foaming at the mouth in rage.”¹ This describes an attribute of God that is missing in most preaching and Systematic Theology textbooks today. But it is, nevertheless, true. God is angry, even enraged, with the wicked every single day.

So what does it truly mean to have the Almighty actively express His displeasure and anger against you on a daily basis? How does the anger of the Lord manifest itself in the life of someone recklessly pursuing sin’s empty promises and shaking his defiant fist in the face of God? For a sign-seeking generation like ours, could this be the ultimate warning sign from heaven— to have the force of divine wrath rest upon you 24 hours a day? Let’s peer behind the veil into a life living under the cloud of God’s abiding anger.

Life Under the Anger of God

Face it, yours is a bleak existence. You awaken each morning under the weight of God’s disfavor pressing down on your soul. His anger seems to fill the very air around you. It’s the first reality that greets you in the morning, and the last thing you think about at night. And all during the mundane activities of your day, His anger is always there, reminding you of your sin and guilt and future judgment and condemnation, leaving you no place to hide.

Hardships and frustrations mount in frequency and intensity, like the birth pains of a woman in labor. Deadlines are missed, relationships strained, and accidents occur almost as if by design. Minor headaches morph into searing migraines. The hand of God’s opposition seems evident as if cursing the very works of your hands. And what faint flickers of hope or joy you find in life are quickly extinguished before they can take root.

In public, you force smiles through gritted teeth. But inside, you’re naked and exposed and petrified beneath the glare of His wrath. Guilt and regret consume your private moments. Your mind endlessly replays past sins, reopening old wounds long since concealed and buried. Your anguished cries of “Why, God?” are met by His silence. Deep in your heart, you know the answer— God is disciplining you for your arrogant obstinance. Yet still, you refuse to bend.

Sleep brings you no escape, only haunted visions of past sins and impending doom. You toss upon a bed of inner anguish. Spiritual oppression grows. Confusion now clouds once simple choices. You descend each day further into bondage, making compromises you once thought unthinkable. An unseen Sovereign now holds your mind and will in shackles. Again, you refuse to repent.

As years pass, the curse inevitably takes its toll— addictions form, your health deteriorates, and your dreams begin to die. Even minor mishaps now leave you increasingly bruised and battered. Relationships crumble, and vocations stall. Your conscience grows calloused and cold, now easy to ignore. And as you feel the walls of God’s chastisement closing in, your life shrinks down to this small, miserable existence. In essence, you hate your life. Yet still, you cling to your sins.

In rare moments, something within you stirs. A faint beam of light peeks through the darkness, revealing fleeting sensations of peace, and flashes of joy and hope you once held dear. Your heart softens for an instant as you consider turning back to God in repentance. But as quickly as it came, the darkness returns, with a vengeance, heavier than before. The wrath remains unchanged. And you continue down the path of judgment.

But somewhere deep down, the fear and dread of facing the Judge arises. You see yourself standing exposed, guilty, in utter shame, ready to receive the eternal payment for a lifetime of rebellion against Him. But, as before, your heart stubbornly resists being broken. Today will not be your day of salvation. The appointed time of reprieve passes again as the freedom offered you is spoken of, yet never chosen nor embraced.

But There is Hope

But There is Hope!

This is but a glimpse of what it is like to live under the righteous anger of the Almighty and to daily grieve the Holy Spirit. This is the existence of one who spites the rich love of Christ who bled for your redemption, to harden yourself like Pharaoh against the word of the Lord, and to refuse to bow the knee when the opportunity still remains. Surely, you must know, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

And yet, take heart and be encouraged. For even under the relentless barrage of God’s wrath, the soft voice of hope and redemption can still be heard. It whispers this condition is not final, and your sentence is not fixed. For there is One who willingly absorbed the wrath of God in your place— Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And through Him, though your sins be as scarlet, Jesus can make you white as snow (Isa. 1:18).

But all this you know. Now it’s time to humble yourself and receive His gift.

Remember, no further wrath awaits those who place their full faith and trust in Him. As the Scriptures proclaim, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). His love triumphs over wrath, and you can be free of your condemnation by faith in Him. And once you trust and receive Him, your dark night of the soul will give way to the dawning light of God’s forgiveness and joy.

It’s not too late. This sad story doesn’t have to be your story. As long as you have breath in your lungs, the door of His mercy stands open. So turn from going your own way, and enter into the shelter of God’s grace. Allow your heart of stone to be made flesh and stop resisting the gentle promptings of the Spirit. His convictions are not meant to condemn you, but to heal and deliver you. Come to Jesus just as you are. Remember, His yoke is easy, His burden light.

And do it today!

Notes

1. Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). In The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 298). AMG Publishers.

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Persecution, Growth, and the Underground Church

by Steve McCranie | Aug 14, 2023

The Lost Discipline of the Love Feast – Part 4

The parallels between the underground church in China and the early church of the first three centuries are striking. Both suffered intense persecution, being declared enemies of the state. Both responded by holding fast to the foundational tenets of their faith theologically and in practice (Acts 2:42). And both did more than just survive— they thrived. So much so that Constantine was forced, among other reasons, to issue the Edict of Toleration, and later the Edict of Milan,¹ because of the growing number of believers in the empire. Scholars estimate that by the end of the third century, over 10% of the Roman population were Christians, not counting a vast number of slaves.²

Fast forward seventeen hundred years and we have the same scene played out in our time, only bigger. Instead of the persecution by the Roman Empire, we see the grand persecution of the church under Mao’s People’s Republic of China beginning in 1949 when atheism was established as the official state religion. Soon, missionaries were expelled from China, churches and schools were closed, their property confiscated, and pastors and church leaders were imprisoned or condemned to labor camps.

No longer was there freedom of religion or assembly or the right to worship. Instead, like the early persecuted church, believers were forced underground to practice their faith. And the results of China’s state-wide treatment of Christianity was “legendary,” says Paul Hattaway, director of Asia Harvest. He continues, “For thirty years, they have shown the world how to be the church Christ intended.”³ Some estimates suggest there are more Christians in China than Communist Party members, totaling over 150 million and growing by over 30,000 per day. In fact, it is reported that over half of all believers in China choose to worship in an underground church than in one approved by the state. Let that sink in for a moment.

The Underground Church in China

How did this happen so fast? And how did the underground church in China grow so quickly under persecution when the church in the West has seen decades of decline over the same period? What are we missing that they have found? Or what do they know and practice that we have conveniently forgotten?

The history of Christianity in China is marked by periods of rapid growth amidst brutal persecution. Ever since the communist takeover in 1949, Christians in China have faced oppression from the atheist government and have been forced to worship underground, or in homes, buildings, or barns, anywhere away from the watchful eyes of the state. Yet the church continues to grow at an astonishing rate, unparalleled in modern history, primarily through underground house churches operating illegally outside of state control. Through courage, faith, perseverance, and the willingness to adapt to change, these unheralded believers have found innovative ways to live out the Gospel, even in adversity. The underground church in China may be a prototype of the future church in America. But we’ll write more about that at a later time.

Believers met in homes, apartments, barns, or anywhere they could gather without being noticed, since public meetings often led to arrest and imprisonment. Yet, they persevered and adapted, just like the early church. House churches were free to share their faith as they desired without any state interference. They could properly train leaders without the government dictating what was taught, much like Bonhoeffer’s “illegal” seminary for the Confessing Church in Finkenwalde. They could worship the Lord as the Spirit moved, without coming under cultural and governmental scrutiny. Again, just like the early church while facing Roman persecution. And their commitment to each other and their faith in the Lord became contagious to a generation seeking something real, something they could believe in— which may explain the rapid growth of the underground church that lived in obscurity and poverty.

But the question for us is not the extent or degree of state persecution the church in China experienced, but what they did to shine so bright during times of great satanic darkness. How did they allow their light to shine so “they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16)? What was life like for them in the underground church? And why do over half of the believers in China today still choose the underground church over the visible state-sanctioned church?

What is Worship Like in an Underground House Church?

As in the first three centuries, the underground church in China met primarily in homes or other isolated locations, usually at different times on different days of the week. By meeting in homes, the underground church could share full meals with one another, echoing the agape or love feast practiced by the early church but forgotten for centuries. Re-establishing the love feast as a foundational aspect of their worship together was one of the first things the underground church did— and they established it for the same reason the Lord instituted the practice in the first place (Acts 2:42). For them, the love feast served the same purpose it did centuries ago, binding believers together in the intimate spiritual unity and love only a relationship with Christ could bring, while strengthening their joint submission to Christ and each other (John 17:21).

Eating together in their homes allowed members to know each other deeply and care for each other as a family. Sharing stories, struggles, hopes, and prayers during the feast forged deep emotional bonds vital in keeping the church together while suffering persecution. Participation in the love feast required sacrificial giving by those with more financial means to freely and joyfully supply the physical needs of those in the body of Christ with less (Rom. 12:4-5). For poor Christians in house churches in China, the weekly love feast might be the only decent meal they would eat all week. And the unity, love, selflessness, and care shown through the feast gave them hope and spiritual strength to endure hardship the rest of the week. Just as in the early church, the shared meal reinforced that believers belong to one another as members of Christ’s body as children of God (Rom. 8:16-17). It was a tangible demonstration of the family of God caring for its own. And it is how the church was meant to function from the beginning. Still not sure? Then read it for yourself in Acts 2-6.

Both the early church and the underground house churches in China rely on the power of this communal meal to unite them in a steadfast spiritual community— all for one, and one for all as brothers and sisters in Christ.

“What Have You Learned, Dorothy?”

If the greatest revival of Spirit-empowered church growth in the last century has taken place under great trials and suffering of the underground church in China, and if the greatest apostasy and compromise of His church has taken place in Europe and the United States, which have freedom of religion cemented as part of their cultural charter and churches and cathedrals on almost every street corner— and if the underground church went back to the basics of the faith, back to Acts, in practice and belief— then it would appear they may have discovered the Holy Grail of Christian living, of pleasing God, of living the surrendered, sanctified life, which is taking God at His Word and not altering or changing it for tradition or convenience sake. One long sentence, I know.

And if any of that is true, and I am convinced that it is, then we have much to consider as the church in the West. There is apparently much we must do as His church that we no longer consider relevant in our version of church today. And there is much we must stop doing as His church that we should have never started in the first place. This means everything, and I mean everything, about church and our accepted relationship with Him must be re-examined under the light of His Word and not based on our cherished traditions.

One last thing before closing. Please don’t think this is all about a meal, far from it. The meal, the love feast, is just the vehicle God uses to bring us together as one in His church. It’s not about adding a meal to our crowded Sunday service. It’s about the meal serving as an opportunity for us to become more like our Lord. To do that, our attitudes about each other must change. Our acceptance of fellowship as being nothing more than a surface-level conversation with casual friends over a chicken dinner must change. We must desire to be more than what we are today if we expect Him to move in our midst. But I think we already knew that, didn’t we?

Can you see why the enemy worked so hard to remove the love feast from the arsenal of tools the Lord used to create men and women of God in His church? And can you see why we are in the lukewarm, Laodicea shape we are in today (Rev. 3:16)?

But all that can change. It doesn’t have to stay the same.

And it can begin with you this Sunday.

Notes

1. The Edict of Toleration, issued in 311 AD by Emperor Galerius, granted some rights and tolerance to Christians, ending official persecution, while the more expansive Edict of Milan in 313 AD, under Constantine I and Licinius, provided full religious tolerance and rights to all religions, establishing Christianity as an accepted religion in the Roman Empire.

2. Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History. Princeton University Press, 1996. p.6 – “By a hundred years after the Crucifixion of Jesus, Christianity had achieved significant penetration of the urban centers of the Roman Empire, reaching approximately 6 million adherents by 300 AD, or about 10 percent of the Empire’s population.”

3. “The fortitude of the Chinese house church is legendary. For thirty years, they have shown the world how to be the church Christ intended.” – Paul Hattaway, director of Asia Harvest ministry, quoted in “The Heavenly Man” by Brother Yun (2002).

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Persecution, Faithfulness, and the Love Feast

by Steve McCranie | Aug 9, 2023

The Lost Discipline of the Love Feast – Part 3

The last few posts talked about the “agape” or “love feast” and centered on it as a fulfillment of the mandate given by the Lord for His church in Acts 2:42. Just to jog your memory, let me share the four practices the early church devoted themselves to that allowed the Spirit to move in them as He did:

And they continued steadfastly in (1) the apostles’ doctrine and (2) fellowship, in (3) the breaking of bread, and (4) in prayers – Acts 2:42.

But the point often overlooked is these four practices of the early church were not four separate and unique things they did at different times and maybe on different days. Nor were they separate and individual parts of a combined worship service. They were the four key elements that made up their worship service, the sum parts of the whole, indivisible from each other and of equal importance. One practice did not eclipse the others.

Think about our church services today. When we come together, we are often presented with a bulletin or playbill outlining the separate things we will do during the service and the order in which they will happen. First, an opening prayer. Then, some announcements. After that, maybe some congregational singing followed by a Scripture reading. Next, the “special music” performed by someone other than the congregation followed by a sermon or message of some sort. Then we have a closing song, a benediction, and somewhere between these parts, we take up an offering to keep the lights on. Whew, I get tired just thinking about it.

Persecution, Faithfulness, and the Love Feast

If you come in late, you can check the bulletin and see precisely what is next and what you may have missed. It’s all linear in nature, first to last, from the opening prayer to the closing benediction, with no surprises. And the order is cast in stone, printed on paper or projected on a screen, with no deviations allowed. Each line represents a single individual act of one long play. And you can clearly see where one act ends and the next one begins.

But that’s not how Acts 2:42 plays out. In the early church, the four practices the church “continued steadfastly” in were all integrated as one, like a cake baked with four ingredients. You cannot separate the eggs from the sugar, but the combined result was pleasing and satisfying, as church should be. During their worship time, they embraced the preaching of God’s Word, and there was a time for prayers, both corporate and individual. Their entire service centered around a shared, common meal, the agape or love feast, which also included the celebration of the Lord’s supper.

This format the church in Acts devoted themselves to led to their unprecedented spiritual growth in record time. And the results? Breathtaking. Read them for yourself in Acts 2-6. It looks like we have strayed far from this mark today.

This prompts the question: Why did the church change if God ordained the church to function under the example of Acts 2:42? Why don’t we do now what worked so well in the past? What happened to the church “continuing steadfastly” in anything, especially the four abovementioned things?

Persecution, Faithfulness, and the Love Feast

Logic and the Definition of Insanity

During our study of the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, we concluded that each letter prophetically describes church history in advance. And in each of these letters (or ages of church history), the Lord has something to say to them and us. Sometimes what He says is good— and sometimes, well… not so good.

When we did an overview of these letters, we discovered two of them the Lord said only good things about (Smyrna and Philidelphia), and two of them the Lord said nothing good about at all (Sardis and Laodicea). The rest was a mixture of things He both praised and rebuked them for (Ephesus, Pergamos, and Thyatira). So logically, it would seem we would want to follow or emulate the practices of the church in the ages our Lord only commended and praised, and run far and fast from the methods of the church in the ages our Lord condemned and rebuked, which would be Sardis and Laodicea, the latter being the church age we live in now. If the following statement is true, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results,”— then the opposite must also be true, “Insanity is expecting the same results yet refusing to do what brought success in the first place.” For some reason, we embrace this truth in all areas of life, except the church.

The Persecuted Church in Smyrna

During the first two centuries of the church, it faced unbelievable persecution. Jesus said, in His letter to the church of Smyrna¹ (representing the church age from about 100 AD to the Edict of Toleration in 312 AD):

“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” – Revelation 2:10.

The phrase, ten days, points to the ten waves of state-sanctioned persecution the church suffered.² And the Lord admonished these early Christians to remain faithful, even unto death. But faithful to what? To Christ, His kingdom, and the gospel? Of course. To their “common salvation” and the “faith which was once delivered to the saints”?³ Absolutely. To the church practices and disciplines instituted by the Lord in Acts 2 and elsewhere in Scripture for their growth, unity, and power? Undoubtedly.

And if you read the letter, you will find the Lord characterized the church during this time as experiencing “tribulation and poverty,” yet He called them “rich” (Rev. 2:9). How is that possible? For a church living as foreigners and strangers in this world (Heb. 11:13) without buildings, staff, age-segregated programs, media presentations, multi-campus mega-churches, live-streaming, movie studios, publishing houses, or radio stations, how could they be deemed rich? Simple. They understood Jesus’ words when He proclaimed, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). What the persecuted church lacked in material things, they made up for in spiritual riches— big time.

They were faithful amidst suffering, like Paul and Silas singing praises to the Lord while beaten, bleeding, and unjustly imprisoned in Philippi (Acts 16:23-25). They were rich in fellowship (koinōnia), love, and trust in the Lord to “supply all their needs according to the riches in glory of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19). They counted it all joy to embrace the greater blessing of patience that trials and persecution inevitably bring (Jas. 1:2-4). And they had an eternal perspective, being promised the “crown of life” for their patient endurance (Rev. 2:10).

But don’t let the obvious slip past you. The persecuted believers also remained devoted to the practices God gave them to foster unity, trust, loyalty, partnership in the gospel, and a sense of oneness and family stronger than blood (John 17:21). They lived as children of God and as part of the family of God (Rom. 8:16-17). And all this experience of oneness centered around worshiping the Lord, as strange as it may seem, while sharing a common, communal meal God had prescribed for the edification and sanctification of His church. It’s hard to believe something so simple as a meal could be so important.

But that is how things are with our God. Have you noticed?

But What Happened to the Love Feast?

Satan and the flesh operate from the same playbook. He never changes. And he is not very original, but quite proficient in his deception skills. So the enemy starts to attack whenever the Lord institutes something to build His church and strengthen the body of Christ. And once God speaks, and Satan counters with the question, “Has God indeed said?” (Gen. 3:1), we have a choice. It’s the same choice offered Adam and Eve in the garden, and it’s the same choice we face every day. Will you trust and follow the commands of the Lord, no matter how trivial and unimportant they may seem to you at the time? Or will you trust your own heart (Prov. 28:26), lean on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5), follow your own reasoning (Isa. 55:8-9), and do what seems right in your own eyes (Prov. 21:2)?

In effect, this was the choice presented to the church in the spring of AD 312 when Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Toleration and, not long after, the Edict of Milan. These imperial decrees granted full rights and freedom of religion to Christianity and soon propelled the once persecuted faith to the most favored status of religion in the Roman Empire. Not too shabby for a bunch of former rebels who worshiped a dead carpenter from Nazareth who, with the stroke of a pen, were no longer on the Top Ten Most Wanted List.

Now, what will the church do? Will they follow the practices and purity of their faith that allowed them to thrive during almost twenty decades of persecution? Or would they run after the wealth and cultural acceptance their newfound notoriety and freedom gave them? I think you know the answer. But how the early church came to choose its course of action may surprise you.

Their compromise gave birth to the next of Jesus’ seven letters to His churches, the letter to the church at Pergamos, which, by the way, means “mixed marriage.” Ah, a fitting picture of the marriage of the pure bride of Christ to the unholy Roman empire, wouldn’t you say?

We will look more into the collateral damage of this unholy union, this mixed marriage, next time. But one last thing, it was during this phase of church history the love feast met its sad demise.

But more on that next time.

Notes:

1. The name Smyrna means “crushed, suffering, or myrrh.” Fitting, don’t you think?
2. The ten phases of persecution the church suffered under a succession of Roman emperors are:

Nero (AD 64-68): Nero infamously blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome. He subjected them to various brutal executions, including burning them alive.

Domitian (AD 81-96): Domitian saw Christians as political rebels. Under his rule, Christians were exiled, including John, the author of Revelation.

Trajan (AD 98-117): Trajan set a precedent where Christians were not to be sought out but were to be punished if accused and found guilty.

Hadrian (AD 117-138): Hadrian’s policy was similar to Trajan’s, but there was an increase in mob violence against Christians.

Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius (AD 138-180): Christians were seen as enemies of the state and endured great sufferings, including the martyrdom of Polycarp, a disciple of John.

Septimius Severus (AD 193-211): Severus sought to unify the empire under the sun god, leading to increased persecution of Christians who refused to conform.

Maximinus Thrax (AD 235-238): Maximinus targeted Christian leaders specifically, executing many church pastors and leaders.

Decius (AD 249-251): Decius required all citizens to sacrifice to Roman gods, leading to widespread torture and execution of Christians who refused.

Valerian (AD 257-260): Valerian targeted Christian clergy, leading to numerous martyrs, including Bishop Cyprian.

Diocletian and Galerius (AD 303-311): Known as the Great Persecution, it was the most severe, resulting in thousands of Christian deaths, including mass executions.

3. Jude 1:3
4. The letter to the church at Pergamos represents the time from the Edict of Toleration in AD 312 until the recognition of Boniface III as the first Pope in AD 606.

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559: Apostasy and Deception are Key Signs of the End

by Steve McCranie | Apr 30, 2023

To download the slides for this message, click – HERE

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Three Questions and One Long Answer

We find the Olivet Discourse recorded in three places in the New Testament: Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. The entire teaching is Jesus’ response to some questions asked by His disciples after they were admiring the beauty of the Temple. But Jesus did not specify which answer corresponded to which question. He just answered them all at once, in one long narrative. Let’s look at a combined account of these questions.

(MT) Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple —(LK) how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations. (MK) One of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!” (MK) And Jesus answered and (MT) said to them, “Do you not see all (MK) these great buildings? (MT) Assuredly, I say to you, (LK) the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down.”

At this point, the disciples’ understanding of the future of Israel and their own lives was shattered. Everything in their religious life was temple based. And the thought of the temple being destroyed was beyond their comprehension.

So they came to Jesus privately for more information or a clearer explanation of what He just said.

(MT) Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives (MK) opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew (MT) came to Him privately, saying, (LK) “Teacher, (MT) tell us, when will these things be? (MK) What will be the sign when all these things (LK) are about to take place? (MT) And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

But even in this narrative, you can see Jesus laying the groundwork for the end times and revealing to us the Seven-Year Tribulation Period and the Second Coming of Christ. But for us today, we are going to focus on two major characteristics of the end times, and these are deception and apostasy. Jesus tells us to beware of deception and Paul speaks of the coming (and now here) great apostasy. And both are telltale signs of the end times.

Jesus’ Blueprint for the End

First, look at what Jesus said about deception during His Olivet discourse.

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” – Matthew 24:3-4.

“Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” – Matthew 24:11-12.

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand” – Matthew 24:23-25.

And then the Scriptures speak of a great apostasy, a falling away from the faith, that will happen at the beginning of the end, right before the revealing of the antichrist. I believe we are witnessing that apostasy today.

Let no one deceive you by any means; (why) for that Day (the coming of the Lord) will not come unless the falling away (apostasía) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? – 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.

Now the Spirit expressly says that (when) in latter times (what) some will depart from the faith (apostasy), giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who (1) believe and (2) know the truth – 1 Timothy 4:1-3.

And one more…

But know this, that (when) in the last days (what) perilous times will come: (described as) For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having (what) a form of godliness but denying its power (dúnamis). And from such people turn away! – 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

There is so much more we cover in this message. So join us as we look for His soon return.

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Will You Survive the Coming Blackout?

by Steve McCranie | Jun 24, 2019

Now, even FOX News is covering the inevitable. The following is from Doug MacKinnon and was posted on the FOX website on Sunday, June 23, 2019.

We will speak much more about this on our website beginning in mid-July. But for now, read this and consider what Doug says.

Will You Survive the Coming Blackout?

There are many never-ending debates between Republicans and Democrats. Impeach vs. don’t impeach; capital punishment vs. life in prison; wall vs. no wall; legalizing marijuana vs. not; self-driving cars vs. human drivers; Red Sox vs. Yankees; takeout vs. home-cooked; or Gone With the Wind vs. any other movie.

All of these issues are stunningly important, right up to the second where cataclysm falls and creates a nightmare scenario that so many fear.

That cataclysm is a complete loss of electricity and every mode of convenience and survival we take for granted.

The largest red flag on this issue in years just waved in South America. Last weekend, tens of millions of people in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay found themselves in a complete blackout. In one moment, they had electricity. The next moment, they had none, and they were catapulted back to the 1800s.

Only much worse.

People in the 1800s were not dependent upon electricity for their jobs, money, communication, Internet, transportation, education, security, medical services, prescriptions, water, and very lives.

The national power grid of the United States is truly a mess held together with, as the joke goes, by not much more than “baling wire and chewing gum.”

The average age of large power transformers in the United States is 40 years. Seventy percent of all large power transformers are at least 25 years old. It’s little wonder that, according to data from the Department of Energy, the United States suffers more blackouts than any other nation in the developed world.

The overall system is so weak, so taxed, and so vulnerable that in 2003, over 50 million people in the United States and Canada were hit with cascading blackouts simply because a tree branch fell on a power line in Ohio.

Because the infrastructure is so antiquated, weather triggers multiple blackouts per year in the U.S. Blackouts which collectively cost the nation upwards of $30 billion in spoiled inventory, lost wages, and repair of the grid.

Unfortunately, weather is becoming the least feared trigger of a blackout. In the age of terrorism and increasing cyber-threats, our power-grid getting taken down by a hack is no longer seen as a question of “If it will happen,” but rather, “When it will happen?”

The U.S. government is so rightfully fearful of this, that last November, it ordered DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to war-game a complete cyber take-down of the U.S. power grid.

An exercise they are now wisely running on a regular basis.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, just last year, hackers – strongly suspected to be Russian – gained access to a number of utility control rooms in the United States and got to the point where “they could have thrown switches.”

The DHS report further stressed: “Russian government cyber actors targeted government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors.”

Aside from the Russians, the Chinese, North Koreans, other terrorist states, and even cyber-extortionists, are targeting our power grid on a daily basis.

That clock is ticking.

Unfortunately, much like any large terrorist attack, when an extended regional or national blackout hits, you and your family will be on your own. No one is going to ride to the rescue.

How will you survive?

In the blink of an eye, you will lose access to money, food, gasoline, communication, medicine, medical attention, heat, air conditioning, and security.

Gone.

Even though most don’t do it, residents of California and Florida are reminded every year to assemble their “two-week” survival kit. In California, it’s because of earthquakes. In Florida, it’s because of hurricanes.

Survival kits which include water, non-perishable food, medicine, first-aid kits, batteries, a radio, flashlights, candles, cash, a hand-crank charger, with smaller versions of all for your vehicle and office.

The federal and state governments should be issuing that same reminder to every citizen in the nation about the coming blackout. It truly is not a question of “if,” but of “when.”

A night on the town for a movie, dinner, a sporting event or a political debate is great fun until none of it matters and your survival is literally at stake.

Make a plan, because you will be on your own.