David Berg
—MOU.S.A. 1960NO.334—GP
—A prophetic vision given 15 years ago of things soon to come!
—Are you ready?
P.O. Box 31, London WC2E 7LX, England or BP 752‚ 75123 Paris, Cedex 03, France
1. GREETINGS, BROTHERHOOD OF LOVE, comrades of love! We here gathered together in this dark cellar room, send you greetings out there wherever you may be.
2. WE ARE BROADCASTING OVER OUR SMALL CLANDESTINE RADIO transmitter concealed in my suitcase from this darkened cellar room. The music or talking you may hear in the background is because they are trying to jam our station that you might not hear us.
3. WE CAN SEE JUST A BARE GLIMMER OF LIGHT through the one long window at sidewalk level.—A very dirty window which we've purposely left that way so that we could look out but none can see in. We have no other light in here lest we be detected and discovered.
4. THROUGH THE WINDOW WE CAN SEE SOME OF THE TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION, debris and desolation still remaining from the sudden atomic attack which bombed us out in only one hour. The scene which I see is the same I saw in the vision which I told some of you of some time ago, before all of this happened.
5. THERE WAS THAT FIRST GRADUAL INFILTRATION and taking over of our thoughts and our education, and even into some of our churches. These principles which they taught were so much similar to our own and yet were so diabolical and fiendish. They pretended to be emissaries of love with a concern for mankind‚ but were truly motivated by hate, inspired by the very Devil himself.
6. THEY WORE A BEAUTIFUL MASK OF PEACE and so called freedom and social uplift, but underneath was the cold, hard, cruel, iron, fiendish, demonic power of Satan himself! They crept into our institutions in the form of university professors and high school teachers, and into our churches as moralistic pastors preaching their social gospel, and even into our Government and State Department as those who were concerned about world welfare, the United Nations and One World.
7. BUT THEY ALWAYS LEFT GOD OUT OF THE PICTURE AND EXALTED MAN and his ability to solve his own problems by his united effort under this great anti-Christ system and One World Government.
8. GRADUALLY THEY EVEN CREPT INTO OUR VERY MINDS with their doctrine and their teaching deceiving many that could be deceived because they had rejected the truth, until multitudes were open and ready for them and received them with open arms. But many of the hard-core conservative reactionaries‚ patriots they were called, the nationalists, militarists, ecclesiastical leaders and so on, could not be swayed by the Great Lie.—This diabolical‚ fiendish, subtle‚ deceitful, hypnotic suggestion, demoniacally conveyed into the very minds and the spirits of those deceived.
9. BUT MANY WERE NOT DECEIVED BECAUSE OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, and many simply resented the fact that they were going to have to give up their way of life, their riches and their wealth.
10. THESE THOUGHT THAT FORCE WAS OUR ONLY POSSIBLE HOPE OF SURVIVAL to stop this flood of propaganda that was overwhelming and swallowing us up. They thought that the only possible chance was resistance by force and sudden atomic attack to wipe out the Antichrist enemy before they could attack us. Poor fools!
11. NOW THOSE WHO RESORTED TO THE SWORD HAVE BEEN SLAIN WITH THE SWORD, as our leader once warned us. The anti-Christ agents had thoroughly infiltrated our government agencies and our militaristic establishments so that every move was known by their central intelligence agency in the headquarters of the Antichrist government.
12. THEY HIT US BEFORE OUR MILITARY LEADERS COULD EVEN PUSH THE BUTTON which would have sent the bombers and the missiles on their way to destroy the enemy. They hit us suddenly and without warning in every potential area of possible retaliation and completely wiped out those potentials, including some of our greatest cities, the seat of government and headquarters of military establishments. Even many of their own agents died in the holocaust as martyrs for their cause because it was the only way that they could possibly knock us out before we attacked them.
13. STRANGE HOW SOME OF US THOUGHT THAT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE OVER PEACEFULLY through their propaganda of peace and plenty without any war. Others thought that it would be entirely through the atomic war that they would take over‚ if they ever did.—And actually it was a combination of both.
14. BY THE TIME THEY ATTACKED US THEY WERE SO STRONG HERE THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE TO COMPLETELY WIPE US OUT, but just enough to knock out the centres of greatest potential resistance or retaliation. Their own people and their sympathisers and followers here immediately took over and stopped any other possible chance of retaliation.
15. IT WAS BY TOTAL POWER THAT WE WERE CONQUERED!—The war of words, the war of ideology, the war of ideas, the war of propaganda, the war of infiltration with completely dedicated secret agents, together with that final horrible holocaustic blow of those awful atomic explosions. Some of them were set off at a given signal by their own agents right here in our own land, each themselves dying in the blast, gladly giving their lives for their cause.—What dedication to the doctrine of the Devil! Oh‚ that some of our brethren had been as dedicated in the days that preceded this awful calamity! But thank God, that through our own leaders He's working out His purpose in it all.
16. GOD HAS BROUGHT HIS TRUE ONES TO THEIR KNEES in fervent supplication and prayer. It has meant a tremendous purifying of His Church, His true Church, His people, not the buildings which are now gone. Across the square I can see some of the rubble of what was once a mighty, fine, proud, great ecclesiastical structure.
17. THE GREAT BUILDINGS THAT THEY CALL CHURCHES ARE NOW JUST HEAPS OF STONE and debris. What a loss and waste of time, money and effort for those who put so much of their lives and hearts into those dead stones and timbers which could not do anything for the Kingdom of God!
18. HOW PITIFUL ARE THOSE WHO DEPENDED ENTIRELY UPON THOSE GATHERINGS in those buildings for their spiritual inspiration and help! They never learned how to know their own God and stand alone if need be in order to fight the battle for Him‚ or even in the remaining church buildings that still stand. Now there are no longer services. Now there are no longer gatherings and assemblies.
19. THERE ARE GATHERINGS NOW BUT NOT OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF CHRIST. Now it's the diabolical dogmatism of Satan himself, using churches, lecture centres and schools to teach their heinous propaganda.
20. THE CENTRE OF IT ALL IS THE SAME OLD HARD CORE PHILOSOPHY OF ALL SATANIC CULTS and isms: "Man is basically good and righteous and can save himself." They are substituting their Bible and the teachings and traditions of their anti-Christ system for the Truth of God.
21. MEANWHILE OUR BIBLES HAVE BEEN TAKEN AWAY from us, except for a very few which have managed to keep them concealed and hidden at the very risk of their lives. Our own gatherings and assemblings are completely forbidden. Our pastors and leaders have been liquidated, destroyed or imprisoned. Even our beloved hymn books have been removed from us.
22. ALL DENOMINATIONAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANISATION HAS BEEN BANNED, except that which completely agrees with the anti–Christ government and agrees to preach its teachings and its dogmas. Some of the few remaining pulpits have become nothing but teaching centres for the Antichrist System, and their ecclesiastics and their priests are being used as stooges for the Antichrist.
23. WE THOUGHT THIS COULD NEVER HAPPEN TO US, and yet it had already happened to others before it happened to us. It happened in other nations; the horrors of war, utter destruction and the horrors of the infiltration of this heinous anti-Christ–spirited doctrine and political, economic and spiritual imprisonment.
24. SOME HAD ALREADY KNOWN THE MARTYRDOM OF RESISTANCE against the power but felt that they must stand out, resist, fight against it and die if need be, in their fight for freedom and truth. Others‚ when they saw the hopelessness of the Cause, decided to cooperate as far as they could with the Antichrist power in order to prolong their lives sufficiently that they might continue to spread the Truth secretly from behind closed doors by secret radio, and by leaflet and secret press, but mostly by person-to-person whispering in the ear the witness of the Truth.
25. SOME OF US HAVE REMAINED. Some of us are still here‚ but there are not many left and they have ferreted us out one by one.
26. AT FIRST THEY CAME ALL SMILES PREACHING THEIR PEACE and social uplift. They told us that surely this was good for the whole world‚ for all of us, this sharing and helping that all mankind might be bettered and helped.
27. IT WAS TRUE THAT THE CHURCH HAD FAILED. The rich church had even lived selfishly and failed to distribute its goods to the poor.
28. OUR NATION HAD LIVED SELFISHLY and failed to help the starving and underprivileged around the world. Our graineries were full to bursting and overflowing and yet millions were starving around the world, and to these the Antichrist told their lies and persuaded them to rise up against us. Yes, we were guilty‚ we had no excuse. Too much of that propaganda was the truth. It was true, but insidiously used to further their lie.
29. IT WAS TRUE THAT MANY OF OUR RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE MERE HYPOCRITES, wolves in sheep's clothing. It was true that many of them only wanted power. They were not concerned about the poor and the humble, the lowly, the sick and the needy. It was true that many of them were much more interested in furthering their particular shibboleth, doctrine, dogma and denomination than they were in furthering the sweet message of the love of Our Leader, the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.
30. THEY WERE MORE INTERESTED IN FIGHTING OVER THEIR BUILDINGS and having a big crowd to show what a fine church they had. They wanted to have a good job, a big income, fine homes and fine cars and pretty little services with pretty little messages‚ and gorgeous music from fine pipe organs and all of the rest of it. They were going through the formalism and ceremonialism which meant nothing in the eyes of God. They had a form of Godliness but without the power thereof.
31. THEY WERE PRETENDING AND CLAIMING TO BE CHRISTIANS, claiming to have the love of Christ, bearing the name Christian and yet acting just the same as the rest of the world, only with a more self-righteous attitude. They thought they were better because they were church people and went to church services. They assumed they were better because they placed a paltry little bit of their wealth in the offering plate each Sunday morning.
32. THEY DARED TO THINK THAT THEY WERE SAVED BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS!—Ahh, what pitiful fools they were, and how deceived they were by their own ecclesiastical leaders who encouraged them in this very same thing! Surely they were of the doctrines of the Laodiceans and befitted His description of them, the sleepy church!
33. "THESE THINGS SAITH THE AMEN, THE FAITHFUL AND TRUE WITNESS, the beginning of the creation of God: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot!—So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot: I will spue thee out of My mouth!"
34. "BECAUSE THOU SAYEST I AM RICH AND INCREASED WITH GOODS, and I have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched‚ and miserable, and poor, and blind‚ and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed‚ and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see!"
35. "AND AS MANY AS I LOVE I REBUKE and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent! Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him."
36. BUT THEY DID NOT SEE, THEY WOULD NOT HEAR, they did not listen. They did not understand. They were asleep, as though hypnotised by the beautiful, flowing words of their false prophets. "Our God is a God of Love.—He will not bring this destruction upon us!"
37. "AFTER ALL, WE ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION in the world. We are a leader. We are great, wonderful, fine, righteous people! God will not let this happen to us! Oh yes, it has happened elsewhere, but not here.—Never here!" But now it has happened! Now we know and now they know!—That is, those that are left, but precious few we are!
38. SO MANY HAVE BEEN DESTROYED‚ FIRST BY THE ATOMIC ATTACK AND THEN THE REVOLUTION which swept like a flood in its wake‚ sweeping the Antichrist force to power. But it has been good for us. As He said, "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent!"
39. SURELY IF THIS HAD NOT COME UPON US MANY OF US WOULD NOT HAVE REPENTED. We would not have listened‚ and we would not have understood. God has used it to purify us, even as He said by the mouth of His prophet Daniel. How well I remember that passage, that though my Bible is now gone, taken from me, and how well I remember that midnight vision on the street of Madison, Wisconsin.
40. GOD SO LONG AGO SHOWED ME WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, though many would not believe my words! I saw the awful destruction that was coming‚ the terrible devastation, and God's pitiful remaining Church driven underground in order to survive. God revealed to me why He was preparing us and why we were having to learn and memorise His Word so deep in our hearts that we might remember it when our Bibles were gone.
41. HE WAS CAUSING US TO MEET TOGETHER IN SMALL GROUPS and homes, quietly and almost secretly in order that we might know how to carry on at a time like this. He was teaching us to get along with the leadership of the simplest layman and without the learned ecclesiastics and denominational barriers and organisation, preparing us for a time like this!
42. NOW I SEE AS I DID THEN, HOW GOD WAS PREPARING A CADRE: An officership of insignificant laymen and layleaders, average workmen and average Christians, not ecclesiastics, trained ministers or ordained pulpit preachers, but simple Children of God; simple little laymen‚ housewives and labourers who could carry on His work after the others were gone.
43. HOW STRONG IT WAS THAT HIS VOICE SPOKE THESE WORDS to my heart on that eventful night when I saw through the sideboard that terrible holocaust of desolation and persecution that was coming, and the horrible tribulation: "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." How true that is, now to happen in our very churches, yea lo in the very hearts of those who were called His people, but truly knew Him not.
44. "AND SUCH AS DO WICKEDLY AGAINST THE COVENANT SHALL HE CORRUPT by flatteries: but"—thank God—"the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits! And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword‚ and by the flame, by the captivity, and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries."—Truly this has come to a pass!
45. THEY HAVE TAKEN OVER AND HAVE SET UP THE ABOMINATION which maketh desolate, not only in the temple at Jerusalem but also in our very churches! They have endeavoured to do so in the very hearts of the people, the true temple of God, the one and only temple of God, the Spiritual temple of God.
46. THEY HAVE SUCCEEDED IN THOSE WHO KNEW HIM NOT and were not truly His temple. But in His true temple, those true remaining believers, they have not set up that abomination, that worship of the Antichrist, the very Devil himself incarnate. Truly he has corrupted some by flatteries‚ but the people that know their God shall be strong, and are strong, stronger now than they ever were, doing exploits, great and mighty works such as we never dreamed of!
47. MIGHTY MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING, great and mighty works! Though we are small seemingly weak people, God has manifested His power now more than ever before. But you out there know this, you've seen it—if you're listening.
48. THOSE OF US THAT UNDERSTOOD BEFORE IT CAME TO PASS HAVE ENDEAVOURED TO INSTRUCT YOU. We have endeavoured to teach you, and to carry on even without those buildings and organisations and leaders that we once had, even without our Bibles! Yet many have fallen by sword and by flame and by captivity and by spoil for many days now, and there are precious few of us left. But when they fell, many were helped to show that God was with them even though they may have died as martyrs.
49. GOD HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN MIRACULOUS POWER like at the crucifixion of our Leader when the great sky was darkened, and the sun and the moon did not give their light and the earth shook with a great earthquake. Many have had miraculous manifestations at the time of their martyrdom to show the evil forces that God was with them even though they died. But many have cleaved to sum of our groups with flatteries and pretended to be one of us in order to spy on us that they might seek us out and destroy us.
50. SOME OF US OF UNDERSTANDING HAVE ALSO FALLEN to try us and purge us and to make us white. Now we know why God has allowed it to happen, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed.
51. WE WERE NOT READY FOR HIS COMING. We were not yet a refined church. We were not a mighty strong church doing great exploits. There were some, yes, thank God for the few who were ready and purified and doing many mighty works‚ even greater works than He had done while on Earth.
52. THE ANTICHRIST LEADER HAS DONE ACCORDING TO HIS WILL. He has exalted himself and magnified himself above every god, speaking marvelous things against the God of gods, our God, and is prospering until God's indignation shall be accomplished, for that that is determined it shall be done! Hallelujah!
53. GOD IS WORKING OUT HIS PURPOSE and His good through it all! As He said, many that I love I will rebuke and chasten, for whom the lord loveth He chasteneth, and that we should go through great tribulation and come forth as gold, tried in the fiery furnace of affliction and persecution and tribulation!
54. WHAT A DIFFERENT PICTURE THAN WHAT SOME HAVE ENVISIONED of floating to heaven with Jesus at His coming at an earlier date on flowery beds of ease to be gathered in the clouds with no suffering, no affliction, no persecution, no tribulation‚ nothing to truly prepare them in heart and mind to become desperately bold witnesses for Him.—Nothing to give them an opportunity to truly earn a crown by the very blood of their bodies!
55. THEIR FALSE PROPHETS HAD TAUGHT THEM THAT THEY WERE TO ESCAPE ALL OF THIS simply because they were saved and Christians, and that Jesus would come before and take them away. He had made it so clear and so plain in what He had said, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake—our sake, His True Church and the people of God, the genuine believers, the born-again—"those days shall be shortened!" Thank God!
56. TRULY IT CANNOT BE MUCH LONGER. We have borne so much it seems that we can endure no more! Surely this promise will come true soon, and for our sake's that remain God shall shorten these horrible days of horror on earth! But they have been good for us because we have been determined to know Him as never before, and with powers never before fully possessed we have witnessed with boldness which we'd never dared to do before! True, many of us have died as a result‚ as martyrs, but the greater cross the greater glory, Hallelujah!
57. THOSE PEACE PROPHETS PROPHESIED THAT NONE WOULD SUFFER, that He would come and take us away secretly, unbeknownst to the rest of the world before anything terrible happened!—I wonder how they explained the fact that so many had already died as martyrs, so many already suffered great tribulation and horrible persecution, from the very beginning until now! Why did they think they would escape simply because they had peace for a little while and they were fat and rich enjoying their spiritual complacency?
58. SURELY THEY IGNORED THE SCRIPTURES, for it said plainly, "For as the lightening cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Certainly that was to be no secret, that was not to be a mysterious disappearance. He is truly to come in the clouds, and we are waiting for that coming now. We think it cannot be much longer when "every eye shall see Him."
59. HE HIMSELF SAID "IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION of those days‚" which we're now suffering, "shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars will fall from heaven, the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then," then only, "shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven," after, mind you, the tribulation of these days, not before; "then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Hallelujah! Not a sneaky return, but triumphant return!
60. "HE SHALL SEND HIS ANGELS WITH A GREAT SOUND OF A TRUMPET‚ and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the one end of the heaven to the other." Praise God! Truly He shall gather us together, and we are waiting for that coming any day now. We have borne our testimony, and have been made white, we have witnessed and are being purified. We are being prepared.
61. WE HAVE GOTTEN BACK TO THE POWER AND THE PURPOSE AND THE PLAN OF THE EARLY CHURCH at His first coming.—In suffering, persecution, and in worship‚ even in secret, and spreading the gospel at pain of death, and we have also gotten back to their power. Thank God! How could they have been so blind?
62. HOW COULD THOSE COMPLACENT CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN SO BLIND AND SO DEAF to His Word? Surely they did not know His Word. Surely they are false prophets of peace, and their desire for relief and escape from all of this had deceived them.
63. SURELY THE PROPHET DANIEL HAD MADE IT PLAIN ENOUGH when he spoke of that little horn, that terrible Antichrist horn, that was to rise and make war with the saints and prevail against them.
64. HE SAID THAT THE ANTICHRIST SHOULD "SPEAK GREAT WORDS AGAINST THE MOST HIGH and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."
65. IT VERY PLAINLY SAID THAT THIS ANTICHRIST COMETH THAT WOULD MAKE WAR WITH GOD'S SAINTS AND PREVAIL—actually overcome them! Satan would actually overcome them, at least physically as it seemed, and that he would wear out the saints. Who did they think these saints were, anyhow? Who were these saints? There are no other "saints"!—They're just the saints of God!
66. THERE'S ONLY ONE CHURCH, the called-out church of God. They are the saints, the separated ones‚ the Ecclesia of God, the separated, gathered-out ones‚ called-out ones. Who else could be saints except those that are saved‚ the true born-again believer whose Saviour is Jesus Christ!
67. HOW PLAIN HE HAD MADE IT TO DANIEL, CONCERNING THE SUFFERING of his own Jewish people when he spake of it, "at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time‚"—What time?
68. "AT THAT TIME OF TROUBLE!—THY PEOPLE SHALL BE DELIVERED,"—Not before that time, but at the time of trouble—"everyone that shall be found written in the Book."—Who else is found written in the Book except the church of God, the saints of God‚ the true born—again believers, not rescued before, but at that time! Hallelujah!
69. "AND MANY OF THEM THAT SLEEP IN THE DUST of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Amen and Amen, thank God! Thank God for this suffering! Thank God for this persecution.
70. THANK GOD FOR THIS GREAT TRIBULATION which is come upon us that has drawn us closer to Him. As David said‚ "In my affliction I cried unto Him, for in my prosperity I had departed from Him." Truly, "many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivereth." So here we are, the few of us that remain, thank God! He always has a witness and a testimony, even at such an hour as this!
71. MANY WERE KILLED IN THAT FIRST AWFUL HOLOCAUST of the atomic attack and revolution and the slaughter which followed. Many more have given their lives as martyrs since that time under the horrible persecution, and so many, many sickened and died from the terrible fallout which inevitably resulted from the terrible atomic explosions.
72. BUT THERE ARE CERTAINLY GREAT AND MIGHTY MIRACLES of amazing strength that God has given His faithful ones and His true Children, those who've had the faith to survive and to defy the very elements, defy the fallout and the poisonous radioactivity and everything about us! For hasn't He promised that the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits in order that they might understand and instruct the people, even though many of them would fall? Truly those who have the faith and the healing and the miracle power of God are the only ones who have been able to survive!
73. NOW WE KNOW THAT WE WERE NOT TO ESCAPE‚ NOT TO BE SAVED OUT OF IT BUT TO BE SAVED IN IT. As Jesus said, not that we should be taken out of this world, but that we should be kept from the world. Ah, how they mistakenly misinterpreted some of those Scriptures, thinking that they were going to be spared out of all of this.
74. GOD MEANT IT WOULD BE TO HIS GREATER GLORY THAT THEY SHOULD BE SUSTAINED, strengthen and given miraculous power to do many mighty works and to hold forth a great witness in the midst of all of this horrible desolation and tribulation. How much greater for His glory than to make a sneaky back-door secret exit, cowardly from before the face of all this.
75. HOW MUCH GREATER VICTORY, THAT IN THE FACE OF ALL THIS WE SHOULD STAND FORTH AND DIE FOR OUR FAITH. Be it even as the writer said, we have become "more than conquerors!"—We seem to be the losers, we seem to be vanquished and prevailed against, the overcome, but in all of this we are actually more than conquerors!
76. EVEN AS HE SPOKE OF THOSE GREAT HEROES in that eleventh chapter of Hebrews which I remember so well, and that my little daughter memorised word for word, I remember this part especially because it was so impressed upon my heart so many times before. Why, I did not understand, but now I know. What more can I say, speaking of all these various ones‚ "of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
77. "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..."—What a change and how different from the popular message which was being preached before all of this took place!
78. THEIR GREAT "DELIVERANCE MESSAGE," was that God would deliver all of His children and that no one had to be sick, no one had to suffer‚ no one had to endure poverty, no one had to endure lack of popularity.—And, His Children should be should be the greatest and the mightiest and the richest, the strongest and the most powerful and most respected and the most marvellous, all the lie of the Devil! Certainly they are these things in the sight of God‚ but not in the sight of man. How foolish and how deceived were those false prophets who preached such messages as that that His Children would never suffer!
79. WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES? He also said, "And whom I love I chasten and I rebuke," and "many are the afflictions of the righteous." What did they do with them? One of their false prophets even said that no Christian should ever have any poverty because poverty was of the Devil, and that it was a "poverty demon" that they had! What foolishness, and how laughable!
80. NOW ALL THE SCRIPTURE THAT WE HAVE BURNED INTO OUR HEARTS IS OUR ONLY ANSWER, our only protection. It was then too, but they did not know it. Why, it is said of Jesus Himself, that "though He were rich, yet He became poor that we through His poverty—His poverty—might become rich!"
81. OH WHAT FOOLISHNESS IT WAS FOR US TO BELIEVE THE FALSE PROPHETS that predicted that we would not have to suffer! They said that we would not have to undergo any tribulation, but that we would be lifted up in flowery beds of ease in our prosperity to be with the Lord. My God! May God forgive them, and may God not hold it to their charge if it be possible!
82. HOW MANY THEY DECEIVED AND HOW MANY WERE LEFT UNPREPARED for what happened! So many suddenly had their faith shaken when this happened. They were not prepared for it and they did not understand it. They thought their faith was wrong. Their faith was shaken in their ministers, their false prophets, their teachers, their churches, their denominations and their abominations. Their faith was shaken in all of this; their new moons, their formalism, their ceremonialism, their church worship‚ their building worship, their temple worship and all this sort of thing.
83. THEIR FAITH IN THESE THINGS WAS SHAKEN and this was the only faith they had. They had nothing left, they had no living faith. They had no faith in the Truth, Jesus Christ‚ or God the living God.
84. THEY WERE NOT TRUE LIVING STONES of the genuine True Building, that real, one and only Temple of God‚ His People!—Not those horrible buildings, the curse of His Church, which have surely damned the souls of millions of heathen because they have denied them the gospel through the misuse of funds for mere buildings of brick, mortar and stone instead of the pitiful poor living stones that should have been built out of the heathen!
85. WE ARE SUFFERING NOW FOR WHAT WE LACKED AND WHAT WE FAILED TO DO!—We failed to evangelise them as we should have‚ and now they have come upon us as hordes to destroy us and to cause us to suffer! We are suffering and reaping what we sowed because of our failure to recognise the truth of what the true Church was.—Not buildings, not mortar, not ceremonialism, not formalism, not denominationalism, but true and living faith in the Living God by the individual, without anyone for a mediator except Jesus Christ‚ the Saviour of God.
86. HOW PITIFUL THAT WE WERE DECEIVED BY THESE FALSE PROPHETS OF PEACE and plenty and deliverance, when right here in Hebrews 11 He's said so plainly, "and others"! What about these others? Were they great victors! Did they quench the violence of fire? Did they stop the mouths of lions? Did they turn back the armies of aliens? No! "Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance"—"not accepting deliverance"—get that!
87. BELOVED, REMEMBER: YOURS IS A GREATER VICTORY than those even who got the victory which was obvious, victory which was evident, victory over the trial, experiencing the tribulation and affliction and got the victory.
88. BUT THERE WERE THOSE OF US WHO WOULD NOT ACCEPT DELIVERANCE, who have been tortured that we "might obtain a better resurrection"—better than what?—Better than our dear beloved brethren who had such great conquests and victories and did so many mighty works and miracles!
89. THEY "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," and "received their dead even raised to life again."—Oh how they preached that the greatest thing would be to raise the dead, the greatest thing would be to perform many mighty signs and wonders and miracles!
90. THEY DID NOT REALISE WHAT A THRILL AND JOY IT WOULD BE TO DIE AS WITNESSES FOR HIM. They forgot the meaning of that Greek word "martyr" meaning witness, and that is why those who died in those early days of the church were called "martyrs."
91. THEY HAD NOT REALISED THAT GOD SOMETIMES GETS HIS GREATEST VICTORIES OUT OF SEEMING DEFEAT. He does His greatest miracles out of the most impossible situations, and He gets His greatest glory from seeming, utter‚ absolute failure.
92. SO WE WERE PREVAILED AGAINST, and we are being prevailed against and yet not accepting deliverance. We are dying for our faith, we are being tortured for our faith that we might obtain a better resurrection! Praise His precious Name forever! Glory to God! Hallelujah! (Tongues and weeping) Praise God! Thank You Jesus! Praise the Lord!
93. "AND OTHERS HAD TRIALS OF CRUEL MOCKINGS AND SCOURGINGS, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn assunder, they were tempted, they 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." O God, why didn't we see it then?
94. WHY DIDN'T WE REALISE THAT THIS WAS GOD'S WAY OF MAKING US EVEN MORE THAN CONQUERORS? Oh, we thought it was so great to be a conqueror, we thought it would be so wonderful to be a victor! We thought it was so wonderful to be delivered, to have this great deliverance. The message that was being preached was that every Christian should be prosperous and rich, in perfect health and perfect wealth and never suffer, never have persecution, never suffer reproach.
95. OH HOW THEY IGNORED THE EXAMPLE OF THE SCRIPTURE AND OF HIS PROPHETS that had gone before‚ how they suffered poverty, affliction, persecution‚ tribulation, martyrdom and death!—Oh my God‚ how they suffered!
96. MAY GOD FORGIVE US FOR OUR IGNORANCE AND OUR BLINDNESS, our deafness to His Word. If we had only read His Word more and seen the truth in His Word, how much more we would recognise how true, how true, how true, how true!—May God forgive us! Praise His precious Name forever!
97. BUT NOW WE KNOW AND NOW WE SEE and we're enjoying that glorious defeat, seeming defeat, but how much greater victory we have gained! We thought it was wonderful to be a winner.—What could be greater than being a winner and conquerors?—Nothing's greater than that!—Oh yes!
98. NOW WE KNOW WHAT IT IS TO HAVE THE VICTORY IN SPITE OF LOSS‚ in spite of seeming defeat, in spite of being prevailed against and worn out and overcome. Oh my, why didn't we see those Scriptures, that one in Revelation, too! Oh that I had memorised more carefully all of these passages and especially where they were found, but I remember it was in Revelation.
99. IT SAID THAT THIS HORRIBLE ANTICHRIST BEAST WOULD RISE UP OUT OF THE SEA and that this dragon gave him his power and seat of great authority, and I saw that one of his heads was as it were wounded unto death, his deadly wound was healed.
100. LIKE OUR OWN CHRIST, THIS ANTICHRIST SEEMED TO EVEN LITERALLY BE RAISED FROM THE DEAD, "and all the world wondered after this beast. And they worshipped this dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast saying‚ Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" And "There was given unto him a mount speaking great things and blasphemies"—and, Oh, how he's doing it this day!
101. "AND POWER WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM TO CONTINUE FORTY AND TWO MONTHS." Thank God it will be only three and a half years, and thank God He told us how long so we would not be unendurably afflicted and we would have hope that the end is soon to come! "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God," and how he blasphemes! Oh, its horrible!
102. HE SETS HIMSELF UP AS GOD, as the only God. What a trinity, he's so anti-Christ!—How different from our own Trinity, from our own God the Father and the Son and His Holy Spirit. And now we have the Devil's own trinity.—They have the Devil instead of God. They have rejected the Prince of Peace so they have no peace.
103. THE WORLD NOW HAS THE SON OF THE DEVIL‚ HIS ANTICHRIST in the flesh. Even as Jesus was the son of God in the flesh, now, the God of this world, the Devil, has his son in the flesh, this Antichrist! Also his false prophet, the anti-type of the Holy Spirit is going through the world today persuading the people to worship the beast and his image and his Antichrist.
104. THEY'RE PROMISING A GREAT UTOPIA, a great millennium‚ a marvellous time when all will be peace and plenty for everyone, without God. Oh what liars, what fools! But so may have been deceived and they have done their dirty, dastardly, devilish, fiendish work!
105. BUT IT'S EVEN AS GOD PROMISED, it's even as He prophesied: "He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God‚ to blaspheme His Name, and His Tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints," and how he has made war with us, how we have suffered, "and to overcome them‚" and how we have been overcome!
106. HE SAID THAT WE SHOULD BE OVERCOMERS, but not in the way we thought.—Not meaning in peace and in plenty, in prosperity and in superb super-health, but that we should be overcomers even in the midst of seeming defeat: Overcomers more than conquerors, even though seeming losers. He said that though we would be prevailed against, overcome and made war with, that we should not fail. We should keep the faith, stand true and die as witnesses and martyrs for Him. How true!
107. "AND POWER WAS GIVEN HIM OVER ALL KINDREDS AND TONGUES AND NATIONS."—It has been said and surely it has been! All that dwell upon the earth now worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb, our Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.
108. IF ONLY WE HAD HEEDED THE WARNING, "If any man have an ear‚ let him hear!"—what the Spirit said to the churches. But "he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword," herein is "the patience and the faith" of ye saints who remain. Praise God!
109. HE'S INDEED SENDING FORTH HIS FALSE PROPHET to get the people to worship him. Many of the former so-called Christians are falling prey to it and receiving his mark in their foreheads and hands rather than starving for their faith, unable to buy or sell as we are now.
110. OUR FOOD IS ALMOST GONE. The little case that we had stored away here in this cellar is almost gone. We are rationing it out to our little ones, little by little that we might continue as long as possible.
111. WE CAN NO LONGER BUY NOR SELL. We can no longer trade, we can no longer receive food. We have no commission‚ we are slowly starving to death.
112. WE WHO ONCE REFUSED TO FAST, we who once refused to deny ourselves, we who once refused to pray, oh how we fast and pray now! Hallelujah! Oh how glorious it is now, how wonderful it is to be even more than a conqueror in the midst of all this seeming defeat and horrible holocaust that has come upon us‚ this horrible persecution, affliction and tribulation.
113. WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH OUR WITNESS, and through our death and our martyrdom for Him. We stand out against them in spite of all they can do, in spite of all that they try to do. Oh, why didn't we see it then when it was so plain in His Word?
114. "WHEN THEY CRY PEACE AND SAFETY, THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION COMETH upon them as travail upon a woman with child!" Why didn't we understand that this false preaching of peace throughout the world, this seeking for peace, this talking of peace, was the immediate prelude of the most horrible war and destruction that the world has ever known!
115. "BUT YE BRETHREN ARE NOT IN DARKNESS that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day." Oh, but how darkened we were in understanding! How it did overtake so many of us as a thief and we did not understand. We were not prepared, we were not ready, and we slept! Oh, if only we had heeded the warning, "Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober‚" pray and be ready.
116. WHY DID WE NOT SEE THAT IT WAS GOING TO COME UPON US, IT WAS SO PLAIN IN HIS WORD? When the great Apostle Paul had written to the Thessalonians, he'd said, Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus."—What coming?—His coming! The coming—the only coming! And to make it even more plain and specific, "And by our gathering together unto Him." What coming? The coming in which He gathered us together unto Him. The coming in which He would gather us all and rapture us together unto Him. That's the coming—the rapture, that he was speaking of!
117. "WE BESEECH YOU BRETHREN BY THE COMING OF OUR LORD Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him‚ that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ,"—that day, "the day of Christ," the only day, no other day, not two days, not a secret rapture and then a revelation afterward.
118. ONE GREAT, MIGHTY‚ MARVELLOUS, GLORIOUS COMING OF JESUS CHRIST in which there will be the marvellous gathering together of all His saints, that rapture, and His following descent and great triumph with us to conquer the world from the anti-God‚ anti-Christ forces. By this coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, by our gathering together unto Him, "Be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ is as hand."
119. WARN THEM THEN, "LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU by any means"! Oh how they were being deceived by their false prophets!—Good men misled by their own teachers, their denominations, their doctrines and their shibboleths‚ deceiving them that that day should come before there would come this horrible tribulation and persecution!—When it said plainly‚ "Let no man deceive you by any means‚ for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." What day is the day he was speaking of?—The one of the coming of our Christ and our gathering together unto Him!
120. "THAT DAY (OF CHRIST) SHALL NOT COME, EXCEPT THERE COME A FALLING AWAY FIRST AND THAT MAN OF SIN BE REVEALED, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Oh my‚ how could we have been so dumb, so blind, so deaf, so weak‚ not to see the plain truth of God's Word? His coming would not come until this day came first, that we would see that man of sin. Who else could that be but the Antichrist, the "man of sin" revealed, the "son of perdition," who is now with us indeed and trying to rule and reign over us!
121. BUT WE ARE NOT HIS SUBJECTS!—Thank God, we are not his children, as are the children of this world. We have defied him secretly for some time‚ and now some openly, dying as martyrs! We believe it will not be long for the rest of us. Oh, how He went on to warn us, "Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you I told you these things? Now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time."
122. "FOR THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY DOTH ALREADY WORK: only He who now letteth will let‚ (God's Spirit) until he be taken out of the way."—Not removed completely, no‚ but removed from hindering that Antichrist from appearing. "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." Hallelujah! That's what we're waiting for!
123. "THAT WICKED SHALL BE REVEALED, WHOM THE LORD SHALL CONSUME with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming."—The one and only coming of Jesus Christ! The one coming spoken of by the prophets down through the ages! That marvellous coming when He then rescues His children out of this great tribulation! Oh praise God, Hallelujah!
124. HE WARNS US OF THE ANTICHRIST, "WHOSE COMING IS AFTER THE WORKING OF SATAN with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved." And for this cause God indeed has sent them "strong delusion," that they might "believe a lie," and are being damned right and left "who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
125. "BUT WE ARE BOUND TO GIVE THANKS ALWAY TO GOD FOR YOU, brethren beloved of the Lord‚ because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of Lord Jesus Christ!"
126. "THEREFORE, BRETHREN‚ STAND FAST, AND HOLD THE TRADITIONS BY WHICH YE HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, whether by word, or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God‚ even our Father which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace‚ comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work."
127. YOU INDEED MIGHT BE ONE OF THAT "GREAT MULTITUDE, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who "stood before the throne" in that great vision of John's. "A great multitude‚ which no man could number, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, cried with a loud voice saying, `Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!'"—Oh my, what a wonderful prediction that God gave to John!
128. "AND ALL THE ANGELS STOOD ROUND ABOUT THE THRONE, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God‚ saying, Amen: blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever! Amen." And yet another one asked, "What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?"
129. "THESE ARE THEY WHICH CAME OUT OF GREAT TRIBULATION!" The original of that in the Greek means, "The Great Tribulation." "Out of great tribulation," it says, "The Great One," to make sure that we understand clearly and carefully that it was this final great and terrible tribulation! These saints that "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them."
130. "THEY SHALL HUNGER NO MORE," as we are hungry here in this cellar this night‚ "neither thirst any more," as we are thirsty, having drunk the very draining of the streets which drip into our cellar! "Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
131. (HOW I WISH YOU COULD SEE THIS WHICH I HAVE SEEN in vision! How I wish you could understand. How I wish you could acknowledge and realise the True Word of God, that He has told us all of these things and He has given us His Truth in these things!
132. WHY DON'T WE ACCEPT WHAT GOD'S WORD HAS TO SAY? Why don't we believe His Word? Why do we listen to false prophets and false teachers? Even good men of God have been led astray by these false doctrines and false teachings, that the church is going to escape everything and will not have to suffer affliction and tribulation.
133. MAY GOD HELP US THAT WE BE NOT CAUGHT UNAWARES! For He said‚ "When ye should see these things come to pass," these very things come to pass, then we should look up, for then our redemption would draw nigh, not before that but then, at that time! The Tribulation is going to make us appreciate the great and mighty, marvellous, majestic, glorious victory of the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ even more!)
(Vision continues)
134. HOW MUCH MORE SHALL WE HAVE GREAT VICTORY OVER THIS TERRIBLE ANTICHRIST, the anti-God kingdom which exists here now upon earth at this present horrible tribulation time which we see now, and which then we saw in vision!
135. O BELOVED BRETHREN, LOOK UP FOR YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH. Look up!—There is no way out except up! There is no way around, no way through, no way back—only up to be with Jesus! Praise His precious Name!
136. THANK GOD FOR HIS TEACHING US TO WITNESS!—But we refused to do it voluntarily. We refused to do it willingly as we should have. Now we are almost compelled to do it to retain our faith. Now we must be living and dying witnesses, we must be true martyrs for our Saviour Jesus Christ!
137. TRULY THE LEADERS OF THIS WORLD ARE NOW HOLDING SWAY WITH THE BEAST for one hour. But when they "make war with the Lamb, the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen and faithful." Ah, how they have turned upon that great Whore‚ the false System, turned upon her and hated her and made her desolate and naked and eaten her flesh and burned her with fire!
138. NOW THE GREAT FALSE SYSTEM HAS REAPED HER JUST REWARD! God hath put in the kings' hearts to fulfill His will, to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled. So it is of God‚ how can we deny it? God has allowed the Antichrist to arise, God has allowed us to suffer this great tribulation, that He might work out His will.
139. HOW LITTLE THEN DID WE APPRECIATE OUR PEACE, FREEDOM AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY! How little we took advantage of the opportunity to obey His commandment, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Instead, we built our buildings and wasted our money upon brick and stone and organisation and foolish preaching and frivolous services and fancy sermons! We were content and complacent and asleep and lackadaisical and Laodicean in our contentment and in our sense of false security!
140. HOW LITTLE WE APPRECIATED EVEN THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THE ACTS in which He said that we would be witnesses with the Holy Spirit power of God. We didn't seem to appreciate that it was only for one purpose, that we might glorify God and be His witnesses. He said, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you‚ and ye shall be witnesses unto Me."
141. THE PURPOSE OF THE POWER IS FOR WITNESSING. The reason for the power was to witness and the greatest thing happened on the day of Pentecost was not that they merely had miraculous manifestations, but that those things resulted in the salvation of 3‚000 souls. That was the great harvest, the "Feast of the Ingathering"! The day of Pentecost was truly fulfilled literally in that day!
142. BUT INSTEAD WE BUILT OUR CHURCHES, and had our pretty little services. We enjoyed our pretty little music and songs. We sat down at ease and contentment, and said, "Ahh, I shall see no evil, I shall see no bad! I shall be delivered!"
143. HOW WE WERE DECEIVED BY THE CHURCHES AND THEIR LEADERS!
(Beloved, the preceding was a true prophetic vision which God gave us in the Spirit this day! May we be admonished by its warnings and awakened by its witness and reminded that these things are soon to come upon us, and we "must work the works of Him that sent us while it is yet day, ere the night cometh when no man can work!")
The following are the references to the Scriptures quoted in this text:
Rev.3:14-22
Dan.11:31-34
Mt.24:21-31
Rev.1:7
Dan.7:25
Dan.12:1-3
Ps.34:19
Heb.11:32-38
2Cor.8:9
Rev.13:3-7,10
1Thes.5:3-6
2Thes.2:1-17
Rev.7:9-17
Rev.17:14
Mk.16:15
Acts 1:8
Lk.21:28