Preparation for the Time of Trouble
We need to take EGW’s advice as direct from the throne. But should a time reference be given to the counsel? In other words, she also said that the Loud Cry went out in the preaching of Christ’s righteousness in 1888. Yet, it seems that the church turned away from it and turned back into the wilderness to wander for 40 years. And then in the 1920’s RBF surfaced again and we turned it down again. Then in the 60’s it rose up again and remained up for several decades. But those vanguards of Faith have grown old and don’t preach it anymore. I believe Morris Venden was the last heaven-sent messenger to get us ready for the trouble.
Now we live in a dead period of real silence from heaven. Similar to the silent 400 years after Malachi, for some, there is a sense of expectant calm before a horrendous storm, time to bunker down and get ready for WWIII. Or, for others, it’s an opportunity to abandon our Adventist forefathers. To them its time to re-invent the Adventist wheel, time to remodel the cause.
But the real preparation for anything God is going to do is to learn to accept Christ’s invitation, “Abide in Me...For without Me ye can do nothing.” In the Latter Rain downpour God’s called and chosen and faithful will know what to do in any given circumstance because they will be able to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit in the daily sanctification as well as any preparation for the time of trouble. Any other attempt to get ready for trouble will lead off the path from the Midnight Cry to Jesus. Those who refuse to learn the vital connection with Jesus will ultimately fall off the path to the dark world below where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So, back to the time reference. Should someone leave the cities during those wandering times between the exaltation of Righteousness By Faith By Jesus or Righteousness Cubed (R³), when the Lord was frowning on us? I say, No. To leave the cities for the countryside was to invite self-willed abandonment of sowing the seeds of truth in the cities. Without R³ those who fled for the countryside only went out there on their own steam. They were operating on their own steam because true R³ was lost to us as a people.
I’ve spent some time in the wilderness at a self-supported school. I found rampant Pharisaism, little known grace, veiled gossip, etc. How could they be learning to know God when they weren’t being put to any real test out there sheltered from human contact? They were like the Essenes of Christ’s day. And John the Baptist wasn’t an Essene.
I believe when the Latter Rain comes, it will fall on those who are doing hand-to-hand combat with the tide of evil, wherever they are—even living in the cities. There is something to be said about Lot in Sodom, and maybe soon we will need to get of out the cities, especially those with children. But I believe that a temporary hiatus was placed on the counsels to leave the cities and begin the Loud Cry each time we turned down Righteousness By Faith By Jesus.
But we’ve turned down Righteousness Cubed for the last time. There isn’t any time left to take it up again and move it forward as a whole body of regulars. Now, it will be only a small Gideon platoon who have accepted R³, in spite of the rest of the body.
Until we get a handle on the Early Rain there will be no Latter Rain, which is the real preparation for the time of trouble. To escape “corruption” in the cities before surrendering to the Early Rain is a mistake. This, by no means, says we have plenty of time to dilly-dally in the cities. It means that we need to redouble our effort to overcome sin in the strength of the Early Rain, and seek for the salvation of other souls struggling with sin, so that it may be possible that the Spirit of God can develop a great need for Jesus in us. We’ve been called and chosen; now will be prove faithful? Will we take justification and sanctification seriously? Will we be reconciled to God by the death of His Son; and much more, once being reconciled, will we be saved by His life through beholding Him?
Then we will be readied for the Latter Rain; and with that we will be readied for the time of trouble.
Now we live in a dead period of real silence from heaven. Similar to the silent 400 years after Malachi, for some, there is a sense of expectant calm before a horrendous storm, time to bunker down and get ready for WWIII. Or, for others, it’s an opportunity to abandon our Adventist forefathers. To them its time to re-invent the Adventist wheel, time to remodel the cause.
But the real preparation for anything God is going to do is to learn to accept Christ’s invitation, “Abide in Me...For without Me ye can do nothing.” In the Latter Rain downpour God’s called and chosen and faithful will know what to do in any given circumstance because they will be able to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit in the daily sanctification as well as any preparation for the time of trouble. Any other attempt to get ready for trouble will lead off the path from the Midnight Cry to Jesus. Those who refuse to learn the vital connection with Jesus will ultimately fall off the path to the dark world below where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So, back to the time reference. Should someone leave the cities during those wandering times between the exaltation of Righteousness By Faith By Jesus or Righteousness Cubed (R³), when the Lord was frowning on us? I say, No. To leave the cities for the countryside was to invite self-willed abandonment of sowing the seeds of truth in the cities. Without R³ those who fled for the countryside only went out there on their own steam. They were operating on their own steam because true R³ was lost to us as a people.
I’ve spent some time in the wilderness at a self-supported school. I found rampant Pharisaism, little known grace, veiled gossip, etc. How could they be learning to know God when they weren’t being put to any real test out there sheltered from human contact? They were like the Essenes of Christ’s day. And John the Baptist wasn’t an Essene.
I believe when the Latter Rain comes, it will fall on those who are doing hand-to-hand combat with the tide of evil, wherever they are—even living in the cities. There is something to be said about Lot in Sodom, and maybe soon we will need to get of out the cities, especially those with children. But I believe that a temporary hiatus was placed on the counsels to leave the cities and begin the Loud Cry each time we turned down Righteousness By Faith By Jesus.
But we’ve turned down Righteousness Cubed for the last time. There isn’t any time left to take it up again and move it forward as a whole body of regulars. Now, it will be only a small Gideon platoon who have accepted R³, in spite of the rest of the body.
Until we get a handle on the Early Rain there will be no Latter Rain, which is the real preparation for the time of trouble. To escape “corruption” in the cities before surrendering to the Early Rain is a mistake. This, by no means, says we have plenty of time to dilly-dally in the cities. It means that we need to redouble our effort to overcome sin in the strength of the Early Rain, and seek for the salvation of other souls struggling with sin, so that it may be possible that the Spirit of God can develop a great need for Jesus in us. We’ve been called and chosen; now will be prove faithful? Will we take justification and sanctification seriously? Will we be reconciled to God by the death of His Son; and much more, once being reconciled, will we be saved by His life through beholding Him?
Then we will be readied for the Latter Rain; and with that we will be readied for the time of trouble.
posted by David | 7:50 PM
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