Seems like Christians the world over are really taking a beating.
Down here we have been dealing with some really mean folks, but the good news is that it has seemed to taper off. Me ignoring them and refusing to throw gas on the fire has helped.
But out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Tracye contracted amoebic dysentery and the past 3-4 days has been pretty bad. We were able to get a doctor to make a house call and gave her some anti-nausea medicine and well as meds for the pain. So I have been playing nurse this weekend and today I am glad to say that we think she is on the road to recovery.
Yesterday we were not able to go to church and tell you me that we both could have used the fellowship. But I did the next best thing and send an email out to our prayer warriors and things started to settle down.
It is amazing how powerful prayer is. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty low myself, that is when I went to some of my bookmarked topics and God’s Word really strengthened me and put a little air back in my sails.
I want to share with you some of those verses that I have been reading.
Psalm 34:17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Isaiah 41:10Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
As I said, Christians the world over have been getting hammered.
I woke up to 4-5 articles about clear Christian persecution taking place in the US. It seems that the enemy has raised the stakes.
I can not believe it, this morning I am reading where in Coeur d‘Alene Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines.
Yep, there it is in plain black and white. The thing that many Christians feared has now come to pass. If Coeur d‘Alene can pass a law like this and it stands the court process, then this law will fly across the nation like wild fire, basically putting churches out of business. Weddings in church will become a thing of the past.
Another thing in today’s news – Fundraising site GoFundMe has closed the account that was set up to raise money for Aaron and Melissa Klein, Christians and former owners of a bakery in Gresham, Oregon, who were ordered by a judge Friday to pay a fine of $135,000 for declining to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian marriage ceremony.
This is just wrong and hypocritical. Here GoFundMe is doing the exact same thing that these people are being fined for.. refusing to do business based on religious ideas. The issue with GoFundMe is that they are chosing NOT to do business with Christians. So why do they have that right yet the Klien’s do not?
Clearly a case of double standards.
How many people really remember how Germany persecuted the Jews in WW II?
Sure we know it happened and all, but what were the steps that the fascist Nazis took?
What were the early steps that Germany took when persecuting the Jewish people?
1933 – Nazi brown shirts start to boycott of Jewish shops
1934 – Jews were banned from public places such as public parks and swimming pools. At the same time teachers, lawyers and servants were fired from their jobs if they were Jewish.
1935 – The Nuremberg laws are enacted. Jews are no longer allowed to be German citizens. Jews cannot marry non-Jews and Jews cannot have sexual relations with non-Jews.
1936 – Jews are banned from working, owning and running a business. They are also banned from having any German property.
1938 – Kristallnacht took place the nights of November 9th & 10th. It is known as “the night of broken glass”. What took place were a series of attacks from Nazi brown shirts, SA Stormtroopers and Nazi sympathizing civilians against Jews throughout Nazi Germany. This also bled over into parts of Austria and other German controlled lands. German authorities looked on without lifting a finger to stop it. The attacks left streets covered with broken glass from the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings and synagogues. At least 91 Jews were killed in the attacks and 30,000 Jews were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. Jewish homes, hospitals and schools were ransacked as the attackers demolished the buildings with sledgehammers. Over 1,000 synagogues were burned and over 7000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.
1939 – Warsaw Ghettos were opened and Jews living under the Nazi regime were forced to wear a white / yellow start of David armband or actually have one sewn onto the outside jacket. It was aganst the law to not identify ones Jewishness.
The Five Steps Leading To Persecution
History shows that there are five general steps that are followed by a government or ruling power when they start harassing a group like Christians. These steps then lead to outright persecution which then leads to imprisonment, torture and eventually martyrdom – death.
The steps are as follows…
1. Identifying: This involves finger-pointing by the ruling authority for the purpose of placing the blame for the nation’s troubles on one particular group. In 1 Kings 18:17, King Ahab identifies the prophet Elijah as being the one responsible for the drought that took place in the land of Israel. He accused Elijah by asking the question, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” The true body of Christ and Biblical Christianity in America today are blamed for being the greatest obstacles to the liberal establishment’s plans for a totally humanistic “utopian” society.
2. Marginalizing: By this means, the “politically incorrect” portion of the Church is looked upon as not being part of the mainstream of society. This is done by an organized smear campaign conducted by the ruling authorities through the national news media. They do this by the use of such trigger words as radical, extremists, separatists, and fringe.
3. Vilifying: By this means, the persecutors employ such methods as uttering slanderous and abusive statements against targeted groups as to cheapen and debase their worth and significance in society. The accusers need no factual evidence for their accusations, but innuendoes, insinuations, hints and making associations with other previously known undesirables of society.
4. Criminalizing: In implementing this step of persecution, it gives the state “legal” justification for arresting and incarcerating the accused. Here the state charges the persecuted with accusations of alleged criminal wrong-doing. The state naturally picks on the most vulnerable segment of the Church in order to send their threatening message to all the rest who adhere to similar views and practices. Incarceration of a few means intimidation of the many. Victimization of a government- protected group is a direct result of the incrimination of the accused. This gives the state “legal” authority to take a heavy-handed control in “protecting” its citizens. Presently, our federal government has several groups which they deem as “victims” for whom they feel responsibility to protect.
5. Terrorizing. This is the blatant and outright acts of terrorism carried out by the police powers of the state against the persecuted. These are acts of coercion by threat or by violence and are intended to create anxiety and fear in the hearts of its victims, with the purpose of silencing and neutralizing the opponents of the tyrannical government in power. (1)
Like it or not, believe it or not, our nation has now reached stage 5. The state has begun to “Terrorize” Christian beliefs and as the case in Coeur d‘Alene Idaho, pastors are now being threatened with jail time and fines.
Persecution is not starting, persecution is here. Stages one through five are now in place. That means that Stage 5 will continue to progress and things will get worse.
As I have said in the past, the government is not going to spend billions of dollars on FEMA camps all for nothing, they plan on using them.
It is crystal clear that attempts to criminalize Christian behavior is something that we need to face.
This also clearly signals that the steady erosion of religious liberty are entrenched and these liberties are on the way out if not totally gone.
The persecution has begun and the natural path is that it will increase.
Why?
Because we did not stand up to the labeling, marginalization, and criminalization.
This in turn has created a “snow ball effect” which provides momentum for the persecution to increase.
I STRONGLY believe that the proper response for the true bible believing Christian should be the following…
1 – Prayer & Being in The Word
2 – Prepare Mentally, Spiritually, and Physically
3 – Proactiveness (being proactive)
Prayer & Being in The Word
We are given a wonderful promise found in Isaiah.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
God will see us through no matter what. His Grace is sufficient for us and His Grace will always be there for us to see us through the darkest of times.
But we need to pray. Prayer is one of the most critical tools we as Christians have. It is something that I am turning to more and more. I also find that the faster I turn to prayer, the sooner solutions take place.
We read the following…
1John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
God wants to know what is bothering us and He wants to help us. He is our loving heavenly father. But even though He knows all and sees all, He also likes to be asked for help when He knows that we are struggling.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
By praying and seeking God’s help, we in turn are strengthened and are able to help others.
Prepare Mentally, Spiritually, and Physically
P
hysically
If you have been a long time reader, you know that I promote a self-sufficient lifestyle. We need to be doing all we can so that our families have the best opportunities possible.
That means that we need to start preparing mentally, spiritually and physically.
Noah did not have an ark drop out of the sky for him, he built it.
We read the following…
Genesis 6:21- 22 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Proverbs 30:25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;
God has given us two hands to work with and a brain to think with. He has provided the way for us. We are not called to just sit around and wait on Him to do everything for us. Again, did God drop an ark out of the sky for Noah?
No. Just sitting around waiting for God to rain manna from heaven or to grow a $20.00 bill tree in our back yard is testing God. Testing God is a sin and there is only one area that we are given permission to test Him and that is with our tithe. Nowhere else in scripture are we called to test him.
So if you are not doing something to prepare, you are being a sluggard.
Here is what scripture says…
Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.
Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
I have been preaching to you on having your ark ready, many of you know already.
But if we can help, do not hesitate to contact us and I can help make suggestions.
Mentally
This is a tough one. We need to think about things that we do not like to think about.
Each one of us need to make up our minds now as to what we will do if say we are collected up in the middle of the night, will we fight or will we allow ourselves to be taken away?
What is it that we live for and what is it will we die for?
Will we forsake or renounce Christ just to save our own skin?
What are we going to do if they come down the streets demanding everyone give up their guns?
What happens if meeting in church becomes against the law?
What happens if owning a King James Bible becomes against the law?
There are many not so present things that you, your spouse and possibly your children all need to discuss. Persecution is here now and as I have mentioned we are in stage 4 of the steps to persecution. Stage 5 is just around the corner.
Remember the Jews with “Kristallnacht”? That was two days of utter terror against all the Jews in all of Germany. Did they know this was being planned?
Many of the Jews were caught off guard and 30,000 were taken to prison camps right there right then.
This is a “Shock and Awe” sort of event. The Jews did not know what was happening. All of a sudden they were attacked the next moment they were put in box cars heading off to prison camps that became their hell on earth.
What sort of mental contingencies do you have in mind if something like Kristallnacht took place in our nation?
Say that it could not happen?
That is what the Jews thought too and the result was 6 million of them being tortured and killed at the hands of the socialist Nazi state.
I know that what I am saying is not easy to think about. Heaven knows I don’t like thinking about it either. But Tracye and I have had these sort of talks and we have mentally prepared for some things to happen. Are these easy to think about and decide upon? No it isn’t. But what you do not want to happen is to react out of fear and panic.
By having some of these things talked out already and having some form of a mental plan, your mind will be able to process the events we are talking about in a somewhat easier manner than being in the midst of panic and not knowing what to do at all.
How many bible believing Christian’s panicked during WW II and in that panic denied Christ just to save their own skin?
Can’t happen?
You do not know unless you have mentally prepared yourself for that sort of situation.
This is when being sober minded and allowing God’s Grace to work within us will be very critical.
We cannot allow ourselves to become emotionally entangled in hype and false emotional hoopla. We need to remain grounded so that we can think clearly and logically. It is very easy to get all wrapped up in all this extra biblical stuff that tickles our ears, but we need to focus on what is here now, not all these ideas of asteroids, polar shifts, giants walking the earth and other rabbit trail stuff.
It is time to focus and renew our minds in His Word and dawn the armor of God.
We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to our level of training.
I love this saying because it is so very true.
This is another reason why I say we need to be mentally prepared. Mental preparedness is a form of training.
Being in God’s Word is also a form of mental training.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
It is by the renewing of our mind that we will be able NOT to conform to the world.
We need to be thinking on God’s Word 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
In Deuteronomy we read the following…
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
This is mental preparedness. This is training our minds, hearts and souls to cleave to God.
Spiritually
As you can see in the above verses, one can realize that one is preparing themselves spiritually as well as mentally.
But it is the spiritual that will help see us through
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
One of the greatest scriptures that I think one can memorize is Psalms 23.
There is so much in these 6 verses that will help you weather any storm that you may be going through.
Take the time to read it, but more… to memorize it.
Psalms 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
As I said, memorize this as well as other verses in the bible.
There may be a time where we will not have access to God’s Word.
We in the states no longer value our bibles, but we need to see the value in it again. A time is coming that we may not have easy access to it.
Can you imagine what it would be like to not have access to the King James Bible? I can’t and when I do think about it, chills go down my spine. I instantly feel lost without my bible.
Here is a video that you have probably seen before. A group of Chinese Christians getting bibles.
WATCH NOW >>> http://youtu.be/yhvranRtlKk
Why don’t we cry and hold God’s Word as if it a great treasure like these Chinese brothers and sisters in the Lord do?
Tears come to my eyes every time I watch this. I think to myself that someday this might be us.
We need to memorize God’s Word and hide it in our heart. I time might come where we will not have access to His Word and what we have hidden in our heart may be all that our souls can be nourished from.
How many scriptures can your soul be nourished from if times were drastic?
Proactiveness
Ok.. so proactiveness is not a real word. But I believe that you know what I am trying to say here.
Be proactive NOW. Don’t wait for the walls to fall in on you before you do something that might help save you and your family.
There are millions of people who live through persecution throughout history. I believe the one thing that helped them is that they knew it was coming and they were proactive about it.
Things you can do…
Start looking at what you need to do to create some sort of home fellowship
Start looking at what you need to do to stay in contact with other like-minded Christians.
Start learning skills that will make a difference in case you do lose your job or not able to work. Again look at the laws pass against Jews holding down jobs. Learn skills that you can use to help the body of believers so that you can unite together.
Start looking where you can make a difference in your local body of believers. Become the leader of a home church, learn to evangelize better, become a better Berean and search the scriptures daily.
Learn how to live a more “underground” life. Learn what OPSEC means. Learn how to meet in covert manners as well as communicate.
Establish non electronic means of communication
Look into establishing “dead drops” using USB Flash Drives. Here is a great website that explains this… http://deaddrops.com/
You can watch a video on it here — http://youtu.be/hwohadcUv4A
Start learning how to use TOR and encrypted email technology. You can check out the Prophezine UNDERGROUND for this. I have been adding more info to this page as well as to the PZ Preparedness Library.
No matter what, if things continue to progress the way that they have. We are facing persecution, it is happening already.
You need to be proactive in all these things NOW not later.
One Final Comment
When ever I write articles like this, I always get the person who tells me that they are giving up and why worry. The rapture is right around the corner so why should they care.
Folks, we need to start living our lives with Christian zeal again. We need to live like we are going to be here the next 100 + years.
We do not know when the rapture will take place, only God knows.
Us using the signs of the times to predict the rapture is absolute folly. We may stand on the Pre-Trib, Mid Trib, Pre-wrath or Post trib. It does not matter what we stand on, what matters is that history is repeating itself right now as I write this.
Folks, we as Christians need to start being proactive and start thinking about what we are going to do when this happens. This is not an “IF” it is a when.
Will the people blame Christians for an economic collapse? That is one of the things they blamed the Jews for.
Will they blame us for no food on the shelves?
Will they blame us for any number of things? Just look at how they view us now. They see us as hateful bigots, where they themselves are the very thing they are blaming us for being.
I honestly believe that whatever takes place that brings our nation down, odds are that we as bible believing Christians will have some sort of blame attributed to us.
I am not trying to make some wild guess here. This is historical fact. The powers that be when they make that final push for their own ultimate power, they ALWAYS have some group to blame. That is how they are able to get it past the masses and have their approval for taking said power.
Odds are very good that Bible Believing Christians as well as traditionally conservative people will be the ones who are blamed.
What you start doing now is what might save your lives and help you to see you through another days in the not so distant future.
Prophezine is Here to Help
Folks, Tracye and I are here to help. Much of what I said in this article is troubling and it is stuff we do not like to think about.
Well we need to start thinking about it while we have the time and the ability to possibly do something.
I have written books on this that you can order from Amazon.
Israel – America and God’s Judgement – http://amzn.com/B00GZ49ADS
Past The Point of No Return – http://amzn.com/B00ANDCOYO
Survive The Coming Storm – http://amzn.com/B006JA4A06
Get my latest book – “ Survive The Coming Storm – The Poor man’s Guide To Preserving Your Wealth In an Economic Collapse.” –
NOW ON KINDLE – –http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WLLHKCW
If you have any sort of Smart Device, phone, computer you can get free Kindle software to read these books.
As I mentioned earlier, we have the PZ Preparedness area, PZ Prep Library with ebooks, pdfs and articles for you to draw from, we also have the PZ UNDERGROUND that will help people start establishing those networks so that home churches can stay in contact with each other.
Do not hesitate to contact me if we can help.
Check out our website Prophezine and also my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RayGano
IF you are needing long term food, please check out our Thrive Life website.
Ray & Tracye’s Thrive Life — http://www.thrivelife.com/Gano
You can also check out the preparedness section at the Prophezine website. http://www.prophezine.com
By Ray Gano
Endnotes
1 – Historical Steps Toward Persecution – http://truthinhistory.org/historical-perspective-steps-toward-persecution.html
