The Coming Persecution

I will warn you in this introductory paragraph, that if you only matriculate to words which seem to be inspired by the positive thinking movement, you might want to stop reading now. Yet if you are one who simply loves truth I admonish you to continue reading.

This is a prophetic word concerning the persecution which is headed to the church in America. History reveals that the church is strongest when she is under the imminent threat of persecution. It was actually the dispersion of saints as a result of persecution, which spearheaded the first major evangelistic thrust of the church (Acts 8:1;4).

The persecuted church is the most compelling; the political church is the most compromised. I predict and prophesy that you will hear more political preaching in this election year (2008) than you have heard in the three previous years combined. Someone who needs to hear the gospel will be deprived of that opportunity, because of preachers who are looking to gain influence in realms and arenas that we should be spiritually warring against. If you’re a preacher that’s running for office then wonderful, we need more light to shine in darkness. Yet if you are one who is looking to use God’s platform to gain political influence it is a direct affront to God.

The persecuted church is powerful; the popular church is polluted. We see more and more churches on the rise today whose chief aim is to gain positions of popularity with the culture. The church is commissioned to infiltrate the culture, and change the culture, not conform to it. History reveals that when the church gains popularity within the culture, without bringing change to the culture, it loses its influence.

There are a few by-products of persecution that the church could produce on her own, but since she has not shown any initiative in bringing this about, I believe she leaves God no other choice but to allow persecution to produce them.

One of these by-products is integrity in the leadership. The church has grown more under persecution than any other time in history and very practically the church grows because of good leadership. The reason the leadership is top notch during persecution is because every leader is there out of a sincere love for the LORD. No one is stepping up to be a leader during times of persecution for prestige, power, position, pomp, or pay.

Also there are no hypocrites in the church during times of extreme persecution. No one is willing to die to be a fake and a phony. The fires of persecution burn away any wood, hay, and stubble and all that’s left is gold, silver, and precious stones. Wood, hay, and stubble are all characterized by being used on the outside of the house or externals. You keep gold, silver, and precious stones inside the house. This denotes that anyone who is merely built upon externals will remove themselves from the church for fear of being persecuted with the real saints.

When this persecution comes, and it’s coming, we will see the largest exodus from the church we have ever seen in America and then we will see the largest revival we have ever seen. Sometimes what’s been holding others up from coming must be removed to create the space for the new.

Also the church during persecution has no time to argue over trivial matters. This coming persecution is going to produce the unity within the church that the LORD has always desired. During times of persecution you don’t care who’s Baptist, who’s Methodist, who’s Lutheran, who’s Catholic, you’re just looking for someone to agree with to accomplish the purpose of God in the earth.

It is not my intent to be a prophet of doom and gloom. My sole intent is to share what I believe the LORD has revealed to me through history and through prophecy. A very pragmatic definition for history is prophecy fulfilled. And where prophecy and history meet is what we consider the present. Since God is eternal, the only time in God is now. Wake Up!!!