Kept From The Hour of Trial/Temptation

The other day the Lord gave me something to share with you while I was out on a walk.  I was excited to receive it but by the time I got back home it had slipped my mind again but this morning the Spirit of the Lord brought it back to my remembrance.  Glory to God for His encouragement to all the saints.

This is encouragement from the Lord, not from the mind of this writer.

The Lord spoke specifically to the Churches in the very beginning of the book of Revelation.  Then He speaks specifically to the Churches no more in the book of Revelation.  There are people who try to explain this away but they do it to their own shame.  Either our God is all knowing and all powerful or He is not.  Either He does everything with absolute perfection and clarity of thought or He does not.  Our God does not make mistakes, nor does He forget, nor does He commit oversights.  There is a reason He speaks specifically to the Churches in the beginning of the book of Revelation then you cannot find the Church and instead by Revelation 7 He is speaking specifically to the tribes of Israel, not to the Church....

Here in Revelation 7 we see the tribes of Israel on earth and the Church in heaven:

4And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

5Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. 6Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. 7Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. 8Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

Praise from the Great Multitude

9After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 11And 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, 12Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

13And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 14And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore 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. 16They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17For 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.

Israel is on earth, the Church is in heaven.

What promises has the Lord made to His Church?  How about this one:

Rev 3:10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

So, here is what the Lord spoke to my mind out on that walk about "the hour of temptation" we are to be kept from.  We cannot make stuff up, the Word has to interpret the Word so what exactly does the Word tell us about this 'hour'?


He tells us about an unknown day and hour here:

Matt 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.


but what the Spirit specifically brought to my mind was this:

Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

Arguing about the rapture is pointless.  The harpazo/rapture is going to happen in the Lord's time but the rapture is not the only escape we see in the Bible.  So those who have so fervently dedicated their lives to "debunking" any escape have had their entire argument torpedo below the waterline and their ships are sinking.  What will the Church escape?  The unassailable facts presented not from man but by the Word of God are:

1.  Some will escape all that is about to happen:

Luke 21:35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Here ^^ the Lord tells us about an escape and there is no direct link to the rapture so instead of making their case for them it digs them a double grave.  How so?  Not only is the rapture and escape from this world but now we have at least two escapes from this world (if Luke 21:36 is not the rapture...) and this one is an escape from all that is about to happen.  Did the Lord elaborate on what "all that is about to happen" actually is?  Yes, He did.  Its right there in context, in the previous sentence.  All that is about to happen is this:  a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.  What event is coming that is going to be a snare on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth?  You do not have to be a Bible scholar to figure it out.

2.  The Church of Philadelphia will be kept from as the Lord puts it to us "an hour"

Rev 3:10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

And once again, the Lord gives us some detail on what this hour is that the Church will be kept from.  What is this hour?  Its right there in the same sentence "which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."

Once again what we have is the Church being kept from some event that 1.  will come upon all the world.  2.  to try them/test them.  And once again you do not have to be a Biblical scholar to figure out what this event is.  The Lord goes on to elaborate on this 'hour' here:

Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

Does this ^^ help fill in the blanks about this 'hour'?  Sure it does, its exactly what we thought it was and we will be kept from it.

There is in fact a lot of escaping going on in the book of Revelation and elsewhere which must terribly vex those who want to see the Church drug through the tribulation for the sake of their own manmade doctrines.  If it was the Lord's will that the Church was to go through the tribulation, why are the tribes of Israel sealed and the Church is not?

We have already covered Revelation 7 where all the tribes of Israel are called out by name and sealed, what we do not see is the Church called out by name (which did happen in Rev 2-3 but does not happen in Rev 7 or anywhere else in Revelation).  So, the tribes of Israel are sealed in Rev 7 then in Revelation 9 we see this:

1And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 2And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

Problem?  Yes, but only if the Church was still on earth....

We see escape from all, we see the Church kept from the hour of trial, we see the woman escaping the beast in Revelation 12

5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

and the child being "caught up unto God", another escape from the dragon.  Yes, I see alot of escaping here which does cause a vexing problem for those who tell us that God's people get dumped wholesale into the time of Jacob's trouble (not the Church's trouble, but Jacob's trouble).

While we do not see the Church called out by name in Revelation 7, we do see the tribes of Israel called out by name.  Meanwhile back in Revelation 5, right before the seals are opened in Revelation 6 we see elders in heaven described by our perfect all knowing God as being from every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.  Here we have to put our math hat on.  24 elders but how many nations are on earth?  24?  No, alot more than 24.  How many tongues are there on earth?  24?  No, alot more than 24.  So, has our Lord made a mistake?  He does not make mistakes so its for us to figure it out....

The fact is, there will be believers in the tribulation but the million dollar question is which ones?  Obviously all Christians will not enter the tribulation, nor live through all of it.  The fact that the Spirit of the Lord brings back to my remembrance over and over again is the fact that up through this very day, not single living soul that dies in Christ will have entered the tribulation.  Not one...let that sink in.  So much for this 'need' for the Church to be on earth during the time of Jacob's trouble, most of the Church (those who have already died in Christ) have already escaped it!!!

Glory to God.  You should be encouraged today.  Those who see the dark days of the tribulation coming and are already down on their knees in prayer and repentance do not "need" the tribulation to get them where they need to be (in right standing with our Lord).  The tribulation, as with everything else our God does has a purpose and that purpose is not to grind the Church into the ground.  We know that because the Bible does not tell us that.  Tribulation comes from tribulum which is what they used to grind the hard shell off of wheat.  Those who are on their knees in prayer and repentance today do not have a hard shell to thresh off.....its already off.  There are those who will need the tribulum and the tribulation to grind off their hard shell but it is not the Church in right standing with Christ today.

Our God has made us many promises.  Those who inherit the promises are those who receive them by faith and patience.

Heb 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

We can take His promises to the bank.  Through faith and patience we will inherit every single one of them because our God cannot and will not lie.  Millions of Christians have already escaped the tribulation through death in Christ up through this very day.  Many of us will escape the tribulation with our brothers though not necessarily through death.  Our God has promised many escapes to come in the days ahead.  It is for us to be in right standing with our God today.  We are to be a people of prayer and repentance in a world filled with gross darkness.

Our Lord sent this message of hope to you through these fingers that type it out on a keyboard.  There is an escape from all that is about to happen and we are to pray for it

Luke 21:34And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

grace and peace

Spiritual Warfare

This writer has been waging spiritual war for some time now against the powers of darkness arrayed against us.  Why wage spiritual warfare?

1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

The spirits that operate against us here, and their human vessels have no problem whatsoever with waging war against us 24 hours a day, 7 days per week and at some point each of us should decide enough is enough and begin dishing out the spiritual warfare to those war against us.  How do we do that?

It starts with binding evil spirits and loosing the angels who serve our Lord Jesus Christ:

Matt 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

We add to that our spiritual armor:

Eph 6:10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Then we add to that individual requests such as this one:

Lord I pray that George Soros will be brought to justice for crimes against humanity.  Your Word says:

Prov 6:16These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

17A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

18An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,

19A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

Lord, this man is likely guilty of all 7 abominations listed above that he has committed against you and against all humanity.  So, I pray bringing you my faith and your Word that George Soros will be exposed and shut down.  Lord I combine my faith with each and every believer who prays this prayer with me according to your Word which says:

Matt 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

This spiritual warfare aspect of our walk is something the Spirit of the Lord impressed upon me coming into this year.  In case you haven't noticed, 2017 has been a year of warfare and we are only one full month into it.  It is time to start praying about everything.  Everything includes having our skies sprayed day and night to alter the earths weather and atmosphere (which is destroying it).  Why pray about that?  Its destroying our health and the earth at the same time.  Does the Lord have a problem with that?  Yep:

Rev 11:18 The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small-- and for destroying those who destroy the earth."

How about all the companies (like Starbucks, CNN, Target, Campbells Soup and the list is growing exponentially by the day) that have taken an anti-Christian stand and are proud of it?  They are on the list too to go out of business:

Deut 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.


Lev 20:13 "'If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

We do not wage war as this world does.  We war in the spirit.  Last time I checked there was a growing movement to arrest George Soros and CNN has ratings lower than some of the cartoon networks.  The prayer and the warfare works.  Please join with me in the spirit to do what we were called to do.  We are to pray day and night.  To what end?  To this end:

Luke 11:1And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

2And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

3Give us day by day our daily bread.

4And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

This ^^ , glory to God, is inevitable.  The enemy will lose this war.  What does it matter is you seemingly win all the battles but still lose the war?  We win this war (in the end) and to the victor go the spoils:

2 Thess 2:6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And 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: 9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

13But 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: 14Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

16Now 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,17Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

Rev 3:21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Notice with me the Word our Lord uses here:  overcome.  What does overcome mean?  Well to start with it implies there is a fight:

to get the better of in a struggle or conflict; conquer; defeat:

to overcome the enemy.

We are in a conflict, there is no doubt about that.  We are called to overcome and part of the way we do that is in spiritual warfare.  The Lord has given us everything we need to do what we were called to do (which includes warfare in the spirit):

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.


Those who wage war are called soldiers.  What has the Spirit of the Lord called us?

2 Tim 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

grace and peace

Jesus Prayed For Escape, You Should Too

The enemy and his servants hate any idea that Christians might escape their new world order so they mock, ridicule and in general attack any thought that our Lord will fulfill His promises to us.  What kind of promises?

Luke 21:36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

The Lord does not tell us this ^^ is the rapture.  Maybe it is, maybe it isn't what is important about this promise is 1. He tells us to pray for escape and 2.  He tells us to pray for escape from all that is about to happen.  This flies in the face of all the arguments the enemy tries to throw back at us as to why we 'have to go through the tribulation.'.  Yes, we are told to pray for escape and to do it always.  That's quite 'escapist' isn't it?  Why would our Lord tell us to pray to escape all that is about to happen?  Because our Lord prayed for escape too:

Luke 22:39And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 40And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 41And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

What was our Lord doing here ^^?  He was praying for escape...

The Lord tells us to pray for escape because there will be alot of escaping going on in the last days.  One of the best examples is in Revelation 12:6:

5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

So here ^^ we see two escapes: 1. the woman escapes the worst half of the tribulation where the Lord will take care of her in the wilderness and 2. the child escapes by being "caught up" unto the Lord (sound familiar?).

Want more escaping in Revelation?  Sure, how about:

 Rev 3:10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

When is the "hour of temptation?"  Well, the Lord saw fit to leave that vague.  You aren't going to find another direct reference to it in the Bible but what He does tell us is whatever we will be kept from 1.  comes upon all the world and 2.  is designed to try/test them.  Gee, can you think of any upcoming event in the Bible that fits those criteria?

This world is beginning to tear itself apart.  Mankind is filled with rage and hate at our Lord and His servants (us).  The Lord, in His great wisdom and power has given us this window in time to see how this world despises both Him and us.  Every day some new person or organization or government exposes themselves as an enemy of the cross of Christ.  We see this as for the moment Trump is the pincushion receiving all of the flaming arrows of the enemy that are really directed at us.  Trump is no saint, but it appears he is more for us than against us.  That fact alone absolutely infuriates the demonic hordes that have cast off all restraint in their attacks.

This entire world is in the process of uniting itself against our God and therefore against us.  Things are happening exactly as our God said they would.  When you look around and see how widespread the demonic hatred is, it can be discouraging but be of good cheer.  Our God is all powerful and all knowing.  He likes these seemingly overwhelming odds to show us who is really in control.  One of the best parallels to where we stand now is when Israel was backed up against the red sea with Pharaoh and his hordes bearing down on them with no apparent escape.  But we know how that ended right?  No apparent escape was irrelevant because the Lord had prepared an escape for them they never could have imagined.  So it is with us.  We have His promises.  He told us to watch and pray always for escape:

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Mankind says there is no escape from any of it, but our God says there is an escape from all of it.  Who will you believe?  Our Lord prayed for escape and we should too.

grace and peace