The phrase used in the title of this post has been borrowed from a book titled Last Days Survival Guide. The author of this book, Rick Renner, delves deeply into the Greek of the New Testament in a way that turned my beloved King James language of the Bible into a highly detailed modern-day language that spoke to me in a powerful way and encouraged me to stand again in faith.
The last four words of the above paragraph are easily written, but there is nothing easy about standing again once you've been knocked down, especially when your thoughts tempt you with: Not just knocked down, but knocked out. Knocked out of the race altogether. Not an overcomer after all, but one who has been overcome by the enemy.
It's funny that God often reaches me through the words of others. I remember being knocked down once before in 2003. But while reading a book by Billy Graham titled Storm Warning, my derailed heart melted and I found myself sobbing on the floor, first in repentance and then in awe of the love of God that flooded over me.
More recently, with Rick Renner's book, I felt not a flood, but a quiet nudging of faith that helped me stand again. Surely, we are the generation that must stand again by faith in these last of the last days, guided by the Holy Spirit of God, as He leads us safely through the wiles of the enemy and brings us home to Him. Knowing that even if we momentarily lose our hold and are knocked down, He is always faithful to help us stand again.
And we will be knocked down, for perilous times are ahead. In fact, many Christians, myself included, believe that we are in the beginning of those most perilous of times, when we will need the guiding, the boldness, and the standup power of the Holy Spirit more than ever.
Quoting 2 Timothy 3:1, Rick gives great depth of meaning to the phrase "perilous times." Instead of the King James wording, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come," Rick takes all that he can from the original Greek to help us understand just how perilous these perilous times will actually be, so that we now end up with this translation of that particular verse and the perilous times ahead:
"You need to know emphatically and categorically that in the last of the last days there will come uncontrollable, unpredictable, hurtful, treacherous, menacing times that will be emotionally difficult for people to bear."
Have we not seen such times beginning in 2020 with a global pandemic, political divisions, cancel culture, the insidious Equality Act, and so much more? I believe we have. Along with this, we face natural disasters that we aren't always able to fully prepare for.
In my family's home state of Texas, 2021 brought unpredictable times that were especially difficult to bear. A rare snowstorm that dumped several inches of snow over most of Texas, brought with it temperatures that fell into the single digits, wind chill factors of below zero, failed electrical grids all over the state, millions of Texans without heating or water for several days in a row, and frozen pipes bursting that had plumbers from surrounding states being called upon to help in this devastating emergency situation. Millions of people - millions!- had to live through those conditions with no ability to control what was happening to them. Those were perilous times for Texans. But that was nothing compared to the "uncontrollable, unpredictable, hurtful, treacherous, menacing times" that the Bible describes are yet to come.
I stumbled upon a graphic example of such treacherous times in a podcast that I recently listened to: [ Tyranny, Slavery and Columbia U | Yeonmi Park | The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast - S4: E26 - YouTube ] A young North Korean girl, Yeonmi Park, describes her childhood and teen years with all the horrors of living under the satanically evil regime of Kim Jong Il in North Korea. It is not a Christian podcast per se, and yet it is one that I believe every citizen of every free nation should hear as this is the tyranny that is attempting currently to overtake the free world. The North Korean girl being interviewed now lives in the U.S. But she describes the horrific life humans live in North Korea and then expresses her concerns of the tyrannical thinking already present here in America.
Towards the end of the interview, Yeonmi's experience with missionaries is very interesting to hear. She was judged harshly by the missionary, and yet he risked his life to save her. I am unable to tell whether she ever came to truly trust in Jesus or whether her experience with a Christian missionary left her confused about Jesus instead. I do intend to buy her book and hope to get more information from it than is possible in this one interview.
As Christians, we understand that there is a spirit realm in which powers and principalities rule. I believe that the spirit of antichrist rules North Korea and is the same spirit that has set things in motion to turn our beloved country into another North Korea. My hope is that any Christian believer listening to this podcast will be stirred to take prayerful action. And by that, I mean that as Christians we will not only pray for those who are living in such horrific situations in North Korea, but that we will ask the Lord to show us what actions we can take that would be impactful in fighting against the evils that Yeonmi was forced to experience. The same evils that hundreds of thousands of children are still experiencing in North Korea and China.
Yeonmi Park, has risked her life to speak openly of what is happening in both North Korea and bordering China, in order to bring the truth to light and prevent that same evil from overcoming the "free" world. But don't doubt for a moment. The plans to destroy our country have already been set in motion. Coming our way are "uncontrollable, unpredictable, hurtful, treacherous, menacing times that will be emotionally difficult for people to bear."
God is warning us about what is coming not to cause us to fear, but to remind us to be diligent in that which matters most so that we are prepared. Spiritual tools necessary to deal with the times to come are ours for the asking as believers in Jesus Christ. Just knowing Him, and being known by Him, grants us access to the throne of God with our prayers and supplications, and provides us with the infilling strength and power of His Holy Spirit. All that we need to "stand" is found in Jesus. And for the Christian believer, He has prepared a way of escape. More on that in the next post.
