They have been signalling that Christians were next since they started shutting down churches spring 2020. I believe it will be the next pressure point they exploit. God is there ahead of them but we should prepare. Yes, pray. Yes, put on the full armor of God. But what else? I have two suggestions and I expect you all can add many more.
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Memorize Scripture. If you are put in a situation without access to your Bible will you remember the truths? For your own sake or for the sake of others who don't know it as well as you may, memorize your favorite passages. You will be able to repeat them to yourself in times of stress. Start small and keep building upon what you've captured.
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Christian music. By this I primarily mean the old hymns. Tons of theological truth in those stanzas. But doesn't have to be hymns, some of the more modern anthems have important truths that we need to cling to as well. Music helps the mind store the words, that's why hymns were originally written. I'll link some favorites of mine. in Comments. Just like memorized Scripture, music memory is something they cannot ban or take from you.
What other Spiritual Preparedness ideas do you have?
It is the well-calculated next step in their agenda. Yes they are desperate and moving faster than they intended but make no mistake that the intent has always been there.
Even still, be prepared!
Do you think the religious exemptions from the vaccines are to protect you? No, its to document peoples religion for the next phase.
Well I don't have a religion. I have a relationship. Religion is man-made useless shit and leads to helpless handwringing and dooming.
The relationship with God however leads to a walk of power for abundant living. We are not victims unless we fail to stand on God's truth. So if you feel a little like a victim ask yourself what you really believe.
As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.
Believing cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Which by the way, is THE WILL OF GOD.
I know what you're saying, but that's not what they're calling it. Context, my friend.
Where specifically?
Pray without ceasing. Praying in words, singing, and in the spirit. Relationship happens when you spend time with someone.
A Mighty Fortress - A hymn for spiritual warfare if ever there was one. Read through the lyrics, Martin Luther knew what he was writing all of those centuries ago. My personal favorite rendition is with an all male chorus, this one isn't great but gives you the idea. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/175851560425180625/ I can't tell you how often the words of this song come to mind these days!!
This is my favorite hymn. It was known as the Battle Hymn of the Reformation for a reason.
3,000 Men Singing "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" at the Sheperds' Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqczuaFQpVQ
A Mighty Fortress · Matt Boswell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBUfe8AzRao
A Mighty Fortress is Our God - Doug Plank (acoustic guitar and harmonica)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXT5k3hFf50
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (original German and English translation)-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIbEMp8EpCI
Yes!!! Warrior Angels going into battle!!!
That's correct. GOD through Christ gave us victorious living. WEBDONT LOSE UNLESS WE BELIEVE THE LIE.
In Christ Alone - These lyrics are gold for any soul during The Storm. https://youtu.be/f1QjKqyGh8s
End "made in china" gift giving this Christmas.
Amen - instead dedicate that day to Christ. Those elites chose a pagan holiday to lie and tell us it was Christs birthday. What a sucker punch it’d be if we celebrated our Jesus all day and praised His name.
Of you really wanna celebrate Christ birthday, September 11, 3 B.C. between the hours of 3 and 6 pm.
From the book Jesus CHrist our promised seed.
Irony. September 11. The devil is so good he has us celebrating it on saturnalia. Christians wake up, the deepnstate infected your doctrine.
-get a few low cost bibles and put them in your car, bug out bag, etc . If you are in a survival situation that’s when you’ll want it most
This is not new.
Christians have been actively persecuted for a great many years now: Global Strategic Alliance reports the universal persecuted church had more than 26 million documented cases of martyrdom in the 20th century alone, more than in the previous 1,900 years combined. Index of persecution of Christians 2021 via statista
In 2021, North Korea and Afghanistan were the countries with the strongest suppression of Christians with an index value of 94 each.
Over 900,000 Christians have been martyred in the last 10 years, a Christian research firm affiliated with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts estimates. Gordon-Conwell's Center for the Study of Global Christianity recently released its annual report on the persecution of Christians. https://www.christianpost.com/news/over-900000-christians-martystatista.comred-for-their-faith-in-last-10-years-report.html
Yeah, I know. We know about Bush and Obi too don't we?
Think of it this way. I would hope it never comes to this but what if YOU were the only person left who could teach the others about who God is? Have you ever thought about that?
Never back down in the face of fear. Be strong and accept whatever is coming - you know God is standing right behind you. Jesus walked his cross to the grave and then begged God to forgive those who crucified him. We must be strong and do not falter in our standing.
My church uses primarily modern worship songs which I find repetitive and lacking the beauty and depth of classic hymns. I feel I have forgotten some of my favorites from my childhood. I appreciate the hymns that have been mentioned. I am hoping to remember some favorites.
Rizzski’s recent post re: Spotify removing the Christian music genre would support this.
https://greatawakening.win/p/12kFwXx2lF/spotify-has-removed-the-highly-p/c/
Most of these churches need to be shut down. We are so far astray of the early Apostolic church that no one even knows what day of the week it is. We have become of this world when we should be storing ourselves up in the world to come. /rant
The true answer to this question is the small neighborhood church group, the way it is supposed to be. Teach those nearest you and, in times of trouble, you have a system in place that can support and protect each other.
Round ups will never happen. Once they open that can of worms, there is no putting the lid back on it, they will have made themselves null and void. They ought to be careful of what they wish for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFmv2230Pys&ab_channel=RodSmith
I agree. What the church has become is what Jesus abhorred. Small groups, home churches are the way forward.
Another of my favorite hymns!!
keep it small, or you may end up in a cult.
Words like apostolic church are man made concepts. We must shed them all as they obscure truth.
The first century church is the same as the 21st century church. The devil has adapted his ways and methods to the times.
Beware the wiles (methods) of the devil.
Satan walks about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. A lion roars and freezes their prey with fear
God didn't give us the spirit of fear but of power. Love and of a sound mind.
If fear is the devils tool then ANY information that produces fear must be discerned as truth from error. Usually it's error, truth causes courage, lies cause fear
They know this, dis-ease of mind is the problem and renewing your mind to God's word which is truth is the cure.
If you are more than a conqueror then act like it. Acting like it is action, believing is a verb and connotes action. All other is weak mental assent. There, that's the kindergarten version of walking in power.
Christ himself said the works that he does you shall do also and greater works than these shall ye do because I go unto the Father. Just imagine the power if that one verse is believed by God's born again ones?
Apostolic Church = Preach the Gospel unto all the world.
And nothing else.
Start learning how to meditate, it will also help you make your prayers stronger.
I believe in meditating on Scripture and not in the Eastern practices of "emptying the mind." But yes, we need to learn if we have not already to get alone with God. To not feel like we need a worship service or any other human thing in order to commune with Him. This is a tremendous source of strength.
Stayed mind and fixed heart on God's Word.
Isaiah 26:3 thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is STAYED on thee. Because he trusted in thee.
Not empty headed.
True story. I once worked in corporate America for one of the pharma giants. In my 9th year there the rumor of a layoff started circulating. My logic and use of my grapevine told me I'd be on the list. We had to change our IT logons every quarter. Knowing that when they laid me off I'd have to turn over the password I made it: isaiah263. Every time I typed it in those last months I was comforted and I smiled when I thought of some IT guy typing it to wipe my account. It was a very bad time but God prepared me and walked with me through it.
Emptying the mind does not mean to not think of anything and that's that. It's merely a preliminary step, if you can't settle your own mind you won't be able to meditate on something effectively. It's focus training. Can you shut off your thoughts at will and sustain that state for 30 minutes to an hour, not daydreaming, worrying, thinking? Then you are ready to meditate, be that on scripture or your own defects because you will have acquired sufficient concentration. Many people who master this state of "no mind" stop there and while they do feel good after it, it's merely a vacation of the mind and won't get you far spiritually. You must move on beyond "no mind", because in meditation on your defects will you truly get to know yourself - and once you do, you can ask for divine help to eradicate them. You are right many religions, including Buddhism have in many places become very superficial and the true teachings have been lost. But that is not the case everywhere, the one truth lives on and is still being taught.
I like that this post is something that I have been spending a lot of my time doing. Not necessarily remembering scripture but just getting to finally understand the story of the Bible. Once you dive in and start jumping around it is beyond incredible. I had a dream last night that was more of a nightmare and for the first time I did not let fear dictate that dream. Normally I would wake up in a panic but this time I just observed the dream without judgment and was able to get through it and continue my slumber. I mostly attribute this to my dedication of continually praying to the LORD and reading scripture for the truths of this world. The truth is what will set us free. A great way I have been learning is through Biblegateway.com I choose the King James Version and choose and chapter and have one open tab play audio and the other one to follow along with. It's super useful!
I love what you said. I do believe God wants us to confront fear. Not just what is making us fearful but the fear itself. It quickly loses all power when we do that. God did not give us the spirit of fear, I pray and consciously invoke the power of His Perfect love to cast out the fear. We are more than conquerors through Him.
One thing that helps center me is rising above the noise of all the details thrown at us every day is to remember that ultimately this IS a battle of Good vs evil. It always has been although we weren't paying attention for many centuries. They make themselves gods yet do godless things. They are the rebellion against God Himself. When we see it that way, all becomes clear.
Taking the s h eild of faith puts God's power and protection in front of me.
I heard the most amazing sermon once on the Armor of God. I wish I had a copy of all he said. He went through the verses one by one and explained that Paul had used the uniform/armor of the Roman soldiers as his metaphor. The part that stuck with me the most was the shield. Roman shields were made of wood. A couple of inches thick. The night before a battle they soaked the shields in water so they would go into battle with totally waterlogged shields in front of them. Must have been very heavy. But look what it did when the enemy fired their flaming arrows at them!! > In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Paul was telling us to literally soak ourselves in our faith in Our God.
I will not fear! But I have memorized James chapter 1 and 2…how easy we forget when we don’t continue and recite. So I’m back at it again. Although not as hard, I have the 1st half of chapter memorized again.
I’ve played the flute for more than 30 years, and for many years in church.
Most of the old hymns I can play from memory, and when we can’t get to churches and pianos any more, I will still have my flute and I will still play for anyone who wants to listen.
I love that thought.
They have been coming for me for 40 years.
Father clearly tells us we shall be persecuted. He also tells us we are "MORE THAN CONQUERORS",
Stronger, smarter, faster than tje enemy.
No weapon formed against thee shall prosper.
There's a good reason God tells us to put on the whole armor of God. He wasn't fucking around, Christians have been though. Most deny the power thereof.
2 Timothy 3:12 - "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." [NJKV]
John 15:19-20 - "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." [NJKV]
Matthew 5:10-12 - "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." [NJKV]
All believers should be prepared for persecution. Read your Bible. Pray. Give thanks for what you have because you don't know what tomorrow will bring. The Holy Spirit will give you strength and words to endure persecution.
No doom in that; our Lord told us this 2000 years ago, but many churches have forgotten.
theyve been coming for Christians
Form eclesia and small study and prayer groups, meet in homes.
Listen to Michael English’s songs John The Revelator & Midnight Cry It’s from his 1998 album Gospel. I’ve have never listened to Christian music unless I was in church or some country music artist that have gospel albums. I saw him on one of Christian networks & it spoke to me. These songs are so powerful with the truth!
I've never considered myself that religious, but I do have PDF documents of the entire bible stored on a local hard drive. I'm not one for books nowadays, but I wanted to make sure I had that file stored locally.
Old hymns are nice. But nothing is wrong with New Covenant Christian music and it reaches new generations in search of hope and strength. It has been very important in my life.
Next? They have been trying to finish off Christians since (((they))) killed Jesus.
If you’re looking for hymns/chants, Adoration of the Cross is a great channel that has both Catholic and Orthodox songs
https://youtube.com/c/AdorationOfTheCross
Ex Cathedra has the Gospel of John in chant form
https://youtu.be/hRoh_Ui5FJQ
I highly recommend the author John Eldredge but particularly his book Waking the Dead for the times we are in. We cannot fight the battles we are called to fight half-heartedly.
Next?! Pretty sure they’ve been attacking the truth since well before Christ was crucified.
They been doin' that, as my 20 yr old son would say. For damn near 2000 yrs.
RE: spiritual preparedness PDF: http://globalmissiology.org/english/legacy/hiebert_spiritual_warfare_and_worldviews.PDF
For those who don't like PDF's it is also here... https://odysseyofanalbatross.blogspot.com/2011/02/spiritual-warfare-and-worldviews-for.html
The importance of corporeal worship is often overlooked.
This is ALL about a spiritual war.