Many true saints will be oppressed by the evil that comes upon them, not only physical dangers such as war and imprisonment but also by the worldliness, lust, and religious envy with which the world and the churches will be filled. Their "dead bodies," the churches and schools that at one time were operated by men and women of God, will lie in the street of worldliness, lust, and religious envy. The religious institutions will be Christian in name, fundamental in doctrine, but with no trace of God's Spirit in them.

The False Prophet and the Antichrist already are rising in the wealthy democracies. We hear the voice of the False Prophet in the Charismatic churches as the preachers speak of prosperity, faith without works, a pre-tribulation "rapture" to escape suffering, and the bringing in of the Kingdom now by militant believers so when the Lord Jesus returns the Kingdom already will have been established.

Self-driven people hope to set up the Kingdom now so there will be no need for the Lord to do anything (they believe). They could not be in greater error. Yet the prayerless, careless Charismatic churches are accepting these doctrines from the False Prophet as though they were of God.

The testimony of Christ has been destroyed in America, England, and other nations. The present apostasy is a dim forerunner, a shadow of the spiritual state that will exist after the latter-rain revival.

The adamic personality of each of us must "be overcome" until we have been brought into rest in the Father through Christ, until we truly have overcome Satan by the resurrection Life of Jesus. Many of us will live in danger of losing our crown as we grapple with the situations that are testing the essence of our personality. Some will continue to stand in victory in the Lord. Others will lose their crown because they chose to maintain their own way.

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. (Luke 21:36)

Let us keep joy before us. There is coming a resurrection in which all that has been wrought in us will be revealed. Some day the shadows will flee away. The winter will be over. The sounds of spring will be heard. We shall stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion, following Him wherever He goes.

We shall sing a new song of love and praise to the Lord Jesus.

No one can learn that song by hearing it. It must be created in us by the Lord Jesus in the midst of much tribulation.

Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22) (from Overcoming the Saints)