This is not the first time I have dreamed of the last days. I believe they are coming (because I believe the Bible), and perhaps we are raising the last generation of Christians. How will we prepare them for the days to come? We must teach them to love Christ above all, to cling to Him when it has become dangerous to their person to do so. We much teach them to walk closely with the Lord. He will be their Guide and their Comfort in times of difficulty and distress. If we would have them stand and not fall, we must pray for them as the Lord Jesus prayed for us. We must train their minds and bodies to endure temptation and hold tenaciously to that which is right. we must teach them to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. The day may come when the Gospel must be given out in secrecy where you are. (But given out, it shall be!) Will they be wise enough to find ways to accomplish the great commission when evil forces make it (almost) impossible?

Fellow missionaries, think not that you shall always be free to serve where you are. Think not that you have much time to accomplish His will for the people you serve. The world's climate continues to change, and being a carrier of the Gospel will not always be so easy or so popular. Watchman! what of the night? What is the state of your people? Are you preparing them for the judgment to come? Or will their blood be upon your hands?

Are your lamps trimmed and ready? The Bridegroom cometh! He does not come at a time that we think He will. We must watch and be ready at any time.

Fear not the persecution of the Church. History has borne out that the suffering of the saints is the seed of the Gospel, and the true Church will live on. Despise the facade of "religion" that only serves to temporarily soothe the conscience and lull people to sleep. But cling to Christ! Be faithful to the end. Read and memorize the Word, and learn Who will be victorious in the end.

"Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad....

Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples....

[Just hours later...]

Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

And he went out, and wept bitterly."

Matthew 26:31,35,74,75

It is easy to say that I would never deny the Lord. But this passage is a sobering reminder that anybody can fall to the temptation, given the right circumstances.

It is getting more and more difficult to be true Christ-followers these days. The laws of the land are changing, and the direction they are taking is not Bible-friendly, to say the least.

Most likely great persecution is on its way to America, though most Christians think America is immune to persecution of the church. Preaching the truth will soon be "hate-speech", and giving out the gospel in public venues will be against city regulations. People have been and will be arrested for attempting to carry out Christ's commission to His disciples to GO and PREACH the Gospel.

In the book of John, chapter 17, is recorded a prayer Jesus prayed on behalf of His disciples, and several times He prayed for their (our) unity in the truth. We need that unity because we are rejected by the world as a whole. "I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

Let true believers be unified by the Truth, that we may stand faithful as times get more difficult! And let us pray for one another.