Question: Please enlighten me on what possible forms Practical Preparation might be. (A second question below inquires about additional clarification).
Answer: If we are correct in our view that the world's economy will be seized by the Antichrist, and that all non-cooperatives will be denied access to the normal means of commerce, and since the scripture is clear that there will be a flight into the wilderness (Ezk 20:35; Mt 24:15-16, 21; Rev 12:6, 14), it seems reasonable to infer that the great population centers will be the most vulnerable, at least at the first. My thinking on this will always be influenced by a providential visit to an Anne Frank exhibit in South Carolina. I took note of the hugely disproportionate ratio between the numbers of those that survived in the countryside as against the much smaller number that survived without leaving the cities and towns.
If we believe that Jews will be the initial focus of Antichrist hatred, part of the church's witness to Israel will be the tangible evidence of its anticipation of these events. It will be a tremendous testimony of the faith when Jews will see that the church (the true remnant) was anticipating their flight and made preparation (Dn 11:33).
Practical preparation is not about mere survival; it will not reduce the appointed number of martyrs (Dn 8:10; Rev 12:4). It is for the sake of the testimony and the witness of prophecy. It will be a sign and encouragement of hope to those who will be crowded through crisis into a wilderness encounter with the church that has been put on notice by the Spirit of prophecy (Prov 22:3; Rev 19:10). But since a remnant must survive in order to be alive until the appointed time of national regeneration (Ps 102:13; Isa 59:20-21; 66:8; Ezk 39:22; Dn 12:1; Zech 12:10-13:1; Ro 11:25-26; 2Thes 2:8), it is appropriate that the church should be an agent in Israel's survival, when to extend mercy will be at the peril of death.
We know that the true church will know the time before the time. This is because the event that marks the beginning of the final persecution is part of a larger series of definitely revealed events that lead up to the unequaled tribulation (Dn 11:23-35; Mt 24:15, 21). At that time, it would be an unbeliever indeed that will not be saying, "This is that!" Until the time is made certain by the events, the church will be at different levels of understanding and urgency. Our sense of the time and the shape of events will influence our approach to practical planning and decisions. Since only the Lord knows the specifics of how circumstances may vary between different regions and localities, only He can lead in the specifics of how different individuals, families, and churches should prepare. It will be a matter of individual and corporate prayer.
But we may be sure that the Spirit's leading will not be apart from due attention to what He has been pleased to reveal in the scripture of truth. So the things that are written will be required. The test will always be the question, "Hath God really said?" All of this is done to expose the real state of our dependency, whether it is the Spirit or something of ourselves. So where the prophetic Word is willingly neglected or ignored, or if our dependency for its true interpretation has been misplaced, this will be the judgment of self sufficiency.
So the particular form that such practical preparation should take must not be too prescribed or defined, but left to each believer's conscience and sense of particular leading. But "Noah being warned of things not seen as yet moved with fear ..." I'm reminded of young king Josiah's response to the reading of the lost book of the law (2Kings 22). He did not need to know the particulars of an eschatological time table to understand that the moral condition of his time and surroundings made it plain that judgment was at the door. True preparation will depend on this kind of moral sensitivity (see Ezk 9:4). Then the Lord will be faithful to show us our station and responsibility, and we will know what to do.
Question: A friend who read your response above made THIS remark: "REALLY? IN SHORT HE COULD HAVE SAID,"I DON'T KNOW," IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN UP LESS SPACE AND BEEN MORE TO THE POINT!!" Could you add some clarification?
Answer: That's right; I am unwilling to intrude into the role of the Holy Spirit, or to prophecy beyond my measure. I refrain from telling people what to do. I don't know what form of response is right for different individuals. I don't know when the final seven years will begin, but we all know that we are in apocalyptic now. I did make my position concerning the general 'range' of time clear in a recent email entitled "How Soon Might We Expect the Time of Jacob's Trouble." That was a substantive statement that without being presumptuously definite, gave what I believe is the farthest limit of the time that we may have, so far as anything that I'm aware can be proven by scripture.
In this more recent email I felt to give a brief review or 'apologetic' for the practical implications of what we know to be certain from the written Word, not my personal "prophetic" presumptions. Such that I have, I do not urge with an authority that would be for now, and for my part, premature. I believe such a time to shout from the rooftops with an unprecedented assurance based on the Word will come. At that time, none will glory in any one servant's gifting, since a sizable remnant will be speaking the same thing.
My point was that if we know with certainty certain things that are coming on the authority of scripture, and if we know that believers will be here at that time, it follows that apart from a special leading of the Spirit to the contrary, the cities will not be the ideal place to be, to say the very least. Believers will be cast on the Lord for an alternative to the present economic system, and I don't think we have to be spiritual rocket scientists to understand that this will mean a return to the Land. The scripture says, "and the earth helped the woman," and those who know me will know that I believe that the words "and they shall feed her there," has reference not to angels, but to believers that have made ready for the coming of the Jews. I further believe, as can be seen from my original paper "A Prophetic Call to Practical Preparation," the church that will not be in some measure of readiness by this time will manifest itself as the apostate church of the great falling away, since by this point, it has boldly dismissed and resisted the testimony of the prophetic scriptures that will be in the mouth of the true church.
Now, Nancy, it is only for your sake that I say this much, because you added the words, "a clearer explanation," which seemed something you are asking for yourself. I don't think I can get "clear" enough for the attitude reflected in your friend's response, but I want to admonish you personally: These are crisis days that will breed many an impressive prophetic voice that will come across as bold, definite, assured, and utterly sincere. Sure, that can be good, but it can also be very deceptive. People like someone else to do their spiritual homework for them. That will no longer work. The last days will be full of prophets of all kinds, and we certainly need true voices, but it will be a time that will require, as no other, the priesthood of every believer (1Jn 2:27). Every other dependency will be shaken, and for good reason.
We don't need someone coming down from the mountain to tell us what to do. We need a body that has been taught of God, so that we will not be moved by the many "lo here, and lo there" voices that will come. In speaking of the deception that will be without equal, Jesus said two things that especially stand out. The first is a directive, and the second an instructive warning bearing on the means of the believer's escape from the unequaled deception. The first: "Let the reader understand" (Mt 24:15). The second: "But take ye heed, behold, I have foretold you all things" (Mk 13:23). That is the Lord's own prescribed antidote to the diversions and the deceptions that will come. If we hold fast to the implications of that instruction, and make ourselves careful students of the sacred trust of the scripture, particularly, in this case, Daniel's prophecy, and if we approach the scripture not in dependency on some one's great gifting, but in trembling dependency on the Holy Spirit to teach us, we will have the better hope of "escaping all these things." The end and design of which is to be more perfectly shaped into Christ's image and not mere survival, of course. We have to hear the Lord for ourselves in order to have His specific leading in the particulars, and that will, of course, vary between different individuals and groups according to location and calling. But that hearing had better be based on our own relationship with God, and not some leader's, and it had better be in keeping with the written Word of God (Isa 8:20).
When I see the gap that exists between the state of our biblical literacy and our excitement over 'prophetic voices', it bodes ill. Therefore, the thing most practical for any practical preparation is "what saith the scripture?" To urge that on people's attention to the best that I've been able to understand is the limit of my ministry. It would be presumption for me to go further. I don't presume to tell people what to do or which city to flee from. I am, however, very clear on when Jesus said to flee Jerusalem, which is almost unknown and unheeded by the church in Israel today. I've also noticed that many that can tell us just when this or that will come have not shown much interest in the priority of Jesus' own admonition to "pay attention to Daniel!" (Mt 24:15). When Daniel speaks of those that "understand among the people that will instruct many, doing great exploits" (11:32-3), He has definite reference to this time in particular. I will always take the extra 'space' to reiterate and to urge our attention to that sequence of events that leads up to that definite point, as nothing will be more practical to the church of the last days for an appropriate anticipation and preparation. Until that time, there will be wars and disasters in diverse places. America may certainly be one of those 'diverse places', so nothing is more practical than to expect the imminent certainty of judgment. A prophet may stand up that knows the time when an event is about to strike, such as Agabus in Acts 11:28, but until the last seven years has started in earnest, it is impossible to know the precise time based on scripture alone.
But I argue that based on scripture, we can know (see my earlier email on the time) that we have entered the season for practical urgency, which at some point will mean (must mean) a return to the land. I can only say that the Word itself confirms what we all sense. We are at that point! And since things of that nature take time, and I don't think it is safe or wise to presume concerning the time, we do well to be involved in practical preparation in view of the shutting off of access to an economy controlled by Antichrist. But none of that will mean a thing if the church only 'survives'.
The question is 'what church will be in the wilderness'? God is jealous for that, and it has all kinds of implications for how we have understood 'church', which introduces the even more critical question of the nature of church / community. That is not my specialty, but God has brought me recently into contact with a brother who has sound and solid light on that, such as I've not heard in the same purity, and I would be happy to send some of his writings for those expressing interest. We all only have a part, and it is our stewardship to contribute that, while fully needing, appreciating, and deferring to others that have clearer insight into other areas. We're only going to make it through together. We don't need 'experts' or 'rulers', only servants and brethren of like precious faith that listen for the Lord in one another, looking only to Him to help us to separate between the worthless and the precious as Christ is formed in us, the only thing that really counts forever.
Reggie
December 2008