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                   God Has A Plan to Preserve His People
                   When the World Is Turned Upside Down!

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By David Wilkerson
September 24, 1990
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          The whole world is frightened, perplexed and confused!
          Even the saintliest Christian must be wondering about
          all the fast-moving prophetic events that are rapidly
          unfolding. I know that believers all over the world are
          asking themselves a question that I, too, am wondering:
          Are we in the last decade of human history?

          Remember that "one day is with the Lord as a thousand
          years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8).
          If you interpret this literally, considering each day
          of the Creation as lasting a thousand years, this means
          the year 2000 will bring us close to the end of the
          Sixth Day. The question is, will the Seventh Day be one
          of eternal rest? Are we actually that close to the end?

          I don't know - that is only speculation. But one thing
          is sure: We have seen an acceleration of world events -
          changes that have taken place literally overnight!
          Suddenly, without warning, the Iron Curtain fell!
          Almost overnight, Eastern Europe was free! Seemingly in
          a flash, the Soviet empire - once threatening the
          United States - was brought to the brink of
          disintegration and utter turmoil.

          Until a few weeks ago, the world was talking about
          peace dividends. Now, in another overnight change, the
          armies of the world have turned from a dismantling
          posture to a state of emergency alert. The nations'
          forces are gathering in the Middle East at a cost of $1
          billion a month.

          Could it be that, in the same sudden manner, the
          Antichrist world leader will be revealed? Could it also
          be that God has come to the end of His patience with
          the sins and blood guiltiness of North America, as it
          happened with Sodom and Gomorrah?

          Frightening bankruptcies in our Savings & Loan
          organizations (now a $500 billion black hole), the
          mounting national debt, diseases and nationwide
          plagues- are they all signs that our country is
          entering the corridor of a divine curse as outlined in
          Deuteronomy 28? Read what God does to the nations that
          sin against the light. You can see it happening in
          America right now!

          Are we already in the early stages of the biggest
          depression in our history? The Great Depression of the
          1930s has been regarded as the worst ever. But many
          economists believe we're on the brink of a depression
          that will make our worst look tame by comparison.

          Is God even now beginning to cut off our supply of
          bread? Is He bringing ruin upon us, as He did upon
          Jerusalem and Judah because of their sins? In Isaiah
          3:1-6, you'll find that God does cut off bread - and
          massive unemployment results! When judgment fell in
          Zion, "there was no hire for man, nor any hire for
          beast" (Zachariah 8:10). Will there be massive
          unemployment as God judges America's sins?

          There is a sense of danger in the air - every situation
          seems volatile. There is a feeling that the world is on
          a course from which there is no turning back! There is
          talk of wars, race wars, holy wars. Israel is
          feverishly-preparing for war as never before - gearing
          up for a final conflict! That nation is welcoming
          100,000 Russian Jews, hoping that from them many strong
          soldiers will help double their army.

          Is this the day that Jesus predicted - when men's
          hearts would fail from overwhelming fear as they behold
          the frightening things happening on the earth? Could it
          be we really are the generation that will behold the
          coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have we come to such a
          point in human history that it can now be said, "This
          generation shall not pass away till all these things
          come to pass?" Will it indeed happen in our time?

          Beloved, we have arrived! We have now come to that
          place in human history which all the prophets warned
          about - the awesome Day of the Lord! We are-about to
          witness the unfolding of great, fearful sufferings and
          tribulations!

          In all probability we may have a short respite from the
          present world crisis. Yet such a breathing spell only
          leads to greater hardness of heart! While Pharaoh held
          Israel in slavery in Egypt, he was desperate to see
          Egypt delivered from the plague of frogs sent by the
          Lord. "But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he
          hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the
          Lord had said" (Exodus 8:15).

          A false peace may be granted for a short season. But
          even with some recess - even if some kind of peaceful
          settlement is made - don't think there will be a return
          to repentance.

          No! Mankind will go into the greatest drunken,
          drug-crazed orbit ever! People will remove all
          restraints. It will be a time of sexual abandon and
          materialism, a Belshazzar's feast. Everything will go
          wild! But rest assured that, as the prophets declare,
          the world is going to be turned upside down. The very
          foundations of the earth will be shaken and everything
          will come to ruin.

          "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it
          waste, and turneth it upside down. ...The land shall be
          utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled, for the Lord bath
          spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away...
          .The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants
          thereof; because they have transgressed the laws,
          changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
          Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they
          that dwell therein are desolate" (Isaiah 24:1-14).

          "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean
          dissolved....The earth shall reel to and fro like a
          drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage...and it
          shall fall and not rise again" (verses 19-20).

          Hear the words of God's prophet Isaiah! The earth is
          not headed for rejuvenation. It is headed for total
          ruin!

          If Isaiah could deliver one message to this generation,
          it would be the one found in verses 17-18: "Fear, and
          the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of
          the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who
          fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the
          pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit
          shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on
          high are open, and the foundations of the earth do
          shake."

          Isaiah was not spiritualizing any of this. He meant,
          literally, that laughter will cease. Confusion will
          reign. Houses will be shut up: "All joy is darkened,
          and the mirth of the land is gone...and the foundations
          of the earth do shake" (Isaiah 24:11,18).

          It was reported recently that the University of
          Southern California has stored large amounts of food,
          water and other emergency supplies underground in
          preparation for the great earthquake that's expected to
          come soon. They believe a literal shaking is at hand!

          So, what will happen to the true followers of Jesus in
          such times? If the world is going to grow steadily
          worse until Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled - if we are
          to go through some or all of these calamities - then
          how will God take care of us?

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           God Has Clearly Warned Us in Detail About the Troubles
                                  Ahead -
           Will He Not Also Reveal to Us How He Plans to Protect
                                    Us?

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          The answer is, YES! God has a definite plan! It's most
          simple, yet it is as sure and absolute as the universe
          itself! God's plan to preserve His people can be summed
          up in one sentence:

          God is going to preserve His people by the power of His
          predetermined Word!

          We are going to be preserved by the spoken word of God
          - a word of deliverance that was pronounced from the
          foundation of the world! It is something God determined
          before the world was!

          Just a few weeks ago the U.S. military was caught off
          guard by Iraq's takeover of Kuwait, and overnight an
          emergency plan had to be developed. The Pentagon
          scrambled to draw up contingency plans in the event of
          more surprises. The War Room is now in a day-to-day,
          hour-by-hour emergency!

          Beloved, our God is never caught off guard! Nothing
          surprises Him! He does not need to call an emergency
          meeting with heavenly hosts to come up with a last-days
          strategy of protection. He has no "Operation
          Preservation." God spoke a plan into existence long
          before there were nations, armies, wars, depressions,
          plagues and violence.

          God foresaw it all, and He spoke into existence a word
          of preservation that is as eternal and unshakable as
          His own character! Paul says that God "hath determined
          the times before appointed" (Acts 17:26). Hour by hour,
          day by day, God is going to preserve us in the same way
          He now preserves the sun, the moon, the stars, the
          galaxies and the very forces of nature - - by His
          predetermined, spoken word. It is the same word that
          governs light, darkness, the tides, the seasons, the
          air we breathe!

          God's predetermined word was spoken: "Let there be
          light: and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). From that
          moment on, and throughout time and eternity, there was
          and is and always will be light!

          God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the
          heaven. ..two great lights; the greater light to rule
          the day, and the lesser light to rule the night"
          (Genesis 1:14,16).

          Suddenly, by the power of His predetermined word, a
          ball of intense fire appeared in the firmament. It was
          so majestic that only an eternal, all-knowing God could
          create it! And just as suddenly, there appeared in the
          firmament a smaller planet, orbiting the earth and
          reflecting the light of the sun - this was the moon.

          The sun, the moon, the billions of stars, the
          multitudinous galaxies all stay in their prescribed
          orbits, obeying the spoken word of our Lord. His
          once-spoken word holds everything in place!

          God doesn't have to repeat a single word, nor does He
          have to keep reminding the planets to stay in their
          orbits. He does not have to keep telling the seasons to
          change or warning the tides they mustn't overflow the
          land. He spoke the word once - and it was, and always
          shall be, until He speaks again and creates a new
          heaven and a new earth!

          Job said that by His word God "commandeth the sun, and
          it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars" (Job 9:7).
          Peter said, "By the word of God the heavens were of
          old, and the earth...but the heavens and the earth,
          which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
          reserved unto fire against the day of judgment" (2
          Peter 3:5,7).

          "Through faith we understand that the worlds were
          framed by the word of God, so that things which are
          seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews
          11:3). He simply spoke the word and out of nothing He
          created everything!

          Jesus Christ upholds all things by the power of His
          word! "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the
          express image of his person, and upholding all things
          by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3). "And he is
          before all things, and by him all things consist"
          (Colossians 1:17).

          Jesus spoke a sustaining word to all created things!
          When He came to earth as a man for 33 years, all
          created things were sustained by the eternal word He
          spoke only once at the beginning. Only at His command
          did these forces change and obey a new order. When
          Jesus' disciples saw Him calm the sea, they said, "What
          manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea
          obey him!" (Matthew 8:27).

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           As Surely as He Created All Things by the Power Of His
                                   Word,
             the Lord Has Spoken Into Being an Eternal Word of
               Preservation and Keeping Of All His Children!

                --------------------------------------------

          In the beginning God has promised to preserve all who
          trust in Him. He spoke this eternal word to Abraham: "I
          am thy shield!" (Genesis 15:1).

          That word was for all eternity! And God extends it to
          all of Abraham's seed - all who are of the faith. He
          will be our shield all through eternity! God spoke a
          word in the beginning and every generation has proven -
          through thick and thin, through everything Satan could
          throw at them - that God is our shield!

          For years I have wondered what is the full meaning of
          the Lord's words: "Man doth not live by bread only, but
          by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
          Lord doth man live" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Now I know!

          Moses spoke these word to the - Israelites as he
          reminded them of God's faithfulness. The meaning is
          this: "God allowed you to experience hunger - He
          humbled you by bringing you to a place where all human
          ingenuity was in vain. If God had not taken care of you
          supernaturally, you would have died!

          "The issue was not food, but rather trust in God! God,
          who spoke the world into being, had a word of
          preservation for you. All His words were yours by
          faith!"

          When Israel was in the desert God did a new thing for
          them. He spoke the words, "Let there be manna - let
          them wonder what it is!" He created something new!
          Israel could have called together their princes and
          leaders to plan and strategize how God might feed and
          care for them. But none would have ever conceived that
          God would cover the ground with small, white, round
          seeds - a new kind of food that mankind had never seen
          or tasted before. It was angels' food!

          Do you want to know how God is going to preserve you in
          all your hard times? By speaking a new word, if
          necessary! By creating all you need by the power of His
          word? All God had to do was speak the word "manna" -
          and an entire generation of Israelites was preserved!

          Jesus used this same word when Satan tempted Him to
          turn stone into bread in order to ease His hunger
          pangs: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
          word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew
          4:4).

          Jesus knew He was the seed of Abraham! He knew that
          God's eternal word of preservation was spoken to Him:
          "I am thy shield [protector]" (Genesis 15:1). Jesus
          could face a situation that was hopeless by man's
          standards, and rest in God's word: "I am your
          Protector!"

          As He faced hunger and thirst in the wilderness His
          heart was at rest, for He knew the Father had spoken
          the word that He was safe! His mission had been spoken
          from the foundation of the world, and no weapon formed
          against that mission could prosper! He trusted in His
          Father to preserve Him in God's own way - by the power
          of His word!

          At the end of 40 days Jesus, too, was eating angels'
          food. He had meat that no man knew anything about, as
          well as water from glory! "Behold, angels came and
          ministered unto him" (Matthew 4:11).

          Today many Christians are trying to figure out how God
          is going to take care of His people when the ruin comes
          in full force. Some plan to head to the outback of
          Australia, others for the mountains of Colorado or
          Montana.

          Some talk of survival farms and Christian communities.
          I even tried that myself! I purchased a 250-acre farm
          and built lakes on it, stocking them with fish. We
          bought 50 head of Black Angus cattle and were ready to
          ride out the Tribulation, depression or whatever else
          came!

          But that wasn't God's plan! The cows got Bang's disease
          and had to be sold. The hay we grew cost less to buy
          than to produce. We ended up nearly giving away
          "Shangri-la" for 10 cents on the dollar - to a ministry
          whose purpose is not survival but evangelism!

          Jesus warns us to "take no thought, saying, What shall
          we eat? Or, what shall we drink?" (Matthew 6:31). Our
          heavenly Father knows what we need, and He has spoken
          this eternal word: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God,
          and His righteousness; and all these things shall be
          added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). All you need! His
          predetermined word about us was settled in heaven long
          before any of us were born! God, the Creator, spoke a
          word of finality: "In every generation I will protect,
          keep, feed, preserve, all those who seek Me first!" And
          that word is as firm as the word that keeps the planets
          in place!

          I believe God's greatest desire for His people in these
          troubled times is to bestow on us an unshakable
          conviction that He is going to keep us from the power
          of the wicked one. God is desperately trying to fill us
          with consolation and peace. He has sworn that His word
          is enduring and for us:

          "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the
          heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
          confirmed it by an oath [meaning, God is deeply
          interested in showing us the permanent character of His
          word]: that by two immutable things, in which it was
          impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
          consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
          the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor
          of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
          entereth into that within the veil" (Hebrews 6:17-19).

          Is your soul anchored in hope? Do you enjoy the strong
          consolation based on knowing that God cannot lie and
          that His word has gone forth to preserve you in evil
          times?

          Take time to read and digest all of Psalm 91, and you
          will find the eternal word of God delivered once and
          for all. It is given by a God who cannot lie - and
          though it was spoken to David, it holds true for every
          generation since then and especially for us.

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               Finally, We Have an Even Stronger, Better Hope
                 Than Job, David or Any Other Old Testament
                   Believer: We Are the Body Of Christ!

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          We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh! "For we
          are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his
          bones" (Ephesians 5:30).

          We are His household. God's Word says, "If any provide
          not for his own, and specially for those of his own
          house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an
          infidel" (1 Timothy 5:8).

          You see, to even entertain the thought that the Head of
          our house will not provide for us is to accuse Him of
          denying Himself and to call Him an infidel! "For no man
          ever yet hated his own flesh: But nourisheth it and
          cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church" (Ephesians
          5:29). It is impossible for Christ to neglect His own
          body!

          God would have to hate His own flesh to neglect you or
          me in a time of trouble! Oh, but it is written: "He
          cherishes, He nourishes [feeds and cares for] His
          beloved!"

          Don't try to figure out how He will do this for you!
          You can't figure it out anymore than you could have
          guessed how He would open the Red Sea, or how He would
          keep the Hebrew children alive in a furnace that was so
          hot it killed their tormentors outside the entrance...

          Or how He would shut the mouths of hungry lions all
          night long as Daniel stood among them, untouched! Or
          how God would bring water out of a rock. Or how one
          angel would wipe out an army of 185,000 men in one
          night! Or how a raven could feed a prophet in the
          wilderness. Or how a barrel of meal and a bottle of
          cooking oil never bottomed out for months on end. Or
          how Jesus would pay for His disciples' taxes by getting
          money out of the mouth of a fish. Or how He could feed
          5,000 people with just a few loaves and fishes. Or how
          He could turn water into wine!

          We could never figure any of it out! He has the words
          of eternity!

          And God is going to sustain us all throughout eternity!
          In glory we will have no other means of support but the
          Son of God. We're going to be sustained by His very
          presence. The word that will keep us for all time is
          the very same word that is sustaining us even now - and
          will continue to sustain us no matter how desolate or
          ruined this old world becomes!

          There is a doctrinal fuss that has been going on in the
          church for years: Will true believers go through the
          Great Tribulation? Will we who love Jesus live to see
          all these awful sights? Some say Jesus will come and
          take away His bride before the suffering. Some say He
          will come after three-and-a-half years of tribulation.
          Still others say we will go through it all. Some say
          only Jews will go through the Great Tribulation.

          Let me put your mind at ease! This Scripture passage
          ought to assure us no matter which doctrine is right:
          "After this I beheld ... a great multitude, which no
          man could number.. .and one of the elders answered,
          saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in
          white robes? and whence came they?.. .and he said to
          me, These are they which came out of great tribulation"
          (Revelation 7:9, 13-14).

          These believers came out! A great multitude! And that
          is the point: They went in - but they came out! Not
          only did they survive the great sufferings, but they
          came out shouting with a very special testimony! They
          were saying, "Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
          and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be
          unto our God for ever and ever" (Revelation 7:12).

          These people did not just "survive" - they sang of Who
          had brought them out! God had proved Himself to them in
          every way! They had learned to "serve Him night and
          day."

          Beloved, God is not interested in simply preserving us
          physically with food, water and shelter. That is no
          great victory. These overcomers triumphed in the worst
          of times because the whole word of God came alive to
          them!

          They had His strong arm and His glory and wisdom to the
          end. Every word out of His mouth became real. They were
          praising Him with great thanksgiving!

          Imagine - no despair, no cowering and no surrender to
          satanic threats! These overcomers came out washed,
          dressed in white and victorious! (verse 14).

          Brothers and sisters, be encouraged. His Word says that
          no matter what we go through - we're coming out!

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