The Testimony!
We are opening up a new website simply titled “The Testimony”! (www.thetestimony.org)
Why, you might ask? After many years now with an internet site – first “The TribulationNetwork" and then, “The Last Days Network”, we have heard from so many people who appreciate the information but they don’t know what to do about it. “The Tribulation Network” has focused on prophecy and the promise to that last generation with a “need to know” as mentioned twice in the last chapter of Daniel. We talk about a wide range of topics – timing issues, religion and politics, and the unfolding of events in the world and Middle East.
There are many excellent ministries taking a fresh look at prophecy. We all have a different focus. Some focus on the growing apostasy, the issue of the rapture, the identification of prophetic Babylon and so forth. We heartily concur with these efforts and, in fact, link with many excellent ministries who emphasize these issues. It is not necessary to agree on everything. The Lord has given different gifts and different insight to His body. We have found a growing community of like-minded brothers and sisters who are willing to take a new and fresh look at Bible prophecy in the light of the times we are in (not as someone who taught a hundred years ago).
One thing we have noticed is that we all spend a lot of time talking about the problem but not much talking about the solution. Seeing all these things that are about to happen, what do we do about it? What is God wanting to accomplish as He is about to wrap things up? Surely, God doesn’t delight in tribulation, for tribulation’s sake! He must have a reason for so clearly laying this all out – not only in the Gospels, parts of the Epistles and the Book of Revelation, but going back to the Old Testament.
Proverbs 29:18 tells us that “without a vision, the people perish.” The church is languishing today because there is no vision. They are into their little “purpose driven lives” but have lost sight of God’s purpose! God is calling His people to their finest hour – as well as God’s finest hour, that time when God has completed His work in His people. Let Satan and the world throw everything they have at God’s people but they will not deny Him—they will stand strong in His strength. Remember the Book of Job? Satan challenged God (as he is today) saying that he had gone to and fro throughout the earth and he couldn’t find a single man that God could point to who would stand with Him. But God said, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Satan responded haughtily that the only reason God can count on Job is because he is rich, healthy and has a great wife and family. Take all that away and he will curse God. Job lost it all but still declared, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth” (Job 19:25). God had a man then and today He has a corporate man.
Let’s get one thing clear at this point. Proponents of the pre-tribulation rapture declare that the tribulation of the last days afflicts everyone but the Church, because we’ve been raptured! There is an underlying feeling that God can’t allow His poor little purpose driven, wealthy little Laodicean Christians to suffer—hogwash on two counts. First, that goes against church history – not to mention what is happening to true Christians across the globe today – in Africa, China or anywhere in the Muslim world. Just see the Voice of the Martyrs website if you think Christians aren’t dying in record numbers for their faith right here and now. Second, few understand the difference between the “tribulation of the saints” and the “judgment of the world”. This is dealt with in detail in Chapters 1 and 2 of the book on this website, “In Search of Babylon.” The judgments of the bowls of the wrath of God occur in Revelation 16 after the rapture (mentioned in Revelation 11:11-12 and 14:16)
The solutions that people have come up with are as follows: (1) The pre-tribulation rapture gets rid of the church before the tribulation even begins. This doctrine basically makes the study of end time’s prophecy a mute point or academic, at best, to “Christians”; (2) A ministry we were once associated with encourages people to leave (flee) America/Babylon to avoid the judgments. This faulty doctrine is as escapist as the pre-trib rapture; (3) Some feel that we should become survivalists—escaping to the wilderness (and don’t forget the guns). Where is the testimony in this? Where are God’s people in this?
The theme of this new website is simply this: God has been working on His peoples – the Jews and Christians for literally thousands of years – that at the end of days, He will have a people that will stand and deliver, stand up and testify, even as Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame by the blood of the lamb, by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death.” This is the testimony of Jesus Christ – a people willing to lay it all on the line for Him.
Tribulation conjures up images of suffering and horror, images of fleeing to the wilderness and stock piling guns, ammunition and supplies. It conjures visions of beasts and monsters, altars and temples, distorted Old and New Testament imagery, not to mention Hollywood’s spin on the “end times” – way too hard to wrap our minds around. At the end of the day, the question always comes back to: So what? What do we do about it? Fight or flee?
Ministries, including our own, get caught up in tangential issues – not to diminish or criticize any of these approaches, but there seems to be something missing from so many of these “prophetic” ministries and that is – what in the world do we do about it? We are long on interpretation but short on action! I’m not accusing anyone-I’m including myself in this as well. Many of us have been disillusioned by our experience with the institutional church, the programs, the pastoral system, the politics of boards and deacons, etc. Some of us have been asked to leave and many have just quit going to a formal meeting. But even those who have sought out home meetings are not altogether satisfied.
We don’t claim to have the answers. We may have some of the questions, but it is our hope that this title to our web site will spur the Body of Christ to seek answers, fellowship and examine these issues. Rather than view the coming trouble with trepidation, perhaps we should begin to ask ourselves the question: What does God want? What does He expect of His people?
Most Christians I know cringe when they even think about going through the worst tribulation the world has ever seen (Matthew 24:21). What about my kids, exclaims the young parent? How will they get through it? I couldn’t bear to see them suffer! No wonder the pre-trib rapture is such a popular doctrine! It’s a great idea, but what if that is all it is? What is Plan B?
Well, some Christians think the answer is to fix the organized church and if you have ever tried, you realize it is hard to fix. So others, say we must flee from the “organized church” – but where do you go – to a home meeting or into complete isolation? Brothers and sisters, it is time we stopped looking at the process and look to the goal!
God Had a Plan!
What was God trying to accomplish from the very beginning? He created man in His own image and after His own likeness. Man was put on the earth to fellowship with God and care for His creation, but the plan was interrupted by the fall of man who became corrupted by the temptation of Satan. Still, we have the promise in the third chapter of Genesis that the “seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.” The rest of the Old Testament is about that family which became a nation out of whom came the Messiah, the Son of God, who came down to earth to pay the price for our sins that fellowship with Him might be restored.
The Old Testament is about that people we know today as the Jews. They weren’t always the best, the most trustworthy people. In fact, God became quite irritated with them from time to time, but just because your kids aren’t always good, doesn’t mean you turn your back on them. The books of the Old Testament are about God’s dealings with His people who represented Him before the nations. He made promises to them they don’t deserve but that He has promised to keep – because He chose them. The entire history of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, revolves around His people including the last days which is dealt with on many levels throughout both testaments.
Then when we gentiles (non-Jews) were yet sinners and enemies of God, Christ died for our sins and we were offered a relationship with Him. Together, Jews and Gentiles in Christ make up the “ONE NEW MAN”.
In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus… (Eph3:4-6)
We are part of the mystery, heirs with Israel, members of one body and share together in the promise and together we make up the church!
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord… to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph 3:10-11, 20)
God’s plan was to make known through the church (a blended family made up of Jews and Gentiles) the manifold wisdom of God… and not just to the peoples of the earth but to the evil rulers and powers in heavenly realms. THIS IS GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE – A CORPORATE MAN MADE UP OF TWO PEOPLES! God wants to express his glory in the church – not the buildings with altars, pews and stain glassed windows, but that flesh and blood corporate entity made up of saved Jews and Gentiles.
We Are Part of That Plan!
The problem with the “western” Christian, especially the Laodicean/American Christian, is our individualism. Surely the apostate institutional church (as a generalization) is a failure and a shame to our Lord, so we leave it or hang with a few other Christians having completely lost the concept of a corporate testimony except in the abstract. Either people defend the organized church as the legitimate expression of Christ on the earth or they recognize a remnant with no practical outlet.
I don’t blame anyone for feeling like they are in a conundrum – some kind of weird maze you can’t escape. I’ve been in it with you for the past thirty years. I’m just saying that there is a tendency today in Christian circles that see the apostasy of the church and the very strong probability that the church will go through the tribulation, to become isolated “forsaking the assembly of ourselves together.” And at the extreme, some hoard guns and butter and pour their energy and resources into building a refuge in the wilderness. Is this what God has called us to – hang alone or take a stand and defend the faith?
I don’t think so. If you consider the panoply of history, wouldn’t the crowning moment be to see God finish what He started so long ago; to witness those great events that lead up to the end of days?
Revelation 19:10 tells us that “the Testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” and Revelation 1:2 talks about the “testimony of Jesus Christ.” The words testimony and witness are used many times in the book of Revelation. Revelation 11 speaks of the two witnesses. What are these witnesses doing? What they have done down through the centuries. The words used as witness and testimony are the same root word as martyr. They are willing to die for their faith. What of the Old Testament heroes of the faith?
And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. (Hebrews 11:32-40)So I hate to break it to you, but even in Old Testament times it says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints.” (Psalm 116:15) As we go down through history, we see all of the apostles but one (John the Beloved) dying violent deaths for their faith; and in church history, the true church is persecuted without mercy – and even to this present day as we see in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, India, etc. Only in the Western world do we find that we are accepted, wealthy and in need of nothing with our purpose driven lives.
In Revelation 7, after the first group of 144,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel is sealed, a great multitude that has gone through the Great Tribulation of the Last Days is viewed by John . . .
“Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)
And in Revelation 14, referring to the second group of 144,000 (the church), it says,
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” (Revelation 14:12-13)
In Revelation 11 we see the beast from the abyss making war against the two witnesses. In chapter 13 we see “it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” Revelation 12:11 tells us how the saints overcome – just as they have down through history: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
I don’t know how much clearer it can be. But the end is glorious. In Revelation 15 we see the blended saints “They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints![b]
Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.” (vs. 3-4)I say blended because you have the Jews singing the “song of Moses” and the saints singing the “song of the Lamb.” Here are the two witnesses of Revelation 11 (the two olive trees and the two lampstands – Israel and the Church) standing as one new man witnessing the judgment of the nations.
And we finally arrive at the end of the story in Revelation 21 where the relationship between God and man is consummated in the marriage supper of the Lamb:
“‘Come, I will show you the Woman, the Lamb’s bride.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God… (Revelation 21:9b-10)
If we look carefully at the passages that follow, we see that the bride is the city and the city is the bride – a blended city, if you will, with twelve gates of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve foundations which bear the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Conclusion
A few days ago, I was fellowshipping with a couple of brothers and one objected to my saying: “God needs us.” He exclaimed, “He doesn’t need us? He can raise up the rocks to praise Him?”
Remember that verse in Ephesians chapter 1 I quoted at the beginning? God makes known His manifold witness to the whole world, to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the church – through a corporate expression of normal every day flesh and blood; sinful but redeemed people. He may be the head, but we are the body and without us (and by us I’ve included Jews and Gentiles – His covenant peoples) God has no expression on the earth other than His creation.
Not only that, but God set this great plan in motion thousands of years ago so that He might not only reestablish His relationship with us (those made in His image), but to bring to an end his archenemy Satan. Remember Job! This is Satan’s last stand and God says “Go ahead. Throw everything you’ve got against my people.” That is what “the testimony of Jesus” is all about. We aren’t here for the tribulation. We don’t glory in being discerning, in suffering or even in being right. Our glory is in Jesus and we are willing to lay it all down for him! We have to get our eyes off of the suffering and on to the glory that is set before us. The testimony is what it is all about and that is why we will have a website that talks about it. We are thankful we are finding many like-minded saints and that we are in fact a network. We trust that we can work together for the preparation of the saints to be the testimony in the days ahead no matter what tribulation is or is not there—for it is the Testimony of Jesus that we bear to a world so needy of the Son of Man and it is His Life that will overcome in and through us!
Dene McGriff, Sacramento, California, February 26, 2007