The Hour of Testing

There is coming to the earth an hour of testing. This is not the same as the Great Tribulation. We can think of tribulation as "chastening." It’s purpose is to refine the work of redemption. We enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation.

Testing, on the other hand, is an opportunity to sin. The Lord Jesus (as will be true of the rest of the sons of God) endured three major temptations, or testing's, not three tribulations. Much of today’s preaching warns of the Great Tribulation. This is the response of the natural man to the danger of pain and trouble. The actual danger is not tribulation; we profit from tribulation and are made holy. The danger is the hour of testing.

Satan has employed a grand strategy. It is to convince Christian leaders that new-covenant grace provides a covering such that God does not see the behaviour of the believers. How they behave is not really critical. The one essential action is to profess faith in Jesus Christ.

Satan’s purpose in this grand strategy is to disarm God’s people so that when the hour of temptation arrives, they will yield to sin, believing that God wants them to be happy and plans on bringing them to Heaven by "grace."

Godly evangelists, pastors, and teachers should have realized that God never would give us a new covenant that made it possible for the Christians to proceed in their ungodly practices, and then be received into the presence of the holy saints and angels. But for some reason, multitudes of the Christian scholars and leaders have been blinded to what their common sense would have told them had they applied it.

I believe the hour of testing, of temptation, has arrived. How many Christian young people and adults are watching pornography on the Internet or their cell phones or their E-mail? There probably are millions by now.

There is no question that pornography is one of the most compelling attractions of this century. It takes strong determination to turn away from it. If we believe that we are saved by grace and faith alone, we probably will be unable to summon will power strong enough to turn away from pornography and other sexual enticements.

The following is a verse that is employed on occasion in a misleading manner: Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

The word "kept" may be translated "guard." The thought is, if we are faithful to patiently guard the commands of Christ, He will guard us from the hour of testing that is to test those who live on the earth.

This does not mean we will not be tested. Christ Himself was tested. It means that we will be kept from the nearly irresistible urge to disobey God that is to come upon the whole earth, and may, in fact, have begun.

How many Christians, including pastors, are being enticed into viewing pornography on the Internet? They know that what they are seeing is the antics of demons working out the lusts of Satan in human flesh. Yet the drawing toward these scenes is almost past their ability to resist.

Satan has been preparing us for this seduction by warping Paul’s teaching of grace to mean our behaviour is not critical because of the sovereignty of the Divine salvation. When we trust we are saved by "faith alone," and faith is defined as our agreement with a "Statement of Faith," and then are presented with the pornographic scenes, we are led away captive by Satan.

The Bible has much to say about the overcoming of the saints in the last days. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, (Daniel 7:21) (The "horn" is Antichrist, the spirit of the world in the last days.)

Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:12) ("It" is Antichrist)

When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed." (Daniel 12:7)

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24:12,13)

Can you see from this verse that the saints will be tested; and if they are to be saved they must stand firm? Doesn’t this remind us of Revelation 3:10? Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

The above verse was written to Christians.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (I Corinthians 10:12,13)

The Greek word for "temptation," (peirasmos), as used in the above verse, is the same word used in Revelation 3:10 for "testing." This is not the Greek word for "tribulation" (thlipsis).

In today’s Greek, peirasmos has the meaning of "to attempt to mislead someone"; "the desire that pushes man to sin." It may be related to "tribulation" in a secondary sense. Our problem in America today is not tribulation, it is the arousing in us of an intense desire to sin.

As I think about it, it probably is true that because of the sin resulting from the Hour of Temptation, wickedness will increase to the point of causing the love of the majority of Christians to grow cold.

The rebellion of the majority of Christians will remove the testimony that restrains the full revelation of Antichrist. The wickedness and the full revelation of Antichrist will cause God to impose on the earth the Great Tribulation. This no doubt is the relationship between the Hour of Temptation and the Great Tribulation.

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction . (II Thessalonians 2:3)

Temptation and testing have the same impact on us. When the problem is temptation, it is coming from Satan. When the problem is testing, it is coming from God. It is Satan who is tempting us but God who is testing us. Sometimes God permits Satan to tempt us, and that is why we are to pray, "Lead us not into temptation."

If you will compare the following three passages, you will see that God is going to permit Antichrist to reach into the heavens and tear down the saints who are not firmly established in Christ. This is taking place today as we see ministers of the Gospel fall into sin.

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." (Hebrews 12:26) It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. (Daniel 8:10)

His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky [heaven] and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. (Revelation 12:4) I know that Satan cannot move us from God with any power of his own. But we of today, if we do not stand fast and resist the increasing temptations of our age, will be deceived and consent to what Satan is offering. Be warned, for this is a real danger to each one of us!

There are two problems with yielding to sin. To begin with, when we die we will be placed with people like ourselves. God does not want any mixtures in the spirit world. "Let the filthy be filthy still." "Make straight the way of the Lord."

After that, in the Day of Resurrection, what we are shall be revealed clearly. The Book of Daniel speaks of those who are raised to "shame and everlasting contempt."

Today’s preaching is leaving the Christians with the idea that God has unconditional love for us, so even if we do yield to temptation, God loves us so much he will bring us to Heaven so we will be happy.

This is not true. What we sow we are going to reap. What we are in personality, we are. Our entrance into the spirit world will not change that; neither will the coming of Christ; neither will the Day of Resurrection.

It appears the greater part of the Christian believers are in great deception. There is going to be anguish and crying when our casual American churchgoers suddenly realize that they have died and those have who come to meet them are self-cantered, spiritually lazy people who are occupying undesirable habitations in the Land of Darkness.

We will be placed with people like ourselves, not with the victorious saints who are enjoying the righteousness, love, peace, and joy of the Land of Light. Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:7,8)

The killing of the witness is accomplished by Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem; that is, by the lust of the flesh, by the love of the world, and by spiritual pride and self-will.

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. (Revelation 13:5-7)

The testimony of Jesus Christ already has been destroyed in the United States of America, by sexual lust, by the love of the world, and by self-love and self-seeking.

Make no mistake. America has asked for Satan, and Satan is being given to her. The pharaohs that have assumed leadership of our land do not know Joseph. The old America ideas and ways are rapidly passing away. Our children are being taught from Kindergarten up that homosexual relations are normal, and possibly preferred. The kindest thing that could be said about this curriculum is, it is wildly insane!

How could our nation deteriorate so quickly as to install a president who supports abortion on demand, a supreme evil that is causing God to withdraw His protective covering from us?

We Christians are so bemused with the late-night comedy television blasphemers we do not realize the America we once knew has been lost.

Now our task is twofold: first, to make sure we are keeping Christ’s commands and not listening to those who are preaching that grace excuses our sinful behaviour. By so doing we will save ourselves and those who hear us. Christ will give us the strength to refuse to consent to Satan’s invitations. Second, we are to pray for believers of every nation and race. It is time for us to look past America and see the Body of Christ. Before the Lord returns, the Body will be one in Christ in God. Then the world will believe that God has sent Jesus Christ.

So do not waste your spiritual energy mourning over the works of Satan in America. They are going to become much worse. Keep your mind on that which is lovely, pure, and honourable. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is not experiencing confusion, poverty, or weakness. He is sitting as King of the flood of the chaos of the world.

He will sit as King of the flood of your life if you will present your body a living sacrifice; deny yourself; and carry your cross patiently after the Master.