THE HOUR OF TEMPTATION
By Steve Van Nattan

Revelation 3:7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Do you believe the following promise?  Texe Marrs doesn't. 

10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

This text is Christ speaking to the Church Age just before the Laodicean church era starts, in which we now live.  The Philadelphian era officially ended about 1900 when the Charismanic frenzy arose, when the world church arose in a missionary conference in Edinburgh, and when rationalism and textual criticism produced the Westcott and Hort Greek text.  These things worked together to produce a feely feely existential Christendom which is now driving forward with all manner of pagan forms in music, preaching, and personal living.  Union of all churches and religions of the world is at hand right now.  

But, there are those who have continued to carry forward the spirit of Philadelphia.  Many organizations imagine they are included in this group, but they are deluded.  Philadelphians today are NOT organized.  Virtually NO mission board nor denomination exists today which is truly Philadelphian, as Christ described it above.  Philadelphians are often alone, meeting in house churches, ignored by the world, and viciously attacked by organized Christendom.

Now, there is a teaching that the Philadelphian church will go through the Great Tribulation.  This is pure rot and doctrine of devils.  The above text makes it clear that the Philadelphians will be "kept from" the hour of temptation.  Various hirelings who want to terrorize the Lord's people will play with this in one way or other, but it is clear-- True believers do not go through any part of the Tribulation.  That is a time of wrath, as we see in the four horsemen later in the Revelation.  Also, in I Thessalonians 5:9 we are told that we are not appointed unto wrath.  So, we will now move on to discuss the reason why God will not send the true Church through the Great Tribulation.

The reason is this:  The Great Tribulation would be God pouring wrath on the wrong people. It is 100% out of character for God to send wrath on the faithful.  The context of the above text shows that Philadelphians are NOT corrupt of wicked.  They don't need further purging, in the model of the Whore's Purgatory doctrine.  This idea is based in works salvation, and God is ready RIGHT NOW to take the Church into His presence.  The work of Jesus on the Cross is finished, and ALL saints are now ready to go, and they always were.

What is the thing about the Tribulation which would be too much for the Philadelphians to bear?  Killing Christians has been endured and mastered in God's power to produce victory.  That is not it.  I believe that the good life would destroy the Lord's Church.  This is the present temptation.  As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, said Jesus.  Eating and drinking, giving and taking in marriage, buying and selling, fullness of bread and unthankful, said the prophet.  This is just about to destroy the faithfulness of all saints NOW.  What would it be like when Satan produces world peace and great prosperity?

Some of you folks need to understand that you are not in peril of the New World Order and Freemasons.  You are in peril of the good life and leisure.  Life is getting better and better all over the world.  Nations which were starving in the 1950s are exporting grain today.  China is driven by raging capitalism, contrary to what Rush Lumbego tells you.  So, what will be the test of the Great Tribulation?

Temptation!  That is what Jesus said, and that is what He meant.  Other Bible perversions will say "testing" or other nasty sounding words.  Let me tell you what you would have to endure if you were to even enter the first three and one half years of the Tribulation.  This half of the era will not be marked by God's wrath.  It will be the "shortened" aspect of the seven years, and it will be a time of no salt, for the Holy Ghost will be gone and not "letting" anymore.

So, based on what men now WANT to do, here is the "Temptation" era in a nutshell.  All men will have all they need.  They will have to submit to the higher powers, but this will result in better health care and a much safer world.  Not submitting will result not in direct attack by the wicked-- It will result in being ignored and allowed to starve.

The streets will be safe, yet most people will go naked all the time.  The lust now barely restrained will run amuck, and sexual perversion will be a civil right and will be permitted openly.  Children will be taught acts of perversion in all homes and schools with full encouragement of parents.  If God left the true saints in the earth during this era, they would be destroyed, either by being overpowered by temptation and falling, or they would go mad and end up in the nut house.

Cannibalism will be restored to the whole world.  Jews in particular will be butchered and served as food, and general cannibalism will prevail.  True saints, if they were in the world, would be in terror of eating anything from the markets, and they would have to scrounge the hills for bits of protein.  This is the "wrath" God promised not to send on His saints in I Thess. 5:9.

All employment will be corrupted by the lie and stealing, as the end of Revelation 9 indicates.  Murder will become a respected occupation, and killing will be done in the Whore church, in Satanic ritual, and in the world church as acts of love for the gods.  Every evil practice of the jungle will prevail at the altars of the world church.  There would be no church for the saints.  They would not even meet in secret.  They would be so destroyed in mind, body, and spirit that they would hole up and wait.  Past days of persecution offered escapes and alternatives.  During the coming "hour of temptation" there will be nothing on earth, no place on earth, where one can escape "temptation."  It will be an around the clock experience.  I believe that even the dream life of the tempted will be filled with devils and lust.

Peace will be official, and violence will be the reality of it.  A small taste can be seen in the present lust by the UN and Bill Clinton to kill millions of people in order to convince them to be at peace with one another.  War will be perpetual.  And, all young men worldwide will be required to join in the warfare.  The UN or world military will be a place of rampant sodomy and total corruption.  Islamic mad men will have command over thousands and Buddhist mystics will rule men's lives.  There will be no "conscientious objectors."

You see, the "Hour of Temptation" is God's way of serving man with judgment and trouble.  This era of human history is designed to weary man of his own ways so that all men, who are not dead at the end of that era, will gladly welcome Messiah Jesus Christ to earth to rule.  Can you not see how unlike our loving Father it would be to destroy the ones He saved from wrath with such "temptation"?

Oh, one more point of very great importance.  Philadelphians "kept" God's Word.  They did not mutilate it and pervert it with all sorts of novel versions.  Praise God for those who KEEP the King James Bible.

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