Years ago, I dreamed I was walking alone at night through a downtown area in an unknown city in Germany. I was carrying a folder filled with papers that contained the names and addresses of a network of Christians. I knew the authorities were on full alert, seeking to arrest me so they could get this information.
On the other side of the street, I saw some German police officers crossing the street coming towards me. So, I crossed the street at the same time, walking right past them, laughing all the way because they never even saw me. I was right in front of them, but they couldn’t find me. I believe those who go where God tells them to go and do what He tells them to do will be given that kind of supernatural protection to complete their assignments.
The scene changed and I was in a hotel lobby, witnessing to the hotel staff members who were working at the front desk. The moment I left the lobby, police officers entered from all sides. They somehow knew I was there, but they were too late. I was already gone, supernaturally protected again.
Most of us have not experienced that kind of intense persecution in the United States, but things are deteriorating rapidly here with an alarming increase in degrading rhetoric and mistreatment of anyone who dares to stand against the spirit of this world by making statements like these:
- Homosexuality is a sin against God.
- Islam is a dangerous threat to innocent people.
- Marriage is between a man and a woman.
- There is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved than the name of Jesus Christ.
Anyone making these kinds of statements is increasingly being smeared with labels like racist, homophobe, Islamophobe, hatemonger, and even terrorist. It has become rare for anyone with a conservative viewpoint to be allowed to speak on a university campus. They’re considered dangerous extremists because they believe our nation should abide by our Constitution. It’s hard to believe, but it’s happening. Those who claim to practice tolerance are increasingly demonstrating extreme intolerance of any views different from their own. Things have changed dramatically in recent years and the changes are accelerating.
On April 4, 2015, the first day of Passover, God told Dr. Patricia Green, “Five more Passovers to preach the gospel.” She understood He was telling her we only have until April 2020 to openly preach the gospel. If she heard right, and I believe she did, we have less than three years remaining to publicly proclaim the gospel without being arrested. After that, scenes like what I saw in my dream will become more common.
Persecution has always come on those who desire to live a righteous life (2 Timothy 3:12), but Jesus warned the level of persecution will increase before He returns. He said a time of birth pangs would come first, “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name” (Matthew 24:9).
We’re already seeing the beginning of the fulfillment of His prophecy. Everyone who calls themselves a Christian must decide how much they’re willing to endure for their faith because it’s coming. We’re still in training today, but we must make the most of each day because our training days are soon coming to an end. We must know the voice of our Master, so we can follow Him and only Him. Everyone who belongs to Him must be led by His Spirit (Romans 8:14), which means hearing His voice and following Him (John 10:27). The safest place we can be is right where He tells us to be.
However, the changes ahead will require the Church to make other adjustments. Even with God’s supernatural protection, we don’t want to be stupid, leaving doors open for our enemies to attack when we could easily close those doors ourselves. We don’t want to put God to the test. A wise man sees trouble coming and prepares himself for it while a fool takes no action and gets severely punished for it (Proverbs 22:3). By making some simple changes, we can make it harder for our adversaries to stop us from completing our God given assignments.
Christians around the world have already been forced to adjust due to severe persecution. I heard of a church in China that does not tell anyone where or when their next meeting will be. They tell their people to ask God. When they ask, He tells them. It’s the only way they can meet safely. Surely we can expect some adjustments will be required from us too. For example, if it becomes illegal to share the gospel, we’ll have to find creative new ways to share our faith with unbelievers, which presents a problem because most of us don’t know how to operate under cover. Thieves and criminals have perfected those skills through much training and practice, but the righteous are novices at those things. As darkness increases, the children of light can learn from the children of darkness.
We don’t have to wait until Christians are being loaded onto FEMA buses before we start taking some practical steps to make it harder on our enemies to stop us. It sounds hard to believe, but the evidence shows intelligence agencies like the NSA are already listening to our conversations and recording them. Our emails and text messages are being read and stored. We’re even being watched through our device cameras.
If you haven’t already seen the documentary movie “Snowden,” I recommend it for an eye-opening education in how the intelligence agencies are spying on us. Like just about every other movie, there are a couple of scenes containing sexual content, so be prepared to look the other way, but they did a great job telling the true story of how Edward Snowden risked his life to expose the corruption and unconstitutional practices of the United States intelligence agencies. It made me more aware of the real possibility that someone is spying on me. I immediately covered my device cameras with tape, but there’s a lot more we can do. Here is a short list of ideas.
Get Rid of Electronic Devices – Those who can fulfill their calling without using electronic devices, including cell phones, tablets, televisions, and computers, should prayerfully consider getting rid of them. This is not an option for me because it would shut down Z3 News, but it might work for some people. The NSA would no longer be able to spy on you, unless they bug your home.
Phone Calls –There are lots of different ways to make secure phone calls, as listed here:
- Buy a burn phone, which is a prepaid device that can be purchased without showing any ID and without any contract, so they’re much harder to track. Their called burn phones because they’re discarded after using the prepaid minutes. Paying cash for it makes it even harder for anyone to know you have it.
- Buy a different SIM card for your cell phone, which disconnects your regular cell phone service and allows you to make calls from a different phone number.
- Install the free Burner App on your current phone, which comes with a free phone number.
- Block your caller ID when making calls so the person you’re calling cannot see who’s calling them. Simply dial *67 before dialing the 10-digit phone number. Your number will show up as Unknown, Restricted, or Blocked.
Text Messages – Use a private text messaging app, like Signal, which is a free download that allows unlimited free text messaging to anyone anywhere in the world. It uses open source software and it’s completely private. Their server never has access to any of your communication and never stores any of your data. Signal uses your existing phone number and address book without any separate logins, user names, passwords, or PIN’s to manage. It provides an easy way to set up encrypted groups so you can have private conversations with friends and family. Signal can also be used to make phone calls.
Social Media – Stop voluntarily reporting our private details to the deep state through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. It’s a gold mine of information for anyone who wants to exterminate Christians. I closed my personal Facebook account several years ago.
Search Engines – Stop using unencrypted search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo and switch to encrypted search engines like Good Gopher and DuckDuckGo.
Email – Stop using unencrypted email software like Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, and Mac Mail and switch to encrypted email solutions like ProtonMail.
Data Storage – Stop using solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox, replacing them with encrypted solutions like Spider Oak and IDrive.
Author: James Bailey
James Bailey is an author, business owner, husband and father of two children. His vision is to broadcast the good news of Jesus Christ through blog sites and other media outlets.