RE-THINKING OUR MISSION:
HOW SHALL WE ORGANIZE TO RESIST?

INTRODUCTION

RADICAL times demand RADICAL answers, and we cannot pursue these answers while still tethered to ordinary "middle-class" lives and conventional "middle-class" ways of doing things. [Please see our article, "Transitioning from Moderation to Radicalism;" please also see our article, "Capitalism and Christianity."]

If we are truly living in the "end of the age" - if we really believe that - then it's about time that our lives reflect that fact; it's about time that we begin taking seriously verses like Luke 18:22 where Jesus urged the "rich man" to -

"... SELL ALL THAT THOU HAST ... and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, FOLLOW ME." (Luke 18:22)

And Mark 8:34-37 where Jesus told His disciples -

"... Whosoever will come after me, LET HIM DENY HIMSELF, and take up his cross, and FOLLOW ME.

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but WHOSOEVER SHALL LOSE HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE AND THE GOSPEL'S, THE SAME SHALL SAVE IT.

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

"Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:34-37)

The sad fact of the matter is, verses like the above have become nothing more than empty words and meaningless phrases to most Christians - and maybe that's the reason why they feel so empty and sense that their lives have been drained of meaning!

We don't want that to happen to us in Antipas Life is too short! The Bible says:

"Thou carriest them (i.e., our lives) away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

"In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth." (Ps. 90:5-6)

We in Antipas earnestly desire that our lives count for something; we want to be a part of what the Lord is doing in these "Last Days." We believe that He has set a great work before us, and we want to "position ourselves" to be able to fully participate in this work. For this and numerous other reasons, WE HAVE DECIDED TO MOVE MUCH OF OUR MINISTRY (far more of it than just the internet portion) FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CANADA; specifically, to a large ranch we have found in British Colombia. Not all of us will be going, but a lot of us will. THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO EXPLAIN TO YOU WHY WE HAVE EMBARKED UPON THIS COURSE OF ACTION. [Please see our article, "A Plan Of Action For Antipas Ministries.".]

WE STAND AT THE EDGE OF AN ABYSS

Brothers and sisters, the fact is, we stand today at the edge of a vast, menacing abyss where prophecy transforms itself from a dream into reality and where the ethereal takes on physicality - and very few Christians seem able to cross this divide.

When prophecy is a dream - when it is nothing more than a mental image, a kind of fantasy or "furtive meditation" - it's sort of fun; it's like a secret GAME we can play on a cold night in the safety and comfort of our own living rooms with good friends, good food, a warm cup of chocolate, and a crackling fire in the fireplace - the kind of GAME that Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" series of books casually and vacuously promotes. It lifts us out of the "ordinary" and elevates us into a whimsical world where we are no longer nameless cogs in a giant, uncaring socio-economic machine that doesn't give a whit for us, but are instead heroes and heroines ("Knight-Templars") of our Lord and Savior immersed in great feats of "daring-do." And the wonder (indeed, the pleasure) of it all is that this GAME doesn't cost us much to play. Maybe a little, but not much. No real sacrifices are demanded of us; we don't have to "pay to play;" no relationships are threatened beyond those we don't care that much about anyway; no jobs are put at risk.

But when prophecy transmutes itself into reality, when it is no longer played as a game, when actual relationships are threatened, when money is really put at risk, when jobs are actually lost, and when lives are in fact jeopardized, then prophecy becomes something else altogether, and not too many people want to be a part of that.

But THAT'S WHERE WE ARE TODAY! - at the edge of that vast abyss; the place where Christians are confronted with the reality of verses like Matthew 10:37 ("He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me"). This is where - under the impress of verses like this - that prophecy reconstructs itself into fact and takes on substance; where it becomes reality and ceases to be a game. Leaving sons and daughters, and fathers and mothers; selling all that we have; and taking up our cross and following Him not just in word, but in deed - that's too much to bear. It's here - it's PRECISELY here - that most Christians hesitate and draw back in fear; they're just not prepared to cross over. It's too frightening; too risky; too many friends and loved ones who will have to be left behind; but Jesus said that those who think so are UNWORTHY of Him. That's what Matthew 10:37 says. Pretty heavy! - but if that offends you, your argument is with God, not with me.

PROPHECY TO MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH ANTIPAS
IS NO MORE THAN AN "ON-LINE" COMPUTER GAME

Now make no mistake about it, all these people are GOOD people - and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Nonetheless, most are playing the "prophecy game" at our expense - and that's the problem! While they would never admit it, prophecy is a GAME to them; it's not real, and - as a result - no real sacrifices (financial or otherwise) are needed. In the case of Antipas, it's a kind of "on-line" computer game like "Final Fantasy" that one can play with hundreds and hundreds - indeed, thousands and thousands - of other "on-line" players, and there is no risk to it. After all, it's just a game. And it's FREE. Antipas does all the work; it has all the expenses. All everyone else has to do is "log on" and play. [Please see our article, "Coaxing Christians Out Of Their Hiding Places."]

Now please! Don't misunderstand me! My purpose is not to offend here! I am only "generalizing!" This is not true of everyone! - by no means! If the "shoe doesn't fit, then don't wear it." But most of you know what I am talking about! And if what I am saying just happens to be true insofar as you are concerned, and if it does in fact offend you, better that you should be offended at me now, then you should be offended at me later at the Judgment Seat of Christ (cf. Rom. 14:10 and 2 Cor. 5:10) because I refused to communicate to you the "whole counsel of God" (cf. Acts 20:27) and you missed out as a result. In that case, God would be offended at me! The Bible says:

"Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

"If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

"Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

"He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

"But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. (Ezek. 33:2-6)

A VERY DARK AND TERRIBLE PLACE

Think about that! - not one "house-church" has resulted from all of our travels! I don't believe that this would have been the case in any other nation on earth. What is it about the United States that makes it so unreceptive to the Word of God? - and I mean the real Word of God, not the words of IDIOTS like C. Peter Wagner, John Kelley, D. James Kennedy, etc. [Please see our article on "house-churches," "The Church-Life; A New Way to Go On;" please also see our articles, "The Organized Church and the End of Days" and "Working Within the Establishment Church or Outside of It: What Should We Do?"]

I am beginning to believe that it has a lot to do with the fact that - more than most of us can possibly fathom (at least those of us who live in the United States) - America is a very, very DARK place - and that darkness has had an extremely profound effect on all of us.

A dark place? The United States? Yes! - what else can be said of a nation that the Scriptures say is "... DREADFUL and TERRIBLE; that DEVOURS and BRAKES IN PIECES (Daniel 7:7); and one that Isaiah describes as an "OVERFLOWING SCOURGE" (Is. 28:18) - a "BEAST-NATION" (Dan. 7:7); a nation so evil that when God's judgment finally falls on her -

"The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine" (Isa. 13:19; see also Luke 21:25-27). [We URGE you, if you have any lingering doubts as to the identification of the United States as Babylon the Great, to please read our article, "In Search of Babylon; What Does the Bible Say?" please also see Chapter XIV of the Antipas Papers, "The Beast Of Revelation 17" - Section I "In Search Of Babylon."]

And make no mistake about how total and complete God's judgment will be:

"Her cities will become a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land WHEREIN NO MAN DWELLETH, neither doeth any son of man pass thereby." (Jer. 51:43).

And -

"...they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith the Lord." (Jer. 51:26)

Only two other places have ever been so utterly and totally destroyed by God: SODOM and GOMORRAH:

"Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven ..." (Gen. 19:24)

And even here, the constellations were not darkened, and the sun and moon continued to give their light! Not so when Babylon the Great is destroyed.

WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT THE UNITED STATES?

WHAT DOES THAT SAY, THEN, ABOUT THE UNITED STATES? Plainly and very, very obviously it says that it is a far, far worse place than even those two cities were (i.e., Sodom and Gomorrah)!!

AND IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN HOW DARK A PLACE IT IS THAT WE ARE LIVING IN. [Please see our article, "Inside the American New World Order System;" please also see our recent article, "Now Is The Time To Do Something; It May Be Too Late Tomorrow."]

All this gives us some reason to understand why Christians in this country - even those associated with Antipas - seem so unable to respond to the Prophetic Scriptures on any kind of a practical and meaningful level. One cannot dwell in such a place without being deeply affected by it. That's what happened to Lot and his family in Sodom (cf. Gen. 18:20 - 19:26), and that's what has happened to us in Babylon (i.e., the United States). The Bible says:

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Gal. 5:9)

By that, the Bible means that evil is contagious, and when people dwell in the midst of evil, they will be affected by it! - and one of the first things that is affected is their ability to see their own condition, so that their -

"... heart is waxed gross, and their ears become dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; LEST AT ANY TIME THEY SHOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND SHOULD UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART ... AND I SHOULD HEAL THEM." (Matt. 13:15)

This is PRECISELY what happened to the church in Laodicea, about whom the Lord said,

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ..." (Rev. 3:15-17)

Laodicea was a rich city, and the people of that city had been corrupted by their wealth - and this corruption extended even into the church, rendering the saints there blind to their real condition; that they were in the eyes of the Lord "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ..." even though they thought of themselves as being "rich" and having "need of nothing."

OUR FAILURE TO ACT REVEALS OUR
REAL CONDITION BEFORE THE LORD

Isn't this the case with the American church today? Of course it is! But, again, I am not just talking about "average" Christians here, I am also talking about us - those of us who are associated with Antipas! - maybe even YOU!

Listen to me here, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, IT MAY BE TRUE THAT YOU HAVE AN INKLING OF THE CHURCH'S CONDITION IN THE UNITED STATES, UNLIKE MANY OF YOUR CONTEMPORARIES IN THE "ESTABLISHED CHURCH." IT MAY ALSO BE TRUE THAT YOU RECOGNIZE THE UNITED STATES FOR WHAT IT REALLY IS: BABYLON THE GREAT! BUT MANY OF YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE IT TO THE EXTENT THAT YOU ARE WILLING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, AT LEAST ON ANY KIND OF A PRACTICAL BASIS! And if that's the case, then you are affected! You are DEEPLY affected!

Your failure to react meaningfully to the conditions that surround you, your neglect to do anything significant with regard to the Prophetic Scriptures other than just talk, betrays your blindness. The fact of the matter is, if you were not so affected, if you really saw the danger you were in, you would do something about it!

No one who sees that he is about to be engulfed in flames stays where he is to be burned alive; and no one who sees that he is about to be hit by a truck doesn't try to get out of the way. If one continues standing in the way of the truck, people can only conclude that he doesn't see the truck, or that he has some kind of a death wish.

So, when Christians - and, once more, even those who associate themselves with Antipas - fail to react to the Prophetic Scriptures in any kind of meaningful way (like leaving the "established church," beginning house-churches in their homes, contributing to the ministry, etc.), then one is forced to conclude that they don't really appreciate the danger they are in; that they don't really believe what they say they believe.

And - again, while they would never admit it - what they are saying is that prophecy is nothing more than a game to them that they play when they have time for it; that is, when obligations to family and friends, to mastercards and visas, to mortgage payments and car payments, etc. don't impinge on their "game time."

WE ARE IN REAL DANGER; WE ARE
ABOUT READY TO BE HIT BY A TRUCK

But we are not engaged in games here; and the fact is, WE REALLY ARE ABOUT READY TO BE HIT BY A TRUCK! - and it's not just the Scriptures that are crying out to us to do something, but it's the impress of history and the by-now irresistible course of current events. We are indeed in a pitiful condition of things when we cannot see all this. We are like the people of Capernaum about whom the Lord said:

"And thou, Capernaum, who think you are exalted unto heaven, you shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

"But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee." (Matt. 11:23-24)

The unbelievers (mostly the Left) see the danger they're in; they've taken note of what's happening; and unlike us, they're doing something about it. They're making plans to get out of the country while there's still time to do so.

History has taught the Left to "discern the signs of the times" and react before it's too late; before they're rounded up and shot. They've come to learn through bitter experience what the elites do to those who oppose them: the examples of Jacabo Arbenz in Guatemala, Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, Raul Goulert in Brazil, Salvador Allende in Chile, etc. have been burned into their brains. For instance, Ted Rall, an unbeliever and a Leftist, writes -

"People who have spoken out against Bush are (actually) talking exit strategy (now) - (about) ... fleeing the U.S. in order to save their skins. 'Do you or your spouse have a European-born parent?' is a query making the rounds. (If you do, you can obtain dual nationality and a European Union passport that would allow you to work in any EU member nation.)

"Those whose lineage is 100 percent American are hoping that nations like Canada and France will admit American political refugees in the event of a Bushite clampdown."

THOSE WHO FORGET THE
PAST ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT

Leave the country? Yes! - that's pretty heavy! Pretty radical! But maybe it's time for some radicalism - especially in light of what General Tommy Franks, the leader of the U.S. invasion of Iraq last April, has said: specifically that if another "9/11 event" should occur, military law should be declared and all opponents of the so-called "War on Terror" rounded up and jailed; and then there's the recent mutterings by Attorney General John Ashcroft (supposedly a born-again evangelical and a "lay pastor" in the Assemblies of God) that the websites of all those who "sow fear" in the minds of Americans (i.e., tell Americans the truth about what's really happening) should be shut down - which, I suppose, would include Antipas.

The fact is, the longer we stay the more inured we become to the danger that surrounds us so that we are no longer capable of accurately assessing our situation; so that we habitually underestimate the peril we're in. That's what happened to the Jews in Germany. Looking back on what happened to them, one cannot help but ask himself, Why didn't the Jews get out? Why couldn't they see the danger they were in. But, obviously, they didn't - and this despite the fact that Hitler had made no secret about what he was going to do to them if he ever gained power. For example, Heinz Kellerman, a Jew writing shortly AFTER the advent of Hitler to power in Germany, wrote the extraordinarily naive words:

"The time has now come which requires a renewal of the synthesis of Germandom and Jewry; holding on to one’s German identity and acquiring a Jewish one."

A synthesis of Germandom and Jewry under Hitler? What UTTER nonsense! What UTTER stupidity! But Kellerman wasn't alone in his breathtaking naiveté. There were many others! Take another example: Joseph Lehman, Rabbi of Berlin, who blindly wrote in the Spring of 1933 (five months after Hitler became chancellor):

"FLEEING GERMANY IS COWARDLY, just because five months of pain lie behind us and probably years of misjudgment, hate, and need lie ahead of us. Practically speaking, we as Jews reaffirm a life in Germany and for Germany."

Fleeing Germany is cowardly? What was Lehman thinking? The man was an idiot! Looking back at it from the perspective of seventy years, fleeing Germany was the only reasonable thing left for the Jews to do! But they didn't want to do it because at the time it seemed too radical. The truth is, however, RADICAL TIMES AND RADICAL SITUATIONS DEMAND RADICAL ANSWERS! - so also with us.

Hans Joachim Schoeps, a young German Jewish intellectual who organized the Deutsche Vortrupp, also wrote in the same period:

"Germany is more than merely a community of blood and race. It is also a community of fate and history. Through the acknowledgment of fate and history, we are consciously German."

In his memoirs written after the war, Schoeps describes his NIGHTMARISH remorse for not having advised those millions and millions of Jews who were later murdered to FLEE RIGHT AWAY, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!

What seemed to Schoeps to be a radical answer to the danger that Hitler and the Nazis posed to the Jews BEFORE the war now seemed to be mild after the war. But it was too late then!

MORE EXAMPLES

And it wasn't just the Jews who underestimated the danger they were in. All of Hitler's opponents were likewise inured to the danger they faced. For example, Julius Leber, a socialist and a Reichstag deputy, said shortly after Hitler's ascension to power:

"WE DON'T FEAR THESE MEN (i.e., the Nazis). We are determined to take up the struggle (against them)."

But maybe LEBER SHOULD HAVE FEARED THEM: a few days after making this moronic statement he was taken into custody and was never heard of again. It seems rather stupid now; so short-sighted of these men not to recognize the danger they faced. How could people be so foolish? Nonetheless, such was the case. The fact is, most of Hitler's opponents were affected by an illusory optimism that the Hitler regime couldn't last. Sounds like liberals today when they talk about the Bush regime.

Take another example: Karl Barth; Barth, who was Germany's greatest Christian theologian, wrote airily to his mother on February 1, 1933:

"I don't think that this (i.e., Hitler's ascension to power) will signify the start of great new things in any direction at all."

The naiveté of men like Barth and Leber (to say nothing of Jews like Kellerman, Lehman and Schoeps) regarding the peril they were in is breathtaking, especially in light of how fast that danger displayed itself after Hitler seized power. One has to ask, Are we making the same mistake? Have we become so jaded to the conditions that surround us that the menacing words of people like General Tommy Franks and Attorney General John Ashcroft no longer have an affect on us?

THE SPEED OF GERMANY'S TRANSFORMATION
FROM DEMOCRACY TO DICTATORSHIP

Historian Ian Kershaw writes that the speed of Germany's transformation from a democracy to a dictatorship was astounding, and so much so that it soon became all but impossible for those who had opposed Hitler (and who had waited too long to get out) to flee. People misjudged how fast it would all go, just as most people today are underestimating the speed with which a similar process in the United States could take place once the procedure takes hold. And one should remember here that when Hitler at last took power in Germany, more than one half of the German population still opposed him - which should silence all those who think that Bush and his cronies still have too many opponents to replicate what Hitler did in 1933.

The swiftness of Germany's mutation from a democracy to a dictatorship after January 30, 1933 (the day Hitler finally became chancellor) was brought about by a combination of pseudo-legal measures, terror, manipulation, and even willing cooperation: within a month, civil liberties - as protected under the German Constitution - had been extinguished. Within three months, the trade unions, a hotbed of opposition to Hitler, had been dissolved. In less than six months, all opposition parties had been suppressed or gone into voluntary liquidation, leaving the Nazis as the only remaining party.

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY

Then the "round-up" of Hitler's opponents began, a "round-up" that was carried out with massive brutality. Communists were at first the main targets, but Social Democrats, trade unionists, and left-wing intellectuals such as Carl Ossietzky were also among those dragged into improvised prisons, often in the cellars of SA or SS local headquarters and savagely beaten, tortured, and in some cases murdered. By April (two months after Hitler took power), the number of persons taken into "protective custody" (sounds like a term straight out of the USA Patriot Act) approached 100,000.

Think about that! - 100,000 IN TWO MONTHS! That's the equivalent of almost 500,000 individuals in this country if a similar "round-up" of "enemies of the state" (which, in Ashcroft's twisted lexicon, means anyone who opposes Bush's American New World Order System) were to take place here. And given today's new technology, the figure would probably be much higher than that.

HOW LONG WOULD YOU LAST BEFORE THEY CAME FOR YOU?

How long do you think you would last before they came for you? - that is, provided you didn't just shut up and fade into the woodwork as the result of the pressure you and your family were under. People, of course, like to think that they would act differently; that they would wax heroic under the pressure. But the thing is, if you find it so difficult now to do anything meaningful insofar as the Prophetic Scriptures are concerned (like start a house-church in your home, etc.) what makes you think you will act any differently when the pressure is really put on you?

You won't! Most likely, what you will do is exactly what a lot of Hitler's opponents did - retreat into a sullen silence, or worse, cave into the pressure and become part of the "movement."

The pressure of the moment and the withering force of unrelenting propaganda has a way of wearing people down. That's what happened to Luise Solmitz, a Hamburg schoolteacher and an early opponent of the Hitler regime. Six months after Hitler took power in Germany she had dropped her earlier left-wing leanings and was talking as if she had been a follower of Hitler all along; she wrote her mother:

"They (meaning the left-wing opponents of Hitler) wanted to send armed gangs into the villages to murder and start fires. Meanwhile, the terror was to take over the large cities, stripped of their police. Poison, boiling water, all tools from the most refined to the most primitive, were to be used as weapons. It sounds like a robbers' tale - but it is true."

By June, the number in "protective custody" - most of them poor working-class members of various socialist organization - had doubled. A good number of those arrested were the victims of denunciations by neighbors or co-workers. So great was the wave of denunciations following the Malicious Practices Act of 21 March 1933 that even the police criticized what was happening.

GERMANY: IS THAT WHERE WE'RE HEADED?

Is this where we're headed in the new "Surveillance Society" we've created in the wake of 9/11? - a society where neighbors are encouraged to spy on neighbors, and where all facets of our private lives are monitored and recorded by surveillance gadgets of every kind. It's not hard to imagine how in the near future we might see scenarios like the following:

* You're walking through an unfamiliar city and happen onto a bookstore that carries various "leftist magazines" and anti-globalist signs, bumper stickers and other such paraphernalia. Without the knowledge of the store's owner, a device has been surreptitiously placed in the store's window casement by the FBI which detects a signal being emitted by a computer chip in the driver's license of anyone who stands outside the window for any length of time.

You are now tagged as a Leftist and an enemy of George Bush's American New World Order System. You are entered into a data base, and this information comes up in a routine security check that is required of you for a promotion. You are denied the promotion; not only that, you are laid off a few weeks later. You are never told the real reason why you were denied the promotion, or why you were laid off. All you know is that you are now unemployed, your house is in foreclosure and your car has been repossessed.

* You open your home up as a house-church. One of those who have decided to meet with you is John, a former member of a large "super-church" in the area affiliated with C. Peter Wagner's "International Coalition of Apostles" (ACM). John has spoken out on numerous occasions against the "goings on" in that church; in addition (and unbeknownst to you), he is also known by the police to have attended numerous anti-WTO demonstrations and meetings throughout the country, and has been photographed by the police carrying a sign, "The Religious Right and the Business Right: An Alliance Made in Hell."

One of your neighbors, Karl - who faithfully attends the "super-church" that John had once attended, and who, unlike John, is a slavish devotee of George Bush's American New World Order System - spots John going in and out of your home on the weekends. He maliciously reports your meetings (and John's attendance at them) as "suspicious" to the local police (after all, any meeting larger than four or five people in a private home is now "suspicious" in the "new order of things"). The police in turn report your meetings (and John's attendance at them) to the local office of Homeland Security; they do a data search on John and come up with his picture holding the sign.

You are now tagged as being an opponent of Bush's American New World Order System, and you and your family (and probably everyone else attending your "house-church") are entered into the data base as "enemies of the state" - and all because one of your neighbors whom John offended in his criticism of the local "super-church" spotted John at your house. You can now expect a knock on your door late at night sometime in the future, maybe after the next "manufactured" 9/11 event. [Please see our articles, "The Events of September 11, 2001: What's Going On," and "Conspiracy Theories."]

PROTECTIVE CUSTODY

Both of these scenarios are now possible as a result of the USA Patriot Act, and if these scenarios "hit on you," you are a prime candidate for "protective custody," the same kind of "protective custody" that the Hitler regime practiced in Germany in the 1930s; there, people placed into "protective custody" ultimately found their way to the Dacau concentration camp.

Dacau was the first concentration camp in Germany. It was established a few weeks after Hitler's ascension to power in a former powder mill about twelve miles from Munich. There was no secret about the camp's existence - just like there is no secret today about America's first concentration camp in Guantanamo Bay, or the fact that the government is making plans to extend such camps to the "mainland." Dacau's existence was even announced at a press conference. It began with 250 prisoners, but was rapidly expanded to hold thousands and thousands of additional prisoners - all "political detainees" (so-called "enemies of the state").

Dacau was meant to serve as a deterrent to political opposition against Hitler, and it did so. Its dreaded name soon became a byword for the largely unspoken horrors awaiting anyone who dared to defy the Nazis: "Keep quiet or you'll end up in Dacau" was soon to become a part of the common lexicon throughout Germany - and that's precisely what's happening today in the United States with regard to Guantanamo Bay. It too is becoming a byword against opposition to the American New World Order System.

NEW GUIDELINES ON DOMESTIC SPYING

Nobody wants to end up in Dacau, or the American equivalent, Guantanamo Bay, which is now a very real possibility in view of the fact that in May of 2002, Attorney General Ashcroft issued new guidelines on domestic spying that significantly increases the freedom of "federal agents" to conduct surveillance on American individuals and organizations.

Under the new guidelines, government agents can infiltrate "any event that is open to the public," from public meetings and demonstrations to political conventions and church services - even those held in private homes. Obviously, the term "open to the public" has been stretched to include almost anything when it encompasses church or political meetings in private homes.

TAKING US "BACK TO THE FUTURE"

These new guidelines "take us back to the future" - i.e., to the government abuses of the 1950s and 1960s, abuses that included such things as surveillance of ALL political groups that disagreed with the government, anonymous letters sent to the spouses of those who opposed the government to try to ruin their marriages, and the infamous campaign against Martin Luther King, who was investigated and harassed for decades. And make no mistake about it, the new guidelines are purely for spying on Americans; there is a separate set of guidelines to cover investigations inside the U.S. of foreign powers and terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda.

The guidelines that Ashcroft just promulgated are directed SOLELY at U.S. citizens; I suppose that all this is being done - at least insofar as Ashcroft is concerned - for "Christ and the church." I guess that makes it okay; that's what a lot of Christians think. [Please see our material on the machinations of the government against Martin Luther King in our recent article, "Now Is The Time To Do Something; It May Be Too Late Tomorrow."]

Ashcroft's guidelines sow suspicion among citizens and extend the government's surveillance power into the smallest capillaries of American life. In this regard it's important to take note of the fact that it's NOT just the reality of government surveillance that chills free expression, but the thought that we MIGHT be the object of such surveillance that chills, a notion that is easily generated when we are constantly forced to wonder whether the person sitting next to us at a social gathering - or even a church meeting - is secretly informing the government on us."

PEOPLE CAVE IN AND RUSH TO JOIN THE NAZI PARTY

Dividing citizen from citizen by encouraging mutual suspicion - that's what the new Ashcroft guidelines are all about - guidelines that have dramatically extended government surveillance into every nook and cranny of American society. Such a strategy was central to the Hitler regime. No wonder, then, that by August of 1934 all of Germany's remaining organizations, institutions, and representative bodies, clubs, and professional groups had RUSHED to align themselves with the new regime. How quickly people "come around" when confronted with the brutality of a police state - ALL THEIR EARLIER PROTESTATIONS TO THE CONTRARY THAT THEY WOULD NEVER SUCCUMB TO SUCH PRESSURE NOTWITHSTANDING.

The fact is, most people do succumb - even the "best" people. And this was happening all over Germany - not only in large cities and at the elite level, but in countless small towns and villages: the fact is, people were intimidated, and wherever possible, those who could "turned coat" and rushed to join the Nazi Party. Business and professional associations, sports clubs, choral societies, shooting clubs, patriotic associations and most other forms of organized activity hastened to place themselves under Nazi control in the first months of the Third Reich.

THE SHAME OF IT ALL

Take, for example, what happened to Theodor Leipart, the chairman of the trade union confederation, the ADGB; Leipart had tried to "blow with the prevailing wind," distancing the unions from the socialists (SPD) and the communists (KPD), and offering a declaration of loyalty to the new regime. By then, there had been frequent incidents in which union functionaries had been beaten up by squads of SA men, and union offices ransacked. Leipart agreed to work with the new regime and took part in a huge union rally in support of Hitler at Templehof airport in Berlin on May Day in 1933.

The following day, however, the "razzmatazz" over, Leipart was arrested and thrown into Dacau. Leipart had sold himself down the drain, but to what effect? - he was still murdered. And I am afraid that such will be the case with countless numbers of Christians, even former Antipas people, when the functionaries of Bush's American New World Order System and their lackeys in the apostate church come for them.

Much the same applied also to the broad cultural sphere. Goebbels took up with great energy and enthusiasm his task of ensuring that the press, radio, film productions, theater, music, the visual arts, literature, and all other forms of cultural activity were "in line" with the new government.

It was no different among the intellectual leaders in universities. For example, Germany's most eminent philosopher, Martin Heidegger, and its best-known constitutional lawyer, Carl Schmitt, placed themselves behind the regime.

And so it went all over Germany as people betrayed their convictions and rushed to position themselves in line with the "new reality." All of them made deals to preserve themselves; some - like Heidegger and Schmitt - got away with it, but in doing so, they cloaked themselves with eternal shame; that too, I am afraid, is going to happen to innumerable Christians throughout the country. GOD WILL REMEMBER; these things do not escape His attention!

WE ARE NOW BUT A
HAIR'S BREADTH AWAY

Brothers and sisters, listen to me here! We are nothing more than a hair's breadth away from the same kind of descent into hell that Germany took in the 1930s.

The very real fact of the matter is, there are forces "in play" in the United States that all but guarantee that soon - very soon now - the United States will transform itself into a dictatorship in almost the exact same manner that Germany was mutated into one seventy years ago; and if you don't see what's happening, it's because you have PURPOSEFULLY chosen NOT to see.

The philosopher, George Santyana, has said, "Those who do not learn from the past are bound to repeat it." And it's true. [Please see our article, "The Birth of a Christian Police State," "Ashcroft: Making a List of Dissenters," and "John Ashcroft, Theodore Olson and the New National Security State."]

THE IRRESISTIBLE LOGIC
OF DICTATORSHIP

The fact is, as we indicated in previous articles, there is an IRRESISTIBLE logic and historicity that is connected to the coming dictatorship; and that is: THE AMERICAN ELITES CAN NO LONGER CONTINUE TO RULE BY RESORT TO REAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS. Their economic policies have become so onerous and oppressive not only in America's client-states, but in America as well, their greed so repulsive, their covetousness so disgusting, and their depravity so nauseous that no one in their right mind would willingly support them any longer. [Please see our articles, "Greed, Avarice, and the Coming Dictatorship;" "The Versailles Phenomenon" and "The American Empire: the Corporate / Pentagon / CIA / Missionary Archipelago."]

Only evangelicals -- who probably are no longer in their right mind anyway as a result of the noxious poison they have been purposefully fed over the years by their leadership, a leadership that has "whored" the church out to the economic elites, and wickedly purveys a belief system that HALLOWS THE HUMAN QUEST FOR PROSPERITY AND SANCTIFIES GREED AS A MORAL IMPERATIVE -- are likely to stick by Bush and his elite cohorts. [Please see our article, "A Woman Riding a Beast Going Forth Conquering and to Conquer," and "The Cedars: The House on 24th Street."]

The dialectic of dictatorship (if I can be permitted to use that phrase) has by now become inexorable - and while for a time the institutions of democracy might be preserved with great effort, they will be so "hollowed out" that they will no longer count for anything. The fact is, the United States has created a vast empire of client states that is ruled over by toady-like indigenous elites in the employ of U.S. multinational corporations whose interests are so predatory and grasping that the indigenous elites that serve the interests of these American multinationals can be maintained in power only at the point of a gun - an AMERICAN GUN.

American troops are now deployed in one hundred and twenty countries all over the world trying to hold this empire, which is inherently unstable, together - AND THERE IS NO WAY FOR THE U.S. TO PULL BACK. This isn't like Vietnam where we were able to pull our troops out and live to fight another day. Back in the 1960s and early '70s when we extricated ourselves from that quagmire, the process of globalization had barely started. Only a tiny fraction of our corporations were heavily invested outside the country, and no one would have known what you were talking about had you mentioned the phrase "multinational corporation." Outside of Coca Cola, there was no such a thing.

That's not true anymore. American corporations are hugely invested in the Third World now. Indeed, many of these corporations are more heavily invested in the Third World chasing cheap labor and cheap raw materials than they are in the United States. As a result, AMERICAN TROOPS MUST STAY IN THE THIRD WORLD IF ONLY TO STAND GUARD OVER THESE INVESTMENTS, AND - NOT ONLY THAT - THEY WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO BE GREATLY AUGMENTED IN NUMBER IN THE COMING YEARS, NO MATTER WHAT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC THINKS, AND NO MATTER HOW COSTLY IN DEATHS AND MUTILATIONS TO THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF "MIDDLE AMERICA" WHO MUST DO MOST OF THE FIGHTING AND DYING. It's either that, or all these corporations (together with the American elite) face bankruptcy and ruin.

This is serious stuff - so serious that its outcome cannot be entrusted to the capricious whims of the American public and what the elites consider the "maudlin," "mushy," "teary-eyed" concerns of average Americans for the lives of their sons and daughters. THERE'S TOO MUCH MONEY INVOLVED HERE. The elites remember what happened in Vietnam when the American public - in the face of growing causality rates - demanded that the U.S. get its troops out, and took to the streets to demonstrate their anger. The elites won't let that happen again, even if it means hollowing out our democratic institutions and imposing a dictatorship on the American people. [Again, please see our article, "Greed, Avarice and the Coming Dictatorship."]

WHEN WILL IT ALL HAPPEN? - THE ELECTION OF 2004

And when will all this happen? - well, it's hard to be precise in such matters, but if I had to guess, it will probably occur shortly after the election of 2004 when all the constraints that are presently holding Bush, Ashcroft and their cohorts in check will be lifted (after all, they will no longer have to worry about re-election), and they will be free to transform our nation once and for all from a democracy into a dictatorship - constraints that have helped to reign in forces that aim to strip us of our civil rights; plunge our nation into a state of perpetual, unending war against "Terrorism" (which is anything the state defines it as); draft our children - sons and daughters alike - into "national service" in support of the rapacious appetite of George Bush's American New World Order System; create a vast gulag of prison camps and detention centers where "enemies of the state" will be "disappeared" never to be heard of again; where close surveillance of our personal lives will become a tedious, everyday affair; where people will be afraid to talk openly to their friends and loved ones; where home meetings of any kind will be closely monitored; and, finally, WHERE THE CHURCH WILL BE MELDED INTO THE STATE AND MADE TO SERVE ITS INTERESTS. [Please see our article, "Creating a Common Partnership Between the Moneyed Elites and the Religious Right;" please also see the article by John Stanton, "Bush's Operation Clean Sweep: World War IV." Stanton and his partner Wayne Madsen, are leftist-oriented researchers who write for the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) at www.globalresearch.ca in Canada; while we do not agree with everything they have to say, it certainly is worth taking a look at.]

WE MUST CONTINUE ON WITH THE WORK

One year! All we have is one year before the state - and the church that serves that state - begins actually trying to shut us down here in the United States. What kind of a strategy, then, can we devise that would enable us to stand against what's happening? We've been giving this question a lot of thought and prayer here at Antipas, after all, we can't keep quiet! We can't stand idly by while the church of D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, C. Peter Wagner, etc. posture as the "Church of Jesus Christ" while partnering with George Bush's American New World Order System to rape and pillage the world in the interests of the American elites.

Think about that! - oppressing and impoverishing the peoples and nations of the earth IN CHRIST'S NAME. I can think of nothing so disgusting and nauseous as this: linking the name of the POOR Carpenter of Nazareth to the "bottom line" of corporations like Cargil, ADL, IBM, AT&T, General Electric, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, etc., and in so doing making Christ appear as a participant in the crimes of these corporations and the New World Order System that defends their greed and avarice. WHAT KIND OF A CHURCH IS THIS? - A CHURCH THAT IS SO TWISTED AND GNARLED IN ITS THINKING THAT IT EVIDENTLY THINKS THAT IT'S OKAY TO SEIZE THE WORLD FOR "CHRIST AND THE CHURCH" BY "BOMBING THE HELL OUT OF IT." [Please see our article, "A Woman Riding a Beast Going Forth Conquering and to Conquer."]

"I AM FIGHTING FOR THE WORK OF THE LORD"

Does this seem right to you? It sure seems right to George Bush, John Ashcroft and their lackeys in the evangelical church - and the sad fact of the matter is, the more Bush and his cronies say that they are waging war for the sake of "Christ and the church," the more they sound like Hitler who - in his first radio address to the German people after coming to power - announced:

"The national government ... will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. IT WILL OFFER STRONG PROTECTION TO CHRISTIANITY."

And who - two weeks later, in a speech in Stuttgart on February 16, 1933 - asserted:

"TODAY CHRISTIANS ... STAND AT THE HEAD OF GERMANY ... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity ... We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past ... (few) years."

And, finally, who said that in exterminating the Jews -

"I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator ... I AM FIGHTING FOR THE WORK OF THE LORD."

All this talk about Hitler and Christianity sounds incredible today! - but it is no more incredible than what Bush and his cronies in the evangelical church are doing, and it rings just as hollow in Bush's mouth as it did seventy years ago in the mouth of Adolf Hitler. What a farce! What an extraordinary sham! - but Christians in this country are falling for it by the droves. I wonder how many Christians would have known that the above quotes were from Hitler? And more than that, I cannot help but wonder - had I affixed George Bush's name to those quotes - how many Christians would have known the difference? Yet a little investigation - just a little - would have made it all clear. Trouble is, most Christians don't want to take the time. [Please see our articles, "The Third World as a Model for the New World Order" and "Inside the American New World Order System."]

COME ON NOW! AGAIN I ASK, HOW CAN WE STAND IDLY BY AND LET CHRIST'S NAME BE LINKED TO THIS KIND OF AVARICE AND GREED WITHOUT A PROTEST? GOD'S NAME IS AT STAKE HERE! HIS HOLINESS IS IN QUESTION! God help us if we fail to speak out. Again, I remind you of Ezek. 33:2-6:

"Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

"If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

"Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

"He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

"But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; BUT HIS BLOOD WILL I REQUIRE AT THE WATCHMAN'S HAND. (Ezek. 33:2-6)

THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

We must speak out! The fact is, we have been commissioned by God to do so! And this commission has a name: it's called the "GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM."

Now, it's important to note in this connection that we are not talking here about the "Gospel of Salvation:" i.e., that "... Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ..." (I Tim. 1:15) This is something different: the "Gospel of the Kingdom!"

And why has this Gospel been made necessary: because Satan has befouled the "established church" to such an extent that he has rendered the church's TESTIMONY ineffectual insofar as the poor and destitute of the world are concerned, making it in their eyes a rich, white man's religion having nothing to do with them; a religious system that is irrevocably tied to their hated oppressor, the American New World Order System. The truth is, whether American Christians today want to believe it or not, unbelievers can no longer see the Savior because of the church. Never before - NOT EVEN IN LUTHER'S DAY - has the church been as polluted as it is now - and so much so that the Bible depicts it as a WHORE that has sold herself out to the world (i.e., the elites) for money. [Please see our article, "The Rich Have Seized Control of the Church."]

A WHORE! - that's what the Bible calls her:

"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great WHORE that sitteth upon many waters:

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication ..." (Rev. 17:1, 4)

WE ARE TOLD TO COME OUT OF HER

We are called upon to disassociate ourselves from this WHORE. This is why the Bible says:

"COME OUT OF HER, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)

Don't think - even for a minute - that the poor of the earth can see Jesus while standing in the shadow of this WHORE. They can't. We are to "come out of her," and by doing so make Christ visible to the destitute and bereft of this world - and we are to do it NOW, not sometime in the future at a time better suited to our needs, as some suppose and advocate. God's plans do not exist for our convenience.

"GOOD NEWS" FOR THE POOR

The word "gospel" means "GOOD NEWS" - and the "good news" here is for the poor and oppressed of the earth: that God is soon going to "make things right" insofar as they are concerned. The "Gospel of the Kingdom" JUXTAPOSES the poor of the world over and against the rich, and places God on the side of the poor. This is "BAD NEWS" for the rich:

"Go to now, ye rich men (and be clear here; it's not just unbelievers that the Bible is talking about here, but believers as well), WEEP AND HOWL FOR YOUR MISERIES THAT SHALL COME UPON YOU.

"Your riches are CORRUPTED, and your garments are MOTHEATEN.

"Your gold and silver is CANKERED; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE TOGETHER FOR THE LAST DAYS.

"Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you KEPT BACK BY FRAUD, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth (people you have worked to death in your sweatshops in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, China, etc.).

"Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

"Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. (James 5:1-6)

Jesus wasn't kidding around here when He said,

"Verily I say unto you, That A RICH MAN SHALL HARDLY ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matt. 19:23-24) [And that's the eye of a SEWING needle, not the door in some imaginary gate in the city of Jerusalem as some very ignorant and stupid evangelical leaders purvey to their followers; and in doing so, storing up God's wrath against themselves on THAT day.]

Contrary to what countless numbers of today's Christian leaders wickedly purvey to their followers, the NEW TESTAMENT has very little good to say about money, and Jesus has NO interest in making His followers rich; indeed, just the opposite! He advises His followers to -

"Lay NOT up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal ..." (Matt. 6:19-20)

And Paul the Apostle says:

"For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

"And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

"But THEY THAT WILL BE RICH FALL INTO A TEMPTATION AND A SNARE, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and PERDITION." (1 Tim. 6:7-9)

ONE OF THE GREAT HALLMARKS OF CHRIST'S MINISTRY

The very real fact of the matter is, one of the great hallmarks of Christ's ministry was that it was directed toward the poor; JESUS IDENTIFIED HIMSELF WITH THE POOR AND OPPRESSED of the earth. Indeed, when the disciples of John (the Baptist) came to Christ and asked Him whether He was the Messiah or not -

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see:

"The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, AND THE POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM." (Matt. 11:4-5)

And again Jesus said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because HE HATH ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR (To whom? - the poor, not the rich); he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, TO SET AT LIBERTY THEM THAT ARE BRUISED ..." (Luke 4:18)

THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM MUST BE
PREACHED TO THE WHOLE WORLD

The "Gospel of the Kingdom" is the "GOOD NEWS OF LIBERATION" for the poor and destitute of the world - that Jesus is coming again to free the poor from the oppression of the rich; and when He comes -

"Every valley shall be filled (the poor shall be lifted up), and every mountain and hill shall be brought low (the rich shall be brought down); and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth (those who have been hurt by the rich shall be made whole);

"And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." (Luke 3:5-6)

THIS IS GOOD NEWS INDEED! - and we have been commissioned to preach it to the WHOLE world, and then - and only then - will the end come:

"And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matt. 24:14)

And when is it that we should begin preaching this GOOD NEWS? - NOW! Right NOW! - and by doing so JUXTAPOSING the "Kingdom of God" against the "Kingdom of this World" that D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, C. Peter Wagner, Ted Haggert, Cindy Jacobs, etc. are wickedly purveying to their followers. [Please see Chapter V ("Understanding the Book of Revelation") and Chapter VII (The First Half of the Seventieth Week; The Beginning of Sorrows") of the Antipas Papers.]

Obviously, then, our deadliest opponent insofar as the "Good News of the Kingdom" is concerned will be the Religious Right, and in recognizing this fact, we must also recognize the fact that it is here in the United States that the power of the Religious Right is centered.

THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT IS STRICTLY
AN AMERICAN PHENOMENON

The fact is, there is NO such thing as a "Religious Right" anywhere else. The truth is, Christianity is passé elsewhere in the West; it is out of fashion both socially and intellectually. It's only in the United States that Christianity enjoys any real prestige and POWER - and it is precisely this alliance between Christianity (so-called) and politics in this country that puts real Christians here in such deadly peril.

In connection with this, we must recognize the fact that while the rule of "Babylon the Great" (i.e., George Bush's American New World Order System) will eventually reach into every crook and crevice of the world, America itself is way ahead of the curve on this phenomenon right now, and it is only going to get worse - much worse - after the 2004 election. This is what makes the situation so deadly for Christians in the United States (and not so deadly in other Western nations, including Canada).

In a very real way, our situation parallels the situation that Christ faced when He was on earth 2,000 years ago. It wasn't so much Roman power that put Christ to death - the Romans probably didn't even know who He was; it was the RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT of His time that put Him to death by delivering Him up to the Romans and demanding that they (i.e., the Romans) crucify Him. And why was that? - because it was against this power (i.e., RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT that Jesus RAGED when He said,

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

"Ye BLIND GUIDES, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within THEY ARE FULL OF EXTORTION AND EXCESS.

"Thou BLIND PHARISEE, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! for YE ARE LIKE UNTO WHITED SEPULCHERS (graves), which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within FULL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES, AND OF ALL UNCLEANNESS.

"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within YE ARE FULL OF HYPOCRISY AND INIQUITY.

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish (decorate) the sepulchers (tombs) of the righteous,

"And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that YE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THEM WHICH KILLED THE PROPHETS.

"Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

"YE SERPENTS, YE GENERATION OF VIPERS, HOW CAN YE ESCAPE THE DAMNATION OF HELL?" (Matt. 23:23-33)

IF THEY HAVE CALLED THE MASTER
OF THE HOUSE BEELZEBUB

Pretty heavy! - and you thought we were harsh insofar as our religious leaders are concerned? Not half as harsh as Jesus was! - that was enough for the RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT of Christ's day to hand Him over to the Romans. So also with us today. Jesus said:

"... ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

"But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

"The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

"It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. IF THEY HAVE CALLED THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE (i.e., Christ) BEELZEBUB, HOW MUCH MORE SHALL THEY CALL THEM OF HIS (i.e., Christ's) HOUSEHOLD?" (Matt. 10:22-25)

Yes, you had better understand something here! - America's RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT hates us and others like us.

But there's no such religious power in Western Europe [in this connection it should be noted that today's papacy is nothing more than a vacuous, empty shell (at least insofar as its power extends to the continent of Europe), contrary to what many rather insipid, half-witted evangelicals think]; there's no such religious power in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.

Only in the United States is such power extant (real) - and they are the ones who will demand that Antipas and others like us be rounded up and jailed.

THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ELITES
DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO WE ARE

The economic and political elites could care less what happens to us; the only ones who care are people like D. James Kennedy, Tim LaHaye, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggert, C. Peter Wagner, etc. - and that's because we are "rattling their cage" and exposing them for the FRAUDS they really are. And BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU THAT THEY KNOW WHO ANTIPAS IS! THEY KNOW!

No doubt Christians in this country (again, so-called) hope to EXPORT this "Christo-political" alliance to the rest of the world, AND THEY WILL DO SO IN TIME - AT THE POINT OF A SWORD AND THROUGH THE BARREL OF A GUN. That's how the American elites are hiding their greed - behind a facade of "Christian-speak." But that hasn't happened yet, and it may take some time before it does. Until then, these countries are safe!

ÉMIGRÉS FOR CHRIST

In this connection, it is useful to compare what happened to Germany and Europe as a whole in the 1930s to what's happening today in the United States and the rest of the world. Nazism began in Germany in 1933, and while it eventually spread to the rest of Europe through a combination of subterfuge and naked conquest, it had its beginnings in Germany. The terror and brutality, the concentration camps, the regimentation of society, the censorship, etc. all began first in Germany, and to a large degree remained CONFINED there until September, 1939. Indeed, until it broke out of Germany in that year, it had very little effect even on the countries immediately bordering Germany, like Holland and Denmark. By the time fascism spread to Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, etc., the German people had already suffered through seven years of concentration camps, censorship and naked brutality.

By simply moving from Hamburg to Copenhagen - a matter of one international boundary and a few hundred kilometers - a German opponent of Hitler's regime bought himself seven more years to fight Hitler, maybe no longer in Germany - that country was by then TOTALLY lost - but in the rest of the world where countless numbers of German refugees and émigrés "wandered the streets" of Europe warning people of the danger Hitler posed to the world. Indeed, the at-the-time famous movie "Watch on the Rhine" (which received a number of Oscars for 1938) depicts the true story of one such émigré in the United States. Are you prepared to become an émigré for Christ? -

"... wandering (about) in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." (Heb. 11:38)

You may have to become one if you want to continue on with the Gospel (the Good News) of the Kingdom that God has commissioned into our hands to take to the whole world.

COME OUT OF HER! - THERE MAY BE MORE OF A
PHYSICALITY HERE THAN MANY OF US WANT TO ADMIT

Concerning Babylon, the Bible says:

"... COME OUT OF HER, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Rev. 18:4)

Now we have never touched much on the PHYSICALITY of this verse because we knew that it was probably too much for most people to bear; but the truth is, in talking about "Babylon the Great," it is very difficult to tell sometimes when the spiritual gives way to the physical, and the religious gives way to the commercial and the political in Revelation chapters 17, 18, and 19. They are so intertwined with one another that it is difficult to tell where the one ends and the other begins, so that today in George Bush's America, when a person touches the one, he is touching the other.

AND NOTHING DEMONSTRATES THIS REALITY MORE THAN THE FACT THAT IN TODAY'S AMERICA, JOHN ASHCROFT - A LAY PASTOR IN THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD - IS GEORGE BUSH'S HEINRICH HIMMLER. The incongruity of it all! - that a "born-again" Christian is the master of our Secret Police and the keeper of our dungeons (concentration camps), but that's what's happening today in the United States, and it indicates the degree to which the church has been co-opted by the state (meaning George Bush's American New World Order System) in today's America.

IN GEORGE BUSH'S AMERICA, TO ATTACK
THE CHURCH IS TO ATTACK THE STATE

To attack the one means to attack the other; to denounce the church is to denounce the state - and, again, it's here - it's precisely here - THAT A GREAT PERSECUTION WILL BREAK OUT AGAINST GOD'S PEOPLE - i.e., against those Christians who refuse to allow themselves to be used as lackeys by the economic elites; a persecution pushed not just by the economic and political elites, but principally by those Christians who have joined themselves to George Bush's American New World Order System, and by serving it, think they are "doing God a service" - Christians (so-called) like Paul Crouch, Jack Hayford, Charles Stanley, D. James Kennedy, Tim LaHaye, the late John Wimber, Juan Carlos Ortiz, C. Peter Wagner, Beverley LaHaye, Ern Baxter, Kenneth Copeland, the late Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Chuck Colson, David Yonggi Cho, Robert Stearns, Mike Bickle, Reuven Doron, Che Ahn, Frank Hammond, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, John Eckhardt, Bobbie Byerly, Dutch Sheets, Jim Goll, John Paul Jackson, James Ryle, Frank Damazio, Ed Silvoso, Carlos Annacondia, Claudio Freidzon, Roger Mitchell, Ted Haggart, Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble, ad infinitum.

In this kind of socio-religious regime, when one refuses to "go along to get along" with the church, he will be persecuted not only by the church, but by the state as well, and so much so that -

"... they shall deliver you up to councils (the state); and in the ... (churches) ye shall be beaten (the church): and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings (again, the state) for my sake, for a testimony against them." (Mark 13:9)

Note carefully in this verse that both the church and the state are involved here, and this manifestly indicates how closely the church and the state have become intermingled.

This is very plainly where George Bush's America is headed - AND MOST EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS THINK THIS IS A WONDERFUL THING! For example, the late R.J. Rushdoony thought so when he wrote:

"In winning a nation to the gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used."

This is what Kenneth Copeland thinks too:

"This country belongs to God ... He’s the One who brought the United States of America into existence. He had a special purpose for it ... He raised it up, and it’s not going to be taken away from Him."

And Oliver North:

"This is our government. They (the secular-humanists) stole it. And we’re coming to take it back."

And not only evangelicals, but Catholics like Gary Potter, President, Catholics for Christian Political Action, who has said"

"When the Christian majority takes over this country, there will be no satanic churches, no more free distribution of pornography, no more abortion on demand, and no more talk of rights for homosexuals. After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism (i.e., multiculturalism) will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody the right to practice evil."

THE COMING "CLEANSING ACTION"

In the eyes of people like this, the church and the state are one; attack the one, and you attack the other - and there will be consequences. Bob Jones writes:

"As we see the day approaching there’s going to be a CLEANSING ... there’s going to be a purging ... coming forth ... and everyone that’s living under the immorality cover ... will be brought down (to hell) ..."

A CLEANSING ACTION? Now this is very serious stuff! - That's the kind of thing evangelist Cubie Ward advocated in his magazine, Living Word,

"Killing for the joy of it is wrong, but killing because it is necessary to fight against an anti-Christ system ... is not only right, but the duty of every Christian."

Or take the answer given by a group of American evangelical pastors in the late 1980s (during the Contra Wars) when asked to explain why their parishioners in Honduras attacked and massacred a group of villagers (socialists affiliated with the Sandanistas) in the Nicaraguan village of San Francisco del Norte while "praising God," "speaking in tongues" and "singing hymns." The answer? -

"... they don’t massacre people ... They massacre demons, and these people are demon possessed: they’re communists ..." [Please see our article, "The Death Squads, Bringing in the Kingdom of God through Terror, Torture, and Death."]

It's little wonder that - against this kind of mindset - Jesus said,

"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

"But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

"And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles." (Matt. 10:16-18)

PURPOSEFULLY UNDERESTIMATING THE DANGER WE ARE IN

Brothers and sisters, this is a hard saying, but it's true: once a Nazi-like clampdown overtakes a country, there is not much that one can do anymore. Of course, people who have never seen or lived through such a clampdown think that that's being "defeatist" and pessimistic. That's what Schoeps, Leber, Lehman, Kellerman and others in Germany in the 1930s thought too.

In addition, they all believed that if things really did get bad, there would be enough time for them to get out. They had no real idea how fast Germany would slide from a democracy to a dictatorship - and, sadly, their failure to rightly assess their precarious situation stemmed largely from the fact that THEY DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO GO. Leaving Germany and everything they had worked for there - as well as family and friends - was simply too much for them to bear.

As a result, they PURPOSEFULLY chose to underestimate the danger they were facing, and, what's worse - they urged others in their community to do the same. Clearly, that's what Kellerman, Lehman and Schoeps all did. Lehman's words that "we as Jews reaffirm a life in Germany and for Germany" and Kellerman's words about Jews "holding on to their German identity" are - in the light of what followed - about as ASININE and as FOOLISH as any words ever spoken.

And more than that, all the talk by these men about remaining in Germany and fighting Hitler "from within" the country was equally disingenuous. NONE OF THEM REALLY INTENDED TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN TO "LIE LOW" AND LET THINGS "BLOW OVER." And that's PRECISELY what most Christians in the United States - even those associated with Antipas - think as well.

They are PURPOSEFULLY underestimating the danger they're in - and they are doing it largely because if they truthfully and objectively measured the danger that is enveloping them, they would be compelled to take action that they are not prepared or are too afraid to take - and they cover their fear with a lot of empty talk about "fighting from within" and saying that if things really do begin to go bad, there will be enough time to get out. Again, this is EXACTLY what Leber, Schoeps, Kellerman, etc. thought seventy years ago in Germany. But it was all just one excuse piled on another to absolve their failure to act, each excuse carefully positioned in the pile to reinforce the other.

IT'S ALL SO STUPID

It's all so stupid! It was stupid seventy years ago, and it's stupid now - especially coming from people who heretofore have been unable to even begin a house-church in their homes or help the ministry out financially on a regular basis.

It's UTTERLY vacuous for people like this to say, "I'm not afraid to die." It's nothing more than empty jangling. Not afraid to die? - and this from people who don't even have the guts to do anything MEANINGFUL now. Come on!

But more than that, the Bible doesn't call us to die for Christ, it calls us to LIVE for Christ. The commission that God has given us in these "Last Days" is to preach the "GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM," and we can't do that from the grave. Hence the words of Jesus when He said:

"BUT WHEN THEY PERSECUTE YOU IN THIS CITY, FLEE YE INTO ANOTHER ..." (Matt. 10:22-23)

And as we flee from one place to the next, we are to take this Gospel with us and loudly proclaim it wherever we go. Our fleeing from city to city, state to state, province to province, and even NATION to NATION is the means through which the Gospel of the Kingdom will be spread.

Of course, fleeing doesn't mean that we are afraid to die. Not at all. Indeed, Paul said,

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21)

But he went on to say:

"Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." (Phil. 1:24)

In other words, for the sake of the "GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM" we must stay alive as long as we can. It's for this reason that we are decamping for Canada - so that we can continue with the work that God has given us. Again, Jesus said:

"But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another ..." (Matt. 10:23)

Jesus said:

"... The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few ..." (Matt. 9:37)

And again He said

"... Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." (John 4:35)

And He continued by saying:

"PRAY YE THEREFORE THE LORD OF THE HARVEST, THAT HE WILL SEND FORTH LABOURERS INTO HIS HARVEST." (Matt. 9:37-38)

That's what we are after: A GREAT HARVEST OF SOULS!

RE-ASSESSING OUR SITUATION AS A MINISTRY

In the light of ALL this, how then do we develop a strategy for us to SUCCESSFULLY enter into this harvest as laborers? Well, we can begin by recognizing what we have done so far that hasn't worked. This doesn't mean that there isn't a lot that we have done that has been successful - very SUCCESSFUL. For example, as things stand right now, we have just about the largest CHRISTIAN website (with the greatest amount of "hits") in the world, and it is because of this website that we have made contact with YOU and thousands and thousands of others like you not only in this country, but abroad.

But there is a lot that we have done that hasn't worked, and one of them is traveling all across the country trying to encourage people to take the initiative for themselves insofar as the church-life is concerned. That just hasn't worked - and there's no use pretending otherwise. [Please see our article, "The Organized Church and the End of Days;" please also see "Working Within the Establishment Church or Outside of It: What Should We Do?" and "The Church-Life; A New Way to Go On."]

Now that doesn't mean that all of our effort in this regard has gone for naught. By no means! The fact is, there was no other way for us to appreciate the "deep funk" that most people were in - AND THAT'S IMPORTANT; it makes every penny we spent well worth it. Nevertheless, the fact remains that after all those thousands and thousands of miles we traveled, all the hundreds and hundreds of people we met, and all the conferences we held not one house-church was produced.

A LOT OF INFORMATION WAS
DISPENSED - BUT SO WHAT!

Some would say, So what! A lot of information was dispensed. But if that information doesn't have an outcome, what good is it? Insofar as the apostate church of C. Peter Wagner, D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, etc. that has joined itself to George Bush's American New World Order System, we are nothing more than isolated, single individuals running around in an UTTERLY unorganized way yapping at the periphery of things and beating the air with a stick.

So what do we do in the face of all this? - especially in light of the fact that most of us find ourselves in very weakened spiritual conditions, alone and cut-off from our peers. It's pretty hard to stand up against what's happening today when we are standing alone.

The fact is, as we discovered during our travels this last year, people can't stand alone! Almost everyone we met is struggling - AND TO A LARGE EXTENT, THEIR STRUGGLE RELATES DIRECTLY TO THEIR "ALONENESS" AND ISOLATION. [Please, we URGE you, if you haven't already, to read our article, "The Jesus Revolution and the Search for Community and the Church-Life."]

OUR "TOGETHERNESS"
PRODUCES THE CHURCH

The myth of the "lone warrior" is just that: a MYTH! Jesus NEVER sent His disciples out into the world alone and by themselves. We need one another to draw strength from, and we need all our strength for what awaits us. We can't stand as isolated individuals. The church is all of us standing TOGETHER for the truth - and that produces the church against which -

"... the gates of hell shall not prevail ..." (Matt. 16:18)

Listen dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, our "TOGETHERNESS" produces the church, and it's through the church that God is "displayed" (so to speak) to the world; it's through the church that the TESTIMONY of God is established and JUXTAPOSED over and against the BEAST (the American New World Order System) and the WHORE (the church of D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, Ted Haggard, C. Peter Wagner, etc.). That's what the Bible says:

"Unto me (i.e., Paul), who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

"And to make all men see what is the FELLOWSHIP of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

"To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places MIGHT BE MADE KNOWN BY THE CHURCH the manifold wisdom of God ..." (Eph. 3:8-10)

The Bible says:

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." (Matt. 5:14)

Now it's important to note something here: when Jesus made this statement, he was talking to His disciples as a BODY OF BELIEVERS, not as single individuals, as many naively suppose. There was a "TOGETHERNESS" implied in this statement. Jesus was saying to His disciples "Ye (plural) are the light of the world ..." The world is in darkness; but light dispels darkness, and when we stand together, the works of the devil are destroyed.

IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW SMALL A GROUP WE ARE

It doesn't really matter how small we are as a "body of believers," the impact we will have will be great - after all, even the light of a single match seems intense if the darkness is black enough. Indeed, I tell you the truth, if there had been just ten people standing together for the Lord in Sodom and Gomorrah, those two cities would not have been destroyed. Ten people! - that's all it would have taken to dispel the darkness that had engulfed Sodom and Gomorrah. Now I'm not saying here that what we are trying to do will in the end save America - it won't. The Bible says it won't:

"Her cities will become a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land WHEREIN NO MAN DWELLETH, neither doeth any son of man pass thereby." (Jer. 51:43).

But that doesn't mean that in a very real way we can't be successful! - so successful in fact that the apostate church of Tim LaHaye, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, et. al. will have to resort (as we have already indicated) to MURDER - i.e., to the imposition of a NEW INQUISITION - to stop us; that we can lead countless numbers of "lefties" and others to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, that's what the "Gospel of the Kingdom" is designed to do: open up people who have all their lives been "turned off" to Christ because they identified Him with the BEAST and the WHORE of Revelation 17 - i.e., to George Bush's American New World Order System and the church of D. James Kennedy, Ted Haggert, et. al.

TEN PEOPLE FOR SODOM AND GOMORRAH

Ten people, that's all it would have taken to destroy the work of the devil in Sodom! That's what the Bible says would have "stayed" the hand of God insofar as these two cities were concerned, despite their great sin.

What had happened was this: there had been a great "CRY" that had gone up against Sodom and Gomorrah; and God had heard that CRY -

"And the LORD said, Because the CRY of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

"I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the CRY of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know." (Gen. 18:20-21)

And so the Lord went down to "see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it," and He met Abraham in the way, and Abraham - knowing that his brother Lot dwelt in Sodom, and fearing for Lot's life - asked, "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Abraham continued:

"Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

"That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

"And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

"And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:

"Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it.

"And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake.

"And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.

"And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.

"And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

"And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place." (Gen. 18:24-33)

FROM FIFTY TO TEN

From fifty to ten - ten people who had not been corrupted by Sodom and Gomorrah's sin. Just ten people! That's all, and God would "stay His hand." Ten people who would stand for God's testimony in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And so God went down to see if there were ten such people in these two cities.

And that's precisely what He is doing now in America? - and if our various trips across the country this last year are any indication, then I must report to you that it doesn't look good - that is, if God's testimony can be measured by the number of people who want to disassociate themselves from the "established church" and begin meeting in their homes. Remember, God's testimony is in the church, not in isolated individuals. You CANNOT be a testimony to the Lord in and of yourself.

But the pull of the established church is just too strong on Christians. They just can't seem to break free, or if they do, they aren't able to establish a house-church in their homes, and they remain ALONE and isolated.

Now I'm not trying to judge anyone here. In some cases, I'm sure that a lot of labor has been expended on the effort; but the fact remains, all of our effort (and theirs) has not produced even one viable house-church. Not one. Not really! Maybe an occasional meeting here and there, but that's all.

TRYING TO CHANGE THINGS FROM THE "INSIDE"

The Bible continues:

"And there came two angels to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

"And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night." (Gen. 19:1-2)

Now this is important: the angels found Lot "in the gate of Sodom." The "gate" of the cities of the ancient world was where the "prominent men" of the city gathered to conduct the city's business - both its commercial business and its political business. And that's where the angels found Lot. He was immersed in the political and commercial activities of the city. He was involved up to his neck in these affairs. No doubt, by doing so, Lot thought that he was somehow or other mitigating the city's evil; that he was having a "moderating" influence on Sodom's affairs; that he was working from the "inside out" to effect change.

Is that what you think you are doing today? - working for change from the inside out. You are being very, very STUPID if that's what you think you are doing. It will never work. It's just an excuse for you to stay. The fact is, Lot didn't want to leave Sodom - AND MOST ASSUREDLY, HIS WIFE DIDN'T WANT TO GO! And they disguised their unwillingness to leave by convincing themselves that by staying in Sodom they were having an effect on the situation - if not on the city itself, then at least on a few individuals.

But Lot knew - if his wife didn't - what the real situation was: that things were far worse than what he and his wife were prepared to admit; and he knew that if the angels stayed up all night in the streets of the city, they would discover it for themselves. So he -

"... pressed upon them (i.e., the angels) greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast ... and they did eat." (Gen. 19:3)

YOUR COMPROMISES WITH THE
WORLD WILL FIND YOU OUT

Lot hoped that he could hide Sodom's real condition from the angels by giving them a "great feast" and putting them to bed early; then in the morning he could hurry them on their way and they wouldn't be the wiser. But our little compromises with the world are not so easy to hide, and -

"... before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

"And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them [i.e., have anal sex (sodomy) with them, for they were beautiful to behold].

"And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

"And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

"Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

"And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door." (Gen. 19:4-9)

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, no matter how hard we try to hide our little compromises with the world, no matter how hard we excuse our condition, our sin will always find us out, just as it did with Lot. Lot tried to hide the real condition of Sodom from the angels' eyes, and the compromises that he had made with the inhabitants of Sodom in order to facilitate his presence in the city.

IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO INSOFAR AS AMERICA IS CONCERNED? - hide America's real condition so that you can stay. If that's what you are trying to do, YOU WILL END UP KILLING NOT ONLY YOURSELF, BUT YOUR LOVED ONES! In the end Lot couldn't manage it - and he almost lost his life trying to do so, and the lives of his two daughters:

"But the men (i.e., the angels) put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

"And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.

"And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

"For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it." (Gen. 19:10-13)

Lot was helpless in Sodom to affect anything for the Lord; and not only was he unable to be a TESTIMONY for the Lord in that city, he was himself compromised by it. It isn't that Lot wasn't himself a "man of God;" he was, and that truth is clearly evidenced by the fact that he recognized the angels for whom they were -

"... and ... seeing them he rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground ..." (Gen. 19:1)

LOT'S CONDITION PARALLELS OURS TODAY

But Lot was ALONE in Sodom and he was weakened by his "aloneness," and so much so that he had become totally ineffectual insofar as the work of the Lord was concerned. Is this what has happened to you where you live?

Lot's condition parallels our condition today, and somehow or other we must find a way of combating this situation; specifically our isolation and disconnection from other Christians of like-mind. Traveling around and visiting with people doesn't work, and conferences don't work either. All that the visiting and "conferencing" seem to do is generate "warm, fuzzy" feelings that dissipate rapidly after we are gone. It seems that once the conferences are over, and the visits ended, people fall back into their isolation and detachment as if we had never been there.

TRAINING UP AND SENDING OUT

We must do something more; something RADICAL. And what could that be? Well, after much consideration and prayer, we feel that we must develop TRAINED, "BUILT-UP" cadres of believers who have been taught to work as a unit to go into these cities AND STAY for as long as it takes to form a "house-church" in a given locality, and to train the brothers and sisters there to take the leadership in these churches for themselves. They won't go until they have completed this job. Then they will leave for a new location, and in the hope that they will -

"... not have gone over the cities of Israel (those places where God's people can be found - i.e., those who refuse to submit themselves to the apostate church of Tim LaHaye, Pat Robertson, C. Peter Wagner, D. James Kennedy, etc.), till the Son of man be come." (Matt. 10:23)

We have thousands and thousands of "contacts" both here and abroad; and what we are hoping to do is bring "workers" up to our ranch in Canada, train them (which should take no more than six months per team), and then send them out as teams to cities all over the world. We hope to have people willing to take them in every city that they go to, and give them "hospitality" for as long as they are in the area. That's what Jesus did:

"And he called ... the ... (disciples), and began to send them forth ...

"And commanded them that they should take NOTHING for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:

"But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.

"And he said unto them, IN WHAT PLACE SOEVER YE ENTER INTO AN HOUSE, THERE ABIDE TILL YE DEPART FROM THE PLACE (i.e., the city) ...

"... And they went out, and preached ..." (Mark 6:7-10, 12)

Again, the training will be about six months in duration. It will consist of very INTENSE classroom training in -

• The "Fundamentals of the Faith."
• The Prophetic Scriptures.
• What it means to be "saved."
• How to walk in the spirit.
• How to relate to others within a "team environment" and outside of it.
• What's really happening in the world today economically, culturally and politically.
• How to form and lead a "house-church."
• Computers (i.e., how to use the internet insofar as Antipas is concerned).
• Church history.
• False doctrine.
• How to effectively preach the Gospel.
• Music - for those who are able, we plan to teach the rudiments of the guitar (and maybe other instruments), and how to worship and preach the Gospel through music.
• Etc.

We do NOT want people going out in the name of Antipas, contacting people that are on our website and representing beliefs and doctrines that we do not agree with. The training will insure that this will NOT happen; they will go out grounded in the Faith, in the knowledge of the Prophetic Scriptures, and they will know how to "walk in the spirit" (cf. Rom 8:1, 4; Gal. 5:16, 25); in addition, they will know how to start house-churches, and they will know how to teach others to do the same; finally, they will know how to equip others for leadership and to stand in these "Last Days" so that men everywhere will know that they have been with Jesus because of the love they have one for another. (cf., John 18:35)

COME

We invite EVERYONE who has a heart for service to come! - and it doesn't matter where you are coming from - from the United States or abroad (from Russia, from Africa, from India, etc.) The cost of the training will be kept to a minimum (hopefully, no more than $300 a month per person - AND THAT WILL INCLUDE ALL THE TRAINING PLUS ROOM AND BOARD. If you don't have the money, there is the possibility that you can "work it off" by helping out on the ranch or whatever.

Listen to me dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. COME! Drop whatever you are doing and COME. Don't let ANYTHING stop you. Young, old, retirees, middle-aged, families, singles, married, males, females - no matter, just come!

Finally, for those of you who feel you have a contribution to make to the ministry insofar as its CORE group in Canada is concerned, we invite you to come too. There will be plenty of work for you to do on the ranch, in the ministry, in the school, and in the church. We are planning a GREAT expansion of our internet ministry - including a T-1 connection and the acquisition of enough band width to stream live audio and video; we also plan to start something called "Internet Radio" where we will be on live 24 hours a day - and we are hoping to bring up "foreign language" specialists in order to create "foreign language" sites for the ministry.

Along with all this, we also plan to GREATLY expand the phone ministry. The expansion will be centered around the Gospel Teams we are forming: about three months into the training, various teams will be formed up and "assigned" (after much mutual prayer and fellowship) a locality where they will be traveling to, and it will be their job to begin phoning those in the area where they will be going - whether England, South Africa, Australia, India, Russia, etc. (and some even back into the United States). Thus, when the teams "land" where they will be going, they will already have formed relationships with those who are there.

A FINAL WORD FOR ALL THOSE WHO
STAY IN THE UNITED STATES

Brothers and sisters, obviously, not everyone is called to come to Canada. Maybe you have genuinely been called to stay in the United States. But we URGE you to carefully examine your motives for staying, because if they are wrong, it's YOU who will pay the price. No one else will, least of all us. You must bear in mind that America is closing down to ALL that God stands for, just as Germany closed down seventy years ago. Little more than a year is all we have - maybe more, but not much more. There is not much you can do insofar as the "Gospel of the Kingdom" is concerned from the grave, or from a jail cell where you are confined in solitary confinement (which is EXACTLY where C. Peter Wagner, D. James Kennedy, Charles Stanley, John Hagee, Jerry Falwell, Oliver North, Kenneth Copeland, Cindy Jacobs, Tim LaHaye, and all those other Christian leaders who have partnered with George Bush's American New World Order System would like to see you).

There are two ways you can gauge the sincerety of your motives for staying: first, if you GENUINELY feel that you can begin a SUCCESSFUL house-church in your home (not sometime in the distant future, but now), or affiliate with one close by, then stay put. But if you live somewhere where you feel that there's no chance for that, and there is little chance that one of our teams can ever reach you, you need to check your motives for staying.

Second, if you feel led of the Lord to stay because you GENUINELY believe you can better support the ministry from where you are, then stay. But if you do, then SUPPORT the ministry, don't just talk about it; DO IT. But be careful; don't kid yourself here the way that Schoeps, Kellerman, Lehman, etc. did in Germany seventy years ago. There will be a heavy price for you to pay if you do.

Finally, you might feel that you live in a city large enough (and with enough Antipas contacts) that it ultimately would be worthwhile for the ministry to send a team to where you are at. But there has to be some IMMEDIACY involved here, not just wishful thinking. And remember here, we are only going to send teams to cities and localities where there are people who can really take care of them, offer them "hospitality," and support them. If you can send money and take care of a team, then well and good! - stay. But, again, you had better be very careful about what you are committing yourself to in staying where you are at: THERE IS NO NOBILITY DYING ALONE AND ISOLATED FROM YOUR PEERS, or - having miscalculated the pressure you (and your family) would be under - caving into that pressure and going over to apostasy. YOU WILL NOT BE FORGIVEN THAT MISTAKE. It's not without reason that the Bible warns:

"COME OUT OF HER, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)

That phrase, "... that ye receive not of her plagues (her judgments)" should be cause for great concern to all those who think they can "play games" with God in these "Last Days."

God bless you all!

S.R. Shearer
Antipas Ministries