A TIME OF TROUBLE
by Pastor
Max Solbrekken, D.D.
We will then, take our place with those who have fought the battle and won, who have been diligent to the very end and made it through victoriously; triumphing over evil, unrighteousness and wickedness!
We will come out of the "furnace of affliction" with not even the smell of fire on our persons, the ropes of bondage burned off and a testimony so powerful for our Lord that no one will be able to repudiate!
We will then be a part of that glorious church without spot and wrinkle that will be presented to our Heavenly Bridegroom by the Blessed Holy Spirit, at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
The Bible says, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready" (Rev. 19:7). In other words, the bride was not ready until a certain point in time, when she decided to prepare for the marriage ceremony!
GOD IS GOING TO INVADE!
C.S. LEWIS wrote: “God is going to invade this earth in force. But what's the good of saying you're on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else, something it never entered your head to conceive comes crashing in.
“Something so beautiful to us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left. This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love, or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side.
“There is no use saying you choose to lie down, when it's become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realize it or not.
“Now, today, in this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever; we must take it or leave it." C. S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) was a British writer and scholar.
LAODECIAN CHURCH: NOT READY!
Jesus warned concerning the Seventh and Final Church Age. The word, Laodecian means: "The people rule or power to the people". How indicative of the age in which we live! The democratic process means "Government; by the people, of the people, and for the people". Even the so-called Socialistic and Communistic regimes espouse the doctrine of the proletariat, the ‘People’s Republic’.
In the Church, people are ruling: Popes, Cardinals, and Archbishops, ruling without the power of the Holy Spirit. Even many Protestant churches are totally devoid of God's blessings as the people rule: electing, hiring and firing pastors and other church leaders in the democratic process!
JESUS warned: "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 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. 3:14-17)
He invites, however: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Rev. 3: 18)
WARN MY PEOPLE!
Many years ago, Jesus spoke to my heart: “Warn My people to prepare for a time of trouble. ” I preached repentence and faith, end-times and coming judgments, preparedness and balance in the Christian walk. God gave me a me a powerful called 'Victory in Adversity'.
In that message, I tell of the three times God gave me a directive for Canada and recently, the fourth time, with the warning of 'Coming Troubles'. The first time God spoke to me with a message for our nation was in July 1967. I shared it by printed page in ‘The Cry of His Coming’, and also over our national radio broadcast.
The message was called, ‘A SALUTE TO CANADA’. We were celebrating our 100th birthday, and God showed me that Canada was a great nation because of His rich blessings upon us. We were a nation of freedom, opportunity and plenty, but that if we did not repent of our sins and humble ourselves before God, we would lose our greatness and much of His favour.
I quoted the Scripture: "RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION, BUT SIN IS A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE." (Prov. 14:34) Our magazine with the Centennial Year Message, ‘A Salute to Canada’ was sent to elected officials across Canada in civic, provincial and national governments of our nation.
I immediately received many kind letters from government officals thanking me for the message. One person who responded very warmly and enthusiastically was the Justice Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
MY MESSAGE TO P.M. TRUDEAU!
The years passed and the young Justice Minister became our 15th Prime Minister. Mr. Trudeau seemed to be leading the nation in a dangerous leftward trend. Some of his policies that caused deep concern were: 1) abolition of capital punishment. 2) broadening of the Divorce Laws. 3) legalizing homosexuality, lesbianism & bestiality. 4) legalizing abortion (not on demand). 5) seeking to legalize marijuana.
He called an election! God spoke to my heart to bring another message to our Nation. It was called, ‘My Message to Prime Minister Trudeau’! I sent it out in booklet form by the tens of thousands across Canada and other countries.
A copy of the booklet as well as a cassette tape of my radio message was sent to the mayor of every large town or city in Canada, the Members of the Legislature in each province, every Member of Parliament and all heads of major nations across the world, both free and Communist.
A copy of the message was also sent to the Queen of England, the Pope of Rome, the Archbishop of Cantebury, Dr. Billy Graham and Dr. Oral Roberts!
The date was February 28, 1974. Although it was called, 'My Message to Prime Minister Trudeau', it was directed at all government leaders instructing them to repent of their sins and let God rule in their lives and in their decisions as leaders.
I wrote of King Nebuchadnezzar, who became proud of his accomplishments and said, "Is not this Great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the Kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty". (Dan 4:30)
GOD JUDGED HIM AND HE LOST HIS MIND!
For seven years, the great king wandered about like an animal and ate grass as an ox until he acknowledged God. In the message, I told of KING HEROD, who made an oration. They said: "It is the voice of a god and not of a man". The Scripture says: "He gave not God the glory and God smote him until he died eaten of worms"! (Acts 12:23)
When Prophet Samuel entered Bethlehem, the CITY ELDERS trembled in fear of God: "...And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?" (1 Sam. 16:4). Oh, how government officials need to tremble before the servants of God again, in order to bring back righteousness and sanity to the nations.
St. Paul spoke to KING AGRIPPA and challenged him with the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Scripture says that Agrippa cried out: "...Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian". (Acts 26:28)
Again, when Paul spoke to GOVERNOR FELIX, he trembled because Paul spoke of "Righteousness, temperance and judgment to come"! (Acts 24:25)
The Bible says: "Righteousness exalteth a nation and sin is a reproach to any people". (Prov. 14:24) Again, God's Word declares: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn". (Prov. 29:2); "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord". (Ps. 33:12)
CANADA TURN AROUND!
It happened in the spring of 1978. I was awakened at 8:00 AM, the morning after a powerful meeting. The voice of God had been speaking to my heart while I was sleeping. The message of God was already in my mind, totally comprehendable and ready to deliver.
I awakened with the words: "Canada Turn Around, Canada Turn Around, Canada Come Back To God" whirling around in my Spirit. So powerful was this impression that I leaped out of bed, grabbed my Bible and note paper, and wrote down the message which I knew God wanted me to deliver across the nation and around the world.
WHAT WAS THAT MESSAGE?
It was a warning from God's Word for everyone to repent of their sins and begin to livegodly lives in the light of the Scriptures and to begin to seek God with great intensity, honesty, sincerity and urgency. And that everyone should understand that we are living in the final stages of the last day of God's grace upon the earth and that our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ is coming againsoon!
The Bible says, "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chron. 7:14)
God spells out directions for a Holy Ghost, Heaven-sent Revival! Here is the recipe: If God's people will do four things, He promises to hear our prayers and bring healing to our Land. What are these four things? Are they pinnicles of spiritual growth, never to be reached? No, God would not ask us to do what we could not attain in the natural. He is not unreasonable.
The Bible says: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool". (Isaiah 1:18)
WE MUST DO THESE THINGS:
1) HUMBLE OURSELVES
2)
PRAY
3)
SEEK GOD'S FACE
4)
TURN FROM OUR WICKED WAYS
The Bible says: "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble". We must look to God for help - not to ourselves, government officials, business leaders, educators or others. Jesus said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you". (Matt. 6:33)
We can and must HUMBLE ourselves and get rid of all dirty, filthy, sinful pride as we reach out to love everyone regardless of skin color, racial background, educational or social standing or financial worth.
And the Scriptural way to humble ourselves is to fast. We must realize that we cannot save ourselves or heal the hearts of people in our strength. God is our Source. He is the only Saviour and Deliverer! Let us begin to PRAY to God on a regular basis as we praise Him for His love and grace. God wants us to make our petitions known to Him FIRST before we ask our fellowmen for help.
King Asa was diseased in his feet and went to the physicians for help instead of praying to the Lord. The Bible says, "Asa sought the help of the physicians and died". (2 Chron. 16:12) It is not wrong to seek help of physicians, so long as you have first sought God and have laid out your petition before His face.
It is God who rules in the lives of men. Let us not forget that. That is why St. Paul stated, "Pray without ceasing". (1 Thess. 5:17). What did he mean? Stay in an attitude of prayer. Keep your lines of communication open between God and yourself!
ONLY GOD CAN HEAL OUR LAND!
We can and must pray and go even further. Let us SEEK God with all our hearts. In order to seek God, we must walk close enough to Him to see His face and feel His mighty power moving within us.
To seek God means to desire His presence! It is to want to be near Him and share all our intimate and urgent needs with Him. And to spend time praising and thanking Him for all His mercy and goodness to us!
By God's grace, let us all TURN AWAY from the lusts of the flesh and the sins of the spirit and conduct ourselves as true followers of Christ in all humility and righteousness. We have His promise that when we, the Church, have done these things, then God will hear our prayers and answer in great demonstration of Holy Ghost power.
The Bible says: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteousness man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon". (Isaiah 55:7)
St. Paul warned, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord God Almighty." (2 Cor.6: 17,18)
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14). "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, coveteous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parenbts, unthankful, unholy,
“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Tim. 3: 1-5)
TURN YOUR FACE TO THE WALL!
When King Hezekiah became ill, the prophet came to him with a message: "...Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live". (2 Kings 20:1) The Scriptures declare that King Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and "wept sore" (v.3) as he repented and asked for mercy. God heard his prayer and gave him an additional fifteen years of life.
Whatever problem you may have, God is greater than all the power of the devil and sin. He is greater than sickness, disease, fear and poverty! Praise God forever!
The solution comes when we turn our faces to the wall and ask Jesus to intervene! His Word states: "And call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me". (Ps. 50:15)
It's high time to surrender to the Lord's Word and Will: "...turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations." (Ezek. 14:6); "...and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and True God." (1 Thes. 1:9)
The Bible says: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return (TURN) unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon". (Isa. 55:7)
SHOWDOWN AT SUNSET
God's people had corrupted themselves with idol worship from the greatest to the least. Only ELIJAH and a faithful silent group of 7,000 had not bowed their knees to Baal.
The prophet Elijah was grieved in his heart and brought down God's judgment upon that wicked nation in the form of a drought. After 3 1/2 years, Elijah showed himself and COMMANDED all the false prophets to gather on Mount Carmel for a showdown.
This was his challenge: "...How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him".
God's Word says: "My people have committed two evils, They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water". (Jer. 2:13)
God, in His great wisdom and compassion, marvelled at the foolishness of His people. It's almost ludicrous that a man who knew God would forsake Him, turn away from the true God and be deceived by the devil into worshipping dead idols. This was the case with Solomon when he became old. (1 Kings 11:1-10)
How anyone could leave the Church, the Gospel and the goodness of God, with it's fountain of living water, and be turned to the New Age Movement, a Desert god, Mysticism, dumb idols, sinful practices, lustful pleasures, greed and the doctrine of works, I will never know!
They are only broken cisterns that can hold no water. THEY BRING NO PEACE, JOY, FORGIVENESS, HEALING AND NO PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE!
My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. When darkness seems to hide His face, I trust in His ubchangig grace. When all around this world gives way, Then He is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rocxk I stand, All other ground is sinking sand!
A TIME OF TROUBLE!
A large segment of the Christian community seems to be living under an illusion that the ‘rapture of the church’ will take place before anyone tastes even a little bit of difficulty and tribulation! I declare that an absolute fallacy and unscriptural teaching.
Let me clarify that I believe in a ‘pre-tribulation rapture’ and that the Church of Jesus Christ will not go through the Great Tribulation written of in the Book of Revelation! In fact, there are three tribulation periods spoken of in the Bible.
THE FIRST TRIBULATION began on the day of Pentecost, and the devil has been persecuting the Church ever since! This first tribulation period will conclude when the last gentile is saved by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, and He returns in the first stage of His coming!
Millions of Christians have died during great trials and tribulations since the birth of the Church until now! Consider the fact that multiutudes died under the iron fist of the Roman Empire for the first three hundred years or so, then millions more perished under the cruel hand of Rome’s Bloody Old Vatican Wolf for about 500 years during the Middle Ages!
And according to statistician Dr. David Barrett, who has studied this phenomonen for about 30 years, an average of about 330,000 Christians have been martyred for the name of Jesus Christ annually. The figure for last year was more than 150,000.
In their book ‘Their Blood Cries Out’ authors Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert assemble a compendium of anti-Christian oppression that is painstaking, comprehensive, and unsettling in its implications. They begin their survey with the Islamic world and describe repression on a vast scale:
“In the Sudan, "Islamization through genocide" has caused the death of between 1.5 and 3 million Christians; in Iran, Christians endure conditions of "religious apartheid"; in Saudi Arabia, "Christian worship is banned" and it is "illegal to wear a cross or to utter a Christian prayer"; in Egypt "militant Islamic groups are targeting Christians for murder, assault, theft, and destruction of property"; in Algeria, violent attacks on Catholic clergy have become routine; and in Pakistan, blasphemy laws provide the rationale for "a reign of private terror against Christians.” Elsewhere in Asia—in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Bhutan, Burma, and Cambodia—a similar pattern holds.”
THE SECOND TRIBULATION is that period of seven years known as Jacob's Troubles or Daniel's 70th. Week and also the Great Tribulation. It will begin the moment the Church - Christ's Bride - is taken away from this earth and will conclude just before the beginning of the Millenial Reign of Christ. This will be a time when God outpours His wrath on the Anti-Christ, his followers and a wicked world!
I believe that a great revival will ensue among the people of Israel and Jewish people in general as their eyes are opened to the truth that they have been decieved by the Antichrist. (John 5: 43)
There will arise among them great evangelists who will proclaim that Jesus Christ is their Messiah and at least 144,000 Jews will be converted during the great tribulation period! (Rev.14: 1-7)
THE THIRD TRIBULATION begins when the feet of Jesus Christ stand on the Mount of Olives in the second stage of His return. (Zech.14: 4). The resurrected glorified Son of God and Saviour will then mount a white horse, (Rev. 19:11) and ride out to the Valley of Jehosophat, to conquer the Anti-Christ. This I refer to as the Anti-Christ's Tribulation.
Jesus Christ will then destroy the Antchrist with the breath of His mouth! The unholy Trinity – Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet - will then be cast into the Lake of Fire, where they will be tormented foever and ever! (Rev. 20: 20: 10). Amen.
JESUS CHRIST PLEADS FOR SINNERS!
Dear Friend, please accept the counsel of C.S. Lewis and CHOOSE TODAY to serve the Lord so you know whose side you are on when you face the judgment bar! Jesus Christ stands ready at this moment to receive you and become your Saviour, Lord, Master and Advocate to plead your cause before the Father! (2 Cor. 5: 17; 1 John 1:7,9; 2:1; 3:1, 2; 5:11, 12,20)
Our Saviour pleads: “Come unto Me all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). The Bible says: “I beseech you therfore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12: 1, 2). Amen.
Max Solbrekken World Mission Box 44220 RPO Garside, Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6; Email: [email protected]; comehometojesus.ca; Youtube; Facebook; Donations may be made by e-Transfer. Make your donations to [email protected]. Thank you and may the Lord richly bless you!
