DFO 2291 10/86—For Better or Worse?

1. I BELIEVE THAT THE SAINTS OF THIS GENERATION, THIS PRESENT PRE-TRIBULATION DISPENSATION OF GRACE, ARE GOING TO BE REWARDED MORE as a higher rank of Saints & spirits of God, because it was harder to believe during this dispensation! You had to believe totally by faith in this generation, this dispensation. There was more suffering because of sin, sickness, death & persecution, & we were way outnumbered & overpowered by nearly all kingdoms worshipping the Devil & wickedness & all governments persecuting Christians! We're sort of still in the Dark Ages!

2. WE THINK WE'RE PRETTY ENLIGHTENED TODAY, but in the Millennium they're going to look back on this dispensation like we now look back on the Middle Ages, the Dark Ages‚ sometimes called the Midnight of Man by historians! We're going to look back on this as, "Oh what a horrible period! It was terrible! How could people have even lived like that?" But God chose His Saints & they chose Him & they loved Him & served Him & won others & managed to survive & fight & die for the Lord even under these horrible conditions of today!

3. AND CONSIDERING WHAT IT'S GOING TO BE LIKE IN THE MILLENNIUM, EVEN RIGHT HERE & NOW IT'S HORRIBLE‚ because we're way out-numbered, out-manned‚ out-gunned, out–everything because there're so many wicked, & so bad! It's just a miracle that God keeps us & helps us get through it at all!

4. SO BECAUSE WE HAVE SUFFERED MORE & FOUGHT MORE AGAINST HARDER CIRCUMSTANCES‚ I'M CONVINCED THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE A HIGHER ORDER OF SAINTS & REWARDED MORE! You might say a higher class of Saints‚ because we are going to be stronger by having gone through all of this. We will have fought more & suffered more & endured more & survived more & thereby been strengthened more, shown our greater strength & greater courage, greater faith & everything more than most of the Saints of the Millennium!

5. I FRANKLY THINK THAT THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS ARE GOING TO BE A LOWER ORDER OF SAINTS SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY'RE GOING TO BE WEAKER SAINTS! It's going to be much easier for them to get saved, easier to hear the Gospel, easier to live for the Lord‚ easier to obey. They've got more protection, & at first they're all in the majority, considering all the Saints & Angels of Heaven & of all the past Ages & all, they're going to have never had it so good!

6. BUT I DON'T BELIEVE THAT THE SEVENTH MILLENNIUM IS GOING TO DEVELOP AS STRONG A CLASS OF SAINTS AS THESE PAST SIX MILLENNIUMS OF HISTORY HAVE DEVELOPED! Just as today, where are the great heroes & men & women of God & martyrs of the past ages? I think the church is weaker now than it ever was in all history! So we're discussing the difference between the past Saints, the present-day Saints & the future Saints of the Millennium. It looks to me like the Lord in some ways is reaping a weaker breed of Saints in each generation because things have gotten in a sense easier all the time for people, really.—And the Millennium will be the last mopping up!

7. THE WORLD IS MUCH MORE TOLERANT NOW than it used to be in the Middle Ages & the other Ages before, when things were horrible! Things have become more civilised & there's more liberty & freedom worldwide in most countries for various religions, & the Christians are not persecuted & martyred & slaughtered & massacred as much as they were 'way back in the early days of the Church & the great persecutions by the Jews & the Romans & in the Middle Ages by all kinds of pagans & heathen unbelievers, the Dark Ages! It was horrible & terrible times back then!

8. IN SOME WAYS THINGS HAVE GOTTEN EASIER AS CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION IS MORE WIDESPREAD. Christianity is more widespread & come into power, in fact, in many parts of the World. So it's easier to be a Christian‚ easier to be a church member. There's not the horrible persecutions & slaughters & massacres & terrible inquisitions etc. of the past.

9. WE HAVE VARIOUS MILD SAMPLES OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION TODAY. We've even suffered some of it ourselves, those who are real Christians & really warriors of the faith & real witnesses & winning souls. But I don't think conditions today are as bad as they used to be as far as the freedom for religion & for the Church & Christianity to be recognised & even in power & safety & security in most Christian countries. But I believe at the same time it's developing weaker Saints than the martyrs of old. The Saints who have had the greatest opposition, the greatest trials & sufferings & have endured the most & who have had the most persecution, they are going to be the stronger Saints, just as you might say the Saints of the past were certainly much stronger than Saints of today.

10. BUT THE MILLENNIUM WILL PERHAPS DEVELOP & PRODUCE A WEAKER BREED OF SAINTS because they don't have to have as much faith to believe, it's all there given to them on a silver platter! They can see it all! It's not hard to believe what you can see, & it's going to be easier for them to get the Gospel & receive & obey it & live under a Godly government & all that, without persecution.

11. SO I DON'T THINK THAT'S GOING TO DEVELOP AS STRONG A CLASS OF SAINTS AS WE HAVE NOW. We look like weak Saints, compared to the past, but we'll look like strong Saints compared to the Future! They're going to think we were wonderful, we were Saints, we were martyrs, we were marvellous, we were heroes to live as Christians & live by faith & witness & win souls in this day & age, which is much worse than the Millennium! So I think they're going to look back on us & admire us when they hear about how we lived‚ when it's so much easier for them during the Millennium.

12. BUT AS A RESULT OF COURSE‚ THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS ARE NOT GOING TO DESERVE AS GREAT A REWARD & AS GREAT A STATUS AS THE SAINTS OF TODAY. But things are going to get worse as the Millennium goes on & as the Rebels are going to increase in their power. Until apparently somehow they're going to actually rebuild Babylon in a sense‚ the Worldly City-System, & they're going to rebuild cities & develop high-tech capabilities etc. once again.

13. SO ONCE AGAIN THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS ARE OUTNUMBERED IN THE END & PERSECUTED BY THE SYSTEM, just like today, which has become a Gog & Magog system in the end. So when Satan is let loose at the end of the Millennium, the Rebels will be ready for him to be their leader‚ just like the Antichrist was at the end of the last dispensation.

14. SATAN HIMSELF & HIS HORDES ARE AGAIN GOING TO APPEAR, LIBERATED FROM A THOUSAND YEARS IN THE PIT, & his demons will try to lead them once again to victory over God's Millennial Saints. And in this case it's over even weaker Saints than in our Earthly time, except for the help of us former Saints, the past generations who have already gone to Heaven, & the Angels.

15. BUT GOD HAS TO HAVE THIS LAST MILLENNIAL REAPING‚ HE HAS TO HAVE THIS LAST HARVEST OF MILLENNIAL SAINTS in order to give everybody a fair chance, a square deal. And therefore He's got to have the Millennium for it‚ in order to give the Gospel to everybody, so that everybody will have had their chance, so He's got to have the Millennium last of all.

16. BUT TO SHOW YOU HOW THINGS GO & HOW THINGS WORK UNDER THE WAY THE WORLD STILL IS AND MAN IS, IT'LL WIND UP JUST ABOUT THE SAME‚ maybe even worse with the release of Satan, and apparently immediately he'll go out and deceive whole nations! By that time there will be whole nations who are rebelling against the Lord! In the beginning there are just a few, but by that time again Satanic and devilish forces, the wicked of the Earth, will be in the majority, sufficient enough to outnumber & surround the Camp of the Saints and want to annihilate them, the Devil having taken over the World again! Think of that! But then flash! Boom! Bang! Roar!—And they're all burnt up with the air, seas and surface of the Earth!—Thank God!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family