Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
What I am about to share here, I do not share lightly. This is something I recorded in my diary on Jun 30, 2017, and I’ve pondered about it on and off. It’s like having revelation of something that is going to happen that you do not wish to happen. At first I had trouble wrapping my head around what I felt God was saying, but sister Linda of the blog BelieveActs2Fire cleared up things up for me.
Even then I was hesitant to come forward because the implications of what I felt God was saying were not pretty. But after seeing the recent post about a Day of Jihad Coming and another recent one, Violence will begin in Berlin in November, I feel these were confirmations for me to come forward and share.
The Vision:
On June 30, 2017, I was meditating on 2 Corinthians 4:7-15.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death works in us, but life in you.
13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,
14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 4:7-15)
I usually listen and note down what I believe God to be saying, but this time, I first saw a vision, not altogether at once, more like snippets of something bigger. This is what I saw:
There were men on the road of a city. It was a multitude. The men were bearded; they wore turbans; they had Middle Eastern attire. They were armed with sticks, swords, and petrol bombs, and they (it seemed) were already rioting or getting ready to riot.
I heard the words (not by the mob): civil war, race riots, religious riots.
I also heard the mob shouting: “Die, you Christian.”
I then heard the persecuted ones (though I didn’t see them) say: “Praise be to God; glory be to God. Hallelujah.”
The Words:
When I asked the Lord to explain what I was seeing (which is still fresh in my mind), I received the following words:
“Carry the reality of My death always within you. Muslims will persecute Christians, and even unbelievers will persecute Christians, just as they (i.e., unbelievers) in My time persecuted Me. Only if you carry the reality of My death with you, will you be able to stand up to the persecution, because your Lord overcame the persecution and death through His death. When faced with death, remember your Lord overcame death. And if, when faced with death, you do not let your faith waver, you too will overcome death. Remember: I walked through death, but death could not overcome Me. And because I am your Lord and God and have gone before you, I say to you, do not be afraid when death comes for you. Walk through it because it cannot overcome you.”
Additional Thoughts and Implications:
I have lived among Muslims. I have had Muslim friends. They neither sought to convert me nor kill me; some did dialogue with me, but it was a friendly exchange. This was a time when I was mixed up with sin, the world, a religious mind-set, and a bit of everything else. I was nevertheless aware that the Quran commands Muslims to behead infidels, but the ones I met and interacted with were friendly Muslims. Plus, I was in awe of their strict lifestyle and their religious devotion and wished to somehow replicate that in my life. So when I received this word, I had trouble assimilating it. My argument was this: “All Muslims are not radical Muslims. Some are such pious people, and they practice so many good deeds. How then can this be?”
I had a lightbulb moment when Linda asked me, “What makes a lukewarm Christian become a true Christian?” I immediately knew that it was the power of the Holy Spirit.
Then it was like the dots began connecting. A nonradical Muslim is technically a lukewarm Muslim because he or she is not doing everything the Quran says, just like a lukewarm Christian is not doing everything the Bible says. Just like the Holy Spirit empowers the lukewarm Christian to start living the holy life according to the Bible, another spirit (a spirit of darkness) will empower the nonradical Muslim to do what the Quran says.
The first implication here, I believe, is that we need to be in one kingdom or the other. God invites us to be a part of His kingdom, the kingdom of light, and He will never coerce, but He will plead. But if we refuse His invitation, we will automatically end up in the kingdom of darkness, whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not. To not choose light is to choose darkness. To not accept the truth is to accept a lie.
Muslims who refuse the truth of Christ will be no different from any other unbeliever. That also means a good character, a pious life, good works, religious affiliation, and doctrines will not save anyone. If someone is not for Christ, he or she is really against Him. There is really no middle ground. It is really that simple, and it is a sad and terrifying implication. We cannot earn our way to salvation. If we wish to stand in this hour, on Christ the solid rock we must stand, for all other ground is just sinking sand.
The second implication here, I believe, is that death will come for some or many of us believers. But God is saying that if we remember that our Lord overcame death, and carry its reality within us, we will not fear death when death comes for us. Jesus did not escape death; He went through it and overcame it. Muslims incidentally believe Jesus escaped death; that is, He really did not die. But the truth is that Jesus did die, and God raised Him from death, now He is alive forever and ever, and the same will be true of us, if we do not waver in faith at the time of our deaths. I do believe God gives us the grace to do what He has individually called us to do, for apart from Him, we really cannot do anything, including dying for Him.
Please pray about what I’ve shared, and may the Holy Spirit guide us into all truth.
Author: Sujit Thomas
Sujit was working in Chennai in late 2015 when the Lord began to nudge him to draw closer to Him. That was the beginning of a major spiritual transformation in his life, and he has not looked back since. As someone who has experienced God’s undeserving love, grace, and mercy personally, Sujit would like people to know that the Lord has no pleasure in the death of the unrighteous, but would rather see them repent and live.
This is fantastic! Well thought out and articulated wisdom that only can come from the insight that the Holy Spirit imparts. I thoroughly agree with everything you said.
God bless you.
Thank you Sujit for sharing this word. My heart gets heavy when I think about what many of us will have to face in the very near future. As I look to the author and finisher of my faith I know that we are destined for persecution for his names sake and my prayer is always that I may be as the apostles who rejoiced that God had counted them WORTHY to suffer shame for his name.
Dear Lydia,
As I was pondering over your words, I remembered that the Word of God is also called the sword of the Spirit and that I too had prayed that prayer not too long ago. Not long after that, I’d somehow felt impressed to start confessing the Word of God over my life, which is something I’d never done. I’d always thought of that in my religious mind-set days like manipulating the Word of God to get what one wanted. However, those days are long gone, and I have since kept doing it.
So today as I pondered over your words and remembered that part about the Word of God being the sword of the Spirit, it was also impressed upon me that one doesn’t first wield the sword in the heat of war. It is first wielded in practice to war.
And wielding the sword does not mean studying its make, admiring it, wearing it, sharpening it, knowing how heavy it is, or learning how to hold it right (although these are also important). Wielding the sword means knowing how to make war with it. You could survive the battle if you know how to wield the sword even if you don’t know the other things, but if you know the rest and don’t know how to wield it, then you are going to get killed.
I’ve noticed positive changes in my mentality as I’ve continued confessing the Word, which is only incentive for me to continue doing so. I believe today the Holy Spirit showed me what I am actually doing. I am practicing for war.
I hope this is edifying for you.
Yes Sujit,
This word is very edifying. Thank you. I have had several dreams in the past where what I can only describe as middle eastern looking men were trying to attack me. As they came toward me I begin immediately to worship Jesus. It’s like I was super naturally protected. It is going to be so vital to know how to use our God given weapons in the days ahead especially if God calls us to martyrdom. It’s only his strength in us that will enable us to lay our life’s down on the alter in sacrifice for our faith. God bless you.
Hit the nail on the head……Jesus did die, and He overcame death….that is where the Muslims err for sure….that is where the Muslims are believing the lie they have created about Jesus…remember, Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life! We must rely soley on the Holy Spirit when dealing with Muslims, they are lost sinners like anyone else, it doesnt matter if they are cloaked in robes from head to foot or like unsaved Jews, cloaked with a skull cap on, its all just religious garb. Maybe God wants us believers to escape death as well at the hands of jihadi Musllims, we shouldnt necessarily desire to be sacrificial lambs.Let God dictate the rules of engagement and outcome.
Hi, Jerry.
I do think that we should not go out of our way to become sacrificial lambs, as you mentioned, but I also think that we should have the attitude of Jesus and Paul when they knew their time of passing was near. They didn’t run from it; they walked resolutely toward it.
I had a very similar dream that confirms this. About 4 yrs ago.
A friend just e-mailed me tonight asking if I was ready to be persecuted for my faith. I responded, and then received this back in part, which is definitely an interesting perspective:
“Get ready because the ride is going to be super rough and only the strongest will make it through.
Either way, never deny Jesus. I tell people satan will kill you anyway if you took the mark after he is done using
You to kill others because you will become evil then. but then he will send you to hell where he will torture you for all eternity.
Either way you won’t escape satan’s wrath by taking the mark.
Better to just die and get off this god forsaken planet anyway. it is so darn evil and I hate it here now. I am embarrassed to
Even say that these people are human that do all these atrocities against the babies, little children, elderly, homeless etc.
Such evil and now I know why we were sent here.
God sent us to see if we would overcome and stand with him because nothing less will he accept in his kingdom! “
You do yourself an injustice to say the world is evil and Godforsaken. The world is merely an effect not a cause. If God had forsaken the world we would all be gone already. You were not sent here to the earth to do anything, you came, as do all, by the desire to experience the flesh and the cause effect of our thinking. The world is old and tired and long ago it should have been forgotten by all yet we are still here. We shall remain until time itself is no longer remembered and what we do remember is that we are all eternal and do not need the body or earth at all.
God created each of us for a purpose and placed us to live during specific times. It was not random and meaningless. Heaven and Earth will pass away but the Word of God will not. Our lives do have a purpose.
Oh I agree whole heartedly! What is amazing to me is that Americans are even talking about the prospect of losing their lives for Jesus in an expectant way.
I’m in Australia & was brought up on all this. People are talking about it here. Worldly people are talking about war like they did just before ww2. I always new I was going to see Revelation work out in my lifetime. Even when I was a kid. But I have never heard these sorts of conversations being so regular before. Times certainly have changed.
Thank-you, Sujit. You wrote VERY Truth-full words.
Here is PASTOR BENJAMIN FAIRCLOTH’S word of warning for today, Sunday, 11/12/2017. Also, I highly recommend the accompanying video of the full message (about 1 hour and 27 minutes). The actual message starts at about the 22 minute mark (announcements precede it). Personally, I thought it to have been his most passionate, inspired, and urgent message ever.
http://www.ignitedchurchlife.com/the-sword-of-islam-11-12-17/
Great word. Any feeling as to how soon and what parts of the world?
No, Alex.
I do not know the time of the event or where the whole thing is going to begin. But previews of what is to come have already begun running in several parts of the world, including here in India.
Sujit,
I am praying for you, your friends, family and the Body of Christ in India and throughout the surrounding areas. May the light of Him who dwells in you, the Holy Spirit of the Holy One of Israel, shine in the darkness as bright as the noon day sun. May He guide and protect you and yours and all of us who are called by His name, to do the will of our Abba Father till He chooses to call us home. Blessings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thank you so much for your prayers, Pat. Amen! May the Lord keep us all on the narrow road to life everlasting.
This is Truth, you will serve one Master or the other. And I do agree that most people cannot fathom how the world will come to persecute true Christians. Without the infilling of Holy Spirit, the vessel will hold darkness.
Sujit, that is a truly powerful word you have given us. Thank you.