From GENERALS to FOOTSOLDIERS of CHRIST: HEAR, PREPARE, ACT - By Greg Reid

From Greg Reid:
HEAR. PREPARE. ACT.

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THE CHURCH and COVID19—Gregory Reid(Intrv) The Party’s Over!

Dear Friends,

This will be one of the most important letters I have written in over 45 years. 

*** Please read it carefully, and share it with others. ***

We could have never imagined that we would have experienced what we are going through right now. And even as I write this, the future of all this is not clear.
Regardless, this is a moment for the church of Jesus to listen, to learn, to take action. The party is over. The games have to stop. We have to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying in this moment and respond to His directives. More is at stake than we can know.
As new believers in the 1970’s, we were so excited about the fact that Jesus was coming back! We cut our teeth on The Late Great Planet Earth, and Larry Norman’s I Wish We’d All Been Ready. Some went out and got married in the “rapture rush” before He returned.

All these years have passed. And although He has not yet returned, and many have abandoned that hope, I have not. In fact, I believe we are at the precipice of the fulfillment of all things.
Even if we are not, we as the church are now forced to face some harsh realities. The first one is that everything can change overnight.
We certainly got a taste of that during 9/11. But this is more serious, and its consequences may be more long-term and require our prayer and our attention in an unprecedented way.
As I write this, I am aware that things are changing very rapidly, and as soon as I say “as of this writing,” the facts might be changed in days, even before you get this. Nevertheless, I am going to write what I feel God is showing me at this moment.

Was this Covid19 virus created in a lab? Is it a judgment? Was it accidental or deliberate? These are things I cannot fully answer here. But there are things we must address.
First, we were totally unprepared for what hit us. We as the church have been so used to things remaining full-speed ahead that we weren’t ready for a complete halt. To our credit, we managed to get up and running pretty fast on social media. And I think it has helped us realize how much we took for granted the simple act of being able to get together, shake hands, hug our friends.

In some ways, this was our 9/11 part two. And I believe what God allows, is always to get our attention, to call us to repentance, to call us to turn our hearts to him. One of my greatest regrets about this time in isolation and lock-down as a nation is that I have seen almost no call for repentance, nor a crying out to God for mercy, nor an understanding of how crucial it is for God to intervene.

I know there are exceptions, but by and large, what I have seen and heard from church leaders is that this is an adjustment, let’s find out how to keep the organization going, and how to make sure the church survives when tithes fall so radically. And yes, those things matter, but I am not hearing about how vital it is to use this time to seek the face of God.

We are so used to NOT suffering and doing without, that we have adjusted, but it is with the idea that things will get better, just hang on, the good times will return. And they may not. Are we prepared for that? How have we spent this time? Seeking God for answers, for strength to walk through difficulty with our faith in Him intact, to look to eternity which is our REAL home – or have we just used it to learn a new hobby, binge-watch a show, play endless videogames?

I fear that many have just been whistling in the dark, waiting for it all to go away. Even if things do improve, have we wasted this precious time that has been given to us to prepare, to get ready to really focus on reaching the lost in every and any way we can, knowing that the world is heading towards times of crisis which are times people in need will most likely be ready to listen?

I believe that this crisis is a trial run. There are bigger and more serious things ahead. More on that in a moment...
But first, when it became evident that bad things were coming, panic caused people to clear out the shelves at the stores. Not since the Y2k scare and so many Christians started hoarding and preparing for the end have I seen such a strong reaction to an event.
Even before this, I had been telling believers that common wisdom dictates that, if possible, we have at least 2-weeks’ worth of basics in case of a crisis.

Some Christians think no preparation is necessary, and some want to go back into Y2k mode. I believe we need to begin to ask the Lord what we personally should do. Not all “prepping” is a bad idea. Remember that God called Joseph to prepare in advance for a coming famine. And doing nothing is not necessarily faith.

If and when this current crisis passes, I have been left with a clear picture of the bigger picture, a picture of what is to come and will affect every believer if Jesus doesn’t return first. It is a four-part picture of the enemy’s plans to fulfill his goal of one government, one religion, and one social order for antichrist to rule over. I write this fully aware that many of the world’s believers are already suffering persecution and may be better prepared than us.

This crisis has provided opportunities for mechanisms to be put in place that, not too long from now, will be implemented to complete the goals of this one-world antichrist system.

1. Consolidation
This crisis has brought a consolidation of previously separate resources under a unified cause: Medical, social, governmental, law enforcement, communication, education, information, entertainment, and churches. In just a flash, everyone came together almost without question to do whatever it took to survive. (“We’re all in this together - and call this number if you see someone not complying.”)

As with the Patriot Act, in good hands, there were good things. In the same way, many of these extraordinary measures were good, but in wicked hands, precedents have been set that will make it easy to bring all those things together and demand compliance. This, of course, especially will affect the church.

2. Separation
Again, separating the elderly for their protection has been a good thing to preserve their lives. But inch by inch, I have begun to see this line moved forward, and I believe it is for a bigger purpose.
For years there has been a global agenda in place concerning population control. Part of the UN, EU, and other entities’ wholesale approval and financing of the abortion industry is about population control.

In the healthcare industry, there has been a growing concern about what were called “death panels” – i.e., letting the medical community, doctors, and administrators make decisions about “quality of life” for both end of life as well as those who are special needs. At the time, some of these concerns raised the alarm as to the eugenics and population control-based agendas some had, and what these ideas would mean in the wrong hands.

I believe there is a behind-the-scenes plan to “cull the herd” to enforce population control, which Bill Gates has not only endorsed but mentioned vaccinations as part of that agenda.

The elderly are seen by many in political and social power as a massive drain on the healthcare system. I believe this crisis has provided the beginning of mechanisms for people other than family members to begin to make end-of-life and priority care decisions.

But again, let’s bring that down to the level that it affects believers. Everything about this crisis has been about “do this because you care about grandpa and grandma.” So don’t take them to the hospital if they get Covid19. And don’t visit them if they are Covid19 positive. Again, sounds good, until you realize how absolutely demoralizing and devastating and life-endangering long-term isolation is for the elderly.

Again, hopefully, this is temporary. But a MECHANISM is now in place. We cannot forget that part of the Nazi program was to separate the Jews, the sick, the mentally handicapped and the elderly.

I have for some time, as you know, been concerned about the separation of generations in the church. Beginning with the millennial emergent churches, they began to ease out the older believers and relegate them to social clubs and baking groups. I remember so clearly seeing one of these up and coming new church superstars saying,

“We want to thank all our fathers and mothers in the Lord who got us to this place. Now it’s time to GET OFF THE STAGE AND LET US DO WHAT WE DO.”

It was horrifying and prophetic. I already saw a church that was so weak in doctrine, word, and discernment that it couldn’t tell a snake from a prophet, and now I could see the young church eventually becoming a Lord of the Flies movie where they had neither the tools nor the wisdom nor the maturity to prevent spiritual chaos and falling into the lies that are coming to deceive the church.

Our state mandate during this crisis – again, some wisdom – also had things that really concerned me. One – keep everyone over 65 away from church until we say so. (I would not be able to go under this mandate.) Two, why not think about just having entirely separate services for those over 65 going forward?

I know the elderly are more at risk. And it remains to be seen what the real facts are about ALL of this. But if the enemy gets his way, he’s going to completely sever a young and vulnerable church from some of the most vital resources they need to forward the Gospel and raise up disciples. Does this concern you? It really, really, should.

Unfortunately, the western church has been moving in this direction for quite some time. I will never forget being at a conference that was concluded by a night of worship from one of the most anointed and genuine worship leaders of my lifetime. Only ten people showed up. The pastor said, “look at what we have done to our treasures. Shame on us.”

Let me take this a step further. I realize we have now created a church world where the elderly are already beginning to feel useless and unneeded. And I know some almost would rather stay home, since we have answered their request for a few hymns and maybe a little less volume with behind the scenes making fun of them (I have heard it myself) and light shows and smoke machines and more volume.
Nevertheless – for many – that Sunday, that chance to shake a hand, hug a neck, maybe be prayed for, was priceless, it connected them to us and we to them – is now going away unless we pay attention.

Now here’s the real picture. God has always been about family, and passing down truth and heritage from generation to generation, even in the church. Elisha had an Elijah. Naomi had a Ruth. Timothy had a Paul. That is how the church and God’s people grew. And the one scriptural time that a King took advice from his college buddies and ignored his father’s counselors, it split the Kingdom in two.

Even when I was a youth pastor, I saw the crying need to bring the young and the older together. To care for each other, to learn from each other, to grow the church. Instead, we see the divide widen, to our weakening.

As someone who has studied revivals and moves of God for some time, it has not escaped my attention that nearly every powerful move of God – including the Jesus movement that gave me birth into the Kingdom – was brought about through hands full of elderly saints gathering together, getting on their knees and crying out to God for mercy for our land, for His church, crying out for Him to visit His church and bring souls into the Kingdom!
Satan wants all of that to be gone. Can you see what is happening, and what we have been unknowingly complicit in for some time?

WE HAVE CAST ASIDE OUR GENERALS!

We have relegated those who have the history, the guts, and the power of prayer to a back corner to fade away. This message is, in part, a cry to the leaders of the church to RAISE UP OUR GENERALS AGAIN! Put them back on the front line of prayer!

More than programs, more than new care group studies, more than any of the other things that have been deemed so important to church growth in our time, we need to re-enlist those generals in the faith to come and help us. And if you are in that category, I am asking you – do not give in to the lies that your usefulness is over. WE NEED YOU! Please – cry out to God for us in this hour, pray for revival, pray for the church to return to the fear of God and holiness, and the power of the word of God! You have never been needed as much as you are at this hour.

3. Sterilization
Satan hates the Gospel, and the spreading of it, with all he has. He wants it silenced in this hour. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples.” Satan wants to use Covid19 to force believers to “stay home and shut up.” But the church, to our credit, has adapted. We got online or learned to get online to “do church.” It’s largely worked out well, all with the idea that it will probably be a work-around until we could get back together again, and it has expanded our outreach to a degree.

But now some in government are saying that this may have to be a more permanent change. There is a call for much smaller congregational meetings. That will wreck megachurches. Many are not equipped for smaller services, and having to hold several services in a day is something we are just not prepared to do, nor do we have the people spiritually qualified to help the pastor fill that gap, since a pastor is already overloaded if they do three services a day. But we COULD adapt, if that were the case.

But I want you to see another bigger picture, one that goes along with the global antichrist system to come, one I have partially warned about before.
More and more, everything we do as believers is becoming tied in, hooked in, and dependent on social media and the “big three” – Google, Facebook, and YouTube. Add Amazon to that group and we are now already symbiotic with it all.

A good friend who knows that big business world told me, “In China, the police state is run by the communist party. Here, it is run by Google, Facebook, and YouTube.”

These powerful organizations are becoming the source and arbiters of truth, and they feel they have the power to decide what we should know and what they will withhold from us. YouTube has already shut down some churches who asked for money, and Facebook has an active team of “fact-checkers” (we call them the Facebook Police) who decide which posts “violate community standards” and take them down.

I have begun to have some of my posts scrutinized. More and more believers are having their Facebook accounts deactivated for “violating community standards” – that being, whatever violates their Christ-less view of the world.

The fact is, these are private companies. Christians have NO RIGHTS to tell them they can’t remove us from their system should they so choose. And more and more, churches and believers who talk about the last days, new world order, anti-occult info, etc. will be removed because we are “fake news” or we are “causing fear and panic.”

Even Amazon has begun to ban certain books. It is a personal concern because nearly all my books are produced through and are made available through Amazon now. They could pull the plug in a second. I have already been asking God to raise up and bring together believers with the foresight, ability, and resources to create alternate avenues for Christian authors, journalists, media creators and writers.

We need to be proactive about these things. It’s not for IF it happens, but WHEN. If everything in social media is shut down, and they restrict gathering together either by numbers or by edicts dictating the CONTENT of what you preach and teach, then the enemy’s plan to sterilize the church and strangle its ability to reproduce believers and make disciples will be in full swing.

We need to THINK about these possibilities, probabilities, and as leaders and pastors and ministry people and believers, ask God for plans and strategies to forward His work no matter WHAT this world system does.

For, in the end, nothing can stop the real church of Jesus Christ. As this world system begins to crack down on churches in the west, we will see the first round of deliberate actions taken which will begin to force the western church to go to house churches. And it won’t stop the church, it will in fact will make us stronger than we ever have been. And they day may soon come when that is not only preferable but necessary. The time is coming when if a formal church wants to function, they will be forced to agree to not talk about a number of subjects – including end-time subjects “that put fear and panic into people” – or face being shut down. And if Jesus does not return soon, house churches will be declared an illegal activity as well.

I am not sharing any of this to put people in fear but to wake people up. We have been asleep, and it is time to wake up, armor up, get our priorities in order, and pray, pray, pray for direction, for strategies, and for the courage to further the Gospel in every and any way we can.

4. Elimination
The enemy’s end-time plan mandates that he pursue believers and the church and do all he can to remove our RIGHTS, our VOICE, our MESSAGE, and our PRESENCE in the public square.
Try not to think solely as an American for a brief moment. Yes, our constitutional rights are being threatened. And this next election, it is clear to me, will decide whether we have perhaps four more years of the freedoms we have enjoyed, or all the mechanisms that have been put in place through this crisis will be used to make us bow the knee to the EU and the anti-Christ system to come.

But as believers in the Lord Jesus, we have to, more than ever, remember that we are citizens of another Kingdom. Even if our American rights go away, our commission to preach the Gospel has not changed. It will cause each of us to make a decision like so many in other countries for thousands of years have had to make:

WHO ARE YOU GOING TO SERVE?
During this crisis, we have done our best to obey those in authority to help get through this crisis. But the time will come when other powers will come and begin to demand – and use this crisis as precedent – that we obey other laws that contradict our clear calling. Nebuchadnezzar-type laws. Laws like the early church had to face. And it is then that we must be prepared to say, “We ought to obey God rather than man.”

And we need to begin to pray now that God will raise up an army of believers, especially young believers, that will stand and speak the truth and carry the saving message and power of God to the world, no matter what they are told is illegal, no matter what it may cost, even their lives. Pastors will have to decide that praying for the sick and laying on of hands and raising a flock overrules any government mandate. Believers in China are already deciding that – and paying the price for doing so. Our time is coming.

This is the time for every believer and every pastor and ministry leader near and far to see the handwriting on the wall and begin to prepare for what is coming. Again, this crisis was a trial run, whether by accident or created. And I have heard those with anti-Jesus political and social goals say,
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
For them, it means using all of this to take more control, to strengthen their hand, to further their godless agenda. Well, let’s turn it around. Do not let this crisis go to waste. Use it to seek God for His plans and purposes, use it to begin to plan and be proactive and strategize for the eventualities I have put forth here. We may yet have time to do some real preparation.

Now is the time to begin to prepare to operate without the social media mechanisms we have come to depend on. Now is when we can begin to plan to gather regardless of the circumstances.

Now is when we can enlist an army of elderly prayer warriors to go to war with and for us. And now – oh, saints, more than anything, NOW is the time when we need to set our sights on heavenly reality and invest everything we have – not in this world which shall pass away – but in the eternity God has prepared for those who love Him.

No matter what – we must put our trust in the one who said He would never leave us or forsake us – the one who promised He would provide for our every need.
“Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you His Kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

My prayer is that, through these trembling words, God will have helped you to be ready for whatever comes, to have loosened your worldly tent pegs and begin to prepare for our REAL home, a City whose builder and maker is God, where we, as pilgrims and strangers on this earth, will finally be free from the troubles of this life. 
And until then, we ARE free, for whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Circumstances come and go – but our freedom is unbreakable in Jesus. We have His peace. And we know we will overcome, because as the old saying goes, we’ve read the back of the book and WE WIN!

Gregory R Reid

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What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. ~ Psalms 56:3-4

Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ~ Isaiah 41:10

So that we may boldly say, The Lord [is] my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. ~ Hebrews 13:6