All of the prophecies about the end of this age point to this being the time of the greatest troubles the world has ever had. Sound encouraging? It is to true disciples. True disciples are not encouraged or discouraged by what’s happening in this world. This is when they will shine like the stars of heaven. What I am sharing in these next two Words for the Week is how we can go through these times and make them our best times.

       There’s a simple answer to this: be a martyr every day. Martyrs...

       History is a witness that if a truth gets institutionalized, it will become politicized and corrupted. This includes scientific truth or any other truth. Once it gets institutionalized, it can be subjected to the worst of fallen human nature. Those who stand for the purity of the truth and against its corruption will be seen as enemies of the institution and be persecuted by it.

       An example of this is how the movement created by the Maccabees to defend the faith of the Jews from being corrupted by the Greeks was institutionalized and became...

“Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood. So then, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come” (Hebrews 13:12-14).

       Jesus lived and ministered outside the camp. He never became a part of the camp, or establishment—and neither did His disciples for the first few generations. When Christianity became an institution, it was so quickly corrupted that many of its doctrines were so changed that...

       I suspect that some have now dropped their Word for the Week subscriptions because they became impatient waiting for me to get into more of the books of Daniel and Revelation. Patience is necessary, because as the Lord told John in the beginning of Revelation, this was given to His bondservants. Without the heart of a bondservant—the patient willingness to learn of their Master and obey Him in everything—they cannot understand what we will soon get into with much more detail.

       The better we get to know Him, the better we will know...

       Everything the devil does to thwart the work of God, or that men do to supplant His work, ultimately advances the work of God. God’s work on His city and dwelling place among men has continued to benefit through the worst of times. The work is tested by these attacks, but it grows stronger through them. So, don’t waste your trials, but resolve to use them.

       Those who endure persecution and trials—who do not quit—will come out of them better, stronger, and more like our Lord who suffered so much for our sake....