The Lord Jesus is standing before your heart and my heart today. He is asking to be admitted.

If we permit the Lord to really take control of our life as He desires, we shall be able to stand in the days to come. In fact, we shall not only stand but help others to stand. We will become a tree of life, a tree planted by the waters of the Spirit of God.

But if we continue in the traditional American Christian way, holding our ticket to Heaven, trying to do what is right but failing more often than succeeding, neglecting to have a strong time of prayer with the Lord Jesus each day, not taking time to meditate in the Scriptures, waiting for an unscriptural "rapture" to save us from the trouble that everyone can see is upon us, we certainly shall not be able to stand in the pressures and deceptions of the future. Neither shall we be able to help anyone else stand in peace and joy throughout the age of moral horrors.

The recent uproar a few years ago among Christians concerning the computer glitches predicted for the change of millennium, is indicative of the state of American Christianity. The believers appeared to care little for Christ's opinion of the problem. They were concerned only with taking care of their food and customary comforts. There was no thought of repentance, only of material survival.

What then will be their reaction when some of our major cities are vaporized by nuclear devices smuggled into the country and activated by terrorists? The Christians will be screaming in terror and of no help to their unsaved neighbors. Why is this? It is because they are living in the flesh and trusting in the flesh.

Why are they living in the flesh and trusting in the flesh? It is because of unscriptural teaching. They have been taught that they have their ticket to Heaven and any moment they are going to be caught away from the horrors of the twenty-first century.

But those believers who patiently, moment by moment, have been entering the Kingdom of God, have little fear of their own death or the death of their loved ones. They are not living in the flesh or trusting in the flesh. They are living in Christ and trusting in Christ.

They know full well that over all of the perils of earth there sits enthroned the Lord Jesus Christ. He has control of the whole world. He is well able to protect all who have been serving Him patiently as His Kingdom is being formed in them.

One of the prophets said recently, in the name of the Lord, that while God dearly loves His people they are not His pets. They have not been serving Him and so they shall experience pain and suffering in the days to come.

This is true. Furthermore, God indeed shall watch over and protect those who truly are living in Him and for Him—those whose life He is becoming.

Heaven is a place. The Kingdom of God is a state of being.

To be continued.