Power belongs to God. When He moves, He bows the entire heavens. God's people fear the devil too much and God not enough. It is God who has the power, not Satan or Antichrist.

It is this writer's belief that perilous times soon are to come upon the earth. In that hour many of the believers will lose their faith in God. But the Lord's warriors, those who are doing His will in the earth, will call on the Lord for deliverance. Then God will bow the heavens and come down to deliver them from the evil one. No power of Satan, no antichrist, is as great as God.

Those who are promoting the "rapture mentality" are instilling in the believers a fear of Antichrist. They are not stressing the Ninety-first Psalm, the Thirty-fourth Psalm, or any of the other passages that reveal the ability of God to deliver us in the time of danger. Rather, they (unscripturally) are advising us that God will lift His saints out of the earth so "almighty Antichrist" cannot get at them.

Yet the Scriptures and the history of Israel and the Christian Church show that the Lord indicates His total disdain of the enemy by bringing His people safely through every difficulty without harm (witness Noah and his family in the flood; Israel in Goshen; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace; Daniel in the lions' den).

God is not in the habit of fleeing from His enemies nor in having His saints flee from the enemy. The trumpet of the Day of the Lord will not sound retreat. It will herald the attack of Armageddon.

God comes down. He does not sit disinterestedly in the heavens while we are assaulted on every side. He Himself comes to deliver us from the hand of the enemy. As for those who are preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation, the Lord Jesus will be with them to the end of the age.

We are accustomed to associating the Lord Jesus with light, with clarity of vision, with the fullness of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. When Jesus comes, everything is made plain.

But God is God! It often is His way to bring perplexity, to hide His methods and His purposes. One of the greatest trials of our faith occurs when God requires that we continue for a long period of time without understanding what is happening to us. The Lord insists we continue in faithfulness—unto death if necessary. It would be so much easier if we only understood what was taking place in our life and what was to be the outcome!

Ordinarily the Lord does not speak to us in an audible voice, instructing us in His will. Usually we have to struggle forward in the dark. We are forbidden to kindle sparks and walk in the light of our own fire. We must trust the Lord, patiently hoping He is bringing our desires to us. We hope He is guarding that which we have committed to Him.

God seldom tells us what to do; His way is to direct our paths. By so doing He remains God—unjudged by us.

God allows us to thirst, to hunger. He gives us water from the Rock. He sends down manna from above—just enough for the day. He humbles us in the wilderness and makes us know man does not live by bread alone but by every Word of God.

God chooses to work in the dark. The older saints know this. The younger Christians are appalled when they first encounter the Divine darkness. They think their world has come to an end. They are afraid. They are accustomed to light things, happy situations. But when it comes time for them to grow, God begins to accustom them to the darkness. They learn to walk with God without knowing where they are going. They come into strange experiences. God uses the darkness to confound His enemies and to teach His people to trust Him implicitly.

The new believer may serve God if he understands everything that is taking place. The warrior serves God when he has little knowledge of where he is being taken or why he is being taken there.

Blessed are those who have seen and have believed. More blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

The righteous run to the light of God when they can see it. But they are willing also to sit quietly and patiently in the darkness until the true light of the Lord shines before them.

To be continued.