It seems to me that numerous American Christians are not candidates to be raised from the dead when the Lord appears. They have never, in obedience to Jesus Christ, denied themselves and taken up their cross. They have to be happy. When they are not happy they wrench themselves from the Lord's prison and pursue their own pleasure. Such have no chance at all of rising to meet the Lord when He appears, unless they repent of their disobedience and carelessness toward their great salvation.

The door will be shut in the face of the foolish virgins.

In the eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel we are told how the little horn will be permitted to reach up and tear down part of the host of the saints. How can this be?

It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:10-12 NIV)

I don't know what you get out of the above passage, but to me it means when God shakes the heavens and the earth in the last days the saints are going to be challenged to get rid of their rebellion, their self-will. Those who maintain their own way, even though they have received the blood atonement and the Holy Spirit of God, will be torn down from their position at the right hand of God and will be trampled on by Satan.

We have seen in our own day some exalted Christian leaders torn down from their heavenly position and trampled on. Some have repented marvelously.

What else can we get from the passage? It is pretty plain. It may not conform to our traditions, but what does that matter?

When I was first saved I came under the influence of the Navigators. I even heard Dawson Trotman himself speak over in Hawaii during World War Two.

What was impressed on me by the Navigators was the inviolability of the Word of God. We are to trust the Word of God implicitly, memorizing it and standing on it.

I have tried to do this to the present hour. But I find that Christians sometimes refuse to believe what the Bible clearly states, so wedded are they to their traditions.

This certainly is the case with the so-called "pre-tribulation rapture." This doctrine is so manifestly unscriptural that one would suppose it would never be accepted by God's people. Yet multitudes of believers cling to the hope any moment now the Lord is going to catch them up to Heaven to live in their mansions.

I am glad to hear that David Wilkerson is warning the American believers to prepare themselves for the trouble that is coming. Maybe they will forget about the unscriptural "rapture" for now and prepare themselves to stand in the evil day, as the Bible exhorts us to do.

I think all of us Evangelical Christians had better get back to the teaching of the Navigators that we are to trust in the written Word of God and memorize passages of it as we are able.

To be continued.