Where do we go?
On the surface of this question, the easy answer is to say "off the X" or out of danger. If a storm or wildfire is coming, we evacuate to a safe area, which makes sense for a bug-out, and our plan of action will directly affect what we pack into our bags. Adding in the spiritual ramifications of when to go can be perplexing for many to wrap their head around. Without turning this into a theological discourse, it suffices to say that most of those in the mainstream church are false converts. They have a form of godliness but deny the truth and don't live as a disciple of Christ (2 Tim. 3:5). With false converts come false beliefs about the things of God. Anyone not conforming to their limited understanding of things is manipulated by fallacious arguments that either turn away the true disciple or seeker or beat them into submission by making them question the truth of the scriptures. This subject is what Jude wrote about in our New Testament and is likely why you rarely, if ever, hear about him (Jude 1:3-5).
Many feel that they will be raptured away before needing to Bug out or Prepare anyway. They willingly go along with society for the most part. God has not appointed us to suffer, they say.
John 16:33 "... In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds."
1 Peter 4: 12-19 "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you. But rejoice since you participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household, and if it starts with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."
No, the actual doers of the word that are not deceived (James 1:22) shall endure trouble and hardship. It’s part of being an honest Christian because it goes directly against the grain of society. Modern society is a construct of the enemy, and because Satan is the ruler of this present world- we are to break through the societal norms with the Kingdom of Heaven to show them the good things to come through Christ Jesus. So, by celebrating and remembering the sabbath days (festival days) of God, we get in sync with the calendar of heaven for weekly (7th Day Rest) and quarterly (Passover, Pentecost, Sukkot) rehearsals or practices that equip us to endure the hardship coming to face it with joy as the Kingdom of Heaven overthrows the kingdom of Satan forever. We’re given Old and New Testament examples that show us how to respond to these various trials and overcome them all through the grace of Christ.
The ancient church (Israel) watched as the plagues ravaged the Egyptians before the Exodus. They saw the carnage afterward but did not leave their homes because they were not directly affected. They were instructed to receive the Passover lamb and apply its blood to their home's door posts. They were given specific instructions on preparing their meal, dressing, disposing of their leftovers, and being prepared to go at any moment. It wasn't until after the midnight cry of the firstborn of Egypt being killed by the angel of death that Moses called for the people to gather their things to depart.
The annual rehearsal of Passover- the preparation of the meal, receiving the blood of the Lamb, eating quickly, leaving no trace, and preparing to leave our home- is part of God's mark on his followers.
Exodus 13:9 "This annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or forehead."
Exodus 13:16: " This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or forehead."
The celebration and remembrance of God's appointed times are the mark of God on the believer. Put another way, the evidence of having the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, on the doorposts of your mind and heart is that you celebrate and remember God's appointed times. Without His direction, the Holy Spirit will not guide you where to go when the time comes. One's mind goes through a little system of logic and intellectually ascents to specific facts, even specific facts of the Gospel, such as:
Do you believe Jesus? Yes.
Do you believe He came? Yes.
Do you believe that He died? Yes.
Do you believe that He rose again? Yes.
This logical ascent doesn't mean that a person is a true believer. They merely agree with the facts, and even the demons agree with that (James 2:19)! Thus, most believe someone is a Christian because they believe specific information. Others say that anyone, if they choose, can be a Christian. It is as simple as signing a membership card, raising your hand in service, or walking down an aisle for a new member's class, ascending to living in agreement with these simple facts. So, people say they agree to believe those things, but there is no change in their life, no affection for God, or repentance of sin, simply a new group of people to see each week.
If you believe those things and it has not changed you, transformed your mind, or made you more into the image of Jesus Christ, then there's a big question mark on whether you understand and believe the Gospel of Christ. Once you encounter Jesus Christ, it wrecks your life in the best possible way. If you have been calling yourself a Christian for years and feel you're only going through the religious motions, P.U.S.H. through- Pray Until Something Happens. I shared this testimony in the Gospel of Survival, but it bears repeating here.
After a few years of struggling in ministry and things not going as well for me as my pastors said they should, I came home frustrated one evening. Check that; I was pissed off! We were in foreclosure, had been selling off all our belongings to get by, and were getting ready for a repo on our car. I went to my forty-square-foot home office and knelt to pray. I prayed a dangerous prayer. "Lord, I need you to teach me how to pray because I obviously don't know how. I'm losing everything; I'm not succeeding in what you called me to do, so please teach me to pray. I'm not moving again until you teach me." I called out in true desperation at around ten o'clock at night. A few minutes later, came a peck at my door from Robyn, my wife, asking if I wanted lunch. I sprang into action, thinking I'd lost my mind until she said she'd heard me talking most of the night. I didn't hear it, though!
So, I went back to church, told my pastor, who thought I was crazy, and we went on about our day doing church stuff. I returned home after dinner, went back in, prayed, and didn't come out until the next day. This process of praying 8-12+ hours a day continued for two months. I wasn't sleeping in there; I was communing with Jesus. After a while, He began to speak to me and then visit with me. Yes, I know how it sounds. It sounds 100% Biblical, so get your mind right! That's how he met with his disciples: I, you, are disciples. The final day of prayer climaxed as I knew Jesus would send me out, and as I prayed that night, I asked what he'd appointed me to do. As I rattled off the ministry gifts of Ephesians 4:11, the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher, the atmosphere changed, which I was now used to. The air became heavy with a tangible dew; it became fragrant, and I knew I was in the presence of the King. He placed a weighted object upon my shoulders, which I instantly knew was a mantle or prayer shawl. Then, as his hands pressed upon my shoulders, He spoke from behind, and I felt his breath come past my right ear. "You are my Reformer," I collapsed under the weight, in tears at his feet, and he was gone as quickly as he had come. I knew I was His. He called me by his name for me.
Once I composed myself, I responded, “What does that mean?” It took me another ten years to figure that part out. I challenge you to pray until something happens in your life. I was fully committed to letting nothing stand in the way of hearing from Jesus. Not my family, my job, or my obligations. I had already allowed my finances to be ruined as I tried to obey his call. Until you reach this place of determination and are willing to seek Him alone, you will not be able to determine His pathway for your life in these troubled times (Matt. 6:33). Have you obeyed the Gospel? If you have, it is a source of rejoicing, but if you haven’t, repent of your sin of unbelief and sinful behavior and believe in Christ alone, God’s only provision for sinners.
So, to sum up thus far, if you have packed your B.O.B., have P.U.S.H.’d through your spiritual oppositions and are in a place of desperate reliance upon the direction of the Holy Spirit, you are ready to receive His guidance on where to direct your steps.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”
Paul warned that until the falling away from the church takes place and the Anti-Christ is revealed and worshipped as a deity, the day of the Lord will not take place. So, for clarity, it is AFTER the revealing of the anti-Christ that the coming of Jesus occurs. This means that when some are told that they have missed the rapture. Or that the Lord already came; these are lies intended to deceive believers to cause the prophesied falling away. We will continue to see an increase in birth pains and struggles in the world until the birth of the Anti-Christ takes place, at which time He will be revealed on the world’s stage, and only then shall the last things begin to happen.
Matthew 24:15-28 “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.”
Those in Judea (Israel) will run to hide in the mountains to the North with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They will be in immediate danger due to their recognition as the people in the land of God. We should prepare to do the same, have our B.O.B. prepared, and be able to flee at a moment’s notice.
“And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then, there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.”
Pray that calamity does not occur when we are unprepared for it. Once the sign is evident, we must flee; a terrible time of trouble is about to strike the entire earth. If we run, we shall be safe for a time.
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
False teachers will seek to take advantage of us along our travels, twisting the words and meaning of the Bible to lead us to ruin. They will claim special knowledge from heaven or attempt to lead us into traps. We’re not to believe them because when Jesus comes, every eye will see Him. The vultures refer to those seeking to pick whatever remains they can from God's people- this is a wordplay on demons coming to pick what they can from the body of Christ, the church.
Ultimately, we’ll be led by the Spirit to gather with other like-minded brothers and sisters in the wild spaces wholly divorced from the world’s bondage.
Matthew 8:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
As the wilderness church, we will carry the glory of the Lord and be the Tabernacle of His Presence during the last days.
How will we get there?
Through trial and suffering, this is the patience of the saints. We endure hardship as good soldiers in the army of the Lord. We bear the problems to rebuke the works of darkness, remain obedient to the commandments of God, and proclaim the testimony of Jesus Christ in the darkest of times (Rev. 12:7). The tribulation is simply the transition period between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Heaven; it is not a judgment or wrath against the church; we, like our ancient counterparts, will see these things occurring in the world (a type of Egypt) from our places of refuge in the wilderness.
2 Timothy 2: 3-4 "Endure suffering with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them."
Jeremiah 15: 2 "And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, This is what the LORD says: 'Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.'"
As I've shared, Jesus said we would have to flee (run) when the time came. Many will die fighting; the enemy will carry some to prison or internment camps, while others die in the wilderness, making their escape. Regardless, it's all okay. God will never leave or forsake us (Duet. 31:6), and as we've already seen, we all have a part to play in this plan. So when we run our leg of the race, we can rest assured we've done all we can to advance His Kingdom in the here and now.
1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 "For this, we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not seem Him before those which have died."
Death has no sting for the Christian. Blink, and we're home with the Lord, so fear of what may come is not the correct manner of thinking. Instead, we should be prepared to honor the Lord in obedience to His teaching.