Tell that to those who have lost their heads.
These are the martyrs of the tribulation period. We have been in the wilderness for a time, but we will also see our haven consumed by the beast of secular humanism.
*Revelation 12:13-14*
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
The woman is the church that was given wings to be nourished. We are living in this wilderness.
Now, will it get worse for us? Sure, but don't downplay how awful it has already been for a large contingent of the church.
Those beheaded are not martyred in Revelation 13.
They are not the church. Satan's 42 months of abomination of desolation is not even the time of Jacob's trouble.
The tribulation that started at Pentecost is not Jacob's trouble, known as Thee Great Tribulation. Yes the church has had a literal 1993 year great tribulation.
Jacob's trouble is after the King arrives to claim the throne of David, Zechariah 14, Matthew 25:31, and Matthew 13.
Satan will not be tempting Jesus in private like in the first century. Satan will be out in the open sowing the tares while Jesus as King is sowing the wheat. The GT of Jacob's trouble is after the Second Coming. Jeremiah 30:3-18
"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king (Jesus the Christ the King; Daniel 9), whom I will raise up unto them. Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee:
though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines. All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased. Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee. Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after. Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof."
This restoration is not about the first century work of Messiah. Neither is Zechariah 14.
Because Jesus did not complete this in the first century:
"When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:"
This is when Jacob, not just Judah is brought back from all the nations. This is the GT when all the nations are judged. The full realization of all the Gentiles had not even gotten started in the first century. Jacob was still being scattered across the earth, subject to the whims of the Gentiles.
"I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew..... For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."
Paul was not denying the Gospel of Christ. The King deliverer part was still future.
Many claim that the church was the answer to Daniel 9:24. But the blindness was given to Jacob, both Israel and Judah, while the church would flourish among the Gentiles. When the fulness of the Gentiles comes in, full stop, is the Second Coming, the 6th Seal.
The Trumpets gather the nation of Israel out of all the other nations.
Yes we see the attempt of man at starting Israel as a Nation.
"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
"And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled."
When the Lord is at work, you will know the difference between Great Tribulation and the church's great tribulation. Being beheaded now is martyrdom. Being beheaded after the Second Coming is a matter of choosing God or choosing Satan. That is the alter call, not the result of the alter call.
The Trumpets show you the GT experience. The pit has not been opened (5th Trumpet). The Second Coming is prior to that. Fire has not come and burned up all the works of man. That is the 6th Seal at the Second Coming. The GT is worse than the stone age. In the stone age people knew how to survive. After the Second Coming, you have humans who are used to modern convenience, forced into the stone age.
"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:"
In this stone age they are asking the rocks and mountains to kill them, literally fall on them to avoid the GT brought on by The Lord's punishment upon all nations. You think it won't be a drastic difference?
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."
"But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
Jacob's trouble is just starting at the 6th Seal and ends by the time the 7 Thunders start. Then it will be the harvest of the wheat and tares.
"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write:"
"Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
It seems there will be a clear difference between the trouble now, and what will come, even if one is not aware that the Second Coming already happened and they cannot figure out why things have drastically changed.