|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

Whatever external struggle you're facing, if viewed in agreement with God, is allowed to give you victory in the internal struggle. The Christian life is one of progression...deep to deep. Jesus is a gate into the kingdom of God, but He is also the way. He showed us the way deeper in...safer in the middle. External tribulation is good for a believer...not so we accept every negative thing as "God's will"...but so that as we wrestle with it...resist the enemy and deny the flesh...our heart grows. Romans 5:3-5 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Paul was saying "tribulation is good incentive to draw on the Spirit inside of me." God resides in us if we belong to the kingdom. That mean there is no external trouble more pow...

Welcome to a new era. This is a massive fulfillment of prophecy...and it came like lightning out of nowhere. Up to 11,000 fighters pulled this off and the movement is growing like wildfire. The people of the earth actually paying attention stand stunned this could actually happen. The armies of the earth seem powerless or unwilling to do much about it! The USA has actually been a huge, I think clearly intentional, part of bringing this about. By partnering with Sunni fighters who's stated desire is to have an Islamic caliphate in Egypt, then in Libya, then in Syria...we have gotten exactly what they promised. We stirred up the Arab Spring "pot" by holding hands with the grand daddy to Al Qaeda and Hamas...called the Muslim Brotherhood...and then act surprised when the grand kids start to take over the land!... I have been talking about this for the last 18 months. The Bible says this will happen. It hasn't happened quite the way I thought it would happen...but it has,...

We are in a war. Satan is in it to win it. Jesus already won it, but He has assigned us to enforce His victory. The war doesn't stop just because we do. The worst thing we can do is take a break from guarding our thought-life, renewing our minds, and climbing near and nearer to the source of life. Satan loves nothing more than when we "give ourselves a break"...then He can attack unhindered... The secret to our war is that we submit to the easy yoke and the light burden. It is a burden and a yoke, but it is easier and lighter than the one the world would put on you. The world wants to free your flesh so it will devour your spirit. The world's definition of "freedom" is a heavy yoke that will quench out all life. Jesus' yoke is hard on the flesh and frees the spirit. Jesus' yoke denies the flesh so the spirit can lead. This is what will free you now, and forever. Don't give up. Don't give in. If you don't quit, you will win. Hebrews 12:11-...

The days we are living in are called the "end of the age," or the "last days," or the "day of the Lord," or "that day" in the Bible. If you use a Bible program, searching for those phrases will reveal that hundreds of chapters in the Bible are specifically about the time we live in. The day of the Lord is like a baby being born. That is the primary analogy to understand. Jesus described it like this: John 16:19-24 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human...

The entire book of Daniel is an end time book. From chapter 1 through chapter 12, every bit of the book is insight into our generation. In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. Daniel seeks God and God shows Him the dream is about four "Global Superpower" empires that will control Babylon: 1. A head of Gold, representing Nebuchadnezzar's Empire. 2. A chest and arms of silver, representing The Medes and Persians who would succeed Nebuchadnezzar. 3. A bronze belly and thighs, representing Alexander the Greats Greece, and then the fourth empire: Daniel 2:40-45 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of ...

God is the life source of all creation. The sun is a dim alternative to the bright life-giving light of God. Drawing near to Him is drawing near to more life. There is a lie in the world that "balance" will make your life better. This is a straight up deception meant to keep you from life. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy...Jesus came for the exact opposite purpose: John 10:10 NKJV The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. People don't burn out from too much of the source of life...people burn out from trying to live two lives...one in the world and one in God. This is unsustainable. The lie is "I need a break from chasing after God. I need some me time." The truth is chasing after God is the best me time you can have to get refreshed. God isn't looking for us to build something in His name. THAT will wear you out. God isn't looking for peop...

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. It is no accident that those aligned with the revived Ottoman Caliphate are beheading people. This is a prophetic sign. It is also no accident that the Lord showed me, and others, that a revived Caliphate was a big part of what was coming. About seven months ago I stated that I believed the tribulation had begun, for what I believe are very Biblical reasons. I've been called a false prophet, but the truth is I wasn't prophesying, I was observing some very improbable political movements and statements the Bible was pretty clear about and connecting them to the news. I wasn't foretelling...I was witnessing. At ...

Financial anxiety? Many times in my life what feels like the trials and testing turn out to be the very things that were preparing me for what was next. I hear the Lord saying that right now, many are feeling a very specific financial pressure...financial anxiety. Maybe you have all you need for today, but when you start to look ahead, anxiety sets in about whether what you have will last. The Lord says definitively "No, it won't. Let me tell you how to get ready" What?! Tom! Where is the encouragement? The faith? The pat Christian answer that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and if he needs to sell one to pay your rent, He will?! Listen friends, we live in a very important season called the "day of the Lord". Specific tests are associated with "that day." God works all things for the good of those who love Him. All things. Right now, God is using financial pressure to prepare many for a very intense reality: global manipulation using a new glob...

I have heard it taught lately that the Book of Revelation only talks about the Church in the first three Chapters and then never mentions her again, and that is evidence that she will be removed before the Great Tribulation begins. However, a careful reading of the book itself shows this is clearly not the case. Chapter 1 of Revelation starts out right away by saying "read and keep" the prophecies of the book...all of them. how can you "keep them" if you aren't present for them?! Revelation 1:1-3 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. The truth is, the greatest fulfillment of the great commiss...

Matthew 24:37-39 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. In the days of Noah, one family built an ark and lived, and other families kept going on about their business assuming nothing extraordinary would happen. Noah and his sons built a boat where there was no water and where no rain had ever fallen. There would seem to be no reason for all the extravagant effort and expense UNTIL the time Noah knew of actually came. The same judgment...40 days and nights of rain...something brand new...hit both types of people: ready and unready. The judgment had two different effects depending on the PREVIOUS response to God. The rain raised up the ready people and drowned those who did nothing to respond to God. Judgm...

Luke 21:25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; The return of Jesus is perplexing in the natural. The nations are distressed, along with all the other events, but Jesus promised it would all be with "perplexity." It isn't clear why the nations are doing what they are doing. It isn't clear how God's people should respond. It actually requires studying the end time events to see clearly. Main Entry: per·plex Pronunciation: \pər-ˈpleks\ Function: verb 1 : to make unable to grasp something clearly or to think logically and decisively about something <her attitude perplexes me> <a perplexing problem> 2 : to make intricate or involved : This is promised to be a significant part of the end times in NUMEROUS places in the Bible: Isaiah 22:5, 11-14 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord God of hosts In the Valley ...