[Comment #5 suggests that Corrie didn’t write this letter. We do know for sure that Corrie did write portions of this elsewhere (including the quote I start this post with), and it does seem to be consistent with her thought. If anyone has further insight, please let me know.]
– –
When I was a little girl…, I went to my father and said, “Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.” “Tell me,” said Father, “When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?”
“No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train.” “That is right,” my father said, “and so it is with God’s strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need – just in time.“
………………………….
From: Revival School (Andrew Strom)
ESCAPE TRIBULATION? -WRONG! -Corrie Ten Boom.
Miss Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch survivor of the Nazi Concentration Camps, and a lifelong missionary. Corrie was a believer in facing tribulation. She was one of the many people who were persecuted in concentration camps during the World War II. Her family was murdered before her eyes, but though her life was threatened, God led her through that terrible time. She lived to testify all over the world of how God brought her out of that time of trouble. In the worst days in the concentration camp she and her sister Betsy discovered that “there is no pit so deep that the Presence of God is not there with us”. In an interview titled “Prepared for the Coming Tribulation”, Miss Corrie Ten Boom held very definite view concerning the rapture. In the following message she shared a plea for the saints to prepare themselves for the possibility that at some point their faith may be tested. It serves today as a timely warning to us in the comfortable and complacent western church as we approach the threshold of the end-time drama.
Here is her exhortation to us from a letter she wrote in 1974:
______________
“The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do. They are to be streams of living water, channels of mercy to those who are still in the world. It is possible for them to do this because they are overcomers.
Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They are representatives from Heaven to this dying world. And because of our presence here, things will change.
My sister, Betsy, and I were in the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck because we committed the crime of loving Jews. Seven hundred of us from Holland, France, Russia, Poland and Belgium were herded into a room built for two hundred. As far as I knew, Betsy and I were the only two representatives of Heaven in that room.
We may have been the Lord’s only representatives in that place of hatred, yet because of our presence there, things changed. Jesus said, “In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” We too, are to be overcomers – bringing the light of Jesus into a world filled with darkness and hate.
Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” for I have found where it is written that Jesus said, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things: and I will be His God, and he shall be My son.” This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive – but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.
Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick. “Yes, the Lord will heal me,”, Betsy said with confidence. She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.
It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy’s death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.
There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.
In China, the Christians were told, “Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured.” Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,
“We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes – to stand and not faint.”
I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next.
Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus’ sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, “Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation.” Then I write it down and learn it by heart.
When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, “Nothing could be any worse than today.” But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.
“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you; on their part evil is spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.” (I Peter 3:14)
I found myself saying, “Hallelujah! Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!”
In America, the churches sing, “Let the congregation escape tribulation”, but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.
Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.
The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, “Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?”
The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.
“When I was a little girl, ” I said, “I went to my father and said, ‘Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.” “Tell me,” said Father, “When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?”
“No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train.” “That is right,” my father said, “and so it is with God’s strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need – just in time.”
My African friends were nodding and smiling. Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing,
“In the sweet, by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.”
Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed. I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago. But I must tell you something. I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.
How can we get ready for the persecution? First we need to feed on the word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being. This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorize long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.
Next we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life- changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.
We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.
In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other. But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting. The fruit of the Spirit should be the dominant force of every Christian’s life.
Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years, including the horrible Nazi concentration camp, that I might have to go through the tribulation also. But then I read the Bible and I am glad.
When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord, we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us. That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through. No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes. Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you. For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has He ever left me, or let me down.
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”, for I know that to all who overcome, He shall give the crown of life. Hallelujah!
Source (includes many comments)
Related:
(video) Corrie Ten Boom interviewed by Kathryn Kuhlman — How she OVERCAME HATRED to FORGIVE her ENEMIES to have JOY in her heart during the worst suffering! — “Hatred is murder in God’s eyes.” “You cannot have compromise with Jesus. You have to surrender all.” “The light of Jesus Christ is stronger than the deepest darkness.”
Corrie ten Boom remembered: Katherine Albrecht interviews Pam Moore, Corrie’s caretaker. Corrie would say, today: “Are you ready? Are you at peace with God? Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? Is He your Lord?” “Have you forgiven? Is there anybody you’ve not forgiven. God can help you forgive.”
Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001): TORTURED FOR CHRIST in Atheist Romania — Shows his scars; but THE GLORY!: “We were beaten; we were tortured, but JUST AS SAINT STEPHEN, while they threw stones at him DID NOT SEE his murderers, did not see the stones, but saw heaven open…, so WE DIDN’T SEE anymore the communist torturers. We didn’t see that we are in prison. We were SURROUNDED BY ANGELS. We were with God.”
[6-minute video] Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001): Solitary Confinement & Tortured for Christ for 14 Years — “You wonder why I smile. … I remember it as a glorious time. The bride was in the embraces of the Heavenly Bridegroom. We received His Holy Kiss. We knew His caresses. It has been one of the most beautiful times of my life!”
[full movie] ‘THE ROBE’ (1953) — The GOD of ALL COMFORT! “As the SUFFERINGS of Christ ABOUND to us, OUR COMFORT also ABOUNDS through Christ!!!” (2 Cor. 1)
[9-minute AMAZING video] Arrested in Iran, horrified missionary, Dan Baumann has VISION OF JESUS in jail, Whose love SETS HIM FREE TO LOVE his torturer, who leads others to Christ. Set free in his heart, God gives Dan TOTALLY HONEST words to speak at the trial for 20 minutes. And Dan was released from Iran too! — “God gave me the grace to stand up and speak the truth. And in doing so it brought freedom in my heart. I AM FREE!!!!!!!”
Wallace
[Great and much needed blog! BTW, I found the following timely web piece not long ago. Wallace]
PRETRIB RAPTURE – HIDDEN FACTS !
How can the “rapture” be “imminent”? Acts 3:21 says that Jesus “must” stay in heaven (He is now there with the Father) “until the times of restitution of all things” which includes, says Scofield, “the restoration of the theocracy under David’s Son” which obviously can’t begin before or during Antichrist’s reign. Since Jesus must personally participate in the rapture, and since He can’t even leave heaven before the tribulation ends, the rapture therefore cannot take place before the end of the trib! Paul explains the “times and the seasons” (I Thess. 5:1) of the catching up (I Thess. 4:17) as the “day of the Lord” (5:2) (which FOLLOWS the posttrib sun/moon darkening – Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20) WHEN “sudden destruction” (5:3) of the wicked occurs! (If the wicked are destroyed before or during the trib, who would be left alive to serve the Antichrist?) Paul also ties the change-into-immortality “rapture” (I Cor. 15:52) to the posttrib end of “death” (15:54)! (Will death be ended before or during the trib?) If anyone wonders how long pretrib rapturism has been taught, he or she can Google “Pretrib Rapture Diehards.” Many are unaware that before 1830 all Christians had always viewed I Thess. 4’s “catching up” as an integral part of the final second coming to earth. In 1830 it was stretched forward and turned into a separate coming of Christ. To further strengthen their novel view, which the mass of evangelical scholars rejected throughout the 1800s, pretrib teachers in the early 1900s began to stretch forward the “day of the Lord” (what Darby and Scofield never dared to do) and hook it up with their already-stretched-forward “rapture.” Many leading evangelical scholars still weren’t convinced of pretrib, so pretrib teachers then began teaching that the “falling away” of II Thess. 2:3 is really a pretrib rapture (the same as saying that the “rapture” in 2:3 must happen before the “rapture” [“gathering”] in 2:1 can happen – the height of desperation!). Other Google articles throwing light on long-covered-up facts about the 178-year-old pretrib rapture view include “Famous Rapture Watchers,” “X-Raying Margaret,” “Revisers of Pretrib Rapture History,” “Thomas Ice (Bloopers),” “Wily Jeffrey,” “The Rapture Index (Mad Theology),” “America’s Pretrib Rapture Traffickers,” “Roots of (Warlike) Christian Zionism,” “Scholars Weigh My Research,” “Pretrib Hypocrisy,” “Pretrib Rapture Desperados” and “Deceiving and Being Deceived” – all by the author of the bestselling book “The Rapture Plot” which is available at Armageddon Books online. Just my two cents’ worth.
katie
Thank u. I love Corries encouragement, and see many not preparing for danger, yet Jesus said we will have it. Seems Christians won’t be prepared for trouble because of rapture teachings, which Ive heard is what world leaders want, so they can kill them more easily in another massacre like in ww2. None knows the day of Christs second return, but we do know everyone dies some day, and those who know him personally will instantly be with him in heaven. This is a rapture, that it seems people don’t recognize, and one it seems we should be prepared for every day. The Lord said to not be concerned about the day or hour of his return, but instead to BE READY, by obeying him daily by walking in HIS SPIRIT instead of sin. Corrie seems correct in her observations and experiences, and from what I’ve seen, many in every generation for last 1000 or so years, has been deceived into thinking nothing bad would happen to them before they meet Christ in the air. Yet we each will meet him when we die. Many will suffer persecution before death, as Jesus taught. Every generation will live through all of Jesus’s encouragements and warnings. IT SEEMS WE MUST BE READY FOR WHATEVER COMES OUR WAY, AT ANY TIME, SO WE CAN STAND STRONG IN HIS LOVE AND HOLINESS ALWAYS, and not be deceived into thinking we are different, like every generation has thought they would see the second coming during their time, and escape from the persecution. Yet they were wrong.
Jeff Fenske
Katie,
Well said! There are many indications that we’re really in the last days, this time, and that the time is really short, especially for America:
(vision) Dumitru Duduman: The Russian Invasion of America — “It will start with the world calling for ‘peace, peace.’ Then there will be an internal revolution in America…. The government will be busy with internal problems. Then, from the oceans…” — The rapture will occur AFTER America is destroyed, as God destroys the enemies of Israel! (China will likely also be involved, as the linked articles, here, show)
My Dream: The Name of the Antichrist Revealed — Joe Biden?? (interesting, recent comment makes me more apt to believe this may be true)
‘Let Us Be ONE’ Prophecy Continues 10/8/08: “It’s TOO LATE to REVERSE what’s been done for MY MEN have been REJECTED … Now is the Time to OVERCOME and GET RIGHT With ALL … FREEeeeeeeeeeeeee———DOM at last … Your HEART will SWELL with LOVE and it will be EASY to REMAIN In Me when others are On The BOAT With You” (I got this while answering a comment in 2008. I believe ‘ONE’ should be our focus)
Joel Skousen: 75% in Congress are Blackmailable, while only about a dozen Congressmen are both clean and willing to fight the system (NSA is now tapping and recording everyone)
Jeff
andydoerksen
Hi. I can believe Corrie ten Boom said these things – but how do we know this really came from her? I see this “1974 letter” referenced/quoted all over the place, but what kind of “letter” was it, open or private? Whom did she address? Who published it, and when? Is it found in one of her books? Is it found in someone else’s book who got official permission from Corrie or her estate to publish the letter? I’d sure like to know these things before I quote this.
Jeff Fenske
It’s in her book, “Tramp for the Lord,” page 125, which you can read here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=SKzPah180_MC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22never+be+STRONG+ENOUGH+TO+BE+A+MARTYR%22+corrie&source=bl&ots=_hW5HBhixG&sig=FI1emnEIM1OzcdEIrHqcmAuAYG0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CD0Q6AEwB2oVChMI59fY1MPzxgIVkX6ICh0i5wm5#v=onepage&q=%22never%20be%20STRONG%20ENOUGH%20TO%20BE%20A%20MARTYR%22%20corrie&f=false
andydoerksen
Thanks for trying, Jeff, but no, the alleged 1974 letter is _not_ in that book. As quoted here, the letter opens with the lines “The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate,” and of course goes on from there. You won’t find that in ‘Tramp for the Lord’. Thanks anyway.
Jeff Fenske
You’re correct. The entire letter isn’t there. My mistake. I just looked up what I had quoted, and saw it, and thought the rest was there too.
However, I don’t see why this is such a big deal. It’s fully in keeping with what she says elsewhere, and this is the first I’ve ever heard of anyone questioning the letter as not being genuine. Online, I don’t see any indication that it’s a forgery, by looking up “hoax,” and by reading the comments under many of the postings of this letter. I don’t see even one person questioning it.
If you do find out that she didn’t write it, please let me know. But for now, I don’t see any reason to dismiss its validity, and to not post it the way I have.
We know for sure she wrote the key phrase I highlighted in my title, God filling His *obedient* children when the time gets tough, which is a crucially important concept. And she mentions this in this audio exhortation too, which someone mentioned in a comment.
The other main point here is that she believes we won’t escape the coming tribulation. She says this in her book, “Tramp for the Lord” too, here.
“The Bible says there will be a time of tribulation, and the Antichrist will take over. … The Bible prophesies that the time will come when we cannot buy or sell unless we bear the sign of the Antichrist; that means the world money is coming….”
She says in her audio exhortation, linked above, that she believes the trials we experience now are to help us be prepared for the big event that’s coming. She calls it “training for the end battle,” and this is the booklet she was apparently referring to.
Other parts of her letter are apparently in her “Tramp for the Lord” book too. For example the paragraph on Africa is similar, page 124.
Why are you so bothered by this? Do you believe in the unbiblical pre-trib rapture, perhaps, so you don’t believe that we have to get ready for the coming tribulation, so we will be filled with the Spirit when we need to be?
Corrie talks about the importance of forgiving even our worst enemies.
We need to get ready now. Russia and China are preparing to EMP US, and nuke our strategic sites, perhaps as soon as five years from now. The globalists want this to happen, and most ‘Christians’ seem to be more interested in what their FOX News says than what the HOLY Spirit says. Hardly anyone even hears from God, right now, actually.
Instead of loving the Lord, our God, with ALL of our heart, soul, mind and strength, most ‘Christians’ are doing it on their own now.
We need to hear what Corrie was trying to tell us.
By the way, I just heard that Kent Hovind studied in depth the rapture, while in prison, and has now changed his mind. He now believes the pre-trib rapture is an unbiblical hoax, and that we need to get ready for the tribulation that’s soon to come.
And by the way, even if there were a pre-trib rapture, most ‘Christians’ wouldn’t go, because they’re not right with God and people according to what the Bible really says and what Paul really did:
“Herein I also practice *always* having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.” (Acts 24:16)
It’s time to get right and get ready!
Jeff
andydoerksen
Hey, Jeff. Thanks for the well articulated response.
Well, one problem is that things like this can go around for years with nobody questioning them, and I find that’s actually typical of the evangelical community, unfortunately. This shows a tendency by a huge number of professing Christians to play fast and loose with the truth, to be casual about it, to leap to conclusions without first engaging in critical thinking.
Do you believe that’s a healthy mindset for a child of God…?
As I’m sure you’ll agree, we worship a God of truh, and so shouldn’t we be as accurate as possible, insofar as we’re able? What if someone else actually wrote this “letter,” and never got the recognition they deserved? But if Corrie wrote it, why can’t it be found in any publication? Seems kinda fishy to me.
And what we’re actually doing by circulating something she may not actually have written, is _(mis)using her name_ to add an illegitimate weight of authority to the thing. I’m put off by that.
True, nobody anywhere seems to have called “hoax” on it, and that’s a valid consideration.
Well, I wrote to the Corrie ten Boom House/Museum to ask about this “1974 letter,” and from what the respondent told me, it appears that this “letter” is a mix of Corrie’s own words (or at least her viewpoint) _and_ stuff she didn’t, in fact, say. The museum rep said:
“We don’t have the original of the letter (or magazine article) you ask about. We know that Corrie warned at several locations and in publications for not to be prepared for hard times: tribulation. And not to think that Christians in the West would be safe and taken to heaven when such times will start world wide. . . . In the ‘tribulation discussion’ she took a ‘mid-trib’ position, as we can read in for instance a Dutch publication (‘Overwinning’ Corrie ten Boom, 1984 Publisher: Gideon, Hoornaar, ISBN 978-90-6067-512-0).
“Since we don’t have the original ‘letter’ we cannot compare, but in what I find on the internet I see things that cannot have been in an original (like the name of her sister, that is written with errors).”
Thanks for that quote, and for the audio citation as well.
I take the same view.
> Why are you so bothered by this?
Every Christian should be bothered by falsehood, even if it’s unintentional. What I mean is, once we find out that something’s inaccurate or misattributed, we should demonstrate by correcting the error that we are in union with, and represent, the God of all truth.
Can you tell me why any Christian _shouldn’t_ look at error that way…?
Why on earth would you jump to that conclusion? I’m a preacher/teacher/writer who often quotes various sources, and I’d like my quotations to be accurate. I think this honours the Lord – don’t you? I’m a post-tribber, but even if I were pretrib, would that invalidate my concerns?
Respectfully, Jeff, there’s no way you could know that. It’s plausible, sure, but you’re not in a position to know it for a fact. If you were, it would make you one of the world’s greatest spies.
I don’t recall the Holy Spirit ever revealing the military secrets of Russia or China.
> Hardly anyone even hears from God, right now, actually.
How did God promise that we would “hear from” Him?
Agreed.
If that’s true, I’m glad he came to that conclusion!
This means that it was Paul’s goal – not that he always achieved it. If he always achieved it, it would mean he’d reached a state of sinlessness, yet elsewhere he makes it clear he was still a sinner.
> It’s time to get right and get ready!
Agreed!
andydoerksen
For some reason parts of my reply to Jeff were missing, so I’m trying a second time.
Hey, Jeff. Thanks for the well articulated response.
Well, one problem is that things like this can go around for years with nobody questioning them, and I find that’s actually typical of the evangelical community, unfortunately. This shows a tendency by a huge number of professing Christians to play fast and loose with the truth, to be casual about it, to leap to conclusions without first engaging in critical thinking.
Do you believe that’s a healthy mindset for a child of God…?
As I’m sure you’ll agree, we worship a God of truh, and so shouldn’t we be as accurate as possible, insofar as we’re able? What if someone else actually wrote this “letter,” and never got the recognition they deserved? But if Corrie wrote it, why can’t it be found in any publication? Seems kinda fishy to me.
And what we’re actually doing by circulating something she may not actually have written, is _(mis)using her name_ to add an illegitimate weight of authority to the thing. I’m put off by that.
True, nobody anywhere seems to have called “hoax” on it, and that’s a valid consideration.
Well, I wrote to the Corrie ten Boom House/Museum to ask about this “1974 letter,” and from what the respondent told me, it appears that this “letter” is a mix of Corrie’s own words (or at least her viewpoint) _and_ stuff she didn’t, in fact, say. The museum rep said:
“We don’t have the original of the letter (or magazine article) you ask about. We know that Corrie warned at several locations and in publications for not to be prepared for hard times: tribulation. And not to think that Christians in the West would be safe and taken to heaven when such times will start world wide. . . . In the ‘tribulation discussion’ she took a ‘mid-trib’ position, as we can read in for instance a Dutch publication (‘Overwinning’ Corrie ten Boom, 1984 Publisher: Gideon, Hoornaar, ISBN 978-90-6067-512-0).
“Since we don’t have the original ‘letter’ we cannot compare, but in what I find on the internet I see things that cannot have been in an original (like the name of her sister, that is written with errors).”
Thanks for that quote, and for the audio citation as well.
I take the same view.
> Why are you so bothered by this?
Every Christian should be bothered by falsehood, even if it’s unintentional. What I mean is, once we find out that something’s inaccurate or misattributed, we should demonstrate by correcting the error that we are in union with, and represent, the God of all truth.
Can you tell me why any Christian _shouldn’t_ look at error that way…?
Why on earth would you jump to that conclusion? I’m a preacher/teacher/writer who often quotes various sources, and I’d like my quotations to be accurate. I think this honours the Lord – don’t you? I’m a post-tribber, but even if I were pretrib, would that invalidate my concerns?
Respectfully, Jeff, there’s no way you could know that. It’s plausible, sure, but you’re not in a position to know it for a fact. If you were, it would make you one of the world’s greatest spies.
I don’t recall the Holy Spirit ever revealing the military secrets of Russia or China.
> Hardly anyone even hears from God, right now, actually.
How did God promise that we would “hear from” Him?
Agreed.
If that’s true, I’m glad he came to that conclusion!
This means that it was Paul’s goal – not that he always achieved it. If he always achieved it, it would mean he’d reached a state of sinlessness, yet elsewhere he makes it clear he was still a sinner.
> It’s time to get right and get ready!
Agreed!
andydoerksen
Still not working. Trying one more time.
Hey, Jeff. Thanks for the well articulated response.
“I don’t see why this is such a big deal. It’s fully in keeping with what she says elsewhere, and this is the first I’ve ever heard of anyone questioning the letter as not being genuine.”
Well, one problem is that things like this can go around for years with nobody questioning them, and I find that’s actually typical of the evangelical community, unfortunately. This shows a tendency by a huge number of professing Christians to play fast and loose with the truth, to be casual about it, to leap to conclusions without first engaging in critical thinking.
Do you believe that’s a healthy mindset for a child of God…?
As I’m sure you’ll agree, we worship a God of truth, and so shouldn’t we be as accurate as possible, insofar as we’re able? What if someone else actually wrote this “letter,” and never got the recognition they deserved? But if Corrie wrote it, why can’t it be found in any publication? Seems kinda fishy to me.
And what we’re actually doing by circulating something she may not actually have written, is _(mis)using her name_ to add an illegitimate weight of authority to the thing. I’m put off by that.
“Online, I don’t see any indication that it’s a forgery, by looking up “hoax,” and by reading the comments under many of the postings of this letter.”
True, nobody anywhere seems to have called “hoax” on it, and that’s a valid consideration.
“If you do find out that she didn’t write it, please let me know.”
Well, I wrote to the Corrie ten Boom House/Museum to ask about this “1974 letter,” and from what the respondent told me, it appears that this “letter” is a mix of Corrie’s own words (or at least her viewpoint) _and_ stuff she didn’t, in fact, say. The museum rep said:
“We don’t have the original of the letter (or magazine article) you ask about. We know that Corrie warned at several locations and in publications for not to be prepared for hard times: tribulation. And not to think that Christians in the West would be safe and taken to heaven when such times will start world wide. . . . In the ‘tribulation discussion’ she took a ‘mid-trib’ position, as we can read in for instance a Dutch publication (‘Overwinning’ Corrie ten Boom, 1984 Publisher: Gideon, Hoornaar, ISBN 978-90-6067-512-0).
“Since we don’t have the original ‘letter’ we cannot compare, but in what I find on the internet I see things that cannot have been in an original (like the name of her sister, that is written with errors).”
[Jeff said…]
“She says … in her book, “Tramp for the Lord” too, here. “The Bible says there will be a time of tribulation, and the Antichrist will take over. … The Bible prophesies that the time will come when we cannot buy or sell unless we bear the sign of the Antichrist; that means the world money is coming….”
Thanks for that quote, and for the audio citation as well.
“She says in her audio exhortation, linked above, that she believes the trials we experience now are to help us be prepared for the big event that’s coming.”
I take the same view.
“Why are you so bothered by this?”
Every Christian should be bothered by falsehood, even if it’s unintentional. What I mean is, once we find out that something’s inaccurate or misattributed, we should demonstrate by correcting the error that we are in union with, and represent, the God of all truth.
Can you tell me why any Christian _shouldn’t_ look at error that way…?
“Do you believe in the unbiblical pre-trib rapture, perhaps, so you don’t believe that we have to get ready for the coming tribulation, so we will be filled with the Spirit when we need to be?”
Why on earth would you jump to that conclusion? I’m a preacher/teacher/writer who often quotes various sources, and I’d like my quotations to be accurate. I think this honours the Lord – don’t you? I’m a post-tribber, but even if I were pretrib, would that invalidate my concerns?
“Russia and China are preparing to EMP US, and nuke our strategic sites, perhaps as soon as five years from now.”
Respectfully, Jeff, there’s no way you could know that. It’s plausible, sure, but you’re not in a position to know it for a fact. If you were, it would make you one of the world’s greatest spies.
“. . . most ‘Christians’ seem to be more interested in what their FOX News says than what the HOLY Spirit says.”
I don’t recall the Holy Spirit ever revealing the military secrets of Russia or China.
“Hardly anyone even hears from God, right now, actually.”
How did God promise that we would “hear from” Him?
“Instead of loving the Lord, our God, with ALL of our heart, soul, mind and strength, most ‘Christians’ are doing it on their own now.”
Agreed.
“I just heard that Kent Hovind studied in depth the rapture, while in prison, and has now changed his mind. He now believes the pre-trib rapture is an unbiblical hoax, and that we need to get ready for the tribulation that’s soon to come.”
If that’s true, I’m glad he came to that conclusion!
” ‘Herein I also practice *always* having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.’ (Acts 24:16)”
This means that it was Paul’s goal – not that he always achieved it. If he always achieved it, it would mean he’d reached a state of sinlessness, yet elsewhere he makes it clear he was still a sinner.
“It’s time to get right and get ready!”
Agreed!
Jeff Fenske
Andy,
I just now included a note at the beginning of this post, referring to your last comment.
I don’t know why your previous two comments didn’t fully post. I have nothing to do with that.
I’ll respond to some of your comments here.
Well, one problem is that things like this can go around for years with nobody questioning them, and I find that’s actually typical of the evangelical community, unfortunately. This shows a tendency by a huge number of professing Christians to play fast and loose with the truth, to be casual about it, to leap to conclusions without first engaging in critical thinking.
Do you believe that’s a healthy mindset for a child of God…?
As I’m sure you’ll agree, we worship a God of truth, and so shouldn’t we be as accurate as possible, insofar as we’re able? …
I agree, and that’s not my mindset, which should be able to be seen from my work on my blogs and on Facebook. You’re welcome to go through everything with a fine toothed comb, if you’d like. And you’ll see come disclaimers and corrections on the way.
It’s unreasonable for you to expect me to write a museum before posting a letter that is widely distributed, and doesn’t seem to be questioned as authentic elsewhere.
If this letter wasn’t written by Corrie, and actually did misrepresent her beliefs, that’s also a far bigger deal than if someone other than she assembled this, but kept within the realm of her thinking.
For the sake of authenticity and truth, if she did not write this, this should be known, but alarms don’t go off in my head in this case, because first, I still don’t know that she did not write this, and secondly, it does seem to be within what she believed and tried to help people see.
Plus, the important quote I highlight is what we know she wrote in her book, “Tramp for the Lord.”
–
I’m glad you’re not a pre-tribber; though, that seemed a reasonable motivation for you to spend so much energy in trying to get me to question this letter.
“Russia and China are preparing to EMP US, and nuke our strategic sites, perhaps as soon as five years from now.”
Respectfully, Jeff, there’s no way you could know that. It’s plausible, sure, but you’re not in a position to know it for a fact. If you were, it would make you one of the world’s greatest spies.
“. . . most ‘Christians’ seem to be more interested in what their FOX News says than what the HOLY Spirit says.”
I don’t recall the Holy Spirit ever revealing the military secrets of Russia or China.
“Hardly anyone even hears from God, right now, actually.”
How did God promise that we would “hear from” Him?
I first heard Dumitru Duduman and Henry Gruver’s prophecies and dreams about this in the ’90s, and have been looking into this ever since, largely in my other blog: ToBeFree. This post has a number of links to prophecies and the facts about Russia and China:
Dumitru Duduman: The Russian Invasion of America — “It will start with the world calling for ‘peace, peace.’ Then there will be an internal revolution in America…. The government will be busy with internal problems. Then, from the oceans…” — The rapture will occur AFTER America is destroyed, as God destroys the enemies of Israel!
I also have over 200 posts in my “Joel Skousen” category (10 posts per page, latest appear first), many of which are on this topic. He’s a strategic analyst, an expert on this subject. It’s not rocket science, but pretty easy to see what’s going on, if we’re willing to look at the facts and realize that our media (including Murdoch’s FOX News) is NWO propaganda, designed to distract us from what’s really going on, and to perpetuate reverse-Christian wars that are actually helping bring about the end of America, as well as the sovereignty of the countries we’ve regime-changed in the name of freedom and to protect Israel — so now we’re viewed by many as the bully of the world — which we actually are.
The globalists also did 9/11, and used it to justify these wars and the NSA police state that Bush/Cheney fast tracked with almost full support of the evangelicals, of whom many tune into FOX News instead of the HOLY Spirit, Whom Jesus said would lead us into all truth (John 14&16).
I believe in being led by the Spirit, myself, hearing and obeying, as well as listening to others who have heard from God. And because the deception in the last days will be great, the Bible says, we need to research what is really going on. The media really is owned and manipulated by those whose agenda is globalism, the one-world government predicted in the Bible.
Have you studied what really happened on 9/11?
And what about all of these wars we’ve launched since, what is your stand on them? Are you a peacemaker, like Jesus said we must be in order to be called children of God?
Most ‘Christians’ aren’t really going-to-heaven, real Christians. Most ‘Christians’ don’t really follow Christ. And the once-saved-always-saved deception is the biggest lie that makes this all possible, including the rapid fall of America.
We must be squeaky clean, and guilt free when we see Jesus face to Face, so our hearts don’t condemn us, because we ignored His promptings and what He sent others to tell us. In fact, I got this prophecy in 2008:
‘Let Us Be ONE’ Prophecy Continues 10/8/08: “It’s TOO LATE to REVERSE what’s been done for MY MEN have been REJECTED … Now is the Time to OVERCOME and GET RIGHT With ALL … FREEeeeeeeeeeeeee———DOM at last … Your HEART will SWELL with LOVE and it will be EASY to REMAIN In Me when others are On The BOAT With You”
“My men have been rejected,” Jesus said. Instead, people listened to TBN and the other disinfo channels and K-LOVE, where everything is a-okay; even though, hardly anything really is a-okay in most Christian’s lives these days.
How did God promise that we would “hear from” Him?
What does that mean, that you are a cessationist, and no longer believe God speaks to people; even though, He clearly says He will, in many Biblical texts?
Most ‘Christians’ are willfully sinning, and don’t pray enough, so they hear more than one voice. Many are even led by these familiar spirits, demons. Few listen to and follow Jesus’ still, small voice. “Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God” (Romans 8). And this included doing what the Bible says. We’re supposed to be led like Jesus was:
A Call to Intimacy: The Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel & Epistles — A paper I wrote for D. A. Carson’s Johannine Theology class at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1993
–
” ‘Herein I also practice *always* having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.’ (Acts 24:16)”
This means that it was Paul’s goal – not that he always achieved it. If he always achieved it, it would mean he’d reached a state of sinlessness, yet elsewhere he makes it clear he was still a sinner.
So you’re basically calling Paul a liar. He didn’t say this was merely his goal. Paul publicly said: “Herein I also practice *always* having a conscience void of offense toward God and men.” (Acts 24:16)
Paul worked out his own salvation with fear and trembling, just like he said we must do; though, almost all pastors, today, teach another gospel, which the Bible prophesied would happen, right?
“For The TIME WILL COME when THEY WILL NOT LISTEN to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves TEACHERS AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS; and will TURN AWAY THEIR EARS FROM THE TRUTH, and turn aside to *FABLES*” (2 Tim. 4:3-4)
The reason for the fall of America is the fall of the church:
“The Red Gate Prophecy — What If I Open It Just a Little Bit? The BELIEVERS, not the non-believers, have OPENED THE GATE TO SIN, which is why this country has deteriorated
Attention to detail and accuracy is important. And our attention to what the Holy Spirit says should be the most important.
Most ‘Christians’ don’t even really know the Holy Spirit, letting other things distract. Some are even running from Him.
We may only have five years left in America.
An EMP strike, alone, would kill 90% of Americans within a year.
Why do you think Congress won’t even pass a bill to protect our electrical grid, which would only cost the price of one stealth bomber? The House actually passed it, but the Senate struck it down.
We’re being set up.
Please be open to the truth, and look into what’s really going on.
FOX is not our friend, if you’re like many evangelicals who watch this major disinfo channel:
(HEAVY VIDEO!) Who is Rupert Murdoch – FOX News? Could people be this evil? — The EVANGELICALS are the “fertile ground” for his message of hate and deceit — LIE to the people, give them ENEMIES to hate, arrange WARS for them to fight and stand back and watch them destroy themselves.
9/11 was an inside job.
Jeff