Several months ago I asked the Lord how to get in our place and pay the price to fulfill our assignments. He responded by taking me to an account in Scripture where those who remained loyal to Him and to His Word were forced to commit treason against those in authority who had turned away from Him.
During the first week of July, He continued this theme, surrounding us with the same message through various different examples, both from history and legend, including the example of our own founding fathers whose courageous acts to establish this nation on the foundation of His Word were considered acts of treason against their home land.
He has continued to surround us with this theme even through the past week. But earlier in July He added a surprising twist. He seems to be saying that if our nation continues on its current course, the choice for each one may not be whether or not we will commit treason, but rather only who we will commit treason against ~ man or Him.
Most would never intentionally commit treason against God, yet many have failed to realize that He considers our compromise with and bowing to the opinions of the world which are contrary to His Word as treason against Him. In addition to impressing this stark reality upon us, He has continued to speak to us about the cost of being His true follower and of fulfilling the calling He has given us.
Persecutions Are Coming“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless (innocent) as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.
“Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.
“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:16-39
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
He wants us to understand that if we’re ashamed to stand for the Truth of His Word, including issues that the world has become increasingly hostile about, in His eyes, this is the same as being ashamed of Him. As discussed in previous posts in the last 2 1/2 years, we cannot separate Him from His Word. We can’t profess that we believe in Jesus, but only take the parts of Him that make our lives comfortable and allow us to blend in with the world and avoid persecution. Even since the Lord began speaking to us about this, 
we have already heard several stories about people in different parts of the nation who are being persecuted, threatened, put out of business, and even facing possible time in prison for their Biblical beliefs about marriage. And with new laws that have been passed in certain states, the likelihood that many more will face the same for standing for Truth has increased. For this reason we understand why the Lord was emphasizing in previous notes the lines that have been drawn in the sands of time and the sifting and separating that is occurring now, even among those who claim to believe in Him (parts 1-8 of prophetic word). When persecution comes, we find out who is truly committed to Jesus and His Word. The lukewarm will not stand. For this reason we all need to be continually drawing as close to the Lord as possible, being filled daily with His Word and Spirit, making sure we are maintaining intimacy with Him as our first love, keeping Him on the throne of our hearts/lives, and truly following Him as Lord.
As Jesus spoke about in the Matthew 10 passage, the Lord has also been emphasizing that, unfortunately, we do have to be on guard against people. He has been warning about false brethren who present themselves as brothers/sisters, but are actually allied with the enemy and are ready to betray those who stand for Truth. It’s a time for increased discernment in the Spirit. He had already given us this message in the past months, but confirmed it again through a dream He gave Jesse recently, as well as through this passage in Matthew. This kind of possibility makes some of Jesus’ words which were previously unimaginable in our nation, suddenly very relevant. Yet, His message in the dream, as well as in this text is 
that OUR VOICE MUST NOT FAIL! He is calling us to stand up for what we know to be right and to stand against what we know to be wrong, based on His Word (always in love), regardless of the consequences. Apart from relentless spiritual warfare in prayer and continuing to advance His Kingdom through evangelism, discipleship, and ministry (through the Word and Spirit), this is an essential aspect of the kind of “warfare” He’s calling us to engage in to bring our nation to repentance.
At the beginning of the year, He surrounded us with messages about Hitler. He revealed that it was the spirit of antichrist that was working through him. Though the enemy was premature, and the time had not fully come for him to establish his temporary tyrannical reign over all nations, the Lord seemed to be showing us that Hitler’s actions were a foreshadowing of things that will happen again in the end on a much larger scale. Unfortunately, this opened the door to the possibility that a dream I had many years ago that I had always hoped was not from God, may have truly been. If we knew we were being given a chance to push back that time frame and see a third Great Awakening and final harvest of the lost before those events begin to unfold, shouldn’t we lay aside everything that distracts and give ourselves wholly to that cause? Though the Lord has continued to give us warning messages about the nation, such as Daniel 5 again ~ that our nation has been weighed in the balance and found wanting ~ we continue to pray that the nation will repent and He will not hand us over to our adversaries as He did in that account. Based on the things He spoke to us that I referred to in the Elastigirl notes and earlier notes, we have to have hope, believe this is still possible, and do our part to see it occur.
The following was taken from some devotional thoughts from John Hagee Ministries.
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When Will We Take Action?
James 4:4—Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
“If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” ~ Daniel Webster, 1821
Our founding fathers objected to a tea tax of one-half of one percent, and gave their lives in return.
Will we object if our children are routinely indoctrinated in homosexual ideology in our public schools? … Will we take a stand if imperfect babies are being killed in hospitals after they are born? Will we protest if the state tells our pastor what he can and cannot say from the pulpit? What if the state assumes “ownership” of our children and tells parents how they must raise them—under penalty of losing custody? Will you take action then?
Will we argue if Christian businesses are required to satisfy a quota of gay and lesbian employees? Will the Church cry out if universities refuse to grant degrees to outspoken Christian students? Will we let our voices be heard in defense of our beliefs when every tenet of our faith is legislated against in Congress?
Listen to the echo coming from Valley Forge. Look at the American patriot—stained with blood, hungry, barefoot, standing in the snow with his musket firmly grasped. He fought in those conditions and now we are armed with the right to vote, yet we sit at home on Election Day because the weather is bad. That patriot left his family alone and destitute to allow us freedom of speech, yet we remain silent to avoid political incorrectness or repercussion. He orphaned his crying children in order for us to have a representative government, but through neglect we have allowed that government to become the master of our children and the murderer of the unborn.
All of the aforementioned are now in process in America. At what point will we have had enough? To make any compromise with the world is to be guilty of treason against God. James states, “A friend of the world is an enemy of God.” When will we take action?
Church, we are soldiers in the army of the living God. We are at war with the powers and principalities of darkness. Compromise with the world, the flesh and the devil is high treason in the courts of heaven. You might as well make up your mind that you can’t please everyone all of the time. If you please God, you will offend the world. If you please the world, you will offend God. As for me and my house, we have chosen to serve God and it matters not if we offend the world in every way possible. (Copyright, John Hagee Ministries)
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If faced with the choice of treason, we pray each one will be strengthened to bravely choose to commit treason against the authority of man and to remain true to God. May we not try to save our lives or reputations, but take up our cross and lay down our lives for His cause. May we never be ashamed of the Lord and His Word.
…We must obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29
Copyright © Laura Jewell Tyree
