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“The Great Tribulation”
- is it really that
bad?
Alfred Cachia
Throughout our Christian
lives we have been
admonished to “Be
Ready” Luke 12:40 &
Matt.24:44. Many of us
have been in God’s
Church for many years
and we must have heard
many sermons,
sermonettes and even
read articles regarding
the admonishment to get
ourselves ready. The
question is: “Get Ready
for What?” What does the
Word of God say in
response to this
question? Notice
Rev.3:10:
“Because thou hast kept
the word of my patience,
I also will keep you
from the hour of
temptation, which shall
come upon all the world,
to try them that dwell
upon the earth”.
The word “patience” is
translated from the
Greek word “hupome”.
Strong’s gives the
following definition for
this word (G5281):
“Cheerful (or hopeful)
endurance, constancy:
enduring, patience,
patient continuance
(waiting)”.
God is here
communicating that we
must patiently endure
the attacks that Satan
sends against us. We
are to remain steadfast
in God’s Word as we wait
for the time that we are
taken to a place of
protection:
“Then shall two be in
the field; the one shall
be taken, and the other
left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill;
the one shall be taken,
and the other left.
Watch therefore: for ye
know not what hour your
Lord doth come...
Therefore be ye also
ready: for in such an
hour as ye think not the
Son of man cometh”
(Matt. 24:40-42, 44).
We must also overcome
ourselves, this evil
world and Satan the
devil. Do effectively do
this, we must
continually be in a
state of total and
complete repentance.
This is how we can be
ready to receive deeper
understanding from the
Word of God, prove it
beyond a shadow of doubt
and put it into practise.
No matter what problems
we might face, if we
endure steadfastly,
persevere in complete
faith to Him, and obey
Him we will be rewarded
with His protection.
Why do we need
protection? Notice:
“For then shall be great
tribulation, such as was
not since the beginning
of the world to this
time, no, nor ever shall
be” (Matt. 24:21).
This is the reason that
we must be getting
ourselves ready – to be
protected from the
coming Great Tribulation
and then to be born into
His Family! We must
become one with our God!
This entails listening
to Him, taking His
advice, obeying Him in
all things, and
supporting His Work
which is being done on
this earth today. We
must remain faithful no
matter what! Many have
given up waiting and
enduring over the years
because they have gotten
tired of being patient.
The admonition of
Rev.3:10 and Matt. 24:42
are sober warnings for
all of God’s people that
make up the seven
congregations as
outlined in the book of
Revelation chapters two
and three. Notice this
admonition:
“Because thou hast kept
the word of my
patience, i also will
keep you from the hour
of temptation, which
shall come upon all the
world, to try them that
dwell upon the earth”
(Rev. 3:10).
“Therefore be ye also
ready: for in such an
hour as ye think not the
Son of man cometh”
(Matt. 24:42).
It is indicated that six
of the seven
congregations, spoken of
in the book of
Revelation (chapters 2 &
3), will end up
suffering the
consequences of the
Great Tribulation if
they do not repent and
get themselves ready.
All of God’s people, and
that include those of
the Faithful Church of
God in Laodicea, must
take this warning
personally and act on it
with a positive
attitude.
Do we believe the Word
of God when it says that
the Great Tribulation
will be the worst time
ever, and that there has
never been a time like
it nor will ever be
again (Dan. 12:1)? We
have had it relatively
easy over the last few
decades, and many in the
western world have been
enjoying abundance in
many areas. Too many
have forgotten the
horrors of the two World
Wars, the Korean and
Vietnam wars and so on.
Many that were called
into the Church, in this
age, would have been
born in relative
peaceful times and
because of this might
not be able to remotely
imagine the coming Great
Tribulation. It is
important for us to
“remember”, as this may
help us to understand,
and get a small glimpse
into, the worst time
which this world – and
God’s people who get
spewed into the Great
Tribulation (Rev. 3:16)
– are about to
experience if they do
not repent. To help us
do this, we will here
focus our attention on
an article written by
Mr. L.E.Torrance, which
appeared in the Good New
magazine dated August
1961:
How It Began
“The story of my
“tribulation” in the
Japanese concentration
camps began on May 10,
1942. That was the day
General Sharp
surrendered the American
forces on Mindanao to
the Japanese. They
interned us in the
prison compound at
Davao, Mindanao,
Philippine Islands. At
Davao we were forced to
work on a starvation
diet from early dawn
until dusk. We soon
began to suffer from
acute malnutrition, then
from scurvy malaria,
dysentery, and beriberi.
I remember how every
fibre of my body cried
out for food-as it
wasted away, day by day,
pound by pound, until I
was reduced to an
emaciated 100 pound
skeleton. My every
thought was about food.
Pangs of hunger were
greatly intensified by
the sight of food that
was everywhere about us
in abundance. We could
look through the prison
camp fence and see the
fruit and smell the
bloom of the thousands
of orange, banana, lemon
and breadfruit, the
guava, coconut, mango
and avocado trees around
our compound. The fruit
ripened and fell to the
ground. There it lay
rotting. Our captors
refuse to let us have
it. They said that
Americans deserved only
to suffer. And suffer we
did! The mental anguish
of seeing such an
abundance of food going
to waste before our very
eyes is indescribable.
There were times when
our ration of dry rice
contained as many worms
as kernels of rice.
Gnawing hunger pangs
forced us to overlook
them. Our wretched diet
of polished rice took
its toll. If our captors
would have allowed us to
eat unpolished brown
rice, with its vitamin
B1, we would not have
had so much beriberi.
But our enemies knew
what they were doing.
They insisted upon
feeding us polished rice
which had the vitamin
layer removed. Our legs
swelled to twice their
normal size. The nerves
in our feet and finger
tips became inflamed.
They throbbed day and
night. Our guards
enjoyed hearing the
groans of those who
suffered the
excruciating pains of
beriberi.
Because of malarial
fever, fever as high as
107º accompanied by
blinding headaches and
violent chills; half of
the entire camp was
always at the point of
death. Nevertheless, the
Japanese forced us to
march to work even
though we were so sick
we could scarcely stand.
If any of us were
reluctant to march,
guards jabbed the tips
of their bayonets into
our hips until the pain
became more than we
could bear. We marched
to work-malarial fever
or not. What would you
have done? Can you
imagine what mental and
spiritual torment would
have been added had we
then also known the
truth of God, that we
could not work on the
Sabbath, even though our
“pagan” guards commanded
us to? What would you
have done when the
searing pain of the
bayonets being jabbed
deeper and deeper into
your backs and hips
became so great you
could no longer bear it?
Put yourselves in our
place. Imagine how
difficult it would be to
refuse to work on the
Sabbath when all you
would have to do to
escape this brutal
torture is to begin
walking - walking to
work.
Others Had Same
Experiences
At Davao we met other
prisoners who had been
transferred from the
prison camp at
Cabanatuan, Luzon. They
were in worse condition
than we - the most
wild-eyed, gaunt,
wretched-looking men I
have ever seen!
After talking to them it
was obvious why they
were in such a pitiful
condition. For example:
Lieutenant Colonel
Mellink told us how the
7,000 Americans and the
5,000 Filipinos with him
were treated after their
capture on the Island of
Corregidor. They were
kept on a 100-yard
square slab of concrete
for 15 days, from May
6-22. After seven long
days without food, they
were given their first
dish of rice.
One faucet served the
entire 12,000 men. They
waited in line 12 hours
for each to fill one
canteen with water. The
heat on Corregidor was
at its worst in May. Men
fainted by the score.
Hundreds died. The
bloated and stinking
dead bodies lay out in
the sun. Clouds of black
flies added to the
misery.
On May 22, the Japanese
loaded their remaining
captives into three
small merchant ships and
steamed to a suburb
south of Manila. When
the heat of the day had
reached its peak, the
Americans were
transferred and jammed
into barges. After
waiting an hour in the
hot sun, they were towed
to within a hundred
yards of the beach.
Although the barges
could easily have run up
to the beach, the
Americans were forced to
jump overboard and wade
to shore. Thus, when
they were marched
through Manila in a
Japanese victory parade,
they presented the worst
possible appearance-wet,
ragged, exhausted,
staggering from illness
and hunger.
This “victory march”
through Manila was a
“subtle method of
convincing the subject
peoples of the
Philippines that only
the Japanese were
members of the Master
Race” (Life, Feb. 7,
1944). Just think! This
same kind of punishment,
and worse, will be soon
inflicted upon our
entire nation by the
worst of the
heathen-unless our
people repent. The men
who had been transferred
from Cabanatuan to Davao
told us what happened to
two army officers and
one navy officer who
were caught attempting
to escape. The Japanese
beat the three Americans
about the feet and
calves until they were
unable to stand. Then
they stomped up and down
on them with all their
weight. These brave men
were stripped of all
their clothing, except
shorts, and dragged
outside the camp to a
point in full view of
the rest of the
Americans. Their hands
were tied behind them,
and they were pulled up
by ropes tied to their
wrists, so they had to
remain standing on their
crippled legs and feet.
Then began 45 hours of
inhuman torture. The
Japanese periodically
beat the men with a
heavy two-by-four. Their
half-conscious screams
were horrible to hear.
They were battered
beyond recognition.
Strong men vomited.
Others said, “Oh, just
to be able to lie down
and die!”
We Americans were
horrified to learn of
the intense resentment
and hatred that the
Japanese felt for us.
Because they felt
inferior to the
Americans, they tried to
show us how great they
were by mistreating us
in every way possible.
Life as a
prisoner-of-war was a
living hell of fear,
starvation, and forced
labour.
A Sense of Humour
The evening of June 5,
1944, about 5 o’clock,
the Japanese told us
that they really liked
us and wanted to feed us
more. After a diet of
virtually nothing but
rice for many months,
this was the best news
that we had heard in a
long time. They gave us
soybeans and some
half-rotten sweet
potatoes to eat. The
kitchen was kept open
all night and we were
allowed to eat all that
we could hold. However,
so much “rich” food was
a violent shock to our
stomachs. It caused us
to vomit. But it was so
much fun to eat that we
kept coming back, again
and again, all night
long. Our digestive
systems were not able to
tolerate such a terrific
shock. Severe cramps and
diarrhoea set in. The
next morning we were
marched on board a ship
in Davao harbour. Six
hundred of us were
tightly jammed into a
small, dark hold. They
put the cover over the
hatch, and then closed
the door that led down
the gangway into our
hold. There were no
toilet facilities. The
heat was terrific, and
there was no ventilation
except one small
porthole. Within a few
minutes we were soaking
wet with sweat. Our
bodies stung as all the
excess water was drained
out of us by the
terrific heat.
Our thirst became
maddening. I remember
that the physical and
mental anguish caused by
the constant,
ever-present pangs of
hunger was so unbearable
that I even despaired of
living. Then when the
unbearable physical
agony of intense thirst
set in, I suddenly knew
that extreme THIRST was
far worse than the
extreme hunger I had
been suffering. I
thought, “Oh! Just to
get back to the United
States where I can get a
drink of water. Food is
easy to get!” Men began
to “pass out” all around
due to the heat and
suffocation. A desperate
struggle for breath
began. I then discovered
how very much worse it
was to be without AIR,
than it was to be
thirsty or hungry. A
dying man clings
desperately to the last
thread of life. When you
are without air, and
life begins to fade
away, panic sets in. As
far as I can remember,
for the FIRST time in my
life I prayed-“Oh God,
just let me get back to
the United States alive,
where I can take a
breath of ‘fresh’ air. I
know that I can always
find food and water-I’ll
never, never again
complain, never! ”
Finally, after men began
to die, the Japanese
opened the hatch door
and gave us a little
air. Yet, as bad as that
experience was, it is
certain that there is
coming upon this nation
CATASTROPHE that will be
far worse than anything
that has ever been
experienced by humans in
the whole history of
man! The Almighty God
says so! It grieves me
to realize that some of
my friends, yes, some of
you, are deliberately
choosing to go through
an experience that will
be far worse than my 3
1/2 years of
“tribulation.” Many of
you are proving by your
very actions that you
really believe it is too
much work to study and
pray now, too much work
to struggle to overcome.
Some of you actually
have said to me that it
will take the
tribulation to make you
“spiritual,” that in the
face of great danger you
will suddenly become
willing to give your
life for the faith.
Listen!
Let me assure you that
it is much, much EASIER
to give your life in
service to God NOW-it is
much easier to study and
pray now-it is much
easier to have a living,
active part in spreading
the work of God now than
it will be to die an
agonizing death for
refusing to disobey God
when brutal, vicious
guards try to see how
much torture they can
inflict upon you. If you
have to go through the
tribulation, I am
certain that the mental
agony you will have -
when you realize that
you could have escaped
all this torture-may
well be more than you
can bear. It will be
worse than the agony of
starvation, thirst, and
suffocation. The tragedy
of it all is that some
of you don’t even know
that you are “lukewarm.”
You have never studied
the Bible enough to let
the Word of God correct,
reprove, and instruct
you in righteousness.
“You don’t know that you
don’t know.” But-if you
REPENT-you need not go
through the coming
tribulation, for God has
promised that the
faithful will escape
(Rev. 3: 10).”
End quote.
What can we learn from
what we have just read?
Is there a vital lesson
in it for us in today’s
modern world?
This man, like thousands
of other soldiers from
United States, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand
and Britain, suffered as
no others did during
those dark days of the
Second World War. Many
of the survivors still
tremble and sweat at
night because of the
dreams that bring it all
back to them. They
witnessed their friends
being murdered before
their eyes and they
experienced the death
marches in which many of
them had to take part.
They were broken and
beaten by an enemy that
had no mercy upon them.
Those that were too sick
to work were put to
death. As simple as
that!
The Great Tribulation is
guaranteed to be much
worse than the account
we have just read.
Notice Deuteronomy
28:62-67 from the New
Living Translation:
“Though you become as
numerous as the stars in
the sky, few of you will
be left because you
would not listen to the
Lord your God. Just as
the Lord has found great
pleasure in causing you
to prosper and multiply,
the LORD will find
pleasure in destroying
you. You will be torn
from the land you are
about to enter and
occupy.For
the Lord will scatter
you among all the
nations from one end of
the earth to the other.
There you will worship
foreign gods that
neither you nor your
ancestors have known,
gods made of wood and
stone! There among those
nations you will find no
peace or place to rest.
And the LORD will cause
your heart to tremble,
your eyesight to fail,
and your soul to
despair. Your life will
constantly hang in the
balance. You will live
night and day in fear,
unsure if you will
survive. In the morning
you will say, 'If only
it were night!' And in
the evening you will
say, 'If only it were
morning!' For you will
be terrified by the
awful horrors you see
around you.”
God knows what He is
doing, but too many of
His people have turned
away from doing His
Will. It seems as though
the admonishment given
in the pages of the
Bible has, and is,
falling on deaf ears.
How do we know this?
Because God gave us a
warning which He
repeated seven times for
greater impact on our
minds. Notice:
“He that has an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit
says unto the churches
[congregations]”
(Rev.2:7, 11, 17, 29;
Rev. 3:6, 13, 22).
The coming Great
Tribulation is much,
much worse than we can
ever imagine, but we
have need not be caught
up in it. Today is the
time to be getting
ourselves ready and
at-one with our Creator.
Tomorrow will be too
late. We must not harden
our hearts and
stubbornly reject what
the Almighty is
communicating to us in
these last and very
dangerous days. He who
rejects will be left to
suffer as no others have
suffered, but those who
will receive will be
taken to where more will
be revealed to them, and
where protection and
safety will be provided
to them by God. We are
to take God’s warning
seriously and get
ourselves ready by
repenting and allowing
Jesus Christ to live and
work in our lives. Let
us all work out our own
salvation with fear and
trembling. This is
impossible to do on our
own, but with God
helping us to “Get
Ready” all Things are
possible! Remember what
is stated in
Rev.3:10:
“Because thou hast kept
the word of my patience,
I also will keep you
from the hour of
temptation, which shall
come upon all the world,
to try them that dwell
upon the earth”.
God will keep His
promise! Will you do
your part to claim His
promises?
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