Praise the Lord that He has provided this time of testing that we have been in. It is easy to feel bad about our suffering, when, as yet, we should be rejoicing if we are counted worthy to suffer shame on account of truth. Yet believers are also overwhelemed because of the great divison that has been taking place, whereby numerous, and often conflicting doctrines emerge. The saying nothing divides like doctrine has a lot of truth to it. The Lord Jesus said, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division” (Luke 12:51). While Christ indeed came to save, the process of salvation necessarily involves separation. Recall in the parable of the wheat and tares, that the tares are first separated from the wheat, before the wheat can be gathered into the barn. That is, an individual's heart will eventually come to light if they are not truly of us, though they be among us. Vice versa, if someone is not teaching truth, the sheep will go from them, because they do not know the voice of a stranger. It is easy, therfore, in this time to greatly focus on ourselves, yet we are to be more concerned with seeking the welath of others.

While we are to continually examine ourselves whether we be in the faith, we ought to be greatly occupied in feeding sheep. The fact is, the law and the prophets are fulfilled by feeding sheep, because Jesus explained to Peter that if he loved the Lord, he would feed His sheep. God moved Paul to write, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). If ever there was a time that this verse applied, it is the present. It is now when the great temptation and test of a beliver is to see whether they, in spite of the turn of events since May 21, will continue to love and serve the brethren, or whether they will turn against them. The parable of the two witnesses in Revelation 11 has been very carefully studied and shown by Mr. Camping to relate to the time of the church age and thereafter. We cannot neglect, however, the tie-in with today as well. If we compare the type of perseuction believers faced when being ex-communicated and so forth from the corporate church, it really pales in comparison to the type of open, and widespred mockery and dissent that circulated the globe against belivers on and after May 21.

The language used in Revelation 11 seems to therefore be much more relevant to today than to the period of time when we entered the Great Tribulation in 1988. That said, I am reluctant to teach that this chapter is not talking about the end of the church age (specifically when the 2 witnesses die), because the Bible often has layers and multiple applications. God says in Ecclesaistes, “The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun” (1:9). The Bible is always speaking of things that were, that are, and that are to come, which makes it ever relevant to us, no matter what period of time we are in. This does not just mean that the Bible contains history in one place and future prophesy in another; rather, all throughout God is simultaneously speaking of different things at once. An example of this is the passover/exodus which was fulfilled by Christ's demonstration on the cross, yet it also bespeaks His atonement from the foundation of the world, and yet it also foretells of the salvation plan at the end of the world.

The death of the two witnesses is particularly pertinent to the present. While it seems to make sense that the two witneses dying is a picture of believers being run out of the corporate church, we must always valdiate any idea that we have with the whole Bible. It says of the two witnesses,

“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall over come them, and kill them…And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts on to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth” (Revelation 11, 7-10).

If we read verse 7 in context, we can glean the spiritual significance of the death that is in view. The world (not just those in the churches it appears) are making merry. They are rejoicing not in an innocent way, but in a cruel, mocking way, because they are angry about the witnesses' prophesy. Ultimately that are upset with the truth of the Bible. The cruel mocking is what is in view spirtually by the killing of the two witnesses.

If we honestly rehash the events that have unfolded in the past twenty-three plus years since the Great Tribulation began, we must recognize May 21 as the beginning of an onslaught of mockery aimed at the true believers. This is not to say that mockery did not precede May 21, but that it became a worldwide phenomenon on that date. We can get confirmation that this type of behavior is in view by reading the parable of the two witnesses in the light of Psalm 44.

“Thou hast given us like sheep [appointed] for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen…Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us…My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger…Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” (Psalm 44:11-16).

This passage clearly identifies the type of repraoch and animosity that believers have faced with spiritual death. The idea of judgment day beginning on may 21 is viewed as ludicrous by the world over. This sentiment is so widespread and so insidious that it has even penetrated the group of true belivers, so that many of those who were once among us are now no more.

That a professing beliver would turn against his own brother is not a small thing at all. We can especially appreciate the the enormity of this when we consider that our primary task next to loving God is to love our neighbor as ourself. The parable of the four servants is really a commentary on this period of time. It says, “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth His coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not…” (Luke 12:45). Notice the place where evil begins: the servant begins in his heart to think about the "advantage" of his lord's delay. Evil starts in the heart and finally manifests itself, especially via that terrible member, the tongue. The beating of the menservants in view is not a physical beating that has to necessarily take place. What is in view is the spirtiual beating that Psalm 44 dileneates, which is cruel mockery against the body of Christ.

Jesus gave us the perfect example to follow when He washed His disicples feet. Bear in mind that He even washed the feet of Judas, the one who would betray Christ. No matter the circumstances, we are to be kindly affectionate one toward another. We are all in need of a savior, and so we must keep that in mind as we go forward. A verse that has been particularly perplexing for me is in Amos. It says, ”Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it [is] an evil time” (5:13). This verse seems to teach that there will be this time when we cannot share with one another the things that God reveals to us in the scriptures. Yet if we examine the account when, for example, Jesus was silent, it was in the context of being reviled--spiritually killed. In the time of His ministry preceding the final trial, Jesus escaped death in the face of dissent. Yet there came a time finally when death was inevitable, and that is the time when being silent really comes into play.

When the two witnesses are killed, it does not mean that they are physically unable to broadcast the truth. What it does mean is that they remain silent in the face of persecution. Recall that both thieves on either side of Jesus began reviling our Lord. Yet, as far as we know, Jesus only explicitly communicated with the man on the right who repented. Insofar as the man on the left, Jesus remained silent. We find the same type of behavior in Mary Magdalene when she anointed Jesus' feet. She was surrounded by mockers--and those of her own family of all--yet one-by-one, Jesus rebukes them all. Mary does not say one word in the face of perseuction, yet Jesus even rebuke those who only thought evil words (vis-a-vis Simon the leper).

The message of Amso 5:13, then, is not that we are to forsake our duty of feeding sheep, but rather that we to not revile back. Remember Jesus said, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). We must continue to feed sheep, but we must also be more careful than ever before to watch out for the snare of the devil, which is pride. While it apperas that God has opened up the scriptures like never before, we know that unto whomsoever much is given much is required. It is required of a man, that he be found faithful. And so we must faithfully declare what God is teaching, and humbly search and seek for correction that we might be assured of things that we have learned. In short, we must be concerned with the spiritual welfare of others, seeking others' welath, rather than our own. Judas, like Delilah in the old testament, was not concerned with others' wealth. He was consumed with his own greed for wealth, and thereby occasioned the death of our Lord. So we must be ever vigilent to fight the good fight of faith, to honor all, and to love the brotherhood.