Place of Safety in the Wilderness for God's True Church by Ray Wegner
Revelation 3: 7-10 King James Translation " And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
" I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
" Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
" Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Revelation 3:10 (Living Bible translation) " Because you have patiently obeyed me despite the persecution, therefore I will protect you from the time of Great Tribulation and temptation, which will come upon the world to test everyone alive. "
Revelation 12:13-17 " And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
" And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
" And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
" And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
" And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. "
The Philadelphia phase of God's true church in these Last Days is promised a place of safety in the wilderness, during the Great Tribulation - during the 3½ years of the World Government ruled over by The Beast. God is faithful to keep His promises.
The Sardis and Laodecean eras of God's true New Testament Church in the last days are not promised this place of safety. Only the Philadelphia phase or era of the true Church of God is specifically promised in the Bible this safe haven from the world government, and from the Great Tribulation and from the wrath of Satan.
This Philadelphia Era of the true Church of God is specifically promised a place of safety in the wilderness. There are some distinct characteristics of this Philadelphia phase and I will now list them for you:
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Christ has set before them an Open Door.
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No man can shut the Open Door that Christ has opened for them.
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They have only A Little Strength.
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They have Kept God's Word.
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They have not denied God's name.
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They patiently obey God despite being persecuted.
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They have tried to obey God.
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They are persecuted.
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They are taken to a place of safety in the wilderness on the Wings of a Great Eagle.
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Satan is very angry with them.
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They are protected from Satan in the wilderness here on earth for 3½ years.
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Satan trys to destroy them, but God won't allow it and causes the earth to help and shield them from the Devil and the corrupt instruments he and his evil, demented, perverted, murderous, deceitful and lying demon cohorts work through.
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They do not have to live through and suffer in the Great Tribulation.
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They do not take the Mark of the Beast.
There are some other scriptures that give us clues about this part of God's Church, but we shall not deal with these today. You have plenty of good information already to mull over.
Where is this Place of Safety ?
This here writer believes he knows where the Place of Safety is - generally speaking, but will not be telling people the location at this time.
There are a lot of misconceptions concerning this Place of Safety. Very, very many misunderstandings and distortions. Take for example the word " wilderness." Like what is really meant in the scriptures by the word wilderness ?
" And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. "
There are various interpretations of the word " wilderness. " John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, but when we examine this - this is only a little distance from Jerusalem. Only about 25 miles more or less. He did not live in a cave far away in the inaccessible mountains. People were able to travel out from Jerusalem to see him, listen to him preach, and be baptized of him. They did not have to make a long hard trek up to some mountain peak to a remote cave. Yet the Bible says he lived in the wilderness and ate locusts and wild honey. I am sure he ate a lot more than just locusts and honey though.
Anyways " our interpretation " of wilderness may not match the meaning of the literal word or term " wilderness" as pertaining to the prophecy concerning the Philadelphia era of God's church being protected in the wilderness. It could merely mean a remote area.
People may assume this refers to a place - where there is no civilization - like some remote mountain valley, or a system of caves in the wilderness where the Church has stores of food. This is just an assumption, and we have to be careful about making assumptions, since so many of those we have are wrong.
Our interpretations - are just that - subjective interpretations, and our interpretations of prophecy will not change the reality of how God will fulfill and keep the prophecy. The word or term " wilderness " as pertaining to this specific prophecy is really quite flexible, and does not necessarily mean an absence of civilization. It can mean merely a remote place.
Just think people. The church is made up of many and varied people. Just think - they will have to live in this Place of Safety for 3½ years - this is a pretty fair stretch of time. What will they do ? Pray all day long ? Don't think so. Babies will still be born. Some of the old, sick or infirm may die. There will be the need for health care. What about jobs and the resources to live ? Will the kids go to school ? Most likely. Where will the people be housed ?
What about the numbers ? The assumption may be that with numbers - we are looking at the most only a few thousand people. I do not believe so. My estimate is that a place needs to be found to take care of and house for 3½ years - around 500,000 thousand to maybe 700,000 thousand people - approximately. I do not think there will more than one million. This is going to be a major, major exodus - and there will have to be massive resources to support all these people.
There will be those who are baptized members of the Philadelphia era of God's Church. Okay fine, but do you think God is so cruel and impractical as to provide protection only for baptized members, and forget about their immediate families ? What about these people's dependent children ? Would God deliberately separate a young Mother from her new born baby, so He can protect the Mom in the wilderness, but let the baby die, or be deprived of the care of her Mother ? Not very likely. And anyways God has a purpose for those people who are not saints, and who won't be part of the World Government, but who are the near relatives of those in the Church. They will live on as physical human beings into the new age and help repopulate and resettle a world where most of the people will have died.
You know the church is made up of many different people of different ages and in different states of health. They have spouses. A good number of those in the church have small dependent children. So quite clearly we are talking about not only providing a place for baptized members of the church, but also for their close, immediate family members, like spouse and dependent children, or maybe a few of the older children that are not married yet and don't have their own families.
There would have to be guidelines as to who and how many will be allowed to come to that place of safety. There has to be an extensive organization in place. This is no small job folks. It cannot be done by one person. This will be a massive undertaking that will require a huge investment and resources to accomplish .
The Church or woman will be " given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness , into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. "
How fitting this prophecy is. The Apostle John was given a vision of our time today, or in the near future - maybe sometime between 2040 and 2070. John did not understand anything about our modern means of transportation. In the Apostle John's time, about 2,000 years ago there were no jet planes, and none of the modern means of transportation we have today. They travelled on foot, or on a donkey, or horse, or in a cart pulled by an animal. There were no machines like now. So he obviously had a vision of people flying to the Place of Safety on one of these big jet passenger planes. So he used the words " two wings of a great eagle " because he had no way to understand our modern means of transportation, and no other way to describe it. People who have lived in very remote places in our day - they easily describe a plane when they first see one as a " big bird. " An eagle is a big bird.
Many of those in the Philadelphia phase of God's Church will have to be flown in from all around the world to the place of safety - hence the words " given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness. "
I and my family live near the Calgary International Airport, and we see these " big birds " coming and going all the time. They are very noisy. John saw in his vision one of these big jets, and the Church flying in on one of these planes and fittingly described it " And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness. "
The Earth Helps the Woman, But How ?
Revelation 12:16 " And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. "
Now what does this mean ? We can speculate till the cows come home, but somehow and in someway God supports the Church and Satan's attack on the Church fails.
Let me speculate a bit, since my guess is just as good as the other guys. This may be a military attack - probably by the Beast or one of their very close allies upon the nation where the true Church has their place of safety situated. The friendly armed forces beats off the attack.
Maybe we are looking at that part of the world (where the Place of Safety will be) being able to successfully resist the world government, and refusing to go along with it, and refusing to join up in the one world system, and refusing to take the Mark of the Beast. They may be attacked, but have the sophisticated military hardware to counter the attack by the Beast, or of the attack by one of the Beast's close allies.
That is the best I can do in my speculating. All we do know for sure right now in 2012 is that Satan will fail to destroy the Philadelphia era of the Church of God, and God will protect them from the sinister plots of the Devil.
Where Will the Resources Come From To Prepare the Place of Safety ?
God will prepare the place and provide the resources, but He will work through His human instruments to do the job. It won't just happen miraculously, like magic.
There has to be an organization set up. The church has to be rebuilt. People need to collect the money from the tithes and offerings of those in the church and begin the process of preparing for this. It is a huge work, and it is going to take a lot of time, people, money and especially living faith in God to accomplish. The job will get done, but it will not be easy and the ways and means God uses to get the job done may be much different from what so many people expect.
There is no use in trying to limit the Unlimited God. The job will get done, but it will be done God's way - not the way people want or expect. We have to follow God. It is His Church. It is not the Church of men. It is the Church of God. It does not belong to us - the Church belongs to God, and Jesus Christ is the head of the True Church of God.
More will be added to this page later. Expect updates, so keep in tune.
