𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑭 𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑻

Thomas Paine wrote the immortal words, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” in December of 1776, when the American cause appeared to be collapsing. Washington’s army was retreating through New Jersey. Enlistments were expiring, men were deserting, and the hope of independence was fading. Paine understood that there are moments in history when a man can no longer hide among the crowd. He must look deeply into his own soul and decide whether that which he professes to believe is truly worth suffering for, standing for, and, if necessary, dying for.

The winter at Valley Forge would come the following year and would embody Paine’s warning in flesh and blood. It was the long, cold winter of discontent. Men were hungry, poorly clothed, and ravaged by sickness. Disease was virulent, despair was everywhere, and death walked freely through the camp. It was there, in the cold and misery, that lofty declarations were tested. The question was no longer whether liberty sounded noble when spoken beside a warm fire. The question was whether liberty was still worth possessing when the price was hunger, disease, loneliness, and the grave.

We saints live in such a time as that.

𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐒

Truth has fallen in the streets. The foundations are being destroyed. That which was once openly condemned is now celebrated, while that which was once regarded as holy is mocked, despised, and increasingly treated as evil. The very language of truth has been corrupted. Words no longer mean what they once meant. Men demand the right to redefine reality itself, and a fearful generation bows before the lie.

The vandals and the Visigoths, figuratively, but only just figuratively, are at the gates, and they have destruction in mind. They do not merely seek a place at the table. They seek to overturn the table, burn the house, tear down its foundations, and condemn everyone who remembers what once stood there.

Yet the greater crisis is not merely outside the Church. The greater crisis is that much of the Church has neither the spiritual strength nor the moral courage to resist it.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓

Paine spoke of the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot, the man who loved the cause when the weather was pleasant but disappeared when the struggle became costly. The Church has her own summer Christians and sunshine saints.

They will sing of victory while victory costs them nothing. They will speak of the cross while carefully avoiding every road that leads to Calvary. They will proclaim Christ so long as Christ does not threaten their comfort, their reputation, their employment, their friendships, or their place within respectable society.

But these times will reveal every man.

The sunshine saint will shrink from the reproach of Christ. The summer Christian will compromise with the spirit of the age. The religious spectator will wait for some institution, some pastor, some movement, or some celebrated personality to tell him what to believe and how far he may safely go.

Yet the remnant cannot live by permission from men.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The answer is not that the righteous can do nothing. The answer is found in the following words: “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven.”

When every earthly foundation is shaking, the throne of God remains immovable. When truth is cast down in the streets, Christ remains the Truth. When men tear down ancient boundaries, the Word of God remains forever settled in heaven.

The righteous must return to that which cannot be shaken.

We must know God for ourselves. We must hear His voice for ourselves. We must draw water from the wells of salvation for ourselves. We must possess an inward life strong enough to endure when every outward support is removed.

It is no longer enough to attend. It is no longer enough to observe. It is no longer enough to borrow another man’s convictions and repeat another man’s revelation. Every saint must know in whom he has believed.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐇

Many Christians have been prepared for comfort, but very few have been prepared for conflict. They have been taught how to attend meetings, support ministries, follow programs, and listen to sermons, but they have not been taught how to stand alone before God.

They have been made dependent upon religious institutions at the very moment when those institutions are proving themselves incapable of meeting the crisis.

The machinery still operates. The lights still shine. The bands still play. The sermons are still delivered. The calendars remain full. Yet in many places the saints remain weak, passive, undiscerning, and utterly unprepared for the hour that has come upon us.

The veil was torn, yet men have busily sewn it back together. Christ died to create a kingdom of priests, yet the priesthood of all believers has been reduced to the ministry of the few.

This arrangement may survive in peaceful times. It will not survive the winter.

𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐓?

There comes a moment when every man must look into his own soul and ask the question that cannot be answered by his pastor, his denomination, his family, or his friends.

Is Christ worth the cost?

Is He worth the loss of reputation?

Is He worth the loss of comfort?

Is He worth the loss of employment?

Is He worth the loss of friends?

Is He worth imprisonment?

Is He worth death?

The early saints answered that question in the arenas, in prisons, in caves, beneath the sword, and upon the flames. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death.

We have sung their hymns, read their stories, and admired their courage. Now the question comes to us.

What do we truly believe?

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃

These are the times that reveal the remnant. These are the times when empty profession is separated from living faith. These are the times when the double-minded are swept away, the fearful retreat, and the faithful discover that Christ is sufficient.

The remnant must not retreat into silence. Neither must they place their confidence in politics, institutions, personalities, or movements. We are not called to preserve a religious culture. We are called to bear witness to the truth.

We must speak while truth is falling in the streets.

We must stand while the foundations are being torn down.

We must strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

We must warn those who are asleep.

We must encourage those who are standing alone.

We must become, once again, the royal priesthood Christ purchased with His own blood.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑

Valley Forge was not the end of the American struggle. The winter passed. The army that entered weak, hungry, divided, and diseased emerged disciplined and prepared for the battles ahead.

And so it shall be with the remnant.

The winter will expose us, but it will also refine us. The cold will reveal whether our faith possesses substance. The darkness will force our roots deeper into Christ. The loss of outward supports will teach us that the Lord Himself is our support.

God is preparing a people who cannot be bought by comfort, frightened by opposition, or silenced by the fear of men.

A people who know their God.

A people who love the truth.

A people who have counted the cost.

A people who have settled the question of whether Christ is worth dying for because they have already discovered that He is worth living for.

𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃

These are not merely dangerous times. They are revealing times. They are separating times. They are purifying times. They are the times that try men’s souls.

The vandals are at the gates. Truth has fallen in the streets. The foundations are being destroyed. Despair and deception are virulent, and the long winter of discontent is upon us.

Yet the throne of God remains unshaken.

Christ is still building His Church.

The Spirit is still gathering the remnant.

Therefore, let every saint look deeply into his own soul and settle the question now.

Will we be summer Christians and sunshine saints, or will we stand with Christ when the cost of standing is everything?

The hour is late.

The winter is here.

The battle is at the gate.

And now we shall discover what we truly believe.

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐍’𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐒

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑾𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑶𝑭 𝑫𝑰𝑺𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑻

Thomas Paine wrote the immortal words, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” in December of 1776, when the American cause appeared to be collapsing. Washington’s army was retreating through New Jersey. Enlistments were expiring, men were deserting, and the hope of independence was fading. Paine understood that there are moments in history when a man can no longer hide among the crowd. He must look deeply into his own soul and decide whether that which he professes to believe is truly worth suffering for, standing for, and, if necessary, dying for.

The winter at Valley Forge would come the following year and would embody Paine’s warning in flesh and blood. It was the long, cold winter of discontent. Men were hungry, poorly clothed, and ravaged by sickness. Disease was virulent, despair was everywhere, and death walked freely through the camp. It was there, in the cold and misery, that lofty declarations were tested. The question was no longer whether liberty sounded noble when spoken beside a warm fire. The question was whether liberty was still worth possessing when the price was hunger, disease, loneliness, and the grave.

We saints live in such a time as that.

𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐒

Truth has fallen in the streets. The foundations are being destroyed. That which was once openly condemned is now celebrated, while that which was once regarded as holy is mocked, despised, and increasingly treated as evil. The very language of truth has been corrupted. Words no longer mean what they once meant. Men demand the right to redefine reality itself, and a fearful generation bows before the lie.

The vandals and the Visigoths, figuratively, but only just figuratively, are at the gates, and they have destruction in mind. They do not merely seek a place at the table. They seek to overturn the table, burn the house, tear down its foundations, and condemn everyone who remembers what once stood there.

Yet the greater crisis is not merely outside the Church. The greater crisis is that much of the Church has neither the spiritual strength nor the moral courage to resist it.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓

Paine spoke of the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot, the man who loved the cause when the weather was pleasant but disappeared when the struggle became costly. The Church has her own summer Christians and sunshine saints.

They will sing of victory while victory costs them nothing. They will speak of the cross while carefully avoiding every road that leads to Calvary. They will proclaim Christ so long as Christ does not threaten their comfort, their reputation, their employment, their friendships, or their place within respectable society.

But these times will reveal every man.

The sunshine saint will shrink from the reproach of Christ. The summer Christian will compromise with the spirit of the age. The religious spectator will wait for some institution, some pastor, some movement, or some celebrated personality to tell him what to believe and how far he may safely go.

Yet the remnant cannot live by permission from men.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

The answer is not that the righteous can do nothing. The answer is found in the following words: “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven.”

When every earthly foundation is shaking, the throne of God remains immovable. When truth is cast down in the streets, Christ remains the Truth. When men tear down ancient boundaries, the Word of God remains forever settled in heaven.

The righteous must return to that which cannot be shaken.

We must know God for ourselves. We must hear His voice for ourselves. We must draw water from the wells of salvation for ourselves. We must possess an inward life strong enough to endure when every outward support is removed.

It is no longer enough to attend. It is no longer enough to observe. It is no longer enough to borrow another man’s convictions and repeat another man’s revelation. Every saint must know in whom he has believed.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐇

Many Christians have been prepared for comfort, but very few have been prepared for conflict. They have been taught how to attend meetings, support ministries, follow programs, and listen to sermons, but they have not been taught how to stand alone before God.

They have been made dependent upon religious institutions at the very moment when those institutions are proving themselves incapable of meeting the crisis.

The machinery still operates. The lights still shine. The bands still play. The sermons are still delivered. The calendars remain full. Yet in many places the saints remain weak, passive, undiscerning, and utterly unprepared for the hour that has come upon us.

The veil was torn, yet men have busily sewn it back together. Christ died to create a kingdom of priests, yet the priesthood of all believers has been reduced to the ministry of the few.

This arrangement may survive in peaceful times. It will not survive the winter.

𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐒𝐓?

There comes a moment when every man must look into his own soul and ask the question that cannot be answered by his pastor, his denomination, his family, or his friends.

Is Christ worth the cost?

Is He worth the loss of reputation?

Is He worth the loss of comfort?

Is He worth the loss of employment?

Is He worth the loss of friends?

Is He worth imprisonment?

Is He worth death?

The early saints answered that question in the arenas, in prisons, in caves, beneath the sword, and upon the flames. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death.

We have sung their hymns, read their stories, and admired their courage. Now the question comes to us.

What do we truly believe?

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃

These are the times that reveal the remnant. These are the times when empty profession is separated from living faith. These are the times when the double-minded are swept away, the fearful retreat, and the faithful discover that Christ is sufficient.

The remnant must not retreat into silence. Neither must they place their confidence in politics, institutions, personalities, or movements. We are not called to preserve a religious culture. We are called to bear witness to the truth.

We must speak while truth is falling in the streets.

We must stand while the foundations are being torn down.

We must strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.

We must warn those who are asleep.

We must encourage those who are standing alone.

We must become, once again, the royal priesthood Christ purchased with His own blood.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑

Valley Forge was not the end of the American struggle. The winter passed. The army that entered weak, hungry, divided, and diseased emerged disciplined and prepared for the battles ahead.

And so it shall be with the remnant.

The winter will expose us, but it will also refine us. The cold will reveal whether our faith possesses substance. The darkness will force our roots deeper into Christ. The loss of outward supports will teach us that the Lord Himself is our support.

God is preparing a people who cannot be bought by comfort, frightened by opposition, or silenced by the fear of men.

A people who know their God.

A people who love the truth.

A people who have counted the cost.

A people who have settled the question of whether Christ is worth dying for because they have already discovered that He is worth living for.

𝐀 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃

These are not merely dangerous times. They are revealing times. They are separating times. They are purifying times. They are the times that try men’s souls.

The vandals are at the gates. Truth has fallen in the streets. The foundations are being destroyed. Despair and deception are virulent, and the long winter of discontent is upon us.

Yet the throne of God remains unshaken.

Christ is still building His Church.

The Spirit is still gathering the remnant.

Therefore, let every saint look deeply into his own soul and settle the question now.

Will we be summer Christians and sunshine saints, or will we stand with Christ when the cost of standing is everything?

The hour is late.

The winter is here.

The battle is at the gate.

And now we shall discover what we truly believe.