STAND FIRM: Overcoming Collapses

The Lord opened an incredible door for me to share my heart in helping others stand firm to challenges to the faith now and those in the future. I joined a team called Last Days Overcomers, who are doing conferences across the country. The team is growing, with over 200 volunteers.

The conference speakers are Nelson Walters, Marquis Laughlin and me. Nelson is a Bible prophecy author and teacher who has a large YouTube channel. Marquis is an actor who was saved in Hollywood and has devoted himself to memorizing whole books of the Bible and performing them around the world. He makes the Word come alive more than anyone I’ve ever heard. We did our first conference (Collapse of Everything Conference) this past weekend in Cincinnati.

Collapse of Everything is heavy-handed, but there will be a generation that will face that and likely a generation that will face that in our country even before the world’s collapse. The conference focuses on practical, biblical help to overcome. It’s a “prophecy conference” that doesn’t focus on the details of the last days, but rather how one can overcome. I focus on helping families and children stand firm and overcome in my sessions. It’s strange that a prophecy conference would push people to faithfulness and the mission field, but that’s what this conference does.

As I said, the Collapse of Everything is a heavy-handed title and overwhelming, but what if we just started with overcoming individual collapses in our lives and around us? Forget the last days — the challenges of “collapses” today can do us in. In 10 years of focusing on the subject, the number one reason Americans leave the faith is that they face a difficulty in their lives and cannot reconcile this with their understanding of God and following Him. The difficult trial they face may be bad health, loss of a loved one, divorce, strained relationships, loss of job, financial struggle, etc. You’ve likely seen this in your own churches or even with your family. It happens daily. Interestingly, it is a uniquely western problem. You’ve heard people joke about “first-world problems,” well, this is mainly a first-world problem. 

The reason is that in developing nations, and especially persecuted nations, following Christ comes with the understanding that it will be costly. They also understand life is full of challenges, “collapses” if you will. For the most part, we don’t expect collapses, though we all will face them. For most of us, a catastrophic collapse doesn’t even seem possible, but even previous generations in America realized it could happen.

This especially puts us in danger. Having a generation who doesn’t believe collapses could even happen, and especially not to Christians, and possibly being the generation that faces the trials leading up to the last days it is a recipe for disaster. I believe it is the definition of sheep being led to slaughter. I’m not talking about physical slaughter, but the spiritual slaughter of turning away and at the least being found unfaithful.

This dangerous situation is why we need to be spiritually prepared to overcome collapses. I believe that starts with just a conversation that things in our lives, country and world could fall apart. Unfortunately, we don’t have many discussions like that in our churches.

It’s hard to believe we wouldn’t, when a recent Lifeway Survey concluded 9 out of 10 evangelical pastors think the events of the last three years match the signs of the last days. That same study also revealed that 56% of pastors believe Jesus will return in their lifetime. This isn’t just a pastor thing. Another survey concluded 77% of evangelicals believe the collapse of everything is soon. Unfortunately, nearly all the 77% also reported that they felt unprepared.

I’d say we ought to start having these conversations. That’s why we’re doing those conferences, but we don’t need to limit those discussions to conferences. I encourage you to consider how you would handle a collapse in your life, and even how you would handle much larger ones. Our faith, our relationship with God, is worth that. No matter what we face, it is worth holding onto Jesus.

I would also like to invite you to our next conference that will be in Springdale on July 29 at the Jones Center. It is a one-day event, and I’d love for you to join us. I also want to hook you up! If you use the code #IKNOWJAKE at registration, you will receive 25% off registration for general admission or special access seating. If you are a pastor, I’ve worked out where the first 15 are free for them and their spouse with the code #BMAPASTOR. To register, go to lastdaysovercomer.org/events.

— Jake is the newest state missionary and would love to share about the work in Northwest Arkansas and encourage your church to stand firm. (standfirmministries.com)