"I am not going to laugh when your end of the boat goes down, because I am in the other end." I don't know who first said this, but Clement I, who lived during the first century, apparently was the first to say: "We are in the same boat" (Epistle to the Church of Corinth). Irrespective of who said what and when, how true it is! Whether we be young or old, male or female, rich or poor, we all have one thing in common: We are alive together in the last days of earth's history.

Inasmuch as we have never been this way before, the prophets through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself warned us beforehand about what we can expect. Not every detail has been revealed, but we have enough information so that being forewarned, we should be forearmed (Mark 13:29).

Jesus said that his coming would be a surprise but not because he had withheld information. He cautions: "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares" (Luke 21:34). Those who are not prepared for what lies ahead will be those who are either too busy to notice or who simply don't believe what the prophets have written.

This book is not for skeptics or unbelievers, not because they don't deserve our attention, but because if we were addressing them we would do it from a different perspective. We do well to remind ourselves that how and what Jesus said depended on whom he was talking to, and we must do the same.

When we study what Jesus said would occur in the end time, the word "deceive" or one of its derivatives plays a prominent role. I'll devote an entire chapter to the subject of deception, but here at the onset it is important that we take note of the concept because it is the modus operandi of the devil's strategies for the last days (See John 8:44).

Somehow we seem to have forgotten that the toolbox liars use contains effective lies as well as ineffective lies. An effective lie is cunning, clever; it appears to be true. An ineffective lie is obviously and blatantly false. The devil's deceptions in the last days will not seem to be wrong; rather they will appear to be the right. This "father of lies" (Verse 44, RSV) aims to destabilize believers. "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" (Revelation 12:17).

The enemy is desperate. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (verse 12). In the period leading up to the time when Jesus says, "It is finished," Satan will make a concentrated effort to cause as many as possible of those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life to thrown in the towel and join him in what will be the final war in the great controversy.

Those who are prepared by being forewarned will stand firm. Those who are careless or unprepared will be vulnerable to ambush and misinformation. Throughout history Satan has attacked the people of God from two fronts, the outside and the inside. This book addresses both possibilities. Although Jesus and the prophets have warned that there would be both physical and spiritual components to the last chapters of this earth's history, Standing Firm focuses on what is even now occurring that seeks to overrun the hearts and minds of the faithful. The chapters of this book alert us to some of the spiritual strategies the forces of evil are using as a springboard from which to launch the final assault against God's people. As you read you will discover that the chapters highlight the following strategies.

Strategy 1-- Undermine and corrupt the ideology of the faithful. The unity of the faithful is based on truth and on Jesus Christ, who is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Truth embraces reality both seen and unseen. The devil aims to distort reality so that, like driving in a heavy fog, the faithful will no longer be able to continue forward, or worse, they'll go off the road.

Truth is so clear and simple that even a child can comprehend it. Truth is eternal and never changes. Something is never more true or less true; it's simply true or it isn't. Error is confusing, ever mutating and assuming new shapes and forms. Sometimes it will wrap itself in a skin of truth, but it's error nevertheless.

Knowledge of truth forms the foundation on which we may safely stand firm throughout the last days. We can expect that a high priority of the evil one will be to discredit, intimidate, play down, and otherwise do whatever is necessary to remove the only thing that can protect us during the trials that lie ahead. Truth is his target.

Large buildings are demolished when explosive charges are precisely placed in those parts of the structure responsible for holding them together. Our faith is sustained by the truth as it is in Jesus. In the last days the enemy will seek not only to discredit and demolish the truth but also its sister, which is doctrine drawn from Scripture.

Some of the doctrines that for many years had been clearly understood-and accepted-- seem to have become fuzzy to some or no longer important to others. I pray as you read the chapters that treat the subject of faith and works and also Christian standards that you'll see the principles upon which these often misunderstood doctrines were based and that your faith will be strengthened.

Strategy 2--Take over the language. Someone has said that if you want to make it impossible for your enemy to convey his ideology, take over his language. We do well to remind ourselves that during the war in heaven Lucifer used a language which up to that time had linked the citizens of heaven together in love and loyalty to the Sovereign, but he then used those same concepts to subvert that loyalty. Following that he brought hate and finally war (Revelation 12:7).

It is essential in the last days that those who have accepted salvation remain alert. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt.7:15). In the past there have been those who, using the words that people were hungry to hear, gathered a following that met a violent end.

As we will learn in chapter 10, "He Speaks Our Language," in many instances the words we formerly used to convey truth no longer have the same meanings they once had. Concepts that were once understood as compatible are now being turned against each other resulting in confusion of doctrine.

Some feel that in presenting the gospel we must not offend others. Therefore, they may give more attention to selecting soothing words than to the message conveyed. And surely we want to frame truth in as winsome a manner as possible, but sometimes truth is offensive. As you read this book you will be reminded that our hope for stability in the last days will be our ongoing commitment to the Word of God as our only rule of faith and doctrine. This will be made clear in chapter 11, "The Scriptures a Lamp."

Strategy 3--Destroy the institutions necessary for human society. The human institution at the foundation of all others is the home. The home constitutes the basis of all government. After the home comes the church, and then the community, the city and the nation follow in importance. The devil knows that if he can effectively destroy the home, every other form of government will ultimately cave in, and anarchy will result.

During the cold war nations spent enormous sums of money to develop armies and weapons of mass destruction that would protect national identities and ideologies. During those same years the home in the Western societies was invaded to the point that first marriages in the United States on average last only eight years, with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent. And second marriages last an average of only six years before divorce (Time, Sept. 25, 2000, p.77).

In the years since the nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, the effect of the exposure to radiation still manifests itself in birth defects, 10 times as much thyroid cancers among children, autoimmune disorders, increased sexual and reproductive problems, and a 10 to 15 percent increase of neuropsychiatric problems among children (Science News, Oct. 3, 1998, p. 216; Aug. 7, p. 95; Scientific American, April 1996, p. 47).

Our society in the coming years will see the results that accrue to a generation of children whose homes were broken up at the most critical time of their development. Or if those homes were not broken up, too often the children spent their early years under the care of others while both parents worked to pay the bills. The challenges to the integrity of the family are discussed in the chapters entitled, "Culture Shock," "Color Me Beautiful," "Buy Now, Pay Never," and "Why Not Some Home Insurance?"

Strategy 4--Infiltrate existing infrastructures. Cowbirds don't make their own nests, and neither do they raise their own young. Perhaps they are the original ones to have a home away from home! The female lays her eggs in the nests of other birds. Because cowbirds tend to grow larger than the host birds, their growing hatchlings demand more food and more space than their step-siblings. Soon the other little birds, for whom the nest was originally built, get crowded out, and the cowbird's tribe increases.

The devil has developed his own infrastructures. They range from pagan religions to out-and-out worship of Satan-satanism. But his portfolio is diversified. As we will see in the chapters "Divide and Conquer" and "The Constantine Syndrome," he has discovered that the best way to fight 'em is often to join 'em. The devil now professes to be converted. He swears he is a believer, but his real purpose is to destroy faith or at least to corrupt it with error to the point it is no longer the true faith it once was.

If there was ever a time in which the believer in Christ needs to think clearly, it is now. Animals don't need to think. They do what they are supposed to do by instinct. As people made in the image of God and with the gift of reason and free will, if we aren't thinking clearly during these last days, we'll not be able to stand firm and may, in the end, be swept away.

You'll notice that at end of each chapter I've included points to ponder. It's my hope that you will think about these and discuss their implications with your immediate family and with others within the family of faith.

Above all, I pray that you will consider the practical applications suggested. We should never take up the God's Word except with the desire to put it into practice in our lives. Finally, each chapter closes with a brief prayer.

It's my desire that this book will help us fulfill in our individual lives and in the church God's purpose for those of us living in the last days: "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-15).

Prayer

Father, as your children living in the last days, we are all in the same boat. We remember Jesus was in a little boat on Galilee when a great storm blew in, and the disciples feared for their lives. Help us remember that just as you were with them in the storm, so you are with us now. Wherever this book is read, please strengthen faith so that though Your Word the Holy Spirit will enable all your children to remain firm until the storm has passed and they have entered the heavenly harbor. Amen.