In looking at the Scriptures with the word “overcome,” we can find hope and proof of a pre-tribulation rapture. The prophecies in Revelation were given to us by the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, and the Beginning of the Creation of God (Revelation 3:14), leaving no room for doubt amid the many wonderful promises listed in the book.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”:

Revelation 1:5-6 says Jesus, the Faithful Witness, loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood; He made us a kingdom and priests to serve God the Father. He wants us to serve Him, but we’re going to choose this day whom we will serve. As the Israelites desired a king over them like the rest of the nations of the world, one other than the Most High King, we will all choose what king we serve:

1 Samuel 12:13 “Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired. And take note, the LORD has set a king over you.”

Because Jesus is the Overcomer and the Lamb who was slain, we also overcome by His blood and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). The Lord told us in John 16:33 that in the world we’d have tribulation but to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. Through Him, we’ve already overcome! The Greek word for overcome is G3528, “nikaó: To conquer, to overcome, to prevail, to gain victory.” This is repeated in 1 John 5:4-5:

1 John 5:4-5 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

The disciples and brethren were often called “little children.” The disciples and brethren were the youngest of all the generations up until that point. This would mean those of us in the last days (I believe this is our generation) just before the rapture are the youngest children of God in the body of Christ. We’re the ones who, though we remain alive on Earth, will give up our own lives here on Earth and be delivered into eternal life. Understanding this gives these next verses a deeper meaning, in addition to what’s on the surface – as He does love babies and children with a tender love:

Matthew 19:14 “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’”

Mark 10:15 and Luke 18:17: “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

Once I saw this, I couldn’t unsee it – it illuminates a lot of the end-time prophetic scriptures, even in the Old Testament. The Lord has spoken directly to all of the generations, from outside of time. Several things in the next verses are repetitive:

1 John 2:12-14 “I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Here is a list of what we receive as overcomers through Christ, according to the scriptures in Revelation. The promises here simply can’t be reconciled with overcomers being left on Earth for the tribulation. Forget not His benefits!

We need to remember that those who are truly abiding in Christ have already overcome through Him. The letters to the churches are reminders, promises, exhortations, and warnings to make sure we’re all standing firm and ready before the tribulation begins. In Christ, we already have the victory over the enemy. The battle is won; He redeemed us and paid the bride price – and it was His own blood; instead of being delivered into wrath and temptation, we’ll be delivered healthy and whole (sound) into God’s kingdom.

>Revelation 2:7 – Those who have overcome will eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (There is famine on Earth during the tribulation, but overcomers will be eating from the Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God.)

>Revelation 2:11 – Those who have overcome will not be hurt at all by the second death. (This is repeated in Revelation 20:6. We’re only appointed to die once, then to face judgment – Hebrews 9:27. It’s at the judgment seals, bowls, and trumpets that a person would have to face death a second time.)

>Revelation 2:17 – Those who have overcome will receive the hidden manna to eat, and a white stone with a new name written on it. (Manna was perfect sustenance for the Israelites, so for the second time here, we see we can never go hungry. As the bride, we’ll take on our Groom’s name.)

>Revelation 2:26-28 – Those who have overcome and keep His works will be given power over the nations, as Jesus was also given. We also will receive the Morning Star, as Jesus has received from the Father. (2 Peter 1:19 says that when that Day dawns, the Morning Star rises in our hearts, which is the brightest star; indeed, it is Jesus, as He is the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). Therefore, it’s impossible for us to live in darkness. In addition to this, we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) – how then could we live in darkness, if we’re the light of the world? And if we have power over the nations, the nations have no power over us!)

>Revelation 3:4 – Those who haven’t defiled their garments will walk with Him in white, for we are worthy. (When we’re abiding in Jesus, we’re clothed in His righteous garments instead of our own filthy ones. We’re only worthy because He is worthy. In Luke 21:36, we’re told to keep watch and pray that we’d be worthy to escape all of these things that come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. We may fall and yet rise up prior to the sudden destruction, but we won’t fall in the “falling away” – we’ll escape and be standing on our Firm Foundation).

>Revelation 3:5 – Those who have overcome will be clothed in white garments, and our names will not be blotted out from the Book of Life. Our names will be confessed before our Heavenly Father and His angels.

>Revelation 3:8-9 –He sets before the faithful church, who have kept His word and not denied His name, an open door which no man can shut; the synagogue of Satan will come to worship at our feet, to know that He has loved us.

>Revelation 3:10 – Those who have kept His command to persevere, He will keep from the hour of trial that will test the inhabitants of the earth. (This doesn’t say He’ll be with us through it – it says He’ll keep us from it!)

>Revelation 3:12 – He’ll make us those who have overcome a pillar in the house of our God, and we’ll never leave it. He will write on us the name of God and the city of God- the New Jerusalem. (This certainly makes it impossible for us to be left on the earth with Satan for the tribulation. We do come back with Jesus to stand on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:5, Revelation 19:14), but the house of God is now our everlasting home.)

>Revelation 3:21 – He will grant those who have overcome to sit with Him on His throne, as He also overcame and sat down with our Father on His throne.

A couple of verses after this, in Revelation 4:2, we see the Holy One sitting on the throne set in Heaven before the seals even begin. “Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.”

As part of the body of Christ, we are the holy brethren (Hebrews 3:1), having already overcome, been delivered, and now re-unified as one body in Christ, with Christ as our head, who has preeminence in all things (Colossians 1:18). This makes us members of the Holy One.

Mark 12:29 – “Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”

In Revelation 5:7, the scroll was taken out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. There is a lot of hope and good news to be seen in “His righteous right hand.”

>Exodus 15:16-17 is prophecy that the LORD’s right hand has dashed the enemy into pieces when He unleashes His burning wrath, and His enemies are consumed. We’re not His enemies. He calls us friends, beloved, children, and brethren.

>Psalm 118:16 says His right hand is exalted – which means “to be high, to rise.”

>Isaiah 41:10 says, “Fear not, for Iam with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

>Psalm 18:35 says, “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”

Going back to Revelation 5, in verses 9-10, the Lamb who was slain could open the scroll because He had redeemed us by His blood out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. This ties in with Revelation 1:5-6, where He said He freed us with His blood (written at the top of this commentary):

“And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.’”

The above verse reveals those who are redeemed and have overcome, but the verse below reveals those who are overcome by the beast: a remnant still on Earth because they didn’t repent of their unbelief before He called us to Arise. This prophecy is also in Daniel 7:21.

Revelation 13:7: “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.”

The saints in this verse are not the bride of Christ, but ultimately, they are part of the household of God. Because they didn’t abide in Christ, they weren’t ready and didn’t awaken to hear the Groom’s call, as they were asleep; therefore, the beast is able to prevail over them and martyr them.

It seems fitting that our last generation would be the “lukewarm church.” The cold, refreshing, living water is often mixed with deadly, boiling water, most likely representing double-mindedness.

Matthew 10:42 “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

Proverbs 25:25 “As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.”

Jeremiah 1:13-14 “And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.” Then the LORD said to me: ‘Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.’”

Ezekiel 24:3 “And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Put on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it.”

Those clothed in the garments of Christ are not the rebellious house, and the righteous will not be destroyed with the unrighteous because that wouldn’t be just. Although it’s always good to make our calling and election sure, as Peter was quite certain he would never deny Jesus until he did, three times; the third time he “wept bitterly” when the rooster crowed. The rooster symbolizes the town crier, the watchman who warns the rest when danger is lurking – those of us who are watching are all saying the same thing: Danger is lurking! Be ready to go; don’t wind up weeping bitterly!

Jesus told the churches to “repent” six times in Revelation 2 and 3, an exhortation to repent and find refuge in Him before it’s too late. We should do as He does and encourage others to go behind the Door of our House in order to be safe, whole, and sound, far away from our enemy and his servants.

The good news is that anyone who believes in, confesses, and receives Jesus Christ is blessed. They will overcome and won’t perish, be consumed, or be condemned. Along with His salvation come glorious benefits!

Blessings!

Angela

 

 

Why Evangelical Christians Must Vote in the Upcoming Election

The standard of righteousness has not fallen by accident. It has been lowered, deliberately and systematically, by those who hate the God of the Bible and the ordered liberty His law makes possible. Evangelical Christians who still revere Scripture as the final authority cannot treat the ballot box as optional. Voting is an act of moral stewardship. It is the practical expression of the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord over every realm—including the civil realm. To refuse that duty in this hour is to abandon the field while the enemies of faith, family, and freedom advance.

The Biblical Mandate for Civic Engagement

Scripture does not leave the believer in ambiguity. “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Proverbs 29:2). The civil magistrate is “the minister of God to thee for good” (Romans 13:4).

Neutrality is a myth. Silence in the presence of evil is consent. The prophet Isaiah pronounced woe upon those who “call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). The apostle Paul commanded that prayers be made “for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1–2). A quiet and peaceable life is not secured by retreat. It is secured by the active restraint of wickedness through the lawful instruments God has placed in the hands of free citizens.

Psalm 33:12 declares, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Second Chronicles 7:14 still stands: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Turning from wicked ways includes refusing to surrender the instruments of self-government to those who openly despise the moral law. Ephesians 6:12 further reminds us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The evils confronting this generation are not merely political or cultural. They are demonic in origin and character—manifestations of rebellion against the throne of God.

The Shedding of Innocent Blood: Human Abortion

We stand at a moment of profound moral crisis, one that strikes at the very foundation of our claim to be a people who acknowledge the self-evident truths upon which this nation was established. The deliberate, systematic destruction of unborn human life—carried out under the protection of law and often with the financial support of the state—is not a matter of private preference or contested medical opinion. It is the willful shedding of innocent blood, an act that Scripture identifies as an abomination before the living God and a direct assault upon the image of God in man.

The Lord Himself declares, “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:16–17). The commandment is unambiguous: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). In Genesis 9:6 the Creator establishes the principle that “whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”

The unborn child is no exception to this sacred protection. The psalmist testifies, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13–14).

The prophet Jeremiah records the divine word: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee” (Jeremiah 1:5). Even in the New Testament, the infant John the Baptist, still in the womb, leaped for joy at the presence of the unborn Christ (Luke 1:41–44). Job asks the searching question, “Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:15).

To legalize the destruction of that life is to participate in a form of modern child sacrifice—an act historically associated with the worship of false gods and the influence of demonic powers that demand blood in exchange for power, convenience, or autonomy.

Deuteronomy 30:19 sets the choice before every generation: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Isaiah 59:7 describes the path of a people under judgment: “Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood.”

When a nation enshrines in law the right to destroy its own offspring, it does not merely commit a political error. It repudiates the Declaration’s affirmation that all men are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable right to life. It abandons the moral premise upon which liberty itself rests. And it invites the consequences that Scripture associates with the shedding of innocent blood—consequences that no amount of technological sophistication or rhetorical evasion can indefinitely postpone.

This is not a peripheral issue. It is the decisive test of whether we still recognize the authority of the God who gives life, or whether we have transferred that authority to the will of the strong over the weak. A people that will not defend the most vulnerable among them has already begun to dissolve the bonds of justice that make ordered liberty possible.

The Enduring Evil of Communism

Communism is not merely an economic theory. It is a materialist religion that denies the Creator, elevates the state as god, and seeks the systematic destruction of the family, the church, and private property.

Karl Marx and his heirs declared war on heaven itself. The blood of more than one hundred million victims in the twentieth century testifies to the fruit of that ideology. Wherever it gains power, it abolishes the free proclamation of the Gospel, rewrites history, and trains children to regard the state as their true parent. Its modern heirs operate under softer names—progressivism, equity, democratic socialism—yet the goal remains the same: the concentration of power in the hands of an elite that answers to no higher law.

This ideology is demonic in its essence. It is the spirit of antichrist working through human systems to dethrone God and enslave man. Evangelical Christians who refuse to vote against this ideology effectively grant it room to advance.

The Challenge of Political Islam

Islam, in its classical and orthodox forms, is not a private faith compatible with constitutional liberty. For Islam divides the universe into two separate entities: Dar al-Islam (those who are fully submitted to Islam) and Dar al-Harb (those whom Islam is at war with until the day of judgment, including Jews and Christians). It is a comprehensive system of law, politics, and culture that claims universal jurisdiction.

Sharia and the Constitution cannot both be supreme. History records the pattern of conquest, dhimmitude, and the gradual erasure of Christian and Jewish communities under Islamic rule. The founders understood the difference between religious liberty and the importation of a political theology that rejects the very foundations of Western ordered freedom. Behind the geopolitical and demographic pressures lies a spiritual reality: a system that denies the deity of Christ and seeks the subjugation of all nations under a law hostile to the Gospel. To ignore the doctrinal and historical reality of political Islam is not charity. It is dereliction. A people that will not defend its own civilizational inheritance will lose it.

Luciferian Globalism and the War on Sovereignty

Behind the rhetoric of “global governance,” “sustainable development,” and “rules-based international order” lies an older ambition: the consolidation of power beyond the reach of any sovereign people or any higher moral law. This project is not merely technocratic. It is spiritual. It seeks to erase the nation-state that God established as a restraint on human ambition (Acts 17:26), to replace the authority of Scripture with the authority of international bodies, and to condition populations to accept management rather than self-government. The John Birch Society and like-minded patriots have long warned that this drive toward a managed planetary system is incompatible with the American constitutional order. It is luciferian in the precise sense that it seeks to dethrone the Lordship of Christ and enthrone human will as the highest authority—mirroring the original rebellion of the adversary who said, “I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:14). Christians who value national independence under God must treat every election as a defense of that independence.

The LGBTQ Revolution Against the Created Order

The LGBTQ movement is not a plea for tolerance. It is a demand for the public celebration of what God has declared disordered. Genesis 1:27 establishes the binary of male and female as the deliberate design of the Creator. Romans 1 describes the exchange of the natural for the unnatural as a mark of a society under judgment. The systematic indoctrination of children, the erasure of sex-based protections for women and girls, the redefinition of marriage, and the medicalization of gender-confused youth constitute a direct assault on the image of God in man. This rebellion is not merely cultural. It is demonic—an attempt to overturn the created order itself and to normalize what Scripture calls abomination.

A society that teaches its children to reject their own created nature is a society in open revolt against the God who made them.

The Black Robe Regiment, Revivalist Pastors, and the Founders’ Witness

In the American founding, the pulpits were not silent. The Black Robe Regiment—those colonial pastors who preached the doctrines of resistance to tyranny and the right of a free people under God—helped forge the moral consensus that made independence possible. They understood that civil liberty rests upon moral liberty, and that moral liberty rests upon the fear of God.

John Witherspoon, president of Princeton and signer of the Declaration of Independence, declared that “there is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire.” Jonathan Mayhew preached that resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. Peter Muhlenberg famously removed his clerical robe in the pulpit to reveal the uniform of a Continental officer, calling his congregation to the defense of liberty as a Christian duty.

These revivalist pastors of the Revolutionary era did not separate the Gospel from the public square. They understood that the public square is either governed by the moral law or it becomes a theater of power without principle.

The founders spoke with equal clarity. John Adams wrote that “our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

George Washington, in his Farewell Address, declared religion and morality “indispensable supports” of political prosperity.

Benjamin Franklin, addressing the Constitutional Convention, asked: “How has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? … The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”

James Madison affirmed that “religion is the basis and foundation of government,” warning that without virtue sustained by religious principle, free government cannot endure.

Alexander Hamilton insisted that “the sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”

These men did not envision a secularized public square stripped of moral restraint. They understood that liberty without the fear of God collapses into license, and license into tyranny.

Lincoln’s Clear-Eyed Warning

Abraham Lincoln, facing a nation divided over a moral evil of immense scale, spoke with clarity that still cuts. “If we do not do right,” he said, “God will let us go our own way to ruin.” He understood that nations, like individuals, stand under the judgment of a righteous God. The Civil War was, in his view, a terrible refining fire permitted because the nation had tolerated a great wrong.

Today the wrongs are different in form but similar in substance: the legalized destruction of innocent life through abortion, the corruption of the young, the abandonment of the created order, the advance of atheistic ideologies, and the progressive surrender of national sovereignty. Lincoln’s logic remains: a people that will not restrain evil through the lawful means available to it invites the judgment that follows moral collapse.

The Duty of the Hour

The upcoming election is not a contest of personalities alone. It is a test of whether the remnant still possesses the will to raise the standard. Perfect candidates will not appear this side of glory. The question is never perfection. The question is direction. Measure every candidate and every party by the fixed standard of Scripture: the protection of innocent human life from conception, the defense of the natural family, the preservation of parental authority, the maintenance of national borders and sovereignty, the rejection of ideologies that deny the created order, and the restraint of those who would place the state or global institutions above the moral law of God.

The principalities and powers that stand behind abortion, communism, political Islam, luciferian globalism, and the LGBTQ revolution will not yield to silence or private piety alone. They must be resisted in the realm of law and policy by citizens who understand that their citizenship on Earth is exercised under the higher citizenship of heaven.

Register. Inform yourself thoroughly. Speak with clarity and charity. Vote. Then continue to pray and to labor. The Lord of hosts has not abdicated His throne. He still raises up and casts down. He still honors those who honor Him. The standard of truth, once lifted high by the Black Robe Regiment, the revivalist pastors of the Revolution, and the founding generation, can be raised again—if the people who know the truth will refuse to lower it.

The time for private faith that never touches public duty is over. The time to raise the standard has come.

“If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God.”

— George Washington, Constitutional Convention (1787)

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Travis is a Berean student of Bible prophecy.