Survivor / June 2001

Television is a dominant media influence upon western thinking and the Survivor program is a good example of just how compelling that influence is. Maybe you didn’t watch this particular program with millions of others, but it was a stimulating program just the same. The second version of the Survivor television program was completed in early May of this year. Sixteen ordinary people were selected to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast the other players in the Australian outback. For 42 days these players had to endure hunger, the outside elements, and games of competition until they voted each other out of the game. This lasted until only two were left. The actual winner was determined by the vote of players who were voted off earlier. The game they played had all the elements of physical and psychological strategies to determine the winner. Maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense to you if you didn’t see the program, but its Okay. The fact is that this “reality TV” program had almost everyone enthusiastically watching and yet scratching their heads in confusion at the same time.

The very concept of the game is to out-swindle, out-manipulate, and out-do one another. Friendships formed must be betrayed in the end and the strategy of winning is based on voting people off before they vote you off. You can win temporary periods of immunity, which just motivates others to get rid of you all the more. It's like sharks swimming together but eating one another at the same time.

In the last program, Survivor II, a particular contestant was clearly and visibly shaken by the experience. She was voted off first and didn't even get a chance to get going in the game. Everyone ganged-up on her immediately. It really shook her up emotionally being devalued and voted-out so quickly. In her words, she would never play the game again. She admitted that she had lost confidence in herself as a result of playing.

Other contestants struggled with the ethics of the game, as to whether they had breached their own code of conduct with the interrelationships. One particular player, a professed Christian, used this issue to question the others. How do you separate out the game strategy from your sense of right and wrong, and still play the game to win? The final two contestants shrugged off this question by explaining it was just a game. But his question was being asked and discussed by both players and audience.

The winner of Survivor II was a mother who seemed to participate well and win by the slimmest of margins (final vote 4-3). She won a million dollars (about half of that after taxes). Amazingly, the other players admitted that they underestimated how "ruthless" she was.

When it was all said and done, I was left with a disturbing feeling about what the world calls "entertainment." The world seems to be learning that rewards come from being shrewd and ruthless. The winner was the person that survived the environment of betrayal and double-crossing. If the game and program are so much fun then why don't we herald the winner as a champion and feel like they earned the prize? Why do we feel the winner is in fact the biggest manipulator, double-crossing, backstabbing, betrayer that has ever lived? What is so good about seeing that "ruthless" person win?

The part that is so disturbing is we know that the personal behavior of voting others out is not right. Survivors are supposed to be hero types, people who endure and overcome obstacles are greeted with cheers and gratitude. We know the word "survivor" is not synonymous with that program. That program has a distorted definition fitting the very confused world we live in. Actually, the program is based on a teaching exercise that was used in elementary education many years ago called "values clarification." Maybe you have heard of this before.

Values clarification is an educational model that was supposed to help children sort out the issues of right and wrong and teach children to think for themselves. It was a disaster. A simple description of the teaching model is in the following exercise. A group of children are gathered (lets say seven in number). Each child is defined as a functional person. For example, one child is called a doctor, another is a cook, another is a soldier, another is a mother, and another is a minister. Then the group is told that they are in a survival situation such as a life raft on the ocean. The conditions are that there is only enough food and water to support six of them. One of them has to be out-voted off the raft to die. Then they let the children decide who gets voted off (pushed off the raft). You wouldn't believe the results of putting children into this mental game. Everyone was emotionally wounded. The poor kid who got voted off was shattered and the other kids felt guilty and ashamed for doing so. Interestingly, the minister usually got killed. There is a special commentary on that issue all by itself. Parents who got their kids home after this exercise of modern education went "ballistic" with anger as to the harm that was done. Those parents were regarded as unenlightened and archaic in their thinking by school administrators and teachers.

The program "Survivor" is based on this same exercise in values clarification, only it is played down to one survivor. It is just the adult version of trying to play a game in situation ethics and values clarification. It doesn't work and doesn't teach right from wrong. It is very emotionally disturbing and can harm the soul and psyche of everyone playing. … which brings me to the reason and subject for this article. God has a different definition for the word "survivor."

We know that ominous things will be happening in the future of the world. The prophecies clearly tell us that a great trial and tribulation will come upon the world leading to God's final judgment - the day of the Lord. The difficulties of those days are spoken of by many prophets, but they also speak of those who will escape, survive, endure, and be delivered, rescued and saved. Daniel, Joel and Yeshua say it this way.

Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

Daniel 12:1

And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord Will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.

Joel 2:32

But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. …for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.

Matthew 24:13,21

These are but a few of the references given in the Scripture that describe the survivors at the end of the age. If you think about it just a bit longer, you will recall that Yeshua the Messiah is the ultimate survivor. He survived even death to rise in newness of life. This is our destiny as well in Him.

While we might all agree on the ultimate and final destiny of surviving this world in the Lord, the fact remains that the day to day business of escaping, enduring and surviving is not a pleasant one. In fact, there are a lot of questions as to exactly how we will do it. How will we make it in an atmosphere of hunger, thirst, oppression, difficulty, terror, hardship, and judgment? Consider how the prophets speak of the time we will endure and God's definition of us as "survivors."

The greatest problem in the Great Tribulation will not be the antimessiah, the false prophet, the devil, lack of food or water, or other people. It will be God. God will be pouring out judgment on the world. The real question is, "How do we survive that?" The question is asked by the Psalmist, the prophets, and in the book of Revelation.

Thou, even Thou, art to be feared; and who may stand in Thy presence when once Thou art angry?

Psalms 76:7

Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken up by Him.

Nahum 1:6

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.

Malachi 3:2

…for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?

Revelation 6:17

Surviving the world is easy when you compare it to surviving the wrath of God. I have good news brethren. The same Scripture that asks this question also gives the answer to those who want to hear. Here is how Ezekiel describes surviving just four of God's judgments.

FAMINE

"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Jo- were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves," declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 14:13-14

Maybe you're asking why the Lord references Noah, Daniel, and Job? They are examples of God's survivors! Noah survived God's world-wide judgment in the flood. Daniel survived the judgment of a king in the lion's den. Jo- survived the judgment of satan in his loss of family, possessions, and health. They are the best examples of survivors and God says they only have the power to save themselves. They can not deliver anyone. Consider this additional question for a moment. You're not a Noah, Daniel, or Job, are you?

WILD BEASTS

"If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts, though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord God, "they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate."

Ezekiel 14:15-16

SWORD

“Or if I should bring a sword on that country and say, >Let the sword pass through the country and cut off man and beast from it,= even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered.”

Ezekiel 14:17-18

PLAGUE

"Or if I should send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it, to cut off man and beast from it, even though Noah, Daniel, and Jo- were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord God, "they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness."

Ezekiel 14:19-20

Having listed individually these four judgments, the Lord then poses an even more difficult question. What will you do if the Lord pours out all four judgments at the same time? If no one, but those three, can survive the individual judgments, what will we do if all four judgments fall?

For thus says the Lord God, “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague to cut off man and beast from it!”

Ezekiel 14:21

This is a very important question for us as end time believers, because this is the judgment that we will endure. It is called the fourth seal in the book of Revelation.

And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence [plague] and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Revelation 6:7-8

How can anyone survive this? Ezekiel gives us an answer.

“Yet, behold, survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will see their conduct and actions; then you will be comforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done in vain whatever I did to it,”"declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 14:22-23

God's survivors during the Great Tribulation are different from Noah, Daniel, and Job. They have the power to deliver others as well. This should be an answer of tremendous encouragement to us in these last days. The deliverance of the tribulation saints will be the greatest deliverance of God for His people!

The children of Israel have given us a beautiful example of how to survive the judgment of God and elements of the Great Tribulation. Did they not see the judgment of God befall the Egyptians? Did they not escape from Egypt and have to survive in the wilderness? Didn’t God say that all these things were to teach them?

And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3

Didn’t Paul say they are our examples as well?

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

I Corinthians 10:11

Did you know that God has commanded us to learn from this example by observing a particular holiday? Did you know that holiday is designed to teach us how to escape, survive, and endure the Great Tribulation?

Which holiday am I referring to? Surely, you know! It is the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the holiday that the Lord commands us to get out of our houses and live in booths (huts, lean-to's, tents, pop-ups, travel trailers, RV's, and other temporary tabernacles) just like our ancestors did when they left Egypt. The holiday of Tabernacles reminds us of the previous examples and prepares us for our transition to the promised land (the kingdom).

The world's definition of a survivor is the guy who outwits, outplays, back-stabs, betrays, double-crosses, and outlasts others. This is the guy who loses in the Great Tribulation. The Scripture and the Messiah have taught us that those who give up their lives in the Lord are given life. Those who try to save themselves, lose their lives. The survivors of the Great Tribulation will be heros of the faith. They will be respected, honored, and glorified in the kingdom. Here, in this world, you will win some money (the IRS takes half), and others speak of how “ruthless” you are. Oh, and only one guy wins. God is describing survivors that inherit the kingdom and are joined with many brethren, not the least are the very sons of Israel that were our examples.

This year, October 1 through 9, the Feast of Tabernacles will be observed throughout the world. I encourage you to observe this festival and learn. Only by doing so can some of these lessons be learned. I believe that is the very purpose of this particular holiday, to teach the last generation how to complete the greater exodus from the trials and tribulations of this world, and to survive the Great Tribulation.

If you have no other place to join in with other brethren, I would like to personally invite you to come to Chandler, Oklahoma and join Lion and Lam- Ministries, and the host congregation of B’nai Shalom to observe the Feast of Tabernacles. Come and learn how to become one of the survivors that Ezekiel describes - the survivors that are able to deliver even sons and daughters.

Blessings on you Brethren. Thank you for your prayers and support even as we endure the day-to-day of this present world. Remember, our destiny is to escape, survive and endure to the end. So, hang in there!!!

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