Participants: Ron Halvorsen
Series Code: 13RVT
Program Code: 13RVT000002
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00:05 In today's troubled world
00:08 people are wondering where we are headed? 00:13 Revelation Today presents the answers. 00:17 Bible prophecy reveals what the future holds in store. 00:22 Revelation Today. 00:37 In recent years the world has changed dramatically. 00:42 With the technological revolution 00:43 of the last couple of decades the world has become smaller 00:46 and rather than technology making us more secure, 00:50 it seems that technology misused 00:52 or technology in the wrong hands 00:54 can make us all very vulnerable. 00:57 Politically things have changed dramatically. 01:00 We can think of organization such as the United Nations 01:02 and alliances such as NATO coming into being 01:05 and in recent years we've seen a massive shift 01:07 with the rise of terrorism. 01:09 So where are things going in the world? 01:12 You'll find out tonight in tonight's presentation, 01:15 "The New World Order." 01:17 Please welcome our presenter 01:18 for Revelation Today, Ron Halvorsen. 01:25 Let's bow our heads in the word of prayers 01:26 we seek His presence and open His word. 01:29 Gracious Father, I thank you for these pilgrims 01:32 who have come here tonight. 01:34 God, bless them as they listen to Your word 01:37 and as they open their hearts to Your-- 01:39 to Your wooing and that 01:40 they might be touched by Your spirit. 01:43 God, whatever said maybe Your truth from Your word. 01:45 We pray in Christ name, amen and amen. 01:50 The question I'm sure you're asking yourself is, 01:54 why study prophecy? 01:58 In what way does it help me 02:00 and my family get through the fears 02:03 and the hurts and the sorrows and the busyness 02:07 and the anxiety every day? 02:11 Why study prophecy? 02:14 Because the times demand it. 02:16 I mean Dickens said "It was the best of times, 02:20 and it was the worst of times." 02:23 I mean it's true, isn't it? 02:25 I mean advances in technology, 02:28 science, medicine, robotics. 02:31 They now have a robot that can sit 02:33 under the sink in your kitchen 02:37 and you can sit in the living room 02:38 watching your favorite whatever 02:42 and pushing buttons that will come out 02:44 sweep the floor, dust, wash the floor, 02:48 crawl back in the space and everything looks nice 02:50 when your husband gets home. 02:52 Isn't that nice? 02:55 I mean, that's the advance-- the advantage 02:58 that's the advantage of this technology. 03:02 Living conditions have really increased just in my lifetime. 03:07 I mean, then we talk about technology and travel, 03:10 I can get on a plane in Los Angeles 03:12 which have many times fly over to Australia in 14 hours. 03:18 I can get on a plane in Florida 03:20 and be in California in 6 hours. 03:23 Do you know what it took 03:24 and how long it took our forefathers 03:28 to cross this country in covered wagons? 03:32 I mean, this is in the 20th century 03:35 and now we're into the 21st century. 03:38 I mean, space exploration, walk on the moon. 03:42 That's amazing, you can walk on the moon 03:44 but you can't walk in some neighborhoods, isn't it? 03:48 I mean, come on now, come on now. 03:52 I mean, communications and computers, 03:57 it's the best of times 03:59 but it's also the worst of times. 04:01 There's no cure for cancer really. 04:04 I mean, no cure for AIDS. Millions are perishing. 04:09 I mean, then we had 9/11, we have terrorism 04:11 where we're afraid to board a plane 04:13 and unless we go through the security 04:16 and you're wondering if they're really watching. 04:21 A nine-year-old got through security, 04:23 got on a plane flew over to Las Vegas, 04:25 no one knew about it. 04:26 Give me a break here. 04:30 So now when I get on a plane I watch all nine year olds. 04:35 I mean, the communication-- travel it's amazing to me 04:40 and yet we have a fragmented world. 04:43 We have people hating each other 04:45 and fighting with each other in Somalia, in Bosnia, 04:48 in Iran and two wars in Iraq 04:50 and Afghanistan and North Korea. 04:52 I mean... 04:56 we can't get along with each other. 04:59 Could you imagine if the, if the words of Jesus Christ 05:03 would be accepted by all mankind, 05:05 we would live in peace with each other? 05:07 Wouldn't that be wonderful, 05:09 if we, if we really applied the Sermon on the Mount 05:13 and every nation would come together in peace? 05:16 But there is coming a day 05:17 when the Prince of Peace will come 05:19 and He will set up a Kingdom of Peace. 05:21 That is our hope tonight, amen. 05:23 Come on Christian, amen. 05:28 But because of all this anxiety the Bible says 05:31 that men's hearts failing them for fear 05:34 and heart disease is still number one killer 05:37 in our country. 05:38 Why study prophecy? Because it make sense. 05:43 It's full of hope and accurate in every way 05:47 and it's reliable and as I go through the prophecies 05:50 with you night after night, 05:51 you're gonna be able to say this word is true. 05:55 You're going to have evidence that this word is reliable 05:59 no matter what they say, this word is reliable. 06:02 Why study prophecy? 06:03 It's through prophecy that 06:04 God lifted the veil in the Old Testament, 06:07 so believers could find their way 06:09 through the pain and the loss 06:11 and they would come to new living. 06:14 Why study prophecy? 06:15 Because through prophecy, Adam and Eve could find a way 06:19 through their failure and through their sin. 06:22 I will put enmity between thee and the woman 06:24 between thy seed and her seed. 06:26 When they had fallen into sin, 06:28 they were cast out of the garden. 06:30 I was looking at the Christian magazine the other day 06:32 and I saw a little cartoon, I thought it was kind of cute. 06:34 Adam was walking with his two sons 06:36 and they came by Eden and the gates were closed 06:39 and Adam point and say, 06:41 you see that's where your mother ate 06:42 and sat a house in home. 06:48 That's where your mother ate and sat a house in home. 06:51 Some of you get that by Christmas. 06:56 Why study prophecy? 06:59 Because Moses could find a way out of bondage 07:02 and he could find a way out of slavery 07:04 and he could find a way into full hope 07:07 to a new life and to new hope. 07:09 Why study prophecy? 07:10 Because Abraham could take a journey 07:12 with God as a pilgrim and all that detours 07:14 he would come back to that narrow road 07:16 that led to the kingdom 07:17 and he would go to his Promised Land. 07:20 That's why we study prophecy. Why study prophecy? 07:23 Because Isaiah the prophet could see in a day of crisis 07:26 when his nation was in crises and his king was dead. 07:29 He could cry out to the Lord, the Wonderful, 07:32 the Counselor, the mighty God, 07:35 the everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 07:39 Why study prophecy? 07:41 Because my Bible tells me, 07:43 "Now abideth faith, hope, and charity." 07:48 That translate to many translation is love. 07:50 Now abideth what? Faith, hope and love. 07:54 But the greatest of all is love. 07:56 You see, hope lies between faith and love. 08:01 Hope keeps faith from collapsing 08:04 under the burden of disappointment and delay. 08:07 Hope keeps love from dissolving under the acids of frustration. 08:11 Hope fortifies our love and lends its resilience. 08:15 Hope stiffens faith and forestalls collapse, 08:19 hope fortifies love and it's possessed 08:23 and we are possessed with hope. 08:26 In every circumstances 08:27 in the New Testament the story of Jesus, 08:30 the story of our Blessed Lord Jesus, 08:32 I mean, look at your Bibles He offers hope. 08:35 There is the woman at the well, this woman-- listen to me, 08:38 she tried to find love in all the wrong places. 08:42 She had been married seven times, 08:45 couldn't find a right person. 08:48 She's alone now, she's living with another. 08:50 I mean her friends have forsaken her. 08:52 Her family has forsaken her. 08:54 Listen, everyone thinks she's a loser until Jesus comes 09:00 and Jesus sees something else. 09:03 He sees a woman in need of living water 09:09 and He offers her the living water. 09:11 He offers her life in the living water 09:14 and she is changed by the-- 09:17 by the encounter with Jesus Christ. 09:18 Hope, I mean, everywhere you read it 09:21 about hope in the New Testament. 09:22 You remember the woman, 09:24 the woman who had an issue of blood. 09:25 I mean, she'd gone to all the doctor she could go. 09:28 She filled prescriptions 09:30 at the drugstore in the Middle East. 09:37 I'm mean, she had spend all that she had. 09:39 Do you feel like that woman sometimes? 09:44 She tries to find health but she can't. 09:50 And then she hears about Jesus 09:54 and she presses through the crowd the Bible says. 09:57 She gets close to Jesus. 09:58 She reaches out, touches the hem of His garment 10:00 and the Bible says she is healed. 10:02 What God is trying to say to our generation reach out, 10:05 touch the hem of God's garment and be healed. 10:09 But there's hope, 10:11 hope for a woman with an issue of blood. 10:13 Hope for a woman who found love in all the wrong places. 10:17 Hope for the destitute and even Jesus comes 10:21 to a mother and a father with their baby 10:24 dead in her arms and Jesus comes 10:26 and she's heartbroken. 10:28 You can understand to a little degree 10:30 and only those who ever lost a child 10:32 can really fully understand. 10:36 And her heart is broken and she's grieving 10:38 and she don't know where to turn to, 10:39 she don't know who to turn to. 10:41 And then Jesus comes 10:43 and Jesus touches the heart of that little baby, 10:45 life quivers back in the heart and the baby opens her eyes 10:48 and smiles into a face to her mother. 10:50 Listen, that's hope, 10:53 but you say Ron, that's ancient time. 10:55 No that's hope for the future 10:57 because the same God that lived yesterday 11:00 is today and is forever. 11:03 And that's hope. 11:06 That's hope. 11:09 I was a young pastor and I was working 11:10 in New York City in Brooklyn, Manhattan 11:12 and I was working for the street people 11:14 and someone got the weird idea 11:16 that I should come down to Carolina. 11:20 I guess they got tired of me in New York 11:21 but they sent me to Carolina and I had a wonderful year 11:25 that I spent out in the countryside 11:27 of Carolina and I was visiting. 11:29 I had a name I was holding little 11:30 meeting in a little church in South Carolina 11:34 and I had a name of a person, 11:35 I thought I'd go and visit with her 11:37 and invite her to my meetings. 11:40 And so I went down, I took a pastor with me, 11:44 drove down knocked on the door, 11:45 a little girl came to the door and she was crying. 11:48 And big lug, you know, I mean nothing touches me like 11:52 and I almost started crying. 11:54 And I said honey, what's wrong? She says baby sister died. 11:59 And now I am crying. 12:01 How do you explain it to that child? 12:04 By the way I'm gonna speak on the subject 12:06 good God, bad world. 12:07 Why? Why do bad things happen to good people? 12:09 You need to hear it. 12:10 You need to understand that because until you understand 12:13 that you understand nothing about God. 12:17 But anyway, the little girl said 12:19 my mommy is down at this-- at the cemetery. 12:22 And so I took the preacher, 12:24 we drove down little white church 12:25 there in South Carolina country church. 12:29 I parked the car, I got out and walked around 12:31 and there was a mother kneeling down by a new dug grave 12:33 way in the back at the little cemetery. 12:37 And I prayed as I walked over to that woman, 12:38 I wanted to say something to encourage her 12:40 in some way to bring faith and hope. 12:44 And she'd put a little white picket fence around 12:48 that little graven, plastic flowers 12:50 and she was trying to make something of a grave. 12:52 Listen to me, 12:53 you can't make anything of a grave, only God can. 12:59 Some kids come through and scattered the flowers 13:02 and knocked over the picket fence 13:03 and so I knelt down, I said, I'm a preacher. 13:06 And so I knelt down beside her 13:08 and I was helping her fix the picket fence, 13:12 put the flowers in place and then I said to her. 13:15 I said, you know, Jesus is coming soon 13:19 and He's gonna place that baby in your arm again, 13:22 and she said I wish I could believe that, pastor. 13:24 I assure you can because you see 13:26 He says that in the book and He's proof, 13:28 He is the resurrection in the life. 13:30 I said look I'm holding a series of meetings 13:33 every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday night, 13:36 I wish you could come. 13:37 She's said, well, I work nights 13:39 but she said I get off an hour for a break I'll come. 13:42 Hey, by the way if you really want to come you will come. 13:46 And she made it. 13:48 She walked in when we were closing. 13:50 Let me tell you that sermon took on a new meaning now. 13:54 And I finished and she went home 13:56 and the next night, the next night 13:57 she kept coming back in and finally one night 14:00 she gave her life to Christ. 14:03 She found the great joy of experience 14:04 with Jesus at that moment, 14:09 touched her life from death into life again. 14:13 And when the meeting is finished she stayed by. 14:16 She was the last to leave the church 14:18 and she came up and she said Pastor Ron, 14:20 and I gave her a holy hug 14:22 and she gave me a holy hug and I said what, hon. 14:25 She said, Pastor Ron, when I get to heaven, 14:30 I want to introduce you to my baby. 14:33 I said you look for the tall ugly guy 14:36 on the right hand of the throne of God that's me, 14:39 you bring her, I want to meet that baby again. 14:41 That's hope... from despair. 14:45 Why study prophecy? 14:46 It brings you from despair, from loneliness, 14:50 it brings you, I mean, it give you hope. 14:54 It brings you amazing hope. 14:58 And that brings us the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 15:04 Why do we need to study 15:06 the prophecies about world empires? 15:09 Because if God is true about world dominion, 15:12 if God is true about the nations, 15:14 He is true about your life. 15:18 And the Bible says in Revelation, 15:21 John is writing not my words. 15:23 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, 15:27 for the first heaven and the first earth 15:29 were passed away, and there was no more sea." 15:32 And he goes on to say, 15:34 "And I John saw the holy city, for New Jerusalem, 15:37 coming down from God out of heaven, 15:39 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 15:42 What a description. 15:44 I've never seen an ugly bride. 15:47 I've seen a few grooms that needed help 15:49 but never an ugly bride. 15:53 And he says this beautiful bride 15:57 Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. 16:02 Wow! What a description. 16:04 And then he goes on to say, 16:05 "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying," 16:07 and when he uses that term in Revelation on prophecy 16:10 that means whom he is getting your attention, 16:12 saying "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, 16:17 he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, 16:19 and God himself should be with them, 16:21 and be their God." 16:23 And then the most beautiful verse in all of scripture. 16:26 "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, 16:31 there shall be no more death, neither sorry, nor crying, 16:35 neither shall there be any more pain 16:38 for the former things passed away." 16:42 A cartoon in a Moscow newspaper shows this story, 16:48 a Soviet Union citizen was received permission 16:51 that he could leave the country 16:53 and immigrate to another country. 16:56 And so he went down to the travel agent, 16:58 and he asked the travel agent, he said, I have my papers, 17:02 I can go and immigrate to any country. 17:04 Will you please tell me where I should go? 17:06 And he said well, what it if you go to United States? 17:09 Oh, no I don't want to go there. 17:10 He says, too much financial problems there, 17:13 I don't want to go. 17:14 He said what about Israel? 17:15 He says, oh, no there's too much Arabs in Israel. 17:18 He said, no, no, I don't want to go there. 17:20 And he kept naming countries and no, 17:22 I can't go to South America, 17:23 I mean, there's a lot of violence in. 17:26 Finally, the man gave him a globe 17:30 and said look at the globe and then decide 17:32 where you want to go. 17:34 So the man went out looked at the globe 17:36 and for a long time and came back in 17:39 handed the travel agent the globe and said, 17:41 do you have another globe? 17:46 Do you have another world? 17:49 I mean, come on, do we have another globe? 17:52 Is there any place in this world that's safe? 17:57 I mean, free from violence, free from crime, 17:59 free from political tension. 18:01 I mean a new world, perhaps we need a new world, 18:03 we need a new world order. 18:05 Why is there so much talk about the new world order? 18:07 I mean, you read so much about it today. 18:09 I mean we talk about the new world order 18:11 one-world government you heard about it. 18:13 I mean one world religion. It's not so farfetched. 18:17 I just finished reading an article in New America 18:19 and it mentioned Mikhail Gorbachev 18:22 he writes "My hope is that this charter 18:25 would be a kind of Ten Commandments, 18:27 a 'Sermon on the Mount.'" 18:28 Can you imagine the arrogance of such a person? 18:33 "That provides a guide for human behavior 18:35 toward the environment in the next century and beyond." 18:38 Now this venerated earth charter as it's called 18:41 is housed and supported and transported 18:44 in the ark of the hope. 18:47 And it's almost like Ark of the Covenant. 18:49 Come on now, I mean... 18:53 Are you surprised that they are trying to destroy our freedom, 18:57 to pray in educational system today in America? 19:00 Are you surprised you can't have the Ten Commandments 19:02 showing in our government buildings now in America? 19:06 Are you surprised that our children can't even say 19:10 a silent prayer in America? 19:13 Read the other day where a teacher was fired 19:16 because she had a cross hanging around her neck, 19:19 just a symbol of her faith in Christ. 19:23 I mean everywhere we turn they talk about 19:25 a new golden age, a new world order. 19:27 "Astrologers have foreseen that the world 19:29 is about to enter a 'Golden Age, 19:31 a New Age, an Age of Aquarius.'" 19:33 We've taken the Bible out of school, 19:35 the creation story out of school. 19:37 We have taken the Ten Commandments, 19:38 you wonder why there's such violence in the world today. 19:41 I mean, listen to me, there is a move around the world 19:43 toward a new world order and that world order 19:45 doesn't want anything to do with Christianity. 19:50 One place they said this is the end to the empire. 19:53 It remind me of another decade just few years ago, 19:56 you remember when young adults were singing this I mean, 19:58 the sung a new world order song, 20:00 they chanted it, pot-smoking parents 20:03 and poets spoke and a new world order, 20:06 to some it was the impossible dream, 20:08 to others it was a hope of mankind. 20:10 A new world order peace and harmony. 20:12 Even John Lennon sung about it. 20:15 He wrote a song called "Imagine" 20:18 thousand misty eyed teenagers 20:20 and young people are waving singing the song. 20:22 Listen Lennon said, imagine a time 20:26 when there be no more religion, 20:29 no more heaven, no more hell, no more possessions, 20:34 everyone living for today the moment, 20:36 the now, a world one as one. 20:40 Hedonism without religious faith, 20:43 without national pride, 20:45 sovereignty without anything to believe in, 20:47 without anything to fight for, without private property 20:51 but with one world government and communal property. 20:54 That's what he sung. It's ironic isn't it. 20:59 When he died he left his widow $250 million. 21:05 Politicians had the same dream about this new world order. 21:09 Colonel Edward Mandell House, Rockefeller, Carter, 21:12 James Baker, George H.W. Bush, Hitler, the Illuminati. 21:16 The "Pope calls for a new world order." 21:19 A new world encyclical, the new world order. 21:23 Everywhere this new world, this new world order. 21:28 Notice, even on your dollar bill let me see, 21:31 I may have a dollar. 21:34 Hey, I have one. 21:38 Look at you dollar bill. 21:41 It says this, "Novus Ordo Seclorum" 21:46 Latin the new world order. 21:49 Hitler longed for a new world order. 21:51 Stalin wanted a new world order. 21:53 Lenin wanted a new world order. 21:55 It meant the death of 20 million people. 21:57 Is there ever gonna be a new world order? 21:59 Will there be one world currency? 22:02 Will there be one world religion? 22:03 Will there be listen, will it affect your freedoms 22:07 and how will it affect your security? 22:09 How it will affect your family for the future? 22:11 I have good news and bad news. 22:13 You heard about the farmer who came to his banker 22:15 and said I've good news and bad news. 22:17 The farmer said, he said what do you want first? 22:19 And the banker said the bad news. 22:21 And he says, well... 22:23 because of the drought I can't pay for the seed. 22:26 Because of the drought I can't pay 22:28 my payment on my tractor. 22:30 And finally the banker said what's the good news? 22:32 He says, well, I'm gonna continue to bank with you. 22:36 And that's the good news. That's the good news. 22:41 No friend, no friend, 22:44 the good news is biblical prophecy. 22:46 The good news is the rise and fall of nations. 22:48 The good news is that Jesus Christ is coming. 22:51 The good news is from Babylon to Babylon. 22:55 Prophecy stands as a bulwark against wood world dictators. 22:59 Prophecy stands against would-- 23:01 world empire under dictatorship. 23:03 The sovereign will of Almighty God will be played out. 23:06 You can't play God and expect to win. 23:12 In a 150 word prophecy, 23:14 God shows us the rise and fall of the nations. 23:16 It's a key to understanding prophecy. 23:18 I want you to look at it with me. 23:20 Nebuchadnezzar, the year 605-539 B.C. 23:23 You say, Ron, what is that old prophecy 23:25 had to do with us in the 21st century. 23:27 Well, listen, first of all 23:29 Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. 23:34 He brought the people of God into captivity. 23:37 I mean he was a king above kings. 23:42 Now the Bible tells us about this that prophecy 23:45 is "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, 23:46 but revealeth his secrets 23:48 unto his servants the prophets." 23:49 So prophecy comes through the Holy Spirit to the prophet 23:53 and then to the people through the Word of God. 23:55 And he says that he revealeth his secrets. 24:00 And Isaiah tells us these words. 24:01 "Remember the former things of old, 24:03 I am God, and there is no other, 24:05 I am God, and there is none like Me, 24:07 declaring the end from the" what? 24:09 "From the beginning, and from ancient times things 24:11 that are not yet done, Saying 'My counsel shall stand, 24:14 and I will do all My pleasure.'" 24:16 That's the Word of God. 24:18 In Daniel 2:1 "And in the second year 24:22 the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, 24:25 wherewith his spirit was troubled, 24:27 and his sleep break from him." 24:29 Now have you ever had a dream at night, 24:30 you woke up in the morning and it bugged you all day. 24:33 Come on, but you see in that day 24:36 dreams were important. 24:39 You see dreams fashioned their decisions 24:41 for their political status. 24:44 And so now he has a dream, he can't think about it, 24:46 it bugs him all day so what does he do? 24:48 He does what most people do. 24:50 I mean he called the soothsayers, 24:51 the astrologers and the channelers. 24:54 And he says, tell me my dream and interpret it. 24:59 Wow, I mean, now that the idea had taken back. 25:03 I mean, no, no, you tell us the dream 25:05 and we will interpret it. 25:07 Hey, listen, you could tell me your dream, 25:08 I could give you a deli of interpretation. 25:12 But you asked me to tell you what you dreamt 25:14 and then interpret it, phew, I'm in trouble. 25:18 Well, these soothsayers and these channelers 25:22 and these astrologers and new age's 25:25 men has not really changed, we want to know 25:28 and often turn to the wrong source for our knowledge. 25:32 Turn to the Word of God that's where it is. 25:35 In Daniel the second chapter he says 25:37 "They speak to the Chaldeans 25:38 so the king in Syriack, O king, live forever." 25:40 Now they're giving him a snow job. 25:41 Come on, thou art the great king 25:45 and he says this. 25:46 "And we will shew the interpretation." 25:49 That doesn't work. 25:50 "But if you will not make known unto me the dream, 25:52 there is but one decree for you, 25:54 for ye have prepared lying 25:56 and corrupt words to speak before me, 25:57 till the time be changed, therefore tell me the dream, 26:01 and I shall know that ye can shew me the interpretation." 26:04 They couldn't do it so right away 26:06 he sends out a death decree. 26:08 But you say what does this have to do with us? 26:11 Come on, what this have to do with us? 26:12 Well, follow me. 26:14 And so this death decree 26:17 and they call in the prophet Daniel. 26:20 And listen, "For this king was angry and very furious, 26:24 and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon." 26:26 Now they call in Daniel. 26:29 You see, listen to me, friend. 26:31 You see, there is the antichrist 26:33 and there is the ones falsifying, 26:36 lying and trying to get away with it. 26:40 But not Daniel the prophet. 26:43 No, he knows for he says in verse 13, 26:48 "And the degree when out forth with wise men should be slain, 26:50 and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain." 26:52 There is the story. 26:54 Daniel the prophet, he prays to his God. 26:57 Listen to me, pray, pray and after that pray again. 27:03 I wrote a book called "Prayer Warriors." 27:06 It teach you about intercessory praying 27:09 and prayer has been a big part of my life. 27:13 Have been a big part of my ministry, 27:16 in my churches, prayer, 27:17 prayer meeting was almost important meeting of the week. 27:20 And so now Daniel sees the vision. 27:22 Let's look at it. 27:23 "Then the secret revealed to Daniel in a night vision. 27:26 And Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven." 27:27 Listen, he blessed the God of heaven. 27:29 "And there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, 27:31 and maketh known to King Nebuchadnezzar 27:33 what shall be in the" what? 27:35 "Latter day." 27:36 This prophecy has to do with the last days 27:38 not the days of Babylon. 27:40 And Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. 27:43 And this great image, whose brightness was excellent, 27:46 stood before thee, and the form 27:47 thereof was terrible," the Bible says. 27:49 And he goes on. 27:51 And those you ever study the Bible Old Testament 27:53 you know it was a great image. 27:54 And so he had that dream. 27:55 He saw and he described-- 27:57 and the king says, wow, that's it. 28:00 I mean, that's the dream. 28:02 And what is that have to do with us, listen carefully. 28:05 Notice that golden empire. 28:06 "This image's head was of find gold, 28:07 the breast and arms of silver," 28:09 follow me "and his belly and thighs of brass, 28:11 his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay." 28:14 Here's a description. 28:15 He says there are four sections, 28:16 there is a head of gold, arms, breast of silver, 28:21 thighs of brass, legs of iron 28:23 and then feet part of iron and part of clay. 28:28 What is that have to do with us? 28:29 Well, it does in the sense 28:31 that it's the rise and fall of kingdoms. 28:33 Listen, "Thou sawest till that a stone 28:35 was cut out without hands, 28:37 and smote the image upon the feet that were iron, 28:39 clay and break them in pieces. 28:42 Then was the iron, and the clay, 28:44 brass and silver, gold broken to pieces together 28:46 became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor," 28:50 and what happened? 28:51 "The wind carried them away. 28:52 No place was found for them, 28:54 and the stone that smote the image 28:55 became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." 28:58 What is that has to do about the new world order? 29:01 Follow me. 29:02 "This dream, and we tell the interpretation 29:05 thereof to the king." 29:07 And he comes before the king 29:08 and there he has the golden head, 29:11 the arms of silver, the thighs of brass, 29:14 the legs of iron and the feet and toes 29:16 part of iron and part of clay. 29:19 Here is one of the most magnificent prophecies 29:21 ever made in the Old Testament. 29:23 God is going to show you what history will take place 29:26 from the time of Nebuchadnezzar 29:29 to the final day, he history of the world. 29:33 Follow me and see if it's not true. 29:36 Follow me. 29:37 The storm comes, the rock come, 29:40 and that rock is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ 29:42 who is called the rock and He is the rock of ages. 29:47 Now the first golden head. 29:49 "Thou, O king, a king of kings, 29:51 the God of heaven has given thee a kingdom, 29:52 strength, glory. 29:53 And whatsoever the children men dwell," 29:56 he says this, "the beasts of the field 29:58 and the fowls of the heaven 29:59 he is given into thine hand, 30:00 hath made thee ruler over the all. 30:02 Thou art this head of gold." 30:03 That's Babylon, mighty Babylon. 30:07 This was not just some chug water town in the desert, 30:11 this was an empire. 30:13 This was the greatest kingdom 30:15 or the greatest nation of all time. 30:17 At that time Babylon, 30:19 mighty Babylon with its beautiful gardens, 30:21 one of the seven wonders of the world, 30:23 it had golden streets Babylon, having the lion gates Babylon, 30:27 I mean, Babylon was a strong nation against all nations. 30:31 And King Nebuchadnezzar felt pretty comfortable. 30:35 Babylon would last forever he thought. 30:38 Then came Belshazzar followed Nebuchadnezzar. 30:41 And there on that one night 30:42 remember the night of Belshazzar, 30:44 he's partying, he's drinking, he's having a ball, 30:47 everybody's there and they're all happy 30:50 and God comes with a judgment on him 30:52 and writes upon the wall the graffiti of God and He says 30:55 "you're weighed in the balance, you're found wanting." 30:58 Boom, the kingdom will give it to another. 31:01 And not only that I wish I had time tonight. 31:06 If I had time tonight I could show you 31:08 that God prophesied how Babylon would fall. 31:11 Not only that the Bible prophesied 31:15 who the king would be that would defeat Babylon 400 years 31:20 before he exist Cyrus, he name him. 31:24 And Babylon fell, 31:25 the two-leaved gates were left open 31:26 and the armies of Meads and Persians 31:29 came and the Bible says 31:30 "And after thee shall arise an inferior kingdom." 31:33 And that was represented by the two arms 31:34 by the way Medo and Persia came together in alliance 31:39 and later on Persia became more powerful. 31:41 I wish I had time, I could show you another prophecy 31:43 that shows you how Persia would become 31:45 more powerful than Meads and it would rule. 31:47 And it ruled the second kingdom ruled 31:50 and it seemed like it would last forever. 31:51 That's Persia, the mighty kingdom of Persia. 31:54 But God said no. 31:55 He said after Cyrus, 31:57 He said who subdued nations before him, 32:00 who traveled under the gates took over the city. 32:03 He says this kingdom, this Medo-Persia Kingdom 32:07 a third king shall come 32:08 and that kingdom would rule over the earth. 32:11 And that third kingdom by the way 32:12 was the brazen kingdom. 32:15 It was Greece. 32:17 The third kingdom was Greece, brass. 32:19 Its wonderful symbol because you see 32:21 the Greek armies they had brass helmets, 32:24 they had brass spears, they had brass swords. 32:27 It was the brazen kingdom 32:29 and they thought Greece would last forever, 32:30 the philosophical Greece, the mighty Greece. 32:36 But Greek fell subdued because God said, 32:38 after thee shall come another kingdom 32:40 not the first kingdom it wouldn't last forever, 32:42 not that one world water, 32:44 then there came another, not that new world. 32:46 God sets up kings and takes them down. 32:49 Got puts men on the throne and he takes them down. 32:52 You can't get bigger than God. 32:57 You can't get bigger than God. 33:02 And the third kingdom, 33:04 but God said there would come another kingdom. 33:06 By the way, this is Alexander. 33:09 By the way he was the general, remember. 33:11 He led the Greeks to victory. 33:13 But it was Alexander who died and the Bible tells us 33:17 where it says, that there wouldn't be in one ruler 33:19 to rule Greece after Alexander. 33:22 But four rulers and it was the four generals of Alexander. 33:24 Amen. 33:25 That's he told exactly what would happen 33:28 and that happened in a Grecian-- in the Empire. 33:31 Listen, "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, 33:33 forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces subdueth all things, 33:37 and as iron that breaketh all these, 33:38 shall it break in pieces and it shall bruise." 33:41 It shall bruise. 33:42 Legs of iron, that was Rome. 33:45 I mean, the iron monarchy, 33:46 in fact the historians have called it the iron monarchy. 33:49 "The images of gold, and silver, and brass, 33:51 might serve to represent the nations and their kings, 33:54 successfully broken by the iron monarchy, 33:57 the iron monarchy of Rome." 34:00 And this is exactly what happened there in history 34:03 and it was the iron monarchy, 34:05 it was the iron Rome that was there 34:07 when Christ was born. 34:08 It was the decree that sent the mother back to Egypt 34:11 and then back to her home city. 34:13 It was there that it was there 34:15 the iron monarchy of Rome crucified Christ. 34:19 It was there the Roman seal was placed on His grave. 34:22 This was the fourth universal kingdom 34:24 known for that Rome would ever be defeated, 34:27 Rome would never fail, 34:29 this would be the world empire forever. 34:33 God is not through, He is not through friend, 34:39 not at all, for Jesus Christ will be the next ruler 34:44 and I'm going to show you that from the Word of God right now. 34:48 "And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, 34:49 part of potters' clay, and part of iron, 34:51 the kingdom shall be divided." 34:53 Wow, that's amazing. 34:54 There's not gonna be another kingdom, 34:56 He said that, it would be divided 34:58 and that's exactly what happened. 34:59 "And there shall be in it the strength of iron 35:01 forasmuch as thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay." 35:05 And this is what happened. 35:06 You see Rome was divided 35:08 and there came forth the Anglo-Saxon and Franks 35:11 and the Alamanni and the Burgundis 35:13 and the Heruli and the Lombards and the Ostrogoths 35:16 and the Visigoths and the Suevi. 35:18 Ten kingdoms representing the toes of Rome 35:21 were divided and became divided Europe. 35:25 Amazing prophecy come on, now, 35:28 thousands of years before God tells us 35:32 through the Prophet Daniel 35:33 that Rome the mighty iron kingdom would crumble 35:37 and it would be divided into the ten toes of history 35:40 and it's divided today. 35:42 I wish I had time tonight, 35:43 I'm gonna do it one night 35:44 where a little horn will come up 35:46 and pluck up three of those kingdoms 35:48 and what we see today in the common market, 35:50 what we see today in Europe 35:51 is of the visions of the Roman Empire. 35:55 Tell me prophecy isn't reliable. 36:00 "Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, 36:02 they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, 36:04 they shall not cleave one to another, 36:06 even as iron is not mixed with clay." 36:08 Hey they tried to unite the kingdom by the seed of men. 36:12 You remember your history, 36:14 the princess of one kingdom 36:16 married the prince of another kingdom 36:18 and therefore they could you know through the seed, 36:20 they could make one kingdom in Europe 36:22 but they didn't realize that 36:24 nothing worse than a family fight. 36:28 And so they were worse off after mingling the seed of men. 36:31 These words stand as a bulwark against future empires. 36:35 They shall not cleave one to another. 36:40 In other words, they'll never come united unto one 36:43 because they will be divided. 36:47 Charlemagne tried it. Charles V tried it. 36:51 Louis the XIV tried it. 36:54 Napoleon Bonaparte tried it to unite the kingdoms 36:58 but they failed because God said 37:00 they would never bring it together as one again, no. 37:05 "And in the day's of these kings" what king? 37:07 The king of Babylon? No. 37:08 The king of Medo-Persian? No. 37:10 The king of Greece? No. 37:11 The king of Rome? No. 37:13 But the days of these kings of divided Europe. 37:17 The Europe we know today "In the days of these kings 37:23 shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, 37:28 which shall never be destroyed." 37:32 That's the assurance you have here tonight. 37:34 Amen. 37:35 That's the assurance you have here tonight. 37:38 That God will intervene, 37:40 God will take them down from their power 37:43 and He bring them low and bring them low again. 37:46 They tried to unite the kingdoms but they failed. 37:50 In fact, "The kingdom shall not be left to other people, 37:54 but shall break in pieces consume all these kingdoms, 37:57 and it shall stand for ever." 37:58 That is the kingdom of God. 38:00 "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, 38:02 and I have founded" this is Napoleon. 38:04 "We founded empires. 38:05 But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? 38:08 Upon force. 38:09 Jesus Christ founded His empire on love 38:11 and at this hour millions of men would die for Him." 38:16 Napoleon couldn't understand it, 38:19 I can because once you come 38:22 under the power of the cross of Christ, 38:24 once you come under the power of the grace of Christ, 38:27 you would die for Christ. 38:30 Ask Peter, I'm not worthy to be crucified like my Lord. 38:35 And so they crucified him upside down 38:38 then was his world right side up. 38:42 Ask Paul, I mean, ask the early church fathers I mean, 38:49 ask Huss and ask Jerome and ask those men 38:52 who went to the state for their faith in God, 38:55 if they wouldn't die for the name of Jesus Christ. 38:59 Great problem today 39:00 is we have tourists and not pilgrims. 39:05 Great problem with the churches today 39:08 as well if we feel right we will go 39:12 or it's near Christmas I guess I got to do something. 39:19 They shall not cleave one to another. 39:23 Today we have the common market, 39:27 the Middle East countries, the United States, 39:32 we have China and the days of these kings divided Europe 39:38 I mean, in these days the God of heaven will set up a kingdom 39:41 and it shall last forever and forever and forever. 39:46 Revelation offers hope to us tonight. 39:49 They say, Ron, you are not the mister of pessimist. 39:52 I'm an optimist because I know 39:57 who controls tomorrow 39:59 and that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. 40:01 Amen. 40:02 I mean listen carefully my, friend, 40:05 I mean it's like the Titanic that fateful night. 40:08 I mean, the nations of this world 40:10 are on a collision course with destiny. 40:13 In fact Jacques Cousteau, 40:15 he wrote a book in French called 40:17 "Man, Octopus and Orchid" and he said this. 40:21 "The road o the future leads" this is not a preacher, 40:24 some theologian, some believer. 40:27 He's writing and he says 40:28 "The road to the future leads us smack into a wall. 40:32 We simply ricochet off the alternatives 40:34 that destiny offers." 40:36 He goes on. 40:38 "A demographic explosion that triggers social chaos 40:41 and spreads death, nuclear delirium 40:43 and quasi - annihilation of the species." 40:45 Wow! What a picture? What a picture? 40:49 "Our survival is no more than a question 40:51 of 25, 50 perhaps 100 years." 40:57 Bad news. No friend, good news. 41:01 The prophecy can help us. 41:03 I tell you Jesus Christ promised and prophesied 41:06 that the next ruler would be none other than 41:08 the rock Jesus Christ smiting the images of this world, 41:11 the political institutions of this world 41:14 and making it into the kingdom of God 41:16 and another great mountain 41:18 will come forth the people of God. 41:21 That's Book of Revelation. 41:23 The God of this book will help us. 41:26 The God of this book will speak to us. 41:29 The God of this book I mean, 41:30 He speaks and He does not stutter. 41:32 The words of the book of the prophecy, 41:34 the rise to the fall of the kings. 41:36 There was Babylon, Medo-Persia, 41:39 there was Greece and there was Rome 41:40 and then the divided kingdoms of Europe 41:42 that God is going to intervene. 41:45 The words of this book is not some magic hocus-pocus, 41:48 it's a revelation of a moral God 41:50 and the story of a plan for your family 41:52 and for my family and for believing families 41:55 in Charlotte and around the world. 42:00 What we have in this book 42:01 is not a jumble of historical events, 42:04 without pattern, without purpose. 42:07 It's the unfolding of the righteous will of a God, 42:11 trying to warn us, trying to keep us, 42:17 trying to love us. 42:20 Good news the new world order 42:25 will be the kingdom that Christ prayed for, 42:28 thy kingdom come on earth 42:33 as it is in heaven. 42:36 Listen to me, good news, a new world 42:41 and in that new world new world order 42:44 where righteous will reign we must take heed. 42:49 The Titanic was a love story 42:53 with an unhappy ending, a bitter ending. 42:57 A cold dark night on a frozen ocean 43:00 is that the only future we have on the frail ship 43:03 we call planet earth. 43:05 Are we about to sink into a dark eternity? 43:09 I have good news tonight, 43:11 intervention is on its way not to Stockholm, 43:15 I mean, not those flimsy lifeboats 43:17 but the image of stone and feed 43:19 and history is His story and Jesus is about to come. 43:24 Look up, lift up your heads 43:30 and the world divided by nations in a world 43:33 is in by divided by love and the world divided by ideals 43:36 and the world divided by politics 43:38 and the world divided by money and power, 43:40 divided by culture and class 43:42 in that world divided by religion, 43:44 Jesus Christ the Prince of earth will come back again 43:47 and He will strike the image at the feet 43:50 and He will set up His kingdom. 43:52 The rock is about to strike human history. 44:00 And that rock is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. 44:02 Are you in turmoil tonight? 44:04 Calm down, chill out because God 44:09 will intervene for you in your need. 44:12 Hey, listen to me, listen to me, good news. 44:17 God has a plan for you. 44:19 Why do you think you're here? Happenstance. 44:23 No, you're here by the will of God. 44:27 God willed you to be here. 44:29 You could be at hundred other places 44:32 but God willed you to be here 44:33 so that you could hear about the future 44:35 and the hope that believers have in the future 44:39 that our future is not tied up in today's politics. 44:42 Thank God for that. 44:44 They are still fighting about my money? 44:51 I know, I should say 44:52 my great-great-great grandson's money. 44:57 Hey listen, keep your faith in God, 45:02 have faith in God. 45:04 Good news-- bad news for those who mock God. 45:10 Bad news for those who play God. 45:12 Bad news for those who laugh at the prophecies of God's word 45:15 just as the king way back in the day of Nebuchadnezzar. 45:18 Let them build their golden images, 45:21 but we will bow down like Daniel 45:24 and we will be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 45:28 During the dark days of World War II, 45:31 Winston Churchill asked the young American clergyman. 45:35 Young man, can you give me any hope? 45:40 For the answer to Churchill's question 45:42 I take you back to the future. 45:45 The King is coming and that's a great hope. 45:50 I mean, I've seen people's lives changed by prophecy. 45:55 I was sent to Hawaii to have a meeting like this. 45:58 Now, they always send me usually to tough places. 46:01 They send me to East LA and Brooklyn 46:03 and they send me to Detroit, 46:05 they send, you know, the big cities 46:07 where I work where I feel at home. 46:08 But I was praying to the Lord one day I said, 46:10 Lord, why are these other evangelists 46:11 going to these exotic places? 46:17 I mean, that's all right, I respect them, 46:19 I'm help-- I'm thankful for. 46:21 But why, don't I ever get to an exotic place? 46:24 And I was feeling sorry for myself 46:25 and we do and I've even had the audacity to say one time, 46:32 I said, Billy Graham's is going to nice places 46:35 and Lord said, well, you are not Billy Graham. 46:36 I said well, thank you. 46:38 Lord he got me there 46:39 and I could not come out of that. 46:41 But I got a telephone call one day 46:43 and that telephone was from friend, 46:44 he had just become a president of a mission in Hawaii. 46:47 He called he said, Ron, would you like to come to Oahu 46:50 and have a series of prophecy 46:52 here in the city of Oahu in Hawaii. 46:54 I said let me pray about it. 46:56 Thank you Jesus, it was little one of those-- 46:59 it was one those incidents you know the kind. 47:05 I went over to Hawaii 47:06 and I was preaching the Word of God 47:07 showing prophecy and in the first night 47:10 staggered this drunken marine and his wife 47:14 and he came up and sat about the third row 47:16 and he was three sheets to the swinging on. 47:21 And so I was preaching to him all night, 47:22 you known, and after a while he kept coming back. 47:27 Stop at the bar stagger in. 47:31 And so we were giving Bibles up. 47:33 By the way we give Bible to you if you come 12 nights, 47:36 you get a beautiful prophecy Bible. 47:39 You want to, you want to have that 47:40 but anyway he wanted a Bible 47:42 and he came to the night he was there 12 nights 47:44 went to the table and they run out of Bibles. 47:48 He said, is this a gimmick? 47:54 And so I said, oh, no, I wanted more Bibles 47:57 and I put my arm around and carried him 47:58 over to the corner you know 48:01 and he came about two night's later the Bibles were there 48:03 he stood on line got there when the Bibles would run out. 48:07 So I visited him in his home. 48:10 In the first Iraq war he was a sniper 48:16 knocking Arabs off hills a mile away. 48:22 In that prophecy seminar he found God. 48:26 The second Iraq war he went as a chaplain, 48:30 a Christian chaplain to Iraq. 48:33 Amen. Come on. 48:34 Why study prophecy? Why study prophecy? 48:40 Because prophecy can change lives. 48:45 Because it brings to us frail creatures 48:48 to know there's an omnipotent God. 48:51 That there is a powerful and gracious God 48:54 and that God seeks in every way 48:59 that God seeks to save us. 49:02 And so God raises up His pilgrims, 49:06 His faithful, His followers in every generation 49:10 as He did back there in Babylon, 49:13 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 49:16 I mean faith, faith, 49:22 bow down, worship me. 49:29 They could have bow down and sung a hymn of something, 49:34 fool them but they were transparent, 49:38 you see they were pilgrims. 49:41 They said I can't bow down, I can't. 49:47 We'll throw you into the fire. 49:51 If that's what you must do, do it. 49:55 Our God will be with us. 50:01 And you know that story. 50:03 Come on, I mean they heated the fire seven times hotter, 50:09 I don't know how you do that. 50:13 And even the people were throwing them in 50:16 perish from the flames. 50:20 And they're in the midst of a flake I tell you believer, 50:22 you're gonna be in the midst of a flame 50:24 if revelation is true and it is. 50:29 It's gonna take more than a picnic type belief, 50:32 it's gonna take a wharf here belief. 50:40 Throw me into the fire. 50:45 They threw them in the fire 50:47 and the Bible says that Shadrach, Meshach, 50:50 and Abednego three men thrown in the fire 50:52 but they looked and they couldn't believe their eyes. 50:55 They didn't see three men in a fire, 50:57 they didn't see just Shadrach, Meshach, 50:59 and Abednego in a fire. 51:00 They saw one like unto the Son of Man in the fire. 51:03 They saw Jesus in the midst of a fire. 51:06 I want to tell you friend, 51:07 Jesus will come to you in the midst of your fire. 51:18 Jesus will come to you in the midst of a fire. 51:24 May the God in heaven bless you 51:26 and keep you and I'll look for you 51:29 and I'm gonna have our friend come. 51:49 Good evening everyone, I'm John Bradshaw, 51:51 the director of It Is Written. 51:52 As I told you last night I wish I was there with you, 51:55 but I'm glad I can join you this way 51:58 in answering your Bible questions. 52:00 Thanks for writing out your Bible questions 52:02 and getting them to us each night. 52:04 We will try to give you a Bible answer 52:06 to your Bible question. 52:07 If we don't know the answer 52:09 we'll try to find out what the answer is. 52:11 If we still don't know it we'll tell you we don't know. 52:15 And I don't mind admitting that 52:16 because nobody knows everything about the Bible. 52:20 So now our first question is a Bible question. 52:25 Regarding last night's presentation about 52:27 "Where we are in Prophecy" 52:29 Haven't people been saying for years 52:31 Jesus is coming back soon. 52:33 Even the Apostle Paul believed 52:36 Jesus would come back in his day 52:39 and it has been 2,000 years. 52:41 Now there's a point. 52:44 You know it is said that even Eve 52:46 was looking forward to the Messiah, 52:47 that's the first coming of the Messiah 52:49 that when she said I've gotten a man from the law. 52:52 There are some scholars who say that 52:53 what she said was, I've gotten a man the Lord. 52:56 She thought that she'd given birth to the Messiah 52:59 but of course He didn't come for 4,000 years. 53:01 So could it be that the people in the New Testament Church 53:05 were looking for the return of Jesus 53:08 and He has come way later than they expected. 53:11 Well, I understand why people refer to the Apostle Paul. 53:14 I'll tell you why. 53:15 He said in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, 53:18 "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 53:21 with the voice of the archangel, 53:22 and with the trump of God, 53:24 the dead in Christ will rise first 53:25 and we which are alive and remain 53:27 shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds." 53:29 Sounds like Paul was putting himself 53:31 in the frame, doesn't it. 53:34 However he went on to say, 53:36 "But of the times and of the seasons, 53:38 you have no need that I write to you 53:41 because you know perfectly the day of the Lord 53:44 comes as a thief in the night." 53:47 Well, then notice what he wrote in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2. 53:53 It seems that part of his motivation 53:55 for writing 2 Thessalonians 53:58 was to disabuse the Thessalonians of the idea 54:01 that Jesus coming could be like any day now. 54:05 Notice what he said. 54:08 "Now we beseech you, brethren, 54:09 by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, 54:11 and by our gathering together unto him, 54:13 that ye be not soon shaken in mind, 54:14 or be troubled, neither by spirit, 54:16 nor by word, nor by letter as from us, 54:20 as that the day of Christ is at hand." 54:22 Even if somebody was to write a letter to you 54:23 and sign it with my name Paul said, 54:26 don't you be getting too excited 54:29 that Jesus return might be just around the corner. 54:32 He said this. 54:33 "Let no man deceive you," strong word, 54:36 "by any means for that day shall not come" 54:39 that's the day of Christ return 54:41 "except there come a falling away first, 54:45 and that man of sin be revealed, 54:47 the son of perdition, 54:49 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, 54:52 or that is worshipped" 54:53 and this will carries on a little bit. 54:56 Paul was saying clearly oh, no, 54:58 you don't have to think that Jesus is coming right away, 55:03 certain things must take place one of those is the arrival 55:07 of the last day deceiver, the last day antichrist. 55:11 So Paul didn't really think 55:14 that Jesus was gonna come in his day. 55:17 But yes, people have been saying yes, 55:20 that for years that Jesus is coming back soon. 55:22 Does that make them wrong? 55:25 Well, it makes them wrong 55:26 if they say Jesus is coming back Wednesday. 55:29 If He doesn't then they were wrong, 55:31 if they say Jesus is coming back in 2000 55:33 and whatever and He doesn't come back in that year well, 55:37 sure that could make them wrong. 55:40 But somebody says Jesus is coming soon 55:42 and 50 years later Jesus doesn't come back 55:44 were they wrong? 55:45 Well, it all depends on how you define soon I suppose 55:49 and I'm not just trying to get people an easy pass. 55:52 Here's what we know. 55:53 People have been saying for a long time 55:55 Jesus is coming back soon, Jesus is coming back soon. 55:58 You know something, sooner or later they gonna be right 56:00 and I don't mean just keep on saying it 56:02 because eventually, I don't mean that. 56:04 But every day that passes is a day 56:07 that we are closer to the return of Jesus. 56:09 Every day that passes is a day 56:11 that we are closer to the Kingdom of Heaven. 56:14 Aren't you glad about that? I know I am. 56:16 So I'm not too concerned about people who believe well, 56:20 Jesus is coming back soon and so forth 56:23 because He is coming back soon. 56:25 We don't want to set dates. Let's not do that. 56:28 We don't-- Jesus warned against that. 56:30 He said, no man knows the day or the hour. 56:33 But He did give us signs that we could know 56:35 that He was coming back soon. 57:04 In Matthew 4:4 the Word of God says 57:07 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, 57:10 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" 57:14 Every Word is a one minute Bible based daily devotional 57:17 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw 57:19 and designed especially for busy people like you. 57:22 Look for Every Word on selected networks 57:25 or watch it online every day on our website itiswritten.com. 57:30 Receive a daily spiritual boost. 57:32 Watch Every Word, you will be glad you did. |
Revised 2014-12-17