- [Narrator] This
presentation is brought to you
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by the friends of the
Amazing Facts ministry.
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(classical music)
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- Have you ever heard
of James Sterling Moran?
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Probably not.
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But chances are you've
heard of publicity stunts,
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which he's
credited with creating.
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James Moran was born in
1907 in the state of Virginia
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and he entered the
publicity field in the 1930s,
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where he excelled at
drawing the public's attention
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to his clients.
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Some of his more famous stunts
were sitting on an ostrich
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egg for two
weeks until it hatched,
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tanning half of his body in
California and half in Florida,
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or leading a live bull
through a Manhattan china shop.
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Then there was the
needle in the haystack.
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For this stunt, Moran
had somebody hide a needle
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in two tons of hay.
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Amazingly, he
successfully located the needle
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after more than 82
hours of tedious searching.
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You know when you
consider that there are more
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than 40,000
denominations in the world today
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that claim to be Christian,
finding the true church
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is something like looking
for a needle in a haystack,
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but it doesn't
have to be that way.
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The Bible gives us specific
guidelines to help us clearly
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identify God's end time people.
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So join me now as
we take a closer look
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at this important topic.
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(poignant music)
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Pray for me as I
share with you tonight,
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because we've got a lot to
cover and I want to do my best
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to present this subject in a
very clear and practical way.
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We're going to be talking
about a woman in the wilderness,
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and it's based on Revelation 12
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and I think it's
always a good idea to start
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by reading the passage that
we're going to be considering.
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Let's start
with Revelation 12:1.
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Now a great sign
appeared in heaven.
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A woman clothed with the
sun with the moon under her feet
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and on her head a
garland of 12 stars.
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Then being with child,
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she cried out in labor
and pained to give birth,
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and another sign
appeared in heaven.
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Behold, a great fiery
red dragon having seven heads
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and 10 horns and seven
diadems or crowns on his heads.
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His tail drew a third
of the stars of heaven
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and threw them to the earth.
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And the dragon stood
before the woman who was ready
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to give birth to devour her
child as soon as it was born.
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And she bore a male child
who is to rule all nations
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with a rod of iron,
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and her child was
caught up to God in his throne.
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Then the woman fled
into the wilderness,
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where she had a
place prepared by God
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that they should feed
her there for 1,260 days.
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Now I want to
jump down to verse 13.
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Now, when the dragon saw that
he had been cast to the earth,
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he persecuted the woman who
gave birth to the male child,
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but the woman was given
two wings of a great eagle
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that she might fly into
the wilderness to her place
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where she's nourished for a
time and a times in half a time
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from the
presence of the serpent.
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So the serpent spewed
water out of his mouth
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like a flood after the woman,
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that he might cause her to
be carried away by the flood.
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But the earth helped the woman
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and the earth opened its
mouth and swallowed up the flood
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that the dragon had
spewed out of his mouth.
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And the dragon was
enraged with the woman
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and he went to make
a war with a remnant
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or the rest of her offspring
that keep the commandments
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of God and have
the testimony of Jesus.
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Who is this woman?
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We know who the dragon is.
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Woman that flees
into the wilderness,
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a woman that
brings forth a man-child,
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right here in the
center of Revelation
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is one of the key characters
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and one of the
most important studies
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in the topic or the
subject of Revelation.
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So the lesson is a
woman in a wilderness
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and we always like to
begin with a storacle.
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We like to tie the old and
the New Testament together.
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Most of us know
the story of Solomon,
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how he prayed for wisdom and
God said I'm going to give you
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wisdom unlike
anyone who is before you.
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And one of the many
examples of his wisdom
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that's very famous is
it tells us in the Bible
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that there were two
women that had children.
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There were women out of wedlock,
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they lived in the same home.
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They both got
pregnant about the same time.
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They gave birth
about the same time.
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And then one night, one of the
ladies when she was sleeping,
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she accidentally
overlaid her little infant child
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and suffocated it.
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When she woke up during
the night to nurse the baby
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and saw it was
dead, she was devastated.
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And then she heard her
companion's baby whimpering,
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and she thought,
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I'm too ashamed for
anyone to know what I've done.
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She put her dead
baby in that place
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and took the
live baby to herself.
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Well, when the women
got up in the morning,
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the one woman went to go
nurse her baby and it was dead
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and she looked at it and
said, "This is not my baby."
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And the other one
said, "No, that's your baby.
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"This one's my baby."
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And so this was a great dispute
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and the judges didn't
know what to do with it.
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So it came to the king.
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And you know, of course what
Solomon said, he said, well,
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one of you saying
the living baby is yours
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and the dead baby is
hers, and vice versa.
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Said well, the
only thing you can do
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is split the baby in two,
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which has become a
proverb in our society
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to divide the baby.
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And Solomon told his soldier,
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let's divide the baby and
the soldier goes for the baby
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and the real mother threw
herself down before Solomon,
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said oh my Lord,
the king, don't do that.
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Give her the
baby, but don't kill it,
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and the other one said,
aw, it's a fair thing to do.
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Let's just split the baby.
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Solomon said, well obviously
this is the real mother.
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And people were so
impressed by his wisdom
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that was revealed when the
soldier pulled out his sword.
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Now, what does the sword
represent in Bible truth?
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Represents the word
of God and tells us that
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the word of God
is quick and powerful
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and sharper than any
two edge sword, Hebrews 4.
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What does a woman
represent in Bible symbology?
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Woman is the church and
when we look in Revelation 12
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at this beautiful,
glorious woman clothe the light,
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she must be the true church.
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Then there's another woman,
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there's only two
women in Revelation.
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You got the true
woman in Revelation 12,
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you got a counterfeit
woman in Revelation 17,
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she's called the
mother of harlot.
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So you don't have to guess
if she's good or bad, right?
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It's pretty clear.
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So we're going to be talking,
we'll be using the sword
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of God's spirit to
figure out how do you identify
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the true church in a world
today where you've got hundreds,
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if not thousands of different
Christian denominations,
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and I want to
reiterate that I believe
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there are Christian people
in many different churches.
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Does everyone hear me?
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Many different
denominations there are people
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that love the Lord
and one denomination
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does not have a
copyright on salvation,
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but God does have a people
and a movement in the last days
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and he's going to
pull people together.
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How do you know?
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Let's get to our
lesson for tonight.
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We'll begin with
question number one.
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How does Revelation
picture God's true church?
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Now, we just read
this to get our background.
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You read in Revelation
12:1, pictured as a what?
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A woman clothed with the sun,
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with the moon under
her feet and on her head
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a garland of 12 stars.
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Who is this woman?
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Some say, well, this is
Mary and you can look around,
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if you look at a lot
of the the medieval art,
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you'll often see
Mary standing on,
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paintings and
sculptures of Mary,
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standing on the moon,
12 stars above her head.
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She's holding the
baby and she'll have a halo
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of like sun behind her.
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You've probably
seen this before.
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But how could this be Mary?
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It says she flees
into the wilderness,
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where she's
persecuted for 1,260 years.
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This is a broad
picture of God's true church.
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Jesus said to the church,
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you are the light of the world.
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Now, these are the
lights that God made.
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God made the sun.
God made the moon.
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God made the
stars. It's God's light.
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This woman has God's light.
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She is great with
child, and she's getting ready
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to bring forth this man
child, this singular man child,
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and the dragon is
standing before the woman
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to devour the child
as soon as it's born.
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The devil is not
too happy with that.
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That's the second
part of our question.
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Revelation 12:2,
then being with child,
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she cried out in labor
and pain to give birth.
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The purpose of the church
was to introduce the world
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to the Messiah and
to really be a place
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that presents
salvation to the world.
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It's to be, you might even
say a hospital for sinners.
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One reason I think that the
church is portrayed as a woman
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is typically by nature, women
are more nurturing than men.
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Women are more sensitive
than men, they're more caring.
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You know, we are connected
with a self-supporting ministry.
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75 or 80% of the
checks are written by women
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that are moved by needs.
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It's not that men don't
ever or don't ever care,
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but I think we all know that,
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that God's designed
women for one thing,
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that is they're designed
to bring forth children,
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to nurture those children,
and so this is something
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like what the church is
supposed to do in the world,
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is to be bringing people to
Christ and helping to multiply
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the kingdom for Jesus.
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This woman is
standing on the moon.
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What does the moon represent?
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It's the Old Testament
promises and prophecies
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that support the New Testament.
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The New Testament is Jesus.
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Jesus is the light of the world.
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You read in Malachi 4
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that the sun of
righteousness will arise,
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and that's not
S-O-N, it's S-U-N.
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The sun of
righteousness will arise
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with healing in his wings.
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It's talking about the light
of the New Testament gospel.
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12 stars above her head,
what does that represent?
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What's 12
represent in the Bible?
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How many? It's a
number for the church.
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How many
apostles? New Testament?
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12.
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Old Testament,
how many patriarchs?
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12.
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They figured
there were 12 judges
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and I think I told
you that there were also,
00:10:04.70\00:10:08.00
in the New Testament,
you've got 12 Jewish apostles
00:10:08.04\00:10:10.91
that were chosen and
Paul goes the Ephesus
00:10:10.94\00:10:12.87
and he baptizes 12 gentiles
00:10:12.91\00:10:15.34
and I thought that was
an interesting number too.
00:10:15.38\00:10:18.45
New Jerusalem, 12 gates,
12 foundations, tree of life,
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12 different kinds
of fruit 12 times a year
00:10:23.92\00:10:26.09
and the Bible tells us that
it's 12,000 furlongs around.
00:10:26.12\00:10:29.79
12 is a number for the church.
00:10:29.82\00:10:31.33
Principally the leadership.
00:10:31.36\00:10:32.93
The stars are above our head
00:10:32.96\00:10:34.40
and that usually typifies
leadership in the Bible.
00:10:34.46\00:10:36.83
So this is God's church
getting ready for the Messiah
00:10:36.87\00:10:40.97
to come and be
introduced to the world.
00:10:41.00\00:10:44.14
But the dragon wants to stop it.
00:10:44.17\00:10:46.44
Question number two,
00:10:46.47\00:10:48.01
who is the great red dragon
and what does he try to do?
00:10:48.04\00:10:51.48
Who is the dragon?
00:10:51.51\00:10:53.21
It tells you right,
in that same chapter.
00:10:53.25\00:10:54.85
That old serpent
called the devil and Satan.
00:10:54.88\00:10:56.99
How can that be misunderstood?
00:10:57.02\00:10:58.42
Serpent, dragon, devil, Satan.
00:10:58.45\00:11:01.42
He is the arch themed
that is bringing all the evil
00:11:01.46\00:11:05.09
into our world and
that Jesus called the devil,
00:11:05.13\00:11:08.20
the prince of this world.
00:11:08.23\00:11:09.53
He's kind of hijacked
or kidnapped this world
00:11:09.56\00:11:12.00
because the original
parents of the human race,
00:11:12.03\00:11:15.70
God made man at his own image
and he was given the ability
00:11:15.74\00:11:18.74
to have
dominion over this planet
00:11:18.77\00:11:21.11
and then Adam and Eve
basically handed the keys
00:11:21.14\00:11:23.75
over to the devil.
00:11:23.78\00:11:25.18
You and I are all
suffering as civilian casualties
00:11:25.21\00:11:28.65
in this war, but Jesus
didn't want to lose us.
00:11:28.68\00:11:31.05
So he came into the
world as a man to live among us
00:11:31.09\00:11:35.19
and to save us, to
show us what God is like,
00:11:35.22\00:11:37.66
to show us what
the father's like,
00:11:37.69\00:11:40.03
to die for our sins
that teach us how to live.
00:11:40.06\00:11:43.80
So it says that the dragon,
00:11:43.83\00:11:45.70
he stands before,
he's cast out of heaven.
00:11:45.73\00:11:47.90
That old serpent of old
called the devil and Satan,
00:11:47.94\00:11:50.67
and the dragon stood
before the woman who was ready
00:11:50.71\00:11:53.27
to give birth to devour her
child as soon as it was born.
00:11:53.31\00:11:57.31
Did the devil make an effort
00:11:57.35\00:11:58.78
as soon as Jesus was
born to kill him as a baby?
00:11:58.81\00:12:01.55
Have you read there in
Matthew where King Herod,
00:12:02.95\00:12:04.82
he was so jealous that there
was another king of the Jews,
00:12:04.85\00:12:06.99
he sent to
soldiers into Bethlehem
00:12:07.02\00:12:08.79
when the wise men did not
return and he ordered them
00:12:08.82\00:12:11.43
to kill all the male children
two years old and under.
00:12:11.46\00:12:15.10
That was the devil that
was behind Rome doing that.
00:12:16.50\00:12:18.67
It's not the first time.
00:12:18.70\00:12:20.24
You can see in Egypt, the
devil thought that a savior
00:12:20.27\00:12:23.27
was coming for the
children of Israel.
00:12:23.30\00:12:25.14
He thought it would be
one of the Jewish children.
00:12:25.17\00:12:27.68
He had the Pharaoh
killing, not all the babies,
00:12:27.71\00:12:30.38
all the male babies.
00:12:30.41\00:12:32.08
Have you noticed that?
00:12:32.11\00:12:33.42
Bethlehem, all the male babies.
00:12:33.45\00:12:35.58
And then when
Athaliah became queen of Judah,
00:12:35.62\00:12:39.22
the devil again knew that
through the seed of David,
00:12:39.25\00:12:41.39
a savior was coming and
so she went to annihilate
00:12:41.42\00:12:44.23
all the descendants of
David, all the male children.
00:12:44.26\00:12:48.06
So through history
in the Old Testament,
00:12:48.10\00:12:49.83
the devil was trying to
keep the savior from coming
00:12:49.86\00:12:52.77
and destroy him
as he was a baby.
00:12:52.80\00:12:55.00
Number three, what
happens after Satan fails
00:12:55.04\00:12:57.97
to destroy Jesus?
00:12:58.01\00:13:00.28
You read in Revelation
12:5, well you read this before,
00:13:00.31\00:13:02.88
her child was caught
up to God into his throne,
00:13:02.91\00:13:07.22
and from there, it says
Jesus rules all the nations
00:13:07.25\00:13:10.15
with a rod of iron.
00:13:10.19\00:13:12.02
After Jesus, question
four, was caught up to heaven,
00:13:12.05\00:13:15.49
what did Satan do to the church?
00:13:15.52\00:13:18.16
It tells us in Revelation 1213,
00:13:18.19\00:13:20.93
when the dragon saw that
he had been cast to the earth,
00:13:20.96\00:13:23.67
he cannot reach Jesus,
but he wants to hurt Jesus.
00:13:23.70\00:13:27.24
Says he persecuted the woman.
00:13:27.27\00:13:29.40
Now who is this
woman in Revelation 12?
00:13:29.44\00:13:31.44
She's a church.
00:13:32.57\00:13:33.88
She's wearing light.
00:13:33.91\00:13:35.64
You go to Revelation
17, it says the woman
00:13:35.68\00:13:38.58
is wearing gold and pearls
and scarlet and costly array
00:13:38.61\00:13:41.95
and it's not talking
about the same kind of light.
00:13:41.98\00:13:45.15
It's artificial, manmade.
00:13:45.19\00:13:46.92
This is God's church
filled with the light of God.
00:13:46.96\00:13:50.53
The devil has then
vented his fury on the church.
00:13:50.56\00:13:53.46
Don't go anywhere friends,
00:13:54.63\00:13:56.00
in just a moment
we're going to return
00:13:56.03\00:13:57.70
for the rest of
today's presentation.
00:13:57.73\00:14:00.30
You know, there are thousands
00:14:00.34\00:14:01.70
of varying
Christian denominations,
00:14:01.74\00:14:03.57
all claiming that they
are teaching the truth.
00:14:03.61\00:14:06.44
So how do you pick a church?
00:14:06.47\00:14:08.28
Is there a
particular true church?
00:14:08.31\00:14:10.45
Can you be sure?
00:14:10.48\00:14:11.98
Thankfully, the Bible
offers solid guidelines
00:14:12.01\00:14:14.62
to help us identify his church.
00:14:14.65\00:14:16.99
We have an
eye-opening free resource
00:14:17.02\00:14:19.05
we'd like to share with you.
00:14:19.09\00:14:20.39
It's called Search
for the True Church.
00:14:20.42\00:14:22.46
In this logical
well-researched book,
00:14:22.49\00:14:24.66
you'll discover how to find
God's true church for yourself
00:14:24.69\00:14:27.86
and it explains from scripture,
00:14:27.86\00:14:29.70
the four
identifying characteristics
00:14:29.73\00:14:31.97
of God's genuine church.
00:14:32.00\00:14:33.94
To get your free copy, call
the phone number on the screen
00:14:33.97\00:14:36.94
and ask for offer number 134
00:14:36.97\00:14:39.54
or visit the web
address on the screen.
00:14:39.57\00:14:41.98
And after you read
this incredible resource,
00:14:42.01\00:14:44.55
make sure to
share it with a friend.
00:14:44.58\00:14:46.41
Well, let's get back
to today's presentation
00:14:46.92\00:14:48.62
and learn some more amazing
facts from the word of God.
00:14:48.65\00:14:51.42
After Christ ascended to heaven,
00:14:52.85\00:14:54.66
he poured the Holy
Spirit out on the church.
00:14:54.69\00:14:57.26
Christianity began
to spread like fire
00:14:57.29\00:14:59.56
all through the Roman
Empire and even in Paul's day,
00:14:59.59\00:15:03.97
he says, the gospel's been
preached to every creature,
00:15:04.00\00:15:07.00
and the more they tried
to persecute Christians,
00:15:07.04\00:15:10.17
the more Christianity spread.
00:15:10.21\00:15:12.71
And you've probably heard about
where the different Caesars,
00:15:12.74\00:15:15.21
they, you know,
Christianity was called
00:15:15.24\00:15:17.51
(speaking in foreign language)
00:15:17.55\00:15:19.08
forbidden religion,
and Christians were thrown
00:15:19.11\00:15:22.08
to the lions and the
coliseums and they were burnt.
00:15:22.12\00:15:24.59
Nero was supposedly,
he'd smear them with pitch
00:15:24.62\00:15:28.06
and he'd burn the Christians,
00:15:28.09\00:15:30.03
but the more that he
persecuted the church,
00:15:30.06\00:15:31.93
the more the church grew.
00:15:31.96\00:15:33.96
So the devil then
said, this is not working.
00:15:34.00\00:15:36.90
And he went to plan B.
00:15:36.93\00:15:38.53
Plan A was just an
annihilate Christians,
00:15:38.57\00:15:40.24
but the more he, it's
like trying to get rid
00:15:40.27\00:15:42.04
of your weeds by mowing them.
00:15:42.07\00:15:43.51
They just spread
the seeds and he said,
00:15:43.54\00:15:46.57
I've got to find something else.
00:15:46.61\00:15:48.88
I'm going to try to destroy
the church through infiltration.
00:15:48.91\00:15:51.78
That's what he did by
putting Judas in Jesus's group
00:15:53.11\00:15:55.82
and by getting
them to compromise.
00:15:55.85\00:15:59.39
See, the devil is not
worried about Christianity
00:16:00.79\00:16:03.63
if he can dilute the
truth so we lose our impact.
00:16:03.66\00:16:07.86
The devil is not
worried about people
00:16:07.86\00:16:09.33
saying they're Christians
and going to church and singing
00:16:09.36\00:16:12.03
if we are not living holy lives,
00:16:12.07\00:16:14.74
if we're not preaching the
real gospel about salvation
00:16:14.77\00:16:17.57
from sin and the
real power of the gospel,
00:16:17.61\00:16:19.91
the devil doesn't mind.
00:16:19.94\00:16:21.38
Matter of fact, the devil
prefers if we have the facade
00:16:21.41\00:16:24.41
of Christianity and
we don't have the power.
00:16:24.45\00:16:26.95
Paul talks about a
people in the last days
00:16:26.98\00:16:29.05
that have a form of
religion with no power.
00:16:29.08\00:16:32.19
God wants us to have
the real McCoy, amen?
00:16:32.22\00:16:35.02
So what the devil did is he got,
00:16:35.06\00:16:36.46
he kinda came into the
church and through Constantine,
00:16:36.49\00:16:38.56
the Roman emperor,
00:16:38.59\00:16:39.89
Constantine was a
pretty shrewd politician.
00:16:39.93\00:16:42.16
He said, Christians
really aren't hurting anybody.
00:16:42.20\00:16:46.03
All these things about Nero said
00:16:46.07\00:16:47.57
that Christians were
cannibals because he heard
00:16:47.60\00:16:50.81
that in their services,
that they would eat the flesh
00:16:50.84\00:16:53.58
and drink the blood of Jesus,
which of course was symbolic.
00:16:53.61\00:16:57.48
There's no cannibalism going on.
00:16:57.51\00:16:58.98
And so he spread terrible
rumors about Christians.
00:16:59.01\00:17:02.75
Constantine realized that
was all nonsense and he said,
00:17:02.78\00:17:05.52
they're not hurting anybody.
00:17:06.82\00:17:08.12
We ought make peace with him.
00:17:08.16\00:17:09.56
We've got enemies on the outside
right now we're fighting.
00:17:09.59\00:17:11.23
He claimed to have
a vision where he said
00:17:11.26\00:17:12.76
he was supposed to now conquer
under the sign of the cross.
00:17:12.79\00:17:16.33
And to show his sincerity,
00:17:16.36\00:17:18.47
his mother
converted to Christianity.
00:17:18.50\00:17:20.97
Constantine
then ordered his army
00:17:21.00\00:17:22.84
to march through the
Tiber River in Rome and he says,
00:17:22.87\00:17:25.64
you have all been baptized,
says you're all Christians now.
00:17:25.67\00:17:29.58
But the problem was
they had no teaching.
00:17:29.61\00:17:30.95
We learned before
baptism there should be
00:17:30.98\00:17:32.38
some teaching, right?
00:17:32.41\00:17:33.72
Go teach baptize.
00:17:33.75\00:17:35.48
They went into
the water dried pagans
00:17:35.52\00:17:37.52
and they came up wet
pagans and all of a sudden,
00:17:37.55\00:17:40.52
almost overnight,
all these pagan teachings
00:17:40.56\00:17:42.89
came into the church
00:17:42.92\00:17:44.23
and they got
commingled with Christianity.
00:17:44.26\00:17:46.86
So now Christians
who were, you know,
00:17:46.90\00:17:49.63
not involved at all in idols,
00:17:51.03\00:17:53.47
they had idols of pagan
deities everywhere in Rome
00:17:53.50\00:17:56.57
and Greece and throughout
the empire, and they said,
00:17:56.60\00:17:58.57
what do we do with
all these beautiful idols?
00:17:58.61\00:18:00.51
And some of the Christian
leaders said, you know,
00:18:00.54\00:18:02.84
we'll probably reach more pagan
00:18:02.88\00:18:04.31
if we don't make
'em change too quickly.
00:18:04.35\00:18:06.25
Let them just rename their idols
00:18:06.28\00:18:08.85
and all of a sudden
they're praying to Peter, James,
00:18:08.88\00:18:11.32
John, and they just
renamed their idols.
00:18:11.35\00:18:15.22
So they basically
subsumed all of these rights
00:18:15.26\00:18:18.59
and ceremonies that
were not in Christianity,
00:18:18.63\00:18:21.13
and then you
entered a period of time
00:18:21.16\00:18:23.00
where you had a
co-mingling of Christianity
00:18:23.03\00:18:26.37
and instead of the church
becoming a movement of love,
00:18:26.40\00:18:29.24
it started to become
a political institution.
00:18:29.27\00:18:32.34
What are two other identifying
marks of God's church
00:18:32.37\00:18:35.11
according to Revelation 12:17?
00:18:35.14\00:18:37.71
The dragon.
00:18:37.75\00:18:39.05
Who is he again?
00:18:39.08\00:18:40.38
The devil was enraged or wroth,
00:18:40.42\00:18:42.88
if you got a King James version,
00:18:42.92\00:18:44.39
with the woman.
00:18:44.42\00:18:45.72
Who, who is she? Which woman?
00:18:45.75\00:18:47.22
True church.
This woman of light.
00:18:47.26\00:18:49.22
Obviously, if the
dragon is wroth with her,
00:18:49.26\00:18:51.23
is she the right woman?
00:18:51.26\00:18:53.09
Yeah, if the devil's mad at you,
00:18:53.13\00:18:54.50
you're doing something right.
00:18:54.56\00:18:56.36
Isn't that true?
00:18:56.40\00:18:57.70
You can be pretty sure of it.
00:18:57.73\00:18:59.03
He was enraged with the
woman and he goes to make war
00:18:59.07\00:19:01.84
with the rest of her offspring.
00:19:01.87\00:19:03.51
It's not just her now, it's
those who have been converted
00:19:03.54\00:19:06.21
through her
influence that are spreading.
00:19:06.24\00:19:08.11
This is in the last days now,
00:19:08.14\00:19:10.61
and it says rest of her
offspring, who have a couple
00:19:10.65\00:19:13.95
of characteristics
that keep the what?
00:19:13.98\00:19:16.95
The commandments of God
00:19:16.99\00:19:18.99
and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ.
00:19:19.02\00:19:21.62
If you look in Revelation 19:10,
00:19:21.66\00:19:23.46
it says that
testimony of Jesus Christ
00:19:23.49\00:19:26.23
is the spirit of prophecy.
00:19:26.26\00:19:27.76
You know what is the
law and the prophets?
00:19:28.90\00:19:32.97
You've got, it says here,
remember the law of Moses.
00:19:33.00\00:19:36.37
Behold I send you
Elijah, the prophet.
00:19:36.40\00:19:39.11
Commandments of
God, the law of Moses,
00:19:39.14\00:19:41.61
Elijah the prophet,
the spirit of prophecy,
00:19:41.64\00:19:44.18
the law and the prophets is
a symbol for the word of God.
00:19:44.21\00:19:46.31
This woman has the word of God
00:19:46.35\00:19:48.55
and the devil is wroth with her.
00:19:48.58\00:19:50.99
Now, I'm just going to let
you take a breath for a second
00:19:51.02\00:19:53.22
because I'm going to make
a little speech and kind of,
00:19:53.25\00:19:56.79
we're just going to
drift from the lesson
00:19:56.83\00:19:58.13
because I want to get
the big picture for you.
00:19:58.16\00:20:00.60
How do you think the
average person picks a church?
00:20:00.63\00:20:03.83
I was in South
Dakota visiting my son
00:20:04.93\00:20:08.97
and we saw this little
church on the side of the road.
00:20:09.00\00:20:12.64
It must be one of the
smallest churches in the world,
00:20:12.67\00:20:15.48
and I said, there's a
church I think I could handle.
00:20:15.51\00:20:18.68
You can fit the pastor
00:20:18.71\00:20:20.08
and maybe a couple
getting married in there.
00:20:20.12\00:20:23.02
I didn't even go inside, but
I thought it was kind of cute.
00:20:23.05\00:20:26.05
But how do you pick a church?
00:20:26.09\00:20:28.59
How do most
people pick churches?
00:20:29.72\00:20:31.83
I'll tell you, I don't
know if I'll remember it all,
00:20:31.86\00:20:33.46
but there's
about 10 different ways
00:20:33.50\00:20:35.26
that people pick a church.
00:20:35.30\00:20:37.07
It's the church that their
family went to, they grew up in.
00:20:37.10\00:20:40.70
Why do you go to that church?
00:20:40.74\00:20:42.04
It's where my
family's always gone.
00:20:42.07\00:20:43.44
They were born this way,
we're going to die that way.
00:20:43.47\00:20:45.37
Doesn't matter, right or wrong,
that's what my family did,
00:20:45.41\00:20:48.31
that's what I'm going to do.
00:20:48.34\00:20:49.68
They pick a church,
it's close to the house.
00:20:50.85\00:20:53.68
That's great to have a
church close to the house.
00:20:53.72\00:20:55.88
They pick a church, pastor
is charismatic and good looking
00:20:55.92\00:21:00.16
and I know that's why
you're all here tonight, right?
00:21:00.19\00:21:02.29
(congregation laughs)
00:21:02.32\00:21:04.83
Why, why are you laughing?
00:21:04.86\00:21:06.19
They pick the
church because the music.
00:21:07.83\00:21:10.40
Why do you go there?
00:21:10.43\00:21:11.87
Oh, the organ vibrates
the build, it's wonderful.
00:21:11.90\00:21:15.67
The choir, I want to be in
the choir, they got a choir.
00:21:15.70\00:21:17.87
What do they believe?
00:21:17.91\00:21:19.21
I don't know, but
that's where I'm going.
00:21:19.24\00:21:21.11
You ask the aver person,
what does your church teach?
00:21:21.14\00:21:24.11
Says well, we
believe just like our pastor.
00:21:24.15\00:21:26.88
Well what does
your pastor believe?
00:21:28.85\00:21:30.55
Well, he believes like us.
00:21:30.59\00:21:31.92
Well what do you
and your pastor believe?
00:21:33.52\00:21:35.59
Same thing, they're just, yeah,
00:21:35.62\00:21:37.96
people really don't
know the ingredients
00:21:39.16\00:21:41.03
or they pick a church
because this is the church
00:21:41.06\00:21:43.67
where the important people go.
00:21:43.70\00:21:45.47
They say if you want to
get anywhere in this town,
00:21:46.90\00:21:48.37
your connections,
that's the church.
00:21:48.40\00:21:50.51
I understand for
generations in Washington, DC,
00:21:51.84\00:21:53.78
as various presidents have
attended different churches,
00:21:53.81\00:21:56.24
people start calling those
churches every Sunday to say,
00:21:56.28\00:21:58.81
"Is the president
coming this week?"
00:21:58.85\00:22:01.35
They want to be there
when the president goes.
00:22:01.38\00:22:03.55
And I heard a one pastor, I
think it was when George Bush
00:22:03.59\00:22:06.19
used to visit a
Methodist church with Laura,
00:22:06.22\00:22:08.16
and they always wanted
to know when the pastor,
00:22:08.19\00:22:09.69
when the
president was coming, said,
00:22:09.72\00:22:11.23
will the president be here?
00:22:11.26\00:22:12.56
And he'd say,
well I'm not so sure,
00:22:12.59\00:22:13.90
but God will be
here if that matters.
00:22:13.93\00:22:17.13
Or they pick a
church because the building,
00:22:18.33\00:22:20.54
the architecture.
00:22:20.57\00:22:21.90
Why do you go to that church?
00:22:22.80\00:22:24.27
Oh, the stained glass, it's
beautiful, modern, it's clean.
00:22:24.31\00:22:28.31
That's good.
00:22:28.34\00:22:30.98
Why do you go to that church?
00:22:31.01\00:22:33.08
The loving, the people
are loving, they're friendly.
00:22:33.11\00:22:36.72
What do they teach?
00:22:36.75\00:22:38.05
I don't know,
but they're friendly
00:22:38.09\00:22:40.92
or they have an
exciting worship service.
00:22:40.96\00:22:44.53
It's exciting.
00:22:44.56\00:22:46.73
These are some of the reasons
that people pick a church.
00:22:46.76\00:22:48.16
Now, all of
those things are good.
00:22:48.20\00:22:51.77
It's great if you
can go to the same church
00:22:51.80\00:22:53.44
that your family's always
gone to, if the music is good.
00:22:53.47\00:22:57.14
I mean you don't want it to
be like feeding time at the zoo
00:22:57.17\00:22:59.24
when they start singing, right?
00:22:59.27\00:23:01.04
You want to have a
good children's program.
00:23:01.08\00:23:02.98
It's good if the
pastor can keep you awake.
00:23:03.01\00:23:05.11
It's good if it's
close to the house
00:23:05.15\00:23:06.61
and they got a
modern clean building
00:23:06.65\00:23:08.28
and all of
those things are good,
00:23:08.32\00:23:10.52
but not one of those things,
00:23:10.55\00:23:12.22
which happened to be the main
reasons people pick a church,
00:23:12.25\00:23:14.59
not one of them
is the right reason.
00:23:14.62\00:23:16.42
The one right
reason to pick a church
00:23:17.56\00:23:19.16
is the foundational
teachings of that church
00:23:19.19\00:23:21.40
are the
teachings of Jesus Christ.
00:23:21.43\00:23:23.23
Read the ingredients.
00:23:24.17\00:23:26.37
Do not be fooled by
the marketing on the box.
00:23:26.40\00:23:29.94
And a lot of pastors right now,
00:23:30.77\00:23:32.07
they're
designing their churches,
00:23:32.11\00:23:33.41
they'll do surveys in
the community and say,
00:23:33.44\00:23:35.04
what do these people want?
00:23:35.08\00:23:36.58
I'm going to design my church
00:23:36.61\00:23:38.38
to meet the felt
needs of these people.
00:23:38.41\00:23:40.98
Is that what Jesus did?
00:23:41.02\00:23:42.42
Or Jesus say, this is the
truth and this is what you need.
00:23:42.45\00:23:44.82
You need salvation
from sin, instead of saying,
00:23:44.85\00:23:47.22
we're going to create a
church to reach the people.
00:23:47.26\00:23:50.03
God is not wanting a
church that will change
00:23:50.06\00:23:52.36
to morph into the
culture, 'cause quite frankly,
00:23:52.39\00:23:54.83
our culture is sick.
00:23:54.83\00:23:56.80
God wants a church that is
going to change the culture
00:23:56.83\00:23:59.87
because they're
standing for the truth.
00:23:59.90\00:24:01.94
So when you want to
know what church do I join,
00:24:01.97\00:24:04.54
choose very carefully
and you want to make sure
00:24:04.57\00:24:07.71
it matches with the Bible.
00:24:07.74\00:24:09.54
Now did that make sense?
00:24:09.58\00:24:11.41
All right, with
that as a foundation,
00:24:11.45\00:24:13.25
how do we find this
woman in the last days?
00:24:13.28\00:24:17.02
How did Solomon figure
out which was the real mother?
00:24:18.49\00:24:21.06
Use the sword.
00:24:21.09\00:24:22.39
We find the truth
by the word of God,
00:24:22.42\00:24:24.46
the sword of God's word, amen?
00:24:24.49\00:24:26.73
How did Jesus say that we
demonstrate our love for him?
00:24:26.76\00:24:29.66
Honk your horn and
shout, is that what he said?
00:24:31.07\00:24:33.80
No, he said, if
you love me, do what?
00:24:33.84\00:24:36.97
Keep my commandments.
00:24:37.01\00:24:38.81
And then you read on
here in John First John 5:3,
00:24:40.24\00:24:42.81
for this is the love of God
that we keep his commandments.
00:24:42.84\00:24:47.85
God wants us to be obedient
00:24:48.72\00:24:50.59
and this is one of
the criteria a church
00:24:50.62\00:24:52.42
is going to be teaching the
word of God and the law of God.
00:24:52.45\00:24:55.42
Because how do you
know you need to savior
00:24:55.46\00:24:57.49
unless you're saved from sin?
00:24:57.53\00:24:59.49
And when you
understand the love of God
00:24:59.53\00:25:01.90
through the law of God,
you become a loving church
00:25:01.93\00:25:05.03
because he's
forgiven you for your sins.
00:25:05.07\00:25:07.17
Since there are so
many faithful Christians
00:25:08.30\00:25:10.37
in other churches--
00:25:10.41\00:25:11.71
You hear me friends?
00:25:11.74\00:25:13.04
I want to make
sure you get that.
00:25:13.07\00:25:14.38
Don't walk away
from this meeting saying,
00:25:14.41\00:25:15.71
Pastor Doug says he's
the only one being saved
00:25:15.74\00:25:17.05
'cause he knows the church.
00:25:17.08\00:25:18.38
There are good people
in many different churches,
00:25:18.41\00:25:20.32
but things are going to
be changing in the last days.
00:25:20.35\00:25:23.99
Since he's got other
people in many churches,
00:25:24.02\00:25:26.35
and there's only
one true remnant church,
00:25:26.39\00:25:28.49
remnant means the
remainder in the last time,
00:25:28.52\00:25:31.43
what will happen to
these sincere Christians?
00:25:31.46\00:25:34.23
The words of Jesus, John 10:1,
00:25:34.30\00:25:37.03
and other sheep I have
that are not of this fold,
00:25:37.07\00:25:40.80
them also I must bring
00:25:40.84\00:25:44.54
and there will be one
fold and one shepherd.
00:25:44.57\00:25:48.01
So what's going to happen?
00:25:48.04\00:25:49.38
He said, I'm going
to bring them together.
00:25:50.28\00:25:52.85
There's going to be a
shaking in the last days.
00:25:52.88\00:25:54.42
We see the world as being
polarized in many ways now.
00:25:54.45\00:25:56.89
People are polarized
based on their countries.
00:25:56.92\00:25:59.39
If people are polarized
now over racial issues,
00:25:59.42\00:26:01.92
people are polarized
over political issues
00:26:01.96\00:26:04.79
and there's going to be a
big polarization over religion
00:26:04.83\00:26:08.16
and there's going to
be a shaking in the world,
00:26:08.20\00:26:10.50
and those that want to
follow Jesus in his word,
00:26:10.53\00:26:12.80
they're going to kinda
shake off in one direction.
00:26:12.83\00:26:14.70
They're going to have the
other's going to shake off
00:26:14.74\00:26:16.81
into the other direction.
00:26:16.84\00:26:18.34
One's going to
have the seal of God,
00:26:18.37\00:26:19.67
one's going to have
the mark of the beast,
00:26:19.71\00:26:21.01
one's going to
be the true bride,
00:26:21.04\00:26:22.34
one's going to be Babylon.
00:26:22.38\00:26:23.68
And this is how things
are shaping up right now.
00:26:23.71\00:26:25.35
And I don't
believe it's an accident.
00:26:25.38\00:26:26.75
You're hearing what
you're hearing right now.
00:26:26.78\00:26:29.25
I believe that God
is wanting you to know
00:26:29.28\00:26:31.05
that he wants
you to be his child
00:26:31.09\00:26:32.79
and you need to read
the ingredients, friends.
00:26:32.82\00:26:35.66
just don't say, well, I
think it's whatever you feel,
00:26:35.69\00:26:37.76
or All rivers lead to the ocean.
00:26:37.79\00:26:39.09
What does the word of God say?
00:26:39.13\00:26:41.53
That's going to be your
only safety in the last days.
00:26:41.56\00:26:44.20
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00:26:44.23\00:26:47.77
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