Participants: John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000130A
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00:21 Hello, friends, welcome to another
00:23 Wednesday night Bible study here 00:24 at the 3ABN Worship Center 00:27 in Thompsonville West Frankfort, Illinois. 00:30 It is a wonderful balmy 36 degree January evening, 00:36 and we're all glad to be here. 00:37 Can we say amen to that? 00:39 And we thank you for taken the time to tune in, 00:41 we are going to continue our study on the truth 00:44 about the change of the Sabbath. 00:48 You know, while we're discussing this topic, 00:50 many around the world don't realize 00:53 how important the observance of the Sabbath is. 00:56 We even have in our midst an example 00:58 of how the attitude about the Sabbath is in the world, 01:02 and I'll talk about that in just a moment. 01:04 And I'll let you know 01:06 where you get a copy of the lesson, 01:07 and how you can follow along 01:09 and how you can download the lesson, 01:11 and then we're gonna do our theme song 01:13 before all of that, but before anything, 01:15 let's have a word of prayer together. 01:17 Loving Father in heaven, 01:19 thank You for the opportunity of studying Your Word. 01:23 Lord, You've told us to walk in the light 01:25 while we have it 01:27 unless darkness will come upon us. 01:29 And so tonight, Father, 01:31 may Your Holy Spirit be our guide, our teacher, 01:34 and may that which we learn become 01:36 so endeared to our hearts that we will not fear men, 01:41 but we will honor the Lord. 01:43 And we thank You in Jesus' name we pray. 01:45 Amen. 01:47 Now, to get a copy of the lesson, 01:49 it's lesson number 33, 01:50 you may have had a copy, but here is the website, 01:52 go to ASF.3ABN.org, 01:57 download lesson number 33. 01:59 We've added some questions to it 02:01 since we covered it last. 02:03 When you download that lesson, 02:05 you'll be able to follow along with us tonight 02:07 in this very important topic. 02:09 If you've missed any of the past lessons, 02:11 they're also included at that website 02:14 as well as the videos 02:16 that cover all 105 of our productions 02:20 that have been done 02:22 ever since A Sharper Focus has started. 02:25 The materials are there, the videos are there 02:27 that you can have a wonderful Bible study 02:29 in your church, in your home, 02:30 or in your family if you'd like to do so. 02:33 But tonight, we're going to sing our theme song, 02:34 and what is our theme song? 02:35 Together, it is... 02:38 It is... 02:40 Victory in Jesus. Victory in Jesus. 02:41 Let's sing our theme song together. 02:51 I heard an old, old story 02:55 How the Savior came from glory 02:58 How He gave His life on Calvary 03:02 To save a wretch like me 03:06 I heard about His groaning 03:10 Of His precious blood's atoning 03:13 Then I repented of my sin 03:17 And won the victory 03:21 O victory in Jesus 03:25 My Savior, forever 03:29 He sought me and bought me 03:32 With His redeeming blood 03:36 He loved me ere I knew Him 03:40 And all my love is due Him 03:44 He plunged me to victory 03:47 Beneath the cleansing flood 03:51 I heard about a mansion 03:55 He has built for me in glory 03:59 And I heard about the streets of gold 04:03 Beyond the crystal sea 04:06 About the angels singing 04:10 And the old redemption story 04:14 And some sweet day I'll sing up there 04:18 The song of victory 04:20 Key change. 04:22 O victory in Jesus 04:25 My Savior, forever 04:29 He sought me and bought me 04:33 With His redeeming blood 04:37 He loved me ere I knew Him 04:40 And all my love is due Him 04:44 He plunged me to victory 04:48 Beneath the cleansing flood 04:52 He plunged me to victory 04:55 Beneath the cleansing flood 05:02 Amen? Amen. 05:04 Tonight's topic, 05:05 I'd like you to repeat the title with me together, 05:07 the Truth about the Change of the Sabbath. 05:13 Now this is a very vitally important topic. 05:15 Let me tell you why, 05:17 go with me to the Book of Daniel. 05:18 Daniel 6, 05:22 Daniel 6. 05:27 Now, the reason why this topic 05:29 is important is a number of reasons. 05:32 One, it is about the controversy 05:35 between the law of God and the laws of men. 05:40 The law of God and the laws of men. 05:43 Now, we are called to be allegiant 05:45 to the laws of God, 05:48 but the laws of men are always going to be 05:52 a contrast to the laws of God, 05:54 and we have had ample stories in the Bible 05:58 about individuals that chose to stand firm 06:01 and live honestly in harmony with the laws of God, 06:04 and what happened as a result? 06:06 Now, many things are changing in our world, 06:08 but the Bible says, 06:10 "Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever." 06:13 So Jesus is not changing, 06:15 since the law is a transcript of His character, 06:18 He doesn't change. 06:20 Recently in America, not too many months ago, 06:22 maybe about a year ago, 06:24 there was a law passed at the highest level 06:28 for the attitudes about marriage in America. 06:32 So they decided to adopt laws 06:34 in America to support same-sex marriage. 06:38 And many Christians were outraged, 06:40 even still today many Christian organizations, 06:42 many pastors refused to follow the laws of the land 06:46 because they are contrary to the laws of God. 06:50 Matter of fact, the Apostle Paul, 06:52 one of the reasons 06:53 why he was brought before the governor, 06:54 and Felix, and Agrippa, and ultimately Caesar, 06:59 it's because they said about the Apostle Paul, 07:02 "This man teaches people to worship contrary 07:07 to the laws of the land." 07:09 You follow that? 07:11 So Paul the Apostle went through imprisonment 07:13 and deprivation, 07:16 and he was whipped, he was maligned, 07:19 he was put in prison, 07:20 he was beaten with 39 lashes minus 1. 07:23 I mean he went through so much 07:24 because he chose to stand firmly 07:27 upon the laws of God. 07:30 Now, things have not changed, things have not changed. 07:35 We are going to pray for someone 07:36 in particular tonight, that's part of our fellowship, 07:39 who is presently going 07:40 through that very same persecution 07:42 because he refuses to compromise 07:44 the laws of God, 07:46 the laws of men against his desire 07:52 to be loyal to God. 07:56 But I want to give you encouragement tonight 07:57 because I want to begin with a story 07:58 that lets you know 08:00 that what's happening in the world today. 08:02 Let me go back to the original story, 08:04 what's happening in the world is no surprise to God. 08:06 Amen? 08:08 He saw it long before it began to transpire. 08:11 The law of God from heaven to the Garden of Eden, 08:14 to the Old Testament, to the New Testament, 08:17 through the Dark Ages, where it was changed, 08:20 to the modern days, 08:21 God knew long before men made the decision 08:25 that the laws of God would be changed by men. 08:27 We're gonna talk about that tonight. 08:29 But let me give you encouragement, 08:31 my brother, and those of you 08:33 that may be in a similar situation. 08:35 God sometimes doesn't save us 08:38 from... 08:42 From the attitudes 08:44 and the penalties of men, 08:47 God saves us through the attitudes 08:50 and penalties of men. 08:52 Look at Daniel 6 very quickly. 08:55 This story came to my mind, 08:56 I did not intend to begin with this story, 08:59 but Daniel was a part of the kingdom of the Medes 09:04 and the Persians, the Medo-Persian Empire, 09:07 and Daniel chose as one of the governors, 09:10 that when the time came, 09:11 he was going to stand firmly upon the law of God. 09:14 Daniel decided to pray how many times a day? 09:17 Three. 09:18 Three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening worship. 09:22 That was his pattern. 09:24 And he chose not to be disloyal to that. 09:27 When you choose not to be disloyal to God, 09:30 men will be upset with you because behind them, 09:33 Revelation 12:17, 09:34 Satan is upset with those 09:36 who keep the commandments of God. 09:38 So anytime you decide to stand with God, 09:40 Satan tries to marshal forces against you. 09:43 And he's always done that, 09:44 so we're not living in a new environment, 09:46 nothing is a surprise to God. 09:48 But look at what happened, 09:50 and this is exactly why 09:51 this subject is vitally important. 09:53 Now, the same anger and discontent 09:59 that Christians today have 10:01 with the idea that the same-sex marriage 10:04 has violated God's principles and laws about marriage 10:08 would also be shared 10:09 if the Sabbath was changed in our day 10:13 from Saturday to Sunday, 10:16 but because it was done centuries ago, 10:18 most Christians today 10:20 just honor the first day of the week 10:21 as though it is the law of God 10:23 when, in fact, it is not a law of God. 10:26 It is not a commandment of God. 10:28 It is not one of the Ten Commandments, 10:32 but it's tradition, 10:33 and so if the world were to last long enough, 10:36 the tradition of same-sex marriage, 10:37 a 100 years from now or 200 hundred years from now 10:40 would be in the minds of people, somewhat an... 10:43 They may think that God has always approved of it. 10:46 Well, God no more approves of same-sex marriage 10:49 than He approves of the Sabbath 10:50 being changed from the seventh day 10:53 to the first day of the week. 10:55 But there are many Christians that don't know that. 10:58 So it's important for us to look at God's Word 11:00 so that those who want to serve God 11:02 according to the truth 11:04 will take their side on the stand of truth. 11:06 Amen? 11:08 Daniel 6, 11:10 I'm going to look at verse 3, all right, 11:13 and the Bible says, 11:15 "Then this Daniel 11:17 distinguished himself above all, 11:20 above the governors and satraps," that's rulers, 11:24 "because an excellent spirit was in him." 11:27 Let me just make a point. 11:29 When you decide to stand for right, 11:30 do it with an excellent spirit, amen? 11:33 Don't say, "I don't care what you say." 11:35 You say, "I'm honoring God, 11:38 I'm standing for Him on His Word. 11:40 I'm not going to violate what God has asked me to do." 11:42 Have an excellent spirit about it 11:44 because it goes a long way. 11:45 The Bible says, 11:47 "There was an excellent spirit was in him, 11:49 and the king gave thought to setting him 11:54 over the whole realm." 11:56 He was elevated 11:58 because he had the right attitude, 12:00 and it goes on in verse 5. 12:02 Men didn't like it, so what did they do? 12:05 "So the governors and satraps sought to find 12:08 some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom." 12:13 But what does it say, 12:15 "They could not find charge or fault." 12:19 They looked at this man and says, 12:20 "He does a good job. 12:22 He's not out of harmony with the things 12:24 that he's been given responsibility over, 12:26 but they continued looking." 12:28 And the Bible says, "The reason why 12:30 they couldn't find charge or fault 12:31 because he was," what's the next word, 12:34 say it again, next word is what? 12:36 "Faithful, nor was there any error 12:39 or fault found in him." 12:42 Now was he a perfect individual? 12:44 No, but God gave him responsibilities, 12:47 and he followed through on those. 12:49 But look at what they did now. 12:51 Verse 5, "Then these men said, 12:56 "We will not find any charge against this Daniel 13:00 unless we find it against him 13:04 concerning the law of his God.'" 13:07 They decided, Johnny, 13:08 to look at the God he served and the law of his God, 13:12 and they decided to pit him against God's law. 13:16 They decided, they said, 13:17 "This is how we're going to get him. 13:21 He is true to his God's law, 13:25 so we got to set up a law 13:28 that will test his allegiance to God's law." 13:31 So what did they do? 13:33 "So these governors," verse 6, 13:35 "and satraps thronged before the king, 13:38 and said thus to the king, "King Darius, live forever!" 13:41 You know, waxing him, watch how when people wax you. 13:43 They're about to set you up. 13:46 Verse 7, 13:47 "All the governors of the kingdom, 13:49 the administrators and satraps, 13:51 the counselors and advisors have consulted together 13:55 to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree 13:59 that whoever petitions any God or man for..." 14:04 How long? 14:05 "Thirty days, except you, 14:06 O king, shall be cast into the den of lions." 14:10 You're in a den of lions right now, 14:12 but God knew it was coming. 14:14 See, nothing happens that God doesn't know about. 14:18 "Now, O king," verse 8, 14:20 "establish the decree 14:23 and sign the writing, so that it..." 14:25 What? 14:27 "Cannot be changed, according to the..." 14:28 What? 14:30 "Laws of the Medes and Persians, 14:32 which does not alter." 14:33 You're going to get excited about that word 14:35 "which does not alter." 14:37 They said, "We're not changing, 14:39 and Daniel's law and God's law 14:41 that Daniel honors is not changing." 14:43 So we want to see 14:45 which one is going to get his allegiance 14:47 when the chips are down, his position is at stake, 14:51 his leadership in this kingdom is at stake, 14:53 all the authority he has is at stake. 14:57 Let's see if he wants his position 14:59 more than he wants to maintain his loyalty. 15:04 Verse 10, "Now when Daniel knew 15:06 that the writing was signed, he went home. 15:09 And in his upper room, with his windows..." 15:12 What? 15:13 "Open toward Jerusalem, 15:15 he knelt down on his knees three times that day 15:19 and prayed and gave thanks before his God, 15:22 as was his custom since early days." 15:25 In other words, Daniel said, 15:27 "They're trying to prevent me from praying? 15:30 Nobody's going to prevent me from praying." 15:32 What do you say? 15:34 And he says, 15:35 "It's too late to hide my loyalty to God." 15:39 You know, and he could have easily closed 15:40 the windows and prayed. 15:42 A lot of people would have done that, 15:43 a lot of people would say, 15:44 "Man, my position is on the line. 15:46 I can't afford to lose my job. 15:47 So I'm going to close my window because God will understand." 15:51 But you know what? 15:52 If your witness and your allegiance to God 15:54 is not known by others, 15:57 when God turns the situation around, 15:59 they will never see how powerful 16:01 and how loyal your God is. 16:04 Let's go on, verse 11, 16:09 "Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying 16:12 and making supplication before his God. 16:15 And verse 12, "And they went before the king 16:17 and spoke concerning the king's decree, 16:19 "Have you not signed a decree that," 16:21 every man that works in this company, 16:25 every man that's under the roof of this declaration," 16:28 any man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, 16:32 except you, 16:33 O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?" 16:36 The king answered and said, "This thing is true, 16:39 according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, 16:42 which" what? 16:43 "Does not alter." 16:45 We ain't changing our policies, 16:47 we ain't changing our company's principles for nobody, 16:52 not even Daniel. 16:55 Verse 13, "So they answered, and said before the king, 16:59 "Now, that Daniel, 17:01 who is one of the captives from Judah, 17:04 does not show due regard," to company policy, 17:08 "For you, O king, 17:11 or for the decree that you have signed, 17:13 but makes his petition three times a day." 17:16 He's got somebody else he's loyal to. 17:19 Can we all say amen to that? 17:20 Our loyalty, as the Apostle said, 17:23 "We ought to obey God rather than man." 17:26 There's no contest. 17:28 So men that are in positions of authority, 17:30 some of them haven't caught that yet. 17:33 God is God and they're not. 17:36 I'm not preaching, I'm teaching. 17:40 And verse 14, 17:41 "And the king, when he heard these words, 17:44 was greatly displeased with himself, 17:47 and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. 17:50 And he labored till the going down 17:52 of the sun to deliver him." 17:54 He realized, at that moment, he was trapped. 17:56 He realized that he had done this to a good friend 17:59 and didn't catch until they said, 18:01 "You signed it." 18:03 And when you sign a law 18:04 that affects your entire kingdom, 18:05 you may have a personal relationship, 18:07 but now your loyalty between your whole kingdom 18:13 and your friend is going to be tested. 18:16 And he decided to side with his kingdom. 18:23 Verse 15, 18:25 "Then these men approached the king, 18:26 and said to the king, 18:28 'Know, O king, 18:29 that it is the law of the Medes and Persians 18:32 that no decree or statute 18:34 which the king establishes may be changed.'" 18:36 They probably saw his attitude and said, 18:38 "I know you feel bad, but you can't change it. 18:41 I know you're in a pickle right now, sorry, 18:44 it's company policy." 18:47 "So the king gave command, verse 16, 18:49 and they brought Daniel 18:51 and cast him into the den of lions. 18:52 But the king spoke, saying to Daniel," 18:55 come on, say it together, 18:56 "Your God, whom you serve", how often? 18:59 "Continually, He will deliver you." 19:03 That's the message today that my Brother Johnny Swann. 19:07 Put his name on your page tonight, 19:09 "Johnny Swann." 19:10 Those of you that are listening, 19:12 pray for him in our audience. 19:15 So I'm going to go ahead and go through the story. 19:18 So they put Daniel in the lions' den, 19:20 they put a stone over it. 19:22 They decided, "Bye-bye." 19:26 Because nobody survives the lions' den. 19:30 Let me change that, 19:31 except those that are loyal to God. 19:34 Okay? 19:35 God said, "Wait a minute, Daniel is my servant, 19:40 and I made these lions. 19:41 Tonight, they're going to have a wonderful evening together." 19:45 That's what God does. Amen? 19:46 He comforts you in moments of trial, 19:49 what looks like destruction, to servants of God, 19:52 are really just a night off in God's kingdom. 19:56 Pick out some time off 19:58 and tomorrow things will be the same. 19:59 So Daniel was there all night, 20:02 he's the only one that laid all night on the chest, 20:04 or the breast of the other lions and said, 20:07 "How're you doing?" 20:09 Rub, stroke their hair, and they walked around 20:11 and just probably licked his face, 20:13 and they'd said, "We can't eat him. 20:16 He's not authorized by God to eat." 20:18 So they had a wonderful night in the lions' den. 20:21 And when the morning came, verse 19, 20:25 "The king arose very early in the morning." 20:28 I suggest he couldn't sleep, he couldn't sleep, he fasted, 20:33 he couldn't sleep, no matter what happened, 20:35 they couldn't comfort him, he got up early in the morning, 20:38 and went in haste to the den of lions. 20:40 "And when he came to the den of lions, 20:41 he cried out with a lamenting voice, 20:44 sadness, tears in his voice, to Daniel. 20:46 The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 20:48 'Daniel, servant of the living God, 20:51 has your God, whom you serve continually, 20:53 been able to deliver you from the lions?'" 20:57 It is a wonderful story. 20:59 How come I hadn't preached this sermon until tonight? 21:01 "Then Daniel said to the king, "O king," just relax, 21:06 "live forever" 21:07 Enjoy the morning, don't worry about it. 21:10 I'm here. 21:12 And I just want to bring greetings to you 21:13 from the lions. 21:14 They just want to tell you hello. 21:19 "My God," who friends? Who friends? 21:23 "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths 21:29 so that they have not hurt me 21:32 because I was found," what? 21:35 "Innocent before Him, and also, 21:39 O king, I have done no wrong before you.'" 21:42 "I haven't done anything wrong before God, 21:44 and I didn't do anything wrong before you, 21:47 why am I in this situation?" 21:49 So the king says, "All right, I'll fix it. 21:53 I'm not going to let anybody, who's loyal to me 21:56 and loyal to their God be penalized 21:59 without getting those guys who set him up penalize." 22:05 You know what? Let me tell you, tables turned. 22:08 Say that again with me, tables turned. 22:11 When the tables turn, the story is quite different. 22:14 Be careful, let me just say this 22:16 to those who are listening. 22:17 You may be one of those employers 22:19 that have no care for God's law. 22:21 You may say, "That's right, in my company, 22:23 what I say matters." 22:24 Be careful, 22:26 'cause the table's about to turn. 22:27 Here it is, and verse 24, well, when he came out, 22:32 there was no injury, whatever found on him 22:34 because he was delivered. 22:35 God delivered him. Praise God for that. 22:37 "And the king gave the command, 22:39 and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, 22:43 and they cast them into the den of lions, 22:46 them, their children, and their wives, 22:51 and the lions overpowered them, 22:54 and broke all their bones in pieces 22:57 before they ever came to the bottom of the den." 23:03 If that were not a true story, I wouldn't read it. 23:07 They said, "First of all, 23:10 you put a guy in here that we could not eat, 23:12 and we've been starving all night. 23:16 And we are really hungry now. 23:18 So give us more food than you gave us yesterday." 23:22 It's a sad story, but the reality of that 23:24 is when you stand firmly for God, 23:27 God is a God of deliverance. 23:29 Amen? Amen. 23:31 He doesn't deliver us from the fire 23:32 but through the fire. 23:34 He doesn't deliver you from the den 23:37 but through the den. 23:38 So even the den now, 23:39 but there's another side to the den, 23:41 how you got in it? 23:42 By your loyalty, 23:44 it's why you're going to get out of it. 23:45 God's got greater things in store. 23:47 I was going to say amen church, but I'm not preaching. 23:51 I'm not preaching, it might sound like, 23:52 but I'm not preaching. 23:54 So tonight, we're talking about being loyal to God, 23:59 being loyal to God. 24:00 Say it with me, what is it? Being loyal to God. 24:03 And what I want to tell you is, all through these empires, 24:06 there was Babylon, 24:08 there was Medo-Persia, there was Greece, 24:11 we're going to look at these empires now. 24:12 So tonight, let's go to question number three, 24:14 we're going to do some backtracking 24:16 just to give some solid footing 24:18 so that we can go on in our next program 24:21 for those who have not tuned in to this program before. 24:24 Question number three. 24:26 What are the three empires 24:29 that precede the fourth world empire? 24:33 Go to Daniel 7, just turn over one chapter. 24:36 And we're going to go quickly through these six verses, 24:38 and as we go through them, 24:40 we'll go ahead and put the kingdoms down, all right? 24:42 Daniel 7, and we'll go ahead in the interest of time 24:48 and put them on the screen. 24:50 Here it is, Daniel 7 beginning with verse 1, 24:53 "In the first year of Belshazzar, king of," where? 24:58 "Babylon, Daniel had a dream 25:05 and visions of his head while on his bed. 25:10 Then he wrote down the dream, telling the," what? 25:15 "Main facts." 25:16 Here it is, in verse 2, "Daniel spoke, saying, 25:20 "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, 25:25 the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. 25:29 And four great beasts came up from the sea, 25:32 each different from the other. 25:37 The first was like a," what? 25:39 Write it down, "lion," write that down, 25:42 "and had eagle's wings. 25:44 I watched till the wings were plucked off, 25:46 and it was lifted up from the earth 25:48 and made to stand on two feet like a man," all right," 25:52 and a man's heart was given to it.'" 25:56 I'll elaborate in just a moment. 25:58 "And suddenly another beast, 26:03 a second, like a," what? 26:04 "Bear," write that down, the bear. 26:07 "It was raised up on one side, 26:11 and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. 26:15 And they said thus to it, 'Arise, devour," what? 26:20 "Much flesh!'" 26:22 After this I looked, and there was another, 26:27 like a" what? 26:28 Write that down "leopard," like a leopard, 26:31 "which had on its back 26:37 four wings of a," what? 26:38 "Of a bird. 26:40 The beast also had," what? 26:42 "Four heads, and dominion was given to it." 26:46 So write that down, so far we have a... 26:48 What's the first one we wrote down was a lion, 26:51 the second one was a bear, 26:52 the third one was a leopard with what? 26:56 Four heads and four wings. 26:57 Lion, with wings of an eagle... 26:59 You do not want to run into a lion with eagle's wings. 27:03 You can't get away. 27:05 Eagles go high, lions go broad. 27:08 And then a bear with three ribs in its mouth. 27:10 Those symbolize the nations that were brought down. 27:14 First one is Babylon, write that down, 27:19 and I'll go ahead and bring this up on the screen 27:21 for the question number four. 27:22 I'll give you question number four just to go ahead 27:24 and put the sequence together. 27:26 Okay, we're going to write them down. 27:27 We're going to write them down now, 27:29 so I just gave you three, the fourth one is Babylon... 27:31 Sorry, the fourth one is Rome. 27:34 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, 27:37 and I'm going to give you the fourth one here 27:39 in just a moment. 27:40 All right? 27:41 Let's look at the fourth question, 27:43 and then we'll look at the answer to that. 27:44 Okay? 27:45 We didn't write the fourth one down yet, just hold on, 27:48 take a breath, everybody breathe. 27:50 Okay, A is Babylon... 27:56 Yeah, 3A, just 3A is the lion equals Babylon. 28:02 The bear equals what? Medo-Persia. 28:08 The next one is the leopard, equals what? 28:11 And let's look at question number four, 28:12 so I can bring this up on the screen. 28:14 Let's look at question number four. 28:16 Here it is on the screen. 28:18 What is the sequence of the reign 28:22 of each of the Four World Empires? 28:24 Here it is on the screen. 28:26 I just held of to give you this information, 28:28 but let's look at this together. 28:29 Bring up that graphic for me. 28:31 The graphic is, you have Babylon, 28:37 and Babylon reigned from what year? 28:39 605 to 539 BC, 28:42 that's the reign of the Babylonian kingdom 28:44 which is synonymous with the lion, all right? 28:47 Then you have the Medo-Persian Empire, 28:49 the story we just read 28:50 was when Daniel was in the Medo-Persian Empire, 28:52 from 539 to 331 BC. 28:56 You're putting these under question number four. 28:58 Then you have the kingdom of Greece. 29:01 Have you heard of Alexander the Great? 29:03 That was his kingdom. 29:05 That was his kingdom, 331 to 168 BC. 29:09 And then you have, say the fourth one with me, 29:12 together what is it? 29:13 Pagan Rome, you got to get that. 29:16 Pagan Rome, 29:18 because there are only four world empires. 29:22 These were covered in the earlier questions here. 29:24 Only how many empires? 29:25 Four world empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, 29:29 and then Pagan Rome. 29:32 Okay, and that's 168 BC to 476 AD, okay, 29:36 you can bring the graphic down now. 29:38 Thank you very much. 29:39 Now, when you look at this four kingdoms, 29:43 what you have to understand clearly 29:45 is when we read in some of the earlier questions 29:48 that there'll only be four world empires. 29:51 Let's look at that again, 29:52 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and what else? 29:55 Rome. 29:56 Okay, but Rome begins as a pagan empire. 30:00 For those of you that have read the Bible, 30:02 the entire New Testament is written 30:04 under the reign of Rome. 30:06 Rome was the power that ruled from the birth of Christ, 30:09 all the way through the death of John the Baptist, 30:12 I mean John the Revelator. 30:14 Rome was the kingdom that was ruling, 30:16 and even beyond that, 30:17 the New Testament Church was persecuted 30:18 by the powers of Rome 30:20 during the Dark Ages, the powers of Rome. 30:23 Rome has always had its hand... 30:25 And because Rome is indicated by prophecy 30:28 to be the final kingdom, the what? 30:32 Final kingdom, 30:33 only four kingdoms, not a fifth. 30:35 The fifth one is going to be the kingdom of God, 30:39 and it's going to get rid of all the others. 30:42 But now, look at this, let's go to Daniel 7, 30:46 and we're going to go to verse 23. 30:48 Matter of fact, question five first, all right? 30:50 Question five first. 30:53 Okay, got a question five. 30:57 How does the Bible describe 31:01 the tenacity of the fourth kingdom? 31:04 How does the Bible describe 31:06 the tenacity of the fourth kingdom? 31:09 This was a tenacious kingdom in many, many ways, 31:12 but how does the Bible describe it, 31:14 what kind of kingdom would it be. 31:17 Now, to give you some examples, let's just show you, 31:20 I want to establish this very carefully 31:23 because under the Babylonian Kingdom, 31:25 the three Hebrews were cast into the fiery furnace. 31:28 What happened to the three Hebrews? 31:29 Somebody tell me. 31:30 Did they get delivered, yes or no? 31:32 Yes. They got delivered. 31:33 Under the Medo-Persian Empire, 31:36 Daniel got cast into the lions' den. 31:39 Did he get delivered, yes or no? 31:41 Okay, so what I want you to see here 31:44 is God is in the business of deliverance 31:47 to those who are faithful. 31:48 You get delivered, 31:49 you don't get delivered from the trial, 31:51 you get delivered through the trial 31:54 because the people that set you up have to see 31:56 that no matter what you've done is just not going to stick 32:01 because God really has the final say. 32:03 All right, look at the answer now 32:05 to Daniel 7:23, 32:06 and the question is how does the Bible describe 32:08 the tenacity of the fourth kingdom? 32:10 Here it is, 32:12 "Thus he said, 32:14 'The fourth beast shall be," what? 32:17 "A fourth kingdom on the earth, which shall be," 32:20 what's the next word? 32:22 "Different from all other kingdoms, 32:25 and shall," do what? 32:26 "Devour the whole earth, trample it and," what else? 32:32 "Break it in pieces.'" 32:33 So this fourth kingdom, which represents Rome, 32:37 what is it going to do to the earth? 32:39 What's it going to do to the earth? 32:41 It's going to devour. What happens when you... 32:43 What's another phrase for devour? 32:46 Do you have any children that like to eat? 32:48 Come on, help me out. 32:50 Okay, I know Cynthia too... 32:52 I know Timothy is a grown boy, and I don't know 32:54 what Hannah's dietary habits are, 32:56 but I'm going to imagine Timothy knows how to eat. 32:59 When I was a kid, 33:00 I remember the neighbor saying to my mother, 33:03 my mother's saying to the neighbor, 33:04 "I rather clothe him than feed him." 33:07 'Cause I could eat, and that children do that. 33:10 But this beast will devour the whole earth. 33:14 So this kingdom of Rome, what it means by devour, 33:17 there'll be no place on the earth 33:21 that will be out of the tenacious reach 33:23 of the Roman Empire. 33:25 There'll be no place, 33:26 you can go to the farthest end of the earth. 33:27 And when you study European history, 33:29 when you study the history of the Middle Ages, 33:31 you discover that there's a phrase 33:33 that is known by all historian, "All roads lead to Rome." 33:40 And if you go to Rome or to Europe, 33:41 and you do a helicopter tour, 33:44 you can still see some of those roads, 33:46 it was like a sun disk from the old Roman Empire, 33:50 roads leading from different kingdoms 33:51 right to where the old Roman Empire is. 33:54 Because where Vatican City is, 33:56 that was not the old headquarters 33:58 of the Roman Empire. 33:59 That was given in 1929 by General Mussolini 34:02 to the Vaticans 34:04 or to the Roman Catholic Church. 34:06 But all these roads led to Rome, 34:08 and the Bible says, 34:10 "He's going to be the fourth kingdom. 34:11 He's going to be different from all the other kingdoms. 34:13 Every one of the kingdoms 34:14 before him was solely political." 34:16 We're going to go into this in just a few moments. 34:19 What made this kingdom different? 34:21 Let's go to question number six. 34:25 Let's go to question number six. 34:27 Okay... 34:34 Here it is. 34:36 How do we know that these four beasts 34:40 represent nations and kings? 34:44 How do we know? Go to Daniel 7:17. 34:46 How do we know? Okay. 34:51 Daniel 7:17 reads as follows, 34:55 here it is, the Word of God. 34:57 "Those great beasts, which are four," together," 35:02 are four kings which arise out of the earth." 35:08 You can't have a king... 35:10 If you have a king, you have what? 35:11 Kingdom. 35:13 If you have a kingdom, you have a what? 35:14 King. 35:15 So these kingdoms, these four empires, 35:18 those words are interchangeable, 35:20 you have empires, you have kingdoms, 35:22 you have kings, and you have its entire government. 35:25 So these four empires... 35:26 One thing I want to also point out tonight, 35:29 I think I mentioned this before, 35:31 but which one is more powerful, 35:35 a lion or bear? 35:39 Which one is considered as the king of the beasts? 35:42 A lion, okay, well, that's the answer. 35:44 What you'll discover is, 35:48 and this is something that now... 35:50 What you discover is 35:52 as the kingdoms depreciate in value, 35:57 they increase in tenacity. 35:59 Now I want you to follow this 36:00 because normally we would think, 36:04 we would think 36:07 that if the Babylonian Kingdom, let me rephrase that, 36:10 if the Babylonian Kingdom 36:12 maintained its tenacity of a lion 36:15 with eagle's wings all the way through its reign, 36:18 it could never have been brought down. 36:20 So in order to bring it down, God weakened that kingdom. 36:24 God weakened its leadership. 36:25 And as you know the story 36:27 when they poured wine into the vessels of the Lord, 36:30 then the writing was thou art weighed 36:33 in the balances in what? 36:35 Found wanting, 36:36 and that kingdom was brought down 36:37 and Babylon came to its end 36:39 by the Medo-Persian Empire bringing it down 36:42 as they came under the walls 36:44 during the night of feasting and revelry 36:48 the Bible talks about. 36:49 But in Daniel 2, 36:52 you find these kingdoms are talked about once again, 36:55 but the kingdoms are talked about in the sense of metals. 36:58 Go to Daniel 2 very quickly. 37:01 They rose, we know there's lion, 37:03 the bear, and the leopard, 37:06 but we're going to see 37:07 the fourth one in a moment here. 37:09 The lion, the bear, the leopard, look at Daniel 2, 37:12 you're going to see these kingdoms 37:14 in a different light. 37:15 All right, Daniel 2, 37:18 let's go ahead and go all the way down 37:21 to Daniel 2 37:24 and verse... 37:29 I don't want to go all the way down to that verse, 37:31 verse... 37:35 Yeah, 32 is good, it's good. 37:37 That kind of gives the definition. 37:39 Let's go ahead and do that very quickly. 37:41 Verse 32, 37:43 that kind of pulls it all together, 37:44 the image that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about. 37:49 Thirty one, let's start with 31, 37:50 "You, O king, were watching, and behold, a great image!" 37:54 Nebuchadnezzar had the dream. 37:56 "This great image, whose splendor was excellent, 37:58 stood before you, and its form was awesome." 38:02 Kids say awesome. They mean awesome. 38:07 This image's head was of what? Fine gold. 38:12 On your paper, 38:13 under question number three, next to A, 38:16 you have lion, and you have Babylon, 38:18 put also fine gold. 38:20 Let's go ahead and add that, under question three, 38:21 I want you to do that. 38:23 Put fine gold, next to lion and Babylon, all right? 38:28 That was the head. Its chest and arms of what? 38:33 Silver, put that next to 3B, which is the bear, 38:39 put Medo-Persia and put silver. 38:45 And its belly and thighs of bronze or brass, 38:50 put that next to C, 38:53 which is leopard with four heads and four wings 38:56 which is Greece, which is bronze or brass. 39:03 But now look what you're going to see, 39:06 and this is the reason I point you to this. 39:08 It's as the kingdoms lose their value, 39:12 the metals become stronger. 39:15 Starts with gold 39:16 which is the softest of the metals 39:18 if you look at these four categories. 39:20 Gold is softer than silver, 39:22 silver is softer than bronze or brass, 39:25 and brass is softer than the fourth one. 39:28 Let's look at verse 33. 39:30 "Its legs of," what? 39:33 "Iron, its feet partly of," what? 39:36 "Iron and partly of," what? 39:38 "Clay." 39:39 Okay, so now we have the fourth beast, 39:42 the fourth beast is of what? 39:47 Say it again, it's of what? 39:48 Iron. Iron. 39:50 Legs of iron. 39:52 So the legs in this image represents 39:54 that fourth kingdom. 39:56 Legs of iron, 39:57 which one is stronger, iron or gold? 39:58 I want to get this repetitiously, 40:00 which one is stronger, iron or gold? 40:01 You could take iron 40:02 and break brass, silver, and gold. 40:05 You can pulverize it. 40:08 And that's exactly 40:09 what the Bible said in the last question, 40:11 Rome was going to do, 40:12 it was going to pulverize the earth. 40:15 It was going to trample it down and break it in pieces. 40:18 Go to question number seven, 40:20 let's look at this, all right? 40:25 And by the way, 40:27 when we go and describe the fourth beast 40:29 in Daniel 7 in a moment here, 40:31 we're going to see 40:32 that this fourth beast is totally synonymous 40:36 with the fourth metal 40:39 that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about, 40:41 the fourth metal in that great image 40:44 that Nebuchadnezzar had the vision about. 40:45 All right? 40:47 Here it is, question number seven. 40:49 Until what time 40:51 will the fourth kingdom be allowed to reign? 40:54 Until what time 40:56 will the fourth kingdom be allowed to reign? 40:59 All right, let's go to Daniel 7:21 41:02 and 22 to look for the answer. 41:04 Are you all ready? 41:06 Here we are, Daniel 7:21 and 22, the Bible says, 41:09 "I was watching, and the same horn," 41:14 the same what? 41:15 Horn, you want to remember 41:16 that because that comes up later on in our study. 41:19 "The same horn was making war 41:23 against the saints, and," what? 41:26 "Prevailing against them." 41:28 But I praise God 41:29 that the verse doesn't end there, 41:30 because the next word is what? 41:32 "Until the Ancient of Days came, 41:35 and a judgment was made in favor of the saints 41:39 of the Most High, 41:41 and the time came 41:42 for the saints to possess the kingdom." 41:44 Now as you look at that, write the answer down, 41:48 until what time 41:50 will the fourth kingdom be allowed to reign? 41:55 Until when? Ancient of Days. 41:57 And what is that? 41:59 Thank you, and what is it called 42:02 when the saints posses the kingdom? 42:03 When is that going to happen? 42:05 At the second coming of Christ. 42:07 From the time 42:08 it was established in the days of antiquity, 42:11 until the saints possessed the kingdom, 42:13 this fourth beast will be allowed to reign, 42:17 until judgment was made in favor of the saints. 42:21 Are we living in the time of the judgment, yes or no? 42:23 Yes. 42:24 So before the verdict or judgment goes forth, 42:27 this kingdom will be on the God's judgment 42:30 and whatever this kingdom did 42:32 to the saints of God will come to an end 42:36 when judgment is made in the favor of the saints. 42:39 Now let me go and put this back in the proper package. 42:42 You see, in the courts of heaven, 42:45 there's a different verdict than the courts of earth. 42:48 Men say these are the laws of land, 42:50 these are the company laws, these are the policies, 42:53 you can't violate that and get anywhere. 42:55 God says, 42:57 this is the company's policy, this is God's law, 43:00 these are the laws of heaven. 43:02 You can't violate those and get anywhere. 43:05 So when you weigh it, 43:07 who comes out ahead, man or God? 43:09 God. 43:10 God always comes out ahead, and those who stand with God. 43:12 So the saints, they were... 43:14 During the Dark Ages, let me go ahead and... 43:16 We'll put this out in just a moment. 43:19 From 538 to 1798, 43:25 this fourth power was prevailing 43:27 against the saints. 43:28 Millions of Christians lost their lives 43:31 under the persecution of the Roman Empire. 43:33 I'm going to go to that in just a moment here. 43:35 I don't want go too quickly ahead of myself. 43:37 But millions of Christians lost their lives 43:39 under the persecuting power of Rome, 43:42 but there's always a line 43:45 beyond which God does not allow any power to go. 43:49 God set a line, He said, 43:51 "You can't go beyond this particular point." 43:53 But let's look at the very next question, 43:55 why did this kingdom have this kind of attitude? 44:00 Who is behind it? 44:01 Let's look at question number eight. 44:03 Why does this kingdom have this kind of attitude? 44:07 What is the power behind it? 44:10 Look at question number eight. 44:13 And the question is, 44:15 through whom was this kingdom warring 44:17 against God's people? 44:18 Through whom was this kingdom warring 44:21 against God's people? 44:23 Question number eight. Let's bring that on the screen. 44:27 Through whom was this kingdom warring against God's people? 44:31 Let's go to Revelation 12:17, 44:35 and look at what the Bible tells us 44:36 because remember this, anybody that has... 44:41 Let me say it in one of the ways 44:43 that one of our dear saints said it. 44:45 They said, "If you can see the person, 44:46 they are not your enemy, 44:48 but there is an enemy behind the person 44:50 that appears to be your enemy." 44:52 So in all these kingdoms 44:53 whenever God's people were persecuted, 44:56 there was a power behind that. 44:58 You see, the devil 44:59 doesn't like anybody who does right. 45:02 When you do what's right, 45:05 you are naturally and instantly his enemy. 45:09 Look at Revelation 12:17, 45:14 here it is, 45:15 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman..." 45:18 He was what? Enraged. 45:20 Either way, 45:21 the King James Version says wrath. 45:23 "He was enraged with the woman, 45:25 and went to make war 45:27 with the rest of her offspring..." 45:29 That's today, that's in these last days. 45:32 And who are those that he will be upset with, 45:34 let's read this together. 45:35 Are you ready here? 45:37 "Who keep the commandments of God and," what else? 45:41 "Have the testimony of Jesus Christ." 45:44 Let me go ahead and add a component here, 45:46 not only is the testimony of Jesus Christ 45:47 the Spirit of Prophecy, 45:49 but he figures 45:50 if he can war against you and shut you down, 45:52 you don't have a testimony. 45:54 The reality of it is, 45:55 if he can get you to compromise God's law, 45:58 your testimony is shot, 46:00 but because they choose not to compromise God's law, 46:02 they got a testimony. 46:03 The devil doesn't want you to have a testimony. 46:08 Go to Revelation 12, look at this. 46:11 Look at why he doesn't want you to have a testimony 46:14 because, see, people can argue with you on a lot of things 46:18 but they can't argue with you on your testimony. 46:21 Look at Revelation 12, the devil knows this, 46:25 there's nothing new, there's nothing new. 46:28 Revelation 12:11, okay, the Bible says, 46:34 speaking of the triumph of the saints, 46:36 "They overcame him by the," what? 46:40 "Blood of the Lamb and by the," what else? 46:43 "Word of their testimony, 46:46 and they did not love their lives to the death." 46:48 Now that's important, let me tell you why. 46:50 If Daniel thought, 46:53 "Am I going to be cast into the lions' den? 46:55 I'm not going out like that." 46:57 He would've easily said, 46:59 "Okay, I promise not to pray anymore." 47:02 But he didn't care about his life. 47:03 He said, "My life... 47:05 My life is secured in God." 47:08 I think it's Matthew 10:28, 47:10 "Fear not those who are able to kill the body, 47:12 but they cannot kill the soul. 47:14 But fear those who are able to destroy both body 47:16 and soul in hell." 47:17 The Lord says, 47:19 "They may burn you at the stake, 47:20 nail you to the cross, persecute you, kill you, 47:24 but you'll come forth in the resurrection." 47:25 Amen, somebody? 47:27 So don't fear what men can do. 47:29 God honors loyalty, but look at this, 47:33 so Daniel's testimony when... 47:35 Daniel's testimony survived the men that maligned him 47:40 because the king that knew 47:43 he had been tricked to bring about this penalty on Daniel, 47:47 that king says, 47:49 "Daniel, I understand what you're saying 47:51 about your God now, your testimony is true." 47:54 And the Hebrews, the very same thing, 47:56 when the Lord delivered them from the fiery furnace 47:58 that Nebuchadnezzar had heated seven times hotter, 48:01 Nebuchadnezzar passed a decree, 48:03 and the men that maligned the three Hebrews 48:05 were thrown into fiery furnace, 48:07 and the testimony of these Hebrews 48:09 and the testimony of Daniel resonated 48:12 through the Kingdom of Babylon 48:14 and the Kingdom of Medes and the Persians, amen? 48:16 So here's my point. 48:18 If you don't want your testimony to be killed, 48:20 remain loyal to God 48:24 'cause the devil can't kill your testimony. 48:25 So what happened? 48:27 I heard about the difficulty you went through, 48:29 what happened? 48:30 Let me tell you what happened, God is faithful. 48:34 So you know what that does? 48:35 It says to the other people, that are coming ages down, 48:38 they say, 48:39 "Hey, I heard what happened to so and so, 48:41 but I also heard what happened to those 48:42 who did such and such to so and so, 48:45 and I heard how God blessed him 48:46 or God blessed her or God blessed them." 48:49 You got to be loyal, don't worry about the results. 48:51 Your own responsibility is simply be loyal 48:54 and leave the results to God. 48:56 What do you say? Be faithful. 48:59 God isn't calling us to compromise. 49:02 As my good friend, Pastor Wintley Phipps said, 49:04 and we always resonate, 49:06 "You cannot compromise to be recognized." 49:09 Don't compromise, it doesn't work. 49:10 Question number nine, 49:11 let's see if we can get these in, 49:13 question number nine, 49:16 okay. 49:20 After the Pagan Roman Empire fell, 49:23 what power came up in its place? 49:27 Let's go to Daniel 7:8, 49:30 after the Pagan Roman Empire fell, 49:33 what power came up in its place? 49:38 Daniel 7:8, 49:42 and Daniel continues 49:44 as God gave him understanding of what would unfold, 49:47 he says, "I was considering the horns..." 49:51 These 10 horns of this beast. 49:54 "I was considering the horns, 49:57 and there was another horn," 50:01 what kind of horn? 50:02 "A little one, coming up among them, 50:06 before whom three of the first horns 50:08 were plucked out by the roots." 50:11 And then he continues, 50:13 "And there, in this horn, were eyes like," what? 50:18 "The eyes of man, and a mouth speaking," what? 50:22 "Pompous words." 50:24 Now, this is instrumental 50:25 because there were 10 kingdoms under the reign, 50:31 under the rule of the Roman Empire. 50:33 Today, they have different names. 50:36 There was the Franks, the Lombards, the Suevi, 50:39 these all have different names today, 50:41 like the English, the French, the German, 50:44 the Portuguese, the Swiss, 50:46 they have all these different modern names today. 50:48 But there were three nations 50:50 that refused to bow to the powers of Rome, 50:52 and these were the ones 50:53 that were ripped up by the roots. 50:55 When they were ripped up by the roots, 50:57 it made room for the next power to come up. 51:00 And the power that rose 51:02 in the middle of the Roman Empire, 51:04 and I want you to get this. 51:05 When the pagan empire was losing its power, 51:10 the papal empire was about to gain its power. 51:13 And there was a transition because what was the reason? 51:17 Why would the pagan empire lose its power? 51:19 Often people don't ask that question. 51:21 You see what was happening in the Roman Empire, 51:24 religion was growing so rapidly. 51:27 Christianity was proliferating so rapidly 51:30 that they try to find a way 51:32 to counteract the growth of the church. 51:35 So they couldn't do with pagan philosophies 51:37 because Christians said, "That's pagan. 51:40 I have nothing to do with it." 51:42 So they reached out to a power that was just little. 51:44 It was little at the time. It was called Catholicism. 51:49 It was tiny, it was little. 51:52 That's why it was called a little horn. 51:54 And they brought them on board with Rome, Roman Catholicism, 51:59 gave him a seat out of which he grew, 52:03 but he began little. 52:06 If you read history, 52:07 it was under the Byzantine pope that this merger took place. 52:12 Up until that point, 52:13 they had no power, but when Rome says, 52:15 "We need a religion. We don't got one. 52:18 We don't have one. We need a religion. 52:19 We got to find a way to counteract 52:21 these Christians lest 52:22 they'll take over the Roman Empire." 52:24 So they brought Rome, 52:25 so they brought Catholicism on board, 52:27 gave it its authority. 52:29 They brought Catholicism on board 52:31 and merged Rome with Catholicism, 52:33 which became Roman Catholicism. 52:36 The Roman Catholic Churches, 52:38 what we have in the world today, 52:40 and since Rome ruled the world, 52:42 the word catholic means universal. 52:46 So a universal power established 52:51 what it was hoping to be a universal church. 52:55 And today, there's not a continent 52:57 that's not touched by Catholicism. 52:59 It is universal as it was during the Dark Ages. 53:03 There was not a place untouched by Rome. 53:05 It was universal. 53:07 But now let's go to the last one 53:08 before we leave. 53:10 And I got some claims, 53:11 I don't want you to miss the next broadcast, 53:13 we have about four minutes. 53:14 But let's go to this very quick questions, 53:16 just one more question, question number ten, 53:18 we can get that in there. 53:20 All right, question ten. 53:21 How does the Bible describe the new power of Rome? 53:25 Very quickly, let's go to Daniel 7:20. 53:28 Daniel 7:20. 53:31 Okay, let's look at that very quickly. 53:34 Daniel 7:20, the Bible says, 53:37 "The ten horns that were on its head... 53:41 And the ten horns that were on its head, 53:44 and the other horn which came up, 53:47 before which three fell, namely, 53:51 that horn which had eyes and a mouth 53:55 which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was," what? 54:00 "Greater than his fellows." 54:02 Daniel is going to continue unfolding what that meant, 54:05 so get this, the horn came up little, 54:08 but now, it looks what? 54:10 Greater. 54:11 Another word for greater, as the King James Version says, 54:14 it looks more pompous. 54:16 You ever heard somebody's pompous? 54:17 Loud and loud, you know, big-mouthed person is pompous. 54:20 Lot of attitude is pompous. 54:22 It started out little, but when Daniel goes back 54:26 and looks at it, it says, 54:27 "That little one, 54:29 it's now greater than its fellows." 54:32 So it came up 54:33 while all the other nations were established 54:35 under the Roman Empire, it came up like, "Wow! 54:38 Big horns, all around me." 54:40 And as time went on, 54:43 "Wow, little horns, all around me. 54:45 I've got power over them." 54:47 And in 1565, 54:49 what gave Rome that kind of power is Rome was given... 54:54 Rome established tradition above the Bible, 54:59 so the Christian reformers could not fight, 55:02 could not successfully fight 55:04 against the rising powers of Rome 55:06 because in 1565, Pope Regio declared 55:09 that tradition is above God's word. 55:12 Therefore, whatever we say is the final say. 55:15 And in the next broadcast, 55:16 you're going to see some of the declarations, 55:18 you cannot miss it, but here is one more, 55:21 verse 24, let's hit this one. 55:22 We got about less than three minutes. 55:25 Daniel 7:24, the Bible says, 55:28 "Then ten horns... 55:29 The ten horns are ten kings 55:31 who shall arise from this kingdom. 55:34 And another shall rise after them, 55:37 he shall be," what? 55:39 "Different from the first ones, and shall," do what? 55:42 "Subdue three kings." 55:44 Now go to the next slide, we're going to wind up on this. 55:46 I'm going to show this very quickly. 55:48 The Roman Transition is the title of the next slide. 55:52 In the Roman Transition, when Papal Rome went down, 55:57 Pagan Rome replaced it. 56:00 When Pagan Rome... 56:02 When Papal Rome went down, Pagan Rome replaced it. 56:06 Papal Rome, the leadership of the popes, 56:10 replaced the leadership of the governors. 56:15 And these men were known, in their own right, 56:17 as little gods themselves. 56:19 These Roman leaders considered themselves gods. 56:23 The proof of that is today, 56:26 we have a calendar where we have July, 56:29 just what Roman Empire that represents... 56:32 What Roman Emperor that represented? 56:34 Julius. 56:36 We have also the month August that came after that, 56:39 who do you think that represents? 56:41 Augustus. 56:43 These two men were in such battlement 56:46 against each other... 56:48 So we have this thing, Thirty days hath September, 56:53 what else, how does it go? April, June, and November. 56:57 The other ones have 31, 56:59 but there's one little fledgling, 57:01 one of them that has been robbed, 57:03 what's his name? 57:05 February, how many days does February have? 57:07 Twenty eight. 57:09 Twenty eight, except for a leap year. 57:10 Now the reason why these two emperors arguing... 57:12 First Emperor Julius added an additional day to his month, 57:16 giving it 31, then Augustus said, 57:19 "No upper hand on me. 57:20 Where can we get another day? Take it from February." 57:23 It didn't change the length of the year, 57:25 still 365 days. 57:27 But these two kings in competition, 57:29 they rose as gods. 57:30 And in the Roman Empire, they were gods. 57:33 So now, this is where my transition comes, 57:36 they now established a religion, 57:40 and the same desire 57:41 they had for themselves to be Roman gods, 57:44 they now conferred upon this religious man 57:47 and set him up as another god. 57:50 You'll see in the very next broadcast 57:52 that the leader of this world wide church, 57:55 in the eyes of this world, 57:56 both politically and religiously, 57:58 assumes the role of God. 58:00 Keep studying, 58:01 one day it'll come into a sharper focus. |
Revised 2018-03-29