Good evening everyone, glad to be here? [Audience] Yes. 00:00:15.54\00:00:19.63 Yeah, me too. 00:00:19.66\00:00:22.81 If you are half as happy to be here as I am 00:00:22.84\00:00:25.16 then you're very happy to be here and I'm looking 00:00:25.19\00:00:27.51 forward to this evening's presentation: "The Actual," 00:00:27.54\00:00:30.48 "Definite, Certain, Unavoidable Identity of the Antichrist", 00:00:30.51\00:00:34.97 and as Paul has said, this is a very serious topic, 00:00:35.00\00:00:38.91 but fortunately it is not one that is mysterious in the Bible. 00:00:38.94\00:00:43.26 Many people have misunderstood who the Antichrist is, 00:00:43.29\00:00:45.72 there's been a great deal of conjecture, a great deal 00:00:45.75\00:00:48.24 of ideas and opinions, and everybody's "Oh, who could" 00:00:48.27\00:00:51.72 "it be?", and you could go to a Christian book store today 00:00:51.75\00:00:54.78 and probably find 5-7 at least, different interpretations of who 00:00:54.81\00:00:59.81 the Antichrist is, but tonight we're going to go 00:00:59.84\00:01:02.33 not to a bookstore, but to the most important book, 00:01:02.36\00:01:05.92 does that sound like a good idea? 00:01:05.95\00:01:08.44 And I will show you tonight, from the Bible, exactly 00:01:08.47\00:01:11.04 who this Antichrist power is, and as I've already told you, 00:01:11.07\00:01:13.79 I'm not going to tell you who it is, we'll put all of 00:01:13.82\00:01:16.13 the identifying characteristics up on the board, 00:01:16.16\00:01:18.73 and then you will tell me who it is, and I'm not just kidding. 00:01:18.76\00:01:21.28 So let's get right into our message proper tonight, 00:01:21.31\00:01:24.13 but before we do that, what will we do first? 00:01:24.16\00:01:26.89 - [Audience] Pray. - Pray! That's right! 00:01:26.92\00:01:29.38 So let's do that together. Father in heaven, 00:01:29.41\00:01:32.21 we come before You just now, we want to bow our heads 00:01:32.24\00:01:35.14 and recognize that You are God, and that You are 00:01:35.17\00:01:37.81 the great teacher. Father, tonight we are looking 00:01:37.84\00:01:40.73 at a very important topic, and a topic that, as You know, 00:01:40.76\00:01:44.90 has been very misunderstood, so Father, tonight as we go 00:01:44.93\00:01:48.99 to Your word we pray that You would give us absolute clarity. 00:01:49.02\00:01:52.47 We claim the promise of 1 Corinthians 14, that You 00:01:52.50\00:01:54.70 are not the author of confusion. So Father, tonight we are 00:01:54.73\00:01:58.32 looking for Bible truth, not from man's ideas, not from 00:01:58.35\00:02:01.08 man's opinions, not from man's conjectures. 00:02:01.11\00:02:03.99 Tonight as we study Your word may our eyes see it. 00:02:04.02\00:02:08.49 So please Father, give us spiritual minds that we may 00:02:08.52\00:02:11.02 discern spiritual things. We're looking to You 00:02:11.05\00:02:14.56 as we open Your word, we ask that You would open our hearts 00:02:14.59\00:02:18.65 and that we would have a crystal clear Biblical understanding 00:02:18.68\00:02:22.30 of this important topic. Be with us now, Father, 00:02:22.33\00:02:25.69 for we ask it in Jesus' name, let everyone say amen. 00:02:25.72\00:02:30.63 Take a look at that first paragraph. 00:02:30.66\00:02:33.59 Last lesson we learnt that the Antichrist is a subtle 00:02:33.62\00:02:36.24 religious imposter, not a violent political opposer. 00:02:36.27\00:02:39.73 He is a counterfeit more than a combatant. 00:02:39.76\00:02:43.08 Paul referred to him as "the son of perdition" and "the man" 00:02:43.11\00:02:46.38 "of sin". That first name is used 00:02:46.41\00:02:48.84 only to describe one other individual in the Bible, 00:02:48.87\00:02:51.47 and as we've already said, that's Judas Iscariot. 00:02:51.50\00:02:54.23 He was not an opponent from without, but a betrayer from 00:02:54.26\00:02:57.22 within; Paul drew that parallel purposely. 00:02:57.25\00:02:59.83 In this lesson we will identify the Antichrist from the Bible. 00:02:59.86\00:03:02.89 We will note 10 identifying characteristics from the Bible, 00:03:02.92\00:03:05.11 and then we will draw the obvious conclusion 00:03:05.14\00:03:06.87 As you will see, this is really a very elementary matter. 00:03:06.90\00:03:10.19 The 3 fold office of Jesus Christ, open your Bibles 00:03:10.22\00:03:13.14 as we begin this lesson, to the first book of the New Testament, 00:03:13.17\00:03:16.43 Matthew 12. 00:03:16.46\00:03:23.33 We'll read our paragraph, it says: As we learned 00:03:23.36\00:03:26.57 last lesson, the goal of Satan is to obscure the person, 00:03:26.60\00:03:31.05 place and power of Jesus Christ, but what does this mean? 00:03:31.08\00:03:35.64 How could Jesus Christ ever be obscured in the mind 00:03:35.67\00:03:38.37 of the world, much less in the mind of the committed believer. 00:03:38.40\00:03:41.37 In order to answer this question we will take a look at 00:03:41.40\00:03:44.53 the 3 fold office that Jesus Christ fulfills for the believer 00:03:44.56\00:03:47.97 In Matthew 12, I wish we had time to spend a lot 00:03:48.00\00:03:50.59 of time here, but I just want to direct you to 3 Scriptures. 00:03:50.62\00:03:53.05 Jesus is having a conversation with the religious leaders 00:03:53.08\00:03:56.56 of His day, and He says something very interesting 00:03:56.59\00:03:59.03 as people are listening in. 00:03:59.06\00:04:01.27 We'll pick it up in verse 39 so we set the context. 00:04:01.30\00:04:10.49 Matthew 12:39, Jesus says: "An evil and adulterous" 00:04:11.69\00:04:14.64 "generation seeks after a sign and no sign will be given" 00:04:14.67\00:04:17.82 "except for the sign of the prophet Jonah, for as Jonah" 00:04:17.85\00:04:20.57 "was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish," 00:04:20.60\00:04:23.22 "so the Son of man will be 3 days and 3 nights" 00:04:23.25\00:04:25.99 "in the heart of the earth." He's referring to the His death, 00:04:26.02\00:04:28.92 burial and resurrection. Now look at verse 41, 00:04:28.95\00:04:31.76 Jesus speaking: "The men of Nineveh will rise up" 00:04:31.79\00:04:34.39 "in judgment with this generation and condemn it" 00:04:34.42\00:04:37.19 "because they repented at the preaching of Jonah" 00:04:37.22\00:04:40.27 and I want you to notice what He says here: "and indeed," 00:04:40.30\00:04:43.18 "a greater than Jonah is here." How many of you know 00:04:43.21\00:04:47.74 the story of Jonah? That's a story that's 00:04:47.77\00:04:50.52 well known to us, right? God said: "Go to Nineveh", 00:04:50.55\00:04:52.48 and he said: "Well, I'd rather go to Tarshish", so you have 00:04:52.51\00:04:55.82 this whole conflict playing out where he goes, and the ship 00:04:55.85\00:04:58.77 gets involved in the midst of that terrible storm, 00:04:58.80\00:05:01.45 he's thrown overboard, a great fish eats him, burps him up 00:05:01.48\00:05:04.08 on the land, and he goes and he preaches and Nineveh repents. 00:05:04.11\00:05:06.91 In the mind of the Jewish individual, Jonah was one 00:05:06.94\00:05:10.85 of the most powerful and successful prophets ever. 00:05:10.88\00:05:15.22 Think about it, you have the entire book of Jeremiah 00:05:15.25\00:05:17.90 and I can't find a single place in all of Jeremiah where even 00:05:17.93\00:05:21.25 1 person listened to 1 thing that Jeremiah said. 00:05:21.28\00:05:25.51 But Jonah goes to a Pagan city, preaches for a few days 00:05:25.54\00:05:28.85 and the whole city repents. Is that a pretty successful 00:05:28.88\00:05:31.67 prophet? So Jesus says: "By the way," 00:05:31.70\00:05:34.31 "a greater than Jonah is here." Jesus says: "I'm greater than" 00:05:34.34\00:05:37.22 "the most successful prophet." Look at the very next verse, 00:05:37.25\00:05:40.74 verse 42: "The queen of the south will rise up in judgment" 00:05:40.77\00:05:44.30 "with this generation and condemn it, for she came" 00:05:44.33\00:05:46.79 "from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon" 00:05:46.82\00:05:49.73 "and indeed, a greater than Solomon is here." 00:05:49.76\00:05:53.16 Who was Solomon? The 3rd king of Israel, 00:05:53.19\00:05:56.19 he was the greatest king in all of Israel, at least in terms 00:05:56.22\00:05:58.89 of wisdom and prosperity, so in the mind of the Jew, 00:05:58.92\00:06:01.79 Solomon is the greatest and Jesus says: "I'm great than" 00:06:01.82\00:06:04.44 "the greatest king. So, I'm greater than the most" 00:06:04.47\00:06:06.91 "successful prophet, I'm great than the greatest king", 00:06:06.94\00:06:09.40 are we seeing pattern? Okay, go to verse 6 00:06:09.43\00:06:13.25 of the same chapter, Jesus speaking, Matthew 12:6: 00:06:13.28\00:06:18.45 "Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater" 00:06:18.48\00:06:23.02 "than the temple", Jesus says "I'm even greater" 00:06:23.05\00:06:27.03 "than the temple itself and the priests that minister there", 00:06:27.06\00:06:29.88 of course He was greater than the temple, the whole purpose 00:06:29.91\00:06:32.22 of the temple was to point to Him. 00:06:32.25\00:06:35.97 You have the outer courtyard, and the Holy Place, and the Most 00:06:36.00\00:06:38.62 Holy Place, all of that pointed forward to Jesus, He says 00:06:38.65\00:06:42.01 "A greater than Jonah is here, a greater than Solomon is here," 00:06:42.04\00:06:45.25 "a greater than the temple is here; I'm greater than" 00:06:45.28\00:06:47.17 "the greatest prophet, I'm greater than the greatest" 00:06:47.20\00:06:49.95 "king, and I'm greater than the greatest priest," 00:06:49.98\00:06:52.57 "even the temple itself." Here we find the 3 fold 00:06:52.60\00:06:55.40 office that Jesus Christ fulfills. 00:06:55.43\00:06:57.70 Jesus is prophet, Jesus is Priest, Jesus is King. 00:06:57.73\00:07:01.60 But He's not any ordinary prophet, He's the greatest 00:07:01.63\00:07:04.37 of the prophets, He's not any ordinary Priest, He's 00:07:04.40\00:07:06.95 the greatest of the priests, greater than the temple itself, 00:07:06.98\00:07:09.79 and He's not any ordinary king, He is King of kings, 00:07:09.82\00:07:12.48 and Lord of lords. Right there on your sheet 00:07:12.51\00:07:15.36 you have that: His 3 fold office is: Prophet, Priest and King. 00:07:15.39\00:07:19.03 You say: "Wait a minute, what's a prophet?" 00:07:19.06\00:07:21.31 Right there on your study guide: A prophet is one who speaks 00:07:21.34\00:07:25.19 for God. 00:07:25.22\00:07:27.27 You read the Old Testament, what did the prophets love 00:07:28.43\00:07:31.36 to say? They said: "Thus sayeth the Lord...", 00:07:31.39\00:07:34.85 in other words: "This is what God says..." 00:07:34.88\00:07:37.81 So a prophet is one who speaks for God. 00:07:37.84\00:07:40.54 A priest is one who ministers for God, you'd write 00:07:40.57\00:07:43.39 that right in your study guide; a prophet is one who speaks 00:07:43.42\00:07:46.25 for God, a priest is one who ministers for God, 00:07:46.28\00:07:49.10 and a king would be one who rules for God. 00:07:49.13\00:07:54.52 So when we're talking about the Antichrist power, what we're 00:07:54.55\00:07:57.36 looking for is a power that would seek to overtake 00:07:57.39\00:08:01.29 and usurp, and obscure the 3 fold office of Jesus. 00:08:01.32\00:08:05.74 Jesus said: "I'm greater than the greatest prophet," 00:08:05.77\00:08:08.33 "I'm greater than the greatest temple, or the priest," 00:08:08.36\00:08:11.13 "I'm greater than the greatest King", prophet, priest and king; 00:08:11.16\00:08:15.86 One who speaks for God, one who ministers for God, 00:08:15.89\00:08:18.67 one who rules for God, and the Antichrist power on earth 00:08:18.70\00:08:21.41 is going to say: "No! I'm God's voice on earth!" 00:08:21.44\00:08:24.13 "No! I'm God's ministry on earth!" 00:08:24.16\00:08:26.82 "No! I'm God's authority on earth!" 00:08:26.85\00:08:29.62 Are we all clear everyone? So far so good. 00:08:29.65\00:08:32.31 So let's continue on. Last paragraph on page 1: 00:08:32.34\00:08:35.26 This is who Jesus Christ is; the Antichrist will seek to obscure 00:08:35.29\00:08:39.30 or even usurp, that means "take", these various offices 00:08:39.33\00:08:43.85 from Jesus Christ. How very important then 00:08:43.88\00:08:46.87 that we know who Jesus Christ really is according to the Bible 00:08:46.90\00:08:50.66 Can you see how essential it is to know Jesus according 00:08:51.23\00:08:55.31 to what is true. Remember our knowledge of God, 00:08:55.34\00:08:58.54 and our worship of God must be in spirit and in truth. 00:08:58.57\00:09:03.57 Very quick question before we go one second further: 00:09:03.60\00:09:06.12 does this idea make sense, yes or no? 00:09:06.15\00:09:09.34 - [Audience] Yes. - Okay, Jesus says: 00:09:09.37\00:09:11.92 "I'm greater than Solomon, I'm greater than Jonah," 00:09:11.95\00:09:14.62 "I'm greater than the temple", He's the greatest prophet, 00:09:14.65\00:09:17.34 the greatest priest, the greatest king, 00:09:17.37\00:09:19.93 so the Antichrist is going to try and usurp those offices, 00:09:19.96\00:09:22.87 the Antichrist will say: "I'm God's voice on earth," 00:09:22.90\00:09:25.70 "I'm God's ministry on earth, I'm God's authority on earth", 00:09:25.73\00:09:28.67 that's what we're looking for. Next page: 00:09:28.70\00:09:31.83 The Antichrist. The Name Antichrist is not used 00:09:31.86\00:09:34.32 very frequently in the Bible, only the author, John, uses it. 00:09:34.35\00:09:38.37 However, there are several different names that 00:09:38.40\00:09:41.99 the Antichrist is referred to by in the Scriptures, 00:09:42.02\00:09:44.55 here are most of them, you can write them in there. 00:09:44.58\00:09:47.43 He's referred to, as we've already said as the Antichrist, 00:09:47.46\00:09:50.20 we looked at that in 1 John. He's referred to as "the beast" 00:09:50.23\00:09:53.03 in Revelation, particularly chapter 13. 00:09:53.06\00:09:55.85 He's referred to as "the man of sin" in 2 Thessalonians 2, 00:09:55.88\00:09:58.32 "the son of perdition", also in 2 Thessalonians 2, 00:09:58.35\00:10:01.62 and another one that we've not talked about, "the little horn", 00:10:01.65\00:10:04.46 which is what we're going to spend some time looking at 00:10:04.49\00:10:07.32 tonight in Daniel 7 and 8. So there are several different 00:10:07.35\00:10:10.29 monikers for the Antichrist, he's not always referred to 00:10:10.32\00:10:12.94 just as the Antichrist, that's an important point that many 00:10:12.97\00:10:15.61 do not understand. Okay, it says: 00:10:15.64\00:10:17.69 The last one, Nr.5, is found in the book of Daniel 7, 00:10:17.72\00:10:20.50 so let's go to the book of Daniel as we begin to uncover 00:10:20.53\00:10:24.25 exactly who this Antichrist, beast, man of sin, 00:10:24.28\00:10:29.09 son of perdition, little horn power is. 00:10:29.12\00:10:31.75 We go to the book of Daniel 7, that's in the Old Testament, 00:10:31.78\00:10:36.50 should be able to find it, if you can find Isaiah, 00:10:36.53\00:10:38.65 go forward, Jeremiah, then you've got Lamentations, 00:10:38.68\00:10:43.41 Ezekiel, then you'll find Daniel 7. 00:10:43.44\00:10:49.87 We're on the subheading: Four Frightening, Ferocious, 00:10:49.90\00:10:53.96 Feral creatures. Let's go look at these 4 beasts, 00:10:53.99\00:10:58.89 before we do that, let's quickly review. 00:10:58.92\00:11:03.75 We've seen this man before, haven't we? 00:11:03.78\00:11:06.62 This is from Daniel chapter... who remembers? 00:11:06.65\00:11:09.14 Daniel chapter...? [Audience] 2. 00:11:09.17\00:11:11.37 That's right, and a King had a dream, what was his name? 00:11:11.40\00:11:14.10 Nebuchadnezzar. 00:11:14.13\00:11:16.07 And he had a dream of a great metal man, the head of gold, 00:11:16.10\00:11:19.06 the chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, 00:11:19.09\00:11:22.03 long legs of iron, and then the feet partly of iron 00:11:22.06\00:11:24.79 and party of clay, and we saw that this metal man 00:11:24.82\00:11:27.52 was a great timeline. 00:11:27.55\00:11:30.45 Very simple, so you can be filling these in, 00:11:30.48\00:11:32.84 it's quite simple on your sheet. [Text on screen] 00:11:32.87\00:11:35.61 Daniel said "the dream is certain and its interpretation" 00:11:58.66\00:12:02.22 "is sure"; this is Daniel 2. 00:12:02.25\00:12:08.34 So let's go to our study guide, it says: God is the greatest 00:12:08.37\00:12:13.26 teacher in the universe. And just like any good human 00:12:13.29\00:12:17.08 teacher, He uses the twin teaching techniques of review 00:12:17.11\00:12:21.99 and enlarge. 00:12:22.02\00:12:24.74 You remember this, if there's any teachers here this evening, 00:12:26.13\00:12:29.28 this is one of the most foundational pedagogical 00:12:29.31\00:12:33.51 principles, and that is that when someone goes from 00:12:33.54\00:12:36.39 the 4th grade into the 5th grade, you first review 00:12:36.42\00:12:39.20 what they learned before, and then you enlarge upon it. 00:12:39.23\00:12:41.80 Then they go from the 5th to the 6th, you review what you've 00:12:41.83\00:12:44.82 learned before, and then you enlarge upon it, etc, etc. 00:12:44.85\00:12:47.67 So in Daniel 2 we have this timeline, Babylon, 00:12:47.70\00:12:51.11 Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, divided Rome, and so when we 00:12:51.14\00:12:54.91 come to Daniel 7, this is the second great prophecy in 00:12:54.94\00:12:58.61 the book of Daniel, we find this same idea of reviewing 00:12:58.64\00:13:02.89 what we've been over and then enlarging upon it. 00:13:02.92\00:13:09.19 So you're in Daniel 7 with me, and we'll pick it up 00:13:09.22\00:13:13.93 in verse 1, it says: "In the first year of Belshazzar," 00:13:13.96\00:13:20.91 "king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head" 00:13:20.94\00:13:25.17 "while on his bed, then he wrote down the dream," 00:13:25.20\00:13:28.07 "telling the main facts." Verse 2: "Daniel said," 00:13:28.10\00:13:31.40 "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the 4 winds" 00:13:31.43\00:13:36.35 "of the heaven were stirring up the great sea", 00:13:36.38\00:13:39.91 so Daniel sees a frothy sea being whipped into action 00:13:39.94\00:13:43.91 by the winds, "...and 4 great beasts came up from the sea," 00:13:43.94\00:13:50.84 "each different from the other. The first was like a lion" 00:13:50.87\00:13:58.22 "and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings" 00:13:58.25\00:14:01.52 "were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth" 00:14:01.55\00:14:03.75 "and made to stand on 2 feet like a man, and a man's heart" 00:14:03.78\00:14:06.36 "was given to it. Suddenly another beast, a second" 00:14:06.39\00:14:08.94 "like a bear was raised up on 1 side and had 3 ribs" 00:14:08.97\00:14:13.23 "in its mouth between its teeth, and they said thus to it," 00:14:13.26\00:14:17.02 "Arise, devour much flesh." Verse 6: "After this I looked" 00:14:17.05\00:14:20.34 "and behold, there was another like a leopard which had" 00:14:20.37\00:14:24.26 "on its back 4 wings of a bird, this beast also had" 00:14:24.29\00:14:30.12 "4 heads and dominion was given to it." Verse 7: 00:14:30.15\00:14:33.34 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold," 00:14:33.37\00:14:36.42 "a 4th beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong," 00:14:36.45\00:14:39.87 "it had huge iron teeth, it was devouring, breaking in" 00:14:39.90\00:14:44.13 "pieces and trampling the residue with its feet," 00:14:44.16\00:14:47.03 "it was different from all the beasts that were before it," 00:14:47.06\00:14:49.48 "and it had 10 horns." Now, how many beasts? 00:14:49.51\00:14:53.35 4 beasts, the first beast was a lion that had eagle's wings, 00:14:53.38\00:14:57.43 you can see it there on the screen, you can also see it 00:14:57.46\00:15:00.13 on the banner, a lion with eagle's wings. 00:15:00.16\00:15:02.53 The second beast was a bear that was sort of hunched up 00:15:02.56\00:15:05.40 on one side that had 3 ribs in the mouth, the 3rd was 00:15:05.43\00:15:08.14 a strange 4 headed leopard with 4 wings of a fowl, 00:15:08.17\00:15:12.85 and the 4th was an unusual beast, he doesn't exactly tell 00:15:12.88\00:15:15.67 us what it was, he just says it was ferocious, it was 00:15:15.70\00:15:18.06 terrible, it was horrific and it had 10 horns, and it had teeth, 00:15:18.09\00:15:22.80 strange teeth, made of iron. Think about that: 00:15:22.83\00:15:27.17 4 beasts, and over here, there were 4 main metals, 00:15:27.20\00:15:32.29 those 4 main metals then gave way to feet of iron and clay, 00:15:32.32\00:15:35.64 and how many toes do you have on your feet? Ten. 00:15:35.67\00:15:38.60 And how many horns are on that beast? [Audience] Ten. 00:15:38.63\00:15:41.21 So what we're finding is that God is reviewing what we've 00:15:41.24\00:15:44.86 already learned in Daniel 2. Somebody says: "Whoa," 00:15:44.89\00:15:49.03 "you're trying to tell me that these beasts" 00:15:49.06\00:15:51.72 "aren't real beasts?" How many of you have ever 00:15:51.75\00:15:54.40 seen a 4 headed leopard, anyone ever seen that? 00:15:54.43\00:15:57.24 Or leopard with wings? Or a lion with wings? 00:15:57.27\00:15:59.94 No. Notice this, you're right there on your study guide, 00:15:59.97\00:16:02.64 we're in the bottom paragraph: The very same timeline is 00:16:02.67\00:16:05.57 spelled out in Daniel 7, but this time, instead of using 00:16:05.60\00:16:08.33 a metal image, God uses 4 great beasts. 00:16:08.36\00:16:13.74 Are these beasts literal? The answer is "no". 00:16:13.77\00:16:17.54 Look with me, you're still in Daniel 7, look at verses 17 00:16:17.57\00:16:21.25 and 23, Daniel 7:17, 23. 00:16:21.28\00:16:27.08 "These great beasts, which are 4, are 4 kings" 00:16:27.11\00:16:32.09 "or kingdoms which shall arise out of the earth." 00:16:32.12\00:16:35.42 Notice verse 23: "Thus he said, the 4th beast shall be" 00:16:35.45\00:16:38.83 "the 4th kingdom on the earth." So in end time Bible prophecy, 00:16:38.86\00:16:44.59 a beast represents a kingdom. Notice that pastor Asscherick 00:16:44.62\00:16:50.36 didn't make that up, I didn't say: "Well, you know," 00:16:50.39\00:16:53.18 "what should we say these beasts represent?" 00:16:53.21\00:16:55.99 No! It's right there in the book of Daniel, a beast 00:16:56.02\00:16:58.41 represents a kingdom, are we all clear? 00:16:58.44\00:17:02.26 Okay, so far so good, very powerful. 00:17:02.29\00:17:03.99 Notice you'd write that in there, kings or kingdoms. 00:17:04.02\00:17:06.50 Now this practice of referring to nations as beasts 00:17:06.53\00:17:09.48 is still common even today. For example, what modern 00:17:09.51\00:17:12.78 nations are represented by the following beasts? 00:17:12.81\00:17:16.58 The bald eagle would be...? The USA. 00:17:16.61\00:17:20.88 The bear would be...? The former USSR. 00:17:20.91\00:17:24.53 Turn the page over if you're keeping up with me. 00:17:24.56\00:17:27.97 The dragon would be...? [Audience] China 00:17:28.00\00:17:30.89 Very good, and the rooster would be...? 00:17:30.92\00:17:34.05 France. You didn't know that, did you? 00:17:34.92\00:17:38.50 No one ever knows that one, I put that one in there 00:17:38.53\00:17:41.14 just because you don't know it. [Audience laughs] 00:17:41.17\00:17:43.88 It's very interesting, the beasts are symbolic, 00:17:43.91\00:17:49.56 and the beasts came up out of the great sea that was being 00:17:49.59\00:17:56.02 frothed up by the wind. Well guess what, the water 00:17:56.05\00:17:58.76 is also symbolic. Revelation 17:15, we're going 00:17:58.79\00:18:02.46 to spend a lot of time in Revelation 17, but I'll give 00:18:02.49\00:18:05.17 you 1 verse very quickly, it says: [text on screen] 00:18:05.20\00:18:07.69 So water in end time Bible prophecy represents 00:18:14.03\00:18:17.79 a populated area. That does not mean that 00:18:17.82\00:18:20.98 every time you see water in the Bible it represents a populated 00:18:21.01\00:18:23.67 area, no, in end time prophecy water represents people. 00:18:23.70\00:18:30.74 We use that same language today, we'll say: 00:18:30.77\00:18:33.57 "There was a sea of people there", that same kind of idea, 00:18:33.60\00:18:36.43 so what Daniel is seeing is 4 nations rising out of 00:18:36.46\00:18:40.80 a populated area. If that all makes sense 00:18:40.83\00:18:43.91 everyone say "amen". [Audience] Amen. 00:18:43.94\00:18:46.36 Okay, so far so good. We're doing great. 00:18:46.39\00:18:49.21 Now let's continue on: These 4 beasts retrace exactly 00:18:49.24\00:18:52.02 the same timeline - I'm at the top of page 3- that the image 00:18:52.05\00:18:55.42 of Daniel 2 did, but with more detail thrown in to confirm 00:18:55.45\00:18:59.87 historical correspondents. So what we're going to find 00:18:59.90\00:19:02.90 is that history hasn't changed, history doesn't change 00:19:02.93\00:19:05.87 from Daniel 2 to Daniel 7, we still have Babylon, 00:19:05.90\00:19:08.58 Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and divided Rome, but God is now 00:19:08.61\00:19:12.50 throwing in more details. Remember, He reviews 00:19:12.53\00:19:19.22 and then enlarges. The historical correspondence 00:19:19.25\00:19:24.81 is absolutely incredible. The winged lion was actually 00:19:24.84\00:19:28.24 one of the most sacred symbols in ancient Babylon. 00:19:28.27\00:19:32.12 In fact, we showed you a picture earlier, this was night Nr.2, 00:19:32.15\00:19:36.04 of the great Ishtar Gate located in the Pergamon Museum, 00:19:36.07\00:19:39.22 the very gate through which Daniel would have walked 00:19:39.25\00:19:41.94 to stand before Nebuchadnezzar, and on the great Ishtar Gate 00:19:41.97\00:19:45.05 there are many different animals that were very symbolic 00:19:45.08\00:19:48.09 and very important to the Babylonians, and one of them 00:19:48.12\00:19:51.33 was a winged lion. 00:19:51.36\00:19:55.05 The lion is the king of the beasts, and gold is the chiefest 00:19:57.68\00:20:00.70 of metals, so here, just as Babylon was represented 00:20:00.73\00:20:03.23 by the head of gold, so too Babylon is represented 00:20:03.26\00:20:05.86 by this winged lion. 00:20:05.89\00:20:07.88 Notice the next one: the chest of silver represented the great 00:20:07.91\00:20:11.54 Medo-Persian empire. So too, here we have a bear. 00:20:11.57\00:20:15.54 It's very interesting to note there were 2 elements 00:20:15.57\00:20:18.14 of that bear that were kind of interesting: 00:20:18.17\00:20:20.54 Nr.1 is it was hunched up on 1 side, you remember that? 00:20:20.57\00:20:24.88 Showing an imbalance, and that's exactly what history tells us. 00:20:24.91\00:20:28.79 The Medes and the Persians had to league together 00:20:28.82\00:20:31.42 in order to rule the then known world, but the Persians 00:20:31.45\00:20:34.07 were always the stronger of the 2, so the Persians were 00:20:34.10\00:20:37.74 stronger than the Medes, the bear was raised up on 1 side 00:20:37.77\00:20:40.30 showing an imbalance. How many ribs were in 00:20:40.33\00:20:42.91 the mouth? 3 ribs, representing 00:20:42.94\00:20:45.33 the 3 provinces of Babylon that had to be conquered: 00:20:45.36\00:20:49.12 Lydia, Phrygia and Egypt, those were the 2 provinces of Babylon 00:20:49.15\00:20:53.10 that were conquered in order for Medo-Persia to come 00:20:53.13\00:20:57.23 to ascendancy. 00:20:57.26\00:20:59.59 Are you seeing the historical correspondences? 00:20:59.62\00:21:02.33 - [Audience] Yes. - Very powerful. 00:21:02.36\00:21:04.75 We notice the next one, there was the leopard with 4 heads 00:21:04.78\00:21:09.56 and 4 wings, and if time allowed I could show you that wings 00:21:09.59\00:21:12.31 in the Bible represent speed in prophecy. 00:21:12.34\00:21:17.11 So a leopard, the Cheetah family, is already a very fast 00:21:17.14\00:21:21.46 land mammal, very fast, very powerful, representing 00:21:21.49\00:21:25.54 the great empire of Greece. Think about this, Alexander 00:21:25.57\00:21:29.32 the Great started conquering the then known world 00:21:29.35\00:21:32.20 at the age of 16, and by the time he was 30 years old 00:21:32.23\00:21:34.70 he had conquered the whole then known world. 00:21:34.73\00:21:37.35 Is that very fast? So you have a fast mammal, 00:21:37.38\00:21:41.24 you put 4 wings on his back, you have a very rapidly 00:21:41.27\00:21:44.46 moving empire, just exactly what we see in Greece, but it gets 00:21:44.49\00:21:47.85 even more amazing. Alexander the Great died 00:21:47.88\00:21:50.81 in a drunken stupor at the age of 32. 00:21:50.84\00:21:53.77 His last words were reputed to have been: 00:21:53.80\00:21:55.98 "The kingdom goes to the strongest", 00:21:56.01\00:22:01.74 because there was no heir that could just step into 00:22:01.77\00:22:03.92 Alexander the Great's shoes, "The kingdom goes to" 00:22:03.95\00:22:06.57 "the strongest", and what ended up happening to Greece is 00:22:06.60\00:22:09.32 they divided it, the Macedonian- Grecian Empire, 00:22:09.35\00:22:12.04 they divided it into guess how many parts... 00:22:12.07\00:22:15.03 4 parts, and there were 4 generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, 00:22:15.06\00:22:18.20 Ptolemy and Seleucus that all went to the north, south, 00:22:18.23\00:22:21.07 east and west, and the kingdom of Greece was divided into 4, 00:22:21.10\00:22:24.66 how many heads are on the leopard? Four! 00:22:24.69\00:22:27.58 Incredible. More historical correspondence, 00:22:27.61\00:22:31.96 but it gets even more amazing. The long legs of iron 00:22:31.99\00:22:36.22 represented by this hideous, strange, ferocious beast 00:22:36.25\00:22:39.97 that was crushing everything. In fact, this beast was so ugly, 00:22:40.00\00:22:42.70 so terrible, so amazing, Daniel couldn't even think 00:22:42.73\00:22:45.04 of anything that even looked like it, he said it was 00:22:45.07\00:22:46.75 a horrific, terrible, ferocious beast with teeth 00:22:46.78\00:22:50.60 of iron that would correspond with the long iron legs. 00:22:50.63\00:22:57.17 Of course, the great iron monarchy of Rome. 00:22:57.20\00:23:00.97 How many horns were on that final beast? 00:23:01.00\00:23:03.17 10, and how many toes there? 10, so you have 00:23:03.20\00:23:05.61 the correspondence, just as Rome broke down 00:23:05.64\00:23:08.67 into those 10 tribes, here we have Rome with the 10 horns. 00:23:08.70\00:23:14.24 So just as we have Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 00:23:14.27\00:23:18.05 so too here, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. 00:23:18.08\00:23:22.69 Up to this point we have no new information, this is 00:23:22.72\00:23:26.23 all review. 00:23:26.26\00:23:29.73 I want to show you very quickly a quotation that we've 00:23:31.87\00:23:34.86 already showed once before. This was from Edward Gibbon, 00:23:34.89\00:23:37.75 the secular historian, I told you that Edward Gibbon 00:23:37.78\00:23:40.65 was actually quite disinterested in religion, and was actually 00:23:40.68\00:23:43.49 against organized religion, but he himself said, 00:23:43.52\00:23:46.42 as a secular historian in his "Decline and Fall of" 00:23:46.45\00:23:49.11 "the Western Roman Empire", [text on screen] 00:23:49.14\00:23:51.94 So even he could see that Daniel 2 represents a timeline. 00:24:00.05\00:24:04.95 This has been the historical interpretation, 00:24:04.98\00:24:10.29 and it's also been the correct interpretation. 00:24:10.32\00:24:12.97 I want to show you something that's very interesting, 00:24:13.00\00:24:15.34 a friend of mine visited the court house in Nuremberg, 00:24:15.37\00:24:18.81 Germany, this is THE court house in Nuremberg, Germany, 00:24:18.84\00:24:22.70 where many of the Nazi war criminals were tried, 00:24:22.73\00:24:25.74 in this very building, and above the 2 great doors 00:24:25.77\00:24:28.66 are 2 very interesting sculptures, and I want to 00:24:28.69\00:24:32.00 show you amazing historical correspondence. 00:24:32.03\00:24:36.82 If you see just quickly, you have a figure on the left 00:24:36.85\00:24:40.27 and a figure on the right. You can't make it out super well 00:24:40.30\00:24:43.08 here, but on the right, that's Nebuchadnezzar with his long 00:24:43.11\00:24:46.63 beard and his Babylonian garb, and if you look carefully, 00:24:46.66\00:24:49.59 you see a lion with eagle's wings. 00:24:49.62\00:24:53.05 On the left you can see a gentlemen, you can see 00:24:53.08\00:24:55.77 he's wearing a sort of Medo-Persian outfit, 00:24:55.80\00:24:58.77 that is he has the kind of Persian head dress he has on, 00:24:58.80\00:25:01.64 and there's a bear. So let's look at these 00:25:01.67\00:25:04.55 a little bit closer. Sure enough, there's Nebuchadnezzar 00:25:04.58\00:25:07.33 and the lion with eagle's wings, does everyone see that? 00:25:07.36\00:25:10.93 Now look at this: here we have a Persian individual, 00:25:10.96\00:25:13.41 a Persian soldier, and we have a bear, and if you look 00:25:13.44\00:25:16.25 very carefully, I could show you a close up picture, 00:25:16.28\00:25:18.89 guess how many ribs are in that mouth? 00:25:18.92\00:25:21.17 3 ribs. 00:25:21.20\00:25:23.25 Now here's another one, this is the separate large door, 00:25:23.28\00:25:26.28 and if you can look carefully you can see Alexander the Great, 00:25:26.31\00:25:29.29 none other than Alexander the Great, and that right there 00:25:29.32\00:25:32.04 is a leopard, guess how many heads it has... 00:25:32.07\00:25:35.04 - [Audience] 4. -4 headed leopard. 00:25:35.07\00:25:37.63 And over here we have a Roman soldier and a strange 00:25:37.66\00:25:40.02 looking beast with 10 horns. Here's up close views of that. 00:25:40.05\00:25:43.18 You see that? Alexander the Great, do you see the 4 00:25:43.21\00:25:45.44 headed leopard everyone? Okay, you see the historical 00:25:45.47\00:25:48.28 correspondence? And look here, Roman solider, do you see 00:25:48.31\00:25:51.50 this horrific beast? Do you see the 10 horns? 00:25:51.53\00:25:55.18 Absolutely incredible. Now, that shows you, 00:25:55.21\00:25:57.09 in fact, if I looked and looked and looked to try to figure out 00:25:57.12\00:25:59.74 how old this building is, I don't know, the person that took 00:25:59.77\00:26:02.60 the pictures told me the building is circa 1650 AD. 00:26:02.63\00:26:08.96 I'm still trying to confirm that, but if that's true 00:26:08.99\00:26:11.68 that shows you that this side idea, this interpretation 00:26:11.71\00:26:14.35 is some 400 years old, this isn't something that 00:26:14.38\00:26:17.24 Pastor Asscherick just invented, people have historically 00:26:17.27\00:26:20.14 seen [points at statue] Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 00:26:20.17\00:26:22.85 and [points at beasts] Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. 00:26:22.88\00:26:25.45 Are we all clear everyone? [Audience] Yes. 00:26:25.48\00:26:28.09 So far so good, now you'll notice that this strange beast 00:26:28.12\00:26:30.80 has these horns coming up, and if you look very carefully 00:26:30.83\00:26:33.70 you can actually see there's a little head on this horn. 00:26:33.73\00:26:36.44 You might be thinking: "Well why's there a head" 00:26:36.47\00:26:39.07 "on that horn for?" Well that's what we're going 00:26:39.10\00:26:42.03 to find out right now. Go back to Daniel 7. 00:26:42.06\00:26:46.57 Okay, and we're in verse 7, very quickly let's read about 00:26:47.78\00:26:50.51 this ferocious beast. "After this I saw in the night" 00:26:50.54\00:26:53.49 "visions, and behold, a 4th beast, dreadful and terrible," 00:26:53.52\00:26:56.56 "and strong exceedingly, it had huge iron teeth," 00:26:56.59\00:26:59.52 "it was devouring, and breaking in pieces, and trampling" 00:26:59.55\00:27:02.54 "the residue with its feet. It was different from all" 00:27:02.57\00:27:05.03 "the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns." 00:27:05.06\00:27:06.56 Now look at verse 8, here's new information. 00:27:06.59\00:27:09.11 Everything up to this point is review, 00:27:09.14\00:27:13.57 but here's new information. Verse 8, Daniel says: 00:27:13.60\00:27:16.79 "I was considering the horns." Now, if I say to you 00:27:16.82\00:27:21.17 "Well, consider it", what am I saying? "Think about it." 00:27:21.20\00:27:24.51 Daniel says: "I was thinking about the horns". 00:27:24.54\00:27:26.67 Something about that 4th beast, and something about 00:27:26.70\00:27:29.22 those horns riveted and arrested his attention. 00:27:29.25\00:27:33.41 He said: "Wow, I was thinking about the horns," 00:27:33.44\00:27:35.61 "and there was another horn, a little one." 00:27:35.64\00:27:39.92 Do you see that everyone? A little horn, that little horn 00:27:39.95\00:27:42.70 is the Antichrist. Bible scholars are universally 00:27:42.73\00:27:46.92 agreed on this, that little horn is the Antichrist power. 00:27:46.95\00:27:52.22 Look at this: "A little horn came up among them before whom" 00:27:52.25\00:27:56.89 "there were 3 of the first horns plucked up by the roots," 00:27:56.92\00:28:00.36 "and in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man," 00:28:00.39\00:28:04.73 "and a mouth speaking great words", my Bible says: 00:28:04.76\00:28:08.27 "pompous words", if you look in the margin it says: 00:28:08.30\00:28:11.33 "blasphemous words". That's why here on that 00:28:11.36\00:28:14.81 statue that we just showed you, on those horns one of the horns 00:28:14.84\00:28:17.75 had a little head on it, and that little horn is 00:28:17.78\00:28:21.12 the Antichrist. Let's continue. 00:28:21.15\00:28:25.17 Verse 9: "I watched till thrones were put in place", 00:28:25.20\00:28:27.69 Daniel's seeing all of this in vision, "and the Ancient" 00:28:27.72\00:28:30.23 "of Days", that's God the Father, "was seated." 00:28:30.26\00:28:32.76 "His garment was white as snow, the hair of his head" 00:28:32.79\00:28:34.56 "was like pure wool, His throne was a fiery flame, it's wheels" 00:28:34.59\00:28:37.63 "a burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth" 00:28:37.66\00:28:40.13 "from before Him:", here's God, "a thousand" 00:28:40.16\00:28:42.79 "thousands ministered to Him, ten thousand times ten" 00:28:42.82\00:28:45.76 "thousand stood before Him, the court was seated, and the books" 00:28:45.79\00:28:48.83 "were opened." This is a judgment scene. 00:28:48.86\00:28:52.57 We'll spend a lot of time on this, but we're just going 00:28:52.60\00:28:55.50 to go over it quickly right now. Verse 11: "I watched because of" 00:28:55.53\00:28:58.46 "the sound of the great words", or "pompous words, which" 00:28:58.49\00:29:01.74 "the little horn was speaking. I watched till the beast" 00:29:01.77\00:29:04.42 "was slain and its body destroyed and given to" 00:29:04.45\00:29:07.22 "the burning flame." So Daniel sees in vision 00:29:07.25\00:29:11.48 these 4 beasts, the 4th beast has 10 horns, and he's 00:29:11.51\00:29:17.51 thinking about those horns. Something about those horns 00:29:17.54\00:29:20.45 riveted his attention, and he sees another little horn 00:29:20.48\00:29:23.31 come up among those horns, and this horn starts spouting 00:29:23.34\00:29:26.67 his mouth off, that little horn is the Antichrist. 00:29:26.70\00:29:30.64 What we're going to do is give 10 identifying characteristics, 00:29:30.67\00:29:34.78 you write them down in the corresponding verses 00:29:34.81\00:29:37.29 and you will see exactly who this power is. 00:29:37.32\00:29:41.67 It's all right here in this passage, here we go: 00:29:41.70\00:29:46.61 the first thing that we need to notice is that it is 00:29:46.64\00:29:49.24 a little horn. 00:29:49.27\00:29:54.98 Actually, look with me just very quickly so we're clear on this, 00:29:56.11\00:29:59.00 look at Daniel 7:24. 00:29:59.03\00:30:01.97 Look at verse 24 so we can be clear, it says: 00:30:02.00\00:30:04.82 "The 10 horns are 10 kings which shall arise out of this kingdom" 00:30:04.85\00:30:11.31 So are these literal horns? Should we be somewhere out 00:30:11.69\00:30:14.67 scouring the earth looking for 10 horns? 00:30:14.70\00:30:17.08 No, the 10 horns represent 10 kings or kingdoms. 00:30:17.11\00:30:20.93 Hey that's exactly what we would expect, because here 00:30:20.96\00:30:23.72 you have Rome, Rome divides into the iron and clay, 00:30:23.75\00:30:27.47 which are kingdoms. 00:30:27.50\00:30:31.17 10 toes, 10 horns, so the first thing we want to notice 00:30:31.20\00:30:34.82 is Nr.1- it's a little kingdom. Did it refer to any of the other 00:30:34.85\00:30:39.79 horns as being little? No, but here it says: 00:30:39.82\00:30:42.60 "a little horn". Identifying characteristic Nr.1: 00:30:42.63\00:30:45.81 it's a little kingdom. 00:30:45.84\00:30:49.02 Nr.2- notice that it comes up among them, did you see 00:30:49.05\00:30:52.59 that in verse 8? Let's read verse 8 again. 00:30:52.62\00:30:55.40 It says: "A little horn coming among them." 00:30:55.43\00:31:01.66 Now, among "them", who's "them"? "Them" is the 10 horns, 00:31:01.69\00:31:06.11 and the 10 horns are the nations of divided Rome, 00:31:06.14\00:31:08.26 or today what we would call Europe. 00:31:08.29\00:31:10.61 So this power has to come up among the European nations. 00:31:10.64\00:31:15.37 It has to come up among "them", so if we're looking 00:31:15.40\00:31:17.99 for the Antichrist to pop up in Tokyo, you're looking 00:31:18.02\00:31:20.21 in the wrong place, it has to come up among the nations 00:31:20.24\00:31:23.20 of divided Rome, what we today call Europe. 00:31:23.23\00:31:25.84 Think of it this way: I'm not among you right now, 00:31:25.87\00:31:28.90 I'm over here, but if I walk out into the midst of you, 00:31:28.93\00:31:31.78 could you say now: "He's among us"? 00:31:31.81\00:31:34.24 - [Audience] Yes. - Does that make sense? 00:31:34.27\00:31:36.87 So now I'm among you, this little horn has to come up 00:31:36.90\00:31:39.63 among the 10 horns, and the 10 horns correspond to 00:31:39.66\00:31:42.97 the 10 toes. So far so good? 00:31:43.00\00:31:45.94 Okay, Nr.3- it has to come up after them. 00:31:45.97\00:31:49.15 You say: "Well, how do we know that?" 00:31:49.18\00:31:51.67 Well think about it, it's a timeline, the little horn 00:31:51.70\00:31:54.49 didn't come up during the period of Greece, the little 00:31:54.52\00:31:57.28 horn didn't come up during the period of Medo-Persia, 00:31:57.31\00:31:59.89 the little horn had to come up after the dividing of Rome. 00:31:59.92\00:32:02.69 In other words, in order to come up among the nations 00:32:02.72\00:32:05.32 of divided Rome, Rome would have had to be divided, 00:32:05.35\00:32:08.13 so it has to come up, if you want the date, 476 AD, 00:32:08.16\00:32:10.96 it has to come up after 476 AD some time. 00:32:10.99\00:32:13.63 If somebody says: "Oh, I know who the Antichrist is," 00:32:13.66\00:32:16.30 "and he came up in 233AD", wrong! Can't be! 00:32:16.33\00:32:19.07 It has to come up after the division of Rome. 00:32:19.10\00:32:21.85 Now, the spirit of Antichrist was already working, 00:32:21.88\00:32:24.48 as we've said, in John's day and in Paul's day, but it 00:32:24.51\00:32:27.47 manifests itself here among, and after the division of Rome. 00:32:27.50\00:32:30.63 Nr.4- notice that it plucked up 3 horns. 00:32:30.66\00:32:36.09 We'll come back to that, in fact if you remember, it says 00:32:36.12\00:32:37.74 it plucked up 3 by the roots. What happens if you pluck 00:32:37.77\00:32:41.25 up something by the roots? Gone. 00:32:41.28\00:32:44.87 This horn was diverse, or different from the other horns, 00:32:44.90\00:32:48.00 you're still in Daniel 7, look at Daniel 7:24: 00:32:48.03\00:32:56.46 "The 10 horns are 10 kings who shall arise from this" 00:32:56.49\00:32:59.28 "kingdom, and another shall arise after them", 00:32:59.31\00:33:04.24 see, there it is, "after them, he shall be diverse", 00:33:04.27\00:33:08.54 my Bible says "different from the first ones". 00:33:08.57\00:33:12.79 So something about this kingdom, this little kingdom 00:33:12.82\00:33:16.24 is different. It couldn't be like all 00:33:16.27\00:33:20.81 the other kingdoms, something was different about this kingdom 00:33:20.84\00:33:23.64 Let's continue, Nr.6- this kingdom was a prominent 00:33:23.67\00:33:28.38 man at its head. 00:33:28.41\00:33:33.23 You pick that up in Daniel 7:8. 00:33:33.87\00:33:39.65 It says: "In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man" 00:33:39.68\00:33:44.98 "and a mouth speaking pompous words", so this horn 00:33:45.01\00:33:48.20 has a prominent figure that has eyes that see and guide it, 00:33:48.23\00:33:51.71 so a central man that guides it, and a central figurehead 00:33:51.74\00:33:55.79 that speaks for it. A prominent man at the head. 00:33:55.82\00:33:59.76 Nr.7- this little horn speaks blasphemy, we've already 00:33:59.79\00:34:02.78 seen that, in fact, it's several times in the chapter, 00:34:02.81\00:34:05.12 but verse 25 is the clearest one, "speaks pompous words" 00:34:05.15\00:34:08.80 "against God", blasphemies. We should ask the question: 00:34:08.83\00:34:13.60 "what is blasphemy?" 00:34:13.63\00:34:17.78 People says: "Oh blasphemy is bad", no let's look 00:34:17.81\00:34:20.85 at the Biblical definition of blasphemy, I'll give you 00:34:20.88\00:34:23.43 3 verses, in fact you can write them down, 00:34:23.46\00:34:26.41 there's not a place for you to write this down in your 00:34:26.44\00:34:29.34 lesson, but you'll want to make note of this. 00:34:29.37\00:34:31.87 First definition of blasphemy from the Bible, Mark 2:7; 00:34:31.90\00:34:34.67 speaking of Jesus they said: [text on screen] 00:34:34.70\00:34:37.37 Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sins and the people 00:34:39.39\00:34:42.26 of His day said "that's blasphemy to claim to be" 00:34:42.29\00:34:44.94 "able to forgive sins". Was Jesus committing blasphemy 00:34:44.97\00:34:47.64 when He said He could forgive sins? No because He was God, 00:34:47.67\00:34:50.88 but if I claim to be able to forgive your sins, 00:34:50.91\00:34:53.38 the Bible says that's blasphemy. If you steal my sunglasses 00:34:53.41\00:34:56.94 and I forgive you that's different, but if you steal 00:34:56.97\00:34:59.90 his sunglasses and I forgive you, I have no prerogative 00:34:59.93\00:35:02.68 on that, are we clear? 00:35:02.71\00:35:04.98 Okay, notice the second definition, speaking, 00:35:05.01\00:35:07.75 the religious leaders said, they were talking to Jesus: 00:35:07.78\00:35:11.12 [text on screen] 00:35:11.15\00:35:14.05 Because Jesus had said in John 10:30 "I and My Father" 00:35:17.35\00:35:20.44 "are One", think about that. Is it blasphemy for Jesus 00:35:20.47\00:35:24.92 to claim to be God? No because He is God, 00:35:24.95\00:35:29.00 but what if I claim to be God? Would that be blasphemous? 00:35:29.03\00:35:32.19 - [Audience] Yeah. - So definition Nr.1: the power 00:35:32.22\00:35:34.83 to forgive sins. Definition Nr.2: claim to be God. 00:35:34.86\00:35:38.48 Definition Nr.3, as if that's not enough, the apostle Paul 00:35:38.51\00:35:42.21 in 1 Timothy 1:12, 13, he says: [text on screen] 00:35:42.24\00:35:44.91 The apostle Paul refers to himself as a blasphemer, 00:35:58.96\00:36:01.31 listen to this very carefully, because he persecuted 00:36:01.34\00:36:04.07 the people of God in the name of God. 00:36:04.10\00:36:07.79 That's another definition of blasphemy, to persecute 00:36:09.18\00:36:11.47 the people of God in the name of God. 00:36:11.50\00:36:15.08 So 3 definitions of blasphemy: claim to be able to forgive 00:36:15.11\00:36:18.14 sins on earth, claim to be God on earth, and persecuting 00:36:18.17\00:36:20.86 God's people in the name of God. 00:36:20.89\00:36:23.93 So those are our Biblical definitions. 00:36:23.96\00:36:27.56 So let's continue. 00:36:27.59\00:36:30.05 Okay, man at the head, speaks blasphemy, 00:36:36.91\00:36:39.42 it's a persecuting power. Look at Daniel 7:21, 25. 00:36:39.45\00:36:47.96 Verse 21 says: "I was watching and the same horn" 00:36:47.99\00:36:51.90 "was making war against the saints." 00:36:51.93\00:36:55.76 Who are the saints? God's people. 00:36:55.79\00:36:58.09 So this little horn is making war against the people of God. 00:36:58.12\00:37:03.22 Look at verse 25: "And he shall speak pompous words" 00:37:03.81\00:37:07.25 "against the Most High and shall persecute the saints" 00:37:07.28\00:37:12.15 "of the Most High." So this power's got to be 00:37:12.18\00:37:14.73 a persecuting power. Nr.9- this power will change 00:37:14.76\00:37:18.31 or think to change the very law of God, the times 00:37:18.34\00:37:21.48 and laws of God. You're still there in 00:37:21.51\00:37:25.15 Daniel 7:25, it says "Shall persecute the saints of" 00:37:25.18\00:37:28.59 "the Most High and shall intend to change times and laws". 00:37:28.62\00:37:35.33 Not some little city ordinance of Sterling Heights, Michigan, 00:37:35.36\00:37:37.79 no, this power would claim to be able to change the very 00:37:37.82\00:37:41.90 laws of God. 00:37:41.93\00:37:44.90 And then finally, this power would rule for 1260 days. 00:37:46.73\00:37:51.95 Notice it in verse 25, would change times and laws, 00:37:51.98\00:37:55.49 then the saints would be given into his hands for "a time," 00:37:55.52\00:38:00.04 "times and half a time". 00:38:00.07\00:38:03.33 Follow the maths here: "a time" is 1, "times" is 2, 00:38:03.57\00:38:09.05 and "half a time" is a half, so that would be 00:38:09.08\00:38:11.87 3 and a half, that's what we talked about the last time 00:38:11.90\00:38:15.09 we were together. So this power would rule 00:38:15.12\00:38:17.80 for 3 and a half prophetic years, 1260 prophetic days. 00:38:17.83\00:38:24.10 So far so good everyone? In fact, that time period, 00:38:24.13\00:38:26.68 1260 appears 7 times in the Bible, 5 times in Revelation, 00:38:26.72\00:38:31.17 2 times in Daniel, it is the single most important, 00:38:31.20\00:38:35.09 prominent time prophecy in all of Daniel and Revelation. 00:38:35.12\00:38:40.07 This is critical, a key that helps us to unlock Bible 00:38:41.34\00:38:44.06 prophecy is that in end time Bible prophecy 00:38:44.09\00:38:51.29 a prophetic day equals a literal year. 00:38:51.32\00:38:54.54 This is a time honored principle of interpretation, 00:38:54.57\00:38:57.83 and I'll give you 2 verses, you can write that down: 00:38:57.86\00:39:00.56 [text on screen] 00:39:00.59\00:39:02.71 So a prophetic day equals a literal year. 00:39:03.96\00:39:10.63 So when we're talking about this power reigning for 1260 00:39:10.66\00:39:14.23 prophetic days, that power is really reigning for 1260 00:39:14.26\00:39:19.37 literal years. We'll show you that in just 00:39:19.40\00:39:23.37 a moment. Okay, so, the Antichrist, 00:39:23.40\00:39:26.89 who exactly is this little horn? Did you get your marks 00:39:26.92\00:39:29.45 all written down? Let's quickly review them: 00:39:29.48\00:39:31.71 Nr.1- it is a little kingdom. Nr.2- it has to come up 00:39:31.74\00:39:35.71 among the nations of divided Europe. 00:39:35.74\00:39:38.88 Nr.3- it has to come up after them. 00:39:38.91\00:39:44.29 Nr.4- it plucked up 3. Nr.5, I'm turning the page, 00:39:44.32\00:39:49.59 it's diverse, or different, my order might be a little 00:39:49.62\00:39:52.53 different here. Okay, it's different, 00:39:52.56\00:39:55.26 Nr.6- it's blasphemous, speaking the blasphemies, claims 00:39:55.29\00:39:59.11 to forgive sins, claims to be God on earth, and persecuting 00:39:59.14\00:40:02.33 the people of God in the name of God. 00:40:02.36\00:40:05.31 It has a prominent man at its head, it is a persecuting power, 00:40:05.34\00:40:09.29 it would think to change the very laws and times of God 00:40:09.32\00:40:12.49 and it would rule for 1260 prophetic days or literal years. 00:40:12.52\00:40:17.64 Beloved, I want you to think this through. 00:40:17.67\00:40:20.72 First of all, let's be clear about something, crystal clear, 00:40:20.75\00:40:23.21 God is not against people. 00:40:23.24\00:40:27.60 God loves people, but God does not love systems that try 00:40:28.36\00:40:34.33 to take away the kingdom of Christ, and the prophet 00:40:34.36\00:40:39.71 status of Christ, and the priestly status of Christ. 00:40:39.74\00:40:42.79 So far so good. So for example, 00:40:42.82\00:40:45.60 I happen to be an American, and there's no shame in being 00:40:45.63\00:40:48.50 an American, however, as an American there are certain 00:40:48.53\00:40:51.43 things that America has done historically, that I'm not very 00:40:51.46\00:40:55.40 proud of. Can someone say "amen" to that? 00:40:55.43\00:40:58.41 [Audience] Amen. 00:40:58.44\00:41:00.38 Come on now, you just look at our treatment of the slaves, 00:41:00.41\00:41:03.97 you look at our treatment of the indigenous peoples 00:41:04.00\00:41:06.83 of this land; now, the fact that I'm an American, 00:41:06.86\00:41:08.90 and the fact that America has historically done bad things, 00:41:08.93\00:41:11.97 does that make me a bad person because I'm an American? 00:41:12.00\00:41:15.47 No. So notice, my affiliation 00:41:15.50\00:41:19.30 with America, my citizenship as an American, just because 00:41:19.33\00:41:23.26 America has done wrong things does not mean I'm a bad person, 00:41:23.29\00:41:27.53 are we crystal clear on that? Okay, so God is not against 00:41:27.56\00:41:31.57 people. Let's say that together: 00:41:31.60\00:41:35.95 "God is not against people", so if when we put this up here 00:41:35.98\00:41:40.68 on the screen and everyone sees who the only power is 00:41:40.71\00:41:43.34 that could meet these 10 identifying characteristics, 00:41:43.37\00:41:46.05 incidentally, there are many more, we've just looked 00:41:46.08\00:41:48.83 at 10 of them, the only power that could fit, if you say: 00:41:48.86\00:41:51.53 "Oh, how could that be? I know someone who's affiliated" 00:41:51.56\00:41:54.07 "with that system", or "I myself am affiliated with that system", 00:41:54.10\00:41:56.82 does that mean you're a bad person? [Audience] No. 00:41:56.85\00:41:59.49 Not at all, because God is not against people, but He is 00:41:59.52\00:42:02.33 against systems. Okay crystal clear. 00:42:02.36\00:42:05.34 So, all of those identifying characteristics, who's the only 00:42:05.37\00:42:09.89 power that could fit all of them? The answer is: 00:42:09.92\00:42:13.84 The Roman church-state. 00:42:13.87\00:42:17.55 The ecclesiastical empire of Rome. 00:42:17.58\00:42:20.92 The only power that fits all of the identifying characteristics. 00:42:20.95\00:42:24.81 A hand in glove fit, the Roman church-state, and I want 00:42:24.84\00:42:30.57 to show you that in our closing moments. 00:42:30.60\00:42:34.06 Let's go through it. Does it fit? 00:42:34.09\00:42:36.87 Nr.1- is it a little kingdom? Absolutely, one of the smallest 00:42:36.90\00:42:40.72 kingdoms in the world, located in Rome, the Vatican is one 00:42:40.75\00:42:43.45 of the smallest kingdoms. Does it come up among them? 00:42:43.48\00:42:46.88 Does this nation rise up among the nations of Western Europe? 00:42:46.91\00:42:51.38 Does it meet that identifier? Sure does. 00:42:51.41\00:42:54.22 Does it come up after them? Sure does, in fact, 00:42:54.25\00:42:57.44 the power, we'll show you this in a little bit, 00:42:57.47\00:43:00.06 came up at about 538 AD, I'll give you a quotation 00:43:00.09\00:43:03.07 of that fact in just a moment. 538 AD so it meets that. 00:43:03.10\00:43:06.28 Plucks up three...some of this takes a little bit 00:43:06.31\00:43:09.64 of historical knowledge to go through, and I'll just quickly 00:43:09.67\00:43:12.27 run through this. There were 3 tribes, 00:43:12.30\00:43:14.45 the Vandals, the Heruli and the Ostragoths, they were Arian 00:43:14.48\00:43:17.74 tribes, that is to say they denied the preeminence 00:43:17.77\00:43:21.72 of Jesus Christ. Basically what happened is 00:43:21.75\00:43:23.97 the bishop of Rome got on the phone to a man named 00:43:24.01\00:43:26.19 Justinian, the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire 00:43:26.22\00:43:29.02 and he said: "I've got these 3 tribes over here that are" 00:43:29.05\00:43:31.96 "giving me a hard time, they deny the teachings of" 00:43:31.99\00:43:34.71 "the church", and what happened is, the short version 00:43:34.74\00:43:37.44 is very short, Justinian came over and thrashed those kingdoms 00:43:37.47\00:43:40.26 because the bishop of Rome said "they don't agree with us" 00:43:40.29\00:43:43.02 "theologically", those kingdoms, the Heruli, the Vandals 00:43:43.05\00:43:45.99 of Northern Africa and the Ostragoths are gone today. 00:43:46.02\00:43:48.74 No modern descendants whatsoever, none. 00:43:48.77\00:43:51.20 It fits the historical correspondence perfectly. 00:43:51.23\00:43:53.68 Is it different from the other kingdoms? 00:43:53.71\00:43:56.74 Yes, this kingdom is a religio-political system. 00:43:56.77\00:44:01.28 Does that make sense? France is France, 00:44:01.31\00:44:05.01 it's a kingdom. England is England, 00:44:05.04\00:44:07.84 it's a kingdom, here, the Roman church-state is a church 00:44:07.87\00:44:11.89 but it's also a kingdom, so it's diverse and it's different. 00:44:11.92\00:44:16.03 Let me show you a quotation to that effect. 00:44:16.06\00:44:18.73 This is taken from Alexander Clarence Flick, "The Rise" 00:44:18.76\00:44:21.48 "of the Medieval Church", page 168, [text on screen] 00:44:21.51\00:44:24.21 In other words, when Constantine took his empire and moved it 00:44:53.36\00:44:56.07 from Rome to Constantinople, what we today call Istanbul, 00:44:56.10\00:45:00.13 he had to leave somebody in charge, and who did he 00:45:00.16\00:45:03.42 leave in charge? He left the bishop of Rome 00:45:03.45\00:45:05.99 in charge of that Empire, and if you go today to 00:45:06.02\00:45:08.32 the Vatican you see one of the most prominent paintings there 00:45:08.35\00:45:11.99 is "The donation of Constantine". We should all 00:45:12.02\00:45:16.33 know that, that's basic history, that's when Constantine 00:45:16.36\00:45:18.81 basically turned the western Roman Empire over to him 00:45:18.84\00:45:21.34 and said: "Here, it's yours." And that's exactly what 00:45:21.37\00:45:23.94 Flick is saying here, this is just basic history. 00:45:23.97\00:45:27.33 Okay, does it have a prominent man at its head 00:45:27.36\00:45:29.38 that speaks for it and that guides it? 00:45:29.41\00:45:31.50 Sure it does, does it speak blasphemy - now, I hate 00:45:31.53\00:45:34.57 to do this, absolutely hate to do this, because my own father 00:45:34.60\00:45:37.23 is affiliated with this system, but my father would tell you 00:45:37.26\00:45:40.09 that this is what this system teaches, so let's be clear 00:45:40.12\00:45:42.83 on that, let's be clear that this is from their own sources, 00:45:42.86\00:45:45.89 I'm not up here blasting them, I'm not up here making fun 00:45:45.92\00:45:48.73 of them, this is from their own sources, this is what 00:45:48.76\00:45:51.37 they teach, are we clear on that everyone? 00:45:51.40\00:45:54.07 - [Audience] Yes. - God's not against people, 00:45:54.10\00:45:56.92 and I'm not against people, but I am for truth. 00:45:56.95\00:45:59.33 This is taken from "Dignity and Duties of the Priest": 00:45:59.36\00:46:01.78 [text on screen] 00:46:01.81\00:46:03.94 "Ego te absolvo" - that's Latin for "I forgive you", 00:46:12.12\00:46:14.53 "I absolve you", [continues to read text] 00:46:14.56\00:46:17.19 Do you see that? So here's Jesus, He forgives 00:46:24.45\00:46:26.93 John, and here's a priest, and he forgives Mary 00:46:26.96\00:46:29.84 and both are equally forgiven. Are we clear? 00:46:29.87\00:46:34.65 Does that meet one of our Biblical definitions 00:46:34.68\00:46:37.23 of blasphemy? To claim to be able to forgive sins? 00:46:37.26\00:46:39.75 Absolutely it does. Notice this one, this is from 00:46:39.78\00:46:42.45 the Arch Bishop of Venice prior to becoming Pius X: 00:46:42.48\00:46:45.53 [text on screen] 00:46:45.56\00:46:47.69 One of the definitions of blasphemy was claiming to be 00:46:58.85\00:47:01.59 God on earth, this power says "We're God on earth." 00:47:01.62\00:47:04.66 So far so good? Okay, and our final definition 00:47:04.69\00:47:07.77 of blasphemy, not our final one, but just another one 00:47:07.80\00:47:11.80 that sort of lends itself to that "The Great Encyclical" 00:47:11.83\00:47:14.89 "Letters of Leo XIII", He says on page 304: 00:47:14.92\00:47:17.91 [text on screen] 00:47:17.94\00:47:19.91 The Bible calls that blasphemy. 00:47:20.70\00:47:24.62 If I sit up here tonight and said "I hold upon this earth" 00:47:24.65\00:47:27.63 "the place of God Almighty, you want forgiveness," 00:47:27.66\00:47:30.19 "you come to me, you want ministry, you come to me", 00:47:30.22\00:47:33.05 you would call that blasphemy. You'd say "who do you think" 00:47:33.08\00:47:35.87 "you are, that's blasphemous, I'll go to Jesus." 00:47:35.90\00:47:38.92 Speaks blasphemy, persecuting power. 00:47:38.95\00:47:41.71 Just very quickly, WEH Lecky, "The History of the Rise and" 00:47:41.74\00:47:44.75 "Influence of Rationalism in Europe", he said: 00:47:44.78\00:47:47.38 [text on screen] 00:47:47.41\00:47:49.46 To the tune of 100 million people killed during a period 00:47:55.75\00:47:59.61 called "The Dark Ages" by this power. 00:47:59.64\00:48:03.61 "The Dark Ages", part of the reason it was called 00:48:03.64\00:48:06.55 "The Dark Ages" is that the Word, which is "a lamp" 00:48:06.58\00:48:09.22 "unto your feet, and a light unto your path" was illegal, 00:48:09.25\00:48:12.24 you couldn't have it. This book was kept in 00:48:12.27\00:48:14.99 the Latin language, it wasn't the common language of 00:48:15.02\00:48:17.97 the people, it was chained to a monastery wall, 00:48:18.00\00:48:20.86 or chained to a temple wall, you didn't get access to it. 00:48:20.89\00:48:23.85 Are we clear on that? And if you did have one 00:48:23.88\00:48:26.60 of these, you'd be persecuted. You could be killed 00:48:26.63\00:48:29.50 for having one of these. Killed! 00:48:29.53\00:48:32.12 If they come into your house and they see you have it, 00:48:32.15\00:48:34.99 you're done, "we're very sorry, we're very sorry that you" 00:48:35.02\00:48:37.79 "have this book", and killed in a lot of horrifically 00:48:37.82\00:48:40.50 terrible ways that I just don't want to spend time on, 00:48:40.53\00:48:43.28 we'll talk maybe more about that on another night. 00:48:43.31\00:48:46.02 Persecuting power, changes the very times and laws 00:48:46.05\00:48:48.81 of God. You say: "no, couldn't be!" 00:48:48.84\00:48:51.20 From "Lucius Ferraris Prompta Bibliotheca", and article 00:48:51.23\00:48:53.89 entitled "Papa", vol. 6, page 29 [text on screen] 00:48:53.92\00:48:57.04 "We can change the law of God", the Bible says that he would 00:49:11.11\00:49:14.95 intend to...can you really change the God's law? 00:49:14.98\00:49:18.03 - [Audience] No. - No, but it doesn't say 00:49:18.06\00:49:20.40 that this power would do it, but that it would intend 00:49:20.43\00:49:23.15 to do it. Are we clear on that? 00:49:23.18\00:49:25.58 You see the distinction there? 00:49:25.61\00:49:27.83 Last but not least, that this power would rule for 1260 00:49:27.86\00:49:30.53 prophetic days, and this is absolutely incredible. 00:49:30.56\00:49:33.28 Listen to this, from "the History of the Christian church" 00:49:33.31\00:49:35.83 Vol. 3, [text on screen] 00:49:35.86\00:49:38.19 That was the story I was just talking about, after those 3 00:49:44.58\00:49:47.68 were plucked up, the Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostragoths, 00:49:47.71\00:49:50.41 [continues to read] 00:49:50.44\00:49:52.60 When those powers were gone there was nobody to resist 00:49:54.92\00:49:56.90 anymore, so due to a letter of the Roman Emperor Justinian, 00:49:56.93\00:50:00.16 known as Justinian's decree, which set up and acknowledged 00:50:00.19\00:50:02.79 the bishop of Rome as the head of all churches. 00:50:02.82\00:50:07.84 When did that take place? 538 AD, so what happened 00:50:07.87\00:50:11.18 that year? [text on screen] 00:50:11.21\00:50:13.58 What year did that take place? 538 AD. 00:50:30.07\00:50:32.98 Well check this out. 1260 years later in exactly 00:50:33.01\00:50:37.66 1798, exactly 1798, do the maths. 00:50:37.69\00:50:42.52 538, you move 1260 years, you come to 1798. 00:50:42.55\00:50:46.99 You say "well what happened in 1798?", I'll tell you 00:50:47.02\00:50:49.71 what happened in 1798, a man by the name of Napoleon, 00:50:49.74\00:50:52.63 have you ever heard of him? He was essentially sick 00:50:52.66\00:50:55.69 and tired of taking orders from the Papacy, and he sent 00:50:55.72\00:50:58.96 one of his top generals, a man by the name of 00:50:58.99\00:51:01.90 Louis Alexandre Berthier, he sent him down there 00:51:01.93\00:51:04.62 into the Vatican and he went in, he took the bishop of Rome 00:51:04.65\00:51:07.52 off of his throne, 00:51:07.55\00:51:10.33 everything he declared the property and republic of France, 00:51:12.12\00:51:15.32 and people said that's the end of it. 00:51:15.35\00:51:17.61 That's the end of the Roman church-state, it's done, 00:51:17.64\00:51:20.65 and that happened in 1798, exactly 1260 years after 00:51:20.68\00:51:27.03 that power had risen to political and ecclesiastical 00:51:27.06\00:51:29.26 prominence. 00:51:29.29\00:51:30.93 It's history, basic history. So there you have it. 00:51:30.96\00:51:36.85 Does it fit? Is it a little kingdom? Yes. 00:51:36.88\00:51:38.78 Did it come up among them? Yes. Did it rise up after them? Yes. 00:51:38.82\00:51:41.64 Did it pluck 3? Yes, the historical correspondence 00:51:41.67\00:51:44.15 is amazing. Is it different? Yes, 00:51:44.18\00:51:46.76 it's a religio-political kingdom. 00:51:46.79\00:51:49.31 Does it have a prominent at its head that speaks for it 00:51:49.34\00:51:52.17 and guides it? Yes. Does it speak blasphemy? Yes. 00:51:52.20\00:51:54.86 Does it claim to be God on earth? Yes. 00:51:54.89\00:51:57.79 Did it persecute the people of God in the name of God? Yes. 00:51:57.82\00:52:00.73 Does it claim to be God on earth? Yes. 00:52:00.76\00:52:03.25 Is it a persecuting power? Yes. Does it actually think it can 00:52:03.28\00:52:06.18 change the very times and laws of God? Yes. 00:52:06.21\00:52:09.09 Did it reign for 1260 prophetic days, or literal years? Yes. 00:52:09.12\00:52:12.02 I want to be crystal clear about something as we go to 00:52:12.05\00:52:14.95 our sheet, you're all on your sheet, last page. 00:52:14.98\00:52:17.68 Hear a pin drop in here, that's alright, God's Bible truth 00:52:17.72\00:52:20.92 is never there to embarrass you. 00:52:20.95\00:52:24.26 God never sends Bible truth to embarrass, God never 00:52:24.29\00:52:27.95 sends Bible truth to hurt anyone's feelings, God sends 00:52:27.98\00:52:30.85 Bible truth because He loves you, not because He hates you. 00:52:30.88\00:52:34.25 Think of it this way: what's the difference between 00:52:34.28\00:52:37.08 a surgeon and a butcher? [Audience laughs] 00:52:37.11\00:52:39.91 A surgeon cuts to heal, and a butcher cuts to kill. 00:52:39.94\00:52:43.62 God is a surgeon, not a butcher. 00:52:43.65\00:52:46.63 God does sometimes cut us, or do we sometimes learn 00:52:46.66\00:52:49.58 things in the Bible that cut us? Yeah, but God cuts to heal, 00:52:49.61\00:52:54.38 not to kill. If God has sent you 00:52:54.41\00:52:56.72 Bible truth, it's because He loves you, not because 00:52:56.75\00:52:59.09 He doesn't love you, and I'm going to say it again: 00:52:59.12\00:53:01.96 God is not against people, but He is against systems 00:53:01.99\00:53:07.35 that obscure the place of Jesus Christ. 00:53:07.38\00:53:13.09 So look there, right in the middle of that last paragraph. 00:53:13.12\00:53:15.86 Sadly this power has sought to usurp the 3 fold office 00:53:15.89\00:53:18.90 of Jesus Christ. This power has claimed the 00:53:18.93\00:53:21.22 prerogatives of prophet, priest and king. 00:53:21.25\00:53:25.51 It claims to speak for God, it claims to minister for God, 00:53:25.54\00:53:28.92 forgive sins, etc, and to rule for God. 00:53:28.95\00:53:31.38 In doing this it has obscured the person, power and place 00:53:31.41\00:53:35.42 of Jesus Christ. You're encouraged to do 00:53:35.45\00:53:37.79 your own research on this subject. 00:53:37.82\00:53:40.39 Don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself, 00:53:40.42\00:53:42.93 read and re-read the Bible passages that deal with 00:53:42.96\00:53:45.83 the Antichrist and see if it isn't the hand in glove fit. 00:53:45.86\00:53:48.98 Go to your library and see for yourself. 00:53:49.01\00:53:51.39 Remember Bible truth is never sent to discourage, overwhelm, 00:53:51.42\00:53:54.50 or humiliate us. It is sent to save us, 00:53:54.53\00:53:58.16 keep your eyes focuses on Jesus Christ and His saving love, 00:53:58.19\00:54:01.48 God is on your side. So in closing tonight, 00:54:01.51\00:54:06.10 let's be crystal clear, was tonight's message clear? 00:54:06.13\00:54:10.56 Yes or no? [Audience] Yes. 00:54:10.59\00:54:13.07 Okay, you understood, you saw the basic timeline: 00:54:13.10\00:54:16.06 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then divided Rome, 00:54:16.09\00:54:18.85 and the Antichrist power comes up down in there. 00:54:18.88\00:54:21.72 In Daniel 7: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, 00:54:21.75\00:54:24.42 the Antichrist comes up there, we looked at just 00:54:24.45\00:54:27.09 10 identifiers. Listen beloved, if time would 00:54:27.12\00:54:29.90 have allowed, I could have given you 20 identifiers to this power 00:54:29.93\00:54:32.60 You go read Daniel 7 and 8 for yourself and you'll see 00:54:32.63\00:54:35.51 there's many more identifiers that we actually didn't look at. 00:54:35.54\00:54:38.43 The choice that faces everyone of us today is the same 00:54:38.46\00:54:41.16 choice that faced the people in the days of Jesus, 00:54:41.19\00:54:44.09 and that is: is it Rome? Or is it Christ? 00:54:44.12\00:54:46.45 Who is it? It's Rome or it's Christ? 00:54:46.48\00:54:48.94 That was the same choice that Jesus faced, it was the same 00:54:48.97\00:54:51.67 choice that all those people standing outside, they said: 00:54:51.70\00:54:54.58 "This is your king", and they said: "we have no king" 00:54:54.61\00:54:57.28 "but Caesar." They were making a choice, 00:54:57.31\00:54:59.85 they said "We'll take Rome over Christ." 00:54:59.88\00:55:02.30 What we're going to see as this Bible prophecy seminar continues 00:55:02.33\00:55:05.15 to develop is that this is not just something that says: 00:55:05.18\00:55:07.94 "I'm so glad that happened back in 1798", what we're going 00:55:07.97\00:55:10.71 to be seeing especially over the next 2 meets, actually all 00:55:10.74\00:55:13.67 of them, but especially over the next 2: "The Rock That Simply" 00:55:13.70\00:55:16.07 "Will Not Role", is this isn't something that just happened 00:55:16.10\00:55:18.91 all back then; no, this is something that is happening 00:55:18.94\00:55:21.45 right here today. And you say: "What do you mean" 00:55:21.48\00:55:25.07 "by that?" You've got to keep coming, 00:55:25.10\00:55:28.00 you've got to see, not because I'm here, listen, I don't get 00:55:28.03\00:55:30.90 anything from you being here, but you get a lot from 00:55:30.93\00:55:33.60 being here because the Lord is here. 00:55:33.63\00:55:36.14 So you come, and you'll see from the Bible 00:55:36.17\00:55:40.39 exactly where this thing is leading, so Nr.1 tonight: 00:55:40.42\00:55:43.45 3 questions: was tonight's message clear, yes or no? 00:55:43.48\00:55:46.26 [Audience] Yes. Nr.2- are you going to check 00:55:46.29\00:55:48.97 this out for yourself and see if it's true? [Audience] Yes. 00:55:49.00\00:55:51.63 You check it out! And Nr.3- if it is true, 00:55:51.66\00:55:54.23 will you follow it? [Audience] Yes. 00:55:54.26\00:55:56.62 Okay, let's pray together. Father in heaven, 00:55:56.65\00:55:59.10 we love You so much, we've presented tonight the very best 00:55:59.13\00:56:01.68 that we are able, this powerful Biblical truth that there is 00:56:01.71\00:56:04.49 a power that would seek to take away the very prophet 00:56:04.52\00:56:08.42 office, and the priest office, and the king office of our Lord 00:56:08.45\00:56:12.35 and Redeemer, Jesus. Tonight Father, these are not 00:56:12.38\00:56:15.07 easy messages to preach, but You send us truth, 00:56:15.10\00:56:17.96 not because You hate us, not because You want to humiliate 00:56:17.99\00:56:21.08 us or overwhelm us, but because You love us. 00:56:21.11\00:56:23.69 Tonight we've done our very best to present this, and I just 00:56:23.72\00:56:26.33 plead with You on behalf of Christ that You will take 00:56:26.36\00:56:28.94 this great truth, that You will bury it in the hearts 00:56:28.97\00:56:31.85 of people and they will see, given the choice, 00:56:31.88\00:56:34.72 between Rome and Jesus Christ, "I will choose Jesus", 00:56:34.75\00:56:39.23 by God's grace and in His name we pray, let all the saints 00:56:39.26\00:56:42.16 of God say amen. 00:56:42.19\00:56:44.79