Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), G. Edward Reid
Series Code: IAA
Program Code: IAA000445A
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00:29 Hi, I'm Shelley Quinn.
00:31 And welcome again to Issues and Answers. 00:33 In this program, we are going to be 00:35 talking about the unmistakable signs 00:37 of the second coming of Jesus Christ. 00:40 And joining us today is G. Edward Reid 00:43 who is an attorney, he has his masters in divinity, 00:47 he has a masters in public health, 00:49 he's an author, but most of all, 00:52 he is someone who has dedicated his life 00:54 to serving God and to serving his church. 00:57 So we're very pleased to have G. Edward Reid returning. 01:02 And thank you so much. Well, thank you, Shelley. 01:04 It's a pleasure to be here today. 01:05 Yes. 01:07 And, you know, it's interesting to me, I mean, 01:08 it's fascinating to me how half of your books 01:12 are in finance, 01:13 the other half are on eschatology. 01:15 That seems like such a disparage... 01:18 Disparate thing that you would do... 01:21 These are your two interests though, 01:22 finance and eschatology. 01:24 It's really interesting that when Jesus says, 01:26 "Well done, good and faithful servant," 01:28 the words "Well done" are only spoken to those 01:30 who manage their money Christianly. 01:31 So you actually bring eschatology 01:33 and money management together in one point. 01:35 Oh, well, I'll leave it to you to know that, yes, amen. 01:38 Now just briefly, I do want to mention 01:42 that you are an author, 01:43 how many books have you written now, eight? 01:44 I think eight, yes. Eight books. 01:46 And as I said, a number on finance, 01:49 but talk about the ones very briefly 01:51 that are on eschatology. 01:52 Actually I've written five on eschatology. 01:54 And I started out with "Even at the Door" 01:56 and then I wrote, "Sunday's Coming" 01:59 which was a study I did in the history 02:02 and prophecy regarding Sunday. 02:04 Okay. 02:05 And then I wrote the book "Ready or Not." 02:07 And that was the basis of the series 02:09 that we did here... 02:11 "By My Spirit"? "By My Spirit." Yes. 02:12 And then I did the one, "Battle of the Spirits" 02:16 which is about the Holy Spirit, and the false latter rain, 02:19 and those kinds of things 02:20 are very in time type of things. 02:22 And then the one that probably 02:23 has had the most circulation is the one... 02:26 It's a book on time actually. 02:28 And that's the one we wrote for the general conference 02:31 for the book of the year to distribute. 02:33 Yes. 02:35 And that's "Almost Home" is the name of it. 02:36 Wonderful. 02:37 It's a small book, 120 pages, but it's a book for sharing 02:39 and still available through the Adventist book centers. 02:42 And all the rest of your books are available on Ed's website 02:47 which is omegabooks.com. 02:50 O-M-E-G-A books.com. 02:53 Now I wanted to talk about that 02:55 because you are well qualified to speak 02:58 to the topic that you will be sharing with us today, 03:01 and that is the signs of Jesus' soon return. 03:05 Tell us beginning with Matthew 24. 03:08 Let's just kick off there, because the Lord 03:10 really made it clear, there were certain signs 03:13 that would be apparent to us. 03:16 And we certainly see 03:17 these being fulfilled around the world. 03:19 Yes, indeed. 03:20 Well, it's really interesting that Matthew 24 and 25 03:23 are Jesus' answer to the disciples' 03:25 simple question in Matthew 24:3, 03:28 "Tell us when will these things be 03:29 and what will be the sign 03:31 of your coming and the end of the world." 03:32 Yes. 03:34 So they actually recognize that they... 03:35 Jesus' second coming would be synonymous 03:36 with the end of the world, as we know it. 03:38 And that's an interesting theological thing 03:40 just to stay that alone. 03:43 But the interesting thing is that Jesus went on 03:45 to tell about all kinds of signs of wars and rumors, 03:48 wars and famines, and pestilence and so on. 03:50 And then in verse... 03:52 in chapter 24, He finally ends up saying 03:55 something that, 03:56 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, 03:58 the sun would be dark 03:59 and the moon would turn to blood, 04:01 and the stars would fall from heaven, 04:03 and the powers of heaven will be shaken." 04:05 Yes. 04:06 Well, some people ask me, "Well, you know, 04:07 are we gonna see the sun, moon, and stars 04:09 something happen to them again?" 04:10 Well, remember that Jesus said they would happen immediately 04:12 after the tribulation, 04:14 so that essential ended in 1798, as we know. 04:17 Although it's coming back again 04:18 and that's what we've talked about in other programs, 04:20 but the interesting thing is immediately after 04:23 we had all these things happen, 04:24 there are matter of historical record, 04:25 the falling of the stars, the dark day, moon to blood, 04:28 the great Lisbon earthquake and all of that, 04:30 these have been fulfilled. 04:32 Now I happen to personally believe, 04:34 it would not have to happen, but I think Jesus may allow 04:36 some of these things to happen again, 04:38 just to wake us up, because these happened 04:40 at the appropriate time in prophecy... 04:43 And there is another tribulation, 04:44 and so it could be a real prophecy... 04:45 Sure, there you go. Certainly. 04:47 Well, the interesting thing is, 04:48 there's two ways that we can know 04:49 that we're near the end. 04:51 One is the great prophetic timeline where we learn 04:53 from the apocalyptic books of Daniel in Revelation, 04:56 and then we also have the signs that we learn from other... 04:59 those books also, but in Jesus' answer 05:02 to the disciples what would it be like. 05:04 So there's many of them. 05:06 They asked for one sign, 05:07 but He gave them a whole chapter full. 05:09 In fact, chapter 24 of Matthew are signs 05:11 that you would see out in the world 05:13 that you would see on the news or in the newspaper. 05:15 Chapter 25, are signs 05:17 that you would see in the church. 05:19 Isn't that incredible? 05:20 So they're both part of the same answer, 05:21 and they're both very significant, 05:23 but we will focus primarily on the ones that we see 05:26 in the world around us today. 05:27 All right. 05:28 And the first one, I think is, I've just mentioned 05:30 and that's the falling of the stars 05:32 and the big heavenly body thing. 05:34 That's pretty much happened already. 05:35 There's a matter, you can look it up encyclopedias, 05:37 it's already happened, it's very interesting. 05:39 It may happen again but doesn't need to, 05:41 to be fulfilled. 05:43 And another one is false prophets. 05:45 And I think that's interesting. 05:46 I'll just maybe I should go down to the list, 05:48 so we can be thinking about it. 05:49 And other one is signs in the religious world, 05:51 we're actually told things would happen there. 05:54 Signs in the natural world, signs in the financial world. 05:58 It's very, very interesting the Bible actually predicts 06:00 a time when there'll be great upheaval 06:02 in the financial world. 06:04 Another one is decline of morality, 06:06 as in the days of Lot and the days of Noah, you know, 06:10 everyone was thinking about evil only continually. 06:13 And then finally, and the best one of course, 06:15 is evangelism, it's going to all the world. 06:17 And that's Matthew 24:14, when the Gospel is preached. 06:20 By the way, I want to always emphasize 06:21 when I read that verse, this Gospel of the kingdom 06:23 will be preached to all the world 06:25 as witness to all nations and then the end will come. 06:27 God does not say when you do it I'll come. 06:30 He says, "It will be done and I will come." 06:32 So the reason I say that is that He, 06:34 Himself will finish the work and join with us 06:36 in seeing that it is done supernaturally. 06:38 I believe that Romans part... 06:40 Yeah, that's Romans 9:28. We're seeing that. 06:41 Yeah, we're seeing that, yes, exactly. 06:43 Especially in the Muslim world, you can see that. 06:44 Yes, indeed. We're seeing some amazing things. 06:46 And I'll tell you some about that as we get through. 06:48 But let's go to false prophets a little bit. 06:51 It's interesting in the era of the false prophets 06:53 that 3 times in Matthew 24 06:54 and this answer to the disciples. 06:56 Jesus warned about false prophets. 06:58 For example, in verse 4 and 5, 06:59 "Take heed that no one deceive you, 07:01 many will come in my name," and that kind of thing. 07:03 Verse 11, "Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many." 07:06 Matthew 24, "False Christ and false prophets 07:09 will arise deceiving if possible even the elect." 07:12 And that's the kind of people that we hope to be is the elect 07:15 that we spend our time committed to God, 07:17 studying His word and so on. 07:18 But he wants to even deceive that kind of person. 07:21 Now here's the real strange thing about this. 07:25 If someone came to you or somebody you saw 07:27 on the front page of USA Today, 07:29 this man claims to be Jesus Christ, 07:31 that would probably not deceive you, 07:32 it wouldn't deceive me, right? 07:34 No. 07:35 Unless you went to hear him speak. 07:38 These people have supernatural satanic powers 07:40 that just convicts people and I could tell you stories 07:42 about things like that happening. 07:44 It's amazing. 07:45 So that's why what Jesus says that they will say, 07:48 "He's here, over there." 07:49 Do not go. 07:50 Because you do not have power in yourself to resist that. 07:53 It's very, very difficult to do. 07:55 But a false prophet is basically someone 07:57 who claims to speak for God, but does not uphold 08:00 His Commandments and speech the truth. 08:02 So I'm gonna just ask a few questions 08:03 to the viewers here. 08:05 Do many of your favorite preachers, 08:07 are they trying to get people ready 08:08 to meet the Lord coming soon? 08:10 Or are they trying to get people back to obedience 08:12 to the laws of God in the commandments 08:13 like we're supposed to do? 08:15 Do you understand? Right. 08:16 This is pretty serious stuff when you think about it. 08:18 Boy, and when you think, you know, people often ask me, 08:21 when Jesus said that they will fool 08:24 the very elect if possible 08:26 and I have had had people ask me, 08:28 "Is it possible?" 08:29 And I say, "Yes, it is." It is. 08:31 Okay, you agree with me. 08:32 Yes, the bottom line is, 08:34 in our own strength, we're powerless. 08:36 We need to stay close to God every day 08:37 and pray like Daniel three times a day and so on. 08:39 You know, those are kinds of things, 08:40 we'll talk some at the end of the program 08:42 about what to do. 08:43 We're gonna go quickly into this next one 08:45 because it's really big one, it's a big deal. 08:47 And I've called it "Signs in the prophetic 08:49 and spiritual world." 08:51 So what I want to talk about is something that's very amazing. 08:54 And that is through what we call the dark ages 08:57 and the Great Tribulation, 08:59 there was an amalgamation of church and state. 09:02 The church and state worked together, in fact, 09:03 the church got the state to do its bidding 09:05 and punishing heretics and so on. 09:09 Millions of people were killed during that time 09:11 because of their... 09:12 didn't believe when the state church. 09:14 Do you see what I'm saying? 09:16 So what I'm gonna say today is something about that 09:19 that's happening today that the church, 09:22 the primary big church, 09:23 the Roman Church is getting back 09:24 into politics as never before. 09:26 And we're gonna see some of that. 09:28 For example, the late John Paul II, 09:30 the pope was on the cover of Time magazine 16 times. 09:35 It's pretty amazing. 09:37 And when the pope passed away, 09:39 it's interesting that 09:41 three of the United States presidents, who were living, 09:43 went to the funeral. 09:44 It was the largest gathering of the heads of state 09:47 in any event on earth's history, 09:49 including the Olympic Games. 09:51 The President George W. Bush, 09:54 President George Herbert Walker Bush, 09:56 President Bill Clinton, and their aides, 09:58 the three of them knelt down before the Pope. 10:00 This is amazing... By the way, 10:02 I'm gonna mention several things to you, 10:04 this is what we call unprecedented 10:06 which means that has never ever happened before. 10:09 There's never been a president that went to a papal funeral. 10:12 But in this time, three did. 10:14 Jimmy Carter wanted to go too, but they couldn't let him 10:16 because they limited the U.S. delegation 10:18 to 50 people and he would have made 51 or more. 10:21 And so it was just because they were so... 10:22 Millions of people came. 10:24 A largest attended funeral in earth's history, 10:26 pretty amazing. 10:28 Well, I'll just tell you another interesting thing 10:30 and that is what we call signs in the political world today. 10:36 There are three branches of government, the president, 10:39 and the Supreme Court, and the Congress. 10:42 And it's very interesting that the Supreme Court now 10:45 for the first time in history has a super majority 10:48 of Roman Catholics, six of them are Roman Catholics, 10:51 three of them are Jewish. 10:52 There are no Protestants at all of the U.S. Supreme Court. 10:55 I knew there were six Roman Catholic, 10:57 but I had no idea there were no Protestants. 10:59 Isn't that incredible? 11:00 Now the amazing thing about that 11:01 is something quite interesting. 11:03 When the sixth Roman Catholic was nominated and confirmed 11:06 by the Senate to be a Supreme Court justice, 11:09 and by the way they have lifetime tenure, 11:11 they're good people. 11:12 But here's what I want you to understand. 11:14 USA Today, July 13, 2009, when the sixth one were there, 11:17 this is USA Today, the front cover 11:19 has a big picture of the Supreme Court 11:21 with a rosary hanging on the front of it. 11:22 And it says, "Catholics cannot help 11:24 but interpret the Constitution 11:26 in the light of their own traditions." 11:27 Yes. 11:29 So I'm gonna ask you a question and most of the viewers 11:30 will understand why I'm asking this. 11:32 Why was Sonia Sotomayor, was she nominated 11:35 and confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice? 11:38 Well, she's a nice person, she's a smart person, 11:39 she's educated but the reason that she was, she's a Hispanic, 11:42 and she's a woman. 11:44 And so she's to represent 11:45 the interests of women and Hispanic people. 11:47 Right. You see what I'm saying? 11:48 Yes. 11:49 Her primary interest is to uphold the constitution 11:51 but in the light of that background. 11:52 So if you have six Roman Catholics there, 11:54 what is their primary thought as well. 11:56 And the interesting thing is well, we'll, you know, 11:58 see that in the future. 11:59 And let me ask you, just a moment, 12:01 because there are some people who are watching right now 12:04 that they may not understand when we're talking about signs 12:06 in the prophetic and spiritual world. 12:09 What's the big deal? 12:10 Because they are Roman Catholics. 12:12 Oh, here's the deal. Yeah, it's very interesting. 12:13 The primary thing is they're getting back together 12:15 with church and state. 12:17 But more than that, when you study 12:18 the books of Daniel and Revelation, 12:20 Daniel 7 as long as... 12:22 Well, Daniel 2 outlines Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, 12:25 and Rome with the big image 12:26 and then the divided kingdom and so on. 12:28 Daniel 7 is exactly the same thing 12:31 instead of with metals that uses beasts. 12:32 Right. 12:34 And then has the little horn power come up, 12:35 and all of the characteristics are about 12 of them indicate 12:38 that coming out of Rome after the 3 of the 10 kingdoms 12:42 were destroyed and so on, is the papal power 12:44 which ruled pretty much during the Middle Ages. 12:47 Revelation 13 confirms the same thing 12:49 with the beast power, but there are two. 12:51 One coming from the sea and one from the land. 12:53 And these are whole topics of their own. 12:56 But the bottom line is we're going to see 12:58 an image to the beast power. 13:00 And the beast power, it's not because 13:02 it's animalistic, but it was illustrated 13:04 as a beast coming up, you know, in prophetic times. 13:08 So this is very, very interesting to me. 13:10 It's a good question. 13:11 So this little horn power will be the persecutor 13:13 toward the end of times as well, so let's... 13:14 Again, the deadly wound was healed, 13:17 that was the interesting part from Revelation 13. 13:19 So it's a good question. 13:21 When Benedict XVI, the pope came to the United States, 13:25 it was actually April 16, 2008. 13:29 Did I say unprecedented earlier? 13:30 Yes. Unprecedented happened again. 13:33 Typically when a foreign govern person 13:35 comes to the United States, their ambassadors 13:39 or their embassy in the United States goes out 13:41 to Andrews Air Force base with the limousine 13:42 and picks them up and takes them 13:44 back to freshen up and so on. 13:45 And then, if they have appointment with a president, 13:46 they will come and see him. 13:48 And typically, that's a half an hour 13:49 because he's a very busy person 13:51 with all he's got to take all care of here. 13:53 But when the pope came, Benedict XVI, 13:55 this is the last visit to the United States of a pope. 13:57 President and Mrs. Bush were in office at the time. 14:00 They went to Andrews Air Force base 14:03 in the presidential limousine 14:04 and picked up the pope in person. 14:06 This had never, ever happened before, 14:08 took him back to the White House. 14:09 He spent the entire day at the White House. 14:11 It was the largest celebration of any kind ever to occur 14:14 at the White House. 14:16 That's amazing. 14:17 Something like 13,000 people were allowed 14:19 on the grounds of the White House on that day. 14:21 And bands were there, and playing and everything. 14:23 It was a pretty big deal. 14:25 But the bottom line of all of that 14:27 is what I'm gonna say is 14:28 that kind of set the stage for what's happening today. 14:31 And that's what we're gonna look at 14:33 probably in more detail. 14:34 And I'll just tell you that by the way, 14:37 Benedict XVI did not die. 14:39 He resigned and people saw on the news, 14:42 the airplane leaving... 14:44 The big white helicopter taking the pope 14:45 to another place. 14:47 Well, he was just leaving for a couple weeks 14:48 until his apartment was refurbished 14:50 and the one he would later get for be his home, 14:52 so now we have two popes in the Vatican 14:55 and they prayed together and counsel together and so on, 14:57 which has never, ever happened before. 14:59 Another thing is unprecedented, never happened before. 15:02 Well, when the new pope came, this is Pope Francis. 15:05 By the way, according to our Sunday Visitor, 15:07 which is the largest circulated Roman Catholic newspaper 15:09 in America, the choice of name, 15:11 that is Francis points to a desire to emulate 15:14 the two great saints of the church. 15:15 St Francis Xavier, 15:17 who was the founder of the Jesuit order, 15:20 which he is the Jesuit priest of course, 15:21 and the Francis of Assisi. 15:23 Francis Xavier was one of the founders 15:24 of the society of Jesuit. 15:26 This is our Sunday Visitor, March 24 in 2013. 15:29 But what has happened just in this year 15:32 are quite incredible. 15:34 The pope has been on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. 15:37 I just saw it on the Internet, I've subscribed. 15:38 Unprecedented. 15:39 Yeah, unprecedented again, on the cover of Time magazine, 15:42 which is unprecedented, Masonic times. 15:44 And then earlier this year, 15:46 there was this interview with Tony Palmer. 15:48 You know, a lot of people have seen 15:50 with the pope on his little Smartphone, 15:52 and brought it to the Ken Copeland thing. 15:54 Well, so many, many things have happened since then. 15:57 And that was in March of 2014 last year. 16:01 The House Speaker John Boehner announced that he had invited 16:04 the pope to come and address a joint session of Congress, 16:07 which have happened would be unprecedented. 16:10 Never, ever, ever, ever happened before. 16:12 And you know, when a joint session 16:13 of Congress meets, 16:15 you have potentially there all 535 members... 16:18 435 members of the house and 100 members of the Congress 16:21 that the senate which total is a 535 people. 16:25 The president, and vice president, 16:26 the cabinet members, 16:28 all the leaders of the military branches, 16:29 the Supreme Court is invited. 16:31 So everybody that's anybody in our government 16:33 would likely be there. 16:34 Right. 16:35 Well, just this week on Thursday, 16:37 John Boehner announced that it's official 16:39 he will be coming to a joint session of Congress 16:42 on September 24 of this year. 16:45 Unprecedented, Amazing. 16:48 But the reason this is so amazing 16:49 is that the pope had already on November 25 of this year, 16:53 spoken to a joint session of the European parliament. 16:57 That's would be last year, yes. 16:58 Yeah, in last year, in November 25 of 2014. 17:03 And they represent 28 nations of Europe, 500 million people, 17:08 and the pope spoke to that group on two occasions 17:11 which is very, very interesting. 17:13 So that the point is that... 17:15 He's getting involved in politics. 17:16 Yes, so we're seeing church and state being reunited. 17:19 And church and state do not mix 17:20 without there being persecution. 17:22 That's the real problem, the unusual situation. 17:25 So I'll just mention a couple of other things. 17:28 The pope has been involved in trying to resolve the crisis 17:32 in the Middle East, especially, with Israel and Palestine. 17:35 He's been there to visit the leaders. 17:36 He's had the leaders come 17:38 to the Vatican to talk with him. 17:39 And he also was involved very much 17:41 with the renewal of relations with Cuba as you may know. 17:45 The Pope, and Raul Castro, and President Obama, 17:49 just the three of them were the ones 17:51 that brokered the thing pretty much. 17:53 And the pope wrote both of them letters, 17:54 talked them both on the phone, and so on. 17:56 There hasn't been any change in politics in Cuba, 17:58 but the Pope has gotten involved. 18:00 Now things are where normalizing relations 18:01 which is interesting to me. 18:03 It's just because there's a religious twist 18:05 to political situation. 18:06 Yes. 18:08 And another interesting thing is, 18:09 in this regard, 18:10 that the Protestant leaders of America, 18:14 the two leaders of the largest churches in America 18:17 have been to see the pope, Joel Osteen 18:19 who many people see on television. 18:21 He has the largest church in America, 52,000 members. 18:25 And to me, it's fascinating to see 18:27 that he has been to the Vatican. 18:29 This is the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. 18:31 And of course, they meet in the former home 18:33 of Houston Rockets, it's a big, huge stadium place, 18:36 dome stadium where they have their services. 18:38 But he's been there and his statement was 18:40 it was a great honor to represent 18:42 the pastors of America and meeting with the pontiff. 18:45 Later, Rick Warren who has 40,000 adult members 18:48 in his Saddleback Church in Orange County, California 18:51 has been to see the pope, 18:52 and is lauding the pope as well. 18:53 And these are amazing things that are happening. 18:56 So, well, what I'm saying, 18:59 all this is unprecedented stuff. 19:01 We don't need to say too much more about that, 19:03 but I do want to go to the next point 19:04 because we have a lot to cover. 19:05 But it is a sign of Jesus' return 19:07 because we know that this is what the Bible 19:09 is pointing to when you read Daniel or Revelation. 19:11 It's a major, because the Bible in Daniel, 19:12 Revelation point to that happening. 19:14 Yes. And listen carefully. 19:16 Those of us, who have interpreted the bible 19:18 in Revelation chapter 13 and Daniel chapter 7, 19:23 do not have egg on our face at all 19:25 because it's happening just as if the Bible predicted 19:28 in our interpretation of it. 19:29 Absolutely. You see what I'm saying? 19:30 Yes. That's the amazing thing. 19:32 So we're going to go to the fourth point 19:33 of that signs in the natural world. 19:35 Okay. 19:36 And we have, what we call, 19:38 unprecedented natural disasters. 19:40 Scientists believe in the earthquake realm 19:43 that the great Lisbon earthquake 19:44 was probably a nine on the Richter scale. 19:46 I mean, it was a huge earthquake. 19:48 Believe me, there has never been a 10 19:50 on the Earth's history, the one that happens 19:52 when Jesus comes in association with the seventh plague 19:54 will probably be a ten. 19:55 But we've had four 911s in the last 40 years 19:59 including two in the last three years. 20:01 One in Chile and one in Japan that caused that big tsunami. 20:04 And, you know, people had pictures 20:06 with their cell phones of these huge waves coming 20:07 and washing whole of interstate highways away 20:10 and people's houses. 20:12 I saw a picture of a huge fishing boat 20:14 like a 50 foot fishing boat on a top of a 3 storey building. 20:17 How did it ever get up there? I mean, it's incredible. 20:19 I think that the earth liquefied is 20:21 what so frightening. 20:22 Yeah, that's amazing. 20:24 And the Tangshan earth quake 20:25 that killed 200,000 people in China. 20:27 And probably the one of the most significant is that 20:30 the Haiti earthquake close to us, 20:32 well, a million people were left homeless, 20:34 250,000 homes destroyed, 20:36 300,000 commercial buildings destroyed. 20:38 Chile, South America, amazing things have happened. 20:41 But probably, the one that I thought of the most is 20:43 when this big cyclone or typhoon, 20:46 super typhoon high end hit the Philippines in 2013. 20:50 According to the news, it was the... 20:53 Well, I'll read it from my notes here. 20:54 It was the most powerful storm to reach land 20:56 in the history of earth. 20:59 I mean, these things are just they are more frequent 21:01 and more intense which were signs of the end, 21:03 natural disaster. 21:05 Isn't that incredible? 21:06 Yeah, amazing things are happening. 21:07 The big, huge tornado that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 21:11 and the one that hit a year later 21:13 in Moore, Oklahoma, we've all heard about them. 21:15 This is hardly news but I want to get on to the next one 21:18 because to me, it's quite significant. 21:20 And this one is the one 21:22 that deals with the financial science 21:25 in the financial world. 21:27 Many people don't understand that Bernie Madoff 21:29 had been the chairman of the SEC, 21:31 The Securities and Exchange Commission. 21:33 I mean, this is the watch dog organization 21:35 for the whole United States economy. 21:37 And he went off on his own 21:38 and did financial counseling and so on. 21:40 Everybody knows the end of the story. 21:42 I mean, he's spending 150 years, 21:43 the rest of his adult life in Federal prison. 21:46 But he had 5,000 clients 21:49 including a lot of well-known schools and institutions 21:52 that had money invest with him, $65 billion. 21:55 And it was a ponzi scheme. It was incredible. 21:58 He lost their money. It is gone. 22:00 A number of his clients committed suicide. 22:01 His own son committed suicide. 22:04 But these are the things of the end. 22:05 The rich, you know, are making more money 22:07 and the poor getting poor and so on. 22:09 There's much I can tell you about that because, you know, 22:12 finances is one thing I really study 22:13 and talk about a lot but I will you just tell you 22:15 that the government as I mentioned in the debt one 22:18 we talked about is $18 trillion in debt, 22:21 $800 billion carried over each month 22:23 in student loans or credit card debts, 22:25 and the student loans over trillion dollars. 22:27 Well, we just see those kinds of things multiplying. 22:30 But I want to talk about science in the moral realm 22:32 because that's a big deal. 22:34 The Bible says that... 22:36 this is Luke 17, 22:39 when Jesus has remembered Lot's wife, 22:41 the days of Noah, and the days of Lot are both mentioned 22:44 because of their immorality. 22:46 We all know what happened in Sodom. 22:48 Well, the interesting thing is 22:49 today we have corrupt government leaders, greed 22:52 and fraudulent business leaders, 22:54 practices, violence, immorality on television, 22:56 crime out of control, selfishness abounds. 22:59 And just today, we're not going to name the date 23:00 because of the timing of the program 23:02 but just today, the 37th state, 23:04 the state of Alabama has now been forced 23:07 to through court decree to recognize gay marriage. 23:11 Thirty seven 23:13 only thirteen states don't have that. 23:14 And it's interesting all but three of them 23:16 have been forced into that by court decisions 23:19 not by the vote of the people 23:20 which is very, very interesting situation. 23:22 Thirty seven states now have been forced to do that. 23:25 Let me give you a little illustration. 23:27 Most of us are not too much involved in sports 23:29 but people have remembered a person named Tim Tebow 23:31 who played for University of Florida, 23:33 won the Heisman Trophy 23:34 and played for Denver for a while and so on. 23:36 Well, he was known for his Christian commitment. 23:39 And people made fun of him, 23:41 especially, the news media when he would kneel down 23:42 and pray and that kind of thing. 23:44 But because he was Christian commitment, 23:46 he was marginalized and made fun of. 23:48 But you have somebody like Jason Collins 23:49 who is the former senator 23:51 for the Washington Wizards basketball team, 23:53 when he came out as a gay person, 23:56 President Obama called him personally 23:58 and congratulated him and asked, you know, and so on. 24:02 President Clinton issued a statement in support. 24:04 Oprah Winfrey then had him on a program, 24:07 a special guest in the first lady's box 24:10 at the State of the Union Address. 24:11 This is incredible where we're going. 24:14 And another amazing thing in the 2014, Winter Olympics, 24:17 this to me is interesting. 24:19 Usually, when you have the Olympics, 24:21 the president or the vice president's family 24:24 goes to lead the delegation 24:26 and to be the honor guard for the U.S. delegation 24:30 in the Olympics when they have the march in. 24:31 But instead of doing that, 24:33 the president sent openly homosexual athletes 24:35 to lead the... 24:36 no leaders for many of our political leaders, 24:39 no family members. 24:41 Very, very interesting. 24:43 Well, I would also tell you one other thing... 24:45 Can I just add one thing? Oh, sure. 24:46 I've read somewhere and that it said that... 24:50 what is it, gay, lesbian, GLBT bisexuals and transgender. 24:57 Total lesbians, gay, bisexual, 25:00 and transgender total represent about 3.5%... 25:04 A small percentage. Of the whole population. 25:09 And yet, what a strong lobby they have 25:11 because you've got that small percentage. 25:14 We see how people's minds are being swayed and changed... 25:16 I'll just tell you another thing. 25:17 Just in January of this year, the chief of police, 25:20 not the chief of police but the fire chief 25:23 and a public safety officer for Atlanta, Georgia, 25:26 Kelvin Cochran was fired by the mayor of Atlanta 25:29 for mentioning that the Bible definition 25:33 of homosexuality was a sin. 25:35 Very interesting. He lost his job. 25:36 He was the chief of fire department. 25:38 We're getting down to our last two minutes. 25:40 So tell us about science and evangelism a little bit. 25:42 Oh, wonderful. This is a good. Okay. 25:44 In the evangelistic world, we have media ministries 25:48 like 3ABN and Hope channel that are giving the message 25:50 around the world, Adventist world radio 25:51 and so on. 25:53 To me it's very, very interesting to see this. 25:55 We have the one day church, just our church, 25:57 just the Adventist church is growing 25:59 by more than 3,000 people every day of the week. 26:01 They're growing faster than we can build churches 26:04 to put them in. 26:06 To me, it's very interesting to see all of this happening. 26:08 But how can we be ready for Christ's second coming? 26:10 Signs are one thing, being ready is another. 26:12 And so what I'll tell you about that is something 26:14 that I've discovered. 26:15 And I mention this frequently when I talk, 26:17 spend time in God's Word every day. 26:19 These are important ones, 26:20 set aside time for prayer every day. 26:22 And if we follow Daniel's example, 26:24 we will pray three times a day, pray out loud to the Lord 26:26 to keep our mind focused. 26:27 And I even add, be financially faithful with God. 26:29 Amen. 26:31 And that's how we can be prepared 26:32 for that difficult time ahead. 26:33 Share your faith. Be willing to share your faith. 26:35 Seek the will of God and follow it. 26:37 Support God's church. 26:38 And I always add, words and all, 26:40 God's not finished with this church 26:41 that we got problems in the church 26:43 but it still God's church. 26:44 And then I would say pray for the Holy Spirit's power 26:46 in your life to transform you and fit you 26:47 to live in the company of holy being itself. 26:48 Oh, absolutely. 26:50 And something that I pray every day is 26:51 not just for the Holy Spirit for myself 26:53 and my loved ones, 26:54 but I pray that God will pour out His Holy Spirit on 26:57 all who call upon His name. 26:59 Oh, sure. 27:00 So that they will come to know 27:02 and we all have greater truth path. 27:05 The righteous will shine brighter and brighter 27:06 until the time of His return. 27:08 Had lots of information, 27:10 thank you so much for being with us again. 27:13 And for those of you at home, we know that we've sent this 27:18 or given you this information very rapidly. 27:21 But if you want to get a copy of this program, 27:23 all you have to do is call 3ABN 27:24 and you can order a copy of the program. 27:26 Our prayer for you is that 27:29 the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 27:32 the love of the Father, 27:33 and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 27:35 will be with you today and always. 27:38 And that you will be prepared for Christ's soon return. 27:43 Thank you for joining us. |
Revised 2017-09-05