Participants: Phillip Sizemore (Host)
Series Code: LOE
Program Code: LOE000009
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00:01 The harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few.
00:04 Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest 00:06 that He will... He will send forth laborers into His harvest. 00:10 Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying 00:13 "Who shall I send? " 00:15 "And who will go for us? " 00:18 Then said I: "Here am I, send me... send me. " 00:23 Life on the Edge will enable you to be an effective harvester 00:26 for the Lord. We now invite you into our classroom 00:30 to come experience LIFE. 00:43 Welcome again to Life on the Edge: 00:45 the interactive Bible study course where we not only 00:47 learn like... have Bible studies with one another 00:50 and hear about Bible studies 00:52 but we actually learn how to 00:53 give them to other people. 00:55 Now does everybody here feel like they could probably give 00:56 at least one of the studies they've learned to somebody 00:58 else? Let me see somebody shake their head yes. 01:00 Yeah. Even if you don't think so shake your head yes 01:01 for the cameras, OK? 01:03 Yes. So everybody fells they could probably give 01:04 some of these studies and hopefully by the end 01:07 because you know what we do at Life on the Edge here 01:08 for the people who actually come to the course here at LIFE? 01:11 Now you're going to love this because it's going to make 01:12 everybody at home want to come to LIFE. 01:14 Are you ready for this? 01:15 At the end of the course you actually have to give 01:18 some of the studies to one another. 01:19 Yeah. And then when we go out on outreach and things like that 01:22 you'll have your Bible with you and knock on the door 01:24 and somebody will come to the door and you'll say: "Hey, " 01:25 you know, do the survey with them and say: 01:27 "Would you like to have a Bible study? " They'll say: 01:29 "Yeah, when can we have it? " 01:30 You say: "Well, next week. " And then you think: " I can go 01:32 home next week and prepare and I'll be ready to come back. " 01:34 And they said: "Well you know... can we have it now? " 01:36 And you say: "Yes, I'm ready. " And you get your Bible 01:37 out. Your Bible's all marked and ready to go 01:40 and you can sit down and you can have that Word of God study 01:41 with them. And then they'll say: "Wow, does Darlene 01:44 really know her Bible. " 01:45 And what they really don't know is you've got your Bible 01:47 all marked up with your texts 01:48 so it looks like you know your Bible. 01:49 You're reading your Bible but actually you're looking 01:51 at the next text you have to go to. 01:52 It'd be nice, wouldn't it? 01:54 And so that's what we're going to be doing. 01:55 You know, I could tell you a story. I think I might have 01:56 a little time. Can I tell a story? 01:58 Whenever I was... I went to ARISE. 02:01 You know, up in Michigan... the school of evangelism up there. 02:03 I don't recommend going... No, I'm just kidding, 02:04 you can go there. But come to LIFE, all right? 02:08 But I went to ARISE. That's where I got most of the training 02:11 and stuff at. And we have been doing just their version 02:15 of the Bible studies, right? Learning to do the Bible studies 02:17 and put them in the Bible. 02:19 And my third or fourth day on outreach... 02:22 I went on outreach with this girl and she said: "Don't you 02:25 ever ask me to do anything when we get in the house. 02:28 You can do all the talking. I'm just here with you 02:30 'cause I gotta go... it's part of the school. 02:31 And I said: "OK, no problem. I like to talk to people. 02:34 Fine. You know, you're going to miss all the fun, right? " 02:36 And so, umm, outreach is just where you just go out 02:39 knocking on doors, you know. Doing surveys 02:40 trying to get the Bible studies. And so they put me in this area 02:44 of town and every one of the homes are like these massive 02:47 big houses. And I think: "Where are the trailer parks? " 02:50 You know, but it's a massive house and I've got to go there. 02:52 I love trailer parks! 02:54 Even myself. You know, I used to live in a double wide 02:57 and stuff all the time. and I still long for that 02:58 because it seems like those people were different. 03:00 You know, they're more open and friendly... things like that. 03:02 Seems like those people that have more money 03:03 they're like really busy... 03:04 they've got more important things to do. 03:06 Tends to be that way. Not always. 03:07 And so I'm kind of dreading this. 03:09 So every doorbell I ring doesn't go ding-dong. 03:12 You know how doorbells do that? They play like a tune. 03:15 You know you're in a wealthy neighborhood when they're 03:16 playing tunes on all the doorbells. 03:18 And so I go to this house this one particular evening 03:21 right before dark and this guy answered the door. 03:23 He's a really tall guy. Nice looking distinguished fellow. 03:26 Italian. You can just tell he's an Italian guy, you know. 03:29 And he comes to the door and I start off with my 03:32 "You know, I'm Phillip. I'm with ARISE 03:34 and we're doing like a community religious survey. " 03:37 And I go... my little thing there. And I said: 03:39 "Um, would you be interested in taking a survey? " 03:40 He said: "Sure. " And I said: "Well, you know 03:42 the first question is: Do you believe there's a God? " 03:44 He said: "Yeah. " And as we go through the survey 03:46 I can tell he has a spiritual interest. 03:48 And then he begins to tell me a little bit about how his wife 03:50 had just died of breast cancer the year before 03:52 and he was just like... he was just crushed. And this, 03:55 crushed, you know, at this time. It had been not that long ago. 03:58 So at the end of the survey I get to the end 04:00 and the last question is: Would you be interested 04:02 in having a Bible study? 04:03 "No, I don't think I'm really interested in that 04:05 but thanks so much. " And I said: "Listen, can I have 04:06 a word of prayer with you before I go? " 04:08 He said: "Sure. " 04:10 And so there on his doorstep as I'm praying in my mind... 04:13 and I'm praying out loud in my mind I'm thinking: "Lord, 04:15 I recognize that this guy... he's really interested 04:18 in the scriptures. Please do something here. " 04:20 And here's what happened... very interesting. 04:22 At the end of the prayer he said: 04:25 "Can we have that Bible study now? " 04:27 And of course I said: "No, I'm not ready. " Right? 04:29 We had just finished marking the first study in the Word of God. 04:32 I had just finished marking it, and I said... 04:34 Normally on outreach I had not been taking my Bible with me 04:37 but I happened to have it with me this day. 04:39 It's like the Lord impressed me to do that. So I had my Bible 04:41 and I said "Sure, I'll do that. " 04:43 And so we go into this house and right away I realize 04:45 I've got to take my shoes off... it's plush white carpet. 04:47 White carpet, plush. And I go: "Man... " 04:50 Take my shoes off and go and we sit down. 04:51 My outreach partner who said: "Don't ever ask me to 04:54 say anything" was sitting there next to me 04:55 and he was sitting over here. And all her job was to take 04:58 notes for the study. We're doing the Bible study 05:00 like what you're learning here at Life on the Edge. 05:02 Same kind of thing. 05:03 I go to the Word of God study, the Daniel 2 study, 05:06 and long story short at the end of it 05:09 the guy said: "Man, I've never heard anything like this. 05:12 I've never even opened my Bible up to the Old Testament. " 05:15 He said: "But it makes sense. I love this! " 05:17 He said: "I've got a brother that's an atheist. 05:19 Can you share this study with him? " 05:20 I said: "Sure I can. " I'm really nervous. This is like 05:22 the first full on with no notes Bible study I've ever given 05:25 with just my Bible, right. 05:27 And it's like the Spirit of God was just there and just blessed. 05:29 And at the end of it it was so powerful, so solemn, 05:31 the girl that said: "Never ask me to do anything" 05:33 was sitting there next to me. It's like the Spirit of God 05:34 came upon her and she said: 05:36 "I would like to have a prayer for us. Would that be OK? " 05:39 "Go right ahead... " you know. 05:42 So she offered this beautiful prayer and the guy 05:43 he... like you can tell it's a very somber moment. 05:45 And as we say our goodbyes and stuff, we'll see you tomorrow 05:48 for the next study. And he says: 05:50 "Can you pray for me just one more time before you leave? 05:53 And particularly pray about me and my situation 05:55 you know with my wife and everything. That I'll get over 05:57 this and that kind of stuff, you know? " 05:58 And I said: "Yeah, we can have that prayer. " 06:00 So, you know, I knelt down there in his living room again 06:01 and I offered a prayer for him and he's like teary-eyed 06:03 at the end of it. That guy came to every... I mean, he's like 06:06 study after study after study after study. 06:08 He never missed any of them. Went through the whole 06:10 evangelistic meetings there that David Asscherick put on. 06:12 He bought the DVDs of the whole series and everything like that. 06:14 So you know we don't know what the final part of the story is. 06:18 I ended up leaving but... you know, as far as I know 06:20 he hasn't ever made a full commitment yet. 06:21 But you understand that with these studies 06:24 you're actually going to be able to go to somebody's house 06:26 or anywhere you're at and if they say: 06:28 "I would like to have a Bible study, " 06:29 you're going to be able to pick up your Bible 06:31 and say: "OK. " Let's go to the front here 06:34 and say: "My first text... " Umm, we're going to the Word 06:37 of God. My first text? That'll be II Timothy 3 verse 15. 06:40 Let's go there. " And you're going to be able to help me 06:42 go through it and you're going to go through a study. 06:43 And the Spirit of God's going to be on you 06:45 and you're to see souls won to the kingdom because of 06:46 what you're doing here. Isn't that powerful? Amen! 06:49 And so we've already discovered here 06:51 at the first part of this; we've been going through the study. 06:53 We did antichrist part II... part I... already. 06:57 Now we're going to do antichrist part II part II. 07:00 And so as we go through this now 07:03 we're going to go through this next Bible study 07:05 we're going to actually identify who the antichrist is. 07:08 Now just for a quick review of what we've looked at already 07:11 you remember that the antichrist of part II, the first part 07:15 we looked at... We first off started looking at what? 07:17 It was the names of the antichrist. 07:19 Remember what those names were? Does anybody remember them? 07:21 It was antichrist; it was the man of sin; 07:24 son of perdition; and then... Does anybody know the other one? 07:27 The sea beast first. It was the sea beast, right? 07:30 The sea beast in Revelation chapter 13. 07:32 And then we went to the little horn in Daniel chapter 7. 07:34 I said: "Oh, yeah, that's the antichrist too. " 07:36 But I haven't proven that yet. 07:37 That's where we left off at kind of right there. 07:40 We've done the names of it and then we said: 07:41 "You know what, though, before the antichrist comes to power 07:44 God gave us a list of kingdoms that were going to rule. 07:47 And He does it through a vision that Daniel has 07:48 in Daniel chapter 7. 07:50 And so in the first part of Daniel chapter 7 we talk about 07:52 the vision and what the winds represent: 07:54 strife and commotion. The waters represent 07:56 um, um, um, people... multitudes of people. 07:59 And then you had the beast represent kings or kingdoms. 08:02 Remember we covered that part in the first part of the study. 08:04 And then we looked at these beasts themselves. 08:06 We had the first that was a lion. 08:07 And who did this lion represent with eagle's wings? 08:09 Babylon. That's exactly right. 08:11 And then the next kingdom that came to rise: 08:13 It was this... it was this, um, this bear. 08:16 The bear was raised up on one side, right? 08:18 And one side showing imbalance of power. 08:20 And this was the kingdom of who? Medo-Persia. 08:22 And we know through history that Medo-Persias took over from 08:24 Greece. And tell me this: who was the stronger 08:27 out of the two kingdoms that came together, 08:29 the Medes and Persians. Who was stronger? 08:30 The Persians. See, I knew you'd remember that. 08:32 And how do we remember that? 08:33 Because they had the Persian Gulf. That's exactly right. 08:35 That's our memory aid. And then we had the next kingdom 08:38 that rose up, and this was one like a leopard. 08:39 And this leopard... we understand that a leopard 08:41 with wings is something moving very fast. 08:43 And it has four heads. And so a leopard moving very fast 08:45 with wings represents the kingdom of Greece, right? 08:48 The kingdom of Greece, and it's first king was who? 08:50 Alexander the Great. That's exactly right. 08:52 He wanted to conquer the world by the... and he did, actually, 08:55 Started at how old? Sixteen. 08:57 And ended it by the time he was... by the time he was how 08:59 old? When did he finish up conquering the world basically? 09:02 Thirty-three. You guys are so good! 09:04 Paying close attention. That's exactly right. 09:05 At 33 he had conquered the world. He got so sad 09:08 because there was nobody left to kill, nobody left to conquer. 09:10 He couldn't conquer his passions. 09:12 Ended up drinking himself to death basically is what happened 09:13 with him. But he said: "You know what? I want the strongest 09:16 to rule after me. " And his four generals just said that 09:18 that they though they was all the strongest 09:19 and they split his kingdom up into four heads 09:21 just like the Bible said would happen. 09:23 And then after that, though, after Greece 09:25 another kingdom came to power. And when Daniel was writing this 09:29 he didn't have any... any animal in the kingdom 09:32 that God has created with all of His animals... 09:34 he didn't have anything he could even compare this one to. 09:37 And so he just said: "This beast that I saw" 09:39 in verse 7- this 4th beast - was "dreadful and terrible 09:42 with great iron teeth. " And who did this beast 09:45 with the great iron teeth... who did he represent? 09:47 Who was... who was that beast? 09:49 Rome. That's exactly right. It was the Roman Empire. 09:51 But now it says something very interesting 09:55 because after the Roman Empire had come on the scene 09:58 the Bible tells us - just like in Daniel chapter 2- 10:02 Daniel chapter 2 remember it went down and the kingdom was 10:04 divided... Rome actually became divided 10:06 into the feet of iron and clay. 10:07 Just like in the same way it talks about this kingdom 10:10 being divided. It gives it in different symbolism 10:13 but still the same. He is divided. Let's look at this now 10:15 how Rome actually ends up becoming divided. 10:19 Daniel chapter 7 verse 8 first of all. 10:21 Let me read this back to verse 7 one more time. 10:25 "After this I saw in the night vision and behold 10:27 a fourth beast - dreadful and terrible - 10:29 strong exceedingly. It had great iron teeth. 10:31 It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the residue 10:34 with the feet of it. And it was diverse or different from the 10:37 other beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. " 10:40 So it actually ends up - you know - 10:42 after it comes down to the point this beast is there 10:46 and he looks at this beast, this beast ends up having 10 horns. 10:48 And we're going to find out that these ten horns 10:51 represents powers or kingdoms themselves or kings. 10:56 So we find that this beast power actually divided up 10:59 into 10 kings or kingdoms. Are you following me? 11:01 Now we're going to look at that as we go on now. 11:03 We're in Daniel chapter 7 verse 8 and verse 24. 11:06 And Danielle is going to read that for us over here. 11:08 Danielle. Daniel chapter 7 verse 8 and verse 24. 11:12 It's on the slide as well up there. 11:16 "I considered the horns and behold there came up among them 11:19 another little horn before whom there were 3 of the first horns 11:23 plucked up by the roots. 11:25 And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man 11:29 and a mouth speaking great things. 11:31 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings 11:35 that shall arise. And another shall rise after them 11:38 and he shall be diverse from the first. 11:41 And he shall subdue 3 kings. " 11:43 OK. What we're doing right now is we're going to be going over 11:46 the identifying characteristics of this little horn. 11:49 Like how does God give us the ability to identify this 11:51 little horn. She has just read like seven of them 11:54 through that right there. And you probably didn't even 11:56 pick up all of them, did you? 11:57 So we're going to go... What we're going to do now 11:59 is we're going to go over those ten identifying characteristics 12:01 like the description that the 12:02 that the Bible gives us here. 12:03 And then we're not going to tell you who it is yet 12:05 but by the end of the study 12:06 we're going to reveal exactly 12:08 who this little horn power is. 12:09 Who this character is from the Bible. 12:11 So we've got to have all the definitions of everything 12:13 from the scriptures. Because if it's not from the Bible 12:16 it does us no good, does it? 12:17 So let us back up just a little bit here 12:19 and we're going to go with the slide, actually, 12:21 of this little horn power. First of all, we know that 12:23 it's a little kingdom. How do we know that? 12:25 Danielle just read it. 12:26 Danielle, we're going to look at it again here 12:28 in Daniel chapter 7 and verse 8. 12:29 He said: "I considered the horns and, behold, there came up 12:32 among them another... " What? 12:34 "Little horn. " So this horn is little 12:37 as compared to what? The other horns. 12:40 It must be little compared to the other horns. 12:41 So it's a little king or a little kingdom. 12:43 Now how do we know that a horn represents a king 12:46 or a kingdom? We read that in verse 24. 12:49 Verse 24 says: "The ten horns out of that kingdom are 12:52 ten kings. " So we've got this... the Roman Empire. 12:56 We know the non-descript beast being Rome. And we know that 12:58 Rome was divided and we have here these ten kings 13:00 that it was divided into. Are you following me? 13:02 But out of those is going to come up one little horn. 13:05 So it's going to be a little power or a little kingdom 13:08 as compared to the rest of them. 13:11 So that's the first thing we're going to look at. 13:13 This little horn - and that's the first identifying 13:15 characteristic - if you want to jot it down there, #1- 13:18 this little horn is going to be a little kingdom. 13:20 All right. It's going to be little compared to the rest. 13:23 Now, let us go to the next identifying characteristic. 13:25 It's still found in Daniel chapter 7... 13:27 Daniel chapter 7 and verse 8 again. 13:29 It's going to come up among divided Rome. 13:32 It's going to come up among the divided... 13:34 How do we know it's going to come up among divided Rome? 13:35 Well it just says there. Now you look back in verse 7 13:38 it says this thing had ten horns. 13:40 "And I considered the horns and, behold, there came up 13:42 among them a little horn. " 13:45 So we're going to have Rome divided into the 10 kingdoms, 13:47 right? And among those ten... among those ten are going to 13:50 come up a little one. And let me tell you what you've just done 13:52 just now. There's books in Christian book stores 13:54 in places around the world right now 13:56 that says like this antichrist. Oh, it must be Russia. 14:00 But now think about it. 14:01 Where was Rome... where was Rome located 14:04 and where was it divided? What do we call it today? 14:05 Modern-day Europe, right? That's the Roman Empire 14:08 all divided up in what we call modern-day Europe. 14:10 Is Russia in the middle or part of... among modern-day Europe? 14:14 No. Like right now I'm standing here. I'm not really 14:17 among you, I'm up here in front of you, all right. 14:18 Is that where I'm at? Right? 14:20 But now if I step out here... I don't know how far I can get 14:21 out here before I get out of line of the camera, but 14:22 let's suppose I step out here and I lean over like this 14:24 and really come to Shelleta and Gloria here. 14:27 Am I among you guys now? 14:29 I'm right there among you, aren't I? 14:31 Do you follow that? So what he's saying here 14:33 in Daniel chapter 7 is this little horn - 14:35 this little horn power that rises up - is going to have to 14:36 come up among the divisions of the Roman Empire 14:39 or what we call modern-day Europe. 14:42 The two identifying characteristics so far? 14:44 You know what we've just done right now? 14:46 This was two identifying characteristics so we narrowed 14:48 it down a little bit. 14:49 You know what God is doing with this? 14:51 The way He does this with these ten identifying characteristics? 14:54 Right now I'm thinking about somebody in this room. 14:55 OK, I'm thinking of somebody in this room. 14:57 This person I'm thinking of is about my height. 15:01 Now does that narrow it down a little bit? 15:03 Oh, yeah. For sure it throws out Mike Mudd. 15:05 It throws out Robert there, right? Darlene... she's out. 15:08 Gloria's out. I mean quite a few of you are out 15:11 of that one, right? Shelleta's out of it. 15:13 Now this person I'm thinking of is a male. 15:16 It's a guy. He's about my height and he's a guy. 15:18 Does that narrow it down a little bit more? 15:20 Yes. Now the person I'm thinking of is wearing 15:22 a green shirt. Now it still narrows it down, doesn't it? 15:26 I mean there's like two guys in here about my height 15:28 wearing a green shirt, right? 15:30 We have Ken here and Bill back here. 15:31 See, both of those kind of... I even have a green shirt on. 15:34 We all called each other today before we came in. That's right. 15:37 Now the person I'm thinking of is also wearing blue jeans. 15:39 Does that narrow it down some more? 15:41 Nope... they're both wearing blue jeans. 15:42 OK. The person I'm thinking of has his hair cut really short. 15:47 We've narrowed it down still to these two, haven't we? 15:49 Isn't this amazing how this is working? OK. 15:51 Now the person I'm thinking of... the person I'm thinking of 15:54 is much younger than me. 15:56 Does that help? 15:58 OK. The person I'm thinking of has on white tennis shoes, 16:01 right? Or gray tennis shoes, I guess. 16:05 Are you following what we're doing here? 16:06 By a process of telling... describing the person 16:09 I'm thinking of, by just making that description, 16:11 it narrows down who I'm thinking of 16:13 that where even if I don't say who it is 16:15 we all know. Are you following that? 16:18 What God does here with these ten identifying characteristics 16:20 is like well there's some people, there's some times 16:22 you can go look and say: "OK, there's little kingdoms 16:24 around the world, right? 16:25 Isn't like, like... isn't there like a place called Tanzania? 16:29 Isn't that a little tiny place? Right? 16:31 Well maybe that's what he's talking about 16:33 because it's small. So that's identifying characteristics. 16:35 So we have to have more to understand it, don't we? 16:37 But now as we look we see this little horn power 16:39 comes up among the other horns. 16:42 Well that narrows it down a little more, doesn't it? 16:43 So we're looking for a power to come up where? 16:46 Somewhere in what we call Europe today, right? 16:48 So that's where Rome was divided. 16:50 Are you following me? Now as we go through this 16:52 many of you - maybe some of you sitting at home 16:53 as well, maybe some of you sitting there - will say 16:55 "Well I know who it is before you even tell us who it is. " 16:57 And you'll know that if you're just like into history 16:59 and you understand what went through history. 17:01 As it narrows down you're going to say: 17:02 "that's a no brainer. " 17:04 And so... because sometimes as you reveal the antichrist power 17:08 some people feel offended like "Oh, how dare they say that? " 17:11 But if it's from the Word of God 17:13 and the Word of God is doing the offending 17:15 let it offend. 17:17 Yeah. I don't want to say anything that 17:18 purposely offends anybody. 17:20 But if this is what the Word of God gives, 17:22 God does not want us to be deceived. 17:24 And so we're going into the 3rd identifying characteristic 17:27 right now. We know that it's a little horn. 17:28 It comes up among the divided Roman Empire. 17:30 And here's the third identifying characteristic: 17:33 it comes up after Rome is divided. 17:35 Now obviously, if it has to come up... 17:37 obviously it has to come up after Rome was divided 17:40 because it comes up among the ten divisions 17:42 of the Roman Empire, right? 17:44 So it has to be after they're divided before it comes up. 17:46 Now here's something that's very fascinating to me 17:47 you may have never connected together before. 17:49 You had in history Babylon, 17:53 Medo-Persia, Greece, 17:55 Rome. Rome is divided and according to Daniel chapter 7 18:00 the little horn comes to power after Rome is divided 18:01 you've just given somewhat of a timeline 18:03 of when it has to come on the scene. 18:06 In other words, could the antichrist power 18:08 be a little horn or something that comes out of, out of... 18:11 say the little power arises out of the levered empire of Greece 18:15 could it be between Greece and Rome that this little... 18:16 that this antichrist comes to power? 18:18 No, it can't be, can it? 18:20 It does have some interesting statement - especially when 18:21 you get to Daniel chapter 8. 18:23 Now when God is giving us any more details 18:27 because some people say the antichrist power, 18:28 the little horn power in Daniel chapter 8, is actually some 18:31 fellow by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes 18:32 who came out of the Grecian empire. 18:35 But according to Daniel 7... remember, it all has to 18:38 fit the timeline. Are you following me? 18:40 It all has to fit the timeline. 18:41 So if the timeline says it's Babylon, Medo-Persia, 18:43 Greece, Rome then the antichrist after the divisions of Rome, 18:46 then it can't fit Antiochus Epiphanes because we know 18:48 that Rome was divided finally in 476 AD. 18:51 So it has to rise up sometime after 476 AD. 18:55 Are you following that? 18:57 Very interesting, isn't it? 18:59 We have just narrowed down something just now 19:01 with three of the identifying characteristics. 19:03 That it has to be some time after Jesus was on this earth. 19:07 Some time after the disciples. 19:08 Some time after 476 AD. 19:11 Are you following that? Now, what we're going to do 19:14 when we go back and we identify the antichrist 19:15 I will show you exactly what happened in 476 AD. 19:18 OK? We'll describe that then when we reveal the antichrist. 19:21 But we just know that... just for the sake of... 19:23 just for the sake of it right now Rome was essentially divided 19:26 in 476 AD. I guess I can read you a little statement. 19:28 Listen to this: Rome was divided in 476 AD 19:32 when Odoacer, king of Heruli, deposed Romulus Augustus 19:35 the last western Roman emperor in 476 AD, 19:38 the fragmentation of the Roman Empire then was complete. 19:41 Now you can find that in history books. 19:43 You might not want to look too much on the Internet 19:45 because they try to distort things now because 19:47 whenever the antichrist is revealed 19:49 and you don't want to be called antichrist, 19:52 you're going to do things to try to change or manipulate 19:54 history so the finger's off you. 19:56 You know, I'm tempted to go on with that... 19:58 but I can't right now. 20:00 So let's go on to the next one. 20:02 The little horn also plucks up or destroys 20:06 three of the horns. Now what's a horn represent? 20:09 And so this is going to pluck up or destroy three horns 20:12 or three kingdoms or kings that have come to power. 20:15 So out of the ten - those ten divisions - 20:17 three of them are going to get uprooted 20:18 according to the scriptures. Let us read from the scriptures 20:20 and see why it says that. We're still in Daniel 20:21 chapter 7 and verse 8. Look what it says: 20:24 "I considered the horns. Behold there came up among them" - 20:26 remember among them means it comes up in the Roman Empire 20:29 there or what we call Europe today - 20:32 "the little horn" - it's going to be a little kingdom - 20:34 "before whom there were three plucked up by the roots. " 20:38 There were three horns or three kingdoms 20:41 that were destroyed. If you pluck a horn out of an animal 20:44 does that horn continue to live? 20:45 Some scientists will say: "Oh, yeah, it lives for so long 20:47 afterwards. " No, no. You're destroying it, right? 20:49 And so it plucks up three as it comes to power. 20:52 Plucks them up by the roots. 20:54 And so that's the next identifying characteristic 20:56 is as this horn comes to power 20:57 three kingdoms are going to be taken out. 20:59 Is everybody OK with that one? 21:01 Four identifying characteristics we've gone through now. 21:03 How many? Four. 21:05 With those four - I could actually with just those four - 21:07 prove you know who the antichrist power is 21:09 in using that. But we want to get all ten in here because 21:11 God does not want to leave us with any shadow of a doubt. 21:13 He wants us to be absolutely sure. 21:15 Isn't that good to serve a God like that. 21:18 He just leaves no room to guess or to try to speculate. 21:22 Now the little horn also on the next slide here... 21:24 We're still in Daniel chapter 7 21:26 verses 8 and 24. Still in the same text 21:28 but here is the identifying characteristic: 21:29 the little horn will be different from the other 21:32 kingdoms. It'll be different. This antichrist power - 21:34 or the little horn part - will be different. 21:36 And different how is the question. We'll answer that 21:39 as we identify this antichrist power. 21:41 And you find it talking about that in verse 24 when it says: 21:45 "And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings 21:48 that shall arise, and another shall arise after them 21:51 and he shall be different" - or diverse as it says 21:54 in the King James - "from the first and he'll subdue 21:56 three kings. " So there you have it again 21:57 that whenever he comes to power he destroys three kings. 22:00 And he's going to be different from any other kingdom. 22:02 How is he different? You'll find out. 22:04 So he's going to be different from the other kingdoms. 22:06 Now let's go to the next one. Still on the same text 22:09 but this little horn is going to have a prominent man 22:12 at the head speaking. 22:14 A prominent man at the head speaking. 22:16 You can find that again in Daniel chapter 7 22:18 and you'll find it in verse 8. 22:20 Toward the latter part of that it says: "Behold, in this horn 22:24 were eyes like the eyes of a man 22:26 and a mouth that spoke great things. " 22:28 A mouth speaking great things. 22:30 And these great things that he is speaking 22:33 according to the rest of... the context of the text... 22:35 is blasphemous things. 22:38 And that's the next identifying characteristic when you 22:40 look at it on the screen there: it commits blasphemy. 22:42 Now we will define what blasphemy is. 22:45 You know what, I think we can go ahead. No, we won't do that. 22:47 right now. We'll do that right after we identify 22:49 the antichrist. I'm going to keep up... keep on track here, 22:52 keep everybody on the same page. We're just doing the identifying 22:55 marks right now. But how do we know it's blasphemy? 22:57 Where else? What's another name for the antichrist? 23:01 Man of sin. Son of perdition. 23:03 What's another name? The sea beast. 23:05 Go with me to Revelation chapter 13. 23:06 Let's look at something about this sea beast: 23:08 Revelation 13:5. It's very interesting. If we had the 23:11 time to do this study along with Revelation chapter 13 23:14 showing this antichrist, you're going to find the parallels 23:16 are just amazing. And here's one of them right here. 23:18 I want you to see this: Revelation chapter 13... 23:20 look at the parallel. 23:21 Now we find in Daniel chapter 7 that the mouth... 23:24 this horn is going to have a mouth speaking great things. 23:27 He's going to be speaking things that are going to be 23:29 blasphemous things. 23:30 Actually in verse 25 it says: 23:31 "He speaks great words against the Most High. " 23:33 Daniel 7:25. He says: 23:34 "He speaks great words against the Most High. " 23:36 Speaking of the little horn... says blasphemous things. 23:38 But look at... look at Revelation. 23:40 This antichrist power in Revelation - the sea beast, 23:43 rather, in Revelation chapter 13- 23:45 look what he says in verse 5: 23:47 "And it was given unto him a mouth speaking great things. " 23:50 Just like you find in Daniel, right? 23:52 He's going to speak great things and what? 23:55 "Blasphemies and power was given unto him 23:58 to continue forty-two months. " 23:59 And so in that... if you study Revelation 13 24:03 along with Daniel chapter 7 you're going to find that the 24:05 one in Daniel chapter 7 also lasts for forty-two months 24:09 or three and a half years and that he also speaks 24:11 things against God and speaks blasphemies 24:14 just like the antichrist power does in Revelation 13. 24:17 Why does God keep doing this? 24:18 Because He doesn't want us to be deceived. 24:20 He gives it to you again and again. 24:22 Have you ever noticed like the Bible will say something 24:25 like "the angels say holy, holy, holy. " 24:27 Wasn't one time sufficient? 24:29 You know, God repeats Himself many times 24:31 and many ways in the Bible and the reason He does that 24:33 is because He wants us to understand how holy God is. 24:36 Right? The repetition things are put there for us 24:39 because God knows how hard-headed we are. 24:41 Everybody here is trying to memorize texts right now, 24:43 aren't you? You read it one time 24:45 you've got it memorized, don't you? 24:46 Right? Nobody? It must just be me then. 24:49 No! I don't either. I've got to go over it 24:51 and over it and over it again till finally 24:53 you know what happens? It sticks there. 24:54 And so when God - when He reveals these things 24:56 from the Bible - the reason He does it this way 24:58 is because He knows how we are. He created us. 25:01 He should know how we are, right? He created us. 25:02 And so He keeps repeating Himself and repeating Himself 25:05 until finally we all get it 25:07 because He doesn't want us to be deceived. 25:09 So Revelation - the book of Revelation - is like the sister 25:13 to Daniel. You know, those two books are brothers and sisters 25:16 kind of... they're like twins. 25:17 Twin brothers... you could put it that way, might be better. 25:20 Or we'll say twin sisters. When neutral... 25:23 gender neutral... politically correct. No, that's not me. 25:27 OK. But anyway we find this here that Revelation 13 25:32 and basically all of Revelation but Revelation 13 25:35 and Daniel 7 complement each other. 25:37 They're talking about the same character. 25:38 They're talking about the antichrist. 25:40 And so we're looking at this here and we know that he 25:42 commits blasphemy. That was the next one. 25:44 Now look at the next slide. We've already kind of 25:45 given it to you, I think, already. 25:47 Oh, it's a persecuting power. 25:49 The same thing in Revelation 13. 25:51 Remember, he makes war with the woman? Right? 25:53 But what do you find here? The persecuting power in 25:56 Daniel chapter 7... and somebody read verse 21 25:59 and verse 25. Daniel 7:21 and 25. 26:03 And I believe... Let me see... Look at my notes here and see 26:07 who's got that one. Daniel 7:21 and 25. 26:09 Does Song, you have that one? So I'll give you just a minute 26:12 to get the microphone over there. 26:13 Um, we do some things just off the fly here, and I must 26:16 have missed somebody's reading. Is that what happened? 26:18 Yes. Well they'll forgive me at home. 26:20 So he's going to read Daniel 7 verse 21 and 25. 26:25 "I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints 26:28 and prevailed against them. " 26:30 And verse 25: "And he shall speak great words 26:34 against the Most High and shall wear out the saints 26:36 of the Most High and think to change times and laws. 26:40 And they shall be given into his hand 26:43 until a time and times and a dividing of time. " 26:47 OK, so what we read right here was this antichrist power 26:50 right here... he's going to come and he's going to 26:53 persecute the saints of God. You read that in verse 21. 26:55 "I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints 26:58 and prevailed against them" just like you read there. 26:59 Right? So he's going to be warring against the saints. 27:02 Now if you're making war with the saints, what would you call 27:03 that? Persecuting, right? Persecuting God's saints. 27:07 And so one of the identifying characteristics here 27:09 was he's going to be persecuting God's saints. 27:10 And the next identifying characteristic 27:13 that we're looking at is he'll think to change times and laws. 27:16 And he read that right there in verse 25. 27:18 He read that this antichrist power: "He shall speak great 27:20 words against the Most High" or as we've already looked at 27:22 he'll be committing blasphemy. 27:24 And he'll think to... "And he'll wear out the 27:26 saints of the Most High" which is persecuting. 27:29 Like I go to my kids, right? 27:30 And if they're acting up I'm going to say: 27:31 "Son, I'm going to wear you out. " 27:33 What am I talking about? 27:34 I'm going to... Yeah, Mark, that's right. 27:37 But what am I going to do to him, right? 27:38 I'm going to give him what for. No, I don't really do that. 27:40 Usually he usually behaves. But if I say "I'm going to 27:42 wear you out, " what's my threat? 27:44 Isn't it interesting in the old King James here 27:46 the way it's worded: "He wore out the saints 27:48 of the Most High. " What's he doing with them? 27:49 He's whipping 'em. That's what they say in Kentucky. 27:52 I don't know what you say everywhere else. 27:54 I'll get a letter for that one too. 27:55 So he's wearing out the saints of the Most High. 27:57 And he'll "think to change times and laws. " 28:01 Now this is a very fascinating statement. 28:03 You've got to stop and put a little thought into this. 28:04 Let me ask the question this way: 28:07 Can the United States government change the laws 28:11 of the United States? 28:12 Sure they can! 28:14 Can... can the European countries in Europe... 28:17 can they change the laws of Europe? 28:18 Right. Can the United States government change God's law? 28:22 But could they think to change God's law? 28:25 So you understand what Daniel is saying here. 28:27 In other words when it says, 28:29 when it reads in Daniel "He'll think he can change 28:31 times and laws" what it's actually saying 28:33 is he'll think to change God's law. 28:35 It has to be God's law because a nation can change their laws. 28:38 Are you following what I'm saying? 28:40 Some people will say: "How do you know they're talking about 28:42 God's law? " It has to be. 28:44 Can the United States change the laws of - say - 28:48 um, of Europe? 28:50 Yes... if they conquer them. 28:52 Yes... she says "no. " If they conquer them, right? 28:55 So if we want to go change the laws in Europe 28:57 what must we first do? 28:58 Conquer them. If you want to change God's law, 29:00 what must you do? Sorry, you can't conquer God. 29:03 You know, you're not going to conquer Him. 29:05 But we can think to do it, can't we? 29:06 I mean I can make up a new law. 29:08 And I can say: "You know what? 29:11 Covet all you want to covet. " And that's my new church 29:13 is do all the coveting you want to do. 29:14 Can I say that? 29:16 Does that change God's law? 29:17 Look, if I really believe that I can do that 29:21 does that make me think I change God's law? 29:23 So you follow this here: 29:25 when this identifying characteristic here 29:26 we're looking at in Daniel 7:25 29:28 when it says "he thinks to change times and laws, " 29:30 do you understand that it has to be talking about God's law? 29:33 Perfect, isn't it? Isn't it powerful when you start 29:35 thinking the Bible through a little bit 29:37 how it changes the way you view it? 29:39 And the next characteristic we're going to look at 29:41 on the slide here... the next characteristic 29:43 after the little horn thinks to change times and laws 29:45 it says he's going to rule for 1260 days or years. 29:49 You say now wait, wait. Hold on! Where's that in the text? 29:52 Let me show you. 29:54 It's very interesting here. In Daniel chapter 7 verse 25 29:57 it says: "And the saints will be given into his hand 30:00 until a time and times and a dividing of time. " 30:05 Now... and people read that and they say: 30:06 "Well, what's that mean? What's a time? What's a time 30:08 and what's a dividing of time? 30:10 And I'm going to tell you straight up first 30:11 and then I'll prove it to you that a time is a year, 30:14 times is two years, 30:16 and a dividing of time is a half a year. 30:19 How do you know that? 30:21 And also we're going to show that from... in the Bible 30:23 when you're talking about prophetically speaking 30:26 or speaking in terms of symbolism 30:29 that a day is equal to a year in Bible prophecy. 30:31 Now I've made this outrageous statement and you people are 30:34 looking at me like "Sure it does. " 30:36 "I've heard that before but I've heard my pastor 30:38 and others say that's not true any more. " 30:40 You know, that kind of thing. 30:41 I think I can prove it to you from the Bible. 30:42 We're going to do that right now as we go through this. 30:44 I want you to notice something. 30:46 In Daniel chapter 7 verse 25 30:48 we're going to have it on the screen in just a moment here 30:50 Daniel 7:25. It says: 30:51 "He shall speak great words against the Most High, 30:53 wear out the saints of the Most High, 30:55 and think to change" what's that word? 30:56 "times and laws. " OK? 30:59 That word times right there... the Hebrew word 31:03 there when you look it up, and I'm not going to even come close 31:05 to trying to pronounce this, but it's a Hebrew reference, 31:08 you know, in like the concordance of Strong's 31:10 #2166- the Hebrew - 31:12 and here's how you... There's the word right there, 31:14 and it literally means a season or a time. 31:17 Like a period of time or a season. 31:20 That's what it means: "He'll think to change seasons. " 31:22 Now I think it's fascinating when we get into actually 31:25 identifying what he actually thinks to change 31:26 as far as the time part goes. 31:28 You know, it's like... In other words, a season 31:30 is like you know you might have a month or four months 31:34 and that's a season, you know. You may have a week 31:36 you know, like one week, and two weeks, three weeks, four weeks. 31:39 And what do those four seasons represent? 31:40 A month. You follow me? Like the fourth period of time. 31:44 And so that's the word in verse 25 when it says 31:47 "he'll think to wear out the saints of the Most High 31:49 and think to change times and laws. " 31:51 The word times is that first word. 31:52 But now it goes on... it says: 31:54 "And they'll be given into his hand for a time, 31:56 and times and a dividing of time. " 31:57 Very fascinating because the word there 31:59 is a different word. It's translated exactly the same way 32:02 as time in the Bible - times in the Bible - 32:04 translated the same way but it's a different word. 32:06 The word is a Hebrew word. It's 5732 in the concordance 32:09 when you look up the word, and there's how you - 32:11 if you can pronounce that help yourself - 32:13 but it says a set time, technically a year. 32:17 When you look up the definition of that word it's technically 32:19 a year. Like the Hebrew word there means a year. 32:21 And I like to ask people too also in Daniel chapter 4 32:25 you ask people the question. You say: 32:27 How long did Nebuchadnezzar go crazy? 32:29 How long was he crazy in Daniel 4? 32:31 Everybody knows it was 7 years, don't they? 32:33 The Bible doesn't say that. 32:35 The Bible says he was out there for seven times passed over him. 32:38 Seven times passed over him. 32:41 And when it... And you know what is very fascinating? 32:43 When you look at that word in Daniel chapter 4 32:45 the Word says "seven times passed over him. " 32:47 Guess which word it is they are using there. 32:48 Is it 2166 or 5732? 32:51 5732. You got it exactly right. 32:53 So God knows what He's doing and when Daniel was writing this 32:55 he's writing the words and the people reading in his day 32:57 would have know he meant a year. 32:59 Are you following that? 33:01 So when it says he'll rule for a time, 33:03 which is one; times which is two; 33:06 and a dividing of times which is a half 33:08 what is that total? Three and a half years. 33:11 Isn't that fascinating? You know that's the most prevalent 33:13 time prophecy in all the Bible? 33:15 Prevalent: I mean it's in there seven times. 33:16 Like four times in Daniel... three in Revelation. 33:18 It's listed as time, times, and dividing of time. 33:20 It's listed as 42 months. 33:22 1,260 days 33:24 and three and a half years. 33:25 But it's in there seven times referenced 33:27 in both when you go from Daniel to Revelation. 33:29 You think God wanted us to understand what's going on here 33:31 with the antichrist? 33:32 You think He wants us to understand the timeline 33:34 of this prophecy? And it says 33:36 that this antichrist power... 33:37 It says in Daniel chapter 7 verse 25 33:40 that he would rule unto a time and times and a dividing of time 33:43 or 3-1/2 prophetic years. 33:45 Now if you take 3-1/2- 33:47 and they had 360 days in a year in their day, right? - 33:50 you come up to 1,260 days in 3-1/2 years. 33:54 Remember Revelation chapter 13? 33:56 The antichrist rules for how long? 33:58 Forty-two months. 33:59 Remember that in Revelation 13? It says he ruled for 34:01 forty-two months. 34:02 That is also 1,260 days. 34:04 What happened at the end of the forty-two months 34:06 in Revelation chapter 13? If you read that in your Bible 34:09 at home or whatever? He receives a deadly wound 34:12 at the end of the 1,260 days or years 34:16 and then the deadly wound is healed. 34:18 Now you're going to ask... The question is going to come up: 34:20 How do you know that a day equals a year in Bible prophecy? 34:24 That's on our next slide right here. 34:26 Here's the text references. 34:27 Now some of the simple ones... You guys might want to start 34:29 looking up Ezra 7:7. Who would like to do that text? 34:32 Because I've got some talking to do and then we're going to 34:33 have that person read Ezra. Mike will do that. 34:35 Mike will read Ezra 7:7 in just a minute. 34:37 Give him the microphone over there... to Michael 34:40 for the... Ezra 7:7. It's laying right here. 34:43 In the back. But it's interesting here... 34:46 We have... we normally have the references of Ezra 7:7 34:49 a day for a year. Numbers 13:34. 34:51 But if I could show you in the Bible 34:53 where Jesus himself uses a day for a year in Bible prophecy 34:56 would you be willing to use it then? 34:57 'Cause some people say: "I reject that whole thing. 35:00 That's an Old Testament thing; I don't want to hear that. " 35:02 And so... But if I could show you where Jesus uses it 35:04 would that be good enough? 35:05 That's what we're going to do. So a day is equal to a year 35:07 in Bible prophecy. We know that the antichrist power 35:09 ruled for 1,260 days according to what we looked at 35:11 in the Bible. That's what it says. 35:13 Oh, by the way. Let me just stop here for a second. 35:16 Take a deep breath. 35:17 I know I'm going fast... a lot to cover. 35:20 The next verse says: "But the judgment shall sit 35:24 and they shall take away his dominion 35:26 and consume it till the end and destroy it. 35:27 And the kingdom and his dominion and the greatness of his kingdom 35:30 under the whole heaven shall be given to the saints 35:32 of the Most High. " So after these 1,260 years - 35:35 sometime after that - the judgment will begin. 35:38 Do you see that there? 35:40 Fascinating statement. Now we're going to cover this 35:42 on the judgment part II. 35:43 But you know what's interesting there: 35:45 it says there that the judgment begins after the antichrist 35:48 power rules for 1,260 days. Some time after that. 35:50 And then guess what happens after the judgment 35:53 according to the text? Glory! We go home. 35:56 That's good news, isn't it? 35:58 And now we're going to go to the next part we're going to be 36:00 looking at. Mike's actually going to be reading that for us. 36:01 And it's found in the book of Ezekiel chapter 4 and verse 6. 36:05 Michael's going to be reading to us Ezekiel 4 and verse 6. 36:08 We're going to be finding out that a day in Bible prophecy 36:11 is equivalent to being a year in literal time. 36:13 And we're going to use the Bible to show it. 36:14 Like when we're talking prophetically - we're talking 36:16 symbolically - a day is a year in Bible prophecy. 36:19 Mike go ahead and read to us Ezekiel chapter 4 and verse 6. 36:23 "And when thou has accomplished them, lie again on thy right 36:25 side. And thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 36:29 for 40 days. Behold I have given thee a day for a year. " 36:34 All right. So symbolically speaking here it says 36:35 OK. Now you're going to turn back over. 36:37 You're going to lay on your right side. He puts his hand 36:38 on him. Whatever all these little things they do 36:39 there in the Bible. But he says for every day this took place - 36:42 every day that happened - I'm going to give you a year. 36:44 So you're going to bear the iniquity every day for a year. 36:47 And you know what he's talking about there in context, right? 36:50 The context of that? If I'm not mistaken, it's when 36:52 the children of Israel when to spy out the land for 40... 36:54 No, that was in Numbers. That's our next one we're going 36:56 get: Numbers 14. Ezekiel 4:6: I'm not 100% sure on that one. 36:59 so I'll just let that one go. But he says for each day 37:01 you have a year. Each day is a year. 37:03 But now Tom is going to read for us Numbers chapter 14. 37:06 Tom is reading Numbers 14 and verse 34. 37:08 And you're going to find out there... after the children 37:10 of Israel they got right up to the Promised Land 37:11 and were getting ready to go into the Promised Land - 37:13 God's getting ready to deliver His people - 37:15 and they go out and they spy it out and they said: 37:17 "You know what? Too much; we can't go there. " 37:19 And they had spied it out for 40 days. 37:21 And so God says: "OK, for the 40 days that you spied it out 37:24 I'm going to give you a year in the wilderness. " 37:27 Go ahead and read it for us, Tom. Let's find out how it goes. 37:28 "According to the number of the days 37:31 in which you spied out the land - 40 days - 37:34 for each day ye shall bear your guilt one year... 37:37 namely: 40 years. " Namely 40 years. 37:40 Perfect. I'm sorry, I stopped him a little bit early there. 37:42 So the Bible teaches here that also when the children of Israel 37:45 they were getting ready to go to the Promised Land 37:47 and they rebelled... they didn't follow God... 37:49 it cost them an extra 40 years. 37:51 But the way God used to determine that 37:52 was for each day He'd give them a year. 37:54 So every day you literally spent there 37:57 symbolically, now you've got to go a year out 37:59 before you get to go back. 38:01 But now most people say: "Those are pretty weak statements. " 38:03 Now outside of just that we know for a fact 38:06 that this 3-1/2 year time frame has to be referring to 38:09 a literal day for a year - otherwise it doesn't fit 38:11 the context of the rest of the prophecy we're looking at. 38:15 But outside of that, if I could show you where Jesus 38:17 Himself used when He's talking symbolically or talking 38:20 prophetically He uses a day for a year, 38:23 would you buy it then? 38:24 I would. It's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for... 38:27 me, right? And so let's look at the next text. 38:29 Luke chapter 13 verse 31. 38:31 Luke 13 starting in verse 31... 38:33 I'm going to read through this real quick. 38:36 Jesus is here and He's been teaching them things and John 38:39 the Baptist's done had his head removed and things like that 38:41 have been going on. And it says in verse 31: 38:43 "The same day there came certain of the Pharisees 38:45 saying unto Him: 'You'd better get out and depart 38:48 for Herod's going to kill you. ' " 38:50 And I love Jesus' response. 38:51 You know He's talking prophetically here. 38:52 You want to know why? Because He uses symbolism. 38:55 Look at the symbolism He uses. 38:56 "And He said unto them: 38:57 'Go tell that old fox' " - I kind of paraphrased it 39:00 a little bit. He said: "Go tell that fox" - speaking of? 39:03 Herod. So He's like: "You go tell that fox... " 39:06 Is Herod really a fox? Literally? I mean, like he's a 39:08 dog with a tail and the little red coat, right? 39:10 No, he's not. So Jesus is speaking symbolically right here 39:12 right. "Go tell that fox behold I cast out devils 39:15 and do cures today and tomorrow 39:18 and the third day I'll be perfected. " 39:19 Now what's He talking about there? Now did Jesus' ministry 39:21 from this time forward did it last 3-1/2 more days? 39:24 No, it lasted... I mean the rest of that day 39:27 and the next day and the following day then He died? 39:28 Is that how it lasted? 39:29 Jesus' ministry lasted 3-1/2 years. 39:31 And let's look at this. When you kind of look at things 39:33 and you follow it through it looks like He's about at the end 39:35 almost to the second year of His ministry. 39:37 Like a year and 3/4 or whatever into His ministry. 39:40 And He makes this statement: "I'm going to do cures 39:42 and cast out devils the rest of this day, 39:44 this year, then the next day, 39:47 next year, and then the third day I'll be perfected, 39:50 the year following. " 39:51 So His ministry lasted 3-1/2 years, so into the 39:53 fourth year I'll be perfected. What He's talking about 39:55 "being perfected? " He doesn't leave you to doubt 39:57 because look at the next verse: 39:58 "Nevertheless I must walk today and tomorrow 40:02 and the day following for it cannot be that a prophet 40:05 perish outside of Jerusalem. " 40:06 What's the context of what He's talking about? 40:08 His death, burial, and resurrection. 40:09 And so His ministry from this point forward 40:11 didn't just last two more days and that was it: He was dead. 40:14 But it was the rest of that year and the next year 40:16 and the next year He was perfected: He went to the cross. 40:19 So He Himself used a day for a year in Bible prophecy. 40:21 So if Jesus can use it, I feel pretty comfortable using that 40:24 as well and it fits with the rest of it. 40:25 Let's look at the next identifying characteristic here. 40:27 We've got to hurry along through these a little bit. 40:29 Oh, that's it. That's all ten of them. 40:30 So let's look on the screen here. We have 40:32 antichrist part 2 and we have ten identifying characteristics. 40:35 It's a little horn or little kingdom. 40:37 It comes up among the other horns or after they're divided. 40:39 It comes up among them, rather. 40:42 Then it comes up after they're divided in 476 AD. 40:44 It plucks up three as it comes to power. 40:46 It's different from the others. 40:48 It's a prominent man speaking at the head. 40:50 It commits blasphemy. 40:51 It's a persecuting power. 40:53 It thinks to change times and laws. 40:55 And it rules for 1,260 years. 40:58 Day for a year in Bible prophecy 1,260 days. 41:00 Now the question is now: 41:02 who is the scoundrel? 41:05 Or who is the antichrist as the Bible refers to? 41:08 Who fits all of these characteristics? 41:10 And the truth is only one fits. 41:12 Only one power fits throughout all history 41:15 and that power would be the Roman Catholic church/state 41:17 combination. 41:19 Now some people are saying: "Ooh I can't believe he actually 41:22 said that. " Let's just be... let's be reasonable here 41:24 and with a cool head identify this. 41:27 Now I want to make a statement: 41:28 I'm an American citizen. 41:30 Now sometimes the government of the United States 41:33 does things that I don't really agree with. 41:35 Right? And they do things that are sometimes flatly wrong. 41:38 I mean all nations... leaders at times do things wrong, 41:41 don't they? I mean, right? But does that make the people 41:43 of that state or that government really bad people? 41:46 No. No, it doesn't make them bad people or anything like that. 41:49 So when we're identifying this antichrist power here - 41:52 the Roman Catholic church - we're talking about the system 41:55 and not the people. You follow me, right? 41:57 I'm not going to make any more apologies for that or anything 41:59 like that from thereon. But I do want people 42:01 to understand that I'm not attacking anybody. 42:04 God loves all people, and if I'm a follower of God 42:06 I must love all people too. 42:08 I just vehemently disagree with institutions 42:10 and things that disagree with what God says. 42:13 You understand this, right? 42:15 And so this is like shocking to some people. 42:17 But the Word of God has always been shocking to people... 42:20 the truth of God's Word has, you know. 42:22 The fantasy fairy tales that put the antichrist power 42:24 some future character long into the future 42:26 and it doesn't really fit anybody 42:28 is a lot more satisfying for people to chew on 42:30 'cause it doesn't have that taste in the mouth 42:32 of like "Oh, this is uncomfortable. " 42:34 So let us look at this and see. 42:36 Does it fit all ten of the characteristics? 42:38 If it does, then I'm willing to go for it. 42:40 If it doesn't, then we're looking for the wrong guy. 42:42 And let's see if it works out as we start plugging these in. 42:45 First of all, the first characteristic we looked at 42:46 here is we discovered it was going to be a little horn 42:49 or a little kingdom, right? 42:51 Now, the references and things that I give right here 42:53 through this are just little sections of a much larger 42:57 group of studies. Like I can prove 42:59 from different encyclopedias, different books, 43:01 that the Vatican definitely fits the little horn thing. 43:03 But I'm just going to give one reference. 43:05 Are you following that? I'm not going to give 43:06 all the references, I'm just going to give one. 43:08 So Daniel 8... 7:8 rather... Daniel 7:8 and 7:24 says 43:12 it's a little kingdom or the little horn. 43:14 Well, look at this description here. 43:16 This is from the nationencyclopedia. com. 43:19 You can go to any encyclopedia and find the same thing. 43:21 It was just convenient for me to find this one. 43:23 But it says this: "Located within Rome 43:25 Vatican City - we're on a slide right now - Vatican City... 43:41 So basically it's about 0.17 square miles 43:44 as it lays out as a kingdom or a nation. 43:46 And it's actually, you know, they have a seat 43:48 at the United Nations. They're a permanent member 43:50 of the United Nations as an overseer and everything 43:51 like that. Now think about this: 43:53 they're a church. How many other churches do you know 43:56 right now that go to the United Nations and have 43:58 a permanent place there at the United Nations? 44:00 Any other church? No, not the members of my church. 44:04 Not the leaders of my church. 44:05 And so when we look at this on the screen it says it's the 44:07 smallest one in Europe and, as a matter of fact, the world. 44:10 Does it fit the description of a small kingdom? 44:13 Does it? Sure it does. So the first one: check it off. 44:16 Done. It's a small one. 44:18 Let's go to the next identifying characteristic 44:19 and see if it fits it 44:21 simply plugging in what the Bible has given us. 44:23 It says it comes up among divided Rome. 44:26 Remember we looked at that already. 44:27 After Rome was divided, and we know that Rome was divided 44:30 in what time frame? In 476 AD, right. 44:34 And it's going to come up among them. 44:37 And you look at that. Right now if you look at a map of Europe, 44:39 you have Europe up there and you see the little boot 44:42 coming down of Italy coming around like this. 44:43 It's almost like when you look where Rome is - 44:45 the Vatican actually is - 44:46 where that place is at... their headquarters there... 44:49 the smallest nation in the world 44:50 it's almost in the center of that map 44:52 of the Roman Empire. It says it would come up among them. 44:55 So does it fit the identifying characteristic 44:58 of coming up among them? 45:00 Absolutely. Are you understand what we're 45:02 going through now? When you give these studies 45:03 like you're giving this study or you're giving it at home 45:05 and you're going through this, this is one of those studies 45:07 where you won't be able to just have only your Bible. 45:09 You'll have to have like printed out 45:11 giving the identifying characteristics. 45:12 So you can get them printed on 45:13 the study guides that we have 45:15 on the Internet or you guys will 45:17 have yourself. But these... these right here... 45:18 when you get a little deeper into this... 45:19 And some people might say: "Well I really don't believe it! " 45:21 Challenge them to go and go to the library, 45:24 find books in your library, and look it up. 45:25 Don't challenge them to go on the Internet 45:27 because things are changed there all the time 45:28 and people put what they want on there instead of what 45:31 the truth is. But if they want to go to the Internet 45:33 and investigate it, if you'll investigate it enough 45:34 you can find the truth underneath all the garbage. 45:36 But if you go just to a library and get books 45:39 you'll find that exactly what we're saying is true. 45:41 And so now let's go to the next one. 45:42 The next identifying characteristic - we've already 45:44 kind of said it - I got a little ahead of myself. 45:46 But it comes up after Rome is divided in 476 AD. 45:49 And we read about that already a little earlier 45:51 when we were going over the study giving the ten 45:53 identifying characteristics where we read that 45:57 Rome was divided in 476 AD 46:00 when Odoacer, king of the Heruli 46:02 deposed Romulus Augustus. As a matter of fact, 46:04 I think it's going to be on the screen there. 46:06 Rome... there it is... 46:18 And we're going to be looking at the details of that 46:20 in just a minute. So we found out that it comes up 46:22 after Rome was divided. Rome was divided in 476 AD 46:25 and the papacy came to power in 538 AD. 46:27 Is that after? Yes. Yes, it's absolutely after. 46:30 Let's go to the next identifying characteristic. 46:32 It plucks up or destroys three as it comes to power. 46:36 It plucks up or destroys three as it comes to power. 46:38 You find that on the screen there: 46:40 plucks up or destroys three. And we read that already 46:42 in the text when we were going over Daniel chapter 7 46:44 and we were giving the ten characteristics. 46:46 Does it fit? Here's an interesting statement. 46:49 It's a long read here, so follow me on the screen. 47:42 The Ostrogoths were... thus Justinian's decree 47:44 went into effect making the Bishop of Rome supreme. 47:46 Now if you want to find out this information - where I got it - 47:48 notice the time you have to go back and look at it. 47:50 History of the Christian Church volume llI by Philip Chapp 47:53 1819-1893. 47:55 He's a German-American theologian 47:58 and a church historian. 47:59 You know why you usually have to go back that far to find things? 48:02 Because history has changed. 48:04 Not actually the events but the recording of the events 48:07 have changed. Are you following me? 48:08 So not that the event has changed but the recording 48:11 of the events have change and you've got to be careful 48:12 to make sure that you're reading from the right sources 48:15 or you can be - again - deceived. 48:17 It's going to be different than the other kingdoms. 48:18 Well how in the world is it different than the other 48:20 kingdom? Let us go on and find out. 48:22 This Bishop of Rome - this is from Alexander Clarence Flick 48:25 The Rise of the Medieval Church page 168. 48:43 What it's saying here is that the Roman leaders now - 48:46 or the papacy - everybody just assumed that OK, that's where 48:49 it's going to, right? Now it's the papacy and not 48:51 the Roman leaders any more. They still have the same 48:54 sense of glory, and every social prejudice favored the evolution 48:58 of the great city into the ecclesiastical capital. 49:00 Civil as well as religious disputes were referred to 49:03 the successor of Peter for settlement. 49:05 Alexander Clarence Flick. 49:07 So basically what he's saying there as he's writing that 49:09 is we used to go and we would see the Caesars 49:11 and we would get help from them when we had an issue. 49:13 But now we go to the Pope because that's just... 49:15 he's in the place of the Caesars. 49:17 So it says it's different than the other kingdoms. 49:18 How is it different? It's not just a political government now 49:21 it's also a spiritual government. It's both. 49:25 And so we find that there: the successor of Peter 49:27 for settlement. They're giving it both spiritual and political. 49:30 That's different than the other kingdoms. 49:31 Then it says it would have a prominent man at the head 49:33 speaking, and we find that to be exactly the truth. 49:35 Who is that? The Pope. 49:37 Prominent man at the head speaking. 49:39 That's what the Bible describes it as. 49:40 Let's go to the next identifying characteristic. 49:42 The little horn would commit blasphemy. 49:45 Now I almost hate to even have to bring this part up, 49:47 but it is true. It's from the Bible, and we've 49:48 got to follow it. Mark chapter 2 and verse 7 49:51 you find a story. In Mark chapter 2 and verse 7 49:53 where this guy - he's a quadriplegic - 49:55 he's on his mat and he can't get healed. 49:57 So his friends carry him to the house, 49:59 and in Mark chapter 2 they carry him to the house. 50:01 They tear the tiles off the top; they let him down 50:03 through the house roof so Jesus could see him. 50:05 And as he lays down there in front of Jesus, Jesus said: 50:07 "Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. " 50:09 And the Bible says that those scribes and Pharisees 50:11 looking around. They was like "Oh, how could He do that? 50:13 Who does He think He is? 50:14 Who can forgive sins but God only? 50:16 This man commits blasphemy. " 50:18 OK? That's what they say within themselves. 50:20 And Jesus is going to show them that He really is God. 50:22 The Bible says: "And Him, knowing their thoughts, says: 50:25 'Which is easier? To tell a man to get up and walk 50:27 or tell him he's forgiven of his sins? 50:28 But that they may know that I am God' 50:30 I'm paraphrasing - He told the man: 'Get up and walk. ' " 50:33 And he did! So Jesus showed them that, 50:36 you know, it's not blasphemy for Me to forgive a man's sins 50:38 because "I am God. " 50:40 But if I tell all you people right now: "Hey, you've got to 50:43 come to me to me to get forgiveness from your sins, " 50:44 is that blasphemy? Sure it is! 50:47 Why is it blasphemy? 50:48 Because I'm claiming the position or the 50:50 prerogative of God. Do you follow that? 50:52 So if I claim to be in the place of God, you've got to 50:53 me for forgiveness of sins, that's blasphemy. 50:55 So they had it wrong by calling Jesus a blasphemer 50:58 but they had it right in admitting that blasphemy 51:01 is - because you're trying to claim to be able to forgive 51:03 sins - as only being a man. The other one is found - 51:05 and here we go, let me... let me show you this here - 51:07 page 27 on dignities and duties of the priest. 51:19 So they say: "Hey, we forgive. " 51:20 This is from the writings of the Catholic church. 51:22 "We forgive sins and God has to go by what we say. " 51:25 Brothers and sisters, by every definition that is blasphemy. 51:27 John chapter 10 verses 30 through 33. 51:30 They were getting ready to throw rocks at Jesus 51:31 and kill Him and stone Him. He said: 51:32 "What are you going to kill Me for? For what good work 51:34 are you going to stone Me? " 51:36 They said: "Not for a good work but because You, 51:38 being a mere man, make yourself God which is blasphemy" 51:42 they said. Were they right in that? 51:44 A man claiming to be God is blasphemy. Was that correct? 51:47 Yeah. But were they right in calling Jesus a blasphemer? 51:50 No, because He was God. 51:51 But now if I say I'm god and you've got to come to me 51:54 is that blasphemy? Yeah, you'd all go off in droves, 51:57 wouldn't you? Like you'd think people would stay away 52:00 from that en masse. That's a little pun there, OK? 52:04 But anyway... But that's what goes on right now 52:06 with the actual thing. One guy claiming to be god 52:09 and everybody... billions of people follow that. 52:10 Right? That doesn't make sense to me. 52:12 Pope Leo the 13th... actually the 12th I guess it was... 52:15 I thought it was the 13th... anyway, 52:17 "We hold upon this earth the place of Almighty God. " 52:20 Brothers and sisters, that's blasphemy. 52:21 So we're going through the identifying characteristics. 52:24 Everything fits hand in glove. 52:25 It's a persecuting power. Have you guys ever heard of the 52:28 Dark Ages? You know why the Dark Ages 52:30 are called the Dark Ages? 52:31 Because "thy Word is a light unto my path and a lamp 52:33 unto my feet, " right? And during the Dark Ages 52:35 if you owned a Bible like I own this Bible right here 52:37 I could be killed for this 52:39 because they said: "Look, you can't have a Bible. 52:41 You've got to give it to us and we'll tell you what it means. " 52:43 And people said: "No, I can't go with that. " 52:44 And they said: "If you won't, we're going to persecute you. " 52:45 And today you can go to Europe - some of the churches there 52:48 in Europe - they'll take you down on a tour down underneath 52:50 the church there and show you the torture chamber 52:52 and things like that where they put heretics. 52:53 Right? "If you go to my church I'll show you the torture 52:55 chamber underneath. " I'll bet you don't come back next week. 52:58 But today it's a money-making thing, right? 53:00 The History of the Rise of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe 53:07 volume 2 page 32. 53:17 If you doubt it, go read the book Fox's Book of Martyrs. 53:19 Boy, I wish I had some time. I'm running a little short 53:21 on time but I wish I had time. I'm going to tell you anyway. 53:24 There's a friend I have. He says: "I'm not a Protestant. " 53:26 He's a Pentecostal. He said: "I'm not a Protestant. " 53:28 I said: "You're not? " I said... 53:30 He said: "I'm not protesting anything. " 53:31 I said: "Have you ever read Fox's Book of Martyrs? " 53:33 He says: "No. " I said: "You need to read it. " 53:35 About two weeks later he comes back. He said: 53:36 "I read that book. " I said: "You did? What do you think? " 53:38 He said: "I'm a Protestant. " 53:39 Because the truth of history is still there. 53:42 The thing is, we've forgotten what the history has revealed. 53:45 It was definitely a persecuting power. 53:47 It will think to change times and laws. 53:49 Now we went over this already. Can we change God's law? 53:51 Can we think to? 53:52 I'm going to show you something now that's very fascinating. 53:54 Does this power think to change God's law? 53:56 Well let us find out. Let us go to the screen here 53:58 and find out. "The Pope is of such great authority and power 54:01 that he is able to modify, declare, or interpret 54:03 even divine law. The Pope can modify divine law 54:06 since his power is not of man but of God 54:08 and he acts as the vice regent of God upon earth. " 54:12 And that's from their own writings. I'm not going to even 54:14 try to pronounce that. Article 2 volume 5. 54:16 So from their own writings they say: "Yeah, we can change 54:18 divine law. " Can man change God's law? 54:20 No! Does it fit? Hand in glove. 54:22 Let me show you this from the Catechism, 54:23 verses from the Bible: 54:25 On the left side there you find the Ten Commandments 54:27 as you find them in the scriptures. 54:29 "Thou shalt not have any gods before Me. " 54:30 "Don't make any graven image. " Abbreviated, of course. 54:33 But now I want you to... when you get to the second one 54:35 notice what it says on the left side. 54:36 "Thou shalt not make any graven images. " 54:38 Look at the right side. 54:39 "Thou shalt not take God's name in vain. " 54:40 Is there something missing there? 54:41 Yeah, there is. And that's the one you find in the Catechism. 54:44 You go to the Catholic Catechism it'll give you 54:45 the Ten Commandments in a different order. 54:47 And so what you find here 54:49 is they think they've changed God's law. 54:51 In order to keep the ten they split the 10th one there. 54:54 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. " 54:55 "Thou shalt not covet your... 54:59 neighbor's stuff. " Actually they left the last part 55:01 off there. But in the Bible it's only one commandment. 55:04 Commandment #10: "Thou shalt not covet. " 55:06 So it thinks it's changed God's law. 55:08 And in time we're going to cover that on another subject. 55:10 You have to stay with us. Now let's continue on. 55:12 The little horn would rule for 1,260 days or years. 55:16 1,260 years is how long it would rule, OK? 55:19 Let's find out if it fits. 55:21 Now we went over this already. Remember technically what the 55:24 word means... time, times, and dividing of time... means 55:26 technically a year. We figured out a day for a year 55:28 in Bible prophecy. We've already looked at that. 55:29 Remember that? Now, does this power fit? 55:33 Now I love this. We're going to have to close with this 55:35 right here but listen to what is going on here. 55:36 This guy. He's a Methodist minister 55:39 and he's writing in the year 1798 AD. 55:42 David Simpson is his name. 55:43 Now remember the papacy rose to power in 538 AD. 55:46 That's the time frame that it rose to power. 55:47 We looked at that already. 55:49 And David Simpson - this Methodist minister - writing 55:51 in Cambridge at St. John's College in 1798 AD - 55:54 writes this: "Is it not extremely remarkable 55:56 and a powerful confirmation of the truth of scripture 55:59 of prophecy that just 1,260 years ago 56:01 to the present 1798 AD in the very beginning of the year 56:04 538 AD Belisarius put an end to the empire of the Goths 56:07 at Rome leaving no power there but the bishop of 56:09 that metropolis. Read these things in the prophetic 56:12 scriptures. And I say again: 56:14 deny the truth of divine 56:15 revelation if you can. 56:17 Open your eyes and behold. 56:18 These things are being accomplished in the face 56:20 of the whole world. These things are not done in a corner. " 56:22 What he's saying here - he's living in 1798 AD - 56:24 he sees Napoleon's general Berthier goes in. 56:27 He takes the pope off of his seat. 56:29 He basically does away with the pope 56:31 and his headship and he says: "you're no longer in charge. 56:33 You're not in charge any more. " 56:34 And when he does that, this guy living in 1798 AD says: 56:37 "Wow! 538 AD they come to power. 56:40 1798 AD - exactly 1,260 years later - 56:43 he is no longer in power. " 56:45 It fits the Bible prophecy exactly hand in glove. 56:48 This guy recognizes it. Today? 56:50 Many people in that very denomination have no idea 56:52 what you're talking about because the Bible says 56:54 that Protestants also will be turning away from the truth. 56:56 And this is what's going on now. This guy recognized it 56:59 in his day and it fits hand in glove. 57:01 Does he fit all identifying characteristics? Absolutely! 57:04 And our closing text that we're going to be looking at 57:06 is Joshua chapter 24 verse 15. 57:08 Joshua 24:15. It simply says this: 57:10 It says: "If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, 57:13 then choose you this day whom you will serve: 57:15 either the god that your fathers served on the other side 57:18 of the flood or the Amorites in the land where you dwell. 57:21 As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. " 57:23 That has to be our desire. 57:25 So what we're looking at now... we've just finished up 57:28 Antichrist part 2. And this study - the whole study - 57:30 you can go find it on the Internet, on line. 57:33 It will be aired different places. You can get a DVD. 57:35 And so if you would like to be able to see this study, 57:37 maybe slow it down a little bit. I know we rushed through 57:39 the last part obeying the clock. 57:42 But if you would like to see it all you can to go 57:43 www. comeexperiencelife. com |
Revised 2014-12-17