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Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000015S
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00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean? When
00:07 will the antichrist appear and make his final move? How can I 00:12 be ready for the final events of earth's history. You'll be 00:16 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:21 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:29 We're delighted that you're joining us again today. Our 00:32 subject for this evening is the United States in Bible Prophecy. 00:36 What does the Bible say about this great land that we call 00:42 America? At the outset, it's very important to understand that the 00:46 Bible is not primarily a history book. Because if it's just a 00:49 history book, we would ask the question: What does it say about 00:52 every country? What does it say about China? What does it say 00:54 about Brazil? What does it say about Poland? If it were just a 00:57 history book, we'd say, does it mention every country? But the 01:01 Bible primarily looks at those areas of the world that have to 01:05 do with God's people, his covenant people. We open up the 01:09 Bible, we see the Garden of Eden Why? Because that's where Adam 01:12 and Eve are, and he's in a relationship with them. After 01:15 the flood, of course, we see Abraham and he's going through 01:18 various parts of the world and the Bible covering those areas 01:21 because God is in this relationship with Abraham. 01:24 In the New Testament, we see Paul going out to the various parts 01:27 of the world spreading the gospel and we see him going to 01:31 the lands of Asia minor establishing Christian churches. 01:33 And so the Bible takes us there. But we would be surprised if 01:37 United States was not mentioned in the Bible. Not because it's a 01:41 nation, but because for the first time God raised up a 01:45 nation based on different principles. The principles of a 01:49 republic and freedom of worship. So we would expect the Bible to 01:53 say something about this great land we call America. America 01:56 has its problems, but for all the problems it has, it is still 01:59 a place where people's sense of freedom to be able to worship 02:02 according to their conscience. It's a special country. And so 02:06 what does the Bible say about the future of this nation? We 02:11 open up to Revelation again and Revelation 12 deals with the 02:14 great controversy between Christ and Satan. We've mentioned that. 02:17 In Revelation 12, Satan has Jesus escape out of his grasp 02:21 and so he pours out his wrath upon the church. And we go 02:25 through 1260 years of the dark ages and of course, we come down 02:30 close to today. So then we go to Revelation 14 and Revelation 14 02:34 has God's last final warning message that goes to all the 02:38 world before Jesus comes back. So between Revelation 14 and 02:41 Revelation 12, there's Revelation 13. And Revelation 13 is like a 02:46 connecting link. It does take us back into the dark ages for a 02:50 period of time. But then it takes us forward into the very 02:53 end time events, and it tells us there that the mark of the beast 02:56 is going to be strictly enforced. Revelation 13:16 says: 03:00 And he causes all, both small and great, rich, and poor, free 03:03 and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their 03:05 foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had 03:09 the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name 03:11 So those who don't receive the mark of the beast, they're going 03:15 to be boycotted. Right? They'll be punished. They'll be 03:18 threatened with death. But those who do receive the mark of the 03:22 beast they're going to be in trouble too, aren't they? 03:25 Because Revelation 14:9-11 says: If any man receive the mark of 03:29 the beast the wine of the wrath of God is going to be poured out 03:30 upon them. So here's the dilemma friends. There's trouble either 03:35 way. Either we're in trouble with God and in favor with man 03:38 or we're in favor with man and in trouble with God. The 03:43 question is what kind of trouble do we prefer? Well, if you're 03:46 like me I would much rather be in favor with God and in trouble 03:51 with man, wouldn't you? Because the Bible says if God be for us 03:55 who can be against us? And all down through the ages, God's 03:59 people have always faced that dilemma, and they've always said 04:01 We're going to choose God and be on his side and whatever man 04:06 comes at us with God can handle that. So God has had loyal men 04:10 and he's had loyal women who have always answered the call by 04:14 saying we will put God first in our lives. So there's going to 04:16 be persecution either way. Well no, I'm going to take that back. 04:21 There's going to be trouble either way. Persecution comes 04:24 from man, but God will trouble those who will not follow him 04:27 and try to persecute his people. It said: And I stood upon the 04:30 sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 04:34 seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, upon 04:37 his head the name of blasphemy. Now we've thoroughly studied 04:40 this first beast from eleven identifying marks, and we found 04:43 out that this is talking about the Roman papal power. Right? 04:47 The papacy is described as it is there. Revelation 10:13: Because 04:50 it incorporated into itself aspects from those other pagan 04:55 kingdoms that had gone before. The beast of Revelation 13 is 04:59 the Roman church/state system that is headquartered in the 05:02 Vatican City in Rome. And the Bible tells us that it is going to 05:06 go through a long period of reigning after which it receives 05:08 a deadly wound. Napoleon of France gave the orders to his 05:14 General Berthier to take part of the army down into the Vatican. 05:17 They took the Pope out of his office. They confiscated 05:21 property and declared it to be at an end, and truly a deadly 05:23 wound was inflicted. So the power was stripped away for a 05:28 time period, but the Bible tells us even though the scholars of 05:32 the day thought that the papacy was at an end, the Bible tells 05:35 different here. It says Revelation 13 and verses 9, 10: 05:39 If any man has an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into 05:42 captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with 05:44 the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience 05:47 and the faith of the saints. So, that means here are those that 05:52 survived and kept the faith during that long period of very 05:54 difficult Christian history. The Bible predicted the papal 05:59 hierarchy is going to come to an end. They thought the last pope 06:01 was going to reign, but they were wrong, because scripture 06:04 says here, Revelation 13:3 After it says: I saw one of his heads 06:07 that were wounded to death; then it says: And His deadly wound 06:10 was what friends? Healed. And what's the result of the healing 06:14 And all the world wondered after the beast. This is what Paul 06:18 Harvey would call the rest of the story, right? So it says: 06:20 They looked with admiration. They were marveling after this power 06:22 and truly, that has taken place. The world has once again focused 06:27 on this church/state system that has influence all around the 06:30 world. Time Magazine, back a couple of popes, he said: 06:34 John Paul Superstar. 06:36 Now he is probably the most famous pope in recent 06:38 time, and it says in this article In the short time that he has 06:42 been Pope, Billy Graham said flatly, John Paul II has become 06:45 the moral leader of the world. Now notice, not just of the 06:49 Catholic Church, but of the what does he say? Of the world. So, 06:51 he's saying this man's morals are what is being put before as what 06:55 should the world's morals be? Very, very interesting. New 07:00 York Times columnist James Reston said: He has been 07:04 received here with more applause than any religious or secular 07:05 leader of the world. And Time Magazine says: He was the man 07:07 for all seasons, all situations, notice folks, all faiths, a 07:13 beguilingly modest superstar of the church. He'll go down in 07:17 history as the greatest of our modern popes say the Rev. Billy 07:20 Graham. He's been the strong conscience of the whole 07:22 Christian world. Now let me ask you a question. Can anyone be a 07:25 conscience for you? No friends, you have to be a conscience for 07:28 yourself as God leads you with the Holy Spirit. In fact, John 07:30 Paul II set a record for the most times on the cover of Time 07:35 Magazine. Fifteen times, he made the cover of Time Magazine 07:39 showing how popular he was, but the one cover that I find the 07:43 most interesting was not a cover of Time Magazine, but US News and 07:47 World Report, where it says Honor thy father. Now what message is 07:51 that sending to people? Jesus said, Call no man on earth 07:54 father, and of course, he met in the spiritual sense of the word. 07:56 He was succeeded by Benedict XVI and then Frances I. He is 08:01 another special man. He's very much in favor of the people, the 08:04 people's pope here. Again Time Magazine, lots of covers of this 08:07 man. And they claim to take God's place on earth indicated 08:12 by the fact that they're sitting here on a great white throne 08:14 between the cherubim angels. They claim that they are 08:18 vicegerent to Christ. Now we go back to this passage here in 08:20 Revelation 13, because this passage positions us in time. 08:25 It tells us the time that the first beast goes into captivity. 08:28 And we know that was at the end of the 1260-year prophecy, which 08:33 ended in 1798. And many times Revelation 13, they call it the 08:38 antichrist chapter. But they don't realize there's more than 08:40 one power mentioned in this chapter, there's two. So the 08:45 first beast is going into captivity, and another one is 08:46 coming up on the scene of history 08:49 in verse 11. And I beheld another 08:51 beast...let's pause right there. Is this the same as the first 08:55 beast? No, because he's called what? Another beast. He's coming 08:59 up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he 09:03 spake as a dragon. Now an artist here has put a bison up for this 09:08 beast. Does the Bible call it a bison. No, it doesn't call it 09:10 that, but I probably would bet that you'll see why after we're 09:13 through tonight, why he chose that animal. But the question is 09:17 this: Who is this second beast? We're going to ask some 09:19 questions here tonight as Bible students. We want to know one: 09:23 Where does this power arise? Number two: When does this power 09:26 arise? And three: How does this power arise? Once we get the 09:30 answers to that, we're going to know what it's talking about. So 09:32 remember in Daniel chapter 7 that the beast that rose up in 09:35 Daniel 7 rose up out of a medium called the water. Right? And so 09:41 with the water or the sea, what does that represent in Bible 09:44 prophecy? Okay. It represents people and not just few but 09:48 multitudes of people. So how do we know it represents multitudes 09:51 of people, how do we know that? Come on answer me now. How do we 09:54 know that? The Bible says. But where does the Bible say it? 09:57 Revelation 17 verse 15: And he said unto me, the waters which 10:01 thou sawest where the whore sitteth are...here's our 10:04 definition of water...peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and 10:07 and tongues. So in other words, a very populated area of the 10:09 world. And that's normal language. If you see a large 10:12 group of people, you might look at that, and you might say wow, 10:16 wow, that's a sea of people, right, or a sea of faces. It's 10:18 normal usage to use it in that sense. And the beast that we 10:22 previously studied also came up in a very populated area of 10:25 civilization. Now the world is basically made of two components 10:27 That of land and that of water. And so if water represents a 10:33 very highly populated area of the world, what would the 10:37 opposite of that represent? Well it would represent the opposite, 10:40 right? We'd have to have a sparsely populated area of the 10:43 world. So here is a power coming up in around the time the first 10:48 beast is going into captivity in around 1798 in a sparsely 10:53 populated area of the world. It cannot possibly arise in Europe. 10:57 It has to come up in a different area. So we're going to take a 11:01 look at it, but before we do Revelation 12 and verse 14: And 11:05 the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might 11:07 fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she's nourished 11:11 for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the 11:14 serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a 11:17 flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried 11:20 away of the flood. Now you ask the average Christian, what does 11:24 this mean? Right. What is this talking about? You know what 11:27 you're going to get? You're going to get a great big blank 11:30 stare. Because they don't know right? But we can understand 11:33 this. We can. What does a woman symbolize in Bible prophecy? 11:36 When you see a pure woman, one that is in white, such as this 11:41 woman in Revelation chapter 12, it represents a pure church. An 11:44 idolatrous woman represents an idolatrous church, one that's 11:48 fallen away from God, an apostate church, okay? That's 11:51 the one in Revelation 17. So it says the flood waters poured out 11:58 from the serpent after the woman What does a flood represent? 12:01 Here we have it in Isaiah 59:19. When the enemy shall come in 12:06 like a what friends? Like a flood. The Spirit of the Lord 12:09 shall lift up a standard against him. So flood waters represent 12:12 persecution that's coming after God's church because they're 12:14 God's people. During the time of the dark ages, the church went 12:18 underground. That's the terminology we would use. 12:20 In other words, they went into hiding. It wasn't the visible 12:24 church during the time of the dark ages. So God sought places 12:28 for them in mountainous retreats in France and northern Italy 12:32 where they were actually physically hiding away. You've 12:34 heard of groups like the Waldensians and the Albigenses 12:37 and the Huguenots. They fled and they held secret meetings 12:40 because if they came out in the open, they would be killed. They 12:43 would be persecuted. So God sends his church with wings of 12:47 an eagle into the wilderness and hides her there and feeds her 12:50 there, nourishes her there for this long period of church 12:53 history that we call the dark ages. But the devil kept 12:55 attacking didn't he? Why because the devil doesn't like holdouts. 12:58 The devil wants to eliminate all those that follow God, and so it 13:03 says in verse 16: And the earth helped the woman, and the earth 13:06 opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon 13:10 cast out of his mouth. So the earth was able like a dry sponge 13:15 right, to soak up the persecution that Satan poured 13:19 out after God's church. So what he's basically telling us here 13:23 is that God opened up an unpopulated area of the world 13:27 and he received the masses of the church. They could flee 13:30 there and have safety during that time. So what are we seeing 13:35 here? Where did this power arise We know it arose in a relatively 13:37 unpopulated area of the world, right? When did it arise? We 13:42 know it arose about the time that the first beast went into 13:45 captivity, 1798. And so the next question is this. How does it 13:50 arise? How does it come up? It says it has two horns like a 13:54 lamb. Now we don't know a lot about the physical 13:58 characteristics of this second beast of Revelation 13, but we do 14:00 know it had lamblike horns. So we wouldn't expect it then to be 14:05 as ferocious as those other beasts of Daniel 7 or that first 14:08 beast of Revelation chapter 13. But think about this. This goes 14:12 back to opening night. Only 31 times is the word lamb used in 14:18 the entire New Testament, 31 times. Twenty-seven times is 14:23 in Revelation. Twenty-six of the 27 are referring directly to 14:27 Jesus. This is the 27th time. Not a direct reference to Jesus 14:32 but more an indirect one. Now think about it with me. If 26 14:36 other times it points to Jesus, what might we deduce from this 14:39 reference? It probably is Christ like, right, because it's 14:43 lamblike. It's got Christ-like characteristics. We wouldn't 14:46 expect this power to be as ferocious as those other ones 14:49 are. You see, when the Bible gives a symbol, it's very 14:51 important that it be a fitting symbol, so we make the correct 14:54 applications to it. So it's lamblike expect it then somehow 14:59 to not be like these ones in Daniel 7 because they devoured, 15:05 they come to power, right? They devoured on the backs of other 15:08 nations with fierce like, warlike violence, but not this one. This 15:12 one grew into power rather than conquering some other advanced 15:16 civilization. So Jesus is symbolized as a lamb. God's 15:21 principles are different. No force in God's principles. No 15:26 coercion with God. So it's vital again, that we look at this from 15:31 a Christian perspective. Let's go back to Revelation 13, but 15:34 look at the first beast. It had 10 horns and what was on the 15:38 horns friends? Crowns were on the horns. And of course a crown 15:42 is a very fitting symbol of a monarchy isn't it. When you see 15:46 crowns on the horns, that means it's growing up in an area that 15:48 is kingly authority. The papacy got its authority or seat from 15:52 pagan Rome and crowns on it indicate there was an area where 15:56 there was lots of monarchy ruling here. But the second 15:59 beast, it's got two horns and what is noticeably missing from 16:03 the horns? No crowns. So no crowns on the horns. The horns 16:06 are a symbol of power, so there is no kingly power associated 16:11 with this particular kingdom that comes up. This indicates 16:15 that it had a different kind of system. It has a different kind 16:19 of government. One that is based on freedom, not a monarchy or 16:24 tyranny. So the two horns representing strength or powers 16:27 shows the dividing of power, religious freedom and political 16:31 freedom. Christian principles. Remember how Jesus said, he said 16:34 render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God 16:37 the things that are God's. Jesus shows a separation of principles 16:39 there. And we know they're lamblike. Let me ask you a 16:42 question. Are sheep or lambs driven by the shepherd or are 16:47 the led by the shepherd. They're led by the shepherd, right. So 16:50 this is going to be a nation that's not driven by tyranny 16:52 but rather that people are leading it, not with any kind of 16:57 authoritarian power. So what do we know so far? We know this 17:00 second beast is going to rise around 1798. It's going to rise 17:02 in a relatively unpopulated area of the world. It would be young 17:05 because the horns are lamblike. No crowned head, or no kingly 17:08 authority and eventually it's going to ascend to worldwide 17:13 power and prominence. If you put all of that together, friends, you 17:18 can only come to one nation and one nation only that fits the 17:23 specifications of that prophecy and that is how the Bible 17:26 clearly describes the United States of America. The United 17:31 States was the only nation rising to world prominence 17:34 in an unpopulated area without kingly authority around the year 17:38 1798. When the United States was coming into existence, what did 17:41 they call it. They called it the New World, right, The New World. 17:46 So were there people here when the pilgrims came. Yes there 17:49 were people here. But there weren't multitudes of people 17:52 here, no. Historians have long written about the United States 17:55 and how it quietly grew into it's power daily. When the 17:59 Pilgrims came, what did they do? They came because they wanted 18:04 religious freedom. If you want to know the history of America 18:09 all you have to do is look back and say what was the conditions 18:11 in Europe, that really spawned that exodus over here. Now later 18:16 on they came for financial reasons didn't they. But 18:18 originally, they came because of religious persecution. So 18:21 centuries ago, these protestants, after enduring relentless 18:26 persecution, they found no safety in the world of kings. 18:30 They found no safety in the word of popes. Finally as the 18:33 American continent began to open up, pilgrim fathers fled to these 18:37 shores. They found refuge there. And I find it interesting 18:39 friends that the Bible says that the woman fled into the 18:44 wilderness with two wings of a great eagle. And what has become 18:46 the symbol of this great land of freedom? The great eagle 18:50 right? I don't know if that's coincidence or not, but it just 18:52 seems amazing to me how it fits. So those early founders of 18:57 America, that wanted to be free from the chains of persecution 18:59 they wanted to be free from tyranny. They saw the abuses of 19:03 a church/state system over in Europe, and they said we don't 19:05 want the here in America. We want a country that's going to 19:08 be functioning on the principles of a republic. Back in Europe 19:12 if the church wanted something done it basically had the kings 19:17 of Europe in their back pocket and they would simply go to a 19:20 king, and they'd say we want you to do this, we want you to do 19:22 that and they did. And that might work well if you're in the 19:25 majority, but what happens if you're in the minority? Doesn't 19:27 work so well. So the United States then historically, 19:32 geographically, religiously and politically fit the 19:36 specifications of Revelation chapter 13. It was built on 19:39 people worshipping according to the freedom of government and 19:42 the freedom of religion. From the U.S. Constitution it says 19:45 Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment 19:48 of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. George 19:52 Washington believed in freedom of conscience: Every man 19:56 conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to 19:59 God alone for his religious opinions ought to be protected 20:02 in worshipping the deity according to the dictates of his 20:05 own conscience. And then James Madison, fourth president of the 20:09 U.S., he said: The purpose of separation of church and state 20:12 is to keep forever from these shores the endless strife that 20:16 has soaked the soil of Europe the soil of Europe with blood 20:18 for centuries. Now church and state should be separated. And 20:22 then there was Thomas Jefferson. Of course, we know he was the 20:24 third president of the United States, and he was the main 20:27 writer of the Declaration of Independence, and he said 20:30 Believing that religion is a matter which lies solely between 20:33 man and his God, that he owes account to none other than his 20:35 faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government 20:38 reach actions only and not opinions. I contemplate with 20:41 sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people, which 20:44 declared that their legislature should make no law respecting 20:48 an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise 20:51 thereof, thus...he goes on to say...building a wall of 20:54 separation between church and state. So these founders 20:59 understood this principle. Ulysses S. Grant, and he said: 21:01 Leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, 21:04 the church and the private school supported entirely by 21:07 private contributions. Keep the church and state forever 21:10 separate. Many of them were Christians themselves, but again 21:13 when they looked back at Europe and they saw the persecution 21:16 that arose because of the religion mandated upon people, 21:18 they said we don't want that here. And I beheld another beast 21:21 coming up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb: Again 21:24 two great principles of strength for this country: Civil liberty 21:28 and religious liberty, freedom from the tyranny of a king, 21:31 freedom from the tyranny of a Pope. Then it goes on, it says: 21:35 and he spake as a what? Dragon. So I guess we could say 21:40 ultimately it's a dragon in sheep's clothing, right? 21:42 That's what it's telling us. It's a contradiction in terms 21:44 but somehow, what scripture is saying here is a change is going 21:48 to take place. It begins innocently, but eventually the 21:54 dragon is going to get his claws right into the heart of 21:57 protestant America, and we're going to see a revision back to 22:00 the Old World in terms of persecution that's going to 22:04 speak like the devil himself. What has happened to this nation 22:07 This nation was once a paradise for those who wanted to worship 22:10 God. But now it seems like it's become a paradise for those who 22:14 want to reject God or blaspheme God. I mean, today, and you know 22:17 pretty well anything goes as long as it doesn't get bad 22:20 ratings or effective ratings, but musicians glorify everything 22:23 evil, don't they? And of course we know what Hollywood does. 22:25 I mean, they do the same, and they get paid millions 22:27 and millions of dollars for it. 22:28 Movies and books that blaspheme and 22:31 denounce God, people flock to them. God has been taken out of 22:34 the courtroom. God has been taken out of the classroom and 22:37 God has been removed or neglected in the living room. 22:39 And people are wondering why is this nation going down. Because 22:43 they rejected the God of heaven and they made gods of their own 22:47 devising. It says the nation is going to speak. Let's ask this 22:50 question as Bible students. How does a nation speak? The Bible 22:54 here is giving an attribute to the nation that's called 22:58 personification. So how does a nation speak? The answer is it 23:01 speaks through its laws or its legislative body. Later on in 23:05 the chapter we're going to see that's it's going to cause 23:08 people to get a mark. Causes, that means it's going to command 23:10 it's going to become oppressive, it's going to become forceful. 23:13 You know the Bible says: Out of the abundance of the heart the 23:16 mouth speaks. So there's something down in the heart of 23:18 this nation that is eventually going to speak as a dragon. 23:22 Again, it begins innocent but it's not going to end up that 23:25 way. So what's it telling us here is the second beast is 23:30 going to pass laws that give all honor and worship to the first 23:33 beast. So how ironic though when you think about this, folks. That 23:38 the nation that's been the beacon of freedom and promoting 23:41 freedom around the whole world how ironic that in the end it's 23:46 going to be the instrument that brings about the mark of the 23:49 beast. Now I know that some people scoff at that idea, but 23:51 I want you to think about something with me folks. 23:53 Everything else in this chapter has been fulfilled exactly as 23:57 the Bible said it would. Now our founding fathers, they had the 23:59 love of God in their hearts. They wanted a Godly society, but 24:02 they did not want that mandated. So notice, it's the second beast 24:06 that does the work in causing people or coercing people to 24:09 give worship or obedience to the first beast. So here's what's 24:13 being predicted. It's predicting that once protestant America 24:16 not so protestant anymore at all reaches out its hand stretches 24:22 it across the water and joins hands with the papacy in Old 24:26 Europe and there's a coalition formed. There's a power block 24:30 you could say, such as never before. And he exercises all the 24:33 power of the first beast before him, he causes the earth and 24:36 them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose 24:40 deadly wound was healed. So I'm going to ask this question to 24:43 you friends. Has the United States with each passing year 24:46 forged stronger and stronger ties with the Vatican. Has there 24:51 been a growing cooperation? We can go all the way back to the 24:53 days of Eisenhower. At that time Pope John XXIII. Kennedy was 24:59 Pope Paul VI, Johnson Pope Paul VI. Always meeting, always 25:04 talking, always planning. Nixon still Pope Paul VI was still in 25:07 power during that time. By the time we come to Jimmy Carter 25:10 it was a new pope, John Paul II. And of course, when Ronald Reagan 25:16 was in power, he was probably at the height of his power as pope. 25:18 And they met together in the time of Ronald Reagan, 1984, 25:22 United States and the Vatican join in full diplomatic 25:25 relations. Here's a question. Does the United States send an 25:28 ambassador to the Baptist church No, it doesn't, does it? Does the 25:32 United States sends an ambassador. to the Pentecostal churches? 25:34 No, they don't. To the Methodist church, no. So we could name 25:38 many others. Why do we send one to the Vatican. Because it's not 25:41 just a church. We have George H. Bush, still Pope John Paul II is 25:46 in power. He's getting a little older in the time of President 25:48 Clinton. By the time George W. Bush is in power, John Paul II 25:52 is getting quite elderly there. And then President Obama was the 25:56 president Pope Benedict was in power. Notice they're always 26:00 talking, always meeting, always planning. And then of course our 26:04 present pope and our previous President Obama and now 26:06 President Trump. Always meeting, always talking, always planning. 26:10 Now, let's go back to Kennedy for a moment here, shall we? John F. 26:14 Kennedy had to go on record and make a statement in order to be 26:18 elected, assuring the people that he was not going to go against 26:21 the principles of the constitution, and so this is what 26:24 he said before his election as president: I believe in an 26:27 America, where the separation of church and state is absolute- 26:30 where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be 26:34 Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell 26:37 his parishioners for whom to vote-where no church or church 26:40 school is granted any public finds or political preference- 26:43 ...boy, that has changed, hasn't it...or political preference and 26:45 where no man is denied public office merely because his 26:48 religion differs from the president who might appoint him 26:51 or the people who might elect him. So he made a very clear 26:55 statement saying that he was absolutely for the principle of 26:59 separation of church and state. Now we fast-forward a good 27:03 number of years, and when John Paul II was having a cultural 27:08 center dedicated to him, the president at that time of the 27:12 United States was George W. Bush Now, George W. Bush came to this 27:19 occasion and presidents are always asked to give speeches 27:21 and he has speech writers and they put his speech before him 27:24 and usually they have a chance to go through it, and they 27:26 approve or disapprove of certain things. So in defense of George 27:30 W. Bush, I'm sure his speech writer put this before him, but I 27:34 want you to see what exactly he said on this occasion. He said: 27:40 Few imagined the course... speaking of Pope John Paul II... 27:42 his life would take, or the history his life would shape. 27:46 This is not a pope from Poland, this is a pope from Galilee. 27:49 Of course, making a comparison to Jesus there: We remember the 27:53 Pope's first visit to Poland in 1979, when faith turned into 27:56 resistance and began the swift collapse of imperial communism. 28:00 The last leader of the Soviet Union would call him the highest 28:02 moral authority on earth. He is the first modern Pope to enter a 28:06 synagogue or visit an Islamic country. And we in our country 28:12 must not ignore the words the Pope addresses to us. We thank 28:15 God, for this rare man, a servant of God and a hero of history. 28:18 The best way to honor Pope John Paul II, truly one of the great 28:21 men, is to take his teaching seriously, it is to listen to his 28:25 words and put his words and teachings into action here in 28:29 America. This is a challenge we must accept. Now again to his 28:37 defense, I don't think he probably fully understood what 28:39 he was saying here. But we're not making a political statement 28:43 here, but we're saying this is an amazing statement to make. In 28:47 1960, John Kennedy went from Washington down to Texas to 28:50 assure Protestant preachers that he would not obey the pope. In 28:53 2001, George Bush came from Texas up to Washington to assure 28:57 a group of Catholic bishops that he would. Have things changed in 29:01 America? The president presents the Medal of Freedom to Pope 29:04 John Paul II, during a visit to the Vatican. You can see that 29:07 they're giving honor to this man When he died to show you the 29:10 influence of this power for this country at his funeral, there was 29:14 not one, not two, but three presidents there and many other 29:18 dignitaries of this nation showing the influence that this 29:20 power had upon this country. Closer than ever, these two 29:25 powers are working. Revelation 13:12: He exercises all the 29:28 power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and 29:30 them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose 29:32 deadly wound was healed. Verse And deceiveth them that 29:35 dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had 29:38 power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell 29:40 on the earth. Here's a spokesman's power going to say 29:43 listen carefully to the latter part. It says that: They should 29:46 make an image of the beast. Once again, you ask the average 29:50 Christian, what's going on here and they say I have no clue. 29:52 In Revelation 13 five times it uses the word worship, worship, 29:57 worship, worship, worship, worship. Worship is central to 30:01 the issue that we're discussing here and this is why it keeps 30:04 coming up over and over again. There's going to be worship 30:08 toward the creator or the other side of worship, creation, which 30:11 is called the beast power here. Verse 15: And he had power to 30:15 give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the 30:17 beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not 30:20 worship the image of the beast ...there it is again...should be 30:23 killed. So who is doing the speaking now? The second beast, 30:27 the United States is doing the speaking. Is not the United 30:29 States the sole superpower of the world now. Absolutely 30:34 friends. With amazing accuracy God is giving us the headlines 30:37 of the future. It says it's going to speak and cause, right? 30:42 That means it's going to legislate and it's going to 30:46 enforce, is what that means. You can know through this prophecy 30:48 things that the average person walking around the streets has 30:51 no idea about. This is what's coming in the future. You want 30:55 know what our Australian neighbors think of us? I guess 30:58 they're not neighbors, but our Australian friends. Sydney 31:02 Morning Herald morning newspaper said this: Americans should 31:04 admit the truth and face up to their responsibilities as the 31:07 undisputed masters of the world. Wow! The fact is, they say, no 31:13 country has been as dominant culturally, economically, 31:15 technologically and militarily in the history of the world 31:19 since the Roman Empire. That's quite a statement to make. Colin 31:25 Powell, you know who he was, he was the secretary of state 31:30 during the time of George W. Bush. He said the United States 31:32 is a superpower that cannot be touched in this generation by 31:35 anyone in terms of military power, economic power, the 31:39 strength of our political system and our values system. Again a 31:43 super power. Only a super power could speak, and the world 31:47 listens. So what is this image to the beast? Remember now this 31:49 is symbolic language right? The beast is not a literal beast. 31:52 The image is not a literal image but an image is like a likeness. 31:57 So there's going to be a likeness set up to the papacy 32:00 here in America. The first beast, the papacy, enforced 32:04 religious law. There was no separation between church and 32:07 state. The image of the beast doesn't mean that everyone's 32:09 going to become Catholic. No not at all, but it means that the 32:14 wall that separates church and state is going to be dismantled 32:17 by well-meaning, probably very sincere people, and they're 32:21 going to say, let's get this nation back to God. Let's do 32:24 something that makes this nation moral again. So they're going 32:29 say we need to legislate religious law. Now, if you want 32:32 to know what the image of the beast is, all you have to do is 32:34 go back and say what is the essence of the beast? What do 32:37 they believe? Well, let's go take a look. Pope Pius IX said...Now 32:42 I want you to contrast this with what George Washington said. 32:45 I should have told you to keep that in your mind, but look what 32:49 he said. The state does not have the right to leave every man 32:51 free to embrace whatever religion he shall he shall deem true. 32:54 The church has the right...says this pope...to 32:58 require...which means force... that the Catholic religion 33:01 shall be the religion of the State, to the exclusion of all 33:04 others. Does that sound like freedom of religion? No. Just 33:07 the opposite, right? He says: Cursed be those who assert 33:11 liberty of conscience and of worship, and such as maintain 33:14 that the church may not employ force. He's basically saying 33:17 to the founders of this country, Curses on you because you 33:21 believe something exactly opposite. This is not that long 33:24 after the founding of this nation. And he says now this 33:29 idea of liberty of conscience, Cursed be that. He also condemns 33:31 as a grave error, the idea that everyone is free to follow and 33:33 profess the religion which the Light of reason leads him to 33:36 judge to be the true religion. This is the result friends of a 33:40 religion that's gone bad. When church leaders ask the state to 33:45 force people to worship in a certain way, you know things have 33:48 gone incredibly wrong, right? So the early disciples, they 33:51 didn't force people, did they? It's the devil that forces 33:54 people. Benjamin Franklin...I love this guy. He was truly a 33:57 real statesman for this nation. He was a very astute reasoner 34:01 Benjamin Franklin. And he said when religion is good, it will 34:04 take care of itself. When it's not able to take care of itself 34:07 and God does not see fit to take care of it so that it has to 34:10 appeal to the civil power for support, it's evidence in my 34:14 mind that the cause is a bad one Boy, he was spot on, too, wasn't 34:19 he? He said if the religion can't take care of itself and 34:22 it's got to go to the government and ask the government to force 34:25 the religion on people, he says, that's pretty good evidence, it 34:29 can't be a good thing. God respects human freedom doesn't 34:32 he? Look what he says here in Joshua 24:15: And if it seem 34:35 evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day, whom you 34:38 will serve. God doesn't say force. He says make a choice. 34:42 One from Revelation 22:17: And The Spirit and the bride say, 34:46 Come. And let him that heareth say come. Let him that is 34:49 athirst come. And whosoever will let him take the water of life 34:53 how folks? Freely. Scripture tells us in Romans 2 and verse 4 34:56 It is the goodness of God that leads us to repent. Right? So, 35:01 it is only through love that love becomes awakened and true 35:04 religion finds the power of persuasion, not in force but in 35:07 love. And love is what is to draw us to him. That's why I 35:09 said as God's true sheep hear his voice, they know him, and then 35:13 they follow him. So, what is prophecy revealing to us here? 35:16 It's saying friends that even though many of the framers of 35:20 the constitution believed in God even though they wanted freedom, 35:23 even though they wanted the church and state separate 35:26 that eventually church and state will unite in this 35:29 country to enforce religious practice. 35:32 In this book The Keys of This Blood was 35:36 written by a Jesuit insider, one who knew the inner workings of 35:39 the Vatican, Malachi Martin, And he said in his book, this 35:44 came out in the early 90s. He said, and John Paul II was in 35:46 power at that time, he said: John-Paul's goal is a 35:50 geopolitical structure for the society 35:52 of nations designed and maintained 35:54 according to the ethical plans and doctrinal outlines of 35:58 Christianity as taught and propagated by the Roman Pontiff 36:01 as the earthly vicar of Christ. So sometimes you have to go back 36:04 and work your way through the language here to really kind of 36:07 cipher and paraphrase it some. But he's saying a geo-political 36:11 structure means a worldwide society of all the nations. He 36:15 says he wants it designed and maintained according to the 36:20 ethics and doctrines of Catholicism. That's his goal. 36:23 He puts it right out there. Now what are some of the ethics and 36:28 doctrines that they want. In one of his apostolic letters Dies 36:34 Domini or the Lord's day, John Paul II said this: 36:36 The celebration of the Christian Sunday remains on the threshold 36:39 of the Third Millennium, an indispensable element of our 36:42 Christian identity. Let me just say something here. He's saying 36:45 an indispensable element of our Christian identity is Sunday. 36:49 Right, let's just keep that in mind. The Bible says nothing 36:51 about that, but he's saying that Sunday is a day which is at the 36:56 the very heart of Christian life. The Lord, too, has placed 36:59 His seal on His day...Again is That's where God put his seal? 37:03 If you were here last night, we found out where God put his 37:05 seal, didn't we? He didn't put it on the first day of the week 37:08 he put it on what? Sabbath or the seventh day of the week. 37:11 The identity of this day, he says, must be protected. So they 37:14 have borrowed from what God has set up, and they've counterfeited 37:17 and they've transferred it over and said we're going to put it 37:19 on another day, a day that we have set up. It goes on. The 37:23 pressures of today can make it harder to fulfill the Sunday 37:26 obligation...in keeping the day holy by means of prayer, works 37:29 of charity and abstention from work...a worker's right which 37:32 the State must guarantee, which means to make a law. In the 37:35 particular circumstance of our own time, Christians will 37:38 naturally strive to ensure that civil legislation respects their 37:42 duty to keep Sunday holy. What's another term for civil 37:45 legislation? A law, sure. Make a law that says we can keep Sunday 37:50 holy. He also says: In this matter, my predecessor Pope Leo 37:53 XIII spoke of Sunday rest as a workers' rights, which the State 37:56 must guarantee. How does the state guarantee something? They 38:00 make a law. USA Today newspaper now this is 2009, so we have a 38:05 different pope in power now. It says Pope Benedict XVI today 38:09 called for reforming the United Nations and establishing a true 38:13 world political authority with real teeth...what does that real 38:18 teeth remind you of? It kind of reminds you of those great iron 38:21 teeth in that fourth beast of Daniel 7, right? All right. It 38:26 says:...real teeth to manage the global economy with God 38:29 centered ethics. Now what ethics do you think he's talking about? 38:32 It called for the establishment of a supranational authority... 38:36 that means an authority over all the nations...with worldwide 38:39 scope and universal jurisdiction ...universal jurisdiction means 38:43 its laws to cover all the nations...to guide economic 38:45 policies and decisions. All the world, it says, will wonder 38:49 after the beast. And here it says it wants two things. It 38:52 wants the authority over the nations, and it wants authority 38:56 in the banking area. Well how much clearer can it get for 38:58 us? That's exactly what Revelation 13 is telling us. 39:01 It says: Such an authority should start with the United 39:03 Nations as its reference point but later became independent... 39:06 Now, who do you suppose that independent one is going to be? 39:09 ...and be endowed with the power to see to it that developed 39:12 countries were not allowed to wield excessive power over the 39:16 weaker countries...Of course you always have to have a good 39:18 reason...Of course, this transformation will be made at 39:23 the cost...what's the cost...of a gradual, balanced transfer of 39:26 a part of each nation's power to a world authority and to 39:32 regional authorities, but this is necessary. Now just take that 39:36 in friends. Take that in. In order to have a universal 39:39 jurisdiction, they're wanting the nations to give power over 39:41 to a world authority. What world authority, do you think that 39:44 they're talking about? Them obviously. What does Revelation 39:47 say about it. Verse 7:...and power was given to him over all 39:50 kindreds, and tongues, and what? Nations. They're saying we want 39:54 power over all the nations that we can guide according to our 39:59 ethics, our doctrines, and we want to have a banking system to 40:05 make that happen, too. What does the Bible say? They're going to 40:09 control buying and selling. Now when the Pope came to this 40:12 country back in 2015, he of course, had an amazing greeting 40:18 during that time. And they stood and they clapped and they 40:21 clapped and clapped, but keep in mind, he represents a power whose 40:26 principles, listen now, his principles clash entirely with 40:30 the principles of the United States Constitution. And yet 40:34 here are the leaders standing and applauding him for a good 40:37 while. Right? But they're not understanding what this man 40:40 desires and what this man wants is exactly against the good of 40:43 the country and the beliefs of the country. And let me just say 40:47 this now. The Pope seems like a nice man. He's given his counsel 40:51 on solving world problems. Says he wants to help. But there's 40:55 another side to this that we always have to keep in mind. He 40:58 is the representative of the Roman Catholic religion, that 41:02 same church that protestants are now wanting to work with is the 41:05 same church that still teaches a whole host of doctrines that are 41:10 against the teachings of scripture. And they're the ones 41:12 that the protestant world now is embracing. And the truth is that 41:15 the Roman religion is no more in harmony with the Bible now 41:18 than it ever has been, right? Back in the days of Martin 41:21 Luther, of course he started this great reformation and Rome today 41:25 remains what Rome has already been for centuries. The church 41:28 declares that you still have to do certain things, and they say 41:31 you still have to do them through the papacy. And of 41:36 course from there he went over to the United Nations and there 41:39 he made another speech. Speaking of the United Nations, back in 41:44 year 2013, and here is what happened. It says: UN Secretary 41:47 General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday hailed Pope Francis as a 41:51 "spiritual leader of the world" ...so there it is again...and 41:54 emphasized goals of social justice shared between the 41:56 Vatican and the United Nations. It is very important to meet a 41:59 spiritual leader of the world, Ban said at the start of his 42:02 meeting with the Argentine pope who last month became the first 42:05 non-European leader of the world's Catholics in nearly 1300 42:07 years. The Holy See...which means the political side of the 42:12 papacy...and the UN share common goals and ideas. Now folks that 42:16 should frighten you...one of the first world leaders to be 42:19 received at an audience by the new pontiff. Said he: Pope 42:23 Francis is a man of peace and purpose. He is a voice for the 42:26 voiceless, he said. Okay that was 2013. 42:29 Let's move ahead in 2015. 42:31 Here it is, the Pope: Not just for Catholics anymore, 42:35 is the headline. CNN article, it says: 42:38 A variety of celebrities and other public figures across a 42:41 variety of faiths-and no faith or none have expressed their 42:44 support for Pope Francis. Though he is the head honcho of the 42:47 world's largest Christian church she explains, He's captured 42:51 hearts across religious and even nonreligious lines. Wow! 42:57 The scriptures say again. Last night we realized that the 43:02 Catholic church claims that they take God's place on earth and 43:07 because of that, they can make moral law, and that they can 43:11 change God's law. And when they're challenged on that they 43:14 say, have we not already changed God's law and has not the world 43:18 followed us in this? And therefore, that shows that we 43:21 have the power to make religious law. And they refer to the 43:25 Sunday. So, speaking of Sunday, Pope Francis said in 2014, he 43:32 says: If your job has you working on Sunday, the world 43:34 leader of the Roman Catholic Church says maybe that's not a 43:37 good thing. A work-free Sunday- with the exception of necessary 43:40 services says that our priority is not to economics, but the 43:44 human being, family and friends, 43:47 for believers, it means a relationship with God and with 43:50 the community, Pope Francis told a massive crowd in Molise, Italy 43:53 July 5, according to Vatican Radio. He says: Perhaps it is 43:56 time to ask whether it is a true freedom to work on Sundays. You 44:00 know what is so ironic about that statement? Because he is 44:03 talking about taking away your freedom in the name of freedom. 44:06 Okay. That's what he's talking about. He wants to take away 44:11 your freedom, but call it freedom and yet most don't even realize 44:15 this. The quest for free space once a week is not a new theme 44:18 for a pope or for the Catholic Church. In 1998, Pope John 44:21 Paul II issues an apostolic letter, Dies Domini, or The 44:25 Lord's Day, in which the former archbishop of Krakow pleaded 44:27 for a more spiritual emphasis. Francis' remarks did not go as 44:32 those of his predecessor, but media reporting interpreted his 44:38 words as calling for a return to a simpler age: Pope Francis has 44:41 lamented the abandoning of the traditionally Catholic practice 44:46 of not working on Sundays, saying it has a negative impact 44:50 on families and friendships, the Associated Press reported. The 44:54 call for a work-free Sunday has expanded in Europe at least- 44:56 beyond the confines of the Roman Catholic Church. A European 45:01 Sunday alliance exists to lobby for legal recognition of 45:04 workers' rights to a day off, as as embodied in various European 45:07 Union Charters. So lobby means they're wanting the government 45:10 to legislate Sunday off. So in a summary. 1. The pope is 45:15 calling for a single world economic authority with real 45:18 teeth to enforce its ethics 45:20 upon the world and adopt Sunday as a holy rest day. 45:23 2. The Vatican is asking for authority to enforce its views 45:26 upon the rest of the world with the power to make 45:28 everyone comply. 45:30 3. The Vatican is asking the world of nations to submit their 45:33 individual authority to a central authority to make it 45:37 happen. 4. Papal Rome's stated goal is to spread its doctrines 45:42 across nations with Sunday sacredness being the focal point 45:45 of its teaching. We live in quite a time, don't we? We live 45:51 in the time in the Bible being fulfilled before our very eyes 45:53 friends. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church very interesting 45:58 but right in the catechism itself it tells us this: 46:02 Christians everywhere should seek recognition of Sundays and 46:06 the Church's holy days as legal holidays. It's saying what the 46:12 church says their holy days and every Sunday should be a legally 46:16 legislated. Here it says: Pope launches crusade to save Sunday. 46:24 In Croatia, they were pretty successful. Sunday shopping 46:30 banned in Croatia. The Croatian parliament has passed a law 46:32 forcing shops to close on Sundays in a concession to the 46:37 who? The Roman Catholic Church. They are able in certain 46:42 countries already to put pressure on the government and 46:43 have their way. This is a test friends before it comes to 46:47 America. Poland's Conservative Government approves ban on 46:50 Sunday shopping. Poland's ruling party approved a law that will 46:54 gradually impose a ban on Sunday shopping, meeting the demand... 46:58 notice not the request...the demand of its conservative 47:02 Catholic supporters. 47:04 What are they doing? They're going to the government again 47:05 and they're saying we want Sunday legislated. Now not only 47:09 Catholics. Here's one from the protestant world Pat Robertson's 47:13 The New World Order book, he said in this book. It's not the 47:14 duty of any particular group of people, it's not the duty of the 47:17 church, but it's the duty of the government of its people to thus 47:20 proclaim a day of Sabbath to be universally observed throughout 47:23 the length and breadth of our land. Sunday is the Lord's day... 47:26 So he's calling Sunday the Sabbath...If we as a nation 47:32 would escape the doldrums of increased trouble as God's hand 47:35 rests heavily upon his people opposition to Sunday nationally 47:39 declared must cease. You see we've had local Sunday laws 47:43 before. And there have been state Sunday laws before, but 47:45 never a national Sunday law. And so he's calling for a national 47:48 Sunday law, so that he says therefore, God's hand will again 47:53 bless this nation. In the Catholic Twin Circle magazine 47:56 it says: All Americans would do well, to petition the President 47:59 and the congress to make a federal law,...that is national 48:01 law...and amendment to the Constitution if need be,...Why? 48:07 because the constitution forbids it...to establish the Sabbath as 48:10 a National Day of Rest. Here they're calling Sunday the 48:12 Sabbath, but even if they were talking about the true seventh 48:15 day Sabbath, we still would not want that legislated, Amen? 48:18 Why? Because you cannot legislate morality. You know, if 48:24 a person does not want to be moral no congress, no president 48:27 can enforce morality upon a person. If a nation does not 48:30 want to be moral, no president or no congress can force that 48:33 nation to be righteous. Why? Because righteousness comes from 48:37 within through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But it's not 48:43 just Catholics. Here's a man, he is the dean of the Greek 48:48 Orthodox Cathedral of New England, and he says: In order 48:50 to fully appreciate Sunday as a mark of Christian unity, we must 48:59 expand our definition of unity. When we assemble in faith on 49:02 Sundays, we gather not simply with other parishioners in a 49:07 local place of worship, but with Christians throughout every land 49:10 and all the ages, and there is no greater evidence of unity 49:14 than this. Isn't that interesting. He's saying 49:17 a sign of Christian unity is when we keep Sunday. Take a look 49:19 folks at this statement, this verse in Psalm 94 verse 20: 49:24 It says: Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with 49:28 thee, which fadeth mischief by a what? A law? When the enemies 49:33 of Daniel wanted to get rid of him, what did they do? They went 49:37 to the king, and they convinced him to make a what? To make a 49:40 law. What did the enemy of the Jews, Haman did when he wanted to 49:44 get rid of the Jews. He went to the king of Persia and he 49:48 convinced the king of Persia to make a what? To make a law. 49:51 Right? And what does the Bible say that they're going to do? 49:54 It says here frame mischief by a law. And will the society go 49:59 along with the law? It says they gathered themselves together 50:01 against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the 50:04 what? Innocent blood. That's the result. They frame mischief by a 50:10 law and the mischief is to condemn the innocent. Wow! 50:19 Is the Protestant church going to go along with all of this? 50:20 For the most part. Let's go back here. James Cardinal Gibbon said 50:25 this: The Catholic church for over one thousand before the 50:27 existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, 50:29 changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. The Protestant world 50:32 at its birth found the Christian Sabbath...meaning Sunday...too 50:35 strongly entrenched to run counter to its existence; it was 50:38 therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing...which 50:42 means going along with...in the arrangement, thus implying the 50:45 Church's right to change the day for over three hundred years. 50:47 It says: The Christian Sabbath is therefore, to this day, the 50:52 acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as a spouse of 50:55 the Holy Ghost, without a work of remonstrance from the 50:58 Protestant world. Remonstrance means forceful protest. They did 51:01 not protest back in Luther's day and they still haven't protested 51:04 friends. Why? It was so entrenched, they said, let's just 51:07 leave that alone. Now we'll protest other things that are 51:10 easier, but this one, yeah, we've been going along with it for so 51:12 long, let's just leave it. Well just leaving it doesn't make it 51:15 right. Amen. Just leaving it doesn't make it biblical. 51:20 Scripture says: Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a 51:22 reproach to any people. Have you noticed that the pope is kind of 51:25 going on a unity drive all around the world? Pope steps up 51:29 drive for unity. Unite under the Vatican. Pope's contribution on 51:34 the road to unity. Here's some from Australia. Christian faiths 51:37 urged to unite under the Vatican So he's emerged as a unifier of 51:40 the religious right? He's a dominant political player on the 51:44 world scene. And he's seen as the one that's reaching out to 51:47 Protestants. Now, when he reaches out to them, it says he urges 51:52 talks on the role of the papacy when they unite together. The 51:55 Daily Telegraph said: Disagreement about the 51:57 extent of the Pope's authority was one of the main causes of 52:00 the English Reformation in the 16th century, if a new united 52:03 Church was created, it would be the Bishop of Rome, who would 52:07 exercise a universal primacy... what does that mean? He's over 52:09 everything. The Pope was recognized as the overall 52:12 authority in the Christian world by an Anglican and Roman 52:15 Catholic commission yesterday which described him as a gift to 52:19 be received by all the Churches. Now the Protestants, of course 52:23 are going to him. Here's an article: TV preachers glowingly 52:27 describe their meeting with Pope tearing down walls of division 52:30 but they say if we're going to unite the Vatican says the 52:35 Catholic church is above all others. So Revelation says it'll 52:38 be a mother and have harlot daughters: And the woman was 52:41 arrayed in purple and scarlet color...we showed you that our 52:44 last session...decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, 52:46 ...showing its great wealth... having a golden cup in her hand 52:48 ...we showed that in our last session...full of abominations 52:51 and filthiness of her fornication and upon 52:53 her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE 52:56 what friends? THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE 53:00 EARTH. The daughters are those that have imbibed her doctrine 53:03 that agree with her and never really broken away from 53:06 her at all. Whenever the church cozies up to political power, it 53:11 loses sight of its all-important mission to change the world from 53:15 the inside out. In blurring the lines between politics and 53:18 Christianity, the religious right has traded the only power 53:21 that can truly change America- the Gospel's power to transform 53:25 hearts-for the methods of a kingdom that is of this world. 53:29 He was right. 53:30 He's saying, when you go and try to coerce people, he 53:33 said, that's not the true gospel The gospel has to transform 53:36 their heart. And if you're using another method that's not of the 53:40 Lord. So we see again true worship and false worship 53:44 clashing together, don't we? We've got nonstop abortions. 53:46 We've got bombings. We've got terrorism. We've got school 53:49 shootings. We've got our cities filled with corruption. Why 53:52 don't we just get together? Why don't we just pick Sunday 53:55 because that's the day that most people go to church on, and we 53:58 would just come together and we'll have a unity like we've 54:02 never had before, and if we have this unity maybe God'll come and 54:04 bless our land because it's the day that, you know, we all get 54:07 together and the Pope's the leading religious leader, and he 54:11 says so, and we've got all these problems, and besides this, a few 54:15 Sabbath keepers. Well you know they're not that important, are 54:17 they? And you may be thinking well, pastor, do we see the need 54:21 of revival in this country, Amen Do we see the need for Godly 54:25 principles to be brought back to this country? Sure, we do. But we 54:29 do not see that legislated. How is that going to happen? I 54:34 wouldn't go along with it. Why would other people go along with 54:36 it? Have you noticed that of all the types of churches on the 54:41 earth one always seems to be prominent in the news. But of 54:45 the covers that show this power there is one particular 54:47 personage that comes up over and over and over again: Mary, Mary, 54:56 Mary. And here's one. LIFE magazine: Do you Believe In 54:59 Miracles? And who do they show when they're talking about 55:02 miracles? Mary. So what they're insinuating here is that when 55:06 you want a miracle, you got to come to Mary. And who is the 55:08 church in which Mary is the most prominent figure? Well the 55:13 Catholic church. So it says here in Matthew 7, Many will say to 55:16 me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? 55:19 And in the name have cast out devils and in the name done 55:21 many wonderful works? And I will profess to them, I never knew 55:23 you...so even though these things were done, these miracles 55:26 were done. These wonderful works were done, he says, I never knew 55:28 you and what was the test that Jesus gives furrowing them or 55:31 not knowing them. He says depart from me, ye that 55:35 work iniquity. Now folks God wants unity. But unity is not 55:39 the result of us all pretending coming together and joining 55:43 hands. True unity comes when you follow the word of God, and when 55:48 I give my heart and life to follow the word of God, and we 55:50 all do the same, and that draws us into a true unity. A false 55:54 unity is pretending to be unified and coming together on 55:58 error. And God sends a message in the end, to make sure that 56:01 everybody has an opportunity to know. Revelation 14:6 says: 56:06 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the 56:07 everlasting gospel...here's the true gospel...to preach to them 56:10 that dwell on the earth...so God has a message to go to all the 56:13 earth...every nation, and kindred, tongue, and people, 56:14 saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him;... 56:20 not the beast...for the hour of his judgment is come: worship 56:23 him...not the beast...that made heaven, and earth, the sea, and 56:27 the fountains of waters. So while this power is going around 56:30 this fallen church that says we want to enforce our teachings 56:34 Revelation says the woman is riding the beast. In other words 56:38 the church is controlling the state, okay. The woman is riding 56:42 the beast. God has his message. What are the true issues for the 56:48 end time? God's word is to be our authority, loyalty to Christ 56:53 obedience to his commandments, friends. That's the true faith 56:57 for God's people. On a very positive note: Before it's all 57:01 over when God sends that message throughout all the land, I 57:05 believe that God is going to wake people up. Many of them. 57:09 Not all of them for sure. But God is going to have a people 57:12 that sees through the masquerade. They're going to see the true 57:16 nature of the antichrist. Down through the ages, God has always 57:18 had true men and true women who want to serve him, friends. 57:20 People who'll be faithful to him at any cost, even if it means 57:24 giving their own life. As God sends his final warning in 57:28 Revelation sincere worshippers of Him will make a decision to 57:31 be loyal to all of God's commandments: For what is 57:33 a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his 57:37 own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 57:42 Dear friends, have you settled it in your heart tonight that 57:44 Jesus means more to you than anything else. Have you settled 57:47 it in your heart tonight that you're going to be faithful to 57:50 all of his commandments as he wrote them in stone with his own 57:52 finger? Does that mean more to you than anything this world 57:57 could offer you? What does it profit a man, what does it 58:01 profit a woman if they gave everything and lose out on 58:05 eternity. Make that decision for Jesus tonight. And let him give 58:11 you in response or in return the greatest gift that has ever been 58:13 given, eternal life. 58:17 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2025-11-13