Economic Collapse & Spiritual Survival

Fred R. Coulter—January 5, 2013

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services. You've been hearing on the news about the fiscal cliff. It seems like that's all we've heard during the election, after the election and clear up until two days after the bill was signed. It was so urgent that Obama had to sign it by remote control from Hawaii because he didn't want to stay in Washington long enough to sign it.

Everybody is talking about the debt solution and the problems associated with it. Even though the warnings are coming, even though the bankers know—and they know the solution because the solution will be coming—that's why we have a crisis. God never wastes a good crisis. It wasn't Raum Emanuel who thought of that first; you spell it with a 'k' and that's judgment.

Our minds are such that it's very difficult for us to contemplate trillions and trillions and hundreds of trillions of dollars worth of debt. Someone told me the difference between money and gold and silver as real money: Gold and silver has no debt behind it. Every dollar bill you have it says 'this note'—which means it's an IOU.

Let's look at some of the debts that we are going to have. We're going to talk about the economy today. We're going to talk about the different things that are going to happen. Let's break it down this way: Since we are a nation that lives on debt and is in debt, we cannot function without debt. But here's what we have. The national debt, supposedly limited at $16-trillion but that's going to go up. But that's not really the debt that we have. You have Social Security, you have Medicare, you have Medicaid, you have all the retirement of all the Federal employees to the tune of hundreds of billions, which then also gets up into the trillions.

Add on top of that the state debt. California will be probably the first one to go bankrupt. The city debts, the non-governmental entities like municipal water, municipal electricity. Add on top of that the corporate debt, the bank debts.

How many have heard of derivatives? How many know what a derivative is? A derivative is a bet! It's like an insurance bet. Here's this note for $100-million, so you buy a derivative that in case it goes belly up for $100-million and you're holding that note, you get paid. All of these debt instruments that they have out there also have behind them those kind of derivatives. There are $330-trillion in derivatives!

Let's just focus on something we can handle: the Federal debt. The interest is really low. We pay between 1% and 3% interest on it. If you look at what the 30-year bonds are yielding about 3.25% or 3.45%. That doesn't even keep up with inflation. If you have your money in government bonds at 30-year bonds and you're getting 3.5% and inflation is 5%, you're losing a percent and a half every year.

You can only do that for so long. Just to show you what the banking situation is, I was calculating the other day. Our accounts and the Church accounts are over here across the street in the bank right now that is called the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust. Before that it was called the San Benito Bank. Before that we had it in the First Interstate Bank in Gilroy, then that was sold to the United California Bank. Then that was taken over by the South Valley Bank. Then the South Valley Bank was taken over by the Union Bank. Now the Union Bank is taking over San Benito Bank or the Santa Barbara Bank and Trust Company.

That's just during the length of time that we've had an account for Christian Biblical Church of God. Six banks! So, it shows you the instability of the banking situation.

Have you ever had a credit card where you got behind on the payment? or Have you ever had a credit card where you were paying the minimum? If you have a credit card and you get a statement, read it carefully and it will tell you that if you pay just the minimum, it's going to take you so many years to pay off this balance and the total amount is going to be so much, which most of the time is about double or triple of the amount that you charge. That's just on the minimum.

What we are paying on all the things that owe, just for the Federal government, we are paying the interest only or the minimum. We're not retiring any debt. In 2012 guess how much of the $3.4-trillion income goes just to service the debt? You can't change it;, you can't vote it away! That comes first! $360-billion, just for the interest on existing debt!

When you have to borrow, which we do, to pay the debt, because we're borrowing $1.4-trillion in addition to the $3.4-trillion coming in, you are compounding the debt in an escalating rate that is almost unbelievable. It would be like—I don't know about you, but I have a half dozen credit cards, always keep them at zero. Whatever I charge on it during the course of the month, it's paid off, for me and also for the Church. The Church has no debt. We don't charge anything except expenses for visiting and traveling and things like that which is paid off at the end of the month.
Let's look at it this way: In addition to that, not counting paying this $360-billion on interest we have promises to pay for retirement, for Social Security $87-trillion. That's not counting any of the states. California alone has close to $300-billion in retirement. You see, this is what happened when they let the unions run the government. Give you an example: In New York City a fireman retires after 25-years of service and his retirement is, average, $120,000 a year.

How much would it take to pay off that $87-trillion in unfunded liabilities? Take all the income of all Americans and multiply it by ten and all of it would go to pay it off. Now you understand why they want inflation? Because before everything collapses they can take the inflated paper dollars and they can pay for it! Let's add a little more to it. Let's see what we can come up with. It says here:

 The Bright Side of Falling Over the FiscalCliff (Dec. 30, 2012)

A significant and substantial rise in GDP would help for sure…

Because we're beyond the point of growing the economy out of debt. You can't do that now.

…the speed and scale of debt utterly overwhelms any feasible growth plan.

What we are facing is this:

Unless we make changes, by 2055, interest costs will be the only thing that the United States will be able to pay for with available revenues and resources.

Be no government services, no Social Security; no child care—all of those things. That's just that. If they could grow the economy, then they could do somewhat about it if it weren't so much. But I've got a report here:

19 Facts About the Deindustrialization of America that Will Blow Your Mind

It is really a tremendous thing. Where is all the industrial going? China and the Far East! Even Europe suffers a great deal from this. Just one little side note:

#4—In 2008, 1.2-billion cell phones sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.

That also tells you—we'll talk a little bit about some of these things in prophecy. I won't read all the things here, but factories are closing and raising the taxes, as they just did, will close more factories. We are at a point that once a nation rejects God and doesn't repent and come back to God, they will reach a point where there is no solution to anything.
What I just talked about here was just economics. Let's look at some other problems we have. What's going to happen in religion? We talked a little bit what happens in government.

• What's going to happen in the society?
• What about the drugs?
• What about the obsession with sex?
• What about violence?

When you have a society that is living at a time where lawlessness is multiplied, then you virtually have to have a policeman loaded with guns in nearly every place. Otherwise how are you going to solve the problem?

Let's look at something here. I've got another report:

18 Member Group of Central Bankers Conducting Global "Economic Experiment" (Wynton Hall, Dec. 13, 2012) breitbart.com

They are! What is happening is no accident. What is happening is being planned for the coming mark of the beast.

Someone wrote me an email and asked me: What about our money in the bank if the dollar collapses and they bring in a global currency? I don't know what will happen! I don't know if they're going to give any value equivalency in your account but everything we have now is virtually all digital, and can all be taken just like that!

The mark of the beast, which is a buying and selling; it is not Sunday-keeping. Anyone who says that the mark of the beast is Sunday-keeping does not have a clue as to what is going on in the world today. Yet, there are some churches that teach it, even some Churches of God.

Let's come here to Deut. 28, and let's think about this just a little bit. Think of all the things that have been done to defy God. Let's see what God says. As I've said before, you do well to read it. The question was asked: Whatever happened to our gold in Fort Knox. They're wondering! Pay very careful attention to the History Channel whenever they run a program on: Where is the gold in Fort Knox? All of those pictures are at least 50 years old. They have also discovered that has been sold on the bullion market. The bullion market is these big bars of gold. They're supposed to be pure gold. They have tried to fake those gold bars and they never could until they discovered the titanium comes within a couple hundreds of a fraction of a difference between its dead weight and gold's dead weight.

There are reports out there circulating that I have read, that some governments—don't know which one…. Are governments honest? Which one? None!—that they made titanium bars and put quarter of an inch overlay of solid gold on them and they weighed perfectly, just a smidge less. If we're the ones who did it and if the Chinese are the ones who bought it, you need to think about what kind of retaliation may in the future be coming. There are many things working. Not only do we have the economics, we have everything to do with what is said here in Deut. 28.

I remember a saying by a Christian Jew—it was a rabbi for a Christian Jewish group—he put out a magazine entitled, Christian Jew. He was writing to his Jewish brethren and he said, 'Brethren, please remember this, while we all want the blessings of God—which we do—and we want to read the things that are good and uplifting—which we do—please remember, half of the promises of God—and all the promises of God are sure—are curses and penalties.' You can't avoid it.

Some people say, 'Oh, you shouldn't talk about that.' All right, what's going to happen if you never talk about it and it slams you in the face? What's going to happen when you wake up one day and you turn on your television and you find out that all of the banks have devalued the money and you now have 1 for 10 in your bank account? And yet, your rent stays the same? You have to take the 10% money and pay the 100% rent and you never get the 100% money from the 10% money to pay the rent? Simple math!

Remember this: liars figure, but figures never lie! Deut. 28 and Lev. 26, granted, are the most gruesome and depressing parts of the Bible, but those are there as warnings to people. Today with everyone having a Bible, no one can say, 'God, you never warned me.' Did you have a Bible? 'Well, Yes!' Did you read it? 'No!' I got you the Bible there, regardless of who brought it to you or how you bought it, but if you don't read it and you don't understand what I said, don't blame Me.

I've said over and over again—people want the blessings of God without the obedience to God and that is heart and core of the entitlement mentality. They have the same attitude toward the government. 'We want all of the benefits. We want all of the things to serve us but we are unwilling to send you a penny.'

 Same thing with God! God gives plenty of warnings, plenty of warnings, plenty of warnings. Remember the sermon I did concerning why Sandy? (Why Disasters?) It hit the states right there in the Northeast that are in the top ten of the abortion. California has the highest actual number of abortions and I need to bring a sermon on that. Guess how many of those murders abortions take place every year here in California right now? 214,000! That's a lot of judgment.
Remember God is the Blood Avenger. That's why I did a three part Why the Connecticut Massacre? for Church at Home. Connecticut is right up there. Remember, God is the Blood Avenger! He's going to avenge the blood of every murder, every abortion, every war, every martyrdom of the saints and the prophets. That's all being saved for the end-time for Babylon the Great. You can read the last two verses of Rev. 18. Let's see what's happening because all of this comes as a process:

Deuteronomy 28:41: "You shall beget sons and daughters, but you shall not enjoy them…" Anybody have happy families today? Very few! What do they get involved in? All kinds of things: sex, drugs, everything like that. They don't receive enough education so they can have a decent job. There are some few who get out and really work and apply themselves; that's good.

"…for they shall go into captivity." (v 41). You don't have to be sent off to a camp to be in captivity. You can be taken captive by sex, drugs, pleasure; all of those things that you become captive to and are obsessed with.

Verse 42: "All your trees and the fruit of your land the locust shall possess…. [that's coming] …The stranger dwelling among you shall get up above you very high…'" (vs 42-43). How is the stranger doing that? In banking!In production!

Like I read of all the cell phones, none are made here. That's how they're high above us. How about the drug lords from South America, East Asia and Sicily? Are they above us because they sell drugs and people take them? Yes, they do! Do they take money? Yes, they do!

"…and you shall come down very low" (v 43). Look at the difference. We believe the Word of God to be true, which it is. It's going to happen, which it will. That's going to take place. But it is a process. I'm giving this sermon because everyone wants to know what's going to happen in the new year. Maybe you will wish it was last year.

Verse 44: "He shall loan to you, and you shall not loan to him…." That turnaround was in 1983. We were the largest creditor nation in the world to that time, and we began becoming a debtor nation at that time. It's like everything else that takes place—a little bit, a little bit, incrementally; add some here, bring a catastrophe there.

• How would we handle it if we say we had five hurricanes hit this nation within a period of three months?
• How would we handle it?
• How could we pay for it?

You know what they said on the House of Representative floor before they voted the $9-billion to help out the people in New Jersey and New York and those states up there in the northeast for flood relief? They said the Federal Flood Insurance Program is broke and is in debt!

Whoever the representative was said, 'We have no money.' We borrow how much every day? $4-billion!We have an administration that is facilitating the destruction of America, adding to it. We have a Federal Reserve that is now pledged to keep this charade going until the collapse comes. All of the bankers want the collapse to come at once everywhere. They would not be able to bring in a global currency unless it happened all at once everywhere.

Federal Reserve is pledged to buy, meaning: we send a note to the President to sign, to produce $85-billion worth of printed money every month. When you understand the Federal Reserve is an international bank—independent and separate from the government—and their books cannot be audited, are they bringing us low? I think about that every time I enjoy something at home that all I have to do is open a cupboard door or pull out a drawer or flick on a switch or turn on my computer. I think, 'My, all those things. What a blessing that is.'

But God also says here, v 45: "He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. And all these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed… [Here's the cause. None of the causes are being addressed.] …because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you." Unless there's a great repentance of an unheard of magnitude, there will be no turning that around!

A person is going to say, 'Well, I never heard the voice of God. Why would God do this to me?' Because everything that is in the Bible is thevoice of God written by the men He instructed to write it—everything! Don't look upon it as another book that men wrote. Like I've said many times, all these educated and elite and how good they are and how they can get rid of God and everything like that and they trash the Bible and say it was written by men and it's old and it's outdated:

• Where did they get their education?
• Where did they go to school?
• Who wrote the books they read that they believe as their philosophies and their religions?
• Were they not men?
• Were they honest and trustworthy like the ones who God inspired to write the Bible? I doubt it!

Verse 46: "And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever…. [This just doesn't end with the covenant with Israel. The covenant with Israel goes back to Abraham.] …Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things." (vs 46-47). Isn't that true? Yes, indeed!

When we all understand that everything that we have, everything that we are: we live and move and have our being in Him! There's nothing to get exalted about. There's nothing to get depressed about, but to have faith and trust and love for God and each other. There it is, v 47 tells you the cause:

• Did not obey the voice of the Lord your God in keeping His commandments and His statutes
• For the abundance of everything that you did receive you weren't joyful or thankful

Verse 48: "Therefore, you shall serve your enemies…" How does that start? By paying more taxes to pay to the enemy that loaned us the money! Whatever money goes for that you're serving your enemy.

"…which the LORD shall send against you… [this will come suddenly] …in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in the want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you. The LORD shall bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand. A nation fierce of countenance who shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. And he shall eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, neither the increase of your livestock, or flocks of your sheep until he has destroyed you. And he shall besiege you within all your gates…" (48-52).

Do we not have the enemy within our gates? How long would it take them to come through the border on the south? They could come by tens of thousands every day and nothing could hold it back!

Verse 52: "…And he shall besiege you within all your gates throughout all your land which the LORD your God has given you." Those are some pretty difficult words to live by, but nevertheless, Ezekiel had the toughest message of any of the prophets to give. You read the book of Ezekiel. He had it really, really tough. Anyone want to be a prophet?

Let's see what God says. Notice how many times does God says 'heaven and earth.' What did Jesus say concerning the Law and Prophets? 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but the Law and the Prophets will not pass away.' What did God say when He gave to Israel the covenant? 'I set before you this day life and good, death and evil, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life that you and your seed may live.' He said, 'By heaven and earth.'

Whenever you read where God says, 'Hear, O heaven,' the only thing that is higher than that is Gen. 22. Remember after Abraham got done offering his son Isaac and then the angel intervened, what did God say? He said, 'I swear by Myself that in blessing I will bless and in cursing I will curse.'

Here we have 'O heaven,' one degree less than by God Himself, Isaiah 1:2: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken, 'I have reared and brought up children, but they have rebelled against Me.'" Then he lists all the things that they do.

Just to give you an example, the other night I got up and we've recently upgraded our cable at home so we can get the phone cheaper and everything like that and save some money with that. We got some upgraded channels, too, so now instead of 50 channels to channel through we have 100. I woke up and I thought I'm awake and I'm not ready to go sleep. This was like about 11:30, so I started thumbing through with Channel 2, the first one. I went through every one. I've got a lot of them blocked because I know what's on them and I don't want those coming into our house. But they had everything that is absolutely incredible. There's some good information. In order for God to get His witness to the world, to everyone, which He's going to do with all the high-tech things that we have, no one is going to say, 'Oh, Lord, I never heard.' He's going to make it available.

Every evil is there. I saw at least four programs on seeking demons, ghost programs. I flicked right through them. I just read the title and flicked to the next station. Then I flicked to one that was showing gruesome murders. There was this quick flash of a person with a hacksaw cutting off the head of another person while he was still alive. This is on television for people to watch. I couldn't help but think what Jesus said, 'From within out of the hearts of men come evil thoughts and adultery and fornication and murders and thefts and covetousness.' There it was just pouring out right on the video waves for all and any to hear.

God has made the judgment. 'If you want sin, I'll give you plenty of it, but you know I'm going to judge for it.' I tell you this, that if the ministers in the churches of the world and there are some who are giving warnings, that's good that they are. But if those of us in the Church of God do not give warnings, we better read Ezek. 33 because God says their blood is on you! We have to be up front with it. We cannot back away and hope for better times.

It's like the person who is waiting for the hurricane to come and it's delayed and it's calm and it didn't get there when they said it would come. He's hoping, 'Everything will be all right, I rode out the last one.' This time when it happened there was a man and his daughter who stayed back, no longer here. That's what happens when people reject God.

Look at the whole world. Just take a globe and look at it, spin it around. Where is there joy? Where is there peace"? Where is there happiness? Even within the Church we have to struggle for that, because we have to keep our bearings to know what is right and wrong and good and evil and how we have to work and struggle to stay right with God and understand what we need to understand.

Isaiah 1:4: "Ah, sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they have gone away backward…. [God said, it's so bad]: …Why should you be stricken any more?" (vs 4-5). Why do you want it any worse?

I saw this one program about this heroin addict, thin, racked with pain and craving and needing the heroin. She had used so many veins, there was no place left to stick the needle in to get it to go. Yet, there she was futilely trying, putting the band around her arm and hope that a blood vessel would come up. But her whole body was all racked and ruined because of heroin.

I thought to myself, why continue? That's what God says of us.

"…You will revolt more and more; the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the top of the head there is no soundness in it; only wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed, nor bound up, nor soothed with ointment. Your country is a desolation… [that is coming] …your cities are burned with fire… [that is coming] …Strangers devour your land right in your very presence… [that is happening] …and it is wasted, as overthrown by strangers" (vs 5-7). Whenever God comes down really hard like that, He gives us a little encouragement:

Verse 9: "Except the LORD of hosts had left us a very small remnant…" Those are the people of the Churches of God, a very small remnant. I'm sure that in society there are people out there that are not giving themselves over to evil and wickedness. God also notices and understands that, and God will also deal with them likewise.

Verse 9: "Except the LORD of hosts had left us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom; we would have become like Gomorrah." So then, God says the only solution is repentance. There's no other solution. Voting isn't going to change it. Look at all the polls that said Romney is going to win in a landslide. Sure did, didn't he? Everyone thought, O hallelujah, that will save us. No, it didn't! Only God can save us.

Track 2: or Download

The question came up: What happens to your money if the global currency comes in or devaluation comes in? Whether you try and make yourself rich or not, but this still applies:

Proverbs 23:4: "Do not weary yourself to be rich; cease from your own wisdom…. [That's all part of God's way. Because 'there is a way that seems right to a man but the ends thereof are the ways of death.'] …When your eyes look upon… [that is wealth] …it is gone!.… [That's what's going to happen when you wake up one morning after all the financial chaos of the collapse of the dollar and they bring in a global currency.] …For surely riches make wings for themselves, and they fly into heaven like an eagle" (vs 4-5).

The money is gone! The mint will give you one for ten. 'We take the nine, we give you one and we're going to take the nine and we're going to pay debt on that, our debt. You get the one and you pay your debt, but nobody's going to reduce it nine to one on you.' So that's what's going to happen there.

Proverbs 24:1: "Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them… [regardless of how much money they may have] …For their heart studies destruction, and their lips talk of mischief" (vs 1-2). I've got a report here:

18 Member Group of Central Bankers Conducting Global Economic Experiment

Preparing for the world currency. Quite a report. Guess who was in attendance? 'Uncle' Ben Bernanke!

Verse 8: "He who plots to do evil shall be called a master of devious thoughts." Does that remind you of any politicians? any bankers?

Verse 19: "Do not fret yourself because of evil men, nor be envious of the wicked; for there shall not be a reward to the evil man; the lamp of the wicked shall be put out" (vs 19-20). So, you trust in God.

Let's look at some Psalms. We'll look at a brighter part of this because everyone's going to say, 'What about me, Lord, I've got to live in this society. What's going to happen to me?' Be wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove! Let's look at some Psalms concerning this.

Here's what we are to do. I've given some messages concerning some of these things, but I'll tell you one thing for sure. We need to keep our mind on what God is doing. We need to keep our mind on what God wants us to do. When we see these things coming, that makes the Sabbath all that much more important and the Passover and the Holy Days, all that much more important than has ever been in the past, though they were never lacking in importance. They become even more critical.

• You have God's Spirit? Yes!
• You pray to God? Yes!

Psalm 61:1: "Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer." God is going to hear. God is going to answer. Even though circumstances are difficult, remember what we've already covered. God will be with you in trouble, because He has His Spirit in us.

Verse 2: "From the end of the earth I cry to You when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the Rock higher than me." We are facing things that are overwhelming. We are facing things we cannot even think of. How would you handle it if you had $10-trillion in your bank account? You'd look at that number and say, 'What is that?' Same way with the disasters around! How are you going to handle it when difficult things come around your way?

Verse 3: "For You have been a shelter for me…" God watches over us. His angels watch over us. They keep us from trouble. Whenever you avoid some trouble, thank God. God had a hand in it. Whenever you come to understand something that keeps you from doing something wrong, thank God. God had a hand in it.

"…a strong tower against the enemy" (v 3). I know it's overwhelming to think of everything that's going on and everything that's taking place. You contemplate the fact that what's going to happen when almost everyone out there is some kind of enemy against you? You may find yourself in those circumstances. Here's what we need to do: keep our eyes and our mind on what God has called us to do.

Verse 4: "I will dwell in Your tabernacle forever…" Remember what Jesus said, 'Don't fear the one who can kill the body but cannot take away your life, because he can do nothing more to you.' He said, 'Fear Him who can take your life, because he's the one who can give life.' We are looking for eternal life, so we need to count the cost on that.

"…I will take refuge in the hiding place of Your wings" (v 4). We're going to focus on the wings of God, because the wings of God are those protections that come from His angels, are those protections that come from His Holy Spirit.

Verse 5: "For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. May You add to the days of the king's life; may his years be as many generations" (vs 5-6). He was contemplating eternal life. That's the thing to always remember. Everything around us is temporary. Everything around us is imperfect. We're going to have to fight against the imperfections. We're going to have to deal with the things that aren't right. We're going to have to do things to compensate or whatever it may be, whether in our work or in our lives or whatever the circumstances are.

But to live forever, v 7: "May he abide before God forever… [he follows it up with that] …prepare mercy and Truth to preserve him So, I will sing praise to Your name forever, so that I may daily perform my vows" (vs 7-8). What are the vows that we perform? The things of the New Covenant! Living under the grace of God.

Think of the whole world out there deceived, under Satan the devil. Yet, those that God has called have direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ all the time. Keep that in mind. That's really something to contemplate.

Psalm 17 is quite a Psalm. It's also thinking on eternal life, thinking beyond what the circumstances are that we are dealing with right now. Notice how many times that a Psalm begins with 'Hear me, O God.'

Psalm 17:1: "Hear the right, O LORD; attend unto my cry; give ear unto my prayer, for it is not from lips of deceit." Why? Because we want a pure heart! We want the things that are right.

• Doesn't mean you're going to be free of mistakes.
• Doesn't mean you're going to be perfect.
• Doesn't mean you don't have things to overcome

—but is the direction in which we are going.

Verse 2: "Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; let Your eyes behold things that are upright." What is God doing in all of this? God is doing everything in this to prepare us for eternal life! Stop and think about. How are we going to handle and help people that survive over into the beginning of the Millennium? How many have seen some of these things on the wounded warrior documentaries and what they go through and all of the shock that they go through? Think what we're going to be dealing with. But we're going to have the power to heal them. We're going to have the ability to help them recover from that.

But in the meantime, v 3: "You have tried my heart…" God is trying us, testing us, proving us, day by day. Not that we earn salvation but that we cry out for the character of God.

• We cry out for the Spirit of God!
• We cry out for the Truth of God!
• We cry out for the love of God!

"…You have visited me in the night…" (v 3). You ever had that? When you wake up at night and you can't go to sleep, you lay there and pray, think, meditate, ask God to help you. Yes, indeed!

"…You have tested me, and You shall find nothing… [Why? Because we're trusting in Christ!] …I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress" (v 3). That's a good proposal, but that's awfully hard to do—isn't it? Yes, indeed!

Verse 4: "Concerning the works of men, by the words of Your lips, I have kept myself from the paths of the violent." In other words, anyway that deviates from God's way falls into that category.

Verse 5: "My steps have held fast to your paths…" Remember what the Psalm says: Look straight ahead—don't look to the right, don't look to the left—to God, straight ahead to the Word of God.

"...my feet have not slipped. I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God; incline Your ear to me; hear my speech" (vs 5-6). God will! This is a promise. Remember what I said what the rabbi said. All of the promises of God are in two categories:

• blessings
• cursings

Everything here, are these the words of God? Yes, inspired! The words that David was inspired to say to God. This is his conversation with God. This tells us how to be in conversation with God.

Verse 7: "Show Your marvelous loving kindness, O Savior of those seeking refuge in You; by Your right hand save them from those who rise up against them." Whatever it may be. Think of this. This is awfully hard to grasp, but think of this.

• Do you have God's Spirit in you? Yes!
• Why? Because you have repented, received the Holy Spirit of God and love God and are doing the things that are pleasing to Him!
• Does He love you? Yes!That's why He's called you!
• Does He love you in spite of your mistakes, not to condone or accept your mistakes, but to help you overcome your mistakes? Yes!

Same way in everything that you do. All the loving kindness that is there.

Verse 8: "Keep me as the apple of Your eye…" Let's look at it this way. Is there anyone who has the Holy Spirit of God that is not important to God? Of course not! He wouldn't have given you the Holy Spirit if it wasn't important to Him. So that can apply to you.

"…hide me under the shadow of Your wings… [That is the unseen protection that comes from God.] …from the face of the wicked who oppress me—my deadly enemies who encircle me…. [There are times it seems like that's exactly what is happening. Still trust in God.] …They have closed their pitiless hearts; with their mouth they speak proudly. They have now surrounded us in our steps. They have set their eyes to cast us down to the earth. They are like a lion that longs to tear his prey, and like a young lion stalking in secret places. Arise, O LORD, confront him…" (vs 8-13). That's how we do with any problems we have. Ask God to help us. There are times when that's the only thing we can do.

"…bring him down… [This is praying for your enemy, too. You can ask God to bring him down.] …deliver my soul from the wicked by Your sword, from men by Your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your treasure. They are full of children, and will leave their riches to their babes. As for me… [I want you to follow that single thread of thought all the way through that Psalm.] …I will behold Your face in righteousness; I will be satisfied, when I awake, with Your likeness" (vs 13-15).

Think of that! What is that going to be like to have a spirit body, to see God face-to-face? That's very hard to contemplate. It's like asking a child before it's born, 'Just wait until you see your parents.' Doesn't even know. So great will it be what God has for us. It'll be just like that.

 What God is going to help you to do—and this is why we need the Sabbath every week, every week whether you're home, whether you're able to fellowship. That's why we need study every day and prayer every day. Those are the tools of our spiritual battle. God is the power behind it.

Psalm 27:1: "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?.… [There's nothing to fear though we live in fearful times.] …The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?…. [putting everything in God's hands] …When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell" (vs 1-2).

Remember what happened when Hezekiah was confronted with the Assyrian army? There was no way they could win that battle! Even the general was sent to the people who were on the wall watching, because the armies were out there getting assembled. It's not like today. They would assemble and get out there and then they would come and taunt the people they were about ready to invade. He sent one of the generals and said, 'Oh, you people of Jerusalem. Don't listen to your king. Don't listen to Hezekiah when he says the Lord will fight for us. We want you to understand what we did to everyone of the gods in all of these other nations. We have utterly destroyed them. If you surrender to us, we'll take you away, but if you don't surrender to us, we're going to kill you.'

Isaiah came with Hezekiah and they came to the house of God and prayed. God answered their prayer and said, 'You won't have to fight. I will fight for you'—180,000 soldiers, all their weapons, all their swords. Today with the things we've seen on television and movies we can kind of imagine that kind of camp out there; all their horses, all their mules, all their camels. They are ready to come and attack the next morning. So what happened? God fought the battle! That night an angel of the Lord went out and all of them but the general and a couple of his assistants died. God fought the battle!

Verse 3: "Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not be afraid;' though war shall rise against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I have desired from the LORD, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple" (vs 3-4).

Notice how he overcame the thoughts of depression and fear and wretchedness and all of this, because we're going to see a lot of it. Think of it every time you see a disaster. Think of it every time where there is war.

Verse 5: "For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion, in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me…" That is, the shadow of God's protection, the wings of God's protection over us. We can pray this for all the brethren everywhere. All the prayers that we pray, it's not just for us, not the 'me' prayer, but the 'us' prayer—all the brethren.

"…He shall set me upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies round about me; therefore I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing; yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD" (vs 5-6). That's really quite a thing. Really, these are the things we need to focus on living in the last days.

I thought about this all this week, all the troubles and difficulties coming on and the wars and killing, and starvation, and things like that. The other night when I went through all of the hundred channels on television and saw all the wretchedness, I thought does this world need the Kingdom of God! Do we not as people of God need to pay attention to God and wake up and understand what we need to do! Yes, indeed!

Verse 8: "When You said, 'Seek My face,' my heart said to You, 'Your face, O LORD, will I seek.' Hide not Your face from me. Turn not Your servant away in anger. You have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation" (vs 8-9).

What did Jesus say about the righteous? How do we get into the Kingdom of God? He said that the righteous take it with great struggle and that's what we're reading about here. This is the struggle. We have that great struggle set right before us every day. Remember what Jesus said when you come to Him. He said you have to love Him more than father and mother—right?

Verse 10: "Though my father and my mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up." Closest one to him in his life, even if they forsook him, God will not forsake.

The whole result of it is this, v 11: "Teach me Your way, O LORD…" If you do that and follow that, what's going to happen? You're going to be obeying the voice of the Lord—correct? Yes, indeed!

"…and lead me in a level path because of my enemies. Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen up against me, and he that breathes out violence…. [those are prophetic words of Christ] …I would have fainted unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall make your heart strong; yea, wait, I say, wait on the LORD" (vs 11-14). That's what we need to do. That's something!

Psalm 31:14: "But I trusted in You, O LORD; I said, 'You are my God.'" Stop and think about that. Why do we have to affirm that? Because it's too easy to get idols in your mind, too easy to have other gods before Him! You take the first commandment, what does the first commandment say? 'You shall have no other gods before Me.' What did He say before that? 'I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the land of Egypt, you shall have no other gods before Me.' He judged all the gods of Egypt which are the type of all the gods and false religions in the world. They've already been judged.

Now then, the idols, the false gods are the things in our mind, the things that we do contrary to the will of God, the thoughts that we have. That's why none of us should get lifted up in anything about what we can do or anything, but thank God that we can do it.

Verse 15: "My times are in Your hand…" However long we live, it's all up to God. I'm getting up there in age; I'm soon cracking 78-1/2. So, I'm in God's hands and I better take care of myself. God's message to me is, 'I gave you a body, you know how to take care of it. You better take care of it. I've had mercy upon you when you didn't take care of it. You've had some things come along that had to be taken care of. You better sit up and pay attention and take care of it.' God will do the rest. If we're walking in His path and doing His will, then we must do our part and He will bless us in it.

"…deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. Make Your face shine upon Your servant; save me in your loving kindness. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You; let the wicked be ashamed. Let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to silence—the lips which speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt. Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who take refuge in You before the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plotting of man; You shall hide them in a shelter away from the strife of tongues. Blessed is the LORD, for He has shown His wondrous loving kindness in a besieged city" (vs 15-21).

This is showing that regardless of what is happening, God can give you grace and favor. God will watch over you. His angels will be about you. You will have the special protection of the presence of God, the special protection of the wings of God. Yes, indeed! This is why we need the Psalms. By the way, I have read all the Psalms and we'll have those available for you to have. You can be able to play and listen to those and help you.

Notice again the wings of God. Jesus said to Jerusalem, the last thing that He said, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets. How often would I have wanted to gather you as a mother hen does her chicks under My wings, but you would not. So, you shall not see Me again until you say, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'

Notice the strength and power that God will use to help us, Psalm 57:1: "Be gracious unto me, O God, be gracious unto me; for my soul trusts in You; yea, in the shadow of Your wings… [God's unseen protection] …I will make my refuge until these great troubles pass by."

We are going to go through what? What did Jesus say? We're going to be in the most troublous time that there has been in the history of the world. It's going to come suddenly! When this debt thing comes and this currency collapse comes, there is no way that I have the words or the vocabulary or the ability to tell you how this is going to be on people around the world. It is going to be an utter catastrophe and chaos and blood and guts and gore and lying and cheating and stealing. Everything like that and people running around trying to figure out what they're going to do. We will need this protection.

"…in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge until these great troubles pass by. I will cry to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me…. [because God has a purpose for each one of us] …He shall send from heaven and save me; He rebukes him who would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His Truth. My soul is among lions…" (vs 1-1-4).

Just think about this. What if you're out there on a safari in the African grasslands and it's night. That's when the prides of lions come hunting and you can hear them coming. Just picture that.

"…I lie among those who breathe out fire, the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth. They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me; into the midst of it they have fallen themselves. Selah (vs 4-6). God will always take the enemy at their own schemes.

This is what we need to be doing, v 7: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed… [be immovable, be strong in the Lord] …I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I myself will awake the dawn. I will praise You, O LORD, among the people;' I will sing of You among the nations. For Your steadfast mercy is great even unto the heavens and Your Truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let Your glory be above all the earth" (vs 7-11).

These are the attitudes and prayers that we need in the times that we are looking at, that God will hear and help us! Let's understand that all of this and the way of God is:

• love
• loving God
• loving neighbor
• loving Truth
• walking in the paths of God

all of that combined together.

Romans 13:11: "Now consider this, knowing the time that it is already the hour that we should be roused out of sleep…" Isn't that true? Yes, indeed!

There is a quirk in human nature when they are terrified and afraid of things that come along. They're virtually unable to think and unable to act. Remember when Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him for the final prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. They couldn't keep awake. Isn't it something that people just shut down?

So, we need to not be sleeping "…because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed…. [Yet, further away than we would care to understand.] …The night is almost over… [But the night is coming right now.] …and the day is drawing near; therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk decently, as in the day: not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and emulation. But let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not make allowance for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (vs 11-14).

Finally, we'll add one bit to it. This is what we need to do. Here's the goal we need to be aiming at, right here. The reason is today we have the whole Bible—correct? We have access to it in so many different ways that were completely unthinkable even 20-30 years ago. Completely unimaginable even when they had the printing press.

Revelation 3:7: "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write…" Not that we're saying we're Philadelphians. Everyone wants to claim to be a Philadelphian. God only knows where they are. Those are the ones who love the brethren because they love God. So, if you've got a lot of strife and contention going on and you think you're a Philadelphian, maybe you need to re-evaluate your thoughts and take it to God and get it corrected around.

"…'These things says the Holy One… [this is a message directly from Christ] …the one Who is true; the one Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one shuts, and Who shuts and no one opens. I know your works….'" (vs 7-8). Of course, God will know our works—right? Christ and the Father dwell in us by the Holy Spirit—correct? Yes, indeed!

"'…Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no one has the power to shut it because you have a little strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name'" (v 8). Whatever open door God gives to His people, to His churches, we need to walk through it. We need to do what God wants.

Whatever door God closes; we need to not go back and try and do that again. Did God close the door on Pasadena? Yes, He did! Why try and re-create that again? That was closed, that was slammed shut! We need to go ahead and do the things that God wants us to do, use the things that we now have to teach, to preach, to send out the Gospel, to make these things available to people.

We can't sit on what we have been given by God and just sit and wait for Christ to return. Remember the parables. You have to go out and work, you have to go out and trade, you have to go on and do.

But just imagine this, v 9: "Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan…" Who are they? They are the ones, the super-powerful elite that control the world under Satan the devil, that control all the banking systems, that control the wealth; they control all the aspects and function of government and education and entertainment to perpetuate Satan's deception upon the world. God has reached down into Satan's domain and has called us out of it. But their day of reckoning is coming.

Verse 9: "Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who proclaim themselves to be Jews and are not, but do lie—behold, I will cause them to come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you." They're going to have to come and bow down to God before our feet, the conquered enemy! God's justice will be served!

Here's why, v 10: "Because you have kept the word of My patience, I also will keep you from the time of temptation which is about to come upon the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth." Did we not cover how God is going to protect us, watch over us, keep us? Yes!Under His wings, in the shadow of His presence, in the shadow of His wings!Yes, indeed!

Verse 11: "Behold, I am coming quickly… [We don't know how far that's going to go. Quickly to God may be a longer time than we think that is quickly. But nevertheless it's quickly.] …hold fast that which you have so that no one may take away your crown." You hold fast to the Truth, to the love of all the things that God has given.

Then He makes this promise. Here's an overwhelming promise of such greatness, of such magnitude, everything that there is. Read this and ask yourself: What would I take in its place?

Verse 12: "The one who overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall not go out any more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which will come down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new name."

He ends every letter to the churches, v 13: "The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches."

Scriptural References:

•  Deuteronomy 28:41-52
• Isaiah 1:2, 4-7, 9
• Proverbs 23:4-5
• Proverbs 24:1-2, 8, 19-20
• Psalm 61:1-8
• Psalm 17:1-15
• Psalm 27:1-14
• Psalm 31:14-21
• Psalm 57:1-11
• Romans 13:11-14
• Revelation 3:7-13

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Leviticus 28
• Revelation 18
• Genesis 22
• Ezekiel 33

Also referenced:

Reports:

• The Bright Side of Falling Over the Fiscal Cliff (Dec. 30, 2012) wenchwisdom.blogspot.com
• 19 Facts About the Deindustrialization of America that Will Blow Your Mind (Michael, September 24, 2010) theeconomiccollapseblog.com
• 18 Member Group of Central Bankers Conducting Global Economic Experiment (Wynton Hall, Dec. 13, 2012) breitbart.com

Sermon: Why the Slaughter of Children in
Connecticut?

Sermon Series:

• Why Disasters?
• Why the Connecticut Massacre?

(ChurchatHome.org)

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 1-13-13
Formatted: 1-14-13

Copyright 2013—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.