The World That We Are in Today - E.C. 2016

Fred R. Coulter—May 20, 2016

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Let's think about the world that we are in today. When we do that we have to go to the book of Revelation.

We all know what Rev. 12 is talking about here. But I think even in the Churches of God in the past—hopefully not now and not us—we were not as aware of the wiles of Satan as we should have been.

I remember when I was first translating this. Revelation 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving…"

In the Greek this is a present-tense participle, meaning that it's ongoing all the time. Not that he has deceived the world or had deceived different people, but who is deceiving the whole world. Doesn't say part of the world, it says the whole world. Of course, that's in varying degrees. Look at it today. I don't know what it's like in different countries of the world, but look at how Satan has deceived America. Look at where we started from.

Have you ever seen the picture of all the Constitutional leaders there in Philadelphia? On their knees praying to God, asking for guidance to set up the government? Of course, that was God's will to do it, to separate Ephraim from Manasseh.

However, both Ephraim and in particularly Manasseh, we have those from every tribe of Israel. Look how they started. Always remember this: it's not how you start, it's how you finish!

So, they created what is called the greatest Constitution devised by men in the history of the world. That is what made us great. No! That was only part of it. God is the One Who made us great, because He promised Abraham.

They had the Bible, and it was mainly the Geneva Bible. It was taught in schools. How many have heard of the McGuffey Readers? Good! That helped people, and the children especially, understand things concerning God. 'You shall not…' and the Ten Commandments, etc.

People, even though they weren't being called, even though they were carnal and just living in the world, had some understanding of right and wrong. They some understanding that there was God. For a carnal people God is pleased when that takes place.

How does Satan come in and deceive? He uses many, many methods! Look at what happened with the Civil War and all of that. Abraham Lincoln said it was because of our great sins and he called the nation to repent. Do you suppose our current President might even think of that?

So, we need to look at the difference between even those people who acknowledge God, but are not converted compared to those who are totally deceived by Satan the devil.

There's a perpetual witness that Jesus mentioned against all the children of Israel, and the Jews in particular. What was that? That was the nation of the Assyrians when Jonah preached, 'You're going to be destroyed.' The only national repentance recorded in the Bible.

So, Jesus brought it up. He said, 'The men of Nineveh are going to rise with this generation in the judgment and will condemn you because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.'

They had nothing concerning the Word of God. Look at what we have today. We have Bibles everywhere. As I've mentioned many times over, you can have it right in your hand wherever you go. Astonishing!

What happened afterwards? We come down through the history of America and we come to a very important time. I've suggested to Lyall—for what he's doing for warning the Brits—to think about specific times in history when something really dramatic occurred. With America and Britain the most dramatic thing that happened was William Tyndale translating the Bible. It laid the groundwork for England and for America.

But Satan is always there. Look at Britain today, it is the most politically-correct nation in the world. So blinded that they hailed the election of a Muslim mayor for the city of London. Think of that!

• How did we go from Tyndale to this?
• What happened in our history?
• How did we in America go from the founders of the nation on their knees praying to God, 'Lead in us what we need to do,' to where they are throwing God out of everything?

I look at two events. You probably heard me mention this a couple of times. One of them for Britain is Westcott and Hort. They were Jesuit infiltrators to change the New Testament, change the Greek.

There was one minister, Charles Spurgeon—how many have here have ever read anything of him? See, even a Protestant minister, though they don't really grasp the thing concerning the Sabbath, understood the gravity of changing the Greek and changing the Bible. And he warned!

I think in the original book that I did, Lord, What Should I Do? I quote Spurgeon in there a little bit where he warned the Brits. Let's examined what happened.

In the early 1800s who comes on the scene that has affected Britain and America and the whole world? Charles Darwin! In the 1800s who was there in Britain? Marx and Engels! Now they have socialism.

What we're seeing is Satan's work. Satan comes in, not as an evil person, not crashing in the door and saying, 'I'm the great dragon.' He has his agents, educated, accepted, and he helps bring the acceptance to it. Did Satan not do that with Charles Darwin? Now hardly anybody in the United Kingdom believes in God. If you think the churches in America are in bad shape, they are totally empty in the United Kingdom. People laugh at the idea of God. Now it's overrun.

• Where did Harry Potter come from? Britain!
• Where did socialism come from? Britain!
• What has happened to the empire?

I don't even think the average citizen in the United Kingdom understands that the empire is gone!

Every year I watch a celebration where the Brits get together in London, and they sing, 'Rule, Britannica! Rule the waves.' It's really quite a song.

Satan brings them into a delusion. He did the same thing in America. You've heard me mention this: 1893; that's why we have in the Faithful Version Bible, Rome's Challenge to the Protestants. You read that many times over and that was absolutely the most profound witness to the Protestants that the Catholic Church that they hate, that they reviled—no longer do today, that's how smooth Satan has worked things out—tells all of them, all the Protestants…

What happened was that the Protestants were pushing to close down the World Fair in Chicago in 1893 on Sunday—because that was the Lord's Day. They were pushing it because they said it was in the Bible. 'And if we're going to obey God, we have to close the fair down on Sunday.'

The largest Sabbath-keeping organization in America, the Seventh-Day Adventists, sued and they won the case that you can't shut it down on Sunday. But it opened the door for Cardinal Gibbons to write Rome's Challenge to the Protestants, to tell them 'there is not one place in the Bible, you have no defense, you have no Scripture, you have no authority for making Sabbath Sunday; that is a Catholic institution. How dare you condemn us while you stand on Catholic ground.' You read the whole thing. That is truly amazing.

How did the Protestants answer back? You will notice every statement by the Protestants is either just before the World's Fair, a year or two before, or shortly after the World's Fair in Chicago.

Sidebar: What also happened in 1893 in Chicago? The first Parliament of World Religion! They brought over a Hindu priest. When you bring people together like this, people are people. This is what Satan wants to do. You get rid of values by seeking common ground. Have you heard that before? 'We have our differences; let's have common ground.'

That made Cardinal Gibbons, who was the only cardinal in America in Baltimore, Maryland, and he's the one who wrote Rome's Challenge to the Protestants.

By the way, it was published four Sabbaths in a row in the Catholic Mirror. Talk about some irony, huh?

What has happened to Protestantism in America since then? Satan works incrementally! Once he has a big victory, then he works incrementally—step-by-step. 'This nation is not a Christian nation.' Bring up people to say, 'It's not a Christian nation.' So, those dates in the United Kingdom and in America were profound events that Satan used to incrementally bring in the rest of his agenda.

When did the progressives bring into America their 100-year plan to take over America? Who was the first President? Woodrow Wilson! Satan's plan worked this way: first of all he has disillusioned the people in Sunday-keeping. They were still keeping Sunday, but they had this witness. All the ministers knew, but they never did anything.

What's the next thing you do to take over a nation? You organize foundations and you organize those people on your side! You help develop those things of satanism and Madam Blavatsky, if you've ever read anything about American history and her.

There were a lot of people who worshiped Satan, beginning openly under the guise of liberty and freedom. Now how are you going to control the nation? We see the end result with ObamaCare. You get the AMA. Then you take advantage of every sickness and disease that comes along and you put in regulations. Pretty soon you get it down to where it is today with the doctors. They don't practice medicine. It is absolute dictatorial. 'You will do this or you won't have a license!' Isn't that true?

What else do you do at the same time? See now, all of these things look good. Didn't they? 'Oh, it's good, we have standards now. Oh, that's wonderful. Doctors can't go out and experiment.'

I wonder why so many people still die? Because of doctor malpractice and part of it is they can't do other things than what they are told dictatorially by the AMA and the doctors' association. So, you've got healthcare.

Now then, education. Bring in all the progressives into the teaching field. Then you have a major lawsuit. It was called the Scopes Trial. Remember that? They couldn't teach creation in the schools and in came evolution.

Now the children coming into the schools have no concept of God. At the same time, Satan is working to take down the churches by infiltrating with progressive ministers. Then you have progressive politicians. When the progressives came in with Woodrow Wilson in 1913, they had a 100-year plan, because that's how Satan works—incrementally!

Then came all the other things. Not all at once, but a little at a time. Ron Cary was telling me that when he went to school they prayed every morning.

What do you do to cleanse the conscience of the young people coming in who will be the future older people? This is one thing young people don't realize. They look at us and we're old. They look at their parents and their parents are full-grown. They have no concept, unless the parents teach them that 'once I was a baby.'

Now we're going to help the whole society. We are going to have government paid-for-school. How does that work? Incrementally, a little change here, a little change there! 'Oh, free school.' They're still offering it, aren't they? Hello, Bernie. Now it's mandatory everybody go to school. What are they taught?

• they got prayer out of school
• they got the Bible out of the school
• they brought in evolution to the school

Now you start taking down the morals—incrementally! That's what they did.

• then you bring in sex education
• then you be easy on criminals
• then you make things politically correct where we are today

That's how Satan has worked! You can take that formula and you can apply it to individuals, groups and churches.

So this is why God made sure that what He wanted given to the world with His Word He preserved.

Rev. 13—the seven heads and ten horns. The ten horns are not ten nations in Europe. Remember the article we had years ago, 'Europe is rising; we will have five nations out of Eastern Europe and five nations out of Western Europe. The beast is going to arise and we're going to flee and go to the place of safety in 1972.'

Dolores and I looked at each other and said, 'We're never going to get old.' So here I am. In July I'll be 81. The older you get the faster time goes. The older you get and look back, you wonder where did it go? Look at what's coming into the world today.

These seven heads are the super-elite. The ten kings will be ten regions of the world. You can go online and you can find out that's the setup they've been working for, for a long time: ten regions! They may shift and change a little bit, here and there. This is a worldwide thing. Everything that's been going on for the last 100 years is to bring the world to a one-world government with absolute, total domination over the world by Satan. How close is he now? Think of that.

Revelation 13:1: "And I stood on the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea..." We know that has to do with people and so forth. Isn't it interesting? What they do is get the people behind it!

• How many have heard of the way that the progressives and communists do?
• What is their model on how to do it?
• How to force change?
• How to bring it about?

First of all, they control the head. Next they control organizations at the grass roots. The way that they do it is from top down, bottom up, inside out. That's their motto. That's what they're doing to every nation in the world to bring about Satan's one-world government.

There will be a one-world religion. You've seen these shown on the DVDs. There is the World Scripture. They've been working on this for a long time. They have a world government, but they just need some teeth into it to make it work. Isn't that what they say?

Now, instead of countries relying on Christian principles—because they won't keep the commandments, the principles would be better than satanism—all Christians, regardless of what they are, whether they are in name only, or just a deceived part of Christianity, now there is war against us. See where it came from? From praying to God to give us a right government to fighting against the very thing that brought them the government that they have.

When we look at what's going to happen in the world, we need to understand: How did it get that way?

Verse 2: "And the beast that I saw was like a leopard… [goes clear back to Daniel; same thing back then, history is in cycles] … and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority."

How did he do that? Let's see how Satan works. How many times have I said that Satan comes with a benefit. What is socialism? A benefit! Now you know why Jesus had to go through this temptation.

Matthew 4:1: "Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit in order to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was famished. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread'" (vs 1-3). Did He need food? Was Satan trying to do several things here?

• to get Him to disobey God
• to obey him
• to look at His emaciated body and say, 'That's right. I could make some bread out of these stones'

We need to see how Satan works. He comes to bring a benefit. Remember, not all good comes from God, because there's the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What I want you to do is think about how these things have applied and we have seen it in our lifetime in the world, in our country, in the churches in the world and the Churches of God.

Sidebar:

• How did the money come to build the auditorium in Pasadena? Borrowed!
• How many of us gave so much to the building fund?
• What bank was it that loaned the money? The Bank of America!
• Who owns Bank of America? The Catholics!
• Who brokered the loan? The personal advisor, Stanley R!

Wonder what his commission was. Hardly anybody knew this, but there was one request that they would give the loan requiring nothing down. Tell that Church to ease up on the pope. 'That's reasonable enough, isn't it?'

Satan gives you choices that unless you have the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the Truth of God, which means the only way you're going to maintain that is through prayer and study, prayer and study, prayer and study, and living God's way.

So subtle: 'Look, you can use the other money to build this, to build that, and to build the other.' Are you breaking any law of man? No! Just one simple little request: ease up on the pope.

Verse 4: "But He answered and said, 'It is written…'" Jesus is quoting Scripture to Himself. He became a man so that He would be subject to the Law. Most people don't know it. All people in the world are subject to the laws of God because they are spiritual. Whether you have them or not, whether you have read them or not. They are all working, all the time! They always work. A lie is a lie, whether you think it's okay to lie. If your religion is looking for numbers, you want your church on Sunday, right? You'll get numbers!

God says, 'I've got an appointed time. That's My time. I'll be there if you're there. I will help you if you will turn to Me. But if you miss My appointment, I'm not going to be on the other day. I never sanctified that day. On the first day of the week I was busy clearing up the remains of Satan's rebellion to make the earth habitable for man. On the seventh day I was teaching the first man and the first woman, and I want to teach everybody all the time on the Sabbath Day because I made it Holy and I have sanctified it, and you will worship Me and I will bless you.' That's a good proposition! Think of that!

So Jesus is quoting to Himself: "…'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'" (v 4). The way we do that is, God is so great He had it printed so you would know what He said. Think about what it says there in Matt. 24: 'And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations and then the end shall come.' The Gospel is in the Bible and that's why we have so many Bibles.

You come down through the world, the society, the country, down to the churches, down to the Churches of God, then down to those like us who really are striving to love God and serve Him. Oh, Satan wants to get to us, but as long as we appear unimportant and we stay faithful to God, God will bless us until the time that it's ready for the mass persecution to take us. That's what it gets down to.

Next thing: 'I'll make you Messiah now.' We had here in our lifetime two witnesses. We've had more before that, but recently. One witness says, 'I'm one of the two witnesses. I'll tell you who the other witness is when I'm ready.' Turned out to be his wife. Then he got caught salting away stolen funds from the church overseas, and he continued his magnificent witness in jail. I think there's two more on the scene. I haven't verified it, but I think coming out of Edmunds, Oklahoma.

Look at all the troubles and difficulties that Satan has done to the Church. Look at how he came in and subverted the Church and took it down, because of the corruption within the Church itself and the Church leaders. They didn't recognize Satan's subtle benefits and Satan working incrementally!

You can probably look back and think of a minister who was really zealous. Maybe he's on television preaching Sunday. How did that happen? Right here; Satan came and said, 'I'll give you a benefit.'

Verse 5: "Then the devil took Him to the Holy city and set Him upon the edge of the temple, and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down; for it is written… ['I know Scripture'] …"He shall give His angels charge concerning You, and they shall bear You up in their hands, lest You strike Your foot against a stone"'" (vs 5-6).

'I'm going to protect You. You can use God this way and He will help You.' and 'You'll be accepted by all of the Jewish leaders, because it will be right here in Jerusalem.' You read Matt. 23 what Jesus thought of them.

Verse 7: "Jesus said to him, 'Again, it is written, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."' After that, the devil took Him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to Him, 'All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me'" (vs 7-9). That's quite a bit! If you're lusting after power and you want to get ahead, what a benefit that would be. An insider to pull you up and put you in a position of power.

This applies to politicians, church leaders, every human being. Look at all the benefits through entertainment that Satan gave to all of these great rock stars. 'You will have a fantastic following, millions will follow you. You will have rock concerts and thousands will be there cheering your name. But I'll kill you with drugs before you're 50.' Doesn't say that, does he? 'As long as you do my bidding.'

They were delivered to him. How were they delivered to him? Because people, churches, communities, states, regions, provinces, countries, nations turned their back on God. Satan comes right in! That's how he became the god of this world.

Verse 10: "Then Jesus said to him, 'Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship… [He's talking to Himself] …the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve."'"

First time I read that I thought, how is Satan going to worship God? It has nothing to do you, being Satan, You as quoting Scripture to Yourself. From that time to Rev. 13, when you receive the benefits of Satan the devil, you will worship him! You will serve him!

What was one of the great mistakes that the Church doctrinal boards made? They went to the Protestants to find out what grace was, because they didn't teach it and they didn't preach it. What happened? 'These people are so nice; they seem more converted than many people in the church! How could that possibly be?' Because you didn't teach the Bible the way that you should! Then the infiltration came as punishment. You want to know what grace is?

• go to God
• go to His Word
• study it
• pray about it
• think about it
• understand it

God will reveal it, bit-by-bit-by-bit. In the final analysis the grace of God is greater, greater than the forgiveness of sins. It is the direct relationship between each individual and God the Father and Jesus Christ and spiritually dwelling in us! That's the grace of God! That is fantastic! It was there all the time. But Satan comes in to bring a benefit. So what happens?

Revelation 13:3: "And I saw one of his heads as if it were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast."

All of this has got to happen before the beginning of the Tribulation. Right after this event that's when the Tribulation begins. But notice the condition of the world. It says 'the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast, and they worshiped the dragon who gave his authority to the beast' because it was given to him to give to the beast.

Verse 4: "…And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?'" Everything is building to this point today. Is the whole world being prepared mentally for two things?

• death and destruction and war

Yes, look at every movie. If you have death and destruction and war and mayhem and chaos, you'll be successful and make money. If you have a video game for kids to play, it's kill them, destroy them, shoot them, stab them, jump over them. Think of the world that's being trained by Satan today! That's an amazing thing!

You can see it all on television with the ads. I remember we went to a movie one time and went in to watch the movie. I forget the movie, but I remember how it affected me. Here we're sitting and here comes the sound—loud! blasting! I'm sitting there and I can feel it going right through my body, all the sound waves. I'm thinking, what is this doing to the minds and bodies of people?

Now all the death and destruction going on, we're being prepared for the Great Tribulation. What's the other thing we're being prepared for?

• the aliens from outer space

Even the Roman Catholic Church is trying to get in touch with the aliens and those are all Satan the devil and the demons. The true aliens to them are God the Father, Jesus Christ, the angels, and the resurrected saints. Ever thought of that?

Why are they going to fight Christ when He returns? Most religionists think, 'If Jesus is here, the world will flock to Him.' That's the wrong Jesus. Christ is going to come from heaven. We're going to have a day to celebrate our joining Him on the Sea of Glass and that's called Pentecost.

I think it was Andrew who told me that he heard a sermon on Pentecost, maybe it wasn't Andrew, that the word Pentecost on the Day of Pentecost, in a message in a Church of God, was not even used once. What does that tell you? What's going to happen to people like that in time of trouble? They will accept the benefit of Satan to spare their physical lives for a time!

When that day comes, the resurrection is going to take place. (Speculation): I believe the whole world is going to see the resurrection take place and that big Sea of Glass over the Holy Land. The world is going to be shouting and yelling and screaming: 'The aliens! the aliens! they're here! We have to fight them!'

That's how you get into the seven last plagues. They are going to fight Christ! They don't know God the Father and Jesus Christ. They don't know us because we're the secret army that God is preparing. Just think what it's going to be like for all those down through history.

We'll take a break and come back and then Roger will give us some things on how we need to stand with God and resist Satan the devil. {Note sermon: Signs to the Kingdom of God, Roger Kendall}

That is an overview of how the world and in particularly our nations, got from beginning with God and ending with Satan!

Scriptural References:

•  Revelation 12:9
• Revelation 13:1-2
• Matthew 4:1-10
• Revelation 13:3-4

Scriptures referenced, not quoted: Matthew 24; 23

Also referenced:

• Book: Lord, What Should I Do ? by Fred R. Coulter
• From The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, a Faithful Version, Appendix N: Rome's Challenge to the Protestants
• Sermon: Signs to the Kingdom of God byRoger Kendall

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 6-29-16
Formatted: bo—6/29/16

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