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Fred R. Coulter—March 5, 1988
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Let's put ourselves, mentally, back into the time of about 1850; we won't get into war or anything like that. If you picked up the Bible and reading the book of Revelation. You had the whole history of the world, and you pretty much understood the whole history of the world. So, you're reading about the mark of the beast and even reading it for the first time, if you've never read it, it's kind of hard to understand.
Revelation 13:16: "And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads so that no one may have the ability to buy and sell unless he has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is a man's number, and his number is 666" (vs 16-18).
How would you understand that in the contemporary time of 1850? Yet, there is a certain amount of understanding that you can get from it, even if you went back before 1850, say 1450. I bring up 1450 because my wife saw on television that they were showing antique and ancient musical instruments. I just happened to be leaving for an appointment and I looked over at the television screen and here was a nice beautiful wood-crafted box with a lid on it and it had a keyboard, and I didn't know what he was talking about.
I thought it was a nice little piano. Delores said that he wasn't talking about a piano, he's showing about a clavichord, which has a little keyboard. It showed the top of it, and the little strings going down like a lap-harp, and you push the key and it struck the strings and it sounded almost like a harpsichord. Not quite because a harpsichord plucked it. Whenever you would push the key, a harpsichord would spring and would pluck it.
Here they had with enough spring that when you pushed the key it would kick up a hammer and strike the string. I thought to myself, after seeing that, these people weren't—as it's pictured today—stupid, don't know anything, have no technology, and that man has evolved. That was a fine looking instrument, it sounded nice, they could play a lot of things. It had a keyboard, just like we have a keyboard today. It was no different.
If you had all of the history and you had a good understanding, and you were reading Rev. 13, how would you begin to approach any understanding of what this has? You would study and you find that 'mark' means a sign, an insignia, whatever distinguishes something.
The way that it had been approached, and the way the Church of God Seventh Day had approached it in the 1850s was this way. In Exo. 31, and of course, the Church of God Seventh Day has had different groups that have kept the Holy Days and some that didn't keep the Holy Days, but here's how they understood it then, which was not exactly wrong, but it really wasn't exactly correct. There are many ways you can understand prophecies during the period of history in which you are living, and the way you apply it is not complete. Obviously, these things are going to be understood at the end, but down through history it had to be good enough, had to fit so that you could understand what was going on.
Exodus 31:12: "And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, "Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths, for it is a sign… [a mark or banner or signal] …between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you"'" (vs 12-13). Then it talks about keeping the Sabbath and so forth.
Verse 16: "…as a perpetual covenant It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever…" (vs 16-17). Then it reiterates about the creation and why God gave the Sabbath.
So, just to summarize it, the Church of God Seventh Day doctrine at that time—and I'm sure that it was pretty much all the way down through the history of the Church of God in varying degrees of it—was that the mark of the beast was Sunday-worship.
And sure enough, Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Halloween and all this is a sign of the beast system! The beast system has always been going on somewhere from the time of Nebuchadnezzar on. So, it's a sign of the beast system!
Just going over some of the things that we've covered concerning the mark of the beast I sent off for a booklet from Church of God International: What is the Mark of the Beast? I thought it would be a good one, but I was really very disappointed in it, because it says:
In the book of Revelation God says having two horns like a lamb, yet speaking as a dragon, will cause all—both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond—to receive a mark in their right hand or upon their forehead. And no man refusing that mark will be able to buy or sell. God says that terrible plagues will fall on them…
You need to know what the mark of the beast is.
So, I went through the whole booklet; it does a very good job telling about the sign of God, the Sabbath and things like that. It gives a history of when it was changed and so forth. Then right at the end, the first thing you always do to know where they begin and where they end is you read the front and the back. Then you know where it's going to fit in between. So, I read the back and it says:
The image of the beast is nothing more than the papacy…
That's the way it was explained way back when, years and years ago, that the papacy imaged in their government structure, the old pagan Roman Empire. So therefore, the Catholic Church was the image of the beast. That's not correct because the Greek there is 'icon,' it's a statue.
…its mark is Sunday, Christmas, Easter, Halloween and New Years, which blot out the knowledge of God's purpose and plan as revealed through His weekly Sabbath and Holy Days. It is a counterfeit sign or mark from the true sign of God and His people. Thus, if you keep Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and so forth, you have 'the mark of the beast.'
If you keep God's ways, you have the mark of God, or the sign of God…
If you have the sign of God, which he did not draw because he never answered the question concerning buying and selling except to say that credit cards were not the mark of the beast. Which we know that credit cards are not the mark of the beast, we understand that. But he never addressed the question of buying and selling. When you start out with a premise, the whole thing you need to do is to prove it, so your conclusion must prove the premise.
If you keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, you do not have the mark of the beast. If you do not have the mark of the beast you cannot buy and sell. If Christmas, Easter, New Years and so forth is, in fact, the mark of the beast, then you cannot buy and sell.
The logic is faulty there, because you can buy and sell. We know that we don't have the mark of the beast, we know that we have the sign of God as well as wherever God's people are, they have the sign of God upon them. And we know this one: Jesus said, 'By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.'
Therefore, if the mark of the beast were Sunday-keeping, Christmas, Easter, Halloween and so forth, we should not be able to buy and sell; one has to follow the other. So, can we buy and sell? We can buy and sell, so Sunday-keeping, Christmas, Easter, Halloween and all this sort of stuff is a sign of the system, it is one of the signs of the beast, but is not the mark of the beast!
If you do not have the mark of the beast you cannot buy and sell! They used to say that it was the 'blue laws' that they had—you can buy and sell on Sunday. But that's not necessarily true, because you can buy on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before sunset, and you don't conduct business on the Sabbath. If they close everything down on Sunday then you're out two days. Can you still buy and sell the other five days? Yes, you can! Therefore, that is not the mark of the beast! It's part of the system!
It is true that credit cards are not the mark of the beast—I agree with that—however, when you look at the mark of the beast, and you look at what this says in the Greek…
Some people say that if you have a credit card that that's the mark of the beast if you hold it in your hand. But what if you always held your credit card in your left hand? And you kept it in the left side of your wallet in the left side of your purse and not in the right, and you never memorized any numbers that you have. Some people said that the bankcard—which you can use with a pin number—if you put that number in that's in your forehead. So, you have the card in your right hand and you have the number in your mind, so it's in your right hand and your forehead, so therefore, that is the mark of the beast.
NO! That's not the mark of the beast! The Greek is very clear!
Revelation 13:16: "And he causes all…" Back in the 1850s you could never comprehend all. Before 1492 you wouldn't know that the other side of the world existed.
"…the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads" (v 16). The Greek word for in is 'epi'—meaning upon. The phrase 'epi tes gras' means the people. We are not in the earth by any stretch of the imagination; we are on the earth.
The mark is to be put upon—'epi'—the right hand or the forehead. So, it is something goes right on the hand or on the forehead. It has to do with buying and selling. No place here does it talk about which day you observe. This is strictly business. It has to do with worship, idolatry, but here we come down to common ground, which affects all human beings. So, something that is put upon your hand or forehead.
If you know your Bible well, then what you do is test every statement you make, or every Scripture with another one, so that you understand that what you're doing is right.
Hebrews 10:16: "'This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days," says the Lord, "I will give My Laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds'"—into, part of.
Where are the Laws of God? The word here is 'epi' and can mean in or on the surface of. But what is God talking about here? Within, inscribing! He's going to inscribe—write—them.
Hebrews 8:10: "'For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days,' says the Lord: 'I will give My laws into… ['eis'] …their minds… [once you 're into the mind, then] …and I will inscribe them upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.'"
In studying this you can see how easy it is to say, 'If you have the Laws of God in your mind and heart, you don't have the mark of the beast.' If you worship idols, if you keep Sunday, if you keep Christmas, Easter and all the pagan holidays, that is also in your mind. So, you can see how easily this can be transferred one to the other. It is not exactly incorrect to say that those days are a sign of that system. But it doesn't prevent you from buying and selling. So, you have to go one step further.
People before this day and age would never be able to understand it. Over a hundred years ago you could go out and barter with the local farmer who was just a mile out of town. Not today! No way! When banks close, who closes them? Partly freezing money over here! And now you can conquer without firing a shot!
Years ago this was not possible because you had your own treasuries. You had your own mint. When they close banks there are no checks, no money orders, no payroll checks, cash or habitable goods. Your money is not in a bank; it's a figure saying what yours and the banks understanding of what you supposedly have is in the bank. All it is is figures.
It's tough when you don't have any money. We went ten weeks at a time without any income. We stretched everything to the maximum. God saw us through and worked everything out, but when I was going through that, I thought: I know what it's going to be like when no one can buy and sell. So you conquer by just turning off the 'bucks' and say, 'Sorry, it's policy.'
The mark of the beast is going to be voluntary at first until the beast is shot, then it's going to be enforced. Gradually they will change the policy over. Pretty soon the grocery stores will say, 'We're going to cut down on our supply of cash, so use the bank machine. We don't want to bothered with checks because it costs too much to process the checks.' If you say you don't want to use the debit card, they'll say, 'Sorry, that's all we use now.' You say, 'Okay, I'll do it.' So, you go ahead with the debit card.
Then the day is going to come when there's too much counterfeiting and stealing of these cards, and with all the underground economy that they can't get rid of when they recalled the currency and made everyone go by cards, so 'We have this ideal system and we're going to put upon your right hand or forehead so they can have something easy to screen.' Then you won't be able to buy and sell; that will happen instantly and not a shot will be fired. Just like the closing of the banks, all of a sudden, when they get it all in place and all ready to go, that's what's going to happen.
- Where is it that you go against God in receiving that for buying and selling?
- How is it that you go against God?
That's a logical thing to ask, because you have to eat. God knows you have to eat.
- Does God want all of His people… because they'll all be skinny in three weeks and starving to death?
The beast makes it happen to them; it's an enforced thing.
Revelation 13:11: "And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon." I'm not quite sure what the two horns represent, but I have an idea that's I'm studying on.
Verse 12: "And he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him; and he causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." Here you're getting into idolatry, turning to religion and economics.
Pope John Paul II said that the capitalists are all wrong and the communists are all wrong and we need a whole new system and share the wealth with the world. He's supposed to be a 'religious' figure!
Verse 13: "And he performs great wonders, so that he even causes fire to come down to the earth from heaven in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by means of the wonders that were given to him to perform in the sight of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image for the beast, which had the wound by the sword, yet, was alive. And he was given power to give life to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast also could speak; and he causes everyone who will not worship the image of the beast to be killed" (vs 13-15). So, there's idolatry in it!
Verse 16: "And he causes all…" This doesn't tell us if simultaneous with the beginning of the image, or if it's afterward, because you can't say it at the same time. They shall be killed, so here's martyrdom. It's the idolatrous system that will be coming along, which will be the Great Babylon.
He instigates it to be done, "…the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads so that no one may have the ability…" (vs 16-17)—from the Greek word 'dunamis,' which is the power. There's another word that is translated from the Greek 'exousia'—authority. But this here in v 17 is the ability; you won't be able to buy or sell.
I just wonder if this will not all transpire very rapidly. The first beast is shot or killed and revived, comes back and he claims he 'God on earth.' They make the image to the beast and then to show the loyalty to the system that this will never happen again, everybody has to have this mark, and 'we're also going to enforce it economically.'
Obviously, you can't go very long without buying and selling. It would be good to have a few things stored up, but you're not going to be able to store up enough to last very long. And God doesn't intend it last very long. Either you are going to be taken to a place of safety or you're going to be one of those who are martyred, unfortunately! We don't like to hear those words, but that's just what is going to happen.
I think it's going to be just like this: We have the answer for the economic chaos: 'All the bank are closing and you're instructed to go to your local bank wherever you are and they have this special equipment there and they will put upon you a mark. It will be put right on your hand or on your forehead, whichever one, you have the option, whichever one you like. We'll conduct all business that way from now on.'
As people have it done, they check it off on their accounts and open them up and let them buy and sell.
- Why did Russia change?
- Why is China changing?
- Why is that we are changing?
We are becoming more socialist! This is not a republic and haven't been for quite a while. This is not a democracy; it is socialism more and more! It's not like communism, but it's becoming more and more socialist, and the whole purpose is for those in charge of the world's economic system to bring it into one.
Even Pres. Ronald Reagan talked about a one-world order; not just an economy anymore, but an order. So, it's coming!
Luke 4:5: "Then the devil led Him [Jesus] up into a high mountain… [here's part of the temptation] …and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this authority, and the glory of them all; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I desire. Therefore, if You will worship me in my presence, all things shall be Yours'" (vs 5-7).
Why is this system going to be instituted? I think this will also help us to understand why there is such an absolute assault upon… Now, I am not saying that men like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Baker are ministers of God, but they did preach the name of Jesus Christ, which name Satan cannot stand!
Anyone who preaches anything about Jesus Christ is being assaulted. We've seen that in the Worldwide Church of God. The leaders were spiritually assaulted! Why would Satan want to do that? Very simple; to destroy any confidence people may have in any form of Christianity!
Remember that we just read that Satan said that "…if You will worship me in my presence, all things shall be Yours."
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. And they worshiped the dragon…" (vs 3-4)—they worshipped Satan!
For there to become this worldwide worship of Satan, you've got to destroy anything that even smacks of Christianity. I can understand why God is quietly letting people have their own little groups, wherever they're going to be. Be quiet in a way, because it's going to get tough! Then 'the screws' will be put on you, and then here they are worshipping Satan.
Verse 4: "…who gave his authority… [power; Satan gives power or authority] …to the beast…."
Verse 2: "And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him [#1]his power… ['dunamis'—power, charisma, leadership] …and [#2]his throne and great [#3]authority"—'exousia.' All of this is given to this individual.
Verse 4: "…And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?' And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him…" (vs 4-5)—by Satan. 'Blasphemies' is anything that rants and raves against God, that is scurrilous and berates God and challenges Him and sits in the seat of God. There are a lot of people who just by their very action are very blasphemous in what they do.
There's a man on the radio that blasphemes God every night! A rancorous, hateful attitude toward God.
"…and authority was given…" (v 5). All of these things are given. When the time comes for Satan to act, he's got a fistful of things that he's going to do, and he is going to give to this one beast!
"…to him to continue for forty-two months…. [after he is wounded] …And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he was given power…" (vs 5-7). Notice what is given!
Just like in with Satan and+ Job, Satan came to God, so God said, 'Okay, you do this, but you can't do that.' It was given to Satan to do it. So, here with the beast, it was given to him. Imagine how electrifying this is going to be for people on the world political scene when this happens. This is going to be stunning when supernatural things happen.
Verse 7: "And he was given power to make war against the saints… [it's not going to take very long before the war is going to start] …and to overcome them; and he was given authority… [the power of rulership] …over every tribe and language and nation." That's why we're seeing all this economic thing, and here is one of the first tests that they can do.
- think about closing the banks in America
- think about our national debt
- think about our corporate debt
America can be squashed in about a week because of our debt. All they have to do is close any transactions, through the banks, with the United States and it's all done electronically and it will be over with.
You don't need to be afraid to the point of being fearful, because when it happens, it's going to happen. It isn't going to do any good to get mad at God or your neighbor or the bank. It's because authority was given! Just think what can happen!
Stop all banking, and stop all trade, do you know how fast this country would go down? You couldn't get to the bank in time to draw all your money out, it would be frozen instantly! We're sitting in a very, very precarious position. We really, really are, and only by the grace of God that we keep going.
I've gone through some very difficult times, and it was almost like I was being assaulted that put me in a terrible financial position. I felt that way, and I was down and depressed. Both my eyes looked like I ran into a Mac truck just from the worry of it. I have deep-set eyes naturally and when they get all black from worry and strain, I look like I'm a walking case… You get to the point when there are times when all you can do is say, 'God, help me! Here I am and I don't know what on earth is going on!'
I guess that's the point where God wants us all to be. He brings circumstances around, and now I can understand why the mark of the beast is going to be so successful and why it's going to be so easy, and why only those who know God are going to refuse it!
They're the only ones who are going to refuse it, because they will be the only ones who understand. It's not going to take long. You're either going to go to a place of safety, or you're going to be martyred. How far down the road this is? I don't know! I don't know how long it's going to take to bring nations like Russia in, and other nations, but it says the whole earth here.
"…he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation. And all who dwell on… ['epi] …the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (vs 7-8). They're all going to worship the beast! To do homage has to do with idolatry, but I'm sure it also has to do with going along with and giving adulation to…
But I tell you this nation is setup! I mean its setup by its own devices and what it has been doing and it is incredible. It's just a matter of what God is going to do and how far God is going to let this whole system develop before it explodes completely on the scene. But when it comes it's going to be an overnight deal.
Does America own America anymore? It's going day-by-day! It's going fast day-by-day! Look at the prophecies about the strangers rising up within your gates, very high above you and you shall be brought low!
Deuteronomy 28:9: "The LORD shall establish you a Holy people to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. And all the people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD shall make you abound in goods, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD shall open to you His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And you shall loan to many nations…" (vs 9-12).
That's what we did after WWII; we supported the whole world. We had, at the end of WWII, the largest horde of gold that has ever been in any modern nation.
"…and you shall not borrow. And the LORD shall make you the head, and not the tail. And you shall be always above, and you shall not be beneath, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, to observe and to do them. And you shall not go aside from any of the words, which I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them" (vs 12-14).
There is quite a fundamentalist, evangelical, charismatic Protestant group called The Restoration Group, and they view America as part of Israel, of the ten tribes. Many of them view it as Ephraim and Manasseh, considering England and America. Some say we're Ephraim and some say we're Manasseh; it's neither here nor there. But if you will look at the blessing of Joseph you will see that the blessing was going to come the Ephraim and Manasseh of Joseph.
They are trying to institute the laws of the Bible as the laws of the land. Whenever you have a nation that disintegrates, or starting to disintegrate, you have all of the zealots who try and get back to what it was before. You always have that. That's what's happening in Mohammadism. Different groups are fracturing off, and America is fracturing badly!
Just like when Jerusalem was falling, the Zealots say, 'If we just return to God the way I understand the way I understand we need to return to God, God will turn back the armies of the Romans and we won't have to go through this.'
If you read in Josephus all the things that were going on, all the fractious and fighting parties that were going on in Jerusalem, it was something! You had the priest party, the liberals, the zealots, those who were just after their own ends. You can see how the is building up in America.
They see what God has said would be that if we only would follow God's way. I don't think they're going to get very far in politics, because look at what Satan has done on all of the religionists, and look who is left!
They won't succeed very far, because when God says that He's going to do something, He's going to do it! It is going to happen! We know that if you don't do what God says, all these different things will come upon you. Now we're getting diseases that you can't be healed of. There's a virus that causes a long-term leukemia. Guess how long it takes to incubate before it comes out? Twenty years!
Remember about what I mentioned about the shift in America taking place—1981; 1980 was the last year we were a creditor nation. From 1981 on we have become a debtor nation, and we are the world's largest debtor nation—period! It pales into insignificance Mexico, Brazil and Argentina combined. That's staggering. We can't even think of the figures on it.
Verse 43: "The stranger dwelling among you shall get up above you very high…" It doesn't happen all at once. The first major thing to change that was Brown vs the State of Washington 1954 with the school thing. Then everything started breaking loose.
Then others came in, and we have so many people coming into this country from so many different countries it's incredible! It's almost as if though those in Congress are in a total stupor of blindness that they cannot see what is happening. No one can say anything, because it's like shouting to the wall, you get no response! I says:
"…shall get up above you very high, and you shall come down very low" (v 43). That's what's going to happen.
What is the biggest problem with young people today, it's hard to get anything more than minimum wage. Why? Because you're not worth it! Why? Because of the sins of the nation! They don't understand that.
Verse 44: "He shall loan to you…" Just think of Japan at the end of WWII with those atomic bombs blowing off, the nation was destroyed, bankrupt, radioactive because of the bombs in those areas, and the spirit of the people was broken totally, absolutely. At no time has it ever been recorded in modern history with the unconditional surrender like the Japanese who changed their religion when the emperor declared himself not to be 'God,' but a human being. Who changed their constitution and renounced all forms of war. Now what are they doing? They're lending to us!
"…and you shall not loan to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail" (v 44). You know what will happen when they become the head. They are not going to treat you decently. That is just what happened.
Verse 45: "And all these curses shall come on you, and shall pursue you and overtake you, until you are destroyed because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes, which He commanded you. And they shall be on you for a sign and for a wonder, and on your seed forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things" (vs 45-47).
We went into divorce and we went into crime, all of these things. That which appears good on the surface will turn to evil and destroy you. People are not content with what God has said. He said that He has set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel! He put them in their own nations.
The Babylonian philosophy is that everyone needs to be all-together, and we can live together. With the human nature that we have it's very difficult. Then when you get stressed and persecuted and put down you have roving gangs; they're callous and don't care.
Everyone has become more and more polarized, and it's an insurmountable problem. I see neighborhood militia, and are going to protect their own property and our own rights and they won't want the police to come in unless called. 'We will police our own streets and shoot on sight.' It's going to happen!
It's becoming so fractured that everyone has his own opinion and his own set way. They're willing to shoot for it at the 'drop of a hat' anymore. I hope I'm not over-exaggerating, but I sense and feel that. I'm not trying to be gloom and doom on this, but that's why Jesus said to be 'wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.' Don't get yourself all trapped in and start arguing with someone you don't know. Don't argue with a clerk in the store; maybe argue over the phone with them, but not in person. You don't know who may just pull a pistol and shoot you.
Here's another indication of how the society is going. At the University of San Francisco they have a credit course that covers every sexual fantasy of human beings, including movies on pedophiles and bestiality and homosexuality that the whole group can watch. So, I predict that what's going to happen with San Francisco is going to be the first casualty of moral degeneracy in the nation. I think the city is going to be broke. Land values are going to go down. Taxes are going to go up. People who have families are going to flee out of it. Homosexuals and those with AIDS are going to flee into it. It will become perhaps the first plague city in America. Everything is set there. Nobody can solve anything. Anyone who wants any decency and peace are going to be gone.
I'll tell you one thing that whatever God said in Lev. 18 to not do, that's what they teach and give credit for. Everything God said do not do! That's what they teach. You know that anyone sitting in that class is going to have two choices: they're either going to abhor it and get away from it, or they will participate and experiment and do it to justify why they are there in that class.
When you have no God in your life that's what's going to happen. It was really shocking. It is absolutely amazing out these basic Scriptures, time and again when it comes down to the pivotal point or the fulcrum points in history, all of these things come into focus. I just want to emphasize something here:
Romans 1:18: "Indeed, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the Truth in unrighteousness." Even more it's going to be held in contempt:
- because of what's happening in religion
- because of what people perceive as religion
- because of what people perceive as Christianity
Verse 19: "Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them; for the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world… [you can see it] …being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse" (vs 19-20).
There are many generations now passed since they kicked God out of the classroom and allowed evolution to be taught. Back then the problems were:
- cutting in line
- throwing spitballs
- laughing in class
- not sitting still
now the problems in school are:
- robbery
- murder
- rape
- drugs
It just took a few generations from the Scopes' trial (1925) on for it to really accelerate.
"…so that they are without excuse" (v 20). Often times we say that these people are blinded and don't know, but God says that they're without excuse. If you look out and see the majesty of everything that God has created and say that 'this has just happened,' you are without excuse.
Verse 21: "Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened." That is sure true! It's becoming increasingly more true, because it's compounding, multiplying and getting deeper, heavier and thicker.
Verse 22: "While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things. For this cause, God also abandoned them…" (vs 22-24).
Let's notice how God in involved here:
- v 18—the wrath of God is revealed
- v 19—God manifested it to them
- v 20—God showed it to them
- v 20—they are without excuse
Then when they go through all these things, of changing these—and we've see it change—to where now you can teach in classes:
- sodomy
- bestiality
- all kinds of perversion
- lying
- stealing
But you can't mention the name of God! You can't even open a school board meeting with prayer anymore. But we can teach ever perversion under the sun.
- v 24—God gave them up, abandoned them
- God did it!
- He turned them over to uncleanness
"…God also abandoned them to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to disgrace their own bodies between themselves, who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie; and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the One Who is Creator, Who is blessed into the ages. Amen. For this cause, God abandoned them to disgraceful passions; for even their women changed the natural use of sex into that which is contrary to nature" (vs 24-26).
The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) they had a lesbian sorority all certified by the school, to receive school funds. There's no stopping it, brethren. With this AIDS disease it just like one homosexual said, 'We are going to sodomize your children every chance we get in your schools, in your bathrooms, at your bus stops. We are going to pervert their minds where they will come to our feet and worship us and beg for our delights.'
It's wicked! No wonder Lot was frustrated every day. Then it talks about the men; it not just the women. They call evil good and good evil, and God says that when that happens 'Woe to them…' (Isa. 5).
Verse 27: "And in the same manner also the men, having left the natural use of sex with the woman, were inflamed in their lustful passions toward one another—men with men shamelessly committing lewd acts, and receiving back within themselves a fitting penalty for their error. And in exact proportion as they did not consent to have God in their knowledge, God abandoned them to a reprobate mind to practice those things that are immoral" (vs 27-28).
God intervenes in a person's mind that when they reach the point of evil that they are determined in it, that they are determined in; God does something to that mind!
Verse 32: "Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who commit such things are worthy of death, not only practice these things themselves, but also approve of those who commit them."
Then Paul comes to Rom. 2 and is dealing with a Jew who is supposed to bring the knowledge of God to the world:
Romans 2:1: "Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone who judges another; for in that in which you judge the other, you are condemning your own self; for you who judge another are doing the same things." We're seeing this on this 'religious' thing.
Verse 17: "Behold, you are called a Jew… [we can apply this to someone who says, 'Behold, we are Christian and rest in Christ] …and you yourself rest in the Law, and boast in God, and know His will, and approve of the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the Law; and are persuaded that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light for those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of the knowledge and of the Truth contained in the Law. You, then, who are teaching another, do you not teach yourself also?…." (vs 17-21). That's the whole key. They have to teach themselves, too. Learn from God's Word!
"…You who preach, 'Do not steal,' are you stealing? You who say, 'Do not commit adultery,' are you committing adultery?…. [there it is, right there in the Word of God] …You who abhor idols, are you committing sacrilege? You who boast in law, are you dishonoring God through your transgression of the Law?" (vs 21-23).
This is what is happening right now to all 'Christianity,' and I'm sure that Satan laid the trap and caused it to be:
Verse 24: "For through you the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, exactly as it is written." How many people today curse God because of those things:
- curse religion
- curse the Truth
- have nothing to do with the Bible or anything
We've lived through it within the Church of God, and have seen that thing take place. Now we see it in those denominations that call themselves 'Christian.' It's a church called The Assemblies of God—'ecclesia to Theo.'
Brethren, there is so much sin in the world! By all means, do not get the wrong idea, and do not think in any way that I'm lessening the meaning of the Sabbath and the Holy Days. But the world is so evil that God first wants the people to get their moral lives straightened around. I cannot help but think of the sons of Rechab that Jeremiah was told by God to send for them. Their father said not to drink any wine. They refused to drink any wine, and God was saying to them, 'This one little command that their father said not to drink any wine, and they're faithful, therefore, I'm going to bless them throughout all their generations because of that.'
He was talking about the Sabbath, just because of that one thing that they obeyed their father, and God says, 'Yet, you wouldn't do it to Me.' I tell you, God is looking around for anyone who has any moral character, just among the general population.
The Church of God He's going to take care of. The world He has to judge, so He's looking and seeing.
The Church is being assaulted. Remember the thing I did on the modern Jesuits, the abolition of Christ. It's even more so today than when I read that. Speaking of the Jesuits, a former president of Panama, who is hid in secret, was a Jew by nationality, a Jesuit by training. Does that ring any bells with what's happening? The New Agers to make a better society! I just imagine that he hid in some Catholic monastery way back in the hills someplace.
Verse 24: "For through you… [the Church of God] …the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, exactly as it is written. For on the one hand, circumcision profits if you are observing the Law; on the other hand, if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if the uncircumcised is keeping the requirements of the Law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? And shall not the uncircumcised, who by nature is fulfilling the Law, judge you, who, with the letter and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law?" (vs 24-27).
Whoa! Those are heavy words. That's powerful for a Jew! He is just incensed in hearing that.
Verse 28: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is external in the flesh; rather, he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God" (vs 28-29).
What a way to introduce a whole book there. Rom. 1 & 2 is awfully powerful! This is just a letter. You can see that happening now.
With evangelists like Jim Baker, who is going to believe the Bible? They're a laughing stock. Who is going to believe when you stand up and say it's in the Bible, 'God says.' And the first thing they're going to say is 'Who have you slept with?' It's terrible!
When the time comes and you can't buy and sell you know the end is near!
All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version
Scriptural References:
- Revelation 13:16-18
- Exodus 31:12-13, 16-17
- Revelation 13:16
- Hebrews 10:16
- Hebrews 8:10
- Revelation 13:11-17
- Luke 4:5-7
- Revelation 13:2-4, 2, 4-8
- Deuteronomy 28:9-14, 43-47
- Romans 1:18-28, 32
- Romans 2:1, 17-29
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Leviticus 18
- Isaiah 5
Also referenced: Book: Josephus
FRC: bo
Transcribed: 4/13/17
