Election, Israel and the Church

Even if the prophets of Baal would speak the Word of God, God would honor it!
God is going to give a witness!

Fred R. Coulter—November 5, 2016

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services. This is the Sabbath before the election. Everyone wants to know what's going to happen.

Everybody is saying Hillary is going to win. Others are saying Trump is going to win. What will happen on Election Day? One equation that they have left out of it, in Dan. 4 it tells us God rules in the kingdoms of men. Generally speaking, the people get what they deserve.

The Children of Israel

Let's look at the children of Israel. We know they're not going to repent the way that's necessary for salvation. The question remains: Will there be enough change for God to intervene? There are a good number of Sunday-keeping churches that are fasting and praying on Election Day. Maybe there will be enough of them that God will hear and answer.

As I've said the last couple of times, however the election turns out, it will be a steep drop off if Hillary is elected, and it would put us in a terrible constitutional situation. If Obama pardons her, then every thought of anything going right is over.

Psalm 78:29: "So they ate and were filled to the full, for He gave them that which they craved." I want you to relate it to the world today and the nation today. Do we have everything we have ever wanted? Yes!

Verse 30: "They were not turned away from their lust, but while their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them and killed the strongest of them, and struck down the chosen men of Israel" (vs 30-31).

There are times when God intervenes quickly. There are times when He doesn't intervene quickly. We will see there are times when there is repentance and we will see there are times when they change enough for God to hear their cries.

Verse 32: "For all this they still sinned and did not believe in His wonderful works. Therefore, He ended their days in vanity and their years in terror. When He slew them… [whether it's war, whether it's crime, whatever it may be] …then they sought Him; and they turned back and sought after God earnestly. And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God was their Redeemer. Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths… [they didn't return back to God completely] …and they lied to Him with their tongues, for their heart was not steadfast with Him; neither were they faithful in His covenant. But He [God] being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them…" (vs 32-38).

They tempted God so many times during the wilderness; "…yea, many times He turned His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath, for He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away and does not come again. How often did they provoke Him in the wilderness and grieve Him in the desert! And still again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His hand, nor the day when He delivered them from the enemy" (vs 38-42).

We've been delivered from many, many enemies. Let's see how they did it in Egypt. I don't remember the exact Scriptural quote, but I remember what it says: God said that He should have killed them in Egypt for all of their sins.

Exodus 2:23: "And it came to pass after many days the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (vs 23-24).

That's why God intervened to forgive them when they really didn't repent. When God gave His word to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob, God's Word stands forever!

Verse 25: "And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them." Didn't say He accepted them. It didn't say they repented, but God acknowledged them! Are we in a similar situation today? Are there enough people in the world who profess Christ? We know they're not called to salvation; that we understand.

It's like Paul wrote that he was glad the Gospel was preached, some in truth and some in contention; but nevertheless, he was glad that it was preached (Phil. 1). You understand that when you look at all of the pagan gods that they had.

This is kind of the mix we have today. There are a lot of evangelicals and Catholics that are going to vote. If they get up and vote and Trump is elected, and he immediately appoints the Supreme Court justices that are needed to keep a modicum of law and order here in America, then we can say God has acknowledged them.
If Donald Trump wins, he will have had to fight the whole world. If Hillary wins, we will have a constitutional crisis of the gravest nature that has ever happened. I wonder how she could raise her right hand to swear on the Bible if she has handcuffs.

There's a lot of information out there and remember: 'That which has been spoken in secret will be shouted from the housetop' (Matt. 10). The only problem is, did it get out in time:

God delivered Israel. You can go through the whole story there in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They did well when they got into the land. Joshua led them; they conquered the land. It took seven years to do so. There are parallels in the book of Judges.

• for the children of Israel then
• for us now
• with the Church

The Churches of God have a high majority of people who are in their late 60s, 70s and 80s and are facing a demographic cliff. They went through the same thing with the apostles. Finally came, all the apostles died. Then the apostasy set in! Same parallel here.

Joshua gave them a warning, Judges 2:7: "And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they buried him… And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers…." (vs 7-10).

• The Anglo-Saxon descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that are here, are also facing a demographic cliff.

If Trump does not get in this election, all of the white people will be outnumbered. That's the majority of the Republican Party. There are many important trends that are coming together. That's not trying to make a racist statement. That's trying to give you a demographic statement, if you understand it.

What's going to happen, because they're going to die. Everybody who has ever been born, there will come a time they die. When they're born they take their first breath. Hardly anybody ever thinks about it. They breathe all their life, and you can look in the book, From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? how many breaths you take every day, and how many times your heart beats every day, and people don't think anything about it.

The older you get, you start thinking about those things. You don't know how long you're going to live. You don't know what your health is going to be, because you wear out. Finally, your last breath is breathed and you go back to the ground. So we have that also. There are a lot of considerations to think about with this election, with this nation, with the state of the world.

It's not as cut and dried as we may think. We like to summarize things and get it down to a real short thing that we can handle. That's good in some cases, but in other cases that's exactly how people are deceived. We need to look at the whole scope of everything.

They were faithful during that time. They were gathered to their fathers, and so forth, v 10: "…And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim…. [the many gods of the land] …And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed other gods, even the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger" (vs 10-12).

Here's this ongoing cycle, starting again with the children of Israel. Even look at the history of America. There were two great revivals: 1840s and 1860s. It virtually ceased at the beginning of the twentieth century—1900s. Then different forces began to encroach into everything. That's the way Satan works.

He doesn't say, 'Come here, I want you to commit murder.' He says, 'Here, try this. Try that; think of this; take that; do this; do the other.' And gradually gets down, down, down!

How do newborn babies, knowing nothing, come into the world and end up utterly corrupt and sinful? They didn't start that way. You can't blame God because they didn't know anything. Parents have some of the mixture in there, but it's what they are taught, what they learn and how they act upon it.

This is what the children of Israel did. What did God do? Verse 14: "And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of spoilers who spoiled them. And He sold them into the hand of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies."

Think about what's happening to our military. Think about what's happening to the education. Think about all of those things, because there's going to come a great convergence when all of these things come together and then calamity is going to hit. Just exactly like it's on that series, Doomsday, on History Channel. I watched part of it the other night. They were talking about what would happen if the electric grid were hit by a solar storm from the sun. It doesn't have to be a solar storm from the sun.

• How many enemies do we have unknown within the land.
• How much of the power grid could they shut down?
• Are we not all absolutely dependent on electricity? Everything!
• Do we have the enemy within invade us? Almost in everything:
• religion
• education
• government
• financing

What's going to happen?

Verse 15: "Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed." Is that not where we are right now?

• failure of things within the nation
• failure of things overseas
• failure of the government

If you think the government hasn't been able to do much here recently, consider if they have a constitutional crisis and they have to impeach Hillary Clinton, and then Tim Kaine becomes president, the weakest man she could have chosen. So think of it!

Verse 16: "Nevertheless, the LORD raised up judges…" I'm not going to declare that perhaps Donald Trump may fit into that category, but I don't think he is doing what he is doing all by himself. We'll have to wait and see.

"…who delivered them out of the hand of those who spoiled them. And yet, they would not listen to their judges, but they went lusting after other gods, and bowed themselves to them. They turned quickly out of the way, which their fathers walked in, for they had obeyed the commandments of the LORD; these however did not do so" (vs 16-17). You read the whole book of Judges. You have this cycle:

• serving other gods
• living in sin
• gets bad and miserable

Why? Because all the laws of God work automatically. They find themselves in terrible trouble and misery, they cry to God, they don't repent, but they acknowledge Him and flatter Him. Then God raises up another judge. If that's the pattern that we are looking at, and if Trump wins, that's probably the case. We'll have to see.

Let's talk about other things that might happen, could happen, to some degree. Isn't it interesting that in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, Israel through mostly the Jews, are carried off into captivity to Babylon because of their sins.

The first book of the New Testament is Matthew and it begins with the Savior. Then you come clear to the book of Revelation and Israel again is in captivity in Babylon the Great. Then what happens? Christ returns! You can take this pattern and apply it in a microscopic way, or you can apply it in a very broad historical way.

It might do good for people to read through 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles. That will tell you a lot as to how God deals with the children of Israel, and other people that are not called to salvation. The Church is another whole discussion, we'll cover in the second half.

You have a good king; you have an evil king; you have a good king. You have somewhat of an evil king; you have somewhat of a good king after that. Then you can have a terrible king and then a very righteous king.

In the case of Manasseh's father—Hezekiah—he was very righteous. Dolores reminds me of this once in a while, but in his old age he made a stupid mistake. He showed the enemy all the treasure God gave him from the spoils of the Assyrian army. Isaiah the prophet came, told him that God's going to punish the nation for it, but not in his day.

That's why you have to understand you must keep yourself in a right relationship with God that you don't get carried away at any time, whether you're young or whether you are old.

King Hezekiah's answer was completely selfish. He said, 'Oh, that's good that it won't happen in my day.'

2-Chronicles 33:1: "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem." Aren't you glad we have elections every four years?

Verse 2: "But he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel." What could he use for an excuse? Solomon! Look at what he did!

Verse 3: "For he built again the high places, which Hezekiah his father had broken down…"—freedom of religion again.

Just like today, freedom of religion is going to destroy us. The Muslims are already working at it. You ever seen the list of Muslims that work in the bureaucracies of the U.S. government? Thousands of them! Remember the prophecy said that 'the stranger within would rise up high above you.' Instead of having a president who loves America, he favors the Muslims. How did that happen? Because the people were deceived and deluded!

"…and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, 'In Jerusalem shall My name be forever'" (vs 3-4).

But what did He tell Solomon after He appeared to him the second time? What was the if? 'If the children of Israel remained faithful and do what is right, then the city shall remain. But if they do not, I shall utterly destroy it.'

Verse 5: "And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD."

'Oh, look at this, we have an ecumenical movement and we have all of these religions and all of these gods and everybody there. Isn't that wonderful!' Notice how it progressed. You see the progression of evil that takes place.

Verse 6: "And he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He also observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards.…"

That's what people get into. Do we not have a channel on cable where the main thing they do is hunt for ghosts? Yes, want to talk to them. That's what happened here. Gave himself over to Satan the devil.

Verse 7: "And he set a carved image, the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, 'In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever. Nor will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land, which I have set apart for your fathers—if only they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.' But Manasseh led astray Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and caused them to do worse than the nations whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel" (vs 7-9).

God sent the king of Assyria who was occupying Babylon at that time and the king sent and took away Manasseh, made Judea a colony of the empire but let them retain their government, their rule. They took Manasseh off into prison and put him in chains. Lo and behold, the unthinkable happened: Manasseh repented! It's kind of like a similar parallel in the New Testament with Saul, who became the Apostle Paul. The people who knew about Saul, they couldn't believe that he repented. 'And he's now an apostle?'

What happened? Manasseh came back, took down all the idols, cleaned up the whole area of the court around the temple. He took down all of the homosexual tents that were put out around the temple, and so forth. He didn't quite finish it, because the people still continued to sacrifice in the high places. But nevertheless, God recognized that.

The parallel we have today is we don't know Donald Trump's relationship with God. We do know at least this much: Ben Carson is a Seventh Day Adventist and is one of his chief advisers. He has a great deal of influence with Trump. It looks like the different men Trump has around him are men dedicated to what is right. So, that's good!

Question becomes for 'the Donald.' Like he said when he came out and joked about he's going to speak at this rally. 'Donald, stay on message. Donald, don't get carried away.' If he's elected, will he do that? We'll have to wait and see.

We can tell you this: Donald Trump was never as evil as Manasseh and he didn't make his sons pass through the fire to Baal. We need to look at it from that point of view. What's going to happen to the nation? If we have enough time, that's going to fall to the benefit of the Church.

I want to cover one other thing here. In 2-Chr. 34 we have the whole account of Josiah. He started out at eight years old. Can an eight year old do what is right if he chooses to do what is right? Yes.

2-Chronicles 34:2: "And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right nor to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young… [sixteen] … he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images" (vs 2-3).

Broke down the altars and cleaned up everything. Then they found a Book of the Law. Hilkiah the priest found a book of the Law, because the temple was so dilapidated and run down that when Josiah said to clean it up, they started cleaning and they worked back and worked back and finally got back to the Holy of Holies. They found the Ark of the Covenant and here was the Book of the Law.

They brought the book to the king and Shaphan, one of the assistants of Hilkiah, read it to Josiah. When he heard the Word of the Lord, he repented instantly. He ripped his clothes. How bad was it then? It was so bad that even most of the priests couldn't be trusted. They didn't know God!

Josiah said to go to Huldah the prophetess. She's the one who takes care of the garments for the priests. He said to ask her what the Lord says. She told them, 'Thus says the Lord. You go back and you tell Josiah, because your heart was tender, because you repented—I'm paraphrasing—when you heard the Word of God you changed. God is going to bring evil on this place, but not in your days.'

He didn't do like his grandfather Hezekiah, and say, 'Oh, that's nice, not in my days.' What did he do? He repented even more. He called all the elders. He called all the priests. He brought them all to the temple. He stood by the pillar of the king's place at the temple and he made them all covenant with God; put away their gods, put away the things they were doing, and serve God.

That lasted for a while. Then Josiah couldn't resist it. There was a battle, involved the Egyptians. He wanted to go out and fight. Even the king of Egypt said not to come, that it wasn't his battle. 'Oh, I want to fight; I gotta fight.'

Josiah dressed up as an ordinary soldier, got into a chariot, went out to fight. An arrow hit him and wounded him. They took Josiah back to Jerusalem and he died.

How long could they have had that peace? We don't know! So, isn't it interesting how God works with the choices of people, how God works with the people in general and how when you're dealing with a physical nation, with physical people, it's not exactly the same standard that's required of the Church.

What's required of the Church is far greater, far higher. We're not just here to live in a land of plenty. We are here preparing for eternal life! So, the whole standard is different.

(go to the next track)

The Church

With everything that's going on, what's going to happen to the Church? I mentioned the demographic cliff that we're facing. Let's come here to Matt. 16 and let's see what Jesus said concerning the Church.

Matthew 16:13: "Now, after coming into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus questioned His disciples, saying, 'Whom do men declare Me, the Son of man, to be?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist; and others Elijah; and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But you, whom do you declare Me to be?' Then Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'" (vs 13-16).

Notice how Jesus answered; this becomes very important, v 17: "And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona… [son of Jona] …for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father, Who is in heaven.'"

This tells us a very important thing concerning the Church. God the Father is directly involved. That's why the Church is in a different category than the nation.

You all know this verse. John 6:44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him… [that's why Jesus said to Peter that the Father has revealed this to you] …and I will raise him up at the last day."

Verse 65: "And He said, 'For this reason, I have said to you, no one can come to Me unless it has been given to him from My Father.'"

How does the Father do that? It's a spiritual thing that takes place. Remember where we started: God says, 'I rule in the kingdoms of men.' How does He rule? Angels, demons, Satan, Himself and Christ! That's how He rules. That's how He carries things out.

Revelation 1:4: "John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace and peace be to you from Him Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come; and from the seven spirits that are before His throne."

What do those seven Spirits do? Revelation 3:1: "And to the angel of the Church in Sardis, write: 'These things says He Who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works …'"

Revelation 4:5 talks about the throne of God: "And proceeding from the thronewere lightnings and thunders and voices; and seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning before the throne." That's the throne of God the Father.

Revelation 5:6: "Then I saw, and behold, before the throne and the four living creatures, and before the elders, was standing a Lamb ashaving been slain, having seven horns… [the seven churches] …and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that are sent into all the earth."

What do these Spirits do? This is God's way of being in full communication with the earth. How does God know when someone for the first time cries out to God? The seven Spirits let Him know. There's a lot going on that we don't see.
If we had a tune-in instrument for all the different waves that are coming through this room right now as we're sitting here, we'd have nothing but confusion and noise.

When it says that 'none can come to Him unless it was given by the Father,' how did God reveal this to Peter? Obviously, since it was Christ dealing with the apostles, it was directly from God the Father with the power of His Spirit. Whether He used one of the seven Spirits or not, I don't know.

Matthew 16:17: "…for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father, Who is in heaven. And I say also to you that you are Peter… [pebble, small stone] …but upon this Rock… [Jesus talking about Himself, because He was the Lord God of the Old Testament and this is 'petra'] …I will build My Church…" (vs 17-18).

{Note footnote/explanation at the bottom of the page in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version.}

You combine this together about the things we've learned of the Father and Christ, He said He would build His Church… "…and the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it" (v 18).

The formation of the Church began with the ministry of Jesus Christ. The first Church services that they have is recorded in Acts 1. After all of His ministry and all of His preaching and all the healings, He had 120.

He gave the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is given (Acts 2) because we enter into a spiritual relationship with God, but the Church would never die out.

It doesn't say how small it would be, how many it would be, but it would never die out. So the Church is also right at the point in time, right now. What we need to do is ask God to help us understand how we need to preach the Gospel in what way, what matter, and through what various vehicles are available, because He says that the Gospel is going to be preached.

Matt. 24 doesn't say, 'Hey, everybody, just leave it to the two witnesses. Go back and have your ice tea and cool it.' No, He says this:

Matthew 24:14: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom … [the whole Bible, which contains the Gospel, Old and New Testament] …shall be proclaimed in all the world for a witness…"

This has to be done at a specific time over a specific time period, leading up to the end. So there's going to be preaching going on. Today it actually takes fewer and fewer people to do the preaching as evident by right here where we are today. We're recording audio, video; we have four websites. We can handle that with just a pittance of what the WCG was spending. God gave advanced technology for it.

How is the Gospel going to be preached as a witness in all the world? By whatever means and whatever way that God inspires the Church to do so! Including all of the technological means that we have now. Who would have ever thought by reading this Scripture that you could carry the Gospel with you, the whole Gospel, among many different things as well.

"…for a witness to all nations; and then shall the end come" (v 14). As we look at this, this does not tell us how long that we personally are going to be doing it. Many of those who thought that they were going to see the return of Christ—and we knew many of them—they're all in their place of safety in the grave. So we don't know. Just to give you something to think upon.

• How is Europe going to develop?
• What is going to happen?

Sidebar: Just because it's listed in the Bible as something following a previous event, does not mean that it happens instantly. Though when it's written here, it may appear that way.

Let me give you an example; Daniel 11:40: "And at the time of the end, the King of the South shall push at him.…" You look at what has happened to Europe. All the refugees coming into Europe. I think pushing is the best description of that whole thing.

"'…And the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind…'" (v 40). That sounds like instant retaliation. But do you suppose that there's time in between the push and the retaliation? Could there be a number of years involved? Could be! Goes by the event.

I think the event of pushing is the millions of refugees into Europe, coming into the tribes of Israel and also into Germany (Assyria). That's eventually going to get to them. They are going to have to do something.

Because of that, I still say I believe the final solution, temporarily, for the Middle East keys to Turkey. They are already more involved in the fighting. They're not asking, they are just coming. They know everybody else is incompetent. Turkey used to have the Ottoman Empire which controlled all that area of Iraq right up to Iran, all of Kuwait, all of Syria, down into Egypt and over into Libya.

The western nations have been nearly exhausted, especially America, trying to solve the problem over there. Thanks to Hillary it never got solved. But overall God is still in charge.
Speculation: Do you suppose that the western powers would get together with Turkey and say, 'You are here; you know how to handle these people. We will help you financially, but how about if we let you take over the area to bring peace?' Could be.

That's just an example to show we don't know where there are spaces of time that the Bible does not relay to us that there is a space of time. But this push now has been at least two years. So we don't know!

So, when Jesus says, 'This Gospel shall be preached as a witness in all the world, for a witness to all nations, then shall the end come,' that gives us quite a bit of leeway and latitude.

Another thing, no one is going to tell God what to do or claim that they are fulfilling prophecies and 'you pay attention to me.' There was a time when the Plain Truth magazine was putting out 8-million copies a month. That's a lot. It was proclaimed that now the Gospel has been preached to the whole world as a witness through the Plain Truth. History shows that was not true. Many people have lived and died since then. So, this also tells us the Church is not to make the mistake of proclaiming things that they have no control over.

Mark 13:10: "And the Gospel must first be published among all nations." There are many ways of having it published today, especially with all of the smart phones. It's translated in about 500 languages for the whole Bible and 2,000 for the New Testament, 2,600 for the book of Mark.

Isn't it interesting that the book of Mark has been published more than anything else, in the book that says it must be published to all nations!

Here's a good lesson. It's good to get excited about what we're supposed to do, the things that God is going to give us, how we're going to do it, and all of these things. But not to take upon ourselves that we know something that God hasn't revealed to us.

Acts 1:6: "So then, when they were assembled together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?'" It was the kingdom to Israel. The kingdom is going to be over all the earth, not just Israel.

Verse 7: "And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has placed in His own authority; but you yourselves shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth'" (vs 7-8).

Witness to all nations. How far? To every nook and cranny in the world! Why? Because the things that are going to transpire on the earth are going to be so awesome, terrible, and devastating that God is going to give a warning and no one is going to say they weren't warned! They may not believe it; most of them won't. Unto the ends of the earth.

Since every Word of God is true and God-breathed, what does this mean? It means to the end of the earth, to all nations! How deep, how thorough of a witness is it going to be? We don't know! We can just say from our part what we're doing with the Bible, that's the whole Bible, with all the commentary; we just finished all the editing for the commentaries, so the whole complete Bible will be up there. And the appendices for this age.

Now then, we've had the Faithful Version website {afaithfulversion.org} up for about two years. Just from us our little part, we have our part to do. We don't have to look around and say, 'We're little, we don't have much money. We don't have this and that and the other thing.'

• Does God provide?
• Is there a way to do it?
• Can we do it?

We are approaching 300,000 distinct visitors a month. That's going to go up into the millions. That's good. That's not to brag, but that's just a part. If we do what God wants us to do, make it available, it's available going clear around the world, anybody who wants it.

• there are others out there with Bibles
• there are others out there preaching the Gospel
• we're just part

Remember what we saw in Rev. 5 about the Lamb that was slain with the seven horns and the seven eyes. That's Christ! Christ is the Head of the Church.

Matthew 28:16: "Now the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain, which Jesus had appointed for them to meet Him. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted" (vs 16-17).

Think about that. There were the eleven. Out of the eleven some still doubted. I wonder if Thomas still had difficulty.

Let's look at the magnitude of this simple statement, v 18: "…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." That's quite a statement! It's also very humbling!

• Has He kept the Church going from that time to this time? Yes, He has!
• Has God the Father been calling people from that time to this time? Yes, He has!
• Has it worked out like the parable of the sower (Matt. 13, Mark 4)? Yes, it has!

Notice what He tells them. Here's the thing that's important to understand about how you do things. You start with a mission statement. Everything else comes from that mission statement. You add other things. You add other Scriptures.

Here's the mission statement, v 19: "'Therefore… [because of the fact that all authority and power in heaven and earth have been given to Him] …go and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even until the completion of the age.' Amen" (vs 19-20).

That ties right in with Matt. 24 where the Gospel is going to preached as a witness to all nations. There it is, that ties in with it.

Let's see how that works. We'll bypass the first part of Acts where they received the Holy Spirit in power. God wanted everyone to know that this was from God, and He did it at the temple so there would be no mistake or understanding. He didn't do it Galilee. He didn't do it in Syria. He didn't do it over in the western hemisphere. He did it at His temple, because that's where He placed His name. You know what happened.

The Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost and it was a great witness. Stop and think on this:

How many Jews who would come to Jerusalem for the different Feasts during the ministry of Jesus? saw miracles? saw people healed? heard the talk about Jesus? It was a tremendous thing that was going on and how He was standing up to the establishment, correcting them.

Sidebar on the establishment: That's how Satan gets a hold of things when they are structured in such a way that they control everything themselves. If he can get the establishment, then everything can come down from there. Is that not what happened in Judea? The priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and everything?

This was a tremendous event that took place. Imagine what the news reports would have been if they had television at that time: 'This is so-and-so and I'm standing here at the temple in Jerusalem and right at this very time, these men who were the disciples of Jesus Christ are standing there preaching and teaching and speaking. Everyone in their own language hears them speaking. There's a great wind that came, a great whirlwind that came to the temple. Thousands watched it; thousands experienced it.'

One reporter would probably say, 'This is almost like the time when they stood at Mount Sinai and the great whirlwind came.' It was! God was sending His Holy Spirit!

Then you can read the sermon that Peter gave and he called them all to repent, be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. So the Gospel started out. They had no clue as to how long, how far, what would happen, because we all have to walk in faith.

• Did they have to go through a lot of difficulties and problems? Yes, they did!
• Will we have to go through a lot of difficulties and problems, and have already done so? Yes, indeed!

But God sees us through them all!

The understanding even with the apostles was, 'Will you again at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?' The Jews had laws where the Jews could not assemble with Gentiles. Now God was going to do something, and He used Peter to do it, because Peter was the leader of the apostles at that time.

A lot of people like to say, 'He was the first pope.' Nonsense! We have a whole series on churchathome.org: Was Peter Ever in Rome.

God had to reveal through the vision to Peter. All of these unclean animals coming down and saying, 'Rise up and eat.' Didn't do it. He said, 'No, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has entered into my mouth.' That's defining the Biblical laws and the Jewish laws of eating.

They thought that the Gospel was going to be preached—even though God told them in all the world and all nations—mainly for Israel. Let's see God the Father in action.

Acts 10—Cornelius, an Italian. God was going to do something to show the Church that what they thought they were doing was virtually nothing compared to what He's got in mind. So He revealed!

Here is a man in Caesarea, the Holy Land, an Italian captain. He had a little shrine area there at his house where he would pray. He was praying to the true God, the God of the Jews.

What did we read? 'No one can come to Me unless the Father Himself draw him. No one can come to the Father except through Him.' Who is dealing with Cornelius? God the Father! Unheard of for Judaism. You can read Gal. 2 when Peter fell back into separating himself to not eat with the Gentiles. I won't go through the whole vision. But Peter was told to go to Cornelius' house; they came.

Acts 10:24: "And on the next day, they came to Caesarea. Now, Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his kinsmen and his intimate friends." He had his whole house filled with people—all Gentiles. For the men—all uncircumcised.

Verse 25: "And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet, worshiping him…. [He didn't say, 'Papa, you finally have arrived.'] …But Peter raised him up, saying, 'Stand up, for I myself am also a man.' And as he was talking with him, he went in and found many gathered together. And he said to them, 'You know that it is unlawful for a man who is a Jew to associate with or come near to anyone of another race…'" (vs 25-28).

How are you going to preach the Gospel to the whole world if you went by that Jewish traditional law? Even all the disciples were following that. So, here's God, through Peter, striking that down. Even Peter was amazed.

"'…But God has shown me that no man should be called common or unclean. For this reason, I also came without objection when I was sent for. I ask, therefore, for what purpose did you send for me?'" (vs 28-29). Then he told them all about it.

After explaining all about it, v 34: "Then Peter opened his mouth and said, 'Of a truth I perceive that God is not a respecter of persons, but in every nation the one who fears Him and works righteousness is acceptable to Him. The word that He sent to the children of Israel, preaching the Gospel of peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all), you have knowledge of; which declaration came throughout the whole of Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John proclaimed concerning Jesus, Who was from Nazareth: how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all the things that He did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed Him by hanging Him on a tree. But God raised Him up the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses who had been chosen before by God, to those of us who did eat and drink with Him after He had risen from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to fully testify that it is He Who has been appointed by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in Him receives remission of sins through His name'" (vs 34-43).

Verse 44: "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came upon all those who were listening to the message." Gave the Holy Spirit to them first.

Why? Because the Jews would not have done it unless God gave it first. This doesn't mean that people no longer need to be baptized. A lot of people turn there and say, 'All you have to do is believe and you have the Holy Spirit.' No! One of the seven Spirits may be with you, leading you, but not in you.

Verse 45: "And the believers from the circumcision were astonished, as many as had come with Peter, that upon the Gentiles also the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out; for they heard them speak in other languages and magnify God. Then Peter responded by saying, 'Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have also received the Holy Spirit as we did?' And he commanded them to be baptized…" (vs 45-48).

Can you imagine all those Jews who were doubting that had come with Peter. Guess who was doing the baptizing? They were! Jews, laying hands on uncircumcised Gentiles! Staying in an uncircumcised Gentile's house for four days afterwards!

One of them got word back to Jerusalem, in Acts 11. The elders there, who were Jews, really were angry.

The reason I do this is because how God wants it done and opening whatever doors God wants, for all of His Churches, all of His people, and even some of those borderline Christians that are in the world that understand some of the Word of God, God is going to let them speak it.

Remember what we read in Jer. 23 that even if the prophets of Baal would speak the Word of God, God would honor it! There are a lot of voices going out there.

What's going to happen to the world? As I was watching that Doomsday session there, and some of the other things I caught part of, think about:

• the earthquakes
• the floods
• the wars
• the loss of electricity
• the chaos and confusion

that's going to go on in the earth. The shaking of the heavens. God is going to give a witness!

I'm thankful that the History Channel is doing that, because if I, or any other preacher, would stand up there and say exactly the same thing, they would say, 'You're just a religious nut.' But if they, the experts, who built all the infrastructure, buildings, and everything say, 'This can happen; this may happen,' then we can come back. That helps lay the way for us preaching the Gospel.

When we read the book of Revelation or we read Isaiah or we read Joel where God is going to shake the heavens, shake the earth, we can say, 'Look, what they had on that program was right.

• Did you know it was in the Word of God prophesied hundreds and thousands of years ago?
• Did you know that Christ is going to return?'
• Did you know that the world's going to look at them as aliens attacking from outer space?

I can see a whole lot that has to be done.

How is it going to affect the Church? There are two choices:

• slow decline—Donald Trump
• rapid decline into chaos and confusion very shortly—Hillary Clinton

By the time you receive this message that will have already been decided. But how God continues to work with us, will continue to be!

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 78:29-42
• Exodus 2:23-25
• Judges 2:7-12, 14-17
• 2-Chronicles 33:1-9
• 2-Chronicles 34:2-3
• Matthew 16:13-17
• John 6:44, 65
• Revelation 1:4
• Revelation 4:5
• Revelation 5:6
• Matthew 16:17-18
• Matthew 24:14
• Daniel 11:40
• Mark 13:10
• Acts 1:6-8
• Matthew 28:16-20
• Acts 10:24-29, 34-48

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Daniel 4
• Philippians 1
• Matthew 10
• Acts 2
• Matthew 13; Mark 4
• Galatians 2
• Acts 11
• Jeremiah 23

Also referenced:

• Book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter
• Sermon Series: Was Peter Ever in Rome (churchathome.org)

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 12-01-16
Formatted: bo—12/2/16

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