From Destruction Unto Faith

From Faith Unto Faith #1A

Fred R. Coulter—April 20, 2013

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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services! We've been getting comments that the lake behind me looks so real that it looks like I'm talking to you from the shores of the Sea of Galilee and John the Baptist is right over there.

We will have a little discussion concerning what happened in Boston. I think it's very interesting that whatever I had to say about it I said two weeks before it took place in This Insane World and God's Judgment. I think I asked, I don't know whether it was in that sermon, or whether it was on a Church at Home segment that I did, but after the latest snow storms and all the hurricanes and lawless gun laws, all the shootings, I made the comment: I wonder if you people in the Northeast have had enough yet.

Then what happens? We have this take place, this terrorist bombing, and there were quite a few interesting things involved. The first thing that came out, one commentator in Boston said he hopes it's a white, home-grown terrorist, because anything else would set our cause back too far, the progressive cause. As it turned out it wasn't that.

Other people said, 'It's the Federal government at it again doing things to set up the Homeland Security as an inner army within the United States.' I know sooner or later that will probably happen, but I don't think the government did it. Although, I suppose you could say, those two brothers look like government employees. Who knows? It's very interesting how everything worked out. Look at how quickly they were able to take all of the evidence, put it together, or narrow it down to those two brothers, and they did it quite quickly.

However, I was more impressed after they had taken the younger brother captive and alive. What struck me was the celebration in the streets. Everyone was out there dancing and yelling and happy, passing around the beer, passing around the scotch, passing around the Irish whiskey. Everyone was having a 'whoopee' of a good time. I was impressed also at one of the sporting events where they decided that the whole audience of the attendees would stand up and sing The Star Spangled Banner. They've decided that was so successful they're going to do it at every major sporting event in Boston.

How much that will accomplish, I don't know but that can be very rousing, very uplifting, and so forth. I just happen to think, this thought struck me, when I saw them all rejoicing at the death of one and the capture of the other, it reminded me of two who will be called real terrorists by the world—the two witnesses. They're going to have power from God. They aren't going to be able to stop them. They won't have to look up photos to try and find them because they'll be right there in Jerusalem. Everything is going to be in a difficult situation.

Revelation 11:3: "And I will give power to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands that stand before the God of the earth" (vs 3-4). The two most powerful men that will ever be in the history of what God has given as gifts of power to men and prophets. They will have special protection, plus they'll have their own weapon.

Verse 5: "And if anyone attempts to harm them, fire will go out of their mouths and devour their enemies…. [think about what the news media is going to do when this happens] …For if anyone attempts to harm them, he must be killed in this manner." They are going to be labeled as the agents of Satan the devil. The world is going to be completely frustrated trying to get rid of them.

Here they're trying to pull together everything through the power of the beast and the false prophet, trying to keep the world government going, trying to keep all the nations corralled in the system. They've given all their power to the beast, as find there in Rev. 13, over 'every kindred and nation and tongue' in the world.

They have their system and here are these two ill-dressed, uneducated—as the world would look at it—men who stand there and have power. They can't figure out the secret weapon when they open their mouth and fire comes out of their mouth. I wonder what the two witnesses are going to think when that happens. God is probably going to tell them ahead of time, 'You have this secret weapon. You use it anytime you want to. Anyone who comes after you, you just use it. Don't worry about it. You are to witness for Me. I am here to protect you from all of them, because this is preparing the way for the return of Jesus Christ.'

Verse 6: "These have authority to shut heaven so that no rain may fall in the days of their prophecy; and they have authority over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will." They will say, 'China, read your headlines in the morning. Thus and such is going to happen. Iran, this is going to happen to you on Wednesday. You better all be prepared.' Kind of like Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt.

What are the plagues that come? All the plagues that are listed in the book of Exodus will be the same plagues that God will use. They will intensify as things come along. You can imagine, all of the messages going to the world government. 'Why can't you stop them? Listen, we'll help you in any way we can, but you've got to keep them from calling these plagues down upon us.'

This is what caught my attention last night when they had captured the second brother, v 7: "And when they have completed their testimony, the beast who ascends out of the abyss will make war against them, and will overcome them, and will kill them."

What they're going to do, they will finally get everything together and they are finally going to kill them. As I was watching what was happening last night, people going out in the streets and celebrating and singing The Star Spangled Banner at the sporting events with the greatest gusto of all and everyone happy and the interviews with all of the officials. You have the commissioner of the police, you have the governor, you have the mayor, all of the 'mucky-mucks' are there.

Can you imagine what it will be like in Jerusalem when this event happens? 'How was it that you were finally able to kill them? Blah! Blah! Blah! You troops that came from this country, you were magnificent in what you did.' So, we are going to give everyone credit.

Verse 8: "And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." This tells us that this is Jerusalem, but it also tells us something very important, what the society will be like. It will be patterned after Sodom and Egypt. Is it any wonder that nation after nation is approving same-sex unions? I won't dignify it with the word marriage, because there is only one kind of marriage and that's between man and woman.

After they have killed the two witnesses, notice what they do, v 9: "Then those of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations shall see their bodies three and a half days, for they will not allow their bodies to be put into tombs. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them…" (vs 9-10). A three-day long night and day bash!

They have overcome the greatest difficulty they have been facing and trying to get all of humanity together in a one-world government, a one-world religion, and here are these two 'raggle-taggle' uneducated men in sackcloth and ashes that every time they open their mouth they burned everything. 'We've sent every weapon we could to try and get them and we couldn't do it and we finally did it.' When I was watching all of the people there on the news come out rejoicing, being happy, drinking, partying, dancing, I thought of this:

"'…and will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets had tormented those who dwell on the earth.'…. [never sell God short] …Then after the three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them…. [Think that's startling?] …And they heard a great voice from heaven, say…" (vs 10-12).

They are going to also be suspecting that they are being invaded by aliens, which then is the return of Christ. They'll have the sign of the Son of man in the heavens for a little over a whole year at this point. Here they have this battle on the earth and now they're going to be fighting the aliens because at this time the sign of the Son of man, and I think it's going to happen this way: the sign of the Son of man is going to look like a streaking meteor to the earth. Then it will stop right over Jerusalem, the whole area there, and spread out into a large sea of glass.

Then the voice comes: "…'Come up here!' And they ascended into heaven in a cloud; and their enemies saw them rise…. [Then there was an earthquake, and so forth] (right after that): …The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming immediately. Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet…" (vs 12-15)—which then is the last trumpet.

Since we're counting down toward Pentecost, it's proper that we look at this. "…saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign into the ages of eternity'" (v 15).

So that's going to be quite a thing that's going to take place. I tell you, I just could not help but think of that when I saw everybody out there rejoicing. Remember, a lot of them in the whole area around there had to stay in their houses. They couldn't go out. That affected all of that area. I didn't realize how close this was to Connecticut, but it also affected those in Connecticut. So, after what went on with the shooting there and this going on here, that was my impression of the celebration.

But there was also another impression that I had, which comes back to Lev. 26. What we find is something very, very interesting—isn't it? Of course, the whole world—and even the Jews—don't believe the Old Testament. Oh, they cling to it, but they don't believe it and they can't understand it because they have rejected Jesus Christ. They claim that they are the combined twelve tribes of Israel and don't know anything about the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, except they say, 'They were all absorbed into the Gentiles.'

Yet, God says in Amos 9 that He was going to transfer the ten tribes to different places and not lose one seed. Which by the way, we're getting close to finishing the book—I don't know what we're going to call it—America in Prophecy. Maybe we ought to give it a little more glamorous title: America the Beautiful in the Bible. How about that? Almost all the books that cover about Israel in prophecy stop in England. A lot has happened on this side of the ocean. A lot of things concerning the Bible and the preaching of the Gospel and knowledge of the Truth is only coming out of the United States of America with any kind of power.

Let's go through Lev. 26, because I think it's really important for us to understand. In the letter of the law, if there would be repentance in America, and if they would do these things, God would honor it. God is no respecter of persons. Unfortunately, when you go back and you look at the proposal of the covenant that God gave to Israel He said, 'You will be a kingdom of priests to Me.'

What does that mean? That means that they were to take the laws and commandments of God to the world so that the world would understand about God and they could get away from their paganism and their false religions and follow God's way. Israel never did it. The closest time it came was when Solomon had his kingdom. Then all the kings of the earth came to hear him. But what happened to Solomon? He got involved in idolatry and in offering incense and sacrifices to false gods rather than teaching the kings that came God's way.

Then we also have when the nation of Britain had the Bible translated by William Tyndale, then there were others who were adding to it, but William Tyndale was the most important one. God was opening the door for Britain being Ephraim in prophecy and having others of the ten tribes there as well. You also have the Dutch across the English Channel; they were very active with the Word of God.

By the way, Erasmus, who produced the Greek text, which was used and became the Textus Receptus, was from Holland. My suspicion is—this is my input in that—that both of them were descendants from the tribe of Levi. Though both were Catholic priests they had no love for Catholicism or the pope or their traditions. Tyndale more so than Erasmus, but Erasmus compiled what became the Greek New Testament, from which we get the Textus Receptus. That's the text we use along with the Byzantine Text form to do the New Testament.

At that point, God was opening up for the next 500 years for Ephraim and Manasseh to rule the world. Because the prophecies back in Gen. 49 about Ephraim and Manasseh being military powers, ruling the world, being the leading nations, had to be fulfilled.

As England went down, the U.S. rose. And in America, plus out of England, they did a lot in getting the Bible out. They kept their Protestant religion very rigid in England. There were a lot of Sabbath-keepers that came out of England and came over to Holland. When they had the Scriptures and saw about the Sabbath, they began keeping the Sabbath. There was a 20-year period during the time of Oliver Cromwell, he ruled England. Sabbath and Holy Days, no Christmas. He made the king renounce his absolute divine authority.

Long and short story of that is, after 20 years they finally got rid of him. But in the meantime, God was continuing to do His work, because God continues to do His work always, under all circumstances. Most of that is ignored by the historians of the world because they don't know what's going on.

We find that the Pilgrims then came to America. There were two classes of Pilgrims—Sabbath-keepers and Sunday-keepers. Then the Church of God began to prosper, though few, and spread in America. At that time, about the only difference between the Churches of God and Protestantism in America was Sunday-keeping or Sabbath-keeping.

Because the United States made a pact with God, in forming the nation—in bringing about the Constitution, in bringing about the Bill of Rights—that laid the groundwork for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, which means the practice of it and that's different than freedom of worship. Then that the government could make no law concerning religion and they could not stifle free speech. That paved the way for the Gospel to be preached and brought to the world. The Protestants sent out missionaries as they took Bibles to nearly all the countries of the world. What happened was, they didn't teach them the way of God. They taught them the way of Protestantism. That likewise failed.

But in the meantime, the covenant that God made with Israel, as you find in Deut. 28, that that would be upon them forever, was being carried out. God blessed us; we controlled our enemies. England and America have ruled the world for 500 years, not quite, getting close to it.

These things would come upon the people of Israel, Ephraim and Manasseh, because God held them accountable. They prided themselves with the Ten Commandments. They prided themselves with knowing the Truth, but they didn't keep it.

The question came up about Sabbath/Sunday. What about the Holy Days? The Churches of God, many of them kept the Holy Days, but even the Sunday-keepers outlawed Christmas in the northeastern colonies. When they had a lot of Germans and then Irish come over—voila! Same thing in England; they did not keep Christmas until the queen married a German prince. 'Oh, well, this is so much fun for the kiddies.' Some of those hymns in German are really something. I forget the German, so I couldn't say it, but for Silent Night, Holy Night is Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. All the Christmas carols that we sing came from Deutschland.

Every time we as a people, be it Britain or be it America, turn our back on God there is a penalty. He sends warning. There are those who warn. We have

• seculars who warn
• religious who warn
• educators who warn
• church people who warn
• many, many warnings

—because God doesn't want us to be without knowledge.

When you think about where we started as a nation and where we are today, then all you have to do is read Deut. 32 about 'Jeshurun waxing fat.' There's where we are. But here is what God told us, so as we go through some of these verses, let's think about the things that we have today. Remember what I covered about idols in the mind. An idol is not just something that you make and worship, that's one idol. An idol can be a sports team that you give yourself totally over to. An idol can be another person. An idol can be an ideology. Do the progressives have their own idols in their own doctrines and is that not a religion? Same way with the evolutionists, they have their idols.

Leviticus 26:1: "You shall make no idols to yourselves; and you shall not set up for yourselves graven images or a standing pillar…." What do we have in Washington, D.C., dedicated to the first President George Washington? An obelisk from Egypt!

"…And you shall not set up any image of stone in your land in order to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God…. [What do we have in cathedrals? What do we have in churches?] …You shall keep My Sabbaths… [plural] …and reverence My sanctuary. I am the LORD" (vs 1-2). Reverencing the sanctuary of God without the temple is really another thing—isn't it? Because we profess to pray to God through Jesus Christ to whom? God in heaven above! We aren't desecrating the sanctuary in heaven, but our prayers from these polluted places go up to God and they are not sincere. They are loaded with pollution and sin.

He says if. Let's understand something, all of the ifs in the Bible are for human beings. Verse 3: "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit" (vs 3-4).

We've had an abundance of food. God promised that when you got into the 'promised land' you will eat food, you will eat bread without scarceness. Isn't that true? Anybody here hungry? Anybody here have the shakes because you haven't had anything to eat for three days? Hardly!

Verse 5: "And your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely."

I thought it was interesting that Jonathan Cahn said when 9/11 happened God took away the hedge. We've been vigilant! We've been diligent! We've applied a lot of technology so that we would remain safe. Yet, after 11 years, what happened? The Boston Marathon! Plus there were some other things that took place, too.

Verse 6: "And I will give peace in the land… [We're gradually losing that—aren't we?] …and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid…." Think about what they were thinking in Boston. Think about what they were thinking in the U.K. when they had these bombers on the loose. Now in the U.K. they have so many Islamists there that what they are doing, they're asking to have set up Sharia courts and jurisdiction over certain areas in England, and they're going to give it to them.

"…And I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land; neither shall the sword go through your land." Look what's happening now. Do a special on pythons in Florida, just for one little thing. They are breeding in the Everglades so fast that they can't handle it.

Verse 7: "And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put then thousand to flight. And your enemies shall fall by the sword in front of you" (vs 7-8). It used to be that way—didn't it? Yes! But what is it now?

Verse 9: "For I will have respect to you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish My covenant with you. And you shall eat of the old provision, and clear away the old because of the new. And I will set My tabernacle among you. And My soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people" (vs 9-12). You couldn't have any better agreement than that—right?

Verse 13: "I am the LORD your God Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from being their bondmen. And I have broken the bonds of your yoke, and made you go upright." There's the proposition.

Then He gives warning, because God always gives warning. You see the damage of what has happened to the whole nation because the Protestants have said the Old Testament has been fulfilled and all the laws and commandments ended with the ripping of the veil at the temple when Jesus died. So, what does that set up?

Let's look at the Constitution, though it has mostly a lot of good points in it. If you have freedom of religion, what does that do? That means you can have the good, the bad, and the ugly—right? And you can't stop it. When you have freedom of speech, what does that do? You can speak the truth but other people can also speak lies!

You take a look and see those things are the two major aspects of the Constitution that gave an opening for Satan the devil to carry out the punishment of God when we would turn our backs on Him. Something happened after WWII, a major thing happened:

• during the war, because many of the men had to go to war, the women had to get out and work
• after the war was over, they didn't go back home

What did we want to do for our children at that time? We wanted to give them the best of everything—right? Then in the 1960s something new happened. This is found in the book, The Death of the Grown-Up by Diana West [transcriber's correction]

What happened to the families? Not only was it that mother was working, that's part of it, but not all of it. The children no longer had work to do at home. There was so much money that now they had allowances and their parents wanted them to have everything that they didn't have. Parental control was loosened. At the same time, in came progressive education right after the war. Then in the 1960s, BANG! Here came something that people never even thought would change the society—the magazine Seventeen and the term 'teenager.' All of the corporations saw the market what they could in advertising and all of this sort of thing. This cut the young people off from the family. Things have progressed—haven't they?

Not only were there the publications for the teenagers, now there were clothes, now there were fads, now there were dances, now there were organizations. The schools fostered it. The parents stepped back and let it happen. The men, because now the advent of television and movies and things like this, were derided. Women were exalted. You see where I'm going with this? Because people don't understand what's happening and why it's taking place.

It's just like we saw in John 3, let's apply this to many different aspects:

• spiritually—coming to Christ
• educationally—when you're educating people and they turn from it
• to what people should be doing right in the society, and so forth

There's right and wrong/good and evil.

John 3:19: "And this is the judgment: that the Light has come into the world…" That's Christ. Everything else flows from there. Remember, we're supposed to be the enlightened generation. Remember, we're supposed to know everything, yet, we reject God. We embrace evolution, humanism, have excluded God in the last century from schools, from churches, from government. Now if a kid brings a Bible to school he is subject to discipline but if he brings a Koran, that's a wonderful, diversity-thinking on his part.

We have the Word of God. They've got Bibles at home. They are on their shelves. Some people read them. Some just totally ignore them. Some of them ridicule them. I'm going to have to bring some sermons on it, we have two new publications of Bibles. I've already mentioned one, the Queen James for the homosexuals. And the new New Testament, where all of the Gnostic gospels are added to the New Testament. Where did they come from? God had them buried in Egypt for 1500 years!

Why does all this happen? "…but men loved darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil" (v 19). Then came along divorce. Then came along no-fault divorce.

This is what we're up against today, v 20: "For everyone who practices evil hates the Light…"

• If you expose it, that's hate speech.
• If you speak against homosexuality, that's hate speech.
• If you speak against Catholics, that's hate speech.
• If you speak against Jews, that's hate speech.

But oh,

• they can speak against God
• they can speak against those who want the Truth

that's perfectly fine, that's not hateful!

"…and does not come to the Light… [they do not go to God; they stay in their sins] …so that his works may not be exposed; but the one who practices the Truth comes to the Light…" (vs 20-21). Here is the society, God has His people doing this, coming to the Light, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the Holy Days, understanding the Truth. While the society is going down, God's Church needs to be growing in grace and knowledge and power and understanding and preaching and teaching and publishing.

"…so that his works may be manifested, that they have been accomplished by the power of God" (v 21).

When we come back here to Lev. 26[transcriber's correction], what we see is a society now turned upside down. Evil is good; good is evil; right is wrong; wrong is right. Plus you bring in all the new technology in it. Stop and think for a minute, everything that is good, Satan sooner or later comes along and controls and perverts it.

Someone gave me a history of the comic book, Batman. When it started out it was good vs evil. Everyone said, 'That's good. You want good to come against evil, don't you? How could you be against that? How could you say that this is a silly thing to have a man likened unto a bat?' Then have a sidekick, a nice young teenager called Robin, all those things together.

You can multiply this over many things. Then you can add to it what happened, a new artist took over and he made it totally satanic. All the characters in it are satanic. Now look at the movies, the stories, the video things on television, look at them seeking after ghosts. There's even a program called The Medium and she reads people's minds and gives them good advice. She's a white witch. 'Oh, but that's a wonderful thing, that's good. There's good magic and there's bad magic.' No! I'm bringing out all of these things. Then you add into it all the homosexuality, all of the adultery, all of the drugs, all of the bad education that comes along and turning out mindless people in schools and all that sort of thing.

Before we continue on I need to mention something very important; I am going to give a sermon concerning the current public education system and how absolutely satanic that it is. If your children attend public school, they probably won't tell you what they are being taught. I have some video about what they actually teach in their sex education classes. Remember, it begins before kindergarten.

It is unspeakable for me to bring it out from the pulpit, if you want to consider this a pulpit. It is so captivating to the students that they don't even tell their parents about it. I'll just forewarn you, I'm going to give a sermon on it. I will send the video to whoever wants it, but you better be very careful that your smaller children do not see it! Then maybe you might decide about home schooling your children.

One other thing along that line, these two terrorists from Chechnya came here and what did they find? They found

• a promiscuous society
• a drunken society
• an idolatrous society
• a society filled with all kinds of things
• homosexuality
• gay marriage

—there in Massachusetts. Then what did they hear from the schools they were attending? All of the hate speech against America from the teachers because they're all the super-liberal progressives!

They sat there with this mindset already from Chechnya and growing up in America. Then the older brother going back for six months to Chechnya; that had to be for training for the terrorist activities. They absolutely are convinced that they are an instrument of God of punishment! Their god is Allah, but God raises up evil from our enemies! They are convinced that they did no wrong in doing this, rather they are trying to correct the wrongs that they see.

So, you see the consequences of what happens when you have a society that once knew God to a great extent to where now He is rejected, to where now there is nothing that anyone can say from the point of the view of the Bible to these people that they will listen to.

We read down here that it said that, 'If you love Me and obey Me and keep My commandments, five of you will chase a hundred and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight.' Here we had two of the enemy and they put millions down—didn't they? At first hundreds, then thousands, then 'shelter down' millions. Two! Think how much was spent to find them. Think how much the bill if going to be for overtime for all the police and the sheriffs.

Then look what we've had to do to the police departments. We've had to make them quasi-military—right? Yes, indeed! Did it stop the evil? No!Because the people have not repented to cease their evil! Some people would say, 'That's crazy talk.' Then I say to you that you ought to read the Bible. So that's what we will do.

We will see there are nine[transcriber's correction] if propositions that God gives:

Leviticus 26:14: "But [#1]if you will not hearken to Me and will not do all these commandments, and [#2]if you shall despise My statutes, or [#3]if your soul hates My judgments, so that you will not do all My commandments, so that you break My covenant" (vs 14-15). God isn't going to break His covenant.

• God's Word is true!
• God's Word is good!
• God will never break His Word!

He always gives warning when we go against Him, giving us a chance to repent. Notice what will happen, because there's reciprocation. God always operates on a reciprocal basis:

• Ifyou repent, He forgives your sins
• Ifyou don't repent, He doesn't forgive your sins
• Ifyou obey Him, you receive blessings
• Ifyou don't obey Him, you develop cursings

These are all the human problems that come on people because they have left God. The first three defines modern Christianity today; yes, indeed! So, He says, if, if, if, if.

Verse 16: "I will also do this to you… [they have warning] …I will even appoint over you terror… [Isn't that what happened? What was this called? A terrorist act!] …consumption, and burning fever, consuming the eyes and causing sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it." Either we'll sell it to them or they will come and take it.

Notice, if that doesn't work. It's one thing to sin, be stricken in conscience and repent and get right with God. Note Rom. 1 where the sins that accumulate God says He abandons them. Now here with the children of Israel, notice what He does.

Verse 17: "And I will set My face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies…"

• How's the war in Afghanistan doing?
• How did the war in Iraq do?
• How did the war in Vietnam do?
• How did the war in Korea do?

We won WWII! But like the Germans have said, 'You won the battle, but you have lost the war.' because every evil that they were doing was transferred over here. Now we're doing a far greater magnitude of evil than they were there.

People get all excited concerning the death camps and the killing of the Jews and others. Yet, nobody raises a finger, hardly—there are some, we have to give them credit, there are some who are trying to stop the murder of the unborn, the most innocent. Every time something like this happens, they say, 'Oh, the innocents were killed.' Oh, boo hoo. Why don't you shut down the abortion clinics? If you really knew the sex education that Planned Parenthood, though the largesse of the taxes of the United States government is polluting and destroying the minds of your children, you might take some more action.

So, God sets His face against us. "…you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you…." (v 17). Think about the political system. They despise the people. If they can use them for cattle, that's fine. Think about what is happening with all the things in the executive branch of the government. There are those there who hate us. They even have conferences and solicit advice from the Muslim Brotherhood who hate us. So, think about those things. The Word of God is true!

God says, 'All right, have you had enough? You willing to repent to Me? You want to stop the activities that you have been doing? Just try one thing. Shut down all the gay bars and all of the gay baths across the nation. See what you end up with.'

So God says here, v 18: "And [#4]if you will not yet for all this hearken to Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." Just like Jonathan Cahn said, 'The hedge of protection has been lifted.'

Verse 19: "And I will break the pride of your power…" What's the pride of our power? Our money and our military! The two go hand-in-hand—don't they? If you don't have money, your military power is not worth very much. What's happening? How close are we to the collapse of the dollar? Closer than we've ever been before!

"…and I will make your heaven like iron and your earth like bronze… [It says in Deut. 28 it'll rain mildew, blasting. Have all of those—don't we?] …And your strength shall be spent in vain… [not only the strength of our labor, but the strength of our money] …for your land shall not yield its increase… [It comes a little bit at a time; a little bit last year, a little bit this year. Last year it was drought; this year it's too much rain. Last year it was too hot; this year it's too cold.] …neither shall the trees of the field yield their fruits." Then we have rain right when the bees should pollinate the cherries and the peaches. No fruit!

You go to the store and everything costs more. Dolores was calculating here recently that she's paying as much as 1/3 more for everything than she did 3 or 4 years ago. One little item: 6 whole wheat organic English muffins at Trader Joes. $1.49 one week; $1.99 the next week. That's a 30% increase. Of $1.50, fifty cents is 1/3; likewise with anything else.

Verse 21: "And [#5]if you walk contrary to Me and will not hearken to Me…" All the prayers—note: Isa. 1—'What are all these prayers that you bring to Me?'

I had an invitation from an international group in London who said, 'We would want you to come over here and speak with our group because we're going to talk about how much that people have compromised God's way.' So, I e-mailed them back, because they were a Sunday-keeping group and I said, 'I'm sure you're well intended. I'm sure as the Bible says there are those who are for Jesus who are not against Him. I'm sure that everything that you are doing is trying to help people understand about God. However, since it is you're trying to help people not compromise concerning God, that if I would come there, let me tell you what I would speak on':

'I would call everybody to repent concerning Sunday keeping, Christmas, Easter, New Years, and all the pagan holidays and to keep the Holy Days of God. So, on that basis if you want me to come, I will come.' Haven't heard a word.

"…will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you which shall bereave you…." (vs 21-22). What are the most populous wild beasts in the cities? The rat! There are more rats in New York City than there are people. Remember what happened with the Black Plague? Some people would be well in the morning and dead at night. All of those things in history are there to show that God means what He says. What are some other wild beasts? Ticks—lyme disease—mosquitoes, flies, snakes, coyotes, bears.

"…And I will destroy your livestock, and make you few. And your highways shall be deserted" (v 22).

I remember one of the reporters saying when he flew into the Boston airport to come on Fox News to report about this, he said it was unreal. Everybody was locked down, called 'shelter down.' You stay in your house and you don't move—no work, no money, no wages, no buying and selling, no profit, all loss. He says it was unreal. It was coming down the highway, normally would take 45 minutes to get from the airport to where he was. He got there in 10 minutes because no one was on the highways. Think what it's going to be when things get really tough.

I know when I was driving up to Fairfield every week, as the price of gas went up, up, up the number of cars on Sabbath went down, down, down. There were times when I was driving up there, I could look ahead for over a mile before I could see the next car and look in my rear view mirror and know that it was more than a mile behind me and no one was on the road; here I am driving solo. What's it going to be when gas is $10 a gallon? Going to sell a drop for $100!

Verse 23: "And [#6]if after these things you will not be reformed by Me, but will still walk contrary to Me, Then I will walk contrary to you…" (vs 23-24). You see how God does it. He gives punishment, waits for repentance. No repentance, gives some more punishment, waits for repentance. Then it reaches a certain point where God says, 'All right, I'm going to set My face against you.' More punishment, waiting for repentance. God always acknowledges repentance! Waiting for more repentance, more difficulties:

• problems at home
• problems at school
• problems with crime

As I mentioned before, what are they going to do when they run out of money with all those who are in prison? When they're let out with 15% unemployment in the population before they're released, guess what they're going to do? You can't have the police come and help you because their budget has been cut and they don't have the personnel to do it. All these things just mount up and mount up and mount up.

God says, "…but will still walk contrary to Me, Then I will walk contrary to you… [then it gets really, really serious] …and will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will bring a sword on you that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant…." (vs 23-25). There are many places that's going to come from.

• you have terrorists
• you have organized militia groups
• you have illegal aliens of all kinds

Remember the plan for putting the Chinese cities in America.

"…And when you are gathered inside your cities… [60% of Americans live in cities today—don't they?] …I will send the plague among you. And you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy" (v 25). What's the best way to deliver us into the hand of the enemy? The demise of the dollar! Think about that!

Verse 26: "When I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one over, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight…. [rationing] …And you shall eat and not be satisfied."

Just think about how spoiled we are. What do you do for your food? You run to the store! I do; you do. How big of a garden do you have? If you have a garden, you may have some tomatoes, you may have some cucumbers, you may have some squash. But do you have enough that you can harvest for a year's worth of food? Everything's at the store! You may have one, two, or three refrigerators and one or two freezers, stuffed to the gills. But unless you can grow it, you're going to run out. Doesn't matter how much you have, some sooner than others. What's going to happen when the highways are desolate and the trucks cannot go through and no one is producing food?

God says you have another chance, v 27: "And [#7]if you will not for all of this hearken to Me, but will walk contrary to Me, Then I will also walk contrary to you in fury.… [See how it progresses?] …And I, even I will chastise you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your images, and throw your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols, and My soul shall despise you. And I will make your cities waste and cause your sanctuaries to be desolate. And I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I Myself, I will make the land desolate. And your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it" (vs 27-32).

That's exactly what happened when Titus finally conquered Jerusalem. Where the temple was, was a high area hard to get to. The Jews had it well defended. They tried many, many times to get there. Finally the only way they could do, was come down from Fort Antonio. You can read this is Josephus. By time they got there, because there were three times more people, probably more than three times, there were 2.5-million people in Jerusalem for that last Passover before the destruction of the temple.

They ran out of food supplies. They were doing just like it was here. They were selling body parts. They were eating one another. They were killing one another. When the famine finally took its toll and there were dead bodies strewn all over that temple area, Titus finally got up on the wall of Fort Antonia. He looked down and he saw the condition of it. He said, 'If God had not been on our side, we could not have won this battle.'

Think about everything that we have relied on for our defenses ca all be cut off electronically. People don't like to hear these things. This is gruesome:

• if we don't learn from history
• if we don't understand the Word of God
• if we don't look to Him

• we're the remnant that God is going to protect
• we're the remnant that God is going to watch over

God will reach down to anyone who repents. How do you think there's going to be the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude? There are going to be those who will repent! So that's what God says He will do.

After they are reduced to few in number, carried off in captivity. Verse 40: "But[#8]if they shall confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers with their own iniquities which they sinned against Me, and that they have walked contrary to Me, So that I, in turn, have walked contrary to them…" (vs 40-41).

The principle of reciprocity is how God always works. He sets before you a proposition. If you respond to Him, He responds to you. If you don't respond to Him, He doesn't respond to you.

"…and have brought them into the land of their enemies, and [#9]if their uncircumcised hearts are then humbled, and they accept the punishment for their iniquity, Then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac; and also My covenant with Abraham I will remember. And I will remember the land" (vs 41-42).

What about those of us who are in the Church in the middle of all of this?

• We should wise as serpents and harmless as doves!
• We need to stay close to God!
• We need not be satisfied!

Let me tell you one of the biggest idolatries within the Church today. Actually there are two forms of it.

• they follow a man who has long since died
• they place fellowship as more important than learning about God

Oh, they would do this that the Bible says,

• but we have our little group that we stay with
• but the minister is teaching things that are not right
• but we know the difference.
• but we love the brethren
• but we'll stay so we can set an example for them

The way you set an example for them is stand for the Truth. I don't want to leave you completely dejected. I told you to read it a couple of weeks ago, but this week we need to read it. This is also a test of faith, too—is it not? Yes, it is!

This is why this fits into the series Faith Unto Faith. Our faith goes to God, God's faith comes back to us and it's continuously a spiritual interaction between us and God, and God and us; between us and Christ, and Christ and us. This is why we need to pray, we need to study, we need to yield to God. Here's what will happen.

Does God know you? Yes, He does! He's given you the Holy Spirit—has He not? He dwells in you—does He not? Yes, He does!So does Christ! Remember, Jesus said, 'The one who keeps My words, My Father will love and I will love him, and We will come and make our abode with him.' Think about that! God is directly with you and in you. So therefore, it doesn't matter what goes on in the world. It matters how your relationship with God is.

Psalm 91:1: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." You can't see a shadow, you can see the effect of it. Likewise, you can't see this protection, but you can see the effect of it. Does God love you? Yes! He's called you!

Verse 2: "I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge… [not my plans; not my guns.] …and my fortress, my God, in Whom I will trust.' Surely He will deliver you from the fowler's trap and from the destroying pestilence" (vs 2-3). We just read about a lot of that—didn't we? Yes, we did!

The way you approach this is, like this one woman who I talked to, she said she reads Psa. 91 every morning to start the day off. That's what we need to do. He will spare us from it.

Verse 4: "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge…." Unseen. It's like Jesus said to Jerusalem before it was destroyed. 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets. How many times would I have gathered you as a mother hen gathers her chicks, but you refused? So, now you have desolation. This will stay until you say, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.'

• Do you believe God?
• Do you believe His Word?
• Do you believe Jesus Christ?

"…His Truth shall be your shield and buckler" (v 4). That's why we need repentance every day. Look at all the ifs that God said He would respond to. Same way with us.

• if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us
• if we walk in the light, as He is in the light
• if we keep His commandments
• if we love Him

Verse 5: "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flies by day… [it may zing past your head, but it missed] …nor for the plague that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction laying waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand; it shall not come near you" (vs 5-7). It may be a close call, but it still missed.

I remember when we had the big earthquake, just to show you a couple of things. They had the elevated freeway along the bay shore in Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco leading up to the Bay Bridge. This was 1989. This earthquake hit, just absolute—it shook everything. We were up in Twain Harte for the Feast of Tabernacles at that time. We began to see through the television the things coming through. They didn't realize it, but the whole upper deck collapsed down on top of the lower deck and there were people trapped inside and people killed, and so forth. The houses built out on the fill into the Bay, the ground beneath it came like jelly. The apartments fell and the houses fell and fires were burning.

Here we are up in Twain Harte keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. It was late in the afternoon after services, so I said I'm going to go down and check on our house and Evelyn Gardner's house to see how much damage there was.

There was no damage in Evelyn Gardner's place and she lived in a mobile home park. Earthquakes normally knock the mobile homes right off the foundation. There were some there that were that way. Hers was spared. Yes, she lost a little bit in food on the inside. I couldn't get in, but I looked in and I didn't see any damage. Nothing fell over.

Came over to our place. Our place was just fine. Checked everything outside and downstairs. Came upstairs and went in the living room and we had this one conquistador statue right up on our fireplace hearth. It was the only thing damaged. It fell right between the couch and a stand-up lamp. Nothing else was damaged.

So, all the way driving back up I was thanking God for His intervention and likewise all the people at the Feast when they got home, very little damage, if any. Just an example of how God can do it and that came suddenly. There was no warning. They are still trying to figure out, 'Can we get a warning for an earthquake.' In Indonesia they say to watch the elephants.

Verse 8: "Only with your eyes you shall behold and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD, Who is my refuge… [David referring to God] …even the Most High, your habitation… [because you put God first] …no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, for He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways, they shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone" (vs 8-12).

If your faith is a little weak and you're thinking about, 'Will this really happen,' you do like we saw last week with the man who wanted his son healed of demon possession. He said, 'Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.' So, confess to God your unbelief and ask Him to help you. He will help you.

Verse 13: "You shall tread upon the lion and asp; the young lion and the jackal you shall trample underfoot. 'Because he [you] has set his love upon Me [God] therefore, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known My name…. [This gets into the reward of the resurrection, too.] …He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him… [not walk contrary to you] …I will be with him in trouble… [Doesn't say you're not going to have any trouble, but He's going to be with you in trouble and help you out of it.] …I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life… [Is eternal life long enough?] …I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation'" (vs 13-16).

That is a powerful Psalm. This is how we need to view all of this. I'm sure back there in the Boston area and in the Northeast there are people of God. God has spared them, God has watched over them. I'm sure they're thankful. I'm sure they're asking God to continue to bless them. When you go through some of these things, you set your course to thank God and to do what is right—don't you? Yes, indeed!

This is why these things come about. I don't want you to be depressed. I don't want you to feel really down. We can feel sorry for the people and all the things that have happened. But they have to deal with it at their level. They have to stop their sins. They have to repent of what they've been doing in transgressing against God.

We have to do our part. I'm trying to do it with what we do with Church at Home, to reach out to new people, cause them to think about these things. I hope all the other Churches of God will do the same thing in however way they can do it.

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 11:3-15
• Leviticus 26:1-13
• John 3:19-21
• Leviticus 26:14-32, 40-42
• Psalm 91:1-16

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 13
• Amos 9
• Genesis 49
• Deuteronomy 28, 32
• Romans 1
• Isaiah 1

Also referenced:

Sermon: This Insane World and God's Judgment

Books:

• America in Prophecy (coming soon)
• The Death of the Grown-Up by Diana West
• Josephus

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 5-2-13
Formatted: bo—5/3/13

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