Why the World Will Fight Christ #2

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Most people don’t understand it, but they’re fighting Christ right now, even those who think they are with Him. Before we get into this—and we’ll draw some comparables in the book of Exodus, just a little review on that—let’s look at 14 major things that are outlined in the Bible, which are epic, earth-shaking occurrences:

Most people don't understand it, but they're fighting Christ right now, even those who think they are with Him. Before we get into this—and we'll draw some comparables in the book of Exodus, just a little review on that—let's look at 14 major things that are outlined in the Bible, which are epic, earth-shaking occurrences:

• creation

It would be nice if someone somewhere would stop all scientists who begin with the big bang and say, 'No! Begin with nothing! Tell us where it came from before the big bang!'

• Satan's fall
• re-creation of the earth and man
• the Flood

Little notice, but nevertheless, all the plan of God flows from this one point:

• God's covenant with Abraham
• the Exodus—all the events leading up to it
• Jesus first coming—the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
• Jesus' second coming
• the first resurrection
• the Millennium
• Satan's final judgment
• the second resurrection
• second death and Lake of Fire
• New Jerusalem and eternity

There are major things that take place. In the meantime, in-between that, you have history with it's rises and falls, wars, rumors of wars and all of these things. But, these are major events that are outlined by the Bible—either historical or prophetic.

Let's add a little bit more onto the question: Why will the world fight against Christ? That's His second return. Let's expand upon this a little bit more here. Let's talk about the mark of the beast. That has an awful lot to do with why the whole world will fight against Christ. Remember, we already covered about the beast and the false prophet to a certain extent.

There's a lot of information out there about what we've said for years and years, which is this: The mark of the beast is not just a buying and selling thing; it is a control! Such control that they've never been able to have in the history of the human race. All of this scientific research that they do: chip implantations into the brain, cloning of human beings, genetic manipulation, adding in animal genes into human beings, which we have discussed in the past.

All of these things are Satan's inspired efforts to make men more God-like from Satan's point of view, so that they will feel empowered to fight against Christ when He returns, and for Satan's control. All for control! And those who receive the mark of the beast give up free choice. It will get down to this, as far as true Christians are concerned: You choose God above anything else regardless of staring death in the face!

Let's see an example that is here in Dan. 3. This is given so we will understand. This is sort of a prophetic event that took place because Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold of this whole system. Nebuchadnezzar is a type of the coming final beast. Here we will see some similarities between Dan. 3 and Rev. 13. Granted, they didn't have the mark of the beast here.

Daniel 3:1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits… [90-feet high] …and its breadth six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon…. [and everyone was to bow down to it] …Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up" (vs 1-2)—and all of the little men.

There's a parallel in Rev. 13 where everyone receives the mark of the beast—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the bond. That's another way of saying what I just read in Dan. 3.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not bow down to worship, so they were given a chance, hauled up before Nebuchadnezzar (v 13) and he said, 'We'll give you a chance. When you hear the music if you bow down and worship, you will live.' (v 15). In the future all Christians are going to be confronted with that very same thing concerning the mark of the beast. We have to prepare and ask ahead of time:

• Do I give up on all eternity and God to live a little longer in the flesh?

or

• Do I follow God under all circumstances regardless of the consequence?

I dare say, none of us have been confronted with that, yet, but we could very well be confronted with it down the road. As a matter of fact, the prophecies which we know are true, we're going to be confronted with it; no doubt about it.

When they were confronted with this, and they were told, 'When you are ready, you bow down and worship, and Nebuchadnezzar affronted God by saying this, v 15: "…And who is that god who shall deliver you out of my hand?" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer a word to you on this matter…. [we're not going to sit here and think this over to answer you] …If that is the case, our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king'" (vs 15-17).

Let's stop and think about this fiery furnace for just a minute. Where was Babylon? In Iraq! They had oil gushing up out of the ground in certain places. They also probably had natural gas vents. There's even indication of it in the book The Two Babylons because of the fiery serpent—the god—who had fire coming out of his mouth continually. They made a fiery serpent and put it over a gas hole and let the gas come out of its mouth and the light it. If you were just uneducated and knew nothing, you would think 'Ooooo, look at that god!' This is probably what it was. It says they made it hotter. How could you make a gas fire even hotter? By throwing on some of your hard petroleum tar and heat that thing up! They knew what they were facing!

Verse 18: "But if not…" You see the resolve. I've given sermons on spiritual resolve. What is your spiritual resolve? Here's their spiritual resolve. Also know this: In time of trouble we're promised that God will help us in time of need.

"…let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods… [keeping the first commandment] …nor worship the golden image which you have set up" (v 18)—the second commandment. We are going to see in Rev. 13 that the whole world is going to be confronted with the same proposition.

• Will they worship Satan the devil and his gods and his images?

or

• Will they worship the true God and so give their life for it?

Verse 19: "Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated." They finally got it up to the 'exceedingly hot' temperature.
Verse 20: "And he commanded mighty men in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and to throw them [down] into the burning fiery furnace" (vs 19-21). That's probably one of those pits with natural gas coming out and petroleum in it and they threw the hard tar down in it and made it hotter and hotter. They cast them into it, and the men who cast them in were killed because it was so hot (v 22).

Another visual picture that you can have concerning that is this—so you can have mental picture of what it's like: Have you ever seen a furnace that is melting iron and how hot it is. Another mental picture is—not quite a severe as this mental picture—the Lake of Fire; a volcanic lake of lava! They weren't thrown into that. It wasn't quite that hot!

Verse 24: "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was amazed. And he rose up in haste and spoke and said to his advisers, 'Did we not throw three men bound into the middle of the fire?' They answered and said to the king, 'True, O king.' He answered and said, 'Behold! I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and there is no harm done to them. And the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods'" (vs 24-25). That must have been an astonishing thing for Nebuchadnezzar!

Verse 26: "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near the opening of the burning fiery furnace. He answered and said, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God… [quick change of mind] …come out and come here.' Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came out of the middle of the fire…. [They were astonished!] …And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's advisers gathered together and saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power—and the hair of their head was not singed, nor were their cloaks changed, nor had the smell of fire clung to them" (vs 26-27). That was quite a thing!

Verse 28: "Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego Who has sent His angel and has delivered His servants who trusted in Him…" Then they got a big promotion. Nebuchadnezzar probably said to himself, 'Boy! let's put these guys in charge.' So, they were promoted. Later, Daniel was thrown into the lion's den—when he was an old man—and the lion's didn't eat him up.

But nevertheless, let's look at some of the similarities in Rev. 13. These days are going to come. Almost all commentaries, trying to explain what the mark of the beast would be, are wrong. Why are they wrong? Did they intend to be wrong? No! They intended to figure it out the best way that they could. But the reason that they are wrong is very simple: 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 500 years ago, or even 50 years ago, no one could possibly imagine the technology that we have today that would make the mark of the beast work like it says here. We're able to understand it—not because we're smarter than those back then—but simply because we're living in a time when we can observe how it's going to be done. All of the economic numbering systems, leading up to the actual mark of the beast—being in your right hand or in your forehead—are not the mark of the beast but they are all steps leading up to it.

When they start to implement it, that's when we say 'NO!' It's going to cause dire consequences to us and to our families and our loved ones. That's why we have to count the cost now.

Revelation 13:11: "And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon." Easiest way to understand that is to listen to any message of the pope. He sounds 'Christian' in some ways; in other ways he doesn't. But the message is not from God, but Satan the devil. We know the dragon is Satan.

Verse 12: And he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him…" What did the first beast have?

Verse 7: "And he was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation." So, here's going to come a great false prophet, a great religion leader, who's going to have authority over all religions. There are a lot of things yet to happen on a mammoth scale for these things to take place.

"…and he causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed" (v 12). The man is proclaimed to be 'God in the flesh.' That's why Christ is going to be the invader from outer-space, Who is the alien, because they're given over to the delusion to believe that the first beast of Rev. 13 is God, and proclaims himself to be God.

Verse 13: "And he performs great wonders, so that he even causes fire to come down to the earth from heaven in the sight of men." Jesus said that there will be 'signs and wonders and false prophets and false Christs.' So, Satan is going to come with every diversionary tactic to come against all mankind and to come against true Christians, as well, to divert them from serving and loving God. When this happens it's going to be like a literal mass conversion of the world; unheard of!

Verse 14: "And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by means of the wonders that were given to him to perform in the sight of the beast…" They have to go around together. That's why when we covered about the two witnesses, it's going to be the two witnesses and a head-to-head confrontation with the beast and the false prophet. Just like Aaron and Moses against Pharaoh and the magicians in Egypt.

Here's what they are to do: "…saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image for the beast…" (v 14). If it were the true Christ, you would not make any image—correct? The second commandment starts out: 'You shall not make unto yourselves…' If you happen to get in a conversation with a Catholic or a Buddhist or someone who says, 'We don't worship them, we just venerate them.' Just remind them that God says 'don't make...' What are they doing there? "…make an image for the beast…"

It's not of the beast, but for the beast. And the image that always goes with Satan the devil is the image of the goddess! Be it Semele, Diana, Athena or the Catholic Mary.

"…which had the wound by the sword, yet, was alive. And he was given power to give life to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast also could speak…" (vs 14-15).

In this modern, technological age, this is going to prove to be absolutely supernatural. Why? Everyone is going to be looking for technological things, which can counterfeit this! There's a new doll coming out of Japan. It's a robot, conversational doll that you program to talk with you. If you live alone, you no longer have to be alone. You can converse with a robot! Everyone with this kind of technology that we have today, is going to say, 'We've got to find out if this is technologically done, or not.' They will know it's not.

"…and he causes everyone who will not worship the image of the beast to be killed" (v 15). Sounds like Dan. 3—doesn't it? That's how the martyrdom is going to be. They'll come along and say:

• Think of your family!
• Think of your children!
• Don't you love them?
• Don't you want them to have food?
• Don't you want them to have clothes?
• Why would God be against you showing a little veneration to this image here?'

It's not to the image, you're worshipping Satan! That's what it is!

Verse 16 refers back to the first beast and it also can refer to the second beast, but since they do the things together jointly, it's easy to understand why it will be the governmental people to do this, not the 'religious' people. The 'religious' people will say it's 'good, it's all right, it's just a matter of identification. After all, living in this lawless world and we're needing control'; this is how we're going:

• to have peace
• we're going to have control
• we're going to be able to run the economy
• we're going to make sure that no cheats the government of taxes
• we're going to make sure that everyone gets what is due to them
• we will no longer have any illegal aliens

Everyone in the world is going to be identified and we will know who and where everyone is, because we can track them! How many people will say, 'Oh, that's great!'

I remember one time we went into what is now Costco and they had this guy standing there checking all the cards as you go in. So, I just said to him, 'Don't you think it would make your job a whole lot easier if you just had a little scanner here and everyone had something in their right hand in order to get in.' He said, 'Boy, that would really be good!' I about fell over! You see how people today are so 'psychologized' to do that. After all, they want to become greater and smarter and better and this is what all of these things are going to offer to the people, as well as buying and selling and making peace and making everyone lawful, and making everyone obedient. What a perfect world we can form with this. Why would you be against this! The ads on television are programming people for this.

Verse 16: "And he causes all, the small and the great [Dan. 3], and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to receive a mark in their right hands, or in their foreheads."

What's the difference in the right hand or the forehead? Let's think on this; this is what I think [speculation] the difference is: In the forehead are all the governmental officials, from the lowest to the highest. In the right hand is everybody else. The reason that the governmental officials will need it is so they can be controlled first, to make sure all the policies of this coming world government are implemented and everybody is doing the will of Satan the devil.

You also have this: The forehead is your mind and your thoughts and in your right hand are your actions. If you don't believe what they're going to do, do a lot of study, go online, there are a lot things they're showing. They're also talking about chip implants into the brain. With that they can give super-comprehension. They can take soldiers—like the movie Universal Soldier—where all they have to do is just flashback and they have instant recall on all of their training and weaponry, and they can see better, hear better, run better and so forth.

Also, they are now making military equipment with nanotechnology where they can have bulletproof clothing that they can wear that is no thicker than a T-shirt. They have shoes that have super-rubber on them that they can run up on the walls. Sound a little like Joel 2: 'run up the walls, leap thru the window, go straight on their way. They don't hurt and they don't die' and they keep going.

We're going to see that demons are also going to come and possess them, and give them great superhuman strength. That is also going to add to their conviction that they can fight against God and win! Satan and demons still think they can win against God. Another thing brought up, which everyone will be ecstatic over: control criminals, sex perverts, predators and things like this. It's going to be the perfect solution to human problems—all of them! It isn't! Christ is the perfect solution!

They've been using the chip for a long time to implant in animals. All cattle in America are mandated to have them—mandated! Other commercial animals will, too. More and more people are having them put in their dogs and cats, because after all, you don't want to lose your dog, don't want to lose your cat—do you? Let's put it into Alzheimer's patients, so if they get lost we'll know where they are and you won't have to worry. All of the problems that Satan has created because of sin now he adds a greater sin to it as a solution to all the sins that he has previously caused!

Verse 17: "So that no one may have the ability to buy and sell unless he has the mark or… [the Greek here can mean added onto] …the name of the beast, or the number of his name." You've got to have an official mark. It's not one of the three, but all three combined into one. It's kind of like a telephone number: you have country code, area code, city code, your phone code. You can't have just one or the other, but you must have all of them in order to call the person that you want to call.

Verse 18: "Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is a man's number, and his number is 666." They've been able to apply this to many despots and dictators in the past. It does fit, but you can't make it stretch. For example: They took Reagan's name and said it's 666 and that Ronald Reagan was the beast. No! He was not the beast! It has to add up in Greek to 666. Someone sent me a paper on the number 666. It was put together by the Seventh Day Adventists, and they've done a lot on the mark of the beast. It's really good information. One of the problems with Seventh Day Adventists interpretations of Rev. 13 is they count the first beast and the second beast as one—the Catholic Church—which is a mistake. It's the religious system and the emperor. The Catholic Church could not be what it is today without all the emperors that they controlled down through time. The mark of the beast will be the perfect 'thought-police' control!

There's even a movie out: Minority Report which showed—and Delores says, 'Satan telegraphs what he's going to do through movies and television before he does it—they were able to chip this man who was a pedophile, and they were able, by computer control, to send signals to that man to keep him from molesting and/or murdering a young child—something similar to that. They were able to read his thoughts, somehow, electronically. They are programming human thoughts now to get thought-patterns and from where in the brain different thoughts come from for the very purpose of control. If you don't believe me, go online and do a Google search: mind control. I think you'll find that what I'm saying here is right on, but it's very mild compared to what they are planning and they are doing.

Let's come to Revelation 14—here is the three angels' message. These messages have to come just before the mark of the beast is implemented, even though it's after Rev. 13. The reason is because you can't put everything together in one place. The movie How the West was Won is a good example of showing different narrations—which actually took place simultaneously—but you couldn't show all of them occurring simultaneously. So you showed one up to a certain point, then you went back in time and picked up another situation and brought that forward to the same point. There was another one, other characters, and you would go back to where they began and come up to a certain point in time, and the certain point in time was where they all got together to go westward when they met in this certain place. Anyway wherever the launch off spot was to go westward in the early part of conquering the West.

Likewise we have it here. In Rev. 13, the first part, we have the governmental system. The second part we have the religious system. First part of Rev. 14 we have the second 144,000, which shows the blessing for being faithful to God continually, because that's what a virgin is depicted as.

Then we come down to Revelation. 14:6[transcriber's correction], going back in time to just before the mark of the beast is implemented: "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven…" Why have angels do this? God is going to begin revealing Himself in supernatural ways! If you have a false prophet able to call fire down from heaven and you have a beast who proclaims himself to be God, are they going to listen to any man, to stand up and say 'this is from the devil'? No!What would be a greater witness to men than an angel flying around in heaven proclaiming these things! It's not going to be that you're going to hear it on the radio because you could never get it on the radio, because it's totally controlled—or on television or cell phone or Internet.

Verse 6: "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and language and people." When they're going to fight against Christ they're going to have many, many warnings in addition to the two witnesses.

Verse 7: "Saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God… [instead of the beast] …and give glory to Him… [instead of the image] …because the hour of His judgment has come… [Your last chance to repent!] …and worship Him Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.' Then another angel followed, saying, 'The great city Babylon is fallen, is fallen…'" (vs 7-8). This is a prophetic perfect. When this is said, it hasn't yet fallen, but because God has decreed it, it is as good as already done.

"…because of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, which she has given all nations to drink.' And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand, he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone in the sight of the Holy angels, and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends into the ages of eternity…'" (vs 8-11).

How do we understand this? When anything gets up out of the atmosphere of the earth it just keeps going out into outer-space! That's why the earth is unique. Things can be recycled here. Even if it gets out of the atmosphere, even smoke, what does it do? It keeps going and going and going! There's something greater than the Eveready bunny battery, which are the satellites the Americans have sent out to explore the solar system and have gone way, way out there into the universe. They still get radio signals back from it. When you look at that you think, ohhh! No!

It's their smoke that goes up. They're not tormented forever. If you're thrown into fire and brimstone you're burnt up and you become smoke. Smoke rises and it will rise out of the atmosphere into the universe, until such time that God cleans up the universe, which when He makes the new heaven and the new earth He will.

(go to the next track)

Let's analyze these verses here little bit more so that we understand what it's telling us.

Revelation 14:9 "And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand… [he has to be alive to do that] …he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God…" (vs 9-10)—which then carries clear out to the seven last plagues! But the wrath of God also begins with the revelation of Christ (Rev. 6:12: hide us from the Lamb and day of His wrath).

"…which is mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone in the sight of the Holy angels, and of the Lamb" (v 10). If you are thrown into fire and brimstone, you burn up; you are dead, unless you're Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—they are the only three in the history of the world that did that.

Verse 11: "And the smoke of their torment ascends into the ages of eternity…"—because they died. We have a man here who works in a cemetery operation and on the cemetery grounds they have a crematorium. When they put the body in there and the smoke goes up, they're gone!

Here is another statement, which reflects back to a time when those who received the mark were still living. "…and those who worship the beast and his image… [showing they have to be alive] …and all who receive the mark of his name, have no rest day and night" (v 11).

This doesn't mean after they are dead, because there's no such thing as the immortality of the soul. It means that if you worship the beast and you receive the mark in your right and or in your forehead, he is going to control your life and you have no rest day or night because he has taken over your thought process and controls your thinking. We also need to understand how that fits in to why people will fight Christ when He returns, even though they are told it is Christ returning.

Contrary to that, v 12: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus…. [in the face of all odds and the threat of death] …And I heard a voice from heaven say to me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from this time forward…." (vs 12-13). This has to be at the time of the implementation of the mark of the beast; for those who don't receive it are killed. They'll be blessed! That also ties in with the fifth seal (Rev. 6).

"…Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors; and their works follow them" (v 13). What were their works?

• they loved God more than any human being
• loved God more than anything else
• they gave their lives to prove it

just exactly like Christ gave His life to prove that He loved the world!

One of the epic things that is going to take place is the second return of Jesus Christ. This is going to be a mammoth thing that is going to take place. Let's understand: When we read these things without the knowledge of what we have today—if you would have read them 100 years ago, 200 years ago, 50 years ago—you would read this and say that this has got to be symbolic language. But today, knowing what we know, we can say that this is not symbolic language entirely. A lot of this is a literal description of what is going to happen. That's what we need to understand.

Revelation 6:12: "And when He opened the sixth seal…" We know that Jesus is the only One qualified to open them. Opening the seals then is opening up the prophecies which have been written so they will come in their literal fulfillment. That's what we need to understand.

"…I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as the hair of sackcloth, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its untimely figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind" (vs 12-13).

Let's see some other descriptions of this, too. There is a time when this is literally going to happen on the earth. The Day of the Lord covers a greater period of time than we have thought, as we demonstrated on the Feast of Trumpets.

Isaiah 13:6[transcriber's correction]: "Howl! For the Day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." I want you to see how closely this parallels Rev. 6 when we get back there.

Verse 7: "Therefore, all hands shall be faint, and every man's heart shall melt; and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain like a woman who travails. They shall be amazed at one another, their faces are like blazing fire. Behold, the Day of the LORD comes…" (vs 7-9). It is coming! That's what we read in Rev. 6.

"…cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation; and He shall destroy the sinners out of it, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not reflect its light. 'And I will punish the world for their evil… [the whole world] …and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants…. [the beast] …I will make man more scarce than gold; even man more than the fine gold of Ophir'" (vs 9-12).

It says in Jer. 25 that the 'dead corpses of men'—because of all of this—are going to be from one end of the horizon to the other end of the horizon. An epic time in history that has never been. This is why the warning has to come from God. That's what Rev. 6 is all about, the beginning of that warning in a visible, moving way on this earth!

Verse 13: "Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place… [it's going to wobble back and forth] …in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger."

Isaiah 24:1 "Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste…" That's in a process of time with all the things will take place.

"…and turns it upside down…" (v 1). How? Not literally flipping it in orbit, but all the valleys that are low will be raised, all the mountains will be brought down! That's upside down!

"…and scatters its inhabitants…. [it's going to be with everyone] …And as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the slave, so with the master; as with the handmaid, so it is with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be completely laid waste, and utterly stripped; for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and languishes; the world withers and languishes; the proud people of the earth wither. And the earth is defiled under its people; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and they who dwell in it are desolate; therefore the people of the earth are burned, and few men are left" (vs 1-6).

Verse 18: "And it shall be, he who flees from the sound of dread shall fall into the pit. And he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare, for the windows from on high are opened… [Rev. 6—an event that hasn't happened!] …and the foundations of the earth quake. The earth is broken, yea broken down! The earth is crumbling, yea crumbling to pieces! The earth is tottering, yea tottering! Like a drunkard the earth is staggering, yea staggering! And it rocks to and fro like a tree hut! And its transgressions are heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth" (vs 18-21). That's what's going to happen with all of that. That's another description of it.

Let's see that God is going to make it known. When Christ returns it's not going to be some secret thing with a 'rapture.' It's not going to be with a voice that's going to call you and you will all of a sudden ascend into the air. It is going to be an earth-shaking and absolutely momentous event beyond description. What we're reading here is the best that words can do to describe what's going to happen. This is going to with all nations of the world which are upon the face of the earth. Let's grasp the magnitude of this!

• This is going to make Satan angry!
• This is going to make men angry!

It's is going to be a time of:

• utter war
• utter confusion
• utter destruction

—the final, grasping, last minute for power and fighting the invasion from outer-space, all combined together.

Jeremiah 25:30: "And prophesy against them all these words, and say to them, 'The LORD shall roar from on high… [the whole world is going to hear this] …and utter His voice from His Holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the people of the earth.'" What we need to realize is this: When God says, 'all the inhabitants of the earth—the whole earth, all nations—we are talking about what we see today, the whole world together!

I know when I get on the airlines to travel, right alongside the door where you enter, it says: 'One world'—everywhere you go it is one world, globalization, etc. etc., etc.! Who are the people and what is the nation that is the hardest to make them conform to the satanic, pagan, world system? None other than the United States of America! The remnant of the modern day ten tribes of Israel! They are struggling mightily

• To harness us!
• To enslave us!
• To get rid of our Constitution!
• To get rid of our dollar!

And it will come because of our sins. But remember this: In spite of everything, regardless of how bad it is or going to get, the only place in the whole world where the Gospel can be freely preached and reached out to the world is from the United States of America!

So, a lot of the timing of these events are geared on what the Churches of God and the people of God are doing. A lot of it is also geared upon what some of the Protestants are doing—not that they're necessarily going to receive salvation—remember, anyone that names the name of Jesus Christ is totally different from anyone who is an out and out pagan, like the Muslims, Buddhists or Hindu. Though it's not in Truth entirely; though it's not in sincerity entirely; it is still there!

Verse 31: "A noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead with all flesh…." No one's going to escape! I wonder how the atheists are going to do at that time? I wonder how strongly, if you're an atheist, you're going to believe that God doesn't exist? When you're sitting there in your little crack in the ground, which is your only temporary shelter, and you're contemplating what you're going to do—and because you're so scared your whole body is shaking and quivering, and your garments and your clothes reflect your inner digestive system because it has been literally scared right out of the midst of you—will you still reject God?

"…He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts…" (vs 31-32). Let's understand this: The best way to begin to believe in God is right here. Very simple: When God says, 'Thus says the LORD' you know it's going to happen! When you begin to believe that, your atheism will begin to disappear very rapidly!

"…'Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be stirred up from the farthest corners of the earth. And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth…'" (vs 32-33).

How many people are on the earth today? Pretty close to 7-billion? How many more will there be if it takes another 10-15 years? Will there be 10-billion? 12-billion? Are there going to be 90% of the people die because of plagues, famine, earthquakes, war, insanity, murder, revenge? If that's the case, there will be—round it off to 10-billion—90% gone, 1-billion left. That means what? Around the world, everywhere you look there will be the dead! The dead—from one end of the earth to the other! It isn't going to happen all at once, but it will come in waves.

There are going to be so many "…they shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground" (v 33). Let's see how this is going to start. Christ is going to make Himself known. I know we've covered this before, but I really think we need to grasp even greater, and see if we can visualize in our minds something that has never occurred in the history of mankind in this manner.

Revelation 6:14: "Then the heaven departed like a scroll that is being rolled up…" That is describing a mammoth event of gigantic proportions that has never happened before. There's going to be a change in the heavens around the earth that has never occurred before.

Think on this: What are the scientists doing today? If you watch the History channel or the National Geographic channel—which is the only one I watch besides a little bit of what may be honest sports; most of them are not anymore—what are the scientists and the astronomers doing? There are so many meteorites out there circling the earth that when they fall into the atmosphere they look like falling stars, because they're burning up. You've seen the pictures and they ask, 'How did these fall to the earth?' There's supposed to be one huge one that fell in what is called in Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, which goes out 230 miles. They suspect that when this one fell this caused a change in the earth's atmosphere and to why all the dinosaurs died. That may be; we don't know. But nevertheless, two things happened: The meteorite hit and the dinosaurs did die. They're asking if this is going to happen again.

Now they actually have it where the governments of the world are tracking every floating meteor out there that is coming within the proximity of the earth. They've got them down to the smaller-sized ones, because they now have technology to do that. They're watching, watching, watching, they're looking into the heavens. So, think of what an astonishing thing this is going to be.

Verse 14: "Then the heaven departed like a scroll that is being rolled up…" How is that going to be? Why will the stars fall to the earth? or these meteorites fall to the earth when they didn't before?

Let me tell you a little something about the protection that God has given to the earth. It has to do with the magnetic field around the earth. From the North Pole to the South Pole, going out thousands of miles around the earth—because of the magnetism that comes from the sun to the earth, which is evidenced in the Northern Lights and the Southern Lights—there is a huge magnetic field called the Van Allen Belt. This Van Allen Belt protects the earth from radiation from outer-space and repels 99% of all of the meteorites that would come into the earth. What's going to happen when the 'heavens are departed as a scroll'? Is God going to reduce that magnetic belt to where the heavens actually, as we view them, would change? God is then going to reveal something that He hasn't revealed to human beings except just in a couple of cases, that there is an angelic and spiritual realm out there that is invisible to the human eye unless God reveals it.

I think this is what's going to happen at that particular time. It has to be something like that, because notice what happens after it's rolled up like a scroll:

"…and every mountain and island was moved out of its place…." (v 14). Everything is going to shift! You talk about tectonic plate movement!

Verse 15: "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the powerful men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains." Everyone on earth—regardless of who you are, where you are, how rich you are, how poor you are, where you work, what you do—will be affected when this happens! God is not going to leave a witness that is not going to be absolutely powerful. So much for the 'secret rapture!'

Verse 16: "And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.'"

How are they going to know this? Even though it's an invasion from outer-space? Because the two witnesses will be telling them that! All of those that they martyr will be a witness to them before they die! Christ is returning and you are going to be judged! You may kill me; you may tear me from limb to limb, but I will be resurrected when Christ returns! That's what they're going to hear. After the saints have been martyred and this event happens, this is God's answer to the horrendous martyrdom of the saints. He is going to personally intervene and answer them!

Verse 17: "Because the great day of His wrath has come, and who has the power to stand?"

• they're going to be deceived
• they're going to be deluded
• they will know it is Christ

But, just like Pharaoh—just a little review of Pharaoh: There were seven signs and four plagues. You had the signs of:

• the rod
• blood
• frogs
• lice
• flies
• grievous murrain
• boils & blains

Then the four plagues:

• hail
• locust
• thick darkness
• death of the firstborn

Did the death of the firstborn stop Pharaoh? NO! He sat there and his advisers sat there and said, 'What have we done? We've let them go! How are we going to operate without slaves? We can't be slaves. Let's all get on our horses and on our chariots. We've already got the message.' The Israelites hadn't yet quite gotten out of the land of Egypt. They were down there near Pihahiroth and they were caught between the sea and the mountains. They said, 'We'll get 'em, they're trapped!' So, they went after them.

Very interesting—isn't it? I counted all the times that Pharaoh's heart was hardened—guess how many there were, including the last one? Thirteen! And what was the last fatal mistake of Pharaoh and his armies? God lifted His protection against Israel after they got to the other side and were safe, and Pharaoh said, 'Whoa! They want to cross the Red Sea, we will!' Hardened his heart and they went in—POOM!

One little sidebar here for all who have seen a video purporting to show chariots under the Gulf of Aqaba, which are probably there—I believe they are there—but they're wheels are on their chariots, so those cannot be the ones that God destroyed when the Red Sea came upon them. Why? It says in Exo. 14 that God took off the chariot wheels! If you look down there and see chariots with wheels on them, those aren't the ones! And it's not in the right place.

Was it insane to go into the Red Sea? He didn't learn anything from all these others—did he? No! Do you think the beast and the false prophet and the armies of the world are going to learn anything after what they have gone through and Satan is leading them? They're going to need a little encouragement at the end very similar to Pharaoh and his advisers sitting around saying, 'What shall we do? Let's go get them as slaves.'

After the seven last plagues start, out the mouth of the beast and false prophet are going to come spirits of demons working wonders! They're going to convince people! In spite of all of this, in spite of everything that has happened, 'we can still win!'

Scriptural References:

• Daniel 3:1-2, 15-21, 24-28
• Revelation 13:11-12, 7-18
• Revelation 14:6-11, 9-13
• Revelation 6:12-13
• Isaiah 13:6-13
• Isaiah 24:1-6, 18-21
• Jeremiah 25:30-33
• Revelation 6:14-17

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Daniel 3:13, 22
• Joel 2
• Exodus 14

Also referenced: Book: The Two Babylons
by Alexander Hislop

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 12-5-10
Reformatted: 5/2014