Participants:
Series Code: WHO
Program Code: WHO200005S
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00:25 Hello, 3ABN friends and family,
00:27 welcome back to 3ABN Worship Hour. 00:31 It's a blessing to have you joining us 00:32 here another week to indeed 00:34 worship our Lord and Savior in spirit and in truth. 00:38 Today we have a very, very special message entitled, 00:42 "Prophetic Forecast, 00:44 Cloudy with a Chance of Sunday Law." 00:47 That's right. 00:48 We're going to be talking about 00:50 some deep prophetic themes this morning. 00:51 And we hope that you stick with us but until then, 00:53 we're going to now take time to uplift the Lord in praise 00:57 and prayer with our good friend, 00:58 Tim Parton. 01:14 Lord, listen to Your Children praying 01:21 Lord, send Your Spirit In this place 01:28 Lord, listen to Your Children praying 01:34 Send us love, send us pow'r 01:38 Send us grace 01:43 Something's gonna happen 01:45 Like the world has never known 01:49 When the people of the Lord 01:52 Get down to pray 01:57 A door's gonna swing open 01:59 And the walls Come a-tumbling down 02:03 When the people of the Lord 02:07 Get down to pray 02:11 So let's take time to pray. 02:15 Father God, listen to Your children pray. 02:22 I want to pray for the protection 02:23 and safety of Your children. 02:27 Those who are watching, 02:28 those who have sent in requests, 02:31 Father, for the one who someone has threatened 02:34 to take her life. 02:38 Oh, God, guard her, protect her. 02:42 Father, someone is asking for the safety 02:45 of Seventh-day Adventist leaders, 02:47 pastors, the doctors, nurses and medical staff 02:51 of the Adventist hospitals. 02:55 God, I thank You for Your safety. 02:59 Viewers asking prayer for the sister who is coughing. 03:05 And she's the overseer of her mother's care. 03:11 Father, so many are at a loss right now. 03:15 Not knowing how to take care of family members far away, 03:20 or even those nearby that they can't go see. 03:24 Lord, we're depending on You. 03:30 Father, for those who are requesting prayer 03:32 for the Philippine medical staff, 03:36 who are infected with the virus. 03:40 And the people can't afford not to work. 03:42 Lord, You know, many who are in this shape. 03:48 They need Your resources. 03:50 They need Your provision, oh God. 03:52 They need Your healing. 03:56 Father, for the mother who is asking that 04:00 her children will give their hearts to You. 04:05 Lord, we all have people in our lives 04:09 that we want to see. 04:14 Enter into the ark of safety, 04:19 so that we can spend eternity with them. 04:24 Oh, God, hear our prayer, listen to our hearts' cry. 04:28 No matter where we are, 04:30 we cry out to You for a Father's help. 04:34 We are feeble. We are frail humanity. 04:39 We're easily overwhelmed by life. 04:43 God, guide us into Your presence 04:45 where we are safe and sheltered. 04:50 Lord, You are a paradise of protection to us. 04:57 You lift us high above the conflict of life. 05:04 Father, You are Lord, You are Creator God, 05:10 and we bless Your name. 05:13 Thank you for Your goodness. 05:18 You know my desire to love and serve You. 05:22 I'm grateful, Lord, 05:24 for the inheritance of rich treasures 05:25 that You've given. 05:28 Thank You for a full and abundant life. 05:31 We claim it, oh, Lord. 05:34 Thank You for the blessed hope of life with You forever. 05:37 Thank You, Father, for providing that. 05:42 And for those who are watching, 05:43 oh, God, guard them with Your unending, 05:49 unfailing love. 05:57 Lord, listen to Your Children praying 06:06 Lord, send Your Spirit In this place 06:15 Lord, listen to Your Children praying 06:22 Send us love, send us pow'r 06:26 Send us grace 06:33 Send us love Send us power 06:37 Send us grace 06:58 Thank you, Tim. That was, was beautiful. 07:01 It really, really set the mood. 07:04 Before we go any further, 07:05 let us go to the Lord in prayer. 07:09 Father in Heaven, 07:11 Lord, our prayer is simple, we get genuine. 07:18 Lord, we need the leading guiding power 07:19 of Your Spirit right now 07:22 would fill me with Your Spirit that the words that I speak, 07:26 the words that I teach and preach today 07:30 are from You God, 07:31 and not from my frail mind. 07:34 Lord, we thank You so much 07:36 for the opportunity to worship You 07:37 this morning in spirit and in truth. 07:41 That's our goal, Father. 07:44 Open Your Word in our hearts and minds this morning. 07:48 And may the message that we hear today 07:49 never be forgotten, 07:52 but may we all band together in unity, 07:54 to declare this message until Jesus comes. 07:58 We praise You and we thank You 08:00 for the opportunity to be here today. 08:02 And we ask this in Jesus' holy name, amen. 08:05 Amen. 08:09 Prophetic forecast, 08:12 cloudy with a chance of not meatballs, 08:17 but, of course, Sunday law. 08:21 This is a message that is not really heard that often. 08:25 Not that necessarily we have those 08:27 who are trying to purposely hide it 08:29 or keep from talking about it, 08:30 but it's just one of those messages 08:32 that we yet to look forward to see 08:34 how it's going to unfold. 08:36 We are indeed today going to be talking about 08:39 what the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, 08:41 even as much as some of the news outlets 08:45 and different organizations around us are saying about 08:48 this Sunday sacredness movement. 08:51 And I believe that 08:52 this is a very, very powerful message 08:55 that needs to be delivered today. 08:56 We all need to be paying attention 08:59 to the prophet message on this topic 09:01 because we know and we have been told that 09:03 this is indeed coming. 09:05 I want to start this off 09:06 with kind of a very interesting public statement 09:10 that was made by a mayor in Ontario, Canada. 09:14 He's a politician. 09:16 And obviously he has some influence. 09:18 And he released this public statement 09:20 via his Twitter account, 09:22 and I'm going to quote him at this moment. 09:23 These are his words. 09:25 Notice what he says here, 09:26 "Just putting this out there for consideration: 09:30 Once we kick COVID-19's butt, I'd suggest that 09:36 everything be closed on Sunday's 09:39 again so that we can appreciate 09:41 the importance of what taking a pause 09:43 in our busy lives really means. 09:46 I think our body, mind and soul would thank us." 09:52 Very interesting indeed. 09:54 We see this often occur 09:56 where we have public officials' article statements 10:00 that are made often 10:02 by religious leaders or influential people 10:04 around our world that we're seeing more and more of this, 10:06 especially over the past few decades 10:08 of people talking about 10:10 the importance of observing Sunday. 10:13 And I just want to state for the record, 10:16 we as Seventh-day Adventists, 10:17 I know me as a Seventh-day Adventists 10:18 I believe in worshiping the Lord every single day. 10:22 And we want to make that very, very, very clear. 10:25 The Sabbath is indeed in the Bible, 10:27 the seventh day of the week. 10:28 And we also want to make that clear 10:30 that while we should worship God every single day, 10:33 as we're going to talk about today, 10:35 we know that the biblical seventh day Sabbath 10:37 is Saturday and not Sunday, 10:40 but yet there seems to be this gradual move, 10:43 there seems to be this movement occurring, 10:45 kind of behind closed doors or underneath the surface 10:49 that has people thinking in the direction 10:51 of maybe bringing about a movement, 10:54 legislation laws that will put this into place 10:57 in which everyone must observe Sunday 11:01 as a day of rest, as a holy day of observance. 11:06 Now, the reason why I feel that 11:07 this is important to talk about is because first of all, 11:11 I feel personally convicted 11:12 that all of these prophetic themes in the Bible, 11:15 not just this one but all of them 11:16 should be declared in these last days. 11:18 We know that the three angels' messages 11:20 of Revelation 14 are going to the entire world 11:23 and God's remnant people 11:25 who are full of the Holy Spirit in the last days, 11:27 they will rise up 11:28 and they will preach this message, 11:30 including giving out the warning 11:32 and the clear message that there are Sunday laws 11:35 that will come that will be passed 11:37 and we will have to make a decision otherwise. 11:40 In fact, I want to read a statement right now. 11:42 This is found in the Review and Herald, December 24, 1889. 11:48 Notice this very powerful statement. 11:51 It says, "There are many who are at ease, 11:54 who are, as it were, asleep. 11:57 They say, 'If prophecy 11:59 has foretold the enforcement of Sunday observance, 12:03 the law will surely be enacted,' 12:05 and having come to this conclusion, 12:07 they sit down in a calm expectation of the event, 12:12 comforting themselves with the thought that God 12:15 will protect His people in the day of trouble. 12:19 But God will not save us 12:21 if we make no effort to do the work 12:23 He has committed to our charge." 12:26 And then it goes on to say, "As faithful watchman, 12:30 you should see the sword coming 12:32 and give the warning, 12:34 that men and women may not pursue a course 12:37 through ignorance that they would avoid 12:40 if they knew the truth." 12:43 And so, again, as I said before while, yes, 12:45 we have men and women and brethren 12:47 within our movement that have risen up, 12:49 that are teaching this message. 12:50 Some are a little hesitant to declare such a message 12:54 or to talk about this Sunday law 12:55 because when you start talking about Sunday laws 12:58 that haven't yet take place, obviously, 13:00 there's going to be some speculation 13:02 from others around you. 13:03 Perhaps maybe we have visitors 13:05 who are sitting in our congregations 13:07 from Sabbath to Sabbath, 13:08 and we just choose not to talk about this subject 13:10 because we don't want to offend someone, 13:12 or we don't want to bring about a fear, 13:15 or maybe make people think that 13:17 we're weird by talking about such things. 13:19 But nonetheless, my friends, 13:21 we are counseled in the Spirit of Prophecy, 13:23 that we are to raise the banner of truth, 13:25 that we are to sound the alarm, 13:27 and that now while we have an opportunity 13:30 during this time of peace, 13:31 and I know that kind of sounds contradicting 13:34 or counteractive to talk about a time of peace 13:36 with all of this COVID-19 13:38 and all this happening around us, 13:39 but yet we know we are not living 13:41 in what the Bible calls the time of trouble, 13:44 that will be so much far worse than 13:45 what we are going through now. 13:47 Again, that is not to spark fear. 13:49 That is not to spark anxiety or worry into the hearts, 13:52 but rather bring about an awakening of God's people 13:55 that we may be awake and aware of the times 13:58 that we're living in, that we make 13:59 keep a watchful eye of the things 14:01 that are happening around us, 14:02 so that when we see these things happening, 14:04 as Jesus said, we will know that 14:06 His coming is very near. 14:09 Now, before we go any further, 14:10 I just want to establish some prophetic foundation 14:15 for what I'm going to be talking about today. 14:17 Many of you may consider this to be reviewed, 14:19 many of you may consider this to be something 14:20 that you already know. 14:21 But there may be someone watching right now that says, 14:23 "You know what? 14:24 I'm hearing this for the very first time." 14:26 And as I said in the beginning of this sermon, 14:29 this message is for everyone. 14:31 The message of a coming Sunday law 14:34 and the cloudy times that we're living in, 14:36 we know that this is not just for Seventh-day Adventists. 14:40 This is for the entire world as the three angels' messages 14:43 go to the entire world, 14:45 all nations, languages and tongues. 14:48 And so I want to begin talking about the prophetic skeleton, 14:52 the very foundation of how we come to this message 14:55 and where we are in declaring this Sunday law movement 14:58 that will be up on us very soon. 15:01 I want to start in the Book of Daniel Chapter 7. 15:04 And it's very interesting when you start reading 15:06 the opening verses of Daniel 7 15:07 because Daniel obviously is in vision, 15:10 and he sees some rather interesting things. 15:12 He sees as he's standing on the edge of the sea, 15:15 and he's looking out on the embankment there. 15:17 He's looking out at the sea, and he sees this lion come up 15:20 out of the water, 15:22 with obviously a double or a set of wings. 15:25 So a one winged lion, rather interesting figure. 15:28 But as this lion begins to fade away coming up, 15:31 out of that same water 15:32 comes a bear with three ribs in its mouth, 15:35 and it's raised up on one side. 15:38 And then, of course, 15:40 as that bear's fading away in the distance, 15:42 there comes another interesting 15:43 creature up out of that same water, 15:45 a four headed leopard, a leopard with four heads, 15:50 and it has not just a pair of wings, 15:52 but a double set of wings. 15:55 And then as that third animal 15:57 or beast is fading in the distance, 16:01 we see a fourth beast come about. 16:07 Daniel isn't even able to describe 16:09 or actually give a proper name to this fourth beast. 16:12 He just describes him as being terrible, dreadful, 16:15 more powerful 16:16 than any other beast before him, 16:18 destroying all the others in its path and, of course, 16:22 bringing about a world dominant movement 16:25 that would change the world forevermore. 16:27 Now, we need not go very far as to know 16:29 what these beasts represent 16:31 because right there in the 7th Chapter of Daniel, 16:33 we're told that these beasts represent kings 16:35 which obviously have kingdoms. 16:37 So these are powerful world dominant empires 16:41 from Daniels' day all the way down 16:43 to the very end of the world. 16:45 And we know that lion to simply represent the kingdom 16:47 of Babylon, 16:49 because it makes very clear to us 16:51 in constitution with or in parallel 16:53 with Daniel Chapter 2, we know that 16:55 the head of gold 16:56 was indeed the kingdom of Babylon. 16:58 Also coming after Babylon represented by the chest 17:01 and arms of silver in Daniel 2, 17:03 as well as the bear with three ribs in its mouth 17:07 coming up would obviously be the kingdom of Medo-Persia. 17:11 And then, of course, we have the third kingdom 17:13 that came after the Medes and the Persians, 17:15 which was the kingdom of Greece, 17:17 which is represented by the belly 17:18 and thighs of bronze in Daniel Chapter 2, 17:20 as well as the four headed beast there in, 17:25 or the four headed leopard in Daniel Chapter 7. 17:27 And then interestingly enough, 17:29 you come in Daniel Chapter 2 to these legs of iron, 17:32 which proceeded to the feet. 17:34 And then, of course, obviously in Daniel Chapter 7, 17:37 this horrible, dreadful, 17:38 terrible beast that has iron teeth. 17:41 There's no doubt which nation came 17:43 after the nation of Greece as a world dominant empire. 17:45 We're talking about the empire of Rome, 17:48 the pagan influence of Rome. 17:51 But I didn't bring you here to talk about 17:52 all of those individual beasts. 17:54 I want to bring your attention 17:56 to what comes after this fourth beast 17:58 'cause Daniel's attention, 18:00 his attention is brought to the head 18:02 of this fourth beast. 18:03 It's almost as if God hits the zoom button on the camera, 18:06 he zooms in on the head of this fourth beast 18:08 and he sees a little horn. 18:10 Notice Daniel 7:8, the Bible says, 18:15 "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, 18:18 a little one coming up among them, 18:21 before whom three of the first horns 18:23 were plucked out by the roots. 18:25 And there, in the horn, 18:27 were the eyes like the eyes of a man, 18:29 and a mouth speaking, pompous words" or great things. 18:33 And so it's very interesting 18:35 to consider that also in Daniel Chapter 7, 18:37 we're not to speculate 18:39 as to what these horns represent. 18:40 They also represent small divisional kingdoms 18:44 within the larger empire of Rome. 18:47 So this little horn would represent 18:49 a small kingdom. 18:50 I recognize this is probably review for many, 18:53 but nonetheless this is vitally important 18:55 as we consider and talk about 18:56 this coming Sunday law movement, 18:59 this legislation that we're told 19:00 is going to happen. 19:02 We must understand this 19:03 at its roots, at its foundation. 19:05 Notice what Daniel also says about 19:07 this little horn in Daniel 7:25. 19:11 He says, "He shall speak pompous words 19:14 against the Most High, 19:16 and shall persecute the saints of the Most High, 19:19 and shall intend to change times and law. 19:22 Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time 19:25 and times and half a time." 19:29 So very interestingly here, you see that 19:32 there's a little bit more detail 19:33 given about this little horn. 19:35 He's speaking great words against the Most High, 19:38 that would be Jesus, that would be God, right? 19:40 Obviously, he's going on to persecute 19:44 the saints of God's people, obviously, God's people, 19:47 the saints, he's persecuting them. 19:49 And then it goes on to say that he intends 19:51 or thinks to change times and law, 19:53 and we do not need to wonder 19:54 as to what type of times and laws 19:56 or law this is talking about 19:58 because the theme of this chapter, 19:59 of course, is God, he's attacking God, 20:02 he's speaking against God, he's wearing out 20:04 and persecuting the saints of God. 20:06 And therefore, it begs for us to conclude that 20:10 this law that he thinks he has the power to change 20:12 is none other than God's holy law, 20:15 the Ten Commandments. 20:17 And there just happens to be 20:18 a special commandment within those ten, 20:21 not more important than any of the others, 20:23 but it just so happens to deal with time. 20:25 And, of course, that would be the Sabbath commandment, 20:28 the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments. 20:31 Now, the reason why I'm bringing this out 20:32 is because you can just simply do some research 20:37 and you will find that most biblical scholars today 20:39 agree that this little horn of Daniel Chapter 7, 20:43 and he's also brought up again in Daniel Chapter 8. 20:46 We've seen there, desecrating the temple 20:49 and casting truth to the ground. 20:51 Most biblical scholars today and theologians agree 20:54 that this little horn is no doubt 20:56 the Antichrist of Bible prophecy. 20:59 Now, they may not agree 21:00 on the identity of that little horn. 21:03 But there's no doubt in their mind that 21:05 this little horn power 21:06 is the Antichrist of Bible prophecy. 21:10 Now, I made mention of that because we're going to skip 21:13 over now to the Book of Revelation. 21:15 And you will see this 21:16 same power rears its head in John's day. 21:19 In other words, 21:20 John is shown in vision a beast, 21:23 and we know that this is an Antichrist power 21:26 by looking at the descriptions given. 21:28 I want to start in Revelation Chapter 13, 21:30 beginning with verses 1 and 2. 21:32 Notice what the Bible says here. 21:34 He says, "Then I stood up on the sand of the sea," 21:36 just as Daniel did. 21:38 "And I saw a beast," 21:40 now this is just one singular beast, 21:42 "rising up out of the sea," 21:43 and then notice the description, 21:45 "having seven heads and ten horns, 21:47 and on his horns ten crowns, 21:49 and on his heads a blasphemous name. 21:53 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, 21:56 his feet were like the feet of a bear, 21:58 his mouth like the mouth of a lion. 21:59 The dragon gave him his power, 22:01 his throne, and his great authority." 22:04 So just kind of right in these opening verses here 22:07 we see that this beast is quite different 22:10 than some of the beasts that were mentioned 22:12 obviously in Daniel Chapter 7. 22:14 However, it's interesting to note 22:16 that this one singular beast of Revelation 13 22:18 seems to be an amalgamation 22:20 of all of the beasts of Daniel Chapter 7, 22:23 because we have, again, a lion, a bear 22:25 and a leopard mentioned there in Daniel 7 22:27 of which this one beast 22:29 in Revelation 13 is comprised of. 22:31 And so that being said, 22:33 if you continue on, you start to, you kind of just, 22:36 you're able to dial in the identity of who this is, 22:39 and how it's connected to Daniel 7's little horn, 22:42 when you go on to read in verse 5 22:44 of Revelation Chapter 13. 22:46 So we're going to read Revelation 13:5-8. 22:49 Notice what the Bible says, "And he was given 22:51 a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies," 22:54 there it is again, 22:56 "and he was given authority to continue forty-two months. 23:00 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God," 23:04 very similar to the little horn, 23:06 "to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, 23:09 and those who dwell in heaven. 23:12 It was granted to him to make war with the saints," 23:15 so there it is, persecuting the saints, 23:17 "and to overcome them. 23:19 And authority was given him over every tribe, 23:21 tongue, and nation. 23:23 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, 23:26 whose names have not been 23:27 written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain 23:30 from the foundation of the world." 23:33 So, my friends, this power is not some little 23:36 willy-nilly little system on a corner 23:39 of some street somewhere, 23:40 we're talking about a world dominant system. 23:44 And again, most biblical scholars 23:46 and theologians would agree that 23:47 this power is no doubt a replica, 23:50 an extension of what we see in Daniel 7 23:53 in this little horn. 23:54 We're talking about 23:56 the Antichrist of Bible prophecy. 23:57 And at this point, 23:59 I don't think I need to even hold back any further 24:01 of simply placing the proper identity upon 24:04 who this power is, because we are no doubt 24:07 talking about the Roman papal church state. 24:10 We're talking about 24:11 the Roman Catholic Church system. 24:14 And you'll notice that I said system, 24:16 because we know that God is not at war with people. 24:18 He loves all of His people. 24:20 And I believe with all my heart that God has 24:22 good, wonderful people in the Catholic Church. 24:25 So we're not talking about people necessarily. 24:27 We're talking about a system that is carried out, 24:30 yes, by many different individuals. 24:32 But this system is counterfeit to God's kingdom agenda. 24:36 We know that 24:38 this is very Antichrist in nature. 24:40 And so we see here that 24:41 this Roman papal church state system, 24:44 and there's a lot that I could have said about 24:46 these individual details of these passages, 24:48 but I want to continue on to the meat 24:49 of this particular sermon today, 24:52 because we want to get or dive a little deeper into 24:54 what we're talking about in reference 24:55 to how this beast power is going to bring about 24:59 a Sunday observance movement and put it into law 25:03 or influence it to be put into law. 25:06 I just want to note here 25:07 at the end of verse 2 of Revelation 13, 25:10 and I'm just simply referencing this. 25:12 It says, "The dragon gave him his power, 25:15 his throne, and great authority." 25:18 We know that the dragon 25:19 is none other than the devil himself. 25:21 So this Roman papal church state 25:23 system is indeed created 25:26 and established and empowered by the devil himself. 25:32 Now, when you read through Revelation Chapter 13, 25:34 you're going to come to a second beast. 25:38 So when we identify the first beast, 25:40 we're talking about 25:41 the Roman papal church state system. 25:43 But when you read on down 25:45 onto verse 11 of Revelation Chapter 13, 25:47 John sees in vision a second beast, 25:49 not coming up out of the sea, but coming up out of the earth. 25:54 And we know that in the timeframe 25:56 as the Book of Revelation Chapter 13 tells us that 25:59 this first beast was given a deadly wound. 26:03 He eventually saw that 26:04 this deadly wound would be healed. 26:07 Now, when the deadly wound was given, 26:09 we know that that was in and around 1798, 26:12 when the Pope of Rome 26:13 was taken captive and arrested by 26:16 Napoleon Bonaparte's General Berthier, 26:18 and we read there in history 26:20 and we see that the Catholic Church, 26:21 their political authority was taken away. 26:23 Their great worldwide 26:25 dominant influence was taken away 26:26 for a moment in time, 26:28 and they were simply just another church system. 26:32 But when you get to verse 11 of Revelation 13, 26:35 and you see the second beast coming up out of the earth, 26:38 you start to see another world dominant power 26:41 come into existence. 26:42 And I'm not even going to hide this at all, 26:44 because we know very clearly that 26:46 this is none other according to the timeframe 26:48 one coming up out of the earth, a sparsely populated area, 26:52 we're talking about none other than the nation, 26:54 the worldwide empire 26:56 of the United States of America. 26:59 And here's where it gets even more interesting. 27:02 In Revelation 13:12, speaking of this second beast, 27:07 the United States superpower. 27:09 Notice it says in verse 12, "And he exercises 27:12 all of the authority 27:14 of the first beast in his presence, 27:16 and causes the earth and those who dwell in 27:19 it to worship the first beast, 27:21 whose deadly wound was healed." 27:25 Now, I have to say for the record, 27:26 that deadly wound, even as I speak, 27:29 is not completely healed as of yet, 27:32 but it has been healing since 1929 27:36 when the Italian president Mussolini 27:38 gave back to the Catholic Church system 27:41 their religio-political influence and power. 27:44 In other words, they became another great state, 27:46 another empire to be able to rule 27:49 and to give great influence among our world. 27:52 And so there verse 12 27:53 of Revelation Chapter 13 tells us 27:54 very clearly that the United States of America 27:58 and the papacy, 28:00 the first beast of Revelation 13, 28:02 the great Antichrist of Bible prophecy, 28:04 they're going to unite in the last days, 28:07 they're going to create an alliance. 28:09 And we know very clearly that they're going to work together 28:12 to enforce worship, a system of worship. 28:16 Notice verse 16 in Revelation Chapter 13. 28:21 It says, "He," speaking of the second beast, 28:23 "causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, 28:26 free and slave, 28:27 to receive a mark on their right hand 28:30 or on their forehead, 28:31 and that no man might buy or sell except one 28:35 who has the mark or the name of the beast, 28:37 or the number of his name." 28:40 And so, there it is. 28:42 We know this to be the mark of the beast. 28:45 And we just want to dial that in. 28:47 I want to dial that in right quick. 28:48 When we talk about the mark of the beast, 28:50 we're talking about the mark of the first beast 28:53 of Revelation 13. 28:54 We're talking about the mark of the Antichrist of the Bible. 28:58 We're talking about the mark 28:59 of the Roman papal church state. 29:02 So what we've just read in Bible prophecy 29:04 is very clear that in the last days you will see, 29:07 my friends, hear me clear. 29:08 I'm not a prophet, I'm just a servant of the Lord, 29:11 declaring what the Word of God says. 29:13 And the Word of God tells us 29:15 very clearly that in the last days, 29:16 the United States of America as a nation, 29:19 as an empire will make an alliance, 29:23 create a relationship with Rome in carrying out 29:27 and enforcing worship upon this planet worldwide, 29:32 and it's going to come via this mark. 29:35 Now, the mark of the beast, 29:38 there is much we can say about biblically. 29:40 I didn't come to give a complete message 29:43 on the mark of the beast. 29:44 That's another message for another time. 29:46 In fact, I would encourage you to go do some research on that, 29:49 you know, reach out to some of these, 29:50 to your local Seventh-day Adventist church 29:52 or any of the great ministries within our church. 29:54 You know, It Is Written, 29:56 Amazing Facts and obviously 3ABN, 29:58 we have all kinds of resources 30:00 on what the mark of the beast is. 30:02 But I want to make it very, very clear, my friends. 30:05 The mark of the beast stands in direct contrast 30:08 to the seal of God in the Bible. 30:10 And when you do 30:12 a responsible research in Scripture, 30:14 you will find that the seal of God in Scripture 30:17 is none other than the Sabbath of the Lord. 30:21 God's mark his seal of authority 30:24 as we're told in the Book of Ezekiel Chapter 20. 30:27 Obviously, His seal, His sign, His mark of authority, 30:30 is His Sabbath commandment. 30:32 When we observe and we honor the biblical Sabbath 30:35 as given in the Ten Commandments, 30:36 then we are honoring and recognizing 30:38 God as the supreme creator being that He is. 30:41 And so the mark of the beast, the mark of the papacy, 30:45 who's empowered by 30:46 none other than the devil himself. 30:48 It just makes perfect sense if the devil would say, oh, 30:51 God has His mark of authority. 30:53 He has His sign of authority, 30:55 then in obvious terms we can say, 30:57 that in contrast to that 30:58 the devil should have his mark of authority, 31:01 the beast that he's empowering 31:03 should have its sign, its seal of authority. 31:06 And we do not have to go very far 31:08 to determine or to know 31:09 what the mark of the papacy really is, 31:12 or the mark of the beast really is, 31:13 because they tell us 31:15 very clearly even in their own writings, 31:17 and you can find tons of research on this. 31:19 But I'm going to read just a couple 31:21 here just for clarification purposes. 31:22 Notice the Catholic Records, September 1, 1923. 31:27 They make it very clear. 31:28 "Sunday is our mark of authority. 31:32 The church is above the Bible, 31:35 and this transference of Sabbath observance 31:38 is proof of that fact." 31:40 And so very, very clear right out of their own mouth. 31:43 They're like, hey, look, we're, let us, let us tell you 31:46 what our mark of authority is. 31:47 Don't be guessing as to what it is. 31:49 We're going to tell you it's Sunday. 31:51 In fact, notice the Chancellor to the famous Cardinal Gibbons 31:54 had this to say also, 31:57 speaking of the change of the Sabbath, 31:59 he says, "Of course, the Catholic Church claims that 32:02 the change was her act. 32:04 And the Act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power 32:09 and authority in religious matters. 32:13 And so there we are very clear. 32:15 This great alliance of the United States 32:17 in the last days, 32:18 as Bible prophecy tells us, and the papacy of Rome, 32:22 the Roman papal church state system 32:25 will align together` 32:26 and they will bring about a movement in 32:29 which they will enforce what is known as in the Bible, 32:32 the mark of the beast, 32:33 which is none other than the mark of the papacy. 32:35 And that mark is none other than 32:37 Sunday observance. 32:39 Now, again, I want to be very clear, 32:40 we're not talking about Sunday worship. 32:42 We're not talking about uplifting 32:43 and praising God on Sunday 32:45 because we should do that every day of the week. 32:47 But the Bible makes it very clear that 32:49 there's only one Sabbath, my friends, 32:51 and God's Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week. 32:54 It's Saturday, it always has been. 32:57 The weekly cycle is never changed, 32:58 but the devil wants to counterfeit 33:00 God's sign of authority. 33:02 He wants to make a counterfeit of that 33:04 and he wants to pass it off as a new Sabbath day, 33:07 as a new day of rest, as a new time of national 33:11 or corporate worship and observance. 33:15 In fact, all of this is the reason 33:17 why Babylon is seen fallen in the second angel's message 33:22 of Revelation Chapter 14. 33:23 Notice what the Bible says in Revelation 14:8, 33:26 "And another angel followed saying, 33:28 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 33:31 because she has made all nations drink 33:34 of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." 33:38 She has made all nations, 33:40 everyone on the planet drunk by the wine. 33:43 What does wine do? It's intoxicating. 33:45 It causes a person to become inebriated, 33:47 confused which is exactly what a Babel or Babel means. 33:51 It means confusion. 33:53 So she's confusing the world 33:55 with her false intoxicating doctrines, 33:57 and we see that also in Revelation Chapter 17. 34:00 But now we come to the bulk 34:02 of what I wanted to get into today, 34:04 which is how this Sunday law, 34:06 this mark of the beast movement is going to come about. 34:09 And I believe very, very soon, my friends, 34:12 and I do want to say for the record, 34:13 while I recognize that I am not a prophet, 34:15 and while I recognize that 34:17 I do not have anything authoritative to say 34:19 in the matter other than what the Word of God 34:21 and the Spirit of Prophecy reveals to us. 34:23 We should be awake at this time, 34:25 we should be looking and being aware 34:27 and responding to what 34:28 we are seeing around us to blow the trumpet, 34:31 to declare this message, to make every single person 34:34 around us aware of what is coming about 34:36 so that they might be saved in these last days 34:39 before Jesus comes. 34:41 I think it was a great shock 34:43 to the Christian world back in 2013 34:47 when in the month of February, 34:49 we saw something that in our lifetime, in fact, 34:52 in a few centuries have not seen ever 34:56 and that is the resignation of a pope. 34:59 We saw in February of 2013, 35:02 Pope Benedict resigned as the pope. 35:06 Now, this had not happened 35:08 prior to this in nearly 600 years. 35:11 So it's very rare for something like this to happen. 35:13 But you see here 35:14 in this particular article coming 35:16 from the Catholic News. 35:17 It says, "Ex-pope Benedict says God told him to resign 35:21 during a mystical experience." 35:24 Very interesting indeed, a mystical experience. 35:28 Now, this was very interesting and brought about 35:30 some speculation among many Christians, 35:33 not even Catholic. 35:35 I mean, we're looking at this, we're gonna, 35:36 what's happening here. 35:37 This is very rare. This is interesting. 35:39 In fact, not to bring up speculation 35:41 or conspiracy theory, 35:43 but I thought this to be interesting 35:44 and I put this article in here from USA Today 35:46 that on the very day that he resigned, 35:49 you see there that a lightning strikes 35:51 the Vatican literally. 35:53 And, of course, it happened at the same day 35:55 that Pope Benedict resigned from office. 35:57 Now, whether or not that holds any significance, 36:00 I'm not the one to declare that. 36:01 I certainly don't want to get into any conspiracy theory 36:04 or to be authoritative on the matter. 36:05 But it will be interesting that when we get to heaven, 36:07 we say, "Hey, Lord, were You trying to tell us 36:09 something there? 36:10 I'm sure He'll make it very clear 36:12 whether that was supposed to be received as such or not. 36:14 But that being said, 36:16 that was a very, very significant event, 36:18 because now that's going to call about a new pope. 36:21 Now, I don't spend my time as a Christian, you know, 36:24 monitoring or watching every little single move 36:27 that the papacy makes, right? 36:28 I think we should always first 36:29 and foremost have our attention on the Christ, 36:32 not the Antichrist, right? 36:34 We should have our attention on Jesus Christ always 36:37 because if we have our attention on Jesus Christ, 36:39 He's going to steer us in the right direction. 36:41 And we will be prepared to stand firm 36:43 when He appears and comes. 36:45 But that still doesn't take away 36:47 from the fact that we are told to be awake, 36:49 to be watchful, to be aware of the things 36:51 that are happening around us that 36:52 when we see these things happening, 36:54 to know that the coming of Jesus is near, 36:57 that the end of the world is near. 36:59 And so, I found it interesting that on the day 37:03 that Pope Francis was elected, 37:05 this was, this comes on March 13, 2013, 37:09 just a few weeks after Pope Benedict resigns, 37:12 they elect their new pope. 37:16 And it just so happens to be, 37:18 for the first time ever, a Jesuit pope. 37:21 Now, I'm not going to go deep into what the Jesuits are, 37:24 that's some research that you need to do on your own. 37:26 But if you look up the society of Jesus, 37:29 this Jesuit movement, it has a very dark history. 37:32 And again, I'm not trying to say that 37:34 personally that Pope Francis is a dark man, 37:38 but nonetheless, he holds the office 37:40 of the leader of this Antichrist system. 37:43 And I think we need to hold it accountable, 37:44 hold him accountable for the office 37:46 that he is usurping, and that is the kingly priestly 37:50 and authoritative offices of Jesus Christ Himself. 37:53 Notice in this Christianity Today article from March 2013, 37:57 this is actually released on the day 37:59 that Pope Francis was elected. 38:01 And notice what they entitled this, 38:03 "A Pope for all Christians." 38:05 Now the picture can be a little deceptive there, 38:07 because you see Pope Benedict, 38:09 but you'll see that the date there is February, 38:11 excuse me, March 13. 38:12 This was the very day that Pope Francis was elected. 38:15 And they're simply calling about in saying that 38:17 there's now been a change in authority, 38:19 that now we have a new pope, a pope for all Christians. 38:24 And I find that interesting, because he's not a pope for me, 38:28 and I'm a Christian, right? 38:29 And I would suspect that there's many of you 38:30 watching today that say, "Well, he's not my pope." 38:33 But yet Christianity Today is very much suggesting, 38:36 a pope for all Christians. 38:38 In fact, in the actual article that they pinned down here, 38:42 notice what they say 38:43 within the body of this article. 38:45 They used these words. 38:47 It says, "One consequence of globalization 38:50 is that the walls that have long divided Catholics 38:53 from Orthodox, mainline Protestants, 38:56 evangelicals, and Pentecostals are eroding... 39:01 Relations between Catholics 39:03 and Protestants are warmer than ever." 39:07 So one would suspect that Christianity Today 39:10 is a Protestant source, a Protestant entity. 39:14 But nonetheless, they are recognizing 39:16 here in this article 39:17 that when Pope Francis took office, 39:19 what a great time he did, 39:20 because now things are warmer than ever 39:22 between Protestants and Catholics. 39:24 In fact, Time Magazine, 39:26 that the very same year in July, 39:28 would release their edition 39:29 and they would call this particular edition, 39:32 The People's Pope. 39:34 Obviously, Pope Francis, 39:36 his picture is right there on the front. 39:37 So you start to see this very interesting movement 39:40 begin to take place. 39:41 There's just sense, they're just, 39:43 there was a sense of change, 39:45 a sense of changing of direction, 39:48 agenda that there's this new pope, 39:50 new agenda. 39:51 We're living in the new 21st century, new times. 39:54 And now, we're ready for a new leadership 39:57 to take place. 39:58 And it's interesting that there's no way of denying 40:01 what this pope's agenda was because coming right out 40:03 the front, he lets everyone know that 40:05 his agenda in multiple resources 40:07 and multiple public statements 40:09 that he wanted to unite all the world 40:11 and all religions and even all of Christianity. 40:15 In other words, all denominations. 40:16 Unity, unity, unity. 40:18 I could show you article after articles, 40:20 statement after statement where this pope makes it clear 40:22 that his agenda, his purpose, 40:24 his goal is to unite the whole world 40:27 under the banner of Catholicism 40:30 and making just one big giant church system. 40:33 No need for, you know, Protestants and Catholics 40:36 that we could all be the universal church. 40:39 That's what Catholic means, universal. 40:41 In fact, we also don't need to speculate 40:43 as to what his agenda was 40:45 and what he believed on this issue of Sunday 40:48 keeping versus biblical Sabbath keeping, 40:50 because here's an article very clearly 40:52 where he made a statement. 40:54 He says, "Keeping stores open on Sunday 40:56 is not beneficial for society." 40:59 So that's a statement made by Pope Francis 41:01 and there are many, many, many other statements 41:03 that I could show you as well over the years 41:05 where he has made 41:06 that clear statement pushing for Sunday, 41:08 making it clear that Sunday is the Lord's day. 41:10 Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, 41:12 and we should observe it very clearly. 41:14 But I think the greatest curveball came about in 2015, 41:20 more specifically, June 18, 2015, 41:24 when Pope Francis released 41:25 his worldwide encyclical entitled 41:30 Laudato Si. Laudato Si, there we go. 41:34 And I think it means, praise be or blessed be, 41:37 something like that. 41:38 But notice what he says in Section 237. 41:42 And then we're going to talk about why that's important. 41:45 He says in Section 237 of his encyclical 41:47 on June 18, 2015. 41:49 "Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath 41:51 is meant to be a day 41:53 which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, 41:56 with others and with the world." 41:59 Now, obviously this entire encyclical, 42:02 you go do your research 42:03 and read this, you can go online and find it. 42:05 It's in English, 42:06 has been translated into English 42:08 and you can read every word 42:09 that he had to say in that encyclical. 42:10 And it's basically an encyclical 42:12 pushing climate control, 42:15 that we need to get our earth back together, 42:17 we need to get a grip on this global warming crisis. 42:21 And we need to work to heal our land 42:24 and heal our relationships, 42:25 and heal our families and heal our churches 42:28 back together in this global climate change effort. 42:31 And in Section 237, as we just read, he says, 42:35 now very interestingly, he says, "Sunday, 42:37 like the Jewish Sabbath." 42:38 First of all, I want to make 42:39 a correction to Pope Francis in this instance, that, 42:41 first of all, 42:42 it's not considered in the Bible, 42:44 the Jewish Sabbath, because in the Bible, 42:45 it's just the Sabbath of the Lord. 42:47 So there's no such thing 42:48 as a Jewish Sabbath in the Bible. 42:50 But notice how he makes that mistake 42:51 and then he says Sunday is like it. 42:54 Sunday is not like the Jewish Sabbath 42:56 at all for the record. 42:57 Sunday is according to the Bible a day 43:00 of labor, a day of work. 43:01 God said, "Work six days, rest on the seventh day." 43:05 But notice how he's pushing this agenda. 43:07 "Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath 43:09 is meant to be a day 43:11 that heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, 43:13 with others and with the world." 43:16 In that statement, he's basically saying that, 43:18 you know, what if, if we would get back 43:20 to observing Sunday, 43:22 honoring Sunday and keeping Sunday holy, 43:24 our relationships with each other would improve, 43:27 our relationship with God would improve, 43:29 and God would be able to keep 43:31 from all of these horrible 43:33 calamities happening across the globe. 43:35 And that is correct. 43:37 In his encyclical, he insinuates very clearly 43:39 and implies that many of these calamities 43:41 are brought about because in many of his, 43:44 he makes multiple points as to why, 43:46 but in one of them obviously, he says it's because 43:49 we're not honoring the Sunday Sabbath, 43:52 this Sunday Sabbath effort. 43:53 So he's linking Sunday observance 43:57 and climate change together. 43:59 Now that brings me 44:00 to our ultimate point in the time 44:02 that we have closing here, 44:03 Notice Great Controversy, page 590, 44:07 how there's a nice response to what we've just read. 44:10 She says here in Great Controversy, page 590. 44:12 "It will be declared that men are offending God 44:15 by the violation of the Sunday-Sabbath, 44:19 that this sin has brought calamities 44:22 which will not cease until Sunday observance has 44:26 or shall be strictly enforced." 44:29 So it's very interesting that that happened. 44:31 And I have to say, on that very day that 44:34 Pope Francis released his encyclical, 44:36 there's an interesting response 44:37 from speaker or not speaker of the house 44:40 but Secretary of State John Kerry. 44:42 And this is actually a snapshot of the US Department 44:45 of State website. 44:46 Notice what he says here in these opening lines. 44:48 He says, "The pope's powerful and cyclical calls 44:50 for a common response 44:51 to the critical threat climate change poses 44:54 to our common home." 44:56 And then notice the section there in blue. 44:58 "His plea for all religions to work together 45:01 reflects the urgency of the challenge." 45:04 And if that wasn't good enough, on the exact same day, 45:07 the same day that he released it, 45:08 there was also response 45:10 from the President at that time, Barack Obama. 45:11 And notice what he says 45:13 in his statement released by the White House. 45:15 He says, "I welcome 45:17 His Holiness Pope Francis's encyclical 45:19 and deeply admire the pope's decision 45:21 to make the case clearly powerfully 45:23 and with the full moral authority of his position 45:26 for action on global climate change." 45:28 And then notice this next little opening part here. 45:30 He says, "As Pope Francis 45:31 so eloquently stated this morning, 45:33 we have a profound responsibility 45:34 to protect our children and our children's children 45:37 from the damaging impacts of climate change." 45:40 And then notice what he says here. 45:41 "I believe the United States 45:43 must be a leader in this effort." 45:48 So there it is. There's the alliance. 45:50 I believe that the President of United States says 45:52 that we should lead out in what the pope has said. 45:54 We should be leaders in trying to reduce climate change. 45:58 Now, my friends, I want to say for the record. 46:00 I believe that we should take care 46:02 of our lands. 46:03 I believe that we should be aware 46:04 of the climate change and all these things 46:07 that may or may not. 46:08 Whether you believe it is, 46:10 I know it's a very divisive issue. 46:11 Some people believe there's global warming, 46:13 some people believe it's not. 46:14 But whether you do or you don't, as a Christian, 46:15 we should want to take care of our environment. 46:18 We should want to care about the safety and well being 46:20 of all of earth's humanity, 46:22 and our children, and our family, 46:23 and our friends, everyone around us. 46:25 But, my friends, notice this is being 46:27 used as the vehicle to push a Sunday observance movement, 46:33 a Sunday law movement will come about. 46:36 According to this, it's looking very clear. 46:38 But let's continue to look at some more evidence. 46:39 In fact, in response to what Barack Obama, 46:42 as President just said, it's very interesting. 46:44 Notice Last Day Events, page 135, 46:47 very interesting comment here. 46:49 "Foreign nations will follow the example 46:52 of the United States. 46:53 Though she leads out, yet the same crisis 46:57 will come upon our people in all parts of the world." 47:01 So again, just further solidifying, 47:03 that this will happen. 47:05 And if you were here in 2015, 47:08 and you saw this manifesting itself, 47:10 and you also know that 47:12 the pope came to the United States. 47:14 For the first time in our nation's history, 47:16 we had a religious figure 47:17 to address a joint session of Congress. 47:19 And we know that that was Pope Francis. 47:21 He came in, I believe it was September of 2015, 47:25 just months after releasing this encyclical. 47:27 In fact, he made some points in his address, 47:30 some pushes for his encyclical in this address. 47:34 And so there's no need, when you look at the evidence, 47:37 there's no need to speculate or to wonder, 47:39 what is this papal movement doing? 47:41 What is their goal? What is their purpose? 47:43 What is their agenda in these last days that 47:45 will lead to the closing events of Bible prophecy? 47:48 There's really no need to get around the fact 47:50 that this will indeed happen. 47:52 Notice Parliament, this is actually an article 47:55 that came from the parliament. 47:56 And these, I'm showing 47:58 these now very quickly in closing here, 47:59 I want to show you some articles 48:02 and some things that I noticed 48:03 because I've had a lot of time to do some research on this. 48:05 And it's very interesting to notice 48:07 what is going on in our society and how society has responded 48:11 to this encyclical into the pope's suggestions 48:14 and his downright commands to the world that 48:17 we need to all gather together under this effort. 48:19 Notice, this is a part of an argument or a part of, 48:22 excuse me, an article from the Parliament, 48:24 that's a big thing to say there. 48:27 Sunday work, notice this, 48:29 is a danger to our health and safety, 48:33 which is exactly what Pope Francis 48:35 has been preaching since he's been in office. 48:37 There is pope. 48:39 That's what he said in his encyclical 48:40 that working on Sunday, not observing Sunday 48:43 as a holy day is a danger to our health and safety, 48:47 especially in reference to this climate change. 48:50 In fact, notice Croatian news, this is a Croatian news article 48:54 and notice what they say here. 48:55 "Catholic Church wants to ban working on Sunday." 48:59 Notice how this message 49:00 is getting into all of the surrounding nations. 49:02 That's exactly what Revelation 13 says 49:04 would happen, 49:06 that this powerful Antichrist beast power 49:09 would work closely 49:10 with all of the nations of the world, 49:12 and it would basically 49:13 deceive the nations of the world. 49:15 Notice this interesting article 49:17 from the Pacific Standard magazine. 49:19 Notice that, this is actually from 2017. 49:22 And notice what they had to say here, 49:24 Pacific Standard magazine, 49:25 the title of this article was growing concern over, 49:28 there it is, climate change 49:30 is creating interfaith dialogue. 49:34 And when you go down 49:35 and look in the body of this particular article, 49:37 notice what it says here under this statement 49:39 called Interfaith Appeal. 49:42 They make this very clear here. 49:44 "The pope doesn't expect this movement 49:45 to just be a Catholic thing," 49:48 said longtime Vatican observer Mark Mickens, 49:51 and then it gives his credentials there. 49:53 But then notice this third line here, it says, 49:55 "What is extraordinary about 49:56 the encyclical is that it is a project 49:59 that the whole human race can engage in together." 50:03 What unites or he's asking the question, 50:05 what unites all humanity? 50:07 The answer, the environment. 50:09 It's our common home, our common interest. 50:13 So we see many different resources 50:15 on this are claiming that, 50:16 hey, we need to change, don't we? 50:18 We all need to join together and work on our climate, 50:21 we need to improve this climate. 50:23 And what better way to do it, 50:24 we need to create a religious response 50:26 to this in order to bring about change. 50:28 In fact, notice, this comes from CEO World Magazine, 50:33 January, 2018. 50:34 And I found these words to be quite interesting. 50:37 I'm not going to read this entire article, 50:38 but I want to draw your attention 50:40 to about two-thirds in to this particular 50:44 where you see the ellipses, 50:45 it says, "This frantic race to go faster 50:49 and faster makes us forget essential things 50:52 such as loving ourselves, others and also our earth. 50:56 The result is a global disaster whose ecological issues 51:00 impact is more and more obvious." 51:02 And then notice the closing response here. 51:04 It says, "A Sabbath for ourselves, 51:08 our industry and our environment 51:10 is a corrective to these failures." 51:15 Again, a secular magazine and a person offering 51:18 the advice and saying, "Hey, you know what? 51:20 We need a global Sabbath. 51:22 We need a worldwide Sabbath that will correct 51:25 these problems that we have with our climate." 51:29 And I found this to be very interesting, 51:31 an article coming from the Tablet magazine, 51:33 which is a Jewish magazine, by the way, 51:36 and they referenced Shabbat 51:37 or Sabbath keeping in this article, 51:39 but notice what the title of the article is here. 51:41 The Sabbath in an era of climate change. 51:45 And if you look there clearly, 51:46 notice the date on that article, it is 2020. 51:52 This was just, probably a few weeks ago. 51:55 The Sabbath in an era of climate change, 51:57 and they actually say in this article, 51:59 that just whether it's Friday, 52:00 Saturday or Sunday, we need to have a Sabbath 52:04 of rest in these last days 52:06 to combat this climate problem, 52:09 which is exactly 52:10 what the pope has been saying, my friends. 52:12 Now, I brought all of this to your attention 52:14 because we've been living in a pandemic. 52:17 We've been living in a crisis known as COVID-19, 52:20 or the Coronavirus. 52:22 And we've been talking a lot about this lately. 52:24 And the Lord has opened my eyes 52:26 to something very interestingly. 52:27 And again, I'm not making a prophetic statement 52:29 here of any kind as to say that this will definitely happen, 52:33 but we can certainly see the results of this, 52:36 my friends, that something is coming. 52:38 Now when I started doing 52:39 some interesting research here lately, 52:41 I found that there are dozens and dozens 52:44 of major news outlets that have been recording 52:47 and have been putting out 52:48 in their articles that pollution, 52:51 get this, pollution has went down 52:55 since this COVID-19 problem which makes sense, 52:58 everyone's been quarantined, right? 52:59 But they've been reporting on this. 53:01 Notice these articles, 53:02 I'm gonna go through them rather quickly. 53:04 Air pollution, this is Fox News, Detroit. 53:05 "Air pollution drops across the globe 53:07 amid COVID-19 pandemic data suggests." 53:11 Look at this next one coming from New York Times. 53:13 It says, "Traffic and pollution plummet 53:15 as US cities shut down for Coronavirus. 53:20 And this next one is a BBC article. 53:22 And notice what its title is, 53:24 "Will COVID-19 have a lasting impact 53:26 on the environment?" 53:28 My friends, I don't think that we're seeing this 53:30 just by happenstance or coincidence. 53:32 I think there's something here for us 53:33 to at least take note of. 53:35 Notice this next article in GreenBiz. 53:37 This is an article in GreenBiz, an environmental agency. 53:41 And the article entitled, 53:42 "Here is the stunning impact of COVID-19, 53:45 social distancing on air pollution." 53:48 And then, of course, this next one is Science Alert. 53:51 This is an article they produce and notice the headline, 53:53 "New evidence shows how COVID-19 53:55 has affected global air pollution." 53:57 I can go through 53:58 all of this global air pollution, 53:59 global air pollution. 54:01 And here's another one. This comes from... 54:03 This is National Geographic, "Carbon emissions are falling 54:06 sharply due to Coronavirus." 54:09 Okay, so very, very clear and they say but not for long. 54:12 We'll see if that's the case. 54:13 And then CNBC, notice this, 54:15 "Air pollution falls as Coronavirus slows travel, 54:19 but scientists warn of longer term threat 54:21 to climate change progress." 54:22 But notice this connection that they're making. 54:24 And, of course, the last one I have here 54:26 comes from physics.org. 54:28 And in their article, they make it clear, 54:29 "Air pollution declines in Spain 54:31 after implementing of measure to fight COVID-19." 54:35 And so what we're seeing here, my friends, 54:37 is the stage is being set right now. 54:40 Would it surprises us that 54:41 the pope would come forward soon and say, 54:43 "Oh, we have proof. 54:45 We have global evidence that if we just rest the land, 54:49 if we take a time of rest, perhaps one day in seven, 54:53 and we take a special time 54:55 to rest with our family and with God, 54:58 just wrestling that it would drop. 55:00 And it would lower gas emissions in the atmosphere 55:05 and therefore improve this global climate change." 55:08 My friends, we're seeing this very, very clearly. 55:10 And it's interesting, here in closing, 55:12 I want to share this with you. 55:13 In Pope Francis' encyclical, 55:15 notice what he says here in Section 206. 55:18 He says that we should, referencing the pressure 55:20 that we should put on our politicians 55:21 and how to bring this movement about. 55:23 He says, "We should bring healthy pressure to those 55:25 to bear on those who wield political, 55:28 economic and social power." 55:30 That's politics. 55:31 So he's recommending political coercion 55:36 to bring about this movement. 55:38 And what's interesting is the response 55:40 I found from the Great Controversy, 55:42 page 592, 55:43 because notice what she says here. 55:45 She says, "Even in free America, 55:47 rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor 55:51 will yield to the popular demand 55:53 for a law enforcing Sunday observance." 55:59 So, my friends, there was a whole lot more 56:01 that I wanted to share on this subject. 56:03 But I want to be very clear in my closing moments 56:06 that we have together. 56:08 There are Sunday laws coming. 56:10 We are seeing in right now this very interesting time 56:14 that we're living in that the pope, 56:17 the papacy under the leadership 56:18 of Pope Francis has been working very hard 56:21 to make sure that there is a movement brought 56:23 about using the vehicle or the avenue of climate change 56:26 to bring about a Sunday law movement. 56:30 We need to be aware, 56:31 we need to be awake at this time. 56:33 In fact, I just want to read this, 56:34 Review and Herald page, excuse me, 56:36 Review and Herald, February 16, 1905. 56:39 Here it is in plain but very clear, simple words. 56:41 She says, "Sooner or later Sunday laws will be passed." 56:47 There it is, very clear, very plain and simple. 56:50 So I want to urge you today, my friends, 56:52 we need to be on our knees praying. 56:54 We need to be praying and we need to be 56:56 asking the Lord to fill our hearts and minds 56:57 to change us soon. 56:59 You know what? 57:00 We are Seventh-day Adventists 57:01 and anyone who believes in this message 57:03 need to be standing firm on this message 57:04 and declaring it now, warning every one of 57:06 what is coming so that they can stand firm 57:09 and in confidence 57:10 at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 57:12 We thank you so much for joining us today. 57:15 And as we go off the air here, I would like to say a prayer. 57:18 Father, we simply ask You to fill us in these last days. 57:22 Change us, oh, Lord, equip us for what is to come 57:26 and we simply pray for Your Holy Spirit, 57:28 in Jesus' holy name we pray, amen. |
Revised 2020-04-29