Anchors of Truth

The Final Stage

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000032


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth
00:14 live from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Last Day Events with John Lomacang.
00:22 Hello friends and welcome once again to the 3ABN Worship Center
00:25 located here in southern Illinois at the
00:28 Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church.
00:30 We're glad that you've chosen once again to tune in.
00:32 And we know that the Lord has a blessing in store
00:35 because we're going to open His Word again tonight
00:37 as we did last night.
00:39 As you know if you tuned in last night, this is the second
00:42 in a five part series on the topic of last day events.
00:47 And I want to encourage you to invite a friend.
00:49 And once again, if you're in driving distance,
00:51 we do need some live bodies.
00:53 We have people that are here, but your presence would
00:55 greatly be appreciated.
00:56 And we're going to ask the Lord tonight to bless our hearts
00:59 as we turn to His Word.
01:02 As you may remember, last night the topic was entitled,
01:04 The Final Countdown.
01:06 Tonight the title is, The Final Stage.
01:08 And tomorrow night, we're once again back at 7:00 pm Central,
01:12 so don't forget that.
01:13 If there are those that may have forgotten 8:00 pm tonight,
01:15 call them now before we get into the message
01:17 and remind them that it is on the air.
01:19 Tomorrow night's message is entitled, The Final Coalition.
01:23 And then Saturday morning at 11:00 o'clock, it is entitled,
01:26 The Final Apostasy.
01:28 And on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm, it is entitled,
01:31 The Final Act.
01:32 Everyone of them, we're relying on God's Holy Spirit to be the
01:35 guide and the power and the one to teach us.
01:38 Now I'm preaching less and teaching more.
01:41 I believe there's a need to be taught.
01:44 What exactly is happening around us has a whole lot less to do
01:47 with what's happening in the world, and I believe a lot more
01:49 to do with what's happening in the Christian church.
01:52 So turn your ears on and ask the Lord to direct your ears,
01:56 your eyes, and your heart.
01:57 So let's bow our heads tonight and ask Him to guide us.
02:02 Father in heaven, we thank You for the willingness on the
02:06 part of those that have tuned in to hear what the Spirit
02:09 has to say to the churches.
02:11 Lord, I know that once again I'm just a human vessel.
02:15 And I do pray that tonight once again You will impart
02:19 to me the clarity, also the presence of Your Holy Spirit.
02:24 To teach, Lord, is a great responsibility.
02:27 To preach is a great call on one's life.
02:30 And I ask tonight that I'll be less considered and Christ will
02:33 be the One that is considered, His voice will be heard.
02:36 So take these words and bring them to life,
02:39 and find that intended heart looking for truth
02:43 and looking for Jesus.
02:45 And this we pray in Your precious name, amen.
02:50 Tonight, we're going to open with a Bible text.
02:52 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 7, a very important text.
02:56 And when I thought about the five titles for this series...
03:00 As you know, the theme, the overall theme is the last days.
03:04 When I thought about the titles, I was down in the Virgin Islands
03:08 and I was sitting there saying, "Lord, what can I preach on
03:11 about the last days.
03:12 There's so much to say.
03:14 And as I asked the Lord, as I woke up one morning,
03:17 I said, "Lord, what do I title the individual topics?
03:21 What do I say on night to night?"
03:23 And the Lord gave me the five topics and told me to use
03:26 the word "final" over and over and over and over again.
03:29 Because I do believe we're living in the final hours
03:32 of earth's history.
03:33 I believe we're living in the final days.
03:35 And as I said a moment ago, I want to reiterate this,
03:37 more of the things that are happening in the last days
03:41 has to do with what's taking place in the Christian church.
03:44 There are not a whole lot of changes in the world.
03:47 They are happening with greater intensity
03:50 and on a larger scale.
03:53 There are more earthquakes, and more volcanoes erupting,
03:55 and more intense storms, and more crime and more violence.
03:59 We talked about those things last night.
04:02 But if I were the devil...
04:03 Which I'm not. Amen, somebody.
04:06 ...I would really aim at the very structure and organization,
04:11 that God has built, for my defeat.
04:15 I would do all I can in my power to try to bring down the
04:18 only thing on earth that God really loves.
04:21 He doesn't love the casinos, He doesn't love the movie theaters,
04:24 He doesn't love the gambling halls.
04:26 He loves the church.
04:27 And if I were the enemy, I would, like a coach
04:30 on an opposing football team, I would study the tapes
04:34 of every church member.
04:36 Study the loopholes, try to find a way to get in.
04:38 Just like he studied Eve in the Garden of Eden.
04:40 If you look at that, there was a woman in the very beginning
04:44 at the entrance of deception.
04:46 And there is a woman at the end, at the close out of deception.
04:50 The devil attacked a woman in the very beginning,
04:53 he's going to attack a woman again.
04:54 The woman in the end is the church.
04:56 So he has been focusing on the church for thousands of years.
05:01 And now, he's at the height of his attempt to deceive,
05:06 to kill, and to destroy.
05:09 That's why this verse is so vitally important.
05:12 1 Peter 4 and verse 7.
05:14 Listen to what a converted apostle says to us.
05:19 He says, and let's read this one together.
05:33 You know what that means?
05:34 When you say your prayers for your toast in the morning,
05:37 you're not as serious as when a crisis comes your way.
05:39 I mean, honestly.
05:40 He is saying, pray as though we're living in a crisis hour.
05:44 He's saying, pray as though your life depends on it.
05:46 As one person put together the acronym, PUSH;
05:50 Pray Until Something Happens.
05:53 What happened on the day of Pentecost happened
05:55 as a result of prayer.
05:58 At every stage in the conversion and the power of His apostles
06:03 or His prophets, it happened because they prayed.
06:06 The way that Jesus received His strength for His trial;
06:08 He prayed, He beseeched the Father.
06:11 And that's why Paul the apostle says we ought to
06:13 pray without ceasing.
06:14 Not only kneeling down, but be in a constant
06:16 attitude of prayer.
06:17 Because we're not safe for a single moment
06:19 without the power of prayer.
06:22 But in light of the last days in which we live,
06:24 we have to be serious.
06:25 We have to be serious and we have to be watchful
06:28 in our prayers.
06:30 I remember when I lived in California, my wife and I
06:33 when we lived out there together.
06:34 That's a good thing to do when you have your wife.
06:35 To live together. Right?
06:38 We lived in northern California.
06:40 But before we moved there, we lived in Orlando, Florida.
06:43 And having never been to California up to that point,
06:46 there were no GPS's, you know, no satellite units.
06:50 Just a good old Rand McNally map.
06:52 And so having never been there, having never driven that far,
06:55 we had our old rickety 1976 Toyota Corona.
06:59 And I've talked about that car a thousand times.
07:02 Both of the fenders...
07:03 That was a car from New York City
07:05 and because of all the salt on the streets of New York,
07:07 both of the fenders had cancer.
07:10 And they were rusted from the bottom.
07:12 And when you drive down the highway, the fenders would
07:14 pull the car to the left and to the right as a good gust of wind
07:17 caught the front of the car.
07:19 But I remember packing up that vehicle and taking that
07:22 McNally map, Rand McNally map, and photocopying every page
07:27 from Orlando, Florida all the way to Placerville, California.
07:31 There was a lot of pages.
07:32 I stapled them together, I highlighted them.
07:35 And what was nice about that is, we have never seen
07:39 the Pacific Ocean before.
07:40 But the Pacific Ocean was on the west coast.
07:43 In order to see it, we had to get to the west coast
07:45 to see the Pacific Ocean.
07:47 My wife got use to reading the map and so as we looked at the
07:50 mile markers, she would tell me what the next city
07:53 coming up would be.
07:55 Texas and the small cities along the way, all through the
07:58 southern states, and right up the north west coast.
08:02 And I remember very well, each page represented a
08:05 stage in our journey.
08:09 After three days and almost 3000 miles, we caught a glimpse
08:14 of the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
08:16 What a sight it was.
08:19 But it said to us that we were on the final page
08:25 of our journey, at the final stage in our journey.
08:30 We couldn't see the ocean until the final stage of the journey.
08:35 It was impossible to see the ocean until we got
08:37 to the west coast.
08:39 So because we were on the west coast,
08:42 we could see the Pacific Ocean.
08:44 Because we were near the final stage of our journey,
08:47 the ocean was now within view.
08:49 Let me take that to the next level.
08:53 These are not the last days just because of the signs.
08:57 But because we are living in the last days, these are the signs
09:02 of the last days.
09:04 Let me say it another way.
09:06 The signs that we see today could not appear
09:08 until the last days.
09:10 The signs simply confirm we are at the final stage
09:15 in our journey.
09:16 Let me say that one more way.
09:17 The signs of the last days could not appear
09:20 at any other time anymore than we could see the
09:24 Pacific Ocean from Florida.
09:28 So why are we seeing the signs?
09:32 We are seeing the signs around us because we are
09:34 living in the last days.
09:36 They could not appear at any other point in human history.
09:42 That's why the words of Jesus are relevant
09:44 in John 14 verse 29.
09:46 He said:
09:55 All the things that are happening are for us to believe.
09:58 I believe we're living in the last days.
10:00 Anybody else?
10:01 I believe we're at the final stages, and I'm excited.
10:04 And you'll find that over the next couple of meetings,
10:05 that what is more relevant about this series,
10:08 and I would hope to say not necessarily completely unique,
10:11 but what I've sought to do is focus less on what's happening
10:14 in the world and more of what's happening in the church.
10:16 Because the world is not Satan's enemy,
10:18 the world is Satan's friend.
10:21 In other words, in a football game, I could care less
10:23 what the people in the stand are doing.
10:25 I'm more concerned about what the other team is doing.
10:28 I'm more concerned about what they're doing in the huddle,
10:30 what signs the coaches are making,
10:32 what kind of plays they're about to run,
10:34 and how hard they're going to hit me.
10:35 We are on the field.
10:37 The church is on this side and Satan and his host
10:39 are on that side.
10:41 And the signs of the last days have a lot more to do
10:44 with what Satan is doing in the church
10:46 than what he's doing in the world.
10:48 Notice why we can look with assurance to the signs
10:52 and know that we are in the last days.
10:54 Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 46 and verse 10,
10:57 he says that God is able to...
11:09 In other words, where we are today was predicted
11:11 thousands of years ago.
11:13 The final stage was constructed from components
11:17 manufactured by prophecy.
11:19 By what word did I say? By Prophecy.
11:22 Prophecy is our Rand McNally map.
11:25 Prophecy is our mile markers.
11:27 We know where we are because prophecy is reliable.
11:30 And it's only reliable because God is reliable.
11:34 It's His Word.
11:35 Look at 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 20.
11:38 When prophets wrote these words down, I want to say to you,
11:40 none of the prophecies came from men.
11:44 They were simply the ones who wrote it down.
11:47 2 Peter 1 and verse 20 says it this way.
11:57 Now when I think about that, I think about preachers nowadays
12:00 that in the middle of their sermon they say,
12:02 "Oh, I just got a prophecy."
12:04 You better be careful if that's the kind of preacher
12:07 that you are under.
12:09 Because God doesn't just shoot prophecies into people's heads
12:12 without somebody to check it out, without somebody
12:15 to verify whether or not that's from God.
12:17 Amen?
12:18 A whole lot of that nowadays.
12:19 I remember giving my first Revelation seminar.
12:22 And I'm moving fast tonight because I have a lot to cover.
12:24 So listen like a New Yorker.
12:26 If not, you can get the DVD.
12:30 But I remember giving my first Revelation seminar.
12:33 There I was a young preacher in my one and a half year period
12:36 of my first church.
12:38 I was so nervous I lost ten pounds.
12:40 You can look at me and tell I can't afford to lose ten pounds.
12:44 But I was totally enthusiastic, totally energetic.
12:48 We lived in Weaverville, California up in the mountains
12:50 of northern California 2500 feet above sea level.
12:53 And in our town, we had 16 churches.
12:56 We had more churches than we had bars.
12:58 Not a bad thing, but it was quite a controversy
13:01 to begin a Revelation seminar in a church where
13:03 all 16 churches taught 16 different things, at least.
13:08 Well I found out, I said to the city fathers,
13:11 "Where can I put advertising?"
13:13 They said, "Anywhere."
13:14 I said, "Are there any advertising restrictions?"
13:16 They said, "There are none."
13:17 So I took advantage of that.
13:20 I put stickers in mailboxes, I put stickers in phone booths,
13:24 I put stickers on store windows.
13:26 Everywhere you went from east to west in Weaverville,
13:29 you would see some kind of sign indicating that a
13:32 prophecy seminar was coming up.
13:34 I even had a banner made that crossed Main Street.
13:37 Can you imagine, across 149 from one side of the street
13:42 to the other on two buildings.
13:43 This big ole huge banner, "Revelation seminar beginning,"
13:46 and all the nights and the titles up there.
13:48 People going through on their way to the west would see it,
13:51 people on their way to the east would see it.
13:52 And on the opening night, the town hall was jam-packed
13:58 with pastors from every denomination.
14:02 I never forgot that.
14:04 After about the first week, we moved the series of meetings
14:06 to our church, and the controversies began.
14:10 Every church.
14:11 Five churches in the town started prophecy seminars.
14:16 All of them for the purpose of what?
14:18 Taking people away from my seminar.
14:21 And the town was kind of like this.
14:22 If somebody drove up to your church and they had a car
14:25 like a Honda Accord with a black front mask on it,
14:33 everybody in town would know exactly who that car is,
14:36 who that car belongs to.
14:37 Everybody would know, "That's Dean's car at a Baptist church."
14:40 Or, "That's John's car at an Adventist church."
14:43 Everybody knew who's car was there.
14:44 And the preachers watched and observed that very carefully.
14:46 So they all began having Revelation seminars.
14:48 Baptist church, even the Catholic church.
14:50 My good friend, Pastor John Lawrence...
14:55 I don't call anybody "father" but God.
14:57 Amen, somebody.
14:58 He had a seminar.
14:59 And after my meetings were done, I said,
15:01 "Pastor Lawrence, what does your church believe about prophecy?
15:03 What does your church teach about Revelation?"
15:05 You know what he said to me?
15:07 "Actually, our church doesn't have a position on Revelation."
15:10 I said, "So why did you have a prophecy?"
15:11 And he smirked.
15:13 Because they wanted to keep people from hearing what
15:15 I had to say about Bible prophecy.
15:18 And you know, friends, that's exactly why we have to keep
15:21 in mind that no prophecy that occurs is of any
15:24 private interpretation.
15:25 Look at the next verse, 2 Peter 1 verse 21.
15:29 Not a single prophecy was born in the mind of men.
15:32 Very careful nowadays when you have all these prophecy
15:34 churches, and prophecy programs, and prophecy CD's, that people
15:37 are telling you how to be prophets.
15:39 That's not the way that God does it.
15:40 The Bible says:
15:52 Man cannot reveal what we cannot see.
15:55 Only God can see the future.
15:57 In the courts of Babylon, Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar
16:00 these words, Daniel 2 verse 28.
16:02 Notice what he said to a great king, he said:
16:17 So when a prophecy is fulfilled, it is a reminder that
16:19 God wants us to know.
16:20 God is not going to allow anything to happen
16:23 unless He reveals it to His people first.
16:26 Notice Amos chapter 3 and verse 7.
16:28 The Bible verifies this.
16:30 The first word there is "surely."
16:44 Get that, God does not reveal His secrets to people
16:47 that don't serve Him.
16:48 God does not reveal His secrets to those who do not obey Him.
16:52 Acts chapter 5 verse 32 says, God reveals His messages
16:59 to those who obey Him.
17:01 God does not reveal to those who do not obey Him.
17:05 Matter of fact, one of the most significant prophecies
17:07 in the Bible that confirm that we are in the final stages of
17:09 earth's history is in Daniel chapter 7
17:11 and Daniel chapter 2.
17:13 God outlined the four major kingdoms of the
17:16 span of human history.
17:18 There in Daniel 7 verse 17 we read these words.
17:30 Very quickly for those who know Bible prophecy...
17:32 And by the way, this is not about breaking down that
17:34 prophecy in detail.
17:35 I'll cover that spanning over the next few meetings.
17:39 But we have Babylon symbolized by the lion and the gold.
17:42 We have Medo-Persia symbolized by the bear in Daniel 7
17:46 and the silver in Daniel 2.
17:48 We have the leopard-like beast or the bronze
17:51 image of the statue symbolizing Greece.
17:53 Then we have that fourth one.
17:55 Very important for our meetings.
17:57 We have the fourth one that was iron in the metal man.
18:01 And it was a great and dreadful and terrible beast
18:04 that had iron teeth.
18:06 Brethren, I tell you what; if I saw a bear, a lion,
18:09 or a leopard, I wouldn't be terribly frightful.
18:13 But if I saw a great and dreadful and terrible beast
18:16 with iron teeth and iron claws breaking everything in its path,
18:21 I would run to mama.
18:22 What do you say?
18:23 I would run for my life.
18:25 I wouldn't even want to see that in a zoo.
18:27 Because something with iron teeth could
18:29 break through iron bars.
18:31 That's what the Bible says, great iron teeth.
18:34 And look at verse 23 of Daniel chapter 7.
18:49 And at the very height of Rome's reign, it was so significant,
18:54 it's impact religiously was so significant
18:57 that Protestant reformers noted that Rome symbolized
19:02 a system of Antichrist.
19:05 Now, I want you to put your ears on now.
19:07 Because in an attempt to lead the world to believe that the
19:09 Antichrist was only a character of the future,
19:12 Rome began a four hundred plus year campaign of deception.
19:21 They sought to come up with a theory
19:24 to push the Antichrist to a single man
19:27 way down toward the end.
19:30 It was called, the secret rapture.
19:33 It was formulated in the year 1585 by a Jesuit from a
19:40 city named Salamanca.
19:41 His name was Francisco Ribera.
19:43 He lived from 1537 to 1591.
19:46 He also had a fellow Jesuit by the name of Luis de Alcazar.
19:51 He was also from Seville.
19:53 The difference between these two guys is,
19:54 one was a futurist and the other was a preterist.
19:57 A preterist is somebody who says all these prophecies
20:00 are in the past.
20:02 Well the people weren't buying that.
20:05 So Francisco Ribera came up with one that says
20:09 the Antichrist is coming way down in the future.
20:12 So he picked a single verse in Revelation chapter 4.
20:15 Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 says it this way,
20:18 in that there's the sound of a trumpet heard,
20:20 and then John says, "And I heard a voice say, 'Come up here.'"
20:24 And Francisco Ribera said, "Ah, that's a good place."
20:27 So he said, that voice that says "Come us here,"
20:30 is actually calling the church out of the world.
20:33 So he used that to begin to build what's called today,
20:36 the secret rapture.
20:37 But if you read verse 2 in Revelation chapter 4,
20:40 you begin to see that who is being called up there
20:43 was John the revelator.
20:44 And then he says, "I was caught up in the Spirit."
20:48 God was simply calling John into vision, not calling the
20:50 church out of the world.
20:52 But the goal of the Jesuits was to do this:
20:54 to take the heat off of Rome during the
20:56 Protestant Reformation.
20:58 But Martin Luther, one of the Protestant reformers,
21:01 Huss, Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon,
21:04 they began to rise up and to protest all the errors
21:08 the church was teaching.
21:10 And during the 4th century...
21:12 Sorry, during the 15th century, they began what's called today,
21:16 the Protestant Reformation.
21:18 But I want you to notice the way that Satan
21:20 put this structure together.
21:21 I'm going to show you actually ten steps tonight on how
21:24 the secret rapture has come to where it is today.
21:29 I want you to note the screen, the first step.
21:30 It began with the man by the name of Francisco Ribera
21:34 who taught that Rome was not an antichrist system,
21:38 and that the secret rapture would occur before the
21:40 Antichrist reign, before the seven year tribulation.
21:44 And he published his findings in 1593 in a manuscript.
21:48 After he died, his manuscript was kept by the
21:54 Archbishop of Canterbury.
21:56 Dr. S. R. Maitland, he was appointed the keeper of the
22:00 manuscript in Lambeth Palace in London, England.
22:05 When he read Ribera's views, he republished those in 1826,
22:11 again in 1829, and once again in 1830.
22:14 That was the second stage, if you noticed.
22:16 The second stage in the transforming of this prophecy
22:20 into something nowadays that is not supported by the Bible.
22:24 But the third phase was a man by the name of Emmanuel Lacunza.
22:29 He was a Jesuit from Chile.
22:31 He lived in the 17th century from 1731 to 1801.
22:35 He supported Francisco Ribera's beliefs about the rapture
22:38 and he published his writings in 1827.
22:41 But get this, listen carefully.
22:44 Instead of putting on his published writings,
22:47 "Emmanuel Lacunza," he published it under a fictitious name.
22:51 He used a rabbi's name that he came up with.
22:55 He used the name Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra.
23:01 So when the next person who read his views about the
23:04 secret rapture, they thought that it was written
23:07 by a converted Jew.
23:09 And they said, "Oh, the Jews have embraced
23:12 the rapture theory.
23:13 The man that thought it was taught by a Jew was a man
23:16 by the name of Edward Irving.
23:18 He was the next stage in the formation of the secret rapture.
23:22 Minister Edward Irving.
23:25 He contended that Lacunza's writings were the work of
23:28 a converted Jewish scholar.
23:30 And then he embraced it, as it's called today,
23:32 the pre-tribulation rapture.
23:34 I'm teaching now so follow carefully.
23:36 Those who followed Edward Irving's convictions
23:38 were called Irvingites.
23:40 What were they called?
23:41 Irvingites.
23:42 However, here's the point, because of his contemporaries,
23:46 they began to see what he said and what the Bible says.
23:49 And because his teachings were not supported by the Scriptures,
23:52 he was put out of his church.
23:54 They dismissed him from the Church of Scotland.
23:56 They said, "You can't teach that and be
23:57 a part of the Church of Scotland."
23:59 But you know what he did?
24:00 Instead of dropping the teachings,
24:01 he began his own church.
24:02 He began what was called, the Catholic Apostolic Church,
24:05 which was the foundation for what is now today
24:08 the Pentecostal Church.
24:10 This is history.
24:12 This is clever history.
24:14 What I'm telling you is recorded.
24:15 You can follow it yourself.
24:17 But after him came a young teenage girl by the
24:20 name of Margaret McDonald.
24:22 That was the next stage or the fifth stage in the conveyance
24:26 of the secret rapture.
24:27 In the 1830's, this young Scottish girl said that
24:29 she had visions.
24:31 She claimed to have a vision that revealed to her that the
24:35 secret rapture was true.
24:37 But prior to her claim, Edward Irving claimed also
24:43 to receive a vision about the secret rapture.
24:46 So what happened was, because of her vision
24:52 Edward Irving was convinced that he was on the right path.
24:55 But there was a sixth phase to the conveyance of the rapture.
25:00 A man by the name of John Nelson Darby.
25:03 By the way, what I'm covering, when the movie,
25:06 The Rapture, came out...
25:07 Or what do they call it?
25:08 Yeah, Left Behind.
25:10 When that came out, I was living in California.
25:13 Christians were standing on the roads giving out free tickets
25:16 to their churches to show this movie, the Left Behind movie.
25:20 But what they didn't know...
25:21 And this is something that many that owned the book
25:23 would do well to do.
25:24 Turn the book around, if you own it, and look at the
25:26 very bottom of the back of the book.
25:27 In small almost hard to read letters is this
25:30 single word, "fiction".
25:34 It's Christian fiction that has taken the church by fire storm
25:39 as doctrinal integrity.
25:41 Every single book on the back, small little letters, "fiction".
25:44 Check it out if you've got it on your shelves.
25:46 Pull it off and see it.
25:47 And what upsets me is that it's sold in the Christian bookstore.
25:51 Even though there's a big ole sign over the top of it
25:53 that says, "fiction," people still believe it as though
25:56 it's doctrinally sound.
25:59 So John Nelson Darby, he embraced the secret rapture
26:02 theory because he was a follower of Dr. S. R. Maitland,
26:05 the Archbishop of Canterbury.
26:07 He embraced it.
26:09 But his contemporaries also said to him,
26:11 "This is not scripturally sound. It's not based on the Bible."
26:14 And they encouraged him to abandon it.
26:17 It was then labeled Darbyism.
26:20 He was also called the father of the
26:23 modern dispensational theory.
26:25 In other words, you've heard the phrase, "dispensations"?
26:28 They say the dispensation of law and the dispensation of grace.
26:31 There is no scriptural support for Dispensationalism.
26:34 It was put together by John N. Darby on the
26:37 foundation of the teachings of Francisco Ribera,
26:41 who's main goal was to take the eyes of the people off of
26:45 the Roman Catholic Church during the dark ages.
26:48 Darbyism was published,
26:52 and Darbyism is alive and well today.
26:55 But that's not the last stage.
26:56 When John Darby heard about Margaret McDonald,
27:03 he also visited her.
27:06 And he was convinced that her revelations were genuine.
27:10 And it further strengthened his support
27:13 of the dispensational view of the secret rapture.
27:16 But it continued.
27:17 This was very clever.
27:19 This was probably the most magnificent step taken
27:22 to give life and security for the rapture theory.
27:25 The next stage, the seventh phase, was introduced by
27:28 a man by the name of Cyrus Ingerson Scofield.
27:33 Hold onto your hats.
27:35 Some of you already have your eyes open.
27:36 He lived from 1843 to 1921.
27:39 He embraced Darbyism, which was the foundation that he
27:42 got from Francisco Ribera.
27:44 And both of them were teaching on the secret rapture.
27:47 In 1909...
27:48 What year did I say? 1909.
27:53 ...the false teaching of the secret rapture received
27:56 its largest push because Cyrus I. Scofield
28:06 created the very first Scofield Reference Bible.
28:12 I have a slide of the reference Bibles.
28:14 When it was created, it was embraced as the book of books.
28:17 Now hold that there for a brief moment because I want
28:18 you to see something.
28:19 On the far left is the Scofield Study Bible in blue for the
28:23 New International Version.
28:24 In the center is for the New King James Version.
28:26 And the black cover is for the King James Version.
28:29 He has made sure that if you don't like the NIV,
28:32 the King James Version lovers has a Bible for them.
28:35 In every one of these Bibles the study notes were formulated
28:41 by Francisco Ribera going way back to 1585;
28:45 a great plot to take the eyes of the reformers
28:51 off of the true place that Rome had in Bible prophecy.
28:55 Today, it's known as Darbyism.
28:57 It's now also called the new word, Dispensationalism.
29:00 Really, it's really more like sensationalism
29:03 rather than Dispensationalism.
29:05 No disrespect to those who believe it,
29:07 but it's not scripturally sound.
29:09 It's not found in the Bible.
29:11 The Scofield Study Bible and the study notes
29:14 are both non-biblical teachings.
29:17 It's also called The Gap Theory, where they take the last week
29:21 in the 70 week prophecy and they cut it off and put it
29:25 way way down in some undetermined date in history.
29:29 In other words, they say, that last 7 days occur when
29:33 the rapture happens.
29:34 So when the church disappears, this theory says,
29:37 now the 7 years begin, the last 7 years on the 70 week prophecy.
29:44 If you want some material, write me at 3ABN
29:46 and I'll try to get some to you.
29:48 Now, don't all inundate me now.
29:51 But this is all beautifully packaged for those of you
29:55 who don't understand this, to truly understand this.
29:57 Because as I said earlier, the devil has cleverly found ways
30:01 to lead the Christian church down the wrong path.
30:05 In the same way that he's used the hip-hop industry
30:08 to bring hip-hop music into the church and rock music
30:11 into the church, he's found ways to bring lies into the church
30:14 and package it in Christian books.
30:17 So now, is there anything wrong with the NIV,
30:19 the New King James, and the King James?
30:20 Be careful with some of the translations.
30:22 I'm not going to give you an entire study on translations.
30:24 Because some of the Bibles take out entire verses.
30:27 But the problem is the study notes.
30:30 You see, in the Scofield Study Bible, if you follow his
30:34 study notes, here are some of the things you find.
30:36 You come to discover, based on his notes,
30:40 he connects texts together that are not interrelated
30:42 to build the secret rapture.
30:44 He also connects texts together to make you think that
30:47 where the Bible mentions the first day of the week,
30:50 it means the Sabbath.
30:53 He also connects texts together where there's the teaching of
30:56 eternally burning hell, he makes you believe it is eternal.
31:02 It took the devil about 500 years to get it
31:04 to where it is today.
31:07 But that's not the last contributor in its entire
31:10 construction of the rapture theory.
31:13 Scofield study notes talk about the Gap Theory.
31:16 The restoration of the nation of Israel.
31:18 That's why our government has such a push,
31:20 "We've got to defend Israel."
31:21 Because our government is pushed by religious individuals
31:24 who believe that Israel one day is going to be converted.
31:28 That's the whole thing about the coalition with Israel.
31:32 Also the conversion of the Jews, the pre-tribulation rapture,
31:35 and the millennial earthly reign of Christ.
31:38 Christ is not coming down here to reign with us.
31:42 We're going up there to reign with Him.
31:44 What do you say?
31:45 I'm not looking to be down here a thousand more years.
31:47 I want to be in the kingdom that He's preparing for me right now.
31:50 If you read John 14, He says,
31:52 "I go to prepare a place for you.
31:55 And if I go to prepare a place, I will come again to receive you
31:59 so that where I am in heaven, there you may be also."
32:03 He's not coming down here with us.
32:05 That's why they're trying to reform the earth.
32:06 Trying to get the earth...
32:08 God is not reforming this.
32:10 He's going to make it all over again.
32:13 He's not putting it up to politicians and the Palestinians
32:17 and the Jews to fix the earth.
32:19 He's going to do it Himself.
32:20 He's the Creator and He's also the re-Creator.
32:22 Amen, somebody.
32:24 But this trek continued.
32:25 The next man to contribute to this whole thing was a
32:27 man by the name of Hal Lindsey.
32:30 I think I have a picture of his book
32:32 called, The Late Great Planet Earth.
32:35 15 million copies were sold when it hit the presses.
32:42 And everybody thought the world was going to end
32:45 somewhere in the 1980's.
32:46 This book hit the presses in 1970.
32:49 15 million copies hot.
32:52 Once again, it re-awakened.
32:53 Do you see how the devil works?
32:54 Just about the time the fire is about to die,
32:56 he throws another log in there and stokes it
32:59 to keep a lie flaming from the pulpits
33:02 of places where the word of God should be taught.
33:06 But what did he do?
33:07 Listen to how TIME magazine says it.
33:09 This is really interesting.
33:10 TIME magazine Specials says...
33:12 This, by the way, is from time.com by Kayla Webley,
33:15 and this was May 20, 2011 that this was written.
33:20 Listen to these words.
33:36 Notice they say "nonfiction". They gave it biblical status.
34:07 If you think Hal Lindsey is the last one,
34:09 tighten your seatbelts.
34:11 Let's go to the next stage.
34:12 The next great contributor was a man I talked
34:15 about just a moment ago.
34:16 His name was Tim LaHaye and his writer was Jerry Jenkins.
34:20 The Left Behind series...
34:21 If you think that 15 million is a lot, this 16 volume series,
34:26 the Left Behind series, 75 million books were sold.
34:32 Not to count the movies, not to count the children series,
34:35 not to count the literature,
34:36 and not to count all the non-scriptural Bible studies
34:39 that were sold and taught from the pulpits of the world.
34:43 Some of them are still teaching it.
34:45 Matter of fact, Discovery Channel did an exposé
34:48 when Pastor Doug Batchelor was on, they did this thing about
34:51 End Time Prophecies.
34:52 Some of you may have seen it.
34:53 In that very same exposé, they did a clip on the secret rapture
34:57 and they said, and I quote, "Millions of Christians have
35:00 embraced a belief in the secret rapture,
35:03 and it's not supported by scripture."
35:06 But you know what?
35:08 You tell a person that believes the rapture that it's not
35:09 supported by the Bible, you know what they say?
35:11 They still believe it.
35:13 One of the best deceptions is to look for something
35:16 that's not going to happen.
35:19 Waiting to be snatched away, only to face the tribulation.
35:25 But I've got good news for you.
35:26 Don't fear the tribulation.
35:27 Because the Bible says, "He that dwells in the secret place of
35:30 the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
35:33 Put your thinking caps on.
35:35 When the plagues came to Egypt, the Israelites were there.
35:39 But what kept them? The blood of the Lamb.
35:43 God didn't take them out before the plagues fell.
35:45 All ten plagues fell while they were in Egypt.
35:47 What protected them? The blood of the Lamb.
35:49 Revelation 12 verse 11, "They overcame him by the
35:52 blood of the Lamb."
35:54 That's our protection.
35:56 Not some secret place that's up there in purgatory.
36:00 Oh, I'll talk about that tomorrow night.
36:04 75 million books and DVD's were sold.
36:07 Christian churches hosted showing the Left Behind DVD's
36:10 in their churches.
36:11 And by the way, it's still sold today as fiction
36:13 in the Christian bookstores.
36:14 But most people miss that stamp, "fiction".
36:20 Here's a slide of Tim LaHaye's book, the Left Behind series.
36:25 I think they may have shown it already.
36:26 75 million books.
36:28 But I want you to hear what was said about this entire series.
36:32 This was taken from the Huff Post, huffingtonpost.com,
36:37 September 5, 2001.
36:59 "Fictionalized image."
37:02 Get that.
37:03 This is what they're telling you.
37:16 Now Tim LaHaye still believes in the secret rapture,
37:19 but what he does not support is the prediction of the day.
37:22 He said that Harold Camping is not right.
37:27 But he still supports the secret rapture.
37:29 Duh.
37:31 That's not a very theological word.
37:34 But in other words, wake up.
37:35 If it's not in the Bible at all, whether you predict the date
37:39 or not, it's not going to happen.
37:41 Am I right?
37:43 Look at the words of Jesus, Matthew 24 verse 36.
37:54 And then we have the final, not the last, but the final
37:57 and most significant contributor to the secret rapture.
38:00 I said to you earlier, if I were the devil, I would
38:02 come after the church.
38:03 And boy, Satan is like Mike Tyson without gloves.
38:08 He's ripping our ears off because we don't want to hear
38:10 what the Spirit says.
38:12 And the churches, multiple millions would rather believe
38:16 the secret rapture than believe the word of God.
38:20 They use 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where it says,
38:22 "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
38:25 with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God.
38:28 And the dead in Christ shall rise first."
38:30 If you read that verse, it's anything but secret.
38:32 "The Lord Himself descends from heaven with a shout."
38:36 Secret?
38:37 I haste to say it's not.
38:39 "With the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet."
38:42 How many times have you heard a silent trumpet?
38:46 And David the psalmist says, "Our God shall come
38:48 and shall not keep silent."
38:51 Let me tell you something.
38:52 New Years Eve does not happen, it's not a silent event.
38:55 Amen?
38:56 The championship of a football game is not
38:58 celebrated in secret.
38:59 Neither is the NBA finals.
39:00 Neither is the World Series for baseball.
39:02 Why would the greatest event of the ages be a secret event?
39:06 Why would the God who loves us come back and say,
39:10 "Come on Dick, let's go."
39:12 I don't want to be cynical here, but that's what actually
39:15 people are believing.
39:16 So somebody will be flying an airplane and all of a sudden,
39:18 the pilot is gone.
39:19 Somebody will be driving a car.
39:20 You've seen the posters, "In case of the rapture,
39:22 this car will be unmanned."
39:23 It's based on a lie.
39:25 Please, do your homework.
39:27 Don't be caught by something that's not going to occur.
39:34 I may be excited.
39:35 Just pray for me.
39:38 Jesus also warned us.
39:41 Harold Camping, he predicted that May 21 would
39:44 be the day of judgment.
39:45 Here's a picture of a sign that people saw about that thing.
39:49 Remember this, "Judgment Day, May 21, 2011."
39:52 My wife and I were in Oakland, California around May 21st.
39:56 We took a picture in front of Harold Camping's building.
39:58 If I was thinking, I would have had it on the screen.
40:00 Nobody was there but the radio station was still on.
40:05 And on the next day, May 22nd, was our 28th anniversary.
40:10 I could have told Harold Camping the world was
40:11 not going to end that day.
40:13 We had an anniversary celebration.
40:15 Not that it would be the reason why the world doesn't end.
40:21 But after that, he had I think, a stroke or something
40:23 because he was so disappointed that he was again incorrect.
40:26 When you try to predict something that's not
40:28 going to occur, you will be incorrect over and over
40:31 and over and over again.
40:33 You'll never be correct.
40:35 Like trying to hit a baseball and there's nobody throwing one.
40:41 But notice what Jesus said.
40:43 This one took about five hundred years to construct.
40:47 It is a deception.
40:48 And loving Christians, people that love the Lord...
40:51 I'm not talking about people that don't like Jesus.
40:53 I'm not talking about people that want to be lost.
40:55 I'm talking about people that sincerely love the Lord.
40:58 I'm talking about people who are waiting for this great and
41:01 glorious deliverance out of this cruel sinful world.
41:04 But they've been taught and they've been duped
41:08 by a lie from the pits of hell.
41:11 And it's not going to occur.
41:13 But Jesus warned us that these are days of deception.
41:15 Matthew 24 verse 11.
41:27 He also warned His disciples.
41:29 It's amazing, in the outlaying of the last days in Matthew 24,
41:33 you notice He doesn't mention earthquakes first,
41:35 or wars and fires and floods.
41:36 He doesn't mention disease first.
41:38 The first thing He says, Matthew 24 verse 4,
41:40 look at what He says.
41:41 The first thing He says.
41:51 Do you think He was just picking words?
41:53 No, He was saying the devil is going to deceive you.
41:56 Matter of fact, you read Revelation chapter 12,
41:58 he deceives the whole world.
42:01 His angels were cast out with him.
42:03 He's got workers everywhere to deceive the entire world.
42:06 Which takes me down to this quotation, a very powerful one,
42:10 from the book, Christ Triumphant,
42:12 page 143 and paragraph 2.
42:14 Notice what it says.
42:27 And he's working most effectively under the guise
42:30 of Christianity.
42:31 Now you know what?
42:33 A person may come in here and try to sell us drugs,
42:35 pornography, sex, all that stuff, lottery tickets.
42:38 Nobody is going to buy that.
42:39 Am I right?
42:40 Come on, say amen.
42:42 Aren't going to be buying that.
42:44 But if he packages it in the Bible, now get that,
42:47 God's Holy Book, false study notes.
42:53 Be careful when you study your Bible based on the study notes.
42:58 Check out the beginning.
42:59 There are a couple of, not just Scofield study notes,
43:02 but there are a number of other contributors that follow
43:04 Scofield's train of thought.
43:05 And I could show you my Bibles.
43:06 I have a number of them that the notes themselves,
43:08 if you follow them, you'll believe all kinds of stuff
43:10 that's not supported by the text itself.
43:15 But Jesus said these days would come.
43:18 Look at this, Isaiah 4 and verse 1.
43:20 Seven churches.
43:21 Look at what he says about all seven of them.
43:24 Isaiah 4 verse 1.
43:28 The motif is the last days.
43:33 The seven women are the seven churches.
43:36 Who's the man? Jesus.
43:41 "Food;" we've got our own doctrines.
43:45 "Apparel;" our own righteousness.
43:50 "Your name;" Christian.
43:53 "Many will come in My name saying, 'I am Christ,'
43:56 and will deceive many."
43:57 There are folk that are opening churches up all over the place.
43:59 Do you know why? Because it's the biggest
44:00 tax shelter in the United States.
44:03 It's the biggest way to get into people's pockets,
44:05 to take people's money.
44:06 You know what?
44:07 I need to say something for those of you who may not
44:09 understand where I stand as a pastor.
44:11 My check doesn't go up or down based on how many people are
44:15 packed in the building.
44:17 My check comes in the mail like your check.
44:18 Maybe direct deposit.
44:20 So we're not motivated to tell you what you want to hear.
44:22 We're motivated to tell you the truth.
44:27 I'm not a pilot that just likes to fly.
44:29 I want to get you to your destination.
44:31 Amen?
44:32 So when you get on the plane, they always say before the
44:34 doors are closed, "The next stop for this plane is
44:37 Los Angeles, California.
44:38 If that's not your final destination, please exit now."
44:42 I wish churches would say that, "Our next destination is heaven.
44:45 If this church is not taking you there, please exit now."
44:49 And a whole lot of folk would be walking out.
44:54 Look at 2 Corinthians 11 verses 13 to 15.
44:57 And my point is, don't determine the truth by the way the
45:00 preacher looks and sounds, but by what the Bible contains.
45:04 Because Satan has ministers that work for him.
45:08 That's what Jesus said. Here it is.
45:11 2 Corinthians 11 beginning with verse 13.
45:35 An angel of light; that's how he came to Jesus in the wilderness.
45:51 Everybody is going to have to pay for what they say.
45:53 Am I right?
45:54 That's why I'm not going to tell you a lie.
45:55 Because I'm not standing before God saying,
45:57 "I didn't mean to lie to them."
45:59 No, Jeremiah 23. Listen to it, read it.
46:01 It says, "Woe unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the
46:06 sheep of My pasture."
46:07 There's one Shepherd, and He's says,
46:09 "My sheep will hear My voice."
46:10 John chapter 10.
46:12 "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold."
46:13 But He says, "Them also I must bring."
46:15 John 10 and verse 16.
46:17 So in these last days, God is calling His sheep
46:21 to follow the only Shepherd that tells you the truth;
46:24 Jesus Christ.
46:26 But let's keep on going.
46:28 The Bible also reveals why ministers reject
46:29 and teach against the truth.
46:31 John 3 and verse 19. Look at it.
46:34 The Bible says this.
46:45 How many pastors have you seen...
46:47 And this is a tender subject.
46:49 This is a very tender place to tread
46:51 because the Bible says, "Be Careful.
46:52 Deal with everybody who is in transgression
46:54 with tender gloves.
46:55 Because, but for the grace of God, there go us."
46:58 So many who are not in the task of standing with integrity and
47:03 staying in the Word and prayed up and staying up
47:06 are falling like flies because the darkness is revealing that
47:10 their deeds are really evil.
47:13 That's what is happening in our world today.
47:14 Pray for them.
47:15 But the other reason why many people are rejecting
47:18 the truth is person gain.
47:19 Romans 16 verse 18.
47:21 I like to use the Bible. That's a good thing to do.
47:23 What do you say?
47:24 Romans 16 verse 18, notice what Paul says.
47:41 You know what we call that? Preying on folk.
47:43 Not praying for them, but prey.
47:46 Praying mantis trying to find a way into their pockets.
47:50 I'm sick of that.
47:52 My stomach turns when I go to a church and
47:54 I hear ministers lying.
47:55 I want to stand up, but out of respect I don't do it.
47:57 Oh so many times, I was that close to getting up and just
48:00 blowing the service apart.
48:02 Now they would have probably beat me up and threw me out.
48:06 But God is going to deal with that.
48:09 Deception.
48:10 Here's another reason why many people
48:11 don't like the truth.
48:12 Luke 16 verse 13.
48:18 Deception; another reason for this is right in this verse.
48:42 Mammon was a god that was synonymous to money.
48:47 There are a whole lot of people in it for the money.
48:49 And we, us pastors in the Adventist church, we say,
48:52 "You know we're not in this for the money.
48:55 Because we're not getting rich being Adventist pastors.
48:57 But we've got a retirement plan that's out of this world."
48:59 Can you say amen.
49:02 I've got fire insurance and life insurance.
49:06 God has given me security from the fires to come.
49:08 Isn't that right?
49:09 I've got life insurance.
49:11 Eternal life in Jesus Christ.
49:13 So I've got to be honest.
49:14 He's employed me to tell the truth.
49:16 And that brings me great joy.
49:18 I'm excited about the audience here, but I'm even more excited
49:21 about those who are watching.
49:22 Because many of us know this to be true.
49:24 But those who are listening and watching, if you've never
49:26 heard this before, I want you to pray.
49:28 If there are things that I've said that you want to
49:30 know about, contact 3ABN.
49:33 3ABN.org, you'll find out about it.
49:35 We've got a whole staff of pastors that will be glad to
49:38 walk with you through the Bible.
49:39 We're living in too late a history to hide the truth
49:42 from those who want to know about it.
49:44 People want money, a lot of people want money.
49:47 There are pastors that talk about their salaries.
49:49 I remember a preacher once said to me, "I have more money in my
49:51 pocket than you make in an entire year."
49:54 And I thought to myself, well that's terrible.
49:55 But then I also remembered, you can't buy your way to heaven.
49:59 Am I right?
50:00 You've got to go under the blood of the Lamb.
50:02 Salvation is a free gift.
50:04 We're saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves.
50:07 It is the gift of God.
50:08 He paid for it and I'm going to accept the gift free of charge.
50:11 But you know when you accept the gift,
50:12 there's some responsibility.
50:13 Am I right?
50:14 Responsibilities, tell the truth.
50:17 The end result of those who prefer a lie in place of
50:20 the truth is spelled out here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
50:23 verses 11 and 12.
50:25 Follow these words.
50:26 It's a frightful thing to handle error and to do it in delight.
50:30 It's a frightful thing to purposefully and intentionally
50:34 say, "I don't want to hear the truth."
50:37 If somebody is coming to your house, give them bad directions
50:41 and see if they don't get upset.
50:43 Wouldn't they get upset?
50:45 If somebody wants to call you, give them the
50:46 wrong phone number, see if they don't tell you about it.
50:49 But doesn't it frighten you that when you tell people a lie,
50:53 they don't get upset.
50:54 But when you tell them the truth, they get upset.
50:57 When you try to open somebody's eyes, they get mad at you.
51:00 Tell me that the spirit of the Antichrist is not behind that.
51:03 Tell me that there's a different spirit.
51:04 So when somebody says, "I love the Lord,"
51:05 that doesn't mean a thing me.
51:07 "If you love Me," Jesus said, "you'll keep My commandments."
51:09 That's the test.
51:10 He that says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments,
51:12 Jesus says is a liar and the truth is not in him.
51:16 1 John chapter 2 verses 3 and 4. It's there.
51:18 Examine them by the truth.
51:19 Look at what the Bible says.
51:20 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12.
51:42 You know what, I don't join churches because of
51:44 music programs any more than I get on an airplane
51:47 because of the entertainment.
51:49 I get on an airplane because it is going where I want to end up.
51:51 Am I right?
51:52 So there are some churches that have got all kinds of good music
51:55 and great choirs and kicking bands and programs,
51:58 clothes and food for everybody in the line.
52:02 But I'll never forget those words in the back of my mind,
52:04 the echo of Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 to 23.
52:07 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord,
52:10 have we not prophesied in Thy name,
52:12 cast out demons in Your name,
52:14 and done many wonderful works in Your name?'
52:16 And He will profess to them, 'I never knew you.
52:19 Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.'"
52:21 In other words, you loved sin, you embraced it,
52:24 and you thought by giving out clothes, that would
52:26 buy your way to heaven.
52:27 Salvation is a free gift.
52:28 But it's for those that love the truth and those that love Jesus.
52:31 Can you say amen.
52:33 That's why during the construction stage,
52:35 during the final construction of the final stage
52:38 we only have one safeguard.
52:40 And that's Jesus and His word.
52:43 I'll go back to that map.
52:44 You know what, my wife and I would be still in Texas
52:46 somewhere trying to find California
52:48 if it were not for the map.
52:50 You can't even say, "Now, I think...
52:52 ...I think...
52:55 ...California is...
52:56 ...that way.
52:58 Unreliable.
52:59 But some people fly by the seat of their pants
53:00 when it comes to theology.
53:02 And we smile.
53:04 I did that for a particular reason.
53:08 That is just as cynical and as ridiculous
53:11 as taking what God clearly says, ignoring it,
53:14 and still trying to find your way by sticking your finger up
53:17 in the wind to find California all the way from Florida.
53:21 There are loving people that are in the bus
53:24 that think that the bus driver is telling the truth.
53:27 But the sad reality is, the Bible says if the
53:29 blind leads the blind, they both fall into the ditch.
53:32 But you know what, people are not blind because
53:34 they can't see.
53:35 Jesus made it very clear to the Jewish nation,
53:37 "You have closed your eyes.
53:38 Lest you see with your eyes and hear with your ears,
53:41 and be converted."
53:43 When our eyes are open, it leads to conversion.
53:45 We see the truth, but we also see Jesus more clearly.
53:47 We're living in a very fragile age.
53:49 It's time to understand that during the construction
53:52 of the final stages, again and again,
53:55 at the end of a rope of destruction,
53:58 at the end of the road of deception and disappointment,
54:00 there's a man saying to us...
54:02 Our last text for tonight, John 14 verse 6.
54:05 Jesus is still alive and well today.
54:08 And He's still calling to those who are in darkness
54:11 to come to this marvelous light.
54:12 He's still saying, "You don't have to stay there
54:14 and enjoy the choir and go to hell singing Christian songs."
54:18 He's saying, "I am the way." Look at the text, brethren.
54:33 My wife and I were in California for two years
54:36 with the Heritage Singers.
54:41 Still had that old rusty car.
54:44 1976 Toyota Corona with all of its cancer.
54:48 It had air conditioning, but the fan didn't work.
54:51 So the only way to cool down was to drive really really fast
54:55 with the air duct open so that it could blow the air in.
54:57 You know, you've got to find ways to make the thing work.
55:03 When we left California, I said to my wife,
55:05 "Honey, we're going to take our time.
55:06 We don't have to rush. We know we're going to Florida."
55:10 She said, "It took us three days, 1016 miles a day.
55:13 I'm not doing that again. We're going to take out time."
55:16 Guess how long it took us to get home.
55:17 Three days.
55:19 You know why?
55:20 Because we had loved ones on the other end.
55:23 We had family on the other end.
55:25 We had difficulty in the journey.
55:26 We got through the deserts of Texas at night,
55:28 one night, and our headlights just stopped working.
55:29 Bam, in the middle of the freeway the lights went out.
55:32 I had to pull off the road.
55:33 Brethren and sisters, when the lights go out,
55:35 don't drive in the dark.
55:36 Pull off the road and fix the lights
55:38 before you continue your journey.
55:40 We're on our way home. We need our lights.
55:42 We're driving at night. It's dark out there.
55:46 We got off the road and fixed the lights.
55:47 Some of you need to fix the lights.
55:49 You're driving without lights.
55:51 Jesus says His word is a lamp unto our feet
55:53 and a light unto our path.
55:55 Fix the lights.
55:56 If your preacher doesn't have it, get out of that vehicle
55:58 and get into a vehicle where they have good headlights.
56:00 Amen, somebody.
56:02 My wife got tired of driving.
56:03 She said, "I'm not driving anymore."
56:05 But you know what I said? "That's all right.
56:07 I'll drive for both of us."
56:09 She got in that seat and slept.
56:10 And I remember, I tell you what,
56:11 when we got through Georgia and we finally saw a
56:15 sign ahead of us that said, "Welcome to Florida,"
56:18 my wife was asleep and I said, "Honey, look at the sign,
56:20 'Welcome to Florida,'" and she was as wide awake
56:23 as at any other point in the journey.
56:24 Eyes peeled and wide open.
56:26 You know why?
56:27 Because she knew that not far from that sign was home.
56:30 Brethren, all the signs around us tell us
56:32 that we are nearing home.
56:34 Not far from the signs around us in the world
56:36 says that we're nearing home.
56:38 It's time to turn the lights on.
56:40 It's time to walk in the light while we have the light,
56:43 lest darkness comes upon us.
56:45 So tonight, I want you to bow your heads
56:46 and I'm going to say a short word of prayer,
56:47 because this is a critical hour.
56:49 Father in heaven, we thank You for Your truth,
56:51 it's so magnificent.
56:53 How can we but desire anything but the light
56:57 in this dark world.
56:58 I pray that You will lead those who are sincere,
57:00 that you'll even open the eyes of some of these preachers
57:02 that are going awry and give them an opportunity
57:05 to turn around, pull off the road, turn on the light,
57:08 and follow Jesus as He leads us home.
57:10 Bless the message that went forth.
57:12 And may Your name be honored and glorified.
57:15 In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
57:19 Friends, don't forget tomorrow night.
57:21 The message is going to be, The Final Coalition.
57:24 Power packed.
57:25 7:00 pm Central time.
57:28 May God bless you.
57:29 We look forward to seeing you then.
57:30 God bless you.


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Revised 2014-12-17