Participants: Kenneth Cox
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000100
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00:22 And we are here for the final in this series,
00:27 and it has really been a blessing. 00:30 We had some folks back in the green room 00:32 talking to Pastor Cox and sharing with him 00:36 how much this has meant to them. 00:39 And you can see what a tremendous group we have here 00:43 that has come back this afternoon. 00:45 I think that's testament to Elder Cox's ability to make 00:48 prophecy plain. 00:50 Prophecy can trip you up if you don't really take it 00:53 a spoonful at a time. 00:54 Like we said, like eating an elephant; 00:55 just one little bite at a time. 00:57 But the messages have been plain, they've been powerful. 01:00 And the Elder is doing a fine job. 01:02 You know, there are many, many interpretations 01:05 of some of these things. 01:06 And if you go back to, for instance, Uriah Smith, 01:10 you're going to find a different king of the North 01:13 than you heard about this morning. 01:15 And you will find different students of prophecy 01:20 that may apply some of these things slightly differently. 01:24 However, when it comes down to the end, 01:28 it all leads to the same thing. 01:30 Do you see what I'm saying? 01:31 Maybe a different little road for getting there, 01:34 but when they get there, they're at the same spot. 01:38 Now I know there are purists who are going to say, 01:41 "Well, if you don't interpret something according to the way 01:44 I interpret that prophecy, then you're totally wrong." 01:48 But you know what I love about this, is that 01:52 people are studying prophecy now more than ever before. 01:57 You know, they had quit studying prophecy in our church. 02:00 It was like, "Everybody has everything all set. 02:03 Nothing can be any different and there can be no... 02:06 We can't learn anything else." 02:08 And a few years ago, some of our Bible students 02:12 began to show us that we are learning something 02:16 every single day. 02:18 Again, the end result is the same. 02:21 But the road to that result is sometimes a little different 02:26 than we had studied before. 02:28 Very true, our early church fathers held some beliefs, 02:30 shut door, and other kinds of things. 02:31 Then they realized they weren't right. 02:34 Then about 20 years ago DARCOM began to meet; 02:37 the Daniel and Revelation Committee. 02:39 And they began to re-examine some of these things. 02:41 And we found that Uriah Smith didn't get everything 02:43 directly from the mouth of the Lord. 02:45 Some things he put in there a little bit himself. 02:46 And so prophecy, like the study of the Bible, 02:49 is a growing thing. 02:50 You learn more as you study more. 02:51 But it all leads to one thing. 02:53 And that's the second coming of Jesus Christ. 02:55 And one thing that Ellen White warned us about is she said 02:58 be careful with unfulfilled prophecy. 03:02 It's a whole lot easier to look back at what has been fulfilled. 03:06 And those that had been Millerites, and so forth, 03:11 learned that very difficult and painful lesson 03:16 in the early years of this denomination. 03:20 Well listen, this is a special Anchors Of Truth program. 03:23 It is, this is our 100th Anchors Of Truth program. 03:28 This is program number 100. 03:30 And do you recall the very first Anchors Of Truth? 03:32 Yeah, this was Ty Gibson. 03:34 It was in January, I believe, of 2011. 03:38 You missed it by a month. 03:39 - Okay, February. - There you go. 03:41 You know, a month here a month there. 03:46 I deal with prophetic months. 03:48 And we, if I remember, was it on love? 03:53 It was extravagant love. 03:54 Extravagant love. 03:56 And we are planning again for next year another exciting year 04:03 of Anchors Of Truth. 04:06 And I want to thank you for being the producer 04:09 and keeping everything in line. 04:13 And we're even talking about maybe some new 04:16 graphics for next year. 04:18 So we'll be looking forward. 04:20 Now we have one more Anchors this year. 04:22 Tell us about that. 04:23 I just want to share with you, we've got a whole crew 04:25 of people here that it would not be possible without. 04:26 People in the truck, different directors, producers. 04:29 So many people that make all of this come together. 04:31 We've got one more this year. 04:33 Let's see... 04:35 Jim Nix. 04:36 Jim Nix is coming in December. 04:37 Jim Nix is a fabulous church historian 04:39 and we're going to get some real good information. 04:41 We're looking forward. December 4, 5, 6, and 7. 04:45 And then we're going to sit down and plan for next year. 04:47 In October through November, we've got a great series 04:50 coming out of Charlotte with John Bradshaw of It Is Written. 04:56 We're really looking forward to that. 04:57 So that will take up two months, and then 04:59 Jim Nix comes in December. 05:00 And in September, we have our camp meeting. 05:03 with David Asscherick to be our main speaker at that time. 05:07 So you see, with some of those we don't put in an Anchors 05:11 because we have other lives that are taking place here. 05:15 And September is our fall camp meeting month. 05:19 And then October and November, we are going to have our crew 05:22 in Charlotte, North Carolina. 05:25 We can put in a little plug for John Dinzey because 05:27 in August, 3ABN Latino is doing a number of lives on this stage. 05:31 It is their 10th anniversary. 05:34 So we're excited about that also. 05:36 Absolutely, and this is the 150th year of the 05:40 Seventh-day Adventist Church. 05:42 Talking about from the time that is was organized 05:45 and named in 1863. 05:49 And so this 150th year we want to do something 05:54 that honors that or looks back at that. 05:58 And the first time we could get Jim Nix here was 06:00 in December of this year. 06:02 It's still in the 150th year. 06:05 But it didn't happen right at the date when things started. 06:09 But he will be presenting a series on our church history, 06:15 our heritage, how a lot of some of these things developed, 06:18 some of the pioneers and looking at them. 06:21 And I am looking forward to that series in December. 06:26 We will just have returned from Israel at that time. 06:30 In fact, we've got nearly a hundred people 06:33 already deciding to go with us to Israel. 06:37 And we hope some more of you do come. 06:38 Now let me take this opportunity to bail you out. 06:41 Because the other night he introduced our singer, 06:44 who's singing today again, as Tina. 06:47 And people said, "Boy Brother Gilley, you're getting old. 06:49 Her name is Celestine, she is not Tina. 06:52 But just before she came on, we're back stage 06:55 and the question was, is it Celestine or Celestine. 06:58 So he asked her, "What do you want to be called, 07:02 Celestine or Celestine?" 07:03 I said, "What does your mother call you?" 07:06 And her mother calls her... 07:07 Tina. 07:11 So, you know, I was trying to get the correct pronunciation. 07:16 I can't even pronounce "correct." 07:18 And I was trying to get the correct pronunciation, 07:21 and she said Tina. 07:23 - So I said, "Okay, it's Tina." - "It's Tina." 07:25 And so her husband, Mike, is going to be on the piano. 07:30 And Tina is going to sing for us one of my favorite songs, 07:35 How Great Thou Art. 07:38 And when she has finished singing a praise to the Lord, 07:42 then Kenneth Cox will come and he will speak on 07:46 the antichrist power. 08:01 Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, 08:12 consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made; 08:23 I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, 08:33 Thy power throughout the universe displayed. 08:45 Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 08:55 How great Thou art, How great Thou art. 09:06 Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 09:17 how great Thou art, how great Thou art. 09:28 When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation 09:38 and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart. 09:49 Then I shall bow in humble adoration, 10:00 and then proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art!" 10:11 Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 10:21 how great Thou art, how great Thou art. 10:33 Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee; 10:43 how great Thou art, 10:47 how great Thou art. 10:54 How great Thou art, 10:58 how great Thou art. 11:15 Thank you, thank you very much. 11:29 Father in heaven, 11:33 as we come before You this afternoon and open Your Word, 11:39 we do so, Lord, realizing that little do we understand 11:47 Your might, Your power, and how great You really are. 11:53 We pray that You will be with us this afternoon. 11:57 We pray, Lord, for wisdom. 12:01 We realize how incapable we are. 12:06 But we also thank You for the promises of 12:09 the Scripture that tells us that Your Holy Spirit 12:11 will lead us into all truth. 12:14 Bless us here. 12:16 Give us the understanding that we need. 12:19 May our hearts be open and respond to the work of 12:24 Your Spirit upon our hearts. 12:26 Bless each one. 12:27 We pray in Your name, amen. 12:34 Well welcome. 12:36 We're very happy to see you here this afternoon. 12:38 And we'd like to welcome all those that are 12:41 joining us by television or by radio. 12:45 We welcome you and glad that you're here for the final 12:49 presentation in this Anchors Of Truth series, 12:54 The Rise of the Antichrist. 12:56 And we have done four presentations on the antichrist. 13:00 And now we're down to the fifth one. 13:03 And we hope it'll help you put things together 13:05 as we have continued to study through God's Word together. 13:09 This presentation that we're doing now is entitled... 13:22 And so we're going to see what the Scripture has to say 13:24 in the 17th chapter of Revelation. 13:28 That's where we're going to be, the 17th chapter of Revelation 13:31 as it talks about the very last days. 13:35 You understand, don't you, that when you get to the 13:37 17th chapter, as far as prophecy is concerned, 13:41 it's pretty well over. 13:43 Because the other few chapters that are left 13:47 deals with heaven, deals with the marriage supper of the Lamb, 13:50 deals with the millennium. 13:51 It's all past. 13:53 So this is a very, very important chapter 13:56 that we look at as we take a look here at the 17th chapter. 14:01 So let's start with verse 1, and we're going to read 14:04 what it has to say about this particular power. 14:20 So here we have a harlot sitting on, not a few, but many waters. 14:27 And water in Bible prophecy represents... 14:31 ...people, nations, tongues. 14:32 So this is saying that she has control. 14:42 You understand what that means? 14:44 That means they're in bed with her. 14:47 That's what it means. 14:48 They have committed fornication with her. 14:57 So we find that they've been made drunk 14:59 with the wine of her fornication. 15:15 So this woman, now, is sitting on a beast. 15:20 It has seven heads, ten horns. 15:24 "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet..." 15:39 It has something to do with what she's deceiving the world with. 16:06 John sees this. 16:08 It's hard for him to believe what he's seeing. 16:14 Sitting on this beast. 16:17 That means basically she's in control of it, 16:21 this beast, this scarlet beast. 16:22 And in Bible prophecy, a beast represents a civil power. 16:29 That's what it stands for, a civil power. 16:32 In Bible prophecy, a woman... 16:35 Now let's look. 16:44 Referring to the church. 17:03 So God just simply takes a woman and uses a woman 17:07 in Bible prophecy to represent a church, 17:11 a spiritual power. 17:13 And in Revelation the 12th chapter, you have 17:15 a good woman. 17:18 You have a good woman represents a good spiritual power. 17:30 So this represented God's church. 17:35 It says she was clothed with the sun, 17:39 which represented the beauty of the gospel as it came forth 17:43 at the time of Christ and the disciples. 17:46 It says the moon was under her feet, which represented 17:49 the Old Testament period that she was coming out of. 17:52 And on her head was a garland of twelve stars, 17:55 which represented that of the apostles 17:58 that carried the gospel. 17:59 So this is God's church, went forth. 18:02 But in Revelation 17, you have a woman that is the opposite 18:08 sitting on a scarlet colored beast. 18:11 Now what is important is that we identify... 18:16 And we've done this each presentation. 18:18 We've tried to identify the power that it's talking about 18:22 ...that we identify who this power is. 18:25 Four points for identification here. 18:34 You cannot go looking for some power, some civil government, 18:40 controlled by a church. 18:41 You can't go looking over in some corner for it. 18:44 It has to be a world power because it says, 18:47 "With whom the..." What? 18:49 It didn't say "king." 18:51 It said, "kings of the earth have committed fornication." 18:55 So this is a power that has worldwide acceptance 18:59 and control. 19:01 And that of the papacy fulfills that point. 19:06 Because she, for 1260 years, held control very definitely. 19:13 Two, leads the world astray from God's Word. 19:21 When it speaks about the wine of her fornication, 19:25 the wine in this case is what she teaches. 19:32 In other words, she takes the Word of God 19:35 and leads people astray from what the Word of God teaches. 19:40 So it's the wine of her fornication. 19:52 So it has to be a power that is worldwide, 19:55 has to be a power that has led people contrary to Scripture, 19:59 and three, it has to be a power that has persecuted. 20:04 And history tells us this is exactly what has happened. 20:08 All you got to do is go back and read. 20:11 Read about such things as the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. 20:17 Read about the Spanish Inquisition. 20:21 The Inquisition of the Dutch. 20:23 And history will tell you this... 20:40 And I mentioned this the other night 20:42 when I was speaking about it. 20:43 Pope John Paul II made a public apology 20:47 for all they had done, lives of people they had taken 20:51 by the millions over the years. 20:55 And so when it says he would make war or would slay 20:59 the saints of the Most High, he's done just that. 21:02 Point four. 21:11 Any time you have a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, 21:15 that means the woman is in control of the beast. 21:20 And so what you have is a civil government, 21:22 and you have a spiritual power that is controlling it. 21:26 In other words, you have here this woman 21:29 who represents a spiritual power. 21:32 And she is controlling the beast, which represents 21:36 a civil power. 21:38 And so what you have is a uniting of church and state. 21:44 That's what you have in this case. 21:46 And history tells us that's exactly what took place. 21:50 Alright. 21:52 Let's take a look and see what's going to happen here. 22:20 So this particular beast that it's talking about, 22:23 it says this beast was, existed, is not, and yet it is. 22:44 "Here is the mind that has wisdom." 22:47 Does that ring any bell with you that I've shared 22:50 with you from night to night? 22:51 That is talking about those that are wise. 22:55 This is the maskilim. 22:57 These are God's people. 22:59 These are the people that understand what God has 23:02 written in His Word and revealed, that they might know 23:07 where they are, what's happening, what's taking place. 23:11 "There are also seven kings..." 23:26 So it tells us here, on this beast who had seven heads, 23:31 that of those seven heads five have fallen, 23:37 one is, one is yet to come. 23:43 Alright, so let's take a look and see where we are, 23:47 what that's telling us. 23:49 Well, we've gone through this several times 23:51 in our presentations now. 23:53 You remember Daniel. 23:56 Daniel lays it down step by step so that you and I can 24:00 put it all together. 24:01 And he talks in Daniel 7 about a beast; a lion. 24:07 And that beast, he said, represented Babylon. 24:11 Okay, Babylon existed. 24:15 Then it says that Babylon was overthrown by Medo-Persia. 24:22 That's the next one that came on the scene of action. 24:25 Well he's lining it up again, the Scripture is lining it up 24:28 for you and I so we don't have to be in doubt. 24:31 The first was Babylon, the second was Medo-Persia. 24:35 Medo-Persia was overcome by Greece. 24:40 Greece came in and overthrew it, 331 BC. 24:45 And Greece was overthrown by Rome. 24:51 Pagan Rome, right. 24:52 168 BC, Rome took over and now controlled everything that was 25:00 in the area. 25:02 She was in charge. 25:04 And then we find that pagan Rome evolved into, 25:09 or was overthrown by papal Rome. 25:14 Papal Rome took over. 25:17 538 AD, papal Rome now ruled. 25:23 "Five have fallen." 25:27 Those are the five. 25:28 "Five have fallen." 25:30 Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, pagan Rome, papal Rome. 25:35 Those are the five that have fallen. 25:37 One is not, yet is. 25:44 Okay, five have fallen. 25:46 "One is," it says. 25:48 It uses it both ways, "one is." 25:51 And so there has to be some power that shows itself 25:55 that brought down papal Rome. 25:58 And the power that brought down papal Rome 26:01 was atheism. 26:03 Atheistic communism, and they overthrew the papal power. 26:08 And I've quoted this night after night that Napoleon 26:12 sent his general into Rome, overthrew the papal power, 26:17 and thus brought about a secular government. 26:22 Ended it. 26:23 So five have fallen. 26:25 One is; that is atheistic communism. 26:28 And then it says, "one is yet to come." 26:33 That's what the Scripture says. 26:37 "And the other has not yet come..." 26:43 And that one that had not come was that of the United States. 26:49 And so we find that as one went down, 26:51 the other two-horned beast of Revelation 13, 26:54 the United States, was coming into action. 26:59 So just exactly as the Scripture says, 27:01 those are the seven beasts, or the seven horns, 27:06 that you have there that represented 27:09 these different powers. 27:11 So the Scripture has lined them up for us. 27:14 We don't have to be in doubt. 27:37 Okay, "The beast that was, is not, 27:44 is himself also the eight, and is of the seven, 27:50 and is going to perdition." 27:51 So if I'm looking for who this is, where do I look? 27:57 I look among the seven, right? 27:59 That's what the Scripture says. 28:00 I look among the seven. 28:02 Alright, the Scripture says, 28:04 "Here is a mind that has wisdom." 28:08 "Here is a mind that has wisdom." 28:10 God is saying, "Look at it, study it. 28:12 You need to know where this is, what is happening, 28:15 what's taking place." 28:16 So let's see if we can establish who this is that 28:20 John is talking about, as far as this beast that was, 28:23 is not, and yet is. 28:27 Revelation 17 verse 3. 28:36 Now let's take a moment to talk here. 28:39 John at this point is in vision. 28:45 Are you with me? 28:47 He's in vision, he's seeing this. 28:49 He's seeing this beast that was, and is not, yet is. 28:52 So he says that the Holy Spirit has taken him in vision 28:57 and carried him into the wilderness. 29:01 Folks, he is not, as far as John is concerned, 29:05 he is not on the island of Patmos. 29:12 Are you following what I'm saying? 29:13 He's in vision. 29:15 He's not aware of where he's at. 29:18 He's aware of where he is in the vision. 29:21 John is in vision. Okay? 29:24 "And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast..." 29:34 So in vision, he's seeing this woman in the wilderness, 29:41 in which this woman is sitting on this beast 29:44 that has seven heads and ten horns. 29:48 "The beast that you saw was..." 29:57 Now he said this beast that she's riding on 30:01 "was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit 30:11 and go to perdition." 30:32 So he's taking something very, very clear for us. 30:35 So let's put it together. 30:37 John is in the wilderness. 30:40 I want to make that clear. 30:41 He's not, as far as his surroundings are concerned, 30:45 he's not on the island of Patmos. 30:47 He's in the wilderness and he's seeing this beast. 30:50 Okay? 30:53 When he says he sees a beast that was, 30:56 what tense is that? 30:58 Okay, that's past. 31:00 That means that beast was, sometime it existed in the past. 31:06 Okay? 31:07 Then he says, secondly, "is not." 31:11 That would be present. 31:13 Saying, right now that beast isn't. 31:17 "Is not." 31:19 And then he says that beast, "yet is." 31:23 And that would be future. 31:27 So we find that this beast he's talking about; 31:29 something in the past, at the time that John is in the 31:33 wilderness there it doesn't exist, 31:35 and it is going to exist in the future. 31:39 That's what he's telling us there. 31:42 Okay. 31:43 Now he gives eight points to identify this beast. 31:49 We need to look at each one. 31:52 To begin with, it tells us that this beast is one of the seven. 31:59 Okay, so I don't need to go out here looking 32:02 some place else for it. 32:03 And people that want to do that are moving away from Scripture. 32:07 I've got to stick with what it says. 32:09 It's one of the seven. 32:11 It's got to be that. 32:12 Can't be something else. Okay? 32:15 Secondly, it says this beast was. 32:19 When it says that it was, John is in the wilderness 32:23 and he says this beast is not, so "was" means it's past. 32:28 So it really means that the beast has to be one of the five. 32:33 Did you follow the logic? 32:36 John is in the wilderness. 32:38 And he says "it is not." 32:39 And he says, this beast was. 32:41 So it has to be one of the five. 32:45 Okay, so that narrows it down for us. 32:49 He said, at this present time, John is in the wilderness, 32:52 he says, "it is not." 32:55 It doesn't exist. 32:58 Okay, four, it says he himself is also the eight. 33:04 So it means that this beast that was, and is not, 33:11 has to be again, it has to be reborn. 33:16 It has to come into existence again. 33:19 This is what he's telling you. 33:22 It had to make war with the saints. 33:25 It had to be a persecuting power. 33:28 It had to be a church in which the woman 33:31 was riding on the beast. 33:34 So it has to be uniting of church and state. 33:37 It says there was a time in which it was not. 33:40 That means that it had to receive a deadly wound. 33:45 Something had to wound it so that it wasn't. 33:47 And finally, it says that its deadly wound was healed. 33:51 It has to come back to life. 33:53 Now if you look at those points, those eight points that it gives 33:56 step by step, the only power in the world 34:00 that fits those eight points is that of the papal power. 34:05 I mean, you can take it and look at it any way you want to, 34:08 but that's the only one that fits that. 34:11 Nobody else does. 34:13 So okay, let's look at it real quick. 34:16 Is the papal power one of the seven? 34:20 Yes, it was one of the seven. 34:22 It's number five of those. 34:25 Secondly, was the time in which it was not? 34:31 Sure, Napoleon brought his general in and did away with it. 34:35 And so there was definitely a time for a hundred years there, 34:40 as far as being a civil government, it was not. 34:45 If it comes back, which it does with the signing of the 34:50 Lateran Treaty in 1929, it was given back its sovereignty. 34:55 It was made a civil government again and it came back. 34:58 And so the Scripture says now it is the eight. 35:04 It has come back, the eight. 35:07 Did it make war with the saints? 35:10 Yes, it persecuted the saints of the Most High. 35:13 So it definitely did that. 35:17 It was a uniting of church and state. 35:22 Those two came together with the woman riding on the beast. 35:26 You have unification of church and state. 35:31 Did it receive a deadly wound? 35:33 Yes. 35:34 Napoleon gave it the deadly wound. 35:37 And did that deadly wound heal? 35:39 Yes, in 1929 the deadly wound was healed. 35:44 So all those eight points fit the papal power. 35:49 All I can say is, show me some other power that does that. 35:54 Show me some other power that fits all those eight points. 35:58 Only the papal. 35:59 Which the Scripture identifies this power clearly 36:03 is that of the antichrist. 36:06 This is what it will do. 36:07 The antichrist. 36:09 Alright, let's continue. 36:19 Babylon the great, the mother of harlots. 36:23 And what is she going to do? 36:25 "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs..." 36:34 And we identified the dragon the other night, right? 36:38 The dragon is that of the devil. 36:41 He's the dragon. 36:43 Or as they use it in Revelation 12 and in Daniel 7, 36:49 the dragon represented pagan Rome as well. 36:53 And so it says... 37:01 So these frogs, which the Scripture says clearly 37:05 are demons, come out of the mouth of the dragon, 37:09 out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the 37:12 false prophet. 37:13 And they have a definite purpose. 37:15 It says, "For they are the spirits..." 37:29 So these powers are uniting all the kings of the earth 37:36 to this battle. 37:37 And we don't have time to talk about the battle of Armageddon. 37:43 But just let me say this. 37:45 The Bible says that this battle is the battle of what? 37:50 It's the battle of God Almighty. 37:53 It does not say it's man's battle. 37:55 It says it's God's battle. 37:58 And we need to look at it from that. 37:59 In other words, it's those that are in opposition to God. 38:04 They're fighting against God. 38:06 And so it's talking definitely about that. 38:08 Not about Russia fighting Israel, and so forth. 38:12 That's not what it's about. 38:14 It's in opposition to God. 38:16 This is what they're fighting. 38:18 And so they go out to gather all these together to do battle. 38:24 Alright, now put on your thinking caps a little bit. 38:29 Okay, we've got three powers. 38:32 We've got the dragon. 38:34 The dragon as described in Revelation 12 and in Daniel 7 38:39 is pagan Rome. 38:40 Also it says that is the devil. 38:43 It uses that. 38:45 Okay, the spiritual power is that of paganism. 38:49 Paganism is a religion. Okay? 38:53 And that's the spiritual power that's with it. 38:55 That's why it talks about this frog coming out the 38:58 mouth of the dragon. 39:00 Okay. 39:01 Then we have the beast. 39:04 And the beast is that of Catholicism. 39:09 And Catholicism is the spiritual power. 39:12 The beast is the civil power, 39:14 Catholicism is the spiritual power. 39:17 And this is what she teaches. 39:20 She's teaching people. 39:22 And then we have the false prophet that we talked about. 39:26 And the spiritual power with the false prophet 39:29 is apostate Protestantism. 39:33 Okay, these are the three powers. 39:35 And these powers will, in the last days, unite. 39:41 Unite the world together in what they believe. 39:45 That's what the scripture tells us. 39:46 That's what they're going to do. 39:48 And it's most important that you and I understand this. 39:53 Because these are the things that will happen 39:55 in the last days just before Jesus comes. 39:59 So this woman, which represents a spiritual power... 40:05 And by the way, the woman is who? 40:10 Now I want you to be clear. 40:11 Who is the woman? 40:13 Well, who's the woman? 40:16 The woman is called... 40:18 What's her name? 40:20 Her name is Babylon. 40:22 The woman is Babylon. 40:24 Now listen to me. 40:26 Babylon is not the Catholic church. 40:29 Babylon is not something else. 40:33 Babylon is a unification of three. 40:36 Babylon is made up of the dragon, made up of Catholicism, 40:42 and made up of apostate Protestantism. 40:46 That's Babylon. 40:48 That's why the word "Babylon" means confusion. 40:51 So how can you take paganism, and how can you take 40:56 Catholicism, and how can you take apostate Protestantism 41:00 and put them together and it not be confusing? 41:06 How can you do that? 41:09 But this is what the Scripture says happens. 41:10 That's why it says, "the great harlot who sits on many waters." 41:16 Okay. 41:23 That means, folks, she has control. 41:26 She's in charge. 41:28 She's sitting on these. 41:29 They are under her power and under her control. 41:33 And this is what is coming in the last days. 41:38 This is what is taking place. 41:40 Okay, then it says... 41:49 Interesting. 41:51 How do you commit spiritual fornication? 41:57 How do you do that? 41:59 How do you commit spiritual fornication? 42:04 Well the way you commit spiritual fornication 42:08 is by adulterating the Word of God. 42:12 That's spiritual fornication. 42:13 When I teach something that is contrary to the Word of God, 42:19 that is spiritual fornication. 42:22 And it says these kings of the earth have committed 42:26 spiritual fornication with this woman. 42:29 "And the inhabitants of the earth have been made..." What? 42:35 In other words, what she is serving up 42:40 and what they are drinking makes the drunk. 42:46 I want to ask you a question. 42:49 Have you ever tried to reason with a drunk person? 42:52 Huh? 42:54 You don't get very far, do you? 42:55 It just doesn't work. 42:57 Well the same thing here is true. 42:59 What she is serving up in many ways does not make sense. 43:06 You just can't take it logically and make it fit the Word of God. 43:10 It doesn't make sense. 43:11 But to a drunk person, you can't explain that to them. 43:15 They're drunk with the wine of her fornication, 43:18 what she is teaching. 43:19 This is what they're drunk with. 43:21 And it's hard to get across to them what it's talking about. 43:26 What is there something that paganism, and Catholicism, 43:37 and apostate Protestantism holds in common? 43:43 What is there something that you could take the whole world 43:47 and make them deceived that they hold in common 43:51 and they believe and makes them drunk? 43:57 The wine of the fornication. 43:59 "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet..." 44:14 So she has in her hand a golden cup. 44:18 That golden cup is full of abominations. 44:24 That means it's full of things that she's teaching 44:28 that is contrary to the Word of God. 44:32 That's what it is. 44:33 It's full of teachings that are contrary to the Word of God. 44:37 And she is serving this up and people are drinking it, 44:41 and they're being made drunk by it. 44:49 So what are some of these deceptions that the world 44:56 is accepting hook, line, and sinker? 45:02 Accepting it and being deceived. 45:06 And when you pick up your Bible and you sit down with the Bible, 45:10 and you start going through and finding biblical basis for it, 45:15 it's not there. 45:18 And yet they accept it. 45:21 What is it serving up? 45:24 Well, let's look and see what it's serving up. 45:26 One... 45:35 Do you understand what I mean by that? 45:37 Natural immortality of the soul simply means 45:40 they're teaching that man is immortal. 45:45 That he cannot die. 45:47 That is soul goes on living forever and ever and ever. 45:53 And, dear friend, almost every television program today 46:00 teaches that. 46:02 You can listen to them one after another. 46:04 Magazines are full of it. 46:06 Teaching that people don't die. 46:08 Teaching that they're up in heaven looking down. 46:13 And there is no such thing anywhere here 46:16 in the Word of God. 46:18 That doesn't exist here in the Scripture. 46:21 Just not there. 46:23 And yet it's taught and believed. 46:25 And you know where it came from? 46:27 It came from paganism. 46:30 That's where it came from. 46:31 You see, the pagans, the Greeks, taught that the body was the 46:36 prison house of the soul. 46:39 And when you died, the soul was set free. 46:42 In fact, that's how they got their Spartan soldiers. 46:49 When a male child was born, they took that male child 46:53 to the highest mountain, laid him on top of a shield, 46:57 and left him for 24 hours, and came back. 47:02 And if the child was alive, he made a Spartan soldier. 47:06 If he died, well it was better because his soul 47:09 had been set free. 47:13 That's what they believed. 47:15 And if you want to read the story, read about Plato. 47:19 Read about Socrates. 47:21 Read about the poison he drank. 47:24 And he describes his whole death. 47:26 And they did it believing that their soul was 47:28 going to be set free. 47:30 This is pure paganism in every sense of the word. 47:36 And that pagan concept was handed to the Catholic church. 47:45 And the Catholic church put her blessing upon it 47:49 and handed it to Protestantism. 47:51 And when it comes to the Scripture, there is 47:54 no scriptural basis for teaching the natural 48:00 immortality of the soul. 48:02 Just not there. 48:06 And I'm talking about how the world is being deceived 48:10 and led astray on that concept. 48:13 Another concept that they believe, and that is 48:17 Sunday sacredness. 48:20 Sunday sacredness is not in this book. 48:24 It's just not there. 48:26 Where did it come from? 48:29 Paganism. 48:31 Straight from paganism. 48:33 Because the sun was their greatest god. 48:38 They worshipped it. 48:40 You can travel, if you go overseas and throughout Europe, 48:44 you can see sign after sign in different places 48:48 where they worshipped it. 48:49 If you look particularly at the Greeks, you'll see this 48:53 chariot, four horses, with this man riding on this chariot 48:58 coming up out of the ocean. 49:00 This represents the sun. 49:02 It was their greatest hero. 49:05 Always went forward, never went backwards. 49:08 It was the god of conquest. 49:11 This was their greatest god. 49:16 And they believe it and followed it. 49:20 Handed it to Catholicism. 49:24 They enforced it, 49:27 baptized it, and gave it to Protestants. 49:32 And dear friends, no that's not what the book teaches. 49:37 It does not teach Sunday sacredness. 49:44 Let me just share something else with you. 49:46 The Bible teaches the seventh day Sabbath. 49:52 And by the way, the Bible says clearly the Sabbath doesn't 49:56 belong to you, it doesn't belong to me, 50:00 it doesn't belong to anybody else. 50:02 He calls it, "My Sabbath. My holy day." 50:06 And He tells you and I that we are to keep 50:10 His holy day. 50:13 That's what He tells us. 50:14 And so the Scripture is 100% clear 50:18 what we are to do with that. 50:22 Another thing that they teach. 50:26 And that's eternal torment. 50:29 That when a person dies, if he's lost he goes to eternal torment 50:36 where he will burn through the ceaseless ages of eternity. 50:40 Coming again, folks, directly from paganism. 50:46 These are pagan teachings that were brought into the 50:49 Christian church, baptized, and handed to them. 50:54 And today, we find that they are throughout the world. 50:57 And not just in Christianity. 51:00 They are in pagan religions. 51:02 They are in many, many different beliefs. 51:05 And so this is something in which this woman 51:08 riding on this scarlet beast can unite the whole world in. 51:14 Get them to accept it. 51:15 And those who don't will be at odds. 51:23 And I can just tell you this, dear friend, 51:28 if you're struggling... 51:29 And those of you that are watching by TV. 51:32 If you're struggling and you know good and well 51:35 that's what the Scripture teaches, and you're having 51:38 struggle stepping out and doing it, 51:42 then I'm telling you, don't, stop it. 51:45 Just step out in faith and accept what God's Word says 51:50 and stand with the Lord. 51:51 Do not go along with this, because it is contrary 51:56 to Scripture. 51:57 It is what the world is being made drunk by. 52:00 And you and I must be clear in our thought, in what we do, 52:05 and what we say. 52:07 Okay? 52:16 "The inhabitants of the earth 52:19 were made drunk." 52:21 So don't expect, unless a person has a heart 52:26 that leans or is in tune with God, 52:32 they're not going to understand it. 52:35 It's just contrary to them. 52:37 They've got to be willing to follow the Word of God 52:41 and to walk with Him. 52:43 This they have to be willing to do. 52:46 "And the woman whom you saw..." 52:55 So the Bible makes it clear she's going to be in control. 53:01 And she's going to be in control clear down to the end of time. 53:08 So as we've talked about the antichrist, 53:11 I'm pleading with you, stay with the Scripture. 53:17 Stay with the Scripture because the Scripture lines it up and 53:20 says there was Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. 53:25 And Rome goes clear to the end of time. 53:28 I don't care whether you're talking about pagan Rome 53:31 or papal Rome, or whether you're talking about 53:34 the Roman Catholic church. 53:37 It goes clear to the end of time. 53:42 That's what you have to watch for. 53:44 That's what you and I have to look for and understand. 54:04 Okay, so what it's saying is they get down to the end of time 54:08 and time is running out. 54:10 These ten horns, which are political powers, 54:15 they're going to turn against who? 54:19 They're going to turn against the harlot. 54:21 It does not say, I want to stress again, 54:23 it does not say they turn on the beast. 54:27 It says they turn on the harlot. 54:30 And they will destroy her. 54:33 They turn because they find and they understand. 54:36 Finally, they begin to see that they have been 54:38 led down the wrong road. 54:41 And they turn on her and destroy her. 54:44 But these same ten kings that turn on the harlot 54:49 are those that will war against the Lord. 54:53 Revelation 17 verse 14. 55:11 So they're going to turn against her right here 55:14 at the end of time. 55:16 But they also turn against the Lamb. 55:19 They make war with Christ and they're overcome. 55:24 Because He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. 55:29 And those who are called, chosen, and faithful, 55:35 do you know who those are? 55:40 Those are the wise. 55:42 Those are the maskilim. 55:44 They're the ones who are called, chosen, and faithful. 55:48 And dear friend, you and I need to make sure that we're 55:51 among that group. 55:54 And, you know, God has given you a brain. 55:57 Use it. 55:58 Get into the Word of God, study it, follow what it says. 56:03 And the Lord will bless you in a special way. 56:06 This is a time, a serious time, to be living. 56:14 We're seeing things that our forefathers 56:20 couldn't even imagine. 56:23 And I don't know what you want to call it. 56:27 I don't know if you want to call it a privilege. 56:29 But when you have the opportunity to live 56:31 as long as I've lived, you can see a lot of things 56:34 that have happened and you can see the changes 56:36 that are taking place. 56:37 And there becomes no doubt in your mind 56:40 as to where you are, and what's happening, 56:42 and what's going to take place. 56:45 We're not far, we're not far, to the coming of the Lord. 56:50 Let me pray with you. 56:52 Father in heaven, as we see these things 56:58 that are happening and that are taking place, 57:01 we pray, Lord, that You'll bless each one here. 57:05 May they place themselves squarely 57:09 on the side of the Lord. 57:11 May they be willing to follow Him against all opposition. 57:17 That they're willing to walk with Him. 57:18 They're called, they're faithful, they're chosen. 57:21 They're among the wise that will be in Your kingdom. 57:25 And we thank You that Jesus has made all this possible for us. |
Revised 2014-12-17