Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000020
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00:17 Let's go to our lavender study guide, and begin with our
00:20 opening paragraph, it says: The United States is 00:23 unquestionably the most powerful nation on earth today. 00:28 More than this, it is the most powerful nation that has 00:30 ever existed in the history of the human experience. 00:34 This political, economic, and military potency has caused 00:38 many to inquire what role, if any, the United States would 00:43 play in Bible prophecy. This is precisely the question 00:46 we will seek to answer in this lesson. 00:50 So our presentation is entitled "Discover the United States' " 00:53 "Amazing Role in Bible Prophecy", and as we've already 00:56 said before, in the future, the final issue of loyalty will 01:01 center around the issue of worship. So let's look right 01:05 there on our study guide, some of this is review from last 01:08 night's material, it says "Worship or Else... " 01:15 The word "cause", and let's go to Revelation 13 for this, 01:20 this is actually how we began last night's presentation, 01:22 but let's just go back for just a little bit of review as we 01:26 prepare to understand the United States' amazing role in Bible 01:29 prophecy. I'm in Revelation 13:11, 01:39 when you're there say "amen". [Audience] Amen. 01:41 John says: "Then I saw another beast coming up out of" 01:44 "the earth, and he had 2 horns like a lamb, and he spoke" 01:47 "like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of" 01:50 "the first beast in his presence, and causes" 01:53 "the earth, and those who dwell in it, to worship. " 01:56 Notice verse 15, down towards the bottom it says: 01:59 "And cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast" 02:03 "should be killed. " First part of verse 16: "and causes" 02:06 "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave" 02:08 "to receive a mark on their right hand, or in their " 02:10 "forehead. " So this word, "cause", is an important word 02:13 here in Revelation 13, it occurs 3 times. 02:20 So that's what you'd write right there, and the word 02:22 "cause" means "to force". In this context the word 02:27 "cause" means "to force". Every time the word "cause" 02:29 is used in Revelation 13, you could just substitute the word 02:32 "force". "...and he forced them to worship". 02:36 He compels them, or causes them to worship. 02:40 In context, it's clearly against their will. 02:42 It goes on to say: We might ask the question: does God 02:45 ever force people to worship Him? Yes or No? 02:48 [Audience] No. Absolutely not, we've given 02:51 you 2 texts there, Matthew 11 and Jeremiah 31:3. Both of those 02:54 texts, and a host of others, literally scores of others 02:57 could be cited from both, the Old and the New Testament, 02:59 in which God invites us, and draws, and asks us to worship 03:03 Him, but never ever forces us. 03:08 So we go on: God urges, invites, encourages, woos, and draws 03:11 us to worship Him, but He never forces us to. 03:14 Forced worship, like forced love, is a contradiction 03:19 in terms, and is surely rooted in Satan's perverse and 03:22 insatiable desire for worship. Yet, that's exactly what 03:25 we see there in Revelation 13, that this power would seek 03:29 to force, cause, to compel worship. Forced love has 03:35 a very ugly word attached to it, we call that word "rape". 03:39 We don't believe that love can be forced. In fact, I've given 03:42 the illustration, I think, in this room before, if I held 03:45 a gun at you, like this, and I said "I want you to stand up" 03:48 you would stand up. If I held that same gun at you 03:50 and said "I want you to turn around", you would turn around. 03:53 If I said "I want you to stand on your head", you would do 03:55 you best to stand on your head, and I said "I want" 03:58 "you to bark like a dog", you'd [barks like a dog], 04:01 if you really thought I was going to do you harm. 04:03 But if I pointed that very same gun at you, and I said 04:06 "love me with all your heart", could you do it? 04:09 Love cannot be forced. Worship is nothing more 04:14 and nothing less than the extension of our love to God. 04:18 Jesus said in John 14:15: "If you love Me, keep My" 04:22 "commandments", and if love cannot be forced, worship, 04:26 true worship, cannot be forced. So now we're to the mark of 04:29 the beast there, the second subheading in your study guide. 04:32 It says: The mark of the beast - let's say it all together 04:35 - is the mark of the beast, and that's the point, it's not 04:39 "themarkofthebeast", one word, it's "the mark of the beast". 04:45 ...that is, it's the beast's mark of authority. We have 04:47 identified from the Bible the beast as non other than 04:50 the Roman church-state. 04:52 Incidentally, some of you have said "Wow, that's" 04:55 "so amazing, I've never seen that before, that's so cutting" 04:57 "edge, you must be on the cutting edge of what's" 05:00 "happening in Revelation, David", absolutely not. 05:02 Look at the rest of this, it says: 05:05 This identification is consistent with essentially 05:08 every one of the Protestant reformers, tell me if these 05:10 names mean anything to you, from Martin Luther and John Wesley, 05:13 to William Tyndale and John Calvin. Do those names mean 05:15 anything to anyone in this room? Okay, every one of those people 05:19 believe what I've been teaching you about the identity of 05:21 the beast of Revelation 13, and the little horn of Daniel 7 05:24 and 8. Every one of them, this is not something new, 05:27 as a matter of fact, this is something old. 05:31 So don't think that I invented this, hardly. 05:34 Now it doesn't matter, just because somebody taught it 05:36 in the past, it doesn't mean it's true. 05:38 In other words, we don't say "Well, if it was taught in" 05:42 "the past, if it was good enough for them, it was good enough" 05:44 "for us", what we say is: is it based on what the Bible teaches? 05:48 In this case, they were right in their identification. 05:52 I know that there are many people who are waiting for some 05:54 Antichrist figure, a single man, to appear at the end of time 05:57 amidst 7 years of tribulation, who's going to be some kind 06:00 of incarnate Satanic figure. Beloved, that is not 06:03 the Antichrist presented in the Bible. That might be 06:06 an Antichrist presented in some fictitious action series called 06:09 "Left Behind", but that is not the Antichrist figure depicted 06:13 in the Bible. At least that is not what historic Christianity 06:16 has taught, and it's also not what the Bible teaches. 06:19 Let's continue here, it says: The mark of the beast then, 06:21 would be the mark of the Roman church-state, so we identified 06:25 who the beast is, and then we ask very simply: what is 06:29 the beast's mark? If the beast is the Roman 06:32 church-state, then we ask a very simple question: what is 06:34 her mark of authority. We looked at this last night, 06:38 this is from C.F. Thomas, a letter dates October 20, 1895, 06:41 other sources could be given incidentally, but this one is 06:43 so clear, it says: [text on screen] 06:46 "the change" - that is the Biblical Sabbath to the Pagan 06:51 Sunday, [continues to read] 07:01 So we simply have to identify the beast and then we say 07:04 "Hey, what's your mark? " And they say "Our mark, our" 07:07 "proof that we can change religious dogmas, " 07:10 "and teachings, and laws, is that we changed the Biblical" 07:14 "day of worship, one of the 10 Commandments, written with" 07:16 "the finger of God, on tables of stone, and was placed" 07:20 "in the Ark, we can change it", that's the claim that's being 07:25 made. So notice, bottom of the first page, it says: 07:28 Last lesson we learned that the mark of the Roman 07:30 church-state's authority in religious matters is found in 07:33 her presumptuous claim to have changed the Christian day 07:37 of worship from Sabbath to Sunday, this is her claim, 07:44 and it is an amazing one indeed. But where did we get this 07:46 idea from that this change would be introduced? 07:49 We saw it as one of the identifying characteristics 07:52 of the Antichrist, in Daniel 7:25, see if you 07:55 remember it, where it says that "he would think to change" 07:59 "times and laws". That he would be so presumptuous, 08:04 he would actually think he could change the very times 08:06 and the very laws, not of Sterling Heights, but of God. 08:11 Now is that an amazing claim everyone? 08:14 Absolutely. You're right there at the bottom of the first page: 08:17 Remember Daniel 7:25 which says this Antichristian power will 08:19 think to change the very times and laws of God. 08:22 Have they attempted to do this? The answer of history is yes, 08:25 they have sought to transfer the holiness and solemnity 08:28 of the seventh day Sabbath to the first day of the week. 08:30 There is no Biblical authority, or mandate for this 08:35 change, we've already been over that. 08:37 If you're new tonight, that's review, in fact, all of this 08:40 so far is review, the church has done it out of her own 08:43 sense of authority, she has placed convenience and 08:45 tradition above the Bible. The Roman church-state has 08:48 historically made this claim and continues to make this 08:50 claim even today. She claims that this change proves her 08:53 sovereignty and authority in religious matters, it is 08:56 a mark of her authority, it is a mark, an identifying mark, 09:00 of the beast, and it's usurped ecclesiastical power. 09:05 I think it's only fair, once we've identified the beast 09:08 that we go to them, and ask them what their mark of 09:10 ecclesiastical authority is, and they tell us 09:13 without equivocation. You might be thinking to 09:15 yourself "Do you mean to say David that you believe that" 09:17 "this day, this new day of worship that has been" 09:21 "introduced, not on the authority of the Bible, but on" 09:23 "the authority of the church and tradition, are you saying" 09:26 "that that day is going to be legislated and enforced? " 09:29 That's exactly what I'm saying. In fact, a friend of mine, 09:33 G. Edward Reid, he's a lawyer, he wrote a book entitled: 09:36 "Sunday's Coming, Eye Opening Evidence That These Are" 09:39 "The Very Last Days": [text on screen] 09:49 You say "that's absolutely, positively impossible". 09:52 I'm going to do my best tonight to demonstrate to you that not 09:55 only is it not impossible, it's probable in our modern 09:59 political climate, and the Bible says that it is absolutely 10:03 going to happen. So let us continue here. 10:05 This was the slide we put up last night, and I want to just 10:08 walk you through it. About 6 years ago pope John Paul II 10:12 introduced an encyclical letter entitled "Deus Domini", 10:16 which literally means, in Latin, "The Day of the Lord". 10:22 It was big news, because he basically was dealing with 10:25 the whole idea of Sunday, and its theological significance. 10:29 It was an encyclical letter, and very interesting some of 10:32 the text of that letter, I've read the text in its entirety, 10:35 you can find it on the Internet, I recommend you do the same. 10:38 Just type that in, "Encyclical letter, Deus Domini", you can 10:41 do it right into any Google search engine. But this was very 10:43 interesting from the Detroit news, dated Tuesday, 10:46 July 7, 1998: [text on screen] 10:53 You say "Of course Catholics should set aside Sunday" 10:56 "for worship", but let's see what he goes on to say. 10:58 He went on to say: [text on screen] 11:05 I want you to think about that for just a moment. 11:08 What's happening is that there is an agitation surrounding 11:12 this idea of Sunday. In fact, there's a whole 11:17 alliance here in the USA, and the world over, called 11:21 "The Lord's Day Alliance", you can look that up on your 11:25 Internet if you'd like, "The Lord's Day Alliance", and there 11:27 are people who are saying we need to get this nation 11:31 back to God. They make a very persuasive 11:36 case, they say we've abandoned God in the schools, 11:39 and we've abandoned God here, and many of the Christians 11:41 are saying: "That's right, we abandoned God, " 11:44 "that's right, we need to get back to God". 11:47 And one of the things they say we've done is we've begun 11:49 to desecrate God's holy day. They begin to talk about how 11:52 we need to get back to that holy day that God set aside, 11:55 and they even call it "the Sabbath". 12:00 But guess what day they're talking about, yeah, they're 12:03 not talking about the Biblical Sabbath, they're talking about 12:05 this new day. So this is actually taking place. 12:08 I'm going to give you more on that in just a moment. 12:11 So, in Revelation 13, actually, first of all go here to your 12:14 study guide, and we're going to work our way towards 12:15 Revelation 13. Notice the paragraph that begins with 12:18 the word "impossible". Somebody says: "Are you" 12:23 "saying that every single person that goes to church on Sunday" 12:25 "today has the mark of the beast?" 12:28 Number 1: have I said that, yes or no? No, and I wouldn't 12:31 say it because there are faithful people who love 12:34 the Lord Jesus Christ, who are living up to all of the light 12:36 that they have, and God will only hold us responsible 12:39 for what we know. James 4:17: "For him that" 12:43 "knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin. " 12:47 However, if you know to do good and don't do it, whether 12:52 you're talking about the Sabbath or anything, 12:54 that puts you on dangerous ground. So if I know that I 13:00 should not be stealing, but I can continue to steal, that 13:03 could potentially fracture my relationship with God, 13:05 is that true? Of course, absolutely. 13:09 So the idea here is simply this: if we know what's what right, 13:12 if we know what's true, if we know what's Biblical, God says: 13:16 "I've revealed truth to you, not because I hate you, " 13:19 "but because I love you, and I have the expectation, as one" 13:22 "of My disciples that you will follow what the Bible says, " 13:25 "not what tradition says. " We quoted that yesterday 13:28 in Matthew 15 where Jesus says: "In vain do they worship Me, " 13:32 "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. " 13:38 Somebody's going to say: "Oh, well David, I already keep" 13:41 "the Sabbath because I go to church on Saturday". 13:44 Notice I didn't say anything about going to church on 13:46 Saturday, there's a big difference between going 13:49 to church on Saturday, and keeping the Biblical Sabbath as 13:52 God intended it. Beloved listen, there's many 13:55 people that "go to church on Sunday", and they can't wait 13:59 for the sermon to get done so they can get home and watch 14:01 the football games. Tell me if I'm telling the truth now, 14:03 come on. I'm not saying that's everyone, 14:06 of course not, but there's a big difference between just 14:10 going to church and keeping a day holy for the Lord Jesus 14:14 Christ. What does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy? 14:18 Beloved, I'll tell you what it means, it basically means 14:20 3 things, number 1: you don't work. So whatever it is 14:22 that you're doing the other days of the week, you don't do 14:24 on that day. Number 1, you don't work; number 2: 14:27 you don't cause others to work, that's what the commandment 14:29 says: "...the stranger that is within your gates", you're 14:31 not causing them to work. Number 3: whatever activity 14:34 you're engaging in on the Sabbath, it's drawing you closer 14:37 to God. So any other secular activity 14:41 that you might do the other 6 days of the week, think of 14:43 the Sabbath as a date with God. If someone invited you over, 14:50 your spouse before you were married, and if you're not 14:53 yet married, you have a date with someone, if they come 14:56 over to your house and you have a certain time, and you're 14:58 going to do a certain activity, and you say 15:01 "Okay, we're going to go out and do that, but first I've got" 15:02 "to change the oil in the car, and then after I change" 15:04 "the oil I've got to mow the lawn, and then after I mow" 15:07 "the lawn I've got to trim the weeds, and then after I trim" 15:10 "the weeds I've got to put fertilizer". 15:12 All of these things you've got to do, are you going to end up 15:15 having a date? Absolutely not. 15:18 So the Sabbath is all about a relationship between you 15:21 and your Creator, Jesus Christ, between you and your Redeemer, 15:24 Jesus Christ, it's a weekly date with God. 15:29 So beloved there's a huge difference between just going 15:32 to church on Saturday and keeping the Sabbath. 15:37 It's important to understand the distinction there. 15:39 Now let's continue on here. "Impossible", you say, 15:41 "that would never happen, it's impossible to even suggest that" 15:45 "this would ever be enforced here in this free, liberty" 15:48 "loving country of the USA. " Be careful. 15:54 Note that 36 states in this union already have Sunday laws 15:58 on the books just waiting to be enforced, they're called 16:01 "Blue Laws". You go type that into Google, 16:06 just do a little research on blue laws, 36 out of 50 states 16:09 in the USA already have these laws on the books. 16:13 These aren't laws that have to be passed in many cases, 16:16 these are laws that simply have to be enforced. 16:22 The climate is ripening for just this kind of thing. 16:24 Many a politician, and many a religious leader are keen on 16:27 "getting this country back to God". Beloved, people aren't 16:30 blind, they can see the moral decline that's taking place, 16:32 they can see all of the things that are happening in society, 16:35 and the gross debauchery, and the gross moral decline, 16:39 the gross moral chaos that's taking place, people can see it, 16:43 and in reaction to that we have politicians, and religionists, 16:47 and even religious leaders saying "We need to get this" 16:50 "nation back to God". Now, I believe we need to get 16:54 this nation back to God, but here's the major difference: 16:58 in the way that you do it. I believe we should do our very 17:03 best to get this nation back to God, and do you know how I think 17:06 we should do it? By doing what we're doing right 17:08 here, by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 17:12 In other words, this idea that we're going to get everybody 17:15 in the legislation to become Christians, and we're going 17:17 to start legislating our ideas, and legislating our beliefs, 17:22 you better be careful because church and state never make 17:27 good bed partners. We've good this whole people, 17:31 everyone says "We need to get more religion back into" 17:34 "the government", etc, etc. Listen, I believe we should have 17:37 Godly, moral people in government, but we need to be 17:40 very careful that that line is not crossed where people are 17:44 enforcing their religious beliefs on others who may not 17:48 believe those beliefs. If you want to look at this 17:52 it's actually very simple from a Biblical perspective. 17:54 There are how many commandments? 10 Commandments. 17:57 The last 6 commandments deal with the relationship that you 18:01 have with those people around you: honor thy father and thy 18:03 mother; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt 18:06 not commit adultery; thou shalt not bear false witness against 18:09 thy neighbor; and you shall not covet thy neighbors goods. 18:11 All of those have to do with the horizontal relationship. 18:15 The government absolutely, totally, completely should 18:18 enforce those things as civil parameters and civil laws. 18:24 We don't want to argue for an anarchy, or anything like this, 18:28 we need civil restraint, and Paul talks about that in 18:31 Romans 13, but the first 4 commandments the civil 18:35 government has no business enforcing. 18:41 I mean, are we comfortable with the US government enforcing 18:44 "Thou shalt have no other gods except the Jehovah God"? 18:47 Absolutely not. You're forcing worship if you 18:51 think that's true. Are we comfortable with the US 18:54 government enforcing a second commandment: "Thou shalt not" 18:55 "make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of" 18:58 "anything that is in the heaven above, the earth beneath, " 19:01 "or the waters under the earth"? Do we want our government 19:03 telling us how we should worship. One of the greatest 19:06 rites that we have in the US is the right to be wrong. 19:10 And neither should they be enforcing taking the name 19:13 of God in vain, and neither should they be enforcing 19:15 the Sabbath. So it's actually a very simple distinction, 19:18 you can find it in Romans 13, the apostle Paul says 19:21 God has set up governing authorities, and then he quotes 19:24 from the commandment, but he doesn't quote the first 19:27 commandment, he doesn't quote the second commandment, 19:29 he doesn't quote the 4th commandment because Paul knew 19:32 that this is not the proper sphere for a secular government 19:36 to be enforcing. We're going to get into that 19:40 in just a moment. People want to get the nation 19:43 back to God, the problem is that they're going to overstep 19:46 their boundaries, they're going to go too far. 19:49 Governments tend to be reactionary, it's very unusual 19:51 that a government just nicely comes back right back to 19:54 the middle, they're like a pendulum: back this way, 19:57 and back that way. Let's look at our study guide, 20:01 it says: This mixture of church and state is always a dangerous 20:04 mixture as the 1260 period known as the Dark Ages 20:08 clearly reveals. Why do they call it the "Dark Ages"? 20:12 Because the lamp of God, the light of the Word was taken 20:15 away. The first amendment of the constitution is a safe guard 20:18 against this very kind of thing, but the constitution is being 20:22 radically reevaluated - we're going to talk about that in 20:27 just a moment. The climate of the US right now post 9/11 20:31 is a very different world than the pre 9/11 world. 20:33 Is that true, yes or no? Absolutely. 20:36 The world will never be the same again, neither will the US, 20:40 we are living in strange and portentous times as 20:43 the increasing number of politicians and legislators 20:45 claim that they are Christians on a mission to turn this 20:49 nation back to God. I want to say again, 20:51 nothing wrong with wanting to get this nation back to God, 20:54 but you didn't see Jesus out protesting the abuses of 20:57 the Roman government, you didn't see Jesus out protesting 21:00 the abuses of Herod and the others, Jesus preached 21:05 the gospel, and that's what Christians are called to do, 21:10 to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to legislate 21:15 their views on people who may or may not hold to those 21:17 very views. We're going to come back 21:19 to that in just a second. So look at the bottom of that 21:22 page, to put it very plainly, I don't know how to make 21:25 it more plain than this: Sunday observance will be legislated. 21:27 This will be the enforcement of the mark of the beast. 21:30 We've already identified the beast, we've already identified 21:33 the mark of their ecclesiastical authority, so the enforcing of 21:37 that must be the legislation of that mark. 21:39 It's really quite simple, the transfer from the Biblical 21:41 Sabbath to Sunday is the beast's mark, this mark will 21:44 be caused, or enforced. The US will pay a pivotal role 21:47 in this enforcement, as Revelation 13 makes clear. 21:51 I want to say something here as we turn to the 3rd page 21:53 of our study guide. Someone in this room is bound 21:55 to say "Oh really? I wonder if that's true, in fact, " 21:58 "it looks like the Biblical evidence actually points in" 22:01 "that direction, and I'm going to wait and see how this" 22:05 "pans out, and I'll tell you what, if it ends up happening" 22:09 "that way then I'll know that Pastor Asscherick was right, " 22:11 "I'll know that his interpretation was correct" 22:14 "and then I'll start to keep the Sabbath. " 22:16 Beloved, I've got news for you, the Bible says today 22:21 to keep God's Sabbath. It's not just an end time issue, 22:26 it is an end time issue, but it's also a Biblical issue. 22:32 Let's just pretend that the mark of the beast had to do 22:34 with the second commandment, not bowing down to an image, 22:36 let's just pretend for a moment. So we say "Well, I'm going" 22:39 "to keep bowing down to my images, and in case they pass" 22:42 "that law that says I can't do it, then I'll change. " 22:44 Is that how we should go about it? Absolutely not. 22:46 Beloved, if you open your Bible today you will find that in 22:49 Exodus 20, and in Deuteronomy 5 the Sabbath commandment is 22:52 there today, you can go check on it right now. 22:54 It's not just going to suddenly appear at the end of time when 22:57 these things are going to become agitated, it's there today. 23:00 So it's not just an end time issue, it's a present tense, 23:04 current events issue, but it will also become an end time 23:07 issue. By the way, we should never 23:10 ever, ever, ever delay to obey what we know is God's will. 23:17 That doesn't have to be the Sabbath, it could be anything, 23:20 it's never safe to wait, or to delay. 23:26 Okay, so let's go. The 2 beasts, who is the second? 23:28 I'm in Revelation 13. For those of you who are 23:31 attentive Bible students, you have noticed that there are 23:34 actually 2 beasts in Revelation 13. 23:38 Let's begin in Revelation 13:1, John says: "Then I stood" 23:43 "on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out" 23:46 "of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns, and on his horns" 23:48 "10 crowns, and on his head a blasphemous name. " 23:51 "Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, its feet were" 23:54 "like the feet of a bear, his mouth was like the mouth of" 23:57 "a lion" and who him his power, throne and great authority? 24:00 The Dragon, and who's the dragon? Satan. 24:02 Okay, this is the Antichrist beast. "I saw one of his" 24:05 "heads as if it had been mortally wounded and his" 24:08 "deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled" 24:11 "and followed after the beast. So they worshiped the dragon" 24:13 "who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped" 24:16 "the beast, saying 'Who is like the beast? Who is able' " 24:19 " 'to make war with him?' " Verse 5: "And he was given" 24:22 "a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies, and he was" 24:25 "given authority to continue for 42 months", that's 1260 24:30 days, that's the 3 and a half years that we've already 24:32 talked about, those dates that move from 538 AD to 1798 AD 24:37 of papal persecution. It goes on: "Then he opened" 24:39 "his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme" 24:42 "His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. " 24:44 "It was granted him to make war with the saints and to overcome" 24:47 "them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue" 24:50 "and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him" 24:54 that's the key issue, "who's names have not been written in" 24:57 "the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation" 25:00 "of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. " 25:02 Then verse 10: "He who leads into captivity will go into" 25:05 "captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed" 25:09 "with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of" 25:12 "the saints. " Now look at verse 11: "Then I saw another" 25:16 "beast". So we know who that first beast is, we have plainly, 25:19 clearly identified from the Bible this first beast as 25:22 the Roman church-state. So look at the top of page 3 25:28 in your study guide: Revelation 13 describes 25:32 2 beasts, the first beast rises up out the sea and it has 10 25:37 horn, it has the body of a leopard, it has the feet of 25:40 a bear, it has the mouth of a lion, this imagery comes 25:44 from Daniel 7 as we've already seen and studied. 25:47 I want you to notice the sequence, John sees this beast 25:50 in this order: first he notices the horns, that would be on 25:55 the beast that represented Rome. And then what did he see 25:59 after the horns, what did he see next? He saw the body 26:02 of a leopard, and who was the leopard? Greece. 26:08 And then he saw the feet of a bear, and that was who? 26:11 Medo-Persia, and then he saw the mouth of a lion. 26:15 So from John's perspective, living in the time of Rome, 26:17 he saw in this order, he saw this beast's characteristics 26:22 as Rome, Greece, Medo-Persia, Babylon. 26:29 How did Daniel see them? Daniel saw them in the exact 26:34 opposite order. What did he see first? 26:37 Lion, and then he saw the bear, and then he saw the leopard, 26:41 and then he saw the beast with 10 horns, why might that be? 26:44 Beloved, because John was living during the time of Rome 26:47 and he was looking backward through history, and Daniel 26:52 was living 600 years before the time of Jesus, and he was 26:55 looking forward into the future. You can fill that in 27:00 right there. Why the difference? 27:02 Daniel was looking forward into the future, that is, he was 27:05 looking prophetically, John was looking backward into history, 27:08 that is he was looking historically. 27:11 The first beast it the Roman church-state, as we have 27:13 already seen, who is the second beast? 27:17 We know who this guy is, we have that first beast in our sights, 27:22 we have spent message after message after message 27:26 identifying that rascal, we know who that is. 27:29 But now another beast was seen coming up. 27:34 So there are 2 beasts here. The first beast, as we've 27:40 already identified, is the Roman church-state, which reigned 27:43 for 1260 literal years, that is prophetic days, from 538 AD, 27:50 we've been over this, this is all review, 1260 years, 27:53 to exactly 1798. In 1798 a man by the name of Berthier, one of 27:57 Napoleon's top generals, marched into the Vatican, he took 28:00 the pope off of the throne, declared everything there as 28:03 the property of France and the pope died in exile, 28:07 and the deadly wound was inflicted, that agrees perfectly 28:12 with verse 3 where it says his deadly wound was healed. 28:15 So a deadly wound was inflicted, we could perhaps spend some more 28:19 time on that. So we know who this first beast is, but here's 28:22 something very interesting: there is a second beast, 28:25 and this beast acts as the spokes person for the first 28:29 beast. Now beloved, what is a beast in Bible prophecy? 28:34 It's a kingdom or a nation. 28:36 So here we have Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 28:41 So a beast in Bible prophecy is, let's say it together, 28:43 a kingdom. So here he sees another kingdom coming up, 28:48 there's a second beast, this beast is sometimes referred to 28:51 as "the false prophet" because he speaks on behalf of the first 28:55 beast, who claims to be God. Think about it, a prophet 29:00 speaks for who? For themselves? No, a prophet speaks for God 29:05 that's why you find so many times in the Old Testament: 29:08 "Thus sayeth the Lord...", Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel 29:12 and others, so this second beast comes up, and he basically 29:15 speaks on behalf of that first beast, who actually claims to be 29:20 God on earth. That's why he's called "the false prophet". 29:27 Now let's look at this, verse 11: "Then I saw another" 29:30 "beast coming up out of the earth, and he had 2 horns" 29:34 "like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon, and he exercises" 29:38 "all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and he" 29:41 "causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship" 29:44 "the first beast. " So notice, the job of the second 29:47 beast is to cause the earth to worship, not himself, 29:53 but the first beast. "...causes all who are in it", 29:56 it says in verse 13: "He performs great signs, so that" 29:58 "he even makes fire come down from heaven on earth in" 30:01 "the sight of men. He deceives those who dwell on the earth by' 30:03 "the signs he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, " 30:05 "telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image" 30:08 "to the beast, who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. " 30:10 "He was granted power to give breath", notice that, he gives 30:13 breath, the word is "pneuma", "to the image of the beast" 30:16 "that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause" 30:19 "as many as would not worship the image of the beast should" 30:21 "be killed. He causes all", no one is exempt, "both small" 30:24 "and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark" 30:28 "on their right hand, or in their foreheads", and we learned 30:31 last night that you can get the mark of the beast in either your 30:33 right hand, or the forehead, but the seal of God you can only 30:35 get in your forehead. Why the difference? 30:38 Because you can't work your way to heaven, you're only getting 30:43 to heaven by faith, so the seal of God can't be put in the hand, 30:46 the seal of God can only go in the forehead. 30:49 Powerful! It goes on here, verse 17: "And that no one" 30:56 "might buy or sell, except the one who has the mark of" 30:59 "the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. " 31:01 "Let him who has understanding calculate the number of" 31:04 "the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number" 31:06 "is 666. " So the job of this second 31:09 beast is to cause the earth to worship and to reverence 31:13 the first beast. We know who the first beast is, now we've got 31:20 to figure out who's the second beast. 31:23 You're right there in your study guide, we're going to look 31:25 at 6 identifying characteristics, and they're all 31:29 going to come from the Bible. I'm not going to stand here 31:33 and say "Well, you know, it could be North Korea. " 31:37 "And it could be the former Soviet Union. " 31:40 No, let's look at what the Bible has to say, and we'll see 31:42 that the Bible interprets itself. I want you to notice, 31:46 first identifying characteristic, this beast rises 31:50 out of the earth. He rises out of the earth as opposed 31:58 to the sea. We've already seen in Revelation and Daniel that 32:02 water in Bible prophecy represents peoples, multitudes, 32:06 nations and tongues, that is a populated or populous area. 32:11 So this beast is seen rising up in a very different locale, 32:15 the other beast in Revelation 13 rises out of the sea, this beast 32:18 rises out of the earth. So look at the board, 32:21 we're going to ask 5 simple question, we're going to look 32:23 at 5 considerations: [text on screen] 32:35 In looking at these 5 things what we're going to see is that 32:38 it's actually very easy to identify this beast. 32:41 So our first question is: where does he rise out of the earth? 32:44 Now look at number 2. The Bible says he has 2 horns 32:48 like a lamb. Now, the New Testament uses the word 32:52 "lamb" 29 times, 26 of those are directly from the book 32:56 of Revelation, and every time, except 1, it's a reference 32:59 to Jesus Christ. The only time it's not a reference to Jesus 33:03 Christ is this verse right here, verse 11. The only time in all 33:07 of Revelation that the word "lamb" is used, and it's clearly 33:10 not a reference to Christ. It says "he has to horns like" 33:14 "a lamb". This means that this beast would espouse lamb-like, 33:19 or Christ-like characteristics. What did John the Baptist say? 33:25 He said "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins" 33:28 "of the world. " So this beast rises up out of 33:31 the earth, the first beast rose up out of a populated area. 33:34 This beast rises up out of a relatively unpopulated area, 33:36 that just makes sense. If the sea is a populated area, 33:39 then the earth would be a less populated area. 33:40 So he rises up in a different area, he also, as we've just 33:44 discussed in number 2, he has lamb-like, or Christ-like, 33:51 characteristics. Look at number 3: the first beast had horns 33:55 with crowns. 33:58 Does the Bible say anything about the second beast having 34:01 crowns? No, so we might ask the question: who wears a crown? 34:06 A king wears a crown, or a pontiff wears a crown, 34:09 or a queen wears a crown, does a president wear a crown? 34:12 Presidents don't wear crowns. This, the governmental character 34:16 of this beast, would be different, we're not going 34:19 to look for a royal, or kingly, or a queenly authority. 34:24 So notice it says: Horns have no crowns, there is no king 34:27 or queen in this beast, whoever it is. 34:30 Number 4 says it rises up about the same time the first beast 34:34 goes down, let me show that got you, you're right there in 34:36 verse 10. So John is seeing this first 34:41 beast, and he's watching it do its various rampages, 34:44 and ravages, its doing its mission there, and then he sees 34:48 it receive the deadly wound; 1798, we've already talked 34:52 about that. In fact, if you want to just do a little bit 34:54 of history, here's essentially what happened: among other 34:57 things, Napoleon got fed up with the Catholic church, that's 34:59 basically the short version, and he sent one of his best 35:02 generals down there, and he said "I'm tired of that rascal, " 35:05 "go down there and just take care of business. " 35:07 So it received a deadly wound. 35:10 Look at verse 10, it says: "He who leads into captivity will" 35:16 "go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed" 35:22 "with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of" 35:24 "the saints. " So what was happening 35:26 during the period of the Dark Ages is that if you wouldn't bow 35:28 to the Roman church-state, you could be led to captivity, 35:31 led to a dungeon, led to a prison, or killed. 35:35 What John sees here in vision is that this power that's been 35:37 leading into captivity will himself go into captivity, 35:40 this power that's been killing with the sword will himself 35:43 be killed by the sword. And what's the very next thing 35:47 John sees? Verse 11: "Then I saw another beast" 35:52 "coming up out of the earth. " So get this in your mind, 35:54 it's actually very, very simple: John sees this first beast 35:57 on its career, 538-1798, and he sees it go into captivity 36:01 and get wounded by the sword, and just about the time he sees 36:03 this beast going down, he sees another beast coming up. 36:07 So now we have a time element. The first beast received its 36:12 deadly wound in 1798, so we're looking for this nation to come 36:15 on the scene of action some time around 1798. 36:21 That's number 4. Look at number 5. 36:25 It says, if you look at verse 11, "I saw another beast" 36:29 what are the next to words? "Coming up", do you see that? 36:33 Revelation 13:11: "I saw another beast coming up". 36:39 It's very interesting here, the Greek word translated 36:42 "coming up" is the very same word that is used to describe 36:47 the almost invisibly slow maturation of a growing plant. 36:52 Any gardeners here? You put that seed in the ground 36:55 and you wait, nothing, you wait, nothing, and then 36:59 just one day you look and the dirt has moved slightly 37:02 and you've got a little something there, and then you 37:04 go away for a week and you come back, and it's just a little 37:07 bigger; you go away for a week, you come back, it's just 37:10 a little bigger, it's coming up slowly, almost imperceptibly. 37:17 That's the word that's being used, that's actually what 37:19 the word means, he sees another beast coming up. 37:22 So this beast, unlike, say, these beasts here, 37:25 remember the bear? You might remember back in 37:27 Daniel 7, the bear, it said: "Arise, devour much flesh", 37:31 and he had those 3 ribs in the mouth signifying the 3 37:34 provinces of Babylon that he had conquered? 37:36 This second beast is nothing like this, this beast is not 37:40 pouncing and conquering other nations, this beast is growing 37:44 quietly, slowly, almost imperceptibly in a relatively 37:51 unpopulated area of the world. So we can't be looking for this 37:54 beast to come up in the old world where all of the other 37:58 beasts came up, and the sea was, and the populated area was 38:02 This beast is going to come up quietly, imperceptibly, almost 38:06 like a plant growing, not conquering, but coming up. 38:12 And look at number 6: this beast would eventually 38:15 posses unprecedented global power and influence. 38:19 You say "How do you know that? " Well, look at the text, 38:21 the text says several times that he causes the whole earth 38:24 to worship the first beast. Now, I'm just looking down here 38:27 at my good friend Maurice, who I love very, very much. 38:31 Maurice is from Cameroon, I'm going to just pick on you very 38:33 quickly Maurice, not pick on you, I love you like a brother, 38:35 but we can be pretty sure that whoever this nation is, 38:38 it's probably not Cameroon, for a variety of reasons. 38:42 If Cameroon passed a law and said the whole world has to do 38:47 something, do you think they'd listen? 38:52 Unfortunately Maurice, here in the US we're not as good 38:54 at our geography as other places, a lot of people would 38:56 say "Cameroon, is that some kind of a nut? " 39:00 [Audience laughs] A lot of people wouldn't even 39:03 know, so this nation, whatever this nation is, has to posses 39:08 global influence. So here's our identifiers right 39:15 here on the board, this is what we're looking for, this is 39:17 the second beast. How many of these identifiers 39:19 came from the Bible? Every one of them. 39:22 So number 1: [text on screen] 39:29 Jesus said things like "If the Son shall make you free, " 39:33 "you shall be free indeed. " In Luke 4 Jesus said 39:38 that He had come to preach liberty to the captives. 39:42 This nation would espouse Christ-like principles. 39:45 Number 3, this nation would not have a king, this nation would 39:49 not have a queen, or any kind of a monarchy, this would be 39:52 a nation that was ruled governmentally differently. 39:57 Number 4, this nation has to arise some time around the time 40:01 the first beast is going down, which was in 1798, 40:04 so we're looking for a beast to come up some time around 1798. 40:08 [text on screen] 40:23 Is there any question in anybody's mind who we're 40:25 talking about here? It is just as plain as 40:28 the noonday sun. Who is this second beast 40:30 of Revelation 13? It could only be the United States of America. 40:35 Let's see if it meets all of the identifying characteristics. 40:39 Did this country arise in a new area, a relatively unpopulated 40:43 area, as opposed to the old world? Absolutely. 40:46 Does this country espouse 40:48 Christ-like principles, at least in concept and in principle? 40:53 Absolutely, not always in practice, but at least 40:56 in principle. Number 3: is there a king, or queen here? 41:00 In fact, the exact opposite, when the pilgrim fathers 41:02 and others landed here, they decided, our forefathers, 41:06 we're going to talk about this in a moment, that they would 41:07 start a government, not with subjects but with citizens. 41:14 There's not going to be a king that's reigning supreme over 41:17 the lowly peasants, but we would have, instead of a kingdom 41:21 with peasants, we would have a citizenry. 41:27 Let's say it this way: "Of the people, for the people, " 41:30 "and by the people", that's a little different, isn't it? 41:33 It would arise around 1798, does that fit? 41:38 The answer is "yes". Does it grow up quietly, 41:41 like a plant, not primarily through conquering other 41:44 nations? Absolutely. And has it grown literally 41:46 almost overnight? Think about it this way: 41:49 the USA is basically only 200 years old and is the most 41:52 powerful nation that has ever existed in the history of 41:56 the human experience. It literally came on the scene 41:59 of action, and now, as a good friend of mine from Romania 42:02 says, my wife is from Romania, he says "When the United States" 42:05 "sneezes, the whole world gets a cold". 42:08 [Audience laughs] Isn't that right? 42:10 I could give you instance, after instance of this thing. 42:13 For example, the US says "Hey listen, we want to invade Iraq" 42:17 and the UN says "No", and they say "Tough!" 42:19 "We'll do whatever we want", it's like the old saying: 42:22 "Where does an 800 pound gorilla sit? " 42:25 "He sits wherever he wants to. " So Tony Blair from the UK, 42:29 and a few others, have figured this out. They've said: 42:32 "You know what? He's the toughest kid on the block, " 42:34 "better join him. " That's exactly what's happening. 42:37 Let's go through and see if this all fits together, this is from 42:40 "The New World Compared With The Old", by G.A Townsend, 42:43 notice what he said, speaking of the US: [text on screen] 42:52 That's exactly the Biblical language: like a silent seed 42:56 coming up slowly, almost imperceptibly. 42:59 "Daniel and Revelation" by Uriah Smith, page 578 [text on screen] 43:08 So it fits that qualification very nicely. 43:12 [text on screen] 43:15 They had been in the old world where they had seen that 43:19 religious tyranny, and political tyranny basically got them 43:23 nowhere except persecution. If you didn't have the luxury 43:26 or the fortune of being born into one of the royal families, 43:29 or somehow being associated with royalty, you could be in a very 43:32 bad way. So when they landed, you know the stories, I'm not 43:35 telling you anything you don't know, but they would get off 43:38 those boats, and they would kiss the ground because this was 43:40 a new place where they didn't have to worry about the king 43:42 saying thus and so, and the pope saying thus and so. 43:45 It was a new land where they could try a new governmental 43:49 experiment, and I believe in my soul of souls that God 43:53 opened this nation up right on time. 43:58 I believe that with every fiber of my being. 44:00 Does it meet the time element? Absolutely, [text on screen] 44:07 Is that around 1798? So just as the one beast 44:11 is going down, what's the other beast doing? 44:14 Coming up. The Declaration of Independence 44:16 was signed July 4, 1776, so one is going down and one is 44:23 coming up, meets that specification perfectly. 44:25 The Declaration of Independence, I love this: [text on screen] 44:33 Do you know how revolutionary that is? 44:36 We take these things for granted here in the USA, that is so 44:40 revolutionary, in the old world with the royal hierarchy 44:46 and the oligarchies of kings and queens and princes, 44:49 not everybody was created equal. To even suggest that the peasant 44:53 was the equal of the king is laughable. 44:57 Here they say "We hold these truths to be self-evident, " 44:59 "that all Men", of course, including women as well, 45:01 [text on screen] 45:07 "Unalienable", that means "cannot be taken away". 45:10 [continues to read] 45:17 Just a little bit of hedonism thrown in there at the end. 45:19 [Audience laughs] A few of you got that. 45:23 The US constitution, the first Amendment: 45:26 [text on screen] 45:31 As George Thurgood Marshall said: "Your rites end" 45:34 "where my nose begins". You can do whatever you want, 45:39 but your rights end at the very place that my nose begins. 45:43 So in the USA, if you want to worship that pulpit, you want 45:46 to start a whole religion where you worship that pulpit 45:49 and you want to dance around the pulpit and say "This is" 45:51 "the Creator God, this pulpit here", could you do that 45:54 in this country? Yes or no? [Audience] Yes. 45:56 It would be foolish, it would be illogical, it would be unusual, 45:59 but you could do it. Absolutely, that's the point. 46:04 You see, they were so under the thumb of religious and political 46:08 tyranny that when they got on these new shores, they said 46:11 "We're tired of the popes, and we're tired of the kings". 46:15 So they established this radically new government. 46:18 It was an experiment, it was the American experiment. 46:22 A government of the people, for the people, by the people, 46:26 where everyone is equal, and citizens vote leaders? 46:29 We take this for granted now, this was radical beloved. 46:33 Absolutely radical. What makes this nation great? 46:36 2 central freedoms, 2 central liberties make this nation 46:40 great: [text on screen] 46:47 If you want to be even more technical, you'd say 46:48 "Republicanism and Protestantism", those are 46:52 the 2 principles that make this nation great. 46:54 Republicanism, sometimes we think we live in a democracy, 46:57 but really we don't live in a democracy, we live in 46:59 a republic, which is a representative democracy. 47:02 We pledge allegiance to the flag of the USA and to the republic 47:08 for which it stands. A republic is a representative 47:11 democracy, the idea of republicanism is that the people 47:15 can govern themselves. We don't need kings, 47:21 that doesn't say that sometimes our presidents have not acted 47:24 that way, but I'm saying in principle. 47:28 And we don't need popes. We can worship how we want 47:32 to worship in this country, we have the right to be wrong. 47:36 Absolutely incredible So religious liberty is freedom 47:38 from a pope, civil liberty is freedom from a king. 47:40 Look at George Washington, who could have said it better 47:42 than this in 1789. Mr. Washington, 47:45 first president of the USA said: [text on screen] 48:02 So now no one's going to come and say "You'd better bow" 48:04 "to the cardinal", "you'd better bow to the pontiff", 48:07 "you'd better bow to the prelate", Mr. Washington said 48:09 "We've had enough of that. " You can worship God according 48:13 to the dictates of your own good conscience, you want 48:15 to be a Protestant, you can be a Protestant. 48:18 You want to be a Muslim? You can be a Muslim. 48:20 You want to a Catholic? You can be a Catholic. 48:22 You want to be an atheist? You can be an atheist. 48:25 As long as what you do does not infringe upon my rights, 48:27 where your rights end my nose begins, you can worship God 48:29 according to the dictates of your own good conscience. 48:34 That is one of the things that makes this nation great, 48:37 I'll say it again, it's the right to be wrong. 48:42 Look at this one, Benjamin Franklin, I love this: 48:46 [text on screen] 49:17 Do you see what he's saying? That's exactly right. 49:22 Religion is good, it'll take care of itself, but the moment 49:24 that the religious entity has to appeal to the civil entity for 49:28 support, and for money, and for finances, and for influences, 49:31 he said: "If God can't support this thing, why, pray tell, " 49:35 "should the secular government support it? " 49:39 Founding fathers! It says that this nation 49:43 would speak like a dragon, look at verse 11. 49:45 I wish I could stop here, I wish it was a happy story 49:48 and we all marched off into the great democratic horizon 49:53 behind the drummer. I wish it could end like that. 50:01 But it says something very disturbing in verse 11: 50:03 "Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had" 50:06 "2 horns like a lamb", so he would espouse Christ-like 50:09 principles of liberty and freedom, but eventually he would 50:13 speak like a dragon. And who's the dragon? 50:16 Satan. Let me tell you something, 50:19 that is the only verse in all of Scripture where the word 50:22 "lamb" and the word "dragon" appear in the same verse. 50:24 That's it. There is a tension in this verse 50:26 that's palpable. Here you have the Lamb 50:29 and the Dragon mentioned in the same verse. 50:34 "Would speak like a dragon". We might legitimately ask 50:37 the question: how does a nation speak? 50:40 Through its laws and legislative body. 50:44 [text on screen] 50:47 You say "How do you know that? " Because I just read that 50:50 the second beast is going to "cause" the earth to worship 50:56 the first beast. You're saying "impossible, " 50:59 "that's absolutely impossible! " No it's not impossible. 51:03 In fact, the deadly wound is healing right before out very 51:06 eyes, that first beast is growing in power 51:08 and in preeminence right before our very eyes. 51:11 In 1929 Mussolini sat down with cardinal Gasparri 51:14 and signed the historic Roman pact. I want you to notice 51:17 the language here, February 11, 1929: [text on screen] 51:32 Isn't that interesting? I could give you 3 other 51:34 articles, contemporaneous articles that say that exact 51:37 same thing, when they sat down together, and basically what 51:40 happened was that Mussolini turned civil power back over 51:44 to the Vatican, he gave it back over. He basically reestablished 51:47 the Vatican as its own civil governing entity, they were 51:52 healing the wound that had been inflicted in 1798 by France 51:56 when they took the pope off his throne. 51:58 Is that interesting? Is it or not? 52:01 Oh, they began to heal the wound, and it is being healed 52:04 right before our very eyes today. This man was probably 52:06 the single greatest evangelist and apologist that the church 52:09 had ever seen; traveling all over the world, he was almost 52:12 like a rock star in some ways. Malachi Martin, who wrote 52:15 the book "The Keys of This Blood", he was Jesuit. 52:17 He said this: [text on screen] 52:23 I want you to look at that word here "three-way", 52:26 we'll come back to that. [continues to read] 52:47 He's saying we're the stakes, there's a 3 way battle. 52:51 You can read the book, you don't really have to read the book. 52:54 Here were the 3 "C"s that in Malachi Martin's almost 1000 52:59 page book were struggling for the supremacy: [text on screen] 53:07 Beloved, you know that that's an older book. 53:11 Written in the late 1970s, early 1980s, you know it's 53:14 an older book because how many of those "C"s are around today? 53:18 Just 2 of them, one of them's gone. 53:21 You say "Whoa, I wonder how that happened? " 53:23 "How did the one disappear? " I'll tell you how 53:26 it disappeared: the other 2 got together and got rid of him. 53:29 Time Magazine, right on the front cover: [text on screen] 53:33 That's pope John Paul, that's Ronald Reagan, so the moral 53:36 superpower of the world, and the greatest superpower 53:38 of the world. The subtitle says: 53:41 "How Reagan and the pope conspired to assist Poland's" 53:46 "Solidarity movement and hasten the demise of Communism. " 53:50 So I want you to think about that. 53:53 In the late 1970s, early 1980s when Malachi Martin wrote 53:56 "The Keys of This Blood" there were 3 players on the scene: 53:58 capitalism, communism and Catholicism, and 2 of them 54:01 got together and kicked the other guy off the bench. 54:05 It was so common knowledge that they put it right on the front 54:08 cover of our major news media magazines. 54:11 I want to ask you a question: does that sound at all like what 54:13 Bible prophecy is saying? A coming together of 54:16 the greatest superpower in the world and the beast 54:18 of Revelation 13? Absolutely incredible. 54:22 You just have this man going out, just basically bringing 54:26 the whole world together. He has died, and his predecessor 54:29 has come on the scene, he's already in dialogs with Islam, 54:32 and everybody says "Oh, he really made the Muslims mad" 54:35 "when he made that comment". Beloved, let me tell you 54:37 something: even though the Muslims were upset, and they 54:40 were all mad at the pope, and people were going crazy, etc. 54:43 You remember this, this is like a month ago? 2 months ago? 54:46 I want you to notice something, when it came time to settle 54:49 the score, when it came time to sort it all out and to have 54:51 the meetings and to sit down over tea, you know where 54:54 they didn't meet? They didn't meet in Afghanistan 54:57 They didn't meet in the Middle East. They didn't meet 54:59 in Islamabad. You know where they met? 55:03 They met at the pope's place. That tells you who's got 55:05 the power. When it came time to settle it 55:08 they met in Rome. At the end of the day everybody 55:12 was happy again, and "Oh, we have so much in common". 55:15 See beloved, it's happening. Look at that right there. 55:17 The most powerful men in the world kneeling before the body 55:21 at the funeral. That was the first time in history that a US 55:26 president had ever even attended a papal funeral. 55:29 First time in history beloved, and it wasn't just one, 55:33 you have the current president, George W. 55:36 You have the former president, George Bush I, and Bill Clinton, 55:39 and Jimmy Carter would have gone, but there were, I believe, 55:41 medical complications. 3 presidents, Condoleezza Rice 55:45 is just there, Tony Blair's just outside of the picture. 55:48 The most powerful people in the world knelt, look at what 55:52 they're doing. They're kneeling! 55:57 They're kneeling before the pope, the dead pope. 56:02 Beloved, if that doesn't tell you something is up, 56:06 there's a rat in the woodpile, you're not paying attention. 56:10 [Audience laughs] I saw a bumper sticker one time 56:13 that said: "If you're not outraged, you're not" 56:16 "paying attention". Look at that, the wound is healing. 56:24 In fact, for a long time the US wouldn't even send 56:27 an ambassador to the Vatican, but Ronald Reagan changed 56:30 all that in 1984, he was the first president in the history 56:34 of the US to send an ambassador to the Vatican. 56:37 Ever since then we've had an ambassador to the Vatican. 56:39 What's happening is the wound is healing and this great 56:42 moral superpower, the Roman church-state, is aligning 56:46 itself with the great military and political, and economic 56:50 superpower, I might add, the USA, and they're getting closer, 56:54 and closer, and tighter and tighter. It's happening. 56:58 It's front news headlines. You keep your eyes on it. 57:01 I'll come back to that one another day. 57:03 How was the Roman church-state formed? It worked through 57:05 secular governments, this is right there in your study guide, 57:08 you look at the last page. How was the Roman church-state 57:11 originally formed? 57:19 Here's what we're going to do: we're going to continue this 57:23 on Thursday. [Audience] Ohhh! 57:32 ...Because we still have to go over 666 thing. 57:35 I'm going to tell you something, as God is witness I had total 57:41 intentions of going over the 666 thing, in fact, I could 57:44 fast forward on my slides right now, you'd see it right on 57:47 the slide ready to be presented, but I need to be sure that we're 57:50 all moving all at the same pace and we're all getting it. 57:53 Is that responsible? It's very important for me, 57:56 I know it's like drinking out of a fire hydrant, 57:58 and that's just the way I am. [Audience laughs] 58:02 Because I'm passionate and I believe that this is Bible 58:05 truth, and I believe that we need to be making daily 58:07 stands for the Lord Jesus Christ so we don't get swept 58:10 away in this mob mentality that is fast coming, 58:13 because at the end of the day it's all about Jesus. 58:17 See, at the end of the day it's all about Jesus. 58:20 If you choose to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and to keep 58:23 His commandments by faith, you can't get the mark of the beast, 58:27 but don't tell me it's not going to be extremely helpful to know 58:30 at the end of time what the issues are. 58:33 You see what the issues are, and it's beginning to become 58:36 increasingly clear. |
Revised 2014-12-17