It Is Written

Predictions You Can Trust

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Series Code: IIW

01:29 ♪[Music]
01:40 ♪[Music]
01:49 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written,
01:51 I'm John Bradshaw.
01:52 Thanks for joining me.
01:54 There have been some less-than-stellar predictions
01:58 made over the years.
02:00 In 1878, Sir William Preece,
02:04 the chief engineer of the British Post Office, said,
02:07 "The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not.
02:11 We have plenty of messenger boys."
02:14 Albert Einstein said, "There is not the slightest indication
02:17 that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable.
02:20 It would mean that the atom
02:21 would have to be shattered at will."
02:24 "We don't like their sound,
02:25 and guitar groups are on the way out."
02:28 The Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
02:33 And then how about this one:
02:35 the world is going to end on December 21, 2012!
02:41 Now, that's what some people said.
02:43 The facts are these: December 21, 2012
02:47 was when the 5,125-year Meso-American
02:51 Long Count calendar, the Maya calendar, was said to expire.
02:57 Many said with the expiration of this calendar
02:59 would come the end of the world.
03:03 Interest in the whole affair was fueled largely by two groups:
03:07 one, the media, and two, conspiracy theorists and others
03:12 like them who never did meet a good theory
03:14 they didn't just fall in love with.
03:16 And actually, there was a third thing: money.
03:20 When Hollywood comes to the party and produces a movie
03:23 dealing loosely with the subject,
03:24 you've got a runaway train.
03:27 Add internet rumors, speculation,
03:30 and just enough information about the ancient Maya
03:33 to tantalize the curiosity,
03:36 and something like this takes on a life of its own.
03:39 I'm in Belize, in Central America,
03:42 in the heart of what was once Maya country.
03:46 The Maya really were a remarkable people.
03:48 ♪[Music]
03:50 In a country the size of New Jersey and with the
03:52 population of Wichita, Kansas, a little less than 400,000,
03:56 there are still a lot of remnants of the Maya past.
04:01 The Maya flourished from about 250 AD to around 1200 AD or so,
04:07 building incredible cities made entirely from stone,
04:11 and made without the use of steel tools.
04:16 So did the Maya calendar really portend the end of the world?
04:21 You know, it's interesting that there are some people
04:22 who just love speculation.
04:24 Interesting, but probably not surprising,
04:27 that is, there's a lot of mystery about life.
04:30 We weren't there in the past,
04:31 and we haven't yet been to the future.
04:33 So, some people just can't help but speculate.
04:37 And there are some who love speculation, and prediction.
04:45 Recent history is littered with claims
04:48 about the end of the world.
04:49 One man forecast it would occur in 1994,
04:54 which it evidently did not.
04:55 So he reconsidered and concluded the correct year would be 2011,
05:01 which didn't work out well either.
05:04 Did people really believe that,
05:06 that the world would end in 2011?
05:09 Well, yes and no.
05:11 The yes was a very small group of people who were committed
05:14 to the idea largely out of respect for their teacher.
05:19 Did the public at large buy that the world
05:21 was coming to an end in May of 2011?
05:24 Not for a moment.
05:27 But the Maya calendar, now that got people excited.
05:32 The predictions were made; the predictions were heard;
05:36 the predictions were widely publicized.
05:39 But the predictions, predictably enough,
05:42 came to nothing.
05:45 Now, thinking people aren't going to get carried away by
05:48 this sort of thing, are they?
05:50 No facts, no science, no evidence at all
05:54 to suggest these things are true?
05:56 Surely thinking people aren't going
05:58 to buy in to this kind of stuff.
06:00 Well, you'd hope not.
06:03 But... seers, astrologers, psychics: big business.
06:10 Recent reports state that more and more people,
06:13 especially Millennials,
06:15 are embracing witchcraft and astrology.
06:18 Eastern meditation, yoga, which is Hinduism,
06:21 tarot card reading: they're all having a moment right now.
06:25 People are grabbing onto this, even though there's absolutely
06:28 no evidence that it's valid, and they're rejecting the Bible,
06:33 for which there's a ton of evidence.
06:35 Now, of course, Christianity is ultimately a faith venture.
06:40 You don't meet God on the street,
06:42 shake Him by the hand.
06:43 We believe in the existence of God by faith.
06:48 But there's this document, the Bible.
06:50 It's either true or it isn't.
06:53 If it isn't, it isn't.
06:55 But what do you do with the mountain of evidence that
06:58 suggests strongly that the Bible is everything it claims to be?
07:04 There's a bit of history in the United States
07:06 as far as religious predictions go.
07:08 In the 1830s, a Baptist named William Miller had a conversion
07:13 experience that led him to study the Bible.
07:16 He was determined that he'd work out or work through
07:20 any contradictions or inconsistencies
07:22 he found in the Bible.
07:23 He studied methodically and seriously.
07:26 He found a prophecy that he was convinced
07:29 dealt with the end of the world and with the return of Jesus,
07:32 and he became certain that Jesus was going to come back
07:35 to the Earth in the year 1843.
07:38 Some of Miller's followers;
07:40 Millerites, they were referred to,
07:43 discovered that this kind Baptist preacher
07:45 was wrong in his calculations by a year.
07:49 Jesus would be coming back in 1844!
07:53 Now, William Miller wasn't a fanatic
07:56 and he wasn't a crackpot.
07:58 He was simply an honest Baptist Christian man
08:02 who was honestly wrong.
08:03 There were thousands of people in America's northeast that
08:06 hoped along with William Miller, but their hopes were dashed.
08:10 Jesus didn't return.
08:12 So religious predictions aren't anything new.
08:15 In fact, you go back to the New Testament and you find the
08:19 followers of Jesus expecting Jesus to expel the Romans from
08:23 Israel and set up His kingdom on Earth,
08:27 and they were far from right about that.
08:30 And then there's the Maya calendar,
08:32 which some people, many people,
08:34 took to mean, that the end of the world
08:36 was going to take place in December of 2012.
08:40 Now, the Maya were remarkable builders,
08:42 they were brilliant mathematicians,
08:44 and they were skilled astrologers.
08:46 But they did not predict the end of the world.
08:48 And even if they had, they would have been wrong.
08:53 So where can we find predictions that we can trust?
08:57 ♪[Music]
08:57 I have plenty.
09:00 I'll share them with you in just a moment.
09:02 ♪[Theme music]
09:11 >>Announcer: The signs of Jesus' return are all around us.
09:14 But what does the Bible say we should look for?
09:17 Find out by getting today's free offer,
09:19 “Seeing the Signs.”
09:20 To receive this free DVD,
09:22 call 800-253-3000,
09:24 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com.
09:28 Find out for yourself what the Bible says
09:30 about the signs of Jesus' soon return.
09:32 Call 800-253-3000
09:35 or visit iiwoffer.com.
09:40 >>John: Thursday, August the fifth, 2010
09:43 was not a happy day for 33 men,
09:47 when a collapse in a mine in Chile buried them
09:51 2,300 feet below ground.
09:55 No matter how much they tried to escape,
09:58 there was no way out.
09:59 Rescue would have to come from above.
10:04 On the outskirts of the San Jose Mine,
10:06 over two and a half thousand people gathered,
10:10 and with each failed rescue attempt,
10:12 despair increased.
10:15 Families gathered together to pray for a miracle.
10:20 From the Atacama Desert comes a story of tragedy,
10:23 a story of uncertainty, yet a story of courage,
10:27 hope, and ultimately, a story of salvation.
10:31 Wait on the Lord, and the miracle will come.
10:35 “Camp Hope.”
10:36 Watch now on itiswritten.tv.
10:40 >>John: In December of 2012 a hundred members of a Christian
10:44 church in China were arrested.
10:47 They had been warning people about what they believed would
10:50 be the trouble coming to Planet Earth on December 21 of that
10:54 year, when the 5,125-year Maya calendar expired.
11:01 The time that some people were teaching
11:02 would bring about the end of the world.
11:06 The Maya were advanced enough
11:07 to be considered the Greeks of the New World.
11:10 They'd figured out the year contained 365 days.
11:14 They had eighteen 20-month days and five additional days,
11:18 although they didn't seem to have recognized
11:20 the extra quarter of a day each year.
11:21 Their architecture was advanced.
11:25 In some places they even built sporting arenas,
11:27 courts for a ball game something like handball.
11:30 And they built impressive observatories.
11:32 Watching the movements of the stars and planets
11:35 was important to the Maya.
11:37 And as interesting as their 5,125-year calendar was,
11:43 it never actually predicted the end of the world.
11:46 It simply suggested the end of an age,
11:48 a time period,
11:50 a cycle to be followed by another one,
11:52 and then presumably another one, and so on.
11:56 But that didn't stop people from getting excited
11:59 about the end of the world.
12:00 In fact, in Russia, authorities issued a statement
12:03 reassuring Russians that they had nothing to worry about.
12:07 In the south of France, people flocked to the top of a mountain
12:10 to wait for what they believed would be the end of all things.
12:15 Well, we know that the end of the world didn't occur
12:17 December 21, 2012, and it was never going to.
12:21 But what this whole Mayan calendar business does reveal
12:26 is that there are people, many people,
12:28 who are vulnerable to predictions
12:30 about the end of the world, no matter how unlikely
12:34 or even nonsensical those predictions might be.
12:39 So what then about predictions that are actually reliable?
12:42 If people are going to get animated about a calendar of
12:45 which they had heard nothing prior in their lives,
12:48 if folks will get excited about somebody like Nostradamus,
12:52 who certainly was not a prophet in the reliable,
12:55 biblical sense, what should people do about predications
12:58 that are verifiable and absolutely authentic?
13:02 Now, I'm going to share with you some predictions that you can
13:05 depend on; predictions that were made and then fulfilled.
13:10 Predictions, predictions you can trust.
13:13 Now, the Bible isn't simply a book of predictions.
13:18 It's the story of God's love for the human family.
13:20 But it's true that the Bible does contain predictions.
13:24 In fact, God stakes His reputation on His ability
13:29 to forecast the future.
13:31 Here's what He says in Isaiah 46:9 and 10:
13:34 “Remember the former things of old, for I am God,
13:38 and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
13:43 declaring the end from the beginning,
13:45 and from ancient times things that are not yet done,
13:49 saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."
13:55 In the 19th century, a Scottish scientist named James Maxwell
13:59 predicted the existence of radio waves.
14:02 Turned out he was right.
14:05 Impressive.
14:06 George Orwell's “1984”
14:08 and Aldous Huxley's “Brave New World”
14:10 both contained predictions about the future
14:14 that seem now eerily prescient.
14:17 But none of that is anything compared to what God did.
14:22 You want predictions?
14:24 Here we go.
14:25 Genesis 3:15.
14:27 Three chapters into the Bible.
14:29 Sin had entered the world, and God says to the serpent,
14:33 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
14:36 and between your seed and her seed;
14:38 He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
14:43 This was a prediction that Jesus would come into the world
14:46 and defeat Satan, and that Satan would be destroyed.
14:50 Now, notice the prediction said that Jesus would be bruised.
14:53 Interesting, because in Isaiah 53,
14:56 Isaiah used the same word, saying that the Messiah
15:00 would be bruised for our iniquities.
15:03 But Satan, he would ultimately be destroyed.
15:07 Everyone who wishes to can be a child of God and live eternally.
15:12 And all of this was predicted in the third chapter of the Bible
15:17 written, written thousands of years ago.
15:21 But we're just getting started.
15:23 In Isaiah chapters 44 and 45, Isaiah mentions by name the man
15:28 that God would use to lead the army to defeat Babylon.
15:33 Now, this isn't Isaiah looking back in time.
15:36 If this was Isaiah telling his readers something that had
15:39 already happened, it wouldn't be so impressive.
15:42 But Isaiah is looking ahead, and 150 years before the event,
15:49 Isaiah names the man, calls him by name,
15:53 who would deliver the people of God.
15:55 This is Isaiah chapter 45, verses 1 through 3.
15:59 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
16:01 to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held─
16:04 to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings,
16:08 to open before him the double doors,
16:10 so that the gates will not shut: 'I will go before you and make
16:14 the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates
16:18 of bronze and cut the bars of iron.
16:21 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of
16:24 secret places, that you may know that I,
16:27 the Lord, who call you by your name,
16:31 am the God of Israel.'
16:33 Now, that's more impressive than a Maya calendar non-prediction.
16:38 Now, in Micah 5 and verse 2,
16:40 the prophet Micah names the town in which Jesus would be born.
16:45 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the
16:50 thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the
16:54 one to be ruler in Israel,
16:57 whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
17:02 More about Jesus.
17:03 This is Isaiah 7:14.
17:05 “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign;
17:09 behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
17:13 and shall call His name Immanuel.”
17:16 God said that the Messiah would be born of a virgin.
17:19 That's something that had never happened before.
17:23 You know, someone making a prediction like that,
17:25 they should be laughed out of town.
17:26 Their credibility should be shot to pieces.
17:30 But that didn't happen in the case of Isaiah,
17:32 who wrote that prediction, because,
17:33 in that case, and every other case like it,
17:36 what God said would happen, happened.
17:40 You know, people just don't do
17:42 very well in predicting the future.
17:44 We just don't know.
17:46 But we do know what God has predicted,
17:50 and we know that what God has predicted has come to pass.
17:54 Therefore, we can trust God and we can trust the Bible.
17:59 I'll have more in just a moment.
18:01 ♪[Music]
18:10 >>Announcer: The signs of Jesus' return are all around us.
18:13 But what does the Bible say we should look for?
18:16 Find out by getting today's free offer,
18:18 “Seeing the Signs.”
18:19 To receive this free DVD,
18:21 call 800-253-3000,
18:24 or visit us online at iiwoffer.com.
18:27 Find out for yourself what the Bible says
18:29 about the signs of Jesus' soon return.
18:31 Call 800-253-3000
18:34 or visit iiwoffer.com.
18:39 >>John: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written.
18:42 I'm in Belize, in Central America,
18:44 east of Guatemala, south of southeastern Mexico,
18:47 the Yucatan Peninsula is just up there,
18:49 and close to Honduras.
18:51 Belize is right in the heart of what was once
18:55 the Maya civilization.
18:57 A few years ago, an interpretation of the Maya
19:00 calendar had people all over the world
19:03 worrying that the world was going to end.
19:07 Well, it is going to end.
19:09 And if you read the Bible, you get the idea that there's not a
19:12 lot of time left for Planet Earth.
19:14 And so therefore we want to remember at least two things
19:16 that Jesus told us.
19:18 One, we cannot know the day or the hour of His appearing.
19:22 We just don't know.
19:24 And so therefore, two, be ready no matter when it takes place.
19:29 Live in relation to God so you
19:31 will always be ready for eternity.
19:35 So how is it with you?
19:35 You're ready?
19:36 You say yes?
19:37 That's great.
19:39 You say no, or I'm not sure?
19:43 Well, hmm, not so good.
19:45 But the good news is, you can be ready.
19:48 There's no need for anyone not to look
19:51 into eternity with confidence.
19:55 If you choose God as yours,
19:57 then you can have all the confidence in the world.
20:01 A couple of moments ago we looked at some
20:03 predictions that were fulfilled.
20:06 God made the predictions, and what God says happens.
20:10 So now look at this with me.
20:12 Daniel 9, verse 25.
20:14 Daniel wrote these words hundreds of years
20:17 before Jesus was born.
20:19 “Know therefore and understand,
20:21 that from the going forth of the command
20:23 to restore and build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince,
20:28 there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
20:31 the street shall be built again, and the wall,
20:35 even in troublesome times.”
20:38 Notice this: from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,
20:43 unto Messiah the Prince,
20:45 would be a certain period of time.
20:47 Now, that decree was issued in the year 457 BC,
20:51 and you'll find the actual decree in Ezra chapter 7,
20:55 so you can read it for yourself.
20:57 So from 457 BC unto Messiah the Prince would be 69 weeks.
21:04 In Bible prophecy, a day represents a year.
21:07 So you've got 69 times seven years,
21:11 which would be 483 years.
21:15 Start in 457 BC, add 483 years, and you get to the year 27 AD,
21:22 when Jesus would be anointed as the Messiah.
21:26 So what happened in 27 AD?
21:27 Jesus was baptized.
21:29 He was anointed, right on time,
21:33 predicted hundreds of years before.
21:35 But wait.
21:37 There's more.
21:38 The same prophecy said after this Jesus would be “cut off,”
21:41 He would be put to death.
21:43 That's what happened when He died on the cross
21:45 three and a half years after He was baptized.
21:47 And then the prophecy says that Jerusalem,
21:51 after this, would be destroyed.
21:54 And it was, less than 40 years after Jesus died on the cross.
21:59 Now, you could get all excited about a Maya calendar
22:03 non-prediction, or you could hang your hat on predictions
22:07 that you can really trust.
22:09 Listen.
22:10 Zechariah wrote that Jesus would be betrayed
22:14 for 30 pieces of silver.
22:15 That's what happened.
22:16 Zechariah 11 and verse 12.
22:18 The next verse talks about Judas throwing away the money
22:22 that he was paid to betray Jesus.
22:24 That happened too.
22:25 Zechariah 9 and verse 9 said that Messiah,
22:28 Jesus, would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey.
22:31 Precisely what took place.
22:33 Isaiah, chapter 53, said that Jesus would be betrayed
22:37 by His own people.
22:38 You get to Psalm 22, that great messianic psalm;
22:42 it says that Jesus would be mocked and ridiculed.
22:44 Later, same chapter says Jesus would be crucified.
22:48 And verse 16 says,
22:50 “The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me:
22:53 they pierced my hands and my feet.”
22:56 And Psalm 34:20 says that none of Jesus' bones would be broken,
23:02 unusual for a crucifixion victim.
23:05 The two thieves Jesus was crucified between?
23:07 They both had their legs broken.
23:09 But not Jesus.
23:11 And this was predicted many, many years before.
23:15 And then, maybe one of the most incredible prophecies of all.
23:19 Daniel said that four world-ruling kingdoms
23:22 would arise on the earth: the head of gold,
23:25 chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass,
23:29 and the legs of iron.
23:30 Four kingdoms, which were Babylon,
23:33 Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
23:36 Daniel said, and you read about this in Daniel 2,
23:39 that the fourth kingdom would divide into multiple nations,
23:43 and that's exactly what happened.
23:46 In Daniel 7 he gave the same information but with a twist:
23:50 he used animals or beasts to represent the nations,
23:53 rather than metals as in Daniel 2.
23:57 The lion, the bear, the leopard, and then the...thing.
24:02 Again, four nations: Babylon, Medo-Persian,
24:06 Greece, and Rome.
24:09 This time he depicted Rome as having ten horns,
24:13 and he said specifically in Daniel that the ten horns were
24:16 ten kings, or kingdoms, that would arise out of Rome.
24:20 And history validates that prediction 100%.
24:26 Now, you'd think that people
24:27 would shout this from the rooftops.
24:29 The Bible is reliable; its predictions are sure.
24:33 It's a book that can be trusted.
24:37 You know, what happens is this: some people will hear this,
24:40 even be willing to believe that, but then they see those,
24:43 those people who are a bad advertisement
24:45 for what the Bible teaches, and it throws them.
24:47 Now, it shouldn't.
24:49 You know, there are people like that who,
24:50 who don't accurately represent every belief system,
24:53 every country, every organization.
24:55 But you don't want to let the hypocrites,
24:58 and truth be told, there's a hypocrite inside all of us,
25:01 you don't want to let the hypocrites,
25:03 the bad eggs, keep you from God.
25:07 Now, the Bible predicted that Jesus would come into the world.
25:09 It predicted the circumstances of His life,
25:12 the circumstances of His death.
25:13 It predicted the rise and the fall of nations,
25:17 and so much more.
25:19 And there's something else.
25:20 Listen to this.
25:21 Paul, writing to the Thessalonians,
25:24 this is 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,
25:26 we start at verse 13:
25:28 “But I do not want you to be ignorant,
25:30 brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep,
25:33 lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.”
25:37 The Thessalonians evidently believed that,
25:40 if you weren't alive when Jesus came back,
25:42 you couldn't go to Heaven.
25:44 You couldn't be saved.
25:45 And so Paul corrected them.
25:47 “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
25:53 even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
25:57 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord,
25:59 that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord
26:03 will by no means precede those who are asleep.
26:06 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
26:09 shout, with the voice of an archangel,
26:12 and with the trumpet of God.
26:14 And the dead in Christ will rise first.
26:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
26:21 them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
26:24 And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”
26:29 Paul predicted that Jesus would return to this Earth.
26:32 Undoubtedly it's going to happen.
26:34 He predicted the resurrection
26:35 that would take place on the last day.
26:38 That's certainly going to happen too.
26:40 Think of all of the other predictions
26:42 that we just looked at.
26:43 They've all been fulfilled.
26:45 This one will be as well.
26:47 Jesus is coming back.
26:49 Now, when He comes back, He wants you to be ready.
26:53 The Bible is God's book.
26:54 Think about what it promises.
26:56 And think about this: life is short,
27:00 no matter how long you live.
27:02 Don't cheat yourself.
27:04 God's word says that God loves you;
27:07 you know that's true.
27:09 The Bible says God cares for you.
27:12 You can believe that as well.
27:13 The Bible says that God would forgive you of your sins.
27:16 Surely that is so.
27:17 And the Bible says that God will give you a new heart.
27:21 He's just waiting to do that for you if you'll ask Him.
27:24 You know, if you'll let God do so,
27:28 He'll work in your life so that you'll learn to love
27:31 the things that God loves.
27:33 And you'll love life when you love what God loves.
27:37 You can trust the Bible.
27:39 And you can trust the God of the Bible.
27:41 You can trust Him with your heart.
27:43 He'll keep it, and you, forever and ever.
27:47 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written
27:50 exists because of the kindness of people just like you.
27:53 To support this international life-changing ministry,
27:56 please call us now at 800-253-3000.
28:01 You can send your tax-deductible gift
28:02 to the address on your screen,
28:04 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
28:07 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.
28:10 Our number again is 800-253-3000.
28:14 Or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
28:19 Let's pray together now.
28:20 Our Father in heaven,
28:21 we thank You today that the Bible can be trusted,
28:23 and that it demonstrates to us that You can be trusted.
28:27 Lord, if You can be trusted, and You can,
28:29 then we want to trust You with our lives.
28:32 Friend, are you ready to tell God today
28:34 you want to trust Him with your life?
28:36 You want to recommit your life to Him,
28:38 or if you've never done so?
28:39 Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
28:43 Tell God now,
28:44 “Lord, I want to follow You.
28:46 This book cannot be argued;
28:48 it cannot be denied.
28:49 And so therefore I want to follow its Author,
28:52 the one who inspired it.”
28:54 Friend, can you do that now?
28:55 Lord, take our hearts.
28:57 Take our lives.
28:58 Make them Yours.
29:00 Guide us.
29:01 Lead us.
29:02 Ready us for that great day when we are taken home
29:07 to be with You forever.
29:09 This is our prayer, in Jesus' name.
29:12 Amen.
29:14 Thank you so much for joining me today.
29:16 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
29:18 Until then, remember:
29:20 “It is written:
29:22 ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
29:24 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'”
29:28 ♪[Theme music]

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Revised 2018-07-03