It Is Written

Prequel of the Bible: Earth’S Rapid Decline

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW019206A


00:19 [waves crash and fizzle]
00:21 ♪[playful instrumental music]♪
00:26 >>John Bradshaw: This is It Is Written.
00:28 I'm John Bradshaw.
00:30 Thanks for joining me.
00:32 Have you ever seen "Where's Waldo"?
00:34 One of those "Where's Waldo" pictures?
00:36 You know the one, the guy with the funny hat,
00:37 he's wearing a striped shirt, he's in a crowd,
00:41 and he's hidden there somewhere in the picture,
00:43 and your job is to find him.
00:44 Now, the interesting thing about Waldo
00:46 is that he's not actually hidden.
00:49 That is, he's there.
00:50 Once you find him, you realize he was hidden
00:53 right out in the open.
00:54 Hard to find in the midst of everything that's going on,
00:57 but once you got him, you got him,
00:58 and after that, you can't really miss him.
01:01 Today, well, we're not looking for Waldo,
01:03 but we're looking for something that's hidden in plain view.
01:07 It's hidden right out in the open.
01:10 We're looking at a really important story, or theme,
01:14 in the Bible.
01:15 It appears before all the other Bible stories
01:18 that we're familiar with today.
01:20 We're continuing our series "The Prequel of the Bible."
01:24 Dig into this and you gain really important insights.
01:28 When you study the prequel of the Bible,
01:30 you find out what was behind Satan's rebellion.
01:33 You see that in Revelation chapter 12,
01:35 that there was war in heaven.
01:37 But what kind of war?
01:39 Well, really this was a political contest.
01:42 It was a battle of ideas.
01:43 It was a battle of philosophies.
01:45 You see, Satan was charging that God was unfair.
01:50 He attacked God, and in an attempt to gain followers
01:53 for himself, he attacked the character of God.
01:57 He said God was fundamentally unfair.
01:59 He said that God was not loving.
02:01 He said God was keeping back the best for Himself
02:06 and depriving others of what was rightfully theirs.
02:10 ♪[somber music]♪
02:11 We found that Satan offered a platform,
02:15 an alternate way of running the universe,
02:17 an alternate organizing principle, if you like.
02:20 He rejected God's system, which was based on love
02:24 and universal giving, where the objectives are lovingkindness
02:28 and mutual benefit.
02:30 Instead, what he proposed was something based on selfishness
02:34 and opportunistic taking,
02:36 where power and domination are the key, the objectives.
02:41 He had a surprising amount of success.
02:43 The Word of God says that he attracted one-third
02:46 of the angels of heaven to follow him.
02:48 Ultimately, though, they weren't successful.
02:51 Revelation chapter 12 says they were cast out of heaven.
02:55 Here on the earth he continued his war against God
02:58 and overcame Adam and Eve,
03:00 bringing them under the curse of sin.
03:03 At the same time, he took something from them:
03:07 He took from them the dominion over the earth,
03:10 which God had given them.
03:12 This is why Jesus referred to Satan
03:13 as the ruler of this earth in John 12 and verse 31.
03:21 Once Satan usurped control of the world,
03:25 he set about putting into place
03:27 his system for operating the earth and all life on it.
03:31 He twisted and perverted creation,
03:34 obscuring the amazing earth that God had created.
03:38 And he erased, to the extent he could,
03:40 the character of God as seen in the original creation.
03:44 He put in place a world that is at all levels
03:47 organized around the principle of selfishness.
03:51 And so here we are,
03:52 living on earth as Satan's system plays out.
03:56 The thing is discerning people are able to see
03:58 more and more clearly that the whole thing
04:02 is a complete fiasco.
04:04 That's because selfishness as a system collapses in on itself.
04:08 Not only is it a horrible design;
04:10 it's completely unsustainable.
04:13 And since the world we live in is organized around selfishness,
04:16 we can expect to see the earth,
04:18 all of its natural systems and lifeforms,
04:21 and every area of human endeavor participate in this collapse.
04:25 Satan might as well have been building with sand
04:28 because his system was doomed from the start.
04:32 And...there it goes, the natural result of a flawed design.
04:40 Now, think about what's at stake.
04:41 As Satan's design is doomed,
04:44 then so, too, is everything else that's based on selfishness.
04:48 That part of our lives that we spend fighting to get above
04:50 other people or to exercise control over other people,
04:53 ultimately, it's wasted.
04:55 The extraordinary efforts we make to accumulate
04:57 more and more resources, in the end, wasted.
05:01 The efforts we make to glorify ourselves,
05:04 in the final analysis, it's all for nothing.
05:07 And yet there are billions who continue to be taken in
05:10 by Satan's continuing campaign,
05:13 billions who align themselves with Satan
05:15 and spend massive amounts of energy
05:17 competing within his organizing principle of selfishness.
05:22 Jesus predicted the collapse of Satan's system,
05:26 and He gave us a very detailed account of what will happen
05:28 here on earth.
05:30 In fact, a detailed account of what's actually happening
05:34 right now.
05:35 But before we look at that prophecy in detail,
05:37 let's stand back and look at the big picture,
05:40 starting with creation itself.
05:43 To understand how things are unraveling,
05:45 let's look at how they were put together.
05:48 Let's look together at what happened in Genesis chapter 1.
05:52 ♪[piano music]♪
05:54 In creating the earth,
05:55 God was very intentional, very methodic.
05:59 He first created two massive and interlinked systems:
06:03 our atmosphere and our hydrosphere.
06:07 With the atmosphere, He created the many layers of gases
06:10 that extend out 60 miles or so into space
06:14 and protect the earth.
06:16 Our atmosphere is amazingly complex
06:19 and constantly in motion.
06:21 With our hydrosphere, God created all the water
06:24 on the surface of the earth: our oceans, lakes, rivers.
06:30 These two systems, the atmosphere and hydrosphere,
06:33 are sister systems, joined at the hip,
06:36 and constantly engaged in exchanges,
06:39 exchanges of heat, chemicals, and energy.
06:43 These two systems really function together
06:45 more as a whole than as separate systems.
06:49 Next, God created dry land, our soil system,
06:53 which is the basis for our food production the world over.
06:56 And then He created plants to live in the soil.
07:01 He then populated each of the systems He created--
07:04 birds and fish for our atmosphere and hydrosphere
07:07 and then land animals.
07:09 He also created microorganisms to live in the soil
07:13 and, well, just about everywhere else.
07:16 There are untold billions of microorganisms
07:19 in just a handful of soil,
07:21 and they're an irreplaceable part of healthy soil
07:25 that grows food.
07:26 Finally, God created people,
07:29 and when He reviewed what He created
07:31 and how the intermeshed systems functioned as one,
07:35 incredibly complicated but elegantly balanced,
07:38 He was well-pleased with His work.
07:40 Genesis 1:31 says that God judged it to be "very good."
07:44 In other words, it was perfect,
07:47 and it worked exactly the way He designed,
07:49 reflecting His character of love so deeply
07:53 that lovingkindness was the organizing principle.
07:56 The plants, the animals, the people--
07:58 they all coexisted happily, and they gave to each other;
08:01 they benefited each other with every interaction.
08:06 It was a system based on giving, and no one gave more than God.
08:11 But if you look at the systems that God created,
08:14 in perfect balance, you see that every single one of them
08:19 is in significant and accelerating decline.
08:23 And why is that?
08:25 One simple reason:
08:27 It's because Satan's system based on selfishness
08:31 is a catastrophic failure.
08:35 Take, for instance,
08:36 the massive, majestic, and beautiful ocean system.
08:40 Well, how bad is that?
08:42 Every day it dies a little more, and it's not coming back.
08:46 The loss of life webs,
08:48 the general health of our oceans is staggering.
08:51 We have the logs of sea captains from hundreds of years ago
08:54 describing an ocean that's now foreign to us.
08:57 They wrote of an ocean teeming with life.
08:59 It was a resource thought to be inexhaustible.
09:03 But today the seas that once seemed endless
09:07 are staggeringly polluted and increasingly depleted of fish.
09:11 Massive fishing boats chase the remaining fish
09:13 to the ends of the earth and to the utter depths of the sea.
09:16 And now scientists say that it's not very many years from now
09:20 the oceans will essentially be devoid
09:23 of commercial fishing stocks--
09:25 completely fished out.
09:27 That's a huge problem
09:29 because about one billion people get most of their food
09:32 from the sea, and those people are even now being forced
09:35 to compete for land-based food,
09:38 and that's a terrible thing because our natural systems
09:41 that support food production are also in accelerating decline.
09:47 And you don't have to be any kind of radical environmentalist
09:50 to see it.
09:51 It's just the way it is.
09:53 Isaiah wrote that the earth would "wax old like a garment."
09:56 Isaiah 51:6.
09:58 And today we're seeing the fulfillment of that.
10:01 I'll have more in just a moment.
10:03 ♪[music]♪
10:12 >>Announcer: As we look around the world,
10:14 it appears this planet is spinning wildly out of control.
10:18 The world now is a far cry
10:20 from the world of even just a few years ago,
10:22 leaving many people wondering if there's hope.
10:25 Our free offer today is "Hope for a Planet in Crisis."
10:29 To receive this free guide,
10:30 call 800-253-3000
10:34 or go online at iiwoffer.com.
10:38 Get "Hope for a Planet in Crisis."
10:43 ♪[soft piano music]♪
10:47 >>Man 1: What does the Bible say about astrology?
10:54 >>Man 2: Why do bad things happen to good people?
11:03 >>Girl: What color is Jesus?
11:06 >>John Bradshaw: If you have a question,
11:07 we'd love to find an answer
11:08 for you from the Bible.
11:09 Line Upon Line
11:10 from It Is Written TV.
11:14 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me on It Is Written.
11:15 I'm John Bradshaw.
11:18 Like our oceans, our fresh water system around the world
11:22 is crashing.
11:23 Most major population centers around the world
11:26 rely on aquifers for their water,
11:28 and many of these aquifers,
11:30 which basically are underground lakes that take centuries
11:33 to fill up, are heading towards depletion.
11:37 Even worse, a significant amount of global food production
11:41 is irrigated with water from aquifers
11:43 that are being depleted,
11:44 such as the Ogallala aquifer in the United States.
11:48 The Ogallala helps feed the world with the crops
11:50 it irrigates, and it's just one of many major aquifers
11:54 around the world that are depleting.
11:57 Should these aquifers completely run dry,
12:00 the impact on our global food production system
12:03 will be profound.
12:06 And at the same time that our aquifers are depleting,
12:09 our weather patterns are becoming
12:10 not just less and less reliable but actually more hostile
12:16 to people and crops.
12:18 Our jet stream, part of our atmosphere,
12:21 is slowing and destabilizing
12:23 as a result of our crashing cryosphere--
12:26 or in other words, because of massive ice loss in the Arctic.
12:30 What that means is that weather systems are becoming
12:33 more intense and moving more slowly,
12:36 meaning they last longer.
12:39 Now we get more pounding rain instead of nurturing rain.
12:42 We get heat waves that are literally killers
12:45 in some parts of the world,
12:46 causing such extreme heat that plants and humans
12:49 can't survive.
12:51 And we get prolonged droughts
12:53 and dangerous waves of polar air.
12:56 Add it all together
12:58 and the climate is becoming more hostile.
13:02 The industrial revolution--
13:04 and our industrial agriculture system, in particular--
13:07 has allowed the world to have a spectacular population boom.
13:11 The population has exploded over the past 250 years.
13:16 And the same industrial agriculture system
13:18 that feeds the world requires massive amounts of water
13:23 and a stable environment.
13:25 So imagine if the aquifers were to run dry.
13:29 How would we feed the almost 8 billion people on the planet?
13:34 Global food prices would spike,
13:36 and the 3 billion people or so who now live
13:38 on less than $2.50 a day would not be able to afford food.
13:43 Does it sound like a future nightmare?
13:46 Actually, with all the pressure on agriculture,
13:48 food prices are already under pressure.
13:51 Even if you have not noticed,
13:52 they've spiked three times in the last 15 years,
13:56 with dire results for half the population on earth.
14:01 If you look at a 50-year chart of global food price movements,
14:05 you'll see that prices fluctuated.
14:08 But between 2007 and 2012, they pretty much exploded.
14:14 Now take a look at this chart
14:15 from the New England Complex Systems Institute in Boston.
14:19 They took part of the food price spike from the chart
14:22 we were just looking at and put on that chart
14:26 all of the uprisings, riots, government overthrows,
14:30 and significant conflicts in the period.
14:33 What they found is that civil unrest exploded
14:37 when food prices spiked.
14:40 When food prices double or triple
14:42 over a short period of time,
14:43 those who can no longer survive sometimes resort to violence.
14:47 So with the destabilization of the natural world,
14:50 you'd expect to see more and more food price spikes
14:53 and more and more violence.
14:56 Now, if you haven't noticed food price spikes,
14:58 it's probably because you live in a developed country
15:01 where food is highly processed.
15:03 In your $4 box of corn flakes, for example,
15:06 the raw corn and sugar in there costs only a few cents.
15:10 So food prices triple, and all of a sudden you're paying $4.30
15:15 for your box of corn flakes-- you'll hardly even notice.
15:19 But if you're trying to live on $2.00 or $2.50 or less a day,
15:24 and you're barely making it,
15:25 and then the cost of your corn and your sugar triples,
15:29 well, you've got no other option but to be hungry.
15:32 ♪[somber music]♪
15:33 What we're seeing is a world
15:34 where the systems that support life and human society
15:37 are in accelerating decay.
15:40 So what we can reasonably expect is mounting resource pressure,
15:44 food shortages, water shortages,
15:47 as well as increasingly hostile weather, killer heat waves,
15:51 floods, extended droughts, and at the same time,
15:54 we can expect to see wave after wave of conflict,
15:58 with the fault lines most likely being between people groups
16:01 who already don't like each other
16:03 and between those who have resources and those who don't.
16:07 And of course, with food shortages and conflicts
16:10 always comes dramatically increased hunger and disease.
16:18 Now, let's compare what's coming upon the world
16:20 with what the Bible clearly says will happen in the final days
16:24 of earth's history.
16:25 Romans 8, verse 22 says that all of creation is groaning
16:30 because of sin-- Satan's rebellion--
16:33 and will be liberated from its decay by God.
16:36 Isaiah 51, verse 6 says,
16:38 "The earth will grow old like a garment."
16:42 The picture of earth in earth's last days is clear.
16:46 What started out as whole and strong and perfect
16:50 has become weak, torn, frayed, and full of holes.
16:57 But for the most detailed look at what's coming on the earth,
17:00 let's turn to the description
17:02 that Jesus Himself gave His disciples.
17:05 The account of what He said is included in Matthew chapter 24.
17:09 The setting is really interesting.
17:11 It's just before Jesus was captured,
17:14 put on trial, and crucified.
17:16 So He's down to the last few hours with His disciples,
17:19 and He knows it.
17:21 He meets with them privately, and they ask Him a question.
17:23 They say, "What will be the sign of Your coming,
17:26 and of the end of the age?"
17:28 Jesus gives them an incredibly detailed answer.
17:32 We're going to focus on three verses of that answer,
17:35 Matthew chapter 24, verses 6, 7, and 8:
17:40 "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
17:43 See that you are not troubled;
17:44 for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
17:50 For nation will rise against nation,
17:52 and kingdom against kingdom.
17:54 And there will be famines, pestilences,
17:56 and earthquakes in various places.
17:59 All these are the beginning of sorrows."
18:03 Back with more in just a moment.
18:05 ♪[music]♪
18:14 >>Announcer: As we look around the world,
18:16 it appears this planet is spinning wildly out of control.
18:20 The world now is a far cry
18:22 from the world of even just a few years ago,
18:24 leaving many people wondering if there's hope.
18:27 Our free offer today is "Hope for a Planet in Crisis."
18:31 To receive this free guide,
18:32 call 800-253-3000
18:36 or go online at iiwoffer.com.
18:40 Get "Hope for a Planet in Crisis."
18:45 [fire crackling, crickets chirping]
18:47 [coyote barking]
18:50 ♪[ominous music]♪
18:55 [insects chirping]
18:57 [camera rattling]
19:00 [wind blowing, insects buzzing, feet crunching grass]
19:03 [indistinct voices]
19:05 [wind blowing]
19:10 [insects buzzing at night]
19:11 ♪[music]♪
19:19 [dramatic sounds, heart thumping, creaking]
19:29 ♪[dramatic music]♪
19:31 [crowd cheering]
19:40 ♪[soft music]♪
19:54 >>John Bradshaw: July 1969.
19:57 And the world watched on
19:59 as American astronaut Neil Armstrong
20:02 took "one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind."
20:08 [record scratching sound]
20:09 Or did he?
20:10 Don't miss "Moon Landing,"
20:13 part 4 of It Is Written's series
20:15 "Conspiracy, More Than Just a Theory."
20:19 Travel to Titusville, Florida, and the Kennedy Space Center
20:22 and meet astronaut Dr. Don Thomas,
20:25 a veteran of four space shuttle missions.
20:28 Open the Bible and find out what you can really believe.
20:33 How can you know the Bible can be trusted
20:35 in today's modern world?
20:37 Increase your faith
20:38 and grow in your understanding of God's Word.
20:42 "Moon Landing,"
20:43 part of the series "Conspiracy, More Than Just a Theory."
20:48 Don't miss "Moon Landing"
20:50 on It Is Written TV.
20:55 >>John Bradshaw: Thanks for joining me today
20:57 on It Is Written.
20:58 The Bible verses we're looking at suggest to us
21:01 that we are coming towards a time of real trouble
21:03 for the earth.
21:04 Matthew 24, verse 6 says,
21:06 "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars."
21:08 Now, given the context of the passage,
21:11 it's telling us that in earth's last days
21:13 we'll see actual open fighting, a lot of regrettable situations
21:18 where there will be very real conflict.
21:21 Next we read, "See that you are not troubled;
21:24 for all these things must come to pass,
21:27 but the end is not yet."
21:30 Now, this is really important.
21:32 Remember, in this war between Christ and Satan,
21:36 not only is the character of God
21:39 pitted against the character of Satan,
21:41 but God's system of lovingkindness
21:44 is pitted against Satan's system of selfishness.
21:50 And typical of any politician,
21:53 Satan will try and spin any event into an affirmation
21:57 of his way and into a condemnation of God.
22:01 The whole miserable campaign ends when Satan's system
22:04 is in obvious failure,
22:06 and he's run out of excuses and accusations.
22:09 Until then, "These things must come to pass."
22:12 We have to live through the decline and failure
22:15 of Satan's system.
22:16 For how else could it be proven to be false?
22:19 How else could the charges against God's character
22:22 also be proven false?
22:24 Now, this is an important concept,
22:25 so let me say those words again:
22:28 "See that you are not troubled;
22:29 for all these things must come to pass,
22:32 but the end is not yet."
22:35 Now, the next verse is verse 7.
22:36 It starts out like this:
22:38 "Nation will rise against nation,
22:40 and kingdom against kingdom."
22:42 So we're going to see dramatically more conflict.
22:45 In regard to nation against nation,
22:47 that means conflict between states,
22:49 which are entities that have borders and a flag.
22:52 When it says kingdom against kingdom,
22:54 it refers to groups of affiliated people
22:56 who don't have borders and a flag.
22:59 So this could mean, say, Turks against the Kurds,
23:02 Hutus against Tutsis, Arabs against Jews.
23:04 And, of course, you can get
23:06 tremendously complicated situations going
23:08 where you have both kinds of conflicts at once.
23:11 States against states and people groups against people groups.
23:16 The rest of verse 7 says, "And there [will] be famines,
23:19 ...pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers [areas]."
23:23 The famine part is clear enough.
23:25 "Pestilences" refers to disease.
23:27 That can mean dramatic incidence of diseases that we know
23:31 or the resurgence of diseases that we thought we had beaten
23:35 or the spread of diseases which are new to us.
23:39 And, of course, we're clearly told we will see
23:41 more and more earthquakes, which are something
23:43 that appears to be happening right now in real time.
23:48 The last verse we're looking at, verse 8, says,
23:51 "All these are the beginning of sorrows."
23:54 The word there used means "birth pains,"
23:57 which means that, like birth pains,
23:58 it isn't just a one-off earthquake that means too much,
24:01 but it's that these things are becoming more frequent
24:04 and more intense the closer we get to the return of Jesus.
24:08 When we study the state of the earth as it is now
24:11 and in the near future,
24:13 and we compare that to what the Bible says will happen
24:15 during the last days of the earth,
24:17 there are some inescapable conclusions.
24:20 First, the two descriptions are essentially the same.
24:24 What the Bible calls the "last days of the earth"
24:27 have already begun.
24:28 We're living in the end times,
24:31 and we conclude that Satan's system is an utter catastrophe.
24:36 Which makes it all the more amazing that he's still running
24:38 his campaign and still fooling massive amounts of people.
24:44 The natural result of Satan's system is death,
24:48 disease, suffering, injustice, and strife.
24:53 But there's a way out of this nightmare
24:55 Satan's rebellion has caused.
24:57 If we turn our backs on Satan, if we leave his rebellion,
25:02 and if we accept the gift of salvation
25:04 that Jesus has provided us,
25:06 then we have a future ahead of us that's amazing.
25:10 If ever there was a time to pause and open our hearts
25:13 to Christ, it's now.
25:15 And the thing is, He's just waiting to come in.
25:19 Given where we are in history,
25:21 given that we've actually entered "the last days,"
25:24 we should be asking some truly critical questions, such as,
25:29 "What should I be doing?"
25:31 and "How does Satan's system end?"
25:33 and "What happens after that?"
25:35 Now, we'll answer those questions
25:37 next time we're together.
25:39 The greatest question we could wrestle with
25:41 is the question of where we stand with God.
25:44 How are things between you and God?
25:47 Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior
25:50 Now, that's a question that we can answer now.
25:56 >>John: Thank you for remembering that It Is Written
25:58 exists because of the kindness of people just like you.
26:01 To support this international life-changing ministry,
26:04 please call us now at 800-253-3000.
26:09 You can send your tax-deductible gift
26:10 to the address on your screen,
26:12 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
26:16 Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.
26:18 Our number again is 800-253-3000,
26:23 or you can visit us online at itiswritten.com.
26:27 >>John Bradshaw: Let's pray together,
26:28 and let's answer that question that we asked just a moment ago.
26:33 Our Father in heaven, we thank You today for Jesus.
26:36 We thank You that things can always be good
26:38 between us and You.
26:41 We thank You that Your heart is toward us.
26:43 We look around a world that's just going down, down, down.
26:47 Things seem to be spinning out of control.
26:50 But we know this is a time to be hopeful, if our hope is in You.
26:54 Friend, is your hope in the God of heaven?
26:56 Does the God of heaven have your heart?
26:59 Have you chosen Jesus as your Lord,
27:02 as your Savior?
27:04 If you do, open your heart to God now, would you?
27:06 Lord, our hearts are open;
27:08 our arms are stretched out towards You.
27:11 Take hold of our hand, keep us, and never let us go.
27:14 We know that these are some of the very final days
27:17 of earth's history.
27:19 And we thank You that Jesus is coming back soon.
27:22 As we've offered You our hearts, we know that we shall be ready,
27:25 not by works of righteousness which we have done,
27:28 but because in Your mercy You save us.
27:31 Now, keep us, we pray, now and eternally,
27:35 in Jesus' name.
27:37 Amen.
27:38 Thank you so much for joining me.
27:39 I'm looking forward to seeing you again next time.
27:42 Until then, remember:
27:44 "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone,
27:48 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
27:53 ♪[theme music]♪


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Revised 2019-11-26