Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP200829S
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00:21 How lovely is Your dwelling place
00:27 Oh, Lord Almighty 00:31 For my soul longs 00:33 And even faints for You 00:40 For here my heart is satisfied 00:46 Within Your presence 00:49 I sing beneath the shadow 00:53 Of Your wings 00:58 Better is one day In Your courts 01:01 Better is one day In Your house 01:03 Better is one day In Your courts 01:05 Than thousands elsewhere 01:08 Better is one day In Your courts 01:10 Better is one day in Your house 01:13 Better is one day In Your courts 01:15 Than thousands elsewhere Than thousands elsewhere 01:27 One thing I ask 01:30 And I would seek 01:34 To see Your beauty 01:37 To find You in the place 01:41 Your glory dwells 01:46 Better is one day In Your courts 01:49 Better is one day in Your house 01:51 Better is one day In Your courts 01:53 Than thousands elsewhere 01:56 Better is one day In Your courts 01:58 Better is one day in Your house 02:01 Better is one day In Your courts 02:03 Than thousands elsewhere 02:05 Better is one day Better is one day 02:10 Better is one day Than thousands elsewhere 02:15 Better is one day 02:17 Better is one day Better is one day 02:22 Than thousands elsewhere 02:25 Better is one day Better is one day 02:30 Better is one day Than thousands elsewhere 02:34 Better is one day Better is one day 02:39 Better is one day Than thousands elsewhere 02:44 Better is one day Better is one day 02:49 Better is one day Than thousands elsewhere 02:54 Than thousands elsewhere 03:41 In Christ alone 03:43 My hope is found He is my light My strength 03:50 My song This Cornerstone 03:55 This solid ground 03:58 Firm through the Fiercest Drought and storm 04:03 What heights of love 04:06 What depths of peace When fears are stilled 04:12 When strivings cease My Comforter, 04:18 My all in all 04:21 Here in the love Of Christ I stand 04:29 In Christ alone 04:32 Who took on flesh 04:35 Fullness of God In the helpless Babe 04:40 This gift of love 04:43 And righteousness 04:46 Scorned by the ones He came to save 04:51 'Til on that cross As Jesus died 04:57 The wrath of God Was satisfied 05:02 For every sin On Him was laid 05:09 Here in the death Of Christ I live 05:36 There in the ground 05:39 His body lay Light of the world 05:44 By darkness slain 05:47 Then bursting forth In glorious day 05:53 Up from the grave He rose again 05:58 And as He stands in victory 06:04 Sin's curse has lost Its grip on me 06:09 For I am His and He is mine 06:15 Bought with the precious Blood Of Christ 06:23 On Christ The Solid Rock I stand 06:28 All other ground is sinking sand 06:33 All other ground Is sinking sand 06:43 On Christ The Solid Rock I stand 06:48 All other ground is sinking sand 06:53 All other ground is sinking sand 07:02 No guilt in life No fear in death 07:08 This is the power Of Christ in me 07:12 From life's first cry To final breath 07:18 Jesus commands my destiny 07:23 No pow'r of hell No scheme of man 07:29 Can ever pluck Me From His hand 07:34 'Til He returns 07:37 And calls me home 07:40 Here in the power Of Christ I'll stand. 08:12 Amen. 08:13 The song started sing in Christ alone 08:16 our hope is found. 08:18 So the ground around us might be shaky, 08:21 the world around us might be shaky, 08:23 but on Christ, 08:24 the solid rock that we can stand on, 08:27 we stand in His power and we stand in His love. 08:30 So that means, let us praise Him. 08:32 Let us cry, holy, holy, holy, to the Lamb of God. 08:38 So I invite you to stand with us 08:40 as we sing the song. 08:48 We fall down We lay our crowns 08:54 At the feet of Jesus 09:01 The greatness Of His mercy and love 09:07 At the feet of Jesus 09:12 And we cry holy, holy, holy 09:19 We cry holy, holy, holy 09:26 We cry holy, 09:28 Holy, holy 09:33 Is the lamb 09:41 We fall down We lay our crowns 09:47 At the feet of Jesus 09:54 The greatness Of His mercy and love 10:00 At the feet of Jesus 10:05 And we cry holy, 10:08 Holy, holy 10:12 We cry holy, 10:15 Holy, holy 10:19 We cry holy, 10:22 Holy, holy 10:26 Is the lamb 10:32 And we cry holy, 10:36 holy, holy 10:40 We cry holy, 10:43 holy, holy 10:47 We cry holy, 10:50 holy, holy 10:55 Is the lamb 11:13 I'd like to welcome a good friend of mine, 11:14 Brian Manley, 11:16 Professor of Art and Design at Middle East University 11:19 in Beirut, Lebanon. 11:20 Brian, welcome. 11:21 We're glad to have you with us today. 11:23 Thank you very much Glenn. 11:25 You know, Brian, 11:26 Middle East University has a special place, 11:28 a connection with Andrews University 11:29 and Pioneer Memorial Church, 11:31 because many times church members from here 11:33 and students have visited on our friendship teams 11:36 every year as we go over. 11:38 And you have a connection to Pioneer Memorial Church. 11:41 You first came on this campus as a young man 11:43 if I remember, right? 11:45 That's right. 11:46 Late grade school and most of my high school years 11:47 I was a member of Pioneer Memorial Church. 11:50 And now you're art professor in Beirut, Lebanon, 11:52 Middle East University. 11:54 You were there 11:55 when this terrible explosion took place. 11:58 Could you describe that for us again? 12:00 Well, for me personally, 12:02 I was just heading home from the office. 12:04 And it's about 6 o'clock in the evening, 12:06 and I climbed into the elevator. 12:09 And as I was getting the elevator of our apartment, 12:13 I stepped out for just a second. 12:16 And the delay was critical 12:17 because the blast which a few seconds later 12:22 exploded window and door in our apartment 12:25 and would have just embedded me with shards. 12:29 I was in the elevator 12:31 and just pausing for a minute to pull something in 12:34 and there was a massive explosion. 12:38 And when about the time 12:40 I got upstairs a few seconds later, 12:43 I could see glass everywhere 12:45 in the front room of our apartment. 12:48 And this was the case 12:50 of hundreds and thousands of people across Lebanon 12:53 and many of them were in their residence 12:56 when the glass shattered from that huge explosion. 12:59 So the largest, 13:01 we think peacetime explosion in human history took place 13:05 as this explosion ripped through the city of Beirut. 13:09 Hundreds of thousands of people left homeless, 13:12 several thousand injured, a few hundred were killed. 13:16 But the devastation is everywhere. 13:19 I had to go downtown that evening to with my wife 13:24 to pick up someone who was stranded downtown 13:26 and the devastation was unbelievable. 13:27 There's so many bleeding people, 13:29 suffering people and just broken homes. 13:33 So describe a little bit 13:34 the kind of damage to the buildings, 13:37 the streets and so forth, please? 13:39 Yes, anything that was glass 13:42 pretty much broken 13:43 in more probably more than a three kilometer radius. 13:47 So many windows, facades of buildings, 13:49 banks were completely, 13:51 any glass facade to a building was totally destroyed. 13:56 There were places we were driving through 13:57 probably two or three inches worth of glass 13:59 on the main roads going through downtown. 14:02 People slipping and falling on the glass like it was ice. 14:06 It's just, it was a horrible nightmare, 14:10 real nightmare. 14:11 What has been the response 14:13 of the Adventist Church community to this tragedy? 14:18 Yes, we have a nice coordinated group of students 14:22 who are partnering with ADRA 14:25 to help clean up our local church members, 14:28 our students, 14:30 and we're also partnering with some local NGOs 14:33 to just do whatever each community needs 14:37 and work with other groups of young people 14:39 who are helping to clean up, 14:41 they're just going door to door 14:43 helping people try to rearrange their life, 14:46 get rid of all the glass 14:47 that's embedded throughout the apartments down there 14:50 and meet people's needs. 14:53 The university suffered some damage 14:55 but it wasn't extensive. 14:57 We're thankful for that. 14:58 But many of the students who come from off campus 15:02 probably had some suffering loss of homes 15:05 or family members or jobs. 15:07 Yeah, that's right. 15:10 Now, the Lebanese economy was already in trouble. 15:13 And the Coronavirus has multiplied that. 15:17 And now this catastrophe 15:19 has placed a huge economic burden on the country. 15:23 The church family there has been providing food, 15:28 ADRA is assisting, there's many NGOs. 15:31 What would be one thing 15:33 that you would say is most needed at this point? 15:38 It's rebuilding the future lives 15:41 and keeping the young people 15:43 from missing too much 15:47 of their educational experience. 15:49 And we're thankful that here at Pioneer Memorial Church, 15:52 we have an impact for Lebanon fund 15:53 that people here can assist you 15:55 in that process and partner with you. 15:58 Young people need hope and encouragement at this time, 16:00 don't they? 16:02 They do. 16:03 So there's a need for prayer and for carrying on your cases. 16:07 Anything else you would want to add? 16:09 I would just like to thank you Pastor Russell 16:12 and also the extended church family 16:16 and the body there at Pioneer Memorial 16:18 and in that community for praying, 16:20 lifting up Lebanon, 16:22 lifting up this institution here. 16:24 And for all those who have donated, 16:27 who've sacrificed, 16:29 who are reaching out and concerned. 16:31 Thank you. Thank you very much. 16:32 It's encouraging, it's inspiring. 16:34 It is helping everyone to move forward together here. 16:38 It's a wonderful thing to be part of the family of God 16:40 globally, as well as locally. 16:42 Amen. 16:44 God bless you, Brian. 16:45 Thank you. 16:51 The Andrews University singers are going to sing a song 16:54 entitled "Precious Lord." 16:55 It's written on a familiar hymn tune 16:57 written by the end of 19th century 17:02 by George Allen. 17:05 The lyrics were written in 1938 by the Reverend Thomas Dorsey. 17:11 And they were written out of extreme bereavement 17:13 and grief over the death of his wife, 17:16 while giving child birth in the midst of childbirth, 17:19 the child also died. 17:21 So out of that pain and suffering 17:24 came this particular song. 17:26 Then in 1968, 17:29 people added another context 17:32 to this piece of bereavement and hope. 17:37 And you will hear quotes 17:38 from the Martin Luther King's speech 17:41 that he made on the March on Washington 57 years ago, 17:45 where you will hear, 17:47 "I have been to the mountain, 17:48 I've seen the Promised Land." 17:51 You will hear with conviction says, 17:54 "I have dreamed a great dream 17:57 that thy love will rule our land." 18:00 And then finally, 18:01 "For that day 18:03 when all flesh joins the glory thou has planned. 18:07 Precious Lord, take my hand." 18:34 Precious Lord 18:39 Take my hand 18:43 Bring me home 18:48 Through the night 18:53 Through the dark 18:58 Through the storm 19:02 To thy light 19:10 I have been 19:14 To the mount 19:19 I have seen 19:23 The Promised Land 19:29 Precious Lord 19:34 Precious Lord 19:38 Take my hand 19:48 Precious Lord 19:53 Take my hand 19:57 Bring thy child 20:01 Home at last 20:05 Where the strife 20:09 And the pain 20:14 all are past 20:22 I have dreamed 20:26 A great dream 20:31 That love 20:35 Shall rule our land 20:41 Precious Lord 20:46 Precious Lord 20:51 Take my hand 21:02 Precious Lord 21:08 Take my hand 21:14 Take thy child 21:19 Unto Thee 21:24 With the dream 21:29 Of a world 21:33 That is free 21:41 For that day 21:45 When all flesh 21:50 Joins the glory 21:55 Thou hast planned 22:05 Precious Lord 22:12 Precious Lord 22:17 Take my hand Take my hand 22:45 Our scripture reading today is found in 1 Peter 2:13-16. 22:52 And we're reading from the NIV version. 22:55 "Submit yourselves 22:57 for the Lord's sake to every human authority: 23:00 whether to the emperor, 23:02 as the supreme authority, or to governors, 23:05 who are sent by him 23:07 to punish those who do wrong 23:09 and to commend those who do right." 23:13 "For it is God's will 23:14 that by doing good 23:16 you should silence 23:17 the ignorant talk of foolish people. 23:20 Live as free people, 23:22 do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil, 23:27 live as God's slaves." 23:33 Precious Lord, take our hand, that's our prayer. 23:37 We mean it, 23:39 so beautifully rendered by our singers. 23:41 Good to have the students back. 23:45 We have a few moments left in worship, 23:47 we've been much at worship already. 23:50 Take these moments in Your Word, let it be clear. 23:54 Hide the noises inside of us 23:56 so that the voice of Jesus' spirit, 23:58 we can hear Him best of all, 24:00 we pray in Christ's name. 24:03 Amen. 24:06 I read an old book this summer, 24:09 pulled it off my shelf. 24:10 Read it again. 24:12 It's Charles Dickens' classic, "A Tale of Two Cities." 24:17 Set between London and Paris 24:19 during that awful, awful French Revolution. 24:24 Look it, I'm preaching to the choir now 24:26 for sure because you read the book, 24:27 I understand that. 24:28 I even believe 24:30 that you remember the first line, 24:32 the opening words of Dickens' classic. 24:36 It was the best of times. 24:39 It was the worst of times. 24:42 Let's put that on the screen. 24:43 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 24:47 Somebody printed a T-shirt, probably an English major, 24:50 I'm guessing, printed a T-shirt with these words on it. 24:56 I wish you would make up your mind 24:57 Mr. Dickens, 24:59 was it the best of times, or the worst of times, 25:01 it could scarcely have been both. 25:05 But as far as the French Revolution is concerned, 25:08 it was both, the best and the worst. 25:11 And as far as America is concerned, right now, 25:14 it is the best of times, it is the worst of times. 25:19 And nobody knows what's coming next. 25:23 Trying to scare me, Dwight? 25:26 Just connecting with you, I assure you. 25:31 We're looking, watching, 25:34 listening, praying. 25:39 But I want to take a moment with you 25:42 and explore that story of France. 25:45 I want us to go back to France, the French Revolution, 25:47 they call it the Red Terror. 25:50 The key players in Dickens' book 25:53 are trapped in the web, 25:54 between those two cities. 25:57 Not just to relive France's story, 25:59 but perhaps so that we might better know America's story, 26:03 and that we might pray 26:07 for the ending that's coming. 26:11 That it may not be what we think it could be. 26:16 So let's start with a story of France. 26:19 Back in the late 1700s, 26:21 that's when the French Revolution took place. 26:23 They had three classes in society, 26:27 they called them estates. 26:28 All right, they had the first estate 26:29 that would be the clergy, they had the second estate, 26:31 that would be the nobility, they had the third estate, 26:34 that would be the bourgeoisie, 26:36 and then on down to the peasants 26:37 and down to the very bottom of the rung. 26:40 So I got a book in my library 26:42 called "Survey of European Civilization." 26:44 Let's put a few words from that book 26:46 on the screen here. 26:48 "The feudal stratification of society into three classes," 26:52 back then, 26:54 "had become unjust 26:55 and illogical by the 18th century." 26:57 So we're talking the late 1700s. All right. 26:59 "In France, a country with perhaps 25 million people," 27:02 back then, 27:04 "the clergy and nobility 27:05 constituted less than 2% of the population, 27:09 yet they enjoyed the income 27:10 from the richest lands of the kingdom, 27:13 were exempted from the most onerous taxes, 27:15 and occupied by right of rank the highest 27:18 and best paid offices in the government, 27:20 the army and the church." 27:23 You don't have to be an economist. 27:25 You don't have to be a sociologist to understand 27:28 that with that huge chasm 27:31 between the haves and the have nots, 27:33 you are set up for social unrest, 27:40 social unrest to be banned. 27:43 Because you have this, 27:44 you have this, this bourgeoisie, 27:47 that's the middle class, 27:48 and then you go down from them, 27:50 to the artisans 27:51 and the servants and the peasants 27:53 and then you got the thieves 27:54 and the vagabonds on the highway. 27:55 To a man and woman, 27:57 everybody despised that fiscal system. 28:03 I mean, you're taking the poorest, 28:05 and you're placing on their shoulders 28:07 the burden of taxation. 28:11 You can't do that. 28:13 Open your Bible with me to the Book of James. 28:16 James Chapter 5, James, the step brother of Jesus, 28:19 who wrote this little epistle 28:21 right after the Book of Hebrews, 28:22 it's little hard to find James, 28:23 if you're in a hurry, 28:25 so it's right after the Book of Hebrews, 28:26 I want to go there. 28:28 I want to just read a few words without comment to you. 28:31 You got a bright mind, 28:32 you wouldn't be at Andrews University 28:33 if you didn't. 28:35 I want to think about these words, 28:36 James Chapter 5. 28:39 I'll be in the New International Version, 28:42 this is what I usually preach out of. 28:44 Drop down to verse 3, 28:45 talking about speaking truth to power. 28:48 James is absolutely unintimidated and he does. 28:51 Here we go. 28:52 James 5:3, 28:54 "Your gold and silver are corroded. 28:57 Their corrosion will testify against you 28:59 and eat your flesh like fire. 29:01 You have hoarded wealth in the last days." 29:05 Come on, where is it on the screen, 29:07 in the last days. 29:09 He's talking about life where he's at. 29:12 But he's looking ahead, 29:13 you have hoarded wealth in the last days. 29:16 Look verse 4, 29:18 "The wages you failed to pay the workers 29:20 who mowed your fields are crying out against you. 29:22 The cries of the harvesters 29:23 have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 29:26 Lord, Sabbath oath, Lord of angel armies. 29:28 Verse 5, 29:29 "You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 29:33 You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 29:35 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, 29:37 who was not opposing you." 29:40 Wow. 29:42 That's French Revolution written all over it. 29:47 But to be fair, 29:49 it is also America 29:51 on the eve of who knows what, anymore. 29:57 The bold American writer Ellen White 30:00 took the speaking truth to power words in James 5. 30:04 And she says, listen up. 30:08 Put her words on the screen here. 30:09 The scripture is James 5, 30:11 describe the condition of the world 30:13 just before, 30:14 you see these two words, just before. 30:19 So we just read our picture. 30:22 "They describe the world 30:23 just before Christ Second Coming of the men 30:25 who by robbery and extortion are amassing great riches, 30:28 colossal fortune," 30:30 she describes it elsewhere in that same book. 30:32 "James the apostle pictures the greed and oppression 30:35 that will prevail. 30:37 This is a picture of what exists." 30:39 What's that last word? 30:41 This is a picture of what exists today 30:43 on this planet in this nation, 30:46 just like France 30:47 on the eve of the French Revolution, 30:49 the Red Terror. 30:54 Now, Dwight, give me a break. 30:57 Little bit of hyperbole from you. 30:58 I can see. 31:00 It's not that way. 31:02 Are you serious, it's not that way? 31:07 Well, Rolling Stone magazine. 31:09 Anybody heard of that magazine? 31:10 Of course, you have. 31:11 Rolling Stone magazine 31:13 this month 31:15 produced a stunning withering critique 31:19 of our own nation, 31:21 the US of A this month's copy on the screen right now. 31:27 "In the 1950s, 31:29 marginal tax rates for the wealthy were 90%." 31:32 Wow, they paid that much tax? 31:34 They did. 31:35 "The salaries of CEOs 31:37 back then were on average just 20 times 31:40 that of their mid management employees. 31:42 Today, 31:44 the base pay of those at the top is commonly 31:46 400 times that of their salaried staff, 31:51 with many earning orders of magnitude 31:54 more in stock options and perks. 31:57 The elite 1% of Americans today 32:01 control $30 trillion of assets 32:04 while the bottom half of America 32:06 have more debt than assets." 32:09 Keep reading. 32:10 "The three richest Americans have more money 32:12 than the poorest 160 million of their countrymen." 32:16 Keep reading. 32:18 "Fully a fifth of American households 32:19 have zero or negative net worth 32:21 a figure that rises from 20% to 37% 32:25 for black families." 32:26 Keep reading. 32:28 "The median wealth of black households 32:29 is a tenth that of whites. 32:31 The vast majority of Americans, 32:33 white, black and brown are two paychecks removed 32:36 from bankruptcy." 32:38 Keep reading. 32:39 "Though living in a nation 32:40 that celebrates itself as the wealthiest in history, 32:43 most Americans today live on a high wire 32:45 with no safety net to brace a fall. " 32:50 Don't you tell me 32:52 that the eve of the French Revolution 32:54 is not what we're living with today in America. 33:02 What was it that took France down? 33:04 It was that economic system with its obscene divide 33:07 between the haves and the have nots 33:10 that incited the bottom of the society 33:13 to band together and move to anarchy 33:16 in the streets of the land. 33:21 And they took down the clergy. 33:24 They took down the throne 33:26 and they took down the nobility. 33:30 Stormed the Bastille. 33:33 Red Terror, 33:35 they did it through 33:36 what the French called Madame la Guillotine, 33:40 la Guillotine. 33:44 A Tale of Two Cities 33:47 is a story of people caught in the web 33:50 of that tragic, tragic moment long ago. 33:56 And we thought it was the story of France. 34:00 And it feels like the story of America. 34:06 America. 34:09 America. 34:12 God shed His grace on thee... 34:23 It's a sad song, isn't it? 34:28 And crown thy good with brotherhood, 34:34 from sea to shining sea. 34:38 Mercy. 34:40 Question. 34:43 Well, what brought France down, bring America down? 34:46 Answer. 34:48 Probably not. 34:50 It'll be worse. 34:53 And yet how pristine America's storied beginning was, 34:58 we can find that beginning right here in the apocalypse, 35:02 our prophecy for today. 35:03 Turn out to the Book of Revelation, 35:05 Revelation Chapter 13, middle of your book, 35:08 Revelation Chapter 13. 35:11 Here it goes, just one line. 35:13 Revelation 13:11. 35:16 "Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth. 35:22 It had two horns like a lamb, 35:25 but it spoke like a dragon." 35:29 Welcome to the apocalyptic world 35:32 of scary and weird beasts. 35:37 Daniel was full of them. 35:39 Revelation is full of them. 35:41 But those scary and weird beasts 35:43 are apocalyptic symbols designed to cloak and hide, 35:47 except for the careful student of Holy Scripture. 35:50 A nation, a kingdom, a power and institution. 35:55 So what's this earth beast, 35:57 as we call it, because it came out of the earth? 35:59 What is this kingdom? What is this nation? 36:01 What is this power? 36:03 Fortunately, there are enough clues 36:05 embedded here for us to come to a conclusion. 36:08 Let's just run a few clues by. 36:09 Clue number one. 36:11 We've just read it, it sprang up. 36:14 Well, it didn't read it that way. 36:15 But an albino, 36:17 which is the Greek word that John uses 36:18 is the same word Matthew uses 36:19 when Jesus tells us parable of the sower, 36:22 and He threw some seed down, 36:23 and the fissile sprang up overnight and just, 36:28 that's the word. 36:30 So whatever this power is, we don't know yet. 36:32 But whatever this power is, 36:33 it suddenly is on the stage of human history. 36:37 Boom, it sprang up. 36:38 Clue number two. 36:42 And it sprang up from the earth. 36:47 Now that's a key point, 36:48 the earth because you see, they're two beasts. 36:50 There are two beasts here in Revelation 13. 36:52 There's a first beast. 36:54 And if you look at the first version, 36:55 we're going to have another study on this 36:57 because America and this beast, they're tied. 37:00 But this beast, ferocious and roaring, 37:03 comes dripping out of the sea, 37:06 it comes out of the water, 37:08 the second beast comes out of the earth. 37:10 And the angel comes to John in the Apocalypse 17:5 37:14 and he says, "Listen, John, 37:15 I need to tell you what the water represents." 37:17 So let's take a look. 37:18 You know, you may have to turn there. 37:19 "Then the angel said to me, 37:21 'The waters you saw where the prostitute sits," 37:23 we'll meet her in next Sabbath, 37:24 "are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 37:27 "All right, 37:28 so water represents the thoroughfare multitude, 37:33 people peopled crossroads of the world. 37:37 The first beast, 37:38 the sea beast comes from the water. 37:41 But the second beast comes not from the sea, 37:42 but from the land. 37:44 What's the land? 37:45 It's the antithesis, it's the opposite of sea. 37:47 So if the sea is people, people, people everywhere, 37:50 the land would be no people. 37:51 Where is everybody? 37:53 No thoroughfare of Europe. 37:56 No, no, no, no, no, 37:57 it's just earth and wilderness and that's where it comes from. 38:02 So what do we know so far? 38:03 Well, what we know is that there is this earth beast, 38:07 it springs up into existence. 38:09 Whoa, and then it springs up where everybody isn't, 38:13 not the people of Europe, 38:14 not in the crossroads of those hears. 38:18 Oh there's a third clue. Let's put it on. 38:20 Clue number three. 38:21 "Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth." 38:25 That word then, 38:27 is an important word 38:28 because when you see the word then, 38:29 what do you know immediately? 38:31 There's something before, 38:32 there has to be 38:33 because there's some kind of sequence going on here. 38:35 First, there was the sea beast, 38:37 then there was the earth beast. 38:40 Now we need to find out 38:42 what's happening just before the word then. 38:44 And if you come back to verse 9, 38:46 this is a Revelation 13, 38:47 just go back to verse 9, 38:49 "Whoever has ears, let them hear." 38:51 Verse 10, "If anyone is to go into captivity, 38:54 into captivity, they will go. 38:56 If anyone is to be killed with a sword, 38:58 with the sword they will be killed. 39:00 This calls for patient, 39:02 endurance and faithfulness 39:04 on the part of God's people." 39:11 So what's happened 39:12 just before this earth beast springs into existence? 39:16 Well, there was some power 39:18 that was taking people into captivity 39:20 and suddenly that power is taken into captivity. 39:22 There was some power that was wielding the sword 39:25 and with blood flowing, eliminating opposition, 39:28 and now that power 39:30 is mortally wounded by the sword. 39:32 So what's going on here scholars, 39:34 Bible scholars are quite agreed that the sea beast's power 39:40 is the power that ruled the crossroads, 39:42 the people thoroughfares of the Western world 39:46 back then of Europe. 39:48 For over a millennium 39:50 that power during the Dark and Middle Ages 39:54 wielded crushing power. 39:57 Here's the endurance of those who survived. 40:01 Yeah. 40:04 And that power, suddenly, according to this, 40:07 that we just read, 40:09 that power that decimated God's faithful, 40:12 who were wielding at the price, 40:13 the supreme price of their own life, 40:15 to stand in the face of that power and say, 40:17 I will not yield to your command. 40:22 God bless them. 40:24 That power got wounded. 40:28 Wouldn't you know it? 40:30 Napoleon Bonaparte, 40:31 a product of the French Revolution 40:33 gave the orders to wound that power, 40:36 only he didn't know he was wounding the power, 40:38 he took the pope captive. 40:42 Scholars believe that at that time, 40:47 at the end of the 1700s, 40:50 1798, in fact is when the pope was taken captive, 40:53 at the end of the 1700s, 40:56 then not only did I see a sea beast, 40:59 I now see an earth beast 41:00 that sprang up out of nowhere at that time. 41:03 So what do we know now? 41:04 We know that it's sprang up, 41:06 we know that it came out of nowhere. 41:08 It's a desolate land somewhere, few people on it. 41:11 We know that it came into existence 41:18 far from the thoroughfares, 41:19 the crowded thoroughfares of Europe. 41:22 And we know that it did it at the end of the 1700s. 41:24 Come on, who is this? 41:26 Well, there's one more clue. 41:27 Let's find out, one more clue, number four and it, 41:30 this earth beast had two horns like a lamb. 41:35 Everybody knows that reads the Apocalypse, 41:37 that the lamb is the Hero, capital H, Hero of Revelation. 41:42 You know, the lamb is? Of course, you do. 41:44 The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, 41:45 the Lamb that was slain 41:47 from the foundation of the world. 41:48 That line appears three lines 41:50 before what we are reading right now, 41:52 the lamb that was slain. 41:53 Who is it? That's our King. 41:55 That's King Jesus. 41:58 That's the savior of the human race. 42:00 That's the Lamb. 42:02 And isn't this amazing? Now, look it. 42:03 Let's put that back on the screen 42:05 for a moment, please. 42:06 I wanna see number four on the screen, 42:07 that this earth beast power looks like a lamb. 42:12 It has two horns like a lamb. 42:14 It's young, 42:15 because only lamb ewes have those horns. 42:18 So it's a young lamb. 42:20 It's a gentle lamb. 42:21 It reflects the lamb, 42:23 the lamb slain 42:24 from the foundation of the world. 42:26 It embraces the Christian, the Judeo-Christian values, 42:30 it embraces it. 42:31 It looks like, 42:33 you could almost say it's a Christian nation. 42:38 Wow, what's going on here? 42:41 The apocalyptic classic, The Great Controversy. 42:44 If you don't have that book in your library, 42:45 go to amazon.com, 42:47 have it sent to you in a couple days, 42:48 you'll have it. 42:49 That book is worth reading at this time 42:51 in the journey of this planet. 42:54 All right, the apocalyptic classic, 42:55 Great Controversy. 42:57 Let's go to that, and share a few lines from it. 43:00 "As the tidings spread 43:02 through the countries of Europe, 43:03 of a land where every man 43:05 might enjoy the fruit of his own labor 43:07 and obey the convictions of his own conscience, 43:10 thousands flocked to the shores of the," 43:12 what are these two words here? 43:14 "The New World." What's the new world? 43:16 Everybody knows what the new world is. 43:18 And they were flocking by the thousands 43:20 leaving the old thoroughfares, 43:22 the crowded thoroughfares of Europe behind? 43:24 Where are they going? 43:26 Let's keep reading here. 43:27 "The Bible," in that earth beast land, 43:29 "was held as the foundation of faith, 43:31 the source of wisdom 43:33 and the charter of liberty." 43:34 Oh, wow, keep reading. 43:36 "Its principles were diligently taught in the home, 43:39 in the school and in the church, 43:40 and its fruits were manifest in thrift, 43:43 in intelligence and purity and temperance." 43:46 Now, I kind of put the emphasis on this one, 43:49 "It was demonstrated," by this earth beast land, 43:53 "that the principles of the Bible 43:55 are the surest safeguards of national greatness." 44:00 You want to make America great again? 44:02 There you go. That's it. 44:06 That's how you do it. 44:08 You go back to a book that once was the foundation. 44:13 Our declaration of independence 44:15 and our Constitution are not based on the Bible, 44:17 but they've taken the Christian-Judeo values, 44:20 and they've embraced that. 44:24 Wow. 44:25 Bible scholars agree 44:27 that this earth beast nation power 44:28 that sprang up in the late 1700s 44:31 far away from Europe 44:32 with an openness to the great Judeo-Christian principles 44:36 of the Holy Scripture, 44:37 many are agreed 44:38 that only one power in history 44:40 could possibly claim that identity, 44:43 the United States of America. 44:46 Hands down. 44:48 God bless America. 44:54 How's it go? 44:57 I have to look at my notes to figure out. 44:59 Land that I love, 45:04 stand beside her and guide her 45:06 through the night with a light from above. 45:08 Isn't that something the song that loves to be? 45:12 Particularly post 9/11 and America's got, 45:14 some people said this ought to be the new national anthem. 45:17 It's all about God blessing America, 45:19 guess what He did. 45:21 The writer of the Great Controversy 45:23 in another place wrote this one line. 45:25 And I want you to see it right here. 45:26 The Lord has done more for the United States 45:28 than for any other country 45:30 upon which the sun shines. 45:32 I understand to whom I'm speaking, 45:34 I understand that there are people here 45:35 from every nation on earth, 45:37 practically, certainly from every continent, 45:38 I understand 45:40 that but the point is, you're here. 45:43 You're here for a reason. 45:45 There was something here that you wanted. 45:51 More than any other nation on the planet, 45:52 God has poured out His blessings 45:56 on the United States of America. 45:57 Ah, not so quick. 46:00 There is Jesus' divine 46:01 principle of judgment that cannot be avoided. 46:04 "To whom much is given," what's that next line? 46:08 "Much will be required." You can't avoid it. 46:14 And on the Judgment Day, 46:16 God Almighty 46:17 is going to call the nations of earth forward. 46:19 And He's going to say America come stand before me right now. 46:23 I want to ask you, 46:24 what did you do with all those gifts 46:27 more than any nation upon which the sun has shine? 46:30 I blessed you, 46:31 what have you done with what I gave you? 46:36 And what shall we answer Him then? 46:39 What shall we say? 46:44 Wealth of the ages 46:46 in American hands right now. 46:51 Oh, wow. 46:53 This is the breeding ground 46:56 of the French Revolution all over again. 47:02 Let me run them by you 47:03 as bullet points now 47:05 from Rolling Stone magazine this month. 47:06 Here we go. 47:08 Bullet number one, 47:09 the elite 1% of Americans control $30 trillion of assets, 47:12 while the bottom half of America 47:14 have more debt than assets. 47:16 Bullet number two, 47:17 the three richest Americans have more money 47:19 than the poorest 160 million of their countrymen. 47:21 Bullet number three, 47:23 fully a fifth of American households 47:25 have zero or negative worth net worth, 47:27 a figure that rises from 20% to 37% for black families. 47:32 Bullet number four, 47:33 the median wealth of black households 47:35 is a tenth of that of whites. 47:37 Bullet number five, 47:38 the vast majority of Americans, 47:40 white, black, brown 47:41 are two paychecks removed from bankruptcy. 47:43 Though living in a nation 47:45 that celebrates itself as the wealthiest in history, 47:47 most Americans live on a high wire 47:49 with no safety net to embrace the fall. 47:53 May I ask you, 47:55 how can God go on blessing this nation 47:59 with numbers like these? 48:03 You tell me? 48:06 Would you click your tongue and say, 48:09 well, that's just the brakes. 48:11 And I got the brakes. 48:19 All the blessings He's poured out on this nation, 48:21 and they end up in a relatively few hands. 48:23 You know what? 48:25 That's a recipe for anger, anarchy, rebellion and revolt. 48:28 And now all the talk we are hearing about 48:30 the iron fist of law and order 48:32 will not heal the moral sickness of America, 48:36 you cannot force healing, 48:38 you cannot force America to be saved. 48:47 We have been given much. 48:49 And we who have now 48:51 shut the rest of the world out and hoard our riches 48:53 for our own pleasure and profit. 48:55 Well, inside our closed off borders, 48:58 there are the poor, 49:00 there are the needy, 49:03 who hunger just like France before the revolution, 49:07 the haves keep having more and more 49:10 until the downtrodden 49:11 rise up and storm the Bastille. 49:17 I'm just saying. 49:20 You don't need to be a rocket scientist now. 49:24 Watch, listen, pray. 49:33 There's only one moral solution. 49:38 There is another solution, it's political. 49:41 I'll talk about that in a split second. 49:44 But there is a moral solution. 49:46 This is the one I would choose. 49:49 And the moral solution is for this nation 49:52 to turn back to the Creator God 49:55 that superintended its founding 250 years ago. 49:59 Turn back. 50:01 What do we have in the land today? 50:04 But George McCready Price the anti-Genesis apostasy 50:08 has turned our schools into godless institutions 50:11 from kindergarten to graduate school. 50:13 No more God, no more Creator, 50:15 no more tolerance of Scripture. 50:17 That was precisely 50:18 the fruit of the French Revolution. 50:19 No more God, no more Creator, 50:21 no more tolerance of Scripture. 50:23 And what's the result? 50:25 In France, during the revolution, 50:28 marriage was reduced to a civil covenant 50:30 between anybody. 50:33 What's the result in America today? 50:35 A civil covenant between anybody. 50:39 In France, 50:41 the guillotine ran red 50:42 with a slaughter of innocent lives. 50:44 Why should atheism care? 50:45 It doesn't care. 50:47 Why not? 50:49 In America, 50:50 millions of innocent children before birth 50:57 are snuffed out, 51:00 some after birth tragically. 51:03 Why should atheism care? 51:05 It's just a growth. 51:07 Get rid of it. 51:09 What happens to a country when like France, 51:13 it embraces atheism? 51:15 It's tragic to recall. 51:19 That's where we are. 51:23 No more God, no more Creator, 51:27 no more tolerance of Scripture. 51:31 Something has happened to the soul of America 51:33 and it is not good, friends. 51:35 It is not good. 51:37 I read Jon Meacham's book, "The soul of America," 51:40 subtitle "The Battle for our Better Angels." 51:42 Pulitzer Prize winning historian that he is, 51:44 he chronicles our struggle with the bad angels. 51:47 Something has happened to America and it is not good. 51:54 Read it again. 51:56 Verse 11, 51:57 "Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth. 52:01 It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon." 52:07 That little conjunction there "and" represents 250 years. 52:12 The earth beast is lamb like for 250 years. 52:17 And then it's dragon like. 52:22 Dragon like? 52:25 The only solution for America 52:27 moral, spiritual solution 52:29 is for America to return to God. 52:33 You can't just tell America to return to God. 52:36 Here's what you do, 52:37 you tell every Christian that loves Jesus, 52:40 to turn to their neighbors and begin to love on them 52:43 like you have never loved on them before. 52:45 America is running out of time. 52:46 Do you understand? It's running out of time. 52:50 You got people living next door to you, 52:52 when's the last time you said boo to them? 52:55 Tell America that's the only way 52:57 America can be saved. 52:58 There's no fiat from Washington 53:00 that will save America, too late. 53:03 But they can be loved back. 53:05 They can be loved back. 53:08 For the first time, 53:10 beloved, to the lamb that died to free them. 53:18 There are only two solutions. One is moral. 53:21 The other one is political. 53:24 Let this pandemic continue. 53:27 Let the unrest in the streets of America grow. 53:31 And the political solution already hinted 53:33 that will be initiated the iron boot 53:37 of lethal enforcement, 53:41 you will or else. 53:46 Don't believe it can happen to America? 53:47 Just keep reading. 53:49 Verse 11 again, "Then I saw a second beast, 53:51 coming out of the earth. 53:52 It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon." 53:54 Verse 12. 53:56 "And it exercised all the authority 53:57 of the first beast on its behalf, 53:59 and made the earth," the entire planet, 54:02 this must be a global superpower talking about, 54:04 "it made the earth, 54:05 and its inhabitants worship the first beast, 54:08 whose fatal wound had been healed." 54:10 Now drop down to verse 15. 54:11 "The second beast," 54:13 that would be the earth beast, 54:14 "was given power to give breath 54:16 to the image of the first beast, 54:17 so that the image could speak and cause 54:19 all who refused to worship the image to be killed." 54:23 You will or else, 54:25 the iron boot of lethal power and enforcement. 54:35 Don't think it can happen here? 54:37 Watch, listen, you listening? 54:43 Pray and get on your neighbors. 54:47 Love on your neighbors 54:48 as you have never loved on them before. 54:53 Oh, how Jesus loves America. 54:56 "If I be lifted up, Jesus said, 54:58 I'll draw all people to Me." 55:00 Three hundred and thirty million of them. 55:02 Are you kidding? 55:04 I died for America. 55:06 I died for North America. I died for this planet. 55:09 I if I am lifted up, I will draw all people to Me. 55:12 How He's going to get lifted up in front of America? 55:14 We go on television? No, we go next door. 55:19 We can't let the media, 55:20 we can't let social media do what we can only do. 55:25 The love of Christ with flesh on it. 55:27 Doesn't matter the color of your flesh, 55:30 just love on them. 55:31 Doesn't matter the color of their flesh, 55:34 just love on them. 55:36 It's all we have left, folks. And the clock is running. 55:40 America is running out of time. 55:45 America. 55:47 America, God shed His grace on thee, 55:54 and crown thy good with brotherhood, 55:59 from sea to shining sea. 56:03 That's America's last hope. 56:09 God's grace 56:11 through you right now. 56:16 Let us pray. 56:17 Oh, God, 56:19 forgive us for taking this was only about a pandemic, 56:23 all was worried about masks and COVID-19. 56:28 And, of course, we're concerned. 56:31 But it's just like the dragon, 56:34 to distract us in one corner, 56:39 so that what he's doing in the other corner 56:42 can't be seen until it's too late. 56:46 But you gave us this halogen light 56:48 of this prophecy. 56:50 And we are not unwarned and we are not in the dark, 56:53 for the light dwells with you. 56:55 Oh God, shine Your light on our minds, 56:59 so that our hearts determined 57:01 to love on those around us while there is time. 57:05 Please, God, save America. 57:09 Amen. 57:14 I want to take an extra moment 57:16 to thank you for joining us in worship today. 57:18 It's by the continued support from viewers like you 57:20 that we're able to bring you this program. 57:22 Today, I want to invite you though, 57:23 to share with us 57:24 how this ministry has blessed you. 57:26 I get inspiring notes, emails from viewers 57:28 literally all over the world telling me, 57:30 look, Dwight, God has been blessing me this way. 57:32 He's been doing this. 57:33 I would love to hear from you as well. 57:35 Just visit our website, you know it, 57:37 newperceptions.tv 57:39 and click on the contact link at the top of the page. 57:41 Send me a note. 57:42 Let me know what God has been doing 57:44 right now in your life. 57:46 Once again, thank you for being with us today. 57:48 I hope you join us right here next time. 57:51 And until then, 57:52 may the God of grace journey with you 57:54 every step of the way. |
Revised 2020-10-06