Participants: Steve Wohlberg
Series Code: SLC
Program Code: SLC000004A
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00:10 During the Dark Ages, millions of martyrs
00:12 shed their blood for Jesus Christ. 00:14 When the mark of the beast has enforced, 00:16 the Bible says that more will die. 00:18 Are we ready to die for Jesus? The time to get ready is now. 00:25 A thousand years before there was a Protestant 00:27 there were Sunday laws 00:29 that originated in pagan sun worship. 00:31 For centuries the church ruled the world 00:33 until the Protestant Reformation. 00:35 Men like Martin Luther champion of personal 00:38 and religious freedom, thousands fled to America 00:40 to seek freedom from religious tyranny. 00:43 Will Protestants and freedom-loving Americans 00:45 fight to keep freedom alive 00:47 or will we descend into a modern Dark Age? 00:50 The Sunday Law Crisis: What You Need To Know. 00:54 Episode 4, Preparing For Persecution. 00:57 Welcome to part 4 of The Sunday Law Crisis: 00:59 What You Need To Know. 01:00 It's a fact that throughout history 01:02 Christians have suffered for their faith. 01:05 The Apostle Paul had his head cut off 01:06 under the rein of Emperor Nero. 01:08 John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod. 01:11 Christians throughout the Dark Ages have suffered. 01:13 Christians have suffered under communism. 01:15 They have suffered in North Korea. 01:16 They have suffered in Russia. 01:18 They have suffered in China. 01:19 The Bible tells us that when the final crisis hits 01:22 more will suffer who standup against the mark of the beast. 01:25 Revelation 20:4 says, "I saw the souls 01:30 of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus 01:34 and for the word of God, 01:35 who had not worshiped the beast" 01:38 which is we've studied 01:39 is a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church. 01:41 "And His image," which represents 01:44 a duplication of Catholicism in America. 01:48 "And they have not received his mark," 01:50 and we've talked about how the mark of the beast 01:52 is the mark of Rome's authority 01:54 where they have changed the Sabbath into Sunday. 01:56 Sunday really goes back to pagan sun worship, 01:59 comprises with the surrounding culture. 02:02 It also came about historically 02:05 as a result of hostility to Jews. 02:07 And Rome now claims it as a mark of their authority. 02:10 They claimed that they made the change. 02:12 And prophecy predicts that some day 02:15 that mark will be enforced by law around the world. 02:18 But God will have a people who stand up against this 02:21 who don't go along with it. 02:22 They don't get mark in their forehead 02:24 representing their minds, their thinkings 02:26 or their hands which represents their actions. 02:29 But they are totally on the side of Jesus 02:31 and Bible truth. 02:33 And it says that, they will eventually live 02:35 and they will reign with Christ. 02:36 They will be resurrected when Jesus Christ comes again. 02:40 My guest today is Pastor Ignacio Chaviano. 02:45 I want to make sure I say that right. 02:47 You did. 02:48 You are a retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor 02:51 and you have suffered for your faith 02:54 in a concentration camp in Cuba. 02:57 That's correct. 02:58 And I want to hear more of your story, 03:01 that's why we're here. 03:02 Our topic today is called Preparing For Persecution. 03:05 You have been through things that I've never been through. 03:07 And I trust that if I ever have to go through 03:09 those kind of things, 03:11 that the Lord will give me the strength 03:13 when I'm in the midst of my trials. 03:16 So just give us a little background 03:17 and I understand that when you were 17 03:20 you were a musician, 03:22 but something happened that changed your life. 03:25 The Lord came into my life 03:28 and I became a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. 03:31 And I had great plans, I went to study at the college. 03:35 And this was in Cuba? 03:37 In Cuba, what used to be called the Antillean College. 03:41 And I was preparing for the ministry. 03:44 It was a month since by wife to be have said, 03:50 I do, to my proposal. 03:53 And so I was ready to go graduate, 03:56 conquer the world for Jesus and so on and so forth, 03:58 but God had different plans. 04:01 They would be an interruption. 04:03 And during that time I would taste 04:08 what the wrath of the devil could possibly be. 04:12 And so, you know, we were taken 12 of us 04:17 from the college, it seems that the government, 04:20 the Seventh-day Adventist school. 04:22 And how old were you at that time? 04:23 I was 20. I was 20 then. Okay. 04:26 And they took us, took us to a state called-- 04:33 Just again who took you? 04:35 Well, the government. The government. 04:36 They sent soldiers to the school 04:39 and they took you. 04:40 They took us. 04:42 They take us long ways in a train. 04:47 We finally arrived to a place, 04:48 I didn't even know where we were. 04:51 And in the middle of the night they loaded all the people, 04:55 thousands of them in trucks and we, 04:57 the 12 tried to stick together. 05:00 And so we jumped in the truck 05:02 and we went into the unknown in that dark night, 05:06 that happened to be Friday night. 05:09 And so we knew we are out for a surprise here, you know. 05:13 But we were praying all the time, 05:14 we were committed our self, no matter what happen 05:16 we're gonna stick together, 05:18 we're gonna stick with the Lord. 05:20 So you were student and all of a sudden 05:21 you find yourself a prisoner and you are being whisked off 05:24 into the night, landing in a concentration camp. 05:27 And you mentioned there were 05:28 approximately 50,000 other Christians. 05:30 Fifty thousand people there, yeah. 05:34 People around the area. 05:35 Around the area in different camps about-- 05:37 To be placed in different concentration camps? 05:38 Yeah, about 150 in each camp. 05:41 And so there was about 150 in your camp 05:43 and they were 12 of you that were Seventh-day Adventists? 05:45 That's right. 05:47 And so the night passed, light came on and they took us 05:53 to a place where about 5, 000 of these young people 05:56 will be congregated. 05:58 And we didn't want to do anything against our conscious. 06:02 And we kind of refused to go, 06:06 they drop us like potato sacks in the trucks and on they went. 06:12 And then we landed in this big camp. 06:14 It was seemed like head quarters of some kind. 06:17 And there were thousands of kids there, 06:19 so they drop us there and they push us all the way 06:24 until they set us on a formation 06:27 that had many, many, many, many, many rows. 06:29 And they began to give us orders 06:32 and of course, you can imagine we are praying all the time. 06:35 And so this captain came to us and said, 06:40 well, now you're gonna start moving now, so I direct you, 06:42 began to try to turn this to the right, 06:45 march to the right and march to the left, 06:47 he said, we needed some organization. 06:50 And we the 12 Adventists would stay put there, we didn't move. 06:54 And the other people were crunched against us 06:56 from right and left and from behind, 06:59 that we were at the very front. 07:01 And so he said, you're gonna move 07:03 because his pistol brought at in front of all of us, 07:07 the 12, see you're gonna move. 07:08 Now is that was the Sabbath, did you say-- 07:10 It was the Sabbath morning. 07:11 Okay, this was Sabbath morning, right. 07:13 Exactly. You were captured on Friday. 07:14 Was it Friday? It was Friday. 07:15 And so now it's Sabbath morning and now it's the lineup. 07:17 We traveled for 12, 15 hours. 07:19 And, and he said, now you're gonna move. 07:23 And we said, no. 07:24 Well, he stood back and give the orders, 07:26 nothing happened. 07:28 He came forward and he said, open your mouth, 07:30 he got his pistol into my mouth and he said, 07:33 now you're gonna move. 07:35 To tell you the truth I was scared to death. 07:37 But you know, when I was just trusting in the Lord, 07:40 that He will do His will with me and with the others. 07:44 And so I still refused, I couldn't say no, 07:47 but still refused. 07:48 So he stood back and when we didn't move, 07:51 then he said bring ropes, we are going to hang them up. 07:54 And they tied ropes to our, to our heads, 07:57 took us out of the camp, you know. 07:59 And well, they didn't kill us. 08:01 They said we need them for working 08:03 because we, then we needed to produce 08:06 hard currency for the country. 08:09 It was sunset when the whole ordeal was coming to an end. 08:14 It was from the beginning of the morning to sunset 08:16 and we laid behind the barrack. 08:18 I remember the 12 of us. 08:20 We were so tired and exhausted and we laid, 08:23 slowly sun setting in the west 08:27 and the stars of God began to appear in the horizon. 08:31 And one of the boys who were silent, 08:32 one of the boys said, "We crossed the Red Sea." 08:36 And one of the others said, 08:38 "But we have to stick our feet in the water." 08:41 Because we were deciding right there who we would serve? 08:46 Not later. 08:47 Just right there from the beginning. 08:49 And so the ones that didn't move on the line 08:51 and those were the 12 of you 08:53 because you were Seventh-day Adventist, right? 08:54 Exactly. And because it was the Sabbath. 08:56 Whereas I'm assuming the others they moved. 08:58 Everybody moved. Exactly. Except for you guys? 09:01 It reminds me of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 09:02 the three men that didn't bow down. 09:04 That's right. 09:05 And the next day they took us to work on the sugarcane 09:07 and I don't know what it's like, you know, 09:09 but it had a long leaves that cut through your skin 09:12 and hard labor. 09:14 And the temperature in those areas 09:17 get up to 115 and 20, so that was the conditions. 09:21 And Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 09:27 we work in the sunset, came on Friday 09:31 we stopped working where we were. 09:33 And they didn't understand that one. 09:36 So we began to try to explain to them. 09:37 They said, "Now, you're gonna work." 09:39 Well, we finally-- 09:41 Well, we refused. 09:42 Finally next day they brought us to work. 09:45 We refused. 09:46 They dropped us on the trucks like potato sacks as I said. 09:49 And they, they brought us, as they push us all the way 09:52 to the edge of the plantation and we need to start 09:56 just cutting the sugarcane plants 09:59 and we refused. 10:00 And they would throw the hose at us 10:03 and we would just close our eyes 10:04 and they will hit us and we all on the floor 10:07 and then they would come, they were so mad, 10:10 they would get the hose, put them in our hands, 10:13 tied up our hands to it 10:14 and then one soldier will grab the right hand, 10:16 the other the left and one will push from behind 10:19 and they will begin to do this and push us. 10:21 They say "Now, you are working," 10:23 And we would say, "No, you are working." 10:27 And you were not working 10:28 because the commandment says here. 10:30 The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 10:33 and it says that you shall not do any work 10:37 on the seventh day Sabbath. 10:39 It's God's law and God's commandments. 10:40 You were followers of Jesus. 10:43 And because of the commandment you said, I can't do it. 10:46 Well, you see it was the devil's will or God's will 10:50 and the battle was played in our lives. 10:52 That was a battleground. And that is just like the way. 10:55 It was us, to us, to decide you know, 10:58 what direction we would take. 10:59 And that's what this whole series is about 11:01 that we're doing on the Sunday law crisis 11:03 and the Bible and the beast and the mark and Sabbath Sunday 11:06 and all this controversy. 11:08 It's a battle for the soul and we have to make a decision. 11:11 Are we gonna really follow what the word of God says 11:15 or are we gonna follow the tradition of man? 11:17 And so I see your struggle as, like a type or indicative 11:22 or an example of the struggle that a whole lot of us 11:25 are gonna be going through in the very final times, 11:28 when the mark of the beast is enforced by law. 11:31 And we have to make a choice. 11:32 Are we gonna along with the beast 11:34 and the traditions of men and Sunday and the mark? 11:38 Or are we gonna follow God, the Bible, 11:40 Jesus and the Ten Commandments that the Lord wrote 11:44 with His own finger on stone where He said, "Remember, 11:48 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." 11:50 The day of the Creator, the day of God, 11:52 that He wrote with His own finger. 11:55 So keep going. Tell us more. 11:59 Well, they attack us in so many areas. 12:01 They tried to force us into surrender. 12:07 And so the long hours, for example, was one of them. 12:10 We could go to work in the morning, 12:11 they would took us 5 a.m. in the morning, 12:13 but we'd never know when we would comeback. 12:16 And so I remember working three days without eating, 12:19 without drinking water mostly, 12:22 and without a sleeping, three days in a row. 12:25 And we would comeback, rest for few hours 12:27 and take it again. 12:30 Now in other area was food. 12:32 Can you imagine this, we survived most of the time 12:37 on one boiled potato and two crackers, 12:39 Cuban crackers are about this big, okay. 12:41 I suppose that all together it would be... 12:45 500 calories. 12:47 So imagine your output is 4000 calories 12:52 and your intake is about 500 calories. 12:55 There's something wrong here, right? Okay. 12:58 Did you do that with your bank, with your money, 13:00 the more comes out that goes in, 13:02 you know, you're gonna be broke. 13:03 You end up broke, right. Okay. 13:04 The thing is that we didn't seem to be broken, 13:08 physically speaking. 13:09 And we commanded among our self well. 13:12 I think the Lord is in-charge, okay. 13:14 The story of Daniel was being repeated. 13:17 We were proud of it, okay. 13:19 Not just for pride's sake because we decided, 13:23 now we're gonna serve the Lord, they did and the others 13:26 and the Lord was doing His dealings, 13:28 you know, through us. 13:30 You mentioned to me something about a conversation 13:32 you overheard with the captain. 13:33 Yeah. Tell us that story. 13:35 That was the very end. 13:36 But a captain from an early camp 13:39 came to visit with the captain from our camp 13:42 and we overheard them speaking. 13:44 And the guy who came said, 13:47 "Do you have Seventh-day Adventist kids here?" 13:50 "Yes." 13:52 He said, "Have you succeeding in kind of a change in them?" 13:56 You know another word would be brain wash them. 13:59 He said, "Oh, no, oh, no." 14:01 He said, "You know what, 14:03 these kids as you mistreat them they sing songs. 14:06 If you don't give them food they look healthy anyway." 14:10 He said "And I'm about to believe 14:11 that as you killed them 14:13 they may resurrect at a third day." 14:15 That was very rewarding to us 14:17 and he was getting into their heads. 14:19 You know, they were trying to change our minds, 14:22 but that was getting into their heads. 14:24 So it was wonderful. 14:26 You also told me that 14:29 during the course of those three years at some point 14:32 two of the original 12 Seventh-day Adventist 14:35 that you were with, they gave up their faith. 14:39 But you mentioned that there were, 14:40 there were others that had been, 14:43 had been watching you among the other Christians 14:47 and they then chose to join your faith. 14:50 Tell us a little bit about that? 14:52 Yeah, you know, some people think 14:53 that you just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 14:55 how you live is not a matter, 14:57 it's just about your heart, okay. 15:00 And it sounds good and I know it's true. 15:02 It's true but if the Christian life 15:04 is not lived out, nobody sees it. 15:07 I can't see your faith. 15:09 I cannot see your faith, you can also mine. 15:11 But if I act like a real Christian then you can see it. 15:13 Through those three years 15:15 a lot of people began to come to us, 15:17 tell us something, tell us more. 15:20 A soldier once, his wife came to visit with him 15:24 and it was Sunday morning, it was time for the Adventist 15:28 to go to work and he was in-charge of taking us. 15:30 He said, "No work today." We said, "Oh, wow." 15:33 And he said "But I want you to meet my wife," 15:35 and that surprising because they were never kind to us. 15:38 So he took us out to meet his wife. 15:41 And then after he introduced us he went back to the camp 15:45 and left the 12 Adventists there. 15:47 And she said, I'll tell you a secret. 15:50 Is that my husband is changing. 15:52 He loves you guys. 15:53 He's doing what he's doing, yet he loves you guys. 15:56 And I'm encouraging him 15:58 because if he's faithful to God, 15:59 he will be faithful to me too. 16:01 So she was excited about it. 16:03 And that was one of the guys that he told us frankly, 16:07 he told us, he said, I'm gonna quit the military 16:11 and I'm gonna become a Seventh-day Adventist. 16:14 And the kids there, you know, we couldn't baptize 16:16 anybody of course, and we were not, 16:18 you know even ordained ministers 16:20 or anything like that. 16:21 But there were a lot of kids who became Adventists 16:24 in their hearts and after they left the camp 16:26 they joined the church. 16:28 I was surprised, I came to Miami from Cuba 16:31 when we finally, they ported us by the way. 16:33 That's after you got out after three years, right? 16:36 All into Cuba which is another big camp 16:39 because you can't go anywhere, 16:40 but I mean, that we were deported 16:43 and we landed in Miami. 16:45 On the Sabbath we went to a church 16:46 and I followed the bunch of kids there, 16:48 they have been in the camp. 16:50 Really? 16:51 Yeah, they made their way, 16:52 you know, God's willing into the church. 16:55 So the influence of somebody that tries to do 16:59 things the way God wants them to be done, it's incredible. 17:04 You preach more with your life than with your words. 17:09 Are there any-- 17:10 I'd like to read a promise that I found 17:12 and if you can think of any. 17:14 Just tell me any special promises 17:16 that really encouraged you during that time? 17:19 In Revelation 2:10 Jesus said, 17:22 "Do not fear any of those things 17:25 which you are about to suffer. 17:27 Indeed, the devil is about to throw 17:29 some of you into prison, that you may be tested, 17:33 and you will have tribulation" Jesus said. 17:36 "Be faithful until death, 17:38 and I will give you the crown of life." 17:40 To me this is a wonderful promise. 17:42 I've thought about, if our ministry continues 17:45 to take public stance like we've done on these big issues 17:48 about the beast, the image and the mark 17:50 that it's very possible that 17:52 you know, something will happen to me someday. 17:54 I've got a wife and two kids and certainly 17:57 we wouldn't look forward to persecution, 18:00 but if I do have to suffer, I need to, 18:04 I need to trust Jesus and trust the promises 18:06 and this is a great one where Jesus says, 18:08 "Do not fear any of those things which you will suffer. 18:11 Be faithful till death 18:13 and I will give you the crown of life." 18:15 It takes, being the spiritual to be able... 18:18 First to understand that and into live by it because, 18:21 of course, some people say, you're gonna be mistreated, 18:23 you're gonna be persecuted. 18:25 I mean, those are not apparently good news. 18:29 But if you really understand the spiritual things, 18:32 you really understand the Lord. 18:33 You know what I went through is an honor, 18:36 this is an honor to serve Him. 18:39 And while we were there, we were not thinking about 18:42 when we're gonna be out of here 18:43 or if we will be ever out of here 18:46 or anything like that. 18:48 And we just felt like we are here representing the Lord, 18:51 we represent His soul well 18:54 that he was willing to give His life. 18:56 And so we shut down all the concerns in life 19:00 and concerns raided in while we were there for. 19:03 At first we didn't understand why we were there for, 19:05 but when we see conversions 19:07 then we thought this is a missionary ground. 19:11 Now the Lord took us out of study to be ministers 19:14 and gave us a different kind of preparation, 19:16 one that I would have never gotten in any seminary. 19:21 So how do prepare for persecution? 19:24 Preparing for Persecution. I've got a few thoughts here. 19:27 Of course we need to be surrendered completely 19:29 to Jesus. 19:31 We need to learn the promises, trust the promises. 19:33 We need to trust that as the Bible says somewhere. 19:36 "As your day is, so shall your strength be." 19:39 That when we were in these terrible difficult situations, 19:42 when our bodies are potentially suffering 19:45 and our lives are at stake, that the Lord will give us 19:48 supernatural strength during those times to stand up. 19:53 And as you mentioned realizing 19:55 it's really a privilege to suffer for Jesus. 19:58 And then the last one I have here is to realize 20:00 that if we do dialogue Jesus said, 20:02 if we were faithful till death, the next thing we'll know 20:05 it will be resurrection morning 20:07 and that He'll give us the crown of life." 20:08 So I've thought about it, if I ever was beheaded 20:11 that the next thing I know, wow, I'd be seeing Jesus 20:16 when He comes on resurrection morning. 20:19 That's why He said, we have to be spiritual 20:20 because if we do not understand and treasure those things, 20:24 we're gonna give up, 20:26 you know, at the first trial in our lives. 20:30 Can I tell the little story about the Bible? 20:32 Sure. Yes, of course. 20:34 How could you survive without a Bible, 20:36 without studying the word of God? 20:38 Well, we didn't have any Bible of course, yeah, 20:40 they search us, they strip us of everything. 20:43 And when we came in, 20:45 so they confiscated everything we had. 20:46 But through a farmer in the area 20:51 which we saw once in a while when they took us to work, 20:54 we got a Bible. 20:56 The farmer gave you a Bible. The farmer gave us a Bible. 20:58 Okay. And so we hid it. 21:01 Then every night, the light of a flickering candle, 21:05 one of us, I mean, we organize a church inside 21:08 that you know, it was interesting. 21:10 So one of us would read the Bible 21:12 and the others would put their heads together in the darkness. 21:15 And under that flickering light we would read about Joseph, 21:20 we would read about Daniel. 21:22 You know, we try to get acquainted 21:25 with all those that made it. 21:27 We loved Hebrews Chapter 11, you know by faith, by faith. 21:33 See by faith, I mean, their faith was not something 21:36 that had stayed in their heart, faith was acting out, 21:40 you see by faith. 21:41 Well, you know we treasure all those things 21:43 and we knew if God did for them, 21:46 He can do it for us. 21:47 And so the Bible, 21:49 it seems the soldiers found out there was a Bible. 21:51 They didn't know who have it or what it was. 21:53 But we knew they would be searching for it. 21:55 So one night somebody went out and we had a plastic bag, 22:00 we put it in it, opened a hole in the ground with a spoon, 22:03 that's all the tools we had, set the Bible in it, 22:08 close it down with dirt 22:10 and then put a stone on it, okay. 22:12 And every night one of us was commissioned 22:16 to crawl out of the barrack and go there risking, 22:21 being shot by the sentinels and we'll dig the Bible out, 22:26 retrieve it, take it and crawl back all the way 22:29 and then we'll read our 10, 15, 20 minutes 22:32 whatever time we had. 22:33 And then another guy will take it back 22:35 and buried again and comeback the same way, everyday. 22:38 Quietly we'd do that. 22:41 Because we thought it was a duty, 22:43 you know, because we needed 22:45 to be fed with the spiritual nourishment. 22:47 Wow. Praise God, that's incredible. 22:50 I think about Daniel Chapter 3 which talks about certain Jews 22:55 that would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's image. 22:58 And everybody else bowed down, but they wouldn't. 23:00 And the reason why they didn't was 23:01 because the second commandment which says, 23:04 "You shall not make any graven image for yourself." 23:08 So these Jewish young men just like as you were young man 23:12 in the concentration camp, they refused to bow down 23:15 to the breaking of the second commandment. 23:16 And the king said, if you don't bow down 23:18 you're going into the fire. 23:20 And they finally came before the king 23:22 and they said that God is able to deliver us 23:24 out of this burning fiery furnace. 23:26 But then they said, this is powerful, 23:28 but "if He doesn't-- 23:29 Daniel 3.18. 23:30 "If He doesn't, let it be known to you, 23:32 O king, that we will not serve your gods, 23:34 nor will we worship the golden image 23:37 which you have set up." 23:38 That is total surrender. Yeah. 23:42 And a surrender that's willing to take a stand, 23:44 that's willing to take a stand. 23:46 He has risked everything. 23:47 And, and these stories, 23:49 these accounts in the Book of Daniel 23:51 parallel in the Book of Revelation, 23:54 so that when we get to the final scenes 23:55 when the mark of the beast is enforced 23:57 and there's an image of the beast setup, 23:59 just like there's an image in Daniel 2 or 3 24:03 where they wouldn't bow down to this image. 24:05 In Revelation 13, there's another image, 24:08 an image of the beast that is setup 24:10 and a mark of the beast that has enforced 24:12 and that mark instead of the second commandment, 24:14 it's the fourth commandment. 24:16 And God is gonna have a people just like you 24:20 and just like the three Jews, He's gonna have a people 24:23 who stand up for the fourth commandment 24:26 in the final days because, 24:28 not because they are earning their salvation 24:32 through their obedience, 24:34 not because they are working in the way to heaven, 24:36 but because they have-- 24:37 their hearts have been captured. 24:39 They are thankful for their salvation. 24:40 By the love of Jesus Christ and what He did for them 24:43 and the sufferings that Christ went through for them. 24:46 And again, if you look at history, 24:48 I mean, John the Baptist lost his head, 24:50 Paul lost his head. 24:51 Persecution has been going on throughout history. 24:54 And it will be great if the Lord would protect us 24:57 during the final times like He did. 24:58 Martin Luther, Luther never died. 25:00 Or at least he died, but I mean, he didn't die a martyr 25:03 because God protected him. 25:04 Some God will protect miraculously 25:06 like he did you in the concentration camp, 25:09 but there will be others 25:10 that will lay down their lives for the Lord Jesus. 25:12 And whether it's the second commandment, 25:14 the fourth commandment, the fifth commandment, 25:15 any of the commandments we just cannot bow down 25:19 and break God's law because our Savior sacrificed His life, 25:25 because we broke the law and He died in our place. 25:27 And that shows the law can not be changed, 25:29 but it's eternal and we love Him 25:32 and we want to do what's right. 25:34 And so we have chosen to become commandment keepers 25:37 by the grace of God. 25:38 Amen. Amen. 25:40 Well, I'm sure you have a lot more to say. 25:43 And we just, we're out of time, 25:44 but I'd like to finish with, with an article 25:48 that I have here called "Line in the Sand." 25:50 "Line in the Sand." 25:52 The date was March 5, 1836, Colonel William Barrett Travis 26:00 was inside a fort called the Alamo. 26:04 It's a very famous story. 26:05 In fact, I was just in San Antonio 26:07 and I was right next to the Alamo. 26:09 And he knew the situation was hopeless. 26:11 Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, 26:15 he knew-- 26:17 They knew that he was coming in and they couldn't keep him out. 26:20 So Travis and about 189 other people, 26:23 they knew that they were surrounded 26:25 and that death was at the door. 26:26 And significantly, it was a Saturday afternoon, 26:29 Sabbath afternoon. 26:31 When they, when that-- 26:32 Travis made a speech. 26:33 He said, we have to die, but if we have to choose 26:36 what manner we're going to die. 26:37 Then he drew, he took his sword and he drew a line in the sand 26:41 and he slowly marked out this line in the dirt 26:44 and then he asked, if you're willing to die 26:46 crossover the line. 26:48 And almost everybody did except for one. 26:50 They all crossed the line willing to give their lives. 26:54 And the phrase, the slogan, "Remember the Alamo" 26:57 comes down till today. 26:59 And the fourth commandment of God's word says, 27:02 remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 27:04 The Sabbath is a day that points to our Creator 27:07 who gave His life on a cross for our sins. 27:11 And if we truly love Him for what He did for us, 27:16 we are willing to take a stand. 27:18 Amen. 27:19 And He will give us the strength. 27:20 Stand for Him who gave His life for us 27:22 and if we have to die for Him, well, bless His name, 27:26 you and I will be faithful. 27:27 So God help us to take a stand in these last days. 27:31 Today we have a special offer 27:32 called The Time is at Hand Information Packet. 27:35 This offer is only $15 for ten great pocketbooks, 27:39 one DVD titled Earth's Final Crisis 27:41 and The Classic Great Controversy. 27:43 Don't miss this opportunity to get these resources today. 27:47 To order your information packet 27:49 or write to White Horse Media, 27:54 P.O. 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Revised 2015-11-19