Voice of Prophecy Speaks

Armageddon: Cosmic Battle Of The Ages

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Lonnie Melashenko

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Series Code: VOPS

Program Code: VOPS000001


00:32 Good evening ladies and gentlemen.
00:34 What in heaven's name
00:36 is happening to Planet Earth tonight?
00:40 For five weeks, millions of us
00:42 have been glued to our television sets in shock
00:45 and awe watching blitzkrieg over Baghdad.
00:49 Tomahawk Cruise missiles, tanks, harriers,
00:53 B-52s, stealth bombers,
00:55 the most devastating war machine
00:57 assembled on earth ever.
00:59 All fixating their cross-hairs on one place,
01:03 Saddam Hussein's bedroom.
01:06 And understandably,
01:07 people everywhere are wondering what's next?
01:11 The end? Is this the final showdown?
01:14 Are today's headlines foretold in scripture?
01:17 I don't need to tell you
01:18 that the internet is buzzing with questions.
01:21 And in fact the fine print will tell you,
01:23 that you'll find out what's happening
01:25 if you will pay and subscribe to the,
01:27 "Left Behind Prophecy Club." You just click right here
01:30 and your questions to be answered.
01:32 In fact, here is a full page ad magazine
01:35 that I personally tour out.
01:36 It says "This Spring, No One Will Escape Armageddon."
01:41 Well, say ladies and gentlemen,
01:43 we're in the middle of spring,
01:44 summer is coming in just a few weeks away.
01:46 Hey! Does this mean, we're almost in for it?
01:50 Maybe you've seen,
01:51 Tim LaHaye's and Jerry Jenkins',
01:53 brand new book that was just released.
01:55 I was the first one in line
01:56 at Casco in Southern California.
01:58 This is the eleventh in the series
02:00 of Left Behind religious fiction about end time events.
02:05 By the way, Tyndale Publishing House,
02:07 spent a whopping $5 million advertising
02:11 our opening nights meetings tonight,
02:12 what do you think?
02:14 But people are gobbling this up,
02:17 not because of the public's red-hot interest,
02:20 in the war in the Middle East.
02:22 But people are concerned
02:24 if this is Bible prophecy talking.
02:28 People want to know then what lies ahead.
02:31 What's coming next?
02:34 When terrorist destroyed the, World Trade Center,
02:37 interest in Bible prophecy zoomed
02:39 and it has hit fever pitch,
02:41 fuelling even greater speculation about
02:44 how this world might end.
02:47 A few Sunday evenings ago, the CBS Evening News,
02:50 there was the man in Fort Worth, Texas,
02:51 I happen to see this happen.
02:52 He leaned into the microphone and he wailed
02:55 "The economy, Iraq, now the Space Shuttle.
03:00 What's next? What is next?
03:05 You know, even in the secular world,
03:08 the word Armageddon, is a hot button.
03:12 Even irreligious, Ted Turner is using the term,
03:17 Armageddon, on CNN.
03:20 Los Angeles television station
03:21 KCET Channel 28 ran a PBS series
03:25 special from Monday to Thursday all of last week,
03:28 I saw part of it on primetime hosted by Walter Cronkite,
03:32 two hours every night from 9 to 11 pm called
03:36 "Avoiding Armageddon."
03:39 So ladies and gentlemen
03:40 wherever you're listening tonight
03:42 from Australia in the Pacific Rim to South America,
03:45 you know it doesn't take a rocket scientist
03:48 to look at today's headlines
03:49 and realize that the speed with
03:51 which our world is tobogganing into the Apocalypse
03:54 takes ones breadth away.
03:56 People are worried, prominent world leaders
04:00 are voicing serious concern about what lies ahead.
04:04 Former Vice President Al Gore said,
04:06 and I quote, "Two world wars, the Holocaust,
04:10 the invention of nuclear weapons,
04:13 and now the environmental crisis
04:14 have led many of us to wonder if survival is possible."
04:20 I believe Al Gore was absolutely right.
04:24 In fact many serious leaders like Giscard d'Estaing,
04:29 former French President wonder,
04:31 if our world isn't just headed for disaster.
04:35 You know, the Los Angeles Times says,
04:37 that Tim La Haye's book is rattling
04:40 the gates everywhere.
04:42 Millions say prophecy is being fulfilled in Iraq. Is it?
04:48 Well, the British Press and the BBC saying,
04:51 no those Americans are all going
04:52 after some strange fiction.
04:54 But perhaps, Time magazine's fiery cover said it all.
04:59 The Bible and the Apocalypse, the end of the world?
05:05 Now the Apocalypse
05:06 is just another name for the word Revelation
05:09 which happens to be the last book in the Bible
05:12 where we read about this term called Armageddon.
05:17 You know, folks I think one lesson
05:18 that we need to prayerfully learn
05:20 and maybe just in these past few weeks,
05:23 we already have learned it, is how humble
05:25 we need to be about interpreting
05:27 Bible prophecies. Amen.
05:29 Because I think we'll all agree
05:31 tonight that clearly the recent conflict
05:33 in Iraq was not Armageddon?
05:37 I mean there was bloodshed,
05:39 there were black hawk helicopters,
05:41 there was all kinds of thinking's taking place,
05:43 but in three short weeks
05:44 the worst was already over, wasn't it.
05:47 And it was not a global conflict.
05:50 And so many of us Christians
05:52 who often tend to look at the headlines
05:53 and want to say, oh, this is it,
05:55 now for sure we're facing final Armageddon.
05:57 We have to remember that leaders and preachers,
05:59 both camps have played that card for major wars
06:04 and minor discrepancies all over the globe for centuries.
06:07 Oh, this is Armageddon.
06:09 Sir Winston Churchill did it,
06:10 so did General Douglas MacArthur,
06:12 Dwight Eisenhower, Ronal Ragan.
06:15 And Armageddon simply hasn't happened yet.
06:20 So my question tonight is, how do we sort it all out?
06:25 Well with all of the interest in prophecy, I say,
06:28 why don't we go to the source that the Los Angeles Times,
06:31 refers to for all reliable prophecy.
06:35 Why not go to the source that our radio ministry,
06:37 Voice of Prophecy, has relayed on for 74 years.
06:41 Why not go to directly,
06:43 where we ought to go to learn about the future.
06:46 And if you're at home tonight watching on satellite
06:48 or you are listening on the radio right now,
06:50 I invite you wherever you are to go and get your Bible,
06:54 right now go ahead and turn with me to the very last
06:56 book of the amazing Book of Revelation Chapter one.
07:02 Now before we read anything about Armageddon,
07:06 I want it all like a big class
07:08 and we will have it on the screen,
07:09 so you can read it with me.
07:11 I want us to read together out loud
07:12 wherever you are seated,
07:13 whatever location on this planet.
07:16 I want us to read verse three, okay everyone.
07:18 This is going to be our hallmark.
07:20 This will be the cornerstone, the benchmark foundation
07:23 that I'm gonna build on tonight and tomorrow night
07:25 and every night during these presentations.
07:28 Are we ready?
07:28 Everyone read together out loud all together
07:31 "cursed is he" oh did I say something wrong?
07:36 You better keep an eye on me. What did your Bible say?
07:40 All right, let's read together.
07:42 "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy,
07:47 and blessed are those who hear it
07:49 and take to heart
07:51 what is written in it because" what?
07:53 "The time is near."
07:57 This book the Apocalypse, about Armageddon folks
08:01 isn't just a sci-fi thriller chiller.
08:04 No need to get scared when we read this book.
08:07 If we read and we hear and we listen to this book.
08:11 In other words if we take it seriously,
08:13 what does the Bible say we receive a blessing.
08:16 Do you believe that? Let's hear it.
08:19 Okay, then let's plunge right
08:21 into the heart of Revelation Chapter 16.
08:24 Oh, but you maybe surprised to discover
08:27 that the word Armageddon
08:29 only appears in the Bible one time.
08:33 That's right, just one solitary time
08:36 in the entire Book of Revelation.
08:37 You know, perhaps that's why there are
08:39 so many different interpretations
08:40 and theories about what Armageddon is all about.
08:43 No two prophecy experts seem to agree.
08:46 And you know that's right
08:48 where the big problem about Armageddon hinges.
08:51 You see the problem about Armageddon
08:54 and the fiction about Armageddon
08:56 isn't with the Bible prophecies.
08:58 The problem is with our human interpretations,
09:02 our speculations about them.
09:04 But the very first thing
09:06 that Revelation Chapter one tells us
09:07 that we just read about
09:09 is that Revelation is a book we can count on.
09:13 Learn, stay cool, God's in control,
09:16 get into more details from the Bible.
09:20 But someone says, wait a minute
09:21 what about Revelation Chapter 16's
09:23 comment that the Euphrates River.
09:25 You know, that river that troops
09:27 where hunkered down by for the last six weeks.
09:29 That river headlined every night in the news.
09:33 Doesn't that play a role,
09:34 a major role in these final events?
09:36 Well, let's go to the Bible
09:38 and let's let this passage in Revelation 16
09:40 speak for itself beginning at verse 12.
09:45 Now this is talking about the seven last plaques
09:46 and it says this, "The sixth angel poured out
09:50 his bowl on the great river Euphrates,
09:53 and its water was dried up
09:56 to prepare the way for the kings of the East."
09:59 Oh, bingo say many books see that means that various kings
10:04 and statesman and maybe even Tony Blair,
10:06 he's a king or almost will move their armies up
10:08 through the Euphrates Valley en-route to Har Magedon
10:12 or Armageddon up there in northern Israel.
10:15 And then they quote Revelation 9:14 and they said,
10:18 "Look out God's going to release the four angels
10:20 who were bound at the great river Euphrates
10:23 and the angels purportedly unleashed anthrax
10:26 and nerve gas and chemical warfare
10:29 and that mysterious new flu like SARS disease.
10:32 Agents of death and then they flip over to Revelation 9:15.
10:35 These agents that have been kept ready for this very hour
10:38 and day and month and year
10:40 were released to kill a third of mankind.
10:45 Los Angeles Times says,
10:47 that then these prophecy doomsayer say,
10:50 aha, now if you turn over to the Revelation 9:11.
10:55 That's right 9:11, John says that,
11:01 "The leader of an army of locusts
11:02 released to a five humans and his name is Abaddon
11:06 and in Greek that's in Hebrew Abaddon, Apollyon in Greek.
11:11 But both of those names mean destroyer
11:14 which hold on to your seats,
11:17 folks is one of the meanings for the name Saddam.
11:24 Wow, isn't that impressive?
11:26 Well, then there is a certain gentleman
11:27 by the name of Irvin Baxter.
11:28 He's the founder of what's called Endtime magazine,
11:31 some of you may subscribe to it.
11:33 He's pastor of the Oak Park Church in Richmond Indiana.
11:36 He predicts that then,
11:38 "There's going to be a nuclear holocaust
11:40 that takes the lives of two billion people."
11:42 The one-third of mankind
11:44 that we just quoted back up there in Revelation.
11:47 You know, on and on and on it goes.
11:50 Where does it end? Who do you believe?
11:53 Do we believe what's behind door number one,
11:55 or door number two or behind what's door number three,
11:57 or maybe behind what's door number four.
12:00 Now let's watch out folks.
12:02 Before you and I jump to conclusion
12:04 that could get us into real trouble,
12:06 I mean really deep dead end trouble.
12:10 Why don't we let the Bible do
12:11 what Paul Harvey says
12:12 and let it tell us the rest of the story?
12:15 Amen. The whole story.
12:18 See its very risky to takes statements
12:21 from different parts of the Bible out of context
12:24 especially parts that are highly symbolic
12:28 and force them to support
12:29 something that they really don't say.
12:33 Because listen Revelation is a book
12:34 that is full of symbols, it's highly symbolic,
12:39 a highly think figurative book.
12:41 I want you to look with me
12:42 at the next verse here in this passage
12:44 in Revelation Chapter 16, verse 13.
12:46 And you tell me how literal
12:50 and how real is this language of the Apocalypse.
12:55 "Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs,
13:01 they came out of the mouth of the dragon,
13:03 and out of the mouth of the beast
13:05 and out of the mouth of the false prophet."
13:08 When I was Armageddon,
13:10 they battled featuring real frogs and real dragons,
13:17 or are we possibly dealing with some symbols here,
13:21 obviously symbols.
13:23 Well who are these evil spirits?
13:25 Good question I'm glad you asked.
13:28 Let's let the Bible answer again.
13:30 We don't want speculation,
13:31 we don't want some wild guesses.
13:33 We want an answer and the Bible gives it clearly,
13:35 in fact that's the only way we can draw conclusions,
13:38 what do you say? Amen.
13:39 the next verse says,
13:42 "They are the spirits of demons."
13:45 Who are these evil spirits? The spirits of demons.
13:50 Well, now we know that, demons are Satan's stooges.
13:54 Evil angels who with Satan rebelled against God
13:58 and tried to stage a coup up in heaven
13:59 a kind of cosmic stuff talk about celestial Star Wars.
14:05 We'll discover another night by way
14:06 that the Bible clearly says in Revelation 12,
14:10 that the coup of this axis of evil up there failed
14:14 and Satan and his cronies were cast out of heaven.
14:17 He came down to this world
14:18 where he works subtlety to manipulate
14:20 people to reject truth about God.
14:22 But I want you to notice now Revelation 16:14 to 16.
14:26 Who is it that leads the entire world into final conflict?
14:34 It isn't Antichrist,
14:36 it isn't Saddam or Osama Bin Laden,
14:40 its Satan and his evil angels.
14:43 And look it's not at all a war
14:45 that confined just to the Middle East.
14:48 It says "Performing miraculous signs
14:51 and they go out to the kings"
14:53 of what "the whole world to gather them
14:57 for the battle of the great day of God Almighty."
14:59 Where do they go?
15:00 Just to Saddam Hussein's bedroom
15:02 over there in the Euphrates valley.
15:04 No, they go out to the whole world.
15:09 So you help me out now,
15:11 what's already very clear here.
15:13 Revelation 16 says that this is final mother of all battles
15:20 between God Almighty and the spirits of demons,
15:24 let me restate this, this ultimate Star Wars
15:27 is a showdown between God and Satan.
15:33 But that isn't all, hold on.
15:36 It says "For they are the spirits of demons
15:39 performing signs which go out to the kings of earth
15:42 and of the whole world to gather them
15:44 to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15:47 Behold I'm coming as a thief
15:50 and they gathered them together in the place
15:53 called in the Hebrew, Armageddon."
15:56 And notice with me already
15:57 these careful crystal clear points
15:59 about Armageddon from your Bible
16:01 that we've learned tonight.
16:03 What is it? When is it? Where is it?
16:06 Not what Lonnie thinks? What your Bible says?
16:11 The battle of Armageddon
16:12 is called the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
16:17 That's verse 14.
16:18 What is this battle called? Come on?
16:21 Battle of the great day of God almighty.
16:24 Speak right up after me the next verse.
16:27 The battle of Armageddon occurs
16:28 just before Jesus comes as a thief verse 15.
16:33 When does this battle occur?
16:36 Just before Jesus comes.
16:38 And the Bible says
16:39 "Then they gathered together in a place
16:41 in the Hebrew tongue called Armageddon."
16:45 Where is this battle fought? Armageddon.
16:49 Now let me interject something very, very important.
16:53 We must not miss this point here.
16:55 We must not leap frog from verse 14 and over 15
16:59 to get to the good part of the Armageddon in verse 16.
17:02 In fact Jesus himself injected right here
17:05 at verse 15 at this point,
17:07 so that we won't get mixed up. So that we won't get
17:10 so caught up in lot of these deceptive fiction,
17:13 that all of the evil angels and the violence
17:14 and by the way I read that book,
17:15 it's got some interesting good things.
17:18 But He is-- He doesn't want us
17:19 to get mixed up in all of the gathering of armies
17:21 in final cosmic spectacular,
17:24 so that we lose the perspective
17:25 and miss the point.
17:28 That this whole stirring,
17:29 frightening picture is just a prelude
17:33 to the very coming of Jesus.
17:36 Unmistakably clear in verse 15.
17:39 Remember Jesus Himself is speaking here.
17:41 "Behold I come as a thief.
17:44 Blessed is he who stays awake
17:47 and keeps his clothes with him.
17:48 So he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
17:53 Now listen folks in dealing with Armageddon,
17:56 here is the good news tonight.
17:58 The Book of Revelation turns the spotlight
18:01 when we're looking at Armageddon,
18:02 the spotlight is turned on Jesus,
18:05 on His righteousness, on His grace,
18:07 on His gift of life, that's what the Bible means,
18:10 when it talks about a person keeping his clothes with him.
18:14 Armageddon speaks of victory, not victims.
18:18 It speaks of deliverance not doom,
18:21 it speaks of hope, not hopelessness.
18:24 It speaks of Satan's final futile attempts to unite
18:27 all the forces of hell against God and his people.
18:30 Question is tonight are you ready for this?
18:34 Or you can be? Bible says without it,
18:39 you're exposed naked and what does that mean.
18:44 It isn't talking about streakers,
18:46 trying to get attention.
18:48 No, it's pointing out serious spiritual emptiness
18:51 and a very real possibility
18:53 that some good people will not survive Armageddon,
18:57 it's just that vital.
18:59 But thank God, you can have assurance.
19:03 You don't need Lon,
19:04 to be blown away if you stay awake.
19:07 If you find Jesus as your friend
19:09 and wear the clothing He has for you,
19:11 you can have life that lasts forever.
19:14 What God is telling us here is,
19:17 He's not someone to be afraid of.
19:20 He's someone to be a friend of.
19:22 In fact, He's on our side.
19:25 And I want that to stand out as clear as a beacon
19:27 in this seminar study series on the Bible.
19:30 God friend wants to be your best friend.
19:35 You know, after 9/11 Americans particularly learned
19:39 what it really means to be afraid.
19:42 Terrorists cell groups
19:44 continue to hide in our shadows.
19:46 Snipers are out there.
19:48 Economy is looking like its careening downhill faster,
19:51 and faster everyday.
19:53 And do you know what else the Bible says,
19:55 the Bible itself in the mysterious book of Daniel
19:59 seems to describe an enormous stone
20:02 hurdling through deep space
20:03 and blowing this planet into oblivion.
20:05 Does that sound like good news,
20:08 or the greatest cosmic terrorist attack of all time?
20:12 Well, tomorrow night here's our topic,
20:15 what's next signs you can't ignore.
20:20 We'll learn about Bible prophecies
20:22 being fulfilled right now in 2003.
20:25 And I hope every one of you will decide,
20:27 I'm gonna be here to this satellite seminar location
20:30 with my own Bible under my arm.
20:32 And I'm gonna bring a piece of paper and take some notes.
20:34 And now back to the final cosmic battle of the ages.
20:39 Where and when does this take place?
20:44 Lets look now to Revelation 16, verse 16.
20:46 It says, "Then they gathered the kings
20:49 together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon."
20:55 Another question for you to speak right out loud.
20:57 Does it say that this is going to happen this spring?
21:01 Does the text say that? No. Does it say,
21:04 maybe it will happen in the next few weeks?
21:06 No. Doesn't say that either.
21:08 What does the Bible actually say?
21:09 It says, "Then, then there is a spiritual showdown
21:17 coming between the forces of right forces of wrong."
21:20 Well someone asks Lon,
21:22 does this eliminate the possibility
21:24 of some earth-shaking physical military conflict
21:27 somewhere on this planet.
21:28 No. In fact, I like to suggest
21:31 that its unimaginable human nature being what it is.
21:35 That there won't be fierce military carnages
21:39 humanity reaches its final chapter.
21:42 After all in the last century alone an estimated
21:44 221 million human beings were murdered or killed.
21:50 You know, as these sands of time here run out.
21:55 Ladies and gentlemen,
21:56 I don't think things in this world are going to improve.
22:00 Because when it all finally does end
22:02 the final approach on the runway of time,
22:04 it will be God Himself stepping in,
22:07 awesome empower and majesty,
22:09 you talk about shock and all,
22:12 but then the Bible says and not till then.
22:15 Remember something important Jesus says here.
22:18 He says, you disciples will see a lot of these events,
22:20 you'll see the carnage, you'll see the famines,
22:22 you'll see the disaster and you'll think, okay.
22:26 This is got to be it. This is Armageddon,
22:29 but Jesus says no, not yet, not yet.
22:34 First he says "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars,
22:40 but see to it that you are not alarmed.
22:43 Such things must happen."
22:45 But what? "The end is still to come."
22:51 Jesus says Lon, "Hang loose! Stay cool!"
22:53 We might think Iraq is the trigger for Armageddon.
22:56 But Mathew 24 verse 8 says all these things
22:59 are the beginning of birth pains.
23:04 We got a staff member
23:05 that's on a deliver room table right now.
23:08 And I'll be honest with you I'll confess
23:09 I've never experienced birth pains myself personally.
23:14 But you who are mothers you certainly know
23:17 how the increase in frequency
23:19 and intensity they put you on noticed, on alert.
23:25 They keep you on your toes, something is going to happen.
23:28 Yes sir, it's going to happen.
23:30 So the Bible says, something is going to happen, when?
23:35 Okay, now the question is where?
23:39 Revelation 16:16, "And he gathered them together
23:42 into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon."
23:49 I want you to look this way
23:50 and I want you to listen very carefully.
23:52 You can go home,
23:53 you can get your Rand McNally atlases out
23:56 or you can get your national geographic maps.
23:59 You can search the face of the earth
24:00 and you'll not find any place called Armageddon.
24:05 There is no such place.
24:07 But this scripture gives us a little hint.
24:10 It offers some suggestions
24:12 and says that these word Armageddon
24:14 comes from a Hebrew word. I took Hebrew,
24:17 I can't remember very much about it,
24:18 but I know this much
24:20 that this word Armageddon is really
24:21 the combination of two words
24:23 Har meaning mountain and Magedon
24:29 which doesn't have any real definition
24:32 but it appears to us to link
24:35 with a place there in Israel called Megiddo.
24:39 The name Armageddon could literally mean
24:42 mountain or "Mountains of Megiddo."
24:46 All right this gives us something to work with,
24:48 but do you know what, I've stood over there.
24:51 I have some of you have too
24:52 over there in Northern Israel.
24:54 At Megiddo, you know what it is?
24:57 It's a valley. It's a plain,
25:00 usually called the Plain of Esdraelon
25:02 but with Zechariah Chapter 12:11 calls Megiddo.
25:05 It's a triangular shaped swamp
25:08 basically about 20 miles on a side,
25:11 about two-third the size of Lake Tahoe
25:14 there in Northern California,
25:15 where my parents are watching tonight.
25:17 It's just a little north of Jerusalem.
25:19 That is the closest thing that scholars can come up
25:23 with that might resemble "Har Magedon." Megiddo.
25:28 In fact I remember there is a tourist sign there,
25:31 that says Armageddon.
25:34 Not very impressive, not a very big place,
25:37 in fact it's so small our Israeli guide pointed out
25:40 that if you're thinking this is Armageddon,
25:42 two Israeli jets couldn't even turn around
25:44 in the skies above that valley.
25:47 Oh, granted some impressive battles
25:50 were fought there long, long ago
25:51 but it obviously does not offer
25:53 much room for modern armies or the kings
25:56 of the whole world to assemble there.
25:59 But hold on to your seat, because now the plot thickens.
26:03 You see, unfortunately it doesn't make sense
26:06 for Revelation 16 to call Megiddo a mountain.
26:11 Har Magedon, Megiddo isn't a mountain at all,
26:16 it's a flat marshy valley.
26:19 So it's what we call an oxymoron
26:21 to call Megiddo a mountain.
26:23 It's kind of like for you folks watching tonight
26:25 over there in Omaha, Nebraska.
26:27 It's like calling Omaha
26:29 on the flat plains of Nebraska, mount Omaha.
26:34 No, it doesn't fit,
26:35 doesn't work, seems confusing.
26:38 But let's patiently and prayerfully
26:39 look for an answer tonight, what would you say.
26:42 The whole context of Armageddon
26:45 in the Book of Revelation is that there is a situation
26:50 in which a divided world reaches
26:53 its final mountain top summit against the mountain of God.
27:01 The battle of Armageddon,
27:02 Revelation 16 speaks of a God on His mountain
27:06 who is powerful enough, a God who is strong enough,
27:10 a God who is mighty in battle,
27:11 a God who has never lost to Satan yet
27:13 and He won't now either.
27:15 Which leads to question tonight,
27:17 what kind of a battle are you facing
27:19 ladies and gentlemen.
27:20 Are you perhaps tonight facing a battle with disease?
27:24 It seems to be getting the best of you.
27:27 Are you going to win that battle?
27:29 Well, the Bible says you are.
27:31 What kind of a battle are you facing tonight?
27:32 Are you facing a battle
27:35 perhaps with discouragement?
27:37 Well, hey friend you and God are gonna win,
27:40 if Jesus is in your life.
27:42 Are you facing a battle
27:43 with some habit or attitude in your life
27:46 that you just wish you could give up?
27:48 Good news, as you and God are gonna win.
27:51 Are you facing some battle with temptation?
27:53 You and God are going to win.
27:56 Oh, yes, at end time the battle will be fierce.
27:59 The dragon will roar, the beast will oppress,
28:02 the antichrist will persecute,
28:04 but Jesus Christ enters the battle
28:06 and He is triumphant
28:08 and you will be triumphant too. Amen.
28:11 So my question tonight is this,
28:14 was General Douglas MacArthur right?
28:18 Some of you honored veterans of war.
28:24 Was he right when he stood on the deck of the battleship
28:26 Missouri on September 02, 1945,
28:29 after we dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
28:33 to end the most terrible war in the history of mankind?
28:36 Was McCarthy right to warn the world,
28:39 "We have had our last chance."
28:43 If we do not device some greater
28:46 and more equitable system,
28:48 Armageddon will be at our door.
28:53 Perhaps he was more right than we realized.
28:57 Because let me say again very clearly,
28:59 the final struggle between good and evil,
29:03 the Armageddon battle for planet earth
29:05 is going to be the mother of all battles.
29:09 Spiritually, morally, physically, militarily
29:13 and it will not take place
29:14 only in a Northern Israeli swamp no.
29:18 Armageddon will take place all over planet earth,
29:23 but right in the middle of this chaos.
29:25 Notice what Jesus said in Mathew 24 verse 30,
29:29 He said "Then the sign of the Son of Man
29:32 will appear in the heaven,
29:33 and all the tribes of the earth will mourn
29:35 and they will see
29:36 the son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven
29:39 with power and great glory."
29:42 Revelation 19:11 says, Armageddon finally comes
29:46 to its climax at the coming of Jesus.
29:49 Notice what it says, "I saw heaven standing open
29:52 and there before me was a white horse,
29:55 whose rider is called Faithful and True.
29:57 The armies of heaven were following him,
29:59 riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen,
30:02 white and clean.
30:03 Now who is this one riding on the white horse
30:06 and leading the armies of heaven?
30:08 Come on, Jesus,
30:10 right none other than Jesus Himself.
30:12 Revelation 19:16, "On His robe
30:15 and on His thigh He has this name written,
30:17 King of Kings and Lord of Lords."
30:20 I mean there is no mistaking who this is,
30:22 it's Jesus Himself and why does He come.
30:26 To deliver His saints in tribulation.
30:29 Jesus wins, that is the message
30:34 underlined in the Book of Revelation
30:35 and impressed in our minds with triple exclamation points.
30:39 And we who accept Him, win with Him.
30:44 Revelation 19:20 says, "But the beast was captured
30:47 and with him the false prophet
30:49 who performed the miraculous signs on his behalf."
30:53 Ladies and gentlemen,
30:55 the cosmic battle of the ages will be the biggest
31:01 cliffhanger battle of them all.
31:03 Because you see Armageddon, is about two camps,
31:08 two different universe systems,
31:10 the final showdown.
31:13 Once those two are unequivocally differentiated,
31:16 there is no reason for further delay.
31:18 The battle lines will be drawn.
31:20 There is nothing more that God can do,
31:22 to save the wicked
31:23 and nothing more He needs to do for the righteous,
31:25 except deliver them.
31:27 This is the moment of truth. Amen.
31:31 More than an ultimatum
31:32 from President George Bush or Tony Blair's date on.
31:38 Revelation says, the way is paid
31:40 by God for Jesus to return.
31:44 Satan over here has his access of evil
31:47 the triple alliance of the dragon
31:49 and the beast and the false prophet.
31:51 But Jesus warned in Mathew 24 verses 3 and 4
31:54 "Take heed lawn that no one deceives you."
31:57 Mathew 24:24, "For false christs,
32:01 and false prophets will rise and show great signs
32:04 and wonder to deceive if possible, even the elect."
32:08 There will be a miracle mania
32:10 that will overwhelm people on TV
32:12 and in the state of religion. Signs and wonders, wow!
32:16 So scientific and stunning
32:17 they almost deceive even the very elect.
32:20 False christs, false prophets,
32:23 plus Satan's biggest lie set
32:26 the stage for the final showdown.
32:29 I won't be at all surprised perhaps to discover
32:31 that one of his demons impersonating
32:34 an angel of light will appear to resurrect a dead person.
32:38 I won't be all surprised one day to look
32:40 and see someone talking on television
32:42 to Lady Diana or Mother Theresa.
32:46 Satan's final delusions to deceive and mislead.
32:51 We're gonna to be talking a lot about
32:52 some of these things in coming night.
32:55 So the question is what's next,
32:57 Revelation 7:1 to 3 says,
32:59 "After this I saw four angels standing
33:03 at the four corners of the earth,
33:05 holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent
33:08 any wind from blowing on the land
33:10 or on the sea or any tree.
33:12 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east,
33:16 having the seal of the living God.
33:19 And he called out with
33:20 a loud voice to the four angels
33:21 who had been given power to harm the land and the sea.
33:24 "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees
33:26 until we put a seal
33:29 on the foreheads of the servants of our God."
33:34 You see in mercy tonight
33:36 God says hold on just a little bit longer,
33:40 don't let the curtain of time ring down
33:42 yet or the hour is now at the sand in the hourglass,
33:45 because there are still people there on planet earth,
33:47 still responding to me.
33:49 God wants something else to happen
33:51 before the final winds of Armageddon
33:54 theory blow in all of their force on this planet.
33:57 Jesus himself said,
33:59 this final thing is the biggest sign of all,
34:03 but He's just about to return.
34:05 One of my favorite text Mathew 24, verse 14.
34:08 He said first, "This gospel of the kingdom
34:12 must be preached in all the world
34:13 as a testimony to all nations,
34:15 and then the end will come." Amen.
34:19 Well, now that doesn't mean
34:20 we can sit back tonight and say well,
34:22 preacher you just made feel a whole lot better.
34:24 No need to get all concerned about Armageddon,
34:27 because I happen to know
34:28 that gospel hasn't gone to the whole world yet.
34:31 Because friend, the gospel is making amazing advances
34:35 throughout the world
34:36 in Africa and Asia and India and every where.
34:40 I was reading from the New York Times,
34:43 it says that even in China tonight
34:46 with foreign missionaries banned
34:48 and underground churches persecuted,
34:50 the New York Times says,
34:52 Christianity is flourishing with
34:55 tens of millions of believers.
34:58 Never in history that been more
34:59 overwhelming globing circling proclamation of the gospel
35:03 in corresponding response.
35:05 It's on the internet, on TV, on worldwide radio.
35:10 It's bouncing off satellites tonight in South America
35:12 and New Guinea, Australia and Pacific Rim.
35:15 And this summer we'll be over there
35:16 in Africa and Europe and Asia thereafter.
35:19 See people are getting the message about Jesus'
35:21 warning in Mathew 24:42 and 44.
35:24 Lon "Watch therefore,
35:27 for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
35:31 So you also must be ready,
35:36 because the Son of Man is coming at an hour
35:38 when you do not expect Him."
35:42 For the past six weeks,
35:43 we've all had front row seats, a war in your face.
35:49 Five hundred embedded news reporters
35:51 with live television pictures of capture,
35:54 torture of prisoners,
35:56 parading some of the most grotesque
35:57 and gruesome violations of the Geneva Convention.
36:01 We've had Ted Koppel from "Nightline"
36:03 news writing in his Humvee Wolfe Blitzer from CNN
36:05 and even CBS's Diane Sawyer
36:08 donning her gas mask and scrambling for cover,
36:11 I remember during one of those air raids in Kuwait.
36:13 But do you know, all of these terrible things
36:16 just introduced God's finest hour.
36:20 Folks, God is not up there tonight ringing His hands.
36:24 The best is yet to come,
36:26 the best days for God are just ahead.
36:29 Yes, we maybe afraid, yes, we've had 9/11
36:33 and the world is more dangerous place to live.
36:35 Yes, we may not know what's ahead,
36:38 but should we led fear paralyze us.
36:41 No, Revelation tells us
36:42 Armageddon isn't the message of doom and gloom,
36:44 it's a message of hope.
36:46 God's people don't need to live in fear.
36:48 They can live in faith.
36:50 Fear paralyses, fear cripples, faith inspires hope.
36:55 Faith lifts our spirits, faith encourages our hearts.
37:00 Luke 21:26, says that this very time when,
37:02 "Men's hearts are failing them for fear,
37:04 and for looking after those things
37:06 which are coming on the earth."
37:08 God's people react differently,
37:10 Second Timothy 1:7.
37:12 "God has not given us the spirit of fear,
37:14 but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Amen.
37:19 As we go into our homes in just a moment
37:20 tonight Jesus to us Lonnie,
37:24 you tell them Luke 19:13 to "Occupy till I come."
37:30 Go out there and stay on track.
37:32 Don't lose your head. Don't give up your day job.
37:36 Don't throw in the towel. Don't be overcome with fear.
37:38 Yes, Luke 21:25 to 28 says,
37:41 "There will be signs in the sun and moon and the stars,
37:43 and on the earth, nations will be in anguish
37:45 and men will faint from terror,
37:47 apprehensive of what is coming on the world."
37:49 When these things begin to take place,
37:51 it says Lon, stand up lift up your heads"
37:53 because what "your redemption is drawing near."
37:58 Not a time to cower, not a time to fear,
38:00 not a time to crawl in a hole
38:01 and put a color tape over our eyes.
38:03 It's not a time for pessimism,
38:05 no its time to lift up your head and shout,
38:08 praise the Lord, Jesus is coming.
38:11 Good news tonight Jesus promises
38:13 is just nine words long.
38:17 "But he who endures to the end shall be saved."
38:25 How you are doing in the endurance department tonight.
38:28 You're still holding on.
38:30 Let me tell you a brief
38:31 and incredible story of someone
38:32 who endured and was saved on 9/11,
38:35 trapped inside those World Center Trade Towers,
38:38 when the planes hit.
38:39 True story I want you to meet, Genelle Guzman-McMillan.
38:42 On the morning of 9/11
38:44 Genelle was on the 64th floor of the North Tower
38:46 and suddenly of course there was big jolt there
38:49 that sent everyone scrambling.
38:50 State puts at the authorities and she did for a while.
38:54 But finally she realized she had to go down, down,
38:56 down the circular staircase.
38:57 She ran past floor after floor 40th floor, 30th floor
39:01 when she got to the 13th floor
39:02 suddenly all hell seem to break loose
39:04 and Genelle found herself entombed with her legs pinned,
39:07 her head trapped between concrete slabs.
39:11 Somewhere nearby a man cried pitifully for short while
39:14 but then he stopped and Genelle was all alone.
39:17 Alone with her thoughts,
39:20 but you know, someone else was there,
39:23 God was there.
39:25 Now Genelle, knew something about the Lord,
39:27 she was convicted of her sin and of Gods grace
39:29 she had gone to church a few times.
39:30 That she hadn't really been willing to give up
39:32 some things like inappropriate,
39:34 inappropriate romantic relationship.
39:36 She was living with her boyfriend.
39:38 Then came 9/11 and everything changed.
39:41 Buried there in that twisted steel,
39:43 Genelle thought about her hardened heart,
39:45 and twisted wayward life.
39:47 Was she really ready to die?
39:48 No way, she knew her life was buried in confusion
39:51 and lack purpose and she was dying.
39:53 She was trapped and feeling utterly hopeless.
39:56 Genelle drifted off to sleep
39:58 and she was awaken by a little sliver of light
40:02 with the morning sun,
40:03 somehow penetrating those tones and tones of rubble.
40:06 Light, she thought of Jesus,
40:08 who lights the world with grace and she was asking herself.
40:12 Am I finally willing now to follow that light,
40:14 which she accept the death
40:15 and resurrection of Jesus as God's salvation for her sin.
40:19 And this time the answer was yes
40:22 and right then and there buried beneath
40:24 the rubble with nothing to lose Genelle accepted Jesus.
40:27 Whether she lived or died she was now the Lords.
40:31 Her body was still trapped there in that horrifying tomb,
40:33 but her spirit found sweet peace
40:35 in God's forgiveness and acceptance.
40:37 And after laying there a long while
40:39 she was buried in that rubble for 26 hours.
40:42 She heard noises, rescuers searching for survivors.
40:47 And Genelle called up I'm here, I'm right here.
40:50 Do you see any light they asked her?
40:53 Not realizing the spiritual significance
40:55 to that question to Genelle.
40:57 She stretched out her hand believe it or not
40:59 through a little tiny crack in her concrete tomb
41:01 and one of those incredible New York firefighters
41:04 reached out and grabbed and he said I've got you
41:06 and indeed he did and he wouldn't let her go.
41:08 And everybody cheered as the rescuers
41:10 there sent her off to the hospital.
41:12 She was dehydrated,
41:13 she was injured, she was bruised,
41:15 but Genelle received
41:16 God's healing touch not only in her body,
41:18 but in the deeper sense in her life.
41:20 She is thankful for that terrifying wake up call on 9/11.
41:24 She says, you know, I'll never go back
41:26 to that life I lived before. Amen.
41:28 And people tell me I'm lucky I respond,
41:30 God has nothing to do with it God had a plan.
41:34 And tonight right now
41:36 we're gonna bring Genelle on this station,
41:38 but she has gotten married to that young man.
41:40 She has accepted the Lord,
41:41 she has been baptized and she is pregnant.
41:43 And her doctor said she couldn't be here this moment.
41:46 But friend, when there seems no way out for you,
41:49 God has a plan.
41:52 Listen to this song by Joey Draper.
42:01 I don't understand why some people must suffer
42:07 Or why children or young people die
42:13 I don't understand why some people have plenty
42:19 While other just barely get pride
42:25 Why the new waves of trouble keep pounding around us
42:31 Before yesterday's ways ebb away
42:38 But at moments like these
42:41 when my hearts starts to falter
42:44 God's Spirit will tenderly whisper and say
42:53 There's a reason, there's a plan
43:00 There's a purpose and there's a goal
43:07 And Jesus who loves us more than anyone can
43:15 Is still very much in control
43:25 Yes, He's still very much, very much, in control
43:43 Let us pray together.
43:45 Wonderful Savior, thank you for Your wonderful plan.
43:49 And tomorrow night bring us
43:50 back to discover signs we can't ignore.
43:54 Keep us in Your heart of love until we meet again,
43:56 in Your wonderful name we pray and the church said, amen.
44:01 Good night remember friend, God really does love you.


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Revised 2015-02-05