Participants:
Series Code: SCM
Program Code: SCM180016A
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00:40 Welcome to the 3ABN Spring Camp Meeting Sabbath School panel.
00:48 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School camp meeting here 00:51 at the 3ABN Spring Camp Meeting. Happy Sabbath! [Happy Sabbath!] 00:56 Haven't we been having an incredible camp meeting so far? 01:00 [Amen!] Talking about the 3 angels' messages, and you know, 01:03 we don't pick the quarterly; that comes from the Seventh-Day 01:06 Adventist church. We are in the midst of our study on 01:09 preparation for the end time. And, incredibly, lesson #10, 01:15 America and Babylon coincides perfectly with 3ABN's theme of 01:21 the 3 angels' messages. So, we are so excited that each one of 01:25 you are here at our spring camp meeting, and to have our panel 01:28 here, but we're also blessed that you are here with us at 01:31 home. We're so thankful that you have joined us for this study of 01:35 the Word of God. I want to encourage you, you can always go 01:39 to the website and download this study guide for yourself. Go to 01:49 ABSG - that stands for "Adult Bible Study Guide" -(.)Adventist 01:54 (.)org. You can download and follow along with our study of 01:58 God's Word. But we also encourage you to visit your 02:00 local Seventh-Day Adventist church. They would welcome you 02:05 with open arms and give you your own quarterly, and you could 02:09 study along with us. I want to introduce our panel at this 02:12 time; to my left is elder Jay Gallimore. He recently retired 02:15 as president of the Michigan conference for 27 years. To his 02:19 left is Mollie Steenson, vice president here of 3ABN. To her 02:24 left, elder Stephen Bohr. He's the president and speaker of 02:27 Secrets Unsealed from Fresno, California. And then last but 02:31 not least, Pastor David Shin. He's the pastor of the Hillside 02:35 O'Malley Seventh-Day Adventist church in Anchorage, Alaska. And 02:38 it is a privilege to be able to sit here at this table with each 02:43 one of you; you're students of the Word of God - men and women 02:46 of God and I'm just thankful for that privilege. Elder Gallimore, 02:49 before we go any further, we want to go to the Lord in 02:52 prayer, and would you pray for us this morning? -Our 02:55 heavenly Father, You've always promised to send the 02:57 spirit of truth; we pray the spirit of truth will be present 03:00 this morning as we talk, we share, that You and the Lord 03:04 Jesus may be elevated and glorified. In Jesus' Name, 03:08 Amen. -Amen. Our study here is lesson #10, "America and 03:12 Babylon." My portion is "The Deadly Wound Healed," but before 03:17 we get to that, I want to talk to you about present truth. Now 03:21 you might say, "What is present truth?" Many people say, 03:23 "Present truth is an end-times message for an end-times 03:26 people," and that is true. But if you think of 1 Peter 1:12, 03:30 what does it say? "For this reason, I will not be negligent 03:34 to remind you always of these things, though you know and are 03:38 established in the present truth." Well, that means, elder 03:40 Gallimore, that present truth existed in Peter's time. Not 03:43 just here at the end of time. If you think about- present truth 03:47 has existed all the way through history - it is a specific 03:51 message for a specific time. There's a command, and with it 03:56 always comes a promise. If you think about 6 snapshots of 04:00 present truth - now this is not comprehensive; there's more than 04:04 that - but 6 snapshots of present truth throughout 04:06 history: you think about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. 04:09 What was their command? "Don't eat of the Tree of Knowledge of 04:13 Good and Evil, because if you do that, you're going to die." But 04:17 there was a promise - remember, they did eat of the fruit, and 04:20 they did sin, but God sent the first promise in Genesis 3:15; 04:25 that was the Messianic promise that there would be a coming 04:28 Messiah, a coming Redeemer. Snapshot #2: Noah. What was HIS 04:33 command? "Get into the boat because there is a coming 04:36 flood." And we know the promise in Genesis chapter 9 was the 04:40 rainbow - that never again would there be a flood to cover the 04:44 earth. Snapshot #3 is Abraham. What was HIS command? "Get out 04:49 from Ur and go to a land that I will show you." What was the 04:55 promise? Genesis chapter 12: "I will make of you a great 05:00 nation, and in you, all the nations of the earth shall be 05:04 blessed." Snapshot #4: I think of Elijah on Mount Carmel. What 05:08 did he say? "Make a decision. How long are you going to hold 05:12 up between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if 05:15 Baal, then follow him." And the promise fell as fire from heaven 05:20 and consumed the altar and sacrifice, showing that the Lord 05:24 Jesus Christ is God. And then of course, the promised rain came. 05:28 Snapshot #5 is John the Baptist, and what was his command? "Get 05:32 ready! Prepare, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent." 05:39 And the promise was what? Jesus is coming. This is the first 05:43 coming of Jesus; He came as Messiah and Redeemer. Then we 05:47 come all the way down to the end of time - snapshot #6. The 05:51 command, again, is "Get ready!" That's what this camp meeting 05:54 has been focused about - the 3 angels' messages - preparing a 05:58 people to meet the coming of the Lord. And the promise is that 06:02 Jesus will come again. We're not looking for the first coming as 06:06 Messiah and Redeemer; we're looking for the second coming as 06:10 Priest and King. So before we go into Sunday's lesson, let's look 06:16 at our memory text. It's going to be on the screen for you. I 06:19 want to see if we can all quote that together. Our memory text 06:23 is Daniel chapter 12 verse 1. Let's say that together. 06:58 Now, we're studying today on America and Babylon; we'll be 07:02 spending our time in Revelation 13, and 17, and 18. My portion 07:06 is Revelation 13, so open up your Bibles and turn with me to 07:09 Revelation 13 verses 1-10. We're looking at the sea beast, so at 07:15 home, please open up your Bibles and join along with us. Verse 1. 07:19 "Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up 07:23 out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns; and on his 07:28 horns, 10 crowns, and on his heads, a blasphemous name." Now, 07:32 notice this beast - this sea beast, we call him - rises up 07:36 out of the sea, symbolizing that he rises up out of a populated 07:42 area. We see that in Revelation 17:15. And the characteristics 07:47 of this sea beast are very similar to the dragon. We see 07:51 that in Revelation 12:3; it talks about the great fiery, red 07:55 dragon. He has 7 heads and 10 horns - the same as the sea 08:00 beast has, and 7 crowns, or diadems, on his heads. 08:06 Similarities between the dragon and the sea beast. Now let's 08:09 look at verse 2. "Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard; 08:12 his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the 08:15 mouth of a lion." Daniel chapter 7- remember the vision that God 08:21 gave Daniel of the beast. It started with the lion which 08:25 represented the kingdom of Babylon. Then it moved to the 08:28 bear which represented Medo-Persia. There was the 08:31 leopard representing Greece. There was the great and terrible 08:34 fourth beast with the 10 horns representing pagan Rome, and 08:39 then the little horn came out of that beast. That little horn is 08:44 synonymous with the sea beast that we're discussing here in 08:48 Revelation chapter 13. Now, Daniel looked at all of these 08:51 beasts moving forward in time, 'cause he lived in the time of 08:54 Babylon, and he saw them moving forward. When John describes 08:57 them, he's looking backward in time, so he describes them in 09:01 reverse order. Now, in my time remaining, I want to look at 6 09:06 characteristics of the sea beast, so if you're taking 09:10 notes, #1: The First Characteristic of the Sea Beast: 09:14 He receives his power from the dragon, which is Satan. We know 09:19 the dragon is Satan; you look at Revelation 12:9, "The great 09:23 dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil 09:26 and Satan." Let's look at Revelation 13:2; we already 09:30 looked at the leopard, and the bear, and the lion - let's look 09:33 at the second part of verse 2. "The dragon gave him his power," 09:37 so the dragon gave the sea beast the dragon's power, the dragon's 09:42 throne, and the dragon's authority - power being 09:48 'dunamis' - miraculous power; inherent power. Authority being 09:53 'exousÃa,' meaning "power to act; authority." He gave him his 09:59 power. Now when I think about that, the sea beast accepted the 10:03 dragon's power. I think about somebody else who made a 10:07 decision, not to accept the power of Satan; not to accept 10:12 the dragon's power. Turn with me to Luke - Luke chapter 4. This 10:17 is the temptations of Jesus. You know temptation #2. Satan 10:21 brought Jesus up to a high mountain and said, "I will give 10:24 You all of this if you will only," what? "bow down,"- that's 10:28 right, "and worship me." We will discover this week that, really, 10:31 this is all about worship and who we choose to worship. More 10:37 in Luke 4, verse 6, Satan said, "All this authority, I will give 10:41 You in their glory, for it has been delivered to me." Verse 7, 10:44 "Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours." 10:47 And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind me, Satan; for 10:51 it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God; in 10:53 Him only, you will serve.'" So Jesus refused to accept power 10:59 and authority from Satan, but the sea beast readily accepts 11:02 the power and authority from Satan. Characteristic #2: He 11:06 thinks to change times and laws. Now, it's important to notice 11:10 he does NOT change God's law, but he THINKS to change times 11:15 and laws. Daniel 7:25 talks about the little horn power 11:19 which is synonymous with the sea beast. And it says in Daniel 11:22 7:25, "The little horn shall speak pompous words against the 11:26 most High, shall persecute the saints of the most High, shall 11:30 intend to change times and law, then the saints will be given 11:33 into his hand for a time and times and half a time." The 11:36 conflict described here is not an earthly conflict. It's a 11:41 conflict between Earth and heaven. The little horn intends 11:45 to change God's time and law. Now, if you think about God's 11:49 law - His moral law; the 10 Commandment Law - which 11:52 commandment has been attempted to be changed? The Sabbath; 11:58 that's right - the 4th commandment is the one that is 12:01 attempted to be changed. We know the Sabbath is a sign that God 12:05 is our Creator. That's clear in the 4th commandment. Exodus 12:11 20:8-11, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," why? "for 12:14 in 6 days, the Lord made heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that 12:18 in them is." God is our Creator. We worship on the Sabbath 12:22 because He made us. But we also worship on the Sabbath because 12:25 He redeemed us. You think about- the 4th commandment comes again 12:30 in Deuteronomy chapter 5, and what does it say there? "Observe 12:33 the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and remember you were once a 12:37 slave in the land of Egypt." Have you ever been a slave? Have 12:40 you ever been enslaved by sin and passions? And yet, God came 12:45 to set us free. It says, "Remember God brought you out 12:50 from the land of Egypt by a mighty hand and an outstretched 12:53 arm." So we worship on the Sabbath because it is a sign 12:57 that God is our Creator; it is a sign that He is our Redeemer. It 13:02 distinguishes Him from all other gods, 'cause no other god could 13:05 create. No other god could save. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. To 13:09 attack the Sabbath is to attack the authority of God Himself. I 13:15 want to read you a quote; this is from the Catholic record of 13:17 London, Ontario, September 1, 1923. "Sunday is our mark of 13:23 authority. The church is above the Bible and its transference 13:28 of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact." Now, I want to 13:33 make it clear- God has His people in every church. We're 13:38 not talking about people; we're talking about a religious system 13:42 that thinks to change times and laws. Characteristic #3: He 13:49 speaks blasphemies. We're back in Revelation 13- Revelation 13 13:53 verse 5, "He, the sea beast, was given a mouth, speaking great 13:57 things and blasphemies." What is blasphemy? Blasphemy is claiming 14:02 to have power to forgive sins. Remember, the paralytic was let 14:06 down to Jesus, and Jesus knew he needed physical healing, but He 14:10 was concerned with spiritual healing, first. And He reached 14:12 out and said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Well, the 14:15 scribes and Pharisees, they kind of had a fit about that. And in 14:18 Luke 5:21, they said, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who 14:22 can forgive sins but God alone?" Blasphemy is also a man claiming 14:27 to be equal with God. John 10:33, "The Jews answered Him, 14:32 Jesus, saying, 'For good work, we don't stone you. But for 14:35 blasphemy, because you being a man make yourself God.'" We know 14:41 the pope has claimed to be God on Earth - claimed that equality 14:46 with the Lord Jesus Christ. So first, the sea beast receives 14:50 his power from the dragon, from Satan. Second, he thinks to 14:53 change times and laws - that would be, he's thinking he can 14:57 change the 4th commandment. Third, he speaks blasphemy; he 15:01 claims he has power to forgive sin. He claims he can be equal 15:04 with God. #4: He demands worship and he persecutes those who do 15:10 not worship him. Revelation 13:4, "They worship the dragon 15:15 who gave authority to the beast, and they worship the beast 15:18 saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with 15:21 him?'" They worshiped him. We jump down to verse 7, and it 15:25 says, "It was granted to him, it was granted to the sea beast, 15:29 to make war with the saints and to overcome them." So he demands 15:34 worship, and when they don't worship, what does he do? He 15:37 begins to persecute. #5, characteristic #5: He has 15:42 unprecedented and unparalleled authority for 42 months. That's 15:49 in verse 5, as well. This is Revelation 13:5, "He was given 15:53 authority to continue for 42 months." Now, I don't want to 15:56 step over on Pastor Gallimore's day, but it says that the 42 16:00 months, and we do not have time to get into this, but it equals 16:05 3 and a half years, which would be 1,260 days; we know the 16:10 day-for-a-year principle, and Ezekiel 4:6 that a day equals a 16:15 year, so that's 1,260 years. From A.D. 538 to 1798, the Roman 16:23 Catholic Church ruled with supremacy, persecuting those 16:27 people who did not choose to worship them. And then #6: He 16:32 lost his authority (the sea beast), but he gained it back. 16:36 Our last scripture, Revelation 13:3, "I saw one of his heads as 16:40 it had been mortally wounded, and the deadly wound was 16:43 healed." The wounding of the papacy really began, you could 16:47 say, with the Protestant Reformation, continued with 16:50 various stabbings over the years, but it culminated in 1798 16:54 when the pope was taken captive. That wound we see is in the 16:59 process of being healed. And we know that, once again, that 17:05 power will reign supreme. History will repeat itself, and 17:10 my appeal is: we have a choice every day who we are going to 17:14 serve. Worship Christ, or worship the beast. Elder 17:18 Gallimore, you have the land beast. 17:22 Well, uh, she doesn't need to be intimidated by any of us. 17:26 [audience laughs] 17:28 That was great. First of all, I want to say that I'm an American 17:35 and I'm proud to be an American. [Amen.] I don't mean this in 17:40 every ethnicity, every nation, is important to the Lord and He 17:46 loves everybody the same, so I want to make sure that's not 17:48 misunderstood; but the United States of America is a unique 17:53 country - there's never been anything like it on the face of 17:56 the earth. It's not only economically the most powerful 18:04 nation - it is militarily the most powerful nation. The world 18:10 knows that; it understands that the United States with its 18:13 allies cannot be overthrown. Cannot be. And they mess with it 18:22 at the peril of their life. And what has made this nation great 18:29 is because of its freedom. Its religious freedom, and its 18:36 political freedom...and I praise God for that. And let me tell 18:41 you, there are plenty of forces around that would love to 18:43 control this nation; and there are plenty of forces that are 18:47 seeking to do that. So I want you to know that I love the 18:53 United States of America. Now, I didn't say it doesn't have 18:56 flaws; I didn't say there's nothing on this world that 18:58 doesn't have flaws; but I'm grateful to be an American. And, 19:03 by the way, there are millions of people around the world that 19:05 would trade places with any of you. Millions. Maybe billions. 19:11 Any moment. "Give me a chance. I'll be glad to trade places 19:14 with you." Let's go back to this-, to the Scripture here, 19:20 and I want to bounce off of what Jill was saying so nicely, and 19:26 that is that this persecuting power, the great, red dragon, 19:32 through his earthly agents, pagan Rome, and then papal Rome, 19:37 and as she said so nicely, "This is not about people. I'm glad 19:42 Jesus loves all of us and He's got people everywhere in every 19:45 church." And like I said the other night, the Book of 19:49 Revelation gets onto everybody really pretty good - is no 19:52 respect or persons; all denominations, including the one 19:55 I'm a part of. But let me focus on Revelation chapter 12 for the 20:01 last part just a moment because this woman who represents the 20:04 church is being persecuted, and in verse 14, she runs to the 20:10 wilderness - I'm going to paraphrase for sake of time 20:13 here - verse 15: the serpent spews out water out of his mouth 20:19 like a flood - why? Because he wants to destroy her, that she 20:23 might be carried away by the flood; and then in verse 16 is a 20:29 very fascinating thing - here's the water coming, and here, the 20:34 earth in opposite (earth and sea are opposites), the earth 20:39 opens up its mouth. Now, I want to tell you that I believe that 20:43 Earth, there, represents the United States of America. The 20:47 United States of America is the result of the Protestant 20:50 Reformation. No Protestant Reformation, no United States of 20:54 America as we know it today. The Constitution of the United 20:58 States (now I say this with sweet kindness), is not a papal 21:02 document. The Constitution of the United States is a 21:06 Protestant document and it reflects the biblical principles 21:13 of Jesus where He said, in the Golden Rule, "Treat others the 21:17 way you'd want to be treated." That's how the Constitution is 21:19 built - it's built on a biblical principle. And so, we have this 21:26 great nation, I think, that's pictured here with the earth 21:29 because the United States of America - everybody knows this; 21:33 everybody knows the Pilgrims' story - it's became the place 21:36 where your forefathers and mothers and mine came here 21:39 because they needed religious freedom! They were being 21:43 persecuted because of the religious faith! That's the 21:46 foundation of who we are and what we are. So the earth opens 21:52 its mouth and it swallows the flood of persecution. If you 21:59 want to go back and do a little research, you can find how the 22:02 papacy- what it thought about the United States and democracy; 22:08 called it a pest, for instance. So it was an enemy of the whole 22:17 concept of democracy and religious freedom, but now the 22:20 United States is the champion of this. We've exported this 22:24 throughout the entire world. Unfortunately, we exported a lot 22:28 of other things, like rock music and so forth, but the best thing 22:31 that we've exported is our principles of religious and 22:35 civil freedom, and democracy. Now, chapter 13 is a repeat and 22:41 enlargement, if you please, of these last few verses. We get 22:46 down into the next part and we have this beast from the earth. 22:53 This beast from the earth is very unique - it's nothing like 22:56 it in Scripture. Verse 11 (chapter 13): "And I saw another 23:01 beast coming up out of the earth." Now some people say, 23:04 "Well, well; listen, North America was populated. I did a 23:07 little research on that and, in my best southern English, that 23:11 ain't true." It's not true. By 1630, just a little over 115 23:18 years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the wall, there 23:22 were only just a few 100,000 people in Canada, for instance. 23:26 Some of the estimates for North America was maybe 2-20 million - 23:32 maybe. And they said it's very difficult to get that down. 23:36 Well, today, there's 350 million people in the United States of 23:40 America, so you can see the vast difference. The 2-20 million, 23:44 many times, included the populations of the Aztecs and 23:48 South America and all of that, so it was like for the entire 23:51 Americas. This was a vast wilderness by enlarge, unlike 23:56 Europe with all of its population, and so the United 24:00 States is unique. The other thing is - that Jill pointed out 24:05 so nicely - is the 23- oh, not 2,300 days; the 1,260-day year 24:10 prophecy - the 42 months - and when you come to chapter 13, 24:16 this leopard-like beast that has 7 heads and 10 horns - it reigns 24:24 for this 42 months. Now, we know that, as she pointed out so 24:28 nicely, the Protestant Reformation started nailing the 24:30 nails, but it was Napoleon's General Berthier that took him 24:35 down in 1798, and everybody said "The papacy is dead." This was 24:40 the mortal wound, and the Bible emphasizes, now, in chapter 13- 24:46 focuses on this, that this wound would be healed and that all the 24:50 world would wander after the beast. The last part of chapter 24:54 13 says it's going to get help to do that - healing of that 24:58 wound - and the help comes from this beast from the earth that 25:03 has horns like a lamb. I want to tell you that I believe that the 25:08 Lord Jesus Christ Himself raised up the United States of America. 25:13 [Amen.] That the Lord Jesus raised it up. There's never been 25:17 a nation like it; I mean, instead of conquering our 25:19 enemies and taking their territory, we turn around and 25:22 spend our time and wealth and TREASURE to rebuild them. The 25:26 reason Europe is what it is today, and I say this kindly, is 25:29 because the United States turned around after World War II and 25:31 rebuilt it. I was just looking at... D-Day will be 75 years 25:39 next year. My father was in World War II; fortunately, he 25:43 didn't have to fight directly, but it's very sobering - you 25:51 look at those 10,000 crosses and Stars of David that decorate the 25:56 hills of Normandy, and you don't realize the American young men.. 26:01 their families. Pretty sobering. But it says there's going to be 26:10 a change. This breaks my heart. It's going to be a change from 26:19 those lamb horns - those principles of religious freedom 26:25 and civil freedom; it's what's made this nation great - and 26:29 nation ends up speaking like a dragon. Listen - the devil is 26:34 trying to pollute everything he's ever to come in touch with. 26:39 You go back to the beginning and the antediluvian world and he 26:43 polluted them, turned them in to nature worship - you take the 26:45 Jewish people and he turned that into legalism. You take the 26:50 early church and he turned that into the medieval apostasy. You 26:54 take the Protestant Reformation. And today, the Protestant 26:57 Reformation is just a shell of its former self. And 1994, the 27:01 evangelicals - (which was the biblical people) they've 27:04 embraced the papacy, hoping to be able to stop some of the 27:09 political- not political, but the deterioration of morals in 27:15 this country, and were they able to accomplish that? Now, 27:18 alliance, no - what they did is they made the pope the great 27:21 religious figure in America today. It's not- Billy Graham, 27:26 of course, just passed away, but it wasn't Billy Graham, anymore, 27:29 that spoke for the nation at Christmas time and Easter time 27:32 and so forth; it was the pope. It was unheard of. It's an 27:36 amazing thing that's really, really happened. And so today, 27:40 we have the presidents of the United States that go to the 27:45 airport to welcome the pope- now that's unprecedented. Normally, 27:48 the heads of states, they come to the airport and they go to 27:51 the White House and they greet at the White House. The 27:53 president of the United States doesn't go to the airport to 27:56 meet them... But only the pope gets that. And I watched 3 at 28:01 the death of one of the popes - I watched three United States 28:03 presidents and their wives kneeling in front of a dead 28:05 pope. Republican AND Democrat. That's unprecedented. Now, we 28:14 love everybody, but the pope doesn't have priority over our 28:19 nation. At least, it shouldn't, by the grace of God. This great 28:26 nation has been on a course that is embracing- the Jesuits are 28:32 very, very active in the United States. If you don't do, just do 28:38 a little research on who occupies the CIA and the FBI. I 28:43 hope they don't go knocking on my door, now, but... [laughter] 28:49 You'll find something very, very interesting going on. The nation 28:56 is changing, and not only that we have all the secularization - 29:00 we can blame Hollywood and the media for pushing agendas that 29:05 are absolutely, terribly, not only unbiblical, but they're 29:11 against nature. It's against society. No society ever 29:17 survives, embracing this kind of craziness. In fact, if you 29:23 watch the Supreme Court ruling this past week, thank the Lord 29:25 they still protected religious freedom. You can just check on 29:29 that; this just happened this past week. You can still bake a 29:32 cake according to the dictates of your own conscience, 29:36 hallelujah. There were two of those justices that voted that 29:40 would've shut that down. I mean, and I wanted to say to those two 29:44 justices, "What were you thinking?" This nation was 29:47 BUILT- thank God for the other 7 that supported that. But tough 29:52 times are going to come. This nation so great, so wonderful, 29:57 so powerful - it's done so much good! It's going to make a 30:04 change. May God help us. -How many of you believe we are 30:11 living in the end-of-the-end times? [Amen.] These are very 30:15 sobering thoughts that Pastor Gallimore has just shared with 30:20 us. This is a very sobering time. That's why it's so vitally 30:24 important that we learn how to be prepared for these end times- 30:30 the very title of our quarterly. The area that I'm looking at 30:35 today is an issue of worship. You see, we know- how many of 30:41 you want the Lord to return? [Amen!] And we know that He's 30:44 going to return. Things are going to get better; but they're 30:48 going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. That's 30:52 what we have to be prepared for to be able to walk through that. 30:57 To go through that, we've got to be prepared. On Tuesday, we look 31:02 at an issue of worship, and Jill touched on it. Pastor CA - I 31:08 believe it was Thursday, and his- he touched on it, it's just 31:11 not something we can- the whole concert that we had last 31:16 evening; oh, it was worship unto the Lord. You know, I think the 31:23 foundation I want to lay for this is the 1st commandment. So 31:28 if you will look at Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 and 2. 31:33 Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 and 2. The Scripture says, "I am the 31:39 Lord your," [God.] "God, Who brought you out of the land of 31:44 Egypt, out of the house of bondage; you shall have no other 31:50 gods before me." Now, He continues through verse 6; God 31:54 is very specific. We are to worship only Him. This is the 32:00 bedrock that we build on. We worship only God. We are to only 32:06 give our reverence and our adoration to Him. Let me give 32:11 you the definition of worship - "expression of reverence and 32:17 adoration for a deity." That's what our worship is. It's always 32:24 been an issue of worship. Who will we give our worship and 32:30 allegiance to? See, we can be in the worst situation we can 32:35 imagine. But in our heart, we can be totally liberated and 32:41 free because of Who we are worshiping - Who our worship and 32:45 allegiance goes to. Throughout the Bible, we repeatedly read 32:50 how God's remnant church, those that He calls His own - He has 32:58 to deal with them because they fall into idolatry and forms of 33:04 false worship. Have you noticed that in- the consistency of that 33:08 in the Bible? He refers to that as fornication and idolatry. 33:14 False worship and false ideas are the currency of Satan's 33:20 kingdom. That's what we must have nothing to do with. Now, 33:27 Jill touched on this. What was the real issue in the 33:30 wilderness? She read out of (I believe it was) Mark (that you 33:35 read out of). I want to read this out of Matthew - 33:38 Matthew 4:8-10. 33:41 It says, "Again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high 33:45 mountain and showed Him-" Who is the Him here? [Jesus.] It's 33:49 the Lord Jesus Christ. "and showed Him all the kingdoms of 33:52 the world and their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these 33:56 things, I will give You if You will do something." "If You 34:01 will..." So what was the issue in the wilderness? What was the 34:04 real issue in the wilder- it was worship. Then Jesus said to him, 34:09 "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the 34:14 Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" Now, in a 34:19 previous lesson, we had looked at some Hebrew children. That 34:25 would be Daniel 3, and we're going to go to Daniel 3; but 34:28 before we go to Daniel 3, I believe Pastor Gallimore already 34:32 had us in Revelation 13. Now, what were the children - the 34:39 Hebrew children - what were they commanded to do? They were 34:44 commanded to worship a golden image. Or what would happen to 34:48 them? They would be put to death in a fiery furnace. That's back 34:55 in Daniel. Now, I want us to fast-forward before we go and 35:01 look deeper into Daniel; let's fast-forward to where Pastor 35:05 Gallimore had us, looking at the beast of the earth. I want us to 35:10 read Revelation 13:15 again. "He was granted power-" who was 35:17 granted power? Now this- the beast of the earth was granted 35:21 power to give breath to the image of the beast that the 35:25 image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would 35:29 not worship the image of the beast to be- what? To be killed. 35:34 Does that sound like the same thing that happened to Shadrach, 35:38 Meshach, and Abednego? You will either worship this image OR 35:44 you're going to be killed. Now, we are being told because this 35:47 is for the church of the end time; this is for an end-time 35:51 people. How many of you are an end-time people? This is for us- 35:55 this is where our preparation must be - we must be prepared 35:59 for this to hap- we must know ahead of time how we're going to 36:05 respond and have the biblical basis to stand. How did the 36:13 young- what did the young Hebrew children do? What did they do? 36:17 They refused to worship the golden image, did they not? They 36:22 stood in obedience to God's commandments. They chose to give 36:27 their worship and allegiance to God; and what happened to them? 36:31 Okay, now this is where I want you to turn to Daniel. Turn to 36:35 Daniel chapter 3. We're going to look at verses 17 and 18. Now, 36:43 what happened to the Hebrew children? They made a stand- 36:46 they took a stand, but this is what happened to them. Now, what 36:52 happened was, King Nebuchadnezzar came to Shadrach, 36:56 Meshach, and Abednego and said, "When all of these musical 36:59 instruments play, you will bow down and you will worship the 37:05 golden image, OR I will throw you into- you will be thrown 37:09 into a fiery furnace. What will your God do for you?" Remember 37:14 that scripture? Here is how they responded. "If that is the case, 37:20 our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning. 37:26 fiery furnace; and He will deliver us from your hand, O 37:30 King." But here is where the rubber meets the road. This is 37:35 the attitude - the heart's response - that we must all 37:39 have. Verse 18: "But if not, let it be known to you, O King, that 37:47 we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image 37:53 which you have set up." They drove their stake into the 37:59 bedrock. They drove their stake into, "We will worship God and 38:04 only God. Do with us what- if God delivers us, so be it! But 38:10 if He doesn't, we're still going to serve Him." Now, I want to 38:15 read to you verses 25 and 27. I encourage you to read the whole 38:21 chapter; it's just an- amazing. King Nebuchadnezzar asked his 38:26 counselors about these 3 Hebrew children - these 3 young men who 38:33 had made their stand that "We will not worship and bow down to 38:39 a golden image." King Nebuchadnezzar asked his 38:42 counselors about them. Now, this burning fiery furnace- what did 38:47 King Nebuchadnezzar have them do with the heat of the furnace? 38:52 Turned it up 7 times hotter than it normally was! What happened 38:58 to the men that took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to the 39:01 fiery furnace? It was so hot it killed them. Okay. Verse- Daniel 39:06 chapter 3 verse 25: "'Look!' he answered. 'I see 4 men loose, 39:13 walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt! And the 39:18 form of the 4th is-'" what? "'likened to the Son of God.'" 39:22 Verse 27: "And they saw these men of whose bodies the fire had 39:28 no power, the hair of their head was not singed nor were their 39:34 garments affected; and the smell of fire was not on them." Now, 39:41 that, to me, is a beautiful example of God keepin' His Word. 39:48 You know the word that God has given us? God gave us His word 39:54 that He would never leave us nor forsake us. Now, they chose to 39:59 obey God and not man, and Jesus was right there with them. Now, 40:06 Jill made this statement. History repeats itself; so we 40:11 have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - thousands of years 40:14 ago - being told, "You will worship- bow down and worship 40:19 this golden image or you'll be killed." It's no different today 40:26 for us. Am I saying we won't suffer persecution? We can't say 40:35 that, can we? That would be contrary to the scripture of us. 40:39 There's a very good chance that many of us will be persecuted- 40:44 there's persecution goin' on all over the world, isn't there? We, 40:48 here in these United States, because of the very facts that 40:52 Pastor Gallimore has laid out, we don't know anything about 40:57 religious persecution. Some nations, some- if you are known 41:03 to be a Christian, they will persecute you and they will- we 41:06 are blessed in this nation. Some of us (there's a very good 41:12 chance) - we'll be persecuted, and there's a very good chance 41:15 that some of us will die for our faith. But again, God gave us 41:21 His word. What was the word that God gave us? "I will never leave 41:25 you; I will never forsake you." Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and 41:31 Abednego, in the midst of the fiery furnace, there was the 4th 41:35 man in that fiery furnace. He will be there with us. We have 41:40 an assurance of an eternity in the very presence of God. This 41:46 life is but a vapor. It's the preparation that we make on this 41:51 side of eternity that determines our entry into the presence of 42:00 Almighty God for an eternity. We can't be short-sighted; this 42:04 isn't all there is. There is an eternity to be gained. Okay, 42:11 history repeating itself. Let me reread Revelation 13:15. "He was 42:17 granted power to give breath to the image of the beast if the 42:20 image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would 42:23 not worship the image of the beast to be killed." Now, who is 42:29 this word for? This is for us. Revelation 14:9-10; look at 42:36 that. "Then a third angel followed them, saying with a 42:38 loud voice, 'If anyone worship the beast and his image and 42:43 receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he 42:46 himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God which 42:50 is poured out full-strength into the cup of his indignation. 42:53 He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone and the presence 42:57 of the holy angels and in the presence of God.'" We need to 43:01 dig into the bedrock of worshiping God and God only. 43:05 Nothing has changed in these closing moments of Earth's 43:08 history. The question for each of us is, "Who do we choose to 43:14 worship?" And I think I'm going to stand with Joshua - I think 43:17 he expressed it so well. Joshua 24:15, "And if it seems evil to 43:24 you to serve the Lord, choose for yourself this day whom you 43:28 will serve. But as for me and my house,"- say it with me, "we 43:33 will serve the Lord." Pastor Bohr. -Well, I just want to 43:39 piggy back on what Molly just shared with us. We did not talk 43:45 before... [laughter] But they say "all great minds run in the 43:50 same track." [more laughter] I just want us to focus on Daniel 43:55 3 for a few moments again. Just a few details here; there are- 44:01 there's a key word that links Daniel 3, Daniel 6, and Daniel 44:07 12:1 which is the memory verse that we have for today. The only 44:15 places in Daniel where the word 'deliver' appears is in Daniel 44:20 3, Daniel 6, and Daniel 12:1. There's another commonality 44:26 between all three, and that is that in all three cases, the 44:32 angel delivers God's people. That's what I want to focus on. 44:39 First of all, let's notice Daniel 3:8. Those who accused 44:44 the three friends of Daniel were the religious leaders of 44:48 Babylon. In other words, it's the religion that entices the 44:53 civil power to make this image. It says there, "Therefore, at 44:57 that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the 45:00 Jews," so they're the accusers. And then I want us to go down to 45:06 verse 13. "Then, Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the 45:11 command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so they 45:14 brought these men before the king." Now, in verse 15, we find 45:20 for the first time in chapter 3 the word 'deliver.' Let's read 45:24 that verse. "Now, if you are ready at the time you hear the 45:27 sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery in symphony 45:32 with all kinds of music and you fall down and worship the image 45:36 which I have made, good; but if you do not worship, you shall be 45:40 cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace," and 45:43 now comes the question, "and who is the God Who will deliver you 45:49 from my hands?" Notice verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego 45:54 answered and said to the king, "O, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no 45:59 need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our 46:02 God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning 46:07 fiery furnace and He will deliver us from your hand, O 46:13 King." Then we find in verse 19, it says that the expression of 46:17 Nebuchadnezzar's face changed. Ellen White comments on this; 46:21 she says that his face looked like the face of a demon. And 46:25 then, you know the story of how these three young men are thrown 46:30 into the fiery furnace, heated 7 times more than ever before; 46:34 this symbolizes the time of trouble, such as never has been 46:38 seen. Ellen White, in fact- in the chapter on the time of 46:41 trouble in Great Controversy says that the fires of the 46:45 furnace are about to consume God's people, but they shall 46:49 come forth from the furnace as pure gold; so she's applying 46:52 this spiritually - what happened in Daniel chapter 3. Then, in 46:57 verse 25, it says, "'Look!' he answered." (This is 47:00 Nebuchadnezzar.) "'I see 4 men loose, walking in the midst of 47:03 the fire and they are not hurt; and the form of the 4th is like 47:08 the Son of God.'" Now, some 47:12 versions translate "the son of the gods." 47:13 Not a good translation. Ellen White states that Daniel 47:18 and his friends had told the king what the Son of God looked 47:23 like. And, of course, the Son of God in the Old Testament is the 47:27 angel of the Lord. Now, I want you to notice something very 47:30 interesting in verse 28. Nebuchadnezzar's just said that 47:34 the form of the 4th is like the Son of God, but now notice what 47:38 Nebuchadnezzar says in verse 28. "Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, 47:43 'Bless be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who sent 47:48 His angel..." Now, wait a minute; was it the Son of God? 47:52 Or was that His angel? "He sent His angel," and what? There's 47:59 the word again, "and delivered His servants who," what? 48:03 "trusted in Him." There's the key. After Nebuchadnezzar is 48:09 wowed by what happened, in verse 29, we find the keyword again. 48:14 "Therefore, I make a decree that any people, nation, or language 48:18 which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, 48:21 Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses 48:24 shall be made an ash heap;" of course, he didn't understand yet 48:28 that you cannot enforce- can't force people to worship a false 48:32 god OR the true God. But anyway, it says, "because there is no 48:37 other god who can deliver like this." So what is the central 48:43 theme of Daniel 3? Is it the crisis or the deliverance? It's 48:47 the deliverance from the power of Babylon. Then we go to Daniel 48:51 6. This is really interesting. And, of course, this is dealing 48:55 with the Medes and Persians, but the principles are the same. The 48:58 issue in Daniel 3 is worship. The issue in Daniel chapter 6 is 49:03 ALSO the law and worship. Because Daniel's being told that 49:07 he can't kneel and worship his God. In fact, his enemies say, 49:12 "We won't find anything against this Daniel unless we find it 49:15 regarding the law of his God." So in both chapters, it's the 49:19 law and worship. Now, I want you to notice the key word again 49:22 that appears. Only in Daniel 3, Daniel 6, and Daniel 12:1 do we 49:27 find this key word. Daniel chapter 6; and let's read verse 49:32 14. "And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly 49:38 displeased with himself,"- the words that Daniel was praying 49:43 to his God -"and set his heart on Daniel to...deliver him. And 49:50 he labored till the going down of the sun to...deliver him." 49:55 And then, let's notice verse 16. "So the king gave the command 50:00 and they brought Daniel and cast him into the lion's den, but the 50:04 king spoke to Daniel, 'Your God Whom you serve occasionally...'" 50:09 Oh, thank you. "Whom you serve continually, He will deliver 50:16 you." There it is again. Let's notice verse 20. This is after 50:22 spending a night of insomnia, where the king doesn't sleep, he 50:27 doesn't eat, he doesn't bring the musicians; and it says in 50:31 verse 20: "And when he came to the den, he cried out with a 50:34 lamenting voice to Daniel - the king spoke, saying to Daniel, 50:37 'Daniel, Servant of the living God, has your God, Whom you'll 50:42 serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?' 50:49 Then, Daniel said to the king, 'O, King, live forever. My God 50:53 sent His...'" [angel.] Interesting. "'His angel, and 51:00 shut the lions mouths so that they have not hurt me because I 51:03 was found innocent before Him and also, O King, I've done no 51:07 wrong before you.'" And then it says at the last part of verse 51:12 23 that Daniel was delivered because he believed in his God. 51:15 In other words, he trusted in his God - continually. I want 51:20 you to notice the king gives a decree; Darius did not 51:23 understand the full- that you can't really command people to 51:27 fear the God of heaven, because that's not the legitimate task 51:31 of a king; but anyway, in verse 27, Darius says, "He delivers 51:38 and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on 51:43 Earth who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions." So 51:49 the central theme of Daniel 3 and Daniel 6 is when the issue 51:52 of worship comes up and there's a death decree against God's 51:55 people. If we are faithful, if we serve God continually, if we 52:00 trust in Him, we will be delivered. And, you know, I 52:03 found some Adventists, wherever I go, that they say, "Oh, 52:06 that's going to be a terrible time of trouble; I hope the Lord 52:09 lays me to rest before then." Well, what a privilege it will 52:12 be not to be laid to rest, but to remain faithful to the Lord, 52:16 and vindicate the character of God before the universe. And 52:20 then, we need to go to Daniel chapter 12:1 where we find the 52:24 name of the angel, by the way, in Daniel 3, it's the Son of 52:30 God, the angel. In Daniel chapter 6, it's the angel. Now 52:35 in chapter 12:1, we're going to find the name of the angel. This 52:40 name, Michael, appears 5 times. 3 times in the Old Testament; 52:45 twice in the New Testament. The name means "who is like God,"- 52:50 composed of three Hebrew words, 'Mi-ka-el' - "who is like God." 52:56 So, the context of Daniel chapter 12 and verse 1 is that 53:01 the king of the north in the previous verses which represents 53:04 the same as the beast, the same as the little horn, the same as 53:07 the man of sin, the same as the abomination of desolation, the 53:10 same as the harlot, different symbols for the same power, the 53:13 Roman Catholic papacy...will attempt to destroy God's people. 53:17 It says in verse 44, "But news from the north and the east will 53:22 trouble him; therefore, he shall go out with great fury to 53:26 destroy and annihilate many." In other words, he's going to go 53:29 out and try to kill God's people because they're faithful to the 53:32 Lord. But when that's about to happen, we find in Daniel 12:1, 53:36 "At that time, Michael shall stand up, who is like God. The 53:42 Great Prince who stands watch over the sons of your people." 53:46 And it doesn't mean we're going to be spared from the time of 53:49 trouble; the three young men went through their time of 53:51 trouble - and Daniel and the lion's den went through the time 53:55 of trouble. It's going to be a terrible time of trouble, but 54:00 Michael's going to be there to defend us. So it says there, 54:04 "And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since 54:07 there was a nation even to that time; and at that time, your 54:12 people shall be delivered - everyone who is found written in 54:17 the Book." Now, let's go to Revelation chapter 13 and let's 54:28 read verses 3 and 4. What does the name Michael mean? "Who is 54:35 like God." Now, what is the majority of the world going to 54:40 be saying at that time? Verse 3 says, speaking about this beast 54:45 that received the deadly wound, "And I saw one of his heads as 54:48 if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. 54:52 In all..." [the world.] West Frankfort... No, y- West 54:57 Frankfort, too. "And all the world marveled and followed the 55:02 beast." Now notice verse 4. "So they worshiped the dragon who 55:07 gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, 55:10 saying, 'Who is like the beast? And who is able to make war with 55:19 him?'" At that moment, Jesus is going to say, "Who is like God, 55:25 I will make war with you." [Amen.] What a glorious promise 55:30 God gives us. Who is like the beast will be defeated by who is 55:37 like God. [Amen.] So Babylon will fall. We know all about the 55:42 fall of Babylon in chapter 5 and God's people will be delivered. 55:49 They will be- they will live with the Lord forevermore. What 55:53 a glorious promise we have in scripture. We have no reason to 55:57 fear the time of trouble...as long as we serve God continually 56:01 and we trust in our God. [Amen.] David. -Amen. As we have 56:09 expounded on Daniel chapter 3 with Molly and Pastor Bohr's 56:14 presentations, we see that Daniel and his three friends are 56:19 in Babylon; and we see that in Revelation chapter 18, there is 56:26 a call to come out of Babylon. Ancient Babylon no longer exists 56:31 but there is going to be a Neo-Babylon in the end of time. 56:36 Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 18:1-4. Revelation 56:44 chapter 18 verse 1 through 4. "After these things, I saw 56:47 another angel coming down from heaven having the great 56:52 authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And 56:57 he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 'Babylon the 57:00 great is fallen, is fallen, and is become a dwelling place of 57:05 demons - a prison for every foul spirit in a cage for every 57:12 unclean and hated bird; for all nations have drunk of the wine 57:16 of the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth have 57:20 committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth 57:24 have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." In 57:28 verse 4 is the focus of our study for this section: "and I 57:32 heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, my 57:35 people; lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of 57:41 her plagues.'" Let's hone in on that pronoun, 'her.' Notice that 57:48 the Bible did not say, "Come out of it," or it didn't say, "Come 57:52 out of him;" but it says "Come out of her." Remember from 57:57 English class, that's a feminine personal pronoun, if I remember 58:02 correctly; it says, "Come out of her." Now, what is it talking 58:06 about? If you go to verse 7, it's interesting because it 58:09 says, "In the measure that she glorified,"- there's the 58:11 feminine pronoun again; herself, "lived luxury in the measure, 58:14 give her torment and sorrow for she says in her heart," and 58:17 here's the part I want to focus on; it says, "I sit as,"- what 58:20 does it say? "as queen and am no widow, and will see no sorrow." 58:27 Notice that the Bible describes this 'her' as a queen that is in 58:33 the posture of sitting. Now, there's only one place in the 58:37 Book of Revelation where you see a woman sitting on anything; and 58:41 let's go very quickly to Revelation chapter 17. Let's 58:46 start in verse 1, "Then one of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls 58:48 came and talked with me, saying, 'Come, and I'll show you the 58:51 judgment of the great harlot," so there is the woman who sits 58:57 on many waters. Same identifying mark found in Revelation chapter 59:02 18, "with whom the kings of the earth had committed fornication 59:06 and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk through the wine 59:10 of her fornication; so he carried me away in the spirit in 59:14 the wilderness and I saw a woman in,"- what's the posture again? 59:17 "sitting on a scarlet beast." Now, if you are sitting on an 59:25 animal, are you in control? That is a posture of domination. We 59:35 have a dog and there's an alpha dog posture. If you sit on the 59:39 dog, it shows dominance. Now, we know that in Bible prophecy, the 59:46 woman represents the church, or a church, and a beast represents 59:51 a political power; and notice the relationship between these 59:54 two. These are working in collusion, but it is the church 59:58 that is calling the shots. It is the church's agenda that is 01:00:04 driving this thing. Go to verse 5, "And on her forehead, a name 01:00:11 was written, 'Mystery Babylon the Great,' 'The Mother of 01:00:17 Harlots,' and 'The Abominations of the Earth.'" The Bible 01:00:21 identifies Babylon as being a mother of harlots. The 01:00:29 profession of the mother church is the great harlot, but notice 01:00:34 that the Bible indicates that this is a mother that has 01:00:40 daughters. It says "The Mother of Harlots;" it didn't say 01:00:44 "Mother of a Harlot." It says "Mother of Harlots." Now, the 01:00:47 implication of this is that this is a mother church that has 01:00:51 daughters. The daughters are holding onto the same practices 01:00:58 and the same professions as the mother church. They did not 01:01:02 repudiate the practice and the profession of the mother; they 01:01:07 held onto it. It says they are the daughters, and these 01:01:10 daughters are harlots. In other words, they are not identical, 01:01:15 but they are similar. We know that in Bible prophecy, there is 01:01:20 a mother church; it is the papacy, and the daughters are 01:01:27 apostate Protestantism. And the reason why the Bible holds onto 01:01:32 this idea of mystic Babylon as being comprised as the mother 01:01:38 and the daughters is because any Protestant church that has not 01:01:43 repudiated the pagan practices, i.e., idol worship, Sunday 01:01:50 sacredness, and the immortality of the soul are considered as 01:01:55 being comprised of Babylon. This is fascinating because there's a 01:02:02 quotation from John O'Brien, a Catholic priest, in his book 01:02:06 "The Faith of Millions" and notice how he frames this 01:02:10 posture specifically in relationship to Sunday 01:02:14 sacredness. And notice what he calls the Catholic Church. "The 01:02:17 observance of Sunday sacredness remains as a reminder of the 01:02:23 mother church from which non-Catholic sex broke away like 01:02:30 a boy running from home but still carrying in his pocket a 01:02:34 picture of his mother, or a lock of her hair. They identify 01:02:41 themselves as the mother and they say, "Look, if you hold 01:02:43 onto Sunday sacredness, you may no longer be a part of the 01:02:47 institution; but you haven't run very far." There's still that 01:02:52 connection. Last year, we celebrated the 500th anniversary 01:02:58 of the Protestant Reformation. And, we are living in a time 01:03:04 right now where we're seeing Bible prophecy being fulfilled 01:03:08 because the Bible indicates that the Protestant Reformation will 01:03:14 be over; and that the daughter churches will come back to the 01:03:20 mother church. I shuddered as I read this quotation from the 01:03:27 Catholic Herald. By the way, the current pope is the first Jesuit 01:03:32 pope in Catholic history, and the purpose of the Jesuit 01:03:36 movement was a part of the counter reformation, and the 01:03:40 counter reformation was to bring the Protestant churches back. 01:03:45 It's fascinating that the first Jesuit pope, according to this 01:03:50 article in the Catholic Herald, indicates that he believes that 01:03:56 the Protestant Reformation is over. I want to read to you this 01:04:01 quotation somewhere in pope Francis' office is a document 01:04:04 that could alter the course of Christian history. It declares 01:04:09 an end to the hostilities between Catholics and 01:04:12 evangelicals and says that the two traditions are now united in 01:04:19 a mission because we are declaring the same gospel. "The 01:04:25 Holy Father is thinking of signing the taxed in 2017, the 01:04:29 500th anniversary of the Reformation alongside 01:04:32 evangelical leaders representing roughly 1 in 4 Christians in the 01:04:37 world today." Notice this part. Francis is convinced that the 01:04:43 Reformation is already over. He believes it ended in 1999, the 01:04:50 year the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation issued 01:04:54 a joint declaration on justification the heart of 01:04:59 Luther's protest. Right now, we are living in a time where the 01:05:07 Reformation, according to Pope Francis, is over. I would beg to 01:05:17 differ on that point, because I believe that Seventh-Day 01:05:20 Adventism is a continuation of the Reformation; but he's right. 01:05:24 As an institution, evangelicals have come back into the fold. 01:05:29 Let's go back to Revelation chapter 18:4. And here is the 01:05:35 message of hope. "Come out of her, my people." And there is 01:05:38 the other pronoun, the possessive pronoun, "Come out of 01:05:42 her, my people." In other words, God's people are in Babylon and 01:05:48 He is calling them to come out. Babylon is not to be reformed; 01:05:55 Babylon is not to be revived; Babylon is to be evacuated. You 01:06:03 are to exit Babylon. You can not stay in Babylon anymore, but God 01:06:10 says, "My people are in there;" and He says, "you need to come 01:06:17 out." Now, what is the cost of staying in Babylon? It's in that 01:06:24 text. Verse 4: "Come out of her, my people,"- there's the 01:06:28 identification of His people - "you need to come out; you need 01:06:31 to evacuate; you can't stay in there." Why? "Lest you share in 01:06:36 her sins;" and here's the second part, "lest you receive of her 01:06:39 plagues." Let me parse that for you. If you stay in Babylon, you 01:06:45 will lose your salvation. Remaining in Babylon indicates 01:06:52 that even though your name may be written in the Lamb's Book of 01:06:56 Life because you accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord, that 01:07:00 you remain at the cost of your eternal salvation. I believe 01:07:08 that there are many individuals that are in Babylon that God 01:07:17 considers His people. Amen? And we are facing a time right now 01:07:24 in which we're going to be witnessing a transition within 01:07:30 our remnant church. There are going to be people coming in, 01:07:35 and sadly, there are going to be people going out. Now, it's 01:07:42 beautiful because there's plenty of room in God's remnant church, 01:07:45 amen? [Amen!] And I don't want anyone taking my place; there's 01:07:48 plenty of seats, but there's going to be this transition 01:07:50 between people that are coming in and other people that are 01:07:54 leaving; and this quotation from the book "Great Controversy," 01:07:59 page 608, says, "As the storm approaches, a large class who 01:08:03 have professed faith in the 3rd angel's message but have not 01:08:06 been sanctified through obedience to the truth abandon 01:08:11 their position and join the ranks of the opposition by 01:08:16 uniting with the world and 01:08:17 partaking of its spirit, they have come to 01:08:20 view matters in the same light; and when the test is brought, 01:08:23 they are prepared to choose the easy, popular side." And 01:08:29 friends, I fear as I visit our people and witness our beloved 01:08:39 people watching the same movies, listening to the same music, and 01:08:47 holding onto the same views as the world without discriminating 01:08:50 whether it's biblical or not, we are being set up to choose the 01:08:57 easy, popular side. And when our church becomes so enculturated 01:09:04 and assimilated with the world that there is no distinction 01:09:06 between the Seventh-Day Adventist Christian and the 01:09:09 worldling that when the final test comes, Lord, help us. And 01:09:17 we need to be faithful to the Lord Jesus and His Word, so when 01:09:21 this transition happens (and it's already happening) that we 01:09:24 can be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and be anchored in 01:09:28 the Rock. [Amen!] -Amen. Thank you so much. You know, often, we 01:09:34 think, as Seventh-Day Adventists Christians (I'm not saying us 01:09:38 here) or even you at home, but there's times we think, "Maybe 01:09:42 we need to water down the message. Maybe we need to be a 01:09:47 little more grace-oriented," and we believe in grace; we are 01:09:50 saved by grace through faith. And we're not talking about 01:09:53 that, but at the same time, God has given us an urgent message. 01:09:57 A warning call - thank you for that, Pastor David - that we are 01:10:03 supposed to take this message to the world and to each one of us 01:10:07 individually as Seventh-Day Adventist Christians. A couple 01:10:10 years ago, Greg was driving through Thompsonville and there 01:10:13 was a house on fire, and he saw the smoke coming out. He stopped 01:10:16 his pickup and he grabbed a hammer and he ran to the house, 01:10:19 'cause maybe someone was in there, and maybe someone needed 01:10:22 to get out. Now, he could've said, "They're fine; they're 01:10:26 doin' they're own thing. I'm sure they know there's a fire," 01:10:29 but he chose to break the window and to go in - to see if there 01:10:34 was someone who needed to be rescued; and God has called us 01:10:37 to proclaim the undiluted 3 angels' messages - one that 01:10:42 would counteract the counterfeit to a lost and dying world. We 01:10:46 only have just a few moments left; I'm going to give each one 01:10:49 of you a few moments to share. If you want, we'll start with 01:10:52 you, Pastor Gallimore - a closing thought. -Well, I don't 01:10:56 think I could do better than Pastor David just shared. We 01:11:01 need to be on the alert. Jesus said, "Watch and pray," and the 01:11:04 price of not watching and praying are letting the cares of 01:11:07 this world overwhelm us is to lose our eternal life. Pastor 01:11:11 Bohr said something about continual - a continual serving 01:11:15 the Lord; that continual connection is what's going to 01:11:18 make the difference. [Amen.] - You know, Jill quoted a 01:11:22 scripture earlier and it was to be established in present truth 01:11:26 though you already know the truth. We are to be established 01:11:29 in present truth. And I think about that: the reason that we 01:11:34 so often pull away from those things that we already know to 01:11:40 do is because we are not doers of the word; we are hearers 01:11:45 only. I'm looking at James 1:22 where the directive is, "But be 01:11:50 ye doers of the Word;" do what you know to do - not hearers 01:11:54 only. What happens when you're a hearer only? You deceive your 01:11:58 own selves. [Amen.] - Seventh-Day Adventist church 01:12:03 exists for only one reason. And that is to proclaim the 3 01:12:07 angels' messages to the world. [Amen.] And if we're not doing 01:12:11 that, we have no reason to exist. So I praise the Lord for 01:12:15 3ABN. [Amen!] - Ellen White says in the book 01:12:21 Maranatha page 204, "The church may appear as about to fall... 01:12:27 ...but it does not fall." It remains while the sinners in 01:12:33 Zion are sifted out." And it's my prayer that in this 01:12:37 transition, as the Protestant Churches of America are going 01:12:41 back to Rome, God is calling for His people to go back to the 01:12:45 Bible. [Amen!] - Amen. Thank you 01:12:48 so much, Elder Gallimore, Miss Mollie, Elder Bohr, and Elder 01:12:51 Shin. What an incredible blessing - what an incredible 01:12:54 study of the Word of God! And God is calling you at home right 01:12:58 now. This might be the first time you have heard the truth of 01:13:01 the Sabbath; now that you know the truth, you are faced with a 01:13:05 decision. Make a decision to stand on the Word of God and 01:13:10 with the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to stay 01:13:12 with us. Directly after the credits, we will be rolling a 01:13:16 special roll from 3ABN Russia - you can watch it there at home - 01:13:22 I think it'll be playing here in the house, as well. Stay tuned, 01:13:25 and then church will start in just 15 minutes. God bless you 01:13:28 and keep you. |
Revised 2018-06-26