Are You in a State of Denial?

The title of the sermon today, Are You in a State of Denial?

The world scene continues to spin out of control, but to listen to news reports from U.S. media sources, one would be led to believe that all is well with the world. So, listening to the GOP convention speakers, one would be led to believe that a golden age is about to dawn if Mitt Romney is elected president.

On one hand, you can just choose to completely deny the ever-growing problems facing us like upset weather and calamities, as we have seen this past week with Isaac dumping 20 to 25 inches of rain in Louisiana and Mississippi, and now still raining like crazy near Chicago today at same storm. Wars and rumors of war, collapsing economies, corrupt politics, crime, mass killings, overpopulation, resource depletion, energy crisis, food crisis, water crisis, and the list goes on and on. What will each one of us do? What will we do? Will we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear and make ourselves oblivious to what is really happening in the world? Think good thoughts, cross our fingers, live as if ignorance is bliss. In fact, that is what most people do. You can live in a state of denial, or you can face the reality of our times with courage and resolve. Well did the Apostle Peter prophesy. Let's go there. 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 1.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, and both which I stir your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lust, their own desires, lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. All they say is just a cycle. We've been through this kind of thing before. Remember the dust bowl of the 1930s, or remember the flood in Jamestown, or remember this, or remember that. We've had wars and rumors of war. We have had brother killing brothers since the days of Cain and Abel. It's all the same. In fact, I heard even on the news yesterday, there is no doubt that this nation is getting better and better every day.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of all, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, going back to the time of the flood and pre-flood world, whereby the world that then was was being overloaded with water perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. So God does not view time in the same way that we do.

So it may go on. Who knows how long this or that may go on?

Noah was a preacher of righteousness, which we'll talk about for apparently 120 years, and many people have laid their lives on the lines for decades and never did see the promise of his coming fulfilled. But, you see verse 9, the Eternal is not slack concerning his promise. As some men count slackness, it's going to happen. But as long-suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So God is very patient, long-suffering. As devastating natural calamities destroy entire villages, towns, and cities around the planet, as we see the financial crisis debilitating the markets around the globe, as we see most of the leading international banks are really insolvent and bankrupt by every standard that you want to name, but at the same time they continue to dole out loans. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It seems that the U.S. faces some kind of major disaster every week in some form, a natural disaster, a mass killing, some other something on the world scene. The so-called modern cities of the world are giant centers of consumption, which cannot sustain their population without massive imports of resources on a weekly or even on a daily basis. You have these cities two or three days where the transportation system, distribution systems are shut down, the grocery store shelves will be empty within a week. In some cases, less than a week. For some weeks, the number of murders in Chicago is greater than the weekly casualties in Afghanistan. Chris Matthews, someone brought up all the murders in Chicago, and that's the home city of our current president, and his former advisor is now the mayor, Emmanuel Romm, or Romm Emmanuel, I reversed his name, Romm Emmanuel. Chris Matthews says that Chicago is a racist word. She can't talk about Chicago. With all our technologies advances, our food and energy distribution network, it is still very fragile and it is interdependent. You have one thing go down, and then there's a chain reaction throughout the whole system. Whether it be a natural disaster, a nuclear chemical terrorist attack, a pandemic disease outbreak, and of course this West Nile virus is now spreading throughout the nation. There have been several deaths in Texas. Massive civil unrest caused by economic collapse, as you see in Greece, or any other event that causes a simple disruption of the inflow and outflow of goods and services. The inevitable result is immediate and devastating shortages.

Violent clashes between governments and its citizens continue to escalate in various parts around the world. The U.S. is drowning in debt to the tune of $10 million per minute. It's hard to imagine. $10 million per minute. And the public at large is still ignorant of the facts.

At this point, the economy is a confidence game. It's like a Ponzi scheme.

As long as people believe that the dollar will buy groceries, they will come to play the game. They will continue to play the game.

But if anyone pulls the plug, the game is over. It just all collapses, as they say, like the proverbial house of cards. The Arab Spring, ironically, celebrated and supported by the United States as the dictators in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt were overthrown. To be replaced by Muslim extremists bent on the destruction of America. As the battle in Syria rages on, the U.S. and NATO are arming and supporting the Free Syrian Army, which consists of various terrorist factions and, most notably, al-Qaeda. It seems we haven't yet grasped that arming and training your enemies is a bad idea. The United States is the arms merchant of the world, and we have recently sent Egypt more armaments.

It seems that our loving Heavenly Father is pleading with us to get our spiritual house in order to fill our lamps with oil, the Holy Spirit, which is the life-giving essence of our Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. You would go to Amos chapter 4, but it seems that the warnings go unheeded, and we continue, as we read from 2 Peter 3, all things continue as from the beginning. In Amos chapter 4, remember Amos was a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit, which is a type of wild fig. Amos was just an old country boy, wasn't from the school of prophets or anything like that. God called him to take a warning message directly from God to the nation of Israel, especially to the northern kingdom.

In Amos chapter 4 verse 4, come to Bethel. Beth means house in Hebrew and the adult is God. Come to the house of God. In other words, go to church. Go to the house of God. And transgress. At Gilgal, that's one of the places where they set up an altar and did sacrifice, at Gilgal, multiply transgression. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes after three years. Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with eleven. That means offer a sacrifice with sin. See, God considers the sacrifice of sinners as an abomination. He would have mercy and not sacrifice. And proclaim and publish the free offerings for this likes you. Oh, you like to make a show of righteousness that you're with it. But you deny the power of God as Paul writes to Timothy about the latter times. Oh, you children of Israel says the eternal God. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, that's famine, and one of bread in all your places.

And yet you've not returned unto me, says the eternal. And also I withheld the rain from you when there were three months to the harvest. Now cause it to rain upon one city and cause it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained, not withered. And he goes on there talking about the various things that God had done trying to get their attention. God is pleading with all of us now. There's not a person in this room that doesn't have some kind of trial, trouble, difficulty in one form or another.

And we're all being tried and tested. And this nation is being tried and tested in fact the peoples of the world. Because these are critical crucial times. In verse 10, I have sent among you the pestilence after the man of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with the sword, in other words they've gone to war, and have taken away your horses, and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils. Yet you have not returned unto me, says the eternal. I've overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. In other words, I spared some of you, but yet you still have not returned unto me. Verse 12, therefore thus will I do unto you, O Israel, and because I will do this unto you, prepare to meet your God.

So that is the message that the world needs to hear today. They need to hear the message of prepare to meet your God. Get out of a state of denial and face reality. Anne Romney, in her speech, proclaims that her husband will not fail. If you elect him president, he will not fail.

I'm not against President Obama. I'm not against Mr. Romney.

Mr. Romney even said in his speech, I had hoped that President Obama would succeed. But I would say to Anne Romney, and I would say to anyone, put not your trust in man. Let's go to Psalm 118, Psalm 118, verse 8. Psalm 118, verse 8. In Psalm 118, verse 8, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.

They cannot deliver you in the ultimate sense. All nations compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compassed me about, yea, they compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees. They are quenched as a fire of thorns, for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. You have thrusts at me that I might fail or fall, but the eternal helped me. The eternal is my strength and song, and it has become my salvation, my deliverance. That's where deliverance is going to come for. Notice in Psalm 146 and verse 1.

Praise you, the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! While I live will I praise the eternal. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth, and that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the eternal his God.

Verse 9. The eternal preserves the strangers, he relieves the fatherless and widows, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down. The eternal shall reign forever.

Even your God, O Zion, unto all generations, praise you, the Lord.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to insist that it will preemptively attack Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear capability. In response, Iran is threatening with a total destruction of Israel and its allies. It provoked the Ayatollah and the President Ahmadinejad almost every week comes out with some kind of pronouncement along those lines. The account down for another major war is now officially ticking. It is ticking as the U.S. armed forces are actively encircling Iran and Israel ramps up its preparation for an attack. The continued warnings from Russia and China to back off from Iran and Syria are being unheeded. Oh yes, we're preparing for war, and so is Israel. And in a sense, the whole world is preparing for war, and sooner or later they're going to go to war. Look at Joel chapter 3. Joel chapter 3.

Hosea Joel Amos.

Joel chapter 3 verse 9. This is the state of the nations of the world at the present time.

Joel 3 9. Prepare you this among the nations. Proclaim this among the nations. Prepare war. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears, and let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come all you nations and gather yourselves together round about. There cause your mighty ones to come down, O Etermi. And eventually all the nations of the world will be deceived by Satan the Beast and the False Prophet and gather together against Jesus Christ and returning saints. And before that happens, there will be much bloodshed throughout the world as the seals of revelation are opened and the trumpet plagues and then the seven vials of wrath are unleashed on the world. Regardless of whether our military involvement in Syria or the Israel-Iran conflict actually triggers a new world war, in the short term, handwriting is on the wall. Conditions in the hot spots around the world continue to deteriorate as most of the peoples of the world are caught in a struggle for survival. The masses in the U.S. continue to entertain themselves to death. And you could watch the morning shows on the major networks and except for little snippets here and there, you would think that we're living in the most glorious time in human history. It seems that no one is really able to read, to discern, to heed the handwriting on the wall. The Republicans shout long and loud during the GOP convention that the barbarians at the door, they must be stopped and we're the party dedicated to national security.

The Democrats will shout long and loud this week. They start their convention, Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday of this week. They will shout long and loud that they are the party of the people. We are the party that really cares for you. These other people, they don't care for you. Trust us. The Democrats will play various emotional cards. Racism, women's rights, gay rights, equality for all, war is ugly. Both parties claim to be concerned about the hordes of illegal immigrants that are pouring into the U.S. The Republicans and Democrats exchange verbal barrages on the major social issues of the day, homosexuality, so-called gay rights, abortion versus right to life, and the usual exchanges concerning economic issues. The Democrats will raise your taxes. The Republicans will favor the rich and the multinational corporations. The Democrats will raise the minimum wage while the Republicans will squeeze the working man in favor of big business. And so charge, counter charge goes back in two. The multinationals, that's the major corporations such as General Motors, General Electric, and many others, control virtually all aspects of our infrastructure, including utilities, manufacturing, banking, transportation, and communication. Verizon is like ruling the world now. AT&T, basically, you only have two carriers now, some of the lesser ones. You have the one that's sudden link is trying to come on, others, but they'll probably be squeezed out and bought up. Perhaps the American people, if we do have a new president elected, perhaps they'll wake up. But I submit to you, it is too late. It is too late in the game.

Globalism, in some form or other, will remain. Whether a Republican or a Democrat is elected, we're going toward one world government, one world religion eventually.

It will remain, that is, globalism, and eventually world government, world religion, until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. Let's look at Daniel chapter 2 forward a bit. Daniel, just after Daniel chapter 2, Ezekiel, Daniel, Daniel chapter 2, verse 43. And whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men.

When you have iron and clay mixed together, they just do not adhere.

But they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 7, and verse 26, Daniel 7, verse 26. And they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it until the end, this beast power. And the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom, unto the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominion shall serve and obey him.

Now to Revelation chapter 11, which gives us the time frame in which this is going to happen.

Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Revelation 11 and verse 15.

Revelation 11 verse 15.

And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And we look forward to that day, just as we heard in the special music of the overcoming of the Lamb.

All of the things I've mentioned so far are major issues that are in desperate need of being addressed and solved. But as long as people are in a state of denial, nothing will really change. All things continue from the beginning. Actually, we're better.

The major issues that face the world are not just in the physical arena, but in the physical arena of politics, economics. The major issues that plague the world are spiritual in nature and can only be solved by pursuing the source of true spiritual power and understanding. The admonition to us is ever, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near and today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart. For some reason, the urgency of the times in which we live does not resonate with our people, and especially with the masses in the U.S. It is amazing how people can live in a state of denial and give the appearance that all things continue as from the beginning. A few years ago, the noted author Bob Woodward rubbed raw nerves in the Bush administration with his book titled State of Denial.

But when all is said and done, the principal response to his charges was to deny that we're in a state of denial. So the denial continues, and we go about our business as if all things continue as from the beginning, while the evidence to the contrary continues to mount. You read of war, famine, pestilence, disease, just like we read from Amos.

Upset weather, terrible plagues ravage the earth in its inhabitants.

But that does not mean that all sense of normalcy—I guess that's a word, normalcy—it doesn't mean that that ends. The fact that a sense of all things continuous from the beginning will be a part of the deception, and thus make it more difficult for people to really grasp the depth of the deception.

The stories go about in Berlin during the time of World War II, toward the end of the war. See, there was the elite among the Nazis who continued a sort of a state of normalcy within the city. They even had the fine arts and the opera going on. And as the Russians were coming from the east to the west, along with the Allies in the U.S., and the gunshots could be heard outside the environs of Berlin, they still went to the opera, as if all things continue as from the beginning. In the days just before Jesus was crucified, he spent his days teaching in and near the temple in Jerusalem. On one of these days—let's turn there to Matthew 24—one of these days his disciples came unto him and asked him. Of course, these days were the time leading up to his betrayal and crucifixion.

All of the Gospel writers spent the last several chapters of their Gospel in those last 10 or so days of the life of Christ. So in one of these days, when he was going in and out of the temple from the Mount of Olives there, verse 3, as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, his disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ shall deceive many. You shall hear wars and rumors of war, and see that you be not troubled. For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. But it is a time in which the end is being set.

He says in verse 8, For these are the beginning of sorrows. He then talks about true believers being delivered up to be afflicted and killed. He states that true believers will be hated of all nations from a namesake.

Then he says that many will be offended, shall betray one another, hate one another. You see, those who really understand and those who really stand up for the truth will be an embarrassment to those who have the appearance of righteousness but deny the power thereof. Oh yeah, he's one of them. She's one of them, yeah.

These are the people who give intellectual assent to the truth, but refuse to stand up for the truth when the tide of public opinion sweeps them into the camp of the end crowd. And that happened, of course, in Nazi Germany. So many people betrayed one another during that time to save their own lives.

You see, they want to give the appearance of normalcy. They're not religious fanatics. They're just like everybody else. It's just they claim to believe in God. Christ says that because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will grow cold. In every language, this means that because everybody else is doing it, is seeking their own pleasure, believers fall prey to peer pressure and go along with the masses.

Continuing here in Matthew 24, I'll paraphrase what we're going to read. Verse 9, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, shall kill you, and shall be you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. It seems the groundwork for that's been laid. What an indictment to those who claim to be the people of God. You know, I got to thinking about some of this this past week and the story of the Good Samaritan.

What brought it to mind, I was listening to a guy on the radio who claimed, well, I think he was, an expert in Samaritan culture, religion, origin, development, and even to this day the role of Samaritans in the Middle East. A good Samaritan.

The Jews wouldn't have anything to do with the Samaritans. They thought they were far superior. You know the story of how the man was there on the roadside. He was in trouble. He'd been injured.

And various ones passed by. But then here's, quote, the Samaritans whom they despised. He stopped and he aided the man.

And the Good Samaritan movement is alive and well in various parts of the world to this day. So, when do you write somebody off?

I think the message probably to us is we don't write them off. God is the ultimate judge. You know, the end of that story, or the beginning of that story, rather I should say, has to do with, well, who is my neighbor? And then this parable about a man went down and fell among thieves and was injured and all this. And various ones passed by. And the Good Samaritan was the one, the one that the Jews despised, the one who helped him. In verse 11, many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. And then the great sign, and I've given a sermon on this within the last year or so, when you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, who so reads, let him understand. Later in this famous prophecy of Matthew 24, Jesus shows us that the end of this age will be comparable to the days of Noah. As one reads the prophecies in the Bible concerning end-time events, they could easily get the idea that what we call a sense of normalcy ceases. However, note what the Bible says here. We're in Matthew 24. Look at verse 32.

And succeeding verses. Matthew 24, 32. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nice. So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. And virtually every one of these signs, such as given in Matthew 24 verses 5 through 8 there, are on the world scene at the present time. And that means the societal structure.

But my word shall not pass away. But of the day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels in heaven, but my father only. But as in the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, giving in marriage, a sense of, quote, normalcy, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them away. So shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall too be in the field, the one shall be taken, the other left, two women shall be grinding at the meal, the one shall be taken, the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered the house to be broken out. Therefore be you also ready. For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of man comes. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat and dew season? This is the one. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. So what was happening during the 120 years or so that Noah spent building the ark? Noah is called a preacher of righteousness.

But as Noah preached, no one really responded. Let's go to Genesis 6. Look at this for a moment, the days of Noah.

We just read here that as in the days of Noah, so shall it be, the coming of the Son of man.

In Genesis 6, verse 2, the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, they took them wise, all of which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that is also flesh, yet his day shall be 120 years. Verse 5, when God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every imagination of his thoughts of his heart was upon evil continually. And it repeated the eternal, and he was sorry in his heart. It's not repentance in the sense of having done something evil. I don't know one that King James translated that way. But, God was grieved that he had made man on the earth. It grieved him at his heart. And the eternal said, I will destroy man who I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and creeping things the fowls of the air, for it repents me that I made him. But Noah found divine favor in the sight of God, because he was a righteous man. Verse 11, the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. And behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make you an ark. But they were marrying, eating, drinking, marrying, giving, and marriage to the day, as we read from Matthew 24, that Noah entered into the ark.

We further see the evidence of the sense of normalcy that Satan the Beast and the false prophet, even in the face of what they're doing. We go to Revelation 11, even with the two witnesses prophesying from Jerusalem, even with the seals of Revelation 6 being unleashed, even with the trumpet plagues being unleashed, even with the two witnesses prophesying in Jerusalem.

Verse 3 of Revelation 11, I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy for 1260 days clothed in sackcloth. You go back there to verses 1 and 2 about measuring the temple and those around the altar, them that worship therein. It seems that that applies in a dual sense, both in the spiritual sense, first of all spiritual, of those who are really with it and prepared to meet their God. And then it is in the literal physical sense, of the city being divided and given over to the nations. Verse 2, but the court which is without the temple leave out, measure it not, for it is given unto the nations, and the holy city shall they tread under foot 42 months, 1260 days. I will give power to my two witnesses, they shall prophesy 1260 days in sackcloth, these are the two olive trees spoken of in Zechariah chapter 4, two olive trees on either side of the bowl of the candelabra, and they represent the two witnesses. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, and if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. And if any man will hurt them, he must be in this manner killed. These have power to shut heaven that it reign not in the days of their prophecy, just like in the days of Elijah, and have power over waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they want to.

But even in the face of this, there's still like some kind of sense that will come out of this, and all things will continue as from the beginning.

The world will be led to believe we just have to put down these two, and if we put down these two and those who might support them, then the world will enter this golden age. Verse 7, And when they shall have finished their testimony, their witness, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, shall overcome them, and kill them, and their dead body shall lie in the street of the great city. This is Jerusalem, because it's identified in the last part of this sentence, which spiritually is called Sodom in Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. There's no doubt about the location.

And they of the peoples, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations shall see their dead bodies. So you have satellite television and practically instant communication. Three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because the two prophets tormented them that dwelled on the earth. So it's like, now that we've come to this, of course, this is so minor in comparison. You remember when they pulled down the statue of Sodom Hussein there in Baghdad, when NATO, the forces went into Baghdad, and they pulled down the statue of Sodom Hussein. And they sent out the word, and peoples rejoiced, and all of that. Well, that is nothing compared to what will be when this happens. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them. They stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them who saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying, Come up here! They ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. It seems you would quiver and quake in your boots at that, wouldn't you?

In the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand. And the remnant were affrighted, it's an interesting study, who is the remnant? And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is passed, and behold, the third woe comes quickly, and the seventh angel sounded, and the kingdoms of this world we've already read.

The Feast of Trumpets is coming on the fifteenth day of the sacred month, which will fall upon September the seventeenth of the Roman calendar on a Monday.

It'll be two weeks from this coming Monday. Trumpets.

The two witnesses will turn evidence against Satan, the beast, the false prophet, as they reveal the deception that Satan and his system have used to hide the truth of the glorious gospel of God.

The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will be so angered by their testimony that he will kill the two witnesses, and God will allow it. And that will provide even a greater witness as this is covered by satellite television around the world.

The people of the world will rejoice, as we have seen. Why do they rejoice in hearing and seeing that the two witnesses have been killed? It is because they've been deceived into believing that they were their enemies, whereas actually the beast and the false prophet are the enemies. Thus, you see that even in view of the fact that the earth has been ravaged with terrible wars, plagues, the worshippers of the beast and false prophets are yet able to send gifts to one another. How will Satan, the beast system, and the false prophet be able to deceive the world into worshiping them? Well, we've talked about that a few times in recent weeks through signs, miracles, and wonders. Perhaps we see the beginning of the seeds sown in the minds of people with the opinion polls of today continually presented the various media sources. Do you think such and such we want to hear from you? And it can be the most mundane thing you've ever heard of.

And out of these public opinion polls comes the so-called proof for what the people are really thinking and what the people really want. And generally speaking, when the majority rules, we all lose. The majority rebelled against Moses. The majority turned Jesus over to the Romans. Let's go to Matthew 27, verse 12.

It is seldom that you will find in history that the majority is right. In Matthew 27, verse 12, And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

Jesus Christ in the mock trial before Pilate. Then said Pilate unto him, Hear you not how many things they witness against you. And he answered him, Never a word insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.

Now at the feast, the governor was wont to release unto the people of prisoner whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas.

Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called the Christ.

For he knew that for in me they had delivered him. And when he was sat down on the judgment seat, his wife sent him saying, or said unto him, I think she must have sent a note or something, Have you nothing to do with this just man? For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Which of the two will you that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas, Pilate said unto them, What shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

The governor said, Why? What evil has he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he would prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was made, he took water, washed his hands before the multitude. This is a symbolic gesture and saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See you to it. Then answered all the people and said, His blood be on us and on our children. And so it has been.

Satan has used many different strategies through the ages to bring the world to its current position.

His various strategies and governmental strategies have run the gamut of political, economic, social, and religious systems ranging from anarchy to tyranny. But the system that is most deceptive is a system which the people choose for themselves what they want and make them dependent on government for survival. And people are always going to choose, as far as the majority of the masses go, that system of government which promises them the most.

And as they do that, they become more and more the slaves of that government, and more and more dependent upon that government for survival. And that's one of the big differences in the ideology between Republicans and Democrats.

When the U.S. elections are over, the winning candidates will talk about how the people have spoken. So the elected officials claim to receive their mandate to rule from the people.

There is now a politically correct code of ethics that's being enforced on the peoples of the Western world. Note Hosea 8, verse 4. This is a very significant verse because some people, they read from Daniel 4 where Nebuchadnezzar goes out into the wilderness and given the mind of a beast, and he comes to understand where the verse that says that we know that the Most High, he sets up kings and he brings down kings and so on in the kingdom of men. But that does not mean that every elected official is mandated of God, the justice of the peace or the sheriff or the governor or the president. And Hosea makes this very clear in Hosea 8, verse 4. They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I knew it not. Now their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. So God at times allows the violence of men to rule in the kingdom of men. He allowed Jeroboam to be the king over the northern tribe. Jeroboam changed the feast to the eighth month, the feast of tabernacles. He set up the the vileness of men to be the priest, and he did all kinds of things that God allowed.

They have set up kings, but not by me. And as the prophet Jeremiah cries out, he warns, the prophets prophesy falsely, the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so. And what will you do in the end thereof? So why do people want to support people who advocate things that are absolutely contrary to the word of God and endorse homosexuality and gay rights and abortion and all those kinds of things? It's because the people want it, and if you take that away from them, they won't vote for me.

So why do people accept the politically correct code? Because at its heart and course, it says that all lifestyles are acceptable except that speech or behavior that does not tolerate all lifestyles. That's the great sin. There's only one sin, basically, in the U.S. today, and that is the person who would say, this is the way walk you in it. Or what you're doing is wrong. Repent and turn to God.

Oh, Letterman and Leno and every comedian and everyone that has a voice.

As one phrased it, well, I won't go there. But anyhow, it's the old, who made you a judge over me argument wrapped in the cloak of you're free to choose. It is the same lie that Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden, choose for yourself what is good and what is evil. Don't listen to God. He's really lying to you. You shall not surely die, but your eyes will be open. People are deceived into calling evil good and good evil in the name of we must tolerate all behavior. We must love everyone. Yes, we must love everyone, but hate the center. But hate the sin. I'm not the center. According to London's Observer Music Monthly, Eldon John stated, I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spied against gays. He went on to say that he would ban religion altogether. Or you might listen to the Beatles at the Olympics. Of course, some of them are dead, but one wasn't who closed with imagine. Imagine there is no God. Note the deceitful nature of this statement about religion being the source of hatred toward gay people. In other words, it is not homosexuality that should be judged, but rather the people that believe homosexuality is sinful. They're the ones who need to be judged. The logical conclusion of such a statement then, of course, is if we didn't have religion that condemned such behavior, there would be no hatred. Remember that Eldon John was knighted by the Queen of England. Instead, the prophets do prophesy falsely, and the people love to have it. That way, Justice Jeremiah said, God says in Proverbs 8.13, the fear of the eternal is to hate evil, pride and arrogance, and the evil way and the froward mouth.

When people begin to accept evil, they have lost their fear of God. And when you lose the health and fear of God, everything goes. There are no restraints except the word or force of men.

They lose sight of the fact that they would have never existed if it had not been for a loving creator God who, in his love and divine favor, wanted to share his being with them. That's why we draw breath. God created us for a great transcendental purpose. But God gave us a prerogative of choosing the way that we would follow. And humans have been making the wrong choices since the Garden of Eden to the present day. And now that humanity is on the brink of destroying themselves, some cry out, where's God?

And the so-called ethnic cleansing continues in the Sudan, the so-called civil war in Syria with people being tortured and murdered, and famines and diseases stalking the face of the earth, and people cry out, where is God?

If there is a God, why doesn't he step in and end the suffering that is extant on the earth, yet at the same time they want to choose? Well, even the Bible says, make the right choice. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Choose life or choose death. So he has allotted humankind a period of time to choose for themselves the way in which they would go.

The world is spinning out of control because the God of this world is blinded the mind to the peoples of the world to follow the wrong spirit. Some time ago, David Kupelin, an associate editor to The World Net Daily wrote an op-ed piece titled, The God Vacuum, America and the Barbarian Hoards. In the article, he describes the lack of understanding among Americans and Europeans regarding the nature of the warfare that is being waged against the West.

This raging conflict between Islam and the West, this class of civilizations, he writes, that many are calling World War III is at root a spiritual war. He goes on to say, we're fond of praising our World War II era, forebearers who won that terrible conflict with another form of demon-possessed expansionist fascism. But the greatest generation, as they're called, the men and women who were alive during World War II, the men and women who triumphed in World War II over Nazism, fascism, over Hitler, Mussolini, Satan, and the forces of evil, they believed that God was the God of the Ten Commandments and the God of the Sermon on the Mount.

They believed he entered us, he created us in his image, and that human life was therefore sacred, which meant we don't slaughter the offspring in the womb and kill our parents when they get old and sick, regardless of how much health care costs. They believed in biblical morality when it comes to sex, which meant homosexuality, adultery, and shacking up were sinful and wrong. He went on to say that peoples of America and Europe are being transformed by Islam because there is a spiritual vacuum in those once Christian lands. He concludes, He writes, we need to wake up and remember who we really are.

We need to realize the bottom line, in reality, that man is a spiritual creation and that he will have faith in something, and if he doesn't embrace true faith, he will embrace false faith. By spiritual creation, it doesn't mean that he has God within. It means that God, who is Spirit, created him for a great spiritual reason. I would not have phrased it the way he did, but we have the potential of being spirit beings in the kingdom of God.

So just like we read when we did the study on Satan and his influences in the world today, I think that was two weeks ago or three, that the warfare ultimately is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness and powers in high places. The opponents of God's word are quick to point the finger at the hypocrisy of religious and political leaders who claim to uphold traditional values, and almost every week some religious leader is caught in a big sin.

Just this past week in Tyler, the program manager for one of the religious talk radio stations there was arrested in possession, yet in possession, five pounds of marijuana. So here we are today, brethren. Truth was at the heart of the argument between Jesus Christ and the Pharisees, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the other sects of his day. Truth is still at the heart of the great battles of our day.

So will we be set free from fear, ignorance, superstition, and the dogmas of man? Will you be set free? Will you continue to be free? Jesus says those who continue in my word, they shall know the truth, and the truth shall make them free.

And if the sun make you free, you shall be free indeed. So the great question once again of the ages is, who will rule in the kingdom of men? God or man? Who will say what is right or wrong? God or man?

Let's go. Finally, we'll conclude here with Psalm 24, beginning verse 7.

Choose this day whom you will serve.

You know, Joshua challenged the people of his day just before he died.

He knew he was about to die. He had led Israel into the Promised Land, and he stood before Israel, and he said, Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods on the other side of the river or the eternal God. And then he said, As for me and my household, we will serve the eternal. In Psalm 24, verse 7, Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be you lift up you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Eternal, strong and mighty, the Eternal, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates, even lift him up you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? The Eternal of Hosts. He is the King of Glory.