Bible Study: May 1, 2024

Okay, so last week we went through Ezekiel 5 and 6. You'll remember as we went through these chapters that there were words that kept coming up in those chapters. Abominations was one of them.

We talked about abominations, what they were, went back into the Bible, and you know, again, reminding us that abominations are terrible things, but in God's eyes they are terrible things, but they can be very common things that we see around us. And if you'll remember, we went through and showed the very many things in the Bible that God sees as abominations that we may do, that we see around us in the world that we should be aware of, and when He talks about those things, that's what He sees in the land as people have departed from His way. The other thing that we noticed last week, if you recall, was God, as He begins to exact a punishment—and maybe the better word is exacting the consequences for their actions on nations that depart from Him—that He says He does it so that they may know that He is God. And that is always God's purpose. He's not a God who just wants to punish people for the fun of punishing people. He does it because of our actions. He does it because of what nations do. He wants to remind them He is God. He does bless. All good things will come to all nations if they would just turn to God and do what He says. But as a reminder, the human nature that's in us and the enmity, the natural enmity against God that is part of us, that will be that the Holy Spirit helps us overcome. As we ended chapter 6 last week, you will remember God talked about desolation, the desolation that was going to come to the land. In the last verse there, He talks about the land would become more desolate than Dibla. I don't know what Dibla is, but apparently Dibla was a very desolate place on earth that the people at Ezekiel's time would have recognized the land was there. He talked about that destruction would come to all the cities. That's something that has never happened before in Israel. That devastation and desolation would come to all cities. As we move into chapter 7, which we're going to see a little bit more detail of how the end comes upon a nation, little by little, because God does give warning signs of what's going to come, we will see some things that did occur for Israel or Judah back whenever, but not to the extent that is in chapter 7. Even today, we are going to see some of the things that have happened in America today that very much fall in line with this prophecy. Sherry? Sherry, did you have a comment or question? Sherry Swindle?

I'm sorry. I have not been on for the last few weeks, but because of my brain fog stuff that's going on, I don't know what chapter, where we are. Okay, we're going to be in Ezekiel 7 tonight.

Thank you. Okay. That's good. Thanks.

Okay, so let's go to chapter 7 and begin reading there. The first one, it says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel, saying, You, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel.

So here we have something a little bit different. Israel, of course, we know.

Fire, Chadley.

Okay. Israel, remember, had gone into captivity. So when God is giving these words to Ezekiel, it is speaking toward a future time because ancient Israel had already been taken into captivity at that time. Usually we see the house of Israel. And before in Ezekiel, he would say, Speak this to the house of Israel. That means that the people of Israel—he uses the word land. So we're going to have things happening to the land and the people that are in the land. We might think of our land, America, as four corners from coast to coast. We can think of Britain as that. We can think of the Israelite nations. But here he's talking about a land, and specifically the land of Israel, as he talks about here. So he says in verse 2, The land, say this to the land of Israel and end. And there's a word we will see over and over in Bible study tonight, and end, and end Israel. I'll just caution the microphones can stay off. That would be great. I can control it from here, but if we can keep the microphone off until you want to speak, that would help everyone be able to hear better.

And end, he says, and end has come upon the four corners of the land. So here he repeats. He's talking about, here's the territory we're going to talk about tonight, the land of Israel as God defines it. The end, he says in verse 3, now, now the end has come upon you.

There is a time when God says, you know, I've watched the way you have gone. I have been patient with you. I have sent warnings to you. I have asked you to return to me, but you keep moving further and further and further away from me. And there comes a point in time when God knows the nation will not turn back to him. So he says, now, now the end has come upon you. It doesn't mean that at that moment, necessarily, it's going to happen, but the end has come. The process begins. And we're going to see that here in chapter 7. Now the end has come upon you, and I will send my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways. Remember, God has blessed nations, our, the nations we live in very much. He has been very generous with us. Countries we live in, the thousands of years of humanity before us have no idea of the luxury that we have and the conveniences that we have and the variety that we have. Thank you. Fire, chaplain.

Of the variety that we have. And so God says, I've blessed you, but look how you've repaid me. You have not honored me at all. So he says, I'm going to repay you for all your abominations. I will judge you according to your ways. The way you treated me, when I will take the blessings away from you, they will no longer be there. And I will repay you for, and there's that word again, all your abominations, what you have done. You know, worshiping false gods, honoring God, and the way you did it. Yeah, Veronica, you must be hitting your microphone button several times here. So he says, I'll repay you for your ways because of your abominations.

And then he says something that he repeats a couple times here in chapter seven. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. But I will repay your ways. You know, we have to remember, God does forgive us, but there are consequences for our actions and consequences for the things that we do. I will repay your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. You will feel the result of what you have chosen to do. You will feel the result of having defied me, for having turned away from me. And then he says that word, that phrase that we saw many times last week. Then you will know that I am the Lord. You know, God means business. He is a merciful, loving God who wants to give everything to all of mankind. He wants to do that.

But we have to abide by his principles, the way to a happy life, a joyful life, a life filled with abundance. Physically and spiritually, he is just doing what God says. He controls everything, and that's what he wants to do. It is a tremendous blessing, and we should thank God always, that he is a good and a loving God who wants to do those things, and to ask him to give us the Spirit that wants to please him, to do the things that he wants, because that's the way, that's the way to a life that he wants it. So he says, you're going to know that I'm God. You will know, you will know, just like the ancient Egyptians knew it was God, just like the ancient Israelites as God brought them out of Egypt, they knew it was God. It wasn't of their power or their might.

Then in verse 5, we see the process beginning. It says, thus says the Lord God, a disaster, a singular disaster. Behold, it has come. Now, the word disaster there, when you look it up in the concordance, you see that it means an evil, an evil, a remarkable evil, has come upon you. It is the form of a disaster, but it's an evil disaster. Something evil has happened to you.

And so, you know, as we look back at history here, recent history of America and Britain and Canada, there have been some disasters, things that have marked that have been completely different than things have had before. So what might come to mind in America, a singular disaster that occurred, could be a 9-11, right? The event where an evil disaster, where the terrorists came in and they knocked down the Twin Towers. And it was the first attack from outside that crippled America.

Several people have commented on that. That was a turning point in American history. After that, we had all sorts of security measures put in on us. There was all sorts of things that would happen.

Now, I'm saying that is one of them. That is a singular disaster that occurred upon the nation. Before that, there hadn't been a war fought in America, except the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, wars between ourselves. But a foreign nation had not been able to conquer us. God had blessed the nations. Britain, Canada, America, Australia, with those coastlines. Remember, we talked about those coastlines, the coastlands in Isaiah, and how those are beneficial in so many ways, including the natural territory and protection that it gives us from enemies.

So, a singular disaster, whatever that is, but it's a warning from God. Something's changed. Something has happened to you. It comes from an evil source. And this has happened. And he says, this is what's happening. Behold, it's come. He says that on top of, now the end has come upon you. Now it is beginning. Now it is beginning. God is beginning to send those warnings. Again, he hopes, he knows, but he hopes that the nation will turn back if they would just listen, if they would just turn to him.

But as you look at even a 2001 where it happened in America, you know, we go forward in time. In 2007 and 2008, we had a financial disaster. In 2015, we had the same-sex marriage act passed where that legitimized or legalized same-sex marriages in America, which was the fight and affront to God. So we have the nation, even in the voice of a warning, moving further and further away from him, and still more things happening.

Now I want to, do I want to do this now? Now we're going to go back to Isaiah in a minute. Let's go a little further in this, though. So God says there's a disaster, a singular disaster. One big thing happens that should get your attention. Behold, it has come. And then he says an end, an end has come. It's a warning. The end is impending. It has dawned for you. The better translation of it, it has awakened against you. It's a morning, M-O-R-N-I-N-G.

I think it says in the Old King James meaning, this is a new day. Now we've entered in a new time. There is a time coming that the end has begun. So an end has come. The end has come. It has dawned for you. Behold, it has come. God keeps reminding this is here. Pay attention to what's going on. You should pay attention to what is happening in world events as God takes away the blessings that because of the behavior and conduct of the nations. Verse 7, he repeats it, Doom, Doom has come to you, you who dwell on the land.

Doom has come to you, you who dwell on the land. The time has come. A day of trouble is near. So he says a day of trouble there could be translated confusion. A day of confusion is near. We look at the world around us today, here in 2024. It's a very confused world in so many ways. We've gone through a COVID pandemic that was another singular disaster that was worldwide in effect.

It had its effects, it seems, more on America, Canada, and Australia, when you see how things changed in the midst of that, creating some confusion among the governments and what do the governments that we live in really stand for, what really is going on, how are those things changing. But he says a day of confusion is near. As we move this, the world is going to get worse and worse. Reminds me of a verse, I think it's in 2 Timothy, that says, the evil impostor grows worse and worse.

It doesn't get better. As time progresses, the evil in the world continues to escalate. A day of trouble, a day of confusion is near, not a time of rejoicing in the mountains. This isn't a time where the nations are together and united. This isn't a time where there's rejoicing and peace.

This is a time where the world is in motion and you really don't know what's going on. A time of chaos. We know who the author of chaos is. That's who confusion is. It's not God. He's the author of unity, peace. We know exactly where things are. Satan, who is the author of confusion and chaos. As we look at the world around us, here in America, I don't know what's happening in Canada or Australia, but what has been dominating the news here lately are the campus protests, the anti-Israel protests, that have gotten out of hand, that have turned violent.

Earlier, I guess it was last night, you saw where on a college, some of the Jewish students have been beaten up as the students turned against fellow students in the Columbia University in New York, where they've broken down and pretty much just broken in and taken hostage one of the buildings there. It seems to be escalating. It doesn't. It's not getting better. The government and people just seem to be incapable of having any control. So you have this confusion in America that's there.

Most of the country being pro-Israel, remembering the atrocities that Hamas wreaked upon Israel back on October 7th, but then you have a younger generation, not all of which, but a very vocal and a very violent contingent that is completely pro-Palestinian. That doesn't seem to understand what they're even demonstrating against. They're just prone to violence. And so we see this happening, this day of confusion, this day of differences that is going on around us as we look at it.

In verse 8, then, verse 8, you know, God uses the word soon. We have to remember, you know, soon to God, a day with Him is like a thousand years, and in other places a day is like a year. To us, a year seems like a long time, but not to God. It's soon, right? He begins the process. Now, upon you I will soon pour out my fury.

So these things that are leading up to it aren't His fuelful fury. That is coming in the day of the Lord. That day, that day of the 7th Trumpet, where God says, I will exact my vengeance on you. I will take my wrath out on there. So, as we look through these, they're building up to those trumpet plagues that will occur, you know, later on as time is the time of the return of Jesus Christ draws near, that we talk about and we observe each year at the Feast of Trumpets when we talk about God exacting His anger, His fury on mankind for what they have done.

So He says, I will soon, as you see these things happening, soon I will pour out my fury. He's not pouring out His fury yet. That's for a later time, and I will spend my anger on you. I'll spend my anger on you.

You know, we can face people who are very angry sometimes, right? And we could bear their words and we can see the anger in their hearts and whatever. And it's not a pleasant thing to see. But can you imagine what the anger of God is? You know, in Hebrews 10, I think it's verse 31, it says, it's a fearful thing. It's a fearful thing to have fall into the hands of God. Well, we see the power of God, and we see His anger come against mankind. That will be something, that will be something that will shake men to the very bones. It will rivet them. Again, you know, we just came out of the days of Unleavened Bread, and we've talked about Israel and coming out of Egypt. And you know, as we go toward the day of Pentecost, you know, Israel will be coming to Mount Sinai, and God will be giving Moses the Ten Commandments as Moses goes up on Mount Sinai. And you remember just hearing the thundering of God, just hearing the noise associated with God. Ancient Israel was just completely terrified. They were just in awe of God. They had seen that He does love them. He brought them out of Egypt. He opened the Red Sea. He gave them manate. He gave them water. He did everything for them, and yet just feeling His power and seeing His power in a loving way, just as He thundered to them and revealed Himself to them very minimally. The I won't use the word panic. The reverence they had, the awe that they said, Moses, you talk to God. We don't want to be. He is more powerful than anything we could imagine. So when He unleashes His fury on mankind, we can only—no, we can't. We can't imagine. We will have to see and experience the power of God as mankind will, and they will realize, for once for all, as God says, they will know. They will know it's God. They will know it's God and His power.

So we're here in verse 8, but, Now, upon you I will soon pour out my fury, he says, and I will spend my anger upon you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations. Now, remember, I didn't go through Leviticus. I think it was Leviticus 11 last week, or maybe it was Leviticus 18. I said you could read through those. We talked about abominations of clean and unclean meats. We talked about abominations of holidays that aren't of God's way, and adopting the ways of the Gentile and those abominations. Of course, sin is an abomination to God. Then when you read through Leviticus 18, you see many of the sexual perversions that are just being touted as wonderful in the world around us today listed there. Those are things—those are affront on what God created mankind and humankind for. Those are abominations in his eyes as well.

We see that all around us in an age that is just very strange with what's going on with all of that. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations. A consistent message here as we go through the book of Ezekiel.

And of course, as we're going through Ezekiel 7 here, we're leading up to Ezekiel 8.

Ezekiel is hearing these things. Ezekiel is reading these things. God has told him to say this to the land of Israel. As we come into chapter 8 then, whether we get to that a little bit tonight or the next Bible study, we will see that God is going to begin revealing to Ezekiel the real abominations that he doesn't even see—what's going on behind the scenes that you and I don't see. And Christ many times in his Gospels will say, there is nothing hidden that won't be revealed. You will know what's going on. You will see the corruption that's there.

That's there. And as he reveals it to Ezekiel, you know, God is justified in what he was doing.

But I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit here. Okay, verse 9. Verse 9 of Ezekiel 7, making sure I'm not missing something here. Okay, verse 9. My eye will not spare, he says, nor will I have pity. We've seen these verses before. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am the Lord who—and he uses a new term here—the Lord who strikes. So we see the escalation of God's anger. We see the escalation of—you know, he speaks. He sends a singular disaster. He will soon pour out his fury. And then he says, you will know I am the Lord who strikes. I am the Lord who is bringing upon this upon you. Behold the day. Behold it has come. Doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed.

Pride has butted. And so in that verse, you know, we see something that, you know, that kind of even harkens to what Jesus Christ said as he was talking about the end times. And in fact, keep your finger there in Ezekiel 7. Let's go over to Luke 21. He says the rod has blossomed. You know, the time is near. You know, Christ makes that analogy in Luke 21 where Luke is giving, you know, his writing on the Olivet prophecy and the things that will occur as the end times begin and as the return of Christ draws near. And in verse 29, after Christ talks about these things, when he talks about war and famine and pestilence and false prophets, and he talks about how things will be in the end time, a time of woe, a time of the Gentiles being in charge as opposed to Israel being charged. And really over the last couple centuries, it has been the Israelite nations who have been the leaders of the earth, the British Empire there in the 1800s, America then rising to power in the 1900s. And after World War II and through today, it is blessed. And it has been those nations that have really been leading the world in just about every area. The time of the Gentiles is coming where it reverts back to the time of the authoritarian rules, the totalitarian, the time of worship of men rather than God, pagan ideas, and reverting to those days that are coming. But anyway, down in verse 29, as Christ is speaking there, he says, he spoke to them apparently, he says, look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. And so I will sometimes refer to, you know, the prophetic tree. You see a bud open up on the prophetic tree, wars and rumors of wars. You see a bud open up on the prophetic tree, pestilence, sort of like a COVID that opened up and something the world never experienced before in 2020 with the COVID. Famine, that the world, you know, even some of the world leaders talk about a time when food shortages will come. That as you can see those prophetic buds open up on that tree, know the time is near. Know, be aware, God has said. So as we see those things, not time for panic, it's time to turn closer to Him and closer to each other and become the people He wants us to become. Hey, Tracy. Hello. Could I please ask what version you're using? What version? I'm using the New King James version. Okay, thank you. Okay. Yeah, you will find, typically in the church, we use the New King James version, sometimes the King James version, because those, they're not the perfect translations, but they are the closest to the original Greek and Hebrew, they say. So, you know, so when Christ says, watch those buds, you know, when you see those buds appear, know the time is near. Ezekiel is saying the same thing here in verse 10. The rod is blossomed. Look, the time is near. Look what's happening. Pay attention to what's going on. And he says in verse 10, if I'm back in Ezekiel 7, pride. Pride has budded. You know, the pride and arrogance of the nations, that's one of the things that God talks about. The further people get away from God, the more prideful they get, the more arrogant they get, the more defiant of Him they are. I, you know, we saw that back in Isaiah 9. Let's go back to Isaiah 9.

Because there are, there's a few scriptures there. Well, yeah, let's look at it now. We're going to come back to Isaiah 9 on a later scripture as well. Let me look where we are.

Keep your finger in there in Isaiah 9. Let's go a little further to Ezekiel 7, and then Isaiah 9 will kind of tie a couple of these thoughts together in these couple three verse sections we have here in Isaiah. So, so we have the rod has blossomed in Ezekiel 7 verse 10, and pride has budded. Keep that in your mind. Pride has budded. Pride is always there, but there comes a time where a nation becomes just defiant against God. And even though He sends those warnings to Him, right, they just steal their minds against Him. It's just like years ago, and years ago, you would have, you know, even at 9-11, I remember, you know, that there was a resurgence in traditional church attendance on Sundays, right, because something had happened, and people started going to church again on Sunday. It faded quickly, but you don't see that so much anymore. In fact, COVID had the opposite effect. COVID, churches were closed. It's like, we don't want you to go to church. And so, people didn't go to church because churches were closed, and the government tried to shut them down.

And even we, you know, had some of that happen, like, oh, you don't have to be in church, even though God says He wants His people together. So, pride has butted, and that pride and arrogance more resists God, even among the people of the land who are moving further and further away from God. And I've seen some of the news commentators lately refer to America as a post-Christian nation. I hadn't heard that, you know, here so more dominantly lately. A post-Christian nation. We don't think about God at all anymore. So, verse 11 here in Ezekiel 7, it says, violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. And certainly, we can see in the world around us, again, I'll have to speak from America. I have a feeling it's happening in Canada as well. I have a feeling it's happening in Australia as well. But I don't know that. You would know that. We see the violence that just spurs. The stuff that's going on with the college campuses is just anger. It happened decades ago in the 1960s. Here it is again. People are just out of control. You see people, I mean, even with the advent of cell phones where people can take pictures of everything, something will come across my cell phone at a Twitter feed or something, that shows just people beating up each other. On the last Holy Day, I got a message, and it was a Twitter message. I didn't look at it until after services were over. I didn't realize it was a Twitter message. It was just something that happened at Busch Gardens, I think it was, where just in a picnic area, people just started wailing on each other. They just kind of were beating up each other in a fit of rage. Never said why or whatever. It was just as violence breaks out in Busch Gardens. I thought, wow, you don't have any idea who you're encountering and what kind of anger that they may be taking out on you. But violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness.

God says, none of them, none of them shall remain, none of their multitude, none of them, he says, nor shall there be wailing for him. So he says, it's going to occur, but this is not going to survive. That's not going to be the way the world is. It will be for a while.

God says, that's not going to remain. In verse 12, he says, the time has come, the day draws near.

Now, we see the day showing up, more and more here. The day, the day when the Lord expends his fury on mankind, that day of the Lord that we talk about, that we observe, and that we recognize when we keep the Feast of Trumpets, that day of the Lord, the time has come, the day draws near. Let not the buyer rejoice, he says in verse 12, nor let the seller mourn, for wrath is on the whole multitude.

What that verse is talking about there is, there's coming a time where there will be a financial collapse. You know, sometimes if we go out and buy a new car or a new set of furniture or move and you have a different home, there's a time of rejoicing. Oh, look, look, you know, we've been able to buy this. God has blessed us to be able to do that. The buyer can rejoice. He bought something, but God says, don't do that. Don't let the buyer rejoice, and don't let the seller mourn, right?

Sometimes when we sell something because we're in financial distress, well, I have to sell it. I don't really want to get rid of it. God says everything's going to be equal. Don't let the seller mourn because you know what?

You're going to lose it anyway. There is a time of economic and economic, I guess, where we're all going to kind of be equal. If we have a lot, it's going to all disappear. If we have nothing, we don't have to worry about it because there is coming a time where there will be a financial collapse around the world.

We hear more and more economists talking about that in America as they talk about all the stresses that our economy has had, all the spending that's going on, all the various wars that keep expending the resources. Everything where the money just keeps going is brining, and there's a limit to it. It's an interesting phenomenon that all the little tricks, I guess, or the mechanisms that they use to control inflation, that the Federal Reserve has always worked. It isn't working anymore in America. Inflation is still there. They intended and hope that, as you look at the news, that their interest rates were going to be able to come down.

They can't do it because they know if they bring the interest rates down, inflation still isn't under control. It will continue to go out of control if they pull back. So it's like, what is going on? What has happened in the past isn't working today. It's because of everything that we do, and how we spend our money, and whatever. There doesn't seem to be any limit at all. But there is that come of economic equality. Everyone will be in the same boat.

When you look at Revelation 13, and you see this chaos that the world is in, as Revelation 13 begins, and it talks about the beast rising out of the sea, and they seem to have an answer that the world doesn't have. They are in complete mess and chaos. Everything has fallen apart, and largely that's going to be dependent on America. I don't think anyone fully realizes how dependent on the American economy the whole world is.

Now, when it collapses, when God allows it to collapse, the chaos is going to be there. No one knows, no one knows what can happen at that point. What will that mean to the world? It became close in 2007 and 2008, and when you read some of the accounts from there, that it literally was just that close.

That close. And if it wasn't for those bailouts and being able to print money, and whatever those mechanisms were back there that saved the world from utter collapse at that time, it was a warning of what went on and the unbridled spending and the mortgages the way that they were being administered at that time. And here we have, now 15, I guess 17 years later, have ourselves in the same position.

Credit card debt is the highest it's ever been. Savings are very at a low point in America. So we got this the country back at the same time. They haven't learned a lesson. And it's just a matter of when God allows that to happen. So he says, don't let the luck buyer rejoice. Don't let the seller mourn. Because you know what? You're going to be on the same thing. It doesn't make any difference what you just bought. It doesn't make any difference what you just lost. It's going to be everyone equal. For wrath is on their whole multitude. Now let's go back. Remember that? For the wrath is on their whole multitude. Go back to Isaiah 9. Isaiah 9 begins with Jesus Christ being born.

Everything he is the Prince of Peace. He is the Savior of all mankind.

Right after verse 7, where it talks about that, you will remember that we went through verses 8-12, or 8-11, I guess, and talked about a time where another warning where God gives Isaiah. And we likened it to 9-1-1 because there are people that are out there that have shown that many of the things that happened in New York City on that, they parallel what is going on in this verse, especially the attitudes that are there, and some words were spoken. So let's talk about that because we talked about pride in Ezekiel. God says, pride has butted. In verse 8 of Isaiah 9, it says, the Lord sent the word against, or a warning, against Jacob. It's fallen on Israel. Remember Israel? God had Jacob put his hands on the heads of Abraham and asked and said, they have my name. It has fallen on Israel. All the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and arrogance of heart, the bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.

Those are words of arrogance when you look at them, and you read what the commentaries say about what they are saying. God has stricken. He has sent a warning, but man says, we're ignoring the warning. If it got knocked down, we're going to build it back stronger. If the trees are gone, those we're going to replant them. It's going to be just like it was before. We will not let God have an effect on us. It's the same kind of attitude that was there back in Babylon when Nimrod was building the Tower of Babel. It was like, we're going to build a tower that's higher than God.

Whatever flood he sends on us, if you can imagine the silliness in the mines, whatever flood God sends, we will be able to survive it because we'll build a tower than him. It's the pride and arrogance that man can undo what God said and ignore his warnings.

So if we drop down to verse 13, then, and well verse 12, the very last part of verse 12 there says, for all this, his anger is not turned away. Sent the warnings, sent the warnings, they didn't pay attention to him. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people do not turn to him who strikes them. They're not getting it. They're ignoring that it's God that's bringing these things upon them. For the people do not turn to him who strikes them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. Therefore, the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel.

He's going to remove the blessings. The blessings that Israel has enjoyed will be cut off for both the head, the top, and the tail. Everyone, the whole multitude, as Ezekiel says, no one will escape. Therefore, the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day.

Suddenly, suddenly, there won't be some that survive and end up with a trillion dollars in their bank account. Everyone will lose. They may think they have the world by the tail, but when God exacts his punishment on mankind, everyone, everyone will feel the same things. The buyer doesn't need to rejoice. The seller doesn't need to be mourn. Everyone will be equal. Everyone will lose. The elder and honorable. He is the head. The prophet who teaches lies. He is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, err, and those who are led by them are destroyed.

So in Ezekiel, you'll remember when we talked about chapter 9, that's what God was saying. There won't be any who come up on top. Today we hear a lot about COVID made the rich richer and the poor poorer. There may be some who are in the world who, as they work the things and whatever, how do we make ourselves richer? It's not going to end up that way. When the economy falls, every single one is going to suffer by it. So this is the same thing that Ezekiel is talking about here. Remember, Isaiah lived a hundred some years before and prophesied to Judah. And here we have Ezekiel in Babylon speaking to the people of Israel, again with similar, similar words of what will happen as the day draws near. So let's go back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 7.

And we were in verse 12. I'm going to read the last part of verse 12 again. For the wrath is on their full multitude. Everyone, everyone will suffer. For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, though he may still be alive. Here it appears that God is talking about the year of Jubilee. If you remember, in ancient Israel, you could sell your land in the year of Jubilee. Everyone was able to go back to their land. So God is saying, that's not going to happen at that time. Of course, we don't do the year of Jubilee today. But the seller will not return to what has been sold, though he may still be alive. It's just all, it's just all gone. Hey, Wayne. Yeah, Wayne, if you had a comment.

No, I don't know how that happened. I didn't know. My mic wasn't on. I'm sorry. Okay. Can you hear me now? We can hear you, yes. All right. I'm just wondering when the Scripture says everyone will lose, everyone will suffer. Is that being God's people? I think we're all going to be in the same basket. Yes. We'll fill the wrath, too. I think we're all going to learn to do some trust in God and know that He will trust us and provide for us. Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you. But that's my opinion. God may have something else in mind, but I think that's why we have to learn to trust God now and know that He will provide and see us through whatever comes away and not have our trust in riches, as we will see here in a little bit, too. Right. Thank you.

Let me see. Sellers shall not return to what has been sold, though he may still be alive. For the vision concerns—God repeats it—the whole multitude. Everyone. It concerns everyone in the land. No one. And oh, and it shall not turn back. No one will strengthen himself who lives in iniquity.

So they may, the wicked, may think they're prospering, but it will not turn out the way they want. They have blown the trumpet, verse 14. They've made everyone ready, but no one goes to battle.

For my wrath is on all their multitude. And here we're talking about, you know, I mean, again, we're talking about the things that people put their stock in, their economy. You know, there will be that great equalizer. The economy will be gone. Everyone will be in the same boat, no matter how little or how much we have. And then we have the military, right? The strength. God says the trumpets are blown. Alarms have been. But no one goes to battle. What's going on? Why isn't the military working the way it always has been? Again, here in America, you know, we hear the talk about the military and this woke mentality that is being taught in it, that has created some confusion in the military. We talk about, you know, you hear about the recruitment as the military has gone way down. Is the military ready? You know, today, America is involved in two proxy wars, fighting Russia by sending money to Ukraine, fighting Iran by sending money and munitions over to Israel.

No manpower yet. But when it comes to defend us, will our military be ready? Or will there be the funds left or the desire left to fight? No one goes to battle, for my wrath is on all their multitude.

Will God frustrate it? Will God frustrate the nation? Will it just not work? Because He takes His blessing away. You know, we read again as Pharaoh, in his pride and arrogance, barged into the Red Sea, thinking that he was going to somehow catch up with Israel and kill them all. And God frustrated them. Those wheels stuck in the ground, as you read in Ezekiel 15, they stuck in the ground, and they were just bogged down to the sea, and it came in and just covered them.

Will God do the same thing with our military? They won't be able to go out to battle. No one goes to battle. The sword is outside, he says, in verse 15. The sword is outside, and pestilence and famine are within. Last week we read about sword, pestilence and famine. You'll remember chapter 5. A third by the sword, a third by pestilence, a third by famine, or no, a third by famine and pestilence, and a third go into captivity. Remember that in Ezekiel 5? The sword is outside, and the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword, and whoever is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him. Cities. You know, famine.

Just where there's just no food. It doesn't take failed crops. A city and a siege can create famine within a city with no time. And of course, as we saw, COVID, pestilence, and even a man-made pestilence can occur at any time. And those who were in the middle of the cities can be captivated by that. Those who survive—these are the captors, right? These are the ones who were taken captors. Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains. They may get away. Their life may continue in those ways, but they will be like doves of the valleys. All of them mourning. M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. As they're sitting there, they're looking at what life was, how it has become so untenable. All because they disregarded God. All because they did not do what he said. All because of their pride and arrogance. And we read in Ezekiel 6—we're going to read it again in Ezekiel 20—they will loathe themselves. They will be mourning because it has been their actions that has given away the greatest thing that God has ever blessed mankind with physically. Of course, when Christ returns, it'll be much better than anything this country or any country has ever experienced.

They will be there like doves of the valleys. All of them mourning. We sing a song, You know, there I sat by the waters of Babylon, there I wept and there sat down.

You read the book of Lamentations when Judah was taken to captive, and they loathe themselves too. Why didn't we listen to what God said? Why didn't we listen to those prophets? Why didn't we pay attention to the warnings? Why didn't we just keep going on and defying us against God?

Every hand—verse 17—will be feeble. Every knee will be as weak as water. They will be girded with sackcloth. We're girded with sackcloth. It's like you're just completely defeated. You're completely humble. You're in that state of complete repentance and realizing you have absolutely turned against God and need to turn back to Him. They will be girded with sackcloth.

Horror will cover them. Shame will be on every face. Baldness on all their heads. You know, as we've talked before, baldness in ancient days represented a symbol of humility and defeat.

Completely defeated. A time of shame if your head was shaved, and that will be how they feel, because they have been completely defeated, and all the pride is gone. All because of what they did. All because of what they chose to do. And remember, God warned them. Even for those of us in the church, we remember Leviticus 26, we remember Deuteronomy 28, we remember all these prophecies. Some want to say they're just doom and gloom, but really it is what mankind brings upon himself. And of course, it is our Savior who returns and brings the good times to earth as people begin to live his way. Verse 19. You know, we see the economy fall. We see the military fall. We see some who have escaped onto the mountains of their morning. Everything is lost. They're in a strange land. They're not. They've lost their homes. They've lost everything that they counted so worthy. In verse 19, all this stuff that was important, silver and gold, it's meaningless. It's useless. And so they throw it into the streets. They will throw their silver into the streets.

What good did that silver? We put such stock in it. We stocked all this stuff up. They will throw their silver into the streets. They will throw their gold, or their gold will be like refuse.

Worthless. It means nothing anymore. Everything is gone. Everything has been fallen apart. There is nothing that has any kind of worth at that point. Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them. In the day of the wrath, the Lord. There we have the time of the end time. You know, the day of the wrath of the Lord, when all those things come, that time of trouble, that time of confusion that Christ talks about. Time when everything will be lost. All the physical things mean nothing. All it will be is God. God is our Savior. Jesus Christ is our Savior. They will not satisfy their souls nor fill their stomachs. Nothing will satisfy them. I didn't write down the Psalm. One of you probably remembers what it is. Well, with the fear of the Lord, that is satisfaction to us. That fills us up. That fills our stomachs. That's where satisfaction comes from. It isn't from the gold. It isn't from the silver. It isn't from the foodstuffs. The satisfaction comes from fearing God and knowing Him and living His way. They will not satisfy their souls nor fill their stomachs because it became their stumbling block of iniquity. All those things in their lives, it became their stumbling block. They began to trust in it more than they trusted in God. They trusted in their gold more than they trusted in God to provide for them. They trusted in the military more than trusting in God to fight their battles for them. They trusted in the economy that everything would be okay and nothing would ever fall apart. That everything they had and worshipped would always be there, but it all fell apart. It all fell apart. All those things that God blessed with became a stumbling block. It should remind us a little bit of Deuteronomy 8. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 8 because God warns us about what is going on, and He cautions us that when He blesses us, don't forget Him. Don't forget Him.

Deuteronomy 8 verse 10 says, When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

Beware, He says in verse 11, beware that you don't forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today. When things are good, when your cupboards are full, when you've got a bank account, when you've got luxury, don't forget God. Don't become complacent. Don't just go through life and forget that He's there, lest, He says in verse 12, when you have eaten and are full, and you've built beautiful homes and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold are multiplied and all your hoyah is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up, don't forget God. Because when we forget God, all those things disappear. All those things can disappear. He will, they are blessings from Him that He gives us to enjoy, but we continue to follow Him maybe even more closely. Those, you know, those who I've pastored before, I say, we go through a lot of trials. We learn through all of them. Maybe the greatest trial is in a time when there's plenty because we have to remember to stay close to God. Hey, Xavier.

Hi, my name is Xavier. I'm a Christian. I just reminded you of Psalm 62. It says exactly, almost exactly the same thing. It says in verse 10, trust, add an oppression and do not take pride in stalling goods. If riches increase, don't set our heart on them. God has spoken once. Verse 11, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God. But then it goes up further in verse 7, above it says, God is our salvation. And so, 62, 10, and 11. Yes. Very good.

Yeah, you know, also in Deuteronomy 32, you know, sometimes when God says things once, we should listen. If he repeats it two and three and four times in various books, we should really, really pay attention to it. In Deuteronomy 32, it is a, it's called the Song of Moses, but it is talking about Israel in the last time as Moses is, is warning the people what to come, cautioning them, stay close to God, keep your eyes on him, follow him. In Deuteronomy 32, in verse 15, he says, but Jesurin, Jesurin is another name for Israel, but Jesurin grew fat and kicked. That means they, it was a time of plenty, a time where they were not hungry, they were not looking for food, and they weren't like, you know, they forgot to, they forgot to follow God. They kicked. They were kicking against God. Jesurin grew fat and kicked. You grew fat, he says. You grew thick. You're obese. Then he forsook God, who made him, and scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation. And they provoked him to jealousy by the things they did, by turning to other gods and forgetting him. You know, you can, you can write down, I won't take the time to turn to Zephaniah 1, but go ahead and read Zephaniah 1 later, and you'll see some of the same sentiments there and same things that we're reading here to Ezekiel 7 and Zephaniah 1, which is a book for the end, end time. In it, it talks about people that are settled in complacency. It'll talk about, you know, these things that we've been talking about here as well. So God says he meant them for blessings, but they came our stumbling blocks, you know. Remember, Christ is a stumbling block, right? Paul says that in 1 Corinthians, Christ is a stumbling block for some. Our Savior is a stumbling block for some because they just don't want to obey what he has to say. Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity, verse 20, as for the beauty of his ornaments, he said it in majesty, gave them things, gave them blessings, ornaments to wear, but they made from it the images of their abominations, their detestable things. Therefore, God says, I have made it like refuse to them.

Reminds us of that golden calf in Israel, right? They had all this old gold. They plundered the Egyptians. God gave them all that. Then what did they do? As soon as Moses was away for a few days, they made a golden calf. They went back to their old gods. They didn't look to God. They looked and made a golden calf. Those things, those blessings God gave them, this is exactly what they did. They took that gold. They took that silver. They took those blessings. They turned it into something detestable to God. You know, mankind has a way of doing it. Therefore, I have made it like refuse to them. If I remember correctly, when they melted that calf, they had to drink down that golden silver. It was like garbage to them. I will give it as plunder into the hands of strangers. Everything you have, someone else is going to be there. I will give it as plunder into the hands of strangers and to the wicked of the worth as spoil and they shall defile it. Verse 22, I will turn my face from them. We don't ever want God to turn his face from us. We want him to look down on us with kindness and not turn his back on, not turn his back on us. And when he does, it's because of what we've done. I will turn my face from them and they will defile my secret place. And this probably is referring to when Nebuchadnezzar came in and in the tabernacles took away all the gold and all the treasures of the temple there. For robbers shall enter it and defile it. Verse 23, another thing we've talked about war, we've talked about famine, we've talked about pestilence, we've talked about violence, we've talked about all these things leading up to the end time, to the day of the Lord. And then we talk about captivity. In verse 23, make a chain. The only thing about chains is for prisoners, is for people who are taken captive that are led off to some place. Make a chain, for the land is filled with crimes of blood and the city is full of violence. Therefore, I will bring, because the city is full of violence, therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles.

The worst of the Gentiles. Can you imagine? If we were going to think of the worst of the Gentiles, what would you not want to have happen today with what you know about what's going on? What would you think of? What's the worst of the Gentiles that God could bring about? You know, in Jeremiah's time with Judah, he said, I'm going to bring Babylon from the north and they're going to conquer you. In Assyria, in Israel's time it was Assyria, they were a terrible nation, an accrual nation. But God says, I'm going to bring the worst of the Gentiles on you and they will possess their houses.

I used to read this as you did. They will possess their houses and believed it.

We have in America, we have in many nations, I read about it in Europe and have been reading some things about what Sweden is going through as well. But possess their houses? I know in America there's been some recent stories about squatters' rights, right? I saw a video with one of the immigrants, very defiantly speaking, that if you see a house for sale and it's vacant, you have the right to go in and inhabit it. He was telling the immigrants, and if that happens, you're there. It becomes your house. I listened to that. Of course, the comments that were surrounding it is because the government doesn't protect. The government does seem to protect those squatters.

Here he was telling, if you see a house for sale, and then there were some things that came out that said if you have a house for sale and it's vacant, you should have someone watching over what's going on. If someone moves in, pay attention. Today I read that verse and I think, wow, and they will possess their houses. Will they just take them over? Of course, it's a time where there's conquest, too. As people are led away captives, everything that we have here becomes theirs. They will possess their houses. I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places will be defiled. Every place where they worshipped, you know, it will be destroyed and destroyed, and it will be defiled no longer a place that they meant it to be, a place that they inhabit.

Destruction comes.

Disasters. Singular disasters, warnings, things that continue to happen, buds appearing on that prophetic tree. Pay attention, God says to His people. The time is near. Destruction comes. They will seek peace, but there will be none. There just will not be peace that is there. I saw today a news thing where they continued to talk about ceasefires with Hamas, and finally they got Israel to agree to some things, and then of all things Hamas said, they're not abiding by it. They're not doing it. So there's a frustration like, well, what do you mean you're not going to? You've been saying that. It's like, no, we're not accepting that. So the war goes on. Anyway, they will seek peace, but there shall be none. Verse 26. Things happen. No longer just a singular disaster, but verse 26. Disaster will come upon disaster. Rumor will be upon rumor. There will be things happening just continually that you can hardly catch your breath. Sometimes we felt that way. It's like, you go away for a week and all of a sudden something has changed, something dramatic has changed. Disaster will come upon disaster. Rumor will be upon rumor. They will seek a vision from a prophet, some government leader, someone that they consider wise. What's going on? Everyone's got all their opinions. They've got their opinions. You can spend hours each day looking at news commentaries, all of whom have their opinions. None of them are saying, we need to turn back to God. We can do this. We can do that. It's meaningless and a waste of tongues, unless they're saying, turn back to God. The only way to solve these problems is turn back to God. It's a waste of time listening to it, because they don't know. They don't have the wisdom. That's what God is saying here. They'll seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders. They don't know. They're trying to solve things their own way, rather than turning to God and realizing this is from Him. The only way any of these problems get resolved is by turning back to God and implementing and living by His law willingly, diligently, and carefully. That day will come when Jesus Christ returns, but none of them are counseling that today. The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the common people will tremble.

What's going on? Our leaders have no idea what's happening. They can't save us. We see terror. We see things. We see no hope. The hands of the common people will tremble. God says, I will do to them according to their way. They brought it upon themselves because they don't turn to Me. They don't live My way. I will do to them according to their way, and according to what they deserve, I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Then they will know when Christ returns, the world is in the despair and has realized they are no match for God.

They will be in a position to be ready to yield to God and turn to Him.

So let's stop there on Ezekiel 7. We're not going to have a Bible study next week. The Council, we have a general conference of elders this weekend, and then the Council meets next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Typically, there's meetings in the evening, so we won't have a Bible study next week. So our next Bible study will be two weeks from today. That will be May 15th.

Let me stop there and open it up for any comments, questions, or anything that anyone wants to talk about.

Mr. Shaby? Yes. Hey, Karen. I got like one and a half questions. One's real simple.

I was not able to go to since Monday, and I know that they cannot do a webcast.

I looked this morning and it that your sermon is not posted. Did they record it so we can end up getting hold of it? Yes, they did record it, and they told me that it got posted this afternoon. So if you look tonight, it's probably there. Okay, and I want to ask you another question. I was going over some of the old sermons that you had, and in one of those that they ended up talking about, you had mentioned a book called something like Misreading the Bible through Western Eyes, and you said that you were going to that that sounded interesting to you, and it did to me too. I got it. I just wondered if you ever got it and what your impression was. I did not ever get that book. So if you want to send me that title, I would like to do that. I'd forgotten all about it. Send me the title, and I would like to read that book. It's very good.

As far as I was concerned, just on the perspective of not having really individual, possibly, repentance, but showing shame on the group culture at that time when that when David did his things and that type of bit. Yes, I will send it to you. I lent it over to Gary Evans, and he has somebody else that's going to have it, but I'll see what they want to do. I could send you my copy, but it might not be for like a month or so. I know. Just send me the title. That'll be good enough. I don't have it offhand. I will end up sending it to you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Karen. Hey, Jim. Yes, I've got a question actually in regards to the official position of the church in regards to our duty or our job, if we have one, about bringing a message to the House of Israel as a warning, because we're hearing that that isn't so, that we simply are preparing the church, as we're hearing. And so I would like to have an official position if you can. Let me ask you where you're hearing that from.

I hear it in all the messages, and I hear it when I get confronted. Okay. No, no, we know that we need to be bringing a warning message to Israel. I mean, God is crystal clear in Isaiah 58 verse 1. We've begun doing that. There are some people who say all we have to do is prepare the church. We do need to do that. We do need to warn the church, too, right, to make sure everyone is aware of what's going on and to turn to God, but also to Israel and also preaching the gospel in all nations. That is something we have to do and that we are in the process of doing. That's taking some time, I guess, in order to get our media in the order where we need it to be, in order to be effectively to do those things. But no, that is the position of the church. We are to be doing that. We are to be found so doing when Christ returns. Yeah. Thank you. Mr. Ekema. Mr. Ekema.

Mr. Shaby. I'm sorry. Mr. Shaby. Yes. Oh, hi. I am so glad that you were saying we are to be a watchman. I really go back to Ezekiel 3. There is a watchman to the house of Israel, and I don't know whether God will choose us, but that would be a blessing if we became the watchman. And I look at Ezekiel 7 as probably the clearest explanation of what is going to happen to America. I look at our nation today. I mean, we worship our wealth. That is what we worship. I'm going to go back to verse 15 because I have a little explanation on that one. Okay. The sword is outside. The famine and pestilence are within. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword, and whoever is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him. If you're looking at the nation today, where is the sword? It's in the city. And the country, you don't see a sword, but this says the sword is in the country. It's outside. The famine and pestilence is within. But if money becomes worthless, and I'm a farmer, and I've got chickens and vegetables, why would I sell it? Money's worthless. I might as well keep it, trade it with barter with the somebody that I can barter with. No use selling it for money that's worthless. You end up in the city, there is no food on the grocery store shelves, because after all, the farmer hasn't sold it. So the person in the city that can't grow crops, he's going to have famine, because he doesn't have the ability to get that food. So what are you going to do? You're going to go out and kill the farmer who has the chickens, who has the vegetables. So there is a sword in the country. There's famine and pestilence in the city. That's a very good thought there.

Hey, Bud, how are you? Excellent Bible study, having to do with the end time leading up to the great tribulation. My wife and I have been in church over half a century, and we've tried to be an example for our children, our families. We tried to get them interested by our examples, but they don't want any part of what we have, what we do. The point is, I think the time has come for them to be held accountable for the example that's been for them. I think the time has come.

I still believe many of our young people who aren't paying attention today because things are so good. I pray that many of them are going to turn to God during that time and realize that was the truth, and that is where salvation is. I think that's just my opinion.

We can't hope when times get really bad. They will look and say, well, that in Gloria has been faithful for over a half century. They should have the answers. And of course, the answers are in the Bible and what we preach and teach. Yes, I think yours hope. I agree. It is. Just have faith in God. They know at some level most of them. So, yeah, very good.

Hey, Tracy. Hello. I have a little bit of confusion. Could I please ask you a question last?

Oh, go ahead. Yeah. Okay. So, first of all, God's wrath. This is the day of God's wrath, right?

So, where is that fall? Oh, where does that fall in the timeline of Revelation? Is it during the poor horsemen after? Remember, you got the seven seals of Revelation, right? The first four, the four horsemen. Then you got the Great Tribulation, the fifth, the heavenly sign, sixth. And then you have the seventh seal, which are the seven trumpets. Those are the wrath of God. That's where the day of His fury that He's taken out with the seventh one being the day of the Lord.

By the seventh one, where the seven vials are, where His fury is finally and completely poured out on mankind. So, well, if this wrath is taking place during that time, how would that happen?

Yeah, that's the fullness of it, right? But I think what we're seeing here, the Christ said is, these are the beginnings of the time of the end, the beginnings of sorrow. See, these things happen. God is beginning to pour out His wrath. It's not the full fury yet, as we read in one of the verses here talked about His fury. Yeah, verse eight talks about, I will spend my anger on you. Verse eight, I will pour out my fury. It continues as people continue to reject God and not pay attention to Him. Okay, and then in the end of 27, I can only get the ISV version right now, but it says, I'll deal with them according to their behavior, and I will judge them by how they judged. They'll learn that I am the Lord.

So is that, I guess I'm asking, why would God be punishing His people with His wrath while they're obeying Him? Or is it more like in the time of Babylon, when God set aside people like getting on them, they had to trust Him, but they all went into Babylon. Is that basically what it's saying? Yeah, this is what it's talking about there. It's not talking about God's people, as in the church, right? It's talking about the land of Israel, you know, like America, Britain, Australia, that they aren't paying attention to God. They have turned from Him. So His wrath is poured out on them. And when we are reading these verses 25, 26, 27, it's talking about that nation. God still sees Israel as His people, His physical people.

He sees you and me and everyone, right, in His church as His spiritual people, but He also, you know, has this physical people that He still sees as His people, that He is getting their attention so that they know that He is their God and that they will turn back to Him.

Okay, so we're a little bit confused about something. Earlier, Wayne asked that this has to do with God's people, and you said it has to do with all of us. Yeah, well, when I say all of us, I mean, we're all living in America, right? So we are going to feel some of the...

So if America falls tomorrow, if we wake up tomorrow morning, the economy is gone, it's going to affect all of us, right? That's kind of what I meant by that. But not necessarily the full effects of God's wrath.

Or, yes. I'm sorry.

You know, where we live, right? The punishment is on America. God, you know, God, whatever God has in mind for us, we remember Revelation 12, where He says He will take the faithful, His saints, and have them in a place where He nourishes them for a time, time, and time away from the face of the serpent. But, you know, what we're talking about here in Ezekiel 7 is on America. It's directed toward physical. Okay. Okay, sorry for all that. I was just confused. That's okay. I hope it's clear. We can talk about it more, too, so that we can understand. I don't want to confuse anyone here, so.

Mr. Shabian.

Yes. Okay.

Yeah. I've looked at the foreseal and the fist seal is God's wrath on His people, and the sixth and seventh on the Gentiles. Is that correct? Well, I think the sixth and seventh are on all of mankind, right? So, yeah, I mean, Israel is part of that, too. They have been defeated. They are no longer a nation. They may be captive, many of them dead, but it's on all people. I mean, everyone, not just the Gentiles. But He does exact His vengeance because they are the ones in control at that point. You know, Babylon, spiritual Babylon is, yeah. But yeah, the fourth and fifth. Well, the fifth, especially, is on primarily Israel. Yeah. Okay. Alex. It's Leith and Burton. Alex, how are you doing today? Yes, thank you. I thought something interesting in sixth and seventh. You mentioned they shall know that I am the Lord. It's used seven times in sixth and seventh. Okay. Nice to see that because that's a complete number. Seven. Isn't that interesting how those things show up? Yeah, that's a good observation. God says it over and over and over again. Yeah, very good.

Hey, Reggie.

Hey, Mr. Shaby. Yeah, whenever we think about the times when the oil bit broke out, you cut out for a minute. We were going to be industrialized and people began to, you know, go. What was that? No, you cut out for a minute so I didn't get some of what you said.

I said that in World War II, okay, more and more industrialization came into play. And you had more and more people moving into cities instead of farming. So farming today is actually just small-time farmers don't exist too much. These big corporations have come in and taken control. And so more and more people go to stores, to grocery stores, and these younger people, the younger generations don't understand how things work prior to World War II.

Yeah, you're right. You're right. And then you hear about all the foreign countries buying up all the land too, right? So it's like, yeah, you're right. Small farms are not the thing today, man. Yeah, we have become totally dependent on stores and everyone else, rather than knowing how to work with the land ourselves.

Hey, Bud, did you have another comment? Well, I have another comment. Well, questions and comments. Your 10 to 12 minute presentations weekly are excellent, and they are thought-provoking to traditional Christianity. And I think it's needed, and I think it's a good time to have it, and they are thought-provoking. The only one thing that kind of gets me is the commercials. Do we need to have those? No, it's not us who's putting those commercials in. That's YouTube. That's just... if any YouTube thing that you watch, they can put their commercials wherever they want. We get no money for that. That's totally them. It's the way they make money, I guess. But to use their service, they can put a commercial at the beginning, and now it's happening even in the middle. So no, that's not us. That's completely them. Okay, I'm wondering about that. Then the other thing is I do believe that YouTube is worldwide. I don't think I'm wrong there. That it is worldwide, and we're going through the messages worldwide. And like I said, they're thought-provoking traditional Christianity, and I think they're needed. And I am glad we're doing it, and I'm glad you're putting the church of God. Very good. People need to be aware of what they don't know, right? They think they know, but they don't. So, yeah. Okay. Hey, Herb.

Yeah, we were talking about the church getting the warning out. Every evening we like to listen to music for a while. We go on YouTube, and every so many groups of music we go to, one of the programs, advertising for one of the programs pops up by any one of the presenters.

That's very encouraging to see.

You're right. I've begun paying more attention to YouTube, and you're right.

YouTube does kind of do our advertising for us, because if you subscribe and if they see that you have clicked in on something on a Beyond Today or a sermon, they're going to say that's what he's interested in, so they're going to feed more of those things to you. So that's good. And that's why sometimes you get other sermons from other churches, too, right? Because they think, oh, he's interested in religion and this topic. So YouTube does a good job. So it's more of just a personal thing than it's not going out to everybody.

It's going out to everyone, too, because you will find that they will give you things that are kind of different to see where are your other interests. And I know we've looked at these 10-minute things.

80% of the people who are viewing those are not subscribers members or anything else like that. So it's going out to people that we haven't reached before, which is exactly what we wanted to do, is get the word out to some other people. So they do a good job of giving it out to people and seeing where the interest is. Thank you. Hey, Wayne. When I asked about God's people feeling this wrath, I meant the church's spiritual people. I wasn't necessarily talking about the physical Israelis. Yes. I knew what you were talking about. Are you saying we're going to fill it, too? I think we're going to feel something. God's going to need to know what's in our hearts, right? How are we going to respond? Will we turn to Him? So I think we'll suffer along with the people, just like the Israelites in Egypt suffered along with the plagues that were there. They had to learn to turn to God, and I think He's going to see what's in our hearts as well. That's just kind of my... Well, I'm new to the church, so I get a lot of questions.

There was something else, and it just slipped my mind. Oh, aren't we supposed to be taken away to a place of safety? There is the verse in Revelation 12. We don't call it the place of safety, but in Revelation 12, as you read verses 9 through 16 there, it does talk about God taking His saints away to a place where He nurtures them for a time times and a half a time away from the serpent. Whatever that is, we don't know exactly. God knows exactly. Right. And Revelation is kind of rough to understand sometimes. Okay, that's all I wanted. Thank you. Okay. Hey, Jim. Yeah, just in regards to the four horsemen, they are a sequence of events that start the book of Revelation.

And they describe the fall of Jacob and the house, the western powers, by their own hand.

And when they're finished, it takes one-third of the population of the earth. And I would submit that we have now seen the first two running and we're facing the black one squarely in the face.

And after that, after that, it will take the whole of the way about ourselves for what comes upon us. Yeah. Hey, Becky. Hey there. I have a comment on the question about Matthew 2414 about the gospel and someone asked about the church's responsibility. And I believe it was Gary Beame gave a great sermon on Matthew 2414 and its final fulfillment, I believe was named. But I don't want to quote him verbatim, but I remembered him saying that the church would carry that baton until the two witnesses came on the scene. And that it was our job to fulfill that until that time when God presented the world with those two witnesses to take over. And he sort of like made this comparison to a race, you know, when you hand the baton off and it stuck in my mind. And that's a really good sermon if anyone wanted to look that up.

I think that's it. We do it, but there will come a time, right, when YouTube and everything shuts us down, but God will have the two witnesses out there preaching the word. The word will still be going out, just not through the mechanisms that we have today. So I would agree with that.

Yeah. And then as far as, you know, Ezekiel, it's kind of scary, I think, a lot of people to think about it, but I think God really is, you said, giving us this time to build our faith. And I think he's showing us he wants him to be our instinct. You know, like, that's the thing we reach for first, and we need to be that strong in our faith. And then this, all of this scary, it won't matter, because he'll be right there, you know, like we can just grab his hand. And it reminded me in Matthew 13, where it says, But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. So he's with us. He's blessing us now to prepare. He's not going to go away from us. We'll still be in the sight. And I think it's important we all remember that. It is also important to remember that God is right there. He knows exactly what's going on. They're not going exactly the way we wanted it to, but it is exactly the way he wants it to. And he is in control. Now, the other thing to remember, too, is a lesson from the Days of Unleavened Bread. When Israel had their backs up against the Red Sea in Ezekiel 14, what Moses said, those are words we should remember, too. Don't panic. Don't be afraid. Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. He'll fight for you. Just keep moving forward. Don't go back. Don't go back and look back behind you to see what the world would do. Keep going forward. So those are words that we could keep in mind as well.

Sherri Ewell, how are you?

You're muted, Sherri.

Sorry about that. Can you hear me now? We can hear you. How are you doing?

I'm good. I'm good. I just wanted to comment on what the gentleman was saying about the warning, putting out the warning to the world and what have you.

These videos, these short videos that you're doing right now, are a very strong warning, and I just really appreciate them. They're just super awesome.

Well, thank you. God is the one who's directing them, so we'll do what he says.

They seem to be very strong in the warning department.

Okay. I see no more hands. Nope, I do see some hands. Reggie, I don't know if your hand is still up or you had another comment?

Okay, how about Jeanie? I had my microphone muted. No, I didn't have it. I probably didn't. I didn't take my hand off.

Okay, okay. I didn't want to give you... Jeanie, you got a comment?

Well, I don't have a comment. Well, I just wanted to bring up the Housletons. Brian, have you heard?

I heard about that. That is awful what has happened to them, yes.

Yes.

Yeah, for those who don't know, Brian Housletons is an elder in the Kansas City area, and after the last day of Unleavened Bread, his business, his building, and the church men in the building, he has there, they're nearly burned to the ground, completely burned to the ground. So, yeah, keep them in your prayers. Keep them in your prayers. It's a time of trial for them.

For his birth, it burned down.

Yeah.

Yeah. I don't know... Yeah.

Paula.

Hello. Can you hear me? I can hear you.

I just had a favor to ask. I wanted to tell Paul and Gladys to call me after this.

Paul and Gladys for God. I saw them early. You heard it, Paul and Gladys.

All right. Thank you. Okay. Uh-huh. Okay. Mr. or Miss iPhone is what your square tells me here.

Hello. Can you hear me? We can hear you.

Hi. My name is Elizabeth, and they made an announcement about me. I'm the one that fell out in the parking lot, so I didn't get a chance to go into the building.

Okay.

But I'm doing better now. But I was wondering, have you heard the latest news today? A House bill, I think, got passed. It was supposed to be an anti-Semitism bill, but within it, it makes it illegal for us to basically read the New Testament or saying anything like the Jews were responsible for setting Jesus up and murdering him. And this is going to be this new House bill that just passed the House. I don't know if it's going to pass the Senate, but it's like that's one step closer for them to outlong the Bible.

Yeah, that's interesting. I hadn't heard anything about that. I'll be doing a little research on that. Okay. Okay. And I'm glad to hear that your sermon is going to be online, because I spent that time in the ER, and I didn't get a chance to be there, but I wanted to.

Okay. But I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. There were no bones broken or anything?

No, just ligaments and muscles, but no bones broken, which is a blessing.

I think it was Mr. Walsh that came out and anointed me in everything. Yeah, he did.

Yeah, everything is healing, and I thank the Lord, because it could have been worse.

Balls are never anything that happened with him. Yeah, so it's good to hear for you. Glad you're doing better. Okay, thank you. Thank you all. God bless you all. Thank you.

Okay. Anything else?

Mr. Shavey, it's Jeannie. Yes.

Today is our 60th year being in the church, that we started going to church, the Bratnick family.

Oh, you're Jeannie Bratnick. Okay.

I'm Jeannie Bratnick. Okay, yeah. Well, congratulations. That's that's so 1964. That's very good. So yeah. Yeah.

Okay, that's amazing. There's only about 40 of them. Yeah.

There. I know. I said Florida, you know the Bratnick family.

We're all going to be in Panama City for our 60th year. Are you? Okay, okay. Very good. We may end up in Panama City. We're talking about it. Well, good.

Okay. Okay, well, let me see. Well, I guess if there's nothing else, we're going to say good night for tonight. Everyone have a very good Sabbath. Probably a lot of you. I mean, we'll kind of be seeing you online at the GCE if your congregation is connecting into Cincinnati this week. So we'll see you there. Yeah, we won't have a Bible study next week, but we will be back together, God willing, on May 15th. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Rick. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Good night, everybody. Good night, Pastor Sadie. Bye-bye.