Cancel Culture or God's Culture

The title today of the sermon is, Cancel Culture or God's Culture. Cancel culture or God's culture.

So first of all, let's define the word culture. The development, improvement, or refinement of the mind. Emotions, interests, manners, taste.

It's basically summarized by improvement of the whole being, mind and body. The result of this, refine ways of thinking, talking, acting, development or improvement of physical qualities by special training and care. The ideas, customs, skills, arts, religion of a given people in a given period. You might summarize the whole thing by the word civilization, the things that make up a civil society. Now, some people may think, well, that's just words. No, it's far more than words. Culture has to do with everything that you are, everything that you hope to be, everything that you will be doing.

And you become what you think and what you practice. And there's an attack on the culture of this nation, an attack on God, the Bible, on Scripture, an attack on everything that you might say is sacred. Sacred things point to a higher reality. Holy things have God's active presence within them. So a part of the title was cancel culture. Now, from time to time, you hear this expression, cancel culture, on television, on the newscast, that I would dare say that most people don't really know what the definition is.

They have a vague idea, but really don't know what it is. Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for or canceling public figures and companies after they have done or said anything considered objectionable or offensive. Cancel culture is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming. So we'll have an example later on. You may have made a misstatement years ago, which brought to the fore now will result in you being fired from your job.

The first amendment to the Bill of Rights states, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Congress, the U.S. Bill of Rights guarantees that right. Basically summarized by, generally, people just say freedom of speech, freedom of religion. The laws of the land mandate free speech.

However, if someone controls what is acceptable speech, then freedom of speech is, in essence, taken away. If someone controls what is acceptable speech according to them, then freedom of speech is taken away through the channels of social media, schools, universities, and mass media. They control what is acceptable speech or culture. And, of course, some political figures enter into it as well. Once again, through the channels of social media, schools, universities, mass media, mass communication, and, I would say, politics as well, to a large degree, controls what is considered acceptable speech.

Violate the agenda of the progressive left and cancel culture steps in to put you in your place, to put you down and destroy your credibility. Of course, this is oftentimes referred to as being politically correct. If you're not politically correct, then you commit political suicide. Cancel culture seeks to control what you think and how you conduct your life. And they have made inroads that are very deep and have basically divided this nation in half. Or, maybe they have more than half who espouse their ideology. They're very much involved in morality and ethics. Now, if you look at leaders on either side, oftentimes Congress is referred to the aisles, either side of the aisle, one side Republican, one side Democrat.

You look at Congress, they're involved in morality and ethics. There are no perfect leaders. You look at what policies do people support. What do they support? Do they support the LGBTQ agenda? Do they support open borders?

Do they support free health care for illegal aliens? Then you could go down the line. Do they support, and on and on it goes. Do they support various movements and various organizations? Do they support abortion on demand? Do they support post-birth, what would be euthanasia, killing that infant that's already been born?

And there are many, many other things we could add to the list. So they're very much involved in morality and ethics. They seek to squelch intellectual and academic freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and bring the thought police in to control what you think, what you say. It's no longer that of toleration that is tolerated, you know it's there, but you must conform.

If you don't conform to what is politically correct, then you become the object of bullying, and oftentimes a person's career and reputation is destroyed in 24 hours. The prophet Isaiah prophesied of such a time, we want to go there to Isaiah 59, and we will begin in verse 1. We probably won't read—I have verse 1 through 17—I probably won't read all 17 verses, but I encourage you to do so because in essence this is like reading the morning newspaper, which nobody does anymore, or listening to the morning news or watching the morning news on the three or four networks that supposedly carry the morning news. In Isaiah 59 verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities, your lawlessness, have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. How many people are earnestly praying for this virus to pass, for it to be under control, or for there to be peace in the world, or whatever the cause may be? How many people are praying for that?

See, there comes a time with God that he also becomes fed up with it, and he says, okay, I'm going to go a while and leave you to yourself, to your own devices. Let's see what happens. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies.

Your tongue has muttered perverseness, non-calls for justice, nor any pleads for truth. They trust in vanity, and means temporary things that are frivolous, that last only a short time, speak lies, they conceive mischief, and bring forth lawlessness. And it goes on and on, describing what's happening, and then we'll pick it up again in 14. Once again, I encourage you to read the whole thing during the coming week. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off, or truth is fallen in the street, and iniquity cannot enter.

Yes, truth fails, and he that departs from evil, see this is the key verse, he that departs from evil, he that would dare stand in the gap, he that would dare, or she who would dare to speak out and say, that is wrong, I'll have no part of it.

What happens to them makes himself or herself a prey. In other words, they jump on them like white on rice, as they say, like wild dogs on a fresh kill. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him, that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor.

Therefore, his arm brought salvation, or deliverance, unto him, and his righteousness, it sustained him. So God says, there's no man who's going to take up the mantle here. I'll just have to step in and do it myself. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head, and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

There comes a time when God says, I've had enough. I'm going to step in. Here's an example of cancel culture. Defacing and vandalizing public memorials are the latest manifestation of the cancel culture. Those heroes, heroines, the figures of the past, the time-honored traditions, even churches, even the Bible, the flag, and you go on and on. Vandalizing memorials are the latest manifestation of the cancel culture, and seeks to punish individuals for past actions, or views ranging from unjust to merely out of step with today's prevailing zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist is a German word that means spirit of the times. The spirit of the times don't step out of lying with regard to the spirit of the times. Recently, this illiberal crusade, they say they're liberal, but actually they're illiberal. They seek to bring everyone into conformity and everyone into captivity. God says, bring yourself into captivity to Him. Recently, this illiberal crusade instigated the outing of Boeing Communications Chief, Nyle Golightly, who resigned after a colleague complained about a 1987 article he wrote arguing that women should not serve in combat.

Despite Golightly's change of view, Boeing fired him. So you bring up some kind of thing that's out of bounds with regard to the cancel culture culture, and you pay the price. This story, and much worse, is being played out every day in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Obviously, many of the tenets of cancel culture clashes with Scripture. Even today, or maybe I shouldn't say even today, in today's world, the boldest religious and secular figures that speak against the tenets of the progressive left would hesitate to read and expound 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9 through 10, which we shall read. It's in the Bible. See, the call will be to exclude various passages of the Bible. Then it will be to exclude the Bible. So if you would turn to 1 Corinthians 6. In 1 Corinthians 6, it basically summarizes the difference between the two aisles, the two sides, as it were, and it's not to say that any side is pure because people hold various positions regardless of which side they sit on, but in general.

See, it really is not going to make a lot of difference from now to the election with regard to what each candidate says because the die has already been cast in the hearts and minds of people through years and years of conditioning and propaganda, as we shall mention in a moment. In 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9, Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. You see, this would be labeled as hate speech, and laws have been and will be passed forbidding any kind of voice being raised against these behaviors. Nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revelers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. That's what the Bible says. It's plain. It's clear.

And that's what the Bible says. So, as I said, that verse would be labeled as hate speech today, or those two verses. The world had better wake up. We had better wake up. The nation had better wake up. It is later than you think. To a large degree, the battle has already been won. Because how many minds and hearts are going to be changed? And what would be the mechanism through which they would be changed? The current political climate, or in the present political climate, there is no way that either candidate for president or any other national election can say anything that will change people's minds.

Now, there will be, and when we speak in those terms, we're speaking in percentages. A few will turn this way or that way or change their mind. The nation has been thoroughly set up for what you see and hear playing out every day. You might call it brainwashing. When a nation embraces evolution and the educational system from kindergarten through the various graduate schools, doctoral programs, postdoctoral, whatever education program you want to name basically, and basically mandated by the state, you will teach evolution as a fact. Evolution denies the creator God, and in denying the creator God, they in essence deny God.

And when a nation denies God, their days are numbered. Oh, they may drag on for a few decades even, but it's downhill.

The education institutions of the land and the media both broadcast, along with social media, what canceled culture advocates, and they have been unchecked for decades.

They have espoused their messages for years, and basically no one stood in a gap.

So along with the education institutions, the media of the land, political leadership, the intelligentsia, these factors, along with international enemies of the U.S. who have spied and broadcast fake news, written slanted opinion, editorials, developed misinformation, websites. How do you know the website you're visiting?

Is it valid or not? In some cases, it's very difficult to tell.

A few voices have stood in the gap and issued a warning, but even before canceled culture developed, they were labeled as conspiracy hate mongers.

There are two main passages of Scripture that will verify what I've just stated. Let's look at Matthew 24.12. Olivette prophecy, the disciples asked, what are the signs before the end of the age and your coming? And Jesus gave this in Matthew 24 and verse 12.

And because iniquity, lawlessness shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

And obviously, by that verse, you know it is going to affect people in the church.

You do not want it to affect you. You do not want it to have any effect on you.

Now let's go to Luke 17. Now see, there is coming a time in which you heard in the sermon that you should be preparing for this time in case it should happen during your lifetime, in which you will not be given a choice of whether or not you're going to speak up.

You're either going to deny or you're going to stand. One of the two. So we look at Luke 21. Now Luke 21 is Luke's account of the Olivet prophecy.

And beginning in verse 26, Men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. See, the powers of heaven when you read Daniel 9 and 10 and 11 and you understand the spiritual warfare, which you understand what Paul says in Ephesians 6 verses 10 and 11. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against wicked spirits in high places, that the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for you know your redemption draws nigh. And he spoke to them a parable, Behold the fig tree and all the trees. When they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is nigh or at hand.

So likewise, when you see these things come to pass, know you that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Rarely I say unto you that this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, with drunkenness cares of this life, so that the day come upon you unawares.

For as a snare shall it come of the whole earth, watch you therefore and pray, so you'll be accounted worthy to escape the things that shall come upon the earth, and the Son of Man comes.

Now we want to read earlier in this chapter other signs that Jesus gave starting verse 12. But before all these things, the things that have been listed before, before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and it shall turn to you as a testimony. See, when that time comes, you're not going to be to hide and say, I'm going to play it safe. I'm not going to say anything that could bring any kind of criticism of me. Oh, no.

And it shall turn to you for a testimony, said it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what you shall answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain, say, or resist. And you shall be betrayed both by parents and brethren, kinsfolk and friends, and some of you shall they cause to be put to death, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake, but there shall not a hair of your head perish. That is, in the ultimate sense, because if you are martyred, you will be in resurrection. Now, let's see how this coincides with Revelation 12. After Satan is cast down, he goes about with great fury, seeking whom he may devour, and this tells us how to overcome him.

In verse 10, Revelation 12.10, And I heard a loud voice say in heaven, saying, Now is come salvation, strength, and the kingdom our Lord. And the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren, is cast down, which accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by three things, the blood of the lamb. When they did stumble, when they did sin, they cried out, they repented, they exercised faith in the sacrifice of Christ. They walked in a reconciled position with God Christ, each member of the body of Christ. And by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death by the word of their testimony. We'll move from silent tolerance, as I mentioned earlier, silent tolerance of morality to force compliance. You either comply or you are categorized and put down. Yet we basically remain silent. I guess all of you have heard Simon and Garfunkel's song, The Sounds of Silence, the prophets' writings on the subway tunnels, the prophets' writing on the tenement walls, saying that you better heed the message, because a time of silence is coming. A famine of the hearing of the word is, it says in Amos 8 and verse 11, and now is the time. Let's note what one prominent former atheist writes. He's Michael Ignor, E-G-N-O-R. He's writing for a publication called Evolution News and Science Today. I'm quoting from that article and from Michael Ignor.

I've watched current events especially cancel culture, with interest, with an unsettling sense of familiarity. The film expelled, you might remember that film, expelled, which exposed a lot of what was going on, especially in institutions of higher learning in the land.

The film expelled, after all, a documentary about professional cancellation a decade or so before cancellation in America went viral.

It is as if the Darwinianists assault on intelligent design.

And of course, they have to. Intelligent design recognizes a creator god, but intelligent design basically limits the earth to 6,000 years, which we would not embrace. The quote, young earth theory and that big arc there in Kentucky, south of Cincinnati, is an awesome sight to see the replica of the of the arc and all the things in it. And one little display there, they have baby dinosaurs. They're saying these were used for the sacrifices. Of course, we know that it's totally false. You don't use unclean animals for sacrifice, much less baby dinosaurs.

But that's how you got dinosaurs on the arc, is they were babies.

It is as if the Darwinianists assault on intelligent design was a run-up to the contemporary, massive assault on intellectual freedom.

The centers are denigrated, slandered, excluded, fired for expressing opinions just a few years ago were widely expressed and often still represent majority opinion.

To me, what majority thinks, we, the council culturalists, are in charge. The Darwinianist trope, the criticism of Darwinianist theories, is anti-science. If you're against anti-life, you listen to Bill Maher. If you're against evolution, then your anti-science is a prologue to the mobs talk that free speech is a kind of violence. You can't let people out there saying anything about, God says that the LGBTQ agenda is wrong. You can't allow that.

That's hate speech. It is the same. The Darwinianist's cancelled culture mob's response to reasoned discourse is nice career you've got there, a shame if something happened to you.

It's sort of like the mafiosa. You know, if you don't give us the protection of many, then you are history. There's obviously totalitarian flavor to all of this. Remarkably, it is imposed on us by us. It is imposed on us by us. Why? The sounds of silence. We're doing this to ourselves. No Bolshevik faction has stormed Washington, though that is not necessarily the case now. Is Washington, DC, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Indiana, New York City, and so on.

I have seen the rioting. No Bolshevik faction has stormed Washington and occupied the White House and commanded the army. We have chosen to cancel ourselves, to be silent.

So how do those of us who cherish scientific integrity, human rights endowed by the creator and enumerated in the Constitution, stand up for academic freedom and freedom of speech in these times? So now, ignore quotes from Soshenitsen's essay titled, Live Not by Lies.

Soshenitsen, remember, was a Soviet dissident who wrote books against the Communist Party, spent years in the Gulag, finally got liberated. Here's what he writes. This is by Soshenitsen.

Live not by lies. I was struck by the analogy between the totalitarian system Soshenitsen faced, the lacingcosum of the Darwinist expression of intelligent design and the assault on freedom, of speech and freedom of thought spreading like fire through our nation. So that's the words of, I said it was Soshenitsen, that's ignore leading up. I was struck by the analogy between a totalitarian system that Soshenitsen faced and what we are facing today. So here are the words of Soshenitsen.

At one time we dared not even to whisper. Now we write and read Samizdat.

I don't know what that means. I suppose it's Russian.

And sometimes when we gather, we complain frankly to one another. What kind of tricks are they playing on us and where are they dragging us? Is there any way out? And they put on trial anybody they want and they put sane people in silence. Always they. And we are powerless.

What can we do to stop it? So the parallels he writes, that is, ignore, are obvious. If you doubted the Soviet system or doubted Darwinism, or if you doubt any of the rhetoric currently untapped in the liberal sphere, you do well to keep silence if you value your reputation and your career.

And increasingly, if you value your personal safety, they have gone now so far as not only to get you fired and ruin your career, but in some cases physically attack you.

Cancel Culture is one of the main organizations coupled with many other so-called human rights movements that seek to permanently change the culture of the nation.

Self-preservation spills over into the preservation of institutions, nonprofit organizations, churches, schools, universities, and the list goes on.

So the self withdraws and says, I'm not going to say anything, I'm going to be quiet.

I don't want to be attacked. I don't want to be destroyed. I don't want to be in a leadership position. I don't want to speak out.

You must embrace such and such tenant, speaking of schools, universities, nonprofits.

You must embrace such and such tenants or the state will withdraw funding. God has clearly revealed his culture to humankind through the scriptures.

So what do I mean by God's culture?

There is cancel culture, which is really to do away with God.

And then there's God's culture. Some people are turned off by the word culture because they think that anything formal or classical is what you mean by culture. Like you heard the beautiful flute solo here. That is culture in one of its highest forms, in that it is refined.

You see there are rules to beauty, to harmony, and if those rules are not obeyed, you get discordant in things that sound like fingernails on a blackboard, screeching, discordant sounds. But there is beauty, there is harmony. There are rules that produce beauty and harmony, whether it be the painting of a beautiful picture or the composition of a beautiful piece of music, whatever the title might be. God has clearly revealed his culture to humankind through the holy scriptures. See, God is the author of order. God is not the author of chaos and confusion. And there are rules whereby people talk about, oh, one thing is just as good as another. That's not true. One thing is not just as good as another, if it violates what God has ordained. So what do I mean by God's culture? As I said, some people are turned off by the word culture because they think you're always talking about something formal or classical.

But your culture really defines who you are, what you think, the values you hold, what you teach, how you behave. Your culture is everything that makes you, you. See, the culture of the U.S., the civilization that is developed here, everything that goes into making that what it is, is the culture of the nation.

And so the cancel culture is out to destroy that and replace it with other ideology.

Your culture is your identity, your roots, your development, your training.

Your culture is everything you are, good or bad.

And God wants us to learn, live, and transmit His culture now. Of course, the return of Jesus Christ will result in the greatest cultural paradigm shift, model shift of the ages.

But in the meantime, we are here and we have to deal with what we have been dealt.

God revealed the true source of culture to Adam and Eve.

God told Adam and Eve to dress the garden and keep it.

It's Genesis 2.15. Dress the garden, dress the garden and keep it.

It will produce the fruits of God's way if you obey Him. True culture means law, order, beauty. True culture will edify, it will exhort, it will comfort.

It will produce the fruits of God's spirit. It will produce beautiful art, music, everything that is beautiful, lawful, orderly.

Now, evil men can produce great beauty if they follow the laws of beauty, of order, and harmony.

So people can attack the lifestyle of Mozart or any other composer that, and most of them had, a lot of problems of the classical composers.

Or they can obviously attack the character of any leader today. None, no one is without sin.

What are the principles and what are they willing to stand for, die for, voice their very last breath for, and hold on to? There in Revelation 12, I didn't read that last one, which says, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death. God commanded Adam and Eve to look to him for moral and spiritual knowledge.

We've heard the story many times, but it is absolutely vital.

God's constitution for humankind is summarized by the Ten Commandments.

Moral and spiritual knowledge is the essence of culture.

The management of moral and spiritual values is the essence of leadership.

Leadership the world desperately needs.

Say it again, management of moral and spiritual values is the essence of leadership.

What do you stand for? What do you teach? What will you voice? What will you live and die for?

Remember that a vital part of the definition of culture is the act of developing intellectual and moral faculties, especially by education.

God is the great master teacher and educator.

The greatest lesson he revealed to Adam and Eve was, look to me for moral and spiritual knowledge.

Don't take that to yourselves.

A few years ago, a book appeared on the scene, made quite a stir in some academic circles, titled, Cultural Illiteracy, meaning a common body of knowledge that literate citizens within a nation would possess.

And the book showed, rather dramatically, how that, basically, the citizens of the US were culturally illiterate. They just lived day to day, paycheck to paycheck, from can to can't, as they say.

Their history, their core beliefs, their heroes, and importance of belief in a power greater than themselves is vital.

Once again, their history, their core beliefs, their heroes, the importance of belief in a power greater than themselves.

And see, that's what's under attack. Let's do away with all the statues of those who have gone before. Let's do away with any symbolism or anything that denotes what people have stood for through the ages.

The current goal is to destroy that body of knowledge, that core of beliefs that makes a cohesive civilization work. All of the elements that go into a civilization are, you can't even imagine all of the things that go into a cohesive civilization.

The nation's youth have been conditioned to covet and to think in terms of self-fulfillment, appealing to youth, adventure, sex, and romance. That's what the media, Hollywood, the teen movies, and all of that focus on.

Was it prophesied? Look at 2 Peter 2, 13. Do you believe the Bible? Oh, they would not believe the Bible, but the Bible describes once again exactly what is happening.

2 Peter 2, 13. And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are in blemishes, sporting themselves in their own deceivings while they feast with you. Having eyes of an adulteress is the proper translation, that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart they have trained with covetous practices, having children of curse. I mean, we have been conditioned. Have you noticed that during the lockdown now, the commercials that used to be one and a half to two minutes are now five minutes. Five minutes of commercials. If you watch like ABC, NBC, CBS, evening news, comes on in Central Time Zone at 5.30, the last 10 minutes, they'll have one little blurred and then a commercial, one little blurred, then a commercial, and so on. It goes. And five minute commercials, and almost always four or so.

Now, these commercials pair sex, adventure, romance, youth, and all that to products, not in every case, but in a lot of cases.

Adam and Eve were supposed to grow in grace and knowledge of God and his culture or his ways.

They were supposed to transmit God's culture to their family.

God ordained marriage and family. God intended that the family unit, the nuclear family, husband, wife, father, mother, be the instruments through which he would transmit his culture to succeeding generations.

And guess what? Some of these movements, what is one of their main tenets, do away with the nuclear family. And the nuclear family is under attack.

In some neighborhoods, 70 percent are single families, single mother families.

And I thank for the whole nation. It borders around 50 percent, including everybody.

God ordained marriage and family. God intended that the family unit be used to develop and transmit his culture to succeeding generations. And Satan has continually waged war against the God-ordained institutions of true religion and family. In Genesis chapter 3, man is introduced to an adversarial culture.

If you turn back to Genesis 3, we won't read much of it. The story of Cain and Abel and what they did when Cain was sent away.

In what Genesis 4 I said, 3.

4 and verse 13, and Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

5 Behold, you have driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from your face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and vagabond in the earth.

6 And it shall come to pass that every one that finds me shall slay me, and try to kill me.

7 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whosoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord said a mark upon Cain, lest any find in him shall kill him. And Cain went forth from the presence of the Lord, went forth from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.

And the descendants of Cain developed an evil culture that was destroyed by the flood.

And after the flood, what happens? The tarrabable, nimrod, and another evil culture. So are you wrapping your family and your children in the culture of God? Do you have the courage to do so? I've read even recently of what some of Hollywood's most notable parents are doing with their children and have done. Spielberg, who has produced many movies. You've heard the name of Spielberg. You've heard the name of Tom Cruise. And many others say they will not allow their children to watch television or to have cell phones because they know what it can do.

So who will stand in the gap today?

God's culture is not so much concerned with outward appearance.

Now, God expects us to be clean. God expects us to put forth our very best effort.

You read a description of God's throne in Revelation chapter 4, and you say, oh, that's extravagant to the ninth degree. Or if you read Revelation 21 in the description of the New Jerusalem, the streets of gold, and all the precious jewels and all of that.

That's one of the things that Herbert Armstrong had right with regard to you trying to do the best with what you have to do with. That's not any defense of anything he said or did other than that. As we have noted, many people have been ostracized because of their willingness to stand, even if they change their mind like that fellow with Boeing.

And as we have further noted, you will be brought forth before rulers and potentates, and think not to settle in your hearts what you shall say. You'll be given words to speak.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives until the death. If some will reason that we must not invite persecution, just try to survive and hide.

And all the while, the world continues down the path of sin to oblivion and destruction.

What does God say is the duty of those who profess to know him? The Bible is becoming more and more under attack. So who will tell the people what is coming upon them? Look at Ezekiel 33. We used to read this, talk about it often.

I remember that in listening to the world tomorrow back in the early 60s, that a certain person went through the whole book of Ezekiel.

Not to say everything he said was correct, but it was a voice crying out in the wilderness.

Ezekiel 33 verse 1, again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon the land, if the people of the land take a man of their coast, and set him for their watchman, if when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and mourn the people, and whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, took not warning, his blood shall be upon him.

But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come and blow, not the trumpet, and the people be not mourned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his lawlessness, but his blood will I require of the watchman.

So you, O Son of Man, I have set you a watchman upon the house of Israel.

Therefore you shall hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

And basically that is repeated in the succeeding verses. So through the centuries, God has raised up men and women to stand in the gap, cry aloud, spare not, from Moses to the beloved Apostle John. The Apostle John told Herod, it's not lawful for you to have the woman you're now married to. She's your brother's wife. So that woman, a rhodius daughter, danced for Herod and said, I'll give you anything you want.

And she said, Salome, she said, I want John the Baptist's head on a charger.

And Herod delivered John the Baptist's head on a charger. Jesus Christ, time after time, said woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites.

The Apostle Paul, time after time, went into the Jewish synagogues, went into the market places, went to the center of the origin of Western thought and education in Athens, Greece, Mars Hill, and said, Men, I perceive that in all things you're too superstitious.

Let me tell you about the true God.

Now let's go to 1 Thessalonians, our final scripture of the day. We will close with this.

To me, the handwriting is on the wall.

Like you, and like the question will be after a sermon like this, it's what can I do? What can I do?

Well, you can live your lives to the best of your ability according to the Word of God, and set an example, and do whatever you can, and speak whatever you can speak whenever you have an opportunity to do so.

See, the time is coming in which you will have to give answer. Maybe you'll be dead and gone, but those who profess the truth, they won't be able to hide anywhere. And, of course, we read the scripture. Many will be betrayed in various ways.

Verse 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 1, But of the times and the seasons, brethren, we have no need that are right unto you.

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. That means people are not expecting. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then said and destruction comes upon them, as surveil upon a woman and child, and they shall not escape.

For you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overcome you as a thief.

You are all the children of light and the children of the day.

We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober.

That word sober is not what it means today. It means diligent, watchful.

For they that sleep in the night and they that are drunken in the night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, edify one another as you also do.

So, brethren, we're living in—and it's like, to some degree, all things continuous from the beginning— we're living in some of the most perilous times in the history of humankind, warfare is being waged domestically and internationally. We need to wake up to it, be aware of it, and make sure that our lamps are filled with oil.