If Possible the Very Elect Would Be Deceived

Let's title this, The Day of Possible, the Very Lick Would Be Deceived. Let's turn to Matthew 24, verse 24. It's in the news items. We read it there. But let's turn there. Look at it. In Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus Christ is giving His response to two questions posed by the disciples. One, what will be the sign of the end of this age and the sign of Your coming? Matthew 24 and 25 is in response to the questions that were posed to Him. The sign of the end of the age and the sign of Your coming.

In Matthew 24 and 24, Jesus says, For there shall arise false Christ and false prophets, And shall show great signs and wonders, In so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Of course, we could all ask ourselves this afternoon, Am I one of the very elect? There's no telling how many videos, CDs, MP3s, telecast, talk shows, radio shows, sermons, Bible studies, books, magazines, newsletters, websites, ad infinitum abound with dire warnings that Judgment Day is at hand.

You Google any apocalyptic topic, end time topic, and thousands of references will pop up. Sometimes, even a million. I'm sure that apocalyptic material is now a multi-billion dollar industry. It is, in fact, an industry. They're grinding out these CDs and material on all of these happenings that are going on in the world. And, of course, a lot of it is true and needs to be said.

But how much do you rely on it? Many of these types of presentations will end, and you'll need to know how you can protect your family from the horror that lies ahead. I said that poorly. Many of these presentations that they're presenting will end up with a pitch of how you can protect your family in the days that lie ahead.

For example, I listened to one of these presentations yesterday. This guy has a lot of letters behind his name. He pastors a church. He has degrees from some of the more prestigious schools in the Northeast. He said he studied for 17 years, and God suddenly revealed to him the fate of the U.S.

and the end times. He quoted several scriptures that have to do with the end times. His bottom line was to take off on Daniel 11, the king of the North and the king of the South. He said, well, what is due north of Jerusalem and is Moscow, and what great world leader is now in control in Moscow?

He was born in that general area. It is Vladimir Putin. He is therefore the king of the North. Then he said, what great world leader was born south of Jerusalem? He said, it was Barack Obama. He was either born in Kenya or Hawaii. He said it really doesn't matter. He was born south of Jerusalem. Barack Obama is the king of the South. He went on to say before Obama completes his second term, he says that Russia will explode a nuclear bomb high above the U.S.

The EMP shock, the electromagnetic pulse waves that go out from that, will knock out all computers, including U.S. military installations, armaments. There will be an invasion of the U.S. by Russia and whomever is in league with Russia. This is his presentation. Of course, this presentation is about an hour more long, and at the conclusion comes the pitch as to how you and your family can survive all of this. You have the electromagnetic pulse shock waves knocking out the electric grid. Basically, electricity is cut off. You are back to the Middle Ages or worse before then.

What are you going to do? He goes on to say, They have the secrets as to how to keep your family safe as marauding bands pillage the cities and countryside looking for food. He has the key to water purification, foodstuffs, and on and on it goes. This could sell for easily $150, but because he loves you so much, you can have it for $35.

How ridiculous is this scenario? People get sucked in by upfront loading of descriptions of what is going on, and how God is fed up, and how he is going to bring the world into judgment. Some of this is obviously true. Satan can package what if 99% of what Satan says is true, but here's the 1% and you are tripped up on the 1%. Brother, we need to come to understand, especially in the times in which we are living, that this is the Church of God.

God has revealed his truth to us, and we know who we are, at least I hope we are. I hope we know who we are, and it is the time to really get with it. So how dumb could you be to fall for that? As you are leaving the page, a message comes up, are you sure you want to leave this page and you say, yes? And then it says, okay, you are on your own. Now, a similar scenario is being played out concerning the economy, and the economy is in trouble, and it may collapse.

No telling how many prognosticators are proclaiming that the world's economy will collapse in the near future, and eventually it will collapse and a new system will be introduced and enforced, and you'll have to have the mark of the beast to be able to buy and sell. That's Revelation 13. And I think it's wise to take whatever steps you can to be prepared for such an eventuality.

Maybe you want to buy some silver, maybe you want to buy some gold instead of having your money in the bank at drawing .001 percent. But no matter how many steps you take to save yourself, when all is said and done, only God will be able to save you in the last days of this present evil age.

The sales pitch that surround the economy range from you need to subscribe to our newsletter, buy this book, watch this video, buy precious metals, flee to Costa Rica. Costa Rica is supposed to be one of the freest countries in all of the world. A lot of the Hollywood-type celebrities at least have a second home in Costa Rica.

I visited Costa Rica once. It is a beautiful place. It is beautiful land. I tell you, lush green vegetation, sort of a rolling kind of terrain and hills with rivers and streams. Just every few feet on the highway, there are a stand of people selling bananas. Let's look at Isaiah 47. In Isaiah 47, we will see a graphic detailed description of the world's current economic system, the Babylonian system in action and what is going to happen.

Now, this is the Word of God. It's pretty up to date. It's not pretty up to date. It is. In Isaiah 47, come now and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground. There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans.

For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover your locks. Make bare the leg. Uncover the thigh. Pass over the rivers. Now, of course, much of Isaiah is written in poetic form, and what he's saying here is, look, your nakedness is going to be uncovered. You're going to be exposed for what you really are, as it says in verse 3. Your nakedness shall be uncovered. Yes, your shame shall be seen.

I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man, as for our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit you silent. Get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For you shall no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms. I was mad with my people. I polluted my inheritance, given them into your hand, and you did show them no mercy upon the ancient. Have you very heavily laid your yoke.

Verse 8, Therefore hear now this, that you are given to pleasures that dwell carelessly, that say in your heart, I am, and none else beside me. I shall not sit as a widow. Neither shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to you in a moment and one day. Now, one of the things that this guy did in his presentation was where it talks about in one hour, great destruction comes here. It says one day, he says, What else could do this but electronic magnetic pulse weapon? I mean, one day it's over, kind of thing.

But one day doesn't literally mean, in this sense, a 24-hour period, though there are bombs that haven't really been used yet. There are hydrogen bombs. There are bombs in which they call clean bombs that allegedly will not produce the kind of radiation fallout that the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki did. They shall come upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, your pharma kia in Greek, and for the great abundance of your enchantments. More and more, you see a blending of science, so-called, and the occult.

More and more movies are being produced that deal with the occult and the avatar. The avatar, don't just dismiss the avatar, because the avatar is a human-like creature or creation that they hope to move human consciousness into, starting with a robot, artificial intelligence, artificial intelligence, and the robots.

They're talking about robots are already doing a lot of work in a lot of the factories. They're talking about robots now being on the battlefield, and greater use of artificial intelligence and robots. Finally, it's called now a new study of technocracy of transhumanism. Humans are going to evolve to a higher level, and somehow their consciousness and being is going to be merged with computers and machines.

They will have greater strength, greater knowledge, and they'll be able to live forever, and on and on it goes. That's before us. Some of the things that you're seeing today, if we were talking about them in the 70s, you'd say, you're nuts, but don't dismiss it.

Do a little search on transhumanism. You have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, non-seize me, your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you. And you have said in your heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon you. You shall not know from whence it rises, and mischief shall fall upon you. You shall not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.

Stand now with your enchantments. Know the astrologers, the fortune tellers, those of the occult, those who proclaim to know the future. And with a multitude of your sorceries, once again, that the dark side of things, wherein you have labored from your youth, and Babylon has labored with that from the days of Nimrod to the present time, if so be you be able to profit, if so you be may prevail. You are weird in the multitude of your counsels. How many counsels are there? The newsletters, the videos, the prognosticators, and all of that. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save you from these things that shall come upon you.

Behold, they shall be a stubble, the fire shall burn them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There shall not be a cold to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto you with whom you have labored. Even your merchants from your youth, they shall wander from one to his quarter, and none shall save him.

As we'll read later, of course, throw their silver and gold into the streets. As you no doubt noted, much of the description here is identical to Revelation 18 that describes the fall of Babylon the Great. In January of 2014, a year and eight months ago, I gave a sermon on the so-called blood moons. There's no telling how much money has been made off the Gospel hucksters who have profited off of their books, articles, videos, materials on the blood moons and the shimitah year.

Now, shimitah, in its spell about three or four different ways, the Hebrew is S-H-M-I-T-A, meaning Sabbath year. Literally, it means release. It's also called a sabbatical year. We'll read it in just a moment in Leviticus. Literally, seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Word of God for ancient Israel. Of course, there was the seventh year of seven years. On that seventh year, there was a land Sabbath, and they were not to sow or reap from the field. They could not go out and harvest and sell anything that just came up, what we would call, when I was a boy on the farm, volunteer fruit.

But you could harvest it and eat it. You could sustain yourself. And the land would be fallow for the year. And then there was the seven-times-seven cycle, 49 years, and the year of release. Now, according to them, those who have written all these books and done all of this study, the year of Shemitah begins tomorrow, September the 13th, tomorrow, Sunday, tomorrow. According to them. However, the Jubilee year, according to the Bible, begins on the day of atonement.

Tomorrow is not atonement. Look at Leviticus 25. In Leviticus 25, Leviticus 23, of course, lists all the holy days. The holy days are the eternal days. They're not just Jewish days. The holy days are the eternal. The early church kept the holy days. The church of God keeps the holy days. In Leviticus 25, verse 8, You shall number seven Sabbaths of years unto you, seven times seven years, and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto you, 49 years. Now, a big deal has been made about this because of it coincides as well with blood moons. Then shall you cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound. There's a great trumpet blown on the day of atonement.

The Jubilee trumpet. The trumpet of liberty. The trumpet of release. It's a part of God's great economic system. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Declare liberty throughout the land. You shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month and the day of atonement. Shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land, and you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land until all the inhabitants thereof.

It shall be a Jubilee unto you. Liberty, release, and you shall return every man unto his possession. See, to stop this vicious cycle of poverty that goes on for generations, God's economic plan has a remedy for that. Even though you may loan, get in deep debt by securing loans, you may even sell yourself into slavery, as some of them did, indentured. And you shall return every man unto his family, those who had given himself over.

A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you. You shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the crepes in it of your vine undress. For it is the Jubilee that should be holy unto you. You shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. You could eat of it, but you could pick it and sell it. In the year of the Jubilee, you shall return every man unto his possession.

Now, the origin of this current movement of blood moons and the Shemitah can be traced to Mark Biltz, B-I-L-T-Z. Mark Biltz is a pastor of El Shaddai Ministries, a Hebrew roots congregation in Tacoma, Washington. Biltz is known for his 2008 theory on the four blood moons. He was viewing a popular photo of a blood red moon over the Dome of the Rock. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount is an Arab mosque. He recalled that the Bible predicted blood red lunar eclipses before the Day of the Lord.

And so it does as we shall see. But it is not a part of a naturally reoccurring phenomena. The Bible does not mention anything about an eclipse in conjunction with the blood moon that introduces the Day of the Lord. Biltz followed up his idea by looking at NASA's tables for solar and lunar eclipses and found a string of lunar and solar eclipses starting in 2014 through 2015. And they coincided with or near Holy Days, the Holy Days listed in Leviticus 23. His discovery caught the attention of prophecy buffs everywhere.

In April of that year, 2008, he did an interview with the prophecyinthenews.com. Then he was able to make contact, or Hagee made contact with him, with John Hagee, along with other ministries. In fact, 119 ministries at last count have speculated that solar and blood moon eclipses in 2014-15 could fulfill end-time milestones of Bible prophecy. Now, once again, if you've really studied the Bible, how can you be so dumb? Is dumb the word? No, I don't think it is. The word is gullible. The word is gullible.

Jonathan Cahn is another Messianic Jew who has written much and spoken much about the impending judgment as it's going to come on the U.S. Now, Jonathan Cahn is a very articulate speaker, and he has pronounced and described some of the many sins that are occurring in this nation. And obviously, God is eventually going to bring us into judgment. But then, some of the proofs that he uses to try to pinpoint certain dates and also his exegesis of certain scriptures defies even imagination to me. But there are a lot of coincidental dates that line up. His book, titled The Harbinger, has sold thousands of copies. Cahn is a very articulate speaker, as I've already said. He describes many of the sins of the nation and things that are leading to judgment from Almighty God. On Thursday, August 27th, which is about the 12th of September, so about three weeks ago, Cahn spent an entire hour on Glenn Beck's radio program. Beck interviewed Cahn about his theory, which postulates that in an economic meltdown, possibly a terrorist attack, possibly a natural disaster is going to strike the United States on September the 13th. That's tomorrow. Now, what if it happens? Would it be because tomorrow, according to them, begins the Jubilee cycle? We just read Leviticus 25, the day in which it's to be declared. Then, Cahn appeared on Pat Robertson's 700 Club on Tuesday this week. He said the following. Robertson invited Cahn onto his 700 Club, where the two discussed Cahn's claims that something bad will happen this month and that bad things happen, and when they happen, it will be a sign from God. That impending judgment is here. Now, look, if we can't understand that impending judgment is near, will it be five years, ten, twenty, or tomorrow? I don't know. I do know that the judgment in the sense that something about judgment will not be tomorrow. Cahn pointed to the birth last year of two cows, two cows, C-O-W-S, that have facial marks that look like the number seven. Cahn and Robertson said that is all the proof they need that Americans should get ready for a cataclysmic event to occur in common weeks. Two cows born with what looks like the number seven.

Pat Robertson has been convinced after reading the works of Cahn that judgment is going to be coming soon as part of the seven-year cycle of judgment. Now, what causes the naturally occurring blood moons? What is the cause? It's a natural phenomenon that is built into the astronomical and climate and all of the things that make up the universe and the Earth. An eclipse of the Moon occurs in a certain part of the Earth when the Earth, in its orbital pattern or path, stands between the Sun and the Moon. Here's the Sun, here's the Earth, down here. The Sun, the Moon, the Earth. And when the Moon gets in a certain place and blocks part of the Sun, in parts of the Earth, you'll have an eclipse. The Earth's atmosphere extends about 50 miles above Earth's surface, so go up 50 miles. Once you get up 50 miles, it's almost impossible to breathe without special circumstances, even if you get 15,000 feet. I mean, the air gets thinner and so on. The colors of the Moon during an eclipse are produced by the Earth's atmosphere. The various gaseous matters in what we call air make up the atmosphere. During a lunar eclipse, when the Moon is submerged in Earth's shadow, there is a circular ring around Earth. The ring of our atmosphere through which the Sun rays passes. Sunlight is composed of a series of frequencies. As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the green, violent portion of the light spectrum is essentially filtered out. This same effect is what makes the sky blue during the day. Meanwhile, the reddish portion of the spectrum is least affected. You'll see, even at sunrise, that the sky is red. Basically, if it's a clear day and at sunset, you'll see that it's red. The sun rays are being bent by the atmosphere and then spread out through the sky.

When the reddish light first enters the atmosphere, it is bent, refracted toward the Earth's surface. It is bent again when it exits on the other side of the Earth. This double bending sends the reddish light into the Moon during a total lunar eclipse. Hence the term, blood moon, because the Moon looks quite red. Why is the term, blood moon, being used to mean a full moon of a lunar tetrad? The term, blood moon, being used to mean a full moon of a lunar tetrad. The term, blood moon, was attached to these eclipses because of the references in the Bible. You didn't hear so much about blood moons until recent years when Blitz and Kahn and others began to talk about it. In the past, the Hunter's moon, the first full moon after the Harvest Moon, was often referred to as a blood moon. Now here's the definition of a lunar tetrad, T-E-T-R-A-D. Four successive total lunar eclipses with no partial eclipses in between, each of which is separated from the other by six lunar moons. John Hagee picked up on Blitz's idea and wrote a book titled, Four Blood Moons. And Hagee, you know how much money Hagee's made and others on blood moons?

Depending on the condition of our atmosphere at the time of the eclipse, factors like dust, humidity, temperature, and so on can make a lot of difference. The surviving light will illuminate the moon with a color that ranges from copper colored to deep red. And it's a natural thing.

The eclipse that is going to occur in April around Passover, that was, may or may not be red. So there was an eclipse back in Passover of 2014. Depends on the particles in the Earth's atmosphere. Now, here are the dates for the upcoming tetrod, four successive total lunar eclipses in these years. As we shall see, three of them have already passed. Three of the blood moons have already come and gone. The first one, total lunar eclipse April 15, 2014, Passover last year. And then, total lunar eclipse October the 8th, around the Feast of Tabernacles last year. Then, April the 4th, 2015, this year. And then there's one to come September the 28th of this year, about 12 to 28, 16 days from now.

So you can readily see that three of these have already come and gone. But proponents of Bible prophecy regard the upcoming tetrad, and especially this last one, this last blood moon, as so very important because it coincides with two important Jewish holy days, Passover and Tabernacles.

It's ironic that three of these four lunar eclipses will not be visible at all in Israel. The only eclipse that can be seen at all from Israel is the last one, September the 28th, and it'll only be visible for just a brief period of time at sunrise. Heigey and others point to significant events that have occurred in Israel's history during blood moons.

There are other dates in Jewish history like the 9th of Av, and Av basically corresponds to our July, and might be a part of August, but usually in July, in which significant events have occurred, but that does not mean it is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. So what we shall see today is the blood moons spoken of in the Bible are not the result of natural phenomenon.

It is not the natural ongoing process. There are eight of these tetrads scheduled, naturally speaking, to occur in the 21st century. The blood moons of the Bible are the direct result of God's intervention in the course of the events of the world. Of course, there are extremes when you begin to talk about prophecy, and you can fall into the ditch in any one of these. One, those with itching ears desire to hear some new thing, and are easily tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, as in Ephesians 4.

Tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Secondly, those who think they've heard it once, it's all settled, so don't confuse me with Scripture or the realities of the day. These are the lazy-minded who, ironically, are zealots.

They've already settled on it, and that's it. I put it on a shelf.

Then there are those who return to fables. Let's look at 2 Timothy chapter 3, chapter 4. We have, basically, going back to the time that the worldwide Church of God began, the worldwide as an organization, the Church of God, of course, began 31 A.D. the day that the Holy Spirit was sent to the New Covenant Church. The ups and downs of the Church for the past 20 centuries, beyond belief kind of thing, there have been periods of time in human history where the Church, the true Church of God, was barely discernible.

When the Restoration began under the leadership of Herbert Armstrong, in the late 20s and into the 30s, of course, in the 30s, Hitler began to march the late 30s, his invasion of Czechoslovakia and Poland. Blitzkrieg hit several nations. Before you knew it, I mean, Hitler was practically being worshipped. And so, there have been all of these things taking place. It seemed to be, well, this is it. This is the end of the line. If you read some of those articles that were written back in the 40s, a lot of things changed almost from week to week. And sometimes you go on best knowledge available.

But what we need to go on when all is said and done, when it really gets down to it, is the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 4, I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom, preach the Word, be incident in season, out of season, reprove, and the Word reprove as a lancho, it is convict. It is the Spirit of God and the Word of God that convicts, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. You see, from the 30s and the 40s, we're approaching now almost 100 years. We're living in the last days. Look at world events. Look what Hitler's done in Europe. Look what's about to happen. And so it is almost like the little boy who cried wolf so many times that when the wolf actually came, nobody came to help him.

But a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is a day with God. I mean, we are even as a vapor, here today, gone tomorrow. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. There are a lot of fables out there. Oh, it's mixed with a lot of stuff. And some of the things that they are saying, we probably need to be saying, because these are not normal times. These are not normal times.

Now, then there's the Berean mindset. If you look at Acts 17, this instruction here, Paul had a terrible time in Thessalonica. They literally ran him out of town. He went down to Berea and was having good success at first. This is Acts 17, 10, And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming there went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mine, and searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so. And you have to really dig into the Bible and come to know, and know that whether someone, whatever pitch they're making is true, and whether or not it is from God and does its square with the Scripture.

Therefore, many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men, not of few. But, I mean, the Jews of Thessalonica, they're not going to let it rest. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached to Paul and Berea, they came there also and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul so as it were to the sea, but Silas and Timothy abode there still. So that's what we call the Berean attitude. Now let's read the Scriptures that state the moon will be turned to blood. Look at Joel 2, 31. So where in the Bible does it talk about blood moons?

Joel 2, verse 31.

We're going to read into this verse. I mean, Joel is probably reading out of the book of Joel and the Sermon on trumpets. Chapter 2 starts out with, Below the trumpet in Zion, Zion is symbolic of the church. And today we're trying to sound the trumpet in Zion, in the church. And hopefully we'll be trying to sound the trumpet in the church in the days and weeks, months and years that lie ahead with all gravity. And hopefully that it will take root in the minds and hearts of the people. One of the great reasons we'll start verse 27, Joel 2, 27. And one of the great reasons for prophecy, and one of the great reasons for all of these climatic events that are going to come upon the earth, is for people to come to finally understand and know that God is who He says He is. So you look there in verse 27. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the eternal your God, and none else in my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass, now Peter quotes this on the day of Pentecost in his sermon as recorded in Acts 2, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. Now right now God is calling out in this present evil age people from all nations, kindreds and tongues, but He's calling them, and He calls them through the preaching of the Word, however it is done in person, whether it be electronic in print or mouth-to-mouth.

Of course, when the millennium begins, God is going to, I mean, it will be there, and if you mind to come, let Him come and drink the waters of life freely. It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my spirit. So Peter quotes this on the day of Pentecost. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth. I will show wonders. It's not the everyday reoccurring astronomical, climatic kind of conditions that bring about solar eclipses, eclipses of the moon, blood moons, that kind of thing. This is God supernaturally intervening. I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. Now, people who are ignorant of the Bible think of all the millions of people that are out there, and they see the things that are going on in this world, what's happening in the Middle East. And they may have some vague knowledge about the Bible, and Jesus Christ is going to come again. And the way that the Protestant churches close their sermons is, you know, Christ could come tonight. Are you ready? No, why not tonight? And then you have all of this material out there, books and articles, videos, CDs, sermons, talk shows, broadcasts, on and on it goes. And you're sort of ignorant of all of this, and it's pretty easy to fall prey to, oh well, let's pursue this. There may be something to this.

Verse 32, verse 31, The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord. When? Before. Before God really begins to intervene. See, Satan has his wrath for a period of time, and then we will experience, we, the peoples of the world, hopefully we won't.

They will experience the wrath of God and of the Lamb. We'll read it in a minute or two or more. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. That is where God is going to set up a headquarters, a spiritual headquarters, of the universe in the millennium. Shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. And he's calling some out today. That's why you're sitting here. That's why their car is passing up and down on the road out there. They have no clue as to what is going on. Now, let's look at Joel 3.12. In Joel 3.12, the basic theme of Joel, of course, is the day of the Lord, God's direct intervention. Let the heathen, let the nations be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about, put you in the sickle. For the harvest is right, come get you down, for the press is full, the bats overflow. For their wickedness is great, multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. For the day of the Lord is near, in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Now, during the day of the Lord, you notice that. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. It shall be sort of like twilight, dust, or dust dark. Now, look at Revelation 6. Now, when does this occur?

In Revelation 6, verse 12, we have the opening of the sixth seal. So, prior to the sixth seal, of course, you have the first five. The white horse, then depicting those who go out proclaiming that they are of God, and preparing, really, in their hearts, this war. You have the red horse, symbolizing war. The black horse, famine. And then the pale horse, disease. The fifth seal, the martyrs, crying out symbolically, how long, O Lord, how long? And now you have in verse 12 the opening of the sixth seal.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. There is a great earthquake, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell upon the earth. Now, some of the language is figuratively. All of the stars, as far as I believe astronomers know, those that are, quote, labeled stars, there are other lesser kind of bodies floating out there.

If they fell to the earth, they would destroy the earth. So the demonic spirits also are symbolized by good angels and bad angels are symbolized by stars. The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs, when she was shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll, when it was rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The governments of this world will be shaken up mightily. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, every bondman, every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains.

Back in Isaiah, it talks about them throwing their gold and silver away. And said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. It is the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, and who should be able to stand? Who that will be able to stand will be those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

So when will the moon be turned to blood? We've just read. It tells us clearly when the sixth seal is opened. God is in overall control of what happens from that point on. Yes, he still allows some latitude with Satan, the beast, and the false prophet, as they scheme and deceive the whole world in trying to defeat God. But God is in control. He is controlling the shots. God controls the seven trumpet plagues. God controls the seven vials of wrath. Look at Revelation 16. There are a few pages, and you'll see even during the time that the bowls or the vials of wrath are being poured out, that the seventh trump is divided into the seven vials of wrath.

And this is Revelation 16.12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water therein was dried up that the way of the kings of the earth might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, that old serpent, Satan the devil, the devil, the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles which go forth into the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle, the great day, the great battle, the great day of God Almighty.

And so they are still able to do quite a lot of things, even though God is in control and he is the one who directs the trumpet plagues, he is the one who directs the vials of wrath. Now remember the Matthew 24.24, if it were possible, the very elect would be deceived. So the deception of false prophets who prey on the gullibility of humans is, I don't know, I'm sure that many of these voices that are crying out, I'm sure they are sincere, in many cases telling it like it is with regard to the sins of this nation, as it plunges deeper and deeper into the abject immorality that might make the men of Sodom blush.

Who knows? Note the words of Jesus concerning the signs of the times in Luke's account of the Olivet prophecy. Luke 17 and verse 26. And it came to, and as it was in the days of Noah, pre-flood world, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man, when Christ comes again.

They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. But likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, see Lot was in Sodom and Gomorrah, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It wasn't a naturally occurring phenomenon. Even thou shalt it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Earlier this week, the Pope issued a statement in which, in effect, condoned abortion. In a letter published by the Vatican, the pontiff who has been striving to build a more inclusive church, that's what his news release said. He's trying to unite all religions of all the world, ecumenism. In this letter, he said, priests will have the power during a special holy year of mercy that begins in December. I have decided, this is a direct quote from that letter, from the Pope's letter. Quote, I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee year the discretion to absolve the sin of abortion, those who have procured it, and who with contrite heart, seek forgiveness for it, the Pope said. So, if you want to be forgiven of that sin, and abortion is in the Catholic doctrine tantamount to murder, it's one of the sins that they call one of the deadly sins. There's another word for it that escapes me at the moment. Now, of course, upon repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Christ, God can and will forgive sin. But no priest has that authority. I don't find that in the Bible. The Catholic hierarchy is concerned that this will be interpreted as go ahead and sin and ask for forgiveness later. Sort of like Hillary Clinton's staff. An article was in which they bragged about breaking the rules. Go ahead and do it. And then if they catch you, just tell them we're sorry.

More and more pressure will be put on the peoples of the world to tolerate evil. Woe unto those who call good evil and evil good. I suspect that the Pope's visit to the U.S. and his meeting with President Obama, his address to a joint session of Congress, his visit to New York and the U.N. will be an important benchmark in charting the course of religious and geopolitical events in the days that lie ahead. You have to be totally out of it, not to be able to discern that the wheels have come off the moral compass of the world.

The Pope is going to meet with President Obama in the White House. I think that's where they're meeting. There is a young Catholic gay man. His name is Aaron Ledesma. L-E-D-E-S-M-A. Aaron Ledesma, age 23. He writes a blog called The Gay Catholic. He is a graduate student at Marquette University. Marquette University is a Jesuit university in Michigan. He's the Communication Manager of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. He wrote a letter to the White House. He was going about his work a few days ago. He received a phone call. He said the number was blocked, thinking it was work-related. I answered the phone saying, this is Aaron. On the other end, a gentleman responded, saying it was from the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence. He told me they received my message, was moved by it. Then he says, words have brought tears to my eyes. We would like to invite you and one guest to join us for Pope Francis' visit to the White House. Of course, he has accepted that Francis I is a Jesuit. This man is a Jesuit. It is expected that by meeting this man there, and of course the President's view on same-sex marriage, that the Pope will in effect, through this meeting, sanction, or to some degree, maybe sort of the way he did the thing about abortion, that same-sex marriage is okay, too. He's already indicated to that effect. So he's going to meet with the President of the White House. He's going to address a joint session of Congress. He's going to New York City to address the UN. And of course, then the Secretary General of the UN, as I have in the news articles, Sen Ki-moon, is going to hold a big meeting of world leaders. And one of the big things, of course, they're going to talk about peace in the Middle East. The Pope is really going to push this agenda 21, and now it's 2030.

The Pope has already signed a treaty with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, recognizing them as a state, recognized by the Vatican. The UN will vote on the PLO's petition to become a member state of the UN during the September meetings. So there are many things on the horizon that we've touched on today, topics like artificial intelligence. Some of this we just sort of brushed by. Robots, holograms, transhumanism in man's quest to attain immortality and become invincible.

So what about us? Are we saying what people of the world are saying? Look at 2 Peter 3. Really, God goes by actions, not so much as what comes out of our mouth. In 2 Peter 3, this second epistle, Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and in the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they are willingly ignorant. Brethren, I am determined to try to help you not be willingly ignorant. Jesus said to the detractors of his day, You can discern the sky when it's a certain color, you can expect certain weather. But why is it that you cannot discern the sign of the times? These are unusual times, though we are so blessed. Our life is sort of normal today as we go about our business. We see the things tightening, tightening, tightening all around. Of course, there will be great supernatural acts that will be performed, as described in 2 Thessalonians 2 and also in Revelation in several different places. We want to look now at one final thing here. Revelation 13. Who is going to be deceived? This tells you right here. In Revelation 13, the first part of the chapter talks about this one called the beast, who is energized by Satan the devil. Revelation 13, I guess we can begin about verse 6. And he opened his mouth and blasphemed me against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. It was given unto him to make war with the saints, to overcome them, and power was given to him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, and it didn't say some few, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. So in verse 8 of Revelation 13, we come to the bottom line. If your name is not written in the Lamb's book of life, you will be deceived. That's what it says. So it's high time to wake out of slumber, put on the whole armor of God. It's time to make our calling and election sure. And we can ask ourselves, is my name written in the Lamb's book of life? And we can ask ourselves, do I have God's Spirit? You have to have God's Spirit to be there. And we can ask ourselves, am I making my calling and election sure?