The Lion Has Roared

Well, good afternoon, everyone. Great to be with you in the Sabbath. I love that song. That's my favorite song. It's an old World War I song. Actually, it was titled, Now Is The Hour. And my grandmother played the piano by ear. And that was one of the songs she would often play. It's one of my favorite songs, Now Is The Hour, which is just wonderful lyrics that we put to it to make it into part of our hymnal. It's a very, very moving song. I just love that song. And it brings back a lot of memories. I really appreciated it, Mr. Blackwell's sermonette. Mr. Blackwell didn't realize it, but his sermonette is a short version of my sermon almost. But I want to make a comment about that, too. And it was very interesting. You know, he ended on a very positive note. It's kind of... A lot of things are happening, which are very serious. And he touched on some of those things, but yet he ended on a very positive note. And I want to let all of you know here, especially children, even though this kind of a sermon that's going into what's... some of the things are going on in the world and where we are in the world and where the world is headed. Nevertheless, as you'll see at the end of the sermon, as at the end of his sermonette, there's a very positive ending because God is sovereign over all things. And God is going to work things out. He's not going to let the course the world is now on take his full course. He's going to intervene and change things. So I wanted to bring that out as well. But I also want to mention we had a good trip to Seattle. Actually, a long time... I came up in the church in Seattle. I was there for many years. I came in the church in 1964 out in Seattle as a young man. And I was there until 1989. So a long time in Seattle. I know a lot of the Seattle brethren very, very well. I came in the church with them. I grew up with them, a lot of them and so on. And one man who's been a really long time, very close friend. We came in the church together in the 1960s. And of course, I was back there for five years as well to renew a lot of those old acquaintances when I was there for the last five years from 2010 to 20 this past April. He recently died. He was 82, a very long, long time, very dear friend. And I was very surprised. But his daughter, who's also a member of the church and a lot of his family is in the church. And they wanted me to come back to do his memorial service because I knew that I was closer to him than anybody that's back there right now. And they actually paid our way for Evelyn and I both to go back, fly back there and to do his memorial service. The thing that's interesting is, I don't know if you know it or not, but Seattle has been in a drought condition during the summer months. They usually get quite a bit of rain. You think of Seattle, you think of rain. But in 2013, for the months of June, July, August, September, they got less than a quarter of an inch of rain. In 2014, they got less than an inch of rain during those same four months. This year, they've got almost no rain during those last four months. We're out there visiting my sister. All the lawns are dead. They're brown. They had no rain this summer.

We were kind of looking forward to that because we've had quite a bit of rain here.

The memorial service, they had a graveside memorial service scheduled for last Friday. And then they had a service, a memorial service in church after services for the Sabbath. So we'll go out there to the memorial service, and it's raining. And in fact, it was raining so hard they had to move the graveside. It was going to be a graveside, so they had to move it indoors to the funeral home. But we had to go out for the interment service afterwards, and it was just pouring down rain. And even though we had umbrellas, we all got soaked. And they're all blaming me. So you came from Michigan, you brought all this rain. No rain for months, and I show up and it just pours. So guess who's to blame for bringing the rain? Anyway, but we had a good trip, and it was nice to see some of the people there again after being gone for a few months. I want to talk about something that's drawn up on the lines that Mr. Black always talked about in the sermon. A lot of things going on in the world, and like I say, this is going to end on a positive note, even though a lot of things are going on that are rather scary. But not too long ago, Secretary of State John Kerry – we know he's the Secretary of State right now under Mr. Obama – he traveled to Vienna, Austria to participate in the European Union's coordinated negotiations with Iran. Of course, everybody is concerned right now. Where is Iran headed? How long will it be? Are they going to have nuclear capability or what? That's a big concern in the news if you watch the news at all. Some of you are wise and you don't watch the news. You just stay away from it because there's not much good news on there. But there's been a great deal of concern and controversy over the deal that was made that John Kerry made with Iran.

And of course, also they're not realizing – they didn't say it first and begin with – but there's been a lot of side deals made that are secret. They still don't know what's in some of those side deals. They know there's one side deal there about this one facility in Iran that they know they've had nuclear – you've been trying to develop nuclear capabilities there, you know, for some time. And one of the side deals is that that facility is going to be inspected total by Iranians. Iranians are going to be inspecting it and reporting back to us how things are going. Now, that's really smart, isn't it? You can trust the Iranians, right? And there's other deals that were, okay, well, if we're going to come and inspect one of your facilities, we're going to give you 25 days notice. Give you lots of time to clear anything out that might look bad. A lot of deals that have a lot of concern of a lot of people in our government. I want to start off with a brief quote from a July 29th – this is past July 29th article that appeared in the New York Post, written by Marisa Schultz. It was entitled, Jewish Democrats Give John Kerry a Near Full on the Deal with Iran. They don't like it.

This is real short here. It says, Jewish Democrats in the House gave Secretary of State John Kerry a Near Full Tuesday, about a week ago, pointingly questioning the nuclear deal with Iran. Representative Elliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Kerry that inspection and sunset provisions in the pact were, quote, troublesome, even to a Democrat who is basically trying to support our president.

I have a fundamental concern that Iran will essentially be off the hook. Engel said in a four-hour hearing that illustrated the bipartisan resistance to the international agreement that they've made with Iran. Another representative, a Republican from Ohio, asked Kerry bluntly, if this is such a great deal, why is Israel so opposed to it? Obviously, Israel does not think it's a very good deal, and Iran's right on their doorstep, as we know. And then it says, Congress has, on September 17th, to endorse or reject the pact, rejection would prevent President Obama from waiving most U.S.

imposed sanctions on Iran. But they also know it's going to be a very close vote as to whether it passes or not, but they do know one thing. President Obama has said, if it does pass to remove those sanctions, he's going to veto it. And there is not enough support from bipartisan support to override his veto. So this deal that they made with Iran is going to go through.

It's going to become law. And as Mr. Barack will say in his sermon, some of these things that become law are not in the best interests of our country, unfortunately. But we live in a very dangerous world, and it will become far more dangerous and more unstable if Iran and those people who run the country of Iran have nuclear capability and have nuclear weapons.

And the last sermon I gave, which was about five weeks ago now, was titled Frank Capra and the Loss of American Values. I quoted from 2 Chronicles 36 regarding what happened which led to the fall of ancient Judah. I want to start there today in my introduction here. Let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. There's just two verses here I want to read because this is very interesting. And by the way, it's interesting, in the inspired order of the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles is actually the last book of the Old Testament and links directly to the New Testament as well, by the way, very interestingly.

That's another story. But this is in the very last chapter, 2 Chronicles, which in the Old Ranger was the last chapter of the Bible in the Old Testament. 2 Chronicles 36 and verses 15 and 16. Verse 15 says, And the Lord God of their fathers, and this is, you know, talk about the fall of Judah.

This is just telling the fall of Judah was right, right? This was happening when the nation of Judah was about to go into captivity because of their obvious obedience to God. And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them, to Judah, by his messengers, rising up early and saying them, because he had compassion on his people, on his drawing place. God has a great deal of compassion. You know, let things go on for a long time because he has a lot of compassion and he hopes people will wake up and maybe see what's happening and maybe change and turn to God.

Well, what happened here to ancient Judah? Verse 16, But they mocked the messengers of God. They despised his words, scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people. And in the latter part of verse 16, until there was no remedy. It got to the point where it wouldn't matter who was in charge, who the king was, how much power he had.

It got to the point where it had gone so far the wrong way, there was no way to turn the situation around. And I have to ask, because I look at what's happening to our country, which just really makes me sad, because I was born in a time when it was much different back in the 1940s.

Are we now nearing that point today? Well, next year's presidential election have any impact on changing the course America is now on. Have we gone too far? Are we at or near the point where there's going to be no remedy, no turning around?

Well, any new elected president, regardless of who he or she might be, really be able to reverse the course that we are now on as a nation. And interesting, verse 15, said, God sent warnings to them.

So my question is, what about America today? Has America been warned? Has God sent warnings to America?

Now, a lot of you get the good news, most of you do. In the current July-August issue, the good news, and I was going to bring it with me, but I forgot it's home. But I had several warning articles, and I've got the titles written down here, but some of the articles were, The Worst World War Is Yet to Come. That's a scary article. America, drastic changes 70 years after the end of World War II.

Another article is entitled, What is the time of the end? What is it? How do you look? What is the time? Are we now living in what is Bible calls the time of the end? How can we know? That article goes into that. One was written by Melon Rose. I was really glad to see Melon Rose had an article in there again that's titled, This Was Their Finest Hour, referring to that World War II generation.

And then another article, Will America Parish in a New Nuclear Age? That's a very, very strong warning article. Of course, the answer is, I don't think they will, but we're going to read some of that today, because the Bible has something to say about that. But, of course, if you look at those articles in the Good News magazine that gave a very strong warning message to anybody who receives the Good News magazine, I have to ask, how many leaders and influential people around the world, or especially in the United States, how many of them read the Good News magazine? How many of them read those articles? See, that warning message, it's a strong warning message in that magazine, last issue, the Good News. But how many people, influential positions in our leadership, read that, read those articles. So, I have to ask, has another warning to America gone out to our current leaders from another source? That's what I want to take a look at today. As we are now entering very perilous times, has America been warned? And are our leaders heeding that warning? That's kind of what I want to talk about today, and I have a title for my sermon. The title, which we'll get to where I got my title from in a moment, my title is, A Lion Has Roared. A Lion Has Roared. I want to begin by going back to the time, just prior to the fall of Judah, that we looked at there in 2 Chronicles 36. I want to go back to the time of Josiah.

Josiah became king of Judah, right towards the end of the time of Judah, just before they fell, not too many years before that. And he was, we'll see, he was very, very young when he was thrust into that position. But Josiah's grandfather's name was Manasseh, and he became the king of Judah at the age of 12, and he reigned longer than any other king of Judah. He reigned 55 years. He was also one of the most evil of all the kings of Judah. He did terrible things, horrible things.

But in the end of his life, he did repent. You read all that in 2 Chronicles chapter 33, verses 1 to 20. You can read about Manasseh. Josiah's father was Ammon, who became the king of Judah at the age of 22. He also did evil, and he refused to humble himself like his father Manasseh had done at the end of his life, and refused to repent. And after ending for only two years, he was killed by his own servants. That's how bad he was. You can read about that in 2 Chronicles 33, verses 21 to 25. And with Ammon's death, his son Josiah became the king at the very tender age of eight. Can you imagine that? You're eight years old, and all of a sudden you find yourself the king of Judah at a critical time in its history. At a critical time! When is going? Everything's going downhill. It's going the wrong way. Going into adultery. They're all forsaking God. And now you're a young man, eight years old, and you've been blessed in the position of king. He must have had some very strong members of his family who took over to rear him. Let's take a look at Josiah. Let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 34.

Just back a little bit from what we just read. Let's begin in verse 1 of 2 Chronicles 34. So, Josiah was eight years old when he became king. Eight years old. And he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Eternal. Not like his father and grandfather. He did what was right. And he walked in the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, he would have been sixteen years old. Young teenager, sixteen years old in the eighth year of his reign. While he was still young, he was still just a teenager, he began to seek God. Wow, what an example. It shows that young people aged twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen with the right kind of supervision from their parents, they can begin to seek God. A lot of children here in this congregation are doing that.

He began to seek the God of his father David. And the twelfth year of his reign, when he was twenty years old, began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molten images. And they broke down the altars of the bales and his presence, and the incense altars were cut down. The wooden images and the carved images and the molded images. He broke them in pieces and made dust of them, and scattered on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests on the altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. He became extremely fervent for following God and trying to get the nation going in another direction. And it goes on from there. But as we read there, finally after him, after he died, things went the other way, and until there was no remedies we read. But the eighteenth year of his reign, he also did some other things that were talked about here I'll just summarize. In the eighteenth year of his reign, he repaired and restored the temple. We read that in verses eight through thirteen of 2 Chronicles 34. But now let's drop down to the last verse in 2 Chronicles 34, verse 33. Thus, Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. In all his days they did not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers while he was king. Then he restored all these things. He restored the observance of the Passover and days of unleavened bread after that, Chapter 35. He restored the Passover unleavened bread.

The right kind of leadership can make a big difference in the direction a nation will go, at least for a time. But then towards the end of his life, Josiah unwisely and unnecessarily went to battle against Nech, all the king of Egypt, and he was killed in battle. And the following kings of Judah, the few that remained after him, became subjects to Egypt and Babylon. And they did evil until, as we already read, there was no remedy, even though God sent warnings to them by his messengers. So that's what happened back in the time of Josiah. Now, what about our time today? And I have to read this, I think of this, and I think the direction our nation has gone since I was born, since that World War II generation, that greatest generation that Tom Brokaw wrote about, where we are today. And I have to say, what about our time today? Are we getting to the point or approaching the point where there may not be a remedy? Or are we going too far the other direction to where no one's going to be able to turn it around? I mean, you've got the Supreme Court, as Mr. Blackwell is saying, making rulings that blow your mind. In some cases, totally contrary to God. And what about warning? Has America been warned? Now, the good news has some really good warning messages, but as I said, how many are reading that? Have they been warned from another source? Let's go to the book of Amos. Let's go to Amos chapter 3. Amos chapter 3, and let's begin in verse 1 of Amos. It's the minor prophets. It was Daniel, and then after Daniel you have the minor prophets, and you have Hosea, Joel, and Amos. The third book of the minor prophets after Daniel. Daniel 3 verse 1 says, Hear this word that the eternal has spoken against you, O children of Israel. This is to Israel. And we're modern Israel today. Prophetic Israel, I should say. Hear the word the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth. God has special love and special interest in the descents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the people of Israel, as he does all of us, as the latter-day people of Israel, if you will, is a nation, prophetically speaking.

God gave special blessings and He has worked in a special way with those people.

He's known them in a special way, and they have known God in a special way and had that opportunity to know God in a special way. You only have I known of all the families of the earth in the way that I have, you know, in a special way, in a special relationship that those people have had, opportunities they've had to have a relationship with God. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. So God has had a special relationship with the descents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God then asks here a number of questions, all of which have the same obvious answer, beginning in verse 3. Can two walk together unless they are agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has caught nothing? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up from the earth if it has caught nothing at all? Of course, the obvious answer to all five of those questions is no.

Then we come to verse 6, the first part of verse 6. If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? Of course, in the Old Testament they had walled cities, and they had watched men up on the tower of that wall, watching out to see if an army was approaching. And if they saw an army approaching, it was might come to try to destroy their city or breach the wall, and they're going to have to all of a sudden they were sent out a warning message. They'd blow the trumpet. Sent out a warning so all the people within the wall city could then mount up to their places on the wall to try to fend off the enemy. So the answer would be, to verse 6, if a trumpet is blown in the city, will not the people be afraid? The answer would normally be yes, they would be. They'd be afraid, because they know an enemy is approaching that wants to destroy them and wipe them out.

And if calamity then were resolved, if they didn't take that warning, who would have allowed it to happen? If a trumpet is blown in the city, will not be afraid? And if they're in a calamity in the city, because the people didn't heed the warning, will not the Lord have done it? Will not God have allowed it to happen, because they wouldn't heed the warning? So he just lets things take their course.

But will God always give a warning first? Verse 7, Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he first reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. You know, in times past God has spoken by and through various individuals to give prophetic warnings. In fact, you can read that in Hebrews 1.1. It says that very thing in Hebrews 1.1. Could God still do that today? Especially since many have set aside, rejected God's word and the warnings of Jesus Christ. Could God still use various individuals to give a warning message today? I'm sure he could. Has God done that?

Has America been warned? They better change course. They have an enemy who wants to destroy them. They better be alert. Have they been warned? Verse 8 of Amos 3, from which I got my title for this sermon, says, A lion has roared. Hence my title.

A lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?

Has God spoken to America today through a lion? If so, who might that lion have been?

Let me ask another question. What tribe of Israel is symbolized by a lion? Let's go back to Genesis 49.

Genesis 49 is right at the very end of Jacob's life. Jacob had 12 sons. His name was changed to Israel. And here he is right at the very end of his life. His eyes are getting dim. And he gathers all of his sons together to give him a special blessing.

Verse 1 of Genesis 49, and Jacob called his sons and said, Gather together that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last day. So this is not just a blessing, a normal blessing of his children. God is moving Jacob here to give a prophetic message as well.

He places his hand on each of his sons and says, I want to tell you what's going to befall your descendants, what's going to happen to them in the very last days, the days leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. What was prophesied regarding the tribe of Judah? And to what animal was Judah likened? Verse 8 of Genesis 49, Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise.

Why would Judah's brothers praise Judah? What qualities did Judah have that are praiseworthy?

Next stanza, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.

Judah is not afraid to defend himself. If he's attacked, he's going to defend himself with courage and valor, with all his might. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children shall bow down before you. Why? Because they're not afraid to defend themselves. They had tremendous courage. That was prophesied of Judah and descendants of Judah.

Judah will be worthy of praise because they can stand alone if necessary to defend themselves, and they will, regardless of what the odds are against them. If attacked, their hand shall be on the neck of their enemies. They're going to attack back. You better know it. And with ferocity, like a lion. And their enemies know that. As Judah says in verse 9, Judah is like a lion's whelp, like a young lion. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down. He lies down as a lion. Judah is like him to a lion. And boy, you go and rouse a lion. A lion's going to attack back. They're going to defend themselves. They're going to... the ferocity, they're going to attack you.

And as a lion, who's going to rouse Judah? Who's going to attack Judah? Because they know he's going to be like a lion. He's going to attack back. He's not going to take it sitting down.

So Judah here is like him to a lion, to a young lion who will strike back with ferocity if attacked. And since his enemies know that, and can expect that, who shall arouse him? Not wise to arouse Judah.

Only an enemy filled with insane hatred toward Judah would arouse Judah and attack him.

So what tribe of Israel symbolized by a lion? The tribe of Judah is symbolized by a lion. Now, what nation today is the tribe of Judah? The nation of Israel. Which is surrounded by enemies. You know, they're surrounded by enemies who want to destroy them, but they know if they try to attack Israel and destroy it, Israel is going to attack back. They are going to defend themselves, even if they have to stand alone.

They're not afraid.

Now, let me ask this question.

Has a lion of Judah, has a leader of the nation of Israel roared?

Has the leader of Israel roared a warning message to the United States of America that's going unheeded? Back on March 3rd, this year, not that long ago, Benjamin Netanyahu spoke a warning message to the United States Congress. I think it was the third time he'd appeared to the United States Congress since he's been president. Only one of the men in the history of the world has spoken to the United States Congress three times, and that was Winston Churchill. But on March 3rd, he was called by, and President Obama didn't even attend. He didn't want to hear it. He was invited by Boehner, who's the head of the House of Representatives. He invited him over here, and he had the power to do that. And so Netanyahu did. He came here and spoke to the United States Congress on March 3rd of this year. I want to read a portion of what he said.

You can go online and get the complete transcript and read it for yourselves. Just Google that.

I'm going to read a portion of it here. He says, My friends, I've come here today. He said this is March 3rd before the U.S. Congress. There's part of that new who's warning message. I've come here today because as prime minister of Israel, I feel a profound obligation to speak to you about an issue that could well threaten the survival of my country and the future of my people. And that's Iran's quest for nuclear weapons.

We're an ancient people, he said. In our nearly 4,000 years of history, many have tried to repeatedly destroy the Jewish people. Tomorrow night, it would have been on March 4th, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we'll read the book of Esther. Here's a leader who actually goes to the Bible and brings out lessons from the Bible. How many of our leaders would do that today here? Tomorrow night on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we'll read the book of Esther. We'll read of a powerful Persian viceroy named Haman, who plotted to destroy the Jewish people some 2,500 years ago. But a courageous Jewish woman, Queen Esther, exposed the plot and gave for the Jewish people the right to defend themselves against their enemies. And we know what happened in the book of Esther. The plot was foiled. Our people were saved. Today, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, spews the oldest hatred, oldest hatred of anti-Semitism with the newest technology. He tweets that Israel must be annihilated. He tweets in English that Israel must be destroyed. But Iran's regime is not merely a Jewish problem. Any more than the Nazi regime was merely a Jewish problem. The 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis were but a fraction of the 60 million people killed in World War II.

So too, Iran's regime poses a grave threat, not only to Israel, but also to the peace of the entire world. Don't be fooled. The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn't turn Iran into a friend of America.

Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam. Both want to impose a militant Islamic empire, first on the region and then on the entire world. They just disagree among themselves who will be the ruler of that empire. In this deadly game of thrones, there's no place for America or for Israel in their eyes. And there's no place for Christians or for Jews or for Muslims who don't share the Islamic medieval creed. And there's no rights for women, no freedom for everyone, and for, excuse me, no freedom for anyone. The difference is, he said, just not in your whole speech, to America, to leadership, the difference is that ISIS is armed with butcher knives, captured weapons in YouTube, whereas Iran could soon be armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs. And they want to destroy America. The greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons will be to win the battle but lose the war. He said, we can't let that happen. Then he said, but my friends, that is exactly what could happen if the deal not being negotiated is accepted by Iran, this deal that Kerry made. And we have the United States. That deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, it would all be guaranteed that Iran gets those weapons, lots of them. Of course, that deal has now been negotiated and approved, and we still don't know everything that's in there. He said, any deal with Iran will include two major concessions to Iran. The first major concession would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure, providing with a short breakout time to the bomb, and the breakout time is the time it takes to amass enough weapons-grade uranium or plutonium for a nuclear bomb. According to the deal, not a single nuclear facility would be demolished. Thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium will be left spinning. Thousands more would be temporarily disconnected but not destroyed. And because Iran's nuclear program will be left largely intact, Iran's breakout time will be very short. The second major concession would be left to Iran. The second major concession creates an even greater danger.

Virtually all the restrictions in Iran's nuclear program will automatically expire in about a decade. A decade may seem a long time in political life, but it's a blink of an eye in the life of a nation. It's a blink of an eye in the life of our children. What will happen when Iran's nuclear capabilities are virtually unrestricted and all the sanctions will have been lifted? Iran would be free to build a huge nuclear capacity. And by the way, Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile program was not a part of the deal, and it wasn't. And so far, Iran refuses to even put it on the negotiating table, and they didn't. Iran could have the means to deliver those nuclear arsenals to far-reaching corners of the Earth, including to every part of the United States.

So you see, my friends, this deal has two major concessions. One, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program, and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. That's why this deal is so bad. It doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb. It paves Iran's path to the bomb. Many neighbors say they'll respond by erasing to get nuclear weapons of their own. Though this deal won't change Iran for the better, it will only change the Middle East for the worst. A deal is supposed to prevent nuclear proliferation, which instead spark a nuclear arms race in the most dangerous part of the planet. This deal won't be a farewell to arms. It will be a farewell to arms control.

And the Middle East would soon be crisscrossed by nuclear tripwires. A region where small skirmishes can trigger big wars would turn a nuclear into a nuclear tinderbox. History, he said, has placed us at a critical, fateful crossroads. We must now choose between two paths. One path will lead to a nuclear armed Iran whose unbridled aggression will never lead to war. The second path will lead to a much better deal that will prevent a nuclear armed Iran and a nuclearized Middle East, prevented a nuclearized Middle East and horrific consequences of both to all humanity. But of course, that's not the deal that was accepted. And then he makes an interesting statement. I had to look up and do a little bit of research to understand what he said. He said, you don't have to read Robert Frost to know. Now what do you mean by that? Now he's talking about these two roads. He said, you don't have to read Robert Frost to know. Robert Frost was an American poet. He was born in 1874. He died in 1963. In 1916, just before America got into World War II, or excuse me, before America got into World War I, Robert Frost wrote a poem entitled, The Road Not Taken. You can google that and look it up. It's a short poem. You can read it. Road Not Taken. And that is the poem Netanyahu was referring to when he said, you don't have to read Robert Frost to know. In that poem, a man has to choose between two paths. One path is fairly clearly marked, and the other is well marked and is more uncertain. The man in the poem chooses the clearer path, but when he gets to the end of that path, he gets down to the end of the road, he wonders, he thinks, I wonder where I would end up if I had gone down the road not taken, the road that I didn't take. What would happen if I had gone down the road not taken? What Netanyahu was saying in his speech is that a nuclear-armed Iran should be the road not taken.

And we shouldn't have to read Robert Frost's poem to know that.

I'll continue Netanyahu's address to Congress. I just want to read a little few more sentences here. He said, with us today is Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize winner Eli Weisel. Eli, your life and work inspires to give meaning to the words never again. And I wish I could promise you, Eli, that the lessons of history have been learned. I can urge the leaders of the world not to repeat the mistakes of the past, but I can guarantee you this, Netanyahu said, talking to Eli Weisel. I can guarantee you this. The days of the Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies. Those days are over. We are no longer scattered among the nations. We are no longer powerless to defend ourselves. We restored our sovereignty in our ancient home. And the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. For the first time in 100 generations, we, the Jewish people, can defend ourselves. Eli That is why, as Prime Minister of Israel, I can promise you one more thing. Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. We will defend ourselves.

Then he again refers to the Bible.

Face me right up there in the gallery. Of course, they're all sitting in the Congress, and this is right above them where they all see it. You know what's there? That you're Moses. Then, you know, who refers to it?

Face me right up here in the gallery overlooking all of us in this chamber is the image of Moses.

Moses led our people from slavery to the gates of the Promised Land.

And before the people of Israel entered the land of Israel, Moses gave us a message that has sealed our resolve for thousands of years. I'll leave you with this message today. Be strong and resolute. Neither fear nor dread them.

That was Benjamin Yahu's warning message to the leaders of this nation that he gave on March 3rd.

Now, I'll bring up my date a little bit. This past August 4th, coming up to the month right now, Netanyahu made another unprecedented move. He appealed to American Jews to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran. And I just got to just very briefly here. Netanyahu calls American Jews to oppose nuclear deal with Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made no secret of his opposition to President Barack Obama's deal with Iran to forestall its nuclear program. Even taking the unprecedented step of his speech before a joint session of Congress back on March 3rd. But on Tuesday, August 4th, he took another step with a direct appeal to American Jews, asking him to oppose the deal in an unprecedented conference call and webcast heard by more than 10,000 people. He said, this is a very dangerous deal and it threatens all of us. My solemn responsibility as Prime Minister is to make sure Israel's concerns are heard. The warning goes out.

Netanyahu's warning message has both now been heard by the leaders of the United States of America and by American Jews. And the current leader of Israel, of Judah, if you will, he has roared a warning message. So we could say a lion has roared and America has been warned.

Let's switch gears a little bit. What about the lion of Judah? What about Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ called the lion of Judah? Let's go to Revelation 5.

We're just going to read one verse here. Revelation 5. Verse 5.

One of the elders said to me, Do not we behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. He has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose the seven seals. Obviously referring to Jesus Christ. So here Jesus Christ is called the lion of Judah. What has Christ, the lion of Judah, prophesied or warned of? Let's go to Luke chapter 21.

Luke chapter 21 verse 5. Then as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, he said, These things which you see, the days will come in which not one stone shall be left to bought another that shall not be thrown down. So they asked him saying, verse 7, teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to take place? You think there's a number of signs? Let's drop down to verse 19. He said, By your patience possess your souls. Verse 20. Then he said, But when you see Jerusalem, he said, the whole world's attention is going to be on the Middle East and on Jerusalem, and it certainly is right now. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, when all this enemy is surrounded by armies, then no, its desolation is near. You know, suddenly the eyes of the world are going to be focused on Jerusalem and on events of the Middle East, even as they are to some degree, even now, but they're going to be more so in the future.

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. And then, said verse 21, Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart and let not those who are in the country enter her. Verse 22, For these are the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant, and so on. For there be great distress in the land, and wrath upon these people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword. Verse 24, And let away captive, and Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles, until the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Now, that's kind of a scary verse.

When you think about it, I'm just going to give you really my own interpretation of times of Gentiles. What are the times of Gentiles? Well, to me, I look at that, and I think that's going to be a time when the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob no longer have real control over the unfolding of world events. You know, the United States, God has blessed us, and brought us up and made us a wonderful nation. Great Britain, United States, had been at the forefront of the last 200 years of influencing the world, and has been a positive influence in many ways. I know some things have happened, not so pleasant, but it's been a positive influence for stabilizing the world. What happens when all of a sudden the United States, the people of the terms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, no longer have any influence on the world and world events, when it's all the other nations that are not descended from Israel, when they have control, when the times of the Gentiles are there, when no longer the United States and Great Britain have any real influence over control of events? It can become a scary world.

I think the time of the Gentiles is the time when the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob no longer have really control over the unfolding of world events, as they've half had for the last 200 years. The powers that be will all be in the hands of the Gentiles and Gentile nations. Maybe that I don't see things from God's point of view or God's perspective. I'm not trying to be racial here and put down any race. America is made of a lot of different people, mall races and all ethnic groups, but they have the American perspective that God has given our nation, and there are people in other parts of the world that are part of that as well. But there are other nations that have leaderships that do not see things from God's perspective or the perspective of God's Word. When they have control of the world, those people, what will that lead to? Let's go to Matthew 24, which is Luke 21. Matthew 24 verse 21, Then there will be great tribulations, which has not been since the beginning of the world, until this time, nor ever shall be, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect, this is really amazing verse, it shows how valuable your calling is that God has given to you and me. For the elect's sake, for those people who have sacrificed their lives to devote to God, regardless of who they are, because God's Church is a spiritual church made up of all people, for the next sake, those days are going to be shortened. God's not going to let events just play out to where they have their ultimate conclusion of destruction that some evil people would like to bring about. For your sake and my sake, and for those who are following God now and devoting their life and sacrifice enough to God, for God's sake, those days that are ahead of us are going to be shortened, so this isn't going to happen the way they would have unfolded otherwise.

You know, the world just acknowledged, as you saw on the news, the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which occurred on August 6 and August 9 in 1945, those dates issued in the atomic age we now live in, when for the first time in history all flesh on earth could potentially at least be destroyed, which Matthew 22 indicates. Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. Mankind could have the potential to wipe off all life from the face of the earth, and it's only been in the age we live in now where that has been possible. But for the next sake, God is going to shorten those days. So never forget how important your life is, not only to God and to your family, but to the entire world. God is going to intervene for the entire world for the elect's sake, and you and I are part of the elect, and for the elect's sake, those days are going to be shortened.

Once mankind gets to the place where all life on earth could be destroyed, how much more time will pass before all things are fulfilled? Matthew 24 verse 34.

Assured I say to you, this generation that lives at that time, this generation by no means pass away till all these things take place.

So the question then becomes, how long does it take for an entire generation to pass away?

The World War I generation, those who were alive at the time of World War I took place, back in 1914 and 1919, that entire generation has almost passed away. Very few are still living from that generation. There are some. The ones that were born during that time, they're still alive today. They're 100 years old. Very few left. It's all but passed away. As Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged toward the end of his March 3rd address to Congress, Holocaust survivor Eli Weisel is one of the few living veterans of World War II. There aren't too many veterans of World War II still alive. They're all of the upper 80s or 90s.

And the generation that was living at the time of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that has not yet passed away, but it won't be too much longer when they will have all passed away. Probably another 30 years. There won't be anybody still alive who was alive back in 1945.

Complete generation lasts about 100 years, and within 30 years or more, the entire World War II generation will have passed away. And it says, I say to you, this generation by no means pass away till all these things take place. So that is what the Lion of Judah has warned, what he has roared. Let's look at a few other scriptures just prophetically speaking that people look to for salvation for the troubled world we're living in that might solve these problems. What about the United Nations? The United Nations was formed after World War II so that there would never happen again. There would never be another World War like World War II. They were going to be formed till they could have peace and secure peace among the nations. They formed in what, 1948, 1949, something like that, or 1947. Have the United Nations prevented wars? Have they brought peace? How many wars have been fought since the United Nations was formed? How much time has the world been at peace since then? What does prophecy say? Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 23 says, truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Hills and mountains in the Bible prophetically symbolize small nations and larger nations. Hills depict smaller nations. Mountains are larger nations. The United Nations is in vain and salvation is going to be hoped for from the United Nations. We can already see that from the past 60 years of history of the United Nations. It's vain to look for them to bring world peace.

Where is world peace going to come from? Where is salvation going to come from? The latter part of verse 23, truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. I will say not only for Israel but for the entire world. Mankind's only hope is with the elect of God and with the coming of Jesus Christ, looking to God for salvation, just intervene these problems and solve them.

What about, because you can see this taking place right now before our very eyes to a degree, at least trying to do this, what about making our enemies like I ran into our allies? What if we make our end into an ally? We do good things for them. We treat them nice. We treat them with respect. We trust them. Let's just trust them enough. If we trust them, then they'll respond in a positive way towards us. Can we make lovers out of our enemies? What if they pretend to be our lovers for a while in order to make political and financial gain? See, would that work? Right here in Jeremiah 4, notice what it says in verse 30. Jeremiah 4 verse 30, and when you are appointed, what will you do? Though you close yourself with prims, know you really make yourself look good to your enemies. Doll yourself up. Try to do them favors and make it look really nice and try to help them out. Though you adorn yourself with a remiss of gold, though you help them financially, you remove any impositions you might have on their financial dealings. You relieve them of restrictions financially. You're doing them good so that they're going to do good to you and back, right? Though you enlarge your eyes with pain, though you make yourself really look nice to your enemies, look like you're good, you're going to help them out. In vain, you will make yourself fair, for your lovers will despise you and they will continue to seek your life. You can't make a friend out of an enemy like I ran. They're still going to want to destroy you. It doesn't matter what you do, how nice you are to them. Now how many favors you grant them? How many restrictions you lift?

That's all going to be in vain. Notice Jeremiah 6 verse 10.

Doob shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? It says, indeed, their ear is uncircumcised, that they cannot give heed.

Why? Because the Word of the Eternal, God's Word, the Bible, is their approach to them. They have no delight in it. That's our cake, as it can do with our time today.

They don't want to hear what God's Word has to say. It has nothing to do with us today, they say.

And that is precisely what we are today in the United States of America. No one wants to hear what God's Word has to say, or very few do. And they have no delight in it.

The other thing that is scary is that, you know, a lot of you know history. You know, the United States of America, prior to World War I and prior to World War II, what did the United States try to do? What did they do? They became isolationists. They tried to pull back, pull away, to kind of let events go unfold. While they're forced to have to go into World War I, and we're forced because of Pearl Harbor to have to go into World War II. But up to that point, we were isolationists. And you know, here, you see that again today? The United States has no boots on the ground. We don't be involved. And I can understand that. I understand why people don't want to be involved in war and go to war. It's horrible. Anybody who's been in war, and I haven't been, but anybody who's been in it, you don't want to go to war. You don't want to be in it. It's terrible. But as a nation, sometimes you have to defend yourself. You have to be willing to do that. There often be something to make that sacrifice. But today, we have a kind of an isolationist policy. We want to worry about the Middle East. We'll try to be influenced a little bit. We're going to stay away. We're going to not get involved if we don't have to. We're again having kind of an isolationist policy. It didn't work in World War I, didn't work in World War II. It won't work now.

Tom Brokaw's greatest generation of World War II is all but gone. You don't have people who want to get involved like that anymore.

But could all that lead to the fulfillment of this prophecy, or will it be something far more devastating that might happen? Like, I don't know. I think God is going to stop things from going as far as mankind would go otherwise if God didn't intervene. But I mean, there are people that talk about EMPs, electronic magnetic pulse, by having nuclear bomb explode over the United States and shut us down electronically, or a large portion of the United States electronically. I don't know, that would really put us down. I don't know. I don't know if anybody would pull that off or not, but people talk about it. It's a dangerous world.

Anyway, God's word says it's going to come to this, but God is going to not allow it to go all the way. Let's look at a couple prophecies in Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 7. It shows you God's word is up to date as far as the times are living, even though it's kind of scary what you read here. Ezekiel 7 shows this word is written by God. It was written by men.

Ezekiel 7 verse 14 said, they have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready. If it comes of time, maybe all of a sudden you wake up and say, wait a minute, we better be on guard. The enemy is coming.

They've blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, but no one goes to battle. I don't know how that's going to play out. I don't know exactly what that means or how it's going to be fulfilled, but no one's going to go to battle. Why aren't there going to be? I don't know. I don't know.

What about our economy? The United States has been greatly blessed by God. We have the strongest economy in the world, still do. The largest middle class in the world, the world has ever known. The most prosperity of any nation on the earth has ever had as a people, as a nation. What about our economy? Would that save us? Verse 19 of Ezekiel 7, they will throw their silver into the streets and their gold will be like refuse. Their silver and their gold, their economy, their wealth, anything they use for money and their financial position, it says, will not be able to deliver them. So God says in the day of the wrath of the Eternal, they will not satisfy their souls nor fill their stomachs because they became yet their gold, their silver, their economy, their financial system, it became their stumbling block of iniquity. See, wealth can be a stumbling block in at least two or three ways. It can be a stumbling block if it's acquired at the expense of others. It can be a stumbling block if it's looked to for security. That's where your security is in your finances and your financial position because it can all go downhill very fast and go the other way. Our stock market's lost a thousand points just in the last couple of weeks. Or especially if it's acquired illegally through iniquity as implied here. Let me ask one final question before closing. Is the Bible archaic? Some people think it's archaic. It's out of date. It's not in touch with the society, the world we live in today.

Does the Word of God have any to say in regards to the atomic age we now live in? Does God in any way describe the missile silos or the atom bomb or anything like that? Is the Bible archaic or is it very precisely and accurately described the times we live in today? Let's go to a couple other scriptures here before we close. Let's go to Jeremiah 5.

When I first called, I remember reading this verse here we're going to look at in a minute, and then I thought, wow! I analyzed that and thought about it. That could only mean one thing. Jeremiah 5 verse 15.

Oops, I'm in the wrong chapter. Jeremiah 5 verse 15. Behold, I bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel. It's a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. In the past, we've always looked at that as probably being Germany or Syria, which is Germany today, and probably will be. There's a lot of reasons for that. I'm reading a book now called The Great German Nation, which is a fascinating book that links Syria with Germany and shows that what happened in Germany prior to World War II with Hitler, that it just takes a change of circumstances. There's a certain segment of the German people, not all of them, but a certain segment could go right back to that mentality of World War II and Adolf Hitler if the circumstances were right and if they were in power. It could happen again. Very interesting book. Documents that kind of history.

But you think, also, I think of Iran. They hate us. They want to destroy us, too. But I don't think I was going to let them be used that way. I don't think that's going to happen. But interesting verse 16. It talks about a nation that wants to destroy America, whose language is strange. It's a foreign nation. And it says in verse 16, their quiver is like an open tomb in the New King James and they are all mighty men. Or as the old King James has it, their quiver is like an open sepulchre.

Now, what does that mean? What is a quiver? Well, you know, a quiver is what men used to go hunting. They held their arrows. They'd have them go hunting with a bow and arrow and they'd keep their arrows in their quiver. And then they'd pull an arrow out and they'd shoot at an enemy if they were going to war against an enemy or if they were going to go hunting, they'd shoot the animal. Quiver was what held their arrows. And it says their quiver is like an open sepulchre. What holds their arrows is like an open grave. A sepulchre is a grave. An open grave, an open hole in the wall.

Of course, arrows can be descriptive of missiles. And a sepulchre is a grave. And an open sepulchre is an open grave or an open hole in the ground. And a modern-day hole in the ground which holds arrows or missiles is a silo. I mean, I look at this and I thought, the one thing that we have today that we can equate to this is a silo with missiles. And there are silos with missiles from the United States and other countries as well. So Jeremiah 516 can readily be seen as describing a modern-day missile silo. And ICBMs are definitely like an army of mighty men. One atomic weapon at the end of a missile can destroy what an army of mighty men could destroy in the past. And they can do it in a split second. Interesting also, we live in an atomic age. Does the Bible have anything to say about that? Let's go to Isaiah 25.

One last section of scripture here. One is Isaiah 25. It says, O Lord, you are my God, verse 1, I will exalt you. I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things. Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. You have made a city a ruin, a fortified city a ruin, a place of foreigners to be a city no more. It will never be rebuilt. Therefore, the strong people will glorify you. The city of the terrible nations will fear you. And then it says, you have been a strength to the poor. There's a positive message in here. It's very scary in one way, but it's also a very positive message that it leaves us with. You have been a strength to the poor. You've been a strength to the needy in his distress. God looks on the poor and needy. Those who are powerless, He's going to intervene and save them. You've been a refuge from the storms. There's a lot of storms raging around the world that are, a lot of lives are being lost, but He says, God is a refuge from that if we look to Him and believe in Him and have faith in Him. A shade from the heat for the blast of the terrible ones, as they storm against the wall. You know, I think of that. I think of that storm, heat, blast. That kind of atomic explosion is kind of like that, isn't it? Tremendous heat.

Tremendous blast.

When the atom bomb was first detonated, of course, this is the seventh anniversary, so they had specials on it, but when the atom bomb was first detonated on July 16, 1945, that one was first tested just a few weeks before they dropped it on on Naga, on Hiroshima, which is on August 6th, but on July 16, 1945, in Alma Mlegardo, New Mexico, at the White Sands Proving Grounds, they were out there 5 30 in the morning when they were going to explode the first atomic bomb. No one knew what to expect. Never been done, never seen it, never been tested. It's called the Manhattan Project. They'd been working on it in top secret for about three years. Very top secret. Top secret scientists. And when the first atom bomb was detonated at 5 30 a.m. on the morning of July 16, 1945, those who witnessed it were shocked. They were shocked by the power they saw.

It was far greater than they could have possibly have imagined.

They suddenly realized the entire world now faced a new reality.

The blast created a literal storm, reduced more heat than ever could have been imagined. It vaporized everything within about a half a mile of where it landed. Just vaporized it. It was definitely like the blast of the terrible ones. The blast that never before imagined. All of a sudden, these men that created this thing, they were worried. This has changed the world.

But this verse here describes aspects of atomic explosion. You can vaporize the human being, but leave their shadow on the wall. They showed this in the documentary. Human being can be vaporized, but the shadow that they had still remains in the wall. That's what kind of a blast it is.

That's what happened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It's horrible. Hopefully they never ever do that again.

But now some aliens, some foreign nations like Iran, are making noise about trying to obtain nuclear power. And we know if they contain that, they could turn into nuclear weapons. And some are trying to reduce that noise and that capability. But notice what verse 5 describes. You will reduce the noise of these aliens who are trying to produce these things. And then it describes... when you read the latter part of verse 5, you think about what atomic bomb explosion is like. It's kind of describing it. Heat in a dry place. Tremendous heat. Unimaginable heat. As heat in the shadow of a cloud... and of course we know atomic bomb explosion creates a mushroom cloud. Tremendous heat in a mushroom cloud. As heat in the shadow of a cloud and the song of the terrible ones will be diminished. It's going to be diminished because it's not going to carry out to the full.

Their song, their plans are going to be diminished. But is the Bible okay? It doesn't describe modern day technology? Yes, it does. It's not our cake. It describes these things. It describes these things over 2500 years in advance.

But also on a positive note, a very positive note, I want to end on as Mr. Blackwell did in his sermon yet. This... because it's interesting. It gives you this information here, which is really talking about the times we're living in, but then it leaves you in a very positive note because God is sovereign over all things. It describes what lies ahead just around the corner. It's going to take place in the very near future. Verse 6, in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people. Here's how God's going to turn it all around. He's going to make a feast of choiced pieces, a feast of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the leaves. He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people. This covering that we worry about, what is all the things in the world that could go wrong, what could happen, and how the white life could be wiped out and destroyed. He's going to remove that covering. He's going to make things bright. He's going to clear the cloud that's hanging over the world of uncertainty. He's going to remove the suffering of the... surface of the covering cast over all people and the veil that's spread over all nations. And then what else are they going to do? Verse 8. He will swallow up death forever. He's going to put a stop to it. There's going to be no more death and destruction like we see in the world today. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. And then he's going to wipe away the rebuke of his people. He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. And verse 9. And we said in that day when God puts a stop to all this, which he will, he's not going to let it just unfold like man has plans. And we said in that day, behold, this is our God. He's the one who saved us. And we have waited for him. And he will save us if we wait for him. Because this is the eternal. We have waited for him and we'll be glad and rejoiced in his salvation. He's going to bring for the entire world. He's not going to let you can look at the news, bad news, whatever it is, whatever happens, whether new Iran gets nuclear weapons or not, whether Germany does do its thing, doesn't matter. God isn't going to let it go the way man wants to take. Some men want to take it. He's going to intervene. He's going to bring salvation for his people and for the entire world. And that's how it's all going to end. With God bringing salvation for all who wait for him and eventually for the entire world. But in conclusion, then, are we now approaching the time when there will be no remedy as far as mankind is concerned? End time events are now seemingly heading toward their ultimate conclusion to where all life could be destroyed if God didn't intervene. We're at that point in history, at least. But as Christ said in Matthew 24, for the elect's sake, those days are going to be shortened because all those that God has worked with now are extremely important to God and all the people of the world are important to God. God loves the entire world.

So it may not be long now before God directly intervenes the affairs of mankind because he's going to have to before too much longer. But as I said, as you read there, in Amos, truly the Lord God does nothing unless he first gives a warning. In Christ, the Lion of Judah has warned us from his word, as we read. And Benjamin Netanyahu, a Lion of Judah, has also wrote a warning message to our leaders just recently on March 3rd and again on August 4th. We are living in monumental times and a Lion has roared.