Mark of Beast Rising

Now we'll have the main message by our pastor, Mr. Jim Tuck.

Happy Sabbath, everybody! Good to see all of you. Yes, we did make that grueling trip to Hawaii.

And I want to say aloha to our brethren over there. I told them I would do that. So we enjoyed, immensely, our trip over there. Everything was really wonderful. We were able to see everyone.

And they really do appreciate someone coming to visit them over there. Some of you have made a trip over there, and they wanted me to remember them to you. So, hi from them. We had a wonderful trip. The only bad part of it is coming back. You know, and we got off the plane in San Diego.

What time? I can't remember what time we got off. I think midnight. It was midnight. And it was cold.

I mean, it was cold when we stepped off, because you're going from about, what, 78 degrees to whatever it was over in San Diego. And we had never done this before. And it was hard to get a ticket to go over to Hawaii anyway. But we flew into San Diego at midnight, and we knew it was a long way to the next flight. What we did not know was when we got to San Diego, they put a zelle out of the airport. There were no flights at all that night, and our flight was out about six in the morning. And another thing that we did not know, they were going to turn off the heat in the airport.

And so we were sort of, Joan and I felt like homeless people, you know, that they had put out on the street. Actually, we were in the area where the baggage was. And so both of us, you know, I had a windbreaker and a sweater. And Joan had brought sort of a sweater, and we sort of were crouched in the corner somewhere trying to keep warm. And, you know, it was a long night, let me tell you that. But anyway, it's what happens, you know, when you sometimes go on a trip to another area. So don't go through, I can only tell you, don't go through San Diego and expect that you're going to stay in the airport and keep warm, because they close it down until the first flight the next morning, which is about six in the morning. But other than that, we had a wonderful trip. It was just mainly fellowshiping, having lunch or dinner with a brethren, and spending time with them. And again, they do appreciate all of you here. I know Sherry and Brad and, you know, the Ellis family that we stayed with there on the Big Island, and the Lums and the Kenites and all the people over there wanted to give their greetings to all of you. And please, go to the camera and say something to them, because there are living people on the other side. And if, and not only that, that you're talking to the people of Hawaii, but you're talking to the people in Sholo too. And they really do appreciate it. Well, you know, there are a lot of things happening in the world, as Mr. Knudtsen was talking about. And of course, anything can happen in this wild and crazy world we live in. And one thing that I was thinking about not long ago about our time that we're living here in the 21st century, that it has been proven by ISIS, you know, that terrorist group the United States has been at war with for some time now, that man through ISIS has proven that man is still capable of great, great brutality. You know, it's kind of hard for me, for my mind, to understand how a human being could be so cruel to another human being, you know, no matter what they may have done. But, you know, they have shown us through what they have done, what they have practiced as they've made war, the brutality they can show. They have beheaded people, you know, done so before, cameras, as a matter of fact.

They have stoned people, they have burned people to death, they have kidnapped people and raped young girls, and they have sold people into slavery. And all of that is going on right now in the world. As we sit here comfortably in Phoenix, Arizona, this is happening somewhere in the world today. And this is what really, when we talk about terrorism in the world where Islam is concerned, this is what we're talking about is the brutality that is in the world.

Now, don't get me wrong, Christianity can be brutal, too. It has, of course, were the inquisitions of the past, where people were tortured to death to recant their beliefs and to convert to, you know, the religion of that day, of course, that is still extant to this very day. So we live in a time where brutality can be very much a part of our future, and what we might see out here when the times of real persecution begin to come upon this world that we're living in and this nation in particular.

You know, during the time of ancient Babylonian empire, Daniel the prophet was one who stood strong and tall for God's way of life. And in that world, in that world, the empire, the the apparatus that was operated by the emperor who was then Nebuchadnezzar, in the Bible, in the Book of Daniel, is characterized as a beast. You know, you have beasts that actually were used to symbolize the Babylonian empire, the Greco-Macedonian empire, the Medo-Persian empire, and the Roman empire that we are all so very familiar with. And you know the story and the account.

I don't really need to go to it, but you might want to write it down over the Book of Daniel in chapter 3, in verses 1 through 6. It talks about how Nebuchadnezzar built an idol, had an idol built. It was a giant image, and it probably was of himself, you know, because he had such a big ego. And that was why, in fact, God cursed him so that he became an animal. He became a beast because he was acting as a beast, beast as a brutal, brutish kind of a being or person.

But he built this idol, this image, that was huge. It was 60 cubits tall, and it was six cubits wide. And considering that a cubit is around 22 inches, and so you can get some idea of how big this idol was. But he commanded everyone to bow before this at the sound of the music, and if they did not, they were put to death. The penalty was to be put to death. And we, of course, have the story of, you know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast in to this fiery pit. And one of the most fantastic miracles that ever took place occurred, where they walked out of that fiery furnace, not one hair on their head, singed by the fire.

A remarkable miracle, to say the least. And so this image, it's kind of interesting that the image that the authors of the book of Daniel, you know, Daniel himself, went to great pain to mention that it was 60 by 6. The number 6, in other words, was very predominant in this image. And when later we come to the time of John, and by about 95 AD, when God, you know, gave him the remarkable book of Revelation that was given to him, and he wrote down, over in chapter 13, he shows the number of the beast. And the beast also erects an image, you know, just like Nebuchadnezzar had this image that was erected.

And he commands there that the world worship the first beast, as it puts it in the book of Revelation. And so we're going to see history repeat itself for the future. It happened in the times of ancient Babylon, and it's going to happen again in our time. And I think we are very much in the end time. So I want to ask the question today, who is the beast? And what is the mark of the beast? You know, what is this mark of the beast that people talk about and discuss?

And, you know, the Bible does mention that if you and I take the mark of the beast, we're not going to have opportunity for salvation. That it will condemn us to eternal death. If we, knowing what we know now, if we take of the mark of the beast, and we're a part of that, we will not be in the kingdom of God. Now, I think I'm talking to a group of people here today that believe we're in time. That the time we're in right now, where man could block all life off the face of this planet with the, you know, nuclear weapons that we have, and I think we have more than enough nuclear weapons to do that, probably 25 or 50 times over, not just one time.

So if we are in the end times, and there are prophecies that deal with the beast that are in the end times, then the beast power will be rising soon.

We should be able to see it, should we not, in the end time, when these things occur.

And you know, we look in the world today, and events are happening in Europe, which could force the emergence of this leader who's going to head up the beast power. Someone that is prophesied to come on the scene, who will be a very debonair, a very powerful, persuasive communicator, who will take the helm of what becomes the beast power. Interestingly, also, when we look at Isaiah 10, we see that Germany, which is expressed there in Isaiah 10 in the form of Assyria, Germany's modern day Assyria, that Assyria is going to be a main tool in which God is going to use modern-day Germany to punish the peoples of the modern-day Israelites today. And that is the Britain and America, Britain and the United States. And consider this as well, that with Brexit, we have said many, many years in the Church that Britain would never be a part of this beast power.

And so the idea of Brexit was something that fit into prophecy. It was something that we thought would happen. Ireland, on the other hand, will not. Ireland is going to be a part of the beast power, and the prophecy indicates that. So this coming beast power will be dominated by Germany.

And I've heard people that have said that Germany is gone. It's not going to be the power in the future, but don't you kid yourself. You know, though Germany is going through problems right now, primarily caused by the liberalism of people like Chancellor Merkel, who is there now, don't kid yourself. Germany is still a force to be reckoned with in Europe, just purely from an economic standpoint. Germany is the strongest economy of Europe. And, you know, they are now working toward, and have been for some time, a real military. They want to have a military.

And one thing that President Trump has wanted in Europe is Europe to basically help defend itself.

What he desired wanted, he wanted Europe, though, to help pay for NATO. But apparently they are unwilling to go that far. For all the United States has done for France and in Germany, and what was done, of course, after World War II to build up, Europe, they are just not willing to invest in NATO. But they are wanting to build their own military. The current president of France is calling upon Europe to build its own military, and they are really sincere about that.

What you are going to find eventually, though, is that Merkel, who is the current chancellor of Germany, in all likelihood, is going to be voted out as chancellor. In any case, whether she is voted out or she stays on, she says she is leaving in 2021. She is not going to stay on as chancellor. Because during the time of her chancellorship, as well as other leaders of Europe, they have allowed so many Muslims to come into Europe that it has become a serious problem. And like I said, the new president of France is pushing for a new army.

All it would take, brethren, is one catalyst to bring about the ten-nation combine that is going to make up the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire and the arrival of the beast.

And it wouldn't take that long for it to happen.

Prophecy indicates that what is going to happen is that, in fact, there will be a time of prosperity here at the end, and then there will be a time of great crisis that will occur.

And we are given clues to look for with the beast and the mark of the beast. God is not left as without clues with regard to it. The only way we can be clueless is if we are not watching, we are not keeping our eyes open as to what is going on. And we always have to keep our eyes open and our ears open so that we can see what is going on and we can hear what is going on.

You know, if you're looking to the nightly news, you know, to find out what that news is, you're not going to find it there. You might find out whose baby is going to be born or what's starlet, but you know, you might find out what the latest movie made in the box office, but you're not going to find out about what is occurring in the world.

You know, if you haven't seen that already, you know, you've got blinders on.

But I trust that all of you know what I'm talking about is true. Look at the evening news. They do everything to avoid telling us what really is going on in the world. They're not telling us, in fact, that the world is preparing for war. The war, the world is preparing to fight.

And our young men need to be aware of the fact that they may very well be pulled into it, this fight that's going to go on. So they have to make up their mind whether they, again, believe what has been said about war, military service in a war or not.

Men and women, in fact, are going to be pulled into it when it happens and when it occurs.

But again, we're giving clues in the Bible of what to look for, but we have to be watching for it. In Revelation chapter 13 over here, Revelation 13, let's notice what it says in the book of Revelation. And the word revelation means, remember, a revealing.

That God is revealing to us what's going to happen. What good would this book be if it didn't reveal something to us? If it didn't reveal what we ought to watch for and what we ought to know? In chapter 13, though, is one part of it, the deals with the end time beast.

But in Revelation 13 verse 1, let's notice it says, then I stood on the sand of the sea.

And this, by the way, the sand of the sea and the sea here is symbolic of the world.

This beast is the oceans, as it were, are symbolic of oceans of people from which the beast comes out of. And so this is why John gives this imagery here. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea. It's like it emerged out of the sea, the sea of peoples, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

Now, you know a little bit about the Roman Empire, which was the final beast of the book of Daniel.

And that image, you know, that particular image had to do with the resurrections of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, of course, was established prior to the Holy Roman Empire. But in around 554, it appeared as though the Roman Empire was going to be kaput. It was going to be gone. But if you remember the history of that time, in 554 A.D., Justinian, who became the emperor over what became the Holy Roman Empire, recognized the papacy. And that is what revived the Holy Roman Empire. And there have been, so far, six resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire that have taken place. The last resurrection, in fact, we believe in the Church, was Garibaldi during the time of Garibaldi.

And that he was able to have that final resurrection, or the sixth resurrection, of the Holy Roman Empire. The first one was, as I mentioned, Justinian. And then you have the Roman Empire that was prior to that. But again, the next one we're looking for is this one prophesied in Revelation 13 here. But notice going on, it says, now the beast which I saw was like a leopard.

His feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power. In other words, the devil gave the power to this beast system. His throne and great authority. And I saw one of his heads, as it had been wounded, mortally. And his deadly wound was healed. So this is during the time of Justinian, when this mortal wound that looked like the Roman Empire was gone, that by the fact that he recognized the papacy, it was resurrected.

And it says, and his deadly wound was healed, all the world marveled and followed the beast.

So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? No one could make war with the Holy Roman Empire in its strength. The power was just simply too much. And it says, he was given mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And he was given authority to continue to afford to be a king.

He continued to for 40 and two months. Then he opened his mouth and blasphemed me.

And it says, against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.

And it was granted to him to make war with the saints. So he fought against the church.

Now, did we have that happen? You know, if we look back in history, the persecutions that took place on the church, the desire to stamp out the church through the ages. You know, how many of you remember reading Fox's book of martyrs? You know, all of us, of course, in the old days, cut our teeth on reading Fox's book of martyrs. I'm reading a book called Truth, Triumphant that talks about how that, in fact, you know, the church, when it began to spread over in India and on up into China and beyond, that at a particular time around, I think, about 700 AD, the Jesuits began to go up in there and they began to stamp out the true people of God. They infiltrated, in fact, all of the schools and they they took over the schools. They took over the schools. They took over the churches to the point, in fact, of threatening to kill people and, in some cases, putting them to death. As an example, look, either you are going to be loyal to the papacy or you're going to die, and they would make the leaders of the church at that time who were trying to live God's way of life, they made the leaders either acquiesce and submit to the papacy or die, and many of them caved in.

So what happened is that they infiltrated the church and the church was stamped out. People were martyred during that time and during the time, of course, of the imperial inquisition.

So many people were martyred during that time and they experienced those things.

But he made war with the saints, verse 7, to overcome them.

And authority was giving him over every tribe and tongue and nation.

And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life. So if their name's not in the book of life, obviously, they would find these things okay because they would not understand the truth. And then it says, if anyone has an ear, let him hear.

That's what I'm saying today. Keep your ears open and your eyes open as to what is going on in the world. If we expect, brethren, to be delivered in the time ahead from the great deception that is going to happen and we think that we could stick our head in the sand and wait till that time comes, we're just fooling ourselves. We're deceiving ourselves.

We have to see it coming upon us so that we know what has happened before and what is going to happen afterwards. But let's notice on going on down here, verse 11, then I saw another beast.

So here's another beast that's coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. Now, who was compared, who is called a lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Jesus Christ, right? Well, this individual that emerges is, well, he has two horns like a lamb, but he doesn't speak like a lamb. He speaks like Satan the devil. He speaks like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those that dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. He deceives those who dwell in earth by these signs which he's granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast, who is wounded by the sword and lives. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast. I know it sounds bizarre and hard for us to even grasp, but imagine it says to give breath to a physical image here. There may be a literal physical image that is built up. Of course, this can be symbolic as well because when the Holy Roman Empire was formulated, the government of the religious part of the empire was patterned after the political part of it.

So it was an image of the government of, in fact, the Roman Empire itself.

So these things may be symbolic as well, but they may be literal. It would be magic, in other words.

You remember when in the time of Moses that Moses cast his staff down, and it turned to a serpent.

But the magicians of the Pharaoh cast their staffs down. They became serpents, too.

But remember the story, though, how the serpent of Moses consumed their staffs.

So there may be some magic associated with what happens in the end, but keep in mind, too, at the same time, the beasts of false prophet are going to be on the scene, that, in fact, the two witnesses are going to be on the scene as well.

Now, who are the two witnesses? I don't know who they are, but I can tell you we've got a lot of volunteers, people that want to be the two witnesses. Probably if the person wants to be one of the two witnesses, they're probably not going to be one of the two witnesses.

Because you know what the two witnesses are going to have to do?

They're going to be hated of all people on the face of the earth.

So much so that people will rejoice when they're dead, and they're going to send gifts to one another when these two men are dead.

But they're going to be, throughout the time of the tribulation, they're going to be telling the world, you know, you better not believe the beast of the false prophet over here, because they're going to mislead you. And for a while, people won't believe the two witnesses, but eventually they begin to realize that these men are telling the truth about the beast of the false prophet.

But going on here, notice here, he gives breath to the image of the beast, verse 15, and the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. So if somebody is not willing to worship the image, like with the time of Nebuchadnezzar in the image he erects, same thing. They'll be put to death, according to what the scriptures tell us. But it says, he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name. And here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate, in other words, you figure it out if you want to yourself, the number of a beast, for it is the number of a man, his number is 666. And so that number, of course, is, all of us, of course, know that number.

You know, some people, you know, when they see that number, it makes them cringe.

The other day I was driving along and I saw a license plate on it that said 666.

I don't know why anybody wanted a license plate with 666 on it, but they do. People do it.

But again, this beast that emerges speaks like a lamb, or he looks like a lamb, let's put it that way, but he speaks like a dragon. You know, in fact, Paul says, don't marvel because even the demons, you know, they look like angels of light. They look holy, but they do not, again, do and speak holy. But, you know, again, what happens when this whole apparatus is in place, you have the beast power, then you have the false prophet who heads up the religious side of it, and it will just be like in the time of the imperial inquisition. The church will place a curse on somebody because they do not worship the image, or they won't take the mark, and then the state will carry it out. You know what happened during the imperial inquisition of the Middle Ages is they would, you know, cause people to recant their beliefs, and then they put them to death anyway before they could change their mind. You know, they would, and that happened to, again, many, many, millions, in fact. Not just thousands, but millions of people. Hard to believe, again, that kind of brutality can exist, but it has existed before, and it will exist in the end of the age. But on down here, let's go to verse 16 again. It says, he causes all. If you look in the Greek, the phrase causes all, in the Greek it is to force. People are forced to do it.

Now, this mark that we're talking about may or may not be something physical. It could be spiritual or mental. Maybe it's a better way of putting it. I've heard some that have expressed thought that it might be a tiny chip or a tiny kind of an implant that would be put into people.

And they have developed, by the way, a chip that is about the size of a grain of rice, and they can inject it into people. And it has everything about you, where you live, what your social security number is, what your health records are.

I received a credit card from British Airways, and I've been using it ever once in a while.

If I go into McDonald's and buy a drink or something like that, you know, how it used to be you had to chip it. You chip it into the place where you pay or you swipe it.

Well, this card they sent to me has a little insignia, a Wi-Fi insignia, and if it comes up, you order a drink, all you do is you just pass that card over that little insignia.

When you pay, you don't swipe it or chip it or anything like that. Just wipe it over and it adds it into your account. So anything is possible anymore, but imagine that people, if they had some sort of a chip in them, all they'd have to do is do like that with their arm and then they know everything about you, basically. You know, the Bible does say it will be in the right hand or in their foreheads. Again, this could be physical or it could be metal.

Could be symbolic, in other words. We've always taught in the church that the right hand is a symbol of work, and for unions, very often, the right hand is a symbol of work, the workforce.

And the forehead we've always taught is a symbol of the intellect. So either you have to prove by working or you prove by what you believe, what you express in terms of your beliefs.

I know we've taught in the church for a long time and still do, that the Sabbath is a sign of God's people. It's not a mark of God's people. The word mark is not used, but it's a sign of God's people.

Of course, Sunday is not a sign of God's people. And during the tribulation, that because it says you either have to take the mark in your right hand, right arm, or your forehead, that in the tribulation we're going to have to prove allegiance to the beast system by working on the Sabbath. A willingness to work on the Sabbath or embrace the religion intellectually that is going to come to the fore.

In the Greek, the word mark that is used here in Revelation 13, down in verse 16, the word mark comes from the Greek word charagma. And I'll spell it for you if you want to write it down and look it up later, but it's C-H-A-R-A-G-M-A.

And interestingly, it means a sketch or a scratch or an etching. That is a stamp. It's like I have on the front of my Bible here my name that is embossed on it. You can actually feel it.

Feel that. But it will be something that in fact will be somehow sculpted. That's another meaning of this particular word I gave to you. Or graven. Graven or marked. So that's why the word mark is used here. And you know, we live, brethren, in an increasingly wired world. It seems like that anymore, everywhere you go, it's a wonder people can conduct their businesses without falling in holes and ditches because they're looking at their cell phone all the time.

You know, and I was surprised not only are young people doing it, but I'm talking senior citizens doing it too.

At the airport, I mean, everybody's got a cell phone. The only one who doesn't, isn't looking at their cell phone is me. I guess I must look pretty out of it when it comes to that kind of thing. But it reminded me one time that Joan and I were over on the Big Island in Hilo, and we'd gone to this place to eat a lunch. And there were these young kids. They all looked like they were probably in their late 20s or so. And, you know, as a male and female, it looked like either husband and wife, young husband and wife, young girlfriend-boyfriend type situation. They were sitting at the table. They were all looking at cell phones. And you know what? They were probably texting each other. You know, I guess the idea of learning to talk was going out of business.

You know, people don't talk like they used to. But we live in a time when, again, the world is wired. And the idea of an advanced, tiny RFID chip giving details about your life are now very possible. Very possible. Now, how would they pull it off, though? How would the nations, how would a government pull it off having you get it, you know, take a chip?

Well, you can let your imagination run with that. But would it not be possible that the nation might very well say, well, we got so much problems with terrorism anymore. We don't trust anyone.

You know, you go through the airport and the TSA is patting down little old ladies, you know, in wheelchairs and making them take their shoes off.

You know, in fact, I was patted down, you know, as we got on the airport. I believe I was in San Diego. You know, I was surprised. I've heard of people being patted down, but I happen to be very often. But anyway, you know, people are skittish anymore. What if the government said we've got such a problem with terrorism, we're going to have to have some sort of ID system.

And I would imagine people could be convinced to take an ID, maybe a chip or something akin to it, a card, an ID card with all your information on it. The people would be willing to pony up that information. In fact, when we were going in the airport, I believe it was, where was that? I can't remember where it was, but there was a person that was on the side that was wanting us to get TSA approved so you don't have to stand the line, so you don't have to take your shoes off, take all of your stuff out of your suitcase with, you know, they're afraid that you're going to blow the plane up with a tube of toothpaste or, you know, so your shampoo or something like that, so you don't have to take all those things out. You know, here, get TSA approved in advance. And I asked, what does it cost? And it was quite a bit, actually, to make you pay to get, you know, in fact approved in advance. But maybe it will be in the guise of ID to protect from terrorism. It might be that there will be a bioterrorist attack where people, again, out of fear, begin to be moved to do some of these things, or it might just be plain, you have to have this card, you know, with all your information on it in order to buy or sell anything, you know, that in the future, in order to do so legally because of the black market.

Verse 17 here says that he, this religious leader, causes the world to worship the beast.

And the beast he's talking about, again, is that seventh revival of the Holy Roman Empire.

And again, this marking system is devised and set up in the world.

Now think about the fact right now, brethren, that in China, China is already about the business of setting up a social, what they call a social economic system, where people are going to be rewarded for being good citizens. And you'll get credit. In other words, if you're supportive of the Communist Party, you'll get credit if you support the government, if you back the government.

If you are somebody who is a protester, you don't like what the government is doing, then well, you'll get docked. You won't be able to travel. You won't be able to get the perks that other people will have. They call it a social economic system, and they're wanting to get it set up by 2020, coming really fast. And if it's successful, don't be surprised if it's not presented in other places who want to do the same type of thing. But interestingly, in the time of the Roman Empire, remember, slaves were marked as a sign of the ownership. And so the idea of marking people for ownership is something that has been an ancient one. During the time of the Roman Empire, too, the emperor declared himself to be a god. So whatever is developed in the future, the beast himself is going to claim to be Jesus Christ. He's going to claim to be God.

And the false prophet, of course, will be his main prophet.

But the beast itself and the mark of the beast will be tied around the economy.

It's going to be involved with the economy.

And Jesus Christ, of course, warned us time and again about false prophets that are coming.

Over in Matthew chapter 24, in Matthew chapter 24, Christ said that there would be those who would come and say that Christ is over here. He says, don't do not believe it. Don't believe it.

He said that there would be false Christs and false prophets. In other words, at the end of the age here that we're living in, that in fact there would be not just one false Christ that would emerge, but many maybe. I was listening to a man on the radio one night. We were traveling somewhere. I can't remember, but on the way in the car, as I do, I sometimes listen to talk shows, like probably all of you do. But there was a man being interviewed who was supposedly the prophet of a man claiming to be Christ. And so this is something that is extant in the world.

And I'm not sure if anybody believed that this man represented a Christ, but in all likelihood, so. But when these false prophets come, they're going to show great signs and wonders, the Bible says. Jesus said this. They're going to show great astounding signs in the future. So the idea of somebody making an image talk may not be far-fetched. It might be beyond what we can imagine really would happen. But it is coming. Something is going to be coming. And he goes on, he talks over here, he talks about, he says in verse 32, but now learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branches already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.

But the idea is, if you want to know when the weather's going to change, you've got to keep an eye on things. For us, brethren, it means that we have to keep our eyes open as to what's going on in the world. You know, most people don't know or not aware of the fact that China is beefing its military up right now because they're not paying any attention to it. Most don't know that Russia is doing that as well. Most don't know that Russia and China are working together with one another.

And they're against the United States of America. And if you haven't understood, Syria is with Russia, Iran is with Russia and China. You know, they're very few, they're with us.

It's debatable whether Europe is even with us now. You know, so we might be the odd man out right now in the world that we live in. But, you know, crisis keeps your eyes open.

You know, think about when nations are talking about war, what are they doing? They're preparing for war. It's like President Trump and Vice President Pence have talked about the secret, the space program that is going on right now. Now let me ask you something. If we are talking about a space program and starting a space force, as it's been called, how silly would it be for us to announce we're going to start one if we haven't already done so? You see, we already have a space force. We already have nuclear weapons probably pointed to this earth and have for a while.

We already have the capacity to have a space force. And, you know, we've got to catch up, probably with what is being done already in China and already in Russia.

That we're trying to keep up with these nations. And this is why we're announcing the world now.

It's going to come out more and more. And so Jesus says, keep your eyes open to these things that are coming. He says, so you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near.

And he says at the door, you open the door, it's there, right there in front of you.

In other words. And he said that this generation will by no means pass till all these things take place. But he says, and of that day and hour, no one knows no man, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. So we don't know exactly when these things are going to happen. So that's why we need to keep our eyes open to what's going on in the world.

But he says, as in the days of Noah, we're so so also the coming of man, so the man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating, they were drinking, then marrying and giving the marriage. This is Jesus talking. Until the day that Noah entered the ark. It did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also be the coming of the son of man. Same thing. So don't be caught unaware. He said, watch therefore for you do not know what our your Lord is coming. It means we again have to keep our minds and our brains engaged in what's going on and what's happening. I mentioned that it will be a time of economic prosperity.

Satan is a great believer in materialism. If you don't believe me, look at the world.

The world is so materialistic now. Now think about all the creature comforts that we have.

We've got so many things that make our lives very comfortable. I mean, could you and I do without electricity? How hard would it be to do without electricity? How about water as being available as it is now? Now, you know, I've gone to to Bush, little villages in Zambia where people had to walk a mile with water on their backs to drink and to do their cooking with.

Could we do that kind of thing? I don't think so. I think it'd be very hard for most Americans to be able to do that. But Satan is very big on materialism and creature comforts.

It's amazing. Over in Ezekiel 28—I'm not going to turn to it, but in verse 15 through 17—we know that over there it's talking about Satan because it talks about how he walked in the midst of the stones of fire and that he was perfect in all of his ways. Of course, this is not any physical being, but it says until iniquity was found in him. And it says by his merchandise, you know, that he was corrupted. Merchandise. You ever thought about the fact that the demons or the angels over which Lucifer was over this on their first estate here upon the earth, that they would be caught up in materialism, in merchandising.

But you can read it for yourself. Ezekiel 28, verse 15 through 17.

And that the demons or the angels that were corrupted by the devil were corrupted by materialism and merchandising. And it talks about that because of this vast amount of merchandising then violence occurred. And so, you know, the concept that there were fights among demons is not a far stretch. You read what you read in the book of Daniel, that there was a war, constant war that was going on. And of course, they were fighting not only apparently among themselves, but they were fighting the true angels, the righteous angels of God.

But Satan majors in materialism. And the beast is going to come on the scene. He's going to prosper. He's going to promise prosperity for everyone if they take the mark. Go ahead, just take the mark. And during this time, by the way, the Bible indicates that there are going to be people who are going to be corrupted by this. Even those that know the truth are going to be corrupt over in the book of Daniel 11 and down in verse 32, if you want to read over there.

By the way, I will mention that at the outset of the tribulation, as I've already talked about in a previous sermon, that God will take his church into a place of training, a place of refuge in the future, out of the reach of the devil. But remember, according to what it says in the book of Revelation, that then he will be angry with a woman and he will go and make war with the remnant of her seed. In other words, those who perhaps heard the gospel, but never really applied it. To which God says to them, he says, I'm going to call upon you to buy gold of me tried in the fire. Gold being a symbol of God's holy righteous character, and the fire being a symbol of the tribulation period. But here now in Daniel chapter 9, when the church has fled during the time of the three and a half years of the tribulation, there are going to be those who are going to do tremendous exploits. People that before maybe were not on fire are going to get on fire then, and they're going to be responsible for many people coming to believe and trust in God and to believe the truth. But here in Daniel chapter 11 down in verse 32 here, let's notice here, it says, of those who do wickedly against the covenant, he shall corrupt with flattery. But the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits. These will be people during the tribulation will emerge and begin to really see the big picture. They will see what the truth was finally, and they're going to make up these people that come through the tribulation that are mentioned over the book of Revelation that come out of the tribulation. This innumerable multitude that is mentioned over there in Revelation 7 that are given white robes after, you know, they've been able to build that character during the time of the tribulation. So there are going to be some that are going to do great exploits during that period. And those are the people who understand, shall instruct many, yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame and by captivity and plunder. It will be a time of martyrdom as well.

The martyrdom this talked about over in Revelation chapter 6, in the fifth seal, when that fifth seal is open, that people are going to be martyred just as others have been through the ages of the church.

And that they will be martyred and be a testimony against the beast of the false prophet in favor of the two witnesses who are God's servants that will be preaching there in the streets of Jerusalem.

And it says, and now when they fall they shall be aided with a little help. God's going to help them during the time of the tribulation, but many will join with them by intrigue. There are going to be hangers on, just like in fact when when Egypt was, you know, holding the children of Israel. And finally, Egypt let Israel go after the miracles that God performed, and that the mixed multitude went out of Egypt with Israel. Some of those same ones probably caused a lot of trouble in the wilderness, by the way. But there are going to be some that are going to join to the true people of God, even during the tribulation. By intrigue, it says. They'll be intrigued by what is said. And some of those of understanding shall fall to refine them. So there are going to be perhaps even some prior to this tribulation that will have fallen, and they are going to be refined through the tribulation, and ultimately be a part of the kingdom of God for the future.

So it says here, some with understanding shall be fall to refine them, to purify them, and make them white until the time of the end. So this is the end of the age he's talking about here.

And it says, because it is still for the appointed time. Then it talks about the king should do according to his own will. This is the beast power the Bible's talking about here. And it says, he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished to what has been determined shall be done. And he shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire women, nor regard any god, for he will exalt himself above them all. He'll be like the the emperors of Rome. He's going to exalt himself as a god. But he's then, he says, going to honor a god of fortresses. And if you look in the Hebrew here for this, it's the God of forces. And I think I mentioned to the senior Bible study of how that in mythology, you know, the Greeks and the Romans believed in Mercury as a god, and Aries as a god of war. These were gods of war. Now, I'm not saying that he's going to to worship one of these Greek or Roman gods, but it's going to be a god of forces.

The Bible talks about here. But think about the fact here, too, he's going to exalt himself above God. And it says he's going to honor a god of forces and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things.

So again, if you think about what it's saying here, brethren, the god that he's going to make a part of the religious arm of this coming beast power will be a god that our fathers, our dads, our moms, our grandfathers never knew. A way of life that they never knew, that had nothing to do with what they did in their lives. And that is not only the true people of God, but even those who are following so-called Christianity, it will be different.

It may very well be an amalgamation of religions.

I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about here. According to the Jesuits and what is said about the Jesuits, one of their primary goals right now that they're working toward, that the pope now is working toward—and by the way, you may not know this, but Pope Francis is a Jesuit. But one of the goals that the Jesuits have now is to bring the Muslims into the religion.

You imagine what that would be like if the Muslims were brought in with Christianity.

There have been overtures that have already been made for that to occur, by the way.

But, anyway, indeed, that kind of religion, if it was an amalgam of Christianity and worship of Allah, would be different than our fathers knew, than our families knew, at least about Christianity.

But it says in verse 39, he will advance its glory, the empire, in other words, that he established, and he should cause them to rule over many and divide the land for gain.

And it talks about the king of the south pushing out him, verse 40, verse 41. He enters into the glorious land. He, you know, is able to overthrow. And then these three escape of Edom, Moab, and Oman. And he stretches out his hand, and he takes Egypt too. And Ethiopia is at his steps, and the Libyans as well, they're there. But he hears tidings out of the north and the east, and he goes, you know, with a rage up to fight against, no doubt would be the Russian, the hordes of Russia and China, and all those hordes that will be coming at him.

And he destroys and annihilates many. And then he comes in verse 45, and he plants, it says, the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. You know, Jesus Christ, by the way, when Christ returns, is going to put his, the temple, in Jerusalem. So this Antichrist is going to do exactly the same thing, see, that Christ is going to do. But the Bible says that the Antichrist is going to come to his end. He's going to come to his end. So, you know, this is what is prophesied, brethren, to occur, what is prophesied to happen. You and I are going to possibly see some of this prior to, in fact, the time of the tribulation, when it gets to, you know, when it happens. And what this empire that's going to be established is going to do is going to separate the men of the boys, so to speak. It's going to separate God's people from this world, just like that. You and I are going to be, it'll be like a wall between God's people and what we are and what this world is. Interestingly, we talked about the mark of the beast. This is taken from an expository sermon, this small note that was an expository sermon on Revelation that was from Zondurfon, but it's a quote concerning this period of time when the mark of the beast will be established. It was a man under communist rule in Bulgaria. This is what he wrote, and this is 1969 when he wrote this, but I like how he puts it. He said, you cannot understand and you cannot know that the most terrible instrument of persecution ever devised is an innocent ration card. Now, how many remember the ration cards of World War II?

You know, just a few even remember that. But my parents used to talk about the ration cards that they had. You could only get so much of this or so much of that. But this man talks about under communism. He says, you cannot buy and sell except according to that little innocent card.

If they please, you can be starved to death, he said. And if they please, you can be dispossessed of everything that you have, for you cannot trade, you cannot buy, you cannot sell without permission. That's what he said just about a ration card. What if you had a chip in your right hand or some sort of sign or mark on you? We had a man that was in speakers club, in fact, in this very church here. And he was talking about what it's like to be under communism.

And he said to the men in the club, he said, when he was a teenager, he endeavored to escape where he lived because it was constant fear under communism. You may remember it wasn't all that long ago there was a wall between East and West Germany. They had barbed wire on the tops on the top of this wall that was there. And it was not infrequent that on the national news that they would show pictures of people making a run for this wall to get into West Germany.

And they would climb up the wall and they would be shot by a guard that prevented people from escaping the throes of communism. But, brethren, these types of things are going to come back into the future. Like I mentioned, ISIS has proven man is still capable of great brutality, massive brutality. And millions are not going to bow to the beast or to the image, and they're going to reject the false prophet. And their defiance will lead to their deaths. And the martyrdom I talked about in Revelation 6 verse 9. So what is the mark? Just to sort of sum this up, what is the mark? The mark identifies the beast system. That's what 666 just identifies the beast, who it is. Ancient Babylon letters, by the way, the letters stood for numbers.

In fact, Latin has letters that have that stand for numbers. We're familiar with, of course, in the English language, how, in fact, that certain letters stand for numbers. You know, X stands for 10, C stands for what? 100. And so, you know, letters actually stand for something, even in the English language. But it's true also in Greek, but did you know it's also true in Hebrew?

In fact, they have what is called gamatria, or gamatria, where they use in the Hebrew the numeric value of each word. And, of course, I don't think that we as God's people need to be caught up in that kind of thing. But the numerology for the name of the beast is 666.

It adds up to that. How many of you are familiar with Romulus and Remus? Do you know what I'm when I say Romulus and Remus, what I'm talking about? It comes from your old high school history textbook. Romulus and Remus were the founders of what became the Roman Empire. They were the founders. In fact, Romulus was the founder of Rome, from which the name Rome comes from.

His name, incidentally, in the Hebrew is Ramath, and it's spelled this way, if you will write it down. It's R-O-M-I-I-T-H.

And the numerical value of his name in the Hebrew, guess what? It adds up to 666.

The letter R stands for 200.

O stands for 6. M for 40. I for 10. And there are two I's in his name.

And T-H stands for 400. And it totals up to 666. So what does that tell us? It tells us that the beast system is in the Roman Empire. That's the beast system. That's what it comes from.

In the Roman Empire, the system revived is going to be a Holy Roman Empire. And I mentioned earlier about how this will be the seventh resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. It won't be the seventh resurrection of the Roman Empire, but the Holy Roman Empire beginning with just studying it in 554, going up to the time of Garibaldi. And next, we're waiting for the seventh revival of the Holy Roman Empire. But again, this empire is going to hearken back to the time of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar caused the whole world to worship an image of the beast. And if they didn't worship it, they were put to death. And this end-time beast is going to do the same thing, this image of the beast. And if you don't take the mark, they're going to put people to death during that time.

But realize that the beast himself is just a man. Because the number six stands for man. It's the number of a man. The number seven, by the way, depicts God. Because seven is a number of perfection. And Satan has known number seven in his name. And Satan is no longer perfect either because he's corrupted. It's important for us, brethren, to keep our ears and to keep our eyes open. It's important that we are out of this world and separate from this world.

I'm not going to turn to it, but in Revelation 18, in verse 4, it says, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. You know, if we won't come out of the world right now, quite frankly, brethren, I don't think we'll come out of the world then. When that time comes, when it emerges, we'll come out of the world. And also, in the book of Revelation chapter 14, in verse 12, I use this to conclude here, here is the patience of the saints. Here are those that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. Those who are going to endure to the end, who are going to survive, are going to be those who will keep God's commandments to the very end.

And Jesus said, He that endures to the end, the same is going to be saved.