The Signs of the Times

I believe 2012 will be one of the most pivotal years in human history. It will be a make-or-break year for nations, political leaders, the world's economic systems, societal structures, moral codes, and a host of other issues that loom on the world scene. My belief has nothing to do with the Mayan calendar or predictions by various mediums or astrologers. We'll talk about that some later. My belief is based on the reality of the problems that plague the peoples of this world in this present evil age. Let's turn now, please, to Matthew 16.

Matthew 16, Jesus Christ, is the spokesperson here, the spokesman in Matthew 16. Matthew 16, verse 1, The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. And people now are looking for signs from heaven. The Mayan calendar and other astrologers and other mediums, and frankly, just plain old witchcraft, are predicting that 2012 will be the end of this world as we know it. A sign from heaven.

He answered and said to them, When it is evening, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be foul weather, for the sky is red and lowering. Oh, you hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. The signs of the times that really he was talking about had to do with whether or not the Messiah had come.

And continually, they were wanting a sign, show us a sign as to whether or not you be the Son of God, whether or not you are the Messiah. Verse 4, A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. Of course, that sign of the prophet Jonah as Jonah was in the heart of the earth, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

In other words, it's saying, don't look for some kind of astronomical or some kind of sign outside of the Word of God. You have been given the Word of God. You've been given a sign from God Himself. I recently read an article about the trustworthiness of the financial pornosticators of this world.

Virtually none of them were correct this past year. In fact, just about everybody lost money if they were vested in the stock market. But this is not to say, and please don't misinterpret this, that we should be foolish and ignore the handwriting on the wall when it comes to the world's economic state. The world's global economic system is on the verge of collapse. It may continue five more years or ten more years, but eventually I know from Bible prophecy a new global economic system will eventually replace this one, and it will be a global system.

It will be controlled by Satan the devil, the beast, and the false prophet. We go now to Revelation chapter 13, and we see this very clearly here that when the beast comes to power, what he is going to do. In Revelation 13 verse 13, and he does great wonders so that he makes fire come down from heaven, come down from heaven on the earth, and the sight of men, and deceives them, and dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.

This is the false prophet. Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by sword and did live, he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the beast should be killed. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in the right hand or in their foreheads, that no man might by or so save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

And then he gives the number of the beast. The prognosticators are pumping out tons of newsletters on how you can survive the coming crash. The word of God is clear. The only true deliverance will come through the grace and power of Almighty God. We'll see that, I hope, very clearly here this afternoon. Note what God says about the astrologers and monthly prognosticators. Let's go to Isaiah 47.

Many of these scriptures that I'll be reading here today you probably have never heard read in a sermon. You probably read them in your read through the Bible program a time or two, but the context and the setting is something different. When you put it all together, one of the things that we really need an understanding of is the book of Isaiah. Probably none of us have ever had a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Isaiah, which is so rich in so many different ways in prophecy. In Isaiah 47, 1, Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground.

There is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Verse 6, I was mad with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into your hand, you did show them no mercy upon the ancient.

You very heavily laid your yoke. How many elderly people today are struggling to just get by? We're living longer and enjoying it less, as I say, and the burden that is upon elderly people. So many of them very lonely, so many of them just barely able to scrape by. So many of them have been abandoned in various ways, and the yoke has been heavy and continues to be heavy and will be heavy until Jesus Christ comes and sets us all free.

In verse 10, you have trusted in your wickedness, you have said, non-seize me, your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and none else besides me. Who's going to do anything about it? If you hold your place there, we go to Isaiah 10. Hopefully my eye will fall on this and I won't have it in my notes. I know it's in Isaiah 10. Isaiah 10, 12.

I have gathered all the earth.

I have gathered all the earth. And there was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped. Not a shot fired. Some protests, some people are crying out. Really, no one can do much about it and has not done much about it. Now back to Isaiah 47. In Isaiah 47, verse 11, There shall evil come upon you, you shall not know when it arises.

Missioner shall fall upon you, you shall not be able to put it off. Desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know. Stand now with your enchantments and with a multitude of your sorceries wherein you have labored from your youth. If so be, you shall be able to profit. If so be, you may prevail. You're weary in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly pranosticators, stand up and save you from those things that shall come upon you.

If you think those things are going to save you, or if anybody thinks that, they're sadly mistaken. Because, as we shall read later, of course, they're going to throw their gold into the streets and cry out that the rocks fall upon them.

There is only one deliverer. There is only one path to salvation. Behold, they shall be a stubble, and the fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There shall not be a cold to warm it, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto you with whom you have labored, even your merchants from your youth.

They shall wander every one to his quarter. None shall save them. That is what is going to come upon the earth. The peoples of the world are walking on eggshells, holding their breath, filled with fear and anxiety. Yet in the face of all of this, most bury their heads in the sand and seek some form of escapism, whether it be celebrity worship, drugs, alcohol, the movies, some kind of entertainment, whatever it might be. And some, of course, make a mockery of the Bible. Let's go to 2 Peter, 2 Peter 3. People like Bill Maher, who recently, after Tim Tebow lost the last game, his team, the Denver Broncos, he made one of the most filthy, vile remarks.

He said, I won't give the whole quote, I guess Jesus Christ, blank, blank, blank, Tim Tebow. In 2 Peter 3.1, This second epistle, beloved I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of his coming, for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

For this they are willingly ignorant. They do not have to be ignorant. They choose to be ignorant. Because if you were to really look at what the proof of a creator God is, it is absolutely undeniable. You know, the earth is spinning on its axis, and the earth has solid material and liquid material, and if it didn't have the exact right mixture with it spinning on its axis, it would wobble even more than it does.

The earth's crust is continually going in and out, and the tectonic plates that move around enable carbon dioxide to escape from the earth to prevent what they call the global warming. The natural mechanisms are built in. The moon, if it were not the size that it is, the earth would wobble more. The earth is slanted on its axis, 23.5 degrees from the sun, and it just goes on and on and on with how wonderful and marvelous the creation really is. And continually they're trying to get to the source, and they are saying, well, maybe it's the Goldilocks things that once in a lifetime, or like the story of the three bears where they came in and they sat in the various places, and this one was just right, that just this one time in the history of the universe, everything fell in place so the earth would be like it is and support life.

And then they can't explain where life came from. They are willingly ignorant. The political leaders who are in league with the corporate media of the U.S. are dumbing down the people, daubing the walls with untempered mortar, and whitewash the filthy walls, and no one is preparing for the day of the Lord.

Is it prophesied in the Bible? Go to Ezekiel 13. In Ezekiel 13, now is the time, as never before, for the church of God and the ministers in the church of God and every one of us to cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show Jacob his sins and my people their transgressions, as it says in Isaiah 58, verses 1 and 2 there, especially verse 1.

In Ezekiel 13, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy and say, say you unto them, prophesy out of their own hearts, hear the word of the Eternal. Thus says the Lord God, woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Eternal.

Verse 10, because even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace, and there was no peace, and one built up a wall, and lo, others dobbed it with untempered mortar. And the wall continues to be daubed with untempered mortar. But God is going to come, and He is going to tear down that wall. Verse 14, so I will break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall.

And you shall be consumed in the midst thereof, and you shall know that I am the Eternal. God does what He does for a purpose. See, the devil does what He does to try to destroy us. God does what He does to try to get us to the point to where we can do what it says in the first hymn that we sang here today, to worship Him. Now forward to Ezekiel 22.

Ezekiel 22. In Ezekiel 22, verse 23. Ezekiel 22, verse 23. The ward of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed. Oh, you can get all the people on earth to get out and pick up the trash. It's amazing what Americans will do. They go along and they throw out the trash. They throw paper cups and bottles and cans and everything that you can mention. Then they turn around and pay somebody to go pick it up.

You are the land that is not cleansed. Of course, it's not talking about that kind of cleanliness. It's talking about moral, spiritual cleanliness, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy. This is the Word of God. This is not something else. This is the Word of God. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion, ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure in precious things. We read about that in Isaiah 10, verses 12, 13, 14. They have looted the treasuries. They've taken it. No one lifted a hand. No one even peeped. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Many ways you can make widows. You can do it through war, and you can do it through the moral code. Her priests have violated my law, have profaned my holy things. They have put no difference. That's the point that we are now. No difference between the sacred and the profane. All the lines are blurred. Tolerate everything. One of the prognosticators for 2012 said that one of the things that might happen in 2012 is that we are going to stop this nonsense of tolerating every form of behavior and worshiping diversity.

Diversity is okay within certain bounds because we're all different in a way. But Almighty God is the one who has set the moral code for the universe. And you're either in step with it or you aren't. And you can either accept it or reject it. To accept it is a way of life. To reject it is a way of death. They have put no difference between unclean and the clean, and it hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes and the mists thereof are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and destroy souls to get dishonest gain.

You see, over and over again it's about gain. It's about getting ahead. It's about money. It's about being on top of everything and everybody. And her prophets have dobbed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord God, when God is not spoken. The people of the land of use of oppression, exercise, robbery, have vexed the poor and needy. We have forty-something million Americans on food stamps. Some stats say that you look at the world and you look at the terrible conditions across North Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

We look at Bangladesh and some of those other parts in Asia, how awful life is there. But at the same time, we have people in this country and a lot of millions who are barely scraping by.

And some, I guess you would say, are not scraping by. They have oppressed the stranger wrongfully, and I saw it for a man among them that should make up the hedge, that stand in the gap before me in the land that I should not destroy, and I found none. Yet God has commissioned the Church of God to go forth and to carry this gospel to the world, to preach the gospel to every nation, make disciples of every nation, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you.

Even until the end of the age, brethren, are we waking up to that reality of who we are, how many people understand even remotely what the Battle of the Ages is really all about. Therefore, I have poured out mine indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way, have I recompense upon their head, says the eternal God. I've read the Scripture in sermons several times through the years, and almost invariably, after I do, people will either write or call or say, well, how can I stand in the gap?

The way that you can stand in the gap is that you believe and you live the truth. You can stand in the gap by being intellectually honest, by loving the truth, not compromising with the truth, living the truth, and serving as God gave us commandment to serve in His Word. According to a number of prognosticators on December 21, 2012, the world is supposed to enter into a new spiritual enlightenment and awareness.

These predictions about the dawning of a new spiritual age are largely based on an ancient Mayan calendar, astrological charts, pseudoscience, that claim that a study of astronomy shows the planets lining up in such a way that will spell disaster for planet Earth. We're going to show what some of these are saying, and then we'll show what the real scientists who study the heavens, what they say about this, and then come back to the Scripture.

Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulas have been proposed as pertaining to this date, but none of them have been accepted by mainstream scholarship. The 2012 phenomenon, as it is called by some, comprises a range of eschatological beliefs. A wide range. Eschatological means the study of end-time events, what is going to be happening at the end of the age.

But these things are made up by man. These things are not from the Bible. They are made up by man, yet there will be all kinds of people who will get on board and go crazy practically during this coming year. You know this guy a few years ago, out in California, he talked about this comment. This comment was going to come near the Earth, and I guess it was going to pick them all up and waff them away somewhere.

And who knows? Maybe it was a dozen, maybe it was a two dozen. You can, if you've got the money, you can come up with whatever hair-brain idea that you want to and somebody will go for it. And if you've got all of this publicity surrounding this, you know that a lot of people are going to fall for it. So it is predicted, this 2012 phenomenon, that many cataclysmic events will take place this year, culminating on December the 21st.

Now, this date, how did they arrive at December the 21st? The date of December 21st is the end date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan calendar. So they plotted it out for 5,125 years. And according to some calculations, that 5,125 years ends on December the 21st. Now, the world is in trouble, and it's on a collision course with disaster, but that collision course has nothing to do with the Mayan calendar or the predictions of astrologers.

Zero. So what is the truth about 2012? Does even the Mayan calendar predict the so-called end of the world? Yes, the long-count calendar will end, but just as the calendar you have on your refrigerator, your wall or your office, wherever you have a calendar, that calendar does not cease to exist after December the 31st.

The Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21st. It just rolls over, and they start another 5,125-year count. The date is the end of the Mayan long-count period, just as your calendar begins again on January the 1st. Another long-count will begin on December the 22nd. At this point, we should differentiate between astronomy and astrology. Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world. In other words, the movement of the heavenly bodies have some kind of effect upon you, and depending on the date that you were born, the position of the heavenly bodies, and all of that, so people go to their horoscope, and they look at their horoscope, and say, well, I'm Ares, or I'm Pisces, or I'm whatever it is.

Pisces on January the 7th, they should be wary because there might be a heat wave in East Texas or something. It's about as stupid as you can get, but there are people who base their lives. As you recall, Nancy Reagan was into astrology and had a counselor in that area, what we might call a medium or some kind of a fortune teller that's being kind, and consulted with that.

She was, of course, probably President Reagan's main advisor. In the West, astrology most often consists of a system of horoscopes that claim to predict aspects of an individual's personality or life history based on the positions of the heavenly bodies. Astronomy, on the other hand, is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects, the heavenly bodies, stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, and phenomenon that originate outside of the Earth's atmosphere. They also study the cosmic background, such as space dust, radiation, and it is one of the oldest sciences. Prehistoric cultures left behind astronomical artifacts, such as the Egyptian monuments, Nubian monuments, Stonehenge, and early civilizations such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, Indians, Iranians, and Maya, perform methodical kind of observations of the heavenly bodies.

Some of these were amazingly correct, but that didn't determine the course of human events. However, the invention of the telescope was required before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science. Up until the days, this was long in the 1200s, and going back to the time of Aristotle, Aristotle in the 300 BC, somewhere along back there, came up with the Earth as the center of the universe, and then a Catholic scholar, Thomas Aquinas, took Aristotle's teachings to a large degree and made it the official doctrine of the Catholic Church.

To go against the official doctrine of the Catholic Church, you could be branded a heretic and be burned at the stake. And so men like Giordano Bruno and Galileo, when they came along, and they began with a telescope to peer into the heavens and understand that the Earth was not the center of the universe, not the center of our solar system, even, they did it at great peril, the risk of their lives, and some were burned at the stake.

And Galileo almost was, and supposedly he recanted, but under his breath whispered the right thing. So scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of such cataclysmic events occurring in 2012. Professional Mayan scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the extant classic Maya accounts and that the idea that the long calendar ends in 2012 misrepresents Mayan history and culture. Astronomers and other scientists have rejected the proposed events as pseudoscience, stating that they are contradicted by simple astronomical observations. E. C. Crump, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, one of the world's foremost observatories, astronomical stations, doing scholarly work in astronomy, says that there's absolutely no factual basis to what they claim.

Here's what he says, In fact, astronomy cannot pinpoint such a galactic alignment to within a year, much less a day. The alignment depends on the rather arbitrary modern definition of the galactic equator. So we're in a certain galaxy, and there is a so-called equator in this galaxy. So he says, The alignment depends on the rather arbitrary modern definition of the galactic equator and or the visual appearance of the Milky Way. There is no precise definition of the Milky Way's edges. They are very vague and depend on the clarity of your view.

So to give a precise visual position for its center line is not meaningful. Real astronomy does not support any match between December 21st date and a galactic alignment. The advocates both admit and ignore this discrepancy. It is almost a sidelight that the winter's salt as sun will never actually eclipse. The galaxy's true center, the pinpoint-like radio source marking the Milky Way's central black hole, moreover, the winter's salt as sun won't even pass closest to it on the sky for another 200 years.

What do the Mayans themselves think about the end times? There is no evidence that they saw the calendar and a world-age ending in either transcendence or catastrophe on December 21st, 2012. In all of the long-count texts discovered, transcribed, and translated, only one mentions the key date in 2012, and that was found at a monument 6 at Tortugaro, a Mayan site in the Mexican state of Tabasco. The text is damaged, but what remains does not imply the end of time. Some advocates of the 2012 catastrophe say that they will actually cause a devastation in an alignment of planets. And this is what true science, astronomy, and as much as that is true, there is no planet alignment on the winter's salt as in 2012. Nevertheless, advocates of doom connect the fictional alignment to astrological predictions. There is astrological as opposed to astronomy. Nevertheless, advocates of doom connect the fictional alignment to astrological predictions or groundless claims about a reversal of Earth's magnetic field and unprecedented solar storms. Now, this one sort of tops it off, and to some degree, this is the one that got this started. Some insist that there is a NASA conspiracy in play and that Nibiru, an imagined planet, N-I-B-I-R-U, Nibiru, however they pronounce it. They say that there is a planet that is approaching Earth. It can be seen in broad daylight from the southern hemisphere. It's on a collision course with Earth, but NASA is covering it up.

These false prophets will collect millions as to see people scramble to be among the chosen ones who will be protected. So who will stand to profit from the 2012 phenomenon? The Doomsday false prophets who claim to have special knowledge from some supernatural source? The merchants of survival products ranging from food to guns will profit. They will make billions in 2012.

Now, that does not mean, once again, that with all the handwriting that is on the wall that you should not make some preparation for emergencies. You would be a fool, too. With everything, they're talking about severe food shortages. Within three weeks, if a food shortage really hits this country, the grocery store shelves will be bare.

And the world's food supply is drastically down. That's a fact. That's not speculation. That's not astrology. We all remember the biblical account of what happened with Joseph's dream of the fat and lean cattle, where it was revealed to him that there would be seven years of plenty and then seven years of drought. That seven years of plenty that you store in your storehouses that which will be needed against the drought. And he convinced Pharaoh to prepare for the drought and for the eventual famine and store seven years of drain because of the famine that was coming upon the earth. And so they did. And you know the story of basically how that saved Israel, because Jacob and his family came down into Egypt, and there from Egypt eventually had to be delivered. So we need to be very cautious and carefully chart the course of how we might deal with emergencies. Do you have any kind of plan? What if you were to lose your job? What if this or that were to happen? Do you have a plan? Like something that you can basically count on and plan on? We all need to seriously consider that in every way that we can. Almost anyone with any analytical ability can readily discern that this world is hurtling toward a date with destiny.

There are several frightful disasters looming on the horizon. War, natural disasters, poverty, famine, disease, crime, aberrant sexual behavior. And we could go on and on. Let's go now to 2 Timothy. We go back to the scripture. We see what this 2012 phenomenon consists of. It is based on astrology, pseudoscience, and a misinterpretation of the Mayan long calendar ending. It really doesn't end. It just rolls over and starts over a new count. 2 Timothy 3, verses 1-5 gives you, As accurate a portrayal of what this world is going to be like in the end times, This know that in the last days perilous time shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covenants, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. We see all of that. There are more murders committed among family members than any other group in society. Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Oh, don't stand up for the right today. You can't do that. You will be a target for everyone. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness. Oh, we may go to church. We may espouse this or that. But we really don't understand who we are, what we are, and what we're supposed to be doing. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such, turn away. For thousands of years, mankind has been collectively yearning for a spiritual healing of the nations. A time when wars, hatred, and divisions will miraculously give way to peace, to love, and to unity.

How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. We heard today. In fact, all the major religions of the world are looking for a messiah to come on the scene and lead the world into a new age, into peace and prosperity. The Buddhists are looking for the fifth Buddha. The Hindus are looking for Krishna.

The fundamentalists in the Islamic world, and especially the Shi'ite Republic of Iran, is looking for the twelfth Imam to come on the scene. And lead the world into a new era. And they believe that if they increase the chaos and confusion in the world. So Iran is in a game of like blind man's bluff. I dare you to do this, because in a way we really want this to happen, but we, at the same time, they want to protect themselves. So they'll step out here and back up there, and step up here and back out there. But they would really like for it, some of them, what they call the Twelvers, who are looking for the twelfth Imam, they would really like for the world to go up in smoke because they think that this one will come and deliver them. And the sooner, the better. The New Agers are looking for Maitreya. The Jews are looking for the Messiah to come the first time, and Christians are looking for the return of Jesus Christ. So all the world's major religions believe and hope for a Messiah deliverer to come on the scene. People are looking for signs. They think that great prophetic events will be fulfilled at times in which certain astronomical events will occur. Now listen to this. Bible prophecy reveals that there will be great astronomical events that will precede the day of the Lord. And prophecy also describes astronomical events that will occur during the day of the Lord. But these events will be due to God's direct intervention in the laws that control the movement of the heavenly bodies. Otherwise, God would be locked into events that are controlled by the physical laws that control the movement of the heavenly bodies. But as we have seen in what those people who are what we would call valid scientists and astronomers, like the people at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and other places, say that there is no great cataclysmic astronomical event on the horizon. So those who say, well, we're about to have a collision with Nimburu or some other thing, it's not there. But great astronomical events are going to occur. But they will be through the power and control of Almighty God when He overrides and supernaturally intervenes in the course of human events.

So at this critical crucial time in the history of the Church of God, this critical crucial time in the history of the world, are we willing to have the courage to be intellectually honest, not continue to be sycophantic spin doctors and apologists? A sycophant is one who goes along and, as we call him, bootlickers to just gain favor and status in whatever it is.

One who will really stand up for the truth and not be one who tries to justify and reconcile things that cannot be reconciled. The Word of God is true, and it agrees with itself.

Those who try to draw out followers for themselves will say, I don't know, well, maybe they'll say they're changing doctrine, not clinging to the faith once delivered. Never mind intellectual honesty and the truth. We want to draw out followers for ourselves through the way of gossip, accusation, while claiming they're the true defenders of the teaching of Mr. Armstrong.

And I heard sad news before services began today. The one you know well. I will not call the name at this time. Has left. When will we get excited about being totally committed to preaching, teaching, believing, obeying the truth taught by Jesus Christ?

Go to John chapter 8, John 8, verse 31. I built my philosophy of education, the things I wrote in the catalog, Ambassador, as we saw it, accreditation and through the years of liberal education, based on this set of scriptures and also the inscription I saw over the Administration Building when I stepped onto the campus of Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Over the Administration Building, it said, The state hath decreed that only free men shall be educated. You know, the slave, the bondsman, the lower levels of society, they were not worthy of education in the ancient world. And it was only in this country, eventually, that education of the masses came to be somewhat of a worldwide phenomenon. Thomas Jefferson advocated that all Americans should have at least a third grade education, be able to read and write, otherwise you cannot be able to sustain a democracy. To just be educated, even have an elementary education, compared to what was allowed in the ancient world, and up to about two centuries ago, only the very higher class, so-called, were able to do it. So this inscription said, But God hath decreed that only educated men are free. And what is that education? What should it be based on? Well, the great mottos that the church and the master of college established, the Word of God is a foundation of knowledge and recapture true values, recapture true values based on the Word of God. Jesus Christ says, John 8, 31, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples, my students, my learners indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Verse 36, If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. That is the road, the path to true freedom. Do you love the truth? Do you want to be freed from fear, ignorance, superstition, and the dogmas of man? In 1987, I was named Vice Chancellor of the two colleges, Pasadena and Big Sandy campuses. Shortly after I arrived there, I gave a Bible study in the auditorium there in Pasadena on a Friday night. It was titled, The Last Battleground. What will be the last battleground?

The last battleground will not center on the alleged sins and actions of an organization, council, or administration.

The last battleground will center on the truth of God and obedience to God's truth. An organization, a council, or administration may be relevant and held accountable if they are not willing to preach and teach the truth. Now we go back to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy 4. We read the first five verses of chapter 3. Paul writing to this young evangelist. Paul was in prison during this time. Timothy was becoming timid. Timothy wanting to back down. And people, of course, were saying all kinds of things about Paul. 2 Timothy 4.1, I charge you therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant, end season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. Well, I'm going to go where I like what they say. I don't like the way they say it. I don't like what... I don't even like the way he looks or talks. I want to hear smooth things. I want to hear things that I agree with. I've studied myself, you know.

It's fine if it agrees with the Word of God. And I hope we all study, be able to show ourselves a workman unto God that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into fables.

Brethren, don't ever let that happen to any of us. But watch you in all things and do our afflictions through the work of evangelists make foolproof of your ministry.

So do you want to be free from fear, ignorant superstition, the dogmas of man? You can be set free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. So what does the Bible teach about the end times? The prophecies concerning the end times centers on these principal areas, not all inclusive here. The state of the Church of God. Yeah, the state of the Church of God.

Even the Scripture that when the Son of Man returns, shall he find the faith on the earth. The Scripture that says, because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. The Scripture that says that some will have their conscience seared with a hot iron and depart from the faith. The Scripture we read from 2 Timothy 3, verse 5, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. The Scripture in Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins, five wise, five foolish. The Scripture has a lot to say about the state of the Church at the end of the age, in Isaiah also, and other places. The moral state of the peoples of the world, a call to repentance. Who will make the call to repentance? The actions of the devil, the beast, the false prophet, the actions of political leaders. Events leading up to the great tribulation and the day of the Lord. We read from Ezekiel that the prophets of the land have not prepared the people for the day of the Lord. The activities of the two witnesses, the three angels' message, the battle of the great day of God Almighty, the return of Christ, the millennium, and beyond. We generally focus on who is the beast, who is the false prophet, the great tribulation, moral and spiritual condition of the nations, the return of Christ, and the millennium. To understand prophecy, one must understand the basis of the battle of the ages. From the rebellion of Satan and the demons to the present day, a great spiritual battle has been waged, and it continues to be waged. Satan and the demons are on an insatiable quest to break prophecy and become the object of worship. The promises of God are covenantal. That means that they are based on various covenants that God has established with humankind. It means that if you worship me and obey me, I will bless you. But the greatest covenant is a covenant God makes with a repentance center upon repentance, faith in the sacrifice of Christ being baptized, receiving the laying on of hands and the Holy Spirit.

It bridges the great gulf between mortality and immortality. Notice Psalm 50. If you aren't familiar with Psalm 50, you need to get familiar with Psalm 50. Psalm 50 shows the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Psalm 50, verse 1. And it talks about this covenant that we make. In Psalm 50, verse 1, Remember Hebrews 12-22? You have come to the city of the living God, to the General Assembly, and the Church of the Firstborn unto Zion. Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God has shined. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestious round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather, my saints, together unto me those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

See, we covenant with God at baptism. We are making a covenant of God that we are going to crucify the old man and live in newness of life.

Now, since the dire prophecies of 2012 focus to a large degree on astronomical events, let's note some of the more significant heavenly signs in their sequence. First of all, we need to know and know that we know that God has authority over the universe and all things therein.

God has authority over it all. Let's go to Colossians. See, we have entered into this covenant of sacrifice that we just read about here, and then Paul in Romans 12.1 says, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service.

In Colossians chapter 1, we will see that God is in control of everything, and He has rulership over all things, all physical things, visible and invisible, all things, living and inanimate. In Colossians 1, verse 13, Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, has translated us in the kingdom of his dear son, talking about God the Father, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the blood of the dearest son, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the prototicoast of every creature, firstborn.

In Revelation 1, verse 5, the prototicoast's resurrection is equated with birth.

For above him were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. All things. Nothing left out.

And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that he might have the preeminence. For it please the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. God's view of those who did not respond to his word and worship the sun, moon and stars is given in the Bible. Let's go to Jeremiah 7. God is in control of everything, the heavenly bodies, and he can intervene in the heavenly bodies. And as we shall see, he has intervened from time to time, and he has all power over them. So we want to talk about the end times and signs of the heavens. What does the Bible really say at our we to place any credence on the worship of the sun, moon and stars? In Jeremiah 7, verse 21, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices and eat flesh. For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. He wanted them to simply obey him, trust him, look to him as their God and King.

But this thing commanded unto them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, you shall be my people. Walk you in the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. But they hearken not, nor inclined the air, but walked in their counsels, in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt, and to this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets daily, rising up early and sending them. Yet they hearken not unto me, nor inclined the air, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore shall you speak all the words unto them, but they will not hearken to you. You shall also call unto them, but they will not answer you. So this is what they did. Down in verse 31. And they have built the high places up top it, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and that is the place where, quote, Gihinnah, fire burns. To burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not, it never came into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, says the Lord, that it shall no more be called toff it, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter, where they shall bury and top it there, till there be no place found. What was the big reason, to a large degree, that they did these things? It is because they worshiped the sun, the moon, and the stars, and did not worship the true God.

In Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 15. Take you therefore good heed unto yourselves, where you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spoke unto you in horror, out of the midst of the fire. Lest you corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth. Lest you lift up your eyes unto heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, should be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God hath divided unto all nations unto the whole heaven. God says, don't do that. Turn now to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17 and verse 1. Deuteronomy 17 verse 1. You shall not sacrifice unto the Lord your God any bullock or sheep wherein any blemish or any evil favoredness, for it is an abomination of the Lord your God.

Verse 3. You have gone and served other gods and worshipped them, either the sun or moon or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded. And if it be told you, and you have heard of it, and inquire diligently, and behold, if it be true, and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, you should bring forth that man or that woman that have committed that wicked thing unto their gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones till they die. That is the punishment for worshiping idols, including the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. God intervened at crucial times during Israel's journey to the Promised Land. God intervened in the days of Hezekiah, on the way to the Promised Land. The sun stood still. The days of Hezekiah, the promise to Hezekiah, was confirmed by the sundial going backward for ten degrees. God supernaturally intervenes before the day of the Lord. During the day of the Lord, there is very little light. And then at some point during this time of the trumpet plagues, the sun is going to be seven-fold hotter than it usually is. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be dark and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now we go to Revelation. I'm going to come back and follow up with the sermon on this about the heavenly signs and heavenly bodies, and you'll be surprised at some of the things that are contained therein. In Revelation 6, verse 12. In Revelation 6, verse 12, And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth of hair. This is not because of any astronomical kind of prediction or astrological. As a result of, quote, a natural physical law of a planet about to bump into earth, or a comet, or whatever you want to say, this is God intervening.

The sun became black as sackcloth of hair. The moon became his blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth. Now there has to be a lot of figurative language. The earth is not as large as most of the stars. But, you have, the Bible says, that stars represent angels, and there are fallen angels. And Satan is the God of this present evil world. And God is going to strip the heavens of that evil power. So some of this language is figurative, some is literal. The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs when she shaken of a mighty wind. The heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains.

And said to the mountains and rocks, fallen us, hide us from the face, from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand? Yes, great heavenly signs are going to occur, great astronomical events, great earth-shattering and literal earth-shaking events are going to take place. But it is through the intervention of Almighty God when he overrides, quote, the natural astronomical laws and does these things.

Here is what we need to do. Joel, chapter 2. Joel, chapter 2, verse 1. Blow you the trumpet in Zion. Zion, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn. Hebrews 12, 22. Blow you the trumpet in Zion. Sound an alarm in my holy mouth, and let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. For the day of the Lord comes, for it is a day for it is nigh at hand. Verse 12. Therefore also now says the Lord, Turn you even to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. Run your hearts, not your garments. Turn unto the eternal your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. And repents Him. This word repents means having to do with changing mind, not repenting of evil. He might change Him, change His mind concerning the evil. Who knows if He will return and repent and leave a blessing behind Him and a meat offering and a drink offering and the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion. See the voice. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Show Jacob their sins and my people their transgressions. Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the people. Sanctify the congregation. Assemble the elders. Gather the children. Those that suck the breast. Let the bridegroom go forth of His chamber and the bride the church out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar. And let them say, Spare your people, O eternal, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? Then, when, then, will the Lord be jealous for His land and piteous people? So, brethren, there are so many things out here in the Word of God, and we are at that critical, crucial juncture in human history where we really need to take heed. 2012 is going to be one of the most pivotal years in human history. We cannot imagine we don't know for sure what lies ahead. We do know that Paul says, Lift up your head when you see these things, because you know your redemption draweth nigh. We also know that we have been given this great commission, the great commission to take this gospel to the world and also to prepare a people. So, brethren, let us continually strive to grow in every way. I am tremendously encouraged by what I have seen here in this congregation since I've been here. I believe that we are growing closer to each other. I mean, the things that you have done for Wanda and I, we cannot adequately express how thankful we are. The service I've seen you render to others is above and beyond the call of duty. And for even events like we're going to experience after services today with a potluck and then enjoying one another, and who knows, I may even sing. So, let's be thankful and continue to carry on in a way that is pleasing to God.