The State of the World, Part 2

We began to talk about the Beast of Revelation, if you remember. And I'm going to spend just a couple of minutes recapping what we talked about last week. But when we talked about the Beast of Revelation, you'll recall that when John saw the beast arising out of the sea, as it says in Revelation 13, it was a surprise to him. He saw something arising that hadn't been seen before. And just like us, when we see something out of the sea, it's a surprise. Revelation 13, the whole world marveled after that beast. Now, when the Bible calls something a beast, it really is a beast. It is a tough power. It's a government, is what it's talking about there in Revelation 13. But not like the government that we have grown up with, you and I. Not a government that's kind, not a government that gives us freedoms, but a government that's as tough as iron. And that makes people do exactly what it wants to do. And if you don't do what that government asks you to do, you pay the price. And so, we discussed where that power was, that beast that's going to arise out of the sea, as we looked at a few maps. And we got a little bit... we started talking a little bit about why that beast might unify. Let me put up a... let me go through a few slides here. That's the map of Europe we looked at last week.

You'll recall the fourth... the fourth... in fact, let's go back to Daniel 7 and set the stage in Daniel 7 here as I... as I flap... as I put that slide up. In Daniel 7, which is a corollary account to Revelation 13 of the beasts that are going to rise on the earth, Daniel talks about a fourth beast that he sees. And the fourth beast, if you recall, was far different than the three beasts. The three governments, the three world-earling empires that came before him.

Let's pick it up in Daniel 7 and verse 7. He says, I want you to focus or think about those words, a terrible beast. And when it came up out of the sea, it came up out of the great sea. Okay? The Mediterranean, that there is in the midst of where civilization began, where three continents merge. And as people spread out from the Middle East over into Africa, up into Asia, and over into Europe, we had an empire, four empires, that Daniel, that God showed Daniel, would dominate the earth from that time until the time that Christ returned.

The fourth one of those beasts was the Roman Empire. This was the extent of the Roman Empire in 9 AD when Christ was alive. You can just see how much of the earth that was civilized or populated at that time, that empire controlled. Now, we also talked last week about something called the Pax Romana. And during that time of the Roman Empire, in the first couple centuries of it, or during it, was a time of peace that allowed Jesus Christ to be able to preach the gospel for the apostles to go around and establish churches in various areas.

And we compared that to the time we live in now, where we have a government that allows freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. The gospel that Jesus Christ said would be preached around the world as a witness to all nations before He returned could not be preached as effectively if we didn't live in the times that we do now. And so we have this fourth base, and it grew a little bit at the time before it's end in 336 AD.

In 336 AD, Constantine was the emperor at that time. And you remember him from the Council of Nicaea. I don't know if we'll get that far today in talking about it. I didn't get that far in Jacksonville today. But you can see that the empire further expanded, and the empire was now extending over into Britain. I want to preface this with four verses as we go through this.

So I want you to turn back to me, two of whom we talked about last week, and two I want to add to today. Let's go back to Mark 13. Mark 13 and verse 35.

And as we talked today, as we talked last week, keep these verses in mind. Because what is recorded there in Revelation, what is recorded in the minor prophets and the major prophets, is very important to us. And God wanted us to know what was going to happen. And He expected us to be preparing our minds, preparing our hearts for that time. Mark 13 verse 35, Christ speaking, He says, Watch therefore, for you don't know when the master of the house is coming, in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning.

Lest coming suddenly, He finds you sleeping. Now what I say to you, I say to all, watch. Watch what's going on in the world around. He gave us the signs of what the time of the end would be like. In the Olivet prophecy, He was pretty detailed about the type of things that would occur before He returned. He wasn't saying anything brand new, because in the prophets of old, those same type things were discussed and put in there.

And certainly, Revelation brings it all together as we see God unveil and make clearer what the end of the time would be. Watch. Watch the things that are happening. Know that what this is going to come. Remember, we also talked about we need to watch ourselves. It says less than He'd come and find any of you sleeping. None of us want to be asleep when these times occur. None of us want to be left asleep.

So watch ourselves compare our lives to what is in the Bible and live accordingly. Let's go back to Matthew 24. And after Christ describes to His disciples then and to us now what the signs of the end of the age will be, He cautions them to pay attention to what's going on around them. Matthew 24 and in verse 32. It says, Now learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near at the doors. Assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. What will happen and what He said will happen will happen. And He said, watch the signs. You'll know when the time is near. Just watch for the signs in the world around you, just as you look for those buds as summer draws near. Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, 20.

Paul writing, but Jesus Christ Himself talked about this very same concept in the Sermon in the Mount. Ephesians 2, verse 20. Let's begin in verse 19 where the sentence begins. It says, Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, being built on the apostles. Today we look at the New Testament. We read the writings. We understand they were inspired by God, and we learn those principles and we apply them into our lives. But we also look at the prophets. We also look at the Old Testament, because that is part of the foundation that Jesus Christ built on Himself being the chief cornerstone. So when we read prophets and when we read a prophecy of Revelation, and we see that it's supported in Daniel, as you've read through some of the minor prophets, you probably read through some verses in there that you know didn't take place at the time of ancient Israel and Judah. They're for a future time. Those prophecies are as sure as Jesus Christ saying them Himself, because He inspired them. The whole Bible is the foundation, and the prophets of old are just part of that foundation. So when we refer back to them, don't find yourself thinking that that's an unnecessary process. It's a very necessary process because the whole Bible points to the return of Jesus Christ, it points to the time that His kingdom is established. Finally, let's go back to Ecclesiastes 1 and just rehearse a principle that is just true of human nature, mankind, and nations. Because human nature, it may be extant in one civilization and another, one civilization may be more advanced than the next. But human nature just does the same thing over and over and over and over again. And if we do something, there is an effect that God tells us what that effect will be in the Bible. So there's a cause for every effect, and the history tends to process or repeat itself. Ecclesiastes 1 verse 9, that which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. So when God tells us through Paul in 2 Corinthians 10 that all those things that happened in the Old Testament happened to us, for example, we can use those things because the people have the same human nature that we have. And if it happens to them, we will do the same thing at what makes us different as God's Holy Spirit. Not our strength, not our might, not our will, but His Holy Spirit keeps us from repeating the same mistakes that the people of old made and that the people of this world make. First hand, is there anything I wish it may say, maybe said, see this is new? It's already been in ancient times before us. So sometimes when we see what has gone on in the time before with ancient Israel and ancient Judah, when they received God's instruction and then just decided they would reject it, that it didn't really apply to them and they just as soon forget God even existed and just do their own thing, what befell them will certainly befall any people who rejects God. If they obey Him, the blessings will allure to them, but if they reject Him, the blessings will fail. Okay, let's go back to Revelation 13.

Let's talk about this beast power. Revelation 13, verse 1. John writing, he says, Daniel 7, Daniel stood at the great sea and he saw beasts arising. John stood on the sand of the sea and he saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns and on his horns ten crowns and on his heads a blasphemous name, something apart from God, something putting maybe himself in place of God. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth were like that of a lion. He had the characteristics of the world ruling empires that had come before him, but this beast was different, we read in Daniel 7.

The dragon, and we remember the dragon in Revelation 12.9 is Satan. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. Let's drop down to verse, the middle of verse 4. All the world marveled, and followed the beast. This cruel, tough, iron-teeth government, all the world followed it. And the world marveled when this came up out of the sea.

He was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. When we left off last time, I think we had a picture of the statue that Daniel saw in Daniel 2. And God revealed to him that that statue from the head of bronze down to the toes of partly clay and partly iron represented four world-ruling kingdoms that were going to be on the earth from that time until the time Jesus Christ returned. And if you recall, we talked about the legs of iron that represent the Roman Empire that you see on that graphic up there. The Roman Empire was, indeed, had two divisions, an eastern and western division, just like a man has two legs. And it extended from that time it began all the way till the end of time. The legs going all the way down to the feet, and the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. And it was in Daniel 2, you remember, it was in that time of the feet that the stone came from Jesus Christ, smashing the feet and claiming the empires of this world for himself and established a kingdom that would last forever. Now the toes, the feet of iron mixed with clay, show that this is indeed a strong empire at the end of time. It's a strong empire different than what you and I have grown up with. We have to keep remembering that. What is coming is not like what we have today. We haven't lived in an environment like what is going to be coming on this world. We haven't lived in a cruel, vicious government that would be classified as a beast.

But this empire is marked by strength, but it's also marked by a union that just doesn't, just is not as cohesive as it should be. It's made of developments that don't naturally combine. And so we have, out of the Europe that we saw just a few pictures ago, we see a lot of nations there today. In fact, let me... yep. This is, I think, the last slide that was up last week, what the European Union is. And you see up there a lot of nations in green that have combined together to form a union for a purpose today. But those countries aren't natural allies. Down through history, they've been enemies with one another. Down through the course of time, wars have been fought. And it's always been by force that an empire was fashioned out of those countries. But today, willingly, not because they love each other and because they have all this affinity with one another, they have a purpose in mind. And you remember what that purpose was that we touched on last week? Let's go back to Revelation 18 and look and see what one of the purposes that this union or this beast power at the end of time is going to coalesce into a power that the world marvels over, that they look at, that they even will bow down and worship because of the status that it has around the globe. Revelation 18 and verse 2. He cried mightily, speaking of an angel with a loud voice saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen. This is talking about at the time that God is coming to going to destroy this empire that's there. Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen. It has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations, all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.

Strong economy over there among this beast power. The merchants of the earth, not just the merchants of the northern boundaries of the Mediterranean Sea, but the merchants of the earth have become rich. Rich as a result of allying, looking at, and worshiping this beast that is coming on the earth. Shrap down to verse 11. The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore. Merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citrine wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble, and cinnamon and incense, fragrance, oil, and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots. And then look at the last one that they traded in. The bodies and souls of men. Quite a wealthy empire. The merchants of the world became rich by trading in these things listed here, and all the earth looked to that empire.

Now let's pause there for a moment. We know that the European Union today, the main reason it came together was to form an economic and a trading block so that it could compete in the world today. That's what has driven it together. And as we look at the pages of the Bible, what lies ahead and the beast power, the government and the state of the world, as we look down the road before the time of Jesus Christ, there's a government that's in place over here that comes out of the sea. That's a continuation of a beast that began back after the Greeks were defeated and the first Roman Empire was established, and it's based on economy.

Now if we look at the picture that the Bible paints for us today, a question might arise in your mind. If all the world is looking to Europe as the economic powerhouse, if all the world is marveling after Europe, if all the trading is happening through Europe, where's America?

Where does the world look today for economic strength? They look to America, don't they?

Where does the world look today when it wants to trade and when it wants to to look at someone who is the leader in the world in economy and currency? They look at America.

Even with our trials, even with the problems that we've had in the last six and seven years, the world still looks to America today. So when we see the world, the state of the world at the time before Jesus Christ returns, we don't see the world looking at America. You don't see America mentioned in the pages of Revelation. You don't see modern-day Israel, Ephraim, and Manasseh who the nations of America and Britain and the English-speaking nations are. You don't find them there. The world is looking in a different direction. They're looking there. That's where sustenance is. That's where wealth is. That's where I'm going to become rich. And the world, for three and a half years, that participates with this system becomes very wealthy.

But remember where the power of that empire comes from. So where is America? What happens to America between now and the time that that beast power is the dominating one on the face of the earth?

Well, if we follow Christ's admonition, we can look at some buds on trees. We can look at the state of where America is today and maybe see a direction that is going that would indicate that America may not be around at that time. Let's look at—I've got seven economic indicators here— of things that are here in America today that will need to change or there are indicators, buds on the leaves, you will, of something that may be near for America. The first one we'll call reserve currency. I would guess most of you know what the reserve currency is. As long as I've been alive, America has had the reserve currency of the world. And having the reserve currency of the world, the dollar, is a pretty valuable thing. None of us that have lived in America or grown up in America know what it's like to live in a country where the whole world isn't looking toward your economic, for your currency, as the gold standard of the world. Oil is priced in terms of dollars. You can wave a dollar in many countries and they're going to be ready to grab it.

And it has some real economic advantages. Let me read to you from an article from Reuters that talks about the reserve currency and the value it has for America. So the reserve currency is one that is held in significant quantities by governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves, one that is commonly used in international transactions. Persons who live in a country that issue a reserve currency can purchase imports and borrow across borders more cheaply than people in other nations. Such nations get certain benefits that are called the exorbitant privilege. And for decades and decades and decades, America has had that exorbitant privilege. Some economists state that the United States gives us an advantage of at least 100 billion dollars a year because it owns or controls the reserve currency of the world.

And I think in terms of reality, that 100 billion dollar advantage is even somewhat understated. And because the United States has that, it has certain other advantages that other nations do not. One of those advantages that we have is something that you've heard about on the news. The United States can print money at will. And you've heard about the Federal Reserve buying up bonds and just having credits on banks and whatever. No other country can do what we can do.

China can't do that. Europe can't do that. Only we can do that because we have the reserve currency and we can print up this money and we can infuse money into an economy to make it appear to be something that it's not. Over the last years, Reuter says, especially since 2008, there has been considerable talk, especially from China, Russia, and the oil-producing nations about moving the world toward a super sovereign reserve currency. Similar discussions have been had in Europe by the Board for Global Financial Stability. So this reserve currency that allows us to print money, that allows us to pump money into an economy to make it appear stable.

Something that the rest of the world doesn't have, the rest of the world since 2008 and the economic crisis that occurred then, is looking and asking, why does it have to be the dollar? How stable is the dollar? China would very much like to have their currency be the reserve currency. So would Russia. So would the Middle Eastern nations. And so would Europe. But the talk is about a new currency that would be a global currency that would become the reserve currency. If America...

I'll put two up there. I've already discussed it a little bit. One of the things Reuter says is is it allows us to create money from nothing, and that's exactly what we do. But what the United States has been doing in pumping 85 billion dollars a month into federal bonds, pretty much putting, holding the economy up. What this, what has been happening has never happened in the world before. There has no history of an economy doing what we've been doing. So the fallout, no one really knows for sure what is going to happen. One of the risks, it's a high risk, is that inflation would take control, and that all of a sudden the dollar, which seems to be stable and we live in an environment that has one or two percent inflation now, would spiral out of control.

And it would send the dollar and our economy into a frenzy. But no one knows exactly what the fallout of it is. There's been so much money pumped into the economy since 2008 that the real value of the dollar, no one knows. No one knows. Now, as you've been reading about Mr. Bernanke resigning his office at the end of January and Janet Yellen taking up the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve, one of the challenges that she faces is, what do we do? Since 2008, we've been pumping a ton of money into the economy. When we've tried pulling back a little bit, interest rates have soared. There's been out prize. People want lower interest rates. And one of the reasons you would do this is to stimulate the economy. That if you pump money into it, you keep interest rates low, more companies are going to go out and buy equipment, hire more people, and that that's going to stimulate growth. It simply hasn't happened that way. It hasn't happened the way that the economists and the Federal Reserve had hoped it would. The stock market has certainly increased, but the economy overall is not in the state that they had hoped it would be at this time. So there's a high risk involved in it, and no one knows exactly what is going to happen because you can't pump 85 billion dollars a month into your economy forever and ever and ever. It just simply can't be done. And somewhere down the road, if you look at the buds on the trees, the day is coming that that 85 billion has to be weaned back. And it's anyone's guess what is going to happen at the time that that occurs.

Another thing you see occurring in the stock market these days is something that occurred back in the early 2000s and late 90s. You see tech stocks soaring. I read an article that showed that of the IPOs that were introduced in 2012, they have escalated in value by 170 percent. It's ridiculous the amount that they've gained when you look at it in terms especially of their profitability because many of these companies haven't made money to justify that increase in stock. So we have a stock market that's at record highs, but no one really knows why those record highs are there except that 85 billion dollars a month. A trillion dollars a year has been pumped into the economy. And you have stocks like Twitter. I've heard of Twitter. I have no idea what Twitter does, what the value of it is, but when that stock had the initial public offering, the IPO, just a little while ago, the stock soared. So you may have even seen on the news where Twitter was worth more than some of the great companies. Today it's gone down in value a little bit. It's still worth more than General Mills. It's been around forever and the gender rate's a pretty good profit. Twitter has no profit, and yet it's worth. I think I've got 50 billion up there. I think with what's going on this week, it's gone down to 40 billion dollars. That's an awfully lot of money invested in a company that hasn't generated any profits yet. A lot of speculation going on in the stock market. Speculation that wasn't there 20, 30, 40 years ago when the value of a stock was based on its income and expected earnings, not just on speculation and a roll of the dice.

Everyone, I guess everyone's heard of Warren Buffett. He's made billions in the stock market, and people look to him as kind of a guru that he, you know, what he says, you know, he can kind of read the economy. He is one of the people that out of the 2008 debacle, you know, he came out looking pretty good. Well, he says of all the indicators that you look at in economy, one of the chief ones you should look at is what is the comparison or what is the ratio of the stock market value, the total value of all the stocks, to the gross domestic product? And if that exceeds the norm, then you're headed toward a problem in the economy. The norm for the total value of all stocks on the stock market is 115%. Today, to compare the value of stocks to a gross domestic product is 134%. Now, I'm going to say, but I don't know if I read this or just looking at the numbers, I believe it. It's never been that high before. So you can look at these seven indicators, and you can kind of say they're buds on the trees. The news is going to paint a rosy picture of how well the economy is doing, how high the stock market is, how much everyone's 401k has increased in value. But if you look at the buds on the trees, maybe it's another tree that's about to bloom.

Maybe, maybe it's an indicator of why America isn't there in Revelation 13.

Why America is no longer the economy, the country the people are looking at, but they're looking at a beast power. That's cruel. That doesn't have the freedoms. That isn't the nice government that we have today. But a very cruel government, but everyone is looking toward it. Everyone is bowing down to it. Everyone whose name isn't written in the book of life. Well, God lets us know what the effect of some of the causes and the things we do in our life are.

He does that way back in the beginning of the Bible. Let's go to Deuteronomy 28.

You know what? There's a seventh one. I just saw it in my notes here. Of course, we could talk all day about our national debt. It's out of control. The national debt is 17 trillion dollars. Unfunded obligations in the United States are 120 trillion dollars. How that ever gets paid down is anyone's guess. The numbers are beyond any of our capacity to even understand.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy 28 and see some of the things that God said to a people who he has blessed.

In Deuteronomy 28 and verse 8, in Deuteronomy 28, the other chapters, Leviticus 26, where he will talk about the blessings that will occur to nations that obey him and his people. Then if they decide to turn from him and reject him, what will befall them?

Chapter 28 verse 8.

The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses, and in all to which you set your hand, and he will bless you in the land which the Eternal your God is giving you. He said that to Israel then. He says it to his people today, the nation that he has blessed, the descendants of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, who put his name on Ephraim and Manasseh, who are the English-speaking peoples today. Verse 9, the Eternal will establish you as the holy people to himself, just as he has sworn to you. If you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. If you do, and in this chapter he recounts those things, he'll fill the storehouses. The economy will be strong. You will be blessed. But later on in the chapter, he says, if you turn from me, what will happen? Let's look at verse 15. But it shall come to pass if you don't obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. And then he goes through and he lists all these things that are going to occur. Let's drop down to verse 43. Verse 43, the alien who is among you will rise higher and higher above you, and you will come lower and lower. Today the United States owes more money than any other nation in the world. There has never been a nation with a greater debt or percentage of death in the United States of America. Now, one time as the world's greatest nation, it lent more money out to anyone. But in a matter of a few decades, it's become the bottom of the heap. And when you look at all the nations and the debt incurred, the United States is right at the bottom.

We know during that time, those decades that we're talking about, what has the United States done?

They have done everything. Every judgment has come out to take God out of everything in our society.

Take prayer out of schools. Forget that God exists. The whole nation is as what we read last week, and what the people at the end of time would be like. They might want to say that they follow God, or they might want to keep Him in their memory and say, God, I'm a Christian, but you know what, if they don't do what's in the Bible, they're denying the power thereof. And we live in a world that ignores God, ignores His ways, wants to follow their own way. The leaves on the bud, and here we have a people that depart from God, and God said to that nation, His people, the alien will rise higher and higher above you. You'll come lower and lower. He'll lend to you, but you won't lend to Him. He'll be the head, and you'll be the tail.

And then He goes on and ominously says, moreover, all these curses will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you didn't obey the voice of the eternal your God or keep His commandments.

Maybe that's what happens to America. Maybe that's why they're not there in Revelation 13, and the world is looking at a different power. In Leviticus 26, an economy is one of the reasons that Europe, the northern power there on the Mediterranean Sea, has come together. And certainly, economy is what binds those pieces together as we look at that beast power in Revelation 13. And as the pieces that don't, naturally, cohes to each other come together, they have become a very economically strong power. Over in Leviticus 26, the other chapter that talks about the blessings and curses that come to nations that obey God or conversely reject Him, we find this in verse 14.

If you don't obey Me, and of course the first part of the chapter talks about the blessings that will endure, but if you don't obey Me in verse 14, and you don't observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you don't perform My commandments, but you break My covenant, I'll do this to you. I will appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which will consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.

I will appoint terror over you. Terror is a type of warfare that to Americans is relatively new. You know, before 2001, I don't think we really thought much about terrorism, but in 2001, it came strikingly home when that morning we woke up and heard of planes that were used as attack weapons to bring down the World Trade Towers.

And all of a sudden, terrorism was something we had to deal with, and the world has never, or America has never been the same since. It was something that was unforeseen. It was something that would be hard to predict. Even if you heard of the plans of some of these things, you would think, no, no one would do that, but terror is just that. And God said, I will appoint terror over you. You know, Israel had an episode of terror way back in the beginning as well. Let's turn back to Deuteronomy 25 and see where terrorism began, or a act of terror. And, of course, terror is a different type of warfare. For millennia, warfare has been waged between army and army, Navy and Navy, Air Force and Air Force. But terror is warfare in a different way. Deuteronomy 25 and verse 17.

Moses here, speaking to Israel before his life is going to be over, he says, remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt. Remember, God brought Israel out of Egypt. And he says, remember this incident, how Amalek met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary. And he didn't fear God. He didn't attack as army to army. He didn't come out and engage the men at the front of the line. He went to the very back and he decided he was going to attack and kill the weary, the tired, the weak who might be being protected by the front.

And so that defines what terrorism is today. It's more cowardly acts of war that are waged on people. But you can go on to a bus, as we saw happen in Russia just the week before last.

And all of a sudden the bomb goes off and 34 people are killed. But you might be in a train station like we saw the graphic pictures just a couple weeks ago as well in Russia. And all of a sudden bomb goes off and, unsuspectingly, you find yourself a victim of terror. Or like the people up in Boston at the marathon last year, unsuspectingly a bomb goes off. Some lost their lives, others were crippled. And so we live in a world where the headlines today are more where the headlines today are more dominated by terror than they are by actual warfare. All over the world and over the Middle East you see acts of terror. Here in America we have spent untold dollars to protect ourselves against terror. And it's only by the grace of God that more terrorist acts haven't been successful here in America. When he removes that protection, all of us, all of us today, are in danger. When we walk out to a mall, we don't know what's going to happen. When we hop on a public bus, we don't know what's going to happen. When we go to the airport and fly to wherever we're flying, we don't know what's going to happen. Because we live in that type of environment. Over in Psalm 83 and verse 3, the psalmist here records words that applied to a society back then, but there's nothing new under the sun. And as we read these words, we know that there are people in the world today who would say these exact same words, and it fits perfectly the age that we live in. They've taken, verse 3 of Psalm 83, they've taken crafty counsel against your people. They've consulted together against your sheltered ones. They said, come, let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel may be remembered. No more.

Let's eliminate them from the face of the earth. We don't want anything to do with them.

An Amalek, the Amalekites, wanted to eliminate Israel.

Now today there's a little country in the Middle East called Israel, and you've heard the rattling of swords where people have said, we would just like to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. You've heard that, right? In your very lifetime. Leaders. Leaders say that very thing. They've taken crafty counsel on your people, and they say, let's just cut them off from being a nation. And you know the other two nations, when they talk about Israel that always follow right behind? They'd like to see the little nation of Israel eliminated from earth. They'd like to see America gone. They'd like to see Britain gone. That's where their focus is. Modern day, Ephraim, Manasseh, and Judah. And so we live in a world that is marked with terror.

And we see things happening around us today that are a little different with the advent of a new Iranian president. With the old Iranian president, Ahmadinejad, he was very straightforward when he said that his wish was for a world that would be absent of Israel, the United States of America and Britain. He saw those nations as the Great Satan, and that it would be a blessing and a glory to his God if those nations were eliminated. The new president, Rouhani, is a little more coy in what he says. In fact, he claims that he would be as much for nuclear disarmament of his nation as the United States is. I smile when I hear those things, and I wonder how many people are believing him. But you know, just this week, someone from his parliament issued this statement.

The Jerusalem Post reports, Iranian parliament representative, Muhammad Naba'evian, said that Iran needs a nuclear bomb because of Israel. And this is his quote, We don't aspire to obtain a nuclear bomb, but it is necessary so we can put Israel in its place.

He said in a speech the Friday before January 8th. It was posted on Middle East Media Research the very next day it was taken down. It's a quote.

Now, I have a feeling President Rouhani, when he read that quote, wasn't happy. Wait a minute.

I've been telling people we don't want a nuclear bomb. We don't want that kind of rhetoric out there. But every once in a while, when you see a butt on a tree, you realize there's the same sentiment. We would like a nuclear bomb because we would like Israel out of the Middle East.

And of course, we hear other countries, little rogue countries, North Korea. That doesn't mince any words with what it would like to do with its nuclear capabilities. South Korea is in its target. It would love to have a bomb that would reach over to America. He has made that perfectly clear. We have other nations that are out there, and nuclear weaponry is pretty extant in the world. Today, it's in the hands of friendly hands, for the most part. But if those hands are no longer friendly, you can imagine what would happen.

I'm going to read a few more quotes from some of the terrorist organizations that we're learning are alive and well in the world around us. Just this past week, or maybe the week before, we learned that Al Qaeda is alive and well.

And it's kind of like the same thing is happening in Iraq that happened back before we went in there. They go in, they take over the city of Fallujah, and it's like everything that had been done was undone. And so you have that happening all over again. Here's what the former Iraqi national security adviser said about the people that have invaded Fallujah. These guys, he says, the militants, they're highly motivated. They're very well trained. They can do this because they are brainwashed. Their understanding of Islam is highly selective. They're brutal. They're ruthless. They are after anarchy. He sees clearly what's going on. He's living right in the midst of it. He knows what the sentiment of the people who work these acts are.

Brutal. Ruthless. After anarchy.

Another report says this. You've heard of Hamas and Hezbollah, along with Al Qaeda. The ultimate goal, and this is a quote from the Hamas minister, Fatih Hamad, says the ultimate goal of the Hamas movement is to establish Islam worldwide.

We will liberate our land, and he was making the speech in in Gaza. We will liberate our land. We will liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We will liberate our cities and villages as a prelude to the establishment of the future Islamic Caliphate. Therefore, brothers and sisters, he said, we are at the threshold of a global Islamic civilization era.

Any doubt when you read words that come from their very own mouths what the aspirations of the Middle East are? They can couch it whenever they want, but they're very similar to the sentiment that's here in Psalm 83 verse 3. Now, a few years ago, you'll remember a phenomena called the Arab Spring, where all of a sudden the Middle Eastern countries, the Northern African countries, began to have revolutions, a lot of them fueled by cell phones and other things.

And as those governments began to fall, long-standing leaders that we would have called in America dictators and tyrants, but the area was fairly stable during that time, began to fall.

And this map shows you a map that I showed you back a few years ago of what had happened at that time. And all those countries shaded green had these type of revolutions going on, where long-seated governments were being unseated. As many of those governments were overthrown, the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamic governments were put in there. Now, some of those have since retreated. Egypt threw out their Muslim Brotherhood government, and now they have classified the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Saudi Arabia, where there was some noise being made, has since recessed, and the king that's there seems to be in good shape. But when this Hamas leader talks about a future Islamic caliphate, this is what they're talking about.

A conglomeration of nations that would have much more power than the individual nations of Iran, Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon today. And that's what their vision is. If they can combine forces to control a part of the world and combine forces and power, they can eventually take over the world. That's what their goal is. And this is a picture of what he has in mind.

Now, while things have backed off a little bit in Egypt, although what will eventually occur, no one knows. There is a verse in the Bible that says that in Egypt, their cruel leader will emerge, and he will subdue the people.

Let me read to you.

From an ABC News report, this is online, not on TV, about Libya, a little nation that's over there where Qaddafi used to be the dictator, and they have a new government installed. This comes from January 7th. Libya's recent edict that its coming constitution will be based on Sharia law has sent its shill to the North African nation's small Christian community, and rightfully so, because the Islamic government will not likely tolerate Christian religion, even if it's not the true Christian religion, even though Qaddafi, who was the former tyrant there, would.

Last month, it says, the National Assembly voted in favor of making Quranic law, or Sharia, the basis of all legislative decisions, meaning Islam will shape all future banking, criminal, and financial cases. In quoting the General National Congress over there, Islamic law is the source of all legislation in Libya. All state institutions must comply with this, they say. So, we know what the goal is over there. We see some nuclear aspirations among the people over there. We know that their sentiment is, if we could wipe Israel, America, and Britain off the face of the earth, the world would be a better place. And when we look in Revelation 13, we don't see America, and we don't see Britain anywhere among the comments or the prophecies that are there. Now, let's go over to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 6. Ezekiel 6 and verse 6. You will remember that Ezekiel was part of the second intrusion of Nebuchadnezzar into Judah. And in that second siege, he brought out some captives. One of those was Ezekiel. By that time, the nation of Israel, the northern tribes had already gone into captivity. So, when Ezekiel is prophesying to Judah, Judah is still there. It hasn't totally fallen, but the nation of Israel has already fallen. So, in Ezekiel 6, when he prophesies to Israel, not to Judah, he must be prophesying and recording something for a future time, a future time that is going to occur. And in verse 6, he says this.

I have a new Bible, so having my eyes fall on the verses is tough sometimes.

Let's begin in verse 1. Make it easy on myself.

The word of the Eternal came to me saying, Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel. Those nations, Israel, remember, put his name on Ephraim and Manasseh, and prophesy against them, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys. Indeed, I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will be desolate, your incense altars will be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols, and I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. Ominous words, in all your dwelling places, the cities will be laced, waylaid, waste. That didn't happen in ancient Israel. Those words were said after ancient Israel fell. Today, and only today with nuclear capabilities, can cities in all your dwelling places be laid waste, desolate. Over in verse 14.

So I will stretch out my hand against them, and make the land desolate. Yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward Dibla in their dwelling places. And then they'll know that I am God.

All your cities will be laid waste.

If the hands, or if the nuclear weapons, fall into the wrong hands, that could occur today. That might be one of the reasons America and Britain don't show up in Revelation 13. And the Bible says that could happen quickly. You know, sometimes when you go out and you look at the buds of the trees in the summer, and I guess this would probably occur more in the northern states, then you see the bud one day, and then all of a sudden the next day it's a leave. It's like overnight the buds have become leaves, or the buds have flowered.

And it happens very suddenly. You see the buds forming for a time, and then all of a sudden one day it's there. And you could be surprised at how quickly something like that happens.

Isaiah, one of those prophets upon which the foundation is built, has this to say in Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30 and verse 8.

Now go, Isaiah, or God inspires Isaiah to write, go. Write it before them on a tablet. Note it on a scroll. That it may be for time to come forever and ever. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the word, the law of the Lord, who say to the seers, don't see, and to the prophets, don't prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things, the things that we want to hear. Prophesy decease. Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Let's forget He exists. Just put Him off to the side. Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perversity and rely on them. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you like a breach, ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall whose breaking comes suddenly, suddenly, in an instant.

You saw it coming. The bulges were there. You ignored it. You didn't turn. You didn't take the action to correct what was going on. And all of a sudden, the wall bursts. Suddenly, you saw it coming, but you did nothing about it. Over in 1 Thessalonians 5.

1 Thessalonians 5, verse 3.

Well, let's pick it up in verse 2. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2. You yourselves know perfectly, Paul writes, that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, when everything looks right, when all the peace agreements are in place and everyone thinks everything is okay because they believe each other's words, when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. And he goes on to say, You, brethren, are not in darkness. You understand these things. Keep your eyes open. You don't know when that time will be. You don't know when God will finally say, This nation will not turn back to me.

And he allows the things to happen that he says will.

And so, America may not be there, but in the process of seeing terrorism, we find another reason that the northern powers of the European shores may coalesce into an unlikely union in time. Economy is one of them. But over in Daniel, we find him prophesying what will occur at the end time as well between two kings, a king of the north and a king of the south. Daniel 11.

Daniel 11 and verse 40.

At the time of the end, the time that we're looking to see what will the world be like at that time, the clues that we can see when that time may be upon us. At the time of the end, the king of the south. Okay? We have a king of the south in that green, those green maps up there. The south of the Mediterranean Sea, we have a group of nations that have an ideology, a religion, a purpose far different than the nations that are north of the sea. And their aspiration is to form a caliphate in the confederation so they would have strength. And the Bible says there will be a king among them, a cruel master who will reunite them or who will reunite them. And so we have a group of people that can be called the king of the south, the south of the Mediterranean Sea.

It talks about another king. At the time of the end, the king of the south will attack him.

Now, if you go back into verse 36, and I'm not going to take the time to read the verses that precede this, it talks much like the man who will be in control of the beast government at the end of time. He puts himself above God. He puts himself in the place of God. He expects the world to bow down to him. He's the king of the beast power. He's the beast that we read about in Revelation 13 of the northern states. He would be the king of the north. Now, we know just from looking at the world around us today that terrorism is kind of an irritating thing. And the method or the modus operandi of those that aspire or that subscribe to the philosophies of those southern nations, or those middle eastern nations that are along the Mediterranean Sea, it's terrorism. And the world, I mean, I use the word loosely, is irritated.

They push at us. Look what happened when they had one successful operation against us and what it caused our world to be. Look what state Russia is in as they see what has happened to them as they prepare for the Olympic Games and the terrorist attacks that have befallen them.

Terrorism attacks and attacks and attacks. It pushes and pushes and pushes. And what the Bible says is at the time of the end, these southern areas will attack the northern areas.

And the king of the north will come against him, the king of the south like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships. He will enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. And he will enter the glorious land. If there's any doubt of where the king of the south is, it tells us where he is. He'll enter the glorious land. And many countries will be overthrown, but these will escape from his hand. Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He'll stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. He will have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt, also the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall follow it as heels. So at the time of the end, you're going to have a nation or a group of nations that maybe has allied for an economic reason, that now allies because they're just sick and tired of what terrorism is going to do and what the people of that area plan to do to them. And so, even though there's not a great military might in Europe today, as a result of some accords from World War II, they can develop military might very quickly. And at the time of the end, they will, and they will pass through and they will overwhelm that area. So that what you will have when they do that is very much an empire that is even bigger than what the Roman Empire was back in 336 AD up until the 400s AD when it finally fell.

Let's go back to Revelation 13. Let's finish up the beast. We see where that beast power at the end of time is. We see America is not there, and we may have seen some of the reasons why America isn't there and how that happens. And we know that God tells His people, don't worship that beast.

Don't follow what it proposes. Don't buy what it is selling. Revelation 13 verse 16.

He causes all. This is speaking of the woman that rides the beast. We'll talk about that next week. 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 or the name of the beast or the number of his name. He holds that power.

In Revelation 14.

Let's go back to... let's look at 13 verse 10.

13 verse 10.

I'm trying to put this in context here for you. Let's begin with verse 6 here in chapter 13 and follow it through to verse 10.

Then He opened His mouth and blasphemed Me against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to Him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. The people who would stand for God had not bow to that beast's power. And authority was given to the beast over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship Him.

That is, although those whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If you follow God, and that is where future and eternity lies, it doesn't allow, doesn't lie in this beast power that's coming. If you follow God, you will resist.

And it will be a tough 42 months for the people who have to live during that time, unlike anything we have ever seen. It says that in Daniel. It says that in Jeremiah 30 when it talks about the time of Jacob's trouble. Israel's trouble. Epriem's trouble. Manasseh's trouble. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity. He who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

There's only one way to get through that time. If you find yourself in that time, you have to have patience with God. You have to have faith in God. Without faith, without the patience that he's developing in us today, you will not survive. You will succumb to that beast and take part in everything that God will issue out to it.

Here's the patience and the faith of the saints. When you go home later tonight or tomorrow and you read through chapter 14, you'll see that it talks about, don't take the mark of the beast. But over in verse 12 of chapter 14, it says this of the firstfruits, those who God calls, those who yield to Him, those who repent, baptize, have His Holy Spirit and allow that Holy Spirit to mold them into who He wants us to be. In verse 12, it says, here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It'll take patience, it'll take faith, and only with God's Holy Spirit, and only with our eyes kept on Him, will we survive that time and until the time Christ returns to set up His Kingdom. I didn't get as far today in either church as I intended to. Next week, though, we will talk about the woman that rides the beast. It's a very interesting topic, the woman who rides the beast and another topic beyond that. I hope this is helpful as we go through these prophecies. Next week, we will begin, and I'm not going to recount anything from this week. I'm going to start right with the woman who rode the beast.