What's on the Line for '09

If you would turn with me to Luke 21 and verse 36. Luke 21 and verse 36. In Luke 21 and verse 36, Jesus Christ speaking, "...watch you therefore and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and stand before the Son of Man." Jesus Christ had given the disciples several signs here. Luke's version to some degree of the Olivet prophecy. And he closes with this admonition, this prescription, "...watch you therefore and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man." The most powerful nation on earth will inaugurate a new president on Tuesday, January the 20th, and the free world will have a new leader in Barack Obama. So let's take a quick trip around the world and briefly describe the state of the world and note some of the items that will be on the line for 09. So we will title the sermon, What's on the Line for 09? What's on the Line for 09? What if you were Secretary of State in Hillary Clinton's shoes, or even more importantly, you were the President of the United States, Barack Obama. There are some 200 nations on the face of the earth, and all of them have their various hopes, goals, dreams. They have their customs, their traditions, they have their religion, they have so many things that are unique to their ethnicity and to their culture. And you're going to try to lead them and help them, and at the same time help your own nation that is faced with so many difficult and gut-wrenching problems. But let's take a little trip. Let's go from west to east. Let's say we leave the coast of California, and we go east. We go west here to go east and finally wind up in the east to the Philippines. The Philippines served as a major base for the U.S. during World War II. My wife and I had an opportunity to visit the Philippines, I think it was, in 1989. And we toured the Manila area and there are vast cemeteries throughout Manila where American soldiers are put to rest. And just headstone after headstone, these little white crosses, almost like a sea of flowers, as you look out at those white crosses of U.S. soldiers who gave their lives to defeat the Japanese in the Pacific. However, in recent years, the Philippines have become less friendly, have asked the U.S. basically to leave. The president of the Philippines is Gloria MacPagal Arroyo. It's the second woman who has been president of the Philippines. When we were there, we were able to tour the royal palace. And at that time, they took you all through where Melda Marcos had her closet. She had a shoe, she had a room for all her shoes and we saw, they claimed she had 2,000 pair, we didn't count them. And at that time, we also, just perchance, as we were touring the palace, we came face-on with Aquino, the other lady who was prime minister before Mrs. Arroyo. So it was quite an experience. The Philippines have been overrun to some degree by insurgents, communists, and also some of the radical Muslim groups are holed up there in the Philippines. The Philippines, of course, is a vast array of many, many islands. Continuing to the east, we arrive in Japan. Japan became the economic marvel of the world in recent years. Then they went through some very difficult times in the 1990s and they have slowly rebuilt the Japanese-owned vast holdings in the United States. They are ostensibly an ally of the United States, even after World War II, and what happened, of course, with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first two atomic bombs and the only two that have been exploded on population centers. Japan is gripped with many problems as well, especially economically, as all the nations of the earth are at the present time. The Prime Minister of Japan is Taro, T-A-R-O-A-S-O. A-S-O.

It's safe to say that historically the Japanese have not been friendly to China or Russia, and neither has China or Russia been friendly to the Japanese. So the Japanese are somewhat an anomaly in that part of the world, and it's interesting that during World War II, the Japanese allied with Russia and with Germany and with Italy and the Nazi and Fosseous forces from Europe and also the communist forces in Russia. Their culture is very different from that of the western world. However, I had the opportunity in the 1980s to host the president of the University of Tokyo on the campus at Big Sandy. It was quite a day. We spent all day together. We toured our campus. We sat at lunch. We talked, and we began to talk about education and what was their educational model, because I wondered how could the Japanese make such inroads into America and do the things that they have done on the world scene with a culture that seemed so far into ours. And what I came to find out was that they had patterned their school system, and I don't know how far back it went, on the German and European model. Of course, the U.S. system is patterned to some degree on the European model, with the exception of the sort of caste system that they have in Europe, in which if you don't score at a certain level, then you're relegated to various jobs of a menial kind of nature. You wouldn't get into the elite universities in Europe, or you probably wouldn't get in a university at all with an SAT under a thousand, whereas we have had lots of students who came to ambassador through the years with SATs under a thousand, who exceeded and excelled and are now making six-figure incomes and contributing in local churches.

Japan has begun to rebuild its military and has become more active on the world political scene, and it's really difficult to know exactly where the loyalties of Japan rest when push comes to shove.

Then we go just north from Japan, good little ways, to the two Koreas, South and North Korea. In South Korea, the United States has 30,000-plus troops stationed along the 38th parallel. Remember, we fought a bloody war in North Korea in the 1950s. At that time, the Chinese helped the Koreans. Of course, North Korea was, I guess you would say, Mac Author's Waterloo. Mac Author knew that if the Communists were not defeated in Korea, that Russia and China would continue to plague that part of the world. He insisted on pursuing the Chinese and defeating them. Truman called him home and fired him. Mac Author's great farewell speech in which he said, we have had our last chance.

South Korea is increasingly pressing the United States to withdraw our troops from there and for them to become more and more independent of the United States and less involved in their internal affairs. The president of South Korea is Lee Yongbok. Lee Yongbok, the president of South Korea. North Korea is perhaps the most dictatorial, brainwashed Communist government on the face of the earth. They have been led for a long time by Kim Jong-il, who is viewed as a god. Yong-il had a stroke several months ago and has only appeared once or twice in public since then. Reportedly, he has named his third son as his replacement. North Korea claims that they possess nuclear weapons. We know that they have nuclear reactors. They claim that they have nuclear weapons and warheads sufficient to deliver those warheads all the way to the west coast of the United States. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but North Korea continues to be one of those, what President Bush called, one of those renegade nations. He used a little bit different word.

Then we go across the water there just in ways to China. As I mentioned in the announcement session, China surpassed Germany this past year as the world's third largest economy, but China has far greater ambitions than just economic ones. They have their sights set on replacing the United States as the world's greatest nation. They have a standing army of some one to three million people. They're using slave labor. The peasants have been moved from the rural areas into the cities and industrial areas. They work for a pittance and there is no way that the free world, as President Bush calls it, can compete with China when it comes to the cost of producing materials and manufactured goods. That's one of the reasons why corporations have outsourced in so many of our major corporations, from anything from automobiles to electronics, have moved to China, to India, textiles to Taiwan, to India, China. It's impossible for you to compete with somebody that's making anywhere from 50 cents a dollar an hour with somebody that's making one you're having to pay 10 to 20 dollars an hour.

So China's largest national border is with Russia. China and Russia have entered into several treaties in recent times. They've conducted joint war games. Hu Hintao is General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the State President of China. Generally, they just call him Hu H-U. The south of China and Vietnam lies the Republic of Indonesia. Now Americans, some would be hard-pressed to find Georgia on a map, much less Indonesia.

But Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands, has a population of 237 million, of which 88% are Muslim. Indonesia is one of the countries where you don't want to be caught breaking the law.

A lot of Americans have suffered tremendously in jails in Indonesia. Now I really like the name of their president. The president of Indonesia is Susilo Bambang Yudhoy Ono. Susilo Bambang Yudhoy Ono. If you can say that real fast, you can go the head of the class. To the south of Indonesia lies Australia, a member of the British Commonwealth and an ally of the West.

However, Australia has basically gone the way of the United States and Britain, the United Kingdom, when it comes to the moral status of the nation. Quite liberal in social practices. Australia's prime minister is Kevin Rudd. Australia continues to be somewhat friendly to the US. They had troops in Iraq, allied with the US for a long time, and then they recall them in recent times.

Then we go to India with its teaming millions, in fact 1.2 billion, some say, that struggles to become a major player on the world scene. India possesses nuclear weapons, has been a quasi-ally of the United States in recent years, was a long-time British colony. The British basically were the ones who colonized, and to some degree some might use the word civilized, which would offend Indians, of course. Many Indians speak English, and that's how they communicate with each other. There are so many different dialects in India, you could find a person from the north part of India and come to the south part of India, they cannot communicate with each other, except through English, if they can speak English.

The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, Dr. Singh. Then Pakistan borders India as one of the great flash points on the world scene. Islamic militants have made Pakistan a nation to be reckoned with on the world scene. Pakistan also possesses nuclear weapons. She shares a long border with Afghanistan, making it almost impossible for Americans to corner the Taliban, and they just go across the border into Pakistan.

The Pakistanis have increasingly put out resistance to U.S. forces crossing over to Pakistan in pursuit of the Taliban. Pakistan definitely is a flash point. Pakistan and India have been at war or a dispute. Sometimes it's war and sometimes it's just a war of words over Kashmir. Kashmir is evidently sort of a a dinnic kind of area on the face of the earth that's rest up in the sort of mountainous areas between India and Pakistan.

Then coming back toward the west is Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on the face of the earth, yet one of the most troublesome. No one in modern times has really been able to conquer Afghanistan. The Russians finally gave up and withdrew from Afghanistan, and one of the reasons you have the Taliban and the kind of tribal chieftains that you have in Afghanistan is because the United States supplied Afghanistan with a lot of weapons and technical help when they were fighting against the Russians.

Because of the geography and the topography, Afghanistan is almost impossible to conquer unless you were to just go dump a lot of nuclear weapons on them. It is reportedly the staging ground for Al Qaeda, the home of the Taliban, the place where Obama, not Obama but Osama bin Laden, was able to to get his Al Qaeda organization together. The greatest damage to the western world with regard to Afghanistan comes from the drug trade that emanates from there.

Afghanistan grows vast crops of poppies from which you can make opium, and the trails that lead from Afghanistan over the mountains toward Pakistan and into China, it's almost difficult, almost impossible to control the drug trade out of Afghanistan. Of course, there are flash points. A lot of those drugs wind up in in Amsterdam, in Holland, and other points in Europe, and then they come across to the United States. Of course, Houston is a major flash point along with Miami and other places.

This corridor that runs 59, that runs up through east Texas, up to Texer cannon up, drug bust after drug bust has taken place, especially up in northeast Texas. Iran borders Afghanistan, has become the target of the western world. It's the only Islamic republic. Now, what I'm about to cover here with regard to Iran is something that you really need to understand. Iran is the only Islamic republic. It is a Shiite republic. There are two main branches of Islam.

We had the opportunity to visit Jordan and Israel in, I think it was 1988, and while we were visiting Jordan, we took a trip from Amman down into the Jordan Valley to the home of Abu Odi. Abu Odi was a personal assistant to King Hussein at that time, and some of our students were bordering border. They lived in one of the homes that he owned in Amman. Anyhow, as he smoked his pipe and sat out in the fresh, cool air of the Jordanian evening, he told us how the split came in the Muslim world between the Sunnis and the Shiites. Upon the death of Muhammad, the great question, of course, is succession, and that happens in almost every religion. Who's going to succeed the founder, the one who really got this thing going?

Muhammad had, he favored somebody, one of his, I'll read that just a moment, but it was his wife's husband. He favored, but, and there was a great dispute of how the rules of succession would proceed. The Shiites insisted that successor to Muhammad must be a direct descendant of Muhammad, and the Hashemites, who rule Jordan, claimed to be the successors of Muhammad. On the other hand, the Sunnis, now the Shiites only make up about 10% of Islam. The Sunnis, on the other hand, claim that the community, that the leader comes out of the community, and the one who has shown himself to be most capable out of the community, to be the successor. So he explained that to us, and it's in keeping with, you can go online, you can look at it, I'll read these two paragraphs. The great schism in Islam occurred after the death of Muhammad over the question of succession. The Shiite faction contends that only a descendant of Muhammad can be the caliph, the chief ruler, whereas the Sunnis contend that the caliph must be the choice of the entire Muslim community. Shia Muslims attribute themselves to the Quran and teachings of the final prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and in contrast to other Muslims, believe that the family, the al-Abat, the people of the house, including his descendants known as Imams, have special spiritual and political rule over the community, and believe that Ali ibn Abi Talibid, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, was the first of these Imams, and was the rightful successor to Muhammad, and thus reject the legitimacy of the first three Rashidun caliphs, or those from the Sunnis. The prophet's preference to follow him was Ali, the husband of his daughter, the Egyptian Fatima, and the father of his only surviving grandson, Hassan, and Hussein. But while the family was busy burying the prophet, the leaders of Medina elected the aging Abu Bakr, the father of the prophet's favorite wife, as the successor, even before the burial of the prophet. Ali and his family were dismayed, but angry for the sake of unity, and because Ali was still younger, however, after the murder of the third caliph, Ali was invited by the Muslims of Medina to accept the caliph with the major schism of Islam being the eventual result.

The Sunni branch believes that the first four caliphs were the rightful successors, and the Shiites, in contrast, believe that, once again, that only those who are direct descendants of Muhammad can be the successor. So what happened in Iran in the late 70s, after the United States was cast out of Iran at that time, and a change in government, was that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power in 1978, and they viewed him as the legitimate religious figure, the chief imam of Islam. Now, in Shiite theology, the end of the age is somewhat like that of the Christian scene. The world is in a state of chaos and confusion.

There is great rebellion, moral debauchery everywhere, and then in the midst of this, the 12th imam comes on the scene and defeats all the enemies of Islam and ushers the world into a time of peace. Now, here's the kicker for the present time, as it were. Ahmadinejad, who is currently the president of Iran, he is a member of what's called the 12ers. That is, the 12th imam is the one who will lead the world into this age of peace and prosperity.

According to them, this imam at the age of four went into hiding somewhere, and he is going to appear at the end of the age. When the world becomes so chaotic and confused that it will destroy itself unless there's intervention, he will appear. Ahmadinejad believes he can hasten the appearance of the imam by creating chaos and confusion on the world scene. Hence, his rhetoric toward Israel and toward the West. He's just daring. He's just itching for a fight. Now, whether or not he'll get it, of course, there are prophecies about Persia and the end times in the Bible. Then, bordering on Iran's West, his Iraq teetering on the brink and could swing into the political arms of Iran.

But for sure, Iraq's sympathy rests with the Islamic world and not with the United States.

The president of Iraq is Jawad al-Maliki. Then to the north of Iran and Iraq, we find Russia. Russia the bear is roaring once again, asserting herself in every direction.

She's provided Iran with political and technical support in her nuclear program. The president of Russia is Dmitry Medvedev. Putin was pushed to the side, I guess you would say, because he couldn't succeed himself after two terms. So they created an office for him, Prime Minister. Vladimir Putin is the Prime Minister, and many think he's still the power behind the throne. Russia has made contact and also sent people to Hugo Chavez's Venezuela in recent times, and also to Castro's Cuba. They've also stationed ships in the Caribbean and also just off the coast of Syria in the Mediterranean.

And speaking of Syria, Syria is on Israel's northern border and is propped up by Russia and Iran.

The terrorist group Hezbollah, or Hezbollah, is supported by Syria and Iran. The president of Syria is Bashar al-Assad. Israel is in a vice between Hamas to the south, Hezbollah, and Syria to the north. Now, Jordan borders on the east, and Jordan is friendly to the U.S. and exerts a moderate voice in the Middle East. The king of Jordan is Abdullah II, Ibn al-Hussein.

He's the 43rd generation direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. At least, that's their claim.

The Hashemite Kingdom. He assumed his constitutional powers as monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan February 7, 1999, the day his father, the late King Hussein, passed away.

Then Saudi Arabia is mainly Sunni, but with a strong group of Wahhabis. Wahhabis are sort of like the Puritans in Islam. No card playing, no dancing. You know, they'd probably be good Baptists. No card playing, no dancing, no liquor, and the Wahhabis are very friendly to bin Laden.

Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt are to some degree afraid of the Shiites, afraid of Iran. And Egypt is led by Muhammad Hosni Mubarak, and the King of Saudi Arabia is Abdullah bin Abid al-Aziz al-Saud. You know why they just call him King Saud.

But all of the Arab world is united in its hatred of Israel. The European Union continues its struggles to become a super state with a federal government and a military force.

Right now, the European Union has what's called a rotating head of state in which the president or the prime minister of whichever one of the 27 nations in the European Union will serve its term, a six-month term, as president. Currently, the president of Czechoslovakia is the president, also, of the EU. The current world financial crisis and the onslaught of Muslim immigration, the roaring of the Russian bear, and some nations becoming disenchanted with the EU presents them with a number of challenges. The Russians are still withholding gas from Eastern Europe, and people are freezing. England and France are currently the major military powers in Europe, with Germany leading the economy in the EU.

But Britain and the United States provides the world with the infrastructure that allows billions of stocks to be bought and sold every day in the world markets, Wall Street and the city of London. Great trade centers. That's the two greatest trade centers in the world.

The DACA in Germany, maybe his third. You have Hong Kong, Singapore, and the one in Japan.

Back home in the United States, we continue to bury our head in the sand as the precious opportunities to serve as a beacon of light in the world is snuffed out.

And it seems that the average American doesn't really mind. As you will note in the op-ed piece that's in the bulletin by Patrick Buchanan, the United States has been sold down the river by virtually every president since John F. Kennedy.

The world will enter a new phase of leadership with the inauguration of Barack Obama.

He will basically continue the policies of George Bush on the world scene as evidenced by the people that he's named to various cabinet positions. He will appear to be far more devish.

Try to give the impression that diplomacy is the key to harmony and peace among the nations.

However, the problems he faces on the world scene are so far reaching and overwhelming, he will be challenged on every front. The White House doesn't seem to be the abode of doves in a world filled with hate. The world does not understand the fact that Satan, the devil, and the demons are influencing the affairs of this world, and Satan is cleverly melding the nations of the world into an interlocking state of dependency and interdependency. Yes, it matters what happens in the stock markets of any of the major markets on the face of the earth.

Even the great corporate capitalists, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and of course many of the banks have had to go hand in hand and get on their knees before Congress and say, please bail us out. If you don't, we're going to go under, and if we go under, the American people are going to suffer tremendously.

The peoples of the world have basically been conquered and enslaved without a shot being fired, but the degree to which peoples of the world shall be conquered has only begun.

We have only seen the tip of the iceberg, as it were. We must remember that Satan is on an insatiable quest to be worshipped, to break prophecy, to become the object of worship, and destroy God's great plan of salvation. There is an active spirit world led by Satan, the devil, and the demons. Satan is the god of this world. And as you read in the book of Daniel in chapter 10 about the Prince of Persia, these powerful spirit beings that influence the minds of men and women across the world. If you think that the new Obama administration will lead the world into an era of peace and prosperity, think again. Oh, the illusion may be created that better days are ahead, and better days may be ahead in some ways. But does economic prosperity mean that we have a better life? As the godless mother earth worshippers and tree huggers boast of saving the environment, they fall deeper and deeper into the slimy, slippery pits of moral depravity. Witness Hollywood and all that goes with it. They are now great political experts. They are now going to save the world by saving the trees.

Of course, God tells us to dress the garden and to keep it, and the environment has been polluted in the name of the almighty dollar.

But the path of salvation does not rest in worship of the environment. Homosexuality and abbot forms of behavior will become mainstream. The Bible will continue to be under attack because it condemns these people and their ungodly lifestyles. Let's go to Luke 1722.

Luke 17 and verse 22. And he said unto the disciples, Jesus speaking, The days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you shall not see it.

And they shall say to you, See there, or see there, go after him, nor follow them.

For as the lightning that shines out of the lightness out of the one part of under heaven shines into the other part under heaven, so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

But first he must suffer many things, be rejected to this generation.

And as it was, in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of man.

Of course, they were eating and drinking and making merry and marrying and entering into marriage, as it says in verse 27, they did eat, they drank, they married wives.

They were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also, as it was in the days of Lot, you know Lot had to get out of Sodom and Gomorrah, be destroyed with it.

They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thou shalt it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Evil doers, seducers are going to wax worse and worse because they will not turn to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the God of the Bible. And no leader in America today, no politician, I should say, would have a chance of becoming president, a U.S. senator, or basically even a local office, unless they embrace the liberal agenda that is before the peoples of our world, of our nation. Israel's invasion and brutal attack on Gaza, whether it's warranted or not.

Once again, whether it's warranted or not, you know, perhaps they are justified. I think I'd feel like I would want to keep another nation. And actually Hamas is not a nation, but peoples from firing rockets at me at random. But whether warranted or not, Hasdore has stirred the hatred of the Israelis and the Arabs, that hatred that they have for one another that's been there for centuries, yea, even millennia, to an all-time high. I mean, it's such hatred that you and I cannot imagine. And as I look at the devastation there on television, the smoke, the fire, the bombs, and all of that, I just wonder, how is it that only a thousand people, or 1,100, have been killed?

And of that, 300 children plus. A lot of women, just innocent people.

I'm reading here, if you would like to notice, please, Genesis 27.41.

You know the story of the father of the Arabs. Who's the father of the Arabs? Ishmael.

How did Ishmael come to be born?

Abraham had been promised a son, called the son of promise.

After they had waited quite a while, they being Sarah and Abraham, Sarah suggested, well, maybe maybe God intended for us to work this out a different way. So, she suggested that Abraham have relations with Hagar, her handmaiden, and he did.

And a son was born, and they named him Ishmael.

And in the prophecy about Ishmael, it says, he shall be a wild man, and his hand shall be against every man, or his face against every man.

Also, Esau married one of the daughters of Ishmael.

So, Esau and the Arabs are linked through intermarriage, thus through bloodlines.

You know the story of Jacob and Esau, how that Rebecca and Isaac hatched up their plot to deceive I'm sorry, how Rebecca and Jacob hatched up their plot to deceive Isaac.

And they did.

Now, we're going to read here from Genesis 27, verse 41, how Esau felt about this. Genesis 27, 37, Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him your Lord, him being Jacob. And all his brethren have I given to him for servants, and with corn and wine I sustained him. And what shall I do now to you, my son?

And Esau said unto his father, Have you but one blessing my father? Bless me, even me also, my father.

And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. And Isaac, his father, entered and said unto him, Behold, your dwelling place shall be in the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above.

And by the sword shall you live, and shall serve your brother.

And it shall come to pass when you shall have the dominion, that you shall break his yoke from off your neck.

And Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days for my father's mourning are at hand. Then will I kill my brother Jacob.

And from that day hence they have been at each other's throats.

In Malachi 1, verse 3.

Malachi 1, verse 3.

Let's read Malachi 1-2. I have loved you. This is what God says to Israel. I have loved you, says the Eternal. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us? was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord. Yet I loved Jacob.

And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

In Romans 9, verse 13, Paul quotes from this verse and says, As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

From Indonesia to the USA, the flames are flaring as the Islamic world, along with her sympathizers, demonstrate against Israel. No amount of peace treaties will ever heal the hatred that exists between the descendants of Jacob and Esau. The problem will only be solved by the Prince of Peace when he returns to this earth, and the saints with him as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

And another thing, if the United States faced no other problem, no other problem, it had no financial worries, it had no enemies abroad or within. If it faced no other problems other than its current moral debauchery, it would destroy itself.

God rain fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and that's where we're headed.

The world, a nation, a state, a community, a family, and eventually individuals will go into the direction of their moral and spiritual leadership.

Will new leadership provide that kind of moral and spiritual leadership?

And will you provide that kind of leadership in your family?

The prophets Ezekiel, Hosea, and Isaiah describe the current political, social, and moral state of the world. Let's go to Ezekiel 22, verse 23. Ezekiel 22, verse 23, And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, this is Ezekiel 22, 24, Son of man, say unto her, You are the hand or the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 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 and precious things. They have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

Her priests have violated my law, profane mine holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and profane. Neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths. And I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey to shed blood and to destroy souls to get dishonest gain. And then verse 28, here comes the media. Here's the role of the media. And her prophets have dobbed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord, when the Lord has not spoken.

In other words, they whitewash it. The people of the land have used oppression, exercised robbery, vexed the poor and needy. Yes, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge standing in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy. But I found none. Therefore, have I poured out mine indignation upon them. I've consumed them with a fire of my wrath. Their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord God. That is quite the description. It's like reading the morning newspaper or watching CNN or Fox. Of course, even now on CNN and Fox, you get two minutes of news and three minutes of news of interest or little stories and anecdotal kind of things.

The Prophet Hosea, Hosea chapter 4. Hosea 4, verse 1, Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel.

The eternal hath the controversy with inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break out and blood touches blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells there in shall languish, and the beast of the field with the files of the air, yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another, for your people are as they that strive with the priest. In other words, everybody's in it together. They're all doing it and they're loving it. So nobody is correcting anybody else. Therefore shall you fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you've rejected knowledge. I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to me, seeing that you have forgotten the law of your God. I will also forget your children. Now, as for the children of the land, where is the leadership in America today? Where is the leadership in the Western world? Who is it mainly vested in? Is it invested in the political leaders? Is it vested in the mayors of the cities? Is it vested in county officials, city officials?

Is it vested in parents? Let's see what Isaiah says. Isaiah chapter 3.

And let's also ask the question, is that the way it is in my home? Now I shall meddle and not preach. In Isaiah chapter 3, For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, is take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay in the staff, the whole stay of bread, the whole stay of water.

The mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet and the prudent and the ancient, the captain of the 50, the honorable man, the counselor, the cunning artist, articifer, and the eloquent orator. Those who ought to be the leaders, says I will take away, and I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

And the people shall be oppressed every one by another, every one by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honorable.

You know, so many young people sit in services on the Sabbath in churches of God, and of course churches in other nominal churches of Christianity, and many sit there because their parents have made them come. They have itching feet. They're ready to run somewhere else as soon as they can get out from under their parents, and they think this is all pick-slop.

It's really not where it is. I want to be somewhere else.

What a sad state. And of course, to a large degree, the fathers of the land and the parents are the ones responsible. Verse 6, when a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand.

In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be a healer, for in my house, if neither bread nor clothing make me not a ruler of the people. I don't want to be in charge. I don't have anything. What do I have to offer? I let my children do it. Let my wife do it.

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah has fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. The show of their countenance just witness against them. Just look in their faces, and they can tell you, I hate what's going on here. I don't like it. I don't want to be here. Let me tell you, this is where you can receive the words of life. You will find them nowhere else. They will not be in the glamour and glitz of whatever you think this world has to offer. It'll be in the pages of this Bible and the truth. Anyone who has ears to hear and eyes to see can see the direction that this world is going and come to understand that the only hope is that they turn to the true and living God.

And they that declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. We don't care. We're going to do it anywhere and any place. Woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Say you to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hand shall be given him, as for my people. Children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.

Is that the way it is with us?

Have our men abdicated their roles of responsibility? Do they not know about the spirit of the times in which Satan the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour? He wants your children to go, quote, the way of this world. He wants them to dress like the world, to look like the world, to behave like the world, to be like the world, to go down with the world.

O my people, they which lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your path. The Lord stands up to plead and stands to judge the people. The Lord shall enter into judgment with the ancients of his people and the princes thereof, for you have eaten up the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What mean you that you beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor, says the Lord God of hosts. Or some people think then the way to help everybody is through various what they call entitlement programs.

And sometimes help is needed. You know, in God's great economic system, he does not perpetuate the cycles of poverty that some peoples have had to live under for generations upon generations. Moreover, the Lord says, because the daughters of Zion are hottie, and walk with stretchforth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.

In other words, they're dressed like the covers on the magazines that you see at the checkout counters with that kind of hard, seductive look. They've been trained. They have been conditioned to look that way. Therefore, the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret parts. And it goes on to describe how terrible that is. Verse 24, it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell, there shall be stink.

Instead of a girdle, a wren. Instead of well-set hair, baldness. Instead of a stomacher, a grinding, or girding of sackcloth, and burning instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, your mighty in the war. And her gate shall lament and mourn, and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground. Now, thankfully, in the next chapter here, emerges first part into a millennial setting. In that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread, wear our own apparel, only let us be called by your name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the eternal be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and calmly for them that are escaped of Israel.

Now, the prophets always end with a word of hope. President-elect Obama is showing early his ecumenical religious stance. For example, Episcopal Bishop V. Jean Robinson, an openly gay man whose ordination helped touched off a worldwide struggle within the Episcopal Church over homosexuality and Scripture. He's openly gay, remember? He will deliver the invocation Sunday at a concert to kick off the inaugural celebrations. The Reverend Sharon E. Watkins, who leads the liberal-leaning Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, has been selected to give the sermon in the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral, which concludes the inaugural ceremonies, the first woman to lead that service.

The selections of Robinson Watkins rounds out a group of theologically diverse ministers who will play prominent roles during Barack Obama's inauguration. Evangelical pastor Rick Warren will deliver the invocation during the inaugural ceremony, a choice that riled the gays and lesbians. Obama supporters, because of Warren's opposition to same-sex marriage, is why, of course, they opposed it. And then the Reverend Joseph Lowry, a Black Methodist civil rights activist, will give the benediction. Obama will face the Washington Monument following the precedent set by Ronald Reagan. The Washington Monument, 400-something feet high, is perhaps the world's largest obelisk symbolic of Baal worship. As President-elect Obama prepares to take the oath of office as President of the U.S., there will be many well-wishers.

President Bush to the man on the street. And, of course, you don't want anybody to fail.

And, as I said, there might be better times. But do you want more and more political liberty and audience given to the homosexuals? Do you want more and more abortion and late-term abortion and all that goes with it in those nations? What are the signs of success of a true leader? Would it be good works? Will good works alone save?

Save? Would it be miracles? Would it be prosperity?

Let's notice quickly from the Word of God about, first of all, let's look at good works. You know, we are to do good works, but if we think Matthew 7 and verse 21. Matthew 7 and verse 21. Matthew 7 and verse 21. Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7 and verse 21. Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter in the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. You want to enter in the kingdom of heaven? This says you have to do the will of the Father. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? In your name have cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful works. Now, the symbolism that nominal Christianity has, President-elect Obama is covering all bases. For example, he set away for, I don't know how you would say it, this very select olive oil from the Middle East. It's a very select kind of olive oil, and then two ministers, they poured oil on the portal, the doorway through which he's going to walk out of and into the area for the inauguration. And they said they're blessing to bless him and the presidency and so on.

So, all the symbolism of what you would think would please all the various religious people is there. And at the same time, in the moral sense, quite a different agenda when it comes really to what the Bible says. In verse 22, Matthew 7, 22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in your name cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me you that work iniquity. Therefore, whosoever hears these things of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon the rock. Then, if we look at another area, what about miracles? In Revelation 13, beginning with verse 11, we see that the false prophet performs many miracles. Miracle working is not a sign necessarily of conversion.

Though Jesus Christ and the apostles did miracles, in Revelation 13, 11, I beheld another beast coming out of the earth. This is the false prophet. He spoke, had two horns like a lamb, spoke as a dragon, exercised all the power of the first beast before him, causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. He did great wonders so that he made fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. He deceives the people that live on the earth.

Verse 16, he causes all both small, rich, bond, and free to receive a mark. Verse 17, in order to buy and sell, you have to have the mark, and if you don't receive it, you get killed. Verse 16 and 15. So miracle working is not necessarily a sign. What about prosperity?

Go to Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8. The background of Daniel chapter 8. Daniel has this vision in which he sees a ram and a goat pushing against each other.

He desires to know the interpretation. Finally, an angel comes and gives him the interpretation.

Daniel 8.20. The ram, which you saw having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel 8.20. When I first started taking the correspondence course, and I had been a history buff to some degree all my life, I got a minor in my first bachelor's degree, and I somehow in the correspondence course we came to this section here, and it's one of the main things that just like convicted me that, you know, I know this is this is true because I've read this in history. I know this is what happened, and now we have the biblical interpretation of this event. Verse 21. The rough goat is the king of Grisha, the great horn that is between his eyes of the first king, Alexander the Great. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it. After Alexander died, there was no dynasty established, and the kingdom was divided between his four generals. Four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power, and in the latter time of their kingdom. This is the Bible. This is not what any man says.

In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up, and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.

I read in the first part of Revelation 13 that he is energized by Satan the Devil.

Satan the Devil possesses this person. He shall destroy wonderfully, and the words destroy is better translated corrupt. He shall corrupt wonderfully, shall prosper and practice, shall destroy the mighty, corrupt the mighty and the holy people, and through his policy, through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, like he has mystical, magical, miracle working power, and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the prince of princes, and he shall be broken without hand. You read in Revelation 17 verses 11 through 14 of the beast power and the ten nations standing up against the returning Jesus Christ and the saints.

So, as we give some prescription here today, has the spirit of this present evil world invaded the church of God?

I would say it has, to some degree, on several fronts.

The way we approach Sabbath services, we come to worship before the King of kings and the Lord of lords, before God Almighty himself, and we pray for his presence to be here.

I would also ask us, have we lost the crusading spirit of that first love, this desire to take this gospel to the world, or have we left it just to the home office?

Just to the home office. We'll come to Sabbath services. We'll pay. We'll pray. We'll wait for the return of Christ. There's nothing I can do but show up here.

Brother and I would like to create for us a greater vision.

We've had the vision all along, but sometimes it grows dim. The study by Richard Rice in the early 80s, the mail processing center there, he didn't actually do it. Staff members did it. Where they reviewed the records of baptismal records of people that had come into the church since they had any records, among the findings they found that over 50 percent who had ever been baptized, even as early as the 1980s, had left the church. These were during the days of Mr. Armstrong.

And they also found that 75 or so percent of everybody who had come into the church, as far as they could determine, had come in through personal contact with a friend or a relative. It was by that contact with that friend or relative that they saw the example, they saw the light, and they came into the knowledge of the truth.

It was somewhere like 10 or 15 percent that came in through media.

And we had radio stations that blanketed North America.

I came in through radio. That's how I heard about the Church of God, because I had been a one who surfed the dials for many years.

I submit to you in view of what we face in this world. We must recapture our first love and our burning desire to share the good news of the coming kingdom of God with our families, with our friends, with our neighbors, with our co-workers anywhere and any place we can.

And I think there's a lot that we can do. We have to become bold and fearless as the apostles in the early days of the church. I just want us to turn there to Acts 5.32 and just read. I get pumped up every time I read this.

Acts 5.32. We're breaking in sort of on the thought, but it continues.

Acts 5 verse 32.

And we are his witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. These are the leaders, religious leaders of the day in Jerusalem. Then stood there up one in the council of Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had a reputation among all the people and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space, and said unto them, you men of Israel, take heed to yourselves. What you intend to do is touching these men.

For before these days rose up, Thodias, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men about four hundred joined themselves, who was slain, and all as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to nothing. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, drew away much people after him, he also perished, and even as many as obeyed him were dispersed.

And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, let them alone.

For of this council, or this work be of men, it will come to nothing. But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it. Less happily you be found even to fight against God.

And to him they agreed, and when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And did they stop and daily in the temple, and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ?

Brethren, can we rekindle that first love? You know, we sing the song, Onward Christian Soldiers with Great Gusto. Do we really mean it? Are we really Christian soldiers marching as to war? Are we really armed to fight the spiritual battles that lie ahead?

Let us finally notice this great army in Revelation 19 and verse 5.

Revelation 19 5, and a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you his servants.

You that fear him, both small and great, and are heard, as it were, a voice of great multitude.

And as the voice of many waters, of the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia! For the Lord God, and the omnipotent raineth, let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come. His wife had made herself ready. To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Now remember the array, fine linen, clean and white. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the married supper of the Lamb.

And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See that you do it not. I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, the Matoria, the witness, the record, worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

And I saw heavens opened, and behold, a white horse. He that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he just judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.

He treads down the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God, and he has on his vesture, on his sign, a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And brethren, those of us who are in the first resurrection, and I surely hope that I am, and I hope you are too, we shall be made kings and priests with God in Christ, and we shall reign on the earth for a thousand years.

And there shall be, ushered into this earth, a time of peace, and a time of prosperity, a time of joy, a time of happiness, that no political leader can ever bring to this world. I do hope for better times ahead.

The Bible tells us to pray for the leaders of the land. Because I think we have a lot more work to do, and it is tragic to see people suffer in whatever shape or condition they might be suffering from, whether it be war, famine, disease, whether it be broken families, or whatever it might be, that any way that we can relieve that suffering and pain, let's determine to do so. For brethren, let's renew, let's rekindle that first love. Let's be determined that we're going to make a difference, and that we're going to share this good news to everybody that we can.