IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE SURE WE UNDERSTAND THE WILL AND PURPOSE OF GOD AS EXPRESSED IN THE BIBLE, I HAVE CHOSEN A MESSAGE FOR TODAY, THAT I BELIEVE WILL MOVE US IN THAT DIRECTION.

Sometimes it is necessary to sort of dramatize a subject and put it in a time frame that will bring our focus to bear on it. The one we are on today, to me, is an important message. My title is “Scriptural Diagnosis.” I took the dictionary and looked up the word diagnosis to see what it really means. It is deciding the nature of a disease, a careful investigation of the facts, which would be symptoms. The end result is a decision resulting from either of these two factors. We are not going to be talking about a sick person this morning, but we are going to be talking about the world in general. An awful lot of people today, do not really know how close we are to the coming of the Lord. My main point is to show you, once these certain things start taking place, regardless of how old or young you are, do not ever look for things of the world to return to a better day. Every scripture in the Bible is against it. It is a pitiful shame, to see how politician of today look to the future. I know I say a lot about education, but please brothers and sisters, do not take offense at what I say and think that I am against people obtaining an education. That is not my purpose, but if I can bring to you and lay before you, the facts that I have accumulated through the recent years, of what is influencing the greater percentage of our youth, and why it is necessary for them to go to college, I believe you will see that it is the devil’s way of using our educational institutions to brainwash the up and coming generations of youth. I am not saying that the teachers have it directly in their minds to do that. It is how the devil has twisted the whole thing around to accomplish his purpose. I have read much of late, concerning our nation that sixty or seventy years ago was looked upon as the greatest industrial nation upon the face of this earth. When WW2 broke out, we had not been preparing for a war. We were not even looking for a war. We were producing our own products and recovering from a great depression. It is true the economy of America in the late 1930’s was just slowly beginning to work its way out of the depression, when all of a sudden a war was forced upon us. On two opposite sides of the globe there were two dictatorial type systems, that for some reason or other wanted to plunge the whole planet into a conflict. When our politicians today will spend hours giving speeches, political-wise and otherwise, what we are trying to do, we are trying to make this a better world for you to live in. I would have to say to them, You are a first class liar, because those that came before you have never succeeded in their attempts. You try to build upon their mistakes, but you refuse to see the mistakes that you make. As we get closer to the end of time, less and less do they depend on God. I want to say to all, The time has come when this Bible is going to talk to some people, if they will allow it. If you are not willing to allow it to change the way you look at things, just sitting in a church house somewhere is not going to do you any good. The world over, regardless of what race or what language, millions of people are heading for doomsday and don’t know it. You cannot tell the politicians this, because they have their own idea about everything. They try to paint you a beautiful picture just a short distance down the road. Well I was not born yesterday: I have heard a lot of these speeches made by politicians through my lifetime. I have never seen one of them succeed in what they have promised to do. That is because they have one way or another pushed God out of the picture. It actually aggravates me to hear all the News media today, talking about what we need to do, what we are going to do, what I think, how do you look at it, and so forth. Every generation has always put up their super minds, but each one gets further away from the picture God would approve. The last two weeks have put America in a very negative picture. I am thankful for the country God allowed me to be born in, but I have to say, The politicians we have in our government do not know how to lead a nation. To hear them tell it, they do, but they do not, because the nation just keeps crumbling and getting weaker, more blind, further and further away from the principals this nation was established upon. It is really sickening to hear somebody that wants to remember the Lord in the pledge of allegiance, then have some devil inspired person that wants to fight it. I can remember when we did not have that kind of problems. If we have politicians listening today, I ask you the same question, What has happened in our country? We used to pray in the classrooms. What happened? Why was it necessary, that we take God out of everything? What was so important for you politicians and educators to begin to clamp down on the Christian voice? Anyone knows, if they read history right, that America was founded upon the principals, not of many religions, but on one true faith that is anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. We were known as a religious nation, not because we were everyone Christians, but because we upheld the principals of decency, morality, how to treat our fellow man and obey the law. They no longer teach in our educational systems, the principals of how to conduct yourself in a public place. It looks like it is dog eat dog, everybody for himself any more. It is a shame, but it proves that time for Gentiles is running out. As we look at this chart for a minute, it represents the beginning of the last seven years of human history recorded in the Bible. (The Seventieth week of Daniel’s seventy week prophecy) That seven years is going to bring more heartache to the human race than all the other six thousand years before it. I have read enough documents, heard enough testimonies, so, though some of you may think I am arrogant, I am not. I am disgusted though, to see how educated men can become so blind they would walk right off a cliff. They close their eyes to the reality of what the Bible has said. They think, Surely you do not have to believe that. Well I am glad God saved my soul many years ago and led me to put my trust in what is written in this Bible. I will put my trust in this more than I would Wall Street. Everything in this book is going to come to pass precisely, right on schedule. I can explain to you why, for the last thirty some years we have had a diminishing of conviction on the society of America as a whole, to put their trust in God. It is a fact, that all down through time since the gospel first went forth, never has that gospel had preeminence over a very long period of time in any one area of the earth. The gospel first started out from Israel and spread throughout the Middle East. For the first two hundred years, yes, it was predominantly in those areas. In the countries of Mesopotamia, Bosnia, and through there, those were the areas the apostle Paul and the early ministry preached in. For two hundred years Christianity was established in those countries. That was the stronghold of it. Some of the early converts were Jews of the dispersion in the Gentile area. I have the history on these things. But after we began to pass that two hundred year mark, there began to be a breakdown within that national territorial structure. As there was, everything changed, because time and the gospel always moves forward. By the time it began to be established in that area of the earth, it was existing in predominance in Rome and through the western part of Europe. That is why Rome, when she was in her great day, the gospel did have much affect, partly because it was no longer in its original understanding. As I began to bring out these things, showing when apostasy began to set in, it does not mean everybody just became an unbeliever. Multitudes of society just resorted back to a religious function. Very few remained aggressive and hungry, thirsty for truth, eager to talk about it and share what they knew with others. Christianity began to become just another religion to be cultivated by tradition and began to pick up all kinds of traditions and forms of various beliefs. That has always been the carnal man’s way of trying to keep a certain religious feeling about himself, even though there is little revelation of the word of God. He does not want the world to see him as an unbeliever, a devilish person or as an atheist. Therefore when America was first discovered, it was not discovered necessarily by Christian people. Columbus had a certain fundamental belief in Christianity, but it was basically Roman Catholic. As the colonies in the east began to be settled, the Reformation in Europe had started to accomplish its objective, which was leaving the old territories in apostasy. This caused many of the Christians to want to flee from there and come to a territory where they could live in freedom and allow conviction to worship God after the dictates of their own heart to have the pre-eminence and follow Him in the light of a revelation or an understanding that would be different. I remember hearing Bro. William Branham say several years ago, History has proved that a great nation never exists in its greatness beyond two hundred years. Reaching the year of 1976, made America two hundred years old. Look what has happened to it since then.

WHEN TERRORIST HIT THE TWIN TOWERS

I will never forget the morning the twin towers in New York City were hit by those planes. I could see that building with the smoke flying out the back side of it, and as I sat there looking at it on the TV, I could see the other plane coming, off in a distance. It slammed right into the other building. When I saw that smoke begin to go up into the air, tears came into my eyes and I thought, This is Pearl Harbor all over again. For days on end tears were shed. Politicians were in the streets lamenting the fact and crying out, Where have we gone wrong? Why have we gone to sleep? What has happened in America, the greatest nation on earth? You cannot always hide behind greatness. If you do not depend upon the God who has helped you make it great, when you get to the place you think you do not need God anymore, then God is going to leave you in your own dilemma. The minute our leaders decided to hit Iraq, things began to change. Fifty years ago, when some terrible disaster would take place, politicians were known to stop what they were doing and have prayer. You do not hear much about that any more. The more I look back through the years at the whole rotten deal, the more I am convinced that God has been left out of the picture. I am not a politician, I am a Christian. I will defend the Christian faith anywhere and at any time. It is a shame though, that we no longer have men in public places that can cry out loud and say, We need to get back to God! I will say to all of them,You can choose your politics above righteous living and God will let you go to hell with it, because that is what you are leading into. If we had been living with our eyes open when 9/11 took place, and depending upon our God instead of what we can get for ourselves, I believe we would have seen a different outcome. If our leaders would stop this silly nonsense of, We are going to become a model nation to the world, we are going to show the world what utopia is, they might realize that is not in the plan of God. When you leave God out of the picture, He will let you make a mess of your entire program. You could spend millions of dollars and waste other men’s lives, and still come out empty handed, simply because your motives are not right. It is a shame that three years ago our country had got to the place of thinking, We are secure: we have the best military ability there is anywhere. We have the CIA, the FBI, we have all kinds of intelligence, Yet their hands are tied and they are strangled by legislation and legality, all to the point that the enemy comes among them and studies their techniques and abilities and uses that for their own advantage. If we would have stayed home the past number of years, minding our business, and stopped trying to tell the world how to do this and how to do that, we would not have pumped millions of dollars of aide into every country on the face of this earth and still have many of them as our enemies, ready to try to destroy us. We have caused our standard of living here in America to begin to diminish. When some of our industries here close shop and send their work to another country, I have to say the dirty devil was behind every bit of it. America began to decay, and she began to lose her pace in world pre-eminence, because she lost her former vision. Instead of retaining her greatness, she has been steadily losing her image. Do not ever get the idea that her enemies have not been watching it. Her enemies were watching when America was spending billions and receiving very little in return. I have to ask, How much has it accomplished? Very little. I have enough material at home that I have read and studied to get statistics from, that I can accurately say, It is a rotten shame. When I look back at WW2 and see how millions of men were sent to foreign lands to fight on battlefields to keep America free, and then see that she has not stayed free, it almost leaves me speechless. It has been invaded in the White House, and in Congressional buildings, by perverted politicians that no longer care to uphold the standard of principals of greatness that it once was known for. They keep thinking there is a better day. I will say this, The better day I am looking at is the soon coming of Jesus Christ. He is coming right on schedule. If the trend of things keeps going like it is, in another three years, we are going to pass the point of no return. You are going to see this world plunged into an era of chaos, financial decay and upheaval. You will see every verse in this Bible begin to lock in place. I have spoken on the subject, “The Last One Hundred Years.” I am not preaching on that this morning, but a lot of people today, do not realize what has been going on in this world in the last one hundred years. How can we use the last one hundred years as it stands out? Young people, I do not say these things to be harsh, but if you sit in your home and you are not interested in the News, how the development of things come about, if these things do not interest you, I want you to know the devil will come slipping up on your back door step one day. He will bust your door in and blow your house full of smoke, you will ask yourself, Where have I been? No human being can live on this earth and eventually reach a point where they will say, Well I really do not care what the day brings, without somehow living to regret it. Just as sure as you do that, and you go to sleep on things around you, you are going to wake up in a dark night screaming your head off, wondering, Why did somebody not tell me? Someone has been trying to tell you all along.

SIGNS OF OUR TIME

I will now ask you to open your Bible to Matthew 24. These scriptures are old. They have been laying here for many centuries of time, but when Jesus spoke these things, they were for a certain time. You can start in the 1^st verse when you have time, but we will start with the 6^th verse right now. “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, (Notice, He put emphasis on this.) but the end is not yet.” Now that marks a distinction in time. However when we come to verse 7, it brings us beyond that. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. (Now He puts emphasis on this.) All these are the beginning of sorrows.” The beginning of sorrows, but do not laugh at it. It has been going on for a hundred years. In Luke 21 Jesus said there will be perplexities of nations, the seas and waves roaring: Men’s hearts failing for fear, looking upon that which is coming on the earth. The word perplexity is the state of not knowing what to do. As our world gropes further on and closer to the era of disaster, He has taken away from the natural, educated minded man, the ability to even know what to do about any of it. If they have no desire to believe in Him and trust in Him, why should He tell them? I say that in this light, No man made this planet: God made it. It is His work, but He put us here with the plan of us doing a specific thing. Then natural man with his educated attitude, reaches the place where they no longer need Him. The truth is, We now need Him more than anything in this world, but multitudes do not know it. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” That is how the Jews have been treated. May I say this, From Russia to Europe, Jews, in the last one hundred years have been driven out. (You have to read the dark pages of Jewish history to see how that stands out.) It was in the last one hundred years that the Jews in dispersion in European and Asiatic areas began to wake up and realize, There is a new world we can go to. Here they began to come; and in this new world they found a haven. (A place of refuge) Thank God, they did. I am saying to every Jew that is listening on the internet this morning, I may be a Gentile, but I was not born yesterday. I have paid more attention to your history than a lot of the Jews have. I pay more attention to your Torah that some of you do. Why are you Jewish people back in the land of Israel, trying to exist, trying to hold on? What put you back there? It is all because of a situation that arose in Europe, which was fostered in WW2. When it was all over, Jews were displaced, the ones that had not been slaughtered. Many of you were in detention camps. Even the United Nations, which is an illegitimate set up, was powerless to do anything to help you. I just call that UN exactly what it is, because you will live to see the day it will die, just like any other illegitimate institution. I say that because there is no Bible for its existence, regardless of what some of these modern preachers tell you. God is going to see that it dies. It has been a foster child, a foster make-believer thing. It has blinded a lot of preachers, and a lot of other people as well. It has given a lot of people an endless and vain hope. One thing is sure though, the antichrist, the Bible beast system, is going to come right out of Europe where it got its inroads hundreds and hundreds of years ago. With these things in mind, let us watch the social breakdown of the human race. As these social things began to break down within societies, notice the results. verse 10, “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” I can remember when America was made up of decent thinking people. It is true, that not everyone in America is a Christian, and never has been, but the Christian principals and biblical laws have been upheld as a governing factor to influence and help the upcoming generations of our society to develop properly. Nobody was forced to become a Christian. Christianity was a free choice left up to every individual person. The spirit of God moved freely to help bring this about. As we look further on here I must say, Ever since WW2, I have seen our entire social structure begin to break down morally. Listen to the News every night and you will have to agree. Even though we have all kinds of organizations helping mistreated women, and mistreated children, the trend gets worse. I can remember when I never heard those words uttered by anybody, mistreated women, mistreated children. We had a society with what law we did have, that would put law breakers in jail right on the spot. I have to say, America is going down the drain of moral and social decay. Go on and get your degree of ignorance, if you cannot pay attention to what I am talking about, especially when I know what the background has been, and you are not going to change the breakdown one bit, because our present society will not let you change it. The richest nation that has ever been on God’s green earth, is becoming bankrupt. It has become infested by a society of derelicts, misfits and abusers that do not know how to conduct themselves, all because they now have the idea, We don’t need God. Yes you do need God! The Bible truth is, You need God, or He is going to let you go to hell. That is the route America is choosing. That is the route America is going down, full speed ahead. Yes, saints, out here in our society, they shall hate one another. You can be riding down the highway minding your own business, and here comes some smart aleck whizzing past you; and if you do not look out your window just at the right time you can wind up with a bullet through your head. That is America today. We are no longer allowed to defend ourselves. Then we have those in the educated, political structure that argue, What we need to do, is take all the guns out of America. Well I would rather be shot than beat to death with a club. You politicians who can sit behind your wrought iron fences with gates and guards and security agents, can say that, but what about those of us who do not have that kind of protection? They advocate a lot of things, but it is a shame to see them in a public place with the FBI and all the various security agents all around them. Why do they not get down where the average American lives, and walk with him a while? Get in his car and travel with him. You have a beast on your hands and you don’t know what to do with it. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” What is iniquity? It is lawlessness. We have generations of youth today that do not want to mind anything. You can tell them, You are not supposed to do that, but the more you tell them not to, the more they are determined they are going to do it, regardless of what. I am not saying one hundred percent of them are like that: there are some exceptions, but there is a great percentage of them that are going to show you, I will do whatever I want to do: Nobody is going to tell me what to do. Well I can remember when most Americans did not think like that. When I was a little boy, I used to come down here and visit with my cousin in Jeffersonville. We would usually spend a week of visiting. I remember seeing the policeman back then, how they were. They did not ride their beat in a comfortable automobile back then: they walked it. When he would come passing by, the little children would be watching for him. They would walk alongside him, holding his hand. They looked at him like an idol. He would always talk to them in a nice way, lead them to the next corner, then he would say, Now you have to go back: you cannot cross the street with me. I saw this with my own eyes many times. Now we have law forces that do not have time to look at a little child. I went to the police department a few months back, because I had gotten a letter from Michigan saying that my car had been up there, illegally parked in a certain place, and that I owed a fine. That made me so disgusted, when I knew my car had not been out of Harrison county. Nevertheless I thought, This is one of those computer mistakes. I thought I would go down one Sunday afternoon and show the letter to the police here in Clarksville. When I finally got in there, I am looking through a dark window and here is a female looking at me, What can I do for you? I was trying to tell her but she said, What you need to do is go to your local authority. I thought, They are just too big headed to help. The next day I called the sheriff in Corydon and read the letter to him. He said, Can you prove your car was never stolen. I said yes. Then you write a letter to that traffic department in Michigan and tell them to find out the badge number of the policeman that wrote that citation. On top of that, I went to the license bureau and showed them the letter. The lady said, Wait a minute. She went to the computer and looked up something. Then she said to me, You had not changed your license number yet, so you have them. The reason I tell this is to try to show you how our law enforcing facilities have become today, so bureaucratic, so bound by legality, that the individual person hardly has time to talk to you. That is why I brought this in. All this begins to show a social breakdown in the American society from the top to the bottom. She is fast decaying. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Young man, young woman, there is not a young person in here that I do not desire to see have companionship. When there came a time in my own life I realized I needed a companion, I did not need a computer to find one. You have all kinds of electronic gimmicks today where people can look for a mate, but I cannot sanction that. To me, God has to be included in the whole thing, if it is to be a right kind of companionship. When I met my wife and had my first date with her, something in the way she talked made me begin to realize, This is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I will have to say, I am thankful God allowed me to meet her. I say that for the benefit of every young person sitting in here, but do not grow up thinking you can be so independent that you are hard to get along with and still expect to have a good marriage. We have that kind by the thousands, that cannot get along with anyone or anything. I am going to be myself, is their way of thinking. I have to say this, If you are going to be yourself, then stay single. Do not get out here and choose a wife, get a child on the way and then go off and leave them. We have them in America by the millions just like that. America is on the brink of decay and remorse. God help all the young people, to keep their senses straight, know what they are looking at, why they are looking at it, and ask God to help them choose the right one to journey down life’s pathway with. I will say to everyone of you, When you have found the right mate, there can be comfort, there can be joy, there can be happiness, and help for one another, but it is a sad thing to be married one day and six months later the marriage is split and a child on the way. What a sad world we live in. Iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold. Why? Because the nation is headed for the rocks. Now young people in Faith Assembly as well as all of you that are listening in on the internet, This gospel of the kingdom is what we are preaching. This gospel of the kingdom is God’s kingdom, not the Republicans, not the Democrats, not the Communists, the socialists, nor the materialists. The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached unto all the world. I used to think that would take a lot of men a very long time to do that. Well I now know that it does not. It just takes a few months, with the right kind of equipment, that can be fulfilled. It is God’s business, so we depend upon Him to help us. I did not start it this way: God did; and I do not question it. I have studied and watched it for a good while now. I am thankful for everything He has enabled us to do. Therefore I just say, God help us to have the sense, the discernment, the wisdom to know what to say, when to say it, how to say it, that your will may be accomplished in all we do, and that somewhere we can touch the hearts of a few people that might be listening. All they are wanting is somebody to give them an answer to some of their problems and troubles they are faced with. With this in mind, I have to say, When we have looked this gospel of the kingdom over very carefully, that is the last major gospel endeavor that lays at the doorway just before the end comes. While that is in affect, while that is being accomplished, all these other prophetic scriptures are pointing to the very end itself. I am going to show you today by the grace of God, that you young people will never see old age. If you live until the rapture though, you are going to see some things before then, that will turn your little world upside down. It is not going to be like the Iraqi war, but you will see some things that will change the way you have been living. I want to take you back to Luke’s gospel, 21^st chapter, “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” In 1967, there was a great turnaround in the land of Israel, when God enabled His people to fight such a miraculous war and gain victory in a few days of time. From the time they established a Jewish state there in the land of Palestine, the Jews that had been able to go back to that land, had to fight for an existence. They have lived in constant fear of the Arabs, not even knowing how they would be able to exist, but having a determination to do so. To back up a little, All of a sudden there was the war of 1948, and then the war of 1953. Every once in awhile there was a skirmish between the Jews and the Arabs, the Jews just barely managing to hold on. The world began to hear how the Egyptians were preparing, Syria was preparing, the Jordanians were preparing. What has Israel got? She has got a few weapons, a few planes, she has got some ammunition, but it is mainly what she has depended on America to give her. Then all of a sudden we woke up one morning, the whole Middle East was in a warfare. We were building this church building at the time. You have heard me say it many times, the way this thing transpired, had to have been by the power of God. When it started nobody knew how long it would last. Nobody even knew how or when Israel would gain the victory or whatever. In just six days, Israel prevailed. Bro. Mayfield had his little radio turned on and every little bit we would hear, We interrupt this program to bring you this News, The Jewish war is now going into the sixth day, and then a little later we heard, Now the war has come to a close. Egypt, the Syrians and all, have sent word of their surrender. I want to show you something. There was some smart men alive back then. I cannot remember the names of all the officials, but I will never forget there was a lord somebody, and they mentioned one lord of England, that opened his mouth and made the comment, God was in this, because this little nation had no way possible, militarily, of defeating these three nations. It had to be by the hand of God. For three days it was constantly, admiral, general, captain, all kinds of official men voicing their feelings and sentiments, how the little nation, which was out-manned, out-gunned, out-planed, out-tanked, yet she winds up the victor. That was in 1967, just thirty some years ago, but look how quick they forgot that Israel’s victory was by the power of God’s intervention. Think how quick they forgot, and look where we are today. Where are those men today? Why have they no longer got the same sentimental feelings about this next one? I say to the Jewish people, Yes, there were different Jewish people from the different parts of the society that came to Canada and the United States testifying of what had happened. They traveled here and made speeches, telling how in certain places there was nothing but a miracle that caused the Jews from their standpoint to survive and gain the victory. Within a year’s time though, all the great excitement had blown over, and they no longer talked about it. The same men with voices like that in 1967, no longer uttered a word to give God any recognition. That makes you feel bad inside. What does God have to do to wake up this world? The Bible has the answer. I am going to show you what the answer is, right here in this book. That is why these scriptures have been placed as they are, and each one has a voice in itself.

LOOKING INTO GOD’S WORD FOR ANSWERS

In 1968, in the month of October, which was a year after the Six Day War, I had an opportunity to go to Israel, my first time to the Holy Land. One morning after we got up and went outside to get in the car, I said to the brothers with us, I would like to talk to a Jewish rabbi if I could find one. We asked the driver of the car that was taking us around, Do you know where there is a Jewish rabbi we could talk to? He said, Yes, I know one, but I do not know if he would be willing to talk with you. I said, We do not want to talk to him about religion, we want to talk to him about certain biblical things, prophetic things which we feel he might also be interested in. He then took us to the home of a certain rabbi. The driver went to the door and asked the rabbi if he would be willing to speak with us, and he came back to the car and said we could go on in. The rabbi met us at the door, took us into his living room and asked that we be seated. His wife came in and he introduced his wife to us. We told them we were from America, on our first tour to Israel. His wife left the room and returned with a plate of cookies and some tea. I told the man we were not there to try and talk to him about religion or anything like that, but there were some biblical facts we felt he could give us an answer to. My first question was, What has been the main thing in the mind of the average Jew that has managed to get back here into the land? What has been the main thing that has influenced them to come here from wherever they were, to make their home in this land? I said, We know what the scriptures say, but we want to know your viewpoint. That is when he said, Gentlemen, are you familiar with the prophet Hosea? I said, Yes. Well there is a verse of scripture in there that says, After two days He will revive us. He then said, Rabbis the world over have been watching that scripture for a long time. He said, Back in 1880’s in different places throughout the world, certain rabbis began to say, We are getting close to the time when this scripture is going to be fulfilled. With his own lips he said, Rabbis began to travel to different areas of the world where Jews lived in dispersion. They felt a necessity to go and tell those people in remote areas, that the time was getting close, for the vision those Jews had held on to, to become a reality. We have a vision, and we have got to begin to let our brethren know that the time has come for us to begin to go home. He said they were not always received well in the places they went to, and as they would get up before the various groups to speak, they would be booed and told to shut up. Nevertheless, they kept on making their speeches as they traveled to various areas. Over a period of time, their words finally began to produce results. Out of that, came what we call the Zionist movement. That is mainly what the political structure of Israel is today. It was spiritual men that first began to sow the seed of returning to their homeland, but other men in the leadership bracket began to take this and put it together to formulate a political movement. They began to get the idea, If the time has come, that we will travel to various groups of Jews throughout the world with this message, we ought to be able to get contributions from the wealthy, to foster this cause. Those people that would want to volunteer to go back, will no doubt be wealthy enough to support the movement. Those that got back there back then, began to form communes and then began to buy up acreage. The Zionist movement in the beginning, started out with the thought, We will buy it back acre by acre until we have bought it all. Then in time the Jews will have a right to come back. In process of time WW2 came upon the scene and disrupted the whole thing. Nevertheless they had certain kibbutz settlements already established in the land; and they were willing to face any obstacle to carry on their objective. I am putting this in here for the sake of calling attention to where we move from to continue on. Many of the Jews coming back, already knew what the Bible says, and they would say, This is our land! However many of the political minded Jews wanted to play along with the political leaders of other nations that want to have something to say about the future of the Israeli people. I use that, so you will everyone take a good look at Sharon. Take a good look at George Bush. They are like two peas in a pod. George Bush does not even see a true Israeli country at all. All he can see is, We have got to divide the land, give part to the Jews and part to the Palestinians. George Bush and all the rest of you, you had better keep your mouth shut, because that is an anti-God attitude. That is why I do not hesitate to say, Think of the sadness and heartbreak many of those Jews have had to endure for fifty some years now, those that went back there to live, and to help rebuild and replenish the land with Jewish people. They have had to put up with this political sell out to a bunch of leaders that cannot see their own place in time. To the Jews that might be listening, If you would read your Torah right, then follow your prophets and read their writings the right way, you would see exactly why you are existing right now in the very beginning of those prophecies being fulfilled on your behalf. As long as your politicians want to play ball with other world politicians, you are going to end up on the losing side of everything they agree to. Somewhere in the plan of God though, He has a certain day and a certain hour and a certain way He is going to do whatever it takes to fulfill His written word. When He does that, the world will never return back to what it was yesterday. It will be different. I have these scriptures and I have studied them carefully. They have been so placed in the Bible, that a lot of preachers have looked upon them as though they have already been fulfilled in some other era. No brothers and sisters, they have not been fulfilled, because they are for a certain time; and that time is getting close. God has held them back from fulfillment until this very time. Since the Six Day War, men’s hearts have become hardened and they have forgotten how the power of God was testified to by many, after the miraculous victory Israel enjoyed in 1967. Jewish politicians have become hardened to any thought of a plan of God being fulfilled. Our Gentile leaders have become hardened also. All they want to talk about is, Well if you will do that, we will do this and that should be agreeable to everyone. No. It is not agreeable to everyone. No prophecy will ever be fulfilled under those terms: You do this and we will do that. That only takes up time, which only prolongs the suffering of many. That is why, when we look at this 12^th chapter of Zechariah, time wise, we are standing right here just a short interval before the seventieth week of Daniel begins. Brothers and sisters, I can say this to you, and I can say it is Thus saith the word of God: a lot of people ought to thank God this thing did not start three years ago, because they would not have been ready. When you look at what is written in this 12^th chapter, you are looking at the beginning of the great shaking in the Middle East, which will consist of God moving things around and getting ready to establish the time for the Jews to obtain the right to build their temple. When you come down through the 2^nd and 3^rd verses, where God said, Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling, God did not say that this was going to last ten long years. In whatever length of time is involved, it is going to be a time of political tension and nervousness. Think of the human lives that have been lost, especially on the part of the Jews. When I look at what has been going on in the last three years, and think of the Jews that have suffered, and of those that have been martyred, it grieves me terribly. They have been put on the political table of diplomacy and used like poker chips. Do not ever think God is not watching over this prophecy, which is pointing to what God is going to do for the children of Israel in the very near future. Do not think God is not watching over every Jew that is being killed needlessly in this political game some are playing. Just think, how Gentiles want to play with the land and the people of Israel. When God said He would make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, He was not looking at any other time in history except this very age we are living in. You have every one been looking at it for the last three years I know, just waiting for what we all already know is getting ready to capture the News on Television. Look how many times Bush has been over there to the Middle East, and how many times Sharon has been over here, and they also met in Egypt. Talk, talk, talk, roadmap this and roadmap that: which is just about all we can hear lately. Why in the name of common sense do they not read the Bible? I am going to ask a question. Let’s go back fifty years, to 1948, when in the United Nations was compelled in an overnight session, to decide what they would do with those people, the Jews. Who was it that spoke up? President Harry Truman said, Let’s give them a place back in the land of Palestine where they belong. On what basis did he use that terminology? Because they are the people of the Bible. Well we don’t have Truman anymore, but why can we not have politicians that will wake up with the same vision? I ask President Bush and all the senators and congressmen, Why do you think the Jews need a spot of land over there in the land of Palestine? What merits it? What kind of history are you using? Is this a political picture of your own thinking? Or is it because you know that these people are the present day descendants of the seed of Abraham who lived in that land thousands of years ago, to whom God promised, that the land would be to Abraham and his seed through Isaac? Not one of you politicians have the backbone to read this Bible publicly before the U.N. or any other institution and stand for what is made so clear about that land and that people. You want to split it in two, but God will not allow you to do as you want to do. You could say, Well how do you know that? I know by believing what I read in the Bible, but you do not know, and you never will know, because your compromising politics will not allow it. I can prove to you by the Bible, that none of you politicians, whether in 2004, or two thousand years ago, have ever been on the side of God in anything. Pilot was not, Herod was not; and neither were the priests of the hour when Jesus walked upon earth. Who has been on God’s side? It is the down-and-outer, it is the Joseph, the carpenter type, the sheep herders on the hillsides, but none of the important people of their hour. No, you politicians think you have it all, but it is all in your head. You do not want to see anything like I am talking about, because you want it said that you have helped change the world. You have helped change the world, but not for better. God will put some of you to sleep one of these days by a stroke of His judgment. When you wake up, either in heaven or in hell, you are going to know that no mortal man had anything to do with what happened. When you frown on this Bible and say we can put no dependence in it, I have to say, There are things written right here in this Bible, that are going to come together and paint a picture for every mortal creature that is alive today. When this next event opens up and starts bringing about the things that are foretold in this book, it is not going to be a repeat of1967, it is going way beyond that. When you begin to hear the learned men say, That had to be an act of God: God is going to see that every dignitary opens his mouth and commits himself and acknowledges that only God Himself could have brought about such a total change. God is getting about enough of this practice of doing a few things for a few people, then later have them forget all about it. This is one reason why I titled this message, “Scriptural Diagnosis.”

THE MIRACULOUS WORK OF GOD

We are living in a world today when it is very easy for some to say, That had to be God, when they witness certain things around them, Six months later, they have forgotten all about it. Well I want you to know, when God does start this which we call the miraculous in the Middle East, and the world witnesses one blow right after another, They will have to know God is fighting for His chosen people, the Jews who have been so looked down upon and mistreated through centuries of time. One slap right after another will bring them victory in very short order. Once they open their mouth and begin to acknowledge the power of God at work, God is going to put this down in the book of His remembrance. Well Bro. Jackson, do you think it will create a world revival? No, but I am going to tell you what it will do: It is going to open the minds of a few young people out here, especially in America, that are presently walking the streets without much purpose in life, and going to institutions to learn all about algebra and modern math, but are too stubborn to listen to God. God wants a few of them; and He knows how to get them. When God starts shaking this old planet, it will be like a peach tree being shaken by a mighty wind. God is not going to wait for somebody to start screaming. I can tell you this, There is not a university within the continental boundaries of the United States that is not going to have some professors saying, There will be no classes today, because the students are all watching the TV. They are going to see something unfold before their very eyes, and God will be in it all. I want to read you some scripture from Zep. 2:9-11, and you can see for yourselves how God looks upon people who have mistreated His people. “Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. (10) This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts. (11) The LORD will be terrible unto them: for He will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.” Most of you sitting here, know what the Bible says about these things, but there are people hearing my voice today that do not know, so we want everyone to know what is just ahead. Naturally we do not know the exact time, but in his time, He will certainly see that every word of these prophecies, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem, are fulfilled. He will cause men to open their mouth and worship Him, men who have never thought of such a thing, men who would have previously said, Who is Elohim? That is how it is written in the Hebrew text. I can hardly wait for that day to come. America, for the last twenty five years, has had many silly professors that thought, We are going to open up America, and let the Muslims come in. We are going to let the Hindus come in, and the Buddhists come in. We are going to let all of them come in and we are going to tell the Christians, Get in the back room and shut up. (That is how it appears to me.) I want you to know, when the founding fathers sat there, in Philadelphia, and wrote the constitution, the chief of the Apaches was not sitting there with them looking on. Neither were the Comanches looking on and saying, Remember me. Now we have let the ACLU and all the rest of the devil’s helpers come in, and they re-write the constitution, saying, It does not mean that. Well God heard every bit of that ignorance. God will not honor our politicians, but I have to say there are some dead ones two hundred years back, laying in the ground, they prayed, they wept, they fought to gain independence from a dictatorial power that wanted to tax us to death as a colony. When those men died, God in heaven that looked down upon their graves saw that sacred parchment. As we get close to this point of time, you are going to hear students, and see them on the TV programs jumping up and down, but we want to see God come on the scene and let them see something in the Middle East. It will not be like it was yesterday: It is going to be a war just exactly like Joshua waged in his day. Once again they are going to say, Well how can Israel conquer Egypt, Syria, and Jordan and all the others? She did it thirty some years ago, almost wiped them out. God was with her back then; and He is going to be with her again this time, to stamp a picture and image of something that is going to shock this planet from the east to the west. I want to say to President Bush and all the rest of the politicians, You are never going to get rid of this radical, Muslim spirit. They are coming after you, but God is coming after them. It is all in this Bible.

THE JEWISH TEMPLE AND WHAT OPPOSES

I want to say to everyone hearing this, When the time has come that God wants a temple built in Jerusalem, there are no Palestinians going to stand in the way of that. It says in Micah 7, In the days that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.” It goes on to say something like this, (You can read it.) I will show unto him, Israel, great and marvelous things, insomuch that the heathen will come crawling out of their holes. That does not mean fox holes, it means holes of humiliation, because God is going to put them down on their knees in fear, with their hands over their eyes. You may say, My God, I didn’t know it was going to be like this! Well it is going to be like that. Why? Because there are a few young people out there walking the streets today that do not know anything: they have been blinded by modern institutions of ignorance, stupidity, and politicians that are also blinded. Some say, We don’t need God telling us how to conduct our business. Yes, you do, and you will soon know that I am telling you the truth. I am not preaching this to make anyone angry. I hope I can make you feel glad, because I know this much, I have been in the Orient where the Buddhists and Hindus, and all the rest of them are prominent. When the construction of that temple begins, do you think it will be something done in a secret way? No. It will not. Why? Because it is going to be a temple built for the King of kings and Lord of lords over all the earth to rule and reign from. God wants the whole world, the whole planet, every nation to have their part in the construction of it. Yes, these Muslims of our day and hour think they have the whole world scared beyond any possibility of defending ourselves. They are in Indonesia, in Nigeria and the Philippines. I will say to our politicians, They are after you too. Then, in your ignorance, you want to say they are a peaceful and loving bunch. You are a hypocrite to talk like that, because common sense will let anyone know that they are not interested in peace. I have the history of the system. It started in Saudi Arabia in the later part of the sixth century. Through the years, out of there it came into Egypt, all the way across north Africa, stamping out every Christian stronghold. Then right up where Paul was, in Mesopotamia and on into Bosnia. Why do you think we have troops in Bosnia? Because the conflict was between the orthodox Christians and the Muslims. I would to God that our politicians read some history. There are too many old books laying around, that has all that history recorded, so no one who cares, has any excuse for not being informed. I heard the testimony of a man from Armenia years ago, that I have never forgotten. Just before Pentecost hit America, his mother and many other people suffered at the hands of those Muslims when they took over Armenia and rode into this one city. They rounded up the people by groups and had them kneel in the streets. He said, My mother told me this, Here we were in this group just waiting, thinking that just any minute our heads would be whacked off, because of those Muslim men riding their horses around us with their swords in their hands. My mother said we prayed many times, thinking we would feel the sword just any minute. All of a sudden the commander of this particular group said, Leave them alone! It was the grace of God. As soon as it was over they were allowed to flee from there and get over into eastern Europe. From there, they made their way across to western Europe. Later they had a chance to get on a boat of refugees and come to the new world. They landed on the east coast. As time passed they worked their way west. They were in California when the Holy Ghost fell upon those people. There is a long history about happenings in America, and there are a lot of things taking place in this miserable world today, that have to affect us. It vexes me to think we have men in America that would like to stamp out the memory of all these past eras. We take our best young men over there to give their lives for a cause that few understand. I want to show you what this last one hundred years has cost this world in human lives, more than the other five hundred years before that, all the way back into the Dark Ages. I want to read to you what a political leader of Europe said when WW2 started. It was King George the sixth. Thank God for a few kings that could worship God. Thank God for a few presidents that could read the Bible and understand what God’s purpose is. “The voice of King George trembled with emotion when on September 3^rd, 1939 he announced the declaration of a war. A strange sensation took over me when I heard the king say, This war cannot be compared to any conflict in past history. When army met army on the battlefield, for the first time in man’s history, it was a war of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” The beginning of the last one hundred years. Now I am going to read to you some statistics, after we have sent our armed forces into Iraq as we did. If we would have fought that like we did in WW2, we would have given them a bombing first, and laid Baghdad flat like the Germans did London England. I have to say, We have forgotten how to fight. No, we do not want to kill innocent people, but warfare sometimes includes that. To America I say, Do not try to tell those people over there that you are a holy nation. The death toll of WW2, as we look at the evidence, was soldiers who died in the greatest number, but in this war, it was the civilians. WW2 cost the world sixteen million, nine hundred and thirty three thousand soldiers that died in combat. What about civilians? From north Africa to the northern part of Europe, every major city was in ruins, every railroad, and every river crossing. It all took thirty four million, three hundred and five thousand civilians, men, women, and children, blown all to pieces. Wait until God gets through with the Middle East and see how that compares. Young people, you may never be interested in reading histories. I have read histories at times that have made me cry, but to think we have a bunch of politicians today, that want to soft peddle their way through, spend billions and billions as they compromise and negotiate, can also bring you to tears. On and on they go. It is a sick mess. Well we have not seen the end yet. When this thing starts in Israel, time will never be the same as before. She will unfold, unfold, and unfold until the week of Daniel is right upon the world. Necessity has compelled the world to enter into it. I have the Hebrew text here, so when I get to a certain place I will read to you just exactly how the Hebrew text expresses it. It really brings everything out so much clearer. When we enter that little miraculous era, it is actually God’s judgment stroke to wake up the world. Out there, is a mass of youth, not just in America, but around the world, and God wants some of them. It is God’s way, for them to get their eyes opened and see the truth. From the isles of the Gentiles, which means the borders of the Gentiles, men will call upon God from his own place. Why? Because they have been able to see what the God of the Jews is doing, and can do.

MEASURING TIME BY THE SCRIPTURES

I just want to try to show you how close we are to the winding up of everything that is going on in this world. The scriptures that we will be using in the services to come, I have studied every one of them closely and studied every word, to find what the true picture is, that is portrayed in them, and therefore try to show you that once this picture starts unfolding, the conditions that you and I have known in the past years and months up until now, will never return to the same as they have been. It is going to shake, it is going to de-stabilize, it is going to tear down the whole structure of how things function. It is going to throw mankind, especially political leaders into a state of utter chaos. I believe it is important that you and I begin to know where we stand, in the light of the scriptures. Are we just assuming such and such is going to be, or do we really have a true picture by revelation? I want to point you to this (chart), because, from this time right here, which will be just a short interval before the last week of Daniel starts, and as these seven years run their course, it is going to be the very ending of everything people have talked most about. There will be no more salvation for Gentiles after that week starts. The last Gentile must be saved before Jesus opens the seventh seal on the little scroll and leaves the mercy seat. People can keep saying, How do we know we are close to the end? How do we know when Jesus will leave the mercy seat? Don’t you think maybe it can be a long time off yet? I have to say, God did not have certain things written in the scriptures for you and me to take a negative attitude about and not begin to be able to put a picture together with an understanding of where we really are in time. It is my desire, never to misinform anyone, or to lead anyone astray. On the other hand, I would hate to be guilty of knowing something, and then fail to tell the people who have confidence in my ministry. As I have studied these scriptures and carefully looked at them, analyzing them in the light of what is so obvious, I would have to say, Practically every prophetic scripture that is laying before us in this hour of time, is in the process of being fulfilled. Jesus said in both Luke and Matthew, As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. America, the last Christian nation on the face of God’s earth, or that has been known as a Christian nation for many years, all of a sudden, it looks like our total leadership and everything about this nation has taken a complete turn around. Every day, in the News, we hear the gays crying out, We want a right to be married. From the state of Massachusetts, all across to California, the gays of this nation are displaying their arrogance in seeking to defy the very picture the Bible portrays. I would have to say, If that is not enough to tell you something about where we are in time, how long does it have to go on like this for you to get the picture? Do you read your Bible, what it says about the end time? Do you believe what you read? When you read about distress of nations, do you not realize the signs of the end are all about us? Some people are not even interested in the News, but as I have listened to the News in the last few weeks, from Nigeria, to Rwanda, Indonesia, and all over this globe, there is civil and social unrest among the people of the nations. In many of the places, it is this Muslim spirit that is perpetrating the unrest and rebellion. When we bring it back home, back to our overall ranks of leadership, they look at the whole thing as though it is our responsibility as a nation to take into account and begin to make plans on how we are going to rid the world of radical, Muslim terrorism. Brothers and sisters, when we see all these scriptures pointing to a precise time, it makes me realize there is no way that any nation can get rid of this Muslim spirit that is enveloping our societies, terrorizing and creating unrest among uninformed citizens. From the Philippines, Indonesia, and all through the eastern Orient, that spirit of distrust and unrest has been turned loose. I say, God has allowed it to rise up at this time, not just because it is Islam, but because of what is behind it all. Satan is making preparation for his last stand. The world is ignorant, when they close their eyes to the Bible, allowing the very ones that put forth this contrary religion, to get by with claiming to be the descendants of Abraham. It lets me know the world is winding up with two rivalries. This world is being maneuvered into a time when God is going to show all, that He is on the side of that little nation Israel, the Jews being the very descendants of Isaac, whom God’s promise to Abraham was to be fulfilled through. Sure Abraham had other sons, but they were not the heirs of all that God promised to Abraham. Read verse 20, and then read verse 21. Genesis 17:21, “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee.” Yet from the complete extremities of the globe, there is this terrorist spirit among the Muslim people. They want to try to prove to the world, that they are the legal heirs of the promise of God to Abraham. They are absolutely not, but God has allowed them to come about this thing the way they have. If we could study all the scriptures and analyze them for the complete picture they contain, we would have a lot less indecision among well meaning people who are not Muslims. I believe God is going to let us see something that will settle our hearts, our minds, and help us to be able to look to every tomorrow there is left, and know that as we keep our confidence and our faith anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, the hour will be somewhere up in front of us, that God, with one big sweep, is going reveal that spirit of Islam for what it is. He is going to let the whole world see that it is anti-God, as far as the Bible is concerned. They claim to be the legal heirs of Abraham and believers in Allah, but history will show anyone who will take the time to study it, that they are cruel and blood thirsty and filled with hatred and malice; and not to be trusted. I would not go so far as to say that every individual is like that, but I say to you, Open your eyes and take a good look at what is behind so much of the conflict in the world today. I will say this, Every scripture I will use in the services to come, will be for the purpose of trying to show you beyond the shadow of a doubt, that scripture has a precise place in the ending of time. The reason I have chosen Zechariah 12 this morning, is because it all goes back to the year 1993. You have heard me tell the dream I had, but for the sake of those listening on the Internet that have not heard it, I want to tell it again. I have listened to many preachers through the years as they would rise on the scene of evangelism and try to tell the world what the antichrist is and where he will come from, and they have had the antichrist coming from everywhere, from Berlin, from Moscow, Italy and you name it. Even the same ones just keep changing their mind about it, but if we know anything about the prophecies of Daniel, that antichrist spirit and that beast system, that false prophet, can only come out of one basic picture for the end time; and that is Rome Italy. He has to be that horn Daniel saw coming up in the midst of the ten horns. Bro. Nelson told me last Sunday, that he was talking to a man that heard a certain preacher say, I could prove to you that God has told me that the antichrist is going to be a Muslim. I would have to say, That poor man has slipped somewhere: God has never told any preacher such a thing as that. That just gives you an example of what religious leaders have become in this hour of time. Preachers are looking for something fresh to excite their followers, something they think will attract more attention. If we can keep ourselves stable, God is going to give us a true picture to walk the rest of the way with. Every scripture in the Bible that deals with the end time, is staring us right in the face today. Every thing that the Bible has said concerning the conditions in the world at the end of Gentile time, wickedness and unrest in the nations and all of that, is clearly seen every day. Look at Luke 21:25-28, “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (26) Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (27) And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (28) And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” What does that mean, The seas and the waves roaring? It certainly does not pertain to a storm out there on the ocean somewhere. In many of these lesser known nations where you have the third rate nations of people, there is anarchy and unrest, instability, and all kinds of internal squabbles and troubles going on all the time. Every year these things keep intensifying. It is like that the world over, from Africa to India, everywhere. All of it is an indication that we are absolutely living in the end time and we are ignorant and blind if we cannot see that in the scriptures, as it draws the end time picture. In that dream I had in June 1993, I am thankful to God He let me see this dream in the manner I am going to relate it to you. I thank God also, for the knowledge that He will never leave His people ignorant of what is about to take place.

TELLING A DREAM

In this dream I am going to relate to you, I saw myself sitting in this certain room, it was well lit. I saw myself sitting in a chair with my Bible open. I was meditating. It seemed as though, in my mind and my heart, I was wondering and saying, There has got to be a precise scripture somewhere, that begins to unfold a picture of how the end time is set in motion. As I was holding my Bible, meditating, all of a sudden, above my head an audible voice said, “I will now show you the order of my coming.” When I began to pay attention to the voice I heard, It began to relate certain words that I was sure was meaningful. As I listened to these words, they were the names of certain books and writings of the prophets of old. I listened very carefully. I am remembering these words as I hear them. Then it goes from that, to certain numbers. I began to record the numbers in my thinking. When the part of that dream was over and I woke up, I realized it was the names of certain prophetic books, writings of the prophets of old, and the numbers were certain chapters within those books. Zechariah 12, was the number one on the scene. I will say this emphatically before all of you, You are looking at the 12^th chapter of Zechariah hanging right over you as you watch the News. For the last three years, you have seen that city of Jerusalem become a cup of trembling. Every time there are negotiations going on, all the politicians are saying, We want to divide the land. The Bible does not say the land is going to be divided. They want to give the old city of Jerusalem up to the Palestinians for the capitol of their Palestinian state. The Bible leaves no place for that. That is why the prophecy says, He (God) will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling. To whom? To all those round about. Who is He talking about? He is not talking about the European people, nor the African people: He is talking about those Arabs that are living in and around the land of Palestine. They are the ones that are causing the trouble. Every since the United Nations declared an Israeli state, there has been nothing but conflict over there. The minute this statehood started, the Palestinians immediately set about to defeat the entire thing. The whole Arab world has said, Never will we allow a Jewish state here. That is why the Arabs have said Jerusalem must be the capital of the Palestinian state. They claim that, but you and I, as Christians that read our Bibles, know that is not what the Bible says. You would think our leadership in America, especially the descendants of our old patriarchs of the nation, would make an effort to defended the scriptures that make it so clear who the land belongs to. You would think they would be quick to grab some of these things and try to defend them. Well the sad truth is, that our entire political system is a sad picture. Our political leadership has turned their eyes completely away from the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. They are ready to set in motion anything to try to prove to the world, We don’t need the Bible to go by; we trust in our political leadership and our modern capabilities. Well I have to say, America is in for one of the biggest disappointments that she has ever faced. I am not saying it will be set in motion tonight, or tomorrow, or the next few days, but in front of us somewhere, this 12^th chapter of Zechariah, is going to be realized. We can say, For the last three years, Jerusalem has been a cup of trembling for many people. How long this is to go on we do not know for sure, but all signs point to the fact that we are just about to the closing of that era, and very soon, those things which are the true issues are going to start coming forth. As that takes place, within this total scope of it all, there are certain things that stand out vividly. These things will be fulfilled to the Jewish people in the light of each passage of scripture in this 12^th chapter of Zechariah. To prove it is all pointing to this era of time right here, just before the week of Daniel is to start, what we are waiting for actually takes place a short time before this week starts. All things must fulfill in God’s foreordained order. Israel must get all their land back and have a period of dwelling in unwalled villages before Ezekiel 38 and 39 are fulfilled. Only after that, can we expect to see these other verses of Zechariah 12, fulfilled. It culminates right over here at the end of the 12^th chapter, because it plainly tells you in verse 10, that God says He will pour out His Spirit of grace upon the house of David. Let us start in verse 8, and read a few verses of this. Zechariah 12:8 “In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. (9) And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (10) And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” Well you everyone know where that takes place: It takes place in the first part of this week, does it not? And it takes that to set in motion the two other pictures that are fulfilled here. One of them is this, Out of that land of Israel will come a 144,000 men that have heard the two prophets come on the scene and prophesy to Israel for three and a half years. They are given a message to carry to the nations. Those two prophets are going to explain some things that are going to be evident in the world at large then, and in the weeks to come. Those two prophets, in the first half of that week, are going to tell the Jewish people what is about to come about in their era of time. The 144,000, when they bring the everlasting gospel, all of that leads to the very end of that week. The reason I say that, is because Israel taking all their land back is the beginning of it all. Therefore when we see Jerusalem begin to become the trouble spot, that ought to make us become fully aware of where we are in time. How far are we away from the beginning of these other things when that captivates the daily News? How long will it keep hanging there and going on like this? Do we just keep on hanging around, playing with scripture, and think this is all for another generation to deal with? I have to say this, God is not going to let one generation see all these things, and then let them die off, and raise up another generation to see the climax. It will not work that way. Regardless of the fact that the political Jews have been very reluctant to take hold of the prophetic side of this, God will cause everyone of them to realize what is happening. They want to hold on to the land, simply because they say it is theirs, but you never hear any of them mention a passage of scripture that would indicate they believe what the prophets have written. It is known that P M Sharon, believes in the Torah. I would like to say to him, Ariel Sharon: you educated Jew, you keep the Sabbath to make it appear that you are holy, but when the Sabbath is over, you are as unholy as can be, because you will turn right around and crucify some of your own people, and treat them as nothing, sell them as poker chips on the diplomatic table of world affairs. I just have to say, Something is wrong with a man’s mind when he behaves like that. I believe that a man can be religious, but he has to have a right picture of things if his life is to be affected by it. When I look at all of this and study it, there is one thing that draws my attention, The city of Jerusalem is not always going to be a cup of trembling, nor a burdensome stone. There comes a time, that God says His eyes will look upon the governors of Judah. To me that means, No matter how much the governors have been wanting to portray their Zionist philosophy of politics, when God looks down upon those political Jews and His eye is fastened on them, I can see then, that God has intentions of doing something to get their attention. If He gets their attention, He is going to start speaking to them in a way that will bring about some action. Once He does, and once those governors begin to listen to Him, and hearken unto Him, then God will say, “In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire.” They have not been that way for these so many years. They have been ready to defend their ideas, to defend their settlements, but at the same time, giving the opinion, giving the idea, We can compromise, we can back off, we can give up this, we can give up this, we can leave this and that and still hold our own. I say to them, No. That is not God’s way. The prophecy I am reading from does not show anything like that at all. We are living in that time frame when the whole thing is being held in balance. It is all waiting for God to see the exact second and the minute, to set it in motion. It cannot continue another three years the way it has the past three years, if we are as close to the end as it seems like we are. There have been too many, to uncertain as to how we should look at these prophecies. Somewhere in front of us God is going to change the order of events. When He does, I believe the governors of Judah are going to be where God is going to start speaking to them in certain supernatural ways. It is not going to turn them into prophets, but it is going to begin to make them more sensitive to their position and what they are doing there, and what their responsibility as leaders of the people is. Let us go back and read verses 5-6, of that 12 th chapter of Zechariah. “And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. (6) In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. That just about says it all. If God is going to make them like a torch in a pile of fire wood, then it lets me know He has every intention to change the entire political picture. “In that day ( What day? The day when it is time for Israel to make their move against those that have oppressed them for so long.) will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood. (When it says among the wood, you can translate it, ‘among the Arabs,’ because that is exactly who it is going to affect.) “And like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: (Who are these on the right hand and on the left? It is all those Arabs.) and Jerusalem (which has been a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone, becomes the centerpiece, and) shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.” For the last three years we have heard about what it would take to have peace in the Middle East, if the Palestinians are allowed to have a state, and if the Palestinians are allowed to keep Jerusalem as their capital, then everything will be just fine. Brothers and Sisters: We everyone know it is going to take more than that to have peace in the Middle East. The Jews will never have any peace until they put all those Arabs in their rightful place; and that will not be anywhere in the land God gave to Abraham and his heirs through Isaac. Let us just suppose for the sake of examining this, that the Palestinians were given all that we have just mentioned. What do you think would happen? I believe it is safe to assume, that sooner or later, most all the Jews that do live in the Jewish sector, out of everyday pressure and humiliation, they would begin to pull out and get away from there. They would not want to live in a city where the biggest majority of people were anti, against them. Therefore when God said, And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, by who? It is going to be inhabited by Jews. When that picture drops in place, we can look at other scriptures of prophecy that fit right in with that, because that pulls Isaiah 49 right into focus. That is a prophecy just waiting for the last days to set in motion the fulfillment of these scriptures. It prophesies in there, how Jerusalem in the last days will be. God has looked upon Zion, which is a particular geographical spot. It is a mountain peak. That is where Jerusalem is built, on top of Mt. Zion. God says that is the apple of His eye. It is not the fact that it is a piece of ground; it is what that place stands for, and has stood for through the centuries of time. Right there, is where God actually showed David that He (God) would place His name. That is why, when David did take this city of the Jebusites, God had already showed him where to build a temple. That is where God put His name to be sacredly remembered and reverenced. For hundreds of years that city was known throughout the old world as the city of David, the city of the Lord God of Israel. As God then starts looking at the leadership, He has one major objective in mind, getting their attention and causing them to get ready to fulfill His aim. Now let us see what the leaders begin to say in return. “The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first.” Well He has done that. That is what came out of the Six Day War. As I said this morning, When the Six Day War was ended, I will never forget the joy of those people and people everywhere. Immediately across America, places were opened up and people began to gather, wealthy people, all kinds of people with lots of money. For days they stood in line dedicating thousands of dollars to the cause of Israel. I will never forget how many wealthy Hollywood actors lined up at those places, went in and wrote their checks for thousands of dollars as a gift to the cause of Israel. That was because the Six Day War had cost them (Israel) so much money.

OUR FIRST TRIP TO ISRAEL

In 1968 when we were on a plane going to Israel, we were all sitting in our seats talking about what our expectations were, how we were eager to see the land and travel where the prophets of old had been. In a matter of time there was a gentleman from the back that moved up behind us. He sat down next to us and said, Gentlemen, I don’t want to be interrupting your conversation, but I cannot help but notice you are talking about the land of Israel. He let us know he was a Jewish man, a general of the army. He was a commander of one of the armored divisions that chased the Egyptians down through the Sinai. He asked us questions, what we were going for and such. We began to tell him that we were always interested in the land of the prophets, naturally about Jesus Christ, but knowing this man was a Jew, we never pushed anything beyond that.