Preached June 10-17, 2018
In the last edition Bro. Allen began to leave his title subject and started to review topics which have been attacked by critics. He finished by looking into Isaiah 4, and in this edition, he picks up looking at the Third Day of Hosea 6 before returning to his subject of Hell Is Not Eternal.
The World Today
The church world’s preachers are so soft that they do not really care. They do not care about truth, they act like they care about people, but you cannot care about people without caring about truth. It is just a false face they have plastered on, to try to show people that they are on the good side. We have not preached it that way here at Faith Assembly. I remember when I spoke at Bro. Jackson’s funeral in 2004, whenever I read from Solomon, when I came to a certain place, I would not say that I was as a child, because I said, “I have been here thirty seven years, and you cannot count that as a child.” At Bro. Jackson’s funeral there were people here from the Branham Tabernacle, including Billy Paul. I said, “This place will never become a museum.” I remember Sis. Lau, after the service was over, she came to me and said, “I am so glad that we are not going to have to hear sermons from the archives and tapes.” I am glad too, because if that were all there was to it, we would be as the others, stuck in one spot. But you cannot go but one direction in truth, you must go on. There is no stand-still, there is no in-between. I count it a privilege to minister before a people who love God, that believe truth, that hold to truth in this hour of time. This was on my mind as I was looking into Hosea 5 and 6. I will look in Hosea 5, because I think this is something somebody overlooked. It is not exactly how people have read it, but it is truth. Hosea was a man that lived at the time just before the ten northern tribes were carried away into Assyria. It would have been Assyria at that time, which would include part of Syria today. I know Israeli leadership in the Knesset has said Syrian President Assad has to go. I believe they are looking at something beyond what the national leadership is looking at.
They are looking at scripture. It is a constant attack on Israel by their enemies. They are sending fire bombs sending over into Israel many times a day, burning up farmland, tearing up things, getting close to cities. They send up kites with bombs on them. When they drop, then they explode. I saw one, I guess it had not exploded. It looked like it had ten or twelve bombs on it. This is meant to kill; it is meant for different things. Israel will not always take that. They will not always listen to Russia; they will not always listen to the United States. They will not always listen to the Congress. If Congress see something they like, they say maybe. Most of them are that way. Some of them are not that way, but most of them are that way. They will not stand behind something until it is already proven out. They are not leaders. They are not willing to get in at the beginning and try to be a part of it, because they want to eat the icing off the cake after it is all baked and fixed up, made to look like a beautiful thing, then they want to take their hands and get the icing. That is all that is left of it. It has been said, the red-blooded American people are going to get tired one of these days. They are going to open their eyes and realize what is going on, Bro. Jackson used to say, it will be Katie-bar-the-door. I am sure that had a meaning because of the wars that went on. Somebody hollered out, Katie-bar-the-door. So, it has been a saying from that time on. It was to stop something, to keep something out. Whenever it is open, then anything can get in. Whenever the American people have taken all they are going to take, they will shut this thing down. Then there is going to be something break out in this country. We look at George Washington’s vision as an example of what can happen. We believe God has a plan for this nation. Our forefathers knew what they were doing, because they loved God. This country was born at a time whe n religion in Europe was all controlled by the State. Either Catholic or Anglican. People wanted to get away from it, so they could worship God according to what they saw in the bible. There is little difference between the Anglican Church (The Episcopal Church) as well as some of these other large denominations, like the one I came out of, the Methodist Church. They are no better. There was once a distinction, but they are all gradually putting aside their differences. They burn their candles. All of that does not do any good. There is nothing to it, it has outlived its day. You can see in Revelation 18, God is going to put the candles out. He will eliminate it. But He is taking care of us right now. He is watching out for us. He is keeping us safe in Him. Maybe trouble is going on in your own life, or in your own home, or maybe trouble in different things, but as long as you are true to God, you will come out on top, you will not be the loser. David said, “I have never seen God’s children forsaken, neither have I seen them begging bread.” The Lord will see to our needs.
The Third Day Pertains to Israel
I want to go to Hosea 5:12. I saw something here that will help you. As we read this, notice this is entirely about Israel. “Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness.” He is telling them what is going to happen to them, shortly. It was not going to take a long time to come to pass. This verse was fulfilled 2700 years ago to the ten northern tribes. Ephraim represents the northern tribes. It happened to Judah 2500 years ago. It said He would be as a moth unto Ephraim, which represents the ten northern tribes. That He would be as rottenness to the two southern tribes, Judah and Simon. That is what He is talking about. Then He said, “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, (He brings this out later in the 6th chapter,) then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, (See? That is a big problem. They always look to somebody else for their help, for their comfort. This is just like the other countries of the world today. They look to other people instead of resolving their own problems. Trump is not looking to other nations to resolve America’s problems, and he is putting a stop to us helping other nations unfairly. That is exactly what was happening, as it has happened to China, as it has happened to Canada and Mexico. You might say, well I am from Canada. I am not talking about you; you are my brother and sister. But the governments in those countries do not practice fair trade with the United States. I do not oppose someone coming from another country. Many people in this church are from other countries. But you must obey the law, become a citizen, pay your taxes. Render unto Caesar what is due unto Caesar. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian…) and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.” Ephraim spent 2700 years in exile. Judah was in exile for seventy years, then they came back. Then their second exile began in 69 AD, less than two thousand years ago. They have only came back to the land of Israel in modern times, starting in the later 1800s. I read in the book of Isaiah in the last message, how their name would be a byword. I remember when everybody used to go to the car lot and say, “let us jew him down.” It became a byword. You do not hear that anymore. That word used to be used when buying or selling, “Let us jew them down.” It was just a byword they used to degrade the Jew. A Christian has no business speaking that way. Do not do it. I remember back in the 1940’s when Hitler was killing the Jews, you did not hardly hear about it in the news. I really did not hear anything about it. I knew there was a war going on, and I knew about Germany and about Japan. I knew about those two nations, but I never did hear what was going on with the Jewish people. Because many people did not care. They thought the Jews killed Jesus, this was the very thing that turned them against them. Because it came right through the Catholic system. They would say, “We do not like Jews because they killed Christ.” That thought came through the Roman system, when it was really the Romans that did the dirty work. They did the dirty work, all the beating and everything like that. The Romans condemned him to death. The crucifixion was done by Romans, but the Roman Catholics did not want that part brought out. They just wanted it brought out about Jews. When something bad would happen in Europe, or anywhere else in the world, they blamed the Jews. Millions and millions of Jews were killed through the centuries of time just because something was blamed on them. It became a dirty word, Jew. That was God’s punishment, because He said, “I will tear and go away.” He let the nations of the world do whatever they would unto the Jewish people until there would come a time that he would start to deal with them again. “I will go and return to my place, (In other words, God is going to withdraw himself from the Jewish nation. I will return to my place…) till they acknowledge their offence, (See? There is hope. They must acknowledge their wrongdoing, their rejection of God that happened in the days of Hosea, and then the rejection of Christ when He came. I will tear and go away. There is no worse thing that can happen in a family than a breakup. That tears up the whole situation, the children. I realize sometimes it happens that way because it is necessary. It happened no doubt in Paul’s day, as Paul was a part of the Sanhedrin. According to a rabbi that talked with Bro. Jackson, he said that Paul had to be a married man in order to be in the Sanhedrin. Somewhere his wife left him because of truth. It can happen that way. John Wesley’s wife never would acknowledge him. He was just an outcast. I remember the telling about a man in Burkesville, Kentucky. His name was Daddy Wells. He came home, he had a wife and two sons, and they would make him sleep outside. They did not approve of his preaching. But when he would preach, he would get so happy and say, “This place is not big enough for me,” and he would go outside and preach. See? There has been persecution all along with somebody that lived for God. Because with Him, as the Bible says, there will be persecution, standing for the Word with persecution. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence….) and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” In their affliction. Look at the holocaust, look at their affliction in 1939 through 1945. How the land of Israel was just a waste place. It is like a Garden of Eden now in many places, like the Megiddo Valley. They grow a little bit of everything, but when Israel came there, they began to buy cemetery plots in the Megiddo Valley. They began to buy cemetery plots, telling the Arabs they wanted to bury their dead there. It was a swamp infested with alligators and snakes. Something began to work in that Jewish mind, because they had been all over the world. They had been to China and Australia. They saw the eucalyptus trees, how they soaked up water. That is how they drained the swamp. They are the only nation in the world where they reuse 70% of their water. You see it as you go across the land of Israel. You see these big pools out in a field. That is where they have gathered water and recycled it. Because God gave them that knowledge to do that, to do the things they do.
I want to go on to the 6th chapter now. “Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us: (That is Judaea. That is the one He said He would tear and go away.) he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” That is Ephraim. It said He talked about their sickness, up here in the 5th chapter. I am not looking at these scriptures for any other reason but for what I see here. Because there has been a lot said about it. “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” What am I getting out of that? It has nothing to do with the Gentiles or the Gentile church, nothing. Not one thing there is said that has to do with the Gentile church. It is talking of Israel. You cannot connect this prophecy to the events that happened in the church. Who was it talking about, tearing and going away? Who was it talking about their sickness? See? The dispute over what I preached on the third day was because they believed the third day is the Millennium. The third day is not the Millennium. It will go into the Millennium, but it does not line up perfectly with it. After I had preached that, Bro. Bud asked me, “What about the third day?” I said, “The third day does not have anything to do with the Millennium. The third day is related to the Jews.” There are two parts in Hosea 6:2. First he said, “After two days he will revive us.” If it is after two days, then it is the third day. In the third day they will be revived. We know Israel’s revival will happen in the first half of the Week of Daniel. Bro. Jackson taught that. The Week of Daniel is not the Millennium, it is before the Millennium. Then there is the second part: “In the third day he shall raise us up and we shall live in his sight.” This second part does go into the Millennium, but it does not line up with the Millennium perfectly, because we can see it started before the Millennium. Because the revival and the seventieth week of Daniel are in the third day.
The Third Day is Not the Millennium
It talks about the third day, so we know there are three. What came before these days started being counted? It was Daniel 9:25-26, where he counted off the years of Daniel’s 69 weeks. Whenever Bro. Jackson took that, he started counting from 445 BC. That was the year that King Artaxerxes gave the decree to Nehemiah to go back and rebuild Jerusalem in Nehemiah 2:1. When you count forward the 69 weeks from 445 BC, it comes up to 33 A.D. That is using Jewish years, God’s years, which are 360 days to a year. That is where Bro. Jackson gets these numbers. That is how the 69 weeks come out to equal 483 years of time. Then from 33 AD, you start counting the two days it talks about here in Hosea 6:2. That is two thousand years of prophetic time. When you count forward the two days from 33 AD, that is where it come out to 2004 ½. That would be about June 2005. That is what Bro. Jackson came up with when he preached on these things. It is right over here (pointing to The Countdown Is On chart.) You start the two days (after two days) at Christ’s crucifixion. You start those two days and come through two thousand years of 360 days each, and you come to 2004 ½. There was no gap between the first day and the second day. There is no gap between the second day and the third day. The third day started at 2004 ½. But that has nothing to do with the millennium. You cannot make the third day equal the seventh day of creation. The seventh day of creation and the third day from Hosea 6:2 do not line up. You see, the third day and the seventh day do not start at the same time. The seventh day of creation is the Millennium, the day of rest. Creation starts out, and then you count forward six thousand years, coming through all six, then you go into the Millennium, which is the seventh day. The Millennium will start whenever time has run out. That is when the Millennium starts. That will be the seventh day, because it is a thousand years. Millenia means one thousand. That is what it will be, prophetic time. Then the eternal age will begin. But as I am saying here, this third day has nothing to do with Gentile people. As far as the third day goes, its importance to us is this: it lets us know the timeframe of when Israel will be restored. After two days He will revive us. Once those two days are over, you are then in the time frame when God will restore Israel. We are living in that time. After two days He will revive us. Somewhere soon, Israel is going to get their revival. The two days had to end before that could happen. After two days He will revive us. Who is “us”? Us Gentiles? No, we are already raised up. Raised up into a truth. That is speaking of Israel. They will be raised up into a vibrant nation at that time as God pours out his spirit on them and they have a revival. That will start when Gentile time is over. Israel’s time begins as Gentile time ends. After their revival is over, then they are revived. After they are revived, they are raised up, raised up to be what God expected them to be under the Law at the beginning. Because in the Millennium they will keep the Law, showing that the Law can be kept. They keep the Law, but it will no longer be something looking forwards. It will be something looking backwards, and it all refers to Christ. The sacrifices and feasts and the customs are teaching those young Israeli people growing up during the Millennium. It will teach them why the Law was there and what the Law is. As Paul said, it is to bring us to Christ. What did he mean by that? Their keeping it will be to bring them to the knowledge of who He is. Without a pattern in the Old Testament, we would never have known Christ when He came, because there would be no record of Him. The Law and the prophets are a reference to what will come. Even in Noah’s day, whenever he was preaching there in the 3rd chapter of Peter: what was he doing? The whole thing is a reference to God the Father, as He is putting a pattern down for mankind to be able to recognize Him. God is not a person of flesh and blood. But they will be able to recognize Him when He presents himself in a human body through the Holy Spirit. God is not a dove. I remember Bro. Branham said, “God used the lamb and He used the dove, because they are the most innocent of all the animal kingdom.” They can take a goat and put it out in front, those sheep will not go in a stream of water. But take a ram and lead it across that water, they will follow it even until they die. No wonder Christ recognizes us as the sheep of His pasture. There is a type with Noah. First he sent out a raven. Just like the devil. He is not going to come back. He is going to find dead bodies out there to live on. That is exactly right. But you take a dove, it cannot stomach it. It does not have a craw. It cannot eat just anything. It has to have some kind of grain in order to survive. I did not mean to get on this, but I wanted us to look at this.
Everything is a pattern pointing to the time that Christ would come, because He is going to end that pattern, because He is what the pattern was pointing to. God in the Old Testament showed himself by signs and wonders and miracles. Abraham saw a figure that God used, Melchizedek. God is able to do anything. God is the Creator. He saw a figure that God had placed himself in, that could eat, that could drink. A pattern of what was to come in Christ. Everything that God was, was in Christ. God was in Christ. What a privilege today. The very God of creation that would come down and show himself in a man. He is not Elohim. Jesus in not Elohim, but He is a representative of Elohim. He is the closest thing that could be. No other man, no other prophet, the great miracles that were hid in the prophets, they could never equal what was in Christ. I am not talking about miracles. He did the miracles. But what was the great show of God? Jesus lived a perfect life. Jesus lived the law. That is what God was. It did not make Jesus God, because He is still the Son of God. But He is God’s representative. He had to represent Him so much, to where He could give His life. They did not take His life; He gave His life as a ransom. Because God cared. God cared so much about His children, He saw them from the very foundation of the earth, and here they sit, part of them. Getting their garments spotless, white, wrinkle free, getting ready for the union to come in a short length of time. A union where it will all come together as a godly man and a godly woman. This is now our courtship. Now is where we admire Him. If you will admire Him, He will admire you. He will. You might think, “Well, if He does, why can I not escape some of these things?” He did not escape it. He lived in just as bad a world as we do, but He left an example and said here, you can do the same thing. Not only that, in Mark chapter 16, but He said, these signs shall follow them that believe. He is saying the same signs that was in Him will follow them that believe. Because God was in Christ, and you are in Christ, through God. The spirit that you received is the spirit of God that was poured into Christ, because He is the example. God placed all of his attributes into Christ. He emptied everything He was in Christ, but it did not take anything away from God. Bro. Branham gave an illustration I will use. Whenever Jethro, Moses father-in-law, came to him and he saw how the people were wearing him out, he said let me tell you something that will help you. Get seventy men together and anoint them with the spirit that is upon you and let them help you with your job. It will give you more freedom, it will help you. He took the spirit of Moses and put it upon seventy men, but Bro. Branham said it did not take anything away from Moses. All of God’s attributes were in Christ, but it did not take anything away from God, He is endless. Do you understand? God poured it in Him. That is why He would say what He did, whenever He introduced Him as Emmanuel, God with us. God was in Jesus with us. It is what Jesus speaks in the 17th chapter of John. Jesus speaks of himself being in God, that they were one. Then He also said, that we can be one with God, just like He was. That happens when we take the same spirit of God, but it does not take anything away from Him. It takes nothing away from Him, because He is inexhaustible.
“After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” Jews, not Gentiles, it has nothing to do with the church. Why is it that we recognize this? Why is it that we understand it? Because the Bride is going to know these things, because it places an hour of time, to let us know what day we are living in. If there were no indications, if there were not road signs, you would never know how to find Jeffersonville, New Albany, or Louisville. You would not know how to find these places without signs showing you the way. How would you like it that way without signs? God did not place us here to be ignorant. He put signs out there and said the wise and prudent will not understand it, but it will be unto babes. Is He saying we are always going to be babes? No. A babe gets their nourishment from their mother when they are little, then their mother and father as they grow. We are as babes; we get our nourishment from God’s word. It is what keeps us clean, it is what keeps our mind out of the mire, out of the things that are going on today in this old world. This world is in trouble. Surely, we can stand a little bit of criticism. The criticism that once affected me some, does not affect me anymore, whenever you know you are right. They will turn it around and say, “Oh he just thinks he knows something.” No. I do know this, I know the teacher of this, I know the Author and Finisher of it. As long as you know Him, you are not going to go astray. Why? Because you are going to keep His word. Because His word is the light unto our pathway and a lamp to our feet. Go on to the next verse, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: (That is Jews.) his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, (That is one time, that is one part of it. This is just tenderizing the ground. Come to us as the rain. There used to be a bunch known as the Latter Rain, they just get one word out of the Bible and build their message on that word.) as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” That is the whole thing. They are going to get everything that was in the latter and the former rain. The whole thing is coming to the Jews, all of what God had planned at first whenever He gave them the Law. But thank God Abraham was not under the Law. He found grace, just like others, just like Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and saved the whole earth, one man. One man is holding this all together this. That is the reason the rapture has not taken place. Bro. Branham said when that last child comes in, but I will say when that last child is perfected, it will come. We are getting close to that time when nothing is going to prevent it. The only ambition I should have, or anyone should have, is to serve God and to do His will as we walk upon this earth. Serve God, do His will and let everything else take second place.
Hell Opens Her Mouth
I am going back to my title subject again, Hell Is Not Eternal. I still have things to speak about in this topic. I thought I would get it done already, but there is more I feel to look at. As we look at it, we will go ahead and talk about the goodness of the Lord as part of this message. We are a called-out people. God has spoken to us in this hour. There are very few.
I heard on the radio after church, this fellow was talking about all the churches that have programs trying to get people out of debt. Out of the fifty major churches, there are thirty-five of them that are doing this to try to get people out of debt. Because whenever they are looking at their bank account, they are looking only to themselves. They figure if they can take their program, it is going to profit them. Then they say that God has blessed you with more money, so give that extra to the church. But God is not a person that is in need. It is man that is always needy and never satisfied. What did the rich man say in proverbs? I will tear down my barn and build a bigger one. That matches the hour in which we live. As it was in the days of Lot, Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30) When Lot saw that fertile plain where Sodom was located, he saw a beautiful valley and green grass where he could feed his livestock. Lot saw betterment for himself. Abraham took the leftovers but look how it turned out. Lot ended up with nothing. The only thing he had was the clothes on his back whenever he left Sodom. He was kind of like a foolish virgin of this time. He lost everything because of his decision to get friendly with Sodom. Abraham and Lot had very much livestock together. It got to the point where there were too many and their servants began to strive, one with the other. God could not stand that. He spoke to Abraham. Abraham spoke to Lot. How do I know He spoke to Abraham? Because he did not make his decisions on his own. It behooves us, before we get into any endeavor, to go and talk about it to the Lord, that He may bless what our plans would be, so we can ensure we have planned according to His will. Then He will bless us. But that is what happened there in Sodom. There is never anything spoken good about Sodom, it is always the negative. Things went on there just like in San Francisco and Los Angeles. One day it will all be wiped away, just like it was in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It will be wiped away. It will be wiped away by fire, after the earthquakes, after the volcanoes, after the great tsunamis, as the Bible talks about the sea roaring. Then that is the time hell begins to open its mouth. I can read that to you in Matthew 25:41, one verse there, where Jesus is talking to the last group of people. He calls them goats. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” This is what I spoke about earlier in this message. Hell was made for the devil and his angels. Because that was all that inhabited hell before man came on the scene. Not the animal kingdom. They were destroyed. Before our creation, there was never a human being that had a soul, not one. That is why it says hell was created for the devil and his angels, because there were no men there whenever it was made. If it was created for the devil and his angels as we have said before, then where is the lake of fire at? Before the Millennium Satan will be cast into the bottomless pit. Then he is released to deceive the nations at the end of the Millennium. When that is over, he will be cast into the lake of fire. Not on another planet and not in another place, it is all in the heart of the earth. Because this is where the deeds were done. It was not done on Mars. It was not done on Jupiter or any other place. It was all done here on this earth. Every sin ever committed by mankind, began on the earth. Lucifer was on the earth when he sinned. He was in that garden at that time, which was of beautiful stones of fire. That is why He said here that it was created for the devil and his angels. It was not created for man because man was not here. After God judged that first creation that Satan perverted, then we see the first beings on the earth at the time that Adam was created. God created a help mate for him. He created the animal kingdom, which would include the serpent, after He had created Adam. Because Adam named the serpent. He named all the beasts of the field, he named all the fowls of the air and the fish. God created them all and brought them to Adam to name. When sin entered, it changed the situation. It would take salvation to change it again. Because sin was multiplied in the early generations of mankind, even before the flood. Cain goes into the land of Nod and what happens there? Centuries past, no doubt, and the sons of God began to look upon the daughters of men as they were brought across the Euphrates into the promised land. The land of Nod was in Iran. We know as we look at these things that God’s plan was not for man to sin, but He had a second plan in case he did sin. But he sinned in the very beginning whenever the woman accepted the serpent as somebody to love. Not knowing what was going to happen, but not fully accepting it. All men now had sin. Then fallen nature was passed down through the generations of Cain and then began to enter into the children of Adam when the two lines mixed. Whenever it did, the fallen nature was already there, because whenever man sinned in the garden, then that fallen nature followed him. Only a Saviour could ever take care of that fallen nature. That is why we accept the blood of Jesus Christ as our salvation and water to wash away the sins we have committed in this body. This is God’s plan for man. He said there would be very few that would find it. Of course, through the ages of time there has been many people that have had salvation, but it was not to the extent of being part of the Bride of Jesus Christ. It was a different thing upon their lives. God knew where to place them in the very beginning of time. He knew everybody that would make it in some form or another, from the very beginning of time. He predestinated them to their place in time. Then they made the choice for Christ in their hour. Man had the choice. Everyone had the choice to be able to find the Lord, but the Bible says there will be few that will enter into it.
As I look at Matthew 25:41 and think about it, Jesus is talking to somebody that has no more chances. He has put a boundary there. First of all, He blessed the sheep on his right hand, because He separates them. They are separated. So, there are two groups of people that will be judged after the great tribulation period is over. God will use the foolish virgins and those Jews that died during that terrible tribulation time to determine which of the natural people on Earth will be permitted to enter the Millennium. The foolish virgins are in resurrected glorified bodies, but the sheep and goats are still in natural bodies. He is not taking goats out of heaven to bring them down to hell. They were never in heaven. There never was a place for them to be there. God does not make mistakes. He always knows exactly what He is doing. These two groups did not realize what they had done. They are surprised to find out what they did. The did it unknowingly. As I look at that, I wanted to mention that because I had thought about before our creation, all hell had in it was the devil’s angels. It was created for the devil and his angels. But the devil was not there, but many of the angels that sinned during first creation were sent there. Some angels had done so wickedly that they were cast into hell. Never to come out until the day of judgement. It may be a mystery to you, but this is the way it was planned out. It says hell created for the devil and angels. It was not created for humankind to go there. But then God knew the choices that man would make. We all have a free will to choose. What did Joshua say unto the people of his hour? He said choose you this day who you will serve. We are making choices today, every one of our choices must be thought out. Especially things that are going to affect our lives and that will affect somebody else’s life. We are not living only for ourselves. We are all part of one another. I thank God for that in this hour of time as we are looking at it.
Lingering Spirits
I want to go into Daniel 7. You see spirits in this chapter that do not die, they linger. These spirits have life all the way into where you go into eternity, then their lives stop. Then they are cast into the lake of fire. These are the spirits that live today, we will find that out as we go along. “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.” This is a dream and a vision, while he is upon his bed. This scene he sees is something that is going to linger through time. It comes right down to our time, which we are living in now. “Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.” Where was that at? The four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, that would be the Mediterranean Sea. The Babylonian kingdom was there between the Euphrates River and the Mediterranean Sea. “Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. Four winds strove upon the great sea…” this is spirits. What is coming out of this water is not from God. These beasts are motivated by evil. God did insert himself in the picture to get his will accomplished, but these beasts are increasingly evil. God used Daniel to deal with the kingdoms and with some kings, but it was not salvation. God had to correct them. God did something for Nebuchadnezzar, because he was made to stand upon his feet as a man, after he had finally learned his lesson. He had went years thinking he was god. But God brought him down to where he ate grass just like the animal kingdom does. Finally, after seven years of time God raised him back up into his kingdom, then he exalted God for that. But he called him the God of gods, that was his reply to that. “And the four great beasts came up from the sea, (See? It said they strove upon the sea; the four great beasts came up from the sea…) diverse one from another.” They are all different. As you look at these beast systems, they all had rulers over them, kings, potentates. They had emperors, which were really a curse. Because emperor means universal ruler.
Only God rules the universe. “The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, (See? Till the wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth…) and made stand upon the feet as a man, (That is when he finally acknowledged who he was.) and a man’s heart was given to it.” See? God gets His will done. Whoever the man is in power, God gets his way. That is why I have talked about Trump as I have. God is getting His will done for this hour through a man that maybe does not know too much about God. But he has a heart that God can use to get what he wants out of America to benefit the nation of Israel.
“And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” This is the Medo-Persian Empire. What is he saying here? “It had three ribs in the mouth, between the teeth of it, and they said, the ribs are talking, thus unto it, arise, devour much flesh.” In the Medo-Persian Empire were three dynasties in a row before it came to its end. It all started out by different men, but final Media and Persia joined together to become one empire. The Persian part went over into Persia, which today is Iran. It was always named Persia until 1935. That is when they changed the name of their nation to Iran. Before that it was known as Persia. This empire conquered Babylon.
“After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” This empire was started out by Alexander the Great, that is what they called him. He conquered the Medo-Persian Empire which came before, which is bringing it into those three you find in Revelation 13. I will read that again. “After this I beheld, and lo another, like unto a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl, the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it.” The dominion given to it was the dominion it ruled over. It says like a leopard. That leopard was the spirit on Alexander, he moved fast and quickly conquered everything he went up against. He was only thirty-two years old when he died, and he cried because there was no more world for him to conquer at that time. He was greedy.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue (or the other three, the residue) with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.” See? There is no real description of this beast, because it is not like any other beast before it. It is different, it is a dragon, which there was no beast in that time like a dragon. But this was called a dragon because it looked so unusual. It had different feet, and a different body. Then those ten horns sprung out, which were ten kings. Then it had a body that was made up of the body of all the other beasts, because its would conquer their territory. Then what does he do? He considers the horns. “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, (Does this little horn make eleven? No, it is part of the ten, but it is a religious horn. It springs up after the beast has came out of the water. This shows a progression of time, and speaks of the time when the pope gains power. It is not a kingdom of God. The emperors desired to be called god. They did not believe that there was anybody else that ruled the universe as they did. The Caesars made themselves gods.) before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: (After 800 A.D., the pope began to rule. He began to put up kings, he began to put down kings. This is what he does here as he plucks up three, because they did not listen to him. He gained power over the emperors of the ten kingdoms, so he takes over, plucked them up by the roots.) and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, (He is giving the description, like unto the eyes of a man, which the would be the pope.) and a mouth speaking great things.”
You can go into Daniel 11:36 and you will find the same thing. Let us go there for a minute. “And the king shall do according to his will; (This is a religious kingdom in the endtime. See how it lives? How its life goes on and on and on?) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, (When it says he speaks marvelous things, he is saying that he speaks as though he is greater than God. You know the pope right now, he comes out and gives his homily, which is his message. They call the it homily. Other denominations are doing the same thing. The Methodists are calling their message a homily, it comes from the pope. As he is speaking here, we find that he is speaking as though he is God. If the word of God has something in it that he does not like, he can change that and that becomes scripture to the Catholic people. Because his word is higher than the written scripture, this is the way it works. He shallspeak marvelous things against the God of gods…) and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.” This is already determined. There is no changing it. It is going to happen, it is already determined, already predestinated. “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, (He will not even regard what the popes before him taught.) nor the desire of women, (Do you see what kind of man he is?) nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.” Above all gods.
Spirits Given to the Burning Flame
Let’s go back to Daniel 9:7. “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: (You find that in Revelation 1.) his throne was like a fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: and judgment was set, and the books were opened.” This is the same setting we see in Revelation 20. The books were opened. Not the book of life, but the books of deeds. “I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, (This is the fourth beast. Daniel beheld till the beast was slain,) and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.” This ends that spirit of this European Roman system. You find that in Revelation 19, where it says the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. The beast is a spirit. It is not man or a woman. The spirit of that beast is cast into the lake of fire. This is what it is speaking of here. It is something how God so loved man, it tells how much he is loved. It is something how God so loved Daniel, that He told him secrets of things that are going to be spoken again in the book of Revelation, five hundred and some years before it ever came to pass. Now what does he say here? “As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.” You can pick that up in the book of Revelation 13. “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, (which is the Millennium) which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” It will never be destroyed during that time. I will read a little further. “I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.” I guess they would. He is seeing all these great beasts that will rule the world, but he has no understanding of what they are. Everything he is seeing is future. He does not understand it. But God does help him in some of this understanding. “I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So, he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, (kingdoms) which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.” Which is the Millennium, a period of time. God gives this unto His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for that period of time, to rule and reign. Then it is turned over to God for Him to rule and reign through the eternal age. We see that there.
Now I want to go from that to Revelation 13. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, (He is standing on a beach looking out over the sea. That is a vision that is given to John here for him to be able to see this. I stood upon the sand of the sea…) and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” The name of blasphemy here is the titles he has as emperor. That is what it is all about. First John saw the attributes of the fourth beast. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, (See? Daniel saw from the first beast to the fourth. John goes another direction now; he goes to the third beast next. Because of the swiftness of these things coming about. In 1808 the papacy received its deadly wound because the pope had been put in prison and he died in prison. It was dead until 1945 when it began to come back again after WW2 was over. Because the pope was just a dead figure at that time. Of course, there were Catholic people, but it did not really amount to that much. When WW2 was over, that system began to regain power, gradually. Then in 1963 President Johnson recognized the papacy and sent a delegation there. He sent an ambassador to go to Rome to be a liaison to the pope. The power was beginning to come back. Before that time there was not an ambassador to the papacy. That process of regaining power began in 1945. The Catholic Church began to gain prominence, not preeminence, but prominence. Why? Because God sent a messenger. The spirit world is at war with the Catholic Church. Of course, she had harlot daughters: the denominational world, all of them. Fifty years ago, the top churches created the World Council of Churches and they cooperate with Rome. One day, God will say, that is enough. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, (See? He mentioned the whole thing as one. Back in Daniel as I read before, they are spread out, they come along at different stages at different times. But all those spirits now are entering one time, into the endtime which we are in. God cannot stand it. He did not start it, but He will end it.) and his feet were as the feet of a bear, (which would be the second beast. It is the same spirit, but it is going in reverse. Look, next it is the mouth of a lion, just like the first beast.) and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” Now where did this beast come from? The dragon. He is the head of the whole thing. So, you can see how this is made up of all four beasts. It returns back to the place where it started. It started as Babylon. Then it began to get larger with the next beast, the bear. Then it gets larger on and we go on. But John sees it going in reverse here, to show you what is really pushing it, because each kingdom was viler than the one before. “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; (This is what I was talking about already, that happened in 1808 when the pope was put in prison. He died in prison. He died of disease because he was put in an old cold dungeon. It was because of the evil that they had done to the people, to the Jews and unto the Christian people. Wars were started by religious people. Jews were stamped out by religious people. All power comes from God, even though he is not directing its wicked deeds. He permitted it to have power. What is He doing? He is giving man the opportunity to get as low as he wants to go. Because destruction is just on the other side of that. It is kind of like the man wondering where the sun came from. He kept looking, because it would hide and then it would come back up. He kept wondering, where does the sun come from? Then it dawned on him. That is the way truth is, it will come alive, it will dawn on you. I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death…) and his deadly wound was healed: (it was wounded unto death, and then its deadly wounds are healed starting in 1945. It began to get life. How does the religious world interpret this verse? They believe there are two people. A religious false prophet and a world leader who is the beast. Two separate men. The beast is not a man, the beast is a lot of men. It is a spirit that will drive them to work together to form a pollical system. But that is not how the church world looks at it. They preach that somebody is going to shoot that powerful man, they are going to shoot him in his head and then he is going to be healed. That is what they say. They have been living in the woods too long.) and all the world wondered after the beast.” The beast is that European system at that time. It has not taken shape yet. What Europe looks like today is not yet what this beast will be. Europe is trying to tell Trump how to spend our money. They say the United States has more money than they do. Our debt is twice as high as all Europe combined. It said, “All the world wondered after the beast,” that is what happens in the end time. That has not happened yet. You see it says, “Who can make war against him? Against the beast?” We see in Revelation 19 where the beast is taken and thrown into the lake of fire. But there is no way to reach out and get a hold of the beast physically. It has no physical form. It is a governmental system. “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” See? This is where China and the kings of east challenge the west, as we read in Joel 3 next. Who is able to make war with him? “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things (Great things to an unregenerate world, not great things to us. There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things…) and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.” He continues the half week of Daniel. The last half of the week of Daniel is where he is given power. They are questioning, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. The last half of Daniel’s week, which is the tribulation. “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, (which will be built) and them that dwell in heaven.” See? He is not afraid of anybody. He feels he has a power that nobody can resist. Everybody must be subject unto him in that last half of the week. But what happens? The Chinese, those kings of the east, come against him there in the land of Israel. This is who comes to fight against him, because they have an agenda too. Here China is getting their money to become a world power. Europe has their money to become a world power. Russia is now talking about dumping the U.S. dollar for their Euro. These are all snippets to be added together, just like ornaments on a tree, to bring together something that is going to shape up the endtime for the forty and two months. WW2 was over, Europe was nothing. The United States rebuilt Europe, Germany, France. Do you know what Germany has done? They have invited a million and half Muslims to come in there and work. Merkel has ruined Germany, that is what they are saying now. Because of the things she has done, bringing all those people in there, those killers and rapists. They have brought them in there, and she is unashamed about it. She does not aim to change her mind. Now Germany and France and Spain are dangerous countries to be in, because of what has been done. He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. He just does not care. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, (That is the last half week saints, the Jews and foolish virgins, because he has one aim. There are not going to be that many, but he hates it because he is so ungodly, because he wants everybody to worship him. He hates the believers still on earth because of what they stand for because there is something inside him that makes him like that. Because he is a devil. That spirit in him is a devil. That is what happens to it in the 19th chapter. It was given unto him to make war with the saints…) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” When it says all, that is talking about where he rules. He does not have that power over the eastern people. That is why they go to war, where the beast is, that is why the United States is let out of that. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, (All that live upon the earth shall worship him, that is not the end of the story. Except.) whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” As it is mentioned here, the names mentioned in the book of life here, what is he talking about? He is talking about those ones that have surrendered themselves unto God, then those sheep people and the ones that will make up the endtime, which will be Jews also. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. “If any man have an ear, let him hear.” Let him open his ears. “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” In that hour of time, which I will read a little bit here. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” This verse is telling you something. This is in relationship to the last half of the week. This is spoken as though it is separate from the rest of the chapter, but all of that chapter is the same. It is speaking of the same. Those foolish virgins and “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” In other words, they are singing God’s song. Here is the song they sing. “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”
The Servants of God are Serving the People
I want to greet Bro. Jimmy and Sis. August from the Phillipines, it has been a year since they have been with us. We are all brothers, because when Jesus had washed the disciple’s feet. He taught them a lesson there, which is a lesson for us today. We should be willing to serve. He came as a servant and He served the disciples at the last supper. Then He washed their feet. These disciples were not at all clean, because they had walked through the dust and dirt and grime of that hour. But He took a towel and washed and dried their feet. That was showing an example of leadership for the Bride of Jesus Christ, and for the servants of God. We are not the ones to be served, we are the ones to serve. I feel that is the purpose of the ministry in this hour, to be able to serve something to the saints of God, as it is in Matthew 24, where it talks about where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. The word is the carcase. This is what we are feeding on. It is not something only to whet our appetite, it is something to drill us and make us into His servants, as a mighty army that God has lifted up in this hour. Not many in number. But there was not many that went into the ark, there were just a few, it says wherein eight souls were saved. Some have wanted to narrow it down to a tiny number, because they were just including themselves in it. Now they are gone, they are dead and gone without leaving a good report. Now we have the time and opportunity to live out something that is vibrant, which is the thing for the hour in which we live. I see all the wonderful faces as I look around. I do not see to much when I start preaching, but as I look around now and see your faces, I am so glad to be able to greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we would never have known each other. I would not have known you, being born down in the hills of Kentucky. I never thought I would ever get away from there. I did not know what I was going to do. But whenever I was nineteen years of age, then I went to Cincinnati Ohio, I had never been there but one time before that, I went there and worked for three years. Then I went into the ministry. I had a brother who had some pull in the Methodist Church. He got me in there for four years, but I saw things I could not stomach, things I could not live with. In 1963, whenever Bro. Branham preached the Seals, then God sealed it up for me, because it said in Revelation 18, come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of their sins. That was the registration to me, that it was time to leave. I left at a time when the church I was in, I had preached everything I knew. Because I got acquainted with this message in the spring of 1961. I had been at the Tabernacle different times. I was there when the Seventy Weeks of Daniel was preached in August 1961. From there on, there were different times I did get the opportunity to go and see the services. This was quite awhile before church order was ever put in. Then when church order was put in, then you see a big change. People got to be obstinate. They got to where you could not put confidence in them because they were going to try to fulfill that, what they thought Bro. Branham meant, which he did not. He did that to take care of some problems that were going on within the body of people, where he was pastor. But then you had the hierarchy of the church that took it over, they did not show it when he was there, but whenever he was gone, then they clamped down to make church order something that was unlivable, only to those that had a purpose that they would follow the man no matter what. It is not the man, it is the word of God and the revelation of the word of God, which they have completely forsaken and have gone their own way into books, tapes, and things of that nature. I knew one of the best friends of Bro. Branham. He said there were a few of them that got together and they were listening to tapes, and Bro. Branham rebuked them for it. He said, if you want to listen to a tape, you go ahead and listen to it, but do not get groups of people to do that. Do not get into forming a little group and doing that. A man who was involved in those meetings also told me Bro. Branham rebuked that thing. But now look what it has become. It has become something where people have completely left the message to make another message. They have left the truth to follow their own pernicious ways, as the Bible said they would do.
Prepare War
Joel 3:9. “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; (See who he is proclaiming this to? He is not talking to the Jews. Proclaim ye this to the Gentiles….) Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” This preparation is happening in the time we are living in. We do not have to look to another time, it is the time we are living in, where this is happening. We see the eastern nations. China is the biggest part. China is trying to gain domination over the United States, economically and militarily. This is their purpose. In WW2 there were 4500 American soldiers that fought to keep Japan from going over and taking over China, otherwise it would have been part of Japan if this had not happened. 4500 American soldiers blocked the way from this happening. Many of them gave their lives to protect China. About fifteen years ago I saw in a report that Chinese people went to work in the cities and they did not see their families for a year. They got one week’s vacation to go see their families. They lived in little huts and things of that nature. Not very long ago, China was weak. They were one of the weak nations. So was India. Now look at India today. A lot of the things are now made in India. Even Ford Motor Company has a car that they have made in India. You see how commerce is going. Then you see the thing between North and South Korea. It looks like they are going to be reconciled. It cannot go on like it is, it must be reconciled in order to fulfill Bible prophecy. I remember when Bro. Jackson was dealing which Isaiah chapter 60, he was dealing with strangers building up the walls. He included China in that. He said there would be Chinese, and there are Jews in China. He said there would be Chinese architects and people with skills that would tell their moms and dads, “I am going to Israel.” He said, they would ask, “Why? What is in Israel?” Just to fulfill the scripture of what he was talking about. You see today already, there are five thousand Chinese going to work in Israel right now. We see that coming about because they are industrious people. Take the eastern countries, they are industrious people. The young people in America have got so lazy and so full of dope, that now some of the companies are having to hire people that are hooked on dope in order to have enough people work for them. In America, maybe ten years ago, 65% of people were against gay marriage, now it is 65% in favor. It has changed that much in that length of time, because people have friends and family members and that have gone to that gay lifestyle. The other day I was watching the news in Louisville, the mayor was marching with the gay pride people. They call it pride, but I do not call it pride. These things are becoming something that is gradual. They are entertaining a devilish spirit. You see the spirit of the devil motivating what is going on in this nation, in the world, and in the eastern countries. In the east, they are strengthening themselves. What is that for? It is for the future, whenever they will attack the European beast system, there in the land of Israel. It says in the 16th chapter of Revelation, the blood will come to the bridle of the horse.
Let me read on in this chapter. “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war.” That is what they are doing, they are preparing for war, whether they want to or not. It is still happening because everybody must have their bombs, they must have something in order to feel that if they are threatened, they get ahead of the game. We have seen the United States and Russia for years, how they have gone about it to try to get strength, one over the other. But we find this has become a stalemate, and you have other countries now that are pushing for these things. What does it say? It says, Prepare war, let the weak say I am strong. North Korea has neglected their people. Many of them do not even have food to eat. What for? Their war machine. Prepare war as it says, get ready for the last day war, because it is coming. When Trump was having the meeting with the North Korean leader last week, what did the Chinese leader do? He did not want them to check him in any way, so he brought his own porta-potty to the conference. I hate to say that, but this is being said in the news, everywhere. Why did he do that? So they would not be able to check and see what he had going on in his system. The world is getting ready for something that is coming, but they do not know what it is. It says here, “Beat your plowshares into swords, (See? Instead of farming, they are making weapons. This is exactly what North Korea has done. China too. Why? Because they are preparing for war. To get this thing going, North and South Korea has to get resolved. The United States has to get out of there. They are going to have to come back home, because it is time for them to come home. Our soldiers in all these different countries have to come home because it is time for something to happen in the world. It did not say, go to war, it said prepare for war. They are preparing, there has to be a preparation before all of it comes about. That is why the weak nations, the small nations are preparing for war. Just wait, it is not going to be long until Europe is not going to be depending on the United States for their protection. Even Japan, whenever the armistice was signed, they agreed they would never have atomic bombs. We will see what comes next as they are preparing for war. North Korea does not have anything to eat, but they have a war machine they can march up and down the streets to show what they are capable of. It has scared the United States enough to cause Trump to get them to the negotiation table. This is what was to happen in this day. This is what the prophet Joel was talking about. He is talking about our day, our time. He was not talking about yesterday. He was not talking about the future. It is now that they are preparing for war. Right now they are building up their war machines. Beat your plowshares into swords…) and your pruninghooks into spears: (They are not going to fight with spears. They are not going to fight with swords. But this is something saying that this is going to be a war machine, that will be capable of destroying many people. We see whenever they all come together, the east and the west, Europe and the eastern countries, when they come together, there will be two hundred million soldiers that will be killed in that war.) let the weak say, I am strong.” It does not mean that they will say those words. But that is what they mean. Maybe North Korea did not know Trump was going to stand against them and say, “Go ahead, you have a red button, I have a bigger button.” It is all just a plan of this hour, because of what you see in the word of God. The word of God has the answer to it all. “Assemble yourselves, (See? He is saying assemble yourselves. That is getting together. That is getting together as nations, no longer divided in their ambitions.) and come, all ye heathen, (Come, where are they going to? Come all ye heathen…) and gather yourselves together round about: (That is fulfilling the word, they have to come together. That is what he is talking about, assemble yourselves, come together round about….) thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heaven be wakened, (That is talking about people other than Jews. It is not talking about the Christian people.
“Assemble yourselves, come, all ye heathen, gather yourselves together round about, thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.” See? It is talking about the mighty there. I was so happy to hear of the dream of Bro. Trond’s, from Norway. He had a dream about Jerusalem. That will happen. That old city is going to be gone, it will. There is going to be a new city there. When it says let the strangers build the wall, it is going to happen because God is going to see that it is done. But it will all be in His time; we cannot put anything off to the future too much. What he dreamed about Jonathan Cahn, I believe that to be true, that man is called for this hour of time. When the President was inaugurated, he spoke at the prayer breakfast. He lit up that place. He did not compromise with them. He lit it up. Let the heathen be wakened…) and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.” God is going to set the judgment. At the end of the tribulation, God is going to sit there and judge between the heathen, the eastern heathen and the western heathen. Germany, Spain, and some of those countries, they are going to get their own war. The devil likes war. He would start war among us if he can, that is why I said we cannot have hatred, we cannot have division. Because that is not unity. The church of the living God is going to have that. “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press if full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.” God is looking on the scene of the wickedness of this hour. Just like Ephesians 6: wickedness in high places. Governmental officials lie. Anything they can do to tear somebody else down, to make themselves look good, but then it does not turn out that way. It has been an ongoing thing ever since Trump has been elected, to get him out of there. When he was elected by the majority of the people, the way they count it, why? Why do they want to get rid of him? Because he wants to do something for this nation, and he is. It is working. They do not want it to work. They want the negotiations with North Korea to fall apart. Why? Politicians say, “I hope it falls apart.” You are evil, because this is in the plan of God, because they have got to come together, and it will be done. I am looking at the word. They gather themselves together, Joel saw it. He did not understand it, he just spoke it. But we understand it now because we are seeing it working. The time has come, the church world is getting worse. You cannot tell any difference in their singing from that of the world. They just as well be in the world. You put the name of Jesus to anything, you want to, people do it all the time in swear words. You hear anything bad happen they say, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” What a shame! Using God as a by-word because they do not know any better. Put ye in the sickle for the harvest is ripe. Come, get you down, for the press if full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Armageddon
Let us go to Revelation 14:16. “And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” That is talking of the 144,000, because they are still on earth, and they will be reaped here. In the 17th verse, “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, (This is not the same angel that was sitting on the cloud and reaped in verse 16, because the one sitting on the cloud was Christ.) he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, (See? It is angels working here.) which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.” That is Armageddon. “And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” Now go back to Joel so we can compare and see that is the same thing. It is the same sickle it is talking about here. Joel 3:13. “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” It is a decision. The devil is so let loose, just like it was in the animal kingdom, because it is past the middle of the week. At the middle of the week the devil came down to earth, in Revelation 12. He came down to earth. He has his lofty abode even in the heavenlies now, but then he is thrust down, pressed down to only the earth. The minds of men, it is talking about the earthly minds of men. He is not talking about the ground you walk on or the city block, he is talking about people. Possessed people. Do you want to be here? Does anybody want to be here when that happens? No, you do not. It said multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. “The sun and moon shall be darkened, (This is the end of it.) and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar (ROAR!) out of Zion, (out of the temple. Whenever a male lion roars, it puts its head just so far from the ground so it will be carried, because he is the master. The lion and the elephant make more noise than any other creature. They say that in Africa they can be heard five miles away. That is a lion roar. What about the God of the universe, roaring with a mighty roar. He roars because he is done.) and utter his voice from Jerusalem; (See where He is at? Where is the Bride at, at that time? She is in that New Jerusalem. Brothers and sisters, we are going to be on the balconies, watching it all happen, and being a part of it. Talk about going to the arenas like the Romans did, or going to great ball games they have, with a hundred thousand people there. This roar is going to quite them all. When God roars and whenever He speaks from Jerusalem, it is going to be heard. It will be heard around the earth. Why do I say that? Build me a mansion next door to Jesus? No. Because the Bible says the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters do the sea. Think about it. It is going to be God’s thought in that time, for His Bride, is going to be instant, around the world. The law shall go forth from Jerusalem, this is God’s centerfold. There has never been and never will be a city like Jerusalem will be in the Millennium, never. It is great to visit there now, to be able to see where the Saviour walked and all, but it is going to be better to be where the living God is. It will not be a prophecy. Only God will be prophesying, it will go to each level of the church body, of the Bride body. Because there will be rulership, kings and priests in the body of Christ. What do you think you will be? Just a peon? I do not care, it does not matter to me as long as I am there.) and the heavens and the earth shall shake: (This goes back to Isaiah 24, when the earth rocks and reels as a drunkard. It takes a thirty day period for it all to settle down and get back into focus as it once was. To get to 360 days to a year again, it will happen. My! What a day is coming for the Bride of Jesus Christ. It is not going to be long, get your wings ready because you are going to fly. Talk about the airplanes that can come from the ground and go straight up, that can just go so high. You are going to go through the clouds right on into the heavenly beings. We will trod where angels trod. We will see the One the angels see. We will see the Saviour who saved our wretched souls to keep us from this tribulation and his wrath. The heavens and earth shall shake…) but the Lord will be the hope of his people.” In that turmoil, in the going back and forth of the earth, think about it. Whenever all these earthquakes and all these islands flee away, think about how the ocean is going to be. In 1964 whenever that earthquake hit Alaska, here in Indiana, there was a pond that went dry. Think about that affect from three thousand miles away. Talk about being drunk, standing on your feet, think about it. A person is going to have good equilibrium. I am talking about the people that are living then. I want this thing to be real to us. I want you to see what the world is going through before that time. God will store away His people into a safe place to where they will feel no harm, no danger as it spoke about in Isaiah 24. He shuts her in until the trials are overpast. She is shut away for the last seven year period.
Coming of Christ
Let us go to Matthew 24:27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” That is the coming for the Bride, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be. What does He say next? “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” They are gathering together around the word to eat, to feast. It is an awakening hour. He said, whenever you see these things begin to come to pass, look up. In other words, keep your mind off the earthly things so much. Put your mind on heavenly things. I know we have to live, we have to make a living. People have to work, but you brothers and sisters who have come so far to be in these meetings, you could have been on vacation today. Think about it. You could be somewhere fishing, but you are not. Because after God spoke to you, you decided, I want to be where the carcase is, where the eagles are gathered together. Jim Baker and all the rest of them talks about this verse. They do not understand the coming of the Lord, whenever you go over and look a little further, you will see it talks about some being caught away. Some are caught away. “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill.” That is working at a work place. You could be on break, taking a little rest, taking your lunch break. You are over there reading your Bible or thinking on the Lord, you do not have to take a Bible in there. You are the only Bible many people will ever read. But then, what happens? All at once gravity leaves and you are caught away, leaving the other one. As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, (as I read awhile ago) and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” In other words, all the atmospheric is going to be shaken, because the power of God, as He roars. “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: (Then. You do not see that when the Bride is caught away, that is the wrong place. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven…) and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” As Bro. Jackson said, this will be a thing that will be seen for a whole day as it traverses around the earth. “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” See? He gathers them all together at once. This will include the ones that have gone through the tribulation and also the great multitude. There is just one resurrection there. You might say, well what about the last shall be first? That is payment, the last shall be first, that is because they are receiving their payment first though all are raised at the same time, they receive their first because of what they have witnessed through the tribulation. For those that stood for them, whenever everything else was gone, they stood for them. Do you see the connection?
Let us go back to Revelation. In the 16th chapter you have the sixth vial. The sixth vial is preparing for the rest of the chapter, the sixth vial is preparing for the seventh one, because the kings of the east are already come. “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” Now everybody is looking for a drought or something like that, that do not have to be. Because they have these bridges they can deploy and allow tanks and everything else to cross them. It would be dried up as far as it needing to be. “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” All of these are the same, that is in everyone of their minds, as you see it there, out of the mouth of the dragon, unclean spirits like frogs, came out of the mouth of the dragon, which is the devil, and out of the mouth of the beast, which will be Europe, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, which will be the pope. “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, (That is war miracles. There are no longer spears and things of that nature, but it is a great war machine that comes there into the Middle East at Jerusalem. It speaks in the 13th chapter also of that. They are the spirits of devils, working miracles…) which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, (the whole prophetic world) to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” This is God’s battle. “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walked naked, and they see his shame.” This is the last half of the week when the foolish virgins and all of them are killed. “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” That is in the valley of Jehoshaphat, as I read a while ago, this is where they meet. That is where the pope will be. That is the reason why they meet there, that is where the pope is, because he is giving orders, according to the 11th chapter of Daniel. He is giving orders for them to come because he has set himself up as a god in Jersualem. “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.” In other words, the war is over. Then the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne saying, it is done, only God can do that. “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, (This is that thirty-day period of time, after the last half of the week, twelve hundred and sixty days. There were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake….) such as war not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: (This is from earthquakes and tsunamis.) and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.” In other words, Rome is going to be destroyed. “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” As I said, this is the last thirty days before the forty-five days come in, in Daniel. This is when God’s judgment hits. “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” In finishing, let me say, whenever you have Armageddon, this does not kill all men. You still have a lot of people upon this earth. But what happens? God gets rid of them himself through mighty earthquakes. The scripture does not show the United States as part of the Battle of Armageddon. Some way our troops have got to come home, so that we are not part of that. This is why I say that things in Korea need to be settled.
… continued in the next edition.