WE ARE GIVING THIS MESSAGE THE TITLE ANNOUNCED, BECAUSE ALL THE CONDITIONS WE SEE AROUND US SPEAK OF THE DARKNESS ZECHARIAH WROTE OF IN THE 14TH CHAPTER OF HIS WRITINGS. HE WROTE OF A DAY WHEN THE LIGHT WOULD BE NEITHER CLEAR NOR DARK. ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FACT THAT THE DAY HE WROTE ABOUT IS FAST APPROACHING? WE HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT IN THIS GENERATION, BUT LOOK AROUND YOU WHEN YOU ARE OUT HERE GOING ABOUT YOUR DAILY ROUTINES; AND TELL ME WHETHER YOU ARE SEEING DEEDS OF LIGHT, OR DEEDS OF DARKNESS. OUR GENERAL SOCIETY HAS FALLEN JUST ABOUT AS LOW AS IT CAN FALL BEFORE COMING UNDER THE JUDGMENT HAND OF ALMIGHTY GOD.
I am starting this message; and hoping nobody will want to find fault with what I am going to say. I have a lot of things I have been reading, but I do not intend to read all of it to you. However what I have to say, is every bit right in here. The title of our message being, “Darkness Is Setting In,” I will therefore ask you to open with me to the book of Zechariah, where we will begin. To all who are listening on the internet, whether it be those of the world, students in colleges or whoever, you may think what I am going to say today sounds odd. This is a day and hour that scientists refer to as the age of enlightenment. I even heard an old scientist say the other night, that it is his ambition, and it has been for a long time, that man could eventually put man on Mars. He told the numbers of thousands of people, that ought to be living on Mars within such and such a time. As he kept talking, I thought, We ought to take all of your kind and ship them all up there, especially if it is going to be such a wonderful place, and have such an important part in our future. I think it would be a good idea, to take all those that are like minded and ship them out there where they can do all the wonderful things they talk about. Whatever they think is supposed to be done, we ought to just allow them to see how long they get by with what they are planning. I could not help but think, That is the mind of a man that has gone wild with his thinking. What he is thinking is not inspired by the Spirit of God, because God is just about ready to play His next part in the affairs of natural minded mankind.
THE SIGNS OF DARKNESS
Have you noticed in the last three weeks the weather we have had, how it stays so dark and gloomy. If you take a look at it you will see what I am speaking of. I am asking you this morning, Take a good look at the spiritual side of mankind that is on earth right now. You are going to see the same dark picture. I am not talking about the few people that do know God. They still reflect light, but remember saints, there are so few that do, the light they reflect will no longer affect the society around them. Therefore I must say, Darkness (spiritual darkness) is setting in. It is swiftly going to get darker and darker from now on. When we get to that tribulation period, which will be the darkest hour of human history on earth, it will be darkness ruling. Satan will dominate every phase and facet of the human race by then. I am going to read my text for this message in the 14th chapter of Zechariah, starting with the 6th verse, even though the whole prophecy of this 14th chapter is about the last days, the coming of the Lord and such. However all of a sudden the 6th verse changes to another thought. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light (The light mentioned here is not sunlight, it is talking about the light of the gospel.) shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.” We must notice the time of day when it said it would be light. It would be light in the evening time. When we look at that verse of prophecy, it was actually prophesied way back before the advent of Christ, that there would come a time within the dispensation of Grace, that somewhere in this world the light that had originally been given to mankind would not shine as it had. Satan working through self-serving mankind, has become the problem and or the reason for the light becoming so dismal. It is neither day nor night. That time had lasted long enough, so God has seen it necessary to bring about a reflection of the real light. I want to say this morning, When I look back into the later part of the 1950’s, there was a little man on earth, unknown by a lot of worldly people, yet known by a lot of other people in the world, that delivered a message marking a turning point in how God would deal with church-going people from there on out to the end of Grace for Gentiles. God let that man’s name become known around the world, and the reason was, there was a ministry committed to him that God had anointed for a specific purpose. The things he taught, were designed to clear away the clouds of confusion and obscurity among professed believers. He brought out a light and understanding of the gospel that really fulfilled this passage of scripture we are using for our text. We can say as we look back, that for a little short period of time that wonderful light did shine. When the gospel first started two thousand years ago, it was literally the starting and fulfilment of the way God had ordained for His word to be expressed to mankind. The apostle Peter expressed it so well in the 2nd chapter of his first writing, as he referred to the gospel as a more sure word of prophecy. As the dispensation of Grace started, God had placed a potential before mankind, that through obedience to that gospel message, lost man could take on a completely new relationship with his Creator. This Grace Age that God gave to the world, starting with the Jew, was the truth of what God wanted to share with mankind around the world. We do know now, that it did not shine simultaneously to all parts of the world at the same time, but it did shine to reflect a fulfillment known only to God Himself.
UNDERSTANDING THINGS THAT APPLY TO OUR AGE
As I look back through time, in the reading of the scriptures and the histories of that first century, this prophecy I am going to read now, really became a reality. In 2nd Peter, the 1st chapter, and the 19th verse, Peter wrote, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” Peter, at that time, was looking back at the period of time that the Jewish nation had been brought through, that being the Law Age. There are many Gentiles today, that have become sidetracked on Adventism, bringing a mixture of the Law and Grace, which God never intended for us to do. I do not say these things to point my finger and condemn people, but you must remember, the Law did not give you salvation. It brought you in contact with the knowledge of God and what He demanded from you and me if we were living back there under the Law, but there was no salvation for the soul under the Law of Moses. God wanted obedience from those that would observe and keep the Law, but nothing about the Law changed your inner nature to make you acceptable to God in that way. This is proved by the fact that every year, every man had to bring another sacrifice to the temple to be offered to the priest, to be offered to God, but a yearly sacrifice only atoned for one year. That is why the Law was not the perfect plan of redemption. As I say these things this morning, try to understand, if the Law could have given you eternal life, there would have been no need for Jesus Christ to have died to pay our sin debt. He did not come just to pick up where the Law stopped, He came to fulfill everything the Law pointed to but could not accomplish. He fulfilled what the Law portrayed. That is why, in Jeremiah’s writing, a new covenant is spoken of, a new covenant God said, Will I make with the house of Israel after those days, which means, after the period of the Law has run its course. I will make a new covenant, and this new covenant would be how God would send His only begotten Son to die on that old cross at Calvary. He would be the atonement for your sins, and it would be a permanent atonement. Therefore we can say this morning, God’s plan in this, was that you receive the Spirit of God into your life, which is actually you receiving the revelation of that Son of righteousness. The Law was a type, but remember, that is why the moon is typed as the Law Age in the book of Revelation. We all know this, The moon is a reflection of a greater light. Is it not? The light it reflects is not the original: it does not generate it, it is just like a mirror that reflects that greater light. Try to understand, that the Law was only a mirror that pointed to something far better, a perfect plan. Then when Grace came, the Son of righteousness rose, therefore every true believer is receiving the presence of the Spirit of God within his or herself to activate and cultivate the person of Jesus Christ in the character of every true believer. That is why it reads like this, (2 Pet 1:19-21) “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (21) For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” When the dispensation of Grace was opened up on the day of Pentecost, the sun had risen, the day had dawned, and what a light it was. God, through that, purposed to cultivate and fulfill the reflection of the person of His Son Jesus Christ in every true born again believer. We can say this, The gospel age started out with the full reflection of Jesus Christ shining in and through the believers of that day, and therefore through the Church. That was the beginning of the gospel era. As we look back through the dispensation of the Jews under the Law in that era; and observe how they looked back to the time when Moses was on Sinai, and how, when he came down from the mountain, the glory of the Lord shined about him, and how the Law was given to them, we can better understand why the Jews feel like they do about the Law; and why some natural minded Gentiles want to hold on to as much of the Law as they think they can, and still claim the benefits purchased at Calvary. Well saints, looking back is only for the benefit of realizing what God has delivered us from: There is no other virtue in looking back. For fourteen hundred and fifty years those Jews looked back to that era as though the greatest thing that had ever happened, had happened then, but the Jewish people who still do that, do not even realize, that what they are looking back to was only a reflection pointing ahead, just like the moon, to something greater. It was actually a reflection of the Son of righteousness, that was to come to fulfill all that the Law required of man. We can say this, When the Son of righteousness did come, fulfilling that period of the Law, how did He find those people? He found them walking in tradition, walking according to the things they had designed themselves. Well I ask you, What has the professing Gentile world become today? Look at it and answer me. Some people would say, Now Bro. Jackson, you cannot convince me that there are not some good people out there in those denominations. To you who feel like that, I am going to look you right in the face and ask you this, Why did Jesus talk to that multitude of Jews like He did, in the 8th chapter of John? On the surface they looked like good people, but what did He say to them? “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” There are no better people out there now, than there were among those Jews back then. Their mind is so full of tradition they cannot accept true revelation. When you try to deal with them, they are going to argue with you, I believe this, and I believe this, but it is all a mental thing, without any scriptural foundation. There is no spiritual reflection of Jesus Christ in any of that.
THE DECEIVED, DECEIVING THE MULTITUDES
I just happened to come across a TV Station last night with Benny Hinn ministering, and guess what he was telling the people? He said, The day is coming, when there will not be a sick one among you, because God has promised to heal every believer before you leave here. I thought, Benny Hinn, you know about as much about the Bible as that stray dog out there in the street. I do believe, that when every true Holy Ghost filled believer leaves here in the rapture, they will not go up with an infirm body, but it will not be because Benny Hinn and a bunch of men praying for the sick, will have anything to do with it. When the dead in Christ rise, regardless of what was wrong with them when they went into the ground, they are going to rise perfect. Do you hear me? If the dead went down there with broken arms, blinded eyes, or whatever, they are going to rise perfect. Are you listening to me? Then I believe those that are alive when that time comes, will experience what Paul wrote in (1 Cor 15:52), “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” That is when we will be changed if we live until then; and I promise you, Benny Hinn will not be in that picture. What did Paul say? In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Are we going to call Benny Hinn and all the rest of those guys? Are we going to ask them, Please come and pray for me, because the rapture is ready to take place? That is not the picture I see at all. For in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, as the dead rise first, perfect, immortal, we, if we have a blinded eye, a twisted arm, a hand that is minus a finger, that is all going to be change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. We do not have to call Benny Hinn or any of the rest of them, because God is going to do an instantaneous work on those believers who are still alive. That way there is not going to be any apostate preachers sitting around, taking glory from God. I saw some of the Crouch program last night on TBN. They had a Christmas program on, with that magnificent home they have, all lit up with Christmas lights. I thought, You better light it up, and you better talk about it and sing about it, because that is the only kind of light you are going to know anything about, as we get closer to the coming of Christ. You might say, Bro. Jackson, you are absolutely condemning people. I am not, I am looking at things in reality. I have to say, If Jesus was here today, don’t tell me He would not point His finger at all this pretending, suppositional stuff we are witnessing and condemn it. I heard one preacher last night, as he quoted a scripture out of 3rd John, how God wants you to prosper, He wants to meet your needs. He brought it out, that God wants you everyone running around with change in your pockets, money in your wallet, and just about everything else. Well God does have some people he can trust to use riches in a proper way, but I have to say also, God has some people on earth today that are poor. They don’t have much, but they are content with what they have. That is as it should be. Material riches was not included in the work of Calvary, when our precious Lord Jesus died for us. Brothers and sisters, I pray that we can understand, that two thousand years ago the gospel started with a true revelation and a reflection of the life of Jesus Christ living in each and every believer. That is why Paul taught in the Colossian letter, the true Church is none other than the mystical body of Christ embodied in a body of people, with His character, His attributes, and the fruit of the Spirit being manifested in and through the fellowship, all to portray Christ to the glory of God. The Son of righteousness, Christ Jesus, has risen and He has been planted in each and every believing heart. That is what Peter was talking about in his first epistle. We are not living under a reflection of the Law, we are living under Grace, being led by the Spirit of righteousness. The Son has risen and He lives in the hearts and lives of the people of God. What we as believers have to realize, is that even in the first century of Christianity, Satan was already on his way, doing his utmost to rob, to tear down, to tear away the structure, or the beauty of the revelation of the Son of righteousness in the heart of every believer. By the time we go into the second age, Satan was well on his way in doing and accomplishing these things. When we come to the third age, he was more on his way, and when we go into the Dark Ages, what a period that was. When we come to the beginning of the Reformation, the Reformation was not glorious sunlight all of a sudden. It was a little bit here and a little bit there, being restored back to believers. When we pick up this scripture in Zechariah, that in that day it would neither be light nor dark, but at evening time there would be light, we need to take a look at America. America has been the last Christian nation on the face of the earth. As a nation, our founding fathers had established the thought that the American society had for centuries grown up to be affected by. I am talking about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the spiritual knowledge of a Creator that is in control of His creation. God had willed it to be that way. Nevertheless we all know, that as time advanced into the 1930’s and 1940’s, Christianity again had become a lot of tradition in the overall picture. No, it had not completely lost its light, but it was semi light. Then God sent a little man among us, which was ordained to fulfill the second part of Malachi 4:5-6; and as far as I can see, he did exactly that. Denominational preachers will denounce what I am saying, but I am not preaching to them: I am preaching to precious souls that love and walk in the true revelation of the word of God.
WHAT GOD’S PROPHET MESSENGER WAS ORDAINED TO DO
God had said He would send Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. What was his job? To turn the heart’s of some people on earth back into the ways of their Creator. Two thousand years ago, John, called the Baptist, fulfilled the first part of that Malachi 4:5-6 prophecy, as the heart’s of those old Judastic fathers were softened to receive his message before the coming of the GREAT day of the Lord, but what about the rest of that 5th verse? Who would fulfill the part that refers to turning the heart’s of the children back to their apostolic fathers, before the DREADFUL day of the Lord? I am happy to be able to say to you, God sent a little man in my generation, that fulfilled the part of turning the heart’s of many people back to that of the founding fathers of this Christian faith. His message was ordained of God to do exactly what the prophet Malachi wrote, “turn the heart of the children to their fathers, lest (or before) I (God) come and smite the earth with a curse. The children whose heart’s were to be turned back, are those of that generation in the end time, that are to be instrumental in receiving the revelation that is to finish this thing up and restore them. If He is to restore that faith, then it means there has got to be a light reflected in it; and I am thankful to God that I saw the light of that man’s life, and what he taught, and saw that what he taught, reflected to this generation a light that still shines. Wherever he went, wherever he ministered during those years, there were a lot of men that took from Bro. William Branham’s life and ministry, that it was time to pray for the sick, but never did any one of them pick up the true revelation of the gospel he preached. I have to say this morning, I am thankful for those years I was privileged to see the gospel light he brought to us. It is what lightened my pathway: it is what revelated my soul. It is what made me realize we are on the right path to get ourselves ready for the soon coming of Jesus Christ. As that man delivered his message and that true light was reflected, it literally portrayed Jesus Christ once again in His word, and in His Church. People from all over the world, and all walks of life, had an opportunity to see that very thing. Some received it and others did not. Now I say this morning, Since God took the little man from us forty years ago, the message he brought as a light to this age still shines; and there has been an element of people on earth all along that walk in that light. Some of the older ones have gone on to be with the lord, but some of the younger ones who have been born since God’s prophet messenger left the scene have been brought up under the affect of that light, they have received the message and now they are the means for that light to continue shining. Remember though, no matter how much light we may have, we do not give light to the natural minded world about us. I hope you understand that. If it gave light to the world, then the world out there would be wanting to pay attention to what you have to say, but they do not: That is a fact. That is why I can say this morning, Darkness is setting in; and I believe you everyone know I am talking about spiritual darkness. What we are seeing all around us everywhere we go, proves that; and we are seeing it manifested where it surprises us. Just like you have been seeing in the natural, you are now going to see it in what is supposed to be believers of the word of God. I have to say, that for the last several months on end, spiritual darkness has been setting in. You see it in America and around the world. There are always some who will say, But I know a lot of good people that do not believe like we do. That is only your natural way of wanting to excuse yourself. If Jesus were here today, what do you think He would say about some of those you refer to as good people? He would say to them, just what He said to the multitude of those religious Pharisees back then. As I have already called your attention to it, I will again read to you His words. He said to every last one of them, You are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. Why did He not say something good about them? We know they were the most holy, the most dedicated bunch you could have found anywhere, but the question is, What were they dedicated to? We have the same kind of people among us today. When I say darkness is setting in, I want you to know this, In America the sun is soon going to disappear. Spiritual light is not found in very many places anymore. I want to read something to you, but first I will tell you about it.
REJECTING GOD, HAS SAD RESULTS
When I was growing up, I never heard of guns being carried to school to kill people. I have seen boys get in fist fights, throw a few punches at one another, but before the week was over, they were buddies again. I heard of a school the other day, where a thirteen year old boy might have been responsible for a little ruckus that broke out. I listened to the report, and what do you think they were talking about? They wanted to take that thirteen year old boy and run him through court, then put him in jail. I told my wife, That sounds like stupidity to me. Do they actually think they are going to cure what by nature is already in a child by treating him or her like that? If they would go back and check the child’s background, they might find that the parents have a great responsibility in it. Those that bring up a child in the ways of the Lord, teach it the right things, and do their best to develop moral character and such, are less likely to face the heartache that comes to those who allow their children to raise themselves. I am not telling boys it is alright to get into fist fights, but those things do happen now and then, so if that ornery bunch of teachers just look on without doing anything to get control of such a situation, and just because the boy slung a fist at one and hit him, why in the world do they think he should be taken to court? In my opinion, that is an act of stupidity. Our laws will not do one thing to perfect that boy, nor the one he hit. I remember when I was in the fourth grade: We had one big boy in our class that was hard to handle. We were playing tag one day, I got hold of him, and he tried to get away. In that tugging his sweater got torn a little. Well he hauled off and hit me. I did not run crying to the teacher, He hit me. It didn’t feel good, but it did tear his sweater, so what he did was just a natural thing in those circumstances. My point is, no one made a big thing out of the event and in a couple of days time, it was all forgotten about. This is an age when mortal men have become so intellectual, they think they are going to cure the ills of all youth with their silly approach to some of these occurrences. They are not, because they have taken God out of the picture; and He is really the light that enables you to actually impart to your children, something for them to be guided by. How many remember the case, I believe it was in 1999, when the Columbine High School tragedy happened in Colorado? That shook America, but what did they actually learn in all of that? It was talked about constantly for days; and it should have shaken America to reality, but did it? I have to ask the leaders of this nation, America, Why did such a thing happen? The political leaders and educators are responsible for it. When the Communists said they would get into America and destroy it from within, that condition was already on its way. The next thing is, they want to pass laws to take guns away from everyone. What good would that do, when people who want guns for some evil purpose always have a way to get them? All you can hear is, We don’t want guns in the possession of even law abiding citizens, we don’t want this and we don’t that. All of that is stupidity. Let us let the father who lost a daughter in the Columbine incident, and who had a son that lay under a table praying, in this school where it was forbidden to be done, what he feels about the way things like that are being dealt with? If you cannot see darkness setting in, then you are spiritually blind: you better change your spiritual glasses. This has been going on now for years ever since the light did shine back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The father of this girl, his name is Darrell Scott. I am not going to read the introduction, but when I read this, I thought, Little did the man know he was going to be asked to come before a judiciary committee to make his remarks. He gave this talk before politicians, men elected to rule and lead a nation. When this man went there, God anointed him to say these words. I have to say, As he describes this, you can look back at this period and see, darkness was already setting in on the American society.
“Since the dawn of creation, there has been both good and evil in the hearts of men and women. (That is true, but you don’t have to let evil run its course without having a means to curb it.) We all contain the seeds of kindness, or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the death of that heroic teacher and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. (Society was not like this when I was growing up.) The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. (Now wait a minute, don’t bring the Bible in, some would say.) The villain was not the club he used, neither was it the N.C.A. the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart. In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed by how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the N.R.A. (National Rifle Association) I am not a member of the N.R.A. I am not a hunter. I don’t even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the N.R.A. because I don’t believe they are responsible for my daughter’s death. (I have to agree, that is just common sense.) Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel’s murder, I would be the strongest opponent. I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy, it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies. (How true.) Much of the blame lies within this room. (He was talking to government officials. They don’t like to hear these things.) Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers. (He was looking right at them, senators, congressmen, who were sitting on this committee.) I wrote a poem four nights ago that expressed my feelings best. This was written before I knew I would be speaking here today. (How true this is. I would say this, Any college student who is listening, you would do well to take heed to his words., because he lost a daughter, killed by a Satan inspired students in the high school, that went berserk).
HIS POEM
Your laws ignore our deepest needs, your words are empty air… You stripped away our heritage, you outlawed simple prayer… Now gunshots fill our classrooms, and precious children die, You seek for answers everywhere, and ask the question, why? You regulate restrictive laws through legislative creed, Yet you fail to understand that God is what we need.
Listen to what this man says now. As my son Craig lay under the table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right. I challenge every young person in America and around the world to realize that on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by these students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the N.R.A. I give you a sincere challenge, dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone.”
There was a lot more to the man’s speech than that, but when I read that I thought, This was one of the first major disasters that had taken place in the American society after America sold out to the devil back in the 1950’s , coming on into the 1960’s. The Communists plainly proclaimed in an article I read years ago, that they will destroy America from within. First they would get into our institutions and demoralize the youth. I remember in America when sex education started. All over America there were Christian homes that rose up and said, I will not send my children to these places, but it was not long until we had five great court cases taking place. The public officials of school districts brought certain parents under supervision and scrutiny. They brought them into courts. Every one of these cases closed with the parents being threatened by the law and political figures, Either you submit your children to our new methods of education or we will take your children away from you and put them in foster homes. That was the beginning of Satan, through unregenerate mortals, raping the innocent minds of the American society, which were those that did believe in God. The FBI, the CIA, and all the rest failed to come forth to defend their cause. Every last one of them are going to be declared guilty, when they stand before God. It is one thing to be an officer of the law, but if you think it just means they are there to protect the president, the senators and congressmen, who should be the ones defending the American society from evil, then I have to say, You are the ones who are wrong. Do not ever think the God that created you is not going to bring you to court one of these days. You better hope there will be people that will stand there and bear testimony for you. You cannot convince those that make unfair use of the law, that they will pay a price for it one day: They will not even listen to you. The reason I approach it like this, is because ever since the Columbine tragedy took place, there has been other shootings in schools, and stabbing incidents as well. You everyone know that. Every year, when the school system starts up, it isn’t long until you start hearing of another case of misconduct and even tragedy. It just goes to show, when you get a young generation of people that is born into a society where the laws of God are no longer remembered and honored, “Thou shalt not kill and so forth, you are facing much heartache. When you can no longer pray, and you can no longer repeat the Lord’s prayer, without someone crying out, That is against my belief, it is no wonder our society in bordering on heathenism. I just have to point my finger at those politicians and say, You are the ones responsible for our society being like it is. It is not the man on the street, or the man that is collecting the garbage, that is causing all the heartache so many are suffering. No. It is the men and women in the government buildings, those who are supposed to be there to protect the rights of the citizens of this great nation, that are responsible for the changes that have our Constitution where it can be trampled upon by so many. They sit back thinking of ways to better their own situation and let the devil take charge of so many of the affairs of our nation. The devil came into the American society through their leadership. Right here, I have a book that tells about all our colleges. I can send and get some of their courses if I choose to. I could learn how to be an educated man according to their wise professors, but as I read some of their articles, I said to myself, There, is the only book ( the Bible) that I want to get an education out of. It tells me how to let God mold my life. There are things in here that can help any person keep their life in line, if they will take heed . You have heard me say, I am not here just to condemn colleges, but I have sense enough to know the histories I have read of the early colleges that were established on the eastern coast, were every one established by early American people that came here from across the water, and they were established to help educate young men for the ministry of that hour of time. Through the years since then, as the nation grew, and colleges became spread all across the nation from coast to coast, there eventually came a time when those same schools that used to teach scripture, now just shoved it aside. They no longer teach scripture, nor do they observe the principles taught in the scripture. They teach you the fundamentals of a modern society, modern learning, modern science, none of which honors the great Creator. I am not against anyone getting a decent education, but you can learn all about science and modern terminology and still not know anything about living a life that is acceptable to God. Many today, want to study law, and what they learn, is how to twist the meaning of things written to govern a civilized society by. We have them studying law today by the thousands, because that is a very profitable profession. When I was a child, we did not have many lawyers. The lawyers we did have back then were not all that busy. In this day and hour, if someone gets into trouble and has no money, in a few days they have him victimized and sent to jail. On the other hand, take a look at every case where the accused has plenty of money. Oh my, for weeks and months the court case goes on and on. Why? Because they are going to milk that treasury for all they can. Look at the O.J. Simpson trial, how long that went on. Now look at the Scott Peterson case. They always linger where the money is, and you never know what the verdict will be. All of this proves to me, that Satan has slowly crept into the American society and gained much control. He did not do that through little people in our society, the street cleaners and such: it came in through the realm of our leadership, and the intellectual realm that like to maneuver every situation for an advantage. In our government, they tell you today they are trying to spread democracy in the middle east and bring about peace. They will never get that accomplished. I would like to see our politicians concentrating a little more on true democracy in our own nation. What we have now, is not democracy as I knew it fifty years ago; and they cannot convince me that what we have now is better. Most of what I observe any more is demon-ocracy, if you know what I mean. The devil has more freedom in America today than God and His Christian people do. That is why the man in Alabama, in the case of the ten commandments being taken out of the court house, just because he respected the commandments, was treated like dirt. What did they do? They threatened his character and his career, all over them taking the ten commandments out. They let a bunch of A.C.L.U. people dictate to them. I would rather think of them as American Communists Liberal Minded. They are not elected, they are not a department of the government, but for some reason there are millions of dollars that go into their coffers; and they dictate terms for many decisions that are made. They contest every legal justice decision that does not go their route. That is one reason why I say, America is drifting more and more into the hour of darkness that is just ahead. It is very obvious, that we are not entering into an era of enlightenment for the benefit of mankind. Forget that! Satan has taken over our nation. He has taken over our leadership, and especially our education system. When they are running for election, these candidates say, We are pushing for better education. Well I say, No, you are not. I have heard this thing argued over for the last sixty years, so do not tell me the next sixty years are going to be better. Conditions are going to get worse. That is why I decided to title this message, Darkness Is Setting In. The scriptures plainly tell you, that just before the night hours close in there will be light breaking through. I have to say, Thank God. He let me see that light. It put something in my heart that the devil cannot take out.
DEMORALIZING AND SATANIC WAYS
As I look and see what America has become from the 1960’s, and on into the 1980’s, when nothing but Satan was allowed to come into our institutions, I am looking at a very sad picture. He, little by little crept into every facet of our society from the government to our educational institutions. I realize there are certain young people that go to college and seem to have the ability to filter a lot of that junk out of their minds and go ahead and learn what they are there to learn, but for every one that does, there are five that do not. Yesterday as I watched the News, they were interviewing a bunch of Hollywood actors. They were people that you and I have seen in old time family type programs. One after another, it was repeated, He is gay, or she is gay, he is gay, she is gay. I thought, That has become the entertainment image in America today. Therefore do not tell me it is not getting dark. It is the work of the devil, but who is there that can change the trend now? It is not just America that this is happening in, but America is where I notice it the most, because I still remember the days before Satan got control over so much in our nation. There is not one thing that any mortal can do now: Sin and political corruption cannot be undone at this late hour of time. However I do believe God has a means of bringing some of this to an end, but until then, the world is doomed for darkness. It is Satan that has done it, so do not try to blame it on God. When we see the entertainment that is so up front everywhere you look, and realize that those entertainers have become the role models for a lot of our teenage people, what a heartbreak to hear, Oh I want to be like them. Hollywood characters have always been admired by young people, but in this day and hour when you begin to admire someone, it isn’t long until you find out they are gay. Who among us would want to admire somebody like that, knowingly? I can remember when this spirit started in America. When in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s with sex education, they were saying to the young people back then, It is not wrong to be sexually active. Well that is what many of them did. Then all of a sudden teenage pregnancies became common; and young girls were going to school by the dozens, crying, What are we going to do? Many of them had been raised in Christian homes and never been subjected to anything like that. Then they were compelled to go to those schools that the devil had taken over and submit to teaching their parents objected to, but were usually helpless in doing anything about it. You shouldn’t say that Bro. Jackson. You evidently do not know why I said it, so I will tell you: As soon as parents dared to take their children out of those schools, the law came and arrested them. They forced them to submit, saying to them, Either let you let your children go back to school, or we will take them out of your home and put them in foster homes. They let the parents know, Your day of raising your children to please yourselves is over. Well we all know what that led up to: before very long many parents were faced with a pregnant daughter and wondering, What are we going to do? The education society said, We have to allow these girls to get an abortion. America never had an abortion law up until that time. Since they started this education program, and things got like they soon did, certain ones began to demand of the government, Now you pay the bill. I know all you older ones remember the News in those days, how there were people that fought against it and people that fought for it. There were relentless demonstrations, both for and against, but time moved on. As it did, there soon came a time when the statistics on illegal pregnancies that were aborted, numbered over a million babies a year, and mostly because those in authority had said it is not wrong to be sexually active. Then we had the perverts, the lesbians and gays of every sort, visiting prostitutes in the Caribbean. It was not long until here came AIDS into our society. The AIDS disease has spread, and there is very little that can be done about it. Therefore I say this loud and clear, hoping that our government and college officials can hear me, This condition did not come out of the Christian homes of our nation: It came as a result of your own institutions of modern learning. Africa is eaten up with AIDS: That is where it all started, but it is spreading in America and who knows what to do about it? Now our sex educators are telling students, (I heard this the other day.) It is better to abstain until you are married. I thought, You hypocrites, why don’t you make up your mind? A few years ago you went one way, now you are saying something else, because AIDS is knocking at your door and you don’t know what to do about it. That is why I have to say, Darkness is setting in and it is going to get darker and darker. This nations alone, has killed over a million babies a year. Our institutions carry on their sex education programs, knowing full well that it does not make a better man or woman out of any of you. They do not turn out people from those places of education, that really have an education worth what it cost to get what they got. An awful lot of them know very little about how to make a dollar, yet our modern education program is, You have to have a college education to get anywhere in life. For what? (I am going to get rough.) Do you mean to tell me I have to have a college education to drive a bull dozer? Let a young man go down to a construction company for a job and they will ask him, How much education do you have? Nine times out of ten, if he does not have a college education, they will favor the man that does have a college education, yet does not know how to do anything at that point. They favor him over the country fellow with only a high school education, but knows every inch of that bulldozer they need someone to operate. Practical experience is priceless, yet they would rather have some fellow with a college diploma. They want a mind that they can govern, change, and mold to fit their own ideas. I know that to be the truth. That is the way America is headed today. That is why this man said in here, It is not the gun that brought on the tragedy of Columbine: it was what was in the heart of those boys. The gun was only the means for them to carry out what was in their heart. When you go back to the account of Cain murdering Abel, as is recorded in the Bible, there was no such thing as a gun, so Cain used a club as the means of accomplishing what was in his heart. Do we pass a law against anyone possessing anything that could be used as a club? What is wrong with people who have such a simple-minded and ridiculous so-called solution to everything? Because of people like that America today has become a nation, of all nations, that has embraced darkness. We went faster down the road to chaos than all other nations before us. The Reformation spread all over Europe, they had it for five hundred years, but by the time the new world was discovered and America was finally born, then as the pioneers from the old world came here, the light began to go out in Europe. I had two uncles that were in WW1. I was just a boy growing up, but I heard them talk to the older ones about it. Both of them said Paris France at that time was nothing but the cesspool of the world. In 1918 and through the 1920’s, the American society was clean. Anybody that was called to the army and went over there, they could not help but see what Europe was like. Now though, after all this great change started in the 1960’s, you need not wonder why the Muslims are crying, Down with America. It is because America has become an image to them, of nothing but corruption and sexual perversion, which the Muslims do not practice. How many understand what I am saying? The nation, that at one time knew God, knew how to cherish and appreciate the things of God, has sold out to the devil. He has taken over every institution of learning, and corrupted all the progress there is in America. Here we are over there in Iraq, hoping to be able to spread democracy. The only thing we are going to spread is demon-ocracy. What do you mean by demon-ocracy, Brother Jackson? Just what I said. We have fast become a society that is controlled by the devil. It is not controlled by God: we all know that. It is a shame that the American society cannot wake up and see that.
ABOUT POLITICAL MANEUVERING
There is something else I am going to bring into this message right here. Look at the picture of these three faces. Some of you older people that have certain ailments in your bodies, and you are paying a high prescription price, will understand this. I am not going to read what each one says, but each one of these men tells their story, how they played the part in their particular hour, because they were in positions that pharmaceutical companies asked them to approach certain legislators and work it out, so that these high prices would not be done away with. When they realized how they had been used, each one in his own writing tells his own story. They tell here, how doctors were paid certain prices to keep the pharmaceutical prices from being contested. Of all the people in the world, the American senior citizen and the sick and handicapped, pay more for prescriptions prices than any other person of the entire globe. I have to say, This should not be like it is. Can politicians say they are ruling for the benefit of the American people? They are definitely not. They have taken the position they hold, and allowed themselves to be used by this type of characters that come and say, Will you do this and will you do that, to get this bill passed? That is because there is big money involved and greediness runs rampant in this day and hour. Every time there is something in America that does come to the surface, that would really try to show and prove that America has a sympathetic and compassionate background, the evidence is no longer there. Some of you might say, Bro. Jackson, you are not preaching, you are just talking about our social society. Well, listen to me, because, by the time this is all over, as a Christian, you are going to be sitting somewhere in a world that has totally turned its back on God, in a nation, that at one time had great light, but now darkness is so prevalent, you are going to wonder, Is there any good left in the human race any more? I have to say, May God be merciful to the few people in America that have not forsaken His ways. On down through here is article after article, from different sources, showing how all this has affected the human society in America. There is a story behind it all, which I have been saving for months. I remember back in 1933, when President Roosevelt had just been elected and the depression was on, how he went about changing the trend. He saw the condition the American society was in; and came up with something that many have learned to greatly appreciate. He is the one that began to get the idea that if there could be a certain amount withheld from the salary of the American workers, even though the percentage of his income was very small, if it was put into a general fund called the Social Security fund, then when the worker reached a certain age and wishes to retire, he or she could draw a monthly amount from that. I was a small boy back then, but I remember hearing the old timers talk about it. I can remember my dad, my uncles and others talking about how the social security fund was taken out, just a very small amount, but what it could amount to in later years. After WW2 was over, they began to increase the percentage that was withheld from salaries each pay period. More was taken out. Then later on, more was taken out. Every few years a little more was taken out. Then they began to say, How much is in the social security fund? All of a sudden we get a conglomeration of politicians in government, they begin to play politics. This one has a pork barrel plan he wants to carry on, and take money out of the social security fund to cover it. Then another one has his pork barrel project that he wants to get included in some bill. If you do not know what a pork barrel plan is, go ask a politician to explain it to you. For the past number of years they have been going into that social security fund and taking out huge sums to carry on those political, pork barrel programs, and knowing that it is the working people of America that put it in there, one cannot help but be greatly concerned. That is because so much of this has been going on, that everyone knows the Social Security fund will be broke by a certain date, if some drastic changes are not made. I just have to say, America, you are letting the devil dictate your next moves in almost everything. Furthermore the American dollar is falling in value around the world, because the Euro dollar is rising to the top. That is a concern, because, ever since WW2 the American dollar has been the stabilizing monetary means of the entire world. Christians who have a revelation, understand what is happening, because we know it is time for the old beast system to return to prominence, and that definitely points us to Europe. She is the beast system that is just up the road ahead, ready to play her role in fulfilling scriptural prophecy. That Euro dollar is the monetary means the beast is going to use to establish its system of government, as it moves to a place of influence and power in the world of the future until God changes the entire picture. The American dollar is going to go downhill from now on in the economy of the world, as this age of grace closes out. Where does this put America? She has already passed seven trillion dollars in debt, which is more than all the other nations put together. All this tells me, a nation that at one time was walking under the influence of God’s leadership through our political leaders, is now under the influence of men who have been deceived by Satanic influence, and for their own selfish reasons and perverted ideas, they are carrying out plans Satan has designed. Up the road somewhere, and very soon, all this is going to come to fruition. We may not understand everything, but God knows what He is doing as He allows certain conditions to come to the forefront. I have more things to read, that I want to include in this message. Some are articles written by professors who have written about early Christianity, trying to paint a negative picture of it. You do not have to believe me, but I will show you page after page in their own words, to back up what I am telling you. On a certain page in there, they will tell you that in early Christianity there were fanatical kinds, promoted by some which had wild ideas that soon perished. They have been careful, not to say anything about the true Christians that became the carriers of the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well they do not have to, because history records are there for us to see what has been written about them, so it does not matter if the educated professors fail to touch on that. They only want to touch on the negative side, but we have our own record of how early Christianity was spread into various areas of the world by the leadership of the Spirit of God.
SATAN’S EVIL INFLUENCE
To the young people, I want to say that I realize a message of this kind may not be as interesting to you as you would like for it to be, but my purpose in preaching it, is to try to show you that we are living in the hour when everything in the scriptures is being rapidly fulfilled. I cannot help but feel bad, when I see what is going on in this nation, because I grew up in a nation years ago, when people did not have to be afraid to speak about their faith in Christ Jesus in a public place, nor afraid to quote scripture that speaks of what God is going to do in the time of the end, but we have fast become a nation where it is forbidden; and that condition is not going to change for the better. The ACLU is now working hard, pushing through our governmental officials, to have “under God” taken out of the pledge of allegiance, and to have, “In God We Trust,” removed from our currency. Do you know what this tells me? It tells me Satan has more control over the affairs of our nation than a lot of people realize, which proves that we are at the end, fast approaching the time when our society at large will be as it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot. Our founding fathers were not ashamed nor afraid to include God in their plans. Therefore we are a nation founded under God, and we pledge allegiance to God, whether in our pledge of allegiance to our flag or whatever. Nevertheless when all this adverse stuff is brought about, it makes you feel like America has sold out to the devil. Naturally we do not like what is going on, but scripturally we have been shown that in the last days, just before the coming of Christ, this world will be utterly gripped by almost total darkness. What is darkness in the natural? It is a time when the light of the sun is absent where we are. What causes spiritual darkness? The fact that God, in every area of the earth, has been taken out of society; and the name of Jesus can no longer be spoken in public gatherings; and society at large has become a society whose thoughts are controlled by the devil. I am aware, that when I say America has been sold out to the devil, some who hear me may question such a statement, but I intend, by the help of the Spirit of God, to prove what I am saying. Opinions are worthless, unless we present a background for what we believe, so that is what I intend to do. Some of the things I am going to read to you from the different quotations of these writings, you might not want to believe, so that is why I am not just speaking them to you: I am going to read certain excerpts from these articles to prove to you, that this is what is going on in America. During the 1960’s we had a little period when great light shined in our midst through a little man that has been rejected by organized religion. The light I am talking about, shined upon the word of God and brought forth true revelation of that word; and the way God demonstrated His presence during that time was not hid in a corner. His presence was demonstrated and observed in public ways in many places. When I was in South Africa in 1979, I had a person over there tell me, that when Bro. William Branham was there in 1952 many miracles took place; and he said also, that for months after that, everywhere you went, this man’s name was on the tongues of many of the people. You could get in an airplane to take a trip, and it would not be long until somehow his name was brought up. I have to say, God gave the world in many areas, a chance to see light and what that light could do for them, and what that light could do for the professed Christians of the world, but it is now an established fact, that the so-called Christian world did not want that light. They wanted in on the healing and other benefits, but they did not want to follow after the word of God he preached, nor would they preach the revelation he preached. Back in the 1960’s, when that shout was made and the revelation of the first six seals was brought forth, God’s servant was soon taken from us. From that period on, that light that shined so brightly during those years, slowly began to disappear from the American society; and the time came, that it was no longer a subject of conversation for most of those who witnessed it. It only lingers in the heart of some people that really have a desire to walk with God. From the time of his departure onward, we have been witnessing the gradual change as the world is getting darker and darker and darker. A lot of young people do not know what is meant by this darkness term, because that is what they have grown up in as far as the society around them is concerned. When I was a child growing up, I was not afraid for a stranger to walk up and say Hi Sonny. You appreciated it when an older person would speak to you like that and maybe ask your name. They might even say, What do you want to be when you grow up? It made you feel important for an older person to say something like that to you, but today we live in a society where the modern generation of youth have been warned not to speak to strangers. That was not so when I was a child. America was not a negative society back then. We were a nation of people that culture-wise, somehow morals and principals guided us. What I mean by that is, We were taught under certain conditions to say, Thank you, Yes sir, Yes ma’am, and even, I beg your pardon, when we did not understand what was said. Politeness was taught to the youth of those days. It showed character and principal rather than what you see all around you any more. Today those things are no longer considered beneficial to the human race. We have become more like animals, yet we hear the cry for more education all the time. I can tell you one thing for sure, This modern-day education does not bring us closer to the reality of principals and ethics. As I was reading this morning of the things that took place in America back in the 1960’s and how our society has decayed, I am reminded that Jesus said, in Matthew 24:37-39, to the society of the Jewish population, As it was so shall it be. We can read it. “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” The Christian believers of that hour and Matthew in particular, recorded that statement, but what did He mean by it? He followed that and said, (38) “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, (39) And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” They were eating and they were drinking. They are doing that today. He said, They were marrying and giving in marriage. Well they are doing that today. He said they build houses and inhabit them; and they do that today, so I ask you, Is that the evil He was talking about? No, that is a reminder, that when the hour comes, that the general society of unregenerate people are living like that and catering to the perversions of the devil that will be going on then, and the rest of society is so wrapped up in living for the material side of life, that is a sign of His soon coming. We are no longer a society that educates our youth and teaches them the principals of how to conduct themselves, and how to treat fellow man. We have become a society that is selfish, indifferent and self willed. Too many today, are not ashamed to turn to some negative, blasphemous phrase to let people know just how far into the devil’s territory they have allowed themselves to drift. As I said earlier, Young people, these perversions of life were not introduced to America from the man that picks up your garbage. No sir. Neither was it introduced to the American society by the mountain people of Virginia, Kentucky or Tennessee who live in the back woods. It was introduced to America’s modern society from our institutions of learning. It is sad to think of it, because as a boy I grew up in a different atmosphere. I remember hearing it said, We have the best institutions of learning there are in the world. Even the sons and daughters of European royalty were sent here to our schools, because Europe was already drifting into darkness. The principals of decency had already been forgotten about. Therefore they would send their children to America for their education. This was before WW2. They wanted them to come here and get an education in our institutions of learning that were still clean, and still teachings the principals of what life should be like. Things have changed drastically since then though, because something has happened in America. I have mentioned to you many times, the Communist philosophy that I read in an article while coming home from WW2, and now every bit of it is coming to pass, right straight down the line.
THE COMMUNIST PLAN FOR AMERICA
The article I read, which stated how the Communist Party would attack America, is now in full swing. It said, We will get into your institutions of learning and pervert the mind of your young generation. They did that. Following that, it was also stated that they would cause the American society to begin to decay. Then they would get into our political parties and pit one against the other. We have seen that come to pass also, especially in the last three elections, have we not? And America that had once known God, will become a nation that no longer knows God. If you take a lot of our intellectual education, when you analyze it carefully, there is a little bit of communism in it, there is a little bit of socialism in it, a whole lot of materialism in it, so you can see what that would produce. When you mix all that together, you have perversion of every description. Some of our politicians would like to say we are still a great nation, but what is their motive? They say that, hoping to win a lot of people to believe like they do, but any person in their right mind, should be able to see where this nation has fallen from. I am one that can remember the era when America was a great nation. I still see America as the nation among all others that I am glad to be living in: Even though she has fallen from her original state of decency, she is still the only nation an old country fellow like me wants to live in. We are a nation of people that are hated all over this world, because we still have some principles that are despised by people of other nations. When our president went to Columbia South America, It was reported in the News, that there was a certain guerilla movement there, that planned on assassinating him. Why? Because it is being told around the world, America is no longer the great nation it used to be. It is no longer the idol of mankind. It is a nation that has sold out to the devil. Our leaders propagate Satanism in so many perverted ways and forms of their politics, education, and just about everything else. Young people, Listen to me! Darkness is closing in upon you. It is getting darker, spiritually; and much harder to hear the voice of God as He gives you a last call. That is what the world is destined to do, get to the place where God is completely out of the picture. All of that is a sign we are fast approaching the soon coming of Jesus Christ. What does all this lead to? Can the things I have said be substantiated, can it be backed up? It was in the News just today, that the ACLU is now ready to sue a school. Why? Because there are still some parents in this nation that do not want their children to be forced to sit and watch a homosexual film the school is going to show. They have to allow it, or the school faces a lawsuit. The ACLU tells the school district, Force students to watch this tolerance training video. They would not have dared to do that sixty years ago. Where did this come from? Did this come from the man that walks the street asking for a handout? No. It came from the high echelon of political leadership and education. When that philosophy began to get in, it led to a lot of atheism. They want to move in and begin to force their philosophy off onto the American society that has been brought up to believe in a God. Little by little, they have taken that general belief in God away from those who have never had a personal experience of salvation. I just have to say, May God have mercy on America. We were once a light to the rest of the world. Now our political leaders can no longer say what the political leaders of WW1 said, lest they offend someone. We are no longer allowed to praise God for anything in public.
RECOGNIZING THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S WORD
When WW1 broke out, (I have the writing of this.) the king of England said, This is none other than the beginning of Matthew 24, Nation shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be a time of trouble such as there never was before. It has gotten worse and worse through the years. Right now evil is the order of the day. I just saw in the News, in the last months, we have had many earthquakes throughout the world. I just heard the News this evening, Another earthquake has taken place. All these tremors, all these multiple of earthquakes, what are they a sign of? Nature is being disturbed. Let us not go to sleep concerning what is getting ready to happen. (Mark 13:8) “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.” Earthquakes in divers places, all this is the beginning of what Jesus said would be the signs of the end time. We have become a nation that sold out to Satan, so we are reaping the fruit of our sowing. Actually Satan has taken over our society. What brings on darkness. It is none other than the devil bringing about things that overshadow the light of Christianity. When that happens, spiritual light is not as bright as it once was. This condition had already gripped the old world long ago. Christianity, which was light when it first came into the regions of Asia, has now been pushed out of that same area; and it is under the influence of Muslimism. From there, that spirit crept into Greece, Mesopotamia, and areas all around, working its way westward. The gospel light of life, has shined around the world, so no one can blame God for the shape the world is in. Wherever that light appeared, it brought darkness to an end temporarily, because the two are not compatible. That light gave people something to hope for, because it changed the whole pagan order of daily living. Those societies that at one time were bound by pagan ideas, idolatry and such, were delivered from it when Christianity was embraced. Only as the gospel moved further westward, were other things able to get in. That is when Muslimism came in and took its place. We have politicians in America today that say, You are not allowed to say that: That is hatred. I have to say, Truth is truth, no matter who or where it hits. It is a shame when a politician thinks he can take the great country that was founded by men who believed in God; and turn it over to organizations like the ACLU. Many of those politicians may say, I believe in God too. Well I say, No, you do not, because you don’t believe in the God your forefathers believed in. They believed in a God that could talk to you; and your kind are saying, That is fanaticism. This is not fanaticism, when we pattern our lives after that which is set forth in the holy scriptures. When our forefathers could still pray, that is what they prayed for. They prayed that the God of heaven would somehow or other enlighten them and show them exactly what to do with their lives, and how to establish this nation under His righteous principles and leadership. Practically every one of those men that wrote the history records, backed up this which I am calling to your attention. Our modern historians go back and do research, trying to re-write the whole thing and condemn it, but they are too late, because too many of us have copies of those old recordings. These characters of today, are perverters of truth and facts. In less than fifty years, America has become a nation that has grabbed every perversion of life that Satan has to offer. Actually we went further in fifty years than the European nations have in the last one hundred and fifty years. Just think, what America used to be, and look at it now. What a shame. Any time the general society of a nation sells out to immorality with all of Satan’s devices of evil and darkness, you get all the other attributes of the devil piled upon you. On the News yesterday, what did I hear? In New Jersey, behind a Catholic church building, three men and a woman were found shot in the head, with blood still oozing out. What does that tells me? We have become a nation that has lost the light that lets them know it is wrong to do this, that and a lot of other things. Hardly a week goes by without another murder being committed over here in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. It just goes to show, that across America, in our major cities, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, all of them, in dark areas of society, when the sun goes down, Satan is stalking the streets in a certain element of people that have turned themselves over to him. They are looking for a way to take out their vengeance upon a lesser human being. We have become a society filled with murder and all kinds of perversions that and evil element of our society can think of. Can we call this progress? Can we say America is still the greatest nation on the face of the earth? Politicians might want to say so, but I have to say, What made America great was when we were still a nation that had God at the helm; and politicians and educators God could speak to about the affairs of our nation. Now our society is more affected by the things of Satan. When God is kicked out, the vacuum makes it impossible to keep things on an even keel. Therefore Satan is always ready to produce that other element that will gradually work their way in, to fill the vacuum. That is exactly what has happened to America. Here is an article, which I will read a little from, just to let you know what the writer is saying. He has titled it, The Devil Really Is In The Details. I realize this might not be interesting to young people, but look at the nation you were born in. You could have already been victims of some of this stuff, if God had not been merciful to you. All that jockeying over intelligence reforms has gotten us nowhere: we have heard them say so often, that we really need to overhaul our intelligence system, so why have they not done it? The 911 attack really crept upon us. We have three major areas of our intelligence. Yet every part of it has become so legally bound by big government, that to try and change it, is like trying to raise the Titanic with a rope and pulley. I just use that as an illustration of helplessness. Do you know why? Because the devil has got into all those institutions and bound them up so tightly that no department is willing to give up their present rights and authority, to cooperate with anyone else. When you go back a few years, back to when those departments were first established to be a guard to America, they were very small in numbers of employees. We were a nation back then, that was not invaded by all these evil spirits that are so everywhere in this day and hour. They did not have much to exercise themselves on. For political gain, we hear many of our lawmakers speak against big government, but do you know why it is big government anymore? Because underneath all your senators and congressmen, there are all those departments which are little branches of government established to execute and fulfill certain things that need to be done. Therefore the politician says, I have certain friends I would like to give a job to, so little by little certain friends filled the jobs in this department. As the years and decades come and go, that system gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It looks legal, but after a while it becomes so big it is a huge expense and it has a limitation as to how it can exercise its power to any justifiable degree, before it runs into competition with another department. Each department has become a big monopoly of personal interest groups. That is what makes it big government. If anyone tries to change it, On no, you can’t do that: I have friends and relatives in that department. If we change this, then it means they are kicked out on the streets and don’t have a job. This is what goes on behind the scene in Washington. Let me now read what this person wrote.
READING
“Behind an area of newly erected barriers and police check points, there is a real buzz of activity on Capitol Hill. Traditionally deserted in August, inside their new self styled green zone law makers are facing a nation that has gotten little more than lip service for years. Reform of the nations forty billion dollar fifteen agency intelligence community is a mountain. Formally, Congressional committees are pouring over the forty one recommendations set forth in the 911 commission’s final report, but what they are really facing is a phenomena. Whereas similar proposals by a variety of previous commissions have fallen victim to bureaucratic in-fighting and political inertia, this time is different, mostly because of the families of 911 victims. This is the same powerful constituency after all that successfully pushed to create the 911 commission over President Bush’s objections and pushed just as successfully over similar objections for commissioners to have virtually unfettered access to the government’s deepest secrets. The panel’s carefully orchestrated bi-partisanship helped to contribute to what one former senior intelligence officer calls the “perfect storm.” Suddenly there is a rush to reform and already a backlash is developing from intelligence and military professionals seeking to defend their precious turf.”
There is more to read here, but that is enough to let you know what goes on. For several years now we have heard different congressmen and senators say we need to overhaul the American tax system. I am not here preaching taxes, but just to show you what goes on in America and why America is headed for that dark hour. If God does not do something to clean America up in the months ahead, America will be just like any other nation. The IRS was small when it started. I can remember sixty years ago, very few people had to fill out a tax return. How many remember that? It was because their income did not come into that bracket requiring it. As time moved along though, the IRS got bigger. It got more complicated. It was not long until it had become a tax collecting institution that is almost more powerful than the U.S. Supreme Court. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s, it was nothing to hear of IRS agents being sent into agricultural areas, where they found out that farmers, somehow or other, had reneged on certain tax information. These were farms that had been in some families for over a hundred years. That made no difference to the IRS agents: They brought in the FBI agents and advertised those places For Sale. They took everything that poor farmer had and sold it out at a public auction. The land was taken away from him. The IRS did that. All that tells me big government has got the devil in it and there is not a man up there that knows how to get him out. We used to be a nation that had honest political leaders: They tried to set a standard before the American people, but where are those kinds today? They no longer live up to that standard: It seems as though there are limitations to it. As we get closer to this hour just ahead for this world, every bit of it is heading for utter darkness. I can prove it by the Bible. When we think of what Jesus said in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (speaking of his return) It helps us understand what we are seeing and hearing every day any more. He merely asked a question, When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? Was He talking about true scriptural belief? He was not talking about those who might say, I am a Methodist, I am a Baptist, I am this or that. He was talking about the person that dares to believe in the whole counsel of God. When you go to the last part of the 19th chapter of Revelation, what do you find there? The beast and the false prophet and the kings of the earth are gathered together, somewhere over there in the Middle East. What have they aligned themselves to do? To make war against Him that sits on the white horse. What does that tell you? Only very stupid and unbelieving idiots would dare think of such a thing. World leaders would not have thought that a hundred years ago. World leaders, a hundred years ago, prayed for divine intervention and God helped them to be able to win necessary conflicts. Well at this point in time, regardless of what some may think or say, the world is headed for that dark hour of great tribulation in the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel that time is moving so close to. That is what is facing the world in general; and I am so thankful the Bride of Christ will be gone by then. Over here (pointing to chart) is where the battle of Armageddon is fought; and then, right here is where they align themselves to fight against Him that comes on the white horse. I am thankful that God has let me see a glimpse of true light in my time. It has helped me to see time in relationship to the word of God. I have to say, Lord help me keep my heart true and clean, because as I see America on the decline, the doors of our schools slammed shut against you and think of what is ahead for an awful lot of people, it is not a pretty sight. When I think of how an organization that is not a part of American government, (the ACLU), is allowed to point a finger and dictate to our leaders; and how the U.S. Supreme Court backs it up, it makes my skin crawl. Since when should the Supreme Court be more powerful than the voice of the president? I have to say, The devil has taken over; and there is no turning back.
DESCRIBING OUR NATION’S DECLINE
It is an utter disgrace, that the world which in decades past, knew America as a Christian nation, now looks upon it as a nation they can make fun of and even try to do harm to. Not every citizen professed to be a Christian, but other nations knew by the eye witness reports, that the society was morally a clean living society. The only kidnaping I ever heard of when I was a child growing up, was when the Lindbergh baby was kidnaped back in the 1930’s. Kidnaping was rare back then, because we did not have that type of criminals in America. Of all those bank robbers back in the 1930’s, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly and all those of their kind, none of them ever kidnaped anyone. That was not in their crime folder. Very few of those men ever came to the place where lawyers had much of a chance to use them as a meal ticket. Do you know why? Most of them got a quick ticket to the graveyard. That is exactly what the law would require. We are so educated and civilized anymore, we cannot deal with criminals the way they should be dealt with. This is a day we have law, and law, and law, but little is done to deter crime. When my wife and I were married, back in 1948, the jailhouse in Corydon, Indiana seldom ever had anyone in it, other than maybe a couple of drunks on Saturday night. It remained like that for a number of years. It was there if needed, but my point is, It was seldom needed for anything much. Then all of a sudden the American society began to change; and now they have a modern building outside the edge of town which is usually full any more. Ever since the 1960’s we have built larger penitentiaries, but by the time they get one built in this day and hour, it is full and running over. They have to kick them out the back door to make room for the ones they are bringing in the front door. We turn them out as though they have served their time, and they go right back and repeat all over again, what got them locked up in the first place. This is a fact. What does that tell me? America, darkness is setting in! Light no longer affects the American society. Why? Because they have allowed special interest groups to dictate to them; and they have kicked out the source of all light. Do not blame your trash collector, nor the man that patches the road pavement: blame the supposed-to-be brainy political leaders in all branches of your government, for allowing these various individuals and certain groups to sway their decisions in governing. I assure you, God is going to hold them responsible. Then when it comes to our institutions of learning, I have to say to educators of today, It is utterly impossible for you to give the American children a better education, because you cannot give them what they need the most, access to light that could enable them to know how to grow up and be decent human beings. They are compelled to grow up and listen to, as well as view all forms of filth, which in reality is taking them backwards. That is how heathen people were before they were exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ that set them on a new course of life. America has had her glory days; and now she is a perfect example of what happens where the great Creator is no longer recognized and respected. Some may say, Bro. Jackson, why are you saying so much about America? What about the other nations around the world? I am using our nation as an example of what can happen in a very short space of time, when Satan is turned loose on a society of people. Naturally this condition of filth and corruption is witnessed around the globe, but our nation is the best example of what I am calling your attention to. God’s judgment will not be confined to any certain place on earth, because the entire planet has been corrupted by evil mankind. God’s judgment is just ahead. Well having said that, I have a little something in here you might like to hear. I have been reading what a professor wrote, so I say to you, You can now enjoy the great college courses in your home or in your car. Wouldn’t it be wonderful, for me to send and get the videos of these professors, and just sit at home with my shoes off, my feet propped up in a chair and learn how to be an educated preacher? (That was just to add a little humor.) I would be a stupid fool, instead of an educated preacher. If I say this in my own way of thinking, people would say, Well he is exaggerating. Therefore I am going to read it exactly the way they say it. You can be the judge. These professors, (and they are listed in the thousands) have made a great name for themselves in our colleges. They are known the country over. This great professor and this great professor, and other great professors in every area they teach, you can easily see that all that they have on their mind is modern philosophy, changing what was yesterday, into a new concept of modern thinking. They bring out of the past, all the mythology of the Greeks and the ancient Egyptians. Well saints, I have read that and did not have to go to college to learn it, but what good is mythology?
MYTHS AND MUCH FOOLISHNESS
Do all of you know what mythology is? It is a fictitious story about a god or a deity that existed by tradition hundreds and thousands of years ago. It is a myth. That is what mythology is. It is a myth; and has no factuality at all to it. But some of these professors, by the time you get through learning their philosophy, how they have explained it and taught it, they almost elevate it and bring it up equal to Christianity. I have to say, Thank God, that one day He sent His Son into the world to bring an end to all that silly stuff our ignorant forefathers had been in bondage to hundreds and thousands of years ago. It is a known fact, the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans, all had gods for this and gods for that. It was all mythology, myths of every description. Traditionally, they believed in a god for this and a god for that, but Praise God, He one day changed a lot of that. The only true and living God brought His only begotten Son into the world to be a propitiation for our sins and deliver us from that foolishness. He forgave us, cleansed us and gave us a new light and a new understanding. Here is a story about lost Christianities. Well I know a little bit about this thing called lost Christianity. Do you know what it is? Even back in the first age, you had those characters rising up with that antichrist spirit upon them. We talked about the white horse rider, didn’t we? That antichrist spirit absolutely stimulated and raised up some of those nuts that began to run contemporary to the apostles and the true ministry of the early Church. They tried to insert the deities and ideas of this and that. That is why some of the apostles wrote, yet touching very little on those things. Historians later wrote much about them. These professors get hold of this and go for the negative side, almost to compare it to the real side, and try to make it look like real Christianity, after all, is just a supposition of what people, out of the rubbish, have sifted out. Let me read what this professor says. If you want to learn more about it, you can get it in twenty four lectures of thirty minutes each. You can really educate yourself. Listen to how he says this.
“In the first centuries after Christ, there was no official New Testament. (I happen to know the letters of Paul, Peter, James and John, had been sent throughout Christendom. They were the beginning of what later became the New Testament. So he is not pulling the wool over my eyes.) Early Christians read and fervently followed a wide variety of scriptures, many more than we have today. (Only the true ones believed what the apostles had said. All those other nuts were soon weeded out.) Relying on these writings, Christians held beliefs that today would be considered bizarre. (I notice in all his writing, he never refers to Clement, he never refers to Polycarp or Iraneas. They were men that followed Paul in the second century. How many understand what I am saying. That is why I have to say, When this kind of educated professor stands in our modern colleges today, talking to the young generation, telling them that Christ has already been taken out of their homes, and you bring those young minds in the classes of these professors, don’t tell me the devil is not out to brainwash every last one of them. They make that young mind think this is a very smart person standing up there.) Some believed that there were two, twelve, or as many as thirty gods. (You can go back in that early period, and yes, in some of the early anti-Nicene fathers’ writings you can find where these early writers rebuked such stuff. Just do not try to convince me that true Christians were believing all of that, because I happen to know that this negative stuff was rebuked by the early ministry.) Some thought that a malicious deity, rather than the true God, created the world. (That is not what Iraneas and Polycarp and those taught. These men were not mentioned. Why? Because those men were the men that kept the faith alive for the true Christians to believe.) Some maintained that Christ’s death and resurrection had nothing to do with salvation, (You won’t find that in the teaching of Iraneas or Polycarp.) while others insisted that Christ never really died at all. (Sure, every age has had its nut cases. I say that in this respect, if time was to last another fifty years, professors of ignorance will then attack the followers of Bro. William Branham and take some of the strange teachings that they have produced, just like today, and they will introduce that to the world. But I have to say, They will never touch what you and I believe, because they don’t want the world to know what it is.) What did these other scriptures say? Do they exist today? How could such outlandish ideas ever be considered Christian? (So they are trying to say that early Christianity started with a lot of nuts. I have to say, Early Christianity started with the apostles and those that follow with them.) Why do they no longer exist? These are just a few of the many thought provoking questions that arise from lost Christianities. (Well the faith that I have was never totally lost. The devil has tried to destroy it, cloud it, but it has never been lost. God has kept it alive. Though the devil has tried to cover it up, God has made sure it was kept alive.) This is a highly educational trip into the confusion that often existed into the early church and how the church moved from there to the point of a consistent creed. Professor Bart D. Eramin, who previous authored ‘The Historical Jesus and the New Testament’ for the teaching company, returns to lend his expert guidance as you follow scholars efforts to recover knowledge of early Christian groups that lost the struggle for converts and simply disappeared. (That makes you wonder what that man has been studying: The faith I have, and what I believe, is exactly what those early Church fathers believed, and I will shout loud and clear, It was never lost! How many understand what I am talking about. They were few, but within their hearts was that little essence of truth that kept this thing alive. That is why, when we take our study and go back into the dark era of Catholicism, yes, that was a spirit of Satan that manipulated that dark period, and put Catholicism in such great darkness, but that in no way, means that the real faith was completely destroyed. I am so thankful tonight, to know that God always preserves that which is precious to Him. You can tell the modern age of youth today, those that go to these satanic places for their education, because they all fall into a certain pattern. The brainwashing tactics of those places has produced a modern element of youth that have no time to listen to the Christian gospel. Why would they want to, when the devil has been so effective in brainwashing them and putting them out here in the world as the modern American society for today: He has them exactly where he wants them.) This course focuses on the remarkable fact that many of the strugglers of early Christians were not against pagans (True Christians of that day and hour were against pagans.) or other nonbelievers. (The apostle Paul said, Have no company with the unbelievers, yet not the unbelievers of the world, because you might have to work beside them. Oh how they can slick tongue the speech and make you think they are so smart.) Professor Eramin will introduce you to these groups.” He mentions the different groups that he calls that negative element, yet they were called Christians. I know from the reading of the anti-Nicene fathers, they were nothing but a small element of foolish people, wanting to create a little interest in themselves. But it was through this and the period of that type, that the real believer overcame them and their influence. One group after another made remarks about them, but you will notice that they never touched Iraneas and Polycarp, nor any of those other men that picked up after Paul, and carried on into the second century.
GOD’S GRACE SEEN IN MARTYRDOM
In that second century when that red horse rider began to ride, the pagan, Roman Empire was martyring Christians by the thousands. You can read that in the writings of the anti-Nicene fathers. Polycarp was so devoted to the faith, he had already prepared himself for the hour he might be called upon. One night he had a dream; and in that dream God showed him exactly how he would be martyred. He saw his pillow on fire. In a few days he was arrested by the authorities and they took him before the tribunal. It was getting late in the day, because he refused to recant, so he was turned over to the executioners to finish the job. The executioner said, We have already put the animals back in their dens: we can’t bring them back out for this. That is when it was decided he would be burned at the stake. When they took him into the arena and tied him to the stake and piled the wood around him, (I have read this.) they tried to set that wood on fire, but had a hard time getting the wood to burn. Then when it did burn, because it was getting late and the executioners realized, If we don’t hurry this up it will get dark on us. One of the officials came along and said, We will hurry this up, so they rammed a spear in his side. When he pulled the spear out, the heart began to pump the blood out the hole and the blood almost put the fire out. I have to say, There was a God watching over those Christians, no matter what the educated professors think about it. Their kind, would never write about anything like that. They treat all of that as though it never happened. I am thankful tonight, that the real faith of the true Christians was kept alive by the grace of God, and brought down through the years to our day and hour. Yes saints, in every century and generation there has always been the fanatical side that has raised up by the inspiration of the devil, because it is the devil’s business to try to cloud the reality of true Christianity that God has caused us to cherish so much. It has been God’s purpose, to keep the true faith and the spirit of leadership alive and well throughout this Christian era. It has been kept alive in the hearts of God’s true people. I am thankful tonight that God has allowed us to see the truth of His word in this hour. I am going to close this message, but before I do, here is one more little article I will read.
READING
“Atheists sue to stop Christian mentoring. A Wisconsin based atheist group, titled ‘Freedom From Religion,’ is soon to cut off federal funding to a Christian child mentoring program that helps troubled kids. Last year the federal government awarded a two hundred twenty five thousand dollar contract, part of nine million awarded to fifty two Arizona groups.” It all sums up to the fact that atheism is turned loose in this hour by the maneuvering of Satan. Therefore to America I say, The sun is setting, and darkness is creeping in. The reason I say this tonight, is because we are the last great nation that has existed on the face of this earth. When we read in the book of Revelation, those last verses, where the beast and his army are gathered together, think of it, the kings of the earth are gathered together to make war against Him that sits on that white horse. Through the time of being a Christian, I have thought, What fool would dare to believe he can take his jet airplanes and modern rockets and fight against the glorious coming of the Son of God? That is because our world tonight is heading into darkness, and we are not far away from our departure time. The world cannot go on in this state for very much longer. God is just letting this state of ungodliness and filth come to a state of ripeness before He sends His reapers. There are many more things I could bring into this message to prove what we are saying, but I feel that at this time it is sufficient to say once again, Darkness is setting in: We are at the end. I am so thankful, that God got hold of my life and turned me around; and started me down the road of eternal life. May He be praised forever. Amen.
THIS CAME FORTH AT THE END OF THIS MESSAGE ON DARKNESS IS SETTING IN.
Interpretation Of Tongues Spoken
Should not my presence be with you? Should not I speak to thee? Should it not be that I, the living God, that has watched over thee in days gone by, and established this place in this community, to proclaim the fact and reality that at one time there was a man that stood in this area and lifted up his voice and proclaimed the truth of my Word? So my children, I say to you tonight, I raised this place up to be a continuation of that light. So little ones young in heart, close not thy ears to the reality of what is being said, because in the country that thou livest, yes, every door is being closed. It is only thy heart that is open and receptive to my presence and to my truth. These words I speak by my Spirit, saith the Lord.