Summary Is prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes? Is the time of the end near? How can you know and more importantly, what does God expect of us in such a time? Download Link Right click and "Save as..." to Download

 

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 Driving up here today reminded me of a couple weeks ago. I had an experience flying back from Houston. My wife and I were in Houston for a church visit and for a wedding and we flew back and it was very foggy in Cincinnati. It was very clear in Houston, but it was very foggy here so we got to the plane and the pilot announced well we may not be able to land in Cincinnati, I just want to let you know. That was after we were already in the air; they didn't tell me that when we were on the ground first of all and they said we may be diverted to West Virginia. I thought well, I'm not an expert on Ohio geography but Cincinnati is in western Ohio and West Virginia is east of Ohio so I was a little confused by that. Also I thought over the years in some of these issues that come up that I would write a letter to the airlines and let them know that it would be good to have a class of what pilots should not say over the intercom.

So as we got closer to Cincinnati, the pilot announced: "It is possible that we can land in Cincinnati." He said: "We're going to." Then this is my phrase that I put in my book in my recommendations: Don't say this over the intercom: "We're going to try to land in Cincinnati." It really struck me, how do you try to land? You know, do you have a headline, well we were 10% successful in our landing or we were 50%. You know you either land or you don't land. Don't tell me we're going to try to land. That goes in my recommendation to the airlines. I have a couple of others that I've heard before. When a pilot comes on and he says: "Ladies and Gentlemen we have a problem." Don't say that. That happened one time when we were landing in Houston. The pilot came on and said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a problem." He said: "We don't know if the landing gear is down or not and a warning light is coming on and so we're going to fly as close as we can to the tower and they're going physically look and see if our landing gear is down before we attempt landing." I thought; don't tell me there's a problem, just do it. Don't tell me about it. Then the other one was, the pilot when we were landing, we were supposed to be flying into Ghana, we were landing into Nigeria and it wasn't on my ticket and the pilot came on and he said: "Don't worry." You know when a pilot says don't worry, that's when I worry. That's a problem. So don't worry, we have a problem and we'll try to land are my three phases that should be taught to every pilot. Don't use because it is not helpful to the people who are on the plane. But I know we've all had some of those experiences over the years.

I mentioned about the trip to Houston, it was interesting going back to Houston. My wife and I spent close to twenty years in Houston. I was the pastor there for that period of time. So we go back and obviously it inspires a lot of memories, a lot of thoughts, but going to Houston and then coming back to Cincinnati reminded me of what has changed since we first moved here in January of 2006. I thought about it in reference to prophecy; I thought about it in reference to the change in the world since 2006 or you might say even since last summer. The violent changes that have taken place in the world and the aspect of prophecy that we all think a lot about. Concerning just the headlines from a few days back and you begin to see how radically how the world has changed and certainly our country has changed, not only in the three years since we've come here to Cincinnati but in the last six months, how radically things have changed. The world that we knew with so many years in Houston and the world that we knew even here for the last three years is radically different now. People are thinking differently, people see things differently. But consider the headlines; this was the headline of just about three weeks ago. The headline said the Fed effectively cut the benchmark rate to zero, a new record low for the key interest rate. America yesterday led the western financial system into a brave new world, a world of zero interest rates. The same day another headline said the INF chief predicts riots in the streets if the global financial system is not overhauled. That was the headline. Another headline in the New York Daily said flat broke New York to begin taxing i-pods. Another one in the World Press T.V. said Israel may attack Iran in 2009. This was before the Gaza episode. The New York Daily headline yesterday read: Unemployment rate jumps to 7.2% in December; worst year; that is 2008 was the worst year for lay-offs since 1945. 2.8 million in 1945 people who lost their jobs that year; 2.6 million last year. Now in fairness, the job population has tripled since 1945 so 2.6 million in 1945 would have been a whole lot more percentage wise than of course 2.8 million today, but it still the worst since 1945.

Then on top of that, consider the religious people who are out there making predictions today. One man that I saw recently claims to be one of the two witnesses. Now he's not alone. We already have many more than two witnesses. I think it's a mathematical impossibility that they can all be correct. I will stand by that statement. But he claims to be one of the two witnesses and in fact last month he ordained his wife a prophet and appointed her over the church under him. He also proclaimed that December 14, Sunday, December 14th was the beginning of the 1260 days that will lead up to the return of Christ. Now a little mathematics and you can calculate that means Christ would return in the summer or in the middle of 2012. He's not alone in making some of these predictions. He actually wrote a letter that was posted on the internet. He wrote this from Jerusalem where he was overlooking the Joppa gate of the old city. So this is a very sobering time for my wife and me as we are in the city that God prophetically describes as Sodom. We're in a hotel room a block away where we can look out upon one of the higher points of the old city and specifically at the Joppa gate. It is in this area where the two witnesses will be killed and three and a half days later Jesus Christ will begin His return to this earth as King of Kings.

This is one of many predictions that are on the internet these days. In fact I actually subscribe to a service; it's called Prophecy News Watch.com and every Thursday they send out prophecy headlines. They scour the world, the newspapers, and the magazines, and they publish all of the headlines that fit in with bible prophecy. They have a very interesting direction to it; they have nine areas of prophecy that they analyze: U.S. in Prophecy, Israel as God's Timepiece, A Revived Roman Empire which is all about Europe and what's going on there, Gog and Magog which is about Asia and Russia, and it goes on and on. It is interesting headlines from the various newspapers around the world and how they fit into prophecy. It's an amazing subject when you think about prophecy. It is not a minor issue for people even who have no religious interest before. There are literally thousands and thousands of web sites today devoted to the subject of prophecy and many of them are predicting events around the economic collapse, around combining of Europe, around the religious issues, around Israel, and around the Middle East. You can find so much there. It's amazing with all the clutter compared to twenty or thirty or forty years ago when Mr. Herbert Armstrong began proclaiming obviously some of those things about Europe, some of those things about Asia, things about the Middle East and so on and so forth. But it's changed today. There is so much available. Here's my question or a series of questions this afternoon: What does it all mean? Is the end near? Is prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes? How can you know and more importantly, what does God expect of us in such a time? What does God expect of us in such a time?

Let me give you a few more quotes. Much of this comes from the Prophecy News Watch.com. They publish, they quote from the very sources; these are major newspapers and major sources around the world. They quote about the 20th century. If you look back on the 20th century to kind of get a perspective of where we are in world history as well as where we are in prophecy. In the 20th century 175 million lives were lost through war; 175 million lives. But from 1990 to 1995, 70 countries were involved in 93 wars, killing 5.5 million people in that period of time. 40 wars were raging in 1999. There's a quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former National Security Advisor Professor of American Policy at John Hopkins University notes that the 20th century began with great hope and promise but became according to him the century of insanity. This was his quote: "Contrary to its promise, the 20th century became mankind's most bloody and hateful century of hallucinatory politics and of monstrous killings. Cruelty was institutionalized to an unprecedented degree. Lethality was organized on a mass production basis. Never before in history was killing so globally pervasive, never before did it consume so many lives, never before was human annihilations pursued with such concentration of sustained effort on behalf of such arrogantly irrational goals." That was the 20th century. One can ask, has it gotten any better in the 21st?

Consider also the population explosion. This is to give a perspective on where we are in world history so that we can from that, extract a perspective on where are we in prophecy? Before 1650 the population doubled every one thousand years. In 1804 the population reached l billion. It doubled in 1927 which means one hundred and twenty-three years, not a thousand. It doubled again in 1974, only forty-seven years. In 1990 the world population was 5.5 billion; today it is 6.5 billion and continues to increase.

That's not all. All of us are fully aware of what happened on September 11, 2001. But was the major prophetic event on September 11, 2001 the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center? What do you think? On September 11, 2001 it was reported that 35 thousand people died of starvation that day. It was estimated that 30 thousand were children on September 11, 2001. According to bible prophecy, Christ gave the signs of the end. What did He say? "Wars and rumors of wars, famines, and pestilence."

It wasn't until 1974 according to the record keeping of an organization called starvation.net. It wasn't until 1974 that the starvation statistics began to increase. In other word, as the world became more civilized, lives were being changed, diseases were being eradicated. But beginning about 1974 starvation figures began to inch up and for the first time starvation wasn't being caused by natural disasters, not entirely. But war was the major cause of starvation. War became the major cause of starvation. Each day today approximately 40 thousand people die of starvation. Where is the reporting? What do the headlines say? Where is that in prophetic fulfillment? It's interesting and this was the dichotomy here, there's no intent beyond simply stating the fact that 40 thousand people die every day of starvation while American's spend over nine hundred million dollars yearly feeding their pets. Now I'm not suggesting you stop feeding your pets. I'm simply identifying what a dichotomy in the world today. It's also true that if you identify probably the most painful death that a person can suffer, it's to die by starvation. There are actually several doctors that have described what the body goes through over a period of time; at 10 days, 12 days, 15 days. When a person dies of starvation it is literally that their organs begin to shrink within their body. In fact the only organ that doesn't shrink is the brain. It is a terrible, obviously a terrible way to die. The fact is that of the 35 thousand people who died on September 11 of starvation, 30 thousand were children, 30 thousand were children. If there were 40 thousand dying and again the statistics vary depending upon where you look because if a child has typhoid fever and is also starving which did he die of? So statistically you'll see various statistics but this group reports 40 thousand per day. If that is a true statistic, then that would be equivalent to forty 747's crashing every single day with one thousand passengers on each one. If one were to crash it would obviously be headlines, but if you had forty every day with one thousand passengers without end dying of starvation, you would say that's pretty incredible. When Christ said in Matthew 24, verse 3, when He was asking about the signs of the end, He was very clear and very specific: "Wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilence," and He goes down the list. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse are what? What do they identify? What are the major prophetic events that are going on in the world today and again, that's a question? What are they?

In the United States we're losing the drug war because the huge profits are too corrupting. There are 2.2 million hard core drug users in the United States. It's one out of forty persons in New York City, one out of every forty persons. In the U.S. as a whole, it's one out of every one hundred thirty-five people, hard core drug users. One thousand drug addicted babies are born every day.

Economically things are a mess. In June of 2008 the U.S. national debt was a staggering nine point four trillion dollars. As of two days ago, there's actually a place you can go; it calculates to the very penny, every hour what the national debt is. Actually it's the treasury web site of the United States. They'll tell you what it is. As of January 8, two days ago, the debt had reached ten point six trillion; you know the whole line goes out to fifty-seven cents. I'm going to claim the fifty-seven cents and you can have the rest, but it's the whole amount; it's an incredible amount and it's gone up over a trillion dollars since June of last year. Credit card debt in the United States went from three hundred and forty-nine billion in 1980 to nine hundred and seventy billion in November. Are we in a mess or are we not?

But if one takes a holistic approach toward prophecy, consider the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, consider the events of Matthew 24 and then ask yourself, have we just entered the end time as of September of this last year if one were to say or have we not been in the end time for some time? My premise is we have been in the end time. One could argue since 1945 when the atomic bomb was dropped at the end of World War II, we entered a day and an age in which prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes. We've entered the end time. But the bible tells us that at the very end there will be a robust economy under a Babylonian system. Where is that? It also describes a religious system that will be quite powerful. Where is that? It also describes a military-political union coming out of the old Roman Empire. Where is that? It describes a lot of other things in the Middle East. Where are they? Scoffers were told; we'll come declaring that everything is o.k.; the end isn't coming. We also find now there are a plethora of individuals, hundreds if not thousands of them who have declared the end based upon their interpretation of prophecy from the economy and from other events. Yet when Christ says no one will know, what does that mean? I appreciate Mr. Wasilkoff and his explanation. What does it mean when these things appear to be opposites? What events are going on, what events are happening, what must we look for, where are we in prophecy? Let's go now to Daniel, chapter 12.

Daniel was given some very startling things from God that he was told to record. He was told that they would be for the end time. He was told this is what the end time will be like and it was very descriptive as to what was going to happen.

Daniel:12:1And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. At that time Michael shall stand up, (again this is a prophecy of the end time we're told from Daniel 11. For this detailed prophecy of Daniel 11 we come to Daniel 12) the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation,

I submit to you we entered a period of time as far back as the late forties that had never existed in the history of the world. You should read some time the stories and the books about the development of the atomic bomb and there were legitimate scientists who actually wondered if a chain reaction would be set off that would destroy the world when you unleashed the atomic bomb. I mean it's incredible, these were creditable scientists who felt they could not predict what would happen and whether you could control that chain reaction and whether it would not destroy the world. Now there's no question, something changed when man entered that particular age.

such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered,

One of the most interesting parts of prophecy and the part of prophecy that I want to talk about a little bit more this afternoon is the fact that prophecy ends on a good note. While everyone emphasizes all the terrible things that are going to happen, which is fair enough, biblical prophecy ends on a positive note with God's people being delivered and the world being delivered. The world will be delivered.

everyone who is found written in the book of life.

This of course written in the book in reference to your people.

Verse 2: And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Verse 3: Those who are wise (this is what I want you to look at) shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, (and notice the next phrase) and those who turn many to righteousness are going to shine like the stars forever and ever.

There is a work that will actually turn, or with obviously God's calling of people from the world turn people to righteousness. Those who are a part of that were told will shine like the stars forever and ever. What is that all about? What does that say about us? What does that say about who we are? This section of scripture refers to the time of the end. It also refers to a time of judgment to the people of God. But the promise here is that God's people will be delivered. This is the end of every prophetic story. God's people will be delivered. The world will be delivered. That's the end of every prophecy of the end time. He promises that He will deliver those who are found written in the book. Old Testament prophecies end with a promise of deliverance. Good news of prophecy often gets overlooked in the wake of all the terrible things that are identified in prophecy.

But the question still remains. What about God's people living through these days? Are we living through prophetic days? I believe we are. Have things been wrapped up to a place that they have not been before? I believe they have. How should we approach that? What should we be doing? Who is turning people to righteousness today? It would appear that the work of the church in the end time is more than a warning message; it is a message of hope and deliverance and that there are those who will be turned to righteousness. Notice further in Daniel. Notice the reference to verse 4.

Verse 4: But you Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end; (and then we have a very cryptic explanation of the time of the end.) many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.

Is there any doubt that Daniel was prophesied? God inspired Daniel to prophesy of a day when knowledge and transportation would be at an incredible level unknown in the history of the world. Is there any question that we've not entered that period of time? Consider this: the first automobile was made in 1877; today there are six hundred million cars available. To and fro; that's not even considering all the air travel. Have you seen the grid; I think there are web sites where you can go and you can see the grid of all the airplanes in the air at one time? It is incredible; to and fro, to and fro. Consider this; in the past 100 years man has increased his travel from the early days of the automobile when the speed was 30 miles per hour to 25,000 miles per hour in the rockets that takes man to the moon. It's a pretty incredible jump in transportation, would we not agree?

If you consider the increase in knowledge; if the increase in knowledge from the dawn of history to the l880's is given a value of one, let's call that one; then knowledge has doubled 16 times just in the last 10 years. 100 hundred years ago, 90% of the world's population could neither read nor write. Today 80% of the world's population is declared literate which means you can read a simple sentence. There's a lot more to literacy than that but 80% of the world's population would be declared illiterate. The western world's literacy has reached nearly 90%.

Cordless telephones jumped from 25% in 1990 to 78% in 2000, people having cordless phones. In 1989 there were 3.5 million cell phone subscribers. By 1999, ten years later there were 86 million, so it went from 3 million to 86 million in 10 years. From 1999 until today, 2009, there are 2 billion cell phones. You think knowledge and information is increasing? In 1995, 31.7% of households had personal computers. By 2000 it was 53%. The last decade 66.3 million computers have been sold. In 1993 there were 3 million internet users. By mid 1999 there were nearly 200 million, 3 million to 200 million in a period of 6 years. In one year, year 2000, it went to 332 million and today, January 2009, do you know the number of internet users? 1.4 billion, 20% of the world's population is now on the internet. Is there any question in Daniel's explanation where in history has there ever been a day like today? Is it not truly a special or unique, an outstanding in the sense of all of the events that are happening, period of time to be alive? What a period of time to be alive and watch as these things unfold?

But what should we be doing, just sitting and watching? So should we just prop our feet up and saying, there's another prophecy being fulfilled and there's another one being fulfilled. Yes, that's a part of prophecy, well isn't that interesting? I need to get my stock of food, I need to get my guns; I need to surround myself so that I'm ready for all these things to happen. Or is there something else God wants us to do? That's my point. What does God want us to do? These events are going to happen whatever you and I may choose to do with our lives, because God's plan will not be thwarted. But what should we do?

I'd like to go to the book of Esther. Now you might say where on earth does Esther fit in to a sermon on prophecy? What does it have to do with prophecy? There's an aspect of Esther that I think is extremely interesting. I think it has something to say to us as a people today. I think there's an incredible lesson. I believe God inspired the book of Esther to be written that we might understand some of the lessons that we need to learn today; we need to understand.

Esther is a most interesting story. A lot of people look upon Esther as just a very nice Jewish book with a Jewish story. It is the background to the Feast of Purim. It is the only book in the bible that doesn't mention God. As one author explained, is that while God's name isn't mentioned in the book of Esther, surely God's finger is throughout the book of Esther. It has a lot to say about religion without even mentioning God. Probably the most significant section of the book is found in Esther, chapter 4. Here's a little background to this story. It's been announced that the Jews are going to be destroyed, in fact we'll go back to chapter 3 and you'll read the pronouncement, they're to be killed, destroyed and annihilated. One would have been enough you would think. You could kill them, you destroy them and you annihilate them but the decree said they were to be killed, annihilated and destroyed. An incredible animosity toward the Jews and they were going to be wiped out. The day had been announced when they would all be killed. Mordecai sends a message to Queen Esther who is a Jew and encourages her to do something about it but it's the words that strike so much to the heart and core of where I'm coming from this afternoon in the sermon and I want to get to this very critical point.

Esther:4:13Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. Then Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews.

Verse 14: For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place,

It's incredible that Mordecai explained a true prophetic principle. This is a prophetic principle; that God's plan will not be thwarted. God will save this world from destruction; He will. Esther was told God will save the Jews. The Messiah is predicted or prophesied to come through the Jews so God isn't going to let the Jews be destroyed. So this is what Mordecai said: "If you choose to do nothing God will still deliver the Jews."

I present as a prophetic principle if we do nothing, God will still work out His plan. Now that doesn't mean we should do nothing. It simply is a statement of fact when it comes to fulfillment of prophecy. God's plan will take place. God's plan will be fulfilled. God won't be thwarted. Eternal God will not be stopped. The eternal God will save this world from total destruction. Mordecai sent the message to Esther and said:

"God will save the Jews. They'll come from another place if you choose to do nothing. But you and your father's house will perish. Since you're not doing what you should have done or should do, you're not going to make it."

Then sort of the cryptic, enigmatic statement that he makes: "Yet who knows?" Notice it's a question. I find it so arrogant (my personal opinion) of individuals who proclaim themselves to be someone from scripture. The idea that they're the two witnesses, hopefully there's more one, they can count to two, but they are some prophetic fulfillment in that sense. The idea and again, obviously there will be some who will fulfill that and maybe they will be telling us who they are. I'm not doubting any of that, but I'm simply saying the idea that you are going to do this which is prophesied from God, you know you may do that and that's what Mordecai said:

"Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a day as this?"

A very humble approach, I think there's a bit of humility in saying well we don't know that but maybe you are, maybe you are. You can be, you can be a part of this, Mordecai says to Esther. Notice back in chapter 3, verse 12. This is the decree that went out.

Esther:3:12Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring. Then the king's scribes were called (and this is the decree for the destruction of the Jews) on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded — to the king's satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province according to its script, and to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring.

Verse 13: And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews.

It was a bit overly stated in my opinion to say we're going to destroy them, kill them and annihilate them. But it shows the extent of the attitude toward the Jews and the desire to wipe them all out and of course it was to be carried out in the 12th month on that very same day. Interesting though the opposite actually happened. Look at Esther chapter 9, verse 1. Notice the end result of this event. Esther did intervene; Esther is given credit for being involved in a series of events that saved the Jews. She didn't choose just to be silent and do nothing.

Esther:9:1Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the time came for the king's command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.

Then it talks about all those who were set to kill the Jews were themselves killed. So God spared the Jews and He did it through this individual named Esther. Now the statement that Mordecai made; again is an important principle. The principle is simply this: that who knows whether God called you for such a time, who knows whether God put you here to do this job, who knows? Yet a bit of humility present in what Mordecai said. We have to be careful that we don't declare what God has done; we have to look and see what God is going. So Mordecai says that, but he says you can remain silent and God will still save the Jews.

Translate that and bring that forward to the work of the church in the end time. Compare to the people of God today. Are we as the people of God here only to save our lives? Are we here only for salvation? Are we in a church, does the church exist in order to simply take care of ourselves? How do you warn the world if you're only taking care of yourself? How do you turn people to righteousness unless you see the need for the work of God right through the fulfillment of prophecy? In much the same way that God choose Esther to assist the Jews in their survival; God was going to save them in some fashion. Has God not called us to assist in the survival of this world? God will save this world from destruction. Do we not have a part to play? Why did God call us during this time? Matthew:24:14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. says very clearly that we are to warn the world. The gospel of the kingdom must be preached into all the world; then the end will come. That's one prophetic fulfillment or one prophecy that will be fulfilled through someone. Now how about Matthew 28 in verse 19. Is there a time limit, is there a period of time when the church should cease teaching, preaching and as we would say today preparing a people for the Kingdom of God? Is there a period of time when that is no longer valid?

Matthew 28: 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Verse 20: teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; (Notice the sentence doesn't end there) and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Is this not a clear statement from Jesus Christ that our teaching, our preaching, our bringing people to righteousness or as it says in Hebrews bringing many sons to glory? Is that not continually right through the difficult days leading up to the very end of the age? Or were we called to sit and watch, see the events transpire? It's very interesting. It's interesting to read this report that they send out every Thursday from this web site. It's powerful to see selected headlines from around the world super-imposed over scriptural events and prophesies that you see are happening. It's an incredible powerful presentation to do that and it shows the end of the world and the prophetic fulfillment. So we could sit back and watch all of that happen, we can note it, we could get excited about it I suppose in one sense or we can be very sad about it because of what it means to us and our country. Is that what God wants or is there not a purpose in our calling that transcends the time we live in?

I did some interesting research in looking through old documents a few days back and I remember clearly growing up in the church and I think many of you remember as well, constantly being reminded that God did not call us just for salvation. God called us for something bigger than that because if God only called us for salvation, then God must be a respecter of persons. You know God must be a respecter of persons that He didn't call that person or that person or another person. How do you make sense out of that?

There's a collection of writings; Mr. Armstrong's early writings, different volumes of it. One of these sections and I'm not absolutely sure where it comes from, a letter or whether it comes from an article, but it states very clearly what I understood as I was growing up in the church and to be clearly the position and the statement that came from the church over many years. This is a short section that I wanted to read. It says: "In the same manner since God through Jesus was now calling out His church for a specific function preparatory to the establishment of His Kingdom and Government over all nations. It was now necessary that the same exception be made for the church and that they be empowered by the Holy Spirit (that's speaking of Acts 2). God emphatically did not empower the prophets with His Spirit merely for the purpose of giving them salvation. Likewise God did not call saints out of this world merely for their salvation and entrance into His Kingdom. Otherwise God would be a respecter of persons who called a few of His church at this time while refusing to call others to salvation. If God is opening salvation to the few in His church, only to give them salvation while He excluded the proponents of the world as a whole until later, then God certainly would be a respecter of persons. Those called out of the world and into the church at this time are called for a specific purpose and a specific work. This specific work was to make possible the spiritual training to aid in the conversion of humanity as a whole. They are called at a time when they are persecuted and fought against by Satan and by the rest of the world. The rest of the world will be called at a time when Satan is removed and they are aided and helped by Christ and the saints and then made immortal in the Kingdom of God."

The concept of being called for a purpose was dominant in the thinking, the teaching and the material of the church over the last (how many years do you want to go back, 50 years?). The idea that there was a purpose in your calling; that you were called for just such a day. You were called for a job; a work to do that actually transcends the ages, but intensifies as you come to the end time. It's a work of preaching and teaching; it's a work of warning the world and it's a work as we say of preparing a people. That brings as it says in Daniel 12, those who bring many to righteousness will shine as the stars in the heavens. What are we doing? What must we do? What should we do? How much more can we do? It is an incredible thing to think of where we are in history when it comes to knowledge and information. Is there a corollary to the ability to transmit knowledge today to the need for the people of God to take that message to the world? Is there a corollary? Is there a purpose, a reason? I would simply state as Mordecai did, who knows? Many of these things we may not get in true perspective until we look back on them. Oh yeah, that's what God had in mind. Oh yeah, that's what God wanted us to do there. Sometimes it isn't quite that clear.

There's another prophetic book, let's go back to the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk describes a period of time that I believe, is you could say somewhat similar to where we are today. Habakkuk was about the terrible conditions among the Jews. They had drifted far from God as a nation. There was no justice in the nation and a prophet of God, Habakkuk was crying out to God, when will you do something about it?

Habakkuk:1:2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! O Lord, how long shall I cry and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, "Violence!" And You will not save.

Verse 3: Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife and contention arises.

Verse 4: Therefore the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

Then the way it's written, in Habakkuk you have the reply from God. God essentially says to Habakkuk and Habakkuk says what are you going to do about it God? Surely you are not going to allow your nation to continue down this path. God replies:

Verse 5: Look among the nations and watch — be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you.

God says: "My work will be done; not according to your predictions Habakkuk." Again, those inspired by God obviously. "But not according to your desires Habakkuk but according to My plan." He chastises Habakkuk. He says: "I'm going to do a work that you will not even believe. You wouldn't dream of it being done that way." Who could have dreamed 10 years ago where we are when it comes again to the spreading of knowledge and information in the world? Who could dream where we can be in another 10 years if time goes on when it comes to the expanding of knowledge and information? Information knowledge leads to, we certainly pray repentance, conversion and individual's accepting a way of life that has been foreign to them. We don't know, God has to call but somebody has to make the knowledge available. That's always been the case.

Verse 6: For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation

God's going to bring the most despicable nation to chastise Judah and that was something Habakkuk never dreamed of; that God would bring this nation of individuals who were terrible; worse than the Jews to chastise them. But God said no that's the way I'm going to do it Habakkuk. I want you to know that's what's going to happen.

Chapter 2 we find God addresses Habakkuk on what he should do. Habakkuk is in kind of a stew a bit. He's praying for God's intervention but he doesn't like the way God's going to intervene. Now again, you can draw corollary to today. We pray for God's intervention, but do we really want to see what God's going to do when He begins to intervene and what's going to change about this world? Now we want to see the changes, but I'm talking about the suffering that goes along with it.

Habakkuk:2:2And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. Then the Lord answered me and said: "Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.

Verse 3: For the vision is yet for an appointed time; (I'm not doing it now God said to Habakkuk) but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it because it will surely come; it will not tarry.

You look at end time prophecy requires patience; that is among the people of God, but it surely will come, it surely will come.

Verse 4: Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."

You and I may have to live through some very horrendous times. How do you get through that period of time? Where is your faith? Where is your confidence? What are we doing? What should we be doing? What should we be excited about? What should we be thrilled about when it comes to what God can do? How many people will God call in the next few years? How many people will God warn through the church in the next few years? What will happen?

There's a whole frontier out there that's quite incredible, it's quite incredible. A frontier that's just so remarkable and yet the world is so cluttered by pseudo prophets; prophets who proclaim themselves to be witnesses. There are thousands of them out there and many of them have the same cry: Watch for Europe, which is true? Again, my opinion is Satan has been very subtle in muddling what's out there to such a degree that how do you know or you have events, specific events that happen that are tied to some writing of years past or some predictions someone makes or some sort of code that someone has discovered.

It's interesting that a book was discovered a number of years ago, the title is in Greek, "Didache" which means teaching and it's supposedly, I don't have all the facts about it, but supposedly was a guide book during the early days of the church, 100, 200 A.D. It was to be a primer for the people of God. In this book it warns about false prophets and it says there are four ways to identify a prophet of God. First of all, number one, he must be consistent with the teachings from the word of God and with the prophets that are here in the book. Secondarily he must not be motivated by money or selfish gain. Number three; he must have the character of Christ and number four he must not be a hypocrite in his lifestyle. If the prophet does not meet all four of those statements then he is not a prophet of God and should be rejected by God's people.

I really believe that as these things continue to expand around the world and more and more of these individuals are out there, that you must apply the test. Now when you're out on the internet, there's some anonymity and you don't know who these people are, you don't know what their lifestyle is, it's hard to identify, but if they don't have the lifestyle of God's way, why would they be used by God? What are they, not that they may fulfill a part of prophecy, but are they a prophet from God or a witness from God? Look at what God wants from us. We also must remember something else. Look at 1 Peter, chapter 5. One of the things that we maybe haven't talked a lot about in the church in recent years is something that is so critical in the end time.

1 Peter:5:8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Be sober, be vigilant; (Peter writes this 2,000 years ago, but it's as applicable today as it was 2,000 years ago for the people of God) be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Satan is seeking to devour the people of God any way he can; to thwart their ability, he wants to thwart God's plan as he's always tried to do. He won't succeed, but he can hurt us terribly. Satan is alive and well and as the end time draws closer he will be more and more active. When the apostle Paul left the area of Ephesus and met with all the elders, he warned them, he warned them of things that would happen to their group. You go through and read the things that Paul points out and we've seen it all, we've seen it all in the last few years, not just in the last 2,000 years, we've seen it all. Satan is alive and well; he's very angry, he does not want us to succeed. He does not want us to be in the Kingdom of God, he does not want us to assist others to come into the Kingdom of God. We don't say a lot about Satan because it becomes kind of, oh that's kind of weird, you actually believe there's a Satan? You actually believe there's a spirit being that infects and affects the attitudes of people? You really believe that's true? Well we better believe it's true because God says it's true and He warns about the end time of a very angry, angry spirit who works on you and me from the inside out. He doesn't have to work on the outside; he works from the inside out and he becomes very successful if we allow it.

When you put the scriptures together, you look at the prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled, I believe with all my heart that we live in the end time; I believe that. I don't believe we entered the end time in September of this year, I don't believe we entered the end time 10 years ago; I believe we have been in this period of time for some time. I don't have a date in mind, but I believe it. I don't believe it just started. I believe one day we will have it all in perspective. We will see where this event fit and that event fit. I don't think any of us have a perfect vision of it today. I don't think God wants us to have a perfect vision, because He doesn't want our work to be driven by specific events in world history. He wants our work to be driven by a true desire, a committed desire to see people change their lives, prepare a people and to warn the world, preach the gospel, not only about the bad things that are going to happen, but the good things that happen that prophecy ends on a good note and the world will be delivered. We have a world to warn, we have people to teach, we have people to baptize.

In the book of Habakkuk it talks about rejoicing even in the midst of a lot of difficult times. We rejoice in God's work, we rejoice in God's word; we don't allow ourselves to take anxious thought because of all the horrific things that are going to be happening. Christ said don't be troubled, some of these things are only the beginning. How much worse will it get? No doubt much worse. Do we have time to push forward with the work and does God have great things ahead? I would only quote Mordecai: "who knows?" There are too many questions unanswerable about prophecy today to declare that this is the end. The end time, yes. Where are all of these things? Now will they happen next year, the following year? I don't know. As Mordecai says: "who knows?" But it doesn't change our work. It may intensify it; in fact it should intensify it. Isn't it interesting that the internet has come along at a period of time when so many other things are coming together in the world? For the first time in human history, that truly the connection of the world is happening before our eyes? 20% of the world's population is now on the internet. How did that happen so quickly? Ten years ago it was a very small amount and what will it be next year and the next year? Why is a door opened? Or why are these things out there at the very end time when obviously we believe God wants us to reach the world. We want to preach the gospel to the world by every means available. We must be prepared to use the resources that God has given us to do His work. We have to put ourselves into preaching the gospel and preparing a people for the next generation. Daniel 12 says that those who bring people to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. Is there any doubt that God wants us or that God expects from us more than just warning the world? Are we so petrified at times by world conditions that we can only think of ourselves and what we need to do? Can we not think of a world that's out there that needs deliverance and will be delivered by God?

I always find it interesting that in Isaiah 46, verse 10, in declaring who God is. It says it is God who declares or is declaring is the quote; God is the one who is declaring the end from the beginning. I've read that scripture many times and I've always thought of it in terms of the greatness of God and certainly that's what the verse is about. But is it not also true that God has said He will be the one to declare the end? It won't be done by some individual running around or some individual who has put himself out to the world over the internet and proclaiming it. God will be the one who will proclaim the end and God will be the one who will sort out the timing.

Our job is the same today as when God called us; to preach the gospel and the terms we use to prepare a people. To prepare people to be righteous in the Kingdom of God; to warn the world of impending disaster followed by the Kingdom of God. I believe it's important as we look at prophecy, we see the fulfillment of things all about us that we look upon it as an opportunity to take the gospel to the world until God declares the end and let God make that declaration. We do have a business that is our Father's business, as we've used in the terminology of reports that we've given. It is a business in the sense of what you and I have to do, what we have to be busy doing. There is much to do, to bring many sons to righteousness or many sons to glory and very much to be done to preach the gospel to the world in spite of and as certainly prophecy is being fulfilled.