HomeARC ML 2148
EZEKIEL 38!--Verses 18-23! ET #32 DO 2148 2/85
1. DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE WE WERE STUDYING LAST? What Chapter were we studying? (Fam: Ezekiel 38.) Did we finish it? I don't think we went through the last verses, did we? We found out several things about these two Chapters which go together.
2. I SUGGEST THAT WE GO BACK AGAIN. Who is Ezekiel 38 about? (Fam: Gog & Magog.) And who are Gog & Magog according to the ancient antiquitous history? (Fam: Gog is the King of Russia & Magog is the country of Russia.) Gog is the king & Magog is the country. So if it's Russia, then who is going to be its king in these Last Days? (Fam: The Antichrist.) In a broader sense we could call Magog, Communism, or all of the Antichrist's forces, but it was actually, specifically an ancient name for Russia in the real old histories & maps.
3. RIGHT NOW DURING REVIEW YOU CAN ALL SPEAK OUT LIKE THEY DO IN CHINESE SCHOOLS WHERE THEY ALL RECITE ALOUD. They say it's bedlam sometimes, especially if they're all studying something different & reciting & memorising & they're all yelling at the top of their voices! They say it's absolute chaos! I don't think they do that any more, though, I think they've learned to improve their study system. But you can answer it together, if you will, & I would rather have you answer together & not wait to call on somebody, because this is not a test, it's just something you're supposed to know real well already.
4. WHAT LAND IS HE INVADING, EVERYBODY? (FAM: ISRAEL!) AND WHEN IS HE INVADING IT? (FAM: IN THE LATTER DAYS.) It says in the latter days, after He has brought His people back from the rest of the World & put them into towns without what? (Fam: Walls!) And that has only happened in recent history. In fact, the Jews have only been coming back to Israel just within the last century, think of that! There was no major return to Israel at all till then. There were always a few Jews there in recent years, but God did what He said He was going to do, that He was going to cast them out of the land & scatter them to every nation on the face of the Earth for their sins, & He did, & they were! (Lev.26:33) This scattering is what the Jews call the Diaspora, a Greek word for the dispersion or the scattering. You'll run across that in the newspaper sometimes, the Diaspora, so remember that. That's a word the Jews like to use. They know what it means even if you don't, a Greek word for the dispersion or the scattering of the Jews throughout the whole World.
5. GOD'S CURSE & JUDGEMENTS & PLAGUES WERE UPON THEM & HE WAS SO ANGRY WITH THEM FOR THEIR WICKEDNESS & THEIR SINS!--Because although they had the most Light & the Scriptures of any people on the face of the Earth, they sinned against Him the worst of any people on the face of the Earth! So He became so furious with them He had their enemies drive them out of their country completely!--Until at one time in ancient history there were no more Jews left in Israel at all, some of the Kings deported them completely & put their own people there in their place, other peoples instead, which is exactly what God said He would do, that He would scatter them into every nation on the face of the Earth!
6. [DELETED] It looks to me like almost all of you guys are Jewish, but some of you are a little more Jewish than others & it really sticks out!
7. SO GOD SCATTERED THEM ALL OVER THE WORLD & EVERY NATION ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH HAS ITS JEWS. Now within the past century there's been a regathering of the Jews into Israel & they're becoming proud of themselves again because they have made such great attainments & they have restored their land again. Now Jews are not as ashamed of being Jews any more as they used to be. For almost centuries they hid their identities & even joined the Catholic Church! [DELETED]
[DELETED]
11. SO THE JEWS GOT SCATTERED INTO EVERY NATION OF THE EARTH. [DELETED] It takes one to know one! I think maybe in a way it may be a certain part of the gift of discernment the Lord has given me, but I can spot'm almost every time! PTL! (To one of the girls:) How ya doin', Honey? God bless you, my beautiful Jewess!--The rest of you too, nearly all of you!
12. WHY SHOULDN'T THE LORD CHOOSE THE JEWS OF THIS YOUNGER GENERATION TO GET SAVED? Why do you suppose the Lord picked so many of you who have Jewish backgrounds? Well, there are just no more aggressive people on the face of the Earth! There are no smarter people on the face of the Earth! There are no more intelligent people on the face of the Earth! Why do you suppose God picked them in the first place to be His chosen people & to give them the Word & to be His witnesses? You know good & well He must have picked the best ones He could find! In fact, He created the race by calling Abraham in the first place & having them have those children, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. God created the Jews for the job! As one writer said,
"'Tis odd
That God
Should choose
The Jews!"
And the other poet answered back,
"God chose,
Which shows,
God knew
His Jew!"
13. WHY DO YOU SUPPOSE HE CHOSE ME TO LEAD THE FAMILY?--YOU CAN SEE WHY HE CHOSE ME! WHEN YOU SEE ME WAVING MY HANDS YOU FEEL THE BREEZE! I'm not only shooting the breeze, I'm waving the breeze!--Like the story about the Jew on that cold morning. Ikey & Abey were walking down the streets of New York one very cold morning & Ikey says to Abey, "Abey, vhy aren't you talking this morning?" And Abey says, "Vhat do you vant me to do, freeze my hands?" Do you know what that means? It means he couldn't talk without using his hands, & if he used his hands he'd have to pull them out of his pockets & they'd get cold!
14. I NEVER REALISED I USED MY HANDS SO MUCH UNTIL I SAW THOSE VIDEOS I MADE OF THE "GARDEN OF EDEN" SERIES! I never realised I was even using my hands at all! Somebody exclaimed, "Oh, what gesticulations! What marvellous gestures you use! It's so wonderful!" I thought, "My Lord, if he only knew, I didn't even know I was using my hands!" It just comes natural! We Jews are just expressive, dramatic, enthusiastic, aggressive, dynamic! We just put everything we've got into it! And that's the way Jews are all over the World! Wherever you find them, that's the way they are.--Well, to varying degrees. But I remember down on Miami's South Beach where we used to live, they were certainly the loudest people I ever lived with! They were always yelling & screaming at each other & some of the husbands & wives having fights out in the middle of the street. I don't think I ever ever knew a quiet Jew who didn't talk a lot & talk loud like me!
15. SO GOD LET THEM BE SCATTERED ALL OVER THE EARTH, BUT HE PROMISED IN THE LAST DAYS THAT HE WAS GOING TO REGATHER SOME OF THEM BACK TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL, & IT WOULD BE ESTABLISHED AGAIN, & THAT'S TRUE. For awhile I got so disgusted with the Jews I almost threw that one away! I figured, well, God's through with the Jews & maybe it was like my Father used to teach me, a trick of the Devil & the Devil gathered them back to Israel just to fool people into believing that theory, that God was re-gathering them back to Israel!--Because my Father was dead-set against God having anything further to do with the Jews. He didn't know how Jewish he was himself!
16. NOW AS I GO BACK & I LOOK AT HIS PICTURE MORE CAREFULLY, BUT ESPECIALLY AT MY GRANDFATHER FAR-FAR'S PICTURE, I CAN SEE HOW JEWISH HE WAS! My Grandfather & his brother used to go out & put on entertainments--sing, play the guitar, do acrobatics! Now who else would think of doing a crazy thing like that, during a slack season on the farm, for these two brothers to go out & put on shows & make money? Doesn't that sound just like the Jews? But I was one little Jew who was quiet, & I didn't really get the real Jewish spirit until I got filled with His Spirit, praise the Lord?
17. BUT NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY'RE COMING BACK, & THEY'RE COMING BACK AT A TIME WHEN TOWNS DON'T HAVE WALLS, when they're regathered again & they don't have to constantly live in fear here or there, but they've got their own country now & they've got about two or three billion Dollars of military help from the U.S. every year, half of which is supposed to be loaned but they always wind up giving it to them. The U.S. puts more money into Israel than any other country on the face of the Earth! So now, shall we read it? At least we'll end with the Scripture even if we didn't get started with it, forgive me. Have you got a little more time? (Fam: Yes!)
EARTHQUAKES, HAILSTONES, FIRE & BRIMSTONE!
18. WE READ IN THE 18TH VERSE HOW THE LORD'S FURY WOULD COME UP IN HIS FACE, HOW GOD HIMSELF WOULD FINALLY COME TO THE DEFENCE OF ISRAEL. 19th Verse: "For in My jealousy & in the fire of My wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, & the fowls of the heaven, & the beasts of the field, & all creeping things that creep upon the Earth, & all the men that are upon the face of the Earth shall shake at My presence!"
19. DIDN'T WE READ IN OTHER PLACES THAT AT THE END OF THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON OR JUST BEFORE THE COMING OF THE LORD THERE'S A TREMENDOUS EARTHQUAKE? Isn't that also what some of the other Prophets predict, like Nostradamus, etc.? I think he predicts a huge earthquake for May of 1988. Well, we don't know if that's the End then or not, not according to our calculations, but it's close to the End, amen? But this is some earthquake! Listen! They all shake! Everybody on the face of the whole Earth, the whole Earth is going to shake, think of that! "And the mountains shall be thrown down & the steep places shall fall, & every wall shall fall to the ground!"
20. WHY ARE THERE NO MOUNTAINS LEFT IN THE NEW EARTH? Why is it just rolling hills & no high places?--They didn't even have to wait for the surface to be burned, it sounds like they got shaken down here at the Battle of Armageddon! You say, "How do we know this is the Battle of Armageddon, Dad, we haven't read anything about Armageddon!" Well, you just wait! Just wait'll we shake our heads over this next Chapter!
21. (VERSE 21:) "AND I WILL CALL FOR A SWORD AGAINST HIM THROUGHOUT ALL MY MOUNTAINS, SAITH THE LORD GOD: EVERY MAN'S SWORD SHALL BE AGAINST HIS BROTHER." The Antichrist's forces are going to be in such confusion they're going to be killing each other! Has that ever happened before? Several times in Bible history it tells about how they got so confused in the middle of the night that the guys woke up & were killing each other in the dark.--In the story of Gideon, all that racket he made & everything, another time an Angel slaughtered thousands, etc. So "every man's sword shall be against his brother."
22. (VERSE 22:) "AND I WILL PLEAD AGAINST HIM WITH PESTILENCE & WITH BLOOD; & I WILL RAIN UPON HIM, & UPON HIS BANDS." Who's this "him" He's talking about? (Fam: The Antichrist.)--Right, the Antichrist, Gog! "And I will rain upon him, & upon his bands, & upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain & great hailstones, fire & brimstone." Now what's that? It could either be atom bombs or volcanic explosions or both! Some scientists have said that if they use enough atom bombs they're apt to shake up the Earth's crust in such a way that the mountains will start to explode!
23. IT'S LIKE BOYS PLAYING WITH FIRECRACKERS, PUTTING ATOM BOMBS DOWN IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH & BLOWING THINGS UP! They nearly sank themselves last time doing crazy things like that when they don't know what's going to happen when they do it. It's insanity! But they've got these firecrackers & they've just got to light a match to'm, they've just gotta use'm. I know how I was when I was a little boy. I'm glad you never got into that, David, it's dangerous business! I nearly blew two fingers off! One time one had a short fuse & went off too soon. Thank God it never affected my eyes! I knew boys who had eyes put out & fingers blown off just with firecrackers! They're dangerous!
24. THESE SCIENTISTS KNOW THESE THINGS ARE DANGEROUS, & YET THEY PLAY AROUND WITH THEM & EXPERIMENT WITH THEM!--Supposedly in the name of science & supposedly in the name of peaceful use of atomic energy, supposedly in the name of even preparing for, not war, no no, but defence, "to defend our country!" In this last war, it sounds like when we read about it in other places that certainly there are going to be atomic bombs used. So if they used them in that last great war of the Antichrist before Armageddon, don't you think they'll try to use them again if they can? But it doesn't have to be atomic bombs this time.
25. WHAT DOES GOD USUALLY MEAN WHEN HE SPEAKS OF FIRE & BRIMSTONE & HAILSTONES RAINING DOWN ON THE PEOPLE? How many of you saw "The Last Days of Pompeii"? You saw the fire & the brimstone & the hailstones raining down on the people! You children didn't see it? Oh my, David at least ought to see it. It's a little scary maybe for younger children, but the older ones are going to have to know about some things like that. It's not very pleasant, but at least you'll know. We're not going to let you little girls see it because we don't want to scare you. A lot of it is kind of gory & gruesome with all this fire & big rocks falling out of the sky & big hailstones--not just rocks, but flaming rocks & red-hot globs of lava & ashes & sulfuric gases & all the rest! Like with some fires, about half the people that are wiped out in a case like that die from the fumes, suffocation from the fumes & the ashes! So you don't even have to get hit by a hailstone or by a red-hot rock or overflown with lava, you can just die of suffocation from the smoke & the ashes. You don't, I mean the people in'm. Don't worry, God's not going to let that happen to us, thank the Lord!
26. (DAVID: WAS THAT FROM THE LORD?) MT. VESUVIUS BLEW UP! WHO DO YOU SUPPOSED ALLOWED IT? (DAVID: THE LORD.) So you might as well say it was from the Lord even if the Devil did bring it! I'm convinced that God has put Satan in charge of a lot of His judgements, especially those of natural catastrophes & disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, big storms & things like that. All God has to do is just withdraw His protection from some people. The Devil is bent on destroying man & destroying the Earth, & will destroy man & the Earth at every opportunity he can possibly have, but the only opportunities he has are the opportunities God gives him! When a wicked, sinful people have been so bad that God can't even stand for them to live any more, He just decides to let the Devil wipe'm out! So these catastrophes & disasters are horrible, they're just like something the Devil would do & he loves to do, but listen, God's the Boss! The Devil couldn't do it unless God allowed him to.
27. THAT'S WHY I SAY THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENT TO A CHRISTIAN. A CHRISTIAN DOESN'T HAVE ACCIDENTS! If he's in a so-called "accident" it's because God permitted it or allowed it for some reason. If you're sick it's because God allows it for some reason, either to teach you a lesson or to spank you or both!--Or because you yourself did something you shouldn't do & you got out of God's protection & you broke some of His rules & you suffered either the natural consequences or a direct chastening of the Lord.
28. THINGS DON'T HAPPEN TO US JUST BY ACCIDENT, THEY ARE USUALLY CAUSED BY OUR OWN PROBLEMS & OUR OWN SINS & OUR OWN SHORTCOMINGS, OUR OWN FAILURES, OUR OWN BREAKING OF THE RULES, or sometimes just to test us & our faith & our patience & our endurance. God allows them! Remember how He allowed the Devil to test Job? Well, that's just about how the whole operation works, even with a good man like Job. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous!"--Why? You say, "But the Lord delivereth him out of them all." (Psa. 34:19) But why does He let it happen in the first place? Well, I've often said, that's what keeps you so righteous. Afflictions keep you close to the Lord. David said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but in my affliction I cried unto the Lord!" (Psa.119:67) Isn't that what it causes you to do?
29. WHEN YOU HAVE TROUBLES & PROBLEMS & TRIALS & TESTS & SICKNESS OR EVEN SOME SO-CALLED "ACCIDENT," DOESN'T IT REALLY MAKE YOU PRAY? Didn't you pray a lot harder after you cut your finger, Dora?--And you haven't cut your finger since, have you? I'll bet you prayed to handle that thing properly after that, didn't you? I doubt if she'll ever cut her finger on a blender again because she learned her lesson. He let it be a lesson to all of us so we wouldn't do the same thing. Don't pick on poor Dora, that she must have been the most wicked & sinful of us all because He let her cut her finger, she just happened to be the one that was in that operation. The Lord was warning us all & I gave a big talk on it about safety as a result, warning us all to be more careful & prayerful & cautious & safe.
30. SO GOD LETS THESE THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON & NOTHING ON EARTH HAPPENS WITHOUT THE DIRECT ACTION OF GOD OR HIS DIRECT PERMISSION! DON'T FORGET IT! So don't give the Devil too much credit. God sent it even if the Devil did bring it! Amen? So, David, even if it's a volcanic eruption or an earthquake or whatever that destroys the people or a whole city like Pompeii, it was undoubtedly the judgement of God!--Because they were murdering Christians, persecuting Christians, torturing Christians, doing terrible things to Christians, innocent people, trying to compel them by force to worship their gods!--Just like the Antichrist will try to compel some of us to worship the Image in the Last Days.
31. THE LORD ALLOWED SOME OF THE CHRISTIANS TO DIE AS MARTYRS, BUT MANY OF THEM WERE ABLE TO FLEE POMPEII! They had the warning in advance & some of them got out ahead of time, & some of them even fled during the volcanic eruption. Remember how the heroes finally got away in a boat? In spite of everything happening, the buildings falling down & everything burning & people being killed--all the bad people--thank the Lord, the Lord saved the main good ones that were leaders of the Christians etc.--Although He did allow some Christians to die as martyrs. Well, let's finish this Chapter, shall we?--"Hailstones, fire & brimstone!"
32. IN OTHER PLACES, REVELATION ETC., THE LORD SAID HE'S GOING TO HAVE HAILSTONES COMING DOWN IN THE LAST DAYS AS BIG AS A TALENT! (Rev.16:21) How much does a talent weigh?--The standard of measurement & weight of the old Bible. (Fam: 104 pounds.) The talents they used then weighed 104 pounds! Does anybody here weigh 100 pounds or close to it? Most of these girls weigh somewhere around 50 kilos, which is about 100 pounds. Can you imagine one of those girls dropping on you even from as high as the ceiling? Well, maybe you think you'd like it, but I don't think you'd like it very much if she fell that far! If she fell from thousands of feet up & hit you, you probably wouldn't even remember or know what hit you, you'd be just a little grease spot until you woke up in the Next World! How much do you think this table weighs?--About 50 pounds at the most.
33. I'M ALWAYS JUDGING WEIGHT BY A SACK OF GRAIN, BECAUSE WHEN WE LIVED ON THE RANCH WE HAD 50-POUND SACKS & 100-POUND SACKS. It usually took a couple of us to carry a 100-pound sack, it's pretty heavy. All these pictures in the movies of these guys picking up the girls & walking off with them, it's not all that easy, boys, let me warn you, especially the big ones! With these little ones it's not so difficult. (David: Imagine that table falling on you!)--Yes! David is getting me back to the subject. Can you imagine this table falling on you?--And it only weighs about a half-a-talent. I'd say from the way we've lifted it, it probably weighs about 50 pounds. Can you imagine one twice that size falling on you from maybe thousands of feet up in the air where the volcano spits them way up into the air & then falling down?--Not only a great big rock, but a red-hot rock!
34. THIS IS THE WAY GOD WIPED OUT THE ENTIRE CITIES OF SODOM & GOMORRAH, TWO WHOLE CITIES, FOR THEIR SODOMY!--Something that now I notice the so-called "civilised" countries are practically bragging about. It's becoming accepted in the news & everywhere. The so-called "gays" are anything but gay! Isn't that a Devil's lie to call them "gay," as though they were happy? That's what they call these Sodomites, these homosexuals, these men who make love with men. Even you children know what I'm talking about, don't you? It's an abomination to God & God curses it in His Word, & He has wiped out whole cities & whole civilisations for it in the past. There's a record of it in the Bible time & again. Two whole cities of Sodom & Gomorrah were completely wiped out by just such a raining of hailstones, fire & brimstone!
35. NOW GOD DOESN'T HAVE TO MANUFACTURE THOSE THINGS UP IN HEAVEN & THROW THEM DOWN--although He could if He wanted to--but all He has to do is use some nice little natural means of catastrophe & disaster such as earthquakes & volcanic eruptions to have those mountains explode & spit those things out into the sky, & they come raining down from Heaven, so to speak. So God's behind it! They go shooting up toward Heaven & they come down from Heaven, so naturally the people figured they were from Heaven! In other words, they knew it was God, they knew it was a judgement of the Lord! So that's a terrible thing that happens here at the time of this great battle, probably at the end of the battle as God starts really wiping'm up!
36. (VERSE 23:) "THUS WILL I MAGNIFY MYSELF & SANCTIFY MYSELF; & I WILL BE KNOWN IN THE EYES OF MANY NATIONS, & THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD!" How about that? How are they going to know by that that He's the Lord? Well, they're going to know, for one thing, that probably only God could have done such a thing in such magnitude, in such a magnificent manner, to have the whole Earth shake & to have the skies rain down fire & brimstone & hailstones & red-hot rocks upon the forces of the Antichrist! But can you tell me right now how they're going to know for sure it's the Lord? (Fam: Because in the Battle of Armageddon we come riding down.)--We appear! Jesus appears on His white horse & we appear with Him! Here's a great, supernatural, magical appearance of these forces coming down, riding out of the skies on horses! Don't you think by that time people will know that it's something that's coming from God & that it's God & they'll know then that it's the Lord? Well, if anybody doesn't catch on, we'll tell'm! PTL!
DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
37. THAT'S ENOUGH! I'M SORRY I KEPT YOU A LITTLE LONG, BUT WE GOT A LITTLE LATE START, & YOU KNOW ME & MY WEE WORD OF INTRODUCTION! But at least we finished the Chapter & I hope next time we'll be able to finish Chapter 39. So that's your homework. Don't forget to also familiarise yourself with the 10th through 14th Chapters of Zechariah that have to do with the same event. And of course you should already be well familiar with those last Chapters of Revelation in particular. It's all through Revelation, it's mentioned several times repeatedly--the earthquake, the hailstones, the battle etc.--but the most specific descriptions of it, of course, very specific, are in the 19th Chapter of Revelation. How the Whore is wiped out is described very clearly in the 18th Chapter, but that's the Atomic War, it's not till the 19th Chapter we get into the Battle of Armageddon, so don't get'm confused. Okay? The Atomic War more or less ends what period? (Fam: The Tribulation.) And the Battle of Armageddon ends what period? (Fam: The Wrath of God.)--Two separate distinct periods. And it's easy to get them confused, I used to get them completely confused, I didn't know which was which. Thank God now we begin to realise they are two separate distinct periods & wars & catastrophes. So do your homework!
38. YOU SAY, "DAD, I'VE GOT SO MUCH TO READ NOW & SO MUCH WORK TO DO, HOW AM I EVER GOING TO GET TIME TO READ THE BIBLE?" Well, if you haven't got time to read the Bible, I don't see how you've got time to watch videos! If you haven't got time to read the Bible or do your homework, you shouldn't have time to watch videos, should you?--Because that's just pure pleasure, relaxation, entertainment & recreation, which is fine & you're supposed to have that. But I'll tell you, when I was your age I never came home from school & went directly out to play, I always made sure I did my homework first & I didn't have to worry about it. I got it done, & then I went out to play! So do your homework first! Amen? PTL! That's it, & let's do it!
39. WE THANK THEE FOR THY WORD, LORD! WE THANK THEE FOR THIS TIME TOGETHER & THIS SWEET FELLOWSHIP! TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah! Thank You for the things You taught us this morning, even if they weren't all on just one subject. They must be things we need to know & things that are of interest to even the whole Family around the World. It might encourage & inspire them how I was no speaker at all until You filled me with the Spirit, Lord, & then I just flowed! So if any of them worry about not being able to witness or testify or even write, they can call on Thee & be filled with Thy Spirit & overflow! That's what Thy baptism is, Lord, it's an overflowing of Thy Spirit that flows out upon all those around us!
40. SO DO BLESS & KEEP ALL OF THESE, JESUS, & STRENGTHEN THEM THIS DAY WITH REST & RECREATION & INSPIRATION as they read & do whatever has to be done on this free day, as free as possible. Keep us free. Continue to bless & make them a blessing, Lord, keep us safely. As we pray Thy Prayer together: (Prays the Lord's Prayer) PTL! God bless you all!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
