HomeARC ML 1508
1st THESSALONIANS 5!--More on the Rapture! DFO 1508 20/3/81
1. AMEN! PTL! HALLELUJAH! TYJ! LORD, BLESS OUR BIBLE STUDY TOGETHER & LEAD US ACCORDING TO THY WORD, IN JESUS' NAME. Have Thy way. You know what's best for these to know. You know what they don't need to know & what they should know, & You know what You know & what You want us to know. So we ask You to lead us, Lord, in the things that they need to know about the days to come so we may feed Thy sheep accordingly & that we may be found faithful, serving them their meat in due season as the faithful & just servant was found to be doing when You came, in Jesus' name. TYL! Hallelujah! Amen! PTL?
2. WE HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE EVENTS OF THE SOON-COMING FUTURE FROM THE WORD OF GOD, that's the Bible, Holy Bible, & we have been particularly interested in the events that are soon to transpire. As I said before, we're not going back into all the old prophecies which have already been fulfilled, but we're particularly interested in those which are yet to be fulfilled & especially those that are to soon be fulfilled.
3. AND MUCH OF THESE HAVE TO DO WITH RUSSIA, the great Red Beast kingdom of the Antichrist, & the countries which are pertaining to Russia.--And the events preceding the second coming of the Lord, the principal one of which will be the establishment, first of all, of the Antichrist kingdom & his World government here on Earth for seven years before the coming of Christ, & the Covenant that he makes & then breaks in the midst of it, & the Great Tribulation period which follows under his rule as he tries to stamp out all religion except the worship of himself.
4. AND WE ARE TRYING TO STUDY THOSE PASSAGES WHICH ARE SIMPLEST & MOST FULL OF PREDICTIONS regarding this particular Endtime period, this last seven years of World history, which is immediately followed by the coming of Christ. In fact, it is ended by the coming of Christ as He rescues His children out of this World & out of the Antichrist kingdom, & out of the Antichrist slaughter & torture & war against the forces of God & His Family, His children.
5. WE HAVE STUDIED EZEKIEL, all about how the Antichrist, particularly in the first part of his kingdom, takes over the World, & then in the midst of it particularly takes over Israel, & the various countries that will be on his side & the various countries that will be against them, which are named specifically in Ezekiel 38.
6. WE ACTUALLY BEGAN THIS SERIES OF STUDIES WITH DANIEL, 2nd & 7th chapters which portray the history of all mankind, particularly the political history of man from the days of the first great World power, Egypt, until the last great World power which again will be like Egypt restored, & its leader shall come from Egypt. You say, "How can it be Communist & have to do with Russia being that World power, & yet the leader coming from Egypt? How could that be?" Well, you ask God! All I know is what the Bible says & what the Lord has told us in prophecy.
7. GRANDMOTHER RECEIVED A PROPHECY ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO NOW--THE FAMOUS "WARNING PROPHECY" in which the Lord said through her: "Turn your eyes toward Memphis, Egypt, for out of it shall come the Great Confusion!" He said that the author of confusion was already operating then & gathering nations around him in order to come with the help of a great nation & nations of the East to take over the World.
8. WELL, THAT OBVIOUSLY SOUNDED LIKE THE ANTICHRIST, & if so, then he is to come from Egypt, or the beginning of this Endtime period will occur in Egypt or come out of Egypt in some way. Egypt, of course, has a great deal to do with Israel right now, & they are now bound together in a peace pact sponsored by the United States & opposed by the Arabs. So it's easy to see how Egypt could be very closely involved in this last great drama of World history on the stage of this World, fulfilling Bible Prophecy.
9. SO WE WENT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE BOOK OF DANIEL, THE MOST IMPORTANT PROPHETIC CHAPTERS: 2,7,8,9,11 & 12 which very specifically describe the man, this Antichrist, & his last seven years of World history, his rule & his Covenant that he makes with the religions, a holy religious Covenant, & how he breaks it, & when he breaks it, what happens afterwards. All of this you have followed with us if you have been watching these studies & listening, or reading.
10. YOU KNOW THAT THE LAST THREE-&-A-HALF YEARS OF HIS SEVEN-YEAR REIGN WILL BE THAT PERIOD KNOWN AS THE GREAT TRIBULATION, a very terrible period in the World's history, in fact, the worst in all the World's history of which Jesus Himself said that there would not be another time like that in all the rest of the World's history, & that there had never been such a time of trouble up to that time! So it will be the last hour of the World's history, & the worst; the last & the worst.
11. IT WAS DESIGNED BY THE ANTICHRIST & HIS FORCES, & THE DEVIL WHO INSPIRES HIM, TO BE THE BEST, in which he would rule the Earth as its god & show that he, the Devil, & man, the Antichrist man & his marked followers of the Beast, could bring Heaven on Earth, peace on Earth, the Millennium on Earth as the false Messiah & his false Millennium, that he could duplicate it.
12. THE DEVIL DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING NEW, ALL HE CAN DO IS IMITATE GOD & WHAT GOD DOES, because he was merely the high Archangel next to God Himself, Lucifer--told of back in both Ezekiel & Isaiah--the light-bearer. (Ez.28:11-19; Is.14:4-19.) He wasn't satisfied with being God's right-hand man, he wasn't satisfied with being the greatest Archangel of Heaven, the very bearer of the light, but he wanted to be God Himself!--Not to be next to God, but God! And as a result, he was dethroned & he became at enmity with God & with God's Creation & His children.
13. HE HASN'T YET BEEN CAST OUT OF HEAVEN, HE STILL COMES & GOES TO ACCUSE US BEFORE THE THRONE OF THE FATHER. God's Word says so. Night & day he accuses the Saints. It says so in Revelation 12 & other places in the Bible. (Job 1:8-12; Rev.12:10.) But one of these days very soon he's going to be cast out, as we find out in another passage we're going to be studying later in that 12th Chapter of Revelation, & it's at that time that the Antichrist breaks the Covenant. At this time the Devil himself & all his angels, one third of the forces of Heaven, are cast out of Heaven & cast down to the Earth & confined here for awhile.
14. AND IT SAYS THERE, "WOE BE UNTO THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH FOR THE DEVIL IS COME DOWN UNTO YOU & he knoweth that his time is short, therefore his wrath is great." And therefore that last period of World history, three-&-a-half years of Great Tribulation, is the worst in all World history, in which the Devil rants & raves & rages across the face of the Earth! He's no longer able to soar into the heights of Heaven & accuse us before God, but cast out of his place amongst the sons (created Angels) of God, cast down to the Earth, confined here, & eventually to be chained & confined to the very darkness & flames of Hell in the heart of the Earth!
15. BUT HE KNOWS HIS TIME IS SHORT & HE ONLY HAS THREE-&-A-HALF YEARS, & he makes the best of that three-&-a-half years! He inspires the Antichrist, he possesses him like a demon-possession, only it's a Devil-possession, Satan himself possessing him. And instead of bringing the promised Heaven on Earth of the Messiah, the Earth soon sees he is not the Messiah! The Jews, who are first to recognise him, also will be soon to recognise he is not their Messiah, & instead of bringing the Heaven on Earth that he promised as the Messiah, he brings Hell on Earth instead!
16. SO WE'VE BEEN STUDYING ALL OF THIS, & WE'VE STUDIED THE THINGS THAT JESUS HAD TO SAY about these things in the Book of Matthew, the first Gospel of the New Testament, 24th Chapter. You find these things in this holy book that we've been studying. Jesus particularly talks about this period & the time when it begins with the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, when it stands in the holy place He tells us to flee to the mountains, especially if anybody's in Judaea. And then will begin that time of trouble which was not since the Earth began, no, nor ever shall be--such a time of trouble! And we just brushed over a little of the rest in Matthew 25.
17. AND THEN WE WENT TO LUKE 21--if you want to remember the passages that we've been studying from the very beginning--in which He said, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Well, this did occur 40 years after they crucified Jesus, & they fell by the edge of the sword & were led away captive into all nations, & Jerusalem has been trodden down of the Gentiles ever since then! And Jesus said "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."--So that ties it to the Second Coming!
18. FOR THEN SUDDENLY HE STARTS TALKING AGAIN ABOUT HIS SECOND COMING! Because when the days of the Gentiles are fulfilled, that the Gentiles are no longer in command in Jerusalem--that means the World, so to speak, the Antichrist forces when Jesus comes--God will cast them out in His great Day of Wrath & we will come with Jesus in the final war of Armageddon that eventually conquers the Earth for His Kingdom, Christ's Kingdom. And so we referred to this period spoken of in Revelation 13 also, that it's described as a final period of only three-&-a-half years, just as we've studied all the way through the book. So that was Luke 21.
19. AND HE SAID, "WHEN YE SEE THESE THINGS COME TO PASS, KNOW YE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NIGH AT HAND." The generation that sees all these signs coming to pass that we've been studying & spoken of--this generation, your generation, my generation--this generation that sees all these things come to pass shall not pass away until all these things shall be fulfilled! They have begun to be fulfilled now in our day, in our generation, these Endtime events.
20. IN OTHER WORDS, THE CURTAIN HAS BEEN DRAWN ASIDE ON THE LAST SCENE OF THE EARTH'S GREAT DRAMA, & the act has begun & it cannot stop now! It is impossible! It will keep right on going fulfilling these promises of the Word of God until all these things shall be fulfilled. Our generation which is seeing the beginning of these things shall not pass away until all of these things shall be fulfilled. Think of it! Not even my generation shall pass away before these End events!
21. MY GENERATION HAS SEEN THE BEGINNING OF THESE THINGS, SO EVEN MY GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY! The old folks like me are still going to be alive. There are going to be old folks like me alive when Jesus comes, & as far as we've been able to figure out, it's only about ten years from now! I'd only have to be in my 70s, & lots of people live to be in their 80s & 90s. So it's this generation which first started seeing all these things fulfilled. When I was a lad & as a young man & as I grew older I watched all these events begin to be fulfilled, including the preaching of the Gospel in all the World to every nation, as Jesus said, "then shall the end come!"
22. I HAVE SEEN THIS DAY! I can remember the days before radio, before the airplane, before wide use of the automobile. I can remember the days before the Gospel was preached in every nation, think of that! I can remember the days when some nations of the World were still closed countries to the Gospel of Christ, no missionary could enter therein, no one could come in & preach the Gospel. It was against the law of that country.
23. SINCE THAT TIME, MANY OF THOSE COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN OPENED. Their borders, once closed, are now open to the Gospel. And though missionaries may not officially always go in, people who are able to enter & tourists who can go in have been preaching the Gospel, as we have, as our Family has, preaching the Gospel in many countries where it's difficult, but nevertheless the Gospel is preached! PTL?
24. AND OF COURSE BY RADIO NOW, THE GOSPEL HAS EASILY BEEN PREACHED IN ALL THE WORLD UNTO EVERY NATION! I know of one Gospel station alone that reaches completely around the World into every nation on Earth, a good Gospel station in Quito, Ecuador called HCJB. I don't know exactly what those letters stand for but it could be Hail Christ Jesus...yes, that's a good idea! Hear Christ Jesus Broadcast! HCJB! Maybe that's what it stands for. It reaches every nation on the face of the Earth. I used to listen to it as a lad on my little homemade short-wave set I built myself.
25. SO THE GOSPEL CAN BE HEARD FROM MANY SOURCES IN ALL THE WORLD IN EVERY NATION, & JESUS SAID THEN SHALL THE END COME! He gave a lot of other signs: He said there'd be wars & rumors of wars, earthquakes, pestilences, plagues, famines & all of these things, & yet the end is not yet. These are the beginnings of sorrows. But, He said, when the Gospel is preached in all the nations, then shall the End come! And when ye shall see these signs come to pass, this generation shall not pass away until all these things shall be fulfilled. So I know that Jesus is coming in my generation, because I have seen these things begin to come to pass!--Even if I myself might not live to the very day of His coming.
26. I'VE EVEN ASKED GOD TO SPARE ME FROM THAT HOUR OF GREAT TRIBULATION! I'd rather go Home to be with Him before it comes. It's a terrible time for old folks to have to live & suffer, especially if they're Christians who refuse the Mark of the Beast & can't stop witnessing for Jesus. It'll be a hard time for them. You can't buy or sell, they're out looking to kill you for not worshipping the Beast & his Image, the Antichrist, & persecuting Christians & all religions. So I've asked the Lord to spare me from that, if possible, & I believe He will. But He'll come soon after that, only about three-&-a-half years later. PTL! So when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. We left you with that in our last lesson, I believe, Luke 21.
27. NOW, NEARLY EVERY BOOK IN THE BIBLE TALKS SOMEWHERE ABOUT THIS ENDTIME & THIS ANTICHRIST & THEN THE COMING OF JESUS HIMSELF & SO ON. But we're just trying to hit the high spots, the most important ones, the verses that are easiest for you to understand, & the Word makes it very clear & very specific. We have gone through the Book & we have studied some in Acts also where it talks about the Second Coming of the Lord. We went clear to the-next-to-the-last chapter of 1st Corinthians, the 15th chapter, in which it said in the 51st & 52nd verses it's going to happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye! We'd all be changed at the last trump!
28. AND WE WENT ON THEN TO STUDY WITH YOU 1ST THESSALONIANS 4 & THE MOST SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE COMING OF THE LORD in which Paul says exactly how He's going to come back in the clouds & with a shout & with the voice of the archangel & the trump of God, & the dead in Christ shall rise first! Then we which are alive & remain shall be caught up together with them in the air, & so shall we ever be with the Lord! (See "Matthew 24, Pt.2," No.1505.)
29. SO WE'VE STUDIED ALL OF THESE PASSAGES REGARDING THE LAST DAYS, the kingdom of the Antichrist, the false Messiah, the false Millennium with its false god, the Devil, & its false Holy Spirit, the False Prophet, & then finally the true Messiah coming for His true Kingdom, you & me, His true children.
30. WHAT IS A KINGDOM? Is it just land, is it just territory? Well, any king who only rules over nothing but land & water & sea & land wouldn't have much of a kingdom, would he? He has to have subjects, doesn't he? He needs people to make it a kingdom. Jesus has a Kingdom! We are His Kingdom! You & I are His Kingdom. We are His people, we are His subjects. But His Kingdom is only us right now, it's without a land, without a nation.
31. WE ARE A PEOPLE WITHOUT A COUNTRY BECAUSE WE SEEK ONE WHOSE BUILDER & MAKER IS GOD! (He.11:10.) We seek a country established by God Himself, & it's certainly not any one of the nations on the face of this ungodly Earth!--Not even the most Christian ones could be called His country. They sing "God Bless America" & they sing "God Save the Queen" & many nations have words in their national anthem about God, & them being His country, but He doesn't even know most of them because most of them don't know Him, very few. But the few who do, regardless of what country or nation they are in on the face of this Earth, they are God's country!
32. IN THE UNITED STATES YOU'VE HEARD AN OLD FAVOURITE SLOGAN WITH THE FARMERS & THE COWBOYS looking out across the plains or the mountains of the West: "Ah! This is God's country!" Well, it may be God's country, but the Devil sure is running it!--Especially the U.S.A. right now, about to bring the World into the biggest war it ever had! It's going to destroy a part of it & kill a part of its people! That's God's country? No!
33. GOD'S COUNTRY, GOD'S KINGDOM IS NOT GOING TO DESTROY THE WORLD, BUT IT'S GOING TO RE-MAKE IT, restore it, repair it, refurbish it & make it like a Garden of Eden again in which you & I will be the Adams & Eves again! PTL! But you won't have to wear either fig leaves or furs, you're going to wear the beautiful robes of light of the righteousness of Christ! PTL! You won't have to run around naked either like Adam & Eve did, because it won't be necessary. You'll be clothed in light! PTL! Well, almost naked! They're pretty flimsy see-through outfits, what I've seen in Heaven. PTL! But beautiful & beautiful to wear!--Your bridal gowns & bridal veils, the robes of the Bride, the Church of Jesus Christ, you & me! PTL!
34. AND THEN WE WILL HAVE OUR COUNTRY WHEN JESUS TAKES OVER, & IT WILL BE THE WHOLE WORLD! It'll all be our country then! PTL! Because our country's a Worldwide kingdom, our country is a Worldwide, Earthwide Kingdom on Earth! For His Kingdom, it says, "shall cover the Earth as the waters cover the seas." (Is.11:9; Hab.2:14.) How do the waters cover the seas? The seas are the seabeds & how do the waters cover them?--Completely! Right? So His Kingdom is going to cover the Earth totally & completely!
35. RIGHT NOW WE'RE HIS KINGDOM & HIS KINGDOM IS IN OUR HEARTS! "The Kingdom of God is within you," God's Word says. (Lk.17:21.) That's the only Kingdom He has right now because the Devil has robbed Him of his Earthly territory. But he can't rob Him of His people, of which there are millions of us throughout the World! All the millions of Saints throughout this Earth who love Jesus are the Kingdom of God. Regardless of their race or colour or creed or language or nation, if they know & believe in & love Jesus, they are part of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
36. THEY ARE HIS KINGDOM!--YOU ARE HIS KINGDOM! I AM A PART OF HIS KINGDOM, BECAUSE HIS KINGDOM IS WITHIN US! His Kingdom is us. Here's where He rules & reigns, in my heart & in your heart! We are His Kingdom! Right now we're a King & a Kingdom without a territory, without a land, without a nation, so to speak. But the time's coming soon when He's going to take over the entire Earth. The time is coming soon He'll take the whole World over to be our nation & our land. It'll all be ours. And then the wicked will be our guests.
37. RIGHT NOW THEY TREAT US AS ALIENS & banish us & exile us & drive us into being refugees from our own countries. We are fugitives from injustice in our own countries. They have driven us out, scattered us throughout the Earth with their injustice. We are not fugitives from justice, but from injustice & the unjust & the wicked & the evil men who rule countries like the United States, who have driven us out with their persecution, & from many other countries as well.
38. BUT DON'T WORRY, WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A COUNTRY ONE OF THESE DAYS, TTL! In fact, all the countries are going to be ours in that day when Jesus comes, & they will be our guests! They will be men without a country, because it will be our country! And they'd better behave, too, or they'll not only be without a country but without an Earth!--Dead! He speaks here of the coming of the Lord & in that last couple verses of 1Thessalonians 4 He says: "Then we which are alive & remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, & so shall we ever be with the Lord!"
39. NOW IT DOESN'T SAY THERE, "SO SHALL WE EVER BE IN HEAVEN!" That's where some people get a little bit mixed up! Some people say, "Well, you see, we go up to be with the Lord & we're forever with the Lord, we never come back again." Oh yes we do! I can read you lots more, & I'm going to, about how we come back with the Lord, still with the Lord, & He's still with us, & how we dwell on this Earth again with Him in His Heavenly Kingdom on Earth where He makes it a little bit of Heaven right here & right now, Heaven on Earth!
40. WE ALREADY HAVE HEAVEN ON EARTH, YOU & I, IN OUR HEARTS, BUT WE SEE HELL ALL AROUND US, DON'T WE! But in that day He's going to wipe away all this Hell on Earth, & He's going to set up His Kingdom of peace & righteousness & fairness & justice & goodness & mercy & love. And that's going to be Heaven on Earth, the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ for a thousand years after He comes for you & me! We're going to be with Him all the time, helping Him rule the Earth over the survivors, because who could know them better than we do, huh? We've suffered many things at their hands.
41. NOW THEY TRY TO RULE OVER US! Now they persecute us & they crack their rod of iron law upon us & try to cause us to submit to their rules & regulations against the Lord & against witnessing & against litnessing & against FFing & against serving Jesus Christ on Earth. They do their best, many of them, to stop us.
42. THEY WARN US TO STOP IT, they make us stop litnessing, they try to make us stop witnessing, they throw some of us in jail, they have even tortured some! They've even allowed the so-called parents of some to kidnap them & torture them, trying to make them give up their faith, deny their faith. And they've had to escape somehow to get back to the Family of God.
43. WELL, THE DAY IS COMING WHEN THAT WILL NO LONGER BE SO! They will be ruled over by us, & then they will be the ones in trouble! Because if they don't obey the Lord & they don't behave themselves, they're the ones who are going to be punished & they're the ones who are going to receive judgements of God for their wickedness & their rebelliousness against God! And we will be the officers of the law, of God's Laws, & we will help Him rule the Earth with a rod of iron, God's Word says! (Re.2:27; 19:15; 20:6.)
44. BECAUSE THE ONLY THING THE WICKED UNDERSTAND IS FORCE & VIOLENCE & THE ROD! And God is going to lower His rod upon them! He's going to lower the boom upon them, as they say, & He is going to punish them for their sins. And we, even we, you & I, are going to be the instruments of His punishment, the officers of His Law who are going to carry out His judgements against those who have troubled us & tribulated us! He said He's then going to tribulate them & trouble them!--And He's going to use us to do it! Because we'll be His officers of the Law. For He says clearly & plainly we shall rule & reign with Him as He rules on the Earth with a rod of iron!
45. PERHAPS THAT'S ONE REASON THE LORD ALLOWS THE MILLENNIUM FOR A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER HIS COMING, to give us a little satisfaction of sort of giving our enemies back what they deserve & treating them a little bit like they treated us!--With a lot more mercy, I'll tell you, & a lot more justice & much more love!--But just as firmly & even more surely & with even more effective punishment & judgements of God.
46. WE WILL BE THE RULERS OF THE EARTH & THE EARTH WILL BE OURS! "For the Earth is the Lord's & the fullness thereof!" (Ps.24:1.) And we are His, & all things have been given unto Jesus. "All power is given unto Me," He said, "in Heaven & in Earth!" (Mt.28:18.) And He even said to us, "Even the demons are subject unto you!" (Lk.10:19-20.) Demons & devils are subject unto you now! You don't have to take that off of those damn little devils & demons. Rebuke them in Jesus' name, as the Lord & His Word have told you! "Resist the Devil & he will flee from you!" (Ja.4:7.)
47. WE HAVE AUTHORITY OVER THE DEVILS OF HELL & THE DEMONS OF THE UNDERWORLD & the devils of the Spirit World, & the evil angels of Satan! We have authority over them & even over the Devil himself! He says, "Resist the Devil & he shall flee from thee!" Just resist him in the name of Jesus, & say, "Devil, you get out of here!" "Get thee behind Me, Satan," Jesus said. (Mt.16:23.) I don't think I even want him behind me! I'm going to tell him to get the Hell out of here completely! Get all of his Hell out of here & a long ways away!--And I often do, PTL, when he comes in like a flood & tries to overcome us, but the Spirit of God raises a standard against him! (Is.59:19.) Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL? Hallelujah!
48. SO WE HAVE A LITTLE SAMPLE OF OUR POWER ALREADY! We have a little sample of our kingdom already. We not only have the kingdom of God within us, but we also have some of the power of God within us that gives us the authority to rule & reign over Satan & his kingdom & his devils & demons! Certainly we should have some authority over his wicked followers, & we do! I've even rebuked demon-possessed dogs in the Name of Jesus & they have fled from me!
49. WELL, SOME OF THESE DOGS OF HELL, THESE HOGS OF THE WICKED, these swine, are these men who are devils & demons & some of [EDITED: "those"] who have persecuted us "who say they are Jews but are not," Jesus Himself said. He said, "You are of your father the Devil" to the Scribes & Pharisees of His day who crucified Him. (Jn.8:44.) He said "they are of the Synagogue of Satan!" (Re.3:9.) Well, we have authority even over them to rebuke them in Jesus' name!
50. JESUS SAID WHEN HE WAS BEFORE PILATE HE COULD HAVE JUST LIFTED HIS LITTLE FINGER & all the legions of Heaven would have come to His aid! (Mt.26:53; Jn.19:11.) Pilate & all the Roman legions & all those [DELETED] Jews who succeeded in getting Him crucified couldn't have done a thing, not a thing! You know why? Because Jesus said, "No man takes My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself." (Jn.10:18.)
51. WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT & THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT THE JEWS KILLING HIM, crucifying Him & getting the Romans to do the dirty work for them [EDITED: "2Thes.2:14-16"]. Maybe the Jews were a little bit right when they claimed they had nothing to do with it. They can't say they had nothing to do with it, but maybe they're right when they say they didn't kill Him, because Jesus said, "No man taketh My life from Me, I lay it down of Myself!"
52. HE TOLD PILATE, "YOU COULDN'T LAY A FINGER ON ME IF GOD DIDN'T LET YOU! I could just lift one finger & all the legions of Heaven would come & conquer all the legions of Rome & rescue Me if they had to!" He said, "I'm laying my life down Myself of My Own will & accord. I am dying deliberately for this World & its sins & its sinners that they might be saved!"--You & me! PTL? So Jesus gave His life.
53. HE SAID, "NO GREATER LOVE HATH ANY MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS." (Jn.15:13.) Jesus lay down His life for us. No man has any greater love than that, amen? And it was God's Love in Jesus that did it. It was God's Love. Jesus did it for us because His Father God loved us, so He didn't want us to have to die for our sins. So He sent His Own Son Jesus to pay that penalty, sacrifice His life, die the death of the sinner in order that you & I might not have to receive that punishment, so that we could be saved. All we have to do is accept His pardon.
54. GOD'S THE GREAT JUDGE WHO OFFERS US A PARDON because His Defence Attorney has taken the judgement in your place, & now He offers us a pardon. All we have to do is receive it, receive Jesus Christ in our own hearts & believe on Him, & we're forgiven & we're saved forever! Forever! Nothing can take us out of His hand, nobody! "Neither height, nor depth, nor Satanic powers or anything can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus!" (Ro.8:38,39.) Praise God? Not even your own sins. Even the sins you sin today can't separate you from the Love of God, because they're already forgiven in Jesus! PTL! "For the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!" (1Jn.1:7.) Hallelujah!
55. WELL, I DIDN'T INTEND THIS TO BE A SALVATION MESSAGE, BUT THERE YOU ARE! Maybe some of you need it. God bless you! But those of us who are saved by faith in Christ & His death on Calvary & have accepted His salvation, His pardon, & received Jesus in our hearts & love Him & know He loves us, we are His Kingdom! You are His Kingdom! Praise God?
56. SO ONE OF THESE DAYS VERY SOON THE KING IS GOING TO COME BACK TO CLAIM HIS KINGDOM! Right now evil men & usurpers & wicked men have usurped His Kingdom & have taken over the World, & the Devil is ruling & reigning over it & running the kingdoms of this Earth. So much so, that God pictured the nations, the great powers of this Earth, as a great Red Dragon with seven heads, from Egypt to the Antichrist, the seven great World powers that have ruled the Earth from the beginning to the end!--And upon the last head, ten horns. Ten horns! We studied that in Daniel, we'll study it again in Revelation. (Rev.13:1)
57. "AND UPON THOSE HORNS, TEN CROWNS"--KINGS THAT WILL COOPERATE WITH THE ANTICHRIST IN THAT LAST DAY, IN THE ENDTIME. Because up from among them will come a little horn, more stout than his fellows, & he'll cast down three of the horns, & there'll only be he & the other six left, is that about right? There's ten, he comes up, eleven, casts down three of the ten, that leaves seven, & even he, it says, is the eighth. So, what's going to happen? Well, the Lord says that at the end of that period He's going to come. PTL! "And so shall we ever be with the Lord!" But not always in Heaven, because you'll read right here in the Book pretty soon that very soon we come back again with the Lord, still with the Lord. But He gets around!--And so do we!
58. THE PROPHET EZEKIEL SAW HIM RIDING THROUGH THE SKY ON AN AMAZING FLYING SAUCER with all kinds of lights & peculiar heads & all kinds of things! The chariot of God is a very mysterious vehicle, & if you want to read about it, Ezekiel saw the wheel 'way up in the middle of the air! Did you ever hear about that? (Sings:)
"Ezekiel saw de wheel,
Way up in de middle o' de air!--
And de big wheel runs by faith,
But the little wheel runs by the Love of God!"
Well, I don't know the whole old Negro spiritual, but the Prophet saw that marvelous vehicle on which Jesus chooses to ride when He wants to ride around through His great Universe! And one of these days He's going to choose to ride on a white horse! How about that?--And us too! And we're going to come back with Him, PTL! (Eze.1; Rev.19:11-14)
59. BUT RIGHT NOW HE'S TALKING ABOUT HIS SECOND COMING, which will be His first coming after this particular period of Earth's history. Of course, His first coming was when He came as a babe: God in the hands of men! His second coming is going to be men in the hands of God & a different story! His first coming He had to suffer the hands of men, their cruel hands & their cruel death! But when He comes again they're going to have to suffer in His hands for their sins!--Unless you're saved & love Jesus! Then you'll be one of the rulers that help enforce His Law of Love! PTL!
60. NOW THE 5TH CHAPTER OF 1THESSALONIANS IS REALLY OUR STUDY FOR TONIGHT, & after that wee word of introduction, we're getting down to the nitty gritty of tonight's chapter! Well, I keep having to review you, & review you & review review review! Repeat, repeat, repeat: This is the law of memory! The more I go over it & repeat it & repeat it, the more you're going to remember it. PTL? So what ends this last horrible period of World history called the Tribulation?--The Rapture!--The Second Coming of Jesus! PTL? Amen? And He says, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
61. "BUT OF THE TIMES & THE SEASONS, BRETHREN, YE HAVE NO NEED THAT I WRITE UNTO YOU. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." It's going to come with great surprise to the people who have been the thieves that stole His lands & cruelly mistreated His people! It's going to come like a thief in the night to them, but not to us! That's the difference! He says, "You don't have to be told the times & seasons, you already know these things! Because you know He's going to come like a thief in the night--to others but not to you--because you will know & recognise His coming when He comes."
62. "FOR WHEN THEY SHALL SAY, PEACE & SAFETY: THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION COMETH UPON THEM AS TRAVAIL UPON A WOMAN WITH CHILD; & they shall not escape." "When they shall say peace & safety." When are they going to say peace & safety? Well, every time I hear people preaching peace, that the World's now going to have peace & peace has come, blah blah, well, they were preaching a lot of that peace after WW1, & then came WW2!
63. THEN THEY PREACHED A LOT OF PEACE AFTER WW2, that was the "last" war, we never could have another war, but they were all false prophets of peace because we're just about to have the worst one in all World history, the nuclear war! So whenever they preach peace & safety, you can bet your boots it's going to be followed with sudden destruction!
64. AND WHEN THE ANTICHRIST TAKES OVER THE WORLD & ESTABLISHES HIS WORLDWIDE KINGDOM, his Worldwide anti-God government, his Worldwide anti-Christ World government & he says, "Peace & safety! Everything's going to be peaceful & safe now. No more wars, everything's going to be secure, prosperity on Earth, everybody's going to have plenty & my kingdom's going to be a kingdom of Heaven on Earth, peace & safety!"
65.--WATCH OUT, FOR THEN COMETH SUDDEN DESTRUCTION! And it's going to begin right in the middle of his kingdom, right at the end of the first three-&-a-half years of peace. The peace is going to be broken, the Pact is going to be broken, the peace-pact is going to be broken, & there will be nothing but trouble & war & rebellion & riot & revolution & horrible Tribulation from that time on!
66. "BUT YE, BRETHREN, ARE NOT IN DARKNESS THAT THAT DAY SHOULD OVERTAKE YOU AS A THIEF." You should never be surprised at these sudden destructions or sudden judgements of God. Mount Etna is exploding again, & I remember how when we were there on that Island of Sicily & in Catania, how we were persecuted by the officers of the law there, & how they cruelly mistreated some of our children & the trouble that they gave us!
67. SO I PRAYED, "LORD, YOU'VE PROMISED TO TRIBULATE THEM WHO TROUBLE US, NOW LORD, YOU GIVE THEM SOME TROUBLE!" And as I looked up at Mount Etna I said, "You could make it explode again such as it has never done in years & shake'm up, Lord! Quake'm up! Shake'm up & give'm a good shaking for all the trouble they've caused us!" And we weren't gone but just a few days when Mount Etna exploded for the first time again in years, & now it's exploding again. I wonder what kind of trouble they've been causing us lately!
68. BUT WHEN OTHERS SAY PEACE & SAFETY, DON'T BELIEVE IT, THERE'S GOING TO BE SUDDEN DESTRUCTION! Whenever they start preaching peace & safety, I begin looking around trying to see where's the destruction going to be & how quick & sudden! But you don't have to be in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief, 5th verse of Chapter 5 of 1st Thessalonians:
69. "YE ARE ALL THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT & THE CHILDREN OF THE DAY: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch & be sober." PTL? What does he say? He says, "You're not children of the night. You're not supposed to be sleepy & asleep when it happens. You're children of day, children of light! You're supposed to be wide awake & have the light on these things!
70. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING & WHEN THEY'RE GOING TO HAPPEN! You're not children of darkness, you're not in the dark about all these Bible prophecies. You're not in the dark about the things that are going to happen! You won't be surprised when they come. You won't be surprised when the Antichrist arises & reveals himself. You won't be surprised when he proclaims a Worldwide government of peace & signs a seven-year peace-pact amongst the religions, a holy Covenant that he proclaims to be holy, inviolate. You won't be surprised when it happens.
71. AND NEITHER WILL YOU BE SURPRISED WHEN HE BREAKS THE PEACE PACT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT, & from then on there's nothing but trouble & war. It won't take you by surprise. You don't have to be surprised & you don't have to somehow or another be mystified by it, or in any way astonished! You're expecting it! You're wondering why it hasn't happened sooner! You're expecting it every day! Because as the World waxes worse & worse, & times get worse & worse & evil men & seducers worse & worse, Jesus said that's the way it'll be when He comes again.
72. "AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, SO SHALL IT BE ALSO WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMETH! "For they married & were given in marriage," He says, "& they planted & they reaped & they builded, & they knew not until the flood came & swept them all away!" (Mt.24:37-39.) Who knew not?--The wicked! Who knew?--Noah! He knew what was going to happen, he was expecting it! He was not one of those who knew not.--He knew!
73. AND THOUGH WE'RE JUST A LITTLE HANDFUL IN THIS WORLD JUST LIKE NOAH & HIS FAMILY, WE KNOW IT'S GOING TO RAIN THE JUDGEMENTS OF GOD SOON! We know that Jesus is coming soon! We know the Antichrist is going to be revealed even before that, & these things will come as no surprise to us. When they start happening, we will know exactly what's going to happen! God's told us in advance so that you won't worry about it & you won't be surprised & you won't wonder what's happening. You will know exactly what's happening & how it's happening & why it's happening, & it's all been described in His Word already.
74. IT WON'T CATCH YOU BY SURPRISE LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT AS IT WILL THE REST OF THE WORLD! They won't be expecting it. They'll be surprised! Especially when Jesus comes, they will really be shocked then when they see all the graves open & the bodies of the dead rise in the Resurrection! And all of us that they've been persecuting & trying to kill & torture & imprison & trying to make us take their Mark of the Beast & worship his Image, suddenly we'll rise right out of their hands & they can't even touch us! They can't even reach us any more!
75. WE GO SAILING CLEAR UP RIGHT INTO THE SKY! Even if they shoot bullets at us they'll go right through us like we were nothing, like they were nothing! Because we'll be in another dimension, another World, & nothing they can do can harm us any more, ever! Forever! Praise God! Hallelujah! TYJ! Amen? Aren't you glad that day's coming?
76. THAT'S WHY HE TOLD YOU SO MUCH ABOUT IT IN THE BIBLE SO YOU'D LOOK FORWARD TO IT & IT WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU in these awful days that are coming before that & through which you are going to have to live & try to exist & survive with your survival & your refuge & continue to try to encourage & witness to others who don't know what's happening or are wondering what's happening.
77. YOU'RE GOING TO WIN A LOT OF SOULS IN THAT DAY, YOU KNOW THAT? Because a lot of people are going to believe you then, & a lot of people are going to need salvation & need the good news you have to tell them. And you're going to be a great encouragement to millions of people throughout the Earth who are going to seek you & seek your answers, because they know that you know, you're wise, you understand!
78. YOU KNOW THE BIBLE, YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING! You can tell them exactly what's going to happen next! And they're going to seek you & find you & try to find the Truth & the answers, & through you they're going to find the Lord in that day. I think it's going to be a day of great harvest, in fact, in one place in the Scripture God speaks of it as a great harvest, in the 14th Chapter of Revelation you'll find it.
79. IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT HARVEST IN THAT DAY OF SOULS WON TO HIS KINGDOM IN THE LAST HOUR OF THE EARTH'S HORRIBLE HISTORY!--A great harvest of souls, praise God! And you're going to help reap it! You're going to be here as His reapers & you're going to tell them what's happening. You're going to tell them why it's happening & what's going to happen next & how they can escape it by receiving Jesus Christ.--How even if they get killed it'll still be an escape from this Earth & this life into His Heavenly glorious Kingdom. PTL! Amen? Aren't you glad you're a Christian? Aren't you glad you're saved? TYJ! Hallelujah! PYL!
80. THANK YOU LORD FOR THY WONDERFUL WORD THAT WE'VE AGAIN REVIEWED TONIGHT about the marvelous events that are occurring now & the events that are still to come, which we will understand & recognise & know when they happen, Lord, as they happen, because we know Thy Word & what You've already said to us about it. So that day will not overcome us or overtake us as a thief in the night. We'll not be surprised. We don't have to be told, because we already know, because we've read it in Thy Word.
81. WE'LL KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING, WE WILL RECOGNISE THE ANTICHRIST WHEN HE REVEALS HIMSELF & HE ARISES. We'll recognise that great Peace-Pact that he makes with the religions & the nations of the World. We'll know what's happening! We'll know that's the Seven-Year Covenant, & we'll know that in the middle of it he's going to break it. And we will know that he's going to set up his Image.
82. WE'LL KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING WHEN HE SETS UP HIS IDOL THERE IN JERUSALEM IN THE HOLY PLACE, & we will expect then to be ordered to be killed if we don't worship it or take his Mark in our hand or forehead. All these things we've been forewarned of & know exactly are going to happen, & we will know that we should then head for the hills & our survival places of refuge to escape this wrath of man & the wrath of the Devil & the wrath of his Antichrist.
83. SOMEDAY THEY'RE GOING TO HEAD FOR THE HILLS & THE CAVES OF THE EARTH & are going to call for the rocks & the mountains to fall upon them, when You come, Jesus & Your wrath begins to fall upon them! That will be the Wrath of God, Thy wrath upon man. But in these last days of Tribulation it will be the wrath of man upon God's children, & we shall have to flee to escape it, & try to help others who are fleeing as well, & lead them to You, Jesus, that great harvest of souls in those Last Days! Hallelujah!
84. WE WON'T SELFISHLY KEEP OUR SURVIVAL STORES JUST TO OURSELVES IN OUR PLACES OF REFUGE SELFISHLY ALONE. They will no doubt be gathering places for those who are seeking refuge & salvation, just like our Colonies & our Homes have been in this day & age now for the youth & the hippies & the young people who have been seeking the Truth & seeking Salvation, & salvation from drugs & crime & vice & the filth of this World & the horrible injustice & cruelties of its System & its governments, how they have fled to our Homes & our Colonies as places of refuge from the storm of man!
85. SOMEDAY THEY'RE GOING TO FLEE AGAIN WITH US, LORD, TO THOSE PLACES OF REFUGE IN THE MOUNTAINS & THE HILLS, & our survival stocks will help to feed them, Lord. We'll have to share with them. But it'll increase, Lord, just like You broke the five loaves & two fishes that was just the lunch of one little boy that he had saved for himself but then willingly gave it to You, Lord, You performed one of the greatest of all miracles & You broke it & shared it as a broken gift of a little broken heart! You fed 5000 people on one occasion, 4000 on another. (Jn.6:5-14; Mt.15:32-39.)
86. SO LORD, YOU'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO TAKE THOSE SURVIVAL STOCKS & INCREASE THEM so that "the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail" (1Kg.17:14), but it will last us just as it did in the days of Elijah, three years of famine, those three-&-a-half years of Tribulation! They're going to last us, Lord, & we're going to be able to share with others so that we can save them as well, especially so we can lead them to You, Jesus, & unselfishly, lovingly share what we have with them, & they'll know that we love them. They'll know that You love them.--Not just selfishly for ourselves, Lord, but for others.
87. WE'RE NOT JUST STORING FOR OUR OWN FAMILIES, BUT TO SHARE WITH THOSE WHO WILL NEED OUR HELP in that great time of need, so that we can lead them to You, Jesus, & know that You love them, because we love them & care for them & try to help them to not only find a refuge & food & life, but Eternal Life, the Truth, the Way, & the Life in You, Jesus! Not just for a little while, not just for a brief three-&-a-half years of Tribulation under the Antichrist, the Devil in the flesh & his wicked people, but forever! They're going to flee to us for refuge from the storm of that day, they think for a little while, but they're going to find a refuge for Eternity, an eternal refuge forever! In Jesus' name! TYL!
88. HELP US TO BE READY! Help us to be prepared with our survival & our place of refuge & some place to flee to already picked out, already prepared. You told us Yourself to flee to the mountains when this day comes! "For when ye therefore shall see the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place," when we see that Image standing there, You said, "flee to the mountains!"
89. AND THAT'S WHERE THE BEST REFUGES ARE, LORD, IN THE MOUNTAINS, hideaways where they cannot find us, where the evil wicked filthy people of the cities don't even know how to go, don't know how to survive, aren't used to walking or hiking or climbing mountains, aren't mobile, not prepared. They live in the wicked filthy cities that are going to be totally destroyed, or are going to be so completely in confusion without water or electricity or sewage or sanitation or food or government or any control whatsoever! They're going to be in absolutely horrible chaos & riots & killing one another for food, eating one another, cannibalism again, just to have something to eat! How horrible, Lord!
90. TYL YOU HAVE REVEALED TO US WHAT WE SHOULD DO, TO FLEE THE CITIES, even now, & to prepare a place of refuge where we can flee in that day when it comes. We have to go to the cities, Lord, to preach the Gospel. We have to go into them to witness & to litness & to win souls, but we also have to be prepared to flee from them in that day & to help others flee, & most of all help others find You, Jesus. Not just a temporary refuge & temporary food, but a forever eternal refuge in You, Jesus, & everlasting food for their souls!--And salvation, not just for a little while, but forever! In Jesus' name! TYL! Help us & prepare us & get us ready now for that day! TYJ! PTL!
91. AMEN! PTL! HALLELUJAH! TYL! ARE YOU READY? He said, be prepared! He says to watch! "Let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch & be sober!" Are you watching for Jesus' coming? Not only for Jesus' coming, because He's not going to come first, are you watching for these Last Day events spoken of in the Bible?--The revelation of the Antichrist?
92. WE'RE GOING TO STUDY MORE ABOUT THAT IN THE NEXT LESSON, how the Antichrist is going to be revealed, what he's going to do, how he's going to act & what to be aware of & prepared for. So if you want to read it in advance you're welcome to. It's going to be the 2nd Chapter of 2nd Thessalonians, & that will be our next lesson! So may the Lord bless you & help you as you study His Word. PTL?
93. ARE YOU GLAD WE'RE STUDYING THESE THINGS SO YOU'LL KNOW ALL ABOUT THEM WHEN THEY HAPPEN & BEFORE THEY HAPPEN so you won't be surprised? You'll be prepared! PTL! TYJ! I am too! And I'm glad you're glad, & I'm glad you're getting ready! I hope you're ready already in your heart & you have Jesus. And I hope you've got a place prepared for your body too, where you can hide & have food when that day comes & help others. Amen? Do you want to do that? PTL! GBY!
94. WELL, MY LITTLE CLASS HERE IS NODDING THEIR HEADS! Not from sleep either, although it's a long lesson! But praise God, we're going to stop now & we'll finish this in the next lesson, Lord willing, the 2nd Chapter of 2nd Thessalonians. You read it. We're going to prove to you in that chapter that Jesus is not coming first, but that the Antichrist is going to come first. He's going to come & be revealed first, before the Lord comes. And I can prove it to you by the Bible, right here in 2nd Thessalonians 2! You see! Read it yourself in the meantime, study & be ready for it! PTL? Amen?
95. ARE YOU DOING YOUR HOMEWORK? READ THE BIBLE! GBY! And keep witnessing & litnessing & winning souls for Jesus! TYL! That's your fulltime job, & your homework is studying God's Word! PTL?--Taking care of those babies & washing dishes & a lot of other things too, that's true! But this is part of your homework. Hallelujah? Amen? X! GBY! ILY! X! Bye-bye!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
