The Abomination of Desolation and the End of the World

Okay, let's pray do Heavenly Father, as we open up

the Bible, we ask today for your grace to help

us see Jesus, to be able, to be found in Christ,

and to grow in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Martin Luther King Junior once said, we must build dykes

of courage to hold back the flood of fear. As Christians,

it's so easy to choose a path that is defined

by fear. Have you ever been afraid in your life?

I have been terrified in my life. Fear is the

emotion that quenches the fire of success in your life.

Fear is the notion that you cannot succeed in a

path that requires both faith and effort. Fear would say no,

trying hard won't matter, Believing won't matter. Fear is your enemy,

not your friend. Fear is the potion that makes a

black kind of magic to spoil the beauty of a

brilliant faith that should dying for Jesus Christ. We are

living in the age of fear, and God would have

it removed from your life. Fear is the black key

in the hand of the devil that locks down the

heart to shout out to the Lord Jesus Christ for help,

so that you will not get the help that you

need when you need it. Dear heart, we are living

in the age of fear, and God would have you

live without fear of the future. Fear is not the

exception today. Fear is the madness of the masses who

have forsaken spiritual exceptionalism for the fear of the future.

Just before Jesus died, Jesus warned the final generation through

his disciples that fear would be on the March at

the time of the end. It would be the defining

context of world culture. And if we're not careful, fear

would overtake us all. And I believe we're living that time.

Turn to Luke twenty one, verse twenty five, and let's

take a look. See at that here briefly, and there

will be signs in the sun, the moon, the stars,

upon the earth, distress of nations in perplexity at the

roaring of the sea and the waves. He goes on

to say, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of

what is coming on the world, For the powers of

the heavens will be shaken. Jesus says, a whole lot

in these verses that we've just read. The most constant

sight you see at night when you look up at

the stars are the stars. The stars themselves are so fixed,

there's so much there. We can't imagine a time when

they would be moving around in the sky. The Bible

teaches us that one day the foundations of the Earth

will burst open, the islands will sink deep into the sea,

the cities of the great nations will fall, and that's

not all that will be shaken. The Bible informs us

that the powers of the heavens, the sky itself will

move out of its place at the time of the end.

The sun, the moon, the stars will move out of

their positions that represent constancy in our life, dependability, and

the whole universe it will seem, will become unglued. The

Book of Revelations says the sky will be rolled up

like a scroll, like a wormhole and Rosenberg Einstein bridge,

and through that wormhole will appear the Son of Man.

And we've been informed by the spirit of Prophecy that

as we look up through that open spice, that sky

rolled up as a scroll, we will see Orion, the

great Emerald Rainbow of forty two may see your object

the very center of the universe. God's thrown and through

that corridor of time and space, Jesus will return in

glory with his angels. Now, friends, if you're banking on

a future without banking on Jesus Christ. If you're looking

for a future and you're not looking forward to the

second I mean of Christ, you got your eyes in

the wrong place. Look twenty one, twenty five, Actually, excuse me.

Revelation one point seven. The Bible says, behold he is

coming now. If that's if there's a secret rapture on

the way, if Christ is going to come and elope

with his church and then take him to heaven. And

nobody knows until the planes fall out of the sky,

the cars go over the bridges, and all that, Why

would he said behold? Behold means look, see he is

coming with the clouds. And how many people see him?

Occurring that verse, every eye will see him, and everyone

who pierced him, and all of the tribes of the

earth will weil and account of him. Even so, Amen,

when Christ comes, it will be a global event. The

whole world will be mesmerized by it. It will look

as if the universe the Earth. The entire cosmic order

is shaken and moving out of its place, and the

only thing we can depend on that day is Jesus Christ,

our savior, who is coming for us and Luke twenty

one twenty five. Jesus said there'll be signs in the sun,

moon and stars, followed by paralyzing international fear. Many believe

that these cosmic signs are still future. They say, I

can't wait for these signs to appear. And many Christians

don't realize that these signs that Jesus is talking about

have allready happened. In fact, they happened before you were

ever born. Luke twenty one, twenty five. There'll be signs

in the sun, the moon and stars, and upon the earth,

the stress of nations in perplexity, at the roaring of

the sea and the waves. The Greek word perplexity is

the word apoia. It means no way out will come

to a time in Western civilization when you can't fix

the mess. You can't fix the economy, you can't fix

the terrorism problem, you can't fix the instability. You can't

make nations be at peace. You can't stop some crazy

person from getting a nuclear weapon or threatening to get it.

The whole world living in fear, no way out at

the marority.

Of the sea and the waves.

Jesus and the Gospel of Matthew gave us the exact

timing of these cosmic signs Matthew twenty four, verse twenty nine.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will

be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the

stars will fall from the heaven. The power of the

heavens will be shaken. A whole lot being said here,

have you ever had a dream of the second Coming

of Christ? Tell me you have had a dream at

the second Coming of Christ. I have had a dream

of the second Coming of Christ when I was a kid.

I was about six years old. That's where I had

a lot of them. And I dreamed that I was

trying to get ready for the second coming to Christ,

and I was running through the house looking for my

white robe so I could put my white robe on

in time to go up, because everybody has to have

a white robe. And one dream I dream I was

going up and I wasn't quite going. I started coming

back down, and I was looking for my rocket thuster,

you know, underneath my robe. So I would keep going up.

I was afraid of going down. But the worst one

I ever had I was tied up on a railroad track.

There was a second coming and the train was coming.

I don't know how.

I was watching too much TV as a kid. It's

kind of like pac Man, you know, where they gobble

you up, and this train was coming. I was just

praying that I'd be free so I could go up

and all those dreams I wanted to go up. Dear heart,

God has intended that you have a future, and God

wants you to be able to go up when Jesus comes.

The days that Jesus is talking about are found the day.

Eleven thirty three talks about the days of tribulation. Those

days were not short, and the tribulation of those days,

the sun will be dark and the moon will not

give its light. So immediately following that tribulation, these signs

would occur. So when is that tribulation of those days?

It's in Daniel eleven thirty three. In fact, Jesus' discourse

in both Matthew twenty four and Luke twenty one are

commentaries on Daniel chapter eleven eight and seven.

Here is a brief.

Outline of Daniel eleven, I'm gonna give it to you.

Take your bible open, just follow with me briefly and

Daniel eleven one. If you look in your bible, you

will see Derias the Mead, followed in verse two by

the Kingdom of Persia, and then at the end of

verse two you'll see the Kingdom of Greece. How many

of you tracking your bibles with me? With me now?

In verse three of Daniel eleven, Greece is divided after

the death of Alexander the Great King into four pieces

toward the four winds of Heaven, and then the four

kingdoms in verse five and six collapse down into the

northern Kingdom of Seleucia, called the King of the North,

and the Southern Kingdom of Egypt. There were four generals

that Alexander had. These four kingdoms, Cassander, Lysimicus, Seleusius and Ptolemy. Cassandra, Lycimicus,

and Seleucius. To the north coalesced into what we call

the Seleuciate Empire of Syria and Greece that became the

King of the North, and the southern kingdom was the

Tamaic Egyptian kingdom which was Greek had Greek. In fact,

Cleopatra was a essentially a Greek. And so that was

the That was the division, the south and the north.

The four become two. And we live at a time.

How many how many political parties do we have in

our country? Anybody help me with this. We have a lot,

but how many do we really have that make the decisions?

Two? And you can say what they are.

We have the Republicans on the right, the Democrats on

the left. Now, if you want to visualize this in

terms of Daniel chapter eleven, what we would say is

something like this. We have those on the north and

those on the south. Because the north is the right,

the south is the left. And guests, who's caught in

the middle all the time? In Daniel eleven, God's people

they lived right between Egypt and the north. You see,

we got to be careful what we identify with in life.

God didn't call us in the church to become people

who live for our political party. You hear me. You

may be a Republican, you have very strong religious convictions.

You may be a Democrat, you have very strong religious convictions.

What the convictions that matter are the ones that come

from your Bible that affect others in your walk with

the Lord. And this is why the people of God

are considered a country, the glorious land in the Book

of Daniel. We are here to not get caught into

the extremes of right and left, north and south, but

to keep our focus on the coming of Christ, being

ready to make a difference for the salvation of souls.

And so if you're being pulled to the King of

the North or the King of the South too much,

come to Jesus. That's the answer of the problem. Now,

the king of the North, king of the South. They

duked it out for a few hundred years until the

Seleucid Empire of the North was replaced by Rome. In

verse sixteen, the Bible says, he who comes against him

will do as he pleases, and then he'll occupy the

glorious land with destruction in his hand. And Pompei sure

enough annexed Syria in sixty four BC. And then Judea followed,

and the subjugation of judeas predicted right there in Dany

eleven and the verses that follow the twist to tell

of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra leads to the death of

Julius Caesar. In verse nineteen of Daniel eleven, and then

in verse twenty Augustus Caesar takes the land of Palestine,

or taxes the land of Palestine just before Jesus is born.

The king James version bears that out he would be

a taxer, a taxer and oppressor that taxes. After the

death of Augustus Caesar, in a time of peace, another

despicable king arises in Rome and attacks the Prince of

the Covenant. Now look at your bible in verse twenty two.

You got your bibles out. I don't have slides for this.

In verse twenty two, who's broken? The Prince of the

got your bible out? You got bibles? Open those babies.

I'm working from memory, all right. The Prince of the

Covenant is broken. Now that is the very center of

Daniel Levin. That is the cross of Christ and the

reign of Tiberius Caesar, this despicable evil king of the

North that was despised, and Tiberius was famous for being

a despicable person. Suetonius's Life of the Caesars maps that

out in ways I don't want to describe here, but

verse twenty two is the poetic and the logical center

of the King of the North King of the South vision,

because it is the cross of Jesus Christ, the Prince

of the Covenant is broken at the time of Tiberius Caesar.

Christ died in the eighteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. So

both the King of the North and the King of

the South in the context Day eleven are false kings.

They are impostors. They have no claim on your life.

God has a claim on your life. In the Book

of Daniel. In the Book of Daniel, consistently, Jesus is

the prince of princes, the Prince of the Covenant. Jesus

is the only one that you deserve to have as

your king in your life. We need Jesus. Look at

Dane eleven twenty two armies shall be utterly swept away

from before him, that is Rome and broken, and the

Prince of the Covenant. Also Tiberius Caesar conquered Germania, and

through ponscious Pilot under his reign, the Prince of the

Covenant was broken on the Cross of Calvary. For you

and me, Daniel, one one starts with the meetle Persian

Empire all right, looking at your Bible, Am I right?

Dany one one and two meets Persia, starts with the

meat of Persian Empire, attracts through Greece, Rome, brings us

up to the death of the Messiah in verse twenty two.

These are key anchor points the Cross of Christ. The

rest of the prophecy after verse twenty two focuses on

the tribulation. It does a little backdrop. It tells us

how Rome got control of Judea. It talks about Egypt

and Syria just for a little bit. But for the

most part it focuses on what will happen in the

Middle Ages as we come down to the time of

the end. So we have established that Dany eleven twenty

two is the Cross of Christ. Now turned to Daniel eleven,

verse forty in your Bible, Daniel eleven forty. At the

time of this end, the king of the South shall

attack him, But the King of the Norse shall rush

upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, with

many ships, and he shall come into countries, shall overflow

and pass through. Going to go through this in great detail,

other than to say that this verse was fulfilled in

the French Revolution in the year seventeen ninety eight. But

I don't want to focus on Verse forty. Is the

phrase at the time of the What does it say

in the Bible, the time of the the end, So

that's an anchor point here. Daniel eleven twenty two is

the cross of Christ. So just imagine eleven twenty two.

We move through the verses, we come to Daniel eleven

forty and based on that verse, it's the time of

the what the time of the the end?

Alrighty, I'll give you an a.

The days of tribulation that Jesus is talking about are

the days of tribulation between Daniel eleven twenty two, the

Cross of Christ and Daniel eleven forty.

The time of the end.

Between the Cross of Christ in verse twenty two and

the time of the end verse forty is when the

abomination of desolation shows up. You know, we call that

time in history the Middle Ages, the Middle Ages when

the Church state union was forged, when church craft and

state craft created. What we know from history is the

Holy Roman Empire, a religio political order that held Europe

together because of the decline and really not the true fall,

but the decline of the Roman Empire. The coming of

Christ's friend is just ahead of us because we are

now living in the time of the end. We are

living right after verse forty and Daniel eleven. We have

about four or five verses left to go, and Jesus

will come, but we're living right at the end. Dane

eleven thirty one and Daniel eleven thirty three are right

smack in the middle between verse twenty two the Cross

of Christ and verse forty the time of the End.

And let's focus on these verses because Jesus, when he

talks about the abomination of desolation, he goes right here.

So look at Daniel eleven thirty one. Forces from him,

that is Rome, the king of the North, shall appear

and profane the temple and the fortress. Now that occurred

in the sixth century, at the time of Justinian armies

came to recapture the west because of the decline and

fall of the Roman Empire after four seventy six a d.

And they shall take away the continual burnt offering. How

many of your Bibles say continual burnt offering? Do you

see it in your Bible?

Now?

Does anybody's Bible have the word burnt offering in italics. Okay,

the reason it's in italics is because it's not in

the Hebrew. It shouldn't have been there. It's literally the continual,

the daily, the hot to me, the daily, the continual.

Now that going into a lot of effort as to

what that word means. The Western Empire had Bible believing

Christians because wofula little wolf who was a Gothic convert

in the fourth century, it translated the Bible into the

Gothic tongue. He was the Sequoia of his people. He

gave them an alphabet, literacy, and the Bible. He translated

all of the Bible except two chapters, I mean two books,

First and Second Kings, and he didn't translate them because

he felt like his people were warlike. He was a

little fearful that they might dwell on those books too much,

so he would wait to translate them. But with the

Bible they became a Christianized people. Three of the Germanic kingdoms,

the Ostrogoths, the Vandals, and the Visigoths in Spain and

southern France had a Bible believing Sabbath keeping Christians, and

they had nothing to do with Rome and Constantinople after

the fourth century. Because of their abandonment of the Bible,

they were committed to getting things right in their life.

So armies appeared from Justinian in the five thirties and

they attempted to take over this. Clovis, king of the Franks,

was the first convert to Catholicism in the Western Empire.

In the year five away, he attacks the fortress of Toulouse.

It was the place where many of the Temple treasures

had been kept from the destruction of Jerusalem. Alric the

First had brought them to Toulouse, and there they were,

and he was out to get them. And he attacked

the Temple fortress. But in attacking the church, it's religious

center in the West, he was attacking Heaven itself. And

then it says they shall take away the Daily. Now,

what did Jesus say in the Lord's prayer? Give us

this day are daily what bread?

Now?

What does he mean when he says, give us this

day our daily bread? What's bread? What's the bread of life? Well,

Jesus is the bread of life. So take Jesus away

if you take the daily away. But how do we

get Jesus in their life through the Bible. Now, those

Western converts to Christianity had a Bible because Wuffel had

translated the Bible into their language, and they took the

scriptures away from those people. They they established the bishoprics,

they killed their pastors, they annihilated the church structures. That

woofla little wolf, who was not a wolf, He was

a great shepherd of the flock Sabbath, keeping Bible, believing christian.

His Christianity was brought down, overtaken as a direct fulfillment

of Dan eleven thirty one. And they shall then set

up the abomination that makes desolate. Now that's the verse

that Jesus is quoting in Matthew twenty four, the Abomination

of desolation. Jesus taught that the abomination of desolation would

come in after his death, burial, and resurrection, that it

would be a serious threat just before the Gospel will

be preached in the whole world, before the end, and

that it would have its lasting impact to be a

challenge to your religious experience and mine. Look at Matthew

twenty four, fourteen and fifteen. Again, Christ said, in this

Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached just in our

little town.

What does it say in the whole world.

As a testimony that's legal language to how many people,

just the good people, to all nations. And then the

end will come. So Christ isn't coming just because things

get bad. Jesus is coming when men and women get

a chance to know that He died for them. They

get a chance to come to him, to surrender their

lives to Him, to have saving grace applied to their life.

The end comes when the Gospel goes to the world. Now,

look at verse fifteen. As soon as Jesus says that,

Christ says, there's one book that you need to be reading,

that you need to understand at the time of the end,

and he says, when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken

of by the.

Prophet, and what's that.

Book the prophet Daniel standing in the Holy place. Let

the reader understand now that desolating sacrilege is the abomination

of desolation of Daniel eleven thirty one. When you see

this false religio political system attack the church in the

Middle Ages, watch for its impact in history all the

way down to the time of the end, and don't

get snookered. In the following a false system of truth.

You need the true King, the true Prince in your life,

who is Jesus Christ. So the warning is clear we

must avoid the abomination of desolation, and the advice is

also clear that we must have the Gospel of peace

in our life.

Now.

Friends, I'm gonna tell you something right now. I don't

come to church so I can look smart or feel

smart or get warm fuzzies. I come to church because

I'm a sinner and I need Jesus. I need salvation

in my life. I need forgiveness in my life. Now,

Jesus is very clear here the abomination of desolation will

be a challenge to the Gospel, a threat to God's

people at the time of the end. And in the

book of Daniel the abomination of desolation comes after the

Cross of Christ and Dan eleven twenty two and before

the time of the end in Daniel eleven forty. So

I ask you the question when is it? In the

Middle Ages, the abomination of desolation was set up in

the sixth century. According to Daniel Levin, it was the

city of Rome was taken. The Bishop of Rome took

the place of the Roman emperors. These faithful Christian pastors

of the West were annihilated, bishoprics were imposed Sunday observance

was forced upon the Western Empire that to a large

extent was Sabbatarian, and Daniel's prophecy was fulfilled in Daniel

seven that three Christian kingdoms or horns would be taken

down in the rise of the Antichrist Abomination of desolation power.

In the book Revelation, John identified the abomination of desolations

a city that sits on seven hills. John sees a

harlot that has seduced the kings of the Earth. He

sees that harlot as a city at the very end

of time, he sees it corrupting the earth and in

the end being destroyed by the beast the world kingdom

order that it rides the Harlot Babylon is a woman.

A woman symbolizes a church, and yet very clearly it

has stated that this is a great city that has

dominion over the kings of the earth.

She rides a beast.

In the wilderness, the Israel was in the wilderness. God

didn't leave them in the wilderness forever. He brought them

out of the wilderness so they could go to the

promised land. Here is a church system so in love

with the world, it will never go to the Promised Land.

It is not content to have a future with God.

It wants to stay married to the beast, the world

kingdom order, and not be faithful to Jesus Christ. Thus

it is a fallen church system. In the book Revelation,

the Harlot who rides the beast is the mother of abominations,

and that makes her, by definition, the abomination of desolation

that was set up in the Middle Ages. She sits

on seven hills in Revelation seventeen seven mountains, and we'll

talk about that later Revelations seventeen five and six. And

on her forehead was written the name of Mystery Babbling,

the great mother of Harlot's and avers abominations.

Verse six. Actually that's it, yep. Verse six.

And I saw the woman drunk with what what does

it say? The blood of the saints, the blood of

the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I

marveled greatly.

Heart.

There was a time in history that if you oppose

the organized church, that taught that you couldn't have a

Bible in your house. That taught you that if you

believe that you're saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone,

you should be executed. That taught that the Church was

the save of the world. The taught that the bishops

of Rome are to some extent demi gods, that the

Holy Spirit has overshadowed them, just like it happened with Jesus.

That's the stuff that was taught in the Middle Ages.

Now there are good people today don't have a clue

that that's the way it was then. But imagine trying

to have a relationship with Jesus Christ when the Church

gets in the way of that relationship with Jesus. The

abomination of desolation, the martyrs of the Middle Ages. It's

been estimated that it goes from fifty to two hundred

million that were killed by the Church, the Church state

fusion of the Middle Ages, Revelation seventeen nine. This calls

from mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains

on which the woman is seated. There's only one city

on earth today that influences world politics that is founded

on seven hills or seven mountains as such, Revelation seventeen eighteen.

The woman that you saw is the great city which

has dominion of the kings of the Earth, and that

city is Rome. The Bible here is pointing specifically to Rome,

founded on the seven hills right there. And I've been

to Rome. Anybody here travel to Rome. Wonderful place of history.

You can see the evidence of the Roman emperors. You

go to Vatican, you can see the transition from paganism

from Christianity to paganism third fourth century, just by watching

the burial boxes and watching how pagan themes come in

in the fourth century. And so it's really a great

place to visit. John saw the Abomination of Desolation. It

was a Harlot church that seduced the kings of the

Earth in a city built on seven hills. He marveled

greatly at how the whole world would allow a little

city of Rome to affect its future so that it

would not have Jesus Christ at the time of the end.

He couldn't believe it. And Day eleven the Abomination of

Desolation comes between as I said Dany eleven twenty two,

the cross and day eleven forty, which is the time

of the end. So it doesn't suddenly appear just at

the end as Antichrist. You know, some people think, well,

the Antichrist is going to suddenly show up for three

and a half little years at the distant future, be

a Damian kind of character who will be the embodiment

of the Devil. He'd be supernaturally raised, born miraculously like Jesus.

They give the devil the same kind of power that

only Jesus has and God has is if he can

create life. That's a nonsense view that Hollywood is brought

into the abomination of desolation. The Antichrist power is a

religio political city that was part of the world Kingdom

order of the Middle Ages Rome, and at the time

of the end that system has a tremendous impact on

world history. World leaders will come to it for the

answers instead of coming to Jesus in his word for

the answers, so Jesus said, take care, you need to

watch out. And Ephesians two twenty one Paul is very

clear that the Church of Jesus Christ is the temple

of God on earth and that it is filled with

the Holy Spirit. Why because when we are obedient, the

New Testament says he gives his spirit to those who obey.

The Church is the only temple on earth that They're

seventeen ninety eight connected to the heavenly Sanctuary, and the

Bible teaches that the true churches connect to the heavenly Sanctuary.

Because heaven and Earth are one. Thy will be done

on earth as it is what in heaven. The abomination

of desolations in attack on the Gospel of Jesus Christ,

the Church of the Middle Ages, and upon the person

of Jesus. In that way, now, Jesus said in Matthew

twenty four to nine that immediately after the tribulation of

those days, the sun would be darkened, the moon would

not give its light, the stars would fall. The tribulation

of those days is not the final tribulation of the

Middle Ages. The tribulation of those days is the tribulation

of the Middle Ages. It is the tribulation that is

found in Daniel eleven, between verse twenty two and verse forty.

Look at Daniel eleven thirty three. Here it is. And

those among the people who are wise shall make many. Understand.

God's Church has always been a faithful remnant in love

with Christ, who works to save souls. And that's the

way it was then. And those among the people are

wise shall make many understand though they shall fall by

what's the first word sword, second word flame, third word captivity,

fourth word plunder, and the finally for days. And so

the tribulation of what the church would go through, death, carnage, captivity,

fire for days. The captivity of the Christian Church occurred

in the Middle Ages, and many godly Christians died by sword,

flame and such. It was a mortal crime to read

the Bible would cost you your life to be faithful.

Both Luke and Matthew's account says. They say that following

the persecution Middle Ages, there would be signs in the sun,

the moon, and the stars, and Luca is very clear

that after the cosmic signs, the world would be plunged

into a state of fear, and we're living in that time.

Most Christians do not know that the cosmic signs have

come and gone and we are now living in the

world of fear that Jesus predicted in Luke twenty one

in Matthew twenty four. The last recorded martyrdom in France,

which was the center of persecution in the Middle Ages,

was the year seventeen sixty seven. Jesus said, immediately following

the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened,

the moon will be turned to blood. Immediately following the

Persecution of the Middle Ages, when the Abomination of Desolation

was set up, believers in North America were experiencing the

greatest religious revival since Apostolic times.

It was called the Second Great Awakening.

People were coming to God, they were getting back in

their Bibles, they were attending church, they were becoming converted.

They had camp meetings.

It became eventually what history called this Great advent Awakening.

It would not just focus on being saved. It started

focusing on Jesus' second coming return. Many Christians believed that

Jesus would come at the end of the millennium. The

Second Great Awakening created an awareness that Christ would come

at the beginning of the millennium and that we should

prepare for the coming of Christ. They were studying the

prophecies the Book of Daniel in North America and other

parts of the world, and they were applying them in

good gospel preaching. The Second Great Awakening was the greatest

revival in the history of the Church since Paul. These

godly Christians were students of the Bible. They had experience

in Bible prophecy. May seventeen May nineteen seventeen eighty nine,

the sun was blotted out for one day over North America.

It's called the Great Dark Day. There's no explanation for

why it happened. That night, the moon hung in the

sky as red as blood. Historians have called it as

I said, the Great Dark Day. One person wrote, it

was as dark and thick as the darkness over Egypt.

The chickens and the cows went home to roost. People

everywhere were crying out in terror that it was the

end of the world. That following night, as it all

came together, the reddest blood moon in the history of

the world was seen in the sky and it took

note nothing like that, and so the moon was turned

to blood. A few years later, on November thirteenth, eighteen

thirty three, the largest meteorite share in human history recorded history.

The leonids lit up the sky for a couple of

hours or more, and they couldn't believe it. It was

just like the Fourth of July, and nobody can knew

how to do fireworks back then. It looked as if

every star of the sky was falling for hours. To

the observers, it looked like a fig tree scattering its

figs from a defining point in the sky, just as

Jesus had predicted, And all of these signs were understood

by Bible students if many religious persuasions to be the

fulfillment of the signs of Luke twenty one and Matthew

twenty four at the very time when men and women

were studying the Book of Daniel to prepare for the

Second Coming of Christ. Since the Second Great Awakening, the

world has been a dangerous place to live. In eighteen

forty eight, one nation after another revolted in Europe, bringing

the Old Order to an end. Nationalisms on the rise,

and religion was waning. The Great Revolutions of eighteen forty

eight led.

To World War I, then to World.

War iiO, and World War II was followed by the

Cold War. I grew up during the Cold War, and

I saw it end when I went to college. The

whole world lived in fear of mutually assured nuclear destruction

between the Soviet Union and the United States. When the

Cold War came to an end, it was replaced on

nine to eleven. How many of you remember the trade

towers coming down? I mean we were glued to our

television sets. New York City World Trade Towers collaps scene.

Thousands of people died. We had church members here who

lost family members in the Trade towers. It touched people

all over the co And I remember George Bush, President

of the United States, that bullhorn standing there, you know,

says we're gonna get the terrorists, but also trying to

reassure people because of the fear that was gripping the country.

We were worship with the Cedar Ridge Church over there

in Spencerville and Brian McLaren who was the senior pastor.

They had no prophetic knowledge, and he asked me to

come and talk to his church on Sunday, and I did,

and I opened up the Bible Luke twenty one. I

showed him what was happening. We just moved into the

age of terror based on Luke twenty one. You see,

does it pay to have the Bible?

Yes?

Does it prophecy? Absolutely? And I tried to encourage these

good Sunday keeping Christians who love the Lord to study

Daniel to recognize that that's just one more movement toward

the end. The world we live in is the is

the era of fear? The age of your Look at

Luke twenty one five, and there will be signs in

the sun and moon, stars upon the earth, distress of nations,

and perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves.

Next verse, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of

what is coming on the world. For the powers of

the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see. Now,

as soon as we have the age of fear, as

soon as it settles in terrorism age which we're living in,

what's the very next event in verse twenty seven, and

then they will see what the sun of man coming

in a cloud and power with great glory. Friends, we've

run out of events in Luke twenty one. We have

come into the age of fear. And the next event

is the coming of Jesus. We are living just before

the return of Jesus. So how do we order our

life in light of that? This must be the controlling principle.

The tribulation days of the Middle Ages are followed by

the cosmic signs and the great then the great awakenings

and the Great Day and the moon that turned to

blood was followed by the fall of the stars in

eighteen thirty three, and the cosmic signs are followed in

turn by the modern political and personal climate of fear

we live in today. The war on terror is a

war on fear that cannot be won. And verse twenty six,

Luke says men's hearts fainting them with fear and foreboding

what's coming on the world. A terrorist with a nuclear

weapon could change the world.

In one day.

I guarantee you you lose a city like Paris, France,

you lose a city like Geneva, you lose a city

like New York City to an atom bomb or Washington,

d C. The world leaders will not sit idle by.

Western civilization cannot fall to the likes of terrorists. But

we're living with that that is a likely scenario. I

happen to know without telling you how I know. I

want to keep that to myself, that there are forces

in our country that have stopped this from happening when

it could have happened. Soldiers have gone in taken out

terrorists who could have killed half the world with anthrax,

who could have wiped out a city with a nuclear weapon.

And so don't think for a minute that that is

not a real fear It is a real, real challenge,

wiping out entire cities. The Greek word for foreboding literally

means no way out, no way out fear. Our time

is the time, and honest people everywhere, no deep down

inside that. No one is smart enough to fix it.

No one knows how to take away the fear. We

need help. Look at verses twenty seven, look twenty one,

and then they will see the Son of Man coming

in a cloud with power, and what great glory verse

twenty eight. Now, when these things begin to take place,

get depressed, give up, stop trying, you know, quit going

to church, don't pay your tithe What does it say,

look up and raise your what? So should we be

walking around like this is Christians? Or should we raise

our heads and say Jesus is coming? We should want

the coming of Christ? Like honey. My wife got this

organic honey. Does anybody eat honey?

Oh? Poor people?

She got me the honey because it's my honey. Got

me the honey because it tastes good. It's good from

our health. She says, Well, I believe anything that's sweet's

good for my health. If it's sunny from honey. And

I was eating some of it yesterday with some rice.

The second coming of Jesus Christ should be sweet as honey.

Look up, because your redemption is drawing here. The one

who died for you is coming to give you eternity

verse thirty four. But take heed to yourselves, lest your

heart's be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares

of this life, that that day come upon you suddenly

like a snare, For it will come upon all who

dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But watch

it all times, praying that you may have strength to

escape all these things that will take place in the

stand before the sun of Man. Now, certain things get

in the way of us being ready for the Second

Company in Christ. One is alcohol, Did you hear it? Drunkenness?

Am I? Right now?

This nonsense that we can be social drinkers as Bible

believing Christians and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ

is out the door. God says, get it out of

your life. And you know, drugs and other narcotics, anything

that messes up our clarity, our spiritual clarity, has no

business in our lives because we need to be second

coming kind of people and worldliness. You know, I'll say

this just as simple as I can. Doesn't it come

at us in every direction? Well, we need to push

it back because we're looking for the second coming of

Jesus Christ. What we see, what we watch, what we

do matters. And Jesus said we should pray that we

will have strength to escape. What does that mean? We

should pray to not fall into these things and not

have them control our lives, so we will be able

to stand with Jesus and not be afraid of him

at the second coming. Dear heart, anything that's weighing you

down in life that you know needs to get out

of your life, kick it out. Let the Lord kick

it out of your life. Jesus is sweet as honey.

He's worth it. He's worth it. We are going to

live forever in a world of light, and we will

forever know the Lord. We are living at the end

of the world. We are living at the end of

the world. Dear heart. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming,

and Jesus is the end of fear. Because Jesus is near,

look up and lift your head high.

Glory, glory, glory.

It's not the end, it's the beginning. Jesus is coming,

Dear heavenly Father. In our satanest moments, we know Jesus

is coming. We know it's the end of the world,

and we want to be ready. Lord, I know that

Jesus died on that cross from me, and he died

for everyone else here too, And if in your heart

you just want to renew it right now and say, Lord,

I need Jesus. I'm a weak person. I've sinned, I've

messed up in my life. I want to get it right.

I want to be obedient, but I need a righteousness

right now, good enough for the judgment day, and I

can't provide it on my own.

I need Jesus.

Or maybe I've been so maybe you've been so focused

on you, what you think, what you believe is important,

that you're not focusing on the needs of the Church,

the body of Jesus, and that you find yourself wrapped

up in your own desires and pursuits and goals rather

than serving humbly so that people can come to Jesus. Now, Lord,

I'm asking you right now to renew my life. I

need Jesus.

I need you. Lord.

I thank you for dying on the cross for me.

And Father, if there's anyone else that wants to join

the pastor by raising their hands, and that's me.

Lord, I want Jesus, I accept you. I want to

be renewed in my life. Raise your hand or praying.

Our eyes are closed.

And if you want to say, Lord, I want you

to fix my life. I want to be ready for

your coming. I can't do it.

You help me give me the faith to obey, so

that my faith.

And my actions align. Now, Lord, you've seen these dear people,

You love them. Give them your peace as they leave

this place. And may they come early to church next

week to study the Bible. May they be active in

their sabusco classes, because that's the way we get ready

for the coming of the Lord. And may they find

a place of service here. And may we serve without

rancor putting some one down, feeling offended, any of that.

Help us to work together to do excellent service for you,

so that will be found at our post when you return.

Bless us, and thank you, thank you, thank you in

Jesus name.

Amen.