Be Prepared – Be Ready

Ronald Weinland

December 14, 2019

This is a pre-recorded sermon today and it is entitled Be Prepared – Be Ready.

As you know we are watching markers that are in front of us in this race that we’re running. In writing this last book, this fourth book, I am becoming more and more sobered by the fact that we truly need to be ready for all that’s coming, because the reality is that there may not be much time in front of us.

The news in the world today is crying out war. I hope that everyone is watching, being alert to some of the things that are being stated. You know that’s a unique perspective that God gives to us in the ability to see things in the matter of prophecy that’s going to come to pass, and I think again, especially of writing this last book, God has really helped me in bringing all three of the previous books together and being able to see things in a clearer fashion. You know, sometimes we just have to go through a process in what we’ve gone through.

I think of when the Apostasy happened. There were just a lot of questions. There were just a lot of things that happened over that first 3½ years especially that were difficult to understand, why is this happening? How is this happening? Why can’t we become more fully united? What is taking place? With no idea that what was going to end up in all this was a small remnant and that that was God’s plan and God’s purpose.

It was difficult getting there. It took a lot of time to get to that point. God began revealing various things that had happened, that the Apostasy had happened, that the man of sin, the son of perdition, and all the other things that went with it. But it didn’t happen overnight. God just doesn’t give us something into our minds so that we see everything clearly, especially as He’s working with us to mold and fashion us. There is a process He takes us through and a lot of this involves testing and refining and molding and fashioning our very mind, the very mind we have, each one of us.

So in this process I look at myself and what I have gone through and I realize there is a process. But it doesn’t happen immediately. You know, God can give us everything. He could give us all understanding immediately all at once. But what benefit would that be in the sense of our minds being transformed, in the sense of us being molded and fashioned? Just giving us everything doesn’t develop what we need to have within us. It doesn’t develop the character, it doesn’t develop the mindset, the talent, the abilities, because there are certain things that have to be developed within us.

It can be like when someone is first ordained. There are things that just can’t be understood about the process of what is to be done and how it’s to be done. Slowly but surely in that process there are things that God teaches us because we’re all unique, we’re all different. When we first come into the Church the same kind of process takes place. We can’t just be given everything.

So if we can understand those other areas then it can help us to understand even the beginning of our calling, that we just can’t be given everything in our mind to know. Even though God gives us a great deal of knowledge there are things with knowledge that is a matter of the mind to help us to come to a point of understanding and of wisdom. That’s a matter of the change in our mind. So God is more concerned with, His desire is to change our mind, the way we think, the things that we see, the things that we think we understand in order so a great change can take place in our thinking and to bring us more into unity and oneness with Him. So it’s an awesome process. I love it, I’m thankful for it, though sometimes going through it hasn’t been easy.

I think of some of the things that I’m addressing and writing in the book that are so much clearer now than what they were when we were going through them. We just didn’t see going up to 2012 what had taken place in 2008 within the Church and why some of the things had to be changed in the manner that they were, and yet God is helping us to learn in that process. He’s helping us to learn how He molds and fashions our minds. He’s helping us to learn and understand things about why everything can’t just be given to us and that none of this is owed to us. We have to fight for it.

There is so much to be learned and the greatest thing of all is what God is doing in the mind and the creation that’s ongoing. So even in all of this, as I said about writing the book and some of the things that are becoming clearer, to understand what we went through in 2013 and afterward and slowly but surely a clearer picture was being given. Then only two Feasts ago when God began to help me to see even more so that it’s about the 144,000. Things about the end-time, even in the beginning of the Seals being opened, something that the Church in times past, in Philadelphia and Laodicea, we would never have thought of—it wasn’t there unless God gave it to us, but it wasn’t His purpose—is that those Seals were not about the world, it’s about the Church and what happened to us. Then all the way through it all the Church is still very much a focus, a focal point of what is taking place in the end-time.

So we learn much through this process and it’s an incredible journey, it truly is. Not an easy one, but so important what is taking place, what we’re learning, what’s being molded and fashioned in us.

As we’ve been going through this process now, as I mentioned the last three books, now up to the fourth one here, things are so much clearer. I think you’re going to see that as you go through the book, as you read various sections and see a flow now of things that in some cases we’ve gone full circle but added far more to it because we had to go through that in order to see things more clearly, in order to understand why it’s being done in the manner that it is.

Again, what good is it if those things are just put into our mind as far as knowledge? It’s what’s going on in the mind, it’s what’s being transformed in us and bringing us into a unity. I would far rather have that take place, that God shows, gives in the mind the ability to see why He does what He does, how things are done, to see the wisdom, the beauty, the awesomeness of it all. That’s so much more important than just having knowledge.

Being a part of the process, that’s much more meaningful. Later on when people read about certain things they receive knowledge, but all the things that have happened in prophets and apostles before and the people in the Church that have been molded and fashioned to be a part of that government that’s coming, 144,000, there are things that happened in their life that’s unique to them, that help to mold and fashion them. Now, when we go through and we read about them it’s knowledge. We learn perhaps as time goes along then why some of the things happened in the manner that they did, but we weren’t there at that time. But still we learn. It isn’t just the knowledge then it’s so much more.

So to me that’s an exciting process and I love where we are right now in the scheme of things. Things are coming together now. Things are fitting together although we still don’t know the exact timing. But I am sobered because of what’s happening in the world around us. I am sobered because of what’s happening in the things that are being given in this book that are so much clearer, that mean so much more. To me that’s exciting, to see what has brought us to where we are. It’s not an easy journey, but it’s an exciting one. Maybe that’s the way to put it. It’s an exciting one.

So constantly we are being shown that we need to be on guard. We’ve just gone through a series about prayer and the importance of having a right relationship with God. It wasn’t just about prayer, but that’s a big part of it because it’s about a relationship with God. It’s about developing a relationship with God. That has to be real. The only way we do that is by conversing with Him, by praying to Him, by learning how to pray, by learning that it’s about a relationship with the Great God of the universe, and that’s unique. That is awesome. That can’t just be given to anyone. It’s personal. It’s with each one of us individually because it’s between God and the individual.

Now, in the midst of all that is the Church, is the ministry, is that which is taught to us that comes from God and how we respond to that then determines what that relationship has the potential of becoming. So it all fits together. It all works together in such an incredible way.

So again, I hope we see things in the world, that the world is crying out war. It’s becoming so clear now. Before, we knew it, we understood it was coming, but now to see what’s taking place in the world, to see what’s happening in Europe? Today the President of the U.S., President Donald Trump is in Europe for a NATO visit, and what’s happening there is absolutely incredible. The timing of it is incredible as well because so many of those kinds of things tend to mean a great deal. There is so much right now that has been going on for the last few years of the fulfillment of 70 years in some of the things that have been taking place. 70 shouldn’t escape us. We know what that’s about.

I think of the United Nations. Well, that anniversary came and gone, various things about WWII, they’ve come and gone, various things that have taken place now, 70th anniversary, and now we’re down to that with NATO, and that’s incredible to understand. I don’t know of another major anniversary that has any great importance except this one right here right now, and so because of where things are in the world, because of seeing things come together, because of things I feel that God has given to more clearly see now why Europe is going to do what it does, because I have struggled with this as a minister, as God’s servant, of knowing some of the things that are going to come to pass, knowing what has been said and shown about the United States and what’s going to happen to it first.

But there were periods of time that it just seemed so impossible, so unreal it just didn’t seem to fit. And so I waited. I wondered, “Is there something else? Is there another process here that we don’t know about?” Because we’ve had a lot of things we’ve had to address that we’ve come to understand haven’t been correct, so what about this one? So if we come to a point where we see error then we have to change, whether it be something of our past or something that we’ve done in recent time, I’ve done, and whenever we do we change. That’s the way God’s Church is. We seek to worship God in spirit and in truth. We learn through that process. I learn, the Church learns. That’s exciting.

So let’s pick this up. Be Prepared—Be Ready. So I want to read a couple of articles just this week and make some comments about them because as I said, I am sobered because, you see, I know that we need to be on guard. Perhaps we’re going to go into, and perhaps we’ve entered into a period that’s going to lead to 2023, I don’t know, but I do know that it can still possibly happen in this year. We just have to be on guard because there are things that God hasn’t fully revealed yet. There is a purpose in all that. There are reasons for all that. And until things are fully revealed there are things we don’t know. So whatever those reasons are they are God’s and we look to God to open up our minds to give us what we need so we can plan accordingly, so that we can live accordingly.

But one of the things always given to us, again, is that we must be on guard. We must be prepared. We must be ready. So that’s what this sermon is about today.

So here is one about North Korea. Now, if anyone believes that we’re going to suddenly have peace with North Korea... It may come to that point within a period of time if we have a little bit longer where people will say things of that nature. But don’t be deceived. Don’t be caught off guard. Because people can do things for very personal, very deceitful purposes in an overall purpose and plan that they have in their own mind. A lot of that’s going to come out in the end-time. Things in Turkey that are taking place. Things in Europe that are taking place. Things in China and Russia that are taking place. Things in Korea that are taking place. And those minds, sometimes minds can become so distorted, so perverse to reality if they’ve been in it for decades, and they have.

To think that all of a sudden they are going to think like we do? That’s been a major failure of so many presidents. To not grasp, you know, “I looked into his eyes and I knew...” You think, “Okay, what does that mean? You looked into somebody’s eyes and all of a sudden you knew where they were coming from?” Well, that’s a bunch of malarkey, bull. Things don’t work that way. We can’t know the mind of different people like that.

So, and again, it says here, North Korea: (in the headline here), ‘Entirely up to the U.S. What Christmas Gift It Will Select to Get.’[1] It says, “A high-ranking North Korean official called dialogue with the United States a “foolish trick” in remarks Tuesday and warned Washington that it is ‘entirely up to the U.S. what kind of Christmas gift’ North Korea will send it.”

Now, there are minds that aren’t just sound, and this is a good example. They don’t trust the U.S., and why should they? They don’t trust politicians. Why should they? People who do are foolish. If you believe everything that’s said, you’re foolish. There are agendas, there are  methods of governing that people have different purposes and different plans and they try to sway people toward them, though some claim they’re not political and they’re not politicians. Yes, they are. Yes, they are as soon as they enter in there. They are. They function, maybe, in a little bit different way, but they’re still politicians and they still have a purpose and an agenda of things that they’re striving to accomplish and to fulfill and they have to work within a system to accomplish it. That’s a politician.

Again, people say things, they do things that are sometimes so conniving and so deceitful that they themselves don’t understand what’s going on in their own mind let alone other people who listen to it and the willingness of people to hear what they want to hear. That’s an incredible thing that takes place in the carnal human mind because we want our way. Amazing. So God teaches us those things.

So it goes on to say here, “The communist regime’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) carried the full comments from Ri Thae Song, vice foreign minister for American affairs. In them, Ri protested that North Korea ‘has heard more than enough dialogue rhetoric [well, probably so] from the United States and would no longer move forward with talks, urging Washington to instead consider acting in response to the measures taken by the DPRK [North Korea].”

“The U.N. Security Council levied unprecedently harsh sanctions on North Korea in late 2017, following that nation’s last illegal nuclear test. To do so, American officials successfully convinced the leaders of two of North Korea’s closest allies, China and Russia, to vote for the sanctions, though reports regularly surface of both violating the sanctions to buoy the North Korean economy.” Well, no surprise. No surprise at any of those kinds of things that nations do, that people do. There is no trust. Why should there be trust? They have to do what they feel they have to do for their own purpose and agendas.

Going on: “‘The dialogue touted by the U.S. is, in essence, nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK bound to dialogue and use it in favor of the political situation and election in the U.S. …’” Well, that’s absolutely true, absolutely true. Sure, that’s why it’s happening. It’s about politics. It’s about getting re-elected. It’s about look at what I’m doing. Look at what we’ve accomplished and to kind of keep this in movement, in motion, and yet they’re not so moved by that over there. “...Ri said in his statement. ‘The DPRK has heard more than enough dialogue rhetoric raised by the U.S. whenever it is driven into a tight corner. So, no one will lend an ear to the U.S. any longer.’”

So they’re getting a little tired of it. They don’t see progress taking place. There are things going on behind the scenes that we don’t know of. But anyway... “Ri did not elaborate on the vague threat to act against America’s interests. The South Korean news agency Yonhap suggested, however, that Ri may have meant that North Korea may soon ‘restart testing of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).’”

Now, we don’t know fully what they have. Sometimes certain intelligence agencies believe that they do, but again here, this is about ICBMs and intercontinental ballistic missiles and what their plans are, what their desire is.

So anyway, going on, says: “The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Monday that North Korea is developing concrete platforms for mobile missile launchers, which could expand the reach of their ICBMs. ‘The platforms, each dozens of meters in width and length, are big enough for mobile launchers to fire intercontinental ballistic missiles,’ Asahi reported, according to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.”

So here we have North Korea talking about how that they’re tired of the dialogue and yet they continue to play a certain game because if they can have sanctions lifted then they’re willing to do certain things to maybe give them some extra time. Because they see it, time is on their side, but they would like a little relief in the process. So these games are played constantly.

But one things is becoming clearer in writing this book, is that there is going to come an attack against this country, against the U.S., and it’s the first nation that’s to fall, to be crippled, and then to fall literally. That’s always been rather difficult to think that that could even happen, that such a thing has such potential. But it does and it’s so clear now. Because in the past it’s like, look at all the military that’s on the water. Look at all the military on the oceans, look at all the power and the might that’s there. So how is such a thing feasible? How is such a thing remotely possible? Well, it is. It only takes one small rogue country to do something that could literally cripple the U.S. from being able to immediately respond.

During that period of time of being crippled, at least not being able to give full response in a time, whatever that might be, to try to get everything repaired and get everything back on course to get the country back on its feet so it can properly respond against any and everyone if need be, because it can’t when this first happens, and then it becomes very clear what can transpire. I’ll just leave that as it is. Because there are some things brought out in the book that I don’t want to go through everything in it, and just give you the opportunity of reading it so that those things are molded and fashioned more fully in your own mind.

But be on guard, be prepared, be ready, because you don’t know how quickly things come to pass. Because they can be quick as well. We have been shown that in the past. We have been prepared for that in the past, that indeed things could happen very quickly in the sense of only a few months, that the Trumpets, the events of the Trumpets could all be fulfilled, or if it’s God’s purpose that it be over a longer period of time for whatever reasons, so be it, whatever it is. We will know later on.

Because we don’t know everything. There are just things we don’t grasp and comprehend to what level certain things have to be fulfilled. Like the two witnesses. Perhaps there are things that have already been fulfilled on a spiritual plane. I don’t know. I think of what Christ told the disciples over and over again and what he told the Jewish people about “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” You know, sometimes there are just things that have a spirit fulfillment, a spiritual fulfilment and not a literal physical one.

So there are things that we don’t fully know. There have been some things that have been accomplished and fulfilled spiritually that could fit into some of those things. We’ve talked about them in times past. Whether they have and haven’t, whether there’s more, whether there’s duality, we don’t know yet until it’s done, until certain things take place.

Another article: “Farage: NATO and EU Army Cannot Co-Exist.”[2] Well, surprise, surprise. Now, that’s coming to a head and this is the very thing that’s going to change what happens in the end-time, that leads to the fulfillment of events in the end-time.

So it says here in this particular article, “Mr Farage said during a campaign event in Buckley, Wales, on Monday that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has to choose the UK’s place inside or out the European Defence Union. He said that if the nation commits to the proto-EU army post-Brexit, then the North Atlantic Treaty Organization could collapse.” Well, this ought to be very obvious to people. They already know it. They know that you can’t have both. The U.S. understands that and so that’s why the President is saying some of the things he is, because they still want to have a control, they want to have an ability to coerce and try to sway various nations, Europe, and yet Europe is getting very tired of all that. So there is a different movement taking place within some of the leadership of Europe and it just happens to fit within those things that are prophetic for the end-time.

It says, goes on to say here, “‘NATO and a European Defence Union cannot coexist equally,’ Mr Farage said in comments reported by POLITICO.  He continued: ‘No man effectively can serve both.’” Little biblical there. “No man effectively can serve both. We’ve got a decision to make.” It’s true. They’re making decisions, the U.S., various nations in Europe, and others.

“Highlighting the importance of British military might to Europe, the Brexit Party leader said: ‘If we leave the European Defence Union, it becomes valueless. Because without [the UK], it doesn’t have the muscle that it needs.’” So they’re in a dilemma there.

There is this history that’s gone on before. They have a desire to have input in Europe because they’re close, they’re just across a little bit of water, and things that have happened in WWI, especially in WWII that have sobered them up. So to be completely removed as a part of the EU is a dilemma for them because there is this thing of the military and what might happen in the future and the need to be on the in, if you will, of what’s taking place.

So if it looks like NATO is going by the wayside then they can’t be in the know any longer if they’re not a part of Europe, and if a movement is in place that the U.S. be kind of booted out because NATO is becoming obsolete as far as many of them are concerned, and they don’t want them telling them how to do things and what to do, and so if they put their money in it they might as well have their own without that heavy hand that they’ve been experiencing since WWII. In the beginning it was a welcome heavy hand, but it’s not welcome anymore. Incredible.

“Highlighting the importance of British military might to Europe, the Brexit Party leader said: ‘If we leave the European Defence Union, it becomes valueless. Because without [the UK], it doesn’t have the muscle that it needs.’” But there is more behind that story of what he said, so that’s not fully why he’s saying this. He’s also saying it because he recognizes there’s a need that they have input in what takes place in Europe and they don’t want to lose that. But he doesn’t want to be a part of the European Union. So they have a bit of a dilemma on their hands. Interesting to watch this develop.

“‘But if we stay, don’t be surprised if NATO falls to pieces and we leave the security and protection that America had for us, thank God, twice in the last century,’ he added.” So again here, they have a dilemma how to address that, what to do.

“Mr Farage’s comments come as President of the United States of America Donald J Trump is in the United Kingdom for a three-day visit to mark the 70th anniversary of NATO. During his trip, President Trump is meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron.” They’ve had a few words already.

It’s interesting to watch Macron because he’s willing to say things that are in his interests and it’s obvious that he doesn’t agree with everything, though there seem to be a kind of a bit of a... I don’t know what you would call that? ...a desire on his part in the beginning when President Trump came into office to be with him, to be seen with him, to try to work out some kind of agreeable things between them more so than what it exists now. He’s been there long enough now to see that there are certain things he doesn’t care for. He doesn’t like the heavy handed approach. He doesn’t like someone telling them what they should do, what France should do. I mean, of all the arrogance, to tell the French what to do! So on the side of the French it’s like, “Who do you think you are?”

So again, nations feel that way more and more, and that’s understandable. That’s why the world doesn’t function very well. That’s why there are wars.

Going on: “However, French President Emmanuel Macron, who along with Germany is a great proponent of an EU army, claimed last month that NATO was suffering a ‘brain death.’” A brain death; they know it’s dying. They know they don’t want it, to continue to support it. If they’re going to support something, an army, a military, they want to support their own. But then there is this quandary here about nuclear missiles and what will happen there. Of course, France has a lot, Great Britain has more. So if they can keep that part together and maybe work out something where NATO doesn’t exist or doesn’t have power in Europe anymore but they can keep the missiles, the U.S.’s because that’s where most of them are from that are over there... Well, anyway, this is their dilemma.

So timing here is incredibly important and we need to understand that. Because there is a certain timing here where ten nations of Europe come together to do something that is unimaginable. We’re right at that moment in time. We’re just right there. It’s incredible what’s taking place.

Going on: “Macron’s comments proved unpopular with his European allies, with Germany’s Chancellor Merkel saying with an uncharacteristic bluntness that the Frenchman had used ‘drastic words’ and ‘NATO remains a cornerstone of our security.’” So they are concerned. Germany is concerned. So it seems like right now Macron is pushing some of these things more than some of the others, but Germany has its own agenda and knows how to step back a little bit and let others, if others are going to push something that might be unpopular for them to do. They’re not stupid.

Going on: “The former German defence minister and the next president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen also defended NATO as the ‘protective shield of freedom.’” Well, nuclear, maybe, but the rest, they’re not so stupid.

Going on here, I’m just reading through parts of the article: “Mr Macron had said in November 2018...” It’s interesting that others are still holding on to this quote just as I have in the book, because it’s so important what was said. There are things said there that are powerful, they truly are, and they’re going to have a great impact upon the thinking of Europeans, something that just came out a little early. “Mr Macron had said in November 2018 that the EU needs its own army to ‘protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia, and even the United States of America.’” Well put. So it shows what’s underlying in their thinking. “The call for a ‘real, true European army’ was backed by Chancellor Merkel, the European Commission, and senior European Parliament politician Guy Verhofstadt.”

“Mr Farage warned in July that as president of the EU’s powerful executive arm, Mrs von der Leyen would advance plans for a European army, saying: ‘She’s a fanatic for building a European army, but she’s not alone. When it’s completed, NATO will cease to exist or have any relevance in Europe at all.’” They know full well where they’re headed.

So we’re at the precipice here. We’re at an incredible moment in time. That’s why I make comment that things could happen quickly. This could happen so quickly. It just depends on when the sealing is completed. God makes it clear when that’s done the U.S. is going to experience the events of the first four Trumpets of the Seventh Seal, that’s what it’s about, which will cripple it completely and entirely so that it can’t effectively respond, it can’t effectively deal with the world at that moment in time. It could possibly deal with a particular nation, but it’s going to be aware in all the world that this is not settled yet, for when they are able to take care of what has happened because of the events of the first four Trumpets and stand up again the world is going to suffer.

“In 2017, EU member states signed up to the Permanent Structured Cooperation process, or PESCO — a key element of the bloc’s Defence Union plans formulated by the outgoing European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, who had said the EU needs an army by 2025.”

So we could read something like that or other scattered groups could read something like that and think, oh, there’s a long time yet before some of these things could even begin to possibly come together. But the reality is, no, they can happen quickly. They can happen within weeks or months. Candidly, I’m watching some dates in December just to be on guard, just to be sobered by, to constantly be on guard and to be watching.

So, actually, at the time you hear this is about the time that I’m watching because there are certain events that are going to have a beginning, and the timing of those things can happen easily in mid-December. So again, there are things we don’t fully know. We don’t know exactly when things are going to take place so we have to constantly be ready, be prepared for what is coming. Because it’s coming. It’s just a matter of time. But we have to be ready.

So I’d like to read to you, again here, there are going to be scriptures, if we understand it, that are crying out louder than ever before that we must be prepared, we must be ready. But something that’s been weighing more on my mind in the past few weeks is one that’s spoken of in Chapter 4 of the book. So I’m going to read part of that chapter and comment on some of this as I go through it.

It’s under the section entitled The Beast That Was And Is Not. “This verse in Revelation 17 about the beast, Satan...” So again, something that people need to understand and I think the Church has a better understanding of this than ever before. Indeed, it came up in some of the writing of some of this that he is the dragon, he is the devil. He has a lot of names that describe him or describe his work. The beast is one of them; the false prophet is basically about that great church and He is the false prophet. He is the one who from the beginning of time has done some of the things he’s spoken of against God. Anyway, I don’t want to go into that right now, but some of that’s written in the book.

But the beast, that which rises up at different times in Europe, this great beast with the woman setting upon it, it’s from him. He is the beast. He is the one that gives it the power. It’s reflected then in the military might, it’s reflected in nations as they do and have done some of the things they have through time in the different revivals. But he is the beast. He is the beast power. He is the power behind the beast.

So again here, “This verse in Revelation 17 about the beast, Satan, that was and is not, does read like a riddle. The only way to comprehend this is to understand that for all these revivals God does not restrain the full powers of Satan.” So although we read some of those things and how Satan is restrained, how he’s put into this abyss – it’s a spiritual restraint is basically what it’s about – and not able to lead nations to war is really even more so what it’s about. He’s not able to use all of his power, but he still has power on the earth, he still has a power to deceive. He’s still been doing those things. He’s been attacking the Church. He’s been doing things at different times. He’s been working with different peoples and so forth because he knows when he’s released that’s his time to bring the war to pass. He’s the destroyer.

But God holds that back. He doesn’t allow him to do those things, He doesn’t allow him to be the destroyer, if you will, He doesn’t allow him to exert that kind of power. Satan has a lot of power and so he’s restrained in those things. That’s what the restraint is, it’s a restraint from war, it’s a restraint from being the destroyer. He still has, he’s still active in the world, but not as the beast that was and is not. He’s there, but he’s not active as the beast at certain moments in time.

“‘The beast was’ can refer to any time Satan was active during one of the revivals in Europe when he was not being restrained by the spirit abyss. However, this section of scripture is referring to a very specific time period. It’s referring to the last time that he was unrestrained and when he was at work with Germany and Italy through the power of influence that he used directly upon Hitler and Mussolini.” So again here, there are things that we understand in this process, but this is, again, good to review some of this.

“Once WWII was brought to an end Satan was restrained again. And it is in that current restraint that he ‘is not’ exercising his full power, because he is restrained by the spirit abyss, as has been for close to 75 years now. Even when in the spirit restraint Satan has always been able to exercise his influence and powers to broadcast his spirit attitude in order to manipulate and deceive people.” So I’ve just explained part of that but we need to grasp that fully to see what God is saying, why He says it in the manner that He does.

“But he has not been allowed to always use his greater powers of influence to destroy as the destroyer in war. Satan has many names that describe his evil actions, and another one of those mentioned in scripture is Apollyon, which means ‘the destroyer.’ This verse goes on to foretell what will follow after this period ends. ‘The beast that you saw was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go in to perdition.’ (Revelation 17:8)”

“Then going on with verse 9, ‘Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.’” So it shows what the beast is. It shows it’s these nations when they rise and so forth.

Going on: “Herbert Armstrong had been given to understand that God uses mountains to prophetically speak of larger nations or kingdoms. In this verse it was clearly revealing that the woman (the Catholic Church) was on each of these beasts during their revivals but this woman after the fifth revival under Napoleon no longer had that kind of power and sway it had enjoyed and exerted since the time of Justinian. Nevertheless, its presence and influence through those periods of time is still what has molded Europe into being what it is today.”

Our history, the things that happened to nations, that’s what we become. We’re part of our history. We continue on. There are things that affect the way we think. There are things that are passed down from generation to generation just as in families and so forth.

Then reading verse 10 of Revelation 17, it’s quoted here, “‘There are seven kings. Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet. And when it comes, it must continue a short time [a little season].’” Thank God. Thank God He’s showing us that.

So are we ready? Are we prepared? Are you ready? Are you prepared? Because that’s the state we have to stay in. I’ve lived this way for a long time. But we’re there. We’re there more than ever before. The things that are in front of us, the news, the things happening in the world, where we are in the Church, it’s incredible, it truly is.

So again, we must be ready. I think of that verse there when it says, “And when it comes it must continue a short time (a little season).” So Mr. Armstrong understood certain things at the end of WWII that God gave to him, of what could only be understood at a certain moment in time, that there were seven kings, that five were fallen, up to the time of Napoleon, that there was another revival that was taking place right there in his time under Hitler and Mussolini, primarily under Hitler, and that there was another one yet to come. And thankfully, when it comes it’s not going to last long. It’s a nuclear war! It can’t last long because of how fast this is going to develop.

Nations, once it starts and that kind of power is used, the only way some see survival is to react in kind, and they’re going to use what they have to protect themselves. The power that’s there, we cannot begin to fathom. We don’t grasp it. We don’t comprehend it. And candidly, they’re going to use it, too, because by that time this being is going to come out of the abyss, in the sense of having full power as Apollyon, the Destroyer. So it’s going to be there again because it’s time, it’s time to unleash everything upon the world. That’s God’s judgement for the timing and how it’s going to transpire. It’ll still come to pass no matter what because nations go to war and nations will use nuclear war, nuclear weapons at some point in time, but God’s in control of the timing because of His purpose and His plan to work with mankind and what’s going to be accomplished then in the beginning of the Millennium and on. So thank God He’s in control, not man, not anyone.

So I think of WWII, the time of the destruction that was taking place in the sixth revival, and to grasp what was taking place there from 1939 to 1945, six years about. Now, a nuclear war, we wouldn’t last that long in the kind of nuclear war that’s prophesied to take place. So will it go on for 3½ years? Will there be a short thing that happens for a short period of time and there be a kind of a lull for time waiting for nations to see how they’re going to respond to a crippling that takes place of the U.S.? Possibly so. Or could a crippling take place and be there for a couple of months and then all of a sudden certain nations start responding before a great nation, a powerful nation is to get back on its feet, to prevent it from getting back on its feet because they fear what’s going to happen to them? Absolutely. You’ll see that more clearly as time goes along here, as you read the other chapters that are coming.

So thank God things are going to happen but for a short season, a little while, less than WWII. It’s getting shorter and shorter and this time will be short. It’ll be within a window of at least 3½ years and maybe a window of a few months.

Matthew 22 – scriptures that we’re so aware of but that we need to be focused upon as we see the world getting closer and closer to a time of war. Matthew 22:1—Then Joshua spoke to them again by parables and said: The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain king who made/arranged a marriage for his son. We know what that is, don’t we? Awesome! ...and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they would not come.

So I think of what’s happened in the Church of recent time. Because a lot of these parables, a lot of the things that are given in scripture are for the end-time. So much of what is given even here is still pointing toward the end-time. There’s a period of time of 1900 years in between, but boy, this period, this last period, this last period of 70+ years that we’ve been going through, it’s been incredible, it truly has, as far as the Church, as far as getting ready for the fulfillment of things and the ushering in of God’s Kingdom, of the coming of Joshua the Christ.

So there were those who would not come. I think of what happened in the Apostasy and how that became exceedingly clear.

So it goes on to say, So again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner... So I think of what happened in the Apostasy and they were invited but look what happened. Then sent out messages again, “Look, it’s ready. This is about the end-time. The Apostasy is about the end-time. It’s about a countdown to the coming of His Son.”

Tell them who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner... It’s there. It’s ready. We’re at that time. ...my oxen and fatted cattle have been killed, and all things are ready. They’re prepared. We’re there. Incredible. Come to the wedding.

Verse 5—But they made light of it. I know what this is about. This screams out what it’s about. God began to raise up a remnant and people wouldn’t listen. A scattered Body, those who had the ability, some, those that were invited, obviously, had already turned away from this way. Others just quit because they were so disillusioned. But there were still others, others who were invited. What did they do when they began to hear what God was doing? What did they begin to do when they heard that an Apostasy had occurred, that Joseph Tkach Sr. was the man of sin, the son of perdition? What did they do? They made light of it. They had to tear it down. “You can’t go with them, they’re nuts. You can’t believe what’s being said there.”

Stones of the temple have all fallen down? They couldn’t think that way because it still has to be fulfilled physically to them. They couldn’t understand that’s about the Church. The ten virgins, what’s taken place, they couldn’t receive it. They made light of it. They had to make light of everything. They’ve had to make light about things about two witnesses. They’ve had to make light about women being ordained. They’ve had to make light of a lot of things. To make light of, “They’re nuts. They don’t believe that Christ has eternally existed. You can’t listen to them!” That’s what this is about. That’s exactly what this is about.

So again, Tell them who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen, the fatted cattle have been killed, and all things are ready. “Come to the wedding. You were invited. Come on, be a part. Don’t turn away from it.” But they made light of it and went their ways. That’s what they’ve all done. ...one to his own farm, another to his business. They went back to their own things whatever that might be, their own way of doing things.

Then the rest took hold of his servants and treated them insultingly, and killed them. See, their spirit and their attitude toward us, toward the Church, toward the remnant, is one of hatred, it’s one of murder. That’s how far people go. God calls things what they are. So in their minds, and as far as God judged them, they have killed, they have killed others. They have killed those and turned against them and spoken against them.

But when the king heard thereof, he was furious. And he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned their cities. There is a judgment coming. There are going to be those who aren’t going to come through it all and there are going to be others upon whom God will have mercy and work with once they’re jarred into reality once again. But as far as being a part of the 144,000 that they were called to, that’s not going to happen.

Verse 8—At that time he said to his servants, The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go, therefore, into the highways, and as many as you find, invite them to the wedding. Even here there are those that were found that weren’t worthy. Not just speaking of those who refused to come but others that through time here have been exposed and revealed as not being worthy, of having done what it warned about in Philadelphia.

See, what is written to the Churches, to all seven Churches as we heard about in the previous sermon, in the sermon series, what is written applies to all people who have been called. So the admonition, “Don’t let anyone take your crown,” is something that is applied to everyone since the time the Church began in 31 AD. Once you’ve started this journey, once God has offered you what is there, a crown, to be a part of the 144,000, rulership, of something we can’t comprehend what that means, to be a part of something so incredible, and to know that there are those who have turned against that? And candidly, when people turn against it, when they refuse it, God’s going to put someone else there. Someone else is going to be given the opportunity to have the crown.

Because you know what? That government has to be complete. It has to be exactly 144,000. God has the power and the ability to accomplish that and has made way to do so anyway.

It says here, Those who were invited were not worthy. Go, therefore, into the highways, and as many as you find invite them to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was filled with guests. So we understand that none of us are good. But an example is being given here of different kinds of things that happen in people’s lives as far as the world standard is concerned and how people might be looked upon. Sometimes there are different ones who are called, we’re called, we have a lot of baggage. So God has the power to change us, and that’s the point. God has the power to invite to his wedding those who have all kinds of things in their life and to change them, to make them good, to make them be filled with His good, with Him, with His life.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So what does that mean? What’s that about? Well, it could be those things that led up right to the end here or a few years ago, but there’s more involved because this has to do with a uniqueness in the Church right now because there are those called who are going to be a part of the 144,000, there are others who are called to be present during that period of time to go on into the Millennium, to still be part of the Church, and they’re called to the wedding as well, but their time of being changed is going to come later. Nevertheless, they have to be clothed in a special way, especially at that time.

That’s why some of the things have been said so powerfully so so often here in the last year or so, that we must be prepared, we must be ready, we must get rid of the sin, we must be inside the temple, not playing around in the courtyard. Yet that still goes on, and it will until the very end. So up to the very end this is what’s being shown here, is even up to the very end there are going to be some who can deceive themselves into thinking they’re okay. They go to Sabbath services, they go to the holy days, and then they become weaker and weaker because there is certain sin in their life and they are not addressing it, they are not changing. They’ve deceived themselves to thinking they’re a part when they’re not. Sin cuts us off, and if there is continued sin that we have in our life, well, it speaks out very powerfully and it’s a witness against us.

So these things will happen right up to the end, not having on a wedding garment because we’re all to be wearing these when we’re called. In other words, it’s a matter of that which is pure, that which is purified because of forgiveness of sins through Christ. So I don’t need to go into all of those. We should understand those clearly.

So he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Should be! Sometimes that’s the best way. What can you say? You know you have sin. You know you’ve been deceiving yourself. You know you’ve been going through the motions, but you’re not doing what you should, thinking maybe you have time, or whatever it is, ever how the mind deceives itself.

Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So what a horrible thing that there are going to be some right up to the end who are separated from the Body, and they’re being shown here you have a strong judgment against you because you’re not going to be allowed to live on into the Millennium. Instead there is going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and when does that take place? In the resurrection later, in the great resurrection of the Great White Throne, once people are resurrected to a second physical life and they come to realize, “I have to live this again. I have a hundred years before me now. When if I’d have responded and yielded I might have had fifteen or twenty or thirty to conquer this self and to be spirit. But now...” To me, that’s a horrifying thought because I know my nature, I know... I want to succeed now not later on.

It says, For many are called but few are chosen. So few have been chosen to be a part of the 144,000 of all who have ever been called. Few who have been called at this end-time to be a part of a remnant. Few! Not the vast majority. Few of those are going to have opportunity to live on into a new age. Most are not. They’re judged that if they have not repented, if they have not yielded to God, if they have not dealt with those things then there’s a judgment there.

There is a similar account in Luke 14:16—Then he said to him, A certain man made ready a great dinner and invited many, and sent his servant at dinner time to say to those who were invited, Come, for everything is now ready. I’ve never known a time that’s more like this time right now. Everything is now ready. But you know what’s at stake? It’s whether or not we’re ready, whether or not we’re prepared. Everything is ready, God has made it ready, but now for some not to be ready? There is no excuse. Everything has been given to us, every ability, every opportunity, every teaching, every instruction, every guidance, every direction. It’s up to us, isn’t it? We have to fight for God’s way. It’s a fight and that’s where we are. Are we fighting? We still have time to repent. Some still have time to repent, to be able to live on into a new age. Some still have time to repent and change.

Verse 18—Then all of them with one accord began to make excuse. The first said to him... Isn’t that the normal response? Normally, that’s what happens. But I am so encouraged. Every once in a while in travelling I see certain ones who are addressing, have addressed some of the times, perhaps, of disfellowshipment, perhaps of being suspended, and others who have kind of been on the edge but are turning their lives around and entering into the fight. That’s rewarding on my part. I feel so good when I see that because I see God’s spirit at work. That, to me, means then that they’re responding and they’re fighting and they’re engaged in the battle. That’s exciting.

So I’ve seen some big changes made in people’s lives and that’s always exciting and rewarding because then they’re a part of the family in a very powerful way and when someone is on the edge and on the side it’s difficult to watch sometimes because you can’t do it for them and you fear for them, you hurt for them, but you can’t do it for them.

I think of a sobering letter, I guess it was really an elder’s report just received, someone who had been in fellowship for a long time in a particular area died in a wreck. They’d been suspended or disfellowshipped, and yet such a likable individual, exceedingly likable as far as a personality is concerned.

See, I know I don’t have that kind of personality, but he did. I know I come across as difficult at times and I am. I get focused on something and it has to be done a certain way. Just like when I set up the camera and so forth, people know don’t bother me because I’ve got to get this done. Because in my mind I’m thinking there are all these areas out there, all these people waiting for the connection. If they can’t hear the sermon today it’s not like when we used to be at a particular area, I could drive to a Church area and give a sermon there and ever who was there, they received it. But today it’s different. It’s done electronically, it’s done through technology.

So again, I think of this individual and he’s going to be in the Great White Throne. There are going to be some weeping and gnashing of teeth at that time in his life as he begins to address some things that he could have done a long time ago, but didn’t. So again, what a horrible thing. You can’t do it for people.

So some began to make excuse, whatever that is, of why they can’t do what’s in front of them, why they just, whatever it is. I’ve heard all kinds of excuses of why someone can’t do something. “I need to be encouraged. Encourage me.” Well, I try to do that every Sabbath. So you want a personal call or personal letter to encourage you? Get off the pot! It’s up to you! You’re the one sitting there. You’re the one grunting. You’re the one complaining. Just get up; wipe and get up. Get on with your life. Put that stuff behind you. Don’t sit there forever. That’s what it’s like, sitting in the stench. Get up! Get with the program!

You can only do it for yourself. God gives us every opportunity, every ability, and we come up with some of the flimsiest excuses, “I can’t do it. It’s too hard.” Well, if it is you’re going to have to wait until the last hundred years. If you want it now though, fight for it, because what’s in front is exceedingly exciting. Who is holding you back? Your mate? Your job? What is it? I see people with all kinds of baggage fighting a fight and they keep fighting. That’s what it’s about.

Then all of them with one accord began to make excuse. “Boo hoo, I can’t do it. I’ve got to do something else.” “I want this person.” “I want sex with that person.” “I want to fool around with this.” “I want to fool around with that.” “I’m too busy.” “I want to do some things right now that I want to do.” Well, go ahead. God lets you.

The first said to him, I have purchased a piece of land, and I have need to go and see it. Oh, that’s important, isn’t it? I purchased something out here and I need to go get it, I need to do something. I need to do something else because this is so important to me. I have this property. I just need to go see it.” Isn’t that important? It’s just showing flimsy excuses. When you make an excuse not to embrace what God offers it’s a flimsy, stinking excuse that sucks.

Another said, I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test their performance. I ask that you have me excused. “I just got to go out here and try this out first to see how it works, to see how good it is. I haven’t got time to do these other things that you want me to do.”

Then another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. This happens to people sometimes. Sometimes a certain pull in a certain direction.

This is something I want to set straight once and for all, hopefully, within the Church. Even when it comes to marriage people have free choice as to whom they marry. You know, I’m so sick and tired of this thing, “Well, you shouldn’t marry unless it’s somebody in the Church.” Any of you giving that kind of advice, shut up. Just quit doing that. That’s not the teaching of the Church. You’re fighting against the Church. You’re fighting against what God has given me to teach to the Church. You’re resisting. Say, “Oh no, that’s what we believe.” No, it isn’t! It’s a bunch of garbage. You’re free to marry whomever you will.

If people think that just because someone’s in the Church that somehow it’s going to work out, I’ve heard that over and over many times. “Well, they were in the Church so I thought we could work these things out.” Wow! People think they’re going to change others or think that because we’re in the Church it’s all going to work out. I have known of hundreds of marriages that have gone down the toilet because people didn’t live this way of life. It’s not a matter of going to Sabbath services and going to the Feast together or whatever. It’s how you live your life! There are thousands of people who have chosen to live wrong. How do you think those marriages work out when people choose to go against God? How happy are those marriages when someone leaves the Church? How fulfilling are those marriages... It’s worse! It’s horrible. At least if they’re not in the Church it’s easier to comprehend and understand and to deal with.

So to tell someone, “Oh, you should only marry within the Church.” Now, that doesn’t mean people should rush out there and get married. I think people should be wise in ever how they meet people. There used to be a time when I was more against certain kinds of things, but I realize that’s the world we live in today, of how people can get to know each other, so I’ve had to change in some of that because the world has changed in that. And sometimes we have to change because the world has changed. But you have to be very wise in that and it’s still going to come down to a time you have to spend together with one another in life getting to know each other before you enter into saying, “I do.”

But you know what? If you stand firm for what you believe and you let them know, I’ve known so many people who have done that, who have done it poorly, but I’ve known of many people in the Church who have done it who have gotten married who have done it so poorly before they ever got married. Poorly! Unwise! Sometimes just quite stupid in how they’ve gone about it.

So just because someone is in or out of the Church is immaterial when they get married. Someone who’s in the Church that gets married to someone who isn’t or someone who is doesn’t guarantee anything. How you live your life is what’s important. So I guess I had to get that off my chest because it comes up. People have a desire to have a life, to go on in life, then it’s fine to date. It’s fine to date outside the Church. There is nothing wrong with that. There is no sin involved in that whatsoever. Now, if you sin in a relationship then that’s you.

But it’s how people handle those situations. You know, if you date someone, I don’t know how, but people have done it, people go out here and date and they don’t tell about the Church. They don’t mention the Church and then all of a sudden they think, “Well, when we get married or maybe just before, a week before or so...” I’ve seen it happen. Not a good way of getting to know people or entering into an agreement of life together, sharing your life. But if people understand, if an individual knows where you stand and it’s all out front and they’re pleased to dwell with you, whether they’re pleased to dwell with you before you enter into it or pleased to dwell with you once one has been called and the other hasn’t, then you’re blessed. That’s a great blessing! Work with it. It’s how you live your life. And frankly, you should live it better toward them anyway.

But deal a lot of times with a lot more situations within the Church, when both are in the Church, than when one is and one isn’t.

So again, I have married a wife and therefore, I cannot come. Well, sometimes people, it just shows it doesn’t matter what the excuse is there are no excuses for not receiving what God offers us, if we’re not fighting for what God offers us. What’s going to prevent? What’s going to stand?

Because I’ve seen excuses a lot flimsier than this, much, much flimsier. That’s the point of all this, there are some excuses that are a lot flimsier than going out and “I have these oxen out here and I’ve got to get them tried out and tested here to make sure they’re going to do the work when I put these people to work on them” or “when I have this thing out here working and I’ve got to make sure it’s working right before I put people out there on it, and if it’s not doing the job, see, I might have to go get a different one.” See, that can be pressing. That’s a lot better excuse than most that I hear. So I hope the point is made.

Luke 14:21—So that servant came and reported these things to his Lord. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the cripple who are maimed, and the blind. So now it’s a matter of “If they want to come, if they’ll listen, if they’ll listen then give them that opportunity. It may be more difficult for them, but they can do it because I have the power to give them the power they need to change, to help them. Whatever it is they need if they’ll listen, I’ll listen, I’ll help them.”

You know, that’s happened in a very powerful way within the Church, where God has blessed many others. It shows the kind of world we live in today, that the world doesn’t listen, the world doesn’t want God. So if you have opportunity and you’ve been blessed to receive the truth, God has the power to give you the help you need to go through anything, to come through anything that you have out there. You just have to step out. You have to step out and say, “I’m going to do it. I’m looking to God to give me the life and the strength and the help I need.”

So it doesn’t matter what state you’re in. You can’t use any flimsy excuses and cry, “Oh, this is... I need help...” “I need ‘this’...” “I need ‘that’...” “I need someone to call me. I need someone to encourage me.” Listen every Sabbath and you’ll receive the encouragement because that is the encouragement that God gives. We don’t need it from one another, from people. You need it from God. God is the one you have to look to and to have the confidence and know that, “He gives me the strength to move forward.” That’s where your faith has to be, not in people, not in something else. You’re just making an excuse not to do what you really know deep down inside that’s your choice to make anyway. So we all have choices to make. Choices, choices, choices. No one can make them for you.

God has the power to give everyone the help they need. Everyone that’s in the Church, everyone that’s been called has the power of the universe there to give them success. There are no excuses. Just up to us whether we want to be ready and prepared, whether we’re willing to fight for God’s way. Because you have to fight against this. You have to fight against those flimsy, measly, little excuses. “Oh, I’m out of breath. I think something is wrong with my lungs. I think I’m getting a hamstring!” “I think... I think... I think I must have cancer.” “I think I must have a heart problem, I can’t keep running. Something is hitting me. I better stop because I don’t want to hurt my health.” Well, God’s there to keep you going forward if you want to go forward.

Hope you understand what I’m saying. You only can if you have God’s spirit.

Then the servant said, Lord, it is done as you have commanded, and yet there is room. There are so many more who could be called but just won’t listen. That’s the state of the world right now. We’re at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. We’re at the time of Noah. They don’t want it. That’s why the world has to be shaken until its teeth rattle, sadly. And thankfully, it won’t be like the flood this time. Thankfully, multiple millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, perhaps a billion or two or so will have the opportunity to come through all this.

So the Lord said to his servant, Go out to the main road and the lanes and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled. “Compel them.” War! Nuclear war. Isn’t it amazing what it can take sometimes to compel someone to listen? For I say to you that none of those who were invited shall taste of my dinner. So the point being is that some who have had personal invitation by God to have opportunity, the answer is again, it’s your choice, now or later, but you can’t have it now if you don’t fight for it.

So again, we’re familiar with so many of these scriptures, but now is the time that they should ring out far more loudly in our minds, in our thinking, louder than ever before in the Church, and hopefully, as we are taking them far more seriously and soberly than ever before. Because I am. I am more sobered than I have ever been in my life, for where we potentially could be right now, right now, today.

Luke 21:31—So  likewise, when you see these things come, in other words, it’s talking about the signs of summer and so forth and spring or whatever it might be, know that the Kingdom of God is near at hand. So the Kingdom of God, God’s Kingdom, it’s almost here. Truly, I say to you... So what are all these about? It’s about the end-time. It’s about the coming of the Messiah. It’s about the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Truly, I say to you, this generation shall not pass until all becomes fulfilled. What? Fulfilled. Prophecy. The end-time. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not/will not pass away.

Then take heed to yourselves... That’s what we have to do. We have to take heed to ourselves. ...unless at any time your hearts become weighed down with carousing, the cares of this world, as it says here, in drunkenness and the cares of this life, so that that day come upon you unexpectedly. So what keeps you from prayer? What keeps you from fasting? What keeps you from crying out to God? What keeps you from being sobered? What keeps you from this way of life? What keeps you from fighting for this way of life? Only yourself. Only self. Only our nature.

Again, a scripture that we all know very well. Let me read the rest of this: Verse 35—For like a snare, it’s a trap, you know when it slams shut, when it catches its prey, it will come on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. When it happens the world is going to be shocked. When 9/11 happened it shocked the world, it really did. It was a shocking thing to people who didn’t even care about the U.S. It was a shock that something like that could happen. So destructive, it’s so great, so powerful against such a mighty nation. Yet that’s less than peanuts for what’s about to happen to the same nation. It’s going to be shocking.

Like a trap it’s going to come upon all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Therefore, watch and pray always. That needs to be our life, to be praying, to be in prayer, to not let up on it, to have that understanding, not just the understanding, but the belief in our thinking, in our minds, “I need help! I need God’s help. I don’t need someone to give me a call to encourage me. I don’t need someone to baby me, ‘Oh, lullaby, baby...’” Sorry, but I can’t help that. It just gets so aggravating sometimes when people won’t stand up and fight for themselves and want to be little babies, little cry babies. I’m sorry to come across like that but that’s the reality. You want to whimper and cry, “This is too hard. It’s too hard to fight against these things. Boo hoo hoo.”

Sorry, I mean, how dumb is that? How dumb is that in light of everything to be offered by the Great God, the power, the ability to live what we’re living, to live into a new age, to be at the height, the pinnacle of what He’s offering us in life? We just don’t get it if that’s the case.

Pray always so that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. You know how this used to be read by the Church back in Philadelphia and into Laodicea? “Pray always,” in essence, “to be accounted worthy to escape.” Duh? Just to be given something we didn’t fight for or don’t deserve because we’re not fighting? You do these things, you pray and watch so that you have the strength, so that you have the ability to be accounted worthy, so that you’re fasting and praying and repenting of sin so that you can be accounted worthy. That’s why you watch. That’s why you pray, so that you’ll be spiritually strong, so that you can escape these things that are going to come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

I’ll just read this one quickly, 1 Corinthians 16:13, quickly finish these, Watch, stand fast in the faith, in what you’ve been given to believe. Stand fast. Only you can decide to do that, to stand. That means to stand up to whatever comes your way against you, against the truth, against the Church. Stand against it. Stand!

...behave like men, as Paul is speaking to, basically, the Church here, but it’s using this example here that when you stand up in a war you stand fast, you’re standing with your armor on and your weapons in your hand. Stand fast. Don’t cower. Don’t turn away. Don’t run away. Don’t think that you have to have someone there, “Oh, go ahead. Yeah, it’s going to be bloody. That’s what war is.” But you’ve got to fight and God’ll give you the strength. “Be strong.” That strength comes from God.

1 Thessalonians 5:5—You are all children of light and children of the day. That’s what God has given to us. We have power and ability and strength that comes from God Almighty. Who can stand against us? Really! We are not of the night nor of darkness. We’re not like the world. Look at what we’ve been given. Therefore, let us not sleep, as others, as others are. We have everything! They don’t have that opportunity, we have. Is it worth fighting for? Is it a pearl of great price? Is it great gold and riches spiritually to us in our thinking? ...but let us watch, be on guard. It’s about someone in a war, in a military, being on guard, being a sentry, being on duty, not falling asleep. ...but watch and be sober.

For those who sleep, sleep in the night, and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober. And truly, now is the time to be sober more than ever before. I am more sober than ever before in my life. I truly am. Everything is just fitting into place. It’s in place; it’s just a matter of the timing now.

...be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith, living God’s way, believing God, believing what we have been given and then living by it. God’s given us the ability to believe, it’s just up to us to live by it. ...and love, His love, learning how to love others, learning to cherish the Body, learning that we have an incredible family though we be so diverse in personalities and background and many other things. But we are a family, knitted together, drawn together by God’s holy spirit.

...and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appoint us to wrath, to judgment, to be a part of the judgment that’s going to come on this world, but to come through it. ...but to obtain salvation by our Lord Joshua the Christ.

[1] https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2019/12/03/north-korea-entirely-up-to-the-u-s-what-christmas-gift-it-will-select-to-get/

[2] https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/12/03/farage-nato-eu-army-cannot-coexist/

1. Chapter 1