The Greatest Means, Pt. 4

Ronald Weinland

April 4, 2020

On this weekend of a Church wide fast we are now continuing with the series entitled The Greatest Means. This is Part 4 on the fourth month, of the fourth day. So not any significance, probably, but you never know. Anyway, I just thought I’d throw that out there; couldn’t pass it up. But this is Part 4 of The Greatest Means.

It was stated in each of the previous parts of this series the greatest means we have of drawing closer to God and of becoming far more prepared and ready for the kinds of events that are building up in this world—and again, this is what we’ve been admonished in for concerning the fast at this time—and it’s all a matter of preparation, that we be spiritually prepared, that we be mentally prepared, that we be physically prepared, that we do our part in preparing for the things that are coming.

And right now they seem to be ramped up a little bit, obviously, speeded up a little bit, although we still don’t know the exact timing of things, which I’ll probably mention as we continue on here. We still have to plan ahead in our lives but also be prepared for whenever things do begin.

So again, this was a fast with special purpose and understanding, a desire that we have, a blessing we’ve been given with knowledge of certain things that are going to come to pass on this earth. And we’ve been given understanding of many things. Because we went through a lot even going back to 2009 when some of the sermon, when we were getting ready for that two day fast.

Someone I was talking last week thought that maybe I was talking about having a three day fast. I hope none of you are doing that because it didn’t call for that. But because of what I said, I was referring back to Esther and that we had a two day fast and wouldn’t do a third day fast because of that in scripture, not in any way taking from that, what was done at that particular time in history. But talking about this one today that kind of adds on to those two days so we do have three days, we just had a nice break in between.

As we’ve been doing in the start of all these different sections, the different parts of this sermon series we have started in the book of Joel. I want to read those again because they’re very powerful in what is being said. Someone mentioned that (I don’t remember the exact year now), when Mr. Armstrong gave a sermon that... Was it in the 80’s? 82 possibly. But anyway, this individual had it in their notes about when this was given and it was in Joel and reminded her of this. But sharing that and talking about how that he was wondering at that time because of what the Church and the world was going through at that time, but the Church wondering if this wasn’t a matter of something that was being fulfilled at that particular time.

And the reality is there are scriptures throughout the Bible that for the Church there are things that have been done at different times as a type of and preparing for the actual fulfillment of something. So this is not uncommon that these things or things like this have happened in the Church at different times. And it’s all part of a process of preparing people, of working with the Church, of molding and fashioning and of their mindset and their thinking toward God.

And so some have entered into different kinds of fasts at different times, and I’m sure there are other eras of the Church at times when they’ve read this that thought the same kind of things and preparing. Everyone from the time of Christ on has been looking forward to the time of his return.

And so this is not uncommon, to think like this, it’s just that we know where we are in time and the things that have taken place on the earth for preparation for what is happening and has happened. We recognize now that we’re at that time, the Apostasy has taken place.

So we live in different way than the rest have because we realize we’re getting closer and closer. But all through time here people have been looking for his return. And that’s why Paul was inspired to give the prophecies in 2 Thessalonians that he did, and then John addressed various things late on around the 90 A.D’s and about the antichrist and antichrist’s that were already within the Church, things that were taking place and explained those things in a spiritual plane.

But again, Joel 1:14—Sanctify a fast. Again, I love these expressions. When you think about them, “sanctify,” “set apart for holy use and purpose.” And so our fast was set apart for a holy use and purpose so that God can mold and fashion us, so that we can humble ourselves. Because it takes humility to draw closer to God. It takes humility to look deep into our lives, to search out sin, to ask God to reveal things to us that we can’t see. And then when we are beginning to think in a wrong way, as we grow and mature God begins to help us to catch those things even before we do them sometimes, or as we’re doing them or soon after or quickly afterwards so that we can repent and begin to have the mind changed so that we can become more at one with Him. And that’s a process of being transformed. And fasting is a great boost to that kind of desire if we have that kind of a desire.

So this is a unique fast being spoken of because it’s taking about here something that must be proclaimed or called within the Church, in essence because it says, call (proclaim) a sacred assembly. Again, setting apart for holy use and purpose, an assembly, and we’re doing it into the Sabbath at some portion here of our fast. I’m sure everyone has done that, obviously, in order to accomplish this, unless it was all done yesterday, which is fine too because we mentioned the three days that you could be involved in this, or even tomorrow. But again here, it’s for a great purpose. We’re all doing it together in approximately the same time period of a weekend, if you will, and it has great meaning and it has great meaning between each one of us and God.

Gather the elders of the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Eternal your God. And so we think about that for us. We realize here that it wasn’t a matter of the elders of that time in the Old Testament and how that was being spoken of and looked up and put in a terminology that they would better understand during those times, of what it meant for the leaders and so forth that would be called together.

Now we realize or understand that it’s a spiritual thing for the Church and those who are a part, who have been a part or a part of the Body of Christ, who are a part of the temple.

And so it goes to say then, and cry out to the Eternal. And alas for the day! For the day of the Eternal is at hand (it’s near). Well, there has never been a time that has been nearer in the sense of understanding what this is all about. Joel is about the end of an age. It is about the kind of judgment that God is going to bring this earth under at this time, all of mankind, in order to end one period of mankind and give mankind an opportunity to live into another one under the rule of the Kingdom of God and not man’s rule.

And so we live at that juncture in time and this is what it’s talking about. “Alas for the day!” When it happens it’s going to be catastrophic. It’s going to happen over all the earth. It’s going to happen throughout the nations of the earth. And so that’s what this is all about; and it’s about a fast then to be included in preparation for those things and thinking about those things, that we be of a right spirit and a right mind before God as it comes.

For the day of the Eternal is at hand. It will come as destruction from the Almighty. So when it begins God is having His say in the timing and the kinds of events that are taking place, the things that have to do with Thunders. When God gives charge to accomplish various things on the earth they’re going to happen, they’re going to take place. We set back and we watch some of those things, we strive to be prepared for as many of those things as we can. And once they happen we strive to understand them and to live within them in a right mind toward God and toward one another and toward the world around us. And so that’s what we’re striving to do now.

“It will come as destruction from the Almighty.” And we understand the process here, that it just gets worse and worse and worse, and once the first four Trumpet events begin to take place then they’re going to dumbfound this world.

If you think the world has fear right now, it doesn’t have anything. It’s meager, it’s minor in comparison. It can’t even... It can hardly even be compared to it, as to what is ahead. And I’m thankful that we can have something like this to prepare us even more and to help prepare the world.

Because just as some have noted recently, it’s a good observation that by God’s mercy because of something like this, it’s a merciful thing that people are starting to stock up. Because otherwise they wouldn’t be and there would be far more destruction and far more quickly. So I look at it as a means, as a matter of something that is, in one respect, a matter of people becoming sobered and being blessed in the midst of very difficult times if they will take note and strive to do some of those things and realizing these are not normal times.

Is not the food cut off before your eyes, the joy and gladness from the house of our God? And so we’re experiencing that right now. We are experiencing that right now! I think of how incredible it is to have a fast like this right now at this time in the midst of something that was being planned and looked forward to for some time before a lot of this came to the point that it had, that we would be coming up to something like this, as far as the sermon series, as far as what was going to be covered, and then things happening in the world in the manner that they have and helping us then to focus even more deeply on what is here.

So again, we understand that each of us in this time of fasting is, and hopefully every one of us did that, because this was mentioned last week as well, turn to God with all of our heart, in that respect, in fasting, to rend our hearts and not our garments. That’s what you do in a fast like this. It’s a time to—I’ve already mentioned it—it’s a time to examine ourselves, it’s a time to cry out to God that we want to be in greater unity and oneness with Him.

So we’re going to pick up from last week a few verses that we were covering there in Hebrews 3 and then continue on from there. So we’ll pick that up again in Hebrews 3 and complete Hebrews now.

Hebrews 3:10—Therefore I was grieved with that generation. And I mentioned too how God has been grieved with His own people, His own Church at times, especially leading up to the Apostasy and then after the Apostasy, and then after people have had the opportunity in many cases of being plucked out of the fire as a branding iron, as it talks about in scripture, and the opportunity to be awakened, to be a part of a remnant, and then to do what they did before again, to fall back asleep, to pull away, to resist what God was giving. And those things are mind boggling.

So again here, we’re to think about how we can grieve God – not just the world, not just things that God has seen different ones go through at different times.

But it says here, going on, grieved with that generation and said they constantly are erring in their heart, or they are constantly erring in their heart. It’s just the way of mankind to resist God. And God’s own people even, obviously.

...and they have not known My ways. Well, in the Church we have and that makes us unique, in that respect, and those who continue on in the Church, those who seek to honor God, to please God, to put God first in their life, if that’s their goal and motivation in life and their desire in their heart is to build unto God what God desires us to build and how to build, and so forth, and we’re following those admonitions, you know, God works with us.

But as far as the world is concerned, as far as Ancient Israel or those who speak of the God of Israel, who speak of Christ and yet they’re deceived, they don’t understand, they don’t grasp their history of what’s taken place through time, and don’t understand God’s plan, that God has a plan of time that He calls people but even with that knowledge they have it’s a physical kind of thing. It’s not spiritual by any measure. And then human nature tends to change the things that are given. If there is something that should be clear it’s twisted and distorted because human nature resists it and doesn’t like it.

So He said, I swore in My wrath that they shall not enter into My rest. So speaking of Israel and how Israel responded to God. And understanding this is all part of a plan anyway but it’s there to teach us, it’s there to teach mankind that a nation by itself being led by God, a physical nation, isn’t enough. Even a Church being led by God as long as we’re in this body isn’t enough. Regardless of what size we grow the capacity, the ability to rebel, the ability to turn against God is always there, and that’s why it’s constant within the Church. “Many have been called and few are chosen.”

So He said, I swore in My wrath that they shall not enter into My rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief... So now, that’s to us, that we strive to make certain that we’re in agreement with what God gives us. And if there is anything that we have disagreement or doubt about, especially in that we need to cry out to God to help us to see. Because the problem isn’t with the truth that God has given and the manner in which He’s given it and through whom He’s given it, the problem is going to be with each one of us. Because we’re in a time where God’s working in a unique way, and hopefully, I think mostly all understand that and respond to that because it’s a matter of how God works. It’s a matter of how God functions and then judges.

...but exhort... Again, I love that word because it talks about “to call beside; to encourage and exhort; to strongly encourage someone to do something,” to be there for people. And so again here, to hang in there, to do what we need to do, to hold fast. Just being in touch with each other at a time like this now is important more than ever.

And so again here it says but exhort one another daily, while it is called today, so that none of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. So again, there are times that when someone isn’t thinking in the way they should, there’s a time when someone isn’t doing what they should, that if someone else is around that environment and sees that they need to speak up. It’s not a time to be silent. Everyone has a responsibility in that, to do it in a right way, to ask God to help to know how to do it. It’s the matter of going to a brother alone.

So going on here it says, For we are made partakers of Christ. What an incredible thing, inheritors of the inheritance, if you will, with Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. And that’s what it’s all about. It’s holding on to what God has given to us with all of our being.

Hebrews 3 now in going on, Verse 15—While it is said, Today if you will hear His voice harden not your hearts as in the rebellion (the provocation). For who, having heard, did provoke? In other words, this word means “to rebel; did rebel.” Been much rebellion over time. It’s just the way of human nature. And been much rebellion within God’s Church. It’s always rebellion for those who are not chosen. “Many are called but few are chosen.” So what happened to the majority, the many? Well, there’s been rebellion. That’s all it is.

For who, having heard, did rebel? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt by Moses? It’s showing here the process of God leading them out of Egypt. Then he says, But with whom was He grieved forty years? So again, talking about that time when they were in the wilderness. Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?

So God’s making it really clear here His power to bless, His power to punish, His power to say no, His power, in essence, at what’s going to happen it’s going to be a curse. What is not a blessing is a curse because if we’re left to our own ends, to our own means it’s not going to go well. And many have gone down that course.

And so it’s just making it real clear here that God had the power during that period of time that those who died in the wilderness, those who were not going to be allowed to go in the promised land, God made sure there wasn’t a one out of the tens of thousands, into the hundreds of thousands that didn’t go into the promised land.

And I’m struck by that because I realize even within the remnant Church even more so. There are going to be some who are just not going to be allowed to continue on. There is going to come a point here in some individual’s life where God says no, no more, you’re not responding, you’re not doing as you should. It’s not going to be a matter of just being disfellowshipped. Because there are going to be some who are going to continue right up to the edge of the end before everything comes to a close here and Christ returns, that the answer is going to be no.

What does that mean? Well, just like them – they died in the wilderness. And that’s a reality of life. It’ll be the Great White Throne judgment. And that should sober everybody. That should sober every individual, to realize “I want this way of life. I desire to live in that period of time. I desire to be a part of that process that takes place as the world begins to change, as God’s government comes upon this earth.” I mean, what an incredible thing to witness, to see. What a horrible thing to have had the opportunity and then to wake up a thousand years later and to be taught it as a part of history. Talk about weeping and gnashing of teeth, regret. Incredible!

But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter into His rest, but to those who did not obey? That’s what it boils down to. And so where there is sin we have to repent. And so this has been a time period to focus more upon that than ever before in our lives, to be more truthful and genuine before God, and to seek that help, to seek that ability to be drawn to repentance, and then to repent, and then the change that must follow, to seek to be something different.

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And that’s really what it all boils down to. It’s a matter of not believing what God gives. Somewhere in something there is something going on where individuals come to a point where they just don’t believe what is being given, what God has given to them. Even in matters of punishment, as a matter of not deserving certain things. God doesn’t want to do those things but He’s not going to allow certain things to take place either. It wouldn’t be right. It isn’t just. God is just. And so nothing is owed to us and if we love what God offers us then we have to grab on to it with all of our being. It has to be all of our heart.

Hebrews 4:1—Therefore, let us fear so a promise being left us of entering His rest, that any of you seem to come short of it. So a strong admonition and still an admonition being given even now, obviously in the Church, that we take these kinds of things to heart. We don’t want to fall short of what God is offering us by any measure.

So even that which is secret that we can’t see in our minds, that which is hidden from us that we still don’t see, you have to cry out to God to ask to reveal those things so that you can be changed, so that you can come to change and utilize this period of time and the days of Unleavened Bread and Passover that’s coming up because that’s what it’s all about.

For the gospel was preached unto us as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. So again, we understand the matter of being able to believe, to know the truth, and then the choice to live by it is a matter of faith, and to grasp the blessings God has given to us.

So it’s a matter of, again, rending our hearts before God, a desire to be at one with God and to build unto God with all of our heart that which is right.

Anyway, Isaiah 58. It gets down here now to Isaiah here talking about fasting and we’re going to jump ahead now to some of that. But we covered some very important points regarding the kind of fast that we’re being encouraged to focus upon at this time. We did that back in January of 2009 when we had that two-day fast and we’re going to review some of what was given at that particular time, what was covered, because it’s apropos, it’s about fasting. But especially considering what Joel has to say that’s why we’re going to cover come of this again.

It’s hard to talk about fasting without going through some of this. It says, Isaiah 58:1—Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet and show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Well, the only place that really works, as a whole, is within the Church, within the realm of those whom God calls. Because others will not listen, they will not hear. So that’s a unique situation to be in. And we live at a time though now that I can’t grasp it fully, I can’t imagine it fully, but God is going to begin to work with this world.

It’s already started, especially with this that’s going on right now. This is a part of the process. It’s a part of a process to sober mankind, to humble mankind and it’s just going... This kind of thing has to continue on. It’s something that has to continue on until we come to the end of this. And not getting better but getting worse as time goes on, whatever that time is.

Whether it be quick behind this or whether it be a point in time here where this actually becomes worse—because it has the potential of doing that, as I’ll read some articles, just some headlines here in a moment—of things that we don’t even know what’s coming down the pike yet. We don’t know how things are going to come but they’re going to come.

And so it’s going to be very hard on people. It’s going to be very hard on the world. And it’s all for the purpose of humbling people. We are willingly humbling ourselves before God because He’s taught us, He’s shown us the need to do so, and draws us to that. The world, not like that.

When I started talking about this a moment ago I couldn’t help but think about each one of us, as a whole, when we’re called there is some place in our life or through our life or in different phases of our life where God begins to work with us to humble us so that we have a desire then to come out of this world, a desire to be separated from it, a desire to receive what God has for us. And everyone goes through that process in a different manner. Some have more to go through depending on where they are. If God’s going to draw someone out of the world it can be a whole lot different situation than God drawing someone and working with someone who has perhaps grown up within the environment of the Church. So there are different things all of us go through.

But if you’re drawn out of the world a person has to be humbled first because by nature no one will listen to God. And so whatever you have to go through. And that’s the purpose of all that we’re getting ready to go through. It’s the purpose before God will pour out His spirit on people to give them insight and understanding, they have to go through this first, because it is a matter of drawing the world. Just like out of Egypt, but for us it’s spiritual Egypt, so if we can understand the spiritual Egypt part there are things that the world has to go through and it’s horrifying.

It’s hard to find words the kind of things that people are going to have to experience, the kind of death that’s going to exist, the kind of hardship that’s going to exist. And yet it’s going to take that to humble people so that people will begin on a more massive scale to receive what God wants to give to them. Because that’s what will save them. That’s what can help them.

And they have to come to a point where they’re being removed from the knowledge and the ways of man doing things, mankind, to a desire to see something that is different and beginning to understand it, to begin to see what is true.

So I marvel at that incredible process that God is getting ready to take the world through and that He’s starting to do right now. It’s just it’s going to take a whole lot more. And that’s what’s hard. It’s going to take a whole lot more. But at some points along the way here God’s going to begin drawing different ones, opening up minds in a unique way.

It reminds me of the chapters we’re going through right now in the book. I’ve changed chapters again. Chapter 9 has now become Chapter 8. Chapter 8 is now becoming Chapter 9 because number eight wasn’t complete like it needed to be. And that’s been good for me because I’ve had to address some things that take me back to the first book that bring me into a context of what God is doing and why God is doing it.

Because no one can be compelled, no one can, in the sense of any sense of force or anything like that. It’s a matter of being able to come to see things on one’s own because of humility. Because if everything around you that you’ve relied upon doesn’t save you, if none of those things can help you then by one’s own thinking and one’s own thought process there is a desire to survive, for most. There is a desire to reach out and ask for help. And that takes a lot of humility. To embrace something so different as the truth, the Church, that separates people totally from what they’ve always believed, is not an easy process. And so it takes a lot to shake people into reality.

And that’s what God is starting to do. But it’s a humbling process. Now, how long that humbling process is going to be? Part of my fast has been if there is any way, hope and pray it isn’t for a long time for everyone’s sake within the Church and within the world. But always reminded in all of that along the way “Nevertheless, not my will but Yours be done.” Because that’s what it boils down to.

Because God knows what it takes to bring people to that point in time where on a massive scale He can work with more and be able then to pour out His spirit and people will receive it more willingly so. And so God knows how much human beings have to go through even for the teaching that must take place during the Millennium and the Great White Throne.

I was thinking about that yesterday, this matter of what is so solid and true in scripture about one third. That God is going to allow that amount of destruction for man to do to himself just by war and maybe tied together with what’s taking place now. Added all together and by the time it’s all said and done, by the time we get down to the end of the Sixth Trumpet, if you will, the events of the Sixth Trumpet, that by that time before God will begin to intervene a third of everything is destroyed. And that’s a horrifying thing but it’s going to take that to shock this world.

God knows exactly what it’s going to take to bring mankind to the point they need to be. We don’t know. We don’t understand that. And so we go forward knowing that God knows and desiring to be of the same mind, to be of the same will knowing that there is a purpose being worked out regardless of what we have to go through. That’s not what it’s about. God will bless us and bring us through.

Doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. There are going to be some difficult things. But it’s nothing compared to what the world is going through without hope, without knowledge, without understanding, and without God’s favor and mercy and intervention in their life. Because for many it won’t be there; for the third it just definitely won’t be there.

So again, people are going to learn from what God has done now at the end of 6,000 years, throughout the Millennium, and then even more so for those resurrected in the Great White Throne to grasp history and what brought people to that point in time, a second physical life.

So God’s plan is so incredible; it’s so awesome and we’re ever learning from it. And so regardless of what we go through there is much to learn through all this and fasting is a great tool in doing that.

So it says here, again, Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet and show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me daily, as to delight to know in My ways, and as if a nation that did righteousness. Well, speaking of Israel and the things that people go through that use God’s name. Today it’s using God’s name and Christ’s name (with a different name attached to it that we’ve been freed from), but still there is that which has an appearance that isn’t genuine.

Don’t know how to express all this but I was thinking the other day as well here about I am so thankful that God is genuine. Everything about God is right, just, genuine, honest. That’s what He desires to see in those whom He calls. He wants us to be of a genuine spirit. Not put on, not fake. Because anything that isn’t right, anything that isn’t genuine and true, and thank God indeed that He is as He is, the kind of love He has, the kind of mercy He has, the kind of being He is, and it’s all genuine in every way. It’s beautiful.

And we have the choice then to come into harmony with that, the unity. But we don’t see that in the world. So here are people who approach to God... Now, they can’t help it. They’re in bondage. But this is what they do by nature. Mankind is always without God, has always refused Him, has always resisted Him.

And so this is talking about that kind of process even when God worked with them as a nation and saw all the things that they saw in the wilderness, as an example, and then going into the promised land and then how God blessed David and the time of Solomon. They witnessed different things.

But again, still the approach to God has always been, as a whole, with people, with unconverted minds, is this kind of... Well, it’s fake. How do you express something like that? We see it in the Protestant world. We see it in traditional Christianity because it’s not based on that which is true and genuine, therefore, it’s fake, therefore, it’s just not genuine. How do you express that differently?

And because of that then there is an air about it and oftentimes an arrogance about it as well and everybody feeling like they’re doing the right thing, that they’re right, others are wrong. Even amongst themselves they fully disagree. So anyway, on and on it goes, human nature.

So, “They seek Me daily.” So, those who do. Because that’s not even done very much in this world today. But there are some who go through routines, who have more of a mindset because that’s what they grew up with and they’ve memorized, they’ve learned these things, that their minds have become that. It doesn’t even matter what kind of religion around the world it is. If someone is deeply engrained in from their youth as a child and they grow up in a family, in an environment that has the custom of going down and putting out a carpet and going down on it five times a day, they grow up with that, then five times a day they will do it for the rest of their life. They learn this. And on and on it goes.

If someone learns to and they see a parent doing beads on a regular occasion and then they’ll grow up doing those kinds of things. As a whole – not always in this age, in this (so called) modern world where knowledge is so on the internet and everything else like it is and people make their own choices and decisions and have moved away from things they’ve learned at home. But in many societies that are closer knit, in that respect, they learn those things and do them. So they’re in bondage to these things.

“They seek Me daily, as to delight to know My ways, and as a nation that did righteousness.” So they go through the motions of this but it’s not real. We understand that. We don’t lift up ourselves and think ourselves better because of it because we were there. That was our mind, as a whole, for most. And the reality is we realize that’s not right. But we don’t judge them; we don’t look down upon them. We look forward to the time...

And that should be a part of our thinking during a fast like this and what it says in Joel. A part of our heart and a part of our mind should be toward those around us and what they have to go through to get to that point.

What I went through in having my jaw broken, having flipped a car over end over end two and a half times or whatever it was, having a best friend killed in Vietnam, and some other things that I’ve already mentioned in times past. Going through all those things took me to a point where... I’ve used the expression “being hit on the side of a head with a 4 x 4,” talking about like a fence post that’s about yea big around, or not necessarily round, but it’s supposed to be squared off to 4 inches. Anyway, that’s what I’m talking about when getting hit up the head just wham. In some ways that’s kind of what it was when I got my jaw broken in two places; felt like a 4 x 4.

But anyway, sometimes that’s what it takes to get our attention. And if we have to be humbled by that process so be it, whatever it takes to humble us. And so we realize the world is going to go through a horrible process but on a massive way all over the world because of what God is getting ready to do. He’s preparing for a new age, a new kingdom to be on this earth. And to do that and to teach mankind what mankind must come to know – that every one of your systems failed. Everything you’ve ever tried, every government, every economy, every religion, everything you’ve done has failed you.

And to top it all off now, given enough time you will destroy yourself. Even if not by nuclear war we’re well on our way to destroying this earth. It’s a process that each generation just gets worse and worse. You think of the oceans that are just littered and filled with garbage. After a while where do you put everything? All the waste? And mankind is so wasteful and doesn’t care. Anyway, it’s so disgusting, so sick, this world is.

And that’s what we look forward to, a change. And so again, a lot of this has to do with our thinking and our judgment toward others.

So again, as a nation that did righteousness, that was not forsaking the ordinance of God. As they ask Me for justice; they take delight in approaching to God. So oftentimes there is this... Even when you see people talking about it on TV there is like there is this delight. But you know it’s not real because we know what’s real and that gives us an ability to see something, to judge something from a different perspective because we know what that is. They don’t know. I feel for them.

And so they get caught up in these kinds of things and they see that yes, people could be better off in the world if they would hold on to... If you strive to live a better life, if you strive to live by certain principles that are in scripture, and people try to do that in their own way by what they... The more you strive to live better toward others the better the world is going to be.

So there are others who just don’t care, obviously, and don’t believe in those things and doing those things and look what happens as a result. I think of how far the liberal mind goes and more away and some of the garbage that goes on in the thinking and the distortion of thinking that takes place.

And so in some respects though it’s not balanced still, that which tends to be more conservative and wants to have a better relationship within families, to have a better home life, they genuinely desire to have certain things but don’t know how to receive it because it’s a matter of living God’s way and they don’t have that yet. One day they’re going to learn it.

So how blessed are we that we have it now? And so the things that they do that they don’t understand are done more having to do with self and how people think and things drawn to self and attention to self. Because oftentimes when people start talking about it it’s like feeling better about themselves and lifting self up, but the human mind, it’s hard for people to see that. And to say something like that to someone? Whew! Don’t do it.

So even at this time here there are those in traditional Christianity who are also out for a, they’re talking about, calling out for a need to fast at this time. They’ve been talking about this in the last week or so. And so different churches, different groups are encouraging fasting and praying more during this pandemic crisis. But what they pray for is different from what we’re praying for and that’s what we need to see.

And this is a good time to address some of those things in this kind of a context because we can see how people have a fear; they have had things stripped away from them, freedoms, movement, family. There are things that people just can’t do right now. And indeed, it is bad out there if you think about what is taking place. Other things are bad too, and I’ll mention that as we go along here.

But this is different. There is something in the minds of people now around the world that is above and beyond... Let’s just put it this way, it’s not normal. There are other things going on now and there are things taking place that God is allowing so that people can begin to experience certain fears, so they can begin to experience certain things here and begin to think, begin to react to different things that are taking place. And so almost, as it were, a bit of a preparation for something that’s going to be worse. Because that’s what’s going to take place as we go along.

That doesn’t mean that this country or some countries aren’t going to have the ability (because we don’t know yet) to have a reprieve for a little while – maybe a year or two. We don’t know. We don’t know the timing involved here. Things could be happening soon. They could be happening longer. But whatever it is it’s in God’s control. God is in control of it. Whatever is best for this transition in time God is in control of. And what is taking place now is a very large part of all this because what it taking place is not normal, and indeed, as it talks about in some of these scriptures, you know, God’s in charge. That’s what it boils down to.

God is bringing this world to this point in time. There are things He’s going to allow a demonic world to do, Satan to do as He has through time as a part of helping to teach, eventually, in looking back so that people can learn from it just as we do when we go through various things that have happened throughout time as far as the Bible is concerned, as far as God’s people is concerned and so forth, as far as even the Church in Philadelphia and Laodicea. All those things we can learn from and God knows how to mold and fashion us and give us those things that we need.

So He knows; we don’t. It’s a matter of seeking His will, seeking to be in unity with Him and understanding these things have to come to pass. It’s of great necessity. It can’t happen in any other way. If there was another way then God would do it, if there was a more merciful, more loving way. This is the loving way. This is the most merciful way that mankind can be dealt with. And that is something that sometimes we have to work on.

I think of when we first went through some of this, going back to 2008 and on, because at that time I saw within many a lack of understanding and appreciation of such a thing and not understanding, not being in a fully agreement with God. It’s almost like something could be done differently. No. It. Can’t. This is the best way. God is almighty. He knows what it takes to work with a the human mind, especially on a massive scale around the world in order to bring His government to a world that’s ready to receive it, to go from one age into another.

This is not a small thing. This is far beyond our comprehension and we are to learn from it. We’re to see and learn as we go through all this and we will be blessed accordingly.

So again, there are those who are praying, but again, for different purposes through all this. They’re praying and fasting that it be removed because they’ve had family, they’ve had... You know, you see these things on TV every once in a while where someone is standing out from a window and there’s a grandmother, a grandfather, or different ones in a window from a home because they can’t have visitors. They’re trying to protect them and so they stand out and do these... So you see these different things on TV of what people are trying to do to encourage each other. And you’ve got to hand it to them in one respect, but on another you realize this is going to be so short lived. And they don’t know anything yet. They don’t grasp.

You know, there’s going to come a time... Because right now people can still go out to the grocery store and get food off the shelves. They really can’t grasp, and it’s hard for us, too, to grasp there is going to come a time here, not too distant future here, maybe soon, maybe a little farther, and people aren’t going to be able to do that. Semi’s aren’t going to be able to go up and down the highway. Jets aren’t going to be able to carry supplies in from one area to another. We’re going to have a time when most everything like that is brought to a screeching halt. And then how will people respond? How are they going to react?

Because this is minor. This is meager compared to what’s getting ready to happen. No water. No electricity. Right now people still  have this social media thing. Internet; they still have internet. They have electricity. Can you imagine when all of a sudden there is no Skyping, no Facetime, none of these kinds of programs that people are able to use to be in touch with each other and many restricted to homes and in fear in ways that we haven’t begun to see yet?

So this is what our fasting is about – that our hearts go out to them, that we realize what they’re getting ready to go through. And sometimes it’s hard for us to even know what to pray for and how to pray but we’re to learn from it and we’re to strive to do the best we can in that process with our heart going out to others realizing it’s going to be a very difficult time to go through.

Because we’re going to go through some hard things but we have it made, in that respect. No matter what it is that awaits us we’ve been given a giant head start. The ability to see things and understand things that some of them are going to so rejoice in when their minds are opened up to see it, to finally say, “Now I get it,” and change their life totally. Thousands, millions, billions.

So I thought I’d use this point here to read some more news articles as I’ve done here in the others as well. It’s amazing here, of what’s going on in the midst of all this that’s molding and fashioning and shaping the world for things that are coming, for people to do the kinds of things... It’s almost like they’re being manoeuvred around right now to get ready more so than they have been.

Because so much has been set in place already as far as nations and attitudes that are there, but now it’s being ramped up, now it’s getting real, now it’s coming out in the open. And it’s that kind of thing that causes people to react and to respond. And a lot of that response, obviously, is not going to be good.

This one here, it says, “European leaders warn coronavirus could lead to the breakup of their union”[1] Now, we don’t know what’s going to happen to the union fully, but we do know that there are going to be ten nations at the end who come together and do what they’re going to do. It doesn’t mean that there were ten nations from the beginning or all along the way, in any fashion or form. Because Mr. Armstrong was given to know and to see certain things that were going to come to pass as far as having a common European government, the coin, the currency that they have, the Euro, and to have those things as a part of what exists today now in the military, that they have finally come together. Indeed, uniquely so, nine, ten nations; there’s back and forth in some of that. But they’re planted there. They’re there. The framework is there for it.

And now these things are shaking the tree for a purpose, to bring to pass what’s been written already, to bring to pass those things that have to come to pass as far as ten toes mired in clay with iron that just aren’t very cohesive but have great power to do what they’re going to do when they finally agree. And that’s a marvel to see how all that’s coming together. And there is no better way to describe it.

So again here, Europe has concerns right now, the Europeans have concern because of what this...I should say, what the response to this virus has done, because of how it’s sweeping the earth, in that respect. It’s massive. It’s deadly. It’s killed a lot of people. It’s going to kill a lot more. And we don’t know how far this is going to go. It could get a whole lot worse. It could begin to level out. But you think some of these things, what’s going to prevent it from coming back again differently, stronger? And that’s what people don’t know.

So there are a lot of unknowns in all this and that’s what helps to humble people, to cause people to have greater fear. And that’s going to become more a reality as time goes along.

So something as basic and as simple as this happening around the world that’s taking place is a stimulus of bringing certain things to pass. That’s where we are.

“BERLIN — The coronavirus pandemic, with its simultaneous health and economic crises, is deepening fault lines within Europe in a way some leaders fear could prove to be a final reckoning.

The cohesion of the European Union had been battered by Brexit, bruised by the political fallout from the 2015 migration surge and the 2008 financial crisis, and challenged by rising autocracy in the east that runs contrary to the professed ideals of the European project.

Now, if Europe’s leaders cannot chart a more united course, the project lies in what one of its architects described this week as “mortal danger.”

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the response among European Union member states showed that national interests trump more-altruistic European ideals. Border restrictions were reimposed haphazardly, and Germany and France threw up export bans on medical equipment such as masks and ventilators, even as Italy clamored for assistance.

Quick to capitalize were the propaganda machines of Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have swept in with much-trumpeted — if sometimes defective — medical aid, pushing a savior narrative and providing fodder for the region’s Euroskeptics.”

So there’s a lot going on over there right now and it’s not pleasant. It’s not good. Just as there is a lot going on here. But over there it’s, in one respect, more so because of what it’s going to lead to.

“E.U. countries have begun to coordinate their efforts to procure supplies, and they have sent more aid to hard-hit Italy than China has. But the past week has seen a reemergence of a north-south rift over how to handle the economic response. The union is also being pulled east and west, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used emergency powers to effectively suspend democracy, riding roughshod over Europe’s basic principles of the rule of law.”

So again here, there are things happening over there that are changing the thinking of people and governments doing things that they might not normally have the ability to do that they’re doing now. Just like what’s taking place here. People will go along with certain things to a point but some become stronger in what they have to say. Just like in South Africa. Basically, they have a kind of a martial law right down there taking place right now and the government and some of the shut downs and things that are taking place there with the military.

So different countries respond in different ways and that causes a response then from people.

Anyway, another one here. I wanted to read part of this one here too. The headline is here, “'Do or die': There's only one way for EU to avoid breakup amidst COVID-19 recession”[2]

Says, “Twelve years after the 2008 global economic crisis the future of the European bloc is in question again as the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep internal divisions at a time when a common solution is needed, economic observers say, predicting the potential demise of the EU.”

Well, we know that’s not going to happen. We know at the end there is still going to be ten regardless of what happens. Regardless of the numbers that have come up to this point in time there will be ten at the end. That’s what prophecy is about.

“On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron warned EU member states that the coronavirus crisis may shatter the pillars of the bloc and bring an end to the no-border Schengen Zone unless the countries in the union demonstrate solidarity.

"What’s at stake is the survival of the European project", Macron told his fellow EU leaders during a conference call on 26 March. "The risk we are facing is the death of Schengen".”

Now, I’m not sure I’m pronouncing it right, but I think I am. But anyway, the point being is they’re being forced into a corner, in one respect, because of what’s taking place. This is pushing it a little faster because of what’s taken place, otherwise it would take longer for this to happen.

So to me, in one respect, this is not a bad thing because I desire to get through all this. I desire that it be over with. I desire to see the world come under one government, under God’s government. But that’s in God’s time. So I see things speeding up now and people being forced into situations that otherwise couldn’t happen.

Because they... There are certain ones there that have wanted a federal government, a federalized government, if you will, like the United States—the United States of Europe—and to survive and to have the kind of power that it really needs to exercise it really has to have that. And people are resisting that. And this gets into some of that.

So there are some incredible things taking place prophetically here that I hope we’re alert to. Not just reading headlines but understanding this is part of a process being fit into place here, of pushing people, pushing nations closer to what’s going to inevitably take place here.

Soon or far, we don’t know how far. We don’t know. We keep looking and seeking to be prepared ourselves, but please know that something has begun here that is totally unique and different than it ever has been and we’re witnessing it. It’s like that front row seat. I’m not so glad in some respects that I’m on the front row anymore. I’d kind of like to get back up there toward back in the balcony up there and watch it. But you know we’ve been told, in one respect, yeah, we have that. But we do see and we understand it in ways that no one else can.

So anyway, under the topic here, “'Failure of Basic Principles of EU Integration' On 17 March, European leaders announced that they had agreed to shut the EU’s external borders down for 30 days in a bid to slow the coronavirus spread. However, 14 of the bloc's 27 members have closed their internal borders either completely or partially thus throwing the EU no-border concept into question.”

So who’s in charge? And that’s the problem. Who has the say? That’s the problem.

“Likewise, EU member states have failed to reach a compromise on debt-sharing amid the COVID-19-driven economic slowdown. Nine EU countries, namely, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, and Slovenia are urging the union to issue so-called "corona bonds", i.e. a common debt instrument aimed at raising funds on the market. The so-called "Frugal Four" - Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland - are resisting the measure.”

I’m going to read something in a little bit that explains some of this reasoning and what’s taking place here but this is shaking things up over there. This is going to shake out other nations from the system and there will be ten at the end. That’s what’s taking place. Where ten will be united and have their say, very powerfully so. So these things are happening and we’re watching it, prophecy coming to pass right in front of our eyes in a very powerful way.

I hope I have all that written down here. If I don’t I’ll capture it later here. But anyway, different articles. Just the headlines say it all sometimes in some of this news that I’m just going through some of these because I think it’s good to point some of these things out. What’s taking place is unprecedented. What’s taking place is prophetic. What’s taking place does have to do with the very end of the end-time here of thrusting us forward.

So prayerfully, we’re really getting close. Whether it be this year? I don’t see how it can be but I know that God can do it. I hope and pray that it can happen that way in the sense of what my desire is, my own desire. But it’s, again, whatever God’s will, whatever we must go through. If we must go through three more years, seven, I don’t care. Whatever we have to go through, whatever is best for preparing for God’s kingdom to govern this earth that’s what we’re about. We’re about being at one with God. And that’s what our prayers and this kind of a fast is about. It’s about a desire of our minds having the will to be of God’s will, a desire in our heart to be of God’s will, to be in agreement and unity and oneness with what He is doing.

Because everything is in His control. Everything that’s taking place is being allowed or done by God. And that’s what it’s about. It’s about a process here where He’s in charge and these things are taking place according to His will. That’s exactly what’s taking place.

So again, our prayers are different in how we pray about what’s going to come to pass, what’s going to come to pass on the world. My hope and desire is that we don’t have to have a long period of time for humbling. Mine was relatively fast when I was called. Some are long. It depends on people. It depends on situations. It depends on what happens to us. But I hope and pray, in many respects... My desire would be indeed that it be short.

But if it has to be longer, so be it because I know then that that’s right and I know its right with God. And we’re going to be there, we’re going to keep moving forward. If it’s longer I hope and pray that we’re going to have the ability to come back together for periods of time here before it’s over with. I hope and pray it’s not just by this means to the end. But if it is, so be it, not my will but God’s be done. We’re going to do what we need to do because it’s about God and what God is doing and we learn from watching and seeing.

So if there is a point in time here where things seem like they’re getting it together and there’s a control and we’re given back certain freedoms, then we’re going to know that, we’re going to be a part of that, we’re going to experience that. But it will only be for the purpose that something else behind it is going to be far, far worse – and we have to be prepared for that at a moment’s notice in some cases.

I’m at a point in time right now where the other day I was having trouble with the internet and there’re just...it wasn’t there. And I knew I still had electricity so you think about what’s going to take place in this country at some point in time, at some point with an EMP. You think, one day it’s going to be real. One day we’re not going to have anything. Did it strike somewhere else and hasn’t gotten here yet? That’s... Came through my mind, like, hey, it’s going to happen. Sometime it’s going to happen.

So sometime it can go down and a strike be in some area and the way it works it’s going to happen fast, but somebody is going to see it first and somebody is going to see it a little bit later. Anyway, I hope that makes sense to you.

So anyway, different articles here and so forth. There are so many here. The news is just so packed with things. Again, these missile launches into the Sea of Japan by South Korea. The reason I continue to mention South Korea is because they fit into a scenario of a rogue nation that is one of the most likely to do what it’s going to... North Korea. I said South Korea, I’m sorry. North Korea.

I said something else the other day my daughter got a big charge out of. I said “catch-21” I guess, in the sermon. She said, “It’s catch-22.” So, I was just missing one catch there, I guess, I don’t know. But anyway, thankfully everybody knows what I meant. Somehow along the way I’ve lost track of what it really was. So a catch-22.

But anyway, this one here same thing: North Korea, what they’re doing, they can fit into this scenario. And the reason I mention these things is because some of these things are taking place. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be the one but they could be the one. It’s obvious that China is going to probably be behind it, what takes place. They may even do something themselves that appears to be.

So we don’t know how this is going to transpire. We’re going to be able to look back in time and say, “Ah, now I know. We know the different ones and different players that were involved,” and so forth.

Anyway, another one here: “Saudi-led coalition intercepts missiles over Riyadh, Jizan”[3] You know, there are some crazy things going on in the world. And things that are happening in Iran, things that are happening in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and so forth, the Middle East, Israel. We live in incredible times

Another one here: “Pentagon orders essential staff to deep underground mountain bunker as pandemic prep escalates”[4] Things that are going on here. You think, the military! You think, something like this striking and they’re trying to keep some of these things hush-hush. Understandably so because to let it out in the public is to tell other nations where we’re weakest. And that will probably fit into this scenario of everything when this is all said and done.

So we’re being hit in quite a few areas and this one here is a big on in how the military itself is experiencing much of this because it’s like just having a torpedo and taking out a ship, in some cases. Takes them out of commission. Takes certain people out of commission. Takes certain regions of the world out of a preparedness that this kind of world has to be in in case of certain conflicts.

We’re there for some horrifying things to easily take place, we really are.

Another one: “The EU’s Betrayal Of Italy May Be Its Undoing”[5] So again, articles here because of how Italy feels like it’s been treated, and other nations some of them see it. You know, there is a lot of wrangling going on here because they don’t feel like they’ve gotten the support of their member nations. And, true.

Another one here: “Spain’s Covid-19 case total passes China, South Korea reports disturbing rebound in new cases”[6]

Another one: “The Daily Shot: Americans Hoarding Cash at the Fastest Pace Since Y2K”[7] Haven’t heard that one for a while, “Y2K.” We addressed that in News Watch at one time before it ever happened saying it doesn’t fit into prophecy. It’s not going to take place like that. And anyway, here we are again where people are of that same kind of fear of the unknown. They don’t know what’s next. And so they weren’t back at that time either.

Another one: “Pentagon Confirms Over 1,000 COVID-19 Cases Among Military, Orders Bases To Stop Public Reporting”[8] See, there’s reasons behind all this. So when a captain comes along and does it for a massive carrier, nuclear, it’s not a small thing with the military. And you see what happened as a result of that. Because you can’t let an enemy know everything, even though I’m sure they know these things anyway because of spying and all that goes on.

Going on, this article here says, "This Could Turn Violent" - Italian Officials Fear South Turning Into A Powder Keg”[9] “Signs of social unrest in major Western cities could be developing over the next few weeks, and as we previously warned last Friday, a global depression with high unemployment could unleash a "social bomb" in European countries and or North America.”

Well, some of that is starting in some areas. Can you imagine if it gets a lot worse? We really can’t. I’m not going to read the whole thing because the conclusion ought to be self-explanatory.

Another one here: “USS Theodore Roosevelt commander says entire crew needs to be isolated after 200 positive coronavirus tests”[10] So again, what a place for everything to strike, and way before an EMP would take place. And what would that do then behind all that with the kind of sickness and the kind of communication and problems popping up in different areas. Oh, we haven’t seen anything.

Here is one: “There Are Multiple Strains Of Coronavirus; Here's What We Know”[11] As COVID-19 blankets the globe - now having officially infected over 800,000 people in 179 countries, causing over 39... [I think it’s over 40,000 now] 39,000 deaths - scientists are tracking a multitude of strains... The virus has undergone over a hundred tiny mutations which act like genetic fingerprints...” How do you deal with that? How do you control that? Well, we may be at a time where there is no more control until God intervenes to take it away.

Here is the article I wanted to read in part of this: “Nine European countries say it is time for ‘corona bonds’ as virus death toll rises”[12] This is why this becomes important now, because of the different players and how they perceive things. And so it’s forcing them into thinking that they have resisted to this point in time. That’s why there’s going to be ten that come out of all this.

“Pressure is building up in Europe to come up with new ways to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus in the region that has become the epicenter of the outbreak. Nine European countries have called upon their EU counterparts to issue so-called corona bonds — a new debt instrument that would combine securities from different countries.”

Now, this is important. The U.S. thinks it can just put out trillions of dollars here, basically, and by selling various things as well. So we’ll see what happens with that. And now Europe is wanting to do, certain countries are wanting to do some of the same kind of things, tying them together, as it says here, “to combine with securities from different countries.”

“Corona bonds are a controversial issue that has been dividing the 27-country region. Conservative policymakers in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria are often wary of the idea of issuing debt together with highly leveraged nations, such as Italy, Greece, and Portugal.”

So you can’t blame them over the thinking because there is only so far you can go in doing various things and helping different ones in different areas of the world when yourself, when you have something that’s by itself stronger but now going through something that’s horrible. So are they going to be pressured into doing that? We’ll see.

“Nonetheless, Europe is in crisis, having experienced a sharp rise in COVID-19, with several countries in national lockdown. As of Wednesday morning, more than 182,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Europe. “We need to recognize the severity of the situation and the necessity for further action to buttress our economies today,” the heads of state of Italy, France, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, and Luxembourg said Wednesday in a joint letter...”

“The deadly virus has brought all the key EU economies to a standstill, with most people confined at home. Restaurants, cinemas, and other retail spaces are closed, and airlines have basically stopped taking off. The death toll across Europe keeps rising, with Italy registering a higher number than China...” Well, we know all these things. We read these.

But again, it’s changing or not changing so much, but forcing people to action, to doing certain things that they haven’t done to this point in time – knowing that they need to but not knowing how to do it. So there are nations that don’t want to do this with all 27 countries but maybe with 10 they might.

Well, I could go on and on. I mean, there’s just no end of articles here over and over and over just in one week’s time here.

Here’s another one I thought was good about these “corona-bonds.” The headline is: “If Germany Rejects 'Corona-Bonds', They Must Quit The Eurozone”[13] So there is sentiment there that’s building, people seeing things in a different way, and it’s affecting their thinking and their ability to work together. So there are definite things that are forcing things together now at an accelerated pace that might otherwise take a great deal of time. I hope we can see that. So in one respect, bring it on!

“Of course there are good Germans who want Corona bonds, but the simplest solution to the Eurozone’s crisis has always been to expel Germany.” So you see some of this thinking taking place.

One person here makes comment: “If Germany is unwilling to take the basic steps needed to improve the currency union, it should do the next best thing: Leave the eurozone.” So that’s pretty strong sentiment. So you can see these things building up between the countries over there.

I don’t even want to take time – some of these things about what’s happening in Europe as far as mortgages defaulting 30%, biggest wave of delinquencies in history. Some of that is hitting the United States. It’s going to hit here, the same sort of thing. There are some incredible things taking place that there’s just, as it were, no way out of it, not without a lot of time. And so how much time? A bit of a reprieve that is a little bit fake, maybe? I don’t know. Maybe a trial run to get people to move out there again? And if they do it’s going to start going around again so there we go, catch-22.

“East Africa locust swarms gather as coronavirus curbs delay of pesticides”[14]

And then another one: “Wisconsin farmers forced to dump milk as coronavirus slams a fragile dairy economy”[15] It says, “dairy products has been gutted by the closure of restaurants, schools, hotels and food-service businesses.” And this thing has no end. It’s affecting everybody - and throughout the country and around the world. It really is.

Well, again, I have a long way to go in all kinds of articles here. It’s just incredible. One weeks time all the things we’re seeing that are plugging into prophecy in different areas. And we just need to be aware of what’s going on around us and keep focused, keep close to God, desire to be close to Him, be of a humble spirit, a humble mind, and above all to be at one with God, to recognize that everything that’s going to happen and take place God is allowing for a purpose, perhaps doing and giving word that certain things be done exactly in a certain way.

And by allowing I mean a spirit world that’s going to do many things as well on their own and for Him to give way to them to allow them to go ahead and proceed. But other things taking place on the earth as well that is a matter of God’s timing. It’s all a part of God’s timing and things that are being orchestrated in a manner to bring everything to a head whenever that is.

So going on here in Isaiah 58. So this is God’s response to those who come to Him, who go through this ingenuous manner of that which isn’t real because it’s not based on what is genuine and true and right. And so they have to go through a motion of certain things that are a part of their thinking that sometimes is really a point of being sanctimonious or it’s just not real. There is a fakeness in it that is... We are aware of it but so many in the world aren’t.

But anyway, Isaiah 58:3—Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls, in other words, humbled ourselves and You do not acknowledge it? You know, “Why don’t You take notice of it, what we’re doing?” And that’s kind of what the world, and especially of what’s called, referred to as traditional Christianity, because as they have these fasts and different things happen and there is no real answer, but on the contrary, things are going to get worse.

It’s just like suicides. They’re talking about how suicides are on the rise and there is that kind of thing that’s going on out there that just back people into a corner of where they’re not able to deal with reality anymore. That’s a horrible state for people to have to come to but it exists. So sad that it takes a massive fear worldwide to bring people to a point in time where there will be a genuine kind of repentance and a genuine desire to know what’s true when it’s there, when they hear it.

Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, in other words, it says you seek your own... What it’s talking about is you are seeking after your own satisfaction; you seek your own way, what you want. Sure, you want it to be over with, you want the intervention, but you’re not going to change your life. But you want things to go on as normal so you’ll spend a little bit of time in some extra prayer and talking about God and making a little bit of effort here talking...

Anyway, we see those things taking place all around us. And you’ll go through the motions of this but what you really want is just to get back to your old routine of things and everything back to way it was before, totally normal, not having debt, and being able to get out of this because, I mean, after all, we’re great. And that’s what’s going to be taken down. No, we’re not. God is. And that’s where we are in time.

...and you exact all your laborers. In other words, you oppress or seek to impose your own will, your control over others. That’s what it’s talking about here when it talks about “exact all your laborers.” People want their way. They want it their way, “The way I see it.” So even between parties we have squabbling still going on in a time of crisis and it’s just the way... They can’t help themselves.

Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. So people want justice their own way. They want things taken care of in their own way. They want answers their own way. But it’s not going to be there.

So it says, You shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. So it’s not a means by which we’re just going to be heard. It’s a means of us hearing. It’s a means of us coming into better hearing of God, better unity and oneness with God. Our desire is to want God’s will, to be in agreement with God’s will and the things that are taking place on this earth, to realize this is the best way.

This is the best way to humble the earth. This is the best way to usher in a new government, God’s government. It is the best way. And that’s what we support. And it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be exceedingly hard on the world. We’re going to see a lot of suffering. But it’s the only way.

So there can’t be any of that kind of thinking that, “Well, there has to be something else that could be done. And surely it doesn’t have to be one-third of all mankind.” It can be a whole lot worse than that before this is over with. But it must come to pass. And they have the Great White Throne. It isn’t over with for people

We don’t see things as God does but we need to strive to and to be faithful, to be loyal, supportive—that’s what that means—of God, and thankful that He’s doing what He is to bring the earth to a time of humility so that the world really can be changed.

So hopefully we grasp that in a deeper way, in a stronger way, we’re growing in that.

I’m going to stop there because there is more to that, obviously, and things to be said. May or may not follow up on this next week. Don’t know yet. Don’t know where it’s going so pray for your continued... Ask for your continued prayers and stuff for sermons, for writing, because it’s not finished yet, rewriting that last chapter, parts of it, reorganizing it. And it’s always a challenge, but again, yielding to those things that need to be done and addressing it better.

So, excited about what’s taking place here as far as time is concerned. And we need to be thankful and excited though it be hard and difficult, that we’re experiencing things that are unique to all mankind. It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be a fun thing, obviously. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to tax us in many ways. But to be at one with God, to be thankful for one another, that’s where we are.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/coronavirus-europe-unity/2020/04/02/4c9ed8c0-743e-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html

[2] https://nation.com.pk/28-Mar-2020/do-or-die-there-s-only-one-way-for-eu-to-amidst-breakup-amidst-covid-19-recession

[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/rockets-intercepted-saudi-capital-riyadh-jazan-report-200328212702883.html

[4] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pentagon-orders-essential-staff-deep-underground-mountain-bunker-pandemic-prep

[5] https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-eus-betrayal-of-italy-may-be-its-undoing/

[6] https://thedailycoin.org/2020/03/30/spains-covid-19-case-total-passes-chinas-south-korea-reports-disturbing-rebound-in-new-cases-live-updates/

[7] https://blogs.wsj.com/dailyshot/2020/03/30/the-daily-shot-americans-hoarding-cash-at-the-fastest-pace-since-y2k/

[8] https://www.zerohedge.com/health/pentagon-confirms-over-1000-covid-19-cases-among-military-tells-bases-stop-public-reporting

[9] https://www.zerohedge.com/health/socio-economic-issues-will-erupt-italian-officials-fear-south-turning-powder-keg

[10] https://www.foxnews.com/world/uss-theodore-roosevelt-crew-isolated-coronavirus

[11] https://www.zerohedge.com/health/there-are-least-8-strains-coronavirus-heres-what-we-know

[12] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/25/nine-eu-countries-say-its-time-for-corona-bonds-as-virus-deaths-rise.html

[13] http://thesaker.is/if-germany-rejects-corona-bonds-they-must-quit-the-eurozone/

[14] https://nationalpost.com/pmn/environment-pmn/east-africa-locust-swarms-gather-as-coronavirus-curbs-delay-pesticides

[15] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/03/coronavirus-forces-dairy-farmers-dump-milk-wisconsin-covid-19/2939959001/