They Refuse To Listen To God, Pt 4

Ronald Weinland

May 8, 2021

Today will be Part 4 in the series entitled They Refuse To Listen To God.

It’s incredible what we’re going through right now and what God is having us focus on. It’s really a part of a process of God helping us to learn some things that have to do with the end of this age and why He’s doing the things in the manner that He’s doing them. The more we do that the more we acknowledge or come to a point where we recognize even more so that we agree with God in some of the most difficult things that face human beings.

So, we’ll see that as we go through this series or continue to go through it. But it’s an important thing to do and to come through this, and it helps us to grasp more perfectly, more clearly God’s entire plan, especially for the next 1,100 years.

We’re going to review the last two areas of scripture that we covered at the end of Part 3 last Sabbath, and then continue on. Because it’s good to go back and just catch a little bit of the direction of what we were covering, for context.

Genesis 6:11-13, I’ll just read those to you. So, The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So, God looked upon the earth, that it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted it’s way on the earth. Then God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me. Now, that was an incredible thing, to come to that point in time to tell Noah, in that respect, because he found favor with God. One person. Think, what an incredible thing to realize that there was one that was able to be worked with by God by this point in time. God obviously had prepared him over a long period of time anyway because God has a plan and works things out according to that plan, and this is part of it.

The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. So behold, I will destroy them with the earth. So again, very sobering to go back and look at what happened then, but even more sobering when we recognize the tie-in, the correlation that God has told us about the end of this age and why these things have to come to pass.

Then we read Luke 17:26-27 where it says, As it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Yes, it’s showing that this is the way of mankind, candidly, for 6,000 years. People go on and continue on until something comes along. But in God’s plan what came along at this point in time was a major event in the sense of judgment from God and we are approaching another one of those periods of time.

And so, it basically has more to do with the fact that why it was this way at the time of Noah and why it’s that way now, that people weren’t listening, they wouldn’t listen. They got to a point because the heart was so hardened, that that’s what we’re to learn from this process, of what this is teaching us and what we need to learn.

So again, we’ve come to a point in time where violence is at a level as it was in the days of Noah in the sense of the mind of mankind.

So indeed, it’s one thing to know and to understand that “the carnal mind is enmity against God.” We learn this very early on in God’s Church: “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” It fights it. It resists God. And not only that, we learn that even once you’re begotten of God’s spirit, once you’re baptized and have hands laid upon you and have the impregnation of God’s spirit in your mind, in your being, that our lives, our thinking, our mind still resists God. Because it’s at enmity with God. It’s against God’s way.

We have these two things that we have to address constantly in our life – our carnal selfish human nature and God’s will, God’s purpose for us. We make choices then from that point on. From the time we’re baptized and on we have to continue to make choices day by day by day until we get to the point of where our minds are set, where God can say, “Now I know you.” We have to go through a lot in that process.

Got a big carrot. It reminds me of some Feast sermons we’re working on right now. You’re just going to have to wait for part of it, but to me, it’s exciting to realize some of this process and what God is showing us, of where we are in the sense of what is taking place in His Church. It’s exciting to recognize how God is working with us.

I’m sorry, but it’s going to be this way for the next several months. Because once I start working on Feast sermons, I can’t help but think about them because there’s content in that and work that goes into that that’s in my mind. And so, it’s harder to stay away from it. So, we’re going to wade through a lot of carrots probably before now and the Feast.

So again, incredible to understand this, “The carnal mind is enmity to God.” It can’t, it’s not subject to God’s law, and it can’t be without God’s spirit. What a beautiful thing to understand. We’re approaching the day here of Pentecost that reminds us of that year by year, of the importance of God’s spirit, the importance of being blessed with that life living within us and how this mind can be transformed and how we can begin to fight against carnal human nature, and that’s the only way.

Awesome to understand the things… Well, probably shouldn’t get into that either about Pentecost. We’ll save that, too. Even though I’m not giving the sermon I don’t want to mess up the prerecorded one that is there.

But it’s another thing to go beyond this. It’s another thing to understand that the carnal mind is enmity against God, but it’s another thing to understand how far that mind can go, that it can go beyond that in the sense of not being able to turn back, not being able to come back, in the sense of saying it in simple terms, that it will not repent. The unpardonable sin, in other words, because that’s what the unpardonable sin is about. One that can’t be pardoned is one that will not be repented of. Because as long as an individual will repent, God will forgive. God will help as long as an individual wants to continue moving forward when He gives that opportunity; if they can be given that opportunity.

Because there are some whose minds can become set before they are ever given that opportunity. What a horrible thing to think about. And yet, God’s having us think about it to understand the carnal mind, that it can become so deeply hardened toward God, toward God’s way of life that it can become fully set against God, never wanting God’s way no matter what it sees, no matter what it sees accomplished through the Millennium.

That’s an awesome thing, the things that are going to be accomplished throughout the Millennium. Some were just talking beforehand here about by the end of the Millennium technology and the things God’s going to give to this world. To think about what the world is going to be like after a thousand years of God’s government, of cooperation, of people working together and God just giving more and more, what it’s going to be like.

Then the Great White Throne that follows that and people being resurrected. And even seeing that, seeing what mankind has come to by the end of the Millennium, to recognize what God has done on the earth, to see and understand things about the 144,000 that have reigned with Christ for a thousand years, and still won’t repent or won’t change when they’re given that opportunity. It’s difficult to grasp and comprehend. But we’re judging that then, equating that with our minds, how we’re thinking and what we’ve gone through in our lives. It’s kind of difficult sometimes to grasp a mind that wouldn’t want that no matter what.

To move farther away from God in a thinking that’s automatically enmity against God is a process of the mind growing in, candidly, corruption, desiring its own way, perverted thinking. Because thinking that isn’t in unity with God is perverted thinking; it isn’t right. It’s distorted and not sound. Only God can give a sound mind, sound thinking.

And so, people begin to live those things, and the more they live them the more those things are chosen as a way of life, as a way of thinking, one’s own way. I think of things like traditional Christianity and what it’s going to be like for some even though they’ve had knowledge and studied into a lot of things concerning God and Christ and stories throughout scripture. That because it’s so different from what they have always believed and held on to that when they come to realize they’ve been deceived and how they have dealt with protestantism, how their minds have been corrupted because of that, because protestantism is a dangerous thing. It’s a thinking. It’s a type of thinking that’s dangerous.

Sometimes within the Church people are called out of those things and sometimes it’s difficult to change some of those things about being more of a protestant mindset of how God’s word is used even with the truth. The problem with that is that it’s not real. It’s not true. It’s not genuine. So, it’s incredible what we have to go through to get to where we’re going.

So again, incredible to understand the age we live in now, that we live in a world that’s growing in corruption, destructiveness of the human mind that’s taking place because minds are becoming more fully set. More and more that that’s the direction it’s going, set against God. It’s scary. It really is scary how far the human mind in so many cases is going, that it’s getting to a point where there are going to be people who will not want to turn from that.

We see these things taking place more and more, the corruption, the kind of thinking that’s out there. We see it regularly in the news, in music, and what’s amazing in all this is if we’re not careful we can become numb to it ourselves. There’s a danger in that. It doesn’t mean you divorce yourself from it in the sense of living in a little box, in a little cubicle, and don’t listen to the radio or you don’t listen to TV or you don’t watch a program. Sometimes people want to throw all those things away. Well, if that’s the only way you can deal with it, so be it.

But the reality is there are things coming through there that you can judge every day of your life by being confronted with it when you see it, and in your mind as you see the things that are wrong you abhor them, and you see the need for the change in those things. If we go off on an island… Well, I shouldn’t even have said that that way. We could do that, too. But go off someplace where we’re totally away from everyone in life. You can go up to a mountain.

You’re heard of hermits or whatever, different ones, I’m trying to think of the term they use for those who go way, way up in the mountains in areas way up north and it’s horribly cold and they get miles and miles away from other places, in the sense of living by themselves. They just want to live off the land. They can’t deal with human beings. They can’t deal with society or don’t want to. They’d rather be up there making their shoes and clothing out of bear skins or whatever it might be. That’s a choice.

But if people do that on a spiritual plane in the sense of thinking that they’re able to grow spiritually if they remove themselves from everything around them, that in itself is not an answer. Sometimes we can try to protect ourselves or even protect our children to such a degree that we close them in and try to protect them from everything. On the other hand, their ability to learn, because that’s why God placed us in this world, especially the first group of those called out of it, is to learn this world stinks! And how can you learn that if you’re not confronted with things of betrayal.

Betrayal hurts! And until you’re really betrayed… I remember before I was in the Church, around 18 or so, being betrayed by an employer and different ones of in time there, how much that hurt. When you did everything you could to support them, to help them, to help their business to grow and then you get stabbed in the back in a horrible way, those things can cut really deep. But I learned from that and I’ve carried that with me, those things that happen in life whether it be relationships with different people. I’ve learned from those.

If I’d been in a closet somewhere or in a little box somewhere or removed from those things, I would have never had the opportunity to learn those things and become more deeply convicted. Because God wants us to be able to be convicted of that one more than many others – betrayal, what causes betrayal, how hard it is, how evil it is. And yet mankind tends to betray one another constantly. It happens all the time everyday in society in the world, over and over again. People betray each other in political parties, in corporations, in businesses, in whatever it might be. Constantly! Some are worse than others, obviously.

People betray each other in marriage, and on and on it goes. And where is the end of it? People want to get ahead so they betray someone else, lie against someone else. Those things cut deep. But what an awesome thing to learn how evil those things are. And if you don’t experience them, how can you learn? How can you grow?

I’m not a fan of opening the door there in a small little room and going in there and closing myself off from this world. Because you have to judge things, and it’s through that judgment that you can learn. That doesn’t mean you’re a part of it just because you see something, because you see something and recognize it happens. That doesn’t mean you choose it, or you want it, or you desire it or that it’s you. I hope you understand what I’m saying. It’s a matter of choice. I don’t choose that.

I am so thankful, and all the other things you can think of that are good and positive and thanking God that people are beginning to be drawn out of that and going to have an opportunity for a new age, the Millennial period. Incredible!

Anyway, so we see a process, whether it be in music or whether it be on TV or whatever it might be, entertainment. People want to call it entertainment, whatever. But to put myself in a little room and go hide from the world is not the answer. It’s not the way God wants us to live our lives. He’s called us out of the world, not to participate with them, and that doesn’t mean you put on blinders and don’t hear things, you poke something in your ears so you don’t have to hear anything, and you close your eyes off. You might as well, again, be back in that room, not seeing anything, not hearing anything.

Anyway, we need soundness of mind and balance. That’s what God wants us to have. You receive that so much so when you see the world the way it is and you’ve chosen you don’t want any part of it. You don’t choose to be a part of that in any fashion or form.

You live in it. That’s what Christ said, isn’t it, when he was praying to his Father: “Can’t be taken out of the world. They’re in the world.” There are reasons for that.

We see these things all around us, whatever it is, entertainment industry, government, financial institutions, corporations; it’s all corrupt. The more we’re able to see those things, and sometimes hear of those things in the manner that we do we make judgments constantly and are constantly reminded how bad it really is and how thankful we can really be that we’re able to see what we see, thank God.

It’s astounding what we’re witnessing in this world. We live in an incredibly unique time. There is a prophecy that’s now full blown, if you will, for all of us to see, all who will consider it. It’s over in Isaiah. There is so much here. Actually, we’re going to go back and read a little bit about a portion here of what we read in Part 1 because we’re going to go past that now into another section of Isaiah.

But let’s go back and read a portion of what we read in Part 1 in Isaiah 1. Again, it’s almost preposterous some of these things that we go through and read to a degree that it’s difficult to imagine how such thinking can exist.

Isaiah 1:1—The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz… As you go through Isaiah it is about God taking the pride out of this world, the haughtiness out of mankind. As you go through it this builds up in momentum and power, and frankly, is focusing in on this period of time right now.

Isaiah 1:1—The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So, this is what he saw at that time, but it’s a type and it’s prophetic. So much was given in prophetic times to different ones of God’s people, to see things at that time. But God going to perform the fulfillment of them, what they pictured, if you will, what they were a type of, later on.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Eternal has spoken. That’s the problem – who wants to listen? Give ear? Who wants to listen? The more hardened the heart becomes the less people will hear. They won’t listen to each other; they won’t listen to other ideas. Look at all the things going on today where people won’t try to work things out, try to come to some kind of peace somehow. No, they all want their own way, insist on it.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Eternal has spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me. It’s been the way of mankind for 6,000 years and basically that’s the entirety of the story here, in that respect, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It doesn’t want God’s way. He wants us to learn that, deeply so.

The ox knows its owner, the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know. My people do not consider this. Mankind doesn’t. And sadly, sometimes within God’s own Church people lose sight of this, who owns them, why they’re here, how they exist, what makes their life possible. Where does it come from? Who feeds them? Especially when we’re given spiritual food.

Verse 4—Alas, sinful nation, a people burdened down by iniquity, a seed of evildoers. That’s the way of the world. Today, people don’t see themselves as evildoers. How can you communicate God’s will, God’s mind, to others about a way of life that is full of peace and happiness and abundance and awesome and inspiring? Because they won’t listen.

Alas, sinful nation… They just can’t see themselves as being bad.

…a people burdened down by iniquity. That’s the problem. The farther we go in time the more that violence and sin, if you will, evil grows in this world the more pronounced this becomes. Burdened down; can’t resolve anything, can’t find solutions, more stress, more strain, the allowance for even greater evil, because that’s the solution people have, which, candidly, is why war comes along.

…a seed of evildoers, and children who are corrupt! They have forsaken the Eternal. They have treated the Holy One of Israel with contempt, as we went through and discussed in that sermon, and have alienated or separated themselves by going away backward. So again, mankind has done that through time, going farther and farther away from God, wanting beliefs that they like, that feed their own ego and appeasement of mind, conscience, if you will, in dealing with things.

Why do you keep running or turning away? Yeah, running away. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. Well, again, that’s mankind, but this time here is more pronounced than ever.

“The whole head is sick.” Government. Whether it be in corporations, in nations, in religion, that’s the world we live in.

The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint or weakened. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it. But as a whole people believe they have soundness of mind and they don’t see their prejudice. They don’t recognize the prejudices they have.

See, by sometimes (even though it irritates me) and I watch the news and I see different ones talk about what they think when they see something that is definitely wrong in someone else’s thinking, but they don’t see their own. They don’t see their own prejudice. They don’t see some of the things they’re saying that aren’t true. They think they’re being truthful.

“Fair and equal.” That’s said a lot. But they don’t understand they’re not being equal and they’re not being fair because they don’t see themselves, that they do some of the exact same things but in a different way. It’s still wrong.

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it. We’re living in that more and more. Where is the soundness of mind? Where is the balance? Be careful what you think is soundness of mind of things you hear. See, that’s the warning. Because only God can give soundness of mind and that requires God’s spirit to have soundness of mind, to be able to wade through all these things, to judge them the way God wants us to judge.

A lot of this sermon has to do with judgment, being of the same mind with God, in agreement with Him that this is the only way, the merciful way.

…there is no soundness in it but wounds, bruises, and raw sores. It’s always been there but it’s getting worse. Now, it’s a little bit easier to see. But for the world, they won’t address it because it’s someone else that’s causing it. They have neither been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment.

So, let’s keep on now. This is where we left off in that portion there of Isaiah. But going on: Your country is desolate, or Your country, a desolation, a waste. Now, the world can’t see that. People can’t see that. If you told them that’s the way this country is, “No, it isn’t.” It’s not just something prophetic for the future.

…your cities burned with fire. So, a person can look at this and say, “Our cities aren’t burning.” Well, they kind of are in some places. But there is a lot more to this that has to do with the state and what is going to happen in a greater way because of this mindset that people have, bringing it upon themselves, judgment, God’s judgment. They can’t see it. We have to be able to see it because it’s about judgment because of their ways, what has to take place.

…strangers devour your land in your presence. Now, people can see this to a degree, a little bit here and there. Candidly, Chinese are doing it in massive ways here as far as this country is concerned because we’re allowing it. Other countries are doing it in massive way because we’re allowing it. On and on it goes.

We do the same thing to other countries. Be careful. No sides because everyone is guilty of it. Everyone is guilty of evil things, evil things that they do to each other to get their way, things they’ll do to other nations to get their way. Incredible! Think about how other nations carry our debt, what we do to them. But it’s two sided.

…and it is, or the land, speaking of the land, the nation, the people, the country, whatever, is desolate, a waste, as overthrown by strangers. So, the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city. So, that, what does that mean? That doesn’t mean anything to me. What’s this “garden of cucumbers” if that’s the correct translation. And what’s this vineyard? What’s that? It’s just talking about something has been abandoned because it’s not in harvest right now or it’s not time. When it’s not being used because it’s only used for a short time it’s abandoned, and it begins to fall apart. Because no one is living there all the time so it’s something that’s been abandoned.

That’s what it’s talking about, cities that are abandoned or a place that’s abandoned. That’s the way our cities are in large part. They’ve been abandoned! Look what we’ve done! We talk about infrastructure. What are we doing? What are we doing to help one another, really help each other? Our homeless and so forth, what’s the solution? People are just putting on a band aid here and there.

Putrefying sores, it talks about here; they’re open sores. They’re not being addressed like they should be because people don’t want to. They use it for political fodder. Sick, sick, sick. We really are sick from the bottom of our foot to the top of our head as far as the nations is concerned. It’s not God’s way. It’s not God’s love. People just use each other.

I get so sick when I see it on TV when different parties come out and they try to use different people and different groups of people, and they use it for political gain! Just like right now, let’s give everybody lots of money so they can stay at home, so they can make it through this Covid thing. Who cares about who’s paying for it? Other nations are going to pay for it. (Oh, I don’t want to say that.) Because they’re going to keep using the dollar. They’re going to keep using it and keep buying and then whatever, so we can do this, we can just keep printing it off. It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

People take advantage of each other, give money to everyone so that now as people are trying to come out of Covid and a lot of restaurants and different places, travel, hotels, and people can’t find anyone to work. Why? Because human nature by nature is lazy – lazy, lazy, lazy. If you can get the money, the government pays… And what is that doing? Why do they do it? To get you to rely on them, dependency, and so you’ll vote for them next time because I kind of like this. That other party, they don’t give this out like that. It’s sick. That’s just perverted.

I don’t know about you, but I am so sick of this. I so desire God’s Kingdom to be established. That’s the only way we can begin to work with things that are, if you want to talk about inequality, injustice, perversion of judgment; it’s everywhere you look. How to resolve the problems? People just go from one extreme to another. It’s not a matter of working together to really resolve something, which they could if they really worked at it.

Unless the Eternal of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. Now, I hope that you grasp what this is talking about. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? It would have already happened, God is saying. It would have happened a long time ago. It would have happened before 2012.

But there’s a work that God is doing in a people, very small. Isn’t that amazing to say it that way? “A very small remnant.” I love it because it’s about God’s Church and it’s about what God is doing that has to be finished, that has to be completed first. Again, some of this will be talked about more at the Feast.

But beautiful what it’s saying here, because first and foremost over the past 6,000 years it’s been about God’s people, whatever is done. God has molded and fashioned things in nations – nations! – even great nations on the earth to mold and fashion one person. Not just once but several times. So, how important is it what God is molding and fashioning in His people that He would mold and fashion events in the world, events in nations in order to mold and fashion what He’s doing in His people?

We’re going through things, of things being molded and fashioned in us and having that opportunity of a change of mind that’s taking place, a transformation and God is working with nations to fulfill this. It’s incredible, it really is. So much of the context of Isaiah is this.

Isaiah 2:10—Enter into the rock and hide in the dust for fear of the Eternal.

I wanted to go back. I was going to read some news events here. While it’s talking about it, I want to go back and do it because I want to make sure I address this. Things are changing so fast out there. Things are happening so fast. But again, part of this thing about how “strangers devour you” and what’s taking place in the world.

News just in one week, and just one portion of it. It’s mind-boggling what’s out there, what’s going on right now. Before I go on, before I get into the news articles here this past week, because I want to go back and just review some highlights of things that in times past did take maybe a year, two years to find some of these types of articles even popping up, period. That ought to shake us and startle us and move us, powerfully so, to realize things are moving forward faster and faster and faster. They truly are.

I said something, and I want to give some balance in this before I go on, about cryptocurrency, last Sabbath. I didn’t say cryptocurrencies are evil and bad in the sense of you having some. I didn’t say that if you have any of that you got to get out of it right now. What I was showing was a mindset of human beings, that we’ve gone so far that we will put our trust in that. We do the same thing with currencies of nations. Whether it be the dollar, the euro, it’s all about trust. It’s all about, how much do you trust them and the security of what they’re doing. Because if you feel good about that then you may invest more in that.

People do that in currencies all the time. How nations are doing, that’s what it’s based on. How is their economy? How is their government? What’s going on? How much should I buy then, because it’s going to go up, so I want to take advantage of that? So, if we live in a world and we invest money it isn’t wrong. It’s like, is that saying you’re participating…? Well, you pretty much have to be...

Again, it’s this going into a room and shutting the door because you can’t have anything to do with the world. That’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not what I’m saying. We’re in the world and we deal with the world. And if you bought, if you just happen to have a bunch of bitcoin… When did it start? Ten years ago? 2009. If you happened to buy a whole bunch at that time, whew, you did really well, and you’re doing really well, and when it goes, it’s the same time that gold is going to go, the dollar is gone, the euro is gone, everything is gone. Because when it all goes, it all goes. God’s going to get rid of it all. He’s going to get rid of Babylon and it’s all part of Babylon, the system. The economic system of the world, it isn’t right.

About the only thing, but you can’t take that with you, but silver and gold. But it’s going to have a little more value in the future than the dollar because after a while it wouldn’t even make good toilet paper, unless you didn’t have any at all.

Anyway, it’s about what we trust in. And so, we all have different kinds of jobs, different things we do, and we’re a part of this world. It doesn’t mean we choose the ways of this world. So, we function in this world, and so, if one invests money in one thing, that’s their choice. People have to be careful. It would concern me if I were to go out somehow, which I don’t have the ability to do right now, but anyway, if I were to go out and buy a bitcoin, it costs a lot of money! If you put a lot of money in that and something happened to it, well… When does it go? I don’t know, when will different things go? We don’t know.

But I hope you understand I’m talking about a balance here and a matter that we trust in God. We look to God to lead, guide, and direct us in our lives (if we do), and if we participate in other things and do various things as far as investments concerned, people have to use wisdom in that. What do you do?

Is it wrong to invest in stocks? No. Am I telling people to go do it? No. You have to make your own choices as to what you do and when you do it and how you do it. We don’t tell people what to do in the Church, in those areas of life. If something were wrong, I would tell you. “Don’t do this, Facebook.” Then I get a lot of feedback, “Why are you going to kick me off of Facebook?” Now it’s used in business and so forth so it’s a little bit different. So, there’s a difference there than it is individually.

Anyway, balance. We’re in the world. How do we use the things around us in this world? How do we deal with those things? Are you sinning? Is that sin? That’s what things come down to. Is something sin? There are things that aren’t sin.

I have a little gold, not very much. A little bit of silver, not very much. But I have it and I have some water that may tend to one day be a little more valuable, and some food that may be a little more valuable. Probably a lot more than a little bit of gold or a little bit of silver, if you had a few coins in an emergency.

That’s what we talked about, stockpiling a few things, having a few things that you can have access to. Food is going to become very valuable someday for a period of time and we don’t know how long. That’s why I’ve told people to work at between one month and three months because we don’t know. So, we try to give that as a guideline. What you do and how you do it is between you and God, your mindset, what you believe.

So again here, just wanted to give a little bit of balance in that portion there. Do I think it’s a time to go out and plunge into those things because there’s such a markup in some of them and because they’re growing so fast? I’d be careful, really careful, because you can lose an awful lot in a short length of time and you can find yourselves wanting. It’s a matter of wisdom. God will give wisdom, can give wisdom. It’s a matter of whether we want it or not.

Some news articles:

“US Intelligence Tells Congress China's Nuclear Arsenal ‘On Track To Exceed Our Previous Projection.’”[1]

Surprise. Surprise. We’re always coming up short. More and more it’s like, “Oh, their navy is much greater than ours now, much stronger than ours now.” Incredible. Surprise. Surprise. Why didn’t we know that? If you think that wasn’t known a long time ago. It’s just that some things, it’s not good to let the public know because we can’t handle it. Might be panic.

Sorry, reminds me of what happened in Worldwide. Reminds me of what happened in United. “Don’t tell the people. They can’t handle it. They can’t handle everything that’s going on that we’re doing and we’re deciding.” What, are you crazy? Are you stark raving mad? Well, I guess some might have been.

Anyway, it says here, “The PLA continues to improve its pursuit of a nuclear triad, and increasing evidence indicates that Beijing seeks to keep a portion of its nuclear forces on a ‘launch-on-warning’ posture.” Quick. Awesome! You didn’t read things like this a couple of years ago. But now, things are in the news constantly.

Another article here: “For The First Time Ever, Russia Drops Under 50% Of Exports Sold In US Dollars.”[2]

So, another one here an important thing to look at, to realize what’s happening in the world. People are oblivious to what’s going on out there.

“Russia’s decades-long drive to reduce its dependence on the unpredictable US dollar reached a milestone as the share of exports sold in US currency fell below 50% for the first time ever.”

So again, these are things that are happening that is just a part of an economic system worldwide, that we’re seeing the end of it coming to pass right in front of us. It’s going to collapse at some point and it’s going to happen in everything that’s taking place out there in the world.

Going on here: “According to central bank figures released late on April 26th, the main decline in the use of the dollar occurred in Russia’s trade with China: more than three-quarters of the dollar turnover was replaced by the euro.”

See, things are shifting out here. People are taking sides more and more. They’re preparing more and more. They’re pulling inward more and more. All by design – God’s.

“According to data for the fourth quarter, the share of the single currency in total exports jumped by more than 10 percentage points to 36%.”

Another article: “More than half of French people support generals’ warning that France is 'DISINTEGRATING,' hurtling toward civil war, poll shows.”[3] “According to the survey, which was reported by Valeurs Actuelles magazine, 73% agreed with the assessment that the country is ‘disintegrating,’ and 84% agreed that violence is increasing in French society. ‘The hour is grave,’ the letter said. ‘France is in peril.’ ”

That’s hard to look at. It’s hard to look at this happening in different countries. It’s hard to see what’s happening here because we have things that are disintegrating right here, we really do. It’s really pretty scary if you see it for what it is.

“The former generals urged Macron and other leaders to ‘find the needed courage to eradicate these dangers,’ warning that otherwise, ‘civil war could end the growing chaos.’ The signatories added that Macron would be responsible for thousands of deaths if he procrastinates.”

This is something they’re really looking at because they fear that this is where their country is headed. They see all these things happening within their cities and it’s scary to them. It’s all the reason why there is going to be able to be a stronger Europe. Because in time governments have to step in if they want to keep their countries together in the way that they think.

Another article here: “It's Time to Return Incirlik & Kurecik Bases to Turkey, Reconsider Relations With US, Observer Says.” “All in all, the base plays an active role in the implementation of NATO missions, the commentator notes, insisting that Turkey should take full control of the military installations.”

…where the U.S. is located right now. It just so happens that at one of them, and they’re not sure how many, and they’re not telling anyone there are a lot of nuclear weapons. They’re stockpiled there. Incredible.

Another article: “New Chinese Submarine Armed With Missiles Capable of Covering Entire US, Reports Say.”[4] … “Before the upgrade, the submarine was capable of firing the inferior JL-2 that could only hit the northeast United States, the source said, noting that currently, it is able to cover the whole American continent.”

So, why are these articles even out there? This is what they’re looking at. More and more leaders in this country are acknowledging the goal, the purpose of China is to become the leading power on earth. It takes the military first to have that power. And those who don’t agree with it when they feel like they have that power, what will they do? Well, we know what’s coming.

Another one here: “European Double-Think Blames China For Endangering Peace.”[5]

This article says, “It’s pathetic that the EU is allowing itself to be dragged into a shambolic scenario that doesn’t serve its interests. But never underestimate the EU tendency to say one thing and do another.” Speaking of the governments there with the EU. “Even if the likes of Germany engage in token gestures of military support for the U.S….”

And how stupid are we? I hope when you read through things like this or hear things like this that you know what’s happening a little bit at least, what’s behind the scenes. So, they’re making certain gestures of peace toward the United States and NATO but that’s not their plan fully. Their plan is for themselves. Surprise. Surprise.

“…they will not jeopardize the vital arrangements with its number-one trading partner – China.” So, they play this game. China’s will, the will of the U.S., NATO is here – and they play these games, politics.

“China today is a formidable military power and a pre-eminent economic superpower. European arrogance and double-think is risking the incitement of an all-out war.”

You know, people can look at these things and say, “This is what’s taking place.” How many people do you think even know about or read an article like this in this country? People aren’t concerned about international news. And you think, what a horrible thing. Because they don’t see what’s on the horizon.

“It should also be borne in mind that the Americans suffer from the same double-think and blind arrogance.” Say amen to that.

Another article: “‘High likelihood’ of war with China, top Australian general warned in leaked briefing to troops.”[6]

I’ll tell you right now, it would be a little scarier living down there right now being that close to China. However, we realize that they do have submarines now that can take care of this country, too. So, there is really no place safe on this earth is there?

“California's 2021 Fire Season Could Be ‘Like Armageddon,’ Officials Warn”[7] “California's top fire officials warn conditions are already ripe for wildfires - way ahead of schedule - and could quickly transpire into the worst wildfire season on record - even outpacing last year, where 9,639 fires burned 4,397,809 acres, more than 4% of the state's 100 million acres of land.”

That’s mind-boggling! 4% of the entire state?

Another article: “Russia Is Prepared To Disconnect From SWIFT Payment System: Foreign Ministry.”[8]

I think we all know what SWIFT is. It’s the little number on your check, if you use checks, that has to do with banking. There’s banking around the world in the SWIFT system and it gives the U.S. control and has the Petro-dollar and all this that they do with other nations in trying to pressure others. Well, the article brings it out.

“Russia has been attempting to push its Mir payment system since 2019, with Russian lawmakers backing the international use of a Russian alternative system for the global financial messaging network SWIFT designed by Moscow to eliminate the risk of Western sanctions.”

So, in other words, they get sanctioned, they use SWIFT, they use their power in banking to do these things, and they’re sick and tired of it. And frankly, most of Europe is sick and tired of that because we bully people, and people are tired of being bullied out there.

“This is becoming increasingly likely, as the sanctions the US, and also the EU pushes on Russia and China are making the two countries move ever closer.”

Another article: “China "Indefinitely" Suspends Economic Dialogue With Australia As Relations Continue To Deteriorate”[9]

So, this is disconcerting, obviously, to them down there. They want this dialogue and they need some kind of a relationship, but just not too powerful of one, so people are… This is tough times. These are tough times for people, countries.

I just thought I’d toss a couple more in here: “India Sees Record Covid-19 Deaths, New Cases In 24 Hours”[10] … “[Health ministry numbers] showed 3,980 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 230,168, and 412,262 new cases,” in 24 hours.

This stuff just keeps going on and on out there in what’s taking place. I saw in the news— horrible—people, they don’t even have oxygen in a lot of these places. They can’t get enough oxygen for hospitals in different places, because of how this affects the lungs of so many people, and they had people out under trees. Did anybody see that besides me? Couple hands. All these people out here under trees on blankets and trying to breathe. They took them outside in order to try to get them, help them to breathe because they have no oxygen for them. The world is headed to the edge quickly.

One last article here: “Slap On The Wrist: Honeywell Fined For Sharing F-35, Other Secrets To China”[11]

Corrupt? But what’s going to be done? A slap on the wrist. What are you going to do to someone like that who has that kind of power and of influence in your…? Because they’re in your military and the country kind of depends upon that and some other companies to supply them with what they need. And here they have money that they make because they can sell this technology to China as well. I mean, that’s a smart thing to do, isn’t it? Sick, sick, sick world; just greater destruction coming.

Says, “Honeywell would only pay its fine, essentially, and keep working for the US government, because it voluntarily admitted to violating national security.”

I am so sick of this world, so sick of the evil that’s out there. And these things are talking about war. People don’t care. And some nations know full well where this is headed. They know there is a war coming and they know it’ll be a world war. But that’s the way they want to reset the world; the fastest way some see of resetting it, if you will.

So, back to Isaiah. Isaiah 2:10—Enter into the rock and hide in the dust for the fear of the Eternal and the glory of His Majesty. People aren’t anywhere close to that. People aren’t fearful, as a whole, at all yet. When I read things like this, to me it’s fearful because we know what’s going to take place. It’s scary out there. It’s, frankly, scary in different cities in this nation, and the mindset and the attitude of things that are changing so rapidly.

The lofty looks of man shall be humbled. Because that’s the only time that they’re going to begin to become fearful. It takes fear to cause people to begin to look at things a little more realistically. Because they fear losing what they have, because they fear what’s coming upon them.

What a horrible thing that it’s going to take that on such a magnitude before people will even consider being reigned over by Joshua the Christ, by God Almighty. Because they think he’s someone else. They think what he believes and what he’s given them is something else, those who believe that. They don’t know who he is, what he wants, and what he’s getting ready to do, and why he has to come back and fulfill his name as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One to be King.

And what happens to begin all this, to get it started is not a pretty sight, because it says he’s going to do it with power. That’s why the expression in scripture, that if people could see it for what it is, when it talks about treading out the grapes in the winepress. It’s the example in the Old Testament of the blood because of the press and the blood that comes out of the winepress spreading throughout the earth.

It’s a horrible thing, different than the flood that quickly got rid of people, when people quickly drown and didn’t suffer for a long time. Because you’re either hanging on to something for a little while and once you start to go under it really doesn’t take very long. There’s not a lot of suffering compared to what’s coming.

The haughtiness of mankind shall be bowed down, and the Eternal alone shall be exalted in that day before My people.

Isaiah 5:13—Therefore, my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, in other words, without food, and their multitude dried up with thirst. So again here, showing what mankind has to go through.

Therefore, sheol will enlarged itself. It’s talking about hades, the grave. …open its mouth beyond measure; their glory, their multitude, in other words their abundance, their pomp, and he who is jubilant shall descend into it. So, in other words, those who are jubilant in their way of life, the way they see their life, that rejoice in their way of life, in their perverted, distorted way. God says they’re going to enter into that.

People shall be brought down. I mean, we’re reading things here because of the hardness of the heart, to the extent that this has to take place on such a level, to such a degree because of the very thing we’re discussing here, how hardened the mind can become against God, that it won’t listen.

And we’ll go through some of these things at the Feast, too, but to think about some of the conditions, some of the things of this world and what’s going on and what it takes to humble the mind of a human being? For those who will be humbled, because sadly, there are so many who won’t be humbled.

People shall be brought down; each person shall be humbled. Have to understand that in what’s being said here overall in the context. That will happen or something else will happen. That’s the point.

…and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. The reality is, as a whole, there won’t be much of that left. There will still be some pride and haughtiness left when it’s all said and done by the time Christ and the 144,000 are through doing what they do, but as a whole, as far as nations and peoples are concerned, this is what’s going to take place. They will either not be around any longer or people will have been humbled by this time.

And what a horrible thing to have to go through that much to come to a point where you’re willing to listen to God. Boggles the mind!

The eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. But the Eternal of hosts shall be exalted in judgment. We’re starting that process already. Hope you understand that. “The Eternal of hosts is exalted in judgment.” His judgment: that there is no other way. There is no answer in this world. There is no answer in any system of this world. It all has to be destroyed. Everything! Religion, corporations, economic systems, governments, education. Anything you look at it has to be scrapped because it’s all corrupt, it’s all wrong. None of it is based on God’s word, God’s way of life. And for people to receive that is not going to be easy.

But to set up and establish God’s Kingdom on earth, it takes these thing’s so people are of a mindset to be willing to listen to 144,001, to listen, to begin to make changes, to see the need for change and to agree we have the opportunity now to make changes and to do it right.

What an incredible thing, what the world has to go through to get to that point. But what good would the Kingdom of God be on earth if mankind weren’t brought to that point? Spend the next hundred, two hundred, three hundred years, generation after generation working with a little bit at a time? Like the world has thought about mankind being saved and proselyting and so forth, that if we just have a few here and there that come along then that’s a victory? No, it isn’t.

Get rid of all that’s bad. Get rid of all the bad apples. Get rid of the leavening that’s hurting all of mankind and start anew, build on something that’s new. Then you can have something with God’s spirit, with God’s government.

People should be brought down, each person shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. But the Eternal of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God, who is holy, shall be hallowed in righteousness. That verse is a beautiful verse, it really is. Because God is the one who is bringing the world to this point and no one can be of a mindset of questioning “Why are You going to allow this?” as far as the Church is concerned, especially. On the contrary. We have to be of a mindset to be in agreement with God, to say, “I understand. It’s horrible but it has to be done this way. Truly does.”

Verse 20—Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. We’re living this! We’re living in a world today that this is the way the world is, “who call evil good.” That’s what they side with, things that are not right. And something that is good, it’s considered to be evil because that’s how perverted, how distorted the mind of people has become even more and beyond what it has been in times past. We’re at a point in time where this is so hardened, so vile that there are going to be a lot of them that just will never turn around.

…who put darkness for light. So, if we can’t see this in society, in the world, can we see it on a grander scale, on a greater scale? Do we really grasp and comprehend why and what God is doing and say, “So be it. So be it.”

We all have to come to know and understand and believe with all of our heart, with all of our being that if someone does not choose to come into agreement with God it’s better they die. It may be painful. It may hurt. But that’s God’s plan; they will die.

Because it’s about dying for all time, never to be resurrected again. Everyone that’s resurrected into the God Family has to come through this process of human life, of making choices and having God’s spirit in their life, placing God first and wanting it, seeing the beauty and the benefit of His way of life and that nothing else can be allowed into that because it’s wrong thinking. It’s self then. It’s selfish. It’s evil. Anything that’s against or contrary to God’s will and God’s purpose and God’s way of life, it’s just evil and He’s not going to allow it in His Kingdom.

So, there are going to be those I know of my past that I’ve walked in counsel side by side to God’s house who won’t be in God’s Kingdom. I wish that all could be, but I realize there are times that choices and decisions have to be made, just like they’ve had to be made in the Church.

I would say one of the hardest things I’ve had to learn within the Church over time was not because it was necessarily hard to do, because I chose to obey God and knew that that was right, but nevertheless, people you love, people you’ve gotten to know, “walked to God’s house with side by side and counsel blended sweet,” when it comes to the point that they’re working against God it’s better they’re gone. Otherwise, they will hurt the Body and begin to destroy the Body, because sin spreads within the Body.

That’s exactly what God tells us. A little leaven begins to leaven the whole lump. And God’s not going to allow that in His Family. And so we begin to learn it within in the environment of the Church, that people make certain choices, and it’s their choice. And it hurts when they make it, especially the closer you are to them. It cuts deep. Only because you wish they’d made a different choice.

But you have the knowledge and knowing that hopefully in time they’ll make a different choice. Hopefully, there will be those who haven’t come to a point where they have become so set against God that they won’t repent even if given that opportunity in the Great White Throne. But you have to deal with the here and now with God’s family now. And that’s where our lives are.

And so, we have to learn those things. No matter who it is. No. Matter. Who. It. Is. If they choose to go against God and will not repent they cannot have their way and continue on in their own way against God’s purpose. And there comes a time of reckoning in all that. And we have to make those kinds of judgments in our life from time to time.

That’s why sometimes I think of the one thing I wish had been applied more fully in people’s lives in God’s Church. One simple little truth – to go to your brother alone. When you know…! When you know that what they’re doing is wrong! When you know that what they’re doing is sin! When you know and you’ll keep your mouth shut because you’re afraid to say something to them because you might lose a friend or whatever. Where is the love of God in that?

The love of God is absent in that. You’re only being selfish if that happens. If you don’t stand for what is true and go to them when you have an opportunity to hopefully get through. And if you don’t, then there’s nothing you can do about it. And then you have another responsibility, to go to the Church, because the Church needs to know. Those things are not easy. They’re not easy for human beings to do. They’re difficult. They’re hard. But it’s God’s way because it’s right, because it can’t be in God’s Family.

And if we’re guilty of allowing sin to continue in God’s family, and to the point of allowing someone to become destroyed, when maybe we had opportunity to intercede and say, “This isn’t right, and you know it. This isn’t what we teach, and you know it. I can’t be quiet about it. I’ve come to you because I love you.” It takes a lot of guts. It takes a lot of conviction.

Instead, I’ve had to deal with a lot of people that by the time I know about it and have had to go to them it’s too late because they’ve been doing it for so long, because they didn’t have a brother come to them that could have come to them or have brought it to the ministry long before when their heart wasn’t as hardened. But when you’re in that, the longer you’re in it and your heart becomes more hardened and more hardened, what can change it? What can bring it to repentance?

So, we have a part in all this in God’s family, we truly do. And so, looking back in time, especially during Philadelphia (Laodicea was another matter), of all things I wish that could have been applied faithfully. But it was hardly ever applied. And when it was applied it was done when people were self-righteous and they had their chance, finally, to go tell someone “You shouldn’t be doing that. You’re wrong!” It was like, “This is my chance now to chew them out, to tell them where they’re wrong! Because I’m righteous and we’ve got to be righteous!” I’ve seen that kind of attitude and spirit. And that’s just as wrong as the sin the individual committed. And some didn’t see that, and they’re gone too.

Takes the love of God. Takes God’s spirit to live His way of life. We can’t rely on self. So, this relates to that when we talk about things that we can learn within the Church through time. Because God wants us to learn about His Kingdom and the importance…

I hear Mr. Armstrong in the sermons he gave in talking about this mind of this being who was the first to sin and what he did and the sin he brought into the angelic realm and then on into this earth, mankind, and that God will never allow that in His Kingdom. And that’s what it’s all about, to realize that His Family has to be of a mind who is in unity and oneness and wants His way of life and cries out for His way of life in prayer because we know that it takes God’s spirit to live this way of life.

And no matter how much we might love someone and want them to be a part of that, if they don’t choose it you can’t give it to them. I don’t care who it is. You cannot save anyone. You can’t save anyone. You can have a part in salvation of others by, as an example, going to a brother alone or living yourself, striving to live this way of life by your example and by what you do, and hopefully others will be attracted to that and want to do the same thing themselves, and because of that kind of friendship and relationship it reinforces that mind and purpose.

I’ve known so many who tried to save others in the Church and have left it because of it. And gotten so weak because they keep trying to save different ones, maybe different ones in family or whatever it might be, and will compromise with the truth because they want so much for someone else to come into the Church or someone else to…

Think, if they don’t want it, what are you doing? Save yourself. That’s what God has given you opportunity to do, to live His way of life, to repent and change. He’s given this to you and only you can change this. And you can’t change anyone else. You may want it, you may desire it, but they’ve got to choose. So simple in so many ways but it’s not simple to live.

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. We live in that in a way in this world today, in this western world, that is really sickening if you see it. …who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Things are just absolutely upside down.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes. Every time you turn on the news that’s all you see, people who are wise in their own eyes. They judge other situations, and they know what the answers are. And they don’t see themselves. It’s a sad thing. It’s pathetic. …and prudent in their own sight!

Let’s turn over to Romans 3. We’re living in a world that has been and continues to accelerate towards a heightened and enlarged enmity, if you will, against God. It’s the kind of world we’re living in, where the mind is in so many cases becoming fully set against God.

Romans 3:10—As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. If you want to look at the world, we understand that. It’s not in mankind. The only righteousness that exists is in God’s Church, and it’s God’s. And we’re blessed to live that if we so choose. And because of repentance God accounts that to us for righteousness. And we’re not righteous. We are not righteous of and by ourselves. We aren’t! God lets us know that because we repent of sin, because we see sin in our lives and we want to obey and live His way, we want His mind in us, and because we’re willing to fight that fight, that He attributes that to us for righteousness.

Because we’re not. That’s why we have to repent regularly – because we’re not righteous. God and Christ, they’re righteous, and we want that life in us. That’s the only way we can practice righteousness, live within it, and continue in it, want it in our life. But it’s God’s.

Verse 11—There is none who understands; there is none who seeks God. Now, this is more true today than at any other time in history except before the flood. Because, you see, it wasn’t a secret what Noah was doing for that part of the world where he was. They saw him out there, him and his family and what they were doing for decades and decades and decades. And they knew, because of conversations with others, there was that knowledge that he believes that God has told him to do this. What God does he serve?

They had other god’s back then. All you have to do is look at the pyramids in Egypt. They had a lot of god’s before and after the flood. Just the way of mankind. But here he was. But people wouldn’t listen to it. Thought he was nuts. Nuts, crazy, stark raving mad. Now, if you haven’t lived a little bit of that you haven’t lived. People can’t help it. You believe what? Sad. But see, it’s worse today than ever before.

There is none who understands; there are none who seek after God. They’re all gone out of the way. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. That’s why sometimes it’s good for us to look at things in the world, things we hear, and make certain that we’re not drinking in of the foolishness of what’s being spewed out. Because, just like before different elections or when certain things were happening in this country, there were people taking sides. And you can’t take sides.

And then there are people who are willing to listen to conspiracy theories and different ideas out there, and some of them really wacky and far out. And what we pump into our minds because we want it there, that’s what we become. It begins to affect our thinking and how we think in our relationships with others. Because, you see, God leaves that kind of a mind, will begin to leave that kind of thinking because it’s wrong.

So, that’s why different admonitions have gone out about be careful that you don’t take sides, because they’re all wrong. No one understands. They don’t know the truth. There is no balance and soundness of mind out there. They’re all prejudice.

That’s why sometimes I think of what’s coming out in different movies and different things in the news, and you see every facet of what man trusts and believe on God is bringing to the surface and letting us see how wrong, how corrupt it is. Like the court systems, put twelve on a jury. Sure, they’re going to listen to everything that’s said. And you feel sorry for them because they’ve got to listen to what’s presented and all the games that go on there. And we call it justice? Blind? That’s a good way of putting it. I don’t know if that’s the way it’s put, but anyway, the statue, you know the statues of the weights.

You think, what a sick world it is. And we have to be convicted of those things, that everything is upside down that is wrong. CIA. FBI. I don’t care what you look at. IRS. Don’t have to look very far there. And on and on it goes. And everything has corruption in it. There’s power. They all have power. Teachers. Unions. They have power; so much so that no one can get much done right now because they have power. Change; and what kind of change is it?

Well, let’s rewrite everything. Let’s rewrite history. Let’s rewrite about how people talk, how people think. Let’s show them what to think. Course, this has always been done in times past anyway, but it’s heightened right now. Everything is at a higher level than ever before because it’s become more vile and more corrupt. Everything in the world.

That’s why everyone in God’s Church has to be careful of what you come to find yourself agreeing with. Why? Why? Why take a side? It blows my mind. Do some things need to be done in the world? Is it good that some things get done in the world? Well, there are some things that obviously need to be done. But they don’t have the answers and conclusions and they’re wrong themselves so where does it lead? To a dead end, to an inability to accomplish what they say they want to accomplish or are going to accomplish.

No one individual or individuals in the world can change anything. It’s all going down the toilet. And I’m so thankful that God is bringing it all to the surface for people to see. Whether they will address it or not is another matter, but at least it’s there, that one day they can look back and say, “Yep, that’s what it was.”

But for us, we have to be able to see it now. We have to be able to be in agreement with God now. And what comes from here comes from God. As far as a way of life, as far as how we’re to be as His people, it’s what we rely upon, for God to feed us, to nourish us spiritually. It’s God that does it and Christ who does it.

They are altogether unprofitable. There is none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre. With their tongues they have used deceit. And people don’t even know their deceit. We have to go through a lot to begin to see deception in our own lives because by nature we tend to deceive ourselves. We understand that we have a nature that tends to deceive itself, and we do. We can see something that’s someone else is doing and we don’t see we’re doing and thinking exactly the same way, if we’re not careful. Judgment, that it be righteous in every way. And the hardest part of judgment is to apply it to self.

With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips. We have to fight that battle. But we see it in the world and so this is talking about something of the way of man but it’s worse now than ever before. And that’s what God wants us to understand, because of the hardness of the heart and the time we live in because of technology.

You live in an incredible time and you have incredible opportunities. Maybe you don’t see that. God has given you incredible opportunities to be trained and molded at a time when the world is at it’s worst. He didn’t put you in a box somewhere. He didn’t put you in a closet somewhere. He didn’t hide you up in some mountain, remote mountain somewhere away from everything else. On the contrary. He put you here to see everything that’s going on so that you know what’s going on and you recognize what’s happening in the mind of mankind slowly and surely as we go along here.

Now, if we divorce ourselves from those things and don’t look into those things or won’t acknowledge those things or see them ourselves then what are we learning? Are we seeing the process and are we becoming more deeply convicted that God is right and that we acknowledge and agree with God in what God is doing? Does that move us? Because this is what we should be thinking, to be thankful for what God is getting ready to do because we are convicted with all of our being that this is the only way to do it.

To allow mankind to come to the point is not an easy decision. To allow mankind to destroy in just one of the Trumpet events, one-third of all mankind. But God chose that out of mercy and out of love for His creation.

And if we don’t understand that and see that and recognize the importance and the value of that and what it can produce because we see how God is working, then what are we? What are we learning? Are we at one with God? Are we in agreement with God and glorify God because of His judgment? Because we don’t have the same concept nor understanding and belief of the Great White Throne and the power that God has given for mankind to have opportunity? And it’s far more merciful to bring things to a close like this at this time than to allow it to go on? Because if more technology is given and more ability is given, what will we do?

Well, we know we’re not going to make it very far anyway. We would annihilate ourselves. That’s where we’re headed. That’s where we’re at. And mankind has to learn that. Every human being has the opportunity to learn that, to know that, to become convicted of that. Even if they lived 4,000 years ago or 5,000 years ago, as a whole, if their mind, if their hearts or their minds aren’t fully set against God, those who aren’t set, who have opportunity in the Great White Throne, they’re going to be able to be resurrected. Awesome! Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Destruction and misery are in their ways; their feet swift to shed blood. If it’s not done physically, which is happening too much in different countries, different parts of the world, the division that’s out there, the evil that’s emerging more and more, it’s happening in family’s, in lives by what they’re doing and how they’re treating each other more and more.

The way of peace they have not known. There are people who just don’t know the way of peace. Think when Mr. Armstrong, Herbert Armstrong went out and talked to different leaders, he talked to them in terms… Even this gets me worked up because I heard so many people in God’s Church condemn, criticize him, leaders in God’s Church criticize him because “he wasn’t taking the gospel into the world.”

I think, you blind, blind, blind… You’re no teacher. What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you? He spoke to them in terms that they could understand. When Paul talked, he spoke in terms that people could understand. He didn’t go out and quote certain scriptures and so forth. Herbert Armstrong didn’t have to quote certain scriptures and so forth. Basically, showed man there are two ways of life; there is the give and the get way.

And you know what? There are leaders who acknowledge that and understood that. They knew what he was saying, and they knew that was the problem in this world. Because they deal with it all the time in ways that most people never grasp nor comprehend in the smallest way. Because they see it as far as their nations were concerned and what they were trying to accomplish. And they saw people who just wanted their way, the get way. It wasn’t about others and really helping them. Unless it benefitted them and they could get a vote or get something else from them. Mankind is cruel. The nature of mankind is really, really cruel, evil.

The way of peace they haven’t known. So, we have those two ways we’ve been talking about. Drama, drama, drama and peace, peace, peace. And we have a choice. God shows us. Which one do you want? Peace. Peace in family. Peace in relationships. Nothing against anyone else. Loving each other. Wanting to see each other succeed. Not so in human nature. And that’s the fight.

And so, these things are all heightened. That’s the reason we’re going through this. These things are heightened on a scale, candidly, never at a time, any other time on earth like this. Because back then the populations were very small compared to today with the billions and billions and billions who encompass this earth and the kind of technology and everything else that mankind has. This is the worst of times, far worse than the days of Noah, in that respect, truly.

There is no fear of God in their eyes. We read something like that, if we’re not careful we look at the world and think, yep, no fear of God, and so God has to bring them to a point, as it talks about throughout Isaiah that we just went through, that that fear has to be stirred up. Because that’s the only thing that can rock the mind of an individual to a point that they will begin to potentially listen. Otherwise, they want their own way and will insist on their own way in the worst of times.

They’re going to get through it. They’re going to come through this on the other side and we’re going to make this… And whatever it might be.

Human nature is a tough nut to crack, but God knows how to work with human nature, with mankind, and to create His Family. His purpose wasn’t to save all mankind. Pretty strong statement. Would He want to do that, desire to do that? That would be awesome! But knowing full well, just like in the angelic realm when He created it, can’t bring it all through. “Just because of giving them free moral agency, that they have control of their own thinking, in time they’re going to turn against Me. They’re going to betray this way of life.” He knew it. Did He want that?

May be a difficult thing to comprehend but we should strive to. There are things happening, and part of the reason why God is doing some of the things He is even with Satan. It’s not an easy thing for God because He knows of the time they had before, and He hasn’t forgotten. That’s hard.

We know people for a short time and find it difficult. But God’s desire for him from the beginning was that He would choose Him, and all the other angelic beings would as well, knowing full well that wasn’t going to happen when it was all said and done.

And so, with mankind the same sort of thing. Yes, wish that all would choose, but know full well they will not. Large, vast numbers will not. So much so, prophetically described long ago, “As the sands of the sea they won’t choose Me.”

And these things are not easy for God. They’re not easy for us but we have to go through them to learn them too. Do you realize that? That’s the reason we have to experience some of the things we do, because we have to make judgments accordingly, and to find in time whether we believe and think as God, we’re in unity and oneness with God because we see what God is doing and why and we embrace that because we know there is no other way. It’s awesome what God is giving us, brethren, it really is.

Well, that’s why some things are happening and the timing and in the way they are. Because it’s still about, a lot of it is still about that being and those who followed him. You can’t just erase millions and millions, perhaps billions… We don’t know how many years and length of time that there was a relationship, and all the things they did in the vastness of the universe together until one was lifted up.

Think, well, that should be easy. We are not like God. We are learning to become like God. We’re learning and God is blessing us with that mind more and more, and we can grow in that kind of love, but we don’t have that kind of love in our life all the time. We get to taste of it, but we don’t have it all the time because we’re carnal, we’re human. And as long as we’re like this we don’t have that kind of a mind yet.

So, one thing to take away from some of this at the end of this then is to realize that there are things going on and things that God does. And sometimes good for us to look at that in that regard. Sometimes we don’t grasp the sacrifice, the love of God, and the things He has to go through. It’s not easy. It really hasn’t been easy. A lot of sacrifice.

That’s why I think about God and what He sacrificed far more than anyone can even begin to grasp and comprehend. His Son began to live that on this earth and is something that we can relate to in a sense, in a way, because of being human and living a human life and the things he was willing to sacrifice because of that same mind. And anyway, we have a long, long way to go. And God is blessing us with that, to grasp that we can be in His Family, but we have to fight for it, and we have to place God first.

And this world, what a blessing it is God is blessing us to understand that it will not listen at this time. What a blessing it is then that we’re able to. Awesome. Truly is.

[1] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-intelligence-tells-congress-chinas-nuclear-arsenal-track-exceed-our-previous

[2] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/first-time-ever-russia-drops-under-50-exports-sold-us-dollars

[3] https://www.rt.com/news/522646-france-poll-country-disintegrating/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

[4] https://sputniknews.com/military/202105031082789606-new-chinese-submarine-armed-with-missiles-capable-of-covering-entire-us-reports-say/

[5] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/european-double-think-blames-china-endangering-peace

[6] https://www.the-sun.com/news/2820012/war-china-australia-leaked-defence-soldiers/

[7] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/californias-2021-fire-season-could-be-armageddon-officials-warn

[8] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-prepared-disconnect-swift-payment-system-foreign-ministry

[9] https://www.zerohedge.com/political/china-indefinitely-suspends-economic-dialogue-australia-relations-worsen

[10] https://www.ibtimes.com/india-sees-record-covid-19-deaths-new-cases-24-hours-3193970

[11] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/slap-wrist-honeywell-fined-sharing-f-35-other-secrets-china