The Existence of Evil, Pt. 6

Ronald Weinland

September 2, 2023

Today we will end the current series entitled The Existence of Evil. This is Part 6.

We have been experiencing a rather unique year when it comes to sermons that have been given all year long all in preparation for the Feast of Tabernacles this year. It was only in the middle of July that we completed a review of sermons given since January, after that point in time, and that was in a series entitled More To Build Upon.

So, we actually went through and reviewed a lot of those because it gives us the opportunity to build upon the things that we heard and to review them in order that they be more deeply cemented in our mind if you will. By reviewing some of those things and adding a little bit here and there that’s the process of growing, that’s the process of having things built within us, if you will.

And so, we went through that, More To Build Upon, and that last sermon then on July 15th was Part 4 of that particular review series.

Now we’re going to have another review that will complete this series on The Existence of Evil. So, we’re going to review something else.

So again, we have to understand that as we go through these times of review it’s all a building process. God is constructing and building things within us and it’s in our mind. We have that opportunity and especially as we’re preparing for the Feast because so much of this has to do with what’s going to be given at the Feast. The more deeply those things are cemented within our understanding and our ability to comprehend what has been given, makes it more fulfilling as well for us to be able to receive what’s given and to understand these matters more deeply.

It’s kind of interesting going back here in what I’m referring to here. We, in ability to complete this particular series today, The Existence of Evil, we’ve had time to build upon even that subject matter. So, going back a little bit, actually quite a little bit, there was a sermon given back in the Feast of Tabernacles in 2017. It was a two-part sermon, and it was entitled Experiencing Good and Evil.

So, we’ve actually been building upon this knowledge that God has given to us back at that time, and that even goes back a little farther as well. So, we’re going to review that in the light of this series now that we’re going through. Some things I’m going to repeat word for word that were given back in 2017 and, obviously, I think we understand that things that are given at the Feast of Tabernacles are always a highlight of a year anyway. It’s a time when we’re able to come together and God gives us much more than we normally have during the year because we meet together once every Sabbath.

So, just by design that God has given to us, we have eight days that God gives us so much more at that particular time of the year. It’s the most inspiring time of the year. It’s the time that gives us more growth if we’ll receive it, able to receive it.

So again, I’m going to go through some of this and here is the intro to that particular sermon in 2017.  “There is a subject that was covered seven years ago.” So, even there I’m referring back to 2010. “…at the Feast of Tabernacles.” Again, what an awesome thing. “…at the Feast of Tabernacles concerning some verses, and one in particular that people could not fully grasp or understand, or to know the reason why God purposed for human life to be immersed in such surroundings. We're now going to review part of that and build upon it at this Feast.”

So, that was in 2017 referring back to the fact that we were building upon things at that time that had been given clear back in 2010.

“That sermon of 2010 was entitled The Creation of Evil.” Awesome what God gave to us that year. “…The Creation of Evil, and we need to do some review before going forward with what will be covered and what God is having us build upon.” So again, always referring to those kinds of things, that terminology “we’re building,” and He gives us more and more to build upon it.

I’m inspired because of the subject matter we’re going through, just realizing that it started in 2010 at the Feast, repeated and built upon in a greater way in 2017, and now in this particular series in preparation for things that God is going to give to us at this Feast of Tabernacles.

So, in this particular sermon, we went into Isaiah 45:5-6—I am the Eternal. This is the word “Yahweh.” “The Eternal Self-Existing One” is really what the word entails. That’s what it means in its full understanding for us.

…Yahweh, the Eternal Self-Existing one and there is none else. That’s an awesome thing too, to know what we’ve been given, to understand matters of the trinity that weren’t fully comprehended during Philadelphia and on into Laodicea. Only one aspect of the trinity was able to be seen, and that was about the holy spirit, that the holy spirit is not a being. You think of how things are translated sometimes, the King James says, “Holy Ghost.” It wanted to make it like a being, so to go along with that they quoted it as “the Holy Ghost,” like it’s a being of itself.

Herbert Armstrong, God’s apostle at that time in Philadelphia, made it very clear that no, it’s not a being, it is the power of God, it’s God’s spirit that comes from Him. Well, we’ll go through that in some of the sermon.

He says, “I am the Eternal Self-Existing One,” if you will then, “and there is none else.” There is not another. So, God gave to us to understand that Joshua had a beginning. He didn’t exist from the very beginning and yet that’s a part of the teaching of the trinity, that he’s always existed, eternally existed. He didn’t exist forever. So, we’re blessed to understand those things.

“…and there is none else.” Pure, clean, plain language. There is none else.

There is no God besides Me. No God, no Elohim except or other than He Himself, Yahweh. So, He’s referring to Himself as Yahweh and making it very clear there is no one in Elohim, there is no Elohim except Him. He’s the only one.

We understand that Joshua is in Elohim now, obviously. He’s a part of the God Family. But going back in time and during the time of Isaiah and all through time before that there was only one, the Eternal Self-Existing God, period.

I girded you. In other words, “clothed you”; an expression of providing everything for you.

I girded you though you have not known Me. What an incredible thing. God created mankind and yet as a whole mankind doesn’t want to retain knowledge that God has given at any time, as a whole. Doesn’t desire to know; wants to do its own thing.

…though you have not known me, that they may know Me from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me. I am the Eternal, and there is none else, no one else, if you will, that’s the terminology, “There is no one else.” Incredible! Beautiful when we understand it.

Verse 7—I fashion… It’s a word that’s used “to form as a potter.” The potter has clay and so those examples are given in the Old Testament as well and show that God molds and fashions us.

He says, I formed the light. So, starting from the very beginning. He goes through and talks about these things, as well as, obviously, mankind. But specifically, here, I formed or “fashioned,” as it was or is, the light and create darkness; I make peace and create, or as the word is “shape; create” as well, evil. So, God gave us understanding at that Feast especially in 2010, going back to that point in time, what this was all about.

God said He created evil. But we understand what that means. It wasn’t that God did evil or He made anyone do evil, but because He made us free moral agents as human beings we had the capacity for it and God knew exactly what we would do. We would be evil. We would have a mind of selfishness.

Also, within the angelic realm even before that, obviously, God made the angelic realm free moral agents, so they had the ability to choose something different if that ever happened, and it happened. Lucifer went against God, became known as Satan the devil, the adversary. He took a third of the angelic realm with him. So, they followed him, his way, and not God and the truth that God had given to them.

So, in this fashion, God created the potential for (maybe a better way of saying it), evil to exist. All for a purpose, all by design. It’s a marvel to understand it had to be that way because there is no other way to create Elohim except to expose people, mankind to evil. Awesome to understand that.

He went on to say, I, the Eternal, do all these things. So, it’s God’s plan and God’s purpose that it existed. He was willing to give up peace for the sake of creating His Family, Elohim.

So, in that sermon we looked at those matters of, again, how God created us, which did produce more evil in His overall creation, starting with the angelic realm. So, and then mankind himself from the very beginning, Adam and Eve, didn’t take too long and they turned against God, they turned against the knowledge that God had given to them.

Amazing how we’re made, it really is. If only mankind could grasp this and understand this about how we were made, to understand the nature that’s within us. We tend to think as human beings that we are good or that there are a lot of people who believe they are good, they try to do good things. What does that mean? It’s not God’s good, and there is the difference.

Romans 8:18—For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So, when God calls someone, and we have the opportunity to be impregnated with God’s holy spirit after baptism, then a new creation begins. God’s been creating ever since the very beginning and primarily the 144,000, if you will, of those who are going to be in His Family.

So, for the past six thousand years creation didn’t stop. It’s continued on in the sense of Elohim and what God is creating in those whom He has called and works with to mold and fashion their minds, their being to be in His government when it comes to this earth.

And so, it’s showing here that there is a glory that we’re going to have if we continue on, to follow the way that God has given to us and become a part of Elohim. We really can’t grasp it. What does it mean to be composed of spirit? What does it mean to have the ability to manifest oneself as Christ did after he’d been resurrected, made spirit in the God Family, Elohim, and yet able to manifest himself in physical form? We can’t comprehend that! Sounds exciting!

But to never die? To never have weaknesses, any of those kinds of things? To live from then on forever and forever? We think, especially when you’re younger, think seventy years is a long way away. It’s not long when you’re knocking on the door and you’re there. Some have passed that up quite a bit and it’s showing up in the Church more and more as different ones get older and older.

But there are things we can’t understand until we’ve experienced it, and none of us have experienced what it’s like to be in the God Family, to be spirit, to be composed of spirit. And so, to understand that kind of glory, the riches of that which God is going to give to us, what awaits us in the universe that He created? Because it’s out there for a purpose. It’s out there for a purpose. It’s all made for the God Family, as a whole, if you will, in time. We don’t understand any of that. He hadn’t shown any of that yet fully of what it entails.

For the earnest expectation of the—it’s not the word “creature” in Greek, it’s creation. For the earnest expectation of the creation, in other words, of mankind, why mankind exists, why God created mankind. …the earnest expectation of the creation awaits the manifestation of the sons of God. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why we were created – until those who respond and those who go through the process of change can become a part of that Family.

For the creation—notice this—was subjected to vanity. And do you know what that means? It means you don’t rule yourself as a human being. You are ruled by, you are subject to vanity, emptiness if you will. Even that takes understanding that God can give to comprehend what that means.

The word “vanity” contains “a mixture of thought and intent, of futility, to pull toward self, emptiness produced through selfishness.” It doesn’t produce the satisfaction of what mankind wants. Because of that nature we have, mankind can’t be fully satisfied. It’s always like something doesn’t satisfy so they want more, they want something else and think they need this to be happy, to be fulfilled. God has what we need but until God calls us people can’t see that, they can’t comprehend that.

And so, people go through all kinds of things to achieve happiness and be fulfilled and then they have it for a time and that didn’t do it, there has to be something else. Always grappling for more so it’s emptiness, it’s futility. That’s what God is showing.

Another part of what it means “the vainness of life.” “The vainness of life that comes from temporary physical existence.” We’re not here that long. You can’t take anything with you. People work and work and work and save up and save up but one day everybody…everybody dies! That’s a part of the cycle of life. That’s what God gave to mankind. Every human being dies.

There are only going to be a few who won’t experience that and that’s a marvel. When Christ returns there will be a few, it says, who “will be changed in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump,” at that event when Christ is returning. So, those who are still alive who are part of the 144,000 are resurrected like that and become spirit in composition, no longer physical human beings.

Continuing in verse 20—For the creation was made subject to vanity, in other words, a word that means “to be placed under; to obey.” That’s what this word means, “to be placed under,” in other words, “in order or even authority,” or whatever it might be. But in this essence, “to obey” has to do with “being subject to something.”

So, “the creation was made subject to…” We are under vanity as human beings until God calls us, and then that’s supposed to start changing.

…not willingly. Not because it was our choice. It wasn’t the choice of mankind how we were made. Adam and Eve didn’t choose how they were going to be made. Everyone born since then didn’t choose. So, that’s what this is saying, “not willingly,” “not by our own choice,” “not by our will,” but by reason of Him (God Almighty) who has subjected the same in hope.

God is revealing a portion here about a process that human beings must go through. This matter of hope, once God gives the truth to us, of what we hold on to and how much we value it, all these things go together as a part of His creation. Our choices, what we choose once our minds have been opened up.

So again, this hope is a matter of choice to exercise faith in what is seen, what is believed – in other words, being convicted of being true. It’s a willing choice to place ourselves under, to be obedient to such hope of living by faith. That’s a marvel to understand that, what it means to have faith. When God gives us the truth and then to choose that, that’s our choice. That’s when we begin to have a free choice in something that’s real in the sense of life and so forth, when God gives it to us.

It's a free choice of placing ourselves under a, being obedient to, willingly so to God. That’s what it amounts to, subject to God. So, we can come out of being fully subject to self, selfishness, vanity once God gives us the truth and we begin to make that change through choices we make if we’re consistent in those choices.

Verse 20 again, For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly but by reason of Him who has subjected the same in hope because the creation itself, again, of mankind (that’s the subject matter here), also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. That’s awesome! Which is the word for “destruction,” for corruption, obviously, but that’s what it leads to.

So, to understand this about our lives as physical human beings is quite a revelation because the world doesn’t think this way if you will. They don’t grasp that they’re in bondage. That’s why the example of Passover is so incredible when we see something physical, that God led the children of Israel out of bondage (slavery) in Egypt, freed them. So, there are things there physically that we’re to learn from spiritually. And so, in that respect, that’s why we talk about those things, mankind is in a, if you will, a spiritual Egypt, they’re in bondage (and they don’t understand that), literally, in the mind, in the being, in life.

So, it says then, we can be delivered from the bondage of corruption. Because that’s where it all goes. That’s where everything is headed without God. Choices. Life or death. Only with God can we attain to life. And if we don’t choose that, if mankind doesn’t choose that, which there will be many it says, and we understand that possibly into the billions and billions when it’s all said and done at the end who will not choose God’s way, and where does it lead? Second death. Incredible. Corruption, destruction because that’s what God says is going to take place for those who don’t want His way of life. Awesome!

…the creation itself, mankind, also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, by choice if they choose that once they’re given the opportunity, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Because that is the only way to continue on in life, is to choose what God offers, that we want to be His children, that we want to be in His Family, Elohim, that we value that with all of our being, that we esteem that with all of our being, we recognize it as great treasure far more than anything physical we can acquire as human beings in this life.

So again, it was God’s great purpose in order to create Elohim that this manner in which we were created, that mankind was created, was necessary to be done this way. There is no other way to create Elohim. God just can’t create spirit beings in His family. He was able to create spirit beings in the sense of being of a spirit essence, but that’s the angelic realm.

But what God is creating as far as His Family is far greater and there’s been a lot of work and a lot of preparation through time, millennia upon millennia. We really don’t know how long whether it’s been billions of years. We know the earth has been here for millions and millions and millions of years, but all that God has for a purpose. Incredible.

So again here, this bondage comes from the product of sin. That’s why it’s corruption, that’s why it leads to death, and not just the first death. Because it was purposed that everyone die once, for all human beings die once. But for those when they’re given opportunity in the Great White Throne and so forth, that’s another matter. That’s a second death if people don’t choose God’s way of life. So, choices, choices, choices.

So, evil exists because of choices, because of sin and the way mankind is made, carnal human nature. So, we’re to grasp and understand that we have been sown into a life that is subject to vanity, a life that comes into bondage, of corruption, of destruction because it’s a matter of sin. Because with this kind of a mind people sin. That’s why it happened from the very beginning. People began to sin. Mankind sinned.

That’s why there is only one way to have sin taken care of, and that’s through Christ. He paid the penalty. And so, that’s the only way to have sin forgiven, is through him. Incredible to understand these things.

Romans 8:7. Incredible scriptures. Because the carnal mind... All human beings have a carnal mind. Now, we are blessed once begotten of God and have God’s spirit. This process begins to grow within our minds and our being that something else begins to grow, our minds begin to be transformed, as we learn. But still, there is this part of our nature.

The carnal mind is enmity against God. We learn in the Church that that’s our battle. The way of selfishness, we want to do what we want to do. People do not like to be told what to do. I don’t care if it’s a young child, older child, or adult, as a whole basic human nature is people don’t like to be told what to do. If they want to do something different it rules. People make those choices.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. Powerful scripture. Sad the world won’t accept that and what it says there. …it is not subject to the law of God. So, they have to say the law is done away. That’s the only way they can deal with that, “Well, the law is done away. You don’t have to keep the law.” What they’re really saying as a whole, especially in the protestant world, is that “The Sabbath is done away, that Old Testament harsh old God that was in the Old Testament and Christ came along to reveal something nicer and better and kind of easier to get along with.” Perverted minds of what they’ve been taught and not understanding what he’s blessed us to grasp and comprehend.

God requires we live a certain way of life. It’s not a choice to come along and say, “No, the law has been done away with,” because people will acknowledge, “Well, should we murder?” “No, that’s a good law.” “Is it okay to steal?” Well, that’s changing. That is changing now out there where it’s kind of okay to steal now because you can’t chase them, you can’t run them down, you’re expected to even pay them off in some cases.

This world has gone nuts, absolutely insane. Stores closing up on the West Coast in different areas because of locking things down in stores where you have to get someone… And they don’t have the staff so how long are people going to wait to buy something? So, what do they do? People are migrating to Amazon. Business people have a hard time making it anymore, they really are.

And malls? It’s amazing sometimes to see the number of malls that have closed down. To walk through malls and see the stores have closed. They can’t compete anymore. Then you add to that the fact that people can’t chase the people that want to come in and rob and steal, so, robbing and stealing… There was a time when people would acknowledge, “No, you shouldn’t rob and steal. My car is my car. You didn’t pay for it.”

Do you realize there are places in Oakland, California now, in some of the areas out there around San Francisco, there are people who actually go to work and leave their windows rolled down because people will come along, smash your windows, and take what’s inside? They’ll look in the glove compartment. But if you leave the windows down at least they can get in the car and check the glovebox or under the seats and realize there is nothing there to steal. So, that’s what they’re doing.

You think that’s time that says to me get out of town; I’m going somewhere else…wherever they support police. But we live in a weird world right now, we really do. And you don’t dare think, ask how much worse can it get? Because we know it can get a whole lot worse.

So indeed, God created us in such a matter that the carnal mind is enmity against God. It’s just the way we are. We want our way. That by nature we would become subject to our own nature, a selfish nature, if you will, one that’s fully regulated and motivated by the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,” and, if you will, “the pride of life,” as we understand. Our way, that’s what it’s saying.

“So, before continuing it’s interesting to note what is written in Genesis 1.” Now, we’re still going through some things covered in those sermons, both sermons given in 2010 and 2017. “…written in Genesis 1 after God said that He gave mankind to have dominion over His creation, especially knowing how He had created mankind to become selfish in a physical creation and that mankind would produce evil.”

Isn’t that amazing? God knew that mankind would be evil, he would do evil things, how they would treat people. Cain killing his own brother. It started happening very quickly, very early on.

Genesis 1:31—Notice what God said—Even God saw everything He had made, and behold it was very good. Now, we have to know the mind of God. We have to understand what He’s saying. Because most assuredly the nature of mankind if you look at it wasn’t going to be good. The very first two, right away, started sinning, and everyone from that point on sinned. Every human being sinned except one, Joshua the Christ. Every human being has sinned.

And yet God said, “It’s very good.” Because He saw what we can’t see as human beings. He knew what we can’t know as human beings. He has to reveal it to us and help us to understand it, why we’re created this way. Because we’re created this way so that when the time comes and God draws us and calls us and opens our minds we can begin to make choices that starts a creation within us to where one time we’re going to become a part of His Family.

And everything in creation, everything that God has ever created is about that Family with Joshua the Christ as the head, the cornerstone of that entire family. That’s a marvel to grasp and comprehend such things. Look forward to the time that everybody has the ability to know those truths, to know and understand those things. Though many are going to reject it even as they still do.

“So, everything that God had created, formed, and fashioned in those six days was very good.” The fact that human beings were made selfish, to have a selfish nature by the way they were created physical, God knew that. He knew what they were going to do. Didn’t have to have Satan around to start sinning. He didn’t have to be there, but he’s a large part of the story that has to be included so God let him be there for a purpose and a reason. Awesome to understand that.

“And God said it was very good,” including human life that was made subject, if you will, actually created in bondage to corruption, made subject to vanity, to lust.

A little baby, we just have that nature. Right away in the very beginning, as soon as we’re born we want taken care of our way. Right away we learn to get attention, we learn to get something we want. We want to be (and rightly so), you want to be changed… Anyway, we’ll go on from that.

But you want food when you want food. They want milk when they want milk, and they cry when they don’t get it and it’s just the way we are. We want self taken care of. Then we begin to grow up and that just becomes stronger and stronger within us as time goes on. We become more professional in selfishness.

You tell people in the world that and they’re going to think you’re absolutely stark raving mad. You’re nuts. You’re crazy. But that’s our nature. Every human being is selfish by nature. Every human being. Because, well, everyone has an opinion because it’s the way we see it, and people don’t agree with each other. Why? Because we have this nature, “I’m right!” That’s why people are able to condemn and criticize and find fault with others, but we don’t see ourselves as a whole. We don’t see our own nature and the way we think. Mind-boggling, it really is.

But God created us this way and He said, “It’s very good.” Beautiful, when you understand it. Seven thousand one hundred years of selfishness on earth until everyone that can be will become a part of the Family of God, Elohim. That’s what God sees; what we’re capable of if we make the right choices, if we choose Him once we’re given the opportunity. So, it’s on us, every one of us through time as time goes on in the next one thousand one hundred years.

So again, going back to this part in 2017 I want to read another part here. It says, “After looking at these verses about God creating both good and evil that was covered at the Feast in 2010 we went on to look at some other verses that had never before really been understood. God gave this to us to lead us to understanding of a stark and unique difference between angels and mankind and how God works with each.”

These kinds of things were not known during Philadelphia, we didn’t understand them during Laodicea, and didn’t understand them through a lot of PKG until this point in time. Sometimes we don’t remember everything that’s been given to us at different stages, and it really is a marvel. This is a marvel, what God gave at this time.

Psalm 103. So, this is where by understanding some of these verses God gave us a better understanding even of what we’re going to cover now in that respect, this difference between angels and mankind that is the focal point of so much of this as far as understanding is concerned.

Psalm 103:13—Like as a father has compassion on his children, so the Eternal has compassion on those who fear, or if you will, reverence Him. So, God is a very loving, giving Father. He’s made everything for us.

Well, anyway, going on, verse 14—For He knows how we are formed. He gave us this nature, but that is not an excuse for us to be in sin. That is not an excuse for us to say, “Well, God understands my weak frame.” No, not at all. Because we are to change. Once He calls us we are to repent, we’re to become something different. We’re not to stay the same as what we are.

He keeps in mind that we are dust, in other words, created to be subject to vanity. So, God gives us a lot of mercy. He has a lot of patience with us. He gives us a lot of time because it takes a lot of time to go through this process of change. Think of how long I’ve been in God’s Church. How long have you been in God’s Church? It doesn’t happen in a year or two years or five years or ten years. It takes time for this mind to be transformed, to become something new to a point where God can say, “Now I know you,” and then when we are set, and He knows that, we can become a part of His Family.

Verse 15—As for man, his days are as grass. Now, most people don’t think that until they’re up to the end and then you realize, yeah, it grows, it dries up, it dies. Cycle of life. Human beings, we live a certain amount of time, we die, and what is there after that? That’s been the mystery on this earth in different religions for a long, long time, and only very few have ever really understood what happens, what really takes place.

As a flower in the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. What an amazing thing all the graveyards, and people don’t know who was there. Oh, there might be a marker but who were they, what did they live, what were they known for? Unless they were, you know, had something written about them or whatever as a whole it’s just they’re gone. Life goes on.

But the mercy of the Eternal is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear, or reverence Him, if you will, and His righteousness into children’s children. Awesome! …to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.

Now, in reality, when we really understand this, this isn’t just a physical thing. It isn’t just about the Jews and Israel when they were brought in out of the bondage from Egypt and in the wilderness for forty years and then brought into the promised land and how they would live their lives.

Yes, people, the more of God’s way of life that people strive to obey and live by the more that they can be blessed because there are laws in motion that can bless life, that bless life because of how we think and how we live. But this goes deeper than this. This goes beyond this because to be able to do this truly is a matter of God’s spirit and being changed, begotten of God’s spirit.

“To such as keep His covenant.” Who can keep His covenant in truth save those who are given the ability to do so through the power of His holy spirit, those whom God has called over the past six thousand years?

Verse 19, notice what God then inspired David to write about the angels which is so different in how He spoke here concerning mankind. Because that’s the contrast, to realize God knows He made us subject to vanity, and yet there is a purpose in that, why it has to be that way, why we have to experience certain things in life. We have to experience what Satan chose. Selfishness, we have to experience it. We have to experience it as human beings what it means to have a selfish mind. We have it from birth, a selfish nature.

But now, going on toward those things having to do with the angels, verse 19—The Eternal has prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. Bless the Eternal, all you His angels, you mighty ones, expression in King James says, those who excel in strength, which they do. They’re spirit beings. …who do His commandments, obeying the instruction of His word. They had choices.

What a marvel to understand that from the beginning, and we don’t know how long, maybe millions of years, all they knew was what God told them when they were created as spirit beings. That’s all the knowledge they had. They had no knowledge of evil. They had no knowledge of beings being bad, of angels being bad, doing bad things, of anyone doing anything against what God had given. Incredible! How long did that continue on? A long time. Spirit beings.

…who do His commandments. They just did what God told them to do. That’s the way of life they lived. God gave them certain instructions, certain things to accomplish and they did it exactly the way He said. There was no question.

…obeying the instruction of His word. Bless the Eternal, all you His hosts, and you ministers of His, speaking of the angelic realm, who do His pleasure. So, it was God’s pleasure to let them share in the various things He was doing in the creation of the universe. We don’t know to what extent, unto what power was given. We don’t know those things yet. But they weren’t out there just watching everything.

Some people have this concept that God is up there in heaven and all the angels are just watching everything He does. “Well, I think we’ll create this star system over here,” and see it come into being and all the angels, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,” you know rejoicing and rejoicing and rejoicing for what God’s doing. It wasn’t like that. They were involved in it. Can you imagine for millions of years?

It's like this concept some people have of when you die you go up there and you can just behold the face of God forever and forever. Do you think God wants that? What kind of life is that, just looking at someone, a being forever and forever and forever and that’s all there is? Anyone ever heard that before, things like that? Yeah. So, it’s like, you’ve got to be kidding me. Do you think God is like that, that He wants everybody to look upon Him forever and forever and forever and forever…and forever… I mean, how bored do we get as human beings doing something for a short time, you know? We want something different.

God has created a universe for a lot of variety and a lot of differences, and we’re just now beginning to see the things that are out there. You know, they send things out there to take pictures of it all and send it back to the earth. There are things they’re taking pictures of that are defying science. Even now there are things they can’t comprehend. They try to make up a reason for it because they try to use physical reasoning, that God put it out there, so they have to come up with some idea of why they’re seeing certain things that kind of defy science.

Well, it doesn’t but they don’t comprehend that because we don’t know as much as we think. Anyway, sick and tired of hearing those kinds of things sometimes.

But anyway, here are the angelic beings and they just did what God told them to do, whatever that part was in the creation of and working with things in the universe.

…who do His commandments, obeying the instruction of His word. Bless the Eternal, all you hosts, and you ministers of His who do His pleasure. Bless the Eternal, all His works, in all places of His dominion. Bless the Eternal, O my soul!

“These things were recorded,” as brought out in that Feast, “to make a clear distinction in that which should be understood in the difference between the creation of mankind and the creation of the angels.” We covered this. “Although we know there's a difference in composition the point, candidly has just been missed over time, not understanding what was written.”

“Mankind was formed, created in temporary and weak form, able to receive mercy when working, living to be obedient and faithful to God and His word.” Because the reality is when God gives us His word, His way, He shows us that we are wrong, that we have things we’re supposed to obey and live by. He gives us His law. The more we learn the more we understand sin and that we have a sinful nature.

Do we need to go through any of that? It’s a battle. It’s a battle to fight against our carnal nature. It’s the greatest battle you’ll ever have fighting against your own nature when God opens up your mind. That’s what we go through, it’s a constant battle.

“There is no such thing said of the angels.” They didn’t have the ability to, if you will, to receive mercy from God. They had everything. Their purpose was not to receive mercy. Their purpose was to obey God from the very beginning and then there were those who came along and chose something different. Lucifer, who became Satan, and all the angelic realm that followed him, something changed in them.

Now, for human beings, what an awesome thing to understand that we can change in our thinking, we can become something different. The angels, once they sin, that’s it. Once they turned against God they’re set because they’re spirit, composed of spirit.

So again, there is no such thing said of angels in the sense of being able to receive mercy from God. They’re either doing His will always since the time they were made (created), or they’re not. One or the other. There is no middle ground.

With human beings totally different. How blessed are we that we can be forgiven of sin, that God can have mercy upon us because of the way we were created, knowingly so, because of the choices that He wanted us to be able to have the ability to make through time in choosing Him and learning to put Him first, desiring to want Him to be first, wanting to be a part of His Family.

The angels being made of spirit essence and not temporary physical flesh, they were not created for a frame that could feel pain. What an awesome thing, no pain, no suffering, no hunger, no physical discomfort. All the things we experience as human beings.

They were not made subject to the kind of pulls that exist in a temporary physical creation, like, again, the pull from “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,” the pulls of selfishness that are produced from being a temporary being. So again, mankind made subject to vanity and the angels were not.

So, the question was asked in that sermon there at the Feast in 2017, “Do you see the difference, yet on the other hand that which is the same with the creation of mankind and the creation of angels that is so important in order for us to comprehend far more fully the awesome,” if you will, “the awesomeness of God's purpose for creating angels and mankind exactly as He did?”

I hope we remember that particular series, if you will, of what we went through.

“The primary difference is obvious and easy as one was created of physical elements, and one was created of spirit elements…” That’s easy to see. We understand that. “…but what this produced in the sense of what was sown because of one being composed of spirit and the other of that which is physical is not as obvious for us to see. But God has given it to us so that we can see it.”

Philadelphia didn’t have that, the era of Ephesus didn’t have that, Thyatira didn’t have that, Sardis didn’t have it, and Laodicea didn’t have it. But because of where we are in time and because of Christ’s soon coming God began to reveal these things and give us a lot more than what we’ve had in times past.

“The way that each was created automatically produced different thinking.” The way we think, the way they think, “a different process of thought that would naturally come out of them,” out of angelic beings and out of us as physical human beings.

“In the creation of both what is the same? What is it that is of major importance in understanding the spirit realm and in which the very purpose of God has existed from the beginning in all that He has been planning concerning His family, the very Family of God?” Elohim. Well, I’m not going to beat that one up anymore.

“Both were void of the holy spirit.” Mankind wasn’t given the holy spirit upon creation and the angels were never given God’s holy spirit. What an awesome thing! They were spirit but God never intended that the angels have His holy spirit. That’s a whole different thing. What is that? His mind, His being, the word. I think of Proverbs when it talks about wisdom. God created them and told them much, gave them much as far as knowledge was concerned. And in time they had the ability to grow in understanding of things that God was doing, but there is a big difference when it comes to the holy spirit. Because the holy spirit has to do with how you think, the process of thinking, of the mind of God, the very mind of God.

The angels were not to have the mind of God, the thinking of God, which is a matter of the holy spirit, the word. They were there to witness things that took place, and they had choices to make, and a third of them made the wrong choice. Incredible.

“Both were void of the holy spirit as neither were created with the holy spirit.” Man wasn’t created with it in the very beginning, but later God made it available, that we could begin to have His holy spirit, we could begin to think differently. What an incredible thing to realize our minds can change, we can be transformed in the way we think.

Spirit beings, we learn, God gave us to understand that when they made a choice to do something against God because they were spirit that was set. I remember Ambassador College and sometimes people discussing some of these kinds of things and it’s like, “What happened in the angelic realm? What happened? Why can’t they repent? And can they repent later on, maybe in God’s plan and God’s Family starts, they see God’s Family come together, can some who are in the demonic world, or in the demonic world, or Lucifer, Satan himself, repent?”

They don’t want to because they’re spirit. Their minds are set. That’s why we had to be made physical. What an awesome thing to understand. They were made spirit and when they make a choice that they did to go against God that’s forever. The thinking of human beings is flawed to think that they would ever want then to change because they can’t, they’re spirit. When they tarnish their minds in that regard it’s forever or as long as God allows them to live.

That’s something we haven’t comprehended in times past, that what God has created God can destroy and will destroy because there is coming a time when there will be no existence of evil ever again. Not in the angelic realm and not with mankind. Awesome to know those things.

And so, the difference is the holy spirit, the very being and the mind of God. Mankind has the opportunity to receive it when God begins to draw and call individuals and gives them that opportunity to choose Him and to have that impregnation of His spirit in their minds. But what do they have to acknowledge? That we’re filled with sin. We’ve got to be forgiven. We have to be forgiven through Joshua the Christ. God offers that to us so that we can have this mind changed so that God’s spirit can dwell in us.

What an incredible thing for us to understand that the purpose that Christ died, yes, was to pay the penalty for sin, but it goes so far beyond that. It’s as he said in the book of John 14, it’s so that he can dwell in us, so that the Father can dwell in us. Because the mind, the being, the holy spirit of God cannot dwell in human beings unless we’re forgiven of sin. We have to be cleansed of sin.

That’s why Christ died, paid that penalty for sin, so that we can acknowledge day after day after day, “I have sin.” We’re selfish. What day is it you have lived that you have been unselfish purely, completely the full time you were awake? It’s impossible. You can’t. You’re a human being. That’s the way we were created, with selfishness.

So, do we have things to repent of? Yeah, the more we understand that and see that the more we recognize yes, and we don’t want to be cut off from the flow of God’s spirit into our life because that’s what we need to continue to grow and to change, which is about the mind of God, the holy spirit is, the being of God.

That’s why coming at one with God, we talk about that. We use the word “atonement” kind of loosely. But to become at one with God, we kind of break up the word ourselves in an expression like that to be at-one-with God, to be in agreement with God, to not insist on our own way. And yet what do we have? What have we had in the Church in the last two thousand years? Disagreement, disagreement, disagreement with God. Disagreement, disagreement with what God has fed the Church.

What did Herbert Armstrong experience? Disagreement from the very ones who were some of the first ones to attend Ambassador College, who sat there in classrooms when it first started and he taught them, those who became evangelists. And to do some of the things they did? Disagreement. Because they got to know him, and so, the more they got to know him and saw flaws as a human being, “familiarity breeds contempt,” not understanding, no, he is God’s apostle and what that means to them, that they wouldn’t know diddly squat if God didn’t give him the truth to give to them.

And so, everything he taught on the chalkboard as he would write up there and talk to the students at Ambassador College was knowledge to be received that was true, that was from God. Because most of the classes that he gave, obviously, were about scripture, about the truth, about God’s plan and God’s purpose, things about the Holy Days, whatever it might be. They had the opportunity to learn it.

That’s why I keep slamming the one, Dr. Hoeh, who was supposed to be a great intellect, who was very smart as far as intelligence is concerned as a human being. But intelligence isn’t something that finds favor with God. It’s something that God has given human beings the ability to have. Who is to be glorified? God. Not individuals who take it to themselves and “Look how great I am, that I can sit on the front row reading a book while he’s giving a sermon,” and delude people, and tell people, in essence, in class that he can read the book at the same time hearing God’s apostle. Bull!

Then to teach about Passover, 14/15th? But those things need to be drilled into our minds of what people have done when given the opportunity to learn the truth and turned against God.

That’s what we’ve seen for two thousand years. Of all people, the Church. That’s why we’ve gone through in this series about the Church eras. Every Church era had people who turned against God. The very first era, it wasn’t very long they began to have to deal with people who began to teach wrong things in some cases, in different Church areas as they were being raised up after Christ had done what he did in visiting with them and being with them that forty days and then Pentecost came. Right away God was calling people. Right away on that particular day, there were so many who had received what was true up here and the Church began to grow.

Then Paul was called a little bit later to go out to the gentiles. Churches were raised up and then had to start mentioning people that were doing things that were wrong. John, the very last of the apostles, had to write about antichrists in the Church of God. That was during the period of Epheus, the very first Church era and he had to write about antichrists and talking about how there are many antichrists. There was one great one to come, and that was at the end, which we’ve already experienced in the Church.

But you think, what an incredible thing that those whom God calls, that they could turn against Christ, they could turn against God because they have other ideas, other beliefs than what was given to them that brought them to the point of conversion in the first place? The majority. Mind-boggling the majority of those who have been called in the last two thousand years have turned against Christ, have turned against God, the teachings, the instruction that they were given.

That’s the only word I can come up with, mind-boggling. It’s almost unimaginable that such a thing could have happened. Then we experienced the Apostasy far beyond.

So, it’s an awesome and an incredible thing to recognize what God has given us opportunity to have and that’s His holy spirit to live within us, to dwell within us. Then He gave us to understand something which is a marvel, that it talks about all those who become a part of Elohim, that God will dwell in them forever. That’s the goal.

In our lives, He doesn’t dwell in us forever after we’re called. There are times we’re cut off. When we sin we’re cut off, and unless we repent we’re going to stay cut off. That’s why repentance is so important, that we repent of sin when we see it. Because we all have sin. And if we refuse to acknowledge what we are?

That’s why pride and haughtiness should never have a place within any of us within the Church. And yet it’s one of the greatest things that has existed through all seven Church eras because that’s what led the majority to leave, pride—haughtiness. That’s all you can call it. God can’t work with that. God won’t dwell in that.

So, we’re tried when we’re in human life and if we choose God and strive to hold on to what He’s given to us to the end then we have opportunity to be in His Family forever, forevermore. Everlasting life in the God Family.

But if we don’t choose to fight that battle and repent of sin along the way, what happens? People get cut off and they get weaker and weaker and after a time they can’t be, they can’t be in that Family. That’s just the bottom line.

So, what an awesome thing we have opportunity for when God calls us.

God made us so that we could have His holy spirit, receive His holy spirit into a mind, that you think, we have the spirit essence inside of us as human beings, but it can be impregnated with God’s holy spirit.

That’s why it’s so important to understand what happened to the angelic realm and to understand what it’s like once we’ve been given of something of such magnitude and importance, of God’s own spirit that impregnates the human mind, that gives us the ability for God to dwell in us. Because that’s what He dwells in. It’s a matter of what He gives to us to understand.

We don’t understand the truth on our own. God gives it and we grow because of that spirit essence in our minds, and we can begin to think differently and choose to be in agreement with God. It’s a beautiful thing. But it’s been highly abused in two thousand years.

So, hopefully, we’ve gleaned more about the series about what it means, in essence, the existence of evil and to understand what that means for God’s Church. Because it’s always existed in God’s Church. It’s going to exist in the Millennium and it’s going to exist in the Great White Throne. To understand when it talks about at the end, at the end of that one hundred years, that period of judgment that’s upon mankind, of all who are resurrected again to a second physical life.

What an amazing thing in Revelation when it talks about a second death, and yet the protestant world, they don’t address those verses. They don’t even talk about them. Why? Because they don’t understand that human beings can live twice. People who are going to be resurrected to a second physical life and have opportunity to receive what you’re already receiving as far as the Church is concerned. What a marvel!

But even then it says at the end that there are going to be those that are as the sand of the sea who don’t choose God. That’s kind of hard to grasp and yet it isn’t.

That concludes this particular series except for one thing. I’m going to follow up today with news. I was going to give it last week but some areas, some people in different parts of the world talk about how very difficult it is for them to receive the news anyway, of news of things that are going on in the world and so it helps them out and it has to do with, really, still the subject matter of what we’re going through, the existence of evil.

Because things are getting worse and worse and worse. It has to do with things that we see as Thunders that are getting louder and louder and more often together, if you will. That’s what’s unique about it. Just like fires, just like, I don’t care if you talk about hurricanes and bad weather, there are things like that, volcanoes, it doesn’t matter, earthquakes. All these things have existed for the last six thousand years. It’s just the world we live in. But not like it is now because it’s a matter of the things having to do that correlate with a woman in labor. They happen more, they’re happening closer together, and greater magnitude.

So, that’s what a lot of the news is about, and to understand where this country is and where it’s headed.

So, news to the end of August:

“Poland's PM reportedly warns Russian mercenary group Wagner forces moving closer to NATO country's border.”[1] So, might think that’s not a big thing. But it is. They keep moving a little bit closer to Poland. They have been over the last several weeks, closer to a NATO country, and if anything ever breaks out there… Well, we know where it is. It’s a world war for sure that takes place.

“Chinese Troops Pledge To Die In Alarming Docuseries On 'Liberating' Taiwan.”[2] Now, this says, “China's state broadcaster CCTV has kicked off the airing of an eight-episode military documentary series called Zhu Meng, or ‘Chasing Dreams,’ which features battle-ready Chinese troops pledging to sacrifice all, even themselves, for the sake of 'liberating' Taiwan.”

Now, we can read through things like this and after a while people just become numb to news, they become numb. But you have to realize this is happening because this is the Chinese government saying this is what they want to be out there. Because nothing is put out there unless it has their approval. When you talk about the state, China, and the TV, and what they put out there, this is what they want the world to see and they want to see, “This is what we’re going to do.” To have that many as far as a series is concerned and they’re saying, “We’re ready…”

I think of World War 2 kamikaze pilots. People say, “Well, how can people do something?” Well, people get fanatical in wars, and if it’s a big enough cause there will be kamikazes flying their planes into ships to destroy them because they’re fanatical about what they believe. They’re fanatical about what they believe because it’s been pumped into them since youth. This is their minds.

That’s why North Korea is so volatile. Because that’s even worse because they’re indoctrinated far, far more than the Chinese are. So, that’s why North Korea is not a small thing, some of the things they put out and the paranoia. It gives a new meaning to the word “paranoid,” a nation that’s paranoid and their leaders are paranoid, and their military is paranoid. It doesn’t take a whole lot to push someone like that over the edge.

So, you have to understand sometimes when you see certain things in the news there is more behind it, if we’re able to see that. How are they thinking? That’s why sometimes I’ll read something that’s from Sputnik or RT or, you know, some of Russia because it shows their thinking, where they’re coming from. It doesn’t mean that everything is true.

People like to call it propaganda. You think, “Do you think we don’t have propaganda?” I mean, really?! To see what’s put out there. I don’t care, some people take sides, so what are they pushing, what’s their motive? You have to know those things. If you’re watching CNN you have to understand they’re pushing something of certain agenda. MSNBC? Is that right? They’re pushing a certain thinking. FOX? Are they any different? No, they’re pushing something. Everybody is pushing something, and so it is with nations. Al Jazeera? They’re pushing something. France24? They’re pushing something.

But man, they report on news in a lot of these places in the world that others don’t, and so you can find out things that are taking place. It’s amazing because we don’t hear those things over here, we really don’t – so much of it.

“The series marks the 96th anniversary of the founding of People's Liberation Army (PLA), and seeks to highlight that Chinese forces are ready to fight ‘at any second.’ It additionally sends a signal to Taiwan's Western backers, including the United States, of how seriously Beijing will take any future provocation.”

So, we just keep pushing. We keep pushing at that bear in Russia, pushing them into a corner. We keep pushing at the Chinese. We keep pushing.

I hope we’re not naïve. I hope we understand that there are people who would like to see a war. Do you think that happened during WWII? WWI? There are people who would like to see a war. They want to prepare for it in their own way. They want to support parts of it in their own way. But the reality is today especially, this is far more of a pressure. I’m going to read some other news articles here to show you why.

“North Korean Defense Minister on Nuclear War: Question is Who Will Start It.”[3] To think that a nation is actually talking in that vein, that this is their thinking, that this is what they believe over there?

“‘Nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is no longer a question of whether it will be, but a question of who will start it and when. The nuclear war mania by the United States and their puppets…’” So again, this is from Sputnik, so you know the twist on some of that. And why are the Russians stirring up the news? It’s to their advantage. They want North Korea to be paranoid. It’s to their advantage. They want a puppet state like that to be real paranoid and to listen to what they have to say and so do the Chinese.

“‘The nuclear war mania by the United States and their puppets in the Republic of Korea [South Korea] is turning the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia into a new hotbed of nuclear war,’ the minister said during the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.”

So again, it shows thinking out here that a few years ago you wouldn’t read things like this in any news; it wasn’t out there. But today things have gone crazy. It’s every week, almost every day in some cases something like this is being talked about. So, we know the expression of “saber-rattling” and what that means having to do with war, an old expression that goes way back in time because of wars, and yet that’s exactly what’s taking place today. No soundness of mind anymore out there.

Another article: “Furious Investors Protest Outside China's Insolvent Shadow Banking Giant After It Misses Payments, Warns ‘Liquidity Has Suddenly Dried Up’”[4] “... overnight Bloomberg reported that Zhongrong's troubles have accelerated and the asset manager not only missed payments on dozens of products - adding to delays on at least 10 others since late July - but ‘has no immediate plan to make clients whole, indicating troubles at the embattled Chinese shadow bank are deeper than previously known.’"

“The troubles are so deep in fact, that Zhongrong - which is one of the largest players in China's $3 trillion shadow banking industry - appears to be effectively insolvent: ‘the company doesn’t have an immediate plan to cover the payments since its short-term liquidity has suddenly dried up’, said Wang Qiang, board secretary of the firm partly owned by financial giant Zhongzhi Enterprise Group.”

“We Made This Bed, Now We Have To Lie In It.”[5] I don’t know how many of you know economist Joe Rubino, but this says he warns, “The new BRIC currency,” speaking of the BRIC nations currency, “is bad for the dollar.”” “Rubino contends, ‘No matter what shape it takes, the new BRICS currency is bad for the dollar...’"

“‘You don’t want to be an enemy of the U.S., but neither do you want to be a target just because you are doing what you think is right in the world... ...then the U.S. comes in and destroys your banking system.  That is now a real possibility for a lot of countries.’”

You know, this is the kind of thing that thrusts people into war more than anything else. It’s their economy. China’s economy right now is down the tubes in many ways. It really is. But they keep propping different things up by different things that they are supposedly doing. But the whole world is suffering and it’s kind of like it’s in the shadows here and people really aren’t that bright in it. It’s like the stock market, they keep, have this hope that things are always going to be peachy keen, and we got to do this, and you’ve got to be positive about it.

So, here it is China is having problems. What do you think China is going to do? They have problems within their own country, with their own people; they have a way of solving that. They have for centuries and centuries and centuries. They go to war. That’s what nations have done, and so here they are they’re in a huge mess and just biding their time and the place. We live on the precipice.

And so, the BRICS countries, I don’t know if you’ve kept up with any of this, but they’ve had their meetings now and these nations, that they’re pulling away from the dollar, they’re not going to use the dollar anymore in any of their transactions. They’re creating their own ways of dealing with their own standards, if you will, as far as India, China, Russia, and so forth here, that belong to this.

Anyway, they’ve been together talking about some of these things. Going on it says, “If you take the BRICS countries . . . and you add in all the other countries who want to join the BRICS coalition, and that includes Saudi Arabia…” That is a big one! Saudi Arabia really was at the forefront of helping to build up Texas and oil and engineering companies in a very powerful way. They pumped tons and tons of money into this country.

“…and Mexico, you take all those countries together and, basically, you have half the world’s population and half the world’s GDP…” So, the petro-dollar doesn’t rule anymore. And what do you think this country will do? It’s already doing it. It’s why they’re pushing at the bear. That’s why they’re pumping things into Ukraine. That’s why they keep pushing towards Taiwan and that part of the world over there. It’s just a matter of time, and that time is in God’s hands.

“So, this is not trivial,” it says here. “This is a major potential currency block, or trading block that is a real threat to U.S. dominance in the world.” And who in the government is talking about it? Nobody. It’s like it’s not there, it’s not happening. They won’t talk about it either side, as a whole, in many cases. Some every once in a while mention it but lip service.

“The sad fact is it’s our fault.  The U.S. made this bed, and now we have to lie in it.” Which I read a moment ago, “We blundered around the world starting wars, overthrowing governments…” He’s telling the truth. You think of some of the things the CIA has done – overthrowing governments, toppling governments. That’s what we’ve done as a nation. We’ve used the dollar as a tool. We’ve used the banking system, the banking system that the U.S. controls around the world and because of that other countries have been pressured to doing things that wasn’t in their best interest. But you don’t talk against someone who’s going to take it away from you and block you out and keep you from being able to function within this global economy. They’re sick and tired of it.

“…overthrowing governments, and bombing anybody that gets in our way. The world is just about at the point where it’s done. Regardless of what is going to happen at the BRICS meeting next week,” so this is just before the BRICS meeting, “it’s part of a trend of countries looking for ways to avoid dependence on the dollar and the dollar centric financial system.”

So, the point in all this, I hope we grasp that as this is going down the tubes our economy is going down the tubes. It’s just a matter of time. And when that happens?

“US Approves Sending F-16s to Ukraine From Denmark and Netherlands.”[6] Well, there are some hold-ups in that and so forth that keep going back and forth, but it just gets to be more and more and more. When does it end? In a war.

Here is another one, “Canadian firefighters make progress battling some blazes but others push thousands from their homes.”[7] “VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Firefighters reported some progress against blazes in a British Columbia region known for picturesque resort towns, but hundreds more fires raging across Canada have pushed thousands from their homes and threatened a territorial capital hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the north.”

“More than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away, fire crews fought flames bearing down on Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories. The fire remained about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city, which was left virtually empty after nearly all 20,000 residents fled for safety.”

“Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year, and the blazes have sent choking smoke into parts of the U.S. All told, there have been more than 5,700 fires, which have burned more than 137,000 square kilometers (53,000 square miles) from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.”

That’s larger than the state of Louisiana. I mean, that’s crazy. Almost the size of Florida of what’s burned up there just this year.

I’ll jump through these and get up to some others here in just a second.

Here is another one making comments. It says, “Rickards: The 'Earthquake' Starts Today.”[8] “As I’ve been warning, this meeting,” speaking of the BRICS meeting as it got closer, now it’s there, “…this meeting is the most significant development in international finance in the last 50 years. It has the potential to displace the U.S. dollar as the leading payment currency and reserve currency from a standing start in just a few years.”

“This latest monetary change will be delivered by the BRICS, and the world is unprepared for this geopolitical shock to the global financial system.” People are asleep though; it’s no big thing it seems.

Anyway, another one here: “Housing Market Affordability is worse now than the height of the housing bubble in 2006.”[9] That’s from Fortune magazine.

I’m not going to read this. Everybody knows Prigozhin was shot down, or anyway, the plane blew up, whatever.

“Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and UAE become new BRICS members.”[10] This is powerful… Not just financially, it’s political. And you think of that part of the world and the power they have over oil? This is a big chunk and it’s incredible what’s taking place right now.

I’m jumping ahead more here. One last one, and I’m probably going to butcher this. “Von Greyerz: Will This Be The Fall Of Falls?”[11] “…we have both warned investors about the consequences of a system based on unlimited money printing, debt creation and money debasement.” So, these are statements made. ““The world economy and the financial system is now on the cusp of a precipice.” … “No one can forecast when the coming violent turn will come.” … “It can take years, or it can happen tomorrow.”” … “Sustained corrections of 50% to 90% in stocks and bonds are very possible and when the bubble bursts it will go so fast that there won’t be time to get out or to buy insurance.”

So, you think, there are economists feeling this way about where we are in this country and where things are headed?

“Greece struggles to contain Europe’s largest wildfire on record.”[12]

Another one here: “AirBnB Bubble Bursts: Investor Home Purchases Crash 45% In Biggest Drop Since 2008.”[13]

Anyway, I’ll stop there. With that, we’ll have one more sermon from me before the Feast about the Feast, about being prepared for it and ready for it, and then there will be one that’s prerecorded, and we’ll already be in the Feast season. Awesome!

[1] https://www.foxnews.com/world/polands-pm-reportedly-warns-russian-mercenary-group-wagner-forces-moving-closer-nato-countrys-border

[2] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chinese-troops-pledge-die-alarming-docuseries-liberating-taiwan

[3] https://sputnikglobe.com/20230815/north-korean-defense-minister-on-nuclear-war-question-is-who-will-start-it-1112620988.html

[4] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/furious-investors-protest-outside-chinas-insolvent-shadow-banking-giant-after-it-misses

[5] https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/we-made-bed-now-we-have-lie-it-john-rubino-warns-new-brics-currency-bad-dollar

[6] https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-08-17/us-approves-sending-f-16s-to-ukraine-from-denmark-and-netherlands

[7] https://www.courthousenews.com/canadian-firefighters-make-progress-battling-some-blazes-but-others-push-thousands-from-their-homes/#:~:text=VANCOUVER%2C%20British%20Columbia%20(AP),(miles)%20to%20the%20north.

[8] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rickards-earthquake-starts-today

[9] https://fortune.com/2023/08/22/housing-market-affordability-is-worse-now-than-during-the-housing-bubble-homes-prices/?ref=biztoc.com

[10] https://sputnikglobe.com/20230824/argentina-iran-saudi-arabia-egypt-uae-and-ethiopia-get-brics-membership-1112840923.html

[11] https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/von-greyerz-will-be-fall-falls

[12] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/29/greece-wildfire-largest-recorded-europe/

[13] https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/airbnb-bubble-bursts-investor-home-purchases-crash-45-biggest-drop-2008

1. Chapter 1