FEAST OF TABERNACLES - DAY 6

Fred R. Coulter - September 26, 2002

The sermon today, we’re going to cover some things out of a recent Time magazine, July 1, 2002, entitled, “The Bible And The Apocalypse: Why More Americans Are Reading And Talking About The End Of The World.” And inside, the article is entitled, the “Apocalypse Now.” And this may be helping prepare a lot for more people coming into the church of God at a later time, just like we find with the apostle Paul in Acts 18, when he came to Corinth, he did not know that God had prepared a lot of people there. And we find this in Acts 18:9. “Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision,...” and God said to him, “...Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10). And of course, he just got there. He did not know how much God was doing for it. So likewise, I think that things like this are also preparing people to understand the message at the end. And we’re also going to see, just like the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1, when he was in prison, that, while he was in prison it was a furtherance for the gospel, because some were preaching in sincerity and truth, and yet some were preaching in contention. But he said he rejoiced, because the gospel was being preached.

Now this article is based upon the books that maybe you have heard of. How many have heard of the book, Left Behind? There’s a series of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and the tenth one is now out called The Remnant. Now collectively, the first one sold 7 million; the second one 4.1 million; the third one 3.5 million; the fourth one 3.4 million; the fifth one 3.1 million; likewise with the sixth one; 2.9 million for seven; 3 million for eight; 3,100,000 for nine; and the first run for the print of The Remnant is 2,750,000. And all of this is because of what happened on 9/11. Now we’re also going to see some very interesting things in this, because in a certain way, in a certain way, the gospel is being preached, even though it is not in absolute truth.

Now let’s come to Matthew 24 and let’s look at verse 14, because this tells us an awful lot. And we’ve often wondered, “How is this going to be?” Matthew 24:14. Now remember years ago when we were producing eight million Plain Truth’s a year? We thought, “Oh man! We have reached the world! The witness has gone out to the world!” Well, what’s that been? Over 20 years ago now? And how many people remember that? We’ve got a whole new generation now. So you see, the gospel hasn’t been preached in the way that it says here in verse 14. “And this gospel of the kingdom...” Which is what? Christ is coming to rule the world; the kingdom of God is going to be set up on earth. Now that’s the basic, bare witness. And it will be to all nations, “...and then shall the end come.” Now we also know, Revelation 11, that there are going to be two witnesses who are going to witness of the power of God, and have the power of God of miracles and plagues for 1,260 days. And they are going to plague the whole world with the things that they do, and eventually they’re going to be killed. We know the whole account there in Revelation 11.

So let’s also understand this: there are many witnesses in the world who are telling of the things that are going to happen. Not necessarily involved in a church of God, because not everyone would listen to a minister from a church of God, would they? But if there are financial troubles, they’ll listen to financial people. If there’s sickness and illness, they’ll listen to the experts there. And you can go right on down the line with almost any field. And so there are witnesses out there who are bringing warnings and messages. And so likewise with these books. This may be something to sow the seeds, even though in a certain way it’s a little deceptive, because it’s planting the seeds of escape, which is, “The Rapture is coming, and you’re going to be spared.” But you see, I don’t think that everyone that reads all these books, if they read the books and then get into the Bible, they’re going to see that that may not be so. And I’m sure that I’ve got to do a sermon or two on the rapture to show that that also is a deception. But nevertheless, they’re being pointed to God and Christ in a certain way.

So let me read certain things here: (Fred’s comments on in brackets.)

What do you watch for, when you are watching the news? Signs that interest rates might be climbing, maybe it’s time to refinance. Signs of global warming, maybe forget that new SUV. Signs of new terrorist activity, maybe think twice about that flight to Chicago.

Or signs that the world may be coming to an end, and the last battle between good and evil is about to unfold?

For evangelical Christians with an interest in prophecy, the headlines always come with asterisks pointing to scriptural footnotes. That is how Todd Strandberg reads his paper. By day, he is fixing planes at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Neb. But in his off-hours, he’s the webmaster at raptureready.com… [So you see, so everybody’s going to be ready. (Laughs)] ...And the inventor of the Rapture Index, which he calls a ‘Dow Jones Industrial Average of End Time activity.’ Instead of stocks, it tracks prophecies: earthquakes, floods, plagues, crime, false prophets and economic measurements like unemployment that add to instability and civil unrest, thereby easing the way for the Antichrist. In other words, how close are we to the end of the world? The index hit an all-time high of 182 on September 24, asthe bandwidth nearly melted under the weight of 8 million visitors [to that website]: any reading over 145, Strandberg says, means ‘Fasten your seat belt.’

It’s not the end of the world, our mothers always told us. This was helpful for putting spilled milk in perspective, but, it was also our introduction to a basic human reference point. We seem to be born with an instinct that the end is out there somewhere. We have a cultural impulse to imagine it - and keep it at bay. Just as all cultures have their creation stories, so too they have their visions of the end, from the Bible to the Mayan millennial stories. Usually the fables dwell in the back of the mind, or not at all, since we go about our lives conditioned to think that however bad things get, it’s not you know what. But there are times in human history when instinct, faith, myth and current events work together to create a perfect storm of preoccupation.” [Now if you’re interested, you can buy the whole Left Behind series at Wal-Mart. Now continuing with the article.] Visions of an end point lodge in people’s minds in many forms, ranging from entertainment to superstitious fascination to earnest belief. Now seems to be one of those times.

The experience of last fall - the terrorist attacks, the anthrax deaths - not only deepened the interest among Christians fluent in the language of Armageddon and Apocalypse. It broadened it as well, to an audience that had never paid much attention to the predictions of the doomsday prophet Nostradamus, or been worried about an epic battle that marks the end of time, or for that matter, read the Book of Revelation. Since September 11, people from cooler corners of Christianity have begun asking questions about what the Bible has to say about how the world ends, and preachers have answered their questions with sermons they could not have imagined giving a year ago. And even among more secular Americans, there were some who were primed to see an omen in the smoke of the flaming towers... [And you might add, the crash of it too,] ...though it had more to do with their beach reading than with their Bible studies.

So then it tells a little bit about how they started the series, and so forth.

The series has sold some 32 million copies - 50 million if you count the graphic novels and children’s versions - and sales jumped 60% after September 11. Book 9, published in October, was the best-selling novel of 2001. Evangelical pastors promote the book as devotional reading; mainline pastors read them to find out what their congregations are thinking, as do politicians and scholars and people whose job it is to know what fears and hopes [that people have] are settling in the back of people’s minds in a time of deep uncertainty.

‘Now the 10th book, The Remnant, is arriving in stores, a breathtaking 2.75 million hard-cover copies, and its impact may be felt far beyond the book clubs and Bible classes. To some evangelical readers, the Left Behind books provide more than a spiritual guide: they are a political agenda. When they read in the papers about the growing threats to Israel, they are not only concerned for a fellow democratic ally in the war against terror; they are also worried about God’s chosen people and the fate of the land where events must unfold in a specific way for Jesus to return.’

Now you see, all of this in a Time magazine article. That’s really quite a thing when you think about it. Now we have a man on the Foreign Relations Council, his name is Walter Russell:

Walter Russell Mead is sitting in his office at the Council on Foreign Relations in midtown Manhattan on a soft June afternoon, at work on a book that was born last September. He published an acclaimed history of U. S. foreign policy last year and was working on a study about building a global middle class. But he has put that aside. Piled around him now are the Koran, a Bible, books on technology and a stack of Left Behind books. When Mead predicts that our century will be remembered as the Age of Apocalypse, he does not mean to suggest that the world will soon end in a fiery holocaust. ‘The word apocalypse,’ he observes, ‘comes from a Greek word that literally means ‘lifting of the veil’ [or that is, ‘giving understanding’].’ [And of course, who are those who really truly understand? ‘A good understanding have they who do Your commandments’ (Psalm 111:10, paraphrased).] ‘In an apocalyptic age, people feel that the veil of normal, secular reality is lifting, and we can see behind the scenes, see where God and the devil, good and evil are fighting to control the future.’

Quite a thing. This is really quite an article. I was astounded that it was in the magazine. Scott Erickson called the other day and suggested that I get it. So what I did, I bought it at Rayleigh’s, and I didn’t know that a single copy in the store cost $3.95. Now here, just a couple of more things to read here.

It is one thing to become politically active to deploy that Gospel to improve people’s lives, another to try to promote a specific religious scenario. Intercessors for America [which is an organization], a 30-year-old prayer ministry, helps keep people politically connected through e-mail alerts and telephone-prayer chains. The June 11 Prayer Alert implored, ‘Lord, raise up government leaders in Israel, the United States (and worldwide) who will not seek to ‘divide the land’, and who would recognize the unique significance of Jerusalem in God’s end-time purposes. [Never happen.]

To the true believers, that seems less a threat [that is, the end times here] than the fulfillment of a promise. ‘If we keep our eyes on Israel, we will know about the return of Christ,’ says Oleeta Herrmann, 77, of Xenia, Ohio. ‘Everything that is happening - wars, rumors of war - in the Middle East is happening according to Scripture.’ [Now you see, there’s part truth in it. But you have to watch more than just the Middle East. You have to watch more than just Israel.] Herrmann is a member of the End-Time Handmaidens and Servants, a group of global missionaries who preach the Gospel with an emphasis on End Times teachings. September 11 is proof of her belief that the Second Coming of Christ is ‘closer than it ever has been,’…

So you see, even within it there is some truth going out. And then there’s another man:

…Kyle Watson on his prophecy news website, AtlantaChristianWeekly.com, He thinks “believers should be excited about the end of the world.” [Well, we’ll see that here in just a bit.] “Try viewing prophecy and current events [as] how much closer we are to being with Christ in heaven.’ [Too bad.] That impulse to hope for a good ending is one Cal Thomas, the conservative columnist, sees even in the disciples’ questions for Jesus. He cites Bible passages in which the Apostles press Jesus for clues about how the future unfolds. ‘This is intellectual comfort food, the whole Left Behind phenomenon, because it says to people, in a popularized way, it’s all going to pan out in the end...’ [“And there will be the Rapture, and you will be taken away. And cars will crash, and planes will crash, and trains will crash, because millions will be taken to heaven.” So there’s the hook at the end of it, you see. Quite interesting.]

Now let’s look at some scriptures, and let’s understand some things here that are really, I think, quite important. First of all, we know in Acts 1, one of the very last questions that the apostles asked Jesus before He ascended into heaven for the second and final time, they said, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He says, “It’s not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:6-7, paraphrased). And He told them, “You go preach.” And He didn’t tell them it was 2,000 years away.

Now let’s come here to Amos 5. Let’s see something important. Everybody loves to preach on the Day of the Lord and the end-times. And many preachers use it to their advantage, to instill fear, to bring in more money, to motivate people, and so forth. But they really don’t know what they’re asking for. Let’s come here, Amos 5:18. Because they’re really asking for the worst times in the whole history of the entire world. And such a time, as Jesus said, shall never ever be again. And such a time that is so bad that it never has been since there was a nation on earth. So here in Amos 5:18, Amos says, “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house [after he is exhausted and running], and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?” (Amos 5:18-20).

So you see, what these things are doing here, like in this article, and the things I’ve read here, this is another way of getting peoples’ mind on what Christ is going to do. What God is going to do - the return of Christ. In such a way that they could not have their attention focused on that, if it were just a preacher up there preaching. Because we live in such an age now, that a lot of people won’t listen to preachers. So this is a good way to sort of, prime the pump. And this is a good way for us to be alert and realize that the time is coming that God will open the door so we can take advantage of that. Not only for what we do, but also for any of the other churches of God who really follow God and pay attention to the things that are going on.

Now let’s cover the situation concerning Israel. Let’s come to Zephaniah, please, the book of Zephaniah. Which you have Malachi, coming from the New Testament, Malachi, Zechariah, Haggai, then Zephaniah. Zephaniah 2, let’s begin here – yes - let’s begin here in verse 4. “For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines,...” And of course, the Jews, I think, properly understand that the Palestinians are probably the Philistines. “...I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks [sheep].” Now notice verse 7, “And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon:...”(Zephaniah 2:4-7). Now that’s the area around Tel Aviv, and coming down the coast a little bit further. The very reason that the Jews are having so much trouble is because they’ve gone beyond this prophecy. They want to take over the whole land. And they want to take over all of Jerusalem. But Revelation 11 says that Jerusalem will be divided. And it is divided. There will be a temple. Eventually it will be built.

Now let’s come to Matthew 24, and let’s look at the fourteen points that we need to watch for prophecy. And I think it’s very interesting that this article alertspeople to be watching for specific things, doesn’t it? Matthew 24, and we’re going to see them. Now I’ve got false prophets listed a little later, but Jesus starts right out with false prophets there. Matthew 24, and let’s pick it up here in verse 3. “And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us [1], when shall these things be? And [2] what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and [3] of the end of the world [or, the age, the end of the age]?”

Now I’ve got down here famine, drought, pestilence to continue. And that’s what we have. We’ll get to the false prophets here a little later. And that’s what we have right here. Verse 6, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars:...” Even quoted in this article. So you see, in spite of themselves they have to quote the Bible. Now isn’t that profound? Isn’t that interesting? And God says, “...see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” And we still don’t know when the end will be, do we? But we do know it’s coming. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers [different] places” (vs. 6-7).

Just today driving down here I heard that there was a large earthquake, I think about 5-point something, at Mt. Hood. Now remember, Mt. Hood is a supposed dormant volcano. Now this summer I flew up to Seattle. And as we were coming in to land in Seattle, guess what we saw out there on the horizon? Mt. Rainier. And every once in a while some plumes of steam come up out the top of Mt. Rainier. What would happen if Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens all blew together? That would really be something. Now, if you have a chance to see a documentary on what happened when Mt. St. Helens blew, by all means, watch it. I went up there in 19 - I think it was ’80 when it blew. And I was up there three days after it happened. Four days after it happened. And there was this gray soot everywhere. And it was just kind of a pall of death hanging over everything. You go up there now it’s all cleaned up, and everything is fine. So you see, things change. But those things can happen. And they can happen quickly. Now no one expected Mt. St. Helens to blow. But those who were watching the earthquakes, that’s how they knew that it was going to blow, because the earthquakes were getting closer together and more violent. And finally when it blew it just blew off the whole side of the mountain.

Number two: the unrealized war. Now there is a war going on that has not been a declaration of war. It’s not like the terrorist war we have today, or the other wars that are in the world. This is the undeclared war. Now let’s read it here. Let’s see what we have. Let’s come to Deuteronomy 28. Now when I bring this out, you’re going to recognize it. Now especially if you live in California, New Mexico, Arizona, or Texas, or Florida. And also in the cities in the East and Midwest, it’s more or less everywhere now. But here, in Deuteronomy 28, and let’s pick up in verse 43. “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high;...” And that’s beginning to happen. In California the white people are now a minority. They’re still the largest group of racial - if you want to measure it racially - then any other group. But it is, they are a minority. And the stated goal of the Mexicans have been to retake half of California, all of Arizona, all of New Mexico, and part of Texas by moving the Mexicans in here, and then when the time comes, to take over. Now they can take over. All you need is what? A popular vote, and you’ve got it. Now let’s continue on. “He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him:...” That’s already happening. “...He shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail” (Deut. 28:43-44).

Now let’s come over here and see another part of the unrealized war. The first one is, all the immigrants coming in that are going to get very high above us. The second one is the trade war. Verse 52, “And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates,...” That’s what’s happening. We are being flooded with foreign imports. Industries are moving out of the United States and going to these lands. You could almost say that Wal-Mart buys all their goods in the U.S.A. of China, if I could put it that way. “...Until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land:...” You see, today our defenses are meaningless against terrorist activities. Because you don’t know when it’s going to happen, or where it’s going to happen, or who’s going to do it, you see. “...He shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.” So that is the undeclared war. Watch that and you will see that it will continue.

Number three, there is going to be a holy place in Jerusalem. Now there was a very interesting book written by Ernest Martin before his death, which he showed (and I think proved very conclusively) that (and I gave a sermon on that about a year ago last spring) showing that where Fort Antonia is (where the Mosque of Omar is, the Dome of the Rock, that’s built on the ground that was Fort Antonia, where the temple was) was about 600 yards to the south along the ridge. And that’s where the temple was. Now it’s very possible that the Jews may build there again. Now we do know that they would really desire to blow up the Mosque of Omar, the Dome of the Rock, and to build their temple there. But that’s not the place where the temple was. So there is going to be a holy place.

 Let’s come here to Daniel 12:8. We know there will be the holy place. We know they will start the sacrifices. And we know that it is going to – however successful it’s going to be, how long it will be before the end comes, we don’t know. Let’s come here to Daniel 12:8. Now we’ll talk about the abomination of desolation later, but that comes after the fact. First you must have the holy place before you can have the sacrifices. And you must have the temple before you can have the abomination of desolation going and sitting in it. Daniel 12:8, “And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (Dan. 12:8-11). Now we don’t know exactly how that’s going to fall. I have done some things in prophecies of Revelation and have covered some of that. And I think that’s fairly accurate. So if you don’t have the series, the first two on the series of Revelation, Revelation #1 and #2, and the chart that goes with it, well, be sure and write for it.

Ok, number four. Return to religion. Now we’re seeing that. This article is all about that. And also, that the Catholic Church will grow in power. Now here this past summer the Pope had a meeting with the Buddhists, the Muslims, the Hindus, and the Protestants. And they said that religion can help bring peace and stability to the world. So we’re going to see this growing thing with religion take place. Now let’s come here to Revelation 13. And here we have the prophecy of the power that’s going to be given to the Catholic Church. Now let’s think about this. At the time of this video taping, Pope John Paul II is still alive. Now we don’t know if he’s going to last until the Feast of Tabernacles, but there’s a good chance that he could die between now and the Feast of Tabernacles. Very possible. What is a new pope going to do? Who is he going to be? How will he come on the scene? What will he do to help establish the power of the Catholic Church and bring all the other religions together? Could it be - so I’m just speculating here - that he will say for the priests, because they have to solve the problem of all the homosexuality and the pedophilia, could he say marriage is optional? Very possible. Could he also say women can become first-rank priests? Not full-fledged priests, but kind of like, you know, sub-priests. And could he say, “Because of the earth’s population, I agree with birth control”? Now if all of those things happen, think how many people will come back into the Catholic Church. Very possible.

But also, here is something, Revelation 13, that is going to take place. He’s going to have miracles. Now you know how the world is going to fall for miracles. They’re going to think, “Boy, this is something!” Revelation 13:11, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and [all] them which dwell therein to worship the first beast,...” So this is going to be the end result of the coming one world religion. “...Whose deadly wound was healed.” Now verse 13, “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,…” (Rev. 13:11-13). And he deceives them with it.

Now let’s come back to Matthew 24. Let’s see how powerful these miracles are going to be. As we’re turning back here to Matthew 24, what did Jesus say when they came to Him and said, “Master, show us a sign!” And He said, “A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign. There will be no sign given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:38-39, paraphrased). But now just think of this. Our society is giving itself over to occultism, and so is the world. Giving itself over to magical things. And you just watch on television, books, and so forth, you see how much people are taken up in magical things. Now think about a Pope. What would happen if, after he is declared Pope, that all of a sudden he is able to perform astounding miracles? You know what they’re going to say: “This is of God! Seeing is believing!” Now I don’t know how many of you have been watching the documentary, which they are already preparing for the demise of John Paul II. But they are building him up to be a near saint, and how holy he is, and how good he is, and so forth. Let’s see what these miracles are designed to do.

Now let’s come down here to Matthew 24:24. “For there shall arise false Christs,...” And of course, the Antichrist is a false Christ, isn’t he? “...And false prophets,” …and shall be stupid, and everyone will see and know that they are. (Laughs) No. No way. It says, “...and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Now let’s come back up here to verse 4, and let’s read a little bit more about the false prophets, you see. Because they are going to pave the way for the great final deception of the one world religion. Because, you see, politicians now understand that with all the things going on in the Middle East, you can never have peace until the religions get in there and help bring it about by giving the people a conscience, and fear, and control them with religion. And I think that’s the only way that they’re going to stop the Palestinians. It isn’t going to happen any other way. Certainly, Arafat, if he lives until the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, he has supported all the terrorism while at the same time mouthing that he is for peace. So there has to be the religious element brought into it to make it work.

So let’s talk a little bit about false prophets. Verse 4, they wanted to know these things. “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” We’re living in a time when there is such great deceptions on this earth, and are coming, that it is going to be so easy to fall for them hook, line, and sinker. Now to be deceiving within the church and without the church, we have to watch for those too. “For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5). Now we’ll see a little bit more about false prophets here in just a minute.