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Sermon of the Week 
Thursday, July 30 2020

This is like an episode of “Where’s Waldo”… He’s right there in front of you, but you just don’t see him yet, because of all the clutter and business in the picture…..                                                                              The most pivotal event in end time prophecy, which provided a clear marker and time line on the prophetic clock, an event that lets us see and know where we are in the last days count down, was the 6 day war of 1967. The Jewish people took their beloved city back against overwhelming odds. That eventdeclared that our generation will see the rapture, followed by the temple being rebuilt, (for those left behind) and the coming of Christ, 7 years later, with His saints.                                                                                Matthew 24:32 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: (parable is a physical depiction of a spiritual truth) when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. (Israel is the fig tree blossoming) 33 so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 34 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away”.  Skip back to Matthew 24:30 “And the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, (the rapture) and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. 31 “And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.                                                                                                             If this is the generation, then the antichrist is already working behind the scenes. In the beginning, the identity of the Antichrist will be a mystery, it would be great if He will wore red tights, or vomited sulphur, or carried a glowing scepter or had a red tail but as the 1st part of the tribulation winds up, who he is will not remain a mystery. Some think that *…..the term “anti-Christ” means against Christ, but it actually means “instead of Christ.” He wants to replace Christ. But until his reveal, he will be a powerful figure who will greatly influence the international economy, politics, the military, religion, and international trade. There is always free cheese in a mousetrap, and there will be many mousetraps.               2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (4) Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”                                                                                                                                         I want us to also look at the time line in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 “Concerning the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ and our being gathered (the rapture) unto Him, (we know the gathering or rapture will occur before the coming back because the raptured saints are coming back with Him) v5 Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? v6 And now you know what is holding him (the anti-christ) back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. V7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it (lawlessness) back (the church) will continue to do so till he (the church) is taken out of the way.                                                        You have a lot more power than you give yourself credit. Your presence in the earth, as part of the church, is holding back the man of iniquity, the man called the anti-christ. He cannot be manifest until you get out of his face!                                                          Sowe clearly see that the rapture will take place before the spirit of lawlessness can culminate in the anti-christ taking his position of influence in the world scene. Because he won’t have the power he needs to do his thing of deception and subtrafuge.                                                            WHY MUST THERE BE AN ANTICHRIST?   When mankind refuses God’s Christ, our Savior, then there is no alternative but to receive the devil’s christ–– the Antichrist. In other words, if you reject what God offers, then you automatically accept what is left. There is no in between option… If you turn away from the “day,” then the only thing that is left is the “night.” There is no in-between. Either you are a follower of Jesus Christ, or you will be a follower of the Antichrist. We have pushed God to the background of our personal lives and of our total culture. That means we have actually prepared the way for the Antichrist. You see it in our schools; we don’t want God in our schools. You see it in our businesses; we don’t want God in our business dealings. You can see it in our laws; we don’t want God or the Bible or the Church to get involved there. You can see it in families; we don’t want our children to learn the fear of the Lord. So we have set the stage ourselves for the time of the Antichrist. Although the Antichrist will reveal his identity further into the tribulation, there are many people who would like to monitor his activities beforehand and try to identify him. I will share with you some of the qualities I look for when attempting to identify this evil person.                          The Antichrist is going to be a very charismatic leader. I expect the Antichrist to be capable of exciting large crowds of people into a frenzied zeal…He will Persuade many people to become fanatical followers… He will Persuade world leaders to support his ideas. The cashless society has already begun, chips are being implanted, the pandemic is a drill for population control…                                                                                          More specifically, I believe the level of charisma that the Antichrist will possess could rival or even exceed the level of charisma that Adolf Hitler had at his peak. He took everyone’s guns, took over the media, the banks, confiscated property, and every aspect of the economy.. (isn’t that happening now)                                                                                                            Hitler attracted millions with his charisma. The OSS, a World War 2 intelligence agency, described the impact his charisma had on Germans. (I quote the OSS)…                                                                                    “Unquestionably, as a speaker, he has had a powerful influence on the German people. His meetings were always crowded and by the time he got through speaking he had completely numbed the critical faculties of his listeners to the point where they were willing to believe almost anything he said… And somehow he always managed to say what the majority of the audience were already secretly thinking but could not verbalize. When the audience began to respond, it affected him in return. Before long, due to this reciprocal relationship, he and his audience became intoxicated with the emotional appeal of his oratory”.                              He will be an amazing Problem Solver….                                                                 I expect the Antichrist to begin his rise to power as a person who deals with some of the world’s most difficult problems through diplomacy. Revelation 6:2 indicates that the Antichrist may be seen as a messianic type as he is described as the rider of the white horse:                                 Revelation 6:2 “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” (Jesus will have a sword coming out of His mouth, which is the word of God, not a bow in his hand)                                                                                  The former secretary general of NATO, Paul Henri Spaak, stated, “We do not need another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people and to lift us out of the morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, be he God or devil, and we will receive him.”                                                                He will dazzle the world with the prospect of the most perfect government man could ever contrive, the most idealistic, fair, the most equal, the most sharing. It will be like trying to have Christianity without Christ. But of course he will be the superman who will make it all possible, and the world will buy it hook line and sinker.                                                               The Mideast is one of the top issues the Antichrist is likely to address. He will work to shape relations between Israel and its neighbors, which will amaze everyone. The peace covenant will be an all-encompassing Mideast peace deal that will allow the third templeto be built and sacrifices to begin as the Jewish people celebrate him as a friend of Jerusalem. According to the Bible, he accomplishes what no one has been able to do before.                                                                            Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (the 7 year peace plan) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”                           The world stands in amazement as the “covenant with many” involves not only Israel & its neighbors but brings peace to other national conflicts as well.. Can you imagine the impact as all the warring nation states of Africa, begin to dwell together in harmony. As everyone is celebrating the brilliance of this phenomenal leader during the first half of the tribulation, the balloon is going to burst and it will all go downhill very quickly when all hell breaks loose…                                                                                                                                          His plan is to take over Jerusalem and make it an international city.          In fact, according to the Bible, this world dictator of this one-world government, makes Jerusalem the political capital of the world.                    A Muslim government ruling over a Muslim world…                                       As I have shared on a number of occasions, the Arabs will join with the Jews in building the 3rd temple because their prophecy requires it just as the Jewish prophesies do…. They believe their Mahadi will rise up and declare that He is God in the temple and lead all Muslims to take over the world. It’s a major prophesy in their Koran. So there must be a temple for that to take place. But it will be the anti-christ temple. There will be no glory resting upon the ark of the covenant.                                                    The Antichrist will perform miracles that convince many people that he is the Messiah. In 2 Thessalonians, it is said that the coming of the Antichrist be accompanied with numerous signs and marvels.                                       A couple of these miracles may give anyone left behind who knows scripture, the identity of the Antichrist. In Revelation 13, we learn that the beast will cause fire to come down from heaven and that he will survive a deadly wound, to the head. This miraculous return from the dead, will convince many that the Antichrist is actually Messiah come back to earth.                                                                                                                       Revelation 13:12 And this beast (the image that speaks) exercised all the authority of the first beast and caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. 13 And the second beast performed great signs to cause even fire from heaven to come down to earth in the presence of the people.                                                                                                                         We know that the antichrist is a homosexual…..                                              Daniel 11:37 “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.” This clearly indicates that the anti-christ will be a homosexual and have no desire for women…. He will offer religion without a Cross and promote the brotherhood of Man while eliminating the Fatherhood of God.                                                                     We can know the Antichrist’s Ethnicity                                                                              Several scriptures indicate that the Antichrist will be Assyrianwhich is the area of modern Iraq and Turkey, located in the fertile crescent which is also the area where the garden of Eden was. How interesting that this is the location where the serpent first encountered Adam and Eve and deceived them…...                                                                                                        Isaiah 10, Isaiah 30, and Micah 5 mention the “Assyrian” in a role that describesthe Antichrist. Here are verses from each of the chapters mentioned:                                                                                                                             Isaiah 10:24 “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.”                                                          Isaiah 30:30-31 “And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. (31) For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.”                                                                                                                                              Micah 5:5 “And this man shall establish the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.”                                                                                        So, it’s pretty clear that the antichrist will be from a muslim country and will be of Persian descent….                                                                                        Let’s move to the next event that is described….                                            Matthew 24:15 says, “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, who shall stand in the holy place”—(obviously the Jewish temple in Jerusalem)— “whoever reads this, let him understand. Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”.                                                                                                           The abomination of desolation, many feel, because of the severity of these terms, means that He is going to offer a pig on the altar, which is an unclean, forbidden animal to the Jews, He’s going to set his throne up right there in the temple of God, saying “Worship me”, and then he’s going to set up an image of himself, there in the “holy place” in Jerusalem and command the world to worship it.                                                                                               This event will initiate a time far beyond the worse thing the planet has ever seen. Nothing can compare to it’s destruction and it’s horror. The wrath of God will descend on a sinful planet. But mercy will continue to be extend for all who will receive Christ. The good news is that there will be a great revival during this time. The bad news… if you become a Christian, you can only be saved through a martyrs death….However, how will those who turn from Christ now, because it may cost them friends or a job, turn to Him when it will certainly cost them their lives?                             Ezekiel 5:11-12 “One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them”.                                                                                      That’s two thirds of all humans on the planet, scripture also tells us that one third of the trees and all the grass, a third of the sea, a third of the sea creatures and a third of all ships at sea will perish. A third of the fresh water on the earth will become poisonous and bitter and a third of the sun, stars, and moon will be darkened. Huge locust will torment people, and water will be turned to blood. Earthquakes will level the cities, islands and mountains will disappear.                                                                 At the end of the Great tribulation, when it looks like all is lost..this is when Jesus returns with the saints, and defeats the Anti-christ and his vast army at the second coming of Christ to the earth at the battle of Armageddon..                                                                                                                        His feet shall touch the mount of Olives and split it, forming a valley which will lead right up to the Eastern Gate, and into the temple, where the idol of the beast has been set up, and where Jesus is going to march into the temple and straighten out who is the real Messiah and King is…. Zechariah 14:3 “Then the LORD will go out to fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south”.                                                                                                                                     The Devil has finally gotten the world to worship him, but it’s going to leave a very, very bad taste in his mouth, and it’s going to taste like the Sulphur as he is cast into hell with the antichrist and all His followers for 1000 years…….                                                                                                                                                           Revelation 19:20 “But the beast (the anti-christ) was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”                                                    This ushers in the Mellennial reign of Christ on earth for 1000 years. No more sickness, no dying, and no rebellion. The lion shall lie down with the lamb, and everyone will experience 1000 years of peace under Jesus reign as King and Lord….There will be no rich or poor, for all people will share equally in the earth’s bounty and abundance.                                                      Everyone on earth will worship the Lord, whether they want to or not. (remember that many have come through the tribulation without ever receiving Christ, but they have no choice but to serve Him. No one will say “I don’t feel like going to church”, or I just don’t have time…. There will be no other option and mankind will not have a choice about it.                 Micah 4:2). And the nations shall come, and say, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The law and the word of the Lord going forth from Zion, means that Jesus Christ will be undisputed King of kings and Lord of lords over the whole earth and over every nation and over every individual and over every aspect of society, His word is the law of the land and all must follow it. Christians in America like to see Christ as friend, buddy, or pal, but we are unfamiliar with being under a king. A king’s word is law and must be obeyed. We who are part of a Democratic society are accustomed to having a say in everything, but with a kingdom, who has a king, that is not how it’s done. The king says come and you come, He says go and you go. Submission takes one more step beyond surrender….                                                                                                           In closing let’s look at Luke 21:36 Jesus also said, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man”.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1967, the six day war was 53 years ago. The fig tree which is the symbol for Israel, blossomed. Jesus said in Matthew, that the generation who saw that, shall see all things fulfilled. Simple math will tell you that if 70 years is a generation as Psalms tells us, then that leaves 17 years left in the generation who witnessed the six day war. Oh yeah, if you subtract 7 years for the tribulation, then the rapture will happen in this 10 year window which we are in right now. The countdown has begun and that clock won’t stop.                                                                                                 We need to bring our loved ones into a relationship with Christ, before the trumpet sounds and these things begin to happen on the earth. I don’t want even my enemies to face the things that are coming. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the son of man. Anyone could walk into the ark and be safe. The ark of salvation stands open, and it is the only place of safety….                                                                                                 We need, by whatever means necessary, to bring them in! The king has given us a mandate. May we never find ourselves on that day, when at the Great White throne of judgment, we must watch as our spouse, our children, our grandkids, our life time friends and co-workers, hear the words “depart from me, I never knew you”, as they are cast into eternal hell without Christ. As they look at us and say “I thought you cared, I thought you were my friend, but you never told me, and now it’s too late”. I believe that first, we must repent before God that we haven’t been more faithful with our witness, and second, we need to seize the day, while it is day, for the night is coming when no man will be able….  

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