(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, it's good to see everybody this morning. Welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church. Go ahead and get started. Go ahead and find your seats and get situated and pull out your hymnals. We'll open up to our first song. It'll be song number 51. Song number 51, Where We'll Never Grow Old. Song number 51. Start there on the first. I have heard of a land on a faraway strand. Tis a beautiful home of the soul. Built by Jesus on high, there we never shall die. There we never shall die. Tis a land where we never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. In the beautiful home where we'll never more roam. We shall be in the sweet by and by. Happy praise to the King through eternity sing. Tis a land where we never shall die. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. When our work here is done and the life crown is won. And our troubles and trials are o'er. All our sorrow will end and our voices will blend. With the loved ones who've never grown before. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Never grow old. Never grow old. In a land where we'll never grow old. Amen. Great singing. Brother Brandon, you want to pray for us this morning? Amen. Alright, so go ahead and flip in your hymnals to song number 397. Number 397, little is much when God is in it. Song number 397. We'll go ahead and start there on the first. In the harvest field now ripened. There's a work for all to do. Hark the voice of God is calling. To the harvest calling you. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. Does the place you're called to labor. Seem so small and little known. It is great if God is in it. And he'll not forget his own. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. Are you laid aside from service? Body worn from toiling care. You can still be in the battle. In the sacred place of prayer. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. When the conflict here is ended. And our race on earth is run. He will say to all the faithful. Welcome home my child well done. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. There's a crown and you can win it. If you'll go in Jesus' name. Amen, great singing. So this time if you go ahead and pull out your bulletins we'll go over the announcements for the morning. If you didn't grab a bulletin raise your hand in the air. Brother Samson will bring them around to everybody. And on the very front page here we do have our memory verse. We are in Romans chapter number 8. We are now in verse number 24. So we're getting to that. We're on that latter half. So definitely keep working on it. You'll quote the entire chapter. We're perfect. We'll receive a prize at the end of that. And then if you children 18 years old or younger you quote this just one verse by the next midweek service we'll receive an ice cream treat. If you open up the bulletins on the top left we have our service times. Sunday morning 10 30 a.m. The evening service is at 5 30 p.m. And our midweek Bible study is on Thursday at 7 p.m. We have our soul winning times listed underneath there with all the respective leaders and our church stats. So as of right now we are at 444 salvation. So good job soul winning. And the evening service I'll take up all the totals for all the other salvation. We'll total everything up in the evening. There on the next page we do have some expecting ladies in the church or a expecting lady I should say. We have Miss Sarah Gomez. She's expecting a little boy in December. We'll just be in prayer for her and that little guy that everything just goes well. Everyone stays healthy and appreciated. Some upcoming guest preachers. Today we have Brother Ben Naim otherwise known as Ben the Baptist through with us again. Always a pleasure and a blessing having him preach for us. I'm definitely excited for this morning's sermon. So whenever you get a moment just give him a big thank you for coming down. Always a blessing having him down here. Sunday October 3rd we have Pastor Aaron Thompson from Sure Foundation Baptist Church preaching for us. Again very excited to have him. It'll be his second time down here. So definitely excited for that. And again just thank all these guest preachers coming to preach for us. Some upcoming events. So here coming up this next month, end of this next month September 25th through the 26th it is Pure Words Baptist Church. It's the anniversary. So that Saturday which is the 25th we are going to have our annual false Bible burning. So if you could collect all the false Bibles that you can. You know, trade them out. Give them a KJV, right? Take their false Bible. We have a big stack of kindling right now. So we just want to make that stack even bigger. A big fire. We're also going to have a soul winning marathon that day. And as we get those details hammered out we'll definitely let you know what's going to be taking place for the marathon. And then the 26th, Pastor Shelley will be preaching to both services for us that Sunday. So definitely looking forward to that. October 6th through the 10th is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. That's going to be up at Steadfast Baptist Church up in Hearst, Texas. So I know they're going to have a great lineup of preachers. I know Pastor Aaron Thompson is going to be preaching. They're going to have a great line of preachers. Good fellowship events. So mark that on your calendar as well. It's going to be here before we know it. And then just lastly, if you do have any prayer requests just definitely email those into the church at purewordsbaptist.gmail.com. Pastor Shelley goes over those during that midweek service. But that is the announcements for the morning. Go ahead and take your hymnals back out. We'll open up to our third song. The song number 39. The song number 39, How Beautiful Heaven Must Be. 39. Start there on the first. We read of a place that's called heaven. It's made for the pure and the free. These truths in God's word he hath given. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. In heaven no drooping nor pining. No wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever there shining. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Pure waters of life there are flowing. And all who will drink may be free. Rare jewels of splendor are glowing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. On the last the angels so sweetly are singing. Up there by the beautiful sea. Sweet chords from their gold hearts are ringing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Amen. Great singing. So at this time if you could pull out your Bibles and open your Bibles to Matthew chapter number 24. Matthew chapter number 24. We'll have Brother Stanton come read for us. We'll go ahead and pass the offering plate. Alright, Matthew chapter number 24. Turn in your Bibles there. We'll read this chapter together as always. We'll start right here. Matthew chapter number 24 and verse 1 where the Bible does read. And Jesus went out, departed from the temple and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, see ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming and the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nations, and kingdoms against kingdoms. And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, and diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you. And ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. Because iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold. For he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come. When ye therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whosoever read it, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountain. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. Woe unto them that are with chow, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For the end shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world in this time, and no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. If any man say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, for there, believe it not, for there shall arise false cries and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before, wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, so not forth. Behold, he is in the secret chamber, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even into the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the angels be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. The stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the full wind from one end of heaven to the other. I learned the parable of the fig tree, when its branches is yet tender, and put it forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near even at the door. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in those days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day of Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour the Lord cometh. But now know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh, who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord had made ruler over his household, to give him meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Rarely I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his good. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of the servants shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of feet. Bow your heads for a quick word of prayer. Amen. I want to start by thanking Pastor Shelley for the invite and I appreciate you guys having me today. It's always fun to come visit and so I'm really looking forward to the soul winning and the fellowship and things like that. But Matthew 24 is the opening chapter that I had for you guys this morning. Let's look down at verse number 3 to start. Matthew 24 and verse 3. And notice what the Bible read there. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? So the disciples are asking the Lord Jesus Christ here, what's the sign of your coming? How are we going to know when you are coming back? You know, what are the signs of the end of the world as well? How do we know when the end is going to transpire, when the end is going to take place? And that's a very important, I think, question, especially today. I think more and more people today with what's going on with coronavirus and geopolitics are asking this question to themselves. Are we getting to the end? Some people might ask the question, are we in the tribulation period right now? Some people might even ask that question. Well, the answer to that one is no. We're not in the tribulation right now. I'm going to demonstrate why that's the case over the course of the next hour, hopefully. If I go a little bit over then you'll have to forgive me for that. But, you know, it's an important question to ask and I think more and more people are wondering about this, especially with what's going on today with the pandemic and other current events as well. That's why the title of my sermon is Signs of the Second Coming. Signs of the Second Coming. We're going to look at, through the lenses of scripture, what must take place first before the second coming of Jesus Christ, before the rapture. Now, this is the event that, as believers, we're obviously looking forward to. We're going to get our glorified bodies at the rapture. We're going to be, if you died prior to this event, you're going to be resurrected with a glorified body to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the air. You just read Brother Sampson, or I should say you just heard Brother Sampson read it for you in Matthew chapter 24 about how the angels are going to gather together, the elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. This is going to be an exciting event, a momentous occasion. We're all looking forward to it, the culmination of everything we've worked for, but the question is, what has to happen first? What needs to take place first? What are some of the end times milestones, if you will, that have to take place before this event? We're going to answer that question this morning. Now, a fancy theological term for end times, the study of end times, would be eschatology. What we're covering this morning are some eschatological milestones, you could sort of put it that way, that have to happen before the second coming of Christ. Now, the purpose of the sermon is not to debunk the pre-tribulation rapture, because I've already done that, and also, by the time this thing is over, you'll realize how false the pre-trib is anyway. So it's sort of going to be debunked in the process regardless. Now, first of all, I want to explain a few things. Oftentimes when people talk about the final seven years before the millennium, the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ, they call it Daniel's 70th week. I want to explain why. If you would head over to Daniel chapter 9 real quickly, I don't want to spend too much time on this, but I don't want to just use this term without you understanding what I mean by it. So if you go to Daniel chapter 9 and look at verse 25, I have this chart up here. Obviously, I could have just taken that one and plopped it over here, but there's so much information in the back there on that chart that I don't want to cover all that. I just want to cover kind of the basics. What I want to do is try and break this down for you so that it's easy to consume, it's easy to understand. And again, we're just talking about the events that lead up to the rapture. So that would be the first half of this chart, if you will, the first half of this little graph that my wife helped me make because I can't do straight lines to save my life. So thank you to my wife for contributing to the sermon this morning. But this is Daniel's 70th week. And I want to tell you why it's called that. So if you look at Daniel 9 verse 25, the Bible read, So what this is explaining, first of all, when the Bible uses the word week, it's talking about a period of... I'm sorry, it's talking about a... Daniel's 70th week would be a period of seven years, is what it means. When it uses the word week, it's talking about seven years. And the thing is, right here, it's explaining that from the Cyrus commandment, or the Cyrus declaration, the famous declaration by King Cyrus, which was to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonian empire courtesy of the 70 year captivity that they deserved for turning their back on God. From that declaration, the Cyrus declaration to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem until the first coming of Christ, the Bible says that we will see that that time period will last seven weeks and 62 weeks. That's what three score and two means. It means 62. Now the reason why you can't accurately calculate exactly how many years that is, is because between the seven weeks and the 62 weeks, there's a gap. And we don't know how long that gap lasts for. So when you hear people try and tell you, I know exactly how many years it's been from the Cyrus declaration to the first coming of Christ, they're lying because there's a gap there and so you can't necessarily know 100%. But the idea is that from the declaration that was made to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem to the first coming of Christ is a period that lasts seven weeks and 62 weeks. And again, there's a gap between those two numbers. Now look at verse 26. So after that 62 week period, the Bible's telling us that Jesus Christ is going to be cut off, meaning he's going to die. Obviously we know he died on the cross and this is a side point, but I want you to notice this. This is really cool. It says in verse 26, Messiah shall be cut off, now notice these words right here, but not for himself. So Daniel knows, here we're in Daniel chapter number nine, we're obviously still in the Old Testament. He knows that the Messiah is going to die on the cross, but not for himself. Who does he die for? The entire world. He dies for every single person who's ever lived. Daniel understood that. So go ahead and put that in your dispensational pipe and smoke it, because he understood what the gospel was. He understood that the Messiah was coming, that he would die not for himself, but rather he would die for the entire planet, that he would die on the cross, that he would be buried and rise again. And of course those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are able to accept that atonement and that atonement then applies to them. It applies to those who believe. But it says that after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off. So again, Jesus Christ dies after the sixty-two weeks. So if you add seven and sixty-two it gets you to sixty-nine, so that leaves Daniel's seventieth week, which is this seven year period we're going to talk about, which is the end times. These are the seven years that people often refer to as the end times. Now obviously there's a false doctrine out there called preterism, which says that everything in scripture, no matter what it is, has already been fulfilled. The thing is, obviously there are some things in the Bible that have a near future application. So when you read the book of Daniel, I think it's the best example of this. When you read the book of Daniel, it prophesies of events that took place in history. For example, it talks about the Roman Empire. It talks about the Greek Empire being split into four different kingdoms, Antiochus, Epiphanes, historical figures like that. And that's true. There obviously are some historical shadow fulfillments of some of these prophecies that you read in scripture, but that doesn't negate the fact that there are still things that have to happen in the future. There are still things that have to happen in the end times that have not occurred yet, that will occur during this time period that we're talking about here that precedes Jesus Christ setting up his kingdom on this earth. But that's Daniel's seventieth week. Again, it's this period of seven years, and I wanted to just go a little bit more specific here. So the first half of Daniel's seventieth week, it lasts, and I'm not going to have a lot of time to develop each and every one of these points I'm about to put on the board for sake of time, so I'm just going to go ahead and just put it on here and you can look it up for yourself or ask me after the service if you want some more information. But the first half of Daniel's seventieth week lasts 1260 days, that would be three and a half years. Then you have the midpoint, which I'll talk about a little bit later on in the sermon. The second half of Daniel's seventieth week, it lasts 1290 days, and the reason why this half is a little bit longer than this one is because on the Hebrew calendar, every seven years there's a leap month, so you have to add 30 days to this half of the graph. But again, you have 1260, 1290, this portion of the graph constitutes the beginning of sorrows or the tribulation period. Then you have 75 days of great tribulation, I'll get to that a little bit later on, and in this half of the board, this is God's wrath. This is the period of God's wrath, the seven trumpets and vile judgments that are going to be poured out on the world. All of God's pent-up anger and frustration at sin and wickedness and iniquity gets poured out. In the second half of Daniel's seventieth week. So that's the basics there of this seven year period that we're going to be talking about over the course of the sermon. If you would head over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and we'll go ahead and let's get started here, let's dive into this. What's going to have to take place? What are the events that must come to pass before the rapture? And of course the rapture takes place just a little bit, you could say a hair after the midpoint of Daniel's seventieth week. Seventy-five days after the midpoint is when the rapture would take place. I'll just go ahead and we'll use red for the rapture, alright, just because it's kind of an eye-popping color. Alright, so 75 days and yes, my handwriting is horrifying, you'll just have to deal with it. And say rapture, I don't know why I did that line there. We'll say rapture. Alright, so you've got 75 days of great tribulation and then the rapture. So what's going to have to happen before this comes to pass? Because a lot of people think, oh, the rapture can happen at any moment. It can happen before the end of this sermon, folks. False. Wrong. You'll see here, I'm going to demonstrate it to you, that there are so many things that have yet to occur that must occur before the second coming of Jesus Christ. And by the way, the second coming is the rapture. It's not the battle of Armageddon, the second coming is the rapture, it is the return of Christ. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is where I had you turn, notice verse 1, it says, Except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. So the Bible is clearly explaining to us here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that prior to the rapture, prior to this event that we're all looking forward to, there have to be certain events that come to pass and one of them is the falling away. One of them is the man of sin being revealed, the son of perdition, who is the antichrist. The antichrist comes first. It would make no sense for Jesus to come before the antichrist because the whole purpose of the antichrist is to deceive the entire world. Why would the real messiah come first before the figure whose main purpose is to deceive the planet? It doesn't make any sense. Who's going to believe him? Who's going to be deceived by him if Jesus is the one who comes first? The pre-tribulation rapture isn't just unbiblical, it's also illogical. But the antichrist comes first, the Bible says. He has to be revealed. The reason why he's called the son of perdition is because he's actually inhabited by Satan eventually. He eventually gets possessed by the devil himself. Another person who shares this designation of son of perdition is Judas, and we know Judas was inhabited by the devil. But what I want you to notice in verse 3 is it says that there has to be a falling away first. And that's the first event that I want to put on the board that has to happen before the rapture, the falling away. I'll go ahead and write that down. The first thing that we're looking for is the falling away. Now what is the falling away? The falling away is essentially a falling away from truth, from the truth of God's word. And I believe, you know if you look at a map, oftentimes a map will be like a little dot on there and it says you are here. So if you want to look at this as a map, I would say you are here. We are in the falling away is what I'm trying to explain. We are in the falling away right now in my opinion. The day of Christ is not going to occur until the falling away happens first. That's one of the events that we see described in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It's a time of apostasy. It's a time of people falling away from the truth, from the truth of God's word, from the Lord Jesus Christ, from the gospel. Head over to Isaiah 59. I think we see a picture of the falling away in Isaiah chapter 59. While you turn there, I'll read from 1 Timothy 4. I had you turn to Isaiah 59. I'm going to read from 1 Timothy 4 where the Bible read, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. So we know that in the latter times, just like in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the Bible described the falling away. 1 Timothy 4 also tells us that there's going to be a time in which people basically fall away from the truth. That they give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. There's all kinds of false doctrine that you can find on the internet today. Doctrine from Hebrew roots weirdos telling you that the dietary laws still apply here in the New Testament. It's garbage. There's so much heresy online. Don't believe everything that you see on YouTube, folks. There are people who are trying to deceive you and lie to you and make you look stupid. Isaiah 59 says in verse 12, look at Isaiah 59 verse 12, For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us. Talking about the original nation of Israel. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God. Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Verse 14, and judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off, for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. You say, I want you to find me a cluster of verses in scripture that describes the United States of America in 2021. I think I just did. Isaiah chapter 59, it talks about judgment being turned away backward. You know, you go to your average, new evangelical church today, and what are they going to be spewing from behind their flimsy, plastic pulpit? Well, judge not. No judgment. Judgment is wrong. Meanwhile, they judge people who they deem to be judgmental. Super hypocritical. But we see judgment turned away backward. Justice standeth afar off. We live in a world where justice has evaporated, where you see the innocent, where you see people who are righteous or godly being persecuted, and then the wicked run away free. And also, truth is fallen in the street. That applies in the modern era. Truth has fallen in the streets today. Israel was experiencing at this time a spiritual famine in which sin abounded, in which people had turned their back and spit in the face of God. They were embracing transgressions. They were embracing lies. They were embracing ungodliness. Truth had fallen in the streets in Israel. And truth has fallen in the streets today in America, which is why I believe we're in the falling away described in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The same is true in America. And you can't tell me that that's not the case. I mean, think about what's going on today. You know, whenever I see these Black Lives Matter, Antifa riots all over the cities of America, burning down the cities of America, hurting people, attacking innocent people, destroying private property, looting businesses, looting shops, stealing, engaging in all kinds of iniquity and ungodliness and promoting filth and trying to destroy the nuclear family unit, what pops into my mind is this. Truth has fallen in the streets in the United States of America. That's why these people can run around and destroy everything with impunity because we have no justice. We have no truth. People don't want the Lord Jesus Christ in their life. People don't want the word of God in their life anymore. They want to be governed by their own thoughts, feelings and emotions and whatever CNN tells them. It's sick today. And that's what's happening in the modern era. The education system, when I think of the education system in the Western world and how it's propagandizing the next generation, you know what comes to my mind? Truth has fallen in the streets. That's what I think of. I think of Isaiah chapter 59. When I see false prophets like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren and others exalted and extolled by our society, I think that truth has fallen in the streets. To me, it's so obvious where we're at in the end times timeline. How about this? Some, not all, some independent fundamental Baptist pastors who call themselves independent fundamental Baptists, some of them go as far as mocking the laws of God. They mock the book of Exodus. They mock Leviticus. When we get up and we unapologetically claim that we believe every word of Leviticus 2013, they get up and they mock us. But they're not really mocking us. They're mocking the Bible. They're mocking the word of God. When they get up and they try and shame us for believing every word in the Bible, they're mocking God's word and I think that's further proof that we are living in the falling away today. Because even those who claim to be fundamentalists, who would cling to the fundamentals of the faith and how much more fundamental can you get than the King James Bible and every word on this page and yet they mock us for believing every word on this page. And they mock the laws of God. It's horrifying. But that's what's happening. We're experiencing it right now. Like I said, you are here. Go to Mark 13. What's the second thing that has to happen? And again, this might not be in perfect chronological order, so don't freak out on me, alright, if you disagree with something. The second thing that has to happen according to the Bible, the Gospel has to be preached in all nations. Some would say that's already happened through the advent of the internet. I'll leave that up to you. It's conjecture. I'm not entirely sure. I personally would say no. I still think that there has to be some sort of revival in terms of soul winning that occurs on a planetary scale. But I'm not going to be dogmatic on that. I'll just go ahead and put this right here. Gospel preached all nations. You say, I can't read that. Well, I don't know what to do for you. Matthew 24 says, I had you turn to Mark 13. I wanted to quote something from Matthew 24. It says, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations and then shall the end come. So obviously we know that this has to happen. Now over the course of the sermon, I'm not going to touch on every single detail because of the fact that we would be here for three hours and I don't think you guys want to be here for three hours, right? We're trying to cram this into one hour. And so what I want to try and touch on are just some of the major events or major milestones that the Bible tells us has to happen before the rapture. And this is one of them. The gospel has to be preached in all nations. I like how it's worded in Mark 13 where it says, but take heed to yourselves for they shall deliver you up to councils. Mark 13 verse 9, but take heed to yourselves for they shall deliver you up to councils and in the synagogues you shall be beaten and you should be brought before rulers and kings for my sake for a testimony against them. Now notice this, and the gospel must, must first be published among all nations. So what must happen before the end? The gospel has to be published among all nations. That has to happen. Now obviously I think the gospel is also still going to be preached after the rapture, courtesy of the 144,000, the two witnesses. But I do believe that what this is referring to is that before the coming of Christ we're going to see the gospel preached. People everywhere, all over the world are going to have an opportunity to get saved prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The end isn't going to happen until this occurs. And this is something that our big tech overlords have to understand. Because they're so busy trying to censor us right now. They're so busy trying to silence us and ban us and get us kicked off of Facebook and Twitter and YouTube. But what they don't understand is that the Bible has already declared that the gospel has to be preached to all nations. It must come to pass. So they can marginalize us, they can ban us, they can try and silence us, they can try and censor us, they can try and bully us, but at the end of the day they can't silence the word of God because this has to happen. The gospel has to be preached. The truth will permeate the entire world. Their censorship is going to fail. It's going to fail because at the end of the day we're going to find a way to subvert it, we're going to find a way to circumvent it. Pastor Jimenez is already doing so courtesy of the Ban But Not Bound email list which I would certainly encourage you guys to sign up for. BanButNotBound.com. There's a little plug that I snuck in there. But I would encourage you guys to sign up for that and get some of the preaching that's been banned off of YouTube courtesy of the reprobates who were in charge and hate the word of God and hate the truth. But my Bible says that the gospel must first be published throughout the entire planet. And this gospel, the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. And then shall the end come, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 24. So it doesn't matter how hard they try and silence us, how hard they try and censor us, how hard they try and bully us, how hard they try and smear us, kick us off all their platforms because my Bible says the gospel is going to be preached throughout the whole world regardless. It might be done through the internet, other mediums, I'm not sure, but all I know is, and I take it by faith, that this has to happen before the end. Head over to Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8. What else has to happen before the end? Because some people might say, well, Ben, I think that we're in the falling away, which is true. Others might say, and I also think the gospel's already been preached throughout the whole world courtesy of the internet. So what else has to happen? Yeah, Jesus can come back at any time. Well, false. Because what has to happen is there must be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. There has to be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, so I'm going to put that down on the list as well. There has to be a temple from which the Antichrist rules from. And Daniel chapter 8, not only it describes not just the fact that there's going to be a temple, but also it tells us that in this counterfeit temple, because the devil's a counterfeiter. That's what you have to understand about his character. Satan is a counterfeiter, he rips God off, essentially. That's kind of a layman's, sort of in layman's terms, what I'm trying to explain to you. In this temple, the Antichrist is going to be responsible for cutting off or ending daily sacrifices that are taking place in this building. So what I'm trying to explain is that there has to be a rebuilt temple, but there also have to be daily sacrifices taking place by the Jews inside this temple. And we'll read about that in Daniel chapter number 8. Now of course Solomon built the first temple, and you can read about that in the Old Testament. It's referred to as Solomon's temple oftentimes by people. It was destroyed in the captivity when the Babylonians invaded and Israel, or Judah rather, the southern kingdom of Judah, ended up being held captive for seventy years. Following that seventy year period of captivity, there was the Cyrus Declaration, and then you can read about the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the rebuilding of Judah, the rebuilding of the temple and the walls surrounding the city in Nehemiah and Ezra. What you have to understand about the temple is that it was destroyed by the Roman Empire in AD 70. I believe that when Jesus Christ said there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that was fulfilled when the Romans invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. They destroyed it in the middle of the seven year Roman Jewish war. And so I personally believe that's already happened. What the Antichrist is going to do is he's going to be responsible for, through the Jews, building a counterfeit temple, which I don't think is going to be in the same place as Solomon's temple. I don't think it's going to be in the same place as Zerubbabel's temple, or the temple that you can read about in Ezra, Nehemiah, etc. I don't believe that it's going to be in that same exact spot, it's going to be in the wrong place, and again it's going to be used by the Jews to engage in blasphemous animal sacrifices. The Bible says in Hebrews 9, for Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the truth, but in the heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. So the reason why God had a house in the Old Testament is I think there are actually multiple reasons. First of all, it's sort of a picture of your body. So think about it this way, in the Old Testament, God's dwelling place was inside a physical temple. Well in the New Testament, God's dwelling place is the saved believer, the Holy Ghost inhabits the saved, inhabits the believers. But also, it was a picture of heaven, it was a picture of heavenly places. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews 9 that the holy places made with hands are the figures of the truth. So they're figures or pictures or symbolic of heaven. Again, Satan's a counterfeiter, so what's he going to do? He's going to counterfeit the Old Testament temple, which itself was a picture of heaven. Head over to Daniel 8, I think I already told you to do that, look at verse 13. Daniel chapter 8 verse 13, the Bible read, Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. So basically what this is talking about is there's a vision here, and this vision is of the daily sacrifice. So like I said, there have to be daily sacrifices that take place in this temple, that's the purpose of it being, one of the purposes of it being rebuilt. For the Jews to engage in these daily animal sacrifices, and of course eventually for the Antichrist to invade, take over the temple, and set up an image, which we'll get to a little bit later on. But there's a vision here in Daniel chapter 8, the vision is of the daily sacrifice that's going to take place in the temple, the transgression of desolation which takes place here at the midpoint, otherwise known as the abomination of desolation. And it says basically that this lasts two thousand three hundred days, then it says the sanctuary shall be cleansed. So here's what we can learn from this. We can learn that the animal sacrifices that are supposed to take place in this rebuilt temple in Jerusalem are going to take place two hundred and fifty days into Daniel's seventieth week. And here's why. This vision concerning the animal sacrifices, the transgression of desolation, lasts two thousand three hundred days. So basically, if we could just say, let's say right here, this is where the animal sacrifices are going to start, this period all the way to the end is two thousand three hundred days. Now, the entire seven years of Daniel's seventieth week lasts two thousand five hundred and fifty days. You could do that by just adding those two together. Now keep in mind, the seventy-five day period is not cutting into the one thousand two hundred and ninety days. So this one thousand two hundred and ninety days includes the seventy-five day great tribulation, just so you guys understand. But if you take two thousand five hundred fifty and you subtract it by two thousand three hundred, it gives you two hundred and fifty. So we know that two hundred and fifty days into Daniel's seventieth week, animal sacrifices daily are going to be taking place in this rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. We might not see it. We might not actually observe this taking place. Perhaps it takes place behind closed doors. I don't know. But all I know is this, that it has to happen. The Bible tells us, two hundred and fifty days into Daniel's seventieth week, there will be daily sacrifices taking place in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. Now think of the blasphemy of this. Think of the blasphemy of Christ hating, Christ rejecting Jews, offering up daily sacrifices, totally omitting what Jesus already accomplished at Calvary. Because they hate him. They hate Jesus. They want nothing to do with him. And so the sacrifice of Christ in their mind is insufficient. They view it as a fraud. So that's why they're going to engage in daily sacrifices at this point in the timeline, two hundred and fifty days into Daniel's seventieth week. And again, the reason why I'm saying that is because this entire timeline from beginning to end lasts two thousand five hundred fifty days. When you subtract that by the two thousand three hundred days we read about in Daniel chapter number eight, it's going to give you two hundred and fifty. That's when the daily sacrifices are going to begin in this rebuilt temple. The Jews are going to blaspheme Jesus by engaging in that wicked behavior because they hate him. It's that simple. Daniel chapter nine, if you would head over to Daniel chapter number nine, it's just a page, just one chapter over. And look at verse twenty-seven. What's their presupposition? That Christ's sacrifice was insufficient, that it wasn't enough. And so they have to basically offer up these animal sacrifices in an attempt to atone for their sins and also because they're still looking for a Messiah. Well, they're going to get one, but it's not going to be the true Messiah. It's going to be the anti-Christ. Daniel nine says in verse twenty-seven, I'm going to stop there. So here's what this is explaining to you. It talks about how in the midst of the week, the sacrifices that I just explained, that we just talked about, are going to cease. So what that means is, right here in the middle of the seven-year period, in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, these daily sacrifices that start 250 days into Daniel's 70th week are going to cease. They're going to be terminated. They're no longer going to be taking place in the temple, and the reason why is because the anti-Christ is going to invade Jerusalem during this time. He's going to sit in the temple of God and he's going to declare himself to be God. So as a result, there will no longer be a need. It will no longer be necessitated for the Jews to offer up daily sacrifices in this temple because the anti-Christ is going to say, hey, you don't need to do that anymore. I am God. That's what he's going to proclaim inside the temple in Jerusalem, which is why those daily sacrifices will cease at the midpoint. Now let's go to Revelation chapter six. Revelation chapter number six. So what have we looked at so far? What has to occur before the end? The falling away. What has to occur before the end? The gospel preached in all nations. What has to occur before the end? Well, the temple has to be rebuilt. There has to be a fake, fraudulent, anti-Christ temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. And by the way, every once in a while, if you look at what's going on in Israel, if you look at what's going on in Jerusalem, there are rumors of a temple being rebuilt. The Jews thought Donald Trump would build them the temple in Jerusalem. That never happened, but they thought that that might occur because this is what they're looking for. This is what they want. They want this temple to rebuild so that they can engage in those animal sacrifices that obviously the anti-Christ is going to cease. He's going to stop them from doing that at the midpoint, like I said, because he's going to declare himself to be God. Now what is the fourth major event that has to happen? Now this event is actually multiple events that I'm grouping into one for the sake of time. And it's real simple. Global chaos. Global chaos. What we are looking for is global catastrophe, global chaos, the likes of which this planet has never seen. Which is why it's sort of foolish for people to ascertain that we're in the tribulation right now because we haven't seen anything like what's going to come to pass in the future during the tribulation period. And I want to talk a little bit about this first half of Daniel's 70th week, specifically the first five seals that have to open prior to the second coming of Christ. But I'm going to go ahead and write down right here global chaos. This has to happen prior to the rapture. It's going to get a lot harder before it gets better. But you know what? That's the pattern that we see throughout scripture. That believers go through affliction, believers go through persecution. And we're going to be no different. It's the same narrative that's going to take place in the end times. I had you turn to Revelation 6. I wanted to quote for you something from Revelation 12 before reading some verses from Revelation 6. Revelation 12 says, So we know that the devil is going to come down from heaven and he's going to pour out his wrath on the earth. Which tells me that the tribulation is actually the devil's wrath, not God's wrath. God's wrath is this half of the graph. God's wrath is the seven trumpet and vile judgments that take place in the second half of Daniel's 70th week. This half is the devil's wrath. The devil pouring out his wrath on this world. Look at Revelation 6 verse 1 and we'll go through the first five seals that are described in the book of Revelation here. Because they have to be opened prior to the second coming of Christ. It says in Revelation 6 verse 1, And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four beasts saying, come and see. 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. So the first seal that's opened in Revelation 6 depicts a white horse and the Bible says that he that sat on him goes forth conquering and to conquer. That's because this is describing the antichrist. When the first seal is opened I believe the antichrist is rising up to the top of the new world order power structure that he himself is going to establish. He's going to be working behind the scenes to elevate himself to the top of this planetary government that he's going to establish and use to persecute Christians worse than they've ever been persecuted before. He devises a plan essentially to take over the entire planet and like I told you already, remember the devil is a counterfeiter. What happens during the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ which takes place after this seven year period? Jesus is going to rule the world. Jesus Christ himself is physically going to rule the world one day. Well the devil wants to counterfeit that and how is he going to do it? By ruling the world courtesy of the antichrist, by inhabiting the antichrist and setting up a new world order. That's what he's going to do to sort of counterfeit the one thousand year reign of Jesus Christ which takes place after all these events. Now Jesus of course, you know when he comes down and he begins to rule and reign on this earth, he's going to be enforcing God's law. The antichrist on the other hand, he's going to be enforcing Satan's law which means this. Those who are saved, those who refuse to take what's called the mark of the beast which I'll cover a little bit later on are going to be decapitated, they're going to be killed. Satan's law will manifest itself this way. Bow down to the devil, worship the devil or get killed. It's going to be a really difficult time but it has to happen before the second coming of Christ. Now think about this, Jesus comes back with a white horse and here we see that the antichrist is sitting on a white horse in the first seal. Revelation 6 says in verse 3, So first we have the white horse, these are known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the first four seals. Now here the second seal, the Bible describes a red horse and the reason why it's a red horse is because peace is being taken from the earth. So essentially what's going to take place when the second seal is open is global warfare. World War III, maybe it's World War IV by the time this comes to pass, I don't know, I think it's going to be World War III. I think the next World War is probably going to be the wars and rumors of wars that are described in end times Bible prophecy. But the second seal is a global war, global warfare where people are killing one another. The Bible says it was given unto him a great sword. Now what you have to understand, the reason why this happens is because when you look at history, after World War I and after World War II, the planet, it took steps that you could say are closer to a global government. And here's what I mean by that. After each one of those events, after World War I and World War II, there were different sort of offshore organizations that were established designed to bring this planet closer to a global world government or a new world order. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the League of Nations. I'm talking about the United Nations. And these were established to supposedly ensure that there would never be a world war ever again. So they tried to sell people on the idea that, hey, we need these offshore globalists running sovereign nations to make sure that there is no world war that ever takes place again in the future. But obviously there is going to be another world war and that world war, just like World War I and World War II, is going to be used as a pretext for the Antichrist to come in and say, hey, the United Nations wasn't enough. The Council on Foreign Relations, not enough. Bilderberg Group, not enough. I'm going to set up a planetary government and all the nations around the world are going to lose their sovereignty. Now this second seal corresponds to what the Bible says in Matthew 24 when it says, And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes and diverse places. So we see that the second seal corresponds with Matthew 24 verses 6 and 7. Why? Because what Jesus Christ describes in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 actually correspond perfectly. They align perfectly with the seals that are open in Revelation chapter 6 because they're all describing the same event. They're all describing the same exact event. Now some have speculated what this coming world war is going to look like. People think maybe the Western world is going to battle the Islamic world or perhaps the United States and Europe will end up engaging in a war with Russia, China, etc. I think when you look at the way that things are sort of playing out right now, those are decent predictions, but at the end of the day, we don't know exactly what's going to happen. All we know is that this planet is going to descend into global warfare. But the Bible does tell us, Jesus Christ himself said, So although you might be wondering in your mind, you might be thinking in your head this morning, man, this seems kind of depressing. But Jesus Christ told you, don't be troubled. See that you'd be not troubled. Why? Because all these things have to come to pass. These events must transpire on the end times timeline before the return of Jesus Christ. So as we see this world burning down around us, as we inch closer and closer to the coming of the Antichrist, we shouldn't be troubled. In fact, that should make us leap for joy. Why? Because it means that we're getting that much closer to the return of Christ, to the second coming. You know, this world, they're going to be the ones who are depressed. They're going to be the ones who are troubled. They're going to be the ones who are wondering what is going on on this planet today. They're going to be the ones who are perplexed by all these events that end up happening in the end times. But it should be Bible-believing Christians who look at this world, who look at current events, who look at what's going on in the news, who look at all these events coming to pass, and they're the ones who should be thinking, hey, you know what this means? We're getting that much closer. Revelation 6, verse 5. And when it opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see, and I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand, and I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. So the third seal that's opened up describes a black horse, and it also says that a day's wage will be worth a penny. Now we're not talking about a penny in U.S. currency, which is one cent. A penny is a day's wage, and essentially a measure of wheat is going to be valued at one penny. What's that talking about? It's basically explaining that there's going to be hyperinflation that takes place during this time period, that essentially money is going to be worthless, almost worthless, to the point that going and buying necessities from the supermarket, a loaf of bread, or whatever you might need to feed yourself, is going to be exponentially more expensive when this third seal is opened compared to today. And this corresponds with Matthew 24, where it says, And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. You can see how this will cause a famine, this will cause starvation, this will cause people to die of hunger in the streets because they won't be able to afford the necessities that they need to have three meals a day. It says a measure of wheat for a penny. So they'll only be able to procure a measure of wheat for an entire day's wage. Think about that. And in fact, it's occurred in the world today. It has occurred in the past, and it's occurring today, in fact, in some third world countries that have experienced an economic collapse so severe that it's caused people to starve in the streets. The difference is in the end times, when this third seal is opened, it's going to be severe enough to engulf the entire planet. But we see that in some third world countries, this has already happened. I'm going to read for you from Reuters. Hyperinflation has blighted Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and the former Yugoslavia, among others over the years. Now Lebanon has been gripped by the phenomenon, becoming the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to suffer from rapid runaway price rises for goods and services. There's another article here. It says the local currency in Lebanon has lost over 85 percent of its value, and hyperinflation means everything is now twice as expensive, and if you have funds and or access to them, you have 15 percent of it left. What you have to understand about our banking system is that it uses a fractional reserve lending sort of system, which means that money that you deposit into the bank is actually loaned out to other banks. It's physically there. And really a lot of our money is just meaningless, it's just digital, you know, it's just pixels you see on a screen, or paper that's backed by nothing because of the Federal Reserve System, which has established a fiat currency in the United States, which means that money is printed out of thin air. It used to be that the dollars and the bills that people would carry around were backed by some sort of valuable substance, gold, silver, et cetera, but now that's not the case. What I'm trying to explain to you is that in these third world countries, some of them are experiencing right now hyperinflation like what's described in Revelation chapter 6, to the point that people can't feed themselves, they're starving on the streets, they can't withdraw money from the bank. I have some people I'm related to right now who have told me they can't take money out of the bank, or they can only take very little, a very little amount of cash out of the bank today because the bank doesn't even have it, and that the price of bread and basic goods have skyrocketed, and people don't know where their next meal is going to come from, what do you think of Revelation chapter 6? Now, I didn't tell them that because it wouldn't make them feel any better, but that's the truth. It reminds me very much of what's going to happen in the end times. Look at Revelation 6 verse 7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see, and I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him, and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth. So this one's real simple, it's just death. Basically when the fourth seal is opened, the pale horse that it's describing in Revelation chapter 6, there's going to be death all over the world. And I think it's going to be, you know, a lot of it courtesy of the first, no actually, courtesy of seals 2 and 3. That's really what's going to be the catalyst for all this death. But also it says the beasts of the earth are going to be responsible for this death. Maybe there'll be rabid dogs running around the streets biting people, I don't know. But this does not sound fun. And this also corresponds with Matthew 24-7. The fourth part of the earth dies, the Bible says. Sword, hunger, death, and also death courtesy of beasts on the earth, animals on the earth. Revelation 6 verse 9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also, when their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. So what happens when the fifth seal is opened? Martyrs appear in heaven. Why? Because after the fifth seal, Christian persecution reaches its climax. They're going to be Christians who are dragged out into the streets and killed. Those who refuse to take the mark of the beast, those who refuse to bow down to the Antichrist, those who refuse to worship Satan are going to be killed. They're going to be decapitated. They appear in heaven here. Why? Because after this fifth seal, that's when things really get ramped up. And this corresponds with Matthew 24, 9 which says, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Now think of the magnitude of what we're talking about here. All nations are going to hate Christians. You're going to be hated for the cause of Christ by every nation on the planet. And some people can't take getting put in Facebook jail. My friend, getting banned from social media is going to be obviously a walk in the park compared to what happens. Some people can't take a bunch of freaks waving signs outside their church when they're walking into church on Sunday morning. Yeah, it's annoying. Yeah, I don't like it. Yeah, I would much prefer them to go away. And something else to happen to them as well. But folks, that's nothing. Some freak waving a sign outside the church is nothing compared to what's going to happen during the end times. And specifically when the fifth seal is open and the entire planet hates Christians, here's what I have to say for you. Get ready because the pre-tribulation rapture is a joke. It's false. It's wrong. And a lot of Christians who are sincere, who are saved, are getting duped by that doctrine and they're not ready for what's going to happen when this fifth seal is opened. It's going to take them by surprise. Notice the saints in heaven are crying for God's judgment. They're begging him for God's judgment on this world because it hasn't happened yet. Remember what I said earlier. This is God's wrath, not that. This second half of the seven year period is God's wrath and the saints in heaven are going to be begging for it when they appear there after the fifth seal is opened. Head over to Daniel 7 again if you would. Daniel chapter 7. Here's the fifth milestone, end times milestone that has to take place. I've already referred to it moments ago. A one world government. A one world government. People say we're in the tribulation. Well I don't think that a one world government has been established yet. Obviously we have elements of globalism. We have the United Nations, we have the CFR, we have the Bilderberg Group, we have the IMF. We have all these different offshore organizations run by satanic elites that are plotting to hurt us. I know that sounds real negative but that's the truth. But there is no one world government yet. There are elements of it. But actually I'm going to just put new world order because everybody knows what that is. New world order. What's a new world order? One world government, one world religion, one world banking system. Daniel chapter 7, look at verse number... Actually before you look at Daniel 7, I wanted to make this point real quickly. This global government that I'm talking about, one world government, one world religion, one world banking system. I want you to notice that it happens. Seal number 5 I believe is when this new world order is actually fully established. And notice seal 5 comes after seal 1, 2, 3 and 4 which describes all these different chaotic events. Why? Because the famines, the warfare, the pestilence, the death, all that is going to be used as a pretext to establish this new world order. It's all going to be used as a pretext. It's all going to be used to make people believe that a one world government and banking system and religion is necessary to prevent the catastrophe that had occurred prior to the fifth seal from ever happening again. People already use this line of reasoning and this failed logic to justify the existence of the United Nations and other globalist entities like that. It's called order out of chaos. It's a Cloward and Piven strategy. The definition of that is the end goal, I'll just read you here the definition of what I mean by Cloward and Piven strategy. The end goal of the Cloward and Piven strategy is the creation of a political crisis leading to a guaranteed annual outcome. So basically here's the formula. Orchestrate catastrophe, orchestrate death, orchestrate warfare to accomplish specific goals. That's what the U.S. government did with 9-11. 9-11 was an inside job. The end goal was to use that event as a pretext to start all kinds of different wars in the Middle East, feed the military industrial complex, and establish a dragnet surveillance program domestically, the TSA, and basically strip away your civil liberties. So we see that these events have already been used throughout history for the globalists, if you want to call them that, or the elites, to establish their goals or to advance, rather, their goals and what they're trying to accomplish. Well the Antichrist is going to do the exact same thing and he's going to establish in his mind order out of chaos. Now Daniel emphasizes four kingdoms here in Daniel chapter number seven. And these are four historical kingdoms. It talks about Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. And I want to go through them here in Daniel 7 real quickly because it's going to make, I think, a really sort of poignant point about the coming new world order. And you'll see what I mean in a minute. But let's look at Daniel 7 real quickly. And I know I'm running long. I'm almost done, I promise, alright? Daniel 7 verse 3, it says, And the four great beasts, I should say, and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I beheld to the wings thereof were plucked, that it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. So this is Babylon. Now notice the wings of this beast that it's describing were plucked. Why is that? Because of course we know that Nebuchadnezzar through his pride was a beast. And so that was sort of, I think, a manifestation of what it's talking about in Daniel chapter 7 in the sense that he was humble, that he had to eat grass like a beast. And so those were the wings that were plucked from him. Nebuchadnezzar punished for his pride. So the first beast that it's describing would be none other than the Babylonian empire, which did exist, it's a historical kingdom that existed in the past. Daniel 7 verse 5, And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it, and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. This is the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. The Medo-Persian empire is what it's described as, and notice it says that it raised itself up on one side. Now why does it say that? Why do we see that verbiage in Daniel chapter 7? Because, again, if you look at history and you look at what happened with this kingdom, the Persian side was more powerful than the Media side, than the Medes. The Persians were more powerful than the Medes, that's why it says that it raised itself up on one side. Daniel 7 verse 6, After this I beheld and lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl, the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. So this leopard-like beast is describing the Grecian empire. And we know that throughout history, if you read the history, the Grecian empire was split into four different kingdoms, which is why this beast has four heads. And there's more detail on that in Daniel 8, Daniel chapter 11, I'm not going to get into it, but you had this historical figure in Tychus Epiphanes who was sort of a shadow fulfillment of the Antichrist, he believed he was God, etc. But we don't have time to get into that. Daniel 7 verse 7, After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth. It devoured and break in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. So what's this fourth beast? Rome. Rome. This is the Roman empire, it has iron teeth, it talks about having, you know, the reason why it uses the word iron is because this kingdom has iron legs. If you read Daniel chapter 2, that statue that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of, the legs of that statue are symbolic of the Roman empire because this is talking about the Roman empire, it was the most powerful empire, I believe, that had been established by this time. It has ten horns, it's strong exceedingly, the Bible says, and like I said earlier in the sermon, the Romans were responsible for desolating the temple in 70 AD. They destroyed the temple completely, which was a fulfillment of what Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter number 24. When Jesus Christ came for the first coming, the Romans were a global sort of pseudo-world government. Well, when he comes back for the second coming of Christ, there's going to be another world government established, it'll be the world government of the Antichrist, though. Go to Revelation 13, if you would, Revelation chapter 13. So what was the point of me going through those four beasts in Daniel 7? Because I want to make this point, and I think it's really important, if you want to understand what this Antichrist kingdom is going to look like, what this new world order, if you want to call it that, is going to look like, what this world government is going to look like, well, it's going to look like those four kingdoms I just described for you. Revelation 13, look at verse 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven head and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. So notice, Revelation 13.1 talks about this beast having ten horns. Then it says in verse 2, and the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. So what I'm trying to explain to you is that we see elements of the four beasts that were described in Daniel chapter 7 in the Revelation 13 beast, which is this world government system. So I'm going to write in red these beasts that we see in Revelation chapter 13. So it talks about a lion. It says that it had the mouth of a lion. Revelation chapter 13 verse 2 has the mouth of a lion. In Revelation 13 we also see the feet of a bear. Revelation 13 also in verse 2 says that it was like unto a leopard, which corresponds with Daniel 7 verse 6, which talks about a leopard-like beast. So there's the leopard right there. In addition to that it had ten horns. Revelation 13.1 tells us that it had ten horns. There you go. So you have the four Daniel 7 beasts described in the one Revelation 13 beast. Again, it has the same attributes. Revelation 13 tells us that this beast had the mouth of a lion, it had the feet of a bear, it was like unto a leopard, and it had ten horns. Why? Why are these similar? Because the Antichrist kingdom is going to be like Babylon, like the Medo-Persian empire, like the Grecian empire, like the Roman empire. But what you have to understand is the reason why these four beasts are all apparent and they're all sort of combined into one beast in Revelation 13 is because the Antichrist kingdom, in my estimation, is going to be just as powerful as these four historical empires combined. That's how powerful his kingdom is going to be. Just as powerful as the Babylonian empire, the Medo-Persian empire, the Grecian empire, and the Roman empire combined. That's why it's one beast in Revelation chapter 13. That's how powerful it's going to be. That's how much bloodshed he is going to be responsible for. And that's what this world has to look forward to when the Antichrist takes control. Look at verse 7. So when the Antichrist sets up this abomination of desolation at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week, he declares himself to be God. He's going to set up a world government. And like I said, that world government is going to be as powerful as those four historical empires described in Daniel chapter 7 combined, which is why you see elements of each one in Revelation chapter 13. And the Bible also tells us that he's going to have authority over all kindreds, over all tongues, over all nations. It's a cult of personality on a planetary scale, but he's going to declare himself to be God. That's why he's called the Antichrist. That means instead of Christ, he's going to claim to be the Messiah, but of course we know he's going to be false. I'm going to skip some things here for sake of time. Go back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 if you would. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The final event, we're winding it down now, the final event that I want to talk about that has to happen before the rapture is this. The abomination of desolation. I'm just going to write abomination on there. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 talks about this. Now obviously the two witnesses come down at the midpoint. I'm not going to get into that. I don't have time. But in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 it says in verse 3, So here's what's going to happen with the Antichrist. The Bible says that he receives a deadly wound to the head, which I believe means that he's going to be assassinated in some way. He inhabits him, and he comes back to life in an effort to mock the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which will be used to enable people to believe that he is the true Messiah. That's what people are going to be deceived by. The unsaved will be deceived by that. And so what happens is after he resurrects, so-called, courtesy of the devil, he's going to sit at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week right here. He's going to sit in the temple of God. He's going to declare himself to be God, but he doesn't just do that. The Bible also says that he sets up an image in this rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. The image is called the abomination of desolation. And what happens is, once he sets up that image, the image will be used as a catalyst for people to take the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast, in my opinion, is an RFID chip. I'm pretty much sold on that idea. And obviously, people have different views on it. That's fine. It's all conjecture at this point in 2021. We don't know. Obviously, when the time that it was written back in the day, I'm sure they had all kinds of wild and crazy views. How are you even supposed to explain that? A mark that goes inside? People aren't going to know what that means back when John the Revelator wrote this. But as we get closer and closer to the end, it becomes more apparent. But I believe that in order to take that mark, you're going to have to worship the abomination of desolation. That actually is what the Bible teaches. The mark is associated with worshipping the Antichrist at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week. And you're going to be worshipping that image specifically that he sets up in the temple. You say, well, what if some unsafe person doesn't live in Jerusalem? How's he supposed to take the mark? Well, I would imagine that, for example, if somebody wanted to take the mark, they could walk into a Walgreens or a Walmart somewhere. There will be a little booth set up that says the mark of the beast station. And obviously, it's probably not going to be called that, but there's going to be a mark of the beast station. And there are going to be people that are standing in line and when they finally get to the front of the line, they'll stare into some sort of camera, webcam, something like that with the abomination of desolation on it. Perhaps they can worship it there. And then if they're genuine, if they really genuinely just worship the devil, if they really just sold their soul to the devil in a sense, then they can get their RFID chip, they can get the mark of the beast. And of course, at that point, there will be reprobate. The Bible teaches very clearly that those who take the mark cannot be saved. Now, saved people are not going to be capable of taking the mark of the beast. The Bible says that the antichrist is going to show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Talking about all these false christs that come during this time. So it's not going to be possible for the saved to be deceived by the devil. It's not going to be possible for the saved to be deceived by the antichrist and to go take the mark of the beast. There's some technology that detects if you're saved or something like that. So you're not going to be able to take it anyway if you're thinking that you could do that and get a Jill Free card. That's not going to work. And plus, the Bible does teach for the unsaved, those who are not saved, those who haven't believed the gospel, if they take that mark, they're damned. At that point, they're reprobate. They cannot get saved to begin with. Now, if you would, head over to Matthew 24. We're almost done. I just wanted to cover this final point and then I'll wrap it up. Matthew chapter 24. So the abomination of desolation, which occurs at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week, that's what kick starts 75 days of great tribulation. And this 75 day period is a time in which the tribulation ramps up. If you read in Daniel chapter 3 talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, it says that basically Nebuchadnezzar, he was full of fury. The form of his visage was changed and basically it was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And basically he heats up the burning fiery furnace that he was going to throw them into and he heats it up seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And I think that's a picture of the great tribulation, that fiery furnace being heated up seven times more than this three and a half year period that precedes it. This is going to be an extremely difficult time for us. This is going to be a time in which Christians, like I said, are dragged into the streets and killed. Those who refuse the mark, decapitated, all the pre-tribbers are going to be really shocked that they made it this far by the time we get to that point in the timeline. Matthew 24 verse 15 says, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. Verse 21, skip down to verse 21, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. So like I said, the abomination of desolation, when that satanic image is put up in the temple of God at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week, what does it kickstart? The great tribulation we just read about in Matthew chapter 24, this 75 day period, and the Bible clearly says that if this was not shortened, if this 75 day period was not shortened by the second coming of Christ, by the rapture, then every Christian would be killed. But here's the good news, although this is going to be a time of torture and anguish and persecution the likes of which Christians have never seen before, the rapture is coming, the second coming of Christ will occur to shorten this time period, the devil's plans will be foiled, Jesus Christ is coming back, he's going to gather together his elect courtesy of the angels, we're going to meet Jesus Christ in the air, and then God is going to begin to pour out his wrath on this world for all the sins and iniquities that have angered him for thousands of years. So I'm going to go ahead and wrap it up now, head over to Luke 21 and we'll be done. Luke chapter 21 and we will be done. Thank you for your attention, I appreciate it. I really don't like going over an hour, so I apologize for that, but there was so much to cover and at the end of the day, we have to be studied on these topics. We have to understand what's going to happen so that this doesn't take us by surprise. That's why the Bible tells us that those who are watching that the day of the Lord is not going to come to them as a thief in the night. But it's not going to be to them a thief in the night, the reason why is because they've been paying attention to all these events that have to come to pass before the day of the Lord, otherwise known as the rapture or the second coming of Christ. So Luke 21 is where we're going to end, and again what you have to understand is right before I close things out, that this abomination of desolation, I was going to go through the verses but I don't have time, Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 14 proves that the mark of the beast system, which is set up at the midpoint, is directly correlated to the abomination of desolation. Meaning you have to worship that image in order to receive your injected chip or the mark of the beast, whatever you believe it is going to be. That has to happen. You have to worship that image to take the mark. I just wanted to make sure I was clear about that. James 5 says, Be patient therefore, brethren, of the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband went and waited for the precious fruit of the earth and had long patience for it until he received the early and latter rain. We've got to be patient. We've got to be patient of the coming of the Lord. You know, when I think of the iniquity and the sins and I think of how this world is departing further and further away from the truth of God's word, I look at verses like this and they comfort me because it reminds me that I have to be patient. I ought to be patient of the coming of the Lord because at the end of the day, once we get to the rapture, it's going to be like, you know what? It was worth it. It was worth going through all that affliction. It was worth going through all that persecution and all the rest of it to attain a better resurrection and all the heavenly rewards that you can amass for going through those things for the cause of Christ. Luke 21 says in verse 27, look down at verse 27 and we'll wrap it up. This is the final place I'm going. Luke 21 verse 27, And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Pay attention to this in verse 28. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. You say, Ben, the falling away, the gospel being preached to all nations, the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem that has to be constructed in which the Jews will offer daily sacrifices, global chaos, an anti-Christ new world order, the abomination of desolation and the mark of the beast system, 75 days of great tribulation. All of this sounds like it's insurmountable. All of this sounds like it's unbeatable, like it's an obstacle that we could never overcome. But through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can, which is why instead of obsessing over politics, instead of obsessing over the things of this world, we ought to study our Bibles today. We ought to be filled with the Spirit today. We ought to be concerned with the things of God today so we can be armed spiritually to make it through to the end. Because if this happens in our lifetime, I tell you what, I don't want to be the one who's captured and killed. Obviously, it'd be great to be a martyr. But other than that, I want to be someone who makes it to the rapture. I want to be someone who makes it to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be someone who makes it to the time when Jesus comes down with clouds from heaven and to be able to look at him and say, our redemption is drawn nigh finally after all the hours and days and months and years that we've spent serving him. Our redemption is here. The rapture has come. Jesus Christ is in the air. What a moment that's going to be. Folks, you say, I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to go through all this. I don't know if I have the physical strength. Well, let me let you in on a little secret that really isn't so secret. If you study the word of God, we're already on the winning team. We've already won. My Bible says in 1 John 5, and this is the victory that overcometh the faith. I'm sorry. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. If you've believed on Jesus Christ today, you're on the winning team. Because in spite of all these things that have to happen, in spite of the falling away, the temple, the global chaos, the new world order, abomination of desolation, guess what? Jesus Christ is coming back. He's going to wipe out the antichrist. He's going to wipe out his armies. All the wick are going to receive the justice that they deserve, that they're going to receive the wrath they deserve for persecuting Christians. They're going to receive the wrath they deserve for spitting in the face of God. And at the end of the day, we will dwell with Jesus Christ forever. And so we ought to use that as motivation to say, you know what? We can get through all these things. I do hope it happens in my lifetime. I'm ready. Folks, we're going to be gathered together to meet Christ in the air when the time is right on God's prophetic timeline. This is what I'm trying to explain to you. When the time is right on this prophetic timeline that we talked about here this morning, when we get through the beginning of sorrows, when we get through the opening of the seals, when we get through the abomination of desolation, when we get through the great tribulation, all I have to say is this. If you're able to make it through all that to the second coming of Christ, only then can you finally say, hey, our redemption is drawn nigh. When you get through all the way to the rapture, lift up your heads. Why? Because your redemption has drawn nigh and so shall we ever be with the Lord. But remember, all these things have to happen first. These are the signs of the second coming. So don't be confused with what's going on today. Yes, it's bad, but we're not quite there yet because all these things have to come to pass first. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for this opportunity to be here and gather in your name. I pray that you would just help us to be ready for this time period, Lord, and that we would be studied, that we would learn about end times Bible prophecy, and also, Lord, that you would just help us to have boldness and courage when this time does actually begin to transpire so that we're out there winning souls for you and doing mighty works for you, doing great exploits for you rather than running and hiding in a forest somewhere, Lord. We pray that you give us boldness and also, Lord, that you would bless the soul winning time coming up a little bit later on. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, if you would grab your hymnals for our last song this morning and turn to hymn number 71, which I think is all the more true to print through after that sermon. Hymn number 71, there's a great day coming. There's a great day coming. And it's that red line on that graph right there. There's a great day coming, hymn number 71, 71, there's a great day coming. Let's sing there starting on the first. There's a great day coming, a great day coming, there's a great day coming by and by. When the saints and the sinners shall be parted right and left, are you ready for that day to come? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day? There's a bright day coming, a bright day coming, there's a bright day coming by and by. But its brightness shall only come to them that love the Lord. Are you ready for that day to come? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day? There's a sad day coming, a sad day coming, there's a sad day coming by and by. When the sinner shall hear his doom depart, I know ye not. Are you ready for that day to come? Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day? Amen, and with that you are done.