DO 274512/91

MATTHEW 24!

1. Thank You Jesus! Lord, have Thy way, Thy Will be done, You know what's best. May we be of one mind, Lord, & one heart here this day.

2. Just as an opener I think I'd like to share some of Matthew with you. Even though he was a Jew, he was a good Jew. And I'll tell you, when you've got a good Jew, you can't have anything better! Of course, I don't want to leave all of you Gentiles out, because now you're all Jews in the Lord! (Rom.2:28,29.)

3. Matthew 24 is a good summary of the present & the future which the Lord Himself gave. I like the Words of Jesus, don't you? I like the words of the Apostles too & the Prophets & all, but there's nothing like studying what Jesus had to say! I want to try to stick to the subject if I can today, so in order to make sure we get some Bible reading in this class‚ I figured maybe we could start off in the Bible!

4. (Verse 3:) "And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately." You know where the Mount of Olives is, don't you? It's still there. In fact, when Jesus returns, that's where He's going to first make His touchdown, & it's going to cleave in two, think of that!—Zech.14:4. They say there's already a great big crack across the top of the mountain. Of course, I presume they would attribute that to some kind of earthquake or earth tremors‚ but they're sure going to get a shake-up when Jesus lands! The Mount of Olives was one of His favourite haunts. He loved to be there in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is on the slope of the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem.

5. And the disciples said, "Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy Coming, & of the End of the World?" Just think, He was right there where He spent His last night with His disciples before He was crucified. (Weeps) Hallelujah! TYJ! (Tongues) "Kiss thou the Words of thy father!" And knowing that some day He was going to come back & land right there on the top!—And also knowing that He was soon going to take off from the top of that mountain! That mountain was really important in Jesus' life & in His disciples' lives & will be again in the days to come. That's where He took off into the clouds, & that's where He's going to come back in clouds!—Acts 1:9-12. PTL!

6. Of course, He's not going to come down to the Mount of Olives & touch ground there when He comes to receive us up in the air. It says distinctly that "we shall meet Him in the air‚" to go back with Him to heavenly places then.—1Th.4:16‚17. So when is He going to come in triumph & touch down? You never knew the Lord made a touchdown? It's going to be the biggest touchdown ever made!

7. When do you think He's going to come back & in triumph touch down on the Mount of Olives, where He was talking to His disciples at this time? (Family: After the Battle of Armageddon?) Yes, it would have to be after the Battle of Armageddon when we have complete victory & triumph over all the forces of the Enemy, & the Lord is ready to occupy the Earth with us & establish His Kingdom on Earth. He's probably going to be the first one to touch down‚ & we'll follow. We'll follow Him on white horses‚ first of all, & wipe out all our enemies, thank God!

8. I'm not quite as sympathetic as modern scholars & jurists & their modern doctrine in the handling of criminals etc. It seems that they give the criminals more chance & opportunity than anybody else. Well, that's the way of this World, of course, the criminals are their own people. They've made them what they are & they all feel guilty about it‚ so they want to make sure that the crooks & criminals all get their rights. Of course‚ according to God's judgements, the only thing they have a right to is judgement. There's no such thing as human rights or criminals' rights in God's eyes! There are not even our rights, but only His grace! Praise God! And by His grace & by His death for us, He has given us these rights that we have now & will have for eternity. PTL?

9. So the disciples asked Him, "What shall be the sign of Thy Coming & of the End of the World?" Now that could hardly be any more specific. So if Jesus is going to tell us what is going to be the sign of His Coming & the End of the World, He certainly was the One Who oughta know!

10. (Verse 4:) "And Jesus answered & said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall come in My Name, saying, I am Christ; & shall deceive many." We've got a lot of them in the World already; in fact, we have had for ages. There have always been false prophets, even false Christs, but there are more today than ever before.

11. These are serious times & this is a serious Chapter!—Probably the most serious things that the Lord ever had to say to His disciples, warning them of the Future. Before this, He had said many things to them personally about their work & their spirituality & all the things they needed to know about how to grow in knowledge & wisdom & the things of His Word & His Spirit etc., but these are some of the last Words He was going to have a chance to say to them to warn them about the Future.

"THE BEGINNING OF SORROWS!"

12. This first portion of Matthew 24 is all about things that were really already happening & had been happening for centuries. As you recall in the Book of Revelation, the Lord, through John‚ covers them in even shorter length than this. He goes through the entire history of the World & lands in their day. I guess he figured it wasn't very important to spend too much time on the past. Even the Apostle Paul tells us to forget the things that are behind.—Phi.3:13. Well, I don't think He meant that you're to forget everything that's behind, & I've brought back a lot of memories to you because I thought it was good for you to know past history. Lately I've been telling you some of our own personal history in "Now It Can Be Told" & you're learning a lot of things about us!

13. (Verse 6:) "And ye shall hear of wars & rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass‚ but the End is not yet."—There've been many wars & rumours of wars. The first war began between Cain & Abel & has been going on ever since. So wars are no sign of the End, otherwise we'd have had the End a long time ago! (Verse 7:) "For nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom: & there shall be famines & pestilences & earthquakes in divers places." They've been having all these things ever since the World began!

14. (Verse 8:) "All these are the beginning of sorrows." How long has the Earth had sorrows? Ever since what? (Family: The fall of Man.) Right, ever since Adam & Eve disobeyed the Lord in the Garden. They started having sorrows then, & their first son was the first murderer. Think of it! Murders are so common nowadays in some countries, people hardly think anything of them! They certainly don't think much of hearing about them, & a lot of people don't think much of just doing it, more & more & more! In some of those horrible big cities in the U.S. like New York & Washington, murders every day are just the course of events, they don't think anything of it! "All these are the beginning of sorrows." We've had lots of sorrows, ever since the World began.—At least since Adam & Eve fell.

15. (Verse 9:) "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, & shall kill you: & ye shall be hated of all nations for My Name's sake." How long has that been going on?—Ever since Cain killed Abel! How long have God's people been afflicted?—Since the very beginning! How long have the righteous been hated by others? (Family: Since the beginning.) Ever since Cain hated Abel. All these are the beginning of sorrows. We've had these kinds of sorrows now for 6,000 years, terrible sorrows.

16. (Verse 10:) "And then shall many be offended & shall betray one another & shall hate one another." How long has that been going on? (Family: Since the beginning.) Then! Back then!—And it's even worse now than ever! All this was to happen since the beginning‚ but it keeps getting worse all the time. "Evil men & seducers shall wax worse & worse!"—2Tim.3:13. It's gotten so much worse now, that frankly, I don't think it can go on much longer! If God let Man go on very much longer, he would not only destroy himself‚ but the entire Earth! So if the Lord wants to save anything, save some people & some of what's left of the Earth, He's going to have to intervene pretty soon. And I & a few others feel like it's going to be very soon!

17. Even the Antichrist is the intervention of God!—Although he's of the Devil, the Lord allows him to arise. After all, even the Devil wants to save what's left. How's he going to have any kingdom on Earth if he doesn't save some people & some of the Earth from destroying itself?—Otherwise he'll have nothing to rule over! He always wanted to be king of the World. He once wanted to be king of Heaven. (Isa.14:12-14.) He was denied that privilege, so now all there is left that God has given him power over is Earth & Man. So even the Devil is not going to let it all be destroyed before he is able to strut around & claim he's God & show off that he is ruler of the Earth. All these things are things that have been happening since the beginning of time.

18. (Verse 11:) "And many false prophets shall arise & shall deceive many." We're getting more of them all the time. In fact, every one of these "New Age" people seem to think they're prophets & they know the future etc. That's probably the biggest false religion & movement that has yet hit the Earth! (See Outlook 3, pg.5: "New Age, New Life.") It looks like it's trying to get them all together, no doubt to prepare them for the worship of the Antichrist. After all, if everybody's God, why can't the Antichrist be God too?

THE AC—A SODOMITE?

19. Because of that verse in Daniel about the Antichrist "not regarding the desire of women" (Dan.11:37), I used to think, "Boy, the Antichrist is going to be celibate, how about that!" But from what I see is going on today, he could very well be a Sodomite! It's in style! It's getting more popular all the time, & the Sodomites are screaming to be accepted. They're some of the most brazen sinners on Earth today, just like they were in the days before the Lord destroyed Mankind with the Flood! That's how things got then. In fact‚ I'm not even sure they were as bad then as they are now! It's horrible! Sickening! It makes you want to puke when you hear about those guys marching down the street half-naked & kissing each other! Ugh! (See WNDs 371‚ pg.5‚ 341 pg.4 & 342, pg.2.) They're the most sickening characters in the World! God's wiped out civilisation after civilisation for Sodomy!—Not only whole cities‚ but whole nations!

20. They have such influence! It's the power of Satan! In some countries they even organise huge associations, lobbies & pressure groups to put big pressure on the various governments. They're influencing governments & getting them to invest millions for their causes because they scream & holler & threaten to do this or that if they don't! "If you don't give us money & heal us of our diseases, then you don't care about us! You don't care if we die!" They're the most blatant protestors & demonstrators of all! The worst! The loudest! And now they're trying to get all the guys who are "in the closet" (unconfessed Sodomites), including politicians & actors, etc., to come out & confess that they too are Sodomites.

21. The Sodomites are taking over! Who would have ever dreamed that Sodomy would take over to such an extent in this day & age! Well, it's certainly fulfilling Bible Prophecy that "wicked men & seducers shall wax worse & worse," & "as it was in the days of Noah & the days of Lot, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be."—2Tim.3:13; Mat.24:37; Luk.17:26-30.

22. Ever since I was a little kid I was told it was bad in the days of Noah, but I figured "bad" was just a lot of wine, women & song & war & violence & that sort of thing. Then I heard about how even in those early days before Noah they had a form of "family planning," as they call it now. Until recently they used to call it plain "birth control"! They had this idol whose elbows were hinged & his hands were out like this. They built a fire inside of him, put the baby in his hands, & the priest behind the idol worked the lever & catapulted the baby right into the idol's mouth, into the fire! Well, I was horrified when I finally heard about that! I was already preaching the Gospel & a pastor & having to study my Bible & some other books more before I found that out! I said, "Oh boy! That was bad!"

23. They've gotten worse now! They put instruments in the womb & tear the babies apart. Some years ago, we heard about a movie that the anti-abortionists made, I haven't seen it, but from what I've heard it's almost enough to make you sick!—"The Silent Scream!" It shows how the baby feels it, he knows it, & they just literally tear him limb from limb, horrible! Horrors! Who would ever think that modern civilisation could get to such a state!

24. I knew that Sodomy was in the Bible, "as it was in the days of Lot." It's too bad more people don't call a spade a spade & call them Sodomites! Nearly everybody's heard about the fate of Sodom & Gomorrah & know what was going on then!—Or if they're pretty dumb & they don't know it, all they have to do is read it! (See Gen.18 & 19.) Poor Lot was even willing to give them his daughters instead of allowing them to even see the Angels that were visiting him. Can you imagine? They wanted to commit Sodomy with the Angels! How horrible! How awful! So disgusting! Sickening! It's about the most sickening thing I can think of!

25. The Sodomites have chosen the name "gays" for themselves, to try to make you think they're happy! And of course, the scientists & all the serious-minded people, interviewers & columnists & all, use the scientific word, homosexuals. Now they've even got scientists coming out & proclaiming that it's not their fault, they were born that way! What a lie of the Devil! Sometimes I tell Mama that the news just gets worse & worse‚ & is becoming so horrible that I almost can't stand to watch it any more!

THE MOSAIC LAW—A WISE SYSTEM!

26. I have an idea that in some ways things are going to get better under the Antichrist! He'll have a stricter government. He's not going to put up with all the crime & drugs. He'll say‚ "Line'm up! Mow'm down!" Maybe he'll even get rid of the jails. If he's smart, he'll follow God's Mosaic Law & he'll have a lot easier time. Maybe he's going to clamp down with the Mosaic Law! Boy, I'll tell you, that kept crime down!—There were 26 capital crimes for which you were supposed to be killed! That would empty out most of the jails today! And for the rest of the criminals, you didn't put them in jail wasting their time, you put'm to work for the guy they owed the money to or whose cow they killed or stole or whatever it was! You were to make a slave out of'm until they worked off their debt or offence!

27. What a wise system! They didn't need any jails! They had no such thing as jails under the Mosaic Law. I challenge you to find anything about imprisonment behind bars in the Mosaic Law. God wouldn't have any of it, & He didn't want His people to have any of it either! If they don't deserve to live & you can't trust'm to live, He'd rather you just kill'm! You say, "Dad, you are a fanatic!" Well, instead of that, today they keep letting them out! Guys who have killed people, or rapists & whatnot, they keep letting them out & they go back & do it again! They're demon-possessed! How can they let those demons roam the streets?!

28. God has the best system! As far as the World is concerned & sinners are concerned, the Mosaic Law was excellent! It was good enough!—Given of God to the man of God, for the people of God at that time! If they want to know how to run their System, they should copy the Mosaic Law! It's still in force for them, now! They're not under grace! They're not saved! They're not the hearts of just men made righteous by the Love of God!—Heb.12:23.

PSYCHOPATHS & SCHIZOPHRENICS!

29. I read an article recently in which they give a long list of all the signs of a psychopath, & you could sum up all of those signs of who's psychopathic & who's not by just one word!—And to make it a little more emphatic, I might use two words & preface it with "total": Total selfishness!—Absolutely no concern for anybody else or anything else. Or you could say, just plain demonic, demon-possession!

30. You've heard of the movie, "Three Faces of Eve"?—That was nothing! Pretty soon they had 14 faces of Eve! They wonder why the most common disease in many insane asylums & psychiatric hospitals is schizophrenia! They've had all kinds of theories, but the doctors still can't explain it‚ they don't know what causes it, they don't know why, because they absolutely‚ flatly refuse to believe the Word of God, that it's just plain, simple demon-possession!

31. Once in awhile the media will hint at the possibility, but you see, if you say it's demons, then you're branded as some kind of a crackpot, a fanatic, a fool, one of those religious fundamentalists! You've got to stay scientific like the doctors & the scientists, & especially this new horrible science of psychiatry, originating with two insane men, both of them plumb nuts!—Freud & Nietzsche! Freud committed suicide by having his doctor give him an overdose of sedatives, & Nietzsche spent 11 years of his life in asylums! They were both possessed, they were insane!—So you can take most of what they said as a lie! And yet the whole so-called science of psychiatry is built on their doctrines, the teaching of the Devil, doctrines of devils!

32. They don't want to recognise & confess that they've got their own devils, or any other devils for that matter! They don't want to let the World know for sure that the Bible is true & that there are devils & demons & demon-possession! Thank God once in awhile He punches through with something like the movie "The Exorcist!"

THE WORLD OUT OF CONTROL!

33. The Lord is faithful to warn the World!—But how long is He going to keep warning them? How long is He going to keep on telling them? How long is He going to make it obvious on the news & in the newspapers & everywhere that the World is absolutely out of control! Crime is out of control! They can never have enough policemen to control crime! Drugs are out of control! I don't think the U.S. is talking too much about the "war on drugs" any more because they've already lost it! It's ridiculous! And you know which continent the big drug cartels are concentrating on now‚ don't you?—Europe!

34. Some of those movies like "Soylent Green" were prophetic!—Showing how finally the streets were totally unsafe, ruled by gangs roaming around, with virtually no police. You were risking your life to come out from your hiding place & your fortress without a gun, you had to battle your way!

35. Looking at the World—& especially the United States of America‚ which is the worst in the World, worse than Europe—how do you think it's going to be within the next year or so? Gangs already roam the streets! How long will it take for the gangs to control the streets? Drugs are already everywhere! How long will it take them to control the law? The Mafia?—It's old hat!

36. What does it take to convince you that this World as it is now is almost at an end! It cannot go on much longer! It would be impossible for it to go on much longer unless somebody takes a hand & does something about this hell of a mess! And God is going to let a man do it first‚ the Devil's own man‚ in fact Satan himself! Why? Why is God going to let Man do it first? Well, He's been letting Man do it for centuries, thousands of years, millenniums, & he hasn't succeeded. But what about letting this final man be like a god, with the wisdom of the ages, of Satan, to inspire & possess this man & show miracles & marvels of genius & wisdom that the World has never yet seen before!—Because that's what it's going to take!

37. So God's going to let him take over, & to put it simply, let him try! He's going to give all Mankind its chance, & even give them a man like a god with the power & wisdom of Satan himself, with great signs & wonders & miracles, marvels to convince the World that he's a god!—What they've always been looking for & whom they'll readily begin to worship.

THE BIRTH OF THE END!

38. How much is it going to take God to show us—from reading the papers, seeing it on the news or on the streets—to convince us that the End is here‚ the End is nigh, & this is the beginning of it!

39. I've been glancing at some of these evangelists' publications that we had requested to be sent to us, to see what's happening in the Christian world. I came upon this article by the economist & evangelist James McKeever that I thought was significant. He seems to be closer to what we believe than any of the other preachers I've read about recently, although I don't agree with him on everything. But he is preaching a message that the church especially needs to hear, not about what is coming, but what is now virtually upon us! In fact‚ he seems to be one of the leading spokesmen for a new movement with dozens of well-known men & women of God who are now convinced that the church is going to have to go through the Tribulation! He even lists historical leaders of the church who believed the same. (Dad reads from McKeever's introduction:)

40. "At the end of this age, Jesus Christ Himself told us that there would be a time of birth pangs which would precede the Great Tribulation." (Mat.24:8.) (Note: The Greek word translated as "sorrows" in Matthew 24:8 literally means "birth pangs.") That's what we've been reading about here in the Bible! I'm just reading this to show you that God is not only showing us, but now others!

41. (Reads:) "We cannot know for sure if we are in that time of birth pangs, but it is interesting to note that all of the things that Jesus said would occur in it are happening today." Well, all that we read today has already been happening for years. He calls it the time of "birth pangs," relating it to a woman giving birth to a child. How long does that growth go on before the child comes forth? (Family: Nine months.) Nine months, a long time! But when she begins to have the birth pangs, watch out brother, you'd better get her ready for the delivery!—And the closer they get together & the more severe they are, the nearer the time for her to bring forth!

42. Let me tell you, the pangs are here now, & they're getting harder & closer together, & the time of the birth of the End is almost here! Some of you mathematicians can figure out the comparison between how long a woman is pregnant & how short the birth pangs are. The birth pangs are only hours compared to months of preparation. The Lord is comparing it to that. The World's had months of preparation, years, hundreds of years, millenniums!—And now the birth pangs! They won't just take a few hours‚ but in relationship, they'll take a few years. We know we have at least that much left.

43. (Reads:) "If we are in the time of birth pangs, then the Great Tribulation could start in the 1992–'94 time frame." So I'm not the only one the Lord is showing that to! James McKeever is probably one of the foremost true prophets of the Endtime who knows we're going to go through the Tribulation! So I take his word for everything I can agree with.

44. Just the other night I revealed this idea, that I believe that this is it, that perhaps the Antichrist has been already ruling through the ACs for the past three years!—And that he has already made the holy Covenant with the "holy" ACs, the un-holy people! "Oh my, they're so holy, God's chosen people!"—That he's already made it, & he's already ruling through them!

45. What if it's already been three years, & 1992 is it?—When the World will be in such a mess & such chaos, such confusion, such depression! It's going to be so low they're going to have to invent a new word for it!—Not just a depression, but a hole in the ground!—A bottomless pit!—And it's going to take a miracle–worker, a god, a superman‚ a supernatural man to pull'm out!

46. They're going to feel like they're sinking forever if somebody doesn't save them, & they're going to look to their saviour.—Not Jesus! Jesus has been around a long time trying to save'm‚ but they wouldn't listen, they wouldn't accept Him. They rejected the Prince of Peace, therefore they have no peace! They have rejected the only real solution, therefore they have no prosperity! But they're going to look to this man, to one of themselves.—A man‚ a scientific man! "A man who believes like we do & who is not some religious crackpot, not some fundamentalist fanatic who believes in Jesus!" They use His Name for a curse word, "Jesus Christ!"

47. I never knew men could curse so much in the Name of Jesus Christ as I used to hear in the army! Now they do it right in the movies! They don't hesitate to do it. They use all kinds of bad words. Some of today's movies are just scum, garbage, sewage, they're horrible! I can hardly stand to listen to it.

48. So McKeever is saying: "The Great Tribulation could start in the 1992-'94 time frame. We're not saying that it will, but it is certainly getting closer." He's a little hesitant to predict it, & I am too! I'm not saying that it's definitely going to start this year of 1992. I'm always afraid of being wrong & being accused of being a false prophet, so you'll notice that I'm always very careful about what I definitely say God said or what has been merely a conjecture. But the things we read right here in the Bible we know are going to happen! I can be unequivocal about it. I can be positive about it. I can say, "Here it says this & this is going to happen!" And when God says to me personally, "This is it!" then I know it's going to happen! Hallelujah! I know it's happening, whatever it is! I still don't quite know what "it" is, but I suspect He means this is the End, the beginning of the End!

BUSH'S WAR!

49. I think Bush's war began it in some way. I like to call it Bush's war, because it certainly wasn't God's war! Bush did far more damage with his war than the Iraqis did to Kuwait! The damage Bush did with his war in Iraq will never be undone! And all of his so-called salvation for the Kurds, where did it get them? They're being chased back into the mountains by the Iraqis again. Even some scientists & authorities & commentators are honest enough to begin to admit that that war did more harm than good! So in the coming U.S. presidential campaign, Bush is not going to be able to brag about it any more, because most Americans will be so disillusioned by the fact that they're in such a mess themselves‚ they don't give a damn about the war any more! In fact, they're beginning to blame the present recession in the U.S. on his war!

50. Think of the billions he spent on that war that he could have spent on the economy, on the poor, on the unemployed! Think of the billions they've been spending for years now on arms & armaments & planes & guns & rockets & all the rest of that rot! It could have solved the problems of all the poor there ever were in the United States! There would be no homeless! There would be no destitute! There would be no hungry in the United States! And there wouldn't have been for years if they hadn't been spending those billions on arms & armaments to fight a war with an opponent that no longer exists!—The Soviet Union! Still they're having a hard time giving up their defense spending.

51. For one thing, they've had the example of the last World War. When they won the war & brought the troops home, in some ways things were going to get worse. Do you know how they cured it? Why didn't they have another big depression after the Second World War like they had after the First World War? They got wise, they got smart! "We've gotta keep these wars going! And we've got to keep a Cold War going to frighten the people that we're going to have a big war so they'll be willing to spend big money & pay big taxes & keep our economy from going down again like it did after the first World War!" But they're doing it by going in the hole!—Huge debt!

52. The U.S. is the biggest debtor nation on the face of the Earth today! What do you expect? They're over three trillion Dollars in debt, & now with a one trillion Dollar budget‚ how much do you think that is going to add to the overall deficit? They conceal a lot of these statistics. They say, "Oh, we just had a wonderful year this past year! The trade deficit went down to only $7 billion per month. We only went in the hole 80 billion instead of 100 billion! We're going in the hole slower!" But they don't mention the fact that it's adding every year to the overall debts the U.S. owes, until that has now reached over three trillion Dollars, & is expected to reach five trillion by 1995!

53. It used to be bad enough when they spent so many millions on the military, but now they're spending billions, & it gets to be billions more every year! They're promising to cut it down now.—To save & create the so-called peace dividend. Ha! There's going to be no peace, as well as no peace dividend, & it's going to be worse & worse & worse!

THE LORD LOVES A MYSTERY!

54. (Reads:) "Therefore we felt it appropriate to include this precious saint's thinking on the Great Tribulation here at the beginning of 1992."—He's talking about Corrie Ten Boom, the famous Dutch missionary who survived Nazi concentration camps. She was a believer in the Tribulation too & they include an article of hers here. Now let's jump to the last page. There's a little section here entitled, "Personally from James." He gives this personal word at the end of the magazine. God bless him! I believe he's a real prophet. I may not agree with everything he does & everything he prophesies. I don't know, I haven't seen it & read it all. But so far I haven't found anything too far off the track.

55. (Reads:) "As I prayed about 1992, the Lord showed me some things about the entire timeframe from '92 to '94." It shows that the Lord speaks to him like He does to me sometimes—in riddles, conundrums‚ mysteries, puzzles, code! The Lord likes mysteries, He likes puzzles too! Don't you kids like puzzles & games? You never know just how things are going to come out. The Lord likes them too. He likes to just give you little hints, a little sign here or a little evidence there‚ just a little something sometimes. All He said to me about that war in Yugoslavia was, "It's the ACs." So then I had to stop & figure out why could it be the ACs? (See "The Yugoslavia Revelation!" ML #2735.)

56. (Reads:) "He spoke to me in a different way than He usually does. He is usually more direct, but this time He spoke in symbols."—I've had this happen too. "He showed me that the three years in question are..." The Lord spoke to him & guess what He said?

1992—A YEAR OF GAS & VAPOR!

57. "1992—a year of gas & vapor!" What do you think that means? (Family: Hot air!) That's exactly the first thing I thought of! 1992 is campaign year in the U.S., Britain & Italy, as well as a number of other countries.—In other words, a lot of hot air! That's what it meant to me! After "gas & vapor" I wrote down, "Politicians?" Of course, it may mean something else. Maybe it's going to be more literal & a lot of people are going to get gassed or vaporised or something! But the first thing that came to me was hot air!

58. Americans are sick & fed up & disgusted with politicians, but they're going to hear more politicians‚ more hot air‚ gas & vapor in 1992 than they've probably heard in the whole history of the World!—And all false prophecies‚ lies, cover-ups‚ trying to cover up this Great Depression, this big grave they're digging for themselves, this big hole in the ground, this bottomless pit! They're trying to cover it up: "Oh no, don't look, don't see, we don't want you to see how bad it really is!" The government & the politicians are covering up! They don't want the people to know how bad it is!

59. They're doing their damnedest to try to cover up all the evil & all the horrors with their lies & their false prophecies & their false predictions & the whole works, trying to keep the people from panicking! But what do you see in the news now? You're seeing it happen! They can't lie about it any more! They can't hide it any more! There are too many reporters around, at least‚ who are trying to be honest. They even rip off the sheepskins from the wolves who are trying to gobble up the public! There have been more & more scandals & exposs until the people are fed up with their leadership‚ fed up with their politicians, fed up with their governments!

60. In that kind of a mood, when they see & find out that things are a lot worse than they told them & were willing to tell them, & that it's all cover-up, lies‚ false prophecies‚ & they're being lied to, deceived, who do you think they're going to be ready for?—Somebody who can prove his "truth," can prove by his miracles, signs, wonders, fire from Heaven & all the rest, that he can save them!—The AC! And even that, of course, will eventually be gas & vapour.—Lies!—"Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power & signs & lying wonders!"—2Th.2:9.

61. But he's very convincing‚ because of his miracles, signs & wonders, his brilliant genius intellect! "Look, hasn't he solved our financial problem? Hasn't he solved the problems with the monetary system & given us these chips in our foreheads & our hands & all kinds of things?" Well, that will come after the beginning of the Tribulation, but it's all a part of the scheme & they're getting ready for it & they're prepared for it!

62. The U.S.A. is going to change all its money, but they're covering that up because they don't want the robbers & the drug barons & the Mafia & the crooks to get the word, but it's been leaking out. So if they're smart‚ they're getting rid of their cash & putting it into real estate & business & other things. They've been getting by just using cash so far—no paper trail, no cheques—but it's going to come & the government is going to say "within 30 days you've got to turn in all your old cash & get this new currency." And they've already got it printed! You can't have hundreds of workers working at the mint printing those new bills without somebody leaking what's going on! (See WND 331, pg.6‚ & 337, pg.7; Vol.15, pg. 52: "The New Money.")

63. You can't have those new social security cheques already being printed‚ but what some of them are apt to leak out, like they did to those two old ladies, which already had the Antichrist's "666" printed on there! The government apologised & said, "Oh‚ that was a mistake," & they exchanged them for other current cheques, etc. (See GN 373, pg.12.)

1993—A YEAR OF FIRE!

64. I'll just read what McKeever says about these other two years for you now. Here's what God said to this good, dear prophet whom I have faith in. You say, "What's the matter‚ Dad? Can't you get it any more? Are you having to go to some other prophet?" Well, in Bible times they had lots of prophets, & they confirmed each other. They all agreed, except the false prophets, & it was that much more confirmation & proof that it was true! I have faith in this man McKeever. I believe he's a good man & a faithful prophet! And I believe God has spoken to him. Maybe I'll get the interpretation of what it means. Maybe he just got this much, & I'll get the details, just like I'm telling you now.

65. He called 1993 a year of fire! What's the first kind of fire you think about? Atomic War? We know from the Bible that the ten kings finally yield their power to the Beast, & then they all turn on the Whore & destroy her with fire! (Rev.17:16.) He knows he's going to have to fight'm sooner or later. If they won't join, lick'm! Fire! He won't be able to take over the World unless he conquers the only remaining Superpower, the U.S., & if he can't persuade'm to join‚ then he's going to have to lick'm!

66. Well‚ I don't want to scare people, I don't want a panic, so if it's not going to be as bad or as strong as Atomic War, I wrote on here, "Persecutions?" Even if there's not an Atomic War, there's already beginning to be heavy persecution. Look how we've been persecuted!—And others like the Jehovah's Witnesses have been too. You can't help admiring them for their perseverance & their bravery & their courage, the way they have suffered persecution! Hundreds of them were put in jail in Russia. They've been suffering that kind of persecution for years, because their movement is a lot older than ours. They think nothing of it, they accept it! Why should we tremble & fear & be terrorised by the thought of being persecuted?

67. What makes you think that if even the Jehovah's Witnesses have suffered that much, that the true prophets of God will not also suffer? I believe a lot of what they teach. They believe the church is going through the Tribulation, & they believe the Antichrist is coming, & they believe in the Coming Kingdom of God on Earth, the Millennium. So give'm credit for what they're right about, & I believe the Lord will give them credit! However, they are pretty wrong in some other things, such as their belief that Jesus rose from the dead as a spirit‚ & not in a resurrection body; their dependence on their own good works for Salvation; & their belief that Christ's Second Coming took place in 1914, & that He then began reigning over the Earth from the heavenlies.—Which, of course, we can't accept or agree with. But at least they're doing more hard work & witnessing than most of the churches, & they're getting across a very important message of the coming Kingdom of God, so the Lord lets them prosper.

1994—A YEAR OF ICE!

68. McKeever called 1994 a year of ice! What in the World could that mean? You think about it. Ask the Lord to speak to your heart. Maybe you've got a better idea than I do. When there's ice, what happens? Things do what? (Family: Freeze. Die.) They freeze & they die. Frankly, I don't necessarily think all of these are literal—although an Atomic War sure would be fire, & a political campaign sure is a lot of gas & vapour. I'm asking you, give me your ideas! What happens when everything is ice & frozen. (Family: Could it signify a lack of a witness?) Cold spiritually. Well‚ I don't think the World is ever going to be without our witness. There's no point in the Lord leaving us here if we can't witness!—Although there is certainly going to be a lot less.

69. Year of ice! Your guess is as good as mine! (Peter: Matthew 24:12 says, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.") That's a good one! That sort of goes along with what you just said about a lack of witness. There may not be as much fire‚ as much witnessing‚ the church is growing cold.

70. The thing that came to me & what I wrote down here is "Privations?" What's going to happen as a result of this horrible Depression, this total collapse, confusion & chaos? What kind of a government is the AC going to run? (Family: A dictatorship.) Absolutely dictatorial, where everything is frozen & hard ice & no freedom, no liberty! Poor Eastern Europe! Somebody should have told them that you can't have both freedom & security. Ah, they're so happy to get freedom!—But all of a sudden security has fled! They've lost their jobs, their money isn't worth anything, they can't get any food. "What do you mean? This is freedom?" They thought they were all of a sudden going to be like the rich countries, the other countries that supposedly have freedom.

71. Well, it can be all of these things you're saying. It's going to be a frozen, cold‚ hard government—no mercy‚ no warmth—& things are going to pretty well freeze. Some might even suggest, well, according to 1993, Year of Fire, maybe the global warming is going to happen faster than we think. Maybe it's going to happen by 1993! Maybe it'll start happening somehow. They also say there'll be worldwide winter if there's an atomic fire or a nuclear war, & everything will freeze. Think of that!

72. So you can keep thinking & praying about it & probably think of more things. There's already a lot of gas & vapour escaping that's polluting the atmosphere. Maybe you could say the gas & vapour is the exhaust fumes that are going to get so bad next year! Maybe 1993, the Year of Fire, is the Atomic War, or maybe it's persecution, or there are a lot of things it could be significant of. The Year of Ice, well‚ we've already surmised a number of different things right here. I'll finish reading his little article.

THE U.S. ECONOMY & FDR!

73. (Reads:) "As I meditated upon this, the Lord showed me that the events of the end of this age will begin to heat up & to occur much faster than they have in times past & will become much more violent than they have been before." You don't need to hear what James McKeever says to see & believe that, just watch the news!

74. (Reads:) "We need to continue to pray about what preparation the Lord would have us make for the end of this age. I believe we should give particular attention to what we can do to help others & not just provide for ourselves & our own families." We're already helping others‚ millions of others around the World!

75. (Reads:) "Also we need to be much in prayer about the elections in the U.S. in 1992, predominantly for the Presidential race, which unless something drastic happens, looks as if Bush will be reelected." Well, when McKeever wrote this, that may have been the way it looked‚ but right now, some observers are beginning to doubt that that could happen unless Bush changes his wicked ways & pays a little more attention to his own country & stops associating with just rich people & captains of industry, & pays more attention to the homeless & the jobless & the hungry!

76. That's the way FDR made it into the Presidency in 1932! He convinced the poor & the labourer that he was on their side & he was going to save'm! He was a type of the Antichrist, & he had program after program for the poor! He started all kinds of public works projects such as highway building, dams, bridges, everything the government could do, even if they only paid'm a Dollar a day! In those days a Dollar was worth ten times that much & you could feed your family on it.

77. Maybe Bush will get smart & copy FDR! Of course‚ the Republicans are all afraid of ever being accused that they're doing anything like FDR! But FDR saved the country from going under completely!—By both his lies & his good deeds. But of course he had so many bad deeds, that he got the whole country into a war that killed millions of people! You say, "FDR didn't do that, Hitler did that!" That's what they try to tell you. "Hitler's the big villain‚ FDR was a saint!"—Just like they say about Abraham Lincoln‚ "He's no villain!" See, the guys who won wrote the histories, so Lincoln's considered a saint today.—When really he's one of the biggest villains the U.S. has ever known! He sent millions to war, many of these to their death, in those days in the name of freedom!

78. FDR didn't dare start World War 2, but he wanted it to happen, he let it happen! There's been a lot of folderol & false tales about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but now there are a lot of men who've come out & said, "FDR knew it was going to happen, we warned him that the Japanese air force was on its way!"

79. Why didn't he warn Pearl Harbor‚ where nearly a whole American fleet was docked at that time on a nice Sunday morning in sunny Hawaii? Most of the men were still on shore, after spending Saturday night out looking for whores & getting dead drunk‚ so hardly anybody was on most of the ships!—Except for the 1,100 guys they kept on board the U.S.S. Arizona because they were being punished. They were not allowed to go ashore that weekend because they'd been misbehaving. So it wasn't entirely the Japanese's fault. The Japanese probably figured, "We're just going to sink the fleet, all the sailors are out carousing anyhow." So they sank it, & over 1,000 men sank with it! I don't think they've ever recovered the skeletons or even tried to. They couldn't identify them anyway. By this time, after the sharks & the fish & the germs, there's probably nothing left.

80. FDR wanted to get into the war because he knew all the Band-Aids he'd put on to patch up the economy weren't going to work. Some of them worked fairly well. At least it slowed it down & made it look to the people like he was doing something.—Which is better than you can say for George Bush! Finally he's being forced by his own party to do something‚ forced to recognise that there's a recession!

81. (Reads:) "In 1992, we also need to be much in prayer about the Body of Christ."—Amen! That is who we spend most of our time praying for! "In spite of the increase of religious freedoms in some countries, there is still much persecution of Christians all over the World."—And there's going to be a whole lot more! It's getting worse all the time, even in supposedly free countries.

ACs BEHIND BUSH'S WAR WITH IRAQ!

82. (Reads:) "There is still much persecution of Christians all over the World, especially from the Muslims." Just think! Iraq was a Muslim country that had greater freedom of religion & more Christian churches than Kuwait & Saudi Arabia combined! In Iraq the people were free to wear big crosses & go to church & there were tens of thousands of Christians there! Whereas the countries Bush sent a whole army over to defend at the cost of billions of Dollars, Kuwait & Saudi Arabia, won't allow one Christian, one Bible, one missionary or one word of Gospel! They even tried to keep the Christian armies there from having chaplains or services of any kind! They finally went ahead & had them secretly‚ it was the only way they could do it. Think of it!

83. The U.S. sent this whole army & fought this whole war to save countries that are as anti-Christian as they could be!—Almost as anti-Christ as the ACs! So who do you think ordered the war? Who do you think was behind such swift action & such conviction to convince the World we should have this war to free Kuwait? Talk about one of the most horrible dictatorships with a robber baron for a ruler (the Emir) & people who don't give a damn about the poor & use them as slaves, Bush sent American troops there to save this country! It's almost unbelievable! I think it's the first time in the World that the United States has ever done such a thing! They've usually tried to be on the right side. But you see, the ACs had a much bigger enemy on the other side!

84. Who do you think was behind Bush going to war with Saddam Hussein? (Family: The ACs.) And why? Because he was at that time their biggest enemy & the most powerful & the most dangerous! They're still hounding Bush to finish the job: "Kill Hussein! Get rid of his government over there!" But according to the rules of the United Nations, etc., they're not supposed to interfere in the internal affairs of nations.

AC & THE DOME OF THE ROCK!

85. Okay, are you convinced? (Family: Yes Sir!) Sorry we didn't get to read the rest of Matthew 24, but you can read it on your own, you know what it says. Then shall come Great Tribulation, the greatest tribulation the World has ever known.—And neither shall there ever be such a great Tribulation again. (Mat.24:21) When? When does He say it starts? (Family: "When ye shall see the Abomination of Desolation stand in the holy place."—Mat.24:15.)

86. You say, "But they've gotta have the Temple first! The AC's gotta sit in the Temple & the Jews have gotta rebuild the Temple! Doesn't that give us at least nine months?" Well‚ what if he decides that the Moslem Temple will be better? After all, that's where the altar is, the stone on which Abraham laid Isaac. They've got a beautiful Temple there, the Dome of the Rock. What if the AC decides to use that Temple? Why not? It's already there. It's already got an altar!—The old Temple altar!

87. What if the Jews take it over first & use the old Abramic altar there that Isaac was on? Since they maybe don't have time to build a Temple, they could turn that into a Jewish Temple! You don't think the Jews are capable of that? You don't think they'd ever dare do such a thing? They could do just like the converted rabbi said to the Catholic priest when he became a Christian, & he invited the priest over for Friday night dinner & he served turkey. The priest looked at it & said‚ "Don't you know that we as Catholics are only supposed to eat fish on Friday nights?" The rabbi said, "Vell, vhy don't you do to dis turkey vhat you did to me? Just pray & say, vonce you vas a turkey, now you iss a fish!" You don't think they could do it?

DON'T WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW!

88. That's all I have to say. We've gotta quit, praise the Lord! I appreciate your respect, I appreciate your faith, your belief, your trust in me as being a man of God who's trying to tell you the truth & give you what I believe the Lord has shown me & warn you of what's happening‚ & the closer it gets, the more careful we have to be, & the better we have to be prepared.

89. You say, "Oh Dad, the Lord said not to worry about tomorrow!" I'm not worrying about tomorrow! Who's worrying about tomorrow? Are you worrying about tomorrow? (Family: No‚ Sir.) Who's worrying about tomorrow? It doesn't mean we can't plan for it & prepare for it. There are plenty of other Scriptures that talk about preparing & planning, etc., but just don't worry about it. When the time comes, the Lord will show us. So don't worry about tomorrow!

90. Don't worry about all these awful things! You say, "Well, I don't have grace to go to jail! I don't have grace to be executed or persecuted." Well, of course you don't! You're not in jail now & you're not being horribly persecuted right now.—Although some of God's children are in a lot of places. And if the time ever comes that any of these things will happen to us—which I doubt, until we're finished with our job & have done all we can do—the easiest way to get out of it is pray to God you'll die quick, that God will take you Home! So don't worry about it!

A GUT FEELING ABOUT 1992!

91. So praise the Lord! Is that enough for awhile? You say, "Well, Dad, you haven't had any miraculous manifestations yet! You haven't had any big message in tongues & interpretation & prophecies!" Well, at least I've been teaching you.

92. Like McKeever said, he doesn't know what the Lord meant about this gas, fire & ice. I get things from the Lord like that sometimes too. Sometimes I just have a strong conviction about something. The Lord doesn't always have to tell me in so many words, or a sight or a sign or by my cracking my Bible & finding a Scripture. We've done all those things many times before. Maybe the Lord can give you the point & get it across to you without going through all that. Maybe He can do it even better & quicker & show you, convince you & convict you that that's what's going to happen!

93. Some people call it a gut feeling. "Out of thy belly shall flow rivers of living water."—Jn.7:38. I don't know if you ever noticed it or not, but those gifts of God that are vocal, like prophecy, often seem to come from here in the middle of your body. It's not just your stomach & your bowels, but it's your solar plexus.

94. But maybe God doesn't always have to give you a bellyache to show you something, & He doesn't have to have you spoutin' off at the mouth to show you something. Don't get me wrong, nobody loves tongues‚ interpretations‚ prophecy & manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit any more than I do! But I've found out that sometimes God can show me things some other way without all that—with an inner conviction, a certain mind set. Whatever way He wants to use to show me things is all right with me.

95. Hallelujah! TYJ! PYL! (Tongues) "True are these Words that I have given to your father!" He gives me a gut feeling that this is the way it's going to be! And I have a gut feeling about 1992, that this is going to be the worst year the World has ever had so far, with worse years to come! Whether it's the beginning of the Tribulation or whatever it is, this is it!

GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT!

96. I have never been much of an inspirationalist, you know that. I don't play the guitar, but I used to sing & lead the singing. I'm not too much on rousements, except I get to yelling once in awhile. My gift has not always been tongues & interpretation. For 50 years I went without tongues or many outward manifestations. I didn't start prophesying till after I was 50. So I hope you weren't expecting to have a knockdown‚ drag-out, whoop–it-up meeting here today! You know me, that's not usually my style. I have some gifts, but I think my greatest gift is what? (Family: Teaching.) Hallelujah! TYJ! PTL! Somebody knew it!

97. You say, "But that's not amongst the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit!" Well, in a way they're all for that purpose. And the most important gifts, you can't even tell they're there by looking at anybody or listening to them. What are they? (Family: Wisdom, knowledge, faith, discernment.) Faith, wisdom, knowledge‚ discerning of spirits. Four of the nine at least, nearly half of them‚ are not even visible or audible! (See 1Cor.12:7-10.)

98. Miracles can be very visible. That's what the word means in the original Latin, it means it makes you look, "Look at!", "mira." It's the same word pretty much in Spanish & Italian. It's something to look at, something you can see, miracles‚ gifts of healings!—Not just one gift of one healing, but gifts of healings. My Mother had special faith for cancer, & other people have special faith for this or that. But I'll tell you, when they get healed—especially right on the platform or in a hurry or right then & there—that's a visible gift! It doesn't always happen immediately. It says‚ "They shall recover."—Mk.16:18.

99. Tongues are audible, interpretation is sure audible. Prophecy, you can sure hear that! There are five gifts of the Spirit that are audible & visible. But to me, the four gifts of the Spirit that you cannot see, hear or feel have been the most important of all, & the ones that God has most used in my ministry as a leader. God has exercised these more in my ministry than anything else.—To know things, to know people, to discern their spirits. Why do you have to have something else when He gives it to you in such a way that you know what's going to happen. He puts the knowledge in your heart.

100. People would ask dear William Branham, "Where did I lose my so-&-so?", & he'd see a picture & tell'm. "It's in the top of your closet, you forgot it in that box up there." Or they'd come & say, "What's the matter with me? The doctors can't find out." And he'd tell them, by the Lord‚ "the word of knowledge." (1Cor.12:8.)

101. That's not the kind of discernment or gift of knowledge He's given me. I just know things. I just understand things about people sometimes‚ sometimes just by looking at their photograph, sometimes just by looking at your face. Now don't all go ducking your heads! I see pretty good things in you, so praise the Lord!—And you've been time-tested, thank the Lord!

102. Wisdom is a wonderful gift! I used to pray for wisdom ever since I was a little kid & I heard how Solomon prayed for wisdom. He didn't pray for money or love or power or anything else but wisdom, but he got everything as a result, just by praying for wisdom! Think of that! God gave him all the rest because he just asked for wisdom, "For ruling over Thy so great people." (See 1Kgs.3:5–15.)

103. It came to me just today in prayer, "Who am I, O Lord‚ that I should rule over Thy so great people?" That's the way I feel every time I come to class, every time I face you. "Who am I, Lord, that I should rule over Thy people?" Well, the Lord did it, the Lord said it & the Lord almost made me. Of course, I had to be willing.

104. And I'll keep on talking for the rest of the evening unless you do something to stop me! Can't anybody do something to stop me? Why doesn't somebody start praying! (Family prays a closing prayer.) Amen! Thy Will be done, Lord, You know what's best, in Jesus' name! Shall we thank the Lord together? "Thank You Jesus for this day & for our home so fair. You helped us, Lord, to do some good & kept us in Your care, & blessed our loved ones everywhere, in Jesus' name!" Amen! PTL! God bless you! I love you! Forgive me for keeping you so late. Take good care of yourselves! Take good care of the Lord's Work! As the old song used to go, "Take good care of yourself, you belong to me!" God bless you!

Picture caption, pg. 1:

1992: A year of gas & vapor?

1993: A year of fire?

1994: A year of ice?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family