More Time – Pt. 1

Ron Weinland

June 26, 2010

Today we’re going to interrupt the flow of the sermon series on the subject of ‘Tithes and Offerings’.  We’ve had two in that particular series.  We’re going to come back to it on a later Sabbath.  Today and next Sabbath, actually for sure, we’re going to have part 1 and part 2 of a sermon today and we’ll come back to the one on tithes and offerings and discuss more of that later on, on that particular subject matter.

Today is a unique time for the Church and in the scheme of things if we look at that we’ve just finished an important time that several of you have been reminding me of here today as I’ve come in contact with you, to let me know where we are and this is not a mystery to me.   I appreciate the zeal, the excitement because I know we’re all looking at that, those of you who are new and those of you who’ve been around for some time as well.  Some have been anticipating a sermon to be given today on the subject matter and indeed we are going to begin to go into some subject matter on it and it’ll probably be disappointing to a few of you because I’m going to throw out a couple of carrots because we’re not going to get into everything today that you might like to hear and like to go into; some of that will be reserved for later in this series.

I am referring to the subject of ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’ discussed in scripture; part of it in the book of Revelation, part of it in the book of Daniel that we have known for years and years and years and have had different ideas about.  This sermon today is entitled; More Time.  Don’t panic! Time is what it is, Pentecost 2012 is what it is, but you’ll understand the reason for the choice of the title here later.  But today I’ve titled this one More Time – Part 1. So, don’t jump to conclusions yet.

It was just a little over a year ago that Laura and I came into the area here.  I was invited to ‘ideaCity’ here in Toronto and it was an experience I’ve tried to forget, in part.  It was a unique experience; been asked about that many a time, quite an experience when you talk to a group of people who have nothing to do with the Church.  The only one in the Church that was in the audience was my wife.  All the rest in the audience were not and so it was a unique experience for me and it was training for me.  It gave me an opportunity to address people on a level, on a plane that I’d never done before, people of all walks of life that came there and were giving presentations. Those who were in the audience to listen to it had been associated with ideaCity for many years and then the experience that I shared with you last year of those who began to get up immediately afterwards and then the third one down the line who got into the point of even mocking the death of Jesus Christ.  Totally astounded me how people responded, changed so quickly from a very serious message to a little bit of being sobered, some who mocked, but did it a little more quietly; but to get to a point in time where people were outwardly mocking and laughing at the death of Christ.  It was astounding to witness something like that...shows an incredible spirit in this world that has to be broken in time here, which will be broken shortly.

But again, that was about a year ago that we were here in the area for that and at that time there I began to speak a little bit about things to do with a period of time and where we were and at that time there it even began to come to me that we were going to begin going into and leading up to the Feast of Tabernacles most likely talking about the subject of ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’.  And that’s when so much began to come out.

We’re going to go back and review a little bit of what was given on, actually quite a bit of what was given on the Last Great Day of the Feast last year on the particular sermon there that was entitled ‘God’s Time’.  There is much that we need to talk about in the sense of refreshing our memories and getting some things back into our mind of what we went through and we’re going to build upon that in today’s sermon as we build and work toward next Sabbath’s sermon.  There’s some review we need to do so we’re going to go right back to the beginning and talk about some of those things that were covered in that particular sermon on the Last Great Day and if you want then you can go back to the book of Genesis here, those of you especially who are new – those others of you if you want to just listen, that’s fine.  But we’re going to go back and look at some things here that led us to understanding what God was giving about this subject of ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’, because today, as you know, is the last day of a particular period of time called ‘Time’.

We’re getting ready tomorrow to go into a period called ‘Times’, prophetically, and so we’re at a juncture in time in that and as we go into the sermon here you’ll see more of what we’re talking about.  But again, incredible where we are and what’s taking place in the world around us, what God is doing and what we’ve been given to see, what we’ve been blessed to understand that’s taking place.

So let’s go back to Genesis 1; do a little bit of a review, set the stage here for everything we’re going to be going into because there’s much to still learn, there’s much to grow in and God continues to inspire us, to bless us, to help us to grasp what is taking place, what He’s doing and where we’re going, and how we’re going to get there.  It’s inspiring...truly is, to see how God works in our lives.

Genesis 1:1 – In, says in the King James here ‘the beginning’.  We understand that particular word isn’t even in the Hebrew language ‘the’ in the sense of something that is referring to something of this manner here, it is referring to ‘a beginning’ and we understand the plan of God.  In a beginning God/Elohim created the heaven and the earth.  And so if we look at time and we go back in time other places in the Bible make it very clear that beginning in Genesis here was not the creation.  Some like to call it the ‘creation week’, as though everything in the universe was created on that week.  Not so!  Things have been here for billions of years.  We don’t know exactly how long things have been out here; God hasn’t revealed that, He hasn’t given an exact time of when things began, when He began to create things in a physical universe.  But we do know that there was a period of time when the earth became void... there was a war that took place, if you will, of Satan and the demons and what they did and destroyed life on the earth at that particular time and it said, the earth became without form, and void.  So let’s go on here and just notice some of this.

So here is a beginning of the scene where it just makes the statement, In a beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  It was created.  Everything that was out here in the universe was created, and the earth was without form and void. And so we come to a point in time where something had changed in God’s creation and all of a sudden, as it talks about in Isaiah, the earth wasn’t created this way ‘tohu and bohu’ but now it says this was what was on the scene.  We come to a point in time where there was no life.  The light couldn’t make it through to the surface of the earth and so what God is getting ready to do here is to remould and refashion certain things, set the earth back in its proper orbit and separate the firmament in the heavens so the sun can come through again and all the things that God was going to do in that period of seven days.  So the earth was already here, it was just a matter of God remoulding, refashioning some things to put life on the earth, which was His intention from the beginning of time until Satan and the demonic world did what they did.  I don’t have time to go into all that – that’s not the purpose of the sermon today.  Those of you who are new, you can go back and read about some of those things in our literature.

So again, and the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. The sea was already here, everything was here, it’s just the way it was.  And the spirit of God/Elohim moved upon the face of the waters. So the waters were here.  When things are talked about being done later on, this is something that was already here.  And God/Elohim said, Let there be light: and there was light.  It wasn’t that the sun wasn’t out there, it wasn’t that the things in the universe weren’t already out there, it was what was being able to come to the surface of the earth to support life.  It couldn’t reach the earth, it couldn’t reach the surface of the earth, the light, because of what was in the air and what had happened as a result of a type of nuclear winter if you will that stayed upon the earth for possibly millions and millions of years.  God doesn’t tell us how long it was like that.

Verse 4 - And Elohim/God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.  And so He set things in motion here, again, dividing time and setting up time and rotation of the earth to be very specific as far as time is concerned.  And Elohim called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.  So this is what He did here, again, not the purpose of this sermon to go through and talk about all that took place on this particular week here, but we’re jumping on down.

Verse 14 - And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, everything was set in a specific order because those things were not in order at this particular time.  ‘The earth was without form and void’ – tohu and bohu, chaos and confusion is what it means in the Hebrew language; so that’s what the earth was like at that point in time.  God had not created it that way but at that time when He came on the scene to do these things recorded in Genesis that’s the way it was.  And so He said in essence here, there is this rotation and the various types of things that God was going to use to give to man to tell time, the week, the month, the year.  And God gave us the months.  He gave us the days – He told us how to tell time.  And He said...let them be for signs and for seasons, again, a unique word here that we understand to be ‘appointed times’. God set up His appointments from the very beginning, from the very creation of what He made as far as the Sabbath day was concerned, the seventh day, a cycle of time that He gave to man – at this particular time here He set it up as a ‘sign’; He set it up also as an ‘appointed time’.  So all through history man should have known, was given knowledge about the seventh day Sabbath.  It was a time that God set aside to be special forever... not until the time of Christ, and not until the time of His death and then a change all of a sudden came into place where now they were going to start worshipping God on the 1st day of the week!  No, the Sabbath was always there, just that man ceased to obey God.

So He set up time for ‘appointed time’, appointments.  You have your calendars, you have your books, you have your little things you might carry around with you as far as what’s in your iPod, wherever you keep your appointment book...that’s what it’s talking about.  God has appointments that He made with man.  Every Passover is an appointment God made with man.  Every Feast of Unleavened Bread is an appointment; every Pentecost...  and so God appointed specific things to be counted as far as time is concerned.  He told us how to count for Pentecost, what to look for, how to do it.  We just went through that season of the year.  So everything God gave – appointments – that man was to keep with God.  The sad thing is man hasn’t kept those appointments as a whole through time; man’s disobeyed God.  The 7th day Sabbath; an appointment that God set up in the very beginning.

And so He said He gave these for seasons/appointed times and for days, and years: the obvious...to count time.  How many days in a week...how many days in a month...how many days in a year...and then we start the cycle of time here of counting and so forth.  So we already understood the significance of ‘appointed times’.

I think it’s always good, especially for new people, to review some of these things. Leviticus 23 talks about this same word here that’s in the Hebrew in Genesis, in the Hebrew language in what these words mean because in the English language they translate some of these differently; just like this word for ‘seasons’.  It’s translated differently – we’re going to see that in a couple of instances here in Leviticus; Leviticus 23 of course being about time that God gave to man, very specifically so – the 7th day Sabbath and the annual Sabbath.  Leviticus 23:1 - And the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts, and as those of you who’ve been around some time know, this isn’t the word for ‘feasts’, it’s that word ‘appointed times’, it’s the same Hebrew word, the word for ‘appointed times’.  It’s not the word for ‘Feasts’ that we find later on down here when it refers to the Days or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, where it says ‘Feast’ that is the word for Feast, it means ‘to feast’.  But this word here doesn’t.  So again, sometimes in the English and especially some of those who translated the Bible, they didn’t understand the plan of God and they inserted their own ideas and their own thoughts into scripture and royally messed things up.

So again here; Speak to the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the appointed times, that same word ‘seasons’ we read back in Genesis in English; concerning the appointed times of the Eternal which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, He said these are holy, in other words it’s time that God has set aside for holy use, for holy purpose.  The 7th day Sabbath is set apart for holy use, it’s a holy convocation, a convening of God’s people, set apart for a very special purpose that God has.  The Passover is a holy convocation; it’s not a High Day, it’s not a Sabbath, but it is holy in the sense of God saying, “This is a time that you’re to meet.”  This is the time we’re to meet, this is what you’re to do on that day.”  And then He introduces High Days – 7 Annual Sabbaths, as we go through the book of Leviticus here.

He says ... you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My, God says, “These are Mine!  I’m giving these to you!”  ...these are My, not ‘feasts’...these are My appointed times.  God is very methodical, very specific when He gives us His plan from the very beginning, because He refers back to that 7 days in Genesis, of the importance of that first 7 days and what He did on the 7th day, the Sabbath and what was so important about it...that appointment that God set from the very beginning...and then He added to it as time went along.  Those things that we should understand as human beings but we don’t because we reject God until He calls us and helps us to understand by the power of His spirit.

It states it right here...My feasts/My appointed times... and we’ll read more verses later on about it, but it says here, Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, going all the way back to creation; that’s when it started.  God set up an appointed time that people are to meet with Him.  Not Friday!  Not the 6th Day as some religions do.  That gets some in this region here as well as  other parts of the world.  Not Monday! And not Sunday!  Those are not appointed times to meet with God – the 7th day Sabbath is, always has been and will be for mankind until it’s over with.  Six days shall work be done; you go about your routines, you go about your business, but this day is My business.  It’s God’s business, it’s what God is doing; and God uses it too, incredibly so to teach us about His plan and His purpose – that’s what it’s about; so that we can understand.  What does the world do?  Supposedly they go to church on Sunday, the world of Traditional Christianity, they go to church on Sunday, they keep Easter and Christmas.  Why?  Well, if they go to church on those days then they’re taught about what those things are supposed to picture...that’s when that god teaches people what to believe.  Not about God Almighty, not about Jesus Christ – not the truth.  See, Easter takes away from the truth, it lies about the truth, it lies about the death of Christ, it doesn’t glorify and honour what God did from Passover through His Son and so forth.

And so again here, very powerful what it’s saying here and what mankind is supposed to be doing.  So again, Six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest; a holy convocation; you shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Eternal in all your dwellings.  It’s God’s time!  It’s God’s appointed time!  And not only that but the Sabbath is also a ‘sign’ that we read about in Genesis.  So He said in the very beginning... He’s very organized, very methodical to teach, to lead, to guide, to direct us about Himself; help us to learn about Him, to give His plan to us...and He uses the Sabbath for that.  That’s why we’re gathered here today; to learn about God.  This is the time He uses.  It’s an appointed time – we do it every Sabbath.  Awesome! Beautiful!

These are the appointed times, same word, these are the appointed times, so again in Genesis... beautiful what it says here; signs...to be used as signs?  ...and appointed times by God; these are the feasts/appointed times of the Eternal, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their... now it uses the word seasons.  You think... Why do they do that? Why do they lie like this?  Why don’t they tell what it says?  Why aren’t they translating it exactly for the word that it is? ...but they don’t.  They can’t get around it.  ‘You shall proclaim in their feasts’?  Now it doesn’t make much sense to use that word so now they use the word seasons like they did back in Genesis 1.  It’s the same word – appointed times. Incredible!  ...which you shall proclaim in their appointed times.  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Eternal's Passover. And so now it goes on.  It told about the Sabbath, it told about the 7th day as being a special time that God set up for all of us, for mankind.  And then it goes on and starts breaking up those things that start happening over a year as far as holy time is concerned, time that God set apart; and it begins with the Passover.  I love God’s plan!  It’s awesome!  When you think how God starts His plan.  It starts with Passover, because if you don’t accept His Passover, which the Jewish people didn’t...  if they don’t accept the purpose of the Messiah to come the first time to die for the sins of all mankind then what do you have?

If you can’t accept the Passover you surely can’t enter into the rest of God’s plan; and we can’t, it has no meaning then.  So only with the acceptance of the Passover can we enter into the first Holy Day season, coming out of sin, the Days of Unleavened Bread; leavening picturing sin, that which is sin.  We are to become unleavened, without sin, like Jesus Christ.  He was unleavened, the unleavened bread of life as we’re told, without sin. And that’s the way we’re to become in time.  And so God uses the analogy of coming out of Egypt.  What an incredible thing; coming out of slavery – Paul talking about that; how that this is the way in which we’re freed from slavery, the ability to come out of spiritual Egypt, coming out of sin.  All these stories... and so we start the process and you can’t come out of sin unless you start with Jesus Christ.  You can’t be forgiven!  You can’t come out of something you can’t be forgiven of.  If you’re still carrying it because you can’t repent and you still have the penalty of death over you because of it... and so it starts with Passover, the ability to be forgiven.  Incredible!  Pentecost... all the way through the Holy Days... inspiring!

I can’t talk about Leviticus 23 here without getting excited, inspired.  And you know that’s the way it should be with everyone.  If you can’t get excited about what God gives in His plan something is drastically wrong.  I know that I’m going to be excited to teach and preach this for 1,100 years in the God Family.  See, I understand that.  I think that’s awesome!  To be able to tell mankind generation after generations that’s going to come along during the Millennium, people that are going to be born into a new world, and to continually be excited about God’s plan.  That’s the way God means for it to be and it is exciting to be able to share that with them, to tell them what happened in the first 6,000 years and how blessed you are to live in this time period.  Awesome!  And then in the Great White Throne and all those people who were so deceived for the first 6,000 years of ignorance on the earth, all the religions on the earth, of all the confusion!  I’m so excited about what’s getting ready to come here in a very short time – less than two years now.  The confusion is going to begin to melt away quickly, finally people won’t be worshipping different things that are sick and distorted and perverted in the world.  They’re going to come to understand who God is, who Jesus Christ really is, who our Passover is.

Verse 5 - In the fourteenth day of the first month is the Eternal’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the, this is the word for Feast, it is a festive time.  It’s the time God wanted to be for feasting, to know you can come out of sin – a time to celebrate, a time to be thankful, a time to rejoice before God and indeed to be in a festive spirit toward God’s plan and God’s purpose!  ...the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Eternal: seven days you must eat unleavened bread.  Because God wants us to become unleavened.  Sin puffs up; leaven... all the analogies that are given in scripture.  How awesome is that, how incredible is it?

But as we covered in the sermon on the Last Great Day this past year, this other word that I’ve been referring to here, this is ‘appointed times’ and this adds to the meaning about ‘signs’.  How incredible that these things are right here in the very beginning; signs that God has given to us.  We’re going to add to some of the things given on the Last Great Day from last year. This is incredible what God has shown.  And the word ‘signs’ is a reminder here in what it means.  It means ‘like a signal’ in the Hebrew; that’s how it’s used ‘in the sense of appearing to see’, or in other words, ‘a sign, a token, as an evidence’ such  as in a court of law.  You give evidence.  It’s interesting when you think about what it means that we’re witnessing, the things we witness in the end-time here and things that God gives as evidence and the time we’re in right now regarding ‘Time, Times and a Half a time’.  It’s going to be very powerful evidence when it’s all said and done of something God appointed a long time ago.  And God has given that to us to encourage us, to strengthen us.  The world can’t see it, the world doesn’t understand it.  One day they’ll be taught it, but they can’t grasp and understand it; the understanding is not meant for them to grasp and comprehend and see what God is doing fully and completely.  They’re going to experience many things; they’re going to be able to come out of this age into a new age, those who come through it.

So again, this word here that’s used for ‘sign’ speaking of time that God has given.  I think of the example of the rainbow.  God said that’s My sign.  That’s the word that’s used: My token, My sign to give to you that I’ll never again flood the earth and destroy mankind from off the earth in such a manner.  God said, “I’m not going to do it again, and this is what you’ll see.”  And we don’t understand what happened at that time.  We know that something took place on the earth where even the lifespan of man began to change.  Noah lived for 350 more years, but slowly but surely each generation started dying sooner and sooner and something changed on the earth, something to do with even how the earth was watered and taken care of.  Things changed and how sunlight came.  We don’t know how or what all changed, but something changed because before this there was no rainbow on the earth.  Incredible!  That’s what God says.  He says, “I’ve set this in the sky as My sign.”  He changed things and He also changed the lifespan of man.

Let’s turn over to Exodus 31. The words that are used here to me are awesomely inspiring. Evidence, sign, a token in how these words are used in the Old Testament as well, a signal, like a signal, something you can see.  Exodus 31:12 - because here it is talking about some of this that God established in the very beginning concerning just the 7th day and how He uses something that is an appointed time, but now shows how He uses it as what He said in Genesis... for signs, for a purpose, for something that He’s doing – to reveal something, to give something that we can see as evidence because the words are synonymous with each other, they all work together.  It’s the type of word that these things work together.

So again here, Exodus 31:12 - And the Eternal spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak you also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths; so it’s the weekly Sabbath and it’s the yearly Sabbath.  God said you’re to keep My Sabbaths.  My Sabbaths you shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; it’s a sign, the 7th day, that appointed time.  God says, “This is a sign.  This is evidence you’re My people.”  It’s a relationship... in other words if this isn’t a part of your life then you can’t be God’s people.  So this is a minimum of something you must have in your life; this is a beginning of something you must have in your life in order to have a relationship with God, to be able to be called His people.  And just because people have the 7th day that they might worship God on doesn’t mean they’re His people.  We understand there’s a lot more to the story.  But this is a beginning; this is the minimum of life that should be evident in someone’s life.

That’s why one of the proofs in the very beginning when I came into the Church and began to read about the Sabbath and the Holy Days from Mr. Armstrong, some of the things he wrote...so powerful in the sense of saying, “What can we look at in the world?”  First of all... if you understand people are keeping the first day of the week, that sure rules out every one of them.  There’s no evidence they’re God’s people, it’s just the opposite – it shows that they’re not.  And then we begin to break things down about the Sabbath and what to look at there...where are God’s people.  Just because people have that day, there are 7 million people that keep that particular day, they call themselves after that: 7th Day Adventist – doesn’t mean they’re God’s people – especially if they observe Easter and Christmas and believe in a Trinity.  We have to use other measures to show that they’re not God’s people.

And so again, God gives evidence of things that we can look at to see and to understand and God uses this in a very powerful way.  The annual Sabbaths and the weekly Sabbath... if they don’t keep the annual Sabbaths they’re not God’s people because they’re all a sign...all that God has given as appointments of time.  That’s why if you go back to Leviticus 23, it’s not just the 7th day Sabbath, there is also the annual Sabbaths and they’re all as a token, as evidence to God’s people to encourage us, to be encouraged by it, to understand.  And I don’t know if you’re encouraged by it, but I am when I think of what God has given me in understanding the Holy Days. I see the plan of God.  How many in the world can see the plan of God?  There are not very many that have that opportunity.  How blessed are we to be able to see something of that magnitude that the world has been blinded to.  And then I think of...it comes into my mind of all those who are scattered who have some of that but have fallen asleep.  Because of the past there is knowledge that’s there, but there’s no life.

Verily My Sabbaths, plural, you shall keep.  It’s a sign between Me and you throughout your generations that you may know, something you can know and have confidence and boldness in; that I am the Eternal who sanctifies you... I am the Eternal who sanctifies you!  It’s God who sets us apart and we learn that very quickly on; because we come to understand very quickly if you try to share this with somebody else... you go and try to share this with family members or someone else who’s not being drawn – friends, co-workers; and they can’t see it.  Nothing there; they can’t see it because God is the one who sets you apart, God is the one who has to give this in your mind, God is the one who does the calling.  That’s an awesome thing to understand.  That’s something the Church began to lose very quickly on – of how God works.  And one of the most basic of things is that God does the calling.  I think of different ones who have gotten up and they try to tell the world... I think of one who was an evangelist who gets on TV and he opens up his bible and he’s talking about the Sabbath and he basically says;  “If you’d just read this in your book, you can prove it, you can see it, the Sabbath and understand what...”  And I think, “No you can’t.  What’s wrong with you?”

“If you just open up your Bibles, you can see it.”

“You can see the truth, you can see the things about the Sabbath and what they picture?  No you can’t... not unless God calls you.”  God does the calling.

I think of some of the different groups and some of the things when we were scattered, some of the things we had to address early on because people began to lose that understanding.  You can’t come to Jesus Christ, God makes it really clear, Jesus Christ makes it really clear... you cannot start the process unless God the Father calls you.  What an incredible thing!  It’s God, the Eternal God, Yahweh Elohim who decides He’s going to call a person for a specific purpose.  I don’t know why I was called; God did it; I’m thankful.  We can’t understand: Why didn’t God call someone else?  There are a lot of people out there a whole lot better than me, lived life a whole lot better than I did, lived life a whole lot better than you did.  Why didn’t He call them?  I don’t know!  I’m just thankful He called me.  Be thankful for what God gives you.  Did we deserve it?  No, in most cases it’s just the opposite, isn’t it, if we understand what Paul said in Corinthians; God didn’t call the great and the mighty of the world, but He called us in order to confound the world.[1]   That’s why He’s working with such a small group – to dumbfound and confound the world.  We’ll get into that in part 2 of the sermon.

I am the Eternal who sanctifies you... God says... that’s something that can strengthen us, that we can learn from this by keeping His Sabbaths, by being moved by that reality; because if we’re not moved by a reality then neither are we thankful.  But if we’re thankful and we recognize what God’s doing in our life and that He does set us apart for special purpose, for holy purpose, then how blessed are we on this earth when we realize there are billions that have gone before us whom God has never called.  Sometimes it’s hard for us, and those of you who are new, and those who’ve been around for a long time... sometimes it’s difficult to keep it in the forefront of your mind – How incredibly blessed you are to see God, to see what you see; because it hasn’t been given to many.  We just happen to be at a juncture in time, a point in time where God is getting ready to show it to the whole world, for those who’ll receive it.  And in the 100 years beyond that everyone’s going to have that opportunity placed before them that are resurrected back to physical life again.  They’re going to have that opportunity to see something then but God never intended that the vast majority of mankind be able to see the truth in the first 6,000 years.  On the contrary, just a very few... just a very few in 6,000 years of history.  How incredible is that?  How blessed are you?

Sometimes when you feel down about your life and dealing with the hardships you’re going through and difficulties you’re going through – sometimes it’s good to slap yourself.  Don’t turn inward.  Don’t begin to moan and feel sorry for self, on the contrary, grasp what you have been given.  The riches that Jesus Christ gave as parables, as examples, pearl of great price, great treasure. Do we see the truth that we’ve been given in that manner?  That we are the most blessed people on earth?  I know that I am.  I believe that with all my being.  We are the most blessed people on the earth.  It’s not about physical things.  It’s about that which God gives to you about life.  It’s about what’s in the mind.

...that you may know... that has to do with a confidence and a boldness you can have so that you can know it, so that it can be deeply imbedded in your mind – God Almighty has called me.  I am so blessed to be able to see His plan, to be able to talk to others about His plan.  Talked last night to a lot of the newer, younger people here and discussed some of these things... to grasp within a short length of time here, before these two years are up – that you’re going to be able to talk to people like some of you have already been able to talk to each other and share this way of life with; and that’s getting to a close point here where that’s going to be multiplied so many times over; where there are going to be people who are going to want to know what you know, who are going to desire to hear what you know, what God has given to you.  It’s going to be an incredible experience and God will give you the help, the humility to go with it because we don’t have it.  God has to give you humility too.  He has to bring you to the point of being able to have that kind of a spirit and that kind of a mind – something you have to cry out and ask God for help in because if it ever becomes a matter of pride it’ll all be taken away.

You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: it talks about God set apart the Sabbath, sanctified it, made it holy and He tells us we’re to keep it holy?  How can we?  I’m a physical human being – how can I keep something holy?  It means you set it apart for holy use and purpose because that’s what the word is talking about here.  God sanctified it, set it apart as holy, for holy use and purpose. The 7th day, the Holy Days are set apart for holy use and purpose and we’re to do the same thing.  So it’s really our response then to God that, “Yes, I want to set apart this day.”  That’s why we don’t work.  Why?  You set it aside for holy use and purpose.  You’re sanctifying that day in your spirit and your mind toward God; and that’s what we have to do, that’s what God looks at in us.  Are we doing that?  Do we have that kind of spirit and that kind of a desire?

You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it’s holy unto you: everyone who defiles it shall surely be put to death: He’s talking to the Israelites, what’s going to happen; and the reality is if we don’t live it properly, if we don’t have a right spirit in it we live in that anyway – if we understand what it means; for whosoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among His people. In other words, for us, we understand that we cut ourselves off from the flow of God’s spirit, we cut ourselves off from the Body of Christ and I’ve known so many people who’ve done this.  It happened powerfully in the time of the apostasy.  So many people, all of a sudden, were excited to be able to go back to Egypt.  They were so excited that all of a sudden now they could go to a Sunday keeping church again.  Think... How could that happen?  And we experienced it, we lived through it.  1/3 of the Church went by the wayside nearly overnight, went right back to what God had called them out of.  Cut off from the flow of God’s spirit.  Another 1/3 disobeyed the Sabbath because they just quit.  They were so disillusioned because the spirit was... “How could this happen to God’s Church? ...so maybe it’s not God’s Church.  But I’ve known the truth so where do I go?  If this was the truth, there’s nothing else out there; none of that was true.”  So the answer: to not keep the Sabbath anymore?  ...to go off and do your own thing, to go back to work on Saturday and the Holy Days?  About 1/3 of the Church did that.  Incredible!  And so they were cut off from the flow of God’s spirit.  That’s death.  Unless God awakens you and brings you back and brings you to a point where you can repent of that it’s over with.  Thankfully He has great mercy and has a plan to bring people out of those things if they’ll receive it.

Verse 15 - Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Eternal: for holy use and purpose. Not the first day, not the sixth day...the seventh day!  ...holy to the Eternal: isn’t it amazing... you look at the world.  Two sides that went in two different directions who came from Abraham: the Muslim world on Friday, Traditional Christianity on Sunday...and then the Jews who rejected the Passover.  Incredible what’s happened in history through time.  And those who came from Abraham knew better; they knew better than to go to Friday, but they rejected the descendants and what God gave through those who came out later on as far as Judaism and what they saw in Israel.  It’s amazing how mankind will do just the opposite; because they’re swayed by a powerful being and they don’t understand that: Satan, who has great power.

Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Eternal; whosoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.  Cut off – same thing. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, and observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. Never to end.  As long as man is on this earth, as long as there are human beings it is a perpetual, an everlasting agreement between them and God, between man and God; if we’ll enter into that.

It is a sign, that same word; that which God gave as an appointed time that’s to be a sign.  Something special to us that we can see.  Do we see it, the Sabbath, as a sign of His people?  The Holy Days as a sign?  Those are encouraging things, especially when you’re first being called because all of a sudden you realize Christmas and Easter – that’s not of God; and then you begin to realize Holy Days that people don’t even know about out here.  Who has heard about the Feast of Unleavened Bread?  You tell someone, “I’m going to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread next week.”

“Right...?!”

They never even heard such an expression.  People have usually heard of Pentecost but the Feast of Tabernacles?  Not very many.  Atonement?  In the Jewish world they don’t even use those words so most people haven’t even heard those words.   It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days, so it gets very specific here, going back to a Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath.  ...for in six days the Eternal made the heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.  He set it apart.  He set it apart and wants man to do the same thing from that point forward; but we haven’t done it.  So, again here, that which we didn’t really cover on the Last Great Day about even the Sabbath being a sign.  How incredible is that?  God set aside appointed times as signs; and so it is with something we went through in coming to understand what it means by a ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’ that God is using in a very powerful way as a sign of what He’s doing on this earth at the end-time...and He’s reserved it all until the very end to give this to us; and we haven’t known these things in times past. Incredible.

Let’s turn over to Daniel 12 now and notice where this is spoken of because God has well established for   His Church what constitutes His sign that indeed is also a ‘token’ if you will, to us and will serve as evidence of what He brings to pass and what He promised here in Daniel.  God is very methodical, very organized, perfect in how He brings things to pass. And so there’s a process whereby He’s going to finish all things at this end-time in order to usher in His Kingdom so let’s read about it here.  Daniel 12:7 - And I heard the man; we’re just going to read this in part here.  If you want to go through it all you can listen to the sermon given during the Last Great Day entitled ‘God’s Time’, but right now, just refreshing ourselves in what we went through at that time.

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by Him, and as I mentioned then, it’s better stated as ‘given as an oath by/from God’.  In other words, He was giving something from God and this is God’s promise given to you; in essence this is what God was giving – that which is like an oath, if you will, that was given at this particular time.  It says, who swore by Him who lives forever and ever, in other words the authority given and where this is coming from is from God Almighty; and this is what He is giving as a testimony, as evidence, or an oath, even a better way of stating it here.  And as it talks about in Hebrews, when God says something it’s absolute; who lives forever; that it shall be for a time, this is that word ‘appointed times’ back in Leviticus.  ...times, same thing in the plural here, ‘appointed times’, and half; in other words half a time; and when He shall have accomplished, in other words, ‘to make an end of’, of when it’s going to be fulfilled.  This is something that God is going to do at the end-time.  So if we go through all of Daniel here it’s talking about what happens at the very end, it talks about the Kingdom of God that’s going to come.  Remember the statue?  I still remember some of this on the old telecast that used to be there and there’s this great big statue and it shows the different Kingdom’s of the earth that would be there.  And the very last one to come was found at the base of the statue with  the legs where you have the clay and the iron finally mixed together in the feet and it talks about this cube, as it were, this thing that comes out of the heavens and strikes the statue at the base of the feet and causes it to fall over.  Beautiful picture!  Thing’s that God gives sometimes to reveal concerning His plan and it’s about the Kingdom of God that comes to the earth to destroy man's government on the earth.

And we understand what that final statue is in talking about what’s getting ready to take place in Europe and things we’re already seeing come to pass; things about people talking about the collapse of the Euro.  I think of what Johnny said at one time when he talked about, “We have a front row seat.” I think about that often.  We get to see it.  We see everything coming to pass in an awesome way.  It’s like we’re spectators but we’re on the front row!  And we see it!  The world doesn’t see it, but we see it coming to pass.  It’s awesome what we’re seeing right now taking place in Europe and some who think the Euro’s going to collapse and because of that Europe’s going to collapse and... oh no... it just pushes them in a corner where they do what they’re going to do.  We know what’s going to come to pass out of all this.  Nothing has changed.

It’s revealed through Daniel what happens right up to the very end and God making it very clear by an oath that He’s going to fulfill something in a very specific timeframe to bring about an end to it all, to bring about an end to man's self-rule.  And so this is what it’s referring to here in that time period that’s going to be accomplished.  He said, “within a ‘time, times and a half’” when He shall accomplish, in other words make an end to; to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. And I think of just one aspect alone...of what God’s people have gone through for 6,000 years and the battles they’ve gone through and the struggles they’ve had and even, if you will, even the power that has been there to create, to make, to mould and fashion His people.  We’ve grown because of trials, because of hardships and because of things we’ve experienced on the earth and that which God has given as witness for 6,000 years.  And so He says here that there’s going to come a time when all of that is going to end and He’s going to bring it all to a final end , when it’s going to be finished, that same word accomplish here at the very end of the sentence here, to bring it to a full end, to fulfill it all.  He makes that testimony, that oath, that He’s going to specifically do it in a period called ‘Time, Times, and a Half a Time’.

As a part of a review of some of these things, going back again to that Last Great Day sermon that we began to understand something that God had given for a period of time here which is 280 days.  We had thought in God’s Church for many, many years that ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’ was 3½ years, and  yet we understand there are certain things that are accomplished within 1260 days and that it comes out to 3½ years, but God is giving to us – breaking it down even more as a sign of how He’s going to accomplish it and how He’s going to do it and something that is to be, in a sense, something that we see that encourages us; just like the Sabbath that’s set aside as a sign, as evidence.  And so there are things that we see that God’s given us to grasp and comprehend.

I want to go through and talk about some of these things.   I know sometimes that not everybody enjoys numbers and so your head can start spinning, but I’m going to go through this for those who do and just to drive a point home again about how incredible all this is because you can’t put this together.  No human can. God gave us a specific moment in time when all this has fit together in such an incredible way.  And you can go through and try to find time and there’s nothing like this; there’s nothing like this!   But what God has given to us is very powerful and that encourages me and strengthens me, gives me boldness and confidence in the things that I’m doing.

When did we start learning about this revelation of what this particular sign was that God has given of a particular point in time?  Well, we started learning about it in the Church when we had the apostasy.  First time we ever saw something to do with judgement; because it has to do with God’s judgement.  Everything that Daniel is about is about God’s judgement on the earth – something that’s talked about in the Old Testament over and over again about judgement that’s going to come on this earth and what God’s going to do, not just to the earth, not just to man ruling himself, but even to Satan when He brings an end to Satan’s rule on this earth.  Because right now Satan and the demons still have power and rule on this earth.  And God is getting ready to stop all that as well as man’s self-rule.  So much of the Bible is about this period of time being brought to an end and how God’s going to accomplish it.  And so God began to teach us within the Church, that He had a specific timeframe as a sign to show something that He was doing, that is evidence, that serves as a token, as a sign to us; and it was what happened to the man of sin who did all this, that started all this process.  One who was known as ‘a man of sin’.  One who betrayed Jesus Christ in a far greater way than Judas Iscariot did – far greater!  Because this is about God’s Church and what happened to us in God’s Church.

Two people with us in God's Church today were actual witnesses of what took place.  God gave there to be two people in Atlanta, Georgia who saw the beginning of an apostasy and what took place: Johnny and Myrtle.  Incredible!  The Harrell’s!  And they heard that sermon that Mr. Tkach gave in December of  1994 when he got up and gave that which led to an apostasy, that which was prophesied by Paul in II Thessalonians 2.  And we’ve lived through it, we’ve seen incredible things take place; and all of us who are here who are part of that particular time, we’re witness of what took place in various Church areas and what took place in various moments throughout this entire period of time.  And it was about God executing His judgement on the earth and within the Church and what was taking place.

But what an incredible thing that within 280 days from when Joseph Tkach Sr. gave that sermon where he said, “The Sabbath,” in essence, “was no longer a sign,” that he died.  That’s an awesome thing to understand.  That’s what he was saying in large part.  “And the Holy Days,” he was trying to tell God’s Church, “are no longer a sign of God’s people.  You can worship God,” basically, “on any of the seven days in a week.”

Think... “Well, what are you trying to move to?”

“Sunday.”

That’s what they were trying to move to.  Anyway, I don’t want to get into some of the stupidity of the argument sometimes that are out there, and how human beings think.  But it’s really quite incredible when you understand what he was saying.  The very thing that God was going to use as a sign in the end-time is the very thing by which he’s trying to say that “the Sabbath isn’t a sign, the Holy Days are not a sign – these are no longer needed...” It’s like you can go back to keeping Easter and Christmas – some minsters were already teaching that.  Incredible what was taking place!  But exactly 280 days later, because we learned that God showed us things about judgement.  40, the number 40 that God has used over and over and over again in time: 40 years in the wilderness – God’s judgement upon Israel.  They’re going to stay in the wilderness 40 years.  Some of the different things that have happened through time – that being one of the most awesome ones in one respect.  And then 7 days...that which is about the Sabbath, that which he was doing away with, wanting to do away with and God used a period of time 7 X 40 = 280 days.  And 280 days later (40 Sabbaths) from the day he gave that sermon he died, to the same hour.  That is an incredible thing to understand!  Because it was God’s judgement.  And so much of the scattered Church... it’s like, “Coincidence.”  That was not a coincidence – that there was a period of time: 40 X 7; 7 which is the weekly cycle.  And not just because it had to with the seventh day Sabbath, but because it’s a specific number that has to do with that which is complete – completeness.  It was God’s judgement and He completed it exactly as He said, exactly what we came to understand; God did give it; and he died upon the completion of that period of time.

So that was our first experience with 280 days.  We still didn’t know that this was what God was using in the book of Daniel in that particular phrase found there of ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’.  And so we went on in time and we came to a point where God gave to us a little more understanding, continued to add to it.  It’s an exciting thing in how God has led us and how He continues to give us a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more – this way of life is never boring, never dull. God just continues to give more.  That’s why I look forward to the Millennium and I think... how incredible!  We’re going to be given more and more and more every step of the way.  It’s going to be awesomely exciting what we go through!  That’s what God has planned.

And so God then revealed to us another judgement of His that was declared on Trumpets 2008; and because of the 50th Truth and some of the things we addressed there; but on Trumpets 2008 concerning the timing of Satan’s sign of Christmas.  Incredible!  Christmas of 2007 to the Feast of Trumpets of 2008 being another 280 days of judgement.  God letting Satan know it’s come to an end, this is it.  Now Satan doesn’t obviously believe everything that comes through the Church, but he listens and he learns and he fears.  He knows his end is coming; that’s why he’s stirred up and that’s why he’s going to get a whole lot more stirred up here in a short time.  Still amazing how perverted that being is though.  But I am thankful to have had such an opportunity, such a blessing to be able to even announce part of that, to be a part of that and to say, “Your end is here, and that which reflects you more than anything else on this earth, a perversion you have done in time...that the one thing that came out over time that reflects you more than anything else is your mockery towards God and towards Jesus Christ with this thing of Christmas, the mass of Christ.  And where did that come from?  Well, where has he always worked?  The Catholic Church; the mass of Christ; and people don’t understand what it’s about and where it came from.  Incredible!

And so, again here, from Christmas of 2007 to Trumpets of 2008; another 280 days of judgement, a sign about Satan.  His end is here.  His end is nearly over in the sense of his influence upon the world.  And so it revealed God’s pronouncement, if you will, of His sign of judgement, (because that’s what it is) upon that perverted being concerning the coming end of his reign on this earth.  And so it was as though it was like a mockery type thing toward Satan.  Satan has mocked God to man for nearly 6,000 years now; and now it’s time for Satan to be mocked; and God is protecting and giving His protection to me, to my wife, to the Church.  If you will do what God tells you to do; if you will draw close to God then those beings have no power over you and they will flee from you and God even gives more now than what He’s ever given; because nobody can stand against that being as far as a human is concerned.  And so God has to give those things and God promises He will do just that.  It’s awesome to understand.  And I receive great joy, just to let you know again, to be able to have that opportunity to let that being know, to be able to have the ability to say those things.

And so because of the 50th Truth and the understanding that God has given us of Christ’s return on Pentecost, May 27, 2012 we also came to understand the true date for the sealing of the 144,000 that was to precede Christ’s reign by 1335 days – which again is covered in the book of Daniel at the end of those verses that we were reading earlier.  And we understand that was a point in time; September 30, 2008 which was the Feast, again, here talking about Trumpets of 2008.  What an incredible thing that God uses the same moment in time to go backward – something to do with Satan; and to go forward.  I don’t know about you but I find that a very powerful, awesome sign – I truly do!  It’s very motivating, very stirring if we understand.

So we have 1335 days going from that sign that God pronounced upon Satan what was going to come to pass; that your time has come to an end.  And so we entered into a time in Daniel toward the end of the book where not only that, but on this particular day, on this particular day here it shows the very ones who are going to rule.  It won’t be Satan, it won’t be the demons...but the 144,000; the very day that they’re sealed.  It’s incredible!

Trumpets 2008 – God making it clear at that particular point in time that there are individuals who are going to be in His Family who are already sealed, in the sense of God saying to them, “I know you.”  And so we continue to live on, we continue to live through a period of time because God has tried us, tested us, refined us, taken us to the point in time where when the sealing took place we lived on – just as Abraham.  God told him at a particular moment in time, “I know you. I know what you’ll do under all circumstances, under all situations; of what your choice is going to be.”  And that’s what we come to in life – through growing, through maturing, we come to a point where God has blessed us with a point in time where we’re going to do the same thing.  And you know what the primary thing is?  We will always repent.  We will never cease repenting.  We know what we are and we will always repent before God of our sin.  God knows that about us.  It’s an incredible thing; truly is when you understand what is being said there; because that’s something you have to grow in through time.

Some were talking last night about growing in character.  Every time you repent you’re growing in character, you’re acknowledging, heartfelt between you and God and you know you’ve sinned and you ask God to forgive you – you’re acknowledging that God is right.  You’re acknowledging that’s the way I want!  You’re acknowledging that you are wrong, that you don’t want that way, you want to be right with God, you want God to live within you, you want God to continue dwelling in you and you fear that He would ever cease and stop.  I know what it’s like to be cut off from God and I don’t like it!  Because every one of us in the apostasy fell asleep spiritually and we came to a point in time, though be it thank God, short for some of us who are here today... we came to a point in time where God said, in essence to us, “You’re cut off.”  He spewed us all out of His mouth and that shock stirred us to repentance.  It was horrifying what took place on the day of December 17, 1994.  God spewed the entire Church out of His mouth – cut us off!  It’s not a pleasant thing.  It was a horrible thing to live through.  I still have a lot of emotion in the back of my mind in thinking about what we went through back at that point in time, to see God’s Church come to that point in time and see what was being done.  I don’t even want to go there.  Incredible!

So again, Trumpets 2008 was God’s official announcement of the date for the return of His Son Jesus Christ, and at this same time He was sealing the 144,000.  And He let Satan know, “Your time has come to an end!”  He has 1335 more days – that’s what he was basically told.

And so from this God revealed that the opening of the 7th Seal was about Daniel's 1290 days making this great occasion to be November 14, 2008 – when the 7th Seal was opened.  God has shown us at different phases of time here when some of the seals were opened up.  We came to understand, after the fact, after looking back in time as God began to strengthen us one again as a Church that the 1st Seal had been opened when Mr. Tkach gave that sermon.  That was a beginning of prophetic things to take place for the end-time.  We came to understand that; and it’s powerful – truly was...and all the things that followed after that.

And then of course after this was the prophetic 30 minutes/30 days of silence that led up to the 1260 days; again the book of Daniel, again 1260 days – not 3½ years of ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’, because we weren’t there yet.  Thought we were; but we weren’t there yet.  God had more to reveal, God had more to show.  And so at that particular time a particular job began and that is basically what God gave, the only period of time that He’s given specifically for the end-time, for a moment in time.  1260 days is what’s covered in Revelation about two witnesses.  That’s when their time began.

On that particular day, the 1st Trumpet blast that took place and things did not happen in a way we kind of thought they would in the past.  And so we’ve learned and grown through a process of time in that.  So the 1st Trumpet sounded on December 14, 2008 and no immediate evidence was given to the world that the 1st Trumpet had sounded and for some that caused some consternation.  Learned a long ago – God will show you.  Wait on God; God will reveal to you what you need to know when you need to know it.

At most, at this point in time, what God has said is that this announced the beginning for the end.  And again, that thrust His two witnesses on the scene.  We take it by faith; we believe it and we’ll see it through to the very end, or at least up to the very end.  And as we learned later it would reveal more fully how God would bring about the end and fulfill His judgement on this earth and this is all about mercy and judgement.  I can’t tell you how much I have learned since this day, speaking of that particular moment in time, how much I have been learning and what God has been teaching me and showing me about mercy and judgement; something we must learn with all of our being because that’s what this end-time is all about.  One thing that used to aggravate me because of human nature in some of the radio interviews were questions about, “How can this God do this to mankind, bring about such horrifying things?”  It’s not God doing it; it’s man!  Man is doing it to himself.  We have brought these things upon ourselves, but you can’t help people to see that.  I understood that God had narrowed time down to 3½ years – that that would be the longest period of time for suffering on the earth and yet I’ve learned more about God’s mercy: that those things can be narrowed down more and more and more and bring about greater fruit because of God’s mercy.  What have you learned in your life?  How much have you learned in your life about God’s patience and God’s mercy and how He’s worked with you specifically and individually?  Do we learn from that?  Because the greatest of learning comes from that, comes from and is reflected by our attitude toward others.  How merciful are you to others?  Not stupid, not foolish, but merciful...striving to do things in better judgement.

I think about a sermon series we went through not too long ago where God talked about the subject of tithing and He talked to the Jewish people and they were told, “Indeed, you tithe,” in essence, understanding what they do, “meticulously so of mint, anise and cumin.  You count out every little leaf if need be or every little piece because you’re so meticulous,” basically self-righteous in how they went about it in doing some things regarding keeping the law.  He says, “You have omitted the weightier matters of the law.  This you should have done.  Indeed you should tithe, but you’ve omitted what’s really important!  ...What everything is all about!”  It’s not about a ritualistic what you can do yourself as far as a routine and obeying God’s law; it’s about something far deeper; judgement, mercy, faith.  Those are powerful and you can’t separate one from the other.  They go together in a very beautiful and  powerful way.

And so, as we go forward here this is something that God wants us within the Church to learn more about; mercy and how we judge others.  And we’ll find out a lot of times we have no purpose and no right to judge others; but there are situations in life where we do have to enter into judgement in dealing with things; like in our own families.  You make judgements; you make decisions and judgements all the time: and within the Church there are those of you in different areas – you have to make judgements.  Those in the ministry have to make judgements: but we have to be careful what kind of judgements we make and how we do it and how we look upon others.  And mercy had better be at the very top of it all or we’re missing the mark about what God’s love is all about – truly!  It’s a powerful thing.

And so God in a very powerful way that I hope to be able to give to you (I can’t give it to you) but by what is going to be given in this sermon series here that we’ll be able to receive it in a greater way to understand how awesome this is; what God has given to us because of an example of something He’s showing us and how this affects mankind, how this affects people when you’re merciful to them, when we really deserve something stronger, harsher, harder, maybe in the area of tough love where sometimes just that little bit of mercy stuck in there can cause a person to repent and respond and change and to understand love.  Not to repent for the wrong reasons, because they feel pressured into it, but because they see something that they want – love, God’s love, our love, one another’s love within the Body.  And if we really see the whole picture, what we fasted about is what this is all about.  What we fasted about for two days is what this is all about.  How God is going to give opportunity for more people to repent and change and what really brings people to a faster repentance and change is by bringing these things more to the end.  The farther they are up to the end the more powerful it can become as far as a kind of response that people will give later on.

You know what happens if you spread out judgement?  You know what happens when you spread out things having to do with certain things happening in people’s lives?  You know what happened to Pharaoh?  To Egypt when things were spread out over a period of time?  God knew what He was doing in working with Pharaoh to bring him to an exact moment in time that Pharaoh would say, “Let them go!”  But even that, what did he do?  Didn’t last too long.  He went after them!  He went after the Israelites.  The impact and the speed of that change would have been a lot different if those things had been smashed together a lot more, a lot more intense toward the very end.  We’ll talk about some of those things as time goes along. God has a plan and a purpose of why He works things out the way He does – truly...and what’s happening in this end-time is a very powerful thing, because you know what’s sick about human nature that sometimes aggravates?

I have a hard time watching the news  at times, I truly do.  A cycle that people get into.  Today things are happening with such intensity and the speed to it, and how often things are happening, but it’s just like people are becoming numb to it all.  And after a while, what does it mean? What does it take to shake people?  And that’s a part of what we have to learn through all this too – with God’s mercy.  But it’s an incredible thing about human beings, how quick something’s forgotten.  Look at Haiti; it’s gone, it’s out of the mind!  What does it take?  You put a lot of those together faster, quicker and in a more powerful way and it can bring people to repentance and real change.  But the way it is with human nature, it’s revealing something even powerfully about human nature at this end-time, of what human beings are like, and what it really takes to bring about change.  We’ll talk about those as we go along.  But think about it; everything that’s happening – God is in control.  God is moulding and fashioning it and bringing it together to be accomplished.  He’s not doing it.  He’s not bringing about the kinds of things that human beings are doing to each other, we’re doing it to ourselves!  But He’s speeding up the process and how He brings it all together.

So again, things about mercy that God wants us to grasp and comprehend.  The 1st Trumpet sounded on December 14, 2008 and as I said, no immediate evidence was there of things happening in the world; I want to ask if we understand what took place at that particular time.  Do we understand, do you fully understand the purpose of the 1st Trumpet and where things are going and why they’re happening in the way they are?  All that would follow would reveal how, in other words, which is about this being accomplished in God’s mercy, how God was doing this and what we’re living through and why we fasted in the way we did and what God is accomplishing.

Do we understand the purpose of the 1st Trumpet?  Let’s go over to the book of Revelation because these things are all here brethren, in a very powerful way, that we should have as a focus of what God is doing and why God is bringing it about in the way He is.  When you think of the Trumpets that will go off, what is it all about?  What is the purpose behind it?  What is God doing?  What are Trumpets all about?  How are they used?  If we understand, it’s about bringing down the end of this age, it’s about bringing down the end of a time of Satan’s government on this earth.  That’s why I think it’s good that we go back and start here.

Revelation 11 - it’s really quite simple and I know we know it, but we have to have it as our focus.  The Trumpets are about bringing about the end of the system of this world.  That’s what they announce from the beginning to the end.  It’s awesome!  Bringing down this world, ushering in God’s world and God’s government on this earth.  I think about different things that are taking place here that we’ll get into as we go along here, but I think about some of the first things that began to happen with the 1st Trumpet; the economic system, the stock market, paper money, electronic wealth, all these things that God’s going to bring an end to.  They’re a farce, they truly are.  It’s really a farce when you come to understand how this world operates and what it’s a part of and it’s all tied together.  I don’t care whether it be the pound, the euro, the dollar, the yuan.

Revelation 11:15 – notice a couple scriptures that will help drive this home even more so because everything is about Jesus Christ returning; everything is about the Kingdom of God coming and the 1st Trumpet was about the announcement of Jesus Christ coming, announcing a King.  But He isn’t there until the very last Trumpet.  Incredible process that God has of bringing down the end of an age.  It’s all about that and we’re able to live in it and be a part of it and exist during this time.  And all of this is a sign; all these are broken up into signs that God has given, very specifically so as we go through this.

Revelation 11:15 - And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever. That’s what everything is leading up to.  And so the first one simply announces it – what’s coming to pass, but it doesn’t happen immediately, it takes time.  God has a plan and it’s revealed throughout this plan how He’s going to bring it about.  How He is going to bring it about is contained in a period of time called ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’, that is what God is saying.  And this will be evidence in time to the whole world that He did it in His way, in His time.

Verse 16 - And the twenty four elders who sat before God in their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and are to come; because You have taken to Yourself Your great power, and have reigned.  In other words, finally!  Finally! They’re excited because God Almighty is all powerful, but He’s let man do certain things for 6,000 years on this earth; and to them it’s a time of great rejoicing because finally man’s not going to rule himself anymore.  And they have seen this for 6,000 years.  How long have you seen it?  Not too long.  But they have seen it; people after people, generation after generation, decade after decade of what human beings have done...how man governs himself and he can’t.  And they’ve seen it and they’ve seen the atrocities of all the things that have happened through time.  And of the demonic world... what Satan and the demons have done.  They’ve seen that influence upon man for 6,000 years and finally they thank God that He’s taken to Himself His great power and now He’s going to reign on the earth through His Son who is King of kings.  What an incredible picture!  That’s what we’re being told at this moment in time.  So He’s saying, “This is what’s taking place!”  We give you thanks; God’s Family rejoices, the angelic realm rejoices because they have that same spirit inside of groaning and moaning and seeing what human beings have done for such a long time on this earth.

And the nations were angry and Your wrath has come, in other words it doesn’t happen easily.  God’s wrath, God’s judgement, God’s punishment finally has come and it will come... And the nations were angry, not happy about what God is doing.  They’ve never been happy about what God is doing.  What an incredible thing it’s stating here.  The peoples are angry/the nations are angry; Why be angry with God?  Well, it shows here they want to hold onto something else.  They don’t want what God has to offer.  And so God’s time of wrath has come.  His time of judgement on the earth has come.

... and the time of the dead that they should be judged, Who’s it talking about there?  It’s talking about that which is already accomplished in essence; that started on the day 1335 before Christ returns.  There are those who are dead that lived in time.  Their judgement has come.  What is their judgement? They will reign on the earth.  That’s what it’s about.  The time of their judgement has come; that they have fulfilled and accomplished what God gave to them and now they’re going to be resurrected and brought to the forefront.  Because the time of others who are dead still have to wait for a thousand years and then there are going to be those who are going to be resurrected again, those into God’s Family and those to life again.  Incredible – God’s plan.

And the nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that You should give reward unto Your servants the prophets,  we understand who they are, to the saints, to those whom God has called, to those that He worked with through time; and them who fear Your name, Who are they?  Judgement... those of you who fear, who honour God, who want God, who believe God, who have changed, who have made changes in your life because you see what you see, and because you want to be a part of it, because you want to live into a new age and the blessings then that God’s going to give you and the purpose of why He’s called you to live into that age.  It’s an incredible thing!

It’s an incredible thing for us to go from area to area to area to see so many young people being called.  There are all kinds of ages of people being called, but there is something we have never seen in God’s Church in the same manner proportionally; of so many young people being called – because God has a purpose of establishing a new age and a new world of things you can’t even begin to comprehend.  Hold on, it’s going to be exciting if you yield yourself to God, obey God and continue to fear God... if we understand what that word means.  It’s not being afraid of; it has to do with an attitude toward God of reverence and those things that go with that.

So it says here, small and great; and all those who come through the end, who are brought to that point in time because there are going to be people who come to a point in time where they do fear, because that’s what brings them to repentance.  A fear of what’s going to come next, what’s going to happen on the earth...just like the Egyptians when they came to a point in time where they so feared and they said, “If you don’t let them go we’re all dead men/we’re all dead.  Let the Israelites go.”  They were pleading, in essence, with Pharaoh, “Please let them leave or we’re all dead.”  That’s what they said.

...and that You should destroy them who destroy the earth. That’s what God does at the very end.  He unleashes His power in a very powerful way.  There’s that one day that more destruction is done on this earth than the previous period of time...and God does it when He destroys them who are destroying the earth.  Those who rise up in China, Russia and parts of Asia there and it talks about what they do when the 6th Trumpet is blown and what they accomplish.  And it says, ‘they destroy a 1/3 of all the earth.’  Well, there’s one day coming... it’s going to be more powerful when God intervenes and destroys them who are destroying the earth.  There are going to be those who come through it, but as far as their governments, as far as the majorities of their people and so forth around the earth in places – God’s going to take care of it in one day.

Revelation 18 – so everything about the Trumpets is building up to a moment in time when everything has been fulfilled.  That’s what God said in Daniel.  ‘I’m going to fulfill it.  I’m going to accomplish it and I, by My oath to you, am going to do it in a period called a ‘Time, Times and a Half a Time’.  And today is the end of 2/7th’s of that time.  We have 5/7th’s to go.  We have ‘more time’.  5/7th’s to go.  Incredible to understand where we are in time and what God is doing.

Revelation 18:1 - After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen, and become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage/prison of every unclean and hateful bird.  Using an example here of something of those that devour the flesh; of all that is hateful.  God takes control, especially of these particular beings all of a sudden and they come to an end.  And so Babylon has fallen, the system of this world that comes from one primary being that’s been over it all from the very beginning and everything that has to do with that, God brings to an end in one day.  In one day!

Verse 3 - For all the nations have drunk of the wrath of her fornication, for 6,000 years.  It’s about a system, it’s about a way of life, it’s about an attitude, it’s about a mindset that’s existed in a particular being that he’s passed along to this world, that’s been in this world and has only gotten worse and worse and more sophisticated in its distorted, perverted way in time.  It’s more sophisticated and more perverted in this age of technology than it’s ever been as far as man is concerned; and it is Babylon. It’s not about a church, it’s not about a single head of a church; it’s about an entire system over this entire earth that rules on this earth – in a very powerful, perverted, distorted way.  None of it is of God.  It all has to be brought down.  None of it is going to be saved back.  None of it is worth saving.  There is no government, there is no economic system, there is nothing of this world that is worth saving.  On the contrary, it must be destroyed.  And spiritually it is all referred to as Babylon, confusion.  It is the way that has ruled this earth – massive confusion through time.  That’s what this world’s system is.  It’s the way Satan likes it...gives him greater power to pervert and destroy.  And his way is one of absolute confusion. He’s got a perverted mind.  He’s not a sound mind.  He destroyed his mind.  He began to destroy it the first day he lifted himself up in pride against God.  And for all the millennium that has passed through time, millions of years through time, his mind has only become worse and more distorted through time.  A powerful being, but so deeply perverted, so far away from God, so far into the night, in the dark.  Incredible!  I’m so thankful his time has come to an end and he’s only going to have a little bit more time for a short period at the very end; and then for him it’s over for all eternity, thank God.

...for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, that’s what God refers to it as; it’s like fornication, that which is forbidden.  And this is done spiritually, perverted, distorted; the way the world is. It’s not of God. ...and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,  all the things that have happened through time and leaders of the earth and what they do, how they function.  “Scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Come together with me in this alliance and we’ll do this, we’ll destroy that and we’ll have it to ourselves.”  All the period of time that people have done the things they have; “Compromise with me on this and I’ll compromise with you on that.”  Not a matter of standing up for principle and what is right and what is best for those who are served, or those who are supposed to be served.  It’s not about that at all!

...and have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her luxuries.  And that today is far worse than it’s ever been.  How people think, how people respond, how corporations are... BP has the peoples interest at hand?  No, survival... survival and money.  It’s all it’s about.  Survival! From the very first day it was about litigation and protecting themselves.  Every false story, every lie they told...  you think they lied?  5,000 barrels a day?! (snicker)  If you’re going to tell one, make it big!  Think about Hitler; tell a story, make it big!  Make it a big one!  Don’t get anything close to 100,000, 80,000 – 100,000 barrels a day, please, please, please, please, please.... 5,000.  5,000 barrels a day.  Oh we can cope with that.  Valdez, what was that one there?  Okay, we can deal with that, we can handle this on the coast and so forth.  And then they find out later on that somebody’s been lying!  Oh, and then amazingly so find out later on it’s not just BP; the government is in on the lying too.  That’s not a popular thing to say, but it’s the truth.  Governments lie and they distort the truth.  Sad, pathetic...for their own end, for their own gain.

Politics to me is like saying, “lying liars lying, lying, lying.”  They go hand in hand, you can’t separate them.  It’s the way of the world.  And there are people who think that’s good.  There are people in God’s Church who’ve had to fight battles because they think there’s something good about a political system that is set up in the way that it is.  No it’s not.  The end result of it isn’t good; the justification for things on the earth, the justification for a system...  I don’t even want to get into it, it’s a sick, sick world – it truly is.  Not popular things to say but God’s way’s has never been popular with man because God’s way is the only way that works.  God’s way is the only way that’s true.  His government, the way He orders things to be is the only way that can produce lasting and meaningful and rewarding fruit to man.  We were never meant to be taxed the way we are as human beings!  And yet look at what we put up with to this day...because people know today you can’t do anything about it anyway.  The Boston tea party?  That’s way in the past and what they rebelled over was pretty small considering what’s existing today.  Doesn’t matter where you turn around.  You go to the gas pump, you’re paying taxes.  Where is it you don’t pay taxes?  It’s not just your income tax...  But we teach in God’s Church ‘give to Caesar what is Caesar’s’.[2]   Doesn’t feel good, but you do it. That’s the way it is, that’s the way of the world, shows a system that exists.

Sick world, doesn’t matter where it is around the world.  I think of what God told them in the very beginning – “your kings, the leaders you choose, you’re going to be taxed, you’re going to pay a high price.  It’s not going to be what God says to give to Him; they’re going to require much, much more.  Not only that but they’re going to require your children and they’re going to send them off to war to fight their battles.”[3]   Politics.  Power.  Sad.  Pathetic.  That’s why I cringe sometimes seeing people in military uniform.  I feel sorry for them, I feel sorry for young men.  One of my best friends growing up... had a hard time when I went through that when I was called.  It was part of my process before I was called – led me to that point in time... killed in Vietnam.  And my hard battle was how horrible; he never got to experience life, never got to experience marriage, having children.  He was robbed of all that.  And for  what?  Vietnam.  Incredible!  Nothing glamourous about war, about killing, about oppression.

Look at Afghanistan today, how noble that war is supposed to be and we’re going to send more troops because that’s the noble thing to do so we elect a President to put more into Afghanistan.  How sick can we be?  And now we’re learning that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea, we can’t give them peace over there – they hate us!  Karzai is not really that much in love with us.  Where did we go wrong?  God says we buy our lovers; Israel has always bought her lovers.

That’s what God is bringing to an end; Babylon, the confusion, the hurt, the pain, the suffering human beings have experienced because there’s such oppression on the earth.  That is what God is bringing to an end and it’s called Babylon.  Some have thought in times past it’s only about a great church.  Well, that’s definitely confusion, you don’t have to go too far – just read some of their material about the trinity and your head will be spinning, very quickly so.   Talking about the Catholic Church.  You ought to do that just some time, just look up the word trinity... no, don’t do it.  Don’t bother.  If you want to see some of the most stupid, ridiculous, foolish kind of grammar, English reasoning in life – it’s to read about their belief and what they say about a trinity; and their evidence.  Well, they don’t have any, that’s right.

Revelation 18:7 - How much she has glorified herself, and lived luxuriously, that’s what it’s about, it’s about what you can get out of it... so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, that’s what God says we should be able to see something like this as.  ...I sit as a queen and am no widow; it’s pride!  Haughtiness!  Proud!  Nothing can destroy me, nothing can take this from me – it’s the way... it doesn’t matter whether it’s in government or corporations; it’s the haughtiness, the attitude, the spirit, the smugness of the world, and it causes confusion because it’s not about giving to others, it’s not about helping others, it’s not about love; it’s about selfishness in its highest forms and it causes great confusion and hurt and pain and suffering – that’s why it says, reward her, give to her sorrow, because of her attitude.  She’s smug, she’s sits and says, I’m a queen.  Think of different ones you see that have been interviewed over the past couple of years who’ve gotten into trouble, or at least it’s come to the surface about them, about corporations and how they really think.  It’s pathetic, sad, sick – that’s the way of the world though.  It’s not just them; it’s the way of the world and any human being can become like that if you live that.  And that’s the attitude of mind; I shall see no sorrow.  That’s why it’s like, “I’m not going to have to pay for this.  I’m going to get better; I’m going to do better as time goes along...”

Verse 8 - Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.  And so Babylon is coming to an end and the 1st Trumpet that sounded on December 14, 2008; 1260 days to go... that began it all; a period of time of things coming to an end.  What an incredible thing here that it all starts and leads up to a particular moment in time and this is that moment in time, this is what God is building up to more and more and more.  And that becomes more profound in next Sabbath’s sermon.

Verse 9 - And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her, shall weep for her, this world doesn’t go down easily.  Awesome that all along the way they continue to resist and fight and don’t want to repent.  They don’t want to change!  Most of the world as a whole is not going to repent and change, especially the leaders and the power that exists.  It’s like the spirit of Pharaoh – they want to hold onto it as long as they can and each time something get’s bad they might have a little bit of humility for a little while, and all of a sudden if that trial is gone then they come right back again because they want to hold onto it and they don’t want to let it go and they mourn inside when they see it being taken from them.  They fight it!  Every government on earth fights it until the end!  That’s why God does what He does at the end.  And it all starts with the 1st Trumpet.  God says, “It’s coming.  My Son is coming.  The Messiah is coming.  The King of kings is coming.”  And in this period of time everything else will come to destruction; it will be destroyed – Babylon will fall.

And so it says ...strong is the Lord God who judges here.  And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her shall weep for her and mourn for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning; It doesn’t happen in an instant; it happens through time.  It’s a period of time where these things continue to take place and finally it comes to that final end.

So again, the destruction isn’t something that happens overnight or in one day, it happens over a long period of time through 7 Trumpets.  It’s what they’re all about.  Standing afar off for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! That system; that which we’re a part of, that which we had, and when it’s gone and they don’t have it anymore there’s mourning.  ...For in one hour your judgement has come.  It’s speaking of a process that leads up to this moment in time, the very last day indeed but it’s a process through time and that’s what we have to understand about the Trumpets and even the 1st Trumpet because the 1st Trumpet is about everything that follows.  It’s about everything else that follows, just as much as the 1st Seal was about everything else that follows.  Everything else is affected by it as it goes into it and grows and grows in magnitude and God is bringing it to pass.

So again, this has to be our focus, to have an understanding of what God is doing, of what the purpose was and why the Trumpets are there, why God has given them to us and why He’s doing what He’s doing in the way that He’s doing it and the period of time here.  We’re moved by it, as we look at a period of time here – tomorrow... it’s not that you’re going to see some great event take place, just as you didn’t on the first day.  We know what took place, we know we’re going through a phase of time.  There’s ‘more time’...and as I’ve talked to some here this weekend we hopefully will be able to keep a Feast of Tabernacles this year everywhere.  Hopefully we’re able to do that.  If not, then we’ll do what we have to do; if we turn left  or turn right, whatever God gives us to do.  Maybe we’ll even have another Feast of Tabernacles.  What an awesome thing if we could...and a process whereby God continues to bring down this earth, bring down this system Babylon.  And so much of it has to do with the economy of the world.  So much of it is about the economy of the world.  In so many ways if you understand it, that indeed epitomizes Babylon; it truly does.  It’s what gives power.  It’s what gives might; and it’s all tied in today in a system the world has never seen.  The world has never seen a time like this where it’s so tied in.  It’s incredible – truly is!  You ought to be dumbfounded by it, you ought to be in awe of it to know that you live in a period of time where you see something so tied together, meticulously so, the way it is.  You can’t separate one from the other without suffering.  And what is amazing?  They know it!  ...but they still have to act.  In time, they always will, for their best interest.  That’s what people do.

So from December 14, 2008 when the 1st Trumpet was blown until and including Trumpets of 2009 was another period of 280 days. Powerful!  God showing and driving the point home this time and finally giving it in a very powerful way that this is a time that we had to understand.  Looking back to Trumpets 2008 was the announcement of Satan’s government coming to an end and it was the announcement of those who will begin to rule after Satan is removed and that is about the sealing of 144,000.  All these things happening at the same time; and about Christ coming on Pentecost 2012.

Then on the following year of Trumpets 2009 we came to a period of time of 280 days since the 1st Trumpet was blown on December 14, 2008.

Today I want to end in some things here before we go on to next Sabbath’s sermon because we’re going to take an interesting step here next Sabbath as we’re going on and showing a spiritual phase that God is taking us through to learn some things from because we’ve gone through many since our period of time of things happening when the Church began; again, in the form of ‘PKG’.  We’ll talk about some of that next Sabbath.  What an awesome time to realize where we are.  That’s why I want to go through some of the events in the world that have taken place in just the last few months, because people are becoming numb to some of this and I hope that it’s not escaping us  in what is taking place and what’s happening all around us.  Again, you don’t have to look very far in the news and it’s out there in a very powerful way.

Earthquakes: in the past 280 days measuring 6.0 and above (and 280 days because it’s a ‘Time’; period called the ‘Time’ that we’ve gone through) there have been 162, actually 163 because there was a 6.8 today in the Solomon Islands.  16 of those measured 7.0 and above.  I’ll tell you what: this may not mean anything to you, but for many years now I have watched the U.S. Geological Survey around the world and I don’t know how many of you take a look at that from time to time, but I mentioned it at the Feast of Tabernacles this past year, and I think on the Last Great Day even...of some of the things taking place on there that I have never seen before.  I have looked at it for years and years and years and the kinds of things that started taking place around the period of time of the Feast this past year became so obvious that something was happening and no one is addressing it.  No one is talking about it; the magnitude of certain things that are taking place out there...but there are things taking place just in this area alone that are not normal; they’re truly not normal.  They’re happening with more frequency, they’re happening more often.  There are some days I’ve been dumbfounded... a week ago or whatever – there’s a certain area that only measures 2.5 and above and I had to scroll down page after page for just  one day.  I’ve never seen anything like it even come remotely close to it.  Awesome things that are taking place out there in the world.  Don’t let that, in all the other news, pass you by because it’s a part of what’s taking place; it’s a part of what’s being fulfilled right now.

And most of what’s being fulfilled right now is strictly about Thunders, except for one and that has to do with the economy in the world and shows an attitude and spirit of man and the world and the fight that’s going on there. You watch the stock market... I don’t know about some of you but I get so frustrated by what they’re doing, and a desire to keep pushing it up and lying to push it up.  It’s an amazing thing to watch human nature work the way it does.

Going back here... 16 of those measured 7.0 and above, and on January 3 a 7.1 quake that struck Solomon Island region; and then a week later on the 10th a 6.5 struck off shore Northern California, two days later followed by the 7.0 quake that struck Haiti and killed close to ¼ million people in a short length of time making it the 6th deadliest recorded quake in history.  And then less than 7 weeks later an 8.8 magnitude struck off Chile and that was the 5th strongest quake since 1900 and it's in the top 10 of all time too.  And then on April 14 a series of quakes struck Western China killing a few thousand people there.  Over and over again in the news on a continuing basis.  But after a while people just get numb to it and after a while people forget what’s been taking place.

And then the Icelandic volcano eruption in mid-April.  And again, it’s not just one thing – it’s all these things together that’s incredible when you put them all together and understand what’s taking place.  And they are of an increasing magnitude and frequency, in other words, they’re getting closer all the time.  That’s why people are becoming numb to it and they don’t remember one week to another because by the next week there is something new to focus on.  Certain things that happen sometimes that take the news away from one thing to get it to another thing.  Sometimes you just think, “So thankful I don’t have to hear all this all the time when I’m listening to it,” because of some of the garbage that they consider news.

Anyway, Icelandic volcano, first it began to spew things 3.7 miles up into the atmosphere, and finally 5.6 miles.  I can’t grasp that kind of power to throw something up that far into the atmosphere; 5.6 miles into the atmosphere. There was another one next to it that they were talking about possibly erupting, Katla.  That was some of the news at that time. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37371442/ns/world_news-europe

May 27th - here is an article from the ‘Economic Times’ in London...it says, ‘the second much larger volcano In Iceland is showing signs that it may be about to erupt.’  And so that’s been going around.  It hasn’t happened... but again... incredible things here taking place. http://beforeitsnews.com/news/50/985/2nd_Iceland_volcano_issues_warning_Scientists_say_powerful_Katla_is_close_to_failure.html

May 28th, big volcanic eruptions in Guatemala and Ecuador.  Here’s the article from the ‘Associated Press’ that says... and you hardly hear about this... ‘Explosive eruption shook two huge volcanoes in Central and South America on Friday, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes and disrupting air traffic as ash drifted over major cities. Guatemala’s volcano started erupting lava and rocks Thursday afternoon blanketing the countries capital with ash and forcing  the closure of the International Airport.’

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/29/tech/main6530836.shtml

Guatemala’s was a small one, but the one in Europe – what was it? I couldn’t believe the number of people from the UK that couldn’t make it back home, the number of people that were stranded worldwide as well.  10,000,000... very high, almost unbelievable to think there were that many people stranded that couldn’t get around in Europe for a while because they closed down the traffic, the things that were taking place here. Incredible things taking place here!

http://httpwww.helium.com/items/1824944-volcanic-ash-iceland-britains-airports-british-airspace-shut-british-tourism

Going on; different things out here that people don’t even pay attention to anymore that has been growing in magnitude.  In time you just hear it on occasion, but this one here was entitled ‘Buzz Kill! Is this ‘Bee Armageddon’?’  Well, you know they use these terms here, but bees have been dying and people think... “Oh, what’s the big deal about bees dying off?”  Well, it’s just all part of something else that’s going on.  You think... “This is not a good time to be experiencing that on the earth when everything else is taking place because it’s going to have an impact when it’s all said and done.”  It talks about honey bees disappearing and they’re mystified by it; scientists can’t figure it out.  Anyway, this has been going on for some time, it’s just getting worse; and it talks about how it definitely has an effect upon the stores of food and so forth.  http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=143737

April 20: goofy things... ‘Ghost sightings the highest in 25 years.’  Do you know why?  I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but again, all the UFO things that are out there... do you know why they’re back again and why the Catholic church, like I commented on that some time back, when they said that, “Maybe there’s something out there.  Maybe there’s life out there somewhere.”  Well, it all fits into prophecy and spirit beings are stirred up.  This is all a part of this in things that are happening in the world.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7631387/Ghost-sightings-highest-in-25-years.html

May 4 – ‘U.S. stocks stumbled with benchmark indices slumping the most since February with the concern of Europe’s government debt crisis that will spread beyond Greece.  The euro slid below $1.30 for the first time in more than a year...’ and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  Over and over again, all these things happening back and forth, back and forth and they try to get the stock market back up and then other things come out.  What amazes me is when some of the news is so bad and the stock market keeps going up.  I think... “What are they smoking over there?”

May 28th – ‘U.S. Stocks slid capping the worst day for the Dow Jones industrial average since 1940 while the euro slumped and treasuries rose as the downgrade of Spain’s debt rating and escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula triggered a flight from riskier assents.’ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-05-28/stocks-extend-rebound-from-nine-month-low-u-s-futures-advance-oil-gains.html

All these act together.  After a while... who thinks about what happened over in Korea; but that’s how volatile things are and people become numb to all this.  That was not a nice thing that took place and the potential of what can happen over there on the Korean peninsula.  But it’s not time.  We know that.  But still... incredible what’s happening in the world.

Here’s one that has turned into a lot worse than the date of this article.  May 4th – Associated Press; ‘Paranoia, Anxiety Grow over Gulf Coast Oil Spill’...and it’s gotten a lot larger – it truly has; a whole lot worse as time has gone on.  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/05/paranoia-anxiety-grow-gulf-coast-oil-spill/

And all these are just Thunders that just continue on and on and on.  And that’s not over with.

‘Germany, Greece and exiting the eurozone’.  All these articles that came out because of what’s happening; it’s like it’s the end of the euro and all the different experts out there begin to talk about, “Yeah, Germany’s going to vacate or they’re going to push Greece out of it.”  Well, it got a little close on some of that.  There is going to come a point in time when there will not be 16 or 17 tied into the Euro, but there will be 10 nations that come together as one and this is all part of what’s pushing them toward that.  http://www.eurobench.com/forum/onderwerp.aspx?Id=1245267&p=1

So you’re living through some incredible things with a front row seat and don’t let it pass you by.  Don’t do what the rest of the world is doing in the sense of becoming numb by it all. I’m going to pass through a bunch of these articles... but I have so many articles, there’s so many things we could talk about that have been in the news I’m not even going to cover them; things about the economy, different things that have been just ongoing, continually, things about Europe and so forth – on and on it goes here.

This was an amazing one, ‘Greece urged to give up the Euro’.  Isn’t that just like the British to tell them something like this...because they’re not in the euro, I wonder what their motives are in doing this one here.  I have to read this...

The Greek government has been advised by British economists to leave the euro and default on the €300 billion (£255 billion) debt to save its economy.  The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London based consultancy, has warned Greek ministers they will be unable to escape their debt trap without devaluing their own currency to boost exports.  The only way this can happen is if Greece returns to its own currency.  Greek politicians have played down the prospect of abandoning the euro, which could lead to the break-up of the single currency.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7140270.ece

Well, it won’t lead to the break-up of it.

I wish we had more time; I’d like to read some more of these.  Weather, tornadoes, floods... look at different places in the world.

May 25th – Flooding in Poland some of the worst in centuries since the 19th Century. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10152795.stm

Central America, Guatemala, different areas with massive flooding that’s been taking place.  Flooding right now that’s taking place in China.  Little things that are happen over here.  Again, they’re fast, they’re happening quickly.  Arkansas floods, Oklahoma City flooding, different things that are taking place; Beijing and the number of people who have died over there because of some of these things.  At one point 4 million people were evacuated.

It’s not that these things haven’t happened before, they have!  Floods are not new!  Volcanoes are not new!  Earthquakes are not new!  ...but the intensity, the frequency – that is new because we continue to enter into a time when things have not happened like they’re happening now.  The things happening in Israel...  I don’t have time to go through all these.  Things happening in Israel and on and on it goes in that part of the world and some of the movement of troops and ships right now in the region there and some off the things that Egypt is saying, that they feel, their people believe that this is getting ready for Israel finally to strike at Iran. Someday they’re going to; someday they can’t put it off any longer.  It depends on what they believe as far as some of their reports coming out and how close they believe that they are to having a nuclear weapon; because they’re not going to stand for it and they’re not going to sit around waiting for the world’s approval because they know they’re not going to get it.

I want to read one more here.  I found this really interesting.  It’s an incredible thing that’s happening with a very powerful Thunder in the sense of what’s happening; because it’s about the economy.  One thing after another keeps whittling away at us, but what’s taking place out in the Gulf is not a small thing.  The amount of life that’s being destroyed, sea life in the world that is being destroyed; and things that this can lead to... it is a Thunder, but I’ll tell you what, it’s so powerful it’s close to a Trumpet.  But it’s not; at least not yet.  Could it lead into something like that?  I don’t know, anything can happen.  Who knows what will happen in time here and what will lead to the eventuality of some of these things being done because they’re all tied together.  Trumpets, Thunders... they’re all tied together; they all work together just as the Seals – everything has always worked together in God’s plan.  I found this interesting here.  It says, ‘Oil Volcano Pressure Too Strong for Containment.’  I found this to be an incredible article.

http://www.rense.com/general91/oilor.htm

Oil Volcano Pressure Too

Strong For Containment

Dr. James P. Wickstrom

6-9-10

It has been estimated by experts that the pressure which blows the oil into the Gulf waters is estimated to be between 20,000 and 70,000 PSI (pounds per square inch)...

That’s incredible.  I don’t know if you know it but if you get water at a high enough pressure you can cut metal.  I’ve seen the machines.  They cut through metal.  And it’s an incredible thing...but not even at these pressures, that they can do some of that with water, just water alone, in a jet of water that can do something like that.  But anyway, because of some of that and understanding of some of those things I found this tremendously interesting.

...The estimated super high pressure release of oil from under the earth's crust is between 80,000 to 100,000 barrels per day.

The flow of oil and toxic gases is bringing up with it... rocks and sand which causes the flow to create a sandblasting effect on the remaining well head device currently somewhat restricting the flow, as well as the drilled hole itself.

And so these water jets that cut out... they actually mix a type of grit, sand, a very, very fine sand and it’s not just the water.  It does have a grit in it and so that’s why I found this immensely interesting of what it’s saying here.

As the well head becomes worn it enlarges the passageway allowing an ever-increasing flow. Even if some device could be placed onto the existing wellhead, it would not be able to shut off the flow, because what remains of the existing wellhead would not be able to contain the pressure.

The well head piping is originally about 2 inches thick.

That’s pretty thick.  Why?  Because of the kind of pressure that’s there.

It is now likely to be less than 1 inch thick, and thinning by each passing moment. The oil has now reached the Gulf Stream and is entering the Oceanic current which is at least four times stronger than the current in the Gulf...

So when it gets into that, in other words, it goes faster.

...which will carry it throughout the world within 18 months.

The oil along with the gasses, including benzene and many other toxins, is deleting the oxygen in the water. This is killing all life in the ocean.

Did you see the thing about the sharks and why they think they’re coming up more now because they feel it has to do with oxygen and their not being able to breathe and so forth.  So where some of these things are growing is far, far beyond what people even comprehend at this point because they don’t know the magnitude of all this yet.  And so anyway it goes on to say here...

Along with the oil along the shores...

...At some point the drilled hole in the earth will enlarge itself beneath the wellhead to weaken the area the wellhead rests upon. The intense pressure will then push the wellhead off the hole allowing a direct unrestricted flow of oil, etc.

It’s saying in this article here that they can’t cap it, because if they do, if they were successfully able to do that, that the metal walls of the pipe are now so thing that the pressure is so great that it couldn’t contain it.  It would actually cause it to blow at that point in time...that any chance of doing anything at that point would be restricted.  And I’ve heard of all kinds of crazy things... possibly drilling down at an angle, putting a nuclear device in there because the Russians they think did it at one time to stop a fire.  These things can so backfire because they have no comprehension of what they’re dealing with.  We haven’t seen the end of this by any measure and what it leads into is going to be interesting to watch as it comes to pass, as things take place here...because this is going to go on and on and on and on... and so what if they put a big funnel above it and suck up some oil and put it in the ship.  It’s absolute insanity and it’s a joke too; it’s to make people feel better that something’s being done.  And there’s nothing that’s good about it, there’s nothing being done that’s good about it.

The hole will continue to increase in size allowing more and more oil to rise into the Gulf. After several billion barrels of oil have been released, the pressure within the massive cavity five miles beneath the ocean floor will begin to normalize.

I can see them doing something stupid like using a nuclear device but if they don’t do it, this is what they think can happen.

This will allow the water, under the intense pressure at 1 mile deep, to be forced into the hole and the cavity where the oil was. The temperature at that depth is near 400 degrees, possibly more.

And so the point is that as the water goes down into it, as things begin to normalize and the temperatures being what they are, that they’re talking about an ability to actually lift part of the Gulf floor – that that could be so great.  There are things about volcanoes and so forth and what happens under them that they understand when things are being raised.  We’re talking about those kinds of pressures and when you put water and so forth into those things and some of the raising effects.  I don’t want to tell you what some of their thoughts are but they’re talking about some horrifying things that could take place...but we don’t know.  And so again, we have a front row seat.  Don’t let it pass you by and what it should do in your life to keep you focused with an understanding of what we’re going through and what we’re living through because we have gone through 2/7th’s – we have 5/7th’s to go, we have quite a bit of time ahead of us, we really do.  It seems like this has gone by awfully fast, but if you look at the intensity of things happening here... hold on because we’re now in a period called the ‘Times’ and we’re going to see some awesomely incredible things.

But I put a cautionary thing out there too... don’t try to figure out what’s going to happen and talk about it to the point and degree that it’s like “this is what must happen,” just as I mentioned here... I have no idea. I know that this thing with the oil is not over with by any measure.  Could it turn into something catastrophic?  Yes.  But there are a lot of other things that can be very catastrophic.  The point being is that catastrophic things are coming fast and we need to keep focused and hence next Sabbath's sermon.

~~~end

1. I Corinthians 1:27

2. Matthew 22:21/Mark 12:17/Luke 20:25

3. I Samuel 8:11-18

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