Transcription
So, let's go with the first question. I trust that the guys have got it queued up. [cough] Excuse [clears throat] me. Will we be raptured before Ezekiel 38 or after? We don't know. Nobody knows. Here's the happy answer, though, that everybody agrees on who studies Bible prophecy in Ezekiel 38. The rapture will take place either right before or right after Ezekiel 38. That we know. Is it before or after? We don't know. But we know this, that it's before or after, very close to, not far away from. Does that, is that an answer? Can you get that?
So, because we don't know before or after, but we know that that event causes God, uh, the Holy Spirit of God to be poured out upon Israel, and their eyes will be opened, and they will see that He is God, indicates that the rapture will take place before that happens because the church and Israel are two completely separate entities, uh, of God's work. Israel is Israel. The church is church. But all those who are saved must be born again. If you're a Jew or Gentile, it doesn't matter. You got to be born again to see the kingdom of heaven. But we are right now. If you, if you could see a timeline right now, you would see that we are right at the end of what is known as the church age. It started on the day of Pentecost. And, and this is fun. The Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, didn't He? And then Jesus tells us in John 14 that we will be caught up. Uh, 1 Thessalonians 4 as well, that we'll be caught up. And, um, I believe that the Holy Spirit will be the one who delivers the church into the hands of Jesus. I think that's His job, if I understand the Bible right. And so Ezekiel 38's very important. So, you, everybody, really, really, I encourage all of you, you should read Ezekiel 38 and almost have it committed to memory, uh, because it's so pivotal, uh, tremendous prophecy.
Next question. What does Jesus mean, "this generation will not pass away"? Does that mean that those born in 1948 and after will, uh, be here for the rapture? Some people believe that. Some people believe that it's, uh, there's various, uh, beliefs of what that means. Um, there's one thing certain for sure. When Jesus says, "this generation will not pass away," He's talking about there's a generation of people that will see the end time events. Because everybody, I hope you realize this or not, but the end time events according to the Bible, uh, do you realize that the book of Revelation is 22 chapters long, but the bulk of the book of Revelation covers an area or a time that is, uh, heavily, uh, populated with a seven-year period? You never think about that, do you? Book of Revelation. Such a big book, but it's really focused mostly, not exclusively, but mostly on a seven-year period of time. That said, um, the generation in, in the Bible is definitely described in various ways as, for example, 40 years. Then it's described as 70 years. Some say it's been described, uh, as at 120 years. Well, just because, I mean, due to the fact that there is speculation on what it means, it means this, that we cannot know exactly a numerical time frame. That's why many have come to understand that this generation, that what that this generation that sees the fig tree put forth its leaves, Jesus said in the Gospels, the fig tree. Why the fig tree? The fig tree is the symbol of the nation of Israel. Is He saying that's why the questioner is saying 1948? Is it true that if Israel was born a second time as a nation, as the Bible said they would, in 1948? What do we do? Do we count 40 years? Well, that passed. Do we count 70? Well, that passed. Do we count 120? Well, that has not yet passed. I don't think you should count. I think what it means is since May 14th, 1948, that started the clock ticking, and the world has been almost racing toward the alignment of the end time events. Forget about the rapture. Technically, the rapture is an imminent event. It could have happened prior to 1948. Obviously, it didn't. This is a very, very powerful thing to consider because Jesus is saying, "When you see these things happening, that generation is not going to pass." Wow. So, could that be our time? I hope it's our time. But what if it's not? I'm not going to worry about it because God has His time. Right.
And then finally, some say it simply means that the Jewish people, because the context is all Jewish where that is cited, the Jewish people will never cease to exist. That gener- that generation will never cease to exist because once they're in their land, they'll never, never be taken out of the land, says the prophets. It could mean that as well. I just know this. Much of the news internationally deals with the nation of Israel. Jerusalem, the city, is a big controversy. Nations talk about dividing it up all the time. Can you imagine if nations of the world started to discuss dividing up Washington D.C.? I want you to think about how insane this is. Really think about this. What if the nations of the world sent a, sent a note to America and said, "We are actually going to divide. We, we thought we'd let you know. We are going to divide America right in half. Right down the middle of America. We're going to divide it." What would America say to the other nation? Don't say it out loud. And yet the whole world says that to Israel all the time. Don't you think that's interesting? And what does the Bible say in the Old Testament? That the nations of the world are going to demand that Israel be divided up. And then God says, "I'm going to enter into the jud- I am going to enter into judgment with the nations of the world because they have divided up My land and they have taken captive My sons and My daughters and have led them away into the corners of the earth." There's no people on earth that you can say that applies to. And God says, "It's My land, by the way." I mean, California is nice, but it's, God says it's not mine. I mean, I made it. I'm responsible for it, but I don't live there. I didn't put My name on it, but God said, "I put My name on Israel." Did you know that He said that? That's wild, huh?
Next question. Can you explain Romans 11:25 and what the fullness of the Gentiles means? Yeah, this is, I could explain it, but it's not going to be good enough. The gospel is going to be preached as it is even today, tonight, all around the world for the last 2,000 years, and it's going to continue until I have something in my throat. I'm, I'm not, I'm not going to pass out or anything. I just have some tickle in my throat. Known only to God that the end time events includes this thing called the fullness of the Gentiles. And it's viewed two ways. Number one, it's viewed as when the last Gentile gives his heart to Christ. That's the fullness of the Gentile world being saved, and then God's work goes on with the Jews. Um, I know that I have believed that for years. I still might believe that. The other view, uh, is equally plausible, and that is that the fullness of the Gentiles, when it's complete, then the end comes when the Gentiles seek to destroy, via the Antichrist, Israel during the tribulation period. When that time of their, of, of their actions to try to conquer Israel and conquer the world fails, uh, that's when Christ returns in Armageddon. Uh, so either, both views are popular. Um, I tend to lean toward the first one I gave you. Um, but that, that's what it means. We do not know dogmatically, but it's definitely an end time, last days prophecy that is extremely time-sensitive because when the fullness of the Gentiles happens or comes in, then the next step is that God brings, uh, the, the, uh, the concluding events of His judgment on earth. So, pretty amazing. Um,
Next question. I have a, uh, millennial kingdom question. The word millennial means thousand. I have a, a thousand kingdom question means I have a question regarding the thousand-year reign of the kingdom of God that's promised in the Bible. When a mortal who has been saved during the millennium dies, where does he go? That's a great question. There's going to be mortals. You know how you and I are mortals right now? We are mortals. We are skin and flesh. Thank you. I have water, but thanks. Um, we have, I forgot though. You just reminded me that I had water. So, um, right now, you and I are mortals, and when we, uh, when we are either resurrected, um, or the rapture takes place, we will be transformed. We will experience metamorphose where we will be glorified with or as our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? But listen, when Christ returns in the second coming, and we will be returning with Him, the Bible tells us in Revelation 19, He will judge the nations of the world, and He will then establish His throne. In doing that, and the millennial kingdom will begin. And those mortals, like you and I are now, who survive that tribulation period, there'll be apparently very few. Now, I don't mean few like on my hand, but we don't know how many, but they're going to enter into the kingdom, and they will be those who, who will repopulate the earth. It's called the millennium. It's the rule of Christ. Isaiah says that when a man dies at the age of 100, people are going to mourn for him like a baby died. So that's kind of, that's amazing, right? Longevity. Imagine under the reign of Jesus when you eat a tomato, it's going to be a real tomato. Uh, you, and you're going to get all the benefits out of a real carrot instead of this junk we have now. But, um, so when that, when that individual dies in that, uh, in that age, what becomes of them? What happens? And the book of, um, Dr. John Walrid covers all of the resurrections, and all of this extensively in his book, The, uh, Complete Prophecy Knowledge Handbook by Dr. John Wolver. But it is believed that if that individual dies, their body is returned to the earth, uh, their spirit is in some way, shape, or form with the Lord. But at the end of the thousand years, um, and you can read the book of Revelation, chapter 21 and 22 about that, that, um, they will receive a resurrected body at that time. There are various views on that. That's one of them. But again, I want to refer you to the Prophecy Knowledge Handbook by Dr. John Wolver is probably the greatest work that would cover this. Um, and do keep this in mind. This is a good question, uh, to also bring out, to bring up to you, that, um, we have to be careful that we don't think that there's only one resurrection, and that was Jesus when He rose again from the dead. He was the prototype. He was the forerunner of resurrection. By the way, who was resurrected before Him? Exactly. The difference between Lazarus' resurrection and Jesus's resurrection is Lazarus had to die again. Jesus rose to never die again. That's the resurrection we're interested in, right? But there's resurrections in the Old Testament. You know that. But, um, yeah, so do, so just remember that context is everything.
Uh, next question. Uh, in Ezekiel 36:24, verse, God will be calling His people back home, which I believe is currently happening. I agree with you. I wonder sometimes, do they need to be 100% of Jewish blood to be called back to their homeland, or does this apply to mixed bloodlines? It's absolutely mixed bloodlines. Very few people, if anyone, is 100%, uh, Jewish blood. Think about that for a moment. Oh, you're gonna like this. But before I tell you that part, let me finish this. I got ahead of myself. Um, the Israelis are world-famous for having the technology available to determine your Jewishness. In fact, you might, maybe somebody told you that you're Jewish all your life. If you're Jewish, you know you're Jewish. And if you go, if you say, "Oh, you know what? That's awesome. I'm going to move to Israel." No, you're not. You just can't go move to Israel. Uh, if you go to Israel to become a citizen, you've got to pass the test. And there's a lot of them, but one of them is you have got to have Jewish bloodline. You have to have Jewish blood in you from your mother's side. It has to be from your mother's descendancy. It doesn't count if it's from your father's descendancy. You say, "I don't know if I like that." Doesn't matter if you like it or not. Guess what? If you go make Aliyah, you've got to prove. And by the way, that you don't have to prove it. Sorry. You just fill out the application. They'll prove it because they will take DNA, they will take your blood, and they'll let you know if you are a descendant from your mother. It's amazing. Here's the, here's the deal. How much, how much of Joseph's blood was in Jesus? How much of Mary's blood was in Jesus? All of it. Think of it. To this day, it's the blood of the mother that determines, uh, your citizenship to return to the nation. Jesus is coming back to the, to return to the nation, and He has His mother's blood. Is that heavy? Biologists, chemists, think that through for a moment. That's powerful. But, uh, I don't know that that should keep you, uh, that should keep you on the internet all night searching that. Um, yeah. No, there's, there's very few, I mean, I mean, it's not a lot of people who, uh, possibly would have 100% Jewish blood. Um, but they're able to, uh, trace even the, the, uh, the smallest connection, which is beautiful if you think about, we're talking about race, not race. Sorry, that's the wrong term. God doesn't speak in races. You know, we do that because we're dumb. You know that it's terrible of us as humans to talk about other races. There are no other races. Uh, the Japanese are not a race. The Jews are not a race. Caucasians or blacks are not racist. You know this thing, racism, it's terrible. We are human beings. We are humans. We're one. And when we get into these divisions, it's, I think it breaks the heart of God. There's not, you know, we are the human race. There's not a subhuman race or an advanced human race. We are humans. This is our race. Yeah, but I'm Filipino. No, we're all in this together, folks. Just, just remember that. It's, it's amazing. I could really go off on on that for a while. Um, you study the table of nations in the book of Genesis 10, and you look at Darwin's theory that there's evolution that's built into the human being or animals or all things created. It's absolutely insane what Darwin was thinking. Uh, the table of nations in Genesis chapter 10, when the continents broke up after Babel and the dispersion of humanity, God said, "I'm going to drive them out to the all the corners of the earth. I'm going to drive them out. I'm going to divide them, and I'm also going to send confusion to them. They won't be able to speak the same language." Isn't that amazing? From that moment on, that was the judgment at Babel. They're talking, they're carrying on, "Hey, hand me a brick." And then God brought down judgment. The guy goes, and this guy goes, and they, total confusion. Um, and He drove them away, that the human being, this is so cool. The human being over time, when you look at the pigmentation of skin of people groups who reside in certain environments where there is a lot, lot of heat or sun, not so much cold environments, tropical environments. Did you know that over time, in reproduction, built into the human and all DNA is the variation within a species? Did you know that? Did you know that the reason why Africans are Africans is because their body adjusted to the region in which they live? Did you know why those of who are of the north are light-eyed and light-skinned and light-haired? Because that environment made variation within their, uh, human DNA. I shouldn't say changes in the DNA. The DNA has the ability to make variation within the species. Never is it ever scientifically seen ever where one species changes into another species. And so you're this, you're not, this is, you don't want to know this, but right now we're not getting much rain. You know what I know? If it stays like this in the springtime, the birds will be hatched. All birds in this area will be hatched with smaller beaks. You say, "What?" You learned this in school. You just forgot. When there's heavy rains and lots of growth, the next generation of animal life, in this case birds, when there's heavy rain produces lots of plant life. Plant life growing in spring has lots of seeds, flowers, seeds. What does God do? Built in within the variation of a sparrow or any other kind of seeding bird, their beaks will be stronger and larger. Now, you won't look. You won't say, "Oh my goodness, look at the beak on that sparrow." You would never. We would never notice it. But scientists know this. Scientists measure this stuff. Why the, why the bigger beak? Because it rains a lot. Because there's a lot more seed to consume. And they're going to need stronger and more beak mass material and strength to consume the seeds. And it's, and that variation happens in all species and all of their environments. But no species goes to some other species. You didn't even ask that question. Boy, did I go off.
Next question. How do we help the church remain biblically watchful of prophecy while guarding against fear, conspiracy, and prophetic fatigue in the constant 24-hour news cycle? That's a great, that's a very, uh, great question. Um, it's, to be honest with you, it's an accurate question. It's just very sad. It's a sad question because it's, it's true. So, watch this. Can I read, can I read this person's question backwards? I'll answer it this way. Because of the 24-hour news cycle, everybody's got fatigue. We are information overload. Even if it's not true information, so much is not true. Conspiracy, conspiracies are tough because there are conspiracies. There will always be conspiracies. But conspiracies by nature, a conspira- by nature and by definition, a conspiracy is not necessarily false. Did you know that? You've been trained in your modern life to think that the word conspiracy is false. That it means something false. Why? Why do you think that? You've been conditioned to think that. I, I'll give you, I'll give you a conspiracy. There was a conspiracy that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to be elected in his first term. It was such a conspiracy that he was impeached. When the change of power took place and people had access to information, they published that information and showed that that conspiracy was in fact a false conspiracy because there was an actual true conspiracy, and that conspiracy directly leg- I'm not saying anything that's not legal. I'm telling you right now, uh, what was unearthed was that, uh, Hillary Clinton and her company and some others actually fabricated with help of Eric Holder and others, uh, that conspiracy, the Doss- the the Steele dossier, and what was a conspiracy regarding, I mean, uh, Robert Muller turned out to be, uh, that he was the one that literally crafted a conspiracy. So, the point is this. When you hear information, don't get all excited about it. No matter what it is, you got to wait, friend. Listen, wait it out. We are overloaded, and people who have a tendency to just hang on Bible prophecy teachings, that's not healthy. There are people who just, that's all they'll listen to is Bible prophecy. They just scan the internet constantly, and they listen to 5,000 people, different 5,000 different messages on Bible prophecy. Dude, you're going to go nuts. You're going to go crazy because God never intended you to do that. You're supposed to have the full counsel of God. That's how you'll be normal. Um, so you want to be careful because if you start to get pro, what do you call prophecy fatigue or something like that? That's a self-inflicted wound. You did that to you. Don't do that. And so for the church to be watchful regarding Bible prophecy, the church need needs to teach the word of God, uh, consistently, accurately, and in a balanced way, and balance is the key right there. A lot of churches don't do that, unfortunately. So, but even reading your question gave me fatigue. It's a, it's real.
Next question. And then, then we'll have to, we'll have to wrap this up. How do you, how do you see AI playing a part in the end times? Absolutely total. I mean, who can, who can deny that? I mean, holy moly. Uh, AI is going to play a, I mean, look, I don't have a crystal ball. AI though is the, uh, it's, it's another world, and, um, everybody's on the bandwagon. Everybody's headlong going trying to be the first company to manage this and to get that and to do the other. It's kind of funny though, because all of this AI talk has, uh, I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but all of the AI drive has really, really shut down the tree huggers and the environmentalists. When's the last time you heard about envir- environmentalism? Honestly, really think about it. When was the last time you heard environmentalism? All of a sudden, that's gone. Have you noticed? Are you guys awake? Have you noticed it's gone? The conversation is gone. Why is it gone? Because it turns out you can't have AI without huge, impossible amounts of energy. The biggest problem with AI is that no one's got enough energy to create it. And everybody's racing to create enough energy to be able to create it because whoever creates it, the meanest, the biggest, the baddest first wins. And we are right now today, right now, this second, at in a race with China and India. Whoever wins the AI race will dominate the world. And we're not looking so good. China is kicking the door down, man. They are, they are, uh, just tremendous at it, and we're trying to catch up. Our nation has been sleeping a lot. Plus, we honestly, we cannot produce public school kids. Our public school children that are coming out of public school cannot compete with the Europeans, and the Europeans cannot compete with the Chinese. They are by far way, way smarter than us. Just hands down smarter, smarter in disciplines, intellectually developed. But this is a precarious time. AI. Wow. I think the image of the beast that you'll read about in the book of Revelation tonight when you go home and read for two hours and 54 minutes. I think that statue in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, I think it's AI generated or at least AI empowered. Um, because it's even going to be so animated that the book of Revelation says that breath was given to it that it could both, um, discern who's got the mark and who doesn't got the right ID, you know. Amen. Wow. It's just amazing.
So, I listen, let's all stand. I hope you have a healthy respect for the Bible. Isn't it great? And like, maybe you're new here tonight and you're saying, "Oh, you know, let's go to a church on a Wednesday night and do something really dumb." [laughter] And so you've come here and you're going, "Wait a minute. You're talking about this? Are you talking about the same book I'm talking about? The Bible? Isn't it like all dusty with like spiderwebs on it?" Yeah. No, it's, uh, it's, uh, it's, it's a book given to us, uh, not only from outer space but from out of our time. God has given us this book, and it is a, it's a document that speaks to us and reveals the past, the present, and the future. Uh, the Bible says of itself that it's alive. That ought to keep you up tonight.
Father, we thank You for tonight. Lord God, we pray that we'd leave this place this evening holding this wonderful book. And, and when I say book, I'm so grateful that there's a new generation of kids, teenagers, that they think buying a book is so cool to own a book. It's so, it's so new to them, and they're buying Bibles. Lord, that is awesome. Father God, we thank You that You've communicated to us this time-tested truth, the word of God, the Bible. You've never failed. Nothing in it's ever been wrong. Nothing ever is going to be wrong. And it, it tells the story of man and how things could end for each individual if they so choose. Heaven or hell, light or darkness, an eternal world of hate, or being in the love of God with Christ. Lord, we thank You for Your goodness and Your grace. Bless and keep all of these that are going home tonight. Keep them safe. Watch over them, Lord. May Your Holy Spirit surround them, guide them, lead them, speak to them, Lord. Bless their children, Lord God, their homes. By the time they get home, may Your, Your Spirit have already gone ahead of them. And Lord, may they have a greater intensity and pursuit to seek Your heart. And may they walk with You, Lord, until we, may we all walk with You, Lord, until we walk into the kingdom with You. We pray in Jesus name. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. God bless you guys. We'll see you Sunday. [applause]