Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. We have an amazing presentation. In fact, this presentation is part of Two Together Back to back. We're looking this time at globalism, the great Roman comeback. You know, we've been noticing these three beasts, haven't we? The dragon, the sea beast and the land beast. These three beasts together form what we could call a global world order because of the impact they're going to have across the world. These three powers, as we've seen, seek global worship. Your allegiance and my allegiance to the whole world in the end times. Now we've noticed who the dragon is. This is Satan, right? We exposed who that dragon is much earlier. Well, what we want to look at this time is, okay, who are these other two beasts? In this presentation we want to look at the, the sea beast. Who is the sea beast? The beast that comes up out of the briny ocean. To understand what this beast is all about, we're going to need to go to university history and to current events that are taking place in our world today. What we're going to see is exactly what Jesus said. I tell you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you, you might believe. God gives us these predictions not so that we can be clever and so that we can sort of, you know, this is going to happen, this is going to happen, but so that when that happens our faith in the God of the Bible will increase. And that's one of the great reasons he shares this for us. Of course, it's to help us to be prepared for what is coming. Of course. So what about this beast from the sea? Who is this strange beast that comes up out of the briny ocean there? Let's notice what the Bible says. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. It had his feet were like the feet of a bear and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority. Did you notice that there are this beast is made up of different beasts all combined together. Remember we saw these beasts in complete beasts in Daniel chapter seven. A lion with eagle's wings, a bear raised up on one side with three ribs in its mouth, a four headed leopard and a horrible monster beast. Now John has these parts of these beasts all on one. Now what's he saying? John is wanting us to go back to the book of Daniel. That's going to be one way to understand what's going on here. You see this beast with these different animals all joined together on one beast, a composite beast. This is Actually going to be the same power as the little horn in Daniel chapter seven. Remember on that beast, ten horns and one horn came up. And as it came up, it pulled up three. As it came to power, we saw that little horn represents the medieval Dark age Christian church. And now John is telling us this beast that rises up from the sea is the same power. But now he's going to give us much more information and he's also going to give us six identifying characteristics so that we can know that for sure. What we're talking about here is a system. We're not talking about individuals. God's talking about a system that comes together in the end times that combines with these other two beasts. All right, so let's notice. Number one identifying characteristic for this beast is that it arises in a populated region of the Earth. Notice what John saw then. I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now, in the Bible, in prophecy, the seas or the waters represent regions of large population. John saw a prostitute sitting on. On the waters. In Revelation, chapter 17, we're going to talk about that. That woman, that prostitute lady in a coming presentation in our program called Night Cry, Demonic dimensions. You mustn't miss that, you'll understand. But this woman sitting on the waters, what does the waters represent that she sits on notice. Then he said to me, the waters which you saw where the prostitute or the harlot sits, they are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, large masses of people, in other words, represented by the seas or the waters. And that's exactly where the medieval Dark age Christian church arose and came to power. It arose and populated what we call the breakup of the old Roman Empire, which we call Western Europe. That's where it arose, and that's a large population area compared to other parts of the planet. But there's a second identifying characteristic that John G. Continues to give us, and that is this, that ancient Rome gave it its power. The ancient pagan Roman Empire gave it its power. Notice what John saw. The dragon gave him his power, his throne and great authority. Now you say, but isn't the dragon Satan? Yes, of course. But Satan doesn't come around with a pitchfork in one hand, pointy tail and a couple of horns, does he? No. We saw the dragon always uses fronts. You remember the first front that the dragon used, Satan used was a talking snake. Then the front down in the book of Ezekiel, it was the king of Tyre. In the book of Isaiah, the front for the dragon was the king of Babylon. So he always uses fronts. Now, In Revelation, chapter 12, we find that the main power talked about is ancient Rome because it's an ancient Roman official called Herod the Great who tried to kill the baby Jesus. Remember, the woman was pregnant and when she gave birth, it was about to give birth. The dragon stood to devour the child as soon as it was born. Well, that's what King Herod did. And he was a puppet of the Roman government. It was a Roman governor, you will recall, who condemned Jesus to death. Pontius Pilate. It were Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus and nailed him to a cross. It was Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb of Jesus. But he broke the seals and the ropes that sort of surrounded the stone in front of the tomb. He smashed it all when he came to life. But it was the Romans that the dragon was working through at this time. So this is why historians tell us very clearly what happened after the pagan Roman Empire. Notice what happens. We go to the Professor Labianca, the University of Rome, the History department. Notice to the succession of the Caesars. In other words, following the succession of the Roman emperors came the succession of the pontiffs, the bishops of Rome. When Constantine left Rome, he gave his seat or is thrown to the pontiff or the bishop of Rome. Now, you recall when Western Rome was being broken up, the barbaric tribes were the ones that were doing it. They attacked the Roman Empire in the west, what we call Western Europe today. Those barbaric tribes wanted their independence, wanted to take their bit of turf. The Anglo Saxons became the English, the Franks became the French and so on. Well, Constantine could see that the future of his Roman Empire lay not in the west because this is what was starting to happen in his day. He could see these barbaric tribes wanted their independence. He could see the future of the Roman Empire lay in the East. And so he moved his capital to Constantinople. He was the first one to do it. And other emperors followed suit, followed his example. So the Romans, now the leaders, the emperors, moved to the East. Now this leaves a vacancy in the western part of the Roman Empire. And Stanley's history tells us what happened. The popes or the bishops filled the place of the vacant emperors of Rome, inheriting their power, their prestige, their titles from paganism. And that's true. You can see that when you visit Rome. Today I take groups to Rome and we see some of these things as we visit the remains of the old Roman Empire and what has transpired since. Let me give you an example of what Stanley is saying when he says that the bishops inherited the titles of the Roman Caesars. Here we are at the Colosseum, this magnificent structure right there in Rome. It's an amazing building. This is where many Christians lost their lives. But you'll notice on the right and left, Caesar Augustus. He takes a title called Pontifex Maximus. Basically means he's the chief priest of the state religion, Pontifex Maximus. This title was also taken by the bishops of Rome as time went on. For example, you will notice here we are at the Church of St. John of Laterano on the left. This was the great centre for the Church of Rome in medieval times, before St. Peter's Basilica was built. The famous building right there in Rome today. You will notice in the top left hand corner there is a name here, we'll bring it up closer here. It's one of the bishops of Rome called Clement xii. Notice his title Pont Max. This is short for Pontifex Maximus, the same title that the emperors of Rome had. We even see it in more modern times today. Remember Benedictus xvi? Pope Benedict, he had the same title. Here is a medallion that we see here where he takes the title Pontifex Maximus. This medallion commemorates what we call the Lateran Treaty between Mussolini and Cardinal gasparri there in 1929. But you will notice his title Pontifex. There it is there. Maximus. This is one of the titles of the Roman Emperors which now the bishops of Rome are taking. This is exactly what the Church sees itself. That's why it's called the Church of Rome, because they are the successors of the old Roman emperor Empire Number two. Ancient Rome gives the Church of Rome its power. That's what John saw in this amazing prophecy. Number three. The third identify characteristic is that this power would rule for 12, 60 years. Notice what the Bible says. As John is given this amazing vision, he was given authority to continue for 42 months. Now you say how do you get 42 months? 12, 60 years, I should say from 42 months. Well, it's very simple. You see in ancient times in the Bible a biblical month had 30 days. They didn't have 31 or 29, just 30 days. And every now and again they'd have an extra month to bring it in line with what we call the solar calendar and so on. 30 days. Now if there's 42 months, we just need to multiply 42 by 30 and you're going to come to 1260. And then of course, in Bible prophecy. Cause that's what we're dealing with. The dragon's not a real dragon. It's a symbol of something. The beast is not a real beast. It symbolizes something. Well, same with the months represent days. And obviously years, 30 days to a month, 12, 60 days. Therefore we have a day for a year. Now, again, we've seen this principle, by the way, it's not only in Ezekiel, when he was doing some street drama we've mentioned, that told to lie on his side in the street there in Babylon. And when the Jewish people came along. What are you doing on the ground? He's lying in front of a pot. Each day he does this represents a year in literal time. Moses was given the same principle, you may recall, when 12 spies were sent out to check out the land of what we ancient times had called Canaan, where we were going to come into that. 12 of the spies, 10 of the 12 of the spies were sent out and 10 of them came back with a very damning report. They said, listen, it's a great land, but there's no way we could conquer it. But two of them said, yeah, it is a great land. And they're giants in that land. But we've got a giant God who's bigger than anything they can handle, they can give us. But the people wouldn't, wouldn't believe these two. And so God said, okay, you don't want to go into this land, all right? You'll wander in this desert for 40 years. Every day that they spy, search the land. 40 days. You'll wander a day for a year. 40 years. This principle is in Bible prophecy, 1000, 260 days. This represents 1260 literal years in time. Now, in 533 A.D. the Emperor Justinian made the Bishop of Rome, said, the bishop of Rome will actually be the head over all the churches. That could not go into effect until 538 A.D. when the last of those three powers was put down, the Ostrogoths. When they were put down in 538, Justinian's decree could go into effect. And now the bishop of Rome is sort of like, he becomes the ruler, if you like, dominates the European, Western European history. For 1260 years. The bishops of Rome and the medieval church, they dominate Western Europe for this incredible period of time. Number four identifying characteristic is that this power would persecute God's people. Notice what the Bible says. It was granted to him to make war with the saints. Now, when you go to the Bible, the Saints doesn't mean some sort of super Christian. Paul always opens his letters by saying to the saints, that means God's holy people. They're holy because they have accepted Jesus and they're set apart from everyone else because they're following Jesus, they're his children. They're different because Christ has accepted them when they've accepted his blood. So they're called the saints, the holy ones, the set apart ones. Paul always begins his letters almost with that same phrase to the saints. So it says he was granted to make war with the saints, God's friends, in other words, and to overcome them. Now, we've seen in previous presentation that persecution was rampant during this 1260 year period. Tragically, somewhere, an estimate between 5 million at the lowest point and 50 million at the upper point, even heard 100 million. But somewhere there that many million people were killed during this time period. And most of them were people in the Church. Godly priests, godly bishops who took a stand on the Bible and tried to call the Church back to the teachings of the Bible. Godly priests who tried to translate the Bible into the language of the people. And they were killed for that. Godly men and women in the Church of Rome were sadly persecuted during this time. The Bible, the history tells us that very clearly. The Church may by divine right confiscate the property of heretics. This is from the Church itself. The Church may by divine right confiscate the property of heretics, imprison their person and condemn them to the flames. In our age, the right to inflict the severest penalties, even death, belongs to the Church. There is no graver offence than heresy, therefore it must be rooted out. What a tragedy. When you think about it, you will recall that when Jesus was here on earth, Peter took the sword and cut the ear of the high priest's servant ear. And Jesus said, put your sword away, Peter. Those who take the sword will perish with the sword. We're not here to inflict physical punishment on people. This is the only sword we wield. Jesus told his disciples, that's the word of God. Let the Bible speak to the hearts of men and women. Remember when James and John were wanting to get a place for Jesus to stay in a Samaritan village. And when they heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, the Samaritan said, nothing doing, you're not coming in here. And James and John said to Jesus, jesus, shall we send fire down from heaven and destroy these people? She said, whoa, hang on a bit here. No, no, no, this is not the method. But sadly now the Church actually believed, even in their document there, that the Church had the right to persecute those who they termed heretics. This was a sad moment in the history of the Church. Number five, the Bible says that it would receive a deadly wound. Notice the words that John wrote here as he saw this vision. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded. Wounded with a deadly wound. Now you remember in 538 A.D. the Emperor Justinian, his decree making the Bishop of Rome the head of all the churches can go into effect in exactly 1260 years later, in 1798, Napoleon's General Berthier marches into the Vatican and takes the Pope prisoner. You see, this is just after the French Revolution and Napoleon's on the march. And so as he comes to Italy, the Pope being against him, he said, right, we're going to take him prisoner. Now, Pope Pius vii, the next Bishop of Rome. Cause they took Pope Pius VI prisoner and exiled him to Valence in France. We mentioned that in a previous presentation. But the next Bishop of Rome, notice how when he was writing in a letter about this capture of the previous pontiff, notice what he said. He referred to this event in correspondence in his letter as a deadly wound. Even the next bishop seems to see this is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. But worse was to come. More was to come, I should say, because Garibaldi's revolution that took place between 1866 and 1870, what did this do? Well, number one, it stripped the Church of Rome of much of her vast land. You see, the Church of Rome owned vast tracts of land in Italy. And Garibaldi basically said, we'll have that for the government, thank you very much. And he took that from the Church of Rome. But the second thing, basically, he made sure that the Bishop of Rome was virtually a prisoner in the Vatican. Now, when historians, and when people at the time saw this, they said, this is the end of the Church of Rome with what Napoleon's done, what's happened under Garibaldi, this is the end of the Church of Rome. It's had a powerful influence for 12, 60 years, but now it's come to an end. But I want you to notice what the Bible said. The Bible said, no, no, no, that's not the end. It's amazing, isn't it? Human beings can have one idea, but God's word is says something different. Because God can see the end from the beginning. God can see into the future where humans can't. While most people said the Church of Rome is finished. This is not what God's word said. Notice what John saw. He saw that the deadly wound would be healed. It's amazing what he saw. Let's go to the passage in the Bible. And his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast after the deadly wound was healed. You see. Now you may recall in 1929, if you know a little bit about the history of the Church at this time, 1929, Mussolini, the Italian dictator, signed a very important concordat, an agreement with the Church of Rome. Cardinal Gaspari was the man who was signing on behalf of the Church, known as the Lateran Treaty. Very famous. We just saw that medallion for Pope Benedict XVI where it commemorated this event. What happened here was very astounding. Remember, the Bishop of Rome had basically been a prisoner in the Vatican. And the Vatican was a part of Italy back then. But the Lateran Treaty said this. The Vatican is now an independent country in Italy. It's not part of Italy, it's another country. Now, when this concordat was signed with Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri, I want you to notice what the San Francisco Chronicle had how it captioned this. The mortal wound is healed. Even the newspaper people can see this is a fulfillment of prophecy. The mortal wound is healed. And ever since this time, the Church of Rome has been growing in influence in our world. Let's give a few examples of how we see that influence is growing. Think about the first 12 years of Pope John Paul II. He was a very beloved Bishop of Rome by his people. I've been to Poland a couple of times and been to Czestochowa where huge crowds gathered. When this Polish man became the Bishop of Rome, of course this was a very important moment for the Polish people. But he was known as the globe trotting Pope for good reasons. He traveled so much, his influence was wide when he was in control there or in leadership in the Vatican. Notice this man visited 90 nations in his first 12 years. That's a lot of traveling, isn't it? He was seen or heard by 3.5 billion people during his pontificate. That's half the world's population today. The Church of Rome we're going to see exercises incredible global political power today. Do you know that 176 nations thereabouts have diplomatic relations with the Vatican? That's because they see this as not just a church, but it's a state, it's a political entity. That's what diplomats are all about. Right? You send diplomats to countries and so over 170 nations have diplomatic relations with the Vatican today. And any politician that's worth his salt will end up having an audience with the Bishop of Rome, no matter what country they almost come from, whether it's Russia, whether it's America, you name it, sooner or later that leader will want to have an audience with the Bishop of Rome, whoever the Bishop of Rome might happen to be at that time. Amazing, when you think about it, when the Bishop of Rome visited the United states back in 1979 to come to the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim was the Secretary General of the United Nations. I want you to notice what this man said of this experience when he met the Bishop of Rome. This is one of my greatest experiences, said this leader of the United Nations. Then I want you to notice what a scholar has said about the pontificate of Pope John Paul II in an article called Papal Foreign Policy. This article appeared in a journal to the diplomatic corps, to the diplomats, and it was written by J. Brian He. Her. He's the professor of. Was the professor of Ethics and International Politics at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Very active in this field. In other words, notice what he said of Pope John Paul's pontificate. He said, this is the most activist papacy in modern history. And then he went on to say, not since the middle, that is the Dark Ages can a comparably broad conception of papal activity be found. We've not seen anything like this since the time of the Dark Ages, the activity. And he finally said, the Vatican acts like a state, but not simply a state because it's a religious power as well. You see, people in the world today recognise very clearly the tremendous political influence that the Church of Rome exercises today. You even see that in the news today. As you will notice what leaders do when they need to, you know, move in a certain direction. Many of them will consult with the Bishop of Rome. Now, I want you to notice this fascinating book. I have this book in my library at home. What's fascinating is it's written by a devout member of the Church of Rome, a former Jesuit priest called Malachi Martin. His book called the Keys of this Blood looks at the pontificate of Pope John Paul ii. I want you to notice what this man, a devout member of the Church of Rome, said. In secular eyes, in non religious eyes, the Roman Church stands alone. The Pope is by definition the world's first fully fledged Geoffrey political leader. So in other words, even those in the Church of Rome recognize what people in secular society see. This is a tremendously powerful force in our political world today, the Church of Rome. How about global religious power? Does the Church of Rome that's mentioned here in John's Revelation, does it exercise religious power? Well, let me give you a few examples that show very clearly just how much power the Church exerts in a spiritual sense. Here we are at the Assisi Prayer Summit. Now, this took place a few years ago. Now, I believe in prayer and I think it's good that people pray together, different groups come together. I think that's a good thing. We don't lose anything by praying together. But I'm just using this as an illustration to show that nobody could have pulled this off, but one person on the planet. 160 leaders and representatives of divergent groups showed up at this press summit. You will notice that Jews and Muslims came here, Buddhists and Sikhs. These are non Christian religions. Of course, they turned up along with Anglicans and Orthodox Christians from Orthodox churches, like the Russian Orthodox, the Greek Orthodox churches, those sorts of denominations, along with the Reformed churches, Protestant churches and the World Council of Churches. I think even the Dalai Lama was there. And I think there was some, some Red Indians as they used to be called, native Indians from America, North America, they all came to this prayer summit. Only one man could pull all of these people together. Amazing when you think about it. But here's something more amazing than just that. Notice Robert Runcy, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, said, now, this man was once the leader of the 70 million Anglicans in the world. Now, you will recall in history how the Anglican Church formed. You've heard of Henry viii, I'm sure Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife and marry another lady. And the Bishop of Rome rightly said, nothing doing. You don't have biblical grounds for doing what you want to do. Well, Henry VIII basically said, well, then if you, the Pope won't let me, you know, marry this other lady, then I'll become Pope in England. And that's basically what happened. He just said, now the Church of England, which is the Catholic Church of the English, I will be the head of that Church and not the Pope. So that's how the Anglican Church started a breakaway from the Church of Rome way back in the 1500s, thanks to the Henry VIII's desire to marry another lady. But now notice what this leader of the Anglican Church back then had to say. He said, for the universal church for Christians everywhere, I renew the plea I'm pleading with them. Could not all Christians come to reconsider the kind of primacy the number one Bishop position that the Church of the Bishop of Rome had. Could not all Christians come to reconsider the kind of primacy the Bishop of Rome exercised within the early Church, meaning the Church after the New Testament Times are presiding of love for the sake of the unity of the churches in the diversity of their mission. Do you see what this man is saying? Former head of the Anglican Church around the world, you know, the Bishop of Rome, as we saw, he was given number one bishop position among all the Church, all the bishops and over all the churches. Remember Justinian, the emperor we talked about? And now this Anglican leader is saying, couldn't we get back to that position where we all see the Bishop of Rome as the number one leader in the Church? Amazing. But not only that, you will recall back in 2009, it hit the headlines when Pope Benedict XVI invited Anglicans to return to the Catholic Church, the Church of the English to return to the Church of Rome. Now this sure got a lot of attention from the Anglican Church, as you can appreciate. Five bishops jumped ship immediately and joined the Church of Rome, leaving the Anglican Church and joining the Church of Rome. You know, Bulletin magazine in the United States, Bulletin newspaper, which is the Philadelphia's family newspaper, they had an article on this which was astounding. Before I share with you what they wrote, let me share with you a little about the history of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I'm sure you remember the fall of the Berlin Wall because he uses this as an illustration. But you remember that there were demonstrations at the Berlin Wall. My wife and I were actually watching the demonstrations on television. I can remember the moment itself where the guy who's at the Wall, the TV man, he says, it's amazing what's happening. All these people demonstrating here at the Berlin Wall on the east side and on the west side. Of course, he said, I would imagine that in about three years time there won't be a wall by the morning. The next morning, the war was finished. It just happened so quickly, so dramatically, so rapidly. And now this man who's writing this article in the Bulletin, the Philadelphia family newspaper, look what he says when he talked about the fact that the Bishop of Rome was inviting the Anglicans to come back to the Church of Rome. He said, like the falling of the Berlin Wall in 1989, so quickly, so dramatically. The possibility that the Catholic Church of the English, meaning the Anglican Church, might finally come home to Rome in my lifetime was paralyzing. I didn't believe we'd see such a thing. This is an earthquake. He Said the dead end of the Reformation is now apparent. Do you see what he's saying? The Protestant Reformation is really finished now. There's no need for a Protestant Reformation. There's no need for Protestant churches. Astounding when you think of what this man was doing when he invited Anglicans to come back to the Church of Rome. An amazing event back then. But there's more when we see the tremendous religious influence the Church of Rome exercises today. Now, the Church of Rome has said for centuries, from way back in the early years of the Church, after the Bible was written, that a person is right with God by their faith and their human works, their human efforts, by what they do. So those two things together, our faith and our works, this makes us right with God, that we're acceptable to God. But the Protestant Reformation, godly priests and bishops in the Church of Rome saw no, that's not what the Bible teaches. They saw that. The Bible says, no, a person is right with God solely by faith in Christ's death alone. That's what they saw from the Bible. For example, In Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, Paul says these words. He says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself, not of works. It is the gift of God, not of works. So no one can boast. The Bible is very plain. We're saved by faith in Jesus alone, plus nothing, not plus our works. This is what the Protestant reformers taught. But now what is happening in the Christian world is something astounding. Let me share with you the doctrine of justification. Remember, justification means when I come to Jesus, God declares me righteous in his sight, not because of what I've done, but solely on the basis of what Jesus has done. When I accept his death on the cross, I am declared righteous. I am credited with the righteousness of Christ. It's the only righteousness that you and I can ever have to be saved. The perfect righteousness. And we don't have it ourselves, but Jesus going to the cross. When we accept what he did, we are credited, counted as if we never sinned. Now, this idea of the doctrine, the declaration of the doctrine of justification, it has been signed, agreed to, accepted by Lutherans, by Catholics, by Anglicans, by Methodists and the World Communion of Reformed churches. They say we all believe the same thing now. We all believe that we're right with God by faith. But that's not what the Church of Rome still teaches, let me tell you. Because it's all in your definition of faith and so on. No, they still believe that it's something we must do. But now everybody says we believe the same thing. And that's just been signed in recent times by many of these denominations. This is why Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury until very recently, said the reason for the Protestant Reformation is finished. We don't need a Protestant Reformation anymore. Cause we all believe the same thing. On why the Church split way back there in the 1500s. But it's not what the Church of Rome teaches, not the same as what the Bible teaches. The Church of Rome still believes there's something we must do, something we must do to be right with God. Faith plus works. That's still the teaching. And sadly we see many Protestants today moving slowly, steadily back towards Rome. Think of the great Protestant evangelical leaders who have been having audiences with the Bishop of, of Rome. Big name preachers that we're all familiar with. In fact, the Bishop of Rome who just passed away, Francis. His motto, his mantra was that they may be one. You know, the Bible says in a very succinct way, John saw in the book of Revelation, all the world marveled and they followed the beast. That's the sea beast. What we are seeing today, my friends, is that Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes. Jesus said, I tell you these things and he's the one that gave the book of Revelation. I tell you these things so that when it comes to pass, you may believe. God doesn't give us these prophecies so we can point fingers. That's not his purpose of these prophecies. His purpose for these prophecies is so that when they happen as they take place, we might believe. And today we are at this point where all the world is starting to marvel and follow the beast. You know, I thank God for godly men and women in the Church of Rome who love God and who seek to do what God wants them to do. I was in one of the countries of the South Pacific running a series very similar to this on one occasion. And those people that were looking after our sound system was a Roman Catholic couple. They were experts in sound and they had been hired to do our sound system. So we became good friends with these dear people. Husband who was a native of the country and his wife was a Portuguese lady. They were looking after this. And so we became good friends. And I'll never forget the day that the husband came into the building before we ran the program to set up everything. He said, you know, something amazing happened at our cathedral today, at our church, at Church of Rome Cathedral. He said the Bishop made a very important announcement. He got up and he said, you know, folk, you know how I drink alcohol from time to time. He said, I'm going to quit doing that because I don't think it's a good example to my flock. He said, we were blown away because this was on national television. So I said to my friend who was working with me as well there from that country, I said, we must go visit the bishop because he's made a statement which is a very good example to his flock, his members in the church. So we made an appointment with the bishop in the middle of the week. And I remember going into his office and immediately you could tell this man is a God fearing man. Just the way he spoke, just the way he behaved himself. You could tell when a person loves God and wants to follow God. So he told us, he said, you know, the reason I took that stand, the reason I made that announcement was because of the influence of my godly mother. Her influence came upon me and I thought, this is not a good thing. I need to set a good example and quit this drinking. We had prayer with the bishop there in his office. You know, I thank God that in all denominations he has his godly children. He has his children who love him dearly. Not just in ancient times, but today he has his friends. And God is showing us these prophecies not so that we can poke fingers at people, not at all, but that so that we might understand Jesus is coming soon. Jesus is soon to return to this planet. That's why he gives us these prophecies. I want to share with you another story, another dear friend that I had. He was a priest there in Western Australia, where I was working. On occasion. We became good friends, Father Paul and I. He would come to our house and I remember when our daughter, our oldest daughter was going to be baptized, I invited Father Paul to come to the baptism. We had the service, the preaching in the church because, you know, it was raining buckets outside. But my daughter, our oldest daughter, wanted to get baptized in the river like Jesus. So we had the service in the church and then we got in our cars and just bucketing down rain and we drove to the. To the river there. And when we got there, the clouds opened up and the sun came out for a moment or two and we baptized Robin. And then the rain came again. As soon as we finished, the clouds came down, came the rain. Remember what Father Paul said? He said, boy, that was a real baptism, wasn't it? That's true. He gave our daughter A little statue of Jesus, something that came from. I thank God that he has his kids everywhere, has his children in all different denominations. And I thank God that he gives us these prophecies not so that we can, as I said, point fingers at people, not at all, but so that when we see them, we might know that somebody is about to come. Jesus is about to return. Let's bow together in prayer and thank God for His Word that shows us these things so that you and I can have confidence in the God behind them. Let's bow together in prayer. Oh Father, we want to thank youk for the Bible. We thank youk, Lord, that so long ago John on the island of Patmos was shown things that were going to be taking place in our very day. We have seen, Lord, through history and current events that this is where we are today. We're down in. In the end of time. We're going to see, as we take our second presentation in this dual prophecy where we see the second beast that we are very close to the end of time. Lord, help us to be like those godly people who you've called your children. Help us to take their example, like the bishop there in that country that I was visiting, who took a stand on the word of God because of his influence of his mother. I don't want to drink alcohol anymore like my friend Father Paul, who could see that this was a biblical baptism, a real baptism for our daughter. Thank you, Lord, that you have your children everywhere. May we ourselves determine to be like people like that, to take a stand on the word of God, like Martin Luther, that great priest in the church of Rome, who said, I can't do anything else but stand on God's word. This is what it says. Here I stand. Oh God, help us watching this presentation, to take a stand on the Bible, to take a stand for truth. Because soon, Lord, things are going to be different than they once were. May we today determine to follow this Jesus who gave us these prophecies. May we determine that we will follow him at any cost. In Jesus name, Amen. Well, we are so glad that you were able to be with us in this presentation. But remember, this is only the first of two that go together. Globalism. One is what we've looked at. We're going to come to globalism too. Going to be talking about in our next presentation, the America and the Great Satan. You know, that sounds pretty ominous, doesn't it? But that's what sometimes America is called, the Great Satan. Well, we want to have a look. What does the Bible say about this thing? What does the Bible say about America today? So we'll be looking at globalism, too, in our next presentation. Send a link to somebody to watch this presentation. Tell them about this program that's coming up on 3 ABN, because it's going to open their eyes. We're going to see very clearly in that next presentation exactly where we are today. We are on the knife edge of eternity. Soon Jesus is going to come and he wants you to be ready for his return. That's why he's given us these prophets. May God bless you. We look forward to seeing you in our next countdown Back to the Future presentation.
