Herbert W Armstrong

   I'd like to comment on the special music. It certainly has been some of the most inspiring that I have ever heard at the feast. I really appreciate what Mr. Duke and those of you who volunteered to be a part of the choir have done. God certainly is there and he's inspiring that, and it is very uplifting. Not to mention the sermonettes and the sermons so far through the feast.

   Here the feast is almost over with. Mr. Kelly, I say almost over with. Here we're better than halfway through today. Time just flies by. It seems like it doesn't take any time before we're through with it and looking forward to next year. Mr. Kelly asked all of you to be praying for the men who would be speaking. I know you have. I appreciate that. I've changed my sermon three times this morning already. In fact, I was thinking so hard about it while I was shaving, I cut myself. I shouldn't tell you that. Mr. Swisher had a similar event happen to him down in Dallas. He told the congregation that one lady in the back said, "Why don't you think more about shaving and cut your sermon?"

   Well, I might tell on myself. Here the day before we came up to the feast, the last Sabbath, the last weekly Sabbath, I quit a half an hour early. And I didn't realize that I'd just gotten wrapped up in my sermon and gave it, and it seemed like it went real fast. I looked up at the clock and I said, "Can you believe that?" You know, half the congregation said no. Well, I'll try not to give you much past one o'clock today.

   I certainly hope that you're having the best feast ever in spite of the rain. You know, all things do work together for good, God says. And this rain can help us to be closer together as a family and to spend more time with each other in our individual families.

   I appreciate the sermonette this morning. It helped to kind of set the pace for what I would like to talk to you about today: being a part of our families and sharing our time with one another. I know a lot of times we come to the feast, we look forward to the feast, we anticipate the Feast of Tabernacles, we get to the feast, we get our housing or whatever situated, and then sometimes our families go in different directions, different members to different activities, and we have so many activities sometimes that we don't spend enough time with one another. God wants us to spend time as a family together.

   And the sermonette at pointing out what we need to do in a personal way in a Bible study this afternoon or this evening is excellent. It's something that all of us need to do more of. We've heard some tremendous sermons and sermonettes. Mr. Gore's comments, Mr. Swisher's comments and some of the other comments about child rearing and about family are exactly what we need in the Feast of Tabernacles, exactly what God wants us to think about.

   The Feast of Tabernacles pictures a time when God's family will begin to come to know their Father. Because you know it's not the God of the Worldwide Church of God. It is the God of the Chinese, the God of the Japanese, the God of the Germans. God created all peoples and races, and he loves all of his children. And this time that we celebrate, that we have the privilege and the honor in this time to know about and to understand, pictures a time when God will bring his family back to him, to begin to know him, to begin to realize who he is, what a loving and a wonderful father that he really is.

   But you know when the millennium starts, when it first begins right after Christ comes back, it will not be all happiness and joy. We come up in the Feast of Tabernacles in great anticipation of the feast. Some of us, most of us planned way ahead. We looked forward to the time when we would have our accommodations and maybe we called ahead, made those accommodations, maybe we came up on a personal basis and set everything up, talked to the motel manager or whatever, got to see the place that we're going to be staying in at the feast. And got everything ready, packed up the station wagon as Mr. Swisher was saying, and when we got here, we were ready to go.

   But you know, it's not going to be that way in the feast, when the feast is literally fulfilled in the 1,000-year period of Christ's rule. We're not just going to step into a ready-made society. We're not going to just wake up one morning as sons of God, and everything is happiness, bliss, joy and great peace.

   I'd like to tell you about the first time that I ever heard the word millennium. It was some 30 years ago. It was a time when I was not a part of God's church. And what I heard about the millennium terrified me. I remember after that period of time, and it was a time when we went in our little church group up to a place in Nacogdoches, Texas. We went up to spend a week camping, eating at a little old wooden building and going to services twice a day, not unlike I suppose in a sense, the early feasts down in Big Sandy, Texas. I remember some of the feasts down in there in those years, in 1964 and 1965, whenever the old redwood building was where you ate and you camped on the grounds. And I'm sure that a lot of us here remember those days. We didn't have the nice facilities that we have today in those days.

   We met in this little church group some 30 years ago in kind of a wooden building with a large roof like this, and I remember the poles holding the roof up, and there must have been maybe 400, maybe 500 people there. A man got up one night in the midst of that week and he began to talk about the millennium and what it was going to be like. Not the millennium that you and I look forward to, that we've heard about, that you're going to study about tonight as you teach your children out of the Psalms. But rather a far different time, when the way of God would be extinguished for 1,000 years off of the face of the earth. Not the time of the 1,000-year rule of Jesus Christ, but the time of the 1,000 years of the Antichrist. It terrified me. I couldn't believe what I heard.

   In the September issue of the Plain Truth on page 14, Keith Stump writes in his article on the Antichrist: "Satan's days are numbered. Yet one of all the talk by prophecy hobbyists about becoming Antichrist, many use the term to designate an end-time personality who will embody the spirit of opposition to Christ. This unbiblical usage is unfortunate." And it certainly is. So I don't plan to give a sermon on Antichrist today. But I do want us to understand something about Satan. His days indeed are numbered.

   Turn with me over to Revelation 12th chapter and let's begin in verse 9 (Revelation 12:9). Verse 9 of chapter 12 of Revelation says, "And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him." We heard that from Mr. Armstrong as he spoke to us. He went over that scripture and he began to talk about it. But I wonder today how many of us really understand the adversary. I wonder how many of us know how much he influences this world and maybe even some of our lives. We need to understand that.

   It is easy, I think, for us to see Satan influencing certain people. I guess we could name some names when we go back a couple of years and look at what happened to the college in the state of California. And I could mention, say, a name like Duke Maigen. And we could say, "Well, yes, we can see how Satan influenced that individual." Whether that be true or not, Satan obviously was behind it. But you know that's all behind us now. The college is peaceful, it's back on track. People are happy there. The film show that we saw the other night, the Ambassador College film, shows the beauty and the happiness of God's spirit working in the lives of those students, and it really is a time of peace and harmony and happiness out there. Perhaps it has not been that way in many, many years. It would be nice to go back to college, and a lot of our students and young people want to go to Ambassador College now. And that's right and good and it's the way it ought to be, and it's getting better all the time.

   We can see Satan when trouble is on the doorstep. But brethren, do we see Satan working when it's not so obvious? He knows he has a short time. Has he gone away? Verse 12 says (Revelation 12:12), "Wherefore rejoice, you heavens and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitors of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time."

   How does he know that? He is not ignorant of God's word. He is a being who has been around for a long time. Mr. Armstrong and others have gone back and read some of the scriptures in Isaiah and Ezekiel and showed how that Satan walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. He knows God. He knows God's word. He knows God's plan. He knows that his time is about up.

   Now, one thing that we need to understand about Satan, the devil, especially since it's peaceful here, it's quiet, we're together in harmony and unity with a common bond of God's spirit, and everything seems nice. Oh, there's a little rain and there are a few problems maybe, maybe some are sick and some are having one trial or another. The one thing we'd better understand in the Church of God: that Satan will never give up. He is never going to lay down and quit. He's never going to roll over and die. He is never going to say, "I'm sorry." He is never going to change.

   Go back with me here to chapter 20 of Revelation and let's look at verse 7 (Revelation 20:7). It says here in verse 7, "And when the 1,000 years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison." Yes, we look forward to a time when he will be bound. We look forward to a time of peace and harmony and happiness on this world when Satan the devil will be bound and he will not be loose to cause the heartache, the suffering, the misery that we see today. But God says that when the 1,000 years are expired, Satan will be loosed out of his prison, "and he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

   I don't think he's talking just about Gog and Magog, but the attitude that those people seem to express today, which is against God. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth and encompassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." War once again on the earth after a 1,000 years of peace, because Satan, the devil never changes.

   Brethren, there is no being that expresses the hatred for God's way more so than Satan the devil. He hates God's plan. He knows God's plan. He understands that he's running out of time, and he does not want to see the creation of God, human beings, the children of God, across the breadth of the face of this earth come to really know and to really understand their loving Father. And yet he knows he has a short time. To us, the concept of the millennium is wonderful. But Satan hates it. And he is doing all within his power to prevent men from ever coming to God.

   Now, how is he doing this? Let's go back to II Thessalonians, the second chapter. Satan works through human instruments. Ephesians 6 tells us that we war not against flesh and blood. We can see human instruments and we from time to time can say that we think this person or that person is really under the influence one way or the other. But Satan does work through human instruments, and he is going to be working in this end time through what the book of Revelation calls a false prophet.

   Let's see how he's going to work in the end time just before he's bound and just before he is locked up and prevented from destroying mankind from God's plan and God's way. I think sometimes we think that once Satan is bound, everything will be OK. Everything will be easy. Why, people will just automatically change. Well, here in verse 1, Paul says in chapter 2 of II Thessalonians (II Thessalonians 2:1), "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirits" — and there are spirits that will trouble you if they can — "nor by word" — and gossip is a problem from time to time, it causes problems obviously back 2 1/2, 3 years ago — "nor by letter as from us" — writing that supposedly report things from those in charge — "as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."

   Paul here is talking about one who is going to come on the scene as a great religious leader, as really the embodiment of an Antichrist, one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he, as God, sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. One is going to proclaim himself to be in the place of and in the power of God Almighty.

   Now today we would think if somebody stood up and did that, that that would be ridiculous. Who would follow somebody like that? And yet it's going to happen. And people are going to believe that being just as much as some of those believed so fervently a few years ago that they were willing to leave the body of Christ, the Church of God, and follow someone else. That's how strongly they believed it. And Paul is telling us there is coming a time when people will believe this man of sin who comes on the scene because of his miracles, because of what he is able to do to deceive people.

   He says in verse 5 (II Thessalonians 2:5), "Remember you not, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?" He warned them. He wanted them to understand what was coming. Verse 7 (II Thessalonians 2:7): "For the mystery of iniquity does already work. Only he who now holds back will hold until he be taken out of the way." It is being held back now. "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power" — you and I cannot call fire out of heaven, but this being or this person at that time will be able to do so — "and signs and lying wonders."

   I can't begin to describe to you the things that he will do because I don't know what all he will do. But I know that Paul warned the church that some could be deceived if they were not careful. And even Christ indicated that over in Matthew 24, "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved." We must have the love of God's truth, if we're to be saved. "And for this cause, for this reason, because they don't love the truth, God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie."

   Some left the church because they lost the love of the truth. And strong delusions put them out. But in this day that we're talking about, this time to come, the same thing is going to happen, not on a local scale in a church among a small group of people compared to the rest of the world, but on a worldwide scale. And a great many people are going to be deceived. "That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

   Well, I hope and pray that we are not of that group. We need to be careful, obviously, about our lives and about how that we live those lives and what we compromise in our lives. But we need to be tenacious for God's way of life. We need to understand that Satan is real, and that he is going to do all that he can to deceive all that he can because he hates the family of God. He hates the plan of God. He does not want to see one person come to know and to understand God as a loving father and to be a part of that family that God is building.

   Let's go back and look at a few things back here in Revelation, just a few things that are going to come to pass. But the Bible talks about that Christ revealed through John. Revelation the 16th chapter. I want to go there first (Revelation 16:1). "I heard a great voice out of the temple saying," verse one, "to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. The first went and he poured out his vial upon the earth, and there was a grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast. The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man. A third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, You are righteous, O Lord, which art and wast and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus."

   Do we see God as righteous? The holy angels praise him for doing that. Why does God do that? Is it because he wants to get wrath and vengeance on mankind? Or is it because he loves his children, and he feels that he must intervene, he must begin to spank them in love, to bring them to their senses, to make them wake up and realize that unless they change, they are going to perish?

   You know, when God poured out the plagues on Egypt, he didn't do that because he hated Egyptians. He did it out of love. And when we're corrected, God corrects us because he loves us. And if we be without correction, then we're not really sons. We don't have that love from our Father.

   Going on, it says, "For they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink, for they are worthy." It's not that God wants to get vengeance, but he wants to bring them to their senses and to see and to wake up and understand what they have done. "And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat."

   And you would think as a result of that, these men would begin to repent and begin to fall down on their knees and ask God to forgive them. And yet it says, "They were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory." Why wouldn't they repent?

   Going on, it says, "The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues for pain and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds." You talk about a strong delusion. You talk about a child who in the face of a spanking is just hardened himself and rebellious and being unwilling to change. They must have a strong delusion to be that fervent against the great God who created them.

   Go back a page to chapter 13, and we want to begin here in verse 11 (Revelation 13:11). "I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb." This is one who looked religiously like the Lamb of God. "And he spake as a dragon." When you know the truth, you can tell the difference. This being spoke like Satan. "And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed," the beast being the governmental power, the so-called false lamb here, being the religious power. "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast." And he forces them or gets them because of these great miracles to begin to worship the beast, the false way, the false government, the government of that time that's making war.

   He is going to be a great deceiver. He is going to be able to do fantastic miracles. And people are going to look at him and they're going to see him via the communication systems, and they're going to stand in awe and just realize or begin to believe, "Here is somebody who has the power of God, surely this person is like God."

   Going on back to the 11th chapter, verse 15 (Revelation 11:15-18). "The seventh angel sounded." Here is the time when the last trump sounds, when you read I Thessalonians 4, you begin to get the concept of the resurrection of the saints. "The seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

   But verse 18 says, when that happens, and you would think that mankind would look forward to the time when Christ would come back in the heavens, when the great glory of our elder brother begins to shine and begins to come down, that they would automatically realize, "Here is our Savior." But it says in verse 18, "The nations were angry." They become exceedingly angry.

   Going up to Revelation the 16th chapter and looking at verse 13 (Revelation 16:13). They become angry because the one who has set him up as God had told them a lie. And they believe that lie so strongly that they are ready to fight against God Almighty, against the returning Jesus Christ. Chapter 16, verse 13 says, "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."

   Here are whole nations who come up to fight against the returning Christ. Christ isn't going to be accepted when he comes back. He isn't going to be someone that the world just begins to shout and praise and look forward to. Not at all, brethren. They're going to fight against that Christ.

   To understand the deception to come, we need to look at the foundation upon which it is built. Because it is wrapped up in a false teaching that is going to be purported. The teaching that I mentioned earlier that I heard some 30 years ago as a little boy of about 10 or 12 in this church camp.

   I want to read you two things out of a book called "The History of the Council of Trent." And it gives a little bit of understanding upon which the authority of that false system, that false church is built. I'm quoting out of that book now and it says, "And then it was approved by all in this Council of Trent that the traditions should be received as of equal authority with the scriptures."

   In other words, this false prophet that's going to stand up and begin to teach people at that time is not going to do what Peter did in the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out. You remember in Acts 2, and people came up and they began to scoff and they said, "These men are full of new wine." And Peter said, "They're not full of new wine. This is that which was written in the prophet of Joel." And he quoted the Bible. This was Peter's foundation. This was Peter's authority. But that false prophet must have authority. If he is going to begin to teach a lie, he's got to have authority to back that lie up with.

   It goes on in that particular book on page 152: "The holy scriptures," it says, "cannot be expounded against the sense held by the Holy Mother, the church, nor against the common consent of the fathers." In other words, the authority of the false leader at that time will not be the Bible. But he will have authority. And that authority will be the authority that Satan has set up in different individuals known as the fathers of that particular church.

   Let's look at a scripture here over in Mark the 7th chapter. Something Jesus Christ said. Mark 7. Something we need to understand. Verse 7 says (Mark 7:7-8), "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Our authority can never be in men. Mr. Armstrong warned us not to hold him in an office where we begin to worship him, we begin to look at him as somebody who is our personal savior. He does not want us to do that. But men like to look to other men.

   Don't get me wrong, we need to hold Mr. Armstrong very high in esteem and in that office, and I firmly believe that we wouldn't be here today, keeping the Feast of Tabernacles the way we are with the spiritual rejuvenation that we have had, God not raised him up. But brethren, he is a man. And he wants us to understand that he is only a man. But he is a man that God is using and we need to always keep that in mind and realize that God is using him to guide and to lead this church to Christ.

   "For laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold the tradition of men." And verse 9 says (Mark 7:9), "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." God warns us against that, but this false system that comes will hold to the tradition, will uphold those traditions of men, and will begin to expound them in the church.

   Carved on the side of Ambassador Hall is a statement that says "The word of God is the foundation of knowledge," and that must be our foundation. Not the traditions of men. Not one, not one prophet or somebody who stood up one day with a vision and recorded that.

   I want to share with you some of the things that terrified me in that little meeting that we had at that particular time. It so terrified me that after that week, I went back home and I don't know whether it was a few days later or just exactly when it was, but I remember walking out on the front steps of our house and walking down the sidewalk and sitting on the steps out there and looking around at a beautiful day, and the mimosas — we had mimosas in our front yard and there were mimosas in other yards and oak trees — and looking down the street, and it was just a beautiful day. The birds were singing. And I just sat there for a little while and I just kind of asked God quietly, "Why? Why would you let this happen?"

   Now you say, "What happened?" Well, let me tell you what some of the things are that we were taught at that meeting. This that I'm going to quote to you is out of a book, it is a Catholic book called "Prophecy for Today." These are different prophecies that have been purported down through the years.

   Here's the first one: "Toward the end of the world, Antichrist will overthrow the Pope and usurp his seat." That's from a prophecy of Merlin Joachim, who died in 1202. He was inspired by a spirit. And what he saw in his vision was recorded and has now some base for prophecy in that particular church.

   Another one: "Antichrist will fight a successful battle at Megiddo, Armageddon as we call it, in Palestine, after which he will hereafter become lord of the world." That was from a woman, Katrina Emmerich, who died in 1824. She had a vision.

   Another vision came from a woman called Mara, and that's all that it talks about in relationship to her name. She said, "The kings will send armies to the Holy Land." You know, my thought at the time when I heard this sermon was, "Well surely we can fight against this. Surely that somebody will save us from this," but "the Antichrist will slay them all. Antichrist and his armies will conquer Rome, kill the Pope, take the throne. The Jews will come from everywhere and accept Antichrist as the Messiah." That was a prophecy from the Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser. He died in 1658.

   One final one that I want to read to you: "After the destruction of Rome, Antichrist will appear and exalt himself above pagan deities and the Trinity. Coming to Jerusalem, he will succeed through false preaching, miracles, gifts, terror, aided throughout by the devil. An evil spirit will come out of the air and descend upon his followers, and he shall feign a resurrection from the dead, cause rain to fall, and perform other wonders throughout by the power of the devil, and the Jews will welcome him." That was from a man named Rabul, who died in 1349.

   Let's look at Revelation 19. You can imagine a little 10-year-old boy or 12 who had been raised by a family that was probably fairly religious at that time. I remember my mom reading the Bible to us a lot of evenings. She'd read about David and different stories, and my grandmother was a very religious individual in the Protestant church that they were in at that time, and so I just naturally believed what this man said. I didn't study the Bible when he got up and began to talk about these things, it scared me because I thought we were up there to find out about this loving father, what little bit I might have known at that age.

   Here in Revelation 19 and I want to begin in verse 19 (Revelation 19:19). It says this: "I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. That man didn't read this scripture that day. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

   You see the picture that Satan tries to foist off and will begin to be foisting off on mankind? It's not the picture of a loving father, because Satan the devil does not see our God as a loving Father. He is going to begin to stir up the spirit of prophecy in that end time in that particular church and begin to teach them that he that comes is not Christ. "Why, God is with us. Look at all these miracles that God with us is doing. But he that comes then is the Antichrist against Christ."

   Satan knows the scriptures. He is not ignorant of the scriptures. One of the church fathers is known as Hippolytus, and I'd like to read you a few things from his writings out of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. In section 29, Hippolytus says, "Believe not the enemy who is to come and be seen, for he is an adversary and corruptor and son of perdition, and deceives you. And for this reason, he will kill you and smite them with the sword." That's one of the founding fathers, one of the traditions that is going to be taught and that will be held.

   What a far different world than what we heard yesterday from Mr. Gore when he began to talk about and show us some of the things in his sermonette about the world to come. We'll read that in a second.

   Hippolytus continues in section 33: "At that time, the whole earth will bewail the life of anguish, and the sea and the air and like manner will bewail it, and the sun too will wail, and the wild beasts together with the fowls will wail, mountains and hills and the trees of the plains will wail on account of the race of man, because all have turned aside from the holy God and obeyed the deceiver and received the mark of that abominable one, the enemy of God, instead of the quickening cross of the Savior."

   Let's go back to I Chronicles and refresh our minds for a second. And this scripture in chapter 16. Then Mr. Gore read to us. This is the world that we look forward to, not a world that I described by Hippolytus.

   I Chronicles 16 and beginning in verse 25 (I Chronicles 16:25): "For great is the Eternal and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honor are in his presence; strength and gladness are his place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Eternal glory and strength. Give unto the Eternal the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Eternal in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it shall not be moved."

   It's not a world that's going to be shaking and trembling and reeling around like this man describes, "the whole earth will bewail the life of anguish, and the sea and air and like manner will bewail it." It doesn't say that at all. It's a far different world than what they will be teaching that it will be like under this returning power. "Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it shall not be moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reign. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the Eternal, because he cometh to judge the earth."

   But you see what people are going to be taught in that time just before the return of Christ is far different.

   Hippolytus continues in section 33, "and in the presence of all, he exhibits himself as taken up into heaven with trumpets and sounds and the mighty shouting of those who hail him with indescribable hymns. The air of darkness himself shining like light. And at one time soaring to the heavens, and at another descending to the earth with great glory, and again charging the demons like angels to execute his behest with much fear and trembling, for he will show forth his demons brilliant like angels, and he will bring in hosts of the incorporeal without number." That's what they're going to be taught.

   I'd like to counter that with Isaiah the 59th chapter. A very beautiful thing that is going to happen that we're going to be a part of. Isaiah 59:20: "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Eternal. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Eternal, from henceforth and for ever."

   You see the importance of teaching our children. That God's covenant is that he will take out of us this stony heart and put into it his spirit. And he'll write his law in our hearts. And we ought to be ensuring that our children are understanding God's law, because it is the foundation of all knowledge that we heard in the sermonette this morning.

   "Arise," he says in verse 1 of chapter 60, "shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." It's going to be a brilliant light, it's going to be truth. "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people," they won't understand when he comes back. They will be blinded to the truth by a false teaching, by a lie that is given forth from a man who has the power at that time to do great miracles, "but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee."

   Who's he talking to? Brethren, he's talking to us here today, and all of those who are gathered around in the various sites around the world who've given themselves over to the way of God and who want to be a part of that family. "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side." We're going to teach them. We're going to encourage them. We're going to do what we should be doing to our own children today in our own families, encouraging them, teaching them, helping them to understand their place in God's family.

   "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee." You know, we're just now beginning to realize the wealth in the sea. "And the forces of the Gentiles," or the wealth of the Gentiles, "shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Eternal. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee," and it goes on and it talks about other things, but verse 8: "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?"

   That's what it's going to be. You and I will have the ability as God and as sons of God to fly through the air. And we won't be demons. I see this man described the chapter. You might at that particular time say, "Look, we represent the living God. We're a part of the family of God." And we could begin to open the Bible and begin to talk to them out of the Bible and say, "This is what the Bible said would happen."

   Revelation 14:6 says, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

   Satan is not ignorant of God's word. Satan is not ignorant of what is going to happen. He can read the Bible. He knows what it says. He's known it for a long time because he inspired these men to write prophecies that are exactly opposite of what is literally going to happen. The events will happen, but the people will already have been told the events, not from the point of view of a loving God and a loving father, but from the point of view of an Antichrist who hates the truth, who hates all that is exalted as God in that particular time to come.

   Some other prophecies, "whole nations," it says, "will join the church shortly before the reign of the Antichrist. These conversions will be amazing. Those who shall survive shall have to conduct themselves well. There shall be innumerable conversions of heretics who will return to the bosom of the church." That is from the book "Prophecy for Today."

   Then Hippolytus continues in section 29, "Will he send the cohorts of the demons among the mountains and caves and the dens of the earth to track out those who have been concealed from his eyes." Yes, people are going when they see Christ's return to fear so greatly, be so tormented by what has happened to the world, just before his return that they literally are going to hide in the rocks. And he says, "to track out those who have been concealed from his eyes and to bring them forward to worship him."

   In section 28, he says, "by the reason of the scarcity of food, all will go to him and worship him, and he'll put his mark on their right hand and on their forehead, that no one may put the sign of the honorable cross upon his forehead with his right hand, but his hand shall be bound."

   Go back with me to Revelation the 6th chapter. In verse 14 (Revelation 6:14), it says, "And the heaven departed as a scroll, this is a time you and I look for. We look for the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age of confusion. When it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."

   They won't recognize him as God, they won't recognize him as a loving son who's coming back to bring mankind to understand the loving Father that you and I are coming to know in this Feast of Tabernacles.

   Matthew 24:21 tells us that there is coming a time of trouble such as was not since the foundations of the world, since God created the earth or renewed the face of it. It says, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." What men are going to see on the face of this earth is indescribable right now. It's going to be a time of great destruction.

   We might get a small picture of it back here in Isaiah, the 24th chapter. Isaiah 24. Here is a prophecy of the future just ahead of us now, somewhere, maybe one year, maybe three years, maybe five years. But somewhere just out in front of us. And it says in verse 1 of chapter 24 of Isaiah (Isaiah 24:1), "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him."

   What it means is it doesn't matter who you are in this earth. No matter where you are, where you think you can hide. It will come upon you. And you know, we talk about the place of safety from time to time. And if indeed it is a desert area like Petra. That doesn't seem very pleasant today. I mean you talk about a dry and a hot place, living in caves, and yet brethren in that time, if Petra indeed is the place of safety, that will be paradise compared to the rest of the world, where there is fighting, destruction, misery, burning, death, everywhere.

   "The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish." And again, God is not doing that because he hates mankind. He loves his family. And he is going to punish them, that the haughtiness of mankind indeed will languish or that it will go away. Because that's our problem today. We know more than God. We're better than God. Our ways are better than God's way. We as a world have taken to ourselves the right to decide what is right and good and what is evil. Now what is right and good for me may not be right and good for you, but it's my right to do it my way, so we sing those songs. And our world is full of trouble and heartache and misery as a result of that. Our Father loves us and he is going to punish us.

   "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof." Our ways have corrupted the earth, as Mr. Gore brought out. And the land is going to spew us up as a result of that. "Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."

   It's not going to be a pleasant world when you and I become God. It's not going to be an easy thing. You young people as pioneers in the world tomorrow. As individuals who are going to go out and begin to take care of this earth are going to have your work cut out for you, you need to understand that. That you're not going to walk out into some garden of Eden like Ambassador campus in Pasadena and be given the responsibility to go ahead and water it and mow it and trim it and take care of it. You're going to have to go out and begin to till it, to begin to break it and begin to plant it and begin to sow it and begin to rebuild it. That's the job that's set ahead of our kids. It's an awesome responsibility, young people.

   You've got a wonderful world ahead of you in the sense that you're going to be building it from the foundation right up as far as the physical earth is talked about. And again, I reference you back to the sermonette that was given and the sermons that have been given. You have a wonderful future ahead of you. Don't sell it short. Satan the devil is out to get you to sell it short. And he wants to paint a picture today of a world that is enticing, that is good. And "why do you want to be a part of that old church? Come on over here and smoke pot or go out and have a little free sex." And do those things that will literally destroy you. You've got a wonderful opportunity ahead of you to be pioneers, as we heard in the new world. Don't sell it short.

   Realize though you may not understand that there is a real adversary, Satan the devil, who would like to see you destroyed, who would like to take your chance and your opportunity as a pioneer in the world tomorrow away from you, just as he is trying to take it away from all of those who don't know God's truth by preaching false things that will cause them literally to hide when Christ comes back. You've got a wonderful opportunity set before you.

   Zechariah the 14th chapter. Very beautiful chapter because it talks about the return of Christ. We like to read it in relationship to the Feast of Tabernacles. I'd like to look at a little different aspect of it here. "Behold," verse one says (Zechariah 14:1-4), "the day of the Lord cometh." The time that we look forward to, the time of God's government on the face of this earth. We're here picturing that today, when God's family is at one with God.

   Verse 4 says, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." It's going to rip in two when Christ stands on it. It's going to open up.

   Dropping on down, we begin to see here in verse 8 what happened (Zechariah 14:8). "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea," or to the Sea of Galilee, "and half toward the hinder sea," the Mediterranean. "In summer and in winter shall it be." And those waters are going to be cleansing because when we read in Revelation, the 16th chapter, we saw how that the sea is turned to blood and waters are turned to blood and the earth languishes, and it is a time of great distress and trouble, as we've already heard out of Romans the 8th chapter where it talks about the whole creation groans and travails, and yet that living water is going to begin to flow out and everything that it touches is going to be healed. And it is symbolic of the government of God that will come out of Zion, out of Jerusalem. And as that government begins slowly to spread around the world, everything that it touches is going to be turned to beauty, to happiness, to joy.

   The brethren, don't be deceived that the first day into the millennium. The first day in the kingdom of God, everything is going to be hunky dory because we too are going to have our work cut out for us. Just as our children will have their work cut out for them in a physical earth, we are going to be very busy with the spiritual aspect of bringing God's family, those few that are left to God, and it will take time. It won't be easy. It's not going to be just something that we can kind of, "oh ho, you know, nice to be here and I think I'll go out and do my little job and then I'll relax and take it easy." We're going to be very, very busy.

   "And the Lord," verse 9 (Zechariah 14:9), "shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." So we're going to point all of God's family to God, to begin to know him, to begin to understand that he is a loving Father, one who wants to bless them, one who wants to give them every good thing.

   Let's go back now to Jeremiah the 23rd chapter. I'm gonna read something here to you. Beginning in verse one. Jeremiah 23 (Jeremiah 23:1). "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Eternal."

   Now the Bible is talking there about false teachers, false pastors who don't teach God's way, but rather are going to be teaching a lie, maybe they're deceived. But the Bible was written for you and me. What application does this have to us? What is God saying to us?

   He says in verse 3 (Jeremiah 23:3), "And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them." You and I are the kings and the priests of the world tomorrow. We are the ones who are going to be the shepherds to God's flocks. "And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Eternal." Because we will teach them, and we will lead them like a loving father, his children.

   But again, brethren, how are we as parents doing with our children? The theme of this feast is the family. And God has allowed us, not only here but down in Texas and I suppose out in Squaw Valley where it apparently it's been snowing, to have inclement weather, and we've not been able to go out and go our different ways and do all the things that we'd like to do. We've had to kind of be together as families to stay in the tent or the motel, and I suppose in some families here that's been kind of difficult to be cramped together. But brethren, we need to realize that there is an opportunity for us as family to sit down and communicate with our children, to communicate with one another.

   That was brought out the other day about the kitten that purrs and wants to be heard or the turkey that gobbles because the little one wants to sing something. We need to spend time with our children and to get to know them and to get to show them the real beauty of the feast, not just "how many go-karts can you ride, how many steaks can you eat, how many times can you go down the slide over here, or how many of this or that or the other thing that can you do?" But rather how much closer as a family are we, the family of God.

   "Woe be unto the parents that destroy and scatter the children of my church, saith the Lord." You could put those words in there. They're not there, but you could put them in there and then it would apply, wouldn't it? Because that's the truth. If we as parents aren't doing our part with our children, God may visit our problems upon us.

   You might ask yourself, "How can I be a pastor? I don't have a church. I don't have a group to preach to," but you have a family. You have your children to teach and to lead and to guide and to help and to listen to and to encourage. Don't drive them away. Visit them. In other words, listen to them. And encourage them and help them and strengthen them in God's way.

   The other night sitting in the back row back here watching the film, I saw some teenagers who sure looked like they needed some parents to listen to them, to encourage them, and to strengthen them and to help them and to show them the beauty of God's way. I'm thankful they were here, but they sure looked like they needed a little more love and encouragement in God's way of life.

   We've got our job cut out for us, and it is the way that you and I qualify to be leaders in the kingdom of God, to be the shepherds and the pastors that are going to lead people. You know, we heard the other day, I think Mr. Swisher was bringing it out when he went back to Timothy talking about the qualifications of an elder and applying that to the family. And if a man doesn't have his own family in subjection, he shouldn't take on additional responsibility. If we don't have our own families in subjection to God's way of life, how can we take on the responsibility of God's family and spirit beings? It's something to think about. It's something to focus in on.

   Let's go back now to Zechariah 14. We'll read what we normally read about the feast because it's very beautiful, it's very encouraging. It says in verse 16 of Zechariah 14 (Zechariah 14:16), "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Eternal of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."

   Everyone is going to keep the feast in those days. "And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth. God's cohorts will go out with spears and with ropes and cages and drag them out of the caves and drag them up and force them to bow down and keep the feast. Because God is harsh and God is stern and God is mean to his children. No, it doesn't say that. That's not what it says at all.

   He will gently begin to remind them, to show them the difference, to show them the contrast between obedience and disobedience. At first God will show them, "Look, it doesn't rain on those who don't keep the feast. Your crops wither. You don't get much to eat when you don't keep the feast." That's a gentle way.

   It's kind of like the policeman that comes up behind you and you're speeding. The first thing he might do is flash his lights a little bit. If you don't stop at the light being on, then he might honk his horn a little bit. If you still don't stop, he might turn his siren on. And if you still don't stop, you better have super steel belted tires because he's gonna try to shoot them out. He's going to try to stop you, but it's going to be a progressive force that he uses. He doesn't come out right away, stick his gun out the window and shoot your tire. Thankfully.

   And it shall be that whoso will not come up the first year in that sense, of all the families of the earth under Jerusalem to worship the king, the Eternal of host upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt, come not, that have no rain." They obviously didn't have rain. It doesn't say the next year, it could have been two years. You don't know. It'll be your responsibility to determine that. Because you'll be there, you'll be enforcing these things. "There shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." Maybe you'll kind of give them boils where they can't sit down. And so they have to walk someplace, might as well walk up to Jerusalem.

   How do you deal with your children? It has a great deal to do with dealing with God's children when he gives you that opportunity.

   Well, finally, Micah, the 4th chapter, let's conclude there. Go back to Micah. Beginning in verse 1 of Micah 4 (Micah 4:1). "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain," or the government, or you could see the family "of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains," or the government, "and it shall be exalted above the lesser nations or government," and it says, "and people shall flow unto it."

   "And many nations," many families in that day "shall come, and say, let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, and to the house of the family of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways." They will want to be a part of it because they're going to begin to see the beauty of it. "For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Eternal from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: and nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Eternal of hosts hath spoken it."

   What that means is, God is going to do it. It's as sure as the rising of the sun. It is going to happen. But the next verse is very important to you and me. "For all people will walk every one in the name of his god." Now wait a minute. I thought there would only be one God. Yes, there will only be one God. And Jesus Christ said, "The Father and I are one." And we are co-heirs with Christ and we will be a part of the family of God. But you and I, as shepherds, as pastors, will have responsibilities over various areas. And people will look to you because you will not be one who sits in the temple of God saying that you are God and doing kind of phony miracles that deceive people, but brethren, you will be God. And those people will know it and understand it. And when they come up to the Feast of Tabernacles, they will come up in your name, in your responsibility, looking to you.

   "All people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord, Eternal our God for ever and ever." God is a family, and God loves his children, and you and I are privileged to be a part of the ones that he is calling out today, to be a part of the family that is going to come back with Christ as rulers and co-heirs with Christ, to bring back a sick, wretched, miserable world out of destruction, out of unhappiness, out of frustration, out of every evil that Satan can foist off upon it.

   Don't forget our adversary. Don't let down your guard and think "my kids are OK. It's not important. Why let them go their way?" As we've heard, we need to train up our children in the way that they ought to go. And God is telling us in this Feast of Tabernacles that he wants us to concentrate on our families, that he wants us to focus in on our children, because they're very important to God. They are the seed of the blessed of the Eternal. They're the ones that are going to be pioneers in the world tomorrow, and we need to educate them and we need to train them, and we need to realize that our adversary, Satan the devil wants to destroy them and wants to take them away from us, and he will deceive them just as much as he will deceive this whole world into seeing a false god, worshiping a false god and not being able to recognize the true God.

   We've got our work cut out for us, brethren, and this Feast of Tabernacles, I hope you will focus in on the family and you'll really think about it. It is a very important part of the feast this year.