Herbert W Armstrong

   Since I'm going to be here for the weekend, I might introduce myself very briefly. I was going to Texas A&M back in 1949 thru '53, and turned on the radio one night because I was getting kind of tired and bored with college and heard a man talking about the mark of the beast. Well, that kind of surprised me because I was going to the Baptist church and had since I was very young, and I'd never even heard there was such a thing as a beast, much less a mark of the beast. But as he began to go through this 30-minute broadcast and talk about what the mark of the beast was, it kind of panicked me because I thought, "Well, you know, you can hear anything out of California." But I thought if he's right, I'm in really bad trouble. I better find out. That's too risky to just kind of pass it off and take a chance.

   So I wrote out and said, "Send me everything you have." And I got 7 booklets. And as I got those booklets, I just had a little bit of time before March lunch, so I whipped out the smallest one: "How Often Should You Take the Lord's Supper?" Now here is the Baptist — I thought I'd been eating the Lord's supper 4 times a year. Now if anybody had gotten very practical about it and said, "Now wait just a second now. You eat supper in the morning? That's kinda odd, you know." Nobody ever heard of eating supper in the morning, but we ate the Lord's supper 4 times a year on Sunday morning.

   As I began to look into the Bible, I found out the only place the word "Lord's supper" appears in the Bible says when you come together in the one place, you cannot eat the Lord's supper. I thought, "Oh yeah, I've been doing that for 20 years." And yet it said there in the scripture, you cannot eat the Lord's supper. And I found out it was called Passover, found out it was in the evening, at a certain hour, on a certain day, that it wasn't with crackers and grape juice like we've been doing it, and that they had foot washing beforehand. Well, boy, you know, we weren't right on any part of it.

   Anyway, I went to Ambassador College in 1952. We had 19 freshmen and 37 students altogether. So the freshmen outnumbered all the other classes put together by 1. And I graduated from Ambassador College in 1954. I was the 11th student to graduate. I got the 12th degree because Dr. Hoeh graduated twice before I could get through once.

   When I graduated, I had the opportunity of going up to the mother church up in Eugene, Oregon, and that was quite interesting because I had a chance to go to this little church on East 8th Street where Mr. Herbert Armstrong had helped build the pews and helped put the church together there, little old building. They had a little 3 by 5 card on the bulletin board there I never forgotten. It said, "Many people can talk religion by the mile, who can't walk it by the inch." But that was quite an experience to be the pastor of the mother church for a couple of years.

   We also had a church in Portland, Oregon, and then we'd been there about a year and started the church in Salem, Oregon. So we had church Friday night and Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon and had a circuit that I thought was something else. We had about 240 miles on a Sabbath day that we'd travel making that three church circuit up in Oregon.

   We got transferred in 1956 to come back to Chicago, which at that time, Chicago and Saint Louis were the closest churches to the East Coast. You know, somebody in New York wanted to get in touch with the minister — all they had to do is come to Chicago or try to get you to go to New York. But we had people from Toronto who went to Chicago for Holy Days, and went into West Virginia and preached a funeral or visited all over Michigan, Indiana, and all around because there weren't any churches any further east. We had Big Sandy, and we had Saint Louis and Chicago.

   I was in Chicago for 9 years, which was quite an experience, the variety of people that were there. You know, about the first 7 deacons we had — the first 2 deacons, one was Russian and one was German. Then the 3rd deacon we had was black, and then the 4th deacon was Pole, the 5th deacon was Czech. I think the 6th deacon was another German. And then finally I think the 7th deacon, we got an Israelite guy named Ball. So I really enjoyed the variety of nationalities and peoples there.

   Then we had the opportunity of going over to Kansas City and I was the pastor over there for 6 1/2 years. Then we were scheduled to go to New York, but I talked to Mr. McCullough and said, "If you get an opening down in Big Sandy, I'd kinda like to see what it'd be like being in college for a little while because I've been out as a pastor for 20 years and thought it might be a change of pace might be good."

   So I went down to Big Sandy in 1972. No, no.. Yes, that’s right in 1972 and I had the opportunity of teaching for 5 years in Big Sandy. I taught comparative religion, I taught Bible prophecy, I taught Christian Leadership, which we previously called Pastoral Administration, and Preliminary Homiletics. Then we'd been out in West Texas when they combined the college in Big Sandy with the one in Pasadena. I didn't want to get that far away from East Texas and I didn't know that I'd enjoy teaching in Pasadena where you just teach the same class over and over again 3 or 4 times a day. So I wasn't structured where I could handle that kind of a job, so I bailed out and went out to West Texas and started pastoring three churches out there in Abilene and San Angelo and Midland.

   We've been there 2 years just about, and now we're in Pasadena. And I have the opportunity of working over the churches in the Midwest with the area coordinators, so Saint Louis will be in our area — all of Carl McNair's area, and Tony Hammer's area, Ray Wootton's area out of Kansas City, and then Mr. Swisher's area out of Texas. So you'll be plagued with us from time to time in the next few years and hopefully we can get in here at least once a year, if not more often.

   When I came to Saint Louis, a big bald-headed guy that used to ask him, "Well, Frank McCready, how old are you anyway?" And he'd say "38 years and a lot of hard falls." So that was a pretty good description. He'd driven for 17 years for Consolidated Truck Line and we twisted his arm and for about the first 15 years he kept the feast in our home down in East Texas, so we've known him for many years. He didn't want to sit through a double header today so he headed out to Belleville to preach today, but he'll be back with us again tomorrow.

   We have a group of books in the Bible called the Minor Prophets, which to me is kind of a bad suggestion in a way — "minor." I don't think they're minor at all. As a matter of fact, they seem to zero in more exactly on certain end-time prophecies for the size of the books, even in Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel.

   In Amos chapter 8, you find the scripture that I'm sure we've read and we've understood in a way in the past, and I'd like to zero in on it a little more in a more general overall meaning. Amos 8:11 says, "Behold the days come, says the Lord Eternal, that I'll send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Eternal."

   Now we've anticipated more exactly that that's going to be fulfilled when the work is over, the church is gone, the broadcast, the magazine, everything else has come to an end. And then in the land of Israel, there's going to be a famine — not a physical famine of bread or drink, but of hearing the words of the Eternal.

   Now, most prophecy is dual, and I'm sure you can look back and actually realize that that scripture has been fulfilled in a bigger general sense for many years because in the land of Israel, there's been a famine for hearing the words of God for a long, long, long time. I grew up in the Baptist church in East Texas, sat there and dotted out the zeros on the program and counted half tens and passed the time best way I could because those 10 to 15 minute sermons were more than I could handle.

   But anyway, if you take your typical Bible and you look at the edges of it, you're gonna find out that scripture is accurate. There is a famine for hearing the word of God. I mean, I sat in the Baptist church for 20 years. I never did hear any sermons out of Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel and Hosea and Joel and Amos. I never did hear any sermons out of Genesis through Deuteronomy.

   You didn't hear sermons out of that "Old Testament " — you know that's an unbiblical term. Where did we come up with that kind of an attitude? "Old Testament." You know, you show me that in the Bible. Jesus said, "It's written in the holy scriptures." That's what Genesis is. That's what Deuteronomy is. That's what Leviticus and Numbers are. Holy scriptures — not Old Testament. Why, doesn’t that sounds terrible! That's just a put down. That's that — why that's that old Jewish stuff. "Let's get away from that old Jewish, that Old Testament."

   You can find the Bible divided as the law and the prophets, the writings. You can find it called scriptures, the scriptures of truth, the holy scriptures, the word of God, and only one place — and that's because we don't realize the word "testament" is not an accurate translation of the word "covenant." Now, the old covenant — where's the old covenant? Well, what Exodus 23-25 — that's the old covenant. It doesn't have a thing to do with Genesis, doesn't have a thing to do with Isaiah or Daniel or Malachi. The old covenant just had to do with the physical obedience to the physical law for physical rewards and blessings.

   So that's one of the biggest deceptions Satan has put off on man, the downing of that 2/3 of your Bible, it's Old Testament. Now you know 1/3 of your Bible is prophecy, and 90% of those prophecies apply to this end time from Christ's time forward. Then why would it be outdated? Why should we not read it? Why is it Old Testament when 90% of it is for our day?

   Well, there's been a famine ever since there's been Israel for hearing the word of God. Notice what it causes. They shall wander from sea to sea and from the north, even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Eternal and shall not find it. That's true. You can run anywhere you want to. You can go to 480 some denominations. You can go to all kinds of different areas. You can run all over from north to east and the sea to sea and seeking the word of the Eternal and you won't find it.

   They'll take a text for the day. I remember I was nosing around in my mom's storage room one time and ran across an old Seventh Day Adventist Bible Correspondence Course, and I figured, you know, you could teach anything. I've been invited to preach in the Baptist church there and I figured whatever's in that book you can use. So boy, I made me a sermon on prophecy. And I got up on that Sunday and that East Sabine First Baptist Church, and I began to give this sermon on prophecy.

   Now the crowd reacted two ways. One half was just all ears. Their eyes were as big as saucers and they were tickled to death to hear some things about prophecy. And of course the other half after about the first 15 or 20 or 30 minutes began to squirm in their seat and they began to look at their watches and when it went 35 or 40 minutes, they began to shake their watches and I preached for 45 minutes. And gave a whole sermon on prophecy, the first one they ever heard in their lives.

   You never heard anything about prophecy because there's been a famine for hearing the word of God, and you can run everywhere you want to and you won't hear Isaiah and Daniel, you won't hear the word of God. There's a famine for hearing the word of God. Now notice what it causes. The next verse says, "In that day" — it's always the key phrase in Bible prophecy talks about the Day of the Lord, which can mean from Christ's time on down, more exactly means in the last days — but in that day the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

   They'd like to know what's going to happen. Is man going to wipe off life off this earth? Are we going to so pollute there won't be any air for them to breathe? Are we going to use up all the energy and they won't have anything to use? Are we gonna wipe life off this earth? Well, you can't find anybody that knows and then you can run to and fro and you can go to churches all you want and there's a famine for hearing the words of God. They don't tell you, they don't know.

   Well, one great leader was approached and he said, "Uh, Billy, you think Christ might come back just any time?" And he said, "Well, you know, Christ very easily might come back tonight, but on the other hand, he might not come back for 1,000 years." And how's that for zeroing in, you know, and detailing and narrowing it down, you know. That's ridiculous.

   I saw in the National Enquirer, they'd had an interview with Billy Graham and he said he believes there are beings on other orbs and other galaxies, and you know, only on earth are a bunch of rebels who rebel against their gods and all these other orbs have beings created in God's image and they're all reveling in utopia and they've all been in heaven all their lives. Well, it's worth 40 cents just to read what Billy Graham thinks, because he doesn't generally let that be known, some of the things it says in there.

   Notice back in Ephesians chapter 2. Here's the passage Mr. Herbert Armstrong's been emphasizing quite a bit here lately. And having been an old Baptist, it makes a lot of sense to me, it means a lot to me. Ephesians chapter 2. You know, in the state we read back there about running to and fro and famine for hearing the word.

   The Time Magazine of March 5th this past year had a section called "The Deluge of Disastermania." Boy, look at all the movies made. My boy got caught up in one of these. He'd be 17 at the feast this year, but he saw this movie Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth." He thought that'd be a science fiction movie, so he went. And boy, when he got home, he asked me if I could sit down with him and his buddies and go through the book of Revelation with them. I said, "Sure." And boy, you know, their hair stood on end, they wanted to know what's going to come.

   But you know how many people are in the same boat? You know how many movies like this and books like this are selling? So somehow people know something is about to come to the conclusion. This book sold more than 10 million copies.

   The semi-documentary movie made from it with narrator Orson Welles rumbling warnings that the world may be coming to an end is currently among the top 10 moneymakers out of Hollywood. You imagine that that movie, one of the top 10 moneymakers. Why the success of an apocalyptic message? Storm warnings, important hints of catastrophe, hot our times, says historian Christopher Lasch. Impending disaster has become an everyday concern.

   Indeed, Armageddon is something of a growth industry. In an avalanche of recent books, polar caps melt, the new ice age begins, the oceans disappear, the ozone level is destroyed, terrors touch off a nuclear war. Astronauts bring back a deadly Andromeda strain. Destruction may also come from a maddened god. Or in an unending snowstorm, the movie "Blizzard," or from the scorching greenhouse effect of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A book entitled "Heat" or through global political disintegration. "The World War, the Third World War, August 1985," another book.

   For Hollywood too, calamity pays. From "Earthquake" to "The Towering Inferno" in "The Last Wave," disaster flicks have been the most profitable genre of the 1970s, nor is the deluge tapering off. One explanation for this disaster mania, it is merely a harmless byproduct of popular entertainment, explained science writer Isaac Asimov. Hollywood just happens to be very good at special effects, primarily destructive effects. Indeed, in the forthcoming book "The Choice of Catastrophes," the polymath popularizer seeks to soothe the anxieties about global disaster. Says Asimov, "All the scenarios are either very low in probability or very distant in the future."

   Another view holds science writers themselves responsible for all the doom and gloom because scientists write only for one another. But then they talked about some scholars think this kind of writing may be a reflection rather than a cause of the preoccupation with disaster. An English professor at Auburn University links the spread of millenarian fever with the approaching end of a true millennium, the year 2000. He says we must prepare ourselves for the mass psychological hysteria, the conscious or unconscious sense of terror that may build to a climax.

   Psychoanalysts and others say that love of calamity shows a sense of alienation and powerlessness that seeks release through images of destruction. Lasch in his pessimistic "The Culture of Narcissism" argues that modern civilization is beginning to show signs of the breakdown that marked the end of the medieval world. The same point made by Barbara Tuchman in her bestseller "A Distant Mirror, The Calamitous 14th Century." As Lasch tells it, disastermania and the selfishness of the me decade means that humanity has lost faith in the future and awaits some kind of ending.

   Few historians would care to push the analogy with the chaos and disintegration of the Middle Ages too far. Nonetheless, a few tantalizing similarities exist between then and now. Among them, the revival of millenarian sects and predictions about the world's end. So we're lumped right in there in that category with Adventist and pessimistic sects. That's something — that's where we're listed in the small sects of America, pessimistic sect. They might find out it's more realistic sects than pessimistic.

   Psychics and ESP fanciers have dusted off the 1934 predictions of Edgar Cayce. He forecast upheavals at the poles, the sinking of most of Japan into the sea, the destruction of L.A., San Francisco, and New York. In a more recent book, "We're the Earthquake Generation," he explains that the latter-day mystics are generally agreed that worldwide destruction will occur between 1990 and 2000 by earthquakes, floods. Then John the Baptist will announce the second coming. On the other hand, the end could come from mutated praying mantis, killer bees, flying saucers, aerosol cans, a shortage of STP, and the retirement of Charlton Heston. Well, you know, we're lumped right in there, disastermania. Armageddon it is.

   So that's the way we're lumped. Notice Ephesians chapter 2. And verse 20, let's begin verse 19 (Ephesians 2:19-20). "Now therefore you Ephesians, Gentiles — you Ephesian Christians, you're no more strangers, you're no more foreigners, but you're fellow citizens with the saints. You're fellow citizens of the household of God."

   "While you're being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom, in Jesus Christ, all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the Lord." And we're the temple, you know, the church. It's a living temple, it's a temple of persons likened to building blocks or boards or foundation or framework.

   So all Christians are being fitly framed together into this building as a holy temple. And the temple Christ is going to come back to, to marry, to take to be a part of the family of God, is this holy temple. And notice the next verse: "In whom in Christ Jesus Lord, you're also being built together for a habitation of God." God's going to live in that temple, dwell in that temple, marry the woman. Make Christians, members of his own family. So we as members are being built together, framed together as a holy temple and habitation of God. And that's all through the spirit.

   Now one element of this back up in verse 20 — the New Testament church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Now what prophets is the New Testament church built on the foundation of? Do you ever take the word prophet or prophets and look it up in your concordance and read about all those prophets in the New Testament? All four of them? Four of them.

   Well, let's see, there was Agabus, the prophet. What did Agabus the prophet foretell for our day? You ever read about Agabus? All he did was forecast dearth throughout the land of Judea back in his day. What about Anna the prophetess? Well, all she did was God allowed her to witness to the fact that Jesus was the babe born, that God had kept her alive to see the Messiah before he allowed her to die in her old age, but Anna the prophetess didn't foretell anything for our day. There aren't any prophecies that Anna recorded in the New Testament. There aren't any prophecies of Agabus for our day or any day later. Those prophets in the New Testament just foretold a few local things in their short time period.

   No, the New Testament church is not built on the foundation of New Testament prophets. Now people right away say, "Well, wait a minute, what about John and the revelations, the book of Revelations?" Well, in the first place, there ain't no such book. Maybe you never noticed that. As a matter of fact, most modern translations correct that error of that title of the book, it is not the revelation of Saint John the Divine. You don't find that in most modern translations. They know better than that. As a matter of fact, the first verse contradicts it.

   As a matter of fact, in most Bible examples, the first words of the book actually are the title. And that's the way it's been in the preserving of scripture. So notice what this really is: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show unto his servants, which then was sent to the 7 churches, his servants." And that very plainly shows you those seven churches described the servants of God down through all time, because this revelation that God gave to Christ, Christ then sent it to the seven churches to show onto his servants, the things that would shortly come to pass and from there all the way down to the end. Through the second coming, through the millennium, through the new heavens and new earth, you know what this book includes, but this is one revelation. It's all one revelation.

   When you take the 7th seal, it's made up of 7 trumpets. When you take the 7th trumpet, it's made up of 7 last plagues so that one revelation carries all the way through the whole book. But it's the revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him. The New Testament church is built on the foundation of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and Hosea and Joel and Amos, and yet in the modern New Testament churches you never get any of those books. There's a famine for hearing those words.

   And yet Jesus said through Paul here, the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. A lot of times you visit people and you visit certain people and they'll say, "Say, you have a prophet in your church?" I usually say, "Yeah, I sure do. How about you? You got any in your church?" I said, "Why, yeah, we got Ellen G. White and Rutherford, and Pastor Russell, and why we've got Joseph Smith and his brothers and his sons and his grandsons and why we..." "How about you?" And I said, "Well, yeah, we got lots of prophets in our church — Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, Hosea and Joel and Amos, Obadiah and Jonah and all those guys. But that's now, that's the ones we have in our church."

   Now one thing you need to be careful about, you look up the word prophet in the New Testament. Use a good Bible dictionary or Concordance, it'll tell you that the word has a double meaning. It can mean someone who preaches by inspiration, or it can mean someone who foretells the future. So don't forget that when you look up the word prophets and it said there were certain prophets and teachers at Antioch, what did they do? Foretell the future or just preach by inspiration? Well, there's no record that they did anything but preach by inspiration, even tells you Slice didn't. It even tells you there that they preached by inspiration.

   So when you read that God said in the church, "First apostles, secondarily prophets" — which use of the word is that, inspired preachers or ones who foretell the future? Well, he set in the New Testament church, ones that foretell the future — Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and Hosea and Joel and Amos.

   Now you come back to the birth of the New Testament church and you know you could spend the all day sermon just showing how the New Testament church is built on the foundation of the Old Testament prophets. It's an interesting thing. In marking my Bible, when I've gone through and I read a verse that's a quote out of the Old Testament, I make a blue square over the number 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 as is here in Acts chapter 2, because those are quotes out of the Old Testament.

   And people are always trying to tell you the Old Testament's done away with. Well, that's kind of funny because the apostle Paul in the book of Romans quotes out of the Old Testament more than any other book percentage wise in the New Testament, yet he's the one supposed to have done away with it. That's kind of a dumb way to do away with the Old Testament — spend 3/4 of your time quoting out of it, using it as a basis for what you're saying in your day.

   Well, in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, the founding of the New Testament church, Peter verse 14 (Acts 2:14), stood up with the 11, his voice, he said to them, "You men of Judea." You know, Peter knew who they were. They weren't the 12 tribes. They were men of Judea. Oh, they were Israel alright — the two tribes of Israel. But don't let anybody kid you, the doctrine of Israel is all outdated and that's a farce. It's absolutely more proven than ever. The more you study and dig, the more you're gonna prove that doctrine and not make it less likely.

   "You men of Judea and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known to you and hearken to my words, these people aren't drunk, it's only 9 a.m. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." So he says what God was causing to happen on this New Testament birthday of the New Testament church was fulfilling, was based on the foundation of the prophet Joel. "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days."

   Now, according to Peter's sermon on this day of Pentecost, the last days begin at the time of Christ's death and the time of the New Testament church. Four thousand years had already passed. Now the last 2000 years were going to unwind. And according to Peter on this day of Pentecost, the prophet Joel began to fulfill the last days in his time.

   "And it shall come to pass in the last days," says God, "I'll pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." Now none of their prophecies were recorded for end time fulfillment, none of their prophecies were anything more than just telling local things that were going to happen in a local area at a little time period. But not books of prophecy written.

   "Write in scripture, your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my handmaidens, I'll pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy." Now according to Peter, that's what was happening there on that day of Pentecost, speaking supernaturally by languages they've never learned, telling other people about the Messiah and God and the church.

   Now he goes on to say, "And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke." You read that when that happened in Acts 2, didn't you? No, I never did either. Acts 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 — it didn't happen. Now I can read it in Revelation 6 where it still said it's going to happen. So as up to Revelation 6, it still hadn't happened yet. Never did it happen for 100 years. That's when John wrote Revelation, and it isn't gonna happen for a while yet. And all you got to do is go outdoors and you know Acts 2:19 hadn't happened yet.

   Because he said, "Wonders in heaven above, signs in the earth beneath the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord, great and notable." You know, somebody to come to me 25 years ago or 30 years ago and said, "Hey, how about that great notable day of the Lord?" I'd say, "Yeah boy, Sunday sure is a lot of fun, isn't it? Get to go to church!" And I wouldn't have dawned on — I never heard of the great and notable day of the Lord. Be a famine for hearing the word of God.

   But this supernatural intervention in the laws of nature, that's going to happen right before the great and notable day of the Lord comes. That wasn't happening on Pentecost, that hadn't happened since Pentecost. That wasn't to happen until right down before the great and notable day of the Lord. So it's going to happen. It's yet to occur.

   Now it's gonna come to pass, whoever will call on the name of the Lord during that time of the sun being turned into the darkness and the moon into blood, whoever will call on the name of the Lord during that great and notable day of the Lord will be delivered. Yeah, that's what the word "saved" is also translated "delivered." So this isn't talking about any Sunday at all. It's talking about the day of the Lord that's coming in the future. It's going to include wonders in heaven and signs in the earth, blood and fire and the sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood. And whoever calls on God at that time is going to be protected. They're going to be spared from having to go through that.

   Seems to me I read something about that back in Revelation. In fact, everywhere you read about that kind of a prophesized event, there's an opportunity to escape it. To be protected from it. To not have to go through it. But according to Peter, those things were being fulfilled by the New Testament church on Pentecost, and some of it would be occurring later before the great and notable day of the Lord comes.

   Now we could spend a lot of other scriptures showing you how the New Testament church is built on the foundation, but come back to Daniel chapter 12, and let's look at that in another way. Daniel 12. Starting off with the verse "at that time" — what time is that? You know, men put chapters and verses in the Bible to make it handier to find what you're looking for, which is helpful, but many times you lose the context by thinking it's a natural division.

   "At that time" — well, it's the time of the end, verse 40 says. So we'll be back in chapter 11 a little later, but "at that time, the time of the end, shall Michael stand up." Now here's one of the archangels, one of the supernatural powerful spirit beings, but this particular archangel has the responsibility of being the great prince of God's people of Israel. So that's Michael's position — the great prince, which stands for the children of God's people. And he's going to stand up at this time of trouble.

   "There shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation to that same time." Now that's what we're headed into, you know, in our day. We kind of look around the world and we say, "Hey, boy, you know, things are getting better. Look at that. The Chinese wanting to trade with America. The Chinese getting at odds with the Russians and boy, you know," and like the Time Magazine had it, "Communists at War." People said, "Hey, how about that? I kind of figured that Armstrong was wrong, you know, he said all those Asiatics are gonna get together. Now look at that. The Russians and Chinese have fallen out and the Chinese invade the Vietnamese and they've invaded Cambodia and boy look at that. Nationalist Chinese are out and the communist Chinese are in and boy, you know, things are really looking better."

   "We got a peace treaty over there between the Egyptians and the Jews and my aren't things getting better. We got rid of that Shah of Iran and now we've got a good Muslim religious leader in there and boy, you know, that Armstrong's all wet. Ten nations of Europe getting together and the Asiatics all getting together." And they are going to, they are going to. And it doesn't make any difference what it might appear right now.

   You know, why would the Chinese and the Russians have a falling out like that? Well, to open the door, we can get in over there, you know, now Mr. Armstrong's gonna be able to go over there and talk to the Chinese leaders. You might say, "Well, big deal, he's not going to convert anybody over there." Where in the world did you ever get that idea? I didn't know that's what we're supposed to be doing.

   I'll tell you what, sometime, get your scorecard out and read through the apostle Paul's conversions. When he went up there and he talked to King Herod and he talked to King Agrippa, he talked to all these guys — Festus and all those gunsmoke names — and you know how many of them did he convert? How many of those guys did he convert? Somehow Paul didn't know that's what he's supposed to do.

   You know you can turn back there and see what Paul said to Agrippa, to Herod, to Festus. You can't read what he said to Caesar, but he was brought before Caesar. I wonder what he had to say. He must not have worked because I never read where he got him converted. Well, what about Daniel though? He's a great man, one of the greatest men of all time, one of the three most righteous men who ever lived, one of the wisest men who ever lived. Boy, he had a great chance. He talked to Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus, man, whip out your scorecard. How many of those guys did he convert out of 5? Zero.

   Well, that's a sorry batting average. He couldn't even get Nebuchadnezzar converted. Somehow he didn't know that's what he's supposed to do. Great God, the plan of the great God that God had given him his empire, but it was only for a time, and after him was going to come a second one, then a third one and the last one, a fourth one, and out of that fourth one, there'd be successive resurrections of that fourth one.

   Never did preach Christ to him, never did tell him about the coming Messiah, the Jesus and all. All he did was tell him about the plan of God and the great God and warn him about what God said was coming. I might scratch my head and say, "Hey, I can't figure out what God got out of Daniel talking to all those guys. And I can't see what God got out of having old Paul talked to all those guys." Well, I know they did it though. I don't know what they said. And as far as why God deems that important, you know, that's up to God, that's his business. Someday we'll realize more thoroughly.

   But notice here in Daniel, there's going to come a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation to that same time. When is that time of trouble? Verse 40 says at the time of the end. Verse 1 of chapter 12 says at that time is when Michael stands up and there's that time of trouble, that lies ahead. So I don't care what you might have felt in the next few years. Don't ever forget what God says is coming.

   You know what those Japanese are up to? You know what those Russians and Chinese are up to? They're gonna try to rule the world. Their existence is going to be threatened by energy shortage. What are they going to do then? You ever read in your Bible about an army of 200 million? You know what all those Chinese and Russians and Japanese and Indians and Vietnamese and Koreans and all those people in Southeast Asia are going to do with an army of 200 million? They're going to kill 1/3. One-third of all humans on the earth are going to be killed by those Asiatic armies.

   "Why that, that can't be real. That can't... Really, you mean that's really going to happen?" Well unless you want to just ripe Revelation 9 right out of your Bible. Unless you want to tear a few chapters out of Ezekiel out of your Bible. Boy when I sit back and I watch what the Chinese are doing. I watch what the Russians are doing. I watch what people of India are doing and what the Japanese are doing, I always remember Revelation 9 and what God says is going to happen. Because it is going to happen. Now it’s going to happen while I'm alive and while you're alive. So don't get yourself lulled asleep by what's going on. You might read in the papers and magazines and it's all gonna drift, drift, drift, and what God said, he warned us, it's gonna happen.

   Now, I could wish it weren't going to happen too, but that doesn't do any good. That doesn't change anything. According to Daniel, there's coming a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation to that same time. And at that time, God's people shall be delivered everywhere you read about it.

   Any great tribulation or any time of trouble such as there ever has been, always there's a chance for some people and not because of God wanting to wipe out a bunch and keep a few elite, that's not the reason at all. The reason some of us are going to be spared is so there will be some to get things built back again to get God's system going in the millennium. It's not because of us, and some people in the past who've kind of gotten soured because he said, "Boy, what kind of a Christian is that? He says, 'God, let me run and hide and be protected and boy let them have it.'" What kind of a brain thinks of it in that way? What kind of an influence would that kind of an attitude be anyway?

   That's not why anybody's going to be spared. Your Bible says, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved alive. That's why God says it's gonna be that way, not because we're good and great and we're important, we're really somebody. It's for the sake of the world and man that God has to spare some to get things back the way they ought to be with Christ, to rule and reign with Christ for 1000 years. To have miraculous interventions to change things and get things back again.

   But Daniel says plainly, at that time, God's people are going to be delivered. Everyone that's really converted and has God's spirit. Everyone whose name is written in that book of life. They're going to be delivered out of that. They're not going to have to be destroyed by it.

   Now, he also is talking in this time period about a time of resurrection. "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," not all of them. This is only talking about two resurrections, not all three. "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. The former, the first to everlasting life. The latter to shame and everlasting contempt." So he's talking about the first and the last resurrections there, the first and the third one.

   Many of those that sleep in the dust are going to awake — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, or maybe not Solomon. Some of you aren't sure of. Peter, James and John, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. And you know, here again, the truth of the resurrections is buried in the way they translate it because many places in the New Testament where it says Christ was raised from the dead, if you check a Companion Bible or Interlinear or a Commentary — the New Bible Commentary, for example — you're gonna find out the Greek says really "raised from among the dead."

   Which proves the dead are still dead, they're still down in the graves, and all those that are resurrected in the first resurrection are raised up from among dead ones. But they won't translate it that way because that wipes out their heaven and hell doctrine. Everybody when they die goes to heaven or hell, no they don't either. They just stay there on the ground. Soul sleep. They don't go anywhere. And that proves that even in the language here, even this Hebrew word says "many from among them that sleep in the dust," showing all the rest is still down there sleeping in the dust. But, many from among them that sleep in the desk are going to awake.

   Now some of them are the first resurrection, eternal life. Only reward is there in the first resurrection. The last resurrection, shame and everlasting contempt. Now verse 3, "They that be teachers, they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." So those who are in that first resurrection, those people of God who have been delivered from that time of trouble — when that first resurrection comes around, they're gonna be raised in glory. They're gonna be raised as sons of God. They're gonna be raised as spirit beings.

   They have been teachers who've been busy getting God's work out, getting God's truth on, getting the gospel around the world, they have been teachers are gonna shine as the brightness of the firmament. And they that turn many to all of God's commandments — that's what righteousness is, Psalm 119:172. They that turn many to righteousness, they're gonna shine as the stars forever and ever.

   So you know, Mr. Armstrong said you can measure someone's spirituality by how much their heart's in the work. Is that biblical or is that just an Armstrongism? Is that really true? You can measure someone's spirituality by how much their heart's in the work. Well, according to Daniel 12:3, the more we're actively turning to righteousness and teaching, then the brighter we're gonna shine as the stars forever and ever, as the brightness of the firmament.

   Well you are. So if you don't want somebody to have to have a telescope to see you when you're a spirit being, you know, you better get busy. You better get to work. God rewards you according as your work may be. Well, going on, he says, "But you, oh Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book." Why do you need to know Daniel about the end time? How, why would you need to understand about that giant image with the 10 toes and the rock that smites that giant statue on the toes? Why do you need to know that for, Daniel?

   Why would you need to know about the horns that come out of there and that little horn with the eyes of a man and a big mouth? That religious power that began way back there in the Roman Empire and has continued with the longest unbroken religious dynasty period ever. Why do you need to know all that, Daniel? I've used you to write it down, but you shut up the words and seal the book to the time of the end.

   Now that proves right there, the book of Daniel is one of the foundations of the New Testament church. It wasn't even meant to be understood to the time of the end. The words of Daniel have been shut up and sealed until the time of the end, and now he even gives you two traits of the time of the end. Notice this descriptiveness of the time of the end: "Many shall run to and fro." Now he couldn't have said that 1000 years ago. When a guy is running a foot race or jumps on his horse and gallops off, many running to and fro, no, not very many ever did go to and fro. People lived and died in the same county for 70 years and 80 years and 90 years. Many didn't run to and fro.

   But now you see Japanese in Hawaii and Alaska and America. Now you see Arabs owning buildings, giant buildings in Houston and big cities. Now you see many running to and fro. You know, Mr. Herbert Armstrong said he lived in the horse and buggy age, then he lived in automobile, then the steamship, then the air age, then the jet age, then the space age. Boy, can you imagine one man living in all those ages in 87 years? Many shall run to and fro. And knowledge shall be increased — knowledge of an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb and a neutron bomb and knowledge of jets and all kinds of space travel and 90% of man's knowledge has been gathered here in the last 100 years. Boy, you know, God was sure exact there when he described the time of the end. Many running to and fro and knowledge increased.

   Now you know I have a sheet that was put together by the Seventh Day Adventist and it's an outline of Daniel. And in one side of it they've got this giant statue with a head of gold in the arms and chest of silver in the belly and thighs of brass and the legs of iron and the feet part iron and clay. Then in chapter 7 they've got the four beasts parallel with that giant statue. The head of gold Babylon is pictured by that lion with eagle's wings on its back.

   And what is the symbolism of Babylon even in our day? You go to the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. What do they got? The winged lions of Babylon. You look in your history books and what do they have? The winged lions of Babylon. You go over there in the Middle East and see the archaeology. They've got the very thing that Daniel pictured. Well, the second beast was like a bear that lifted up itself on one side, the Persian, much stronger than the Median. Then after that was this leopard — the swiftness and coyness of Alexander the Great and yet it had 4 wings on the back of it showing the swiftness with which he conquered the world.

   Then after him was a combined power of nations, you couldn't describe by any one animal. When you get several nations together, you can't describe those by some animal characteristics, so it's called a beast, dreadful and terrible, and it's strong exceedingly. But you know they have this sheet and they have the ram and he goat of Daniel 8. And you know when that sheet was put together by the Adventists — 1908. They understood the basic outline.

   Now they didn't get all of it because when they read about 7 heads and 10 horns, they scratch their head. They don't know what to do with that, so they put 2 horns on one head and 2 horns on another head and 3 horns on the head, and they can't figure that part out. And they didn't show a stone coming and smiting that statue on its toes and it falling over and crumbling. You know, they got the general outline of Daniel, but they didn't know the details.

   In fact, they think the beast of Revelation that's going to be bringing trouble on the Christian world in the end time is the United States. What, the United States is the beast of Revelation? That's how much they know about prophecy, but it does show the Daniel words are no longer shut up and sealed. The time of the end is already here. We already understand these prophecies of Daniel, not all of them. And you're going to see here in a second.

   But at the time that many are running to and fro and knowledge has increased, the books, the words of Daniel are no longer shut up and sealed. Well, look what happens. Daniel looks here stand 2 on each side of this bank of the river. One on one side says the one on the other side, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" Now what on earth is he talking about? The end of these wonders. How long should it be?

   Well, the guy over on the other side said it's going to be 3 1/2 times. To what? Filling into these wonders. Well, I'm afraid I plead ignorance and prove it. Because verse 8 says Daniel said, "I heard, but I didn't understand." What wonders? I said, "Oh my Lord, what will be the end of these?"

   So he turns right around and asks what the one angel already said. It'll be, "How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" And the other guy said 3 1/2 times and Daniel said, "Oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" So, you know, that's all I can do like Daniel did. I don't understand that either. There are 2 or 3 things here in Daniel that I don't dig. I don't get yet.

   And you know, you're better off if you know what you don't know and you admit what you don't know. Otherwise, you might launch off onto the tangent and say, according to your prophecies, the church is going to flee in February because you counted up some time and sure enough 1,335 days, well, nobody went anywhere. Here we all sit still. Then people thought, "Well, we're gonna do something on Pentecost," yeah, we're gonna have two sermons and eat and be together. That's all, nothing else is gonna happen.

   So it's going to be 3 1/2 times till the end of the wonders, whatever they are, don't ask me. But it'd be 3 1/2 times. I can guarantee you that. It's gonna be 3 1/2 times to the end of those wonders. Now even Daniel knew that, but he said, "Hey Lord, oh my Lord, what's the end of these things?" Well, he said, "Daniel, go on about your business. These words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end." Let's not be down close enough to the time of the end to understand everything yet. Maybe we don't need to know about the last 3 1/2 years if we got 16 years to go or 18 years to go or 15 years to go or whatever, but anyway God just told Daniel for the second time, "Go your way, the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end."

   Now he describes the time of the end, the second time. Now look what he says: "Many shall be purified and made white and tried. But the wicked, they're not going to pay any attention to you. You can go around preaching all you want, and the wicked are going to go right on doing wickedly. They're going to get worse and worse. There's going to be more open illicit sex. There's gonna be more violence, more robbery, more murder, more demonism. There's gonna be more and more and more and more and more of it on TV, in the movies, out around you all the time."

   The wicked are going to go right on doing wickedly. Not going to be any great Reformation, no great revival, no everybody coming back to God, no. The wicked are gonna go right on doing wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand. You can tell them all about Daniel and they'll just sit there and scratch their head. You can tell them all about the great God and the plan of God and the coming of Christ, and they're gonna just go right on about their wickedness. None of the wicked shall understand. But the wise shall understand.

   In the last days, the time of the end, the wise shall understand. So God plainly tells us the time was to come when we would understand, and it's a time when many are being purified, made white and tried. Now you might say, "Hey, wait just a second. Many are purified and made white and tried." You know how many righteous there have been down through time? One real moving sermon I heard Mr. Armstrong give in Pasadena. He said, "How many elect have there been?"

   Well, he started off with Adam and Eve. And Cain and Abel and Seth. And on down to Enosh and Enoch and boy, you know, you don't even run out of fingers till you get down to the time of the flood. You mean to tell me for those hundreds of years, almost two millennia? And there weren't even 50. That’s right. There were very few elect for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

   Well, then all of a sudden God called a family. Then you had Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the 12 patriarchs and then you actually got it grown all the way up to some in the nation, Joshua and men of that day. But you know, when you count right here in the Saint Louis South Church, you've got enough for that verse to be meaningful. Many shall be purified and made white and tried. Because when you think about how few elect there were for the first 4000 years, and then all of a sudden the church has 100,000 people attending on the Sabbath. You know that is true. Many are being purified and made white and tried.

   And that's a good description of the end that prophesized that the work would be done in the time of the end. That the people would be called, would be shown what sin is to put sin out of their lives. They'd have God's spirit, they'd be putting on white robes. Many would be purified, made white and tried.

   Now, notice verse 11: "From the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that makes desolate set up." Now, before we finish that in Daniel 12, turn back to Jesus' statements in Matthew 24. This absolutely proves from the time of Christ forward, the book of Daniel had to be made known. Now, part of it at that time and more of it later.

   Matthew 24, Christ is giving this outline of the signs of His coming and the end of the age. That's what the disciples ask. And he didn't say "Why you don't need it, none of your business." That's what people would have you believe. You know, I've gone to preachers in the Baptist church and I said, "Brother Walters, would you mind showing me what are gonna be the signs of Christ coming in the end of the age?"

   "Well, son, God doesn't mean for us to know. It's written, you're not to know the day or the hour." Well, I don't want to know the day or hour, how about the month? How about the year? Would you even let me know within 1000 years? You know that's the way those preachers put you off. They say, "Well, son, Jesus said that the times and seasons are in the Father's hands."

   Well they, I didn't know what Jesus said. The disciples said, "Lord, what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age?" Why "Go on your way, the words are closed and sealed"? He didn't say that. "None of your business. You don't need to know, just work out your own salvation. You're going to work more vigorously if you don't know what time they're setting, you know." You know how time's going, you're gonna be more vigorous. Well, he told them an outline.

   So now when you see this end and yet, when you see that, that's the beginning of sorrow. When you see this, you gotta endure to the end. Then when this happens, the end will come. But look what Jesus said: "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet." So Christ again shows his outlined prophecy is based on the foundation of Daniel, one of the prophets.

   I don't care if the Jews don't list the book of Daniel in prophets, they're all wet. I can see why Jews wouldn't want Daniel in the book of prophecy because he prophesized the Messiah dying in the midst of the week, causing sacrifice and oblation to cease, taking away the daily sacrifice. Well, if I were a Jew, I wouldn't want Daniel in prophecy either. But it is. Jesus said so. Jesus said, "Daniel the prophet."

   Well, unlike one ex-minister, God's word is good enough for me. You know, one of our ex-ministers that's not with us anymore said he saw a bumper sticker that said, "God said it, that's good enough for me." That, you know, "I want to know why." I mean just because God said it... You know, Mr. Armstrong kept the feast for 7 years, and he didn't know why. God told Abraham to take his son up, sacrifice him, he just got up the next morning and did what God said. You know, some people just kind of obey God and they find out later why.

   God told Paul he was going to go up to Rome. He didn't know why. He said later he didn't realize what was gonna happen to him and that he was going up as a prisoner and he was gonna go up as a prisoner before Caesar. Well, God's word is good enough, you know, you don't need no why. What about your kids? Do your kids always have to know why, or do you ever tell your kids, say, "Don't do this"? "Well, why, Daddy, why?" "Because I said so." "Yeah, but why, Daddy?" You know, you always tell your kids why or you just say, "Hey, go on and do it"?

   For some of us brainy and haughty, we want to have God to tell us everything before we'll do anything. God says, "So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place." Whoso reads, let him understand.

   You know Christ couldn't have told you that if the book of Daniel was still closed and sealed. There's no way Jesus could have commanded you to understand when you read about the abomination spoken of by Daniel the prophet if it were still closed and sealed. But Jesus tells you it's in Daniel the prophet. And it's going to be something you can see stand in the holy place.

   Now the holy place in Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac, where God's temple stood, where God's presence was. And in your day there's going to stand in the holy place an abomination that's going to cause God to intervene and desolate. That's going to be the last straw. When some power sets up an abomination in the holy place, I mean, that's it. You can be ready for it. God is going to desolate. And Jesus tells you when you read about that abomination of desolation in Daniel the prophet, and you see it stand in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. That's the time you better get out of there because it's gonna be a desolation.

   Now back to Daniel 12. Daniel 12, "From the time the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate set up." Sure enough Christ is right, it’s spoken of by Daniel the prophet. The abomination that makes desolate. Set up. Now notice the key term. It's going to be something that's set up, it's going to be something that stands in the holy place. And it's gonna tell you in chapter 11 what it is. The daily sacrifice is taken away in order for it to be set up.

   Now don't make the mistake that you have to have a temple in order to have a daily sacrifice. That isn't true. You read in Ezra and Nehemiah, all they did was build an altar and consecrate the altar, and they sacrificed. There wasn't a wall, no ceiling, no building around them. All they had was a consecrated altar. That's all you have to have. You can have daily sacrifices there. And they did it and it'll be done again maybe.

   So from the time though that the daily sacrifice is taken away — and when they take away that daily sacrifice, that's the same day they set up the abomination. It's gonna be set up, it's going to stand in the holy place, and it's going to make God desolate. But from the time they take away that daily sacrifice and set up that abomination, there will be 1290 days. And that's all.

   Now he says, "Blessed is he that waits and comes to the 1,335 days." Now in the past, you know, in order to kind of understand prophecy, we've counted backwards, which is odd. In the first place, you can't do that in this Hebrew verse 12. There is no way you can count backwards without violating the scriptures of verse 12. Because look at the terms in verse 12: "Waits and comes to," which means 1335 extends beyond 1290.

   As a matter of fact, he's talking about the time that Daniel is going to stand again. Notice he ties in the 1,335 days with verse 13, but "Go you your way." The third time God told Daniel, "Go your way till the end be." Because you're gonna rest, Daniel, you're sleeping in the grave, you're resting, your soul sleeping. You're gonna stand in your lot at the end of the days.

   Now look at the way that's termed. Daniel's resurrected and rewarded at the end of those 1,335 days. Those 1,335 days are the time of the first resurrection from verse 2 and 3. From verse 12 and 13, it's obvious he's talking here about who is blessed. Now you know, you might want to turn back to Revelation 20 and it says "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection." That's when your final reward and blessed. Verse 6, Revelation 20 (Revelation 20:6), "Blessed and holy." "Blessed is he that waits and comes to the 1,335." That's when Daniel is going to stand in his lot, which means you're going to get your reward. You're going to receive your lot, whatever your proportioned reward as the Son of God is.

   But in the meantime you're going to rest in the grave for the end of the days, and then you're gonna stand in your lot at the end of the day. Now we can understand very plainly then from Daniel 12 that the end time is here because we can understand Daniel generally, not totally.

   Now back up just for a couple of verses back in chapter 2 and in chapter 7. Not in chapter 2. Here Nebuchadnezzar had seen this giant statue I mentioned earlier, made up of different metals that showed different empires and traits of different empires. But Daniel says verse 20 (Daniel 2:20): "Blessed be the name of God forever and ever because wisdom and might are his and God changes the time and the seasons."

   Now you know as God looks down and he sees prophecy kind of getting ahead of time, he'll cause the Chinese to be looked on with favor by the Americans and they'll begin to make trade and they'll begin to — through the ping pong tournament, if you can imagine that back in Mr. Nixon's time — began to befriend each other and trade with one another and kind of have diplomatic relations with one another and so time slows down because the Russians get jealous and they get angered and then they'll probably say, "Hey, why don't you have some of your people come over and visit our country too?"

   And you know, when Mr. Armstrong's able to go to China and then to Russia, you know, that's about it. What major countries we haven't gone to to tell their leaders about what God's gonna do? Well, that also is going to slow time down too because once the Russians and the Chinese are kind of divided against each other, it'll take them a while to work things back together and it's gonna be a while before China's a giant power as far as economically.

   So God changes the time and the season. God can slow things down or he can speed things up. You know, I can look back in my day. I remember when Franklin Roosevelt said after World War II, "We'll fix those Germans where they will never rise again." So he gets shuffled off the side, you know, if a guy's gonna do that and that isn't what prophesized, then you better bring in a Truman and he can kind of have the Marshall Plan and dust off the Germans, pick him up and say, "Let that be a lesson to you and let's help you get back on your feet now."

   So, you know, change kings. God changes the kings. Read that next part of that verse. God removes kings and sets up kings. So, if God needs a Kennedy to slow things down or if he needs an Eisenhower to slow things down or if he needs a Johnson or a Kennedy to let things speed up in some areas, God gives. God removes kings. God sets up kings. God changes the times and the seasons. Don't think God just kind of gone way off somewhere and is oblivious to what's going on.

   Notice in verse 37 what Daniel said to this king (Daniel 2:37): "You, O, you're a king, of kings. You’ve got other sub-kings ruling under you, subject to you because the God of heaven has given you a kingdom." He didn't admit that. He wouldn't believe that. "Power, strength, glory, wherever children and men dwell, they're all under your power. All these other governments, beast and fowl, he's given into your hand. He's made you rule over all these different — you're this head of gold." Not just him, his successors, his empire, Babylon.

   "But after you, you're not gonna last forever. After you is gonna rise another kingdom inferior to you like silver is inferior to gold, and after that one, another third, now he counts them, third kingdom, which is like brass. More breakable, less valuable, which shall bear rule over all the earth, still world ruling power, and the fourth kingdom."

   And you know you'll never read anywhere about a 5th one. There was never to be except 4, except that fourth one was to have a number of resurrections. But you'll never read anywhere about a 5th one, anywhere, Daniel, Revelation anywhere, the 4th kingdom. It's strong like iron, and like iron it'll break these other metals. It'll break in pieces these other human governments, it'll subdue them.

   Now it comes down to the iron legs, but now all of a sudden gets down to the feet and toes. And that's another segment of the resurrection of that system. Part of that system was iron in some of the resurrections, but when you get down into the last resurrection, they're mixed. Like the feet and toes are part potter's clay and part iron. So in that combine of nations, there are some of the old strength of the early Roman nations of iron, but there's some weakness from other later nations like miry clay too.

   But the last part of the statue when you start at the head and go right down successively to the toes — and you know, a lot of people have come to realize this church is right when it talks about 10 nations making up a resurrected Roman Empire. I can show you two new commentaries that have changed their view and now they believe what we said. Ten nations in Europe, they're going to form a resurrected Roman Empire. And that's what this is all about.

   Notice then what happened. The toes of that statue, part iron and part clay, the kingdoms partly strong and partly brittle. Then notice verse 44: "In the days of these kings." Now, he says those toes are kings because from verse 42 on, he's been talking specifically about the toes. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven is going to set up a kingdom.

   Now that doesn't make any difference what denomination you're of or what else you believe. When you get 10 nations united together in the last days, resurrecting that 4th world empire, the God of heaven is going to set up a kingdom. Now you may have heard a couple of days ago that Greece is going to join the EEC and will make 10. That's probably not the same ten. Some of those that are in it probably won't be in it. Some that aren't in it probably will be.

   But how long is it going to be before that part of prophecy could be fulfilled? You know, how long would it take for everything you can think of in prophecy to come to where it could happen this year, next year, the next 5 years? Can you think of anything that's prophesized that could not be worked out within the next 5, 10 years?

   You know, Mr. Carter is the thirty-ninth president. And the next president will be the 40th. Seems to me, I've always remembered about 40, 40, 40, 40, 40 all over and over and over in the history of Israel. 40 years Saul ruled. 40 years David ruled. 40 years Solomon. 400 years between the old and the New Testament. 40, 40, 40, 40, 40 years wandering in the wilderness.

   Well, I personally think that Mr. Carter, if he gets elected again, we'll have a little more time. If he doesn't get elected again — well, I'll tell you, I'm gonna be kind of panicky because what if the next president happens to be a Catholic and ends up being the 40th one. I mean, don't think things in prophecy aren't getting mighty close to where they could just all mesh and then boy I mean Christ comes back and we got a new world. Don't put way off the evil day. Don't say, "Oh well, I don't think..."

   Oh yeah, in the days of those 10 toes, the God of heaven is gonna set up the kingdom. It'll never be destroyed. That kingdom is not gonna be left to the people, it's the spirit kingdom, spirit sons. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, resurrected saints. That's who the kingdom's gonna be left to, not other people. Sons of God.

   And since you saw that stone that smote that image on the feet, was cut out of a mountain without hands, that's Christ the rock. Cut out of God's mountain, God's kingdom, supernaturally, without hands, that's what that means. Hebrews 9:11 is another verse that shows you that the mountain is the symbol of the kingdom. This rock comes out of God's kingdom supernaturally. And it's going to break all of these human systems, the times of the Gentiles, which are all of these chapters of Daniel picturing Gentile rule, are gonna end.

   You know, Jesus believed the times of the Gentiles are going to end. They hadn't in his day — look back here in Mathew 24 again, no it’s Luke 21, isn't it? Luke 21. Verse 24 (Luke 21:24): "There's gonna be great distress on the land of Israel. They're gonna fall by the edge of the sword, be led away captive in all nations. Jerusalem, the old capital of all Israel, is gonna be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

   So according to Jesus, they hadn't been fulfilled in his day. They were still yet to be fulfilled after Jesus' day. But once that's happened, then the times of the Gentiles are over. Time of God is there and Christ comes back and smites that Gentile times in their last phase of the toes and leaves the kingdom to the saints of God.

   The great God has made known to the king, verse 45, what shall come to pass here and after. You know what this statue was for? Back up to chapter 2 verse 28. Daniel said (Daniel 2:28), "Why there's a God in heaven, he reveals secrets. He makes known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what's going to be in the latter days."

   Look at that. He didn't make known to Daniel. Daniel wrote it down and recorded it, but Daniel didn't comprehend all of it. He understood parts of it. But God said, by this statue, he was making known what shall be in the latter days. Look at that verse 28. Not just ancient history, not medieval history. What shall be in the latter days.

   "Now your dream and the visions your head here they are. Your thoughts came on your bed. What would come to pass?" Look at this key word verse 29 here — "after." Oh, some of it was for that day here, here now, and after and after and after and all the way down through the latter days. That's what that's all about in Daniel 2. Daniel is for the end time. Daniel is for the New Testament church. The New Testament church is built on the foundation of Daniel. You can't understand the book of Revelation without Daniel. Daniel and Revelation go hand in glove.

   Now in chapter 7, he adds a little bit to this overall picture of world government. It's interesting when God makes Nebuchadnezzar see it, oh it's glorious, beautiful statue, but when his servant, Daniel has seen it, a bunch of wild animals. Isn’t that odd that’s the way God sees human government like a bunch of wild animals, but boy they see themselves like a beautiful statue, glorious gold and silver and all. That's not the way they really are.

   Daniel 7. Daniel had a dream and he saw these 4 beasts come up out of the great sea. Four great beasts never 5,6,7, they're always only 4. They're different from one another. The first was like the lion that had the eagle's wing. The second one was like the bear, raised up on one side. The third one was like the leopard that had 4 wings. Then the fourth one was a combine of nations, so you couldn't describe it by one animal trait.

   So it was a beast, dreadful and terrible, but it had strength like iron, it had iron teeth showing it's the iron legs. But it devoured and break in pieces. All that describes the legs of the iron of Daniel 2, but notice what it adds here. It had 10 horns. A horn's a king. 10 successive kings.

   But as he considers these 10 horns, 3 of them are uprooted by a little horn that arises among the 10. So you see the first 3, that shows these as successions. The little horn comes in and roots up the first 3 and then dominates over the last 7. So 3 of the first, that shows they're successive. 3 of the first plucked up. Then this little horn with a big mouth.

   Now notice all the sudden he ties that in with the coming of Christ. "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit." So again, the rock smites the statue on the feet. The Son of God comes back and takes over. And he's fought by this little horn with a big mouth. Notice verse 10 says it's the time when the judgment was set, when the books were opened.

   Now you might come in chapter 11. Daniel 11 — let's turn to one chapter and Joel, I want to — Joel chapter 3 before we come to Daniel 11. Joel 3. Beginning verse 9 (Joel 3:9): "Proclaim you this among the Gentiles." Now we haven't done that yet. We've got this yet to do. So once we're in enough favor and known enough by Gentile leaders, then we're gonna be able to tell them what the Bible says to tell them, you know, there are prophecies that we've got to cry aloud in the streets of Jerusalem. We've got to tell the book of Obadiah to the nation it applies to. We've got to go to nations with things out of the book of Amos.

   So here again in Joel, we're charged to proclaim this among the Gentiles. But until we become known by them, we wouldn't be able to do that. "Prepare war. Wake up the mighty men." So at the time we go to proclaim it, it's as if the mighty men are kind of at ease, at peace, kind of sleeping, they're kind of putting on as if they're not really getting ready for war.

   But we're going to have to shout and yell and warn the world that 200 million Asiatics are going to come marching westward and kill a third of man. Boy, oh boy, that's bad news. I sure hate to think that's gonna happen, but I know it is.

   You come back here to Revelation 9 and notice what it says. Revelation chapter 9. Prophecy is sobering and it's realistic, but don't think prophecy is something God is forcing on man, you know, prophecy isn't something that God says it's going to happen and then he makes it happen. Prophecy is what God shows man ahead of time what he's gonna do to himself. So when you read prophecy, don't get mad at God, don't blame God. Don't say what kind of a God is it that's doing all that to us. No, that isn't it. You missed the boat. That's not what prophecy is.

   Prophecy is a God of love warning man ahead of time what he's going to do to himself and what God's going to do about it. So there are 3 wars yet to come. The second war is going to end up being the 6th trumpet. They said to the 6th angel which had that battle trumpet, "Loose the 4 angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates." So right now as I see, God has 4 angels in the great river Euphrates holding back all those powers east of the Euphrates.

   The four angels were loose, which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men. Now you go by the Bible or you go by what you hear and what you read? I'll tell you, according to the Bible, there are 4 angels in the great river Euphrates holding back those Asiatics until the very precise time. Then no longer will they be restrained.

   "The number of the army of the horsemen, 200, thousand, thousand. I heard the number of them." Boy, that’s about the only place you could get an army of 200 million, you know, if you armed all the Americans, you just barely have a little over 200 million. But here is an army from beyond the Euphrates of 200 million that God is going to restrain them until the time another power has gotten right ready, and we'll read about that other power now back here in Daniel.

   Now back to Daniel. And I view world events in the light of Bible prophecy. I see what's coming. Daniel left. Now verse 40 starts at the time of the end. But verse 35 says to the time of the end. That's the key terminology.

   Now back up to verse 33 (Daniel 11:33): "And they that understand among the people shall instruct many." Now we read that in chapter 12, that it's a time when some are being teachers and turning many to righteousness. It's a time when many are purified, made white and tried. So here we're reading about that time of the end again. God's people who've been enlightened or are converted, who have God's spirit, that understand the plan of God and understand God, they that understand among the people, among God's people of Israel are going to instruct many.

   And yet we read in chapter 12, the people were trying to instruct, they're not gonna listen. They're gonna fall by the sword, by flame, by captivity, and by spoil. Exactly like we read before in another place. Israel is going to fall, as we read in Luke and Matthew, by the sword, flame, captivity and spoil, and yet God's people who do understand are trying to teach and turn the righteous and instruct many, but when these people of Israel fall, some are going to be helped again with a little help.

   There'll be some that will be protected, that'll be spared, that'll be delivered as we read everywhere we've read. When Israel falls, there's some that are gonna be helped with a little help. But even among those who are going to be helped with a little help, even among those that understand among the people, when they're out trying to instruct and teach and turn to righteousness, many cleave to them with flattery.

   A lot of people that aren't more converted than a jackrabbit. A lot of people that are in the church because they've always done what they thought was right. A lot of people in the church because they can see these doctrines are really the Bible doctrine. But have you really been conquered by God? Are you really totally wrapped up in God's work? Are you in the work of God till the end? Are you gonna endure to the end?

   You know, when you take the term "many are called but few are chosen." We've wondered about that in years past. You know, when you put the harmony of the gospels together, that's said at least 3 or 4 times. And having been here in Saint Louis for a couple of years, I can look back and I can know that many were called, but where are they? No wonder Jesus said he that endures to the end. I always thought that meant endures when you get to the great tribulation in the end day or endures when you get dragged before churches or powers, and I didn't know it meant to endure what we've had to endure.

   Well, whoever knew what it meant to endure. He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. Yeah, it does say many are called and few are chosen. In fact, in Revelation 19, when Christ comes back, it says they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. Those are the ones who are there to start the world tomorrow, to rule with Christ for 1000 years. Those who have been called and chosen and faithful.

   Oh yeah, no wonder it says here, many cleave to them with flattery. That ain't all it says. Look at verse 35. "Some of them of understanding shall fall." Boy, that should happen in the last 5 years. Some of them have understanding, some people who've known the truth, who've been enlightened, who understand God's plan, who've been ministers, elders, deacons, some of them of understanding have fallen. Sadly, maybe some of them permanently, but maybe some of them just through tribulation to try them and purge them and make them white.

   You know those are the very descriptions back in Revelation 3 about Laodicea, purged, made white, tried. Same words exactly. So hopefully some who at least who've been of understanding who've fallen will wake up when they realize what's happened and what they've done and what they're gonna go through. And made white to the time of the end, because it's yet for a time appointed.

   See, God had a definite time appointed before he was going to let that kind of thing happen, but it's been prophesized in Daniel all this time in the last days, in the time of the end, that some of understanding would fall. That some would cleave to the church with flattery.

   Now we'll come back to Daniel 11 to finish here in a second, but notice II Thessalonians chapter 2. II Thessalonians chapter 2 and then we'll finish with Daniel 11 and that'll be all. II Thessalonians 2. This has been misquoted by some and sadly.

   "Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and concerning our gathering together to Him." So notice the introductory sentence of the paragraph, what it's all about. The setting of this passage is the ministry of God beseeching the brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and concerning our gathering together to Him.

   Now that's the introductory sentence to the paragraph. If you ignore that and jump into the middle of the verses, then you're gonna get led off, you're gonna get misled. "Now, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit," and that's happening in our day. I mean, there's one man who used to be a minister in this church who send tapes around that are literally just spiritism, demonism, just people get troubled in spirit. Spirit influence. They believe some of the dumbest things I ever heard of in my life.

   Because they listen to some garbage on tapes that ought to be burnt instead of listened to, and these tapes suggest that everything that ever happened to Jesus, if we're gonna be sons of God, it's gonna have to happen to us. The place of safety is up in heaven and Psalm 73 was for 1973 and Psalm 74 was for 1974. I'd like to know when Psalm 119 is for then. Some of the stupidest things I ever heard of. I'll guarantee you get any tapes from Oregon like that. Burn them, don't listen to them.

   Dear old people that I love down in Big Sandy got some tapes by some guy that claimed to have been the past vice president of the occult. They want me to listen to them. Well, I listened to part of one of them and that was it. I'm not gonna listen to the other one. I warned them what they were getting into.

   Now don't you forget what this is concerning — the coming of Christ and our gathering together to him. Paul warns right before that, some are gonna be shaken in mind by spirit. Some by word, some by counterfeited letters that the day of Christ — notice what it's referring to, the day of Christ — is at hand. Don't let any man deceive you by any of these means. Why the day of Christ isn't gonna come, except there come, notice, doesn’t say a great falling away.

   I've heard that over and over and over. There ain't no such creature in the Bible, a great falling away. It doesn’t say that. Now do you think it does? You just showed me. It doesn't say a great falling away. It says the day of Christ isn't going to come except there come a falling away first.

   And I know in a sense, there was a great falling away or a falling away back in the early days that, you know, the Protestant Reformation, they didn't fall away — where they fall away from, they never had the truth in the first place. They couldn't have fallen away. But before the day of Christ, there was to be a falling away, and in that time element, that man of sin wants to be revealed. That son of destruction. The Antichrist, the religious leader, that little horn with the eyes of a man in the big mouth. That, that man above the law, the man that changed the law, the man that changed the 10 commandments was to be revealed. A man that's going to reap God's destruction, not normal death.

   Esquire magazine, May 8th: "How the Pope Will Change the World." Do you realize what that present Pope feels his commission is? Travel around the world, get together with the world leaders. Get nations together. Oh boy, I mean that sounds kind of hair raising. One of our young people over in West Texas, and I gave a sermon on prophecy, and they said, "Hey, you think this Pope might be the last one?" I said, "Well, I don't know. He sure very well could be." So, I'll tell you if he looks like he's gonna be the last one, I probably better be talking about baptism. It'd be too late to do that, you know.

   Well, back to Daniel 11. You know, there's another Time Magazine May 7th “Time The Oil Game." Who ever thought a little thing like oil would all of a sudden be such a power in the world and start erupting things the way it has.

   There's a... Well, I'll read this here in just a second, but notice back in Daniel 11 what it says, verse 40 (Daniel 11:40). Here again at the time of the end. Now what he's describing here in chapter 11, Alexander's empire when he died, his 12 generals fought among themselves and finally 4 of them began to dominate, and among those 4 they kept fighting until 2 occupied the territory. One was called the king of the north, which was Syria and later Macedonia and finally grew into the Roman Empire and the king of the south was the southern area, Egypt and Ethiopia, North Africa and Arabia and all that area.

   So the longest chapter of prophecy in the Bible went into great detail about the king of the north and the king of the south. But it tells you they're still at the end time. And if I'd been back in the days of Mussolini and saw him march into North Africa, I'd have believed just like Mr. Armstrong did. "Oh boy, this might be it. This may be all she wrote." Well, that was only a forerunner of what's gonna happen.

   But now notice what this says, at the time of the end: "Shall the king of the south push at the king of the north." Now that's a funny term, push. Doesn't say invade, doesn't say make war against, doesn't say capture, it just says the king of the south is gonna push and push and push. And who's gonna know when that last push is? I'll tell you all of a sudden, the king of the north is not going to stand anymore pushing.

   And he's gonna go like a whirlwind against the king of the south. Oh boy, that could happen this year. What if the king of the south says, "Hey you Europeans, you've been ritzy and fancy and rich long enough, you're gonna come down and live like we Arabs have had to live as a common people. No more of your ivory beds in your summer and winter houses," as Amos said. "No more of your ritziness drinking wine by the bowls full" as Amos says. "No, you're gonna have to learn to live like the rest of us in the world. Get out off your high horse and come on down here like everybody else."

   Well I'll guarantee the Orientals aren't going to want to do that, neither are the Europeans. So one of these times, the king of the south is gonna push the king of the north and his existence is threatened. His only hope to hold up against those Asiatics, that giant building China and the giant building Japan is to unite together and get that Middle East power of oil and gold and silver and wealth and strategic location.

   So the king of the north is going to come storming down like a whirlwind with chariots, horsemen, with many ships, and he's going into the notice plural countries. The king of the south is not one country, the king of the south is the whole Arab world united together.

   When the king of the south has invaded its countries, the king of the north enters into, flows over countries, passes over countries, also he goes through Palestine, the glorious land. But he doesn't bother those allied with him. Obadiah says Edom is allied with the king of the north, so he doesn't bother Edom. He doesn't bother Moab. He doesn't bother the chief of the children of Ammon.

   So now he's headed south. He went through Palestine, didn't touch Edom, Moab and Ammon, but that isn’t all, there's still plenty of the king of the south left. He'll stretch forth his hand also upon the countries plural. There are still other countries that make up the king of the south, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. That's the key. That's the center, that's the leader.

   So those Arabs are gonna get back together with the Arabs. The Egyptians don't — don't think you're gonna have Egyptians and Israelis and no, no, that's gonna blow up and the Arabs are going to get Egypt back as their key power and when the king of the north goes to take over the Middle East, the land of Egypt is the main place, he's gonna have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. I wonder what all that would be after gold and silver, what's precious? How did you get all that gold and silver? Oil, oil, oil.

   And now he knows his very existence as a world power against Asiatics is at stake, so he leaps like a whirlwind and takes over the Middle East and grabs the oil and all the treasures of gold and silver of Egypt, and now he's ready to finish his job and step westward on Libya and south on Ethiopia. But like back in the old days, rumblings out of the northeast — 200 million. The angels loose from the Euphrates. 200 million, boy, that panics him.

   He goes out with great fury to destroy and utterly make away many, and then he thinks if he can get his headquarters down on God's holy place, God will help him and God will intervene and establish the millennium through him because he really is God and he'll plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain, the abomination that's going to make desolate set up in the holy place. Grabs up his religious and civil power.

   Notice Tabernacle is a religious building. The palace is a civil residence of royalty. So there you've got both combined — the planting the tabernacles of his palace in the glorious holy mountain. Boy, that's an abomination that's going to make desolate. That's right, he's the son of perdition. He's gonna be destroyed. He's gonna come to his end and no one's gonna help him. Because Christ is going to put him in the lake of fire, the beast and the false prophet. He's gonna come to his end and nobody's gonna help him.

   I'd like to read a couple of clippings here in closing. One of them, it stood my hair on end when I read this out of the Saturday Review. "The miracle of Japan." Americans were once accustomed to thinking of Japan as an impressive but rather diminutive offspring of Allied reconstruction efforts after World War II. Made in Japan meant little more than jerry built at low cost of cheap labor, but the days of condescension are over. Today Japan is the world's foremost economic power. Boy, no American wants to admit that. No American wants to believe that. Today Japan is the world's foremost economic power.

   Last year, the Japanese manufactured 1 1/2 times as much per capita as Americans. While for the first time in decades, our exports of industrial goods fell behind our imports, Japan exported 75 billion more than it imported. Japan's investment rate, Japan's GNP growth rate, both are more than twice ours. I mean, Hosea said gray hairs are here and there on Ephraim's head, and he didn't want to admit it. He didn't believe it.

   This is an unbelievable article — of the world's 22 largest modern blast furnaces, 14 are in Japan, not the ones in the US. How many automobiles are now made in Japan? He takes all the different industries and shows how they wiped out any American domination. Ships, passenger cars. We sold 15,000 last year in Japan. They sold 2 million in America. What about motorcycles? Well, you know, ours are — our top one's 4th. What about Swiss watches? What about German lenses and cameras, and they're all way behind Japan. Well, there's a giant booming.

   One last article taken out of the Alexandria, Louisiana paper. That glass of fresh orange juice that cost $3.33 last November sold Friday for only $2.73 in Tokyo. They're paid more than we are. Their laborers make more than we do. The surline sake at the Palace Hotel sliced from only $38.88 to a mere $31.94. People who were a year ago rushing into Swiss francs or Deutsche marks, yen, they're getting out of those because of the oil situation in the countries of those currencies. They're getting into currencies of countries better off in oil. 85% of all of Japan's energy is imported.

   And what if somebody starts pushing at them and telling them we're not selling you anymore. Well, the Europeans are gonna beat them down there, but then they're gonna come together and that's gonna be Armageddon. Christ is gonna come back and catch both powers about to annihilate all life right there in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

   A country like Japan imports more than 99% of its oil. It's been affected by production cuts in Iran and price hikes by other oil producing nations. The bank expert said currency traders believe there's a serious oil shortage around the corner which will hurt Japan, West Germany, and Switzerland more than the United States. Since oil is still priced in dollars, nations heavily dependent on imported oil will have to buy dollars to get the precious fuel. But then when they start demanding their equity on these dollars, what's that gonna do to us? The economists thinks the dollar was underbought last year and is overbought this year. It'll sink again before too long, probably to somewhere around 200 yen a dollar.

   Well, I hope you look at world events through Bible prophecy and not by short-sighted human writers. Because time, you know, it's high time we all awake out of sleep and get down to brass tacks because our time's running out and you know, when you look back 10 or 12 years, that wasn't very long ago. But you know, you're never gonna see the year 2000, not with a human ruler, not with human governments. You know what would happen if time went past 2000? What would it do to God's 6000 year plan, the millennium? What would it mean? The Sabbath day no longer pictures what would it do to the Feast of Tabernacles? It pictures the millennium, the 1000 years of Christ after man's 6000 years. No, we're in the toboggan ride right at the end. We're only got a few more years left. And I hope you can know that from prophecy and be ready for it.

   We'll see you again tomorrow.