I wonder if you ever thought of the position that Jesus Christ is in today? God created all things by Jesus Christ, as you read in the 3rd chapter of Ephesians, in verse 9 (Ephesians 3:9), and yet today Satan the devil is sitting on the throne of the Earth, and invisibly ruling all of the nations of this Earth. He's invisible, people don't see him, so people don't believe there is a devil. It isn't fashionable today to even believe that there is such a person as the devil. Now Jesus Christ came in the human flesh, born of the virgin Mary as a babe. At the time of his birth, there was no room in the hotel, or the inn, in Bethlehem, and they had to lay the Christ-child in a manger of a horse, or a cow, or something, in a barn, because there was no room. He came humbly, he grew up humbly, and at about the age of 30, he overcame Satan the devil. He qualified to rule the Earth and to sit on that throne of the Earth that is now occupied by the invisible, yet immortal, Satan the devil. Now this Satan, originally when God created him, was not Satan. He was the perfect superarchangel Lucifer, perfect in all his ways, as God created him, until iniquity was found in him. He was given free moral agency, even as you and I. He had to make a choice, and he chose rebellion against God, and against the government of God. The government of God was taken away from this Earth, and this Earth has been ruled by Satan and his ways, just the opposite of the government of God, ever since. It is a way that causes heartache and trouble, and wretchedness and discontent, and that's what the Earth is suffering today, and has been now for 6,000 long years. However, Jesus Christ came, conquered Satan, qualified, did not take over the throne of the Earth, but rather went to the cross, the most humiliating possible death, that he suffered for you and me. And he paid the price of our sins by his death, by his shed blood. He bled to death, and by his shed blood, our sins may be forgiven IF and when we repent and turn around to go the other way, and to live the way of God's law, and God's way of life. However, he did not take over the throne, even though he had qualified. Rather, he ascended after his resurrection, ascended to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God now, as the high priest and also the head of the church. And the only thing on this Earth that Jesus Christ is ruling now, is his church that are called out from this world of Satan. He is ruling nothing else, but the day is coming when he is going to come and rule all of the Earth. Now we read of that in the 10th chapter, or rather, the 10th verse, of the 1st chapter of the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:10). I've been going into the book of Revelation recently in these programs, and the entire setting, of the entire subject, if you please, of the entire book of Revelation, is revealed in verse 10 of the 1st chapter of the book of Revelation, where John, recording what he saw in a vision. In a vision, the prophet John, or rather, the apostle John I should say, was taken in vision up to heaven. Actually, he was on the isle of Patmos in the Mediterranean Sea here on the Earth, but he seemed, in the vision, to be in heaven.
The Lord's Day is the Day of the Lord
And he saw things in heaven that don't really exist in heaven, but are to take place on the Earth. Those things are to take place on the Earth. And he was giving us a future revelation. Now it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God gave it to Christ, Christ gave it to his servant, the apostle John, who recorded it in writing. And so, the subject is the Lord's Day, or the Day of the Lord. Now the Lord's Day is the day of the Lord. I've said before, the Bank of Morgan in New York was the bank owned by Morgan. It was Morgan's bank, but we called it the Bank of Morgan. And the Lord's Day is the day of the Lord. And that is a time just ahead of us now, that you hear almost nothing about, and it's about time that a voice cries out and tells you about the Day of the Lord that is soon coming upon us. Where are we right now in the panorama of biblical prophecy? Well, we are in the very beginning of the Great Tribulation, as it is called in Matthew the 24th chapter and verse 21 (Matthew 24:21), a time of trouble such has never happened on the face of the Earth before. (v14) "For then," and that is a time immediately ahead of us now, "when this gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed in all the world, as a witness," the gospel of the kingdom of God, which had not been proclaimed for 1900 years, "to the world." It is being proclaimed on this program now, and when this gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed, we are very near to the end of this world.
Great Tribulation
"For then shall be great tribulation," that's coming upon us right now, we're in the preliminary stages of it. "Such as never was since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." I don't believe there's ever been a time of trouble much greater, if as great, as there is right now on the Earth. People are discontented and unhappy. We're seeking thrills, we're seeking violence, we're seeking sex, everything that is wrong, and that is not really satisfying human beings. People can't get along with themselves, husband and wife can't get along, parents and children don't get along together. People can't get along with next-door neighbor, capital and labor can't get along, different races can't get along, nations can't get along, so we have wars. War and fear of war — we're in that time now, "and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved alive." We're coming to the place, where for the first time in all the history of the world, the weapons of mass destruction exist that can annihilate human beings from off the face of this Earth, till there won't be a single human left alive! "But for the elect's sake, those days shall be cut short." Now I want to show you how they're going to be cut short. They're going to be cut short by Jesus Christ coming to take over that throne of the Earth! For 6,000 years, all nations have been deceived by this invisible Satan the devil. People don't believe there is a devil. They can't see him, they can't believe what they can't see. And as I've said so many times, what they don't know, they don't know that they don't know. And so, they just don't know it. That's all there is to it. But Satan the devil does exist. There has to be some cause for all of the troubles in the world, and it's the way people are living. It is what we're doing. There is a cause for every effect. There's a reason for the unhappiness and the wretchedness in the world today, for all of the violence and the troubles. And what a paradox — what great advancement, what tremendous advancement and achievement we have today. Just television alone, such a great advancement. The automobile and the airplane, men able to fly clear to the moon and back, into outer space, and yet we're in a time of troubles such as this world has not had before. And it's going to be even worse. And then, Jesus Christ is going to come and take over that throne. Now, we have actually been, for some 6,000 years, under the rule, invisibly, of this Satan who's sitting on the throne of the Earth. You can call it the day of Satan, you can call it the day of man if you wish, because man is doing what seems right in his own eyes. Man sets up his own kind of governments, he makes his own laws. He has own police force, his own armies and navies to enforce his laws and his ways, or to fight his battles. And that's the kind of world you've lived in. It's a world mingled between great achievements, and also great and terrible wretchedness and unhappiness. And I tell you, such things ought not to be.
Revelation Is All About The Day of the Lord
Now we're coming to the time that is called in the Bible the Day of the Lord, and that's what the entire book of Revelation is all about. That's what it's all about, the Day of the Lord. I don't know it seems that this is the only voice that has ever proclaimed that to you. If you have heard any other voice, I'd like to know about it. I would just like to congratulate anybody else that has ever proclaimed this wonderful truth, because it is a wonderful truth. Now then, this great time of trouble is the time Satan the devil knows he has but a short time, because when this gospel of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed as it is on this program, Satan the devil knows he has but a short time. Now the time is near the end of this world of Satan, and the beginning of the world that'll be ruled by Jesus Christ, because he is not sitting on the throne of the Earth at this time. He's sitting on the throne of God, on God's throne in heaven, but not on the Earth's throne. Satan the devil is sitting on the Earth's throne, and he knows he has but a short time, because Christ is coming to rule. He's coming to cut short these times of trouble, and a far worse trouble that is coming! A third of our people are going to be destroyed by nuclear warfare. It's spoken of as "by the sword" in the Bible, but the sword is merely the symbol of the weapons of destruction that are used in war. And one-third are to be destroyed. As a matter of fact, a total of two-thirds of our people are going to be destroyed, and the other third are going to be taken as slaves and captives into other nations. And that is what is coming on this nation! And I don't know of any other voice crying out! If you do, I wish you would tell me. But it's in your Bible, and why can't people see it? Why are they afraid to speak out at what is so plain, that anybody could understand if they're willing, in the word of God, the Bible? This Bible is God speaking! But people don't speak it out, it seems like they have been afraid. Well, I've gone through this book of Revelation, up to the 6th chapter, and six of the seals are opened in the 6th chapter, and we come to the 7th seal, which from there on, the entire rest of the book is about the Day of the Lord. Now I want to give you a few of the prophecies of the Day of the Lord. It is a time spoken of in, oh my, it's more than 24 different prophecies in the Bible. I can only have time to give you a few of them, but I want to give you a few of the times where the Day of the Lord is spoken of. It's a time coming that is going to end the trouble, and just an immediate prelude to the coming of Jesus Christ to take over the rule of this Earth, and change the way people live on the Earth, so we will live in a way that will bring us peace, and will bring us happiness and joy, and will bring us great prosperity. Today, my friends, about half of the people on this Earth are living in wretchedness and abject poverty, filth and squalor. Then, everybody will have plenty. My, when you stop to think.... The way we're living is bringing all these troubles on us. We're living in a time of ignorance. Half of the world, rather, is illiterate today, and then the Earth will as full of the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ, as the waters cover the ocean beds of the oceans, and that's pretty full. The people will have knowledge, and there won't be any illiteracy after two or three generations, after Christ comes to rule. He is coming as the King of Kings, he is coming, he's qualified for it. He's going to deplace Satan. Satan is going to be taken away. There won't be any Satan deceiving and misleading people, but we will begin to live the way of God. Now, first I want you to notice in Isaiah the 2nd chapter, and beginning with verse 12 (Isaiah 2:12): "For the day of the Lord..." Now, the day of the Lord is the Lord's Day, and that's the subject of the whole book of Revelation. "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low." People today are proud and lofty, if they have a little bit of education. They are so conceited, they think they're so great in their own eyes... (Isaiah 2:17) "The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish, and they shall go into the holes and into the rocks, and into the caves of the Earth for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the Earth. In that day, a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold which he has made each for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged rocks for fear," and so on. I have read all of those things to you in the book of Revelation, in the 6th chapter, at the end of the 5th seal which is the Great Tribulation, and just before the coming of that 7th seal, the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is the theme of the whole book of Revelation. All right.
The Two Trees
Adam and Eve were the first created people on the face of this Earth. Adam chose a carnal mind. Before him were two, special, symbolic trees. The one was the Tree of Life. He didn't have life, he only had a temporary chemical existence. God created him out of the dust of the ground. And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man, made of the dust of the ground, became a soul. Man is not an immortal soul. He became a living soul, living through the breath of air and the circulation of blood in his veins. But that's only a temporary living. That is not life. God has life inherent. God has life within himself. He doesn't have to breathe air, he doesn't have to have a circulation of blood. We can have that, ultimately, and that is God's actual ultimate purpose. Now, Adam rejected life, and the Tree of Life, God would have given him the Holy Spirit, which would have given him the knowledge of God's way, and of God's law. He rejected that, and he took to himself knowledge with his own carnal mind, which was able just to, well, to know the things that can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or felt. You can't know anything else naturally, you just simply can't, except those things. And Adam could have had spiritual knowledge revealed to him, and the things of God, but he didn't take of that. He chose the wrong fruit, and everybody's been choosing it that way. We were born that way, and we've stayed that way ever since, down to this time. Now, in our time, the day of Satan is near the end. Satan is very wroth, and he's going to bring us great tribulation on us. Satan is an invisible spirit. People don't see him, so they don't believe he even exists. He does. Something has to be causing all of this trouble in the world. How can you account for the way people are living, that are bringing so much unhappiness and wretchedness upon them? Now, next I want you to notice another prophecy about the day of the Lord in Isaiah 13, beginning with verse 6 (Isaiah 13:6): "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." He's going to destroy the wickedness and the haughtiness of man that had been deceived by Satan the devil on this Earth, and is causing us so much unhappiness. "Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them, and they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth. They shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." And then again in verse 11 (Isaiah 13:11): "And I will punish the world for its evil," God says. That is in the day of the Lord. Now next, I'd like to turn to a prophecy in Isaiah, and it's in so many places in the Old Testament, and also in the New Testament, the prophecies of the day of the Lord. (Isaiah 34:1) "Come near, you nations, and hear, and hearken, ye people. Let the Earth hear, and all that is therein, the world and all things come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord," the Eternal God, "is upon all nations, and his fury upon their armies. He hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood, and the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine." Now in Ezekiel the 13th chapter and beginning with verse 1 (Ezekiel 13:1): "And the word of the Eternal came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy," that is, preach or speak, and "prophesy" means preach in the Bible as well as foretell. Sometimes it means to foretell a prophecy, sometimes it means preach. "Son of man, prophesy," or preach, "against the prophets," or preachers, "of Israel that preach, and say unto them that preach out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Eternal. Thus says the Lord Eternal, Woe unto the foolish preachers that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! You have not gone into the gaps, neither made a hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle of the day of the Lord," talking of the day of the Lord again. (v6) "They have seen vanity and lying divinations, saying, The Lord sayeth, and the Lord hath not sent them, and they have made others to hope that..." And a better translation is that God would confirm what they have said. Why do people say on the air to millions of people, on television, on radio, the Bible says things, and it doesn't say anything of the kind? That is what has been going on, and the wrath of God is being aroused on that kind of thing!
Behold, I Will Send You Elijah
Now another prophecy I would like to read you, in Malachi, the 4th chapter of the book of Malachi, beginning with verse 5 (Malachi 4:5): "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and the dreadful day of the Lord." It's talking about the day of the Lord; and before that time, someone will come! Elijah the prophet lived a long time ago, he is gone and dead, but someone will come in the power and the spirit of Elijah. John the Baptist came in the power and spirit of Elijah, but he was not Elijah preparing the way for Jesus Christ at his first coming. He was a voice crying out in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River, and preparing the way for the physical Jesus, born of the human virgin Mary and laid in a manger because there was no room in the hotel, coming in his humility, and coming to his physical people Judah, and to the physical temple at Jerusalem at that time, built of stone and wood and precious stones. But now, a voice is to cry out before the second coming of Christ, coming in power and glory as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, to rule the Earth and to deplace, replace Satan, and to displace Satan, until he will not be here to deceive the world any longer, and to put an end to this trouble and this slaughter, and this great tribulation that is coming on this world! And some voice has got to come in the spiritual wilderness of modern Babylon, or confusion, and call the people out of this Babylon, as you read in the 18th chapter of the book of Revelation: (Revelation 18:4) "Come out of her, my people," and prepare the way for the spiritual Christ to come in power and glory, and the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and to come to his spiritual temple, the church that'll rise and meet him in the air, changed from mortal to immortal, their faces shining as the very sun, their eyes as flaming flames of fire! I tell you, my people, we're coming to that time, and it's time for a voice to cry out, and to tell the people that we're coming into that time, and to say, "Come out of this Babylon of religious confusion of our day," and believe the word of God, because there are many that are preaching something altogether different today. It's time to believe the word of God, and exactly what it says. Now it continues here in the 4th chapter of Malachi (Malachi 4:6): "and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the Earth," it says with a curse here, but the original Hebrew word there was a word that means "utter destruction." In other words, the time when no flesh would be saved alive, unless God comes to intervene and cut those days short. We're coming to that time now. We're very close to that time.
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