What on Earth is Going On

LftLD

Increase in wars and violence Earthquakes, Famines and pestilence Natural disasters and the environment Immorality and lawless behaviour The rebirth of Israel and the battle for Jerusalem Globalisation Increase in technology False Prophets and Messiahs The attack on the faith The spread of the Gospel  #10signsofthesecondcomingofchrist #ChurchLeadership #Faith #Israel #jesus #lightforthelastdaysmagazine #Messiah #salvation #SignsOfTheTimes                                                                                                                                                                                       https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/video/what-on-earth-is-going-on/

Transcript

00:00hello good morning friends it's just some word of prayer as we come to word of god lord we thank

00:25you that we do have a solid basis for our hope in jesus christ as we see the world in its turmoil

00:33and its confusion lord we pray that you help us to turn our minds upon jesus and to know that you

00:38are the answer to all of what's taking place in the world around us pray that you guide me and help

00:43me to speak now and that your word of god and accomplish your purposes in jesus name amen

00:50so what on earth is going on in our world are we seeing the signs of jesus return i'm sure you're

01:02aware that the last two days there's been exchanges of missiles bombs between iran and israel

01:11israel attacked military sites in iran including its nuclear sites

01:16and i'm going to just give a brief rundown on the situation before we come on to looking at

01:24the implications of this in the light of the word of god

01:27so we have bad news we also have some good news

01:31israel long threatened to do this in order to prevent iran from getting a nuclear bomb

01:37that would be an existential threat to israel that one nuke on tel aviv or haifa and israel is finished

01:45and iran has long been threatening to destroy israel been supplying its proxies in the middle east

01:52hamas hezbollah houthis iraq with weapons which are aimed at israel and in the last

02:00two or three years israel has been engaged in this conflict which has resulted in the neutralizing of

02:06many of those weapons

02:07u.s administration under donald trump has been engaged in talks with iran with u.s insisting

02:15that iran must give up its ambition to develop nuclear bombs which means ending its effort to

02:20enrich uranium to weapons grade it's up to 60 percent i think at the moment has to read about 80 percent

02:27to reach weapons grade uranium and it's developing this quickly

02:31far above what it needs for its nuclear power stations and iran has refused to make such a

02:38commitment

02:38u.s administration has been engaged in negotiations with iran with a deadline which was fixed to end

02:45this week

02:46in fact talks which are scheduled for today in imam now been cancelled

02:52and also this week the international atomic energy agency ruled that tehran is failing to comply with

02:59its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty avoiding detection of its web production of

03:06weapons grade uranium reviring to accelerate the process in other words accelerating the process for

03:11the enrichment of required for more bombs at different sites apparently trump was informed about the

03:19israel's impending attack and gave his report approval of it reuters new gen she said the

03:26greatest follies came after israel's biggest attack against its foe blasted iran's huge underground

03:32nuclear site and wiped out nuclear scientists and top military commanders iran said the gates of hell will open

03:41and they have already uh fired missiles at israel many of them have been neutralized

03:47but uh residential areas in rishon batian and the invariants of haifa have been hit with

03:58damaged property and i think the latest was four or more people killed

04:05so these strikes have rapid up the confrontation which has been going on between israel and iran

04:09for a number of years and burst into the open after the october the 7th attack on in israel on 2023

04:23and basically iran is left with has been weakened severely and they now need to either show their strength

04:33or they will perhaps face uh themselves some kind of action against their government israel's hit a number

04:43of these sites the most important one is a place called fordow which israel doesn't have the capability to

04:50completely knock out without us's assistance most analysts think that it's unlikely us will enter the war

04:57directly unless iran hits bases u.s bases in the area there's also been talk of iran responding by

05:06closing the narrow strait of humus the entrance to the gulf through which 20 million barrels of oil

05:11and oil-related products cross pass every day they do that it would severely affect the world economy

05:17which is already in crisis as a result of the rise in oil prices

05:23uh tehran's i'm quoting a few fits from here from news reports is that tehran's regional sway has

05:29been weakened by israel's attacks on its proxies from hamas in gaza to hezbollah in lebanon

05:36hutis in yemen militias in iraq as well as the ousting of iran's close ally syrian dictator bashar al-assad

05:44western sanctions have also hit iran's crucial exports oil exports the economy is reading from a string

05:50of crises including a collapsing currency rampant inflation as well as energy and water shortages

06:00the israelis are dismantling the iranian empire piece by piece bit by bit

06:05now they've started sowing internal doubt about the invincibility of the regime

06:10said sarkis naoum a regional expert this is a massive hit and if you follow the news netanyahu is

06:16actually encouraging the people of iran to rise up against their regime it's interesting that report

06:22actually mentioned the water crisis which is actually worth mentioning it's also part of a general

06:28crisis in the world today um iran is actually this is another quote iran is actually facing the

06:35possibility of ecological disaster several rivers in iran are experiencing significant drying including the

06:42zayande root karun and kake rivers these rivers once vital for agriculture and supporting local

06:49communities facing persistent water shortages due to drought upstream water diversions and unsustainable

06:55water route usage part of it's because of building dams and attempts by the regime to

07:03control the situation which have gone completely wrong

07:06trump actually said iran's leaders have managed to turn green farmland into dry deserts

07:14the revolutionary guards corruption and mismanagement has excavated the effects of an ongoing drought and

07:20created an ecological crisis unregulated dam construction by companies has dried up the rivers and lakes and

07:26helped created unprecedented dust storms that threaten iranians jobs and lives river diversions and reckless

07:33agricultural expansion of devastated ecosystems triggered severe water shortages and displaced millions

07:38across iran many farmers have turned to over pumping groundwater draining aquifers and causing the land

07:46itself to sink a crisis known as land subsidence and now tens of millions of people live in areas at risk

07:55where particularly south of tehran satellite imagery and government data confirm accelerating ground collapse

08:03subsidence rate have reached up to 31 centimeters per year alarming figure given that even a few

08:10millimeters of annual subsidence can damage infrastructure as a result foundation shifts bridges weaken

08:16roads buckle and pipelines rupture this is a structural emergency now i'm just telling these things because

08:22this is what's going on behind the scenes it's actually significant you have a general breakdown of

08:29the infrastructure taking place interestingly you've got a similar problem in siberia in russia

08:35it's actually a result of climate change because the permafrost is melting warming temperatures are causing

08:41the infrastructure that's built on the now thawing permafrost to be undermined

08:45uh the buckling ground leads to damaged roads slump telephone poles even collapsed buildings

08:52russia has built much of its infrastructure atop the permafrost nearly 70 percent of this infrastructure

08:58in russia's arctic region is at risk including major oil and gas fields pipelines and mines

09:05russia is incapable of fixing this problem but having put all its efforts and money into the war in ukraine

09:09as a result of western sanctions it's lacking the technical resources to meet those problems

09:16both iran and russia have domestic problems having sunk their money into useless wars

09:22that benefit no one being run by incompetent and corrupt rulers don't look after the real needs of

09:29their people but are very good at lining their own pockets and becoming rich at the expense of everyone

09:34else basically the only answer in both questions so situations is the overthrow of these governments

09:42which is what netanyahu is actually calling the iranian people to do difficult because they have a

09:47powerful state machinery of repression control of the media and if they get russia already has nuclear

09:56weapons of course if iran gets nuclear weapons has another means by which it can actually control

10:01what happens both outside and inside just on the ukraine war after three years of trying to win russia has

10:08made only small gains lost around a million men in the war plus another million who fled the country in

10:14order to avoid being called up to fight leading to severe manpower crisis in russia uh experts say it will

10:22cost a uh the ukrainians just destroyed 30 russian war planes and experts say it will take years to

10:33affect replace these planes large numbers of tanks and armored vehicles have also been destroyed

10:40you got images of russian troops going into battle sewn on motorbikes being knocked out by ukrainian zones drones

10:47economies in tatters having spent 40 percent of its income on war industries gutted by western

10:53sanctions electrical goods are scarce in the shops food prices are rocketing inflation high interest rates

10:59infrastructure collapsing growing discontent within russia as people protesting the food prices

11:04shortages etc and only the tight control of the russian police state is keeping the lid on this

11:09as in iran russia has been helped by china and countries like india that keep buying its oil but that's

11:17by no means guaranteed so russia is facing another crisis meanwhile in western europe you eu and nato

11:26are building up war preparations investing more and more money and defense across europe including the uk

11:32problem is we don't have the money and the only way to keep this going is to put up taxes and to borrow

11:37more money the question where is it coming from government spending massive amounts on the nhs defense

11:44etc and putting the economy in peril especially as a result of the dash for net zero being pushed by ed

11:52milliband

11:55nato chief mark rutter said britain should invest in defense or start learning russian

12:00actually i don't buy that russia can't take out more than a small part of ukraine in three years of

12:05fighting at enormous losses i don't see how it could take western europe

12:11but it may threaten the baltics and even there they would face nato there's also a question about

12:16russia's ability to lead the war of gog and magog in ezekiel 38 39

12:23but generally you've got this contributing to a growing war model in europe perhaps bring about

12:29more of a united europe with a strong army another thing which is indicated in the bible prophecies with the

12:35uh revival of the european of the roman empire some people say is coming to pass in europe and attempts

12:43to bring europe back into uk back into europe just a few things happening there's also china taiwan

12:50india pakistan kim jong-un still flexing his nuclear muscles in north korea you've got wars in africa

12:57environmental problems leading to poverty land degradation floods droughts etc huge refugee and

13:05migration problems across europe you've got lawlessness drug addiction radical islam taking

13:11control of regions of large cities across europe france especially but also here racial religious

13:18conflict social disorder especially through militant islam and the radical left trying to challenge the

13:24culture and take control of the institutions of our societies you also got massive economic crisis

13:32which could face the world trump's trying to deal with it and the us but his government appears

13:40increasingly incompetent and chaotic and could be leading to a breakdown of law and order and economic

13:45collapse uh flawed economic coalesces leading creating potential for an economic crisis

13:52u.s nearly 37 trillion dollars in debt rising by three million dollars every minute around the world

14:00you've got eye watching problems with eye watering duct leading to government policies

14:08which involve boring money which they never repay

14:13okay so that's a brief summary pretty depressing all adds up to perilous times coming on the earth

14:19and basically no sign of anyone who can solve the problem either right wing or left governments

14:26religious or non-religious and the question lays is will it lead to a meltdown into chaos and destruction

14:33present situation in the middle east could it flare out of control and bring in other countries and bring

14:38about some kind of apocalyptic war which the bible does prophesy will happen at some time

14:44the bible prophesies the war of gog and magog with an army coming down from the north in ezekiel 38 and 39

14:52battle for jerusalem sechariah chapter 12 through to 14 and finally armageddon in revelation chapter 16.

15:00and we ask the question why is the world in such a state of constant and increasing crisis

15:06what hope can we offer the people what solution is there the answer is actually quite simple bible

15:16prophecy concerning the last days is being fulfilled jesus is coming back most of the church doesn't tell

15:23you this but we do tell you this i might tell you this because this is the only hope of resolving any of

15:30these problems i've just outlined jesus said in answer to the disciples question

15:42on the mount of olives about his second coming let's read from matthew chapter 24 verse 3

15:48now as he said on the mount of olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when will these

15:52things be what will be the sign of your coming and at the end of the age and jesus answered and said to

16:01them take heed that no one deceives you for many will come in my name saying i'm the christ and will

16:06deceive many and you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars see that you're not troubled for all these things

16:11must come to pass but the end is not yet the nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom

16:17there'll be famines pestilences and earthquakes in various places all these are the beginning of

16:23sorrows see any of those things happening in the world today all these are the beginning of sorrows jesus

16:30said beginning of sorrows is an interesting phrase it speaks about the labor pains pains of a woman

16:37going into labor connects to a number of images in the bible in both old and new testaments

16:42the old testament as signs of the coming of the day of the lord the new testament as signs of the

16:48coming again of jesus the messiah sign of a woman going into labor said this before i'll say it again

16:56when a woman goes into labor she experiences a series of shocks which become more and more intense

17:01nearer you get to the birth of the child once the contractions have been set in motion they can't be

17:08replaced they can't be reversed until the child is born when the child is born if it's a healthy and

17:15wanted child then there is great rejoicing and the labor pains are forgotten by those who are waiting

17:22and expecting the birth of this child because of the joy that the child has come into the world

17:28all those three things apply to the second coming of jesus you have a series of shocks which will become

17:34more and more intense then you get to the second coming of jesus once that process has begun and i

17:40believe it has begun nothing is going to reverse it until the final event which will be the second

17:45coming of jesus which corresponds to the birth of the child of the woman in labor for those people who

17:51are looking for the coming of the lord jesus this will be a great time of great joy when all of the

17:56painful things which have gone before will be forgotten for joy that jesus has come into the world

18:00and jesus said when you see these things begin to happen don't freak out and give up he said look

18:06up lift up your heads because your redemption draws near so though this has a gloomy aspect it also has

18:12a very positive aspect because we're looking for the second coming of jesus which will be the answer to

18:18all of these problems said no many politicians can sort this out we can't sort it out only he can sort

18:24it out problems of the world are becoming too great for anybody to offer a real solution to

18:32labor pains will actually are the first stage and i believe we're in the first stage of the events

18:37leading to the second coming of jesus they will lead to they will tip over eventually to the next phase

18:44of the end time scenario which is a period known as the great tribulation jesus goes on in this passage

18:51and he says at this time then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the

18:57beginning of the world until this time no nor ever shall be unless those days were shortened no flesh

19:03will be saved but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened now much of the church ignores this

19:10and tries to explain it away some have even said that this was fulfilled in ad 70 when the

19:18jews rebelled against the romans and the romans came and destroyed the temple

19:22and that was the fulfillment of all these prophecies

19:25that's called the preterist view of interpretation to me that makes no sense at all

19:29because this prophecy is going to end with the second coming of jesus it's going to be a time of

19:34trouble unlike any that has been before or ever shall be you'll find that phrase repeated in the book of

19:40jeremiah the time of jacob's trouble which jeremiah speaks of is coming at the end of days

19:45book of daniel in chapter 12 where he speaks about similar time and god intervening to bring that

19:52time to an end it says if god did not cut short those days no flesh should be saved in other words

19:57this time of trouble has the potential to bring life on earth to an end do you see possibilities

20:03of that happening in our time or at least in the not too distant future

20:10now i believe everything that is happening today is pushing the world towards this event

20:15unfortunately we can't reverse it we can write letters to the mp and say they should do the right

20:21things but we know that it's not going to reverse the troubles which are coming on the earth

20:27and we have to say that this time which jesus refers to here of the great tribulation is a very

20:31specific time which is described in the book of daniel and in revelation and it will precede the

20:38second coming of jesus to the earth during this time in the book of revelation a number of things will

20:43take place which some of which are quite well known like the riding out of the four horsemen of the

20:49apocalypse revelation chapter 6 which would bring war famine mass death also the rival of the one

20:58known as the antichrist or the false and with the false prophet in revelation 7 it says that many

21:05people would turn to jesus christ during this time but they'll face persecution and death many more

21:11will turn to the one known as the antichrist in revelation chapter 13 the beast of revelation

21:18chapter 13 the bible tells us clearly he will be a deceiver under the control of satan will

21:24apparently give a solution to the last day's crisis facing humanity including bringing in a financial

21:32system known as the mark of the beast which we read about in revelation chapter 13 revelation 13

21:40and verse

21:4716 it says he causes all both small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a mark on their

21:52right hand or on their foreheads that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name

21:56of the beast the number of his name here is wisdom let him come who has understanding calculate the number

22:02of the beast which is the number of a man his number is 666 so something is going to happen

22:08which will bring in a financial system in which you can't buy or sell without some kind of a number

22:13and you'll need that to authorize your buying and selling now we also have we already have

22:19the kind of beginnings of that how many people here have a credit or a debit card

22:25as a number on it which relates to you now it implies that this is going to go much further and that

22:32you won't be able to buy or sell without this number number will require you making some kind of

22:37allegiance to the one who is coming called the antichrist bible tells you not to do that under any

22:43circumstances because you will then face the wrath of god so whatever happens we have to be careful not to

22:50do that but the bible says this is going to come and many people see in the development of digital

22:57id digital currencies all the kind of things which they're working on today the potential to bring this

23:02to pass it already exists in some form in china and what they call the credit score system in which

23:08if you get out of line with what the government wants they'll cut you off from being able to access

23:12your money and able to buy certain things so there's already some kind of a control system which is

23:19potentially there only needs a few things to put it in place and then you have the mark of the beast

23:25coming in the other thing which is relevant in this time is that he's going to offer a piece

23:31a false peace and peace and safety but in fact this will bring in the final period of the great

23:40tribulation which is described by jesus and which will lead to the ultimate collapse of the government

23:45system described in revelation 19 the fall of babylon

23:52interestingly the book of daniel chapter 9 indicates that this event will kick off the event

23:58that will kick off the seven-year tribulation period will be some kind of peace deal with israel

24:02which will turn out to be a covenant with death

24:04in daniel chapter 9 verse 26 27 you have a verse which says that he

24:11i believe that is the coming antichrist will confirm a covenant with many for one week

24:17in the middle of the week he will turn bring an end to sacrifice and offering on the week of

24:21abomination shall be one who makes desolate even the consummation which is determined is poured out on

24:27the desolate without going into details of what that means speaking about some kind of covenant

24:32being made with israel which will be lasting for seven years and which will be broken halfway through

24:38and lead to the consummation which will be the second coming of jesus the messiah

24:45interestingly the peace covenant would actually turn out to be a covenant with death

24:51uh next week there was scheduled to be a un conference a peace conference on israel

24:59and palestine which would have moved towards a the nations recognizing the state of palestine

25:09on what is now the west bank and gaza involves trying to redivide jerusalem and trying to make some

25:16kind of settlement between israel and the palestinians because of the war was happened in

25:22this week that has now been cancelled but it's all there on the agenda and if you follow it through

25:29it lines up with what is mentioned in daniel chapter 9 also lines up with zechariah chapter 12 which says

25:37that the nations of the world are going to be involved in some kind of a deal to resolve the issue of

25:42who rules jerusalem the center of this whole thing is who rules jerusalem should it be israel should it

25:48be palestine should it be divided should the united nations even move in and make it their kind of

25:53protectorate what's the answer to the question of jerusalem sechariah says that jerusalem going to be

25:58a burdensome stone burdening all nations at the end of days joel speaks also about them dividing up the

26:04land against god's will so you have this issue which is right now before the united nations and which is

26:12being discussed or actually not being discussed next week because of the war in iran occurs to

26:18me that if israel does emerge from the present crisis intact and with iran defeated weakened even

26:25with a regime change in iran possible that it could be more inclined to agree to such a peace deal

26:32present time its government netanyahu is right against any kind of establishment of the state of

26:38palestine saying it would be a threat to israel as happened from gaza so these are all possibilities

26:46they're not happening now but these are all things which are in the pipeline also if you look in the

26:51book of ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 you have a famous passage called the war of gog and my gog

26:57which speaks about an army coming down from the north against israel led by a great power to the

27:02outermost parts of the north include specifically persia mentioned by name a place called to gama

27:09which is possibly turkey around that area and this alliance of nations comes against israel in the

27:14latter days and is destroyed supernaturally by the power of god exactly where we are in that process

27:22is an interesting question at the moment russia is in no position actually to

27:26bring its army down to israel because of the war in ukraine if persia comes out weakened by this

27:34it's not in a position to do much about it either apart from sending missiles in which they can do and

27:39which may be actually the fulfillment of this we'll have to see but certainly we live in times where we

27:45can see these things shaping up

27:49and we see that this will lead to this time of trouble now the time of trouble will come to an end

27:56with the return of jesus coming back in person this will be the most dramatic and total piece of

28:04divine intervention in the whole history of the world from the beginning to our time in times when

28:11god has intervened in the flood the exodus in the ministry of jesus at the first coming

28:19but his intervention at the second coming i believe will be the most total and absolute intervention which

28:25god does on the face of the earth we've never seen anything like it and it won't happen again so

28:33this will be the climax if you like of the age and it will literally happen jesus will return in person

28:41he'll come in power with all power destroying the power of the wicked setting up his alternative world

28:48government from a restored jerusalem for a thousand years before the end of the world bible says there will

28:54be a literal reign of the messiah on the earth fulfillment of prophecies like isaiah chapter 2

28:59which speaks about the lord coming and the nations beating swords into plowshares spears into pruning

29:05hooks not studying war anymore revelation chapter 20 speaks about the lord coming and reigning on the

29:12earth for a thousand years with satan being bound and unable to influence the nations until the right to

29:18the end of the end of the end of that period when he'll be loosed and bring about the last battle

29:22which will bring the end of the world the end of the world will actually be the final event which

29:27will take at the end of the millennial period when the present heavens and the earth the present

29:33universe will be but we rolled up by the lord and he'll make a new one a new heavens and a new earth in

29:39which righteousness will dwell all of those who are redeemed will go into the new heavens and new earth

29:44all of those who are not redeemed will go to the other place the lake of fire which you don't want

29:49to go to and you want to make sure that you're going to heaven by believing in jesus the messiah

29:55by the way this means that there are at least one thousand and seven years before the end of the

29:59world how to work that out there's seven years of the tribulation which haven't yet happened yet

30:03and a thousand years of the millennium which haven't happened yet we are however very near to

30:08the end of the age which jesus spoke about which is why it's important that we get to know about

30:12this stuff and we're ready to meet with jesus and when jesus returns this is what's going to happen

30:20it says immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened the moon will not

30:24give its light the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken then the

30:29sign of the son of man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn

30:34and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory

30:39he will send his angels with the great sound of the trumpet they will gather together his elect

30:43from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other okay so jesus says here will come in a

30:49different form to what he came the first time when he came the first time he came with his glory veiled

30:56so he appeared as a normal human being but all the time that he was here on the earth he was already

31:02as well as well the mighty god came with the purpose of fulfilling the prophecies of isaiah 53 psalm 22 dying

31:10on the cross as a sacrifice for the sin of the world rising from the dead and sending to heaven then

31:16sending out the disciples with the gospel message which we now benefit from if we repent and believe the

31:21gospel when he appeared the first time he appeared in humility his glory veiled came as despised and

31:31rejected of men a man of sorrows acquainted with grief when he comes a second time it'll be totally

31:36different he comes this time with his glory unveiled comes this time as king of kings and lord of lords

31:42with all the power of god at his disposal it comes with a visible sign which appears in the heavens

31:50firstly a total darkness with the sun the moon and the stars no longer visible on the earth

31:56that doesn't mean that they'll cease to exist because if they did then the earth would cease to exist

32:00but it does mean that at that moment god will suddenly put the lights up how he's going to do that

32:04i don't know but it's possible all things are possible with god

32:07means you won't be able to see any of the light it'll be dark all over the earth says then the sign

32:12of the son of man will appear in heaven most likely this will be the brilliant light of the shekinah glory

32:18of god piercing through the darkness and jesus coming then with all power and glory

32:25coming this time in power and glory to judge the world in righteousness and i said he came the first

32:30time to save lost humanity by dying on the cross as a sacrifice for the sin of the world

32:37he will come the second time with all the power of god to judge the world in righteousness

32:41according to how we've responded to the message of the gospel

32:47and this is the blessed hope this is the only hope for the world other religions will fail

32:54politicians and world leaders will fail you and i will fail only jesus will not fail

33:00book of titus chapter 2 verse 11 it says the grace of god that brings salvation has appeared to all men

33:09teaching us that i'm denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly

33:15in this present age looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great god and savior

33:21jesus christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself

33:27his own special people sell us for good works so the grace of god that brings salvation is jesus christ

33:35who's also our great god and savior who appeared the first time to redeem us by giving himself

33:42for us on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and we could become the special people of god

33:49become zealous for good works going against the flow of this evil world

33:53using our gifts and our time to save the world serve the lord and to spread his word

34:00interesting the word which is used for appeared there comes twice in that passage first it says the

34:06grace of god that brings salvation has appeared

34:12and it says that he's looking forward to the glorious appearing of our great god and savior jesus christ the

34:18word used for appeared is one form of it epiphany in the first time and the second one epiphaneia

34:26in which we have the english word epiphany the greek word epiphany means to become visible become

34:32literally visible other words you can see him not just an idea in your head it's somebody who comes

34:39and is visible present time we're told that god is invisible we can't see god but god is going to

34:45become visible and appear in some form which humans can see that happened when jesus came the first

34:52time people saw him they touched him they were eyewitnesses of his glory and they wrote it down

34:58for us in the gospels when jesus comes a second time he will also be visible people will see him

35:05he won't be just an idea or some kind of change coming in the way of government it'll be the literal

35:12appearing of the same lord jesus christ but this time in a different form coming as king of kings

35:18and lord of lords you'll be coming this time to judge the world in righteousness that's why to be

35:24ready for the coming of the lord jesus christ we must respond to his message the first time so make

35:31sure that you've done that you're ready for jesus to come finally there is the big question which i

35:37haven't time to go into in detail but i will get into next week the question of the rapture of the

35:44church bible also says that at some point in the countdown to the end all true born-again believers

35:52in jesus who believe that he died for our sins and rose from the dead and have the holy spirit in their

35:57lives will be supernaturally removed from this earth in the event called the rapture of the church

36:02a mysterious event which people debate over and disagree over and have all kinds of different

36:10views on but i want you to note that it actually is in the bible that this will happen

36:19one of the main passages which speaks about it is in 1 thessalonians chapter 4

36:23verse 13 where paul says i don't want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who fall asleep

36:28lest you sorrow as others who have no hope if we believe that jesus died and rose again even so god

36:35will bring with him those who sleep in jesus for this we say to you by the word of the lord that we who

36:44are alive and remain until the coming of the lord will by no means precede those who are asleep

36:48that means those who've died the lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice

36:54of an archangel with the trumpet of god and the dead in christ will rise first then we who are alive and

37:00remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air thus we should

37:04always be with the lord therefore comfort one another with these words if you're a believer this

37:12is actually a message of comfort to you maybe you've been a little bit perplexed or dismayed or fearful

37:18about some of the things i've said already but the bible says here that there is going to be a day when

37:22those who believe in jesus will be suddenly supernaturally taken out of this world one should

37:27be taken one should be left it happens now then everybody in this room who believes in jesus who

37:33has the holy spirit will be taken out anybody here who doesn't have that experience will be left behind

37:41and this is an event which it says is going to happen the same most people find it hard to believe

37:47i find it hard to believe because it's never happened before we've never seen anything like it happening

37:51but the bible says it will happen and paul says he's got this by the word of the lord in other

37:56words it's not my idea i'm waking making up to you this is something which god has revealed to me

38:01personally through jesus the messiah so he's claiming authority from god for teaching you this

38:07it's going to happen one should be taken one should be left those who are alive shall be caught up together

38:13with those who died already to meet the lord in the air we're not actually told where in the air is but

38:18it's clearly out of this realm out of this realm in which we live today if you're going to live out

38:25of this realm in another realm you have to have a new body because you can't live out of this realm

38:32in this body that's also what paul tells you in the book of corinthians which has a similar view

38:37which it says that this corruptible put on incorruption this mortal will put on immortality

38:42in other words at this point your body which is now corruptible as is mine which is mortal

38:50as is the common state of all humanity will put on a body which will be incorruptible and immortal

38:57that means you won't have to wear glasses and you won't have to cough as you're giving a talk like

39:01i'm doing at this present time you'll have a new body which will be perfect and without any imperfections

39:06that's one of the promises of god which is why this is also good news to those who believe in jesus

39:12the messiah now if you believe the bible that's going to happen if you don't believe the bible you

39:17can say well this is just a fairy story someone's made it up i don't believe it but the bible tells

39:21it can happen unless i guess you're all bible believing christians you should believe it jesus also

39:28indicated that something like this is going to happen in matthew 24 at an unknown date he says

39:36of that day and hour no one knows not even the angels of heaven but my father only but as the

39:41days of noah were so also the coming of the son of man be in the days before the flood they were eating

39:46and drinking marrying and giving him marriage until the day that noah entered the ark and did not know

39:51until the flood came and took them all away so also will the coming of the son of man be

39:55then two men will be in the field one will be taken the other left two women will be grinding

40:01at the mill one will be taken and the other left watch therefore for you do not know what

40:07hour your lord is coming but know this that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief

40:12would come he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into therefore you also be

40:18ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect notice that the emphasis here is

40:24on an hour you do not expect is going to come suddenly unexpectedly

40:31so he's saying here that at some point when life is going on as normal people are doing normal

40:35things eating and drinking buying and selling suddenly one should be taken one should be left

40:42there'll be two people out in a field two people inside one's taken one's left i believe in the context

40:49the one who's taken is the believer the one who's left behind is the unbeliever

40:56and he tells you therefore to be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect

41:02you don't know when this is going to be it could happen suddenly unexpectedly

41:08the unexpectedness is actually one of the reasons why many people believe that this will happen

41:13happen before the time of the great tribulation other words it could happen now life could be going

41:21on as normal and suddenly one's taken one's left there's no sign that precedes it happen unexpectedly

41:27like a thief in the night anybody comes to burgle your house they don't inform you beforehand the time

41:33they're going to come they come unexpectedly and jesus coming this time is the thief the thief is a bad

41:38person but he's coming as a good person to take what is precious to him to himself what's precious

41:44to him are those who are redeemed through his blood those who are ready to meet him

41:50there is a big argument amongst christians about whether it comes before

41:54in the middle or after the tribulation period i'm not going to get into that now personally i believe it

42:01comes before although i do see that there are reasons why people believe the other two so if you

42:06believe the other two i'm not going to fall out with you and say you're a heretic but i think there

42:11is evidence that it does come before but either way we have to be ready to meet with jesus now

42:18and my conclusion on all of this is that jesus is the only hope my conclusion is if i look at some

42:24of the things which i said before in the first part of this talk they're all leading to the time of

42:29trouble time of trouble which is prophesied in the bible all adding up all the things happening in the

42:36middle east things happening in the financial world things happening in government things

42:41happening in the kind of breakdown of law and order and the kind of growing chaos in our world

42:48all these things are prophesied for the bible in the last days and they're happening now so logically

42:53you should you should work out that the next phase is going to happen sooner or later now jesus said

42:59you don't know the day or the hour so i'm not going to try and give you a fixed day or hour

43:03but he did say be ready because you don't know the day or the hour of his coming so whatever you

43:10should be ready and you're going to be ready if you have believed in jesus christ as savior and lord

43:16by which you put your trust in jesus and you invite jesus into your life and you're born again of the

43:20holy spirit you are now ready to meet with lord jesus that's the qualification that you believe that

43:26christ died for your sins was buried and rose again from the dead and that you've been born again of the

43:31the holy spirit and are now a member of the body of christ ready to enter into the kingdom of god

43:43so the conclusion is believe in jesus he's the only hope he said i have no hope that

43:50governments of the world are going to sort out the mess which the world is in they may delay it they may

43:54have some kind of uh deals which bring some kind of temporary peace maybe even in the middle east

44:00there'll be some kind of temporary peace and i think the scriptures do indicate there will be

44:04against all the odds which appear to be happening right now but whatever happens it's going to come

44:11to the final conclusion as the bible says and it looks pretty much to me like we're heading in that

44:16direction but i would say it definitely is so the answer is believe in jesus he's the only hope

44:25next week i will look in a bit more detail at the issues of the pre mid or post tribulation rapture

44:32i will also be showing a film in the evening called before the wrath which does put a

44:37i have to say a pre-tribulation view on the events which are coming

44:42so what's to be done well first of all make sure you're saved accept jesus now if you're not sure you're

44:50saved talk to me afterwards or contact me via the website if you're watching this at home

44:56and also use the time that remains to get the message out we've got plenty of materials there

45:02you can take to pass on to people particularly i've got the latest magazine which i'm working on the next

45:09one right now says be ready what's the world heading for we've got about four boxes of these left and i want

45:15them given out this month because i'm given out before the next one comes out so if you want to

45:20help us you could take a hundred of these and pass them out just put them through your neighbor's doors

45:26or pass them out to your friends or families quite easy to do you can distribute a hundred of these in

45:34an hour or two and if you want to help us please do that take the message give it out and wake people

45:41up to the fact that they need jesus anybody can do that you don't need to be a trained theologian

45:46you just need to have a reasonably fit body and be able to pass out the leaflets in this way so that's

45:53one way you can do it you can also tell your friends tell your neighbors tell people to tune

45:58into this talk and listen to it and to get right with god by believing in jesus all these talks are

46:05recorded and they're on the on the website and it's very important that we get this message out

46:10because i think the days are short and we need to be telling people the way of salvation we need

46:16to be telling people that they're in peril if they don't believe in jesus when jesus comes you'll separate

46:22forever those who are saved and those who are lost and if you're lost you are lost for all eternity

46:29you can't be saved once you died you can be saved before you die so now is the day of salvation now

46:35is the day to put your trust in jesus repent believe the gospel and believe that jesus christ died for

46:42your sins he's buried he rose again from the dead and he's coming back soon so be ready to meet him

46:48by putting your trust in jesus amen father we do thank you that we do have this great hope in you we

46:54thank you that all the signs which are taking place right now are pointing us in the direction

46:59of the second coming of jesus pray for all the people again who have caught up in these terrible

47:04events taking place the people of iran people of israel people of the middle east people in russia

47:11ukraine and all the wars and troubles which are taking place we just pray that in the midst of all

47:15these terrible events that people will seek you and find you and lord that you help to reach those

47:22who are in distress at this time but we pray for ourselves and we pray for our friends for our

47:26neighbors that we would be right with you we're ready to meet with you that we'd be ready to meet

47:31with jesus and we'd be ready to take our part in spreading your word in these last days

47:38we ask this in the name of the lord jesus christ amen

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