[Rick Shabi] Good afternoon everyone. Very good to see all of you. It seems like a very long time since we've been in this congregation. Before I get any further, let me thank Kinsey for that very fine special music. Very enjoyable, very well performed. You know, last time we was here, I think it was like the first Sabbath in December, and I know Mr. Myers last week gave you a pretty detailed presentation of what we did as we went to Atlanta and then the Philippines, and then we went on from there to a couple other international locations. So I won't repeat any of what he has said, but I will tell you that it was one of the best trips we have ever taken, not because of any sightseeing or anything like that. There was very little of that, but it was so refreshing to get to know the people of God around the world in so many places. I will have to say that I never appreciated many of the things that they are going through. It gave us insight into what the world is like in places other than America, and sometimes we think that we might have some problems and we might have some trials, but they're nothing like some of the brethren that we have around the world.

And as we have come back, we have talked about how the gospel message needs to be preached in the way that the world in other places can understand it and reach it, and it has been a very eye-opening time for us. So it was a very beneficial trip and been on my mind. I think all of us came back different people from that trip than we were before. And we would just ask you to pray for your brethren around the world. It's different in each area. There are trials and differences that we never think of, but we are all one family, and we are here for each other, and we all have, as the church, a commission to do, a commission to fulfill that God has called us all to do, not just in America or the Israelite nations, but in all nations, as Jesus Christ plainly said in his commission to us in Matthew 28.

Now, often when I come up here, we'll talk about conditions in the world and how quickly things are changing and how they progress from one thing to another. And as we watch the world around us, we see all these prophetic kind of stepping stones along the way as we move closer to the return of Jesus Christ. And while we were away, there was another major thing that happened in the world that I'm sure we all took note of, but maybe didn't take note of it in the way that we should or pay attention to. Not long after we left to go to Atlanta, a text came across on my news thing that I have on my phone, and it talked about how the Pope had just blessed or had issued a statement that the Catholic Church could now bless same-sex unions. It was rumored that they were going to do same-sex marriages, and the rumor in Italy when we were there is that indeed they are doing those things. But the Pope was clear that they could bless same-sex unions from here on out.

And that was kind of a major departure for that Catholic Church to do that and the Pope to do that because even as the world and the so-called "Christian" religions of the world have relaxed their standards and given in to societal pressure and political pressure to weaken their moral stances and give permission to do this and that and all these other things that just seem, well, that are not...don't seem, that are unnatural, the Catholic Church always was one that just held the line. Their morality was such that it just hasn't changed down through the millennia. Even today, even with this new thing from the Pope, they still have a definition of fornication that fornication is any sexual activity outside of marriage, and that any sexual activity outside of marriage is sin, which is exactly the biblical standard, exactly what the church, the true Church of God should teach.

Many are questioning how can you bless same-sex unions and still have that as part of your tenet. And as the 1.3 billion Catholics around the world, most of whom believe that is the true church, that is the church that Jesus Christ taught or began, they are wondering. Some of them are championing it. The church has moved along with the times. Others are saying this is blasphemy and heresy. And where it goes from here is anyone's guess about what happens in that church, in that church. Just a month before, you know, the Pope also raised eyebrows when he invited several transgender people to have, I don't know if it was lunch with him or dinner with him, as he opened the doors to that. And after that lunch and after that, this was in November, you know, he made the proclamation that transgender people could be baptized in the church. They could be forgiven and they could continue to live the lives they're living. And that raised eyebrows about what is he thinking? And he's become known in some circles as the Pope of surprises. What is he going to do next?

And that is a question, what is he going to do next? What is going on? But one thing is for sure with the Pope, with what he has just done, and unleash a new morality on the world, many of which who will now be looking at it, it is a slippery slope because today it's blessing same-sex unions. But we know what the next step is as he relaxes morality and goes the way of the world and yields to the societal pressure and the political pressure and whatever is going on around him that things forever changed, and he, being recognized, as a recent poll showed, the most influential religious leader in the world, has just taken a stand against God and the Bible. He has pretty much come out in defiance of God, changed law, changed nature, and made a proclamation that will never be able to be taken back and to set the course for the world to be in another direction, another prophetic milestone.

We've talked about from the time of COVID, how many things in the world has changed. It is like COVID just ignited the switch for things to just happen in a snowball type of effect. We've seen the censorship that has happened around the world. We've seen a global attempt to control people and the medical effects that they have or the medical treatments they would see. We've seen the acceleration of a digital currency, and we know what that will lead as we look at Revelation 13. We've had the proliferation of "my truth," and if you don't agree with "my truth," then you need to be silenced, you need to be censured, you need to be not paid attention to. We see a world that is quickly descending into, as I often say, the Revelation 13 world that we're all familiar with.

This, what the Pope has done, has taken the world into a new religious area as well. The Christian religions of the world today have simply failed people. They always have failed the people. They've never been the true Church of God. They have always done something different than what God had said. But today, they have taken a stance that is opposed to God. That is in direct contrast to what the true Church of God would be. So anyone that is out in the world that is thinking the Catholic Church is the one that was begun by Jesus Christ and it's the true church, this should be absolute proof to them it is not. The Christian world, the Christian religion of the world have absolutely failed the people in every way, shape, and form. And the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church has shown they are not.

The true Church of God will always preach the truth. It will always teach what is in the Bible. It will not relax its standards because of societal pressure. It will not relax its pressure because of political pressure. It will not relax the standards because of torture, persecution, threat or death of anything. "The true Church of God is the pillar and ground of the truth," as it says in 1 Timothy 3. It is the one that will promote the truth and to the death will teach the truth to the world. The Christian religions of the world, so-called Christian religions of the world, need to look at themselves, and people need to look at the churches that they're in, and if they think they're following Jesus Christ, they need to think again. Because if they really believe they're following Jesus Christ, they've got another thought coming. What the Pope did, and what the Pope has done now for the entire Christian religion, because that church was the lone standout in its stance against these things, has taken away the concept of morality and turned it into an unnatural stance.

Let's go back to Matthew 7 for a moment. Matthew 7:21, Christ talks about the time when he returns. And there will be all these people who say, well, we know Jesus Christ, and I do believe, many in the world believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior. But again, as you will often hear me say, believing is more than just knowing. It is following Jesus Christ. It is doing the words that he said. It is having that complete transformation in yourself that when you know who Christ is, when you know the truth, you can never be the same person again. It changes everything. And so Jesus Christ says here in Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7:21 He says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."

The ones who do God's will, not just say we believe, not just say we follow you, not fail to understand what the Bible says and what it is He says, and then blindly follow some church or some man who would take the times and change them, who would change the law and say, this is right, follow in it, and you just blindly along. You have to know what Jesus Christ said and what the Bible says.

Matthew 7:22-23 It goes on, it says, "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name? Haven't we cast out demons in your name? Haven't we done many wonders in your name?' And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

On December 18th, when the Pope made that declaration, he began to practice lawlessness. He did away with the law. He did what's happening in America and so many of the Western nations around the world that is even described in television. We've entered a time of lawlessness. Everything we always believed, everything that was always there throughout the generations is now gone. It's do whatever you want to do. And the Christian religions of the world have gone along with that. They have begun to practice lawlessness. "Get away from me," Christ said, "you who practice lawlessness." If you're going to follow Jesus Christ, you must know what his truth is. You must know what the Bible says. You must do things the way He said and turn your life to follow Him with all your heart, mind, and soul.

You know, as we talk about the Pope, and when we talk about the other religious leaders, he's not alone in this, as the age progresses toward the return of Jesus Christ and progresses toward the picture of the world that we see in Revelation 13, we know the world is moving into a dark place. It's moving out of a time where you and I have enjoyed life with freedoms that we've become accustomed to, a time where we are able to move around to where we want to be, have freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to progress and develop into who God has created us to be. All those freedoms that people in the Middle Ages and beyond never had, those freedoms that you and I have enjoyed. It has been a wonderful time to live in the age when the British empire with all of its faults, because every nation that's run by humans has his fault, began to be a blessing to the world as they colonized different places and left them better than what they were.

A better time when America came on the scene with the concept of democracy and freedom of speech and all the rights that humans have had. And it transformed the world and it allowed us to live in a time that we have all enjoyed. And it allowed the truth of God to be spread around the world as it is today because in the Middle Ages, that didn't happen. That didn't happen. There were kings who would tell you what you were going to believe, who your God was, who the state religion was, and if you didn't comply, you basically were persecuted, tortured, maybe killed. And the history of the Catholic Church is implicit in all those things that happened in the past. Their history is not pretty. Their history is bleak.

And throughout the Middle Ages and really from 325 on with the Council of Nicaea, you see a church that began to do away with God's law. The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. proclaimed that the Catholic Church was the only state church, that there would be no longer a Passover, but there would be Easter instead, that there would no longer be Sabbath observances, but there would be Sunday observances. It was a time where people were told, no more Judaizing. We're not going to do anything that looks like Jewishness. We're going to do things the way the church, the Catholic church, that was promoted as the universal church of truth, it was going to be done that way. And if people didn't do it, they faced whatever the Catholic church determined they would do to them to force them into compliance.

So you look at the history of the church and you see how it was perverted as the Catholic Church somehow...somehow took over and began to say they were the universal church, they were the church that Jesus Christ started, that Peter was the first pope, which we know is not factual. And we see how they progressed down through the ages. And what they did through all the Middle Ages when you look at history is they suppressed the Bible. What they were constantly doing was only the church could interpret the Bible. No one was to read the Bible. They would only allow it to be written in Latin that very few people were able to read. And they suppressed the truth wherever they could. That was just the way it was in that life. And so you look down through the history because the true church of God never ceased to exist. There were always groups of people who knew the truth.

When Jesus Christ started the church, he said it would be a small flock. He said it would be a persecuted church. And as you look through church history, and back a few years ago, we did a Bible study when I was still in Florida on the history of the church, you can see these groups that down through the years that God would open their minds and they would preach the truth. And in some cases, they had tens of thousands of people that were following them. But then they would be found out, and they would have to move from one city to another or out in the wilderness. And you remember names that I'm sure you've heard in the past of groups like the Paulicians who held true to the Bible, the Bogomils who held true to the Bible. Peter Waldo in the 12th century who learned the Bible and translated it for himself so his followers could read it, call the Waldensians, and they held to the truth.

And many, many, many of those leaders and people, when the Catholic Church found out what they were doing, they were told to cease and desist or they were killed. And to their credit, to their credit, they gave their lives. Some were burned at the stake. Some were beheaded. Others were tortured beyond belief, just to get them to turn from the truth and turn to the way the false church wanted them to believe. And so they left quite a legacy, and down through the years, the church has survived, the true church that held fast to the Bible, that held fast to the truth of God, who held fast to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

I mentioned in 325 A.D., the Council of Nicaea, and it was some 1200, just about 1260 years later, that in England, finally the Catholic Church relented and said the Bible...under pressure from other areas of the world, that the Bible should be something that people could read. Relented and said it could be printed in other languages other than Latin. And so Mr. Wycliffe, who was in Britain in the 1380s, who translated the Bible into the language of that time had many followers called Lollards. Many, many people followed him. He was eventually executed because of what he did. But finally in 1611, the King James Bible and from England came a Bible that people could begin to read. And as they read, they began to see the church that they thought or that they were being told was the true church wasn't following the principles of God at all. They had created their own religion. They had done things their own way. They have a history of practicing lawlessness, but there's a history of suppressing the truth.

If we turn back to Daniel 7, it may remind you of words that are prophesied to occur before the end of of this age, talking about a fourth beast that is called terrible and different than the other three beasts that precede it, and a little beast that would ride the beast, as we're told in Revelation. In Daniel 7, Daniel has a vision, and the vision is so terrible that it troubles him. So through Chapter 8 and through Chapter 9, what God reveals to him in this vision of what would happen to the world in the succeeding ages leading up to the return of Jesus Christ really, really, you can see troubled him. He kept asking, "What does this mean? What does it mean? Help me to understand." And God eventually did help him understand. But let's pick it up in verse 15 of Daniel 7 and read what things will be like leading up until the return of Jesus Christ.

Daniel 7:15-17 Says, "I, Daniel, was grieved. I was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth."

And earlier in Daniel 2, you remember God revealed to Daniel what the four kingdoms of the world, the world-ruling kingdoms would be.

Daniel 7:18-19 He says, "But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. There will be trouble, but those who are true to God, those who keep the truth of God, they will inherit the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. Then I," Daniel says, "wish to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet.”

Far worse than the three that preceded it. It was an awful empire. It did unthinkable things to people just to get its way.

Daniel 7:20 "I wanted to know the truth," Daniel says, "and the 10 horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up before which three fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words whose appearance was greater than his fellows."

Here's these kings, but here's this other beast, this other horn, this little horn. And he had an appearance that was greater than everyone else. He looked bigger than the kings around him. The world marveled at him. The world respected him. Just like this survey that was done at the end of 2023. Who is the most influential religious leader in the world? The Pope, followed closely by the Dalai Lama and some other names you would recognize. But the Pope, of all the people in the world, the Pope, the most influential leader in the world. And here we have the Pope speaking some things against God in an arrogant manner, assuming himself or projecting himself to be in the place of God. I will dictate that what the church is from here on out. I will change what the Bible clearly says, and this is the way we will do it. So much for that button.

Daniel 7:21-23 "Whose appearance was greater than his fellows. I was watching," verse 21, "and the same horn was making war against the saints." Always anti-God, always anti-God's people. Always against the truth of God. "I was watching and the same horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them until the ancient of days came and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High. And the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom when the time of Jesus Christ would return, when those days were over. Thus he said, ‘The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on Earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole Earth, trample it, and break it in pieces.’"

Words that we may hear, but we have never experienced a kingdom in our lifetimes that would trample the Earth and break it in pieces, determined to break and eliminate anyone who disagreed with it. We haven't lived in that time. People in the Middle Ages did. Down through the Middle Ages up until the time recently, people lived in that type of society under this fourth beast that has been extant on the earth for many years.

Daniel 7:24 "The 10 horns are 10 kings who shall arise from this kingdom and another shall rise after them. He will be different from the first ones, and he will subdue three kings."

There came a time in history with the Roman empire that is divided into east and west. I'm going to read from the UCG Bible commentary just so that we have the...so I'm repeating accurately what the history of that time was. After the Roman Empire split into the Western and Eastern Empire, there were three groups of people who came in and conquered, I guess, the Western Empire. Let me just read it.

"As the Western Empire collapsed in the 5th century, three groups of barbarian invaders sought to succeed the Roman emperors. The Vandals, Heruli, and Ostrogoths successively each sought and received official recognition from the Eastern Roman emperor as a legitimate continuation of Roman rule in the West. Yet there was a problem with these invaders from the perspective of the Western religious leader, the Pope. These barbarians were not Orthodox Catholic Trinitarians, having adopted a form of Christianity known as Arianism." Arianism is basically they believed Jesus Christ was a created being, not co-eternal with God the Father. "At the Pope's urging," notice, at the Pope's urging, "the Vandals were eventually overthrown by the Eastern Roman Emperor. The Heruli were also overthrown at papal urging. The Eastern emperor, sending the Ostrogoths as his agents to carry this out. Then the Ostrogoths themselves were later overthrown by Eastern Roman forces, again, at papal behest."

So the Pope, at that point, with three kings coming in, decided he didn't like their religion, and he began to assert himself, and he was able to subdue those three kings exactly as it says here in the book of Daniel. "He shall subdue three kings." Every succeeding emperor or iteration of the Roman Empire has had the blessing of the Pope. Every single one of them, starting with Justinian. The Pope has always been involved, and he has been the one coronating or giving them the authority to be king. He has the authority over those kings. And so when we read about he's a little horn, but he seems to be a bigger personality, a bigger horn than anyone ever thought, that's exactly what has gone on in the history of Rome, the Roman Empire, and the Pope's involvement with the Roman Empire and all of its various revivals. Exactly what Daniel has said here. "He shall be different than the first ones." He is different. He's not a king, but he has this religious authority and wields all of this power. The people bow to him, and he is able to take people down, set up who he wants, take down whoever he wants, and the world is at his behest.

We go back to chapter...here in verse 25 then, it talks more about this king, or this small horn, this religious figure that seems to rule over the kings of the earth.

Daniel 7:25 "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High." What he says is the opposite of what God would say. What he says is against what Christ said. It's against what the Bible says. It's against the truth. It's his truth. Not God's truth. "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, and he will persecute the saints of the Most High and shall intend to change times and law."

You know, when you look up in Strong's, the Aramaic word for times there, it says it could also be translated as seasons, and some concordances suggest that it's talking about how the Pope down through the ages changed the seasons of the church.

You know, the Moed of Genesis 1, where God set things in motion, and there are the seasons that we keep the Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the Fall Holy Days, that he would change those times, those seasons, and indeed, the church did. The Council of Nicaea did away with Passover. We won't keep Passover anymore. We'll keep Easter. That's the day that we're keeping. They did away with all the other holy days, and instead there were the things of the winter solstice that people would keep instead. And the seasons and the times were changed by that church. The other Christian religions sort of just followed. Even though they had the Bible, even though when they looked at it, they saw clearly what the Bible had said and what people observed and what God said to observe. But they followed along with times that had been changed, changed the times and changed the law. And indeed, they did change the law.

If you look at the Catholic 10 Commandments, even today, you will see that they are different than the 10 Commandments listed in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. They look similar but they have changes in them. They've eliminated the second commandment that says no graven images and don't bow down to any graven images. They had to do that because much of their religion is based on bowing down to those graven images when you enter their church. Many people bow and pray to the Virgin Mary, a statue. Nowhere in the Bible do you find that happening. Everyone, when you enter into a Catholic church, bows down before the cross that's there at the beginning of the church and you go through the signs and rituals that you do. Having grown up for the first 10 years in the Catholic church, very familiar with what you do and how important those idols are in the Catholic Church.

But the 2nd commandment in the Bible is nowhere in the 10 Commandments of the Catholic Church because idolatry is practiced there. The fourth commandment they've changed. It doesn't say Sabbath day, it's still there. Remember the Lord's day to keep it holy. And of course they have their own version of what the Lord's day is and they can progress you from how they progress from the Sabbath to keeping Sunday instead. Remember the Lord's day to keep it holy. And then of course they make the 10th commandment, thou shalt not covet, into 2 separate commandments so that you would maintain the number of the 10.

So they have changed times. It has changed laws in defiance of God, and now in this latest thing that the church is moving, changing the entire morality and societal function of the family function that God set up for mankind. They held that one for a while. But now that's part of the past as they cave to whatever it is as they're led by the God that they're following, who is not Jesus Christ, who is not God the Father. So it is a church that has changed things and that will continue to change things. As we move to what's later in Daniel about a brand new religion, a brand new religion that is going to be on the earth that's completely different than any religion before. And it might be, I'll just say it might be that what happened in November and December is the first step toward that religion, a completely new religion.

I want to read what...you know, looking at the pompous words that this little horn makes, I want to read what Adam Clark...I thought he had an interesting...or that commentary has a very interesting and very valid definition and description of the pompous words there that are in verse 25. Let me read from that commentary. It says, "He shall speak great words against the Most High." They said this could be translated as, "He shall speak as if he were God." He will speak as if he were God. And indeed, when you...I think everyone here has heard and everyone listening has heard, you know, the Pope is also called the vicar of Christ, in place of Christ. He sees himself as the authority. He can change times. He can change laws. He can do what he says. He speaks for Christ.

"He shall speak," the commentary says, "as if he were God. To none can this apply so well or so fully as to the popes of Rome. They have assumed infallibility, which belongs only to God. They profess to forgive sins, which belongs only to God. They profess to open and shut heaven, which belongs only to God. They profess to be higher than all the kings of the earth, which belongs only to God. And they go beyond God in pretending to loose whole nations from their oath of allegiance to their kings when such kings don't please them. And they go against God when they give indulgences for sin. This is the worst," he says, "of all blasphemies." Indeed, that's it. Indeed, he's really nailed it when he says, "Speaking pompous words against the Most High," the audacity of someone to call themselves a religious leader, and they'll go directly against the words of God and mislead billions of people into thinking that that's the truth or that's what God wants.

And so we have this time that we're in that will become more difficult. History has a way of repeating itself. And as the churches of the world move further and further away from the truth of God, as they move further and further to their definition of what truth is, and try to fashion a world after their own making, led by not God, but as the Bible clearly says, Satan, we will find ourselves, or the people that keep the truth of God, will find themselves in an increasingly difficult situation as we move into a time that's unlike the time we live in now and return more to the time of the Middle Ages, or the way that way it was like in the Middle Ages.

Let's look at Daniel 11 for a second. I've read this not too long ago, but to remind ourselves that what is coming in the world is a completely different society. Tyrannical, a time of kings, a time where you're told what you will do, how you will live, and you will bow down to them. And a religion that is dominating the world, or at least the world we live in, in a way that is completely different than anything we know today. Daniel 11:35, leading into the talk about the end time and where you and I are as God is working with us and purifying us and developing in us the love of the truth that we must have.

Daniel 11:35-36 "Some of those of understanding," verse 35, "shall fall to refine them, purify them, and make them white until the time of the end because it is still for the appointed time. Then the king will do according to his own will. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god. He will speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and he will prosper until the wrath has been accomplished. He will continue in power until the time of Jesus Christ returns. Then he will be deposed."

Daniel 11:37 "He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women." Now, whatever that means, as you look at a society that is changing morals and all the sexual identities that are being discussed and thrown about all over the Western world these days, "He shall regard neither the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any God, for he shall exalt himself above them all. But in their place, he shall honor a God of fortresses, a God which his fathers did not know. He shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. And he will act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign God, which he shall acknowledge and advance its glory. And he will cause them to rule over many and demand and divide the land for gain."

It'll be all about him, what he can attain, what he can receive out of this. The way of the Gentiles, the way of life in the Middle Ages, the way of life that is foreign to you and me, but a way of life that is about to come to this earth again. We read about this man and this little beast also in 2 Thessalonians. Go to 2 Thessalonians 2. Speaking of the end times, Paul writes...we'll begin in verse 1 here and read through it. And with the things that we've talked about so far, looking at these verses in a 2024 vision based on what's happened, and what's likely to happen, and the trajectory that we can see the world headed in.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 "Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. You'll know when Christ returns."

"Don't be deceived," Jesus Christ said. He said all these prophets would come. They would do great wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. It will be so dramatic. It will be so convincing. It will be so cunning. The whole world will be worshiping the beast. And he says even the elect, if you're not close to God, if you don't have the truth, if you don't have the love of truth that we'll read here in Chapter 2, you could be deceived. You could be deceived and fall into line and believe that that's the truth, when indeed it isn't.

2 Thessalonians 2:2 "Let no one deceive you," verse 3, “by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition."

Now, that verse has been talked about for decades. Growing up, I remember hearing that verse read in church, "Until the great falling away comes first." And there is an event in church history where many people will say, well, that was the great falling away. A man who spoke things against the God and pretended and voiced it himself as he was giving the truth did lead many people from the truth back a couple decades, almost three decades ago. And people just fell for it and they walked away. And in the church, that was a great falling away. And it was a very bad thing. That could be one of the things. One of the things that God is talking about here, because sometimes what happens in the church is a predecessor to what is going to happen in a greater event in the world.

So when we look at this, looking at the world we live in today and looking at what has transpired, looking at what this little horn will do going forward, looking at a new world religion that is going to be foisted upon the earth with gods their fathers did not know, gods that they honor with their gold and silver, dividing the land for gain, all about them, and the authoritarianism that goes along with it that forces people to do what they say to do. We look at that world and we think, well, is that the falling away? Was it just about the church? Well, certainly that could be one of them because that was a notable event in true Church of God history. And many people, well, many people fell away just because a man said this didn't have to happen anymore. Did they have the love of the truth? Were they about anything other than just doing things rotely and routinely and not really thinking with their heart and minds to God? It is a lesson for all of us about what is happening.

But in the world, there has been this idea of Christianity. Jesus Christ, when he came to earth and he lived and he died, he made a tremendous impact around the world as we know. He changed things forever. He died for all of mankind. And so the world has a "version of Christianity." They deny the power. They don't follow everything Jesus Christ said, but they do know who Jesus Christ is. And there have been Christian religions. You know, the Catholics have 1.3 billion, they say, people who are baptized in their church, some 17% to 18% of the world's population. That doesn't include the Protestant churches that call themselves Christian. But today we see them moving away from Christianity. We see them developing a sense of lawlessness. We don't have to abide by this. We'll set our own rules. We don't listen to what the Bible has to say anymore. And there will come a time, as you and I are sitting here, that the Bible becomes persona non grata, if I can put it in that term. The Bible will be the enemy of mankind. They will want to suppress it just like it was suppressed down through the ages. If you and I follow the Bible, which we do follow the Bible, and the church is teaching the Bible, we will become enemies of the state.

Isaiah 59, I think it's in verse 15, says something like, "Those who do the truth make themselves prey," P-R-E-Y. They become the hunted ones because they are standing up for the truth and Satan's way is to suppress the truth. Get rid of the way of God, get rid of the truth of God, get rid of the people of God. That day is coming. So here we have this time that a new religion will envelop the earth. When we read Revelation 13, we see that the little horn will be enforcing people to bow down to an image of the beast, talking about idolatry, a whole new set of morality. Who knows what they'll do and what their mantra is as they look at what is going on in the world today and try to put together a manual for the 21st century that they say will be the truth. Will there be a great falling away from even people who believe in Jesus Christ? Will there be a great falling away from Christianity?

No longer called Christianity, but called whatever it is, that the new church, the new world order, and the new hierarchy in the world says it is that is going to be the religion of the world. Is that the falling away? Is that the thing where the whole world turns toward a foreign God, toward the way of the Gentiles, worshiping a God not known by their fathers, worshiping a God that is unknown to us today, but is in the making as the world goes under the leadership and sway of Satan, develops a religion that is completely foreign to anything we have today?

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Says, "Let no one deceive you by any means. For that day, that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition."

The man of sin that could also be translated the man of lawlessness. The one who does away with law, who does away with the things that have been kind of the norm, even though not exactly in the context of the Bible, but in the norm of society for all and changes everything about life the way that we know it. Until the man of lawlessness is revealed. Who has the power on earth to lead the world into lawlessness? Could it be, could it be that recent events portend the revelation of this man of sin, this man of lawlessness that will be revealed, the son of perdition? We'll come back to perdition in a minute.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 "He opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

I make the decisions. I determine what is law. I determine what you can do from here on out. I declare that this is no longer sin, but good. I declare that this is no longer good, but sin and worthy of death.

2 Thessalonians 2:5-9 "Do you remember," Paul says, "that when I was still with you, I told you these things, and now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan. With all power,” as Christ said, he will be able to do miraculous things that will fool the world and us too if we aren't close to God and understand the truth. “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan. With all power, signs, and note, lying wonders."

He will promote the lie. Whatever the lie is, God says, if we don't have a love of the truth, we'll believe the lie. And there's plenty of lies that are going around in the world today. There's plenty of lies that are coming that will be quite deceptive and quite alluring. And maybe even that we feel threatened and have to somehow keep. We cannot do that. But be aware of it. "With all the power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteousness," notice unrighteous, "deception among those who perish who give up on the truth of God.” Who bow to the pressure of society, bow to the pressure of politics, bow to the pressure of trial and tribulation, who bow to persecution, who think, can the whole world be wrong? It looks like this kingdom that arises from the sea. Looks like it might be the answer of God to a world that has fallen apart, but we know better. We know it's not of God.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 "With all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they didn't receive the love of the truth that they might be saved."

We must love the truth. It must be more than just surface obedience. It has to be heart, mind, and soul. If it's not heart, mind, and soul, we will fall. If it's not heart, mind, and soul, we will become prey and fall to the lure of this world and the deception that will come. God's given us this time to get ourselves and our acts together, to really look at who we are, what we do, what do we believe, examine ourselves. Are we really in the faith, or are we just walking through what has been a comparatively easy life? Do we really believe? Are we asking God, how strong am I? Give me the strength. Give me the wisdom. Give me...show me where I am weak. Show me where I need to be. That when this time comes, because it is surely coming, it may be quicker, only God knows when, but may be quicker than any of us think, that we are able to stand true to him no matter what, no matter what the cost to us personally might be.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 Says, "For this reason, God will send them strong delusion.”

He will test us. He will see what's in our hearts. He will see. Do they really, really, really love the truth? Do they really, really, really love me with all their heart, mind, and soul? Are they really being led by the Holy Spirit? Are they really denying self? And are they really growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ in the way that He wants us to be? He will send strong delusions so that He would know, now I know they will follow me through whatever it is they go through. "He will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie." And sadly, some will believe the lie. And then God will know. You didn't know me. I didn't know you. You didn't let me in. You didn't do the things that I asked you to do. You didn't yield yourself to me in the way that you should and that we should be now. Make no mistake, there is a time coming when there will be a powerful religious figure who will do miraculous signs. He will speak very convincing words. He will threaten your life, my life. He will, under Satan's power, do anything he can to suppress the truth of God. Now is the time to be strong in God.

Now this son of perdition here, the lawless one who will be revealed, we read about back here in Revelation...let's look at Revelation 13:5. We have the beast that comes out of the sea in verse 1. But then we have...I'll read verses 5 to 8, and then get to the little beast.

Revelation 13:5-8 "He was given a mouth," verse five of Revelation 13, "speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven." Anti-God. Anti-Christ. Anti-everything about God. "It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 'If anyone has an ear, let him hear,' God says."

Down in verse 11, we see this other small beast who rides the big beast, just as the small horn has ridden the beast of the Roman Empire down through the ages. They have always been over the kings of the earth, determining who would be king, giving them their blessing, deposing kings, exalting themselves, and the kings of the world bow down to them.

Revelation 13:11-14 "I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.” He didn't have the words of God. He looks good. He could be a seething with all the wonders that he does and the words that he says, but he spoke like a dragon “and he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth...he makes the earth. He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth, 'Make an image of the beast. Bow down to it. Worship it.'"

And of course, he has great authority because he has the power of commerce. He can decide whether you buy or sell. And a world that is headed toward digital currency, it just takes a push of a button, takes a push of a button, to freeze your account so that you can't buy or sell unless you bow down to the beast. We live in a world where basically everything we do is known to someone. Every word I'm beginning to think more and more that we speak, even in the privacy of our homes, is being heard somewhere. "Now, what's going on in this earth we won't hide. We won't hide. God will protect us. God will see us through. All those things that God says He will do. But it will be known and there will be that time of trial."

In Revelation 17:8. Speaking of this falling away and the man of sin of lawlessness is revealed that goes to perdition, which is a finality of judgment, in verse 8, it says the beast that you saw.

Revelation 17:8-11 "The beast that you saw was and is not will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that is, that was, and is not, and yet is." Verse 11, "The beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is of the seven and is going to perdition."

Revelation 19 says the beast and the prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. Where is and when is the son of lawlessness or the man of lawlessness revealed? Who is he? When will that be revealed? It is coming, and we may have gotten a glimpse of where that is coming from, and a very influential religious leader who will lead the world now into a totally different religion as we move forward.

I mentioned Antichrist. Let's go back to 1 John for a moment. Because everything about this little beast is anti-God, anti-Christ. He speaks against Christ. He speaks against God. He speaks great blasphemies. And he is the definition of Antichrist. 1 John 2:15. John, you know, the last of the apostles to live, before he died, this is in the 90s A.D., he writes in verse 15.

1 John 2:15-17 "Don't love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Come out of the world, is what Paul said. Leave it behind, cling to God. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it's not of the Father, but it's of the world. And the world is passing away." It is on its last legs. Satan will bring it to nothing if it weren't for Jesus Christ who would return and save mankind from destroying himself. "And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever."

There's eternity. There's what we must do. That's what we must do that God has called us to become like Him and to let His spirit lead us and guide us further and further away from the world and out of the world more and more with trust, reliance, commitment, and obedience to Him.

1 John 2:18 "Little children," verse 18, "it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”

There have always been Antichrists, beginning of the time not long after Jesus Christ died. We remember in Galatians where it was like when Paul said, "I marvel that you have so soon turned away from the gospel that was preached to you." The people would come and speak different things that God did. But he says here, and it appears to be a factual and good translation, the Antichrist, something big that's coming. There have been Antichrists down through the ages that speak against God. And the very definition of Antichrist is they speak against God, they blaspheme against God, they change time, they change law. But there is an Antichrist coming that is bigger than the other Antichrists that will have an effect on the whole world. Is that the same as the man of perdition or the man of lawlessness. Is that the same? Have we begun, has God begun to show us who that man is and where that time of the religious change in the world, where it's headed?

Make no mistake, it's not of God. It's of Satan. It is prophecy. It is going to happen. That man is cruel. He will hate. He will do whatever it takes in order to have his own way and to break anyone who dares to stand against him. The people of God will stand. The people of God will stand. Stand. But there is this time of the Gentiles that is returning, the time that will look like the Middle Ages of what we have done where there will be false gods. A total, total collapse of morality as we read in the Book of Corinthians and we understand the society that Paul dealt with as he went to the Gentiles in a totally different environment than anything that Judah was experiencing. All those things that are coming upon the world again. It's not a time that we should panic, but it's a time that we should be aware. And always remember the times that we are involved in. And as we see these things happen in the world, we're going to realize it's just another bud on that prophetic tree that God talks about. And when He says, "When you see the buds appearing, know the time is near." It's not yet, but the time is near and He allows us to see so that we can get ourselves together that we can be like Him.

Let me close with just a couple verses here. Luke 21, because it can be daunting when we think about it, but, "With God, all things are possible." With God, there is the future that he has for us. There is always hope at the end of the misery, strife, tension, wars, and hate that will come upon the world at the behest of Satan as this time comes to a close. But God gives us the hope of his return. It is the only answer to mankind's problems, the only answer to mankind's solution, the only way the world can survive is with Jesus Christ's return. You and I know that, and He gives us the spirit to understand that. Let's look at verse 30, Luke 21. Well, verse 29.

Luke 21:29-34 "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away until all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away." It will happen. Verse 34, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly."

Because it will come as a snare and a surprise to the world around us when they see what happens, the collapse of society, and then the things that will happen when the whole world marvels after this beast that arises out of the sea and this little beast that rides that beast as it has through history. "Watch and pray always," He says.

Now, Daniel was very troubled, we said at the visions that he saw. It was a horrible time that he saw. And he asked God to help him understand what it is that was going on as he watched what was happening. But he found solace when God gave him the answer. Let's go back to Daniel 7. We read down through verse 25. And God concludes the vision or concludes the account to Daniel with very helpful words that we should always keep in our minds.

Daniel 7:26-27 "The court will be seated," verse 26, "and they shall take away his..." that's the man of lawlessness, "and they shall take away his dominion to consume it and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him."

You and I have been given the very great opportunity to know that and to allow God to develop us and grow us into who He wants us to be. Look to Him. And whenever there's doubt, whenever there's fear, look to Him. But take this time from here on out to grow closer and closer to God so that we all may be part of that time when Christ returns.