Brethren, on May 22nd, 1843, the westward expansion of the United States began in earnest. You know, on that date, a thousand settlers led by Presbyterian minister Elijah White, set out for the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Prior to this group of settlers, people really only braved the west to hunt, to trap, to attempt to convert the locals, and really kind of those that had that exploration bug or that wander lust to be able to go out and really explore the vastness of the lands west of the Mississippi and what they had to offer. But these folks, these folks that left on, you know, May 22nd, 1843, they had other ideas. 1840 saw kind of a perfect storm brewing in the Midwest of the United States. The population at that time, in that location on that western side of what was known and settled was really growing and increasing at an unsustainable rate.

There was major economic depression at that point, lack of fertile farmland to go around. A lot of people started searching for greener pastures, and the allure of the west was just too much for some. Tales of the paradise that was Oregon found its way back to Missouri, and the numbers of those individuals that began migrating westward grew exponentially between the years of 1843 to 1866. It's actually estimated that approximately 500,000 settlers left during that 20-some-year period. They were farmers, they were bankers, they were miners, they were businessmen, all of them, regardless of their occupation, willing to pack up their lives, their livelihoods, their families, and make the arduous journey from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City, Oregon.

Many of you that have driven past Oregon City, you can see down to the right, the little Memorial Park that they have there to kind of honor the giant prairie scunners out there, you know, that they've put up. Maybe as a kid, you might have gone up and done field trips to that particular area, but Oregon City was largely the end destination of the trail itself. And then from there, you know, people just went out and settled the valley, came out and settled in various places. The journey itself was pretty arduous. It was 125 to 170 days, so it took anywhere from 125 to 170 days to make the trip. It was a trip that was difficult, a trip that was deadly. In fact, conservative mortality rates are estimated at around 20,000. That those that made the trip, 20,000 of them, about 4% of those that left Independence, Missouri never made it to Oregon, died along the way somewhere along that trail.

In fact, it works out if you do the math and the distance, it works out to about 1 dead for every 10 miles of trail. And if they were to be buried every 10 miles, it would be really discouraging if you're going along the trail and the gravesites are...you know, that's why they didn't do that. Just I'm assuming that's why they didn't do that. Those that did die on the trail, their deaths came from interaction and accidents with livestock, wagons, or firearms, and of course, for those of you that have played Oregon Trail, diseases such as cholera and dysentery. At least, every time we played that game in elementary school, we lost somebody to dysentery. But the promise of a better life outweighed the dangers. And for 20 years, they flowed westward. And as they traveled, they passed various rock formations and hillsides and forts and all these other landmarks and things that kind of gave them an idea of exactly where they were on the trail and essentially how much further they had to go.

Those landmarks provided that setup that they could look at it and say, you know, here's where we are, and here's how far we have to go. You know, as they traveled west, they passed Courthouse Rock, they passed Chimney Rock in the Platte River Valley. Some of you that have kind of followed that trail, you've seen some of these things. Fort Laramie, Independence Rock, Soda Springs, Fort Hall, Fort Boise, the Whitman Mission, The Dalles, and then from there onto their ultimate destination, our home, you know, the Willamette Valley. You know, we are very blessed to live in this just beautiful, beautiful area of the country. You know, we've often said, as much as you travel, as much as you go out and you go to different places, there really is no place like this valley. There's really isn't, you know, you fly into it, it is just gorgeous coming in through Portland or even up into Seattle, which I know is not the Willamette Valley, but there's just something about the Northwest.

But these landmarks provided a very important series of markers for people to kind of check off as they went along this trail and as they journeyed along this landscape. And this isn't a new concept, you know, man has used landmarks and things like that in navigation for centuries. In fact, it's called wayfinding as that form of navigation where you use the various landmarks and information to be able to plot a route as to where you're going. And you can see numerous accounts in the Bible of the importance of landmarks and rock formations being set up to serve as markers and remembrance of certain things that took place in those areas. We see some of these markers set up the boundaries of lands and nations and peoples. And we see that God was very explicit with Israel not to move these markers, don't touch 'em. These are where the boundaries are. These are here these people ends and these people begins. Leave these things in place.

Rome had a number of landmarks. They used stones alongside their road to mark out each mile along the Roman highways and roads. We still use that term today, the concept of a milestone. You know, that concept came from Roman culture. We used that to talk about things that occurred major in our lives, landmarks, etc. Today we even use landmarks to give and get directions. Some of you are familiar with country directions, you know, country directions, turn left at the green mailbox, go straight down the dirt road for 100 feet, hang a right at the old pine tree with a pie tin hanging in it. You know, I've found places before with those kinds of directions. I've also been lost numerous times trying to find places with those kinds of directions. But landmarks tell us where they are, they tell us where we're going, and they help us to kind of figure out how much longer the trip is going to be.

You know, when Shannon and I first started dating, initially I was living in Spokane. We'd met during a northwest weekend up in Portland and became pretty interested in each other. But I was living up there and she was living down here. And so, there were a number of weeks where I was making that trip down from Spokane to Salem almost every other week, sometimes weekly. Thankfully, gas was only like 89 cents a gallon at that point in time or I'd have gone broke. But I got to know that route like the back of my hand. You know, I90 heading west towards Ritzville, off of Ritzville 395 South to Kennewick, 82 to 84, 84 to 205, 205 straight to I5, and home. And I had it so set that I knew exactly when I got to those places, I knew how much longer I had to go. When I hit The Dalles, I was two hours out and it was...knew it just dead on because I traveled that route so frequently and I knew those landmarks and I knew exactly where they were. They gave me a connection in space and time. They allowed me to see where I was and how much farther I had to go.

You know, one of the jokes in movies very frequently is kids very rarely seem to know this. You know, kids are always asking the question, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Thankfully, my kids are not, "Are we there yet?" kids. I'm thankful for that. I was probably an "Are we there yet?" kid. But I can't even imagine what it was like for kids on the Oregon Trail. You know, 170 miles sitting there on top of that thing, bouncing around wondering how much longer is it going be? You know, 170 days, all that amount of time. When are we going get there? How much longer is it going be? I'm hungry. I'm bored. A hundred and seventy days, what a nightmare.

So anyway, but if you can recognize the landmarks, if you can see the landmarks and you know where you're at, there's no need for the question. You intuitively know where you are. You intuitively know at what point you are in the journey. You know, they got to the point of The Dalles on those wagons, they knew they were in the home stretch. They knew they were there. They were almost to the point where they were going complete it. It wasn't going take 'em two hours to get from The Dalles to here, but you know, they were at the home stretch at that point.

Let's go turn over to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, and we're actually going spend quite a bit of time in Matthew 24 today. So I'm going ask you to put a bookmark in here. We're going bounce back and forth into and out of Matthew 24 a few different times, but we'll pick the account up in verse 1, kind of breaking into the context here as we look at this Olivet prophecy. And as we take a look at the words of Christ to His disciples that were gathered there with Him. So again, put a bookmark, put a piece of paper, something in there. But we are going to come back to this periodically as we bounce around a little bit.

Christ and his disciples, we see as this passage begins, are walking through the temple complex as Christ leaves the temple. You know, the disciples are remarking on the beauty of the stones and the buildings of the temple when Christ essentially informs them that it wasn't going to remain standing. You know, this temple complex, itwas built by Herod the Great, you know, this was quite the complex. You know, you take a look at Jerusalem, Jerusalem's a city of hills and valleys, and right smack dab through the middle of Jerusalem was a valley called the Tyropean Valley. And it's this main valley that goes right in between Mount Moriah on one side, which is where the Temple Mount is, and then ultimately the other mountain on the opposite side. And what Herod did was Herod essentially filled that Tyropean Valley in with rubble and stones and other things building up that Temple Mount so that it would actually extend further from the top of Mount Moriah over where that valley once was. This was a huge structure, huge area. For those that have been up there, you realize the scale of this thing and how it was set up at that time.

And so, the disciples are just commenting, how beautiful, look at all this, you know, just incredible things.

Matthew 24:1-2 "Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple." Like, "Look, look at this, look at this." “And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.’”

That's kind of a downer. You know, looking at all these beautiful things and then finding out that none of it was going to exist further. You know, Christ essentially tells them this temple, this second temple, this beautiful temple was not going to last, that it was going be brought to the ground just as the first temple was. And not only that, that it was going happen in the not-too-distant future, that it would be completely unmade as the first temple was under Nebukanizer. So verse 3, we see kind of the beginnings of what we would recognize as the Olivet prophecy.

Matthew 24:3 Says, "Now, as he came and sat on the Mound of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, 'Tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?'"

You know, this is recorded here in Matthew 24, it's recorded in Luke 21, and it's recorded in Mark 13. So you can see there's parallel passages here and they help fill in a little bit of some of what we don't get straight out of Matthew 24. But the disciples, at least the core group, Mark 13 tells us that it was Peter, James, John, and Andrew that pulled him aside. So this is the group of people that frequently Christ kind of pulled aside as his inner circle, so to speak, and was speaking with those four pretty regularly on a lot of things. And these four were the ones that asked him the question ultimately after hearing that this temple was going to be destroyed.

So what we see is that this group of disciples, this inner circle, pulls Christ aside and asks him privately, "Hey, you know what, you just told us about the temple. That got us kind of thinking about all of this. Tell us, when shall these things be?" Essentially, what the disciples asked him are, what are the landmarks? What are we looking for so that we can know where we are in the process? And not only that, how much further we have to go. "Tell us what to look for," they said, "so that we know where we are and how much time we have left." You go into verse 4 and the rest of the chapter, Christ answers the question. In fact, he gives them very specific landmarks, certain prophetic events that must occur prior to his return. These things are all things that must take place before Jesus Christ returns. And so He provides these to His disciples. Christ gives them the roadmap, so to speak, that brings them to the point of the Day of the Lord.

So when we analyze this prophecy, we take a look at the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24, the landmarks that Christ gave them leading up to his return can be teased out. There's a total of seven things that He lists that are going to take place prior to the return of Jesus Christ. And so, I'd like to take the time that I have today to do quick little overview of this particular prophecy and these seven things that are to come before the return of Jesus Christ. The very first thing that Christ mentions is deception and false Christs. Deception and false Christ.

If you turn to Matthew 24:4, one of the first things in the Olivet prophecy that Jesus Christ addresses, one of the very first things that He brings up with His disciples, is His concern for His followers. His concern for His followers, that they would not be deceived as these various things started taking place. Because as you read through this Olivet prophecy, things are going get chaotic. They're going get chaotic. And Christ said, "I do not want you to be deceived." He lets them know that the time leading up to his return would be punctuated by those who came in his name, those who would actually claim to be the Messiah, those who would attempt to deceive his followers.

Matthew 24:4-5 "Jesus answered and said to them,” This first thing that he tells his disciples on the landmark here as they're looking at where they are, "Take heed that no one deceives you." He says, verse 5, "For many will come in my name saying I am the Christ, and will deceive many."

In fact, if you take a look at the Book of Mark, and we won't turn there, I'll jot it, you can jot it in your notes, Mark 13:21-22 specifically tells us that there will be false prophets and false Christs that will come onto the scene that will be believable enough that they will deceive even the elect, even the select chosen of God will be deceived by some of these that come. And so, Christ's point to the disciples was, don't let yourself do that. Don't be that guy, so to speak, or girl.

I did a quick little Google search here because I was curious how many people have actually come over the last, you know, couple hundred years I guess, claiming to be Jesus Christ. The number just shocked me. It was higher than I expected. It's actually much higher than I expected. There have been, in the last couple hundred years, 55 people that have gone as far as claiming that they are the Messiah. Claiming as far as that they are the Messiah. There were some notable names. Some of you might recognize these names. A guy by the name of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Remember that guy? Yeah, took over an entire town in southern Oregon. Everybody wore red robes, and they did just fine until they tried to poison some county commissioners and then everything came apart. David Koresh, I'm going go back to Waco, that sounds familiar. Jim Jones among a number of other cult leaders as time has gone on, as well as, unfortunately, a few mentally unstable folks that have attempted assassinations on key political figures claiming that they were the Messiah ridding the world of the anti-Christ.

So as we take a look at...This is happening now. This is happening now to a degree, individuals coming claiming to be these individuals, but is that what this passage and the subsequent other passages that we see that reference this, is that what it's referring to? Again, it's an aspect, but Mark 13 very specifically speaks of the signs and the wonders of these false Christs. In fact, Mark 13 seems to be describing the final false Christ, the false prophet that's spoken of in Revelation 13. Let's go ahead and turn over there. Again, keep a bookmark here, we're going come back. In Revelation 13, we see that there are two beasts that show up on the scene. Revelation 13, we have a beast that comes from the sea and a beast that ultimately comes from the earth. And in this case, we are looking at and talking about the beast that comes up from the earth.

Revelation 13:13-14 Says, "He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Did Rajneesh Bhagneeshi, did he ever call down fire from heaven? Definitely not. No. Definitely not. So that's not what this passage is very clearly referring to. This is very clearly referring to an individual that can perform wonders and signs. Says, "So that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the side of men. And he deceives those," verse 14, "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 to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived."

You know, this individual that we see described here in Revelation 13 is akin to the antichrist that we see described in 2 Thessalonians 2. That individual who is the final and the ultimate deceiver. That individual, that man of sin, the one who exalts himself above God, who sits in the temple deceiving many, the elect included. Brethren, we've not seen a false Christ that has come on the scene that is capable of these things. Not yet, we haven't seen it. We've seen a number of individuals, you know, over time who have come on the scene and claimed to be Messiah or even those that maybe haven't claimed to be Messiah. Those that have come on the scene and have at least taken Messiah-like characteristics upon themselves, let's put it that way. They come and they feel that they are going to save mankind. "I am the savior of mankind," they might say, "I know exactly how to fix everything." That's taking on messianic characteristics. So they may not claim that they're Messiah, but they may claim some of the things that Messiah is going to do.

We do know this very powerful deception that's being described here in these passages will engulf the world. This is not just a few hundred people, this is not a few thousand people on a little ranch in southern Oregon. This is the entire world. And as followers of Jesus Christ, we have to be on guard to ensure that we don't end up swept up in it. That we don't end up swept up in that and being ultimately become intertwined with all of that because this is global. It is a part of this intertwined political, cultural, and economic system that will exalt itself above God and begin to cause great challenge to the people of God as time goes on.

It's the very first thing that Jesus Christ starts with is an admonition to His people, an admonition to His followers to ensure that they are on guard because He cares so much for each and every one of us. The second thing, if you want to go back to Matthew 24, the second thing that you see Christ discuss is wars and rumors of wars. Wars and rumors of wars. In fact, if you take a look at verse 6.

Matthew 24:6 Christ says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars." And notice what he says, "See that you are not troubled. See that you are not troubled for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet."

You know, Christ works to calm the disciples by telling them not to be troubled at the state of world events. That these things actually have to take place in order for the time of the end to be able to be ushered in. We see that nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, these things that are going to be going on all the way up to the end. But Christ says the end is not yet. The end is not yet. So these are not the final symbols of this time period. These things are occurring. They're being punctuated, if you will, as these other events are taking place, that there will be wars and there will be rumors of wars.

Once again, another quick Google search. There are six areas of the world today that are in the midst of an open conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people in 2022. Six different active war zones right now in the United...in the United States...in the world, sorry, we're not there yet in the U.S. Hopefully not for a very, very long time. But there's six areas of the world that are currently experiencing this in 2022. Myanmar. Many of you have heard of the struggles that are going on in Myanmar. We have brethren there. In fact, there was an update just recently on the praying for the gospel to have free course that many of the brethren, especially the males of draft age in Myanmar, are trying to get work visas to go to Singapore so that they can get out of Myanmar and avoid being drafted into the military there and being a part of that conflict. Afghanistan, you know, still an open, very hot conflict in Afghanistan. Mexico, the drug war has killed more than 10,000 people in 2022 between individual cartel violence, you know, federal agents going in, and vice versa. But that war between the cartels has resulted in more than 10,000 casualties.

Russia and Ukraine. You know, all of us saw that take place, you know, February of this year at a large scale. But this is a conflict that's been going on since 2014. You know, this is as the Donbas and some of these other areas, you know, Crimea were taken back in 2014. So this is a war that's been ongoing for some time. The Yemeni Civil War in Yemen is currently taking place and there's currently a civil war in Ethiopia. You know, all of these are active conflicts, again, resulting in the death of over 10,000 just this year. In addition to that, there are 17 additional conflicts that have killed less than 10,000, but more than 1000. And then there are 40 more conflicts that have resulted in less than 1000 deaths just in 2022 alone. So we hear these wars, these rumors of wars, we see them on the evening news. What did Christ say? He said, "Don't let yourself be troubled by these things for these things must come to pass." They must come to pass.

kind of looking at these things, these wars and these rumors of wars, they act like birth pangs. You know, they act like birth pangs. And for those of you that have given birth before, you know that those start in one intensity and frequency and they end in a very different frequency and intensity, with the frequency increasing and the intensity increasing right up to the point of the birth itself. And it is just like that with what we experience with these pieces of what crisis provided us in the Olivet prophecy. Just this week, just this week, Russia enacted a draft that the Russian media claims will allow Putin to muster 1.2 million conscripts to send to Ukraine. His own people are trying to find ways to get out of it.

The top Google searches in Russia at that point in time when that came out were “how to leave Russia,” “how to defer military service,” and “how to break arm” spiked when that was announced. Because if they broke their own arm, they could not have to be drafted and go to Ukraine. It's an awful situation. It's an awful situation all around. You know, for the people of Ukraine and the people of Russia that are unfortunately stuck under the rule of a madman. You know, they're stuck. These events are going to escalate. They're going intensify. They're going to get bigger and worse and regional. They're going expand as we get closer to the return of Jesus Christ because as Christ said, this is not the end. These are things which must come to pass. He goes on in verse 7 describing famine and pestilence and earthquakes. Christ tells the disciples, verses 7 and 8.

Matthew 24:7-8 "For nations shall rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." And then notice what he says in verse 8, all these are the what? "They are the beginning of sorrows."

This is one of the first landmarks in the path. This is the beginning of sorrows, famines, pestilences, earthquakes. These things are going to begin to become more frequent, more rampant as time shortens. As we get closer and closer to Christ's return. Luke 21 actually adds and says, in addition to that, that there will be fearful sights and great signs in heaven, fearful sights and great signs in heaven. We haven't quite seen those yet. You know, fearful sights from the heavens. You know, we had those bloodboons and people got up in arms about that. But you know, we haven't seen these fearful sights.

Take a look around the world today, there's food shortages in Africa, food shortages in Asia, Central, and South America, and they're only forecasted to get worse. In fact, Ukraine and Russia together are responsible for a quarter of the world's wheat, a quarter of the world's wheat. And those fields right now have tanks in 'em. They're not being sown, they're not being harvested. This spring isn't looking good either for sowing and harvesting of spring wheat in that area of the world. And so that has ripple effects as it moves outward from there. We've seen disease outbreaks, we've seen COVID-19, obviously, the pandemic. We've seen monkeypox, we've seen the return of polio. You know, we've seen other parts of the world that have experienced large-scale outbreaks of other diseases as well. And if you throw in things like public health issues like diabetes and heart disease and cancer, you know, the list goes on that these issues begin to take place.

He says there'll be earthquakes in diverse places, in various places. I don't how many of you saw the news last week, but Mexico City got hit by an earthquake on September 19th. Did you know that Mexico got hit by an earthquake September 19th of 2017? Did you know that they got hit by a massive earthquake on September 19th of 1985? The people in Mexico think the date of September 19th is cursed. They literally, so they were doing...Actually, the one in 2017, and then this latest one happened moments after, moments after they did their national commemorative earthquake drill that was begun in 1985 because of that first quake. They did their drill, they got done, they went, "Okay, we're good for another...maybe we're not good for another year." Right? That happened September 19th of this last week. Thankfully, it was not as serious. There weren't as much damage. There were a couple people that lost their lives, but nothing compared to '85. '85, 5,000 people died, 30,000 were injured, and 100,000 were left homeless in the '85 quake in Mexico City.

So these things are taking place all over the place. The quake in 2004 in Thailand, you know, in that part of the world that was actually a large enough quake, I don't know if you knew this or not, but it actually sped the Earth's rotation up by about a millisecond because the circumference of the earth was actually changed enough that the earth rotates just a little faster than it used to because of the size and the scope and the scale of that earthquake. And we've had them multiples since in other places as well. This would be a really good time for us to start...I'm kidding. Let's not have one of those here. It would make for some really good, like...No, let's not do that. But there's other places, numerous other places that have been affected by earthquakes. But this passage implies and signals that these are going to intensify, they're going to become more severe because again, this is the beginning of sorrows. This is the beginning of sorrows. They're going to continue and they're going punctuate these events. He goes on to verse 9 to warn his disciples of persecution and martyrdom.

Matthew 24:9-10 Says, "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake." Verse 10, "Then many will be offended, will betray one another and will hate one another."

I'm going to stop there actually at verse 10 and then we'll get verse 11 in a second. So Christ is warning the disciples that, you know, there's going be times coming forward where perhaps even their own family would betray them. You know, people that they know and people that they love would betray them. Others might be offended by what they say and what they do and will ultimately have them arrested, persecuted, and killed. You know, I think for a long time we thought of persecution, we thought of it in very physical terms. You know, that somebody was going come in the night and throw a hood over you and rip you out of your house and go beat you up in a room somewhere in a nondescript warehouse.

And I think that's kind of what we've considered when we thought of persecution before. But you know, the rise of cancel culture in the last little bit has really brought another facet to persecution that I don't know that we've necessarily considered, that somebody could actually reach a point where they were so upset and so offended by the things that you said that they intentionally sought to destroy your livelihood, to destroy your job, your workplace, your relationships. And we're seeing some of the beginnings of those things now, you know, as we see these cancel campaigns that take place out there on individuals that have opinions that are different than overall the society itself.

But you got to imagine this warning for those four disciples listening to Christ at that time, you know, this warning must have been sobering to consider that people that were close to them like that could potentially betray them. But not only that because of the duality, you know, of that we look at it from the standpoint of us today as we come in closer to the end time, realizing the same thing. That verse 9 and 10 in Matthew 24 in the New Living, it reads as follows.

Matthew 24:9-10 It says, "Then you'll be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You'll be hated all the world over because you are My followers and many will turn away from Me and betray and hate one another."

And it's really hard to know, I think, looking at the disciples, whether or not they were really sure of what Christ was saying at that point, or if it was kind of like, "Okay, yeah, all right. You know, I guess." We do know that at one point though, Peter was absolutely told point blank how things were going go.

Let's go to John 21. Go ahead again and put a bookmark in here. We'll go to John 21 and we'll read verses 18 and 19 of John 21. You know, I got to think at least Peter took it seriously after this conversation. You know, hopefully, he, you know, took it seriously after the one there in Matthew 24 too. But definitely after this one, I got to think he knew exactly what was going on. This is the post-resurrected Christ now who revealed this to Peter was given right after, right on the heels of Christ pinning Peter down and asking him three times if he loved Him. And asking him three times if he loved Him. Just like that connection to the three times that he denied Him. It had to have brought up raw emotion from that betrayal the night after Gethsemane.

John 21:18-19 Speaking here to Paul after telling him to feed his sheep, He said, "Most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and you walked where you wished. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." And in case we were left with any kind of, well, maybe what's the interpretation of that, John fills it in for us. "This He spoke signifying by what death He would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, 'Follow me.'"

Christ told Peter how things were going to end. Christ told Peter, "They're going crucify you too." But what does he say? He says, "Follow Me anyway. Follow Me anyway." He said, "This is exactly how this is going end. This is where this road goes. But follow Me anyway." You know, when it comes to the apostles, we're only 100% certain on the death of the Apostle James from a standpoint of exactly what happened. And the reason we are is because it's actually recorded in scripture. Acts 12:2 tells us that Herod Agrippa the put James to death by the sword. You have to go outside the Bible into some of the other writings of the early historians in order to be able to get some of the others. They're less reliable. Some are legend, some are maybe not as easy to corroborate. But when you dig into "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" and some of the other patristic literature, the kind of early church writings, you get the following, that Peter was crucified in A.D. 64 and that he requested specifically to be crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ was.

Hippolytus, one of the historians records that Andrew was killed by being hung on an olive tree in the town of Patrae in A.D. 70. Again, these are impossible to corroborate, but these are some of the ones that have been recorded through history. Thomas, they claim was killed by being thrust through by four spears east of Persia in 72 A.D. But there are other narratives which conflict. Phillip, they claim was tortured and crucified in Persia in 54 A.D. Matthew was tortured and beheaded in A.D. 60. Bartholome was flayed and crucified in A.D. 70. James the Less was tossed from the temple and then beaten to death in 63 A.D. Simon was crucified in A.D. 74 in Syria, but other accounts record it taking place in Britain. Judis Thaddeus was beaten and crucified in 72 A.D. Mathias was stoned and beheaded, but other accounts record him having been stoned while crucified in A.D. 70.

John is the only apostle that is believed to have not been martyred though tradition states that he was thrown into boiling oil at the Latin gate but survived. So again, we don't have a way of fully corroborating that. And then history records Paul's death at the hands of Niro when he was beheaded in 67 A.D. But these aren't the only ones. You know, "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" records the martyrdom and persecution of many of the figures of the early church.

Now, this warning that Christ gave to His disciples was definitely fulfilled partially in that time period. But have we seen this to this degree today? We really haven't. You know, we really haven't. There have been wars between ethnic groups and Christians that have caused some incredible challenges even in recent history. But have we seen this level of persecution at this time in the modern era? No, we really haven't. We really haven't. We've seen rhetoric increase, we've seen political silencing, we've seen message silencing, we've seen attacks on Christian values, on beliefs, on Christianity itself. And to some degree that is how the process begins because you devalue the viewpoint and the person who is a Christian, it makes it much easier to be able to go further if you wish to go further.

So we haven't seen these sorts of things yet, but according to Christ, they are things that will eventually come. Let's go to Matthew 24 and back to verse 12. Matthew 24:12, Christ speaks of a time when the love of many would wax cold, when the love of many would wax cold and that there would be many who fell away from the truth. Once again, in Matthew 24:12, we read as follows. Oops, I went one page too far.

Matthew 24:12-14 It says, "Because lawlessness will abound, because the lawlessness will abound, those that are not keeping to the law of God, the love of many will grow cold. He who endures to the end shall be saved. And ultimately this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then," it says, "the end shall come."

So we're specifically told that the love of many will wax cold, that there will be a great number that will fall away from what they believe. Now, we referenced 2 Thessalonians earlier, we mentioned it. Once again, let's go ahead and bookmark this and let's go to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2 and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 3. And in this Bible, 2 Thessalonians is like a page. I always end up flipping right past it.

There. Nope. There. Wait. Come on. Nope, nope, nope. Killing me. Oh, well. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. And this is going be read in probably what the American Standard Version, which is I think what the scriptures are that I put into my notes here. So this is going be a slightly different version here. I'm going try one more time. Come on, will you get there? I can do this, I could do this. I’ve gone past it like three times, you're killing me. Right there. It should be right there. There it is. It's like I went past it like three times.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 Says, "Let no one deceive you by any means for that day..." referencing the return of Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord, you know, the thing that is pictured here by the upcoming Feast of Trumpets, you know, the beginning of that process, "that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed the son of perdition," says, "who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God."

So we see prior to the coming of this figure, prior to the coming of the antichrist, once again that false prophet that's discussed in Revelation 13, there'll be a falling away which comes first. In fact, the passage goes as far as stating that the coming of that individual cannot take place until that falling away first comes. So we'll play a little logic here. Logically, you can't fall away from the truth if you didn't have the truth in the first place. Is that, you agree? Okay. So this is not referencing the people of the world slipping further and further and further from the ways of God because they don't have the truth. Those that have the truth are those whom God has called at this time. So these are individuals that are a part of the church, that are a part of the called assembly of God, the “ecclesia” who have had God's truth revealed to them.

Now, we saw this at least partially fulfilled during the 1st century, 2nd century as the changes took place between what we would consider to be, you know, early Christianity and what became Christianity throughout that 1st and 2nd century as all those changes took place. But we also experienced a similar falling away in our own fellowship, in our own time period, in our own history in the mid-1990s. You know, in the year 1990, the Worldwide Church of God had 130,000 members around the globe. We had the ear of world leaders, members were being added daily for a number of years. And then in 1995 when the changes took place, a large percentage fell away from the truths that they previously believed, rebelling against God. There's no other way to put it. It is a rebellion against God. That doesn't mean that it can't and it won't happen again, but we did definitely see a falling away that took place during that time period. And it's possible that there may be another closer to the coming of Jesus Christ. It's hard to know for certain.

One of the other things that Christ mentions back to Matthew 24, He says in verse 15 of Matthew 24, He describes that there will be an abomination of desolation. Matthew 24:15, Matthew 24, and we'll pick it up in verse 15.

Matthew 24:15-20 It says, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, (whoever reads let him understand)." Says, "Then let those who were in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. Let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes." And it goes as far as saying, "But whoa to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing babies in those days. and pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath."

So we see that when we reach this point where there is an abomination of desolation in the Holy Place it says, "For those in Judea flee into the mountains." Don't go home to get your things. Don't go back for your cloak, just get out because when that takes place, that event signifies the beginning of the end. I think it signifies the beginning of the great tribulation.

Christ is referencing in this a historical event that took place around 167 B.C. Between 167 to 160 B.C. was prophesied by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 8. And he was referencing these things in order to set up a future event. So he's talking about the past, bringing to attention the past to set up what was to come in the future. The prophecy is in Daniel 8:1-13. We won't turn there, but essentially the prophecy predicts the rise of the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes IV. Now, Antiochus Epiphanes IV, also known as Antiochus Epiphanes, in 167, in response to a rebellion of the Jewish people and largely out of anger at some recent losses to another general's forces, took out his anger and vitriol on the people of Jerusalem. He sacked Jerusalem and he absolutely crushed the people.

2 Maccabees 5:11-14 records this. Maccabees is an extra-biblical source. You won't find it in your Bible, but it does provide really good historical context as to what was happening. 2 Maccabees 5:11-14 says, "When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of 3 days, 80,000 were lost, 40,000 meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery. Antiochus absolutely unloaded on the Jews at that time. And to strengthen his power, what he did was he outlawed Jewish practices and Jewish beliefs.

But wait, there's more, as they used to say. He set up a statue of the Greek god Zeus in the temple, sacrificed a pig on the altar, and instituted worship of Zeus. As you might imagine, the Jews did not take kindly to this sacrilege and they resisted and that Maccabean revolt was the result. Antiochus responded in kind and things escalated. And ultimately, a number of Jews had to flee to caves in the wilderness in order to survive. But when Christ references this event, He's referencing an event that had already taken place. So He can't be talking about that event. He's talking about an event that was going to come in the future that would be just like it. It would be similar in many ways to this event that He was referencing.

So we see a partial fulfillment of this in 70 A.D. when Titus and the Romans sacked Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple, they desecrated it with the blood of those who defended it. But once again, even after that, the 1,260 days of the great tribulation did not follow and Christ did not return at the end of that time, which means there is another abomination of desolation coming, which is what He was warning his people to be on the lookout for, that they were to be looking for Jerusalem. Luke 21 mentions the City of Jerusalem surrounded by armies. That His people would watch for this sign, that they would look for this landmark. And this landmark is like The Dalles, it's the home stretch. This means that it is now moving forward towards what is to come. That final warning that he gave, Matthew 24:21, speaks of this great tribulation.

Matthew 24:21-22 He says, "For then there will be a great tribulation such as not been since the beginning of the world until this time nor shall ever be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake.” For the sake of you and I, those chosen people that God has called, God will shorten those days. “Unless those days were shortened..." Verse 22, "For the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. If they weren't shortened, no flesh would be saved."

And then it gets into some other things about, look, here's a Christ, there's a Christ. kind of getting back into some of these things that we looked at before. You know, when you hear these words and when you consider these things, a timeframe that is a time of trouble that has not been since the beginning of the world or ever will be again, that should really give us pause because there have been some horrific things that have taken place in the world's history. When you go back and you consider the things that have taken place, wartime atrocities, ethnic cleansings, etc., this timeframe is so bad that if God did not shorten it for the sake of the elect, humanity would cease to exist.

And so, we see that the Book of Revelation, we see much from here is dedicated to the events of this great tribulation, the bowls, the seals, and the trumpets. Now, what's really interesting about the great tribulation, and it's to a certain extent...beautiful is maybe not the right word, but there is a degree of promise that is in this that I think we need to maintain focus on. You know, we see all these horrible things, we hear all these horrible things that are going to take place, and as great and as terrible as the events of this time period are going to be, the end result of what is to come ushers in a permanence. It ushers in a time in which all of the things that first had to come to pass will never come to pass again. And in order for that to take place, these things must first occur.

So how do we view these coming events? How do we look at...when we think about these landmarks when we think about where we are in the process, where we are in the journey, how do we view them? How do we view these events? Do we view these events with hope? Do we view them with faith? Do we view them with trust in God and in His promises as we see these things take place? Brethren, that's the only option we have is to view these things in hope and in faith and trust in God and His promises. The alternative is fear and anxiety and worry and concern. The times that are coming will be more challenging than anything that has come before. But we can take heart in knowing that God is in charge, that His people are in the palm of His hands and ultimately the joy of that coming kingdom of God, it is beyond compare. It is beyond compare.

So these landmarks that Christ provides, they help us know where we are in God's plan, where we are in the events of the end of this age. But there's a caveat, there is a caveat here. There can be a danger too in looking at landmarks and looking for landmarks. And one of those dangers is waiting until you see the final couple landmarks to really get going and really hit the gas pedal. Because what we need to be doing when we are looking at these landmarks and when we're considering these things is not allowing ourselves to become so focused on the events themselves and looking for the events themselves that we neglect the preparation necessary to be able to obtain that which is coming. We have to be preparing. We may know...you know, we don't want to be in a situation where we know the signs and the times and the events like the back of our hands, but we've neglected development of spiritual character or we've, you know, waited or we've, you know, waited to look and see, "Oh, now we're getting close. I can see that thing's coming. Okay, I'll get serious now."

We can't afford to do that, brethren. We need to ensure that we are developing that spiritual character now. But Jesus Christ laid out a roadmap of sorts for his disciples regarding the events of the end of this age and His coming. And we are clearly living in the time of the end. We are very clearly living in the time of the end. You know, scripture talks about how that time began shortly after Christ's crucifixion and is going come to a close with the events that trumpets here on Monday represents, triumphal return of Jesus Christ. Many of the events that are described here in this Olivet prophecy point us in the direction of these things. Many of these events have occurred to varying degrees and others haven't yet. We're just not there yet.

We also know that this time that is coming is going be a time of tumult and chaos. It's going be a time in which Satan will be given a short time to wreak havoc. And as we look at these things, the events of this timeframe can be very frightening at times to read about. They can be very concerning when we read about these things. Imagine they'll be even more frightening to experience as they intensify and the frequency increases. But brethren, we have the promise from God that He will care for His people, that He will provide for them, that He will protect them, that He will make a place for them. And there's numerous places in scripture we are admonished not to fear, not to worry, not to be anxious. God is on the throne.

And just as with labor, you got birth pangs that intensify and the frequency increases to the point of the birth of that beautiful child, it is very much the same way with these events that are to come. They will increase, they will intensify, but they first must come to pass in order for the beauty of God's kingdom to come to pass. So brethren, let us focus on this coming year as we go into the fall holy days this year, and as we come out of them, let's focus this coming year on the spiritual preparation necessary so we can be prepared for the landmarks that we see prophesied to come.