No. 71 - LESSONS FROM DISASTER By: John J. Blanchard Tuesday, October 04, 2005 Feast of Trumpets Welcome to the Feast of Trumpets 2005. This past year has seen so much devastation upon the earth. People are getting anxious and worried as to what is going on. But it seems especially devastated by floods. With modern communication and technology what they are, we will never forget what the Tsunami did in December and what Katrina did last month. It was horrible! The devastation was awful. The images will always be seared in our minds. We saw scenes of death and destruction, shattered homes and uprooted trees, a lack of food and water (yet an abundance of polluted water), injured people and disease, tales of broken families and lost loved ones. We even saw some people turning on one another and taking advantage of the situation. But also after we initially saw the horribleness of everything that was going on, better images started to be shown on television. We saw human kindness and compassion coming out of people. We saw people sacrificing and giving generously to those who had lost so much. Even in some cases we saw enemies working together. We saw love triumphing over evil. We saw good coming out of bad. It was very inspiring and very hopeful that we saw the better side of humanity coming out. But as we see these people’s lives finally being put back together and their homes getting rebuilt and their cities cleaned up, wouldn’t it be awful to see another flood or another devastating period (another storm or earthquake) take place and shatter their lives once again? We would not want that on anybody, even our enemies. Yet there is a city on this earth that has suffered devastation time and time again. It is a very special city. It is the city of Jerusalem. THE DEVASTATION OF JERUSALEM Jerusalem by its very name means “city of peace”. It is the city where God’s temple existed, built by Solomon. It is where God dwelt with His own chosen people. Yet in waves of destruction it suffered cataclysm like no other city on earth has ever suffered! Its initial devastation after Solomon built the temple started in 605 B.C. and went to 586 B.C. It was a period of about nineteen years. Over that nineteen year period Jerusalem saw wave after wave of destruction until it was completely broken down. On certain days the Jews commemorate specific events that took place. On the tenth of Tevet at the very beginning of the siege by Babylon (which corresponds to the month of December or January), Jerusalem was surrounded. When Babylon laid siege, it would not let any food or water in. It would not let people out. People were sealed off from the outside world. Over the next number of years, famine and disease took its toll. A series of captivities took place as people were overrun, especially starting on the outskirts of the city and working in. The Jews commemorate several other dates. On the tenth of Tammuz in 586, I believe, the city walls were breached. The people had suffered so much famine and were so weak they could no longer resist. They had no bread, and their resistance was broken down. Then on the seventh of Ab which would be in July or August of that year, the temple was destroyed. The place where God dwelt was destroyed, and the holy vessels were removed from the temple. Many thousands of people were killed. Many thousands went into captivity. A very few poor people were left behind. Even those poor people suffered one more devastation on the third of Tishri, which would be late September or October. In a final slaughter (in a tiny rebellion that took place), the Babylonians had no mercy at all. They came in and slaughtered even more people. They took more people into captivity. Thus, by the end of 586 B.C. the world’s most beautiful building, God’s temple (Solomon’s temple), was destroyed, and the City of Peace was destroyed. Over the next centuries that city suffered more devastation every time it seemed to get on its feet. There was Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. coming in slaughtering and putting up swine’s blood and a false idol in what was a rebuilt temple. In 70 A.D. there was Titus of Rome coming in and surrounding the city once again, killing the people and destroying a rebuilt temple of God. There was wave after wave of destruction in that poor city, and to this very day all the people of God have left is what is called the Wailing Wall. That Wailing Wall is aptly named. It is a place to go cry and to mourn what happened to that beautiful temple where God dwelt with His people. SOLOMON’S TEMPLE Solomon’s temple where God dwelt was a place where they could bring sacrifices and offerings. It was where they could make prayers of supplication to God and know that God was present and that He would answer those prayers. It also gave the people a tremendous sense of security, for if God be with us who can be against us? They must have been very confused when the city, the temple, the holy vessels and the ark of the covenant were all destroyed and hauled off and the people killed. It was a very sad time. That is why to this very day orthodox Jews commemorate those four days with a fast. Those are four significant events during that nineteen year period. Let’s look at the temple for just a little bit. There are a lot of scriptures that show us the grandeur of God’s temple and what went on there. But let us look at the temple by turning to II Chronicles chapter 3. We are going to read a few selected scriptures to give us an idea of the grandeur, what God did there and what a wonderful place it was. Read II Chronicles 3:1-10. This room within this beautiful temple was absolutely fabulous! The gold, as you can see, in nails weighed 50 shekels! Everything was overlaid with gold, for that is where God’s glory would dwell. It was in the Holy of Holies. In the center point of this temple in this special place is where God would dwell. The people and the priests knew that God was going to do something extraordinary here. If we go to chapter 5, we can read about them assembling on the day that God would occupy His new home. Read II Chronicles 5:1-3. Brethren, that is in the fall Feasts. It was the fall holy days like we are celebrating now (the Feast of Tabernacles). So about this time of the year back then, they were going to dedicate the temple. If you would, drop down to verse 11, where we see it became a very joyous occasion, full of singing of praises to God. Read II Chronicles 5:11-14. You can see this wonderful joyous occasion! People were singing. The priests were playing their musical instruments. They were getting ready for God’s glory to come into the temple, and sure enough God did! Drop down to II Chronicles 6:1. “Then Solomon spoke: ‘The Lord said He would dwell in the dark cloud. I have surely built You an exalted house, and a place for You to dwell in forever.’” They intended this place to be where God would dwell with mankind forever! Drop down to verse 17, continuing with this prayer of dedication. Read II Chronicles 6:17-21. The whole point of this building was to be able to obtain forgiveness from God and to be close to God. They could pray to His presence, Jesus Christ, who resided in the Holy of Holies, and that prayer would go to the Father in heaven. That is what we are being told here. From there, their prayers would be answered, and they would be forgiven. Dropping down to verse 40 of II Chronicles 6 read verses 40-42. Solomon knew to pray to the Father through Jesus Christ, the Anointed. He said give Your saints salvation. Give Your priests salvation. These are terms that we would normally associate with the New Testament, but they had an understanding that this was awesome. The God of the universe was going to dwell with them and make them clean and forgive their sins. If you ever read the whole chapter, which I recommend when you have time, you would see specific things that Solomon prayed for. He said I want You to hear their prayer and intervene for their sin, or if we have droughts, or if we have famine, or if we go into captivity, or if we have disease epidemics. He said not just for us but anybody in the world who would have reverence for You and pray toward this place. Hear their prayers, and answer their prayers. With that prayer of dedication, God answered by His very actions and said I will do this. If you would, continue reading in II Chronicles 7:1-3. God answered Solomon’s prayer. By His answer He accepted their sacrifice and sealed the deal with the people of Israel. He sealed the deal that said I will be here present. You bring Me the prayer of your needs, and I will answer your prayer. You can have the security of knowing God dwells with you, and if I am with you, who can be against you? Who can harm you? No one can harm you for I am the Great God of the universe! This was indeed the most glorious building ever constructed, and with God’s presence there, the glory exceeded the imaginations of any human being who had ever lived. That is why the Jews, to this day, commemorate the fall of the temple and the four significant events during that nineteen year period with a fast day. To this day, they read the Book of Lamentations, which means to weep. They cry over the fallen temple. To this day, they read Psalm 137. It is a Psalm that we used to often sing (in this Church) from the hymnals in our better days when the Church was whole. The hymn you will probably remember (hymn 103 in the old hymn book) is Psalm 137. This is what the Jews sing. “By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. Our tormentors, for their own amusement, said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’ How can we sing a song of the Lord on alien soil? If I forget O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her skill.” (which means to wither) This hymn is sung every year by the Jews to remember the glory of that ancient temple and to mourn its loss and to pray: next year maybe we can do it again in Jerusalem. Next year maybe the Messiah will be here, and we will be put back together and made whole. GOD LEFT THE TEMPLE Brethren, when Nebuchadnezzar and his armies overran the city, took the people captive and took God’s sacred vessels out of that temple, do you think God was there? No way! There is nobody who can take God captive. Nobody! God had left that temple. He left it because of the actions of the people, specifically the priests and the leaders. But the entire nation had let Him down. You can go and read the Book of Jeremiah, and you can see that they were warned that if there was no repentance, God would leave. But the people were so secure knowing that God was there, they could not believe He would actually leave His chosen people. But He did. During the devastations of the temple during that nineteen year period the prophet Ezekiel started with the prophecies that God gave him. He started explaining what had happened and what would happen further. We are going to read some of those prophecies today because there are more details than what was fulfilled back in those days. They were written specifically for the Church of God after Christ’s first coming! We can look back at what happened between 605 B.C. and 586 B.C. and apply some lessons to the Church today. Let us turn to Ezekiel chapter 8, please. God was showing Ezekiel why this was going to happen. Read Ezekiel 8:1-5. God calls Himself a jealous God, and when a false god is being allowed into the entrance of the temple, He gets very angry and jealous. This is what God is showing Ezekiel. This took place during the nineteen year period. If you were to go back to Ezekiel 1:1, which we won’t, you would find that these visions started coming to Ezekiel while he was a captive in Babylon. So God said this image of jealousy is standing in the entrance, and it is making Me very angry. I am very jealous. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 10. Read verses 1-5. So Ezekiel was allowed to see God’s glory (God’s Spirit) get up from where it was placed in the Holy of Holies, where He was existing and living with the people. It moved toward the threshold of the door. It was getting ready to leave that beautiful building. It was the temple that was supposedly going to be the place for Him to dwell forever. Drop down to verses 18-19 of Ezekiel 10. We see these cherubim lifting up the glory of God and Him moving out over the threshold getting ready to leave the gate. We see Him getting ready to leave this beautiful temple. If you would now, drop down to Ezekiel 11:1. “Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the Lord’s house, which faces eastward; and there at the door of the gate were twenty-five men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. And He said to me: ‘Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city…’” So God is identifying the fact that it is human beings and their actions that are making this happen. They are allowing wickedness (this image of jealousy) into the city. They are allowing a foreign god in here, and making Me very angry and jealous. God said I will not put up with this. Drop down to Ezekiel 11:4 and read to verse 10. Because of what was going on (and not only letting in this image of jealousy) the imaginings of the people (the devices and thinking of the people) were turning away from Him. They were turning away from this Great God of glory. And He said it is the sword you fear, and you know it won’t come near you since I am here. I am going to leave, and what you fear will come upon you! If you would, drop down to verse 23. “And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood on the mountain, which is on the east side of the city. Then the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to those in captivity. And the vision that I had seen went up from me. So I spoke to those in captivity of all the things the Lord had shown me.” So in verse 23 we see that the glory of God had left the temple and left the city and went on a mountain outside the city gates. So there was no God dwelling in that temple anymore. There was no God dwelling in the city of Jerusalem. There was a false god. There was an image of jealousy there. It had worked its way in through the minds of the people bringing devastation upon the people because of their disobedience. Then with this information Ezekiel could go back to the captives and say this is why all of these calamities are happening to us! This is why we are captives. This is why the sword has come upon us and the vessels of God taken away from the temple and the temple destroyed. The people had an explanation, and for the last several thousand years they have been mourning what happened. They have mourned how they blew their opportunity to be God’s holy nation (His special people). Had God been defeated by this image of jealously? Absolutely not! Because this plan of God is something that no other being can stop. His plan to save mankind, to build a family and have a beautiful universe is unstoppable. There are bumps along the road because of human frailty, human disobedience and weakness, but God will win. Yes, there were two more times afterward that that building was rebuilt. By the way, the glory of God never came back to that building. But the building was rebuilt and sacked, as I said earlier, by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. and Titus of Rome in 70 A.D. Each time an abomination of desolation took place there were waves of destruction, floods of devastation, the walls giving way, the hedge torn down as if the levees broke and could not keep back the sea of devastation any longer. That was all possible because God’s presence was gone. Now I want to turn to Ezekiel 9, brethren, to get a look at what was going on spiritually and what is happening to us this very day. Turn to Ezekiel 9:1. “Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, ‘Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a deadly weapon in his hand.’ And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his battle-ax in his hand.” Now this is a vision. So we are speaking of angels here. These are not nice angels. They are coming with weapons of devastation. They are working for the image of jealousy, brethren. But the are allowed to do this work. Continue reading in Ezekiel 9:2-6. Brethren, I want to point out something here. This is an insight into a spiritual event that actually had not yet taken place. The physical devastation of the temple was in the process of getting done during that nineteen year period. But this is a forward-looking prophecy here because in this particular prophecy we are told to start from the sanctuary and work your way out. But when Babylon conquered the temple in Jerusalem, they surrounded it first and worked their way in. So we are getting some insight here as to what would happen spiritually to another temple that would get built by God, this one far more glorious than Solomon’s temple. That is what makes the devastation far worse. WHAT FLOODS PORTRAY SPIRITUALLY Our purpose today is to look at the destructive floods that can come upon us physically but see what they portray spiritually. We will also learn lessons from Biblical history as to what would take place. Prophecy is dual. We knew under Mr. Herbert Armstrong that prophecy had a duality to it, and this fall of the temple and the fall of the city of Jerusalem definitely had a duality to it. The second time around is far worse than the first! We are going to combine those images that we have seen of floods and devastation, and we are going to think about what happened to ancient Jerusalem and the ancient temple of God (Solomon’s temple). We are going to apply them to what God has done since Jesus Christ’s first coming. He was building a beautiful building out of human sacrifices for Him, people dedicated as His holy people. We need spiritual vision in order to see this, brethren. SPIRITUAL VISION If you would, turn to Proverbs 29:18 where we see a principle of the scriptures that is very important to keep in mind at all times, especially during the Christian era. It is that without vision the people perish. If you have no spiritual vision, you do not know what is going on, nor do you know how to defend against the evils that are taking place. Proverbs 29, verse 18: “Where there is no revelation…” In the King James Version it says “vision”. “…the people cast off restraint…” That is, they perish. “…but happy is he who keeps the law.” We need to continue keeping the law and keep understanding what it is that we have been called to do, in order to avoid the devastation that has taken place and to avoid captivity. Or if we are captive, we need to know how to get out of that captivity, because many of our brethren are captive at this very time. Turn, if you would, to Revelation chapter 3, and we will see that vision is our chief problem in the last days. We are blind, brethren! We are blind to what is going on, and God says I am going to help you see, if you will allow yourselves to see and if you will allow yourselves to have an ear to hear. Read Revelation 3:14-17 which describes the condition of our Church era today. Brethren, this is the condition of our Church era. We have to recognize that in order to do anything about it. Of all of these sad states to be in, blindness is the worst because if we are blind, we cannot even see that we are miserable or wretched or naked. We are without our righteous garments. We are naked before God, and that is a terrible state to be in. We look clothed. The Church physically is, but this is a spiritual condition. We need spiritual help from God in order to see the state we are in. THE SPIRITUAL TEMPLE Let us now take a moment and see what we were called to be a part of and what God is doing that would be the dual prophecy of what we read in II Chronicles. What is God building today? Turn, if you would, to I Corinthians chapter 3. God is building Himself a temple far more glorious than the one Solomon built for God to dwell in. Read I Corinthians 3:9-13. Remember how God had Solomon build the temple with gold, precious stones and jewels? There was no hay or straw in that building. Read I Corinthians 3:14-16. The called people from Christ’s resurrection forward are part of the temple of God. It is a spiritual building made of supposedly the finest materials. Those materials are the character of the people which God develops over their Christian walk until they are hopefully gold, silver and precious stones. That is the kind of temple He is building. It is a living, breathing, walking temple of God composed of many parts. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 2. Read verses 19-22. There have been seven Church eras. We are in the final one (the Laodicean era). There has been a living, breathing temple for the last two thousand years. Each Church era composed of human beings makes a temple for God to work in, where prayers can be heard. Forgiveness can be dispensed. People can grow in holy righteous character and become the gold and the silver in that building. That temple has existed now for two thousand years. But it is constantly getting rebuilt and refurbished as people die and new people get called in. So this temple lives on with Jesus Christ in it. It is called the body of Christ in other places. In I Corinthians 12 (you need not turn there) we are told it is called the body of Christ with many parts. It has eyes, ears, hands and feet all working together as one body. Ephesians 5:30 (you need not turn there) also says we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones. This body has been living and working now for two thousand years. Isn’t that a miracle? Different people over a two thousand year period form a body that Jesus Christ can work in. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 12, brethren, to get a picture of the city and the temple that we have been called into. Read Hebrews 12:18-19. This is Mount Sinai where the people made an agreement with God after they came out of Egypt and said, yes, we will agree to be Your people. We have not come to that mountain, shaking, quaking and scared. Continuing in Hebrews 12:21. “And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.’ But you have come to Mount Zion…” Instead of Mount Sinai we have come to Mount Zion, brethren. “…and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…” The city that cannot be seen with physical eyes, brethren. “…to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn…” Revelation 14 calls them the firstfruits (the 144,000). “…who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.” We have become living sacrifices, brethren, in the temple of God. We are washed clean by Christ’s blood and growing into a general assembly of the firstfruits who are registered in heaven. We are physical people made perfect by overcoming and begging God for forgiveness and getting cleaned up by our High Priest Jesus Christ. This is the kind of building we could be a part of if we maintain our calling and keep our calling and election sure, as II Peter would say. We need to keep our calling and election sure in this day and age when all else seems to be falling apart. But we cannot be like ancient Israel and the Jewish people who were so sure once they were called and had an agreement with God that He would never leave. He won’t leave us. Nothing can hurt us. God is here. Brethren, we can make and have made the same mistakes anciently made before. But we can learn from their mistakes, and we can come out of captivity if we allow God into our lives. He says in Revelation 3 open the door and let Me in. Let Me sup with you. Let Me bring you eye salve so that you can see your condition and have spiritual vision. Let Me give you good food instead of this famine. Let Me give you good food. If you were to look up the word “sword” from the Old Testament, you would find that the first definition of it is a famine (a drought). It is a drought of the word, brethren! We have been undergoing the sword of drought for nineteen years. It is cutting the brethren down one after another. We need food. Yet to God the Laodiceans are in His mind so self-righteous they say we need nothing. We’re fine. Yet they are poor, blind, wretched, naked and miserable. We are looking at the fascinating duality of prophecy in action in our lifetime! Everything that happened practically to ancient Israel and that beautiful temple and that wonderful city has happened again spiritually. We need God’s help to see it and comprehend it. A spiritual house, which is the temple of God today (a spiritual body for Jesus Christ) cannot be destroyed physically. When Satan succeeded in having the Romans put Jesus Christ to death, he succeeded at nothing except sealing his own fate. He lost that battle. The same thing happened when he martyred ten of the twelve apostles. They did not die in vain. Satan cannot beat a spiritual building and a spiritual body with physical death, destruction or torture. You cannot bomb the temple of God. You cannot sack it. You cannot offer swine’s blood in it. You cannot raise a false idol in it, unless you do these things spiritually, brethren. I want to refer now to a letter that Mr. Herbert Armstrong wrote in March of 1981 when he spoke of this temple. We had this knowledge twenty-four years ago and this proves it. Quoting this on page 3: “But REMEMBER GOD’S PURPOSE WORKS IN A PROCESS OF DUALITY! John the Baptist was a TYPE or forerunner, of one to prepare the way for His Second Coming. Jesus is to come to His TEMPLE (Mal. 3:1). He came to a material temple of stone, wood, gold and materials in A.D. 27-31. To what Temple will He come IN OUR TIME, SOON NOW? “Hold this prophecy of Malachi 3 in mind, and turn to Haggai 2, beginning verse 3.” You can turn there on your own, brethren later. “Zerubbabel was governor of a colony of Jews sent from Babylon back to Jerusalem 70 years after the destruction of Solomon’s temple, to build a new temple. This also was the days of the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah. Zerubbabel was a builder of this second temple. It was the temple to which Jesus came at His first appearing as a human. “Verse 3, the former temple of Solomon was then as nothing compared to its original physical glory. God commands Zerubbabel to be strong and work to build the temple (verse 4). Verse 6 goes into a far-future prophecy of a time just before Christ’s Second Coming, when God will shake the earth and shake all nations, and the GLORY OF THIS LATTER HOUSE SHALL BE GREATER THAN OF THE FORMER” (verse 9).” The spiritual house is far more glorious than even Solomon’s temple, brethren! Continuing with the letter: “The temple Zerubbabel built of stone, wood and physical materials was nowhere near as glorious as the former temple of Solomon! This is a PROPHECY speaking about the temple to which Christ shall come the second time, in supreme POWER and GLORY - a temple far more glorious than Solomon’s. “To WHAT temple will Christ come very soon now? Are the Jews going to demolish the Moslem temple, Dome of the rock, which stands on that site now, and build a new super-glorious new temple? NO! Turn to Ephesians 2:19-22.” We just read this. “The Church at Ephesus was composed of former gentiles. They are no longer foreign gentiles, but fellow citizens with the saints - a spiritual NATION. They are also a FAMILY of the ‘household’ of God - the GOD FAMILY. As a BUILDING they are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. As a BUILDING, they are fitly framed together (in UNIFIED ORGANIZATION) growing into a HOLY TEMPLE.” Those words were penned twenty-four years ago by Mr. Herbert Armstrong, showing us what we were called to be a part of. I would like to make a definition on my own. It is a definition of what the temple is. It is building off what we saw in Mr. Armstrong’s letter and off what we read in the scriptures. The definition would go like this: The spiritual temple is a unified body of called and chosen people, physical people. They are living stones which offer themselves up as living sacrifices. They bear spiritual fruit, teach spiritual truth and let their light shine by keeping the letter and the spirit of the law. They are known by their love toward one another and their good works toward all mankind. They pick up their cross and follow Christ by laying down their own lives for their fellow man. That is the temple of God and that is the purpose of the temple of God. THE BATTLE AGAINST THE TEMPLE Therefore, a spiritual battle against this temple must include at least some of the following: false doctrines and false worship, turning away from the truth and sound doctrine, causing people’s lamps to go out and darkness to reign, making love grow cold, dividing the body as opposed to unity (as Mr. Armstrong wrote), to cause selfishness to abound and to promote that blindness (robbing people of spiritual vision and understanding), to cause self-righteousness and pride to grow within the body of Christ, to halt overcoming and character growth, to hide the love of God from the world so the world cannot find the true temple. This has all been accomplished in a very clandestine way, brethren. It has been done in a way that can only be seen spiritually. It was done secretly in the dark amidst great confusion. God is saying let Me show you. Let Me help you understand. Ezekiel penned those words during the destruction of the temple, and now during the destruction of this temple (the spiritual building of God at the end of the age), God is saying listen. Through the prophets I can show you what happened, but you need an ear to hear and eyes to see. We are going to let scripture tell the story now. Turn, if you would, to Revelation 12:9. “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” When Christ was resurrected from the dead and replaced Satan, Satan and his demons were cast out of heaven. Continue reading Revelation 12:10-15. Remember what the floods do, brethren. They knock down the homes, they haul down the trees and they cause death and destruction. Read Revelation 12:16-17. He went to war at the very end with the remnant, brethren, the last (the tail end of the cloth) or the last Church era. Up until then he went after her (the Church) with a flood. There was all manner of persecution, torture, death, forcing people to recant, to give up the Sabbath and the holy days, to turn away from God. But the earth came to the Church’s aid. How did that happen? Brethren, over the course of time liberty took hold on the earth. Democracy and the seeds of democracy took place where people could exist and live in freedom religiously without persecution. They could worship God and do the work of God while protected by the government. This had not happened before to the Church of God. Once upon a time when the glory of God dwelt in Jerusalem, no enemy could conquer God’s people. They could work freely and worship God freely. Once that first temple went down, there has been nothing but death, destruction, war and hatred against God’s people. But during the course of time, the earth helped the Church. They said we will tolerate all religions including the true Church. They don’t know who the true Church is, but they say we will not tolerate people killing each other over religion. We will let you do the work of God as you see fit, which allowed the Church to work in freedom. We have had that blessing for quite some time now in this country and in quite a few countries around the world. This has been how the earth helped the woman get the work done. But the flood kept coming, brethren. That term “flood” is the Greek work potamos and potamorphoretos which means current, or brook or river borne, overwhelming by a stream and carried away by a flood. It comes from the root word pio which means to imbibe or to drink literally or figuratively, and a derivative of the word phoreo which means to have a burden and by analogy to wear as clothing or a constant accompaniment. So this flood of dissipation, a flood of false doctrine, a flood of persecution came upon the Church, and it could not succeed for two thousand years, but at the very end it turns its wrath on the remnant. The only way it can overcome the remnant is if God steps aside for a little while. Just like the temple in Solomon’s day, there is no way Satan or any physical being is going to beat God wherever He dwells. He can’t. God is the most powerful force in the universe. But this flood is in opposition to Christ’s river which is the river of living water. This is a river of very bad water. It is a very large wave of horrible, destructive water. These waters are in direct opposition to God, just as truth is in opposition to error. The give way is against the way of get. Self-sacrifice is against self-preservation, or love against hate. They are the opposites, brethren. One river, one water, one source of water is Christ. The other is Satan who is Christ’s arch enemy and our arch enemy. In the end times Satan overwhelms the city of God (the temple of God, the saints). If you would, continue by dropping down to Revelation chapter 13 now. Read Revelation 13:4-5. This corresponds to the time and times and half a time or the three and a half days that the Church was protected. Revelation 13:6 “Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.” It is by his words and his teaching (by his influence) that he does these things. Revelation 13:7 “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.” Christ had those words penned by John. He knew in the last days Satan would overcome the saints. “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.” Once Satan gets the Church, he has the whole world. He has had the world for six thousand years except for God’s people. Once he gets and overcomes God’s people he has the entire world. Revelation 13:9 “If anyone has an ear, let him hear.” We need an ear to hear like never before, brethren! CAPTIVITY AND THE SWORD Revelation 13:10 “He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” This is what we endure in the last days. It is the worst tribulation to ever come upon God’s people because this has been spiritual devastation from within. That is what has happened to the Church (this beautiful temple of God). It has been overwhelmed and overcome by our arch enemy Satan. The results have been captivity and destruction. Captivity means people in the first wave going back to pagan idolatrous worship (giving up the Sabbath, the holy days and the knowledge that we have had). The death by the sword means those who have used God’s word to deceive and destroy God’s people will be destroyed. It is time to wake up, brethren, and look around. See with spiritual vision what has happened. Beg God while we have time for that eye salve that He promises to give in Revelation 3. Beg Him for the eye salve to be able to see spiritually the devastation that has taken place in wave after wave after wave. Let us turn to Hebrews chapter 4 to confirm in scripture what I just said about the word of God being the sword. Read Hebrews 4:12-13. The word of God is sharper than any physical two-edged sword, and it can pierce right to the division of soul and spirit. That is God’s word (the Bible). The proper use of it is so powerful against Satan that that’s all Jesus Christ had to do in Matthew 4 at that temptation by Satan. All Jesus Christ had to do to defeat Satan was to use scripture. But you need to know rightly how to divide that scripture and how to use it. You need to know how to see Satan for his very being and his devices that he is using to destroy us. We need to fight him with God’s truth. God’s truth is the light, and Satan cannot stand the light. He hides in the darkness. WHAT TO DO NOW Turn to Revelation chapter 3. In Revelation 3:11 we were told this as the Philadelphia Era a number of years ago and warned. Speaking to the Church era just ahead of ours, Christ said: “‘Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” How many times did we read that years ago? Not knowing, of course, what the future held, but we certainly should have been able to see it after a little while. Mr. Armstrong taught us 24 years ago, brethren, that the temple is a spiritual dwelling and that we needed to hold fast. We needed to overcome and not be overcome. It is high time we beg God for the help to turn the tide to get this flood back out of the Church and to overcome Satan. That is what the world is waiting for. In Revelation 3:22 Christ also told the Laodicean Era, “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” What was He telling us? After He told us we were poor, blind, wretched, naked and miserable, He starts in verse 18: “‘I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.’” Christ overcame and beat Satan. He never allowed Satan to cause Him to sin, but He defeated him in Matthew 4 at the temptation. He defeated him right up until His death. Now we have to defeat Satan by obeying God and claiming the blood of Jesus Christ constantly whenever we do fail and whenever we do fall. But we have to preach the truth. We have to understand what righteousness really is and get rid of our bad garments. We need to get the good garments and the eye salve so we can see our condition. It is by cleaning up and getting ready by getting rid of every spot and blemish that we will help hasten Christ’s return and end the suffering on the earth. POWERS OF OBSERVATION Jesus Christ said He is coming quickly. If you are looking for physical signs out there on the earth to take place, you are wasting your time. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 17:20. “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, “See here!” or “See there!” For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.’” (as it is correctly translated in the center column reference in the King James Version) Christ was answering the Pharisees when they said what are going to be the signs of Your coming? He said it does not come by observation. If you look up the Greek word, that means without ocular evidence. You are not going to see the Dome of the Rock come down. You are not going to see certain wars and rumors of wars and know that Christ is coming. What war is worse than WWII or WWI? What flood would portend Christ’s return or what earthquake? You need spiritual eye sight, and you need to beg God for it in order to observe these things because it is done spiritually. In Matthew 24:14 as we were taught by Mr. Armstrong, there is only one physical warning (one physical sign) of Christ’s return. That is the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of God to the world as a witness. Matthew 24, verse 13: “‘But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.’” The end is devastating, but it is devastating to the Church of God right up until the time we are pulled out of the fire, so to speak, and saved by Jesus Christ at His return. Now I want to turn to Mr. Armstrong’s letter. It is the same one of March 19, 1981. I am going to be reading from page 6 because we were warned what devastation would come on the Church right then. Quoting Mr. Armstrong, “I have NEVER SAID I expect to live until Christ comes. “But, just in case of my disability for any reason, to prevent Satan from causing division, I feel God has inspired me to delegate power to the Advisory Council, during any such complete disability, to take full charge of the Work and all its assets and activities. “The CHURCH must not be scattered. It must not become scattered, because there is no COMPETENT, CHRIST-CHOSEN SPIRITUAL SHEPHERD, TO BECOME MEAT FOR BEASTS (human) OF THE FIELD! (See Ezekiel 34:5.) This is a safeguard for YOUR protection.” Mr. Armstrong did not want the Church to become destroyed and scattered. He knew it was the temple of God, as he stated earlier in this letter. And he did not want a repeat of what happened to ancient Israel, Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. Yet it did. It is a spiritual destruction, and just like in the old days, brethren, men brought it in! Men brought it into the temple of God. False teachings and false worship scattered the Church. Brethren beat upon one another. The shepherds beat the shepherds and beat the sheep. We have the situation we have today. The Church is scattered and full of false doctrines. Many people are wondering what happened. It is time to ask God for help to see what happened. We do not have time to go through all of Matthew 24 and show how it could be viewed spiritually. Go to our sermon called “Powers of Observation” or to our booklet called “Signs and Wonders,” and one can see just exactly what happened to the Church. Christ warned that once the gospel of the kingdom goes to the world as a witness, the end shall come. It starts with an abomination of desolation, which would have to be in the spiritual temple of God to be of any effect. It comes with a scattering of the people and a fleeing of the people, which must be of the people of God (the temple of God) to be of any effect. We are looking at the spiritual, but go to that sermon and that booklet for further details. Let’s go to Luke chapter 21 and look at one spiritual sign. It is something you can only see by spiritual vision. Christ tells us in Luke 21, verse 20: “‘But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.’” In 605 B.C. they saw Jerusalem surrounded by Babylonian armies. In 167 B.C. they saw it surrounded by Greek armies. In 70 A.D. they saw it surrounded by Roman armies. If we are looking today for a united Europe or some army or some government to surround God’s Church, you are wasting your time! It is because we are speaking spiritually now. It has to be a spiritual enemy who does spiritual things to the temple of God. That is what has been happening for the last nineteen years. When the Church was surrounded and was taken over by working its way out from the sanctuary with false doctrines (bad food and bad leadership) and a famine of the word (which was the sword), it is just like Ezekiel said. We need to keep that in mind, brethren, because the spiritual devastation has been awful and is very deadly and dangerous to our eternal lives. We need to wake up and understand what happened while there is still time to rectify the situation. Christ warned us beforehand. He tells us in Matthew 24. After going through the list of what to watch for spiritually at the end of the times, He says in Matthew 24, verse 23: “‘Then if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There!” do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.’” The false signs and wonders, brethren, are looking at things too physically (such as looking at the Dome of the Rock to come down). There are people out there tracking the price of oil, the price of gas, interest rates and the fall of the dollar, and they are saying these are the signs. They are not signs! The signs take place within God’s Church, brethren. We have to look spiritually or we are going to totally miss the boat. If you would, turn to Mark chapter 13. It says the same thing basically that you would find in Matthew 24:4-7. Christ says not to worry about wars and rumors of wars. It says these are false signs. Mark 13:22 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.” Signs is the Greek word semaino which means a marker to indicate or signify. Wonders is the Greek word teras which means a prodigy or omen. So He says you will see these false ministers saying we have signs and wonders to prove what is happening and what to watch for. And we are where Christ is working. Here, we are where Christ is working! It cannot be true that where Christ is working there are false signs, brethren. It is not possible. Christ is not going to fool His own people. Where you see false signs and wonders, you know you have a problem. People preaching false signs and wonders also need to ask God to help them see the truth and wake up and preach the truth while we yet have time. We need ears to hear and eyes to see. You need not turn there because it is a well known scripture, but in Luke 21:7-11 Christ says do not be terrified by the physical things you see. Do not be scared by wars, earthquakes and rumors of wars. These are not the sign of My coming. He said in Luke 21 it does not come with ocular evidence (physical eye sight). You cannot see. I will come as a thief in the night and take you totally by surprise. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR PHYSICAL SIGNS AND WONDERS, YOU WILL BE TAKEN BY SURPRISE! And there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when that occurs. THE SON OF PERDITION None of this could have happened to the Church without Christ temporarily stepping away and stopping the restraint of Satan. In Revelation 3 speaking to the Laodiceans He said I will vomit you out of My mouth if you keep up with these things. That means a separation from the Church. Just as He left Solomon’s temple, He separated Himself from the Church. Now He is on the outside knocking on the door wanting us to let Him in. I would like to now turn to a set of scriptures that are totally misunderstood. It keeps us confused looking for physical things when we do not understand it. That is II Thessalonians chapter 2. I am going to read this in the King James, brethren, because it is stated here more clearly than in the New King James that I have been reading. II Thessalonians 2:1 “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” That is true of any of the Church eras. Don’t be deceived by a false spirit or be troubled by what someone said or a fake letter from us, because it has not occurred until you have seen certain things. That is what he is leading up to. II Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition…” So first we have to see the son of perdition revealed, a man of sin. Continuing in verse 4: “…who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” So two thousand years ago Paul was telling the brethren this! He said wait a minute! We are the temple of God. I told the Ephesians that! I told the Corinthians that! We are the temple of God. I told the Hebrews that (in the Book of Hebrews). We have to wait to see the son of perdition sitting in the temple of God. But, brethren, if we are a spiritual building, no man can fill that role! Only Satan can take over the spiritual temple. The image of jealousy moves in when the glory of God moves out. Continuing in II Thessalonians 2:6. “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” Here he says the mystery of iniquity (Satan) is already working. But God is restraining him. Until he is let go and the restraint is off him, we do not have to worry about Jesus Christ’s return. This has to take place. You have to have a falling away from the truth, and Satan has to get into the temple of God before you have to worry about Jesus Christ’s return. That has happened, brethren! So now we need to be worried about Jesus Christ’s return. Then he goes on to say in II Thessalonians 2:8 “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming…” In verse 9 the words “even him” are not there in the original Greek so it reads like this: “Whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” That means they did not hold fast to the truth, receive it to themselves and hold on tight. Verse 11: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie…” That is what the Church has believed: too many lies, false signs and false wonders given by people who in many cases (or most cases I am sure) have no idea they are working under the influence of the son of perdition! In other words, the son of perdition has those who work for him. You could call them sons of the son of perdition. The son of perdition is identified here and then those working under him who bring false signs and wonders into the Church. This can be reversed through a repentance. We can ask God to help us see us for what we are, so we can preach the truth. But there is not much time left to reverse this. The term “revealed” here in II Thessalonians is apokalupto. It is similar to the Book of Revelation (the apocalypse). This means to reveal, to take the cover off and disclose what has been going on in the dark, what has been going on secretly. Satan has been operating under cover within the Church of God through wolves in sheep’s clothing and through deceivers who do not know they are deceived. They are some very well meaning people. We have time to fix this. Matthew 25 says to wake up the bride and wake up the ten virgins. Trim your wicks, which means to use the Bible correctly, say the truth and lead the brethren (the sheep) back to the truth and back to Jesus Christ. Then the bride can be cleaned up as the temple of God and the bride made ready for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. The mystery of iniquity was working two thousand years ago, brethren, but it is working double time in our age. In our day and age it has succeeded, we are told in Revelation, to overcome the Church. “That wicked” are those who are working false doctrine into the truth. I would like to prove it. The term “that wicked” comes from the Greek word anomos. Anomos in your Strong’s Concordance means lawless and not subject to Jewish law. Wicked means not amenable to the Jewish law. It is a compound of two words. The first word in your Strong’s a or alpha (meaning first) means called or of the alpha. Jesus Christ is the alpha and the omega. It means called. The second half of that word (nomos) means to parcel out food. So these are people who should have been firstfruits who were called to feed the Church good food. As a matter of fact, it says for grazing animals (think sheep) through the idea of the prescriptive use of both the mosaic law and regulations. In other words, they are teachers of the law. The teachers of the law are the anomos (the wicked). But they are false teachers of the law showing false signs and wonders, working Satan’s agenda within the Church. They scatter and destroy the sheep. The gospel is the food. The word anomos is related to the word nome which means pasture or feeding of pasturage. So the job was given to certain men to feed the Church good food. In the last days they were overcome by Satan. They need to repent, just as we need to repent and beg God for forgiveness and eye salve, help to preach the truth and trim our wicks. If we choose not to do so, we are in grave danger. How do we know Satan is the son of perdition? You do not have to turn to Job 1, but when you have the chance, read Job 1:6-7. You will see that when the sons of God came before God (these are the angels of God called sons of God), Satan was among them to talk to God. That is before he persecuted Job. Turn to Isaiah chapter 14, going back to the New King James now. Turn if you would to Isaiah 14 where we are going to see a description of Satan, what he has done and what he has desired to do for a long time. He is identified. Isaiah 14, verse 3: “It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow…” That means when the Millennium comes. “…and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say…” Now you could apply the next few verses to Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. But let’s drop down to verse 12 because the real king of Babylon is identified here. Isaiah 14, verse 12: “‘How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…”’” That is above God’s angels. “‘“…I will also sit on the mount of the congregation…”’” That is the Church. “‘“…on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.’” We see how that corresponds to II Thessalonians chapter 2. He wants to sit in the temple of God (the congregation of God) showing himself that he is God, but yet he is the image of jealousy. Let’s continue in verse 16 of Isaiah 14. “‘Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: “Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?”’” Satan is called a man here. When the term “man” is used in the Bible it can refer to a human being or to an angel or anything given its life (its existence), other than God who is self existent. Adam is the Hebrew word adam. This is a different word used here, showing that Satan can be called a man. Indeed many examples exist in the Bible of angels looking and appearing like men. Now we have identified the son of perdition as this being (this son of God), this man called Lucifer. He is the one who moves and shakes the kingdoms of the world and has overcome the Church. But he had to do it through people. You are not going to find Satan sitting there in any church group anywhere on earth. He has to work through people. HOW THE SON OF PERDITION WORKS Now I would like to go to Matthew chapter 13. We are going to see a little bit of how he does these things. Christ did not leave us without warning, brethren. He taught us all we need to know. He just reveals it when we need to know it. There is no time like right now that we need to know more about our enemy and what has happened in the Church. This is speaking of the parable of the wheat and the tares. Read Matthew 13:24-30. Now if you drop down to verse 36 Jesus Christ explains the parable of the wheat and the tares. Read verse 36-37. He is meaning Himself. Continuing reading Matthew 13, verse 38: “‘The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom…’” (meaning those who are called and chosen) “‘…but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.’” Now we are starting to see how Satan works in the Church. Verse 39: “‘The enemy who sowed them is the devil…’” (the son of perdition) “‘…the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.’” Then He concludes in verse 43: “‘Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’” It is the same thing He kept telling the Churches in Revelation. Do we have ears to hear? The wicked one has been working through His seed in the Church, and they have been among the Church brethren. Let’s turn back to Revelation chapter 3. This is in the message to the Church of Philadelphia. Revelation 3, verse 9: “‘Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.’” Then we are told to persevere and hold fast to what we were given that no man take our crown. We were told here, brethren, if we would have only listened and understood. Within the Philadelphia era was the synagogue of Satan. The tares had been sown. God knew who they were. We had to identify them and should identify them by the fruits. Look how the Church has been destroyed. Look at what is happening to the Church and ask God for help to comprehend, so that we can get out of the fix that we find ourselves in. The word perdition comes from the word “apoleia” which means ruin or loss, physical or spiritual or eternal destruction. The son of perdition wants to destroy God’s Church and put himself up as God and reign. That is his goal and always has been. We identified that in Isaiah 14. How is this being done in our day and age, and how are we being deceived? We are being deceived with false doctrines, with false signs and wonders, with bad food and pasturage. That is what is doing it. Satan is the influence behind it. All who have ears to hear need to hear and repent while we still have time. Drink in of the clean water from Jesus Christ. Take in the good food that He has to offer us. TRIM OUR WICKS Turn back to Matthew chapter 5, and we will see what God wants from us at this time. It is what He has always wanted from His Church. Read Matthew 5:1-4. Are you mourning for what happened to God’s spiritual temple? Do you fast and pray for what happened to God’s spiritual temple? It is a good thing to even honor the four fasts in Zechariah 8, which we have mentioned go with the four events in the fall of the temple. There is no harm, brethren. We need to show God we care. Continue reading Matthew 5:5-13. In the King James, to lose flavor is translated lost savor. If you were to look that up in the Greek, you would find that means to speak foolishly, to have false doctrine, to be foolish. Brethren, we are to preserve the earth like salt is a preservative. When we speak crazy things we are not helping preserve the earth, we are scaring people away from the truth of God! Verse 14: “‘You are the light of the world.’” Therefore speak the truth! “‘A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.’” For all who are in the house of God we say see the light and see what God is trying to do and what He will do with or without you and me. It is up to us. Verse 16: “‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’” People should be able to see within the Church of God so much love and light that they can see where God is working. That is not true today, brethren. Therefore, we have a lot to do. We need to see, hear and listen to what Jesus Christ is saying to the Church. The disaster has occurred. The damage is almost complete. The beasts of the field have had their way, some without any knowledge as to what they are doing wrong, and some know they have done very wrong. It is time to repent. It is time for the brethren to repent who have also participated in false doctrines, the slamming of the Church and turning away from Mr. Armstrong and those things he was used by God to do and to accomplish (spreading the gospel as a witness to the world). We need to recognize that Laodicea builds on what Philadelphia did. Laodicea needs to clean up its act and stop being hard hearted. We need to bear our cross and to love our fellow man. For the last couple scriptures, let us turn to Matthew chapter 7. Read verses 15-20. Brethren, let’s bear good fruit, and let’s identify those who are bearing bad fruit and harming the Church. Continue in verse 21 of Matthew 7 and read to verse 23. The problem is identified in II Thessalonians chapter 2. Continue reading Matthew 7:24-29. It is time to look around and see the devastation and understand that many of us were building our houses on the sand. Let’s shift them over to the rock as quickly as we can. Christ said just a little ahead of that that everything will be revealed. He will show what is going to happen in the last days, and we need to understand that what He is showing us is that we were poor, blind, wretched, naked, miserable and self-righteous. We need to ask God for help to reverse these things. Build our house on the rock. Preach the truth. Bring peace and joy of the good news of the gospel of the kingdom to those in the world, but live the word of God amongst ourselves. The storm has raged long enough! The floods have smashed the temple of God long enough. We need to get the filthy water out. We need to fight the evil that has come within. We need to let our light shine. It is time to stop the waves of destruction, and it can be done. Nineteen years is a complete time cycle. We have gone through a complete time cycle of destruction! Let us trim our wicks. Let us regain our savor so that we can help preserve this earth. While we still have time left, hear what the spirit says to the Churches.