FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END

IN OUR LAST ISSUE, WE WERE LOOKING AT PROPHECIES THAT DEAL WITH THE CONDITION THE LAND OF ISRAEL IS IN BECAUSE OF THEM THAT PRESENTLY DWELL THERE; AND AT WHAT GOD WILL DO TO CHANGE THE PICTURE IN THE LAST DAYS; SO LET US CONTINUE ON WITH THAT.

As the world enters this era of time these prophecies speak of, Israel is going to be enabled by the hand of God to do things in such an extraordinary way it will cause the world to realize that the God of heaven is working on their behalf; and that is when some will witness His glory for the first time. Think of it, we are living in the greatest intellectual era of time the world has ever seen and there is still yet more to come. Look at all the scientific knowledge we have put together in so many areas of life. Look what we have done with the computer, and with robots that can almost duplicate actions and think and do things just like human beings. In some of our automobile assembly plants, when that chassis comes through on the assembly line, the minute the thing comes through that curtain, hydraulic arms come up from the wall to perform their function. Then back in place they go. It moves to the next station, out comes more hydraulic arms to perform another function. To think what it used to be, a man standing there with a mask over his face, breathing all those fumes without a minute to stop and take a deep breath. Thank God for the invention, at least it does save a few lungs; but keep in mind, that hydraulic arm is not a politician. It cannot solve a world problem, nor head off the crazy ideas that come from men's carnal minds. Technology is a wonderful thing of course; but saints we are living at the end of it all. God cannot allow mankind to go on full speed ahead very much longer: for He has a great plan for His believing children that must be perfected before mankind is allowed to blow the thing to bits and pieces striving for greater things. Therefore when God says, According to the days of thy coming out of Egypt thus and so; let us go back to the record of when they were coming out of Egypt and take a closer look at some things. In Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, we find the history of it. It tell us what went on: How He brought them through the Red Sea walking on dry ground. Scientists today, and atheists will say, I don't believe that: We have done archaeological studies that prove the place where they were supposed to have crossed was only ankle deep. Well praise God, God destroyed a whole nation's army in ankle deep water. It was a miraculous thing God did, no matter which way you twist it. It reminds me of the little story told of a boy that was raised in a family that did not go to church. The family was not at all pleased when the boy wanted to go to Sunday School with his buddy one Sunday. He went the first Sunday and came home not saying very much about it. He went the next Sunday; and when he came home his mother said, What did they teach you today? Oh mother, you ought to have been there. They talked about a man who led some people out of a place called Egypt. There were hundreds of thousands of them. Their God led them to this big body of water; and as they got there the Egyptians were following them: wanting to recapture them; but they had a man by the name of Moses. He had a stick in his hand. When the situation got to looking real bad Moses lifted up his stick and called in all his engineers and said, Boys, get the equipment out and let us build a bridge. In a short time they had a bridge across that body of water and were ready to cross over. She said, Son, wait just a minute: You know that is not the way the story goes. He said, If I had told you the way it was, you still would not have believed it. I am convinced, since we are living in a world so scientific we can put a man on the moon, and we can put a space thing up there called Hubble that can take pictures so far away it is almost unbelievable, mankind is again standing in a place in the sight of God like those who were building the tower to heaven so long ago. God had to put a stop to it before they went too far. Well as far as I am concerned, I am no more interested in how far away they can take pictures than I am of how many rocks there is on the moon. Can you tell this scientific world anything you know? No, they are going to spend billions just to find out if there was such a thing as an explosion that brought this whole picture into being. I say, Just stick around, we are going to know one of these days, that the God who designed the explosion they talk about, the explosion that supposedly started this universe on its course billions of years ago is the greatest scientist, the greatest mathematician and chemist the world has ever even dreamed of. Nevertheless let us get back to the scriptures we were dealing with.

We were in the 7th chapter of Micah, so let us pick up with verse 15, where God inspired His prophet to write these words: "According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him (Israel) marvelous things. (16) The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: (Just think saints, when the prophet wrote that, this new world was not even thought about. Much of Europe at that time was still in a Barbaric state.) they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf." I think when I look at our own nation, and the reason I feel that I should deal with this in a completely different way, if you do not know what all this is portraying, then you should take a look backward at our time in 1991, when we were involved in a little conflict with Iraq that lasted just a short time. I am not here lauding and glorying in a war; but there is one thing sure, something caused this country to put together a military buildup equal to WW2. When four hundred thousand men and women, which is what they estimated it was going to take to put Iraq on hold, were sent over there, you have to realize that military people, politicians, and the various strategists that put it all together, were estimating and figuring that based on their past knowledge of warfare under certain terrain conditions, this is what it would require. Little did they realize though, that this is the old Bible land we read about in the scriptures. Therefore they did not take into accountability that the same God that determined what would be allowed to take place in that land back then, centuries ago, is still just as interested in it as He ever was; and is still making the determination of the outcome of these various conflicts that take place therein. That is God's Bible land. Things can change suddenly over there. Important people of our day do not want to give God recognition and honor for anything; so four hundred thousand men and women were sent by plane loads, or by ships, with all kinds of modern equipment, including all kinds of sensory devices that can see in the dark, spot a tank underground which was covered and camouflaged beyond recognition. They knew that some time during that day those tank crews would have to go in there and start that motor to keep those batteries charged up; and because of that desert air, the heat of those motors was not going to leave there in an hour's time; and what they were using was heat sensors. With heat still radiating from that pile of metal after the sun had set, our planes flying over with their sensory view finders would spot that blotch on the desert sand. That let them know there was something in there. We did not have anything like that in WW2. Anyhow within just a very short time our planes had destroyed a potential army that could have drawn us into a conflict that very well could have lasted two years or more. It could have; but it did not, thank God. That is why I said a few days ago, Had it not been for the fact that political conditions had been set in motion that brought the downfall of the Russian Empire when it did, nine times out of ten we would have been faced with fighting Russian troops on Iraq soil: Because they would have come in defense of their air partners. God knew exactly how to time that thing so it got Russia out of the picture at that time. When old mad man Hussein used to make his speeches on television programs and call our people a bunch of infidels, he would boast that this would be the mother of all wars. He was beating his chest thinking that: as they showed him praying to Allah. His troops were also shown praying to Allah. They were really making a big to do out of this thing, saying, That bunch of infidels will wallow in their own blood. I was thinking to myself, God, our men were humiliated in Korea, butchered like flies to please a bunch of politicians in Washington D.C., at a time when General Mac Arthur wanted to use one atomic bomb on some Chinese military installations, not to destroy anything civilian, and he was yanked up and brought home, and relieved of his command. We had thousands of men killed because our president would not allow General Mac Arthur to fight it like he knew he should have. He wanted to fight it just like they fought in WW2. By that time the situation in Vietnam was lurking, the French had already been fighting. Why was all that taking place? Because it was shaping the Far East for Revelation 16. Mark my word, we are supposed to be in South Korea policing the situation, but it would not surprise me at any time, if there were conditions involved in that eastern hemisphere that will literally make us withdraw our forces and come home. It is going to leave the far east to fall under some kind of communistic flag: to set the stage and agenda for the time when Revelation 16 has rolled around, and the week of Daniel is coming to a close, and it is time for Armageddon to come in place, all those Oriental nations will come to Armageddon under one flag; or at least under one agreement. Notice what it says here in this verse of scripture: "The nations shall be confounded at all their might." I cannot get away from the fact of what happened in that short little war though. If they had used one more day, they would no doubt have gotten rid of that mad man. As it stands, he is still over there strutting himself and boasting of what he did and will do. Just wait until God turns Israel loose on him. When Israel does have to fulfill these prophecies connected here, you are not going to see that mad man any more. Let us continue. "The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. (17) They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, (the God of the Jews) and shall fear because of thee." That has been lying there in the scriptures for 2600 and some odd years. Where, or when does it take place? It is just before you. Every prophecy that speaks in relationship to the tribe of Judah being back as Zechariah 10 does, and what they did fulfilling Zephaniah 2, in taking the Gaza Strip, and stopping short of crossing the Jordan River, they have already set it in motion. We are just looking for the climax.

Let us go to the prophecy of Amos and get these prophecies that are also related to the ones we have been looking at. This is the prophecy used in the book of Acts, speaking of the time when Peter came, and the other men that went with him to Cornelius' house, and told what happened when Peter preached the gospel there. The Holy Ghost fell on them; but when word got back to Jerusalem that Peter had went among Gentiles, they raised their eyebrows. You went among a bunch of unclean people. Well God had already given him a vision. As he interpreted it, he had to see the vision was explaining how Peter's attitude and outlook toward Gentile people was; but the vision is what propelled Peter to go beyond all of that and carry out what God had ordained. When the Holy Ghost fell on them while he was yet preaching, then Peter looked at the men that came with him and said, Who can forbid water, that these should not be baptized in water, seeing they have received the gift of the Holy Ghost the same as it fell on us. When we come to the council at Jerusalem, the churches gathered, James spoke up and quoted this prophecy. I am going to start reading in verse 8, of chapter 9; because this takes us into the background, the historical background. "Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon the sinful kingdom, (That is Israel before all this disaster ever took place) and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. (meaning He will not bring it to some perpetual end) All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. In that day (This part jumps the centuries.) will I raise up the tabernacle of David (Notice when Amos prophesied: almost 800 years before Christ and Solomon's temple was still standing. So this lets me know he looked beyond Solomon's temple, he looked beyond the second temple and he looked to see our day when there is going to come another temple right on the same spot. That is why it is called the tabernacle of David. David did not build it; but it was in David's heart to build the Lord a house. God would not let him build it, but He promised him He would let his son build it.) that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, (This has absolutely got to include all of old Jerusalem; because it was a Jebusite city that David took. It was later called the city of David; because it was David's lineage, his relatives that began to populate it through the centuries. Then as the temple was built, the whole thing together became David's city.) and I will build it as in the days of old." That means Jerusalem in its restored state, along with the temple, is going to be the most glorious sight anyone ever saw: even more so than it was in the days of Solomon. That brings us to verse 12, which is the point I wanted to get to. First comes the rebuilding of the house of David, closing up the breeches and rebuilding the ruins. "That they (They who? The children of Israel) may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, (This is where James got his revelation, as was quoted when the assembly at Jerusalem called Peter into account because of Cornelius.) which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this." He saw right there that God was going to come among the Gentiles on a salvational basis. In that period of time while the temple was lying there a desolate ruins, and the old city of Jerusalem had become a city of ancient antiquity, looking much like a hog pen, just run down and desolate. It stayed that way for hundreds of years; but God was not going to let the King sit in that beautiful temple as other prophecies describe: and have to look out over a city that Arabs have desecrated through 1900 years of their occupancy. When you walk through some areas of old Jerusalem, it smells like a hog pen. Why? Because the people that have occupied it in the majority for centuries, are not a people that are given to sanitary conditions. Why is that 12th verse in there? That they, (meaning Israel) may possess the remnant of Edom? I am going to give you a little point right here. Over here, is Jordan as we know it today. Then going from the Gulf of Aqaba up to approximately where the Dead Sea would be, right in here, to a mountainous region called Mt. Seir, is the ancient territory where Esau settled when he left Jacob and came back from the land of the Chaldeans. Esau went off into that area. He settled around Mt. Seir, right in here. (pointing to chart) Mt. Seir is a geological ground point, we will say; but the land that goes from that point on down to the desert toward the Gulf of Aqaba is mostly a desert country. As Esau's descendants began to multiply, this area began to become known as the land of Edom. Mt. Seir is a geographical landmark; but the Edomites speaks of the descendants of Esau. That is why when the children of Israel was coming back through the Sinai, getting ready to cross into this area here, old Balaam was asked to come along and curse these people. (the Jews) Remember though, when old Balaam finally consented to do as he was asked to do he told Balak, I want you to know I can only say what God will put in my mouth. He took three positions and built altars, and sacrificed; but all he could ever say was, There will be a star coming out of these people one day. There is going to be a king come out of these people one day. As he closed his speech, he said, Balak, come here: I want to show you something. He took them up to a high spot. He could see that bunch of Jews scattered out in the valley, getting ready to go through. Balaam said these words, (Numbers 24) let us turn to them. We will begin in the 15th verse. "And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: (meaning not very soon) there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. (the Edomites) And Edom shall be a possession, Seir (speaking of the mountain region) also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly." Notice how that tied Edom, the land of Esau and his descendants, with the children of the Moabites. As we leave that prophecy, all of this lays right in front of us. I think of our nation, I think of Europe, I think of all the educated, scientific, military nations of the world that are known as great nations of might and power. Somewhere when they get through fussing God will say, It is time: I will turn my people loose. I want my city of Jerusalem rebuilt. I want the temple built. In order for them to do that, I can say, it is just like the man who drops the signal and the horse race starts. Israel is going to come out of her position full speed ahead. You talk about a war, it will make Gulf war look like something so out dated it will be pitiful. Yet I look back at that short war and just have to say, Thank you Lord. We only had one hundred and some odd casualties. A lot of that was accidents. We have had more casualties on our streets by our liberal minded perverted society that hates war, yet they will consent to all kinds of abuse and killings and beatings and all this other debauchery. I will never forget, when the war was on the verge of starting, the TV News showed that bunch of perverts standing across from the White House beating their drums. They were the anti war characters. They were demonstrating, no war, no blood. But when the military gave the signal and they started and the report was coming in how miraculously those bombs were delivered through the front door. When they can drop them down a stove pipe, do not sit there in those pews and tell me that it was all due to modern technology. No. There is a God up there, and He will use a bomb, He will use a rifle, He will use anything at the right time, to accomplish His purpose. That is why Israel, in the eyes of the world, are looked upon as though they do not have much; but with what they do have, remember this, Little is much if God is in it. That is why they will do valiantly on the field of battle. That is why the world right now does not know it; but they are standing at the brink. They are fussing and see sawing. Political leaders of Israel want to negotiate, want to give up, want to compromise with the Arabs for the sake of peace. They cry, We are Jews. So what! If you do not want prophecy to be fulfilled, what good is it going to do you to scream, I am a Jew? That is like someone who is always running around proclaiming, I am a Christian. I am a Christian. Again I say, So what! If you are not getting ready to leave this world, then your testimony is as hypocritical as anything can be. Once God starts dropping these prophecies in place, it is not like, Well this one is fulfilled so we will wait for the next one. No. He just drops them one on top of the other because it means the world enters into an era of time when God displays His power so miraculously the world becomes so confused and startled by the might and power of God, they have no time to get involved in the thing. Right now the U.N. wants to come in and bring peace keeping forces just like in Bosnia. Look what they have done in Bosnia. It finally took our airplanes going over and dropping a few bombs to serve as a warning to the Serb with their aircraft. That had its effect; but think of all the time they have been fussing. Just think how many innocent human lives have been lost, destroy, because politicians are sitting behind desks and using human beings as poker chips. That is all it is. International poker chips. God is getting tired of some of this poker chip political trading of human lives to carry on some kind of modern agenda of democracy that is as hypocritical as can be. I pray when God does turn Israel loose, the world is going to have to sit back and watch. It might last more than a hundred hours, but it might not last more than ten. I know when Israel goes across that Jordan River to take what is rightfully theirs, the News Media will be flocking to Israel by the plane loads. When you turn the TV on at night, you will find that their cameras are taking in everything. Can you even imagine what you would have heard if our present day News Media could have been on the scene when Moses was leading the children of Israel through the wilderness? You know how they are when they get hold of something: they just simply will not turn it loose until they have used it for every possible advantage.

We have looked at Amos 9, and Numbers 24, so now I want to go to Obadiah 1:8. We dealt with all of these scriptures in the message titled, Looking Through Windows Of Prophecy," but in the light of what has taken place since then, I want to spend more time emphasizing some other points. When I began to think about it and look at it, of all the scriptures in the Bible related to this era of time we are now approaching, there are more prophecies from this point to here, than there is from here back. Every last one of them is miraculous. I want to emphasize more of what took place in the 1967 war, when there was such a display of God's miraculous power with Israel's military. They had a war in 1982, but there was nothing extraordinary about it other than if the United States and some western nations would have kept their nose out of the problem, they would have put the problem of Lebanon to rest for all time. Then there would not have been that constant bombardment by that bunch of terrorists infiltrating across the border. Neither would the city of Beirut been going through all those internal revolutions, with thousands of people killed, just slaughtered in the streets by the constant attack of artillery bombardment from the outside. It just goes to show, any time something begins to stir in the area of the world where the Bible was written, rest assured, when Gentile world leaders stick their nose into it they always mess it up. You would wonder why these western leaders have it so set in their mind that the rest of the world has to listen to their kind of democratic government, when our form of government is becoming so bureaucratic and sick. Down at the restaurant today I noticed, I believe the title of the article was violence at the Louisville Center, some kind of recreation area or something. Brawls, fist fights and stuff, maybe some of you saw it also. Tonight as the sun goes down, the Lord only knows the unrecorded deaths that have been brought about in this nation due to internal stupidity. When we had 139 million population, we had laws on the books that kept crime at a minimum. Well if you double that approximately to 280 million, common sense would tell anyone you would only need to double the law enforcement agencies: you would not need any more laws. Just apply those same laws the same way. Common sense tells me someone messed up somewhere; and it was not the little fellow that shines shoes on the street corner. It is that bunch of self serving high ups that think more of what will work to their own advantage, than they do of what is best for this nation. No wonder they do not want any ethics committee to come in and investigate their background. Any more, there are so many of them guilty of the very things they are sworn to protect our society from, it only leads to social and moral degeneracy. Nine times out of ten they will vote to legalize certain things that Biblically has a tendency to throw a society into utter chaos; and it is simply because they have no concern whatsoever for what is scripturally right or wrong. It is the spirit of this age. People have so few convictions anymore, that almost anything goes. Anyhow as we look back again at these scriptures some may ask, Why have you turned back to this again Bro. Jackson? All because this era of time from Micah 7 on, when these various prophecies will fit in, is more important for us to understand than these that point backward. As I said earlier, It has been a slow process up until now; and we do not know how close we are to the coming of the Lord; but we do know the year 2000 A. D. is fast approaching and that in itself is significant. As I pointed out earlier, quoting from that economist's book, he calculates that by the year 2000 our nation will be on the verge of bankruptcy: Banks will no longer be able to borrow money because of our deficit. The interest on it will be far greater than our revenues will be sufficient to pay. This man, and another man that works with him, according to what I read, had already predicted the Los Angeles riot due to economic conditions that were already in place. He said, I predict that by the year 2000 we will be at the threshold of one of the worst social and economic breakdowns of the American society: that will bring on a depression and chaos in the government. He said, no it is not the end of the world, it is just a trend, it will force something to be done. Well we realize it is bringing us close to the coming of the Lord: That much is certain. Only the coming of Jesus Christ is going to be the cure of the world's problems as they exist in this hour of time. We have pointed out what Hosea 6:2 pertains to, where the prophet said, "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." The two days are days of 1000 years each. On the chart we have used, the purple line represents that prophetic time factor that Hosea 6:2 speaks of. The two prophetic days will terminate no later than 2004 A.D. The 2000 years as measured by Roman Calendar time are measured from the birth of Christ toward the seventieth week of Daniel. On the other hand, the 2000 years of prophetic time are measured from the crucifixion of Christ, the closing of the 69 weeks; and it is that period of time that transpires between the closing of the 69th week and the application of the 70th. Again I say as we look at this, We are not trying to figure time down to the day and hour of the return of Christ. There is no reason for us to want to try to figure it down to that. When we step over the limitations of written scripture to try to do so, we are going against God's plan. However if He puts certain things in the Bible for our learning, things that introduce us to a time factor, we ought to try to understand that much. We are a very foolish people if we do not look at what God has given us to look at. If the Jewish rabbis living close to the first advent of Christ had been looking at their scriptures and studying the prophecy of Daniel 9 and those early 69 weeks, they should have been able to look at one another and say, Brethren, I believe, biblically and prophetically speaking, we must be living in that decade of time when we should be expecting our Messiah to appear. They already had a beginning decree. They should have taken it from there and been able to calculate that time; but it was the same with them as it is with an awful lot of professing Christians in our day: They were really not looking for anything. It was the simple people of the lower echelon of society that had a feeling of expectancy and somehow felt like, We must be approaching the coming of the Messiah. That is why the Bible records Simeon, a very old man, how he reacted when Jesus was brought to the temple. That is why Anna also, an elderly woman, approached Mary and Jesus like she did. Think of it. I wonder today, if we do not have some old saints that have lived and walked with God through these last fifty some years that might be feeling somewhat like Simeon and Anna felt? Arthritis has began to stiffen their joints; but from the depths of their innermost being they are looking toward the termination point around 2000 A.D. You will not hear politicians talk like this. To them it is foolishness. Well I know this was not written in the Bible just to take up space; so I do not care how foolish they think it is: I am looking for the coming of the Lord anyway. We believe also, because of the 10th chapter of Revelation, that there is definitely something supernatural in store for the bride of Christ as she approaches the end of this age and the coming of the Lord to take her to glory. The thunders are something that is not even written; but we are to look forward to hearing them. At the same time, we would be very foolish to try to figure out in advance what those thunders will utter when we already know they were never written. They will come as prophecies of old came: by an unction of the Spirit of God. However if for some reason we can take what IS written, and it brings us out of the past, out of all obscurity, and brings us out of the jungle of human ideas and begins to give us a scope, a field of observance of how close we might be to entering into that era of time, that is quite another story. That causes us to look at a generation of people. It causes us to look at the fig tree which is Israel. How close is she to bearing fruit? Do not forget that Jesus said, When you see that tree putting forth its leaves and such, you know the season is at hand. Any farmer is a fool not to realize when he sees those Easter lilies coming up, that in just a few short weeks it is corn planting time. It is a sad picture, if he just parks the corn planter in the garage and says, Well I'll see to it next year. He is looking at things wrong. We know we are definitely facing an uncertainty in the realm of world affairs: especially in the Middle East. In the six day war they took certain prophetic portions. That straightened out the border line; but now they are in the process of giving up the Gaza Strip which fulfilled prophecy, Zephaniah 2:3-7, as well as the Jericho territory. They straightened out the border line, plus they crossed over here and took the Golan Heights away from Syria, which in ancient times belonged to Israel. From that time until now twenty some years have passed. It is a see saw political battle in the Israeli government right now: Simply because her present governors want to give up, negotiate, compromise in the hope of having a peaceful relationship with the Arabs. However, if we are approaching the hour when the miraculous hand of God is to be seen, then God is going to heat up the situation and Israel will be forced to fulfill the prophecies we have been looking at. I say that because I know these prophecies will not fail. Once the miraculous starts, there is not going to be any closing intervals and sequences. It is going to be miraculous from then straight on to the end. The last fulfillment is the coming of Christ back to earth to rule and reign with His bride. Now these prophecies we are going to be dealing with are all from this point of time. I might say, we could be somewhere within a time factor of ten, or ten and one half years away from the climax. I beg of you saints, do not take that and say, Well, this is the 27th, and start figuring. For goodness sakes let us not become crazy people. Let us not become people carrying placards, that have it all figured out, one way or the other, three weeks short or over. Please, do not do that. If the angels do not know, then I am sure we are not going to know the day and hour of the Lord's return. As I said, These things are written to give us indications that we are approaching a season, a time factor wherein we may be busy preparing ourselves for whatever comes next. You can go on a long journey, and you can travel in the west for miles and never see a poster. Years ago we used to see the Burma Shave signs along the road. Each sign had certain words. They all rhymed. The last one was Burma Shave. Well I said that to say this, When you begin to get close to certain important cities in this day and hour, it is car dealers, motels, restaurants, and you name it: It is all out there. The closer you get, the closer together are the signs. The closer you get to city limits the bigger the signs are. Therefore as we see the scriptural signs of the time we are living in, to me it means that God is lifting up out of the Bible, signs that have been lying flat so to speak; and He is putting them in an upright position as we are approaching the end of time, and says, Read this and see what kind of information you get. Can we expect the rest of the Middle East problems to be solved by diplomacy, constant decades of politicians see sawing back and forth saying, Give up! You have to in order to have peace. Who in the world wants peace based on Clinton's ideas? Who wants peace based on any politician's ideas? It is all carnal. This world is crying tonight for some kind of release from all this filth. No wonder Paul could say in Romans 8, The whole creation groans and travails longing for that day of the manifestation of the sons of God, who right now are a bunch of despised fanatics. If they knew right now you were destined to be a manifested son of God, they would erase your name from the citizenship category. They do not want to see a world that is ruled by people who have sense enough to rule with honesty and integrity and consult with their heavenly Father about how to look at time and world problems. We who know the scriptures, know the coming of Jesus Christ is the only answer to the world's problems; and the cure that can bring an end to all this political maneuvering. Therefore as we look at the Middle East we might say, Yes there is a big question mark hanging over the world: Just how soon are we to see these things? Just how close are we? Well we cannot stretch the Roman calendar and make it have two thousand five hundred years in it if somehow or other time has proved that in and around the era of two thousand years Gentile time runs out. All indications right now are pointing to the fact that by the year 2000, the monetary systems of the present world are running out of power. Everything politicians are doing, you can see every year they are giving way, they are being pushed backward in their decision making, all because world conditions are bearing heavily upon them. It makes me feel like God is reaching down and flipping these signs, bringing these scriptures up. He is not saying to the world of religion, read this. There are a few people on the face of this earth that He wants to read them. This is the few Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: (14) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." There are a lot of religious people in the world today; but only a very few have found that way that truly leads to life. These people believe these prophecies will all come to pass, no matter how it looks at this present time.

As we go once again to Obadiah 1:8, I just want to remind every one of you, God does not forget to fulfill His word like mortal beings do. We have read in Numbers, how God destined that in the last days Israel will destroy the Edomites and the Moabites, and for what reason? Is it because they are an obstacle to the present peace situation in the Middle East? We have described how the Edomites territory runs from this point, the Gulf of Aqaba, up to the ancient geographical signpost landmark Mt. Seir. Esau, the one man, the brother to Jacob, married Canaanite wives and went off into that region. He began to bring descendants into the world and established a line of people known as the Edomites. The Israelites, after 430 years in Egypt, as they came out, Esau was already a nation by then. Many villages and cities were peopled by his descendants. In the Numbers curse, Moab was mentioned. That is the next tribe, laying right next to Edom. They are the descendants of one of the sons of Lot's daughter. Moab and Ammon were both the product of incest. We do not have to go into the explanation of all that: Most of you know the story. But as we read in this prophecy of Obadiah, he is talking about Edom. In 887 B.C., which was before the ten tribes were carried away in 727 by the Assyrians, God had already judged these people for what He saw them doing later. Judah was carried away by the Babylonians, and her final deportation was around 596 B.C. So notice how this prophecy reads, as the eye of God looked in advance at these Edomites, and foretells what they are going to do when the time comes, that will cause God to do something later, in the end time. Let us start reading in verse 8, of Obadiah, chapter 1. May I say this, The Edomites, their territory lays in that area I pointed out to you; but after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., through the centuries that followed, out of this vast land, which was much a Bedouin, desert country, those Arabs began to cross over and take up occupancy in this land, mainly because they thought at that time, The Jews will never be back. There is a prophecy here that reads it that way. So they just lay hold on it, not even realizing they were asking for trouble. May I say this, If God gives you breath to breathe and God would destine you to live until the day of His coming, you will see it fulfilled before your very eyes: That is what these things are in here for. I have a letter, which I will not read at this time, but before we finish this message I will because I want the rest of you to hear what this person wrote. It is from South Africa. It just makes me even more thankful that there was a little man who lived in this area, that taught some things out of the Bible that let me begin to see that there is a Church on this earth that Jesus Christ is coming for; and it is not a bunch of denominational people following a bunch of doctors of divinity that know all about Greek and Hebrew, but know nothing about a revelation of the word of God. I will say this, In that letter I mentioned, this brother who is from a different area of South Africa than the area Brother Govender is from, informed me that there are 13 different groups of Bro. Branham's following in that area. When I read it, I thought to myself, Almost thirty years after Bro. Branham's death, there they are sitting over there with 13 different carnal ideas of what Bro. Branham brought to this generation, split all to pieces, and there is no way they could be brought together. This man said they will even cross the street to keep from shaking hands with someone from one of the other group's. Brother! Listen to me! I am not about to cross to the other side of the street to avoid shaking hands with, or speaking to someone who does not agree with me. He will either shake my hand or he will have to cross the street: or else run right into me. Brothers and sisters: I have nothing to hide. I have no reason to go across the street to avoid speaking to anyone. Therefore if you see me coming, and you do not want to speak to me, you are the one that will have to cross the street to get out of my way. I am not like that. I thank God this Bible will talk to you if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, and if you can get that pride down where you can handle it. I think it is pathetic to have 13 churches, all claiming to be in the following of Bro. Branham's teaching, and none of them can agree on what his teaching was. That is why I have said for the last 28 years, If you stick around long enough, you will get a chance to see who is right and who has missed the whole thing. We cannot all be right and still be disagreeing on what the word of God taught by Bro. Branham really means. That was not God's purpose in the first place. He sent a man to get some people on the right track concerning His word. It is my desire to be one of those people: Therefore I realize that what ever I believe, it has to fit into the pattern this book (the Bible) reveals, or it is not worth two cents to anyone. Do you think those people who have spent all their time memorizing statements Bro. Branham made have any kind of revelation acceptable to God? That is why they have those quotes: They are void of spiritual revelation. They have statements for every occasion. They have compiled them in such a way they can find them in a flash; and they say, This is all we need. One of these days when this miraculous episode breaks forth in the Middle East, those people are going to begin to say, Well now, in what book did Bro. Branham say something about this? Saints, I am not making fun. I am characterizing a condition we have all become very familiar with. The Lord Jesus is not coming back to receive a bride that is still hanging on to a lot of carnal, traditional ideas about the word of God: He is coming for a bride that will have allowed the word of God to wash all that junk out of their mind's. We have to be following a true revelation of who God is, what God is, (a sovereign Spirit, not a person) and what God has determined to do through this great redemption and restoration plan He has perfected through His only begotten Son Jesus. Those who are void of such a revelation will miss the whole thing; because they will not be able to hear the voice of God. God gives us our chance to follow the truth; but He will not force it upon those who choose something else instead just to fit into the popular crowd. Just think, When God spoke of the Edomites, the Edomites had not yet done the thing they were accused of doing. God knew what they would do though, so as far as He was concerned they had already done it. Let us read it at this time. There is a bad hour coming up for them; and it is going to be in your day and hour, and you will see it. They are the first ones on the agenda for God to deal with. Verse 8, of Obadiah 1, "Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men, O Teman, (that is a certain city) shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter." In verse 10, God foretells what they will do that will demand such a judgment. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, (meaning Israel) and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them." Think of it. Some of Edom's descendants are living here in Edom today. Why are they there? In 70 A.D. when the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and brought it to the ground and took the well and able bodied one's and sold them as slaves, leaving only the aged, the sick and crippled, the Edomites, and the Moabites, that other bunch of Arabs over there in what we call the land of Jordan today, took advantage of the vacuum it created. They said, Now this land of these two nations, which means Judah and Ephraim, shall be ours, for our possession; so they began to move in. No, it was not a move all consummated in a year of time. They saw no need to be in a hurry about it. "But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance (here came the looters) in the day of their calamity; Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, (Listen to how this ends) and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph (this puts the two tribes together) a flame, (Take that to Zechariah 12, where it plainly tells you the governors of Israel in that day shall be like a torch of fire in the sheaf of wheat and like a fire upon the hearth) and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it." If you read these following verses along with Zephaniah 2, beginning with verse 8, or verse 7 tells you what Israel did in the six day war. They took the Gaza Strip and said how it was to be a possession of Judah forever. Then verse 8 picks it up and says they will cross and destroy the Edomites and the Moabites. All these prophecies are tied to the other. It does not mean there will be six or seven different intervals when each one is fulfilled. No. God let different prophets through different periods of time rise up and speak what would happen in the last days; and He did this for a purpose. The "religious" church world does not even realize it is knocking at the door in this very hour. It could go into action any time. When I am finished with this message, I am going to ask you, How many Trinity Broadcasting preachers will you hear indulging in these prophecies? How many evangelists will you hear indulging in them? First off, they do not see the signs of our time; and even if they did see what we see, they could not preach it like it really is to be; because of world opinion. The truth is not popular. "Religious people" will not support it. Only the spiritual people who have a love for the truth will stand for that which is not popular simply because they know it is the truth. I believe there are certain people that are ordained to see these truths; and everyone else, no matter how religious they may seem to be, will miss the whole picture. This goes with the dream I had. I will speak of it later. I do know this, One of these days there is going to come something supernaturally, something that is not even written in God's word; but until it does come God has given us enough of what is already written, that we can be ready to receive what is coming. Have you really thought about this? If we can see the picture God has portrayed in what is written, think how wonderful it is going to be when we are allowed to see something that is not written. I tell you, it is going to fill your soul with something, that for lack of better words to describe it, I will just say, It will be almost like taking a big lung full of helium gas. When it enters your soul, you cannot help but feel like gravity has no effect upon you. "Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance." That means when everything in relationship to mount Zion has been restored and is in place, and there is no one standing around fussing and yelling, You have got to give it up: You have to make some compromise: That deliverance will be a reality. Israel will be dwelling safely, and you are not in the Millennium yet. (18) "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it. (19) And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: (So this lets me know there is no way they can give up the Gaza Strip for good. They may play around a little; but in the end of it all Israel will have to have all of that land.) and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead." Hallelujah! Gilead is right over here in Jordan. Just a little further on, is Bashan. All of that area belongs to portions of the ten tribes which are yet to immigrate back there. I will say this, There are already remnants of the ten tribes back; but not in the numbers that it will require to constitute the fulfillment of these scriptures: because in Zechariah 10 it speaks of how He will bring Judah first, then He will bring Ephraim or Joseph. It means when Joseph or Ephraim are restored in the numbers sufficient to represent the ten tribes, it is then that the scripture reads and the two together shall become a mighty man, meaning a nation that knows no fear of its Arab counterpart. That is why it says in Isaiah 19:17, that Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt. Let us read it. (Isaiah 19:16-19) "In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shaketh over it. (17) And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he hath determined against it. (18) In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shall be called, the city of destruction. (19) In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord." All those round about will fear Judah; and them which are round about are not Rome Italy or Athens Greece. No. It is this bunch of Arabs that have been creating all the trouble for the past fifty years since the birth of the state of Israel. That is why when it mentions Benjamin here, and Gilead, that is across the river. Therefore there is no way mount Zion can actually fulfill what it says here, until that land which is across the river is in Israel's possession; because every Jewish tribe that God sees fit to represent, must be brought back and placed in their rightful inheritance. Ezekiel 36 plainly says, I will bring you back and I will restore you in the land according to your former estates. Yes saints, some of us are going to live to see it fulfilled. If God lets me live that long I could even be walking with a cane; but when I turn the news that day and hear what Israel is doing, I will be like a man I heard of who was walking with a cane, going to see his neighbor; but when a Jersey bull got after him and he got to running, he threw the cane away. He was cured. He never needed that cane any more. The arthritis just got up and left him. Now listen to this, because as this prophecy closes out, in the 20th verse of Obadiah 1, it breaks the area down by mentioning these cities. Then in verse 21, notice what it says. "And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Bro. Jackson, what does that mean? That is not a multiple of Jesus'. That is the bride of Christ in the Millennium. Bro. Jackson, can you prove that? Matthew 19, Peter asked Jesus, What is our reward going to be, seeing that we have forsaken all. Jesus had just said, except you hate fathers and mother, brothers and sisters, houses and lands, in no wise can ye have part with me. That is what made Peter ask Him the question. Lord, what is going to be our reward, our lot, seeing we have forsaken all to follow you? Jesus said it like this, (Matthew 19:28) "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (29) And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." Well Israel is going to take that area before that hour starts, so that when Jesus is sitting there on Mt. Zion, that whole area is already Israel's. That is that part of the bride that is Jewish people and it says here, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's kingdom. It goes together just as simple as two and two is four. Saviours. We are Gentiles. Do not think we are going to sit in Jerusalem, ruling over Jewish people. You are not. The Gentile bride will come right back and settle among the nations and races of people she has been lifted up out of. But there is a remnant of that Jewish bride that God purchased in those first years of the gospel era. When that element of those immortal saintly Jews come back with Christ, that is that element of Jewish bride. That is the saviours that is going to sit on mount Zion. They are going to judge the whole kingdom, who is fit to live in it because the kingdom shall be the Lord's kingdom. That is why we have to see it in that respect. Now let us go to Ezekiel 35. No other object of fulfillment in the entire Bible, other than the advent of Christ, covering His birth and all those things, has as many prophecies that speak of what God and how God is going to work with Israel in the last days, because then is when He is going to work from the miraculous standpoint. In Ezekiel 35, I am picking it up in the 2nd verse, "Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, (That is the ancient landmark, the geographical spot that identifies this Edomite territory.) and prophesy against it, And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, (Is that not what Obadiah said? You should not have done this in the day of their calamity.) in the time that their iniquity had an end: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. (Watch this) Because thou hast said, These two nations (Judah and Ephraim) and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there: Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee." You can read the rest of it if you wish; but let us back up a little. That prophecy, given in 500 and something B.C. looks at the situation as it existed after the ten tribes had been taken out of the northern part of Israel, as well as over here, leaving only Judah and the half tribe Benjamin to remain in the land for a short period of time and their calamity started about 600 something and ended around 580 or 590. There were three assaults by the Babylonians. That prophecy is looking at the situation, watching Edom, how they had treated them. Of course in the light of our modern diplomacy, and our modern nation's ways of doing things politically, from a democratic standpoint they would say, No, this cannot be. If you would ask the U.N. today, Will you please let me read these scriptures before the General Assembly? you would be told, No sir, we are not here to incite the Arabs. Well my friend, God is going to read it Himself, one of these days. He is going to bring about world conditions and blind a bunch of these educated, scientific minded heathen, to the point they cannot even read. This world is going to be startled when they begin to see the hand of God, how He shakes His hand over Edom, over Moab, and the children of Ammon. This is why all these prophecies are speaking relatively, once the time has come for that to go into effect. That is the key to the era of time. From this, to the week of Daniel, we could be looking at, think of it, six or seven years of time. Now, Please, saints: Do not go out of here and say, Did you hear what Bro. Jackson said? I know what I have said; and I am using it for a comparison: not an absolute. I hope everyone realizes that. We have too many people floating along on the hay frame, having a joy ride: It sounds good, but I just don't know about that. It is always that way. When the Gulf War broke out they packed in here on Sunday mornings until it looked like sardines packed in a can: As if the war was being fought here. I know why: Many of them were thinking, I wonder if some new revelation is going to be dropped down. There is no war going on right now, so some of them have lost their sense of excitement. Some are going to lose that excitement never to find it again. That is the sad part. When we can see by these written prophecies how God looked upon that bunch of Edomites, and how they watched the children of Israel, the ten tribes being carried away, and then they watched the southern tribes being carried away, and they used that to their advantage, to come in and ransack the land and say, Now the place where these two nations lived will be ours. Well God was watching them.