Transcription
of Jacob Prasch’s sermon untitled:”The warnings of the Olivet discourse”
Something like 3 months ago, I had on my heart
to transcribe this Jacob Prasch’s sermon which exists only under the form of a
video (on internet) 53 minutes and 34 seconds long. It took me a long time, but
here it is. I appreciate very much this sermon and I hope you will also.
Everything which is written in red between parentheses is
notes that I have added myself to help the understanding, hopefully. These
notes are not from Jacob Prasch. Probably, it will be translated in French. Have
a good reading!
Turn with
me please to Matthew chapter 24. We are looking at the caveats, the warnings of
the Olivet’s discourse. These events were partially fulfilled in 70 A.D. and
the events in 70 A.D. that Jesus is beginning to be speaking about, that we can
read about, are historically recorded by Josephus Flavius and Eusebius, and are
partial fulfilment of what will happen in the last days, when the believers of
Simeon (of Clopas), the cousin of Jesus, who replaced James as the pastor in
Jerusalem, when James was martyred, let the believers out, in obedience of the
warning of Jesus in Luke 21:24. That was the first type of the rapture in the
New Testament; there were many types in the Old Testament; that was the first
type in the New Testament of the rapture. We have separate tapes dealing with
this, we have a tape “understanding the rapture”, and we have “the future
history of the church”; we will leave the book table open, after the meeting,
for as long as we reasonably can. We have to pack up, but if you want these
tapes, we will make sure that reasonable time is given. I’m not trying to make
a sale, but I’m simply saying these things are too involved to withdraw it now.
They are a whole subject in themselves.
The Olivet discourse, Jesus’s warning to the Church, his
disciples, before he left. Notice he is going to be crucified, and he knows.
This is just before his crucifixion. When you are going to be crucified, you
don’t speak about Monday, or non-essential things, you only speak about what’s
most important, to the people who are most important to you. You don’t talk
about the pop shops or the rugby’s scores, you talk about what is most
important, and you spend the time not just with anyone but with the people who
are most important to you. Jesus spends his time with the apostles and what does
he speak to them about? The Last Days! That’s it! What immediately follows the
Olivet discourse in Matthew 26? The Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. But it’s
preceded by Matthews 23. What happens? Jesus castigates the Pharisees, the religious
hypocrites of these days. He calls them a generation of serpents, a generation
of snakes. So are the executives of some of the mainstream denominations of
today, a generation of snakes, by the same standard. Not what I say, it’s what
the Bible says. But let’s look!
Coming down
from the Mount of Olives, He comes out from the temple, was going away when his
disciples came pointing out the buildings. And he said: “Do you not see all
these things?” He said “truly, I say to you, there shall not be left here one
stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.” The Wailing Wall was not originally part of
the Temple; it was part of the retaining wall. The Temple was demolished and
the whole thing was later levelled by the emperor Adrian in the second century
right down to the bedrock virtually. Now of course the stones of the Temple, we’re
told again from first Peter 2:5, it’s a figure of Christians, it’s a type of
what will happen to the church, at the end, that will face the persecution.
Brother Andrew from Open Doors was one of the people who realized this, but
others have as well. And He was sitting on the Mount of Olives. This is
opposite to Temple Mount. If you come with us in Israel in October we will
bring you here, and do this Bible study in depth. The disciples came to him
privately saying:” Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign
of your coming at the end of the age.” And He answered and said to them:” See
to it that no one misleads you”. The first word out of Jesus’s mouth:
“deception”. “Don’t you be deceived”. He is speaking here to his disciples, the
Christians, the believers. “See to it that no one deceives you”, first word out
of his mouth. Does he talks about a great end-times revival, about “Kingdom
Now”? Does he talks about anything other? First word: “look out! Deception is
coming”. The first thing he’s saying. As the Olivet discourse continues, Jesus
warns about an increase in wars, one time; he warns about an increase in rumors
of wars, one time; he warns about famines increasing, one time; he warns about
earthquakes, seismic activity increasing, one time; he warns about pestilence,
one time; Yes there’s been more people killed in wars in the last century than
the whole history. In fact more killed in the last 50 years (___). Yes seismologists tell us that the increase in
earthquake activity is unprecedented; yes! Despite advances in agricultural
technology more people are starving to death than ever before. Absolutely! He
warns of those things one time, wars, rumours of wars, famines, earthquakes,
pestilence, one time, one time, one time. He
warns of deception perpetuated against the elect, four times. Jesus warns
about deception against Christians four times more than he warns about anything
else as a sign of the end, four times more. Only in Luke’s version does he speak
of the Jews returning to Jerusalem, that’s only one time. If you would ask, me
fifteen years ago, if you would ask me when I was first saved in the early
nineteen seventies why I would believe it was the last days, I would have given
you the usual of Barry Smith and Al Lindsay. Do I think these events in the
Middle East fulfill prophecy? Of course they do! Do I think the globalisation
of the world economy fulfills prophecy? Of course it does! Do I think that the
oecumenical movement is a fulfillment of prophecy? Absolutely! It’s a road to
Babylon. Do I think the destruction of the environment, is what the Revelation
said? Let us destroy those who are destroying the earth. Yes I do. But that’s
not the clearest signs of the end; those are not the clearest signs. That’s
what I would have said fifteen, twenty years ago. Today, if you ask me the clearest sign: the deception in the Bible
believing Church. The deception among evangelical born again Christians is
the clearest sign of the last days. Israel is mentioned one time, wars once,
rumours of wars once, famines once, and earthquakes once, pestilence once,Y2K
zero; not at all. But deception against Christians, four times. “If possible,
the elect will be deceived”. Some of the lying theocrats, the ones with the
Toronto, pastors I’m talking about, said, “Well if it was possible for the
elect to be deceived? But it is impossible”. Why would Jesus warn about something four times more than he did
anything else if it couldn’t happen. Was Jesus stupid? No he wasn’t. If
somebody was stupid, it certainly wasn’t him. He wouldn’t warn about something
four times as much than anything else if it couldn’t happen. Well it is happening!
His first caveat: “Many will come in my name saying: I am the Christ, and
mislead many.” Many false Christs will come, openly one saying “I am the
Christ”. “Ha Mashiach”, in Hebrew. “O Christos”, that is the antichrist
ultimately. But there will be many antichrists. The only thing in the Greek
language that an antichrist is, the only thing in the Hebrew language
analogically than an antichrist is, the only thing they are, is someone with a false anointing, ear
what I said?, in place of a true anointing. “Antichristos”. The only thing that
an antichrist is, is somebody with a false anointing. We dealt with this on the
“Judge not” tapes. The liars today say:” Touch not my anointed”, a verse that
appears in Chronicles, Psalms and Samuel, each case that refers to David’s
encounter in the cave of Engedi with Saul. No David would not touch Saul
because Saul was God’s anointed, I don’t believe Benny Hinn is, but Saul was. Maybe he wouldn’t touch him, but that not
stopped David from telling the truth about Saul, that he was a backslider
and a murderer. It did not stop the
prophet Samuel from writing the truth about Saul. That he was a demonized
traitor, to the cause of the Lord. “Touch not my anointed” has nothing
whatsoever to do with what these lying deceivers are telling you. The prophets
named the names of the leaders who mislead the people, so did the Gospels, so
did the Apostles. As soon as you ear: “Touch not my anointed”, you are earing:
“I am a moron”. It is all there is. They may not be congenitally stupid. It is
a sin to call people “fools” if they are born congenitally stupid. But Jesus
said you are in danger of hell fire if you say that. These are not people who are
congenitally stupid. But I wouldn’t make fun of those people (who are congenitally stupid). These are people who
are willfully stupid. Do you understand? The Hebrew term is “evîyl” (Strong’s Concordance number 191) what’s Jeremiah
said, literally that they pervert their intellect, or that they pervert their
logic to justify what they know was wrong. People with false anointings. Jesus
was anointed for burial before he was anointed for dominion. The proof of anointing
is not a Mercedes limousine, a big ring or an expensive suit or a Benny Hinn haircut,
it’s a crucified life. The first thing he warns about is people with false
anointings. If you cannot see through a little antichrist like Benny Hinn or
Richard Roberts or Rodney Howard Brown, what is going to happen when the real
deception comes, what’s going to happen when these two guys show up?
Verses 6 to
8 in Matthew 24: “You will be hearing of wars and rumours of wars. See you are
not frightened, for those things must take place. But the end is not yet.
Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And in various
places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are the
beginning of birth pangs”, the beginning. The two phenomena, what the two
things that the Bible uses the most to illustrate what the last days will be
like, come from the sciences of seismology and obstetrics respectively.
Tectonic plate theory, the geologists tell us, the plates begin to shift. When
the plates begin to shift, that tells you, they are tremors, that tells you a
big shift we call an earthquake is going to come, but they don’t know when.
They spend a lot of money in Japan and America and New Zealand trying to
predict these things, to find patterns, but they can’t. They just know it is
going to come. The (patterns may get) tremors
may get more frequent before the big one comes, but you can’t pinpoint when the
major earthquake is going to come. But the last days are like that. If you go
to Japan or if you have been in California when there is an earthquake, I was
in one in the Middle-East, things shake and people say:” Is this the main one,
is this the big one? Oh no, it’s just a tremor”. Things go back to normal. But
they still know that the big one is coming. There’s a false sense that it is
going to be all right when things shake for a minute or so, then it stops and
nothing happens. It is only 5 on the Richter scale or whatever. Birth pangs are
the same way, contractions begin, labor pains are not continuous, the contractions
begin and it goes on and on, and then it stops for a while, and a false
sensation can be created that that’s it, but then they come back with even more
ferocity until ultimately the baby is born. That’s why the Bible uses the
language in Jeremiah and Revelation of the man-child, the baby been born; you
also have an allusion to the language of obstetrics in Romans 8, the creation
groans out, using that bird pang type metaphor. (It)
becomes more and more common until it happens. There will be a false sense of
things that are getting better for “intern periods”
and then it will get back worse. Jesus, the second thing he warns about here:”
but the end is not yet”, rambunctious (Boisterous,
rowdy, obstreperous, wild, turbulent, unruly, disorderly)! Every times
there is another earthquake in Guatemala, oh Jesus will be here a week from
Tuesday. Every times there’s a market crash or something like it, oh! He’s
coming. Now! You have remote signs and immediate signs. The final signs have to
do with the identity of the antichrist and the sign of the Son of man appearing
in the heavens. But before that time there are remote signs just like birth
pangs or earth tremors before an earthquake. Understand what the last days are
like. Personally, I explain it in terms of physics. You know what a vector is
in physics? You go from the alpha to the omega. First going kilometers per
second and then you begin increasing the energy of activation and the velocity
of the vector increases exponentially accordingly, kilometers per second; kilometers
per second per second; kilometers per second per second; kilometers per second,
per second, per second. In other words, the faster, the closer you get to the
target, the faster you approach it. Do you understand? His second coming is like his first. There are hundreds and
hundreds of messianic prophecies in the Old Testament about the first coming of
Jesus, hundreds, probably more than one thousand. Most of those were fulfilled
in a thirty-five to thirty-eight years period. Most of those were fulfilled in
a tree and a half year period. Most of those were fulfilled in a five days
period. The closer you’ve got to his coming,
the faster the prophecies were fulfilled. When he comes back, it is the same,
very rapid fulfillment of prophecy. To understand this, we go to the book
of Daniel, for instance. The book of Daniel teaches an awful long about of what
will happen in the world at the end. Daniel saw the rise and rapid rise and
fall of world empires. First the Assyrian empire took Judah, (eh!) Israel. Then Babylon came out of nowhere and took
Assyria. And then out of nowhere the Media- Persians took Babylon. Then
Alexander the Great, the Greeks came; the Macedonians have got rid of them (thePersians) really quick. And then Rome came, and the Jews where in the middle
of all this; very rapid political changes.
Some of you
are palms (???). If you told your parents the
sun would set on the British Empire, they would say what my grand- parents said:
it never sets on the British Empire. Now it sets every twenty four hours. The
collapse of the British Empire was unbelievable. I grew up in the cold war era;
I remember Vietnam and the Cuban crisis.
If you told someone of my generation that the Berlin wall would come
down and the Iron Curtain would collapse practically overnight, it would have
seemed unbelievable. But it happened! My wife’s parents were in the Holocaust,
they came out of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. If you told them that the
Jews would be back in their own ancient land as the Scripture promised, a few
years later, they were coming out of the concentration camps with nothing but a
rag on their back, they would have said it was crazy. But it happened! Very rapid political changes happened in the last days like it did in
Daniel. There are more things to happen before Jesus comes but they can happen
very, very quickly. Watch out for rambunction, for people who are looking
for him to come any day, any moment. Pay attention, Jesus can come for me
tonight or for you tonight. Of course we should live our lives as he can come,
because he can come for anyone of us. That doesn’t change imminency. But he (The Lord
Jesus) can’t come for the Church until the Church can identify the
Antichrist. “But he who has wisdom count the number of the beast”. The
world has no wisdom. The day will not
come until the man of lawlessness will be revealed. Now there are many
antichrists, to identify him, it’s not going to be that simple. Once more, (if)people can’t see through a Benny Hinn or a Rodney
Brown or a Phil Pringle, what is it going to happen when the real thing come?
Watch out for rambunction. Yes, there will be increase in famines, increase
in wars; there will be fear and anxiety among the nations, none of them knowing
the way out. That’s true. And that shows he’s coming, the same as maternal
contractions show the baby is coming or the same as tremors show the earthquake
is coming. It tells you now: coming closer, but not just now. Understand,
remote signs compared to imminent ones. You have the same with maternal labor;
you have an imminent sign when waters break, so that tells you: Boy! You better
should be to the hospital by now. I tell
you. You have remote signs and you have imminent signs. Well! Eschatologically,
it’s the same as what you have in seismology or obstetrics. Those are the two
things the Bible uses to illustrate the last days, the most.
Let’s
continue. At the rambunction he warns about this, verse nine. Now I point out
some of my closest friends, people who I respect, value or even come minister
with, including Arnold Fruchtenbaum and Dave Hunt. Both of them I endorse their
ministry. They would disagree with me. Some of my closest friends disagree with
me. But I’m convinced on this point, as much as I esteem them, they are wrong.
I hope I’m wrong, I hope they are proved right. But I’m convinced that I am not
wrong. I wish I were. Let’s look! Verse nine:” Then they will deliver you to
tribulation and will kill you and you’ll be hated by all nations on the account
of my name.” There is a difference
between the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God. True believers will not
experience the wrath of God, but they have always experienced the wrath of
Satan. This idea that because we are in Australia or America or Canada, that we
don’t have to suffer, that we will be going to be raptured out of here. Most
Christians in most places have suffered and are suffering as we speak. This
century and this generation have seen the murder of more Christians than the
ancient world. Be careful of this and again I say this only to have a go at the
doctrine, not at some of my closest brethren and friends who believe it. Maybe
this church believes it, I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I believe what
I’m quite sure is the truth. The third thing Jesus warns about. This subject is
more involved than I’m going into. We have “Understanding the rapture” tapes,
we explain it. But he warns this. (He) warns
about pre-tribulationism. It says in Revelation: “These are those who have come
out of the Great Tribulation”. Everything in the Bible that prefigures the
rapture shows God’s people entering into the tribulation and been taken out:
the rescue from Sodom and Gomorrah, the Exodus of the Jews, the rescue in
seventy A.D., the rescue of Rahab’s family; we have all this on the “Types of
the rapture” tapes. Everything that prefigures it, teaches that God’s people
been taken out of it. That’s exactly what the Bible literally says also, more
importantly, the type illustrates: “But they will deliver you to tribulation” “Peirasmos”
ah, say it again in Greek. “Thlipsis” is one, but you have “Peirasmos” as the
other. It goes on like this: “These are those who have come out of it” He warns
about pre-tribulationism. Look at Second Thessalonians please. People have
tried to explain or talk around this text. The straightforward meaning is the
right one. In the epistles that, invariably, always, if almost always, if not
absolutely always, is. What does Paul say, speaking specifically about the last
days? He says this in chapter two: “Now
we regard you brethren with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus-Christ and
our gathering together to him (episunagogue) that you may not be quickly shaken
from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter
as if from us to the effect that the day has come. Let no one in any way
deceive you. It will not come, unless the apostasy, that is the falling away,
comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.”
Forget the Calvinistic error “once
saved, always saved”. Do I believe in “Once saved, always saved”? Yes! But it
is not unconditional. Free will was restored at the cross. Unsaved people don’t
have a free will, Christians do. We don’t have to sin. Our free will was
restored at the cross. Calvinism denies this. You are eternally secured in
Christ if you use your free will to remain in him. Those who fall away: How
can you apostasies from something you were never in? How can you fall away from
something you never held? We are in the time of preludes. I’m not speaking
of dates here, I’m speaking of seasons. Jesus spoke of the times and seasons.
The current events in the Middle East even happening this week are a prelude to
what will happen in Zachariah 12. Jerusalem will be the stumbling block for the
nations. Not the West Bank, not Gaza, not the Golan Heights, it will be
Jerusalem, the final status. That’s what you are seeing going on now. The Jews
will recognize him. This is a prelude to Zachariah 12. So to what you see
happening in the EEC, the reconfederation of the countries in the Roman Empire into
a non-democratic Europe, the pseudo-democratic Europe that will be
non-democratic. It is a prelude to the resurrection of the fourth beast of
Daniel. It is a prelude. What you see happening with electronic money, is a
prelude. What you see happening with Toronto, Pensacola, Alpha, the oecumenical
movement, it is a prelude to the apostesia, the falling away and of course the
rise of Babylon. It is a prelude. It
will not happen until the falling away comes first and the man of lawlessness
is revealed, notice lawlessness. I’m convinced that the rapture happens;
it’s together at the same time as the resurrection. It is the same event.
And it happens between the sixth and seventh seal in the book of Revelation. There
it is. There’s a difference between the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God.
The faithful must be able to identify these two beasts at the end. Now we
have tapes on the Antichrist, it’s a very complicated subject in itself. Be
careful of pre-tribulationism.
Now let’s
look at verse 10 in Matthew 24:”At that time many will fall away and deliver up
one another and hate one another.” Again, you can’t fall away if you don’t
believe. They will hate one another. Apostesia, same as Paul’s falling away,
false brethren they become. And they hate one another. Let me tell you who is going to fall away and betray you tomorrow, let
me tell you what Christians are going to fall away and betray you and your
children tomorrow. I’ll tell you who will fall away and betray you and your
children tomorrow. The people listening to Brian Houston, Phil Pringle, Marc
Connor and their imports from Pensacola, Toronto. People that will“ sink their
hand” (I am really unable to ear clearly what was
said here) into Copeland and Hagen and Marilyn Hickey today; they
are the ones who will betray you tomorrow. I absolutely guaranty it, because
they are hoping in the world. That’s what their theology tells them to do.
Whenever the Bible speaks of Antichrist, John’s epistle, “Love not the world”.
People will take the mark of the beast. They’ve
already taken it in the attitude of their hearth because they love the world.
Kingdom Now theology gets you to love
the world, Faith Prosperity theology gets you to love the world. He warns about
the falling away and we know who will be. But now he says this: “because of
lawlessness is increased, most men’s love will grow cold”. This relates to the
message to the church of Ephesus. It is the dilemma that we all face. New
Christians, newly saved people are very enthusiastic. They have no experience,
no knowledge, etcetera as we pointed out in one of our earlier sessions. But they have their first love. When
you and I were first saved, look how important our prayer times were, our
Scripture reading times were, days of fast would look all important and
witnessing was. We did it almost incessantly. You are saved ten years, it
begins to taper off, that’s a sign of
losing our first love. The Ephesians were a good church; they couldn’t
stand the false apostles. They held the faith. They had a lot of truth and
understanding of the Bible, but they left their first love that puts you on the
road, and they lost their understanding, the lamp was taken from the lampstand.
We have this on the “Seven churches” tape. But it is because of lawlessness. Pay attention: Greek word for law:
“nomos”, “nomos”; the Greek word for an outlaw; “anomos”.
Turn with me, please,
to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 21: “To those who are without law (anomos) as
without law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of
Christ.” When somebody is born again,
they come out from under the Law of Moses which teaches about our fallen
nature, demonstrated to the example of Israel. And they come under the law of
Christ. If you drive into states, if you drive up to New South Wales, some
of the laws that Victoria and New South Wales have will be the same. There will
be certain laws in common. But there would be other laws that would only apply
in New South Wales or in Victoria. The moment you cross the state lines, the
borders, as you call it, you’ve left the jurisdiction of one law and come under
the jurisdiction of another. But you can’t say, the minute you drive out of
state, you are no longer under the law. You break the speed limit, even though
the speed limit may be different. When
somebody is born again, they leave one law for another. You have do’s and don’ts
in the New Testament the same as in the Old Testament. If you came out from
one law and gone under another, not the one under the Law of Moses, not the law
of sin and death, but under the law of Christ, but it’s a law, now pay
attention: When you tell these people who have gone into the apostasy and
deception: «that’s not biblical. The fruit of the Spirit is self-controlled”.
What do they say? “Legalism”. When you point for the Law of Christ, even the
New Testament (they say): «We are not under the
Law.” They (also) say: “The letter kills it but
the Spirit gives it life”. Have you heard them say things like that? Out of context! What that means in context
is this: The letter, the Law of Moses shows we are condemned, the new birth,
the Law of the Spirit shows we can be saved. That’s what it means, but they
pervert the context. That’s what it means, but they pervert the context.
When you point people to the teachings of the New Testament and say:” This is
wrong, this is not scriptural; the love of money is the root of all kinds of
evil”. When you say to them:” the fruit of the Spirit is self-control”, what
Peter says repeatedly: “Be sober in Spirit, not drunk”. And they say “legalism,
you are under the Law, you have a religious spirit”, like Rodney Brown’s people
said, they are “anomos”, without law. The
antichrist is the man of lawlessness, “anomos”; it’s the spirit of antichrist.
Rodney Howard Brown has the spirit of antichrist, the man of lawlessness; He is
a little antichrist paving the way for the coming one. If you can’t see through
that guy, what’s going to happen when his big brother comes alone? Their love
grows cold! How many now, I’ll ask the question: that you challenged people
about their belief in Pensacola or Toronto or something like that, something
they claimed to have experienced. That you challenged them on the basis of Scripture
and they became angry at you? How many? Put your hands up. See how many people.
Why they can’t follow what you say from the Bible?. They probably told you you were a legalist, right! You are under the
Law. Because they went outlaw, their love grows cold towards you, because
their love has grown cold towards the Lord. Were it says most men’s love will grow cold, it is not only or even
primarily speaking of the world; the world never loved Jesus to begin with.
Verse 14,
please, of Matthew 24, but look in verse 13:”He who endures to the end will be
saved”. Notice that verse. Verse 14: “This gospel of the Kingdom shall be
preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, then the end will
come”. The next thing Jesus warns
against is this: He says when you see these things happening, preach the gospel
of the… Kingdom. The fifth caveat: lawlessness in the Church. The sixth:
very clearly, he warns against a bunker
mentality. The idea, well that’s it,
it’s the last days, the falling away is here, the Gospel has been discredited.
We are going to get in the Ark and escape. That’s it. That is not scriptural.
It is not a time to go on the defensive but the offensive. However, it’s not
the normal offensive. A time will come when all you can do is strengthen the
things that remain. And our times are much like that; a time will also come, a
night will come, the Great tribulation that no men can work. A time will come
when the Lord will indeed close the door of the Ark once more. So it shall be
in the days of Noah, Jesus said. That’s true, but when these things happen,
before then, you preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. How do you
evangelize people when they see this? And the Gospel has no credibility in
their eyes anymore because of the state of the Church, because of what Phil
Pringle and these guys are boarding in this country. How do you evangelize
them? The Gospel? Yes and no. The
Gospel, yes, but it is the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Gospel of the Kingdom
is the Gospel, but it is the version of the Gospel we see most clearly in
Matthew were Jesus speaks of hell three times as much as he does heaven. Notice
at a time when we should be preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, you have these
deceivers who run the March for Jesus in England like Roger Foster or annihilationists, there is no eternal hell, John Stott in England, the Anglican,
can’t be sure there is a hell. Annihilationism. The Gospel of the Kingdom is: Repent, the Kingdom is at hand, like
John the Baptist preached. It is the Gospel of eschatological imminence.
Before Hal Lindsey discredited himself, and I am quoting him, he’s admitted
he’s discredited himself with the W2K, he’s lost credibility, he’s admitted
these, blew it, wouldn’t listen to anybody including his own son and he’s blown
it up unfortunately; but why did so many
people get saved through his ministry? He’s a third rate Bible teacher, he’s
third rate but he’s a first rate evangelist. What did he do? Hal Lindsey, he’s
on his third divorce tragically and remarriage, but he wrote a book, “The late
great planet earth”, through whom many people were saved; what did he do? All
they did was what Jesus said, they preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, they
used eschatology; they used Biblical prophecy about the last days to present
the Gospel. Hey you see these guys on TV? Jesus warned that there would be
people like Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland coming in the last days. This is a
sign of the end. The very fact that these are coming in his name, this is what
Jesus warned about. Hey! You see those events in the Middle East? You know
Jesus said that would happen? Look what Zachariah said it’s going to happen! Using eschatology to preach the Gospel,
we don’t get into a bunker mentality. We preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. The
time for preaching the Gospel as such is no longer good enough. Now we have to
preach the Gospel as the Gospel of the Kingdom. The same salvation message, but
with the eschatological emphasis. You understand?
His next
warning, verse 15 in chapter 24 has a lot to do with this: “When you see the
abomination of desolation”. “Shiqutz Meshamem » This is much more difficult,
complicated, I can’t explain it now; you have to get the “Antichrist” tapes. “But
let the reader understand”(Matthew 24:15), “let he who has wisdom count the number of the
Beast” (Revelation 13:18) . Psalm 119, verse 105:”Thy word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my
path”. The wise virgins had oil in
their lamps, the illumination of the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible.
Like old time Pentecostals used to
sing: «Give me oil in my lamp, keep it burning”, they understood the importance
of understanding the Scriptures. Now modern Pentecostalism has lost
that. They have no respect for the Word of God whatsoever by and large, but the
old-time Penties did. ”But he who has wisdom count the number of the Beast”,
“But he who has wisdom” understand what the “Shiqutz Meshamem” is. The wise virgins will have oil in their
lamps to see in the night the coming spiritual darkness. At a time we
should be getting further and further and deeper and deeper into the Bible,
they are getting further away. Remember it says in Daniel, “Seal these things
up”. The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation and Ezekiel don’t make clear sense
until the appropriate time; they are sealed up. They are there! There is no new
revelation, no new doctrine, but there is a clear understanding of what’s
already in the Bible. You have people teaching against this. You have these
neo-Nazi up in the Queensland’s, (particularly) Wendy Howard, Wendy B. Howard teaching against this. He (Jesus) warns about a lack
of biblical wisdom. In the last days,
understanding becomes a barometer of faithfulness. Remember Laodicea
“buy salve to anoint your eyes that you may see”; the faithful virgins were
able to have the oil ahead of time; in the last days understanding of the
Scriptures become a barometer of faithfulness. What does it say in Daniel when
the deception comes? Chapter 12, Chapter 11 and 12: None of the wicked will understand.
Ok! None of the wicked will understand. That day should not overtake us like a
thief. He’s coming like a thief in the night, but for the faithful it should
not overtake us like a thief, we should be ready. Those who lack understanding of the Scriptures will not be ready for
the return of Jesus.
His next
caveat, his next warning: turn with me please to verse 17. He uses the example
of one of the first types of the Rapture in this Scripture. “But he who is in
the house, not go to get his things that are in the house, let him who was in
the field, not turn back to get his cloak”. These have spiritual meanings. The cloak is a mantle of authority like
Elijah’s mantle. The house and so on (also have a spiritual meaning), but it alludes back to Lot’s
wife, doesn’t it? (It is also) a major type of the rapture when the house was surrounded. That’s a major type of the rapture and they thought it was the end of the world,
and the destruction came. We have tapes explaining, explaining that. He (Jesus) warns about this, not material but materialism, attachment to the temporal
things of the world. But he was in the field, not to get back to get his
cloak, (but) the mantle of authority; you know one of the big dangers will be?
Remember Peter? The cry went up, “it is the Lord” (John 21:7) and he put on his cloak and
dived overboard. He was fishing, that was his ministry, a fisher of man, thinking (maybe) he was doing his ministry. (But,) he put on the garment of salvation and
dived overboard. He left his ministry.
Threw his net down and went to be with Jesus. We work till He comes. Not go back for his cloak, the mantle of
authority. In the last days, the work of the Lord becomes more important than
the Lord of the work. To some people,
the ministry becomes an idol. There are not building a house to the Lord. They
are building a monument to themselves, an enterprise, a family business to pass
on to their Sonny boy. But he doesn’t know anything either, no, nothing inside.
Big danger, the ministry becomes an idol, an enterprise. The work of the Lord
becomes more important than the Lord of the work. And they can always justify
and saying “it is God’s work”. Now we have a tape dealing with this called
“The second sin of David” when he numbered the people.
Let’s
continue, verse 24. For the fourth time
He comes back to this: “False christs and false prophets will arise and show
great signs and wonders, so if possible to mislead even the elect”. Revelation
13:13, how will the Antichrist and false
prophets deceive people? Signs and wonders. Second Timothy chapter two (three), what does Paul say that the
deceivers that will come to deceive the Church will be like? Jan’nes and Jam’bres.
Who were they? Pharaoh’s magicians. What did they do? Counterfeit miracles. I am a Pentecostal, moderately speaking.
By definition, I believe in signs and wonders, and gifts of the Spirit,
understood scripturally. These signs follow. Jesus, of course, never had a miracle crusade. He did miracles, but
never a miracle crusade. He had healings, but never a healing crusade. He had a
repentance crusade. He never aloud signs, wonders, healings, miracles or
anything else to be the focus of his ministry. He said” A wicked and an
idolatrous generation seeks a sign”. Do you see people watching (on) the 'idiot box' Benny Hinn? (And) watching one of the idiots on the 'idiot box' going into flocking
the stadiums for this stuff (We
ear Jacob Prasch doing the sound of blowing air on people like Benny Hinn does), that is a wicked and an adulterous
generation seeking a sign. They are being set right up for the apostesia and
the apostasy and the Antichrist. Right up for it. You say: “This is not
biblical, you’re under the Law, you’re a legalist, you have a religious
spirit.” (We ear
Jacob Prasch kind of laughing a little bit) they have the spirit of Antichrist. They have been
set right up for it. They are buying a whole bill of goods. They are right
where the devil wants them. Those people over in Kevin Connor’s church, and
Paradise Assemblies of God, those people
in Phil Pringle’s church, Brian Houston’s church, they are right were Satan
wants them to be, believing exactly what he wants them to believe. False Christs
and false prophets using signs and wonders. Counterfeit signs and wonders have two meanings. One, they are not
real and it is no coincidence we have death certificates of people Benny
Hinn pronounced healed when they were not dead; the healings can’t even be
medically authenticated (even we will be waxing on that out).But counterfeit
signs and wonders mean something more sinister than the fact that they are not even
real miracles in many cases. Now even if they were real miracles, that
doesn’t prove anything. “Lord, didn’t we do miracles in your name?”
“Yeah, get lost, I never knew you”, Matthew 7:22. Miracles prove nothing about
anybody but Jesus, never a man. Not necessarily, but these miracles, of course,
are in fact counterfeit. There was a Christian who is a professor of orthopedic
medicine here in Australia, in orthopedic surgery, he is a professor. He wrote
on the phenomena of one leg shorter than the other. He wrote it in a journal. I
read it. He said the following. He said the phenomena of one leg shorter than
the other usually will happen in one or two ways. You’ll have a severed femur due
to a trauma victim. But when it’s congenital, when it’s more a birth defect, the
difference will be very slight and is difficult to diagnose. They can measure
it now with lasers, and it can usually be corrected with an orthopedic boot. He
said most GP’S (General
practionners) never
see this and most orthopedic surgeons whose specialty it is, will only see it a
few times in the entire course of their career. Most GP’S never see it; most
orthopedic surgeons will only see it a few times in the entire span of their
career. These clowns have it in every
meeting! Pull the other one!
Counterfeit signs and wonders. But counterfeit means something more than that.
It means the spiritual power in back of it is not really from God. Remember
Pharaoh’s magicians were able to mimic the miracles of Moses and Aaron? That’s
the way the Antichrist and false prophet will counterfeit the miracles of Jesus
and his witnesses. He warns. Even if
they’re real, it doesn’t prove anything about the person. He calls these in
Hebrew:” nechelami” “(nekh-el-aw-mee')
(false prophets). The
only thing a false prophet is in Deuteronomy 18, read it: “is somebody who predicts
something in the name of the Lord that fails to happen”. Rick Joyner, Paul
Cain, Mike Bickle, Gerald Coates, Benny Hinn and Rodney Howard Brown to name
but a few. Every one of them is a proven false prophet. Every one. Yonggi Cho (is) another.
Verse 26:
“If therefore they say to you he is in the wilderness, do not go forth. He is
in the inner rooms, do not believe it.” Over realized eschatology: when the
kingdom will come (is) when Jesus does. Daniel 7:22-22, the
Antichrist will make war against the Saints of the Most High until the Ancient
of days comes, and then the Saints will take possession of the Kingdom. When do they take possession of the
Kingdom? When Jesus comes. What does he warns about? Kingdom Now deception. You’ll find a strange marriage.
You’ll find anticharismatic Hyper Calvinists who are known as
Reconstructionists. They believe in something called Theonomy that the Church
must take over the institutions of government the way John Calvin did in
Geneva, with his police state, when they burnt people. They were the Puritans
in England. They contribute their Reconstructionism: the society has to be
reconstructed along a Theonomic line. The other leg of this deception is Charismania.
So you have people like the Vineyard movement, Rick Godwin from America, hyper
Charismatics taking on Dominion Theology. It becomes Triumphalism, Dominionism,
Kingdom Now, that old bit. The March for Jesus is based on this. “We’re going to speak into the heavenlies and
take Kingdom Dominion. We proclaim the Kingdom Now”. He said his Kingdom is not of this world, be careful of people who
try to say it is. Be careful of
postmillennialism, it is a deception. Let’s continue. The theological term
for this is over realized eschatology, if you’re interested.
Verse 36
of Matthew 24: “Of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven nor the Son but the Father alone.” This is a big one. Watch out for this: date setting.
When anyone ever tries to set a specific date just get up in a meeting and walk
out “en masse” (a French
expression meaning all together).
They make public fools of themselves every time. There were even fundamental
Baptists doing it in the 1980’s. “88 reasons why Jesus would come on Yom Kippur,
the day of atonement”, in 1987. I saw them in England speaking in a speaker’s
corner telling the Muslims (could
it be the Christians instead of the Muslims?) are going to be gone within the next 72 hours; when
it didn’t happen in 87, they said it’s going to happen in 88, “we’ve got the
year wrong” (they said”), same as the Jehovah’s witnesses. These
were fundamental Baptists. We know what
time of the night, what time of the tribulation (he) is coming; we know the seasons,
the times and the signs, but not the day and the hour. It is a variable, relative to us it’s a variable. In eternity, it’s
fixed by the Father. Remember what Jesus said: “When the crop permits,
he sends the harvesters.” “When the crop permits.” The Song of Solomon, the
bridegroom coming for the bride. “Do not awaken my love until she pleases.” Pay
attention, we are not waiting for Jesus to come back. Ear what I said? We are not waiting for the return of Christ. He’s
waiting for us to be ready. It says in Peter: “hasten his coming.” We can actually hasten his coming by
preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, by the bride getting ready. We’re not waiting for Jesus, he’s waiting
for us. Now it’s fixed in eternity by the Father. Jesus may know now in eternity, but when he was on earth, he didn’t
know, it was a variable. Fully human and fully divine. Let’s continue.
Let’s
look at one from Luke. Luke 21:24. He uses two words in the Greek text that are
also found in Romans 11:25: until,”platero”, “platero”, “until”, “until”. (Note to clarify the transcription: In these
two verses, Romans 11:25 and Luke 21:24, the word “until” is from the Greek
word “achri”, Strong’s concordance number 891.It is also interresting to notice in these same two verses, the
word “fullness” for Romans 11:25 comes from the Greek word “pleroma”, Strong’s
concordance number 4138, and for Luke 21:24, the word “fulfilled” comes from
the Greek word “pleroo”, Strong’s concordance number 4137), “platero”, and the other word is
“ethnon”, nations or gentiles. When
Jesus said: “nation will rise against nation”, he wasn’t talking about
political conflict, that was Kingdom against Kingdom. Nation against
nation. You will see an increase in ethnic tension before he comes back. I
don’t mean black against white; you go to Yugoslavia it is white against white;
Northern Ireland, it is white against white; Africa, you go to Rwanda, it is
black against black. We are talking something much more than the obvious; Asian
against Asian in Indonesia. Ethnic
tensions will increase. “Jerusalem will be trampled down by the feet of the
Gentiles until (“achri”) the time of the Gentiles is completed (or fulfilled, “pleroo”)”. Be very careful of people who tell
you that God is finished with the Jews and that these events in the Middle-East
do not fulfill prophecy, that is a deception. These things are clearly signs of the End. Israel is God’s
timepiece for the nations. The fact
that they are back in their land and, as importantly, the fact that Jews are
turning to Christ again for the first time in big numbers since the early
centuries of the Church, both of those things, that the natural branches are
being graphed again show that Jesus is coming. The time of the Gentiles is coming to an end. Paul speaks of
it and salvifically in Romans 11. Jesus speaks of it nationally in Luke’s
version of the Olivet discourse. The time of the Gentiles comes to an end. God
turns his grace back to the Jews and we see that beginning to happen. The time of the Gentiles didn’t happen
overnight, it was a transition period in the first and second century, and now
there’s a transition period going back. Again, we have other tapes
explaining this transition in greater depth. Be careful of this. Sometimes it
is called “supersessionism”, it is more commonly known as this: “replacement theology”, that the Church
has replaced Israel. No, it has not! It is the same olive tree.
Gentiles who believe replace Jews who don’t, but the tree is Israel. The first Christians were Jews and the
last Christians will be Jews. There are two errors. One is this:
replacement theology; the equal and opposite error is the extreme of Christian
Zionism. These silly people who are
trying to bring the Jews back to Israel from Russia without the Gospel, they’re
bringing them back to the Great Tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble. The
Church is taken out of Great Tribulation (I believe effectively that the
Church will be taken out of the wrath of God, but it (the Church) will have to go throught
the Great Tribulation which I believe is the wrath of Satan and that it will happen chronologically before the wrath of
God) but the Jews go through the whole thing.”kämo hû w’ët-tzäräh h’iy l’yaa’qov”(these Hebrew words are the ones I found on
internet, but they don’t sound exactly like those Jacob Prasch said here) Jeremiah calls it “The time of Jacob’s
trouble”. Would you give a Jew a ticket to Auschwitz without giving him
Jesus-Christ? You’ve got to be careful. Keep away from “Bridges for peace” keep
away from “Ebenezer fund”, and above all, “Ebenezer fund” signed an agreement
never to tell a Jewish person that Jesus is the Messiah. Keep away from
“Ebenezer fund”, keep away from “Bridges for peace” and above all, keep away
from “The international Christian Embassy”. It is neither Christian nor an
embassy.
What happens next? “Two women will be
grinding, one taken, one left”. Jesus
warns of this: no, not everybody who says they’re born again is going to be
raptured. Many faithful Christians will be martyred before that happens and the
unfaithful, they are going to fall away. “Will the Son of man find
faith on earth?” He will find a remnant.
Look at Jeremiah chapter 8:20. “The harvest is past, the summer is ended. We
are not saved”, they’re going to say. Pay attention, get this straight: hang on
to every syllable, ready? The foolish
virgins aren’t going anyplace. You heard what I said? The foolish virgins
aren’t going anyplace. It’s
only the wise virgins. And finally, look at verse 49 (In Matthew chapter 24):” (He, the evil servant) shall begin to beat his fellow slaves and eat and
drink with the drunkards.” Heavy
shepherding and drunkenness; leaders,
he’s talking about here. Instead of the faithful leaders who’ll give the
proper food at the proper time, instead of those who will give you what you
need, to know what you need to do to get out of here, they’re going to beat
your fellow servants, heavy shepherding fleecing the sheep. Nicholaïtanism will increase in the Last
Days and with it these guys will be drunk, inebriation. Ezekiel 34, heavy shepherding: we looked at
this yesterday.
Let’s look at first Peter, please in conclusion. First Peter, chapter one, verse 13:”
Keep your minds fixed for action, keep sober in spirit, is “obreedzo” in Greek (“nay'-fo”, to be sober minded, Strong’s
number 3525), not
“deanibrio” (I am not really sure of the pronunciation of the two Greek words Jacob Prasch said here in the audio tape, but the Greek word 'nay'-fo' is associated to the word 'sober' according to the Strong's Concordance for the verse 13 in 1 Peter 1). First Peter chapter 4, verse 7: “The end of all
things is at hand” is eschatological of the last days. “Therefore be of sound
judgment and sober of spirit”, not drunk , “obreedzo”. Chapter 5, verse 8: “Be
of sober spirit, the devil is trying to devour you.” What does Paul say in
Timothy? Look at it in second Timothy (2 Timothy 4:3):” But the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine”, in chapter 4, verse 3, “but wanting
to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves (teachers like…) Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Brian Houston and
company, teachers in accordance with their own desires who will turn away their
ears from truth and turn aside to myths. Will you get drunk? You be sober. You
see what’s happening, right? That’s
what Jesus warned about in the caveats, the warnings of the Olivet discourse.
He does not want us to be unprepared for his coming; he wants the bride to be
dressed and ready to go. False Christs, rambunction,
pre-tribulationism, great falling away, the apostasy, lawlessness which is the
spirit of the Antichrist, a bunker mentality, a lack of understanding the
Scriptures, materialism and attachment to the fallen world, counterfeit signs
and wonders performed by false prophets, Kingdom Now Theology, Over realized
eschatology, date setting, replacement theology; denying that the prophetic purpose of God for the Church is anything
less than bound up with his prophetic purpose for the Jews is an error.
He warns against totality (that is, the false idea that all those who pretend being Christians would be raptured. In fact, in the Parobol of the ten Virgins, we learn that only the wise ones will be raptured ), heavy shepherding and drunkenness. “See to it that no one leads you astray" (Matthew 24:4). "If possible, the elect will be deceived.” (Matthew 24:24). We don’t have to be deceived. Jesus
doesn’t want us to be deceived. Forewarned is forearmed. God bless you
and thanks!
