The Mask of the Beast | 3ABN Today Live (TDYL210004)

[Music] as you're well aware we're living in unprecedented times join us now for today's special program i want to spend my night mending broken people i want to spend my life removing pain lord let my words [Music] my life meeting broken people hello friends welcome to 3abn today live it is thursday night here in thompsonville slash west frankfort here at 3 abn studios and we thank you for taking the time to join us and i'm going to say in the very beginning you need to hit the record button right now because we're talking about something that is not only relevant up to date and thought provoking but it's also forward-looking we have in the studio tonight a very good friend of ours not only of mine but also the ministry pastor james rafferty good to have you here tonight good to be here john always a pleasure and i know when you have that bible i'm looking at the pages they are yellowed so you've had that book for a while for a long time and we're so glad you're here tonight the topic the mask of the beast the mask of the beast i'm just going to let you prime that in just a moment but i'll let our viewers and listeners know we are so thankful that they've taken the time to join us and we also thank you for your prayers and all the support whether financial or whether you come to volunteer or whether you pray for us at a distance or up close we thank you for all that you do to keep this network going and growing as we get ready for the coming of the lord and tonight we're going to also take questions we've been doing that we've been texting questions in you know we live in a day and age where we have these new devices and we don't want you just to make phone calls use them for good things if you want to text your questions in that we're going to be taking the second hour send those to 618-228-3975 that's thirty nine 618-228-397 five that's for texting them in if you wanna call them in six one eight six two seven four six five one once again six one eight six two seven four six five one or email that's live at 3abn.org live at 3abn.tv and we thank you for all that send them in uh we'll be entertaining them toward the end of the first hour and in the second hour and i can guarantee you this is going to be a thought provoking topic before we go to our music pastor rafferty good to have you here there's somebody watching saying hey he was my pastor i've known him a long time but somebody might be saying who is pastor james rafferty so let's talk to both of those people right now well for those who've known me for a long time i've been in ministry for about 35 36 years started when i was just a little kid and now here i am you know 39.95 okay plus shipping and handling um working with a ministry called secrets unsealed in fresno california pastor stephen bohr and my wife and i just moved down there uh kind of still in the process of getting settled in there so looking forward to doing some you know work outreach evangelism um ministry in in that area but always open and and ready to come to 3abn and share with our friends and family here so it's always a pleasure to be here and you've been here quite a few years how long have you been coming in probably about 25 between 25 and 30 years yeah so a long time yes and you've seen the studios grow you've been a part of programming in all different directions oh yeah preaching for camp meetings camp meeting you're also an author yep yeah so you've had your hand in in the lord's book for a long time but even more than that the lord has had his book in you for a long time amen that's exciting of all men let me ask you a question why did you come up with the title or how or why what is behind mask of the beast just tease us a little bit before we go to all music well for years we've been preaching and teaching about the mark of the beast in revelation chapter 13 and as we started getting into this covet 19 virus and it became classified as a pandemic went all over the world i started seeing some of the principles related to that leading into bible prophecy and specifically revelation chapter 13. and i really felt this was a great opportunity for us to examine the plausibility of things that people have thought could never happen in this country and never happened in the world that have happened overnight so that we could see how viable bible prophecy really is that's right that's very good we have we are in a completely different world in in less than a year our world has turned topsy-turvy things are happening at such an alarming rate i mean i deal with that on a weekly basis and looking at the forefront and it's exciting to know that what we've been talking about is coming together it at rapid in rapid pace right before our eyes so i know you're percolating you're right on the edge there ready to talk about the mask of the beast you heard that right the mask of the beast not a typo but what's been happening in our world and what relevance does it have to bible prophecy as pastor james rafferty he said revelation 13 is just right in the mix right in the groove of that particular chapter so you don't want to turn away and if you didn't hit record yet i think you need to do that right now because you're going to say i missed that point i wish i could look it over but if you don't have an ability to record because this is live it shows again on sunday and then again on tuesday and you can go to our 3abn.tv and find out the times and the listings but before we go any further another good friend of mine stephanie dawn is going to sing a song tonight entitled in this old troubled world and right after that the mask of the beast oh how could you know that god in heaven watches all his children [Music] from [Music] they are objects of his tender mercies safely they are kept within his love [Music] in this old troubled world our god is [Music] his love will hide us in this us [Music] low on earth we've tried [Music] tribulation [Music] he who feeds and cares for a [Music] is old troubled world our god is near us and when we [Music] we his love will hide us in this our god will guide us in this old troubled world [Music] thank you so much stephanie for that song in this old troubled world and that is an amazing segue because we are living in this old troubled world and as my good friend pastor c.d brooks who's resting in the lord now said he said the world is like an old pair of jeans that just keep on ripping and after a while you cannot sew it up any longer you just have to discard it and pastor rafferty the lord is about to discard it as he's creating for us another world yes this whole world just dive it dive us into the uh wherever you'd like to begin on this topic the mask of the beast i mean i'm already salivating over what you're going to say because i know it's going to be good well i thought it would be good for us to start with the words of christ yes matthew chapter 24 okay and of course that parallels mark 13 and luke 21 so three chapters in the gospels that are prophetic okay and i think the only reason why john didn't have one in his gospel because god gave him the entire book of revelation so revelation is john's matthew 24. but matthew chapter 24 is where jesus is making some predictions not just about the destruction of jerusalem but also about his second coming in the end of the world that's right and the predictions that he makes uh are just like you're reading a newspaper today in a very real sense so we want to start right here in matthew 24 and i want us to just look at the very first warning that he gives us or i don't want to call it even a warning the indication that his coming is getting closer okay so matthew chapter 24 the very first sign he says when the disciples say tell us what shall be these when shall these things be verse 3 and what shall be the sign of thy coming in the end of the world and jesus says he answered and said to them take heed that no man deceive you wow deception is number one on christ's list and deception is repeated two more times in matthew 24 that's right so that means it's really significant it's as if christ is saying there's going to be a lot of deception in the last days that's right and john i'm just i don't know if you can relate to this but i feel like i cannot watch hardly any news look at hardly any media reports without asking the question is that right or is that wrong is that true or is that false can i believe that or can i not believe that right even sometimes you hear something that everyone is touting and everyone believes and a few months later it's completely the opposite right you know so to me what jesus is saying here makes applies to our time more than it ever has that's right i'm amazed that you would say that because we are living in such a media saturated age but it's like a tennis match one side of the court slams the ball back to the other and both want to win but they're on opposite sides and it could be statements that are valid but statements in many cases as you said people are just swallowing what they're hearing without any validation and a lot of people are falling into the category of being deceived and i really believe john that that's why the bible is more important now than it ever has oh yeah it's a war it's a it's it's words we can trust that's right there's truth in the word of god and i think satan wants to undermine credibility in the word of god more than anything right now because if we can see the word of god as something that can help us navigate what's going on and i feel like that's helped me for the last 37 years that i've been a christian that's right it's really helped me to understand what's actually going on because there have been many times when i've looked at current events and i've said that does not drive with what i understand the bible to be teaching right and it's been difficult for me to to know what to believe like should i believe the bible or not and then all of a sudden boom the bible the bible is saying gains credibility because the the events that i'm seeing fade from view they don't materialize the things that everyone was focusing on thinking were going to happen never happened and sure enough that's because they're not in the timeline of the word of god they're not in the prophetic way mark of the word of god and so that's why i think it's really important for us to heed the words of jesus now more than ever because i don't think he's been wrong about any of this i think he's right on target that's right matter of fact i could say with with a certainty he's never on off target he's always on target but i like the word you use mask because a lot of what the bible teaches is being masked by these intense events that are taking place around us and people are like at a tennis match they're looking left and right and somebody said uh don't forget center court like i said not too long ago uh you know i used the man in the middle as the as the analogy you know because we have this component now the left and the right and i said what about the man in the middle he's the only one that can bring salvation and whether you're on the left or right you're both criminals and somebody says that's not fair but that's a reality when it comes to the cross so people are looking back and forth and the issues as i'm following along the way that you're laying the foundation here a lot of things are masked by what's happening before us and the devil is using it to distract a lot of deception and revelation brings us out also and we're going to see that as we as we compare matthew 24 with revelation specifically revelation chapter 13 because that's where we're picking up you know this this play on words if you will on the mask of the beast so then he goes on here and i just want to get down to verse six you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet that's right for nations shall rise against nation verse 7 and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places or different places now i think it's very significant that jesus tells us about these signs and he says don't let them trouble you right and i think the reason why he says that is because they would tend to trouble us that would be the natural tendency when you see wars and rumors of wars and pestilences and earthquakes and naturally you naturally tend to be troubled and so he's encouraging us don't be troubled by this all of these things are going to take place and they have been taking place that's right in fact he says in verse 8 that these are the beginning of sorrows or the new king james version says birth pains right birth pains are the things that happen when a woman is pregnant and as she's about to deliver the pains the birth pains become they start out slowly or the niv yeah and they become more intense and more frequent and more intense and more frequent until a baby is born and jesus is predicting the birth of something here out of all these birth pains he's predicting the birth of all of the nations of the world joining together to hate god's people let's just read it in verse 9. sure then in the context of all of these natural disasters and wars and rumors of wars and pestilences increasing in intensity and frequency then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and they shall kill you and you will be hated of all nations for my name's sake wow so here we see a unity of all nations and that's what we're going to see when we transfer to revelation 13. all the nations are coming together a unity of all nations and there's going to be a hatred toward a certain group of people now what i think is significant here is that we have many times i'm going to say this as an adventist as an evangelist i've many times emphasized the events of natural disasters and pestilence which is an infectious and contagious disease yes okay pandemic etc and earthquakes natural disasters being the thing that increases with intensity and frequency leading to the uniting of all nations to hate god's people however i'd like to throw something else in here that i think could also apply okay could it also be not the event itself but the response to the event that increases with intensity and frequency okay let me give you two examples 911 will be the first one okay 911 was a war on terror or it ignited a war on terror but it wasn't so much the event itself the downing of those two buildings 3 000 people dying the war that we took into you know iran iraq and et cetera baghdad and the the amount of people that died there it was the impact it had on our life paradigm shift the impact it's still having to this day right you see what i'm saying so the increase is not just in the event itself we could say well there's been worse wars world war ii is worse than that where one was worse than that yeah there's been more worse wars than that war on terror but the impact of that war we've lost some liberties that we're never going to get back that's right we're still going through security at airports oh and this is what 20 years later 20 years later i remember that event so well i mean pastor doug and i went to new york a few months after that occurred just to give an example uh you know pastor doug batchell and i maybe our viewers and listeners know who he is and i would say he's very well known here but we'd like to have fun together and i was walking through the terminal we had just done a memorial service in new york and i had on my black leather coat it was still the cold part of the year my black turtleneck we decided we're waiting for the plane let's go out and just get something hot to drink and it wasn't coffee obviously but on the way coming back in he he went through first and he said hurry up muhammad and just joking and they said hey stop and i said you just searched me you just searched me i just went to get something to drink i'm just coming back and he was dead serious he was not even flinching with a smile wow and doug said i don't think it was going to be that serious wow but that paradigm shift immediately a people group became the the the the focus of the world that ship was so immediate and so stark in contrast before like september 10th and september 11th when i got on the plane in london on september 11th in the morning and got off the plane in canada that evening it was a completely different world that's what you're talking about the shift was so stark the shift in like you said toward a certain people group but also the shift that is based on what jesus says here don't be troubled in other words don't don't fear these things because what happens when we fear is we give up liberty and we give up freedom when we are afraid of things we make concessions that we wouldn't necessarily make and so jesus is trying to warn us as a race human beings and the church in in particular don't let these events cause you to fear because when you come into fear you're going to concede liberty's freedoms you're going to concede your way of life and that's what we've done since 9 11 you know in a sense this whole uh attitude toward muslims has kind of you know gone away i mean it's amazing yeah but the freedoms and the liberties that we once had before 9 i'm coming back they're not coming back wow these are the implications that i believe that we haven't read into these texts now we're going to take it to today okay all right we know that there's going to be infectious contagious diseases jesus tells us we've had infectious contagious diseases you know we go back to the spanish flu which killed millions and millions and millions of people worldwide they can't even compute how many people they're you know some between 50 and 100 million right and then you've got of course you know all of the bird flu and the hn1 and all right all of the other ones since then and so we know that there's been all of these different infectious contagious diseases now we come to covet 19. never has there been a reaction that's the case you see what i'm saying the reaction is more intense right than we've ever seen before and i think that's part of what the text is trying to tell us the hidden meaning of the text is trying to tell us because it's the reaction that causes the nations to come together and guess what if you're not complying with what the nations are saying verse 9 you're going to be hated you're going to be hated now the verse says you're going to be hated for my name's sake and i just want to really emphasize this i'd like to really nail this down god is love that's what the bible says right god is love his name is synonymous with his character and his character is love and of course the law is a trans as a transcript of that character that's why jesus summarizes the law in matthew chapter 22 right 36 3 40 and he says the law is summarized in loving god with all your heart mind and soul and loving your neighbor as yourself that's right paul says the same thing in galatians and in romans so love in principle absolutely must allow for freedom i can't put a gun to your head and say john tell me that you love me tell me that i'm your brother and you love me uh no it must it necessitates freedom that's right in order to love so people who have the name of god the character of god the love of god who are synonymous with law keeping the law of god these people are going to be hated why they're going to be hated because they believe in freedom god believes in freedom to such a degree that he is going to honor people who choose to turn away from him true who choose to reject him who choose not to accept christ as their personal savior choose to be lost for all eternity god is going to honor that freedom that's right we as christians believe that 100 percent we do not believe in making people conform to anything when it comes to this particular conscience and this particular relationship to god right right so this is part of what we i think we're going to lose in the context of the fulfillment of matthew chapter 24. okay we're going to see god's people hated because god's people honor freedom above everything else if you know what i'm saying why do they honor freedom above everything else because it's a gift from the lord and it's a principle of love exactly it's a principle of love and so we know that god is love and we are followers of the lord we are christians and so we believe that freedom is paramount to everything else right all right now we want to move to revelation chapter 13. let's go revelation chapter 13 yes and i want to do this carefully because i know there can be a lot of misunderstandings out there because our title is the mask of the beast i'm not in any way really discussing wearing a mask or not wearing a mask tonight that's not my point my point tonight is well let me illustrate it this way i'm just going to tell you a story this is a true story so many many years ago this was in probably 19 i'm going to say 1987. lived in spokane washington and i was a fairly new adventist at that time and really eager to do evangelism and you know myself along with others had decided that the way we were going to try to attempt to do some evangelism was we were going to every sunday we were going to go to a sunday keeping church evidence we're going to go to sunday keeping church i was raised catholic i had been converted in calvary chapel i was going to pentecostal church for a while and when i became an adventist you know i started but i didn't i wasn't totally disconnected from my brothers and sisters in other churches okay friends in other churches the way we would choose a church is we would open the phone book to the yellow pages where the churches were we would close our eyes and we put our finger down wherever it landed that's the church we went to wow we went to the church of nazarene went to a mormon we went to church of christ that's what we had the most interesting experience so i'm going to go to the church of christ okay so you go to the church of christ and we would be in their sunday school and we would simply ask the question you know we're pretty new christians i was just a couple years you know into christianity i'm going to say three and we are wanting to ask a question about what the bible teaches concerning sunday okay we're here on on sunday we're at sunday school it doesn't seem to us like the bible teaches anywhere that we should go to church on sunday in fact it seems to us the bible teaches you to go to church on saturday okay that was the question we would ask and what that would do is that would prompt the response usually from the teacher perhaps from the pastor oh hey we can educate you on that that's not a problem we don't want to do this in class right now um let's set up a time we can meet and we would start having bible studies usually with the pastor in this case it was two pastors in the church of christ to the leaders in the church of christ and we would start these bible studies and eventually we would get into the mark of the beast and of course i mean the bible studies wouldn't last necessarily much longer than that because once we got on the mark of the beast we would identify you know this worship on sunday is contrary to what the bible teaches okay god calls us to worship on the seventh day that's in harmony with the genesis creation sabbath it's in harmony with the exodus commandment sabbath it's in harmony with all that jesus did by example he went to church on the sabbath day you know as his custom was it's in harmony with what the apostles did so we'd go all the way through the bible john was in the spirit on the lord's day you know the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god you know you all through the bible and then we'd hit the mark of the beast and literally literally when we hit the mark of the beast these pastors laughed at us they said that is absolutely ridiculous not that you don't have biblical evidence for sabbath and sunday we get that right but that the united states of america would ever enforce sunday by law on people they thought that was a travesty just ridiculous that's so laughable that's never going to happen and we simply respond and we said well if it ever did happen would you be willing to reconsider and they would say yeah we'll we'd be willing to reconsider so that's what i want to share as we step into this because i think it's time for those pastors to reconsider i think it's time for all of us to reconsider and the reason i say that is because we're not at the mark of the beast yet we're at the mask of the beast okay beast in bible prophecy according to daniel 7 17 and 23 represents an earthly kingdom of power that's right it's not some terrible thing locked up in a zoo somewhere or caged you know and chained it's just a power we use that terminology today when we think of countries like america is an eagle and russia is a bear and china is a dragon and england is a lion so we use the same type of terminology animal terminology so when we think about the mark of the beast we've got to think about it's the mark of a kingly authority or kingly power or excuse me an earthly authority or an earthly power now for those people that may be novices on the connecting obese with the nation let's just look at daniel 7 17 real quickly just so they could know that because i know it's 23 daniel 7 verse 17 and 23 and uh it says here daniel 7 verse 17 those great beasts which are four are four kings which arise out of the earth and verse 23 says thus he said the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom on the earth which shall be different from all other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth trample it and break it in pieces because somebody may not have even considered that within the bible you know these the connection with the beast and the kings of the earth and uh these four kingdoms being four pictures as the four beasts that's symbols in size yeah that's simple so that's that's good so those we see here in daniel the basic foundation for understanding that the beast represents an earthly government of earthly kingdom that's right okay so our title tonight is the mask of the beast okay the mask of an earthly government or earthly kingdoms okay so we're living in a time right now we're in the united states of america because okay so before we get there in revelation chapter 14 or 5 13 it goes on to describe how when this mark is enforced and i just want to read the verses here we'll go to revelation chapter 13 beginning with verse 15. okay and he had power to give life under the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed and he caused all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads that no man might ask or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name all right so what we're seeing here with the mark of the beast is the time is coming in america where no one's going to be able to buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast that's right clear and all i wanted to communicate this evening in relationship to those pastors in relationship to everyone that's listening to this presentation is we've come to a time in america where no one can buy or sell unless they have the mars the mask of the beast okay what i mean by that is a mask that is required by earthly governments not only in the united states but all over the world right in order to go into stores and be able to purchase in order to go into restaurants and be able to eat et cetera et cetera et cetera right we're seeing the little okay yeah now i'm not dismissing worrying a mask i understand what i'm saying the point i'm saying is that we have now come to a place where bible prophecy as we've understood as adventists is viable it's vindicated you know what we thought was ridiculous that people won't be able to buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast we're seeing that with the mask of the feast you know pastor rafferty that's powerful when you talk about that because we are seeing on stores mass required to enter and uh you're right it's a prerequisite if you want something in there here are the requirements that you need to measure up to uh no mask i've seen one says no mask no service right and but all i want is water you need a mask first that's a very good connection you make so in principle we're there right we are ready in principle we are ready to transition to not being able to buy or sell if you don't have the mark of the beast now understand this mass of the beast isn't the mark of the beast right just want to clarify that we haven't identified the mark of the beast but here's something else that i think is really interesting the mark of the beast it says can be received verse 16 in the right hand or in the forehead now we have always taught as seventh-day adventists that the right hand on the forehead is a distinction between what you do and what you believe okay in contrast to the seal of god the seal of god can only be received in the forehead that's right you have to actually believe it it has to be in your heart you have to you have to take a hold of the seal of god you can't just have it in your hand and go along with it right whereas the mark of the beast is something you can believe or not believe some people receive it in the hand in the forehead they believe it or in the hand just go along with it that's right and so when we look at this we look at our country we realize that a lot of people who put on a mask put on a mask because they genuinely believe this is protecting them from viruses or protecting other people from being infected by them if they have the virus right and then there are other people who don't believe that one iota right they wouldn't even put on a mask unless they had to put on a mask in order to go into the store but because they have to put on the mask in order to go to the store they put on a mask right we could say they would be receiving the mask of the beast in the hand whereas the others would receive the mask of the beast in the forehead so to speak now again the one that's simply complying because they have to conviction versus compliance exactly perfect words so again i want to emphasize this is not about the mask of the beast and the mask of the beast is not the mark of the beast right i want to clarify that but what i really feel is significant here is that we are seeing the stage set that's right we are ready right now in relationship to the fulfillment of bible prophecy already americans and i'm just pointing out this country because we're the liberty loving country of the entire world you know we are the epitome of freedom and liberty already we are overnight overnight this has happened within a year we've transitioned completely 911 transitioned us to some degree it's a permanent transition we've lost freedoms and now we have covert 19 transitioning us again we're losing these freedoms some people are talking about double masking is coming some people are talking about how this will never go away we're just in a sense being conditioned to i what i see at uh being ready to fulfill bible prophecy ready to see bible prophecy fulfilled in this country and then all over the world and you know it's amazing you're talking about that because i know my sister for example worked for the fire department she's retired but even if you even if you get the vaccine you still have to get the cover test and you still have to wear the mask so there's none none is eliminating the need for the other one is they all have to still go together so somebody says okay so if i take both shots does that remove me from where men no because she could be a carrier yes and so where i could see that it's like it's not going away it's not going the word mask and i i see what you're saying we're taking steps that may be reluctant but are required yes and so you ask yourself do i want to eat do i want to travel do i want to be able to buy something do i want to work do i want to work do i want to be in a crowded environment do i want to be around other people and in some parts of the world we have a good friend of mine that's in another country i'll be very candid with you in new zealand uh he's a citizen citizen of the country uh was cleared by you know no virus but as soon as he landed he was put in a hotel immediately for two weeks wow that's no matter who you are that's standard that's standard and then you stay there for two weeks and then after that time if you are checked again and there's nothing then you allowed in general population but if you don't want to comply they say well we'll keep you there till you decide to comply with regulations your two weeks starts after you start trying right if you decide you want to comply fine but if you decide you don't want to comply you have two more weeks till you decide to comply wow it's not even a choice right and this is happening around our world so i'm i'm loving what you're bringing out because we may say as a society the mark of the beast is ridiculous who in fact is going to force people to do anything and who's going along with it who's going to go along with it what are we seeing right now you're talking about the baby steps absolutely and i think it's important for us to realize too that that we are you know because a lot of people talk about well the mark of the beast is some kind of microchip or some kind of tattoo something that they can put in you even if they just strapped you down and forced it in i don't think so no i think the mark of the beast comes with pressure that word afflicted in matthew 24 means pressure in the greek to pressure you there's a lot of peer pressure i'm i remember the first time i started worrying mass because when we lived 50 of the population more than 50 didn't it wasn't mandatory at first and i remember feeling the pressure not wearing the mask feeling the pressure from other people and especially when i was around older people i would put on a mask because i could tell sometimes i would see people and their eyes were just filled with fear they wanted to avoid me or whatever and even today that's still the same you know they just don't want to be because people are very fearful they're fearful of the idea that this covet virus could actually kill them and i'm not saying it couldn't you know we have family members that are dying from covet or at least one and we've seen and experienced people in friends and close relatives that have been you know afflicted heavily afflicted by this virus but what i'm the question that i'm suggesting here tonight is not so much about the covet virus or about the mask but how this relates to bible prophecy how this sets the stage for bible prophecy transitioning conditioning condition and i'm glad you pointed out because the pressure the word there you read just in verse 16 of revelation 13 and he causes yes see there's a cause behind what they're about to do he causes all and that cause is the is what might be referred to as the legitimized pressure why would you not go along with it everybody else is oh small or great rich or poor we're all going along with it what's your problem yes and that causes see cause and effect that i'm seeing so this cause is now followed by this effect and people are saying well you know when you think about it i do want to be able to go buy something or travel or go to the store or you know do what you talked about and what's the harm just wear a mask and i think that also we're going to see that there's going to be those who are going to be probably blamed if they're not complying let's say with vaccinations we're not there yet so we can say that we can suppose about that since we're not there yet let's say vaccinations you don't want to get vaccined you're vaccinated you're against it you know against your conscience you don't believe in them you don't want to do it and i think there's going to be a lot of pressure and maybe blame toward people like that and some people are going to acquiesce to that they're going to acquiesce to the pressure and acquiesce to the blame and this is where we are in bible prophecy because once these and now notice this in matthew 24 and mark 13 and luke 21 the same basic same scenario jesus is telling us that it's wars and rumors of wars 9 11 was a war and rumors of wars it's pestilence infectious contagious disease like covenant etc and of course it's earthquakes or natural disasters that lead into this uniting of all nations to hate where are we in bible prophecy we are right there we're right there we are right there the intensity of these events is one thing we've seen that but the intensity of the reaction so and we're not even the thing that i think is really important is let's get back to the deceiving part inception deception deception is for some reason we're neglecting the impact of our reaction to covet 19 the impact on our young people the increase in suicide the increase in abuse the neglect you know the social neglect that's leading people you know in directions more introverted that they may not recover from handle the stresses isolation the loss of job the economic impact all of these things we're not even analyzing that we're not even weighing that it's not even in the picture we're overreacting in a sense now that's my personal opinion i again don't want to make this about wearing a mask or not wearing a mask yes i do think it's important for us to reassess the schools and the opening of schools you know young people and how they're affected and impacted by this and look at you know the stats and the science you know and of course science can be different depending on who's looking how you interpret it but the bible can be trusted and that's the most important thing for me if i had nothing to guide me and navigate me through wow i wouldn't know where to start and where to finish i wouldn't know what to do or what not to do i'd just be looking for reports and trying to get an opinion the best way i can but i've got the word of god you may that point is so powerful because i've said that so many times if i didn't have an if i didn't have a gps god's provisional scriptures if i didn't have that they're reliable that's about that's why the bible says not a cunningly devised fable but something that's reliable true it'll be it'll be a travesty if you wake up every day and you you're trying to just gather information to find something to cause you to be comfortable or okay okay just you could relax so you can go outside now and honestly i mean i've traveled my wife and i've had a chance to travel within the united states and just to the caribbean which is still united states but i've gone to visit family and and they've said oh we haven't gone outside since march we're not going to let you in and i said i'm auntie uncle i'm fine you know fantastic and they just relaxed and let me in i said i'm fine i mean i'm clear i couldn't travel if i wasn't cleared from covert okay but still there's this anxiety going along with it huge anxiety because if we didn't have god's word it'll be very stressful and some people are really at that point i just want to remind our audience about the fact that while you're stirring and laying some foundation to show us where we're headed if you have any questions you could text them first to 618 or you can call them in 618-627-4651 or email live at 3abn.tv and your questions will be entertained but uh pastor rafferty we are in a completely different society today and as you said i mean i've been i've been looking at the bible looking at prophecy looking at daniel in revelation and i said to one of my members if daniel or john were alive today they would be shouting from the mountaintops guys god's word can be trusted it's good that we have god's word amen without this we're meandering in the amazing mediocrity so continue well if you can't you know put your mind around this because you know sometimes people will say well you guys have been preaching this you know for 170 years you know and this has just been going you know every generation and i never even thought i'd you know my parents never thought they'd get me through college and you know my grandparents never thought they'd be here and it's you know and so the question you know arises what makes this different okay and all these other times all these other crises or whatever and i want to say well this is very different because we've seen changes in this country which again is the beacon of freedom to the world we've seen changes in this country that are unprecedented if we would have shared with those church of christ pastors what we shared you know 30 years ago today there'd be a and i would just point to well you know look for what happened at the example of you know not being able to buy a silent ship of mascon in principle we're there right now again the mask is not the mark but in principle we're there do you see how close we are and they would go yeah in fact i hope they're listening tonight i hope they listen to this broadcast i hope they're still around and they could listen to this and they could reassess i just wish that people would reassess what evidence has been sharing about the mark of the beast because i think now more than ever we are at a place where that application that interpretation of prophecy is viable we're seeing it in our world today right the the the complicit nature of it also because they're those who might say well i don't really have anything to do with what's taking place i'm just supporting it from maybe a legislative perspective from local law enforcement medical perspective a lot of people might say well i'm just doing this because everyone else is doing it there's a you know like the march of the wooden soldiers now we don't want to be people that are going to be naturally uh uh what's to say rebellious and and fighting against the authorities and and calling uh everything an owl behind the tree but we don't want to ignore what god has said to us and we have to ask ourselves the question do we see any indicators that this could happen well you know the phrase if it looks like a duck sounds like a duck quacks like it walks like a duck it's a duck well you can we can hear ducks quacking in our ears all around us so to speak connecting the bible to it and we got to say you know that is what they've been saying for a long time god is saying open your eyes hear what the spirit is saying to the churches and i think another important question we have to ask ourselves is is it possible for us to cry cry wolf one too many times very good one um the reason why i say that is because you know the old story wolf falling right when it's happening no one's listening because they've heard this over and over again and i think the reason for that is because of the way we cry wolf the nature of our cry the focus of our cry let me just see if i can dissect this a little bit if our wolf cry if our warning if our alarm is all about the event and fear is imposed upon the hearers because of the event and through that motivation they prepare for this event and of course the event doesn't happen and again that you know whole cycle takes place it doesn't happen doesn't happen it doesn't happen that can really turn people off true but if when we're crying an alarm if when we're we're crying out a warning if when we're telling the world look at bible prophecy get ready with your spiritual characters get ready to meet the lord be prepared to be like christ stop messing around with the world and allow the holy spirit to come into your life and to transform you that's a completely different type of preparation that preparation never goes out of date that's right because you don't even know if you're going to live to see all this come to pass but as jesus said i've told you beforehand so that when it comes to past you will believe yes but there's some people that we're talking about right now are living in the in the uh egg cracking stages they didn't know what was in the egg but now the egg is cracked they see these things how it can transpire they're saying wait a minute and the lord is saying so in light of this what kind of person should you be you know what kind of preparation should you make spiritually if you don't live to see it all happen you need to be personally ready for these events when they transpire because i might allow you to be laid to rest and you could bypass all the critical aspects of this event but that's good you're connecting this not to say you know you know buy a four-year supply of canned foods and you know buy your bunker underground we're not talking about extreme exactly exactly i did that before i had gasoline i had all this food and now look y2k came and went what was that all about and and personally whenever someone is calling an alarm for that kind of preparation i never buy into it i just don't buy into it and here's why there's one reason why the early church was all about character they were beaten they were stoned they went hungry they went naked they were persecuted with the sword but because they were filled with the holy spirit all of that was just like well waterford duck's back as you mentioned earlier the neck illustration that's the kind of preparation that never goes out of date so let's just say the mask of the beast just kind of fades away we get over the pandemic people calm down everyone's healthy we can go into stores and they're like well what about that program where that adventist guy talked about the mask of the bee well that doesn't change anything that's right because the focus that we need to have right now in relationship to this is not so much that we comply or don't comply with the mass of the beast the focus we need to have is how can we be christ-like in relation to the events that are taking place right now how can we know that you know what bible prophecy can be fulfilled any time and i want to be ready for jesus to come and it's time for me to stop messing around any time when these crisis comes even if it's a focus that's wrong there are people that are susceptible to the work of the holy spirit and they start getting right with jesus they start developing their characters and you don't say well that never happened i guess i'll be a wicked bad person again no hopefully that sets in and you maintain that course for the rest of your life that's right regardless of what whether prophecy gets fulfilled or doesn't get fulfilled because when the lord talked about you know seeing that the heavens would be dissolved being on fire he asked the question what manner of person should you be okay seeing that all these things will be dissolved what kind of person do you need to be and that's what we're asking our audience what kind of person should they be because a lot of people are event-driven eventually but the bible as you were saying just a moment ago the bible talks about being character driven what kind of person should you be in light of what you see taking place around us amen and if they can't find peace in the heart of those who who are adhering to what the bible revealed where they're going to find stability somebody need to be stable in the society and say let not your heart be troubled amen there's a lot of heart trouble amen the lord said this is going to happen but he said peace i leave with you yes don't let your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid and you talked about the fear what kind of fear do you see in our world today what kind of level of intensity so i would i'd you know it's interesting you asked that question because i was going to turn i was going to open the bible to first john chapter four okay and i wanted to look at verse 18 first john chapter 4 and verse 18. yes and this is in the context of you know god being love we understand god you know father son holy spirit love and so in the previous verse verse 16 or in the previous verse verse 16 says god is love and then in verse 18 it says there is no love in fear no fear and love excuse me there is no fear in love thank you but perfect love casts out fear that's right because fear has torment he that fears is not made perfect in love so the question we're asking is what kind of fear do you see in the world today and i'm going to say a godless fear and what i mean by that is we believe a seventh-day adventist that the time is coming when the holy spirit is going to be withdrawn from the earth that's what was the case now how can we know if the holy spirit is being withdrawn from the earth but a lot of times we're going to say well yeah there's this has happened and that's happening and but i'd say based on this verse that the number one indicator of the withdrawing of the holy spirit is fear because the holy spirit is god that's right and god is love and where love is it casts out fear that's right so where fear is love isn't that's right so if the holy spirit is there there's fear being cast out if the holy spirit is not there there's fear that's right the more fear we see in the world today the more fear we see among people today the more of an indication we have that the holy spirit is being withdrawn and you know and you know pastor rafferty and jane in luke chapter 21 men's hearts failing them for fear and that's a lot of the temperature in our world today what next what do we do now do we buy do we sell do we move do we stock up what do we do now and people are making physical preparation rather than spiritual spiritual preparation and this is key if we go back to the early church the early church witnessed something and believed something that turned their world upside down outside of the holy spirit which took all their fear away the the early church witnessed the resurrection from the dead of jesus christ and they realized in that revelation that death had just been conquered right the greatest fear that human humankind has has just been conquered that's right that there is actually life beyond the grave their lord and savior who was crucified and died and put in the tomb hung out with them for 40 days right he walked on the road to emmaus two of his disciples he came to the upper room he spoke with him he told thomas to touch my hands and my feet and put your hand into my wounds that's right jesus christ was manifest among them and they were braced to face anything that's right paul even says as apostle called out of time he says you know what i don't know if i want to die and be with the lord or if i want to continue to live in this body and preach the gospel i'm torn between those two things because he understood death to be a rest in the grave for a moment that's right he understood that it was an unconscious sleep that's what we're told in john chapter 11 right jesus has turned death into a sleep that's why jesus said you believe in me you'll never die and then you ask the question do you believe that do you believe that paul believed that he didn't believe he was going to die he believed he would rest in the grave but because it was an unconscious rest the next thing he would know after being martyred the next thing paul knows is the second coming of jesus christ that's right and so he's wrestling he's like i don't know and in that mindset you have a whole different perspective on the world because you know this world even at the best of times this world is worrisome it is where it's tiring getting old is not for sissies and the whole perspective that paul had drove him to the point where death was released it was the it was the gateway to eternal life that's right that short rest in the grave blessed are they the rest of the lord from henceforth you know that they may rest from their labors and their works will follow them matter of fact i'm so glad you brought out the apostles because my wife and i were reading acts chapter four and five and they talked about the one that you killed the one that you crucified we saw him we are witnesses of these things yes so when you have a witness when you have a connection with christ the things that are happening around you as they did with uh paul and peter and john they said uh we we command you not to preach in his name and because they couldn't do anything to them they whipped them and they said we would be glad to take some stripes for christ yes if that's what you're going to do with us and we're going to keep preaching for christ because they were not fearing the men they had an awesome transfer from fearing man yes to this conviction that i need to be like christ amen regardless of what happens to me and that's what you're saying when you talk about the masking of it so we're coming to the closing of the first hour give us a prime of what we're going to be looking at in the second hour okay so now that we've gotten this wake-up call and we're just looking at bible prophecy and we're saying hey it's viable and we don't know when it's going to be fulfilled we just know that it's viable all right now what do we do with this information well our focus needs to be on character development so what i'd like to do in this next session is i'd like to look at some characteristics in revelation of the beast of the power behind the beast and see if those aren't characteristics that were seen in the world today in human beings and see if those aren't characteristics that we have in our own hearts as we think about the way we've reacted to this pandemic or our interaction with other human beings around all of this you know economic political turmoil that's taking place in this nation all over the world then i'd like us to contrast that with some characteristics of the of jesus christ just look at those two characteristics because wherever we are in bible prophecy we want to emphasize if you're going to stand against jesus you're going to be developing the character of the beast here's what it looks like you're going to be standing with jesus you're going to be developing the character of christ here's what it looks like wow that's really really good i know you i know you've been listening i know you've been watching if you're watching from television if you're listening from your call or any device radio internet whatever the case may be the mask of the beast the question is what kind of person should we be in light of what's happening around the world and in this second hour we're going to continue taking your questions and comments which i'll remind you of on the other side but don't go away because now we're going to ask the question what kind of person should we be don't go away we'll be right back [Music] welcome back to the second hour if you've been with us in the first hour you know that pastor james rafferty talked about the mask of the beast and we are seeing things happening in our world today that are indicative that we don't have to get to the point where we're saying this could never happen we are looking at a boiling down society a crumbling world and we're looking at impositions on the right and left that are slowly as would say they're putting the lines and giving us reason to move in this direction and the opposition against it is the thing that concerns us because people are saying what could never happen before yes we're seeing the possibilities if you're just joining us you missed a good first hour and pastor rafferty will reiterate some of those things but um what can happen in our world and how quickly are events telling us how near the second coming of christ really is we're living in exciting times awesome times and for many fearful times what should we do with that fear and uh james my good friends is gonna he's gonna answer that we've been friends so long james and john the sons of thunder are in the house tonight but um but respectfully pastor rafferty and uh we ended the first hour talking about some of the complications that we see in the world today and then now we're seeing the possibilities not the mark and i like how you pointed this out and i'm so glad you were intentional on that because people may say is he saying that we should wear a mask or not wear a mask is it saying that we shouldn't comply or not comply and you said numbers of times just for the clear record i'm not talking about the mask whether it's viable or not i'm not talking about whether you need to get the vaccine or not i'm talking about look at the possibilities of things that are taking taking place in our world and now say to me that the mark of the beast is not possible right exactly okay yeah so bible prophecy is viable and what what do we do with that you know where do we go with that in other words uh let's just say this all dwindles down and comes to naught you know it's another you know y2k or whatever it is we're all panicking but really it doesn't work out to be quite as intense as we thought uh what does that mean for us well i think that our response whether it's a sponsor fear whether it's response of anger whether it's response of i'm just going to say this control is an indicator of where we will stand when this bible prophecy is fulfilled okay and i think it's really important for us to examine ourselves paul says this in second corinthians chapter 13 and verse 5. examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith prove your own selves and a lot of people listening might not be in the faith at all they might not have any faith they might not believe in christ they're just kind of going through the channels and here they are listening to this program and i want to say that this call is going out to them also and here's why because i believe god has people who don't acknowledge him don't necessarily believe in christ but they do believe in being good people they do believe in having character that is in harmony with what is right and just and fair and good okay and so i would say those same people the same principle applies examine yourself to see if you're in the faith of your own principles if in this crisis this present crisis and maybe you know recent crisis that you have manifested the principles that you believe in or if you've been manifesting principles that i think are going to put you perhaps on well let's just go to the bible and see where it puts us okay now that you've teased us so i'm going to go to the song okay we're going to remind our viewers and listeners how they can we we do have some questions that you sent and we'll ask those questions and and get to you on the responses there but um once again stephanie dawn is going to play a song for us actually sing a song and i believe i can tell where the inspiration comes from he who dwells it sounds like a psalms 91 song amen what about perfect where we dwell and what should the people of god be doing as we see the things transpiring around us consider that and right after this song pastor james rafferty is going to unfold the second portion of the program here's the song he who dwells [Music] angels all around me guide my footsteps lest i stray evil ones around me though their powers kept at bay and though terror strikes by night time and the arrows fly by day lord you are my refuge i will trust he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the secret place [Music] cover me with feathers from i'm hiding there [Music] underneath the canopy of safety and of care and if once again i wonder find my foot trapped in the snare even though i can see now he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the secret place those who know and love me i will rescue says the lord favor and abundant life i'll give as my reward and when they're in trouble i will answer when they cry there i see [Music] of the most high will abide in the shadow of the almighty you who dwelled in the shelter of the most high will abide in the secret place will abide in the secret place thank you stephanie for that song you know pastor it's a amazing segway to what we're talking about perfect abiding in that secret place of the most high arrows flying trouble all around us pestilence tribulation nothing will come near you if you're abiding in christ that's what you're talking about that's what we're talking about and we see that in the early church the early church were afraid for their lives they were in the upper room the doors were barred and locked and then when people knocked they weren't even sure who was there and all that turned completely upside down they were filled with the holy spirit and they went forth to preach christ fearlessly because where the holy spirit is where god is where love is fear is cast out wow and so we want to know from the bible how it is that we can have that love in our hearts the holy spirit in our hearts so that we can lose the fear because fear causes us to do things to act in certain ways that we wouldn't normally act if we weren't fearful somebody asked the question as a matter of fact that's a very good point could you please elaborate on peace and safety then sudden destruction when does that take place if the virus goes away so let's go with the peace and safety part how do you elaborate on peace and safety and then sudden destruction so what we're looking at in this world today is human beings seeking remedies for all of our problems whether the economic problems pestilence problems natural disasters climate change all of that and the world because of fear the world is going to come together and they're going to seek to put in place safety mechanisms remedies that they want everyone to go along with and that's the peace and safety if everyone just goes along with this but what they do in the process of that according to matthew 24 according to revelation 13 is they violate the conscience and the freedom of individuals who don't agree necessarily with their agenda or who see things a little bit differently and because they violate that destruction comes because god is not going to allow he's going to convict he's going to say hey you're not supposed to do this this is wrong but he's not going to allow that to come to its fruition in other words you're not going to have peace and safety that you think you're going to have you're not going to be able to to control all of this the way you want to while you're violating people's consciences while you're forcing them to do things that you have no right to force them to do so they think oh this is the way for peace and safety everything's going to be good we're going to have this all in place it's all going to work out boom destruction comes god steps in and says no i'm sorry this is not the way it works and all you need to do is look at revelation 13. rich free small great poor whoever they are they are forced to go along coheres to go along to receive the mark they can't buy a cell they've got to go along with this whole system and then revelation chapter 14 the everlasting gospel hey don't do that 18 earth lighten with god's glory and then you've got 15 16 17 all of the judgments that follow that's the disasters you've got peace and safety and then you've got the destruction it's revelation 13 and 14 peace and safety and then revelation 15 16 onward sudden destruction that's right because the peace that has to be sustained by sword and weapon and compliance and coercion is not really peace which i'll throw this one in here uh can you explain conviction versus compliance again that was a pretty good one yeah and i believe conviction is based on the word of god it's based on conscience i can comply with wearing a mask because that doesn't violate my conscience you know and even if i believe or if i don't believe it in fact i would be more inclined to put a mask on because of the fear other people have so for me you know even if there are um you know i'm just going to go out on a limb just a little bit here even if there are religious laws that are passed that i don't agree with i can comply with those laws as long as they're not violating my conscience and my freedom to worship god the way i want to worship i don't have to violate those laws deliberately you know i can still go along with them but when you start stepping into the bounds of my conscience in the way that i relate to god that's when i feel you've crossed a line that i could no longer comply with there's where conviction steps in and conviction for me is based on the word of god what god has taught what goddess has said because god has changed my life everything to him not just this present life but my future life he's my creator he's my redeemer he is my soul he has my soul allegiance that's right and you know we see examples in the old testament the hebrews conviction or compliance they decided to remain with their conviction and not comply be not conformed and the lord stepped in you talk about hebrews three fiery furnaces the fire the three hebrews the fiery furnace and we find daniel in the lion's den conviction or compliance his conviction i'm going to pray no matter what i'm convicted i need to pray compliance he didn't comply but the lord delivered him we find that throughout the apostles lives conviction or compliance and so the cadence is in scripture when your conviction does not become abrasive let me rephrase that when the when the laws of the land become abrasive against your convictions god's word then you stand on your convictions and that's what the bible is talking about now we're not saying become a rebel just for the sake of a cause right but um let me throw you another one uh since you're talking about the mask sign what does the covet vaccine symbolize that's kind of interesting yeah and i really think it's important the reason why i think that questions is significant because i think we need to emphasize again this program is not about the mask and it's not about the covert vaccination okay it's not about that we're not medical doctors you know we're not scientific experts we ourselves cannot analyze the impact of the mask or the impact of the vex the vaccine you know the fda hasn't even you know passed a judgment on it yet so there's no way i don't believe for myself personally i don't believe that those things are in bible prophecy per se what i mean by that is in revelation i do believe that they're indicated in matthew 24 under pestilence right and i do believe that that pestilence is one of the ways that we see the nations moving together to unite and hate that's what i do see but i don't see those things covet vaccine mask being what is talked about in revelation chapter 13. i think revelation chapter 13 is is centered in worship it's centered in religious conformity and religious pressure in contrast to the worship of god according to revelation 14 verses 6 and 7 the three angels messages 14 6 through 12 through agents broadcasting its angels messages i see that as the issue that is really being talked about in revelation chapter 13 in the mark of the beast what i see is that what's happening with the mask is helping us to realize how viable the enforcement of the mark can be yeah i mean that's really good and i like these questions another person sent a question and i know since in revelation 13 is the image of the beast in revelation 13 verse 14 a separate entity from the first and second beasts the image of the beast is connected to the second beast okay okay so we've got two beasts in revelation chapter 13 we've got the sea beast that comes up out of the sea and that's revelation 13 verse 1 and then we've got what we call the land beast that comes up out of the earth that's revelation 13 11. the land beast makes an image to the sea beast that's right okay so the land beast is simply reflecting what the sea beast once was and because the seabees comes up and then it receives it has the world worshiping and then it receives a deadly wound and then the wound is healed and that wound is healed as that wound is healed we see a reflection of the principles of that sea beast in the land beast that's the image that it's making and we can get into more details there but i don't think we have the time to really nuance that so we won't do that right now okay great and um so we won't talk about what those two b's represent in the interest not right now because right if we have time we could do that but we have some more here but let's go let's go further in i'll bring some more questions in as we go further into the program but now let's take to the second part of what going to give you a chance to characteristic characteristics what kind of character are we developing in trial in tests that character will come out in a time of peace and safety we're like everyone's kind of you know everyone's a nice guy everyone's a good person but when crisis comes all of a sudden character comes to the top so what kind of character are we developing are we developing the character of the dragon which is a code name for satan the devil okay darkness evil wickedness wrong or we're developing the character of the lamb which is a symbol of christ and self-sacrificing loving other standard giving gracious merciful long-suffering fair and that's what we see as the outline for revelation chapter 13 we start in revelation chapter 12 though because the dragon is the one that gives power to this beast that comes up out of the sea so the dragon is behind this beast so if we can identify what kind of characteristic the dragon has we can see if we're going to comply with the beast or not because we're developing the characteristics of the dragon guess what we're not going to find it a hard matter to yield to those powers very good point when the test comes so the first place is revelation chapter 12 symbolism here but we could read revelation chapter 12 and um let's see verse the persecuting powers no not the persecution we're not there yet there's two verses in here and i want to make sure i get them right i don't know why it is i can't find them the first one is we could look at i guess is verse nine okay the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and satan so we know who the serpent represents a symbol of satan and the devil he was cast out which deceives the whole world he was cast out to the earth and his angels are cast out with them so the key word here is deception okay right there's a lot of deception going on in the world today oh and we're doing it for different reasons you know there's different motivations there's political motivations uh on a personal level we have economic motivations why would deceive someone we'd sell them a car that has problems we wouldn't tell them etc but on the political level in the media today there's a lot of self-interest that's promoting people to be deceptive in the way that they relate to crises and that's what we want to pick up right here only we can examine our own hearts and know whether or not we're being honest or being deceptive right yes there are times when we can see deception in another person we can point it out and i don't think there's anything wrong with that if we're trying to deal with it fairly and honestly but the thing the call that i'm making to people tonight is i really feel it's important for us to see if fear hasn't caused us to either be deceptive or to buy into the deception so that we are now imbibing a characteristic of the devil not a characteristic of god in the lamb a characteristic of the devil through fear and what i would say is if you find yourself in a place where you've imbibed that kind of spirit that kind of character this is a call for you to turn to the lord as quickly as you can and to ask him to give you his spirit that will cast out that fear so you can let go of that deception very powerful because that character trait is going to lead you to side with the devil with the beast with the the powers of darkness when the final crisis comes you know you made a point earlier in the first part of the program uh when when september 11th 2001 occurred people were willing to give up anything to have their security back they were operating out of fear i like the fact that because fear leads to deception to manipulation and to control yes those are the four steps fear deception i can tell you whatever i want you to know manipulation i got you control and that's all in revelation chapter 13. all right right there right those steps all right here's the next one okay we're in revelation chapter 12 and we're in verse 10. okay okay again it's the dragon it's the accuser it's satan okay here's his characteristics remember he's giving power to the sea beast and that beast's power is reflected in the land beast it makes an image to him so revelation chapter 12 and verse 10. okay and one and i heard a loud voice from heaven saying now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our god and the power of his christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before god day and night we see a lot of accusation taking place in our world today wow a lot of accusing taking place in our world today a lot of criticism a lot of judgmentalism you know all comes under that same category and we're told this is the characteristic of satan wow this is the characteristic of the deceiver he's a deceiver and he's accuser we accuse other people many times we do it out of fear you know i'm just going to give a simple illustration you know you get in a car accident it was your fault you get out and you start accusing the other person you should have seen what you watched where you were going why did you and you know you're following someone too close they put on the brakes because someone runs across the road and you rear-end them why did you stop in the middle of the road but you really you're at fault because you were falling in too close too closely and so we accuse others many times because of our insecurities we accuse other people because we ourselves are filled with insecurity and fear and so we feel better pointing out or accusing or criticizing defects we see in other persons and it's not going to be hard for us to do that everyone has defects they're going to be easier to find in some people than others but our media today is filled with finding fault with other people acute accusation accusation is that what we're doing examine your heart is that what we're doing because if we're developing a characteristic a spirit of accusation we're developing another another characteristic of the dragon who gives power to the sea beast reflected in the land beast and we're not going to find it a hard matter to yield to side with them when the crisis comes you know isn't it amazing how people can go down that path if they have not first ex establish for themselves the kind of person they need who they are yes if you don't have your own identity it's easy for you to be swayed one way or the other that's why you said this and i want to go back to this uh examine yourself to see whether or not you are in the faith test yourself not your neighbor not the guy in front of you because accusation is testing people around you but god is saying it's time for self-examination where are you and if you don't know where you are you can end up anywhere yes you know a ship without an anchor is at the mercy of the ocean but the ocean cannot move in normal circumstances obviously we're not talking about hurricanes but for the most part an anchor holds you where you are and i would say as you're talking about right if we're not anchored in christ we are open for whichever side blows the wind stronger and will your anchor hold and will your answer so now i just want to look at another characteristic in revelation chapter 12 because this one again is in revelation chapter 12 and i think you brought it up um just before we went to our first one you brought this up and it's found in revelation 12 17. okay all right so in revelation 12 17 it's talking about um the dragon being angry the dragon was wroth angry with the woman and went to make war with the remnant ever see to keep the commandments of god remember that's love that's an indication of love and have the testimony of jesus they they talk about jesus they speak about jesus they act like jesus so anger is another characteristic that is rampant in the world today absolutely crazy anger out there and i could tell you my own experiences and and the reason why one of the reasons why i just don't want to live in the city i want to be in a country area it's crazy in our cities right now absolutely great and we're it's going to get worse i think before it gets better oh and so what we're seeing right now again is a call to examine our hearts what is our response to people who may not comply with the way we think they should be living their lives or acting and i'm not talking about people that are doing something conscientiously necessary i'm talking about people who are doing bad things people who are doing negative things or whatever when someone is mistreating me maybe just the way they're driving in relation how do i respond to them how am i thinking toward them because if their evil actions cause me to be angry i also am preparing for the character i'm preparing myself receiving the character of christ and preparing of satan excuse me and preparing to stand on the side of the beast the seabees the sight of the lamb beast that reflects the image of the sea beast when the crisis hits so that's a wake-up call for me this is a wake-up call for all of us what kind of character are we reflecting when we find ourselves in a situation where maybe even we're right you know the disciples of christ give a perfect example barnabas and silas okay they're preaching the gospel the jews come and persuade the people that the enemies of the town and they're beaten bleeding put in chains and thrust into the inner dungeon that was completely unlawful unrighteous especially because they were romans and they point that out later on what do they do when they're inside hey let's have a song give me my give me my uh call one call i want to call my lawyer you guys are gonna i'm gonna sue you to the ends of the earth no no they'd start singing praises to god that's right and that it's genuine it's real for them they believe that they have been found worthy to suffer for christ's sake the greatest honor that we can be given is to suffer for christ fellowship in his sufferings is the highest honor the most weighty trust and it can't be given to all people because it is a weighty trust they begin to sing and the doors fly open there's a great earthquake the angel of the lord comes down and all the doors when they're open that it wakes up the keeper and he takes a sword not to stop prisoners but to kill himself because he feels like they're all gone you know what paul says do yourself no harm that's right other centered other focus he could have been angry at that jailer but what does he think in his mind he could have said you shouldn't have had me locked up in here yes but he's thinking in his mind i want to give this guy a bible study how can i witness to this guy right don't hurt yourself i don't know if there's any way i could save this guy you know what that guy says to him what must i do to be saved that's right and you know you're bringing out a point that i'm sure when we mentioned the mask of the beast people probably thought wow i can't wait to talk about the mark of the beast in a creative new way we are talking about the character of christ should not be what we're masking but what we are revealing amen and i i'm seeing that in a more beautiful way i've been i've been trumpeting that from sabbath to sabbath from week to week saying in light of what we see who are we yes it's not what's happening but what is our reaction to it and this is so beautiful there was another character that i thought you was going to bring up maybe just look at this real quickly in verse 13 uh he persecuted the woman that's the character another character i missed that one that's a great one john i love that yeah so are we persecuting people as we get into crisis as people cross our paths do things that we don't want them to do do we persecute them i've seen a lot of persecution taking place especially in social media oh canceling is persecuting now what did you get off the social media yes i did a couple years ago right my wife did the same thing because she saw the unchrist-like characters of people that are displaying on there these um vicious sentiments and thought i don't want to be a part of that but you see persecuting differences of opinion yes and the canceled culture that we're in right now that's a culture of persecution that's what we're doing ganging up on people and just and eliminating them and and there's not much distance between canceling someone and killing someone because you're basically destroying their life you know we don't we have tools right now in social media to do as much damage to a person as we can without actually eliminating their life you see that yeah people well you know there are young people if you go back and i'm actually working on a seminar right now on social media and the impact on the family depending on the person their age some young people have considered suicide or have committed suicide because of bullying on social media and people have asked those questions well should do we want to be a platform that pushes certain age groups to the place where their fragile character that has not yet been fully developed to handle these kinds of stresses do we want to be complicit in that what kind of stance should we take against it and so that's a different category altogether because if we're part of something that we you know somebody said do you realize that um because of your social media platform uh this year 37 children under the age of 13 took their lives because they were bullied on the internet and then you start developing a policy let's go ahead and start noticing if we see bullying taking place on the internet yes we're going to warn those persons don't do that because somebody's life could be at risk so those are things that um i think in the sense of private organizations uh as a church now you as a pastor we know that we can't stand around and watch one member bully the other or in schools that's within our responsibility but i know what you're saying is we live in a cancer culture a cancel a cancer culture where if i don't agree with you i need to find a way to get rid of you yes or neutralize you so these are the principles that are going to lead us to comply with the mark of the beast with the forced you know the enforcement of the mark of the beast the end of time or not a lot of times we think well when that issue comes when that crisis comes of course i'm not going to receive the mark of the beast if you are entering into this attitude of deception this attitude of accusation this attitude persecution this attitude of anger if you are cultivating those character traits you're cultivating the character traits of satan of the deceiver and he is the one who is behind the sea beast and the land beast who are going to enforce the mark of the beast and control this world so no man can buy or sell right and all of those character traits are going to help you or make it an easy manner for you to conform to those powers when the final test comes so now is the time i love the fact john that you brought this out about people who on the internet are going to say no we're not going to we're going to notice bullying we're going to do something about it these are tiny steps that people can take even if they're not believers in god they're taking steps toward the principles of heaven they're taking steps towards the government of god god is not a dictator he's not up there you know forcing people to do this and forcing people to do that love god is a god of love he's a god of freedom and people who make choices that are in harmony with the principles of heaven are going to be people who are in heaven that's right and god is going to save a lot of people in heaven you know the i think it's zechariah talks about people who are walking by the river of life with jesus and they look at his hands and they say what are those marks in your hands right they didn't know anything about the crucifixion or calvary or his his death what are those marks and he explains to them what he gave so that they could have eternal life yeah and you and the thing you brought out i think there's a responsibility that many of us sometimes allude are alluding let me use another term or avoiding or not for lack of a better term right now exemplifying because you remember jesus in matthew 25 says as much as you've done it to the least of these you've done it to me so with this with the responsibilities we're saying well uh as you would have someone treat you you treat that individual so these are these are uh reciprocal values that if i want you to treat me that way then if you want to be treated that way then you treat me that way not that if somebody treats me mean that i should return meanness because the bible still says i no license overcome evil with good but we're saying in a culture that and this is the amazing thing about our nation uh you know we we were born on judeo-christian principles and values yet through the course of becoming going from protestant to apostate protestant from those who stood on values in scripture to those who abandoned those values were kind of the win and the world when is what's happening in our country we're reaping a lot of that a lot of that yep so revelation 13 now we go over the page and we're going to see some some more characteristics that i think are are really clear here we're going to join in on a couple of them okay that i think we understand i mean they're almost it's almost um you know we've read the verses it's it's implicit in this in the statements in revelation chapter 13 and verse 16 it says that he causes now you emphasize this earlier he causes the implication there is he's going to force he's going to cause all small great rich poor free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads you know we like to be in control we like to be able to make things happen we like to be able to force people to conform to what we think is right and we start that journey many times with our children as parents for example my wife and i had a very difficult time transitioning or knowing when to transition our kids from adolescence to adults because you know they don't they're not adolescents and then one day they wake up and they're an adult right there's a transition period and we we realize that you know but what's interesting is that transition period isn't based on a certain year it's based on the individual it's based on the person themselves our daughter transitioned earlier than our son transitioned and if you don't if you miss that that transition point you can treat your children in a way that is very disrespectful and that demeans them and doesn't allow them to develop to independence and to you know this attitude because you know as parents we have to actually almost control the behavior of our kids i'll just give you a silly example you know we had a house with two floors and we had a stairs that went down you know to the first floor we came in and we had to grab our son many times so he didn't go flying down those stairs we had to control him and there were a couple times when he was tumbling down those stairs loved the stairs we finally got a gate you know so we can stop him going down the stairs because you know getting to the bottom we weren't sure how he's going to get there there's a lot of behaviors that you control in your children as they grow up and go through adolescence and but then you have to transition out of that and i think it's difficult for us in a society we're a society of laws we're a society of rules these are all very important but where do you get to the place where you stop controlling people through laws and rules and allow them to have freedom to make their own decisions paul actually deals with this in romans chapter 13. yes he does and it's so clear there do you want to do should we look at romans 13 real quick let's do that i think romans 13 is going to be very informative for us in relation to the crisis that we're heading into in relation to the fulfillment the ultimate fulfillment of revelation chapter 13. because romans is talking about how we relate to governments and revelation 13 is talking about two governments two powers two earthly powers as we identified in daniel 7 17 and 23. so he says here in verse 1 let every soul be subject under the higher powers for there is no power but of god the powers that are that be are ordained of god okay whosoever therefore resist the power resist the ordinance of god and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation that's right rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil will thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and that that will have praise of the same and i think what you were saying is if we're kind if we're good if we're if we're the kind of people that are courteous and loving and merciful they're not going to arrest us and throw us in jail for that no necessarily now time is coming of course right so it goes on it says yeah for the most part he is a minister of god to thee for good but if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is a minister of god or avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake for this cause pay tribute that is taxes to whom taxes all pay tribute also for they are god's ministers attending continually under this very thing render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear do fear honor doom honor oh no man everything anything but to love one another for love is that for he that loves has fulfilled the law then he starts quoting the commandments right right what commandments does he quote stealing and adultery okay so he talks about thou shalt not commit adultery and thou shalt not kill and thou shalt not steal and thou shalt not be a false witness and thou shalt not covet and then he says this and if there's anything else verse nine it is briefly comprehended if there's any other commandment are there other commandments oh okay if there are any other commandments it is briefly comprehended in this namely you shall love your neighbor as yourself are there other commandments that are not comprehended in loving your neighbor as yourself there other commands they all are incompetent you have the first four our love to god right not your neighbor right notice that he hasn't mentioned any of the first four commandments in this i know it's true and also that he left out one of the last six and he said but if there's any other commandments there it's comprehended right in loving your neighbor okay but not any in loving god because see paul here is specifically talking about the way we relate to earthly rulers that's right the way we relate to the government the way we relate to the powers that be and he excludes the first four commandments that's right because they have nothing to do with the way we relate to the powers to be only the last six commandments have to do with the way we're related i gotcha has to be and this is why this is the key to understand revelation chapter 13. a.t jones was a pretty prominent pioneer we wouldn't say going way back but in adventism let's say in the 1800s he there was a there was there were religious laws that were being passed in or attempted to be made in congress the blair law and he took this argument to congress and he shared this as his the basis for his argument against the passage of laws that had to do with the way we worship god okay and he said listen when it comes to government last six commandments you know you can pass a law against abortion because thou shalt not kill you can pass a law against you know pornography you can pass a law against anything that has to do with the way we treat other people but you can't pass the law that has to do with the way we worship god that is not in your prerogative that's right and it wasn't even included in the way we deal with earthly powers that's exactly uh that was exactly a.t jones's point right so so what we're seeing here is is helping us to understand revelation chapter 13 because revelation chapter 13 is crossing that line revelation chapter 13 is forcing coher co cohen coercion of worship that's right and that has to do with the conscience the individual conscience and god which leads me to this question what if you give in because of fear or pressure well that is the goal that satan has for us he wants us to give in because of fear of pressure so at all costs and i just want to read this from revelation chapter 12. yeah let's go there at all costs revelation chapter 12 verse 11 says do not give in because of fear or coercion here's the verse revelation 12 11 and they overcame him satan the dragon the beast the sea beast they overcame him by the blood of the lamb by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives even unto the death that's right why did they not live their lives and under the death go ahead because it was not about self-preservation it was about the way that you treat others yes how do they how do they perceive me even under the severest circumstances and we as christians like the early church have no fear of death no death been turned into a sleep the next thing we know after death is the second coming of jesus christ because it's an unconscious state of being okay so so in our minds in our hearts if we hold on to that jesus asks us the question again if you believe in me you'll never die and then he says do you believe that do you believe that exactly believe that if we believe that then we lose fear and that's what the early church lost was fear matter of fact james it's amazing how you're bringing these points out go right to matthew 10 28 i mean yes okay verse once again the worst thing that could happen to you is death but look what the lord says and he brings the components that you just talked about fear and death it says um let me read it and uh do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell so he said you know people might be able to kill you but they can't wipe you out of existence and we're not talking about an immortal soul just for the record but he's saying they cannot eliminate you from eternal life god can but i can so he says don't put your fear on the side of men give fear god and give glory to him he's not saying to be terrified of god but if there's any fear that we should have is a godly fear yes and that's why you find in the uh david the psalmist says they did not choose the fear of the lord amen that's why now we can see it's the beginning of wisdom so what you're saying in revelation now is you've got to decide who you honor and who you fear and it all goes back to the lamb so we're going to look at a couple verses here one of them is in hebrews chapter 2 but before we go there we're going to look at revelation chapter 14 because revelation 14 is heaven's instruction for us in the context of this crisis okay and what we find is this questioner he's hitting their hitting i don't know if it's male or female they're hitting uh a sensitive spot in every human being even the most courageous people have fear courage is overcoming that fear but all of us have that fear it was instilled in us in the garden of eden when we fell and we started hiding from the lord and the lord came in and said to us you know where are you why were you hiding while i was afraid and i hid myself so we have this fear that god is seeking to remove and replace with his fear in fact the only way that the ungodly fear can be removed is if his fear is put in that's right okay so in revelation chapter 14 here's the instruction that we get for those of us who want non-conformity to the beast in his mark to his image to his name etc and by the way those who receive the image or the name character of the beast that's right in there with the mark of the beast the character of the beast all right so in revelation chapter 14 talks about a people who stand with christ on mount zion and these people obviously are not receiving the mark of the beast and it says in verse 4 these are those who are not the father with women for their virgins these are they which follow the lamb wherever he goes these were redeemed from among men being the first fruits unto god into the lamb the way that we get rid of fear is to get our focus on jesus and that takes us to hebrews hebrews chapter 2 and these verses are so powerful when i first became a christian these were some mainstay verses for me i would read these verses again and again and i would ask god to make them a reality in my life because i believe in every promise and every command of the word of god is power the very life of god by which the command can be fulfilled and the promise realized and that when we receive the word of god we receive the very life and character of god that's right so in in hebrews chapter 2 it says here verse 14 for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same why that through death through death he might destroy him with the power of death that is the devil okay i like the neck good and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage whoo okay why'd you have to leave that so late in the program that's a powerful passage those are the words that we need to receive and when we receive those words we receive the very life and character of god because what the system of satan is seeking to do is take us into captivity into bondage and he's trying to use fear to do it yes but when you embrace christ he says wait a minute wait a minute i've already defeated the devil now i want to deliver you from fear yes because fear has been the very thing that's why we find in isaiah 60 proclaim liberty to the captives the opening of the prison to those who are bound so we see that constantly represented in the bible saying don't fear earthly powers because that is going to be the principle that they impose upon you more than anything else because fear then compliance so if we want to get rid of fear we need to look at biblical stories okay and one of the biblical stories i think really brings this to life is found in daniel chapter three okay and you mentioned this story earlier but i think it deserves a little bit more of a look you know we have been finishing up a series in salvation and symbols and signs on the book of daniel we're really really excited about that series it's got over 40 meetings on the book of daniel you know we've done 72 on revelation and these uh presentations are done in a way it's kind of like a table talk setting when he just talking through we're not covering every detail but we're trying to cover most of the verses and they can be used for study materials for bible studies for schools just discussion points 30-minute meetings and it's really we feel like we a lot of things have come out because you know when you get two or three people together different people and all of a sudden your mind clicks on something oh i never saw that before we had a lot of aha moments like that and it's it's really fun because we're not actually preaching to our viewers we're talking amongst each other and they can watch us have these aha moments and go whoa and they can join us in that in that in that experience i would like to suggest that we can look at this story in daniel chapter 3 and we can gain something out of it that causes us to join them in this experience i'm just going to kind of paraphrase what's taking place here but i want us to look at you know some key verses here nebuchadnezzar is the king of babylon a symbol of an end time power basically babylon is the code word for the sea beast and the land beast in the end of time okay the mother of harlots and her daughters there's their composite in revelation 17 is babylon so he's a type what he's doing here is a type of what's going to happen in the end of time because he makes an image and causes everyone to bow down and worship that image right and that's exactly what we see in revelation chapter 13. now there are three people who won't bow to the image there they are following god and they know that the second commandment forbids them to bow down the images and worship images so they refuse to even pretend to tie their shoelaces or their sandal latches when the music sounds when the music sounds when they're all supposed to bow and they don't bow they stand and they get accused and this is where we pick up the story you know they're being accused and we're here in verse 12 there are certain jews whom thou has set over the affairs of the province of babylon shadrach meshach and abednego these men o king have not regarded thee neither served neither served not excuse me have not regarded thee they have not served thy gods nor worshipped nor worship the golden image which thou has set up so there's the principle of worship again then nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring shadrach meshach and abednego and they brought these men before the king now i want to share something here that may be new maybe it isn't new but i want to share something here that i believe is really important in relationship to fear okay nebuchadnezzar made that image all of gold even though he knew the image was made of four different metals that's right right but the last part of it being a mixture of iron and clay that's right he knew he was going to be replaced that's what the image suggested and he was afraid of being replaced that's right he was afraid of his kingdom coming to an end so what he did was he tried to pretend that his kingdom wasn't coming to an end that's right he made an image all of gold because he was afraid all of the people in the plain of dura bowed down to that image of gold because they were afraid and so when they heard the music and they remembered hey if we don't bow down we're going into the furnace they bowed down but there were three young men who didn't bow down why didn't they buy down because they didn't fare we could say well they believed in the commandments of god and they didn't want to worship an idol but the bottom line is right john right on target they weren't afraid that's right they had no fear as a matter of fact it was amazing when you read the story in detail they said to him we don't even need to talk to you concerning this matter they respected him o king you know saluted him in the way that they should as governors but they said we don't even need to discuss this with you the god we serve is able to deliver us and i love the attitude but even if he doesn't that's seriously a removal of fear because i know the furnace is hot but even if he does not deliver us our convictions are stronger than your compliance and how did nebuchadnezzar react to that he was enraged he was more angry than he was when he heard about them not bowing why because i would suggest this it wasn't so much because they weren't willing to comply he was the king he was the monarch he conquered the world the reason why he was upset is because these three young men had something that he didn't have he made the image all of gold because he was afraid right that people bowed down because they were afraid but these three young men weren't afraid they stood up because they were not afraid they had no fear now you know why the reason one of the reasons they had no fear is because they have been brought in captivity under the tudor ship of the book of isaiah that's right isaiah was predicting the babylonian captivity long before it came ezekiel and jeremiah were preaching into or speaking into that kept you they were alive when the when they went but isaiah was predicting it you know what isaiah promised them he said though you walk through the waters they shall not overflow thee and you walk through the fire it shall not burn thee that's right the flame won't even kindle upon you that's right that's what isaiah said and they took the word of god remember in every promise and every command of the word of god his power the very life of god whereby the command is realizing the promise fulfilled he who receives the word of god receives the very life and character of god wow and so they walked into that furnace the men that threw them in there died at the doors they walked in that furnace without fear and jesus christ was manifest with them and he freed them they were free going in and jesus made sure those um bindings came off to to to exemplify to illustrate that these were free these men were never bound so you talked about being thrown in prison paul and silas were in prison barnabas and paul and silas from prison they were free wow you're in prison we're free as long as that fear isn't there as long as that fear doesn't grip as long as i'm taking a risk on just asking you this question uh james you say this isn't about wearing or not wearing masks but your comments seem to say the opposite masks are not mandated worldwide where you can buy or sell a mask are not causing you to go against god's law god even made a law to quarantine lepers i think i understand the point you are making and believe we are in the toenails of the image of daniel 2 i just feel some of what you're saying will in fact cause people to question wearing mass just clear that up yeah i i i do want to clear that up but he did make a point he said you know quarantined lepers and we have a history in our world going back you know hundreds of years of quarantined sick people not quarantine healthy people so i just want to make that point right there but again i myself wear masks i myself comply and i think everyone should comply even to laws that talk about worship if they don't conflict with our worship of god does that make sense okay we can do bible meetings we can do you know cottage meetings we can do uh bible studies in that atmosphere so if we can do that we can at least wear a mask true so i want to really clear that up this is not about mask worrying this is about showing people that the viability of this bible prophecy is legit we are there it's viable it's legit we are there so now as we come down to about two minutes remaining in the program speak to our audience to those who are really gripped with this anxiety this fear and they want to find out what do i need to do to survive what i am anticipating out of fear is coming well there are a couple of things that i'd like to share along these lines just coming from the word of god our hope is not in this world and when satan came to christ and he tempted him in one place he showed him the kingdoms of this world and he said you know i'll give you all this if you bow down to me and jesus just said no way moses could have been a pharaoh in egypt but he he turned away from the pleasure of sin for a season and he chose to suffer persecution with the people of god because he had his eye on his reward he had his eye heavenwood and we are pilgrims and strangers in this world satan wants us to think that this world is where our reward is this is not where our reward is this is not where our eyes need to be what the bible wants us to do is get our minds on something better so the book of revelation doesn't end in revelation 13. doesn't end in revelation 14 15 16 17 or 18 or 19. the book of revelation doesn't even end in chapter 20 it ends in chapters 21 and 22. that's right and god is taking us to a new heaven and new earth where there's no more pain no more suffering no more sickness we as humans want to manufacture that we can't we never will be able to do that because that's god's kingdom and only god can do that we cannot create that but god can't create that so get your focus on that and not on this that's right there's no earthly utopia that's going to last eternally god is saying don't allow the world to pressure you to forget that his kingdom is not of this world and there's a better kingdom coming always good to see you james pastor rafferty and those of you that have joined us we pray that this program has been a blessing to focus you away from the crisis of the hour to the christ of the hour we know that the lord can sustain us through anything put your faith and trust in god so that the mask of the beast will not bring you fear god bless you until we see you again [Music] you

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 119,547

Rating: 4.8080654 out of 5

Keywords: prophecy, Endtimes, James Rafferty, John Lomacang, United States in prophecy, 3ABN Today live, mark of the beast

Id: IPDoBOZd5MM

Length: 116min 1sec (6961 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2021