would you join me in prayer oh man i i think i speak for all of us who have been washed by the blood lord thank you so much and we praise your name we lift your name high name above all names king above all kings lord thank you so much for your love that you set your son to the cross that we might live with you in heaven Someday soon, Lord, would You bless our time in Your Word. Speak to us clearly, Lord, clear our minds and give us a focus. As Pastor J.D. delivers the word that he has prepared, Lord, would You speak through him. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. And Amen. And good morning and welcome. You can be seated. Those of you online, we're so glad that you're joining with us. I'm going to hand the pulpit over to Pastor Mac. He's got a couple of quick announcements. All right. Good morning, Church. Blessings to you all. First, I want to remind each and every one of you of our prayer meeting happening this coming Tuesday at 7 p.m. here in the sanctuary. And I pray that all who are available to come out and pray with us would do so. Like I said, first service, you can often tell the health of a body by how we pray together. And prayerfully, we will have a good showing so we all can corporately prayer in these dark and perverted times that we're living in, because they're not going to get any better, according to the Word of God. Also, on behalf of Pastor JD, I want to make you aware of the Celebration of Life service for Nancy Kathleen Davis that will be held on September the 9th. That's next Monday. at the Mililani Memorial downtown, downtown. I want to make sure I say that. So you're in the right location, which is on 20th South Street and Kukui Street, 20 South Kukui Street. That's it. Visitation will begin at 10 30, followed by the service at 11 a.m. Nancy passed away on the 22nd of July, and she made Calvary Kaneohe her home. And if you remember, she would often make her presence known by sitting out in the foyer on one of those white couches. She would be learning the Word of God and also praising the Lord at the same time. She would be laid to rest near her hometown in New York. And she will continue to be missed by all of us. So I ask that you would please pray for her service, that she is indeed honored, and most importantly, that we honor the true and living God. So thank you. Thank you, Mac. All right. So I'm going to have to just right out of the shoot, ask you to be gracious to me in advance. You kind of have to. whether you like it or not, because you're admonished to in Scripture. So I have a bit of a asthma flare up. So I cough. It's not contagious. I'm contagious. My cough is not. It's just my asthma. I pray every time. And God is gracious. I'm in the back. I'm not, I can't even talk. I'm hacking away. And I've got my inhaler and my fisherman's friend. And then I just say, okay, Lord, when I get out there, just get me through without coughing. And then after it's over, just you can, you know, I can cough all you want me to. And it's after the meet and greet, I go back sometimes with the meet and greet, sorry, first service, those of you that I coughed on, I did so in Jesus name. But by the time I walk in the back, I'm already coughing again. So you'll excuse me and you'll forgive me in advance. Again, you have to. But afterwards I will, I would love to meet those of you that are visiting. But after that, I'm going to go home. Revelation chapter six. Our Texas verses one through eight. I'll have you stand if you're able. You can follow along as I read. Now you understand that we are starting the tribulation today. Okay, wait, let me try that again. I messed you up right out of the chute. The rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ will absolutely happen before the seven year tribulation. However, we're going to learn about the seven year tribulation before the pre tribulation rapture, starting today. We're going to start the rapture today. Okay. You want to leave? Okay. We can bow our heads and close our eyes if you want. Oh, leave that way. That's not what I was asking. That's okay. That's good though. That was good. All right, we better get to it before I start coughing again. Again, thank you for your grace. John is writing And by the Spirit says, verse one, I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, Come. I looked, verse two, and there before me was a white horse, its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown. And he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the lambers reopened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come. Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power, didn't take it, was given, to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. When the Lamb, verse five, opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come. I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, Two pounds of wheat for a day's wages, and six pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage or touch the oil and the wine. When the lamb opened the fourth seal, verse seven, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come. I looked, and there before me was a pale horse, Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given, again, given power over a fourth of the earth, wrap your mind around this, a fourth of the, over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Let's pray. If you would please join with me. Father, thank You, I think, for this portion here that we have in Your Word. It's here for a reason. Though we won't be here for this, we do need to know about this. So also Lord, there might be somebody here today in this church you see the heart. We only see the outward appearance. And or maybe somebody watching online that really needs to hear this, because for them it's a matter of life and death for all eternity. So Lord, I'm going to yield to the Holy Spirit and would just ask for the sake of Your people to keep my coffin base so it's not a distraction or a disruption. and grant me the grace of being able to clearly teach Your Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. All right, you can be seated. Thank you. I want to talk with you about how we can know with a certainty, no ambiguity, from God's Word, on the authority of God's Word, that the seven year tribulation is just about to start anytime now. Now, I know that's a pretty big and bold statement, but here's the truth. God doesn't want us to be ignorant about this, nor does God want to have us let any man deceive us concerning this. God wants us to be prepared, not scared. Unless you don't know the Lord, then you should be very afraid. And maybe that can change today, by the way. But Do you realize that well nigh 1 3rd of the Bible is prophecy? Both Old and New Testament. One has counted over 300 prophecies just specific to the first coming of Jesus Christ, born, virgin born in Bethlehem. Over 300. One has even gone as far as, and you've got to love these guys, and have an appreciation for these guys. But one has gone to the trouble. His name is Peter Stone. He wrote a book on this, by the way. He went to the trouble of trying to figure out the statistical odds of one person fulfilling even eight of those over 300 prophecies about Jesus coming the first time. And the number, I actually one time on a Resurrection Sunday service, showed the number, the odds statistically on the screen, and the font had to be like a five to fit all the zeros. on the odds of, and that's only eight. Imagine over 300. Statistically impossible. But God, in His Word, in advance, prophesied about the first coming of Jesus Christ. And so too has He also prophesied about the second coming of Jesus Christ after seven years of tribulation, which is preceded by the rapture of the church, which has to happen before the seven year tribulation. First service, I did this. I think you should probably hear this too. I came out so wrong. It's kind of like I told first service this, too bad you weren't here. But no, I want you to understand something here, because this is a misnomer that needs to be cleared up, and it's huge. So you have some that get technical about the seven year tribulation. They like to delineate between the seven year tribulation and the great tribulation. And in all fairness, there is a delineation to be made, but it is seven years of tribulation because it's the 70th week, that final seven year period of human history, also known as the time of Jacob's trouble, Israel's trouble. And it has to be seven because Israel still owes God one period of seven left. So it has to be seven. And seven is the number of completion. It can't be six. It can't be eight. Okay, so why do then people say, well, the seven year tribulation is nowhere found in the Bible. Well, first of all, they're wrong in Jesus name. They're just, and tell them that you're wrong in Jesus name. That's what my pastor said to say. It has to be seven, a period of seven. So, but they go to Matthew 24, where Jesus said that there will be a time of tribulation, the likes of which the world has never seen before, nor will ever see again. And they specify it as the last 3.5 years of the seven year tribulation after the abomination that causes desolation, when the Antichrist sets up himself as God in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God and demanding to be worshiped. So they get all fancy Nancy. Again, if you're named Nancy, we love you. Just it's an expression. If you want to get all fancy Nancy on the seven, the three and a half, all that. I'm going somewhere with this. Very important again. That's fine. We get it. Okay. I'll speak for myself. I get it, sort of. But understand that it is a seven year period. Okay. Mr. Fancy Nancy Pastor Pants. How do you explain then those who say, well, the rapture is pre-wrath? You're wrong in Jesus' name. No, we're going to go through the first part of the seven year tribulation, at least they acknowledge that. And they have this notion that the first part, the first 3.5 years are going to be just wonderful and glorious. And boy, are they in for a rude awakening. So they harp on this whole, well, I'm a pre-wrath rapture guy. You are, aren't you? Well, you know what? Actually, you're a pre-trib, you don't even know it. I'll explain it on the way up, but I'll let you know how I get there if you want. Do you know that the wrath of God starts in chapter six when the tribulation starts? See, this whole pre-wrath rapture thing is based on this idea that the wrath of God doesn't really get poured out till towards the end of the seven year tribulation. And so the church will be raptured prior to that. Well, we're going to read in chapter six, the wrath of God, the wrath of God, the wrath of God, the wrath of God. So my dear pre-wrath rapture friend, you're actually a pre-trib rapture friend. And I'll tell you again on the way up why. Here's another one. And this is equally, if not more so important. Have you heard of the partial rapture theory? This is going to be germane to our understanding, by the way. What's the partial rapture theory? Well, first of all, it's wrong in Jesus' name. Because what the partial rapture theory teaches falsely is only those who were on fire for the Lord, I mean, walking close with the Lord, in love with the Lord, only those are going to go up in the rapture. But if you're kind of, you know, you haven't been in the Word in a while, you haven't been to church in a while, and your prayer life is virtually non existent, you haven't really even tithed. By the way, we don't receive an offering here. I just want you to know that on online Uh, you're going to be left behind. Well, wait a minute. I'm a born again Christian. No, only the godly go up in the rapture. Oh man, I better, I better get to work, because that's works. But my Bible says that I'm saved by grace through faith. is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. By the way, could you imagine, I mean, let's just think this through the absurdity of it all, a partial rapture theory. So the trumpet sounds, and boy, I would not want to have the angels job that have to sift through the the, you know, Christians that are going to go and the ones that are on fire and the other ones that are, you know, they just got fire insurance, Christians and all that kind of thing. You heard that one. That's actually Paul to the Corinthians, you know. How is that exactly going to work? So like, you know, yesterday you spent some time in the Word, but you didn't read your Bible yet today. So I'm sorry, you're not going up. Wow, so much for the blessed hope. Instead of the, it's the blessed hope, it's more like, I sure hope I go up in the rapture. Pastor, why are you harping on this? I'm harping on this because we're turning a very sharp corner today in beginning chapter six, because from chapter six all the way through to chapter 19, we're going to go through the seven year tribulation, not literally. We're going to learn about the seven year tribulation. And by the way, spoiler alert, it is horrific. It is unthinkable. But the reason I'm spending the time that I am on this is because in chapter four verse one, remember, weren't the last two chapters glorious? We were in heaven. Tribulation hasn't started yet because the seal hadn't been, the scroll hadn't been opened yet. Remember John's weeping uncontrollably, sobbing bitterly, convulsing, until an elder taps him on the shoulder and says, we found him. You did? Yeah. What's his name? Jesus. He is worthy. And then we read last week where Jesus takes a scroll and He, because He's worthy, And now chapter six, verse one, he's going to open it up, and it ain't pretty. From chapter six all the way through the verse to chapter 19, the word church is not mentioned one time. This is why I'm spending the time on this. Why is the word church not mentioned one time in chapter six through 19, which by the way, deal with the seven year tribulation in graphic, and I mean graphic detail. The reason is because the church is not in the seven year tribulation, starting in chapter six. Well, yeah, but I'm still a pre-raptor. Well, then you're a pre chapter six or two, because the rap starts in chapter six. And I don't know where this came about, but somewhere along the line, somebody came up with this notion that the first 3.5 years were going to be a time of prosperity. And man, those Christians, those, you know, they're out of the way. The Holy Spirit, the restrainer isn't restraining. We can have our new age of Aquarius. Sorry about that. because they're all out of the way now. We can get on with our show. We're not going to be here for this, because the word church is mentioned 19 times in chapters one through three. Now, some argue, well, wait a minute. What about the ones that are beheaded in the tribulation? That's not the church. Ecclesia in the Greek, They're affectionately referred to as the Tribulation Saints. Are they saved? Absolutely. We're going to see them in heaven? Absolutely. Are they the bride pre-trib? Absolutely not. They're serving at the throne, not seated with the bridegroom on the throne as his bride by his side. Make that distinction. Again, it's going to be so important because As we go through this, some of you are going to freak out. And again, you need to freak out if you don't know Jesus. If you're not born again of the Spirit of God, I want to freak you out, because I want to freak you out into heaven instead of, you know, if that's what it takes. So, you know, the divine outline we saw in chapter one, verse 19, where John is told to write that which he had seen past, that which is now present. That's where we're at, by the way, right now. We're still living in chapters two and three. Then chapter four, verse one, all the way through the end of the book is all future, starting with John at the sound of the trumpet being told to come up here. That's the rapture. Church never heard again, not one time mentioned, 19 times prior mentioned. And then chapters four and five, heaven, a taste of heaven. The most, the clearest description of what it's going to be like in heaven in chapters four and five. Well, now I wish we could have just stayed in chapters four and five, but we got to go through the tribulation now. So you ready? That was not convincing at all. I want to mention for the benefit of those who weren't here for the Prophecy Update, that unique to this week, titles went together. And I'm not that clever to come up with that. This was the Lord, He's done this before. It's not very often, but when He does. It's so clear that a fool could not err thereof. The prophecy update title was, if the trial run is done. I'm speaking of the trial run that started in 2020. And spoiler alert, it's done. And it worked. It was smashing success. So if the trial run is done, and it is, then the seven year tribulation is about to start, because that's the next event on God's prophetic clock. And that trumpet is about to sound. Here's what I want to do. As we just read, John is told to come. He looks, he sees, as Jesus in heaven is opening the scroll, unsealing it. And we start off with what are commonly known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. There's actually five horsemen, but the fifth one isn't until we get to Revelation chapter 19 verse 12. And that's a white horse too. But the rider of that horse is not the Antichrist like this one. That's Jesus Christ. And we're going to see that here in a moment. Here's what I want to accomplish in our time together today. And I will be brief. Some of you have prayed that my asthma continues so that I'll try to maybe shorten it. That's okay. I know, I get it. Lord knows your heart. I have to forgive you too. So Here's what I want to do. When you understand the details concerning these judgments in this scroll, starting with just the first four, you have to, I want to try to say this in a way that's not so snarky, which doesn't come easy for me, but you can draw no other conclusion other than This is it. And we're on the cusp, on the eve, at the doorstep, whatever metaphor you choose to use, of the pre-tribulation rapture. Because see their trial run is done and it was so successful. It's just about showtime now. And now that scroll is going to be opened. And those horsemen are going to come a riding, and what they're going to bring with them is just going to be unimaginable. And so I want us to leave here today encouraged, knowing what time it is. What time it is. What time is it? Late. It's really late. In fact, it's so late that the seven year tribulation could start at any time now. That's how late it is. And if the rapture of the church is before the seven year tribulation, and it absolutely is, then that means only one thing. The rapture is even sooner. I love Pastor Chuck's illustration. Many years ago, he shared it at a pastor's conference. I totally stole it from him. He's at the mall with his wife, and it's during the holidays. He says to his wife, oh, look, honey, they've got all the Christmas decorations up already. Oh, I can't wait for Thanksgiving. And Kay's like, honey, you mean you can't wait for Christmas? No, no, no, no. No, when I see the signs up for Christmas, I get excited because Thanksgiving comes before Christmas. Thanksgiving is the rapture. All the signs are up for the seven year tribulation, and the rapture comes before. That didn't work very well, but I'm going to just leave it at that and let the Holy Spirit take it from there. I want to encourage you with what we're about to see here as, again, Pardon me. Thank you for your grace. As unimaginable as it is. And the first one with the first writer is in verses one and two. And it's that the Antichrist is at the ready now. Think about this. He's behind the stage. He's backstage. He's got his lines already memorized. He knows the script. All he's waiting for is for the curtain to be drawn. and the show to start. It's show time. As they say, the show must go on. And it's just about show time. He's alive now. He just hasn't been revealed, nor can he, until the church is removed. We'll talk about that more in a second. Now, We're told some very interesting details about this first rider, who, by the way, is the Antichrist. Please, please, please. And this is where people, there are YouTube channels out there that are saying we're already in the tribulation. And they go to Revelation chapter six and they say, see the white horse, that's Jesus Christ. It's not Jesus Christ, it's the Antichrist. And the Antichrist cannot be revealed until the church is raptured. We are not in the tribulation. And by the way, we're not in the tribulation. You better not be in the tribulation. How about they're not in the tribulation yet. We're going to be out of here. But there's not going to be anybody going, hmm, I wonder if we're in the tribulation. No, you're going to know. You're going to know. No question mark. No question. That first horse, the first horse alone, you had me at the bow. Why? Because in the Greek that word is toxon, where we get the English word toxin. Have I got your attention? Maybe you better ask, has the Holy Spirit got your attention? It gets better. We're told that he has a crown. Now this is Stephanos, not diadem. What's the difference? Stephanos is temporary. It's a wreath. In other words, the Antichrist reign is going to be temporary. When we get to Revelation 19 21, Jesus is not wearing a Stephanos, Greek. He's wearing a diadem. In fact, not just a crown, many crowns. diadem in the plural form. You see that it's a white horse, but it's the true Christ. So now we've got two details, right? And there's more. So we know that this bow, and by the way, interesting I did a little bit of research on it, and then my hair started hurting. Whatever's left of my hair was started to hurt because, but bull, rainbow implying covenant, Daniel 9 27. Because after all, he's coming on this horse to conquer. He's bent, hell bent. on conquering. You know what the word conquer in the original Greek is? Here's, how about this one? You got an Arab pastor teaching Greek today. You can tell your friends, what did you learn at church today? Greek. Wait, I thought your pastor was an Arab. Yeah, he taught us Greek. You know what the Greek word for conquer is, or conquest? Nikeo. You guys know the Nike story? I won't look at your shoes. I just did. You know the Nike story? You know, he died in a untimely death in a car accident. But this this runner was so fast that when he would run by the other runners, it was like, just like with a swoosh. That was worse than first service swoosh. That's why you get the Nike logo. It's Nike means conquest, when he would conquer one of the other competitive runners. Nikeo, Nike, that's where Nike comes from. I'm an Adidas guy myself, but that's what the, so in other words, wow, Pastor, you're talking about tennis shoes, really? Listen, he's coming temporarily, with a covenant slash toxin, and he's hell bent on conquering, conquests to conquer. Why is this important? It's important for no less than two reasons. Jesus Christ, and this is, by the way, if somebody takes you to task on this first rider of the white horse, no, it's not the Antichrist, it's Jesus Christ. I want you just to ask them in love, don't be militant like your pastor's militant. It's a custom in my country, not yours. Just ask them, just say, can I just ask you, how can that be Jesus Christ on that horse? He's in heaven opening the scroll. releasing this. So he can't be on the horse. What does he do? Run down? And plus he doesn't come for that purpose. He doesn't come to conquer. He comes to save. The Son of Man did not come to condemn, but to save. Okay, are we good so far? That's the first reason that's important. This is Jesus Christ in heaven opening the scroll and releasing these judgments with the first rider of the first white horse. I suppose you could say that the true Christ controls the Antichrist. You understand that? The devil is God's devil. The Antichrist, he's You'll forgive the expression, no pun intended. I guess this is a horse metaphor. The Antichrist is chomping at the bit. Is that a horse metaphor? He's chomping at the bit, but he can't until God says, okay, now, now, now it's time. You can't do anything. First of all, I'm getting my church out of there. You think I'm going to let my bride get all bussed up before our wedding? No, I'm going to bring I'm going to get her out of there, that's for sure. I'm going to bring her up here. And then once I bring my bride up here, good, good. Oh, by the way, enjoy it while it lasts, because it's temporary. Stephanos, seven years. You know, the Antichrist is cast in the lake of fire before anyone else. Seven years. But until then, You're just going to have to cool your jets, man. You can't do anything. God is in absolute sovereign control of everything, and the Antichrist cannot be revealed until Jesus Christ says, okay, now it's time, and not until. The second reason this is important has to do with the fact that it comports with other Bible prophecy that confirms the biblical chronology. Let me explain. I'm going to use a fancy term that makes it sound like I'm really smart. You ready? Wait for it. Hermeneutics. Makes me sound smart, doesn't it? All it means is Scripture interpreting Scripture. So in other words, I can go to Revelation, especially Revelation, because of all the allusions to the Old Testament. And I can go to the Old Testament to interpret the Book of Revelation. In fact, the Old Testament is the key to the Book of Revelation. I could go to Second Thessalonians to interpret the chronology, the divine outline in the Book of Revelation, and all throughout Scripture, replete throughout Scripture, Scripture interpreting Scripture. It comports. The Antichrist cannot be revealed till the church is removed. And it's, God is a God of order, right? And there's this divine order, and it's perfect, because God is perfect. So we need to know these details. And I'm going to quote Second Thessalonians chapter 2, one verse, verse three, stand alone. This seals the deal. We've done teachings on this. We, I, what's this we stuff? But you, you've taught us this. I hope so. I want to read it from the 1599 Geneva Bible. This is pre 1611 King James. And by the way, for anyone who's a King James only, I just want you to know that you need to repent. I know that's strong, but it needs to be. It needs to be. So this is pre 1611. How about that? the Geneva Bible, one verse. Listen, key word, let no man deceive you. Stop. We let people deceive us. We let them. We give them permission to deceive us. Let no man deceive you. Stop letting them do that to you. Stop letting them get away with that. Let's see, the problem is every time I get worked up, I cough. But that's a problem because I get worked up all the time. Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day, what day? The day of the Lord, not the Lord's day. The day of the Lord, the seven year tribulation when God pours out His wrath, starting in chapter six, upon a Christ rejecting world, the day of the Lord, the judgment of the Lord, the judgment of God, that will not come except there come a departing first, departure slash rapture first. Then all hell is going to break loose. That man of sin will be disclosed, even the son of perdition, but not before. Question, what would be the purpose of revealing the Antichrist while the church is still here? Let me follow up with this. What would be the purpose in having the church go through the seven year tribulation? What does that accomplish? Well, we've got to prove ourselves. There's your works again. How's that working out for you? Working out for you. Well, the martyrs, you know, the early church, I mean, they went through persecution. Many were burned at the stake. What makes us so special that we, that we're just going to escape, that you pre-tribbers, you're all, you're all about escaping? To which I respond, yeah. Are you kidding me? Have you read 6 through 19 revelations? This verse, 2 Thessalonians 2, through great, great resource, by the way, pardon me, Dr. Andy Woods, Sugar Land Bible Community Church in Texas. We will make the books available. They're easy to read, one sitting, physical or spiritual departure. He does an outstanding work. He was a student of Dwight Pentecost, and We'll make that book available upon request for you if you're interested. But stand alone, this one verse is sound doctrine about a pre tribulation rapture before the Antichrist can be revealed. And that's why this is important. By the way, so far, okay, and I know I keep asking you this. How you doing? Don't, it's rhetorical. But doesn't that encourage you? Let me flip it around. Let's just say for purpose of discussion that, that, you know, I'm wishy washy about all this, and I'm, you know, maybe it could be, you know, it's a theory. Well, how secure are you going to be? I mean, you know, The pastor is unsure. Well, then I'm not sure either. And conversely, man, this pastor really believes what he's talking about. He really believes this stuff. He better believe it, that I believe this stuff. I'm not wishy washy. I'm like, I love it how one online member said it. I'm not wishy washy. I'm watchy watchy. Because I know the day is fast approaching. But doesn't it encourage you? I mean, how would your Christian life, what would your Christian life, better asked, look like if you were all uncertain and ambiguous about whether or not you're going to go through any part of the seven year tribulation? Isn't that a game changer? Isn't that a game changer? When you go to the store and you have to ask them if they offer financing to buy three cans of corn, a loaf of bread, and some spicy ahi poke. You had to get that in there, because the prices are just off the charts. By the way, that's coming up. I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. When you go to the store, this is a real talk now, okay. I'm talking about everyday, real life stuff here. you go to the store and you are sound doctrinally in the pre tribulation rapture, that's not going to move you like it would somebody that's, well, I'm not really sure yet. I don't know how I would. Yeah, I better be careful because people already think I'm crazy. So But my sanity, literally my sanity, if I didn't, if I wasn't sound doctrinally in the pre tribulation rapture of the church, I wouldn't leave the house. Go put gas in that whatever you drive. By the way, if you have an electric car, you're still saved. But I'm just curious. I mean, Can you get, can you get like three blocks without having to charge back up again? And you always get, and by the way, what, do you guys get your cars key? Because you guys got the parking spots right up front so you can charge your, your electric. I better stop. That's between, I better go to the Lord with that. I will. That's okay. If you have one, we love you. If you have an electric car and your name is Nancy, we really love you. Let's move on. Verses three and four. Prophesied war is at any time now. I mean, are you kidding me right now? On the cusp. I mean, I can almost picture Jesus like, okay, get the second horseman ready. Who's the second horseman? Oh, the fiery red one. Oh, that one. You know what the Greek word for the fiery red, it's pyro, where we get English words like pyromaniacs. Get him ready, he's up next. Well, what's he going to do? Get this, he's going to take peace from the earth, not bring war to the earth. He's going to take peace from the earth. The war will ensue. Can you imagine once the restrainer is out of the way and we're rapture, what this world is going to be like? I mean, look at what it's like now. You know, I hear from visitors who come from these, you know, the mainland. They tell me horror stories. They can't even go downtown anymore. And the police won't even go into these areas anymore. They've been taken over by all kinds of just debauchery and drugs. And I mean just, and the restrainer is still restraining. And the church, the salt in the earth, salt and light is still preserving. staving away the darkness. And you're telling me that the church is removed, there goes the salt and the light, and the restrainer is out of the way. Wow. And then these horses are coming with these riders to take peace. That's not going to take very long because not a whole lot of peace to take by that time. Some believe that, and I don't think you can be dogmatic about it, but it does fit, there's merit to it, that this second horse could actually be the catalyst for the prophesied war of Ezekiel 38, because you've taken peace from the earth now. So now there's no peace, only war, the antithesis of peace. Again, why is this important? Why am I yelling and spitting again and coughing now? Because once the Antichrist with his toxic conquest starts the seven year tribulation, the wars prophesied in Scripture will commence exactly according to Scripture. Listen, everything is coming to pass exactly as God's Word said it would, with 100% accuracy at breakneck speed in real time as we speak. That should be so encouraging to you. I know it is for me. I wake up in the morning and I think to myself, maybe today, that'd be so cool. That's why I preach my heart out every time I get up here, because this could be my last sermon I preach, my last prophecy update I do. I'm going to go out with a bang. You know, I want to, I don't want to go out whimpering like, you know, oh cool, the rapture, let's go. No, man, you heard that expression, go big or go home. I'm going to do both. I'm going to go home and I'm going to go big. when I go home to be with the Lord in the rapture. Number three, I don't like this horseman, by the way. I'm just going to, just straight up, because it is a reminder of how even now the world economy is collapsing. You know that, right? And by design, incidentally. because the controlled demolition of the current world economy is for the purpose of ushering in the cashless new world economy, one world economy. So this is all. But the restrainer restrains. The church is still here, and the Lord hasn't given them the green light yet. But when He does, and that third seal is open, and that horse starts a riding. Very interesting. He doesn't have a bow. He's got a pair of scales in his hand. What? Well, in our modern day, we don't really quite understand it. But this was how they did commerce, trade, buying and selling. See, this is Back in the day, you wanted to buy a pound of sugar. You had the scales. So you took a one, and it had to be true. So you weren't getting ripped off, which they were ripping people off anyway. But they would put a one pound weight on one side of the scale, put it back, start pouring sugar. And as soon as that scale was even, that's one pound. That's how they measured it. So this third rider has these scales. And I'm okay so far. It's kind of like, okay, you know, if you're into scales, that's fine. A little old fashioned. We got new technology now, but whatever. But the problem comes when he hears that it takes, now listen, it takes a whole day's pay. I don't know what you make in a day, to buy just the ingredients to make the bread. You don't even, you can't go into the bread section and buy a loaf of bread. No, you're buying the wheat to make the bread. And it costs you your entire day's wages just to get the ingredients, the wheat to do it. How about the barley? The barley is for the livestock, not people. But listen, when you're, when there's famine, you're dying of starvation, you'll eat anything. So wheat, barley, it's going to take an entire day's wages just to get those ingredients. And very interesting detail. I hope you didn't miss it. Don't touch the oil or the wine, luxury items. They remain untouched. Why? Because nobody can afford them. They sit on the shelves and they collect dust. Who can buy that? I love olive oil. Again, this is a custom in my country. Oh, dip it in the, oof, the bread. That's the key to good hummus, by the way. I'm going to digress. Let me have this one. If you're fasting, I'm sorry. If you haven't had lunch yet, this is your appetizer. The key to hummus, listen to me, garlic, not too much. It makes it bitter. Salt, not too much. garbanzo beans. If canned fresh takes too long, I buy the canned. Put them in, mix them, mix them up. But the secret is in two ingredients, the tahini, which is the sesame seeds, and the olive oil. There is olive oil that just melts in your mouth. I'm getting hungry, so we're going to end the sermon here real fast. But these are luxury items. Forget that bottle of, I'm not a wine expert, Cabernet, you know, that was a good year, 19 whatever, that was a good year, you know, like a bottle of your, you know, vintage classic wine. And they put it in the glass, you see it, you know, you just swirl it around. What are you smelling it for? It's all the ambiance. It's all show. Who can afford that anymore? So it remains untouched. Common folk can't afford it. All they can afford is what they made that day, just to buy some ingredients to make hopefully some bread. Number four, this is where it gets a little bit intense. So buckle up your seat belts. We're in for a rough ride. Okay. Verses seven and eight. Poisonous diseases are happening now. How do you get there? Okay, I'll explain. This pale horse, I mean, you got white, fiery red, and then here comes this green, sickly pale, not even a nice color green, just like a sick, you know, like a medical green, pale, and it's pale, a pale horse. You know what that word in the original language is? Wait for it. You're going to have to because I'm coughing. I'm all choked up. It's a Greek word, chloros, from where we get chlorine. Chemical. Hmm. Are you guys seeing some parallels here? For those who were here for the update, that's what the update was about. The trial run, it was almost to a T. All of these four horsemen, trial run. Let's see how it flies first. The toxin, the deaths, we're coming up on that. And now we've got a a chemical, biological, pale horse come. Wow, that's, that's interesting. You want to know what's more interesting? It's how it ends in verse eight. Because he were told that when the second horse, fiery red, you know, removes peace and they kill each other. People turn on each other and they kill each other. And then we're given a list of how, famine, pestilence. It parallels Matthew 24, by the way, wars, rumors of wars, kingdom rising against kingdom, nation against nation, ethnic group against ethnic group, turning on each other, killing each other. It's a parallel. hermeneutics. I just wanted to sound smart again one more time. But there's one thing here and easily missed it first read. And even if you go to the original Greek, which I did again, I should, I should have known better because I tried this before. I've taught this many times. And I remember the last time it's the Greek word for wild beasts at the end of verse eight. The wild beast is, Theanos, I think in the Greek. So we picture wild beasts. What comes to mind when I say wild beasts? Big four legged, you know, lions and tigers and bears. Oh no. Well, I decided to do a little bit more research on this Greek word. And what I found was just astonishing, because it doesn't necessarily mean these big wild beasts, though that's going to be in play. But it can also carry with it the idea of microscopic, poisonous, bacterial, viral, and they're deadly. In fact, one has argued that the microscopic biological warfare, if you will, is more deadly than the wild bees. When was the last time you heard somebody died by being mauled by a bear? I hope nobody had that happen. I'd be careful when I ask questions like this. Somebody raises their hand, I did, it was horrible. I'm like, oh man, I shouldn't have asked. Well, aren't we seeing this? Well, pastor, you just got them telling us we're not in the tribulation. Now you're telling us everything that makes us sound like we're in the tribulation. No, here's what I'm saying. If we're already seeing things that will find their ultimate fulfillment in the seven year tribulation, my goodness, how close are we to the seven year tribulation? I want to close with two questions. Doesn't that bring hope to your heart when you hear those words? Two questions. I hope you know whenever I post questions, I ask them of myself. You know that, right? Let's consider these two questions specific to these aforementioned four writers. First, wouldn't it stand to reason that though we're not in the seven year tribulation, we absolutely must be ever so close to the seven year tribulation? If the trial run that is eerily similar to these four horsemen was met with such success, and it was over four years ago now, what are they going to do? Say, well, it worked. We'll hang tight for a few years, revisit it. Maybe another 10, 20, 30, 40 years. No, it worked. It's showtime. I share with the first service update real quick. Over 40 years ago, I lived in Spokane, Washington, very interesting city. It was not close in proximity to another metropolitan city, like namely Seattle. So it was kind of isolated, standalone. And it became the test marketing area for new products. So like my wife and I would go out to the mailbox and there'd be a trial packet of this new product. And the idea was that if it will sell in Spokane, uninfluenced by other major markets, it'll sell everywhere. So we got trial packets and I used them. I probably shouldn't have used some of them. Do you know that on the shelves of some of our stores here in Hawaii today, Those products are there because the trial run was successful. You see where I'm going with this? 2020 was a dress rehearsal. It was a trial run. You know, in Broadway shows, they always have the dress rehearsals. And it's front to finish. No interruptions. No, let's try this one. Let's do that one. Let's try that instead. No. It's a full dress rehearsal, full show, front to finish, before the real show starts. Uh, the real show is going to start. Dress rehearsal went smashingly well. Did I already use the word smashing once? Here's the second question I want to pose, and then we're done. understand the reason that after all we've been through, that even now we're already hearing the hoof beats of the four horsemen getting louder by the day. Why? Because the trial run was a success, man. So now it's showtime. I am personally of the belief, and I shared one in particular headline that was, kind of ruined my day. It was Thursday, from Thursday. Basically it was, this is the gist of it. With COVID on the rise, we may have to revert to restrictions of 2020. Is this a joke? Another one, just the headline. COVID surge causes, this is a military publication, school, school closures. I'm like, school hasn't even started. We're still in the summer. You're closing the school because of a COVID search ware. By the way, I need to get this out of the way. I don't have COVID. When I'm coughing, don't look at me like I have COVID. I've never had COVID. I have asthma. They still have that, you know. The common cold, you hear somebody sneeze, God forbid, don't sneeze in public. They'll tackle you to the ground. You know, deep behind me saying, oh my God, I don't want to get sick. Where's my mask? I need another 58th booster shot. I mean, I know we laugh, but come on. Is this not what these four horsemen are going to bring with them. We've already kind of got a little taste of it. And we ain't seen nothing yet, as the saying goes. Man, those hoof beats are getting louder. And that's a good thing. I hope they don't start fainting away, because that means that we're going to be here a little bit longer. I don't want to be here any longer. I want to go home. I'm so over this world. We have long ago overstayed our welcome in this world. I hope, Capon, why don't you stand up so I have to close. And then why don't you stand up so I have to close. I hope that these prophecy updates, I'm speaking broadly now, I hope they leave you with a, of course, I hope they leave you encouraged, but I also hope that they have the much needed effect of you viewing your life through the lens of the imminent rapture of the church. Meaning that you hold on to things loosely now. things that once had luster and appeal and those motivations and dreams and aspirations. Is aspiration is the right word? Someone just humor me and say it. Because don't you aspirate when you get the... That's a different word, right? That's okay. Someone's going to correct me. I'm going to get it. Just go ahead. All those things, you know, your plan. Nothing wrong with plans. Have plans. Don't let plans have you. Have plans, but hold on loosely to them. We're in the world, not of the world. And back to the car. I owe you an apology. If you drive a Tesla, praise the Lord. I hear there are nice cars. I think they're overpriced, but it's going to burn. Yeah. You knew that was coming, right? It's all going to burn. The world is passing away. Here we are out there every weekend polishing that thing. Oh, my goodness, there's a fingerprint on the window. Can't have that. I'm driving my bus up whatever, you know, 20 year old car held together by duct tape. What's that saying? If it If it moves and it shouldn't use duct tape, if it doesn't move and should use WD-40. I don't care because, I mean, it's just all going to burn. True story. I'll end with this. This will be my final closing. We're on the mainland, young believer. This guy just said what I said. I got to remember. He's giving this guy a hard time about his car. He said, you know, it's, it's going to burn. And then it did. No, for real. And then the guy's like, I need to repent. There must be unconfessed sin in my life. My car burned to the ground. The brother was gracious. I wouldn't have been so gracious. I would have said, see, I told you you need to repent, your car burned. I wasn't talking about now. I'm talking about when the world's passing away. Why are we holding on so tightly to the temporal things of this world? That's God saying end. Father, thank You for getting me through this. And thank You for the grace and the patience of Your precious people. Lord, we so long for that day to come as we see the hour fast approaching. Lord, I don't know, You know the heart, but I only see the outward appearance. And You know who's watching online right now. And Lord, if there's anybody that doesn't know You, or even unsure about their relationship with You, I pray that today, right now, whatever time zone they might be in watching online, right now, There's also, if beats get louder, that they would make the most important decision of their life, for eternal life. And Lord Jesus, even so, Lord Jesus, Maranatha, come quickly, Lord Jesus, take us out of this, this world to that place You prepared for us. In Jesus' name, Amen.