End of the World: WW 4 and Rapture Controversy

In Part 1 of End of the World: WW4 and Rapture Controversy, we confront the growing tension in the world and what Scripture actually says about the timing of the end. This message breaks down the biblical foundation of the rapture, the removal of the restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2, and why the Antichrist cannot be revealed until that moment. We also examine a powerful pattern in Revelation—the church (ekklesia) is mentioned repeatedly in chapters 1–3, then disappears during the tribulation narrative—raising the question: is the church removed before global judgment begins? This teaching challenges popular opinions and brings clarity through prophecy, scripture, and early church understanding.

📆 Service Time & Location
✩ Sundays @ 10:30AM
✩ 3883 Westmart Dr. STE 230, Houston TX 77042

📞 Contact Us
✩ Email: anifcontact@gmail.com
✩ Office: (331) 707-8872

📲 Stay Connected
✩ Instagram: @houstonrevivalchurch
✩ Facebook: All Nations International Fellowship
✩ Website: www.houstonrevivalchurch.com

🌱 Support the Ministry
Your partnership helps us spread the message of truth and revival to the nations.
✩ Cash App: $AllNationsHoustonTX
✩ PayPal: The River Church Tulsa
✩ Zelle: anifcontact@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hello, and welcome to Living Truth, the teaching ministry of Joseph Castillo. We encourage you to listen to today's message over and over again so that the word of God will be in your spirit. Be a blessing. Share it with your friends. And we pray that you will be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We also invite you to visit us on mind at www.amin.com.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Amen. Facebook has never claimed to make the cripples walk. Nor has it ever claimed to make the blind to speak. However, it has enabled the dumb to speak. So you got you know, nowadays it's good and it's bad because nowadays, first of all, uh because the advent of of YouTube and Facebook and X, uh the good thing is that we now know that all the medias around the world are lying to us, you know, so that's the good thing, right? And then uh, but the negative thing too is then you also get got a lot of nonsense on there too, right? So now there's a lot of nonsense, and now people have to really kind of sort through the truth. So when we talk about subjects such as uh Israel, Iran, and the war, these are very hot-button subjects right now. Uh, especially Israel is a very hot-button uh subject. There is uh a ton of anti-Semitism in the world right now, in America right now, which is actually prophesied about. The Bible talks about that. And I never understood for you know, I'm I'm 46 and I gotta say down 18. And for you know, the first 10-15 years, I never understood why everyone in the end would attack Israel. Now I know why, you know, I never could imagine why everyone wanted to attack Israel, why there would be so much, you know, uh genuine anti-Semitism. Now I know, uh, you know, thanks to Ye, you know, that anything could be called anti-Semitic, right? And because of the abuse of that term and the hypersensitivity of that term, it's actually made people more uh anti-Semitic. If they would have cooled down on that, people would be less anti-Semitic. But because they call everything anti-Semitic, just anything at all, that doesn't align with a particular agenda, it now caused a lot more people to be anti-Semitic. So we're gonna take a look at that uh a little bit, but we're gonna be looking at it from a biblical perspective. One thing clear the Bible says that in the end times, and we'll get there, is that Israel will be a trembling cup, and all nations were gather around Israel to attack Israel, and the Lord shall return. So that's for sure, and we're starting to see things play out uh why that would happen, right? It's also quite interesting that we don't see a lot about America America. You have to kind of really stretch to find America in the Bible, and we have to ask ourselves why, you know. There are some different hypotheses out there, but we don't see a lot about America in the Bible. But obviously, uh obviously, God does have a plan for this nation, and uh you see a prophetic symbol of America when the Bible talks about the uh the lion, which stands for Britain, and how this has wings of eagles, and the wings are ripped out of that lion, and and they come and they're established somewhere else as a nation. So we see those eagles' wings as being represented in America and Bible prophecy, and the lion representing England. But we are definitely in tumultuous times, we are in times of much controversy, uh high sensitivity, and and the Bible talks a lot about these things. So I want to get into a little bit of this. We're in a time now where uh a lot of things are in question. Uh there are mainstream common America is questioning things about Israel, about Jews who are the real Jews. Uh, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm Italian and Guatemalan, so some of my friends from Atlanta, they're in this uh cult called the Hebrew Israelites. And they say, Oh, you're Guatemalan, you're a Jew. And he said, You know, you know, we the real Jew. Jojo, who says, We the real Jews. And I'm like, okay, I don't know. I gotta, I don't know, I gotta, you know, I gotta dig that up, but I don't know, you know. Um, but we, you know, the Bible warns what not what whether I yes, there are uh a lot of people that that are if DNA-wise, they're not Jewish, right? But the Bible says to avoid those arguments, it says avoid vain genealogies, it where people, it says because they gender strife, they create arguments. The way that every cult starts is every cult starts by majoring on the minors, majoring on small trivial matters. Now Jehovah's Witnesses started a cult saying his name is Jehovah, and now that's even now that's people even challenge that now. I was surprised. I thought everyone knew that, right? But when I was growing up in the Jehovah's Witness cult, because my grandma was a Jehovah's Witness, I thought I was in the truth because first of all, they called it the truth, so I thought Jehovah's Witnesses was the truth because they called to the truth, right? You know, that's kind of kind of gaslight you or brainwash you. But truly, they were the only ones that called themselves Jehovah's Witnesses, and if that's the English name for God, actually, Hebrew was you, hey, bad he, we added the vows and say Jehovah or Yahweh, right? So they're the only ones saying Jehovah. But then I got born again, and I won't get into that testimony, and I went to my church, which was a full gospel. Well, my pastor was a guy named Bill Winston in Chicago, Living World Christian Center, big church. And at that time they had about 6,000 members, and I was the only Guatemalan in the whole church. You know, you've been with me, you know, there's not many, many people of my complexion there, but I felt right in, I felt a home because it was a spiritual thing, not a fleshly thing, right? And Pastor Winston became my daddy spiritually, and they were singing a song about Jehovah. I think they were singing, There's no God like Jehovah. And I was like, Wow, these, you know, these Gentiles or whatever, these these non-Jehovah Witnesses know his name is Jehovah too. Because I always thought growing up my whole life, only us Jehovah's Witnesses knew his name is Jehovah, right? So what happened though is that this that cult, the Jehovah's Witnesses, they be they be built the religion majoring on a minor. And then you got the Hebrew Israelites, they built the religion majoring around minor, they major on color, they major on genealogy, Jehovah's Witnesses major on his name is Jehovah. And then you have the you know, just all the schisms in different churches and cults and everything that's built up over the centuries have all done it by majoring on oftentimes a minor, something that is a very minor thing. Now we could say the the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation, because you know, most of the Western world was Catholic at one point. Catholics were not the only ones. I know they say they were the only ones, but there were the Coptics that started around the same time as the Catholics. There was the Assyrian Church, which also started around the same time as the Catholics. Then there was also the Eastern Orthodox, which also started. So, you know, you have more than just the Catholic Church that is 2,000 years old. Just so you guys know, okay? I'm not going to get into it now, but the Catholic Church is not the only old church. The Ethiopian Coptic Church started right in the book of Acts when uh Philip the Evangelist ministered to the Ethiopian. He went back to Ethiopia and they started that church. They're you could say they're older than the Catholics, okay? So the Catholics don't have the corner on the market of being the oldest Christian faith. Just so you know, just take note of that, amen. But we had the great Protestant Reformation where most of the West was Catholic, and Martin Luther found something, and he found out that we're saved by grace and we're saved through faith, and that was a big major thing. And he had also a bunch of other uh things that he found were not scriptural, and he penned a thesis and he he he nailed it on the door of the church on Halloween, October 31st, you know, long time ago. And he started this Protestant Reformation. Now, he wasn't really majoring on minors, and it's kind of a big deal to believe that you're saved by works, you're saved by ten Hill Mary's and and five whatever's and you know, and and be flagellating yourself or paying for your sins to be forgiven, because it's very common even today that uh a way that you could get forgiveness from God is to give a big donation to the church. They still do that in the Catholic Church today. Uh, you know, and so they would sell indulgences where if you pay so much money, you get your sins forgiven. They still do it today. If you give a big donation, they'll pray for you so that your relatives will come out of purgatory and they could get into heaven. They still do that today, right? So, so Martin Luther, you know, he found in scripture that we're saved by grace through faith, and it's not of ourselves, it's a gift from God, so nobody can boast. That's kind of a I wouldn't say that's a minor, I would say that's kind of a big thing. But, anyways, schisms and splits and churches are created and developed, denominations are created and developed based upon oftentimes a difference of opinion, a small doctrine, or uh majoring on a minor, maybe majoring on a big thing, but then another church or another denomination starts. The Bible says don't get into debate and strife and discrepancies. Now, when I was younger, like my sons, I wanted to argue Bible stuff with everybody. But now that I'm older, I just want to relax. You know, I don't feel like I don't have the I don't want to argue with anybody, amen. I just want to relax and focus on whatever I'm focusing on, which might just be a ball game or some sport event, right? You know, I don't want to argue as much as I did when I was younger, but the Bible says don't get into strife and arguments and divisions. And it's interesting because there are now, you know, all these camps forming in society and families and social media, creating strife and divisions and arguments. But I just want to point today to what the Bible says because it's very relevant. We are living in the times that the Bible prophesied about. And one of the things that are that has become contentious in the church in the last recent years has been the doctrine that's called the rapture. Rapture. Now, the word rapture is not in the Bible, and so oftentimes people will say, Well, there's no such thing as Trinity because the word Trinity is not in the Bible, or there's no such thing as rapture because the word rapture is not in the Bible. That's a very weak argument, okay? Yes, the word trinity is not in the Bible, but the label that has been used to say of the triune nature of God is because doctrine, the Bible says, the apostles taught that there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. You know, so all throughout scripture we see doctrine that there is that that God is a tripart being. And why would he not be a three-part being if we are three-part beings? Because we're made in his image and his likeness, we're spirit, soul, and body. So we're made in his image. So there is this tripart uh being of God, amen. We call it the Trinity. Just because that word is not in the Bible doesn't mean it's not doctrine. So the word rapture is not in the Bible, but to make an argument based upon that alone is a bad argument. You have to really look at scripture. So let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and we're gonna look at rapture right now. Why? Why are we looking at rapture? Because we need to know if Iran activates sleeper cell terrorist attacks. I was with the mayor on Wednesday, and I the mayor, I got up. The mayor said, I'm taking questions. Does anybody have a question? I said, I have a question, Mayor Whitmeyer. I stood up, they've they got me this time because last year I raised my hand, they didn't call me. But this year they called me, you know. So I raised my hand, they called me, I stood up, I said, Mr. Mayor, I want to know about sleeper cell attacks. They say there's 50,000 uh Shi' Muslim Hezbollah terrorists in America, and Houston, Dallas, uh, have most of them living here. We're the biggest Shi' population right here in Houston. And I said, So what are we doing? What should we be aware of? Should we be careful of? Number one. Number two, what are you guys doing? Do you know of any of these sleeper cells? Are you guys doing anything to prevent an attack here in Houston? Because on the news, this the uh government, I forgot which department, they said that uh Iran just gave a press conference and they gave the go code to activate the sleeper cells. It happened on Monday. So I said, What are we gonna do? How can we protect our families? What do you have to say? This is Wednesday. And he was like, After my question, he sat down. He usually answers about seven to ten other questions. After my question, he said, That's all, guys. And he just walked away. And when I said that question, the whole room got quiet. He looked very nervous, and he said, Well, I'm gonna tell you guys something I haven't told anybody. I'm gonna tell you right now here. He said, I was contacted by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security yesterday. And he said, and they had a briefing with me, and they said Houston is the number one target for China and Russia. He said, We are now moved up to number one target for China and Russia, and if the war escalates, which is which is gonna escalate around the Strait of Harmouth, which is this area in near Iran where all the boats come through that bring oil and food and stuff, and because of the war, China is now being squeezed out, Korea, Japan, like all of Asia gets their oil from that side of the world. And it's already in China, there's already people miles long trying to get gas in China right now because of what's happening right there in that strait. If Russia and China get drawn into this, which are Iran's allies, they said the first city to strike is Houston. And he said to them, Why Houston? He said, Not New York, the financial capital. And they said, and they said, No, it's Houston because you're the energy capital. If they can knock out the power grid, the oil and the gas, the liquid gas, they could cripple the country. So Houston is target one. Yeah, all the pipelines come here. And he said, We are now on the world's radar, is what he said. And he said, That's all I have to say. He said, We're working with the FBI to try and break up the sleeper cells, arrest the sleeper cells. But if this was China, it'd be no problem. Because in China they would just go arrest them, no proof. But in America, they have to wait till you blow something up, then they arrest you. Well, it's no good after you, you know, you you blow everybody up, now you go to jail, like you know, but that's that's you know, that's freedom, right? That's that's guilt, not guilty before proven innocent, whatever that saying is, you know. There's pros and cons to that, okay? So China would already have them all arrested, but unfortunately, matter of fact, we had one guy in our church named Shazed from Pakistan, and when we we passed in Beijing, he trained with ISIS, and he was on a chat group with his friends on social media, and he mentioned something about his training with ISIS, and China went in, arrested, and deported him the same day. He said within an hour or two from on the chat group, they were at his door and deported him. Nothing, no, he didn't blow nothing up. But China's like, no, we don't take no chances. So, you know, there's some benefit in that, amen. But he said, We are working with FBI and so on, but they're really what they're waiting for them to do is do something, then they arrest him. Like, we you know, I don't know what good that is, but he said just you know that he just got quiet and he left. He didn't take no more questions. He was like, and I I felt like he's very stressed out and over. This is what he said. He said, Look, I'm just trying to focus on taking out the garbage. We're just trying to make sure that the dumpsters are emptied out properly and on time in Houston. He said, I don't want to do, I don't, I don't want to be dealing with what's going on in Iran. He said, I'm a local mayor. It's none of my, you know, it's like I don't I don't want those issues, is what he said. You know, but unfortunately, Houston is a critical infrastructure city. So this is why I'm sharing this. My sons asked me, they said, Dad, are we gonna be here when the antichrist comes to power, third world war, nuclear war? Are we gonna be here as Christians? So this is a very relevant question right now. Are we gonna be here? Are we gonna have to go through this? You know, let's see what the Bible says. First Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16 through 17. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this uh message, for this teaching from the Bible. I pray that you think through my mind, speak through my lips, that you anoint me in these lips of clay to speak forth your word with excellency, with accuracy, and with boldness. We bind the powers of the air and declare in Jesus' name the truth gives us, Father God, understanding, and in all our getting, we get understanding. The truth makes us free, and also, Father God, helps us balance all of the talking heads on social media that are that that don't understand biblical things, and Father God gives us a message of hope to people in Jesus' name, amen. First Thessalonians 4 16 and 17 says, For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain. Say that's me. I'm alive, I'm here on the earth in this day, amen. So we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. That word caught up is the Greek word harpazo, h-a-r-p-a-z-o. Harpazo, which means snatched suddenly. This is where people come up with the word rapture. It means to be snatched up suddenly. Rapture. The Latin Vulgate actually, instead of harpazo, the Latin uses the word rapimor, which I probably pronounced that wrong because I don't speak Latin. I barely speak Mexican, amen. But that's where the English word rapture comes from. This indicates the sudden removal of believers. So when the Lord blows that trumpet, the believers are removed. Those who are alive and remain in Christ get caught up together with him. So this is meaning Christ in the air, not the Christ returning to the earth in the second coming. Okay, so this is the key distinction. I want to point something out to you. If you have a Bible, you have Revelation chapter one, Revelation chapter two, revelation chapter three. All three of these chapters in Revelation have a word in there Ecclesia, translated in the English church. Can you say what? Me church. So you see the word church all throughout Revelations 1, all throughout Revelations 2, all throughout Revelations 3. Then Revelations chapter 4 and verse 1 says this, watch this. After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet. Say trumpet. Talking with me. What does the trumpet say? Come up hither. After Revelation 4, 1, you don't see the church one time at all. Ecclesia church does never appear again in chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, the rest of the book of Revelation, you don't see the church again after the trumpet blows, the door opens up, and he says, Come up. But you see war, you see disease, you see nuclear weapons. If you look in this, you see nuclear weapons, you see skin melting off people's bones, you see destruction, but what you don't see is ecclesia. From the time in verse 1 of chapter 4, where he says, Come up hither by the trumpet, you don't see the church again until you get to Revelation 19 and you see the church in heaven singing hallelujah to the Lamb. Do you hear me? That, my friend, is scripture proof that we will not be here. All these trumpets that blow and the bowls of wrath that are poured out, and chapter 4, 5, 6, 7, and all the beheadings and all the mark of the beast, all of those things don't happen with the church here, according to Revelation chapter 4, verse 1. Do you hear me? We never see the word church one more time. Now let's look at 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Let's look at verse 51 and 52. When you get there, say amen. All right, are we there? Okay, 1 Corinthians 15, 51 and 52. Behold, I show you a mystery. The reason this is debated, the reason why people don't believe in it, the reason there's challenging to this is because it's a mystery. Jesus said to you, I speak, he said, I speak in parables to those who are without, but to those who are within, he said, are for the mysteries. One of the things I like about the black culture, you know what I like about the black culture? Because I went to Bible college with whites, blacks, and Mexicans, and I hung out with all three groups. But sometimes it was with like because they all hung out by themselves. The blacks hung out with themselves, the whites hung out with themselves, and the Mexicans hung out with themselves. But I'm from Chicago, so I hung out with everybody, you know. But when I was with the blacks, one of the things I loved that was so much fun about it, besides the fact we played spades and bones and dominoes and everything, is that they always talked in code. Code and induendos, and it was constantly inside jokes, right? You didn't have that with the white people, with the Mexican people. But with with with the with my black friends, it was always like codes and inside jokes. And I liked being in the know. I liked knowing what they were talking about, who they were talking about. Like everything was like kind of codes and duendos. And Jesus said, That's how I deal with my church. He said, with the people who are without, they don't know what I'm talking about. He said, but to my people I speak clearly. We understand it. Amen. Yeah. So he says, This is a mystery. The outside don't understand it. He said, We shall not all sleep. Say sleep. Sleep means die. He says, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. What did harpazo mean? It meant to be snatched up, right? It meant to be snatched up suddenly. Hallelujah. Suddenly these are my favorite verses in the Bible. Hallelujah. He says, We in the twinkling of an eye, that means suddenly, at the last trump, the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Amen. Instant transformation. Let's look at John 14. I think someone just got caught up in there. Amen. They're alright, they're all right. John 14. We hear screaming and crying, then we know this. John 14, 2 and 3. Jesus said this. If it were not so, I would have told you. He said, I'm going. Jesus left, right? He was taken up, he left. He said, I'm going. He said, I will come again to receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be there also. And whither I go you know, and the way you know. Amen. In my father's house are many mansions. If we were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Now, how many of you know that the Bible says that when all this is over, the final world war, I say World War IV, because World War III will be a kinetic war, which looks like we're we're about we're almost in right now if we're not in it. World War IV will be the Christ's return, right? What's his name? Albert Einstein said World War IV will be fought with sticks and and rocks. You know, amen, obviously, because everything else will be destroyed by then, right? Amen. I shouldn't laugh at that, but I'm just laughing because I'm gonna be gone. Hallelujah. I'm gonna be in heaven, amen. But Jesus said, Where I go, I'm gonna prepare a place for you. Well, let me ask you a question. We clearly in Scripture, the Bible says that Jerusalem is gonna come down to earth. Let me ask you a question. Genesis chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Adam and Eve sinned, they're kicked out of the garden, and angels placed at the garden, and they're no longer allowed to enter that garden again. Well, where the heck is that garden right now? Is there any place on planet earth that you can't, any place in the Middle East that there's an angel blocking you from going in? Where is that garden? May I submit to you, I believe it's very clear through scripture, that heaven and earth were merged into one dimension. That they were one dimension. And there's a river that's missing. The Bible talks about the river of life in the book of Genesis. That river is missing. We find that river in Revelation in heaven. So what happened was when Adam and Eve sinned, the dimension between heaven and earth split. Revelation says that New Jerusalem will come down again. I don't believe it's coming down from the sky, it's coming down as it's entering into our dimension. There will be a merging of dimensions once again. And the river of life will once again flow through this planet. So the angel is not guarding a city on earth, the angel is guarding the answers to that dimension. Do you follow me? So Jesus said, if that heaven's gonna come down on earth, if Jerusalem's gonna come down on earth again in the end, Jesus said he's going to prepare a place for you up there. Why? For us to join him during the rapture. We're gonna go up there, we're gonna join him, we're gonna be with him, and then we'll come down again, the Bible says, in the millennial reign of Christ. Do you follow me? Christ receives us. Now, when does this happen? What is the sign? Is it when I was I was in Washington, D.C. with Pastor Winston, and we were lobbying Obama back in 2005 to defend Israel during uh it was maybe Hezbollah was attacking Israel, and I was in DC with them. And we met Obama. And we met Obama, and I sat there, shook his hand. My friends took pictures with him. I wish I would have taken a picture with him. Because you know how cool I would be when I was in China if I had a picture with me and the president of America? That would have gotten me a lot of street cred in China, you know. But I was just too stupid to take a picture. I should have taken a picture. But I met Obama, and Pastor Winston said, What do you think about Obama? And I said, Well, I said, This is before he was president, he was just senator. And I said, I don't know, he came out of nowhere and everybody likes him. I said, I get this kind of antichrist vibe for him. And Pastor Winston said, Yeah, I think the same thing too. He said, but I think he could go either way. I think he could be used by God, or I think he could be used by the enemy. I think he could go either way. And I said, Okay, Pastor, you know. And then Trump got shot in the ear and got up. And I said, I think he's the Antichrist. And then Jared Kushner, or whatever his name is, he bought a building in New York, 666, and I said, maybe he's the Antichrist. But I want to look at who the Antichrist is today, so we could get all these theories, just not even have them anymore, right? And but number one, when will he be revealed? How do we know the timing of when he will be revealed? Let's take a look at God's word, what God says. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And let's go verse 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is actually I was just gonna read 6 and 8, but this whole this whole book is talking about these these matters. This whole chapter. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and you get this amen. Let me read you the the the the verses prior to that. I'm gonna start in verse 1 actually. If you have it in your phone or whatever, let me know. Is anybody getting anything from this yet today? Amen. I'm just preaching the Bible, except for my theory on the garden. I mean, you know, it but it does seem I mean, I can't argue with it, it's very scriptural. Otherwise, why don't you go there and visit there? Where is it at, right? For years I prayed about this, and that's what the Lord showed me. I prayed about that for decades. Chapter 2, verse 1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the gathering together unto him. He's talking about the rapture, the gathering together unto him. When he returns, and so he said, I'm talking to you on the matters of him returning and us being taken with him. This is the subject. This is verse one. He's saying, this is the subject. That you, verse two, that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as the day of Christ is at hand. So what happened in Thessalonians is somebody had wrote them a letter, forged a letter, and sent to the Thessalonian church saying it was from the Apostle Paul, telling them that Christ was here and that he was, you know, whatever. He was they said that Christ is returned and he's back and he's here over there. So this is why he's responding to that letter. He says, So if you get a letter stating Christ is here or there, he said, listen, don't be troubled, don't worry about it. Amen. So I guess this was before AI videos, you know. There were letters, forged letters. Same thing about Christ's day at hand. Verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come except this is the step, this is the thing that must happen first. Before the Antichrist is revealed, this is what happens first. Okay, that's the one I was saying would be sound like a go check out of the owl that one. Amen. Verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. So, in other words, Christ is not gonna return before the Antichrist shows up. He's giving you the sequence of events. So, first the Antichrist is gonna show up, then Christ will return. Okay, so let no man deceive you. Amen. Let no man deceive you, for that day shall not come except, I'm sorry, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there become a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Okay, let's look at this word falling away here. Do we have it on the screen or no? Oh, we don't have it on the screen. Okay. Sorry, it's not on the screen. Let me show you this word falling away.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

This word falling away, I took I I wrote it down here too.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

Okay, this word falling away in the Greek means to revolt, to defect from the faith, to revolt or to defect from the faith, the falling away. So this let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Verse three let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed. So number one is the falling away. Number two is I said it in the wrong order a few seconds ago. Number two is the man of sin revealed, the Antichrist. Falling away. This is the Antichrist. Before he's revealed, there's gonna be a revolt, there's gonna be a backsliding, there's gonna be, some people have the word apostasy. If you grew up in church and you grew up in church, and you grew up in a Christian home, and you don't go to church now, you are part of that falling away. 60% of Americans, Christian Americans, believers, don't attend church right now. They go once a year, Easter or Christmas. If you grew up in church and you don't go to church regularly now, you're part of that falling away. You're part of the revealing of the Antichrist. Isn't that something? Because the first thing that happens is there's a great falling away. And we're gonna look at what the church fathers said about this in a few minutes. Amen. Then the man of perdition is revealed. He's gonna tell you a little bit about this Antichrist, verse 4. He opposes and exalts himself above all that's called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. And now you know what will holdeth that he might be revealed in his time. Let me read that again, verse six. And now you know what, say what? And now you know what will holdeth that he might be revealed in his time. So he's saying there's something that's holding him back from being revealed. For the mystery of iniquity already is at work, only he say he, he is the what, okay? He who, say he who, say he ha, no, he who now leteth will let until he be taken out of the way. Then the wicked one shall be revealed. So before the Antichrist is revealed, there'll be a great falling away, number one, a not going to church, a backsliding from doctrine, and so on. Number one. Number two, what's gonna happen? Number two, what's gonna happen is that he that is holding back iniquity will be taken out of the way. The restraining force. The Greek word is katicho. Now, my Greek is not very great, but the Greek word is katicho, meaning the restraining force, the one holding it back, the one suppressing. Amen. Now, many people on Facebook and YouTube and and all around the world have taught that let's go to the next slide. Do I have it on here?

unknown 42:09

No.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

They have taught that the restraining force is the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit's holding back the Antichrist. And when the Holy Spirit leaves, the Antichrist will come. But if you read the Bible at all, I don't know where these people get their degrees from. Because if you read the Bible at all, in Revelation chapter 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 30, 40, 50, 16, you don't see the church, but you do see the Holy Spirit. You see the Holy Spirit poured out, you see prophets doing miracles, you see 145,000 Jews get converted, you see them winning souls and evangelizing the planet. The Holy Spirit never leaves the earth. Say never. The restraining force is not the Holy Spirit. What is the preserving energy restraining force for the nations of the world to this day? The Christians. Well, he's we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit in us, but he's also moving upon the face of the waters. He's moving across the earth from before there was human beings. He was moving upon the earth. Amen. The Holy Spirit has been here from the beginning and he'll be here till the end. What will not be here is the preserving force. What did Jesus call the church? He said, You are the salt of the earth. What does salt do? It preserves. The preserving force, the salt, when the salt is not here, when the preserving force is not here, the restraining, the preserving force is not here, that's when the wicked one is revealed. Meaning that you will not know the Antichrist as long As you're saved and on this earth, because he won't be revealed until we're taken out of the way. So you can stop guessing, number one. Amen. It's it could be fun to guess, but I'm going to show you a bit about who the Bible says, where he's coming from. And I'll just give you a little bit of appetite now. And I'll share, I'll prove it later on, maybe next week. But the antichrist, there's biblical scripture and precedent saying that he comes out of Iran. He comes out of Persia. People have said that the Antichrist would be a Jew. But scripturally speaking, we see that he actually is a Muslim. Because we see that he beheads people. We also see through Islamic prophecies and scriptures that their savior, they call him the Mahadith, he will come to convert the word to Islam and he'll make them. And the Islamic scripture says it comes from his prayer because he always prays. He'll have a mark on his forehead, and he will convert the world to Islam. And those who don't convert, he will cut their heads off. We see the same thing in scripture. The heads will be cut off, they will have a mark on their head or on their hand. We see this in scripture. Amen. Let's look at what a little church history here, and then we'll wrap up. Amen. Before 1800, the church widely taught a literal antichrist, a future tyrant ruler, appearing shortly before Christ's return. This is before 1800. So this is not a new doctrine. There's YouTubers and people on Facebook now saying the rapture is a new teaching. They say the rapture started with Schofield's Bible, and we got Tucker Carlson, who I like some of his stuff. I like some of everybody's stuff, okay? Uh and he has people on there, and and this other podcasters, famous podcasters that people on there saying, Oh, well, the Schofield Bible, you know, this and that, created false doctrine, whatever, and you know, there is no rapture. That's why I'm going. This is before 1800, before Leonard Schofield. Okay, they taught the church fathers, taught, the church taught there's a literal antichrist, a literal one, a future tyrant appearing before Christ's return. Iranius in 130 AD, he was a disciple of Polycarp. So John the Apostle had a disciple named Polycarp, and Polycarp's disciple was Iranius, and he taught against heresies, and he said, When this antichrist shall have devastated all things in the world, he will reign for three years and six months. We're gonna get into the three years and six months very soon. Today we don't have time. This is what Polycarp taught. Three and a half years to the tribulation, and it's in the Bible. A three and a half year reign, the Antichrist will have. Hippolytus in 170 AD, one of the earliest prophetic theologians, said that the antichrist, in his opinion, will come from the tribe of Dan. And that's where we have a lot of prophecies from some of the early church fathers that he would be Jewish. Some people said he would be Jewish and Muslim mixed, and he would try and create a united religion with Christians and Islam. And there's some hinting to that in Daniel when Daniel talks about the the this this prophetic image of the last days, and it says clay will try to mix with steel, but they won't be able to mix. Theologians like Iranius said that that could be the mixing of religion, it could be the mixing of communism and democracy, which we're seeing communism fall all across the world right now. It's prophetic. Amen. Yeah, except to this day, yeah. Tertilian, one of my favorite church fathers in 1915, the early church father Tertillion, do we have Tertillion up there? He says on the on the restrainer, what obstacle is there but the Roman state? He was speaking of the church, the falling away of which will introduce the Antichrist. In his time, the Catholic Church was the global church in their Western mind. And he said basically that the church is the is the restraining force. Amen. Daniel's 70 weeks. Let's go to Daniel's 70 weeks. Next week, I'm gonna have to get into this because we don't have time today. But Daniel gives a prophecy of 70 weeks. I'm just gonna lay a foundation here. These 70 weeks are actually weeks of years. Weeks of years. So how many days are in a week? Seven days. So one week is seven years. You understand that? You should remember that if you don't write it down. One week is seventy years. Seven years. So he gives a prophecy about 70 weeks or 490 years. And this is what he says, and this is where we're gonna get into the Jewish people in the state of Israel, okay? This is what he says in Daniel chapter 9. He says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and the holy city. He's speaking of Israel, the Jewish people there, and the city of Jerusalem. He's gonna prophesy what's gonna happen in 490 years. And next week we're gonna show you the insane accuracy that in the 483rd year from the decree of King Artaxes, if I pronounce that right, Artaxerxes, Artaxerxes, exactly everything he said came to pass. I'm gonna give you just a preview. On the 483rd year from the decree of Artaxes was 32 AD. The year that Jesus died. Exactly to the date. So the question is what about the last week? 483 years. The last week is the last seven years. That last seven years, I submit to you, has not begun yet. Because Daniel says there'll be a break from the time the Messiah is cut off until the time of the end, when that last seven years begins. He says there'll be a seven-year peace treaty in the Middle East with the kings of the Arabs that will be signed with Israel. So all this stuff on Tucker Carlson, all these people saying that God is done with Israel, all the Catholic doctrine, Candace Owens, and I like a lot of their stuff. But the Catholic doctrine is teaching them that God's totally done with Israel forever. But that's impossible scripturally, because that last seven years is not done yet. And Daniel said, This is what will befall his people and the holy city. Do you hear me? So it's impossible. That's God bless the Catholics. I love them, but they're off on this doctrine because God's not done with Israel, He's turned his back from Israel because of their wickedness in rejecting Christ. But he will come back, and they will see, and they will fall to their knees, and they will repent, and 144,000 will get radically saved. The book of Revelation says, He's not done with his people. Are they not God's chosen people anymore? They're still his chosen people, but you're chosen now too. The Bible says, if you who have come to Christ, you are grafted in with Israel, and you are now God's chosen people, and you're his chosen people that are obedient to him. Amen. The Jews are his chosen people that are disobedient, hard-headed, and rebellious, but God's allowed that. The scripture said God's allowed that so that the Gentiles could be saved. So he's allowed blindness in part, the Bible says. They killed and stoned all the prophets. You know, there's been you know thousands of years of of rebellion and wickedness against Yahweh, against God, and He's judged them for it himself. Amen. Our job is not to hate or judge anybody. I don't care if they're Muslim, hijabi, wasabi, whatever they call them, terrorist, we should evangelize them and pray for them. If they're Jewish, owners of porn websites and companies, we should pray for their salvation. We should, as believers, stand in the gap, not point out to the gap, stand in the gap. Whether they're radical, Muslim, whether they're rebellious, wicked Jews worshiping bales, selling kids and sex trafficking, we have to pray for their salvation and repentance. Amen. Amen. Regardless of what they're doing, God wants them to be delivered, He wants them to save, be saved. And I pray to God that during all this stuff going on with the Epstein and all that stuff, I pray to God some of these people will repent. Come out and tell on themselves. That's what we need. We need some of them to come out and tell on themselves and bring down the rest with them. And God could do it. God could bring if the government wants to cover it up, God could bring one of them under such conviction that they come out and confess everything before the television of the courts. Amen. Amen. Let's stand to our feet, amen. And let's let's dismiss. We're gonna get into the 70 weeks next year. I hope you're learning something, amen. Amen. Hallelujah, amen. Heavenly Father, we come to you today in the name of Jesus, and we thank you that your word gives us guidance when there is confusion, when there is worry, when there is panic, when there is fear, your word gives us guidance, it gives us comfort, it gives us direction, and it prevents us from being deceived. Thousands of years ago, you penned in advance what we need to know today. We thank you, Father God, for correcting us, for teaching us, for encouraging us, for letting us have the right doctrine, Father God, concerning the world and political matters. Whoever thought that prophecies written thousands of years ago would be essential for how things are governed in this world today, and how matters are handled, and how we are to treat people, and how we are to pray, and and and and how we are to have our communication in this world, Father God. We thank you, Father God. The Bible doesn't say anywhere clearly that we see of a great revival before the rapture, we see a great falling away before the rapture. But we know when these things happen, great fear will come upon the earth. People will cry out for God, you'll turn back to the Jewish people and they'll accept Christ as Messiah. There'll be repentance, there'll be evangelism, there'll be revival on this planet, Father God. But now we are in the time of a great falling away, a great backsliding, false prophets, false churches, false cults, opinions and voices everywhere, all over online and social media, deception being exposed, corruption being exposed, mass death around the world, and even possibly coming to our shores here as a result of the conflict with Aram. This is the time for us to be the salt. This is the time for us to preserve our family members, our friends, our co-workers, our community, and to preserve them with the message of the love of Jesus Christ. That God so loved them that he gave his only begotten Son, that they can be forgiven, they can have a fresh start, they can be saved, and they can be so today. They can be healed and set free and delivered, and regardless of what happens in this world, they do not. If I was there, I would have prayed with you. I'd like to pray right now, as a matter of fact. I'd like to give my life to Jesus Christ. I would like to have God in my life, and I'd like to know Jesus as my savior and my Lord, and surrender my life to him. You know, repentance means to turn away from your way of doing things and to turn to God's way. We've done things our own way. Like they used to say in Alcoholics Not Amiss and Narcotics Not Amiss, when I did the 12 steps, they said, your best decisions and your best ways of thinking and your best ways to handle life have gotten you to this situation. And now it's time to trust a higher power. Well, there is no higher power than the God of all the earth. His name is Jehovah, and he sent his son Jesus to die for you, and through him you can turn from your way of doing things to his way, and his way is the right way because he made you. He made you for a purpose, and he knows exactly what you need to pull out your potential to forgive you of your sins, deliver you from the things that keep you away from God in a sin and death cycle. And if you'd open up your heart to him right now, together with me, God can begin a new work in your life. So just pray with me wherever you're at, whether you're driving your car, whether you're at home, wherever you are, just just pray with me and repeat after me. Say, Father, I come to you now. In the name of Jesus. I ask you to forgive me. Forgive me of my sins. Wash me in the blood of Jesus. I believe that your son died for my sins. And on the third day, he was raised from the dead. From this day forward, I belong to you. In Jesus' name, amen. You prayed that prayer, I'd like you to contact me, and we can send you some more resources and materials that can help you start this new life because this is the first day of the rest of your life. Email me at joe at nationsabroad.com or email the church at nfcontact at gmail.com. And we'd love to speak with you and just correspond with you and put you on the right path. Maybe help you find some local churches there online or something, or maybe we know some pastors there that can follow up with you and help teach you the word of God. Thank you for listening. And feel free to download the other podcast and just feed on the word of God.