1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:06,839 Greetings, this is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:06,839 --> 00:00:11,599 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:11,900 --> 00:00:20,059 Today, I want to ask you, the beast of Revelation and our world, is there a connection? I want to 4 00:00:20,059 --> 00:00:26,679 entice you with the book of Revelation today, the book of Revelation, one of the greatest and most 5 00:00:26,679 --> 00:00:34,679 blessed of the books of the Bible, yet also one of the most mysterious and enigmatic books. But it can 6 00:00:34,679 --> 00:00:41,920 be comprehended. It can be understood. But I find that today, so many Christians fail to ask this 7 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:47,659 question, the beast of Revelation and our world, is there a connection? And there are related ones too. 8 00:00:48,079 --> 00:00:54,539 That is, if there is a connection between the beast of Revelation and our world, then how does it 9 00:00:54,539 --> 00:00:59,759 manifest itself? How does the United States of America, for that matter, an ostensible free 10 00:00:59,759 --> 00:01:06,959 republic fit in to the beast of Revelation? And so many people fail to ask these questions because 11 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:13,439 they have a prior commitment to what I would submit to you as an error-ridden brand of eschatology. 12 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:20,540 So many Christians today think, with the system of eschatology that is predominant in the churches, 13 00:01:20,540 --> 00:01:26,879 they think that the beast, which all agree at a basic level is a satanic-inspired world system of 14 00:01:26,879 --> 00:01:32,159 some kind, they think that the beast will not appear until after a supposed rapture of the 15 00:01:32,159 --> 00:01:36,420 church from the earth and then an onset of the great tribulation begins, which is another false 16 00:01:36,420 --> 00:01:42,599 presupposition I want to challenge you with today. I want to challenge these presuppositions with you 17 00:01:42,599 --> 00:01:47,980 because if indeed the beast of Revelation is already here in our world today and has been for some 18 00:01:47,980 --> 00:01:53,239 time and growing, metastasizing like a demonic cancer, well then Christians are being deceived 19 00:01:53,239 --> 00:02:00,060 and delayed in how they should be responding to it. Doing politics as usual today is a dog chasing its 20 00:02:00,060 --> 00:02:08,500 tail, a cat leaping after a shiny bauble. Now, those who do understand biblical prophecy and the 21 00:02:08,500 --> 00:02:14,819 apocalyptic literature of the Bible, of which Revelation is one, they are far ahead of anyone else in the 22 00:02:14,819 --> 00:02:20,199 world, I submit, bearing wisdom and insight and salvation that those of any other religion, 23 00:02:20,300 --> 00:02:26,479 including those of atheistic materialism, cannot possibly obtain. The God of the Bible, the alone 24 00:02:26,479 --> 00:02:31,639 creator of the universe, he has revealed to his servants not only what has happened in the past 25 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:37,620 and what it means for us, things like redemptive history, the creation of the world, the universe, 26 00:02:37,759 --> 00:02:42,139 the fall, a redemption through Jesus Christ. These are all historical realities, 27 00:02:42,139 --> 00:02:49,520 but this same God has also revealed, that is what Revelation means, to reveal the general outlines 28 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:55,699 of what will be as well until Christ returns to complete the salvation already begun at his life, 29 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:01,979 death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. Revelation is derived from the Greek word 30 00:03:01,979 --> 00:03:07,819 apakalupto, which means to reveal. And John says it was given to show his servants what must soon 31 00:03:07,819 --> 00:03:13,240 take place, that is, within the lifetime of his readers. John clearly indicates its purpose in 32 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,479 verse 3 of chapter 1, for example. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, 33 00:03:17,879 --> 00:03:24,379 that is, the reading of the letter, the revelation, in congregation in worship. And then he also says, 34 00:03:24,460 --> 00:03:29,360 blessed are those who hear, that is, the people in the congregation who hear it read, and who keeps 35 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,620 what is written in it, for the time is near, John says, the time is near. By definition, the book of 36 00:03:34,620 --> 00:03:39,280 Revelation finds fulfillment in some sense during the period of John's audience. We'll be covering 37 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:43,879 this with you. We will have more to say in days to come, but what I want to emphasize here is that 38 00:03:43,879 --> 00:03:50,439 those who put all of Revelation into the future, as many of you listening do, I know, that is a 39 00:03:50,439 --> 00:03:54,860 pre-tribulational rapture, a literal seven-year great tribulation, a rebuilding of the temple in 40 00:03:54,860 --> 00:04:01,319 Jerusalem, a personal antichrist, these kinds of things, you must rethink your position. It is called a 41 00:04:01,319 --> 00:04:07,439 futurist position, because all of the revelation of what is to come are thrown into the future. When 42 00:04:07,439 --> 00:04:12,419 John pointedly says in multiple places in Revelation, he says in chapter 22, for example, 43 00:04:12,860 --> 00:04:18,939 surely I am coming soon. He has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. And to 44 00:04:18,939 --> 00:04:23,720 say that the nearness of which John speaks is that which begins when the signs begin to appear, 45 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:31,160 well, that's a cheap shift. That the context in which John speaks will not allow. John is speaking 46 00:04:31,319 --> 00:04:38,759 to his own generation. If I tell my son, go pick up your room now, a spanking is near. And he says to 47 00:04:38,759 --> 00:04:43,740 himself, oh, dad means next week when my room is messy then. Well, then that son is playing word 48 00:04:43,740 --> 00:04:49,360 games with the context of my speech. And he's in for an awfully painful surprise because the spanking is 49 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:55,500 near. So too, those who try to shift the now and the nearness of Revelation to a supposed future time 50 00:04:55,500 --> 00:05:01,579 when conditions are ripe, and I submit to you they were ripe in John's day, they play these same kinds 51 00:05:01,579 --> 00:05:08,660 of semantic games. A basic interpretive rule of the Bible is that a text cannot mean something other than 52 00:05:08,660 --> 00:05:14,399 what it means to its first audience. This is an ironclad rule. A text cannot mean something other 53 00:05:14,399 --> 00:05:20,199 than what it means to its first audience. The time is near. What must soon take place is for John's 54 00:05:20,199 --> 00:05:25,220 generation, first and foremost, not for some far off people 2,000 years later, although it can be 55 00:05:25,220 --> 00:05:32,339 applied to us 2,000 years later. If we are to understand our present world and exactly how and 56 00:05:32,339 --> 00:05:39,980 why a Christian constitutional republic can sink into a demonic world tyranny as it is, then we must 57 00:05:39,980 --> 00:05:45,519 understand how the apocalyptic literature of the Bible, books like Revelation, and there's other 58 00:05:45,519 --> 00:05:51,500 apocalyptic literature throughout the Bible too, books like Daniel and Zechariah, parts of Ezekiel, 59 00:05:51,579 --> 00:05:57,560 and of course the Olivet Discourse of Jesus. They speak to not only the generation of John the Apostle 60 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:03,259 who wrote Revelation and the generation in which Christ returns, but also to our own generation. 61 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:09,199 Revelation speaks to our generation, dear listener, but not in the way that futurists say it does. 62 00:06:09,819 --> 00:06:13,620 Futurists are so busy looking for red heifers, marks of the beast, signs of the Antichrist, 63 00:06:13,620 --> 00:06:17,839 the rapture, and a supposed great tribulation that they're missing the beast from the sea, 64 00:06:18,180 --> 00:06:22,699 the satanic-inspired system that brings old chaos and disorder to God's creation, 65 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:27,300 and the beast from the earth who is the demonic world religious system that deceives humanity, 66 00:06:27,519 --> 00:06:32,519 and they're operating right now. Revelation is a book that speaks to us right now, dear listener. 67 00:06:32,939 --> 00:06:39,220 Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. The letters to the seven 68 00:06:39,220 --> 00:06:44,360 churches, for example, of Asia in Revelation chapters 2 through 3, are seven in number, 69 00:06:44,439 --> 00:06:49,420 because seven is the number of perfection and completeness, symbolic of the whole church of 70 00:06:49,420 --> 00:06:55,819 this age. The seven letters to the seven churches are, they speak to the church of this entire age, 71 00:06:55,899 --> 00:07:00,860 this entire eon, until Christ comes again, not merely churches of John's time or churches in the future 72 00:07:00,860 --> 00:07:07,939 tribulation. Revelation is, in fact, structured as seven groups of seven, indicating completeness, 73 00:07:07,939 --> 00:07:14,500 the completeness of this age and eon. These seven groups of seven recapitulate the entire period of 74 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:19,839 the church through which we are living now, not sometime in the future, a mere seven-year great 75 00:07:19,839 --> 00:07:25,839 tribulation, no. Can you see how we miss the blessing promised by John if we stand around tapping 76 00:07:25,839 --> 00:07:31,379 our feet, waiting for those days to come when we are living through them right now? The worship that we see 77 00:07:31,379 --> 00:07:37,480 also pictured for us in Revelation chapters 4 through 5, for example. Revelation applies now. 78 00:07:37,959 --> 00:07:43,220 Revelation 4 through 5, the worship in heaven is for us right now, not some future heavenly host. 79 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:50,199 As one scholar, Stephen Hahn, has so aptly observed, Revelation provides us with a church liturgy for 80 00:07:50,199 --> 00:07:55,220 worship too. That is patterned after all that has come before in the Old Testament temple worship and 81 00:07:55,220 --> 00:08:01,720 that of the synagogue. As in heaven, so on earth is our model. And Revelation gives us that heavenly 82 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:07,459 model for worship, which we follow personally at New Geneva, which all churches should follow in some 83 00:08:07,459 --> 00:08:14,040 sense. The book of Revelation, like the first chapter of Genesis, oscillates between heaven and earth 84 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:21,079 as what is declared in heaven then transpires upon the earth. The seven seals are broken in heaven, 85 00:08:21,079 --> 00:08:26,699 the seven trumpets are blown in heaven, the seven bowls of judgment are poured from heaven, and their 86 00:08:26,699 --> 00:08:32,759 effects are all felt upon the earth below. And what few believers realize is that all of the judgments 87 00:08:32,759 --> 00:08:38,059 that comprise the seals and the trumpets and the bowls can be found throughout the Old Testament in 88 00:08:38,059 --> 00:08:44,539 prophetic judgments. There is famine and drought in the days of Elijah, pestilence and the waters turned 89 00:08:44,539 --> 00:08:49,820 to blood in the ten plagues of Egypt. There is war and bloodshed during the captivities of Israel and 90 00:08:49,820 --> 00:08:56,480 Judah. On and on we go. What the seven series of sevens do in Revelation is each of the sevens go back 91 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:02,179 to the beginning of the church age to highlight a particular aspect of the period between Christ's 92 00:09:02,179 --> 00:09:07,720 first advent and his second advent. That is his second coming in great power and glory as illustrated 93 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:14,220 for us in Revelation chapter 12 verses 1 through 6. Let me read that portion of scripture for you. 94 00:09:14,220 --> 00:09:17,720 This is Revelation chapter 12 verses 1 through 6. 95 00:09:17,879 --> 00:09:24,299 And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with a moon under her feet, 96 00:09:24,500 --> 00:09:29,700 and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains 97 00:09:29,700 --> 00:09:36,440 and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, behold, a great red dragon 98 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:44,039 with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the 99 00:09:44,039 --> 00:09:48,299 stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about 100 00:09:48,299 --> 00:09:53,940 to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, 101 00:09:54,100 --> 00:10:00,019 one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to 102 00:10:00,019 --> 00:10:05,960 his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she 103 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:14,879 will be nourished for 1,260 days. Unquote. That is Revelation chapter 12 verses 1 through 6. And here in 104 00:10:14,879 --> 00:10:22,539 this text, we see the first promise of the gospel in Genesis fulfilled in Christ. That first promise is 105 00:10:22,539 --> 00:10:27,799 called the proto-evangelicum. That is that the first mention of the gospel, and it occurs in as early as 106 00:10:27,799 --> 00:10:35,299 Genesis 3.15, where God promises the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between 107 00:10:35,299 --> 00:10:40,139 your offspring and her offspring. That is the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the 108 00:10:40,139 --> 00:10:46,860 woman. He shall bruise your head, God goes on to say, and you shall bruise his heel. Unquote. Genesis 3.15. 109 00:10:47,279 --> 00:10:52,919 This verse is the first mention of the gospel, where one of the offspring of the woman will destroy 110 00:10:52,919 --> 00:10:58,279 the serpent, that is defeat him and his works. Even the apostle John said in his letter, the reason the 111 00:10:58,279 --> 00:11:04,679 son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Though he will wound that child, that is the 112 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:11,159 serpent will wound that child. He will bruise his heel, which is a reference to the crucifixion. Now in the 113 00:11:11,159 --> 00:11:16,980 meantime, there will be perpetual warfare as well between the seed of the woman, that is the elect of 114 00:11:16,980 --> 00:11:22,200 God, the church, and the seed of the serpent, which is the rest of lost humanity who descend now from this 115 00:11:22,919 --> 00:11:30,700 Adam in Genesis. And John here in Revelation retells that story as the seed of the woman, Jesus that 116 00:11:30,700 --> 00:11:35,799 is, and he telescopes his life, death, and burial, and resurrection, John does, by jumping directly to 117 00:11:35,799 --> 00:11:40,919 his ascension to the right hand of the Father, that is he is caught up to God in his throne, while the 118 00:11:40,919 --> 00:11:45,940 woman flees to the wilderness, protected by God, that is the seed, the offspring of the woman, the people 119 00:11:45,940 --> 00:11:52,659 of God, the church. Now the rest of chapter 12, Revelation chapter 12, vividly recounts the impact of 120 00:11:52,659 --> 00:11:59,320 Christ's victory at the cross. It begins by saying, now war arose in heaven, and here Michael and his 121 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:04,059 angels defeat the dragon and cast him down to the earth, and a voice from heaven declares a truth 122 00:12:04,059 --> 00:12:09,539 that is extensive throughout this church age, not just during a supposed great tribulation, and that 123 00:12:09,539 --> 00:12:15,580 truth is, now the salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ 124 00:12:15,580 --> 00:12:20,720 have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before 125 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:25,759 our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. 126 00:12:26,460 --> 00:12:32,000 This is a perfect example of what I am talking about. This is characteristic of the entire church 127 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,759 age in the book of Revelation, not just some supposed great tribulation, dear listener. 128 00:12:37,879 --> 00:12:43,779 Revelation 12 is the opening vision of seven visions that extend through chapter 15 and verse 4, 129 00:12:44,059 --> 00:12:48,820 right up to the judgment of the seven bulls. These judgments take us back, once again, 130 00:12:48,820 --> 00:12:52,779 to the beginning of the church age to highlight other aspects of what we're going through right 131 00:12:52,779 --> 00:12:58,960 now. Revelation is for us, for us now, as well as for the generation of John and subsequent generations 132 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:05,100 to come who follow us. You rob us of all of this if you throw everything into the future, a future 133 00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:11,740 which cannot be supported by the text. So, dear listener, awake, O sleeper, as Paul says. Arise from the 134 00:13:11,740 --> 00:13:16,980 dead, and Christ will shine upon you. Revelation is for today. The book of Revelation can help us 135 00:13:16,980 --> 00:13:23,240 understand our world now if we let it speak to us in the way that John intended. For example, 136 00:13:23,460 --> 00:13:26,980 in the very next chapter, following 12, of course, is chapter 13. John says, 137 00:13:27,399 --> 00:13:33,559 I saw a beast arising out of the sea. Now, of course, futurists project this into the future 138 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,779 of some seven-year great tribulation after the church has been raptured, for which rapture John 139 00:13:38,779 --> 00:13:43,460 says not a word, by the way, and they identify it with the personal figure of an antichrist, 140 00:13:43,460 --> 00:13:48,539 for which and about which John says not a word as well. He doesn't use the word antichrist anywhere 141 00:13:48,539 --> 00:13:54,080 in Revelation. It must be read into the text. It must be superimposed from the outside into 142 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:59,840 the context of Revelation. What we do know, however, what we do know from the rest of the 143 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:04,899 Bible, and this is a prerequisite for understanding Revelation, you must know the whole of the rest 144 00:14:04,899 --> 00:14:09,639 of the Bible to understand the book of Revelation, is that the beast from the sea has always been 145 00:14:09,639 --> 00:14:15,899 with us. Yes, the beast from the sea has always been with us and is with us now. Daniel, for example, 146 00:14:16,059 --> 00:14:22,039 employs the beast from the sea to describe the demonic scourge to Israel. That is the Greek ruler 147 00:14:22,039 --> 00:14:28,279 Antiochus Epiphanes. He says, in chapter 7 of Daniel, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, 148 00:14:28,419 --> 00:14:33,840 the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, 149 00:14:33,980 --> 00:14:38,879 different from one another, unquote. He then goes on to describe those beasts in the same manner 150 00:14:38,879 --> 00:14:44,259 as John does in the book of Revelation. And the psalmist exalts in the beast's defeat in the 151 00:14:44,259 --> 00:14:50,259 great flood of Genesis, too, remembering it, where that beast is a symbol for the wicked Nephilim of 152 00:14:50,259 --> 00:14:57,559 Genesis. The psalmist says in Psalm 74, you divided the sea by your might. You broke the heads of the 153 00:14:57,559 --> 00:15:03,379 sea monsters, that is the beast, on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You gave him as 154 00:15:03,379 --> 00:15:08,379 food for the creatures of the wilderness, unquote. The beast from the sea goes all the way back, 155 00:15:08,379 --> 00:15:17,379 I submit you to creation. When the earth was empty and void and dark, that is in complete chaos. And 156 00:15:17,379 --> 00:15:22,340 this is what the serpent from the sea always brings. And God brought order to the sea by destroying the 157 00:15:22,340 --> 00:15:29,940 beast. Job, in chapter 26, says it this way, by his power, that is, God stilled the sea. By his 158 00:15:29,940 --> 00:15:35,120 understanding, he shattered Rahab, that is, the sea serpent, the beast. By his spirit, the heavens were 159 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:42,100 made fair. His hand pierced the fleeing serpent, unquote, from Job 26. So this is but a sampling of 160 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:48,720 the role played by the beast from the sea throughout Scripture. What most modern evangelical Christians do 161 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:54,080 not know is the beast from the sea long preceded John and his apocalypse. In fact, he was drawing upon 162 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:59,120 a rich heritage of interpretation for his own composition. And it was current during the writing 163 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:05,100 of his apocalypse and is alive and well even as we speak the beast from the sea. If you go about your 164 00:16:05,100 --> 00:16:09,860 life waiting for the rapture and some imaginary seven-year great tribulation to occur before the 165 00:16:09,860 --> 00:16:15,000 beast from the sea appears, he will eat your lunch. He will devour you. He will get the best of you now 166 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:21,320 because he is here and working now, dear listener. Since the days of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel, 167 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:27,120 Satan has been striving after a unified one-world government in opposition to the government of 168 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:32,039 God. The dragon and the beasts of land and sea have consistently throughout the biblical record 169 00:16:32,039 --> 00:16:38,960 symbolized this satanic aspiration. The thing is, Satan has not stopped. He is continuing to build his 170 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:45,279 kingdom of his own in opposition to God's. And John has forewarned us of this in Revelation 171 00:16:45,279 --> 00:16:51,879 if we are prepared to interpret Revelation as he intended. If we continue then to the next few 172 00:16:51,879 --> 00:16:57,539 words of Revelation chapter 13, we see this reflected. John says, I saw a beast rising out 173 00:16:57,539 --> 00:17:04,279 of the sea. This is significant because the sea has always been a symbol of Satan's effects of chaos 174 00:17:04,279 --> 00:17:10,279 and disorder and death while God's work upon the land, especially his chosen places like the Garden 175 00:17:10,279 --> 00:17:17,859 of Eden or the Promised Land, has always epitomized harmony and order and life, while the beast from 176 00:17:17,859 --> 00:17:25,240 the sea always symbolizes chaos, disorder, and death. As we observed, the sea, the waters of creation in 177 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:32,259 Genesis chapter 1, before God imposed his creative powers, they were tohu vabohu in the Hebrew. I love 178 00:17:32,259 --> 00:17:37,740 that phrase, tohu vabohu. It is in the Hebrew. It means empty and void, and darkness was over the waters. 179 00:17:37,740 --> 00:17:44,980 The sea, the waters were empty, void, and dark, a place of chaos, disorder, and death. The seas of 180 00:17:44,980 --> 00:17:51,380 Noah's great flood were tohu vabohu, empty, void, and dark, a place of chaos, disorder, and death. The 181 00:17:51,380 --> 00:17:57,680 tempestuous sea into which Jonah was cast was tohu vabohu, that is, empty, void, and dark, a place of 182 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:02,240 chaos, disorder, and death, where in fact Jonah was swallowed by a beast from the sea, wasn't he? 183 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:07,400 Therefore, we should expect Satan's kingdom to be characterized by chaos, disorder, and death. 184 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:13,519 And so, when we look out upon our world today, we are not surprised, are we? Because Satan first 185 00:18:13,519 --> 00:18:19,160 creates precisely this state of affairs before he imposes his iron tyranny. That is, amongst the 186 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:25,700 human race, he fosters and incites chaos, disorder, and death. And we see this happening with increasing 187 00:18:25,700 --> 00:18:31,980 frequency and intensity in our own formerly ordered prosperous land. And I make direct application 188 00:18:31,980 --> 00:18:39,000 of this disorder, chaos, and death of Satan, of the beast, to the United States of America. I direct 189 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:44,319 application. The United States of America is being deliberately seeded, I submit to you, with chaos, 190 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:53,240 disorder, and death. We used to be a model of what a harmonious, ordered, and life-giving free republic 191 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:58,319 could be, didn't we? Despite our admitted flaws and weaknesses, and there were many of those 192 00:18:58,319 --> 00:19:05,220 weaknesses and flaws. But all in all, we were a model of what a harmonious, ordered, and life-giving 193 00:19:05,220 --> 00:19:10,740 free republic could be. But all of that is being quite self-consciously destroyed in order to make 194 00:19:10,740 --> 00:19:18,579 way for another regional order, a larger regional world order, if you will. And, for example, the 195 00:19:18,579 --> 00:19:25,500 Trans-Pacific Partnership being negotiated now in secret in Congress as we speak as an example of that, 196 00:19:25,500 --> 00:19:32,799 of an overarching authority that supersedes our own constitution. And to anyone with eyes in his head 197 00:19:32,799 --> 00:19:39,119 and a brain unfogged by the propaganda and the brainwashing and the media distractions incessantly 198 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:45,400 churned out by the beast. Parenthetically, men, put down your fantasy football scorecard for a few 199 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:52,180 hours. Will you read a book? Find a news source other than CNN or Fox News even. One of the prime 200 00:19:52,180 --> 00:19:58,240 directives of the beast is to, as Revelation says, deceive those who dwell upon the earth. And he's doing 201 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:06,539 a mighty good job of it. We see this transpiring, this seeding of disorder and death and chaos in the 202 00:20:06,539 --> 00:20:13,279 open borders policy of our administration and those who, as well, stand to benefit from such a policy. 203 00:20:13,279 --> 00:20:18,720 We are told, in fact, that we are racist and uncompassionate for insisting upon the restoration 204 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:23,779 of the integrity of our borders. The poor immigrant who comes here only wants a better life, 205 00:20:23,859 --> 00:20:29,059 they say, for he and his children, and we are unchristian for wanting to deprive him of this 206 00:20:29,059 --> 00:20:34,779 opportunity. Others go so far as to openly and brazenly admit that their goal is to transition 207 00:20:34,779 --> 00:20:41,140 to a borderless continent and eventually to a borderless world. George Soros, for example, 208 00:20:41,140 --> 00:20:45,960 who has financially backed many of these advocacy groups for immigration and no borders, 209 00:20:46,700 --> 00:20:51,299 George Soros himself said in a recent interview that borders were no longer needed in the world 210 00:20:51,299 --> 00:20:55,579 of today and that borders were, in fact, a hindrance to true human progress. 211 00:20:56,740 --> 00:21:01,839 This is an all but open admission, dear listener, that we no longer need a constitution and a free 212 00:21:01,839 --> 00:21:06,720 republic is actually a hindrance to true human progress. Because this is the goal of those 213 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:12,619 who wish to bring us into a greater world community, our constitution and the free republic 214 00:21:12,619 --> 00:21:18,740 of America stands in the way of that goal. The destruction of borders and the infusion of masses 215 00:21:18,740 --> 00:21:24,240 who are ignorant of the nature of liberty and who seek in many cases to destroy what they find here, 216 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:31,359 and I think of the reconquista of La Mecha or La Raza, and in other cases also have ulterior and 217 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:36,440 sinister motives like ISIS fighters that are infiltrating our borders as well. All of these 218 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:44,640 facilitate the destruction of our constitutional republic. Now, it is a basic foundational premise 219 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:51,799 of human government that territorial integrity defines a nation. Territorial integrity defines a 220 00:21:51,799 --> 00:21:58,500 nation. No borders, no nation. Rome understood this as her empire began to crumble under the barbarian 221 00:21:58,500 --> 00:22:03,640 invasion, and indeed, Rome eventually fell as a direct consequence of her inability to defend her 222 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:08,160 borders. China understood this as barbarians from the interior swept into the provinces, 223 00:22:08,619 --> 00:22:12,940 and she built a wall. China built a wall to keep them out. And it worked for centuries, by the way, 224 00:22:13,019 --> 00:22:20,259 a wall. It is a truth of statecraft, dear listener, a truth of statecraft. A piece of land without the 225 00:22:20,259 --> 00:22:26,619 integrity of borders defined, defended, and demarcated by the people of that land is not a country. 226 00:22:26,619 --> 00:22:32,299 A land without borders is and always has been viewed by the world as open territory, 227 00:22:32,559 --> 00:22:38,559 ready to be taken by those willing to define, defend, and demarcate that land for themselves. 228 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:45,920 Part of our problem is that we are no longer willing to define, defend, and clearly demarcate our borders. 229 00:22:46,519 --> 00:22:53,500 Make no mistake, dear sentimental fool whose heart bleeds for these poor immigrants who are flooding our 230 00:22:53,500 --> 00:23:00,920 borders by the millions. And who wishes, then, you do to extend compassion to them by letting any and all 231 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:07,440 come in unchecked. If they have their way, they will define, defend, and demarcate for themselves 232 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:13,980 a greater Hispania what you virtually have surrendered as free territory. If the religion of peace and its 233 00:23:13,980 --> 00:23:19,519 advocates have their way, they will define, defend, and demarcate quite clearly the land that you, 234 00:23:19,519 --> 00:23:24,940 O progressive, have surrendered as free territory. That is the United States of America. No borders, 235 00:23:25,099 --> 00:23:30,920 no nation. By indicating this to the world, you invite conquest, and conquest is what you will get. 236 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:37,880 So, what the beast realizes with great clarity, and thus seeks to cloak with deception, is that 237 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:43,420 nowhere are borders more important than in a free republic. Our founders understood that a 238 00:23:43,420 --> 00:23:48,920 constitutional republic like the one they gave us required a moral and religious people, that is a 239 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:54,819 largely Christian population, who were schooled in the art of government, who were educated concerning 240 00:23:54,819 --> 00:24:00,339 the constitution that had been given them as a heritage. George Washington says, and I quote him, 241 00:24:00,579 --> 00:24:05,980 a primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, 242 00:24:06,279 --> 00:24:11,539 Washington says, what species of knowledge can be equally important? What duty more pressing 243 00:24:11,539 --> 00:24:16,759 than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country? 244 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:24,059 George Washington, in 1796, he said this, and irreligious and ignorant people are slaves 245 00:24:24,059 --> 00:24:29,380 waiting for their change. They're not free men in a constitutional republic. Our forebearers knew this, 246 00:24:29,460 --> 00:24:34,500 and thus they required registered aliens to serve a period of probation. Registered aliens, 247 00:24:34,619 --> 00:24:39,279 they were called. How politically incorrect is that title today? But these registered aliens were 248 00:24:39,279 --> 00:24:44,960 required to serve a period of probation upon entering the country at places like Ellis Island, where they 249 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:50,440 were carefully screened, in which they demonstrated their willingness in this time of probation to 250 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:56,220 participate in a constitutional republic by working hard to support themselves and their family, to spend 251 00:24:56,220 --> 00:25:01,279 years learning the English language, and to spend years laboring to learn our constitution and system 252 00:25:01,279 --> 00:25:07,279 of government, that they might participate in an intelligent and informed manner. And by doing so, 253 00:25:07,279 --> 00:25:12,220 the legal immigrant became a guardian of the liberties of the country, as George Washington might 254 00:25:12,220 --> 00:25:18,599 put it. Well, the beast is well aware of this, and so he develops things like speech codes, which shy 255 00:25:18,599 --> 00:25:24,380 away from these truths, diverts thought that might go down this trail by shutting it off with cries of 256 00:25:24,380 --> 00:25:33,259 racist, racist, or uncompassionate, uncompassionate. Thus, the open borders creates the perfect climate for the 257 00:25:33,259 --> 00:25:40,640 chaos, and the disorder and death that we see boiling around us, and will only grow with increasing measure 258 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:47,920 in the near future. So, what I have done for you today is give you one clear application of precisely 259 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:54,180 how the beast from the sea, if you will, is actively at work in our world today, and how John, in the book 260 00:25:54,180 --> 00:26:00,579 of Revelation, intended us to make application to the church. All of that, which he includes, has 261 00:26:00,579 --> 00:26:06,380 application to the entire book of Revelation, I'll be unfolding this for you, has application today, 262 00:26:06,380 --> 00:26:11,119 not some distant seven-year great tribulation following a supposed rapture of the church. 263 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:18,759 Dear listener, New Geneva not only has this radio broadcast, but we have a worship service 264 00:26:18,759 --> 00:26:24,240 on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. I invite you to join us. Give me some feedback on this message. Give me 265 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:30,420 some feedback on our church. We meet for holy worship at 10 a.m. on Sundays at 101 4th Street on the 266 00:26:30,420 --> 00:26:35,240 corner of 4th and Boulevard, and you can call us at 523-0196.