WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.000 --> 00:03:06.000 All right, um, I have a lot to share with you guys today about this rapture stuff that's being predicted right now. It's very relevant and time sensitive. But, um, I want to mention briefly, um, the Charlie Kirk assassination. Uh, I hope to have a short video. I don't know how long it'll be. I'm working in my mind, praying about it, looking for the right words to discuss this. I have not settled there in my heart yet. Um, it's obviously a horrible tragedy, uh, an evil thing, and it's connected to the evils that are going on in our country. In a more broad sense. It's a big deal. I know everybody's trying to get your guys attention and tell you what to think about it and redirect the crowd to do the thing that they want them to do and all that kind of thing. I'm aware of all those dynamics. Um, so I just need some time to sit and be patient and think about it. If I was a smart YouTuber, I would have put a video out that day, another video following up the next day, and another one that I don't care about any of that stuff. So give me some time. I will hopefully bring something to you that will actually be beneficial to you, be fruitful for you, be something edifying, that is God honoring. To talk about what, the murder of Charlie Kirk, who is a good guy. Talk, uh, about that and, uh, the response to it, which is, um, well, if you guys, if you're paying, if you don't know, if you're not on social media, you don't know it's bad. It's bad from the liberal side of things. It's horrific, it's disgusting, and it's scary. That being said, um, let me gather my thoughts on that. So my name is Mike Winger. My goal is to help you learn to think biblically about everything. I'll talk about the Charlie Crick stuff more in the future here. Uh, my only encouragement to you for right now is to encourage patience, patience, patience, patience. Take some time to think about it. Take some time to meditate on these things, like, as in thoughtful, intelligent processing, not mindless meditation. And don't just run as fast as you can in any one particular direction unless that direction is to the Lord. Obviously that's the right place to run. Um, but no, it's not a time for inaction and it's not a time for reckless action. But I'll give me some time to think about it, if you don't mind. Um, but let's Talk about the Rapture. Okay, Rapture predictions, they are going on right now, big time, huge. The current prediction is that there's a rapture on September, either 23rd or 24th, and it's this year. It is, like, less than two weeks away. It is just days away. And for the next three Fridays, my intention is to talk about the Rapture for the first question as part of the 10 Questions video series. So, uh, the other nine come from you guys. You put your questions in the live chat. I don't even know what they are. I find out about them when you do. When I read them on screen, that's when I find out what those questions are. But I want you to see. Look, here's a little preview of what we're about to get into. This is Pastor, uh, Shervin, and I can't pronounce his last name. Use something or other. It's some derivation of the word Joseph, I think. But anyway, Pastor Shervin, he says, I'll just show you a little bit of it. I'll play the full clip in a moment. 2 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:26.000 But a lot of people say, wait a minute. All right. This rapture you're talking about, no one knows the day or the hour. That's what, you know, Jesus said himself in Matthew 24:36, when Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the day or the hour, he wasn't being vague. 3 00:03:26.000 --> 00:24:12.000 I'll show you the whole clip in just a moment. I want you to know that this is coming. Um, and I'll turn the volume up a little bit. It seems a little bit low on that guy, so I'm working on that. Failed rapture predictions are a hobby that goes on not in the mainstream church, typically, usually, but it always is present. Uh, it's not just rapture predictions as end of the world predictions. It is the second coming of Jesus predictions. They are always a mistake, they're always a bad idea, they always turn out badly. Allow me to read for you a brief recent abridged history of some of the things that have happened. This comes from a website called BeyondSalvation Co ZA. And I'm not endorsing the side. I don't know much about it, but he had conveniently the author here brought together some things. Check this out. These are. I'm going to read from the article here. These are examples of failed predictions, usually that focus on the Rapture. These ones all do, actually. Um, because people think right now it's different this time. Oh, no, this time it's different. Mike, you don't understand the math this time. The math is really, really good. And this time the coincidences are too big to be ignored to be called coincidence. You're wrong. You're wrong. Learn the lesson of the past generation. So here is about 150 years of examples, okay? The great disappointment in 1844. This is William, uh, Miller. The Millerites, they were known as. He was a Baptist preacher and farmer from New York who became convinced through his study of Daniel 8:14 that Christ would return on October 22, 1844. He used complex calculations that involved the 2300 days of prophecy that are from the Book of Daniel. And Miller attracted tens of thousands of followers across America. I'm, um, reading from the Beyond Salvation site here. The Millerites, as they were known, sold their possessions, abandoned their crops, and gathered in white robes on hilltops to await their Lord's return, dressed in white, even. Right when October 22nd passed without incident, the devastating disappointment was so profound it became known in history as the Great Disappointment. You haven't heard about this. Google the Great Disappointment and you will see. I've heard about this, known about this for a generation now. I've been long enough to say that, right? Alive long enough to say that. I've been alive for a generation. I think over 40. Uh, one Millerite wrote, 22nd October passed. This is what they said. One of the witnesses, one of the people who was duped by this Baptist minister into thinking the end had come because he had all the calculations right in the Book of Daniel. And they said, uh, the 22nd of October passed, making unspeakably sad the faithful and longing ones, but causing the scoffers to rejoice greatly. Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before. All their excitement turned into the exact opposite when it failed. The aftermath, the article says, was brutal. Some lost their faith entirely. Of course they did. Others, uh, split into various Adventist denominations, each trying to explain why their calculations had failed. The event became m. A cautionary tale about the danger of date setting that should have lasted forever but didn't. And it didn't. Now you guys can go back a thousand years. A thousand A.D. don't you know? A thousand years after the return of. After the first coming of Christ, there were people who were predicting his second coming. The math is perfect. It's a thousand years later. The day is a thousand years. All the same things you hear today. Back then, they said it. In the earliest 20th century, we have more. As, uh, the 1900s dawned, a new generation of date setters emerged, convinced they had solved what previous generations had missed. Charles Taze Russell. Does that name sound familiar to you guys? This is the guy that started the Jehovah's Witnesses. He is the original founder. Though many modern JW's want to distance themselves from Russell because he's got a lot of weird things going on. He's been very much exposed. Um, but he is their founder. Like, if he's wrong, they're wrong. Charles Taze Russell predicted Christ's invisible return in 1874, followed by the end of the world in 1914. When 1914 passed, the date was moved to 1918. Then it was moved in 1925. The Watchtower Society has since abandoned date setting after decades of failed predictions, left countless followers disillusioned. Actually, it's not entirely true because they did it again in the 70s. What they do is the JWs, they'll do this thing where they predict the end of the world. They get this huge surge in membership because of the excitement, and then it fails. And then they try to distance themselves. And, uh, after some of the date setting that happened, they even publish. Like, some foolish people postulated that this was the end. How foolish of them. But we have the records. Like, it wasn't them. It was you. It was you. It was the governing body. Uh, and now the Jehovah's Witnesses are an actual cult, but their cult origins came from doomsday, fake prophecies and false predictions about the end times. That's where it came from. I read on in the article it says Hal Lindsay, in his 1970 bestseller, the Late Great Planet Earth, suggested that the Rapture would likely occur before 1988. Oh, man, it was so big in the 80s. This is before I was really, you know, uh, old enough to pay attention. And certainly I wasn't even saved in 1988. I was too young to even think about any of this stuff. But in 1988, yep, they said the Rapture is going to occur based on the generation that saw Israel's rebirth in 1948. So the logic of this was really solid, right? This generation shall not pass away. Jesus said. Now, they totally abused what Jesus said there. That's not what he. You abused it. Right. But they said the birth of Israel, now there's one generation, and a generation's 40 years. So they said 1988 will be the date. Hal Lindsay was not the only guy. This was kind of mainstream. Okay? Calvary chapels fell into this, too. And I actually have a video on this. I linked down in the video description where I go through why Pastor Chuck predicted it was the rapture in 81 and the return of Jesus in 88. Based upon this idea. Um, I love Pastor Chuck. He did a lot of great things. This was a huge, glaring error. And Calvary has never really, honestly, openly dealt with it. So I made a video talking about it. Even though I got a lot of. I got in some trouble for it. Uh, so be it. So the book, How Lindsey's Book, the Late Great Planet earth, sold over 28 million copies, making it one of the best selling nonfiction books of the 70s. When 1988 came and went, Lindsay quietly stopped making predictions. He was not the only guy predicting it. Like I said, Chuck Smith, even. Uh, and some of you will be like, chuck never predicted it. If you're Calvary Chapel, you probably think Chuck never predicted it. These two books, very hard to get a hold of, printed by the Word for Today, written by Pastor Chuck Smith, both predicting when the end will come. He didn't say he had a vision from God. It was based on his calculations and his interpretations. This is how it usually goes. And it was a huge error that Calvary, uh, has never really fully addressed. In my opinion. Most Calvary people think Chuck never said anything like that. Um, that's not true. Let me go on. Because guess what? It all ties into today. Today's the same exact thing repeating itself. Because rapture predictions are always bad. They're always, always bad. Never mind whether or not the rapture even is a pre tribulational event, as pre trib rapture predictions always hold. Um, what does scripture say about this? You know, most Christians throughout time have not believed this. I wouldn't hang your whole theology on something that is so, uh, secondary as the timing of being caught away. All right, just being straight with you guys, right? Ordained Calvary Chapel pastor here. I'm saying this because I think it needs to be said. Let me read on. Christian. Um, bookstores couldn't keep the book in. Oh, sorry. This is the 88 reasons book. Oh, my goodness. This book. I got to show you guys. Let me see. I think I have a clip of it. I can put it on screen. 88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988. Here we go. There it is. This was a real book. This was a real book that was real popular and it tied in with Hal Lindsey. It tied in with what Pastor Chuck got sucked into as well and sucked others into with his teachings on this. So A guy named Edgar Weisenant. He wrote this book, 88 Reasons why the Rapture Will Be. In 1988, it became a sensation. It sold four and a half million copies. Wasn't it? A former NASA engineer used complex mathematical calculations to prove the Rapture would occur between September 11th and 13th in 1988. Another September prediction. Christian bookstores couldn't keep the book in stock. Uh, believers across America prepared for the departure. Some quit their jobs. Others stopped medical treatments. Families gathered together expecting to be raptured at any moment. September 13th passed. Wizen it immediately recalculated, moving the date to October 3rd. When that failed, he predicted September 1989. Oh, he was just one year off. When that failed, he predicted september 1993. When that failed, Wizen, it went to september of 1994. I don't know if it was September, probably, um, the damage was immense. Christianity Today reported that the failed predictions did more to hurt the cause of Christ than anything in recent memory. I know some of you are excited about the Rapture. Two weeks from now, two weeks from now, you're going to be in the suffering stage or denial. These are the two stages. Most likely you'll fall into suffering and denial. Where you go, uh, oh, I can't believe I went through that. I'm so disillusioned. Or I'm just going to deny it. Maybe you'll set a new date. I guarantee you a bunch of these YouTubers who are making these rapture predictions and they are everywhere, if you haven't seen them everywhere right now, many of them are going to say, well, we just got the year wrong. Oh, I've recalculated. Now I know the real date. That's one of the major things people do is they recalculate the date. They give a new date. Wisenant did it right. Another, uh, one we'll read about, uh, a little bit in a moment, in a few minutes also did it. This happens over and over again. New date, new date, new date. This is why you have to remember the names of the people today who are predicting the rapture. After this thing doesn't happen, after this thing doesn't happen, which I am predicting it probably is not going to happen because their theology is wrong, their interpretation of scripture is bad. So I have no stock in their predictions. And so I think probably, probably wrong. Obviously Jesus could do whatever he wants at any time, but I think the likelihood is no greater on September 23rd, 22nd than it is any other time. So, um, when they do two weeks after I'M going to, uh. Two weeks after today, I'm going to make a video highlighting exactly who predicted the Rapture. We need to hold them accountable. These people cannot just scurry away or make a video going, well, at least we got excited, guys, right? At least we got excited. No, you brought shame to the name of Christ. You brought embarrassment to Christianity. You caused people to get disillusioned. Somebody may have sold their house, somebody may have quit their job and then decided to just do street witnessing for two weeks in prep for what happened, which didn't happen, which then messed up their lives and embarrassed their family and embarrassed the name of Jesus in communities you've never even met because of your YouTube videos. I'm accountable for what I teach. And these guys are accountable for what they teach, too. This is important. So, um, the damage was immense. Right now, the Y2K one. I remember this, okay? I was old enough to remember the Y2K stuff. As the year 2000 approached end times, fervor or fever reached new heights. Many Christians became convinced that Y2K computer problems would trigger global chaos, ushering in the tribulation and rapture. Now, those of us who remember, it's this. There was a belief that computers were in their actual bios. It was not designed to make it past the year 2000. So when it hit 1999, when it hit into 2000, um, it would break your computer, and this would break all computers everywhere. Like, nothing would work. Gas station pumps aren't going to work. Uh, satellites will fail, um, phone services will fail. Everything's going to fail. Stock market's going to crash. This was the Y2K hysteria. I remember going into the BIOS of my computer and setting it back to a different date. Actually, I did two things. Once I set the bios, uh, so that it would be transferring over to the year 2000 ahead of time, like, months before. And nothing happened. And then I remember setting the BIOS back to, like, 1992 or something just so that, uh, this is years ago. So I think I'm using the right terms here. It's so long. I forget now what I did, but I set the. The date back, too, as well. So nothing happened. But Jerry Falwell proclaimed on television that Y2K could be God's instrument to shake this nation, to humble this nation. Christian ministries sold survival kits, water purification tablets, and emergency food supplies. A lot of people became doomsday preppers around that time. Believers withdrew money from banks and stockpiled supplies for the coming collapse. Uh, Grant Jeffrey Wrote the millennium meltdown, claiming Y2K would trigger the tribulation. Jack Van Imp. You know that name? I know that name. The more cautious about specific dates heavily implied that Y2K marks the beginning of end times events. When 1-1-2000 arrived with minimal computer disruption and no rapture, the prophetic industry quietly moved on to new dates, leaving financially and emotionally devastated followers behind. Now, I think this one's a little different. The article kind of highlights this as if it's almost like its equivalent. Um, the Y2K stuff was. Was in error. But I didn't usually hear people tying this to rapture predictions or end times predictions. Us. There were some who did. It's worth knowing that when there's turmoil in the world, you will get people who try to make predictions because we inevitably think, uh, the second coming and the return and all that will happen within our own lifetimes. Every generation believes that. Not, uh, they believe that, but they're inclined to think that. And we should be ready if it does, and we should be ready if it doesn't. Not one or the other. Let's talk about Herald Camping. Oh, man. I have my own personal history with Harold Camping. You guys remember this guy? This was the. According to the article, the most public failure in 2011. I used to listen to Harold Camping back. My first car was a 1966 Mustang. Now that car had. It was, it was, it was barely struggling to get down the road all the time because I had no money to fix it up, to get the thing repaired when it needed and stuff. So I just do little things here and there to fix it. But, um, but Harold Camping would come on the radio. The reason why I mentioned m my car is all I had was AM radio. Right? That's, that's, that's the vehicles. 1966. I turned on my radio. AM radio. Harold Camping. One of the only Christian things I could find on that. On that radio, uh, station, or on any station for that matter. I listened to hours and hours and hours of this guy. He was brilliant. He could quote scripture. He could answer questions. He could. And I never knew for sure if what he was saying was right, but he sure sounded wise and he sounded like he really knew what he was talking about. I was very young and I wasn't really that grounded in scripture. But after a while, I stopped listening to Harold Camping because I started thinking, even with my sort of young, youthful mind, my somewhat of a theological naivety not really being grounded deeply in the word of God yet. I thought, this guy sounds like he's heading down the cult pathway. And that was before the 2011 rapture predictions. So I quit listening to Harold Camping before this. But it says perhaps no failed prediction received more media attention than Harold Camping's May 21, 2011 Judgment Day campaign. It was an actual advertising campaign. The 89 year old radio preacher spent millions on billboards of other people's money, by the way, on billboards worldwide declaring with mathematical certainty the rapture would occur on that date. There was a billboard in Bellflower, California, right by my church. That was from Harold Camping's campaign. Now, my church didn't support it or promote it, but it was right there in our city. You know, Camping's followers sold homes. This is so sad. Emptied retirement accounts, quit jobs. Some traveled the country in RVs, warning others about impending judgment. Right? They figured if I just tell them before it happens, when it happens, then they'll realize it was us. It was true. One man spent his family's entire $140,000 life savings promoting Camping's message. It was a lot more than one man. There was people who, uh, again, sold homes. They lost everything because of Herald Camping. When May 21 came and went, Camping, hospitalized from the stress, adjusted the date to October 21, 2011. When that date also passed, he finally admitted error and retired from public ministry. Actually, I remember him hiding in his home for days, and he wouldn't answer the phone and he wouldn't go public. And he actually, at one point, this is what I heard, reportedly told everybody a spiritual rapture did take place. It just was invisible. And this is one of the things these movements do. They predict. They predict. And if they can't recover from the embarrassment of the failed predictions, what they do? Pardon me? Uh, if they can't recover from the failed predictions, what they do is they reinterpret it. And they go, well, it did happen. Jesus did return. This is what the JWS did. It was an invisible return of Christ. Oh, he's reigning now on Earth secretly from a private room. You just can't see him. Uh, so do you see? This is what Camping reportedly did as well. Uh, next 2010s and beyond, the cycle continues. I'll just skip through a few of these quickly. September 23, 2017. The Revelation 12 sign convinced thousands that the rapture was imminent, when astronomical alignment supposedly matched the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation. This had to do with signs and the moon and stars and all this. Then there was the blood moons, 2014 and 2015. Remember the blood moons? Nothing happened. John Hagee's four blood moons. John Hagee, very popular, at least very well known. His theory suggested these lunar eclipses on Jewish feast days signaled the end times. Oh, it's a really big deal. And I remember just thinking, of course lunar eclipses match up with feast days. The Jews use a lunar calendar. Uh, of course it moves around with the moon. Anyway, 2012 Mayan calendar. Some Christian teachers tried to connect the Mayan calendar end of the world, which wasn't even an end of the world. It was all hype anyway, the Mayan calendar with biblical prophecy. Now we're taking our prophetic cues from Mayans because Jesus is like, nobody knows. So we're just going to ask the Mayans. Maybe they know. Okay, COVID 19. In 2020 and 2021. In those years, the pandemic sparked dozens of new date setting attempts with various teachers declaring that the crisis was the final sign. Um, I could go on with this article, uh, but I'll say this. Rapture predictions are always wrong. Always wrong. Jesus return predictions also are always wrong. End of the world predictions are always wrong. There's one sign. If you are premillennial like me, I believe Jesus is coming. In the future, there will be this seven year of tribulation. I do think that's true. I could be wrong. And I would not base the reputation of Jesus or the Bible off of any prediction based on those things. Because what if I'm wrong? Scripture's right, but what if I'm wrong? However, there's only one sign to look for. The one sign to look for, it's in Mark 13. It's in the very passage that we're about to look into, where we're going to look at Pastor Servan, who is wrong. Um, we're going to look at the passage he's abusing, misinterpreting horribly and causing great harm to people who will sell homes, who will go and preach to their neighbors. And then, you know, a week later everyone's going to be like, hey, you're crazy. I always thought you were kind of crazy. In the back of my mind I thought maybe Christianity is really true. But you've convinced me it's false. Thank you, crazy rapture lady. That's what's going to happen. That's what is happening right now. Before we get into this though, Mark 13, this is the same passage where Jesus gives us the one sign to look for. The only sign to look for the abomination of desolation. That's it. I have a video on that. I'll link it down below if you guys want to check it out. That's the sign to look for. The other things are not signs to look for. Now let's look at this passage because this is where some, um, of the theological side of things, some of the, like, I have all these biblical numbers I can crunch together to give us the right date. Everybody does this. They've done this for hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years. Um, a lot of it gets refuted when you just look at Jesus's words where he says, no one knows the day or the hour. No one knows. And this has been the mantra in response to these guys. No one knows the day or the hour. Well, they have a response to this, and Pastor Shervin is going to give us this. Excuse me, I'm sorry to get your name wrong. My non intentional Pastor Shervin, Yousefian, I think, is how to pronounce his last name. Doesn't mean he's not a good pastor in other ways. Doesn't mean he isn't a, uh, wonderful Christian. But this is a grievous error and he's spreading it to others. He has videos with hundreds of, uh, 500,000 views for the video that I'm about to show you a clip of. This is how he reinterprets the phrase no one knows the day or the hour. 4 00:24:12.000 --> 00:25:00.000 But a lot of people say, wait a minute, all right, this rapture you're talking about, no one knows the day or the hour. That's what Jesus said himself in Matthew 24:36. When Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 that no one knows the day or the hour, he wasn't being vague. He was not being mysterious. He was referencing a well known idiom that every Jewish listener would have immediately understood. He was referring to Yom Terwah, the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets is the only feast on the Jewish calendar that begins on a new moon. And in ancient Israel, a new moon wasn't calculated by math or predicted with software. It had to be visually confirmed by two witnesses who saw the first sliver of the moon. 5 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:50.000 Okay, so there's an element of this that is true. And the truth is that, uh, the new moon, the Feast of Trumpets, it did have an indeterminate quality to it, because they would, for tradition's sake. Now, you don't see this in Scripture, but for tradition's sake, they have to have two witnesses to confirm. And so it could move. But that's not why it's on September 23rd, 24th, 22nd, 23rd. It's not why it overlaps on the typical calendar. It's because the Jewish day starts at evening and uh, ends at the next evening. So any Jewish date is going to have two days on a normal, like Julian calendar. 22nd, 23rd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th. Those are just single dates. It's just a little convoluted, this sort of thing. But yeah, there's an indeterminate quality to the Feast of Trumpets. But look at the claim that's being made about the scripture about Jesus. Statement. No one knows the day or the. 6 00:25:50.000 --> 00:26:34.000 Hour since cloud would cover or um, bad visibility would delay the sighting. No one could say for sure if the new moon was, uh, present. And therefore the Feast of Trumpets would start on either day one or day two of the expected time. And that's why Yam Terwa was called the feast, literally the feast that no one knows the day or the hour. So it's going to be either September 23rd or 24th of this year. So we know the year 2025, we know the month September, but no one knows the day or the hour. 7 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:46.000 Garbage and folly and based on something that's actually a lie. So. Or it's an untruth. I mean, it's a statement about reality that's not true. Let's see if I can find that part again. 8 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:48.000 Have immediately understood. 9 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:55.000 That's it. Okay, Check out, check out the claim about how well known this is. It's an idiom and it's extremely well known. 10 00:26:55.000 --> 00:27:05.000 He wasn't being vague. He was not being mysterious. He was referencing a well known idiom that every Jewish listener would have immediately understood. 11 00:27:05.000 --> 01:33:15.000 A well known idiom. Um, every Jewish listener would have immediately understood. That is not true. That is not true. Now the way a scholar would put this is that lacks sufficient evidence. Okay? That is not true. To my knowledge, and I've looked into this and I cannot find a single usage of an idiom for the Feast of Trumpets called the day. No one knows the day or the hour. The feast. No one knows the day or the hour. I cannot find a single ancient usage. I can only find usages of, uh, times where, um, uh, in some of the ancient works. Jewish works. You have something about the Feast of Tabernacles having an indeterminate quality to it, like, oh, we're not sure if it'll be this day or that day, but I do not once see an idiom. Now, an idiom is a special part of language. Let's get into some examples an idiom is a special part of language, such as a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. You guys know this idiom? That's an actual idiom. Like, it's a phrase that has a meaning that is other than its literal terminologies. So when I say a bird in the hand, I mean metaphorically. You have something, some beneficial thing that you possess or opportunity you have, and that's better than the possible opportunities you might get if you let go of this one. So that's an idiom. That's an actual idiom. It's a phrase. Everybody knows what it means. You can find that phrase used in English writing all over the place many times, and then the usage will establish that it's an actual idiom. An idiom could be like, um, um, uh, three days and three nights. That is a Jewish idiom that refers to not just three 24 hour periods equaling a total of 72, 72 hours. Yeah, that is an actual idiom. You can see it used in that way. Um, this is not an idiom. There is no idiom that I can find anywhere in ancient Jewish writings, uh, that I'm aware of anyways. Not like I've read every ancient Jewish writing or even read ancient. I've just looked and searched and looked for the scholars who can point to this. And it's not an idiom. Further, you can tell it's not an idiom when you go to mark 13. This is why we try to think biblically about everything, right? So let's look at what Jesus actually says. Okay? He gets into the abomination. That's the actual sign, abomination of desolation. And then he gets into things that are going to come after that, which is not the Rapture, but people are pretending it's the Rapture. Ah, in those days after that tribulation, then these things will happen. Then they'll see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Okay, that's the second coming. I don't think it's time about the Rapture. I just don't think it can be in this passage. But even if you think it is, um, let's go to mark 1332. Concerning that day or that hour. No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. The reason why this is significant is because this is not an idiomatic use of a term. This is just a phrase. First off, there is no idiom that says that day or that hour. No one knows. No one Knows equals the Feast of Trumpets. Like that's not an idiom. To my knowledge, as far as I can tell, to anybody's knowledge. That was deceitful to say that. Pastor Shervin, you deceived others when you said this. Uh, you need to first look up what idioms really are, see how they work, and know that implications that there's an element of uncertainty about the Feast of Trumpets does not equal. This phrase is an idiom. That's not true. But also Jesus isn't using it in an idiomatic fashion. He says, concerning or about that day, what day? The day is the day that the sun's going to return. Right? Um, uh, then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. This is the second coming he's referring to here. And if you want to say it's the Rapture, fine. Then maybe I'm incorrect and it is the Rapture being referred to in this passage doesn't mean other passages can't be talking about the rapture of it. But in this one I think it's talking about the second coming. But let's say it's about the Rapture, then he's talking about that day. He's not talking about the Feast of Trumpets or any other. The day he's referring to is not a feast. It's the day he previously talked about. Then he says concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven. Now if this wasn't, ah, an uh, idiom for Feast of Trumpets, then what he be communicating here is. But concerning the timing of these events I'm discussing, it'll happen on the Feast of Trumpets, so you wouldn't refer to that. And then follow it up by saying not even the angels in heaven, because you just confirmed the timing. Oh, it's between these two day period. Concerning that day, it'll be a two day period. Not even the angels in heaven. It doesn't rationally make sense. You don't need to study ancient Jewish writings to know this. You just have to read the context. Nor the sun. No one knows. Not even the Son, only the Father. This is not talking about the Feast of Trumpets. It's talking about the fact that it is something that is not meant to be known. That's why all these predictions are always wrong. It is going to come when it comes. And you're just supposed to be ready when Jesus returns. Be on guard, keep awake. Why? For you do not know when the time will come. Now if that's an Idiom. Why did the idiom change? Why is he using different phraseology? Now, if it's an idiom instead, you would have to interpret this as to be a different phraseology, which for an idiom that has never been proven to give the same idiom again. But the application doesn't make sense because he's saying, be on guard, keep awake, as in be constantly ready because it's on the feast of Trumpets. That doesn't make any logical sense. Let's read on. It's like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge each with his work and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake, for you don't know when the master of the house will come in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. Now, some will woodenly interpret this to say, well, we know it'll be the Feast of Trumpets. We just don't know if it'll be at evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows are in the morning on the feast of Trumpets. But that misses out on the entire purpose of everything Jesus has said so far. This whole passage, verse 32 through 37, is to say you don't know when not you know exactly when it'll be within this sort of 48 hour period. That's not what it's saying. This is an abuse of Scripture. Nobody knows the day or the hour. You could Also read Matthew 24, 42, 44, you'll get more of the same. It's an hour you do not expect. Jesus says this to his own disciples. He's coming at an hour you do not expect. And that word hour doesn't mean physical hour on the clock. It means he's coming when you don't expect. That's how the term is being used, because hour is an idiom for time, rather not just one hour block of time. When he says you don't know the day or the hour, that's an idiom for you don't know when. That's what it means. There's a use of an idiom, uh, these guys rarely repent, but I'm going to ask them to. Over the next three weeks, I'm going to talk about this first question. Each Friday we'll talk about these rapture predictions. Because I hope you guys can learn the lesson. Because I think you will. I think you'll learn it. Even if some of these people promoting this stuff won't. Maybe some of them will. So this Week I tackled no One Knows the Day or the Hour and the History of Rapture predictions. Next week, I'm going to tackle the African prophet who's actually pushing this stuff, a guy named Joshua who's actually pushing this stuff. And we'll talk about his claims and how people are trying to validate through private revelation about the Rapture. And then the following week, we're going to just remind ourselves of all the people that falsely predicted the Rapture. Because there needs to be a type of accountability. And let's be honest, the Internet is the Wild west, and there is no accountability. I don't want to be the cop of the Internet, but I want to do the same thing I'd ask you to do, which is let's remember that guy's face. He led a bunch of people astray about the Rapture last year, and now what is he saying? Let's remember that guy. We need to remember these people, because what they do is they'll come back with another prediction later, just like Harold Camping did over and over again. All right, so let's go to your questions in the live chat. And we have all 10 questions for today. Not unexpectedly, I've already been going for a little while. Um, okay, question number two. Adam Johnson has a question, says, uh, hey, Mike, I appreciate you and your ministry more than you know. Thank you, Adam. I'm m grateful to hear that. Uh, what are some easy ways to explain hard theological concepts to my son as he grows up? He's only nine months now, but I want to be ready. Um, well, I think by nine months he should be able to explain the hypostatic union at least. Um, yeah. So teaching, uh, kids is a beautiful thing. It forces us to actually know what we believe and what we're trying to say. Because when you talk to little kids, you can't hide your ignorance in complexity. That's the thing we do. Sometimes I can hide my ignorance about what I'm explaining by making it really complicated. Um, now sometimes things just are really complicated. So I'm not. It's not like complexity equals ignorance. That would be foolish to say this about. About anybody. I'm just saying it's something that can happen. All right. Sometimes we do that. When you talk to young people, you're forced to keep things as simple as possible. And I think that that is very helpful for you as someone who's a communicator, someone who's trying to figure out how to understand what you believe and how to communicate it to others. Teaching kids is Very useful. Who is God? Try to explain that to like a 7 year old versus like a 30 year old, and you'll find when you, when you hit the seven year old, it's a whole different skill set, but you're still answering the same question. You know, it's pretty good stuff. So, um, I mean, rules, uh, with kids, rules with anybody who's teaching anybody is you leverage what they already know and understand. You speak in terms that they can comprehend you. You don't, for instance, use a bunch of terminologies and language that they're not familiar with. So I just use the phrase hypostatic union. A lot of the audience will be like, I'm not sure what that is, but at least I tried to use it in a phrase where if you didn't know the way I said it just now, if you didn't know what it was, you would get the point. You would still be like, yeah, I don't know what that is. I haven't looked into that, but I get the point. It's like a theological concept that is more challenging, and a kid wouldn't really be ready for a discussion on that, uh, with, with that terminology when they're very, very young. Um, I mean, you could. You be surprised how much you can teach kids at a young age. So, so here's my recommendation. Um, um, for training your kids up and helping them learn how to think as well as what to think. FoundationWorldView.com is a website I recommend you check out. Uh, nine months obviously, is a little young for that, but they do a really good job. And Elizabeth Urbanowicz, who heads that up, I've interviewed her. If you type in my name and her name, Elizabeth Urbanowicz sounds. It's kind of with a CZ at the end. Um, you'll find more stuff on that, but there's some good resources there. Um, Natasha Crane has written some books called Keeping your kids on God's side. Um, there's some good resources there as well. So, yeah, I'd recommend that. All right, let's go to number three. Julia Larson says, my former church claimed that Jesus stripes specifically paid for our sickness while on the cross. Or, uh, let me read that again. While the cross paid for the rest. Okay, so his stripes specifically. His stripes paid for our sickness, and then the cross itself paid for other Things, using Isaiah 53. 5 to support it. Is this biblical? Thanks. I love your ministry. Uh, thank you, Julia. Uh, is that biblical? Well, let's. This is a good, um, it's a good Thing to highlight. Okay, so here, Isaiah 53, it says, he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. Um, or his stripes. You can get that. Um, so they're taking this phrase, um, here. I'll go to New King James. That's what you're probably familiar with here. By his stripes, we are healed. Uh, they're saying the same thing, just different translation. So what we're going to suggest here is we're going to break these four statements, these four phrases down into four different, like, isolated pieces of the cross or of the crucifixion of Jesus. So he was wounded. That was for my transgressions. Okay, That's a little confusing, though, because wounded also is like being bruised and chastised and striped. Okay. He was bruised for our iniquities. That's also confusing because the wounds would have caused bruising, and the bruising would have been connected to his chastisement. And his stripes would have also bruised him as he was beaten. There'd be bruising with the stripes as well. Um, his chastisement was for our peace, but weren't his stripes part of his chastisement as well? You see that you get the idea here that these are different aspects being highlighted, but it's not an either or situation. All of these things Jesus experiences for us, and it's not, his stripes healed me, but his chastisement did not. His stripes healed me, but his bruises did not. The stripes did not pay for my sins, but his bruises, those paid for my iniquities. That's not what's being taught here. Uh, it's an either or fallacy when it's both. And the reality is it's both. And in this passage, um, so I hope that that gives you something there. Julia, the text right there answered your question. You go to Isaiah 53. 5, and you go, are there indications in this passage that these are isolated, separated, segmented things, one and not the other? No, it's all of the above. It's all of the above. It's also, um, a feature of Hebrew poetry that it's repetitive. And the repetition isn't mindless repetition, it's repetition where a new aspect communicated. When you repeat it this way and then you say it again that way, you're getting different aspects of the same. Like you're looking at a diamond from different facets, different sides. That's kind of the idea. Number Four. Philagape has a question. What point was Paul making in Titus 1:12 when he quoted a prophet who said, cretins are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Thank you for your ministry. You're welcome. Um, all right, so, uh, this is a good one. Um, Titus 1:12. Okay, I'm going to back up. We're going to read some more context here. Okay, let's go. Uh, Titus 1:5. Okay, so Titus is being told in this passage, why Paul left Titus in Crete. Why is he there in the first place? This is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. If anyone is above reproach now, it gives qualifications for elders. The husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick tempered or a. Ah, drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. We don't just have these, like, you know, we live in a time. Oh, uh, I didn't put it on your screen. Sorry. We live in a time where we have these, like, heroes who are, like, charging forward, right? These are like the mascots for our movements. And they charge forward and they're strong. And that's not a bad thing. They're strong and they're courageous. But as Christians, we cannot allow our desire for strong leaders to cause us to forget that there are these qualifications for church leadership. They have to be disciplined, self controlled, godly men. The kind of men who you can trust, like, who you can rightly trust. I know everybody trusts everybody who's on their side nowadays, but you can rightly trust anyway. It says he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict. For there are many who are insubordinate. So now he's going to talk about the problem of the detractors, the insubordinate, the problematic people that are going on in that community. For there are many that are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the Circumcision Party. Now, Paul himself is a Jew. This isn't against Jews directly. No, this is actually against the Circumcision Party, which is the party who says all these Gentiles have to be circumcised if they are going to be saved. Now, there are non Jews who are still effectively part of the circumcision party. There's a branch within the Hebrew roots movement that is the circumcision parties. They're the modern equivalent of that. And most of them are actually gentiles. Um, verse 11. They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. Shameful gain. Teaching for shameful gain. Oh, man. This is. This is. Yeah, it's a thing, right? One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own. So these are Cretans. He's talking about specific groups of people Titus is going to run into. Hey, they're doing these things. They're upsetting whole households. One of these Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and to the. And the commands of people who turn away from the truth. Um, so these seem to be, um. There seems to be this, uh, Titus, I want you to appoint elders who are godly, stable men who know the truth and are able to communicate the truth to others. Because two second emphasis in the passage. There's a problem of. Of these people who are in Crete, in the city you're going to be in, the city you are in, that are there, that are big talkers. They're in for shameful gain. They have carnal motives for doing their ministries, and they have bad teachings. And this should be no surprise because it's an outgrowth of the Cretan culture, which is bad. Yep. Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. There are cultures that are worse than others. And there are some cultures that are known for having people who are liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons. And Crete was one of those. And Paul doesn't have a hard time saying it because it's true. It's just. It's just true. Now, why does he say, quote, a prophet of their own? Uh, Paul was widely read, and he didn't mind quoting or referencing other teachers. Uh, in Scripture, we have him actually quote, uh, two different writers who were praising Zeus. And he's doing it as a way of not praising Zeus, but as a way of proving a point he's making about God. So he doesn't mind doing that. Let me read your question. To make sure I understood it. So what was the point Paul was making? Um, okay. When he. When he says Cretans are all these things, he's making a point of like, hey, Titus, I think he's saying, you got to be on guard. In fact, the point is kind of in the passage. This testimony is true. Therefore, here's the point. Rebuke them sharply. That they may be sound in the faith. I love that. That's the purpose, that they may be sound in the faith. The, uh, purpose of the rebuke is not just to call them out, is to call them back to right belief and right thinking. Because even a false teacher can be redeemed. Even someone who's out there pushing false rapture predictions can totally repent, really learn the lessons and be like, not only was I wrong, I now know why I was wrong. I was presumptive. I was foolish. I was unwise. And I didn't listen to what Jesus said when he said, no one knows the day or the hour. I should have listened. And that's what we want to see. I want you to be sound in the faith. All right, number five, Scrump has a question. Is a prenuptial agreement ever biblical? Is a prenuptial agreement ever, ever biblical? Uh, my fiance's parents want us to get one. In my opinion, prenuptial agreements undermine the permanence of marri, its covenantal nature, trust and unity. Um, when you add the word ever, it can make any situation challenging. Like, for instance, um, is killing a stranger ever the right thing to do? Like. Well, I mean, it's generally almost always the wrong thing to do. But, yeah, there are situations I can imagine where it would be justified, and it has happened in history, where it was justified that one guy killing another who he doesn't even know was actually in that moment. That was the right thing to do. It would have been wrong not to that those moments happen in real life. So in a general sense, prenuptial agreements are, I believe, a bad thing. They are an agreement about your future divorce. That's what the prenuptial agreement is. I know that, um, in the manosphere right now, obviously, it's your fiance's parents want you to get this. I don't know if you're the woman or the man, but in the manosphere right now, where there's a lot of men who are rediscovering their manhood, but they're not rediscovering, uh, godly manliness. They're just rediscovering everything manly. And that is a positive thing generally, but it's going to lead them into errors. We need to not be feminine men, but we need to be godly men. Because men and women, we all have this sin nature that will pull us down dark paths. And if we just feed into our natures without guarding ourselves, without limiting things, without correcting things, without rebuking ourselves, we're going to become Andrew Tate, we're all going to head down that path or uh, some other similar path where we take some other sin and highlight it and make it our whole personality. Um, but the manosphere, who's rediscovering these things right now? And they should. Guys need to be men. They need to be raised up to be men, real men, strong men, godly men, they do need that. But they're really pushing the prenuptial agreement thing because the basic trend as they hear online, what do men get out of marriage anyways? I got to take care of you, I got to provide. Um, I'm locked in down. And then if you leave me, and most divorces are filed by women statistically, and if you leave me, this is how their reasoning goes, then I lose all the stuff that I've built. So what do I gain from. Why not just date a girl, take care of her as long as I want to, and if ever we split up, I keep everything and I still have all the control. I think the problem with this is that it invalidates the nature of what marriage is. And marriage is a self sacrificial covenant. The number one call from Jesus. This doesn't feel manly to you. If you think that your power equals manliness. Because you lose powers, you lose some power here. But according to Jesus, um, now you're laying down your power. Just like Jesus, he didn't actually lose power. He laid down his power. So we laid down our power as men. I lay down my power and I say, I will self sacrifice for my wife, I will go to the cross for her, metaphorically speaking, I will put her needs above my own. The two of us become one. My identity and your identity, they are now this. We are now one. Now if that oneness involves us continuing to have separate bank accounts, that is, as a general rule a bad thing. Now maybe there's exceptions. I'm sure there are some exceptions. But as a general rule, I would think marriages should not have separate, uh, finances. And do you know that? Um, I'd be interested to find out statistics. I don't know if anybody knows this on do prenuptial agreements increase divorce rates or are they. I shouldn't say. Do they increase? Because that's causation. How about correlation? Are prenuptial agreements disproportionately associated with divorces? As in take 100 marriages without a prenup and 100 marriages with a prenup. Which percentage ended up in divorce from each camp? I'd like to know that because I do know one statistic, and that is marriages where discussions about divorce happen early on in the marriage. Where the postulating of divorce, the reasoning through the mind where you think about getting a divorce and what that would look like, where that happens early in the marriage, conversations happen about it. Those marriages statistically have a much higher divorce rate. There's something undermining about the nature of that document. That's my personal opinion about that. Um, I'm sure there's some times where it might be a good thing to do. Now, life is complicated. It could be that somebody's saying, I want you guys to get a prenup because that parent rightly discerns. And I'm not saying this is your situation, but my answer is not just for you, it's for everybody listening. So there may be a situation where parents, um, are rightly discerning something's wrong in this relationship. I think she's just after your money, son. I think she's just after your money. Why don't you get a prenup not as a way of protecting your money, but as a way of just making sure that her motives are right. Now, I don't think that's the best way to make sure her motives are right. I think that, um, there's other ways to try to figure out, to test someone's character, to give time. Anyway, I'm just saying life is complicated. The parents may actually have some wisdom there. Or they might just be money focused, paranoid people who are undermining your relationship with your fiance. God knows your specific situation. In general, prenups seem to violate the purpose of marriage. I can't understand entering a marriage with a pre planned contract for when you will get divorced. Uh, that doesn't make sense to me. Yes, I risk everything in my marriage. That's what marriage is. Yes. It doesn't work out for everybody. Yes, that's what marriage is. That's the nature of life. You take risks and you do the right thing. And it doesn't always work out in the short term. That's okay. Number six in the last book, 1310. That is, that is Ah, is that a Revelation? Revelation reference. I Wonder. That's your YouTube name is in the last book, 1310. Are you referring to Revelation verse? Ooh. If anyone is to be taken captive to captivity, he goes. If anyone is to be slain with a sword. With a sword, he must be slain. Here is the. For the endurance and faith of the saints. Or was it something completely different? I don't know. Who knows? All right, um, your question is, how do we know whether supporting what Israel is doing in Gaza is or isn't God's will? Well, you don't know. Based upon simply, Israel are the descendants of Abraham and God has a future plan for them. That's not enough to know. That's not enough to know. Um, I'm generally, you know, let me think. How do I walk through this? Carefully? Um, there's a lot of. Maybe this won't be careful. There's a lot of stupid out there when it comes to this topic. There's a whole lot of dumb. And there are those who think, well, I bless Israel, and all we do is we just bless Israel at all times, no matter what. Always bless Israel. Always support Israel. Israel's always in the right. This is the posture that some, some people will take because of their understanding of Scripture. Um, I disagree with that, because in Scripture, God does not always take that posture, nor does he demand, uh, other nations to always take that posture. There are times where God actually has other nations because of a particular season where God's disciplining Israel, other nations come and take Israel away. So when the king of Babylon comes and he takes Israel away, he did that through God's command. So in that case, if you said, shouldn't we support Israel? That would be against the book of Jeremiah, where it's like, hey, stop it. Don't be praying for. In fact, he tells them, stop praying for these people. I'm going to carry them away. They still have hope in the future, but for now, it's a season of discipline and they're going down. That's something God does in Israel, in scripture, multiple times. So not knowing what's going on in the courts of heaven, I don't know at a glance if a particular situation Israel is experiencing is one where it's God bringing them correction, or if it's one where Satan's attacking them. I simply do not have that kind of, like, spiritual insight. Um, and most people don't, despite the fact that most people think that they do, even though they all disagree on what that wisdom is telling them. So my thought Is this. I don't have a blanket approval of all Israel does. Okay, is that, uh, can we have that as a basic principle as Christians? I don't have a blanket approval of all Israel does. I don't have blanket support for Israel no matter what, or just as a default. However, there's another side to this, which now I'm going to upset. The other side. The other side that are not thinking wisely about this issue. Um, there is a future for Israel, for national Israel, in Scripture. I'm convinced of this. I don't see any way around this. I've taught through this. When I went through the book of Romans, um, I went through this in detail. But I'll just read you a passage. I asked then, has God rejected his people? By no means. And he gives an example that God is not rejecting. He still calls Israel his people, by the way. Um, for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Now he gets into some details. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've demolished your altars, and I alone am left. And they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? God says, I've kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So too, at the present time, there is a remnant, uh, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. What then? So how should we interpret this? Is it God's rejection of Israel like a permanent, I'm done with you? No. Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it. But the rest were hardened, as it is written. That is, elect individuals from within Israel. A remnant. They obtained it. The rest of Israel were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they would not see and ears that would not hear down to this very day. And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and retribution for them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever. So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means. Rather, through their trespass. In other words, the agenda is not Israel. I'm done with you. That's not the fall. No, they've stumbled. But is it so that they may fall? No, rather through their trespass. Salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? A potential future is discussed now where Paul talks about the idea that Israel has this incredible revival. They come to Jesus, they get saved, and he goes on, now I am m speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then, as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? It's not over for them. There is still time for them. If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. But if some of the branches were broken off, um, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches, that is, even the branches that were broken off. Don't be arrogant towards them. Israel, man, just like itchy lip disease right now. I just, it's like probably a cat hair floating around. If you are, if you are arrogant against the branches, against even modern Israel, and I know some of you are like, well, they're not really, they don't really count. They're not really Jews. Like, I don't, I don't. Sorry, I don't believe you. I think you've fallen into, into conspiracies. Uh, if you are, remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. If I look back and I go, oh, uh, I'm supported by Abraham, I'm supported by Isaac, Jacob, then I can look forward and go, and they're the offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why would I despise them? Ah, if you are arrogant towards them, remember it's not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. Hey, it's. I'm going to offend people here, but the concept here that I think he's refuting is that of replacement. Is the purpose of them being broken off is so that I can be grafted in. As in, it is now gentile. It is not Jewish. And their connection, their genetic connection to Israel has no future prophetic meaning. That's, I think, something that Paul's arguing against here. Uh, that is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief. But you stand fast through faith. Faith is the thing. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note, then, the kindness and severity of God, severity towards those who've fallen. But God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God has the power to graft them in again. That is, it's not this. They're gone forever. It's just as long as unbelief lasts. As long as unbelief lasts. Israel is, uh, going to only have, like, a small number of people that are actually Christians, as far as the descendants of, um, Abraham, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Uh, for if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree? What hopefulness there is for the future of Israel here. Then it gets more extreme. Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers. A partial hardening has come upon Israel. And then there's a time limit on it until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved as it is written. I'm sure that's a controversial, uh, translation right there. The deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Now, my interpretation here for you guys to consider is that, uh, the root Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, then the branches, some of the branches are broken off, but there are still genetic Israelites within the true kingdom, uh, of Christ. And then we're grafted in Gentiles. Grafted in. Now there's a time coming when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in. And then there's this grafting in of many, many Israelites. And that is a future thing that I think will still happen. And in that way, this will be all Israel. So we're included in Israel, but we're not replacing them. And they still have a prophetic future. My interpretation there, the deliverer will come from Zion. It says he will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Uh, this is a future thing. It Seems as regards the gospel, they're enemies for your sake, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. You catch this? He's talking about the broken off branches now. He's not just talking about the Jews that are Christians, the Jews that are Messianic, the Jews that are saved. He's talking about just the sentence of Israel, period. The ones that are enemies of the Gospel, yet they still are beloved for the sake of the forefathers. So God's special place for Israel, the nation and the people is still there even after New Testament times. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Right? There are unconditional promises God made to Abraham, and those things are still in play. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that they might, that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. Right? They're an evangelism target audience now. For God has consigned all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all. This connects to Romans 1, 2, 3. Boy, Paul's got this amazing logical argument going throughout the whole book. Um, anyway, it goes on. I'll just finish the chapter. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor, who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for, uh, from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever. Amen. There is, I believe, a future for Israel. And that this, I, um, think. I think Scripture seems to make that clear to me. So that being said, I don't have blanket approval because of the promises of God, but I think the promises of God are still valid and even apply to national Israel. And that there's going to come a time where certain things will be fulfilled that have been promised long, long ago that'll still come when they return to Christ. How does that relate to the Gaza situation? Well, in a sense, it says this land ultimately finally does belong to Israel. But there are times when God hands the land of Israel over to someone else for a season. So that's always a possibility. But it doesn't ultimately give me my answer, does it? I have to look at the actual situation. I have to look at Hamas, and I have to look at the Gazans. I have to look at all of the things that are going on, and it's incredibly complicated. And in general, I have my opinions on this, and I'm generally on the. On the. What you would expect of a conservative. That's my general position. I'm more pro Israel in this regard, but not because of my theological predispositions as much as the things that I'm aware of when it comes to Hamas, the evil terrorist organization. Um, and, um, the rhetoric and stuff like that, the lies. Now, there's plenty I don't know, and I'm not going to try to comment on that, because I simply don't know those things. So I'll just move on. Hopefully I helped you guys with the last question. Hopefully it helps you think biblically about the general concepts of these things. And, um, I'm not really your guide through the Gaza Strip history, because I don't know it well enough to be that. All right, number seven, Bradley Kirkland has a question says, um, and, Bradley, thank you for all your great products. Um, hi, Mike. Uh, given your Calvary Chapel background and current focus on church leadership structures vulnerable to abuse, how does the Moses model ensure checks and balances on authority in the church? Um, this is. Uh. So you guys know I'm still an ordained pastor. Like, technically, I could still marry and bury is the phrase you'll hear from leaders. Um, uh, I'm all that still, technically. But I'm not functioning as a pastor in my local church. I'm not Pastor Mike in my church. I'm just Mike. And so I don't call myself that, because even though I have ministry online, I do ministry. I'm not doing local pastoral ministry. So I will not use the term technically. I'm still ordained, um, legally speaking. And I spent years and years doing ministry in Calvary Chapels. I didn't get there. It wasn't my first church, but I ended there. And I went through the school of ministry. I sat under Pastor Chuck Smith, who taught in the school of ministry. Every Friday, he would come. Um, then, um, I think it was just for the one year. Not both years, but one of the years. And then, um, I sat there. Brian Broderson was one of our teachers, and we had just, you name it, Calvary pastor. I've listened to him. Um, then I've served as a pastor at Calvary Church for many years. I say all that to say I'm familiar with the Moses model. Um, I remember them teaching me the Moses model in the school of ministry. And we went through different models of church government. We went through congregational model of church government, um, or multiple elders, kind of a presbytery type thing. Um, the church I'm at now actually has a sort of a mixed thing. The congregation has votes on appointing certain people, and then the multiple group of elders have to have agreement. They have to have significant, uh, usually unanimous agreement, typically before they do anything. And it slows things down, but it also has some safeguards in it. The Moses model is different. The Moses model is to say, um, calvary chapels. And now every calvary can be different. So your local calvary may not be this, but calvary chapels in general. Part of the Calvary distinctives was the Moses model of leadership. And it looks back to the Old Testament and tries to find a model for how we'll do church government in Moses and his relationship with those around him. And so what you have is Moses. He appoints people. You'll be over 50, 50, 50. Remember when Jethro came to him, was like, Moses, you're getting exasperated. You need to appoint others. But those people answer to Moses, right? He's. He's the single authoritarian guy in charge. He hears from God, he gives instructions. Everybody follows. Um, the Moses analogy you always get is when Moses is lifting his arms up in the battle, and the people are fighting and winning, and when he lowers his arms, they start losing. And so Joshua comes alongside and, uh, who is it on the other side? Is it Caleb or Aaron? I think it might have been Aaron. I don't know why I'm spacing on it now. But anyways, there's the two men holding up his arms. And as long as they hold up his arms, this is where you get the phrase, I just want to hold up your arms. You'll see this frequently where someone comes to ministry and they really look up to a godly leader, and they go, I just want to hold up your arms. They're really trusting that guy to tell him what to do, Set the vision, make all the decisions, and I'm just going to support you. This can be a way of moving forward very quickly and getting a lot done in a short period of time. Because you have a guy who just says, go, and literally everybody just goes. It's called the Moses model of leadership. It is not, in my opinion, biblical. Um, I've never really thought it was biblical, even as a Calvary pastor. Okay. Because you can be a Calvary pastor and not actually agree with everything. When I say it's not biblical, I don't mean Moses didn't do that. Moses did do that. I mean, Moses isn't a model for church government. That is not a biblical concept. The M. Moses leadership style was not a model for church leaders. There may be some analogies. I can learn something from them. Supporting, holding up his arms and hey, yeah, your leader's weak. He needs people to come around. And I'm not opposed to someone saying, I just want to hold up your arms. But the idea that there has to be one guy who's going to be making all the decisions for the church. Let me give you guys an example. Pastor Chuck has a board. Legally, he's gone to be with the Lord. Now, um, he's entered into his rest. But at the time, back in the day, Pastor Chuck had a board. And that board, technically, legally, was part of the decision making process. But to my knowledge, in reality, they were not. And so Pastor Chuck once taught us a group of men in a circle there at the school of ministry. All guys who are hoping to do pastoral ministry or some greater ministry works. Uh, greater, I should say more full time type involvement in ministry. Not greater, better, but more full time. And he's sitting there and he's teaching us. Let me tell you an example of how I use the board. Now Chuck is in charge, the boss. Chuck says, we once were going to get new carpets for the church, and I didn't want people complaining to me about the decisions I made. What color carpet is it? Shag? Is it. Is it this or that? He didn't want to deal with people complaining about it to him. So what he did was he went to the board and he told the board, you guys decide what color carpets we get. And this was for the express purpose of him not being accountable for the decision. And so he goes, well, that was what the board decided, which is a strategic and smart maneuver, but a little weird to realize that the board has so little power that the only time they're even going to make a decision about something like carpet color is when you purposely hand that decision over to them because they actually have zero power. At least at the time, that was the impression I had. Now, maybe there's more to it than that. Maybe one of you is a former board member at Costa Mesa, and you're watching this thinking, no, no, Michael, maybe there's more to it than that. But I'll tell you what, I've been in churches. I've seen that kind of power structure play out in calvary chapels before. The pastor has 100% control, and the other pastors are all associate pastors. They're all underneath him. Then there's a board, and the board is just usually a rubber stamping committee. Maybe they talk a little bit, but they just rubber stamp whatever the pastor says. Is that a biblical model? I don't think so. I don't see it in scripture. Can it work? Yes, it can work. The thing about the Calvary model isn't that it's evil or the Moses model. I'm not saying it's bad or evil. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying two things. One, don't call it the Moses model, because Moses is not a model for church leadership. That's a misunderstanding of scripture, misuse of the text, I think. Um, and the second thing is this. It can be amazing and it can go amazingly wrong for the same reason that, uh, a fast car can get you where you're going really quickly, but it can also cause the worst accident if you go wrong, if you turn a little bit too much too quickly. And that's the nature of the Moses model. You can get a lot done. You can accomplish a lot, and you can accomplish it quickly, but there's no checks and balances in place. And so people are able to go off the rails pretty easily. Now, in reality, there are times where people stand up and they say something, and then they gather together other leaders, and then there's enough public sentiment that a pastor is forced to do something he doesn't want to do, and he's actually brought a good correction. Life is complicated. But I don't believe that there is a Moses model. I don't think that. I never have believed. There was when we went through the different in school ministry. Ah, Carl Westerland, great, wonderful man. Uh, brought us through the different, uh, models of church leadership. He just walked through them all. He didn't really advocate, to be honest, for one or the other. And, um, he's a really neat guy. And I remember seeing Moses model, and of all of the models, I looked and went like, that is not biblical. I think what happened is Calvary Chapels came from. Here's my true. Here's the true story of Calvary Chapels Moses model. Pastor Chuck was so sick and tired of the denominational control within, like, foursquare churches that he just wanted to be able to make decisions and not report numbers back every week to the headquarters and not have to run special campaigns because the denominational headquarters is having every church do this. He just wanted to do his own thing. He was just tired of it all. He was kind of a type, a bulldog Personality, Not a bad thing to be, by the way. And he just was tired of all that stuff. So he set up a church where they said Calvary Chapel. It was in Santa Ana. They say, come join us. Um, and he says, I'll come, but I'm in charge. That was the beginning. It was, I think, frustrations through seeing how his hands had been tied by denominational policies that finally had him go. I just want to do my own thing and not worry about it. And then it worked so well. It was so incredibly successful. Churches getting planted all over the place, thousands probably now, of Calvary chapels, that they started to make it a model. How do we copy what Chuck did? And Chuck's like, well, what I did was I got frustrated and said, forget all this. But, uh, let's call it the Moses model. That's what I think happened there. So let's just be real about it. Number eight, the king of things. Hi, Mike. Uh, with the death of Charlie Kirk, it feels like we are in times similar to the 60s. Is it biblical to think that history repeats itself or is mankind just predictable? I mean. Yeah, um, uh, I'll answer the second question first. The end of your statement first. Does history predict itself or is it just predictable? I mean, it repeats itself in a sense of. Yeah, um, a couple who calls each other's names a lot is more likely to get divorced one day. You could call it history repeating itself or just say history goes in patterns. When you have government corruption that reaches really high levels, you often have, ah, rebellions that end up being violent. That's something that actually happens. Uh, being too violent, the French Revolution, um, things like that, where you get that sort of thing. So you can make predictions based upon patterns of behavior throughout history. And knowing histories, a very good way to get depressed because then you can know what's about to happen, what's about to happen next in our culture. Um, so, yeah, history does, in that sense, repeat itself. It's not cosmic. It's not like a weird karmic type thing. It's just patterns of behavior. Um, economies follow specific types of patterns and things like that. So that seems to be true. Um, he says it feels like we're in a time similar to the 60s. I mean, I don't really know I wasn't alive. I don't really know the 60s. So I only know it by reputation. But we're definitely with Charlie. I agree with you. It feels like with the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk that was, um, uh, celebrated. Celebrated, uh, by the mobs that scare Me on the left. Um, that seems like a watershed moment. It does. I just don't know what's on the other side of that peak. Right. We seem to be passing over something, and I'm not sure what that is. I think Christians do well to be very thoughtful, very courageous, but also really aware of what your biblical values are, because those values will be tested right now because you have people who are trying to get everyone to pick sides, um, who don't share those values. So you need to know what your values are so you can know exactly what you stand for, what you're going to do, but don't do nothing. That's not what I'm saying. Anyways, number nine, what is a backslidden Christian? Um, is this the same as a Christian with thorny soil? And you mentioned the passages, Matthew 13, Mark 4, and are they a slave to sin if they do sin? I'm afraid I am this Christian. Um, you know, this concept of being a slave to sin. Jesus says, he who commits sin is a slave of sin. But, um, I've come to set you free. Um, I think that Christians can be, in a sense, in slavery to sin. I think the real Christian can have that experience of feeling like they're enslaved to a sin. Um, the real Christian life, there's our position in Christ. We are washed and clean. I am clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, but then there's not my position in Christ, but my condition on this earth. And sometimes my condition doesn't match my position. Sometimes my condition is really lousy. And then you ask questions like, does that mean that I'm not a real believer? What does that mean for me? And it's terrifying, and I want to comfort everybody. Um, but it can be healthy to ask these questions. Not as a scared paranoid, I can't sleep at night, but rather as someone going, I'm going to make sure that my faith is real. Not I'm just going to sit here and cower in terror. I'm going to make sure that my faith is real. I'm going to trust in Jesus. I'm committed to being real. I'm going to do this by faith. All right, so the parable of the Sower. Let's read through this. Now, that same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea, and great crowds gathered about him. So that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying, now we're going to get into the parable. Of the sower and the explanation of what it means, which is cool, because it's like Jesus does not explain his parables. This is a rare occurrence. Um, a sower went out to sow, and he sowed, and some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Now, I recommend, as you read the parables of Jesus, that you visualize what he's telling, because he's telling an actual story, right? And so a sower goes out to sow. He's tossing his seeds out. Some sowed. Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced rain, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. Which is a statement often, because it's like, hey, this is kind of a challenge. Then the disciples came and said to him, why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered them to you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables. Because seeing they do not see, and hearing, they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says, you will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear. And their eyes they have closed. It's interesting that the activities on them in that last one, they have closed their eyes lest they should see. Um, lest they should see with their ears. Excuse me. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn. And I would heal them. But blessed are your ears, for they see in your ears your eyes. I cannot get the body parts right here. All right. Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it. Now he goes on to explain the parable here. Then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. So the evil One here is seen as the birds, the birds of the air. Almost like you think of Paul talking about the principalities and powers and spiritual forces of darkness and stuff. Um, the birds come and snatch it away. So the person becomes a forgetful hearer. They actually don't even remember the gospel. If you said, what was the gospel again? They'd be like, I don't know. Um, they don't understand it. There's such a hardness in their heart that you could tell them the gospel 30 times. And later on, when they try to repeat it back to you, they generally don't. They don't even know it. They don't even know it. You know, people like this, you've told them the gospel, they still don't know it. So you're saying I have to be a good person to get to heaven. And you're like, no, I said the opposite of that 50 times. How do you not know? Well, uh, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. Verse 20 says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. So the person does well until he has to suffer for the kingdom. I remember a guy who said, I met a guy, he was drunk. Um, and we were witnessing over on Second street in Long Beach, Just street witnessing. And this guy, I learned, don't go there too late at night. Because you go there after a certain time and you just get the people leaving bars, and they're not even going to remember that conversation. Anyways, um, so me and this guy are talking, and he says, um, well, I became Christian, and my life didn't get better. Things got harder. And I said, well, Jesus didn't come just to give you a better life. He came to give you eternal life. And the guy looks at me and he goes, wait, wait, wait, say that again. So I tell him it again. Jesus didn't come just to give you a better life. He came to give you eternal life. You know, you may suffer in this life, but there's eternal life. And then he got visibly frustrated, and he was relieved that I told him. And he goes, Nobody told me that. No one told me that, man. Uh, no one told me that. And all I'm thinking is he might have got to stay watching Joel Osteen. You would never know. You would never know. He thought his life would get better, and things got harder, and so he fell away. In his case, it was a guy who probably never received, uh, in real salvation. But in this passage, there's a debate on it. Is this person saved? And they're falling away? Like, are they really saved or not saved? And there's debate on it, but I think the phrase fall away is not used of a real Christian or someone who remains a real Christian. Whether they were never saved or if they lost it, I think they're not real Christians. Uh, the next one is, as for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word. But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful. We often don't think about this as Christians, but the cares of the world can be a real problem for us. It causes you to be unfruitful. Uh, who is that? Are they saved? Are they not saved? This is a little harder to determine. In this passage, they hear the Word, it chokes the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. But there is a living plant. It's just not producing fruit. So is this like a Christian who's not really bearing much fruit? Maybe they're really saved, maybe they're not. Maybe the parable's not trying to answer that question at all. It's just showing you the dangers of the cares of the world and deceitfulness of riches. In verse 23, as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, another 60, and in another, 30. So there's different levels of fruit that come at that point. Um, this is. Well, let me reread your question. So you said, what is a backslidden Christian? Is this the same as the Christian with thorny soil? Um, the one who had it choked out? I mean, I think that a Christian can be backslidden, that this is a real possibility. Um, the Bible talks about carnal Christians. And I know I've heard people say there are no carnal Christians. And I have a more complex view. So let me. It's not. It's not. It's not hard to understand. It's just a little more specific than that. Okay. My view is this A Christian who's living the Christian life consistently. I can have strong confidence that they're a genuine believer, and they can have strong confidence they're a genuine believer based upon the grace of Christ. But they can see that their faith is probably a real proclamation because they're living in ways that are consistent with their faith. Their faith is producing works. Their works are not saving them. Say this 50 times. I'm still going to get videos where people claim I'm saying the opposite anyway. Then there's on the other side, the person who rejects Jesus, like they, uh, fully reject Jesus. Whatever life they live, however godly they live, they reject the Savior, so they are not saved. Then there's like, this person right here. They proclaim Jesus with their life or with their words, rather. They say they believe in Jesus, but their life is so inconsistent that you're not really sure if they're saved. That group that includes real believers and non believers mixed in, and it's very difficult to tell the difference. I am not saying a Christian who's living a compromised life is automatically unsaved. I'm saying they enter into a gray area where I don't know how to give them confidence that they're saved because of the lifestyle they're living. That I think you can't get away with in Scripture. Um, there are those who. The easy believism thing, where if you confess Jesus, you could go out and be murdering three people a day for the rest of your life and you're still Christian because you confess Jesus. I don't think you can say that based on Scripture. I think you get into this uncertain zone. And I have other teaching on this. I'll just point you guys to, um. If you just, gosh, um, maybe Google my name with carnal Christian. I don't know. I can't even think of which video to point you to. But I'll just say there's more on this because there's lots of scriptures that talk about this. Paul, when he writes, I'll give you one example, he writes to the Corinthians, and he seems to have confidence that they're Christians. But he also has questions. Maybe there are some difficulties there. Maybe there's reason to doubt that they're genuine. And so he goes, don't you. Aren't you even in Christ? Don't you even know that Christ is in you? There's some statements in there where it seems like there's a bit of gray, a bit of uncertainty, not confidently saying you're not saved, but A bit of uncertainty. So that's my position. Christian who's living in regular sin. I have doubts. I have, uh, questions. I have uncertainty about their salvation. And they should, too, and they should get their life right with Jesus. That's a hard lesson. It's a hard thing to say. I absolutely get called all sorts of false teaching names, and they say, I believe in salvation by works, which is not what I've said at all. Um, but I think that's what scripture does. I think scripture is okay with putting the fear of hell into you, even if you proclaim the name of Christ. All right, number 10, last question. Um, me, G says, I am a Christian and struggle with anxiety. It especially happens when I try to speak or when God is using me for something, even around believers. It cripples me. Am I doing something wrong? God bless. Um, I think that moving to the place of guilt here is not where you should go. I have anxiety. It's crippling anxiety. Especially when I'm trying to speak. Am I doing something wrong? Like, am I sinning? Maybe that's causing this or something? Um, you're not alone in this. Um, Moses didn't want to go out and do the preaching that God told him to do. And I'm not saying God's telling you to go out like Moses. I'm just using Moses is an example of someone who's like, hey, I stutter. Can you send Aaron instead? Um, the number one fear of humans, when you ask them, what are you scared of? Nobody talks about what they're really scared of. But. Right. Because they'd be like, what am I afraid of? Like, oh, I don't know, getting, like, cancer or, uh, uh, being murdered. You know, they're not. Nobody mentions those things. Um, but the number one fear. One of the number one fears that they mention at least is, um, public speaking is a common thing, and you maybe have an extreme version of that. My encouragement to you would be maybe get some counseling with someone who's dealt with phobias and can help you work through your phobia. You have a phobia. Try to work through it. Baby steps. Try to overcome it. But dwelling on, like, what am I doing wrong? What sin am I committing here? I think that's unhelpful. I think you should look at this as a challenge to try to seek to get. You won't maybe fully fix the problem, but maybe just get stronger in. Just get a little better at. And if it's an area where you want to minister to people, but you have a hard time with speaking. You can't always try to find other ways to minister to people. There's plenty of other ways to do things. There's lots of ways to support ministry, to encourage others, to help others. Ministry is multifaceted, and we need all sorts of people doing it in all sorts of different ways. So I would really consider getting, uh, maybe even a professional counselor who deals with phobias in particular, who can help you walk through it. Because guess what? Your phobia is not going to be that much different than the guy who's afraid of something else. And someone who helps people with that stuff on a regular basis may have some really good advice for you. It's not unspiritual to get counsel from someone who is really good at helping people through a specific problem. That's not a bad thing at all. All right, guys, that's it for today's Q. And a bit longer than I have been recently. Um, but again, three weeks. Three weeks, this week, next week, and the following. My intention, unless something changes, my plan is cover rapture stuff these three weeks. Um, I'm going to pray about the Charlie Crook stuff and if maybe I should share something about that. If I was just writing algorithms and wanting views, I would have already done it. But I don't want to share anything unless I have something I really think is, this is what's helpful, this is what's beneficial. This is something that's going to help the situation. Um, but like you, like any of you who are in your right mind, I am terribly grieved over what happened to Charlie Kirk. We need more Charlie Kirk. So we need more guys like that, not less. And so, so sad and tragic for him, for his family. Um, I mean, he's, you know, with the Lord, but, uh, the loss of the ministry he could have had, seeing his kids grow up, living with his. Why, I can't even imagine the fact that our country's celebrating. Not our country. Many people, liberals in our country, are celebrating this. Disgusting. Stephen King posted about it. Like, it was like, well, what did he expect Online? Yeah. On Twitter, Stephen King posted about it and then spread a lie about him. That, uh, Charlie Kirk wanted to stone, um, gay people in current society, which was a lie. Um, crazy. Let me just pray about it, gather my thoughts. I feel like I'm not really helping right now, so let me do that. Make sure I'm being responsible with any attention you might be giving to me. All right? So let's pray. Um, Father God, we ask for your help on our nation right now for helping us individually, that we would see our positions, our situations clearly. From your perspective, knowing what we should focus on, uh, let us not be crippled with fear, anger, anxiety, feeling, uh, overwhelmed, but rather let us know how to take proper actions to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. In the midst of all that's going on right now, uh, we would be those who understand the times and know what to do. In Jesus name, amen. Here we go. I'm going to end with you guys. A little reminder. 88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988.