Let's turn in our Bibles this morning to the book of Daniel, chapter 5. Daniel, chapter 5, and we'll read verses 25 to verse 28. You can follow along as I read there in Daniel, chapter 5, verses 25 to 28. And this is the writing that was written, mini, mini, tico, eupharsin. This is the interpretation of the thing. Mini, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tico, thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. Perez, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians. Let us pray. Father, guide us as we look at the message today that you would speak to our hearts, that you would help us to see what we need to see, that we might stand in these last days for truth and righteousness and uphold your word. For those who may be listening who are not sure they're saved, help them to get it settled today. Thank you for your goodness, your blessings. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I was going to preach a message on reasons why I believe Jesus is coming soon, and I realized as I worked on that that I needed more to put it into a series of messages. Is Jesus coming soon? And so this is the first in that series, in Daniel chapter 5 here, verses 25 to 28. And we notice something here that it says, and this is the writing that was written, the writing that was written. When it was written, it was final. Isaiah chapter 40 in verse 8 says, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 18, Jesus said, In Isaiah chapter 55 verse 11, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. And so the title of my message this morning is America in the Balances. America in the Balances. And so, first of all, we want to look at Belshazzar's sins. He was found wanting. He was here in the balances. And the Bible tells us that they are weighed in the balances and are found wanting in verse 27. So what was it? What were the sins? What were Belshazzar's sins that caused him to be weighed in the balances and to be found wanting and God finished his kingdom? Well, we'll look at it. First of all, we notice in verse 1, Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords and drank wine before the thousand. They were drinking wine, feasting, drinking wine. When you take the United States of America, we go back to 1934, and you have 0.26 gallons of wine per resident. That's just about a quarter of a gallon, around a quarter of a gallon. But you come to 2020, and you have 3.9 gallons per resident. Alcohol in America is the most commonly used and addictive substance in our country. 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence. Every year, several million more drink heavily. According to the statistics, 85.6% of people ages 18 and older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime. Many if not most of the highway deaths are attributed to alcohol. We have a real problem in our country with drinking and that was the case here with Belshazzar. They were drank wine before the thousand. Verses two and three tell us Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple, which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes and his wives and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God, which was at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines drank in them. They had no respect for the temple. They had no respect for the things of God. Only 24% of Americans attend church once a week. Only 24%, that's a quarter. Members of independent Baptist churches comprise about 2.5% of the United States adult population. That's not very many. That was according to a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center and our churches have been decreasing. Sunday night and Wednesday night services are not even held in some churches anymore and they're very lowly attended. They had no respect, Belshazzar did, for the things of God. Verse 4 tells us, they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. And you jump down to verse 7 and When this writing came upon the wall, down the middle of the verse, he said, show me the interpretation thereof shall be clothed, if you can do it, you shall be clothed with scarlet, have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. And so we notice that they praise the gods, when you look at it closely here, they praise the gods of materialism. There's been several articles written that Americans are too materialistic. America as a nation has become very materialistic. And although most people don't realize it, we have the example that if a new iPhone comes out or some new item, boy, we're got to have that, got to have that, got to have the new thing. The old one just, although it works well, we got to have the new one, got to have the new thing, TV and internet advertising. promotes these things and people think, well, I've got to have that. Materialism, can't live without it when we really can. Here's a quote, everything from personal happiness to religious and secular holidays is measured in terms of materialism as much as in the American dream. There is even an underlying assumption that there is a direct correlation between wealth and intelligence, wealth and character, wealth and success, wealth and power, wealth and patriotism. Materialistic, that's what they were here Belshazzar's time, in the kingdom there of Babylon. Verse 15 says this, And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof. But they could not show the interpretation of the thing. We noticed that not only did they praise the God of materialism, they had no use for the temple. They were drinking, partying, having a good time feasting, but they had little understanding of the Word of God. Little understanding of the Word of God. Most Americans don't know firsthand the overall story of the Bible. If you don't believe that, just go out and ask some people. What's the overall story of the Bible? They rarely pick it up. They rarely read it. Even among people who attend worship services, less than half, according to statistics, less than half read the Bible daily. The only time most Americans hear the Bible is when someone else is reading it. It's sad, but there is a great great, great, great lack of the Word of God in our country and an understanding of the Word of God. People are doing things that the Bible teaches are definitely wrong and they have no clue that the Bible teaches that. Verses 17 to 23, it says, then Daniel answered and said before the king, let thy gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing unto the king. I read that and I think about many of our preachers today that it's a materialistic thing for them. It's a money thing. It's a money grabber. And some have even said that their only call to the ministry is to what they can gain from it. They're not interested in preaching the word or teaching the word, but what they can get out of it, give rewards. Daniel said, I'm not interested in that. Yet I will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the interpretation. O thou King, the most high God, gave Nebuchadnezzar and thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory and honor. And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he slew. And whom he would, he kept alive. And whom he would, he set up. And whom he would, he put down. But when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened in pride, He was deposed from his kingly throne and they took his glory from him and he was driven from the sons of men and his heart was made like the beast. and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with dew, the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointed over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, has not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this, but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines have drunk wine in them, and thou hast gods of silver and gold and brass and iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know, and the God in whose hand the breath is, and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified." And so they knew and they forgot God. Doesn't that sound like America? 1963, the Bible was taken out of our schools. Our schools have become not education sources but propaganda sources. Our schools in America are teaching critical race theory and all kinds of indoctrination. They're not schools anymore. We should call them indoctrination stations. The Bible was taken out and you can look at the statistics and see from 1963 how everything started going on a downhill basis. Sexual sins and lust of the flesh began to rise since that time. On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage and legalized it in all 50 states. and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses in the case of Obergefell and Hodges, which took place here in Ohio. And 1.4 million identify as transgender. That was in 2016, 1.5. I noticed the other day in a news article that this young boy was, he's a transgender and he was nominated and voted in as homecoming queen for his high school down in Florida. And I thought, wow, that they could actually vote a transgender in as homecoming queen. And when they brought him out, I'm not going to call him a she, he's still a him. And when they brought him out and put him, his escort brought him in, the crowd all cheered. They all cheered. They knew what was happening there and they all cheered. for this transgender. I thought, boy, that's something. But then I just decided to look a little bit further and do some research since I saw that news article. And there are high schools all over America who have had transgender homecoming queens. and transgender prom queens all over America. And the principals, you can hear the principals, they stand up and they say that this is good, we need to acknowledge everybody and these are smart students and everything else. We don't hate the transgenders, but we sure realize that they are in a very gross sin that is going to bring great judgment. Just go back to Sodom and Gomorrah and you will see that. And we're in a really difficult time. A federal court ruled that a school could not require children to use bathroom, the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex. In other words, you cannot say that men, the boys have to use the boys and the girls have to use the girls. Whatever you think you are, that's the bathroom you can use. You say, well, That's not right. It isn't right, but that's what they're doing. Target announced it's making all its bathrooms gender neutral and many other places have done the same. In Mead County, Kentucky, this is what it leads to, Mead County, Kentucky, the Mead County School District is dealing with an unusual situation. A group of high school students is attending school acting like and dressing as cats. And apparently, the grandmother says, apparently from what I, grandmother of one of the students, apparently from what I can understand, they're called furries. And she wanted to remain anonymous, she told the news station. They identify with animals. These people will hiss at you or scratch at you if they don't like anything you're doing. You think that may be a joke. Well, if you research it out, it's not a joke. These kids are thinking, we're cats. There's one woman who has identified as a cat since her school days. She's 31 years old now. And she will crawl up on the table and try to eat out of a bowl like a cat does. And she thinks she's a cat. So she feels better in her natural state, so she says, as a cat. There's also one boy who claims he is a wolf. And that's where we're at. People who wish to report their sex as other than male or female, when this next census comes out, they will have the option to put, to mark non-binary sex. So how accurate of a census are we going to have? And their response in this next census, non-binary sex. They knew and forgot God. That seems to be the situation of our nation. Those were the sins that we see in Daniel chapter 5 of Belshazzar and his kingdom. Very similar to the sins that we see in our nation. But let's go back and see what brought Daniel to Israel and what caused him to be there in captivity in Babylon. We'll go back to 2 Kings chapter 21. He lost his nation, Daniel did, because of the sins of his nation. And we go back to 2 Kings chapter 21. 2 Kings 21 and verses 1 through 7. And it came to pass, after these things, Whoops, I'm in 1 Kings. Knew that right away when I started reading. 2 Kings chapter 21. In verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign. He was young and reigned 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again. He built up again. I got to clear my throat. Pardon me. He built up again the high places which Hezekiah's father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said in Jerusalem, I will put my name. And he built altars for all of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. And he set a graven image in the grove that he had made in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen Out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever? And so we noticed that Nasser's sins were very grave. And he used enchantments, observed times. I think of our country as we move into Halloween. We, several years ago, quit celebrating Halloween, especially when we had testimonies from witches and wizards who told us exactly what happens at Halloween time. Do you realize that at Halloween there will be across America many little babies sacrificed that have no birth record? They have no birth record whatsoever. They have been born in these covens or whatever it is with the witches and they will be sacrificed at Halloween. And then we as believers are going to celebrate that kind of a holiday. That's a sad thing. And so we decided to stop that. But there is the sacrificing of the children, not only with the witches and the wizards, but also with abortion in America and the innocent blood that is being shed, our country. If you read down to verse 16 here, it says, Moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other beside his sin, wherewith he made Judah to sin. In doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, our country is guilty of thousands upon thousands of innocent little children being killed. add to that the murders that take place in our country which are greatly increasing. We have the highest percentage of deaths, murders in our country than we have had in any time in our history. We go then to Chapter 22 and right after Manasseh, Manasseh's son only reigns for a short time and then his son Josiah comes Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign. I read that eight years old. You know, an eight-year-old in our country that has been homeschooled can see the mess that our country is in. Just an eight-year-old can realize that, that our country is in a big, big mess. When he was eight years old, he began to reign. He reigned 31 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedediah, the daughter of Adiah of Bosca. in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand of the left. Josiah brought about one of the great revivals in his country, and his heart was tender. Verse 19 tells us, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, and when thou heardest what I said against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation, a curse. And as rent thy clothes and wept before me, I also have heard thee sayeth the Lord." And he brought about a great revival in the land. And then if you go to chapter 23, verses 26 and 27, But even though he had brought this great revival and turning back to the Lord, verse 26 says, notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked with him with all. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel. Israel had gone into a Syrian captivity Now Judah was going to go into Babylonian captivity. And will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, my name shall be there. If you go to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Verses 14 through 18 here. The Bible says, Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much after the abominations of the heathen and desecrated the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. Well, you think about what we see in some of the churches today, the blackened auditoriums, the rock bands, the dancers on the platform. You talk about polluting the house of the Lord in America, it's happening all across our country. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers rising up the times and sending because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place, warning after warning. But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets. I think about Tim Kelly and how Tim Kelly has come about with godly music. And he proved it from the word of God. And he uses the Bible and he has sent this to many of our fundamental Bible colleges and they will not, they will not listen. They won't even heed to it. Won't even consider it in many of them. They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion upon young man or maiden or old man or him that stooped for age. He gave them all into his hand. and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of the princes, all these he brought to Babylon. So you can see how Daniel ended up there. He was spared being killed because he was of the king's seed and they wanted these wise boys to try to train him in the way of Babylon, but Daniel determined to stand for his God. If you go to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 14. Verses 12 through 14 here, chapter 14. When they fast, I will not hear their cry. This is what God said about Judah. And when they offer burnt offering in an oblation, I will not accept them. but I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence. Then said I, ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say unto them, you shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, the prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination. and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart." Oh, the preachers were saying everything's okay, we're in a great time of revival, so forth, so on. But God said, not so. Chapter 15, verses 1 through 6, then said the Lord unto me, Jeremiah 15, verse 1, then said the Lord unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, Yet my mind could not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? Then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the Lord, such as are for death to death, and such as for the sword to the sword, and such as for the famine to the famine. and such as for the captivity to the captivity. And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord, the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of heaven, and the beasts of earth to devour and destroy. And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art going backward. Therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee. I am weary with repenting. Those were the sins of Judah, the reason that Daniel was in Babylon. Those same sins that sent Daniel to Babylon, that cost him his nation, are the same sins that we see in our nation today. When I read through the book of Jeremiah, it's almost like I'm reading about my own nation and the things that we are involved in. And God is a just and righteous God, and if he judged Judah, if He judged Israel, if He judged Babylon, He will judge us. We cannot escape the judgment of God. And so we ask the question, is there hope for America when we see that Belshazzar, his kingdom, was weighed in the balances and was found wanting? Same sins that we see our own nation involved in. We are found wanting before God if we look at the scriptures honestly. Our nation is found wanting before God. Our nation is facing destruction by God. Is there any hope for us? Well, certainly yes. If you look on the front of your bulletin, Sister Debbie put that on there, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. If we would turn to him, that's what the book of Jeremiah says, look in chapter 18 verses 7 and 8. Chapter 18 verses 7 and 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. That's what America needs. We need revival. We need a turning back to the Lord. It is our only way of escape. It's not reestablishing a conservative president. That's not going to save our nation. What is going to save our nation is to turn back to God, is to quit doing these things that are abomination before God, the abominable sins that are highly promoted in our country, and that if you stand against it, Those who on the other side who would listen to my message today would condemn me and would say that I am a racist or whatever because I preach against the transgenders and the homosexuals, but it's the word of God. We have to come back to the Word of God. He has destroyed nations for the sins that our country is involved in. We cannot think that we will escape. It won't happen. Malachi 3.6 says, For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God doesn't change. He's not going to say, oh, there's America. They're the same sins that I destroyed Babylon and Israel and Judah for. They're doing the same thing. But we'll make an exception in their case. That's the case. He wouldn't be a just God. He wouldn't be a holy and righteous God. But God has promised us some things in the scripture. Psalm 55, 22, cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalm 50, 15, call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Nahum 1, 7, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. 2 Peter 2, 9, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. If you go back to Genesis chapter 18, say, Pastor, how does all this relate to the soon coming of the Lord? Well, that's where we're going right now. And I'll show you that. I believe this is probably a weaker argument for the soon coming of the Lord but it is an argument in Genesis chapter 18 and verse 23 and we will get into some more stronger arguments from the scripture later. But here in Genesis chapter 18 verse 23 it says, And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou also destroy and not spare for the place of the fifty righteous therein? And on down he goes. And verse 25, that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right. And so Abraham's argument here with the Lord is, is are you going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah when there are righteous people there? And it's not the Lord to destroy the righteous with the wicked, if you're going to do right. And if you go to Luke chapter 17, verse 26 to 30 says this, and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also it was in the days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built it. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. And so they Lot was taken out before the judgment fell upon his nation. He and his daughters escaped. They currently, you know, they certainly look a lot like Christians today. Lot and his daughters, when you study it out, the Laodicean type Christians, that's what Lot looked like. And he was taken out before the judgment came. Noah and his family was taken out before the judgment fell. And so America very, very steeped in the sins that caused God to take Israel into Assyrian captivity and Judah into Babylonian captivity and Belshazzar the same night When he was found wanting, held in the balances and found wanting, the very same night the Medes and the Persians came. They were drinking themselves drunk and they were having a feast. They didn't think that Babylon could be destroyed. This city was so well protected. And they didn't know that the Medes and the Persians were drying up the river. that ran through the city and planned to come through the riverbed and that's what they did and for some reason the gates were left open down there that crossed the river and they marched right in and came right in and overtook Babylon and that very same night the kingdom was gone. Judgment came very swiftly and so for that reason I believe that this could be a testimony to us for the soon coming of the Lord. America is facing destruction. You cannot tolerate the sins that we tolerate in this country and avoid the judgment of a holy, righteous, and just God. You cannot do it. If you can do it, then let's close up this Bible and say it's not true because it is going to God is never missed. When it is written, it is final. And when it was written on the wall before Belshazzar, his doom was pronounced. And it's written in the Word of God for us. It's already written right here. We see the sins that they committed and God brought destruction. Americans don't realize it but China is developing war materials at a tremendous rate using a lot of the finances from the purchasing of Chinese items by Americans. And the economy of America is supporting the building up of weapons and China has made the statement that they will overtake us. And it could happen very quickly, the way things are going, the administration that we have in office now. All I'm saying is that the Bible has pronounced judgment, the writing is upon the wall. And as a result, there are many people who are living righteous lives, trying to do what's right in America. 2.5 of independent Baptists, there are others that are not independent Baptists that are also trying to live holy and righteous lives before the Lord and follow the word of God. Very small percentage over the overall population of our country, but they are there. And it isn't characteristic of our God to judge the unrighteous with the righteous, the wicked with the just. So to me it says that we may be very close to the coming of the Lord. Now there are times when Nations have been judged and righteous people have suffered in the process. So I'm saying this is not a strong argument for the soon coming but it is an argument for the soon coming of the Lord. But one thing it ought to warn us and it ought to bring us to our knees and it ought to bring us to that weeping and fasting and praying for our nation to turn back to God before judgment comes. We are living in very dangerous times and the coming of the Lord may be very soon. That's only number one in many reasons why I believe Jesus Christ is coming very soon. And through the next few weeks we will be looking at that, Lord willing, and I believe that we will see that we are the people of the last days. And we may well be living, even the oldest of us may very well be living when Jesus Christ returns from what we see in scripture. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the word of God. so clear and plain to guide us, yet so often unheeded. So often we won't listen. Help us as believers to listen to the word of God, to draw closer to you, and to stay in tune with you in these last days. Help us to be the witnesses we ought to be. We pray for those have not come to true faith in Jesus Christ, that they would see themselves as a sinner and see that Jesus died there upon the cross bearing their sin so that they could escape the wrath to come, so that they could have everlasting life. Help them to get it settled today. Help them to realize that they'll just pray and admit to God that they are a sinner. Ask him to forgive them of their sin and to be their savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that he died, he was buried and rose again. Help them to do that today before it's too late. And for those who know the Lord, help us to stand faithful in these last days, to not cave in, to not go along. Help us to do what you would have us to do. We thank you, we love you, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand together. We'll sing an invitation song. And if you're here today not sure you know Christ as your Savior, you can