Chronicles this morning, chapter number 7 and verse number 12. 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse number 12. 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 12. And the Lord God Jehovah appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I have heard thy prayer. and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven, that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, 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 heal their land." Father, thank You, Lord, for this promise in Your Word. It shall not return void. It will accomplish that which You please. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You can be seated. That's probably one of the most familiar scriptures in the Bible. Scripture quoted many times, heard many messages preached from 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. The spiritual truth of it is just as relevant today as it was then. Nothing has changed as far as God's concerned. When God's people get ready to get right, He's there to hear their prayer. And that's the issue in 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. Early this morning, the wee hours of the morning, I was watching Charles Stanley, the pastor down in Atlanta, Georgia, well-known across the country. How many of you know Charles Stanley? I was watching Brother Stanley. He's bringing a message talking about what the perilous times are that we live in. He was preparing people for the election that's coming up this coming Tuesday. He was taking a stand, very clear, a very clear stand, and trying to enunciate to the people the issues involved and how important that this upcoming election is. Brother Stanley says that we are living in perilous times. He went back in the history of our country, back in 1963, I believe it was, when Madeleine Murray O'Hare, one atheistic woman, had prayer and Bible reading removed from the school system. One woman. One woman. Madeleine Murray O'Hare. And she had this taken out. And I can tell you today, and you'd have to agree with me, that since that happened, it's been a downward spiral ever since that until 2016 where we stand today. Brother Stanley said that there's seven words that characterize our society today. So I jotted these down while he was giving them out. Preachers listen to preachers. Preachers take notes from other preachers. Ain't nothing wrong with that. If God gave it to him to use in one place, he can use it somewhere else. So these are the seven things that Brother Stanley mentioned in his message this morning. He said, America is an immoral country now. It's a greedy country. It's a prideful country. It's an indulgent country. It's a slothful country. It's an ungrateful country. And it's an irreverent country. And I agreed, amen, on every point that he gave. I said, you're right down the line. I agree with what you are saying. Immoral, because just a few days ago, these women were in a shower, a bunch of women were taking a shower, and lo and behold, a man walks into that shower naked to take a shower with the women. Something is bad, bad wrong in our country, folks. Something is... it's wake up time! Wake up! Wake up! You're beginning to see the onslaught is literally going to open up like a great deluge and come flooding down upon your soul. The man who went into office saying that he believed in the traditional marriage of a man and a woman has now unleashed this on you by executive order. By the vast majority of the people in America, I would believe, I want to believe, are against that. But one man, signing one document, has taken this and rammed it down your throat. Are you getting a hold of what politicians are doing? Are you beginning to understand that they don't care what you think, how you feel, and they have no more respect for you than a barking dog? They have nothing but contempt for you. America is an immoral country. America's a greedy country. Just a few weeks back, the manufacture of a little thing called an EpiPen. Now, I've never used it. Some of you folks may have. Somebody in your family that uses the EpiPen. And it's like the insulin that my wife takes. She has to have insulin. And so this is necessary to maintain life. Well, the manufacturer of this thing had increased the cost of this thing. What was it? Something six, eight, tenfold? Sixfold? 900% they had increased the price of the EpiPen. It's not a luxurious item. It's not like they taxed this excise tax on some jet you're buying. This is something necessary for the maintenance of life. That's greed. That's greed. Ford Motor Company moves out and goes to Mexico. Carrier Air Conditioning moves out and goes down to Mexico. That's called G-R-E-E-D. You people are working, some of you are working for companies that would fire you in a heartbeat and hire somebody from overseas and then make you train them to take your job. That's called G-R-E-E-D. E-E-D, and D, and so this is what's happening in America. Prideful, indulgent, slothful. Did you know that right now that over 90 million people in this country are out of the workforce? Many of those people would like to have a job, but there's a lot of people in America, they live like this. That's all they'll ever live for. They expect somebody to keep them up. Country cannot make it like that. Then there are those that are ungrateful. They're unthankful. And we have a situation today where people, they feel like they are entitled to things that you had to work hard for. And then they're irreverent. No longer do they hold sacred anything This is why that the vocabulary in this country, it is such a vile thing that's gone downward and spiraled. It's out of control. It's completely out of control. 2 Chronicles 7 said that if my people which are called by name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. When was the last time it rained here in East Tennessee? We're in the midst of a severe drought. Let me tell you something, folks. If God shuts up the heavens and the rain doesn't come, we will suffer. Amen! We need to do some praying about the rain. We need to do some praying about our country. This has been one of the greatest nations that's ever graced the face of this earth. What made this nation so wonderful? It was because men and women had prayer meetings. They preached the gospel. They got a hold of God. They raised their children in the fear and the admonition of the Lord, and the Lord blessed America. He's blessed it greatly. Most of us in this house today were born into a country that was greatly blessed of God. But you are beginning to see His hand withdraw from this country and the blessings will be taken away. This nation will not survive without God. The Bible said in 2 Chronicles 6 and verse 37, Yet if they bethink themselves in the land whether they are carried captive, and turn and pray unto thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done amiss, and have dealt wickedly, if they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul, And the Bible says if they will turn and pray toward this land, 2 Chronicles 6 verse number 37 and 38, God said, I will hear their prayer. To bethink yourself means that please pull your head out of the sand today and look at what's happened to your world. Look at what's happened to your country. Look at what's happening to your children. My time is about up on planet earth. But we've got children in here today. They're going to have to live in this stuff that you're leaving behind for them. Do you feel good about that? How do you feel about that? Do you feel like that if we did repent, and if it starts at the house of God first, for the Bible says judgment must start first at the house of God. If we got serious about praying, God would answer our prayers. If you're not praying, you're playing. There is no in-between. And the first thing Satan will rob from your life and steal from your soul is your joy. And your joy, my friend, can only be maintained with a prayer life. If you don't have a prayer life, your joy is gone. Amen. Don't raise your hand, but how many of you are enduring? And you're simply making it from day to day. And it's been a long time since you felt the Holy Ghost move in your soul. And you felt joy rise up inside. And when we sing about Zion, you think, I'm going to be there one day. I'm going to see my mama again. I'm going to see my daddy. I'm going to see my wife. I'm going to see my husband. I'm going to see that son or that daughter that I carried out. I'm going to see them again. Glory to God! This world is not my home. I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Hallelujah to God! I'm not of this world, but I am of that one from above. That's my home. One day we'll go home. One day we'll cross that river. And when we do, hallelujah to God, we'll see Him as He is. Don't you want to see Jesus? That's what we're all about. 2 Chronicles chapter number 33 and verse 12. We read the story of Manasseh, one of the most wicked, vile kings in the Old Testament. Manasseh was a vile. He carried on with what Solomon started with child sacrifice. Temple prostitutes, the whole thing. Manasseh raised up a grove. He raised up idols. He had everything that was against God and His glory. But the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 33 verse 12, when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And then the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 33 verse 13, and prayed to him, and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication. Isn't God a good God? And he brought him again to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew the Lord, he was God. Oh, it's so good to know that regardless of what you've done, where you've been, there's a God in heaven that's ready to forgive, cleanse. He loves to redeem. He's the Redeemer. that brings you back, he said, to the children of Israel in Egypt. He said, I'll reach in there with an outstretched arm. I'll reach right into the pit you're in. I'll take hold of you in the midst of the hell that you're living. And I'll pull you out of there. It's what God said He'd do. And that's exactly what He did. With an outstretched arm. You see what I'm saying? You can't reach but so high. You can't pray but so long. You can't see but so far. But oh, He can! He can reach further than you could ever reach. He can see more than you could ever see. He can understand more than your soul could ever contemplate. Why? He's God. I'm glad I serve God. I'm glad I serve a God that can heal and save and forgive and restore and deliver. He did to Manasseh. Deuteronomy 4 verse 29, But if from thence thou seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." Let me see here a minute. Let me get this right. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, the word literally means Deuteronomos. It is the second giving of the nomos, the law. That's what Deuteronomy means. The second giving or the restatement of the law. What do you mean, preacher? I'm saying that 1,400 years before Christ, 3,400 years ago, man wasn't any different than he is now. God said, if you want to come to me and seek me out with all your heart and with all your soul, I'll hear you. I'm there. I'm near to him that is of a broken and contrite spirit. He wanted Israel to repent. He wanted them to get right with God. But the word repent's not in our vocabulary today. When was the last time you heard a preacher preach about repentance? You heard a bunch of psychobabbles what you heard. You heard about how you feel good about yourself. And you heard about how great you are. And you heard about how wonderful you are. And how blessed God is to have you as part of His family. No, no, no, no! I'm blessed! I am blessed for God to take me into His family. God's been a good God. He's been good to me. Amen! I'm not talking about some abstract thing out here that I don't understand. Up there at the border between Canada and America, the United States and Canada, there's a long border that we share with that country. Let me go back to the 1500s with you for just a moment now, just a moment. In Switzerland in the 1500s, the Mennonite, the Amish, and the Hutterite, these are three different groups of people, all shared similar, very similar beliefs. They were persecuted in Switzerland. You can read how that they were put to death because they didn't have their babies baptized. They were against infant baptism, so they were persecuted. So they moved out of that country and they came to America. The Mennonite was the first, then the Amish, then the Hutterite. And they came over to America and they went to their various places. They say that there's probably 250,000 Amish in America. Who knows for sure? But you know these people by the way they dress. You know them by the fact that they drive buggies and horses. And they're separate unto themselves. They're very separated people. Very separated people, but listen carefully to me now. Listen carefully. Up there between Canada and America, on the northern border, the Hutterites had settled and they started the communities. And they've been in there now for hundreds of years. But something's happened to those people. Now listen to what I'm about to say to you. Something has happened to the Hutterites. And you can check me out on this when you get home this afternoon. About two-thirds of them have withdrawn and left a third over here and two-thirds over here. So what's going on with the Hutterites, preacher? Two-thirds of them have come into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and got born again. A third of them are clinging to the old traditional ways of the group mentality, of living together as a group and understanding God in a group sense. And a lot of them, I'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them believe that when you die, that at the end of your life, that God is going to weigh your good works against your bad works. And if your good works outweigh your bad works, then you can go to heaven. But if your bad works that way, your good works, you can't make it. But two-thirds of the Hutterites found out that the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross. He paid for your sins there. And my friend, you don't need anything else but Christ. He justifies absolutely and completely. In other words, if your church is not about the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have a church. If your movement is not about the Lord Jesus Christ, you don't have a movement. If your separation is not about the Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing to it. You can put all kinds of outward apparel, outward appearance, or create this and create that. And I'm not trying to be hypercritical. I want to make a point with you. When He bowed His head and said, It is finished, that meant you cannot add anything to the finished work of Christ. And to try to do so is to call God a liar and to pick an affront to His face. Your works will not get you to heaven. If you give yourself to be burned, it won't do any good for you. Now what's that mean, preacher? That means that what we should be preaching in this church is Jesus. If you want to see revival in America, if you want to see the churches in America, and I'd like to see that, wouldn't you? Maybe in a couple of days, this is Sunday, this coming Tuesday, America's temperature is going to be taken. Are you listening to me? It's temperature is going to be taken, the vital signs. They do that all the time when you're in the hospital. They come in at 4 o'clock in the morning, wake you up, plug you up, check your blood pressure, stick something in your mouth, find out what your temperature is, and they'll look at you, walk out the door and say, you're still alive. I thought, I don't know that, good night. They're taking your vital signs. And I'm not kidding you, they do. And a vital signs in America for our churches, they need to be taken. And let me tell you something, they're dying! Just like when my heart stopped for six seconds, I believe the church's heart has stopped, it's flatlined! no life left in it, folks. My people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray. Seek my face." Manasseh got right with God. I like this in Jonah chapter number 3 and verse 10, and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do to them. And He did it not. Well, that's okay. He did that for the chosen people. No, He didn't. He did that for the elect. No, sir. This is a bunch of idol-worshipping pagans He did that for. He did it for the enemy of Israel. Amen! Jonah knew they were the enemy. He did it for the Assyrian folk in Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. But God is the same to a Japanese, and an African, and an Italian. Amen! Yes! It'll make a difference what color your skin is, how much money you got in the bank, doesn't matter where you came from. Christ tasted death for every man. Amen. I think a lot of times Americans think we're the elect nation. The Lord Jesus Christ said, upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against me. He said he'd build the nation. He said he'd build the church. Amen? That's a big deal. Amen. You mean to tell me, preacher, that a Chinaman or a Japanese or a Korean can be closer to God than me? Yep. He sure can. He can be closer, and the fact of the matter is, I think that you'll probably find throughout the world pockets of Christians that are far, far, far more on fire for God than America. We've had too much too long, and now folks will go to the polls this coming Tuesday, vote their belly. Listen to this. Here's the problem. There's no new birth, no repentance, no redemption, no justification, no propitiation, and no sin preached from the pulpits. When's the last time you heard the word propitiation from a pulpit? outside a temple. When's the last time you heard the word justification from a pulpit, or redemption, or repentance, or sin, or the new birth? You don't hear it? Let me tell you why the preachers don't preach the new birth. They're not born again themselves. Amen. They've never been saved. They've never been born again. They're like a lot of these people I was telling you about up there in Canada, but it separates Canada from the United States. You've got a third of them that are going to stick to the old ways, stick to the physical separation. That's not going to do you one bit of good. You need that spiritual separation. And the only way that can come is by the new birth. You must be born again. The Church of Laodicea, would you listen to this? I want to close with a few things this morning. I want you to listen to me now. Please listen to me. The church of Laodicea is the church that you're living in. There's seven churches of Asia Minor. Each one of them represent a period of the church age. You're at the end of the end. The word Laodicea literally means the rights of the people. He said, you're rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing, but know that you're not miserable, naked, poor, and blind. The rights of the people set against the rights of God. Folks, things have come out in the last few days. about the elite, about the sexual perversion that's going on with these people. And this is what's happening in the churches today. Listen carefully to me. When you receive their spirit, you will receive their worship. These people are very religious people. They're very religious people. And the churches today that have kicked the Lord Jesus Christ out, Don't misunderstand me. Listen to me. The churches that have kicked Christ out will be here when the rapture takes place and they'll be left behind. And they will worship exactly the way the elite do. It'll come right into their churches. Come right in. They're going to worship exactly the way the elite do. How do the elite worship, Preacher? They offer up child sacrifice. There's a child ring in this country that's being unearthed right now. The NYPD and the FBI right now are working. They don't know what to do. They're not sure how to handle what's coming out of all of this stuff. So I'm not going to say any more about it than to say this. There's a lot of stuff going on that has been for a long time. How many have ever heard of the Franklin cover-up? Some of you have. You've done your homework. You've done your homework. Child sacrifice, snuff films, and all of this stuff has been going on for a long time. And some of the biggest names in the world are associated with this. They worship Lucifer. They're Luciferians. They're Luciferians. And so I want you to understand this morning that we live in a time when, I don't know if it's a good time or a bad time, but we live in a time when this stuff is just beginning to fly open in your face. Maybe it's God saying, if you don't know what's going on here, get a good look at what's happening. And they're going to let you know. They're going to show it to you. I'm going to give you two things. How many of you have ever heard of spirit cooking? If you've kept up with the news, you've heard about it lately. All right? I won't say any more about it. This is the house of God. Go home and Google it and find out what's going on with spirit cooking. Have you ever heard about an island that is owned by a billionaire that has a jet plane flies to it that's called Lolita? Go check that out. Go check it out. Go check it out for yourself and find out what's going on. It's going to be a shocker for some of you folks. It's going to blow your mind. To think that people could be doing what we're talking about in here this morning. Not could be. They are doing it. Here's what I say to you. Run from it. Renounce it. Tell the Lord God that you've got nothing to do with it. It's no part of your life. You want nothing to do with it. You don't want anything to do with anybody that has anything to do with it. That's not who you are. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him, Lord God, this is not me. I want nothing to do with this. I will not support it. All right. I'm going to close with this this morning. I didn't get to preach long. I'm tired, though. Thank God I got longer than I thought. Maybe I'll just go five minutes. Listen to this. One of the candidates running for office this coming Tuesday, and I am not misrepresenting anybody. Remember now what I told you at the start of the message tonight, this morning, Charles Stanley. Here and there across the country, you're going to find preachers that are speaking out. You're going to find them. Thank God for the brethren. Amen. The more that speak out, the better. And Brother Stanley made it plain about voting, about what's necessary. All right? One candidate has already said that they want open borders. All right? What does that mean? You haven't seen crime yet. You don't know anything about crime until the borders are opened up in America. You think you've lost your jobs? You wait till they come in. And then you think that it can get bad? You wait until you see the refugee camps as the squalid places that they'll be piling up here and there. And rape? Did you know that in Germany right now that young men are marching through the streets of Germany with a swastika once again resurrected? Do you know why? Do you know why these young German men are out there in the streets? Because the Muslims have been turned loose on them. And they're raping their girls. And these German boys have said, enough of this, enough of this. And the French are doing the same thing. The Europeans are beginning to wake up. Wait until the borders are open, folks. You no longer have a United States of America. Number two, the globalists have been made known. Globalism, if nothing else comes out of this election, how many of you following me? Globalism now is in the news. The Republicans and Democrats, both, both, both of them have been ramming this garbage down the throat of the American people. And so now globalism has become an issue. So why is that an issue, preacher? A one-world government, a one-world religion, and a one-world dictator is what precedes the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're working at it right now, and He's going to come, and He's going to rapture us up, He's going to catch us up to meet Him in the clouds, and we're leaving here! We may leave here today! Hallelujah! Wouldn't that be wonderful? Globalism! One candidate has plainly said he will not stand for it, that he's a nationalist. The other candidate has said that she will continue with TPP, NAFTA, and the rest of it. Make your decision. Then there's political correctness. What's that, preacher? That's robbing you of your First Amendment right. If political correctness is allowed to run its course, this preacher, if I live long enough, will be going to jail. Because they will slap hate speech laws on us just like they have in Canada. They will take your freedom of preaching First Amendment right away from you. That's what political correctness is all about, folks. It is an insidious, vile thing that is coming down on your head. Won't stop there. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You say the wrong word at the workplace and you can get hauled into court. You say the wrong thing in a court of law and you can be charged. Once political correctness puts its tentacles into this nation, then you have no longer any freedom of speech and you'll begin to pay the price for it. So you think you can just sit on the sidelines and all of this is not going to affect you? You're dead wrong. It's going to affect every last one of us if something's not done. Number four, the Second Amendment. What's that? That's what the founders of this country said, that you've got a right to carry a weapon. You've got a right to carry a weapon to defend yourself. Well, the Lord Jesus said, turn the other cheek. He certainly did in the Sermon on the Mount. Then turn to Luke chapter number 22 and He told them to buy a sword. You need to know that's in the Bible. He told them to buy a sword, Luke chapter number 22. The Second Amendment. If the gun confiscation comes, there will be tyranny in this country. But I believe if they start it, there will be a civil war in this country. Then the Supreme Court. All of this is in play. The next one is elected president is going to be picking justices for the Supreme Court. What's that? Why is that important? Antonin Scalia has passed away. He was a he was a very conservative justice. He's gone now. They've got eight members to the Supreme Court. They want a ninth. The Republicans are trying to stop the Democrats. If Hillary Clinton goes into office, she's going to be picking Supreme Court justices. They're going to be dealing with issues like transgender issues, religious institutions in their hiring, state sovereignty, bathroom bills like in North Carolina, stuff like that. It's just a small sampling from this preacher. And then finally, last of all, but not least of all in any means, The next person to go in as president of this country will either be for or against killing babies. Now, you may think there's nothing you can do about it. It doesn't matter, but it is, too. You've got blood on your hands if you support it. I don't want to make anybody mad, but I'm going to tell you right now. One candidate has already said that he absolutely is against abortion. He's against the ripping of a baby out of its mother's womb. He's against it. He believes that that's a human being, a child should be protected under law. The other one has said to do it, rip it out of its mother's womb. I don't know of anything in my little world that's more heinous than to take a little thumb sucking, little innocent baby and kill it. What kind of country do we have? Lord, God, have mercy on this crowd. Go about your happy, holly, la la, happy duty life. Buy all your stuff. Have yourself just one wonderful, happy life while the babies are dying all around. Do you think God's going to bless that? God's not going to bless that. The figures vary. It depends on who you get the figures from. It runs anywhere from 60 to 70 million babies that have been killed in this country. It depends on where you get your stats. That's a bunch of babies. Somebody said, well, that's just something you got involved in lately. No, sir. I can take you back 40 years ago and put you on a bulletin board right back there in the back. And there's some folks that aren't here with us right now, but they were here then. And I had pictures posted 40 years ago back there of babies, different types of abortions that they performed 40 years ago. I've hated it from day one. I could never understand how a nation could think it was anything but a bunch of bloody killers that murders babies like that. And you've got a clear choice to make this coming Tuesday. One of them is a baby killer and the other one believes in preserving a baby's life. You're going to reap what you sow. You have to make a choice. You say, well, now they're not going to save us. The Republicans, no, I got no use for the Republicans. I got as much use for them as I do the Democrats. They're both as traitorous as they can be. No, sir. But I do believe that God may have given us a respite. He may have given us just a little bit of time, maybe for you to find out what we are. for the country to see that on one hand you've got a guy full of warts, he's got problems, believe me friend, listen, I'm not hiding myself from anything, he's got all kinds of problems. But he is infinitely better than the other one. Infinitely better than the other one. So we've got to make a decision this coming Tuesday. I've made my decision, I went out and voted the other day. The early voting's over, but Tuesday will be here, folks, in just a few hours from now. I beg you in the name of Jesus, go out there and do the right thing. If just one issue, just one issue, save the babies. Everybody wants to save the whales and save the trees and save this, but save the babies. Man. And God may bless this land again. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't it be wonderful to see sinners get up and walk these aisles with tears rolling down their face under real conviction and get saved, see a revival break out? But you're going to have to do something for it if you expect to have it. Father, in thy name we pray. I've delivered my soul. Thank you for your goodness, your faithfulness, your mercy, your grace, your long-suffering toward me. Times, Lord, that I wasn't where you wanted me to be, you brought me back where you wanted me to be. Times, Heavenly Father, I stumbled off into the wrong thing, you got me back on the right track. Times, Heavenly Father, I got with the wrong crowd, and then you got me away from them, got me back. Heavenly Father, you've been good to me. I thank you for that today. Thank you for forgiving me and cleansing me and saving me and writing my name in glory. Hallelujah. I love you. Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I love you. Father, I know, Lord, I know I've been here too much and I've been through this too many times. I know I'm up before all these people right now and five minutes from now, I could be laying on this floor and I know where I'm going. I know where I'm going. Hallelujah to God. Do you know where you're going? Keep your heads bowed. Do you know where you're going? Do you know how quick this life can end? Do you know how quick it can be over? My goodness gracious, are you ready? Do you know how fast the rapture is going to take place? The Bible said in a moment, the twinkling of an eye. Do you know what a twinkling of an eye is? It's not the time it takes for your eye to bat, the batting of an eye. The twinkling of an eye is this. Light traveling at 186,000 miles a second hits the retina in the back of your eye and bounces back out. How long does it take to do that? That's how quickly the rapture will be over. You say, well, that's almost instantaneous. Yes, it is. It's that fast. It's that quick. Are you ready? in Jesus' name.