Would you join me as we pray? Lord, we thank you so much. Jesus, you are so good. Thank you for this time of worship, Lord. For whatever we have, would you bring it to the table? In all of you for what you've done for us and what you continue to do for us, Lord. So we thank you for this day, Lord. Would you be with us as we get into the prophecy update, Lord? Would you really give us a focus that only you can? that we won't miss what it is that You have for us, no matter how hard it is. Lord, we take everything that we hear, take it back to Your Word, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen and Amen. And good morning and welcome. You can be seated. So glad you're here today. Those of you online, we're glad that you're joining with us as well. Before we jump in though, I want to just ask that you continue to pray for our medical missions team who are currently in Nepal, specifically for the following. And this is key. Restorative sleep. They've been sleeping on the ground. And God's healing touch on those who are sick, of which there are several. Some are getting better, but please pray for their health and their sleep. and also for God's continued mighty work through them. You always know when the hardship comes, what comes packaged with it is that God has something that He's going to do. So pray for God to continue what He's doing until their safe return, and pray for their safe return, which is going to be this Saturday, the 21st. All right, this is the first of two Sunday morning services we devoted to the teaching on end times by way of these weekly prophecy updates. And then second service has become now the sermon, which is a verse by verse teaching through the Bible. We started, I'm not going to tell you how many years ago because I don't remember. But we're in now the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. And we're going to Lord willing finish chapter 13, a very well known chapter, by the way, in a sermon that I've titled, Four Warnings Every Christian Should Beware Of. Not be aware of, beware of. I'll explain that. You have to come to second service. I'll explain it. Second service. For those of you online, it will be live streamed at 11.15 a.m. Hawaii time. But what we're going to do, because we've done numerous teachings on this well known prophecy in prior updates, I'm going to take just a little bit of a different approach. And by that I mean our focus is going to be more on, again, the personal application more so than the prophetic information which we've covered for many, many years. And another couple of reasons are that in addition to covering this in prior updates, I'm also going to be alluding to it in today's update. The second reason that I want to approach the teaching of this very well known text about the mark of the beast, the image of the beast, the worship of the beast, is because I think it needs to be brought to the forefront. What needs to be brought to the forefront? The reality of how close we are to eternity. The reality of how close we are to eternity. So I hope you'll join with us. Those of you online watching by way of YouTube or Facebook, we'd encourage you to go directly to the website JDFarag.com. And with that, we're just going to jump in. What I'm hoping to accomplish with today's update is answer this question of just how prophetically significant is Damascus, Syria. It does have profound prophetic significance, but it's not necessarily in the way that it's been taught, nor even as I myself, I have to admit this, in the past have taught. Actually, everything that's happening in the world today may far and away supersede the prophetic significance of what's now happening with Damascus in Syria, specific to Israel. I don't want to throw the baby of serious significance out with the bathwater of Bible prophecy, because again, it is prophetically significant. Damascus Syria is prophetic. However, what we're seeing today is not necessarily what it seems or what we might think. First, I want you to think this through with me. I find it most interesting that Assad's regime was swiftly and curiously ended, like overnight. And second, his removal was seemingly met with little to no resistance, more like no resistance. And third, I don't know if you're finding this, but I know I am. It is extremely difficult to get accurate information. Everything is shrouded under a cloud of suspicion, and to me it's very peculiar that it happened the way it did, when it did, and it's left in its wake more questions than it has answers. made the mistake of trying to spend some time, I'd block. I have to budget my time. Is that weird? Fine. I have to allocate time and then I have to limit, you know, like we limit our spending and budget our, you know, spending and finances. I have to budget my time and limit the amount of time because I, Some of you are looking at me like, yeah, we know this about you, JD. If I don't do that, I'll keep going and going and going and going. So I've given myself an allotment, a budget of time with which to spend researching something. So I gave myself an hour. I didn't even need an hour. I couldn't find anything. And what I did find was, of course, all the fact checkers. I would like to meet a fact checker one day. I'd like for them to introduce themselves as such. You know, my name is JD Frog. What's yours? My name is Mr. Fact Checker. You. Anyway, be that as it may, all eyes are on Damascus. due in large measure to what some believe are the prophecies in the Bible about Damascus, namely that of Isaiah 17, 1 and 2, perhaps the most well known. And then also with it, Jeremiah 49, which have been the go to prophecies for many. And again, I'll admit, present company included for many years, I taught these prophecies. However, I have to humbly confess that over the last several years, actually it started in about 2018. So what's that? About six years ago now, maybe. I began revisiting this particular prophecy in Isaiah 17, 1 and 2. Actually before 2018, this goes into the mid teens, like 2015 ish. I also began revisiting what some see as a significant prophecy in Psalm 83, for those of you who are aware of this, about a yet future war against Israel. Now, please know that I'm still revisiting and studying Psalm 83. I won't address that today, but I do think it's incumbent upon me to address the Isaiah 17 matter because of the recent developments. However, I want to first share about one of Pastor Chuck Smith's teachings at a conference I attended that had a powerful impact on me. I mean, this is many years ago now, but I'll never forget it. It's like it was yesterday, because in it, Pastor Chuck humbly and graciously talked about how he used to teach some of the parables in a certain way, and then proceeded to list a few of them, and how he had taught them. Again, though many years ago now, I'll never forget how he so candidly admitted that he no longer taught them that way, because he realized that's not what the parable meant. He then explained how he was now teaching those parables differently. As I, a young pastor at the time, not young, a young pastor, sat on the edge of my seat hanging on every word, because again of the impact that this had on me. And I don't think it can be overstated because I'm sitting there seeing and hearing our pastor talk about how he needed to revisit and work and study, like Paul wrote in Second Timothy 2 15, doing the hard work, a workman, being approved, studying the hard work. Studying God's Word is hard work. I mentioned this last week, much to the shock, I'm sure of some, I don't golf all week. If I did, you know how long these prophecy updates would be? Three minutes. I promise you that's all, because that's all I would have. Let me tell you what else is hard work. I'm digressing a little bit. I'll come back. Just bear with me. But not just is studying God's Word hard work, being a workman. But so too is prayer hard work. So too is prayer heart work. Did you catch that? So it was for me, God speaking through Pastor Chuck, reminding me, a much needed reminder about doing the hard work of studying and rightly dividing God's Word, so I'm not ashamed or embarrassed when it came to teaching God's Word. And again, picture this. Here I am again, a young pastor. I'm new in the ministry, and here's Pastor Chuck admitting that he corrected some of his teachings. Oh my goodness. How much more would I need to revisit and potentially correct my teachings? And I did. And this is why those that have been with us over the last 18 years now, by the way, since we started doing these weekly updates, have noticed the conspicuous absence of a Bible prophecy puzzle I put together. See some of you are even looking. Now you new people have no idea. Don't go back on YouTube and watch these videos, please. But I put together this prophecy puzzle And you haven't seen it for a long time. And the reason you haven't seen it in a long time is because it's gone into an archived file appropriately labeled, Teachings Needing Revisiting, where it belongs, and which is also getting rather large now. This is why I frequently encourage you to be a Berean and search the Scriptures for yourself. Never take my word for it or anybody else's word for it. Well, so and so said such and thus, so that's how I believe. So someone asks you what you believe about something. Well, my pastor says, don't do that. You need to know not only what you believe, but why you believe what you believe. And it should never be because, well, that's because that's what I was taught. No, you need to search the Scriptures for yourself like the Bereans did, Acts 17 11. These, speaking of the Bereans, were more fair minded than those in Thessalonica. This was not a slam on the Thessalonians, by the way. One might get that impression. It wasn't being derogatory towards the Thessalonians, he was being complimentary towards the Bereans. Why? They received the Word with all readiness, eagerness, and searched the Scriptures daily, every day, to find out whether these things were so. We live in a day that is most unforgiving of not being Abraham. Here's where I'm going. My previous Isaiah 17, 1 and 2 teachings, along with others, have found a new home in this aforementioned teachings needing revisiting file for this reason. It's already been fulfilled in past history which means it's not in the eschatological plan of yet future prophecy. In other words, it's already been fulfilled. Now, before you stole me to death, would you be willing to, at the very least, hear me out on this as I provide a brief explanation about this? First, Let me just read Isaiah 17 verses one and two, if for no other reason other than the benefit of those that are unaware of this prophecy. A prophecy against Damascus. Some of your translations render it the burden against Damascus. Behold, Damascus, capital of Syria, will cease from being a city and it will be a ruinous heap. The cities, verse two of Aruar, are forsaken. They will be for flocks which lie down, and no one will make them afraid. Now, within its context, the prophet Isaiah is writing about a prophecy that was already fulfilled back in the year 732 B.C. Warren Wiersbe, who's now with the Lord, wrote this in his commentary on Isaiah. He says in 17, 1 and 2, the prophet warned Damascus, the capital city of Adam, Syria, that the city would be taken by the enemy. This occurred when the Assyrians conquered Adam in 732 B.C. Following their usual custom, the Assyrians deported many of the citizens, which left the land and the cities desolate, similar to what the Babylonians did to southern Judah. We're going to provide a link to a video by Dr. Andy Woods, who goes into extensive detail as to why it is that the Isaiah 17, 1 and 2 prophecy concerning Damascus is not yet future. And here's where I think the problem is, and Andy gets it right because he cites the conspicuous absence of any mention that Damascus would not be rebuilt. after 732 B.C., which it obviously has. It's mentioned in the Book of Acts several times, Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. And even absent Assad and his regime, it's still a city. I am keenly aware that there may be some who have just had the wind taken out of their Bible prophecy sails, but this need not be so. And here's why. Isaiah 17, 1 and 2, having already been fulfilled, doesn't have the effect of decelerating prophecy. Rather, it has the effect of accelerating prophecy. And this in several ways, chief of which is that it doesn't add unnecessarily another prophecy to the eschatological list that needs to be fulfilled. By the way, eschatological is a fancy Nancy word that makes me sound smarter than I really am. All eschatology means is the study of end times events. That's all it means. But it sounds pretty cool, though, doesn't it? When you say eschatological, like, wow, this guy went to Bible college. I didn't. I barely graduated high school. But that's another topic for another time. So here's the problem that I see. And I'm just, listen, I am very openly admitting that I'm just as guilty as the next guy of doing this. Doing what? insisting on the inserting of prior prophecies fulfilled in the past into the prophecies in the present. And you end up needlessly complicating those yet to be fulfilled in the future. In other words, and Damascus is a perfect example. Stay with me. Think about this. Damascus easy for me to say, is a perfect example because, and think this through, if it were still yet future, you in effect delay, not speed up, the prophecy in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Another well known prophecy about an alliance of nations with Russia, Iran and Turkey at the helm who invade Israel to take a spoil from the north vis-a-vis Syria. Well, if Syria is uninhabitable, how are they going to do that? I know that's a hypothetical, but it does make sense. If it's a ruinous heap, And this prophecy is yet future. You start running into some problems with it, Ezekiel 38 and 39, because it's pretty explicit with the details that are provided for us in those prophecies in Ezekiel 38 and 39, that they come from the north by way of Syria, specifically Damascus. Again, I don't want in any way to dismiss Syria's prophetic significance. Syria is very significant prophetically, but it adds to everything else that's of equal or greater prophetic significance. If you'll kindly allow me to, I want to expound on this. for the remainder of our time together, because I want to, I want to put this into perspective. Some of you don't get your watches. You're going, wow, that's what happened this week. You, you, you golfed this week. You're already going off YouTube and Facebook. Yeah, bye. We're going to end the live stream on YouTube and Facebook. You'll see why. At the risk of constantly and repeatedly bringing up and talking about the so-called vaccine. Oh, not again. Here he goes again. Let's get the eye roll out of the way. I won't look. But by doing that, you're prioritizing it and placing it prophetically where it needs to be, the way it needs to be prioritized. And by now, for those of you who know me, you know that I'm compelled. I think about the Apostle Paul saying the love of Christ constrains me. There's a constraining, a compelling a burning, Jeremiah says. So I have to talk about it, if for no other reason other than nobody's talking about it. I mean, we're in a place right now where things are revved up. I use that word deliberately. Some of you know why. There's this re-emerging push to be vaccinated. Do you realize since we revised our religious exemption letter that we've already received thousands of requests? And some people take the time, and we're so grateful for those who do, to email us and thank us because their employer accepted the revised religious exemption letter that had they not, they would not have a job. And nobody's talking about this. Yeah, but I thought this was old news. It's not. Yeah, but it's not in the news. It should be. This should be on your news feed. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Probably a better way to animate and illustrate that. You should, you know, when you scroll, you know what I'm talking about, because by the way, you get dopamine squirts every time you scroll down. That's why you can't stop. It's a neurological addiction. You're all neurotic. Anyway, sorry. I am too. And that's why I have to allot and budget my time. I only give myself so much time, because I know if I don't, I'm still scrolling. Hour and a half later, I'm still scrolling. Oh, come on, don't look at me like that. I'm not going to look at you, because that's between you and the Holy Spirit. This should be on every news feed, and this should be every sound bite. Why isn't it? Well, I think effectively this is probably done deliberately, which sadly affects everyone worldwide, including those that live in the Middle East. One of the things as a student of Bible prophecy that I've had to kind of grapple with, for lack of a better word, over the years, because I'm from there, was born there, have family there. And I mean Israel in the Middle East for the most part is ground zero for Bible prophecy. So unless you live in the Middle East or have family in the Middle East, which I actually do. I have, I have family still in Lebanon, the worst possible place to be right now. They have no electricity. They have no water. They have no money. They have no nothing. That's why they're all fleeing. Syria, same thing. And by the way, Syria was home, still is in small measure, to Christians which Assad had let into his country. I want you to think about that. And please pray for these precious brothers and sisters in Christ in the Middle East, particularly in these areas like Syria, Lebanon, etc. So when you start focusing in on, and maybe all that you're talking about is what's happening in the Middle East, there can come what I call a disconnect, where you're disenfranchised. Because after all, we live in paradise. We're isolated and insulated out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And so what's going on over there? Well, as long as I can still get my spicy ahi poke, things are good. So what are you saying, Pastor? What I'm saying is that that's so localized and specific. Does it impact us? Yes. But does it rise to the level of being at the top of the list? No. Well, then what does? You already know the answer. The so called vaccine tops the list. What list you ask? The list of yet to be fulfilled, yet future, Bible prophecies of prophetic significance that impact everyone from Kaneohe to Damascus and everywhere in between. Did you catch that? If I got up here and I'm fully capable of doing this and have done this and over the years, I've done this for years. I've just gotten up here and just talked about the Middle East, the Middle East, Syria, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Ezekiel 38. That's all. And that's all. And then here's somebody sitting in the church that I'm so profoundly privileged to pastor, who knows that when that alarm clock goes off Monday morning, they go into a world that is so hostile. to them as a Christian. Not to mention the fact that we're in the world, not of the world. And we've long ago overstayed our welcome in this world, not our home. And I'm up here talking about something that has virtually no relevance to what it is that they're facing in their lives. But when you start talking about this so called vaccine, you're talking about everybody in the world. I don't care where you live. You're talking about everyone's lives, livelihoods and eternal lives as well. Dare I say that in some way, much of what people are being fed today is actually And I want you to hear me out on this, please. Serving as a distraction from the truly significant Bible prophecy in play today, not least the prophecies like the ones in our verse by verse study through the Book of Revelation second service, particularly chapter 13 verses 16 through 18, which is our text today as we finish the chapter second service. Let me rewind just for a moment to be clear. It's already in play today. The technology is already in place. today. And we're talking about everything but. And this could happen before you know it. What could happen? Can I just read the prophecy, Revelation 13 verses 16 through, you know it well, but I want to point out a couple of very interesting details that are very specific. First of all, speaking of the false prophet, the second beast, it says it also forced, hold on to that word, all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they have the mark. which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This, verse 18, calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. Again, don't get caught up, pun intended, by the way, trying to figure out who the Antichrist is, or try to use, you know, these, all these gymnastics and, you know, calculations. Because if you do that, half the people in this room, you could come up with the number 666. So basically, don't look at the person next to you. Half of the people in this room are the Antichrist. If you do that, stop doing that. This was, this was the thing years ago. I need to get this off my chest. back in the 80s. Some of you weren't even born, whatever. Back in the 80s, a big thing, especially before 88. This was when this guy writes a book titled 88 Reasons Why Crisis Coming Back in 1988. You could have gotten really cheap in 1989. No, he actually wrote another book, I think, a follow up. He messed up. So 89 reasons why you can get, and I think, I don't know what happened to the guy. I think somebody probably, I don't want to know. But stop. I mean, Ronald Reagan, six letters in his name. No. Yes. Barney on Sesame Street. No, I'm not making this up. Everybody, it was like a fad. Everybody's trying to figure out and calculate who is the Antichrist. And then they'd write a book and they were all wrong and they'll always all be wrong all the time. And for good reason, by design. I'm not going to yell. I had someone say to me, please stop yelling. I cannot. It's a custom in my country. Now for the benefit of those new to Bible prophecy, which by the way is okay. Welcome. We welcome you with open arms. We're so excited for you because we knew what it was like for us when Bible prophecy was new to us. It was so exciting. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days. You know, Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, with much knowledge comes much sorrow. I'm a very sorrowful man. I mean, it's just like the more you know, and this is unique to Christians, by the way, who know what the Bible says about what's coming. It is very grievous. The world knows nothing of this. Well, we know what's coming upon the entire world, and it's heartbreaking. So that is kind of a packaged deal. It comes packaged with the studying and the knowledge of Bible prophecy. But this is more for the benefit of those who are new to Bible prophecy, which again is okay, by the way. Um, we already had a test run of sorts back in 2020. A test run of what? A test run of the prophecy I just read in Revelation 13 verses 16 through 18. What do you mean? No, think about it. I could not go in and get my spicy ahi poke. I'm making myself hungry for spicy ahi poke again. I could not, unless I wore an MASK. That was a test run for the tribulation where it won't be an MASK. You will be forced to have an MARK. one letter away. This was a preconditioning, preparing, preprogramming, a readying of the world's population. You'll forgive me for repeating this, but This specific prophecy concerning the so-called vaccine rises to the level of needing to be taught on and talked about, which to the peril of many, few do. And for the life of me, the only thing that comes anywhere close to explaining, not excusing, Why it is that nobody wants to talk about it is that it's, I'm speaking from a pastoral perspective, it's controversial. I think there's another component. I won't take the time to get into it today. I'll save that for another day because I talk about it every week anyway. So But in the interest of time and with the hope of trying in as much as I'm able to be brief, which heretofore has been an epic failure on my part, I want to try again to just briefly provide a summary. But I want to make it very clear in no uncertain terms that pre-rapture right now, this so-called vaccine in its current form is not nor cannot be the mark of the beast yet. You can't get there. Let me explain. For that to happen, The church of Jesus Christ has to be raptured prior to the seven year tribulation when the Antichrist is revealed. How are you going to have the mark of the beast if you don't have the beast? I think you would agree that the trajectory is speedily trending in that direction as an indication of just how close we are to the seven year tribulation, which means that the pre tribulation rapture is even closer. So close are we to the seven year tribulation. Some believe we're already in the seven year tribulation. That's how close we are to the seven year tribulation, except we're not. How can you be so sure, Pastor? Well, don't be so snarky when you ask me that question. But I'm glad you asked. I'll give you an answer, because the church is still here. We can't have the tribulation start until the church is raptured. And the Antichrist cannot be revealed until the church is raptured and the restrainer is moved out of the way. Then, Paul says, 2 Thessalonians 2, the lawless one can be revealed. Maybe better explained this way. The reason why we cannot already be in the seven year tribulation is because the church is still here. Once we're raptured, good, it's all yours. You can have it. I had no need for it anymore. By the way, spoiler alert, you only have seven years. Just advance notice. You know, in all fairness, and I want to be gracious, I can understand why some people would think that we are in the tribulation. I mean, we're so close to it. And really in every arena, particularly the arena of biotechnology, that alone, stand alone, now in place is in our face. And it's not just in people's faces, it's in people's arms. Why? Because they're being forced, Revelation 13, to take it. They don't want it. It's not a get to, it's a got to, they have to, if they want to keep their jobs anyway. So they're being forced, they're being put in that position right now, as we speak, all over the world, from Kaneohe to Damascus. Particularly, by the way, there was a report I read, this is, Gaza, the Arabs. They're not Palestinians, they're Arabs. Thursday night, we finished it. By the way, for those of you that weren't here on Thursday night, how did you miss out? They have the acronym FOMO, fear of missing out. Man, you totally FOMOed on Thursday. because we finish an entire book of a Bible. It only has 21 verses in it, but the Book of Obadiah. And it's all about the Edomites, alive and well today, which explains a lot today. You know that all the Herods were Edomites in the New Testament? The descendants of Esau, the fraternal twin brother of Jacob. So it started in the womb. They're at the battle, the war. God says to Rebecca, you have two nations in your womb. Oh boy, did she. And apparently they're not getting along too well. They haven't even been born yet. If that's to give you any indication of what you're in store for. So I read this report that in Gaza they were being forced, young children, to take a polio vaccine. And they showed pictures and I'm looking at, I had to turn away, I winced. I'm looking at this, couldn't have been more than eight year old boy, screaming, crying with a needle getting forced into his arm. And that boy looked like, He could have been my boy at that age. It was heartbreaking to me. But nobody's talking about it. Nobody's talking about it. So while we're going about our daily lives, there's nothing wrong with that. People are being threatened with their jobs if they refuse, refuse to receive this so-called vaccination and provide verification, which we'll talk about in a moment. Just because the vast majority of the world's population, including sadly, professing Christians, are blind to this, and don't believe in any of this, does not dismantle the truth about this. Let me say the same thing in a different way. And we get this often, and I understand it. Well, Pastor JD, I don't agree with you. I'm taming it, tuning it, toning it down. You know, it's more like, it's actually more vicious than that. I get it. But here's the thing. Okay. At the end of the day, whether you agree with me or not has no relevance whatsoever. You don't agree with me. Like I'm the final word. No. If you don't agree with me, you don't agree with me. Allah. Here's the problem. If you don't, agree with God, that's the problem. If you're not in agreement with God's Word, that's the problem. Well, I don't agree. I don't like, you know, His style of teaching. Okay, find a pastor that you like, you know, their style of teaching. I hope you can. because there are fewer farther between now. Well, they might talk about the Bible, but there's a huge difference between talking about the Bible and teaching the Bible. They might reference it, refer to it, but verse by verse teaching of it, forget it. And this is why it is, and I'm going off again, I'll I'll budget my tangent. How's that? Just let me have less than a minute on this. This is why Christians today are starving to death. They are starving to death. I feel so sorry for them, because they're so weak spiritually, because they're not getting fat. They're getting no nourishment. So when that trial of life hits and the trial of life hits, they are ill prepared. Why? Because they've been fed a diet of cotton candy Christianity for so long and never gotten the meat of God's Word to build strength and spiritual muscle. They don't know the Word of God. They go to church to be entertained. And many at church today, and I don't want to be derogatory, but it's the truth. They're all too ready to accommodate those wanting to. And you can always tell. It's kind of like, yeah, let's go to church. We're church shopping. I want to be careful. I don't want to look at anybody. When somebody says they're church shopping, I say you've come to the wrong address. I know that sounds mean. I don't mean to be mean. Here's what I mean. You're church shopping? What, is this consumerism? Are you a consumer or a communer? Are you shopping for a church or called to a church? Because see, if you're looking for a church that, you know, has the items you want, the flavor you like, the, you know, vibe. First of all, as soon as I get up here, you realize I'm in the wrong church. Is that the pastor? I hope he's just doing the announcements. We don't have announcements. No, I'm the pastor. Actually, somebody said that to me one time, knew, had no clue. you know, the worship was wonderful, always is. This is back in the old building, comes up afterwards, and it was kind of one of those, thank you, I think. He goes, he goes, you know, when I first saw you, I thought there's no way that could be the pastor. You know, because man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And when you got up there, and we had a couple of announcements, and you just didn't ask, but I thought, oh, he's just the guy that does the announcements. But then you kept going. No frills, no thrills, no splash, no flash. Now all we're about is the Word of God and the God of the Word. And we have to be. we have to be. Okay, was that more than a minute? Oh, you have to forgive me. This brings me full circle to the list. Oh, not another list. Yes, another list. I know what you're thinking. How long is this list? Well, it's long. But I'll be short. Oh yeah, right. Famous last words. No, I will. As I quickly go through the list of 20, did he just say 20? Yes, 20. I had more. I would implore you to view it through the lens of that which is already beginning to come to pass as we speak. In other words, as I go through them quickly, don't think of them as, oh, in the future, distant future, even not too distant future. No, no, don't do that. I'm going to go through this list. It's not future, it's present. present. You ready? Some of you say, yeah, just get it over with, pull the band-aid off fast. Okay, number one. I know, I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. It's just that font size is like five. That's okay, because you know why? Just be considerate of the online members who take screenshots. Have I guilted you yet? You know, that's, have I made you feel guilty? Okay, quickly. Stop doing that. You're delaying me. I'm trying to be quick here. The entire world's economies are on the cusp of total collapse by design via a controlled demolition. This is all preplanned. Number two, the pre-planned controlled demolition of the world's economy will usher in a cashless digital economy. Number three, the cashless digital economy will employ blockchain technology to authenticate one's CBDC, centralized bank digital currency, slash UBI, universal basic income. Number four, the CBDC slash UBI balance will be predicated upon one's carbon credit score and or one's social credit score. Number five, the scores will be predicated upon one's compliance, which will be policed using artificial intelligence and bio-digital surveillance. They already are. You hear about these drones? I guess not. We'll talk about that next week then. I don't know. That's interesting. Especially when the U.S. military says they're not ours. And then we go to somebody else. Are these yours? And we're not talking toy drones. These are huge things. And a lot of them. Are they yours? No, they're not mine. Whose are they? We don't know. What are they doing? We don't know. Have a nice afternoon. They're surveilling, they're collecting data, they're, some even think it's more nefarious than that, but we're going quickly. Number six, the biodigital surveillance will be accomplished by way of a mark that one will knowingly not, and this is important, not accidentally be forced to receive. Nobody's going to like, oh my goodness, I just took the mark. No, that has no basis in Scripture whatsoever. The mark will be a band-aid like stamp with small, sharp, palisade type needles to serve as a delivery system. In fact, we did a study on this in depth, deep dive. Revelation 13, when you go into the original language of the Greek New Testament, it uses words like stamp, palisade. You know what a palisade is? It's a needle like, they use it as a defense. And I showed pictures of a band-aid on the forehand that is the delivery mechanism for those that don't want the needles. And it has palisades. And if you go into the original Greek, the word for mark is in Greek, the word used for palisades, stamp. This resolves the issue that has been brought up about the mark being on, not in. it's put on so as to get in. Number eight, the delivery system will include any and all so-called vaccinations or boosters that as of now damage DNA. That's why people are dying suddenly. Number nine, the DNA being damaged currently will give way to the DNA being altered eventually using a technology that Man, I've seen some videos as far back as 2013 on CRISPR-Cas9 technology. Picture a scissors slicing your DNA, taking it out and replacing it with something else that's not human. I'm getting ahead of myself. The altered DNA turns the human into transhuman, which is what the fourth industrial revolution is all about. rendering them irredeemable, dooming them for all eternity. Number 11, the mark will either be placed on the forehand or forehead for use as a system of verification of compliance and will contain all one's data and information of what's going on in real time. That technology exists? Oh, you better believe it. This verification system number 12 will determine whether or not one can buy or sell or even how far one can travel, if at all. You know, if you post something that goes against the narrative on social media, you get your account suspended. Well, now that's going to happen, but it's not going to be your social media account. It's going to be your bank account. Number 13, a determination as to what one can or cannot do will be under the auspices of a worldwide emergency. Number 14, the emergency will come in the form of some health crisis. Some are of the belief that it's disease X. Man, enough with X already. I mean, you know, everything's X. What's up with Elon and X? X this, X that. Xmas. You know what's cool about Xmas? Can I just get this one? This is no extra charge. You know, when they first started taking Christ and replacing it with X, you know, Xmas. At first I was like grrr. And someone said, no, no, this is cool. In Greek, the X is Christos. They can't get away from Jesus. Exodus. Okay, fine. Are you Greek? Number 14, the emergency will come in the form of some health crisis and or climate crisis, warranting the unprecedented mandated restrictions. Number 15, the mark monitors, again, in real time, one's health status and geographic location at all times, controlling compliance, and get this, even controlling behavior. There are, do I have time? I'm gonna go real quick. There are compelling arguments that support how that those who have been vaccinated and boosted, you know, they've got their like 86th booster shot, that they've become, their personalities change. I did a whole update on this. They become more docile and compliant. And in other words, whatever this thing is or will become, will have the propensity to control how you behave. Number 16, the controlled compliance will be centralized and monitored using current technology, which can already suspend one's privileges. By the way, I'm not going to do it. The whole electric car thing. Have fun with that one. They can suspend your car. And that's number 17. The privileges will include but not be limited to one's digital currency, electric vehicle, and even electricity or water usage. And that's just mentioning a couple. In other words, your social or carbon credit score is so low that you go to start your car and then something comes up on the dash and it says suspended. You bad boy, you bad girl, you. Your carbon credit score is not good. Your social credit score is not good. How can they do that? That's the, like, by the way, and I, HECO, if you're watching, your smart meters, we know what you're doing. I know I'm looking at people and you're going, oh, the smart meter. But God, has the final word on your smart meter. But you know what these smart meters are about and smart cities? They're about controlling. They can like that. They can terminate your electricity usage remotely. So have a nice evening now as well as afternoon. Number 18, the refusal of this mark will lead to the death of countless multitudes, some even by way of beheading. Number 19, we're almost done. Not too bad. The ones who receive instead of refuse will knowingly, not unwittingly, this is again very important, please. Nobody's going to accidentally take the mark. because it requires the pledging of one's allegiance to and worship of the beast. It will be like it was for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You know, they refused to bow down to the image. And so too during the tribulation, it will be a conscious decision to either accept or reject. the allegiance to and worship of the beast. And lastly, number 20, the ones who worship the beast, receiving his mark, will break out in loathsome sores, wishing they could die, but they cannot die. I think that's about Revelation 16. Okay, that's the end of the list. Here's the good news. Boy, I could show you some good news right now. Those of us who are born again of the Spirit of God won't be here for this and need only be ready for that trumpet to sound and Jesus to come and take us out of this. There is some bad news. Everything on this list is already at the ready, which begs the question of if you yourself are ready. What do you mean? Look, we are so close to the pre tribulation rapture of the church and the commencement of the seven year tribulation with the revelation of the Antichrist. that I don't know why anybody would ever delay the most important decision of their life for eternal life. Because the only thing required to be ready for when Jesus comes, and He is coming for us sooner than we can imagine, is to believe in Him. Put your trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. That's all. And then when you do that, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you and empower you to live a holy life, because now the Holy Spirit is in you. Holy Spirit, holy life. The Christian I feel the most sorry for is the Christian who is trying to live a holy life in the energy of their own strength. No, that's what the Holy Spirit indwells us for and empowers us. I'm going to end. Please know we always end with these updates. and the gospel and the ABCs of salvation and for good reason. And they're more important now than ever. I can't think of a time when ending with the gospel, the ABCs of salvation was ever as important as it is today. Give me two minutes. The A, this is not a formula. The A just simply means admit, acknowledge that you're a sinner. Otherwise, why would you be interested in the Savior? Because see, the average person thinks they're a good person. And if you're to ask them and get from them, they'll admit that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell, and nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, it's the opposite that's true. It's going to be a lot of good people in hell and a lot of very bad people in heaven. And I'll be at the front of that line. And you won't be too far behind. Romans 3 10 says there's no one good, no one righteous, not even one. And Romans 3 23 tells us why. It's because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We were all born sinners, which is why we must be born again, Jesus said, to enter the kingdom of heaven. It's a spiritual rebirth. Now Romans 6 23 is interesting because it packages the bad news first with the good news. What's the bad news? Well, you're guilty as charged, and now you're going to be sentenced. Well, what's the sentence? It's the death sentence. The wages of sin is death. That's the bad news. Now here comes the Holy Spirit. When I realized that I've broken God's law, And I look at myself and I see myself in the perfect mirror of God's law. And I see that I've broken God's law. I'm a lawbreaker. And now I've got a penalty to pay. Here comes the Holy Spirit grabbing me by the hand like a tutor, a schoolmaster, and takes me to the Savior who fulfilled the law. What if I told you that 10 commandments were never given for us to keep? The 10 Commandments were given to show us, us, in our true condition. Because this is the problem. We don't see ourselves. We always shed ourselves in the most favorable light. It's human nature. It's a sin nature, Adamic nature. You know, when you get into the Proverbs, I call them the teens, you know, chapters 13, 14, 16. and what I call the contrasting Proverbs. And it says, the righteous do this, but the wicked do that. And here I am. Yeah, those wicked people, you know. No, that's you. Like Nathan to David, thou art the man. Oh, you thought the righteous was you? That's called self righteousness. Isaiah said your own righteousness is as filthy rags. I won't get into the original. It's pretty graphic. That's why putting your trust in Jesus Christ, believing in Him for the forgiveness of sin, what you're saying is, and this is the B, which we'll get to in a second. What you're saying is I stand before you not in my own righteousness, but in your imputed righteousness. That's an accounting term. So I'm reconciled. It justifies. It's justified, never sinned. So I've been sentenced to death. Here's the good news. The gift of God, gift, notice the contrast, wages, gift, is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the B, so simple, childlike simple, just belief. for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe. And this is not, I believe in God. No, it's putting your trust in Him, believing in Him for the forgiveness of sin. You are standing guilty as charged in your own unrighteousness, which is why your standing on the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness. That's what that means. And then Jesus said, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And that's the seed, because what's in your heart is going to come out of your mouth. Well, what's in your heart? Well, I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is Lord. What's going to come out of my mouth? Jesus Christ is Lord. This is Romans 10, 9 and Romans 10, 13, which I love because It seals the deal. All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10 9 says, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Did you see the common denominator there? Not you might be saved, you could, should, good chance, jury's out, not sure. Waiting for the verdict to come in. No, verdict's in. It is finished. You are free. Your debt's been paid. That's what the word gospel means. Good news, brah. Your debt has been paid in full. You are free to go. And whom the Son has set free is free indeed. I implore you today, Please, I'm pleading with you, whether you're here in this church or watching online, if you've never put your trust in the Lord, called upon the name of the Lord, believing in Him, trusting in Him for the forgiveness of sin, I implore you, today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Now today's but God testimony, I I kind of inquired of the Lord about it because it really hit me hard, because it kind of put into perspective what people, what Christians are experiencing out there. And it was also convicting, not condemning, but convicting in the sense that, oh my goodness, we take so much for granted. It comes from Mary Ann Deanna, who writes, Dear JD, I don't know about God testimony, but then again, maybe I do. I was raised Catholic and always questioned the repetition in the church sermons and what I was not learning. I left and searched other churches, like Baptist churches, nothing against Baptist. I'm just reading what she wrote. not really feeling at home anywhere. That's what hit me. But then I found you online and started watching the prophecy updates, just out of curiosity, and listening to your sermons on YouTube. I began to feel a peace come over me, and I wanted to share this information with my friends and family. But JD, they turned their backs on me and did not want to hear it because they feel the rapture is not coming anytime soon. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening. The feeling, and listen to what she says, listen to the heartfelt words. The feeling of being misplaced and alone is awful. You know how many of our brothers and sisters do not have a church they can call home? Today I received on your letterhead an acknowledgement of me as a member of your online congregation on my religious exemption. And reading the letter, I began crying tears of joy as I realized I'm not alone. I do belong. You all are my home and my family. That's you. I cannot thank you enough for all that you've done to open my eyes to what's happening around the world. And I look forward to meeting each and every one of you in the church. Remember her name, Marianne, when you'll meet her. When we all go home to be with Jesus. Until then, I send virtual hugs. Much love and many thanks, Marianne. Before Capone comes up, I want to make one final comment. I think it's a word fitly spoken, at least I hope it is. I'm prompted by the Holy Spirit to make it. Never take for granted what God's given us here in this, His church. The fellowship that we enjoy, the worship that we have. My goodness, not that it's about the facility, but God in His abundant, exceedingly above and beyond, more than we could have ever imagined. Just this beautiful church building that we get to meet in. And then we have the power of the Word of God as the staple, the centerpiece. And people's lives are being changed just over the years. These prophecy updates. You know what's happening is people are loosening their grips on this world and the things of this world as they lift up their heads, watching for the next. But we take it for granted. Not only do some people not have what we enjoy every week, but if they want to have anything close to it, they have to drive literally miles, hours away to have what we have. Maybe I'm just preaching to myself, because every time I pull into this church property, I just am in awe of God. all that he has done. And by the way, he's the one who did it. We had nothing to do with it. In fact, if anything, we were probably in his way a lot of the times, you know, trying to help him out. Oh, it's so adorable. You want to help me? Don't help me. It's my church. Let me, can I just, it's my church. Okay. What do you want me to do? Show up. Okay. I'm here. Okay. Now let me do what That's why, let me have this. I'm done. Almost. This is why we're not about programs and, and, you know, all this stuff. And, you know, this is why we don't have performers and fog machines. Do they have those? Is that what they're called? You know, we don't have like a, remember the 70s had an afro, a disco ball, strobe lights, light show. No, we don't do that. By the way, you don't have to look far to find that if you're interested in that. But that's not the church. that Jesus pronounced and declared that He would build upon the rock of Peter's confession. Okay, I better end. Okay, come on up now. Yeah, I think you got up and down like three times, like in the Catholic Church, you know, up and down, up and down. Why don't you stand up? Thank you for your, you guys are so gracious to me and You put up with Me, you have treasures in heaven, you know. They're going to ask you when you get there, after you hear, well done, good and faithful servant, they're going to, someone's going to come and say, hey, didn't you go to Calvary County? Oh, hey. And some of you are going to go, it depends. Why do you ask? Oh, he says, wow, hour and a half updates, man. Enter in, dude. Okay, that's too much. Let's pray. Father, thank You. I just, I have no words. Just praise. I think my brothers and sisters agree with me when I say that all we can do is just stand in awe of You. for all the great works that You have done, are doing and will continue to do until that day comes, which we believe is very soon. Lord, I thank You for Bible prophecy, but more importantly for the impact that it has on our lives as Christians, the effect that it has. Thank You for telling us in advance, in Your Word, what's going to happen before it happens. So when it happens, we, as believers, would look up and lift up our heads, knowing our redemption draws nigh. And for non-believers, that they would see that what You said would happen before it happens, starting to happen, they would believe. That would bring them to You. Well, Lord, we're looking at everything in this world, and it matches up precisely. with what you described in Bible prophecy, the world is exactly like you said it would be at the time of the end. And the only conclusion is we're at the time of the end. Oh, Lord Jesus, Maranatha, come quickly, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.