Welcome to Bible Believers Fellowship and the ministry of bbfohio.com. I'm Pastor Greg and I welcome you to our current events update and then our study in the book of Micah, chapter 1, verses 8 through 16, titled Micah's Lamentation. The conclusion of this two-part message can be found at our website, bbfohio.com. As we now begin, this is part one of two. So number one on our current events update is Israel at war today is 124 24 And this is day 110 since the October 7th massacre. I urge you to talk to people if they think anything and they sound like they don't know what they're talking about, please tell them to go watch the videos of what happened on October 7th before forming an opinion. A lot of people have no idea of all the rapes, the gang rapes, the beheadings, and all the things that happened on October 7th, and then they form an opinion. And in Proverbs 18, 13, he that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. And most people talking about Israel right now had never looked at all the information, and it's folly and shame unto them. Hostage deals are all the talk, How many of you heard them talk about the one where they're going to get like a two-month ceasefire and all that? But Hamas said to reject Israel's latest hostage deal offer was the headline that I saw as it toughens its stance. Israel denies dealing at all. So who knows what's going on? Hamas says they denied the deal. Israel says we didn't make a deal. What are you talking about? Israel denies hostage talks advancing as lawmakers balk at talk of military arrests. So the lawmakers themselves are the ones that are saying, no, wait a minute. Smotrich says reported outline of agreement has, quote, big and dangerous question marks. So they're very concerned about it. But regardless, something to watch for in the next couple of days. Um, the world judgment against Israel this weekend is potentially going to be the entire world basically coming against Israel. Um, the International Court of Justice is the name of that court. It has no real standing. Our Constitution does not allow for this. Um, but we are being run by globalists who are who don't care about the Constitution. And so that's why this kind of stuff is taking effect. And that's coming up Friday. In the meantime, they've got people over in Israel who think they're doing something right. They're blocking traffic demanding that Israel do whatever Hamas wants so they can get their hostages. And, uh, We don't have time to get into all that, but that's a foolish move on their part. So Israel could potentially be dismissed from, or they may choose to resign from, membership at the United Nations. Now, that would be huge, but the interesting thing about that, this could fulfill the following prophecy about Israel in the last days. The Bible says, lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." Isn't that an amazing Bible prophecy? Numbers 23 and 9. By the time you come to Revelation 12, which takes place in the middle of the tribulation, three and a half years in after the mark of the beast and after the confirmation of the covenant and everything's all kicked in, then Revelation 12 says that Israel not only won't be reckoned among the nations, they'll be kicked out of the land again. They'll go down into Petra and that area and Sierra and the wilderness and the Negev, down and actually in parts of Jordan today, the country of Jordan. And so that's where this is heading. The Bible is coming to pass right before our eyes. And so many people seem to be totally clueless about it. Number two, SCOTUS stands for Supreme Court of the United States. Rules against the states. Did you hear about this? The US Supreme Court says Texas can't block federal agents from the border. And the high court's order effectively maintains long-running precedent that the federal government, not individual states, has authority to enforce border security. But there's a problem with that theory. Texas Governor Abbott correctly responded. He released a statement, quote, I have already declared an invasion to invoke Texas constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. There's a blow up of it. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. And that's constitutional law right there. But it's important to note the SCOTUS vote. Five, including four women, Kagan, Sotomayor, Brown, Jackson, and Barrett, and gay activist male judge John Roberts. Those are the five who voted against the states in this case. Now, it doesn't matter that they're women. It matters that they are women who evidently are going based on feelings rather than the law. And then this guy, John Roberts. You know, he has done, before he became a Supreme Court Justice, he did pro bono work for gay activists. And some of the stuff he was involved in was just disgusting. Of course, he's a Bush appointee. The only four real men on the court voted for the American people, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Thomas, and Alito. Now look at this, Isaiah 312. If anybody's a feminist, don't get mad at me. This is God's Word, not mine. God's Word says, Isaiah 3.12, Now there's been women who have ruled and they've done good. I mean, Deborah the prophetess always comes up. But in more recent history, Victoria, Queen Victoria. And what's her name? Nome. Christy Nome of South Dakota. I think she's done a respectable job. Yes, Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas, you know. But One of the reasons that we've needed these women to step up is because so few men are worth anything in this country right now that are in politics. The men are crooked, and a lot of them are effeminate. They don't stand for the Constitution. All this is fulfilling Bible prophecy. And despite Barrett's fail, Trump's appointees have been good for us. American people, 90% of the time, outranking all others. Everybody likes to say Republican or Democrat, don't matter. Republican, Democrat, doesn't matter. What matters is whether or not they are constitutionalists or not. And the constitutionalists on the court, to his credit, I think it was George H.W. who put Thomas on the Supreme Court. Yeah, Senior did. Yeah. So, with that, the last Thing I want to mention before moving on is HB 68 and the override of the veto. How many of you saw the vote? The Ohio Senate voted to override. Governor Mike DeWine's veto of a bill regarding gender affirming care, which is a lie. This isn't about gender affirming care. This is about not allowing children to take hormone therapy that causes irreversible damage to their bodies. Not allowing children to have mastectomies and other brutal operations removing parts of their body. And then the women, after they have their breasts removed, then they have the skin from their arm, their forearm, and makes it look deformed so that they can make a fake penis and sew it on them. The men who have their penis removed, they then have a fake vagina, and for the rest of their lives, they're fighting infections and things down there. And these people, you listen to them, it's brutal, but folks, we gotta face the reality of what this is about. And you listen to these people who are in the age of 14, 15, 16, 17, are allowed to make these choices when they're not even allowed to buy a beer. They're not, well, yeah, under 16, you can't drive a car. They can't get a tattoo. They can't even take aspirin to school. But our insane, stupid leaders have been allowing children who say, well, I feel this way. Man, you want to hear what I felt before I turned 18? You don't want to hear it. Some of it would be embarrassing. Other would be embarrassing to me. A lot of it's just nutty. You're like, what? That's what kids are. And allowing children to do this is child abuse. So thank God that Mike DeWine was overridden. Again, doesn't matter, Republican, Democrat. DeWine is a Republican. What matters is if someone is a constitutionalist and do they believe in God and the Bible. Go back and read the Founding Fathers. They said this country was only intended for a moral people who believed in God and the Bible. And they predicted if the American people got away from that, it would die as a nation. And that's where we're heading. It's a big victory, but this is a permanent war for us. You might as well get used to it. We're constantly going to be praying against these things, making the phone calls, voting certain ways, sending emails, whatever. It's just going to be, not to mention all the family problems you're having and going to continue to have over this stuff. Because as our family members go into the pits of hell with their love of Sodom and their love of wickedness, it's going to cost you relationships. That's just the reality. And Jesus predicted that, again, fulfilling the Bible. Jesus said that would happen. Right up until the rapture. That's the way we pray. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. All right. Micah's lamentation. Micah chapter 1, verses 8 through 16. And we're going to close our study of Micah 1. We started last week. With Micah's lamentation over Israel's apostasy. And you know, the reality is, Israel as a nation right now in the modern era is in apostasy. They are, I've mentioned this before, but more than 80% of the citizens of Israel are atheists or agnostic. Less than 2%, the last I checked, less than 2% are believers in Christ. And so that explains why the rapture could happen any moment and within three and a half years or thereabouts after the rapture, they're totally kicked out of the land again. Why? That's why. What few Christians are there going to go up in the rapture? So let's read the even verses. 8-16, start with me there in verse 8. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked, I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls, for her wound is incurable, for it has come unto Judah. He has come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all in the house of Aphra, roll thyself in the dust, pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Sapphor, having thy shame naked, the inhabitant of Zanon, came not forth in the morning of Bethazel, he shall receive of you his standing. For the inhabitant of Meroth waited carefully for good, but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast. She is the beginning of the sin of the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzeb shall be allied to the kings of Israel. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mereshah. He shall come unto Adullam, the glory of Israel, make thee bald and pull thee for thy delicate children, enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee. Amen? So Micah expresses his grief And that's what a lot of this is about, as we'll go through it line upon line, verse by verse, at the justice of God. God isn't just this mean ogre in the Old Testament. The holy God must punish sin. That's it, the bottom line. So the question is, have you received the punishment Christ suffered on the cross in your place, on your behalf? And if so, then it is finished. And that's what the children of Israel just would take those animals to that temple and offer the blood sacrifice. And because they weren't in the Bible, they didn't read their Bible, they didn't listen to the Bible read to them in the synagogues and elsewhere, they weren't familiar with the Bible, so they missed the whole picture. And Micah will lament in verse 8 and 9, we'll look at that. And then there's a call to mourn in verses 10 through 13. And then he closes with the fact of their facing captivity in verses 14 through 16. We should never forget that the prophets were patriots. You consider yourself a patriot? You ought to. We ought to be patriots who love the very nation they were called upon to prophesy against. I tell everybody, I am America first. I'm not America only. That's not the same thing. A lot of people who say they're America first, they're America only, and that's not right. But I think anybody, if I'm talking to somebody who's from England, they should be UK first. Canada should be Canada first. And then as allies, we're not America only, we're not Canada only, we're not England only, but we are to be patriots, just like Micah, loved the very nation that these prophets, including Micah, were called upon to prophesy against. You know, when we preach against sin, it's not because we don't love you, It's because we love you that we preach against that sin. If I see you going off a cliff and I said, stop, you're going off a cliff! Shut up! Yeah, that's what these people are doing here. I've had people tell me something and warn me about something and I'm very grateful that I listen, I'm thankful, I tell them, thank you. Yeah, you have somebody wake you up in the middle of the night. You know what time it is. Your house is on fire. Leave me alone. That's what it's like when you preach against sin and someone who's in that sin gets mad at you for telling them the truth. Of course, we have the sign. Some of you need a sign. We love you enough to tell you the truth. That's what a true Christian will love you. And Micah loved his people enough to tell them the truth. But that's what we read about in the first seven verses, is the judgment of God coming down on Israel and the Northern Kingdom and Judah, the Southern Kingdom by this time, because they will not listen to God. They will not listen to God's word. Then verse eight, as we read, therefore, I will wail and howl, this is Micah. I will go stripped and naked. That sounds funny. You're like, what? And please don't demonstrate. But it's not hyperbole. He says, I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls. I guess if you've lost something important enough in your life, you know what this is talking about. And that's how important this is to Micah. When people mourn tragic death, they would actually strip down and throw ashes on themselves and wail. You'll still see that in some of the more horrific scenes in the world these days. This was the death of the Kingdom of Israel. Now, of course, the kingdom was split this time. There's the South and the North, but they're brethren. It's what happened during the Civil War in the 1860s here. They were literally brothers against brothers, blood relatives fighting one another. They loved each other, but it was a war and it was terrible. In this case, there's not a war going on between the two. In this case, the North and the South are being invaded by Assyria. And the kingdom of Israel would never rise again. And it won't rise again until Jesus the Messiah returns to reign, you know that? Since the north was taken away, 700s, by 586 the south is totally done and gone to Babylon. That's the book of Daniel, Daniel and the lion's den, all that took place during that, after the south was taken away. From that point on, no king. When Jesus came, 500 some years later, almost 600 years later, no king. There hasn't been a king and there won't be a king until the coronation of King Jesus. Something to look forward to. That's all about the Christmas story that's left out a lot of times. Let's look at Luke chapter one. In verses 30 through 33. And it's just one of the main points of the coming of Jesus Christ. is that he is going to be the next king of Israel, literally sitting on a throne. Luke chapter one, verse 30 says, and the angel said unto her, fear not Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. Mary is a woman of favor. She's not to be prayed to, she's not to be worshiped. But she is to be loved and appreciated. She's blessed among women. Thou hast found favor with God. So don't go too far one way or the other. Some people go too far and worship Mary, others go too far and just totally ignore her. I can't wait to meet Mary after I meet her son. See, got your priorities right, amen? Verse 31, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shall bring forth, I'm sorry, and bring forth a son and shalt call his name, what? Then read 32 with me. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Read 33 too. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. That's not to be taken metaphorically. That's not to be spiritualized. That is just as surely as Jesus was born and was named Jesus literally. Was he not? Why wouldn't the rest be literal? He was born just like it said. He was named Jesus just like it says. He is going to rule and reign. He's going to be the next king. After all this we're reading about in Micah. So keep that in mind, it can get a little dark and heavy at times when you're reading these prophets. But keep that in mind, this is all going to end well. When God's plan unfolds. Yes, we've read the back of the book. But in Micah's lifetime, utter destruction and death of a huge number of his countrymen. And he knew that. And that's something that most of the people we know who have gone through something like that have passed on. My grandpas, Harold and Norman, called Harold Miller and Norman, they called Cotton. He was originally from Georgia. And they both fought in a war where millions of people died and they lost friends back from home. They lost friends that they made in the military. Can you imagine? I mean, have you ever just sat and thought about what that'd be like? We've seen conflict. The Operation Desert Storm in the 90s, the War on Terror, what went on in Afghanistan, Iraq, and I had a couple of buddies die. Then go back to Vietnam, Korea, bad enough, bad enough as, you know, what was it, Vietnam was 50,000? 58,000. But then how many were in World War I or World War II? I mean, it was just amazing. And even small towns, just seemed like every few weeks somebody else was being reported deceased or missing in action and everything. Oh, and Iraq or the war on terror, yeah. But what Micah is going to go through is going to be, I guess you'd say like a per capita base, worse than World War I or World War II. The slaughter is unbearably difficult to read about. when you read the accounts. And he knows it, he's a prophet, he's been told all this. So look at verse nine, for her wound is incurable, for it has come unto Judah. So it's not just the Northern Kingdom, the South is gonna be invaded by Assyria. Now they won't be taken away by Assyria, but they do suffer losses, and it gets pretty... It's pretty scary there for a while. We don't have time to go back and read it, but about Sennacherib and everything that happened, they were saved by a miracle of God. He says, he has come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. That's something no Americans really felt since the Civil War. Having the enemy at the edge of town. I mean, think of that. You imagine, you see that, hear the bombs and everything, what's going on in Gaza right now. I don't like war and I hope Israel is able to end this ASAP. And I can't imagine, especially what these innocent kids are going through. But you don't blame Israel, you blame who caused it, Hamas.