(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

okay I'm excited to be here once again you guys are stuck with me tonight and for that I apologize but not really I'm just kidding that's a blessing to be here I'm happy to be able to be here especially tonight again with with whole fast Baptist Church you guys got a great church here and let me just give you one word of advice before I leave okay and this is nothing has nothing to do with a sermon but if there's one thing I can leave you with other than what I'm gonna preach tonight is this do not take this church for granted do not take this church for granted it's easy you know in the day and age in which we live to just kind of expect that we have the things that we have and you know the blessings that God has given to us but you know all of it can easily be taken away from us at a moment's notice and so make sure you thank your pastor make sure you show him gratitude make sure you thank God that you have a local New Testament Church there's a lot of people out there in this world that would give their right arm to be where you're at today and so make sure you thank God for that and and never take this church for granted never take the preaching of God's Word for granted never take the fact that you have a local New Testament Church that not only preaches the gospel week in and week out but also you know preaches the Word of God and and it's constantly helping you to mature in the Lord never take that for granted now with that being said I want to thank Pastor Pozarnska once again for the invitation thank his family and thank you brother Garrett for giving me a ride to and from church he he wears a lot of hats in this church I noticed he does the media he sings the songs he also reads the scriptures and apparently he's a cook too he's gonna be grilling the burgers is that correct I don't know if you're I don't know if he does all those things like greatly I mean you know with with with you know 100% accuracy but yeah at least he does them so I guess we'll see how you make those burgers tonight but you got yourself a profitable servant right there he's doing a great job and of course your daughter does a great job in the piano and I really thank God for this church let's get right into the sermon tonight look at second Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse number 3 it says here let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except to come a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God and the title my sermon this evening is reasons why we're not in the tribulation reasons why we are not in the tribulation now you see that seems kind of silly to even have to preach something like this and honestly you know what as I was preparing the sermon I was thinking why am I preaching the sermon this is kind of like something that we already know in churches but you know what we're living in a world that's so crazy and so filled with so much misinformation and so much deceit and so much fear mongering is taking place in our nation today that a lot of Christians have just bit into a lot of lies bit into a lot of heresy and they're allowing the fear mongers of this world to cause them to think that believe it or not we're in the tribulation right now and you know the mark of the beast is being rolled down and the Antichrist is already here in power and all these things but I'm here to tell you that we're not there yet now let me just by way of introduction let me say a couple things first first and foremost we obviously understand it you know we as pastors and as churches as Christians especially in the new IFP we spent a lot of time trying to convince Christians that the rapture isn't imminent right I mean we fought that battle for years you know against even our independent fundamental Baptist brethren trying to teach people hey you know the time of the day of Christ is not in hand Jesus Christ is not gonna come at any moment not even at the end of this service you'll hear a lot of pastors say you know you can come at any moment even at the end of the service and and you know he's not gonna come tomorrow he's not gonna come next week he's not gonna even come at the end of this year you know if anything he might come at the end of three years three and a half years but for sure it's not nowhere anywhere near close as in tomorrow today next week and in fact in this very chapter it says in verse number one the Apostle Paul writing here of course we know that he is inspired by God to write these words he says now we beseech your brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him now the word rapture is not found in the Bible it's a word that we use to describe a biblical doctrine knowing as the gathering together it's God it's when Jesus Christ comes and he gathers together his elect to come to heaven and this is what he's talking about he's about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ by that our gathering together unto him he says in verse number two that ye be not soon shaken in mind now what does it mean to be shaken in mind well a modern way of saying this would be kind of anxious afraid you know kind of worried shaken in mind meaning like what's gonna happen he says don't be soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word listen to this nor by a letter from us as that today of Christ is at hand he's saying look if you get a letter from someone saying that they're the Apostle Paul and they're telling you that the rapture is gonna happen at any moment that Jesus Christ is coming is at hand he says don't listen to them because of the fact that you know that's not me that's not what's gonna happen and he goes on to say let no man deceive you by any means by letter by sermon by word by spirit he says for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and a man of sin be revealed so we've spent a lot of time trying to teach independent fundamental Baptist we've spent a lot of time teaching other Christians of other denominations that the second coming of Christ known as the rapture it's not gonna happen tomorrow there's actually a couple events that have to take place prior to him coming right and this is very important because you know the pre-tribulation rapture is a doctrine that has infiltrated churches for many years through the false teaching of dispensationalism through the teaching of John Nelson Darby CI Schofield and even in Baptist circles a man by the name of Peter Ruckman has embedded this false doctrine that Jesus Christ can just come at any moment okay and the problem with this is that the Bible actually teaches is that the Antichrist can't come at any moment you see that the the coming of Jesus Christ isn't imminent it's the coming of the Antichrist that is imminent he can come at any moment he could be born at any moment he could be in this world at any moment and if people are constantly teaching others hey Jesus is gonna show up at any moment but then the Antichrist shows up who do you think modern Christians are gonna accept as the Savior the Antichrist not Jesus Christ right and we spend time explaining that to people we go to Matthew chapter 24 where the Bible tells us in verse 29 that immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the Sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and we explained to them that it's at that point that he shall send forth his angels to gather together his elect we say that's the rapture you know and it comes after the tribulation in other words there's all these events all these cataclysmic global events that are gonna take place before Jesus returns and raptures all believers to be with him for all of eternity and you know we fought that battle we're constantly telling people it's not pre-trib it's a post-trib pre-rath rapture and you know what thank God that a lot of people have been reached through that doctrine you know and thank God for that doctrine thank God for what the Bible teaches about it because it's opened a lot of Christians to the idea of being able to study the book of Revelation themselves you know the pre-trib rapture dispensationalism has discouraged a lot of believers from ever going to the book of Revelation they're like oh man it's too complicated I can't understand it there's so much symbolism there's so much craziness in that book I can't really understand it especially if you have the pre-trib rapture in your mind you can't fit it into the book of Revelation because it doesn't exist whereas if you know what the Bible says and how it teaches a post-trib pre-rath rapture that Jesus Christ comes after the tribulation when you read the book of Revelation it's like oh it all makes sense now I'm not afraid to read this book it makes perfect sense this is what the Bible says and we have constantly fought that battle and you know it got to a point even in fundamental Baptist churches where individuals were just not allowed in their congregation if they believe this doctrine you know if they believe that Jesus Christ came after the tribulation it was a point of contention with a lot of pastors I mean people were getting kicked out of churches they were being removed they were being ostracized and black blackballed and and just you know deemed as heretics for believing that Jesus Christ came after the tribulation even though the Bible clearly says that he does right and it's not just one passage we know that it's in Matthew 24 you find that a mark 13 Luke 21 Revelation 6 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and all these passages they line up and show us that there's a lot of stuff that's gonna take place prior to the rapture prior to when Jesus Christ comes and gathers together his elect so that's a battle that we fought but here's the thing though is that now it seems as though we have to warn people from swinging to extreme in the other direction right we've been telling people hey the second coming of Christ the rapture is not at hand he's not gonna come tomorrow there's a couple things have to take place prior to that but now people have swung so far into the other to the opposite side of that then now they're just like oh we're in the tribulation right now we're experiencing the events of the end times right now and you say you know where well I'm sure that's not being said in a local New Testament church such as this one right here because you have a pastor who preaches sound doctrine and you know he knows what the Bible says he teaches you what the Word of God says but you know there's people out there in Christianity maybe even sometimes even in fundamental Baptist churches that they watch every YouTube video that exists on the subject they listen to every conspiracy theorist they listen to every single guy out there that has an opinion on the Bible and they're constantly listening to these people who are teaching this false doctrine that we are currently in the tribulation but honestly what it is is just fear mongering okay I mean people literally think that we are currently experiencing the tribulation I've heard said that the coronavirus is proof that we're in the tribulation you know this pandemic is the fourth seal because all these people are dying and you know the coronavirus is you know the Bible talks about famines and pestilences and death on a massive scale and this is the mark of the tribulation I had someone come to me and say you know hey pastor me yeah you know corona virus corona means crown a crown is given unto him he's going forth conquering into conquer he has a crown corona virus and it's just like what in the world are you talking about the vaccine is the mark of the beast how many you've ever heard something like that before raise your hand if you've heard that the vaccine the coronavirus vaccine is the mark of the beast I mean I've heard that so many times and I've been attacked on social media on YouTube and different platforms because I don't agree with that and people are say how can you say you're a heretic how can you say that the vaccine is not it's like if you don't believe the vaccine is the mark of the beast and you're pro vaccine or something you know this false left-right paradigm if you're not Democrat you must be a Republican if you're not Republican you're a Democrat well it's like if you don't believe the vaccine is the mark of the beast you must be pro vaccine or something but folks I'm neither okay and I think you could be against the vaccine and still not believe that it's the mark of the beast you know a new thing that I've heard is Emmanuel Macron the French president being the Antichrist I mean I've literally heard this multiple times and I don't even really care what goes on in France I mean do you you know I just don't really see the Antichrist coming from France you know what I mean France just doesn't really seem like that kind of place where the Antichrist would come from but you know those people that say Emmanuel Macron must be the Antichrist because Emmanuel means you know the Bible God with us and Macron means like mark you know like mark of the beast God with us mark of the beast it's him and I'm telling you people are like hey do you think this guy is like you know the Antichrist I'm like no he's like why well number one he's not a Jew and the Bible seems to indicate that the Antichrist will be a Jew okay but number two you know just you know Macron you know might mean mark but you know that's the French language it doesn't necessarily mean that he is the Antichrist okay you know you have people who are every time there's a blood moon they're like oh it's it's the end it's like there's a blood moon it's the end and you see on social media and Instagram and all these it's like the blood moon it's about to happen you have these Pentecostal charismatic types they see a blood moon is just like the end is near because the Sun shall be darkened and the moon shall be turned into blood before that great terrible day of the Lord but then what happens the day after the blood moon nothing absolutely nothing people go to work they just live their normal lives and they don't realize that there's always blood moons all the time okay here's a new one that I heard is and this is one that was brought to my attention and I just literally saw it this morning on social media is that the river Euphrates has been dried up and they're like oh we are so near the end the end is here the river Euphrates has been dried up now what they're referring to is that in Revelation I believe it's chapter 14 the Bible talks about the river Euphrates being dried up to make way for the kings of the north okay and it's it's a statement that you see in the Bible in the book of Revelation specifically but what that's referring to is the river Euphrates being dried up after the seven years that the Bible highlights when Jesus Christ comes the third time to fight against the Antichrist and set up his millennial reign so when he's about to fight against the Antichrist the river Euphrates is dried up the kings of the north come and then you have the Battle of Armageddon of what we see in Revelation chapter 19 so here's the problem if the river Euphrates is dried up right now we have a huge problem because that actually takes place at the end of the seven years before Jesus Christ sets up his millennial reign but here's the thing is that people they hear that on social media they hear that on the news they hear that on the History Channel or whatever they see it on the Discovery Channel the great river Euphrates is being dried up and they don't bother to actually go to the Bible to see if that's true if it even matches up with what the Bible says they just take it at face value it's like oh yeah we're dead tomorrow's the day we're all gonna you know the Antichrist is here but then nothing happens and I feel like going to every one of those people say what now what now nothing happened you know just because the river Euphrates is drying up doesn't mean anything because it might rain for 40 days and 40 nights and then the river Euphrates will be filled with water again people literally told me I remember them saying in 2020 this is the beginning of the tribulation and I told them I was like you know it's pretty bad in this world but I don't think this is the tribulation and they're like no for sure 2020 this is the tribulation okay all this craziness going on with coronavirus and then the vaccine you know this is the beginning of sorrows but you know here we are in 2022 and we haven't really seen everything that Matthew 24 or mark 13 Luke 21 have talked about and as far as I know it looks like even Joe Biden himself has said that coronavirus is not even a thing anymore he's kind of like yeah the pandemic's over you know everything's gonna go back to normal I mean even Canada has Canada's going back to normal I mean when you when you see Canada going back to normal that's how you know it's nowhere near the tribulation as of yet and they said you know 2020 has someone tell me yeah and three because you know if we're in the tribulation in 2020 that would mean 2023 is essentially the end of those three because the tribulation lasts for three and a half years okay it lasts for three and a half years and then the last 75 days of those three and a half years is what's called great tribulation which is when Jesus Christ comes but you know we're here in church today in 2022 listening to preaching no one is kicking down the door is trying to force you to take the mark of the beast or trying to slay you for being a Christian it's not happening but what is that you know I'll tell you what it is it's people out there who are seeking to fear monger and and teach this crazy nonsense that we are supposedly in the tribulation now let me just say this is that I do believe we're living in the last days okay you know even the Bible says go with me if you want to second Timothy chapter 3 if you would second Timothy chapter 3 you know we're obviously living in the last days we're living in the end times and the reason I say that is because the Bible 2,000 years ago called those days the end times it called those days the last days okay and in fact let me read to you from Hebrews chapter 1 verse number 1 it says God who at sundry times sundry times in diverse manners spake in times past into the fathers by the prophet hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he hath made the world so according to the Bible when Jesus Christ physically walked on this earth the Bible refers to that as the last days he goes on to say in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 26 for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world referring to Jesus but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself now did you hear that it says that when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross the Bible refers to that as the end of the world now why would it do that well because of the fact that to God a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day and when you think about it during Jesus time that was essentially the beginning of the end right that's the beginning of the end so if the Bible refers to Jesus day when he was here and when he was crucified as being the end of the world how much closer are we to the end of the world today two thousand years later right and in fact look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse number 1 it says here this note also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves now let me ask you a question are we living in those days today I mean when you go on social media I mean just the term selfie right and how many people take selfies and post selfies and there's just what lovers of their own selves he says for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy I mean would you say that describes in the day and age in which we live today of course people fit this description like a glove says the first three without natural affection truce breakers you know there's a time you know even 50 years ago where your word meant something you know you say you're gonna do it and that's all you needed was that person's word but now people's word doesn't mean anything at all they're truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce listen to this despisers of those that are good I mean if that doesn't describe 2022 I don't know what does where people just hate others for just being good people you can have innocent individuals walking down the street and then other individuals to come and just beat them up and just try to murder them and kill them just for being innocent bystanders they hate Christians first for traitors heady high-minded lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God now mind you this is referring to what the last days so if we're living in 2022 and we can look around in the world around us and see that our world fits this description that would mean that we're in the last days and you know the Bible talks about that in the last days it shall be like the days of lots right well all the sodomy was taking place of course Sodom and Gomorrah was a place where all this filth and perversion with all this abominable acts were taking place and it was such a wicked and vile city that God had to rain down fire and God had to intervene himself literally and rain down fire and brimstone upon a city because they're so wicked and vile and corrupt right and the Bible says at the end of days it will be like that well you know we're kind of living in those days now it's not as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah but it's pretty bad right now I'll be honest with you pastor Pazarski and I were just talking about California how much we love California and how California is just the best state in the world I mean I don't even know how other people can live in other states when you have California amen and you know people are often mock California and say oh man there's so many homos in California there's so many sodomites in California but you know he just told me that he's gone sowing multiple times and not even running or seen a homo and I'll be honest I mean I live in Anaheim California and obviously you know our church got bombed in Los Angeles but that's a different story but you know even there when we're in Anaheim we're knocking on doors we don't even see sodomites there I mean we went through gay pride month in the month of June and I went to a Starbucks to go get a coffee and Starbucks is some of the most homo friendly organizations out there they didn't even have a rainbow flag up when I was there you know but here's the thing the same can't be said of every single state in the United States there's a lot of sodomy in this country okay a lot of perversion a lot of filth and so that shows us that yeah we are kind of living in the last days we're nearing this period this time where Jesus is gonna come back where it's gonna culminate to the great tribulation it's gonna culminate to the beginning of sorrows it's gonna culminate and come to a head where these events are actually gonna take place now let me just say this is it why would people lie about being in the tribulation or about us being in tribulation in the end times how people do that you know are they misinformed maybe they just don't know the Bible like why would they do those things why would they make those videos and tell people hey the vaccine is the mark of the beast hey we're in the tribulation why would people do that well number one is that they do it for attention okay you know the Bible tells us that some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife there's literally people out there who if they know a video will get them a million views doesn't matter what it is or if it's accurate they'll put it out there they will make a video to get a million views even if it's biblically inaccurate only because they want the attention okay and a prime example of this is a guy by the name of Robert breaker he has predicted this the rapture so many times like every single year and of course every single year he's wrong but he doesn't mind putting that out there because he wants the attention you understand but you know that's wicked we shouldn't desire that we shouldn't want to put information out there that's not accurate that is not biblically sound just to get attention we want to put out there we want to put the truth out there we want to preach the Word of God with accuracy we want to preach the Word of God as it is in God's Word regardless of how many views it gets regardless of who listens to it or not you know but there's people out there who do it for attention but here's another reason why people have put out this misinformation about us being in the tribulation is that sometimes people actually relish in corrupting God's Word believe it or not there are wicked people out there who actually don't mind lying about the Bible now that might come as a surprise to you because you're thinking like how can people be this way well you know the Bible tells us that we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God and so the Apostle Paul said that there are many out there in this world who willingly want to corrupt God's Word and lie about the Bible and claim that these things are true but here's the main reason why I think people teach this stuff and that's and that's to subvert people from God's Word and prepare them for the Antichrist that's why I think that say wait people are teaching us that we're in the tribulation right now that the mark of the beast is here now that the Antichrist is reigning now that all these things are taking place now to prepare us for the Antichrist and to subvert people from the Word of God that doesn't make sense well think about this you know if they're constantly saying we're in the tribulation if they're constantly saying this is the mark of the beast if they're constantly saying hey Emmanuel this guy Emmanuel from France he's the Antichrist if they're constantly bringing up nonsense like that but nothing ever comes about it what is it gonna do it's gonna cause people to lose faith in the Bible it's gonna cause people to say these Christians are dumb these Christians these people are nuts they're constantly saying that we're in the tribulation they're constantly saying that the end of the world is next week they're constantly saying that the vaccine is the mark of the beast and that the Antichrist is here after a while that song can only be sung so many times before normal human beings are just gonna be like you know what that's why I don't read the Bible that's why I hate the Word of God that's why Christians are hypocrites that's why I don't want to become a Christian I don't want to go to church because they're always espousing these nonsensical ideas and conspiracy theories that never come to fruition. Now look folks when we look at God's Word we know that the tribulation is a legitimate thing a thing the Antichrist is a legitimate person as far as he's real we know that the mark of the beast will be a legitimate thing that is instituted but here's the thing is that if you're having all these false flags come up you know the boy who cried wolf always going out and saying that this is what's happening this is what's going on people are gonna lose faith and Christians are gonna lose faith in the Word of God and what's the result of that the result of it is when it actually happens they're not gonna believe it's end time stuff they're not gonna believe the Bible still when the tribulation is actually here and the Antichrist actually reveals himself they're gonna think oh he's just a political Savior he's here to help us you Christians have been wrong about tribulation and all this nonsense we're not gonna believe you because you've been saying that for years on end and it never happens and in fact go with me if you would to go to 2nd Peter chapter 3 go to 2nd Peter chapter 3 while you're turning I'm gonna reach you from Titus chapter 1 verse number 9 it says holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers specially they have the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they are not for the filthy lucre sake one of themselves even a prophet of their own said the Christians are always liars evil beasts slow bellies this witness is true wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith look at second Peter 3 in verse number 3 it says knowing this first that there shall come in the last day scoffers now what is a scoffer well another way a good way to remember what scoffer means is it rhymes with mocker and a mocker is someone who makes fun of something right and in context it's saying that in the last days there's gonna be people who make fun of the Bible okay walking after their own lust listen what it says in verse 4 and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation so it's gonna be people who are saying you've been saying Jesus can come back for how long and he's still not here everything continues as it was from the beginning of creation they're gonna mock and scoff at the Word of God because of it and it's because of people like this who just go too far on the left of the pendulum they swing so far to the opposite side then now they're just like we are in the tribulation this is the mark of the beast you know this is what's going on here now let me just say this is that I'm not saying the tribulation can happen next week next year or something like that because obviously it quite possibly could okay I'm not saying that this stuff can happen within our lifetime because I personally believe it probably will it might not but it probably will I don't know but what I'm saying is that at this exact moment we are not experiencing those things right now okay you said well how do you know well I'm gonna give you a couple reasons tonight as to why we're not in the tribulation and I'll be as quick as I possibly can cuz burgers await I'm just kidding you know Garrett's you know he's gonna cook some burgers I'm kind of curious to know how skills are like I'm just joking but I'm gonna give you some reasons why we are currently not in the tribulation today now it's gonna take you some some discipline to actually listen a little bit here cuz I'm gonna give you a lot of deep doctrine and we're gonna go to the book of Revelation and we're gonna study this out but I'm telling you this is beneficial it'll help you and it'll help you to answer a lot of these people cuz you're gonna get people at the door you're gonna have people who are gonna come to you and say hey did you know you know Emmanuel McCrone he's the real Antichrist and you don't want to be carried away with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceive you don't want to just give in to every conspiracy theorist that's out there and just believe every single thing that people tell you you don't want to be simple you know the Bible says that the simple passed on and are punished it's important that we learn God's Word and we know what the Bible says about these things so go to go with me if you went to Revelation chapter 6 Revelation chapter number 6 I'm gonna give you some basic things here probably some things you've already heard probably some things you've already learned but for me to write the same things unto you is not grievous but for you it is safe that's what the Bible tells us the Philippians chapter 3 verse 1 number 1 as to why we're not in the tribulation the events of the tribulation happen on a global scale okay so what do you mean by that well you know a lot of times these people who say we're in the tribulation they're referring to some isolated incident in like China or something where it doesn't affect us at all doesn't affect anybody at all other than that particular pocket of the world you understand whereas what we see in the tribulation or what the Bible refers to as the beginning of sorrows is actually something that takes place globally worldwide it affects everyone okay now you're in Revelation 6 I'm gonna reach you from Matthew 24 real quick to give us some context here he says in verse number 4 of Matthew 24 Jesus answered and said to them take heed that no man deceive you now that comes up quite often when he's talking about the end times which should kind of help us to realize oh it's probably gonna be a lot of deception going on in the end times right he says take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see they be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation Kingdom against Kingdom there should be famines pestilences earthquakes in diverse places that's what it says all these are the beginning of sorrows so those three years that we see in the Bible and specifically we're gonna look at in Revelation is actually referred to as the beginning of sorrows now why is it called the beginning of sorrows it's called the beginning of sorrows because it's something that actually affects not just Christians it affects unbelievers as well so everyone in this world is thrown into this period of time known as the beginning of sorrows it's not until the very end of that period of time that it becomes great tribulation not for unbelievers but for believers because it's at that time that Christians are killed for their faith they're persecuted etc whereas the beginning of sorrows is referring to that inception of tribulation for the entire world okay that means everyone is being affected by this now look at Revelation 6 and verse number 1 it says here and I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals and I heard as it were the noise of thunder one of the four beasts saying come and see and I saw and behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer now this is referring to the Antichrist and the reason we know it's the Antichrist is because he's trying to mimic and copy the Lord Jesus Christ because when you read Revelation 19 Jesus Christ when he's coming to set up his earthly kingdom also comes on a white horse he's coming to conquer he's going forth conquering to conquer in Revelation 19 that's when he sets up his millennial reign and that's when we just it's vacation for a thousand years for us it's like we ain't got to worry about taxes or people breaking into our houses or stealing things or bums rot walking in to your church building we don't worry about any of that so it's a time of perfect peace okay and so but hold on a second seven years prior to that the Antichrist comes on a white horse and guess what he's also coming to set up his own little kingdom so this is why we know the Antichrist a lot of people are gonna think he is Jesus Christ because he could easily point to the Bible and say oh no I'm coming to set up my millennial reign and people are gonna think it's Jesus Christ but it's actually the Antichrist who's coming on the scene he says in verse number two and I'd be and I saw him behold a white horse no let's skip down to verse three excuse me and when he had opened the second seal I heard the second be say come and see and there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth and that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword so this is referring to wars and rumors of wars now here's the thing is that there's always wars going on I mean you have what's called a military industrial complex and that machine can't stop it can't it needs to keep going and in order for it need to for it to keep going people are constantly feeding into it you know they got a constantly create wars right so there's always wars taking place there's always wars and rumors of wars so this could potentially refer to maybe even World War three some global war that's taking place here it says in verse number five and when he had opened the third see I heard the third be say come and see and I beheld a loa black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand and heard a voice in the midst of the four be say a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine now what is this for first is referring to famine now let me just take a break here and let you know that these aren't literal horses okay you know this is obviously symbolically representing specific events that are taking place in the end times and this black horse is pictures it pictures famine it pictures that there's a lack of food and inflation major inflation to the point where people are starving so well hold on so you said inflation didn't we just experience inflation now yeah but you know what no one's starving though and in fact we're gonna have burgers after the service right Garrett you know we're eating right after I mean we're I'm putting a lot of pressure on Garrett now you know to do this to make make it happen I'm just joking but you know we I'm sure all of us have eaten throughout this week none of us has starved none of us have gone without well this is referring to a lot of people starving during this time famine means there's a lack of food okay he says in verse number eight and I look and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was death and hell followed with him and power was given to him over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword with hunger with death and with the beast of the earth so it culminates to this pale horse that essentially just represents death and I think the reason it says that hell's following with him it's because it's it's essentially saying that the vast majority of people who are dying during this time are going to hell they're not saved they haven't believed on the Lord Jesus Christ because broad is the way to lead it to destruction and many there there be that go in there at you understand and so this pale horse represents death it represents pestilence it's a culmination of the Wars and the famines and the death that comes because of the pestilence is this is not referring to coronavirus okay so this is what's known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse now these four horsemen don't only affect Christians it affects everyone because here we see that hidden that sat on him was called death and hell followed with him obviously I'm referring to Christians because Christians don't go to hell you understand we have eternal life the Bible says that when we believe on Jesus Christ we're saved eternally it teaches us that we have everlasting life that we can never lose our salvation this is obviously referring to unbelievers now go to Revelation chapter 12 Revelation chapter 12 if you would Revelation chapter 12 now if there's one chapter in the book of Revelation that's probably one of the most cryptic chapters in this particular book it's chapter 12 okay a lot of symbology a lot of just different pictures that you see on there and it can confuse you if you don't necessarily know the timeline of what's taking place in the end times but here in Revelation 12 John sees this vision and what this vision represents is what's gonna take place in the end times what this what we know as the beginning of sorrows he says in verse number one and there appeared a great wonder in heaven a woman clothed with the Sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars and she being with child cried travailing in birth and pain to be delivered and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head and his tail drew the third part of the stars from heaven of heaven and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born now when you read that you think yourself okay this woman sounds like it could be referring to Mary because she gave birth to Jesus Christ but what it says in verse number six it says and the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days now Mary didn't physically do that and so it would reason that this is actually referring to Eve okay this is describing Eve because Eve as the Bible calls her is the mother of all living you understand and it's through Eve that we're here but it's also through Eve that Jesus Christ was born as well you know Mary came through Eve Mary bore Jesus Christ and so it would we can see that this could be referring to Eve because it says that the woman goes into the wilderness and it gives us an amount of time that she stays in the wilderness it says she's there for a thousand two hundred and three score days that's referring to a thousand two hundred and sixty days okay now obviously it's not referring to literal Eve because Eve died a really long time ago okay this is representing all of mankind and the reason we know that it's representing all of mankind during this time it's because of the fact that the woman is in the wilderness which represents tribulation in the Bible the woman is in that wilderness for a thousand two hundred and sixty days well it just so happens that the beginning of sorrows the four horsemen that we just looked at that period of time lasts for a thousand two hundred and sixty days and in fact 75 days after the thousand two hundred sixty days you have great tribulation and at the end of those 75 days you have the rapture taking place I don't want to bore you with all this information but let me just let you know right now that in Daniel chapter 12 the Lord tells Daniel blessed is he that coming to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days in other words he's saying whoever makes it to the last of those thousand three hundred and thirty five days shall be blessed now why did he say that he's saying that because at the end of those days is when Jesus Christ returns so if someone is able to survive the four horsemen of the apocalypse the great tribulation and they're able to make it to the thousand three hundred thirty fifth day then they experience the rapture they see Jesus Christ coming in the clouds now how wonderful would that be right to be able to suffer all that persecution and tribulation and then you're there and you actually see Jesus Christ with your own eyes coming in the clouds and then you know the dead in Christ shall rise first that's gonna be a crazy sight you know all these bodies coming up out of the grave of saved believers from you know thousands of years I mean you might just die looking at that just out of a heart attack probably but if you even survive that side then you start floating off the ground and you you get rapture yourself cuz the Bible says that the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them together in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord so he says that whoever makes it to the thousand three hundred thirty fifth day is blessed well if you have a thousand two hundred and sixty days you have 75 days missing there that means 75 it's 75 days of persecution and great tribulation this is how we know that the thousand two hundred sixty days is something that the entire world experiences so because Eve is referred to as the mother of all living we know that essentially the entire world goes into this chaotic state known as the beginning of sorrows where they experience wars rumors of wars famines pestilences earthquakes death on a massive scale you understand he said what's the point you're trying to make cuz you already lost me with all those numbers and thousand this and one thousand this and one thousand that what I'm trying to say is this is that none of that has happened yet I mean we're here right now listening to preaching we're waiting on those burgers and just a bit we haven't experienced wars and rumors of wars we have not experienced fan massive scale where a measure of wheat is for a penny three measures of barley for a penny there hasn't been pestilences we've had coronavirus but you know what that's came and gone and if the coronavirus was the four horsemen of the apocalypse guess what the fifth seal we would have already been in it and if we're in the fifth seal then we're in trouble because the fifth seals when we you and I die it's when they start killing Christians for our faith you understand so this is how we know that we are not in the tribulation at this moment don't let people come to you and say hey we're in the fourth seal hey we're in the third seal hey we're in the first seal hey we're in the second seal hey you know most of the time they get their stuff all mixed up they don't even know what they're talking about and you know what they're doing they're hoping listen to this they hope that you have no idea what the Bible truly says they hope that you'll just take their word for it and just believe them and just hit that hit the like button and write a comment praise the Lord brother I'll be praying for us during this tribulation and that you hit the subscribe button you follow them and they hope that you never crack open this book to actually see the truth for yourself well folks we just saw all this crazy stuff that's gonna happen during the tribulation where all the entire world is dying I mean people are suffering majorly and look when didn't you agree that there's a lot of people suffering today absolutely but you're not not on a global scale there's plenty of people in the United States of America that have it pretty good I mean we're I don't know of any churches on Sunday morning who have suffered persecution going out soul-winning and are being put to death have you and I remember I got someone contacted me on social media and they told me you're a heretic you are a false prophet because we are in the tribulation I said where are Christians dying he said in China I'm like well you know I feel bad for those Christians but you know it's not a global thing though and according to the Bible it's global so if the tribulation is not global yet then yeah you might be suffering through tribulation like anybody suffers tribulation but it's not the tribulation okay go to Revelation chapter 13 Revelation chapter 13 reasons were not in the tribulation number one the events of the tribulation happen on a global scale and it's not taking place right now now again let me just give you this disclaimer that this sermon can be taken down within the next year or so if it does happen it's just like well this isn't relevant anymore like this did not age well or whatever and take it down because we're in the tribulation I'm saying at this particular moment right now okay number two number two reason why we're not in the tribulation listen to this the abomination of desolation has not been set up okay this is how we know we are not in the tribulation now God is so wonderful that he will give us a phrase that we can easily remember by causing the words to rhyme abomination of desolation I mean that's a pretty easy phrase to remember and I think it's one of the reasons why is because it's such an important event in end times prophecy and in fact you know when people tell me like how do you know when the tribulation is when you know for sure that we're in the tribulation and I tell them this the smoking gun of the tribulation is the abomination of desolation okay what is that well let me explain a couple things before we get into Revelation 13 okay first and foremost we saw that the Antichrist comes on the scene in the very beginning but here's the thing is that we don't really know it's him as of yet because it doesn't really tell us that he kind of reveals himself as of yet so he's kind of working in the in the you know back of the and in the scenes he's working in the darkness people don't really know who he is as of yet okay and the Bible would imply that he's potentially ruling with like a coalition of kings there's like a like a like a board of kings that are actually ruling at the same time so when you look at if you're to look at ten kings and you're gonna say one of these guys is the Antichrist you wouldn't be able to tell who it is because there's ten of them unless of course one of them dies and comes back to life which is exactly what happens to the Antichrist okay look at verse number one of Revelation 13 it says and I stood upon the sand of the sea this is John speaking here and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy this is obviously a satanic organization right this is what the Bible this is what we would refer to as the New World Order so this beast represents this New World Order that's gonna be run by the Antichrist himself verse two and the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear and his mouth as the mouth of a lion and the dragon referring to Satan gave him his power and his seat and great authority so it's referring to a man who is essentially being helped and supported by Satan himself Satan is giving him you know authority he's giving him power he's giving him his position of power and the government says in verse number three and I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast so this is saying that this particular person actually receives a wound to the head he dies because a deadly wound is a wound that makes you dead right a deadly wound to the head he dies but then it says that his deadly wound is healed and then all the world wonders after the beast why are they wondering because they're like wow this guy came back to life this guy died some sniper took him out or something we don't know exactly how but he dies and he comes back to life you said why is that important well think about this if the Antichrist is trying to mimic Jesus Christ he's gonna try to do exactly what Jesus did what did Jesus do he died three days later what did he do he resurrected from the grave right and when people saw the resurrected Christ many believed on him they knew that he was the Christ you know Thomas he said you know unless I touches his his wounds and his hands and on his side I will not believe and then you know Jesus came he said be not faithless but believe in he touched the side and he believed well you know the Antichrist who someone's coming in the place of Christ is gonna seek to do the same thing he's gonna receive a deadly wound to the head he's gonna die and you know what I would speculate that he part he's probably gonna be dead for what three days just to mimic the just to mimic Jesus Christ and on the third day the Bible says that Satan possesses his body and he comes back to life at which point the world will wonder after the Beast okay he says in verse number four and they worship the dragon which gave the power to the Beast and they worshiped the Beast saying who is like unto the Beast and who was able to make war with him and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months now let me ask you something you know is the world wondering after any world leader right now is there any world leader I mean obviously people are wondering at Biden but it's not because they think he's just a powerful leader they're wondering like how is this guy even the president that's what they're wondering about they're looking at Biden they're just wondering like how did this guy even get his driver's license you know how did this guy even survive to this point he can't even formulate a sentence you know the wonder that people have towards towards Biden is not the same wonder that people are gonna have towards the Antichrist the one that the world's gonna have towards the Antichrist is who is able to defeat this guy if he can't be killed if he dies and he's coming back to life he's been dead for three days and he comes back to life you know they're gonna say oh this must be what God this must be the Lord Jesus Christ because he died it was buried he resurrected this is the promise that people have been saying he is the Savior okay this political leader we're always looking for a political Savior the world's always looking for a political Savior well this guy's like the culmination of that you know that that vision that people have of a political Savior but it says that he continues 40 in two months okay which would indicate that essentially he's gonna rule for three and a half years because 40 in two months is three and a half years essentially marking the the completion of those seven years where Jesus Christ comes and he sets up his millennial reign okay now look at verse number 11 verse number 11 he said well but you forgot to mention the abomination of desolation well here's the thing is that when the Antichrist comes back to life okay and people were like whoa you know this is the man he decides to set up an image or he has a false prophet that makes an image of the Antichrist and that the world should wonder they should worship the Beast through this image this idolatrous blasphemous image look what it says in verse number 11 and I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon so do you when you think of a lamb you don't really think of a false prophet right you think of a lamb you think of Jesus Christ you know the Lamb of God should take away the sins of the world the difference is is that he looks like a lamb but he speaks like a devil so this is referring to the false prophet who is testifying of the Antichrist okay so this guy comes on the scene look at verse 12 he says and he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and cause that the earth and then which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed and you do with great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men so to kind of validate who he is he's given this ability to actually call down fire from heaven now think about this I mean people will just believe anything nowadays right you tell them anything they'll believe it our society is pretty dumb they're willing to accept a whole lot of nonsense now think about when a guy actually calls down fire from heaven that means the whole world will buy into whatever that guy says if he's able to exercise the ability the supernatural ability to call down fire from heaven I mean that's a pretty crazy ability miracle to do wonder it's going to cause men to believe him okay he says in verse 14 and deceive it then that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many would not worship the image of the beast should be killed so this false prophet constructs this massive image of the antichrist and he tells everyone worship this image and anybody christians who choose not to worship the image of the beast is like okay not a problem you just die and then that's when martyrdom takes place now this is what the bible refers to as the abomination of desolation this image that is set up for the antichrist is referred to the abomination of desolation you don't have to turn there but i'm gonna read to you from matthew 24 verse 15 jesus says this when ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by dander the prophet stand in the holy place who so read it let him understand then let them which be in judea flee into the mountains let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes what is he saying once you see this massive image pop up that the that the false prophet sets up for the antichrist you know he says to everyone run now it's time to run now it's time to flee because now they're going to be coming for your head so how do we know that we're not currently in the tribulation right now well i'm looking at this there's no abomination of desolation out there and none of us are running from the antichrist right now none of us are running from the image of the beast there's no pope or false prophet out there that's telling you worship this image now there will be one day there will be a false prophet possibly the pope possibly some charismatic leader religious leader who looks like a christian but speaks as a dragon he speaks blasphemous things and he's going to construct this large image for people to worship now let me ask you a question when you're out there soul winning when you're out there from day to day has anybody asked you to worship an image of the beast that's about i don't know 10 stories high or so i don't think anybody of us have you know we've seen it in the bible and obviously you know i don't know if you've ever seen this but you know they they're trying to create these these large statues uh i forgot what it's called but there's these large uh statues that can actually interact with people in different parts of the united states and even in the uk and that's not the abomination of desolation but in my personal opinion they're doing that to kind of just prepare people to normalize when the when the official abomination of desolation is set up okay but even then that's not the abomination of desolation so how do we know we're not in the tribulation how do we know we're not near the second coming of christ i don't see an abomination of desolation do you i don't think so okay and by the way this is where when the abomination of this desolation is set up this is when the anti-christ goes into the third temple okay in jerusalem and the bible says that he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped so that he as god sitteth in the temple of god saying that he is god so it's at this point that the anti-christ says by the way i'm not just like a political savior i am god that's what he's going to say okay now obviously there's a lot of weirdos out there that claim to be jesus you know i've seen people in mexico that they claim to be jesus and you know you got this guy in russia or whatever claims to be jesus just weird people out there these and these cult compounds that claim to be the second coming of christ but no one takes those guys serious you know no one's flocking to their part of the world to worship them the bible indicates here that the entire world every kindred nation and tongue will worship this beast and when he proclaims himself to be god guess what no one's going to have a problem with it other than believers okay and so this is proof that we are not uh in the tribulation here's the here's another thing you're go back to revelation chapter six if you would revelation chapter six the sermon is called why we're not in the tribulation you know stop watching the news stop listening to these conspiracy theories on youtube or on social media you know read the bible yourself talk to your pastor listen to biblical preaching and don't allow yourself to be soon shaken in mind by letter by spirit or by word don't let people tell you hey this is happening right now because you know it instills fear in people who are just ignorant of the bible if you don't know the bible that stuff can scare you if you don't know what the word of god says about it it can take you off guard it can catch you off guard it can cause you to think man what's gonna happen but once you know what the bible says once you know what the timeline is when you hear something that sounds like well that's dumb we know that doesn't happen until x y and z takes place i know god's gonna take care of me i know he's gonna provide for me i know that he's gonna protect me i know that he's gonna be there for he'll never leave me nor forsake me and i have the bible to help me navigate through these difficult times you know we're not in the tribulation i'm just experiencing a tribulation okay here's the next one is that the mark of the beast has not been instituted okay okay now again the vaccine is not the mark of the beast a tattoo not the mark of the beast there's people out there that put 666 on their forehead 666 on their hand you know it's pretty dumb for them to do that still not the mark of the beast okay you say well how do you know those things are not the mark of the beast well you know there's a narrative that's being pushed especially in regards to vaccines and all that being the mark of the beast there's a narrative that will say well you know don't take the vaccine because if you do you're gonna damn yourself to hell or something okay now here's the thing is that i'm sure your pastor agrees with this you know we don't we're not for vaccines obviously it's not wise to take it it's detrimental to your body but let's say for whatever reason you decide to take the vaccine but you're saved guess what you stay saved you don't lose your salvation okay i mean it'll be like you drinking alcohol you're putting these toxins in your body but it doesn't mean you lose your salvation right it's like putting poison in your body but it does nothing to your soul if you're not dead which can kill the body but afterwards can do nothing but fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell you know once we're saved our soul is in the hand of the father jesus said i've given to them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand that's what the bible says that nothing can separate us from the love of god so yeah you can destroy your body with with bad eating with drugs and alcohol and vaccines not recommending for you to do so i'm just saying that people do those things but it doesn't do anything to their salvation okay but here's the thing is that people will say well this is the mark of the beast and you know if you take this you're not a good christian because you're taking the mark of the beast etc not true not true at all okay look at revelation chapter 6 verse number five now why is the mark of the beast instituted in the first place why does he want to institute that well look at verse five says when he had opened the third seal i heard the third beast say come and see and i behold the low black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand and i heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say a measure of wheat for a penny three measures of barley for a penny see thou hurt not the oil and the wine go back to revelation 13 and go to verse 16 so in revelation 6 we see that the black horse comes about and he represents famine inflation and guess what happens no one is able to buy food okay this is going to come a time when your credit card your debit card your cash will be no good it's not going to be worth anything okay because of this massive inflation that we're going to see in the end times and so much inflation that it's going to cost famine people are going to be dying of starvation and you know what people do some pretty extreme things when they're hungry like if they're hungry and they're starving people will go to some great lengths to get some food i mean when you study the word of god i just i was just reading in second kings how there was a famine and there are like women boiling their own children to eat them because they're starving i mean people do some pretty imagine unimaginable things when they're in a state of starvation well picture that worldwide okay so you have this famine taking place people are dying but then the antichrist comes and says you know what i got the answer we have to institute a new form of currency a one world currency that we can all use to get everything back to normal back on track we can buy food we can you know you can uh use your money to to purchase all the resources you need we just kind of need to reset the economy once again but we need to use we need to use this one world currency to do so okay and this is why the mark of the beast is even instituted as far as from a political standpoint it'll be essentially the the saving element of this world people are going to be like oh where's it at free money let's do it and they're going to say this you know hey it's nothing different than your apple pay you know i have apple pay by the way i like new world order technology it's very convenient and i'm saved and i will never go to hell so that's why i like it okay i could just eat right there and it doesn't affect me at all but you know obviously it leads to all that stuff but you know your phone you could just you didn't have to say especially now with the coronavirus they're just like oh everything's like touchless right you can go like this i can grab my watch and do this i mean they even have the technology now where they put the chip in your hand okay it's called amazon one believe it or not okay you know like one world government one world order one world financial system it's called amazon one you go to the grocery store the amazon grocery store you get all your groceries and you go you know you just pay with your hand just put the palm now that's not the mark of the beast that's the technology of the mark of the beast but that's not the mark of the beast you say why are they doing that because they want to get the population accustomed to that technology so when that this mark of the beast comes out they're like oh yeah we've been doing this for years and you weird christians out there said that amazon one was the mark of the beast and nothing ever happened here i am with this with this chip in my hand i'm not in hell i'm not a reprobate i'm not worshiping the devil nothing ever happened so just switch out this chip with this other chip from this guy who actually came back to life and he's not like you're jesus your jesus hasn't even come back our jesus is right here that's what they're going to say and so he's going to institute this mark of the beast now why is the antichrist enforcing this mark of the beast why is he introducing this to the population is it because he cares for the starving africans african children in africa is he is it because he cares for any starving person around the world no the reason he institutes the mark of the beast is not to feed the world listen to this he does it to find you that's the main reason he does it because a prerequisite to getting the mark of the beast is that you have to worship the beast well if you're a believer if you're a christian you can't worship the beast it's impossible for any safe person to worship satan even if you're starving even if you're starving you're just like you know you're you're just have no resources you can ever bring yourself to actually worship satan it's impossible for us to do because we have the spirit of god dwelling within us that's why but you know for the unbelievers out there or for the christians who think that they're saved but they're not because a lot of people like that right they claim they named the name of christ but they're not really saved you know to them it's going to be easy they're like oh this is god though and they'll take the mark of the beast now in revelation 13 it says that it's given unto the antichrist to make war with the saints and to overcome them so the reason why he wants to institute the mark of the beast is to filter out who the real christians are and that's going to be real easy for him to do because the way he's going to find them is who are the ones that can't take the mark bring me the people who cannot take the mark of the beast and they're going to round up the christians they're going to round up the actual saved people the believers of this world and they're going to put them to death that's what the bible tells us they're going to he's going to seek to persecute it's not because he's trying to feed the world after this cataclysmic you know chaotic time known as the beginning of sorrows where there's no food he's using that as a springboard to introduce the mark of the beast so that he can kill you and your family and all christians that's what the bible says and in fact in revelation chapter 12 it talks about satan being cast out of heaven and it says that he comes to the earth and he says that he has but a short time therefore he goes to make war with the seed of the woman referring to us okay now let me ask you a question has anybody seen a mark has anybody of you first of all taken any mark okay and if you did did you have to worship satan in order to do so first of all none of you i'm sure have taken a mark or something but let's just imagine for a second that you did i guarantee you didn't have to worship satan in order to get it well that's the prerequisite to get this mark of the beast so how do we know that we're not in the tribulation i'll tell you why the mark of the beast is not here amazon one is here tattoos are here that technology exists you have elon musk with his neuralink where he could put a chip inside your head and you can listen to your favorite playlist or whatever you know but that's not the mark of the beast okay this is how we know and lastly here's the last thing go to revelation chapter six revelation chapter six here's my last point and i'm done my last point is this is and i mentioned it throughout the sermon this is how we know we're not in the great tribulation this is how we know we're not in the tribulation period christians are not being martyred now have there been christians who have died throughout the world throughout the years absolutely i'm sure there's christians in in korea and in china believers who have died but we're talking about global persecution where christians even in the united states of america will be put to death because when the antichrist seeks to make war with the saints it's not like i'm going to leave the american christians alone i'm just going to leave the american christians alone i'm going to go for the african christians i'm going to go for the korean christians i'm going to go for the russian christians i'm going to go for you know the south american christians he just wants to go after every christian because to him nation doesn't matter it's the fact that they're a part of the nation of god they're believers they're children of god that's why he wants to kill them and so this is why we know we're not in the tribulation because if we were you and i would be hiding right now fleeing you know from the antichrist because we're on we're on the run from satan himself because he's trying to kill us look at revelation six and verse number nine says and when he had opened the fifth seal i saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held and they cried with the loud voice saying how long will lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them which dwell on the earth so during this time this is after the four horsemen of the apocalypse after the wars and rumors of wars the famines pestilences death on a massive scale the abomination of desolation has been set up the mark of the beast has been instituted uh the antichrist proclaims himself to be god then christians start dying for their faith this is how we know we're in the tribulation okay not because you stubbed your toe on your furniture or whatever you're having a tough time you're going through a difficult time you know we all go through tribulation jesus said in this world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer i've overcome the world but folks there's a far greater tribulation at hand that's gonna come one day but it's just not here as of yet now what's the real message that i want to get to across to you well obviously i want to let you know that we're not in the tribulation however please listen to this and i'm done and then we'll go do the burgers right i'm just kidding here's the one thing that you need to know okay you should rest easy knowing we're not in the tribulation right now but let me say this you better be enduring the tribulations that you're going through today because if you don't endure the tribulations of today you for sure won't endure this tribulation right here so if there's one application you can get from this it's this you know if all that information just bored you half to death if the numbers didn't didn't impress you at all well get this may this teach you that you be able to you better be able to endure the hardships of this world and the hardships that you're experiencing today the trials the difficulties the heartbreaks the emotional pain and heartaches and tribulation that you're going through today because my friend they are the precursor to the tribulation that we're going to see in the bible one day and if you if you're having a hard time being a christian during times like this when you're going through trivial personal tribulation you're not going to be able to survive this tribulation you know god gives us tests throughout our life and the reason he tests us throughout our life is so we can pass the next test he gives us hardships today so we can face the greater hardship tomorrow he gives us a trial and a tribulation today to make a strong enough spiritually to face that tribulation tomorrow you know it's one thing to know what the bible says about this tribulation it's another thing not to know the tribulation you're going to face tomorrow but being determined to endure it knowing full well that another one is coming in the future okay so my encouragement to you and hold fast baptist church is hold fast amen hold fast be strong unmovable make sure that you endure the temptations of this life don't let satan don't let persecution don't let heartache don't let trials don't let tribulations ever stop you from coming to this church amen don't let them stop you from sowing don't let them stop you from reading the bible don't let them stop you from serving god don't let them stop you from praying because one day you're going to need that endurance in the future it's not today but it will come one day let's pray you