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This is the Beginning of the End
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Life BPC, 10.30am Service, 16 Sep 2001)
Text: I Thess 5:1-15
Last Tuesday Sep 11, when New Yorkers were going
to office, there came out of the the blue a Boeing 767. It ploughed
into one of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre. A flying bomb
of such magnitude never dreamed of before brought death to hundreds
inside. No sooner had pandemonium broken out than a second plane hit
the Second Tower.
While this was taking place Death from another
plane struck the Pentagon Washington D.C. A fourth plane that had
tried to bomb the White House crashed in Pennsylvania because some
passengers heroically struggled with the hijackers and thwarted
their course.
All hell was let loose by about 20 suicide
bombers hijacking the four planes. They are identified with the
Osama bin Laden Satanic Group. The total count of the innocent dead
exceeds 5,000, including firefighters and policemen buried by
falling debris.
This unprecedented assault on America in time of
peace far exceeds the attack on Pearl Harbour. This attack on
America is the attack on peace-loving peoples of the whole world. It
has affected our nation insofar as all SIA flights into USA were
concerned. They were diverted to neighbouring countries, such as
Canada. Many were stranded. It is reported that our Church in
Vancouver gave shelter to some of the stranded.
All around the world condolence services for the
victims are held. This morning we want to remember the dead and pray
rather for the living loved ones and for God’s guidance to President
Bush as he faces a diabolical enemy.
As children of light, with almost every New
Testament book warning us of great evil that will come before Jesus
returns, especially the Book of Revelation, we are not surprised.
Further light shed on the present situation
comes from Israel. Israel says that Osama bin Laden is not alone in
perpetrating this devilish attack on America, but is closely linked
to Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Will this lead us into a WWIII?
Talking of WWIII, let us look back to WWI. It
lasted from 1914 to 1918. From the end of WWI to outbreak of WWII in
1939, there were only 21 years of phony peace. Since 1945, end of
WWII to the present, the world has gone on by God’s grace, 56 years.
That is a much longer break than the interval between WWI and WWII.
How this present state of war between USA and Osama and Afghanistan
his hiding place will end we don’t know. But if Iraq has come into
the picture, this is the beginning of the end.
Revelation 9:13-16 says, "And the sixth angel
sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar
which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the
trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river
Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for
an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third
part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two
hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them"
The River Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq
into the Persian Gulf, but particularly Iraq. The Gulf War that
broke out in Aug 1990 was only the precursor, instilling more hatred
into Saddam’s heart. Saddam Hussein, born in 1937 is only 64 years
now. Should WWIII break out in 2011 he would be 74, at the ripe age
of many presidents such as Ronald Reagan.
Rev 16:12-16 continues with what happens after
Chapter 9:13-16 which is the outbreak of WWIII (Walvoord of Dallas
Seminary believes this and I agree.) "And the sixth angel poured out
his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was
dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of
the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth
of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the
whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God
Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon."
Armageddon is the Greek spelling for the Hebrew,
Har Megiddo, meaning Hill of Slaughter. It is the plain between
Haifa and the Sea of Galilee, a battlefield from time immemorial. It
is through this plain that the enemy must pass as he comes south to
attack Jerusalem. From Iraq the kings of the East will advance to
Jerusalem via Armaggedon. As the battlefield will stretch from
Armageddon in the north to Eilat on the Red Sea in the south, a
distance of 200 miles that will flow with blood, Armageddon is none
other than the grand finale of WWIII ending in Jerusalem.
By then "the seventh angel poured out his vial
into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of
heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices,
and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such
as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake,
and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and
the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in
remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath" (Rev 16:17-19).
When God’s judgment comes to this wicked earth
through the pouring out of the vials, it will not be the collapse of
the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, but it will involve the
whole city. The cities of the nations will fall when God explodes
His E-bomb, Earthquakes in a chain reaction around the world. This
will topple New York, London, Paris, Rome, etc and more to the Far
East and Downunder in Australia. Singapore cannot escape!
We have just been shocked by the evil
perpetrated by Osama’s evil men. But the world will soon forget this
and continue to pursue its sinful pleasures. We who are God’s
children must shake ourselves out of our sleep to be ready to meet
the Lord when he comes. "For yourselves know perfectly that the day
of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." "Therefore let us
not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."
When the Lord comes to save us from this burning
earth, will you be caught up with Him to safety above the clouds?
Have you put on your space suit, the breastplate of faith and love:
and for an helmet, the hope of salvation? Are you zealous in His
service or are you lost in the world of sinful pleasure that leads
to death and hell?
As God’s children, let there be no backbiting
against one another. "See that none render evil for evil unto any
man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and
to all men" (I Thess 5:15).
Give respect to your pastor and elders, "to know
them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and
admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their
work’s sake" (I Thess 5:12,13).
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye
have no need that I write you. From the sudden destruction that has
descended on America when they say peace, it is as the Bible says,
one sign of the coming of the Lord. And this, to us who look for His
coming, we believe, "is the beginning of the end." Amen.
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