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Plymouth-Sorrento SDA Church

Ralph Henderson

Right Before Our Very Eyes

The magician stood before the audience and he took off his tall black hat.

And he held the hat out for everyone to see, and he was making sure everyone knew there was nothing in the hat.

And then he took a quarter out of his pocket, And he held the shiny quarter out and he said, I'm going to take this shiny quarter and I'm going to stick it into my hat and pull out a rabbit.

And no sooner did he stick that quarter into his hat, than he pulled out a rabbit right before their very eyes.

Now the audience stood and watched in amazement, but the simple reality is there was no magic involved.

And when you talk to those who practice the art of illusion, they will tell you that the idea is to keep your attention focused somewhere else so you don't actually see what's taking place right before your very eyes.

My brothers and sisters, we are living in the very final moments of earth's history.

As every day goes by, I am more and more convinced, but to the regular world, to those who are out there and being distracted by all the events of the world, Jesus' coming is about to happen right before their very eyes.

And when they finally realize it, it will be too late.

There are many things that are taking place and every day as I look at the news, every day as I look at the world around me, every day as I get on the internet and I read this or that about different things, there are events taking place in the world that make it very clear that time cannot last much longer.

But there are also events taking place in our church to help us understand that we are coming very near to the end of time.

This morning I want us to remember that we are in a great controversy, a great conflict, a war, and remember the devil is at war with God and his sole purpose is to get to God in any way that he can.

And if he has to, that will be done by going through his children, his church.

I want you this morning to just do a little rehearsing with me.

I know that we all know these verses very well, but some may not.

And I want to make sure that we all understand what's taking place and how it began.

So I want you to go to a very familiar verse in Isaiah chapter 14.

Isaiah chapter 14 where we see the fall of Lucifer.

In Isaiah 14 we all know very well, we've read it many many times, but I want us to see the progression of what took place because remember as we heard just now The Word of God and looking to Jesus is truly the key to the kingdom.

So Isaiah chapter 14 beginning in verse 12 it says how art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations for thou has said in thine heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will be like the Most High." Now Lucifer had a plan.

Lucifer didn't just want to be someone high in the courts of God.

And from the very beginning of his fall on down through the course of history we see how the devil is constantly trying to alter God's plan of redemption for man.

We see how he's trying to constantly alter the things that God has laid out so that man may be able to find the way to salvation.

I want you to go now to Revelation chapter 12 where the story gets a little more in depth.

Revelation chapter 12 we see a little bit more of what took place, where we actually are reminded that we are in a war.

Revelation chapter 12, and we're going to begin in verse 7.

Revelation chapter 12, beginning in verse 7.

And there was war in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels.

And prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil.

And Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death.

Therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them.

Woe to the inhabitors of the earth and of the sea for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

And when the dragon saw that he was cast out into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child." And as that progressed on down through time in verse 17, we see that the Bible says, the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

We know that the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy Revelation 19 10 and we know that Revelation 14 12 tells us that those saints that remnant that persecuted church is going to have the patience of Jesus Christ the patience of the Saints They will keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.

So you see, since the devil was cast out of heaven, he has been at war, not only with God, but with his church.

And the Bible tells us that he was wroth with the woman and the woman in Bible prophecy represents what?

We know that very clearly Jeremiah 6 chapter 2 and 2nd Corinthians 11 to if you want to take notes Jeremiah 6 2 and 2nd Corinthians 11 to we are told that a woman in Bible prophecy represents the church.

And remember the devil claims to be the ruler of this world.

His battle plan is to steal souls from the kingdom of heaven wherever they may be.

And I came across something just the other day.

I was hoping that I could show it to you, but since we don't have internet, I can't pull down a video from YouTube.

So I'm gonna read the words of Paul Harvey.

Paul Harvey wrote this and shared it the first time on October 13, 1964.

He says, if I were the prince of darkness, I would want to engulf the whole earth in darkness.

I'd have a third of its real estate and 4 fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, thee.

Should I, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States.

I would begin with a campaign of whispers.

With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, do as you please.

To the young I would whisper the Bible is a myth I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around I would confide that what is bad is good and what is good is square in The years of the young married I would whisper that work is debasing The cocktail parties are good for you.

I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct.

And the old I would teach to pray, to say after me, our father which art in Washington.

I'd educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting.

I'd threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa.

I'd infiltrate unions and urge more loafing, less work.

I'd sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction, and I'd tranquilize the rest with pills.

If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but to neglect discipline emotions.

I'd designate an atheist to front for me before the highest courts, and I'd get preachers to say she's right.

With flattery and promises of power, I would get the courts to vote against God and in favor of pornography.

Thus, I would evict God from the courthouse and then from the schoolhouse and then from the house of Congress.

Then in his own churches I'd substitute psychology for religion and defy science.

If I were Satan I'd make the symbol of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

If I were the devil I'd take from those who have and give to those who wanted until I had killed the incentive and the ambitious.

Then my police state would force everybody back to work.

Then I would separate families putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave labor camps.

If I were Satan, I would just keep doing what I'm doing.

Now my brothers and sisters, God loves his church.

And he will not stand idly by and watch the devil try to destroy his bride.

In Testimonies to Ministers, page 15, we are told that the church of Christ, enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth on which He bestows His supreme regard.

Today as we begin, there are 2 things that I want you to consider for yourselves.

First, we talked about this in prayer meeting the other night.

Your concept of God will have a great effect on your beliefs and ultimately your character.

Remember in prayer meeting as we talked about how the Sadducees responded to the truth that Jesus brought them.

And I want to share with you just a thought from Desire of Ages, page 604.

It says that their ideas of God molded their own character.

As in their view, he had no interest in man, so they had little regard for 1 another.

Refusing to acknowledge the influence of the Holy Spirit upon human action, they lacked His power in their lives.

Isn't it interesting this morning, Barry's emphasis in our lesson was about the Holy Spirit working in each 1 of us.

Secondly, this morning, I want you to know for sure that what you believe about the Word of God will have a major Impact on where you stand at the end of time There are 3 different views that I want you to consider this morning The first 1 says that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and is an unchanging as his character.

It is as relevant today as when it was written.

Time nor culture have changed its meaning.

The Bible, number 2, the Bible was written for people of that era and applicable for the culture of that day.

And the third view, the Bible gives us principles and we are to interpret those principles according to our time and our culture.

Now brothers and sisters, I understand that there are things in the Bible that we take literally, there are things that are symbolic, but we need to understand that the Bible is as relevant today as it was when it was written.

And God's Word is as unchanging as His character.

And what we see taking place in our church today, in the Christian churches of the world, we are starting to find that The church has begun to think that it can change and manipulate the Word of God to fit the circumstance or the season.

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Right Before Our Very Eyes

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