Did the gift of prophecy go extinct with the death of the last apostles or is God’s last day church to have a modern prophet in its midst? Listen to this lecture to find out more!

<p>Did the gift of prophecy go extinct with the death of the last apostles or is God’s last day church to have a modern prophet in its midst? Listen to this lecture to find out more!</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Amazing Facts

Prophecies of Hope

Lowell Hargreaves

26. Modern, Magic, Miracles, and the Occult

Our topic for tonight, Modern Magic, Miracles and the Occult.

On May 13, 1917, 3 children, Francisco Marto, age 9, his sister Jacinta Marto, age 7, and a friend of theirs, Lucia Santos, age 10, were tending sheep near the Portuguese village of Fatima at the place called the Cova da Ira.

Suddenly, they saw a flash of lightning, and a moment later, a beautiful shining woman appeared above a nearby oak tree.

Do not be afraid of me, said the shining lady.

Lucia asked the shining woman what she wanted.

The woman replied, I want you to return to this same spot on the thirteenth day of the month for the next 6 months, and then I will tell you who I am and what I want." The lady also asked the children if they would be willing to offer themselves to God to endure all the sufferings that He might wish to bring upon them in reparation for the countless sins by which He was offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners.

Now by the way, to make reparations for means to make payment for.

Jesus did, but the shining woman at Fatima is asking the children to pay, or at least partially pay, for sin.

Then said the shining lady, you will have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.

The children then saw rays of light beaming out of the lady's open hands.

The shining woman concluded her visit by admonishing the children to say the rosary every day to earn world peace and the end of the war, World War I.

When the children reported what they had seen to their parents, their parents and neighbors scoffed at the story, but they did allow the children to return the next month, July 13, out to the same spot, the Cova d'Ira, and a few curious adults went with them.

About 15 minutes after they had arrived out there, suddenly Lucy had pointed to the sky.

And sure enough, as the adults watched, the boughs of that oak tree bent down, although no human hands were touching them.

And at the conclusion of the encounter, the adults were convinced that the children had been conversing with none other than the Virgin Mary.

Word spread very rapidly throughout that area of Portugal.

So the next month, remember every month, first May 13, then June 13, now July 13, 5, 000 people went out to the Covadaira to see the Shining Lady.

This time, the Shining Woman shared a secret with the children and gave them strict instructions they were not to tell the secret to anyone.

By the way, if you'd like to know what the secret of Fatima is, you buy that CD, The Revelation of the 7 Last Kings, and You'll find out about the secret of Fatima.

She also promised that on October 13 of that year, she would work a miracle whereby all might see and believe.

Before we look at the miracle that happened at Fatima, Portugal back in October 13, 1917, Let's first establish a biblical foundation from which to view this topic of modern magic.

We are today seeing an overwhelming flood of supernatural events.

Miracles, miraculous healings, visions, apparitions of Mary and other saints, and the question is what does it all mean?

Could it be that the devil is masquerading himself in some of these apparitions, in some of these visions, in some of these miracles?

Are all miracles from God or can the devil also work miracles?

Is all healing from God or can the devil also heal?

When you study the Bible, you discover that there are 2 great supernatural forces at work in the world, and both are miracle-working.

God works miracles, but the devil can also work miracles.

God heals people, but the devil can also heal people.

God gives visions, but the devil can also give visions.

Took him up on the mountaintop, Matthew 4, gave him a vision of all the kingdoms of the earth with their glory.

So the devil can give visions, and the question for us tonight is, which of these 2 forces, God's power, devil's power, is behind the flood of supernatural events and phenomena that we're seeing in our world today.

Another question we're going to answer is how can we know whether a miracle is from God or the devil?

Are there counterfeit gifts of the Spirit?

2 Peter 2, verse 1 says, But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you." Prophets, teachers, those were gifts given to the church.

But here we have false prophets and false teachers, counterfeit gifts.

Apparently the devil has a counterfeit for every 1 of the true gifts of the Spirit.

There are false prophets, there are false teachers, there are false healings, there are false miracles, there are false tongues.

Oh yes, we talked about the gifted tongues the other day.

If you missed that, you can ask for the handout on the gifted Tongues.

But the question for us tonight, do these counterfeits, do they look false?

Suppose, for example, I were to develop a counterfeit hundred dollar bill.

To make my counterfeit effective, I would have to make it look like what?

And the closer I could make my counterfeit look like the genuine, the more effective I could be at deceiving people.

Now mark this, the devil is a master counterfeiter.

And it is impossible if we're just using our human senses, sight, sound, so forth, it's impossible to tell whether the miracle's from God or the devil, whether the vision's from God or the devil, whether the healing is from God or the devil.

If you're just using your human senses, you can't tell.

So closely will the counterfeit resemble the genuine.

The only way we will know is by, by what?

In fact, Jesus warns us to beware of counterfeits.

Let's go read that warning from Matthew 7, verse 15.

And when you get to Matthew 7, put a marker here.

We will return to Matthew 7 later this evening.

But your ticket book, I don't know, there may not be any tickets left in that ticket book, huh?

Or a quiz envelope or something here in Matthew 7.

In sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are what?

Now in the New Testament, a sheep represents what?

Christ is the shepherd, the sheep represent his followers.

So here we have wolves in sheep's clothing.

In other words, these folks, they profess to be Christians.

They look like Christians, at least on the outside.

They are inside the fold, they're inside the church, but inside of these sheep is what spirit?

Now of course that guy in the photograph, he didn't hide himself too well.

These wolves in sheep's clothes, I gotta look at them.

You won't be able to tell just looking at them.

And I personally believe that many of these people, they actually think that they are spirit-filled.

They don't realize that it's an unholy spirit.

Many of them don't understand the spirit that actuates them.

They are inside the church, inside the fold.

27. Revelation’s “Time No Longer!”

Our topic for tonight, Revelation's time no longer from disappointment to divine appointment.

Our age is an age of questioning, an age of uncertainty.

It seems you can't be sure of anything these days.

And if you think you are certain about something, somebody's going to come along and challenge you on that.

I remember 1 time years ago after I preached a sermon, somebody after the sermon said, Pastor, how do you know for sure that what you're presenting is the truth?

That's a question each of you should be asking.

How do you know that what I'm presenting here night by night is the truth?

Many people have pulled up the anchor of truth, God's word, and as a result they're on a shoreless ocean of uncertainty.

Heading through life, rushing through life, many of them hardly knowing where they're going.

Reminds me, I heard the story of the biologist Thomas Huxley.

He was late for a speaking appointment many years ago.

He had come in by train to this particular city and the train had gotten delayed.

So he jumped off the train, he rushed to a taxi, which back in those days was simply a horse-drawn carriage.

He said, top speed driver, top speed, I'm late.

The driver, he cracked the whip and they set out through the town at a wild pace.

The frazzled Huxley, he finally sat back in the seat thinking, I'm finally moving again.

And then he started up, he said, wait, driver, do you know where I want to go?

Driver said, no, but I'm driving top speed.

And it seems like many people are going through life that way.

They're rushing through life hardly knowing where they're headed.

Are you certain, friend, of where you're headed?

In fact, he says in John 8, 32, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

Whether we accept it or not, whether we believe it or not, truth is absolute, and Jesus tells us we can know the truth.

Luke, writing to Theophilus, he says in Luke 1, verse 4, that thou mightest know the what?

The certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.

Are you certain of the things wherein you have been instructed?

Are you certain of your faith, of your beliefs?

I've had people say, Pastor, I don't agree with what you're presenting, but I don't know the Bible like you do.

Well, we ought to be able to defend our faith from the Bible, shouldn't we?

The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 3, 15, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready, how often?

Always, to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

And people today, they want Bible answers.

When they challenge you, they want you to be able to defend what you believe by God's word.

2 Timothy 2.15 says, Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." And I challenge people, study God's word, base your faith on the Bible.

You will find as you study God's word, you have more and more certainty.

And 1 of the things we discover from the Word of God, especially the last book of the Bible, is that we can have certainty in these uncertain days.

And 1 of the things we can be certain of in the book of Revelation is the identifying marks of God's true church.

We looked at that already in our seminar, Revelation 12.

We looked at the true church, the identifying features of her.

We found 8 identifying marks for God's end time church from the Bible.

Number 1, it would be teaching the truth.

Number 2, it would not appear until after 1798.

And then number 3, it would be like the original.

And so we went back and looked at the original church.

We saw the original church was looking for Christ's return, Christ's advent.

So God's end time church would be looking for Christ's return, the advent, the appearing.

We saw the original church baptized by immersion, so God's last day church would baptize by immersion.

The original church kept the Sabbath holy, seventh day of the week, so God's end time church would also keep the Sabbath holy, seventh day of the week.

We saw the original church taught that death was like a sleep.

God's last day church would teach that death is like a sleep, to be like the original.

And we saw number 4, God's true church keeps his commandments.

How many are there in the 10 commandments?

Virtually every church today thinks you ought to keep 9, but there are 10.

Number 5, God's true church would have the spirit of prophecy.

It would be a worldwide church number 6, carrying the gospel to every nation.

And then number 7 would be carrying the 3 angels' messages, which is called the everlasting gospel, Revelation 14, to the whole world.

And then number 8, it would be teaching people to take care of their health.

We saw there's only 1 church today that meets all 8 of those points, and that's the Seventh-day Adventist church.

And as I mentioned when we looked at this earlier, the chaplain today for the United States Senate is a Seventh-day Adventist, Barry Black.

Though This is not some cult, otherwise the Senate would not have chosen a Seventh-day Adventist chaplain.

Sometimes when I present the Bible identifying marks for God's true church, sometimes people take offense.

I remember 1 time I presented the identifying marks of God's true church and there was this Baptist lady, she came out after the meeting, she was furious.

She said, how dare you say the Seventh-day Adventist church is the true church.

She said, the Baptist church could do just what you've done.

They can find all the Bible proof that the Baptist church is the true church.

I said, well, sister, why don't you do that?

6 months later she became a Seventh-day Adventist.

She was at least honest with herself as she studied God's words.

Well, I guess there is a church that lines up with the Bible.

Can we be certain that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the true church?

The book of Revelation is given that we might have certainty.

In the book of Revelation we find in Revelation 14 the message of God's true church at end time.

In Revelation 12, we find the identifying marks of God's true church at end time.

And then in Revelation 10, we see the historical experience of God's true church at end time.

We have looked already in our seminar at the message of the true church, Revelation 14, we've studied that.

We have considered the identifying marks of God's true church, Revelation 12, we looked at that.

So tonight we're going to focus on the historical experience of God's true church.

Revelation chapter 10, turn there please.

28. The Unpardonable Sin

Our topic for tonight, the unpardonable sin.

I invite you to open your Bible as we begin to Matthew chapter 12.

Probably the most sad spectacle in the world is to meet someone, to see someone who's committed the unpardonable sin.

There is a sin that cannot be, will not be forgiven.

Jesus outlines it here in Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12, we'll begin reading in verse 30 to get the setting.

Matthew 12 verse 30, Jesus says, He that is not with me is what?

Is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

What Jesus does here, he takes away all neutral ground.

We are either wholly surrendered to him in every area of our lives, or we are?

Half-hearted Christians are actually against the Lord.

And apparently this aspect of not being fully surrendered to Jesus in every area of our lives has something to do with the unpardonable sin because Christ connects it to the unpardonable sin.

Verses 31 and 2 says, Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him.

But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." Evidently there is a line somewhere in our experience where if we cross over that line we've gone too far.

We've passed the boundary of God's mercy and we've entered God's judgment, God's punishment.

This unpardonable sin, now by the way this is not some arbitrary thing where God says alright I've put up with you long enough, I've had it.

The unpardonable sin is something that we do where we place ourselves beyond the reach of God's mercy, God's forgiveness.

We'll see that in our study this evening.

I have met people that thought perhaps they had committed this awful sin which cannot be forgiven.

And maybe you've wondered at times in your life whether you had committed the unpardonable sin.

Well, I'm going to assure you tonight, you will know before we finish our study, whether or not you have committed this sin which cannot be forgiven.

But let's first pause and consider the character of the God we serve.

Is God trying to keep people out of heaven?

Or is God working to bring people into heaven?

The Bible tells us in 1st Timothy 2 verse 4 that it is God's will that all be saved.

Of course we know not all will be saved, but God wants all to be saved.

God is working in a million ways in every life to lead people to salvation.

God is at work in your life, and you probably have sensed that, to lead you to full surrender, to lead you to salvation.

If we're lost, we're not going to be able to blame God for that.

We can be forgiven, Jesus promises that, 1 John 1, verse 9.

If we confess our sins, He, Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Any sin that you're willing to confess, God is willing to forgive.

You say, well if that's true, how could there be an unpardonable sin then?

Evidently the unpardonable sin is a sin that's not confessed and not repented of, because if we confess we can be forgiven.

The unpardonable sin is not a type of sin, but rather a degree of sin, a continual resisting of God's working in my life until I become impervious to His Spirit's call.

In fact, you're still in Matthew, aren't you?

Matthew 12, 31, Jesus says, Wherefore I say unto you all manner, that means every type of sin and blasphemy, shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

So the unpardonable sin is not a type of sin, all manner of sin may be forgiven, but rather a degree of sin, a continual resisting of God's leading, God's working in my life.

Let's mark down 2 facts about this unpardonable sin.

First of all, fact number 1, it is a sin.

1 John 3, 4, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is what?

So evidently this unpardonable sin has something to do with breaking God's law, because sin is breaking God's law.

The second fact about the unpardonable sin, It is an offense against the Holy Spirit.

This sin, this blasphemy, this offense is against the Holy Spirit.

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Prophecies of Hope

22. Modern Prophets Visions and Dreams

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