Mark Finley

Warrenton SDA Church

ISIS, Armageddon, Earth’s Last Battle and You

Let's pray together as we open God's Word.

My topic today is ISIS, Armageddon, and end-time events.

Father in heaven, we pray that as we open your Word, as we do some very serious Bible study this morning, that you do much more than fill our heads with facts, but you'd fill our hearts with a new commitment to Jesus.

May that reality take place in each of our lives where we need to make changes, speak to us, move upon our hearts, help this not to be a common ordinary meeting, but may the Spirit of God come down and may we be touched here.

As you've watched the news of the horrible tragedies that have been taking place in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq and Syria with ISIS, have you wondered about the meaning of those events in the Middle East?

Have you asked yourself the question, what does this all mean in the light of the prophetic scenario?

ISIS has moved very swiftly across Iraq and Syria, In fact, so swiftly that it has surprised Western observers, certainly has surprised the American government.

We just weren't prepared for what's happened.

Tens of thousands are now held in the grip of ISIS.

Cities that once were under Iraqi domination, cities like Mosul to Crete, have fallen to the grip of ISIS.

And ISIS stated intention in their literature, on their webpages, on their YouTube videos, is to establish something called a caliphate.

Now, if you're not familiar with Islamic terms, you may wonder what is a caliphate.

A caliphate is a society based on Islamic law.

You see, in the ISIS mentality, any society based on any other law is an illegitimate society.

Any government based on any other form of government, Whether that be democracy, whether it be dictatorship, whether it be socialism, that is illegitimate.

The only righteous government, according to the ISIS theology, is a government based on caliphate, which is a government based on Islamic law.

We in the West have become familiar with scenes of like Jihadi John, this Kuwaiti-born Londoner speaking with a British accent who has slain so many journalists.

We have seen him in his black suit and we've seen these journalists dressed in their orange jumpsuits and we've seen the knife at their throat as they have been executed.

Probably 1 of the more horrible executions that has taken place recently is an execution in Libya of 21 Christians on 1 scene as they have knelt on the shores of the Mediterranean and as their throats have been slit and they've been killed.

In December of 2014, the New York Times published a confidential comments by Major General Michael K.

He is the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East.

Now, he said, we have hardly begun to figure out the Islamic State's appeal.

And then he made this interesting comment.

He says, we have not defeated the idea of ISIS.

Why is it that tens of thousands of young people from throughout the Middle East have joined that cause?

And why is it that hundreds of young people from the United States and the West have joined that cause?

Thousands of new recruits are joining this religious holy war every single month.

And is there more than meets the eye here.

Recently, Graham Wood, who's a reputed journalist, wrote an insightful article in the Atlantic Monthly, and it gives us a real fresh perspective on the ISIS movement and helps us to understand them.

He said, the Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths.

It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs among them that it, ISIS, is a key agent of the coming apocalypse.

Now when I read that, it caught my attention.

ISIS, a key agent of the coming apocalypse?

Now the word apocalypse simply means the end of the world.

How does it see itself as a key agent of the coming end of the world?

What is its thinking process and how does this fit in to the larger prophetic scenario of the book of Revelation?

Now nearly all of the Islamic State's decisions adhere to what it calls, and this is on its billboards, its license plates, and its coins.

ISIS staunchly believes that they have a role to play in ushering in the coming of a new messianic kingdom.

Why is it that those 21 Christians were slain on the banks of the Mediterranean and their blood was allowed to go into the Mediterranean right across from Rome in Libya.

Why is it that ISIS magazine is called Dabiq, D-A-B-I-Q.

The ISIS followers in this brand of Islam believes that the final battle between good and evil will be fought in a Syrian city called Dabiq.

They believe that the armies of the west will be led by the Pope of Rome.

And they believe that the Pope of Rome and his armies will come down across Europe to Dabiq.

They believe that the armies of Rome are the infidels, that they have to be slain at any cost to establish the new messianic kingdom.

They believe that when the armies of Rome get to Dabiq that the forces of righteousness under ISIS will meet there.

That the armies of Rome will apparently succeed and they will slay all of the ISIS forces except 5, 000.

That these 5, 000 Isis will be driven back to Jerusalem and there Mahadi will appear.

He will lead the armies of ISIS to defeat all of the infidels, righteousness will shine through the world and the glorious kingdom of Islam will reign through the entire world.

That's what motivates hundreds and thousands of young people to join the cause, because they believe that they are joining a righteous cause that will slay all infidels and that righteousness and peace will reign under the Islamic cause.

How does this all fit in to the book of Revelation?

We're going to do some serious Bible study.

And we're going to look at ISIS, Armageddon, Earth's last war, and you and me and how we fit into that.

First we are going to look at 7 key facts about end time events.

Fact number 1, Revelation does discuss a final conflict between the forces of good and the forces of evil.

Revelation chapter 12, we will look at 3 passages in the book of Revelation.

Fact Number 1, truth and error at times are very, very close.

Revelation does discuss a final conflict between the force good and the force of evil, certainly not the prophetic scenario that Isis describes, But it does describe that final conflict.

Fact number 1, Revelation 12, verse 17, and the dragon, who's the dragon, everybody?

Angry with the woman, the church, and went to make war with the rest of her offspring, or the remnant, which keep the commandments of God and of the testimony of Jesus.

So Revelation clearly outlines there will be a final conflict between the force of good and the force of evil.

That the devil and the forces of hell will be marshaled against faithful believers of God.

Revelation chapter 17, 3 passages on this final war.

Revelation chapter 17 verse 12 and onward.

And the 10 horns, that are the 10 united kingdoms at any time, which you saw are 10 kings that have received no kingdom as yet.

But they receive authority for 1 hour, a short period of time, with the beast.

So the beast, the religious powers of the earth are united with the political powers, verse 12.

So the political powers, the economic powers, the religious powers are united with 1 mind.

They will give their power and authority to the beast.

Verse 14, they will, notice this expression again, make war with the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

Those that are with Him are called, chosen and faithful.

So again, in Revelation 12, verse 17, you have this expression, make war.

Revelation 17, verse 14, this expression, make war.

The forces of righteousness, the forces of evil.

So Revelation chapter 19, now notice the language in Revelation 12, Revelation 17 and Revelation 19 is the same.

Scott Ritsema

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Renewing of the Mind

Father in heaven, we are grateful to be considered servants of you, to be adopted as sons and daughters of you.

Thank you, Father, for being here with us.

We ask for your presence in a mighty and marked way that we might recognize that we've been with Jesus today.

The scripture we're reading for this morning's sermon, which is entitled, creatively, Testimony.

I'm sharing my testimony this morning for the first time, and I couldn't think of a better scripture than Romans 12, 1, 2, and 3.

In Romans 12, 1, 2, and 3, we get 3 key ideas that will feed into the remainder of the message this morning.

Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

The Lord has called me into service and sacrifice of my preferences and my way of doing life to follow His way.

And I'll tell you something, it turns out not to be much of a sacrifice, doesn't it?

When you follow the Lord's way, it brings fullness of joy and blessing.

Reading on, and do not be conformed to this world.

There was a time in my life that you'll hear this morning I was conformed to this world, but the Lord has brought the message of healing salvation into my life as the rest of this verse reads.

It says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Verse 3, for I say, through the grace script given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each 1 a measure of faith.

When we have our faith in God and salvation through Jesus Christ, is that something that we manufacture from within ourselves?

God is the 1 who has granted us the ability to even have faith, amen?

And that idea of not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, you know, I look back on my life, and those who have seen media on the brain may have seen the pictures and the images of me in the rock band, and I look back and wonder, how does a pop punk band bass guitarist slash sports worshiping slash emerging church guy and political activist, that was me, over the past 2 decades, become, end up a Seventh-day Adventist Christian who is calling families to, unplug from media, Do you see the irony there, right?

Calling families to homeschool and moving to the country and practice country living, the contrast couldn't be more stark.

And so I can't wait to share the message of how I came to this position in my life.

And even as we talk about a testimony, that scripture we just read really needs to feed into it as well because you can talk about your testimony and then it's about you, right?

We should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought.

I've only found that I've gotten in the way of the Lord again and again.

And I look at wasted years in my life and I repent of that and I grieve that and I don't think highly of my own story but I do think highly of the Lord who is telling that story in my life and each 1 of your lives.

1 thing I know for sure is that it's all about Jesus Christ and his grace and his salvation in my life.

I wanna start with a question that I get almost every weekend.

I present Media on the Brain pretty much every weekend at a different church around the country, and I always get the question, Scott, how did you get into talking about the topic of media?

And what brought you to this ministry, of Belt of Truth Ministries, where you share these topics?

And since I get that question, I'm always kind of scrambling to informally answer it and quickly, and I've never systematically sat down and kind of outlined my story.

And then I also get the question, How did you become a Christian?

How did you become a Seventh-day Adventist Christian?

That story also I've never had the opportunity to tell.

So I sat down and just kind of prayed through and thought through the past few years.

And I'll tell you something, growing up, a lot of people say, you know, I had this sort of traumatic experience of, you know, rebellion in the world of drug abuse, or I had all these horrible things happen to me when I was a child.

You know what my child, I can describe it in 1 word, normal.

I had a normal, pseudo-Christian, American cultural upbringing, with a little bit of religion and a lot of entertainment.

My good friend Chad Cruiser's here this morning.

Probably got into a lot of things that we are not proud of in our teen years.

And that's kind of the normal way childhood is done in America today, right?

I hope you're coming to the messages at Mentone and follow what our ministry is putting out, because it's not just about what we don't do with the media.

It's also how do we replace that with something better.

So this childhood experience of normality is not inevitable, but it unfortunately is so common.

Just like Adventist youth today, in my research, I found that there's a 25 to 1 ratio of entertainment consumption to spiritual food.

The amount of time spent in TV, movies, and video games versus the amount of time spent in Bible study and prayer is literally a 25 to 1 ratio among Seventh-day Adventist high schoolers in Michigan in the polling that I did.

That was kind of my experience as well, playing in the band.

Ironically, I ended up talking about media.

My own grandfather was a salesman for Zenith, bringing the televisions of America to the American homes in the 1950s.

And I find that The apple falls pretty far from the tree in that regard.

But to me growing up, I thought I was a Christian.

I'm listening to Metallica and getting into all of this horrible stuff in my lifestyle as a teenager.

But to me, Christianity meant, Hey, all you have to do is ask forgiveness for your sins, and you inevitably sin because you're a human being, and you will inevitably continue to sin, because we are all suffering from total depravity that will just continue right up until the time Christ comes.

There will be no transforming by the renewing of our minds.

But that was what I believed Christianity was, was just getting God to not be angry with me over my sins was the essence of salvation.

God doesn't get angry over our sins in the sense that it keeps us from receiving salvation from him.

What keeps me from receiving salvation from him is not his attitude toward me, but my openness toward him.

He's reaching out his gift of salvation for each 1 of us, we can receive it.

And that salvation reaches into the very core of our soul to transform, not merely grant us a legal pardon.

I do want forgiveness, because I've wronged him.

When you wrong somebody, you've got to seek their forgiveness.

And that indeed what Christ went to the cross for.

Well, at about age 17, I started to get interested in religious things.

Started to have a little bit of a conscience about some of the music I was listening to and some of the entertainments I was involved in, gave up a lot of that satanic type of music and stopped drinking and really started to say, you know what, this religion thing, there may be something to it.

But, you know, surrender was kind of slow to come.

I want to fast-forward through my conversion story now, because I'm answering the question how I got into media on the brain and then I'll circle back around the second half and tell you the conversion story.

But in 2008, that's the year that I joined the Seventh-day Adventist movement and at that time in the about the year, year and a half after that, major changes were coming into my life.

I'll tell you more about those in a minute, but I was reading Spirit of Prophecy, conviction all over the place, over and over again, conviction on this and on that.

You know, Scott, how much time are you going to spend watching Michigan State basketball games?

I know it's March Madness right now, pray for me, please.

Those old neurons, you know, seek attention, and the things you've enjoyed in the past.

But as I'm experiencing these convictions, I'm also getting very excited to present and share and teach the things that I am learning in 2008-2009 as I'm coming into the church.

I still am a teacher I guess on the weekends but I was a teacher for 11 years from 2003 to just this past year and so whatever I learned I want to teach and so I'm just fired up I'm saying all right who can I tell about these these truths and I was in Michigan in 2009 And I'll tell you about how I ended up in Michigan?

But nonetheless, I was at a church, brand new into this church in Michigan, and they said, boy, this young man has some energy.

They had no idea how twisted some of my beliefs were even at that point as a Seventh-day Adventist.

But praise the Lord, they brought me under their wings, and the pastor of the Wyoming church there, Dan Rocker, the Sabbath school superintendent, Tom Majure, these 2 men said, we really need to bring this scout Ritzema in and help him channel that energy that the Lord has given him.

They put me in superintendent Sabbath school and eventually gave me the pulpit and very careful about talking through some of the issues that we were discussing, but nonetheless, even got an opportunity to present a little bit of public evangelism in the form of a Bible lecture series, and that is where true purpose is found.

I finally was fired up for the first time in my life about something real, something meaningful, something eternal and that really was what transforms you ultimately.

But nonetheless the other subjects I had been a teacher of, economics, history, political science, they all of a sudden started to get very boring to me because I'm opening the Word of God and I'm going, wow, this is amazing.

These truths, this system of thought that comes together so clearly and so truly and so powerful to transform and change lives.

This present truth that is so urgent at this time in history makes everything else seem so boring, amen?

I'm going, Praise the Lord for this present truth.

By the way, guys on the mic, am I coming through good enough on the mic?

Okay, because I'm a ways away from it and it's starting to slide down on me.

I just want to make sure the audio is getting recorded okay.

So nonetheless, oh, the brother's gonna help me out with that.

H.M.S. Richards

Voice Of Prophecy

A Million Blazing Suns

Lift up the compass and loud let it ring, Jesus is coming again.

Cheer up you pilgrims, be joyful and sing, Jesus is coming again.

From Los Angeles, California, we present the program of The Voice of Prophecy, a voice crying in the wilderness of these latter days, prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Coming again, coming again, Jesus is coming again.

And now we invite you to listen to our broadcast and share with us the mutual blessing of this hour together.

Why should my heart be lonely I long for heaven and home, when Jesus is my portion.

My constant friend is he, His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise, when songs give place to sighing, and hope I draw the closer to him, From care he sets me free His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

For his eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

O Lord, our omnipotent and everlasting Father, Thou hast filled the heavens with their starry hosts and laid the foundations of the earth.

Thy hand hung the worlds in space and fashioned the flowers of the field.

Thou hast filled the earth with beauty, and filled the air with song.

Great is the Lord, and of great power, and his understanding is infinite.

He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Uphold us, O Lord, by thy power, and guide us by thy wisdom, we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest.

O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, Hold us who wait before thee, near to the heart of God.

We bring you greetings, friends, and the first of 2 inspirational radio sermons on astronomy and the Bible.

In just a moment the Voice of Prophecy will speak on the subject, A Billion Blazing Sun, so keep tuned in won't you.

But first of all a few responses to the question, what is the Voice of Prophecy doing to bring the peace and joy of Christ to the millions.

From West Kingston, Rhode Island, comes this typical word.

I look forward to your program every Sunday, as it seems to be a strong light to guide my life in the right direction, something to lean on in these troublesome times.

It is food for thought and builds strong character.

How wonderful to be able to receive it although living so many miles away.

From Paradise, California, a war mother writes in, We earnestly pray that God will bless the broadcasts of The Voice of Prophecy.

A letter from our son, who is on Guadalcanal, states that he tunes into The Voice of Prophecy program over the San Francisco station.

Every Lord's Day, he attends church with 35 native Solomon Islanders.

Well, he's also encouraging thank God for the radio whose slim arms reach out, bearing the message of hope into millions of hearts and homes.

What would the 20th century world do without the God-given sky medium of communication, the radio wave.

The station's firmament on high With all the blue ethereal sky.

Then spangled hem the shining frame Their great origin I'll proclaim.

The unwary son from day to day does his creator's power display, Shed to every land the work of an almighty hand.

What go in solemn silence, All around this dark terrestrial ball?

What cold, nor real, voice, nor sound amid their radiant harp defound?

Amid their radiant harp defound, In reason dear they all rejoice, And offer forth a glorious voice, And love her for the glorious voice, Forever singing as they shine.

Back to Menu

All Teachings

ISIS, Armageddon, Earth’s Last Battle and You

56m

Renewing of the Mind

50m

A Million Blazing Suns

29m

Profiting From the Prophets

1h

Endtime Living

49m

A Brand New Spark

44m

01. Luke: The Coming of Jesus

58m

00. An Introduction to the Book of Luke

12m

30. Learn how to use the writings of Ellen G. White- Part 2

58m

29. Learn how to use the writings of Ellen G. White- Part 1

58m

28. How All the Books of the Bible Meet and End in Revelation

58m

27. Revelation 12-22

58m

Sound Doctrine