The Armageddon Count Down — J.C. Hibbard

God wants us to take heed to the things that we hear. In Luke, the 21st chapter, it says,. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath from the people.

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led way captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.

And upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity. And the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts will be failing for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Or the word looked up in the original is, the powers of the heaven shall be toppled, or be removed. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Kingdom of God Is Near

And he spake to them a parable, Behold a fig tree, and all the trees. When they shoot forth, you see and know of your own self that summer is at hand. So likewise, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass until all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your heart be overcharged with surfeiting, stuffing, overeating, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life.

And so that day come upon you unaware. That day come upon you unaware. For as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore and pray always that you might be accounted worthy to escape these things that shall come to pass, and that you might stand before the Son of Man.

These are the words of Jesus foretelling a few of the things that would come to pass. He foretold here of the disperse of Israel, how they would be dispersed and they would fall to the edge of the sword, and how that they would be scattered everywhere.

And there would be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, sea in the wave roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and looking after those things that are coming to pass.

For the powers, for the power of the heavens shall be shaken. That doesn't mean nothing's going wrong with God. It doesn't say just the heavens are shaken. It says the power, the power of the heavens are shaken.

Satan’s Casting Down and the War in Heaven

And that word means to be removed, are toppled, are readjusted. Now, he tells, now we know that Satan is the power of the air. Bible says so, Christ said so, Apostle said so. His abode is not on the earth now, his abode is in the heavenlies.

But just before the end time, when the sun is going to be affected and the moon and the stars and all, he says just before that, the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Now Jesus, 1900 years ago, when he was telling these things that are coming to pass, it wasn't like he was standing here today and telling a number of the things going to take place this year, or two or three things that will take place the next five years.

He was giving us a quick resume of things that would come to pass right in the future. Now we know that he earmarked some right down in our very day. He foretold of Israel's disperse and Israel's coming back in the end time.

So we know that they were dispersed 1900 years ago, and we know they came back 1900 years later, while I passed the church here. And he said that when they begin to come to pass, when he brings them back, that is the fulfilling, it is the climax, it's when the transgressors have come to the full.

So according to that, we know that there is now, we know that we're right at the place that Jesus will come. Now will the powers of the heaven be shaken when Jesus comes in the rapture? We find very clearly in the Bible that when the rapture takes place and the man child is caught up, which is the church, when we're caught up, immediately there is war in heaven and Satan and all of his angels engage in a warfare.

And Michael and all of God's angels gather together against Lucifer, and you'll find this in your twelfth chapter of Revelation. And there is a war that takes place in heaven. There's no shooting war, no one's sticking one with a sword.

It's like lawyers come together in a great case, and in this case nobody's going to come out dead. They all are glorified, all these have spiritual bodies and there's not natural bodies here. But the Bible said there was war in heaven, Satan, Lucifer, and all of his angels fought against Michael and all of his angels, that's the war angels.

But the result was that his place was found no more in the heavens. He had to give it up. Now at that very time it said that he was cast down to earth with all of his angels with him. Now and then when he's cast down he only has three and a half years until the end when Jesus comes back again to set up his earthly kingdom.

The Three-and-a-Half-Year Period

He only has time times and a half a time, which is three and a half years. It says again that he's cast down and he has forty-two months. Forty-two months is three and a half years. Then it gives the same time again in days.

You multiply 365 and then take half of 365 and add it to it. You'll have exactly the amount of days which means three and a half years. So he gives it in years, he gives it in months, and he gives it in years, months, and days.

Three different ways to let us know that when Satan is cast down then that is his heyday. He takes full control of the earth and at the time of his casting down God's angel said woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, whether you live in America, China, Russia, Germany, Italy, no matter where you are in Canada, woe to the inhabitants of the earth for the devil and his angels are cast down unto you having power and great wrath.

He hath but a short time. Now Jesus two thousand years ago or 1900 years ago, he foretold of these coming events when there would be perplexities of nations, beginning of sorrows, wars and rumors of wars, famines and pestilence, all these are things coming to pass.

But then in that he gives us the things and he said when you see these things shooting up, you know that summer is at hand when those trees begin to bud. Now he said when you see these things begin to come to pass, you know that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The powers of heaven shall be shaken. There shall be great signs in the heaven. That was one of the last things that he gave. Now we have had great signs in the heaven. We have seen men go out into space, visit other planets, the moon and take pictures of them and send them back, walk upon the face of it, leave the planet, come back and catch its little instrument, come back to the earth safely and be and here appear without any harm.

Send out another great object and send it over to a planet, Mars, let it land, take pictures as it reaches out and take samples of the rock, send them back to our room. Those are not things that are done in laboratories on earth.

These are signs in heaven that any of our parents, if we had told them these things would have come to pass 50 years ago or 100 years ago, they would have thought you was raging maniac, you was out of your mind.

But little by little, gradually little by little, we have got adjusted to our education and to our advanced knowledge until we first heard about it, we doubted it. Then we thought, well they've done so many things here on earth, they might do it.

Then finally it shot off and went around the earth and they succeeded in that. Then we thought, well maybe they'll make it to the moon and they did, then they made it to Mars. Now, there's been great signs in the heaven, that's the last one.

Armageddon and the Gathering of the Nations

Now, the next, the powers of the heaven are going to be shaken. According to the preparation of the battle of Armageddon, it was in the paper Sunday by the worldly people or by the news commentators or the men of the world.

It wasn't by a preacher, it wasn't by some prophetic prophet. But he made the statement, he said, could this be the condition that existing now in the Arab country and in Iran and the preparing for war and them taking our own people from our embassy and holding them captive, which is a violation of our national law, and then how that they are bringing about a stage of hate and war.

In our Sunday paper, in big letters, it said, could this be the countdown for Armageddon. The world is understanding that there will be an Armageddon. They didn't say, if there is such a thing as an Armageddon, could this be.

No, they said, could this be the countdown of Armageddon. Why? Because people are beginning to realize that God never has guessed at anything. Here it said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

When I foretell a thing, it's going to happen. Now, little did we think a short time ago when Israel was scattered everywhere and there was no one gathered together as a nation. They were just scattered out, they didn't have any rulers, they didn't have any captains, they didn't have any governors.

They didn't have, because everyone was an individual Jew as a slave in other people's land, and they didn't have a square foot of ground to put their feet on. Now, if you would have said that they will go back and become a powerful nation overnight, right away, you would have said it will never be done, but God said it would.

And we know that it will happen in the end time. So God told me, came to me and gave me a Bible and said, preach it, it will come to pass right away. And I immediately began to preach it. I preached it all through East Texas, I've preached it twice, three times every week, that Israel will immediately go back.

And while I was preaching right here in the Gospel Lighthouse Church, Israel went back and become an independent nation, put up their flag for the first time in 1900 years. That part of God's prophecy has unfolded right before our eyes.

Daniel’s Prophecy of Knowledge and Travel

Not only that, right before all of our eyes has unfolded one other great, outstanding prophecy where Daniel took the telescope, and as he looked down the telescope of time, he saw our day, the end time, and he said that last generation, that all these things shall come to pass in that same generation.

They'll begin and wind up in the same generation. Daniel said that knowledge will increase and many will run to and fro. It will be a time of commerce. It will be a time of travel in the end time, when before, never.

Only oxen, horses, mules, buckboard wagons, spring wagons, and then finally they got the bicycle. But there was no way to travel. You'd spend a lifetime and people would talk to you, come to your home, and visit you if you'd gone out of the county.

You had been someplace. But now it's nothing to get up and travel around the world in just a few days. We are a traveling people. Every highway is filled with cars. Back there, there wasn't one on the highway.

We didn't have a highway anywhere in America. And these now are broadways filled with automobiles that Micah told us about that would be on our streets in the day of the Lord's preparation. So how many believe thus far God has never missed it?

We are walking right exactly according to prophecy. Say amen. Now, let's turn here to Revelation real quickly in the 14th, no, the 16th chapter of the book of Revelation. It says here, let me see, we'll start reading right here.

Revelation 16 and the Battle of Armageddon

And the fifth angel sounded, and he poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast. His kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongue for pain. They blasphemed God in heaven because of the pain of the sores, and they repented not of their deeds.

The sixth angel poured out his vial in the great river Euphrates, and the waters were dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. God is telling us the kings of the east are going to come.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs. Now, they were not frogs. They were like frogs, but they were unclean demon spirits. Now, John said these demon spirits came out of the mouth of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet.

Now, these three have not arrived yet. They are right around the corner. As quick as Israel began to form up and become a nation overnight, as quick as we went into a full-fledged war, it first started with just one little shot of a gun.

Then it began to multiply, and in a few weeks it began to turn into a real talking war. And in a few months there were bombs bursting everywhere, ships going down in our ocean, and hundreds of thousands of our men being blown apart in just a few months' time.

So, when these three unclean spirits like devils, working miracles, which go forth into the kings of the earth and of the whole world, and of the whole world, the kings of the earth, and goes forth into the whole world to gather them together to the battle of Armageddon.

Now, here it says, they're spirits of devils. They're demon spirits that get in people and put a hunger and a desire to fight. You see, all nations, it says the nations were angry and thy wrath is come in the time of the dead.

Meaning this, that everybody on earth got fussing. And then finally, God got angry. It says the nations were angry and thy wrath is come. Never have we had so many people fussing in our own nation. We have fussing, fussing, fussing, fussing.

There's things going on, unions are fussing at this union, and this club is fighting at that club, and this thing is fighting at that one, and there's a turmoil. And the earth today is fussing. But we're taking what God says about it.

They're spirits of devil, working miracles, which go forth into the kings of the earth and of the whole world to do what? To gather them to battle of the great day of God Almighty. And behold, I come quickly, blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and see him ashamed.

And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. And he gathered them in the place of, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. Now, we find in the word that, let's come right on over here in the 14th chapter, in the 19th verse.

The Winepress of God

And the angel thrust in the sickle in the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it in the great winepress of God. Now, if you don't understand anything else I've seen, or I've said, if you don't understand this, you missed it.

The angel thrust in his sickle, because another angel cried out and said, The grapes of the earth are ripe. The grapes of the earth are ripe. They're ready to be picked and put in the winepress. Now, he's talking a language that everybody understands.

Most everyone had vineyards. And any man in Europe, anywhere, and you want vineyards, you want to go far. For grapes, for wine. So, when the grapes got ripe, they would not pick them until they got ripe.

But when they picked them, they gathered the grapes. And then they hauled them in their little carts to the winepress. A winepress was a trough made of wood, 15 to 20 foot long, 5 to 6 feet wide. 12, 14 inches deep.

Great big old trough. And they poured all the grapes in there. And then when they got them in there, certain ones would wash their feet. And they would put on wood paddles. And they'd buckle them on. Great big old flat wood paddles.

They'd pick up, and there's a great big old square wood paddle. And they would walk on those grapes. And when they would tread the grapes, it would mash the juice out of the grapes. It'd walk back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

And finally, at the end, it's a fast stream coming out. And they're catching it in big jugs, and that's what they make wine out of. But they bring the grapes and put them in. And then they tread the winepress, and the juice runs out.

Now, notice. The angel thrust in the sickle and the earth, and gathered the vines of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city of Jerusalem, Jehoshaphat.

The valley of Jehoshaphat is the winepress. All through the Bible, it's Jehoshaphat. So, and Jehoshaphat is right out of the city. So it said, those evil spirits from Satan, the demon spirits, go out into the kings of the whole earth.

All the kings of the earth and of all the world. And these demon spirits put hate and fighting in them. And then he gathers them together to the great winepress of God. And there, it said, and the winepress was trodden without the city.

Blood to the Horse Bridles

And blood came out of the winepress, even to the horses' bridles. Now, the Bible says in one place, that he comes. Who is this that comes with dyed garments of red? He treads the winepress alone. Hundreds of years before he even come to be a Savior, he foretold of his great event when he would come back down and tread the winepress.

But it said he treads the winepress from Bezra to Megiddo. Now, the distance there is a hundred miles. There is a valley. It's called the Valley of Blood. Valley of Jehoshaphat. We were there not long ago at King David's Hotel.

We went out on the gallery and there I stood and looked at the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And as far as my eyes could carry, I was looking at that Valley of Jehoshaphat that the Bible foretold that many, many hundreds of great battles of great kings of Israel and kings of Judah have been fought in the past there in that valley.

But God foretold that this is my winepress. And he foretold that Christ would bring the blood out of the grapes of the earth, even to the horse's bridle, which was a distance of a hundred miles long. I forget how many miles wide.

But the distance of a horse's bridle in any country is five foot five and a half, or sometimes almost six. But a horse's bridle is about to my chin on a man my size. If you're smaller, then of course it will be over your head.

But he says here that the blood is going to come out of human beings to the extent that it will come up to your knees, and then human blood will come up and come up to your chin, and not to your chin, but up to your shoulders, up to the horse's bridles.

And it comes from the grapes that are cast in your sickle and reaped for the time for the harvest has come to reap. Now that's in the 14th chapter. I just read to you in the 16th chapter where it is the three unclean spirits that go out into the kings of the earth and all the earth to gather them together.

What's he doing? He is bringing people. People of the grapes. They come where? They come to Jehoshaphat. They come to the east. So there's going to be something that is going to draw them. Now if you'd say, where are you going?

They wouldn't say, we're going over there to let God kill us. Oh no, they're not doing that. We're going over there to kill one another. No, there are natural things that's going to happen. The Bible tells us that there's going to be the upheaval.

It's going to be the trouble in the east. Now we've had fussing with Israel and some of the Arabs, and there's been a constant battle between Israel and them. But now it is beginning to switch over to America and to the other parts of the countries.

There is now a desire to arouse a great stir among all the Arab people. Now if this passed by and settled down and all of it died out, then there would have to be a long period of time until the whole thing would come and the setting would be just exactly right as it is now.

The Countdown and World Crisis

Because when we put the picture that God has given us here all together, we need one little piece of the puzzle to make a picture. And that is that if I'm standing here today and I arrived from the grave, I didn't view no television.

I never spoke to a person about anything around about. And I had never read a paper. And I didn't know one thing about our condition of our world today as far as war and trouble or anything like that.

And if I told them few of the outstanding things that had already happened, and then I would ask them according to the Bible, what is the next thing that's got to be done to begin to form up the winding up?

They would say there's one missing thing in the puzzle. There'll have to be trouble in the east. Now if you have this one little piece to put right down in there, if everything is lovely, there is no chance late or any time in the future for there to be an uprising in the east, then we're not too close.

But if there is boiling trouble, we have had it coming on gradually for a long while. But how many believe now the trouble among the Arab world is increasing? And how many believe like the fellow said this could be the beginning of the countdown for battle of Armageddon?

If you've seen your television, if you've read your papers, you see the hate that they're putting in the children. You can see the cry of masses, thousands upon thousands of them shaking their fist. They're wanting to fight.

Well, they know they're no match. If we decide to go there and drop a bunch of bombs on them, there'll just be a bunch of people killed, that's all. Now, you say to me, Brother Hibbard, since there is trouble there, since the Arabs are stirred up, since while all the Arabs do not agree with what the fellow is doing in Iran, that's true, but yet there is a sympathy toward the Arab people that has already begun to kindle like a little fire, don't have to start off very much, but like fire catches other things and it burns.

So this thing, I'm not depending on them taking someone out of the embassy. I am depending on God Almighty's Word that says there is going to be spirits that are going to go out. Now, while the beast, the dragon, false prophet is not on the scene, they could come on overnight.

They could find their place in this world for immediately after the powers of heaven are shaken and the Satan is cast down, immediately they go into power. And this thing could begin to form and in the matter of six months, you could have this whole thing in a siege.

But if the Lord had come tonight, tomorrow, Satan is already down here. Why? Because when the rapture takes place, Satan and his angels are cast down for times, times and a half a time, according to the Bible.

That's the power of the heavens are shaken, they're toppled, they're disarranged. So we find there's going to be things that's going to take place there. Now, what do we say will happen the way it is right now?

Let me make this statement. They could take the shah and send him back to Mexico. And through much agitation and there might be a killing of some of the Americans, I do not know. But they could let all the Americans go.

And yet there could be a lot of fussing and there might be some reprisals. I don't know, I'm not able to say. And it could calm down for just a period of time. That doesn't change not whatsoever. Because the seed of hate is already in the heart of all those people.

And it's not coming out. Not only that, but this has made other Arabs begin to put question in their mind. What am I saying? This easily could be the forerunner of the real thing that is just about to happen.

Economic Breakdown and Social Disorder

Now, when God begins to do things, he can change situations almost overnight. Now, this could go if they, through hate, say you did not deliver the shah to us. And that's the contract. He's gone back to Mexico.

He's saving his neck. He's not going to give himself up. So we still keep the people. Then we're forced to do one thing. Go into shooting more. That involves your boys and girls. It involves trouble. Why?

Because as sure as God made an apple. When someone is kin to someone else and you're whipping them, you want to get in on their side. The Arabs have always stuck together. If it goes into a shooting war, only God knows who's going to come to what side.

Russia will eventually try to come in. I don't expect it to go into a full-fledged all-out war, according to the Bible, right now. There could be things that will cause us to have a lot of problems.

And the economy that we have now and the situation that we're in, it could cause a lot of other big companies and factories to go broke. And the way the inflation has done, it's as you see. Each year, the salaries have increased over and over and over again.

And those salaries go up. Now, all the unions say, we've got to have it this way because we want to keep up with inflation. And so we have to have a signed contract. Not realizing that every time they raise the wages, everything else comes up with it.

Until finally, today, in their own language, they said, why should we produce steel? For us to put out so many pounds of steel, we have to pay $100 for it. To be able to bring it in, pay for all the work of bringing it in through the trucks and the labors to bring it in.

An hour in with a salary, maybe $10 an hour, some more than that. And we have to pay this high salary to get this out, and we pay for so many pounds of steel $100. When I can sit down at my desk and order it in and get it shipped in and delivered on the job for $75.

I can make $25 on so many pounds by sitting in my desk, not having any problem, not having any fires burning, not having anybody working. I can just sit here and carry my business on by getting the same steel from other places.

Why? Because they price their self out of the field. I didn't say it, that's exactly why a company that has some smart lawyers, some smart men, and they fought over it and looked over it and analyzed it for many, many months.

There is no way they can afford to do it. Now, we're reaching a place, we're not stopped yet, we're still going higher and higher and higher. What's it going to come to? It's going to come to problems.

It's going to come to some sacrifices. It's going to come to where people are going to lose their homes. It's going to come to a place that people are going to be without jobs. And it's going to come to a place that where a lot of people that don't have too much conscience, if they want something and you've got it, they're going to get it with a gun.

Because if they get in jail, they can't keep them there. They let them out on a bond and they can go ahead and get some more money. And they're not afraid of the law today. It used to be if I get in jail, I'll go to jail, stay so many years and have to work with a chain gang.

But today I go in and play dominoes, play cards and watch the color television and have a good feather mattress and have air conditioned three meals a day. And that's why the fellow the other day said he wanted to get in jail.

And they said, well, why did you do this? Yeah, just hold this fellow up. He said, well, he said, I was ready to go back to jail. He said, I had a lot better in there. He said, I got good education and I I've got something I want the doctors do.

They've got the very best doctors there. And he said, they give me a good bed and three meals a day and said, I have a good time there. And I like the gang. And he said, when I got out, I want to get back.

So I figured that I'd just go ahead and do this. And that's what he put in the paper. And that's why he went right on back. It was so nice for him. Now we have a civilization. Something's got to change.

Pastoral Exhortation: Trust God in Tribulation

How many believe it? Something's got to happen. How many believe this good old book said that men's hearts would fail them for fear. Looking at the things coming past. Now here I'm I'm finishing now on this.

What am I saying as a pastor for you to do? God has definitely declared in his word that when these things come to pass, he's going to take care of his own. I don't know how much tribulation we'll go through.

We'll not go through the great tribulation of the wrath of God. We'll not go through that. We'll escape that. But how much tribulation we might have to go through, only God knows. Because there might be a lot of tribulation we may have to go through.

Germany has gone through an awful lot. Russia has gone through an awful lot. And there's many other countries that have. But we know the rapture is just about to take place. But while we are left here, I don't care what happens to our nation economy in the economy way.

I don't care what happens to our salaries. God has said the same as he said, the blood of my son will atone for your sin. And if you'll come to me, I'll save you. He's made that clear. He also said, I will take care of you in the time of famine.

It came from God. He meant what he said. Now here's exactly what he's saying. He said, if you have remembered me in the good times when everything was lovely. Then when everything goes bad and the famine hits, I am going to remember you.

If you'll remember, I could spend all night preaching one experience after the other. Where men remembered God while they were going through life. When troubles came, God went to bats for them and brought them out every time.

So God said that he will take care of us in the time of famine. If you paid your tithe. If you have put God first. If you've remembered his house. If you have prayed. If you have obeyed God. And if you have practiced worshiping God.

I'll guarantee you God will not let you suffer. I don't care what comes to our nation. So he said, when you see these things come to pass. They are happening all around you. He said, don't fret. Don't worry.

Lift your heads and rejoice. Why? Because God's going to take care of you. He's going to take us out before it gets just too bad. But until it does, if it's a famine, God will take care of us. And if it's our loved ones have to be put on the front.

We've had that very experience. We've prayed for our boys, put them on the prayer list. And God carried them there and brought them back. Because we took a stand for God. It's not every church. A lot of them are playing church.

But the churches that are really praying. The churches that pay their tithe. The churches that come and worship God. The churches that come and they go to that prayer room. Not just to kneel. But to thank God for all that they need to thank him for.

And to pray for the things that need to be prayed about. When you walk before God softly. And you have dedicated your life to God. There is no fear we need. Because we've remembered God in the good days.

And God's going to remember us in the bad days. Now, I'm not able to tell you what tomorrow is going to bring forth. I am here to say that it has begun. It could be the countdown for Armageddon. But before battle of Armageddon takes place.

There's got to come the rapture first. So, I have told you all along. That the rapture is due tonight. It may not come tonight. It was due yesterday. I don't know why it didn't come yesterday. It could come tomorrow.

The church has looked for him. And even back when I first started out. People were selling their property. Wouldn't even dare plant a peach tree. They said it's no use. We'll not live long enough. Because the Lord's coming.

For even the peaches to ever produce on the tree. And they were believing that when I was a child coming up. Now, it's not further away. How many believe it's closer tonight than it was Sunday? And he that shall come will come.

Repentance, Prayer, and Spiritual Vigilance

How many believe that it's really closer than any of us think? Now, we have reached the place that we have trouble in the east. And how many agree this thing could not be. Unless the kings of the east are prepared.