WWUTT 2130 Q&A The Father Turns His Face, Pastor Attire, Solar Eclipse False Prophecies

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Did the Father turn his back on Jesus when Jesus was dying on the cross?

00:06

Why is it that pastors don't dress up anymore? And is the solar eclipse a sign of end times?

00:13

The answers when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, studying

00:27

God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

00:34

Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. Becky is not with me this week, as I had told you last week that she wouldn't be.

00:43

We're actually traveling this weekend. God willing, we arrive in Lindale, Texas the day that this particular episode airs.

00:50

I recorded this in advance. And if God has given us safe travels, then we're in East Texas, where for the weekend we're going to be spending time with our former church family and then looking to see the total solar eclipse on Monday.

01:05

I have questions related to the eclipse, a video that we're going to consider because lots of false prophecies are going around concerning this eclipse.

01:15

It happens every eclipse, whether it is a lunar or solar eclipse. So here we are with another great

01:21

North American solar eclipse. And of course, the false prophets are coming out of their holes.

01:27

They see the moon's shadow, and they make six weeks of false prophecies. That's what we've been having for the last several weeks.

01:33

So we're going to listen to one of these popular videos, and I'm going to refute several of these claims. But first, let me just say on the outset, no eclipse has any prophetic significance.

01:46

An actual, naturally occurring eclipse never mentioned in the

01:51

Bible and therefore has no prophecy attached to it. We can predict when these eclipses are going to happen with stunning accuracy because God has made the sun and the moon to run their courses.

02:05

That's even in the Psalms, it says that. So we can calculate them by clockwork exactly when the next time will be that the moon will pass between the sun and the earth.

02:16

And the next solar eclipse in North America anyway, won't be until 2044.

02:23

So we've got another 20 years before we're going to see another solar eclipse in North America, even though we've been treated with two full eclipses in just the last seven years.

02:34

You remember the great North American solar eclipse in 2017? Now we've got this one in 2024. There was an annular eclipse in Arizona, well,

02:43

Utah, the southwest part of the United States. That would have been in October. I would have liked to have seen that one.

02:49

So going from a solar eclipse to an annular eclipse, in case you don't know the difference, the moon is actually a little bit further away from the earth in an annular eclipse.

02:59

In its rotation, it's further away. So when it passes in front of the sun, it doesn't quite cover the entire sun.

03:08

So you see a ring of fire around it. You don't have that, what is it, the corona effect like you see in a solar eclipse.

03:15

It's much different and you have to have special glasses to look at it because the sun is always too bright even in the span of an annular eclipse.

03:24

So there were some people, some friends of mine in Arizona that got to see that since that was in October, but I didn't get to see it.

03:30

I would have loved to have seen that one. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us since we're making this trip all the way from Arizona to East Texas to see this eclipse.

03:40

Maybe we'll have some good weather. It's forecasted to rain. In fact, I think it was like 60 % of the area where the solar eclipse will be seen, 60 % of the area is going to be covered with clouds.

03:53

It's the forecast right now. So not as many people will get to see it as are hoping to see it,

03:59

I think. But like I said, we're going to address some of those false prophecies that have been related to the eclipse here in just a moment.

04:07

That'll be toward the end when I get to that. Let's get to a few other questions here. This is the

04:12

Friday edition of the broadcast, and on Friday we take questions from the listeners. You can submit those questions to whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.

04:22

That is the best way to get a question to me. Sometimes I'll grab a question off of, you know, somebody asked me something on Twitter slash

04:29

X or on Facebook or something like that, but I don't always see those. So that's not the best way to get a question to me.

04:36

Straight to the inbox in the email is the better route. So whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.

04:43

And again, if you have wanted to help support us financially in any way, as I had said earlier this year, we've had a financial shortfall in 2024.

04:52

The house that we're trying to sell in East Texas is presently under contract. So praying that all of that goes through.

04:58

But in the meantime, wrestling with a mortgage and rent at the same time has been quite the financial burden.

05:04

So if you want to bless us in some way, even, you know, helping with a few groceries or something like that has been a tremendous help, then you can send a gift via PayPal through that email address whenweunderstandthetextatgmail .com.

05:17

I got a question from somebody. I didn't pull this question up, but someone had sent me an email and said, have you thought about starting a

05:24

Patreon so that people could send you a gift that way? I did.

05:29

I thought of that a few years ago, but I don't I can't remember what it was. Looking at a Patreon, something about it just made me go,

05:35

I don't really want to do that. We'll just stick with the with the PayPal. I've never wanted to do this for financial reasons anyway, because this is just free.

05:47

It's part of the ministry that I want to do. I don't want to add like Patreon bonuses and things like that.

05:54

My call has been to teach to teach the word of God to God's people. That's what I do primarily through my church.

06:01

And then because the church supports me and takes care of me, I'm able to do more of that teaching just like this for free.

06:07

So I've never wanted to put anything out there for money, nor have I done this for financial gain.

06:13

So for that reason, it's just like occasionally if somebody wants to give a gift, that's wonderful. But I haven't had like a steady, here's the

06:20

Patreon if you want to send me something that yeah, maybe I should consider doing something like that.

06:26

And I have been encouraged, Justin Peters was one of the persons that encouraged me to do this as well.

06:31

To begin when we understand the text is a nonprofit ministry, it means I would have to start a board of directors that is helping me to oversee all the financial things that I do and stuff like that.

06:42

But that's a possibility for the future. I don't know. I'll have to look into that. It's also more time out of my schedule that I don't exactly have to put things like this together.

06:51

But I'll consider that. And thank you for the suggestion to whoever sent me that email. All right. So before getting to this first question here,

06:59

I had asked this as a poll question on X. And this poll question will lead into the question that I got here from Alex.

07:06

So here was the poll question that I presented on social media. In Stuart Townend's hymn,

07:12

How Deep the Father's Love for Us, there is this much debated line, how deep the pain of searing loss, the father turns his face away.

07:24

Do you believe that the father turned his face from the son as Jesus died for our sins?

07:32

And here are the four options that I gave. Yes, no, depends.

07:38

And I don't know. OK, so once again, the question is in Stuart Townend's hymn, How Deep the

07:43

Father's Love for Us, there is this much debated line, how deep the pain of searing loss, the father turns his face away.

07:51

Do you believe that the father turned his face from the son as Jesus died for our sins?

07:58

The leading answer was yes, 49 .9%.

08:04

So just about half of the respondents said yes, the father turned his face away as Christ was dying for our sins.

08:12

22 % said no. 10 % or about 11 % said depends.

08:19

And about 17 % said, I don't know. An honest lot there, because I wonder if most of the people answering were really in the

08:28

I don't know category. But the I don't know is where the most honest I'm, I'm not sure about whether the father turned his face away, but it surely is something to consider.

08:39

And that leads to this question from Alex. He's one of the I don't knows. So here's his email.

08:45

Dear Pastor Gabe, thank you so much for this series through Matthew. I have listened to almost every episode and I had to cope quite a bit when you took that month off during the summer last year.

08:54

A lot of things in your study that I've never considered before, a few things I thought to challenge.

08:59

But when I did more study after listening to you, I discovered other theologians who've been teaching the same thing for years.

09:05

Thank you for your faithfulness to the text. When we were studying the crucifixion of Jesus, you said when

09:12

Jesus prayed, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was something he was truly experiencing, not just a feeling of forsakenness.

09:23

So in other words, for Christ to pray that he really was being forsaken, not just feeling like he was forsaken was the was the statement that I made.

09:33

So Alex goes on to say some people might phrase it as the father turning his face away or turning his back on Jesus.

09:39

But however it said, something like this had to have taken place. I think

09:44

Alex is is still recalling what I said about that, because I said something like that had to be going on.

09:51

It might be too literal to say that the father turned his face away or turned his back on Christ when the darkness came over the land.

09:59

But nonetheless, something like that was going on. So Alex says, I guess my question is this.

10:05

Why is there such a debate over this? What you said makes sense. But I guess it also makes sense when there are people who push back against that and point out that Psalm 22 says that God won't turn his face away.

10:17

I suppose I'm just confused as to why this is such a big deal. It seems I hear the debate every Good Friday.

10:23

Thank you again for the work that you do. And I believe that I said this when I was in that section as well, that I've gone back and forth on this myself.

10:30

So I'm not quite sure where I've stood on this some years. There are years in which

10:36

I might say that the father didn't turn his face away, because after all, it says there in in Psalm 22, which is what

10:43

Jesus is quoting when he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And we say that the father turned his face away.

10:51

And yet verse 24 says he has not despised and he has not abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.

10:59

And he has not hidden his face from him. But when he cried to him for help, he heard.

11:05

So Jesus is crying to the father. The father heard and delivered the son up, which, of course, we have in the resurrection.

11:13

Now, if somebody wants to take Christ's words that way and the response that way, according to Psalm 22, who am

11:21

I to argue with that? That is perfectly reasonable exposition of both the words that Jesus prayed from the cross in Matthew 27 and what we have written in Psalm 22, which is what

11:33

Jesus is quoting. But at the same time, there is definitely a wrath that is being poured out upon Christ that is the father forsaking the son who is the sacrifice for our sins and forsaking him to a certain extent, not forsaking him as in the father is cutting off the son and the son is outside the

11:54

Trinity for a moment. I did clarify when teaching on that in Matthew 27, that is not what we're talking about.

12:00

At no point did the son ever stop being of the triune

12:05

Godhead, father, son, and Holy Spirit. But there is certainly something wrathful that is happening there, according to what we have in Isaiah 53, that is exemplified by the darkness that comes over the land.

12:17

Because whenever we read about darkness in the scriptures, it is emblematic of judgment.

12:22

When you had the ninth plague in Egypt, in Exodus, the darkness that came over the land, that was a judgment upon Egypt.

12:31

There was not darkness where the Israelites lived in Gershom, but there was darkness that came over where the

12:40

Egyptians lived and over all of the house of Pharaoh, darkness that was so thick you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.

12:46

So we're not talking about a solar eclipse there. We're talking about a genuine plague of judgment.

12:54

And darkness is symbolic of judgment when we read about it in Old Testament or New. So there was a judgment that was being poured out by the father on the son.

13:05

And in that judgment, it is fair to say that the father forsakes the son, especially when you consider that that is what

13:12

Jesus prayed. Why have you forsaken me? It's not why do I feel like you have forsaken me? But why have you forsaken me to the extent that I am going through this pain, this suffering, which is even worse than the physical suffering that Jesus was going through when he cries out, my

13:31

God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That is really quite something for Jesus to find the air to cry that out, because those who were hanging on a cross really struggled to find breath.

13:44

That was part of the torture that they went through, is that it was so difficult for them to breathe when they were getting just enough breath to make that suffering last for a really long time.

13:54

So here Jesus is suffering to such a great degree that he cries out and it causes alarm in the people who are observing him, who see him there suffering, that he gathered this much breath so that he could cry out to God the words of Psalm 22.

14:10

And some of the people mockingly saying he's calling to Elijah, let's wait and see if Elijah is going to come and rescue him.

14:17

But that certainly caught the people's attention that Jesus prayed this thing, that he was demonstrating the fulfillment of the scriptures, especially that Psalm 22 and how messianic that Psalm is looking toward the

14:31

Christ who would suffer and die as an atoning sacrifice for sins. So I guess in this sense,

14:37

I probably fall on both sides of the debate that you can say exegetically that the father forsakes the son.

14:44

And you can also say exegetically that he doesn't turn his back on the son. I think both of those can be acceptable answers when argued scripturally from a certain standpoint.

14:54

Now, Alex's question in particular was, why is there such a debate over this? Well, I mean, is there really any theological issue that comes from scripture that we don't debate about?

15:05

I think there's debates over just about everything. I can't remember an issue where, you know, everybody is just unanimously unanimously agreed that this is the way that it is and there's no reason to argue over it.

15:18

But but yeah, why this debate? Why does it seem like every Good Friday that we're arguing over whether or not the father turned his face away?

15:27

I like the debate in the sense that it keeps us going back to the scriptures and exploring these things and understanding exactly what

15:33

Christ was going through on the cross. Because I think one thing that gets lost when we ponder the crucifixion is that the father is pouring his wrath out on the son.

15:44

There are so many teachers out there that want to deny that. So by asking this question, the father turns his face away, forces especially those teachers to be put in the spot of having to explain.

15:54

So what was happening there as Jesus was dying on the cross? If you say the father is not pouring his wrath out on the son, then why is

16:02

Jesus saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is it just a feeling that he is experiencing?

16:08

Is there something that's being accomplished there? And so and so for that reason, I like the debate forces us back to the scriptures.

16:15

But I think the main reason why there are people that push back on this concept of the father turning his face away and I'm able to speak from experience here because I've been one of them.

16:26

The reason why people push back on that is because there is this concern that what's being communicated is that there's a break in the

16:35

Trinity or that the father was no longer in fellowship with the son at that moment, because as the father is pouring out his wrath on the son, he's certainly not ignoring him.

16:46

It's not like the father's just walked away and left the son there to die by himself. The father is absolutely present there, crushing the son, as said in Isaiah 53, causing our iniquities to fall on him.

17:00

And because of that, because of what the father has done in putting our iniquities on Christ and crushing us or crushing him rather in our place, therefore our sins are forgiven.

17:12

So the father is absolutely present there. This is just one of those spiritual mysteries that is always going to be a debatable point for us until we enter glory and be able to see things from that spiritual vantage point, from that heavenly vantage point that we're not able to see here.

17:30

But I think, again, the reason why this debate happens the way that it does is to try to protect any kind of notion from creeping into the crucifixion of the father walking away from the son or abandoning the son or that the son is no longer part of the triune

17:48

Godhead in that moment. I think that's the reason for the pushback. But again, it is good to consider that there is some sort of forsaking that's taking place here, as long as we define that exegetically as we should.

18:01

Habakkuk 1 .13 was another verse that I mentioned when we were there in Matthew 27, where it says, your eyes are so holy, you cannot even look upon sin.

18:10

So in that moment when Jesus is dying with our sins upon himself, the father, in that sense, turns away from the son who is dying.

18:19

But like I said, I also I also agree with the argument that the father doesn't turn his face away again based on Psalm 22.

18:26

But that's only to say that the father, in whatever way he is forsaking the son as he dies, it's not a permanent forsakenness.

18:35

The father's definitely not walking away and never coming back to the son, for it is because of this sacrifice that Christ is lifting up on our behalf.

18:45

And because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, who himself was without sin, our sins are upon himself.

18:51

But he at no point was ever a sinner because of his perfect sacrifice.

18:57

The father raises him from the dead, showing that he has received that sacrifice and delivers him from the grave as Peter will preach in the in the in the sermon at Pentecost in Acts chapter two, you will not leave my body to shield or to decay in the grave.

19:16

And we also have this in Hebrews two, nine. We do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels,

19:24

Jesus, because of the suffering of death. He was crowned with glory and honor so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone.

19:34

So because Jesus did this, God has raised him from the dead and highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name, as we read about in Philippians chapter two.

19:47

Great question, Alex. And thank you for bringing us back to the text on that, that we may consider those things even more.

19:54

If anybody else has any questions or comments about that, would love to hear from you again. The email address is when we understand the text at Gmail dot com.

20:02

This one from Michael in South Carolina. Dear Pastor Gabe, this may sound like a frivolous concern, but I would like your thoughts on this trend among evangelicals that has pastors dressing down in the pulpits, everything from no tie and a blazer to jeans and a

20:19

T -shirt. I don't want to be a Pharisee about this, but coming from a Presbyterian setting with vestments being the order of the day, it seems to me that the man standing behind the pulpit over the people and handling the word ought to treat it with the respect due its authority.

20:33

This trend seems to the order of the day, even with men I really respect a lot. What do you think the motivation is for this trend?

20:42

Should it matter to me or is it another indication of the church dumbing down to appeal to a culture that doesn't dress up for anything anymore?

20:51

Well, I sure appreciate your question, Michael. And they are some things that I have pondered. In fact, I was put in a place in my ministry.

20:59

This would have been at the end of 2014. So, yeah, almost 10 years ago now where I was reexamining why

21:06

I was doing some of the things that I was doing. And at this point, I had been a pastor for four years but had never worn a suit and a tie in the pulpit.

21:14

I think with the exception of maybe doing a wedding or a funeral, I had been dressing much the way that I usually do.

21:20

At some point I started wearing a blazer, wearing the jacket. But it was still, you know, I might wear a

21:25

T -shirt and then wear the jacket over that. It was still rather a casual look. It was not it was not the formal look that I have now where I'm wearing a three piece suit.

21:36

I have pants, the vest, the jacket and the tie and the whole works. So when I was in that season of having to reevaluate why

21:44

I was doing some of those things, I've talked about this before. It was actually a video from Todd Freel that I saw in which he's talking straight to the camera and asking questions like, you move the pulpit off the stage.

21:54

Why did you do that? And that put me in a place to have to ask myself, yeah, why did I do that? And then saying, you don't wear a suit and tie.

22:02

You have a suit and tie, but you don't wear it. Why not? And it was like he's talking directly to me. He's right. I have a suit and a tie and I don't wear it.

22:09

What is the reason why I wear what I wear when I am up there preaching? And so in one

22:15

Sunday, like it wasn't even a gradual thing. It was just in one Sunday. I brought the pulpit back up and I stood behind the pulpit in a suit and a tie.

22:22

And immediately, like that very Sunday, the audience is very clearly uneasy about this or something that they are not liking about this.

22:33

And and there were even some later who would accuse me of changing my doctrine, even though my doctrine was consistently the same for those four years of my preaching.

22:43

What what was it that was that was making the people feel this way? They were seeing a man who was standing in the pulpit and preaching with authority.

22:51

So instead of looking like a motivational speaker, which was the way that I had been doing things up to that point,

22:56

I would hold the Bible in my hand. I was always exegetically preaching from the word, but I was just standing up there with the

23:04

Bible and walking around and being animated and things like that. And so what had people's attention was me.

23:11

It wasn't the word of God. And then when I took away that element of my preaching and put the

23:18

Bible on the pulpit and stood there and proclaimed the way that the people receive that message changed and now they heard a message that was being preached authoritatively rather than a guy that was trying to look hip and cool on stage.

23:34

Now, I don't think that that was my motivation then. At least I don't remember that being my motivation to be the hip and cool guy.

23:40

This was the way that I had been doing public speaking for years. I had preached behind pulpits before.

23:46

I had lots of preaching experience before then. I'd been preaching from the age of 17 was when

23:53

I was doing my first sermons. So lots of experience preaching and lots of experience in the pulpit. I remember sometimes when

23:59

I would go and do pulpit fill and I would tell the church, you know, I'm kind of animated. I'm probably not going to stay there behind the pulpit.

24:05

And they would tell me, oh, do whatever you want or something like that. Or I would ask them, can I come down to the floor and I'll just preach from the floor instead of up there?

24:13

I don't know why. I don't I don't really remember my motivation for that other than a lot of my training was in motivational speaking.

24:19

Well, it was it wasn't motivational speaking. It was public speaking. I had a lot of training in public speaking, and that was mostly the way that I did my public speaking.

24:28

I did not have a good ecclesiology, I think, in in that training. Ecclesiology being the study of churches and the way that the study of the way churches do certain things and stuff like that.

24:40

So for that reason, I didn't I didn't have that kind of discipline to want to be dressed up and stand behind the pulpit.

24:49

I had done that several times. That just wasn't the regular way that I would do preaching. So when

24:54

I change something in my church, immediately the way that the message is preached even changed.

25:01

And that resulted in that there were there were some interesting conflicts that resulted from that as well that were not related to me wearing a suit and tie and standing in the pulpit like that wasn't part of it.

25:15

It wasn't people coming out going, hey, can you go back to wearing a T -shirt and jeans and a blazer? But it was it was as if because I was presenting the word of God in a more authoritative fashion that started to make people feel uneasy.

25:29

They were starting to hear the message and it was convicting to them. And and that had an effect.

25:34

So that might be the reason why a lot of preachers out there don't do that.

25:40

It could just be ignorance. In fact, I would I would speculate that a lot of it is ignorance because that's what it was with me again, just didn't have a good ecclesiology, was not well disciplined in understanding why this would be important to wear a suit and a tie and stand behind a pulpit instead of looking like a motivational speaker up there.

25:59

If everybody is attracted or I'm keeping the attention of people by walking around and that seems to keep people's attention better than if I was standing behind a pulpit, then why wouldn't

26:12

I go to the walking around method? I'm just I'm just kind of trying to, you know, get into their heads and rationalize why they're doing it the way that they're doing it.

26:20

A lot of it is probably ignorance. There's also, you know, just the desire to want to look cool.

26:25

And I don't want to isolate somebody. I don't want to push somebody away or feel like they can't connect with me because I'm wearing a suit and a tie.

26:32

Now, I find that excuse to be absurd, because when you turn on sports, especially during football season, when you turn on football on Saturday, you're watching college ball or Sunday, you're watching professional ball.

26:48

Every one of those announcers is in a suit and tie. Every one of them, pretty much without exception, except for the women.

26:54

But they're wearing their pantsuits. Right. And it's the same with basketball season right now.

27:00

I don't watch a lot of hockey, so I don't know what the hockey announcers are looking like. But in basketball season, you have the basketball announcer,

27:06

Shaquille O 'Neal, Charles Barkley, any of those guys that are sitting there at that desk doing commentary.

27:12

They are wearing a suit and tie. So we'll listen to sports commentators. In a field where all of the players are wearing clothes that they can get dirty and sweat in.

27:23

But the announcers are not dressed like the players. They're dressed professionally in a suit and tie.

27:29

And we expect that when we turn on those sporting events, that that's the way those men are going to be dressed.

27:36

You know, despite the way that our our culture is going with losing masculinity and femininity and a man can be a woman if he wants to, and a woman can become a man.

27:46

Despite all of that that's going on, you can still turn on professional sporting events and a man still dresses like a man. Have you noticed that?

27:52

So so this cultural phenomenon, the trans movement, is not it's not bled its way into many other areas.

28:00

So we still expect a man to dress like that. And if we expect a guy who's doing sports commentating to dress like that, why wouldn't a pastor dress that way?

28:09

Why are sports commentators dressing more professionally, more respectfully and therefore more reverently than a pastor is?

28:18

Pastors, you know, he doesn't have his shirt tucked in. He's wearing jeans and shoes.

28:24

He doesn't even stand behind a pulpit. He's got like a stool with his Bible on it or a table with his with his Bible on it.

28:29

And he thinks that's being more conversational because that might be his motivation. He wants this to be a conversational piece.

28:37

I want the audience to feel like we're having a conversation rather than being lectured. But the word of God is authoritative.

28:45

It is inherently authoritative. We have this in Second Timothy 3, 16 and 17.

28:51

And you could probably quote this with me. All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

29:04

Do you hear any of that hearing? Do you hear any of that meaning that we're supposed to be conversational about it?

29:12

You know, maybe the teaching, maybe the training in righteousness, in righteousness, you're going to get some feedback on that.

29:18

But for the most part, the way that that's presented in Second Timothy 3, 16 is God's word is authoritative.

29:25

It is from God. Scripture is from God. So preach it in such a way that it teaches. It reproves you are wrong and God is right for correction.

29:36

You need to live in this way instead of that way for training in righteousness. Verse 17, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

29:51

And then we go right from there. Pretend that there's not even a chapter break. So we go from the end of chapter three into the beginning of chapter four.

29:58

Let me go ahead and read the end of chapter three. And I'll just go right into chapter four without saying that I'm moving chapters.

30:04

OK, so let me read this again. All scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

30:21

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word.

30:32

Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with great patience and teaching.

30:42

And those words there reprove, rebuke and exhort. Those are very lecturing type words.

30:48

It's not sit down with your people and have a conversation with them, but preach the word of God authoritatively as it is binding on every person, whether they believe it or not in season and out of season, whether the sun is up or down.

31:02

Preach the word that it may train the people of God and prepare them for every good work.

31:09

It's kind of unfortunate that we have the chapter break there between Second Timothy three and four, because Paul is continuing the thought.

31:16

He's not beginning a new thought in light of the fact that scripture is God breathe. Therefore, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus to preach the word.

31:27

And I think if we want to do that reverently, then a pastor needs to dress reverently.

31:32

I think that's wise. I'm not going to say that a pastor who is not dressed reverently is inherently sinning.

31:41

Like if you see a pastor in a T -shirt and jeans preaching, I sure wish he wouldn't dress that way. But is there automatically something wrong with the way that he is dressing?

31:51

After all, how did the apostles dress? They didn't wear suits and ties.

31:56

What would have been the acceptable dress code for that day? You know, Peter goes to Cornelius's house and preaches and the house is converted.

32:04

That's, of course, not a formal church setting. But how would it have been, say, for example, when Paul was preaching in Troas, this would have been the time when

32:13

Eutychus fell out of the window and died. Right. But it says this was a formal church gathering on the first day of the week.

32:20

I'm reading from Acts 20, verse seven on the first day of the week when we were gathered together to break bread. Paul began speaking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.

32:30

So this is a church service. It's on Sunday. They are even partaking of the Lord's table. Paul is preaching.

32:37

What would he have been dressing or how would he have been dressed? Unlikely that he's in some sort of formal attire.

32:45

So that's certainly something that has developed over the years. But I think even with those those cultural norms in place.

32:53

So it might be a cultural thing. You'll have one culture that will wear vestments a certain way. Another culture might dress another way.

33:00

Nonetheless, I think it is good and it is wise for a pastor to dress formally. I'll tell you, when

33:06

I was pastoring my church in Kansas, an atheist friend of mine came to church one time and he sat in the back.

33:13

And one of the things that he observed, this was after I started wearing suits. No, actually, no, I take that back.

33:19

It was it was before it was before I wasn't yet wearing a suit at the time that I was preaching when he came and visited me.

33:25

But anyway, at the end of service, he made a comment about he wasn't talking specifically about my attire.

33:30

He was just speaking generally about how Christians dress going to church. And he said, you'll dress up to go to work.

33:37

You'll wear the suit and tie that your job requires you to wear. But then you're wearing a T -shirt and jeans when you go to when you go to church on Sunday.

33:44

And to those of us who are outside again, he's speaking as an atheist. He said, it looks like that you have more reverence for your job than you have for the

33:52

God that you are worshiping. And that was that was quite a point. I don't think his point had anything to do with why

33:58

I started wearing a suit. Like I said, I think the Todd Freel video was more convicting, but but it was something that I thought about later when

34:05

I came back to that conversation and considered those things. How does that even look to people who are on the outside?

34:11

Does it look like that we are putting on our best or desiring to show our best before God? That certainly doesn't save us.

34:19

It doesn't gain the favor of God because we have it gained through Christ. We have his favor.

34:25

He loves us as his sons and daughters because of what Christ has done for us, not because of what we're wearing.

34:32

But don't you want to don't you want to look your best for people, especially that you admire or love or respect?

34:41

Like, you know, when my wife and I want to go out on a date, sometimes we dress casually, but sometimes we want to dress up for each other.

34:49

I want to look my best for her. I want her to think I'm handsome, and she wants me to see her dressed lovely and wanting to go extra steps for me, wearing nice perfume, doing makeup and things like that.

35:03

So we might do that for people we love. Think about that. Also apply that to when we worship

35:09

God. Don't you want to put on your best before God because you love God? Not because not because you're trying to do some religious thing or trying to look better than somebody else.

35:19

You know, Paul even warned the church in Ephesus through Timothy. This is in First Timothy, chapter two. He warned the women not to dress in such a way that is going to attract a lot of attention for themselves.

35:31

It doesn't mean that it's wrong to wear great clothes on Sunday and do your makeup and things like that.

35:37

But there were women in the church in Ephesus who were clearly dressing in such a way so as to attract a lot of attention to themselves.

35:44

And that shouldn't be our motivation. But should we not want to present our best before God?

35:49

I'm going to church. I'm going to worship. I'm going to put on my Sunday best. Remember when we used to say that doesn't seem to be as much a thing anymore.

35:59

Anyway, thank you for your question, Michael. I'm sure that that is a topic that we can we can continue on for quite a while.

36:05

All right. Now let's get to I don't have a question pulled up here related to this, but I just had a lot of questions from people about the solar eclipse and things like that.

36:15

So let's come to a video here. And this is a video from a guy named Steve Chioccolanti.

36:20

I only became familiar with him about eight or nine years ago. He I guess it would have been in 2016 because he had one of the worst prophecies

36:29

I have ever heard about Donald Trump. I've got a what video coming out about this that plays the clip with Steve Chioccolanti saying that that maybe

36:41

Donald Trump is the fulfillment of the prophecy at the sound of the last Trump, the dead in Christ will rise.

36:46

That is so incredibly absurd. But Steve Chioccolanti is the guy who said it. I did

36:52

I did grab the audio when he said it, but I did not grab the source. So I can't find the original video anymore.

36:58

Nonetheless, that clip is going to be in a what video that's coming up preceding the eclipse that will be on Monday.

37:05

Anyway, Steve, Steve Chioccolanti is a false prophet. He makes all kinds of prophecies, especially whenever there's an eclipse or a major event that happens in Israel or something like this.

37:15

I've had questions asked about him before. I think I've talked about him on the podcast at some point in the past, although it's it's been a very long time.

37:23

But here we are with another eclipse. And and of course, he's talking about the the ways in which prophecy is going to be fulfilled through this eclipse that we're going to see on Monday, which once again, just to state plainly.

37:37

Solar lunar eclipses have no prophetic significance, period.

37:43

This video is called Terror Eclipses, so talk about fear mongering, right?

37:50

What no one told you about April 8th and the apocalyptic sign of Jonah. So let's get started here.

37:57

He's got some, you know, sound effects to start things off and we will hear the absurdity of his preaching.

38:04

Here we go. This is Steve Chioccolanti. This video just came out about a week and a half ago.

38:16

Sorry, I could have just fast forwarded through this part.

38:22

I believe God has given America's last warning in the skies. There have been three great eclipses.

38:29

One is coming that marks the United States out purposefully. No other religion in the world, no other

38:35

God in the world does this. The sun, moon and stars obey his command. And we know that this eclipse has been coming for decades, so no, it is not a sign of anything.

38:49

NASA has has charted out every eclipse in the world that we're going to see for the next hundred plus years.

38:57

Like we know exactly when and where they are going to happen because the sun, moon and stars work like clockwork.

39:05

This is the way that God has designed them to work. They give they they demonstrate the glory of God.

39:12

Psalm 19, verse one, the heavens are telling of the glory of God and the expanse is declaring the work of his hands day to day, pours forth speech and night to night reveals knowledge.

39:25

Verse five, that the sun is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber.

39:30

It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. It's rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the other end of them.

39:41

And there is nothing hidden from its heat. The sun and the moon are running the course that God had set them on.

39:48

This is the way things are supposed to happen. The eclipse is not a sign of anything.

39:54

It is not God's last warning to America. God's warning to America is in the

40:00

Bible. It is turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ or else you will perish in judgment.

40:08

The same sermon that Paul gave at the Areopagus in Acts chapter 17, the times of ignorance

40:13

God has overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day of judgment on which he will judge the world in righteousness and he is shown by whom he will judge the world by raising him from the dead.

40:26

That message at the Areopagus, which would have been preached, what, somewhere around the 50s

40:32

A .D., that is still a relevant message for America today.

40:38

The sign for America's repentance is the gospel turn from your sin to the

40:45

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It is not in eclipses. An eclipse is a sign of nothing except that creation is working exactly the way that God had said it in its course.

41:00

The first one went across the continental United States of 48 states on the 21st of August 2017.

41:07

I stood in Houston, Texas, and I proclaimed that this would be a judgment and God would give seven years for America to repent.

41:15

Hurricane Harvey came. It was calculated to be the costliest natural disaster in U .S. history. I was disappointed, though, that I didn't know where the location would be.

41:24

And I came to find out prophecies this way. You will learn and you will understand prophecy as it unfolds.

41:31

Well, not only did he not know the location of the hurricane, but he didn't know the hurricane. So he's kind of trying to puff himself up here.

41:39

But he didn't know squat. I said seven years ago that that this was coming.

41:45

Yeah, of course he did, because he knew the next. He knew when the next eclipse was going to be, it was going to be in twenty twenty four.

41:51

We all knew that everybody knew there were going to be two eclipses. There was going to be twenty seventeen and twenty twenty four in which the eclipse was going to cross the entire

42:01

United States, one from the northwest to the southeast and the other from the southwest to the northeast and not including the annular eclipse, which was just more localized to the southwest.

42:12

So we all knew this. It's absurd the way I mean, he's he's already. He's already a false prophet here, puffing himself up, not exalting

42:22

Christ. Nobody gets to impress people with, well, I knew the future perfectly. No, you just got to preach the word, preach the word.

42:29

And as it unfolds, I believe when it's clear, when the when the true meaning is given of a prophecy, it's so clear that everyone says, well, that was obvious.

42:39

How could we have not seen it? How could we deny that's the way prophecy works? God's not trying to hide things.

42:45

He's trying to reveal things. No one prophesied Hurricane Harvey. And the only reason it looks like these guys are prophesying these eclipses is because we know when they are.

42:58

So I stood there in Houston and the place where I stood was flooded and in everybody in the whole city was flooded.

43:06

And I just thought, Lord, why didn't you tell me ahead of time? I had to wait until the next solar eclipse.

43:13

It was the October 14, 2023 eclipse. And I realized that that one crosses the next one in twenty twenty four and it marks exactly the spot where Hurricane Harvey came.

43:26

So now that that's confirmed, but we didn't overlay all three at that time, we just knew the two. But now that we overlay all three, we realize you can see there are three spots being marked out on the map.

43:39

This is just reaching like anything could have happened in that area where these eclipses cross.

43:46

And he would have said, see, that was it. That was the sign. And this is the way they do that. So nothing was prophetically proclaimed at all.

43:53

It's only in hindsight that we're looking back going, oh, see, this is what God was telling us, which is which is of no help whatsoever.

44:02

Now, hurricanes are a sign of judgment from God. It is a sign in the sense that God has subjected this world to futility.

44:12

These things happen because of man's sinful rebellion against God, not the particular event, but the fact that the entire world is in chaos.

44:21

God may send a storm to judge an area. Perhaps Hurricane Harvey was a judgment against southeast

44:27

United States or or southeast Texas. Rather, it would not have been a judgment for for the entire

44:34

United States. That's the other thing these prophets will do. See, this was a judgment against the US. Well, it didn't hit the whole

44:39

US. So how was it a judgment against the whole US? So there are certainly ways in which

44:45

God will use storms like this to get our attention. It may not be that the specific event is for a specific judgment, but God nonetheless uses these things to draw our attention to him.

44:56

Consider Psalm 107. Those who go down to the sea and ships who do business on many waters, they have seen the works of Yahweh and his wondrous deeds in the deep.

45:07

He spoke and set up a stormy wind which raised up the waves of the sea.

45:13

They went up to the heavens. They went down to the depths. Their soul melted away in calamity. They staggered and swayed like drunken men and all their wisdom was swallowed up.

45:24

Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble and he brought them out of their distresses.

45:30

He caused the storm to stand still so that its waves were hushed and then they were glad because they were quiet.

45:39

So he led them to their desired haven. So God will use these things to bring us to repentance.

45:48

But it's not as if these events, the way that they've unfolded an eclipse and Hurricane Harvey and all this stuff was interconnected to some specific judgment that God was communicating to America.

46:01

This is absolutely false. And like I said, we're we're two minutes into this and already

46:06

Steve Giochalanti is a false prophet. So those are the hot zones. That's where little

46:12

Egypt in Illinois has been marked out, probably an earthquake. Something has been marked out in Oregon.

46:18

Not sure yet what it is, but we've had fire in Texas. We've had water in Texas. And today, this morning, as you woke up,

46:25

I don't know if you realize this, but this is breaking news in Texas. Thousands of, they say, beautiful but toxic sea creatures washing up on the

46:33

Texas shores. Did you see this on the news? So the fires in Texas were up in the panhandle.

46:40

I mean, that's tragic, and we should keep those people in our prayers. I did pray for them, deeply prayed for them, because that was an area of the world where I cut my teeth preaching when

46:51

I was living in southwest Kansas. And I would go into some of those towns in in the north Texas panhandle,

46:56

Perryton and Dalhart and Booker and Follett. Those were some of the towns that I would visit and preach in and love those people loved being in that area.

47:07

I really miss that area. So when the fires were going on there, I was praying for you guys.

47:12

If there's anybody from the Texas panhandle listening, I was really in prayer for you. But that had nothing to do with the eclipse.

47:19

Absolutely nothing to do with the eclipse. Again, an event like that can be just like what we read about in Psalm 107.

47:26

God using those things, those kinds of things are going to happen in the world because we live in a fallen world, because the world has been subjected to a curse because of our sin.

47:35

And God will use that to bring us to himself. But that event might not be a specific judgment for a specific sin.

47:44

OK, interesting. I'll read a little bit. Thousands of beautiful but dangerous sea creatures bungling plans for many spring breakers.

47:51

The blue dragon, as we're going to talk about what the dragon is, little dragons are washing up on the seashore.

47:58

You get that? That's God giving warning signs. These are shell -less mollusks known as the most beautiful killer in the ocean.

48:09

That's not good. Beautiful. So we welcome it. We say, yeah, come on in. You're very beautiful.

48:15

And it's the most dangerous killer in the ocean. Ocean represents the Gentile nations.

48:21

They popped up in droves along the shores of North Padre Island Sunday for the first time this year.

48:28

Sunday is today. This is breaking news. Isn't that amazing? So it's the same thing happened at the solar eclipse last

48:36

October. As I was preaching it, I had Laura Trump, Eric Trump and General Mike Flynn with me.

48:42

And none of them knew at the moment I'm preaching the solar eclipse is happening outside of the stadium.

48:50

How could they have known that when they invited me, nobody knew that that was the day and the moment. That it really sounds like he's saying that this eclipse was happening because because I was preaching like they didn't even know about it.

49:06

So because I'm preaching judgment, then God caused the eclipse to happen. That's what way it sounds like he's shaping it.

49:12

And you can even hear the audience going, whoa, they didn't even know it was happening. But here I am preaching and an eclipse is happening right outside as though something

49:21

Steve was doing was was God giving affirmation of that through that eclipse.

49:28

Just absurd. God is working. What is God doing? These are just cute things. These are warning signs.

49:34

So pay attention. Right. And what's cool is our lives are in his hands. If he can direct us to meet today, despite all odds, does he not care about us?

49:45

It's a miracle to be here in this church today. Lots of things would have stopped you from coming today, but you made it.

49:52

So don't check out or just sit and say, oh, it's another prophecy sermon. Pay attention. I already know it.

49:58

I went to Bible school. Please pay attention. God called you here today. All right, so and he has to present it that way, like he's not going to present it as guys.

50:09

Eclipses are just naturally occurring things. And we've known for decades that this eclipse was coming. He can't do that because he immediately diminishes on his own credibility.

50:19

He immediately is saying something that he can say to the audience, you can check out. This isn't really going to matter much because because this eclipse that's happening is really not tied to any anything prophetic at all.

50:30

He can't say that. So he has to frame it in such a way that makes it sound like to his audience.

50:35

I have the knowledge. So you need to listen to me because God has revealed this to me to give to you.

50:42

And that this is how this guy has 60 million views on his YouTube channel and makes his millions of dollars.

50:49

Those three places have been marked. And I believe as the dragon points to and as the sun points to,

50:56

I believe this last solar eclipse clearly points to Islam. So I want to explain this because I don't think

51:03

I've heard this and you've not heard this elsewhere. OK, before getting to this.

51:08

So I made this comment on social media that as I'm putting together these videos where I'm going to debunk a lot of the theories regarding the solar eclipse or some of the false, some of the false prophecies that are being put out there.

51:22

I said these false prophets will get millions of views on their YouTube channels. I'll get a few thousand.

51:29

There will still be people that will watch it, there will still be people who will share it, but overall, I'm just going to get a few thousand views.

51:36

And that's because people love the sensationalism. The reason why they listen to Steve Giochalonti is because they want this to be true.

51:46

They want this to be the reason for the eclipse. And they, too, want to be privy to this secret knowledge so that I can tell it to my friends and they'll be regaled with with all of the deep insight that I have into these things that are happening in the world and so on and so forth.

52:01

It could be for reasons of gossip, wanting to impress friends may not be for reasons of money, or it could just simply be that a person wants some sort of stillness and satisfaction in their own spirit.

52:14

I feel at unease because of what's happening in the world. I don't know how to explain it. So somebody help me out here.

52:20

The Bible is not enough for them. Scripture is not sufficient. It's not enough to know that I have peace with God through my

52:27

Lord Jesus Christ. So they're going to turn to false prophets like this who are going to make false prophecies like this.

52:33

And that's going to be the rest that I find for my soul, which is entirely self -centered, doesn't trust in Christ.

52:40

It trusts in things that appeal to and appease our flesh. First of all, we had a sign that Jesus told us about in the

52:49

New Testament called the sign of Jonah. And we need to read this. Jesus said twice, no sign twice, by the way,

52:56

Matthew 12 and Matthew 16, no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet

53:02

Jonah. And we spiritualize that and we say that, well, that's the sign of the resurrection. OK, but could it mean something else?

53:10

I think the people now, why do we say that? Why do we say that it is the sign of the resurrection? Because that's what

53:17

Jesus said. He said the sign of Jonah is his resurrection, he says in let me go to the

53:27

Matthew 12 reference that he made, Matthew, Matthew 12, 38, some of the scribes and the

53:33

Pharisees answered and said to him, teacher, we want to see a sign from you. But he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign.

53:41

And yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster.

53:51

So will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

53:57

The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

54:08

The queen of the south will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

54:22

Jesus is directly tying. This sign of Jonah to his death and his resurrection, that's why we don't spiritualize it like like what

54:33

Steve Gio Galanti just said, we spiritualize it, we say that as part of the resurrection, no, we read the scriptures because that's what

54:40

Jesus said. Let's hear how he's going to craft this sign so that, again, you know that he has all the secret knowledge that God has revealed to him.

54:50

And that time, even before the resurrection took place, understood what the sign of Jonah was.

54:56

Take a look at the context of chapter 16, verse four. What's the context? The previous verse.

55:03

What does verse three say? Jesus said, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

55:15

So what's the sign of Jonah in context, if you don't interpret it, what is it? Something in the sky.

55:22

Did he not say, look up, everyone say, look up. All right, so.

55:28

And and now you now you have the knowledge as well. Look up.

55:33

Yeah, so he goes to Matthew 16 instead of Matthew 12. And here's what we have at the start of Matthew 16, beginning in verse one, and the

55:40

Pharisees and the Sadducees came and testing him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

55:48

So there's the there's the challenge from the Pharisees and the Sadducees, we want to see a sign from heaven.

55:55

So Jesus answer has to do with their demand. He replied to them when it is evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening.

56:09

Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah, and he left them and went away, and that's reiterating what he had said back in chapter 12.

56:29

So Steve says, in context, what does that mean? Yeah, let me ask you the same question in context, what does it mean? In the context of all of Matthew's gospel, it means his death and his resurrection.

56:39

That's exactly what it means. It does not mean that an eclipse is going to be a sign of something.

56:48

What happened in 763 BC on the 15th of June on our Gregorian calendar, there was a great total solar eclipse that went over Assyria and specifically their capital city of Nineveh.

57:01

So the sign of Jonah is at least that Assyrian Eber -Segal eclipse in 763

57:08

BC, but not only that, there were two plagues that preceded the solar eclipse and followed the eclipse.

57:15

The two plagues are recorded in Assyrian history in 765 BC and in 760

57:20

BC. Not only that, there was a great earthquake recorded in Amos 1 -1. It's so famous, it just says, at that earthquake, at the time of that earthquake.

57:30

It was the earthquake that everyone knew about, and it occurred in 760 BC. That's after the eclipse.

57:37

You get an eclipse, you get an earthquake and a plague. You get an eclipse, you get an earthquake and a plague. That's the sign of Jonah.

57:44

So without having to... No, that's not the sign of Jonah. In fact, an eclipse is never mentioned in Jonah.

57:51

No other natural disasters are mentioned in Jonah at all. The only thing that Jonah gives to us, the book of Jonah is what

57:59

I'm talking about. The only thing that is given to us there regarding the mission that God has sent Jonah to Nineveh to do is to proclaim that judgment is coming, so repent.

58:11

And the time in which they have to repent is even given there. So here, let me go to Jonah 3.

58:18

Now, the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out to it this very call which

58:26

I am going to speak to you. So once again, this is after Jonah's refused to go to Nineveh, he's tried to flee, he spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish or the belly of the sea monster, he's barfed out on the land, and now he's going to finally do what

58:41

God has told him to do. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh.

58:49

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days walk. When Jonah began to go into the city, one day's walk, he called out and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.

59:03

And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

59:11

Then the word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, laid aside his mantle from him, covered himself with sackcloth and ashes.

59:20

And he cried out and said, in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man, animal, herd, or flock taste a thing.

59:28

Do not let them eat and do not let them drink water, but both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth and let men call on God with their strength that each may turn from his evil ways and from the violence which is in his hands.

59:42

Who knows, God may turn and relent and turn away from his burning anger so that we will not perish.

59:49

Then God saw their words, that they turned from their evil way, so God relented concerning the evil which he had spoken he would bring upon them, and he did not bring it upon them.

01:00:04

What caused the Ninevites to repent? The preaching of the word of God.

01:00:12

And that is all that is given to us in Jonah. There was not an eclipse, there was not an earthquake, there was not a plague.

01:00:22

It was just the preaching of God's word that brought about a conviction and a repentance in this people.

01:00:30

So the New Testament or Bible prophecy, every listener at the time of Jesus' preaching would have understood.

01:00:37

What's the sign of Jonah? Look up, discern, there was a total solar eclipse, a great earthquake, and a plague.

01:00:43

Nope. That is never mentioned. It's nowhere in the Bible. This is completely eisegetical.

01:00:50

That Steve Cioccolanti is reading these things into the text and he's doing it to puff himself up and make himself look like the professional.

01:00:59

It is not in scripture at all. Doesn't that match the four horses that we've been talking about in the book of Revelation?

01:01:07

It's all there. So this is a warning. Not only that, but you pull back and you realize, okay, where is the warning given?

01:01:14

It's over the territory of present day Islamic countries. So this eclipse could have been recorded anywhere else, but it's now over a region that is all covered by Islam.

01:01:26

And I believe that's the Antichrist religion. Like literally. Okay. Well, Roman Catholicism is the

01:01:33

Antichrist religion too. So I mean, the Pope is an Antichrist claiming to be the vicar of Christ.

01:01:39

You have Hinduism is an Antichrist religion. Buddhism is an Antichrist religion. So is

01:01:45

Islam. It's not the Antichrist religion. It is an Antichrist religion.

01:01:50

1 John 2, 18 children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now, many

01:01:56

Antichrists have appeared from this. We know that it is the last hour.

01:02:02

Verse 22, who is the liar, but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the

01:02:07

Antichrist, the one who denies the father and the son. Islam certainly does.

01:02:14

In fact, it is said in the Quran, far be it from a law to have a son. Jesus Christ is not the son of God.

01:02:21

First John 4, 1 beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

01:02:27

Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this, you know, the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

01:02:37

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the

01:02:43

Antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

01:02:52

So of course, it's an Antichrist religion, but this eclipse has nothing to do with Islam.

01:02:59

Okay, not besmirching or defaming anyone, literally, they say on the dome of the rock,

01:03:06

God has no son. That's Antichrist. So whatever we preach, whatever we say in the

01:03:11

Bible, whatever God revealed, they just took that and just reversed it, just say the opposite. God says

01:03:16

He has a son, they say He has no son. Well, that's not very original. God said He died on the cross for our sins, they say no,

01:03:21

He didn't die. It was made to appear that He died. So God would be a deceiver.

01:03:28

Amen. Again, understand not all Muslims are bad. Most Muslims are very nominal, very nice, hospitable people. I love going to Muslim countries.

01:03:34

I actually enjoy it. Please understand that. I hope you can understand. We will talk about things like war will happen in Israel.

01:03:42

We will talk about things like a lot of the rabbis and Jews do not believe our Messiah, their Messiah right now, but it doesn't mean that we would dislike going to Israel or hate

01:03:52

Israel as a nation. Does that make sense? Okay, we talk often in history and we say, well, Adolf Hitler was a

01:03:59

German dictator, but it doesn't mean that you wouldn't go visit Germany. It's a nice country, lots of nice people.

01:04:06

But historically, there's a problem with dictatorships and people trying to control the whole world out of Germany.

01:04:12

Okay, you got it? Okay, a little bit of caveat. So how does the solar eclipse point to Islam?

01:04:18

Well, it happened, the sign of Jonah happened over the Islamic region. There's more to it. You look at this.

01:04:25

What is this? I think this is going to be the first time that you hear this revelation.

01:04:31

What is this? So he's showing the sign from the Islamic flag, which is, you know, the crescent moon and the star.

01:04:38

That's what he's showing before his audience. Crescent moon, symbol of?

01:04:44

Symbol of Islam. Any Islamic country, you're going to see on top of their mosque, this symbol.

01:04:50

Okay, and it's called the crescent moon. However, the moon never looks like this. Oh no, we're embarrassed.

01:04:58

We screwed up. Our warehouse is overloaded with survival food kits. But our men...

01:05:03

Did you ever stop and ask yourself, when does the moon ever look like this?

01:05:08

The answer is never. The moon never looks like this. This is what our moon looks like. In all phases,

01:05:15

I put them all up, like every phase that you can imagine and draw. Okay, so if you know,

01:05:20

I'm sure you can envision this in your head, you have that crescent moon look on the Islamic flag or the

01:05:25

Islamic symbol. And it, you know, he's just, yeah, I mean, it's an over exaggeration of that look of the moon.

01:05:35

It's kind of like the logo of DreamWorks. You know, whenever you watch a DreamWorks movie, if you've ever seen some of those computer animated films, and it has the crescent moon, which the moon never looks like that either.

01:05:47

It's just an exaggerated illustration of the moon, partly in shadow.

01:05:53

And that crescent moon does not look like that at all. So what is it? Can I suggest to you something?

01:06:00

Even if they don't know that they're doing it, God will use all these things prophetically. Take a look at what this is.

01:06:06

Now, the inner circle is too small, by the way. That's why it doesn't look like the moon. The inner circle that's blocking this object is too small.

01:06:14

So does it not look like an annular solar eclipse? But it can't.

01:06:21

It can't be that because it's the moon. The symbol on the

01:06:28

Islamic symbol is the moon. So it can't be a solar eclipse. A solar eclipse is the sun.

01:06:36

It is the moon passing in front of the sun. Anyway, it's absurd the lengths that he's going to to try to show these things as being something something prophetic.

01:06:48

So now, because the Islamic symbol looks like this, that's how he's tying this stuff that's happening in the

01:06:56

United States of America, a solar eclipse. He's tying this into Islam.

01:07:02

This is such a reach. The symbol of Islam is a solar eclipse.

01:07:08

And you can hear the crowd like, oh, I've never thought of this before. All this this new knowledge.

01:07:17

Astronomically speaking, right. The drawers may not be aware of that, but astronomically speaking, it is an inaccurate picture of the moon.

01:07:25

It is an accurate picture of a solar eclipse. So yeah, he's saying like the people who came up with this symbol, even though they say that it's the moon, they're probably not aware that what they've actually done is a solar eclipse.

01:07:36

It's what Steve says it is, not what it historically is, and it's specifically an annular solar eclipse where the object that's blocking it is too small.

01:07:45

And what happened last October? Annular solar eclipse. Then if we're not smart enough to figure this out, the universal universal symbol of Islam is actually an annular solar eclipse.

01:07:56

Give you the other view. Whichever way it comes in, it looks like the crescent of Islam. And what is

01:08:02

God drawing over the United States? Three. Well, one crescent as as it blocks, you're going to see more crescents, but three solar eclipses.

01:08:12

And where do they go? They go over Jonah and 11 Nineveh's. A lot of people debate this.

01:08:18

And by the way, it doesn't. It does not go over 11 Nineveh's, it doesn't go over 11

01:08:25

Nineveh's, it goes over two, two of them. And I've seen that I have seen multiple videos.

01:08:32

I've watched dozens of videos from people making stupid claims, just dumb.

01:08:37

And they are as dumb as the stuff that Steve is saying here, if some of them are even worse.

01:08:43

But I won't go into all of that anyway. It is it is a pretty common thread in these predictions to say that the first eclipse in 2017 went over seven

01:08:54

Salem's, which is short for Jerusalem. And although that's true, there are 36

01:09:01

Salem's in the United States, 36 towns called Salem in the US. When this eclipse went over seven of the totality of the eclipse went over seven of them, which has no prophetic significance.

01:09:13

Jerusalem is in the Middle East, not in the United States, in case you haven't noticed. But then this one with this eclipse, they're saying it passes over 11

01:09:21

Nineveh's or what you mostly hear is six Nineveh's in the United States and then one in Canada.

01:09:27

So that would make a seventh. But it's really not true. It goes over two Nineveh's.

01:09:33

It's visible from all of the other Nineveh's. But the eclipse is visible everywhere in the

01:09:40

United States. There's not a part in the United States that you can't see part of the eclipse. There's only a totality that goes over a narrow area and the totality is seen in two

01:09:50

Nineveh's. But it's seen in every other town in the United States, as long as you're using the glasses when you look up at the sun, so you don't blind yourself.

01:09:58

Some partiality of the eclipse can be observed anywhere. So it's absurd to say the eclipse goes over all of these

01:10:04

Nineveh's, right? It goes over the entire United States. Just going to put it up so that people know. I don't know why people are repeating seven.

01:10:11

But here it is. Nineveh, Texas, Nineveh, Missouri, Nineveh, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, twice,

01:10:17

Virginia, New York, Nova Scotia, Canada, twice, Kentucky misspelled Nineveh with a V -A -H.

01:10:23

He's saying twice because I guess there's more than one town called Nineveh in Pennsylvania. I haven't looked into that, but that's apparently his logic.

01:10:32

So that's 11. There it is. So could God be more clear? Now when he puts up the map of where all the

01:10:39

Nineveh's are, you can clearly see only two Nineveh's in the totality of the eclipse.

01:10:45

The rest of them are scattered. So it has, you can't even say that the eclipse is visible in all of those

01:10:53

Nineveh's because it's not. The totality of the eclipse is only seen in two of them. This is the sign of Jonah.

01:10:59

This is the one that goes over Jonah, goes over Nineveh. It is over an Islamic region back in 763

01:11:05

BC. We got the dragon washing up on the shore and we got the symbol of Islam over the

01:11:12

United States. So Jesus said twice in Matthew to look for the sign of Jonah.

01:11:19

The sign of Jonah historically went over an Islamic region. The April 8th eclipse crosses one

01:11:25

Jonah and 11 Nineveh's. Could it be more clear? And remember the green horse, which Pastor John saw in a vision will include death by Islam.

01:11:36

Okay, now here we go with somebody had a vision. So we're bringing somebody else's false prophecy into this as well, trying to give credibility or prophetic weight to this guy who's had his own vision of this stuff.

01:11:50

But again, all this is happening in the United States. What in the world would this have to do with Islam? United States certainly has

01:11:57

Muslims living in it. It's not an Islamic country. And you also continually hear him say the sign of Jonah is a sign in the heavens.

01:12:05

Nothing in the Old Testament or new tied Jonah with an eclipse. I think I said this in the beginning, but a solar or a lunar eclipse, neither one is mentioned in the

01:12:16

Bible. Naturally occurring solar or lunar eclipses don't appear in the Bible. Maybe you could say that the darkness that came over Egypt was an eclipse of some kind or the darkness that came over the land when

01:12:26

Jesus was dying on the cross. You could call that an eclipse, but it's not an eclipse by a heavenly body.

01:12:32

It's not the moon passing between the sun and the earth.

01:12:37

It was something supernatural that was taking place. Naturally occurring things are not signs of anything.

01:12:44

If God is going to give a sign, if God is giving a prophetic sign, then it's going to be supernatural.

01:12:52

It is not going to be something that is naturally occurring death by a great sword, and that's coming soon, too.

01:13:00

So all of it is converging, whichever way you want to look at Bible prophecy right now.

01:13:05

I know if you're not Christian, you'll be scared to death, but don't be scared. We have a hope. We are the winners in the end.

01:13:11

Jesus is the winner. Amen. Okay. So anyway, I'm going to stop it there. The video was about to be interrupted by an ad.

01:13:17

Anyway, this guy, by the way, loves his ads. Steve Chialcolanti loves his ads because he's trying to sell something.

01:13:26

So he's, he makes buku bucks off of these videos. I mean, somebody who's got 60 million views and has ads on all of his videos.

01:13:33

There was an ad that played in the middle of just the clip that I gave to you, and I had to cut it out.

01:13:40

So audio wise, I cut the ad out. I should have left it in because it had something to do with survival kits.

01:13:49

Kind of funny to have that in there in the midst of Steve Chialcolanti talking about all of this disaster and doom that's coming up.

01:13:56

Of course, you're going to want to hear, well, we might need to hunker down and get some food together, get some rations.

01:14:02

And so in case this thing goes south, we still got a way to eat. And then you'll see the boxes of supply food coming up or survival food.

01:14:11

And you're going to go, yeah, well, then I need to order that. So of course, it's a whole money making scheme for this guy.

01:14:18

But you can see how easily we were able to debunk all the claims that he was making just by going to the scripture and looking at the context.

01:14:25

It didn't take but a few minutes for us to do that. He would make a claim. We go to the scripture and immediately his claim is debunked.

01:14:33

And this is how these guys operate by twisting scripture, by convincing their audiences that they have some sort of secret knowledge and they need to listen to them in order to get all the secrets that God is unlocking through me.

01:14:47

This is how they claim their authority. This is how they fool the masses and the masses of people will listen to it because they want to because they find this to be ear tickling.

01:14:56

Let me go back to Second Timothy four, which I read a moment ago. You know, it was in verse two where it says, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort with great patience and teaching.

01:15:07

Here's the next part for the time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, but wanting to have their ears tickled.

01:15:16

They will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

01:15:29

And the people love this stuff because really, frankly, they love the myth and speculation more than they love the truth and the peace that comes from God's word.

01:15:40

That isn't sufficient for me. That isn't enough. I need all this other stuff instead. That's why these guys do it and that's why people listen to it.

01:15:49

But my friends, you must not be led astray by these things, filling you up with anxiety and panic over the days that are to come.

01:15:57

Maybe there is great disaster that will come upon the United States. I don't think that's related to any eclipse that is happening in the sky.

01:16:07

It's because our sin continues to be unrepentant of our in the collective, our the

01:16:12

United States of America, guilty of great evils. And the judgment of God will come upon this land.

01:16:21

But we won't have to fear God's wrath in that day. For we have been covered by the blood of the lamb.

01:16:28

Even if our nation were to experience incredible economic collapse, and this would be the judgment that God would bring upon the

01:16:36

United States. And we would suffer as a result of that for sure. Talking about, you know, our livelihoods and things like that.

01:16:43

If if the wealthy, the United States goes bunk, goes bankrupt and whatever else, well, we're obviously going to feel the effects of that.

01:16:51

But we have nothing to fear of God's judgment that comes upon the wicked. Because on that day, on that day of judgment, we will be standing with Christ in victory.

01:17:03

Now Steve Cioccolante here making that statement about we know we win, we will stand with Christ in victory. I fear for that guy because he is speaking falsely.

01:17:13

He is a false prophet. And scripture is clear that false prophets will be judged with greater strictness.

01:17:21

False prophets in Israel were to be put to death. And in the book of James, it says not many of you should aspire to become teachers, my brethren, for you know that teachers will be judged with greater strictness.

01:17:32

And so Steve Cioccolante should fear warnings like that because he's lying. And he is manipulating people.

01:17:39

And he will have to answer for that someday. People who follow this stuff will have to stand before God and answer for that.

01:17:46

May our trust not be in the words of men, in the slippery words of men. But we trust in the word of God and surround yourself with those teachers that teach from the word of God, for it is only

01:17:58

God's word. It is only the teaching of the scriptures that convicts convicts our hearts, leads us in righteousness, draws us near to God, grows us in our faith, shapes us more like Christ.

01:18:10

As said in Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. So draw near to God through his word today.

01:18:19

And I appreciate you listening to this program because we are devoted to that. I want to be devoted to preaching the word of God, not hearing the opinions of Gabe, although you have listened to some of my opinions here.

01:18:30

But test all these things according to the scriptures. Enjoy the solar eclipse if you live somewhere where you're going to be able to see it in its totality, or maybe you're traveling to be able to see it.

01:18:40

I saw the one in 2017. It was incredible. And so if you can get to it to see it,

01:18:46

I would, I would highly encourage you to it is. It is quite a remarkable demonstration of of God's beauty in the design and the way that he made things.

01:18:57

It really was quite a stunning spectacle. I was not prepared for how amazed

01:19:02

I would be at seeing a solar eclipse. I've watched many lunar eclipses and they're, you know, they're neat.

01:19:10

You see the shadow that's passing over the moon and you know it's the earth's shadow. That's that's a neat thing to see.

01:19:15

But to to witness a solar eclipse is something else different entirely. So if you can see one,

01:19:21

I would highly encourage you. I would recommend it. Ten stars from Gabe. And that's why we've chosen this weekend to go back and visit our friends in Lindale because we think it would be cool to see another solar eclipse.

01:19:32

So if you can see it, it's going to be great. Enjoy it. Celebrate God for the wonderful creation that he has given to us.

01:19:40

Enjoy that for what it is. But don't think of it as any kind of prophetic sign of doom or gloom or the rapture or anything else.

01:19:47

It's not. It's just a natural. It's as naturally occurring as if the sun is shining today.

01:19:54

It's rare. They don't happen often, which is why you probably have to go to a certain lengths to see one if one happens near you.

01:20:02

But it is nonetheless as natural as the sun rising today. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what you have shown to us about you and all that has been made so that we are without excuse, as said in Romans one.

01:20:17

Everyone can know that there is a God in heaven who has made the heavens and the earth and made these things for our benefit, that we may enjoy them and give you praise.

01:20:28

As we read in Psalm 19, the law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul.

01:20:34

The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple. As we observe these things, it drives us back to your word that we may know you more according to what you have said in the scriptures, that we may draw near to Christ, that we may be made in his image, that we put off sin and pursue holiness and righteousness.

01:20:58

Make that our desire today, giving glory to God for all the great and wonderful things you have given to us.