The Times and the Seasons — Jack Hibbs

The Times and the Seasons

Tonight we're going to look at what I hope will be informative and at the same time current. First of all, grab your Bibles and turn if you would to Ezekiel. And while you're turning there, Ezekiel 33.

Calvary Chapel’s Watchfulness About the End Times

One of the standards and hallmarks of Calvary Chapel is that it has always been teaching and updating the body of Christ concerning the end times. We would sit under Pastor Chuck and there were these jingles that he would do every year.

He would say, for example, we could be in heaven in 77. He would come out each year and it's going to be great in 78. And each year he would have this little thing, you know, that would always speak about the nearness of the Lord's return and always be ready.

And he was so faithful and is so faithful to instruct us, but I think also to warn. And so in Ezekiel 33, follow along with me. Verse 1, again the Word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them, when I bring the sword up upon the land and upon the people of the land, take a man from their territory and make him their watchman.

And when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning. His blood will be upon himself, but he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity.

But his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. Turn then, if you would, to Matthew chapter 16 and that beginning at verse 1.

Matthew 16 verse 1. Then the Pharisees and the Sadducees came testing Jesus and asked him if he would show them a sign from heaven. And he answered and said to them, when it is evening, you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red.

And in the morning you will be, or it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. Hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the times or the times in which you live.

Jesus’ Warning About Jerusalem and the Signs of His Coming

Turn again now to Matthew 23, beginning at verse 37. Jesus said, Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I would have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.

Behold, your house is left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Chapter 24 verse 1. Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple and his disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.

And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down. Now, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying three things.

Listen, they ask. Number one, tell us when will these things be? Number two, what will be the sign of your coming? And three, the end of the age or the end of the world. And then finally, we'll rest here.

It is first Thessalonians chapter five. Go there if you would. And we'll just park it here tonight. First Thessalonians five. Paul said, but concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.

For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that that or this day should overtake you as a day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others, but let us watch and be sober for those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another just as you are also doing. Before we end right here in our reading, look at chapter four, verse 18. It correlates to verse 11 of chapter five. It's the famous end of that wonderful declaration of the rapture.

He says, therefore, comfort one another with these words. You guys, our churches should be comforted by the fact that the Lord is going to return as pastors. And what is distinct to Calvary Chapel is what we hold to what is called premillennial theology.

Premillennial Theology and the Imminent Rapture

I have had the high and glorious honor of spending time. He's now with heaven, Dr. John Wolvert. I've had a chance to stay in his home and sit with him in a few sessions at Dallas Theological Seminary when he was there and to bring him out to Calvary Chapel.

He spoke six times at our church and then picked up the phone and I called Chuck and I said, would it be possible for Dr. John Wolvert? You guys all know who he is, right? Please know who he is. If you don't, by every book he has written on eschatology, he is probably the greatest or was the greatest living theologian of our day regarding Bible prophecy.

And when I asked Pastor Chuck, I said, can he speak at my at my class at the Bible College on prophecy? And Chuck said, you know, he's the grandfather of our modern day view. Absolutely. But how are you going to get him to come to Calvary Chapel?

And I said, Chuck, he's in my office. He wants to come tomorrow. And Chuck said, oh, you know, oh, I'm going to be there. And John Wolvert, Dr. John Wolvert was such a precious man, and I think he died at something like 86 or 88 years of age, and he would scoot his way up to the pulpit and kind of sit halfway kind of on a chair, sort of.

And the guy would get so excited about the imminency of doctrine, the fact that Jesus could come at any second regarding the rapture when you mentioned it last night, how it can happen without warning.

And it is my hope and it is my prayer that you are doing that as the scripture lends in your teaching to your flock. There's a great, huge difference. And I wish I wish we had the time to go through the great difference between the second coming of Christ and the rapture.

The second coming of Christ is much like the first coming of Christ. He he came to Jerusalem. He came to Israel. The book of Daniel records the fact that Christ would come in the first coming and Christ would come to Israel again in the second coming.

It's a very Jewish event. Guys, listen, you probably already know this. I'm probably preaching to the choir. But just to be safe, the first and second comings are very Jewish in context. The rapture is something altogether different.

The rapture is very Gentile in its context. It involves the church. It is a an appearance of Christ, not a coming of Christ. It is something that is without any prophetic. Prerequisite. The rapture, we've got to teach it, it's biblical, but I'm going to tell you now, if you haven't heard already, you stay true to the premillennial theological view of scripture, meaning in this study that we are futurist.

When we look to the Bible, we believe that Bible prophecy is literal. And when it is symbolic, you know, the Bible always says so. For example, the Bible says when Jesus Christ was baptized and he came up out of the water, the Bible says that the spirit of God descended upon him.

What? Like a dove. That means that what happened to Jesus at his baptism was something supernatural. But we know this from the study of the word. A dove did not land on Jesus's shoulder. Why? Because the scripture says the spirit descended like a dove.

When the Bible says in the book of Revelation that it was like thunder or like a great lightning, that means it was something that resembles that effect in a human context. But it was not that thing. The Bible is very careful when the scripture says that this is what John saw.

That is a fact. You can take that to the bank. So when we look at what Paul is saying to the church at Thessalonica, it is an awesome thing to remember that Paul was only in Thessalonica for four weeks on his missionary journey.

And what did he teach them? The assurance of their salvation and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In chapter four, there is the famous we statements of Paul. We who are alive and remain, we shall be caught up and so on.

Paul lived and breathed and ministered under the glorious, imminent thought that Christ could come at any moment. Now, I want you guys to understand if you don't already get this and run with it because Paul believed Jesus was coming back at any moment during his life and he lived like it.

It sent him to the mission field. It's the exact opposite of what we're being accused of in Calvary Chapel of preaching a pre-tribulation rapture view. So we're just going to sit around and wear our white robes.

I was told this recently in Washington, where a brother, I mean, I call him a brother. I don't know if he calls me a brother, but this this issue was about the fact that I believe that Jesus could come at any moment.

And his particular denomination teaches there is no rapture. But then when he found out that we're involved in mission work and that we're taking the gospel to the world, he said, how how is it that you guys are doing that when you believe Jesus is going to come back at any moment?

I said, brother, you've missed the very unction of ministry purpose because Christ could come back at any moment. We've got to hurry up and go. We've got to get on the ball and stop messing around because Christ could come back now.

So let's get to the mission field. Let's get to the homeless. Let's preach the word of God. Let's go through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and let God interrupt us with the rapture. Now, we are to live and minister that way unless like Paul, 2nd Timothy, he comes there to chapter four.

Paul’s Perseverance and Crown of Righteousness

And what does he say in that glorious closure of his life? And it's a it's a tough chapter to read without crying. If you think about it, Paul says, please bring my parchments, bring my cloak and my beanie.

That's what he was asking for, actually, a beanie. Bring my head covering. It's it's ridiculously cold in this prison and this mammoth prison in Rome. It's horrible conditions, isn't it? Isn't amazing.

He's already he's been sentenced to death. His head's going to roll, but he wants his Bible parchments, the commentaries. He wants to still grow in the grace and the knowledge of God. And he says something that's amazing.

He says, listen, I know this, that the Lord, he is going to give me a crown of righteousness. Remember, his head's going to get cut off. That's faith. My head's going to get cut off, but I'm going to get a crown of righteousness.

I love it. Paul saw himself now having lived his life, preaching the return of Christ. But now he has the sentence of death upon him. And he says, the Lord is going to give me a crown, but not me only.

But all those and it's the first time and the last time Paul ever said it in the past tense, all those who have loved his appearing, isn't that beautiful? He lived and ministered. And Paul taught about the obvious.

Paul taught us to be careful, Jesus taught us to be careful, the scripture teaches us to be careful about things that are forming, to be watching. Ezekiel tells us the Lord speaks to him. If you see something coming, announce it.

So we need to be on the ball, guys, and what's happening in current events and how it relates to the Bible. Be very cautious and careful about that, but also to be speaking about the coming of the Lord.

And so as we look to these things tonight, as we consider some things tonight, I want you to be kind of jotting down in your notes, if you would, some of the things that I'm going to share. And you might say, well, Jack, what's the context of this?

It's this way. As I speak about some update type things, you and I absolutely could say, well, that could mean something or it could mean nothing at all. That's absolutely true. But we need to be very careful that everything we look at in the current world scene is matched to scripture and some stuff we just don't know.

Ezekiel 38–39 and the Magog Factor

Having said that, I want you to be mindful of some things that are actually taking place, we believe, as you and I sit here. And that is what I would just list as number one, what's going on with what we read about in Ezekiel concerning the Magog factor and the stuff that is listed in Ezekiel 38 and 39, what's happening?

And you've got this handout that the guy that does our radio management of the radio channel sent up here to Jan, and she was so amazing. She got a note from him today and put this thing out on your seat.

And if you flip it around to the prophecy side, it's got the disc back there. There's a lot of data on those discs that you can download or listen online, I guess. But I'm going to be touching on some of that stuff.

You guys, it took four weeks to do what we're just going to touch on here in a moment. But there's data on these CDs and what the body at Calvary Chino Hill saw that we're both grateful for, but we have to be careful about.

Israel, Russia, and Middle Eastern Developments

And here's the reason why. The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to be on the board of the Family Research Council in Washington. And a very good friend that has become a lover of Calvary Chapel is Tony Perkins.

And it's been a pretty interesting thing because we're holding forth to the Word of God. He's excited about that. And through that, I've had some amazing opportunities to go aboard, for example, the USS Ronald Reagan for its last and final sea trial off of San Diego.

That was amazing. In three weeks, we're going to be, Tony Perkins and I, we'll have the opportunity to be meeting President Bush in the Oval Office. We're going to be sharing some things about family values and abortion and our view, our view on marriage.

God's opening doors. But also, as we mentioned in this teaching thing, and I'm going to make some references and things tonight, we're very involved in the IDF in Israel, the Israeli Defense Force, and specifically the Israeli Air Force.

And we've had at our home for two weeks in his family, the commander of the Israeli Air Force. How did that ever happen? God opened up the door for us to minister a couple of years ago on what's called Ramat David.

It's Israel's most northern air base. It's a nuclear-armed F -16 base. And we hit it off together. And we wound up vacationing together, and now we stay in close touch with each other. These teachings that you see on this piece of paper have some pretty serious updates given by some Israeli generals, some colonels, and some captains in Israeli defense.

Why am I mentioning, first of all, in the way of updates, and blowing the warning trumpet to our flock, this thing about the Magog Factor or what is happening regarding the Middle East, Iran, the connection with Syria, Lebanon, and Russia.

Russia is absolutely very involved and using as pawns the Middle East right now. Our U .S. government is very keenly aware of this. And right now, as you and I sit here, we know for a fact the U .S. government, the Israeli government, the Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, Hezbollah, they are rearming as we sit here.

And Israel's watching this happen. You say, well, why don't they do something about it? Not like in July when they kind of just kind of waited around. I've been told in my ear that we will not do this next time, which is at any time what we did in July.

We conducted a military operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon based upon what our politicians were trying to do to acquiesce to the world community. We're trying to fight so fair and so square and be so nice.

It's going to be different this time because now the animal has completely changed. What's going on? It is an absolute known fact that Russia is fueling this situation. And don't be surprised. Israel is ready for the close of Ramadan.

I forget the date. I think roughly it's about 25, 24 more days away when Ramadan comes to a conclusion. And Israel is ready for the second wave of what happened a couple of months ago. You guys are all aware of what happened a couple of months ago.

But Russia is extremely involved. And you're going to see more and more involvement regarding Russia. And Israel is ready. You guys, since the latter end of July, I think it was about July 26 or something like that, that all of Israel fighter bases uploaded their aircraft with what's called regional nuclear devices.

They're ready to go. And they're not playing. They believe that they are fighting now for their existence. Now, you and I know better. Once back in the land, they're not going to be uprooted out of the land.

But what do we do and how do we handle this regarding our bodies, our flocks and teaching them? We don't want to put hysteria into their minds. We want to be current. We want to be ready. But we also want to be very careful about the fact that search the scripture, look to the Bible and just wait and see.

But we have never lived at a time like we do now. Now, as I mentioned, Dr. John Wolvard before Wolvard, Dr. Harry Ironside performed Dr. Wolvard's wedding. Can you imagine? And during that time in the early 30s, 40s and 50s, those two guys said, and Wolvard was just quoting Ironside, they used to do prophecy conferences around the world.

And he said that there'd be anywhere from 40 to 60 ,000 people attending Bible prophecy conferences around the world when they would take their Bible tours. Now you call a Bible prophecy conference and nobody shows up.

And yet we're closer to the return of the Lord than ever. It's weird, isn't it? Do you think maybe there's a sleep, almost like an anesthesia that's going on? We need to be so in the prophetic word of God, not hobby horsing it in the pulpit always.

But when you come to that time, you need to know what are some of the things that are going on. So make no mistake about it regarding current events, Russia, its economy. I found out this week that Russia will be converting in the not too distant future to the euro.

That's a scary thought. Can you imagine? That's terrifying. We saw signs on the streets of Russia this last week of welcoming the euro and get ready for the euro. That's going to be devastating to our economy as the euro is already getting stronger.

But the connection of all things, you've got this Middle Eastern thing going on with oil and you've got this guy also who's very connected with Russia. The last few weeks, I'm going to mention his name in a moment.

The last few weeks, technically last couple of months, he spent a lot of time in Moscow. He was over to China, then to North Korea and over to Iran. And in Tehran, he spoke at the university there and he called for the destruction of America and the annihilation of Israel.

And you might be surprised who I'm talking about. I am not talking about the president of Iran. I'm talking about his little sidekick who's equally insane as he is. And that is Hugo Chavez. The CIA has labeled Hugo Chavez as the next dictator of South America.

The Central Intelligence Agency is watching Venezuela as they have been by the week, bringing in Hezbollah believers from the Middle East. There are training camps in Venezuela and Bolivia. Did you see the recent vote, by the way, in Bolivia?

Did you see the president they elected? The guy is absolutely anti-American and pro-Hezbollah and you have got now training camps that the CIA have been monitoring for Hezbollah in South America. It's absolutely amazing.

The connection, Russia could care less about the religious aspect, just to play the pawns. But what happens is Russia needs the Middle East. Russia needs Iranian oil. Here's where it gets extremely interesting.

We were taken, I was taken by an Israeli captain in April to a location where Israel is not just drilling for oil, Israel has hid oil. Israel has oil. And not only do they have oil, it is an extreme high grade of oil.

The problem is, if Israel, which is the size of New Jersey, has oil, its surrounding neighbors are going to naturally ask, just like we do. If Canada taps into some oil, we want to find out, are you sucking it from underneath our borders?

No, truly. Or are you sucking it from under your own borders? Not only does Israel have oil, but Israel believes that they have struck what might be the largest natural gas reserve under the Mediterranean.

Meaning that it could possibly, I just say possibly, be one of the hooks or part of the hook factor that brings, you guys know what I'm talking about, right? The desire of Russia to come down. When it says, when the Lord says, I will put a hook into your jaw and turn you around, if that is Russia, and you say, well, some people say it's Iran or Iraq.

Well, you know, it doesn't matter because you already know that Persia's involved and that is the region. But here's what does matter. The scripture says, Ezekiel tells you that you will come out of the uttermost parts of the north.

Uttermost parts of the north from where, pastors? What is the geographical dot of the Bible in all geography? No, it's Jerusalem. When the Bible says, I mean, okay, I see what you're saying, Moscow, yeah.

But when the Bible says east, north, south, it's always from Jerusalem. Always. So from the uttermost parts of the north, if you run a string on your globe from Jerusalem to the top, either magnetic north or true north, you're going to run right through the territory, of course, either Murmansk or Moscow.

You're going to hit it either way. Is it Russia? We'll wait and see. Do I believe it is? I certainly do. You say, well, wait a minute, Jack, you got you go to Russia and Wayne and you guys go to Russia, you preach the guy, you start in churches in Russia.

What's that all about? If you believe that they're the big bad guy, you guys, that's why we go there. You understand that we've read our Bible and that's the land. God opened the door for you guys to go.

So we went. And by the way, the doors kind of closing. We don't have the freedoms there to do what we once did as we did it. The window starting to close. That's awesome. Why do we go there? Because if it is going to turn and become very, very hostile towards Israel and hostile toward the world, then let's get the gospel there while we can.

Right. That's very, very important. Keep your eye on Russia. Israel is. And it's a very, very serious issue. And it's going to get more serious as time goes on. I've been told by Israeli officers, I've been told by a Masood Mossad officer that Israel will be back at war with the Middle East in a highly intensive manner than what you saw a couple of months ago by the end of this year.

If things continue to go as they are, anything can happen, but they're ready. And those planes have been uploaded. You guys, I got to sit in an F -16 that's plugged in with nukes under the wings. I couldn't believe it.

And, you know, their cockpit is highly, highly top secret. General Dynamics is not even allowed to look inside. Israel orders all of the aircraft without the avionics. They put their own stuff in. And I said, I'm not supposed to be looking at this stuff, am I?

And the guy goes, it is so advanced, you don't even know what you're looking at. Isn't that great? It's so cool. Anyway, the next thing that we need to be aware of concerning the times and the seasons, which I love, the Bible says no man knows the day of the hour.

But he said to us in 1st Thessalonians 5, brethren, brothers, concerning the times and the seasons, you'll have no need that I should write unto you. Paul makes a huge assumption that those of us who are walking in the light and walking in the word.

I don't know how else to put this, but we're not going to know the day or the hour of the Lord's return. That's fine. And who wants to know? We'd freak out. But he said concerning the times and the seasons, there's going to be some sort of sense that when we begin to look at the world scene, matching it to our Bible, how things look, what's going on, the very dynamic of the world, could it be just like seasons?

Why did God say to be sensitive about times and seasons? Why did Jesus say to the Pharisees, you bunch of hypocrites? You talk about it's going to be a rainy day. It's going to be a clear day. You judge by the color of the sky and all this stuff.

And you can't even figure out the signs in which you live, that they're indicating about a time specific to prophetic events. Jesus rebuked them. We need to be in the know. It's wonderful to me that we can open up our Bible and it's more current.

We're waiting for the newspaper, aren't we, to catch up to our scriptures? Truly, aren't we? It's pretty amazing. Next thing I want you to consider is Israel's growth. It's absolutely remarkable. They went, and I wish I had the chart here to quote it exactly, but something like 1945 in their birth, there was something like zero on the scale of producing fruit for the world, for example.

Isaiah tells us, by the way, that in the last days Israel will fill the world with fruit. Okay. Well, in 1945, ain't going to happen. But then you begin to see that shortly after 1945, it was like 25th in the world in filling the world with fruit.

Okay. Then it went to 16. Then it went to 12. Then it went to 7. Then it went to 5th in the world. Then it went to 3rd in the world. And now Israel is 2nd in the world to filling the world with fruit.

2nd to California in producing fruit to the world. Israel. Their technology is absolutely amazing. If you've been, the security is not that big of a deal getting into Israel. Have you ever tried to get out of Israel?

Have you taken tours and you take your group out of Israel? It's no problem getting in. I said, what are you guys doing? I don't understand this. And they said, our technology, the world wants it so bad.

We're not too much afraid of what you're bringing in. We kind of know already before you leave where you're coming from. We're concerned about what you take out of here. That's why they're concerned about your cameras.

If you've ever been on a tour, they want to see your film. They are absolutely amazing. They have a Silicon Valley that is greater than ours. Israel just took order in May of this year of an aircraft built by a joint venture.

It's top secret. It's got no name. The plane has no number. It's got no ID on it, but it was a joint venture between Boeing and Grumman. They don't get along. Those two companies, their competitors, they did a joint secret venture.

Israel just took order. And what it is, what we know of is that it is actually a low flying satellite. It's an aircraft, but it's a low flying satellite. And it is so advanced that there's no other aircraft like it in the world.

All with Jewish thinking, technology. God has blessed these people. They're absolutely blessed by God. They're getting ready. They're a nation that will not go away. No matter what somebody says on the press, no matter what...

A map, by the way, that is produced by an Arab nation. Have you ever looked at a map produced by an Arab nation? Wayne will give you five bucks out of his wallet if you can find Israel on that map. They don't even make Israel on the map.

They can't admit that Israel exists. Because as long as Israel exists, Allah cannot rule the world. Did you know that? The crescent cannot close. You ever seen that? The crescent moon? It can't close until Allah, until Islam has controlled or has gained control of the world.

That's what the crescent moon. In fact, at the Al-Asqa mosque in Israel, it is closed in its wishful thinking. Did you know that? It's closed. It's a perfect circle. Hasn't happened. It's not going to happen.

I got news for them. It's not going to happen. But Israel is a thorn in the flesh of the world. You watch this next election in the United States. Israel is going to be a big deal. How should you vote?

I'll tell you exactly how you ought to vote. I don't care if it's a Democrat or Republican. I don't care if it's an independent or whatsoever. I want to know his or her view on Israel. That's the issue.

And let's get this squared away. Well, I'm not going to vote for that guy because he's not this way or that way. You know what? We already voted. It's Jesus. That's done. Okay, we can't put some Messiah into office.

Jesus has already come. What you need to do is see what politician or what group is most pro-Bible concerning your views scripturally. That's very important. What's their view on Israel? That's the first thing I'm looking for.

Very, very important. Israel, its growth is a telling sign and how we can be excited about the days and age in which we live. The Euro is very strong and growing, but I find it interesting that the European Union is extremely concerned about the economic rise of China and India.

If the U .S. is concerned about the Euro, the Euro is concerned about the economy of China and India. It's amazing, this powerhouse. You say, what's the big deal about that? The scripture tells us that in the last days, during the tribulation period, that there'll be the rise and the empowerment and the coming of the kings of the East.

And we see these powers forming. This is an amazing time in which you and I live in. I don't know if you realize it or not, but the United States, its influence is waning and it has nothing to do with George Bush and foreign policy.

It has nothing to do with our product. It has nothing to do with this thing or that thing. It's the timing of God. America is waning. The influence of America is evaporating. It's a fact. And it's happening.

And we're deluding ourselves and we're thinking, you know, America is just going to be the top dog forever. We're not going to be the top dog forever. We're not going to be the top dog for long because what's going on right now is that America, the United States of America, the threat of a terrorist attack, remember the last one we had, the fear was so great that it would affect our economy.

What did our government do? It took the interest rate and dropped it down to next to nothing. You know why the economy bounced back so quick? For two reasons. The interest rate was dropped to stoke it up.

Didn't Bush say, get out there and spend money? He got on TV, go spend your money, live your lives like normal. What he was saying was, spend your money, don't stop the economy. And the other reason why it's grown so strong and so much is because we haven't been hit again.

And the terrorists know this. It's not that they haven't tried, but God has been good to us. But they'll try again. But the American economy, the thing that is allowing us any influence now is our military might.

But how is that fueled? It's fueled by the economy. What if the economy dries up by virtue of another attack or by the fact that the euro continues to strengthen? Listen, here's the part that's just terrifying to me.

We are the richest nation on earth. That is, technically. We get paid more money than anybody else on the planet. And by the way, this data I'm giving you is from the Department of Labor, United States.

We make more money than anybody on the planet. Number two, on paper, listen, we are the poorest people on the planet. See, that's not right. That's wrong. I talked to a man this week in Russia who paid $150 ,000 for his flat.

He paid $150 ,000. He paid. The bank doesn't own it. He owns it. I don't know about your community, but in my community, where I come out of, it's highly Asian community and very, very, a lot of Iraqi, a lot of Pakistani, where I live.

I kid you not, when I walk in the morning, there are more people, ladies walking with wrappings. You know, I don't know what you call them. They're not full burkas, but they're close. With Nike tennis shoes, walking in the morning.

You know what? They don't charge anything. It's cash, man. The United States, we make more money than anybody, but on paper, we are the poorest people. Because you say, well, how can that be? Because the guy running around in the Aborigine guy in Australia, he's got this pitchfork and a skirt and a bone in his nose.

That guy's poor. He's got this little hut. He's poor. You know what? He owns his spear. He owns that hut. The average American is in debt so bad, we can't get out of it. And if the economy collapses, if the economy is hit, America weakens.