The imminent return of Christ is signaled by specific signs, primarily concerning Israel and global moral conditions. The "fig tree" of Israel regathering in its homeland, as prophesied, is a primary indicator, signifying the nearness of redemption. This national sign is paralleled by a moral decline mirroring the days of Noah, characterized by widespread immorality, corruption, and violence, alongside a growing apostasy within Christendom that denies fundamental Christian doctrines. These converging signs point to the urgency of watching and being prepared for Christ's second coming.
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I believe Matthew's Gospel is chapter twenty-four. According to Matthew, chapter twenty-four. We'll read from verse thirty-two. Now learn a parable of the fig tree when his branch is yet tender and put forth leaves, he know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. For I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. But of that day and hour know few men, know not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before them, were eating and drinking, marrying and giving and marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the earth, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, on the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill, for one shall be taken on the other left. Watch therefore, for you know not what are your Lord.com. I'd like to read again on the second Thessalonians, the second epistle of the Thessalonians. The chapter two, verse one. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, and that the day of Christ is at hand.
Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed. the son of perdition, who opposes and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things, and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does not already work. only he who now leteth will let until he be taken out of the way.
And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that perish. Because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this God, for this cause God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. A little while ago we had some meetings in Durham concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And on the last night we were there, we proposed to speak about the imminence of the coming again of Christ. Unfortunately, we weren't able to have that meeting on account of illness, and I thought I'd like to speak about the reasons tonight why the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is near at hand. I want to take a few scriptures and try to prove, try to show from them that the coming of the Lord Jesus is very near. Now, right at the commencement, I want to say that there's one thing we want to avoid, and that is to set any ditch, or to give anybody any idea for believing that we believe that the Lord is going to come on a certain day.
That's the very last thing that's before my mind. The Word of God is absolutely against anybody who sets a ditch for the coming again of the Lord Jesus. And we certainly want to avoid that pitfall. But on the other hand, there are certain indications in the New Testament that give us a clue to the coming again of the Lord Jesus. And what I want to do is to take a few scriptures tonight, and with the help of the Lord, I want to show the reasons why we believe that the coming again of Christ is very imminent. There's one other thing I want to say at the commencement, and it's this, that we do not look for signs.
The Church of the present dispensation... gets no encouragement whatever to look for signs of the coming again of Christ. And the various scriptures that I have read tonight has more particularly to do with God's people, Israel. But there's one thing that we can say, and it's this, that when we see these signs that were given to Israel of the soon coming again of Christ, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back soon as the bridegroom. I remember when I was a boy, hearing people speaking about the coming again of Christ, old man of God that knew the Bible, prophetic students, deep students of the Word, and they told us that they believed that the Lord Jesus was going to come in their lifetime.
Now, practically all of those men are dead and gone. I could enumerate quite a number of them, true man of God in every sense of the term, and they believed that they would see the coming again of Christ. Now most of those men are dead and gone. And passively some of the meaning might say tonight, well now what reason have you for believing that it may come in your lifetime? Well now I want to give the reasons here tonight. And I want to take a few scriptures tonight and try to show that the coming of Christ is very imminent. There are half a dozen altogether, about six of them, that I want to put together. And I want the time tonight to turn over to the various scriptures So I'll just have to quote them as we go along.
Now the first great outstanding sign of the coming of Christ is first of all the national sign, the sign concerning Israel. This first passage of scripture that we read together, we read about a fig tree. And the Lord Jesus in speaking about his coming again, he says, When you see the fig tree begin to bud, know that the time is nigh, even at the doors. Now again, I want to emphasize the fact that what the Lord is speaking about here is the coming of the Son of Man. That is his coming for Israel. But you know, prior to that coming for Israel, he's coming back for us. And if we see these signs heading up, on the conditions that we find in the New Testament, heading up for the coming again of the Son of Man, we know that his coming for us must be very near.
Now the first one that he gives is the... Sign of the fig tree. And they said, when you see the fig tree, begin to bud, lift up your heads, knowing that the day of your redemption draweth nigh. I suppose most of the Christians here tonight know that there are three trees in the New Testament that have to do with God's people Israel. There's the vine, and the olive, and the fig, those three trees. Possibly we've heard those three trees expounded and want to stand for. Do you remember in one of the stands worried about the vine that was brought out of Egypt? And that vine was planted in the land.
And wherever we find the vine in Scripture, it always speaks of Israel as God tests the money here on this earth. God's people were redeemed by blood and by power from the land of Egypt and were brought out and they were placed in the land. but in one of the sands worried about the bore out of the wood destroying that vine. And God's people, Israel, as his testimony here on earth, they miserably failed. On account of their sin, on account of their failure, they were taken off down into captivity in the land of Babylon. And when the Lord Jesus came through this earth, he could say, I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman.
We get that in John chapter fifteen. And where Israel is the vine, as God's testimony here on earth, where they failed, the Lord Jesus took that place. He said, I am the true vine. Israel failed as God's testimony. And the Lord Jesus said, I am the true vine. My father is the husbandman. And he speaks about us today being the branches. Now God is a testimony on the earth today. And that testimony we find in John chapter fifteen. For the Lord Jesus said, I am the vine. And where Israel failed as the vine, the Lord Jesus takes that place. And we in unison with him are God's testimony amid the darkness today.
Now that's the first symbol of Israel in the New Testament, the vine. The second one is the olive tree. We got that in Romans chapter nine and ten and eleven. Now Israel has failed. But in the coming day, we believe that Israel is going to be brought back to their own land. We want to speak about that in a moment. And they're going to be brought back in unbelief. They're doing that today. But one day the Lord Jesus is going to appear to his ancient people again. And Israel, that once was God's testimony, and that has miserably failed, they're going to be brought back into union with Christ himself.
He's going to reveal himself to them. And in Romans chapter nine, we read about that olive tree that was God's testimony. It was broken off on account of unbelief. And then we read about a wild olive being taken and grafted into that olive tree. That's the church today. We get that again in the epistle to the Romans. And then we read about those wild olive branches that were grafted into the tree failing. And that's again what we find today. The church as a whole has failed. And on account of unbelief, those wild olive branches are going to be broken off. And then the true olive, that is Israel, is going to be taken again and grafted into their own olive tree.
And on the coming day, God is going to have a testimony again here on this earth. And the Jew, the Israelite, is going to be God's testimony here on this earth. Now that's the dispensational teaching in Romans chapter nine and ten and eleven. Israel in the coming day is going to be that olive tree grafted again into the old staff and going to be a wonderful testimony and a blessing here on this earth. That's the second symbol. Now the third one is the fig tree. And the fig tree is Israel as a nation in their own land. Now we all know what has happened. We don't want to take time tonight to go over the history of Israel as a nation in their own land.
what we know in the Roman times around about AD seventy what happened to God's people Israel on account of their sin and unbelief God had to come in and take them from their own land Titus the Roman general along with an army invaded the land of Palestine in AD seventy and while Titus himself he had a certain amount of respect for God's people and for their temple at Jerusalem and he ordered his men to be very careful while they were taking the city of Jerusalem. But there was a drunken soldier. On that day, as they invaded the land and came into the walled city of Jerusalem, a drunken soldier took a lighted torch, and he flung it inside, right inside the temple.
And the temple was set on fire. And all the records that were in the temple at that time were completely destroyed. Not only the temple itself was raised to the ground, But all those genealogical records that were kept for centuries in the Temple of God of Jerusalem, they were completely destroyed, and there's not a single Jew today can tell you where he came from as far as his genealogy is concerned. Do you know how in Africa, one of the most important things is a person's genealogy. I've seen them again and again, sitting down at a law case, going over their genealogy. They call it Kojichi Gamilla.
and when I have a law case going on, every single person that opens their mouth in that law case has to give their genealogy. And they start off on their fingers and say, my father was so-and-so, my father was so-and-so, his father was so-and-so, his father was so-and-so, his father was so-and-so, that's five generations. And then they go over to the other fingers, his father was so-and-so, his father was so-and-so, his father was so-and-so, and his father was so-and-so, and that's ten generations. And then they start on their toe and they point with their chin. And while they're pointing with their chin, you see their big toe come up, the next one, the next one. And they go over all their toes and they tell their genealogy. They go right back to the head of the tribe.
You know, that's the reason for the genealogies on the first page of the New Testament and in the Old Testament as well. Some of the most important documents in the whole of God's inspired word are those genealogical tables. that we find there. But the fact is this, that in AD seventy, the temple was burned to the ground. And all those genealogical tables that were preserved there were completely destroyed. And God's people were scattered all over the world. And for almost two thousand years, Israel completely lost their national identity. They're scattered in every nation under heaven.
The Jew is the man of the wandering foot. He's a man without a home. And yet at the same time, God has preserved his people right on through the generation. Possibly this scripture that we have read tonight here, we'll read, this generation shall not pass until all these things be fulfilled. That may be a difficulty to some people. But that word generation, it just simply means a people or a race. A nation. This nation shall not pass. This generation shall not pass. The word is genie, and it means a race or a nation. And one of the most miraculous things in history is God's preservation of his people scattered throughout the world.
Now, the word of God tells us that God's people will be brought back again to their own land. This is what the Lord is speaking about here. And he said, when you see the fig tree, begin to budge. Know that the time is nigh, even at the doors. Now for two thousand years God's people have been scattered all over the world. Do you know what has happened in your lifetime and mine? These old time preachers and prophetic students, they knew perfectly well that God was going to fulfill his word and the nation were going to be brought back again to their own land. But it's only in your lifetime and mine and within this last few years that we have seen this time fulfill. One of the most remarkable things to me is some of the things that happened during these last two world wars.
Possibly some people might say, why did God allow all those rivers of blood to flow in the First World War and in the Second World War? Well, I believe that on the one hand, God was punishing people. God has a discipline on nations and on people. On one lesson that the Word of God teaches me that not only individuals but nations have to be taught a lesson. And that behind that terrible welter of slaughter, God was discipling not only individuals but people as well. But the remarkable thing is this, that right at the end of the First World War those remarkable things happened in Palestine.
My father happened to be there at the time. My father was a soldier in the British Army. And just at the end of the First World War, he was in a place called Tantara in Egypt. And there were orders came for an expeditionary force to perform at Tantara in Egypt for the object of taking the Holy Land. The man put in charge of the army was a true believer. I believe a really born again man. His name was General Allenby. And he started off with an expeditionary force from Tantara and started up across the Arnon and up through Gaza and up into Palestine.
Now it's a matter of history what had happened, what happened at that time. After a whirlwind campaign the city of Jerusalem was surrounded. And General Allenby, a true believer, after he had invested the city and with his men outside he brought up his artillery and he didn't want to take the responsibility of opening fire with his heavy gun on the city of Jerusalem. He sat down, he wrote a telegram. He wrote to his commander-in-chief in Egypt asking for instructions what he should do. And the commander-in-chief in Egypt, when he got Allenby's telegram asking for instructions, he didn't want to take responsibility of giving him the order to open fire in the city.
And he sent the telegram to Lloyd George, who at that time was the Minister of War in England. And when Lloyd George got General Allenby's telegram, and looked at it, he too didn't want to take the responsibility of giving the order. And he passed the telegram on to King George that at that time was on the throne, King George V. Now I believe King George too was a believer. And when he looked at Allenby's telegram, he too didn't want to take the responsibility of giving the orders to open fire. And he wrote a telegram, and on the telegram he wrote these words, Man, consult your master. Man, Consult Your Master.
On the telegram, it came from England, from London, through the Minister of War, to the Commander-in-Chief in Egypt, and then finally to General Allenby in Palestine. And when the telegram came, Allenby was on his knees, along with some staff officers, in a tent. And there was a corporal standing sentry go outside the door. And while the corporal was standing there with his rifle and bayonet, sent to go outside the door, he saw a little party coming outside one of the gates of Jerusalem. They were carrying a white flag, and he watched them for a little while, and he realized it was a party coming out to offer the surrender of the city.
And he went over to the door of the tent, and he stood down and looked in, and the men were just getting up off their knees. And while they were standing there, there was a courier came with a telegram. And the telegram was from King George. And he opened it and read it. Man consult your master. And while he was standing there with a telegram in his hand, a party of men with a white flag came out of the walls of Jerusalem and came and offered the surrender of the city. When Ammonly saw what had happened, he called his men together. And he sent for his horse. And he got on his horse. At the head of his men, he went into except the surrender of the city of Jerusalem.
When he came to the walls, he got off the horse, and he took the cap off his head, and he put his arm through the hogger of the horse, and bareheaded, and on foot, he walked inside, and he accepted the surrender of the city of Jerusalem. To me, that was a remarkable thing. And to think of a believer accepting the surrender of that city, it was surrendered without firing a shot. And almost immediately afterwards, the war was over. Now, that happened in the First World War. It's a matter of history. Immediately afterwards, there was a balfour declaration. Here again, we can't go into a lot of detail how that worked out, but there was a Jew over in England.
His name was Dr. Weasman, and he was a professor in Manchester University, a professor of chemistry. And towards the end of the war, Professor Weasman, he developed a formula for perfecting... TNT or producing TNT. That is one of the most powerful explosives at that time. And after he had perfected this formula and handed over to the British government, Lord Balfour, that was the Foreign Secretary at the time, he went to Dr. Weasman and he said, is there anything we can do, he said, to reward you for what you have done?
The formula that he presented at that time was one of the major... practors in winning the war. And Weasman said, well, he said, I don't know. He said, I don't want any. He said, I don't want money. I don't want any honor. But he said, there's one thing I do want. He said, I'm a Jew. And I said, there's one thing it would delight me more than anything else. He said, after the war is over, he said, of the government gives the land of Palestine as a national home for the Jews. He said, I will be well repaid. And Lord Brown's prayer, he gave him that promise. that after the war was over, that Palestine would be given as a national home for the Jews. Unfortunately, that promise never was completely fulfilled.
We all know the history of what happened between the two wars. God's people from all over the world started going back again. But you know, they weren't going back quick enough. And between the two wars, you remember those persecutions that happened in Germany? and all over Europe. There were five million Jews during this last war perished in the gas chambers of Europe. Before the war started, there must have been around about twenty million Jews in the world. And when the war was over, there were only about fifteen million. Five million Jews lost their lives in terrible persecutions all over Europe, under Hitler and under the Russian regime.
countless thousands, millions of God's ancient people that lost their lives. And persecution started and they began to think about their homeland. You know, it's an amazing thing that at the present time, they're going back at the rate of about three hundred thousand a year. It's amazing what has happened. And you know, in the month of May, nineteen forty-eight, the Word of God was fulfilled. When you see the fig tree begin to budge, know that the time is now, even at the door. And on the sixteenth of May, nineteen forty-eight at four o'clock in the afternoon, Israel became a nation once again. For two thousand years, that passage of Scripture had been lying in the New Testament, and yet in our lifetime, just a very short time ago, the fig tree began to bud.
Israel today is a nation in their own land. They have their own language. They have their own flag. They have their own parliament. They have their own currency. They have their own university. And they're back again in their own land, a nation once again. And the next item on the program, they're going to have their own worship. You know at the present time in the city of Jerusalem, there's the mosque of Omar. And I'm no prophet, nor the son of a prophet. But there's one thing I do know. And it says that that place will have to come down. And God again is going to bring his own people back to their own land. They're already there. And they're flocking back by the thousands.
Not that very long ago I was down in New York. And I was amazed at walking through the subways in the city of New York. And everywhere there were those great big black carts plastered everywhere. Bonds for Israel. Bonds for Israel. Bonds for Israel. I came out of the subway. And in Rockefeller Center. Radio City there in New York, they were having an exhibition of the development and the progress of the Jew in Palestine. It's a modern miracle. And the word of God has been fulfilled. The first sign is the sign of the fig tree. When you see the fig tree begin to bud, lift up your head, knowing that the day of your redemption draws nigh.
That happened in May, nineteen forty eight. They became a nation once again, a sovereign state. with their own president, our republic, and there they are in the land of day, and the fig tree has begun to bud as the first great sign of the coming again of Christ. Now the second one I want to speak about for a moment or two is what the Lord says here in the twenty fourth of Matthew concerning the days of Noah. First of all, he speaks about the fig tree, Israel back in the room as a nation once again. Then he said, as it was in the days of Noah, so also shall it be in the days of the coming again of the Son of Man.
It would be an interesting thing to turn over to the sixth chapter of Genesis and look at some of the outstanding things that characterize the days of Noah and compare them with conditions today. Now this is what you might call the moral sign. First of all there's the national sign, the fig tree, Israel back in their own land. Now the second one is moral conditions. Now there's some things here that I don't feel free to speak about publicly. Many a time, preacher of the gospel, minister of the Word of God, wonders just how far one can go in speaking publicly about conditions in the world today. And we need a tremendous lot of wisdom in speaking about it.
But as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. There were three outstanding things. And the first thing in the days of Noah was unspeakable and unnatural immorality. There's some men in the meeting here tonight. And you know, if you were to come up to this platform here tonight and describe some of the conditions that you know that goes on right here in the United States today, I beg you to say you shock everybody in the place. It's not the place to do it. As it was in the days of Noah, the first thing that concerned the people in those days was unnatural and unspeakable immorality.
Now, I don't know what you believe about the daughters of men and the sons of God in the book of Genesis, chapter six, but there's one thing I do know that there's something mysterious here. There's something absolutely unnatural. There's something unspeakably vile that one can't even speak about publicly. And I believe that these are conditions that we find in the world today. Do you know that just in nineteen fifty one right here in the United States, in the State Department right here in America in Washington, there were two hundred and two men removed by Dean Acheson.
from their jobs in the State Department, right here in the United States, were unspeakable immorality. We can't talk about it, but yet it's true. These are things that it's utterly impossible to speak about in any detail. But those that know what conditions are in the country today, they know that things are getting worse and worse and worse and worse along those lines. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. The second thing is corruption. You know, we do thank God there's been a change of administration quite recently. But up until very recently, it was in everybody's lips, the corruption that's in the country right from the very tops of the bottom of government in practically every walk and phase of life.
And you know, all that we read in the newspapers, those cases that came to light and men in high places that were removed from their job, that were put out of their jobs. All that we read in the newspapers was just a leakage. That was all. But if we only knew the terrific corruption in government from top to bottom, it would shock people more than possibly they would be able to take. Corruption is the second thing, and we're worried that the whole world had corrupted itself in the days of Noah. Now, the third thing was violence. The first thing was on speakable immorality. The second thing was corruption, and the third thing was violence.
But in Africa, we generally carry firearms. We have to. But it's not that we carry firearms to protect ourselves from human beings. I can say this, that practically all my life, for thirty years now, we have been in contact with the most primitive people that it's possible to imagine. You know, to look at them, they don't wear very much clothes. And people would say that they were savages. But possibly with one exception, I have never been in danger of my life from any human being in Central Africa. We have been in danger from wild animals. And for that reason, we generally carry firearms of some kind as a protection against wild animals.
But you know today, all over the world, violence is getting worse and worse and worse. Sometimes a boy of eighteen years of age with a loaded revolver in his pocket, he'll walk into a gas station and demand money. And if the man doesn't give him what he wants, he just pulls the gun and just lets fly on him. You never open the newspaper. Almost any night, you open the newspaper and he cries at those times happening every day. And it's not only here in the United States. but it's all over the world. On crimes of violence, they're getting worse and worse and worse. Before I came here, I spent a little time in the city of Johannesburg in South Africa.
You know, nobody ever would think of building a home today in Johannesburg without putting an iron grid inside the front door and inside every window. They made a very beautiful cast iron and beautifully designed. but there's a practical reason for it. Nobody ever would think of building a new home today in Johannesburg and South Africa without having that iron grid in front of every door, at the back of every door, and at the back of every window. And there's no lady ever would think of going out at night unless she was discarded by a man. And when they go out and get into an automobile, they're locked at doors before they start up the automobile.
on account of the kinds of violence that are getting worse and worse and worse. Now, these are the days of Noah. And while they haven't fully developed yet, yet they will. And we can expect to see these things getting worse and worse as time goes on. Now, there's something else about the days of Noah. Read that they ate, they drank, they married, and were given in marriage. You know, there's some wonderful things about those words that exactly describe conditions today. We do thank God for the wonderful prosperity that there is in this country today. God has been wonderfully kind to this land, and I believe we should bow our heads in thankfulness.
There's many parts of the world today, for it's not so. But God has wonderfully blessed this land. But let's never forget that while God has opened his hand and been wonderfully gracious... to the people in this land. Let's humbly bow our heads in thankfulness before them. The ate, the drank, those abundance of everything in those days, and then they married and were given in marriage. Some little while ago I was translating that passage of Scripture, and I was looking at it in the original language, and I saw a remarkable thing. You know, the word for marriage in this passage here, as you probably know, is G-A-M-O-S, game on.
That's the word for marriage. On that first word that's used there, they married, that's the word that's used, game on. But the second word, given in marriage is EK, G-A-M-O-S. And then there's an affix attached to it. But that word EK, that means to get out of. EK means to get out of, On G-A-M-O-S is marriage. Now, what the word actually means? I wouldn't dogmatize about it, but as far as the original language is concerned, the word that we find here is they married when they were getting out of marriage. Gemos, ex-gemos, they married when they were getting out of marriage.
Now, as a visitor here in this country, I'm not going to start with you with statistics about the divorce courts. But you know as well as I do what is happening today all over the country. I remember when I was a boy, marriage was a sacred thing. And when people went into it, they went into it with their eyes wide open. And they considered it. But today, there's some people just get married for a joke. Now, I can speak about some people that I know personally, some friends of my own, relatives, young high school girls, the other part of the country. And while she was in high school, she got married. And it was done just for a joke more than anything else.
And after a little while, she decided that she had made a mistake. And she went to a divorce court and started to take out papers to get away from the predicament in which she was in. Spent all kinds of money in getting her divorce. And before the papers were through, she turned around and she married again the man that she was getting out papers to get a divorce from. She has been married and divorced quite a number of times. It shows the mind of people at the present time. I'm not going to follow that at all, but I believe that as time goes on, the sacred, the sacred thing that God has given a man, one man and one woman, married together for life, and wherever you find that done by the Lord, it's one of the most precious things.
And one of the greatest things on their heaven. But today it's last act. And people are despising God's ordinance. And we can expect that to get worse and worse and worse and worse. Married and getting out of marriage. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. Those were the conditions in Noah's day. And those were the conditions in our own day. That's the second time. Now the third one I want to speak about just for a moment is the Apostle's Day. I read a passage in Second Thessalonians chapter two. I'm really there about the coming of the man of sin, the Antichrist.
Now again, time wouldn't suffice tonight to speak about that. But the Lord here, in speaking about the Antichrist, and I'm speaking about his revelation, he said, The day of the Lord will not come except that man be revealed. And there come a falling away first. Now that word falling away, it just simply means apostasy. The original word is apostasy. And again, immediately prior to the coming of the Lord Jesus, we can expect to see fundamental teaching, fundamental doctrine, more particularly concerning the person of our Blessed Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ himself being denied all over Christendom.
Now here again, we could well occupy the time tonight, all the time at our disposal, speaking about conditions along this line. But you know as well as I do, that in most of the seats of learning today, a man who sits with cap and gowns to teach the young people, you know, generally anyone who goes into some of these seminaries today to come out of it not knowing where they stand. One of the tragic things today is those who are being taught, to stand in pulpit and to minister the word of God and to expand the word of God after they come out of some of these seats of learning that don't even know who wrote the penitentiary. The deny the eternal sonship of Christ.
The deny his essential deity. The deny his perfect manhood. The laugh and scoff at his virgin birth. The don't believe in the atoning death. In the precious blood. They don't believe in this bodily resurrection and they don't believe in this coming again. And as far as eternal punishment is concerned, that's absolutely gone by the board and they refuse to believe any of it. The apostasy is here. One of the most tragic things I ever came in contact with was a young man, an African, his name was Simango. I was in Portugal in While I was there studying Portuguese, I was a native.
He had been a native in Central Africa and had been picked up by one of the missionaries in Nyasa land. Very clever young fella. And he was picked up by the missionaries and put through a mission school. He just ate up everything that they handed to him. Very intelligent. And one of the missionaries assumed the responsibility for sending him over here to North America. And after going through high school and college, he was sent to Columbia University. And while he was in Columbia, he picked up two or three degrees. And afterwards, he came back again to evangelize his own people in Central Africa.
Now, he came to Lisbon while I was there. I met him, and he was dressed just like a gentleman, wonderfully dressed, fine-looking fellow. And he asked me out for a meal. And while we were sitting at the table, he said to me, how long are you going out to Africa for? Well, I said, I don't know. It depends on my health. Well, he said, I'm going out for four years. He said, you know, at the end of that time, he said, things move so quickly today. And theology changes so fast. He said, you have to come home every four years. He said, to get your ideas rushed up. And I was a simple kind of an individual, and I opened my eyes. I said, well, I said, I didn't think that the Word of God ever changed.
And I said, I'm going to Africa preach the gospel, and after all, that's something that's never changed. Oh, well, of course, he said, that's true, but he said, you know, things are moving so fast today, and things that we once believe, we can't believe any longer. And then I began to prick up my ears. And I said, and listened to him for a while, do you know, he denied the inspiration of Scripture. He told me that Jehovah of the Old Testament was just a tribal deity, just like Dagan of the Philistine. On some of the other things, I wouldn't stand and defile your platform here tonight by telling you. But before I was through, sitting listening to him, he had denied every fundamental doctrine in the Word of God.
And after he was through, I looked at him and I said, Friend, I said, what are you going out to Africa to preach anyway? What are you going to take back to your own people? Oh, well, he said, you know, people need uplifting. He said, I'm going back to education, going to put them through school. And he was going back again to take a humanitarian gospel, a socialistic gospel, back again to Central Africa. It's one of the greatest tragedies I think I ever came in contact with. And, you know, it's all over Christendom today. I don't say it unkindly, but the Word of God is being fulfilled. The one who's being attacked today is not Moses. who was an old divine.
His name was Dr. Dale. He lived in Birmingham, England, and he wrote a wonderful book on the atonement a good many years ago. Dr. Dale says this. He said, in my day, he said, it's Moses that's being attacked. The venerable head of Moses, he said, is the center of attack of the modernist today. But he said, I venture to say, he said, immediately prior to the coming again of the Lord Jesus, it won't be Moses. But he said it will be that one holy head of the Lord Jesus Christ himself will come under attack. And that's the day in which you and I are living. You know, these men today, they refuse to call him Lord. You listen to any of them preach or any of them talk.
They'll talk about Jesus and the Jesus way of life and following Jesus and giving your heart to Jesus and so on. They'll never call him Lord. And, oh, brethren, I want to implore every true believer here tonight, always in speaking about him, always giving us true titles. And crown him, Lord, and your heart and might. And when you're speaking about him, always give him a true place. He's Lord, Lord in his church. He's Lord in your heart and mind if we're true believers. But this is something that's being denied today. It's the atoning death and the glorious person, the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle say it's upon us and we have it on every hand. Now there are a number of other clients. I want to speak about the political one just for a moment. You know, it's not the place of any gospel preacher to talk politics. Well, in speaking about the coming again of the Lord Jesus, we can see on every hand a day conditions heading up for the coming again of Christ. Now, a prophetic student, And I want to just put it in as brief a way as I possibly can. I've always felt that at the coming again of Christ there'd be a certain political alignment here in this world. And I want to try to show that that alignment is here today.
First of all, Israel back in their own land. You know, it's impossible to fight a war without two things. And the first thing is oil. never possible to fight a war, at least a modern war, without oil. And the second thing is chemicals. Now, the great center today of both oil and chemicals is in the Holy Land. The greatest deposit of chemicals today is in the Dead Sea. And then, as far as oil is concerned, we know that the greatest deposit of oil remaining in the world today is there in the Middle East. And that's what makes it so terrifically important. We've been hearing about what's happening in Iran, on the Iraq, on Egypt, on Palestine, those Middle Eastern countries.
It's the cockpit of the world. It's the strategic center of the world. Now, the Word of God, it shows us that Israel will be back in their own land. On surrounding Israel in the land, there's a five-fold alignment. Now, I want to outline them very briefly. The first thing we can expect is to see... a group of nations arising on the ground of the old Roman Empire. It's what is called the revival of the Roman Empire. When Mussolini lost his life and when his body was humiliated in Italy, people said, well, there's that gone by the board. And they were looking for an empire with its seat in Rome.
You know, friends, the Roman Empire, it's being revived today. on practically the same territory in which it was destroyed. There's an alignment today in Europe. It's called MAPO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. On what the Word of God leads us to expect, that on the ground of the old Roman Empire, there will be ten kingdoms will arise. And those ten kingdoms will hand over their sovereignty to one man. Now that one man, he's called the beast, the first beast out of the sea in Revelation thirteen.
He's a great military genius, a sinister individual that will arise and will be able to bind those nations together and keep them under his control. And it will be on the ground of the old Roman Empire practically. Now there's an organization today in Europe that has arisen in your time and mind within this last few years. They're called the Western democracies, NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. And you know the amazing thing to me is this, that some of those countries that were so dogmatic about their national sovereignty have been handing over their sovereignty to one man.
Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me. Because all that I believe is happening today is that shadows are coming... that are prefiguring what's going to happen in the very near future. But you know, an amazing thing to me is this, that some time ago, that ten nations in Europe handed over their sovereignty as far as military things were concerned to one man, a great military genius, and that was generalizing her. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I have the highest respect for that man. The highest respect. But all I mean to say is this. that those things that we see happening today are prefiguring what's going to happen. You know, coming events always cast their shadows before.
General Eisenhower has been placed in a position of authority. In this land, we thank God for him. Another man has taken his place. But the plain fact is this, that in Europe today, those Western democracies are aligning through fear and for self-defense onto the head. of one great military genius and they're handing over their sovereignty and their nationalism over to that man to take complete control. The man today in that position is General Ridgeway. Now I believe that he will be removed. And shortly before the coming of the Lord, I believe that a sinister individual, a great military genius, I don't know who he is, I don't know where he'll come from, but I know he's coming.
And he's going to arise in Europe. And it's going to take all those nations with those different warring factions. And all the difficulties that they have today are, for instance, the France and the Tsar. One of the greatest difficulties that there is. And England trying to keep aloof from that combination, and yet she'll have to go into it too. And then there's Belgium and Holland and Denmark and Luxembourg and Western Germany. And they're all just looking with suspicion at one another. But still, the thing is there today. The structure, the foundation has been laid. And the first great alignment is the Western democracies with the United States behind, furnishing the arms and ammunition on the, so to speak, the skeleton.
And there they are today with that first great alignment. It's already on being the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Now the second one we find in the book of Ezekiel, chapter thirty-seven, thirty-eight. And we find there what's called the Northeastern Confederacy. I remember when I was a boy hearing preachers like Mr. Walter Scott and others who really knew the book talking about that Northeastern Confederacy and how Russia at the end time would be a great world power. Why, you said that's the idea. In those days when the Tsar was in control in Russia, there was absolutely no industrialization there, whatever.
But do you know what has happened since this last war? One of the amazing things to me is the emergence of Russia as one of the foremost powers in the world today. On the United States, the most powerful nation on earth today is piling up armaments, and the only reason is that Russia on the other side of the world is doing exactly the same thing. The Northeastern Confederacy described in minute detail in Ezekiel chapter thirty-seven and thirty-eight, it too has emerged within this last few years as a great world power. It says, first of all, the Western democracies, the second thing we find is the Northeastern Confederacy was Germany, Eastern Germany, and Russia in control.
Now, the third one is the King of the North. someone says, well, you know, I think that the king of the north is Russia. Well, if you look carefully at your Bible in the prophecy of Isaiah, you'll find that the king of the north is an entirely different power. It's formed on the old Babylonian empire, Iraq and Iran, that those nations that once attacked Israel and carried them into captivity, it's called the Assyrian. In the book of Isaiah, the Assyrian and the king of the north. Someone might say, where is that today? Well, there's what's called the Arabic League, the Arab League, on their bitterly opposed to God's people, Israel.
They would take them out of the land, and they would slaughter every one of them as they possibly could. And from those lands where formerly persecution came upon God's people, and for that overwhelming scourge from the northern parts of the land, came down over the land of Palestine exactly the same thing as farming today. You know, sometimes people laugh at that old man, Mossadegh, that talk about him lying on his bed and weeping and getting everything by shedding a few tears. Well, he's got a tremendous lot. And he has put Britain out of one of the richest oil deposits in the world. A few years ago, if anybody had said that, it was just a blast of the very idea.
And yet it has happened. on the United States and Britain today seem to be absolutely helpless. On those great lands where those deposits of oil for the carrying on of a war are today, they're practically independent and they're able to dictate terms to the rest of the world. The King of the North is in being, and it's the third one. Now the fourth one is the King of the South. And the King of the South is Egypt. Now, here again, we can't go into a lot of detail of what has happened in Egypt in recent years. But the fourth great alignment is Egypt emerging as a national power as a sovereign state. And here again, some tremendous things are happening in Egypt today.
Now, the fifth and the last one we find in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Revelation, it's called The Kings of the East. And to this combination, I think every one of us, as we sit down and think of what is happening, In China and in Japan today, it's one of the most alarming things. And to me, it's one of the great signs of the coming again of the Lord Jesus. In the book of Revelation chapter sixteen, we'll read about the Euphrates being dried up, that the way of the kings of the east may be prepared so that it might come like an avalanche on the land of Israel. I was out in Africa a few years ago when I heard...
the China had gone over lock, stock and barrel through communism, and you know what, it frightened me right at the core of my being. There's a nation, four hundred and fifty million people. And in the most amazing way, within this last few years, every foreigner has been turned out lock, stock and barrel out of the land of China, four hundred and fifty million people. And then to the south of China, there's a group of nations there. First of all, Malaya. You know, some people forget today that there's a war going on in Malaya that has been going on for a long time. On that country, it's in danger of going over to communism.
On right alongside of Malaya, there's a country with four hundred million people, India, and it too is just teetering on the edge to go over into the arms of communism as well. There's a friend I know very well he has been a missionary in Africa for forty years and he has just spent about twelve months in India and his verdict after going over the country from one end to the other is this. He said it's only a matter of time until India does what China has done and they're going over to communism as well. And then you know what's happening in Japan? There's a country with ninety-three million people in Japan, one of the most intelligent peoples on the face of the earth, and they too are teetering on the borders of communism.
And the amazing thing to me is this. Again, I want to say that we're not politicians, and we don't mix in politics, but one of the most significant things that has happened in your day and mind, that the only man that could stand like a bulwark against communism in the far east in a most mysterious way was removed. That was General Douglas McCarthy. And he was called from his job. And he was brought back here to the United States and humiliated. The man that stood like a rock. That stood like a bulwark for what was right out in the Far East. And he was removed and brought back to this land. And that's very significant to me. The way of the kings of the East are being prepared.
And while we have every sympathy in the world with men who are giving their lives and shedding their blood in Korea today. But I want to say this. It's a losing game. The country is going over. It's going over to communism. And all that section of the world is frightening when one thinks of it. Four hundred million in India. Four hundred and fifty million in China. Ninety-three million in Japan. And around about a hundred million people scattered through the islands of the Pacific in the Dutch East Indies and Java and those other countries. going over, lock, stock and barren, becoming enemies of this country. The way of the kings of the East are being prepared.
And that's the five-fold alignment. And the object of it all is, God's people back in their own land, at the center of the earth, and there with all the materials for carrying on a war. And it's just like the vultures are on the carcass. That's the way it's described in the Gospel. Read about Israel as a carcass back in their own land. and here's these vultures, one after the other, coming around, and they have one object, and that is a wiping God's people out. And then we find in the book of Revelation that when they come, one after the other, swooping down upon the carcass to take a prey, and to take God's people kept within their own land, then the Lord comes back again, and he steps into the clouds and he comes in his feet, stand upon the Mount of Olives, on those enemies of God's people.
surrounding the city and investing it, he's going to wipe them out and we get the coming of Christ, coming back in judgment in the prophecy of Zachariah and also in the book of Revelation. Now, if that's what you might call the political sign, I don't want to say anything more about it tonight, but I just leave it to your judgment what I have been saying, whether it's correct or whether it's not. That's what we find in the world today. The Western democracies on one side... binding themselves together for their own protection. Russia and our satellites behind the Iron Curtain, the North Eastern Confederacy described in the Book of Ezekiel, thirty-seven and thirty-eight, aligning as bitter enemies against the West.
The King of the North, the Arabic League, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, those countries to the north of Palestine, aligning themselves together in a league to wipe God's people off. On the other hand, we get the King of the Sard, Egypt, again with a bitter hatred against God's people, Israel. And finally, the Kings of the East, out in the Far East, all aligning under one banner. And finally, they're going to march again to the West with the object of seizing a prey on taking those chemicals and oil that we find in the Middle East. Now, that's the alignment. And that's what we find in the world today.
It's the political sign. The great political sign of what's happening.