Christians from the various assemblies that have made this conference possible. I believe that the local element that has provided the conference are all here. They have been already warned about tomorrow morning. And that's the way to cap it off, I guess, is to gather up the pieces, the crumb, and go home and be ready for another time. But you know, there's a lot of work in having a conference. We're going to have one at the end of the month, the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth of September. And there's been a lot of planning. But you know, there's a lot of blessing comes out of it. I'm sure that those that have been engaged in the Martha part of the labor will sense in their soul that they have done that which is pleasing to the Lord. We just want to say thank you to each one I speak on behalf of the audience and the speakers, I'm sure. Now, most of us, I'm sure, also remember just a few brief days ago that the world, the civilized world, I would say, was terribly and horribly shocked to learn of the shooting down of a Korean civilian airliner that had strayed off course. We don't know whether it was accidental or whether it was intentional. There are many that believe that they were led off course. These men that pilot the planes are not amateurs, and unless there was something drastically wrong with the instruments, they would have been on course. They have been on course. They were not on course at this time. And you know the story as well as I do, how that the Russian intercepted the plane and on a signal from their headquarters was commanded to send a missile into the fuselage of the Korean airliner, which brought to an untimely death two hundred and sixty-nine men, women, and children. And since then we have been in the throes of wondering why in the world should a thing like that happen. We have also been asking ourselves the question, why would a nation for no particular reason at all, because no one buys the idea that they were a spy plane would be so inhuman as to dispatch a civilian plane, not equipped with any guns of any type, to send it to its crashing doom. I think we're all more or less looking at this country called Russia. And tonight the Lord has laid in my heart to spend a little time with you, the first part of this meeting, to look at what I believe are the closing days of a great and glorious dispensation. If there's anything that I want to accomplish tonight, should there be anybody in this audience that is not a true believer in the Lord Jesus, I mean by that that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you possess eternal life. You know that your sins are forgiven. You know that you're on the road to heaven. I just want to take this opportunity to urge you to not leave this building, not to sleep tonight until you settle it where you're going to spend eternity. This would be a crowning achievement in this conference if we were to learn of some that would trust the Lord Jesus. I had the joy of speaking with a young man and a young lady this evening. I believe about thirteen years ago, Bill and I had the privilege under the hand of God to go into one of the back rooms and to open up the word of the grace of the Gospel of Christ and to see these young people turn to the Savior. And I'd often prayed for these young people. I think I wrote a letter to them shortly after the conversion, but I never saw them for thirteen years. And it was so good to see them today and to see the family. And I want to tell you, folks, there's nothing great in this world than to know. I mean, really know. That's your S-A-V-E-D. We're not really interested in getting people to join churches. You can have all the religion that a person can possibly have and still miss it, a country mile. But if you've got Christ, you've got everything that God has for you. And so I just want to urge you tonight to ask yourself this question, pointedly and personally, earnestly, if Jesus Christ would return tonight, where would you be? in eternity would you open your Bibles now to the book of Ezekiel chapter thirty eight Ezekiel thirty eight please if you have the New Testament you're not familiar with the old when you get to the book of Matthew turn left and keep going till you come to Ezekiel when you get to Ezekiel you go to chapter thirty eight and then you stop there till I give you a further flight instruction If you're starting in Genesis, go right, but go rapidly. While some of you are turning, I want to give you a kind of overview of some chapters in this very interesting book. The Book of Ezekiel is a tremendously interesting book. It's a very vital book as it scans the latter days and the closing moments of what I believe is this dispensation. And for you that may be interested in it, let me just point out by way of just a kind of an overview that in chapter thirty-six, if you start in chapter thirty-six, you have there recorded the revival of the land of Israel. And this occurred as a result of the Balfour Declaration which followed World War I. Put that down for chapter thirty-six. The revival of the land. For up to this time the land had lain waste and empty. Chapter thirty-seven you have the revival of the nation Israel recorded. And this followed World War II between the years thirty-nine and forty-five. That's what you have recorded in chapter thirty-seven. Chapters thirty-eight and thirty-nine are linked together and they record prophetically an event which is yet to occur And I believe that it gives us in detail all of the consequences and effects of the Russian invasion of the Middle East, particularly the land of Israel. Chapters forty, forty-one and forty-two, we have the measuring and the building of the temple. It's not there as yet, you know. Chapters forty-three through chapter forty-four, you have the appearance of the Messiah. The temple is rebuilt, the Messiah comes. But before all of these occur, in chapter thirty-eight and thirty-nine, we have a very important thing occurring, and that is the invasion of Israel by none other than the Russian power. Now let's look at that tonight, beginning in the thirty-eighth chapter. I'm going to divide this chapter and part of the thirty-ninth chapter up into about four little sections to make it easier to read and to understand. But as we look at this thirty-eighth chapter, and there'll be four sections to it, let me just give a little introduction. In Ezekiel thirty-eight verses one through three, we have a question that comes to our mind, and that is, will there be peace in this Middle East country? I might say that this could be labeled, what's next in the Middle East? Well, I think this is what is equal. The prophet gives us a very good foreview of what is going to occur. But the question as to whether there's going to be peace in that country, I think, can be answered in one word, yes, there will be peace. The question that we cannot answer tonight with certainly is when. We can definitely say that there will be a time when there will be a bona fide and known and worldwide peace in that part of the world. We don't know when it is going to occur, but we do see some things that give us a little inclination, a little idea perhaps, I should say, of when this is going to occur, or the time period. Now, you remember a few years ago that Anwar Sadat met with Menach and Begin in Israel and also in Egypt, where they drew up a tentative peace plan. You remember that. Unfortunately, nothing has come of it. But at least they made one of the most outstanding movements to move toward peace in the Middle East. Of course, Anwar Sadat is no more with us, and Menachem Begin has stepped down from his role, but God's program is going to move on. Now we notice in their passages here these words, And the word of the Lord came into me saying, Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal, and prophesy against him. And say, Thus saith the Lord, God, behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal. Now, the word God gives us the name of the prince or the leader of the nation that's going to move down into the Middle East to wage a great invasion. The name Magog refers to the country of which he is the ruler. I think the names Meshech and Tubal are almost self-explanatory. I think most Bible commentators and teachers believe and teach. that these two names are identified with Moscow and perhaps Tobolsk. Now, Tobolsk is a military and industrial center in Russia. In the thirty-eighth chapter in verse fifteen, let me read this passage, And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north part. Now, that could be read this way, out of the northernmost part. to whoever this prince is and wherever this country may be. We understand from the fifteenth verse there is going to come a time and point of history prophetically when there is going to be a movement from the northernmost part of that part of the world. Now I believe that this refers to none other than the nation that we know as Russia today. and that He will make one gigantic move to close in upon the Middle East, and particularly upon Israel. In Ezekiel chapter five and verse five, we have a passage that goes like this. God says, I have set thee, that is Israel, in the midst of the nation. So we draw all of our points of direction as they relate to Israel. In other words, east, west, north, and south is always taken from a reading as to how it relates to the nation Israel. And so if we were to draw a line from the nation Israel and go all the way to the northernmost part of the map, we would find that it would bring us directly and very specifically to the nation that we know today as Russia. Now, there are four things that I'm going to tell you about this coming invasion. Number one, that this Russian invasion is going to be opposed. There's going to be an adversary, and I want you to notice in the first three verses that the adversary is mentioned and identified. Notice what it says here in verse three. And thus saith the Lord, God, behold, I am against thee, O God, chief prince. of Meshach and Tubal. So we learned that immediately that the adversary is none other than the living God. God himself goes on record, my friends, to say that he is against Russia and the invasion that's going to come down against his people. Now there's two reasons why God is against Russia. There may be other reasons, but I'm going to give you two of them. I believe they're biblical. I believe they can be backed up by the word of God, and I think they're very obvious. Number one, Russia... is the opponent of God and God is against Russia, number one, because Russia of all nations is the one nation which is most outwardly identified as being anti-God. I hope you know that. Russia is avowedly anti-God. They do not believe in God, period. Many people don't realize that before Israel became a recognized nation, that it was the nation Russia that was moving to try to bring Israel into a status as a nation. Did you know that? Did you know that they were once the unknown friends of Israel? Many people don't know that, but it's true. You say, well, what happened to the friendship? A very basic fundamental reason why their friendship soured and the love match failed to mature. for this basic reason that Russia is an anti-God nation. Now what kind of nation is Israel? They are an apostate nation. They are a nation that has broken the heart of God repeatedly many times, but one thing Israel has not done, she has not turned her back upon her belief, her faith in the living God. And when these two principles came up as they were involving themselves with these two nations, It was Israel that broke off the friendship, and they would pursue it no further. And the result of that was that Russia from that time on has taken a very belligerent attitude toward Israel. Now, we have to see that in the light of Scripture, because Scripture always gives us the view of Russia as being not only anti-God, but being thoroughly against God's people. Now, Russia, of all the nations, owns one-third of all the earth's population. She also owns one-fifth of all the Earth's surface. Just the other day I heard that the five fastest growing nations in the world today are, number one, India, secondly, China, third, Russia, fourth, the United States, and fifth, Indonesia. And the Russian bear is growing. It's a powerful nation. Fifty years ago, that country was a twenty-rate nation. Today it has moved up into the forefront. It's a belligerent nation. It's a godless nation. And I think we have seen in the last few days something of the product of godliness. Brother came to me this afternoon and told me of a horrendous thing that occurred in the state of Colorado. And he said to me, Brother, what do you make? But it can only be one thing. That is, we need that near that final moment when the Lord Jesus is going to return. And this world is going to become a turmoil of judgment. that men are resorting to bestiality and perversion as we have never seen before. Everything that's not nailed down is falling to pieces. Our homes are falling to pieces. Our marriages are falling to pieces. Our schools are being attacked. Our governments are under heavy pressure. I want to tell you tonight, my friend, that if you haven't got it made in your faith in the Lord Jesus, you had better do so because we don't have much time. I really believe that we're running very, very dangerously to the end of this dispensation. Then, you know, the adherence of the Karl Marx theory is that they hate Christianity and capitalism, of course, they say, is an opiate of the people. But the second thing I want to say about Russia is that she is not only anti-God, but she's anti-God's people. She hates God's people. And you know, God said, I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse them that curse thee. Russia doesn't realize that she's in for a bitter time because God has a grudge against her. And God says, I am against him. I'm against this prince. I'm against this country. Now, you remember there was a man by the name of Tom Paine, who was a notable infidel. And Tom wrote a book. I don't know what the name of it was, but he wrote a book. And he gave a copy of it to Benjamin Franklin. You've all heard of him. And he says, Ben, I want you to read this book and give me your appraisal. You know what Ben Franklin said after he read the book? I don't know if he read it all the way through. I don't know if he could stomach it or not. But he read through part of it. And he said to Tom Paine, he says, Tom, when a man spits against the wind, he spits in his own face. And Russia has been spitting in the face of God. It's been spitting in the wind, and she's going to spit in her own face. You mark it down. Now, the next thing I want you to notice about this whole situation is that the Russian people have some allies, and we find that in verses four through seven. God says, And I will turn thee back and put hooks in thy jaws. I think we need to see immediately, friends, that it doesn't say a great deal. In fact, it doesn't say anything about the military prowess of allies on Israel's side, or rather even the military ability of Israel, and who can underrate them. I tell you, they've been fantastic. And a few times they've launched into full-scale battle, but notice what it says here. I will turn thee back. I ask you, who is that? That is God. So the invasion is going to meet up against the force of the living God. He says, I'm going to turn thee back and I'm going to put hooks in your jaws and I will bring thee forth and all thine army, horses and horsemen and all of them clothed with all sorts of armor and a great company with bucklers and shields and all of them handling swords. That's what God said he's going to do. He says, I'm going to turn them back. So they have some allies. Now let's look at these allies. In verse five there's Persia, Ethiopia, Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet, Gomer and all his bands in the house of Tagarma. Now for those of you that may not be familiar with this, just let me say quickly here that Persia represents our modern day Iran. And Iran is a natural bridge through which and over which Russia expects to move in to the Middle East. Secondly, we have Libya. And this part of the country has been really given over to a lot of Russian influence, and they have a lot of surveillance equipment there even today. Gomer is East Germany and the area countries, I believe. Togarma is Armenia, and it could be even as far as southern Russia. But I want you to notice that there's one country that's not listed there. You know what it is? You would think that it would be there, but it's not mentioned. It's the nation Egypt. And that's as mighty strange. I don't know how long this kind of format is going to hold up, but at least Egypt is not identified with Russia at this time when she goes down to make her bid against Israel. That's something to think about. Let me say a little bit next now. The third thing, the Russian aggression, beginning in verse eight. He says, and after many days, Now this we understand that as God revealed us to Ezekiel, the prophet, I understand from this that whatever Ezekiel was relating to the people of God then, that it was not going to occur in Ezekiel's time. This is the way it is handled. He says, after many days. Now that's well over two thousand years, friend. We're looking in the neighborhood of close to three thousand years. And he says, after many days, thou shalt be visited. In the latter years, thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword. Now, this indicates that Israel is a people returned to her land, brought back from the sword. Now, remember, Israel was a nation scattered and peeled all over the earth, all over the world. And even when the decree was made that they could go back to their land, they did not go back at the end of World War I. You know that. And then when we had World War II, the only thing that came out of World War II was this. I think any historian will back it up. The only thing that came out of the World War II was that Israel, the Jews, began to go back to their land. Up to that time, there was only about fifty thousand of them there. But when Hitler exterminated five or six million Jewish people, then they said it's time to go back to our land. Also, Notice what he says. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, and thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land thou and all thy bands and many people with thee. So it appears that there will be other peoples associated with this invasion. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall also come to pass that at that same time, that is the time when Russia makes her move down into Israel, at the same time also shall come to pass that at that time things shall come into thy mind and thou shalt think an evil thought. You think there's been anything coming into the mind of Russia lately? Do you have an idea what it is? I think anybody but half a guess could guess what it is. You know what they're thinking. Russia's ambition is to come down and to possess this part of the world. This is the navel of the world, friend. We're talking about the most strategic part of our known earth. And that's right down there. Now it says that Israel is a people that's going to be dwelling safely. Now you might be wondering why would Russia come down and invade Israel if they're dwelling safely? I think a better way to give a meaning to the word safely is that they would be dwelling confidently. They are not going to be safe by any means. Israel is not a safe nation today. But the word does not mean that they are really safe in that they're secure, but they feel that they are content, that they can handle anything. You know, the Jews believe they can whip the world. And they've already given us a pretty good demonstration of what they can do with what they have. They whipped the daylights out of the Egyptians and nothing flat. I tell you, we were over the Vietnam and we're over there for years and years and years, and when we get back, nothing was done. My brother-in-law came back from Vietnam and I never saw a person that was more ready for a psychiatrist in my life. He says, Len, he says, we could not go out and face the enemy. We could not finish the enemy. He says, we could only die from the enemy because our nation is losing its teeth and its power. You notice a time coming when Israel is going to feel the full brunt of the hatred of this godless nation. Now, the purpose for Russia is, her ambition is to get control of the land and I think that we can see that they want a warm water port. That's a known fact. They want control of the Sioux El Canal. They want to gain the wealth of the Mid-East. And, you know, there's a sign in the park sometimes that says, don't feed the bears. And in our state in Kansas, you know why they talk about not sending these people wheat. And, of course, the farmers want to send wheat to them. I don't know, the people over there, I'm not so much worried about those Russian people. They're probably like you and me. They're innocent victims of the forces and the government that's in control. Maybe we're feeding the bear too much. You know, the most dangerous bear when I was in Alaska, they told me the most dangerous bear was not the wild bear, but the semi-tame bear. The bear that comes around your garbage can and eats out of your hand and comes up and sniffs around the trailer and the camper. They said, that's the bear you want to look out for. And you know, we've been getting too friendly with the bear. And the bear is beginning to show its teeth. Now let me go a little further. There's the Russian aggression. Now let's notice the protest in verse thirteen. Sheba and Didon, the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lines are of, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? Now, I don't know for sure, but I feel that the reference here to Sheba and Didon and the merchants of Tarshish is first of all a direct reference to Great Britain, because it's a seafaring nation. And it speaks of the cubs, the young lion. And I don't know of any other country that fits the description as good as Great Britain does. And so we have the cubs, and they would be, of course, the United States and Canada and Australia and maybe New Zealand. If you look at a coin, a great British coin, you'll find on one side you have the figure of Queen Elizabeth. If you turn it over, you'll see the engraving of a mother lion. And she has cubs. And these cubs and Great Britain, notice what they do. They say, art thou come to take a spoil, hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take away great spoil. And mind you, that's the end of it. Doesn't that sound like our government? You know, diplomatic haranguing back and forth and say, well, what are you trying to do? But that's about all it amounts to. They says in verse fourteen, Therefore son of man prophesy and saying to Gog, Thus saith the Lord God, In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it, and thou shalt come from thy place out of the northernmost part, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses and so on, and thou shalt come up against my people Israel at a cloud that cover the land. It shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me when I shall be sanctified in thee, O God, before their eyes. And we go to the end of the chapter, we find how that the fury of God rises up in the face. And in verse nineteen we find, surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel, so that the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the heaven, the beasts of the field, and everything is out of place. and I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God, every man's sword shall be against his brother. It seems to me that God himself is going to annihilate this great force that comes out of the northernmost part of the world. And God himself is going to settle their hash when they go down to invade the land of Israel. Now you notice that it says, it has reference to the unwalled the unwalled cities. You know, in the ancient days, every city for protection had high walls. That's one thing that's noticeably absent. If you go to the Holy Land, you don't see any walls there. One of the reasons is I think that Israel feels that they can take on anybody, but the unwalled villages tell us that this is an open invitation for the enemy to come in. And God said, I'm going to bring you down there, and I'm going to finish you off. The wrath of God is going to fall. I don't have time tonight to go into this, but If I were to take you to the second chapter of the book of Daniel, you would find that Nebuchadnezzar had a most astounding dream. And in this dream, he dreamed that he saw a gigantic image whose head was gold, the shoulders were silver, and the belly and the thighs were brass, and the legs were iron, ending with feet of iron and clay. And these represented, according to the interpretation by Daniel, four successive world kingdoms that are recorded in history, namely the Babylonian Empire, followed by the Persian Empire, which was the silver empire. And by the way, one of the reasons they were noted for silver was the fact that they launched a great taxing program throughout the known world, and they gathered in tons of silver. The Grecian Empire with brass, and brass is still linked up with the Grecian Empire. The iron, the Roman Empire. Did you know, friends, that the Bible does not record another Gentile kingdom ever rising on the sea? Did you know that since the Roman Empire fell, that there had been numerous nations that have tried to launch a fifth world empire kingdom, they have all failed? Muzzalini failed, Hitler failed. You say, why did it fail? Because God says, I've written history ahead of time. The fifth kingdom that's going to come up, he said, is going to be launched by a stone cut without hand, is going to smite this image in the feet, and the whole thing is going to collapse. And do you ever notice the last words that Daniel had to say about the whole thing? He said to the king, he says, Nebuchadnezzar, he says, this thing is sure and secure. It's going to happen. Now I've said all this to just say this one particular thing, rather than I believe with all my heart that we're living in the final moments of the most glorious dispensation this world has ever known. I know that the Apostle Peter tells us that in the last days, in the last times, and you may be sitting here tonight saying, well, if Peter said those were the last days, then why didn't Jesus come in Peter's day? Friend, we need to understand that when Scripture talks about last days and last times, it speaks about them as covering the time element from the first Advent of Jesus Christ to the second Advent. Everything in between the two Adventists is called the last days. It's just like a baseball game. You have the ninth inning, and you know that's the last inning of the game, but there are some things that have to take place before the inning is over. What is it? That team is allowed to have three outs, and sometimes I've seen the ninth inning that's going on for fifteen, twenty, or thirty minutes. The last days. Peter says in the last days. Paul says in the last days. These are the last days, friends. Have you ever noticed in the Gospels that when Jesus talked about salvation, he says, A man provided a great supper. Why not a breakfast? Why not a luncheon? I ask you tonight, which is the last meal of the day? You say, Brother Len, it's supper time. And when God talks about the gospel, He illustrates that not a breakfast, not a noon day, buffet, meal, it's supper time. It's the last meal of the day. It may be your last opportunity, my friend, to come to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and to get saved. He says, I'm going to do this that the heathen may know. There's going to be great turning to God then. But those that have heard the gospel, I'm afraid according to the Bible that I read, There will be no second chance for them. Oh, tonight, as my brother comes to bring the conclusion of this message, I'm going to sit there tonight and I'm going to pray. And I trust the rest of you, dear people, God, will pray with me that if there's one in this audience that can't honestly look into the face of God tonight and say, Oh, God, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. You can't say that. If you've never met Christ as your person of faith is, I'm going to ask you tonight to seriously, yes, more than that, to settle tonight and say, I'll not leave until I make him my choice for his names.