THE EMMAUS WALK PRESENTS:
"The Second Coming," Part II,
by Billy Sunday
Three Great Events:
THE COMING CHRIST
THE COMING TRIBULATION
THE COMING DICTATOR
The Lord will not be seen by the world. People will not know what has become of their missing loved ones. Two in the field, one taken, the other left. The notion people have that when Jesus comes, the world ends, is wrong. Business will go on, governments will go on, but they will be under the control of the anti-Christ, after Jesus comes and takes the believers out of the world. Then comes the Great Tribulation which continues 7 years.
At the close of the Tribulation Jesus returns bringing with him the rmembers of His body, the saints. He destroys this anti-Christ and begins His millennial reign of a thousand years, and Jerusalem will be the capitol of the world: the anti-Christ who reigns during the Tribulation will go to Jerusalem and work signs and delude the people; Jesus returns and destroys this anti-Christ, then shall that wicked be revealed when the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming--whose coming the anti-Christ is after the the working of Satan, with all power and signs of lying wonders.--II Thessalonians 2:8-9.
There are two distinct phases of Christ's coming:
1. Coming for the saints, His body of believers, revealing Himself to them they are caught up to meet Him.
2. Coming at the close of the Tribulation with His saints destroys the anti-Christ; reveals Himself to the Jews; begins His millenial reign of a thousand years at Jerusalem.
"This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, heady, high minded. Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away."
What will it mean to have part in that meeting in the air? It will mean the most glorious things. It means we are members of His body, we are memberts of the Royal Family of Heaven. It means to be the most exalted beings in the universe.
What an awful thing to refuse to accept Christ at your Savior and go through the Tribulation.
It will mean we will never more be separated from Jesus. The devil will never have power to separate us from Jesus. The fact Jesus is to be here during the millennium is proof we will be with Him. He said where I am there shall ye be also.
Some will reach it without dying, for there will be a last generation of people who will live on earth before the end.
Some will never see death. I do not know whether you and I will be among that number or not, we may pass on before the Lord comes, but He won't forget us. The dead in Christ shall rise first. He knows where we sleep and we will hear the trumpet sound. Awake saints! The Lord has come to take you home. Get out of your grave clothes, leave the old coffin where you have slept and go home to walk the golden streets. It means we will have bodies that will remain young forever. Pain, aches, gray hair, wrinkles, feebleness, rheumatism, asthma, all passed away.
Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. ( No longer subject to decay or old age) and we shall be changed.--I Corinthians 15:51.
In that moment some will give up old age and be young forever. Some will go from beds of pain where they have been prostrate for years. Some from grinding poverty--to eternal wealth; some from troubles and heartaches. How the angels must crowd around the battlements of Heaven when that time comes.
When you look around you and see how the devil is having his way, it looks as though it never would come. You cannot tell from appearance. Hours before the earthquake in San Francisco no one dreamed it would come. All signs point to the great event of Christ's return.
Radical tendency to depart from the Christian faith. Prophecies fulfilled, Gospel has been preached. The world wide expectancy of lall true believers. The revival among the Jews. Multitudes are returning to Jerusalem and Palestine. Palestine potentially the richest spot in the world. The Dead Sea holds a stupendous fortune in minerals. potash alone the greatest fertilizer known is there in deposits to the value of 50 billions of dollars [which has increased in dollar value many times that today in 2009!--Ed.]. The heat of the Jordan Valley is so intense 50 thousand tons of potash accummulate each year. There are enough bromides, magnesium, calcium, to last the world 35,000. The Dead Sea is 50 miles long, 10 miles wide, 300 feet deep, and it lies 1,200 feet below the sea level [I have been there twice, and it is a truly awesome place, looking like it is another world and another planet than Earth, so utterly lifeless most of it is, yet there are springs of fresh water running down from the treeless mountainsides and creating lush oases with birds and wildlife and gardens at various spots along the shore!--Ed.]
I would love to look on the face of every person, who has championed a great cause in the hour of final victory. But most of all I want to look upon the face of Jesus when the last sinner has been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
It means we will be here with Jesus 1,000 years. The devil chained, cast out. No saloons, no gambling, no brothels, no murder, no bank hold ups, no thieves, no kidnappers, no drunkards, no depression, no hunger, no sickness. Christ reigns.
"And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan. (God gives him all his names so you can not be mistaken who he is.) And bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed for a little season. And I saw thrones and they that sat upon them: And judgment was given unto them and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead (that is, the sinners) lived not again until the thousand years were fulfilled. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in first resurrection. Upon such the second death hath no power, but they shall reign with Him a thousand years." --Revelation 20:3-6.
It means you will meet those who have gone on before, fathers, mothers, children. Doubtless there will be infinite surprises.
"Eye hath not seen, [nor] ear heard the thing God has prepared for them that love Him."
Think of being acquainted with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Paul, Peter, James, John, Luther, Knox, Quee Victoria. Think of knowing Mary the mother of Jesus. It means we will live and reign one thousand years with the Lord with bodies that will never wear out, nor grow old. The millennium will be the golden age of man. The world will bloom like paradise. No poverty, no depression, no hunger, no war. No devil to cause suffering. Think of coming back to this world. No breweries, no dens of inquity. Jesus Christ and His saints ruling the world. No crooked politicians, no elections. It means we will be richly rewarded for all we have suffered.
It means we will escape the Great Tribulation which will take place as soon as the believers are taken out of the world. The believers are the salt of the earth, and light of the world; they are the army with which God holds in check the powers of the devil today. Many in our churches are in league with the devil, that's why conditions are as they are. They have never been born again. No saved man should be outside the church, and no unsaved man should be in the church [Billy Sunday, for one, would not allow an unrepentant man like the late term abortionist in Wichita, Kansas, who may have killed 40-60,000 babies in the womb for profit at his abortion mill and was featured on the national news, as he was recently shot and killed; this terrible man was in church when he was killed, for he served as an usher in a Lutheran Church! but what if you or I had been caught and killed in our sin when we were without Christ's saving blood on us?--Ed.]. Then shall there be Great Tribulation such as there never was before and never will be afterwards.--Matthew 24:22.
Daniel said, "And there shall be a time of trouble such as there was since there was a nation. Even to that time, and at that time, thy people shall be delivered. Every one that shall be found written in the book."
Human imagination is incapable of picturing the awfulness of the Tribulation. The worst time Jesus said that has ever been known or ever will be known. A worse time than the flood. Worse than when the Jews were in bondage in Egypt. Worse than the destruction of Jerusalem, when men, women and children were torn in pieces. Worse than the reign of Nero when Christians were covered with tar and pitch and fastened to stakes and set on fire, while he drove his chariots between lines of blazing bodies [imagine the anti-Christ in a long, sleek black Mercedes Benz limoisine, with a phlanx of bodyguards and secret police in armored vehicles at the head and rear, doing the same thing, as he tours his extensive gardens on his palace grounds at Rome, the capital of his world government!--Ed.].
Worse than when Cortez destroyed the Aztecs, or when Pizarro destroyed Peru. Worse than the French revolution, or the dark ages when men, women and children were thrown to wild animals in the Coliseum at Rome. The world will be under the rule of anti-Christ, the beast.
"And no man might buy or sell, save he had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the numbers of his name. And his number is 666."--Revelation 13:16, 17, 18 verses. Read them!
[1. He causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or their foreheads. 17. And that no man may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; his number is 666.--Rev. 13:16-18]
[please see the note at the end of this message regarding our own thinking about the number 666--Ed.]
Then governments will go to pieces, there will be no security of life or virtue. The Tribulation will last seven years.
During the first half of the Tribulation God sends two witnesses clothed in sackcloth, they will operate from Jerusalem. The whole earth becomes subject to them in judgment. They will have power over all forces of Nature. Theirs will be a testimony of judgment and not the Gospel of reconciliation. Therefore that precludes the possibility of the church, the saints, being here during that judgment.
These witnesses will prophesy 1,260 days or 3/12 years. "I will give power to my two witnesses and thney shall prophesy 1,260 days, clothed in sack cloth."--Revelation 11:3.
"And if any man will hurt them fire proceedeth out of their mouths and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed."--Revelation 11:5.
"These have power to shut Heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over the waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will."--Revelation 11:6.
"And when they shall have finished their testimony the beast that ascended out fo the bottomless pit, shall make war against them and shall overcome them, and kill them; and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city (Jerusalem) which spiritually is Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified [these are the very worst names that could be applied to a "holy city of God," are they not? Jerusalem today is just as iniquitous, it is ruled by secularist or godless authorities among the Jews, most of them unbelievers in God, and so gay rights are championed in the streets of the city and abortion is rampant and all manner of sexualimmorality is practiced, in this so-called holy city of three world religions!--Ed.].
And they of the people, and kindreds and tongues and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in the graves."--Revelation 11:7,8,9. [There is no way this could be understood in Billy Sunday's day, since there were not yet any satellite communications carrying images across the world, so that an event such as this could be shown to the rest of the world; yet now the system is fully operational that permits the whole world to view events going on in Jerusalem simultaneously as they take place. We are indeed in the very last days before the Rapture and Tribulation!--Ed.]
"And they that dwell upon earth shall rejoice over them. And make merry and send gifts to one another."--Revelation 11:10.
"And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God, entered into them and they stood upon their feet and great fear fell upon them which saw them."--Revelation 11:11.
"And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying unto them come up hither, and they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud."--Revelation 11:12.
As long as the church is here she must preach. "God so loved the world." "Who-soever will may come." You can see there would be no work for the saints to do while the two witnesses were bringing judgment on the world.
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man: not the angels which are in Heaven; neither the Son but the Father, Take heed watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is."--Mark 13:32, 33.
It will mean that every believer will be instantly taken out of the world. Homes will be rent in twain, husbands robbed of godly wives, children will be taken out of the world. [there are a number of good Christian films based on Tim LaHaye's LEFT BEHIND series, and other books and films too, that depict this awesome event.--Ed.]. All children that are not old enough to know right from wrong will be translated with the saints. Will the world come to an end? No.
Not for one thousand years. The millennium must come after Jesus comes. It must have its beginning at the close of the Tribulation. All that was lost in the fall will be restored.
There is this we are living nearer to it than anyone has ever lived. We are not told when Christ will come--but we are sure of His coming.
Years ago Admiral Evans of the U.S. Navy received orders for the fleet to put to sea and when 100 miles off shore to read his orders. He did and signaled all captains to come aboard the flagship. The orders were read. They said, "Circumnavigate the globe, you are 100 miles on your way." They sailed the seven seas and as they entered New York Harbor the admiral stood on the bridge with the schedule before him and to the minute he gave orders, cast anchors. They were not late one minute. When we declared war against Germany, Admiral Sims started our navy across the ocean. When the British officials, Admirals Beatty and Jelico, met him they asked, "How soon will your ships be ready for blockade duty." He replied, "They are ready now." Not a screw or bolt was loose. Certainly we can think of nothing so improbable that God should create the world on schedule yet tie His own hands by failure to provide for all emergencies; that His train of purposes for redemption should be delayed. Never. In redemption God is working by schedule, the same as in creation.
After the death of God's two witnesses then the anti-Christ begins his reign of terror for 1,260 days or three and one-half years. At the end of that time the Lord returns with His saints and destroys the anti-Christ and begins His reign of one thousand years during which time the devil will be shut up in the pit. At the end of the thousand years the devil will be loosed for a season. He will go up and down the land and find some people just as big fools as ever to listen to him [as in the last U.S. presidential elections in 2008, the fools of America voted in a "messiah", a "savior," called Barack Hussain Obama who promises to fix everything, but with a terrible price of freedoms and liberties and the rule of the Constitution!--Ed.].
Nothwithstanding all they have witnessed of the blessing of Christ's reign. And he will come up against Jerusalem to battle. Then takes place the battle of Armageddon. Jerusalem will be the prize, the last attempt of the devil to overthrow Jesus and the church.
Palestine has been the battle ground of the world: the kings of Egypt and Babylon met there and vanquished each other. The world's conquerors have fought there. Thutmose, Tiglath Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Cambyses, Alexander, Pompey, Caesar, Augustus, Titus, Hadrian, Saladin, Tamerlame, and Napoleon. Ramesses II, thirteen hundred years before Christ subdued the Hittites. And we read how Deborah and Barak overwhelmed nine hundred chariots of Sisera.
It was 722 years before Christ that Sargon capturted and destroyed Samaria. It was 586 B.C. that Nebuchadnezzar captured and destroyed Jerusalem. Who will be the opposing commanders in the battle of Armageddon? Jesus and the devil. How many will be engaged? Two hundred million. [please see the note at the bottom of this page regarding "666", the anti-Christ who will be challenged by the kings of the east with 200 million soldiers--Ed.] Who will win the battle? Jesus Christ the Son of God and His saints.
Then takes place the resurrection of the wicked dead, the judgment of the white throne. Then a new heaven, a new earth, a new sun, and eternity. Are you ready?
In Kansas years ago lived a judge who was a teacher in a Sunday school. On a Sunday afternoon he was riding horseback. In crossing a bridge he saw a boy drowning. The lad was about 12 years of age. He had gone under. The judge leaped from his horse, threw off coat, hat and vest and dived under, brought him up and saved him. The boy left town. Nothing was heard of him for a dozen years. A young man committed murder, was tried and convicted, and was brought before this judge for sentence. He looked up at the judge and said: "Judge you remember me? You dived in the water and saved me 12 years ago."
The judge replied: "Yes, I remember you and the incident."
He said: "Judge won't you please deal mercifully with me?"
The judge wiped his brow then replied: "My boy I was your savior that day. I am your judge today. I hereby sentence you to life in the penitentiary."
HEAVEN
A man may go to heaven without health, without wealth, without fame, without a great name, without learning, without culture, without friends, without ten thousand other things. But he can never go to heaven without Christ!
The countless multitude on high,
That tune their songs to Jesus' Name,
All merit of their own deny,
And Jesus' worth alone proclaim.
: Firm on the ground of sovereign grace,
They stand before Jehovah's throne;
The only song in that blest place
Is, "Thou art worthy! Thou alone!"
Billy Sunday's "The Second Coming," is concluded.
Note on the number 666:
Let us "calculate" the number 666, as the scripture tells us. First thing I note is that it is three digits, not two, not one, but three. Three is the Trinity, we all know. So this demonic and satanic entity is a counterfeit Trinity, or appears as the Trinity in their divine threeness of the Godhead. The anti-Christ is also one person, so he is a devilish three-in-one person who claims to be God. Why not just 6? Or why not 66? And why not 7 or 2 or 9 or 5 and any combination or number of those? The scripture says that 666 is "the number of the beast, it is the number of a man." Wisdom is to calculate it. So what is there to calculate if the number is already given and known?
First, we could see it signifies or seeks to take the place or equate itself or assume the status of the Trinity, substituting its own false trinity.
Secondly, the number is the number of the beast, the number of a man. Beast and man, they are numbered 6 or 666. Isn't that the domain and dimension of this false trinity--it will be beastly (like a powerful lion or tiger is beastly) and human at the same time, because it operates on the carnal level of lusts, passions, flesh, and all that is brutal and instinctual and animalistic and far surpassing human capabilities in physical strength and endurance. Humans descend to a lower level, we know, when they operate on the level of brute beasts instead of creatures made in the image of God and living under God's holy commandments and . Where is the image of God in this number? We rather see that image replaced by a beast-image and a man-image combined. Humanism that makes man a god, energized by brute power and passions and ferocity--that would be a fearsome being indeed! Add the splendor and majesty and authority, all counterfeit, of the Trinity of the Godhead, this is a being the earth has not seen before, even in the age of the Caesars, though they may well have approached it in the persons of Nero and Caligula, to name two Roman emperors who were monsters.
But here is the fatal Achilles heel, or the missing element in this equation: 7, we know, is the number of perfection, and it is rightly attributed to God. This fake God, the anti-Christ, despite all his impressive pretensions and self-exaltation, cannot reach divine perfection, he can never become a 7. His total number if 666, which falls short of 7, no matter how much he multiplies himself! This fake God is doomed to failure, in other words. He cannot succeed. No matter what he achieves, he is a failure from the start. Yet that does not deter him from trying the impossible. He is going to defy the One True God and seek to wrest away His rule over the earth and use it for his own imperial purposes, and in so doing he will nearly destroy the whole world. This fatally flawed, doomed godhead is, thus, set on an insane quest for self-realization it will never attain. He cannot succeed, but he is self-deceived and thinks he can. His pride and arrogance must delude him, misleading him with "delusions of grandeur." Nothing but God will be able to stop him, and apparently he will sacrifice the entire world to attain his ultimate goal. He is willing to gamble everything he will win in the end--but of course he cannot win against Almighty God--he is a lunatic to think he can!
How could such a person exist? Simply: the right conditions will bring him forth. We have the right conditions at this very moment. We are going to see this counterfeit godhead arise, perhaps soon. All the conditions of global society are ripe for his arising to take charge of the deteriorating world system in the guise of the world savior and messiah.
Here in America we have the right conditions for a forerunner at least. Barack Hussain Obama is operating much in the guise of a national world savior and messiah in America at the present hour. But on a global scale the anti-Christ will do this too on a much vaster scale. It would not be much of a shift for Barack Hussain Obama, however, to step into the larger shoes of an anti-Christ, if only the European Union leaders would take him as their leader too, and the United Nations dovetail in behind as a backer. Nothing on earth could stop him then from going forward as the anti-Christ.
Here is the rub. Will the European Union take him instead of United Nations "Peace Envoy" Tony Blair or some other likeable candidate they are presently considering for a permanent leader? We would not think that likely, as Europeans definitely do not want a U.S. president telling them what to do on their own continent, even while they took advantage of America's military umbrella and have done little to protect Europe since World War II. It would take some major event or disruption, perhaps, to bring them to choose him, as they wish to remain free of America's authority as much as possible. We shall see, however, what becomes of this man. If he were to reduce American sovereignty (which he is systematically doing all over the globe), reduce it enough to satisfy the culturally eminent Europeans who look down on a parvenu America, perhaps the Europeans might even accept America as a member, though not a supreme or dominate, controlling member on the Supreme Council, while Barack Hussain Obama, using American membership in the European Union as a mere springboard, could then be voted in as the chief executive for life.
Stranger things have happened in politics than that. But America during his administration would first have to divest itself of a major part of its present sovereignty and power, so that it could be accepted into the resentful and suspicious and culturally "superior" European Union, which has many reservations against America because of its largely independent policies and its overwhelming strength of military and superpower status in the past. Then with that accomplished, Barack Hussain Obama could be voted in as the most popular man in the world, due to his Muslim and also Western connections. He would appear to be the great unifier of the two civilizations of east and west. He could seem to be the solution for the Muslim-Christian conflict. He could also seem to be the true guide for saving the planet from the bugaboo of carbon emissions, after reducing America's emissions (and economy) to a very low level by draconian measures.
Interesting, how in calculating the number 666, where it could possibly lead! Calculate the number yourself, but keep within the scripture and also prophecy given by God in Daniel, John's epistles, and Revelation primarily and remember the possible as history has shown us, and you can learn something perhaps. There has to be a good reason why we are told to calculate the number 666.
This, then, is not mere idle speculation: It is certain that however Barack Hussain Obama, or someone like unto him, achieves the headship of the European Union, if he could also command the authority and combined economy and military might of America, the European Union, and the United Nations, he would, perforce, reign supreme over the whole earth, and nothing, not even the Chinese economic, military, and demographic juggernaut, could withstand him from taking global power in his hand.
One last thing to consider: the definition of anti-Christ. The Greek "Anti" is not the exclusive meaning, which we usually attribute to it. We usually think it means "against" or "opposed". That is true enough, but the meaning is more accurately: "instead of." This "instead of" God is false and counterfeit, based on the human and animal kingdoms and their powers. This "instead of" God will be a perfect representative of the environmental movement world-wide, as a matter of fact, for he will represent the animal kingdom, the species of the world that are thought to be so endangered by man's dominance and exploitation. Yet as a man AND a beast, the "instead of" God will bring both kingdoms together under his rule and authority. He will "reconcile" them, it will appear. He will be the darling of the environmentalists and the world community that dotes on the presumptious notion the planet can be saved by correct treatment of the animals and plants and natural systems. If you should see anyone of national or international stature or ambition, who actively enlists the support and endorsement of the world community along those lines, he could very well vault into the position of anti-Christ, if he can also seize the powers of a world state combines the European Union, America, and the United Nations, with the willing allegiance of the Muslim bloc of nations.
Naturally, history (and the Bible) tells us that not every country will willingly accede to relinquish its sovereignty to this world leader (and it is not certain that America will even do this, even with the persuasive, charismatic Barack Hussain Obama as president)--Russia may be one, China another. The Bible tells us that hree members of the European Union or within the anti-Christ's empire will revolt, and he will crush them militarily before taking over absolute power. Even together, Russia and China, after those three were crushed, would not be sufficient to stop him, however. If he can deceive the Muslim bloc of nations (which operate in the United Nations by the way and largely control it) and get them to endorse and follow him, he can ultimately bring their historical overlord, Russia, into his control or hegemony, for there are large populations of Muslims still living in Russia too. China, well, that is a bone sticking in the throat. It will not slide down! It is far too large to do that. He will not be able to swallow China, which has the greatest population of any nation or group of nations on earth. And China is nuclear and has a large economy to back up its tremendous military machine. Communist masters will not submit peaceably to a Western world dictator. But even China, not wishing to be isolated, may choose not to challenge the resurgent West that includes the Muslim powers and oil wealth, but may have to bide its time for an opportunity to strike at a better moment.
We see this confrontation of East and West happening in Revelation, where the Anti-Christ is forced to turn from his destruction of Israel and Jerusalem when he hears disturbing news of immense forces of the "kings of the east" coming to do battle with him. The Eastern kings or rulers have fielded a 200 million soldier force (the number the Bible gives us in Revelation).
To recap: Enviromentalism, the Global Warming Hoaxed world community, the Muslim bloc, the United Nations, the European Union, even perhaps a reduced in sovereignty and economy but still powerful America--these powerful entities combined would empower the "instead of" God, the anti-Christ, the Beast-Man who will rule the world during the seven hellish years of the Tribulation. He will perform incredible feats with his power and also the aid of supernatural "lying wonders," causing the world's population to fall down and worship him as God (or be killed) until his utter destruction by the power of Jesus Christ returned again to the earth at His second coming.
Considering that the beginning of these things are even now visible in our time, are we not to be watchful, careful lest we too be swept into the train of the anti-Christ like the herds of doomed fools pictured in Revelation, all those lost souls branded with his mark, with his number 666, who first believed his words and yearned for such a savior and leader to save them and the planet, only to be deceived and destroyed and dragged into hell by the avenging angels of God?--Ed.< /center>
The Emmaus Walk Home Page
Format only: (c) 2009, Butterfly Productions, All Rights Reserved
