ÒIf
youÕre looking for the real giant in Asia, IÕd watch India if it were me,Ó says
Jordan. ÒBy the way, thatÕs why itÕs so exciting to me! We just sent all of the
Grace School of the Bible classes to China on DVD.
ÒNow,
we wonÕt see them again because the Chinese government is very oppressive to
the Christian church in China. They watch very carefully; they monitor the
emails and theyÕre very suspicious. ItÕs that communist suspicion of one
another.
ÒSo
we have to give them into the hands of people we know we can trust and they
will distribute them. And the network theyÕre distributing them through is a
network of over 2,500 Grace Assemblies in China--people who understand some of
things about right division and that want this information. ThatÕs a lot of
people, folks!
ÒYou
say, ÔWell, little home churches arenÕt but about 15-20 people. Yeah, thatÕs
because theyÕre HOME churches! They have to be that way because of the culture!
ÒUnderstand,
there was a tremendous missionary activity in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The
Communists took over and ran all the Western missionaries out. They couldnÕt
exterminate the Body of Christ, though, because it was Chinese. It was IN the Chinese
people too. And you canÕt exterminate the true church. In fact, the blood of
the martyrs is the seedbed of the church.
ÒThe
same hunger and thirst for truth is in India too. WeÕre planting the same
number of seeds there. CultureÕs moving that way. ItÕs moving back to where
civilization began.
******
ÒUltimately,
itÕs going back to the Middle East. In Daniel 8 you get some detailed
information about the kingdom of the Antichrist in Ôthe last days.Õ Those kings
of the east are going to come and join forces with the Antichrist in fighting
against the nation of Israel.
ÒIn
those Ôlast daysÕ Revelation is talking about, all the nations of the earth,
United States included (but the U.S. will be so insignificant at that point it
wonÕt really matter), will gather themselves against Jerusalem and against
Israel. The Antichrist will be ruling that part of the world and gathering the
influence of the nations under his rubric to fight against GodÕs plan and
purpose in the earth.
ÒIt
wonÕt matter what forces he gathers together, though, GodÕs plan will still
come through. But the Word of God tells you all about this ahead of time. ThatÕs
a fascinating thing.
ÒHe
told Abraham in Genesis 15, ÔIÕm gonna make a covenant with you. IÕm gonna give
your seed this land. Walk up and down in it, kick the dust, get acquainted with
it, it belongs to you! You ever buy a house and go around in it, look in the
closets, look in the attic? GodÕs saying, ÔItÕs yours, Abe, look at it!Õ
ÒGod
then says, ÔBut, by the way, your descendants are going to go down to a strange
land, out of the land, for 400 years and then IÕm going to bring them back.Õ
Now if theyÕre going to be gone for 400 years, what would that tell Satan? HeÕs
got 400 years to put his people in the land, doesnÕt he?
ÒSee,
Hezbollah didnÕt just figure out how to do that! (Satan says), ÔDig your
foxholes, make your fortifications, and get ready to hold the land.Õ So, when
he brings Israel up . . . thatÕs why when He brought Israel in theyÕre under
Joshua and He said, ÔGo in there! And those seven nations that have fortified
themselves in that land, sunk their roots in and tried to take that land (God calls
them OUTLANDISH people; theyÕre not supposed to be there) thatÕs your land; go
in and wipe them all out!Õ
ÒAnd
Israel didnÕt do that and the conflict you see over there in the Middle East
today is the result of Israel not doing what God told them to do in the Book of
Joshua. But Jesus Christ is going to come back and do it Himself. ThatÕs why
Hebrews 4, referring to Joshua back in the Old Testament, it doesnÕt say, ÔJoshua;
it says Jesus.Õ That name is the Greek form of the word Joshua. Both of them
mean Jehovah Savior. JoshuaÕs a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned to do what Jesus Christ will
ultimately do.Ó
*****
The
Antichrist is going to reign, not over the whole planet, but heÕs going to
reign over the Middle East. Daniel 8:8, talking about the kingdom of Greece and
how the kingdom is going to spawn the reign of the Antichrist, he says in verse
8, ÔTherefore
the he goat (defined in verse 21 as Greece) waxed very great: and when he was
strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward
the four winds of heaven.Õ
ÒWhen
Greece was divided up, it was divided up into four divisions that we know today
as Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt. Verse 9 tells us that Ôlittle hornÕ is the
Antichrist. Now where does it say he came from? One of those four divisions in
the Greek empire. We call them Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt. In Daniel 11,
heÕll identify two of them—the king of the north (which is Syria) and the
king of the south (Egypt). The Syrian, the king of the north, becomes the Antichrist.
ÒSo
all of the ideas that the prophecy preachers have been peddling for years--
that the Antichrist is really going to come and take over the European Common
Market, and the Antichrist is going to be the pope sitting in Rome reigning
from Italy, taking over the Middle East from Italy--you know what that is? ThatÕs
idle speculation because the Antichrist doesnÕt come from Europe! He doesnÕt come
from the Greek or even the Turkey division of the Greek empire.
ÒBy
the way, the Roman empire was divided into two sections: one in Europe and then
the eastern division of Turkey and Syria. So the part of the Roman Empire that
he comes from is not the European division, itÕs the Middle East division.Ó