By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith Ministry once again. Thank you for joining me as we look at another change taking place in society. But first let me thank you for your support for Keep the Faith as I have been recovering from my illness. It is good to be back. It is a privilege to be able to send you the CD preachers once again. And I look forward to many more sermons calling God’s people to get ready for the coming of the Lord as long as time shall last and I have the strength and abilities.
We are seeing major changes in our world that will take us to the end of time. We can thank the Lord for His goodness so far, but in the future He will have to bring His hedge of protection around us more tightly as He withdraws His protection from the cities and from the people who are in rebellion. There will be even more deadly viruses that attack and more devastating earthquakes and other disasters that will take the lives of millions. There will be destructive war and deep famine and profound confusion. The fear and desperation will exceed the fear of the coronavirus by far. We need a walk with Christ that has been developed already when these things occur, not a last minute, emergency relationship.
So I hope you are getting armored up by putting on “the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,” (Ephesian 6:13-18) and making yourself ready for the fight of your life that will surely come. What is that fight? The fight is to trust Jesus completely even for your daily bread.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for the Bible, which gives us light about the kingdom of heaven and reveals what is to come. We have the concepts, now let us act upon them for ourselves and our families. And thank you for the reality that eternal life is within reach of all of us. But it comes by faith. And we are so prone to lacking it when it’s really needed. With the time of trouble that is almost here, even at the door, it is necessary that our faith needs to have an unbreakable hold on You. Please give us that faith. And please be with us today as we study. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
We have analyzed the coronavirus for the last two months. We now turn our attention to a formidable movement that is just under the surface, and which we must watch as it builds and grows. But let me caution you. If you are not in harmony with heaven that is your first work. Find a way, no matter what you have to do, to bring your life into line with God’s plan. Don’t be distracted by things that are not the central truth for this time, the three angel’s messages.
Don’t get involved in speculative things like who and what is the Holy Spirit, or do we need to keep the Jewish feasts, or veiled points of prophecy like the 2520. Ask yourself what do the people need to hear right now? What do they need for salvation? It’s the three angel’s messages, my friends, which is Christ and His righteousness. The people out there in the world are desperate for light to illumine the gross darkness around them. Many of them are fearful and do not know where to turn for understanding in our times. Do we feed THEM with these off beat things that are not going to lead them to the foot of the cross, or that they cannot understand? Spend your time learning the message for this hour, the three angel’s messages of Revelation 14. They are a summary of the whole Bible and they are the messages designed to get you ready for the coming of the Lord in Glory.
The enemy would love to get you distracted on videos and questions of little importance. Who did it? Or who manipulated it? You know, people think this coronavirus was planned; it was a bioweapon, they say; or it was Dr. Fauci himself that sent the deadly virus to a lab in China, etc. These questions may have some truth in them or maybe not. But they are NOT important. What IS important are the principles God has given His people to live by in His word. That is how you are going to survive. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. There is no safety in the knowledge of who did it? But there is safety in the knowledge and will of God, if we follow it. Spend your time getting to know the message that is vital for this time. Follow all the counsel of the Lord.
There are all manner of conspiracies in the world, but the only one that deserves our attention is the conspiracy of the enemy to distract you from what is really important – your salvation. Our mission at Keep the Faith is to bring you that message day after day, month after month, year after year. And we don’t have many more years any more. We may not have many months either. I pray you are with me in preparing for the fight of your life, when your conscience will be trampled under foot by governments and people who have no idea what they are doing to the spiritual rights and freedoms of the people.
There are important prophetic lessons to be learned from the virus pandemic and today we are going to see if we can see what they are, at least some of them.
Revelation 13 pictures two beast powers, which symbolically represent the Papacy and the United States. These two beasts are in league with each other and work to make the whole world worship the first beast, or the papacy. What does this worship entail? This worship involves the whole world. Rulers and people pay homage to the beast that has the Dragon or Satan supporting it, it also means that the whole world gives allegiance to Satan. He has provided a false system of worship and a false day of worship that is opposed to God’s specific instructions found in the Ten Commandments and is opposed to everything God has created for man’s peace and happiness.
Let’s read it starting with verse 11. ‘And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed…”
“All the power of the first beast” is referring to persecuting power. So America is to become a persecuting power, maybe even more so than the Papacy.
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live…”
So the United States is going to deceive the whole world into thinking that God is on her side by being able to do signs and wonders. She will point to the Papacy as having the true worship, and will require all people to worship on her day, Sunday, by law, known as the national Sunday law or the universal Sunday law.
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
These terrifying times are just before us. Sunday laws are where this is headed. This enforced worship is in conflict with God’s word. And the miracles are just to enforce the deception that God is behind the movement.
Listen to this statement. It’s from the book Education, page 179. “The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.”
This crisis is bigger and more overwhelming than you think. When you have a nation, or a society that is fearful, and their lives are threatened, people will do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily do to be safe. And those things are inevitably a threat to God’s people. Most don’t even see it coming. If God’s people sleep much longer they will be hit by the overwhelming surprise, which will surely come.
Leaders will feel they have a license to forcefully take liberties away from those who are in their jurisdictions because it is an “emergency.” They take away even religious liberty. All in order to make the people feel safe. There are plenty of “emergencies” these days. And more serious ones just around the corner.
But where is real safety? It is under the amazing protection of the Almighty found in Psalm 91. But people don’t want that invisible protection. They want the protection they can see and feel. They want the protection that political leaders give them, which isn’t really protection at all. They want protection that the military gives them. They want protection the health care system gives them. They want economic protection that the welfare system gives them. But they aren’t seeking the protection of God, which is the really true protection.
Strange things are happening in this world. What was once protected is no longer protected. Religious liberty is just as expendable as other liberties due to the need to keep people safe. Here’s an example.
People in New Jersey have been getting arrested just for practicing their faith. On March 15 people were arrested and charged because they attended an Orthodox Jewish funeral service.
Police in Lakewood Township, near the Jersey Shore, were called to a residence at approximately 6:30 p.m. on a tip from an anonymous caller who reported the large gathering. Officers found 60 to 70 people gathered for a funeral, in violation of Gov. Phil Murphy’s stay-at-home order banning social gatherings.
15 people charged in New Jersey after funeral where dozens gathered, violating state order [1]
Here is what governor Phil Murphy said about the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights at an interview on Fox News with Tucker Carlson. During the interview, Tucker Carlson got straight to the point. He wanted to know why people were being arrested for simply practicing their faith. After all, the right to worship and peacefully assemble is a right protected and guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Carlson posed one simple question, one that Gov. Murphy repeatedly avoided throughout the rest of his interview: “By what authority did you nullify the Bill of Rights in issuing this order? How do you have the power to do that?”
Gov. Murphy’s reply was very telling: “That’s above my pay grade, Tucker. I wasn’t thinking about the Bill of Rights when we did this.”
That is a chilling response! A governor issues a state-wide order that clearly violates the Constitution, and he doesn’t even give it a second thought! Nowhere in the Constitution are governors granted authority to disregard the Bill of Rights. Not even the President. But they do it all the time when there is a so-called “emergency.”
Tucker asked his question at least three times. Each time, the New Jersey governor gave reasons as to why he issued the mandate, not by whose authority he ordered it. Gov. Murphy cited scientific reasons and said he had the support of different religious leaders throughout the state, but he never did give a clear, direct answer to Carlson’s question.
New Jersey Governor Forgets About the Bill of Rights [2]
Governor ‘wasn’t thinking of the Bill of Rights’ when banning religious meetings [3]
There is a lot to think about in this. Didn’t the religious leaders urge him to think about the first amendment? Which religious leaders supported him? Will religious leaders forget the First Amendment too in an emergency?
So here’s Lesson #1. When a national emergency manifests itself, rulers don’t think about the constitutional rights of the people. Rights are the first casualties. We need to remember to think twice before we assume that leaders are immune from this and will protect our rights. They won’t.
While I’m not suggesting that citizens should defy government orders so long as they don’t violate the conscience, leaders of government should think about the rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and at least take steps to lessen the impact of the burden restrictions impose on the religious liberties of the people. My point is that liberties, particularly religious liberty, is disregarded in a flash when there’s an emergency.
Governor Murphy, who is Catholic, wasn’t thinking of the rights of the people as he issued his executive order. To me, this also tells us plainly and obviously how government officials are going to think when there is an emergency that seems to require Sunday laws. And they will issue decrees or executive orders to enforce their wishes. Listen to this from Last Day Events, page 132. “To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law. By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness…”
And in a really strange turn of events, on March 30, to slow the spread of coronavirus, the Québec Premier Franćois Legault announced that all shops, including grocery stores, will be closed on Sundays, except gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacies and take out from restaurants so that workers can get some rest. He also called for unity to win the battle against the virus.
While you may think this is natural, that is what the Catholic Church wants you to think. The leaders wouldn’t close on Saturday, God’s rest day, to get some rest, would they? No, Sunday is the go-to day for anything that involves a day of rest. Do you see where the trend is moving? In fact, it is already there. Notice the premier calls for unity in regard to a Sunday blue law in order to defeat this unseen enemy.
Here’s Lesson #2. Sunday is already on the minds of some leaders, maybe many. Calls for unity around a decree that involves day of rest will make the day seem more important and significant when the whole population has rallied around the decree. Will there be calls for unity around a Sunday worship law at the end of time to defeat a perceived enemy?
This is a secular power, a province of Canada, which is promoting a principle that Rome has advocated since the 4th century in opposition to God’s law.
From The Great Controversy, page 574 we read, “Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances sustained by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival attained its position of honor in the Christian world. The first public measure enforcing Sunday observance was the law enacted by Constantine. (A.D. 321; see Appendix note for page 53.) This edict required townspeople to rest on “the venerable day of the sun,” but permitted countrymen to continue their agricultural pursuits. Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforced by the emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity.
“The royal mandate not proving a sufficient substitute for divine authority, Eusebius, a bishop who sought the favor of princes, and who was the special friend and flatterer of Constantine, advanced the claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. Not a single testimony of the Scriptures was produced in proof of the new doctrine. Eusebius himself unwittingly acknowledges its falsity and points to the real authors of the change. “All things,” he says, “whatever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day.”—Robert Cox, Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, page 538. But the Sunday argument, groundless as it was, served to embolden men in trampling upon the Sabbath of the Lord. All who desired to be honored by the world accepted the popular festival.”
Here’s Lesson #3. Laws or decrees that involve something that is unfamiliar to the people, or are unconstitutional, are slowly implemented and gradually enforced. They don’t happen all at once. This give the people time to get used to it and not feel the full impact all at once.
The people wouldn’t accept these laws except by gradual implementation. But the principle is that they never go back to where they were. Like the measures implemented after 9/11, the world had changed and would never be the same again. We still have indefinite detention, torture in secret prisons, surveillance, censorship, and other tools of the medieval oppression in modern society ready to use against those who run afoul of big state plans or agendas. Most people have forgotten them.
Here is a statement that explains what is really happening behind the scenes. God has pulled back the curtain and has shown His people what to expect. He gives advance warnings so His people can get prepared. It is from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, and page 452.
“God has revealed what is to take place in the last days, that His people may be prepared to stand against the tempest of opposition and wrath. Those who have been warned of the events before them are not to sit in calm expectation of the coming storm, comforting themselves that the Lord will shelter His faithful ones in the day of trouble. We are to be as men waiting for their Lord, not in idle expectancy, but in earnest work, with unwavering faith. It is no time now to allow our minds to be engrossed with things of minor importance. While men are sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s people may not have mercy or justice. The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon. It is our duty to do all in our power to avert the threatened danger. We should endeavor to disarm prejudice by placing ourselves in a proper light before the people. We should bring before them the real question at issue, thus interposing the most effectual protest against measures to restrict liberty of conscience. We should search the Scriptures and be able to give the reason for our faith. Says the prophet: “The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” That’s Daniel 12:10.
Are you wise? Do you understand these things? Prophecy is like a beacon of light to guide you through the darkness. But if you don’t notice the beacon because you are preoccupied with worldliness or the cares of this life, you’ll make a shipwreck of your soul.
Here’s Lesson #4. Look at what was done during previous crises, even recent ones, to see what to expect in the future.
Here is a statement that makes this point. It is found in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 8, and page 49. “The Lord is removing His restrictions [on Satan’s power] from the earth, and soon there will be death and destruction, increasing crime, and cruel, evil working against the rich who have exalted themselves against the poor. Those who are without God’s protection will find no safety in any place or position. Human agents are being trained and are using their inventive power to put in operation the most powerful machinery to wound and to kill.”
That is ominous, my friends. Now is the time to come under God’s protection. As the world economy goes into recession. When millions of people are out of work, we are likely to have civil unrest in America. Strife and confusion will be everywhere. The big cities will be affected most. But so will the countryside. People will become desperate. And they will take matters into their own hands. You need God’s protection now.
Lesson #5. God has many ways of protecting his people that transcend human protection.
He gives guidance that is the safest course to take in any situation. For instance, He says get out of the cities. They will be destroyed. Lot’s experience is the biblical type of the last days. Jesus said to Lot and his family, “escape for thy life, look not behind thee.” Genesis 19:17. If anyone says to you “get out of the city,” that’s the voice of Jesus, speaking through that person.
If you obey His counsel, this is not legalism, you are actually coming under His protection. All of God’s counsel is that way. Whether it is His counsel on health, His counsel on finances, His counsel on marriage, or even the Ten Commandments, what ever it is, His counsel is always calculated to provide the safest coarse to take.
Have you taken God as your counselor? If you act on His counsel in every particular and you are in a living relationship with Jesus, you will have nothing to fear. But if you have been dragging your feet to obey, and you have thought that you will have an opportunity to make an escape with plenty of additional warning, you will find that it is impossible. Think about Lot and the destruction of Sodom. Did he have much advance warning? He only had one night.
A lot of prominent pastors called for Prayer to defeat the virus. For instance, Franklin Graham said during an interview on Fox News at the beginning of Easter week, “This pandemic, this is the result of a fallen world – a world that has turned its back on God,” he said. “I don’t think it’s God’s plan for this to happen. It’s because of the sin that’s in the world… Man has turned his back on God, we have sinned against Him, and we need to ask for God’s forgiveness…”
Fox News also had an interview with Robert Jeffress, pastor of a large mega-church in Dallas, TX. He is on the President’s Council for Reopening Churches. He said the president believes that “both worship and work are essential American activities, and we need to get back to both…
Pastor Robert Jeffress urges people of faith to take precautions amid coronavirus crisis [5]
Paula White, known as the President’s Pastor, said, “We even see in the book of Numbers… a very different situation. There was a prayer that stopped the plague. Now the plague was different. It was a plague of rebellion. But no less it was still a plague. You see it in Numbers 16 and I believe in the same way if we call on God almighty to divinely intervene just as He does so many times, that the plague can be stopped,” she said.
Notice that Paula White is suggesting that the virus is a result of rebellion. She is calling for leaders to repent of the national sins and lead the nation back to God. Listen to what she said.
“When the plague hits, watch what happens to real leaders. Real leaders don’t stand back and watch and say ‘Oh good’ and say ‘oh well, this is what’s deserved… Real leaders fall on their face for all people…”
She is saying political leaders need to repent for all the people. Paula was specifically calling for conservative leaders to plead that the people return to God so He will stop the plague. Government has done some wicked things because people who don’t believe in God have been in power and brought in laws that have greatly increased the national sins. And there are people that stubbornly WILL NOT repent and return to God. This will frustrate religious leaders and people who want to see changes for the better. So they will overreact and go to far. They will enact laws when the next virus pandemic, more deadly than the one we have now comes along.
And Paula is very close to the President and advises him on spiritual matters. And being a president who is basically ignorant of the Bible, he is dependent on others to tell him what it says and what it means. That’s a formula for bringing on the final crisis.
Kenneth Copeland called on the “wind of God” to blow on the virus and destroy it. “I blow the wind of God on you. You are destroyed forever, and you’ll never be back. Thank you, God. Let it happen. Cause it to happen.”
Then he led a chant surrounded by members of his church and preaching to an empty room, he called out: “Wind, almighty, strong, south wind, Heat: Burn this thing, in the name of Jesus. I say, you bow your knees. You fall on your face.”
In another sermon he “executed judgment” on COVID-19 during which he declared the virus “finished” and “over” and made the US “healed and well again.” He also demanded “a vaccination to come immediately.”
Coronavirus: Televangelist Kenneth Copeland ‘blows wind of God’ at Covid-19 to ‘destroy’ pandemic [6]
What is this hype? It is designed to get people reigned up. But for what purpose? They want to reform the political system to make it more “godly.” And they are advising the President and other political leaders on how to do that. They want to get everyone back to church at a time of national crisis and fear. They want the nation to be godlier by law if they can. And when a certain section of the population will not comply, but instead continue in their wicked ways, this will make them even more determined to bring in laws that will force America back to God’s favor. And when a worse pandemic comes they will become bolder.
So here’s Lesson #6. Prominent religious leaders want to have political influence so they can turn America politically toward God. And many of their objectives are good. And many sincere people join this work. But when they have gained political influence and power, as they have with Donald Trump in office, they will, when they are pressed by an existential emergency, go further than they should and enact laws and executive orders that will go too far and require disobedience of God’s law.
Let me read again the statement from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, and page 452. “The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon [which is the spirit of force].”
Donald Trump wants to cooperate with them. Mr. Trump said in an interview about the possibility of reopening the country by Easter on Fox News March 24, 2020 “Wouldn’t it be great to have all of the churches full? You’ll have packed churches all over our country.”
Coronavirus updates: An Easter like no other around the world as pastors, pope preach to empty pews [7]
Well, that didn’t happen, but nevertheless Mr. Trump participated in a call to prayer from the oval office on Good Friday alongside Bishop Harry Jackson, a Pentecostal preacher from Maryland. And Mr. Pence joined a televised blessing while stressing the importance of prayer and reflection on Easter weekend.
“We want to both encourage them to keep the faith and to encourage them to maintain social distancing,” said a senior White House official.
Trump sought a national revival by Easter. Now he has a new Easter message. [8]
Donald Trump also called for a day of prayer for Sunday, March 15. In his proclamation he made the following remarks:
“As your President, I ask you to pray for the health and well-being of your fellow Americans and to remember that no problem is too big for God to handle. We should all take to heart the holy words found in 1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” Let us pray that all those affected by the virus will feel the presence of our Lord’s protection and love during this time. With God’s help, we will overcome this threat…
“As we unite in prayer, we are reminded that there is no burden too heavy for God to lift or for this country to bear with His help. Luke 1:37 promises that “For with God nothing shall be impossible,” and those words are just as true today as they have ever been. As one Nation under God, we are greater than the hardships we face, and through prayer and acts of compassion and love, we will rise to this challenge and emerge stronger and more united than ever before. May God bless each of you, and may God bless the United States of America.”
Here’s Lesson #7. There will be a unity of political and religious leaders that will call the people to unity. They are getting used to it now. When the next deadly crisis eventuates, the unity will have been practiced and developed so that it will naturally fall in place. And stronger action will be the result. Imagine where this is headed.
Listen to this. On a conference call with 700 pastors, Trump assured the religious leaders that he believes “we’re going to come back stronger than ever before.” “I want to thank you for praying for our country and for those who are sick,” the president said. “You do such an incredible job. You’re very inspirational people. Then he said, “And I’m with you all the way.”
Trump, Pence join 700 pastors in prayer call during coronavirus outbreak [9]
If they suggest that the country needs to get back to God and needs a Sunday law, what is he going to do? Its just that the rest of the country isn’t prepared for it yet.
Here is a statement from the Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 4, and page 444. “In the last conflict the Sabbath will be the special point of controversy throughout all Christendom. Secular rulers and religious leaders will unite to enforce the observance of the Sunday… Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who honor the divine precepts.”
The citizens will demand a Sunday law. Millions of Americans believe the virus is a “wake-up call from God.” The Jerusalem Post ran an article that said, “A stunning 44% of Americans polled said they see “the global coronavirus pandemic and economic meltdown” as “a wake-up call for us to turn back to faith in God,” as “signs of coming judgment.”
Even 25% of people who self-identify as “secular” believe that the virus is a wake-up call to get back to faith in God, as did 26% of Asian Americans, 40% of whites, 52% of Hispanics, and 64% of African Americans.
More than one-in-four non-Christian young people (28%) ages 18-29 said they are turning to reading the Bible, listening to sermons and learning more about Bible prophecy. This is even more true of those between age 30 and 40, of whom 36% are turning to the Old and New Testaments in this time of crisis.
Millions of Americans say coronavirus a ‘wake-up call’ from God [10]
I don’t know about you folk, but I can see the “writing on the wall.” A few more disasters, another plague, could push this movement over the line. I have said before every thing is being lined up. All that’s needed is a few big disasters and the push will be on.
So, here’s Lesson #8. Political leaders will yield to the demands of religious leaders and people in order to stay in power, to get re-elected. They will, in an emergency, decree what the religious leaders want.
Here is Great Controversy, page 592. “The dignitaries of church and state will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the Sunday. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected.
Now let us think about the lockdown for a few minutes. Mega-cities, from Wuhan to New York to Melbourne, with millions of people were locked down. Some cities were quarantined and no one could go in or out. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders were issued so people could be controlled, and the virus could be slowed or stopped. Some people were arrested and fined for violations of these orders. But most people complied because they were afraid.
Police using more discretion as COVID-19 fines drop, top cop says [11]
Fear makes people do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do. In New York City, Mayor De Blasio urged people to use their phones to photograph and report to authorities any business that violates social distancing orders.
“How do you report places that aren’t enforcing social distancing?” he wrote on twitter. “It’s simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692.”
In announcing the feature De Blasio said, “all you’ve got to do is take a photo and put the location with it, and bang, send a photo like this and we will make sure that enforcement comes right away.”
Notice that this is referring to business establishments. But you know that people will be the target too. If there are neighbors that don’t have enough social distance, people will snitch on them too. And law enforcement will come running.
Does this remind you of anything in the past? Some of you know your history of the Nazi regime that got neighbors to tattle on those who were suspected of hiding Jews, the resistance movement and other illegal activities during World War II. Also in medieval societies under the control of the Roman Catholic Church, offered incentives for citizens to tattle on their neighbors to the inquisition for anything that might be suspicious. That in itself created an environment of fear.
Other countries are trying to use these tactics as well. In Victoria, Australia, for instance they have a system for dobbing in (or tattling on] your neighborhood business, or your neighbor, to the police for violating social distancing rules. Penalties are in the form of large fines. Are western countries setting up a betrayal system to tattle on neighbors because of COVID-19? Getting your neighbors to be the secret police is dangerous.
Here’s lesson #9. You see, history repeats itself because people don’t know history. We are entering an era of big brother controls that leads to other repressive measures, like control on movement, controls on rights, controls on speech, etc. this is like the medieval system using modern technology.
In New Jersey, police are using drones to find people who are not social distancing. Will they use drones to track down God’s people who are not abiding by Sunday laws?
Many cities around the world use cameras for various reasons including security and tracking. Cameras have become ubiquitous in many places. They are very small and can hardly be seen or aren’t noticed. And most people have no idea they are being watched and monitored.
Here’s lesson #10. Surveillance is essential to the oppression of God’s people. Do you remember Jezebel? She had her surveillance forces out looking for the prophets of the Lord. And when she found one, she killed him. See 1 Kings 18.
Make no mistake about it. We are returning to the oppressive environment of the Nazis, and of medieval feudal society. These measures are here to stay, mostly. All of the new methods and policies after 9/11 are still with us, though many of them are dormant. And these new ones will be too when coronavirus has passed, only to come back against a spiritual foe, and with more power, at the end of time.
Here’s lesson #11. This is a dress rehearsal, friends, for the final movements when God’s people will be the target. When people get used to snitching on their neighbors there will be no place that you can go to get away from it. That’s when you have to fully depend on the almighty God for protection. If you are a Sabbath keeper the enemy is making these preparations just for you.
Remember that, “While men are sleeping, Satan is actively arranging matters so that the Lord’s people may not have mercy or justice.” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 452).
The stage is being set. I used to say there needs to be more elements in place for the final movements to take place, like a major event, a global disaster to give an excuse for religious leaders and political leaders to unite and to call people back to church. Now, everything is in place. All the elements are present. They just need to be more deeply engrained in the psyche of the people. I say now the final movements are very near, but for a few mega-disasters.
Lesson #12. Protection from God comes from obedience.
Friends, you can rely on the great Jehovah in every time of need. He is there for you if you will ask. If you live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, eating a plant based diet, and following all the laws of health, living in the country, tilling the soil, you may not get rich, but you are out of the city. And that is of great value. The cities are death traps. And God is withdrawing His protection from them.
Lesson #13. Get out of the cities! Escape for your lives… The cities will be destroyed. It is NOT safe to stay in them.
Listen to this statement found in Evangelism, page 27. “I am bidden to declare the message that cities full of transgression, and sinful in the extreme, will be destroyed by earthquakes, by fire, by flood. All the world will be warned that there is a God who will display His authority as God. His unseen agencies will cause destruction, devastation, and death. All the accumulated riches will be as nothingness…
“Calamities will come—calamities most awful, most unexpected; and these destructions will follow one after another. If there will be a heeding of the warnings that God has given, and if churches will repent, returning to their allegiance, then other cities may be spared for a time. But if men who have been deceived continue in the same way in which they have been walking, disregarding the law of God and presenting falsehoods before the people, God allows them to suffer calamity, that their senses may be awakened…”
When the general population living in fear of something invisible, something deadly, and yet it is obvious that some people are under the protection of the Almighty, they are going to come to them and sit at their feet and learn about the Sabbath of the Lord, the health principles and the three angel’s messages. You want to see that happen don’t you?
The current pandemic is but a harbinger of worse things to come. Expect an escalation of disasters both natural and man-made. Expect the large cities of this world to be the epicenters of disease and disaster.
Friends, there’s more to come. The end is almost here. Please follow God’s counsel. Don’t lose your body and soul in the coming destruction.
Let us pray. Father in heaven, give us the courage to live in such a way as to please You and not ourselves. Give us Your Holy Spirit to give us strength to make the decisions we know we need to make. I pray for those that are without a shelter from the storm. Please appeal to them again. Give them enough time to still get ready. We want Jesus to come, but we see so many, out there in the world that aren’t ready, and they’re not mindful of fulfilling prophecy. Things are happening every day that tell us prophecy is being fulfilled right before our eyes. Help us to prepare and to give the final warning. In Jesus, name amen.