In this sermon, the preacher discusses the coming economic collapse and how it will lead to a time when Christians can no longer afford internet or other frivolous things. He emphasizes that this collapse is a sign that we are living in the last days. The preacher then talks about how God took a chosen people into the wilderness in the past to teach them to fully trust Him as their provider. He suggests that a revival will come to the church in a time of scarcity and when people are driven to their knees in prayer. The preacher also addresses the issue of lust and the battle against it, urging people to abstain from fleshly lusts. He warns against bringing abominations into our dwellings and discusses the mark of the beast, expressing the horror of not being able to buy or sell without it.

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing WORLDCHALLENGE PO BOX 260 LINDALE, TEXAS 75771 or calling 903-963-8626. None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. As you know, the messages I've been preaching lately have been prophetic. We have been distributing all over the United States a book called America's Last Call on the brink of a financial holocaust. When I started writing that book, the stock market was 9,000, and nobody thought it would ever end. You were warned here. You were warned here. It's already fallen 10%, and it will probably take another hit. It may stabilize, but we are headed for some very, very troubled times, and a quarter million of those books have gone out just to our mailing list alone. And the letters that come back, my wife is here with me, and she can vouch what I'm about to tell you, that thousands and thousands of letters from all over the United States, Christians that are afraid, Christians that say, we just don't know what to do, and there's panic, and there's fear. And I was reading what one of the Puritan theologians said. If God speaks to you to warn the people of coming events, you have got to believe him to give you a message of hope along with it. And I am nearly finished probably. This message will go in the book, and I think there are three more after that, and the book will be finished, and it's going to be probably released the first of December, and it's going to be how God intends to care for his people during the coming worldwide depression, and it's a book of hope. And I hope my message this morning, this afternoon, is a message of hope for you. I'm not trying to write a book. I promised God I would never write a book just to write a book. I think I've written 37. I would never write a book just for money. This past book has been highly blessed, but my wife and I haven't taken a single dollar from it. I'm not boasting on that. I'm just telling you that the Lord told us to give them free to the poor and to widows and to the unemployed. I think 30,000 have been given away free, and God has honored that. And we've had, as a result of that, we've had people write and say, how much did it cost to print 100,000 or 150,000 books? And I would say, well, 45,000. They said, we're sending you a check for the 45,000 to pay for it. And the reason they did so is that most of the ministers who write to us are begging, but we've never seen a minister who gives stuff away. So that was a real heartwarming experience for us. This afternoon, my message, the Antichrist, Armageddon, and the Mark of the Beast. Now, that's a big, big subject. I hope before I'm finished, you will never again in your lifetime worry or fret about the Antichrist, Armageddon, or the Mark of the Beast. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your precious word. I thank you for your anointing. Lord, you've called me to be one of your many, many watchmen to the nation. And now, Lord, here's a message we're going to send around the world because people in Indonesia, people all over the world, in Thailand, in Japan, Christians in Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, wherever the shaking is, and in the Balkans, Lord, you have a remnant, a holy people. And Lord, you're going to send a gracious word, a word of hope, a word of encouragement to your church. And let this be one of those words that go forth from this crossroads of the world today, we pray. Hide me, Jesus. Let your word come forth. Let us receive it. I thank you for the anointing. Lord, I didn't get this from a book. I got it from your heart. You put this on my heart. I got it from you, and I give it as such in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, the more perilous times become, the more interested people become in prophetic events. And the more these things happen, the more prophetic books, the more conferences on prophecy you're going to see and hear about. And right now, when I speak to you, the presses around the world, the Christian presses, are just grinding out one book after another on prophetic events about the Antichrist, Armageddon, the beast, the mark of the beast, and so forth. In fact, I sent my secretary down this week to the Christian bookstore here on 43rd Street, and I said, Barbara, pick up, try to find a book on the mark of the beast. She brought back a stack of books. And I started reading these books, and some of the authors called themselves the nation's foremost authority on Bible prophecy. I can't imagine anybody suggesting that of themselves or even allowing someone else to say that about them. One of the books is called The Antichrist and a Cup of Tea. And in this book, the author, Englishman, suggests that Prince Charles is a part of the Antichrist system. In fact, that on his coat of arms is the mark of the beast, the insignia of the beast, and that Prince Charles's bank is going to be the initiator of the mark of the beast. Quite an ingenious approach, I must say. I started glancing through these books of these prophecy experts, and no two agreed. Some are pre-trib, some are mid-trib, some are post-trib. In other words, some believe that Jesus is coming before the Great Tribulation and we're going to escape all the suffering. Some believe we're going to go through three and a half years of what is called the seven-year Great Tribulation or Jacob's Trouble. And then three and a half years, I don't know the scripture on that, but Jesus is going to come then. Others say we're going to go through all of this, including the mark of the beast and everything, and at the end of all times, Jesus will come. In fact, some people that write to me now are very insistent, Pastor David, you've got to tell us whether you're pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib. And one or a few have said, if you are not pre-trib, we do not want to receive any more of your mail. We can't accept any word you say. They are so locked into a position on all prophetic events that you can't talk to them. Now let me tell you what I believe. Listen closely before I go any further. I believe that Jesus Christ can come at any moment. I believe he can come in a twinkling of an eye. Now listen very closely. He can come at any moment in a twinkling of an eye, he says. I believe that we're to be ready and expecting him. He said he's coming for those who look for him. I have expected his coming ever since I was a child and knew anything about it. When I, I've told you that every time I heard a trumpet, I stood at attention because I thought that was it. The Bible said he's coming when we least expect him. I don't think anything else has to be fulfilled. He can come, he can come today, he can come anytime, but the saints will not be caught unaware because they're to be ready at any time. But I also believe that Christians are going to endure a great amount of suffering. Before even Jacob's truggle or the tribulation, there could be a series of years of worldwide depression and great suffering. We don't know when the tribulation period will begin. In fact, we, we know very, very little about these things because many of these things have been hidden by the scripture. In Afghanistan and in certain African nations, in Iran or Iraq, Christians right now are being mutilated. They're being beheaded. They are being cast out of their homes. They can't get a job. Their, their children are being taken from them. And you ask them about the great tribulation, they'll tell you they're in it. They are in it. Same in Indonesia. When Suharta resigned, you remember the riots that broke out and the ethnic Chinese that were killed and what very few people realized, the majority of them were overcoming Christians. And they lost their homes. They lost their lives. Their businesses were looted. And you tell those people, well, I'm going to be taken out of this. Jesus is going to come and deliver us. It didn't happen. There was, there was great suffering. Indonesians right now are eating one meal a day. The Christians, very scarce, one meal a day. And a year ago, they were living in great prosperity. There are people, young people that come to me after services from this church, from various nations. We have over 103 nationalities at last count. And there are young people that come to me and say, I don't even know if my dad and mom are living. They're in some of these countries where there are tribal uprisings and machete-carrying rebels all over the nation and refugees running in all directions. And among them, many, many Christians, homeless, hungry. Now, God is meeting many of these. And folks, if you went to Indonesia today, if you went to some of these countries, even though there is bloodshed and Christians are paying with their life, you will find one story after another. It would be another book of Acts. You would hear of deliverances that were incredible, how God is providing food and shelter and everything else. And yet there is suffering. Even while I speak now, there are multitudes of God's saints around the world to whom the Antichrist, Armageddon, and the Mark of Beast don't mean anything at all. You go to Afghanistan and you try to talk to some of those underground Christians about the Antichrist, and they'll tell you that the Antichrist spirit right now is in control in their country and that they are fighting and resisting Antichrist right now. You go to other countries and you can talk about a beast. You say, and they'll tell you, we have a beast in our government right now, a beast who is out to destroy every Christian in the nation. You talk about a future battle of Armageddon, and they'll tell you a battle of Armageddon, we're trying to have, we have a war here just to survive day by day. You talk about the Mark of the Beast, and many Christians right now, they say, what does that mean to us? We don't have anything to buy or sell. There's nothing to buy or sell. Now, I'm not ridiculing prophecy specialists or prophetic conferences because God has promised not to leave his people in the dark. He said he does nothing except to revisit to his prophets. But I believe there's a great grief in the heart of God when his people look so intensely into the future that refuse to look at the present condition of their own hearts. They're so set on the future, so desirous to accumulate prophetic knowledge about future events that they can just drift away from the intimacy of Jesus Christ and sit in front of a television set like a couch potato talking about Armageddon. Folks, even the secular world is getting into the prophetic chic. Movies on Armageddon. Hollywood is trying to capitalize on this focus on biblical prophetic events. Too many Christians are talking about a coming devil incarnated man of sin, and they're not dealing with the sin of their own hearts. Now, do I believe that there's going to be a devil-possessed man who comes to power in God-set time called an antichrist? Yes, I do. There will be a man who totally represents the antichrist spirit and accumulated year after year accumulation of this spirit until there's an apex, until there's a period of time where this spills over and the devil himself incarnates a man called the man of sin. I believe that. But I also believe that that antichrist spirit or the antichrist himself is no concern of mine, is no concern of any Christian here because you and I will not be here when the antichrist comes to power. I believe that with everything in my being. We will not be here. But having said that, I want you to know the antichrist is here now. The antichrist spirit, it's very clear in the scripture. If you would... There's no way you can convince me that Jesus Christ, who's kept his church for 2,000 years, and just prior to his coming, he's going to expose his church to the devil's right-hand man, to his Christ, to molest the church prior to going to her wedding feast. That's incredible to even contemplate that the Lord Jesus would allow his bride to be placed into the filthy hands of a molester to try to turn his bride into a dysfunctional harlot just before he brings her into his wedding feast. Impossible. Impossible. Furthermore, the scripture says the antichrist spirit is at work ever since the cross. Listen to this in 1 John, little children. It's the last time. Folks, it was the last time when John wrote it. Can you imagine? This is the last of the last times. As you've heard, that antichrist shall come. I say even now, there are many antichrists whereby we know that it's the last time. And John tells us plainly to beware of the antichrist among us right now. Not some future antichrist, but the antichrist right now. He said, for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver, and this is the antichrist. Who is the antichrist? The antichrist among us now, the antichrist spirit, are those who do not believe that Jesus Christ was God in flesh. They are those who teach even in our churches today. Forty percent of our denominational pastors don't even believe in the virgin birth. They do not believe that Christ was God. Antichrist is here at work now trying to tell you that you can honor Jesus as a good man, as a teacher, as a charitable man who would give his very life because he cared for people. Many, many books are written by that. And many Christians are buying this. Blasphemy. And even in the Prosperity Gospel, some have wondered why all my ministry, I have been standing up against the Prosperity Gospel. It's because they have been taking away the Godhood of Jesus Christ. That Christ went into, that we are all Christ. Christ went and subjected himself to the devil. He had to fight his way through. That is blasphemy. This spirit is already in the land. It's in the world today, the spirit of Antichrist. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of Antichrist. Well, we heard that it should come, but even now it's in the world. He said, you've heard of an Antichrist coming. He says, get your eyes off of that man. Look around you. The Antichrist spirit is all around you right now, trying to rob you of your confidence that Jesus Christ that you serve, to whom you've given your life, is God in the flesh. Because when you don't see him as God in the flesh, you have no protector, you have no God. The Antichrist spirit is not in the homosexual hangouts. It's not in the drunkards' bar room. It's not in the halls of Congress or education. It's in the backslidden, sin-condoning, perverse and excusing, lust-laden church. The backslidden church with its backslidden pastors are preaching Antichrist. Now, do I also believe that there is a battle called Armageddon to be fought in the Mideast in a particular geographic location? Yes, I do. There's going to be a gathering of nations just as the Bible predicts. Revelation 16, 13, beginning to read, I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They're the spirits of devil's working miracles which go forth to the kings of the earth, of the whole world, and gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Folks, this is God's battle. It's not man's battle, it's God's battle. And He, God by His Spirit, and He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Folks, this last great battle between God and the nations of the world is not my concern, and it should not be your concern either. I am not going to be here when this battle fought, and furthermore, I'm not going to get upset by nations that God said are nothing but dust that He's going to blow away. Let me read it to you. Behold, the nations are as a drop in the bucket. They're counted as a small dust of the balance. Behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing and vanity. Why should I fret about dust that He's going to blow away with the breath of His mouth in an instant? Folks, why should I concern myself about a battle that's out in the future when I've got a battle in my own heart? Folks, the Armageddon's right here. The Beast is right here. It's not out there. Everybody, these books, whole books on the Beast, from Prince Charleston, whoever, the Beast is right here, the old man, the sin nature. The real war is right here in my heart and in your heart. The Puritan theologians believed that Armageddon was a symbolic battle, a battle of the soul of the Bride of Christ, that the devil was coming after the soul of the Bride of Christ, and that was the great battle of Armageddon. And folks, I believe that over the past 2,000 years since the cross of Jesus Christ, there have been thousands of Christians who studied Armageddon and they studied Antichrist and they were absolutely consumed with these prophetic events, but they went to hell because they lost the battle of their own heart. What good is it to study all your life and accumulate all this knowledge if you lose the battle right here? What sense is it? What if you can go from conference to conference and I know preachers that read nothing but prophecy books, and I mean, they are experts. They can tell you every little detail. Of course, it's seen through their either their pre-trib or post-trib, whatever it is they're seeing through these eyes. But why teach it and preach it if you become a drifter away from the intimacy of Christ and you fall into the jaws of lust and you become cold and lukewarm and you die in apathy? What value is it? The Bible says, 1 Peter 2, 11, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul. You see, you've got a battle and it's a lust battle. And you people, we heard this morning from Pastor Carter about television. What about those movies you're running? And you're feeding that. You're losing the war, folks. You've got Armageddon in your soul. Forget prophecy. Turn the knob. Throw it out. Scripture said, Thou shall not bring an abomination into thy dwelling. Let's talk about the mark of the beast. Now, this is a prophetic event that's brought so much fear and confusion to the body of Christ. And now we're being inundated with all these ingenious, confusing explanations and speculations about what that mark is. Now, think about the horror of this whole thing. How horrible this whole event is. Not being able to buy or sell without a mark on your forehead or your hand. Not being able to function in any nation on earth. No food, no transportation. No way to make a living without the mark. And it conjures up among Christians the fear that they're going to end up as beggars or living on miracles. And I believe God is going to create great miracles. He always has. But there's this fear. Well, if I'm going to have to take the mark of the beast, and nobody gets the mark of the beast unless they're worshiping the beast, unless they're worshiping the Antichrist. And now we have... There's one book that was given to me. It's a book on instructions for the people left behind. A whole book. And I'm not making fun of that at all. It's a very interesting book. But the book suggests that Christ comes before all this happens. And I believe he comes before the mark of the beast. But this particular book is saying don't take it because there will be tribulation. Saints come out of this tribulation who refuse to worship the Antichrist system and the beast and refuse to take the mark and somehow they survive or they die or they starve or however it is and they have overcome. And the Bible does say if any man worship the beast in his image and receives his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wrath of God. In Revelation 15 too, there's a reference to those that had gotten victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name. They're standing in the sea of glass having the harps of God. Now, let me stop here and give you something out of my heart. I think it's absolutely unbecoming of Christians and I think it's a reproach to the house of God when Christians argue so much among themselves about the tribulation and about future events. Just absolutely argue and get set on something and say this is the way it is and that's it. Now, folks, you ask me, Brother Dave, are you pre-trib, mid-trib or post-trib? You haven't told us yet. I am what I call we can't lose trib. Now, let me tell you why. Those that preach post-trib and some of these other things, they have many, many scriptures, many convincing scriptures and they're godly people on all sides. But here's what I've come to. It doesn't matter to me. No matter what, God has given me a covenant promise that the Holy Ghost will never leave me as an orphan. He's going to go with me through fire, through flood and through famine. He's going to sustain me even in the midst of depression and disaster. He said he would empower us to stand up against every, even the devil himself. If he can empower the Hebrew children to go through the fire and furnace, if he can empower Daniel to go through the lion's den, he can empower us to refuse anything of the devil, to go through anything that the devil would try to throw against his bride and in the process go stronger. Now, let me take you a little deeper now. Please follow me. While so many Christians are focusing on Antichrist and Armageddon and the Mark of the Beast, a very more important prophetic event is taking place right now and most of the prophecy preachers and writers and so forth don't even see it. There's a more intense, present, immediate prophetic event before the Tribulation, before the Antichrist, before the Mark of the Beast, before all of this. There is a very important prophetic event that's happening. Even as I speak to you right now, the whole world is falling into an economic depression. Japan is in depression, Indonesia, all the Asian Tiger Nations, nine of them are in depression. And now Russia, its government is about to collapse, its economy has collapsed. All over the world, in Canada, the currency is falling, Australia, Philippines. This whole thing, now I want you to listen closely because you've got to see and hear this because the Lord made this so clear to me. This worldwide economic holocaust began just a year ago, July the 2nd, 1997. The whole world was in an economic euphoria. The whole world was in prosperity. People were saying, you know, the Asian Tigers, they were talking about 50 years of prosperity. Japan was saying its emperor's palace and grounds were worth more than all the real estate of California. Here in the United States, they were saying, we are depression-proof. The whole world was awash in euphoria, economic euphoria. In Indonesia, they were running around in Mercedes, people were buying and selling, and young, they called them economic Turks, were just rolling in the money. And then in July 2nd, 1997, Thailand stopped defending the baht, its currency, and it went into a free fall. Then in October 27th, the Hong Kong stock market began to sink. In fact, the Hong Kong market almost brought the world down into depression. All of the experts were waiting breathlessly, and it still may bring down all of the Asian economy further. On November 24th, Japan's fourth largest brokerage firm went bankrupt in that country. In December 18th, Korea elected a new president hoping to stop the slide into the depression, but it didn't work. May 21st, Saharta of Indonesia resigned after 32 years in power. The riots broke out, many were killed. Then June 19th, Russia begged the IMF to rescue their nation from collapse. Russia's central bank suspended all foreign currency trade. If you've seen the pictures this past week, they're all lined up at the bank, they can't get their money. The ruble collapsed. Russia is going into economic and social freefall. And here in the United States, August the 28th, the American stock exchange began to tremble and fell 10%, over a thousand points combined. And I want you to look at the timeline. Less than one year, a whole world goes from economic euphoria, the whole world begins to shake and tremble. And you remember what the words of Jesus said? I will shake everything that can be shaken. Think of it now. In one year, from unprecedented optimism to utter chaos and fear and currencies falling, governments in turmoil all over the world. Now Brazil is about to go down. All of Latin America, Venezuela is just holding on. All of South America and all Latin America is going to absolutely be in depression before another 12 months. But what does it mean? What is God doing? Why so sudden? Is it that God has now decided to judge the world for its bloodshed, its iniquities, its godlessness? Yes, of course, the world is full of iniquity and its cup of iniquity is running over. We live in times that are worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, worse than Noah's time. But folks, all of that is not the primary reason behind what you're seeing and hearing now. That's not the primary cause of the judgment. That's part of it. I've already told you also in a former message that God judges nations because there's a controversy concerning Zion. That any nation that touches his church and begins to abuse his people, he begins to judge. That's why in Pakistan and Afghanistan, those nations now are just holding on. They're about to go in total chaos. In New York Times today, Pakistan, read the story on Pakistan and Afghanistan. Why? Because the Muslims are killing Christians, putting swords through them, cutting off their heads and their arms and trying to destroy the church of Jesus Christ. And God said, I have a controversy with any nation, any people who touch my bride. And here in America, we are being chastised now because we have people trying to make it politically correct to choke everything that has to do with the reality of Jesus Christ. Every kind of rule and legislation. My goodness, now trying to get God off our coins. Can't even hang a plaque on a wall having nothing but a commandment on it. Bring condoms and everything in this globe and throw God out. You better believe he's got a controversy concerning Zion. You better believe it. And until America's leaders get its hands off the chokehold on the church, we're going to keep being judged. But folks, listen to me, please. Yes, a worldwide chastening for wickedness and violence, that's part of it. God's vengeance against nations that stand against his holy people. Yes, that's part of it. But God has shown me something. And I want you to listen closely. You've not heard this before. Christ, here is the real bottom line, so to speak. Here is the real reason why suddenly all over the world we are sliding into depression and chaos. Christ is taking his chosen into a wilderness one last time as a last opportunity to find a people who will fully trust him as their Lord, Savior, and provider. Now, follow me, please. What could be more clear than we are living in the last of the last days? But there is a glorious promise that God has in this book that still lays unclaimed. Many, many years ago, God took a chosen people into a wilderness. He chose these people. He took them into the wilderness and he took them there for one purpose. He was looking for a people who would fully trust him as provider. He took them out, stripped them of everything that humankind could depend on for resources, stripped all their resources, put them in a wilderness where there was no food, there was no water, there was nothing to live on. They were stripping of their homes, their houses, their careers, their jobs, their incomes, everything. God says, I'm taking you into a wilderness. I'm going to strip you of every resource. I'm going to call you to my heart. I'm going to make you an everlasting promise that you can go through any trial without any visible means of support. And I will be your God. I'll be your resource. I'll be everything. Failed because of unbelief after miracle of deliverance, after miracle of deliverance, after God providing food from heaven and ravens falling from the sky and providing water out of a rock every time another crisis came. Can God do this? Unbelief. So the promise was never accepted. It was still on the table. And even in David's time, even in David's time, there remained a rest, unclaimed. God has always been looking. Since Israel, the reason He chose Israel, He is looking for a people who He could look on with rejoicing and say, He trusts me. She trusts me. I found somebody. I found somebody believes I'm God. I found somebody not living in fear. I found somebody not murmuring and complaining. I found somebody that believes I can be a provider. There remained, therefore, a rest to the people of God. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Oh, God grieved for 40 years over these people. He had no other purpose than to try to train them in faith. He wanted to be such a glorious God of deliverance to these people. But I believe God grieves even greater over what He sees in His church today, over His own beloved people, even those who claim to be intimate and loving with Him. We have so many people just like the disciples. We doubt Him even when He's in the boat. I can only surmise what the Lord sees when He looks on His church today. What does He see? I'm afraid He sees the people, a multitude of people, who worship, praise Him, magnify His name, but go home and fret and worry about maintaining a prosperous lifestyle, and people growing indifferent and apathetic, wrapped up in so many activities that they have no time to seek the face of God anymore, and furthermore, and probably worse of all, people crying and praying for revival for no other reason but to appease God to keep up our lifestyle. How many are praying, Revival, Lord, send revival. That's so that an angry God would be appeased and I don't have to let go of my things. Christians scrambling to find money and resources to survive, worrying about Social Security and retirement, worrying about their mortgages and their investments and full of anxiety and fear as if our security depended on our wit and our wisdom. Listen to me, please. The most present prophetic event in God's calendar, the next thing on the calendar, is a worldwide depression. This is the next thing, and in it, and the cause of it, and the reason God's doing it now and quickly because I believe His coming is so soon, and He is going to take His bride into the wilderness and once again strip the Church of Jesus Christ of all of its human resources back again into the wilderness of depravity. I'm not saying that you're going to be a beggar. I'm not saying anything. You and I, we are going to wake up one day in a different world soon, and it's not going to be like it's ever been before. It will never come back to what it was and is now. It's going to be a changed world. Folks, listen to me closely. He is bringing His people into a last day wilderness experience. He started His church that way. He's going to end it that way. It started in the wilderness. It's going to end in the wilderness. This generation has never had to trust God. Have your children ever had to trust God? You've supplied everything your kids have. They want sneakers. They don't want $30 sneakers. They want $150 sneakers. Here, honey, MasterCard. Go get it. Anything we want, get it. You know we don't even have repairmen left in America because anything breaks down, we throw it away and buy it new. It's all going to change. It's all going to change. This generation has not had to pray for daily food. We've lived in such abundance. But soon, very soon, you and I and our children are going to have, we're going to be thrust into this new world, deprived of all of the abundance we now have. And, folks, it's not because God's angry with this bride. Not at all. He said, I'm doing this to woo her back to me. He does it out of love. Why don't you go to Hosea, and I'm going to prove it to you. I'm not even going to ask if this makes sense to you because the Lord just told me to preach it. I'm not going to ask whether you're with me or not. I'm going to just keep going ahead here now. Hosea 2, 2nd chapter, Beginneries, verse 6, Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall, that she shall not find her pass. She shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them and shall not find them. Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now. Verse 9, Therefore will I return. I'm going to take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover iniquity. You know what that means? Look at me, please. Hosea is coming to a church that's backslidden. The people that have turned to iniquity, transgressed. The pastors are into iniquity and leading them astray. He said, now I'm going to send a depression on you. I'm going to take away the wine. I'm taking away the grain. And what he's talking, I'm taking away your economic blessing. I'm going to take it all away. And that's what's happening right here. In verse 10, And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers. None shall deliver her out of my hand. I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons and Sabbath, and all her solemn feasts. You know what he's saying? The party's over, folks. The party's over. All the drunkenness and the drugs and everything else, it's all over. God said, I'm going to remove, verse 13, even the wealth. You'll see it. And I will visit upon her days of Balaam, wherein she burned incense to them and decked herself with her earrings and her jewels. All the jewels, all the wealth. He's talking about the good times and the wealth. It's all over. Now, folks, follow me, please. God in his love is going to bring a people back to their spiritual senses, back to their first love in a wilderness of scarcity. Look with me, please, at verse 14. Therefore, behold, I will allure her and bring her where? And bring her into the wilderness. He's speaking about his church, Zion. And speak comfortably unto her. I'm going to take her into the wilderness and speak comfortably to her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and in the days when she shall come up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt not call me any more Bailey. For I will take away the names of Balaam out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. I'll break the bow and the sword and the battle of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. Now listen to me, folks. Look this way, if you will, again, please. In this economic collapse that's coming, in this time, God says, I'm going to bring you away from all of these things that have taken your heart. Can you imagine a time when you won't be able... No Christian will be able to afford monthly payments on internet. There goes the internet sex. There goes the hours wasted watching knowledge of nonsense. You can't go to the movies anymore. You don't have money for frivolous things. And suddenly, meeting with the Bridehood, going to church becomes the highlight of your life, being a part of the body of Christ. And now you have time to pray. And the reason you have time to pray, because you're praying in your daily necessities. That's what happened in the wilderness. God said, I'm going to allure you. But he said, I'm going to teach you to praise me, and love me like you've never praised me, and loved me before, because I'm going to give you the true vineyards. And the Valley of Acres is going to be a door of hope. You're going to sing there. Our hope is there. If a revival comes to the church, it's coming in the wilderness, in a valley of scarcity, when people are driven to their knees. You're not going to be talking to your psychiatrist about your hang-ups anymore. You're not even going to talk about how you were abused 40 years ago. You're going to be on your knees, Oh God, I believe you, for next day's meals. Look at verse 19. And in the wilderness, he's talking about, And there I will what? Betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercy. I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord. You'll know him as you've never known him before. He said, there was a time you loved me with all your heart. There was a time you treated me like a bridegroom should be treated. There were no other lovers. You were faithful to me. He said, I'm going to take away all of your other loves. I'm going to isolate you all to myself. He said, there I'm going to reveal my love to you, and I'm going to get back the tenderness from you that I've longed for. And he said, you and I are going to get to know each other again. Before I come, you're going to know who I am. He's going to woo us in the wilderness. Now, I can prove this even further. I'm going to close in just five minutes, but I want you to go to Jeremiah 2, please. Jeremiah 2. Oh, God, I thank you for your word. You said you'd not leave us to our own devices. Hallelujah. Folks, let's just thank him for his word. Lord, I thank you for the truth that sets us free. We humble ourselves to hear your word. Lord, we humble ourselves to hear your word. Thank you, Jesus. Jeremiah 2. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espouses, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown. Look at me, please. He's talking to a people who are backslidden. And he's come to, he says, and God's speaking through Jeremiah. He said, I remember what it was like when you had nothing, when you weren't wallowing in prosperity, how you went after me. And he said, I took you into wilderness that was not sown. You know what he's saying, not sown? There was no grass, there was no grain, there was nothing anywhere. It was not sown. It was a dry, empty place. And yet, you loved me at that time with tenderness. You had a heart for me. And you went after me. I was the goal of your life. I was everything to you. Everything. In a barren wilderness not sown, you had become my bride. You loved me tenderly. You pursued my heart. And it was a place of total scarcity and barrenness. You had no human resources, but you didn't care because you were in love with me. Verse 8. The priest said not, where is the Lord? And they that handle the law knew me not. The pastors also transgressed against me. And the prophets prophesied by bail and walked after things that are not right. And folks, this is exactly what's happened to our generation. Prosperity has robbed us of our passionate love for Jesus. It has destroyed many pastors. It's made a mockery of holiness. God's blessings have been taken for granted. Every man is out for himself. And the nominal church, including the nominal pastors of the denominations, many become lazy and corrupt and blasphemous against God. Jeremiah, verse 10, tells us what God's going to do. Verse 9, rather. Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead. I'll pass over the isles of Chittiman Sea and send unto Kedar. Folks, look at me, please. Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, both you, both your children and your children's children will I plead. Here's what the prophet is saying. Look at me, please, because I'm wrapping this up now. He said, I pleaded. Verse 2, he said, I pleaded with you in the wilderness. It's where you started. And he said, once again, I'm going to plead with you. I'm going to take you in the wilderness and I'm going to plead with you. He said, I'm going to take you to myself and I'm going to plead. My marriage vows to you. I'm going to plead, once again, be mine, be faithful to me. And he said, not only I'm going to plead with you, but your children and your children's children. That's you and that's me. That's today. And this is exactly why we're going into worldwide depression. He's taking his church into a wilderness. Many are going to get bitter because they're going to turn and say, God, you have failed me. There's going to be absolute bitterness and hardness among many, many Christians. And they're going to lose everything in the wilderness. They're not going to get into the promised land as many. Israel never did get out of the wilderness in the past. They're going to be that way. God says, I'm going to plead with you once again. I'm going to take you in that wilderness. Now, folks, let me give you a real good, encouraging word to close. I want you to stand and turn to Isaiah 35, please. Isaiah 35. You know, we always close with the hope. You can read while you're standing. I'm doing it. Let's start verse one. Oh, hallelujah. Glory to God. Folks, before we start reading this, you know what the Holy Ghost is trying to do? He is trying, and I'm hoping the book that God's put in my heart will just absolutely smash the fear. Drive it out of your heart. Absolutely drive it out of your heart, because the Lord said you're going to the wilderness, but that's going to be where he reveals himself to us. That's where the fellowship is going to be. That's where the miracles are going to be. This is where the grace, and he said that's where you're going to sing. You think you're singing now? Wait. He said you're going to sing in the wilderness. All right, here we go. I'm going to read all the way down. Let's read the whole chapter, all 10 verses. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. We're in a solitary wilderness. Strengthen the weak hands, confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He will come and save you. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a harp, the tongue of the dumb sing. And in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, the thirsty and springs of water. In the habitation of dragons where each lay shall be grass and reeds and rushes. And in the highway shall be there in a way it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those. The way for a man, the fool shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, no ravenous beast shall go therein. It shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. The ransom of the Lord shall return. Come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall attain joy and gladness, sorrow and sighing shall flee away in the wilderness. Raise your hands and thank God for the wilderness. Lord, I thank you for the wilderness. We shall not be afraid. Lift up your hands, you said, be strong and fear not. Fear not. Fear not. We fear not. Hallelujah. God, remove all fear from your overcoming church. Lord, there ought to be a lot of fear in the center of the backslider. A lot of fear because things are going to get so panic. There's going to be such panic. The Bible said their hearts will fail them for fear. Many will die of heart attacks. But, oh God, you're going to have a church here in Times Square. They're going to shout without fear. Now, I'll tell you what, folks. The Holy Spirit told me, I just want to stop the service a minute. I have to give an invitation. I've got to give an altar call. It just now spoke to my heart. There are people here, listen to me now, that need to get out of your seat and walk down here now. Because you have lost your peace with God. Now, I'll tell you what. There are many, many reasons why we lose our peace. And much of it is because we drift. We take the things of God for granted. And we have not given Him everything in our hearts. We hold back something from Him. And I don't know whether it's sin. I don't know whether it's a marriage problem. I don't know what it is. It's robbed you of your peace with God. And it's a terrible thing to stand in the presence of God or to go to the job or go to your home and not have absolute peace with God. I know God told this to me. I know this is what He told me to tell you. If the message I preached didn't absolutely bring you to rest, absolute peace fled your soul, I want you to get out of your seat. Some of you here have been slipping away from your first love. You don't have that red-hot, fiery love you once had. And many of you here, they're just not right. Things are not right. But especially if you've lost that peace, you say, Brother Dave, I don't want to leave here without the peace of God in my soul. I want you to get out of your seat, the balcony, go to the stairs on either side, come down any aisle. If you're downstairs or you're watching on closed circuit, I want you to come into the main auditorium and down to the front here and let me pray with you right now. We're not trying to build up a number here. The Lord knows what He's after. The Lord knows what He wants to do here. Hallelujah. Folks, I thank God. How many are glad you have the peace of God that passeth all understanding? Isn't it wonderful? Folks, don't be ashamed to come. There are many people that are coming. The Lord loves you. He wants you to be filled with His peace. He doesn't want you to go around with this fear hanging over you, this anxiety, this terrible depressive thing that comes upon you. God wants you to be free from all that. Move in close, please. Make room for those that are coming. This is the conclusion of the tape.