In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the transient nature of human glory and the importance of focusing on eternal values. He compares the fleeting fame of man to a fireworks display on the 4th of July, where the stars are temporarily hidden by the flashy pyrotechnics. The preacher encourages the audience to strive for lasting impact by turning others to righteousness, using the analogy of stars that shine forever. He also mentions biblical references to God's protection of his people during times of tribulation, such as the wings of an eagle and the opening of the earth to swallow the enemy army. The sermon concludes with a call to evaluate one's priorities and treasure heavenly and spiritual things, living in anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ.

Now, he begins to reveal unto Daniel these things that are going to transpire as far as the future is concerned. And here, Daniel gets into such interesting details that many of the Bible's critics have a difficult time with the eleventh chapter of the book of Daniel and they say that it was actually written in the year 166 B.C. after all of these events took place because it was impossible that he could have written of these events until they had happened. However, that's of course quite a miracle in itself because the Septuagint version, the Septuagint version was made in about 220 or so B.C. and in the Septuagint, the book of Daniel is included. They accepted it as written by Daniel and as authentic at least 60 years before these critics say the book of Daniel was written. So, it's interesting that they could have had a copy 60 years before it was written and translated it into Greek. They say that figures don't lie, but liars can sure figure. Also, I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now I will show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia. Darius was the king at this time. The three kings that would follow would be Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and another Darius. These are in secular history known as Cambyses, Pseudo-Smyrdas, and Darius Hystapis. So, there will be three kings that will rise up and the fourth will be richer. This is Xerxes. Then they all, and by his strength and through his riches, he will stir up all against the realm of Grisha. Xerxes was very wealthy, very powerful, and he made an expedition against Greece and was able to defeat, but yet not conquered, Greece. And so, that particular part was fulfilled. There were the three kings Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, Darius, and then Xerxes, the fourth, richer than the others, made the expedition against Greece. But then, Greece will arise and a mighty king, Alexander the Great, shall stand up that shall rule with great dominion and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom will be broken and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion, which he ruled for his kingdom, shall be plucked up even for others beside those. So, Alexander the Great will rise up, but when he falls, the kingdom will not go to his family, to his posterity, nor will they receive the full extent of his dominion, for the king of the south shall be strong. And one of his princes, and he shall be strong above and have dominion in his dominion, shall be a great dominion. The king of the south was, of course, the general Ptolemy, who took over in Egypt. General Seleucid took over in Syria. And there also was another general who took over in Greece and another one who took over in Thrace. So, Greece was divided into the four dominions. But he speaks now, and he doesn't bring up the Grecian or the Thracian kingdom, but only the Syrian and Egyptian, because they are the ones that relate to Israel. For in their wars, Israel was the middle ground between Syria and Egypt. And so in their fighting each other, they had to pass through the land of Israel. Now he begins to give some interesting details that were all fulfilled in history. The king of the south will be strong, have a dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. And in the end of the years, they shall join themselves together. For the king's daughter, the king of the north, king of the south, were fighting, but in the end, they'll join themselves together. For the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the power of the arm, neither shall he stand nor his arm, but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times. Now, what happened is that the king of Egypt gave his daughter Berenice to the king of the north, who divorced his wife in order to marry Berenice. But when the Ptolemy died, then he got rid of Berenice and took his wife back again, who in turn poisoned him. And she killed also Berenice and her son. Now when Berenice had a son, the former queen, her sons were exed out according to the agreement. But when she poisoned her husband and killed Berenice and her sons, then of course her sons were in line again for the throne. And here Daniel tells all of this intrigue and everything else that's going to take place. And then the brother of Berenice gathered together an army in Egypt and came up and destroyed this wife, who had poisoned her husband and had killed his sister. And he that is begotten of her, actually is referring to a family member, which was her brother, and he strengthened her in these times, and a branch of her roots, that is her brother, shall one stand up in his estate, which shall come with an army and shall enter the fortress of the king of the north and shall deal against them and prevail. It was Ptolemy or Getes, the brother of Berenice, who invaded Syria, just as it's described here. He shall also carry away captives into Egypt with their gods and their princes and with their precious vessels of silver and gold, and he shall continue more years in the king of the north. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom and shall return to his own land. But his sons shall be stirred up and shall assemble a multitude of great forces and one shall certainly come and overflow and pass through. That is his sons, the king of the north, who was defeated by her Getes, and they will assemble a multitude of great forces. One shall certainly come and overflow and pass through. Then shall he return and be stirred up even to his fortress. And the king of the south shall be moved with color and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north, and he shall set forth a great multitude, but the multitude shall be given into his hand. And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up, and he shall cast down many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it." This is Philopator, who is the Ptolemy Philopator, who is the king of the south at this time. He gathered together a great army, came against the king of the north. However, though he defeated him and took a lot of loot, the guy did not take full advantage and subjugate the people. He was too interested in the licentious life that he was living in Egypt. And so where it says here, he will cast down many ten thousands. He did destroy a lot of the army, but he will not be strengthened by it. He didn't take advantage of it. He just went back and lived a life of luxury and licentiousness in Egypt. For the king of the north then shall return and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south. So the king of the north came back again, which was Antiochus Magnus, known as Antiochus the Great. But many shall stand up. Philip of Macedon joined with him against Egypt at this point. Plus some rebels in Egypt, plus some of the Jews who were called the robbers of thy people will exalt themselves to establish the vision and they shall fall. So the king of the north, Antiochus the Great, shall come and cast up a mount and take most of the fenced cities, and the arms of the south shall not withstand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to withstand. But he that comes against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him, and he shall stand in the glorious land, and by his hand shall be consumed, which by his face to enter with strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him. Thus shall he do, and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither before him. Now, Ergetes is the king of the south in Egypt. When he took over, he was just seven years old. So he was just at that point a figurehead. But Antiochus the Great took his daughter Cleopatra, and he made a deal that she should marry Ergetes, figuring that when she got there in the kingdom of Egypt, she would be for her old man. But when the marriage some years later was made, and Cleopatra became the wife of Ergetes, rather than siding with her father, Antiochus the Great, she sided with her own husband against her father, so his little plan backfired. Now Daniel tells about the plan and how it will backfire. If he had only read the Bible, he would have known better than to send his daughter down there. He shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither before him. She won't be for him. And if he had only read that, he would have known better than to send her down. Now after this, shall he turn his face unto the isles? So, not being able to conquer into Egypt, he then turned and began, he gathered a navy of three hundred ships and he began to travel in the Mediterranean, beginning to fight actually against Rome, which at this point was beginning to be a power in the ancient world. So he turned his face unto the isles and shall take away many, but the prince, but a prince for his own behalf, shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Without his own reproach, he shall cause it to turn upon him. And then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall and not be found. Then, now what happened, of course, is he was defeated by the Romans and they determined then that they would charge him for all of these wars. And so he was given a sum that he was to pay every year. Well, he and his men went into a temple to take away the treasures and the people of the city were so incensed, they killed him. And so he fell, he stumbled and fell, was not, you know, he was lost in the place of history. And there shall stand up in his place his son, Seleucus Philopator, who would be a raiser of taxes. He tried to raise the taxes to pay this Roman tribute in the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days he will be destroyed. Neither in anger nor in battle, he was poisoned and killed. And after just a very short reign, because the people didn't like the taxes, he was trying to exact from them. And in his estate shall stand up a vile person Antiochus Epiphanes, to whom they shall not give the honor of the kingdom, and he shall come in peaceably and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. Now this Antiochus Epiphanes was a real treacherous person and with the arms of a flood, shall they be overflown from before him and be broken. Yea, also the Prince of the covenant and after the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully for he shall come up and shall become strong with a small people. And he shall enter peaceably even on the fattest places of the province. And he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his father's fathers. He shall scatter among them the prey and the spoil and the riches. He began to conquer and he did what his fathers did not do in that they amassed the wealth for themselves. But he began to give away all of the money to all of his generals and those that were with him. So his practice of distributing the loot among the men is here predicted by Daniel. He shall scatter among them the prey and the spoil and the riches. Yes, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds even for a time. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand for they shall forecast devices against him. So he came against Egypt with a tremendous army and Egypt met him, but he began to defeat the Egyptians. Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him and his army shall overflow and many shall fall down slain. And both these king's hearts shall be to do mischief. Now they were stopped by the Roman government and yet both of them sought to do mischief. And of course you read the history and it's interesting. The king of Egypt, his brother was in Alexandria and both of them were doing a lot of lying and cunning and and all. And so the king's heart should be in them to do mischief and they shall speak lies at one table and shall not prosper. They were just lying to each other, making treaties and everything else, which neither of them intended to honor for yet at the end shall be the time appointed. Then shall he return into his land with great riches. His heart shall be against the holy covenant and he shall do exploits and return to his own land. And at the time appointed, he shall return and come toward the south. So he sought again to invade Antiochus Epiphany sought again to invade Egypt, but it shall not be as the former or the latter. For the ships of Chittim, actually when he came this time to Alexandria, the Roman ships were there in the port. And so the Roman general Pompilius Linus came to him and he said, the Roman Senate has ordered you to go home with your troops. And he said, I will consult with my men and we will send an answer to Rome. And Pompilius, the Roman general, took his cane and he drew a circle in the sand around him. And he said, make your decision before you leave that circle. And he was intimidated by the Roman general. And so he said, I've decided to go home. Tell the Roman Senate. And so here, this is all predicted here. The Roman Navy met him. They were waiting in port at Alexandria when he came all predicted in advance. Amazing that God would speak in such detail of these things that had not yet transpired. Now he was angry because he was rebuffed by Rome. And so he determined to take it out upon the nation of Israel. And on his way back to Syria, he came to Jerusalem and really sought to desecrate the place. He shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant and arms shall stand on his part and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength and shall take away the daily sacrifice. And they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. He came back to Jerusalem and polluted the temple. He built an altar, a pagan altar above the altar of God. And he offered a pig upon this altar to an idol that they had set up there in the temple of God. And such as do wickedly against the covenant, shall he corrupt by flatteries. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. His desecration of the temple so incensed the people that Judas Maccabeus gathered together a group of zealots and they began to attack the Syrians in guerrilla type warfare. And they defeated every Syrian contingency that was sent against them. And they finally retook the temple and purified the temple, which period we've just gone through the feast of dedication or Hanukkah in the Jewish calendar to celebrate Judas Maccabeus retaking and rededicating the temple unto God. So the people that do know their God, Judas Maccabeus and those Maccabean brothers will be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many. Yet they shall fall by the sword and the flame and by captivity and by spoil. Many days, both Judas and his brothers were all slain by the sword. Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with little help, but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. And some of them shall understand and shall fall and try to purge and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for a time appointed. Now at this point, Daniel's prophecy goes out to the end and he sees now the man who is commonly called the Antichrist, but in scripture is called the son of perdition or is called the man of sin or is called the beast. And the king shall do according to his will, the Antichrist. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every God and shall speak marvelous things against the God of God and shall prosper until the indignation, which is the Old Testament word for the great tribulation, shall be accomplished. He will prosper until the tribulation be accomplished. For that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, and so he will obviously be a Jew, nor the desire of women. Now this not regarding the desire of women can have one of two meanings. It was the desire of every Jewish girl to be privileged to bear the Messiah. And Christ was called the desire of nations, but the desire really of every young girl to be chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Mary was the one that God chose. But the desire of women, that is why so many of the Jewish mothers named their child Joshua, hoping that God would use him for the salvation of Israel. Now it is interesting today. There is an off branch of the Moslems known as the Druze. It's a very secretive kind of a religion. In fact, the people do not know what it's about. Only the priests know what they believe. They don't teach the people. It's a secret religion. And the priests are the ones that do all of the worship, and they're the ones that know the secrets, and no one else knows but them. And of course, they're sworn not to reveal the secrets to anybody. Now you go into the Druze villages, and you see the priest, and they have a special little headband by which you know that they are priests. But not only that, they have these baggy pants with a big sack, sort of a contraption here in the front. And the reason why they have this big sack contraption in the front is that among the Druze religion, they believe that the Messiah will be born of a man. And thus they have this big sack in the front in case they get pregnant. That's true. I've got pictures of them. And you can go to the Druze villages today, and it's very amusing and interesting to see these men walking with these big sacks hanging down the front of their pants there in the front, and all of them in hopes that they'll be chosen to bear the Messiah and to become pregnant with the Messiah. So the desire of women would in that sense be a reference to Jesus Christ. So he does not regard the God of his fathers, nor Jesus Christ. He is a man who speaks blasphemously, not regarding any God, for he will magnify himself above all. So that is no doubt the correct interpretation. There are some that says he'll be a homosexual, not regarding the desire of women. But more apt looking at the context of the Hebrew people, referring to a homosexual, it is probably referring to the fact that he does not regard Jesus Christ. But his God is the God of forces. A God whom his father knew not shall he honor with gold and silver and precious stones and pleasant things. Look how today men are honoring the God of forces with gold and silver. Do you realize that one trillion dollars was spent this year for weapons? One trillion dollars was spent this year in order to build tanks and guns and equip the military and all. One trillion dollars. What a tragic misuse of the resources of the world. But it's all preparing for this man who honors the God of force. Thus shall he do in the most strongholds with a strange God whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory. And he shall cause them to rule over many and shall divide the land for gain. So the land of Israel, he will divide it for gain. And at the time of the end, shall the King of the South push at him and the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen, many ships. And he shall enter into the countries and overflow and pass over. And he shall enter also into the glorious land and many countries shall be overthrown. But these will escape out of his hand. Edom and Moab, which is Jordan and the chief of the children of Ammon. So Jordan will not be taken by the Antichrist, though Israel will. Interesting, because the Jews will actually flee for protection to Jordan at this point to the rock city of Petra, where they will be preserved by God for three and a half years during the time of the great indignation or the wrath of God, which is to be poured out upon the earth. So Edom or Jordan escapes. However, he moves towards Egypt. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He will take the land of Egypt and he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver and over the precious things of Egypt and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his doorsteps or at his steps. But tidings out of the East and out of the North shall trouble him. Therefore, he shall go forth with his great fury to destroy and utterly make away many, and he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain. He shall come to his end and none shall help him. Now this is a reference to the Antichrist, who will be the leader of the United Nations of Europe. He shall be moving towards Africa in the conquest of Africa, taking Egypt, passing through Israel, taking Egypt, moving towards Libya and Ethiopia, at which time he will hear of the troops from China and Russia coming against him. So he will turn from his proposed conquest of Africa and come back and they will meet in the valley of Megiddo. There in Israel, the tremendous force of the Chinese, for whom the river Euphrates will be dried up in order that they might cross, according to the book of Revelation. Those forces that are remaining in Russia, gathering against the combined forces of Europe and the United States will no doubt be in league with those forces of Europe at this point. And this final great world war, the major scene of battle will be the valley of Megiddo there in Israel. This is what is commonly called the Battle of Armageddon, of which you have read and heard so much about. And this, of course, is what will perpetrate this battle. As he is moving against Africa, getting news that the Chinese and the Russians have confederated together to come against him, he turns in great anger and the place of their meeting is the valley of Megiddo. And it is at that time where the blood will flow to the horse's bridle throughout the whole valley of Megiddo as the slain of the earth. Millions destroyed in that great carnage and bloodshed. Now it is during the time of this great battle of Armageddon that Jesus will return. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble, the great tribulation, such as never was since there was a nation, even to the same time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered. Everyone that shall be found written in the book. So there's going to be a time of great tribulation, but Daniel's people are to be delivered. Now their deliverance will come in several ways. Number one, there will be a hundred and forty-four thousand of them who are sealed by God and protected from the plagues of the great tribulation. Number two, there will be those who will make their flight to the rock city of Petra, where God will preserve them. Jesus was warning his disciples or the Jews actually, that when you see this abomination of desolation that was spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, when you see the Antichrist standing in the temple of God, declaring that he is God, then flee to the wilderness and don't stop to get your jacket. Just get out of there as fast as you can. If you're out in the field, don't even go home. Just run. In the book of Revelation, we are told that God gives to them wings of an eagle, sounds like helicopters, that will bear them to this place in the wilderness where they will be preserved for three and a half years. In the book of Isaiah chapter 16, the Lord says to Jordan, open up and receive my people. Bear them safely to Petra until the great tribulation is over. And so the Antichrist, when he finds the Jews are fleeing, will send out an army against them, but the earth will open up and swallow the army. And then of course, he'll be taken up with the other issues of the invasion of China and Russia and will not pursue them any further, but they will be preserved for three and a half years. So thy people will be delivered. Everyone that shall be found written in the book. Now those that do not flee, the Antichrist will then go and make war against the remnant of the people that stay in the land. And there will be a horrible devastation of those people. Once again, a time of trouble such as never existed since they were a nation up until that time. Jesus said the time of great tribulation, such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again. Now Daniel here is told of the resurrection and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. There is to be a resurrection of the dead. Now they will not take place simultaneously. The righteous dead will rise a thousand years before the unrighteous dead, but it's all lumped together in one here in the book of Revelation. We see the time differential between the two. The resurrection of the righteous dead, they that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life. Of course, if the resurrection of Jesus Christ there began the great resurrection, the body of many of the, the, the graves of many of the saints were open and they were seen walking through the streets of Jerusalem after his resurrection from the dead. The great resurrection of the unjust dead will take place at the end of the Christ thousand year reign when they stand before the great white throne judgment of God and the rise to everlasting shame and contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. You know, there are some people whose life is like a skyrocket. They make a big flash, but they burn out very fast. You know, they, they hit the scene. Everybody says, Oh, you know, but just that fast they fade away. The glory of man is so transient. You know, the crowd may be cheering you today, but during you tomorrow, the glory of man is so transient, the big flash, Oh, but the burnout, but the place to really shine is in God's kingdom. You know, on the 4th of July, I like to go out and see the big pyrotechnic display and I ooh and aw at the beautiful skyrockets. And you know, when it's all over for a while, you lose sight of the stars. You know, there's so much flash in the atmosphere around you. You don't see the stars up there, but when it's all over there, they are shining forever and ever. Maybe not with such a big flash, but they keep going. Some people make a big flash, but that's the end of it. They that be wise will shine as this, as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Which sky do you want to shine in? But thou O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end. The book was to be sealed when and to the time of the end. In other words, Daniel, you're not going to understand this. It will be understood in the time of the end for many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased. The knowledge increased in its immediate context would be the knowledge of the book of Daniel or the knowledge of these prophecies. And surely God has unfolded the book of Daniel in these last days as we can now see it with the advantage of hindsight and we can see how accurately he wrote of the past. And now as we see the things of the past, we can also understand as they relate to the present and future. So the book of Daniel is no longer a sealed book, but an open book and easily understood by any diligent student of God's word for knowledge has been increased. Now that knowledge increased has also been interpreted to be just the general amassed knowledge of man. And surely this has happened in our generation. Between the years of 1950 and 1960, man's total knowledge doubled. In other words, everything that man had learned from Adam up until the year 1950 accumulated knowledge of man in the next decade was doubled. By the year 1970 men knew or 1960 men knew twice as much as what they had learned in all of the years up to 1950. And of course now with the ability through micro data processing and computers and all, we are again in this decade doubling the amassed knowledge of man. Knowledge increased and interesting men going to and fro. Tomorrow morning I get on a jet and tomorrow I eat lunch in Spokane, you know, and it's amazing what you can do now in jet travel. Many running to and fro. Then I, Daniel, looked and I beheld and there stood two others. The one on this side of the bank of the river and the other on the other side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man that was clothed in linen, you see, with, with this one in linen, there were other personages. That's why I believe the one in linen was Jesus Christ. And there were angels with him, which was upon the waters of the river. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? How long before the end of these things, the tribulation and all. And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven. And he swear by him that lives forever and ever that it shall be for a time, a year times half a year, or I mean two years and a half, which would be a half a year. And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all of these things shall be finished. And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, Oh my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. So don't worry about it, Daniel, you just go your way. These words are sealed until the time of the end, until now, when the Lord has opened up understanding. Many shall be purified and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. Now, even as Daniel predicted the very day that the Messiah would come 173,880 days from the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. So he has predicted the very day that Jesus will come again. Not the day that the Lord will take his church. No man knows that day or the hour. We don't know when the Lord's going to come for us, his church, but from the time that the daily sacrifices and prayers are caused to cease by the Antichrist in the middle of the last seven year cycle, it will then be 1,290 days. According to the testimony of the Lord. If you were still here upon the earth, you can mark your calendar and you can count off the days and you'll be wanting to, because it's going to be a fierce, horrible time as God's wrath is poured out in judgment upon this earth. At this point, maybe you should this week, read revelation six through 18 to find out just what's going to be happening during this three and a half year period of time. Terrible blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand 335th day or 45 days after the coming of Christ. Matthew 25 31, when Jesus returns, he's going to gather together the nations for judgment and separate them as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And to those on his right hand, come you blessed of the father enter into the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundations of the earth to those on his left. Apart from me, he worked as of iniquity into the everlasting darkness, which was prepared for Satan and his angels. So if a person, and there will be many who will live through the great tribulation, they will be able to survive. Now, if they survive the great tribulation, providing they have not worshiped the antichrist, nor taken his mark upon them, nor worship the image for if any man worships the antichrist or takes the mark of the antichrist on him or worships the image, he will not have any chance for salvation at all. In revelation, chapter 14, John saw the angel flying through the midst of the heaven, declaring, Whoa, whoa, whoa to the neighbors of the earth. And if any man shall take the mark or worship the beast or his image, he shall be cast into the lake burning with fire. And there's no hope for his salvation. The angel would be warning people not to take that mark. Of course, on the other hand, if you refuse to take the mark, they can put you to death for it, not taking the mark. So you're going to have to, you're going to have to join with McKeever and some of these guys and get you a little hideaway back up in the woods in Oregon and stock it with your food and your wheat and your guns and everything else in order. You'll be able to survive this three and a half year period of time, and then hopefully make it through the 45 days of judgment. Because having come through the great tribulation will not necessarily ensure your entrance into the kingdom. Then you have to pass this judgment. When Christ says, I was hungry and you fed me thirsty and you gave me to drink and naked and you clothed me, Lord, when did we see you this way? Not when you were, you know, shooting those that were trying to come and get your food. So you better put your guns away, I guess, if you're going to survive the 45 days. And as much as you did it under the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. And they are allowed to enter into the kingdom. So there will be some who will live through the great tribulation and will enter into the kingdom. Most of those that enter into the kingdom though will be those who belong to the Lord and who return with Jesus. Then he will be coming with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon the earth. And we shall live and reign with him upon the earth for a thousand years. But to Daniel, go thy way till the end is for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot. In the end of the days, you'll stand with your group in the end of the days, Daniel, but in the meantime, just go and take your rest and you'll stand in the end time. So the fascinating prophecies of Daniel, marvelous man of God, high on my list of those I want to meet when I get to heaven. I so respect this man of God, so admire him that I'm looking forward to quite a bit of time just sitting and learning from the depth of this man, of his walk and love and relationship. That's going to be one of the neat things of heaven is just getting acquainted and knowing some of these glorious people of God from history. Next week we get into the book of Hosea. We'll take five chapters of Hosea for next Sunday. Moving through, it won't be long before we'll be through with the Old Testament now. For the rest of the books are very short little books. Many of them we will be taking in just one week and then moving on into the New Testament. So as the Lord carries and as the Lord wills, it won't be long before we'll be back in the New Testament and going through it. Peter asked a very pertinent question in the light of the fact that the material world is going to soon be dissolved. The works are to be burned up. The elements will melt with the ferment heat. What manner of persons ought we to be? If you are a materialist and your whole values are set in material things, when this material universe goes, everything that you have and hope for is gone. Therefore, it is not wise to be a materialist or a humanist. What manner of persons ought we to be? Peter answers in all holiness, godliness, godly manner of living. We ought to be spiritual. We need to have our things upon, our eyes upon the things above, not upon the things of the earth. We need to have our hearts set upon the eternal, not on the temporal. May God help us to each one make an evaluation of ourselves, our own priorities, our own lives, to find out where our values are. Find out what we truly treasure. For where a man's treasure is, there will his heart be also. So God help us to treasure heavenly things, spiritual things, and mark them as the true values of life. And thus may God cause us to examine our hearts, examine ourselves, our lives, our lifestyles. And may we so live in anticipation of our Lord's return in glory to establish God's kingdom. God bless you. May he keep his hand upon your life. May he fill you with his love and with his spirit. And may he guide you according to his purpose through Jesus Christ our Lord.