Home Page: www.ProphecyWatch.biz

Sabbath, October 8, 2005 Newark Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Pastor Tom Hughes

“SIGNS OF CHRIST’S COMING - II”

Our Father in heaven as we open the Word today we thank you for the music we just heard – for the heartfelt words – and we pray, Lord, that as we open the Bible you would give us the interpretation. Help us to have wisdom to interpret the signs of the sun, the moon, the stars, the nations, because the nations are angry. And while they are at war and while the nations are angry, we’re told that the Judgment takes place. We know that right now you are looking at this planet and weighing each one of us in the balance, Lord. When will probation close? When will that final day be when Jesus stands up in the most holy place and says, “It is finished.”? Whenever that day is, we need to be ready. We need to be found alert. We need to have our eyes open. We need to not be sleeping. So today, Lord, we pray that you would open our eyes that we might see and understand the signs of the times. In Jesus name, amen.

Today we’re talking about the signs of Jesus’ coming. And it’s interesting, as I was reading; preparing, in Matthew 24 and other places in scripture to talk to you today, I just thought just to check – something told me, “Just turn the news on and see what has happened.” And lo and behold today there was a great earthquake in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And thousands of people are dead or injured on the very day when I’m reading this text here. And on the very day when we’re talking about these signs.

I promised to share this with you a couple weeks ago. The Bible teaches many significant facts about the time of the end just before Jesus returns.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:42-44, and Matthew 25:13, that we need to watch for the signs of Christ’s coming. And in Matthew 24 the apostles asked Jesus, “When will all these things be?”

And you know the apostles; they would often ask questions that were kind of ridiculous. Obvious answers things that they should have known, and Jesus often had to say, “Why are you asking me that? I’ve been with you for three and a half years and you’re asking me that question?”

But when they asked him about the signs of the Second Coming and about the fall of Jerusalem, Jesus gave them a very serious answer, didn’t he? He didn’t say anything negative he just gave them an answer. And he went on and explained the nature of his Coming. And the most important thing he said was “There will be false preachers during this time-period everywhere and you need to take special care that you be not deceived.”

And Seventh-Day Adventists will be deceived just like other people if they don’t watch and pray. Every day I see people who are going down the wrong road and who end up outside the church looking in wondering how they got there. So this is for Seventh-Day Adventist, this is for every Christian and non-Christian alike. This is a warning for every human being within the sound of my voice and who reads this chapter in the Bible.

Jesus expects us to us to know and recognize the signs of his Coming and he also expects us to be smart enough to interpret the signs correctly.

Now in 2 Peter 3:3-4, it says in the last days, there will be scoffers, and doubters, and unbelievers.

3 “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

Can there be scoffers and doubters, and unbelievers even in the church? Did you know pride is a sort of atheism? Did you know people that are proud are really atheists and unbelievers? They don’t believe there’s any other god but themselves. Have you ever thought of pride as form of atheism? Of self-worship above the worship of the true God? Of saying “There is no God I have to give an account to. I am my own god.”

In Proverbs 16:18 it says, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

It’s interesting that Jesus said he saw Lucifer “fall like lightning.” “Pride goeth before a fall,” and Lucifer fell. Lucifer’s sin was pride.

In the last days, people will be very proud; not just church members, but people in the world. Pride will be one of those things. And they will be scoffers. They will value their own opinion more than they value the Word of God. And there will be false teachers and false preachers and many will be deceived.
Right now, he is attacking the church through many ultra-conservative movements that say the church is no conservative enough. “You need to go back to your historic Adventist roots and come out of her ‘cause they’ve lost their way.”

Then there’s other people saying, “You don’t need to worry about Sabbath, Sunday’s just as good. Why that’s all been done away with. It was nailed to the cross. You don’t have to worry about the Sabbath, you can forget it! Just come on Sunday, it’s more popular, you’ll get more people in your church. Don’t worry about it.”

And I go on the Internet and I see Seventh-Day Adventist pastors who have lost their way. Some of the brightest lights, we’re told, will go out and there they are preaching it’s okay to forget Sabbath and keep Sunday.

Those of you who are on my Internet E-mail list, I’m going to send you something about the ceremonial law and God’s law and how on the cross the Ten Commandments were never done away with. Anybody (who) tells you that is either deceived or lying to you. They’re either ignorant or deceived because the Ten Commandments will never be done away with – ever. That’s why God wrote them in stone so you couldn’t change ‘em! J okay? He made it real tough to alter, and I like that.

Now in the last days, we’re going to have a message going forth honoring the Biblical Sabbath. And this message of honoring the Biblical Sabbath will be attacked, will be put down, and it is all tied into the storms that are going on in our country today and I’m going to show you how that works.

Now Jesus gave us some signs that we need to be aware of.

He said in Matthew 24:6-7, “…there will be wars and rumors of wars.”

6“You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.
7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.”

Did you know (during) the 20th century there have been over 70,000,000 people killed, wounded, or missing – in the wars of the 20th century alone?

The Bible says there will be famines. Did you know the estimated death toll in just four of the biggest famines in the 20th century was over 20,000,000 people? So 20 million, 70 million died in war, 20 million died in famine. And did you know “pestilence,” the Bible says in Matthew 24:7 would take lives in the last days?

7 “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” King James Version

Did you know the Spanish influenza in 1918 claimed over 21 million victims? So over a billion people perished in the 20th century alone. I’d say that fulfills these signs. What do you say, church?

Now in Daniel 12:4, it says, there will be increase of knowledge right before Jesus comes.
4“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” KJV

4"But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” NASB

Has anybody made a call on their cell phone lately?

Has anybody gone on the Internet and done a research?

How many of you have an E-mail address?

How many of you have ever “instant messaged” somebody?

Can you believe you can sit in your bedroom and you can talk with somebody in China and you can talk so fast that all you have to do is hit “Enter,” and as fast as they can type they can be right back at ‘cha on the Internet?

You can carry a little-bitty cell phone this big and you can carry a thousand numbers in it and you can just hit the button and it’ll pull ‘em up and dial ‘em for you and you can talk to anybody you want. It’s great. Put all your numbers in there. I have all my church members in there. I can just go “bang” if I want and get ‘cha.

Has knowledge increased lately?

Anybody remember when the VCR was invented and nobody knew how to program it? How many still don’t know how to program it? Let me see. All right. See that? Now technology has advanced. Now you have DVD players. Right? Now instead of those clunky tapes you have a little DVD. They have DVD recorders, they have Tvo boxes where you can tape your shows and it’ll automatically tape ‘em for ya, you just push a button, there’s your television show.

How about television? You can stand there and talk and people can hear you all over the world! People can do down and photograph and video the flood in New Orleans and while it’s going on, you can be watching at home sitting in your living room!

Did you ever think about that? A hundred years ago my great grandfather was a preacher. And you know how he had to get where he was going? He had to ride a horse or usually walk ‘cause he couldn’t afford a horse! J He was a coal miner in West Virginia and his grandfather was a preacher in Wales in the Welsh congregation’s church and he was a coal miner there and he had to walk over the mountains to preach. Walk, horseback…

Now how fast are they going now? 700-800 miles an hour! I don’t know how fast those rocket ships go but they go so many miles per second. Now a mile is 5,280 feet. Right? …in a second? I don’t know, I could be wrong, but I know that space shuttle’s fast. Isn’t it? Up it goes.

A hundred years ago did they have people walking on the moon? We talk about Ellen White who was the most prolific author in the world next to Ben Franklin. She wrote more books than anybody else. She was a Seventh-Day Adventist. She had the gift of prophecy. She would write beautiful books about Jesus. She was a wonderful person. (She) donated all her profits to the church. And she used to go around in horse and carriage and she had to write everything out by hand. (She) wrote millions of words, had over 2000 visions. Can you imagine if she were alive today and could see the computers and the way things are done today? And she just wouldn’t even believe it.

Did you know Ellen White wrote those sixty-six books – by hand – hundreds of volumes – enough to fill a library? And did you know I have a little CD about this big and it has all her writings on that CD (!).

The Library of Congress said her book on the life of Christ was better than anybody else’s book – I’ve got in on CD and all her other books too – on a CD (!). I can type in “hurricane” and it’ll pull up all the quotes on hurricanes. I can do the same thing on the Bible.

Has knowledge increased?

In Daniel 12:4, it also says, “many shall run to and fro.” Is that fulfilled with all the fast travel and the airplanes? We’re running out of fuel now – it’s costing us an arm and a leg – but boy we can go pretty fast can’t we. I can get on a plane in be in Baltimore in about an hour. I can be in California in about two hours. I can be to Israel in about 12 hours. It’s amazing to me how things have changed.

I remember in 1988 I was sitting at a computer trying to learn how to use it and my laptop computer had a 40-megabyte hard drive. And it weighed about 100 pounds, and I could barely carry the thing around because it was so heavy. And I asked a guy a couple (of) years ago, “What do I use this thing for?” He said, “Well a boat anchor would be nice.”
Forty megabyte hard drive – the hard drive, they have little disks that are 144 megabyte now – and they’re passe now – and they’re putting 800 megabytes on a CD! And that was just in 1988!

Well, it says in 2 Timothy 3:1-3, “In the last days, perilous times will come.”

In Luke 21:26, it says, “Men’s hearts will fail them for fear.” We live in a world of unparalleled fear and anxiety – similar to Noah’s day. Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the end of time” when gluttony and drunkenness, and sexual immorality – not only adultery and fornication – homosexuality was rampant, all sorts of perversion in Sodom. And God tells us that in the last days it’s going to be just like that; there are going to be people doing those things.

And then we turn on our television and the politicians – when the Bible says, “There shall be famines and earthquakes and storms in Matthew 24 we see storm after storm after storm hit in rapid succession. Now Georgia is all flooded out. There are thousands of people who have no power and now homes because Georgia has now flooded by the other storm that swept into Georgia. And the politicians say “Well it’s just the way it is, there’s nothing we can do about it.” and they just try to act like it’s just no big deal.

But I think there’s more going on there that meets the eye there, brothers and sisters, and I think we need to wake up. We need to see what God is trying to say to us – and it’s not to argue and fight with each other over who should get what, or how much money we should spend where and when. It’s a little more serious than that when a thousand people go to their grave while people stand there and argue over whose fault it is ‘cause nothing’s getting done to help them – that shows you what kind of world we’re living in.

I’m going to be a “Repuli-Crat” from now on. I’m sick of both of ‘em.

Now listen to this. Let’s not diminish that a thousand people perished by all this silliness. You know? Let’s help people.

“Accident and calamity threaten all who travel upon the land. Hurricanes, earthquakes, sword and famine, follow in quick succession. Yet the hearts of men are hardened. They recognize not the warning voice of God. They will not flee to the only refuge from the gathering storm.”

“…The signs of the times give evidence that the judgments of heaven are being poured out, that the day of the Lord is at hand…Hurricanes, storms, tempests, disasters by sea and by land, follow one another in quick succession…”

Jesus said, “They will hate you for my name’s sake. They will deliver you up.”

Did you know even Seventh-Day Adventists in Rwanda, Africa delivered up their brothers and sisters right out of their church services, and the Tutu’s massacred the Hutu’s? There was a Seventh-Day Adventist minister who was put in jail for his part – sent to prison for life – for what he did. And it was all about ethnic evil, and men and women delivering each other up. And when push came to shove and they had to stand up and say No, you will not! This is my fellow human being! You will not do that! they caved right in. And you know we all think we’re so special but in Germany during World War II when the Nazis reigned, many a Seventh-Day Adventist went right along with Hitler and his regime. Went right along. It’s documented.

Now we all think we would be the be the ones to stand up and do what’s right. We’d better wake up, people. God says to us now is the time to search your heart; search your soul. Make sure that you have made your salvation and election sure. Make sure that you are not one of those who would turn and betray your Savior in an hour of crisis, in an hour of trial.

Jesus said, “I will come when you think not; when you least expect it. And don’t be asleep because in the middle of the night I will come and you won’t be expecting me to come.”

“Hello? Is there anybody home? It’s Me, God, I’m calling you. Wake up! Zzzzzz.”

Preachers – sound asleep. Church members – sound asleep. “These are just random acts of nature.” There’s more going on here than the politicians, and the news media will ever tell you.

My favorite author writes, “…Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed by demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. All these things testify that the Lord's coming is near.”

Little children! Do you notice how Zachary and his bunch will go right into a crowd of 50 children and kill ‘em all with a bomb? Also their perverted soldiers can go to heaven and have 70 virgins wait on them? Are they that desperate that they have to kill little children in order to go to heaven and reap a reward for their sick satanic god? Shame on them! Shame on them! I don’t know why they would want that anyway. I have a hard enough time just with one wife – can you imagine 70?

Solomon was out of his mind! I’m very happily married but let me tell ya I have to work at it just to pay attention to one person! Can you imagine 70 people talking to ya all at the same time and saying, “You’re not listening to me!” J I don’t think so!

Do you remember when people down in New Orleans had to flee – and the media won’t tell you this – but organized gangs from hundreds of miles away drove down into New Orleans and robbed the banks and the jewelry stores and drove away with millions of dollars? Have you ever hear about it? Have you ever heard any news about who did it or what or why or where or when? No. You won’t hear a thing!

The Spirit of prophecy says these things – these robberies – will be frequent occurrences. And she also says that these signs that Christ is soon to come and that God is using them like ringing an alarm bell.

It says, “Hurricanes…follow one another in quick succession. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, [they] are attributed to any[thing] other than the [their] true cause…”

Their true cause is (that) God is displeased with our nation and what we’re doing, the way we’re behaving, and he is allowing these punishments to come upon us. But you’re not going to hear that.

“The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal…”

We’re almost to the point now where we won’t have money to cover all these things if we get many more of these kinds of disasters. If we get two or three more in different parts of the country, the whole economy could come down and then what are we going to do? As the oil prices spike and the economy gets devastated, what are we going to do? If that happens I think God is trying to say to us, “You better wake up! There’s something right ahead.”

“…God's retributive judgments will fall on those who in the face of great light have continued in sin…”

It’s interesting but there’s a quote that says, “…Costly buildings, supposed to be fireproof, are erected. But as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance, so will these proud structures become ashes…But amid the tumult of excitement, with confusion in every place, there is a work to be done for God in the world.”

And then in another place she writes, “There are large buildings…” now this is at a time when there were no skyscrapers. This was back in the 1800s this was written – before there was ever a skyscraper. She said she saw in vision huge tall buildings that were built as a monument to the economy and the wealth and the riches of those who have earned their money on the backs of the poor. And she says that God allows his judgments to fall, and those buildings, she describes, will collapse and burn like pitch so hot that no fireman will be able to put out the flame.

Does that sound familiar to you? And she said it will be in New York City.

Now she wrote this back in the 1800s, early 1900s. And do you know where you can find it? It’s in one of her volumes that was published back in the early 1900s Testimonies, Volume 9, page 11. I’m not kidding! Read from about page 10 to 14.

Now can you imagine? Sometimes when I hear those kind of things, it just kind of gives me goosebumps! God is just unbelievable and he just blows my mind.

Now there are always innocent people who suffer and we say to ourselves, How can God allow innocent people to suffer in this world? How can the twin towers coming down be a judgment upon people for their wealth and their greed? How can casinos all along Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana – where innocent people worked – how can those people be punished?

Did you know when God destroyed the city of San Francisco in 1906? And if you read in Ellen White’s writings, she talks about it. She says that God destroyed that city. There were thousands I’m sure of innocent people that died in that earthquake. The innocent always die when the guilty are punished but God warns us to “Be ye therefore ready for in such and hour when you think not” your end may come. The Bible says, “Don’t boast about tomorrow. Say, If the Lord will, tomorrow.”

Remember when God was going to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if He could just find ten righteous people? These discussions are going on about towns and cities all over the country. Isn’t it interesting that the place where the homosexual parades and displays, and Mardi Gras with women running naked bodies in the streets, in this very place where there are bars of such immorality they are legendary in sexual promiscuity everywhere – in the capital city of voodoo – a hurricane comes in and shuts the place down and that has nothing to do with all that wickedness?

Then the mayor opens the city and says, “come back.” And then the next day they find out that hurricane Rita is coming and then the mayor rescinds his order that he gave yesterday and then he adds “except for the strip clubs and bars, which are exempted. We need to let them be open so the Army and the people that are in there will have entertainment.”

And then (Hurricane) Rita turned right and went right back up to New Orleans and flooded that city a second time. But it had nothing to do when hurricane Rita comes in and made a hard right turn – it had nothing to do with the wickedness and sin that this mayor was encouraging. Nothing to do with it. And I just heard yesterday that he is now calling for gambling casinos and businesses to come down and quickly set up the gambling and the bars and night clubs so they can get the city back on its feet.

Hello! What’s goin’ on?

“As men depart further and further from God…” don’t blame God.

“…Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood. Satan resolves to charge this upon those who refuse to bow to the idol he set up. His agents point to Seventh-Day Adventists as the cause of the trouble. Calamities will come, calamities most awful, most unexpected. Destruction will follow one upon another. God allows them to suffer calamity that their senses may be awakened. The judgments will be according to the wickedness of the people. Satan puts his interpretation on events leading men to think that the calamities are the result of Sunday-breaking.”

And they’re going to turn the spotlight on Seventh-Day Adventists and blame us for the calamities by flood, land, and sea.

People, we’re at the point where calamities are wrecking the country and the United States economy. How much further behind that can these things be that are talked about by this prophet?

She (Ellen White) goes on to say that if these cities would repent that God, for a time, will spare them. And it makes me think that maybe the people in Houston and Galveston did a lot of praying because it was headed right for them.

What I’m trying to say to you is (that) there’s more to all this than what the news media tells you. God allows cities to be destroyed by Satan and his evil minion. And it is talked about as the hurricanes rip and destroy, demons voices shriek amid the destruction. And when God pulls back and allows the evil one to have complete control over the people of disobedience, the Holy Spirit is withdrawn and Satan is the one doing the destruction. But God is allowing them to be punished because of the wickedness of their evil of their deeds.
So what I’m trying to say to you is, Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world”; we better wake up, we better pay attention. These things are not just random acts of nature. In the past nine months, we’ve had a tsunami kill a quarter of a million people! – one tsunami! We’ve had storm after storm! How many (storms) last year? Seven storms in a row ripped through Florida. (And) Now these are ripping into the Gulf? They are signs that Jesus is coming soon.

Do you know what a backslidden Christian is? It’s a Christian who’s grown cold. And H. M. S. Richards said the cure for a backslidden Christian, “When a person backslides from God it’s just like a person who loses their physical health and their physical wellbeing. They lose their appetite, they don’t eat food anymore, they don’t drink the water they should (they don’t eat the Bible, the Word of God, the bread of life), and they don’t pray.”

He said, “When you become aware that you no longer enjoy reading your Bible, you no longer are praying, you no longer are spending time with the Lord in Bible study and prayer,”

H. M. S. Richards, Sr. says, “Beware! Wake up! Get on your knees! Pray like you’ve never prayed before. Grab your Bible and read it like you’ve never read it before because you are on your way out of the Lord’s family into the world.”

If you’re backsliding, please stop. Please get your Bible out. Please read it. Please pray like you’ve never prayed before. If your Bible has dust on it, you’re not spending time in it, and you’re not praying, please, people, these things are out there, they’re happening. The future before us is clear and these things are to wake us up and get us ready! May God not find us sound asleep! May he find us watching and waiting for Jesus to come.

And as these things take place, Jesus says, “When you see wars and rumors of wars and storms in diverse places, he said, “Don’t be afraid. These things have to happen before the end can come but I am with you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. No matter what you go through.”

God is good and we need not be afraid that Jesus is our Savior but, people, we need to wake up. I don’t think God could shout any louder than he’s shouting.

So what are we going to do about it as a church?

Well, we’ve got a ministry that we need to do here. We’re reaching out to the community. We’re doing marriage seminars. We’re trying to get our young people excited about Jesus. We’re doing things here in the church to try to make church fun and enjoyable for all generations. We’re asking you to be supportive of the radio station; we’re asking you to be supportive of our ministry here in the church.

When are we going to wake up and commit our time, and our money and our energy, and our effort to God’s church? When are we going to really get excited and start doing the things we need to do to reach this community? I say, let’s keep doing what we’re doing that’s good and let’s do even more because only what’s done for Christ will last and how sad it will be if we get to heaven and realize that if we would have just done a little more we could have saved so many more lives! We need to get this message out there.

Now if those storms are really going to happen right before the Sunday Law and the controversy about the Sabbath comes in and all that – which we’ve all known about for years – if all that’s gonna happen just after these storms, hadn’t we better prepare ourselves? Hadn’t we better get ready? Hadn’t we better get our Great Controversy’s out and read the last 10 chapters again and read our Bibles like we’ve never read ‘em before?

How many of you are with me?

(Are) you gonna do it?

Are we gonna get earnest? Are we gonna wake up? If you’re already awake, I’m glad. If you’re sleepin’ I hope I jolted you a little bit and you’ll wake up with me. Sleeping preachers are bad. Sleeping church members are bad. Right?

I don’t want to be one of those sleeping preachers. You know that she talks about preachers who are asleep at the wheel. I don’t want to be asleep at the wheel. I want to be ready when Jesus comes.

How many of you are sorry for your sins, you want Jesus to right your name down in the Lamb’s book of life, and when Jesus comes you want him to save your soul? Would you raise your hand today?

Father in heaven, we surrender our hearts to you. We give our hearts to Jesus, who is God! We give our hearts to Jesus, who is the Messiah the savior of the world and we accept him as our Messiah. We give our hearts to Jesus because our precious Jesus is the Lord of our lives.

Father look into our life and our lifestyle. Look into our heart; take away anything that is displeasing in thy sight. Help us not to cling to evil but to love what is good.

Bless our church family now as we sing “Jesus Is Coming Again” and may we truly wake up and be found ready.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jesus Is Coming Again
Strout / Lee (1872)

1. Lift up the trumpet, and loud let it ring: Jesus is coming again!
Cheer up, ye pilgrims, be joyful and sing; Jesus is coming again!

Coming again, coming again, Jesus is coming again!

2. Echo it, hilltops; proclaim it, ye plains: Jesus is coming again!
Coming in glory, the Lamb that was slain; Jesus is coming again!

3. Heavings of earth, tell the vast, wondering throng: Jesus is coming again!
Tempests and whirlwinds, the anthem prolong; Jesus is coming again!

4. Nations are angry – by this we do know Jesus is coming again!
Knowledge increases; men run to and fro; Jesus is coming again!






Closing Song: Hymn No. 213 “Jesus Is Coming Again,” Seventh-Day Adventist Hymnal (1991), Review and Herald Publishing Association.

All Scriptural References: New American Standard Bible, King James Version

Ellen G. White References: www.whiteestate.org

Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel




This sermon is also available on cassette tape.

Visit our church website: www.ProphecyWatch.biz