Are we in the Great Tribulation? Matter of fact, another question is, are we in the Millennium? Are we in the Millennium and the Great Tribulation? Have we always been in the Tribulation? It's a good question, isn't it? Well, if we're in the Millennium, or more specifically, if we're in the Tribulation, it just kind of makes you wonder when you look outside. These skies are blue, white, bright blessed days, dark sacred nights, and I think to myself, what a wonderful day. If we're in the Millennium, or the Tribulation, it ain't too bad, is it? Our adversary is real. His war against the Church is real.  And we do not get raptured out of here so that we don't get to taste it. I believe for most people, that just makes sense. That just makes sense. If God's gonna rapture the Church out of here so that we don't taste Tribulation, didn't he kind of forget John and the boys? What about our brothers and sisters in China right now? Can we really say to them with a straight face? Don't worry, before it gets really bad, he's gonna rapture us out. For real? So, now, let me just say this before we get going. I am a fan of Vodibacum. I've mentioned this before. As a matter of fact, I've even done a few videos on him, kind of, you know, saying how much I do appreciate him. There are times where I disagree. And guys, this is one of those times. And so I don't want anyone to come back and say, you know, because here's the deal. Sometimes when you get it, when you like a person, when you appreciate them, you become invested. And so you may find yourself hesitant to disagree with him. But I definitely disagree with Vodibacum on this. I disagree with him because I don't see how he has come to this conclusion. Well, I'll take it back. I do see how he's come to that conclusion. And I'll tell you how he's done so. And I think there's a there's a grave issue with that. But he gets his belief or one of the scriptures where he gets his belief is from Revelation and John is saying that he is in the revelation or in the tribulation and that it's now. In the future, basically have to argue that he sits there on the island of Patmos in exile, writing about some terrible time that's going to come in the future. While simultaneously thinking about all of his fellow apostles who were beheaded, crucified upside down, run through with a spear beaten to death with a branch off an olive tree, boiled in oil. No, when John writes about tribulation, he's writing about right here, right now. He's writing about the church in every age letters to us. The saints in every age who endure. So what do you think you guys think he's telling the truth? You think you believe what he's saying? Do you kind of follow or agree with him? I don't think so. I disagree. Now, before I kind of go more into the reasons why, recently I had on Dr. Christopher Cohn and we kind of covered this issue. And so I want to let him in a response kind of cover this part. Paul does exactly that in 2 Thessalonians because in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, he describes this, the hope of the rapture, this catching up of living saints to be with those who had already died where Christ comes in the clouds, but doesn't come to the earth. So he's not fulfilling the other prophecies of him coming to the earth and every eye sees. This is different. Then in chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, Yeah, yeah. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, he talks about the day of the Lord and the tribulation and severity. Well, then a few months later, he writes to the same church, 2 Thessalonians, and he explains to them, you're not in the day of the Lord, because these other events have to come first. So I would encourage a brother or sister who are feeling like they're in the tribulation. I would say, you know, read 2 Thessalonians because Paul is directly dealing with that issue. And he explains that these things have to happen first in order for the day of the Lord to begin. And namely, it's the departing of the church. If the tribulation has happened, you know, the departing of the church and the restrainer being removed in chapter 2, and the man of lawlessness being revealed, these things all happen before the tribulation or the day of the Lord begins. So I would say, who's this man of lawlessness? And then I would also say, if any of Jesus' believers are on this planet, tribulation hasn't begun yet because of what Paul says in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians. Now, I have talked before about my hermeneutic, that I think that the hermeneutic, which is basically how you read the Bible, I think that it is the best, is preferred. Now, it's not mine, so it's not like I'm saying, hey, I invented the right way to do it. But what it is and why I think it's the better one is because it's consistent. There is no, I believe this one day, the next way, I have a different standard of reading the Scriptures. I'm going to stay consistent because I'm going to read the Bible literally. Now, does that mean when I say literally, does that mean that there's never an opportunity to look at figures of speech and poetry and idioms? No, as a matter of fact, that's part of it. Just like when I'm having a conversation with you, you can tell if I'm using figure of speech, if I'm using an EDM course, obviously we're in the same culture. We understand when I'm using the idiom of a day here in America. And so I understand when someone's using poetry and figures of speech and so forth, metaphors. So we do that, but until we can't, we will read it literally. And so what Dr. Cohn was getting on, he says, well, we've got some other little descriptions of the Tribulation. And he referenced Paul, he tells us how Paul is also comforting the people who think that maybe they've missed something. They've missed the rapture. They've missed going back or going to be with the Lord. And so he comforts him. Now, he says there are some things that need to take place. And so Dr. Cohn says, let's go look at Second Thessalonians chapter 2. So let's do that. In Second Thessalonians chapter 2, he says, look at this. He says, now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him. So again, this is what they're waiting for. They want to be with him. Did we miss it? Now, he's already talked about in First Thessalonians about this rapture, about this rapture, about them being taken up. The question is now, well, did we miss it? Kind of like how we say sometimes, Dave, what if the rapture already happened and we missed it? And I'll talk about this rapture that's going to occur and why he calls it some secret rapture, as though that's impossible, how all of these Christians can be just taken up and then no one missed it. I'll cover that in just a little bit. But Paul is talking about those folks who need to be comfort as to them not missing it and how they can know. And so he gives them some things to look at. Verse 2, he says, I'm sorry, verse 1, he says about our being gathered together with him. We ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or letters seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. In other words, the day of the Lord has not come. Paul is trying to comfort them. Verse 3, he says, let no one deceive you in any way for that day will not come. And look what he says, unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawless is revealed. Now, we can go back and forth as to what we think the rebellion is, but let's stick with this who the lawless one is, this lawless man. We can all agree who that is, or we don't know exactly who it is, but we know who he's referring to. Until that person, the lawless one is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God. So now the issue is, has that happened yet? That has not happened yet. And so if we're going to say that we are in the tribulation, again, look outside, if this is the tribulation, it ain't so bad, is it? But in order for it to come, these things have to proceed it. Now, Vody also, Dr. Bachman also brings up Revelation 1-9 because John indicates that he is in the tribulation, and he uses the definite article, but does that always mean the, if I use the word the, am I always speaking of the main event? So let's listen to his word and then we'll come back and discuss it a little further. In Revelation 1-9, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God. John says, in Revelation 1, by the way, the idea is that the great tribulation happens beginning in Revelation 6. Okay, so 1-3, you have the church age, and then chapters 4 and 5, the church has already been raptured up and we're in heaven, and then in chapter 6, we're looking at the great tribulation that's going on on the earth while the church has already been raptured up. We'll get back to that in a couple of weeks, but let me just say for now, we don't buy that. Chapter 6 on Revelation has everything to do with you and me in the here and the now, amen? John says, he's our partner in the tribulation. We are in the midst of tribulation, even now, and God has a word for us in the midst of tribulation. Okay, so his point is because John says that I'm your partner, I'm the person that's in fellowship with you in the tribulation. Is that referring to the tribulation, the one that I'm referring to? Now, before we get into what exactly is the tribulation, because there are passages that talk about the tribulation. By the way, guys, interestingly enough, we don't have to rely on Revelation only, but Revelation, I think, is clear. But in case it's not, because some people approach Revelation with this kind of spooky, mystical looking, as though it's something that's hard or difficult to understand, and it's not. Remember, God has never tried to confuse us. He doesn't think that we're that bright, that we're that intelligent, that we are the smartest people on the planet, and so he's not trying to make it so deep that we've got to figure out like it's homework. No, he gives it to us in a simple fashion, because guess what? To be honest, guys, we're pretty simple people, and he's not trying to confuse us as bad as we are already confused. Before I go into what the actual tribulation is, remember, the Bible covers more prophecy, even more end times prophecy outside of Revelation than it does in Revelation. Remember that, and so if that's the case, then there are other passages to go to that also kind of help clarify this what's taking place in Revelation. But before I do, this issue of what he's speaking of about John saying that this is the tribulation, well, let's let Dr. Conan also answer that as well. When you see the word salvation, you have to say salvation from what, right? The word means deliverance from different things, same thing of tribulation. We see it in English and we attach theological baggage to it, but the Greek word Phalypsis is just, it can be any difficulty, right? So we have to say what difficulties he's talking about. Notice in Matthew 24, Jesus will talk about the great tribulation and he says there's nothing like it before and nothing like it after, so severe. So he's talking about a very specific tribulation, not just tribulation in general. We find there's all kinds of tribulation and we are undergoing tribulation and persecution and difficulty. And as I see Rishon's question there, if I may answer, John is definitely not saying he was in the tribulation, and I give you a proof here in a second. What he's saying is that the church is in tribulation in general, difficulty, persecution. Peter writes about that, but the tribulation, the prophesied Jacob's trouble that seven years, John tells us in the first chapter, he's told to write the things you have seen, the things that are, and the things that will take place after these things. Well, notice then you have the churches in chapters two and three, and then notice four verse one. How does he begin that very next section after these things? So he's seeing the after this, I looked. And so you have the church and then the after this, the next step. John is writing, laying out, here's this church age, we're writing in the church age. And then after that, in chapters four through 19 comes what we would refer to as the definite article tribulation. John wasn't in it when he's writing, because he's saying these things are going to happen in the future. So as you guys catch what he's saying, first of all, and this is true, words are often used, just like he used the word salvation, the word salvation doesn't always is meant to convey the salvation in terms of internal security or so forth, being saved from from hell, being saved to God. No, sometimes the word that's used for salvation is just rescuing somebody off of a boat out of a burning building, if that were the case then. And so the same thing for tribulation, there are a bunch of tribulations. As a matter of fact, we're told that we are going to go through tribulations just by being a Christian. But there are passages that seem to refer of a greater tribulation, one more intense. And we know that John is not speaking about the great tribulation, because in chapter four, he speaks about what's next to come. So John is in a tribulation without question. Being part of the body subjects us all to potentially being in some sort of stress under duress, if you will, being into some sort of tribulation, but not the tribulation. As a matter of fact, we're going to see one that's not like any that's ever been. So he's going to reference that. But John is clearly speaking in chapter four one about something else that's next to come. And that was his whole point. So now I want to go ahead and cover what actually is the tribulation. Now we see this in the scriptures. It may be called different things. The day of the Lord and Isaiah two, it's also called the great tribulation. We'll cover that Matthew 24. We'll go through that passage. Jacob's trouble in Jeremiah 30. We may go to Jeremiah 30 of the day of trouble, Daniel 12. We'll probably hit that trouble or tribulation. Tribulation, Zephaniah. If you just did a word study over tribulation, trouble, wrath and so forth, you're going to see a lot of passages to see me indicate that there's something going to happen to the world. Now the issue that I have with with Bodhi Bakim is this. Up until we deal with eschatology and that's up until we deal with the distinction of the church in Israel. His hermeneutics is literal. He takes things in a literal fashion. The reason why he believes in election is because it literally says so because he takes it in a literal fashion. He doesn't try to allegorize it or try to read into it. That can't be this. That can't be that trying to get a better understanding. It says what it says. And so he goes with that. He is that way when it comes to election and God's sovereignty. He is that way when it comes to eternal security because of what it literally says. But then his hermeneutics switches when it comes to the end time. Again, love Bodhi Bakim, especially with regards to things regarding social issues. He is a staunch supporter and defender of the gospel and the church and the word of God. But on this thing, and again, I think we all we all are wrong in some things. I think on this particular issue he has missing. So let's just talk about the tribulation anyway. What is the point and purpose of the tribulation? What is it? This is going to be this future disciplining of Israel. It's a seven year period. And it's designed to discipline Israel to bring her back to her Messiah also to bring about judgment upon an unbelieving world. So now where do we get this from? Let's go to Daniel chapter nine and let's put it on the screen. This is when Daniel was praying. Israel had been taken out of the land and so this is doing the restoration. And so he's praying. And then so the angel comes and tells him Daniel was actually thinking of something else. He was thinking about the here and now, but the angel gives him something a little bit more telling a little bit more important. I wouldn't say more, at least not for them. But as far as regarding the rest of the world, he speaks of this thing called the 70 weeks. And so he says 70 weeks are decreed about your people. That is Israel, not about us, but about Israel, your people and your holy city. That is Israel, Jerusalem to finish the transgression to put an end to sin and to atone for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal both vision and profit and to anoint the most holy. Before I continue just reading that, even if it's not clear, you would have to ask yourself if what's been decreed has that happened yet? We are still waiting to see these things come to fruition. But anyway, let's continue. 25 know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming up of an anointed one, meaning Jesus, a prince, there shall be seven, there should be seven weeks. Then for 62 weeks, it shall be built again with squares and moats, but in a troubled time. And after 62 weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the Prince who wish to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. His end shall come with a flood and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed and he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week. And for a half of the week, he shall put an end to sacrifice offering and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate until the decreed end is poured out on the desolate tour. So what we ought to do, we need to go back and look at the first 69 weeks. Then we look at this last seven. The first 69 weeks. And even though we say weeks, the word is the Hebrew word it should be a which is for sevens. And so 77s in this case, 70 years, 77 years are decreed. So 70 so 70 times seven is 490. Now they are not consecutive. There is going to be a cut off between 69 and 7 and the 17th. We'll look at that in a second. But the first 69 weeks or the first 69 sevens which which will come to 483 years from the time of the temple. I'm sorry. From the time of the decreed to rebuild Jerusalem was 483 years up to the very moment that Jesus was crucified. So exactly and literally you understand that exactly and literally 483 years from this decree of Jerusalem being rebuilt till Jesus Christ was on the cross 483 years. So this now if you ever wonder had any doubt about something being taken literally there you have it. So it would not make sense that the first 483 or the first 69 weeks are literal. But the last one is figurative that make any sense doesn't and it's not. And so what's going to happen is we just read that last seven is going to be divided up between in two parts. The last portion is going to be the the worst part. And so there is going to be this covenant made with this lawless man that's going to come. I'm not going to get too much into that but I just want to just deal with the fact that are we in the tribulation now. The point and purpose of this tribulation is just what he said he is going to afflict Israel. If we look at Jeremiah 30 Jeremiah 30 is is clear he is speaking is called Jacob's trouble. He is dealing with Israel not with us. And the point to do so that the reason being is as we just read is to bring Israel back to him. Does that mean all of Israel? No, obviously not. Not all of those who are ethnic Jew are going to be brought back. No, but there are going to be some that are going to be saving. This is what Paul even brings up in Romans 9 to 11. He would wish that he could be a curse for his own countrymen. But he does know that Israel will be saved. Not all of Israel as he says, not all of Israel but these ethnic people, these ethnic Jews. Again, not all of them will at some point in time have faith. They will be brought what we're doing right now in many cases is causing them as Paul says to be jealous for her Messiah. They will come back to God. Remember God goes on to say in this prophecy that as long as we've got the sun moon and stars, as long as we have the ocean and or the sea and the waves, as long as we have this fixed order, Israel will never cease to be a nation before them. And then he turns his attention to the Gentile people. Obviously at the very beginning, the foundation of the church is our Jews. But then Paul says in Romans 11-25 that when is he going to start dealing with Israel? Israel because the spirit of stupor has been put over Israel by who? By God. So if the church replaces Israel, and it's one of the things that Vodia stated as a matter of fact, let me just play this in case you all forgotten. Do I think we ought to hate Israel? No. Do I think we ought to love them because they're Israel? No. Because I believe that the church is the true, real, new Israel, Jew and Gentile alike. And that those people over there and that piece of land over there, they don't have eschatological significance to me. Well, this is where he's wrong. They do as a matter of fact, all throughout Scripture, there's eschatological implications in these words. He is speaking of literally, here's what's funny though. I think it's kind of funny that Israel, all of the blessings for, because he says that the church replaces Israel. So all of the blessings for Israel are literal, but the punishment, the curses, the persecution, that's figurative. That's not to be taken literally. I want you to keep that in mind. But that being said, Israel does not replace, I mean the church does not replace Israel. If that is the case, then when Paul says that a spirit of stupor has been put over Israel, then that would mean that a spirit of stupor has been put over the church. That cannot be the case. And then what he says is that after the fullness of the Gentiles has come, in verse 25 of chapter 11 of Romans, after the fullness of the Gentile, in other words, when he is through dealing with us in between week 69 and 70, then he is going to deal with Israel. That is that last 70. Now, before I go back to it, one of the things that he brings up is that we are supposed to, we're supposed to have this symbolic view of revelation. Well, the problem is, revelation is full of now, is there a symbolism in revelation? There is. But there's, the reason why we take something, why we look at something symbolically, is if we can't look at it literally. Now, let me give you all a good rule. If what I'm looking at, if I'm trying to figure out if I'm taking it literally or symbolically, let me go back and look and see if this has been discussed before, and if so, has it been discussed in a little fashion? Because everything that he's speaking of in revelation has been spoken of, not everything I shouldn't say, but what he's speaking of has taken place literally, or spoken of literally. We're going to get into this whole issue of this tribulation and being in the millennium, because there's some passages that just destroy this argument. It's an incomplete, it's not the strong, as a matter of fact, it's not even strong hermeneutics at all. I was going to say it's not the strongest of hermeneutics, it's not. It's not a very good hermeneutic at all. And again, I love voting, but I really do. But this hermeneutical approach is just not very good at all. The reason is because it's the exact same hermeneutical approach that every charismatic will take, every Pentecost will take, everyone in the Word of Faith. You can find this deeper meaning, this meaning that's not literal. So when it says, call those things that are not as though they were, well, since we have the Spirit of God in us, that must mean that if God can do it, then we can do it as well. And so that being the case, well, now I'm allegorizing the text. That's exactly how the people in the Word of Faith movement, that's exactly how the charismatic movement, that's how they come up with their own view, because they allegorize the text instead of taking it literally. This is why a prophet nowadays can prophesy five times and be wrong eight times, and we don't hold him accountable because, well, he's still practicing, he's growing in it. Well, no, we ought to take, we ought to apply what's happening to him literally as the scriptures state. And so what he wants us to do is to take revelation literally, but I'm sorry, figuratively, to look at the different symbols and so forth, but I don't think that's correct. And to be quite honest with you, this is one of the things that kind of gets under my skin the most when I deal with people from differing perspectives. Because oftentimes, as you heard, in my own experience, in Sam Storm's experience, in Riddlebar's experience, in others' experience, there is this charge of liberalism, this charge of not taking the Bible literally and not taking the Bible seriously if you view the millennium as not being a literal thousand years. That is so incredibly disingenuous. Why? Well, first of all, the nature of the book of Revelation. It's filled with symbolic numbers. It's filled with symbolic numbers. In fact, at the beginning of the book, the author makes it clear that he's using symbols. So how can it be not taking the Bible seriously when you interpret Revelation symbolically just like Revelation says it's supposed to be interpreted? Well, I would have to challenge and ask, I would ask him or anyone else, show me where Revelation tells us to interpret symbolically. Show me that passage. Show me the passage, Dr. Bacchum, or anyone else that says we are supposed to take this symbolically. Now, are there some times where, are there some times where the phrase is used, I saw something that was like this? Well, sure. John is doing his very best to try to explain something that we have never seen. It's almost like this. Could you imagine someone asking you who is some alien or someone from a place that's never seen water, try to explain water to someone who's never seen it? You'd have a hard time doing so, wouldn't you? Well, it's liquid. What's liquid? Well, it's what you're trying to find things to explain what it is you're seeing. And so that's the reason why, but the deal is though, we can go back and look and see in many of these cases what he's speaking of. Now, let me put up a passage here in Revelation. You all tell me if I'm supposed to take this literally or figuratively, if this is symbolic or not. Revelation 13.5 says, And the beast was given a mouth uttering hearty and blasphemous words. And it was allowed to exercise authority over, I mean, authority for 42 months. Now, this number of 42 months, do we take it as 42 months or not? Well, you better take it as 42 months because if we go back to Daniel, we'll see Daniel 12 where it talks about these 42 months. If we go to other passages, we see that these 42 months is three and a half years. By the way, 42 months is three and a half years. Time, times and a half a time. There's a reason why God is going to great links to explain this to us. Why do you think that God has given us this over and over and over again for where we can see three and a half years? Either time, times and a half a time or three and a half years or I'm sorry, 42 months or the actual number of days, 1,260 days. Why do you think that we have these numbers that are given? Well, because God wants us to know these numbers. The danger in this, though, guys, and we'll get to this even more so, is you're going to cause an awful lot of problems when we get to other parts of the Bible that have nothing to do with eschatology. And so, him saying it's to be taking or to be read symbolically, give me the passage that says it's supposed to be taking symbolically. Give me that. Someone says, well, okay, it says that it's the apocalypse genre. Well, no, it doesn't call it the apocalypse genre. It's just called the revelation. Apocalypse, the word for revelation is just giving this revelation of what's happening from God, but how do you tell me that that genre tells me that I'm supposed to read it metaphorically, symbolically. Find it for me. Find that. It's not there. It's not there. He is giving us, now, are there symbols in play here? Sure. Symbols to explain a literal event that was literally prophesied. Are you with me?  Secondly, the use of numbers. The use of numbers here and the use of numbers throughout the book would point us to the idea that we use this symbolically, not literally. Thirdly, there's other things in this text that are obviously symbolic. Let's look again. Shall we? Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key. Are we talking about a literal key? No. To the bottomless pit. And a great chain. Is the devil going to have a literal chain around him in the bottomless pit? Again, those individuals who would interpret the thousand years literally look at these things and say they're symbolic. And he sees the dragon. I thought the devil was an angel who was a fallen angel. Now he's a dragon. And of course, those individuals who say it's liberal if you interpret the number symbolically, don't look here and say the devil is literally a dragon. So again, they don't have a problem with symbolism unless and until it disagrees with them. And so again, that's why I think he's really being a little bit too disingenuous here. He's trying to make his point because there's other passages. For example, the Bible says that Jesus will be in the heart or in some case like John was in the belly or in the belly of the earth. Do we really think that it's an actual literal belly or are we looking at God face to face? No, but we know what's being spoken of literally by symbols being employed. By the way, let's pull up this passage because it's not so symbolic as he leads us to believe Revelation 20. Question. Is there a key that's being used here? That's the question. Is there a key, oh, is there a chain? What about a pit? Is there a literal pit, a literal chain and a literal key being used here? Well, the problem is this and I'm going to say yes, here's why I say this because you cannot look at it as though it's the kind of key that we have or do I have a key on this? I got a key right here. He doesn't want us to conjure this kind of a key. As a matter of fact, this kind of a key does not play necessarily at that point, at least one that looks like this. But the word key or the word claim refers to something else. We just call it a key. Just like I see the gentleman saying that revelation means apocalypse, no. The Greek word apocalyptic refers to revelation means something to be revealed. So you got it backwards my brother or my sister, I'm not sure who you are. But it's not that revelation means apocalypse, no. The Greek word for apocalypse means to reveal means revelation. Are you with me? And so the point is he's trying to reveal something to us really what's already been spoken of to begin with. But let's go to revelation 20 and let's see what he's bringing up. He says, then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. Well, we know it's a little angel coming down from literally from heaven holding in his hand the key to now this word here is the word claim. This word doesn't mean you stick into a lock and turn. It means something to hold something. That's all it is. Something to put something under lock. Now what exactly was it? We do not know. We do not know. Now let's just pretend though just for just for kicks and giggles as if it really was an actual key like this. Let's just say what if it was hold that thought for a second. But this word does not necessarily mean this. It just means something to help lock something someone up. Then he says that and he had a great chain I'm sorry I had had the key to the bottomless pit. Do you all believe that there was actually a bottomless pit? Do you all believe that there was actually a bottomless pit? Because he says no. I say yes. You know why I say yes. Well, let me pull up a passage that lets us know that there was actual an actual pit and there was actually something binding even an actual chain that was binding or holding these demons. I won't go into the passage but we're told about these angels, these fallen demons who were bound in these chains who did not keep their abode and so whatever it was that was binding them that was holding them there it was an object. It's a noun that held these demons there and the exact same thing is going to be used of Satan. But now let's see if this pit is an actual pit. Let's go to the passage here. Jesus comes across a demon and look what happens when he has this conversation with the demon.  Now the question is this I've never seen an actual angel in spiritual form I've never seen a demon in spiritual form now have I maybe have seen an angel show up in physical form I may have I don't know but I have it I've never seen anything in the spiritual realm in the spiritual form. Never you haven't either. None of us have ever seen the spiritual in the spiritual realm. It hasn't happened so now if he tells us that it was a key and it was a pit and it was a chain you don't get the opportunity to come back and say no I disagree because I don't see it how could that be? Well how could you see him out of his mouth calling that things just exist. Light show up see and land separate yourselves are you with me?  No we're using imagery in many cases but we know literally what's being spoken of and so these things happen these things are brought out so now he wants us to believe that we should not look at this passage as we should not use symbolism and one of the things that he brings up he has a problem with this dispensational hermeneutic now I want you all to listen to what he says and I'm going to well I think after this there shouldn't be anyone that will see this video and then hear anyone else saying that this particular this particular hermeneutic is brand new or that we should not listen to it we should not adhere to it even though for 90% of how he reads the Bible he adheres to that particular hermeneutic. My prayer is that as we've walked through these texts that it has been clear that what we're dealing with here is a consistent interpretation of Revelation chapter 7 in light of all that we have done before and all that we will do up to and beyond this point now before I continue you cannot say we're going to read Revelation in this consistent form when you're not doing it in a consistent form let me remind you that our approach is absolutely consistent with the approach that the church has taken to Revelation throughout most of its history and that the dispensational hermeneutic is a recent invention only a couple of centuries old popularized books like the left behind series and so on and so forth have made it seem like this is the way we've always approached Revelation so he's bringing up the point that this dispensational hermeneutic or even dispensationalism is very new okay I want you all to hear that okay let's go back to him as a matter of fact let me go back to the exact same everybody has been this like the left behind series and so on dispensational hermeneutic is a recent invention only a couple of centuries old popularized books like the left behind series and so on and so forth have made it seem like this is the way we've always approached Revelation that everybody has been dispensational premillennial and expecting the secret pre-trib rapture but folks it is just not true that is simply not the case there is a long history of interpreting this book that has existed long before dispensationalism ever came on the scenes in the 1800s let me reiterate the 1800s is when dispensationalism came on the scene okay now a couple of things one there are people who deal who come after Calvinist which is what he is who come after Calvinist who will say Calvinism hadn't been around that long either and so to now levy the same charge to someone else okay fine but the fact of the matter is that's incorrect dispensationalism and dispensational hermeneutic is not new by the way do you all want to know why this is taking more of a root of late why a dispensational hermeneutic and dispensationalism has kind of grown really year after year after year you want to know why hold that thought I'll come back to it in a second but I want to read you a quote from someone who would beg to differ about a dispensational hermeneutic and about dispensationalism as well you all know who John is the person who wrote Revelation 1st 2nd and 3rd John the book of John you all know who John is right well each one of these apostles had disciples themselves John had some pretty famous apostles that we know of such as Polycarp a man by the name of Papias we had Papias not Papias Polycarp had a disciple named Justin Martyr as well so they also wrote now none of their writings are canonical in other words their writings are God breathed are inspired but they're giving an account one by what they know because the person that they know that they walked with literally walked with Jesus so let me read a quote from two people who were on the scene if you will Justin Martyr writes he says several economies of the Old Testament believed in a literal 1000 years now that's his writing this is Justin Martyr Justin Martyr believed in a literal 1000 years we ain't talking about somebody that's here today this ain't Corey Miner speaking in 2022 this is Justin Martyr what else he says but if so great a power is shown to have followed and be still following the dispensation of his suffering how great shall that be which shall follow his glorious advent for he shall come on the clouds as a son of man so Daniel or as Daniel foretold and his angels shall come with him this is in the dialogue with trifles so guys this is 2000 years of writing this is in 1800s so what he just mentioned about this being around in 1800s no then one of John's disciples Papias writes he is the disciple of John and a counterpart of Polycarp he says in these he says there will be a certain millennium after the resurrection ok so we've got two people on the ground that said there will be a literal 1000 years he says that there will be a certain millennium after look what he says after the resurrection again this is a disciple of John who wrote Revelation Papias says there will be a in these he says there will be a certain millennium 1000 years after the resurrection and that there would be a corporal reign of Christ on this very earth which things he appears to have imagined as if they were authorized by the apostolic narrations not understanding correctly those matters which they propounded mystically in their representations this was in let's see I'm trying to think of the writing that this is called I don't you know what I need to write down what the actual title of this writing is also someone like Aranaeus there are a lot of the early church fighting I'm going to send that to the correct way but to say or to state that this is brand new no before there was America before there was any other countries before there was this now they wrote this they believed this again I don't think it's a small matter to say that Papias who is a disciple of John understands John's writing to tell us that there is a literal millennial reign of Christ that will take place after this tribulation okay so now whether he's correct or not that's not a big deal the point I'm just trying to say that you can never say that this is something new it's not all right now the other thing has the majority of church history been without a dispensational hermeneutic well the answer is yes the majority of church history has been without a dispensational hermeneutic just like the majority of church history does not hold did not hold to eternal security just like the majority of church history does not hold did not hold to election you want to know why because who dominated the majority of church history think about it for a second guys Who do we always blame? And in many cases for good reason, who do we always blame for some of the errors and ails in the church? Well, that'd be the Catholic church. They dominated the church scene for a long time, right? And so, since they weren't adherents to a dispensation of hermeneutics, to eternal security, and so forth, well, that's the reason why. So, that's not a good enough reason. Are you with me? The big issue is this. The big issue is when you don't hold to a dispensation of hermeneutics and when you don't take things literally, it leads you to start thinking on your own. Okay? And there's nothing wrong with that, but you want to listen. Your thoughts should be in line with the scriptures. Now, I could be wrong, but this is why I always point out these are my scriptures is why I believe what I believe. I could be wrong. Do you want to know what the big issue was? Why people, by the way, there are also early writers because they want to attribute modern dispensationalism to John Nelson Darby. Well, no. Maybe by the name of John Bale in 1465, which, by the way, predates Calvinism, wrote about or brought up this whole dispensational hermeneutic and dispensationalism. Okay? Now, he didn't get a whole lot as much press as in America as Darby did, but the fact that the fact remains that this is not as new and as recent as we'd like to say. But the reason why the church replacing Israel became fashionable, we have this tendency to want to help God out. We have this tendency to worry. We have this tendency because we don't see it and that makes sense. We've got to figure out another rationale, just like, just like with Abraham and Sarah. Well, God says that, no, you're going to have a son through your loins by Sarah. Now, well, no, God, you don't know how old Sarah is, so God, let us help you out, God. We want to help you out, God. We want to make sure that you're not wrong. So what you must mean, God, you don't mean Sarah, you mean by Sarah. In other words, there was a practice that if Sarah's maid servant was to deliver a child on the knees of Sarah, then it says, though, Sarah had the child. And so let's do that. Let's help God out. Let's help God out. Now, what does God say? No, no, because God means what he says and says what he means. Well, God literally spoke about ethnic Israel having a future. Literally spoke that, as a matter of fact, again, he says that they will always cease to be a nation, an ethnic, literal nation. He says because of their disobedience that you all will literally be taken out of the land, but you will literally be brought back into the land. Does that happen? Well, it literally happened in 1948. What has coincided with that? The rise, the reemergence of dispensationalism and dispensational hermeneutics. Now, my take on it is that I have a dispensational hermeneutic, which leads me to have a distinction between Israel and the church. That can affect me one way or the other. We're all saved by the same blood of Christ. Okay, so that being said, what happened was you have men who love the Lord, but lost faith. Lost faith because God said, I will bring Israel back into the land. And because Israel, because think about it, when you're looking for Israel and there is no Israel, there is no nation of Israel and the Jews have been scattered. Well, what do you have to do if your faith is correct? If your Bible believing your Bible reading is true and you believe every word that comes out of God's mouth? Well, what God must have meant since Israel is no longer a nation, what God must have meant is us as the church. That's also where you see this rise of the church replacing Israel. That's when it gets to its height. During these dark ages where the church is the only one around and there is no Israel. And oh, by the way, who do you think promoted that for the most part? Since you want to blame the Catholic church, rightly and fairly blaming for that because that's where the majority of this propagation began with them. They are the one, they are the new Israel, they replace the church. And so when people throw these little comments, well, you do realize the Hebrew Israelites kind of have that, that hermeneutic. No, they don't stop saying that Hebrew Israelites have the same hermeneutic. Stop it. But if I see if I see you in the comment section, I'll ban you. That is not true. Okay. But the Catholic church, they are the ones that promoted this, this, this belief that the church replaces Israel. So if it turned about as fair play, then there we go. So the issue is, though, do we have enough faith to believe what God says literally? Well, for a long time, the people in the church did not. They could not see, since Israel didn't exist, they could not see this. And so, well, since we don't see Israel, must be, must be us. Again, we tend to take the blessings of Israel, but we don't want the punishments or the punishment must be, must be figured. Must be metaphorical. And then this, what I think is, I happen to think it's not even, let me make sense that we're in the tribulation. But when we look outside, it doesn't look very tribulation on E, does it? But let me get back to something that he says. And I think this, I have more problems with this as well. These people usually interpret the thousand years literally. By the way, he's speaking of people who have a dispensational hermeneutic. So, though not always, there are some premilanealists who won't interpret the thousand years literally. They are usually pessimistic about the future. Things are going to get worse and worse and worse, and then Jesus is going to return. Sometimes this can lead to a kind of why bother mentality as it relates to the culture. Why bother? We know things are just going to get worse and worse and worse, and then Jesus is going to return. So, why bother? Why rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic since we're all going to sink? So, no, I don't think that people who have this particular hermeneutic that we are pessimistic. Like, oh me, oh my, it's getting, no, no. As a matter of fact, it brings about great joy that, hey, he's getting closer. But it also does this other thing that Paul talks about. Knowing the fear and terror of the Lord also the love of God compels us to warn men and to share the gospel. That's the point. That's the point. So, it's not that we look at these things and try to, and granted, there are people who try to interpret the signs and figure out how close we are and so forth. No, let's not do this because Jesus did say, I'm not telling you the day or the hour, coming back like a thief at night, and so don't try to figure out. Any person who says I know when it's coming, don't listen to them. I'd rather listen. I'd rather listen to one of these other false prophets and listen to someone saying, oh, I know when it's coming back. No, you don't. No, you do not. Okay? And so I take him when he says that there is a literal thousand year reign. Why? Do you know how many times he talks about this thousand years? And again, of course, we see one of one of John's disciples, actually two of them speaking about this thousand year, this millennial reign. So just do a word search and just go look up the times that we talked about this one thousand years. But again, keeping in mind though, and this what happens has happened. We forget why the whole, this whole issue is coming. Why God is supposed to be afflicting the world with this tribulation? What's the point? The point is not to bring about the church to its knees. The church is already on its knees. That is the true church. Because again, we say not all Israel is Israel. Well, guess what? Not all the church is a church. Not everyone that goes to your little church or your big church, whatever it is, not all of those folks are Christian. Not everyone in your family is saved. Not everyone that's seen the inquire is saved. So in the exact same vein, not every Jew is a Jew in a sense that Paul is speaking of. Not all of Israel is Israel. Are you guys with me? So, but just go and look and see if these thousand years find a reason not to take them literally. Oh, by the way, oh, by the way, the reason why that we can look at this thousand year rain and say that it's not to be taken literally. I don't know why we shouldn't take it. You know why they say we shouldn't take it literally? Because when they initially thought that we were in the millennium, this predates long before there was a Cori Minor, Vodibacca, more America, when the people on the ground, the church, the early church, the first few thousand, the first 200 years thought they were in the millennium. Well, what happens a thousand years later? Wait a second. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Something happened. Something happened. What? Nothing. That's what happened. Nothing happened. So, well, we can't take it literally. Because if we thought that we were in this, and there we go again, thinking for God, thinking that we are in the millennium, thinking that we're in the last age, they are misunderstanding his scriptures as well, and trying to interpret the sign of times. Because we do that sometimes. We look and see, well, this is happening. That's happening. That must mean we are, he's on his way back, right? Well, no, that's not it, okay? But if you're going to have, and this is his inconsistency in his hermeneutical approach, and some of you guys who are admirers of Vodibacca, again, I am too, another one of your admirers will say differently and would have this rebuke for him. God is very precise. Okay, God is very precise. He didn't come to the end of the Bible and lose his train of thought. Okay, and then say, I can make up anything you want. I think the key to getting the eschatology right is the key to getting the beginning of the story right.  If their hereneutics, if your hereneutics are the same in Revelation, you're going to end up with a church age, a time of tribulation, the return of Christ, the establishment of the kingdom, the new heaven and the new earth, and it's just that simple. You almost have to go to school to get that unraveled. Hereneutics is, I mean, if you change your rules of interpretation as you go, and particularly when you get to eschatology, you're lost. If the Bible doesn't mean what it says, then you're hopeless. Because how do you know what it means? If it doesn't mean what it says, it says you created in six days, but it doesn't mean that really. So, and he's got a good point. You have a hereneutic in Genesis. What he might want to tell you that he believes that the earth was created in little six days. He has a little hereneutic when it comes to the overwhelming majority of the Bible, but when it comes to eschatology, it shifts. Why?  Even if there is symbolism employed, we have that all throughout scripture as well. So, when there's symbolism that's used about Jesus' death, we know exactly what's happened. We know how long he was in the grave. We, all of these things we understand, even though there might be some symbolism used. All the symbolism is done to do is to help us to understand, for some people understand clearly, hey, this literal way that you wrote it, I'm having a hard time with it. And so, this symbolism helps me. That's why the Bible uses, God uses what's called anthropomorphic terminology. In other words, he uses words.  How can we understand what he's talking to us? It's almost like when I talk to my two-year-old grandson or my six-year-old granddaughter, I have to speak to them a certain way. I can't speak to them the same way that I would with my daughters, right in my son-in-law, or the way I would you. I have to speak to them. Well, God has to do the exact same thing.  Well, that means if it changes then, without any reason, then it can change again. And there's a problem. How do we know? How do we stand and rest on the compass of what Jesus stated? Now, this whole issue about us being in the tribulation and about us being the millennium, matter of fact, before I get there, let me just pull up what Jesus says to know that the tribulation is not the same that they are referring to. Let's pull up Matthew 24. This is Jesus.  Now, notice this word here, the leapsing, is tribulation, but this is not the great tribulation. The reason why I'm pulling this out is because you see, here is an example of the word tribulation being used, but it's not referring to the great tribulation. How do I know? Because he's going to tell us about an even greater, a better, or I should say a worse, far worse tribulation. He says, And put you to death. Now, this is tribulation. He says, And you will be hated by all nations for my sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed through the whole world as a testimony of all nations and the end, and then the end will come. And then the end will come. Look what he says now. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountain. Let those who is on the house top not go down and take his own, what is in this house. And let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. Why? Because the tribulation I talked to you about earlier won't compare to what's coming. Let's go back to finished reading. Verse 18 and let the, I'm sorry, verse 19. And I'll ask for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days. Now he's speaking of, he's speaking of few days to come in the future. And look what he says. Verse 20. Pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath, for there will be great tribulation. Megali. Thalip says, Megali, which is this great tribulation such as, look what he says, such as not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be. So he makes a distinction between the tribulation that they're dealing with right now at that moment, including the tribulation that John is in who John says, I am your partner in that tribulation, the tribulation. But there's this great tribulation as contrasted by Jesus here in Matthew 24. Are you with me? Now, if we're going to take this and believe that we are in the tribulation again, this is the best tribulation I can imagine. If someone says, well, well, well, China, not if you're one of these other countries. So that means the way that you avoid the tribulation, the Bible should have told us the way that you avoid the tribulation is coming here to America. Ain't so bad. The tribulation ain't so bad here in America. Got Wi-Fi, got ice cream, got all these things. And so that could not be. He just said it's not going to be like anything we've ever seen. The world has ever seen or will ever will see. It's going to be that bad. It's going to be that bad. Making light of what he listened. There's a reason why he struck. There's a reason why the people that Paul is writing to comfort them, it had happening guys, just calm down. Calm down. Relax. Take a deep breath. Breathe. Right? But when that day comes, it is a great and terrible day. And the reason why is because he is going to afflict Israel. He's going to put him through some pain. Now, also the church, there are going to be non-Jews who are also going to excuse me who are also going to come to Christ as well, who are also going to come to faith as well. But the point of it is to be afflicting Israel. Now, if he makes a statement that we are in the tribulation and we are in the millennium, I have a problem. I'll address this problem in just a second. If you believe that this millennial period refers to the here and the now, then how do you explain all the wickedness in the world? And this is a legitimate question. It's an important question. But in order to answer the question, we got to look at a couple of things. First, what Revelation 20 does not say? It does not say that evil is gone from the world. Revelation 20 doesn't say that anywhere. By the way, most of the evil that you do, the devil doesn't have anything to do with it. It's the world and the flesh. Amen, somebody. Okay? Satan is an actual being. He is not omnipresent. Amen? God is omnipresent. Satan is not omnipresent. Satan can only be in one place and one time. And here's a little news flash. You're probably not important enough for him to bother with you personally. Okay, so let me address a couple of things. I do agree to some degree as well. Satan is not all-knowing. He's not omnipotent. He's not omnipresent. That's true. He's not. But Satan's got some help. Satan's got some help. And so when he says him being bound does not mean that there won't be sin and iniquity and so forth. Okay, fine. I can halfway by that. There's some passages that's going to make us just I've got some questions with some passages coming up in just a second. So Revelation 20 doesn't say that the flesh is gone. Amen? You're going to deal with that until you get your new body. Amen? Come Lord Jesus. Or the world. Okay?  Text doesn't say that sin is gone. Revelation 20 doesn't say that. He doesn't say he binds Satan so that evil can be gone. Doesn't say he binds Satan so that sin can be gone. It also doesn't say that Satan is completely powerless. Verse 3 Okay. This is where I think now he's I think brother Vody is might be stretching a little bit because he's saying that it doesn't say that Satan is completely powerless. Well, again, we go look up this Abus, this pit, this abyss that he is going to be in his power is taken away. That part is clear. Just like we were told about these other demons, these fallen demons who were also put there. No, they're powerless. Does that mean that man who has a sinful nature cannot do sin? No, that's not what that means at all. In that regard, I can jive with him on that. But to say that the devil will not be able to or that he will still have some power. In other words, he can speak or he can cause or he can do what he's doing from the pit. What's the point in being in the pit? What's the point in being bound? I'll address this in a second.  Why? So that he might not receive the nations any longer. In other words, this binding of Satan has a very specific and particular application. And that specific and particular application has to do with the deception of the nations. And that's all. But in the deception of the nations, aren't there individual people in the nations that you're going to deceive or you're just going to go to the capital of each nation and deceive them? Is that how that works? No. It is to deal with individual people. It's not just Satan himself. It is his demons. It is his minions. It's his helpers. They're still there. Are you with me? And so the question though, there are some problematic passages that go along with him. Remember, if Satan is bound, then why is he still called the God of this earth or the Prince of the air? That cannot be. If Satan is bound and some people will say that he was bound up after the cross, but then Jesus says that Satan desires to sift you like weak to Peter but I pray for you. Didn't say that he is going to wait. No, Satan is still here. As a matter of fact, that very same Peter says that very same Peter says that he is walking around like a lion, prowling around like a lion, seeking who he may develop. How can he be walking around like a lion if he's bound? Now what you've done, Mr. Bach, means you've got a contradiction. A contradiction is this, guys. A contradiction is not saying if I say there's one and then someone says there's two. A contradiction is if I say there is one and not two and then someone says no, there is two. To say there's not two and then there is two, that's a contradiction. So to say that he is bound but then to say that he's walking around, well, that cannot be. That cannot be. Now we've got an issue here. The Bible also says, excuse me, when it comes to dealing with sin and so forth, it says resist the devil and he will flee. How do I have to resist someone who's bound? Where is he going to flee to if he's bound? Okay. Why am I having to put on the whole armor of God to resist the wiles of the devil if he's bound? What about being caught in one of the snares of the devil if he's bound? So there's my issue. I know some folks, listen. Here's two issues. One, there's going to be some folks that's going to disagree with me because Vody said so. That's the sad part. I love Vody. Matter of fact, I'm probably one of the few folks in this thread in this chat that has met him before. I know some of his family members. Remember, they used to attend our church. He's come there a few times to preach and so forth. Been in meetings with him. Love the man. Respect the man. But he's wrong on this one. He's wrong on this one. And so how is it though that you can have the script because this is what happens on. I've seen it happen with people when it comes to John MacArthur. I've seen it happen with people with Tony Evans. We get in this habit of we pick sides and the person I really like because I'm following him. If he's wrong, then I think I'm wrong. No, no, no. Matter of fact, you better find something to disagree with somebody with. If not, you might be in danger of idolizing that person. So the issue is though if he has stated what he is going to do with the church and what he's going to do with Israel, listen, you've got a ton of passages to deal with. As a matter of fact for you all that would disagree, come to the Bible studies that we have. We didn't have this passage because I was sick, but come to the Bible study. We cover an awful lot of passages where he is speaking specifically about Israel and we're going to get to a covenant. We've covered the Abrahamic covenant. I'm sorry, the Noaic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant. We've covered the old covenant. We haven't gotten to the new covenant, but we're getting close to the covenant that everyone seems to forget and that is the Davidic covenant. The Davidic covenant is expressly Jewish and is speaking about this reign of this king named Jesus and you're going to have a whole lot of explaining to do if you want to hope. Now by the way it doesn't hurt you it does not hurt you at all. No, it doesn't hurt me either, but the whole implication of what we're doing here is to say follow the scriptures as literally as you can until you cannot. It's the only consistent way because or else I can pull a Kenneth Copeland any time of the day and start saying what this means is this what this means is that. Well, no. Therein lies our problem. Again, guys, we got all of these numbers. We got all these numbers that God labors to give us. I shouldn't say labor, but the writer said labor to give us these numbers and they seem to be specific. They seem to be literal. They seem to be not just backed up by John in Revelation, but by Jesus, by Daniel, by Jeremiah. The question is why do these if these numbers don't mean we think they mean then why put them there? I love what John McCarthy said. He says that God is precise. Did you hear what I said? God is precise. And here is the main reason. I'm almost ready to get the organ out. I'm almost ready to get the organ out because you guys are missing it. Not the majority of you guys, but you folks who want to believe that one Israel is replaced by the church. Well, again, Israel has a promise from God. Just like you do. And just like whatever God has for you cannot be taken away. What he has for Israel, we don't know who, but Israel as a nation cannot be taken away as well. Believe what he says. And believe what he says. And it's very, very important whatever to not believe. The only reason why we have this issue where there's the only reason why we have this covered and unbelievable this covered in theology or someone called a replacement theology, the only reason we have that is because of time. Did you hear what I just said? The only reason why people believe this is because of time because covered in theology church know where you know what but you know where it came from I'll take it back I'll take it back in the first 700 years after that it came about because of the Catholic Church but even more so because a thousand years past and they looked around and they could not see it the issue is because God didn't move on your time and you decided to doubt God because God didn't move the way you wanted him to move how you thought he ought to move whatever you decided to doubt God that's how it's always been for mankind and that's how it is today but with 1948 show every now and then God has these little similar moments to let you know he's God to bring these people back where no one had any real vested interest think go back and do your research and see what it took for Israel to become a nation with virtually no friends who was that there was no friend because there was no nation of Israel for them to be in co-orse with we couldn't say well they were they were they were the only democratic nation in the Middle East well no that's not true because they weren't a nation but if God says what he's going to do he's going to do it if it's longer than what you think it takes no problem but he's going to come through how do I know because it came through for me and I know for a fact that he's come through for you not necessarily when you thought he should have or when you wanted to but he came in as the bible says be not weary and well doing because in due season in due time at the appointed time not the time that you made up not the time that you thought it should be but in due season the time that he has chosen God has chosen for me me specifically to be out of prison for you to get your deliverance for Israel to come back to their land and when he comes back and reigns for a thousand years just like he said my little mind and have to try to figure this out I'm not smart to figure out what God meant guess what newsflash neither are you neither is Vodibacus neither is John MacArthur neither are any of us his word says what it says stop trying to get in on what he didn't have for you because what he does have for you is more than enough more than enough he doesn't need you to figure things out just take what his word says and run with it we are not in the tribulation we are not in the millennium Satan has not been bound look at your life some of you look at your bank account you can tell that he ain't been bound look at your refrigerator look at your look at your children and you could tell he ain't been bound but the time is going to come where he's going to reward us who have been who have placed our faith in him take us out of this just like we see in revelations four and six and all the way through we see this tribulation this this this affliction happening to the world but because he loved us enough we are we are safe there think about it I love you so much I'm glad you placed your faith in me and I'm gonna beat you up before I bring you home no no that's not what happens that's not what happens he's gonna he's gonna do just what he said he did guess what guys you don't even need the book of revelation to figure out what he's going to do you don't even need that are you spiritualizing are you allegorizing the book of Daniel are you doing the same thing with Jeremiah are you doing the same thing with Isaiah or Ezekiel are you doing the are you spiritualizing Matthew Mark Luke and John when he says he's going to pour out his spirit on all are you spiritualizing that no you're not so take him at his word he did the very same guy who says that none of his words not one of his words shall come back to him void amen


In today's video, I'm going to give you five really useful tips to keep you on point with your productivity going after your goals and overcoming procrastination. So stay with me. Have you ever heard that saying how long is a piece of string? If you don't know what it means, it basically means it's an answer. The answer is not defined. It's I don't really know, right? How long is a piece of string depends. It's relative. And the reason I'm bringing that up here is because this is the kind of the question that troubles those of us who have procrastination as a problem in our life. How long is a piece of string? How long is that task going to take me to do? Depends. Don't know. It's basically shown us we have a problem with boundaries. And I'm going to give you a few tips here that will help you with that issue around boundaries and it will help you overcome procrastination and overcome the indecision and the paralysis that we experience because of that. So the first point here I'm going to make when we're in terms of tips here for procrastination is without boundaries, your nervous system is going to become defensive. So boundaries in other words is when is this task going to be over? We need to be consciously aware of this. Okay. So without boundaries, our nervous system will be defensive. All the nervous system wants is to reserve calories effectively. It's basically its only function is safety. So what we want to do is we want to not only ask, well, when should I start this task? We should start to ask ourselves, well, when will I be stopping this task? Okay. So it's both of those without boundaries, the nervous system is going to get defensive. And that's fair because all it wants is to to preserve, keep that energy in case it needs it for protective purposes. You may have a thing for your career or you want to be going, be creative or do some project, right? And if it doesn't serve immediate survival, your nervous system may very well get defensive. And that's what procrastination is. It won't let you go ahead with it. So we need to start asking, when will I stop this task? Also, we don't do that. Okay. That's a really good habit to get into. The second tip I'm going to give you here, guys, is okay, we're setting boundaries, but it's okay to have standards in terms of what you want to accomplish in any given day. So you should want to see daily progress in your goals. And you can set minimum requirements in terms of the amount you would like to see. This is an amount of action you want to see even if you have a bad day. So what I mean by that is, usually our baseline for productivity on a goal, right, is zero. In other words, days will go by, I just have a bad day and I don't get to do it. I don't get around to it or put it off. Our standard will be even if I have a bad day, I do X amount, this small amount that I'm able to commit to. And it should feel uncomfortably easy to achieve and hit this amount consistently. Okay, so you want to have standards for yourself, it's okay. But the problem of course is people have these huge standards on realistic standards. And again, the nervous system sees that it doesn't like you that you're diverting all that energy and making a huge commitment to it. So yes, it's okay to have standards, but we want to be very realistic about it. Small consistent progress is what we want to be making. So the third point that ties in with that, it's basically you must have limits. So while you're allowed to have standards, you must have limits for yourself. If you don't have limits, the goal has taken control. The upper limit should be a challenge. It should be an amount of action you have achieved in the past, but not very often. In other words, if you're saying, okay, what's the maximum amount of time limit that I can spend on this on this task? And you might say to yourself, nine hours. Well, if you've come nowhere close to doing nine hours in that project in the past, that's not an appropriate limit for yourself. But maybe once you did four hours on it. Okay, that's your limit. That's your upper limit. Okay. Until you break that number. But you know, basically it's, or not until you're breaking it. So you consciously decide or choose to change the upper limit. The upper limit has to be adhered to. Okay. So it should be an amount that you hit occasionally, but most of the time you're not going to be hitting that upper limit. Yes, you're going to be hitting your minimum amount, but the upper limit is going to be something you occasionally hit. Right. Again, we just have it in a boundary. We are in control of the task or the goal. It's not in control of us. Okay. The fourth tip I want to share with you guys here is we're talking about a specific goal here, right? Now, that might be just one goal or one of your emotional needs. It might just refer to one of your emotional needs. You may have other things in your life that require your time and your energy. So the fourth thing here is see all of your needs as equal. So work, which is what I call responsibility, is one important need. Okay. But if it takes over, in other words, it becomes a tyrannical need. My model is there's five emotional needs we have inside us, essentially. And one of them is work or responsibility. You might call it, and if that can become dominant or tyrannical, it can take over and it can start to repress these other needs. So other needs will be crowded out. Should this dynamic stay in place for a long time, the system will break down. So you want to start seeing all of your needs as equally important, equally valid. And if one of your needs has become dominant, so you never get any of these, that means you're not seeing them as valid. You're treating one of them as much more important than the others. Now, this need is important, but they're all equally important. Okay. One is not more important than the others. And our job is to balance these needs. Doesn't necessarily mean they all get an equal share of your time, but it does mean that they're seen and validated as equals. The last tip, guys, I'll talk about today is guilt-free fun is rocket fuel. Okay. Guilt-free fun or guilt-free play, Neil Fiora talks about. The important part here is guilt free. So you will have fun no matter what. It's just a matter of giving validation to it or not. So you're going to be doing fun things because the desire and need for fun is one of the emotional needs we have. It's so strong that need.  Okay. It's just a matter of, do you validate yourself? Do you do it intentionally or are you doing it passively and reactively? We want to do it intentionally, consciously on purpose and that's validating it. Okay. If you can have fun while validating it, you are filling your tank for success. Okay. So this guilt-free play or fun that we have, if we've forgiven it to ourselves consciously on purpose intentionally, validating that need, you're actually now giving this, meeting this need and it makes it less likely that this need will do anything to sabotage this need. Okay. So what you're realizing is in a funny way, let's say productivity, you want to do something in your work life, your career, when you're giving yourself conscious deliberate guilt-free play, you're actually doing something for your career, for your work life because it's, it's going to be the fuel in the tank for success that drives you forward in this. So all these needs start to now cooperate with each other and help each other as opposed to be in competition with each other all the time. So those are five little tips and the main question here is how long is a piece of string? You know, how long is that task going to take me? And if you don't know, if you don't have boundaries around the task, you're going to struggle with it probably. Okay, you're going to probably have a procrastination issue around it. The other part that I talked about there is those five, those five emotional needs. If you want to learn about those needs, I have a free book on my website, my road, it's called Forget Happiness and it tells you what these needs are and how we can go about validating them and balancing them. So I hope that's a useful video guys. I try and make these videos on procrastination because I know it resonates with quite a few people out there who are suffering with this issue. And I'm going to keep making these videos for you guys because I get some great feedback on it and it's my pleasure to maybe give you a different way of thinking about this because you don't have to bully yourself. There's nothing wrong with you. In fact, it's the opposite. Just need to meet your needs, validate yourself, put boundaries on things, have healthy boundaries and this issue will go away. I promise you it will. Okay, so I'll leave it there for today guys, but take care and we'll talk again very soon. Bye-bye.


What's up, everyone? It's your girl Kenzie here from Layton Sports Guards, and I'm repping a personal for Joseph B Got another 2022 Panini maculet football box as well as two 2022 tops triple threads baseball boxes Alright, here we go. Oh, yeah, big stealer fan tone tone Tony. That's enough.  All right, here we go. I have a redemption. I don't want to peek so I'm gonna There we go We've got a wonder Franco rookie base on top Pose each story. We've got to 125 Yeti Molina and to one 99 Carlos Correa Got a jumbo bat relic here a trade turn into 35 36. Sorry Gotta remember triple threats has a bunch of like random numbers 36 out of 17 out of 3 out of 7 Nice game these on that one All right, Joseph. Let's see what our redemption is gonna be Side down Congrats, you're due to receive a triple threads common threads three player triple auto relic sapphire parallel Wow say that five times fast Joe Maurer Yeti Molina and Buster Posey.  Oh My gosh, what a box. Oh Wow, this is one card. Oh Deca relic combo book card. Oh Wow, what the heck? Steve Carlton, we've got Jenkins Blufflin Joe Ryan Randy Johnson Martinez Roger Clemens Greg Maddox Glavin and John Smoltz What a box triple relic and a deca relic book It's crazy. There you go Joseph staying hot man. That is nasty all game used on those two All jerseys except for the Greg Maddox is a pat relic That's sick It really does Tony It really does Yep, and that is numbered one out of ten.  I'm just gonna set that right there for now Wow, all right. We still have another triple thrift to go Yeah, that's sick Justin, huh? That is sick trying to think of the sapphire pellet parallels number two I don't think sapphire is a one-of-one. That'd be pretty low number though. Oh my gosh We've got a book in this one too.  Windows into greatness Hey, Ricky Henderson six out of ten There you go, that is cool on the quad relic game used Windows of green is that's sick. I really like this design of this booklet Yep, Donnie's here. Yeah, I'm here That's sick. There you go, Joseph. Wow That's really cool All right Here we Bernie Banks Mark McGuire Salvador Perez, we've got green rookie to 259 hunter green Brace Harper to 299 That's all I gotta say green 5 to 27 Wilson Contreras Cubbies Triple relic triple auto We've got Carlton Fisk Frank Thomas and Mark Bueller nine of nine Wow Two boxes two triple autos two booklets Joseph man Annie had a iMac earlier pulled a Kenny picket RPA to 25 AJ Brown patch auto to 75 That would be a hilarious Josh That would be a really funny one We could prank rich too Sam called in sick Donnie has to break That would be hilarious Just start the stream with Donnie and the breaking chair I'm back. Uh, I'm back a box here for you, Joseph Alvin, it's about two hour queue right now about two hours Sam called in sick Kenzie's out of town and forest is an air and searing his phone Donnie has to break today All right, here we go I would have ruined it because I would I would say something wrong. I think I started the stream guys. What's up, Donnie here All right, here we go. Good luck. We've got Bill Stefan digs out of 99 Stefan digs Up next we got Steelers legend of 49 a Brett Kiesel That would be hilarious We've got clearly immaculate rookie 26 of 99 Garrett Wilson Garrett Wilson the 99 We've got rookie auto of Roger McCreary 19 of 49 Titans and we've got shadow box rookie auto five of 49 Garrett Wilson for the Jets There you go, Joseph nice G Dub We'll mag this one for you And last hit we've got a horizontal RPA at Wandao Robinson for the Giants 68 out of 99 Wandao Robinson Alrighty that will do it for your boxes there Joseph again. You had the Windows into greatness relic book card You can I see the other two? No, you're good Triple relic auto Joe Maurer Yachty Molina Buster Posey You had triple relic triple auto nine of nine Fisk Thomas Ambular and Then you had the DECA relic card Carlton Jenkins Blufflin Ryan Johnson Martinez Clements Maddox Glavin and Smolz Crazy crazy. All right, that'll do it for your boxes there Joseph. Thanks again. Congrats. We'll get this right up to you