Amazing Facts

Guest (Male): This presentation is brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts ministry. Coming to you from New York City at the historic Manhattan Center with your host, Doug Batchelor. Join this exciting journey of discovery as we learn the truth about Bible prophecy, explore the timeless wisdom of God's word, and see how it relates to our lives today. Stay tuned, your Amazing Facts adventure begins now.

Doug Batchelor: Hello friends, welcome back to Prophecy Odyssey. In our previous episode, we saw how Satan furiously persecuted God's church after Jesus ascended to heaven. If you've ever wondered which church you should attend, then today's study is for you.

We're going to discover the seven identifying marks of God's true church and three vital messages it will proclaim to the world. Remember, if you'd like to know more about how to pick a church, then check out the Prophecy Odyssey Bible lessons and our free offer. I'll tell you more about how you can get those resources later in the program. Thank you for watching, and God bless as you continue your Prophecy Odyssey adventure.

Where did the woman go during this terrifying period of persecution and how long did it last? Let me tell you what happened and then we'll get to the answer. With the conversion of Constantine and Christianity being legalized, suddenly it was very popular.

All over Rome they had all these pagan priests. Constantine said Christianity's legalized, his mother became a Christian, and the pagan priests said, "I'd like to stay on the government payroll, I'll be a Christian." All of these pagans began to join the church before they were converted or even taught.

In fact, when Constantine was fighting the battle of Maximian and he came to the Tiber River, he claimed to see a vision where he was to conquer under the sign of the cross. They began to paint red crosses on their shields. He ordered his army for good luck to march through the Tiber River and he said, "I'm going to baptize the whole lot of you, march through the river."

Well, they had not been taught. So you got all of these dry pagans that go through the river and they come up wet pagans, but they're being told you're Christians now. They have no idea what that means. They have all these idols all over Rome. They had more idols than tiles on the rooftops in Rome.

And they said, "What do we do with our idols?" and they said, "Well, let's change their names, give them Christian names. In Diana, we'll call her Mary, and Jupiter, Apollo, Mercury, Peter, James, and John." All of a sudden idolatry just swept into the church.

The priests, instead of being like the people—Jesus did not dress in special vestments, he dressed like a carpenter. But now they started to, priests were in upper class. They said, "You know, we better not give the Bibles to the people. If you give the Bibles to the people, they're going to find out salvation is a gift and we've been selling it. If they want forgiveness, they've got to pay indulgences to the church."

All of a sudden the priests became a special class. They were living in palaces. The people were being ground down and the religion became a government institution. That's how the capital of Christianity moved from Jerusalem to Rome. Are you still with me? This is history, friends. Anybody can look this up.

All of a sudden there was tremendous compromise. What you had is there were still many sincere Christians that were in Rome and they were fighting against the compromise. But all of a sudden you had the commingling of Christianity and paganism.

They started saying hell burns forever because they got that from Greek mythology with Pluto. They started saying you have to, you can pay for your sins, salvation by works, everything began to change. True Christians began to get persecuted.

By the time of Justinian, about 538 AD, the Roman emperor said, "I'm moving the capital to Constantinople. I'm going to give the bishop of Rome, his name is now going to be the head of the church. We're going to call him the supreme Papa, the father, the Pope." That happened years after Jesus.

Jesus never said Peter was the leader of the church. Jesus is the leader of the church. In fact, right after Jesus says, "Peter, because of your declaration that I'm the Messiah, on that rock of your declaration I'm going to build my church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it and I'm going to go to Jerusalem and I'm going to die," and Peter said, "No, no, Lord, don't do that."

Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get behind me Satan." In the same passage where people say he's the first Pope, Jesus calls him Satan. Totally misunderstood. So Christians had to flee into the wilderness. Notice: the woman, now we're still in Revelation 12, the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God that they should feed her there 1,260 days.

A time of great persecution happened because the church in Rome became a government institution that not only ruled over Rome, they began to rule over all of the empires under the Roman Empire. With the conversion of Clovis, the King of the Franks, you had the Holy Roman Empire.

How many of you have played chess? You got the king and the queen and who is on the right of the king and the queen? Bishop, bishop. You look at the churches all through Europe during that time of history and you had the king and the queen and then you had the church. They had to clear everything with the church.

If the king and the queen did not clear it with the church, then the whole nation could be excommunicated. The reason that you've got the Church of England is because Henry kept killing his wives because they couldn't have children and the church said, "Look, enough is enough, you've killed five or six wives. We can't approve your divorce."

He said, "Well, then I'm just going to start my own church." The Church of England broke away because the whole nation was excommunicated at that time. The church had tremendous power over Europe during this time. True Christians that read the Bible for themselves had to flee into the mountains.

They went into the Italian and the Swiss Alps and they kept the purity of the faith. They'd copy out the scriptures by hand and they'd send their merchants and their children into town to give little sections of scripture to people to spread the faith and keep it alive. But the church clothed in sackcloth is what Revelation says.

You know what sackcloth is? When I was a kid we had potato bags, you don't have them anymore, they're plastic now. How many remember burlap bags? It's kind of cloth but it's cheap cloth and light can still get through it but it's obscured. The light of the church was obscured during that time. It had to go underground.

Do you know how long it lasted? From 538 when the Pope became the supreme ruler, was given an army and Christianity was enforced by an army. Jesus never told us to force people to be Christians. Until Napoleon came along in 1798, the Pope was arrested, they lost their universal power, and he died in captivity. From 538 to 1798 you've got 1,260 years.

It says for 1,260 days, 42 months, a time, a times, and the dividing of time. That time period is in prophecy many times. By the way, what is God's number in the Bible? God's number is seven. What is half of seven? Three and a half. It usually represents a time of persecution.

How long did Jesus preach? Three and a half years and then he died. The apostles preached for three and a half years and then Stephen was killed exactly three and a half years later. You look at the story in the Old Testament of Elijah. For three and a half years Elijah preached and the prophets had to go underground.

They were hidden in caves until he had his Mount Carmel experience and even then he had great persecution. Elijah had to run for his life from Jezebel, a woman. I'm talking about a woman representing a church. She was a pagan woman that married a Jewish king. The combination of paganism and the truth was persecuting the prophets of God.

What happened in the Old Testament was repeated in history and it's going to happen again in the last days. Is it making sense? All right, so she flees into the wilderness. Number six: what are two other identifying marks of God's true church?

You get down to the end of chapter 12, it says, "And the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest," that means the remnant, "of her offspring who" do what? Keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. If you read in Isaiah chapter 8, it says, "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." The law and the testimony.

Read in Revelation 19 verse 10. John is talking to an angel, he falls down to worship the angel. The angel says, "Don't worship me, don't worship anyone but God." We're not to pray to angels, we're not to pray to statues. Amen? Says, "Pray to God. You don't even pray to angels."

The angel said, "Fear God, I am of your fellow servants who keep the testimony of God for the testimony of God is the spirit of prophecy." The law and the testimony, the law and the prophets. Two characteristics. Read in Isaiah chapter 8 verse 20: according to the law and the testimony, the word of God. If they speak not according to this word, there's no light in them.

The word of God is dual in nature. Ten Commandments, two tables of stone. You've got the Bible, the New and the Old Testament. These are the two witnesses in Revelation 11. Symbolized by Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets. God's people will have the word of God.

Now you might say, "Well, yeah, every church keeps the commandments." Some of them. Oh no, friends. God's looking for people that will believe in all 10. God does not call them the 10 suggestions. They are not called the 10 good ideas. They're not God's 10 recommendations. They are the Ten Commandments of God. Amen?

Everybody in jail keeps some of them some of the time. You keep them when you're sleeping for a few hours each night and even then you might be dubious. God is looking for people that believe in all 10. Amen? Keeping not just the letter but keeping the spirit of the law as well. Amen? So the dragon especially hates that group of people.

Number seven: how did Jesus say that we're to demonstrate our love for him? He said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." I heard about a woman that was stuck in traffic and she began to honk her horn and shake her fist. She didn't know that the policeman was behind her.

He jumped out of his car and he pulled his gun and he said, "Get out of your car, hands up, up against the car." He searched her and checked her ID. She said, "What's all that about?" He said, "Well, I saw the way that you were gesturing to the driver in front of you and I heard you honking your horn and I saw your bumper sticker, it said 'Honk if you love Jesus.' I just figured you stole the car."

We need to be living it too. Amen? Bible says, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." Isn't it all about love, friends? Amen? Number eight: what three angelic messages will God's end-time church be preaching to the world? Answer: and you read about this in Revelation 14.

In Revelation 14, you're going to notice that something unique happens here. It tells us that Jesus comes in Revelation 14 verse 14. You can see here where it says, "Then I looked, behold a white cloud and on the cloud one sat like the Son of Man." Remember he'd been caught up, chapter 12. Now he's coming back.

On his head a golden crown, in his hand a sharp sickle. He's coming to harvest the earth. It's the great judgment day. What message goes to the world before Jesus comes? Look in chapter 14, starts with verse 6, gives three angel messages. "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth to every nation."

It's going to be international. Every nation, every tongue, tribe, people. With a loud voice. It's going to go by radio and television, by internet. "Fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come." Worship him that made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the waters.

Another angel followed saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen that great city because she made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication. A third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or his hand, the same will drink the wine of the wrath of God that is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation."

You don't want to get the mark of the beast. We've got a lesson coming on that, friends. You don't want to make that mistake. So, let's look at those three angels' messages quickly. Number one: fear God, give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come. Do you realize that's the end of time?

Do you know that part of God's judgment happens before he even gets here? How do you know that? Says, "Behold I come, my reward is with me to give to every man." Does God know who's going up and who's not when he comes? Some judgment happens. Judgment must begin at the house of God. If judgment begins at us, what will be the end of them that obey not the gospel? I'm quoting the Bible.

Judgment is come. Second angel's message: and worship him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea. That means worship him the right way, the right day, true worship of God. Is there a lot of counterfeit worship today? There are some people who go to church and these pastors deceive them.

They say, "Send me your money and God's going to get you a new pickup truck." They take advantage of people in the counterfeit worship. Another angel followed saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen that great city because she has made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

There will be a judgment on the people that are in Babylon but God wants to save Babylon. He's got his people in Babylon. Why does it talk about that? During the time of Jeremiah, King Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, conquered Jerusalem, brought the Jews to Babylon and they were there for 70 years.

How comfortable would you be for 70 years? We're only here for three weeks in New York City and Karen and I have gotten real comfortable in our hotel room. We just may stay. But after 70 years when God said you're free now to go back, they said, "Well, we kind of like it in Babylon, we've learned the language, we've learned the customs, we're a little Babylonish ourselves," and he couldn't get his people out of Babylon.

He said, "But judgment's coming on Babylon, the Persians are going to destroy them. You don't want to be there. Go home." God is telling his people in Babylon today, they're mixed up in false religions, false churches. Babylon is going to fall, the plagues will fall on Babylon, the seven last plagues. Come out of her my people.

Jesus has his people in Babylon. He's calling them out. A third angel followed them saying if anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will drink the wine of the wrath of God. That's that same wine. Babylon has made people drunk with her wine.

Number nine: to whom will God's church preach these messages in the last days? Where does it go? Having the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation. Jesus said the gospel will be preached in all the world, then the end will come. Friends, you're living in the generation that will see that fulfillment, I believe. Are you ready for Jesus to come?

What specifications has God given in his word to help us identify his end-time church? Let's re-evaluate what we just read in our study. Answer A: it's going to appear and do its visible work after it emerges from the wilderness in 1798. I've got to stop here and just say something to you. I believe that God's got a remnant. You know what a remnant is? It's the remainder.

How many of you ladies have ever done any sewing? You go to the store and you buy a remnant. When I take my wallet out, everyone gets real quiet for some reason. Okay, I've got a $10 bill. When they make cloth at the factory on the loom, they get the bolt, the cardboard tube, and they begin to roll the cloth onto the cardboard tube, right?

What goes on first? They roll it all up and then people come to the store and they buy little pieces and they cut it off. They buy what they need for their pillows and their curtains and they cut off the cloth. Finally someone will say, "Well, I only need so much," and they've got this little piece left over.

What's it called? It's a remnant. It's at the end. But you know what's at the end? It's what went on first. What comes off at the end is what went on first. God's church in the last days is going to be following the scriptures the way the church did in the beginning.

The Bible says we are going to return to the faith that was once delivered to the saints. The Bible tells us that there'll be a remnant. God saved a remnant in the days of Noah, right? He saved a remnant called Abraham from Babel, Ur of the Chaldees. He saved a remnant out of Babylon.

After the persecution of 1,260 years and the church went underground, there was a great revival movement that took place about 150 years ago where Christians from all different backgrounds said, "Let's find out what the Bible really says. Jesus does not want us divided by our denominations. Let's pray for the spirit and open the word and kneel and spend nights in prayer and get back to the Bible."

That was the birth of the movement that's bringing you this seminar. Now you say, "Well, what church is that?" I don't like to call it a denomination but we're called Seventh-day Adventist. I don't often say it because I don't like to brag about it, but I'm a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.

It's very simple. It means we believe in keeping all the commandments including the seventh, and we believe Christ is coming back. It's the blessed hope and we're telling people get ready, get ready, get ready. North America Seventh-day Adventist Church is voted as the most diverse church ethnically in that we have people from all different backgrounds.

It is a fastest-growing Protestant church in the world today. They have the biggest educational system second to the Catholic Church. They have the biggest medical system second to the Catholic Church. They're spreading everywhere because people are saying, "Hey, if you're going to be a Bible Christian, where else are you going to go?"

What does your church believe? Well, my church believes like my pastor. What does your pastor believe? Like my church. What does your pastor and your church believe? Same thing I believe. People don't know what they believe, do they? We've got to go by the Bible, friends. Amen?

This church began during that time period. It's following the 1798-year time period. Answer B: it'll teach the same truths the apostles taught. Answer C: it will keep the Ten Commandments including the Sabbath. Amen? Answer D: it will have the spirit of prophecy. It goes by the law and the prophets and believes in all the gifts of the spirit, friends.

Amen? I believe the power of God is still alive today. It'll proclaim God's three-time end-time message with a loud voice. It'll be a global international church. It's not a local corner fellowship. It is an international movement. It'll teach the everlasting gospel which is salvation through Christ alone.

Now Jesus, number 11, he gives us these seven prophetic identifying points. He says go find my church. What is the promise of Jesus if we seek? Seek and you will find. Where do we search? In the word. You run to and fro through the word of God. How many church organizations in the world will fit these seven points?

Bible says there is one Lord, one faith. How many? One faith. God wants his people united on truth. One baptism. Since there are so many different churches in the world today and so many different denominations call themselves the truth, does that make them God's true church? No.

Read Isaiah chapter 4 verse 1: "And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, Jesus the Son of Man, saying we'll eat our own bread, our own word of God, we'll wear our own apparel, our own righteousness, only let us call ourselves by your name, we're going to call ourselves Christian, to take away our reproach."

There are more different churches that call themselves Christian that don't follow the Bible than any other religion. Christianity is the most divided because it's the genuine and the devil is fighting it. But there is a truth, friends, based on God's word.

Jesus said in the last days wolves would come in not sparing the flock. So once a person discovers God's true end-time church, is it necessary to become a member? "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." Jesus had the 12 apostles and then later he numbered 70 disciples and then they joined 3,000, then 5,000. God has his people.

Number 15: how many ways of escape were there in Noah's day? Jesus said it'll be like it was in the days of Noah. By faith Noah prepared an ark, one. One Lord, one faith. Christ has an ark in the last days, friends. There's a boat and he wants you to be part of his people.

Since there are many sincere Christians in other churches and this one remnant church, what is God going to do in the last days? He says, "Other sheep I have that are not of this fold. Them also I must bring." What does Christ say he's doing in the last days? "I must bring them. They will hear my voice. And there will be one fold, one shepherd."

All men Jesus said will know you're my disciples by your love for one another. Before God pours out the spirit on his people in the last days, there's going to be a coming together of his people on the word of God. Do you believe that? How can we witness to this lost world when Christians are so divided? We're not to unite for the sake of unity. We're to unite based on truth.

Friends, I hope you've been blessed by today's message. But really, the reason we do this is so that people might know Christ. Information is not going to save us, it's a relationship with Jesus, the one who died on the cross for your sins. You must personally accept him. And that's why we do these programs. If you've not asked him into your heart before, then I'd encourage you to do it right now. His arms are open wide, just come to him as you are and ask him.

Hi friends, I trust you've been blessed by what you're watching. If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to want to get the Prophecy Odyssey study guides that go along with these presentations. There are 15 study guides, they're beautifully illustrated, and they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. So if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions that you see on the screen, you will be glad you did.

Have you ever wondered why are there so many different church denominations? You might be surprised to learn that God foretold this would happen in prophecy. To learn more about it, make sure and request your free copy of The Bride of Christ. This fascinating study guide is going to show you the Bible prophecies that answer this important question. To get your free copy, simply follow the instructions on your screen.

Guest (Male): You can become a Bible expert with the Amazing Facts Storicles of Prophecy Bible study experience. Now available in 18 languages, these 24 easy-to-read lessons will give you confidence about what the Bible really says about last-day prophecy, the afterlife, and so much more. Even better, it's absolutely free at storicles.com. Don't miss out, get the answers you need for a happier, healthier life today at storicles.com. This presentation was brought to you by the friends of the Amazing Facts ministry.