Countdown 2 Eternity

James Kaddis: Well, hello, my dear brothers and sisters! I want to welcome you to another episode of Countdown 2 Eternity. Folks, the high holy days are here. That is not me speaking sarcastically. That is me speaking truthfully. Tommy, what do they call this? Do they call this the watch days? The high watch days?

Tom Hughes: I think it's the high watch days or high watch season. I wish I could remember what it's called. But for clarity's sake, we need to let people know that you and I don't believe that. Let's just start there. We're not the only ones.

James Kaddis: I want to beg people not to click off when you hear that. When Tom says that, let me tell you what that does not mean. It does not mean that we do not believe that Christ could come at any moment. As a matter of fact, we believe that today more than ever.

What we refuse to accept is the sensationalism that oftentimes goes with that, giving people a false hope only for them to find themselves disappointed. By the way, I should tell you this right now: the first date that has been set for the Rapture that I heard of back in early August has come and gone. Last I checked, nobody's been raptured.

Tom Hughes: Yes, it has. I want to work through it because there is so much of this that has caused people now, as another year comes and another year goes, to scoff and mock. They say, "See, you guys say this is going to happen, and it didn't happen. Once again, it didn't happen." It is the craziest kind of date setting. I really do wonder sometimes if people intentionally make those dates just to embarrass the prophecy community because so many people follow them and believe them. It's just not right.

I believe in the immanency of the Rapture. I believe it can happen at any moment. Every day for me is, in that sense, a high watch day. Every day is. I'm always looking. Is it today? If not today, then maybe tomorrow. It's not a season. Rosh Hashanah has come and gone. Another one has come and gone. This year, they're saying that by September 12th, we'll be out of here. We caution people and tell them year after year to stop believing these things. These are the feasts of the Lord that He gave to His people Israel for His purposes. We need to be really careful.

Right now, James, we've entered into this time known as the Days of Awe. The Days of Awe are the days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is ten days. We're in the Days of Awe. You come around to Yom Kippur and it is this day when you are looking at your own sins and reflecting on who you are and what you are. Have you offended anybody? Who have you sinned against? It's a great day of reflection.

I look at Yom Kippur as being the fulfillment of the Days of Awe. It's the finality; it's the climax of the Days of Awe. It's the day when Israel looks and recognizes their most solemn day of the year. That's what Yom Kippur is. That is what we're leading up to. Yom Kippur will be fulfilled when Israel comes back, according to Zechariah 12:10, when they look upon Him whom they pierced and they mourn for Him as one mourns for their only son.

That's going to still happen in the future. Israel will get there. That is when Yom Kippur is fulfilled. If you have the Days of Awe leading up to it, I just don't struggle with people date-setting year after year into the fall feasts for the timing of the Rapture. That's what I'm talking about.

James Kaddis: This is so right on. The problem that exists is when we walk away from what God intended for His church. What God intended for His church is for us to believe that Christ could come literally at any moment. If we believed that Christ could come at any moment, there would be no one day more significant than the other in the pursuit of being able to understand when that's happening. We would just simply live day to day with the knowledge of the fact that it might be today.

One of the most critical components of this is to recognize that there cannot be a separation or an institutionalized version of how to look at how you get to heaven. You can't separate the Rapture from potentially losing your life on this earth. Both ways get you to heaven if you're walking with the Lord. Even if we assume that you knew the Rapture was going to happen in the next 80 days, which I would never say, what do you do? Do you just hang out and do nothing until you get near the 80 days?

Or do you recognize that you better get to work now, in this very second, because your life may be taken today? We don't know when we're going to live. We don't know when the next day is being given to us. Recognizing the fact that time is the most precious commodity that's ever been given to us in light of understanding where our salvation really stands gives us the understanding of how we should be living in the moment.

The context of the Parable of the Talents was Matthew chapter 24. Jesus tells everybody about what's going to happen leading up to the second coming. Then He gives the Parable of the Talents in Matthew chapter 25. You know what He calls the person who buried the talent? The person who says, "Jesus is coming soon, so who cares about everything? Just let it burn." He called that person a wicked servant and a lazy servant.

Think about that for just a second. This is bigger than a lot of people realize. For us as the body of Christ, especially in the Bible prophecy community, we should make these days as meaningful as possible because we're not guaranteed the next day.

Tom Hughes: Absolutely. When you think of it in the light of Bible prophecy, we are to be inspired to be about our Father's business. We've talked about this before. Peter says, after he goes through the prophetic facts of the second coming of Christ, "Therefore, what manner of person ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God?" How do you hasten the coming of the Day of God? You are living for Him and you are telling people about the Lord.

Within the prophecy community, you have watchmen. If we were to take the term from the Book of Ezekiel and apply that to somebody like me today, in Ezekiel, the watchman was set in place. He's in his watchtower looking, and he sees the enemy coming. The Lord says to Ezekiel, "If the watchman sees the enemy coming and he doesn't tell the people, disaster is coming, and he warns the people and they do not listen to him, but he's faithful to warn them, their blood is not on your hands." You did what you were supposed to do.

If they listen to you, so much the better. However, if the watchman sees the enemy coming and he does not warn the people, God says their blood will be on the watchman's hands. As a watchman, we have to be faithful. We have to be faithful to tell people the truth. Not only that, there is all kinds of nonsense out there right now, not just predicting dates. It's all of these distractions from the things that really do matter when it comes to Bible prophecy. We need to stick to what the Bible actually says.

We have to warn people, and we also have to tell them about the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be faithful watchmen. If you're going to call yourself a prophecy person, stop sidetracking people with nonsense. Stop giving them the sci-fi messages and all this foolishness. Everyone who does that is going to be held accountable to the Lord on that day. Going back to the parable that you just mentioned, you are a wicked servant. He does say servant, but he says you are a wicked servant.

James Kaddis: And lazy.

Tom Hughes: And lazy. It is lazy. Anybody going down this track of all this weird stuff out there, it is exactly what 2nd Timothy chapter 4 says. Paul warns that in the last days, they will not endure sound doctrine. What's happening with the "high watch" days? They are not enduring sound doctrine. They've left the reservation. They've gone off the narrow path. Instead, teachers are being raised up to itch their ears. Giving these wise fables and all of this nonsense stuff because it makes the people feel good and they get excited.

That is happening right now in the prophecy community. I know that this message is not going to go well with probably a lot of people who are watching it. But we have to speak the truth. I think of Paul when he wrote to the Galatians: "Because I tell you the truth, I'm now your enemy?" We have to speak the truth as faithful watchmen. We have to stop with the nonsense.

The day is going to come when we're going to be before the Lord. He isn't going to say, "Did you get a lot of followers? Did you get a lot of people to like you? Did you give the people warm and fuzzy feelings? Did you itch their ears? Come on in. You've done a wonderful job." It isn't going to be that way. It's going to be exactly the opposite. You were out there itching the people's ears. You thought you could give them these fun stories and the people would just love it. You wicked and lazy servant.

James Kaddis: There's another issue that needs to be brought up because we talk about the subject of hastening the day. So many people think that hastening the day refers to doing something that would speed up the return of Christ. That passage doesn't mean that. That passage actually speaks to you being busy about your Father's business so that the days may go by quickly. Thus, when the time comes that He returns, you are clearly not taken off guard. The time has gone by quickly because you've redeemed it effectively. That's the picture.

A lot of people don't look at it as such. A lot of people make whole doctrines out of preaching the Gospel because you might be the one that speaks to the last Gentile. Okay, fair enough. But the reality is that passage in 2nd Peter 3:12 is such a critical component. It's about eagerly anticipating and earnestly desiring that day. I should note this because people are automatically going to push back: the surrounding context of this passage absolutely matters.

He says "holy conversation and godliness." That's the term, not performing some act that forces Christ to return sooner. Peter's whole point is that expectation should produce activity. That's the part that a lot of people don't necessarily think through.

We should be busy about our Father's business, redeeming the time and living in readiness. When we live that way, we're not caught off guard. We're not living in darkness so that that day should overtake us as a thief in the night. The idea is we're using our time faithfully rather than wasting it. The idea that faithful activity makes the waiting seem shorter is a very practical application that can be drawn here.

Hastening speaks very specifically to that. It doesn't speak specifically to hurrying up God's calendar. It speaks to activity that leads us into the mindset of expectation. We hasten towards that day through eager expectation. We hasten to that day towards holy living and faithful service. That's the picture that God is drawing for us here.

Tom Hughes: Amen. In the different parables that Jesus gave us, He tells us to watch and be ready, to watch and pray. It's not a watch where you're just looking and getting caught up in sensationalism. It's exactly the opposite. It is a readiness, which is exactly what you say. It's a sobriety term. You are saying, "Wait a minute, I have to make sure my act is together. I have to be ready for that moment when I'm called up to meet the Lord in the air. I must again be about my Father's business."

Mark chapter 13 says no one knows, not even the angels, nor the Son of Man, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when that time is. It's like a man going to a far country who left his house and gave authority to his servants to each his own work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the Master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

It can't get more obvious. It is not paying any attention and living in holy conduct and godliness, and hastening with the right understanding of what it means to hasten. Sleeping applies to getting caught up in the foolish sensationalism of predicting dates and all these things.

I've had people do this to me, and I know you have too. They've emailed and made comments, saying, "Do you realize when you talk like this and you say how predicting dates is wrong, that you take away some of my happiness?" That's like telling my kid, "Don't do methamphetamine because it's not good," and he says, "You're going to take away my happiness." This is just insane. This is wrong, friends. It is absolutely wrong. You're being fed poison when you go down this path. It's anti-biblical.

People get caught up in it because it itches their ears and makes them feel good. By their own admission, you take away their happiness. When I say something like we need to call out the lies and errors and bring the truth in there, they say, "I feel good when I hear these things. Therefore, I'm deleting you because you don't make me feel good." Well then fine, drink the poison. All we can do is be faithful watchmen. Somebody's blood is not going to be on our hands for our faithfulness.

James Kaddis: Right. What if I could tell you, when you come to me and you tell me you're hurting me because you're taking away my happiness when you tell me not to be sensationalistic and bury your head in the sand? What if I told you that if you did the exact opposite, if you used the coming of Christ as a motivator to live right? If you used that as the fire that is under you to be able to live where you redeem every moment of your life?

What if I told you that doing that would make you far happier than any happiness you've ever experienced because it's a completion of your joy? Your joy is being made full in serving God and allowing God to bring to the table everything that you need so that you might experience Him to the fullest. You're not happy right now because you're not experiencing Him to the fullest.

God wants you to experience Him to the fullest. You're not going to do it if you allow yourselves to be distracted by the thing that you're looking for when, in reality, it's already been given to you. It's a promise; it's been secured. If it's been secured, you get to run and do everything else in the meantime. Now you're in the process of earning the rewards that are coming to you as a result of what you do in this moment, taking advantage of the joy that God has now embedded within you to do the greater thing.

Jesus even said we would do greater works in these days on a larger scale. Instead of burying your head in the sand and saying, "Look at this guy who said the Bright Morning Star means it's going to happen in September," you should recognize he's a false teacher.

If you have anybody that gave you a date and that date has come and gone, do not trust them. They're not Bible teachers. They have lied to you. They don't have the credibility to teach you unless they completely repent and show their dedication to wanting to follow what the Word of God says. That's not the type of thing that you just speak erroneously over. Look, I have misspoken many times. I'll say "month" when I meant to say "week." We trip up all the time. This is not someone mis-speaking.

When someone says the Rapture will happen before September 23rd, that's not mis-speaking. That's actually making a call regarding something. Guess what? You have lost your credibility. Until you repent and say you've done wrong and show the body of Christ that you're dedicated to truth, you should not reap judgment upon yourself by continuing to mislead the body. It really is that simple, Tommy.

Tom Hughes: It is. It's just exceptionally disappointing because the prophecy community should be the most faithful to preach the truth. Now with that, let's shift gears. I want to talk about the temple for a minute.

James Kaddis: Oh, yeah.

Tom Hughes: I have to give a shout out to everybody in Texas. We had an amazing conference in Rockwall, Texas. A lady came up to me and said, "I want to be the first person to say to you, I love James."

James Kaddis: What?

Tom Hughes: She said, "You all say it everywhere you go." She wanted to be the first one. Then there were several others. I got so tired of taking pictures. I didn't take pictures for you this time.

James Kaddis: The people that watch us are really amazing people. It's an honor to serve these people. At the last conference that we were at together, that was a blessing.

Tom Hughes: It was. All right, let's roll to the temple because we don't have a lot of time left. Randall Price was in Texas. He just did a phenomenal message. He's an archaeologist. His main place is Qumran, and he's written books about the coming Antichrist temple. We can know it's going to come. We don't rejoice in an Antichrist temple coming because we know what it spells. We rejoice in Jesus who is coming.

But we also recognize as we see things developing that these are signs because we know a temple of deception will be built. James, you just talked quite a bit about this. I'm going to be there in a few weeks. You know what I'm going to do? See that gold dome over your left shoulder? I have an appointment to go in there in a few weeks. Inside there.

James Kaddis: Are you going to be able to get away with doing a video in there? No way, bro. No way.

Tom Hughes: I actually have an appointment coming up. I don't know how I'm going to pull this off. A GoPro is too obvious. I have an appointment as of right now. Things are changing at the Temple Mount. James, check this out. I'm taking a Bible. I'm going to see if I can get that Bible on the Temple Mount. Everybody who's been there knows you are not allowed to have a Bible on the Temple Mount.

James Kaddis: Believe me when I say this: you will be able to take that Bible on there because things have been changing so dramatically on the Temple Mount. They're doing Jewish prayers. Do you know that on the Temple Mount now they're able to bring up Jewish prayer books?

Tom Hughes: Yes, I do. I've seen them.

James Kaddis: The only place in Israel that you weren't allowed to take a Bible was on the Temple Mount because it was controlled by the Waqf, the Muslim Council. You can have a Bible all over Israel. I can walk through the Old City of Jerusalem and talk to Jews about Jesus with a Bible in my hand. That happens all day long.

However, in the Muslim-controlled area, I can't have a Bible. What's interesting is now that the Jews are starting to get control of the Temple Mount, I can have a Bible on the Temple Mount. When the Muslims control it, the Bible's gone. Tucker Carlson is either insanely delusional or he's just a liar. I think he's a little bit of both. It's just amazing. The bigger issue is the fact that these kids are scapegoating Israel instead of taking responsibility for their actions. It's a sad state of affairs.

Tom Hughes: It's absolutely terrible. You had a video you just posted the other day. What was that about?

James Kaddis: This is heavy stuff. 500,000 people so far have gone to the Western Wall to pray for all of the high holidays. There is a massive amount of Jews going there. There was one night when 50,000 people were there. They had to set up screens outside the Jaffa Gate because of the amount of people gathering. I'm not kidding you.

Tom Hughes: Let's put this into perspective for everybody. I am guessing, James, that this is the largest gathering that has happened in Jerusalem in that area since Jesus was here.

James Kaddis: 1,000 percent.

Tom Hughes: Think of Passover at the time of Jesus and the millions of Jews that would travel there. All of a sudden, this world is about ready to move into the days of Israel's redemption. Israel's redemption comes during the 70th week of Daniel. That is remarkable. The largest crowds right now since the time of Jesus.

James Kaddis: Half a million Jews. Probably that number's close to 650,000 since this recording. The number is staggering, and they keep getting bigger.

Tom Hughes: We're in the Days of Awe right now, so we still have several more days until Yom Kippur. I'm going to be there soon. I think I land the day Sukkot ends. This is going to be wild. I'm going to have to send you videos. What a time to be alive. It would be cool if we could do a video together while I'm inside that gold dome. I'll just start praying in there. I can be a decoy. They'll probably all listen to me. I do that pretty good, by the way. I have to go.

James Kaddis: Guys, we hope you've enjoyed listening to this or watching it as much as we've enjoyed making it. We're excited that Christ could come back at any moment. Things are happening. We've never seen it before in human history. God bless you guys. We love you. Bye-bye.