Countdown 2 Eternity

Voiceover: Welcome once again to Countdown to Eternity with Pastors James Kaddis and Tom Hughes, a weekly radio ministry from Calvary Chapel Signal Hill. Together, Tom and James examine current events and connect what's going on in our world to Bible prophecy. Let's lean in and listen.

James Kaddis: Well, hello, my dear brothers and sisters. I want to welcome you to another episode of Countdown to Eternity. We've got a loaded one here for you today. We're going to talk about the book of Revelation. Tom says he's going to drop something on me that's probably going to fire me up. We're going to have a lot of fun having a conversation about that. We're going to be conversing, if you all know what I mean. We're going to have a lot of fun. I'm here with the great Tom Hughes. Tommy, what's cracking?

Tom Hughes: All right, so I know you know it. You've spoken on it and I've spoken on it. A lot of people aren't really paying attention to it. June at the Dead Sea, Pride Land.

I knew it. And there's so much to this. Not just that, James. Our viewers need to get this in their head. God is shouting to the world right now. Look what's going on. So we see Pride Land in the Dead Sea, the same region where Sodom and Gomorrah had judgment. You look and you go, "Wow."

Israel is now also in this. Israel is looked upon by much of the Western world, because the Western world is so deceived, that Israel is not tolerant. So you've got LGBTQ that celebrates Hamas. The total opposite. So Israel, in my mind, is going above the normal to show how tolerant they are by having Pride Land in the Dead Sea. Right after that, they're moving over to Tel Aviv for their regular parade.

I can't help but think of this, Revelation chapter 11, James. You know it, where you have the two witnesses that are killed by Antichrist. The Bible tells us it's right there in the city where our Lord was crucified, spiritually known as Egypt and Sodom. Then you start seeing this. We are in the last days. I know we're not in the Tribulation yet. I didn't say that. But God is giving more warnings. There's more of them.

James Kaddis: At the expense of completely losing my mind, can we go over a little bit of history? People want to see you lose your mind. I go to these different conferences and they love it when James loses his mind. They tell me that.

There's a language crossover issue that is going to make you sick. Because when they looked at the Dead Sea region, they used to refer to it as Pride Land. It's very interesting, by the way, because of all the blooming that was going on in the desert. They've taken something like that that is based on Ezekiel, the promise that God had made to His people in Ezekiel, and they've turned it into something sick.

Tom Hughes: Now that's kind of, okay, I've got to ask you. So are you talking about the promise with the Dead Sea being restored from Ezekiel? Wow, that's crazy.

James Kaddis: Ezekiel 47. So let me read it to you because I just pulled it up. I'm distracted. I might as well just dig deep into this, but it's just irritating. Ezekiel 47, verses 8 through 9. This is what it says: "Then he said unto me, These waters issue out the east country and go down into the desert."

I mean, I don't even know how much more obvious this could be. "And go into the sea which being brought forth into the sea, the water shall be healed." This is a future millennial kingdom. This is after Jesus comes back. "And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth whithersoever the river shall come, shall live."

Now we see this a very specific way. It's something that's going to happen in the future. It's going to be the awakening of what we understand as the Dead Sea. But there are passages like this that are being looked at right now that are being used to talk about springs that are developing that are coming up around that very area and the nonsense that's coming out of the disgusting movement.

I don't even want to call them a community. We should call it a movement. We should not say the LGBTQ community. We should call it the LGBTQ movement, like a bowel movement. And here is the reason why. Communities care about one another from within and from without. Movements don't.

From the way I'm looking at it, there's a reason why I'm referring to it that way. They're taking something that was super special and they're turning it into something that's ugly. And to make things worse, you've got people like Tucker Carlson that are making videos about this trying to tell people like us who love Israel to come against Israel because of what Israel is tolerating.

Except for the fact that that same book that we're reading out of right now, Ezekiel, told us that the Jews would be gathered together by God back into their land in a state of unbelief. If they were believers together, then it would be a false prophecy. So the fact that they're coming together doing all of this stuff should kind of make us a little warm on the inside in the sense that God promised that that would be the case. I think this is the enemy attacking preemptively passages like Ezekiel 47.

Tom Hughes: I think the enemy is attacking everything preemptively that he possibly can because he knows what the prophetic implications are. So knowing that, that's why we see everything that God says is good, he says is evil. Everything God says is evil, he says is good.

So they flip it using somebody like Tucker Carlson wanting to get more of the... I mean, Tucker Carlson's main goal seems to be to turn the entire Christian community against Israel. That seems to be his point.

James Kaddis: Oh, 100%. And think about this too, Zechariah 14. We all presume that Ezekiel 47 is going to happen when Zechariah 14 happens. That's the general presumption that we all make. If that's true and we believe it, which we do, then look at the narrative right now that exists around the Mount of Olives and what's happening in this same movement. It's happening in Tel Aviv. It's happening in Jerusalem. It's happening in the desert. It's happening everywhere. Should you be surprised with what the enemy is trying to do?

Tom Hughes: Not at all. And then we also see so many different things the enemy is trying to do. But at the same time, God is shouting to us. You follow the archaeology and I get to go over to Israel often and see it and walk in it and everything. So there's more and more evidence that's coming out about Noah's Ark. I know you've seen that.

And then we look at this whole thing with the statue of Pharaoh. Did you see that? So the statue of Pharaoh clashed with Moses has been discovered in Egypt. Whether or not that's the right one, I don't know, but these things are out there. And God is revealing, if you just look at the archaeology alone when you go to Israel, more and more. What do we see? Well, we know where Sodom and Gomorrah was. You can still go there. The sulfur balls, they are there. You can actually get those sulfur balls and light them down in the area of the Dead Sea.

As each day goes by, more and more is being revealed. As we see all of the fake videos that are out there, AI fakes and everything else that's fake and all of the liars that are out there, God is revealing that His Word is 100% true. So when I look at what's happening in June with the Dead Sea and Pride Land, then I think of all the archaeology, because archaeology you can touch, folks. It can't be faked. It's real. You can see it. And the Bible is being revealed as fact right now in all these different areas.

God is shouting to the world from so many different angles. And as we look at what you said, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, the demonic coming against the truth, it reminds me of the words in Revelation chapter 12 where the devil knows he has but little time. Now we know that that gets fulfilled during the Tribulation period when he sits in the temple and demands to be worshipped as God. At least that's where I believe Revelation 12 gets fulfilled, when he turns his attention to Israel.

James Kaddis: Yeah, I agree. Well, that's good because you have your book, so I'm glad you agree with me. James' brand-new book. You need to get his book. What a great book. I've got a signed copy from James, just so you all know.

James Kaddis: We have it in paperback version. It's actually been amazing. God has blessed us. Number one bestseller in thirteen categories on Amazon. So I can actually say now I'm a number one bestselling author. It's kind of cool. Not that it really means anything because what good is that if people don't read the book?

But there is such a great opportunity to learn the Word of God with clarity and with depth. And that's why I actually did this. And that's why part two is coming, which covers chapter 11 all the way through the very end. But this is a war for truth. This is a war for authority over truth, bro. And right now, what we're seeing is we're seeing a battle between culture and truth, and the culture war seems to be winning. Obviously, that won't last long because God is going to come and He's going to completely destroy it and He's going to completely judge it.

Tom Hughes: And we also know again, going back when we look at Israel is going to be gathered together in unbelief. The Bible's very clear. It isn't until Daniel's even told by the angel, it's during the time of the great trouble that comes to the nation of Israel as Michael the archangel who watches over Israel warns Daniel this is coming. Then you have the other angels after that and tell Daniel that God's going to shatter the power of the holy people. In other words, their rebellion against Him is literally what they mean.

So He's going to end their rebellion against Him. But it doesn't end until the Tribulation period. So they gather together in unbelief. Romans chapter 11 is also very clear there is a remnant of believers in Israel. Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come. In part has happened to Israel. So there are Jewish believers. David Tow would be one of them. There's Jewish believers that are out there, but the majority of them are in unbelief. But God is going to use the trials of the Tribulation to turn them to Him. And right now, they're in rebellion against God. So if you're actually a student of the Bible, you would expect to see this kind of thing happening, especially as we grow closer and closer to the Tribulation itself.

James Kaddis: It brings us to the battle over who owns the earth. We said we were going to talk about it.

Tom Hughes: Check this out. I do want to go there because this will give clarity. James, I don't know if you knew this, but before I was a pastor, this goes back about 35 years, 1990s, I worked for a title insurance company. I was a title officer.

James Kaddis: I did not know that actually. So that means you were actually making a ton of money and then you went broke.

Tom Hughes: I was. In the 1990s, the money was really good. If I made that exact same amount of money today, not even adjusted for inflation, it would still be really good today. But you left that for ministry, you store your treasure in heaven. Nevertheless, I was in title insurance. So I understand how title works, title deeds. I totally get the picture.

So last week we were talking Jeremiah chapter 32. I don't know if we talked about it, but the foundation of that Jeremiah was told while Babylon is closing in, "Jeremiah, buy this plot of land that is in Anathoth from your cousin." So he buys the plot of land. He's given the written deed. The Bible's very clear. Store this deed because this deed is very important. It's coming back in the last days. It was a title deed to the land.

James Kaddis: It was referred to as and understood as redeemed property awaiting future possession.

Tom Hughes: Check this out also. This is really cool in Jeremiah 32 and this launches us into Revelation chapters 5 and 6 and James' book on that. But this, check this out, James. In Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah's cousin tells him, "You are the kinsman redeemer." That is crazy.

James Kaddis: Let me take this a step further because this gets really exciting. Leviticus 25. You have to know Leviticus 25 because Leviticus 25 is referred to as the law of redemption. If the land was lost, it could be lost, but a kinsman redeemer could buy it back. And that's exactly what Christ is doing. He's referred to as our kinsman redeemer reclaiming the world.

Tom Hughes: So cool because we see the kinsman redeemer. People think of Ruth and Boaz if they've read it, because that's what Boaz was. He was the kinsman redeemer. Jeremiah is told, "You are the kinsman redeemer, buy this plot of land." God says, "That plot of land, guess what, Jeremiah? It is about Israel in the last days coming back and I own the title deed to planet Earth." Which launches us to our kinsman redeemer, who we see in Revelation chapter 5 where we're in heaven. I believe because it's those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we're there and we say, "Praise the Lord, the one who is worthy is able. Is the only one who can loose the scrolls of the title deed." I believe that's what that is. It's a title deed to planet Earth.

James Kaddis: Yeah, so there's a lot to be said here and again, I talk about it extensively in my book. But there's a bunch of things that should be known and there's a ton of Old Testament parallels that this makes not loose reference to, but direct reference to, including language being utilized that would be a direct verbatim word-for-word match in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.

Revelation 5 obviously, as we said before, is about the title deed to the earth. Now, the scroll itself that's being discussed represents rightful ownership. No one is found worthy to open it until Christ steps forward. As a matter of fact, John is crying. He's profusely weeping because he recognizes at that moment there's no hope because there's nobody there who's able to open it.

So the reason why Christ is worthy and John is praising the Lord and everything is because it's clearly stated he was slain and he was redeemed by his blood. So redemption here in this context is legal language. He paid a price to redeem the very thing that was lost. By the way, this goes all the way back to Genesis. Adam was given dominion, but through sin, what ended up happening? That authority was forfeited. Satan becomes the god of this world. By the way, in a very functional sense, and even the Lord makes reference to this.

So what you're watching in Revelation chapter 5 is not some symbolic weird thing just to get you in this weird mode. It's a literal legal transaction being executed. The earth is being taken back by the rightful owner. That's exactly what Revelation chapter 5 says. The scroll that's being sealed reflects legal protection and authority that as long as that scroll is sealed, the current owner maintains possession of it.

Only the rightful owner can break those seals and of course enact the judgment that's required in order to reclaim the property. So it's not just him taking the document and then just simply saying, "Okay, now it's mine, the earth is mine." No, he breaks the seals. The symbolic breaking of the seals that's happening, which I think there's something literal that's happening right there, is God basically doing the eviction, for lack of a better term. He's going in there and he's cleaning it back up as he takes it.

Now, I think that what he's going to end up doing is after he evicts everybody and he removes them, then he's going to demo it and he's going to build something brand new. But again, it's all still legal language. Revelation 6 shows what happens when the seals are opened. We see all the different judgment that takes place. Why? Because of course the earth is in rebellion and God has to claim it.

That's why we see the white horse representing totalitarian rule by the Antichrist. We see the red horse representing war. We see the black horse representing economic failure. And of course we know what happens. He says don't even mess with the oil and the wine, talking about a rich ruling class. And then of course we see one-fourth of the world's population being killed with the pale horse, sometimes referred to as the green horse.

There's a reason for that. First of all, that happens very easily because there's no restrainers living on the earth right now to keep that from being able to happen. And the Old Testament parallels are big, like I just said, Jeremiah 32, massively huge parallel that exists there because again, it's redeemed property. Jeremiah bought that property from the relative not only because he knew God was leading him to do so, but he had confidence in the viability of that property because he knew there would be an opportunity for redemption later. He saw that.

So legally there was property awaiting future possession and that redemption allowed him to be able to do so. Same thing with Leviticus 25 with the kinsman redeemer. By the way, Ruth and Boaz, the story of Ruth and Boaz in the book of Ruth tells us that same exact story. It's a picture of Christ both redeeming the earth and his people at the same time. Here's another one a lot of people don't think about, Psalm 2. I mean, think about that. The Father gives the Son nations as an inheritance. That's what it says in Psalm 2.

Talk about an ultimate transfer. I talk about this in my book. Daniel chapter 7. You see it right there. Look what he says in verses 13 and 14 of Daniel 7. I brought it up because it's worth reading. "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him."

Even Satan for a period of time as a totalitarian ruler demands all of this stuff. But he acknowledges the fact that there's a redemptive mechanism that he wants to break from happening. He recognized, "I only have temporary control over this." He knew it and God even knew it. God even acknowledged it.

So Revelation 5 and 6 is Christ's, and these are the operative terms, right? Legally, righteously, and yes, forgive me for saying this for all these people who say that God is not a God of violence, forcefully reclaiming what belongs to him. The cross paid for it when he died and he rose again. The very scroll is the declaration of all of that, that he possesses the seals being broken are the enforcers. That's what's happening.

Tom Hughes: Satan is the squatter and he's going to squat in the temple and sit there as the usurper claiming to be in the position of Jesus. He's going to claim to be the Messiah, he's the false Messiah. This shows you how much real estate law copies the Bible.

So when a piece of real estate changes from one owner to another, if I'm purchasing a piece of property from somebody else, for example the house we live in now, we bought it years ago. It was going into foreclosure, but there were all kinds of judgments on it. Before I could take it or would take it, all the judgments had to be satisfied. Judgments, liens, whatever it was, they all had to be satisfied.

Interesting, when God reclaims what's his, the title to the planet is his, all the judgments will be satisfied. Every single one of them by the time Jesus comes back. I find it fascinating how real estate law copies the Bible without many even knowing how that works. It's just absolutely amazing.

James Kaddis: And it's all over the Bible. If you think about it, you can go as early as the judgment that was made against Satan for what had happened when the judgment of man and Satan was actually judged. And in part of that judgment early on in Genesis, it's amazing how it talks about the heel of God being bruised, yet the head of Satan being crushed.

And then when you go to Revelation chapter 1, it talks about Christ's feet being made like unto brass. Brass being a symbol of judgment, and the very heel of the Creator of the universe will crush the very head of Satan. Like, how much more obvious can it be?

Tom Hughes: You've got all that in your book. Your book's called The Last Book, but you have another book coming. So this is The Last Book Part 1?

James Kaddis: The hardest part about this book was we worked very hard to get hundreds and thousands of words into a smaller book not losing any of the meaning that was being communicated. It was one of the most challenging projects I've ever done in my life. It was very, very difficult.

And now I have volume two. I can't tell you the title, but the title is amazing. I can't wait to tell you. It's not going to be The Last Book 2. It won't be anything like that. But once you see it, the cover is beautiful. When we're offline, I'll tell you what it is. I'll give it to you.

Tom Hughes: All right, very cool. So the judgments are loosed. James, in Revelation chapter 5, you have all those, all the different voices in heaven. "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain," "Holy, holy, holy," all proclaiming Him. It says in there and all of the redeemed who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That can only speak of human beings who have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

To me, James, that is one of the evidences of a pre-Tribulation Rapture. Because regardless of the timing that you put on when the Tribulation doesn't begin until Antichrist confirms the covenant, but the seals won't be broken until we know the Rapture has to happen before the seals are loosed. We are going to see Jesus unloose those seals. That is a mind-blower, folks, when you start thinking about it. We're going to be there singing. Read Revelation chapter 5. That's going to be us with these other creatures in heaven proclaiming this. This is just a mind-blower.

James Kaddis: It kind of puts the fear of God in you when you think about how bad it's going to become for the people who choose to come against God by seeking to destroy His people.

Tom Hughes: It does. When you start putting everything into the right context and you realize even the Tribulation is about the glory of Jesus Christ. And you start putting all of these different things, the restoration of Israel. God calling Israel. And you realize, wait a minute, this is about His glory. And nowhere and He has chosen a people and it's in His people Israel that His glory is on full display. "For Israel my glory." He even says that. And yet so many people in churches and obviously all over social media just completely ignore say God's done with Israel. I mean, I cannot imagine for myself what an offense that is to the Lord to say something like that.

James Kaddis: I know, brother. I know. Okay, I'm going to give you the last word because we're out of time. I can't believe it.

Tom Hughes: Listen, I would say get James' book first of all and also I want to encourage you. June 14th, I'm going to be with James and David Tow at James' church. Whether it's the current one or by then he's in the new building, please pray for that new building because it would be great to be in that new building. So please do, and we'd love to meet you there too. So make sure you show up.

James Kaddis: And by God's grace, if that new building happens, it'll give us a thousand-seat sanctuary and we'll be doing a lot more prophecy conferences. We're going to make it Tom's home base for prophecy conferences. A venue you wouldn't have to pay for. That's the best part about it. I'm looking forward to it, bro. I think we'd have to give you your own little office space if you started doing it more and more. All right, I'll take it.

We love you guys. Listen, we do hope that you've enjoyed watching this and listening to it as much as we've enjoyed making it. We love you so much. On behalf of the great Tom Hughes, thank you for joining us for another episode of Countdown to Eternity. We love you guys. And don't ever forget, Christ could come at any moment.

Voiceover: You're listening to Countdown to Eternity with Pastors James Kaddis and Tom Hughes. Online at countdown2eternity.com. You can listen to this episode again right there at countdown2eternity.com. I should also mention Tom Hughes is online at hopeforthesetimes.com. Take a look at his available resources and some of the top stories at hopeforthesetimes.com.

Pastor James has a new book called The Last Book. Revelation isn't a book of fear, it's a book of hope. The Last Book is a guide to Revelation, giving you what you need to know about Revelation, the Rapture, and the end times. Learn what the Bible says about the days we're in and what God's promise is for believers in The Last Book by James Kaddis. Available right now at countdown2eternity.com or amazon.com.

If you'd like to support what we're doing at Countdown to Eternity, there's a place to give at countdown2eternity.com then click the Give tab. And then join us next time when the Countdown to Eternity continues. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.