Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Pastor James makes the connection between our relationships with the Lord and the government.

James Kaddis: My relationship with God heavily determines how I view government. It heavily determines how I walk in the political arena. It heavily determines how I function and walk and talk in this place. By the way, make no mistake about it. This is why the greatest political leaders that ever lived were ones that had the greatest anchors as it relates to their relationship with God. They were the ones that did the best with it. I think that's why Abe Lincoln did as well as he did, especially near the end of his presidency. You think about it, there is a derivative that always comes from somebody who recognizes the responsibility that they have to live their walk with God publicly.

And that's exactly what it is.

Guest (Female): I have found that peace only comes from you. I have found that joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.

Guest (Male): God's judgment will be executed upon mankind for the rebellion they have chosen. So many people don't believe it's going to happen because that judgment appears to be delayed, but in God's calendar there's no such thing. For believers, it's critical we understand what that timeline looks like because God uses it for us in ways the world can never understand. Here's Pastor James Kaddis in Mark chapter 13 on Light on the Hill.

James Kaddis: Mark chapter 13. Now, it goes without saying that we have been talking about end times, and this is a chapter where Jesus is talking about the time that we have yet to see as the whole wide world. And this is important for us to take some time to really go through because I personally you could call me a little selfish. I want you to be the best taught that you can possibly be as it relates to the subject of end times because this is an area that is terribly taught. It is an area that is not well grasped by so many people, and it's an area that is deeply neglected.

And the reason why it tends to be this way is because if you're going to teach it effectively and if you're going to bring to the table content that is going to be accurate according to that which the word of God says, then it's going to require you to know and understand several things. First of all, it's going to require you to study, right? You're going to have to understand what it is that you're looking at. You're going to need to be able to understand all of the statements being made within its immediate context and when it's within its broader context.

And when it comes to the subject of Bible prophecy, it necessitates that you have a deeper understanding of the broader context as well as that which many people would call the local context. And this is perhaps the reason why there are lots of people who will make assertions with respect to biblical prophecy or Bible prophecy and be dead wrong about the assertions they make because they have no idea how to not even not only just simply connect the dots with the current day in which we live, but they have no idea how to connect the more important dots.

And those are the theological dots that is created by the context of the whole council of God's word. And this is where the bigger problem happens. And unfortunately, this is something that we miss quite a bit and we often times don't understand it the way God intended for us to understand it because we just simply don't see the bigger picture. And I've said this on multiple occasions, especially as we went through the book of Exodus and now we're beginning to go through the book of Leviticus. You're never going to be a good student of Bible prophecy if you don't understand the mechanics of those passages that we're actually going through together because the mechanics of those passages lay down all the predicative work necessary in order to be able to fundamentally recognize what's actually happening within a particular context.

And this is critical. This is super critical. Even when it comes to the way certain things are said even by Jesus. If you don't understand the picture that it creates, you're going to have a problem. If you don't, for example, understand what the book of Joel says concerning the end times, you're going to really struggle with what Jesus is telling the disciples here in Mark chapter 13. There's lots of other issues to be able to understand and to lay the foundation for that can be be like very very tricky. And I think that this is something that is really really important to know.

Also, you all you you need to understand Jewish history because if you don't understand Jewish history, you're going to deeply struggle. And when I say deeply, I mean deeply struggle with being able to understand how God's timeline works because God 's timeline is predicated upon a series of patterns that he aptly demonstrates to us within the Old Testament. And when you're able to make the connections with those patterns, only then are you able to understand the predictions that are being made with respect to the future. And it completely changes everything literally before you even begin to pick up all the information that's being fed.

And this is why I think it's important to understand this. And by the way, this is the same reason why there are so many people that believe the liars when they go out there and tell you that God told them that we are going to be raptured on September whatever date it might be. And then because it didn't work, then now it's October. And because October didn't work, now it's the end of October. And And then now that that hasn't worked, it's supposed to be the beginning of November. And now that hasn't worked and that same liar is going to come out of hiding and he's going to tell everybody I got the wrong year and I was messed up and I didn't really hear the Lord right and I should have checked the Bible and then it would have told me that it's going to happen in January.

And then a lot of people are going to go believe him and when it doesn't happen in January, then he's going to say I got that wrong. It's supposed to happen next year. Oh no, I got that wrong. And we see the brutal cycle more and again and again and there have even been guys affiliated with Calvary Chapel that have told us that the rapture was going to happen on a specific date. And they do that because they deny being able to understand the full council of God's word. And not only do they refuse to understand the full council of God's word, they also refuse to be guided by it even if they knew a part of it.

And that's why you come to the damage that we are seeing right now, especially in the world in which we live. By the way, I'm going to just say this. I'm going to make myself very very clear. When you go out and you look at the social media influencers that are out there telling all kinds of lies about Israel, the state of Israel, when you go out there and you hear them give you their views about what's happening eschatologically or they give their views in in terms of, you know, what is this or what is that biblically, the only people that I fault for what those influencers are doing are the pastors of the Christian church.

The people that I fault are the ones that aren't teaching the Bible because every single one of those social media influencers have pastors. And every single one of those pastors are not educating them. And as a result of their failure to be educated, they continue on with the wild assertions that they make and they have absolutely no idea what God's intent was for his prophetic timeline for our timeline as it relates to where we're going to be one day as a result of God intervening in our lives. And we continue to watch this begin to fall apart.

Why? Because the church refused to get involved. And that is the problem. I keep saying it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The church is the one responsible for the mistakes that we continue to see happening all over this country. It is our fault. We don't get involved. We don't go vote. We don't plug into the issues that need to be plugged into. We don't bring in our biblical worldview to be able to understand or discern or learn or be aware of what God says in each of these matters. And to make things worse, we take things so far out of what the Bible is in the name of trying to please people or walk in unity that we completely absolve ourselves from the responsibility that comes from understanding and knowing what God says from the very beginning.

And that's the problem we're in right now. And so when we get through a passage like the one that we are going to read, it makes absolutely full sense why people are so lost and people are so confused. And if you think this is a a difficult passage, wait until we get into what Jesus describes is the fig tree generation. That's going to shock a lot of people because you know what I constantly hear again and again and again and again and again and it's bad Bible teaching. I hear everybody say the fig tree represents Israel and the fact that the nation of Israel was reestablished means that this generation is going to see the second coming of Jesus.

Wrong. It's not what it says. Jesus makes it clear. Go look at the tree. Look at the fig tree. When fruit comes out of the fig tree, you know the season is near. And just like I gave you this sign, what sign is it? The abomination that causes desolate, it will be that generation that will witness the second coming, not to be conflated with the rapture. So when everybody wants around all with the fig tree generation, with the fig tree generation, no, you're ignorant. The reality of it is you haven't studied the Bible enough to understand what's being said.

And if you recognize the Old Testament, you knew how to study and understand the context of the Old Testament, you would not come to those conclusions. Jesus makes it very very clear. Do you understand? I mean let me repeat myself. The very first generation that will witness the first sign that Jesus gives to his second coming, the fig tree generation as they call it is going to be the one that sees the abomination that causes desolate. Are we going to be there? No, we're not. We'll have been raptured at that point. We'll be gone. And I think that's the thing that everybody needs to understand.

Like we have to recognize it. If you recognize it in its entirety, if you recognize the intended context, if you know the meaning, if you know exactly what it's supposed to say, then the reality of it is it's not going to throw you off. It's not going to cause you to be confused. So let's just think about this for a second. Revelation lays it out for us. When you read Revelation chapter one, it makes it clear. Jesus literally told John the very things to write down. He told John write the things down that you're witnessing right now.

Chapter one. Then he says write the things which are currently in the situation as they sit, not what has happened, but now what is sitting. That is the age that we are sitting in. That's Revelation chapter two and chapter three. And then he says write about the things which are to come. And what's he talking about? He's talking about everything that happens after Revelation chapter three, meaning chapter four. It's interesting. If you know that timeline, then you won't be caught up with the people that tell you that we're in the tribulation right now. You won't get You won't get caught up with people who try to make the assertion that we're in the middle of all of it when in reality none of it had anything to do with it.

By the way, it is interesting. There's a massive population of people right now that are that are being raised up, massive population that believe we're in the millennium right now. Tell me how does that work? What part of the world has a wolf laying with a literal lamb? Where's that happening? Is there any place where you see that taking place? Is there any part of the world where you're seeing Christ as a supernatural being ruling from Jerusalem with an iron fist? Tell me where where is where does that work? Jerusalem is the is the stumbling stone that Zachary actually predicted.

I think if we understood those things, it would not be that difficult. Now, Jesus is already speaking has already been speaking about all of these things, okay? He's talking about all the things to expect. He says look, false prophets are going to come, false Christs. It's a regular part of the time period that we are living in which will lead us into eventually what will become the second coming. And folks, there's many of them, aren't there? You look around, there's many of false gods. There's many of false Christs. There's many of people claiming to be God that truly have no affiliation with him, nor should they take credit for being him.

There's only one God and we're not him. It's that simple. But there the Bible says we're going to see them. We're going to see false Christs. And look what he says. He says but take you heed. Behold what? I have foretold these things. In other words, beware, be on guard, pay attention to what I'm saying. That's what he said. That's the last verse that we read last week, verse 23 where he says behold I have foretold you all things. I've told you everything you need to know. You don't need to go anywhere else. You don't need to go find some special insight, some new revelation.

And yes, there are religions that say they have new revelation, they have special insight. No, you don't need any of that because the Bible has it all in its entirety. The full culmination of all of God's prophetic insight has been given to us through his word with the help of the Holy Spirit who continues to reveal to us all that his word has already given us. There's nothing new under the sun. And that's the problem. The problem is so many people think there is because they've been conned into thinking that way. And the reality of it is Jesus says it's all going to continue on the way it has.

But look in verse 24. He says but in those days what days? The days leading into the second coming. The days leading up to the time when Christ is going to actually come back. And I 'm not talking about Christ coming for his church. That's the rapture. Guys, you guys understand the timeline. You understand how this works, okay? The Bible says that Christ was actually going to be promised to us. He came to this earth. He lived his whole life on this earth. He was crucified. He was buried and resurrected so that we might have victory over sin and salvation.

And he ascends into heaven. And the Bible says that he's going to come in the same fashion in which he ascended. There's no confusion there. But the Bible also tells us that there will come a point in time where the Lord will call us unto him where he is going to rapture his church. And when that happens, it's a completely separate moment in time than when the second coming takes place. Think about it like this. The rapture happens. Actually, the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ rise first. After the dead in Christ rise first, then we're raptured, right?

This is what first Thessalonians tells us is going to end up happening. And then there's a series of other very interesting things that take place. But we get raptured. Then there's a specific judgment that takes place. It's called the bema seat judgment. This is the judgment where God looks at us and he begins to judge our motives and so on and so forth. And we see that there are several other judgments by the way that happen after this that the Bible talks about. There is the the goat judgment that we read about. And there's numerous other judgments.

There's the white throne judgment. We don't want to be at that one. I could tell you that right now. I mean there's several of these judgments that will happen. And the reality of it is God sets a specific order in when those things are going to take place. But he makes something known to us that's very important and that is we're not going to know the day or the hour when the second coming takes place. Now, this is important to understand because if we are not going to know the day or the hour when the second coming takes place, who even can begin to think that we're going to know the day or the hour when the rapture takes place?

That's impossible. There's no way. It's not even there. It's not for us to know. But look what it goes on to say because this is interesting. In those days after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, okay? This is by the way has been spoken of all over. We see this being reiterated in the book of Revelation. This is John. You know, John has a vision of all of this. He is watching this verse 25. And the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

You know, it's so interesting because even when you get to the middle point of the book of Revelation, you see this very picture happening. As a matter of fact, it's interesting. You see a picture of Satan even being cast down at the same time, you know, cast down to this earth. And can you imagine what that ends up looking like? And it's going to be just totally halacious for lack of a better term. It's going to be the fury of the devil completely unleashed on God's ancestrally chosen people and on those who actually were grafted in in the middle of the tribulation, right?

Those who did not know the Lord, those who did not accept Christ, those who did not put their faith and trust in him prior to the rapture. There's going to be many of those, right? Many many of those. And some of them, not all of them matter of fact a small portion of them will have enough of a presence of mind to know I'm not taking the mark of the beast, right? And so these are the things that we know. These are the things that the Bible tells us and they are very important which by the way it's so interesting because even when you study the end times in depth, all you see is a repeat of human history.

All you see is a repeat of human behavior. If you're interested in civics, for example, you're really interested in political science. Maybe you want to study how governments work. You want to study your own constitution. Maybe you want to get to know the law. One of the most fascinating discoveries I ever made when I went to law school was I recognized that virtually every government in existence that has ever existed can be found as a pattern in the Bible in one way or another. The Bible lists every type of government that you can think. Representative government, democratic government, it represents what often times would be defined as communism.

Believe it or not, communism is quickly and very easily identifiable in the book of Acts. But the reason why government is all over the Bible and and people tend to be shocked, they're like wow, this is so shocking that government is all over the Bible. Like James, it just sounds so out of whack, that sounds so wild. Well, the reason why that is not a wild assertion, the reason why that is a beautiful assertion, the reason why that assertion is dead on is because the very definition of the church is wrapped up in the statement that I'm making.

When you look at the word for church, it's the same word that we get ecclesia from, okay? Literally When you look at that word I got tongue tied for a second. That Greek word You know what it technically stands for? It is an extension of the worldview of those who are the recipients of God's salvation into the public square. Literally what it means the the all encapsulating definition of the term is the application of all that has been internalized from the regenerate status that we have as a result of giving ourselves to the Lord in being able to publicly disclose and interact and speak about these things.

It is in essence Listen to this. This is very important. It is the application of our biblical worldview in the public square. That's the definition of the church. It's not a building. It's not a pastor that that has rulership over a bunch of people. The definition of the church is in essence the application of all that has been internalized as a result of the regeneration that we've experienced into the public square and the ability that we have to do it not only collectively as a result of individual accountability, but even more so and perhaps more significantly very very very much vertically.

In other words, my relationship with God heavily determines how I view government. It heavily determines how I walk in the political arena. It heavily determines how I function and walk and talk in this place. By the way, make no mistake about it. This is why the greatest political leaders that ever lived were ones that had the greatest anchors as it relates to their relationship with God. They were the ones that did the best with it. I think that 's why Abe Lincoln did as well as he did, especially near the end of his presidency. If you think about it, there is a derivative that always comes from somebody who recognizes the responsibility that they have to live their walk with God publicly.

And that's exactly what it is. So when you look at these political infrastructures, you see it. And by the way, it's once you see it, you can't unsee it. You You just can't. And by the way, the Bible warns us about totalitarian rule. You don't even have to get into the distinction between communism or socialism or or what a lot of people might call economic or cultural Marxism. They're both two completely different things. One is way worse than the other. Obviously cultural is far worse than what we would call economic, but the reality of it is all of it is laid out for us in the scripture.

And the big difference between Bible prophecy within the context of understanding governments and the the time in which we live is the where where Bible prophecy begins to speak about the involvement of totalitarian governments. It speaks about the effective of totalitarian government outside of the context of the presuming influence of the church. That's scary. Why? Because second Thessalonians chapter two says that the church filled with the spirit of God is the restraining force on this in this world. We are the people that restrain evil from coming into fruition. Imagine what happens when the rapture takes place.

By the way, let me just explain something to you. When you start talking about totalitarian rule, understand how the Overton window gets pushed by totalitarian rulers. What do they do? They come on and every single time they come on, the overwhelming majority of totalitarian rulers who function in the spirit of Antichrist, meaning they replace Christ. They literally take on the role of Christ so that the collective consciousness of Christ is gone. That's what they do. But this is what totalitarian rulers do. Totalitarian rulers will convince you that there is something necessary to up you to the next level, to get you something that you normally have not been able to get.

It's all about that if you know what I mean. Like let's just spark it up. We need a revelation. We need to fix this. Guys, do you understand that the reason why actually won in New York has absolutely nothing to do with his Islamic views? You understand it has absolutely nothing to do with any of that. It has everything to do with the fact that he was able to use the same kind of tactic that any totalitarian ruler has used throughout the years who has been filled with the spirit of Antichrist. He has taken advantage of what he identifies as economic frustration within the culture of a subset of young people specifically speaking to many of the group of people who can't seem to afford to be able to pay for their rent or can't afford to be able to buy a home or any of those things.

Ironically, it's the same culture of people that's told it's fully acceptable to finance pizza, right? It's that same subset. Okay? My my whole point down what I'm trying to say is he appeals to that group of people and he says I can give you something that you have been oppressed, you have been suppressed from being able to have. I can give it to you. Donald Trump's not going to give it to you. The Republicans are going to give it to you. There are even some Democrats that aren't going to give it to you, but I'm going to give it to you.

And I'm going to promise the whole world to you even though I have no ability to be able to deliver it. And then when I can't deliver it to you because I outright lied and I know that the promise I'm making is actually empty, what I'm going to tell you is I couldn't do it because I didn't have enough power. There were too many people on the other side opposing us. So we must all stand in a revolution together to take over everything. And once we do that, all will be well.

Guest (Male): This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis and we're currently going through the Gospel of Mark. Listen to this study and more at lightonthehillradio.com. Pastor James, here at the close of today's program you talked about how dangerous a totalitarian government is to a society and who is behind it. There's been a strong push towards socialism in our country and many socialists are on the ballot. Do you see this as a plan takedown of America as some others do? And is this election a critical point in our nation?

James Kaddis: Yes and yes. And perhaps the best way to demonstrate that fact is by simply giving you a visual of what recently happened when the mayor of New York was entering into office. He actually put his hand up in a tunnel in solidarity for Hamas while putting his other hand on the Quran, a book by the way that says which means Allah is the chief of deceivers. So Islam is a problem. It is taking over like a plague. And all of these things are designed to destroy the very thing that God made good. So we must take a stand.

We must speak against these things. And yes, if we are believers doing what we're obligated to do by God, then we are talking about this on a regular basis and we must stand.

Guest (Male): Thanks for that insight, Pastor James. We've been blessed by the feedback we've received thus far regarding Pastor James's new book, The Last Book. If you haven't ordered a copy yet, we'd encourage you to do so. This guide to Revelation covers the first half of the book giving you what you need to know about the rapture and the end times in a clear and concise manner. Request your copy today at lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon. If God is leading you to support this radio outreach, there's also a place to make a donation at lightonthehillradio.com. More from the book of Mark coming up next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis.

This listener supported program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

Guest (Female): I have found that peace only comes from you. I have found that joy only comes from you. Cuz all I need is you.