Identity Theft

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message.

It is a joy and honor and a privilege to join you this week on the God First program. Will there be a great worldwide revival at any point in the future? That is a question that we often hear today. And there are pastors out there, many who say we are on the verge of a revival, a great revival, especially here in the United States of America because of how dark things are spiritually. And then on the other hand, I hear many that will say no, based on the Bible, that we're not on the verge of a great revival. There will be no revival coming soon in the future.

So where do I land on the question? Well, my answer is yes and no. The reason that I say no is because the Bible tells us that the apostasy, the falling away, it will increase until the time of tribulation. In Luke chapter 18, verse 8, our Lord said, Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on earth? And he's asking this question because it will be a very small minority that are holding to the true faith. And we see that falling away occurring today and it will continue until the rapture of the church. But I do believe a great revival will begin, but not in the church age. It will be after the church has been taken away through the rapture, after our Lord pours out his seal judgments during the tribulation. The Antichrist, he will be advancing his agenda, but the Holy Spirit will move on the hearts of millions, leading them to Jesus Christ. And that is because God will have special servants that he will call to evangelize and to win souls to his kingdom. But as we look around, even today, Satan is attempting to deceive who these great servants are and will be.

So I want to title today's show Identity Theft. We're coming from Revelation Chapter 7. And let's begin by looking at verse one.

So please turn your Bibles there with me. After these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea or on any tree. Angels are special ministers of God. When we look at Revelation Chapter two through three, we find that the angels are messengers to the churches, to the letters, to the seven churches. When we come to Chapter eight, we will find that the angels present the trumpet judgments. And so here in Chapter seven, the angels control the forces of nature.

Here they stopped the wind. The Bible is saying the four angels will hold back the winds to not blow on the earth. Now, one thing I want to point out is we look here here at this verse and it refers to the four corners of the earth. This is not support for the flat earth movement. There are many out there who are holding and embracing this this movement that the earth is flat. This is simply speaking of the directional compass of the earth.

We have north, south, east and west. So this is the four corners of the earth. And then as we continue in verse two of Revelation Chapter seven, then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and sea, saying, do not harm the earth, the sea or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. So the angels are preparing to seal the special servants of God.

That is the one hundred and forty four thousand. Now, as we look at Chapter six of Revelation, we find that there were the seal judgments. The sixth seal is for catastrophes on the earth, earthquakes, meteor strikes, volcanic eruptions.

And so here in verse two, the angels that deliver these catastrophes are told to wait to hold on a minute. Wait until we have sealed the one hundred and forty four thousand. So the one hundred and forty four thousand appear to receive their seals at the breaking of the fifth seal. Once they are sealed, then the six seal catastrophes will commence.

OK, so now let's move on to verses four through eight. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty four thousand, of all the tribes of the Children of Israel were sealed, of the tribe of Judah. Twelve thousand were sealed. Of the tribe of Ruben, Twelve thousand were sealed. Of the tribe of Gad, Twelve thousand were sealed.

Of the tribe of Assher, Photoshop, Twelve thousand were sealed. seal of the tribe of Natale, 12,000 were seal of the tribe of Manasseh. 12,000 were seal of the tribe of Simeon. 12,000 were seal of the tribe of Levi. 12,000 were seal of the tribe of Issachar, 12,000 were seal of the tribe of Zebulun. 12,000 were sealed of the tribe of Joseph. 12,000 were sealed of the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 were sealed.

Now read through all of that because I want to drive home. the point that these are the tribes of the nation of Israel, the identity of the 144,000, it is the most abused, more than likely most abused scripture in the Bible. Because remember I said at the beginning that I want to call this show identity theft. Satan is deceiving many as to who the identity of this 144,000 is. When we look at the seventh day eventus, they believe that it applies to the faithful observance of the Jewish Sabbath at the Lord's return. And that theory is these will be the, those who are raptured when the Lord descends and judgment is poured out on the rest of the world. Then we come to the Jehovah's witnesses founded by pastor Russell, who believe it is the overcomers of their persuasion who continue faithfully to the end that the 144,000 applies to, well, the most faithful, the hardest working of the Jehovah's witnesses. And then there's another group that I found out about a cult known as the flying roll, the flying roll.

And this cult believes that it is those who have their blood cleansed that they will have their blood cleansed to become immortal and cannot die. And so they are the 144,000. So there are a lot of different groups, religions, people who will claim that the 144,000 applies to them. But when someone comes to you and they say, well, I'm a part of the 144,000, my belief is of the 144,000 for, for my people and my religion, ask them, which tribe do you belong to? Because as we just read, the Bible makes it very clear that this is the 12 tribes of Israel.

This should be very obvious from scripture that it is composed of the 12 tribes of Israel. And that is why the saying that I like to hold on to is when the plain sense makes sense, look for no other sense or else you end up with nonsense. And so the plain sense meaning of the scriptures is that, well, this is applying to the 12 tribes of Israel, but people will look, look deeper into it. They trying to find some hidden meaning. And therefore they dismiss the true context that this applies to the nation of Israel. And they try to make some other correlation that applies to other people.

Again, identity theft, and then you end up with nonsense. These are all Jewish people. Now, as we look at the word servants, it comes from the Greek word dolos. It is the same word used by the apostle Paul and James to describe themselves as bond slaves of Christ. The main purpose of a servant of God is to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God in revelation chapter one, verse one, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants, the 144,000, they will understand the events of the book of revelation. Although they would go through tremendous persecution, they will find joy in knowing what is to come. And you can sort of think of these as like 144,000 apostle Paul's that will be throughout the earth to evangelize, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now we do not know exactly what the seal will consist of, but the text implies it will be visible. In contrast, people will be influenced during this time to take the mark of the beast during the same time period as well. Satan tries to mimic God in revelation chapter 13, we find the coming. We find that he is trying to mimic God through giving his mark of the beast. And then the second Thessalonians chapter two, verse nine, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders. There's going to be a great deception and we see a great deception in the earth already, but it's going to continue into the tribulation in which Satan is trying to mimic God. Both of these seals will be final granting eternal destination, either granting eternal destination to eternal life with our Lord or to eternal damnation in the lake of fire. Most will likely have made their decision by the time of the abomination of desolation. When we look at Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 46, I will not read through it all, but, but make note of it.

It speaks of sheep nations. Those who have befriended the Jews during the tribulation, these will enter into the millennial kingdom and fleshly bodies and repopulate the earth. But I believe a lot of confusion exists concerning the role of the Holy Spirit during the tribulation due to second Thessalonians chapter two, I believe that the apostle Paul is referring to the Holy Spirit. When he says the restrainer that will be taken out of the way, the Holy Spirit indwells all of us as believers. And when we are removed, then that restraining force within us is taken out of the way, but the Holy Spirit will still be present and available for those who want to come to know and accept Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit, a member of the Trinity will still exist on earth. Just as Joel chapter three, verses 28 through 32 tells us, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions and also all my men servants and all my maid servants. I will pour out my spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon in to blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls him the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So this passage makes it very clear to us. It reveals that the Holy Spirit will be poured out during the tribulation, just as on the day of Pentecost. So there will be 144,000 great evangelists that will lead the way Jewish men that will lead the way. But Satan has deceived many into believing otherwise folks do not be deceived by the deception. The Bible tells us that in the last days, there will be a lot of deception in the world that will be spirits of delusion, spirits of wickedness, signs of lying wonders.

And again, we already see today through the seventh day of Ventus, through the Jehovah's witnesses, through the flying roll and so many others, they try to steal the identity of the 144,000, but these will be great Jewish men of the faith that will lead many to Jesus Christ. When we come back from the break, we're going to take a short break, but on the other side, we're going to discuss that recently there has been a move by an education department and also it is related to identity theft. So don't go away.

We're going to come back on the other side of the break to discuss it. You are tuned into the God First program. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit Godfirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage and the significance of Lesson Israel.

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Box 266 Nightdale, North Carolina 27545. Well, in the first segment, I spoke on the fact that there will be a one hundred and forty four thousand army of men, Christian army that are going to evangelize and win meaning to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. But Satan is trying to steal the identity, trying to deceive many into believing that these will not be Jewish evangelists. Well, also, we see in our nation today, there is a movement of identity theft in trying to get people to identify with something that they're really not.

And folks, I'll be honest with you. I have grown weary of talking about this topic when it comes to race. But it's just always in the headlines today. Everywhere you turn, it seems that people are talking about racism. And there are people out there that are trying to paint people as racist.

We constantly see that accusation. So there's an identity theft that has taken place, trying to deceive people into believing something to become something that they truly are not. So I want to share with you a report by Peter Range, and he's speaking on the Arizona Department of Education that has recently published an equity toolkit. So let's begin by listening to clip one.

The Arizona Department of Education has created an equity toolkit claiming that babies show the first signs of racism at three months old and that white children remain strongly biased in favor of whiteness by age five. Okay. All right, folks, so you can't make this stuff up and it's like I said, I really have grown weary, leery of discussing this topic, but you see this stuff out there and it's not going away and you heard from the report. Yes, you heard your ears, right? You heard your ears, right?

Three months old. There are people out there that are saying at that age, there are already signs of racism. And you can hear from the reporter here. He sounded dumbfounded and speechless at the end.

He seemed to be at a loss for words. So that is what is out there. Folks, people are saying at three months old already that a child is racist. So let's continue at the age of two, the graphic claims this graphic that they're putting out there, that children use race to reason about people's behaviors. And by 30 months, they allegedly use race to choose their friends by ages four and five children allegedly become racially prejudiced.

All right. So it continues racially prejudiced by the age of five years old. Folks, there's a great deception that has taken place. Satan is using these methods to try to divide people, to try to create tension, to try to create chaos. And you've heard me speak on it in the past. The world is going to fall for these things. And as a friend likes to say, the world is going to world.

So I expect that from them. But what troubles me is when I see the church embracing these issues, when I see the church embracing these movements and going along with the woke culture, and I see a lot of churches that are going along with this movement. And it really troubles me.

It is why we need to pray because many are being deceived. The department provides additional resources for families and community telling white parents that they can have a black friend, partner, or child and still be racist. The article claims that white people deny their own racism to alleviate some of their white fragility.

So that's that term again, that we hear so much white fragility. And again, Peter range here is speaking on this report that again, we see out there that there's this movement to try to tell whites that they are racist, regardless of what a white person really believes, regardless of the fact that a white person who is a born again, believer in Jesus Christ, that that does not have a racist bone in their body that well, we find through critical race theory through this movement, saying that whites are racist. It is nonsense.

And it is one of the most baffling movements that I've ever seen in my life, to be honest with you. I do know that Satan again is trying to use this simply to divide people. He's trying to create a division. He's trying to create tension and chaos, but as far as why people are just so hung on to this idea, I'll be honest with you, it's quite baffling. It is truly quite baffling and is, and it's so baffling to me as to why so many are going along with it as if this is true, or at least not speaking out against it, because maybe I guess that there's fear there's fear of a backlash.

So let's continue to listen to the conclusion of this report again, as Peter range is speaking on an education department in Arizona that has recently published an education equity toolkit. So basically this is just asking every white person across the country to admit that they are racist. Even if you are married to a black person, you still have to admit that you are racist. Black friends doesn't count. Um, think all people are created equal? Doesn't count. Believe in the biblical understanding of the human person, that every single human individual, no matter their color of their skin is made in the image and likeness of God, deserving of fundamental rights and the right to God, deserving of fundamental respect and fundamental rights.

It doesn't matter. You're still a racist friends. This isn't about ending racism. This is about trying to take one group of people and blame all the world's problems on one group of people. And if you happen to have white skin, then you are the fault for everything that's ever happened. And it's just, it's really ridiculous and we need to stop it as a country and as a nation, because it's just trying to pit groups against each other, white versus black, you know, progressive versus conservative.

Uh, but that's really what this is ultimately, uh, trying to aim at. And we'll get to how the media and programs like this are just trying to silence conservative voices at the end of the day, because even if you are black in today's culture and society, you're being canceled by some of these individuals, if you hold conservative views. Well, I, I agree with this reporter.

Totally. This is nonsense. It is ridiculous. It needs to stop because again, they are pushing this narrative that whites must admit their racism. And I know people that are white and they're becoming fed up with it. They're becoming resentful because they will say they know they're not racist. There are whites who do so many things for, for blacks and other minorities that go on missions trips.

I have personal friends of mine that have gone to places like Haiti, where the large majority of the people are black and they've, they've gone there to try to restore the nation following earthquakes and in which there's, um, famine and so much stuff going on and help that is needed and they sacrifice their time and their money away from their, their family and their jobs to go and help these people, but yet they returned to the United States of America. And they hear they are a racist simply because of the color of their skin. And folks, it is ridiculous. It is something that needs to stop because again, as he said, yes, there's a movement out there that seems to be trying to blame whites for everything. It is about division and it is a movement to silence conservatives.

And you can say it in another way. It is a movement to silence Christians because folks, as we look throughout the world, there is already great persecution against Christians in many areas of our world here in the United States of America. We've been blessed that thus far, we have not faced great persecution.

There are some who have suffered. I know there are some who have lost their jobs, lost their businesses over issues related to their Christian faith. And I do not dismiss those or take that lightly at all, but in comparison to places in which people are being dragged out of their homes and killed, if they will not denounce Jesus Christ, that has not yet come to this nation, but folks don't be surprised if that happens someday. And when we look at what has taken place, the foundation for this spirit, this, this, this movement that is trying to silence those who stand on the word of God, to try to silence those who want to, to love one another, to want to be united, because this movement is not to end racism.

All this movement is doing is creating further tension. There's a great deception that has taken place, just like the identity of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that are going to come, Satan is deceiving so many to believing that, well, they are not Jews, but they are of other walks of so-called faith. Well, there is a deception of identity taking place today to try to paint people to be racist when they're not.

And again, folks, it needs to stop because it's bringing nothing but division. The book of Romans chapter one, verse 18 reads for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by things that are made, even he is eternal power and God had so that they are without excuse because although they knew God and they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened professing to be wise. They became fools folks. That is what we see today in our nation. And the Bible says, this is what happens when people love seeing when they are not lovers of the truth, when they are not lovers of righteousness, meaning they are lovers of unrighteousness, the Bible says that God turns them over to a debased mind to where they no longer can tell right from wrong.

He gives them over to the sin that they desire. And it says that professing to be wise, they became fools. And I see that today.

I see it on full display because there are so many in places, the media that you see on television and, and, and actors and actresses, and you see them all going along with this movement of painting an entire group of people, simply because of the color of their skin as being oppressors, as being racist. And you can just tell by listening to them that they think that they are speaking with so much wisdom, but the Bible says professing to be wise, they became fools. And then in verse 28 of Romans chapter one, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind. This is what happens when you do not turn from seeing you become a person with a debased mind, and what that means is you no longer can discern right from wrong. What is wrong is right.

And what is right is wrong in your mind. And so we have people today that are going along with these deceiving spirits. And the Bible says that these will be signs, indicators of our Lord's second coming, are you watching for the signs of the times? Are you paying attention to what is really happening? Do you recognize the spirits of deception that are upon the earth?

And I want to ask you this question as well. This is not to try to, um, put anyone on the spot or try to beat up on anyone, but does your pastor address these issues in your church? Because we're living in a time in which we do not have time and space for pop-up preachers with popcorn sermons. This is a time in which we need to be serious about our faith. This is a time in which we need to understand and talk about the judgment of God and how he's not pleased when we are not walking in accordance through the faith, but there are so many today, even in churches that seem to be driving asleep at the wheel that seem to not be understanding what is taking place around us to not understand this division and instead are going along with it, the woke culture, and we see the council cultural out there for those simply that want to stand on the word of God. And again, there are people out there, this movement that are reaching back to, to things, television shows and cartoons from decades ago, and now they're, they're, they're branding them as racist. And so they want to cancel everything. Well, folks, again, it is a great deception.

It is a great theft of identity. And if you are a white person out there and you know, you do, you, you do not have a racist bone in your body. Do not allow the devil to deceive you with guilt and condemnation for something that you know, that is not true. Speak up, speak out for the truth and stand on the word of our great and wonderful Lord. Folks, we see the signs that are taking place. And our Lord says, when you see these things begin to happen, all of these things begin to happen, then look up and watch for your redemption draws near.

We see the signs. And so I am excited about the soon coming of our great and wonderful Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Well, folks, we are all out of time this week. I want to thank you for joining me.

Please come back next week. As we continue to encourage you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible until then, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, Godfirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.