Trumpet Judgments - Part 2 - Revelation 8:8-11

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. In the last several years, you know that the spirit of lawlessness has descended upon our land.

And I'll be honest with you folks, this is a topic that it would be fine with me if I never had to speak on it again. I have grown tired and weary from speaking on this, but the Holy Spirit will not allow me to stop speaking because the Bible tells us that we have to be salt and light. The light of our Lord into this sin darkened world. And the Bible tells us that in the great tribulation, there will be a time in which there will be seven angels. They will be given seven trumpets. And as each angel sounds in succession, a judgment from God will be poured out upon the earth. There will be great, tremendous judgment. And you ask the question, why will God pour out such devastating judgments upon the earth? Well, the overarching main reason is because of for those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

But there are many symptoms of that rejection. And one of the symptoms is lawlessness. And we see that again poured out upon our land. Second Thessalonians chapter two, verses nine through 12 tells us the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie and that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Well, people, you look around the world today, look around our society and you see that there are many that have pleasure in unrighteousness. And as we look at so many events that have happened with police officers lately. Well, there's another one. And LeBron James is at it again. A Columbus, Ohio, police officer fatally shot Micaiah Bryan, a 16 year old girl, as she was lunging to stab another teen girl. Now, one would think that the officer would be hailed a hero by all for fulfilling his duty to serve and to protect. But not all feel this way, including LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, who tweeted to his 50 plus million followers. So I want you to listen now as Harris Faulkner and she is speaking on this tweet in which LeBron James gives a warning in clip one. LeBron James taking heat for his reaction to the police shooting of 16 year old Micaiah Bryant in Columbus, Ohio. LeBron James tweeted out a photo of the police officer who shot the black teenager with the caption, your next hashtag accountability and an hourglass.

You see the emoji that generally means times running out. So what LeBron James is doing here, he's doxxing this police officer. And I don't know what he means exactly by your next. I don't know if he's saying you're the next to be convicted or if he's saying that you're next as far as your life is going to be threatened with violence or a gunshot. I don't know exactly what he meant by that, but he had a follow up tweet. So I want you to listen to his follow up.

This defensive response in clip two. James later deleted that tweet and acknowledged that emotions were running high. He also offered his sympathies to the teenager's family and tweeted this.

I'm so tired. His word of seeing black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because it's being used to create more hate. This isn't about one officer.

It's about the entire system. And they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more accountability. LeBron James and many other liberals, they condemn this officer who took the life of a teenager in order to save the life of another. Keep in mind that the young ladies called the police office. They called 911 and said they're trying to stab us with knives, send an officer. And so the officer answers the call. He does his duty. But I guess in the mind of LeBron James, he would be OK with with the one team stabbing the other.

You know, a white officer comes and he saves the life of one black team from another. LeBron James has a problem with it. Let's listen to Senator Ted Cruz as he gives his take on it. But Republican Senator Ted Cruz says this type of reaction is getting to be all too common.

This is a pattern where the left consistently goes after attacks and demonizes police officers, and they do so often before the facts are known, often before there's any evidence of what happened. In this instance, your next could certainly be interpreted by some, even for as a call for violence. And I think it was a grossly irresponsible message for LeBron James to send out. LeBron James needs to be reminded and he and so many others need to be reminded of the biblical passage which says that we are to be quick to hear and slow to speak.

We should be quick to gather the facts, gather the information and slow to give our decisions, slow to give our take on what has happened. But see, people that have a desire for lawlessness, people that are bent towards going against law enforcement, people who are bent towards going against what God is, is a God of law and order. But God is going to bring judgment again during the Great Tribulation for those who have this love for lawlessness, which is the spirit of Antichrist. I mentioned in Revelation that there will be a period of tribulation in which angels will pour out judgments from God. As we look at Revelation chapter eight, verse eight, we find there, then the second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. We see this biblical allusion to the sea, and that usually means the sea prominent to the promised land, the Mediterranean Sea. And so the Apostle John, as he's looking by way of a vision into the future, he likely sees a large burning meteorite crashing into the Mediterranean Sea. And then in verse nine, it says, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. This meteorite will kill one third of the sea's inhabitants.

One third of the ships will be destroyed and the resulting deaths and the chemical composition of this meteorite will cause water to appear as blood. Folks, this is judgment from God that is coming upon an unbelieving world, a world who loves lawlessness. I want you to listen now to Brian Kilmeade as he gives his thoughts concerning LeBron James. Brian, in all of your years of covering sports and and being involved in sports, I'm curious to know your take on how this affects other athletes to have someone of LeBron James stature come out like this, be stupid enough to think that he can delete a tweet that we can't see.

And what does that mean? Why isn't the commissioner saying anything if in fact it's interpreted as violent or just not helpful? Harris, he's running the league. LeBron James runs the league. LeBron James?

Yeah, LeBron James might as well. He's more powerful than the commissioner. What he says goes and the old players check with him before they decide to not show up for a game or to protest for a game or or to do whatever they want to do.

That's how much power he has. And I will say this, I did a show with Jim Brown, who in the 1960s, along with, you know, Wilt Chamberlain, Muhammad Ali and so many others, when athletes stood up and said enough in the 1960s and 70s and he's worked with prisoners. So I know he wanted Michael Jordan to stand up and speak out for the longest time. And Jordan says, no, I'm not going to do that. So I think a lot of people are saying, I think athletes in this position, some say should speak up.

But why not just take a breath? And why is he even on Twitter? Because if you go out and threaten somebody, I thought you get banned from Twitter. So you see the double standard. If a Christian, if a conservative says something that the liberal left doesn't like, you get banned from Twitter. But if you're on the left and what you say fits their narrative, then you get a pass.

When it comes to LeBron James and so many others, forget the facts. You just automatically go against law enforcement. Again, folks, the spirit of lawlessness, this being toward going against law and order. And God is a God of law and order. As we return to Revelation Chapter eight, verse 10. Then the third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. And it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. So I believe this to be another meteorite. Remember, Revelation has a lot of symbolic language.

We know it's not a literal star because a literal star is much larger than the entire earth. But this meteorite, it penetrates so deeply into the earth that it will pollute one third of the water supply. Those who are dependent on fresh water will die. Again, God's judgment because of the spirit of lawlessness, the spirit of Antichrist. And this is my warning for those who are being deceived, for those who are embracing this, this anti-police rhetoric.

I want to warn you that there is judgment that is coming if you do not get right and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Well, after he was criticized, LeBron James did sort of give an apology. But if you ask me, is a fake apology.

Listen in clip five. He came down and said, anger does not does not do anyone good. My anger is still here for what happened to that girl. My sympathy for her and her family.

Justice will prevail. But I just think it's blatantly irresponsible and went out to 50 million people. But if you watch ESPN and the others, they lead every single sports center with athletes speaking out what a racist society we are. There is no balance anywhere there in sports and their ratings are down 40 percent on TNT.

They're down 40 percent on ABC and 20 percent on ESPN. And I think these things are related. People want a break. What I would like is for someone to ask LeBron James, what did he want the officer to do differently? Because if the officer had not fired his gun when he did, the one teenager would have been successful in stabbing the other, which means that teenager probably would have lost her life. But you see, I guess in the eyes of LeBron, that again, it's OK for a black girl to stab and kill another black girl, as long as it's not a police officer who is white involved, because you don't see the protesting going on when there's black on black crime. And that is happening every day throughout the nation. You don't see the the uproar.

There's only an uproar in which there is a white police officer that is involved. And, folks, it is hypocrisy. It is a sign of the spirit of lawlessness. It is a sign of the spirit of deception, of bigotry.

And it's something that we do not need in our nation. And then I see the comments from Joy Bear of The View, and she said, well, why can't the officer fire a warning shot? Well, Joy, if you shoot a gun into the air, the bullet is going to come down somewhere. That is why officers are not allowed to do so. And we had recently a couple of years ago in which a woman was killed from celebratory Fourth of July gunfire, where someone just fired into the air. The bullet came down and hit the woman in her house and killed her.

You can't do that. Shooting someone in the leg is not going to incapacitate a person more than likely immediately. She said, why can't you shoot her in the leg or shoot her in the buttocks?

Well, you know, we just had the week earlier in which Dante Wright, the unfortunate case in which the officer grabbed the wrong weapon by mistake. She grabbed her firearm rather than the Taser. She shot him in the torso. But did that stop him immediately? No, he put the car in drive and he drove off and he went down the road a little while and then he became incapacitated. So if the officer had did anything else, if he had hesitated for another moment, the one teenager likely would have been successful in stabbing the other.

So he reacted, I think, appropriately in the way in which he was trained. Sadly, there are those out there that want to turn this into a matter of race. And the root of it is because they are of the spirit of lawlessness. But we're going to talk about it more, folks. We're going to take a short break. But when we come back, we want to continue to look at the judgment of God that is going to be poured out during the Great Tribulation, when he is going to let the world know because of their rejection of him, that there is a price to pay.

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As we continue to look at God's judgment as he pours it out in Revelation Chapter eight, verse 11. The name of the star is wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water because it was made bitter. Wormwood is prominent in the Middle East, and when consumed, it causes convulsions and it can cause paralysis. The water here is compared to the bitterness of wormwood. So wormwood is the common name for artesmia at symthium, which is a bitter herb, which has an aromatic oil that is used to make absinthe, which is a highly intoxicating green liquor. Now, I've never tasted it, but for those who have, they say it is very bitter. It has a again, the the plant itself, wormwood has a very great aroma, but it tastes bitter. And so as we look here, when we see what is taking place, this water is going to become bitter like wormwood.

And when you think again of a bitter herb, you can think of of parsley or rosemary or thyme. And this wormwood is going to come upon the Earth's water and is going to be made bitter. Again, folks, God is going to pour out his judgment upon an unbelieving world. And as you look at scientific scientific theories concerning what would happen if a meteor or a comet would strike the Earth. And many believe that there will be this chemical change in the atmosphere due to what is described as heat shock upon entry of the Earth's atmosphere or upon impact with the Earth.

And this reaction between oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere will produce nitric acid rain. And so this fits perfectly with this description that we see here in which this star wormwood that the Bible tells us is going to come and contaminate a third of the Earth's fresh water and many will die. God is going to bring judgment upon those who are against him. He's going to bring judgment upon those who are of the spirit of lawlessness that we see sweeping this world today.

And I want to encourage you folks, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, turn away from this scene. So as we continue looking at, again, this case in Ohio, let's listen to Kelly McEnany take concerning this vilification of this police officer who saved this young woman's life. With LeBron James, you know, he had the audacity to mention accountability. I would like to see accountability for a leftist saying something wholly inappropriate, putting a target on the back of a police officer for a moment. Think that this was not some celebrity athlete from the left. LeBron James, let's say his name was LeBron Trump and he was a right wing activist. He would be banned from Twitter.

He would lose his job, likely all of his sponsorships, and he would be relegated to the outskirts of society. There is one standard for the left and another standard for the right. And this just makes it crystal clear with no retribution here from Twitter for that appalling tweet. So you see the double standard, folks, and let me tell you, as we continue going into the future, I don't want to sound like the doom and gloom guy, but things are going to get worse. The hatred and the persecution of Christians and what we are facing right now in this nation is not even really persecution. I mean, it is persecution from a social standpoint. But in terms of it is going to escalate, it's going to continue to increase until the return of our Lord.

But it is not just the athletes. It's not just LeBron James who are going along with the spirit of lawlessness. We see it coming from even higher places, as Harris Faulkner speaks on Jen Psaki in Clip 7. There are new details emerging on that Columbus shooting. A neighbor who will join us a little bit later in the program told the New York Post he watched the incident after it happened on his home security video.

It was secured above his garage so he could see and says that Makai Bryant was in full attack mode. Those are his words. And he believed cops had no choice but to shoot. But the White House portrayed the incident quite differently.

Watch. She was a child. We're thinking of her friends and family and the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss. We know that police violence disproportionately impacts black and Latino people in communities and that black women and girls, like black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence. So our focus is on working to address systemic racism. And now this headline from an op-ed in the New York Post. Jen Psaki baselessly and disgracefully radicalized the killing in Columbus. I tell you, folks, this is sad. It's really sad because we see here this inserting of systemic racism when race was not a factor. This police officer was simply doing what he was trained and taught to do, which was to save the life of a person who is being attacked. But what it is, people, these people want lawlessness and they are using people in society as pawns.

And I'm trying to encourage people to wake up and understand what is taking place, what is most important. When we look at George Floyd, I ask myself the question, what what was his eternal destination? Because regardless of that verdict with the police officer, Derek Chauvin, George Floyd's eternal state did not change. I ask myself the question, what about Micaiah Bryant?

What about Daunte Wright? Were they ready to go and be with the Lord? And as I look at churches today, I'm challenging churches because what I see is so many that are crying, systemic racism. But I don't hear many saying things about make sure that your heart is right with Jesus Christ so that when you leave this earth, whether it's by way of a police officer's gun or or any other means, are you ready to step into eternal life with Jesus Christ? That should really be our focus. But many are being distracted by Satan's tactics.

But we as believers in Christ should transcend that. We should be able to rise above that and understand the attacks and the deception of the enemy. Listen, folks, officers have tough jobs and they're not perfect.

They sometimes make mistakes. But if you don't want things to turn out bad with a police officer is really simple. Just don't commit crimes. And if you are confronted with an officer, don't resist and you will likely live. But what happens is people commit crimes and they resist and then protests break out when things go bad.

But I don't hear people saying, hey, stop committing the crimes. Chaos in our nation is because of sin. We see murder rates skyrocketing among civilians as the media continues to demonize law enforcement.

And our Lord said this would be one of the signs of the the society, the condition of society before his return. In Matthew 24, 12, he said, and because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. And we see it growing cold because of people like Maxine Waters, who are encouraging people to get confrontational with the police officers. Tensions are high in the U.S. state of Minnesota following the police shooting of Dante Wright. More than 100 protesters have been arrested. Journalists say they have been assaulted. It's a volatile situation.

Elsewhere in the U.S. has been violent riots, looting, arson as far left agitators attack businesses and police stations. Enter Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Here's what she had to say to protesters.

She told them to get more confrontational. What happens if we do not get what you just told? What should the people do? What should protesters do?

I didn't hear you. What happens? What should protesters do? Well, we've got to stay on the street and we've got to get more active. We've got to get more confrontational.

We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business. Unbelievable. This is the same Maxine Waters who savaged Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting the January 6 riots. Waters' reckless comments are tantamount to incitement. She has formed for this type of dangerous rhetoric. And yet the bulk of the U.S. media give her a pass. I tell you, folks, the hypocrisy is almost maddening because, again, Maxine Waters, she points the fingers at others and she accuses them of inciting riots. But yet she's telling people to get confrontational with police officers.

And not only that, she actually requested a police escort to and from the airport herself. You see, these people in high places, they want security for themselves, but they don't want it for others. The question that I have, are you a lover of truth or do you have pleasure in unrighteousness? The scripture says they did not receive the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. When you see people who have this bend towards embracing untruths, that is the spirit of lawlessness. When you see people who just jump to conclusions as to the police officers in the wrong, that is the spirit of lawlessness.

That is the spirit of the Antichrist, people that hate the police. And that is why I love the Truth Network, because this network is based on the truth, promoting the truth, the truth of God's holy word. And for those that love the Lord, they love the truth. But we're in a world that is trying to make you think you are crazy.

But I want to tell you now, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you are not crazy. These people are under delusion because they are lovers of lawlessness. They are lovers. They have pleasure in unrighteousness.

The last one that I want to leave you with, Bree Newsome. She is a Black Lives Matter activist. She posted on Twitter, quote, Teenagers have been having fights, including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations by showing up to the scene and using a weapon against one of the teenagers. Y'all need help. I mean that sincerely, end quote. She's saying y'all, meaning the police officers, need help.

OK, remember, this officer saved the life of a young black woman who was being attacked by another black woman. She posted in another message, quote, Everyone should be frightened that the ruling white elite have done such a thoroughly successful job of not only disconnecting us from the means of basic self-sufficiency, but also convincing us we need armed white officers to manage our children and communities. Frightening, end quote. What is frightening, folks, is the fact that these people are so far gone into their sin that they can no longer reason what's right from wrong. Romans Chapter one says that they will be given over to a depraved mind because they love unrighteousness, because they would not accept the truth. But judgment is coming. And if you're not ready, if you're not on the side of Jesus Christ, when he comes back, you're going to be left behind to face this great judgment. So I encourage you to receive Jesus Christ today. And I know people things look grim when you look around society. But here's the encouraging thing that I want to leave you with is that Jesus said, when you see all these things begin to happen, to look up and watch because your redemption draws near.

Yes, my heart breaks for the chaos in society. My heart breaks for those who I know are going to be judged during the great tribulation, for those who are going to go into the lake of fire, for those who are going to go into eternal damnation. But I get excited when I know that our Lord said this would be the sign of his coming.

And I believe that any day now we're going to hear the sound of a trumpet. We're going to hear the shout of the archangel and then our Lord will descend into the clouds and we will be caught up together to meet him. And thus we will always be with our Lord.

I'm excited about that, folks. And that is what our minds need to stay focused on. We continue to fight. We continue to battle. And I mean fight spiritually in these last and evil days.

We are here to warn others. Get right with Jesus Christ. Turn away from the spirit of lawlessness, because the king is coming soon. Which side are you going to be on?

The side of eternal life or the side of eternal damnation? Well, folks, we are all out of time, but I want to thank you for joining me this week. Please come back next time 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. And 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, God first dot 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. Thank you.