Should We Expect End Time Apostasy, End Time Revival, or Both?

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The following is a prerecorded program. Should we expect end time apostasy, end time revival, or both? Friends, Michael Brown here, delighted to be with you on the line of fire. This is another special teaching day. As you are listening to this, I am in Hawaii and teaching students in the entire YWAM school, Youth with a Mission Training School, on responding to the difficult cultural issues of the day, in particular, gay, trans, queer issues, the Bible culture, how we minister.

So I'm addressing them. And rather than having, because there's a time difference in Hawaii, we thought, okay, let's get these shows taught and over to now and not have a time conflict while we're in Hawaii. So we've done some live broadcasting from Hawaii.

Today's a broadcaster. I'm not taking any questions. We've been talking about my new book, Why So Many Christians Have Left the Faith, responding to the deconstructionist movement with unshakable, timeless truth. And a question we ask in the book is, does the Bible predict an end time falling away, and are we in this end time falling away now? So I wanna look at some key verses, all right?

Again, you won't be able to call in today. I wanna look at some key verses. Later I'll tell you how you can get this even before the book is out for the general public, which happens next month. I wanna tell you you can get a signed, numbered copy, in fact, multiple copies to give out to your friends. Hey, Christmas, well, Christmas is a ways out. Just get them.

Just get the book for yourself and for friends. All right, so are there verses in the New Testament in particular that speak of a final falling away, that speak of end time apostasy, that speak of an increase in wickedness? Could it be that many people falling away, many people leaving the church, could it be that this is what we should expect? And the idea of praying for a great revival or a great awakening or a move of God across America, we're deceiving ourselves.

It's over. I can't tell you how many times I've talked about revival or coming revival to get the immediate response. I mean, it's like clockwork.

It's like clockwork. Dr. Brown, there will be no end time revival. The Bible only speaks of end time apostasy. No, no, no, there will not be a great move of God at the end, only falling away and backsliding. The scriptures are clear.

I hear that over and over and over. Now, before we look at verses, that's just what we're gonna do. The rest of the broadcast is look at scripture. Before we do that, I wanna raise something very, very important to chew on.

How do you know that even if the Bible says the end of the age will be characterized by great apostasy and darkness, that we're at the end of the age? Well, Dr. Brown, it's self-evident. How can you not see? Mike Brown, are you telling me you don't? Oh, hang on, hang on. So you're sure.

In other words, you're 100% sure. There's no question that Jesus will return within the next five or ten years. Because, hey, if it's 20, 30, 40 years out, why not a great revival now, right? No, no, it's only gonna get darker until Jesus returns.

Well, since when did that happen? Because the gospel's been spreading all around the world more and more rapidly with more and more power. I've heard missiologists say that more Muslims have been saved in the last 50 years than in the previous 1,400 years combined.

That all around the world, from especially the 19th century things accelerated, but massive acceleration in the 20th century, especially the second half of the 20th century, and it continues around the world, was the greatest harvest of souls in world history. Yes, it's raw, and yesterday there used to be a lot of discipleship, but that's what happens when you have the fastest growth in world history around the world. So how is it that supposedly it's only getting worse, darker, darker, darker, and more people are coming to Jesus every day than any time before in world history? So if you say there is a time when things will only get worse, how do you know we're in that time now? How can you not see?

Mike Brown, how can you not see all the prophecies that's all laid out? Well, that's what I was told when I could say 51 years ago. I was 16. I was 16.

Our youngest grandchild is 16 now, all right? Nancy and I are about to celebrate 47 years of marriage. We were told Jesus was coming any minute. Here, I'm Pentecostal. I got saved in the Pentecostal Charismatic Church, filled with the Spirit, began speaking in tongues January 24th, 1972, and I learned, our church taught, that there's gonna be a pre-trib rapture, and Jesus is gonna come and take the church out, right? Right before the Great Tribulation, or Tribulation and Great Tribulation. He's gonna take the church out, and when the church is taken out, the Holy Spirit's gonna be taken out, right?

This is what's going to happen. So the Holy Spirit is not gonna be on the earth during the time of the Tribulation, because he's taken out with the church. So I thought, okay, if the Holy Spirit's taken out, that means that if I missed the rapture, I wouldn't be able to speak in tongues, because the Holy Spirit would've been gone, right?

I was just thinking of a 16, 17-year-old kid, newly saved, right? So let's just say something happened. I got a wrong attitude. I looked at something I shouldn't look at for a split second. Lord, I'm sorry, forgive me.

I pray that first, and then I immediately pray in tongues. Why? I want to make sure I didn't miss the rapture. He said that, what a crazy way to live. Well, was that real?

Like he's coming any minute. I still remember this. You may have heard me say this before, but you know, you set the clock forward, you set the clock back certain times of the year, right? So whenever it was, I guess you set the clock back so you get an extra hour.

Well, I didn't realize that. So I show up for Sunday school on a Sunday morning. So Sunday school would have a handful of people, and then the church would be maybe 100 people, you know, for the full Sunday service, right? So only a few there for Sunday school. But I pull up for Sunday school, and there's nobody there.

There's not a car. It's like, I missed the rapture. You know how many people that's happened to some of your daughters?

Like, yeah, yeah, Dr. Brown, that happened to me. So it was all worked out. All the prophecies were worked out then.

Here, I'm a student of the scripture, be called a biblical scholar. I do not believe that everything is laid out in scripture in such a way that we can say this is it right now. If it was it, we'd know it. We'd know it. It would be abundantly more clear than it is. So even if you say that the end of the age will be characterized by great darkness and apostasy, maybe that's not for 50 years. Maybe that's not for 100 years.

Even if it's 30 years out or 20 years out, there could be massive revival of the likes of which we've never seen. But what does the Bible say about the end? Shall we look at scripture together and dig into the Word of God? So let's start in Matthew chapter 24, all right?

Now, of course, there's a lot of controversy reading Matthew 24. Was he speaking, was Jesus speaking about the final end and the final destruction of a future temple in Jerusalem? Was he talking about the times then in that generation and the destruction of that temple that was standing, the second temple? Or is he talking about both? My view, the view of many biblical scholars is he's talking about both. Because they ask him about the destruction of that temple.

Lord, when will this be? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? Thinking it's all one.

So he answers their questions together, but they're two separate questions, but they overlap. In other words, just as things happened back then, there's gonna be a great parallel at the end of the age. That's how I understand the scripture. But here's what happens now.

Jesus begins telling his disciples, so certainly, initially, he's talking to them about their day, right? Watch out that no one deceives you. In other words, the warning against deception has been here for 2,000 years.

No, hang on, it's been here for much longer. We have the Genesis account in Genesis 3, where Adam and Eve are deceived by the snake. And then we have warnings in the book of Deuteronomy, like the 13th chapter about deception, that someone comes and prophesies. And the prophecy comes to pass, and they say, let's follow other gods. And they work a miracle and say, let's go follow other gods. God's testing you, don't do it.

Stone the idolaters, right? So there have been warnings about deception throughout the Bible, right? Warning after warning in the New Testament. And don't deceive yourself, don't be deceived. Paul says it, Jacob, James says it, over and over in the New Testament.

Peter writes about it, John writes about it. This is a constant theme, so the warning against deception is nothing new. Well, it's gonna get worse at the end.

Okay, well, hang on, hang on. Just agree with me that there's always been warnings about deception. For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Messiah and will deceive many. For you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you're not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of birth pangs. Now, was that relevant for the disciples then? Yes. Will it be relevant also for the end of the world? Yes, I believe so as well.

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. Did that happen to the believers then? Yes. Is it happening to the believers right now? Yes.

Has it happened to believers through church history? Yes. Will it happen at the end of the age? Yes. Will it happen increasingly? Could be.

We'll see. At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other. Well, this is not just an end time warning. This is something that happened back then. Under pressure, under intense pressure, people fell away because of the persecution, right? Because of the increase of wickedness, excuse me, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Did that happen back then? Yes. Did the biblical authors, did Paul and Peter and John and others warn about false prophets along with Jesus?

Yes, back in their day. So there have been warnings about false prophets then, there have been warnings about false prophets through church history, and there will be warnings about false prophets at the end of the age. The key thing is there's nothing new.

This is nothing new. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of many, NIV says most, it should be many, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Right, so it's just saying back then, and then by application to the end of the age, there will be an increase in wickedness. Yes, and because of that sin being so available and temptation being so strong and the pressure of society being so great, that it will just pull people further away, many will fall away.

Yeah, it does say. So let's just say that at the end of the age, parallel to what happened back then, at the end of the age there will be increase of wickedness. We certainly see it, social media, internet make it so easy for people to sin in different ways that weren't previously so accessible. So increase of wickedness, all the distractions, the power of the world, the power of temptation, there it is in your face. Because of this, love of many will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Right, so there will be a sifting.

Sure, I expect that. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole earth as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. That means the gospel has to continue spreading.

Didn't Jesus say elsewhere in Matthew that the harvest is the end of the age and there will be a multitude caught of good fish and bad? Doesn't the book of Revelation, the seventh chapter, say that before the throne there will be a multitude that no one could number? Far bigger than anything we've seen so far, a multitude that no one could number, obviously it's hyperbole for saying this is the largest crowd you've ever seen.

You can't possibly even try to number it, it's so big, right? We could number crowds of millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, this is like so big you can't even number it from every tribe and language and people. So that means that the gospel has to continue to spread and continue to reach people and continue to reach more and more people. And what's written in Romans 11 25 that the fullness of the Gentiles will come, it's only after that or on the heels of that, provoked by that, that all Israel will be saved. So yes, if we want to apply this to the end, there will be increase in wickedness and persecution because of which many will fall away and the gospel will continue to spread around the world.

It's not either or, it's both and. And that's what's happening to this day, people are falling away, people are withering under persecution and the gospel is growing and spreading like never before. I've taught it for decades, I still believe it to be true as I continue to study the Bible. The end of the world will be characterized by parallel extremes, parallel extremes. Great increase in wickedness, great increase in outpouring, great increase in apostasy, great increase in salvation and deliverance and the power of God.

We're going to go side by side. If we apply this all to the end of the age, saying yes, there'll be an increase in wickedness, many will fall away, people will wither under persecution and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a witness to all nations and then will come. It won't just be as a witness to all nations, but elsewhere we read that there'll be a massive harvest from the nations.

And we're seeing this happen. When you look at missiological data, and it's something I try to encourage people with in other books, I've cited this for many, many years, around the world, in nation after nation, more and more people are coming to faith. What we've seen in America with things leveling off and in many places declining while growing in smaller areas, what we've seen in Europe with decline of Christianity, that's the aberration. What's happening in Africa is extraordinary with nations that had like 1% Christian 120 years ago and now have 50% professing Christian.

Yeah, there's wheat among the tares, we understand that, but you're talking about massive turn or nations that were primarily Muslim now having primarily professing Christian. What's happening throughout Asia continues to be extraordinary. What's happening in the Muslim world continues to be extraordinary.

What's happening in Latin America continues to be extraordinary. And it's increasing, it's increasing Bible translation, increasing people coming to faith, increasing more and more so, more good is happening in the midst of the darkness. That's what I expect to see as we get closer and closer to the end of the age. So let's look at another famous verse that's used to say it's going to be really bad at the end, okay? So we're going to go over to 2 Timothy chapter 3, all right? 2 Timothy chapter 3, for those who've heard me teach on this before, I'm not taking calls, for those who've heard me teach on this before, this will be a refresher for you.

And before this segment's out, I'll let you know how you can get a signed, numbered copy preordered. So we've got them in, we'll be shipping these out in a few days, getting these out so you can't wait to do it while so many Christians have left the faith responding to the deconstructionist movement with unshakable timeless truth. So this won't just tell you why people are following me, but what we do, how we respond, how we help them, how we help you if you've struggled with your faith. So 2 Timothy 3, verse 1, but mark this, there will be terrible times in the last days. Well, there it is, it says so, treacherous times, terrible times. One pastor pointed out to me something I just not realized before, but the Greek word used there for terrible is used only one other time in the New Testament, and it's referring to the Gadarene demoniac, how ferocious he was.

It's gonna be really, really bad times in the last days. He said, well, Dr. Brown, it says, how can you argue with it? Shall we keep reading?

Is that fair? Keep reading. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Okay, let's stop there. I stopped in the middle of the verse, but let's just stop there for a second and ask this question.

Are you ready? Isn't that the way things are now? Isn't that the way things were 100 years ago? Isn't that the way things were 500 years ago? In other words, is there anything here that we couldn't have said in the past?

You say, what's the point? Paul says all this, having a form of godliness but denying the power, have nothing to do with such people. In other words, Timothy, these people in your day have nothing to do with such people.

So what's he talking about? What does he mean there'll be terrible times in the last days? In these last days in which we live, according to the New Testament, the period of the last days is from the death and resurrection of Jesus, whether he's coming into the world, but specifically his death and resurrection, until the end of the age. Paul writes it in 1 Corinthians 10, the end of the ages has come on us. Paul writes in Romans 13 that the night has almost passed, the day is almost here.

We're in this final period of time. Jacob, James, the fifth chapter, talks about wicked people storing up riches in the last days. They're talking about people in his day. 1 Peter talks about it as well, false teachers in the last days. John talks about it in 1 John 2, right?

Well, what does he say? It's the last hour. You say, well, that just meant before the destruction of the temple. Throw that out. Bogus, sorry to my preterious listening friends.

Throw it. No, that's not what it's talking about. And I'll show you another verse that backs that up. We are in the period called the last days, from the death and resurrection of Jesus until he returns. It's called the last days. It's the final part of history, right? Jesus coming into the world and the plan of redemption working out, whether it takes 100 years or 2000 or 4000, it's the period of the last days. It's the culminating period of God dealing with humanity through the cross. This is it. There's not another thing after this. It's this and then the kingdom age, the eternal age, right?

That's it. So, what's Paul telling Timothy? Timothy, don't think it's going to be some cakewalk. Timothy, don't think that because the gospel's coming, the gospel's spreading, that everybody's going to turn around. No, in these last days, it's going to be treacherous. There's going to be junk and sin. And that's been the state of things for 2000 years and the state of things right now.

It is not a specific prophecy about what's going to happen thousands of years in the future. And why would Paul even tell Timothy, mark this carefully? I mean, think of this. You sit down with your son, right? He's 14 years old. And you say, now, son, pay attention to this carefully, what your dad's telling you.

It's very, very important. In 940 years, there's going to be a major financial collapse. Dad, why are you telling me that I'm 14 years old? I just started high school. What do I need to know is going to be whatever happens to me and the generation after me and after that and after that and after that? I don't know.

What do I need to know about a financial collapse 940 years ago? And, mom, you sit down with your daughter. She's 18, going off to college. Now, honey, I just want to take careful note of this, that in 2000 years, it's going to be really bad.

People are going to be really wicked. Mom, mom, I'm going off to college. Tell me about college.

Tell me about what to expect at college. Paul's giving Timothy practical advice. Mark this. There will be terrible times in the last days. People are going to be all kinds of wicked. And they're going to have a form of godliness and the power of nothing to do with such people.

Don't think it's going to be some cakewalk at the end, Timothy. So this is not a prophecy about a future time. It's a prophecy about our current time and the time before that and the time before that going all the way back to Paul and Timothy. And it's the consistent New Testament language about, quote, the last days. Here, let's look at another verse. 1 Timothy, chapter 4. All right, 1 Timothy, chapter 4.

Let's go there. Pull up my accordance Bible software. The Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been steered us with a hot iron. They forbid people of Mary and order them to abstain from certain foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe in the other truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it was received with thanksgiving because it is consecrated by the word of God in prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you'll be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you followed.

Have nothing to do with godless myths, etc. So he's saying, Timothy, in these later times in which we live, the Spirit is saying expressly there's going to be all types of false teaching and apostasy, so tell your people about this. Train them rightly.

Prepare them to deal with it. Timothy, mark this down, son. In 2,000 years, the Spirit has warned that there are going to be these false doctrines, so you better warn your people about them. No, you warn the people about them now because the false doctrines are here now. The last day's warnings pertain to Timothy and pertain to us.

This has been here the whole time. I'm just reading the verses. All I'm doing is reading scripture.

You say, whoa, hang on, hang on. There's another verse in 2 Timothy. You didn't quote that one. So let's go down to 2 Timothy 3, all right?

Let's see what it says here. Verse 10, you, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings, what kind of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, the persecutions I endured, yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Messiah Jesus will be persecuted.

Ooh, that's a sobering word. While evildoers and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. Dr. Brown, it says that evil people will go from bad to worse. It doesn't say the whole world is going to get more evil because God's working in the midst of the world as well.

It may, it may not. But if it does get more evil, if it does get more wicked, when there is an Antichrist and there is more mass deception, at the same time, what we could know is the more the devil's working, the more God is going to work. The more Satan's deceiving, the more God's going to bless. The more apostasy is on the one hand, the more people are going to be delivered on the other hand.

To say it again, the end of the world is a time of parallel extremes. And the wheat and the weeds grow side by side until the end when the angels come and who do they pull out? They pull out the weeds. They don't pull out the righteous. One take and the other left. They pull out the wicked.

They pull out the weeds and they're taken, burned up and destroyed. And then the righteous will shine like the sun. End of Matthew, the 13th chapter, the kingdom of their father.

All right. So when we come back, I'm going to look at a couple of the verses, very interesting verses to see. Let's go through the churches in Asia Minor. Is this a pattern for end time apostasy?

Are we in quote the Laodicean age? We'll pick that up and then we'll look at one of the great promises in the Bible about last days outpouring. So if you want to get a copy of why so many Christians left the faith, it's written with compassion.

It's written with with a ton of good, helpful information. It will explain why it will give you a heart of compassion. If you're one of those that's struggling, your faith is falling away. You'll see. I get it.

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Get as many copies as you want. You can always add in an extra donation to help with the line of fire. Welcome back, friends, to this special broadcast as we focus on the question of what can we expect at the end of the age in terms of end time apostasy, end time awakening, or both. You say, well, it's Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. I know, I know I haven't welcomed you to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday through the show, but welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. We're going to end with Israel. This does culminate with Israel.

We're going to end with a Thoroughly Jewish Thursday note as we talk about Israel and how this ties in with the end of the age. But I say that we would get into the seven churches in Asia Minor because there are some who say, yes, those were letters to real churches, real congregations in the end of the first century in Asia Minor that John wrote to by the inspiration of the Spirit. But they also typify the church age and the church age is divided into seven segments. And you'll see that right now we are in the Laodicean age. So the idea of expecting end time revival is contrary to the chronology in the Book of Revelation. All right.

Let me tell you why I reject that idea on all fronts. Number one, there's not a hint within the Book of Revelation itself that these are church ages, not a hint, not a syllable, not a pointer. You say, no, no, but everything in it is signs. Well, no, those letters to the churches are forthright letters to the churches. It's different than the symbolism of the rest of the Book of Revelation. In any case, there's not a hint within the text that suggests in any way that these are seven church ages. Let's let's start there. You say, but what if they are the Holy Spirit revealed?

OK. I'm going to question if the Holy Spirit reveals something, if there's not a hint to support it within scripture. You're telling me the Holy Spirit revealed something about truth in scripture and there's not a hint within the text to support that. I'm going to question that. If you tell me the Holy Spirit revealed to you that you were to take this job versus that job. Well, that could be the leading of the Lord in your own life.

But if you're going to tell me a particular Bible verse or passage means something by revelation of the spirit and it either contradicts the plain meaning of the Hebrew and the Greek or add something to the text that is not in the text. I'm going to challenge that. I'm going to question that.

I'm going to need more support. So show me scripturally that these are seven church ages or that there's even a hint that they are. But tell you what, even though I reject that completely, let's go with it for a little while. You're reading the Bible a thousand years ago. You think this is the end of the age. There are many just thought the year thousand.

It's this key year. And there have been different ages that have been set through church history. Remember, it was 1988, 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. And other dates have been set, some by major Christian leaders over the centuries.

All right. So let's say you're reading this a thousand years ago. Well, how are you going to divide it up? You're going to divide up the sevens within that thousand years and you're going to say a thousand years ago. That was the Laodicean age. Hmm.

How did that work? But what if you got this revelation a hundred years ago? Then you'd be dividing up the church ages and you'd say, OK, through the year 1923, this is the final era. So we're in the Laodicean age. What if Jesus doesn't come for another hundred or two hundred years? Then what age would we be in here?

Would we be in the Laodicean age or some other age? So that that is another indication it doesn't work because every everyone that's dividing it is dividing it differently. It's like if I tell you to cut the pie in eight pieces or four pieces or six pieces, those pieces are going to be different sizes depending on how you cut it. Well, the same way, if you divide seven into a thousand or seven into fifteen hundred or seven into two thousand or seven into twenty five hundred, you're going to come up with different numbers. So that's the second reason that I reject this whole screen. The first is the biggest.

I see no scriptural support for it. But the second is practically, so how are you going to divvy this up? How are you going to divide this? The third is reality. Now, let me explain it clearly.

Let me let me lay this out for you in a way that will make sense in terms of current reality, OK, and how a lot of what we're doing is projecting the American scene or maybe the European scene on the whole world. Let's think through the seven churches in Asia Minor. And the easy way for me to remember them in order is ESP, TSP and then L. So E, Ephesus, S, Smyrna, P, Pergamum, then T, Thyatira, S, Sardis, another P, Philadelphia and then Laodicea. Right. So it starts off with Ephesus.

You've left your first love. You can say, OK, well, that's that's the early church, the early church left their first love. OK, let's just say I go with that again. I don't accept that method of interpretation with the seven church ages, the seven churches. Let's just say, OK, I go with that. Fine.

Fair enough. Now, next, Smyrna. I know your poverty and your afflictions, yet you're rich. OK, so that's the church under persecution. And then you keep breaking it down as you go. You get you get further on.

You get to to Sardis. Right. You have a reputation for being alive and yet you're dead. But that's followed by Philadelphia. You have little strength and yet yet you've been faithful, etc.

OK, now here's the problem. If you hold to a pre-trib rapture, Philadelphia, the church in Philadelphia is one of the churches you point to because Jesus says to them, I will keep you from the trial that's coming on the whole earth. Now, it's interesting that exact same Greek form I will keep you from occurs only one other time in the New Testament. And that's in John 17, where Jesus explicitly prays to the father, Lord, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one in this world. So the one other time that occurs, it's talking about God keeping us from attack while in this world. But let's say you hold to the standard pre-trib rapture understanding of that verse. Right. And you say, OK, Jesus is going to rapture us out.

Well, hang on. Then that's the final age. That's the final church age, because after that, the church is not on the earth anymore. If you hold to a pre-trib rapture, then the rapture and you hold to these seven churches being seven church ages, then the rapture happens before the church age is over because you still have Laodicea. And you say we're in a Laodicean age. That means the rapture should already happen. You follow the logic of the argument, but I'm just being consistent with the seven church age mentality.

And we're in the Laodicean age now. Right. And therefore Philadelphia is passed. Well, that would mean the rapture was passed because the promise was given to Philadelphia. I'm I'm just pushing. If you're going to hold to this, you've got to be consistent.

It does not work. Right. So now, allegedly, we are in the Laodicean age.

Right. Laodicean age. And what's that characterized by? Jesus says to the church of Laodicea, you say I'm rich, increased in wealth and in need of nothing. But you do not realize that you're wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Oh, what a severe, intense rebuke. You do not realize you're rich, pitiful, poor, blind and you say I'm rich, increased in wealth. You say, see, that's the Church of America. See, that's the Church of Europe.

Hang on. That's not the church of most of the rest of the world. The church in most of the rest of the world is not saying I'm rich.

I'm increased in wealth and I'm in need of nothing. The church in most of the rest of the world is like the church in Iran. Meeting underground and suffering persecution. Or the church in North Korea that God knows what they're going through and what's happened to the believers there. Or the church in India, often growing among the poorest of the poor and subject to great pressure from the government. Or the church in China, which has had to go increasingly underground once again in recent years with the rising persecution. Or the church in Nigeria. In other parts, oh yeah, you've got some prosperous churches, but for the most part, you've got Christians who are poor.

It's like Smyrna, right? I know your poverty and your afflictions, Jesus says, so outwardly you're going through a lot of hard stuff and you're poor, but spiritually you're rich, which is Laodicea. You are materially rich, but spiritually poor. This whole idea that we're in the Laodicean age doesn't even fit the church around the world.

It's more of an American projection. So number one, there's not a hint in scripture that these are seven church ages. Number one. Number two, if they were seven church ages, every age in history divides them differently.

Number three, it doesn't work when you seek to break it down practically and exegete the text and apply it. And number four, even if I accepted all of the church age stuff, which I don't, even if I ignored all of the inconsistencies in the logic, which I can't, even then, how does Jesus send his message to the church in Laodicea? I stand at the door and knock. What does he say? As many as I love, I rebuke, therefore be zealous and repent. I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone opens the door to me, I'll come in and sup with him and he with me. So the invitation to the church in Laodicea is the best invitation out of all the invitations that Jesus gives to the seven other churches, the six other churches. In fact, Laodicea is the one that he says not a single good word about.

He doesn't praise them for anything. It is just rebuke from beginning to end. It's similar to Galatians. In Paul's other letters, he finds something good to say in positive Galatians.

He just starts in with rebuke. That's what it is with Laodicea. But he ends with the most beautiful promise of all. Even if I ignore all the other reasons why I can't accept the church age argument, we can make spiritual application. And that's what we do with any of these churches in Asia Minor. To the extent the shoe fits, we apply it to ourselves. To the extent we've left our first love. To the extent that we have mingled in idolatrous or sinful doctrines, as some of the others did, like Thyatira. To the extent that we have a reputation for being alive and yet we're dead, like Sardis. To the extent that we are we are weak in ourselves, but faithful to the Lord like Philadelphia.

We apply it to ourselves, just like when we read any of the letters in the New Testament. No, I'm not an ancient Corinthian. No, I'm not an ancient Roman.

No, you're not an ancient Galatian. But we read them and apply them to ourselves, to our own personal situation and church situation. It's the same with the seven churches in Asia Minor.

No different there. So, yes, much of American Europe is like the Laodicean church. And especially those that are financially rich and seem to be thriving outwardly but are spiritually bankrupt. Absolutely. We make application.

But the application comes with an invitation. If we'll humble ourselves and repent, God will have mercy. If we'll humble ourselves and repent, light will shine in darkness. If we'll humble ourselves and repent, the best could be yet ahead. Alright, just a quick reminder for you.

We have in our hands, yes, how exciting, why so many Christians have left the faith responding to the deconstructionist movement with unshakable, timeless truth. I would love nothing more than to sign a copy to you to know I'm getting this into your hands. So here's how you get the pre-order. So we'll get this out before it hits the bookstores, before it gets on Amazon.

We'll be sipping this out to you. Alright, so signed, numbered copies. We only do this for the first edition. You can go to our website, AskDrBrown.org, just click on store to take advantage of this. Or call 800-5385-ASK. That's 800-538-5275.

One more time. 800-538-5275 is exclusively to get this month's special resource offer, Why So Many Christians Have Left The Faith. You'll find understanding, you'll have a lot more empathy, but you'll be equipped to say, hey, consider this.

And if you're struggling yourself, this could be a lifeline for you. In the last chapter of the book, we deal with the question, OK, is this the final apostasy? Where do we go from here? We deal with that beginning of the book, end of the book.

Practical, helpful, life changing. I can't wait to send these copies out. We'll be right back. As it is Thursday, we now turn to the subject of Israel and hypnotize them with end time prophecy. Can we point to what appear to be clear, prophetic scriptures about the end of the age involving Israel that speak of great conflict?

Yes, for sure. Like Zechariah 12 and Zechariah 14. Can we also point to within those passages, great and glorious promises?

Absolutely we can. Again, my position, having read scripture 51 plus years and having weighed different viewpoints, I've really settled in for many years with an understanding that the end of the age will be marked by parallel extremes. Satan working like we've never seen before. God moving like we've never seen before. Great apostasy, great outpouring, great darkness, great life, all at the same time, just like it's bright light in one part of the world and another part of the world, the exact same time as great darkness.

I believe that will happen at the end of the age. And for me, I would far rather have Satan working with all his might and God working with all his might than Satan doing little and God doing little, because the power of God is so infinitely greater than the power of Satan and the goodness of God so infinitely greater than the badness of Satan, let it all come out in a climactic way. That's what we're waiting for, for the glory of God.

Yes, times of upheaval, but in those times of upheaval, the greatest gospel expansion the world has ever seen. So we go over to Romans the 11th chapter, and as Paul has spent, has divided now three whole chapters dealing with the question of Israel, and why did Israel miss out on the Messiah? Does that mean that it's done for Israel? God's finished with Israel?

What does this mean? What are the promises still whole? So Paul writes this as he comes to the culmination of his teaching.

I do not, Romans 11 25, I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So notice, Israel is different than the Gentiles. The Gentiles are being added to the body of Christ, to the ekklesia, equal in Jesus, we're all equal in Jesus, Jew and Gentile alike, but Gentiles are not Israel, and Israel is not the Gentiles. So the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way, on the heels of this, and provoked to jealousy by this, all Israel will be saved.

So it's telling me two critically important things here. One, that the fullness of the Gentiles will come in. NIV says full number, but fullness is really better there.

Full number is too restrictive for the Greek. Fullness of the Gentiles has come in, so there will be a massive harvest. The end will not come, Jesus will not return, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, what's spoken of in Revelation 7 that we've mentioned.

A multitude that no one could number from every tribe and people and language, right? And all Israel will be saved. The national turning of the Jewish people. Do you think that is going to happen without a healthy church provoking Israel to jealousy, the holy jealousy? Do you think that's going to happen without prayer like we've never seen it?

Do you think that's going to happen without a powerful witness beyond what's taken place so far? What else is going to turn the hearts of millions of Jewish people if not for the greatest outpouring of all time? And isn't that what's written in Zechariah 12 10?

They'll look to me if they're pierced. God says I will pour out on the house of Jerusalem, the house of David, the spirit of grace, supplications. And they'll look to me and they'll pierce, so there's going to be an outpouring of the spirit. To continue reading in Romans 11, as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. There's going to be a massive outpouring at the end of the age turning the hearts of the Jewish people. Remember Acts chapter 2, last days outpouring, right? We talked about last days verses that seem to speak of negative things and I said yes from the death and resurrection of Jesus until he returns.

Those are the last days. Well how about Acts the second chapter? So the Holy Spirit is poured out miraculously, sound like a blowing violent wind comes from heaven.

You know the whole story. Tongues, like as the fires sit on each one, they begin to speak in other languages and there's a commotion, people come flocking, what's going on? Some hear the praises of God in their own language, others think they're drunk. And what happens? Peter gets up, the 11th stand with him, Peter preaches, he says hey these men are not drunk as you suppose, it's just 9 in the morning, it's just the third hour of the day.

So starting at 6, so the third hour, 9 in the morning, they're not drunk. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. In the last days God says I'll pour up my spirit. Now, as I've said many times, the Hebrew says after this I'll pour up my spirit, says the Lord. So after these judgments and shaking that are spoken of in the previous verses, I'll pour up my spirit. But Peter adds the words in the last days, God says, they're not found in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, so this is Peter adding that in the last days God says I'll pour up my spirit. And your sons and daughters will prophesy, right, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions, even on the servants and handmaids I'll pour up my spirit. And there'll be signs in the heavens, et cetera, and then whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This is characteristic of the last days, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't just for them, it wasn't just for the apostles, in fact, it wasn't for the apostles primarily, it was for everybody, the apostles and everybody else.

I'll pour up my spirit on all flesh, kol be-sar in Hebrew. So this is what's promised during the last days. You say, well, in the last days treacherous times will come, yes, in Timothy's day and in all days since then, treacherous difficult times in this world. At the same time, God pouring out his spirit on the earth gloriously and wonderfully.

That is until the end. Yeah, so the end of the age characterized by great outpouring as well. Okay, one more passage I want to look at with you as we talk about Israel. Isaiah chapter 60, this has not yet come to pass, this has not yet been fulfilled.

Isaiah chapter 60, and it says this, it's famous words in Hebrew, kumi ori, kiva, kivarekh. Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the people.

So there is a time of difficulty, there is a time of oppression, there is a time of tribulation. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you, a promise to Israel, to Jerusalem, and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assemble and come to you.

Your sons come from afar, your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy. The wealth of the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.

And it goes on and on. These are glorious promises that God will fulfill. And didn't God say in Isaiah 62 that he's appointed intercessors, watchmen on the walls, who day and night, day and night, will not give God any rest?

In Hebrew they're called Mazkirei Adonai, literally those who put the Lord in remembrance. Lord your promises, Lord your promises, Lord you said it, Lord you said it. Think of that, how utterly remarkable. It will not stop until Jerusalem is established as the praise of all the earth. So this whole idea that Jesus is gonna rescue us just in time, we failed again. Church has failed again. We've fallen short again. We've been beaten down again. We've fallen away. The love of many has grown cold to the point that most have fallen away. We've withered under persecution. We've succumbed to temptation. And it's all over, Jesus rescues us.

Where's the victory? Where's the glorious church without spout or wrinkle? Where's the promise that Jesus will build this messianic congregation, this church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it?

Where's that? Oh yes, we'll have tribulation, difficulty, hardship. Jesus promised it, the whole word promises it. We are made for tribulation.

Who do the promises come to in the book of Revelation? To the overcomers. To the overcomers. So I am expecting, yes, we come to the end of ourselves.

Yes, we recognize the futility of our own ways. Yes, out of the ashes of our mess, God rises. But he's gonna rise and do something beautiful and wonderful for the whole world to see. And this is gonna be an outpouring like we've never seen it.

Parallel extremes at the end of the earth, the end of the world, the end of the age. That's what I believe scripture teaches. One more reminder, a shout out to our great sponsor TriVita that is helping us expand our outreach around the nation. Come on, I'm burning to bring hope and truth and faith and courage to millions of Americans that have not yet heard the line of fire.

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