Walk With Me

From Hoax to Hope: Launching Our End-Time Bible Study

JJ Season 3 Episode 1
SPEAKER_00:

Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host JJ. It's so good to have each and every one of you here. We are back. Thank you so much. We are finally starting to zero in on this sound problem I've had. This is what happens when you I guess you're a one-man operation and you're kind of learning on the fly. Sometimes you blow stuff up, and then sometimes you gotta replace it. But we are back. Another thing though, a big announcement. A big announcement. We have a new non-profit organization called Straight Arrow Ministry. Uh be on the lookout for that. Um, you will start when everything is set up and ready to go. We've already got the business paperwork and everything. Uh, but we will put a link in the description of the uh of the podcast and everything like that. Thank you so much for iHeartRadio for being patient. Thank you for those who follow on YouTube and pretty soon on Rumble and all the other Apple Spotify and all the other podcasts. Thank you all so much for your patience. We are back. We are back. Thank you all, thank you, thank you. And I I kind of feel kind of bad because um the reason one of the reasons why I wish I kind of rushed coming back to the show uh was because we were talking and apparently there was some sort of rapture hoax that was going around. Um, and the rapture hoax was about people thinking that uh sometime in last week of December or something that there was supposed to be a rapture. And I got a ton of questions, and so thank you for reminding me. Um if you have questions, email me at walkwithme bible study at gmail, walkwithme bible study at gmail.com. So, um, oh and before I forget to if you want your name to be mentioned in the show, just put your name in the in the uh in the subject line. I'm not asking for money or something like that to do this is all me just doing what God told me to do. And I thank each and every one of you for watching and sharing the podcast. Thank you all so much. Now back to what what was happening, people were floating in my emails, and I actually had a very long conversation with uh one of my Facebook friends, and she was like, tell me about this end time stuff in the rapture and why it doesn't make a lot of sense. So I I promised her that I would put together a a new season of Bible study, and which is just well, I would just go ahead and call this a new season because that's just what I'm gonna call it. Um, and we're gonna talk about um the end time, and everybody has a thing or they want to say about the end time, everybody claims to be a an expert on the end time. Here's the problem we can't be experts on something we've never seen. So the only thing I can really do is tell you what the Bible says and tell you what makes sense, and hopefully not leave anybody to be uh any like deceived or misled because a lot of people, and this was very sad, and I will get into the lesson in just a second, but we were I was very sad by what people did when they thought the rapture was coming. Like people sold everything and gave everything away and gave away pets, and one poor lady, I don't know what she was thinking, one poor lady even gave her kids away, which didn't make sense to me because that actually tells me that A, he didn't know what she was doing, and B, how would you give your kids away if your kids are innocent? So, um that a lot of that happened. So I hurried up and we put together, did some Bible studies here. We got every we got this stuff, and even when we're off here, I'm still going to be um kind of expanding on what's going on, okay? So I love each and every one of you. Uh, sit down. This is gonna be the episode one of I guess you're gonna call it the end time study. Okay, now um there are a couple rules for this podcast. If you're brand new to this podcast, please understand there is there are rules to this podcast. The rules of this podcast is uh one, if you have questions, feel free to ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question. I will say that I get very annoyed at questions people ask questions just to be asking. Um, and the reason for that is you you're just asking a question to debate. I I find that I don't have time. But if you're asking questions because you don't know and you really want to learn, like there is no such thing as a stupid question, right? That's for that's rule number one. Rule number two is because of the um amount of time that we have in every episode here. I've already burned up five minutes. Um whenever uh we give a script, always read a verse or two above or the verse or two below, but preferably the whole chapter, please. Preferably the whole chapter. That's the way to go. Why is that, JJ? Because um, when you have Bible um Bible scriptures, even if you have this regular conversation with somebody, if someone um takes one sentence out of the entire conversation that you have, they can take it out, twist it, flip it, and make it say whatever they wanted it to say. We see that every day in our mainstream media, we see that in all media streams, AI has gotten very good at it. So, um remember, verse or two above, verses two below, the Bible's the same way. Um, you want to make sure you read everything in context. Okay, now uh I have uh started to stay more into the new the King James Version and New Living Translation, um, and I've really started to disavow some of the translations, and because I have recently found some translations that I will not mention here where somebody who was not um not um how do I say qualified, I guess, to make these translations, and they and they got the word then some completely weird ultimate. I'm not gonna get into that because we're already almost seven minutes in, and I got a lot of ground for the very first episode, okay? Alright, so the in time. Now, first thing we gotta understand that there are end time uh prophecies spread throughout the entire Bible, um, and it's not just in revelation. I have a very dear uh co-worker friend that works who I love dearly. Um, she always is in revelation, but the problem with revelation and and the problem with anybody who sticks to revelation and prophecy will be missing something. Um, and when you miss something, as your human mind is prone to, when you miss something, you tend to kind of auto-fill it in. You auto-fill some of the things that you don't understand just so that your brain doesn't get stuck at the computer. Um, there's reading tests about it all the time. They'll they will actually put a paragraph up and they'll leave certain letters out so that you can fill it in. This is what your brain, the brain does. So, when you are considering reading about the end time, reading about the prophecies concerning the end time, there's two main books that you want to focus on because they both go with each other. One is Daniel and one is Revelation. Yes, I say Daniel in the Old Testament. Now, why would you study Daniel and Revelation together? Now, the answer kind of lines is in the fact that neither of the books can be properly understood without the other. Um, now the books in this um Bible study that we're gonna be going through, this little walk we're gonna go through, have a lot of similarities. Daniel uh was was uh was written by the prophet named James, um, and Revelation was written by John. And both of the both of the these two people were considered greatly beloved. Um, and both dealt with a lot of the things, a lot of the same subjects, such as you know, times of the Gentiles, rise of the Antichrist, Great Tribulation, Armageddon, the Millennial Kingdom. Um, just that's just the batch of service because this is what we try to look for. Now, in Daniel and Revelation, there is a key to biblical prophecy. The writers strongly recommend that you read and study both of these together. Okay, now I actually recommend that you um go with this you know, journey through uh uh through these two groups with me. And please understand I want you to mark some of the things that don't make sense. I need to be honest about these things because if you don't, then it's not gonna work because that's how I have to put the Bible study again. Some of the things that seem weird, kind of outlandish, kind of out, and seems sort of random, just kind of put them aside because and then we'll go through and we'll connect them in the other books. Now, there are two ways of interpreting Bible prophecy, and a lot of times we tend to do it the second way. The first way to do it is by literal translation. Now, just like the word says, literal means it is what it is. So if if the Bible's talking about the sun rising from the from the east, it really literally means the sun rising from the east. Um, and these are these kinds of things will be said in different languages, such as Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek. Now, in a literal translation, there's no attempt to spiritualize the meaning of these things. Um, and when you spiritualize scripture, we tend to get very close to um misinterpreting things, and this is how people end up throwing out names and dates. Oh, this guy is the Antichrist, that guy's the Antichrist, uh, and the wrath's gonna happen this day when Jesus clearly said, No man knows the day of the hour, but he did give us time, right? The other thing you have to realize when thinking about it under a literal translation is that both books are very, very symbolic. However, there are times that the scriptures themselves will interpret the symbolic language. Now, um, it's kind of it'll be kind of obvious once you start studying it, which is symbolic and which is um which is uh literal. Like, for example, a lot of the visions, you know, the Bible will talk about visions and dreams and things of that nature. Now, the other way that um the Bible, the prophecies are interpreted is by futuristics. Now, it's it's difficult to encapsulate what this is. Um, for example, in some methods of interpreting scripture, like maybe a prophet will use something that did not exist in their time, so they didn't have the words to describe it. And just for example, um, it has been said that if someone uses uh the term of this is a great era that went forth, right? And I literally just made that up, so I don't know if that's in the in there or not, but um this says if the great era went forth, then you could literally kind of futuristically understand that they didn't know what a missile was, they didn't know what an ICBM was, so it could be that they are talking about that. Oh, the great eagle rose from the ground. Well, they could be talking about a uh 1147 deck because they didn't have those words as a time, but um we have to uh understand that even though some of the prophecy is fulfilled in history, some of it still remains to be fulfilled, and then there's other things that and I really try not to get ahead of myself where there are some things that are fulfilling, and then some things that are what's called psychology, in other words, a continuous term that is prophecy by certain events, but we'll get into that. We have a lot of ground to cover. So remember, take notes, stop, rewind, and ask questions, right? So let's talk about the prophecy of Daniel. Um, the the book of Daniel is written in two divisions with six chapters each. The first six chapters are mainly historical, while the second six are more prophetic. And understand that Daniel wrote the book in two different languages. One is Aramaic and Hebrew. Now, for the reference to that, I want you to read uh Daniel 2, 4, uh 2, 4, and then 7 28. And then we're gonna talk about some of these verses. Now, what concerns the Gentiles though is written in a different language either Hebrew or Aramaic. More than Aramaic. What it was written to the Jews is gonna be written mainly in Hebrew. Um, when Gary wrote the wrote his book, um, it was one of the most interesting uh portions of the Bible. For a long time I considered that to be my favorite book of the Bible. It has completed fantasy uh prophecies, it has filled prophecies, it has unfilled uh prophecies, and these prophecies are operating and it's going to give a complete history of different kingdoms of Daniel's day and how it's going to describe Christ and then the coming end of the world or the millennial kingdom is what we call it. Now, it should be noted that Daniel was instructed to shut up the words and seal the prophecy to the time of the end. Now, the fact that this prophecy is no longer sealed and can be understood is certain truth that we are now living somewhere in the timeline of the end. I'll say that again. Remember, in read chapter Daniel 12 and 4, and this is a time I wish that we had uh I wish we literally had a screen. But Daniel chapter 12 and 4, I'll read it for you. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Now, what what the what God is saying to Daniel at this time is seal those words, and when as we gain knowledge as people, these words that you are writing now, as you are sealing up, will be more understood. Now, let's go back. What is Dane? What is the meaning of his name? Now, one of the things you'll realize that in biblical times names had a lot of meaning. A lot more meaning than we do now. Like sometimes we might name our kids something just because it sounds good. But literally, back in those days, the uh the names said a lot. For instance, Daniel uh would be Dan, the judge, and EL is God. So to judge of God, to be judged of God. So, or God is my judge, God will judge. So that's what Daniel means in the original Hebrew. Now, circumstances concerning uh Daniel is occurring because the judgment of sin. So again, in Daniel, you will have sort of like this sort of dichotomy where Daniel is talking about what's happening at his time and what will happen in the future. And a lot of times it'll run time, it'll run side by side concurrently. Um, even though there are two main divisions in this book. Now, keep in mind, um about a hundred years before Daniel, Hezekiah, which was the king of the Jews, Judah, um, had shown holy temples, uh holy vessels of the temple to heathen Babylonians. And in 2 Kings we read, there was a judgment spoken. Behold, the days come, and all that is thy house shall be carried into Babylon, saith the Lord. And of thy sons shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of Babylon. That literally took 100 years for God to fulfill. And he fulfilled it in Daniel 1 and 3. Daniel 1 and 3 says this. And the king spake to Aspenaz, the master of eunuchs, that he should be bringing certain of the children of Israel and the king's seed of the uh and of the princes. These king's seed, the three boys that we talk about all the time, uh Badrak, Meshach, Abednego, which was the uh Babylonian names of the three, were actually descendants of Hezekiah. So even though God is giving uh judgments, God is also speaking a prophecy that is now being fulfilled. Now, so God delayed judgment, and God we see this a lot. Well, God will delay judgment, but it will come true. And so I want you to put that on your brain because we all look at, okay, uh, when God says something, it's gonna happen right away. Now, there are a lot of times, again, I'm really trying to stay on track here. There are a lot of times when God will pronounce a judgment and it goes distantly, like Nebuchadnezzar. But again, I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. Now, Daniel, who was pretty much known for his piety and everything he knew, has always been one of the favorite characters of the entire Bible. And Ezekiel mentioned Daniel a couple times, uh joined his name with Noah and Job, and Jesus mentioned Daniel by name, uh, regarded him as a prophet. Daniel was of the tribe of Judah, which is, if you remember some of the uh things that we talked about, how important that was to be from the tribe of Judah. Uh, he was of noble blood, so he could have very well traced his ancestry back to King David. Now, the first invasion of uh Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar took place in the third uh year of mess that one up. Gel Hytim, uh 606 BC. So now afterwards, Daniel took about 20 years, he was about 20 years of age, and these three companions, the Hebrew boys that we like to sing about a lot, was taken captive. That was eight years before Ezekiel was taken captive. Now, and and we want to make sure we cover Daniel's character because Daniel, we kind of we gotta kind of get to know Daniel rather than just this old guy with the fiery eyeballs that wrote a book. So keep in mind, Daniel was on the same level as Ezekiel, he was on the same level as Jeremiah, Obadiah, Avenue, he was a he was a prophet. And the way Daniel buried himself is what caused us to remit. You remember, although Daniel lived in some of the most adverse uh Jewish, some of the worst times that was uh that the Israelites experienced in post Egypt, he never compromised, he never allowed sin and idolatry, he never allowed uh these things to take root into his walk with God. He he literally stayed as pure as possible. Um, you know, he he stood tall when Nebuchadnezzar said, Hey, we're gonna make this statue, you're gonna bow down. He didn't. You know, he was talking about, well, you gotta make uh you gotta pray, you can't pray anymore. No, he Daniel still stayed and he still prayed. Now, this is why he really became an actual favorite among the heathen kings. See, let me just stop right here because I'm gonna run out of time. But see, let me just stop right here. A lot of times we feel that we have to conform ourselves to the world. The Bible tells us not to, but we sort of feel like standing up to uh standing up for God somehow makes us pariahs or evil people. The world will tell us that people, but Daniel stood up and he stood up in the correct way and became a favor. We talk about it all the time. We talk about God's favor. This is a perfect example of God's favor. Watching what Daniel did, modeling our lives, our earthly lives after what Daniel did. He didn't go jumping into the king's court and beating Nebuchadnezzar over here for the scroll. No, he he just lived for God, he just lived for God, and people start understanding that you gotta live for God, then they'll start feeding you a certain way. Now, another thing about Daniel, he was not a slot. Bible, there are some accounts that call him handsome, call him well built. Now, you kind of see because in um in Daniel 1 and 3, the eunuch was supposed to bring the best, the dream of the prop, the chosen of the seed. So that means Daniel had to be handsome, he had to be smart, he had to be intelligent, he had to be well built. He was not some daughtering old guy that we see in some of these pictures. He was not 26 years after his prime and weighing 500 pounds. He was not, he was he was literally one of a peak specimen as it was, but he was also spiritually pure and upright. He had strong convictions, and he stuck to those strong convictions with firm purpose. It wasn't just something to do on Sunday, and then you know, to the Monday through Saturday, he was you couldn't even tell him apart from the Babylonians. Daniel lived the way God wanted him to live. Um, and this is the same Daniel, if and I know you've heard about this a lot. We you kind of we kind of missed that part when we talk about these lions. Now, because of this his character, because of the way he lived for God, he walked with God, he perceived several things. He got revelation, preservation, he had exaltation. He got revelation because he was able to interpret dreams and visions, and he became a spokesman of God, even when no other spokesman spoken existed. Um we talked about it before, but now we talked about preservation. We don't know how to walk with God. Or you can go in there after I don't even go after anything, but God raised them to a level where everyone in the customer will. And in fact, let us almost almost converted this. So the other thing that we we see often in these prophets is that they make separations necessary. This is where we're gonna end today because there's just so much information about. Um, you know, one thing I I kind of I'm dismayed at what we do in today's church is that we sort of bring the world into the church and we sort of uh conform to current standards and current things that the Bible does not tell us to do, or tells us not to do. Holiness preacher, for instance, is not very popular. So, you know, when and if I become a pastor, please understand that I'm gonna make some people mad because I'm gonna have to preach holiness at some point and define it by the biblical standard, not just some weird church thing. It's gotta be by the Bible. The power of God uh would really come with uh dedication and separation from the world, and and that's that's key. The biggest moves of God are people who are not not living in a commune, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying being able to move around in this world and not have to accept the things that the world offers. That's what separation from the world means. Oh, well, you know, you kind of feeling down here, here, have a drink of alcohol. No, that's not how this works. Go and pray, and and you don't even have to make it all a form of prayer, just sit here and talk to God for a second and watch these answers come to you. We're talking about separation from the world, and we are out of time, so we are out of time, but we're gonna talk more about Daniel, and the reason why we're talking about Daniel is because uh Daniel is and we're gonna talk about John at the same level, so please understand we're going to go through this very slowly because I don't want anyone, at least anyone that listens to this podcast, to be deceived by someone else by some death. Thank you all so much for listening, so much for joining. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you like it, hope you share it. We will talk more uh next time. Remember, if you have any questions or anything like that, go ahead and send them to me. If you want your name read on air, put uh put your name in the subject line, and we'll I'll be more than happy to help you. But uh, we are we are out of time. So I love you all. See you all in the next one. God bless you.