“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” Mathew 24:22 and 30–31 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

When this happens many will mourn because unbelievers will realize it is too late for them to accept Christ as their Savior. These are the ones that have been deceived by Satan and his millions of falling angels. Jesus describes many of the churches in the later days. He says: Revelation 3:14–17 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.“

Many members of the church were rich and powerful but were not true and faithful as was Christ. The church had become complacent, financially comfortable and self-satisfied. They were not evangelizing or glorifying Jesus. They were indifferent and were not passionate for Christ. They were cold to others. Christ was very critical of the church. We are in this particular church age. How would we rate the churches of today?

I was part of a church board who believed we were not evangelizing; we were indifferent and not passionate toward Christ. We were cold to others. Years of prayer asking God to give us a mission and vision, we completely changed. Other churches called us too liberal. We were only preaching to the unchurched and not feeding Biblically the present members. People started leaving by the hundreds. We were a church running about 270 on weekends. Now we are reaching out to more than 70,000 people. The letter to the people of Laodicea made us realize what God wanted in a church.

We believe God had given us a vision that He wants Christians everywhere to know that where sin may be the greatest, His power and His Spirit are even greater. And if Christianity can blossom in Las Vegas, it can increase anywhere. It is almost unbelievable the doors that have opened and the opportunities that have landed on our doorstep. As I write this, I am in awe of all of the supernatural events and signs that we have seen over the years.

It is not about numbers. It is about individuals. When you see people who have participated in the most immoral aspects of Las Vegas accept Christ and become “free” and children of God, you have to believe that God continues to care. You then see these individuals bring their friends, who are subsequently converted and baptized. There is no greater excitement than to have more than 40,000 conversions in the past few years.

You must understand there are many who preach that we are wealthy members because it was God blessing us. However, their faith was in things and not in God. Wealthy believers could develop an attitude of self-sufficiency and that they really didn’t need anything. In many cases, their spiritual growth probably had stopped and they were relying on themselves rather than on God. This probably caused them to have little compassion for those in need. If a church is not filled with love and helping those who have a need, they have missed Christ’s teaching.

It is so easy for many church people to become blinded to the needs of others who were poor and lacked adequate food and clothing. It is easy to have hearts as cold as ice and hard as clay. When Christ returns it is possible that Jesus could say: I never knew you.

Jeremiah 18:7–10 “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.” What are the chances of Americans and others are willing to repent?

God also tells each of us what is expected: Jeremiah 17:9–10 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” What do our deeds deserve?

If you study the Old Testament you will discover that Americans are living very similar to how Israel lived prior to their destruction. What we need to be aware of is how prophecy is predicting what is ahead for America and the world.

Watch TV, read the newspaper and you may wonder how far Russia will go to invade other nations. However, the nation to watch is: What happens to Israel? The Bible tells us that there will be a war lead by Russia, Iran, maybe China and the United Nations possibly. This war is called Armageddon and 2.3 billion will be killed. Should that not concern us?

II Thessalonians 2:3–4 “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” We also know that Israel will survive until the War of Armageddon. Zechariah 14:2 “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.”

Isaiah 48:17 “This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.”