 God is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. And you know, we are right in His plan, right in the middle of it all. We are so glad you're joining us on Hope Today. I am here with Corey and with Amy and Amy. We are super excited. What we're about to dive in today, it's gonna be deep. Hey, listen here, we like to go deep. Listen, I'm telling you just right now, get a notebook and a pen. You're gonna wanna take notes. You're gonna wanna jot down some scriptures. We are talking about the end times, the last days, the book of revelations. We're talking about the trumpets and the lampstands. We're talking about the churches. We're talking about the great awakening, the great global reset. The mark of the beast, it goes on and on. Are you curious? If so, stay tuned because our special guest, Jeff Kinley, is here with his new book, God's Wrath, Grace and Glory, his grand finale here on earth. I'm telling you guys, I think this is exciting times to be in. This is not a time to fear. This is the time to amp up in faith and hope and passion and follow Jesus, Corey, like never before. Because it brings us into a place of humility because it's saying, all right, God, I need to be in a position to hear from you and not to get so caught up in what I'm doing, what I'm gonna eat, you know how Jesus says, don't worry about what you're gonna eat and what you're gonna drink and what you're gonna wear. We get caught up in these things so much. We gotta go to work. Oh, we're gonna cook later on. Oh, we got this holiday coming up. Oh, we gotta get gifts. And our minds wrestle and the enemy is just doing things. God wants to speak things to us, but sometimes we're just so occupied. That's why he says, seek ye first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. So hearing about this today, we need to be tapped in to the revelation that God is gonna share in this season because we don't wanna miss it. Because if you miss it, it's gonna be a heartbreak world, okay? I just like it's so important for us to tap in. And you know, one thing, I'm just gonna say this and encourage you all out there. I know there's a lot of people say like, don't watch the news and turn off the news. We need to be informed. We need to be like the sons of Issacar and being able to discern the signs of the times and what's happening and what's going on. So I just wanna encourage you as we're going into this conversation. I mean, God is doing so much right now that we see that's happening on the news. So many things that are unfolding. So we want you to be aware and alert and also to seek the wisdom of the Lord. Because I like what you said, Amy, it is exciting when you start seeing all these things happening. Like, thank God we have media. Thank God we have video. Thank God we have all these things that we're able to capture what is going on. I think it's exciting. It's great. And they talk a lot about in the news. Listen, we've heard a lot through COVID about, you know, is this the mark of the beast? I mean, there is so much stuff out there. Honestly, Chlorie, it's like click bait eschatology. I mean, if we can say the craziest thing about the end of the world and the end times, people are gonna click on it. So we have to be careful, Chlorie, that we find and search out truth. Right, right, right. Because there is going to be, and I'm sure Jeff will probably tap into this, is just a massive deception. For people that seem to be wise, even people who are in ministry, and this is really wild because some people are not really tapped into the true heart of God and the true revelation of what God is really sharing. So this is gonna be very important. Just like Amy said earlier, grab your notebooks. Let's take some notes today. This is gonna be a very powerful conversation. The book of Revelation is one of the most fascinating books of the Bible. For centuries, people have been fascinated with end time prophecy, the eminent return of Christ. Revelation can also be one of the most challenging books to interpret. Joining us now to shed more light on God's final word to mankind is Jeff Kinley. He is the author of the book, God's Grand Finale, Wrath, Grace and Glory in Earth's Last Days. Jeff, welcome back to Hope Today. Thank you so much for having me on. That is a big title. God's Grand Finale. Why should that matter to us? Isn't it just, okay, case the raw, sirrah, whatever shall be, shall be. Why as Christians do we need to pay attention to the book of revelations? That's a great question. As Christians, we wanna hear God. We wanna hear what God says, and of course he speaks loudly in his word. And we get to the end of the Bible, God had one last book to write. What would he say? What would he tell us? What are his last final words for his church and for humanity? And he wrote Revelation, a book that is 95% Bible prophecy. And so as we dive into Revelation, of course we learn all about the apocalypse and everything else is going on. But as it turns out, God had something to say about himself as well. He wanted us to know something about him. And you also say that he is, and God says he is the Alpha and the Omega, beginning and the end. How does this tie into this God of Genesis to Revelation? And why do we not connect those dots? I think sometimes we kinda look at the Bible as sort of disconnected books, but they all really thread together with one central theme. The central character of course is Jesus Christ. The central theme is God's redemption of mankind and God's glory in the end. Revelation ends with the story of mankind. Genesis begins with the story of mankind and God speaks both these things, the realities into existence. And so they really tie together. What we lost in the garden will gain back at the end of Revelation. So God is tying a great big beautiful bow on history and specifically on redemption. I was up at 4 a.m. this morning just thinking about the end times, the last days, the book of Revelation, your book as I had just read it. And for those that are waking up at 4 a.m., should there be a fear or a dread or a hope and an excitement as we're entering into those end times? You know, I often say, Amy, that God didn't write Bible prophecy to scare us, but to prepare us. In other words, he wants his bride to get ready for the wedding. And I believe that wedding begins at the rapture of the church when we are taken up gloriously up to heaven. And then it's when God really pours out his final judgment, his final wrath on planet Earth. So there's nothing but hope and joy and fulfillment and significance and happiness and blessedness for all those who know Jesus Christ. But we have some challenges before us right now. We have to live down here before we go up there. And that's why we need the Lord so much. You know, when you were studying the book of Revelation, what was the most shocking thing or alarming thing that either awakened you or concerned you about the days we're living in today? I think the most alarming thing for me was just chapter one, because chapter one begins with John's vision of the glorified, exalted, highly lifted up Jesus Christ. And he's not the Christ that most people talk about on Sunday mornings. We tend to think of Jesus walking around in sandals and robe and passing out fish and bread and talking to children and that kind of thing. But the revelation Jesus is a revelation of Christ that is exalted. He is one who is glorified. He has these burning eyes of fire, this hair is white as wool. He's standing in judgment. And he begins with his own church. So that's really the shocking picture of Christ is the one that most people sort of gloss over to get to the quote unquote the good parts of Revelation. But in order to understand revelation, we have to first see the Christ. And that's where God wanted to put our attention to the very beginning. Yeah, you know, there are so many, like we said earlier, they're click baits about the end times or the last days. You know, several of them being, you know, the mark of the beast and, you know, the great awakening. So can you address a few of these things? Let's start with the mark of the beast. Revelation 13 makes it very clear that at the midpoint of the tribulation, seven year tribulation period, the anti-Christ who is the second most mentioned figure in end times Bible prophecy second to Jesus is going to enact this mark that's going to basically control your buying and your selling, your income, all of your economy. Of course it has to go digital first for that to happen and we're well on the way to that happening. But this mark will identify you as a worshiper of anti-Christ. It will also identify you as someone that participates in the global economy. It'll be a mark the Bible says in Revelation 13 on your right hand or on your forehead. And essentially it brands you as one who has given loyalty and allegiance to Satan's man on the earth. He's the anti-Jesus, the anti-Christ. So just asking this question just to go a little bit deeper for our audiences that may be really curious. You know, as we see what's happening in society now with many collapses of certain banks and things like that and then all of our information of course pretty much everything is on our phones but we're also seeing that there's already a development of a chip that has information and things inside that could be scanned, your social security number, things like that. Do you feel that this is the enemy preparing to institute it into the nation? What is your thoughts about what's going on with the technology that's already being introduced? Yeah, well it's very interesting that you mentioned that Corey because years ago people read Revelation they go there's no way any of this stuff could ever happen. All the technology is here. When people read Revelation now it's not a sci-fi book anymore. It's like, wow, that could actually happen right now. So the technology, the infrastructure to set up a digital economy, really a global digital economy is here right now. In fact, over 114 countries worldwide are exploring the idea of a central bank digital currency. The idea that everybody's transactions are now on a server and of course then can be surveilled by government and then controlled by government. Well that's there, well that has to be there in order for the mark of the beast to be implemented. I don't think it'll be a chip, I think it'll be just simply a mark. The Greek word is the word karagma that essentially means an etching or some sort of tattoo like mark on your body and it was used in the first century of soldiers who would get sort of a tattoo of their commanding officer as a sign of allegiance. So I think it's gonna be simply a mark that will either be the number 666 or the name of the beast, but essentially that'll be tied to your digital bank account. And that's, listen, if you wanna control a populist control their money. If you can control what they have and how much they can spend and what they can do with their money, you pretty much got them where you want them. Jeff, we're so glad we're having this conversation. It's very eye-opening and I think it's so important for us to have these conversations because there's so much that is advancing with technology. And we just wanna ask you too, what are your thoughts on AI? I mean, we are seeing it really just being infiltrated in a way we haven't seen before. I know even here in the Pittsburgh area we heard about Whole Foods that even with scanning with the hand like you can pay for your groceries if you put your hand and you scan it here in Pittsburgh I saw it like checking out like you can put your hand there with Amazon one and you can buy your groceries and different things. So what are your thoughts on AI? Yeah, the Amazon one technology is remarkable in that it not only scans your patterns like your thumbprint, but it's on your palm, your palmprint that only you have. It also reads your vein patterns and even your bone structure and you can do that in about 300th of a second. So it's very highly advanced and that again is a step towards eventually having a mark on your hand. But in terms of AI, this artificial intelligence we have to keep in mind it's artificial. It's not human. It doesn't have a true human spirit or intelligence behind it. What it's doing is it's combining knowledge together in an artificial form to give information in some ways to control certain things. But this I think can be a huge deception of our enemy because what it basically does it's trying to replace humanity. It's trying to downplay humanity and make humanity insignificant. But the Bible tells us that we are creating God's image that we're the crown of God's creation. We're the highest level of intelligence in the universe besides God and the angels. And so God wants us to continue to rely on humanity. So we have to watch that because now there's like an AI Jesus that you can talk to. There's all these ways that you can tap it, a chat, GPT, all these things that are happening. So it's something we have to be very wary of we have to be careful. It could quickly take over everything. So that's why it has to be rained in. This is so interesting to me. I just had lunch with two young whippersnapper pastors and my husband and I being in a little bit older generation. They typed in a thought and a whole sermon came up and I thought that just took away all studying, all preparation. How are these things, this chat, whatever it's called and AI and you know, how is this getting us ready and prepping us for when Jesus returns? Well, what is doing humanity, excuse me, I believe is grooming humanity to accept a higher intelligence than themselves, to essentially depend upon technology, to depend upon government. And this all dovetails really with what's going on with globalism right now. The World Economic Forum wants to enact what's called the fourth industrial revolution which enables basically technology to marry with humanity, to have some sort of technologies, you mentioned Corey like a chip put in so that they can monitor us. Of course they're doing it already with our phones but in terms of it being inside our body that they say will essentially make human beings hackable. So they can hack your thoughts, they can put thoughts into your brain. That's what they want, they want control. That's what Satan wants because he's wanted it ever since he fell from heaven and that's what Antichrist is all about as well. So as we move towards a globalist empire in the world today, keep in mind it is all about control. And you know what, when you take a word and you type in that to chat GBT and you get a sermon out of it, basically what you've done is you've removed the whole influence of the Holy Spirit. So there's no God influence in that, it's just taking bits and data and information and putting into a cogent form. But again, it removes humanity, it removes the Holy Spirit. So again, it's something that Christians should be very wary of. Wow, I mean that is a game changer right there. In your book, and of course in the book of Revelations, John is addressing seven churches. And I would love to know your thoughts on the next great awakening and the state of the church, the big church. Are we seeing the great awakening, is that going to happen now before the coming of Christ or is that going to happen after? I loved your thoughts. You know, Revelation two and three, Jesus basically addresses seven existing churches in that day that obviously when you read those chapters, you see, wow, that's the church down the street or that's my church or that type of thing. And so it's interesting how these churches, parallel churches today, but five of the churches he gave excoriating rebukes to because of their, they've drifted from doctrine, they've drifted morally. They're not loving the Lord anymore. They're just all about meeting together. They have a lot of activities, but there's no real life in them. And then two of the churches he praised for what they're doing and said, hey, keep doing what you're doing. Well, when we think about today and kind of where we are today, I think that the church today is struggling. She's like a bride that's asleep and her wedding day is fastly approaching and she needs to be woken. She needs to be awakened to scripture, to truth, to what God says in his word. So that she can get her wedding garments on. She can invite people to the wedding and so that she can be ready when Jesus Christ returns. And so I think it's very important today that we awake the bride so that she can know where she is and human history. And so, you know, I look at revelation and so that's the beginning of revelation. You see Christ first, the church gets a kind of a self inventory second, then all of a sudden boom, you go to heaven and see some things up there. And then here comes the tribulation period. So we have to be Christians who are informed, who are discerning. As Sidney said earlier, we have to be like the men of Isacar who understood the times. And so that's why I believe guys, we're living in the most exciting times in human history and especially for the church because our redemption is drawing now. I love your emphasis in this book about Jesus being the main character. He is the grand finale. Revelation is all about Jesus. You said about Jesus, you know, he is reliable in revelations. He's risen, he's ruler, he is redeeming. How do we read revelations and get excited? Like this is all about Jesus. It's not just about us, but it's always been about him. Amen. And you know, that's what I do in the book. I have 13 great attributes of God, characteristics of God that he put into revelation because he wants us to know what's gonna happen in the end times, but really God in Revelation wrote it so that it could be really a deep devotional guide. And people don't look at revelation that way, but it really is, it's a revelation. Think about it, the word revelation means to reveal. And the very first verse in Revelation says it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so if you read Revelation, if you study Bible prophecy and you miss Jesus, then you missed everything. Maybe you have some facts and information, but God wants us to be intimate with him, to know him. And quite frankly, as you read Revelation, some of the things we learned about God are a little bit shocking. Some of them put us in our place. They make us very humble before him, but also we also get excited about our future in heaven, what's gonna happen then. And of course, the anticipation of the second coming of Christ as well. So there's so much about him all throughout Revelation so we can't miss Jesus as we read this glorious book. Wow, wow, wow, it's powerful. I do have one question that I just wanna ask you and maybe you can give some advice to the church. When talking about those seven churches, that how some of them, their candlelight will be taken out and things like that. What is the position that pastors and leaders should have in this current generation of how to be, how to lead, and how they need to position their cells for their ministry to basically get ready for launch day because the rapture pretty much is launch day. What advice would you give to ministers and people all around watching this right now of how they should begin to guide their ministry? Absolutely, I can't say any better than the apostle Paul told Timothy in second Timothy chapter four. He said, Timothy, I charge you in the presence of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ who has to judge the living and the dead, preach the word. Teach them the Bible. Why? He says for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but will gather for themselves teachers according to their own desires, tickling their ears. And I think in a day where we're trying to get people to come to church, we're trying to have great times in the Bible and times at church and have a happy time together, we can't get away from just the raw word of God because it is our milk, it's our meat, it's our substance, it's our honey, it's everything to us. And so preach the word. You know, you talk about that great revival. Well, the Bible doesn't actually predict a great revival in this part of the end times. It says there's gonna be a falling away which we're obviously seeing but there will come a revival during the tribulation period where God will reach out and extend his grace to millions of people during that time. But until that time, it's all about preparing the bride and telling the world that Jesus Christ is coming back. All right, will you do that right now? Let's prepare the bride. For those who don't know Christ, for those who are like, they just turned on the television station and they're just now hearing this. How can they meet Christ? How can they have Jesus revealed to them? How can they walk with God during this time? Yeah, well, we're living in very turbulent times. Everybody admits that. They're scary times, they're volatile times. And you need an anchor, you need a hope, you need some solid foundation for your life to weather these storms that we're going through in life and the personal storms that you may be facing. The only answer is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who came and incarnated God to us, showed us who God was. He's the only one who died on the cross for our sins, paid that penalty that was due each one of us. And as we trust in him, we rest in him, God gives us his peace, the anxiety goes away and we have joy, we have a fulfillment and a purpose for a living. So trust in Jesus Christ and then walk with him day by day, get into his word, his love letter written to us. And as you do that, you'll find yourself getting stronger and stronger in this world. And you'll also be able to see the world as it really is and give you hope and direction as you move forward. Amen. Jeff, thank you so much for this book. Thank you so much for this rich conversation about revelations, about end times. And I just pray today that all those listening that you'll get excited about the book of Revelation, God's grand finale. Listen, this is coming to a close. And Jeff, we're so grateful for you and we thank you so much. Thank all of you, good to be with you again, thank you. Wrath, grace and glory. I love that he was the beginning, he is the end and it all points to Jesus. It's like the most beautiful, glorious story play that's real, that's alive and it's exciting to think about Jesus coming back for his bride. That's why we've gotta be ready. Yes, yes. There's so much absolute grace that God gives us, so much time that he works with us and he pursues us all through his word. That's why I look at the word and say, it's like a love story. It's a beautiful love story of a love that was once made and created in birth and then there was a situation that happened and then God is longing to get us back and he comes down and gets in our suits and says, I'm coming to die for you. It's a beautiful, beautiful love story. So with that, let's say, I wanna focus on this scripture today. Today's scripture focuses from Revelation chapter 19 verse 10 and it says, then I fell at his feet to worship him but he said to me, do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brothers and sisters who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. You gotta read that whole chapter there. Use that this week as a time with God. But let me say this just in some revelation that the Lord is just speaking to me right now is that he wants the glory. Something I heard the other day was glory management and I find that in today's generation, even those who wanna get in ministry, you gotta be very careful to check your motive into the reason of why you're doing what you're doing because God will not share his glory with no man. And the glory of God is so powerful. The anointing of God is so powerful that it can corrupt you if your character is not right. This is why he says, I give grace to the humble but I resist the proud. Some people will blame the enemy and say, you know, the enemy is shutting these doors in my life. The enemy, the enemy, the enemy. No, a lot of times it's God standing on the other side of the door and he's saying, I can't open this door for you because what is on the other side, the opportunities on the other side could destroy you because we have to know that that part about the enemy that wanted to be God, he didn't just wanna be like God, like the name Michael means he who was like God but he wanted to be God and that envy, that jealousy, being that we're in a very comparison generation, we're seeing it on all social media, we're always comparing our lives and he happens to do that even in God. Even the disciples did that when they were sitting amongst Jesus. Here they go and they say, well Jesus, who's the greatest amongst us? Who's the great, how does that happen when God is doing all this wonderful work and then here they go sitting there thinking, hey, hey, you know, I preached a couple times, I casted out some demons but what did Jesus do? He ignored them, he grabbed a little child and he said, if you don't come to me like one of these little babies, what is he saying to us? He's saying, you need to be in a space in your life where you're not trying to figure everything out, where you're not trying to say, hey God, I know, I know, I know God, I know, no. You're just in a place of da-da, I don't know what's happening and that's where I believe that we need to be in our lives is a place of absolute humility and surrender for what we think our knowledge is is nothing but foolishness to God because he knows so much more about the times, he's aware time is in God's hand and there are times that God is gonna do things that not even heavens know what God is gonna do. So let's put ourself in a position to rest in the Lord and to just submit to him in this season. Don't try to figure it out, just get in a prostrate position with God, get into his word, get into your prayer closet and enjoy time with God. Sidney, I know that's a place that you're in, you're often being in that space of making sure that you and God have that special space. Can you give some advice to everyone in this season? Well, this is like whole time during the show, like I've just been hearing God say over and over and over again, return unto me. This is a season of returning and maybe you've been in church and maybe you've loved God, but I just really sense that this is a time that we need to look personally at the idols in our lives, the way that we've like, I feel like just like, oh, I wanna be an influencer or I want this, I want that, return unto him. Take some time to be like, Jesus, look at my heart, look at the idolatry, look at the idols that I've made and destroy and crush them all because Jesus wants nothing more but to be with you. He wants to know you and he wants you to know him and that is our heart and our hope for you today is that you would return unto God like never before. On tomorrow's Hope Today, learn how to break free from the silence and proclaim the truth of the gospel. Pastor and revivalist Miles Rutherford challenges Christians to embrace their role as voices of righteousness in a time of moral decay. Don't miss tomorrow's Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.