Time Running Out, Pt. 2

Joe Crews: Do you know what they discovered friends? They found that 45% of the fourth-grade students in three States of America were current users of alcohol.

Speaker 2: Those shocking figures portray only a fraction of America's colossal alcohol problem. Amazing Facts crusade speaker Joe Crews gives more on this dismal picture. In his concluding message on Time Running Out.

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Joe: Now let's review just briefly what we discovered here. We found that there are signs that mark this as the final moment before Jesus returns again. We've just read in our Bibles that there will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Now, friends, I said before that this is not a Christian country any longer. I don't believe it is, I really don't. Let me give you one example as I see it.

I travel all over the United States. I go to every State I suppose I've held crusades in practically every State of the United States. I have visited thousands of homes of people. Do you know how I recognize that people are lovers of pleasure now than lovers of God? What sign or symptom or indication do you think I have discovered friends about this? I'll tell you and any preacher will tell you the same thing. Any evangelist will tell you the same thing.

When we come to the time that people are not willing to turn down the volume on the television set for me to have prayer with them in their homes, oh friends those people love pleasure more than they love God. Don't they? They love the frivolous pictures there on the screen more than they love the voice of prayer in their homes and this has become a very common thing.

I'm not talking about turning off the machine, I'm talking about turning down the volume. They will not even turn down the volume. Now let me ask you something, do you think that this could be a Christian country when we spend every year $46 billion on alcohol? Do you think that's a Christian country friends? You don't know how much $46 billion is. I don't know what $1 billion is. I can tell you this that it's $8,000 every time the clock ticks.

In fact to be exact, $8,750 every second of time and that's how much is being spent on alcohol beverage in this country. That comes up to 40 gallons per person per year if you want to know how much being is being consumed. That comes down to five pints a week and I'll tell you something. Somebody is getting more than five pints because they're getting my share and I hope they're getting your share and that means that a lot of people are drinking much more than just five pints.

They tell me and I read this from an authoritative source. They claim to be that in Washington DC they drink four times as much as the national average. I don't know how that could be but I suppose if we follow the cocktail circuit around there in Washington DC we might well believe that it really is happening there. We have over 10 million alcoholics in this country and 1,500 new ones are being made every day and they say most of those are women. The new alcoholics that are being made today. Just imagine that friends.

Now the president of the United States appointed a special commission to look into this problem of alcoholism because nobody and I mean nobody has really come up with an answer to it. You read a lot of editorials and articles and magazines and papers, but no one really suggests a real cure for it. They tell us how many people are killed on the highways because of alcoholism. How many homes break up. How many divorces take place. How industries suffer as a result of it but they never suggest an answer.

I read an editorial in the Washington Newspaper not too long ago and they were decrying all of these terrible evils that came through alcoholism and then it ended up and said, "Well, I'm not going to suggest that nobody drinks but how are we going to do about the situation?" They passed right over the only answer, didn't they? The only real answer to alcoholism is never take the first drink.

Nobody ever became an alcoholic who never took the first drink. One out of 10 people become problem drinkers or alcoholics if they do take the first drink. Now, let me come back to the special committee that was set up by the president of the United States. This group was made up of educators and statesmen and senators. They went to look into the matter and come back with an answer, and they took a long time to do it and finally they said, "We've got it now. We have the answer to the alcohol problem."

Everybody perked up their ears, they want to know what is it, what is it, and they made the announcement. You may remember yourself and their solution was this. They said, "Parents should begin giving their children alcohol when they're very young and then they'll learn to tolerate it. They won't become alcoholics when they get big." That was the great answer that came back from this group of very highly placed people and a few days later on the front page of the paper was an article about the National Council of Churches of America.

They had seen this report and they said, "We believe this is the answer. We're going to recommend to our 40 million Christian constituents that they begin to give their children alcohol so they won't turn into alcoholics. My friends, we've got some mixed up adults as well as teenagers, don't we? I mean Bds and PhDs and Dds and all the rest of it. When people come up with that kind of foolishness, we've got some real problems in this world. Believe me, we do.

One last little thought about alcoholism, that's one of the greatest social evils of course in this country along with other drugs but I read about a survey that was made in a three State area. Now what I'm going to tell you right now happened over a three State territory but they looked into fourth-grade students in the public schools. Do you know what they discovered friends?

They found that 45% of the fourth-grade students in three States of America were current users of alcohol. Fourth-grade students, 45% of them were current users of alcohol. Now a lot more of them had tried it. 66% of them had drunk alcohol but only 45% were current users. You can see that we're in trouble friends. We've got problems but now let's go on to another sign that our Lord referred to.

This is found also in the Gospel of Luke 18:8. Jesus said, "I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth." Notice Jesus said one of the last things that will happen in the earth before I come is that people will lose their faith. They won't really be able to believe the Bible. They won't have faith in spiritual things.

Have you noticed any kind of problem like that in our modern society friends? I can tell you that this is one of the problems in religion today. I can tell you that in the large theological institutions of this land this is one of the major problems. Unbelief, disbelief, skepticism, doubt concerning the Bible, the word of God. Do you know that hundreds and even thousands of young men and women are being taught to disbelieve the word of God by men of the cloth? Teachers of religion, theological professors.

I'm not saying that all seminaries are like these friends. I'm talking about some of the largest theological training schools in this country. They do have this problem of disbelief and skepticism and so forth. In fact, let me share with you something that I learned by personal experience in one of the most popular theological schools in the country. If I name the school you would recognize it and it so happens that I was invited to lecture there in the seminary.

In fact, they were having a symposium on the subject of the second coming of Christ. The students were sponsoring it. They were inviting all the other theological students of the city, the very large city to come into the campus of this seminary and listen in on this discussion. They were three of us who were to form the panel. I was one of three. The other two men were professors in that seminary one Dr. Mouser, Professor of Old Testament Theology, Dr. Edwards Professor of New Testament Theology.

I was the third one and when they came to ask me by the way, they said, "Now we want to you to take the pre-millennial position on the coming of Christ." "Well," I said, "That's the only one I know. I'll be glad to talk about the pre-millennial view." But one of the other men was to talk about the post-millennial view and then the other man was to be somewhere in between.

Because I was the visitor on the campus, they gave me the choice of when to speak. They met me at the door. The two professors did and they said, "Now you can speak first, second or third since you are the guest here." Well I chose to speak last. The first man got up and he gave a speech. He read the whole thing. He had 10 points stand there and he read every one of the 10 points but not one reference to the Bible, not one single point taken from the scripture. Here's what he said in the course of his remarks he says, “Anybody who believes that they know the slightest thing about the second coming of Jesus is stupid and sacrilegious.”

Well, I can tell you that there were a lot of folks who sort of looked over at me sitting to the side because I think that they thought that I thought I knew something about it from the Bible anyway. Then the second man spoke and he used one text from the Bible, just one but this is what he said. He said, “Look I don't even believe in it this seminary doesn't believe in it, in fact, I’ve been a professor here for nine years he said.

This chapel has never heard a sermon on the second coming of Jesus. We don't believe in it we don't teach it." Now I was absolutely floored by that I really was astounded. I had come armed to the teeth to answer any question of doubt or theological concern that might be brought up, but I was not prepared to have gone through the whole doctrine right out the window and say we don't even believe it at all.

I really hardly knew what to say as I got up. I do remember the first thing I said was this though, I said, on the basis of what Dr. Edwards has just said this chapel is about to hear its first sermon on second coming of Jesus. Then the next 15 minutes and that's what we had 15 minutes a piece. In the next 15 minutes I gave 22 texts out of the Bible and by the way, I’ll be giving all of those on Monday night when we talk about man from space so don't you dare miss that.

Then it was opened up for questions and those students began to stand up and by the way, they had come from all over the city dragging chairs in to sit because the place was really packed in that chapel that day. Those students stood at one after another asking questions, sincere Bible questions. They knew all about the theology but they didn't know about the Bible friends.

Bibleology wasn't taught in that seminary but they had all the quotes from Berth, and the rest of the great theologians. After one hour of standing there answering their questions finally one of those professors just couldn't take it any longer and he leaped to his feet red-faced and he screamed at those students. He said students please, he said the very idea that Jesus will come floating down on a white cloud to bail us out of the trouble we got ourselves into.

He began to mock and ridicule the beautiful doctrine of the coming of Jesus. I stayed around for quite a while afterward talking to the students in the student lounge and I questioned them about other doctrines too about the resurrection of Jesus and the miracles of Christ. I said, what do you believe about this? What do you believe about that? They said we don't know what we believe about it.

Our professors don't know what they believe. I felt so sorry for those young men friends because here they were and now about to go out and occupy pulpits and they didn't even know what the Bible taught and they didn't know what they believed even about some of the great basic things like prayer and miracles and the virgin birth and the resurrection and the second coming of Jesus. It was sad, sad indeed but this is a state of religion today.

This is why our Lord said when the son of man come out will he find faith in the earth. The implication of that question is very obvious isn't it friends? No there won't be very much faith in the Earth and indeed there is not today. In fact, we just read a moment ago in the book of Timothy that there would be a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

Oh we have a lot of people belonging to churches in the United States of America. We really do we've got about what? 62 % that belong to churches but that doesn't mean very much friends. Many either go to church once a year and sometimes twice a year but there's not very much real power in life in this kind of a profession. Let me tell you a little story to illustrate just how this thing is so prevalent.

You talk about a form of religion now this will make it very clear to you. We were having a crusade in the City of Baltimore Maryland here some time ago and the pastor and I were going around visiting all over that big City of Baltimore. As we drove around from place to place in the city he was telling me a hair raising story about being kidnapped. In fact, he had been getting into his car right in the parking lot along the beltway or the loop going around Baltimore it was right into Sears Roebuck Shopping Center parking lot.

As he was getting in his car suddenly three men surrounded him put a gun in his back and they took him around and locked him in the trunk of his own car, and for three hours they terrorized him. They drove around over the city. They would stop and take him out of the trunk put the gun to his head and tell him they were going to kill him. He never expected to get out of it alive and as we drove around over the city he would point out places where they took him out of the car and where he thought his life was really at an end.

Finally, though after three hours of terror he convinced them to let him go. He told them he was a minister and he pleaded for his life and they finally allowed him to go, but before he left he said, "Now, look I am a minister and I would like to pray with you before I leave." They said, "Fine, fine," so he prayed. They bowed their heads when he finished that prayer they said Amen.

One of them put his arm around him said, "I'm glad you did that you see we're Christians too. That is exactly right. We're Christians too. We're sure glad you prayed with us." My friends if they're Christians I hope I don't meet any non-Christians on the way home tonight don’t you? I really do but now this is a form of godliness isn't it? This is what the Bible is talking about.

I don't doubt that these young fellows belong to a church somewhere and they consider themselves probably in pretty good standing in that church. The Bible says it's a way to be friends and then it goes on in that same chapter there in Timothy and talks about the perilous times remember. We mentioned a moment ago let's go back there now and take another closer look at 2nd Timothy 3.

It says in verse 2, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent fears, despises of those that are good, traders heady high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Ha, most of that has to do with violent things, doesn't it? Wicked things, fierce, perilous times, unthankful, unholy despise of those that goes underground, the crime figures friends, every time the FBI figures come out for a new quarter you see it escalating, don't you?

Do you know what some of the most recent figures were concerning overall crime in the United States of America? Let me give it to you friends, a serious crime was committed every three seconds, burglary every 10 seconds, a car stolen every 31 seconds, a robbery every 63 seconds, a rape every seven minutes, a murder every 27 minutes, that's the crime figures for the recent past.

Now, in some areas of crime, there's a little bit of decline, but in all of these crimes of violence and against the person it's going up all the time. Assaults and rapes, these are growing always, every report that comes out there's an increase. In fact friends, I’ll tell you this. Do you know how much money is lost every year by employers from their employees? Do you know how much money is stolen every year? $10 billion that's $28 million every day.

That is the picture on employees stealing from their employers. Then you have $4 billion that is embezzled every year and $2 billion that is shoplifted every year. There is a streak running through our society friends there really is, a dishonest streak, and it's terrible. The American people are afflicted with this thing, whether it comes from looking at television or the general decline of morals all over the world I don't know but I know this that people are becoming less honest all the time and the crime figures are showing it up.

It is really terrible, in fact; the American people are so unstable that they change cars every two and a half years. They change friends every four years by moving from one place to another, and they change wives every seven years. Did you know that? The average marriage in America lasts only seven years. Now I believe that's why our Lord said he said that they would be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, remember that one of the signs Jesus gave for the last days?

This what he was talking about France he wasn't talking about the ordinary pursuit of eating, he was talking about gluttony. He would talk about drinking, he was talking about alcoholism, he wasn’t talking about just marrying and divorcing he was talking about rather marrying and giving in marriage he was talking about the divorce rate. Marrying and divorcing marrying and divorcing all of those things and that is a very prevalent thing in the world today.

Now you may say, well brother Joe why are you giving us all of these dark pictures. Why are you discouraging us with these things, we don't need this kind of discouragement. My friends I'm not giving it to you to discourage you. I'm telling Jesus said, when you see all of these things taking place look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth night. I say this all to be encouraging you all tonight, what do you say? It ought to be encouraging because when we come to that dark midnight point, when things seem to have hit rock bottom, and when it seems that things can't get any worse, that's the time that Jesus said, "I'm going to break out of the heavenly courts and come back to save my people," and we're going to be talking about that in our next meeting here.

Friends, don't be discouraged by what I've told you tonight. Our Lord is coming and He said, "When you see all of these things, look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh. He said, "My coming is near, even at the door, even at the door." Now listen, when somebody's at the door, you don't have much time left, do you? You don't have time to get ready, do you? You ladies, have you ever had anybody knock at your door early in the morning, maybe on a blue Monday morning? You just got heavy off to work and there you are trying to get everything ready, and it's early you just got him off and you're not even dressed. You're in your robe and your hair is up on the shelf, maybe, and you're not ready for any company but there is the doorbell.

The doorbell and you go peek out the curtain and there's that nosy neighbor from down the street and you don't want to open the door. The house is a mess and you're a mess, you don't want to her to come in but it's too late friend. She's at the door and you can't do anything now to get ready. Jesus said, "Look, you be ready because my coming is, even, at the door, and when you see these signs, my friend, you know it's in near, don't you?" We know it's near now, we know it's very near, and that's why we should be prepared.

It's not a time to get ready, it's a time to be ready. Don't think in terms of maybe tomorrow or maybe the next day, no, no. If you're not ready, my friend, if you don't have that sweet assurance or that blessed hope in your heart, now, of being prepared to meet the lord, don't go to bed tonight till you get on your knees and pray, and give your heart and your life to Him and ask Him into come in your heart by faith. Do that, friends, and you who are watching on television, if you have not done this. You kneel right there by the television set and give your heart to Christ, invite Him to come into your heart and then write and let me know and I'll share some material with you.

May God bless you as you make this decision to be ready for His coming which is near, even, at the door. How many of you, tonight, would say, ''Brother Joe, that's what I want more than anything else, I want to be ready when Jesus comes," how many of you would say that? God bless you, shall we pray. Father in heaven, how good it is to study together tonight and to find out these great truths concerning thy soon coming. We've read the signs and then we've seen them fulfilled before our very eyes, we pray that not one will be unprepared, may we be ready today, and tomorrow, and every day for that glorious return of our Lord. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Speaker 3: Thank you, Joe, for that stimulating conclusion to Time Running Out. Friends, it is running out, this world is on the brink as it were, of time as Joe showed in his message today from the scriptures. We'd like you to have a copy of that in print and we'll send it to you with our compliments. I'll tell you how in a moment but first, I want to have a response to Joe's message from The Messengers. Our college quartet that you've heard before singing this time, that grand old hymn by Henry to the flutter, I'm homesick for Heaven, seems I cannot wait. Yearning to enter Zion's pearly gates. Messengers.

Messengers:
So dear to my heart is the promise of God,
A home with the pure and blessed,
Where earth weary pilgrims, strangers here below,
Will find their eternal rest.
I'm homesick for heaven, seems I cannot wait,
Yearning to enter Zion's pearly gate
There, never a heartache, never a care,
I long for my home over there.
The Greatest of all is the thought that enthralls,
That I shall behold my King;
Rejoice in His presence, revel in His grace,
And ever His praises sing.
I'm homesick for heaven, seems I cannot wait,
Yearning to enter Zion's pearly gate
There, never a heartache, never a care,
I long for my home over there.

Speaker 3: Thank you Messengers, for that hymn today, I am homesick for Heaven. Friends, I know that you are too, we're waiting for that time. I think a copy of Joe's message in print would be a real blessing to you. Let me just tell you how to write to us to get this copy. If you'll send a letter or a card to Amazing Facts TV, Box 680 Frederick, Maryland. ZIP Code 21701. We'll send it to you free, that's Amazing Facts TV, Box 680 Frederick Maryland. ZIP 21701. Just ask for Time Running Out when you write that card or letter.

Now, friends, I'd like to thank you again, I think we've told you before that this telecast is made possible week by week by your financial support, and your help, and your prayers. We'd like to express our appreciation for that by sending to you, with our compliments again, a copy of this program on audio cassette tape. If you'll write to us at Amazing Facts TV Box 680 Frederick, Maryland, ZIP 21701. Amazing Facts TV Box 680 Frederick, Maryland 21701, we'll send it to you with our appreciation. Listen, don't forget to join us next time with we're together when Joe covers the fascinating topic, Man From Space.

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