← We Need to Talk Podcast 
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- [00:00]
John Bevere
The second coming of Jesus is the second most talked about subject in the entire Bible. Only salvation is more. If God talks about it this much. John Bevere, why aren't you?
- [00:10]
Ezekiel
How are we partaking in getting ourselves ready when we don't have a works based salvation?
- [00:15]
John Bevere
Right?
- [00:16]
Ezekiel
How are we getting ourselves ready when it says in scripture that he is going to cleanse us and make us blameless before him?
- [00:24]
John Bevere
Most people get filled with fear when they hear about the second coming. They shouldn't. It's the wedding of the ages. The disciples, they get what Jesus is talking about much more than westerners. Because the way a Jewish wedding went was totally different than the way our weddings go. Today the groom and his father leave her community and he immediately begins to build a room off his father's house that will be their place that they live. Once they are joined, it's not until the groom's father looks at the groom and says, go get your girl. That's why Jesus said the angels don't know. Even the Son of man doesn't know. That night he gets his groomsmen and they have a torchlight procession. They come, he grabs her by force. Harpazo.
- [01:07]
Ezekiel
Oh my goodness.
- [01:08]
John Bevere
All right. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Every time we obey God, we're getting more material to make our wedding gown.
- [01:18]
Ezekiel
Oh my.
- [01:19]
John Bevere
I wonder if some Christians watching us even have enough material to make a bikini, let alone a wedding dress.
- [01:24]
Ezekiel
Do you believe that we are currently in the season of his return?
- [01:30]
John Bevere
Without a doubt. We're the final generation before his return. A day with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is a day. Why did God create the earth in seven days? Why didn't he do it one day he said to Adam, the day you eat of this fruit, you're going to die. He didn't die that day. Adam lived to be 930 years old. He was 70 years shy of one day. So now it's been 6,000 years since Adam. We're at the end of the sixth day. I plan my life like he's not coming back for 200 years, but I live like he's coming back. Today there's going to be harvest of souls in the tribulation. Heaven will give the Antichrist power over the saints. Read in the book of Daniel. But Jesus said, the gates of hell will not conquer my church. Is Jesus words not true. One of the dangerous prayers that I prayed and I said, God never allow the anointing that you put on my life to exceed the character that you've developed in me, because I didn't want to fall. The fear of the Lord is what keeps us from falling away. I'll never forget when a minister who was put in jail for five years, he had the largest ministry on the planet earth in the 1990s. I asked him, when did you fall out of love with Jesus? And he said, I didn't. And I shook my head and I said, excuse me. I mean, you committed adultery seven years before you were arrested. You did all these crimes. He said, john, I loved him all the way through it. And he said, john, I didn't fear God.
- [02:47]
Ezekiel
And the Lord reveals himself to me. This is not a podcast. This is a deliverance ministry. God is going to deliver just as many, if not more, here than he does inside of church buildings. You got to keep giving yourself over to it.
- [02:59]
John Bevere
It's proving it to you over and over.
- [03:01]
Ezekiel
And the weightiness of your anointing. The Lord says thousands will be delivered. Will you keep watching? Click the subscribe button. I'll wait. Nah, Seriously, subscribe right now. Also, like and share this video. The more you like, share, comment, and engage with this video, the more we're able to produce content just like this. I am so honored to be in this room today with someone I look at like a literal hero. I've been watching this man for years, speak the hard things and do the hard things, and today I get to talk to him. So welcome to the we need to Talk podcast. John Bravir.
- [03:39]
John Bevere
Ezekiel. I've been looking so forward to this. It's so good to meet you, man.
- [03:43]
Ezekiel
You don't get it. You don't understand. You, your wife, man. First of all, can I just be free on this podcast?
- [03:50]
John Bevere
It's your podcast. You can do whatever you want.
- [03:52]
Ezekiel
I've seen you flow, and I'm just like, this is a white man. Dad, do you see this? The way he is flowing? You're, like, not normal. And so I really just want to get behind the. Who are you to create books like this? I believe it flows by the Holy Spirit. But the vessel, like, how did you become this before we get to the books, how are you like this? That's what I want to understand.
- [04:16]
John Bevere
A lot of pain and hardship. You know, the Bible says that Jesus didn't bring obedience to the earth. He learned obedience by what he suffered. So suffering. Of course, in religion, people suffer to please their God. That's not Christianity. Christianity is we live in a fallen world. Therefore, in order to obey God, because everything, the course the Prince of power, of the air. Everything in this world is contrary to the kingdom. So you have to enter the kingdom knowing that we, through many tribulations, enter into his authority, his power, his rulership. So you have to be prepared for suffering. And it's not something I'm looking for. It's something that comes as a result of me obeying God. So true. If you look at Peter said. Peter made the statement. He said, as Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourself with the same mind, for he was suffered in the flesh. Now listen to these words. Has ceased from sin. What is he saying? He has reached complete spiritual maturity. So when suffering comes at you as a believer, okay, you're going to respond in one of two ways. You're going to complain, you're going to compromise. That's one way. Or you're going to obey God no matter what the pain. Now, when you choose to obey God no matter what the pain, you grow spiritually. So you have people that have suffered, that are now bitter, they're offended, they've got an angst, they've got a chip on their shoulder. So sad. Then you have people. I'm so glad that I went through that in my very early years. So the Beta Satan book came out of that. It is one. Somebody who I highly respected, deeply loved, did some things really hurt me. And it took me months and months of crying out to God to say, God, what? What, what is going on? You know? And the Lord delivered me from that offense. And I saw right away how deadly, and I can't emphasize it anymore, deadly offense is. So when suffering comes, when opposition comes, because you're obeying God, okay, there'll be the people that say, what good is it that I'm serving God? It seems like the people that don't serve God, they've got an easier life. They've got a more. They're more wealthy, they're. They have less tr. Troubles. I mean, this is exactly what the book of Malachi says. In Malachi, chapter four, it says you're going to have three kinds of people. You're going to have the wicked. These are the people that clearly don't serve God at all, right?
- [06:42]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [06:42]
John Bevere
And you got the complainers and you've got the people who fear God. Okay, so you've got two groups of Christians that Malachi said are going to be emerge in the last days. The complainers are the ones that actually say, you can see this in Malachi chapter three. What good is it that we've served God? Because we're looking at the wicked and they're getting blessed, they're defying God and they're going free. Then you've got those who fear the Lord. They're going through the same sufferings because the Bible says before he comes for us, which the King's coming is about, before he comes for us in the clouds, he's going to come to us as a refiner's fire. So now I remember early, early on, I was a young baby Christian. And I remember I was out praying one night and the Lord said, son, I'm going to begin to teach you how to deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. I'm going to begin to do a work of holiness in your life. I was so excited, Ezekiel. I went running back to our apartment. Lisa was taking up her makeup, getting ready for bed because it was late at night. I was out praying in a field. I said, lisa, God's going to work a work of holiness. All this excessive, you know, eating. I do the successive tv, I watch all this stuff. It's going to go bye bye, right? So the next three months, I got twice as fleshly. I don't even know how to say it. I ate even more. I was watching more tv. I was, you know, just, just, just, just. There was a problem, okay. So then I went out and prayed and I said, lord, you said, you want to teach me how to live holy? It seems like I'm worse. And he said, that's because you've been doing it your way. He said, now I'm going to do it my way. I had no idea. I didn't do anything, anything different. And I started going through pain and suffering like I had never gone through before. I mean, I literally was demoted four levels in my church. And it wasn't because I did something wrong. It was because they wanted to put me in a higher position. And they put me in a higher position, but I didn't have the gifting for it. And they had already put somebody in that position and they had 450 people on their staff. So when it was very obvious I wasn't gifted to be the senior pastor's administrative assistant, they, they had to do something. So the only position was open, was four levels down. I reported to a lady who reported a man who reported to the pastor. I reported to. And I remember I was in such pain. And I remember I put my head against the wall and I said, God, why do I hurt so bad? Why do I live in pain? And he said, because you're dying. And he said, there's always pain and death. So I remember during this time period, I started becoming a terror to live with my. My oldest son, who's turning 40 tomorrow. He was like, 18 months old at the time. I'm mad at him. I'm mad at my wife. I'm mad at my pastor. I'm mad at everybody. And I started getting concerned because I was, like, worse than before I got saved. I'm like, I was a nicer guy before I got saved. What's going on? Right? So I go out and I'm praying hours and hours through all this, Ezekiel. And I remember, I go out and I pray, and I said, God, what is going on? I'm mad at everybody. I'm mad at my pastor. I'm offended with my pastor. I'm offended with my wife. I'm offended with everybody. What's going on? I said, what do I bind? What do I cast out? You know, Come on. And that's when I learned, you don't cast out flesh, you crucify it. Right? And the Lord spoke to me, and he said, son, I have brought you into a furnace of affliction. Now, I have an engineering background. He said, do you see the. The gold ring on your finger? I said, yeah. He said, does. Does it look like pure gold? I said, yeah, yeah. He said, but is it? I said, no, it's 14 karat gold, which, for those of you that don't Understand, that means 14 parts out of 24 parts is gold, but 10 parts out of 24 parts is impurities. Copper, zinc, nickel, all these.
- [10:38]
Ezekiel
No idea about that.
- [10:39]
John Bevere
Okay, Right. So he said, if you put it into a furnace and heat it up a couple thousand degrees, what happens? Now? Engineering background. I know, I said, it liquefies. He said, then what happens? I said, well, the impurities, the copper, zinc, nickel, which are lighter metallic atomic weight, they begin to float to the surface. He said, they appear, right? And all of a sudden I went, yeah, they appear. He said, all this anger, all this bitterness, all this offense that you've seen coming to the surface, he said, it's always been there. He said, it was invisible to you, but visible to me. He said, and I'm answering your prayers. I'm purifying you. I'm teaching you how to live holy. He said, now you can do one of two things. He said, these things are appearing. He said, you can put the blame on your wife, you can put the blame on your pastor, on your friends, or you could take responsibility and repent. And he said, I'll take my ladle and skim these things right off. Ezekiel, that changed my life. That changed my life. So, you know, one of the most dangerous prayers that I prayed before this happened. And I told my sons, I saw, I told all four sons, I said, you need to pray this. I said, it was one of the smartest prayers I prayed when I was in the decade that I was the most stupid. Come on, the twenties. Okay. And I remember praying, I said, God never allowed the anointing that you put on my life to exceed the character that you've developed in me. Because I didn't want to fall. I saw so many people falling for ministry. And I said, God, I just want to be in love with Jesus when I leave this earth. I don't want to fall. Right. So you asked the question. A lot of pain, but I would gladly live through that pain. 90% of what I write in books come through the hardest, most painful years of my life. So if you look at Joseph, Joseph has got kind of a immature character. He's a bragger, he's a tattletale. He shows up, he's a tattletale, he's a bragger. He talks down to his brothers and God says, well, we got to take care of this. And so what happens to him? He ends up going pit to slavery to dungeon.
- [12:51]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [12:51]
John Bevere
And it's over a 19 year period. Well, actually it's a 12 year period that he's in the suffering part of it. And when you see the character that comes because his brothers come back before him 19 years later, when you see the character that he has now, now he's actually blessing them. I mean, he's second command in the world. Because Pharaoh's number one leader in the whole world, he can kill these guys and nobody's even going to question him.
- [13:19]
Ezekiel
Absolutely.
- [13:20]
John Bevere
But he doesn't. Especially when he sets them up and puts the money in their bags. He doesn't. He blesses them. So he has now the character to be able to carry the authority and power God wants him to walk in. And what I've always found important, Ezekiel, is having the authority and the power. A very wise older leader looked at me about a decade ago. I don't know why I'm saying all this, because we were going to talk about something totally different.
- [13:46]
Ezekiel
Keep going.
- [13:48]
John Bevere
But he looked at me after I had done his conference week, right. And we just so happened to be on the same flight, flying out of his city, and he said, man, he said, he just looked at me and he just shook his head. And he said, man, oh, man, the pain and the suffering you've gone through with authority. And I remember him saying this, and I'll never forgot. Must have been remarkable for you to have the authority that's on you the way you do now. And, okay, it has nothing to do with us. It is everything to do with us, responding correctly to the adversity that comes our way.
- [14:31]
Ezekiel
So it's safe to say that we've been using the wrong barometer to measure spiritual maturity, to measure authority. Because sometimes for us, it's, hey, what's the educational background? What have you done? Yeah, who are you to others as it relates to positional status? You're saying that the difference between a stagnant, bitter person and one that grows and is flourishing spiritually is how they've responded or stewarded suffering.
- [15:01]
John Bevere
Yes. So my heart aches because I got a daddy's heart now. I'm 67 years old, okay? And I'm looking at all these offended people now. They pick up offense for anything. It used to be when I wrote the Beta Satan back In the early 90s, people got offended because of what people did to them. Now I'm offended if my gender has been treated a certain way or if my. My. My friends have been certain way or my race has been even treated a certain way. I pick up the offense, not realizing I'm literally imprisoning myself by picking up that offense. And here's the thing. Jesus said before, he's his second coming. What is the signs? I mean, the disciples said, what is going to happen right before you second coming? He said, many. Now, the Greek word many literally means majority. Many will be offended, will betray one another, will hate one another. I. Every conference I've preached on this end, every conference, with the exception of once in 30 years, over 50% of the people responded saying, I'm offended. I was speaking to four. This was just a couple years ago. About three years ago, I was speaking to four. 4,000 licensed professional counselors. Are you tracking with me? These are people that counsel people. And the leader said, man, I want you to come and speak on offenses. How God got you free from offenses. And so I get up there and I mean, the anointing is so strong, right? And there's 4,000 counselors. The anointing is so strong. And I'm like, whoa. And I just think I'm giving them tools to help their counseling, right? Well, about three fourths of the way through, I think maybe a couple of them are offended, right? So at the End. I go, all right, you're offended. You know it. The word of God's. Expose it. You're willing to repent because you've sinned against God by holding the offense. You realize you've sinned against God by holding the offense. You're willing to repent. Stand up. 80% of the 4,000 counselors stood up. I almost lost it. I was like, these are the people that are counseling people. And 80% of them are offended. Because when you get offended now, the people who are really for you, you think are against you, and the people who are offended, you think are for you. And what they do is they help build your offense.
- [17:15]
Ezekiel
Oh, my goodness.
- [17:16]
John Bevere
Okay. They get you in deeper.
- [17:18]
Ezekiel
Yeah.
- [17:19]
John Bevere
Let me. Let me bring you from a jail to a dungeon, brothers.
- [17:23]
Ezekiel
It's finally going down. Restore 2026, October 23rd to the 25th. I know some of you have been before. Many of you have only seen clips on Instagram, but I'll just tell you this right now. It is like nothing you've ever experienced before. This year. We know that God is going to move mightily. The speakers that we have apart, tremendous. The programming, oh, is so spirit led that you don't want to miss it. Trust me when I say this, this is going to be the most life changing restored that we have ever had had. I want you guys to be a part. Those of you that are watching from Instagram or Facebook, the link is in bio. I cannot wait to see you guys break bread. Fellowship with y', all, man. Share our stories, man. God is going to be glorified in a tremendous way. Make sure you register now because we know that seating will be limited. I cannot wait to see each and every one of you a part of this. It's going down. Peace.
- [18:23]
John Bevere
And you think they're for you. See, because when I got over this offense, I found out the very couples that were like, oh, oh, we can't believe what was done to you, they were offended just like me. Because when I got out of it, I saw it. And I saw the couples that really loved me were only speaking truth to me. And I didn't like them speaking truth to me because they didn't feel my pain. Wow. See how immature I was?
- [18:46]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [18:47]
John Bevere
And so, yeah, we're living in the days of the second coming because many. And that word many literally means majority. Majority. And like I said, I've never seen, except one time in 30 years. Less than 50% of the people respond when I. When I. When I ask if they're offended when I do a call for offense.
- [19:07]
Ezekiel
So that was just the intro. I want to talk about this book, the King is Coming. But before we get into the content, you talked about how people have been responding. How people have been responding. I want to kind of deal with that. First and foremost. This book has. Has come out and it was released, I believe this March 3, March 3, 2026 of 2026. And since then, the response, it's no
- [19:35]
John Bevere
book I've ever written before has, has. Has come out of the gate like this one. This book has, has sold like the best book that I'd ever written in 24 books was this one has more than doubled it, I think almost. It's been on the New York Times five times. I mean, it's, it's mind blowing.
- [19:56]
Ezekiel
Why do you think that's happening?
- [19:58]
John Bevere
I think people know. They know in their spirit. His return is so near. And this, this has been, you know, this is something I didn't talk about. Do you know that?
- [20:10]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [20:11]
John Bevere
Okay. I, I like, avoided this like the plague.
- [20:13]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [20:14]
John Bevere
Because I, I didn't like when people talked about eschatology, Eschatology, the study of end times, because it created. It created people that were lazy or who got an escape mentality. I want to get out of this. Right. Or they. This was the worst one. Argumentative Christians, they would argue pre post mid millennial, all this crap.
- [20:37]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [20:38]
John Bevere
Sorry I said it. And it made them fruitless. So people would ask me for four decades, don't you preach on the second coming? I'm like, no, no, not called to. Well, in 2021, God started dealing with me personally about it, and I started really diving in. And we're not talking hundreds of hours, we're talking thousands. And the fruit. I saw my personal life, I thought, oh, this is interesting. First of all, I became more passionate about ministry than ever before. And Ezekiel, I was pretty passionate 10 years ago.
- [21:09]
Ezekiel
Yeah.
- [21:10]
John Bevere
But I got more passionate. I mean, I started finding myself weeping to win souls to Jesus. And I'm like, whoa. My family started saying, dad, you don't get upset as easily about things. My wife started calling me. This is hilarious. She started saying, you're my favorite husband. I'm like, what? What are you talking about?
- [21:29]
Ezekiel
That's good.
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John Bevere
She goes, I like 2.0 veteran, 1.0. And I realized it was all result. So what I learned when I really started diving in is the second coming of Jesus. This is going to blow you away.
- [21:40]
Ezekiel
Come on.
- [21:41]
John Bevere
Is the second most talked about subject in the entire Bible. Second only salvation is more Second, do you know that the early church fathers of the first three centuries, the second most written about subject is the second coming. Do you know that the seven year tribulation is the most written about time period in the Bible? Even more so than the three and a half years Jesus walked the earth. Do you know there were 300 prophecies about his first coming? There's over 2,400 prophecies on his second coming. One out of every 30 verses in the New Testament talk about the second coming. So here's the two questions that come up. Number one, if God talks about it this much, John Bevere, why aren't you? Number two, if God talks about it this much, what's his wisdom behind it? So obviously what I saw it producing was absolutely opposite of what God said it produces. Because God wouldn't talk about something this much if it created argumentative escape mentality people. So why. This is what. See I got this engineering mind, like I told you. I have an engineering degree from Purdue University. And I'm going, I gotta, I gotta understand why, why would you talk about. And that's where this book is founded, in the wisdom behind God. Talking about it so much. I find a lot of times, because when people talk about eschatology, it's either all we talk about is dates and timelines or, or we don't talk about it at all. Now let me give you an example. When I'm a student at Purdue University, we didn't have cell phones, right? We have finals week, right? You had to go to the engineering mall. You had to find out where your all your finals were going to be. It would give the classroom, the building and the date and time. Took me 10 minutes to do that, right? But I spent hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours preparing for the finals. So we talk about dates and timelines when it comes to eschatology, but we don't talk about preparing. And the Bible says that the wedding of the lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready. Doesn't say God made her ready, she made herself ready. So now this is what this book addresses.
- [23:49]
Ezekiel
How?
- [23:50]
John Bevere
Because the Bible is so clear that when Jesus returns. Listen, I'm going to quote 1st John 2, 28. I'm going to blow you away with a scripture that I didn't see for 46 years of reading the Bible. I didn't see the scripture until the end of last year. Seriously, John the apostle goes, and now little children stop. When John says little children, is he talking to atheists no. Is he talking to agnostics? No. Is he talking to people in cults?
- [24:18]
Ezekiel
No.
- [24:19]
John Bevere
Now little children talking about Christians remain in fellowship with him so that when he appears, we might be confident and not shrink back in shame. 2 Responses of Christians when Jesus returns shame, have mercy and confidence. I don't want anybody ashamed. I want everybody confident. That's why I wrote this book. And it. You know who it impacted first was me. There were mornings I came down to breakfast last year and I said, baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so quiet right now. I'm riveted personally by what the Holy Spirit is showing me. Wow. Yes.
- [25:04]
Ezekiel
Okay. That was. That. That was a lot. I did not know that it was first of all. So now I've shaped my questions to not be so focused on timelines and
- [25:17]
John Bevere
things that I'm fine with that. But. But let's talk about the important thing, being ready.
- [25:21]
Ezekiel
I. That's what I want to do. Preparing or she makes herself ready. What does that mean for us as a body today? Because I'm going to throw something at you. It says in Ephesians, chapter five, it talks about how, you know, husbands love your wives, even as Christ loves the church. Who washed her with the Word?
- [25:44]
John Bevere
And, you know, big statement right there, but go ahead.
- [25:47]
Ezekiel
Yes. And he washed her, purifies her so that he could present herself, present her blameless or without blemish to himself. So how is it us? How are we partaking in getting ourselves ready when we don't have a workspace? Salvation.
- [26:04]
John Bevere
Right.
- [26:04]
Ezekiel
How are we getting ourselves ready when it says in scripture that he is going to cleanse us and make us blameless before him?
- [26:13]
John Bevere
Okay, first thing I want to say is, I want to echo what you just said. Our salvation is a gift, okay? You can never, ever earn a relationship with God by doing good works.
- [26:26]
Ezekiel
Okay?
- [26:26]
John Bevere
Is that clear?
- [26:27]
Ezekiel
That's clear. That's clear.
- [26:28]
John Bevere
So let's move past salvation. Let's talk about a wedding. Because most people see the Second Coming. They see it as an event. It's not. It's the wedding of the ages. He's the groom or the bride. It is a groom waiting for his dad to say, go get your girl. And it's a lovesick bride waiting for his groom to come get him. Okay? So most people, they get filled with fear when they hear about the Second Coming. They shouldn't. It's the wedding of the ages. I didn't get scared when my wedding day was coming. My wife didn't get scared. So. So let's let's take fear off the table.
- [26:58]
Ezekiel
Okay, okay, okay.
- [27:00]
John Bevere
Now wait a minute. Let's talk about this. Okay? First of all, the disciples, they get what Jesus is talking about much more than Westerners. Because the way a Jewish wedding went, it was totally different than the way our weddings go today. Today you date a girl for a couple years, you fall in love, you buy the little ring. You and I did this, right? We planned the big night. We get down on one knee, we open it up. Baby, will you marry me? Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Now we're engaged, right? And there are a lot of people that break the engagement. They go, you know, I don't want. Right. Okay. Jewish wedding's totally different. Jewish wedding, the father of the groom and the groom, or just the groom himself, show up at the bride's house, and they bring what's called a ketubah. A ketubah is a bridal contract. They literally come to the bride's house with a contract. All right? And inside the bridal contract is a mohar. I read three Jewish books on this. Okay. Is a mohar. That is the bride price. So they could pay the bride price with camels, donkeys, silver, gold. Right. All this. Right. So because a girl was very important in her family because she's. She's doing duty.
- [28:15]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [28:15]
John Bevere
And he's going to take her away from her family. Yes. And so they got to agree to a price that's going to. So they could hire somebody, whatever, Right. So once they agree on the bride price, they sign the ketuba. She has to agree. She has to say yes. Right. They drink a glass of wine. The groom and his father leave her community. They leave and go back to the groom's house, the groom's father's house, and he immediately begins to build a room off his father's house that will be their place that they live once they are joined. Now, here's the thing that confuses people. Once they agree and they drink that wine, they are betrothed.
- [28:57]
Ezekiel
Okay?
- [28:58]
John Bevere
People will say they're engaged. No, they're not engaged. They're betrothed. The reason I say that is the only way you, you're married, you are married the moment that contract signed. The only thing is, you're not living together and sleeping together and you're not seeing each other. You are married. And the only way you can get out of it is divorce. Remember when Joseph found out Mary was right?
- [29:20]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [29:21]
John Bevere
Okay. He was going to divorce her privately. You could divorce one of two ways, publicly or privately. Publicly shame the entire family of the bride. Privately only shamed the bride. Okay. Because the bride, One of the bride's responsibilities was to keep herself pure. Right after the groom goes back to build, she would go through a migva. A migva is where she is baptized in water in front of her community. That is her declaring, I belong to him. I am no longer eligible. I am married. I am betrothed. Okay. Remember Paul said, I wanted to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. As a chaste betrothed virgin. Go read it. It's amazing. Okay, so now what is her responsibility? Her number one responsibility is to stay pure. In other words, not flirt with other guys, Jump in bed with other guys. Number two, make her wedding dress. We've had bridal shops for maybe 150, 200 years. They didn't have bridal shops. One of her primary responsibilities in that inn was usually a year they were apart from each other. Took them about a year to build that room. And they also wanted to make it a year because they wanted to prove her faithfulness. Because a girl gets pregnant, you're going to know, right? Okay, so it's about a year. But. But they don't know. She doesn't know when he's coming back. You want to know what else he doesn't know when he's coming back? It's not until the groom's father looks at the groom and says, go get your girl. So that's why Jesus said, the angels don't know. Even the Son of Man doesn't know. Only the Father.
- [30:47]
Ezekiel
Yeah.
- [30:48]
John Bevere
All right, so she's got to make her wedding gown. Now. Think about that. She's got to make her gown. So when he comes, and you know how he comes when. When the Father says, go get your girl. That night, he gets his groomsmen and they have a torchlight procession. They come banging, clanging, making noise, blowing chauffeurs into a community. Wakes everybody up. He grabs her by force, Literally takes her by force. Harpazo.
- [31:19]
Ezekiel
Oh, my goodness.
- [31:21]
John Bevere
All right. And she hears all the noise. So she puts the wedding gown on and veils herself. He then takes her back to the room that he's prepared, which is called the chuppah.
- [31:33]
Ezekiel
Hold on. The veil. Cake just got me to the veil.
- [31:35]
John Bevere
She's veiled. Okay. All right. So now all her. The people that are very close to her, they come in this procession. The bridesmaids come in the procession, and they all go back and the groom hurries ahead to where the room is that he prepared for Her. And now they bring her to that room, and he presents the room he has built for her. Remember, Jesus said, hey, in my Father's house there are many mansions. It actually means rooms. There are many rooms. Don't be troubled because I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I'm going to come again. All those guys, they've been to so many weddings. They know exactly what he's talking about. He's going to come by surprise and catch his bride away. Okay, so isn't this. Isn't this cool?
- [32:18]
Ezekiel
So good.
- [32:19]
John Bevere
All right, so now let's talk about her preparations. She's got to pack her trunk. She's got to have her lamp ready, and she's got to make her bridal gown. All right, listen to Revelation, the one I just quoted. The marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Okay, now listen to the next verse. To her, it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Every time we obey God, we're getting more material to make our wedding gown.
- [32:57]
Ezekiel
Oh, my.
- [32:58]
John Bevere
So I wonder if some Christians watching us even have enough material to make a bikini, let alone a wedding dress. You following me? Okay, so we're saved by grace. You can't earn it. We're not talking about salvation right now. We're talking about having our wedding garment. Now, who would be ashamed? Okay, so let me. Let me, Let me. Let me go back to Lisa. Lisa and I were engaged for four months. Entirely too long. A day seemed like a week. A week seemed like a. A month. A month seemed like a year. The last two months of our engagement, September or August, and September, she flew up to Indiana. I was living. We were both living in Dallas. But she had to fly up to Indiana to get the church ready, to get the historic home where our reception was going to be ready.
- [33:43]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [33:44]
John Bevere
And she literally worked like 40 hours a week, okay. Getting this whole thing ready.
- [33:48]
Ezekiel
Wow.
- [33:49]
John Bevere
I fly up to the wedding. Got it. Okay. I walk into that church, Covenant Presbyterian Church, Lafayette, Indiana. I walk into that church. I'm amazed. Amazed how beautiful that she made that. That block of Presbyterian church. Look. All churches, wrong description. Just the average church look. I mean, she's got the flowers everywhere. She's got them on the pew. She's got the runner. She got the arch, you know, where we're going to be joined. And I'm just like, oh, my gosh. Now I see what she was doing. Right. But nothing was as beautiful as when those doors open up and she appeared back there with her dad in that dress. Ezekiel, go back to your wedding. I mean, I lost. I'd never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life.
- [34:42]
Ezekiel
Anything.
- [34:44]
John Bevere
And I'm. I'm losing it as she's walking towards me right now. Can you imagine? I'm staying in that church and those doors open up and there she is with an old ragged dress on, with a bunch of grime and dirt stains. Her hair is unkept and she's got no makeup on. What would that say to me? This day wasn't very important to her. It might be important right now, but it wasn't two months ago.
- [35:15]
Ezekiel
It's so good.
- [35:16]
John Bevere
And when she shows up with that old, raggedy wrinkled dress on, she's going to be ashamed before her friends and ashamed before me. Now do you understand why John says there's going to be believers that are going to be ashamed. There's going to be a believers that are confident. She actually was confident. She had worked 40 hours a week for two months getting ready for this. This wedding day. So the bride has made herself ready. Now that's. That's not. We're not talking salvation.
- [35:52]
Ezekiel
Okay?
- [35:53]
John Bevere
So this is why I think our Western gospel has done such a disservice for people, because our Western gospel puts all the emphasis on the new birth and stops right there.
- [36:03]
Ezekiel
Yes, sir.
- [36:05]
John Bevere
We don't talk about battle to stay offense free, battle to keep yourself unspotted from the world. Get in the Word and wash yourself every day because he will wash you as you get in the Word. Right? So we got people that, they watch social media and YouTube more than they read the Word of God. So we were wondering, you know, why do we have a church that's so divided, so offended, so. So critical, so judgmental. Why. Why are we going through all this? Because we got people that are not being washed by the water of the Word. They're not purifying yourselves. Remember, Jesus said, thy truth is what purifies you. Oh, my truth is what purifies us. Jesus said, my truth. Thy word is truth. It is what sanctifies us. He prayed that, remember, this is why Paul said to the leaders of Ephesus, he said, I commend you to God. And he didn't stop there, last words he's ever going to say. These leaders, I commend you to God. And see, he didn't just say, I commend you to God. Yes, commend you to God and to the Word of His Grace, which is able to build you up and give you your inheritance among them that are sanctified. The word of God is what builds us up. It gives us the ability to build or to make our wedding dress. Because you don't have the strength to obey God if you don't have his word richly dwelling in you.
- [37:26]
Ezekiel
This is really important because I guess sometimes the idea, even the language of being unspotted from the world or being pure from the world makes some think that purification is this idea of just simply avoiding sin. And I'm not going to hang with them. I'm not going to do that, and I'm not going to do that. Accept me as righteous and holy. But you're saying that the purification.
- [37:53]
John Bevere
So this is why, see, Jesus hung out with the notorious sinners. But you see, the reason most Christians can't do that today is because the sinner's stronger in their sin than the Christian is in the word of God.
- [38:05]
Ezekiel
You know what?
- [38:06]
John Bevere
See, when Jesus is with the notorious sinners, he's not trying to be like them. He's controlling the atmosphere by talking about the things of the kingdom. And they wanted to hear what he had to say. So this is what I've noticed. If I get. If I get around somebody who's stronger in their sin or in demonic powers than I am, then I'm in trouble because they're going to control the atmosphere. Whoever is stronger will control the atmosphere. So, Carmen, remember, Carmen, years ago, we're talking about when I was young, young, young. He wrote this song one time called An Invitation from a Witch, right? And I used to watch that video and I felt like the Holy Spirit said to me, most Christians can't go to a witch's house because the witch is stronger in their witchcraft and the Christian isn't in walking closely with me. So this is why we are struggling right now in the Western church. This is why our nation is going the direction it's going. It's not because of. Of what people are in leadership. It's because God says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray and seek my face. When you're offended and you're angry and you're carrying a chip on your shoulder, you are in rebellion to God first and foremost. You're not. You're. You're not. You're not. You're not doing anybody, including yourself, any good by being offended, by carrying a chip on your shoulder, by being prejudiced, by being all this stuff. You're not doing anybody any good. You're only hindering the bride from preparing herself for her groom's coming. And, and I, I get a little concerned because Jesus tells this parable about 10 virgins. Yes. And five are wise, not nine. Five. Five are foolish. Who are the foolish? Paul tells us, make no mistake about this in Ephesians 5, anyone who is immoral. And he starts listing all these things has no inheritance in the kingdom of God in Christ. He said, don't be fooled. Listen to these words. Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins.
- [40:13]
Ezekiel
Wow.
- [40:16]
John Bevere
Okay. And then he tells, he said, live. Live as wise, not as foolish. So in other words, be careful how you live. Live. God has given us the character, the nature that we didn't have before we were saved. I couldn't obey God before I was saved because I had a nature of sin. Yes, but that man died. Come on now. I got a choice. I got the nature. I got the divine nature on the inside of me. So do you?
- [40:47]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [40:48]
John Bevere
So does every believer who's listening to us. The question is, are you going to listen to your flesh? The ones that get angry, wants to stand over your rights, wants to brag about what you've done and accomplished, or are you going to listen to the spirit? I look at Jesus, Jesus constantly saying, don't tell anybody. Just, just go to the priest, do what Moses prescribed. Don't tell anybody. You know, what we do is we say, get a camera on there. Yeah, let's put this on YouTube. On Instagram. This is perfect for Instagram. It's like, that's the way of the world.
- [41:27]
Ezekiel
Help me with this. Someone's watching this. And they're like, okay, I hear what you're saying, especially in the area of offense and all these things. And then you talked about immorality. Someone's saying, but According to Romans 7, there is this perpetual struggle with sin. I, I, someone, when we talked, I talked about unforgiveness in a very, very sincere and strong way. Online, someone said, well, the Lord understands how hard it is to forgive, so he's not going to judge me for holding on to this bitterness. How, as Christians, do we process this idea of struggle with sin? Because we know that we're not in
- [42:09]
John Bevere
our standing question, okay?
- [42:11]
Ezekiel
We're not in glorified body, so what do we.
- [42:13]
John Bevere
The reason people don't understand Romans 7 is because they don't read Romans 6 and Romans 8. Romans 6 says, five times, okay, he made you free from the slavery of sin five times. Romans 6, that even as he was crucified died, and was buried. Even so, we should be raised with him to newness of life. And then he says five times how we have been freed from sin. Okay, so sin will no longer have. Have master or control over you. Right. Well, then he comes to Romans 7 and he makes a statement. He said, when the law came, sin revived and I died. I became a slave to sin. He's talking about his life under the law because then he comes along in Romans 8 and says, now there's no condemnation to them. They're in Christ Jesus who don't walk after the flesh. I don't have to walk after the flesh, but they walk after the spirit. So, yeah, Romans 7 is going to apply if you choose to listen to your sin nature. But Paul said that do not be a slave of sin. Yes, but be a slave of righteousness. In other words, obey the righteousness in here instead of this. So listen, anybody says, john the apostle didn't write this, and say, my little children, these things I write unto you that listen to what he says, that you sin not. And if we sin, he doesn't say, when we sin. He said, if the goal is not to sin. Now, of course, I've needed to confess to Jesus.
- [43:37]
Ezekiel
You've needed to confess, of course.
- [43:39]
John Bevere
But the goal is not to sin. So people go, oh, our heart is so wicked, it's deceived. You were quoting Old Testament. And God said, I'm going to give you a new heart, a new spirit in the New Testament. You're living under Old Testament law. Okay. We are new creation.
- [43:58]
Ezekiel
Oh, my.
- [44:00]
John Bevere
We have been set free from the law of sin and death. It's a law If. Okay, the law of gravity is still out there. If I. We are third store of a building. If I jump off that balcony right over there, I'm going down pretty fast.
- [44:15]
Ezekiel
Yeah.
- [44:15]
John Bevere
And I'm probably not going to survive. Yeah, okay. Because the law of gravity is still out there. But then I've done about 12 million miles of flying, and I sit down in that seat and that pilot revs those engines up, and you know what happens? There's a law of lift that once the air pressure on top of the wing decreases and the pressure increases on the bottom, all due to airspeed over the airfoil. I'm getting engineering now. Okay? That law of lift goes into place, and you know what it does? It sets me free from the law of gravity. Now I can fly over the Pacific ocean and ocean. Not even think about. I sleep not even think about falling into that ocean. But if that pilot turns off those engines, baby. That law of gravity is still in effect. I'm going to that ocean fast, and I'm going to my death fast.
- [45:04]
Ezekiel
That's good.
- [45:05]
John Bevere
Okay, so here's your choice. You can live in Romans 7, you can live under the law of gravity, or you can live in the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and not be a slave to sin. That's so good fun. He's done all this for us. It just makes me so thankful for him.
- [45:29]
Ezekiel
Oh, man, I gotta. I gotta get to this part. Because you talked about in your book, there's a chapter called the Season of His Return, as if there are things that we should be able. We're able, like with the seasons, we're able to kind of recognize things that are happening and build ourselves up and prepare. Do you believe that we are currently in the season of his return?
- [45:54]
John Bevere
Without a doubt. Were the final generation before his return? Without a doubt. Now, is it the wars, the rumors of wars, Is it the pestilence, the famines? Now we've had that ever since Jesus died on the cross. The big, big, big one, Jesus said, is the fig tree. Now the fig tree is always described by God in the Old Testament as Israel. Yes, and the fig tree begins to sprout leaves. Think about this. Titus destroys the Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. right? But the Jewish people are not exposed or expelled. Excuse me, expelled from Israel. Until 135 A.D. they had a stronghold and it was called the Bar Kabola Rebellion. Once they destroyed that rebellion, the Romans, every single Jewish person was either killed. I mean, just Jerusalem alone, 600,000 to a million Jews were killed. And the reason they tore every stone down was because they word had gotten out. They hid their valuables inside, in. In between the stones. And the reason they disemboweled so many Jews is because they were swallowing their coins. So when the Roman soldiers heard about it, they literally, it was.
- [47:02]
Ezekiel
It was.
- [47:02]
John Bevere
It was a slaughter. So every single Jew was either killed, sold to slavery, or they got out. And they went to eventually every nation in the world. Now that was over 1800 years ago. In that 1800 years, the Jewish people kept their custom, kept their religion and kept their language. They're speaking Hebrew today in Israel.
- [47:28]
Ezekiel
Okay.
- [47:29]
John Bevere
Do you understand how great of a miracle that alone in itself is? Because God says in Isaiah 11, he says, for the second time, I'm going to bring you back from captivity. What was the first time? When he brought him back from Babylon. Second time he says, I'm going to bring you back from all nations. Yes. Babylonian captivity. They came back from Persia. The second time they came back from all nations. 1948. Okay. Jesus said assuredly, heaven and earth can pass away, but my words won't. That generation will not pass until all these things are fulfilled. One of the all these things is his coming in the clouds with his holy ones in his glory. Okay, so we know. I can say for sure we're living in the final generation now. A generation. What is. Can be 40 years, 70 years, or 100 years. Nelson's Bible dictionary describes a generation as the same time period. Human beings live on the earth. So we have World War II vets that are still alive today. Very few. So it's about 100 years, because, you know that was 1945, but you had 15 years because they had to be at least 15 years old to fight in a war. You're.
- [48:36]
Ezekiel
You're.
- [48:36]
John Bevere
You're back to 1925, 1930. So. So it's about 100 years. All right. Israel gets control of Jerusalem. Jesus said Jerusalem would be trampled down by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. They get back Jerusalem in 67. If I go 100 years, I'm at 2067. Now there are people that are saying John Bevere is saying dates, right?
- [48:58]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [49:00]
John Bevere
Oh, my gosh. Between now and 2067. Okay, that's 41 years. How many days are in that 41 years? I'm picking a day and an hour. It's hilarious how people are so conditioned to mishear what you're saying. What I'm saying is, I believe with all my heart between now and 2070, I believe the Lord's going to return. Because why do I say that? Because God and God cannot lie. Says in Hosea, he said, I will dis. I will. I will tear you into pieces, speaking to Israel. Okay, did that happen 70 AD to 135? It happened. He said, then I'll go back to where I came from. To go back to where you came from. This is Hosea 5. You had to leave where you were, go somewhere, then you go back to where you came from. That's what Jesus did in that generation?
- [49:55]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [49:56]
John Bevere
Okay. Then he says this so clearly, and people don't put it together because it's. The next verse is chapter six. After two days now, what does Peter tell us? Scoffers are going to come up in the last days. They're going to say, where's the promise of his coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep Everything remains the same as from creation, Right? So it's really interesting. Atheists don't call church fathers fathers, and atheists call creation evolution. He's talking about people in the church. Anyway, they're gonna say, where's it come? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, everything he said, but you, beloved, you must not forget this one thing. A day with the Lord's a thousand years. And a thousand years is a day. Why did God create the earth in seven days? Why didn't he do it one day? He said to Adam, the day you eat of this fruit, you're gonna die. He didn't die that day. He did spiritually, but he didn't die physically. And God's talking about dying going back to dust. Adam lived to be 970 years old. He was 30 years shy. 930 years old. He was 70 years shy of one day. So in the day he ate the fruit, he died. Because God one day is a thousand years. It's like, okay, come on, guys.
- [51:06]
Ezekiel
Yeah.
- [51:06]
John Bevere
All right. So now it's been 6,000 years since Adam. We're at the end of the sixth day. Hosea said, after two days he'll revive us. Who's us? After 2,000 years, he'll revive us. Us is the Jewish people. Remember Paul said in Romans, he said that the Jewish people have a blinder on the eye until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. Then the blinders come off and all of Israel is going to be saved. He's going to revive us after 2000 years. So Jesus was crucified. Some say 30, some say 32, some say 33. Let's say it's 32. That's the one I like. All right. The destruction of the temple was 70 A.D. yes. All right, so let's go 2,000 years from 70 A.D. let's make it that. Okay. And then God says, you're at 2070. If it's 32, you're at 2032. So I'm given a 40 year window. I'm given the generation that basically Jesus said, that generation won't pass until all this. I am not selecting a day. I am not selecting an hour. I'm not even predicting a year. I'm just saying I want to live like he's coming back right now.
- [52:13]
Ezekiel
Oh, my goodness. Now with this, there are many different offshoots and false religions that have claimed different things. And one thing that we've seen, especially with these false claims, are followers going, and they're selling everything. They're, they're doing everything they can to just like laughing.
- [52:32]
John Bevere
And I shouldn't be to.
- [52:33]
Ezekiel
To just get. Get ready by stopping what they're doing.
- [52:37]
John Bevere
He said, occupy until I come. Do you know what that means? I plan on. I plan my life like, he's not coming back for 200 years, but I live like, he's coming back today.
- [52:46]
Ezekiel
Explain that. Explain that.
- [52:48]
John Bevere
Okay, so how I plan how messenger is like, we. We have two sons that I can really see how God's going to. God's hand on them so strong, they're going to take messenger to the next level when Lisa and I graduate to heaven. Right? Okay. If. If he doesn't return in our lifetime. These guys. And then. Then there's. There's a few of these sons and daughters of theirs that I'm like, okay, I'm seeing things, right? I'm seeing down. So I'm looking at three generations right now. And I'm planning because I want Messenger. We've got goals for Messenger. We have. We speak about him internally. I don't want to speak about him on air. But we're planning because Jesus said, you do business until I come back. So until he literally comes in the clouds and calls our name, his bride, I'm going to keep planning. Like, I've got to work tomorrow and the next day and the next. Today, tomorrow, the next day, the next day and the next day. So that's the way we live or plan, but the way we live. Peter says, when you see all these things are going to come to pass, you should be holy. In other words, set apart for him. Don't be the. The. The betrothed virgin that is sleeping, flirting with or dating the world. That's why James calls the believer who flirts with. Sleeps with the world an adulterer. Because we are married to Jesus now. We aren't married to Jesus when he comes back. We're married now. We're betrothed. Oh, okay. And my job being betrothed is to make my wedding dress and to keep myself unspotted from the world. That's why James says, pure and undefiled religion. Is this to keep yourself unspotted from the world and to visit orphans, widows, and. And. And, yeah, orphans and widows.
- [54:31]
Ezekiel
Are we supposed to be preparing for tribulation?
- [54:36]
John Bevere
Without a doubt, at all times?
- [54:38]
Ezekiel
Well, some people say, well. Well, tribulation is not for believers. Tribulation is.
- [54:44]
John Bevere
I love your questions. I love your questions because you're asking the right questions. Ezekiel, I like you so much. I'm so glad about you.
- [54:52]
Ezekiel
I really love you too. I, I, I mean Jesus said in
- [54:55]
John Bevere
this world you're going to have tribulation. Paul said, we through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. There are more Christians that are killed in the last hundred years than there have been 1900 years put together for their faith. It's seriously in Nigeria right now. It's been and oh gosh, it's terrible what's happened last night during.
- [55:12]
Ezekiel
Right? No, both my parents are from Nigeria. Come on brother, telling you so.
- [55:17]
John Bevere
Okay.
- [55:17]
Ezekiel
It's close to home.
- [55:18]
John Bevere
It's close to home. You look at the Christians in the nations we're working with in the Middle east, there's so many so persecuted, right? You look at the tribulations we go through here in America. Okay. A lot of people aren't going through tribulation in America because they compromise. If you're just going to obey God, you're going to go through tribulation. Okay, so now let's talk about tribulation. There is tribulation and there is the tribulation. Okay, okay. Tribulation is the world's anger against us. I'm going to obey God. The world says, I'm going to make sure you're going to be resisted. Right. Tribulation is the world's anger against the believer. It's happening right now, it's going to happen tomorrow, it's going to happen the next day.
- [55:59]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [56:00]
John Bevere
The tribulation is God's wrath against the sinful world. Okay, so, so like God's going to say let me beat up really good my son's bride by pouring out all these wrath on them. I mean there's 24 judgments, you know, as much as 75 pound hailstones. Do you know there's billions of people killed in the tribulation? Billions. The Bible says the tribulation will be so severe that human beings will be as rare as fine gold. When I mean just on the, what is it?
- [56:30]
Ezekiel
The,
- [56:32]
John Bevere
one of the seals, One of the, a fourth of humankind is put to death. Two billion people just on the first four seals. So we got what, 17 more to go. So you look at another one of the bowl judgments, I think it's one third of mankind's put to death. I mean God's going to do this to his church, to his bride. It's God's wrath against the sinful world. But you know, in that wrath there's mercy. Because God is hoping that when people see this tribulation, this wrath he's pouring out, the people repent. I believe there's going to be a harvest of souls in the tribulation. So many people's eyes are going to be opened up and go, what am I doing? Yes. And they're going to repent and they're going to turn to God. I really believe that.
- [57:25]
Ezekiel
And these are two distinct groups. The church is going to be. The groom is going to take away. But those that emerge from the tribulation are those which wouldn't be considered part of the church age.
- [57:38]
John Bevere
They're saints. They're called Saints. Churches mentioned 19 times in the first three books of Revelation, but you don't hear church again until chapter 22. And the reason is these are tribulation seats, which are either Gentiles that get saved.
- [57:52]
Ezekiel
Wow.
- [57:53]
John Bevere
Or they're the Jewish. Remember, all of Israel will be saved.
- [57:55]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [57:55]
John Bevere
You know, the Bible tells us that 2/3 of the Jews are going to be killed by the Antichrist. Zechariah. Two thirds. We thought Hitler was bad. This guy is going to be unbelievable. I mean, he's wicked. He's Satan manifested in the flesh. Just as Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. He's the man of lawlessness. He's Antichrist.
- [58:19]
Ezekiel
Do you have any, I guess, thoughts on Antichrist? There's so many people who are making all of these suggestions and theories.
- [58:28]
John Bevere
First of all, it says that he will not be revealed until he who holds back.
- [58:33]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [58:34]
John Bevere
Lawlessness is taken out of the way.
- [58:36]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [58:37]
John Bevere
Who is the one, the restrainer, that holds back lawlessness? Think about it. In America, you have such godly people. They are literally holding back lawlessness. If you were to take every believer, true believer, out of America, America would go so fast into lawlessness.
- [58:56]
Ezekiel
Oh, my goodness.
- [58:57]
John Bevere
It would be worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.
- [58:59]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [59:01]
John Bevere
So who's the restrainer? It can't be the Holy Spirit, because so many people get saved in the tribulation. And you can't confess Jesus Christ without the Holy Spirit, so he can't be taken out of the earth. The only ones taken out of the earth, out of every construct of society, is the body of Christ, the true body of Christ. Now remember, these are the five wise virgins. These are the ones who actually obey God. Taking obedience to God seriously. Not the unwise. Yes, the unwise. I believe it's God giving them another chance. It doesn't say the unwise virgins ended up where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. It doesn't say that. I believe they're given another chance. It's going to Be a horrific seven years, but they're going to be given another chance. And I think they're the saints that are beheaded for the glory of God, that come up in the middle of the tribulation at the throne of God.
- [59:49]
Ezekiel
Wow.
- [59:50]
John Bevere
I mean, think about it, man. Today they know exactly where you are, what you're saying, what you're doing. You can't hide today like you used to hide 50 years ago.
- [60:00]
Ezekiel
That's so good, man.
- [60:02]
John Bevere
And you got these people building these, you know, fortresses.
- [60:05]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [60:06]
John Bevere
But if you look at the book of Isaiah, it says God's, God's resurrection life is going to come on the people of the grave and they're going to be raised up and then he's going to pour out his wrath on the nations. But first the resurrection of those in the grave. And Paul said, hey, I'm going to tell you a mystery. Here's something Isaiah didn't know then. We who were alive together with them are going to be caught up with the Lord in the clouds. I cannot see in scripture how anybody can believe the church is going through the tribulation. Because all the scripture, when you study it, it's like a puzzle. You gotta really study it. But there are too many contradictions, too many saying, the bride is going to get conquered by the Antichrist, yet the saints are going to be conquered by the Antichrist. Heaven will give the Antichrist power over the saints. Read in the book of Daniel. But Jesus said, the gates of hell will not conquer my church. Is Jesus words not true. No. He's talking about his bride, his church. He's not talking about the Tribulation saints. It's different group of people.
- [61:18]
Ezekiel
And his bride will only be those who are ready.
- [61:21]
John Bevere
Yes. And let me tell you something. He's coming like a thief for his church. Right. For his bride. Right. If it's post tribulation, I mean, we're going to know exactly when the Antichrist does the abomination of desolation sets up the idol in the temple of God. We're going to know Exactly. It's exactly 12, 60 days until Jesus comes. Yes. That's not a thief in the night.
- [61:45]
Ezekiel
That's. See, that's the thing that has trouble me. I'm like, post doesn't quite make sense for the thief in the night conversation.
- [61:53]
John Bevere
Now. It does.
- [61:54]
Ezekiel
Oh, man. Okay, so just a couple more questions about this one is we've dealt with a lot of these last days. We're in the last days, these last days ideas. We're in the last Days and great tribulation, post tribulation, pre tribulation, all of these things. You're basically standing to say based on what the evidence of scripture says is saints are going to be removed before the great tribulation. But saints have already been and already are experiencing tribulation, which is promised in Scripture.
- [62:31]
John Bevere
Absolutely.
- [62:31]
Ezekiel
Okay.
- [62:32]
John Bevere
And I'm going to call it church. Let's say the church. I'm sorry, Church saints and Jewish saints.
- [62:37]
Ezekiel
Okay.
- [62:37]
John Bevere
So we got three. Three we got to remember.
- [62:40]
Ezekiel
Okay. All right.
- [62:41]
John Bevere
Accurately said.
- [62:42]
Ezekiel
Okay, good.
- [62:42]
John Bevere
We are going through tribulation right now and probably a whole lot more before this whole thing's done with.
- [62:47]
Ezekiel
Okay, good. One thing I've wanted to ask about is Joel chapter two, which I think is a fascinating passage. I think it. It speaks to the day of the Lord. It talks about the young men and the daughters and sons and the pouring out of the Spirit.
- [63:03]
John Bevere
Yes.
- [63:04]
Ezekiel
In the Pentecostal movement back in the day, there's always been this hypen the Azusa revival and all that. There's always been that hype about revival. And I guess in that time, revival was this speaking in tongues, jumping around and dancing. So that's what it seemed like. But according to Joel, chapter two, the revival was as a response to a weeping and mourning and deep repentance, which would lead to this kind of awakening of the people of God. Where is that? How does that happen? Are these the saints? Is this the church? What is that?
- [63:42]
John Bevere
Excellent question. Okay. There are people that are going to say, we cast out demons in your name. We did miracles in your name. And Jesus is going to say, depart. So that's not the awakening. The awakening is when I awaken to the fact that I am his and I'm going to live a separated life for him. That is a great awakening. Now John the Baptist came, and his message was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I believe there is a group of young men, young women, older men, older women that are going to come, and their message is going to be to the lost in the church. Just as John prepared the people for his first coming. This group of people is going because when Jesus came down from the mount of Transfiguration, go look it up. Matthew 17. This is so clear. Peter, James, and John said, okay, we see it. You're the Messiah. Then who is Elijah? Because. Because. Because Malachi said, elijah's coming first. And Jesus said, elijah is coming. This is Matthew 17. John was beheaded. Matthew 14. Yes. John's already gone. Elijah is coming. That's future. And then he said, and Elijah has come already. And he said they did to him what they, you know, what they wanted.
- [64:58]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [64:59]
John Bevere
And they knew he was speaking about John the Baptist. Yes. So Jesus clearly talks about a future Elijah because Elijah's coming forward. The great and dreadful day of the Lord. That's not his first coming, that's the second coming.
- [65:10]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [65:11]
John Bevere
It's also his great day of the Lord is his first coming. So I believe Joel foresees this anointing not being on one person like it was with John, but being on a group of men and women. So I personally believe this is me. This is a little bit of conjecture in this.
- [65:30]
Ezekiel
Okay.
- [65:31]
John Bevere
But I think I got a lot of scripture to back it.
- [65:33]
Ezekiel
Okay.
- [65:34]
John Bevere
I think the greatest move of God's spirit, our nation's ever seen is about to occur before the catching away. I believe there's going to be the third Great Awakening, and it's going to dwarf the first and second great awakening.
- [65:48]
Ezekiel
What do you think that looks like?
- [65:49]
John Bevere
And returning to obedience with things like this happening, and returning to obedience, which is the focus of this message, is the way to be ready is to be in a place of I'm yours. Yes, I'm all yours. You know, repentance can be best understood by a girl. When she said yes to her man that's down on one knee, she says goodbye to 3.9 billion guys. Yes. When we say yes to Jesus, we say goodbye to all the things that drove the nails through your hands that you died to set me free from glory. We haven't preached that very strongly in the American church. We just say, pray a sinner's prayer. And so we got people still sleeping with the very things that drove the nails through Jesus hand. They think nothing of it. They're still bound at pornography, they're still substance abuse. They're still sleeping with their girlfriend. They're still sleeping with their boyfriend. They're living in adultery. And part of it is because we leaders didn't tell them, oh, when you get engaged, you stop flirting with other guys. We gotta tell them this. We gotta tell them that the first foundation of our relationship with Jesus. Hebrews 6 is repentance from dead works. Second foundation is faith in God. In other words, our faith is counterfeit if we don't have repentance because we don't have the foundation. The first foundation is repentance. Hey, I'm done. First thing Lisa said in her mind before she ever walked down that aisle in that gorgeous dress is Tony her high school boyfriend. I'm done with you. Peter, my college boyfriend, I'm done with you. This is my man. I'm done with every guy on the planet. This is my man. Yes, that's repentance.
- [67:34]
Ezekiel
Have mercy.
- [67:35]
John Bevere
Okay, we don't tell people to do that.
- [67:37]
Ezekiel
Oh.
- [67:37]
John Bevere
We just say pray, a sinner's prayer. We just do the marriage ceremony. Jesus, come into my heart. I'm all yours. No, you got to repent of your sins. You got to say, which means. Okay, doesn't mean you're perfect. Lisa wasn't perfect the first week of our marriage. It just means in our heart, I'm not going to be sleeping with these guys anymore. I'm not going to be dating with them. I'm not going to be flirting with them.
- [68:01]
Ezekiel
That's so good. That's so good. I mean, this book is important to me because There are over 500 scripture references in this book. It's not a book where it's just citing opinion. It's literally showing you what scripture says about the king's return. Yeah, I think it's so necessary because what you're saying is basically our mindset, our heart set. Now it has to shift to be that of a ready bride. Otherwise we will be foolish. There's nothing else to say about that. I want to be a wise bride. I want to know what it means to live a life where I'm constantly. I mean, any woman who is about to get married in the next six months, the only thing she's thinking about is that day.
- [68:50]
John Bevere
That's right.
- [68:51]
Ezekiel
The fact that we have an idolatry and adultery, they work hand in hand in a way where, man, I had this conversation so much. People think that when God says, thou shalt not have any other gods before me, he meant, thou shall not prioritize things above me. And that's not always what it means. Because I don't think that the people of Israel were worshiping the golden calf thinking this is our new God. And we forget the God that took us out of Egypt. It was. We can also worship this God. I can have this, my heart for the Lord, and also have these other things. But that exclusivity of monogamy is what is what prepares that bride. And that conversation of what adultery looks like is just like it says, thou shalt not have any other gods before me, which is in my presence. And that lifestyle is not just. It's not just as it relates to the way that the Lord perceives and blesses us. But in fact, we will never be able to fully get the relationship that we desire with God, with others in the room.
- [69:59]
John Bevere
Yeah.
- [70:00]
Ezekiel
When we corrupt and corrode that space, we'll never be able to see God full.
- [70:04]
John Bevere
When I married Lisa, yes, I behaved around women one way before I got engaged, but after I got married, I behaved differently. I sit next to women on airplanes. I, I, I'm, When I, you know, at grocery stores, I'm, I'm talking to the girl that's checking, checking, you know, that's doing. Checkout counter. Yeah, checkout counter.
- [70:27]
Ezekiel
Yes.
- [70:27]
John Bevere
Constantly I'm in contact with women, but I behave with them differently than when I was single. So idolatry is when you behave with these things as if you weren't married to Jesus. So do I still go see a football game? Yeah. Do I still enjoy the World cup? Soccer? Yeah. Do we talk about the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers? Yeah. We did it before we got on this podcast. Because you're a Yankee fan, I'm a Tiger fan. And you have a lot more history than we do. But. Of course, But I'm relating to these things differently than the way I related in the world. I was consumed. I was enamored. I drew my strength from man. When the Lions won, Detroit Lions, before I got saved, I was so happy. Oh, my goodness. I drew my strength from that. When they lost, I could barely eat. I was so depressed when. Before I got saved. Tennis was my God. I played varsity tennis at Purdue. I played junior Davis Cup. I played the USTA circuit. Tennis was my God. Okay. I mean, I'm, I'm drawing strength from winning the state high school tournament. But when Jesus became my Lord, it was so easy to walk off the Purdue varsity tennis team as a starter. I walked off, never looked back, never missed it, because I realized I wasn't going to play Wimbledon. Why should I give six hours a day to this sport?
- [72:00]
Ezekiel
Yeah.
- [72:01]
John Bevere
So do I still have I played tennis since. Oh, yeah. I remember I was going to Greece and speaking to pastors in Greece, and the guy was my host. He was. His dad was the national Greek champion. He was at tennis pro, and he heard I played at Purdue, and he was like, we're playing tomorrow. We had a blast. I won the first set, and he won the second set, and we stopped because it was 120 degrees on the court. But it's got a different place, just like women have a different place as a married man than they did when I was a single man. I was a single man. She's a potential. She's a. I'm Gonna talk to her. Sweet, right? I'm not doing that now. I'm in love with Lisa Bevere, who's been my wife 44 years. I'm gonna stay in love with her. And I'm not interested in other women. I'm interested in her, but I interact with women every day.
- [72:50]
Ezekiel
Yeah, and I love that you said the potential, and we got to kill that. Because God, when he required Abraham to go ahead and slay your son, God never had an intention of killing Isaac that day, but he did want to kill the potential of idolatry and Abraham. And so if we don't have. And as soon as he raised a knife in that moment, Isaac was as good as dead as it related to obedience. And for us, if we don't get to the point. And that's everything. I mean, from your life, from the books to, you know, everything that we have that even God blesses us with. That said, this is yours. I've learned to hold things so loosely, and I say, hey, God, you've given this to me. But now what do you want me to do? Do you want me to take a pause? Do you want me to approach this differently? Because you're my God. So now, even as it relates to the things that you've blessed me with, my attitude changes because, like, I belong to you now.
- [73:42]
John Bevere
So proud of you, man.
- [73:44]
Ezekiel
I just. I love. I love this. I was introduced to you. I heard about the Beta Satan, but the awe of God and the fear of God. I'm going to just mention every book that you have, I think every believer needs, because this is what I loved about the awe of God. I love that there are moments to pause and reflect to pray in that book. It was almost like the book was designed to really, truly help people. It wasn't designed. First of all, it doesn't feel like AI, because when you read it, you feel the presence of God. And two, you really feel the intention of your heart to really get people to the place where you had been. So the final question I would ask, because I believe it ties into this conversation as it relates to preparing for the King's. Our great king's return, is how does the awe or our fear of God tie in to our preparedness for our
- [74:44]
John Bevere
King in a huge way? Before I answer that, I am going to say we did this book the same way. Time to reflect the. Ponder the prayer, the passage. And so we made it really, really to go deep. The fear of the Lord is central to the return of Jesus. If you look at Jesus, he delighted in the fear of the Lord. Now I figure we need to delight in what he delights in. If you look at the fear of the Lord, Paul said, you work out your salvation with fear and trembling, not with loving kindness. The fear of the Lord is called God's treasure in Isaiah 33. 6. So in other words, it's a treasure he gave us to protect us from falling away. The fear of the Lord is what keeps us from falling away. I'll never forget when a minister who was put in jail for five years, who had the largest ministry on the planet earth in the 1990s, and I. I asked him one question. I said, this is my biggest question. How do I end up not being like you? You're 25 years older than me. You had the biggest ministry on the planet. You're in jail for five years. How do I end up not being like you? When did you fall out of. Out of love with Jesus? And he said, I didn't. And I shook my head and I said, excuse me. I mean, you committed adultery seven years before you arrested. You did all these crimes that got you arrested. What do you mean you didn't fall out of love with Jesus? He said, john, I loved him all the way through it. And I was confused. And he said, john, I didn't fear God. He said, there are millions of Christians just like me. They. They love Jesus, but they have no fear of God. So the fear of God isn't to be scared of God because you can't be intimate with somebody you're afraid of. It's actually being terrified of being away from God. That's the fear of the Lord.
- [76:29]
Ezekiel
I always say, like, sometimes I walk men through a lot, and sometimes you hear from other people, man, all you need is accountability. All you need is these boundaries. And I do believe that those things are important.
- [76:40]
John Bevere
I do, too.
- [76:41]
Ezekiel
But one thing I've realized is, man, I don't want to start crying up here is man without the fear of God. Man, cry all you want.
- [76:50]
John Bevere
We know it's your program, but you can cry all you want. God delights in your tears, man.
- [76:56]
Ezekiel
I mean, accountability doesn't get far, right? Accountability and boundaries and all of these things that we can try to do.
- [77:05]
John Bevere
Yes.
- [77:05]
Ezekiel
If you don't. If you don't honor God, man, if. If you don't honor.
- [77:11]
John Bevere
If you don't honor him, it's internal. So I. So when I have accountability, I'm only as good as when they're with me. There are a lot of hours I'm not with Them. The fear of the lord is accountability. 24:7. Fear of the Lord's there. When none of my friends are around and I'm online, the lack of the fear of the Lord. Hey, my accountability group's not here. I can check this, this porn site out for a few minutes. Fear of the Lord says, I'm not doing that. And it is a force. It is a real, real force. And that's why Jesus delighted in it. And so that's why I believe it's so central to us, being a chaste bride ready for his return. And guys, can I say something, please? If you've sinned, he is so merciful. Okay. Whoever confesses and forsakes shall obtain mercy. It's not just confessing, it's. It's saying, God, I will never do this again by youy help and grace. When I was bound to pornography in my twenties, every time I fell into it, I cried out to God and I said, I am so sorry. I will never do this again by your help and grace. And I kept falling into it because it had a stronghold in my life. And then one day, after five years of battle, God showed me how to break this stronghold. But I. I can tell you this. I really repented every time in that five years. I really was like, God, I never want to do this again. But it had such a strong grip. So I'm not saying this to get you that have fallen in the past. My wife made mistakes the first week, the first year. What I am saying is it is worth the battle to get free from something. It was a big five year battle. I got bound to it when I was 11 years old. I got free when I was 25 years old. And I've never been the same since. I've been free ever since. And I'm 67 now. There is freedom in Jesus. There is freedom. The Bible says, whom the Son makes free is free indeed. How does he make him free? If you continue in My Word, continue in My Word, not continue in Instagram, not continue in social media. You continue my Word, you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. This is the way I like to look at it. There's people getting set free, and there's people getting made free. What's the difference? Cast a demon out of somebody, it's like turning a glass of water over. The glass is empty. Jesus said, that demon comes back later and says, that thing's empty. Swept because it did, they didn't get filled back up. But if I take a fist and I run my fist down, I get so full of Jesus, it displaces the water. Now I'm already full. That's made free, that's set free. Jesus said, you continue my word. You're my disciples indeed. And you'll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. It made me free when I was 25 years old. And just let me be an encouragement to you. There is freedom. There's freedom from the youthful lust that Paul said to Timothy to flee from. There's freedom from all these things. God loves you as much as he loves me. He doesn't love me more than you. He doesn't love Jesus more than he loves you. He loves you as much as he loves Jesus. So don't you buy that lie that he doesn't love me. Your dad may not have been good to you. Your dad may not have been faithful to you. Your dad may not have loved you. God is not your dad. He is a perfect father and he is cheering you on and he wants you free. So just know he's in your corner. If God is for us, who can be against me? So I encourage you. Fight. It's worth the fight. Amen.
- [81:00]
Ezekiel
You already, you said everything. We're just gonna, we're just gonna pray. One thing I'm encouraging those that are watching this is I'm not big on pitching and things like that. But what I am about is when I started this podcast, I said, God, I literally want this to be your thing, and I only want to do what you want me to do. And so when I see not just a man of God, but see spirit led opportunities for people to change and grow to change their mind, I want to get you a part of it. I think both of these books just. I think all of the books that this man wants to get into your hands are necessary. Why? Because I've met people that are just into selling books and then I've met people that are into changing lives. And I just want to say, this man on camera, off camera, and here's the thing, I've heard about him off camera from other people and that's when I know who a person is. I listen to the gossip and they say, man, listen that man. And that's why I was so longing to meet you, because of the gossip that I heard about you.
- [82:22]
John Bevere
Wow. That always be true, that good gossip.
- [82:26]
Ezekiel
And you poured it in here, you poured it in these books. And I want you guys to be transformed. I don't want this to just be something that happens here because he was transformed. I was transformed. You will be transformed. You will be ready. We will join each other as we prepare ourselves as brides for our soon coming king. But the beautiful thing about it is we have the power to stand. We have the power to. To. To walk this thing out, man. And so I just thank you for your words, man. And if you could pray for those that are watching. Didn't have to be a long prayer, but just pray for those who are watching, because I. I think that there's a. There's a shift that's happened already.
- [83:08]
John Bevere
If you. Thank you for the kind words that you've spoken, if you have felt distanced, you know in your heart I'm distant. I'm not in that intimate relationship with Jesus. Here's all you have to do. Do what that girl does on her wedding day. She walks down that aisle, she says goodbye to 3.9 billion guys. All you have to do is in your heart, say goodbye to everything that drove the nails in your creator's hands. This is how much he loves you. He was beaten for 10 hours to the point that he didn't even look like a human being. He was scourged to where his backbone and hip bones were exposed. He wore a crown of thorns, and he could have called for 12 legions of angels to get him out, but he said, for the joy set before him, he endured. You're the joy that was set before him. Your Creator allowed himself to go through that kind of torment and suffering because he wanted you to have a relationship with God forever and ever and ever. All you have to do is say goodbye to whatever drove the nails through his hands and say, jesus, I need you. And his gift of salvation will come into your life. Right now. All you have to do is say this with me. Ezekiel and I are going to pray for you. Just say this. God in heaven. I am so sorry that I've lived life my way apart from you, my Creator. I'm so deeply sorry right now. I forsake everything in my heart. I forsake everything that drove the nails into Jesus hands. The offensive behavior, the offensive everything. I forsake it. And I give myself to you, Jesus. I give you my spirit. I give you my soul. I give you my body. I give you everything I am and everything I have. You are now my Lord, my King, my Master, and my bridegroom. I am yours forever. Thank you for changing me. Thank you for literally causing the old person to die in me. And now I'm a brand new person. I've been born Again, right now, in Jesus mighty name.
- [85:21]
Ezekiel
Amen. Amen. Amen. Any. Any questions that you guys have to be able to reach John and his team and all the links that you guys need. You know that it's in the description. You know how to reach it and just comment. We want to see your comments, how this impacted you, in what ways it impacted you. Go ahead and put it in the comments. And if you want to email, you know how to email. I'll forward some stuff to him so he could see how you guys were trans.
- [85:45]
John Bevere
I'd love that.
- [85:46]
Ezekiel
Yeah, man. Thank you so much.
- [85:48]
John Bevere
This is such an amazing on with you. Thank you for having me on your program.
- [85:52]
Ezekiel
Hope it's not the last time. Hopefully I can see you again.
- [85:54]
John Bevere
I hope so. Okay. Because I've enjoyed it.
- [85:56]
Ezekiel
Very good, man. God bless.
- [85:57]
John Bevere
Whether you believe it or not, the King is coming. So I hear Jesus is making a comeback.
- [86:02]
Ezekiel
Some folks are still convinced Jesus is
- [86:04]
John Bevere
coming back any day now. People still believe in that mythology? Yeah, no, I'm good. Eyes like blazing fire. His voice like the roar of many waters. Light so fierce no human eye can bear it. Thunder, voices, colors. Angels crying, holy without ceasing. Creatures full of eyes, declaring his holiness. He will come like a thief in the night, not to steal, but to take home what is his. For years, I avoided this topic on the second Coming. Then the Holy Spirit prompted me to take a deeper look. And when I did, things started shifting in my life. It's not about timelines and predictions. It's all about transformation. Properly understood, eschatology doesn't evoke fear. It produces faith. It doesn't create division, rather urgency. Every believer will respond to Christ's return in one of two ways. With shame or with confidence. I wrote this book not to frighten you, but to prepare you. The king is coming. Are you ready?
- [87:22]
Ezekiel
What's going on? Family, as you know, we need to heal. Atlanta 2026 is going down August 27th to the 29th. I know, I know, I know. Tickets sold out fast. And yes, it's going to be a packed lineup. It's going to be an amazing time in the lore. And some of you are going to be a part. Others of you may not be a part, but there is a way that everyone can be a part. When God told me that this year, 2026, we cannot charge, I was just like, all right, Lord, we're going to do what you say, but I don't know how you're going to make it happen. Many of you guys have already supported you've already blessed our channel and God has done tremendous things through it. And I don't think you even recognize how many people have been healed and blessed because you have donated. You have blessed, you have sowed a seed. This is not going to be any different. We're believing and trusting that God is going to do everything that we need him to do through his hands and feet. And so we're looking to you, those of you who are already a part, you did not pay a registration fee or anything like that. We need, and I'm not ashamed to say we need donations. We need to get the speakers there with their flights and hotels accommodations. We still have to pay staff, some for the venue. We still have to pay for security and other things that we need, supplies and marketing materials and branding. All of these things cost money. And we know that God can do amazing things through us. So as much as we are sacrificing on this side, we know that God can put it on your heart to sacrifice as well. And for those of you that feel like, hey, why am I blessing and I'm not going to get anything from this, well, one, you know that your reward is in heaven. Two, you know what you're doing is paying it forward. Because the next time we do, we need to heal. We're believing God for even bigger venue and we're believing God to accommodate those who were not able to be accommodated last time. So those of you that are willing to sow into we need to heal this year, I want you to know that because of your seed, it's going to open the doors for us to be able to make this happen in a better, more effective way next year. And I can't wait to see what God does with that. So I'm just going to let y' all do y' all thing. Nothing is too small and nothing is too big. So go ahead and let God use you and sow something into what God is going to be doing for those three nights for we need to heal. I cannot wait to see what God does. I love you guys. And all the information to donate is in the link in the description for social media. The link is in my bio. Love y'. All. Peace.