Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
The 9/11 Countdown
What if the catastrophic events we witness are divine messages urging us to realign with spiritual principles? Join us as we commemorate the 23rd anniversary of 9/11 and examine its lasting impact on our society from a spiritual perspective. We begin with a heartfelt prayer and dive into biblical teachings from 1 Corinthians 10 and 2 Peter 2, highlighting the Israelites' journey in the wilderness. This exploration serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of recognizing our times and maintaining spiritual vigilance as we near the end of the church age.
This is our custom around here, and let's lift them up and wave them around, make Jesus glad of the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so grateful for Wednesday night. I'm hungry and thirsty for more, more of your spirit, more of your presence, more revelation, so that my faith can grow exceedingly and I can be exceeding fruitful in this season just ahead. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, all right, let's look at our Bibles. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 10, and we'll start there. And while you're looking, try to go ahead and find 2 Peter, 2. And we'll begin by reading our foundational scriptures 1 Corinthians, 10, verse 5.
Speaker 1:And this is Paul talking about the Israelites in the wilderness. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. But with many of them, god was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now, these things were our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day, three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed, of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed, of the destroyer. Now, all these things happened unto them, for in samples or examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the age are come. Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Now notice, this is written to christians. It's not written. This is not written to the world, it's written to the church. You know, I like that last verse. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. All right, second peter, chapter 2, verse 4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved under judgment verse 7,. And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, verse 9, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished.
Speaker 1:And so tonight I wanted to share a message entitled the 9-11 countdown. The 9-11 countdown. We're marking today the 23rd anniversary of 9-11. And the 9-11 was a very historic. It's a historic, it's a benchmark, it's a Moed, it is just something where everything changed on that day. You know, we have a pre-9-11 mindset and we have a post-9-11 mindset.
Speaker 1:In the last few years I've noticed that 9-11 has kind of been on the back burner, but for some reason today, I mean, it's just event after event after event. It makes me kind of wonder why, all of a sudden, this year it's being marked. I think part of it is the angel families are tired of, uh, the lack of any kind of justice. I believe, mayor, let's see one of the I guess it was department of justice they had decided to allow a plea bargain with sheikh muhammad, who was the engineer of 9-11. He's been in prison all these years 23 years. They've held him and they've not. I mean he should have been executed within just a short time and now they're storing him over there in Cuba and the other two that they've arrested that tried to do what the others did fly their plane.
Speaker 1:You know the New York Times today that says planes took aim at the World Trade Center. No, planes didn't take aim, men took aim. You know they always try to remove the guilt factor from the terrorist, you know. But anyway it makes me suspicious a little bit. And I think you know the families of the 9-11 folks. Really, when they heard they were about to let these guys off the hook and let them not take the death penalty off the table, they raised a ruckus. You know the young men and women that were killed in Afghanistan on that horrible Biden and Harris withdrawal. That was the worst example of anything you could ever think of. It's just amazing. So I think people are riled up and so I think you know we all of a sudden we see this celebration, not celebration, but they're marking the occasion more this year than I've seen. Celebration, not celebration, but they're marking the occasion more this year than I've seen.
Speaker 1:But I wanted to share some things with you about 9-11 that God gave me at the time and it's all in line with what we're doing and talk about. You know your church, your mission. I mean we're in this thing together and we're waking up the church. We're taking heed, we're taking heed and find out exactly what it is, what time of the age that we're living in. We're living in the last, in my opinion, we're living in the last of the church age, and the church age will end at the rapture and it will end salvation by grace, through faith and in the tribulation period. The only people that get saved in the tribulation are martyrs. They have to die for their faith. And so I like to say it this way if they're not willing to die to your flesh in this dispensation, then if you're ever going to make heaven, you'll have to die. You know you'll have to die a real death in the next one. It's going to be a lot tougher to do it then than it is now, but we have this mindset pre-9-11, post-9-11.
Speaker 1:And everybody remembers what they were doing. If you're old enough, you know to know what happened that day. I mean, gladys and I were getting ready to go to crosstown to channel 14 and host the local praise, the Lord program and my son Jay called us and said turn on the television, we're under attack. And we saw the world trade center burning and we had to leave and we called the station. On the way I said you know we're not going to have a regular program. Until the guests were having a prayer meeting and we were able to kneel down on the set of Channel 14 and hear the local program and have, I guess, the first prayer meeting that I know about on television. We were just kneeling there.
Speaker 1:What were we praying? Well, we were praying for, we were repenting on behalf of the country for the sin of anti-Semitism. We turned against Israel. You know, abortion, just on and on the spirit of this age, the lack of of the fear of God in our nation. And you know, millions came to church the next few weeks. You know, we saw the Republicans and Democrats in the Congress stand out on the Capitol steps in Washington and they all, you know, said they were in unison and all of that kind of thing. It didn't take but a few days for that to all disappear. But millions came to church the following few weeks to find out what is going on, what has happened.
Speaker 1:There was such an opportunity to tap into the fear of God. You know the fear of God is to hate evil pride, arrogancy in every evil way and it's, you know, it's time for the nation to repent from drifting away from the God over America. One nation under God where we're not under God anymore. You know, we've the God over America. One nation under God. Well, we're not under God anymore. You know, we've thrown God over.
Speaker 1:And so there was no call for fasting and prayer and repentance, for turning to God, very little. There were no answers, just a bunch of religious platitudes. As a matter of fact, everybody decided we're going to build back bigger, we're going to build back stronger, as if the nation shook his fist in the face of God and said you know, your judgments are not, we're not, we don't recognize those. You know, did God send send the trouble? No, but he did take his hand of protection off, just enough to get our attention. It really is a miracle that more people weren't killed that day. And you're talking about Manhattan, you're talking about the Twin Towers falling to the ground. I mean, how could you dream of less than 50, 60, 70,000 people dying? I mean, I hate to say it, only 2,800. It was horrible that that many died, but it was a miracle. It was the mercy of God that in the but you know, the only thing we got out of it was just a warning to be nice to Muslims.
Speaker 1:You know, george Bush created the Department of Homeland Security what a total waste. And they're responsible for letting millions of people come in this country, unvetted and scattered all over our country. Right now. There's no homeland security, forget about it, and there never really was. They never did turn their attention on the people who hate us. Instead, we declared grandma as an enemy out at the airport and we all treated like criminals at the airport, and people that basically are from that part of the world and from that culture were given a pass.
Speaker 1:I'm so, pastor, you sound like you're a hater. No, I'm just reporting the facts and let's not forget them, because it's all part of the lack of the fear of God. You know this church. You know we stand for something. We stand for the fear of God, the fear of the Lord. It is the beginning of wisdom, which is why we have the craziest kinds of politics that are going on right now. I don't know if you saw any of that last night on the debate, but it was just outrageous to see ABC gang up on Trump, and it was three against one and they fact-checked him over and over again and never let her go off and lie almost at every breath.
Speaker 1:So we're seeing this, we're living through this, folks, and let's not forget the lessons that we're learning. God has prepared us for this day. This is not a negative message. This is a message to remind you where we've come from and to encourage you that we're on the right track. When you know what God's side is and you get on it, listen, you've done a mighty thing, and so we're beginning to influence more and more people as to what God's side is, and that's a positive thing is, and that's a positive thing, um, and there's grace and strength available for us who love the truth, if we will just reach out and receive it by faith and walk in it. Um.
Speaker 1:So, going back to the year 2000, the end of the year 2000, I've told them this testimony a number of times, but we have new people listening all the times and we need to be refreshed because we're living right now in the days that god was speaking to me about 23 years ago, 25 years ago now, when he told me to wake up the church, 25 years ago, and so, um, in december of 2000, I went to Galveston to pray, and and I began praying about 2001. My, my idea was to have a prophetic word that would suit that year, for us to believe God, for sort of a theme, and you know, brother Hagin used to do that. Of course, brother Hagin was still on the earth in those years, but you know, god gave me a word. He said 2001 will be a premier year. He spoke that to my heart. A premier year. It's going to be a year of firsts, first-time events. And so I was thinking, of course, in those years pre 9-11, I'm thinking in positive terms, I'm thinking about oh, we're going to see great things, wonderful things this year. For the first time we're going to see some things we've never seen that are going to be wonderful. And I saw, you know. The other thing he said was it's a first in a series of years. And I saw, you know, in a vision 2001, 2002, dot, dot, dot. And so I thought, well, ok, first in a series of years. And also, when he talked about a premiere year, I was reminded of the old time Hollywood premieres. They used to have in Hollywood, whenever a movie came out, they would have a premiere showing of the movie, first time it's ever been in the movies, and the stars of that movie would arrive in their limos and they would get out in their old fancy dress, you know, and walk into the movies and all the paparazzi were there and all the crowds were there and they would have these big spotlights that would light up the sky, you know, to draw attention to the, to the uh, uh premier. And so all of the all of this was going on. You know, in this, in this word, and uh, and we talked about it, we prayed about it. But again, I was looking at it from the positive standpoint.
Speaker 1:And then in july, or, excuse me, june, the first of 2001, I had the tsunami dream. In the briefly, in the tsunami dream, I was on a beach, in a convertible, driving down the white sandy beach, sand dunes on my right, beautiful blue water, looked like the Caribbean or something. Gorgeous, turquoise water. To my left, blue sky, wonderful day, top down, not a care in the world. Then suddenly I saw this movement out to my left. I look out into the water and here's a tsunami headed my way, and my carefree attitude turned into stark terror really, and I started trying to figure out a way off that beach. I knew if I didn't get off the beach and try to outrun that wave, it's going to hit me.
Speaker 1:So I put the pedal to the metal in the dream, you know, and I'm driving and I finally see this road that I may be able to make it. And it's getting closer and it's getting closer and finally I'm not there, I can't turn right, I can't outrun the wave and I'm under the shadow of this wave, it's curling out over me and I think in the dream oh no, I'm roadkill, this is the end. And then in the dream, suddenly I'm on top of the wave and I'm being thrust forward. I'm 50, 60 foot in the air on top of a huge wave, a tsunami wave, and it's thrusting me forward and I'm feeling the wind in my face and I'm feeling the power under my feet and I suddenly wake up and, of course, I'm just like, so discombobulated I'm afraid I'm exhilarated, all at the same time.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't know what to think, but suddenly in my I thought of John G is going to bring judgment and as well as a harvest you can't have a harvest without a separation. And so then you know, three months later you have 9-11. And I remember, you know, that day and the aftermath, and I realized it was judgment. I'm one of the few people that are talking about judgment. Nobody wanted to talk about it, but judgment is not God's punishing us. It really judgment is mercy, because it's a warning. It's saying wake up, you're on the wrong track, you're doing the wrong thing, something worse is going to happen, and and sin always fills a cup I mean, you can't keep sinning, and sinning as a nation, without consequences. And so we begin to get out from under God's protective covenant. He's one nation under God. When we get out from under God, we get out from under his protection, and that's what happened on 9-11. And so God didn didn't send that. The devil sent it because he could, because we're no longer being fully protected like we were. Just think about all the protection this country's had during world war ii. We, you know, yes, uh, pearl harbor was attacked, but really pearl harbor wasn't really america, it was a, it wasn't even a state at that time, it was just a. You know it was connected to us, but you know, yeah, it's considered United States, but it wasn't a state. And so we never have had, you know, had this kind of thing in modern history. So I'm talking about a monumental thing that happened.
Speaker 1:So I was in the aftermath of 9-11, I was disappointed that I didn't. I didn't know that. I felt like I should have known something was coming. I didn't recognize the dream, or I didn't recognize the tsunami dream and I didn't recognize a prophetic word as the warning that this was coming. I didn't recognize that it was hidden in those things and I didn't recognize it. So I went to Galveston and I decided, you know, I'm going to find out what's wrong and try to pray. And I went to the Lord. I said, lord, whatever, if I'm not following you close enough, I'm not praying enough, I'm not, you know, I just feel like I, I feel like I uh missed, uh, a chance to be warned of this 9-11 attack. Maybe there's something we could have said or done or prayed or something, and uh, so here I am in galveston, I want to read this uh prophetic word to you that I got that day.
Speaker 1:It was the 27th of September, just two weeks after 9-11, on a Thursday, and I had this little word ahead of time. He encouraged me with this little word you're a sanctified and set apart fit for the master's use. Sanctified, set apart to keep my people loosed. And so he encouraged me in prayer. And so, a little bit, a couple of hours later, about 545, that came at 345, about 545, I was walking along the beach and it was a beautiful day, and it was, the sea was calm. And I was looking along the beach. And it was a beautiful day and it was, the sea was calm and I was looking at a seemingly peaceful gulf. And then the word of the Lord came to me and I want to read you a portion of this prophetic word. I got that day.
Speaker 1:Many waves have hit this beach, small and large, turbulent and smooth. Small and large, turbulent and smooth. Some, driven by wind, destroyed the city and thousands perished. Even so, the wave that is coming is, as some say, the mother of all waves. Many will be swept into the kingdom before destruction comes.
Speaker 1:The lesser army will enjoy, at least temporarily, the benefits of the greater army. Many will repent at the last and escape the great tribulation. Some will not and will be as a seed to grow during the tribulation. Some will even deny the Lord that bought them. I will display myself through the tribulation. Some will even deny the Lord that bought them. I will display myself through the greater army. Extra preparation has been necessary to work humility, discipline and obedience in the members of that army. No hint of pride will be allowed, for the glory will break through it and flesh will die instantly. The benefits of being in this great army will last for eternity and will be the subject of much discussion. Don't sit in the seat of judgment. I will have you speak judgment by my spirit, but you must remain pure and walk in love. And then you know this part about the greater army, the lesser army.
Speaker 1:I just want to take a moment to say I've been reading about david and his uh army and you know he had the, he had the mighty men, he had 30, and then of the 30 he had three, but he had a total of 600. So not everybody was equal. You know, in an army not everybody is a is a navy seal, not everybody's an army r everybody. You know you've got people that are prepared and called, and he's referring to this different kind of a status. And as I meditated on this word, god showed me, you know, some people are just not, they have not bought into the vision that God has, they're just kind of on the sidelines. Mostly they're Christians, they're saved, they're born again, but they are busy about something that is not going to be rewarded, because God didn't really call them to do it.
Speaker 1:And he turned me to 1 Corinthians, chapter 3. Let me read it to you 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 13. Every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he has built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Speaker 1:And so that's the lesser army. That's the lesser army that doesn't want to have my church and my mission. They don't want to buy in to what God has called this church to be. They don't want to buy in to the end time. Listen, we're part of this end time army.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, you can either be the part of the greater army and submit yourself and have this kind of preparation and discipline that he's talking about in this word to me. Think about this 23 years ago, and we're just now coming into some of the things he's talking about. Come on, lift your hands right now. Oh, thank God. You know, here I am. Lord, send me. I want to be part of the greater army. I heard that. I think he did too. Yeah, let's be part of the greater army, let's not mess around being the lesser army. You know what? All your work is going to get burned up. You will have no reward for it. This is what's going on right now. There's a plumb line being dropped. There are whole churches, there's whole denominations. Their work is going to be burned up and there will be no reward. You know, I don't want to be part of that group and I'm not doing it for the reward. I'm doing it to please God. That's my motive not to get a reward. I know God's a reward, though. I know he is. From that I began to see that.
Speaker 1:The tsunami dream then was my warning. It was the premier year, the first in a series of years. Really, the countdown. We live in the city of countdowns, houston, texas. I mean this is a countdown to the end days. This is a countdown to the rapture of the church. And just think we're T minus 23. Now 23 have come off the click. I mean I don't know I'm not prophesying when Jesus is coming, but I know we're 23 years closer than we were.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I mean it gives me goosebumps thinking about what God has done and how God has warned us and how God has set us apart for this time, and my job is to keep you loosed and to keep you free so that you can obey God and get a full reward for what God has in store for you. So I just you know, the bottom line of this message is do encourage you. You know, because you know, when you watch what I watched last night, I watched a little of it and I got so aggravated I just I just switched it to the Astros and then I got even more aggravated. So you know, there's no, I'm just joking around, but you know, you just to know what's going on, without immersing myself in the dysfunction and the deception, outright lies that are being perpetrated, and just keep my eyes on the prize that God has put us in the earth to speak the truth in love, to shine. So I just basically want to encourage you. The the 9-11 countdown is a countdown to the final judgment, and so there's three things that we can keep in mind.
Speaker 1:Now let's go back to second peter, chapter two and the first one. We we read about lot and what happened to lot. Lot was vexed. You know, I can, I can get vexed, I can let myself get vexed, and that's not, that's not God for us to be vexed, I mean. He got vexed and didn't really do anything much. He didn't change the city. He, I mean he got vexed and didn't really do anything much. He didn't change the city, he didn't. He couldn't even, he couldn't even really exercise very much influence over his own family. His own wife turned into a bag of salt, statue of salt. I mean, you know, no, let's not be vexed, let's be victorious, let's be victorious. This doesn't do one bit of good to get vexed and I'm speaking to myself now because I'm wired kind of that way I can be, I can watch so much of that that I just go.
Speaker 1:You know one of my favorite verses, I'll just read it in verse 5. For he has said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. I shall not fear what man will do unto me. You know, when I think about Kamala Harris winning the presidency, I don't like to think about that. But you know what If it happens?
Speaker 1:If it happens, I mean God's not going to fall off. Jesus is not going to fall off the throne, god's not going to quit helping us. You know, I face the worst that can happen. The worst that can happen is this whole country just turns into a Marxist state. Now I'm contending for America to be a sheep nation. I'm believing God, but you know, I'm just one. I'm just one. I don't have the authority to make that happen.
Speaker 1:There's a whole lot of people that have to get in agreement. So that's why we're doing what we're doing. That's why we're waking up the church, so we're not vexed, we're victorious. You know, if you're vexed you can't really convince anybody. When you're mad and you're just scowling and all of that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:I get back here, verse 9, the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust under the day of judgment to be punished. So if these people don't suffer justice in this life, they will in the next. If they get away with murder in this life, they won't in the next. So we have to get our eyes off of that and not let ourselves be vexed. Let's be victorious.
Speaker 1:And then number two you know, out there in the Gulf, when I was looking at it, he let me know how many waves had hit that beach. You know he was talking about that great storm, that great hurricane that destroyed Galveston, and he pointed out all those waves that hit that beach. There's lots of waves that are coming. We have big waves and small waves. We have turbulent waves, we have smooth waves. If you think about the move of God, it's just like a series of waves. God is moving and so is judgment. God is separating. Every wave that brings a blessing is separating people out, because there are going to be people that won't accept it, and so let's not be destroyed by the wave. Let's ride the wave to victory.
Speaker 1:1 Corinthians 16. I trust this is encouraging you, helping you to keep your perspective. You know, god said for a, Paul said for a great door and effectual was open unto me, and there are many adversaries. You know, I think this thing that's attacked Gladys, and she's at home right now with Claire watching by live stream. You know, part of this, part of the price we pay, is that there are many adversaries. Sometimes they get in and they attack, but there's a great door and effectual, and we're not going to let these attacks stop us from going through those doors. We're not going to let the devil stop us from taking back territory that is that we've lost as a nation. I mean God has anointed this church to go and bring a message of awakening and I believe with it is revival. You know, we've stood for revival since day one in this church and all of this is part of revival. So let's not let the opposition be the main thing. The main thing is that we overcome the opposition and there's ripe harvest.
Speaker 1:And then the third thing is don't whine, shine. You know and I love these verses Romans 13. Praise God, everybody say. I'm encouraging myself in the Lord, my God. Verse 11, romans 13, 11, that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. So let's not whine, let's just shine, let's be who we are in Christ. You know, let's just keep on. You know we're not going to hide our light under the bed or under the bushel. We're going to stand up, we're going to speak up, we're going to show up and eventually we're going to go up. Amen, because the 9-11 countdown is well underway. Come on, lift your hands and receive. Praise God, thank God for living in this time. God trusts us to be alive at this point in time.
Speaker 1:You know I was thinking about countdowns and how in the natural they have to pause countdowns. If there's anything that gives me pause is thinking about whether God would push pause on the countdown because this generation doesn't do what it's supposed to do. That's what he did with the children of Israel and we were told in that first, when we read in first Corinthians there, chapter 10, let's not be like Israel, let's not forget why we're here. And they forgot. And God said all right, I tell you what I'm pushing pause. You're not going to go in. I'm going to bring your children in. You're not going to. You're not. You've seen all the promised land you're ever going to see. You're just going to die in the wilderness. I'm going to bring your kids in. See, I just I don't want that to happen. That could happen. God can push pause on the countdown. I don't want him to do that. I want him, I want the countdown to keep on going. I want to be part of this great end time revival. Hallelujah, glory to God. Thank you, jesus.