Has the Holy Spirit stopped bringing people to salvation? Find out with guest August Rosado on the show Christ in Prophecy.
Air Date: January 29, 2017
Video References
Transcript
Dr. Reagan: I grew up in a church that taught that all supernatural gifts of the spirit, and all miracles ceased in the First Century when the last apostle died. That teaching greatly limited my faith and my growth in the Lord. It wasn’t until I was in my 30’s that I discovered that the gifts of the spirit are still in operation; that God is still performing miracles. And the greatest miracles He performs today involve the radical change that occurs in lives when people put their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Stay tuned for a fascinating interview with one such person.
Part 1
Dr. Reagan: Greetings in the name of Jesus our Blessed Hope and welcome to Christ in Prophecy. It is great to have you with us today and to have a special guest in the studio with Nathan Jones and myself and that is August Rosado.
August Rosado: It’s great to be back with you.
Dr. Reagan: Well, August it is always great to have you in the studio. We also get a tremendous response when you are here.
August Rosado: Praise God.
Dr. Reagan: And I opened this program with a statement that I grew up in a church that did not believe that the gifts of the spirit operate today. Did not believe that God performed miracles today, all that was stuff, just stuff that stopped in the First Century. And growing up in that sort of situation I didn’t realize I had God in a box. And I didn’t realize too that you can put God in a box. As weak and silly as we are we can take the Almighty God, put Him in a box and limit His operation in our lives by our unbelief. Jesus could not perform any mighty miracles in His hometown because of their unbelief. And so one day as I’m reading through over a period of time, I ran across two scriptures that changed my attitude about that. The first one was in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 7 where he wrote to the church and said, “You will not lack any gift as you await eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are not going to lack any gift as we wait for His revelation. That means the gifts of the spirit are still operative today. And the other one that I discovered that radically changed my life was Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That means the Jesus of the Bible, the miracle working Jesus of the Bible is still alive today. And He is still on the throne. God is on His throne. He still hears prayers. He still answers prayers. He still performs miracles. And I believe the greatest miracles that God performs in the world today is the transformation of lives. And I look upon you as a classic example of that. Tell us what it was like not to know Christ and how you came to know Him.
August Rosado: Well you know Dr. Reagan when I came to faith in Jesus Christ 28 1/2 years ago, April 22, 1988, 10:49 AM, on a Thursday morning.
Nathan Jones: Whoa, ok.
August Rosado: I remember it like it just happened yesterday. Prior to that salvation experience, I mean I come from a family of 14. Well there’s only six of us left today because the rest of them are dead due to prostitution, drugs, alcoholism. And if someone did not care enough to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with me on that day–
Dr. Reagan: You’d probably be dead now.
August Rosado: –I’d be six feet underground right now. But prior to that my whole life consisted of partying every single day. Drinking, selling drugs, that was my life. That’s all I knew until it took a death in my family, one of my older brothers died of a drug deal gone bad. And the night after his funeral I walked home absolutely inebriated. But I remember looking up into the sky and this is exactly what I said, God answered the prayer of an unsaved man on his way to Hell, I looked up into the sky and I said, “God if you are really there then prove to me that you are really there.” And the next day at work with a hangover and a half, I’m not proud of that. Some guy got transferred from another animal shelter that he was working at and I was supposed to train this guy. He comes in singing, whistling, singing songs about Jesus. I said, “What in the world is this guy’s problem?” And it was right at lunch break he looked at me and said, “August, I need to ask you a question.” I said, “What?” He said, “If you were to die right now would you go to Heaven or Hell?”
Nathan Jones: Wow.
August Rosado: No one has ever asked me a question like that before, nobody.
Dr. Reagan: Got you attention, huh?
August Rosado: Got my attention and then some. And I said, “No, I don’t have any idea.” He opened his Bible to John 3:16, we all know that passage, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He put my name in that verse. “For God so loved August, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
Dr. Reagan: Oh, my.
August Rosado: He personalized it. “That if August would believe in Him, August would not perish or go to Hell, but August would have everlasting life.” Right there and then. I mean if the gifts of the spirit are not today, then the Holy Spirit went out of business a long time ago.
Nathan Jones: Amen.
August Rosado: Right at that very day, April 22, 1988.
Nathan Jones: Who trained who then?
August Rosado: What is it?
Nathan Jones: Who trained who then because you were supposed to train him, and he trained you to give the Gospel?
August Rosado: He trained me, he schooled me that day.
Nathan Jones: He schooled you that day.
August Rosado: He schooled me that day. And right at that very day I got on my knees with all those barking animals, I got on my knees and I trusted in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.
Nathan Jones: Praise the Lord.
Dr. Reagan: And where was all of this taken place because you have got a rather unusual accent to us here in Texas.
August Rosado: Well if some of you don’t know that is New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Nathan Jones: Yeah.
August Rosado: So, there’s where my Yankeeism comes from.
Dr. Reagan: You going to park the car in Highland yard.
August Rosado: Park the car in Highlands, exactly. Exactly. But man when I punched out that day.
Nathan Jones: Wow.
August Rosado: He said, “Let me give you are ride home.” And I said, “Nah, I want to walk home.” I said, “This is awesome.”
Nathan Jones: Wow.
August Rosado: This is great. The Holy Spirit was working. Nathan that reminds me of 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If any man be in Christ he’s a new creature, creation.”
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
August Rosado: “All things are passed away, behold all things become new.”
Nathan Jones: You came in one August, and you left another August.
August Rosado: You’ve got that right, brother.
Dr. Reagan: And did you start looking for a church immediately?
August Rosado: Well the guy that led me to the Lord said, “I want to introduce you to my pastor.”
Dr. Reagan: Ok.
August Rosado: And I said, “That would be awesome.” So I go home and of course you know Patty and I were not married then.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
August Rosado: You know we had two kids out of wedlock. We weren’t married, and really didn’t care about being married.
Dr. Reagan: You didn’t even know there was anything wrong with that.
August Rosado: I thought, you know we lived together long enough, common law marriage and you know all that, whatever. And so I go home and I say, “Patty, something amazing happened at work today!” And she said, “Let me guess you got a raise?”
Nathan Jones: Better.
August Rosado: I said, “You don’t know the half of it.” She said, “Well, what happened?” I said, “Some guy came over from another shelter and he was supposed to train me. And he shared the greatest news with me that I’ve ever heard. I trusted in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.”
Dr. Reagan: Oh, my.
August Rosado: She said, “You did what?” And I said, “I trusted in Christ as my personal Savior.” She said, “Oh, no, no you’re not to be bringing this religion into the house. We’re Catholics.” I said, “But we’re not practicing Catholics.” She says, “I don’t care you’re not bringing this religion in to the house.” And I was so confused. So the guy called me that led me to the Lord, Chris. And by the way he was the best man at our wedding. And so, he called me up and I told him, “Chris, I don’t know what’s going on. She is mad. She won’t even talk with me.” He said, “Well, can I bring the pastor over?” I said, “I don’t think that is a good idea.” He said, “Well let me just bring the pastor over after dinner.” So then after dinner pastor comes over a tall, black Baptist preacher. He comes in and he is looking around we had Budweiser paraphernalia all over my house because I collected Budweiser stuff.
Nathan Jones: Oh, ok.
August Rosado: I had phones, everything. And so he’s looking around and he says, “You sure this guy got saved?” And so he’s congratulating me, and Patty is sitting right there man, you can see the steam rising off her ears. So he said, “August let’s go in the room. Let the pastor deal with her.” I said, “Ok.” We go in the room and he says, “August I need you to pray.” I said, “Well, what is that like Hail Marys?” “No, no, no just talk to God. Just pray. That is biblical prayer talk to God.” So for the first time in my worthless life I’m talking to God. I’m saying, “Lord I don’t understand this whole entire thing but please help Patty to understand what happened to me.” So, thirty minutes goes by. It’s just silent out there. I thought she probably already threw him out. I peek around the corner Patty has her head bowed. She is trusting Jesus Christ.
Nathan Jones: Oh, wow.
August Rosado: As her personal Savior.
Dr. Reagan: Hallelujah man. Hallelujah.
August Rosado: Man, again the Spirit did not go out of business. I don’t care what anybody said.
Dr. Reagan: Well, I want to you to tell the story how you became convicted that you needed to get married.
Nathan Jones: Yes.
August Rosado: Well here’s the deal, ok.
Dr. Reagan: Because you didn’t know anything about the Bible.
August Rosado: I knew nothing about the scripture. So a week after that same pastor, that Baptist preacher said, “August want to go to a church in Johnston, Rhode Island?” The church that we are members of today, Greater Rhode Island Baptist Temple in Johnston. And he says, “There is going to be a revival there, so I want you to come and check it out.” So this was, actually the first time I’ve been to a Bible believing church. So we are sitting down. The guy is up there he’s preaching. And then all of a sudden he uses a word that I wasn’t familiar with. You know I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer ok. Fornication. So–
Nathan Jones: Nobody knows what the means now days.
August Rosado: Now the pastor is sitting over her. Patty is where you are. And I’m over here. I said, “Fornication?” So, I looked at my pastor, I said, “Pastor Mendes what does he mean by fornication?” Oh, he know were weren’t married. He said, “Well, August that is two people living together without a marriage license.” He’s going like this. I’m like, “Really? I thought it was like some new skin disease? Fornications.” So I’m like, “Patty you know fornication is? That’s two people living together without a marriage license.
Dr. Reagan: Oh, pass it down.
August Rosado: We need to get married.” So that was my proposal to her by the way.
Nathan Jones: Oh, ok. Romantic.
August Rosado: It was real romantic. And so two weeks later we got married.
Dr. Reagan: Oh, my.
August Rosado: We did the right thing.
Nathan Jones: Amen.
August Rosado: And it’s been 28 1/2 years God’s been in our life.
Dr. Reagan: Well how in the world did a person with that unusual background get involved in ministry?
August Rosado: Brother, I just wanted to be a behind the scenes guy. Now one of my pet peeves is public speaking.
Nathan Jones: Pet peeves?
August Rosado: Yeah, I get butterflies, even today 28 1/2 years later. God called me to preach in 1992.
Dr. Reagan: Well, you sure cover it up well.
Nathan Jones: Yeah, he does.
August Rosado: And I said, “Lord” I said, “I’m not going to preach.”
Dr. Reagan: So, He called you almost immediately?
August Rosado: Immediately. I said, “I can’t do this. You are going to have to find someone better than me. I cannot stand in front of people and speak.” God said, “I want you to preach.” I said, “I’m not going to preach.” He said, “Oh, yes you are.” I said, “Oh, no I’m not.” He said, “Well, yes you are.” I said, “Oh, no I’m not.” Well I gave in and went to Bible College; went to Friends of Israel in 1992 for that one year of schooling. Come back home–
Dr. Reagan: And that was tough for you wasn’t it?
August Rosado: It was very difficult, very difficult. But the Lord He got us through it. So then we enrolled with the Institute of Jewish Christian Studies, Zola Levitt Ministries we graduated from that. God said, “I want you to pastor.” “I’m not going to preach. I’m not going to pastor.” I said, “I’m not going to do it Lord.” He said, “Oh, yes you are.” I said, “Oh, no I’m not.” He says, “Oh, yes you are.” And I said, “Oh, no I’m not.”
Dr. Reagan: How were you making your living then?
August Rosado: Well, I had a window cleaning business.
Dr. Reagan: A window cleaning, ok.
August Rosado: And that was supporting us. But when God calls you He is going to win all the time.
Nathan Jones: Yes.
August Rosado: I pastored my first church in 1999 there in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was only until 2003, God said, “You need to go out there and teach people Bible prophecy.” So Patty and I we took a step of faith. In 2008 we officially went out on the road. God has kept us busy ever since.
Dr. Reagan: Well, you’re story reminds me of this statement in 2 Chronicles 16:9, “The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” It doesn’t matter if you’re educated, not educated. If you’re smooth or not smooth. If your heart has been given to the Lord He is going to use you.”
August Rosado: And you know something I don’t know why but He’s been using me.
Dr. Reagan: Well, why did you decide to focus on Bible prophecy of all things?
August Rosado: Well that is when that Baptist preacher comes into play again.
Dr. Reagan: Ok, tell us.
August Rosado: He said, “August.” He said, “We are going to go to a Jewish synagogue in New Bedford and that is going to be on the Sabbath. And we are going to go there and talk to them and hopefully have a dialogue in sharing the Gospel of,” He said the word, “Yeshua.” I said, “Yeshua? What in the world does that mean? Is that like some type of new Tylenol or something?” You know? And he says, “No.” He says, “That’s Jesus’ First Century Jewish name.”
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
August Rosado: “We are going to go the Jewish people. The apple of God’s eye. His chosen people.” I said, “His chosen people? I though the Christians were the chosen people.” No, I didn’t even know nothing about Replacement Theology and I’m teaching Replacement Theology. And so I said, “Well, ok, pastor I’ll go with you.” And when we got there, I mean the Holy Spirit just opened the doors for Him to share all of these Messianic prophecies. And it was right there and then the Holy Spirit hit me right between the eyes and He says, “I want you to teach about the Jewish people in Bible prophecy and the Rapture of the Church.” So I dedicated 28 ½ years to do exactly that.
Dr. Reagan: I’ll tell you–
Nathan Jones: Did you even–
August Rosado: I’m still learning something new every single day.
Nathan Jones: Did you even know any Jewish people when you were living in New Bedford?
August Rosado: None.
Nathan Jones: So you picked a ministry and a group of people that you had no connection to.
August Rosado: Had no connection to whatsoever. It was God that brought this whole thing together, Nathan.
Dr. Reagan: That reminds me of God calling Paul, a Jew, to spend his ministry teaching to the Gentiles.
August Rosado: Gentiles. A Jewish missionary to the “goy” to the Gentile.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah, and then the opposite with you.
August Rosado: And it’s the opposite with me, exactly. Exactly.
Nathan Jones: Do you get to speak to a lot of Jews who aren’t saved and teach them the Lord?
August Rosado: Well you know something we go to Israel three or four times a year.
Nathan Jones: Ok.
August Rosado: And for the three times we go–
Dr. Reagan: And sometimes you just go to witness don’t you?
August Rosado: –to witness to the Jewish people. We pass out complete Hebrew Bibles whether we are in the Galilee, whether we are in Jerusalem or Eilat in the extreme south. We go into malls, coffee shops, wherever the Holy Spirit opens the doors and we share these Messianic prophecies with the Jewish people. And Arabs for that matter.
Dr. Reagan: Well I know that you spend a lot of your time teaching, and preaching, and writing about Israel. Why is there so much focus in your ministry on Israel and on the Jewish people?
August Rosado: Well you know I just did a TV interview recently for another ministry and I was asked that same exact question. People say, “Why do you support Israel so much?” Well I support Israel because God tells me to do so. The principle of Genesis 12:3, “I’ll bless those who bless thee, curse those who curse thee.” So when you bless Israel God says I’ll bless you. When you curse the Jews well you’re asking for serious trouble. So, I dedicated 28 1/2 years to do exactly that. When I read the Scriptures I find that word Israel mentioned 2,566 times. You say where did you come up with that number? I took a Strong’s Concordance and I circled how many times Israel was found. I did a first count. And I did a recount and I came up with the same exact number 2,566 times God calls the land Israel. The very center of the earth based on Ezekiel chapter 5:5 where the Messiah will return to.
Dr. Reagan: Also since you are focused, God called your focus to be on Bible prophecy isn’t it true that end time Bible prophecy focuses on Israel?
August Rosado: End time Bible prophecy focuses on Israel.
Dr. Reagan: Give us some examples of what I’m talking about there.
August Rosado: Well again for example when we talk about Romans 11:25 and 26, when the Messiah returns at His Second Coming. He ain’t coming back to New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Dr. Reagan: He’s not?
August Rosado: He ain’t coming back to Washington, D.C. He’s coming back to Eretz Israel. He’s coming back to the land.
Dr. Reagan: You mean Texas is not His holy land?
August Rosado: Texas is not His holy, it may be God’s country but it’s not His holy land, ok? But when He comes back He’s coming back based on Ezekiel 5:5, Deuteronomy 32:8, He’s coming back to the very center of the earth. He’s coming back to the land of Israel.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
August Rosado: He is going to make the city of Yerushalayim shel Zahav, Jerusalem the City of Gold the capital of planet earth during that future Millennial Kingdom reign of Christ.
Dr. Reagan: Well I find a lot of Christians are surprised to discover that there are prophecies concerning Israel that are being fulfilled before their very eyes today. What would some of those be?
August Rosado: Well, we can just talk about this. You know there are those who are saying well there are no prophecies being fulfilled today. That’s hogwash. You say that here in Texas right? That’s hogwash.
Dr. Reagan: That’s right.
August Rosado: Ok. There are many prophecies that are unfilled.
Dr. Reagan: What about their regathering for instance?
August Rosado: There you go. I can go to Isaiah chapter 66:7-8, “Shall a nation be born in one day?” I’m not a date setter but I will give you a date, May the 14th, of 1948 that prophecy was fulfilled in one day.
Dr. Reagan: That’s right.
August Rosado: I’ll give you Isaiah chapter 11:10-12, God said, “I’ll bring them back into the land the second time.” That implies there was a first diaspora and a First Aliyah. That implies there was a second diaspora 70 AD and that Second Aliyah has been happening since 1897 up until the modern creation of the Jewish state of Israel. So, yes, prophecy is being fulfilled right before our very eyes.
Dr. Reagan: Things like the re-establishment of their language for example because they stopped talking, speaking Hebrew when they were dispersed around the world.
August Rosado: Absolutely.
Dr. Reagan: The Bible says it will be revived in the end time.
August Rosado: Absolutely. God said–
Dr. Reagan: The revival of their land.
August Rosado: The revival of the land Isaiah 35:1, that when the Jews would come back the land itself would respond.
Dr. Reagan: It said it would be like the Garden of Eden. And you go to Israel today–
August Rosado: It’s beautiful.
Dr. Reagan: –and what do you see?
August Rosado: It’s absolutely beautiful.
Dr. Reagan: I mean just every kind of agricultural produce you can imagine.
Nathan Jones: And then you’ve got the Temple Institute trying to rebuild the Third Temple which we read about in the Tribulation.
August Rosado: And I was just right in their brand new facilities there in Jerusalem. They’ve got everything ready to go.
Nathan Jones: Ready to go.
August Rosado: Ready to go for a Third Jewish Temple. Well people say, “How do you know there is going to be a Third Jewish Temple?” Well just read the Word of God, Daniel 9:27.
Dr. Reagan: They’ve got it ready to go. You know I think what is going to happen is that when they can do that they are going to put up a tabernacle like the Tabernacle of Moses, a tent temple then start building the permanent one around it. But they could put it up overnight like that. They are ready.
August Rosado: When I was at the Temple Institute Dr. Reagan I said, “Listen, if you were to start construction on the Temple tomorrow how long would it be?” You know what she told me? “We can have a temple up and running in one year.”
Nathan Jones: One year.
Dr. Reagan: One year.
August Rosado: One year? Here I’m thinking maybe four, or five or ten years. One year. They’ve got the technology to move that fast.
Dr. Reagan: Well what do you say to people in mainline churches who take the position that the Jews are Christ killers, and because they are Christ killers God has washed their hands of them, has no purpose left for them whatsoever. And that their persecution and suffering is justified.
August Rosado: Well, you know that really sticks in my craw when I hear people talk like that. You know the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. They’re Christ killers. God wants nothing to do with them because they’ve sinned. Well let me let the Church in on a little secret, Christians sin too. That mean God’s finished with you?
Dr. Reagan: No, we don’t.
August Rosado: You know?
Dr. Reagan: Are you sure about this?
August Rosado: Acts chapter 4:27 tells us exactly who the guilty parties, plural are.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
August Rosado: The Jews and the Gentiles.
Dr. Reagan: Right.
August Rosado: The Jews gave the order, the Gentiles carried it out. We are all responsible for the death of Jesus Christ. It’s not fair–
Dr. Reagan: Yeah, you and I are.
August Rosado: Exactly. It’s not fair to just say it’s the Jews. It’s Anti-Semitism and by the way God is not done with Israel.
Dr. Reagan: Jesus died for all our sins. I mean I’m as responsible for Him being on the cross as you are, or the Jews or anybody else.
August Rosado: Exactly.
Dr. Reagan: And furthermore the Bible is very clear that God still loves the Jewish people, still has a purpose for them. The three most hated chapters in the New Testament are Romans 9-11.
August Rosado: Whoa, that’s powerful.
Dr. Reagan: The Church will not even talk about them because it just–for example Romans 11 starts out, “God has not rejected His people has He?” That is Paul asking. And the Church says, “Yes.” And what does Paul says, “May it never be.”
August Rosado: God forbid.
Dr. Reagan: God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” And yet for 2,000 years the Church has taught the exact opposite of that.
August Rosado: The Church has said that God has washed His hands of Israel. If you hold to Replacement Theology then my advice to you is go to the book of Romans, rip out chapters 9, 10, and 11 out of your Bible. As long as that is there Replacement Theology is false doctrine.
Nathan Jones: Well what are the responses you get when you tell Jewish people? Because you’ve had a miraculous transformation and you want to see Jewish people have a miraculous transformation. But I assume that many Jewish people still have the blinders on. But you see a lot of people still come to the Lord that are Jewish, right?
August Rosado: You know we led two Jewish men to the Lord. One of them was in Haifa at a restaurant. I shared my testimony with this young Jewish man. And I told him how Yeshua changed and transformed my life and that He can do the same for you. We shared with him those Messianic prophecies right there in the restaurant. Dr. Reagan, tears started come down from his eyes. He kneeled right there on the table in a busy restaurant and we led him to the Messiah.
Dr. Reagan: Well that’s a point that I often make to people when they tell me, “Well, I’d like to witness for Jesus but I don’t know all the verses and everything.” And I say, “Hey, the greatest witness is to tell people how Jesus changed your life, and you can do that.” You can do that, you can tell people how He changed your life and that will have a tremendous impact on them.
August Rosado: It sure will. I think we all should have a testimony. You know the Bible says, “Be ready, in season and out of season to give your testimony.” 1 Peter 3:15 says we need to be ready to give an answer.
Dr. Reagan: And another point you just made is very important that I emphasize to people, if you’re going to witness to a Jewish person don’t open the New Testament because they have been taught that is a Gentile book. They have been taught that it is a horrible book, it shouldn’t be in the Bible. You don’t need to if you know the Old Testament prophecies all you need to do is show them how Jesus fulfilled what their own prophet said. On the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the very first Gospel sermon the only thing he did was he said, “The prophet said this, Jesus fulfilled it. The prophet said this, Jesus fulfilled it”
August Rosado: Yes.
Dr. Reagan: “The prophet said this Jesus fulfilled.” Finally they just yelled out, “What must we do?” You know?
August Rosado: Amen. Amen. I mean familiarize yourselves with the Messianic prophecies.
Dr. Reagan: And Paul told Timothy, he said, “You know from the youngest years you learned what’s necessary for salvation.”
August Rosado: Yes.
Dr. Reagan: Well he didn’t have the New Testament, it didn’t exist.
August Rosado: It didn’t exist yet.
Dr. Reagan: He learned it all from the Old Testament. And that’s what you have to use if you are going to work with Jewish people.
August Rosado: Well Yeshua what did He do in the Gospels? Quoted the Old Testament.
Dr. Reagan: Right.
August Rosado: The Gospel is replete throughout the Old Testament.
Dr. Reagan: Right.
August Rosado: And that’s exactly what we use when we go to Israel and share the Gospel with the Jewish people, we go right to the Old Testament. Right in their own backyard, that’s what had that guy on his knees. A waiter at a restaurant in Haifa with tears coming down his eyes.
Dr. Reagan: Oh, my.
August Rosado: That was Rauch Hako’desh that was the Holy Spirit of God that hit him right between the eyes.
Nathan Jones: Amen.
August Rosado: Simply because we went to the Old Testament, not the New, the Old and shared those prophecies with him.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah. Well it reminds me of a fella who has a national television program, Sid Roth who is a Messianic Jew. And I remember him talking about how he grew in New York City and he used to go to the New York Public Library for lunch and he would sit there and read the magazines and newspapers while he ate his lunch. And one day he looked down there was a “Ripley’s Believe it or Not,” and he opened it up and started turning through it and there was a picture of a Jesus type person that said at the bottom, “Believe it or not Jesus was a Jew.” And he thought man alive, these Gentiles tell such lies. And he looked around to make sure nobody was looking and tears the page out, he takes it home to his Orthodox Jewish father and he says, “Look at the lies they’re telling.” He said, “Well, son, he was a Jew.” And he was astonished. So the next time he went to the library he went back in the deepest, darkest part of the library, got a New Testament and started reading it and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
August Rosado: You see again, the Holy Spirit did not go out of business in the First Century.
Dr. Reagan: No.
August Rosado: He is still working those very miracles today.
Dr. Reagan: Still changing hearts, still changing.
August Rosado: If he can do it with this guy, he can do it with a Jew or Gentile for that matter.
Nathan Jones: Well I have been working with a Jewish friend on line and she is very Jewish, but secular Jewish. And she hates Christmas and she says she feels so left out about anything and all. I said, “Hey, it is a Jewish family in Israel, and the only Gentiles involved were Persian magi who were bowing down to a Jewish King.” She’d never heard that before. Never taught.
August Rosado: That’s a good point. That’s definitely a good point.
Dr. Reagan: Well let me ask you a more general question about Bible prophecy in general and that is that is probably one of the most ignored subject in churches today. Pastors just stay away from it. And I want you to–what is the importance of pastors at least preaching from time to time about Bible prophecy and about the return of Jesus?
August Rosado: Well, you know, Dr. Reagan, last time that we were together and we talked about this very subject. And I called a church in Warwick, Rhode Island and the pastor was extremely nice but he said, “August,” he says, “I really appreciate what you’re doing.” He says, “But we can’t have that type of subject taught in this church.” I said, “Pastor, why not? It’s a subject that permeates one-third of the Word of God. One out of every three verses in the scriptures deal with Bible prophecy. Why won’t you have someone teach it?” He says, “Well, our people just can’t understand it. I don’t even understand it and I have a doctorate.”
Nathan Jones: Oh, well you can fix that problem.
August Rosado: I said, “Well sir, I think you need to get your money back from that school.” You know?
Nathan Jones: I remember taking Old Testament classes, we took prophetic classes you can’t get out of Seminary without taking classes on prophecy. So, then they graduate and then they won’t teach it because they say they don’t understand it. So, you have to wonder what kind of education they were getting.
August Rosado: You know it is like pie in the sky theology. You know? We are just going you know like pan millennialism, it is all just going to pan out in the end so we shouldn’t be bothering ourselves.
Dr. Reagan: 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” We have no justification for taking one-fourth, to one-third of God’s Word, putting it on the shelf and say, “That’s not for us today.” It is for us today.
August Rosado: Absolutely.
Dr. Reagan: And I often tell preachers, “If you will ever really preach that–get your people to believe two things, number one Jesus really is coming back. The average Christian believes it here, but they don’t believe it there. And number two that is an event that could occur any moment. You will transform their lives and they will commit themselves to evangelism, and holiness and what more could you ask for?
August Rosado: Oh, Amen. That is right out of Titus chapter 2. You know? We are looking for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The church today is not looking for Him. I think we are more concerned on who the Antichrist is going to be.
Dr. Reagan: Well if you were to sum up your message, what would sum it up as? What is your basic message?
August Rosado: My basic message today is that number one Jesus Christ is indeed coming soon.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
August Rosado: Number two we need to be busy for the Lord.
Dr. Reagan: Yes.
August Rosado: Living holy, righteously and godly in this present world. I don’t want the Lord to come and catch me unaware as I’m living a sinful lifestyle out of the will of God.
Nathan Jones: Amen. Amen.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah.
August Rosado: Amen. We need to be living holy, righteously and godly in this present age. Winning souls, whether Jew, or Gentile to Jesus Christ, because I believe Dr. Reagan we are living on borrowed time.
Dr. Reagan: Yeah. Yeah.
August Rosado: We are running on fumes as they say.
Dr. Reagan: That’s right.
August Rosado: So, we need to get busy for the kingdom, right here, and right now because time is running out.
Dr. Reagan: And you say we are living on borrowed time, because the Lord gave us signs to watch for and we can see those signs all around us today.
August Rosado: Absolutely.
Dr. Reagan: I mean it’s just, this is one of the most exciting times to live in all of history, except for the first time that the Lord came.
August Rosado: I tell you it makes me want to practice my rapture take off, brother, I hear Him right now. Amen. Yeah, I mean we are seeing prophecy unfold right before our very eyes. I believe we could be that generation, Dr. Reagan.
Dr. Reagan: Now, you’re located in Connecticut, but you go all over the nation preaching and teaching don’t you?
August Rosado: Actually we are located in Lincoln, Rhode Island, right near the Connecticut border.
Dr. Reagan: Rhode Island, I’m sorry. Yeah, Rhode Island.
August Rosado: But the Lord has opened the doors for my wife and I to travel all over.
Dr. Reagan: How about looking right into that camera there and telling people how to get in touch with you.
August Rosado: Well, folks, you can contact us at Today in Bible Prophecy Ministries, our website is: todayinbibleprophecy.org. You can sign up for our newsletters while you’re there. You can take Israel trips with us. You can contact us. Look at our videos, our audio, pictures from Israel and I hope it will be a blessing to you.
Dr. Reagan: And you have a radio streaming program on there.
August Rosado: Yeah, we’re on Facebook every single morning at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time teaching a book on prophecy, so you can check that out as well.
Dr. Reagan: Well, brother, I appreciate it. Thanks for being with us today.
August Rosado: Thank you Dr. Reagan. Nathan, appreciate it.
Dr. Reagan: God bless you. May the Lord continue to pour out His spirit on you. Folks, that’s our program for today. I hope it’s been a blessing to you, and if not you better check your pulse. Until next week I hope you’ll be with us then, this is Dave Reagan speaking for Lamb & Lion Ministries, “Look up, be watchful, for our redemption is drawing near.”
End of Program