3 SEP 2026 · Tracing a line from the Tower of Babel to modern artificial intelligence, this message explores how human ambition to be like God echoes through history. Pastor Skip shares that we are living in the "last hour" and challenges believers to be spiritually ready—not complacent—for the sudden return of Jesus Christ.
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Good morning, everyone. Welcome to today's edition of Camino Chronicles. [laughs] And may I ask you to tighten your seat belts because, well, here we go. In the book of Genesis 11:4, it says, and I quote, "Then they said, 'Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.'" End quote. Now, wait a minute. How'd they know that God would scatter them? Let, let me know when you find that answer. Then in verse five it says, "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had built." Now, this tower is called the Tower of Babel, and that comes from chapter 11, verse 9. And it's that great story about how man thought he could build a city on their own, reaching to heaven, making themselves famous. [laughs] That's what they say, they wanna become famous. I mean, it's kinda all about them, isn't it? Sorta like today. The word Babel means confusion, and it was probably referring to Babylonia on the Euphrates River. But the guy named Babel was the son of Nimrod, and he came out of Noah's line. And the word Nimrod means rebellion. [laughs] Confusion and rebellion. I mean, history surely is, is repeating itself today. I, I think we should caution parents, do not name your kids Nimrod. [laughs] Okay, let's fast-forward to when the Apostle John was about to write the book we call Revelation. It was about a king who's coming. Oh, hallelujah. John tells us right from the beginning, listen to this, I quote this, "This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show his servants the events that must soon take place." Close quotes. Wow. Now, this word soon is in the New Living Translation. In the King James Version, it says these things that must shortly take place. Okay, so take a pencil and cross that out in your Bible. Cross out the word soon or quickly and write, uh, uh, not... [laughs] In the King James it doesn't say quickly. In the King James it says, "Must shortly take place." Okay, sorry. So you're gonna cross that out and you're gonna write in quickly or suddenly. A- and that's a much better translation of the Greek. It... And in fact, in both my New Living and King James translations, there's a footnote by the word soon and it says quickly or suddenly. Now, this book, this book we call Revelation, it's from an encounter that John had with an angel of God. Oh my gosh, that'll get your attention. It happened or it was written in about 96 AD on the island of Patmos. Now, this same John was in the city of Ephesus six years earlier, about 90 AD when he wrote 1 John. Listen to this, 1 John 2:18, and I quote, "Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come." Close quotes. Well, what is this last hour? Well, it, it's the time, the period of time leading up to the second coming of Jesus. It, it's the time that we're in now. So here's the timeline. And although we don't know the, the dates, we do know the seasons. First, there will be a falling away, an apostasy the Bible calls it. Huh. Do you think that's happening yet? Second, then comes the catching away of, the catching away of the believers, the, the what we call the rapture of the church spoken of in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Then the Antichrist assumes power and sits in the temple trying to be God. And there's lots of discussion here as to whether it's a literal temp- temple or a symbolic or a figurative temp- uh, figurative one. That's all okay. The fourth thing happens though, this ushers in the seven-year period of time we call the Great Tribulation. Very sad times for those who are here. Number five, then the second coming of Jesus Christ when he establishes his rule and his reign for, number six, the millennial reign, his thousand years of... of rule on Earth. And then number seven, a perfect number, come a new heaven, a new earth, new people, new conditions, new Jerusalem, new temple, new light, and new paradise. Oh, glory. Hallelujah. Praise the name of the Lord. [laughs] Back in 1 John 22, he asks, "And who is a liar?" It gives the answer. Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ, anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. And that word antichrist means a adversary. John says that every spirit that does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world, and indeed is already here. In, in 2 John, he goes on and he says, "I say this," he was speaking about that we should love one another. He says, "I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body." Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist, adversary. Okay, hold that thought for a minute. There was a movie a few years back about a kid playing a game on his computer, where he took one side and the computer took the other, and they tried to conquer one another. It was a war game, right? Well, in this story, in this movie, the computer went nuts and actually took over America's nuclear missile capability, and was about to launch attacks, nuclear rockets and missiles all over the world. There was also, uh, that movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, it was called, where a computer named Hal went [laughs] nuts and caused a lot of trouble. Right now, there's a movie in the theaters called A House of Dynamite. Wow. It's about a nuclear missile that's been launched, and it's, it's gone rogue, and it's about to wipe out Chicago. Oh, my. And all the computers are trying to talk to each other and figure out what to do. Our current fascination with artificial intelligence, AI, is stirring up all kinds of concerns, a- and rightly so, I think. [laughs] I asked a friend the other day what he thought about computers being the Antichrist, and he gave me a very scholarly re- answer. He said, "Hmm." [laughs] I said, "Maybe they," meaning computers, "will become sentient." What a great word. Sentient means having the power of perception by the senses. In, in other words, conscious. It's characterized by sensation and consciousness. Well, my friend went on to call this the singularity. What great words, sentience and singularity. [laughs] Here are the three attempts to understand singularity. You ready? Number one, a singularity is a point where normal physical mathematical rules break down, or singularity refers to a boundary where existing models fail. They fail to describe what happens next. Hmm. Or number three, and according to that all-knowing truth called Wikipedia, [laughs] singularity refers to a boundary where existing models fail to describe what happens next. I guess you can see that when computers become sentient, they will not only have the power to perceive senses and to be conscious, whatever that means, but they will also reach this thing called singularity. Oh, boy. [laughs] Okay, let me try to connect all these dots. I love this. Number one, mankind is so selfish that he will attempt anything to become like God, like building a tower to heaven or a computer system that can do anything. Number two, our technology is advancing so rapidly that we, we're even beginning to fear our own technology. Our experts don't even know if they can control it once it [laughs] reaches a certain point. And number three, dear ones, we are in the last hour. Hopefully, we're preparing for the sudden and very quick return of Jesus Christ. So the Bible tells us that we should be ready, not be asleep, not be complacent, or in Bible-ese, not be fallen away. In 2 Peter 3:8, it tells us that to the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. [laughs] In other words, time is not something that controls God, but God controls and is beyond time. The Bible words, "The day of the Lord," refer to something absolutely [laughs] fantastic, something beyond amazing, something almost beyond our ability to comprehend. Words telling us that Jesus Christ is coming back a second time to rule and to reign as a king, and that just before He arrives on Earth, He will catch away those who believe in Him, and then He'll set up His earthly kingdom. Oh, I suggest you reread the Book of Revelation, and especially pay, pay close attention to chapter one, verse three, and I quote this, "God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the Church, and He blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near." End quote. In verse 17, He then says, "Don't be afraid." Folks, a king is coming, and it's gonna be terrific for us who believe. So get ready. Fill your lamps. Trim your wicks. Don't bury your treasures. Confess your sins. Pray in the Spirit, and then listen as Jesus tells you how much He loves you. [laughs] Wow. This is Pastor Skip signing out for now. If I don't see you next Wednesday, well, either Jesus came and got me, and quickly, [laughs] and we visit together in glory. Hmm. Or hey, maybe I just get out early to meet Him. It's all good. God bless you today. Bye-bye.