8, and we're continuing through the book of Revelation, and we're now starting the wrath
of God.
And so we've had a lot of sermons laying the groundwork, going chapter by chapter,
but spending more time when necessary.
And in chapter 8, we're starting the wrath of God, okay?
Now I want you to turn to Mark chapter 9, Mark chapter 9.
Turn back in your Bible, Mark chapter 9.
And the first question you have to ask yourself is, we're going to spend quite
a bit of time these next couple weeks looking at the wrath of God, you know, why do we even
have God's wrath upon this world?
Because when you really think about it, God's wrath with the locusts and everything that's
going to take place over the next couple chapters is pretty bad, but quite honestly,
hell is worse.
Right.
Okay?
I mean, it's going to be bad here on earth.
It's going to be God's wrath, but you have to ask yourself the question, why not
just cast all the evil people into hell, right?
Because at first glance, that kind of makes more sense, other than the fact it's a very
entertaining story in Revelation, why not just send them to hell?
Well, there's a couple reasons why we do have God's wrath and God doesn't just send
everybody to hell.
But let me show you here in Mark chapter 9, verse 42.
Let me just prove to you, I mean, obviously hell is worse.
Mark 9, verse 42, and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in
me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were
cast into the sea.
And the Bible speaks about someone who would offend a little child.
Instead it's better basically to put something around their neck and just drown them in
the sea.
Okay?
I mean, that's a pretty brutal description.
Then he's going to go in more detail in verse 43, and if I hand-offend thee,
cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands
to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.
And so the Bible says, you know what, it's better to cut off your hand.
Okay?
Now, look, that's pretty extreme, isn't it?
Now, I have heard some dispensational teachers say that during the end times, if you take
the mark of the beast by accident, or you choose to worship Satan, but then you change
your mind, that you still have a chance, you just got to cut off your hand where
you had that mark.
Okay?
It's like, no, worshipping the devil, it's not really the mark, it's the fact that
you made a conscious decision in your mind and you became a reprobate.
Okay?
So you can't cut off your hand.
I've also heard, you know, take out your eye, actually we're going to get to that
here in a second, to try to remove the mark of the beast.
And so the Bible describes basically cut off your hand, obviously, hell is worse than even
cutting off your hand.
Okay?
It says in verse 44, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
We showed the other week that that's referring to the body, how people that go to hell
will get a new body that's going to be there forever.
It's referred to as their worm.
Verse 45, and if thy foot offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into
a hole halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell and the fire that never
shall be quenched.
And the Bible is trying to give you a description of how bad hell is.
Now obviously as believers, we can't lose our salvation.
And obviously you don't have to turn from your sins or make any changes to be saved.
You just have to believe.
But what it's trying to do in these verses is, is describe to you how bad hell
is.
And it's saying, you know what?
You'd rather be missing a hand and avoid hell.
Isn't that true?
You'd rather be missing a foot and avoid hell.
I mean, look, I've burned myself before.
You know, when I was in college, I worked at a fast food restaurant and I worked in
making pizza.
And you know, you're around hot pans all the time.
You know, you're, you're really busy and you accidentally burn yourself, you know,
every single week, you know, and it's extremely painful.
And oftentimes that burning feeling, it doesn't go away instantaneously.
Oftentimes it lasts for a few hours.
I mean, it's pretty bad.
Unfortunately, hell is going to be worse than missing a hand, worse than missing a
foot.
Okay.
Then it says in verse 46, where their worm dieth not in the fire is not quenched.
So it never ends.
The fire is not quenched.
And if I, if I offend, they pluck it out.
It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two
eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Look, our hands, our feet, and our eyes are things that we really value.
I mean, if I offered you 50 million pesos for your eye, you'd turn me down, wouldn't
you?
Right?
I mean, if I offered you 50 million pesos for your foot or your hand, you would turn
me down.
Why?
You can't really put a price on your body parts.
I mean, and obviously, obviously, you know, we need money to survive, but quite honestly,
there's plenty of things that are more valuable to us than our money.
That's one thing we should remember during this time period, because quite honestly,
you know, there's a famous person in the US, Andrew Carnegie, and he was in the banking
industry and he died a long time ago.
He's one of the richest people in the world, and he spent most of his life in a wheelchair.
And he was a bad person.
He was a wicked person.
But here's the thing.
I wouldn't trade positions with him and be a really rich person.
And I'm not trying to criticize.
I mean, obviously, some people have health problems, you know, and, and, and I'm not
really, I'm just, I'm just saying, you know what?
Our body and our health is more valuable to us.
I mean, look at the story of Job.
The devil could not get Job to sin against God or turn against God, but he had one last
try.
He's like, I'm going to harm his body and then I'll turn against you.
Why?
Because we take very much value in our body.
Okay.
And the Bible's telling you how bad hell is.
You would rather be missing a hand or a foot or an eye than spending forever in hell.
Verse 48, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
Now in these verses, it really highlights the fact that it's fire and the pain never
ends.
Okay.
But look, you could preach a whole sermon on the torments of hell and there's many
aspects of how bad hell is.
The Bible says about help where they rest, not day or night, no rest.
I mean, imagine when you're extremely tired.
Okay.
Imagine you're extremely tired one day and you, you, you have to go to work all
day.
You're like, man, that you just are counting down so you can get home and go to sleep.
Okay.
It's like, that's a very pain.
I mean, that's actually a torture technique used in the Miller's Terry sometimes where they
basically do not let you sleep.
And every time you try to fall asleep, they wake you back up and it's like that until
you confess.
And it's a very effective strategy because look, after several days, people are just
ready to do whatever because all they want to do is sleep.
Okay.
You're not going to be able to sleep in hell.
You not don't rest day or night.
It's going to be a place of complete darkness.
Okay.
The Bible says into outer darkness.
And look, when you go to sleep at night, you know, you turn out the lights, you know,
you don't want the light on if you're trying to sleep.
But here's the reason why you're okay with that.
Because you're not really sleeping in total darkness.
Okay.
Your eyes after a couple of minutes can still adjust and sort of see.
But I mean, if you're in complete darkness and you don't know where you are, I mean,
it would be a petrifying feeling.
I had a friend of mine because in West Virginia in the coal industry is very big in West
Virginia.
And he worked a summer internship in the coal industry where you go down into the mines.
And when you get down into those mines, it is complete darkness.
I mean, you can't see anything.
And so they have, you know, lights to guide you where to go.
Because otherwise you go down to those those mines and you can easily get lost.
You could easily die down there and you can't see anything.
You're trying to turn around.
You could easily accidentally turn around and just not know which direction you're headed
and be lost.
I mean, people can die that way.
And so my friend was there, and I guess at his company, they thought it was a really
cool joke for the new people to basically turn out the lights for five minutes
and make him really scared.
And my friend was, like, so angry with that.
He was just like, you know, because he was scared to death because, I mean, you don't
know where you're going.
You don't know if the joke's going to end.
It's like, you know, you're I mean, you're new there.
You don't know where you are.
Look, total darkness is petrifying.
It's very scary.
And guess what?
In hell, it's going to be complete darkness, OK, which would indicate to us is probably
going to be a black flame.
OK, which is possible.
That's a whole other topic I'm sure I'll talk about it sometime, at least supposedly
because as humans, the hottest flame we can make is a white flame.
I've heard in chemistry class, you make a blue flame, which is like really strong.
You know, it's like really sharp when it's coming out of blue flame.
But supposedly we can make a white flame.
But supposedly we can't make a black flame like produce it as people.
This is what I've heard.
But it actually is proven that on parts of the sun, it is dark.
You know, I'm not an expert on this.
I'm just saying what I've heard.
But I do believe the Bible and the Bible says the place of fire and it's going to be dark.
So I do believe that that's what the Bible teaches.
But look, hell is worse than the wrath of God during the book of Revelation.
So you have to ask yourself, why does God not just cast all these people into hell
if that's going to be worse?
Well, go back to Revelation, Chapter seven.
And the first answer to this, I have two answers.
Number one is to get people saved.
OK.
And that's usually the answer for things like this, because, look, once the Antichrist
basically makes, you know, the image that people have to worship, a lot of people
will take the mark of the beast and damn their souls to hell and they have no chance
to go to heaven.
But not everybody's going to do that.
OK.
There are many people in this world that, you know what, they're not saved, but they're
also not wicked people that hate God either.
OK.
And there's also you have to understand that when the mark of the beast happens, there
are parts of this world, there's parts of this country that aren't populated areas.
Now it'd be very easy in Metro Manila to force people to do something for the most
matter.
But, you know, in the provinces, there's a lot of houses that are out there in the jungles.
It's like they're not really going to have the capacity to send people after just that
one person living a long ways away.
So look, during the end times, there's going to be a lot of people that are living
on the outskirts.
I'm from the mountain state.
OK.
When we went soul winning some parts of West Virginia, you drive door to door.
You don't walk door to door.
You drive door to door.
Why?
Because the houses aren't right beside each other.
So there are parts of this world that they're going to know what's taking place.
It's going to be all over the news.
Everybody's going to know.
And they obviously didn't get raptured, so they didn't believe that means.
But that doesn't mean that they're willing to worship the Antichrist, which means
those are people that are still reachable.
That's why in Revelation seven, verse two, it says, I saw another angel ascending from
the east, having the seal of the living God.
And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the
earth and the sea saying, hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees till we have
sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
He's referring to the 144,000, which we talked about, and they're going to be sealed here
when the wrath of God is taking place in Revelation chapter eight and Revelation
chapter nine.
They're going to be here during the wrath of God and the reason why God is bringing
I mean, people are being taken from heaven to come back to Earth.
It's like nobody wants to sign up for the fact I'm already in heaven and God's like,
I got to bring you back to do something, OK?
But there's unsaved people that need to hear the gospel.
And so there's going to be 144,000 verse four.
And I heard the number of them which were sealed and they were sealed in 144,000
of all the tribes of the Children of Israel.
And so during that time period, that 144,000, they're probably going to be all over the
world.
They're not just going to be in one area.
They're going to be all over the world.
And you know what?
They're going to be the ones that are going to every single house to try to talk to people
and try to get people safe.
They're going to be protected.
That's what the Bible says.
And that's why it says they're sealed.
OK, they're going to be protected.
But you know, they're going to be the ones that are preaching the gospel during that
time period, during God's wrath.
OK, now turn to Revelation chapter 11, Revelation 11.
I was so many West Virginia one time in West Virginia.
The college is known as the mountaineers.
It's the mountain state, OK, because it doesn't have the tallest mountains in the U.S., but
everything is a mountain.
Everything is a hill.
It's known as the mountain state.
And so I remember I was going soloing with my buddy and, you know, we're getting out
of church and so we're trying to knock every door.
And as I said, at a lot of places, you drive door to door.
But there is this house that was really high on the top of the hill.
And quite honestly, if you tried to drive up it at the steep incline, the car might
not make it.
And so I'm just kind of like, well, you know, it is what it is.
My friend's like, no, we got to get to that house.
He's like, we got to walk it.
I was like, are you kidding me?
I mean, it took us like 20 minutes to walk up.
I mean, it's literally like like up a mountain.
OK, and we are crawling and fighting, fighting for our breath.
And then we knock and nobody answers.
So I have a happy ending.
But it's just like during the end times, that 144,000, they're going to be reaching
every single door.
And quite honestly, a lot of those doors are going to be in the outskirts where you're
walking a long distance just to try to talk to one person.
OK, Revelation Chapter 11.
They're not going to be the only ones, though, that are soul winners during this time period.
The Bible mentions two witnesses in Revelation 11, verse three.
And I'll give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred
and three score days, clothed in sackcloth.
And so the Bible speaks about two witnesses that are going to be here in the latter
half of Daniel's 70th week.
A lot of different opinions on that.
We'll preach a sermon on that.
As I've said, you know, I believe Moses and Elijah are going to be those two witnesses.
You know, some people believe it's going to be in the spirit and power of Moses and
Elijah, but not necessarily them.
That's not what my opinion is, but that's the theory.
The other popular theory is Elijah and Enoch.
But actually, another popular, not a popular theory, but another one I heard recently
that I think is actually better than Elijah and Enoch, and I don't subscribe to this.
I'll talk about this in a few weeks, is referring to Elijah and John the apostle.
And there's many reasons why.
And I thought it was interesting.
But the one who wrote Revelation, who at the end of the book of John, Peter asked
the question, is he going to tarry till I come?
So there's kind of some wording there that would make you think that.
I don't think that's who it is.
I think it's Elijah and Moses.
We'll talk about that.
It's not really a church splitting issue because the Bible doesn't exactly tell you
who it is.
But there's going to be two people, whether they're two people that were prophets from
the past or people that are going to be here during that time or people
coming in the spirit and power of Elijah and Moses.
They're going to be two people here.
And the difference between them and the 144,000 is not just that they're here for
a longer period of time because they're starting at the midway point of Daniel's 70th week.
But their purpose is to basically have a public ministry.
So it's basically counteracting what the devil and the Antichrist in every news station
is going to be saying, because every news station is going to be lying to you like
they are today and giving you a slanted view on the truth.
And so they're going to be basically the way where at least God's message is getting
out there.
Now, I'm sure they're going to be preaching the gospel to people and getting people saved.
But quite honestly, they're going to be more of having a public ministry where they're
the people that are going to be on the news all the time.
Okay.
And so they're obviously going to be needed.
But two people cannot reach the whole world.
So we need 144,000 to individually talk to people.
So that's part of the reason why there's the wrath of God.
But turn to Acts chapter three, Acts chapter three, Acts chapter three.
So you might say, well, why not just send those people to hell and God can judge them
there?
Well, yeah, I mean, he could do that.
But here's another thing you have to understand that, you know, people can be judged in
hell for their sins.
But God also judges nations and nations cannot be judged in hell.
They must be judged in this life.
Okay.
You can't judge the United States of America when everyone's already in hell.
I mean, it's already done.
All the people are gone.
You must judge nations in this life and God judges nations.
That's why in the minor prophets and the major prophets, they're often preaching against
nations and nations are coming under judgment.
Think of Nineveh.
Think of the Assyrian Empire.
There's books of the Bible about this.
I mean, Jonah goes to preach on to them.
Two books later, it's a whole book saying that Assyria has fallen.
Nineveh has fallen, one of the great empires that ever existed.
I mean, up until that time, Egypt was the only other big empire that had existed
up until that time.
And there's a whole book of the Bible talking about them falling.
Why?
Because nations are judged in this life.
Okay.
Acts chapter three, verse 20, and he shall send Jesus Christ, which was, which before
was preached on to you, whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution
of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since
the world began.
The Bible says the times of restitution where things are being restored into their proper
place.
And look, when a nation becomes extremely wicked, they don't just get to get out of
it scot-free like nothing's going to happen to them.
No, they have to be judged for it.
I mean, you look at nations today that are wicked and nations think they're not
going to be judged and nothing's going to happen to them.
And quite honestly, right now, the judgment of God is coming on a lot of nations.
Why?
Because they're wicked.
They're filled with abortion and sodomy and, you know, all kinds of wickedness, violence
and murder, corruptness, drunkenness, drugs.
And yeah, you know what ends up happening?
God has to judge that nation when it takes place and see, you know, I come from the
US and there's the attitude in the US that the US is so powerful, the US nothing's
ever going to happen to them who could bring them down, but you know, every country
will be brought down by their pride.
You see that throughout the entire Bible with power.
I mean, Babylon was the world's biggest empire and then overnight, boom, they're nothing.
That's the way it works.
And look, right now, countries are being judged and we're part of that because we
are a wicked country because we do have to pay for the sins that we've committed.
We're not a godly country.
And around the world, God is judging nations right now, okay?
And so nations must be judged in this life.
They can't be judged after everyone's already in heaven and hell.
It doesn't make sense.
They have to be judged now.
And so right now, you know what, quite honestly, God is judging nations because it has to take
place.
Well, during the end times, it's not going to be any different because there's going
to be wicked countries like the United States of America, end times Babylon, and
they must come under judgment for being the epicenter of wickedness that they're
spreading to everybody in the world.
They must come under judgment for that, okay?
And many nations during the end times are going to be judged like that, but I want
you to understand that if there was no wrath of God, then how would God be able to judge
all these nations properly?
He must restore all things into their place.
And so, yeah, he could send unsaved people to hell and just the wrath of God's on them
in hell, which is worse, but how can he judge a nation in hell?
He can't do that.
You have to judge the Philippines or the US or Germany or whatever country.
You have to judge them in this life, okay?
That's what you see throughout the Bible.
Turn to Revelation chapter 8, Revelation chapter 8.
So why even have the wrath of God?
Why not just send people to hell and let the others go to heaven?
Because of the fact, one, there's unsaved people that need the gospel and God wants
to give them another chance because he's very long suffering.
And number two, because of the fact God must judge nations in this life, he must restore
all things that the Bible says.
The Bible says the times of restitution of all things, okay?
Point number two tonight, let's talk about the silence in heaven mentioned in Revelation
chapter 8, verse 1.
Now Revelation 8, 1 is a great verse that proves to you a post-Trib pre-wrath rapture,
okay?
Because notice when it says the seventh seal, and when he had opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Now was there silence when the first seal was open?
No.
The second seal?
No.
The third seal?
No.
The fourth seal?
No.
The fifth or the sixth?
No.
There's only silence for the seventh seal.
And when you understand the fact that all the believers just got raptured up from
the earth and God's about to pour out his wrath, this is the biggest event
that has taken place in the world since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, more
than 2,000 years before that.
So it makes sense that up in heaven, everyone's like, man, they're in awe.
You know, they're just like, you know, wow.
You know, you think of sporting events where somebody does an amazing play or something
like that.
They do a crazy dunk and everything.
And when something like that happens, people go crazy and they're really excited.
But quite honestly, oftentimes there's just like a pause where you're just like,
you're stunned.
It's like, how did he...
How did he dunk?
I mean, if somebody dunked from the three-point line, wouldn't you be like, what just happened?
It's like, he dunked from the three-point line, I'd be like, are my eyes okay?
It's like, what in the world?
It's like, that's crazy.
I've never seen that before.
And so look, when somebody does something crazy, oftentimes there's just that silence
where you're just like, you know, wow, right?
Turn to John chapter 20.
Let me show you an example in the Bible.
John chapter 20, John 20, John chapter 20.
You have to understand people are saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell in the earth?
And it finally happens.
And there's like this stunned silence and they're really, really excited for it.
Right before God's wrath is poured out, it's like, man, this event just took place.
John chapter 20, John chapter 20, John chapter 20, verse one.
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark onto the sepulcher
and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved
and saith unto them, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher and we know
not where they have laid him.
Verse three, Peter therefore went forth in that other disciple and came to the sepulcher.
So they ran both together and the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first
to the sepulcher.
Now in verse four, you can have different opinions on why the disciple outruns Peter,
but the Bible does tell us he outran Peter.
So maybe he's in better shape, you know, maybe he works out more.
Maybe he's younger.
Maybe he's more excited to get to the sepulcher.
And I don't know whether he's more excited or not.
They're obviously both excited, but it's gonna make sense as we look to later verses
like what the Bible's trying to highlight to you, but he outruns Peter.
He goes past Peter, he's getting to the sepulcher, they're both really excited.
Verse five, and he's stooping down, referring to the other disciple, and he's stooping
down and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, yet when he not in.
So he basically runs up there and he sees the clothes lying there and he just stops.
He doesn't go in.
It's basically like stunned silence because when he saw that, all of a sudden it just
clicked with him.
He's like, man, Jesus really did rise again from the dead.
I mean, he fully gets it.
Now they believed in a resurrection in the Old Testament, but they didn't necessarily
have the same grasp on a perfect understanding of the timing and things like that.
And so look, they understood there's gonna be a resurrection of our bodies.
You see that in the Old Testament, but when he sees this, he knows, man, Jesus rose
again from the dead.
And he just, he doesn't go in.
He's just this like stunned silence when he gets there.
Verse six, then cometh Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulcher and seeth
the linen clothes lie.
So Peter actually does go into the sepulcher and the napkin that was about his head,
not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher and he saw
and believed.
And so you see kind of an example there when some major event takes place.
Sometimes the reaction is just this stunned silence where you can't believe what just
took place.
Turn to Revelation chapter eight, revelation eight.
Say what's your point?
My point is that stunned silence did not take place for the first, second, third,
fourth, fifth or sixth seal.
There's silence for half an hour for the seventh seal in revelation chapter eight,
verse one.
I used to have this audio Bible.
I had it on CD, and I was listening through the book of Revelation, and it's Alexander
Scorby, but it went from chapter to chapter.
But when it got to Revelation chapter eight, and it said there's silence in heaven
about the space of half an hour, all of a sudden they just had silence for like
10 seconds, and it just kind of really hits you what the Bible is saying.
It wasn't that long.
It's probably like 10 seconds, and then they went into the rest of the end of the verse
and the next verses and everything.
But you're listening to that audio Bible.
It's like there's silence in heaven about the space of half an hour, and then there's
no noise as a wall that kind of gives you a picture of what's taking place in revelation
eight.
The Bible says about half an hour, 30 minutes.
There's just this silence, and then we're seeing the rest of Revelation eight.
We're seeing God's wrath is poured out.
Why?
The 144,000 have been sealed.
All believers are up in heaven.
It's time for God to restore all things.
It's time to pour out his wrath upon the earth.
Revelation chapter eight verse two, and I saw the seven angels which stood before God
and to them were given seven trumpets, and another angel came and stood at the altar
having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should
offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before
the throne.
And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before
God out of the angel's hand.
Now, this is very interesting because a lot of things are mentioned in the last couple
of chapters, but right before he's pouring out his wrath, I want you to notice how
it highlights in verse three and four the prayers of all saints, okay?
And the prayers of all saints, it says in verse four, ascended up before God out
of the angel's hand.
So basically, once these prayers ascend up, then all of a sudden God is gonna pour out
his wrath in Revelation chapter eight.
You say, what is the significance?
Yes, we'll go back to Revelation chapter five, Revelation five, Revelation chapter five.
And this is mentioned earlier in Revelation chapter five, and then I'll give you what
my opinion about what this is referring to.
Revelation chapter five verse eight, and when he had taken the book, the four beasts
and four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and
golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints, and it mentions these
prayers of saints, and the Bible's mentioning these, basically that they're gonna be kept
by God, and the Bible says right before God's wrath is poured out, those prayers
come before God, and then he pours out his wrath.
It seems like those prayers link to God pouring out his wrath in Revelation chapter
eight, because it mentions the prayers in verse three, verse four, and then he pours
out his wrath.
Well, turn to Revelation chapter six, because I want you to understand that we have many
prayers in our lives, depending on what things we're going through.
I mean, over this last couple months in the Philippines, probably the number one prayer
is in regards to the coronavirus or finances or things related to that, right?
Because that's the event that's going on right now, and so you pray about the things
that are going on in your life or the things that you're struggling with, the things
that you want God to answer.
Well, I want you to understand something.
During the end times, what do people want answered?
They want the prayer answered, God, will you pour out your wrath on these wicked,
evil people?
Notice what it says in Revelation chapter six, verse nine.
And when he had opened this fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that
were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
This is after the abomination of desolation and people are being killed for what they
believe.
And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true dost thou
not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Notice how it says, revenge our blood on them.
The people that are lined up with the antichrist, how long is it going to be until you avenge
our blood on them?
Notice how they don't say, God, they just need the gospel.
Can you just send a soul winner to preach the gospel to that person that just chopped
off my friend's head?
You notice how they don't say that?
You notice how they say, God, how long is it going to be until you revenge our
blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Why?
These are people that have taken the mark of the beast that are siding with the devil
that are wicked people, and they're waiting for God to judge those wicked people.
They're not saying, God, just give them another chance.
No, they're saying, God, judge those people.
And the Bible's mentioning in Revelation 6 as something that's a good thing.
I mean, they're up in heaven.
They're not going to have an unholy prayer up in heaven.
They're not going to have something in heaven where God's going to be like, that's
sinful.
No, they're not going to up in heaven.
Why?
Because the sinful flesh is gone.
But up in heaven, obviously, they're going to say, man, these evil people, God, will
you pour out your wrath on them and realize God's wrath is just on these wicked
people.
And look, it makes sense that God's going to pour out his wrath.
And what I want to talk about is this idea that some people have that God just loves
everybody no matter what they do, no matter who they are.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
Turn to Psalms 139.
Psalm 139.
I mean, are you going to be sad when the Antichrist gets thrown into hell?
Are you going to shed a tear for the Antichrist?
No, he's not.
I mean, do you really have a lot of sympathy for these pedophiles that are molesting all
these little children?
And you say, well, you know, I just, they just need another chance.
It's like, well, what about those kids whose lives are permanently ruined?
What about you say?
What about these evil dictators?
Like you say, I feel so bad for these people.
They should just get another chance.
But Pol Pot killed one third of the people in his country in Cambodia.
He killed three million people, like 30% of his country.
Oh, man, he just needs the gospel.
No, he just needs to die.
I mean, he killed three million people and then you feel bad.
No.
If he was given what he deserved, the death penalty, guess what?
Three million people would have their lives spared.
Okay.
But, but you say, well, that's your opinion.
Well, it's not really my opinion because Revelation chapter six, they're asking God to pour
out his wrath while they're in heaven.
So that's a good thing.
The Bible's mentioned God's wrath is just okay.
Now, look, I feel bad when unsafe people die and go to hell.
I'm not saying I don't.
Obviously, we go out soul winning because we don't want anybody to go to hell.
But I want you to realize some people reach a point where they're just a bad apple and
they will not change their wicked evil people.
Obviously, the antichrist.
I mean, are you going to try to give the gospel to the antichrist during the end
times?
No.
The people that are working for the antichrist, look, they're not going to change.
They're on his side when they take that mark of the beast.
Psalms 139, Psalms 139, verse 19.
Notice what it says in Psalms 139, verse 19, surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God, depart
from me therefore ye bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies
take thine name in vain.
Now notice what the Psalmist says here.
He talks about bloody men, which means they are murdering people.
And what he's saying is they speak against thee.
They're speaking against God, okay?
Thine enemies.
God's enemies take thy name in vain.
So you have to understand that the Bible does say to love your neighbor as yourself,
okay?
But I want you to realize in Psalm 139, what we're talking about is not your personal
enemy.
It's not your neighbor that doesn't clean up after their dog every day, okay?
It's someone who's an enemy of God, someone who hates God.
It says there thine enemy.
So this is not just your personal enemy.
We all have enemies in this life from time to time.
You work at a job at an office, somebody gets mad that you got a promotion and they
don't like you.
That's your personal enemy and you're supposed to love them, okay?
Love your neighbor as yourself, okay?
You're supposed to be willing to forgive them and be nice to them and not to be bitter.
Or someone you get in a fight with at church, you're supposed to forgive them, be
nice to them, not be bitter.
But that's not what this is talking about in Psalms 139.
It says in Psalms 139, thine enemies, these are God's enemies take thy name in vain,
okay?
This is the word of God in Psalm 139.
So God is approving of what's being said.
This is written in the word of God.
This is not a wicked person that's saying this, okay?
This is not the Antichrist saying this.
This is God's word.
These are not Job's friends talking.
This is God's word, the Psalmist speaking.
Verse 21, do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, and am not I grieve with those
that rise up against thee.
And what the Psalmist says is I hate the people that hate the Lord.
Now he doesn't say I hate the people that are my enemies.
He doesn't say I hate the person who's rude to me.
Like you know, you're driving or something and somebody cuts you off and you're like,
I hate that person.
I'm gonna run them off the road.
I'm gonna kill that.
No, you're supposed to love that person as yourself even if they did you wrong, okay?
You know, if somebody rips you off and steals a thousand pesos, you know what?
You're supposed to love your neighbor as yourself, the Bible says.
Somebody steals something from you.
You're supposed to, you know, you're supposed to try to forgive people, okay?
But the Bible says these are people that are enemies of God.
He says do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
I hate the people that hate God and am not I grieve with those that rise up against
thee.
This is not saying an unsaved person.
Look, there's unsaved Catholics.
We don't hate unsaved Catholics, okay?
But what about the Catholic priest that's molesting little boys every week?
That's different.
That is an enemy of God.
That's what we're talking about here.
And that's a whole other sermon where you'd go in depth about it.
But there's a difference between an unsaved person and a wicked person, okay?
Verse 22, I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies.
And the Bible says there are people that the Psalmist hates and he counts them as
his enemies because they hate the Lord, okay?
This is not your unsaved cousin that isn't getting saved when you preach the gospel
and isn't interested in coming to church.
This is referring to someone who's a wicked person that hates God and is working against
God.
And the Bible says, you know what?
I hate them with perfect hatred.
And this is what the Psalmist says.
It's counted as a good thing, okay?
You know what's interesting?
And here's the thing.
The Bible says there's a time to love and a time to hate.
And you have to understand the idea, well, I'll just love everybody.
You can't love everybody.
It doesn't logically make sense.
You can't love a little innocent child and then hate the person that's molesting that
child, okay?
It doesn't make sense.
If you really love that child, then you think justice should be done to that person
who molested that little child, right?
Now, look, obviously people can do bad things and not be reprobates.
But when you're talking about something like that, that for sure is someone who's a
reprobate.
But I want you to understand something.
Even if you looked at someone who, let's say you had somebody who committed cold blooded
murder.
They murdered somebody, okay?
And they're not a reprobate.
They just murdered someone because they're trying to rob them and they had a gunfight
and then they killed the person.
But they're not a reprobate.
Here's the thing.
Do I hope that person gets saved?
Absolutely.
But that person still deserves the death penalty based on what the Bible says, okay?
Because an eye for an eye referring to the fact they killed someone in cold blood,
they get the death penalty for that according to God's law, okay?
But I want you to understand something.
When you're talking about someone who's a reprobate that hates God, that's someone that we
should not love, okay?
And look, people will criticize you when you say that.
But then you'll ask them about Adolf Hitler.
Do you love Adolf Hitler?
Are you glad he's in hell?
And then people will say, yeah, you know, they're glad Adolf Hitler's in hell.
And then you'll say, but wait a minute, I thought you were supposed to love everyone.
And then they're like.
I mean, just recently, I saw on social media when people were talking about Kim Jong-un,
like all the comments, I hope he's dead.
I hope he's burning in hell.
I hope he suffers a terrible death.
That's what everybody was saying, right?
I mean, that's just normal people, unsaved people.
Why?
Because even people understand that some people are so wicked that, you know what,
yeah, it's better if that person's dead, okay?
But then people try to act like, oh, no, just love everyone, give everyone a chance.
No, you wouldn't apply that in every situation, okay?
There are people that the Bible says we should hate.
This is not a large amount of people, but this referring to people that are Satan worshipers,
people that hate God, people that are reprobates.
So what's interesting is that's a very famous passage in scripture, and these are known
as imprecatory prayers the Bible speaks about, which is throughout the book of Psalms,
the songbook they're singing is oftentimes singing about how there's wicked people I
hope God destroys, and that's in our Bible, right?
Isn't that in your Bible?
Is that just in my Bible?
Did I just make that up?
I mean, that's what it says in the book of Psalms, right?
But the best part of this passage is the next couple of verses.
It makes me laugh when I look at this next verse sometimes.
Because he says, I hate these people and say, people will say, how dare you say you
hate somebody?
Well, then he says in verse 23, search me, oh, God, and know my heart, try me and
know my thoughts and see if there'd be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlasting.
I mean, the Psalmist has just said, I hate these people, but he's confident with God,
search me and see if there's any wickedness in me, basically saying there's no wickedness
in him whatsoever, because he's so full of love that he hates people that are Satan
worshipers and people that hate God.
Look, when it comes to a church, let me give you an example.
When it comes to a false church, a church that's preaching a work salvation, I don't
dislike the members of those churches.
We try to get them saved.
We love them.
We care about them.
We want to get them saved.
But when it comes to the pastors of churches that are intentionally teaching work salvation
for filthy lucre's sake, and the Bible speaks about people like that, those are not people
that we should love.
Those are actually people that are damning souls to hell.
And you know what?
Yeah.
The Bible says, you know what?
We should hate those people.
Paul said in Galatians chapter one, let them be accursed.
The Bible says, and what he said, let them be damned.
Let them go to hell is what he's saying in Galatians one.
Why?
Because there are certain people that are just bad people, whether they're false prophets
or pedophiles.
There are some people that have basically, they had their chance to be saved.
God died for them.
He paid for all of their sins.
They chose to reject and they chose to become a wicked person.
Okay.
But what he said in verse 23 is search me, Oh God, and know my heart, try me and know
my thoughts.
And he's saying, you know what?
There's nothing wicked in me.
Okay.
But he knows that these are people that hate God.
Okay.
Turn back to revelation and turn to revelation chapter eight, revelation eight.
And so what are these prayers that they're praying?
I believe the prayers that are coming up before God, cause it's right before he pours
out his wrath.
I think the prayers that God's seeing the prayers God's smelling are basically just
like, please pour out your wrath upon these wicked people that are murdering Christians
that are siding with the anti-Christ that have taken the mark of the beast and their
goal in life is to deliver up people like us and murder us and kill us.
I want you to just think logically in your head.
Okay.
Think back to the Spanish inquisition when the Catholic church murdered 50 million people
or whatever the number was.
Okay.
Look, if, if obviously I hope I never have to kill someone.
Okay.
I've never killed someone.
But look, if I, if I were to kill somebody, you know what I would, I would just kill
them quickly.
Right.
I mean, with like a gun or something like that, if I'm doing it in self-defense, you
know, I just shoot them with a gun or something.
If somebody intrudes and tries to harm my kids or something comes in, in the middle
of the night, I would just, you know, shoot them, put them out of their misery.
But, you know, I wouldn't torture them to death.
It's weird to take enjoyment out of torturing a human being.
I mean, isn't that weird?
Don't you think it would seem weird to you?
Like, let's say for example, you know, in the military, you had to kill someone.
You kill them.
Right.
You know, you're, you're fighting in a war.
I've never fought in a war.
And I don't, I don't advocate that, you know, you join and fight in a war.
Let's say you're fighting in a war and you shoot your enemy.
Okay.
You know, you, you killed your enemy, but wouldn't it be weird to basically be like
a cat that tortures its victim and basically just take off body parts slowly and just take
enjoyment out of that and things like that.
Look, that's what the Catholic church did to believers during the Spanish Inquisition
with their torture techniques.
It's a weird person that would take enjoyment.
I mean, they would literally rip the flesh off the body.
I mean, look, you know what?
You don't die immediately when you have your flesh stripped off your body.
You're just in incredible pain.
But who would kill someone like that?
I mean, it's like you say, why did they do that?
Because they were wicked, evil people.
They literally took enjoyment.
Why?
They had a defiled mind.
They had a reprobate mind as the Bible speaks about.
Those are the sorts of people that are going to be there during the end times.
And so, look, it makes sense when you're seeing your fellow loved ones getting
tortured to death by these wicked people that you're going to say, God, can you please come out, come back now and pour out
your wrath on these people?
So look, it makes sense.
That's what the prayer.
I believe that's what the prayers are referring to because it's right before God pours out.
I don't think there's anything accidental or coincidental in the Bible.
Verse three, it talks about the prayers.
Verse four talks about the prayers.
Then in verse five, and the angel took the sensor and filled it with fire of the
altar and cast it into the earth.
And there are voices and thunderings and lightnings in an earthquake and the seven
angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Now the next thing I want to talk about here tonight is you see God's disdain for the environment.
Now I believe God cares about keeping our environment clean and protecting the planet,
so to speak.
But quite honestly, he doesn't care as much as a lot of people seem to think that he
should care because he destroys the earth.
In Revelation chapter eight, nine, he just absolutely just destroys it.
Notice what it says in verse seven.
The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they
were cast upon the earth, and the third part of trees was burnt up and all green grass
was burnt up.
I mean, the first seal, the first judgment of God right here, first trumpet, and all
of a sudden, one third of the trees is burnt up.
It doesn't really seem like God cares too much about those trees.
Now he cares about people because he made sure that his servants were sealed in their foreheads.
But look, he didn't seal the kitty cats in their foreheads.
He didn't seal the puppies in their foreheads.
Right?
Look, I had a dog growing up.
I love my dog.
My sister had a cat.
I had a dog.
We loved her pets.
We had turtles.
I had a turtle that ran away from home.
That's a whole other story, but apparently they're quicker than you would think.
But anyways, what I want you to understand is God does not care about the environment
or animals as much as a lot of people do.
It's interesting.
The same people that are obsessed with taking care of animals in the environment are the
same people that are pro abortion, the same people that are okay with a baby being aborted
or saying, Oh, you can't harm this puppy.
You can't harm the planet, et cetera, et cetera, global warming and all this stuff.
And look, here's the thing.
I don't trash the planet.
You know, when we have trash, we put it in the trash.
We take it out to where we're supposed to in the garbage bin there.
I don't intentionally track.
I think it's stupid and foolish to just throw trash in the ground and trash the environment.
I think it's great that last year in Ermita, they had like a community event where there's
like 10,000 people that picked up the trash, cleaned up the river.
Hey, I think that's great.
And quite honestly, you know, if that was on a non church day, so one day I might
have joined.
I think it was a great thing they did.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
But I want you to understand that God will eventually destroy this planet.
That's what the Bible speaks about.
And he says there's hail and fire mingled with blood.
I don't even know how that works.
How hail and fire mingles with blood.
Okay.
I mean, but this is being cast into the earth and one third of the trees are burnt
up and all green grass is burned up.
Now go to Genesis Chapter eight, Genesis Chapter eight, Genesis Chapter eight.
But here's what's interesting about this, because the same people, the same people that
are claiming that they want to protect our planet, okay?
Because the big thing in the news right now is global warming.
Isn't that what all the scientists and experts talk about?
Look, I'm giving you a homework assignment tonight, okay, in case you don't know this.
But you know, around 40 years ago, there was another big fear that scientists and
experts had.
They were really afraid.
We're having an ice age.
Global cooling is what they were worried about because the temperatures were dropping
really fast, they said.
That was literally 40 years ago.
You can still watch news reports on YouTube.
I'd recommend you check it out.
It's very entertaining watching these scientists say, we got to do what we can to
protect the planet.
It's cooling off.
We're going to have another ice age.
Everything's going to be destroyed.
And those same experts 40 years later, oh, the planet's heating up.
You know, it's just like, what are they talking about?
It's just like, it's like it's one degree warmer and they're just like, oh man,
we're going to destroy the planet.
And look, is there a shred of truth to what they're saying?
Yeah, you know what?
There's a shred of truth.
When you look at the history of temperatures, it's like it goes up and down depending on
certain things.
Now, absolutely.
I believe we trash our environment with pollution and things such as that, and that's
not a good thing.
But look, the earth is not just heating up at this really rapid pace and in 10 years,
like all the experts are saying, we're not going to be able to survive.
It's funny because these same people think the earth is like 4 billion years old.
It's like you think the earth has been around for four and a half billion years and in 10
years we're going to destroy it?
It's like, do you realize how stupid that is?
It's like, you know, I want them to realize this.
You know, it's where I'm from.
It still snows.
I mean, it's like global warming.
Good night every single year.
You're not worried about it being warm.
You're praying for warm weather.
Why?
Because driving in snow is terrible.
And look, you are blessed to not have any snow.
That's my opinion.
Okay.
I hate snow.
Okay.
But look, there's still plenty of places in this world where guess what?
It snows every single year for months.
Okay.
And so, look, that's not going to change.
And you say, well, how do you know that?
Well, Genesis 8 verse 22 proves what I'm saying is correct.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest and cold and heat, cold and heat
and summer and winter.
You say winter?
What's that?
I've never experienced winter here in the field.
What is tag lemig?
I don't even know.
It's like, we don't even have that here.
Summer and winter and day and night shall not cease.
You know what the Bible says?
You know what?
There's going to be heat.
There's going to be cold.
There's going to be summer.
There's going to be winter.
This is going to be the way it is until the very end.
And look, areas of this world where they have four seasons, they will have four seasons
until the end times, until the very end.
Areas that just have rainy and non rainy or hot and hotter.
Well, that's what it's going to be until.
But you know, it's not going to increase 10 degrees in a couple of years.
I mean, there's some hot days here and there, but look, it's not going to be like, oh man,
it's over 50 degrees every day.
It's not going to be like that.
Okay.
You say why?
Because of the fact, you know, it's only going to reach a certain level.
The Bible says cold and heat, summer and winter and day and night.
So look, I'm not worried about global warming at all.
Not a single bit.
Do I think we should protect the environment in terms of not trashing it?
Yeah.
You know what?
I don't trash it.
But you know, a bigger important thing for Christians to do.
And look, it's great if you help out with pollution and get rid of that.
But a more important thing to do is to win souls of the Lord and serve God.
And it's like, that's a battle I'll let other people fight.
And I'll preach in sermons.
Hey, don't trash the environment.
If my son throws something on the ground, I'll make sure he picks it up.
And I'll be honest with you, you know, because I don't like uncleanliness.
You can ask my wife.
I hate it when things are dirty.
And look, you know, sometimes when I'm in public and I see a bunch of trash right
by a trash can, sometimes I pick it up and throw it away.
And I wonder why in the world would someone be right beside a trash can and just throw this
on the ground?
I mean, it doesn't make sense to me.
Why not just throw it in the trash can?
But look, at the same time, that's not my big fight in life.
But what's interesting about this is we're actually protecting the earth.
They're the ones that are destroying it.
You say, why?
Why does the end come to begin with?
What do we talk about?
It comes because this world gets so sinful that God has to pour out his wrath.
Okay.
And so the people that are destroying this world are the environmentalists that are pro-abortion.
Not me.
It's them that are destroying.
It's sin and wickedness.
The same people that say, well, you know, we got to protect the environment are the
same ones getting drunk and doing drugs and fornicating and adultery.
They're the ones that are destroying this world.
They're the reasons why it's going to end.
If everybody was living a godly life and serving God and this world was not filled
with sin and wickedness, then the end wouldn't come.
But it must come just like it came during the days of Noah because the world is sinful
and wicked.
So look, and this is in Genesis chapter eight, that's right after the flood.
That's what it's, it's, it's tying back to what he's saying is, you know what?
Because he destroyed it because of their wickedness.
But he says until the end, there's going to be cold and heat, summer and winter and
day and night.
So look, the people that are protecting the environment are us by serving God, by going
soul winning, by reading the Bible, by teaching our kids to be godly people and to
serve God and to read the Bible.
We're the ones who are protecting it.
Now, I actually watched one time on a plane, a documentary called An Inconvenient Truth.
Has anybody ever heard of that?
Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.
Who knows Al Gore?
Anybody?
Nobody knows Al Gore.
Who knows Bill Clinton?
Everyone knows Bill Clinton, right?
Al Gore was the vice president.
Okay.
Underneath Bill Clinton.
Okay.
Well, Al Gore, he basically, after he retired, because, you know, he wanted to become the
president of the US and he didn't get the vote George Bush got and everything.
But he ended up becoming this big environmentalist wacko and he's like the biggest person in
the US pushing protecting the environment.
So he had a documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, where he talked about global warming
and things such as that.
And so I actually watched it on a plane one time and I'll be honest with you.
I wish I still had this in my notes because I had this on an old computer and I lost
all the info.
But I noticed three complete math lies in the documentary where he was trying and look,
the way they make the facts seem, if you just watch it and you're just a simple
minded person that doesn't think for yourself, you're going to think, man, our world's going
to be destroyed because he's being dishonest with the statistics.
But there was three separate math lies.
He just lied in the documentary.
But what's funny about this, this person that wants to protect the environment so much,
he travels around from country to country on planes that's throwing out all this pollution
to spread this message how we got to protect the environment.
It's like you're the same person going on these private jets and you're destroying
the environment by based on what you're saying with the pollution.
Now turn back to Revelation chapter eight, Revelation chapter eight, Revelation chapter
eight.
And look, I've never seen an exception to this.
The same people that are obsessed with protecting the environment and obsessed with
basically protecting every animal are the same ones that are pro abortion, the same
ones that devalue a human life.
And I want you to understand God does not.
And look, I have nothing against animals.
I don't believe in harming animals.
I mean, obviously, if there's a cockroach running around, I kill it.
But I'm not going to do that to like a cat or a dog.
You know, obviously, I think it's wrong.
I don't think we should go and just harm them or whatever.
But you know, look, the Bible does not say that the puppies are sealed.
And look, yeah, you know, I'm sure a lot of animals are going to be dying during
the fact.
The Bible mentions that a lot of animals are going to be dying and saying why?
Because honestly, the animals were given to us and we have dominion over them.
And you know what animals were mainly created for?
To feed us for food.
That's the reality.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Revelation chapter eight, verse eight.
And the second angel sounded and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was
cast into the sea.
And the third part of the sea became blood.
Now I'm not going to go there for sake of time.
When you think about the sea becoming blood, immediately, you think of the Nile River
and the story of Pharaoh and Moses, right?
The first plague was that the plague became full of blood.
And it's kind of interesting because in Egypt, they worshiped a lot of gods, but kind of
above all of their gods was a worship of the Nile River because the Nile River is what
made Egypt such a powerful empire.
And it's like right then on the first plague, he just curses it with blood.
Okay, curses the river with blood.
And in Revelation chapter eight, this is what you're seeing, how the third part of the
sea becomes blood.
Now, what it said in this verse was, and as it were, a great mountain burning with
fire.
Okay, when it says as it were, it means it's not actually a mountain as it were means it's
like a mountain.
So some large object, but it's not actually a mountain that's being cast into the sea.
You say, what is that?
I mean, I don't know.
It could be a meteor or something like that that's basically going down in the sea.
But since it says as it were, it's not really a mountain.
It says as it were a great mountain.
So this is a large object burning with fire, which could fit with like a meteor or something
from outer space.
I'm not really sure, but it says it's cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea
becomes blood.
So look, God's not exactly protecting the environment.
Verse nine, and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had
life died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
And so look, it says the third part of the creatures end up dying.
God's not protecting all the animals there, and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
They're probably destroyed due to, I don't know, the waves, basically, as a result of
whatever crashes into the water, causes a ripple effect, and it would be almost like
a typhoon happening or something like that, where the ships get taken out and destroyed.
Now look at verse number 10.
Verse number 10.
And when it comes to this great mountain, actually, let me show you verse 10.
I'll give you some thoughts on this.
Notice what it says in verse 10.
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp,
and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.
And so a great star falling from heaven is probably what we know as a shooting star,
is what's crashing into the earth.
And it says, burning as it were a lamp, and it falls upon the third part of the rivers and
upon the fountains of waters.
Then in verse 11, and the name of the star is called Wormwood.
So I believe this is probably a shooting star, Wormwood.
And the third part of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they
were made bitter.
Now this is kind of interesting.
And I've watched the Revelation series that Pastor Anderson preached, and he mentioned
something that was interesting here in this passage, and I thought it was a pretty
good thought.
And you can't necessarily prove it either way, but I thought it was interesting because it
mentions in verse number 11, it says Wormwood.
And it says the waters were made bitter.
Now if you remember just less than 10 years ago, there's the big Fukushima disaster in
Japan where basically the waters were filled with like a nuclear power plant or whatever
got destroyed, and they're basically worried about all this radioactivity and people could
die and it's going to be passed in through the waters and everything.
But there's a big event that took place a long time ago in Russia.
It was known as, or I guess the Soviet Union, known as Chernobyl, the Chernobyl disaster.
This was the first big event.
I saw a documentary on this, which is pretty interesting.
And they basically had a big nuclear meltdown, and a lot of the people that worked there,
they ended up dying of poisoning as a result of being there.
And so basically they had it under control and they didn't follow protocol like they
were supposed to.
They thought they would be fine, and it ends up being destroyed and everything like
that.
And then there's like a big worry there that just in the atmosphere is going to be
all this radioactivity, kind of like you stand in front of a microwave for just like
an hour or something.
Who knows what's going to happen?
I don't really know, but they're really worried about this.
But what's interesting about this is that Chernobyl is the Ukrainian name for this plant
that is called wormwood.
The name of this plant was, or the name of this event, the Chernobyl disaster over
there.
That's what they named it.
That was the area what it was called.
And so it's interesting because the Ukrainian name Chernobyl is actually wormwood in English,
which is referring to this plant.
And see, the Bible mentions this wormwood here in verse number 11, and it could be
trying to give you an idea of what's happening because the Bible says many men died of the
waters because they were made bitter.
It's possible that in some area of the world, they're going to have a nuclear meltdown
as a result of this shooting star, and it could cause the waters to become bitter,
and then people would die of the waters if they were to drink that water.
I don't know because, you know, it's just diverse.
I can't really prove that.
But I do think it's pretty interesting that Chernobyl is the Ukrainian name for this plant
that is called wormwood, which is a bitter plant.
Okay.
And so maybe that's an interesting coincidence.
I'm not really sure, but it could be like that when you're thinking of what would make
the waters bitter.
I don't really have a better theory of what would make the waters bitter shooting
star.
I don't think that alone would make the waters bitter, but it could cause something
to happen that would end up making the waters poisonous, where people when they're drinking
the water would end up dying.
And I think a nuclear meltdown somewhere around the world is pretty good guess.
Okay.
Now, verse number 12.
Let's close up here.
It says here in verse 12, and the fourth angel sounded in the third part of the sun
was smitten and the third part of the moon and the third part of the stars.
So as the third part of them was darkened and the day shown not for a third part
of it in the night, likewise.
So the Bible is saying that the day does not show for a third part of it in the night
also.
Now, the day is referring to 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Nights referring to 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Because in general, the sun rises around 6 a.m. and sets around 6 p.m., okay?
Depending on what time of year, depending on where you live and things like that.
But in general, you know, that's what it is, okay?
So basically during this 12 hour period during the day from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., one third
of those 12 hours, which is four hours, for four hours, it's gonna be completely dark.
Completely dark for four hours, okay?
And the same during the night as well, because even though it's dark at night, you can still
walk outside and there's still some light, right?
There's stars, the moon or whatever, but it's gonna be complete darkness for a fourth
part of the night.
So I would say this is gonna be basically either the last four hours of the night and
then the first four hours of the morning, which would be 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. is one third
of the night, and then 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. is one third of the day.
So from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. it will be completely dark.
Or it could be referring to 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. is the one third of the day that's
dark.
Then 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. is the one third of the night that's dark.
So either from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. or 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., it's probably gonna be completely
dark, okay?
There's gonna be no light whatsoever.
Well, it kind of makes it hard to work, right?
I mean, you go to work at 6 a.m. or whatever.
I mean, it's kind of hard to work if it's completely dark outside.
And here's the thing.
The Bible's saying that it doesn't shine at all.
I don't think it's just gonna shine not at all, and then just immediately it shines
perfectly.
I think it's gonna basically be not shining for that time period, and then slowly you'll
start to get more light.
So quite honestly, you know, for a long period of the day, they're probably not gonna
be able to work.
And obviously with everything else going on in the world, I don't think that's the first
thing that they're gonna be concerned about anyway, okay?
Verse number 13.
Let's close up here.
And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with
a loud voice, whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the
other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound.
And what this flying angel basically says is, you know what, it's gonna get worse for
you guys.
It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's like, you know, it was bad so far, but it's only
gonna get worse from here.
And, you know, look, obviously the beginning of sorrows in the Great Tribulation is not
gonna be easy to go through, okay?
But the reason why God allows us to go through this is, for one, He does test us as believers
and it builds our faith.
But two, because He wants to spare people's souls and get them saved, okay?
And God will allow us to be persecuted.
But, you know, praise the Lord that we don't go through God's wrath.
God has not appointed us to wrath.
We don't spend a thousand years in hell if we're a bad Christian, like some people teach,
like a purgatory type thing for a thousand years.
When you're saved, your sins are gone from you and you will go to heaven and you will
not be appointed to God's wrath.
We do get persecuted by the devil or have tribulation in our lives, but, you know, we're
not appointed under wrath.
And it's gonna be far worse during this time period than it was during the time
period during the beginning of sorrows, what we would have to deal with.
Let's go to the word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to
see your word and just understanding these end times events.
And we don't know if this will happen in our lifetime, but it's still important for us
to understand these things.
And it's important for us as believers to know that you will pour out your wrath one
day on this wicked world and these wicked people.
And you do care about us.
You do love us, and you will make sure that, you know, people reap what they sow
and things get balanced back to how they're supposed to be.
We pray these things in Jesus name.
Amen.