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This sermon is Revelation 9, Hell on Earth, because that's what's taking place in Revelation chapter 9. And we're going to get through the entire chapter today, we're just going to kind of hit some points along the way. So let's start in verse number 1, and remember, we're in the wrath of God. We started that last week in chapter 8. But it says in verse 1, And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven onto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. So here in verse number 1, we see an angel that has the key of the bottomless pit, okay? Later on in the sermon, we're going to talk about who that angel is, we're going to talk more in depth about it. But notice what it says in verse number 2, And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. So there's this phrase in verse number 2 where it says, the bottomless pit, the bottomless pit. And this phrase is not found in any other book in the Bible, but it's found seven times in the book of Revelation. So you say, what is the bottomless pit referring to? Well go back to Numbers chapter 16 in your Old Testament, Numbers chapter 16. So the phrase bottomless pit does not appear in any other book in the Bible, but the bottomless pit is referenced in other books of the Bible. It will say something like the pit, okay? And so I'll show you this in Numbers chapter 16. This is a story of Korah and those that rebelled against Moses, they tried to take the leadership. And in Numbers 16 verse 32, the Bible reads, And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up in their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods. These are evil men, and Moses had said this would happen if the earth do something new and just swallow them up, and this is exactly what happens to these wicked people. Verse 33, They and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. When it says they went alive into the pit, that doesn't mean once they got to the pit they were alive. It means this is how they died because it says in that verse, they perished, which means to die. Like in John 3 16, perish is referring to spiritual death, but perish means to die. So this is how they died. They were alive, and the earth ate them, okay? And it says into the pit, they're going straight down to hell. Now hell is located in the heart of the earth, and these people literally die by just going straight down to where their location is going to be, right to hell. So hell is referred to as the pit. You don't have to turn there, but in Proverbs 1 verse 12 it says, Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit, okay? Into the pit. What is that referring to? Okay? You say, is that just another name for hell? Is it a description of hell? Is it an attribute? It's all of those things, okay? You think about what is a pit. Well, a pit is when you're basically dropping way down into something. There's like a deep, you know, drop into something. You know, when you think of things like, and then it says bottomless pit. So imagine there's just like a 10-foot hole in the ground. That would be called a pit, okay? But then it says bottomless pit. So what it's saying is there is no bottom to this pit. It does not end. Think of at a restaurant you have like bottomless fries. What does that mean? You can have as many fries as you want and they keep serving them or bottomless iced tea, right? You go to restaurants, you have bottomless iced tea, which means once you get near the bottom, they add more iced tea and you're never going to reach the bottom. They just keep adding it, okay? So what is the Bible saying when it, and you know, black holes are known sometimes as bottomless pits because the theory, whether they're real or not or whatever, I'm not an expert at that stuff is that basically it never ends when you go in there. So what is bottomless pit referring to? Because what it's saying is that there is no end to this place in hell, but what does that actually look like? In hell, people are not going to be standing. In hell, people are not going to be sitting. In hell, people are going to be forever falling without ever reaching the bottom. Why? It's a pit that's bottomless. Imagine jumping into a pit and you never reach the bottom and that is what hell is going to be like in the center of the earth. You're basically going to get the feeling of always falling because they're going to be in the center of the earth. They're just always falling and the way gravity works, they're just always going to be falling. Okay? Look, you know, when it comes to scientists, like they're, they're really not going to be experts at everything that's happening in hell. It's not like they can do discoveries, but we can believe what the Bible says and when the Bible is saying bottomless pit, it's saying they're dropping in there and they're just always falling and they're never going to be standing on anything. They're never going to hit one side of the earth and then all of a sudden the earth rotates. They hit the other side and they're bouncing back and forth. No, they're just always falling in the middle of the earth. There's a lot of attributes of how we know that it's a place of fire. We know that it's dark. We've talked about some of these things. There's no rest day nor night. Things such as that. Another attribute is the people that go to hell, they will forever be falling and they're never going to reach the bottom because it's the bottomless pit. Okay? Turn back to Revelation chapter nine, Revelation chapter nine. Now here's the thing. Every attribute of hell is a terrible attribute. Every single attribute. When you think about being on fire forever, well, of course, being on fire is terrible. The pain lasting forever, of course, that's terrible. Complete darkness, that's going to be terrible. No rest. Man, I like to have sleep. That's something you got to decide you're not going to have once you have kids. So one day, once they're grown, I'll be able to get some sleep again. It's like you don't want to go without sleep, right? Well, here's the thing. I personally, I disagree with my wife. I love roller coasters. I love roller coasters when I grew up. I love the thrill of going up and down and everything, but see, it's a thrill because it doesn't last forever. You know what I mean? You go up really high and then you really drop and it's like, man, it's like this thrilling thing. You got like 10 seconds. You're like, whoa. And then you made it to the bottom. But look, if you're just forever just on a roller coaster going down and down because when you go high in the air, if you've been on roller coasters and you drop, you lose your stomach along the way. I mean, that is what it's going to be like in hell and it's not going to be a good thing. It's not going to be fun. It's going to be a terrible feeling because look, it's, it's kind of petrifying not being able to sit or stand on something where you don't have control to grab onto anything. That's what hell is going to be like. That's one of the attributes of how it's the bottomless pit. Okay. Now let's talk about number two. What is going to be the temperature during God's wrath? What will the temperature be during God's wrath? Well notice what it says in verse number two and he opened the bottomless pits and so he opens up hell and there arose a smoke out of the pit as a smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Notice how it says the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Now this point, I cannot prove to you 100% but I'm just going to go off a few different places in when it talks about the wrath of God because obviously a lot of things are going on, you know, hail, fire and all these different things. I personally believe it's going to be very cold during the wrath of God and I'll give you a few reasons why. One of them is found in this verse. The sun and the air were darkened. The sun and the air were darkened, which means the sun is not heating the earth, okay? If there's a lot of smoke, the sun is not going to have the capacity to heat the earth. Now I want to read you something from when Mount Pinatubo took place. Obviously Mount Pinatubo is the big volcano that happened here in the Philippines and At first glance, you might think Mount Pinatubo increased the temperature of the earth. It did the exact opposite. It dropped the temperature of the earth for a long period of time and here, I'm not an expert at this stuff so I'll just explain why according to this. Therefore a heavy influx of aerosol pollutants like the plume from Mount Pinatubo will remain in the stratosphere for years until the processes of chemical reactions and atmospheric circulation can filter them out. In the case of Mount Pinatubo, the result was a measurable cooling of the earth's surface for a period of almost two years. So for two years, the temperature on all of earth was less, okay? This is a side effect often from volcanoes, okay? And then it says this, because they scatter and absorb incoming sunlight, aerosol particles exert a cooling effect on the earth's surface. The Pinatubo eruption increased aerosol optical depth in the stratosphere by a factor of ten to one hundred times normal levels measured prior to the eruption. Aerosol optical depth is a measure of how much light airborne particles prevent from passing through a column of atmosphere. Consequently, over the next fifteen months, scientists measured a drop in the average global temperature, so not just in the Philippines, worldwide global temperature of about one degree Fahrenheit or point six degrees Celsius. So the temperature cooled off worldwide by about one degree Fahrenheit for fifteen months. As a result of all the smoke that was in the air, the sun was just not able to heat the earth, okay? There's also something called a volcanic winter. Who's heard of a volcanic winter? Any scientists in here? You know, I'm a math guy, so this is, most of this stuff's new to me as well. I find this stuff interesting. I've watched a lot of things on volcanoes because that is pretty much hell, right? A lake of fire. So I've always found documentaries and things on volcanoes interesting, but this is what it says. A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by volcanic ash and droplets of sulfuric acid and water obscuring the sun and raising earth's albedo, increasing the reflection of solar radiation. After a large, particularly explosive volcanic eruption, long-term cooling effects are primarily dependent upon injection of sulfur gases into the stratosphere where they undergo a series of reactions to create sulfuric acid, which can nucleate and form aerosols. Volcanic stratospheric aerosols cool the surface by reflecting solar radiation and warm the stratosphere by absorbing terrestrial radiation. The variations in atmospheric warming and cooling result in changes in trophospheric and stratospheric circulation, okay? Now look, I'm not saying I understand every single word of that, but what I am saying is a lot of smoke will block the sun from heating the earth. That's a simple way, and that makes sense in my head when you really think about it. Because at first glance, if you think of a volcano erupting, you're going to think, oh man, it's going to heat up the earth. But look, the reason why the earth is actually habitable that we can live here is because the sun heats it, and if the sun's not going to be able to heat the earth, it's going to make the temperature drop, right? So in 1991, eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a stratovolcano in the Philippines, cooled global temperatures for about two to three years. The 1883 explosion of Krakatoa may have contributed to volcanic winter-like conditions. The four years following the explosion were unusually cold, and the winter of 1887-1888 included powerful blizzards. Record snowfalls were recorded worldwide, however, the period of cold winters started with the 1882-1883 winter, months before the Krakatoa eruption. Now go back to Revelation 8. I'll show you another verse, why I believe that the temperature is going to actually be cold. So there's scientific evidence when the sun's not able to heat the earth, it's going to drop the temperature. And look, when it comes to the end times, I'm admitting that with everything going on, I cannot guarantee it's going to drop, because there's more than one factor happening with God's wrath being poured out. It's kind of hard to picture, but I'm just saying if I just read this and just think of it literally like this would happen today, with nothing else happening, this is probably going to drop the temperature of the earth, okay? Revelation 8, verse 12, Revelation 8, verse 12, and the fourth angel sounded, and 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 show not for a third part of it in the night likewise. So the sun is darkened, and that means it's not going to be heating the earth, okay? For a third part of the day, which is 12 hours. So from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., there's a four-hour time block where the sun's not going to be heating the earth. Now, my personal opinion is that it's completely dark for a third of the day, and I don't think it just moves immediately to full light. I think it's kind of a transition. I could be wrong, because they're just kind of giving general numbers a third part of the day. But the sun is not going to be able to heat the earth. It's going to make it cold. Now, here in the Philippines, you're thinking, that's great. It's like, I'd love to have cold weather. It's so hot. Let me tell you, that would be so much worse than warm weather. I mean, cold weather is miserable. I would much rather, and this is my opinion, be 40 degrees than zero degrees, okay? I would much rather 40 degrees Celsius than zero degrees Celsius. And here's the thing. You might say, I would love to, and this is my opinion, you might say, I love snow and stuff like that. You've never had to drive in snow before. Look, if you had snow around, it's like the most miserable thing. There's a reason why. I don't live in a cold place. I mean, if this country was cold, I probably would not be there, okay? That's the reality. But what I do believe, outside of my opinion, that warm weather is much better than cold weather, as long as you don't get to the level of the temperature of hell, is that this, I believe during the wrath of God, based on these verses, I believe it's probably going to be colder than it normally is. Now, there could be a lot of other factors. I'm not saying there can't, but just based on those things, if the sun is not heating the earth, it's going to be very cold, okay? Turn to Revelation nine, Revelation nine, Revelation nine. So we saw what the bottomless pit was referring to. We saw or talked about what the temperature on earth might be during the wrath of God. And point number three, let's talk about the locusts from hell. The locusts from hell, because these locusts are coming straight out of hell, and it says in verse three, and there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. So it's going to describe these locusts, and they say they have the power of a scorpion. These are not really your typical locusts that we have today. When I'm reading the description, I was trying to figure out what is this, and then I figured it out. It's the description of an aswang. That's what it really sounds like to me. It's like a small little aswang that's like getting in your house and staying in your house. It's like, oh man, that's scary. Because I'm reading the description, I'm like, man, this is crazy, hair like a woman. And it's got a tail of a scorpion, and I was like, man, this is an aswang. It's like, that's what it really sounds like. So hey, cast my vote for I believe in aswangs, all right? You can quote me on that. So in Revelation nine, verse three, it says they have the power of scorpions, okay? Well let me read you this from the death stalker scorpion. There's a lot of different types of scorpions, but let me just read you about what the death stalker scorpion does. It says the death stalker scorpion sting is extremely painful and also causes paralysis and inability to move or feel part of the body. So paralysis is like being paralyzed for a time period. So basically, this is obviously a small creature, but it would sting an animal, and the result is that you can't move it, right? Just imagine if you've had times you become really numb and a part of your body and you can't move it. So that's what it does to attack. It will sting, and then the animal basically can't defend itself. And sometimes that sting will kill the animal and they just eat it, or sometimes they just can't move, and then the scorpion can kill the animal that's attacking. The death stalker scorpion catches its food by taking its prey by surprise. It hides under rocks and wait for an unsuspecting cricket or other small insect, then springs out and grabs it. So like a lot of animals, they basically hide under a rock. If you ever go hiking, I went hiking a lot in the US, you always had to be very careful around certain rocks because you were afraid a snake was underneath. And many people, my grandmother, she almost died from a rattlesnake bite when she was a lot younger. And so because snakes will hide underneath the rock, and sometimes you'll put your foot right near there and then they'll just get you. Well, that's kind of what the scorpion does when it attacks other animals. And so it says it attacks it, springs out and grabs it. Because its pincers aren't very strong, so it basically can't hold to an animal, it needs to sting its prey quickly to keep it from getting away. Within moments of being stung, the cricket is paralyzed or dead, giving the scorpion plenty of time to enjoy its meal. And so when we're talking about this locust from hell that's got the power of a scorpion, I believe this is the sort of thing they're going to be doing to humans, though. And I believe this is obviously going to be a pretty powerful, you know, locust, scorpion, you know, Oswald thing that we got going on. So I believe when it's stinging humans, it's probably going to cause a feeling of like being numb where they can't really like move. They get their legs stung, they're probably going to be like hardly able to move. And it's going to be terrible because these things are going to be around. I think it says for five months, we'll look at in a second. So it's going to keep just stinging them over and over, but it's not going to be killing them. And so I've never been stung by a scorpion before. I mean, I've been stung by a bee, which is not as bad as a scorpion, at least most bees. And that alone, it can make you swell up that part of the body and it really hurts and things like that. Well, that's what these locusts are going to be doing for a long period of time. And it's going to be pretty petrifying because they're probably going to be able to get into your house no matter what you do. Isn't it true that bugs? It doesn't matter what you do. Bugs are going to find a way in your house. And during the end times, these locusts from hell, that's what they're going to be doing. They're going to be finding a way to get in there. And they're going to be stinging people over and over again. Verse four, and it was commanded them that they should hurt not the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forehead. So basically, anyone who's not the 144,000 or those two witnesses, I believe as well, they're going to be stung by these locusts. And I believe this is going to be worldwide, everywhere. No one's going to be able to get away from them. Verse five, and to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months. And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he strike at the man. So you have to understand that when you think of bugs, bugs are more prevalent at nighttime. Isn't that often true? Bugs like to be in the dark like cockroaches and creatures like that. And so it's like once the lights are out, you know, you wake up early in the morning, sometimes you'll see like a few bugs and they'll quickly scurry out. So look, it's going to be probably in the middle of the night. People are going to sleep, it's midnight, they're really tired, then all of a sudden they get stung like on the cheek, and then all of a sudden they're awake, but they can't move their cheek. So that's probably what's going to be happening for five months, okay? When you stop and think about what's going on, it really makes you thankful that you're saved, okay? Because we're not going to experience this. This is going to be miserable, this is going to be terrible for five months. And it says in verse six, and in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it, and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them. So people are going to wish that they're dead because of these locusts. That's how bad it's going to be. They're going to be in so much pain and they're like, I just want to die. Now they don't get the fact, or they don't think about it, that hey, you know, it's actually better to be alive because hell's going to be far worse for you, okay? But they're wishing to die and they're not going to be killed by these. It's going to last for five months, they're going to be stinging people. Verse seven, and the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. Now picture this little oswung in your head, okay? Were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions, okay? I mean, it's a pretty terrible, and look, I looked on Google images to try to find a picture. I was going to put it on the bulletin, but it was like, they just looked inappropriate, you know, and it might actually be what it looks like. But I was just thinking, oh man, this is just disgusting, vice-pung it. Yeah, exactly. I was like, oh, this is nasty, it's disgusting. It's like, oh, and so that's what these creatures are going to look like, okay? Notice verse nine, and they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron. You say, what does that mean? Okay, well, insects will have what's known as the exoskeleton. Basically, they're outside that's going to protect their body from being attacked, okay? An example of an animal I can think of is a tick, okay? In the US, we have a lot of ticks near my parents. You go hiking, and you'll get a lot of ticks, and they're really nasty looking creatures, but you could slam a hammer on those ticks. They'll just keep on crawling. You know, it doesn't really affect them, okay? I don't know if it's a powerful exoskeleton, or you just can't quite get to them, but basically, you think of a creature, and sometimes bugs are very hard to kill. See, if there was something that was 1,000 times my size, and it stomped on me, I'd be dead, and all my bones broken immediately. But I remember during the missions trip, we were eating with a couple families from Verity, and there was this big cockroach at the Best Western. I love that hotel. It's a great hotel, but they had a giant cockroach that was crawling where we were eating. And this cockroach was crawling, and so then all of a sudden, it was right beside me, and I slammed it really hard, and then all of a sudden, it hit the ground. I figured, you know, it's dead, right? I mean, I hit it really hard, I thought, and then all of a sudden, we see two minutes later, and all of a sudden, it rises from the dead, and it starts crawling. We're like, oh, man, and I hit it again, okay? This time, I had like a tissue in my hand, because, you know, the gooey, you know, cockroach juice or whatever, and then all of a sudden, it's just like, it's still moving, and then I hit it like 10 times, like, die. I say, why? Because they have a powerful exoskeleton, which means that although we would easily have our bones crushed, a lot of bugs, though, they've got a powerful exoskeleton. Well, what it says about these locusts is they have breastplates of iron, which means you can hit those locusts with a sledgehammer. They're going to keep coming, because they have a breastplate of iron. They have a powerful exoskeleton. They're not going to be able to be killed, okay? So they're just going to keep coming. They're not going to kill you. They're going to keep coming after you, but they're not going to die, okay? They're created by, you know, God to just be like these fighting little bug machines, okay? So look, I'm not a fan of bugs, so I'm glad. I didn't play with bugs when I was a kid. I don't like bugs, so I'm glad I won't be here for this, okay? They have breastplates of iron, the Bible says, and the sound of their wings was the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. So why does this say is the sound of chariots? What says of many horses, there's going to be a lot of them, okay? You know, locusts are kind of interesting, because at least in the US, we had seven-year locusts and either nine-year or 13-year locusts. Locusts, caterers, you know, I'm not sure of all the differences, but basically they'd come every seven years or something like that. But when they came, they were just all over the place. I remember when I was a kid one time, and I thought it was cool as a kid, but you just, there was just like tens of thousands of them everywhere where we were in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and you could just hear them buzzing through the air. Now, thankfully, they did not have tails like scorpions. They didn't come to attack us, you know, it was perfectly fine. But I could see where it says chariots of many horses running battle. You could hear that sound, because when I was a kid, that's what I heard when those locusts came in. I was probably like eight or 10 years old, and there's just like a multitude of them. And imagine the fear you would have if you know these things are coming after you, and you're going to be in pain, and they just keep coming after you, and maybe you get a reprieve for a couple hours, and they come back. It's going to be a terrible feeling. Okay, that's what it's going to be like during the end times. Verse 10, and they had tails like on the scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men, five months. Okay, so when it comes to these creatures and the wrath of God, we try to imagine it the best we can in our head. We can't fully grasp all of these things, okay? Point number four, let's look at Abaddon or Apollyon, mentioned in verse 11. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. So it says in verse 11, it says the angel of the bottomless pit, the angel of hell, basically. And it says in the Hebrew tongue, the name is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue, the name is Apollyon. Now, when you look at most Bible scholars or commentaries, they're going to say this is the devil. Most people would say the devil is the angel of the bottomless pit, okay? But we can see from Revelation chapter nine, this is not the devil, because the devil did not create hell. The devil is not the one sending people to hell. The devil is going to be cast into hell himself, okay? Go back to verse number one real quickly. Verse one, verse number one, Revelation chapter nine, verse one. And this is why you can't trust Bible commentaries, okay? I don't know what it is. Like, I mean, with Bible commentaries, I mean, usually they're written by unsafe people. But I think they try to compete with other Bible commentaries. So they try to come up with cool stories and things like that. And yeah, it's really cool. This is the devil and everything, but that's not what the Bible says in Revelation chapter nine, okay? Notice what it says in verse one. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven onto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. So it talks about this fifth angel. And the fifth angel sounds, and a star falls from heaven. This is referring to an angel. And he has, to him is given the key of the bottomless pit. We'll go to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. And we're going to see that this cannot be the devil, okay? And remember what it said is a star falling from heaven. Oftentimes a star and an angel are used interchangeably. And in Revelation 20 verse one, and I saw an angel come down from heaven. So that's the star falling from heaven. I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit in a great chain in his hand. So here's the angel with the key of the bottomless pit, right? It says an angel comes down having the key of the bottomless pit. This is the angel. This is Abaddon. This is Apollyon, right? Well, notice what he does in verse two. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, okay? I don't know how else he has to say it in verse two to tell you that the devil is not Apollyon or Abaddon. He's being thrown into hell and bound up for a thousand years. I mean, the only name it doesn't say is Lucifer in verse two. I mean, the dragon, the old serpent, the devil, Satan. So look, the devil is going to be thrown into hell and bound up for a thousand years during the millennial reign of Jesus. And then after that, he's loosed for a short time, the Bible says. But he is being thrown into hell by the angel with the key to the bottomless pit. So if the angel with the key to the bottomless pit is throwing the devil into hell, the devil cannot be the angel with the key to the bottomless pit. It just doesn't make any sense. Verse three, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that, he must be loosed to little season. So he's going to be thrown into hell for a thousand years. Verse 10, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. So the Bible says here, the devil is going to be thrown in hell after the thousand years. He goes back and he's going to be there forever and ever. So this idea that God created heaven and the devil created hell and God's just all good and all love and the devil's all bad. And there's this battle between God and the devil and the devil owns hell. It's like, I'm sorry, God created the devil. The devil wasn't here at the beginning. There's this ancient religion and still around today. It's called Zoroastrianism. And it was after this prophet Zoroaster, a prophet in their faith. And this was the religion of Persia when they ruled the world. The religion of Persia was Zoroastrianism. It's kind of died out because Islam, the Muslims, like in a lot of countries, they force you to be Muslim or they kill you. And so the religion has died off in Iran. So most of Zoroastrianism's followers are in either or mostly are in India now, although some are in Iran. But the reason why I bring this up is they've got this really weird view of God. Because they're supposedly the first monotheistic religion, supposedly the first religion that believed in one God. Now that doesn't make sense because Adam was created first and Adam believed in one God and his religion is the same religion as ours today. Same religion, same God that he believed in as we believe today. The same God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Adam, you name them. It's the same God we believe in the same of Paul the Apostle and Peter. It's the same God. He hasn't changed. Okay. But what they believe is that basically there's two at the creation of the world. Now we believe there's one God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, and they're all together at the beginning, at the beginning. But what they have is two separate gods that are battling one another that were both here at the beginning. And their good God, so to speak, is Ahura Mazda. And I don't remember the name of their bad God. Okay, I don't remember all of it. But basically Ahura Mazda is a little bit more powerful. But, you know, the bad God they have is kind of powerful as well. That's not God and the devil. The devil's not that powerful. Look, this is Abaddon or Apollyon throwing the devil into hell. You know what that tells you? He's more powerful than the devil. Michael the Archangel is more powerful than the devil, or is more powerful than the devil. So the devil's not, oh, it's like God versus the devil. It's a tough battle. You know, who's going to win? If they have like a fight or something, it could go either way. No, it's not a competition. I mean, it's not even close. Okay, God is here. The devil's nothing. And he sends somebody to throw the devil into hell. So look, the devil is not the angel of the bottomless pit. So I saw off this dictionary, biblehub.com, and they say Satan, colon, Apollyon. So they believe he's Apollyon. They say, well, that means in the Greek destroyer. And they say, well, Satan is the destroyer. And so in teaching the word ministries, these are just various things I saw online. They have an article. Why is Satan called Abaddon or Apollyon? It's like, have you read the Bible? I mean, I know parts of Revelation are confusing, but he's being thrown into hell by the angel with the key of the bottomless pit. In the book, Pilgrim's Progress. Who knows Pilgrim's Progress? Who's heard of that? It's the most famous book outside of the Bible within the Christian realm. It's one of the best selling books of all time. And it was written by a Calvinistic Protestant. You guys know what I think about both Calvinists and Protestants. All right, I don't need to go down that rabbit trail. But in the book, he says Apollyon is the devil. It's like you wonder, I mean, are these people even reading the Bible? But what they're going to say is this, that the definition of the devil is destroyer. We'll turn to 1 Peter 5, verse 8. 1 Peter 5, verse 8. So basically, they'll say, well, the devil destroys people in hell. He destroys people. That's not the definition of the devil. Okay, if you want to get a definition of the devil, and I'll show you in a second that he's not the destroyer. The best definition you can have is calling him our adversary. Because in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, it says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. So what it says here is that the devil is our adversary. And throughout the Bible, the devil is not the destroyer of the brethren. He's our adversary. He's fighting against us. But obviously, God's on our side. Okay, now turn to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10. Matthew 10. Now I will say this, I'm not going to mention anything from the Hebrew or Greek, but I would not be against a pastor who really studied out and knew what it said there to go to the Hebrew or Greek, because what it said in Revelation, it gave his name both in Hebrew and Greek, trying to prove a point. I don't have that sort of knowledge, so I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to look at it in English. We can see that the devil is our adversary, not our destroyer. Okay, I don't need to go back to the original language to prove that. I wouldn't be against somebody doing it in this situation, because it specifically mentions the Hebrew and the Greek there. But I want you to notice here how the devil cannot be the destroyer. Notice what it says in Matthew 10 verse 28. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Now notice what it says there in Matthew 10 verse 28. Fear not them. Them is plural. Okay, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Okay, so the Bible says there's a group of people that can kill the body, but not kill the soul. In fact, this is everybody outside of God that it's referring to. Okay, I cannot kill my soul. Right? Here's the thing. People say when you're saved, you know, they say, what if you commit suicide? Will you go to hell? No, you won't. Okay, and I tell people sometimes I can't take my soul out of my body and shoot it with a gun, right? I mean, I could shoot my body and my body would die. I can't take my soul out though and just shoot my soul and kill it. Okay, you can't do that. And so it says here, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. And I want you to understand something, that when the devil was going to persecute Job and he asked God what he could do because he's weak compared to God, he has to ask if he can do whatever. God tells him he cannot kill the body, but I want you to understand something. If God allowed the devil to kill Job, that's all he would have been able to kill was the body. He wouldn't be able to kill the soul. But what it says in the second half of this verse, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So who is it referring to when it says fear him? Fear God, not fear the devil. We're not supposed to fear what man can do to us. We're not supposed to fear the devil. No, fear God because God does have the ability to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now here's the thing. He promised if you're saved that you can't lose your salvation. So he can't break his promise. But what it's saying is God is the one that destroys people. He sends them to hell forever. That's God. It's not the devil. God's the one who has the power to kill both soul and body. The devil can't do that. Okay. I mean, if you're saved, you can never lose your salvation. But when it comes to just an unsafe person, that's not a reprobate. Look, God's the one who sends them down to hell. God created hell. And one day the devil will burn worse than anyone who's ever existed because no one's been more wicked. Okay, turn back to Revelation chapter nine. Revelation nine. Revelation chapter nine. And look, this should make sense because when you think about this chapter, I don't understand how people could say that this is the devil, because let me ask you a question about these locusts that we're talking about. Are these locusts from the antichrist or is this God's wrath? It's God's wrath. So when an angel is opening the bottomless pit, this is God's wrath. This is not the antichrist or the devil. This is God's wrath being poured out on the earth. And so the angel opening the bottomless pit, this is by God's bidding. God says, I want this done. Okay, we've already been raptured. Saved people have been raptured. 144,000 are there, the two witnesses. And this is God's wrath that's being poured out. This is not the devil. Okay, the locusts are from God's wrath. So to say that in Revelation chapter nine or in Revelation 20, that this is referring to the devil, that does not make any sense in this chapter. You know, I don't know how you could come to that conclusion unless you're reading commentaries and you haven't read it for yourself. Okay. And so in Revelation chapter nine verse 12, it says, one woe is past and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And so woe is something that's very bad. And the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. So let's look at point number five here tonight. Let's talk about what's found in verse 14. The angels in the great river Euphrates. Verse 14, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And so the Bible says in verse 14, there are four angels which are bound. Okay, basically kept captive, so to speak, inside of a river, the great river Euphrates. There are four angels that are bound there. Okay, now the devil didn't put them there. The devil is not controlling them. God actually has them there. You say, who are these four angels that are basically bound or kind of chained up or forced to be in the great river Euphrates? Go back to Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three. Genesis chapter three. And I'll show you who I believe these are referring to because I believe the Bible does mention these angels. And look, I believe these angels have been bound up for more than 6000 years. Okay, so they're gonna be kind of excited. They're gonna be excited to get to the end times. It's like, man, I've just been in this great river Euphrates all the way back in Genesis three. Can I please just get out of here? And then they get to go, right? They're gonna be excited during the end times. And so Genesis three verse 23, Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden. This is obviously after the curse. You know, Adam and Eve had eaten from the fruit. They have their curse. The devil has his curse. Forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. So the Bible says that there are these cherubims that are basically there guarding the garden of Eden. Okay, and it says they're turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life. So they're just there. Okay, now go back to Genesis chapter two. Genesis chapter two. So I believe these cherubims are the four angels. And I believe basically each angel is responsible for one direction, so to speak. And so there's one for north, south, east, west. I understand there's kind of an in-between area, but basically their job is to kind of patrol their area. Okay, and protect this. One, Genesis two, you say, how do you know that's the great river Euphrates? How are you making that link? Genesis two verse 14, there's four rivers named. Verse 14, and the name of the third river is Hadakal. That is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria, and the fourth river is Euphrates. So I believe these cherubim that are mentioned in chapter three are basically there. And it mentions the great river Euphrates. So I believe that's the area they're bound to, and they're basically protecting to keep the way of the tree of life, the Bible says. So I believe these four angels have been bound from Genesis chapter three. Okay, and so basically after the curse, you know, they were kicked out of the garden, so to speak, and they needed a savior. Sin passed upon all men for that all of sin, the Bible says, and such as that. And so everything changed that point, and these four angels are basically kept bound until this one moment. Okay, now if this is not who it's referring to, I'm not, for one, I'm not really sure what these cherubims are doing here. And for two, I don't see any other link in the Bible what those four angels could be. I believe it's these four angels, and it mentions the great river Euphrates in the book of Revelation. Now here's the thing. After this event took place, the flood took place, right? Noah's ark and the worldwide flood. So when it comes to the great river Euphrates, I believe they're probably bound in this area that's mentioned in Genesis chapter two. Now I don't know, because there's the river Euphrates today, but I don't know if that's the same river as before the flood. Now they probably tried to name them based on what they thought the names were before, but there is really no guarantee. And I doubt I would lose all sense of direction if the worldwide flood took place, because eventually, you know, the water will go down and everything. But quite honestly, what we have is the Euphrates River today. There's no guarantee that's the same river. I don't think it is, personally. So I think it's probably this river mentioned here. Maybe it's the same one. We don't know. We don't know all the changes that took place after the flood either. There's a lot of changes that took place, mountain ranges and everything. Obviously, I don't pretend to know all that stuff. We weren't there to see what the world looked like before the flood. So I believe it's probably the river Euphrates mentioned in Genesis two verse 14, but maybe not the big Euphrates River that we have today. I'm not really sure. But I believe these are the four angels. So they've been down there for over 6,000 years. Okay. We'll go back to Revelation chapter nine. Revelation chapter nine. Revelation chapter nine. Now, look, we have been in lockdown for a couple months. And you're like, man, I feel like a prisoner. If I could just be loosed out of this thing, I'll just do whatever. I'll be so happy to just go where I want to go. It's only been a few months. Just imagine if you're here for like 6,000 years. Your entire life was on lockdown. Your entire life on quarantine. Well, I mean, this is almost all of human history, right? 6,000 years. So I mean, Genesis chapter three is not that far from Genesis one. We don't know the exact time frame, but probably not that far. And then we're all the way to the end time. So basically their entire life, they've just been guarding to keep the way the tree of life. And then it says in verse 15, and the four angels were loosed. Okay. And so there's probably a competition who can get to the battle first between these four angels. Okay, the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour and a day in a month and a year for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were 200,000,000. And I heard the number of them. So these four angels are let loose, and then they have an army of horsemen with them. 200,000,000 is 200,000,000. And it says they kill one third of people, one third, the third part of man. So obviously they kill one third of man. That's a pretty big destruction of God's wrath. So finally, after the locust and everything, people are being killed now. And what happens when they die? They're going straight to hell. These wicked reprobates. Now, obviously, we believe that some people will get saved during God's wrath, because that's the reason why the 144,000 are here. But I don't believe that means they're completely exempted because they're here during it. It says that the ones that are sealed with servants of God and their foreheads are protected. I don't think personally that includes them. So saying the third part of man, it's probably a geographical thing. I would think like a land area where the ones that lived in that area were killed. I don't think it's kind of like you go into a building and like one third of these people die. You go to the next building. I could be wrong. The Bible doesn't specifically say. So it's fine if you disagree or have a different opinion. Or if I'm wrong, you know, that's fine. I don't claim to know all of this stuff. But one third of them are dying. Now notice what it says in verse 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire and adjacent and brimstone. And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. So the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone. So smoke is obviously people's lungs are going to be destroyed. Most people in a fire die from the smoke, not actually the flames. But they're also dying from the fire and the brimstone. So with the brimstone, I don't know if that means they're being melted to death or whatever. I mean, if they get close, they're going to burn up immediately. But these three things are killing them. Verse 19. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents and at heads and with them they do hurt. So our last point here today is found in verse number 20, where let me say this, that when it comes to evil people, when it comes to reprobates, they will never feel bad and they will never change what they believe. When they get thrown into hell, they will not feel bad and they will not change what they believe. Notice what it says in Revelation chapter nine, verse 20. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, these are the wicked people that are here, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. And so these evil people, they don't want to change any of their actions. It says the works of their hand, and this is linked to them worshiping false idols. And it says, you know what? They don't repent of that. They don't change their mind about that. So obviously the God they believe in or the gods they believe in or whatever is not the God of the Bible. They're not changing what they believe. And we're also going to see they don't change their actions either. Now at the end of the sermon, I'll show you another verse to show you that you do not have to repent of your idolatry to be saved. I'll explain that in depth, but I want you to realize with these people in verse 20, they're staying bad people and they're not changing what they believe. It says, I mean, after all of this has happened, isn't it obvious who God is? I mean, it's not even a debate. And yet they didn't repent of the works of their hands. They still want to worship devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. Verse 21, neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. So look, when you're seeing in these verses, they're not changing what they believe and they're not changing their actions. They don't feel bad about it. It's like they would have gone and murdered the same person they did. And when it says murders, it's talking about people like us because they're on the team of the Antichrist murdering believers before the rapture. Those are the murders. People like us that are mentioned in Revelation six, when it says in the fifth seal, how long O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? These are the people that were murdering us. And then after all of this happens, they don't change their mind about it. They don't feel bad about it. They don't repent of it. Nothing. They haven't changed anything. And so look, I think people think, or maybe they don't stop to think about it, that when people get cast into hell, they're magically going to change what they believe and also feel bad. No, they won't. They won't change what they believe. And I want you to understand it's one thing to believe that God's real. It's another thing to put all your faith on Jesus Christ. You understand the difference? I mean, just I mean, if Jesus showed himself to the world like he did 2000 years ago, people saw that and they could not deny that he was real. That doesn't mean that they were saved. Okay, for someone to be saved, they've got to put all their faith in Jesus Christ. They have to realize it's a gift only through Jesus and it lasts forever. And look, they're not hearing the gospel here and they wouldn't receive it if they did hear. So they're not thinking, wow, salvation is an eternal gift. It's a free gift. No, I mean, I'm sure they still believe in work salvation. And isn't it interesting the most miserable people in the world believe in work salvation? It's like you're an evil, wicked person that's murdering, but they think they're justified. They will believe that they're justified for murdering us because we're the bad people. We're the ones that are the reason why there's no peace on the earth, because if everyone just joined their side to just worship the antichrist and we won't do that. So they don't feel bad about the murders or the sorceries or of any of their sins that it lists there. They don't change their mind. They don't feel bad about their fornication or their thefts. So what you're seeing, these people, it's not just that they believe in the antichrist and they took the mark of the beast. They're also bad people. People that become reprobates, children of the devil, they are bad people and they will never change what they believe and they will never change their actions. They're only going to get worse. Turn to Romans one. We'll look at a few more places. Romans one, Romans one. I know we know these verses, but it comes up in the Bible, so I want to show it to you again because, yes, the Bible does not use the word reprobates very much, right? I mean, it only uses it a few times in the Bible. And you know what a reprobate is, is basically a child of the devil. And just to give you an understanding of this, there's basically three categories of people. Now, babies are exempt from this because babies go to heaven if they die. I talked about that on Sunday. We know that, but they're going to reach an age where they're old enough to comprehend this, and most people think there's two categories saved and lost. There are not two categories. There's three categories. Okay, now think about it. When you get saved, that is your spiritual birth. You become a child of God. You receive everlasting life. It's your spiritual birthday. Okay, you get born into God's family. Now, a loving parent is going to love their children forever. There's many parents in this room, and we've all punished our kids. We've all spanked them. We've all been upset with them. We would never take our children and throw them into a burning lake, right? They're our children forever. Even if they ended up doing whatever in the future, we would never do that to them. We punish them to try to help them get better, and we love them forever. Okay, I will always love my children, even if I do get mad at them. Look, God's love is even greater than my love or your love as a parent in this room. And when you become a child of God by receiving everlasting life, as it says in John 336, you will always be a child of God because it's everlasting life, and God's going to love you forever. Now, does a parent punish their kids when they do wrong? Absolutely. On earth, God will punish you. He's not going to throw you in hell because the people who go to hell, they never believe. They never had everlasting life. We know that. You know, the Bible speaks about that. And so, look, that's one group of people, those that believe on Jesus Christ. Now, before I became a child of God when I was in college, I was just an unsafe person, okay? But there's another category of people called children of the devil. There's children of God, children of the devil, and just your ordinary, unsafe person. Now, some people teach, and this is wrong, that everybody before they're saved is a child of the devil. The Bible never says that, okay? So here's the thing. When you become a child of God, you're a child of God forever. When you become a child of the devil, you're a child of the devil forever. Right? I mean, it makes logical sense. Now, here's the thing. Most people are not children of God, right? Few people are saved worldwide. I mean, even amongst this country is a 90% Christian country. Very few people are saved. Worldwide, there's all these other religions where obviously in Hindu countries or Buddhist countries, very, very few people will be saved. Most people are not children of God, okay? But most people are not children of the devil either. There's only a small number of people, and those are people that the Bible says, and I've preached about this before, I'll preach about it again. It says they are without a conscience. Imagine without a conscience, which means they're not going to feel any guilt whatsoever. Doesn't that kind of seem like Revelation Chapter 9, where they don't feel bad about murdering somebody? Why? They don't have a conscience. It says their conscience is seared with a hot iron, the Bible says, okay? And so, look, your natural affection that you have, because it says they are without natural affection. So, for example, us, we go outside, and let's say a little kid from our church just runs out into the street because kids can be rowdy, and they get out, and then all of a sudden they get hit by a car, okay? You know, God forbid something like that would happen. But if it happened, every single one of us would just be like, we'd be horrified, wouldn't we? We'd be crying. We'd be praying. We do whatever to try to rescue the kid, do everything. We would be horrified. Now, here's the thing. Some people, people that are children of the devil, what they do is they learn to act like they care, but they don't actually care. So they would not actually feel bad if that happened. Now, what they might do is this, because they're just trying to fit in, but they're just like the group in Revelation 9. They don't actually feel bad about it because they're without natural affection. They don't... Because us, you know, we look at a little child, and it's like there's nothing more innocent than a little child. You think of these abortion doctors and all this wicked stuff. It's like, how could you be that evil? But there is a small percentage of people that are without natural affection. They have no conscience. And that is the group in Revelation 9. Now, here's the thing. I did not start out as a child of God when I was born. I reached the age of accountability, maybe when I'm five, six years old or whatever. And then I grew up and I was not a child of God, but I was not a child of the devil. And then eventually I became a child of the God. Those people in Revelation 9, they were not born from the womb as these wicked, evil people. They were born from the womb as just an innocent child that had its specific guardian angel. The Bible does speak about that, you know, in the book of Luke, had a specific guardian angel, and God loved that child. And God intended for that child, that baby to grow up and get saved and then be conformed to the image of a son and live for God and go soloing and read the Bible. But they chose not to. They rejected the truth of God's word and they became bad people. And they went from basically being in between to instead of getting saved, they ended up becoming an enemy of God. And they hate God and they try to tear down the God of the Bible. Now, this is not a large group of people, but here's the thing. You can't read the Bible without seeing this concept because the Bible does mention it. These people in many books of the Bible, I mean, the group of Korah, we saw that group that went down alive into the pit. There's a group so wicked that Moses basically prayed to God and basically the earth opened up and swallowed them and killed them. Okay, those are not just ordinary, unsafe people by and large in that group. Those cores are bad people. Okay, the Bible speaks about this. And in Romans one is another example where it speaks about these people and notice what it says about these people in Romans chapter one, it says in verse 29, being filled with all unrighteousness. Now you say, Brother Stuckey, sometimes I am unrighteous, right? The Bible says, Yes, but you're not filled with all unrighteousness. Yes, I sin every day, but I'm not filled with just unrighteousness. And then when it says being filled, you can repeat that for every single thing mentioned, being filled with all fornication, being filled with all wickedness. So these are people, man, fornication is no big deal to them. They'll just sleep around with whomever. Sleep around with men, women, whatever. They're filled with all fornication, the Bible says. Okay, that's what it says in Romans chapter one. Look, it's a disgusting, wicked person that's just going to sleep around with every single person that's out there. Okay, filled with all fornication, filled with all wickedness, covetousness. Yes, we're all covetous from time to time, but not like them. Maliciousness. Think of a malicious cancer or something like that. So that's really evil. Then it says this, full of envy. These people are full of envy. It's not just that they get envious from time to time, because when we get envious, we tend to feel guilty about it. We know we shouldn't. And, you know, we feel bad about it. Usually they're full of envy. So basically anybody that's more successful than them, they're going to be mad about it. In any area, they're going to be envious that someone else got the credit, someone else got the job, full of envy, full of murder. Okay, you can repeat full of for all these things. Full of murder. They don't have a problem with killing people. Now, that does not mean they just go around and kill as many people as they can. But what it means is this we did talk about in our series. There's the violent psychopaths, the canes of this world that killed his brother, but they would have no problem killing if it helped them get a job raise. I mean, that's the truth. If they got promoted at work by killing someone and no one would find out, they'd have no problem doing it. You say, how could they be like that? Here's why we don't understand this. And I don't understand this because I have a conscience. And if you have a conscience, this doesn't fully make sense to you because I wouldn't be okay with just murdering someone to get a 50 peso raise per hour at my job. You know what I mean? It's like, why would someone do that? Because they're full of murder. They're full of debate. They're full of deceit. They're liars, full of malignity, full of their whispers, backbiters, haters of God. You say, but wait a minute. In Romans 1, although we talked about the different types of psychopaths, that's a whole other topic. I don't have time to get into it. In Romans 1, it's specifically talking about sodomites, homosexuals in Romans 1. And you can go back and read that, but this is going to apply to reprobates as well, that they're full of all these things. But it talks about how the men lusted after men and women after women in Romans 1. But it says they're haters of God. You say, but wait a minute. I've met these people before and they don't all hate God. No, no, no. They hate the God of the Bible. They might believe in God, but they hate the God of the Bible. Because what it said in Romans 1 are these people are basically they reject God, professing themselves to be wise. They became fools. And we usually apply that to people that are atheists. And that is a good application. But it would also include anyone who's rejecting the truth of the Bible. And they could go to some other religion. Okay. And so they're denying God and they're a hater of God. They're a hater of the God of the Bible. It doesn't mean, though, that they don't believe in some God. Okay. There's wicked people that believe all kinds of different things. Haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. And let me mention a few things. One in verse 30 when it said inventors of evil things, I just think in my head back to the Spanish Inquisition where the Catholic Church murdered believers and they literally invented new torture techniques to just harm people. And these would include like ripping the skin off your body. And it's like that wouldn't even come into my mind. It's like until I actually read about these things, I read about it for the dark history of the Catholic Church, and I read about all the techniques. I'm like, how do you even come up with something? Who would sit around and try to? I mean, I mean, good night in the Bible. You don't do that. You don't torture bad people to death. They're just stoned to death, right? They're just killed, as the Bible says, because God is not for torturing. Okay. But they invent evil things, disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful and unmerciful. I can't help but just think a little child that's crying out for mercy from a pedophile that's harming them. And there are people don't tell me that person has a conscience. Okay. I mean, it's just like someone that would harm child. And look, when it comes to these Catholic priests, they don't just harm one person or two or three of these Catholic priests. They molest like hundreds of boys and they get away with it because they have enough political power and people are afraid to criticize the Catholic Church. If that happens, they know they're going to get in trouble for it. And it happens all the time, not just here in the Philippines, but every country with Catholicism and all these false religions. And look, it happens all the time. It's like, man, that person has no mercy. A normal person has mercy, especially towards an innocent little child. Okay. The Bible speaks about these people. Revelation Chapter nine. That's the group we're kind of talking about. People that just have no conscience that are just bad people. These are the people on the devil's side. They don't just believe the wrong thing. Oh, I feel so bad for them. They got deceived into taking the mark of the beast, and now they're accidentally on the wrong team. No, they had to worship the devil and hate God to become one of the devil's minions. And that's what they did. Turn to one last place in your Bible. First Thessalonians one. First Thessalonians one. Now, here's the thing. You know that you say, man, that's some harsh preaching. But here's the thing. It helps you understand God's wrath upon these people. They deserve it. They're bad people. And so everything you saw in Revelation nine. Well, there's a reason why God's wrath is being poured out. These are wicked, evil, filthy people, and they deserve this. Okay. These are people that murdered the believers during the Book of Revelation. They're the ones that are not repenting of their murders. They murdered people like us. Look, if this happens in our lifetime and like 10 of us in this room get murdered before the rapture, guess what? This is the group that's doing it to us. Why? Because they hate the God of the Bible. And we're messengers of the God of the Bible. We won't take the mark of the beast because you can't as a safe person. Okay, I want to show you one last verse because what it said in Revelation, if you remember, you don't have to turn back there, but it talked about them not repenting of the works of their hands, and it mentions them worshiping devils and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood. And so there's a false teaching. And here's the thing. On Sunday, I'm going to actually preach a full length sermon. Our first sermon on salvation. Kind of a really in depth thing. I found it from the Book of Romans. I'm excited about it. And so I have not preached on a full length sermon on salvation in a long time. And the reason is because we go soul winning all the time, and I talk about it and bring it up in sermons and things like that. And I didn't realize this till recently that it's been a long time since I've preached a full length sermon on salvation, and I found something new in the Book of Romans. And it's not really a new concept, but a verse that I never really see stand out. And I was like, oh, man, I'm excited to preach on salvation. I think it's good timing. But what we believe about salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That easy. You do not have to change your lifestyle to be saved. You don't have to repent of your sins. You don't have to quit smoking. You don't have to quit drinking because the Bible says whosoever believeth in him. It's that simple. You don't have to change anything. You don't have to repent of your sins. When it comes to people saying you got to repent of your sins and saying you got to quit your lifestyle, quit your sins. That's works that you have to do, right? I mean, it's work salvation to say you got to quit smoking. You got to quit drinking. You got to read the Bible. That's works. Okay. But I will say this. Some people will say this. Well, you know, you don't have to repent of your sins, but you got to repent of one sin. You got to repent of the sin of idolatry to be saved. Who's heard that before? I've heard that before. They say you got to repent of the sin of idolatry to be saved. No, you don't. Okay. And I want you to understand because they're deceiving about this. Here's what we need to understand. When we go soul winning, we talk to Catholics all the time that have tons of idols in their house. Is that not true? They do not have to hand those idols over to me to get saved. They can get saved and still have idols in their house. And guess what? People get saved and they still have idols in their house because they don't realize how wicked it is or they're trying to please family or whatever. They don't have to hand over those idols to be saved. What they need to do is not trust in those idols to be saved. This is a very important distinction because people say you got to repent of the sin of idolatry. It's like, wait a minute. What do you mean by that? Because you don't have to throw out your little Buddha statue in your room. I think it's stupid to have it, but you know what? People have it. You don't have to throw out your statues of your Catholics or whatever in your room to be saved. All you got to do is believe on Jesus Christ. But many Catholics and many false religions, they trust in those idols. They look at them as gods that they worship. Okay. Now, if you're trusting in those idols to be saved, you cannot 100% trust in Jesus to be saved if you've got 5% trust in this little statue of Mary. Okay, but you don't have to throw out that statue to be saved. This is an important distinction because the Bible will talk about and what it says in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9. It says for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had on you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. What is he saying? He's saying this. You are trusting in your idols to be saved. You are trusting in your idols. And you know what? You had to turn to God. You had to place your faith on Jesus Christ. And turning to God is basically repenting. You change your mind, you turn, you change. And so basically, you've got to turn from trusting in those idols because you can't trust fully in Jesus Christ if you're still trusting in those idols to be saved. But you do not have to hand in those idols to be saved. You don't have to burn all your idols to be saved. And look, there are people we get saved in this country all the time. And I promise you, if we went back to the room, you're just thinking, man, you've been going to our church for a couple months. Like, why do you have a little statue of Peter in your room? It's like, oh, you know, I just, you know, keep around. I've always had it or whatever. And I'm sure there's people who get saved and they still have those statues. Idolatry is a big thing in this country. And we get people saved. And you know what? When they get saved, they do have to quit trusting in idols. They got to quit trusting in Buddha. They got to quit trusting in Muhammad. They got to quit trusting in Joseph Smith or whomever you want to name in order to trust in Jesus, because you have to put all of your trust on Jesus Christ to be saved. But you don't have to turn in those idols to be saved. There's other verses, and I don't have time to go into them where people try to say, well, you got to repent of the sin of idolatry. No, the Bible doesn't teach that. And when you think about what it's teaching, what they're saying, it's like very confusing because you have to change your mind about what you believe. And you got to quit trusting in those idols. But you do not have to get rid of those idols to be saved. In the Book of Revelation, you're looking at people that they are trusting their idols to be saved. They're worshiping gold and all these things. But here's what you need to understand. Those people are never going to change their mind about what they believe. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here and just seeing Revelation, chapter nine, and seeing hell poured out on earth and your wrath, God. Help us to understand this judgment is just that you are pouring out on mankind. These are evil, wicked people that are mentioned here, God. And we just pray you to help us understand these things better. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.