Billy Strachan emphasizes the inevitability of God's judgment as depicted in Revelation, particularly focusing on the unrepentant nature of humanity despite clear warnings and revelations of truth. He explains that God does not send people to hell; rather, they choose to reject Him and the open door to salvation. Strachan highlights the significance of repentance, which is only possible for those who have received the truth, and warns against the consequences of ignoring God's call. The sermon culminates in the depiction of the fall of Babylon and the ultimate judgment that awaits those who continue in their rebellion against God.

Now if you'll turn with me to Revelation 15. I want to try tonight if I can to come through to the end of chapter 18, leaving us the remainder of the book next week. And remember that in that 14th chapter we have seen the Lamb standing in Mount Zion and the declaration of the fall of Babylon and finished with the harvest of the world, separating those on the right and on the left that were to be his and those that were not his were to be put into that wine press where the wrath of the Lamb would be poured out, justifiably so, on those that rejected him. And of course by the time we finish tonight you will see again very very clearly that men are without excuse that go into a lost eternity and also that God never sends a sinner to a lost eternity. They choose to go there. So never feel in a way sort of sad or even swallow any of the theologies that try to state that surely a loving God could never send anyone to hell, because he doesn't. He shows everyone the open door into his presence with ample warning and only they can make the choice to ignore the open door into his presence and choose to go to a lost eternity. He won't send them but he cannot stop them from going. And the message that will come through tonight afresh is that unrepentant attitude of the people. Now we have seen seven seals open with some of the first plagues upon the people. We have seen seven trumpets and the woes. And now we're about to move into the seven last plagues on the planet and its peoples. And for all that they are unrepentant. Now remember that in scripture repentance is something that only can be practiced by those who have a revelation of truth. Nowhere in your scripture do you find an ignorant heathen completely outside of the knowledge of the truth of God being told to repent. Repentance is always directly associated with people who have received light and illumination and truth. And now no better. The spirit has reached into the darkness and has chased the darkness away and illumined their hearts with the truth of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And for all that they still choose not to repent. And that is what will be very evident again tonight. And remember that the first word John the Baptist ever preached to Israel, who were God's people with the great claim that we know the truth, was repent. The very first message of Christ was repent. You find that the church throughout Acts used the word to believers repent. And you find even in Acts when Paul went to Athens, the only occasion in scripture where you find repentance being preached to people outside of Judaism that were Gentiles. But there again, if you go back into the Greek history, you discover that they had a knowledge of God. They knew that there was an agnostotheo, the God we don't know. And they honored the God they did not know because they did not know what to call him. But they knew he was there because it was made plain to them that he was there in a very unusual way. And so for centuries they'd known that a great plague on the nation had been stopped because they had learned to acknowledge the God they do not know. And when Paul turned up on Mars Hill and saw the altar to the agnostotheo, he says, the God you don't know, I've come to tell you at last who he is specifically. And he presented to them the Lord Jesus Christ and then commanded that they repent because they did have that knowledge he was there. But now he said, I've told you who he is specifically, repent. And if they didn't, then they faced the consequences. And in your book of Revelation, in those letters to the churches, we saw a fresh in Christ's last testimony to the Christians, repent or else, repent or else, repent or else. And so by this time, the text that came up in scripture in the Old Testament and was repeated in the new, that men will not need to teach people to know the Lord for they shall all know the Lord. But that does not mean to say they will not grab him and make him their personal savior. No, they'll know the Lord, but in the majority of cases reject him. And you'll see why tonight. Now in chapter 15, I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. Now this is him looking again at a parenthesis, a scene up in heaven for in them is filled up the wrath of God. This is going to be his last fullest measure of his wrath on those that have rejected him. Not only in the past, when he visited the earth in the person of Christ, but after all that we've gone through in their history at that time to show them that God is God and that every knee shall bow and acknowledge him. And they're still rejecting him. Now he's justified and pouring out the fullest measure of his wrath upon the people at that time also. And I saw as it were, you see, John is keeping to the true declaration of his commandment from the Lord at the commencement. Just write what you've seen and heard. It's not a dictation. He's writing what is seen. He's trying to put it into verbiage, this vision. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire. Now don't get too caught up in his imagery for we've no idea really what it is that he's describing in detail in many cases, but we are getting the elephant. Remember what is happening is more important to watch for than how it's being described in vision to John some nearly 2000 years ago. And then that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name stand on the sea of glass having the hearts of God. They have resisted. These are the people during that time. The church is watching this from above. And during that time, this despot, this great power, this person motivated by Satan, this antichrist had become a person with a political control on the world. And he had deceived them by giving boost and power that will be verified tonight to a false universally accepted religious leader and profit to dupe the nations and then showed his true colors and made a mark in their bodies. And if they didn't have the mark of the beast or worship his image, they were put to death. And now you're seeing those that were martyred for that put to death for that are now in the presence of the almighty in heaven. And they are now rejoicing. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the lamb. Now, back in the Old Testament in Exodus 15 one, the whole of that chapter to about the 22nd verse is a song of Moses that you can examine, which was the song of their redemption and salvation from Egypt, from out from under the bondage of everything that smacked of the world and the imprisonment and slavery to the world. But Moses also wrote another song in Deuteronomy 31, where in that one, it is a song praising God for his greatness, but also a song declaring the severity of his vengeance and all those that would not obey him. And so you're now finding these people who have come out of this tribulation period. They are now in the presence of God. And isn't it interesting they're singing the song of Moses and the only recorded two songs, one about thanks for salvation. My God, my savior, my Lord, he has overthrown his enemies and one about his greatness and his right to judge. And this is their song. Now that they've come through this, they are having the right to sing. Thank you for my salvation. Thank you. You are and who you are and said, you do what you do. And now we are singing that other part of that song of Moses. Vengeance is yours. You have the right to exercise it. And even in Romans, if you remember, the Lord said at that time to Christians within the body of Christ, avenge not yourselves. Vengeance is mine, said the Lord. I will repay, love your enemies, the hardest challenge to believers. But now he's going to sum up that vengeance. He's going to keep it because he's been reluctant to judge because as we read in the epistle, Peter, he wants all men. He would, all men would repent and come to him. And that's why he's appears to be slack concerning his return because he's not willing that any should perish, but wants everybody to repent. But they are now singing this great song and the song of the lamb saying great and marvelous that I works, Lord God almighty, just and true are thy ways. You are justified in what you're doing. You are the truth in all that you're doing. Thou King of saints or nations or ages. That word can be used in those three fashions there. So don't read saints there always to mean church members and then get yourself confused again. He's not the King of the church members. He's the King of the whole earth. And if you read as far back as the prophet Zechariah, I think some nine or 10 times in that little prophecy, he's declared to be the Lord of hosts of the whole earth. He is King. He always has been, but they have not acknowledged him. Even his own people in the old Testament rejected him from being King and wanted an earthly King, and he gave them their own desire, which was the biggest disaster. And now they are looking towards a theocracy again. I watched some newscast or some clip about Israel. It was during those elections last week in Israel, and they were interviewing some of the Hasidic Jews that are the severest of religionists there in Jerusalem and showing how that they were teaching their little children to go through their chanting and their prayers and in school learning all about God in the severest orthodox fashion. And they asked one teacher, what is your aim? And he says to get them ready for the reinstatement of a theocracy in Israel, which means that they know that they are again coming to the place where they want no earthly King, but to reinstitute God as their King, because he was the one that they had rejected. And that is why in all of your gospels, it may have puzzled you, but it's the one question the disciples never did ask Jesus that the theologians, even in the body of Christ, have been asking ever since. You'll notice that no disciple ever said to Jesus, what is the kingdom of heaven? What is the kingdom of God? They knew perfectly well what the kingdom was—a kingdom where God was their King, ruling over his people. And that they had rejected, now they want it back. And here God is showing beyond that. He's the King of the ages. He's the King of all nations. And in your Matthew's gospel, in the genealogy in the first chapter, he's declared to be the son of David, the son of Abraham. And that genealogy takes you through David, yes, King of Israel and Judah, but it takes you back to being King of Abraham. And Abraham wasn't a Jew. He was a Syrian from Ur of the Chaldees. He was a Gentile. And it was through him that both all your Arabic peoples today and Jacob, the patriarchs in Israel and Judah, emerged. And so he jumps in that genealogy from David, which Israel would all say, yes, he's our king, to saying, but I'm also King of Abraham, King of Adam. I'm the King of the whole earth. And at last, what Paul wrote in Philippians is going to come true. Everyone is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Verse four, who shall not fear thee? Oh Lord, and glorify thy name for thou alone are holy. It would do well for the church to remember that today. It's interesting. The church age started with Peter saying after people marveled at him healing the 38-year-old man of a crippling disease, that not by our holiness or our power do you see this man walk and leap and dance. But his holiness, his power, this is done through the holy child, Jesus. And now the Old Testament's coming to an end by a confirmation of that declaration that thou only art holy. So if you have any sense of your own personal holiness, stick it in the bucket. And there's nothing worse than Christians running around with a holier than thou attitude. If there is any measure of a God likeness or holiness in your character, that is God living in and through your life and manifesting himself in and through your behavior. It is nothing to do with you producing a holiness that God is going to look down onto the earth over his rose-tinted spectacles as a wooly-haired white old gentleman say, my, my, look what I've gotten flixting. Not at all. There's only one that's holy, that is the God of the whole universe. For all nations, every one of them, shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest. And after that, I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was open. That tent tabernacle in the wilderness that we have the tapes for tonight, and you may remember I had the model a couple of years ago here. And I told you at the outset of that instruction that Moses was instructed in very, very carefully to simply build it and construct it according to the antitupos of the thing that is already in heaven. And that Greek word antitupos meant over, against, and corresponding to. In other words, it was an exact replica of that which was already raised and existent in the very heavens itself. And here at the end of revelation, we're being told, yes, it is there. They'll now discover not only through the song of Moses being declared to the whole world, but they will also discover at last, hey, most of the book of Exodus was true after all, especially the part that we wanted to throw away and think was of no consequence and was the figments of a man's imagination to create a sort of legalistic religious system around a little mobile temple to keep the nation from wandering off. At last they'll agree, Moses, everything you said was true. And Jesus said, not one jot or tittle of the law, anything that Moses ever wrote shall pass away as long as this earth is standing. And here you're having it verified. Everything is verified, verified, verified. We've seen that for week after week that great truths declared in the old Testament and in the new are now being underlined before the judgments are poured out so that men are without excuse. And the seven angels came out to the temple having the seven plagues clothed in pure and white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels, seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. Yes, the temple of Solomon was filled with smoke with the glory of God. The temple of Zerubbabel was filled with the glory of God. And the priest couldn't even stand to minister for the extent of the presence of God. But of course, down the years, theologians have argued about the validity of the writings regarding this phenomenon of a smoke in an earthly temple. And now every one of those so-called lovely theologians are going to discover it's time to throw our thesis in the basket. Well, they don't need to rush. It will be burned with them. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. Now it's the planet's turn to suffer. That whole creation has got to be redeemed. And that's well in keeping with Romans, that there has to be the redemption of fallen man, but the redemption of the planet. And the planet itself almost falls and follows in pattern the planet, the plan for the believer. And the believer is one who's not only redeemed and baptized and indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit, but you find the planet itself has already been through his baptism at the Noahic flood. But now comes the purging by fire and the purifying of a planet and the creation of a new for God and his people to live on forever. And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon men. Whatever it is, they just are in a perpetual moan. They are groaning, they are moaning. It's noisome. Whatever the sore is, there is just no release of the agony of that type of pain. Now, I've had a taste of pain in my time. And when my back was damaged and I found that I just could not move, the slightest move. And it was just a pain that does not go away. And for hours you had to sit in a chair, having been to the masseur. And it was just like meat skewers through your ankles, your knees, your thighs, your elbows, your neck. And, you know, I don't think people fully understand back pain. They look at you and think you're putting it on. They think, oh, for goodness sake, get up, wash your dishes. You're not that bad. You know, and sometimes you did wish you had pneumonia. At least they know how to fix that. Two pills and you're all right. Then you can get up and wash the dishes. But the pain, I can always remember a staff member always treat me with tongue in cheek when I was walking down to the conference hall with walking sticks. And then one day he suddenly developed a rather unusual type of an attack of arthritis. There's the arthritis that grows on throughout life that stays and ends up being crippling and creating defects in your limbs and joints. But there's another type of arthritis that will come all of a sudden and almost paralyze and cripple you. But it will go away and it will stay away. And he developed that type. And you could see him in the office standing and he was constantly moving his feet. And I said to him, you're the man that taught St Vitus how to dance. And he says, oh, Strachan, I'm just trying to find a position to stand in where it will just go away. But it wouldn't go away until after he was cured of it. Well, back pain and arthritic pain like that can just be like a gnawing toothache that just will not go. But here is a grievous sore upon all men all over the world. Whatever it is, we don't know. But this is one of the judgments of God. And it's just not going to go away. Aspirin, Tylenol, paracetamol. You can eat them like Smarties beans. It's not going to help. And they had the mark of the beast and upon them which worshiped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man. In other words, the sea became coagulated, thick and stagnant. Coagulated, thick and stagnant. In the past, people laughed at that and said, you couldn't make the sea stagnant. A pool in your backyard. Yes, I can understand that. A fish tank in your house that you don't keep clean. I can understand. But the ocean, now with all that we're dumping in it, any movement of the earth's surface and any of those things rupturing, man, you're in trouble. In fact, when they took Ra 2, that replica of the straw raft from Egypt, that papyrus raft and ship, and sailed it right across the Atlantic to the Americas to prove that the Egyptians had already gone to America before Columbus and they actually made it. They wrote about the time when they were in the middle of the ocean going through the doldrums where there just is no wind. And the thing was, it was like a mill pond. But you know that they wrote in that book of that expedition that the flotsam and the junk from all the civilizations around the world meeting in the doldrums was such that we could not jump off the raft to even have a swim in the ocean. It was so filthy. And that was years ago. What's it like now? But you see, there's going to be something there that's not only going to be on the earth, but now you're going to get the sea and the sea is going to become so polluted that every living soul died in the sea. And remember that we're told in Genesis that animal life has a living soul, not spirit, soul consisting of minds, wills, emotions. And we know that animals have these. Dogs can come around a corner and see pigtails, freckles and a miniskirt and a lollipop. And you'll find that their soul comes into play. You'll find that they remember the last time they saw that shape. They don't have a vocabulary and a chick, a good-looking doll. No, they just know that that shape, the last time they saw it, came up, patted them on the head and gave them a suck of the lollipop. And they're once again physically and emotionally disturbed to the extent that they exercise their will by wagging the tail and running up for another pat on the head and another suck of the lollipop. But the same dog can come around the next corner and see one of the gentlemen from the church at Flixton with big boots on. And it gets equally soulishly disturbed because it remembers the last time it met that shape, the boot kicked it and it didn't feel nice. And so this time it signals to its will, run for Manchester city centre. Get out of the way. Oh yes, they have souls. And that's why we find everything dying there. It's talking about the fish life, the marine life dying. So imagine the further stink and stagnation of all of this flotsam on this coagulated mess. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and the fountains of waters, and they became like blood. They were red. And I heard the angel of the water say, thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and was, and shall be because you have judged us. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou has given them blood to drink for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar saying, even so Lord God almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And you say in the Manchester area, well, we could do with a bit of sunshine. Save has gone to Spain and Portugal, they're more economical. Hey, be thankful for your cool rain. We are already scientifically declaring that we're destroying our ozone layer and that some of these deadly rays that the ozone layer is meant to keep out of the surface are breaking through. Well, at that time that is going to be so ruptured that the deadly rays that were never meant to hit men are going to come through and we are going to see men on the earth scorched with fire. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which had the power over these plagues. And notice they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they nod their tongues for pain, biting and gnawing and scratching their tongue for whatever it is that's paining them. And they blasphemed. You see, he's attacking the tongue that blasphemes and every tongue shall be stopped. Yes, you've used it and abused it and misused it to decry me, to declare me nonexistent, to shout your blasphemies of God. Well, now I'm going to attack that tongue and shut it up and you'll know it for pain. And they nod their tongues for pain and blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. And they repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Now, remember that after your antichrist, who is the false peacemaker, goes into the Middle East under the guise of wanting to give them peace and religious freedom, but underneath it, he subtly wants control of the energy that is available in the east to help the economy of the whole world. Because if that energy out there collapses, so does the economy of the world. We've seen that threat with the oil problem in the Iranian Gulf. If the Japanese couldn't get their oil, their industry was collapsing. The yen altered its value. The American dollar altered its value. Your money in the post office altered its value just by a cessation of the oil flow and energy requirements from that area. And we know that at that time, if you read Ezekiel, Isaiah, that the Soviets, those in the Caucasus mountains to the north of Israel, are going to come down not to kill the Jews. That just happens to be a by-product, a little trick in the bag as well. They're coming down to attack the false peacemaker, to knock him out of the Middle East and bag the Jews at the same time. But he loses that war. Now, whether that's by local nuclear holocaust, we're not sure. All we know is that in the prophets were told that those that are not destroyed in the mountains by this huge holocaust, as they turn to go back into their own land, back to the plains of Russia, beyond the Urals and the Caucasus mountains, they find their land on fire. And it's never heard of again in history. But at that time, your kings of the East, your China, your Far East, your Sinai, Sinai Peninsula, your Asians, your Koreans, all of that group there that will be unified, they, plus your African nations, the kings of the South, they both decide to move in and finish the job off that had not been finished by the Soviets from the north. And it's at that moment that they see a common enemy coming that stops the entire conflagration, and that is Christ coming back to the earth to deal with all nations. Now, that's just after this particular thing that's being announced here, preparing the way of the kings of the East, making that road. And we already know that the Chinese, for instance, they are financing that great road that goes along the top of China, along through Tibet, right across to India. They're on their way. They're making their motor road towards the Middle East right now. And you have your unified Africa coming into being. And so don't begrudge certain nations in those areas, still hanging on and fighting on, to break up the unity of the kings of the South, because in God's good time, suddenly that unity will come. But once those African nations are totally unified and your eastern block is totally unified, they are the last two threats to the people of God in the Middle East. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, Satan, out of the mouth of the beast, your false antichrist and peacemaker, and out of the false prophet, that religious leader that the beast empowered politically and economically and financially, who was backed up by Satan. And now you're being introduced really to the forces behind these great personages at that time. Yes, the whole world will be governed and controlled. We're not there. We're in heaven. But the peoples here at that time, they're under the domination of a great political personage who's controlling economy, commerce, industry, and energy. And he's empowering under a guise of being a religious person. He's empowering a unified religion under the leadership of a false prophet. But all three of them have an evil spirit within them. You're now seeing that behind those forces, they were being controlled by Satan and his minions. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles. Be careful of all the modern day thrush. An emphasis on, oh, come on, Strachan, for goodness sake, be a little bit more charismatic and say, yes, it's an essential today that miracles are a sign of the fullness of the Spirit of God in a man's life. Watch it. For they are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. They are marching towards their Armageddon. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in their Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his violin to the air and there came out a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings. And there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came into remembrance before God to give her the cup of wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great. Now you'll remember that in Genesis and verified again in Chronicles, there is in the genealogies of the early forefathers of the world, that declaration that in the time of a certain gentleman, the earth was divided. The earth was divided. Let me see if I can just quickly find, I think it's Perry's. Yes, in Genesis 10 and 25, and unto Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg for in his days was the earth divided and his name was Joktan. And that is verified through in the book of Chronicles. And nobody ever seems to mention what they think that meant, the earth was divided. But now the scientists are beginning to understand that your continents are like plates and they have even shown how that it's possible to move Britain around and tuck it into Spain, how you can move South America around and Africa around and make the whole thing joined together. And that some great catechism, classic cataclysms that happened in the past that moved these continents away from each other. Science is saying that now. Well, here we're finding that not only did it happen in the beginning of the Bible, it's going to happen again where the islands are going to flee. He suddenly saw continents all moving around in the ocean, mountain ranges falling down. It's going to be global catastrophe. And there fell on men, a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great, but they're still not repenting. And there came out of the seven angels, which had the seven vials and talked with me saying unto me, come hither. I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. Now, throughout this entire description, the thing you have to notice is the surprise that comes to John seeing the vision as to what the city is. We're not told specifically. There's lots of speculation. London, New York, various others come up for being who it could be. But whichever one it is, it's a surprise. It's also a center of commerce. It's a center of entertainment. It's a center of all the delicacies of the earth. It is something that everybody aims to paying a visit to sometime in their life because there's such good, nice times there. And they're going to be surprised as to which one it is because they're going to say, well, I never thought it would be there, but it will be one. Come and see the judgment of the great whore with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of our fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit upon the scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls and having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of our fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written mystery, Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots and abomination of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. I was staggered when I saw her and she's picturing a city, a last thing that one would suspect. And the angel said unto me, did you marvel? Why were you staggered? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carried her, which had the seven heads and 10 horns, the beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell in the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. Now remember, your Satan is the great one locked in the depth to be loosed for a while on the earth. And he's the inspiration behind all of this politics, commerce, entertainment, the spirit of the age, that everything men thought was nice, nice to have, he's behind all of it. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitted. And there are seven kings, five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come. And so that's back in his day, he would understand specifically who they were. You can speculate if you like. I'm not interested. I'm watching for the one that is to come. Past is past. We have seen the future. And when he cometh, his reign will be short-lived. He will rise to power swiftly, but it won't be a long reign. And Jesus said, if it wasn't that the son of man shortened the days, life would be unlivable. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. And the 10 horns which thou sawest are 10 kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but received power as kings one hour with the beast. In other words, it's a short-lived reign, political power, a unity of nations, a unity of nations, a united nations. Could it be New York? Speculation. They have one mind. They're unified in what they want to do and shall give their power and strength to the beast. They're going to yield and come under the domination and control of this beast. These shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. And they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. And he said unto me, the waters, which thou sawest, whereon the whore sitteth are the peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the 10 horns, which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman, which thou sawest in that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying, Babylon, the greatest fallen is fallen and has become the habitation of demons and the hold of every foul spirit in a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her, double according to her works in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double, how much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously. So much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come, gone so speedily. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more. Yes, the economy's collapsed. When that city's gone, a center of commerce and control of commerce, the merchants of gold and silver and precious stones of pearls and fine linen, purple silk, scarlet, thinning wood, all manner of vessels of ivory, vessels of the most precious wood, brass, iron, marble and cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and even the souls of men, a place where you could buy anything, even a person. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hour so great riches has come to nothing. Yes, they do, put not thy strength in riches and thy confidence in riches. And every shipmaster, so obviously it's a city that can be seen from the sea, and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off. They'll see it and not be able to pull their vessels in any more. She's gone. The cargos they were bringing will not be acceptable. So it's somewhere where there's a center of commerce surrounded with great cargo terminals. Could it be London? Could it be New York? Could it be somewhere else? And he cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust in their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, alas, alas, that great city wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness, for in one hour she's made desolate. Rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and the prophets, for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers and musicians and the pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee. It's a great center for music as well. New York proms. Royal Albert Hall proms. A nation whose great musical song is Rule Britannia. Britannia rules the waves. Britain never, never, never shall be slaves. A center of commerce. A center of religion. We can only as Christians say, let's take the warnings. Let's see to it that we make sure that in case it is our very own land, we reach everybody with the news and leave them with responsibility to repent or face the consequences should it be this land. The hub and center of world commerce where finance is controlled at the touch of a button. The city. The stock exchange. Yes, it only takes a wrong button in London and markets all around the world plummet. The two great central banking places, New York, London, the FT index, the Dow Jones index on television nightly. Which one will it be? It is of no consequence. Whichever one it is, it is announcing a complete collapse of the economy. A complete destruction of merchandise and of all that commerce all over the world. And even the music will cease. And the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. You'll never be a factory or center of food production, of flour, of bread making anymore. And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee. And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth. For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And sorceries there would be better rendered by thy narcotics. Another center of drugs were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. I'm glad I'm not going to be there. But there's certainly one thing we can be certain of tonight. And that is anyone that's still around at that time when all of that system collapses and having gone through all of those disasters that's going to come upon the planet, it's because they've repented not. They had the choice not to go through it. They could choose to obey God and find themselves with those singing the right songs, the song of Moses, salvation, and of a great God and his vengeance, and not be in it. Yes, make sure that if you're going to settle for a top of the pops, that you pick the song of Moses as number one. Don't go for the music and the instrumentation of the world that one day will never be heard any more when all of that music world collapses. Our God is a consuming fire, a holy God, and a great God. Well, we'll stop there for tonight. And we'll ask if there's any questions. And remember, we are aware of the fact that to cram it into six weeks, we are galloping through breakneck speed. And there's much that we're not really able to cover, but it may have done enough to get you excited to do your own explorations and your own study in your own time. But any questions on tonight? Ma'am? No. It is to people on the earth, and remember that it's Peter that said it, and he said that in the last days of this world's history, there will be mockers, and this they are willingly ignorant of. They're living in not just ignorance, but it's a choice of ignorance. And they will be saying arguments like this, why this business of Christ coming back again, it's not true. They've been talking about the second coming for generations, and he's not coming back. So those people are not already dead. They're very much alive on the earth. And also they believe in the doctrine of evolutionary uniformity. In other words, they state why everything that we can see in the planet now has always been like this since the dawn of creation. And Peter says this they are willingly ignorant of, that the previous world that was destroyed before the flood and by a flood is not like the one that we have now. That the one that they see now is what has been in existence since the Noahic flood ceased. And that the first world and this present system are not at all the same. And there isn't such a thing as the philosophy, scientific philosophy of uniformity, that the planet's always been as it is since the dawn of creation and is evolving. Not at all. The first system was completely obliterated, and out of it has emerged the present system being reserved for a fire. And the reason that God is not coming back in a hurry is because he's giving time for men on the earth to repent and to change their attitude. But it's not a second chance to those who are already dead. Because in the Gospels, Jesus always preceded his parables with the statement, and he speak a parable unto them. But when you come to the story of the rich man and Lazarus, he did not say it was a parable. He just states quite categorically, there was a rich man who fared sumptuously every day, and he died and went to a place of torment. And he saw Abraham, he saw the beggar in Abraham's bosom, and that was the Jewish term for paradise or heaven. He saw him afar off in heaven, and he cried, come and just dip the tip of your finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame. And the reply he got from father Abraham was this, now that you're a convinced evangelical, I'm sorry, but we can't help you because there's a great gulf fixed. So that even though you would now like to come here, and even if we wanted to come to you and help you, we cannot, because there's a great gulf fixed. It was in time that you got the chance to repent. Now at that time, the man cries out to Abraham, then at least send somebody to my father's house, for I have five brothers there, that you can tell them so that they will repent and not come here. And he used the term repent in that section, that they will repent and not end up here, which meant that he believed himself, but that he's confessing, I did not repent. And that is the reason that he ends up there, because he chose not to repent. And now in that place of torment, he's saying, well, if I haven't got a second chance, send somebody to my brother's house, because if they saw somebody that rose from the dead, then they would repent. And Abraham said, listen, they have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the prophets, the Psalms, the scriptures. If they will not hear those, the song of Moses, they will not believe though somebody came into the room, risen from the dead. And so it is not a second chance theory. It is quite plain that it was stated he's delaying his return to the earth to give people on earth a first chance to make their mind up before he has no alternative, but to let those vials of his judgment pour out on the earth. Yes. Well, I know lots of ministers that have all sorts of lovely ideas, but in going through the scriptures, I've never come across any presentation of a purgatory yet in scripture. It is not there. My scripture tells me that absent from the body present with the Lord. And I think that in one of the only funerals that I have attended where I came out feeling desperate for the people, because instead of standing up, giving the people a message of hope and a great opportunity of declaring Christ and how that this is not the end, but could be the very beginning of you will repent and change your hearts. The gentleman stood up and dared to turn around in the face of loved ones, absolutely in agony of soul for the loss of a loved one and said, well, we all know where he is today. He's starting his eternity in purgatory and hell. And you're all going to have your turn in hell too and go through all your torments. And just like he's being tormented. Now imagine being as soul-less as to say a thing like that when people need comfort, instead of giving them a message of hope, it was a big stick with a terrifying sense of their, as soon as he's through the curtain and off into the crematorium, that's him beginning in the flames of hell for centuries till he's been punished for every sin he's ever committed. And I'm sorry, my gospel is not like that. My gospel is a message of hope and I've conducted funerals. And just last year I had the telephone message from the late Charles Oxley's family that he laid it down that I had to conduct his funeral. And I went to the funeral of that gentleman. And my instructions were to invite the people at the graveside, not to look down in the grave, but to look to heaven, to Jesus and receive Jesus as their personal savior and Lord. And I've even gone to funerals of a 19-year-old boy who fell in the mountains of Austria and they came into that Welsh chapel and it just looked like death warmed up. And I said, Tim, because his name was Timothy. And I talked to Timothy in heaven. I said, Tim, I hope you don't mind, but it's necessary for us to put your body where you used to live away today. But it's wonderful to know that as a mountaineer in your usual attitude, you're first to the top again. You've made it into heaven. And you know, people afterwards said, oh, how uplifting to find somebody at a funeral talking to the departed one that we cannot see and giving a deep impression he's still very much alive and in the presence of God Almighty and giving us hope that one day we shall see him too. And when we went to the grave, that undertaker come forward with a box of dirt and says, do you want to go through the ceremony of throwing dirt in the box? I said, we'll leave the undertaker to cover up the body, Tim. You and us, we're singing our way out of here in praises to our God. And we started singing praises to God and left the grave digger to cover up the body where he used to live. But I had to make it very plain, he's not there. He's in the presence of the Almighty, and he's going to get a new body and live forever. Yes, well, I wouldn't tell that lie either. And the thing is that no man knows the spirit of a man save the man himself. And so I think I would be loath to judge a person in the last moments of his life to say whether he was or was not a Christian. But I would certainly say that whether or not we know this person is with the Lord, there's one thing that's necessary, and that is for you lot to be sure that you are with him. And that there's no doubt when we come to bury you that you do know where you are and you do know where you're going. And I would again turn the tables to make a great opportunity of evangelism, to turn people to Christ, to receive them and be forgiven and be certain. But I wouldn't make it a hopeless situation. And I'm sorry, but in all of my reading of scripture, I have never come across a purgatory. None at all. We are a people of hope. Yes, ma'am. If you make a decision to reject him, yes, you leave no alternative, but you're choosing to be judged. Well, you have to understand the question is that if people cannot make the choice or if people make a wrong choice, then it's clear they're choosing not to repent and go to a departed judgment. But what about a child born who has not had the opportunity of choice? Well, that's quite plain in scripture. That in scripture, there is an age of accountability, which would appear to be around about 12, when children in Israel were then declared to be men and women. And up until that time, they are covered and under a precious care of God the Father. When David had the illegitimate child through Bathsheba, and the child was ill at birth, he cried and wept and pleaded for the child to be allowed to live. But it died. Now, his courtiers didn't know how to break the news to him, because he was bereft of his senses while the child lived and was praying to God that if the kid could live, to say, well, how can we tell him he's now gone? He saw them whispering at the back of the temple, and he said, has the child died? And they said, yes. And he got up, washed his face, and went back to work. And they came to him and said, just a minute, how come when he was alive, you were praying and groaning and rolling and moaning and pleading and tearing for God, wouldn't eat, wouldn't wash, wouldn't do anything that he would let him live. And now he's dead. You've washed and gone back to work. And he says, because I cannot get him back to me, but one day I shall go to him. And there was a child who was the child of a king who was so godless that when he took ill, he suddenly became religious and sent his wife in disguise to the prophet to ask God to heal the child. And when she entered the presence of the prophet, he says, I have bad news for you. You just go straight back home, dear. And as soon as you put your feet over the doorstep, the boy's going to die. And your entire family, for their absolute godlessness, is going to be judged by God. But know this, for all that, the only good found in your family is in this child that God is giving a severe mercy to by taking him out of the earth so that he doesn't grow up to be part of that judgment. The reason God did not judge Nineveh was because there were 20,000 in it that didn't know the difference between their left and right hands, babies. And so it's, it's playing even in the gospel. Jesus said that angels do always behold the face of the father in heaven. We have guardian angels down here looking after us adults, but they don't need to be guarded because they are as good as they are already. They're going to be given direct access to the father. And Jesus said of children, I've come to save that which is lost. But he says of adults, I've had to come and seek and save that which is lost. The children don't hide. They're out in the open. They're honest. I know where they are and my love protects them. But it's our duty as parents, as speedily as possible, with all open honesty, to bring the child to an understanding of the promises made in the book and of the need for them to choose to follow God and to make that deliberate choice as soon as possible. But the thing is that if a child was to die, then God is not going to send the child to hell because it could not decide because in many cases the parents kept it from the knowledge to use for a decision. I was brought up in a godless home where I was not taught, even though my parents, for the sake of keeping a job, marched in and obeyed the boss and had me done as a child. And yet I never knew a thing about Christ until I found Christ in the Royal Air Force because it was just a religious ceremony to keep a job. There was nothing of faith in it. And when a bishop suffraging in Lancaster asked me, quite personally, had I ever been baptized twice, I said, yes. And he said, would you explain that? I said, well, my father worked for a lord in Scotland. And it was one of the rules of the family that you either get the child baptized and christened in front of me in the Presbyterian church next Sunday, or you're out of work. And in those days he was a hired servant. If he was out of work, he'd no house for the family, no food for the family that were out. So he had the ceremony done, made promises to bring me up to know God that he couldn't keep because he didn't know God himself. And to my amazement, the bishop suffraging said, I would heartily agree that if there was nothing of faith in it, we see the value in having such a thing done within the context of a Christian believing church family. And I think that those that don't know are not going to be punished because we didn't get them the information when we had it and didn't give it. All right? Yes. There is no necessity to die thinking you're a Christian because the spirit of God witnesses with your spirit that you are a child of God and you have an absolute and total confidence that God is my loving heavenly father. He gives us the spirit within our hearts to cry Abba, Father, and we do acknowledge him. Yes, but that's on the basis of their ignorance. I haven't a clue because you have to wait and find out if at the last minute he cried out to God. Nobody knows. Nobody can tell whether or not they're in the very deathbed. Suddenly the mind is illumined by the communications of the spirit that have been going on all down the years while they've been sitting in the religious context, hearing it and thinking they were to suddenly realize, hey, I never did make this personal and suddenly cry out to God. And in that last moment find themselves a saved soul, but maybe a wasted life. We don't know. I have no confidence or proof that either of my parents ever became Christian. None at all. As far as I'm concerned, Father, right to the day he died was adamant in his belief that your old man doesn't need God, neither do you. But I may get to heaven and be suddenly pleasantly surprised to find that that was because he still in his proud way did not want to lose face after all these years of stubbornness and give me the satisfaction on earth of knowing that he believed with his heart that you were right, son, and I was wrong, and you told your father something that your father should have told you, and I was just too stubborn to give in, but in my heart of hearts I had already settled the matter between me and God, but human nature being as it is, I wasn't going to let you see you'd won. So don't worry about it, dear. I wouldn't be surprised if I got to heaven and found that we're both okay. It's still my hope. I'm entitled to hope right to the grave. I think I'm entitled to sit up in the casket just before they cover it and say, I still hope, and then go back down and let them cover me up. Back to the chairman.