In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of cosmic warfare between fallen angels. He mentions an encounter with an angel who reveals that there are battles with demons, specifically the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece. The speaker then connects this to the book of Revelation, where four powerful fallen angels are mentioned, possibly representing the four major world empires in history. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as he will ultimately be the judge of all.

We have been moving through the book of Revelation and we've learned something about how God is reclaiming ownership of the earth, taking it out of the hands of Satan and away from sinful man. And he does it with a threefold process. It's called seals, trumpets, and bowls. And if you understand that there is a sequential, telescopic, unfolding progression of these judgments, then you know where you are in the book of Revelation so that you don't have a trumpet flying out and going off here and a bowl going off here and a seal bursting here randomly. I used to think that that's what was going on. Oh my gosh, here comes another bowl, you know, and here comes another trumpet blast. Now I know that it's all sequential seals, trumpets, bowls. And when the final bowl, there's seven of each, when the final bowl judgment is done, it's all done and Jesus Christ comes back, judges the unbelievers and sets up his rule and reign for a thousand years here on earth. Where are we in the middle of all this? We are on trumpet judgment number six and I'd like to read it in verse 13. Then the six angels sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. I heard the number of them and thus I saw the horses in the vision. Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, Hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. And by these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire, the smoke and the brimstone, which came out of their mouths for their power is in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents having heads, but with them they do harm, big harm. They bring wide scale death, but the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, wood, which they can neither see here nor can walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. You know, reading over it, it occurs to me that if you haven't read over it before, this probably really sounds way out there. And I'm coming out of studying it for two weeks. And just reading it aloud helps me understand where your mind might be with it right now, because it's not mysterious to me at all anymore. I thank God I can say that I have along the way been stuck on certain points, but I'm not now. So I'm delighted to unfold this chapter tonight. There's three things that I see basically here in this passage, the demonic powers, the demonic horde and the demonic worship. It's all there. To begin with, let's look at the demonic powers. Verse 13. Then the sixth angel sounded and they heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, it released the four angels who are bound at the Great River Euphrates. Now, in verse 13, he says, I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. John is beholding all of this. He hears the voice that comes from this altar that is before him in heaven as he sees all of this. It's worth pointing out that this golden altar is the real thing in heaven that Moses was instructed by God to build on earth in the tabernacle with the children of Israel as a model of what was in heaven. So when Moses came off Mount Sinai with the instructions to build the tabernacle and he set up the surrounding fence and then the entrance where you went in, there was the altar of burnt offering and where they put the sacrifices of the animals and then the labor with the priests washed. And then beyond that, there was this little structure that shaped kind of like a rectangular box. Inside was the holy of holies. Now, inside was the holy place, sorry. And then just beyond the entrance was the holy of holies. And that was sealed off by the veil. So as you walked in, you'd see the table of showbread, you'd see the seven branch menorah and that lit up the holy place. And then right in front of you, if you were the high priest coming in would be the golden altar of incense and the incense would rise up before the veil and the holy of holies where the kind of glory of God was. Well, that altar was always a picture of God's mercy in communing with man. And the incense was a picture of man's worship and his prayers going up to God. And there was that grace of God and the mercy of God in fellowship with man. That's what it was a picture of. And really, it was a picture of the real altar in heaven where we see in early in revelation. Remember when John saw the the people that had come out of the tribulation died for their faith? They were under the altar. That was the golden altar here. And their prayers were going up to God. So what was in the tabernacle of Moses as a picture of prayers and fellowship with God we find in heaven with the real altar, the saints praying. And they said, how long, oh, Lord, are you going to wait to avenge our blood on those on the earth that have persecuted your people? God said, just take it easy for a little while. Enjoy heaven. And in the right time, I will do it. Well, now he's going to do it. And so this altar that has always represented the mercy and the love of God now becomes an altar of judgment because man has rejected repeatedly the mercy. Jesus Christ is the Lord of heaven. He is the Lord, your savior. Now, if you will believe on him in this life, if you refuse to, he will still be your lord because he's lord of all. You don't make him lord. He is lord. He will either be the lord, your savior or the lord, your judge, one or the other. Here he becomes the judge of all the earth. And so the voice comes from the four horns of the golden altar saying. To the sixth angel who had the trumpet released the four angels who are bound at the Great River Euphrates, the four angels who are bound. These are, in fact, fallen angels. They're demons. They are not holy angels. They can't be. They can't be because nowhere does the Bible speak of God binding holy angels. These are fallen angels. They are demons. God has no need to bind holy angels. We were taught by Jesus to pray in this manner. Our father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Why do we pray that way? Because in heaven, the angels always perfectly do the will of God. There's no reason to bind them, the holy angels. So then these are demons. The fact that they are bound indicates that the amazing thing to me is that we discover that the bottomless pit, which we studied last time, is not the only place on earth where God has demons bound. Think about that. The bottomless pit is not the only place on earth where God has demons bound. Now, we saw that opened in our last study and we saw the smoke come out, rising up and filling the sky, making it dark. And we saw all of these demons come out. Now, here is another place on earth where God has demons bound. They are kept for a reason away from all the other ones in the bottomless pit. The reason is unfolded before us in the text. These are very, very powerful angels. And notice, will you, that God's control over demonic forces is absolute. He has demons bound here, four of them. He has countless ones in the bottomless pit that are waiting for that day. And there are others free to roam around. Now, when you and I, I don't want to digress too far on this, but it's on my heart. When you and I pray to the Lord and ask him to deliver us from the devil, is he or is he not able to bind him? He has four bound at the river Euphrates that are mighty, and he has countless ones in the bottomless pit that are the worst demons we saw last time. Of all the demons, they sin in the days of Noah in a horrible way, and they've been chained up there ever since. So obviously, he's fully able to bind the devil whenever he wants to. Are you with me? So when I ask the Lord to bind Satan, if he sees it within his will, which is networked into the lives of all of his people, not just one, but networked around the world and the lives of all of his people, if he wants to bind the devil, he can bind him any second. If, for his lofty reasons, he doesn't, then he won't. And you and I cannot waltz in and speak forth any kind of words that are going to bypass God to bind Satan if God doesn't want to bind him. So that, you know, this whole thing of, I rebuke you, Satan, I bind you. I hear Christians pray like that all the time. I used to pray like that. I don't anymore. Because, you know what? God has not given me this autonomous power to bind the devil. If that's the case and if that's true, why doesn't one of you get really smart and permanently bind him for all the rest of us? I bind you, Satan. I always imagine the devil going, ha ha ha, I'm so scared. I just imagine the devil laughing when someone says, I bind you, Satan. You can, on the other hand, pray, Lord Jesus Christ. Please bind the devil if it's your will in this situation. You know what? Sometimes he will. Sometimes he won't. How about the Last Supper when Jesus said to Peter, Peter, I have some bad news for you. Bad news and good news. The bad news is Satan has asked for you. You can imagine Peter. Well, you told him no, didn't you? No, there's more bad news. I told him yes. Satan has asked for you that he might sift you as wheat. Oh, Lord, how could you? Hold it, Peter. But I have prayed for you and you're going to make it through. And when you do, I want you to strengthen the brethren. That's the good news. You will make it through and you will strengthen the brethren. So you see, at that point, Jesus let the devil at him. And then when he was done allowing Satan to do what he was going to do for his highest purpose, which was to test Peter and ultimately strengthen him, then Satan was bound from Peter's life. So we need to learn a lesson here that when God wants to, he does. And he's flawless at it. And when he doesn't want to, it's because he has a higher purpose. But ultimately and always know this. Satan and the demons, his demons are ultimately, in the biggest sense, God's servants, God's servants to accomplish his sovereign will. God's control over the demonic forces is complete. So we see the golden altar from whence comes the voice telling these the sixth angel to sound that the four angels that are demons might be released from their place at the Great River Euphrates. Now, I don't know about you, but I studied the Euphrates River in school growing up at different times. The Tigris and the Euphrates. Remember, we've all studied it. But this is a great river. This is the river in the Bible. It's fascinating to me that these four demons are bounded. The Great River Euphrates in verse 14. In the Bible, you find that the River Euphrates was the boundary of the promised land. In Deuteronomy one, seven, Moses makes mention of it in Joshua one for the boundaries for the land. As far as the Great River Euphrates, it's recorded there. This river rises from the sources near Mount Ararat in Turkey. And the Euphrates flows then more than seventeen hundred miles before emptying into the Persian Gulf. It is the longest, most important river in the Middle East, and it figures prominently, as I said, in the Old Testament. Listen to this. It was one of the four rivers into which the river flowed that went out of the Garden of Eden. Genesis to 14. So you find the River Euphrates all the way back in Genesis to 14 in the Bible. This is the river in the Bible. It was at the Euphrates sin began. It was at the Euphrates in the beginning, the first lie was told and the first murder was committed when Cain killed his brother Abel. This is the river in the Bible. This river, you may be interested to note, is the source of the many false religions we see in the world today. They began at this place. This is the place where God confounded the language of the human race at the Tower of Babel, the Tower of Babel. So the origin of the entire complex of false religions in the world today was here at the River Euphrates. This is the place in the Bible that is really the center of so much of the judgment you see in the Bible. This is the region right here near the River Euphrates that was the central location of the three world powers that were always used of God to judge Israel. You have Assyria, Babylon and the Medo-Persian Empire centered right here. So really, the two are a blend, making if you split the Medo-Persian becomes four. There's four angels here. It was on the banks of the River Euphrates that Israel spent 70 long, bitter, worrisome years in captivity. It is the river over which the enemies of God are going to cross when they come to the great battle at the place which is called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. These four demons then have a history here at the River Euphrates. They are bound at the great river Euphrates. They are called the four angels, the four angels. The definite article suggests that they form a specific group that have had a specific role in the past. It seems they had a specific role controlling the four major empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. If you look at the whole Bible in Daniel 10, hold your place here, let's turn to Daniel 10. A holy angel comes to Daniel in answer to his prayers and he gives us some insight on the warfare between holy angels and demons that actually influence individual nations. We cannot see these demons, but they are fighting in a cosmic warfare and their battles influence nations. Daniel 10, 13, Daniel's been praying and waiting. And finally, this angel shows up. That would be worth the wait, wouldn't it? You wait a few weeks and all the Lord doesn't answer personally. An angel shows up and Daniel 10, 13. This angel shows up and he begins to explain. I'm really sorry I'm late, Daniel, but let me tell you what was going on. And by telling him he lets us in on this cosmic warfare that we know nothing about. And bear in mind, as the angel talks to him, he's talking angel language to Daniel. So the language he uses is anthropomorphic in the sense that it has to do with man and nations and all of that. But this angel lives in another realm than we do. So he says, I was coming to you, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia, that would be a powerful demon who worked and influenced the kingdom of Persia, withstood me 21 days. And behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me. Do you know who that is? That's Michael, the archangel. So this angel is dispatched to give Daniel an answer immediately when he prays. He's on his way and he gets stopped by this powerful demon who is there working around the kingdom of Persia, who withstands him 21 days. And he would have probably kept him there for a long time. But Michael came and helped him. As soon as Michael got there, he was free to go on his way because Michael is one of the most powerful of all the angels. For I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia, except Michael came to help me. Then verse 20, look down at verse 20. Then he said to me, you know why I have come to you and now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I have gone forth, indeed, the prince of Greece will come. That's angel speak, angel talk. Daniel, it's been great. Hope you have a fantastic life. I've got to go now. There's going to be some battles with some demons, the prince of Persia. I got to go back and then on to the prince of Greece. Got to go. I'll see you. So that's an encounter with an angel that lets us in on this other world where there's this cosmic warfare that goes on between these fallen angels that are so powerful. Here we come back to Revelation. Here we come to the river Euphrates and we find here in Revelation that there are these four powerful fallen angels, demons that are probably the ones that controlled the four major world empires in the past. Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. And if you look at it, that makes a lot of sense because don't forget, these four are isolated over here at the Euphrates. And then the mass of these other demons are kept in the bottomless pit. Why are they separated? Well, I think the answer is forthcoming, because if they ever got together, they would kill at least one third of the human race because that's what they're going to do when they get together right here. So we see the demonic powers. Let's go to the demon horde. Verse 15, down through 19. You remember last time that death took a vacation, a holiday, and for five months men could not die so that now death returns to Earth as these angels are sent to kill. These demons are sent to kill one third of mankind. Verse 15. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill one third of mankind. Rapidly, as we move through the book of Revelation, by this time, rapidly, mankind is being killed off. Think about it. Back in Revelation 6, 8, power was given over to them over a fourth of the Earth to kill with sword, hunger and with death and by beasts of the Earth. That was Revelation 6, 8. So a fourth of mankind was killed back there. Now a third of mankind will be killed. So if you add up a fourth and a third of the human population that was alive before the tribulation began in just over three and a half years and going on into the time period where however long it takes for these demons to kill a third of the human race, a fourth plus a third is over half of the human race. Think of it has died in just a little over three and a half years. That is to say, then, that those are killed by the plagues and by these angels. But then there are others that were killed by earthquakes and all these other things that have happening along the way. So you're well past the halfway mark of the human race being dead. Are you with me? So here comes this judgment from God, and it's going to kill a third of the human beings that are Christ rejectors. Those that are Christ rejectors are killed by this, not those who believe they will be killed by the Antichrist and only those with the mark of the Lord on them. The hundred forty four thousand Jews and others will stay alive to go into the thousand year reign of Christ. So these are Christ rejectors. Probably around a billion people will die. Think of the problem of just disposing of the bodies. One billion people burning the bodies or burying the bodies. Think of this. There's all kinds of trouble with the atmosphere and we know it's going to get very hot. Think of the stent of the bodies. So life, as we know it, is going to change radically, not to mention the effort of man to bury these people. So death returns to the earth as they are sent to kill a third of mankind. How does this death actually come? It comes by an army of two hundred million that are led by these four demons. Look at verse 16. Now, the number of the army of the horsemen was what does it say? Two hundred million. And John, as if to record the fact that he actually knows this is exact as I heard it from the same voice. So this is I would say this is exact. This is a real two hundred million. This army. Verse 17, I saw the horses in the vision. Those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, high blue, sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions. And out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone burning sulfur. By these three plagues, verse 18, a third of mankind was killed. Fire, smoke, brimstone, which came out of their mouths for the power is in their mouth and in their tails for their tails are like serpents having heads which do them harm. Now, the question arises. Here's the number of the army. Verse 16, two hundred million. Question arises, who is this army? In the early 70s, China let it be known to the world that they had a standing army of two hundred million. And at that time, all the prophecy teachers heard that, looked at this in Revelation and said, there's our two hundred million. So as they would teach through the Book of Revelation, it was at that time always. This is the army. It's red China. Look, it's being fulfilled in our very day. But is this red China's army at that time or China's of today? They would take that statistic from the news and join it with this verse here and in verse 16 of chapter nine and also with Revelation 16, 12. And that's how they would come up with that interpretation where we read of the kings of the east. Can you turn in your Bible? Just hold your place. Turn to Revelation 16, 12. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the Great River Euphrates and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. One of the reasons people are drawn here is because the Euphrates is again mentioned. You have an angel here, sixth angel. But now that we know there is a sequential telescopic manner in which God is judging the earth, we know that a seal is a seal and a trumpet is a trumpet and a bowl is a bowl. And they are all at different time periods. So read Revelation 16, 12. Then the sixth angel poured out his what does it say? Bowl. This is then a bowl judgment. This is not a trumpet judgment. We're studying in chapter nine, a trumpet judgment, sixth trumpet to be exact. And though this is at the Great River Euphrates, this is a bowl judgment. That means it is a different time. This battle will definitely involve men. Look down at verse 16 of Revelation 16 says, and he gathered them together in a place into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Well, here's the deal. This is a bowl judgment. It comes then for sure after the seven seventh trumpet judgment, which opens its way to the bowls so that this is after where we are in chapter nine with the four angels. This is a bowl judgment, a different judgment, a different time, a different battle. And this then is a different army, a different army. So this is a different army. Then who is the army back in chapter nine? See, those that want to make the army of 200 million back in chapter nine men from China. Have a real problem because they have to sweep through the earth to kill a third of mankind. If these are men from China and they're on horses, they're going to have a real problem riding horseback around the globe to kill a third of mankind. They are all armed in the same exact way. How is you going to pull that off? 200 million men on horseback galloping around the earth. It's sorry. It's not even possible. So go back to chapter nine. Who is this army in chapter nine? Then this is work is really creepy. If it wasn't already, it seems like this is an army of 200 million demons. It is best to stick to the context of the chapter. And the language of the bottomless pit, as we found it in the beginning of the chapter. And thus, verse 17, I saw the horses in the vision and those who sat on them. Had breastplates of fiery red, high and blue, so for yellow, the heads of the horses were like the heads of lion and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. And by these plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone that came out of their mouths. That is, in keeping with the language earlier in the chapter that went before this, when the bottomless pit was open and there was smoke and burning and demons. So death returns to the earth as they are sent to kill a third of mankind. Death comes by an army of 200 million, led by these four demons. And that army is made up of 200 million demons. Most likely, many of them are from the bottomless pit itself. Death comes then to the human race by this hellish army of demons. Verse 16. Now, the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. I heard the number of them. Now the writers hellish colors are described, and this takes you further into the right interpretation. The colors of the writers are the colors of hell. If you read through Revelation, when hell is described and there's smoke and burning, these are the colors that are used. So verse 17, fiery red, Hyacinth blue. So for yellow, these are the colors of hell. The color of fire is red. OK, the color of fire is red. Hyacinth is described here. Hyacinth blue. What is that? It is a dark navy blue or black like smoke. Brimstone is here and it's burning. It is a sulfurous yellow burning flame that comes from the rock. When it's ignited, it produces a flame and a gas. And these are the colors of hell. As I said, if you look at Chapter 14, 19, 20, 21, they all line up. It's the same. Paints a terrifying picture of God's wrath poured out on the sinful world by these demons. These colors, by the way, are very reminiscent of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19, verse 24 through 28. You can compare that later. So the writers colors are hellish and they're described. And then the horses are described here. They're hellish powers. He says, I saw the horses in the vision. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. So the horse understand in Revelation, the horse is associated with the force of war. The lion, even in a time of John's writing, was associated with fiercely, relentlessly stalking and slaughtering victims as a lion does the serpent associated with deadly venom. And these in this army are going forth to kill. And so you have the tail and the horses in the next verse like serpents. This is figurative language here. So understand this. Just pay attention for a minute here in a different way than you already were. This is figurative language describing something that is real. Figurative language describing something that is real. So that bear in mind, demons come out of the bottomless pit. They're spiritual beings. They're giving given some kind of a shape and a form to do the judgment they're going to do. John sees that. But these are supernatural creatures. He's a man on Earth writing this down. He's trying to describe the best he can. What he sees is supernatural in mundane human language. He's forced to use anthropomorphic terms. You all know the word anthropomorphic, right? He's forced to use, as you know, anthropomorphic terms and anthropomorphism. You're very familiar with this. I'm sure you discussed it this morning. It's cereal and anthropomorphic term is trying to convey in human language that which is supernatural. So you have to bring it down from the supernatural to the human anthropomorphic. And that's what you find here. So this is symbolic language describing something that is absolutely real. This plague then kills a third of mankind. Verse 18 and 19. The power is in their mouth and their tails. Their tails are like serpents having heads and with them they do harm. If you compare simply the fire that goes out of the mouth of the horse with the breastplate and the description of the rider, really, it's all one. It is the force of war coming with the force of hell, as we call Satan and his demons. And they come to kill and they do it with fire that burns people to death. Smoke that suffocates people to death. More people die in huge fire by suffocating from smoke than getting burned usually. And then the third plague is a burning sulfuric gas that will gas people and poison them. So burning to death, suffocating and being poisoned with gas. So that is very real, very demonic. It is the demonic horde that makes up this huge army. And then we come to the demonic worship, which is the last thing you would expect at this point in time, people would be repenting everywhere. The sad and tragic thing is that they don't. They do not repent. Verse 20. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands that they should not worship. Notice worship demons, worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, wood, which can neither see nor walk. So they're not going to repent those that live through this. And they won't repent, even though the gods that they worship cannot see, hear or walk. The works of their hands are the little idols they make out of gold, silver, stone, wood, et cetera. But the thing that is alarming to me is that they worship demons. They worship demons. You see, at this point in time, men on Earth know we learn this from the end of chapter six, men on Earth know that this wrath is coming from the Lamb of God. They confess that when they were hiding in the caves, asking the rocks to fall on them. So they know Christ is real at this point in time. They also know Satan is real. Satan, we are told in the New Testament. When he's deceiving people, appears as an angel of what? Well, that whole thing is over now because everybody knows who Christ is and everybody knows who Satan is and they are worshiping demons and they won't stop worshiping the demons, even though they're being judged by holy, righteous God. Pretty heavy, huh? You know, that says to me to mess with the devil now can be eternally dangerous. To refuse to come to Jesus Christ because you like your sin. It can be eternally dangerous because we're told in the Bible that in First Corinthians 1020, the things Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. First Corinthians 1020. He's saying that when you have an idol and you sacrifice to it, the idol is nothing. But there is a demon behind it. There's demons behind it. And that's why people in the occult, in false religions and so on have an experience. They may have an idol and we might look at it and go, that's so stupid. It's just an idol. It's like the temple of a thousand Buddhas in Japan. You go in there and you see all these statues and you go, this is ridiculous. Who could worship all of this? It isn't the thousand statues. It's the demons behind the statues that impersonate the God you imagine they're worshiping that make it all so deadly and dangerous. And what happens is through sin, as you worship any God, but the true and living God in Jesus Christ, you get roped into fellowship as Paul called it with demons. And you may find that time comes when you can't get loose because here are men. One third of the human race will be killed and they still won't repent of worshiping their demons. So much in our world today is blatantly, openly, outwardly connected with Satan. And people get their pleasures in these ways and they don't even care. They think it's cool. They don't realize they're dabbling with the darkness in such a way they may never be able to get free from it. The time will come, it's right here in the Bible, when men will refuse to stop worshiping demons, worshiping Satan, Satan worship. And they will have been lured in through the seduction of Satan that made it look so good up front, but it's never good in the end. And so they will not repent. And because they won't repent, they will be stuck in the sins that come with having a link to the devil. What are the sins right here? They did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immoralities and their theft. Sounds like a typical life out there without Jesus Christ. Sounds like the evening news. And one thing that is fascinating, I want to point out before we finish here in verse 21, is that they did not repent of their murders or of their sorceries or sexual immorality or theft. Sorcery is right in the middle there. You know, the Greek word is in the original language. This comes across to us as sorceries. It is from a kiosk, from a kiosk, from pharmakon, also found in other places. Pharmakia in the Greek and revelation comes across to us in the English word pharmacist. Drugs, they did not repent literally, you could say of you could translate it and it would be true. Good translation. They did not repent of their drugging's, their drugging's. If ever there's been a time in history where man is globally into drugs, it's now. It's now it's wide scale, it's global, it's mega bucks, mega bucks. Wars are started over opium wars, heroin traffic. And now man has gotten so clever that he's invented prescription drugs that in some ways are even stronger than heroin. Oxycodone in the time release capsules. If you crush those capsules, I'm not telling you how to do this, but if you crush the capsules, the oxycodone is in there in time release, in a time release makeup of the chemicals, so that it's released over a period of time through your body, about 12 hours. Oxycontin, oxycodone is the drug inside. It's more powerful than hydrocodone, which is in Vicodin. You find oxycodone in Percocet, Percodin and Tylox, if it's the strong form. People are taking those now, breaking them open and extracting the drug that's in there. The drug that is in there in its raw form is twice as powerful as heroin. Now, most of us would not consider going out tonight, going downtown to the city and scoring some heroin on the street, going in a back alley or a room and cooking it up, tying off our arm with a tourniquet and jamming a needle in there and shooting heroin. But some of us might consider having a little oxycontin and, you know, my tooth hurts. Doctor gave it to me. You know what? Under doctor supervision, if it's once or twice or, you know, for a few days, that's one thing which you have to be very, very careful because now there are prescription drugs that are more powerful than heroin and people all over the world are addicted to them and people all over our country are dying of overdoses from them and children are being robbed of their parents and parents are being robbed of their children and marriages break up over this kind of drug addiction. They are white collar junkies, basically hillbilly junkies. There's all kinds of names for this. You can buy these drugs on the street with marijuana, everything else, crack. You can go get it right now and just about any street in America. And people are buying it that way and they're taking it that way. Housewives going to look at an open house to buy a home nowadays go into open houses on purpose to go straight to the bathroom. When a real estate agent is there with a house open to show the house, they go straight to the bathroom, to the medicine cabinet and they find this stuff. People addicted to it. They grab it. Oh, thank you very much. Really like the house. I might think about it. They leave and they have this new stash of this stuff and that's going on all over the country. And I'm not giving this to you to have ideas, but this I'm not. I'm serious. I want to let you know that it's happening because. Worldwide addiction to drugs, they did not repent of their druggings. Attendant to that is always theft. Always immorality and always murder. That's what goes hand in glove with it. These are the things the devil has always used. Always. Be very careful, because I said to you, be very careful about having any kind of association with the devil. You think, well, I would never do that. Well, now you know that you might have a way that he could lure you in. Most people do not wake up in the morning saying this is the day I will begin my journey to become a drug addict. They don't. But it happens. And I would encourage you to study up on it. There's a book you can read. It's called Opium by Martin Booth, most well researched book I have ever read on the subject of opium and its history in the world and the way it has been involved in the shaping of the world. It will literally blow your mind. And it's really good to have as a background, a backdrop to understand the sorcery of the world today. Drugs. You know, the beautiful clipper ships you see in pictures when you go into a restaurant. Oh, my. Look at that beautiful, elegant clipper ship designed to smuggle opium in and out of China in the old days. And I could go on and on. You would be amazed. But you know something? If we walk in the spirit. As he is in the spirit. Then the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. The Holy Spirit has come to testify to us of Jesus. He said, I will give you my spirit. He would testify of me. If we walk in the spirit, we're led of the spirit. We study the word. We read these things and we take them to prayer. The spirit will lead us away from these things naturally. Even when you're standing there and you're alone and you're faced with some decision, yes or no, he will be there to tell you and you will know it's God. So you don't have to know everything to stay free. You just need to know him. Lord, thank you for all of the light that you have given us here this day. Thank you, Lord, that you love us so much. You have given us your word that has the answers to what we need in life and what we need to die by and live forever in heaven by. Lord, work your saving work in every heart we pray here this day. Strengthen, Father, your people as they've listened to your word. And now may they listen to you and may you lead them, Lord, and guide them. Guide us all, Father, in the paths of righteousness for your name's sake. And we will give you all the glory as we enjoy that tremendous relationship with you and find that in Christ we are set free to say no to the devil and yes to Jesus. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.