In this sermon, the preacher discusses various topics related to sin, violence, and the warning signs from God. He mentions the story of Noah and the flood, emphasizing the importance of heeding God's warnings. The preacher also talks about the moral decline in society, particularly regarding divorce and broken families. He highlights the lack of respect and decency among children in today's world. Overall, the sermon emphasizes the need for repentance and turning to God in order to avoid the consequences of sin.

I want to say a word of thanks to the pastors in here and to the staff who are here for this privilege this week. It's been a very refreshing week for me. I can't remember when I worked with a group more compatible than this group. Kind, Christian, considerate gentlemen. And we ask you to pray for us as we go on our way. We certainly will remember to pray for you. Sometimes when I go to a place, they say, we're glad to see you're back. You don't often see, they're glad to see my face. We'll be glad to see your back. But again, we should remember to pray for you and I'm sure you will pray for us. I want to read some verses now from the 17th chapter in the gospel as recorded by Luke. I am reading from verse 20. Luke chapter 17, reading from verse 20. And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come. He answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Neither shall they say, lo here or lo there, for behold the kingdom of God is within you. He said unto the disciples, the days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and ye shall not see it. They shall say to you, see here or see there. Go not after them nor follow them. For as the lightning that lightneth out of the one part of heaven shineth unto the other part of heaven, so shall also the Son of Man be in his day. But first must ye suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day he which shall be upon the house doth, and is stuck in the house, let him not come down and take it away. He that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. The text is just a free, very simple, and yet to me very provoking word, remember Lot's wife. The disciples were watching Jesus disappear. For the second time in less than fifty days they were losing him. He taught them to pray, thy kingdom come. And there wasn't a sign of it. He finished the first part of his ministry in a circus act. They put a faded torn robe of a heathen king on him. They put a reed in his hand and they put a crown of thorns on his head and they pushed him around. Pilate to Herod, Herod to Pilate, Caiaphas handled him, everybody handled him. And he who said, pray thy kingdom come, ended on a scaffold. Very difficult for you and I to appreciate this. They'd invested all they had on him. They'd given up fishing businesses. One of them gave up a career as a government official. And it all ended in apparent failure. And then suddenly he appeared to them and now again he's disappearing. He's literally going up in the sky. They're watching him go. They didn't believe him the first time. He said, if I die I'll rise again. I have power to lay down my life. I have power to take it up. But they forgot it. And apparently they were going to forget this. They'd forgotten again what he said because Jesus said, if I go I will come again. And as he went up, reversing the law of gravity because he had power, they heard a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son. They heard the voice of the angels saying, this same Jesus shall also come in like manner as you're seeing him go now. So there is the voice of Jesus, I will come again. There is the voice of the angels, he will come again. And then the great apostle Paul said that Jesus would come. And so we have this threefold certainty. You know tomorrow something like, I think 50 million letters will be crossing America. Mine are always late. But they'll be crossing America, about 50 million. And every one of them bears the mark of the birth of Jesus Christ. He came once and not many people anticipated his coming and he's coming again. But the two comings are very different. The first time he came nobody saw him jump. The next time every eye shall see him. The first time he was escorted with a mere handful of angels. The next time he's coming with 10,000 of his saints. The first time he came, he came to poverty. The next time he's coming to pageantry. The first time he came, he came to misery. A house with wall to wall dung and cobwebs for curtains. And animal urine smearing all over the place. And only the heat of the animals to heat the building. The first time he came to misery, the next time he's coming to majesty. The first time he came as a lion, he was led as a lion. But not next time. The next time he's not coming as a lion, he's coming as a lion of the tribe of Judah. The first time he came, they put on his head a crown of thorns. We've sung that majestic hymn of Bridget twice this week. We could have sung it tonight. I love it. I never get tired of it. Crown him with many crowns. The lamb upon his throne. The first time he came, he came as the king of the Jews. The next time he's coming as the king of kings and the lord of lords. The first time he came, he never traveled out of that tiny little country that we call Palestine. The next time he comes, he's coming in the language again of Isaac Roth, that Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run. The first time he came, he came to die. The next time, he's going to raise the dead. The first time he came, he came to redeem us. The next time he comes, he's going to reign over us. It was Charles Wesley who taught us to sing the hymn, Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild. And I think we've overdone it a bit. Jesus wasn't always gentle, he wasn't always meek, he wasn't always mild. One day he turned to the Pharisees and he said in the morning, it will be foul weather, you say, and then it will be foul weather today because the sky is red. In the evening he said it will be fair weather, the sky is red. All you damn hypocrites, he says, can you see, can you read the sky and not read the time of the times? I think he'd say that very same thing if he came back to us. Sometimes I think the only thing that we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. That's the most pathetic condemnation of humankind. We do not learn from history. I'm getting quite old. This week I had a birthday. I was thinking tonight I was in a house a few years ago and it was my birthday, I was 46. The man in the house said, well anybody in this house gets a dollar for every year of birthday. And so he gave me a packet with 46 dollars in it. I thought I might have got a hundred like that this week, I didn't get one. But anyhow, I'm old enough to remember World War I, before it and after it. I'm old enough to remember that that majestic catastrophe ended at 11 o'clock in the morning on the 11th day of the 11th month, 11 months from the signing of the Armistice with Turkey and 11 months from the time of Al-Ambient with Jerusalem. Do you think that God was trying to tell the human race in 1938 that we were entering into the last hour of human destiny? A sequence of 5-11s again. The war terminated at 11 o'clock in the morning on the 11th day of the 11th month, 11 months from the signing of the Armistice with Turkey, 11 months from when Al-Ambient had entered Jerusalem. People say to me often, as I guess they do to other men, well, we're not living in the last day. Don't you realize that this book, the church was born in the last day. The book of the Revelation speaks about things which will shortly come to pass and they were written 2,000 years ago. The book of Hebrews we've studied to some degree this week. It begins, God was... An event in history that didn't matter too much to us was the war in 1967. One of the signs of the end of the age is when you see Jerusalem surrounded with armies. 1967, less than 3 million Jews fought more than 30 million Arabs. And the Jews licked the Arabs. Somebody asked the chief rabbi how it was that they accomplished one such thing in history in 6 days. The devout old rabbi... What does it say? They shall fall by the edge of the sword. 21, verse 24 of Luke. You don't need to look at it. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And the Jews, pardon me, the Gentiles have been treading down Jerusalem since Medjugorje 2,500 years ago. Moshe Dayan is certainly not a devout Jew. He rather makes fun of religion. He's only got one eye, but he seems to see quite a bit. And he walked up to the wailing wall, those last stones, the remnants of Herod's temple, and put his finger on one of those stones and said, This is the hour of the Jews. This is the Holy of Holies. This is where the seraphs were. This is the most sacred place on earth to the Jews. We've got it and we'll never surrender. I believe that began the countdown for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you see Jerusalem trodden down of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles, and when it's released, that sets the alarm clock for the end of the age. And it started in... There were as many anguished to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, theologically, prophetically, as there are spokes in a wheel. And wouldn't you never cover them a night like this? You could spend a whole night about the Antichrist. You could spend a whole night concerning the Jews. Maybe the most dramatic race of people. Remember again, and I remind you of this, that God was married to the Jews, and He divorced the Jews, and He's going to remarry the Jews. Now I believe, and I think my dear friend David, I know this fact. There are some frightening days ahead of us. What is prophesied in the 12th chapter of Hebrews there, that there is coming a period in human history, when everything, economically, socially, religiously... I said at the Southern Baptist Convention, I got there once, I'm sure the only time I ever will, but somebody has to shake the dry bone. And I said, if I gave you a paper and pencil, and asked you to sign on that paper, paper what or who you think is the greatest enemy to America. Start with the devils, finish with the Democrats, and in between have divorce and drink and dope, and I don't know what. And you admit it entirely. Because I'm convinced tonight, that all the presidents from when I finished preaching, I'd answer to God with a clear conscience, that I believe the greatest threat... I remind you, He divorced the Jews, He's left them alone for 2000 years, five times in the history of the world, have almost been annihilated. And God would let them be kicked around like a football, they'd be imprisoned and ostracized, and penalized and victimized. And God looks on and doesn't bother. You see, one day they took the son of God to the cross, and as he went there, he said, please just let me say one thing to you, you're not stealing my life, I have power. And I want to tell you something, you're not rejecting me, I'm rejecting you. Your house is left empty and desolate. 2000 years, God hasn't bothered with the Jews. They may hold on money by industry, they control banks, they can... God makes you think that almighty God, the holy being in eternity, is determined on American scripture, almost in the book of the Revelation, it's a terrible book. Takes you to the edge of the hell, it also says this concerning the church, if you go... one of the most brilliant and modern... in his book... we break God's... state out there, I forget the name for a moment, as legalized prostitution. We're more juggernauts, we're more perverts, we're more divorces, we're more illegitimate children, we're more kids with VD, under 16 years of age in any country in the world. I've lived in some of the subculture of New York, and I walked it at midnight, I walked it at midday. Been there in the mayor's special research into drug addiction and who controls it in America. And yet when you've done, when you've told me that America has reached the bottom of the pile, when you've told me of the threat of communist power, and Dreesnet is laughing on his train going home tonight. He's got everything, and there's never been more tricks, but he managed to pull another one. They still owe America 1.5 billion dollars from the last war, but he said, I want 400 million of credit, we'll pay you in about 30 years. And he got the finest terms, and he sold us some gas. But I noticed the other day, Senator Jackson said, we buy this, whatever it is, a hundred cubic feet safe around here, we buy it for 70 cents, and they're going to generously sell it from Russia at two dollars to us. The grain bins across the nation are empty tonight according to HHMPY, that's why you pay so much for your state, we get an auto, we've no meat, we're at the bottom of the pile, we've no morality. And then you've told me the worst, and then you've chanted the last bomb that Russia has, and the last bomb accumulates its threats. And that is a sick church, in a dying world. I read you this scripture from the 17th chapter of Luke, briefly. Jesus has in front of him his disciples, and immediately behind them are the Pharisees, and under pressure from these men, they're asking, what should be the time of thy coming and the end of the age? And Jesus says certain things, and then with three words, he throws our minds back 3,000 years to three people. Because if you remember Lot's wife, you must remember Lot. If you remember Lot, you must remember Abraham. The story begins in the 11th chapter of Genesis, it goes right through to the 19th chapter of Genesis. In the language of Charles Dickens, it's a tale of two cities. It's a study in two attitudes. It's a man who refused to be mesmerized by his enemies. It's a little fellow that started off in Ur of the Chaldees, and he was nameless, and homeless, and wifeless, and childless, positionless, possessionless, and he got on the Gideon spiral, you know, he ended nameless, strange, but concerning them, were she witches? All women are witches. I mean, well, sure, they are. You say, what about men? If you knew some of the schemes to rot and destroy the youth of America, did not, if you knew the, evil men are waxing worse and worse. What about women? Oh, well, they've been getting worse. They've been getting worse ever since Adam's rigged the women's lids. But that didn't look right. Oh yes, they're getting worse. Their situation's getting worse. Why remember Lot's wife? Well, she wasn't more wicked than anyone else. If Jesus wanted, he could have chosen some other wife, wife of, maybe, Samson, maybe the wife of Ahab, Jezebel. He isn't choosing someone who's exceptionally wicked. He's choosing somebody, in the language of the word of God, that he, or she, who is often reproved, and hardened her neck, would cut off suddenly without remedy. Where did he get his wife? I don't know. Would you like to suggest he got his wife in Ur of the Chaldees? All right, I'll accept that. If he got his wife in Ur of the Chaldees, she was a member of the world's first missionary party, because Abraham was the first missionary in history. And even though she lived against this colossal spiritual figure, and was a member of the world's first missionary party, she perished. Maybe he didn't get his wife in Ur of the Chaldees. Maybe, like so many men in the Old Testament, he got his wife by the side of a well. And I can see him rushing in one day and saying to his uncle, I want to carry one. And he said, you told me. Told you what? You've fallen in love. I've seen men like you before. You're just falling in love. That's all there is to it. Oh, but you've never seen a woman like this. Oh, Uncle Abraham. In fact, she's such a vision. I'm just not sure that she's an angel or a woman. Well, there's one thing for sure. No man goes looking for a witch. He may get one, but boy, he didn't go looking for one. She's so beautiful. And I can hear the old man saying, wait a minute, do you remember where she comes from? Remember this. She's one of the lesser breeds without the law. She's heathen as we would say. This thing won't work. Dirty. Love is not only blind, it's deaf. It doesn't take any heed. And the story goes on. It tells how the men prospered. The hand of God is on them. And one day Abraham calls his nephew Lot and he says, Lot, look, I want to talk to you a minute. I was looking from the hilltop there and your herdsmen were striding with my herdsmen about a piece of territory. Now this isn't Christian, as we would say. Why don't we settle this then? If you want to take that side of the valley, I'll take this. And if you'll take that, I'll take that. And he says, oh, Uncle Abraham. You see, there was one thing. And the young saw Egypt and its flesh parts and its prosperity and its gilts and its gold and its glitter. Grass there, and not only this side of the valley. And he pitched his tent towards Sodom. Oh, he got his eye on the main tent. Yes, I'll take that side of the valley. And Uncle Abraham says, well, that's all right. You see, if he'd been a gentleman, he would have said, Uncle Abraham, you're the older person and you should make your choice. It's not my privilege. I would still be a nerd of the Chaldeans, but for your kindness, you choose that side, if you want. Abraham sets off to go away and the Lord said, and I like the way the Lord talks to him. He said, Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, go back and stand on that rock you're at. Look north, south, east, west, all. A-L-L. All the land that thou seest, I'll give it to thee. But my nephew has just taken all this territory. No, no, no, he hasn't. He's just borrowed it. I'm going to give you the whole. And Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. He did his banking and his business there. He got involved. He became very important there. And they came and invaded the city. Somebody ran after this wonderful man, or ran up the hill and said, Abraham, they've taken your nephew Lot. He used to praise David. He used to say, this morning old Abraham might have said, let him stew in his own juice. I've been warning him a long time. And he doesn't do it. Instead of that, Uncle Abraham took over two hundred servants. He was a rich man. And he went and rescued Lot out of the hand of his enemies. And as Abraham and Lot were coming down the road, and immediately Abraham saw him. He bowed his feet and he worshipped him. The young man didn't. He was in a hurry. Thanks, Uncle Abraham. No, Abraham worshipped in the upper time. A true party leader. He went back to business. Recovered some of his losses. But he didn't merely go and teach his friends to waltz Sodom. He went and lived in Sodom. And as bad as it was that he went and lived in Sodom, the trouble was Sodom got into him. Abraham was on the mountain communing with God. This man is getting more and more involved, extending his territory, deepening his investment, feeling more success and security. Two daughters were born to him. And he married them off to Sodomites. He changed the word to Sodomy. It's a dirty word and he tried to make it a bit smoother with homosexuality. England has legalized the damnable thing. And America is pushing to legalize it. And I've got news for you teenagers. You'd better live very near to God because there are days just up the road and I expect to see them anyhow that are going to be the most terrible days in history. Because you don't legalize abortion. You don't take living babies out of living women. And what do you do with a living baby? Mind your own business the government says. If somebody buys them for dog meat, do you wonder your dog licks his lips? You say men wouldn't be as bad as that. If they take living babies out of living women they're bad enough to do anything. And we're a Christian country we're not a communist country. Nevada has legalized prostitution. You don't break God's laws. God watches the divorce courts of America and England every day and marriages are broken and kids are tossed around I think there's about 20 million battered between fathers and mothers that are restless. What do you expect to inherit in the next generation? You see, it would treat your heart out. Kids in America don't care a hell of a thing. Those kids maybe don't know how well they care. They laugh at the preachers, toss, nudge each other. I'll tell you one thing going around the world you'll never find heathen children that are rude. They may not be educated like you are some could hardly say they're ABC but they sit open mouths when you tell them a gospel. It runs in your ears now to some of you kids and you'll land in hell unless you repent anyhow. He not only picked his tent towards Sodom he went and lived in Sodom. He married his children off to Saronites. And do you know one reason that God blessed this amazing man Abraham? You'd hardly guess. Because of his size in office. No, no, no. God said this Abraham he knows how to take care of his children. Do you know how to take care of yours? Back in the church a few years ago on the west coast and after the morning service a man came up to the front with his phone and I was standing here and I looked straight in his eyes. He was a huge man with a big, big phone. I think yes. He had a wonderful mood that week. They had to take petitions down in the church. God filled the place. People were wonderful this day. At the end of the week the man came again and he said Sunday night I want to thank you for this week. It's been very wonderful. And I said well fine. By the way I haven't seen your son around. He's been very busy this week. Very busy. He's a very gifted boy. He can pilot our family plane. You should see him handle our speed boat. We were on vacation and he managed the whole business. He's a great boy. Straight A student. All the girls like him. He's the best boy in the high school there. Everybody likes him. But I said he hasn't been to church one night. No no no he's very busy. I said why didn't you make him come to church. Make him come to church. Well I said what did he weigh about 200 pounds big boy like that. I suppose when he's 19 I didn't know he was still in school. I said 19 he's only 40. Why didn't you make him come to church. Make him. You know what he weighs. I said he's got a man's body and a boy's brain and a boy's emotions and a boy's soul. Why didn't you make him come to church. Oh I don't put my ideas on him. Did he go to school. I just told you he's a straight A student. He's a wonderful boy. You mean to say you don't have a single problem with that boy. Well he said we do have them. You'd be amazed what it is. You know he can't get up in the morning. You can't get him out of bed. As we were frantic about an athlete. Big muscular boy and he can't get out of bed in the morning. As a matter of fact the other morning I couldn't get him out. I took a wet sponge and rubbed it on his face. Boy you're pure. He said yesterday morning he wouldn't get out. I got all over the bed and I kicked the bed and flopped him on the floor. What a pure father. What do you want me to do? I said you don't believe in pushing your ideas on him you're saying. Why make him go to school? You should go to his room in the morning and say John excuse me but I'm going to do this and I know you don't want to go to school and it's all right my dear boy I just wonder how you feel when you go to I don't want to go to I don't want to I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't go to school. I don't want to I don't want to go to school. don't I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. don't want to go to I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to school. don't go to school. I don't want to school. I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to school. don't want to go to I don't want to go to school. I don't want to go to I don't want to go to I want to school. I don't want to go to school. go to preach false religion. You can't push it on to the boys in naval academies or naval reserves, but you can teach them transcendental religion and some of the mystic stuff of the East, which is deadly. They're very proud of scientific achievement. But, you know, I rubbed up against the text that rather upset me. The evil is symbolic of America. We're the only nation in the world to put anybody on the moon. Put to void, but over die, was my thinking. Let me remind you, Sodom and Gomorrah perished. God got angry. He pulled the switch, if you like, and he burned them up. As my book says, Sodom had no Bible. Sodom had no church. Sodom had no preaching. Sodom had no gospel broadcast. America has more gospel broadcasts in one day than Europe has in six months. We have more Bible schools in one state than the whole of Europe. We're the most privileged nation under heaven. And yet, alas, we've more iniquity. God got angry. What did he do? Well, he had a few friends around. And you know what? He still has a few friends around. He said, you're rough on America. I'm only telling you the truth. If I'm not spit it out, reject it. America has given the earth to everyone. But then when you've said that, let me back up eight years of age. Eight years. He's one of the super millionaires. He's the poor guy. God has some friends. That man is a friend of God. He was praying a while ago. God told this man, in the next hour, a billion people are going to be saved. He's going to pour out the works of darkness. And God is looking for candidates. God has always had friends. He's up here. He's living here. Are you listening to God? God said, I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. I've only got one friend on earth. That's that little old man up there. You think that when God... He didn't go to war. Well, they deserve it, Lord. You know, God didn't destroy. If he hadn't have destroyed them, they would have destroyed I'm saying to this world, something good is not going to happen. No, he didn't go down to the mare. He didn't look again down the street one day with a friend, and he said, I don't know what's going on. Didn't you hear that little thing down there chirping? Chirping? You can hear anything in the traffic of London. Oh, there's a little thing to say. He got a bit further down the street. The business man said, did you hear that? He said, no, I didn't hear a thing. He said, somebody just... Depends what your ear's tuned into. Mrs. Love says to her husband, you know, dear, I think it would be nice if you went to see... You'd still be in Ur of the Chaldees. You'd still be a cowboy. You wouldn't have anything. She says, wait till I get on my... Abraham lived on the mountain. Abraham built his altar. Abraham said his prayers. This man had forgotten all about that. He got so prosperous he hadn't time to thank God. And as they went up the mountain... They're a plain man. For adventure they're like ten. For adventure they're like ten of the thirteen. He goes down and says, if his wife is saved, that was two, and his two daughters were four, and if his son-in-law being saved, that will be six. God was only asking for four others. In the twenty years he's lived in... You know what I think the most amazing thing is? In this present time, the interesting thing to me at this moment is the mercy of God. That we're not burning like Sodom and Gomorrah here in America. We have launched more revivals. We have given more to the Jews. And of course these dear teenagers don't know a thing about depression. They live like kings. The last depression, you got a new dress once in two years if you were fortunate or you got one... I've stood in bread lines at five o'clock, four o'clock in the morning... The mercy of God. Lot is busy in his house. There's a knock at the door. Goes to the door, hear a true angel. He's startled. The angel says, hurry up, get out of the situation, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And he says, well, could you hold him a minute? Well, not much longer. I wonder when over the street these men said, oh, you've got two men there. And you know they... And he said to his wife, come on. And his wife wouldn't... She was out with... As it was in the days of Noah. As it was in the days of Lot. As it was in the days of Noah. What were the true signs in the days of Noah? I'm not a racist, but no new white nations are being born. Every new nation that's born is a black nation. I used to go in the United Nations to borrow material when I was editing a magazine in New York for David Wilkerson. And I was always amazed. It was a constant prong of confronting people you very seldom saw a white person. You get a picture of the United Nations when they're assembled. And instead of somebody having teeth and one or two missing, it looks as though, well, you've just got one or two white people there and all the way... You may spend your nights... And the powers... If this happens in Christian countries, what do you think happens in heathen countries? The final thing. God have mercy. He sent an angel. God have mercy. He dragged the woman out of the nest. But you still look back. No preacher said and had no Bible school, said and had no broadcast, said and had no Bible... He never swears. He never says a shade of business to you. That's a bit crazy Billy. Do you know what he says? He says, oh, but when you come in the glass, you'll stand, water come down, and the water's above me, the water's beneath. You know, he's an They went along one day. And he knew that God kept his word. Two people, a company, really. They really had a good time watching the animals. I think it's air-conditioned. No, it wasn't air-conditioned. That art is a type of... How many doors in the... And they say, no, you can have rooms, you can have... I mean, we really don't want to say you're crazy, but you know, just a bit too much power. Well, bonfire... And he came back on deck and he said, I just got a telegram from heaven. The Lord just sent me this. That's going to really be the most amazing text. I've never heard this sermon in my life. When I shut the door, no man can open. And if I open the door, no man can shut. And it's still there. You know what? I bet he comes out again and says, I've got a notice that I'm not going for a month. See, the door is still open. Remember that's why she was often warned that she was destroyed. Yes, Jesus is coming. He's coming for a bride. Most girls have an ambition to be a bride. And Jesus is coming for a bride. And I remember in England, and I like to tell this story, nobody else knows it, but I know it. It's not in books. We had a young couple in England and they were going to get married just prior to the war. And the young man had to, unexpectedly go to the war. He had two days with his girlfriend. He went to town, he bought her a beautiful bride outfit. Girls in England usually wear orange blossom and all the other beautiful things. He bought them all. And the next day he kissed her goodbye and he said, one of these days I'll be back. And they wrote letters continually, beautiful, beautiful love letters and she saved them all and tied them up with a string like they say girls do. And she had an awful laugh. She had a great big picture of him on her vanity table, a lovely picture with her. For two years she didn't have a letter. The only thing that the boy's parents got a notice saying that they feared the boy had been killed in action. They weren't quite sure, but he was missing and they thought killed in action. And the months went on and the years went on. And a fellow down the street said to the girl, you know God won't come back. You know really he's dead. And I love you. I'd like to marry you. I've got money. I'll never have to go to war. I have a very secure job. Won't you be my wife? And he kept asking and she said no. And he kept asking. One night she came home from work. She wasn't feeling good and she said to her mother, I should go to church tonight, but I won't go. I don't feel, I don't really feel well. I go to my room and I won't be down till morning. And the phone calls, you could take the number. Please don't disturb me at all unless it's very important. I don't want to be left alone. The mother said, that's all right. She knew the girl was having turmoil. She'd met this fellow again. She'd seen him down the street talking and she knew the girl was upset and the girl wasn't feeling so good and she had some business problems. And here she was, no wonder. And so her mother said all right dear, you go up to your room, I understand. And after she'd been up there for a couple of hours, there was a knock at the front door. And the mother went. There was a tall handsome soldier. He thought he was dead. He came in and he looked and he said Mary, Mary isn't here. She's not dead? No. Is she at church? No. She's not married? Working any other time? No. So where is she? Well George, she's upstairs. She wasn't feeling feeling too well and she said like she wouldn't want to be disturbed until she knew unless unless it's really important. She said, do you think it's important? And she said, yes but I don't know if she might be in bed. I don't know. Just had a guess. Another one gets scared. In these big old houses in England we've got keyholes. They're so big you can not only look through them, you can nearly walk through the things they're so big. And you know that girl had gone under the weather. Still feel, but still feel George will come back. I'm going to get out of this. The juiciest love letter she could find. And she began to look at it there. And she sat by the vanity table and she got his picture in her arm and she savored his picture like this and she read part of the letter and the tears were coming and she kissed the letter and then she kissed the picture and she was having a great time. And another looked through the keyhole and thought she was in bed. She said go downstairs and George said, is it all right? Yeah. No, she's not in bed. George, let me go up. Go up quietly and tell them I'll get it very quietly. I think they'll have a surprise. So George went up and he turned the knob very quietly and when he opened the door, she had a big smile. She was just looking at his picture and this love letter. And he saw her in the mirror. And in his excitement he let go of the knob, you know, and he went like that. And she turned round and she looked at him and she said, I, I. Do you think she did? And he said, sweetheart, I've got a letter of yours here. I've read it all over the place. I've read it at night. It's fucking magical, isn't it? See how doggy it is? And I've read that letter, how much you love me. And it says here, George, I don't care how long it is, I don't care where you are, I want to tell you this, that when you come home, I'll be ready. I didn't think you could say that. I've been in some dirty holes in the world. I've seen some dirty things. I married a young lady. I went to a wedding recently and married the daughter of a multimillionaire. She had a fantastic wedding and a fantastic wedding dress. I said to her mother, please don't send me the bill for that dress. I'm a priestess. It was gorgeous. I've been to weddings where the girl didn't have more than ten dollars and poverty stricken areas in England. I've seen many brides, rich, poor, brilliant, pretty dumb. And I'll tell you one thing, I've never seen a dirty bride. I've never seen a dirty bride. She may be very poor, but her garments were beautiful and white. She wouldn't like to go to that altar and say just before, ma'am, I've got to go through the traffic and it's going to take ten minutes to church. You just give me a hot dog in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. I'm going down the street. There's got all sorts. And she puts coffee down here and tomato juice down here and a bit of mustard on the front. And she rubs it out and holds her flowers like that. And then she forgets and looks at a few. There's one recorded prayer of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Do you know what it is? I'll tell you. The last chapter of the Bible, verse 17, the spirit and the bride say come. The spirit and the bride say come. Elsewhere it says the bride hath made herself ready. Now let me ask you a very simple, simple question tonight. You say you're part of the bride? If Jesus comes tonight, are you his wife? Are you his pure? He's coming for a pure bride. He's not coming for an old crippled woman. He's coming for a bride, young, bright, dressed in white, dressed in holiness. The only preparation for the coming of Jesus is holiness. Without holiness, Hebrews 12, 14, no man shall see the Lord. One sentence. As the lightning lightneth out of the one part of the heaven and shineth to the other. I understand it takes lightning a fifth of a second to cross the world. And as soon as that, Jesus is going to come. Remember what's right? He's walking down. Every light is flashing and you see Jerusalem surrounded with armies. Look up and Jerusalem is surrounded tonight. The Jews, the Jerusalem is going to be trodden down. A little church in England singing John The Elephant came every Sunday night when I said his journey was his kingdom. Are you ready for his coming? No more wrongs. If he comes tonight, will he find you with your lamps turned and burning? Will he find you with a prayer light like an elephant? Will he find you, as I said this morning, each day worshiping him? Will you have him come? Look at the world tonight.