What We Should Learn from the Pandemic

I want to ask a question today, and that is, what are we about to learn? What should we learn from this pandemic? And I know there are many lessons that we individually can learn, but let me get down to the bottom line. In other words, the start of the conclusion. What we ought to learn is that God is calling us or giving us time to examine ourselves and repent. Verse is a call to repentance, not just to the church, but to the whole world. You know, we read in the Old Testament, a lot of the messages in the Old Testament were applied or addressed to Israel. But now in the New Testament, we are spiritual Israel. And so, really, in a sense, God is talking to the whole world and is giving a wake-up call to the whole world. You stop everything and analyze yourselves, examine yourselves and repent. And that is the lesson. In fact, when Christ first came, if you turn with me to Mark chapter 1, verse 15, Mark chapter 1, verse 15, right at the beginning of his ministry, it says, in Mark chapter 1, verse 15, it says, After John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, that time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. In other words, time is near, and if it was near then, even nearer is now. And it says, repent. The call is repent and believe the gospel. Believe that Christ is going to come back. There is going to be a kingdom of God reigning on earth, and ultimately there will be a judgment. And so, repent. It's a wake-up call.

Look also with me to Isaiah 55. In Isaiah 55, we read, starting in verse 6, it says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Brethren, we have a little time. Indeed, very little time, but we do have a little time. And it says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. And then, he has the call to repentance, which says, Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous his thoughts, and let him return. It was repent, return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

This time, brethren, to the world to repent. This happening, this pandemic, it's a wake-up call to the whole world to repent.

And so, brethren, are we ready?

The calling is to the whole world, but to us, as God's people, in God's church, are we ready?

You all know the parable of the ten virgins. That's in Matthew 25. And the parable of ten versions, as you read in Matthew 25, you have these virgins. They all were waiting for the bridegroom. And some were wise, and some were foolish. Interesting. It gives an average of about 50% were wise, and 50% were foolish. The other point is that they were all virgins. In other words, they were, put it into a practical Christian way of looking at it, good, faithful, obedient Christians following God. In other words, they believed in Christ, they kept the commandments, they were virgins. But some were wise, and some were not. And you know the story that only half of them were ready.

You take that analogy to today's time. Yeah, we are in God's church. You transpose that analogy today, to today, and it says, only half of us will be ready.

Wow! Even with this pandemic, only only half of us will wake up and get ready. Yes, indeed, we've got this invisible enemy killing thousands of people, creating panic, and people in the world look at government leaders for their protection, or look at medical science for their protection. And yes, indeed, a few look to God. And so you have various church organizations saying, it's a time to give your heart to the Lord. Brethren, we've got to give much more than our heart to the Lord. We've got to give our lives to God. We give our lives to God. And it's our responsibility, it's the responsibility of the church to remind the brethren and the church, and in fact, to give the warning to the world to repent. In fact, in the last book of the Old Testament, which is Malachi, the last two chapters, it says, that's Malachi chapter 4, verse, uh, Malachi chapter 4, verse 5 and 6. It says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Brethren, the day of the Lord, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a moment, it's going to be a great and dreadful What we see now with this virus, it's small compared to what it will be like.

Indeed, it's sad, but it's small indeed to what it will be like. So it'll be a dreadful day. But before that day, it's going to be a dreadful day. So it'll be a dreadful day. But before that day, God is sending to mankind His servants, the Church of God, with the responsibility to preach the gospel in the spirit and power of Elijah the prophet. And what are they doing? Verse 6, They will turn the hearts. In other words, they have a mission to preach a gospel of repentance, to turn the hearts. And the focus here is within the family, but it's to turn the hearts of mankind, of the whole family, of every one of us, of one towards another, to build proper relationships. So, as we are encountering or going through this time of great crisis, God is giving mankind time to repent. But regrettably, the false prophets of the world are not warning mankind about that. They're not telling people to repent and turn to God and obey God's laws. Oh, they're just saying give the heart to the Lord. But there's a lot more than that. And so, what do we find in mankind? Mankind is going around like sheep without a leader. They just don't know where they go. They don't even know. Mankind as a whole does not even know why we are born. Mankind does not know the purpose of life.

Well, again, let me summarize it very quickly and very simply. The purpose of our human life is so that ultimately you and I will be a spiritual being in glory and radiance in the family of God as a son of God or daughter of God. That's our purpose. And so, because mankind does not understand these things, they can't see what's going on. We have a worldwide crisis. Yes, indeed. How did it come about to be? Well, there is various theories. Well, one is that it was a market with unclean foods and all that stuff and you know that. Another one, another theory as well that was genetic modifications in a laboratory. Whatever it may be, think about it, whatever it may be, the cause. The cause was not God's vengeance on mankind. It was man's sin. The cause was man's sin, the fruits of our disobedience to God in whatever way. So, as we see these things happening and we see a lot of people coming out of different ideas, we are going to find people coming out with a lot of false ideas, causing confusion about where are we as far as the coming of Christ, as far as the end of this age. And therefore, not understanding what, why we're born, not understanding that God's got a purpose to bring us to repentance, not understanding that and not understanding the sequence of prophetic events, people get deceived and get taken away in a wrong direction.

So, dear brethren, today, so that we are not deceived, we're going to spend a bit of time understanding a little bit more about the sequence of events to come to see that there is a lot still to happen before Christ comes. There is still a lot to happen before Christ comes. And so, we have an idea, so that all idea of the main markers or the main events that are prophetic, so that we keep them in mind. Yes, true, we don't know all the little details in between those main events, but we know these major milestones. And so, as we look at them, we are focused in the right direction and we don't get deceived. And then, we want to get back to the point, what shall we do? And particularly, what shall we do as God's people? So, in that context, let's start with Revelation 13, verse 8. Revelation 13, verse 8. Now, we see that there will be a beast that will come out from the sea. That's the beast, the government authority. There will also be a beast that will come from the earth on this chapter, but that is a religious authority. But the beast comes out from the sea, and in verse 8 says, and all who dwell on the earth. Now, we all understand what all means. All means all. It says, everybody who dwells on earth will worship the beast.

In other words, those people that have not got their names written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In other words, in the book of life of Christ, Christ's book of life. So, unless you and I have our names in the book of life, and that means unless we really apply and understand and follow Christ and our true Christians following His way, we'll not get it. We will be deceived. And brethren, this is a warning to us, because if everybody is going to be deceived, except those few that are following God, are we therefore being careful with what we read and what we pass around, whether it's on the internet or Facebook or things like that? Because a lot of those things can be falsehood, designed by Satan, not by those people in innocence, but designed by Satan to deceive us. And so, it is important for us to discern the good from the bad, and that is, it's important for us, therefore, to be able to understand the major sequence of events so that we can follow from one to another to another to another, and therefore, understand what is true and what is false.

So, to do that, Christ was given the book of Revelation. If you turn to chapter 5 of Revelation, Revelation chapter 5, we see that God on His throne, and then God has this book that nobody can open. Nobody can open with seven seals. And then, it's revealed that only the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, that's in verse 5 of chapter 5, that He is worthy. Only He is worthy, which is not a word, which is Christ. Only Christ is worthy to open this role, this book of Revelation, which has the seven seals. And it says, even the elders and the angelic authority around God's throne, that's what it says, the living beings, the living creatures, and the 24 elders, those are angelic authorities around God's throne. They all worship, and they get on their knees and worship Christ.

And it says, you, Christ, are worthy to take up this book of Revelation. I'm reading now from verse 9 and paraphrasing, and to open the seals of the book of Revelation, because you have redeemed mankind, you redeemed people, you redeemed mankind to God by His blood, by Christ's blood. Out of every nation, yes, Jews and Gentiles, every nation, and these people will be kings and priests, and these people will reign in the world tomorrow for a thousand years, and forever beyond that.

So, and that's why it says in verse 12, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is Christ. He's the only one able to do it. And so, as we then turn to chapter 6, we see Christ then peeling off these or opening up these seals. And in the first few verses, we can see the first four seals open pretty quickly. First being a white horse, as you can see in verse 2, and then in verse 4, a red horse, and then in verse 5, a black horse, and in verse 8, a pale horse. So, we have these four horses, which are normally called the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, or the four horsemen of the Book of Revelation.

And you and I know there is a firth in Revelation 19, which is actually Christ. But these four, in these four seals, are being opened up. And the first one, it's very clear, that is religion. And we will see how Christ says that's religion in Matthew 24 in a moment. The second one, which is red, is war. The third one, which is black, is famine.

And the fourth one, which is yellow, or pale, which is death. Death through diseases, and death is followed with the grave. The word there should be grave, not as it's Hades, which means grave. So, when there is this death of many people at the same time, you have these mass, huge graves of people just being buried all at one time. That's why it's such an emphasis. So we have these four horsemen.

Religion, wars, hunger, and death through war, or through disease, or through whatever, which will be many people being buried at the same time, the grave. So that is the four horsemen. Now, that is paralleled with Matthew 24. So let's go to Matthew 24 briefly. Matthew 24. And you know the section where the disciples approach Christ, and they say, look at the temple, and Christ said, all this is going to be destroyed. And then in verse three, they say, well, tell us what will be the sign of your coming when all this will be destroyed.

And then the very first thing Christ says, He said in verse four and five, be careful, take heed that you are not going to be deceived, because many will come in My name, saying they're Christians, saying they're Christian ministers, saying they're Christian pastors, saying they're Christian pastors, saying they're following Christ, saying that Christ is the Christ, and will deceive many. Brethren, that's been the history over the last 2000 years.

There's been false religion on false religion on false religion. It's just this horse has been riding. And brethren, here's a point about these seals. Once the seal is open, it remains open. So that horse keeps riding in different stages, in different stages. And then he said, Christ said in verse six, and you'll hear all wars and rumors of wars. So yeah, we can see the second horse, the red, which is wars. And then you see, don't be troubled, because all this comes to pass.

But the end is not yet. And then he says, there'll be world wars. Like he says, national rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There'll be famines. You can see that black horse of famine. And then he says, and pestilences, diseases, which will cause death, which is that fourth horse. So we have these four horses riding, and they have been riding. There have been wars. There have been religious deception. There has been hunger. There has been diseases. I mean, you know, for instance, the Spanish Flu in 1918 killed 55 million people. Huge! 55 million people.

So this has been happening. And so what do we have is these horses keep riding. The church has been saying for a long time that these horses will keep riding until there will be a final riding of these horses, which will be or culminate in the Great Tribulation.

So, as you can see, this is where we are. This is the beginning of sorrows. This is the beginning of sorrows, because we're not yet in the Great Tribulation. But then it says they'll deliver you up, and it'll kill you as Christians. And indeed, there are many Christians around the world that are being killed today. But it is possible there will be some of God's minuses in God's church who will be killed as well. And there'll be many hurt and offended.

And many lies, many false prophets, many fake news, and lawlessness will abide.

And many will grow cold. The love of many will grow cold.

We have to endure to the end. It says the gospel will be preached. And indeed, now the gospel is being preached in previous wars or pestilences, like the 1918 Spanish flu. The gospel wasn't being preached around the world, but now it is. So, all these indicators have now congealed.

But now there's the next one, and that is in verse 15. And it says, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel, the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, letting him understand, then flee because that is the time, because as you read a little bit further in verse 21, then there'll be great tribulation. So, the indicator, the indicator that we have to watch for, is the abomination of desolation.

Now, I've given you a handout, milestones to watch for. And you can see the four horsemen riding.

And then there will be abomination of desolation, which is a major indicator.

That hasn't happened yet. So, we're right. We're in the period. We're in the period of the four horsemen riding, but the abomination of desolation has not happened yet. So, what we will see is that final riding of this white horse and red horse and black horse and and the pale horse. That is still to happen. That is still to happen. Why do we say this? Because of this verse 15. There is an abomination of desolation that is going to happen. Spoken of by Prophet Daniel. People come out of different ideas of what the abomination of desolation is. We've got to go back to what Daniel said.

So, what did Daniel say? Let's look at Daniel chapter 11. Daniel chapter 11. Now, Daniel 11 is one of the most detailed prophecies in the Bible. Very detailed. And in our booklet, the Middle Eastern Prophecy, it goes through this chapter in great detail, practically line by line. So, if you want to study this chapter in more detail, use our Bible study guide called the Middle Eastern Prophecy to help you to study your Bible, to guide you through your Bible study on it. But, it's going to... in this historical event, it's basically, it's talking about a situation that it occurred during the time of the Greek Empire. Now, you remember Daniel 2, which is Nebuchadnezzar's image or dream that had a head of gold and then a shoulder of silver and then the middle waist of brass. And you know that the gold was Babylon, and then the silver was Medio-Persia, and the brass was Greece. So, it's actually talking about that time frame. And during that time frame of Greece, there was a man that started that called Alexander the Great. And Alexander the Great, the Great of Macedonia, he basically, in lightning flesh, did great wonders and conquered a great portion of the world. But he died soon after that. And after his death, there were four generals that took over. And two of those generals soon disappeared out of history, let's call it that day. But there were two that remained predominant. One was the north and the other one was the south, king of the north and king of the south. Now, the king of the north, which was led by a general called Seleusius, started in 312 before Christ, and that continued till about 63 before Christ. And so, the king of the north is the one that has got particular interest to us. Obviously, there was a conflict between the north and the south, and that has also got implications in the years to come. I'm not going to discuss that today. But the king of the north, there was a specific man which came to be called Antiochus Epithinus. And that happened in about 168 before Christ. And he did what was called the Abomination of Desolation. In other words, he went to the temple, and he offered the blood of a pig in the altar to the god Seleus. And he stopped the daily sacrifice. That means the morning and evening sacrifice. So, we can read that in Daniel 11 verse 31. And he says, And the forces shall be mustered by him, that's Antiochus Epiphin. And they shall defile the sanctuary fortress, where the sacrifices were being made. And they shall take away the daily sacrifices and place there the Abomination of Desolation. It was the image of a false god, Seleus, to worship a false god. So, there is a situation there, as we understand it today, because that has not happened. Christ said, when this happens, and so this event, yeah, in about 168 BC, before the current era, in a sense is a type of what is going to re-happen again in the future.

And then, when we read a little bit further, it says when it starts in verse 35, when it starts comparing to the time of the end, it says, in some of those, understanding shall fall, to re-file them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end, because it is still for an appointed time. So, yeah, it's telling Daniel, listen, this is for the future.

Now, look as well, read as well, with Daniel 12. In Daniel 12, and we're going to start reading in verse 8, Daniel said, well, there's a lot of things here that I don't get it. You know, please help me, I just don't get it. Although I heard, I do not understand. Then, the angelia, giving the instruction, the words from God, said, you know, it said, go your way, Daniel. We read that in verse 9. For the words are closed and sealed to the time of the end.

And then he continuing, in verse 10, And many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked will do wickedly.

And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise will. There will be no repentance, in other words. In other words, yes, there's a calling to repentance, but the bulk of mankind will not repent. That is the sad portion. And then read in verse 11. And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. At the time of the end, basically, it will Christ's coming. And Yah is the great mark that I'm referring to. It's this abomination of desolation, Yah. And when that happens, at this time, a countdown begins of 1,290 days to the coming of Christ. Today, nobody knows when He's coming, but at that time, the countdown begins.

Revelation 11 So brethren, we are in a time that of, let's put it another way, of Revelation 11. Let me go to Revelation 11. Revelation 11.

Revelation 11.

It's a time where it says, measure the temple of God. He says, then it was given a read and a measuring rod, and angels stood saying, rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. Okay.

But leave the court, which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. So Yah, we have Jerusalem divided, and there is something like a temple or an altar. Maybe it's a temporary temple, not a full structure like something put together rather quickly.

But there's no temple. That does not exist today in Israel.

Now, there is a spiritual parallel to this, and the spiritual parallel is that you and I, with God's Holy Spirit, we are the temple of God, and we are being measured. We are being prepared as a people, and that goes back to the purpose of this sermon that our responsibility individually is that we need to be prepared. We need to analyze, examine ourselves, repent, and become better Christians. We got time. It's time to wake up. It's time for these virgins to wake up, so that we are amongst the five wise virgins. And that's, in a sense, that is a spiritual meaning of it. After that, then it says power will be given to the two witnesses. Now, this is interesting, because it says for 1,260 days, and that's three and a half years. So we have, at this time, at this point, abomination desolation happens, we've got three and a half years plus 30 days. That's 1,290. One month later, the two witnesses start preaching.

For three and a half years. Before that, before that, is the time when the church preaches.

Now, how do we get to that situation? Because it'll come to a time where the church will not be able to continue preaching anymore. The abomination desolation will be set up. 30 days later, the two witnesses start preaching, and then there's three and a half years to go. How do we get to that situation? How do we get to a situation where, in the area of the Dome of the Rock, in front of it, they would set up an altar, and would start offering daily sacrifices, because it says the daily sacrifices will be stopped. That's what we read in Daniel 12. That's what Christ said in Matthew 24, 15, says, when that will happen, has Daniel spoke? That hasn't happened. But imagine, how could today, in that area, the Jews go there and start offering sacrifices? I don't know how that will happen. That's the way we understand it today.

Today, that area is governed or administered by the royal family in Jordan. How will they, the Jews, be able to start offering sacrifices there? I do not know, but it's things to watch. But once that happens, we know, once they start doing daily sacrifices, the time will come that they will stop. And then it's the abomination desolation. So, when that happens, it means, well, we're really just a little near. Maybe just a few years before the abomination desolation.

Will there be a great calamity in that area? Will there be a great war? Or will there be some great diplomacy and a peace treaty?

We don't know. We have to watch. We have to watch. But when that happens, when that happens, we know, that's when we read scriptures like in Revelation 12, where Satan knows that he's got a little time, he's thrown out of heaven, he comes to earth with great wrath, and that is the beginning of the countdown. Because he now knows he's got a little time, he's been kicked out. This is the beginning of the countdown, and he wants to just go mad. And that will be the great tribulation. The wrath of Satan, as I wrote to Tia, great tribulation is Satan's wrath.

Because he's been thrown down.

That's when the work of the church stops.

That's when the work of the church stops. That's when you read in Amos 8, verse 11, there will be a time of the famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

So brethren, there are a number of things there that are there to happen, but we have not seen all those things yet.

Then the work of the two witnesses starts, and how will those things develop to there? We don't know. Maybe Leviticus 26 gives us some indication, but we don't know. So let's go back to Matthew 24, where we were a moment ago. Matthew 24, verse 15. Matthew 24, verse 15 says, and when you see the abomination of desolation, it's time to go. And in verse 21, it says, then it will be time of the great tribulation.

So that means, what do we have? Is we have 1,290 days.

We basically have, then, from the abomination of desolation, till the two witnesses start, 30 days. Those 30 days go hand in hand with Isaiah 5, verse 5 and verse 7, which says, because you've raised up pagan children, bad children, I will punish you. And I'll punish you, Israel and Judah, in one month, 30 days. And also says, in Psalm 83, verse 4 to 8, it says, these people don't want any more a memory or a reminder of the name of Israel. In other words, the Israelite nations that you and I know, which are the sons of Joseph, are basically those, are English-speaking nations, they will want to be destroyed. And it talks about an alliance being made with a number of nations, which are basically the king of the South. And they will join with Assyria, and they will destroy those nations in the period of a month. So that is when we have the final writing of these four horsemen. Because the final writing of these four horsemen is written by the false antichrist bringing wars and famine and diseases and great death to mankind. And that is the Great Tribulation. Now how does this false prophet come about to be? Well, that is in 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2.

Verse 1, it says, Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and now are gathering together with Him. You know, it was us being together with Christ. Concerning that, we ask you not to be soon shaken or troubled by fake news, whether it's by spirit or by word or by letter or by internet or whatever, as if it came from God through His ministers. Don't be deceived. Let no one deceive you. Verse 3. And brethren, there is going to be and there is, there's going to be things people are going to put little video clips and this and that, and says, this means that, and means that. Please, brethren, don't pay attention to that junk. Junk, false, perversion. Please, it says, don't be deceived. For that day will not come until there is a falling away.

And the man of sin is revealed. It's possible that the falling away has already happened in the 90s, but the man of sin has not been revealed yet. Here was this false prophet, the Antichrist, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, and that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God. He sits like God sits in the temple of God. He sits as if he is God. As God sits in the temple of God, that's how he will sit. Brethren, that is the abomination of desolation.

Showing himself that he's God. That's exactly what it is.

And brethren, look at in verse 9 and 10 and 11. It says, the coming of that lawless one, it was that man of uniquity, that false prophet, will be, it says, yeah, according to the working of Satan. Why? Because he's been thrown down to earth. He knows he's got a little time, and this false prophet will make miracles, and everybody will follow him. Because he says, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. Brethren, it'll be so convincing that it says in Matthew 24, that even the very elect could be deceived. So, watch out! That's why Christ says, don't be deceived. And he says, with all unrighteous deception, among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, the fake news, the false messages, the false information, that is all lie. That this being, which is the Antichrist, people will think, no, he's not Antichrist. People think he's God. No, he is the Antichrist. And they'll deceive the whole world, except those that have their names written in the Book of Life of the Lamb.

Reverend, this will be a major deception. This will be a major deception. And this is what we see at this point. This man of sin will appear, and will become more prominent. These nations of the beast will start becoming more prominent, and we'll see that happening. And then the abomination of desolation, of that false prophet, as we read in Daniel, doing what he says in Daniel he will do.

And that will be the beginning of the countdown of 1290 days. Then one month later, it will be the end of democracy, because countries like the US and others will be, and Israel will be raised, in a sense, losing their government.

And then is the Great Tribulation.

It says everybody will be deceived. And if you look at Revelation chapter 6, Revelation chapter 6, about the four horsemen of the apocalypse, now it's that lost riding of that horse. That of those four horses. And it says a white horse. That is that false prophet. That is that anti-Christ coming out. And when he comes out, there'll be religious wars, like you've never seen. And there'll be famine, like you've never seen. And there'll be pestilences that we've never seen, because that will be generated, and will come up to be the Great Tribulation. That's what the Great Tribulation will be, that lost ride of those four horsemen. And look at the fruit here. It says during that time, in Revelation 6 verse 8, which will be during that time of that lost ride of the four horsemen, it says a fourth of the earth will die. It says with the sword, with hunger, and with death. It was of these horsemen together, inspired by this false prophet and this beast.

25% of mankind will die during the Great Tribulation.

Brethren, this is the lost, let's call it riding of these four horsemen. And then, what we need to understand, is that Christ said, Christ said, in Matthew 24, you are to flee.

What we see is there will be people that will be protected. When you read in Revelation 12, that Satan is thrown to the earth, and to, the first thing he wants to do, is to destroy the woman, which is God's church. And half of the church, when you look at, for instance, the 10 virgins, a portion of the church will be protected. You read that in Revelation 12. And the rest of the church, the remainder of the church, will not be protected. That ties in with the 10 virgins.

And because he cannot go for a portion of the church, which is protected, you'll then go to the remaining of the church. And to go to the remaining of the church, what he does? He destroys religious freedom. He destroys England and the United States, and those English-speaking nations, which are pillars in the world of religious freedom, he'll destroy that. And therefore, that will begin in the Great Tribulation. And so, when we see, at this point, is the time when the church, or a portion of the church, is protected.

Before the Great Tribulation. Before that last ride of those four horsemen to destroy a quarter of mankind.

And so, what does that mean? We need to be ready before that. We need to be ready before that. Luke 21, verse 36 says, Pray and watch that you may be counted worthy to escape these things and to stand before the Son of God. You and I need to pray and watch that we be counted worthy. We need to pray and watch that we are amongst the five wise virgins.

So we can see there's a lot to happen.

And then, at the end of that, at the end, there'll be a time when the Great Tribulation will be cut short. Because Matthew 24 says so. Great Tribulation will be cut short. And what that means is, those three and a half years, the power of that beast power will be diminished.

Yes, it will continue. Satan's wrath will continue until Christ comes. But that will be diminished one year before. And that is the heavenly signs. When God says, That is enough. I am now going to intervene in mankind's affairs. And therefore, there is the heavenly signs. And that we can see that in Revelation 6, starting from verse 12 to verse 16. Those are the heavenly signs. Now, when those heavenly signs, which is the sixth seal as we got here, the Great Tribulation has been cut short by a year. And what we have is these heavenly signs. And these heavenly signs is the heavenly signs. And these heavenly signs is God saying, That is enough. And from Yah onwards, it's my wrath. And you read that at the end of chapter 6, verse 16 and 17, where the people say, you know, don't let this go on. And then it ends by saying, Follow on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of his wrath has come. So this section beyond that, beyond that is the wrath of the Lamb. It's God's wrath that consists of the seven trumpets and then the seven lost plagues.

And we can see the two witnesses are still preaching during that time.

But before God brings the punishment on earth with his wrath, because that punishment, which is the seventh seal, is in Revelation 8. In Revelation 8, you can see he opened the seventh seal. That means the wrath. But before God unleashes the wrath, what is he going to do? What is he going to do? He's going to protect the people that have repented during the Great Tribulation. There will be people that have listened to the work that we're doing today. That today they're not repentant.

But when the Great Tribulation comes, they will repent. And then those are the ones that God will protect and seal. You look at that in verse 14 of Revelation 7. These are the ones that came out of the Great Tribulation. These are the ones that out of the Great Tribulation have repented and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of Lamb. Just like you and I, upon our repentance and upon our baptism, we have washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb. And we've got our names written in the Book of Life.

These people will be sealed and protected. A certain number, fixed number, defined of His Relights and a great multitude of Gentiles. And those people will be protected.

And then God unleashes the wrath on earth, but those protected ones will not suffer that disease or pain.

That's what it says. They will not suffer that pain.

They will not have hunger, nor thirst, and nor the sun, or the heat will strike them. Why? Because they'll be protected. Because God's punishment, God is not going to punish those that have repented. He's going to punish those that have not repented. That's why after that, you see time and time again, that it says the other people, the reminder have not been sealed, they have not repented, and it comes more punishment, and it says they still not repented. Because the ones that have repented, will have repented. As it said in Daniel, the wicked will continue doing wickedly, and the righteous will do righteous. There'll be a time when they won't repent anymore. So Brethren, you and I can see, there are many, many things to happen. And this countdown begins at the abomination of desolation, which is at 1290 days. That's the countdown. The question is, what must we do? Because, as I said, the majority of people don't understand what's going on. But, this is a warning for people to repent. Our job in the Church is to have a stronger warning. And we, Brethren, we need to ask and pray to God, and ask God to inspire the leaders in the Church to speak with more power, with more strength, in a way that will touch the hearts of more people, touch the hearts of more people, that at least they know there is a time of judgment. It's a warning, a time of warning. Our warning is going to be stronger. We got to claim that warning stronger, and that's what we got to do. We got to watch ourselves, Brethren. We got to be watching ourselves. We got to be praying and watching that we may be counted worthy, that we are being prepared, so that we can be a bride prepared for the marriage supper, so that we, amongst those five wise virgins that are ready. But on the other side, we as a work, have to fulfill Isaiah 58. And turn with me to Isaiah 58, please. Isaiah 58.

Isaiah 58. And that's why I'm saying, Brethren, please, please pray. Because the writers of the Beyond Today magazine, the announcers and the speakers of the Beyond Today TV program, the ministers that I give messages, and that are posted on our website, we all need God's inspiration, so that our message fulfills Isaiah 58, verse 1. And that's what we need to pray now. And that's why in the fast that we declared lost weekend, for the whole church around the world, we said, pray that we may be submissive to God and humble. Two, pray that we may be caring for others that have needs that we don't even know. And three, pray that God's message of warning may be stronger. And I'm not saying that it's a radical change. What I'm saying is that we need to look at ourselves, analyze ourselves, pray and ask God to help us, to inspire us, to inspire the ministry, to inspire the leaders, to inspire the writers, so that whatever comes out in the writing may be more effective. I'm not saying it's not effective. We just had a survey done on readers, and somewhere around about 94-95% of the readers were very happy with and with the content and the prophetic messages and things like that. But there's something else that maybe we need to do. And that's what we need to ask and pray to God. So that Isaiah 58, which says, in verse 1, cry aloud and spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Now, lifting up a voice like a trumpet does not mean and now we're going to street and shout and scream because people just switch us off. And you know what? People like YouTube and Google and others can switch it off. Recently, recently, two of our other adverts on Roku were withdrawn for some reason or other. And we don't have an answer. We try to. So we have to be careful because we've got our message. We're doing this through the Internet and they can just flick a switch and we're off.

But we need to pray and to ask God that our message could be one that is not sparing, that may be effective, and at the same time that God will protect us, protect the Church with wisdom, or wisest as a serpent, as ominous as a dove, but to cry aloud and spare not so that our message can be stronger as a warning to this world. Because now we got the world's attention. Hopefully. And so that's why it says, Tell my people their transgression. And brethren, my people in the Old Testament was, yes, Israel. In the New Testament, yes, it is God's spiritual Israel, but it's beyond that. Because in the New Testament, we go to the Jew and to the Gentile. And therefore it's to the whole world. That's why this Gospel of the Kingdom is going to preach to the whole world as a witness. And our message, our job of crying aloud, sparing not, is going to go to the whole world. Brethren, this is our job.

This is our job. That's why we fasted last week. And brethren, I plead with you that you and I, we all use this time to examine ourselves, to become better people, to become wiser virgins in the sight of God. That we may be counted worthy, not only to escape, but to stand before the Son of Man when He comes. You know, it was to be there when He comes to be in the Kingdom. That's what we got to pray, brethren. And please also pray that God will give the Church and the leaders and the writers and the speakers the strength and the wisdom so that we may do our work with conviction, being fully committed, and with courage.