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SERIES: THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WEEK 36

TITLE: ECOLOGICAL DISASTER UPON THE EARTH

TEXT: REVELATION 8:6-9

INTRODUCTION: (1) ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTALISM ARE HOT SUBJECTS TODAY THAT LEAD TO EMOTIONAL DISCUSSIONS.

* REGULAR NEWS REPORTS ABOUT THE DEPLETION OF THE OZONE LAYER, GLOBAL WARNING AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT, DESTRUCTION OF THE RAIN FORESTS, POLLUTION AND GLACIERS MELTING ARE COMMON.

** THERE IS A PASSIONATE CONCERN TO SAVE ENDANGERED SPECIES FROM WHALES, TO SPOTTED OWLS TO CALIFORNIA CONDORS, AND A HOST OF LESSER-KNOWN SPECIES.

*** AND OH THAT WE WOULD HAVE THAT KIND OF PASSION TO SAVE BABIES THAT ARE MURDERED EVERYDAY BY ABORTION.

**** BUT CERTAINLY WE HAVE COME TO A TIME THAT ROMANS 1:22-25 IS VERY VIVID AND UNFOLDING BEFORE OUR EYES WHERE IT SAYS: (READ V. 22)

(2) V. 23 – AND EXCHANGED THE GLORY OF THE INCORRUPTIBLE GOD FOR AN IMAGE IN THE FORM OF CORRUPTIBLE MAN AND OF BIRDS AND FOUR-FOOTED ANIMALS AND CRAWLING CREATURES.

V. 24 – THEREFORE GOD GAVE THEM OVER IN THE LUSTS OF THEIR HEARTS TO IMPURITY, SO THAT THEIR BODIES WOULD BE DISHONORED AMONG THEM.

V. 25 – FOR THEY EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR A LIE, AND WORSHIPED AND SERVED THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR, WHO IS BLESSED FOREVER. AMEN.

* NOW LET ME SAY IN BALANCE, THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT FALLEN MANKIND HAS FAILED IN HIS RESPONSIBILITIES TO PROPERLY CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION.

** FOR GENESIS 2:15 SAYS: THEN THE LORD GOD TOOK THE MAN AND PUT HIM INTO THE GARDEN OF EDEN TO CULTIVATE IT AND KEEP IT.

*** AND WE ARE TO BE STEWARDS OVER GOD’S CREATION, SO TAKING CARE OF THE EARTH IS STEWARDSHIP. WE SHOULD USE IT’S RESOURCES FOR GOD HAS CREATED IT FOR US, BUT WE SHOULD NOT ABUSE IT.

**** AND BEYOND THAT WE SHOULD NOT WORSHIP MOTHER EARTH AS SOME NEW AGERS ARE.

(3) AND DO YOU REALIZE THAT EARTH DAY AND TERMS LIKE MOTHER EARTH ARE IN ESSENCE RELIGIOUS IN NATURE, RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS?

* THE MOTHER EARTH WEBSITE IS THE HOME OF AN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTALIST GROUP, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH INTERNATIONAL, THE LARGEST GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENTAL FEDERATION OF THE WORLD – FRIENDS OF THE EARTH.

** I’M NOT GOING TO GO INTO WHAT THEY PROMOTE FOR I WILL NOT MAKE THE PULPIT A POLITICAL VENUE.

*** BUT UNDERSTAND THE EXTREME MOVEMENTS ARE RELIGIOUS IN NATURE AND WORSHIP MOTHER EARTH. IT IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL, EVOLUTIONARY PANTHEISM THAT DISVALUES HUMANS AS THE CROWN OF CREATION AND ELEVATES ANIMALS AND PLANTS AND IGNORES THE CREATOR.

**** LET ME ILLUSTRATE, ON THE EARTH DAY NETWORK THEY HAVE A RELIGIOUS OUTREACH SECTION TOOLBAR THAT YOU CAN CLICK ON.

(4) UNDER A YAHOO SEARCH OF TYPING IN EARTH DAY REVEALS AN ARTICLE BY JOHN MCCONNELL, THE FOUNDER OF EARTH DAY, ABOUT WHAT AND WHEN IS EARTH DAY.

* HERE’S WHAT THE FIRST 3 PARAGRAPHS HAVE TO SAY:

** WHEN I FIRST CONCEIVED OF EARTH DAY, A GLOBAL HOLIDAY TO CELEBRATE THE WONDER OF LIFE ON OUR PLANET, I THOUGHT LONG AND HARD ABOUT THE DAY ON WHICH IT SHOULD FALL. IT MUST BE MEANINGFUL OR THAT MIGHT BE ACCEPTED UNIVERSALLY FOR ALL OF HUMANKIND.

*** WHEN THE VERNAL EQUINOX DAWNED ON ME, I IMMEDIATELY KNEW IT WAS RIGHT. THE EARTH TREMOR THAT SHOOK OUR CALIFORNIA DWELLING AT THAT MOMENT SEEMED AN OMEN OF CONFIRMATION. WHAT COULD BE MORE APPROPRIATE THAN THE FIRST MOMENT OF SPRING, WHEN DAY AND NIGHT ARE EQUAL AROUND THE WORLD AND HEARTS AND MINDS CAN JOIN TOGETHER WITH THOUGHTS OF HARMONY AND EARTH’S REJUVENATION. JUST AS A SINGLE PRAYER CAN BE SIGNIFICANT, HOW MUCH MORE SO WHEN HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD JOIN IN PEACEFUL THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO NURTURE NEIGHBOR AND NATURE.

*** AND SO IT CAME TO PASS WE INITIATED THE CELEBRATION OF EARTH DAY ON MARCH 21, 1970. THE FIRST PROCLAMATION OF EARTH DAY WAS BY SAN FRANCISCO, THE CITY OF SAINT FRANCIS, PATRON SAINT OF ECOLOGY. DESIGNATING THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING, MARCH 21, 1970 TO BE EARTH DAY, THIS DAY OF NATURE’S EQUIPOISE WAS LATER SANCTIONED IN A PROCLAMATION SIGNED BY SECRETARY GENERAL U THANT AT THE UNITED NATIONS WHERE IT IS OBSERVED EACH YEAR. EARTH DAY WAS FIRMLY ESTABLISHED FOR ALL TIME ON A SOUND BASIS AS AN ANNUAL EVENT TO DEEPEN REVERENCE AND CARE FOR LIFE ON OUR PLANET.

(5) NOW AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE YOU CAN CLICK ON AND GO TO A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FILL OUT A FORM AND BECOME AN EARTH TRUSTEE.

* NOW MY POINT IS, AT IT’S CORE, THIS IS A RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT. AND WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT.

** AND ALTHOUGH WE NEED TO BE BETTER STEWARDS OF GOD’S EARTH, WE MUST NOT FALL FOR A RELIGION THAT WORSHIPS THE EARTH AND THE CREATURE OVER THE CREATOR!

*** AND GET THIS, THE DAMAGE PEOPLE HAVE DONE TO THE EARTH PALES, IS MINUTE IN COMPARISON TO WHAT GOD ONE DAY WILL DO TO THE EARTH.

**** FOR THE POWERFUL JUDGMENTS OF THE FUTURE TIME OF TRIBULATION WILL UTTERLY DEVASTATE THE EARTH, CAUSING GREAT AND UNIMAGINABLE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT.

(6) THERE WILL BE WHOLESALE CHANGES TO OUR ECO-SYSTEM.

* FOR THE FIRST TRUMPET JUDGMENTS DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE EARTH, FOR THE RESULTS OF TRUMPET 4 WILL CAUSE GREAT CLIMOLOGICAL CHANGES.

** AND TODAY WE WILL LOOK AT TRUMPETS 1 & 2 AND LORD WILLING, NEXT SUNDAY WE WILL LOOK AT TRUMPETS 3 & 4.

*** AND BELOVED, THE IMPACT OF THESE TRUMPETS WILL BE MASSIVE.

**** IN LIGHT OF THAT, I’VE TITLED OUR MESSAGE TODAY, ECOLOGICAL DISASTER UPON THE EARTH, AND TODAY WE WILL STUDY TRUMPETS 1 & 2 UNDER PART I OF OUR STUDY.

(7) AND TRUMPETS 1 & 2 WILL BE OUR OUTLINE TODAY. AND TO BEGIN WITH, LOOK AT REVELATION 8:6 PLEASE WHERE WE’LL SEE THAT THE ANGELS WILL PREPARE TO BLOW THESE TRUMPET JUDGMENTS.

I. THE FIRST TRUMPET, (READ V. 6)

A. NOW V. 6 PREPARES THE WAY FOR TRUMPETS 1 -7 TO BLOW.

* FOR IN V. 6 THE SEVEN ANGELS THAT WERE GIVEN 7 TRUMPETS COME BACK ON THE SCENE AGAIN AFTER BEING INTRODUCED TO US BY JOHN IN V. 2.

** FOR V. 2 SAYS: AND I SAW THE SEVEN ANGELS WHO STAND BEFORE GOD, AND SEVEN TRUMPETS WERE GIVEN TO THEM.

*** NOW HERE IN V. 6 THESE SEVEN ANGELS PREPARE TO BLOW THEIR TRUMPETS, AND MOST LIKELY THE PREPARATION WOULD BE LINING UP IN ORDER AND RAISING THEIR TRUMPETS IN READINESS TO SOUND.

**** NOW IF YOU WERE HERE LAST WEEK, YOU WILL RECALL THERE WAS SILENCE IN HEAVEN FOR ABOUT HALF AN HOUR AS CHRIST BROKE THE SEVENTH SEAL WHICH ROLL-OUT THE SEVEN TRUMPETS.

1. THE RESPONSE WAS AN OMINOUS SILENCE OF AWE IN WHAT WOULD HAPPEN, A HUSH IN HEAVEN, THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM.

* BUT THE SILENCE IN HEAVEN HAD BEEN BROKEN BY THE STORM IN V. 5 AND AN EARTHQUAKE.

** BUT NOW THE BLOWING OF THE TRUMPETS WOULD INTRODUCE THE MOST SHATTERING PHYSICAL UPHEAVALS AND JUDGMENTS ON EARTH SINCE THE FLOOD IN NOAH’S DAY.

*** THE TRUMPETS TRIGGER THE MOST TREMENDOUS UPHEAVALS EXPERIENCED BY EARTH SINCE THE GREAT FLOOD.

**** AND TRUMPET NO. 1 IS BLOWN IN V. 7, LOOK AT V. 7 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 7. NOW WITH THE BLOWING OF THE FIRST TRUMPET WE SEE THE RESULT OF HAIL AND FIRE, MIXED WITH BLOOD THAT ARE CAST OR THROWN TO THE EARTH, SEEMINGLY WITH FORCE.

* NOW THIS JUDGMENT IS SIMILAR TO THE 10TH PLAGUE THAT GOD BROUGHT UPON EGYPT THROUGH MOSES.

** FOR EXODUS 9:22-24 SAYS:

V. 22 – NOW THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, “STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND TOWARD THE SKY, THAT HAIL MAY FALL ON ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT, ON MAN AND ON BEAST AND ON EVERY PLANT OF THE FIELD, THROUGHOUT THE LAND OF EGYPT.”

V. 23 – MOSES STRETCHED OUT HIS STAFF TOWARD THE SKY, AND THE LORD SENT THUNDER AND HAIL, AND FIRE RAN DOWN TO THE EARTH. AND THE LORD RAINED HAIL ON THE LAND OF EGYPT.

V. 24 – SO THERE WAS HAIL, AND FIRE FLASHING CONTINUALLY IN THE MIDST OF THE HAIL, VERY SEVERE, SUCH AS HAD NOT BEEN IN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT SINCE IT BECAME A NATION.

*** NOW THE ONLY MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO IS THE JUDGMENT IN EGYPT WAS LOCALIZED AND NO BLOOD IS MENTIONED.

***** WHEREAS THE FIRST TRUMPET IS GLOBAL FOR A THIRD OF THE EARTH IS BURNED UP, WHICH IS NOT IN THE KJV AND NKJV BUT IN THE NAS, NIV AND ESV WITH VERY GOOD MANUSCRIPT EVIDENCE FOR INCLUDING IT.

1. THIS IS AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER OF GLOBAL PROPORTIONS.

* AND UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFIC CAUSE OF THE HAIL AND FIRE MIXED WITH BLOOD IS NOT REVEALED.

** SOME SUGGEST THAT VOLCANOES ERUPT ALL OVER THE WORLD AS A RESULT OF THE EARTHQUAKE IN V. 5.

*** THE VAST QUANTITIES OF FLAMING LAVA (WHICH COULD BE BLOOD RED IN APPEARANCE) INTO THE ATMOSPHERE, THE ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES CAUSED BY THOSE ERUPTIONS COULD TRIGGER VIOLENT THUNDERSTORMS THAT WOULD PRODUCE LARGE HAIL.

**** AND THUNDERSTORMS WOULD CERTAINLY BE KEEPING THE IMAGERY, THE PICTURE WE HAVE IN V. 5 OF PEALS OF THUNDER AND FLASHINGS OF LIGHTNING.

2. THEN DR. HENRY MORRIS IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION COMMENTS ABOUT THE BLOOD BY SAYING AND I QUOTE:

* “THE MASSES OF WATER VAPOR BLOWN SKYWARD MIGHT WELL CONDENSE IN THE INTENSE UPDRAFTS AS HAILSTONES, AND SHOWERS OF BURNING LAVA MIGHT WELL BE “CAST UPON THE EARTH WITH THEM.” THE BLOOD OF ENTRAPPED MEN AND ANIMALS MIGHT BE MINGLED WITH THEM, OR POSSIBLY SHOWERS OF LIQUID WATER DROPS MIGHT BE SO CONTAMINATED WITH DUST AND GASES AS TO APPEAR BLOOD RED.”

** DR. MORRIS ALSO GIVES ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE FOR VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS BY SAYING AND I QUOTE:

*** “IT MAY BE POSSIBLE THAT ANGELIC HOSTS WILL DIVERT THE PATH OF ONE OF THE MANY COMETS WITH WHICH THE SOLAR SYSTEM ABOUNDS SO THAT THE EARTH WILL PASS THROUGH ITS TAIL. THE MOST SPECTACULAR COMET WITH WHICH WE ARE FAMILIAR – HALLEY’S COMET – WOULD NOT NEED TO STRAY TOO FAR FROM ITS NORMAL ORBIT TO ENVELOP EARTH IN ITS FIERY TRAIN. WHETHER SUCH AN EXPERIENCE WOULD PRODUCE THE PHENOMENA DESCRIBED IN THIS PASSAGE WE DO NOT KNOW, SINCE OUR SCIENTISTS HAVE NO EXPERIMENTAL DATA TO GO ON YET.”

**** BUT WHATEVER IT IS, WHETHER IT IS A PROVIDENTIAL MIRACLE THAT CHANGES NATURAL PHENOMENA TO PRODUCE THESE RESULTS,

***** OR THAT GOD USES A CREATIVE MIRACLE WHERE GOD DIRECTLY CREATES SOMETHING NEW FOR THAT TO HAPPEN, WE DO NOT KNOW, BUT THE RESULTS WILL BE DEVASTATING.

3. FOR A THIRD OF THE EARTH WILL BE BURNED UP, RUINING THE SOIL IN WHICH CROPS ARE CULTIVATED UNUSABLE.

* THEN A THIRD OF THE TREES WILL BE DESTROYED, DESTROYING MUCH FRUIT PRODUCTION, LUMBER PRODUCTION AND OXYGEN PRODUCTION.

** AND FINALLY ALL THE GREEN GRASS WAS BURNED UP.

*** WHICH APPEARS TO BE IN CONTRADICTION TO REVELATION 9:4 WHERE THE ORDER IS GIVEN NOT TO HURT THE GRASS OF THE EARTH.

**** BUT ROBERT THOMAS IN HIS COMMENTARY ON REVELATION 8-22 GIVES A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR THIS.

4. “THE THIRD ELEMENT OF VEGETATION TO BE BURNED IS ALL THE GREEN GRASS. THIS POSES A DILEMMA, BECAUSE GRASS STILL EXISTS WHEN THE FIFTH TRUMPET ARRIVES. IT IS HERMENEUTICALLY WRONG TO SEE THIS AS AN INCONSISTENCY RETAINED TO ACHIEVE ARTISTIC EFFECT.”

* “TWO CONSIDERATIONS HELP TO RESOLVE THE QUANDARY. FIRST, A TIME LAPSE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND FIFTH TRUMPETS ALLOWS TIME FOR GRASS TO BE REGROWN AFTER THE BURNING, BUT BEFORE THE ASSAULT OF THE FIFTH SEAL. SECOND, IN MOST PARTS OF THE EARTH GRASS IS NOT GREEN THE YEAR ROUND, BUT IS SEASONAL. BURNING OF ALL THE GRASS THAT IS GREEN DURING A PARTICULAR SEASON WOULD LEAVE THE REMAINDER UNTOUCHED UNTIL ITS SEASON OF DORMANCY IS OVER.”

** “WHETHER THE AFFECTED PORTION WAS ONE-THIRD OR SOME OTHER PERCENTAGE, THE TEXT DOES NOT SAY. THE DESCRIPTION SIMPLY SAYS “ALL” THAT IS GREEN AT THE TIME OF THE PLAGUE. EITHER OF THESE TWO EXPLANATIONS ALLOWS FOR TAKING “ALL” IN ITS LITERAL SENSE WITHOUT CONTRADICTING 9:4.”

*** SO NOW THERE IS NO CONTRADICTION HERE, GRASS CAN GROW BACK QUICKLY, I KNOW FOR WE DIDN’T HAVE A LAWN LAST YEAR WHEN WE MOVED AND HAD ONE PLANTED AND GRASS STARTED GROWING IN A WEEK.

**** SO NO CONTRADICTION HERE, FOR ONLY A THIRD OF THE EARTH’S SOIL WAS AFFECTED.

5. NOW AS WE PUT ALL THE DEVASTATING RESULTS OF THIS TRUMPET TOGETHER, IT WOULD INCLUDE DESTRUCTION OF CROPS AND GRAZING LAND, LOSS OF WOOD FOR CONSTRUCTION, THE DEATH OF PEOPLE, ANIMALS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF WATERSHEDS.

* AND I’M NOT TRYING TO BE UNKIND, BUT THERE WILL BE NO CELEBRATION OF EARTH DAY THAT YEAR. AND THE JUDGMENTS ON OUR ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM CONTINUE WITH TRUMPET NUMBER 2 WHICH WE WILL SEE IN VV. 8&9. LOOK AT V. 8 PLEASE TO BEGIN WITH.

II. THE SECOND TRUMPET, (READ V. 8)

A. NOW THE FIRST TRUMPET JUDGMENT FELL ON THE LAND, WHEREAS THE SECOND TRUMPET JUDGMENT AFFECTS THE SEA.

* AND RATHER THAN INTERPRET THE SEA AS THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, IT WOULD BE BETTER TO INTERPRET AS THE SEA AS A WHOLE, THE OCEANS OF THE WORLD WHICH ARE CONNECTED WHICH COVER ABOUT THREE FOURTHS OF THE EARTH.

** AND THE REASON I SAY THAT, ALTHOUGH SEA IS SINGULAR IN FORM, IT APPEARS TO BE TALKING ABOUT THE SEA AS A WHOLE BECAUSE THE OTHER 3 TRUMPET JUDGMENTS AFFECT THE ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF THE ENTIRE WORLD, IT WAS NOT A LOCAL JUDGMENT.

*** V. 7 - A THIRD OF THE EARTH WAS BURNED UP, V. 10 – A THIRD OF THE FRESH WATER IN RIVERS AND SPRINGS WERE AFFECTED.

**** AND THEN IN V. 12 – A THIRD OF THE SUN, MOON AND STARS ARE AFFECTED WITH UNIVERSAL AFFECTS RESULTING.

1. BUT REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU INTERPRET V. 8, IT WILL BE DEVASTATING.

* FOR SOMETHING LIKE A GREAT BURNING MOUNTAIN BURNING WITH FIRE WAS THROWN IN THE SEA.

** AND THROWN COMMUNICATES WITH GREAT FORCE, LIKE SOMEONE THROWING OR CASTING SOMETHING, ALMOST AS IF THE ALL-MIGHTY WITH FORCE THROWS THIS TO EARTH.

*** IT’S DEFINITELY FROM THE HAND OF GOD AND THE ONE WHO CREATED SEA LIFE ON THE 5TH DAY IN GENESIS 1:20-23 NOW DESTROYS A THIRD OF THAT LIFE AS WE’LL SEE IN V. 9.

**** NOW JOHN DOES NOT SAY EXACTLY WHAT THIS HUGE FIREBALL IS, BUT USES A SIMILE, A FIGURE OF SPEECH, USING THE WORD LIKE.

2. AND CERTAINLY IT IS NOT FAR FETCHED TO THINK THAT GOD THROWS A GIANT METEORITE OR ASTEROID, SURROUNDED BY FLAMING GASES SET ABLAZE BY THE FRICTION OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE.

* I MEAN WE HEAR DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS ABOUT AN ASTEROID HITTING THE EARTH.

** AND THE IMPACT WOULD CERTAINLY BE GREATER THAN AN ATOMIC BOMB WITH THAT KIND OF FORCE AND SIZE.

*** AND SINCE THE EARTH’S OCEANS ARE CONNECTED, THE DEVASTATION FROM THAT HIT WILL SPREAD ACROSS ONE THIRD OF THE OCEAN’S WATERS WITH 3 DEVASTATING EFFECTS. ONE IN V. 8 AND TWO IN V. 9.

**** AND HERE IN V. 8 A THIRD OF THE SEA BECAME BLOOD, LIKE THE NILE RIVER IN EGYPT AND OTHER BODIES OF WATER IN EGYPT DID, WHICH WAS LITERAL THEN AS THIS IS LITERAL AT THIS POINT.

3. AND IT SAYS HERE AT THE END OF V. 8 THAT THE SEA BECAME BLOOD, TURNED INTO BLOOD, NOT LIKE BLOOD, SO I BELIEVE IT WILL.

* AND WHETHER THE RESULT IS FROM ALL THE MARINE LIFE THAT IS KILLED, I’M NOT SURE, BUT A THIRD OF IT WILL BECOME BLOOD.

** AND TWO MORE CATASTROPHIC RESULTS FOLLOW. LOOK AT V. 9 PLEASE.

B. READ V. 9. NOW THE 2’D CATASTROPHIC RESULT IS A THIRD OF THE SEA CREATURES, MARINE LIFE DIES.

* AND NOT ONLY WILL THAT HAVE AN AFFECT ON THE WORLD’S FOOD CHAINS, BUT THINK OF A THIRD OF SEA CREATURES DYING, WHALES, SHARKS, AND EVEN SMALL FISH AND ALL THE ALGAE AND PHYTO-PLANKTON THAT PRODUCE OXYGEN.

** AND THINK HOW THESE WATERS ARE POISONED AS A RESULT AND THINK OF THE STENCH AND HORROR THAT FOLLOWS. (BILLIONS OF MARINE CORPSES).

*** BUT ON TOP OF THAT A THIRD OF THE SHIPS ARE DESTROYED. AND OF COURSE SHIPPING TODAY IS HUGE IN A WORLD MARKET AND ALL THAT WE IMPORT AS A NATION TODAY.

**** AND THERE ARE MORE NAVY, FREIGHT SHIPS AND CRUISE SHIPS IN OCEANS, MORE THAN ANY TIME IN HISTORY.

1. AND MOST LIKELY THE IMPACT OF THIS GREAT METEOR OR ASTEROID OR WHATEVER WILL GENERATE HUGE TSUNAMIS (TIDAL WAVES).

* AND WE RECENTLY SAW THE FORCE OF A BIG TSUNAMI IN OUR WORLD.

** BUT THE DEVASTATION OF THESE GREAT WAVES WILL DESTROY A THIRD OF THE SHIPS AND THEN ADD TO THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF PORTS AND CITIES, IT WILL BE BEYOND IMAGINARY.

IN WRAP UP (1) IT’S IRONIC TO ME THAT GOD JUDGES THE EARTH AND SEA AND CREATURES THAT MANY WORSHIP TODAY.

* FOR AS YOU GO BACK TO THE LITERAL 10 PLAGUES IN EGYPT, WITH SOME SIMILARITIES TO THESE JUDGMENTS ONLY MORE MASSIVE, WE ARE REMINDED THAT IN THEM GOD WAS JUDGING THE EGYPTIANS FOR WORSHIPING FALSE GODS.

** IN OTHER WORDS, GOD WAS MOCKING THEIR IDOLATROUS WORSHIP, GOD WAS JUDGING THE GODS OF EGYPT SHOWING HIMSELF SUPERIOR TO EGYPT.

*** THE NILE WAS WORSHIPED AND TURNED INTO BLOOD. FROGS, GNATS, FLIES AND LOCUSTS WERE WORSHIPED.

**** BUT ALSO LET ME SAY THIS DELICATELY, EVEN THEIR FIRSTBORN SONS WERE WORSHIPED.

(2) AND BELOVED WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT IDOLATRY IS WORSHIPPING ANYONE OR ANYTHING OTHER THAN GOD.

* IDOLS CAN BE MONEY, JOBS, CARS, HOMES, SEX, THE EARTH, OUR PETS, EVEN OUR SPOUSES OR EVEN CHILDREN.

** JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 10:37 (READ IT).

*** NOW ARE WE TO LOVE OUR FAMILIES? ABSOLUTELY. BUT NOT AS MUCH AS WE LOVE THE LORD FOR HE IS OUR REDEEMER AND CREATOR AND IS WORTHY TO BE OUR FIRST LOVE. (READ AND APPLY REVELATION 2:4).

**** AND THE QUESTION THAT COMES TO MIND TODAY IN APPLICATION, AS WE SEE A HOLY GOD JUDGE UNHOLY REBELLIOUS PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP THE CREATURE, MOTHER EARTH AND CREATION OVER THE CREATOR, IS,

(3) IS WHAT OR WHOM DO YOU LOVE THE MOST? BELOVED, NOTHING OR NO ONE IS WORTHY OF OUR FIRST LOVE OVER CHRIST.

* MAY WE LOVE HIM SUPREMELY BY SEEING THE MAGNITUDE OF OUR SIN AND THE MAGNITUDE OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY TO US.

** MAY THE MAGNITUDE OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY DRIVE US TO WORSHIP AND OBEDIENCE.

*** FOR BOTTOM LINE, AN ACTION OF LOVE IS OBEDIENCE, READ JOHN 14:15.

**** BROTHER, THE FIRST COMMANDMENT FOR US AS FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST IS FOUND IN MATTHEW 22:37&38. IT SAYS: (READ THEM).

(4) CLOSING QUESTION, ARE YOU OBEYING THE FIRST BIG COMMANDMENT? DON’T BE AN IDOLATER LIKE OUR WORLD, WE NEED TO APPLY I JOHN 5:21, THE LAST VERSE IN JOHN’S FIRST EPISTLE, “LITTLE CHILDREN, GUARD YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS.”