I've noticed something about our present world. Most of the time, it appears to be so cynical, so self-satisfied, so materialistic, so confident in the things that are seen, that it has very little time for spiritual things. But every now and then, the world comes around to the thought that maybe it ought to pay some attention to a wider reality.

Indeed in the days to come, you may well see in some of the popular magazines, a little discussion about things that are spiritual. A cynical world every once in a while has to ask, "What is this religious thing all about, and what shall we have to say about it?"

They write about God, the Bible, and Lucifer. They write about sin, and death, and Heaven, and Hell. And every once in a while they write about angels.

I've noticed something as well, and that is, whenever the world begins to describe what our Christianity is, they almost always get it wrong. They give us a whole set of mistaken impressions as the what Christianity is, and what the Bible is supposed to teach. So, that having been said, I thought that it would be good for us to talk about that subject that is so inspiring to some, so little known to others, but which always produces a kind of percolation of thought within our lives - the subject of angels.

There are such things in the world as angels. Many times, you and I face the prospect of dealing with angels. So let's think together about their origin, about their nature, about the mission to which God has called them, and even about their present activity. Finally, in an area of tremendous interest, let's consider what will be their prophetic role in the world that is now breaking upon us.

The Bible has many things to say about angels. In fact, I would recommend that you take the time to go through the Word of God, and find out everything it has to say about angels. You will discover a composite of beings that may amaze you as to their complex nature and capability.

Their Origin

Before we can realize who angels are, we must first understand their origin. Was there ever a time when angels were not? The answer is yes. Why? Because angels are created beings.

Think of our cosmology for just a moment. There was a time - if you will permit me to use the word "time" about that era before time existed - when there was only God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Spirit and the Son are co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. God is that eternal Being.

But then God chose to produce an order of creation, once upon a time. Among the very first beings He created was a very special group called "angels." After that, He produced another very special group called "humans." So there are angels, there are humans, and then, of course, lesser orders of created beings such as animals. So the origin of angels is that they were made. They were not propagated by God in the sense that they are His generic sons or daughters. Instead, they are created beings.

By the way, from what the Bible says about angels, we can learn a great deal about one particular angel. He was the topmost of all the angels, and his name was Lucifer. Ezekiel speaks about him and says:

"Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . .Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth. . .Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created. . .," Ezekiel 28:13-15.

So the Bible uses the word "created" about angels. There was a time when angels were not, but they were created by God. It is an important difference to keep in mind.

Already we should draw a couple of conclusions from that. Because angels are created beings, they cannot be God, just as God is not an angel, correct? Therefore, we should never worship angels. In fact, the Bible says that it's a great sin to worship an angel, and no real angel will ever let you worship him.

We should think of angels as being more capable than man in many ways, but less than God. We should also, while we are at it, remember that there is coming a time when man will be shown to be greater than the angels. Man is made a little lower than the angels for the time being, but Paul tells us that one day we shall judge the angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).

Their Nature

Now, the origin of angels having been settled, what is "their nature?" In their essential being, what are they? We use that expression because the Bible does. The Bible says that when Jesus Christ came down, He took not on Himself "the nature of angels." And so of course, they were not in the nature of God. From the Scripture, we can then know that they have a different nature from men. They are not men. Also, because they have a different nature from God, they must be created, and not propagated, by God.

If, then, angels have a nature that is unique unto itself, what can we say about that nature?

1. It is not human.

2. It is not essentially physical, although they have physical capabilities.

3. It is not Divine, although it is a spiritual nature.

These are spiritual beings, these individuals called angels. Thay are subservient to God, and they are temporarily superior to men. On at least one occasion in Scripture, they are called a "flame of fire" (Hebrews 1:7).

One of the essential things that we have to remember about angels is that they are free moral agents. They have the power to choose. We know that at least in the beginning, angels could say "yes" or "no" to God. What did they do with that free moral agency? There is a very vital question, because it impacts upon your life and mine. It should force us to examine ourselves, and ask, "What will we do with the free moral agency which is ours?"

What did angels do with that power to choose? Some of them chose to be servants of God, and some of them chose to be the enemies of God. That is something that we must understand in Scripture, In Isaiah Chapter 14, we have the account of Lucifer, who was the chief of the angels, and his rebellion against God. He said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" (Isaiah 14:13). In fact, five times in that chapter, he used the words, "I will," all in a sense rebelling against God: "I will take over the leadership of the universe. God is no longer God. I am God." He made himself to be God, the Bible says. So, this angel, already great in power and might, used his moral agency to rebel against God.

The Bible teaches us that there are two kinds of angels. There are elect angels - those who chose to follow the Lord; and there are fallen angels - those who chose to follow Satan, Lucifer, and chose to be enemies of God. Therefore we know that even at this moment, an historic conflict is being played out in the universe, a conflict which in part involves the angels. Angels, good and bad, are in a contest with one another, great in power and might, That produces some kind of a battle indeed.

Their Mission

The Scripture teaches that the elect angels have a mission in life. And what is that mission? Well, the Bible names several classes of human beings to whom they minister.

Christ talked about children, and He said "in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father" (Matthew 18:10). So angels minister especially to children. In fact, the indication of Scripture is that every child has an angel, and that angel produces good results in that child's life, and represents that child in many ways.

Think, for just a moment, about when you were a child. Remember the accident that almost happened, but didn't? Remember the time you were injured, but could have been killed? Remember how you escaped terrible danger by a hair's breadth, and you wondered why it was? It may well be that the angels were looking after you in a very special sense.

But angels also minister to adult human beings. Hebrews tells us:

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Hebrews 1:14.

There is a sense, therefore, in which we believe that angels are assigned to each one of us. And they look after us in a very real sense.

Angels are also assigned to churches. Remember, Christ wrote to the angels of the seven churches of the Book of the Revelation, and said, "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus"; "unto the angel of the church in Smyrna"; "unto the angel of the church in Pergamum," and so on.

Now I know that there are sophisticated Bible teachers who say, "What this really means is that these were messengers, just human beings, who carried the messages to the churches." Well, I'm not sure that's what it really means, because the word is not "human beings." The word is "angels."

We have other indications that angels look after the churches. You'll recall in one place, the Apostle Paul says that a woman ought not to pray with her head uncovered "because of the angels" (1 Corinthians 11:10-15). Now we won't discuss the ladies at the moment, but Paul did say that angels are quite conscious as to what goes on in the churches. Angels represent, in a very real sense, messengers from God to the churches. They may record every idle word there to present, maybe in the midweek time, to their Heavenly Father what takes place in that church.

Now I don't want to scare you with this. But I do want to suggest that you cannot show from Scripture the churches are on their own. But rather, the Bible does indicate that angels, these ministering spirits, are sent forth to minister for those who shall be the heirs of salvation.

Their Present Activity

So angels have a mission: Divine representation. As a part of that Divine representation, the Scripture indicates that in a very real sense they carry from Heaven the answer to our prayers.

Daniel prayed, back in the Book of Daniel, and an angel was sent to bring to Daniel the answer to his prayers. The angel got there late, you will remember, and Daniel, in a sense, said, "Where have you been?" The angel said, "I would have been here very quickly after you prayed, but I had a battle with the Prince of Persia, and he stood in my way" (Daniel 10:10-14). So we are told that angels represent the answer to prayers, and they bring to us a very real Divine gift at times, the gift of God's protection.

Now, in that we mentioned that there is a Prince of Persia, who is an angel, let's remember for just a moment what fallen angels do. Fallen angels, in the service of Satan, set out to deceive the nations. They subvert the work of God. They work havoc in the Church. They are against the things of Christ. But especially do they whisper in the ear of every ruler of the world. They say, "Do this, and do that," and they try to steer that nation away from God.

You'll recall that when the devil is finally placed in the bottomless pit, the Scripture says "that he should deceive the nations no more" (Revelation 20:3). No more of his unelect, fallen angels will be sent out to subvert the nations of the world. What a time of blessing that will be! So in terms of high policy, angels operate from both Heaven and Hell.

The universe becomes a very dramatic place when we picture it filled with angels coursing in one direction or another, doing the bidding of God, attempting to operate against the subversion of Satan - really, this is a far bigger place than perhaps most of us have taken the time to suspect.

Their Prophetic Role

We have learned some marvelous things about angels, but do they have a prophetic role? Does the Bible say anything about the activity of angels as we move toward the end of the age? Yes. In fact, the Bible gives us a number of descriptions that reveal the future mission of angels.

First of all, the Book of Revelation says that there are seven angels who sound trumpets, and each one of these trumpets is a harbinger of the judgment of God. The seven angels sound, and devastations come to pass in the world, indicating, of course, that angels are very great in power and might. They have been given very real authority over the natural universe, and especially as it concerns us, in this world. They, then, are an integral part of the sounding of Divine judgment in the Book of the Revelation.

Also, as we have already mentioned, angels will become messengers to the churches in a special way, as we move into that final End-Time. Now notice something else. The Bible says, in the very words of Christ:

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come," Matthew 24:14.

Today, the Gospel of the Grace of God has made a very effective penetration in our world. But during the days of the Tribulation, there will be open, visible activity by God and the angels, and judgments. The message preached to the world will not be the Gospel of the Grace of God, offering them membership in the Body of Christ. Rather, it will be the Gospel of the Kingdom, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. So important is this message, that the Bible says the Lord not only sends messengers, like the Jewish witnesses, but God also sends angels to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

During those days of the Tribulation, there will be no mistaking the fact that God has an announcement to make. One last and final time, He will force the world to listen to the message of the coming King.

Angels do a munber of other things in the Book of the Revelation as well. They are involved in one battle after another, and I am sure that even now they are girding themselves in their armor. But I notice that an angel is going to be involved in the last, final judgment upon Satan.

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed for a little season," Revelation 20:1-3,

So there you have an angel, with a chain. He comes to get the dragon, that old serpent, the devil. He binds him with that chain, and hurls him into the bottomless pit. The nations are no longer deceived, and the world begins the joyous activity of preparing for the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ.

Could that suggest something? Is it possible that the devil is getting kind of debilitated by that time? He was Lucifer, the angel of light. In fact, I'm sure that we could be excused for suggesting that he was the greatest in strength and ambition of all of the angels. But now, the long centuries of lust and shame, and being dismissed from the presence of God, have taken their toll. Perhaps millennia of working his dreadful, evil deeds have debilitated his own strength, so that it takes just one angel to take and hurl him into the bottomless pit. Thus it will be that an angel is the final executor of the judgment of God.

In the prophetic time, angels perform their message to the churches; they sound trumpets of Divine judgment; and they carry out the will of God in capturing the devil. In fact, when we look at what happens in the Tribulation, I rather guess that we will find a thousand other instances in which angels will have a role to play, that perhaps we aren't told of now.

I think there's a reason for this: in the Scripture, we do not have a square block with numbers on it, that precisely tells us of all the things that the angels do. Rather, what we have in Scripture are very stirring statements of their activity. The implication is that they work on what to us is a serendipity basis. They work unpredictably in our lives, and in the life of the world.

In fact, I must tell you, although I can't take the time to tell you the details, that I have had individuals come to me in recent days, and tell me inexplicable stories as to something that happened, that was beyond human reason. They just had in their mind an overwhelming sense that an angel had operated on their behalf.

And I suppose, I can confess to you that there has been a time, or two, or three, in my life, where something happened that, if carried to its natural conclusion, I wouldn't be here today. But it was interrupted - perhaps by some form of Divine providence. Could it be that an angel has worked on my behalf? I think so.

I'll tell you what I am looking forward to. When I go to Heaven (and who knows when we may go to Heaven?) I want to get the chance to meet that angel, and maybe some of his assistants, who helped me out when I was in this world. I think it is so possible that they are working on my behalf even this very day.

Angels - they are God's agents. They do His bidding. They don't often tell us what they are up to. But they operate in order to carry the will of God to the universe wherever it is needed. In that sense, they are terribly necessary in your life and mine.

The hymn writer, when he talked about going to Heaven, said, "Ye angels from the stars come down, and bear my soul away." That's going to happen some day. I'm going to meet those angels, and what a reunion that is going to be! That reunion, when we all get together in Heaven - don't miss it! I pray that you won't.

The Word of Prophecy which is given to us in the pages of Scripture tells us many things that will take place in the days to come. One of those many things centers on a subject that we would like to concentrate on, that I've called "When the Dragon Comes."

I've always been a littled startled by pictures and television images as represented by some of the festivals held in China, or even the larger ones that are drawn on the pages of our history books. The idea of a dragon, a monstrous creature, great in power and might, has always been around in the cultures of the world.

Great Wrath

Did you know that this is a fair representation of what is going to happen as we move toward the end of the age? The dragon is going to come. And the dragon, whom the Bible says is that old serpent, the devil, has some diabolical plans for the future. He's going to come in a very real sense, with a tremendous impact and hatred for the world. He will be prepared to do anything at all, to impose his dreadful will upon the world before the end comes.

You and I should know this. It helps us to explain some of the things that are taking place in our time. To start, let's remember that the Scripture says:

". . .For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time," Revelation 12:12.

Here is a starting place for examining a very interesting set of developments prophesied in Scripture. The devil is going to come down into this world, exercising his power in a new and special way. He will produce a greater impact, fulfilling more dreadful ambitions, than has ever before been the case. That is going to happen as we move toward the end of the age.

He will come forth with great wrath, because he recognizes that he has but a short time. It may be that he sees some of his constructs falling apart in this world. It may be that he realizes that the coming of the Lord draws nigh. He can read the Prophetic Word just like you or I. It may be that he looks at the regathering of the nation of Israel, at the situation developing in the former Soviet Union, and especially at the unity of Europe, and decides his time is short. Perhaps he sees what is taking place in the United States, and the moral and spiritual condition of the world. He then says, "This is my opportunity. Now I can do the greatest work that I can." The phrase "great wrath" certainly indicates that he has a world of indignation burning in his heart against God, and against the people of God.

What will he aspire to do? Considering that he knows his time is short, you can be sure that he won't waste his waning moments on some little, nitty gritty program of temptation. Like he always does, he will leave that to some of his dreadful, dark, demonic fallen angels, of which there are many in the world today. But he's going to now take the responsibility of trying to do something so evil, something so big, that he can capture the future.

Could it be that the devil, even though he reads the Bible, thinks he can yet beat the program of God, that he can break the Scripture, that he can have it his way rather than God's way? Or, does he think that he can fight the battle of the universe to a draw, so that dualism will be the condition of eternity? That may be the way he thinks, but that is not the way it is going to happen. What will he aspire to do, in order to bring to pass his wretched will in a rebellious world?

World Against God

His first intention is to organize the whole world into a unified political structure, and commit that political structure to the fight against God. He will pretty well succeed in this for a time.

". . .the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority," Revelation 13:2

The "him" in this Scripture refers to the Antichrist. The devil chooses a man who has been trained in a Satanic providence to perfectly represent the will of the devil. Satan realizes that the people will want a leader. He's caused the world to deteriorate so far up until now, that the people will want desperately to be led. And so the devil's man will step on the scene. In the midst of danger, this man will promise safety. In the midst of poverty, and famine, this man will promise great supply. In the midst of disillusionment, this man will promise hope. In the midst of total confusion, he will be the man with a plan. He will step on the scene with the help of Satanic empowerment, and he will present to the world the great plan for the days to come. He will promise that people once again will know prosperity and peace, and that the current, raging anarchy will become a thing of the past.

You see, the prophesied rise of Antichrist will happen during a period of time known as the Tribulation. The world, by that time, will have said to God, "We don't want You. We can go it on our own speed and our own thinking. We can handle the future." And God says, "Have it your own way." So the world does try to handle its own affairs. As a result, such anarchy will besiege the world, that it cries for help, "We must have a leader, someone who can show us the way out."

This man will step on the scene. And I foresee, frankly, that his presentation of himself to the world will produce such a fit of ecstasy that the world will say, "My, it's like Christ coming back and maybe even better than He. Here is a man that can show us the way to a bright future.

Seizing on the opportunity, he will organize a government that will embrace every person on the earth. Now I know that that idea of a unified world is being preached today in a lot of places. It's being preached in the Congress of the United States. It is surely being preached in the parliaments of Europe. It is being mentioned in many other nations of the world. The poorer nations have a vested interest in a world government, because they feel they can't do any worse, and hope they may do much better, with the resources of a united world to look after them. There is a magnetism moving in our time to put the world together under one leader.

The argument, of course, is almost unanswerable. Why should we be divided? Why should there be these expensive duplications that come because of disorganization? Why re-invent the wheel? Why not have the same kind of car for everybody, the same kind of bicycle for everybody, the same kind of aircraft for everybody? Why not communize everything? We will save lots of money, and with that money we will pay all the overdue bills of the world, bringing to pass global prosperity.

I could preach that sermon myself, if I weren't a Christian with a touch of sanctified cynicism about all human plans. But that's the message that satan's men will preach. Out of it, the response will be so great, that with relative ease he will put together global hegenomy - a world government.

At that point he will discover something, as almost every emergent tyrant discovers, whether it be Hitler or Mussolini or whoever. He will discover that when you put together a conglomerate of nations, initially the impact is a wonderful thing. Initially people say, "Now we've got it. This is the answer."

But there's something about this world, that the secular mind always forgets. It is the truism that nothing finally satisfies. Nothing ultimately works. Nothing prospers forever, whether it's the IBM company, the Edsel automobile, or whatever. It takes something else, from the outside, to keep it going. There are no autonomous, self-sufficient systems, no perpetual clocks, in this world of ours.

So, the leader of this world government, the Antichrist, the dragon's man, will say, "We've got to have another mucilage to hold it together." What might it be? Well, the answer so far has been ideology, such as comminism, fascism, or some of these other national socialistic movements. They are simply systems to enslave people, cleverly presented at their beginning. "We need something more," says the Antichrist. And what will that be?

Global Religion

It will not be simply an ideology of the mind. It rather will be a great emotion, a great feeling, a great sense of belonging to a larger cosmic reality. That's what he must put together. He will put together a world religion. When the dragon comes, he will come with great wrath, he will organize a world against God, but in order to make it all hold together, he will put together a set of religious convictions.

Do you suppose that he will announce that Jehovah is God? Do you suppose that he will say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and all of the teaching that we know to be true? Oh, no. He may refer to Christianity, but he will say. "The Bible was a book of its day 2000 years ago, but now it is quite archaic. Jesus Christ as the Son of God was a mythical conviction they had in those days - no longer necessary to believe. That the God Jehovah presides above the universe - well, we now know better. We know that there are many gods, and we are the gods of the new age." Therefore, by cobbling the pieces into some kind of a relationship, he will put together a new, world-wide religion. With the power and the charisma and the communication of his life, he will make that religion sound so plausable, that he will appear to have the answer to the spiritual needs of the world's population.

The Antichrist will do more than just present that religion. He will come very quickly to the place where he will say, "Do you want to know who is the great leader, the one chosen of God, yes, if you can see it, the one who is God Himself? That person is here, and I am he."

I can see it happen now. You see so much apotheosis going on in the world already - that means to make a god out of something else besides God. We make a god out of many things, and we even overly revere many people.

All of this will come to a head, when the dragon presents his man. He will tell of his new world religion. Satan and his demons will move across the world, influencing any heart that isn't characterized by faith, any heart that hasn't believed in Christ's Gospel of the Kingdom. He will subvert those unfortunate hearts into believing that the devil is God, and that his religion is the true religion of the world. And my, will he ever enhance that religion!

Revelation Chapter 13 tells us that that religion will be Satanic (they will worship the dragon); it will be humanistic (they will worship the beast); it will be pagan (they will worship an image that the beast makes of himself); it will be universal (all the world will worship); it will be ecumenical (the name "worship" is tied to the activity of the whole world).

Do you think you've seen an ecumenical movement up until now? Think again, because there is one coming that won't have all the holes in it that the last ones have had. He will produce a world religion, and that world religion will be so strong, that every person in the whole world will worship the dragon and the beast.

In fact, I believe that they will be able to put together electronic communications in such a way as to have every person in the world worshipping that man at the same time, thereby producing "harmonic convergence." The new agers have already told us what that is supposed to do. World religion - it seems preposterous, but it is on the way.

Now we have already said, and I hope each of us believes, that anything that has to do with this world, that is put together out of this world's substance, has a way of running out of gas. Tennyson put it rather well when he said:

That refers to any little system, but it also refers to the whole world system as well. The idea of a world government as we have already suggested, will pall in the fickle minds of men. They will once again need some kind of cosmic motivation to make it all happen. Finally, even a world religion will lose its fascination (after all, it contains no real truth!) The Bible teaches later in the Book of the Revelation that the kingdoms of this world are going to turn on the author of this world's religion, and they will destroy the whore that is from the city of the seven hills (Revelation 17:9, 16). Things pall, people lose their interest in them. So what can we do to keep them all going? Finally, the answer is that we can't.

The last, desperate thing that the Antichrist will do in order to get people to stay with him is that he will launch a war against God. He will produce what in Scripture is called the Battle of Armageddon. The whole world will march on the city of Jerusalem, and on that occasion, the armies of the Antichrist will be destroyed. How? By the returning army from Heaven in which Christ comes with ten thousands of His saints. When Christ returns, He will liberate beleaguered Israel, He will destroy the Antichrist, the devil will be deposed, and a tremendous, devastating judgment day will come upon the world.

There is one note about all of that, that I would like to emphasize, because it's not well understood by Christians. The Antichrist and the devil (the dragon that makes all this happen) will one day of course stand before God in judgment. Christ is God, and one day the whole world will appear before Him as judge!

". . .all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do," Hebrews 4:13.

Answer to Us

But let's emphasize another point of interest to you and me. The evil rulers of this world, the Antichrist, and the devil himself - they will answer to you, and they will answer to me. Now I know that there are humble folk, God bless you, who say, "What insufferable arrogance. Melody Warren says that she will have a part in judging the world one day." But that is what the Bible says.

The Apostle Paul talks about this very carefully in Scripture, in a passage that many of us haven't noticed.

"Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?. . . 1 Corinthians 6:1-2.

"The saints shall judge the world." Stalin, and Hitler, and Idi Amin, and the rest of them - the embodiments of wrongs and shames in the world - they will stand before God one day in judgment. But also, they will stand before you, and they will stand before me. The saints, believing Christians, will judge the world. The Scripture goes on:

". . .if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels?. . .," 1 Corinthians 6:2-3.

"We shall judge angels" - incredible! Now, we know something when we read this, and what is that? The devil is an angel, right? The devil in Scripture here is called "the dragon." In that the devil is an angel, Lucifer, who one day rebelled against God, he will stand one day before a tribunal, a panel of judges. That panel of judges will be the saints. The saints will judge angels.

When the devil is taken captive, he may demand a hearing before God Himself, or before the Trinity, or before some other high tribunal. But God will say, "No. You'll have to present your case before the very people that you have done to death in this world, that you have opposed, that you have fought against. Those little Christians whom you taught your liberal ministers to say were nothing - you must now stand before them to receive judgment."

Believe it, saint, believers in Jesus Christ - the devil himself will stand before us, and we will pass judgment on what will happen to him for eternity. God has committed that kind of judgment to you and to me.

It sometimes takes a little bravado to stand before people and say, "Stalin, and Hitler, and the rest of them - they're going to stand before God one day in judgment." And that's true. But if you really want to impress folks as to reality, tell them something else: "They're going to stand before me in judgment. They're going to stand before you in judgment." That's what the Bible says will happen.

Eternal Perdition

And then what will happen to them? They are going to go out into eternal perdition. Have you read what the Bible says is going to happen to the devil? Will the devil continue to be an alternative king for all of the world? No. The Scripture says:

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever," Revelation 20:9-10.

Do you believe in eternal Hell? It doesn't matter, That's what the Bible says is going to happen, whether you believe it or not! The devil, and those who choose to identify with him, will be tormented in the lake of fire forever and ever. They will go into eternal perdition.

The devil will have his day. But that day will not be for long. Christ will be the final victor over the universe, and when man's day is done, Christ's day will last forever.

A word of advice: make sure that you know Christ. Make sure that your life is dedicated to Him. Make sure that you are committed to His cause, because that's the only one worth being committed to. There are angels in this universe who are assigned to minister to you, and protect you as a child of God. There is also a former angel called the dragon, who will soon have his day. But you have no reason to fear him if you are a Christian. You, by knowing Christ, will be a creature of eternity.

Choosing Your Side

I hope that as you've read these things, you've said, "I want so much to go to Heaven some day, to be with Christ, to be delivered from the wrath to come." You can. In fact, the Bible tells us about these things so that we will turn to Jesus, and become Christians, with everlasting life.

Would you like to be a Christian today? If you believe that Christ is the Son of God, that He died for your sins, and you take Him as your personal Savior, God will give you everlasting life now. He will do it today. Would you like this to happen to you? Take the time to pray this prayer, receiving Christ:

"Heavenly Father, I know that I'm a sinner, that Jesus died for my sins on the cross and rose again, and I want now to take Him as my personal Savior. Please come to live within me. Bring me the assurance of salvation and eternal life, I pray in Jesus' Name, Amen."