The Great Final Preparation — David Wilkerson

The Day of Final Preparation

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P .O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends.

Now just keep your Bibles handy. We're going to go into a number of scriptures later on into the message, but let me just try to embed my heart for you tonight about the day of final preparation. Now we're living in what I believe to be the day of final preparation in heaven, in hell, and on the earth itself.

There's a tremendous activity going on. If God could pull back the screen so that we could see between time and eternity, that thin tissue that separates us, the eternal from the physical, we would see an incredible activity that we couldn't understand.

He would pull back the curtain and we would, I for a second would cry, what's going on? What is happening? What do they know that is causing such tremendous comings and goings, such activity, all of heaven in preparation?

There's never been anything like it ever described until it came to us through John in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The determination, the rushing about, the intensity, the mind-boggling preparation.

And the question is, what's in the wind? What's about to happen? And right now the heavens are ablaze in anticipation. Absolutely ablaze. Angelic beings must be awe-stricken as they prepare to judge the earth with the destructive forces that they hold in their hands.

They're unspeakable. Now, angels don't know the day of the hour when the Son of Man comes, but they know they have been commanded and urged to prepare. They've been commanded to be in a state of readiness.

You see, folks, there's a final war coming. There's a final conflict of the ages. When every enemy is going to be put under the foot of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every enemy. Imagine the preparations going on right now.

There are also great preparations going on in hell, and right here on this planet. We're going to talk about some of these preparations tonight. The final preparations in the heavens can only be seen by us in little glimpses into the eternal.

God's not chosen to show us the hell soon. We're just little glimpses here and there through the Word of God. But how glorious and yet how frightening it is to look into the preparations of eternity. Now, without speculation tonight, I'm going to try to stick right to the Word of God and not speculate.

I'd love to. I'd like to just take off and imagine what it's going to be like. But let's get close to the Word. One of the most mind-boggling statements in all of God's Word. You don't have to turn there, but it's in Revelation, the eighth chapter and the first verse.

And I've got to thinking of this, and I can't get it out of my mind. It says, and there is silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. Why the silence and why half an hour? You know, it hasn't given us the clue.

But in Revelation 6, 1, the Lamb of God broke even one seal, and then He broke it, there was a noise of thunder throughout the heavens. The heavens literally shook with an incredible, supernatural thunder.

I don't know what thunder is like when God does it in the eternals. I know what it's like when you hear thunder and it rolls you out of bed. Can you imagine what it's like when divine thunder rolls the heavens?

But you see, there's no thunder now, there are no choirs singing, there are no angels, the seraphim's crying, Holy, Holy, Holy. There's an absolute hush. Can you imagine the silence when God speaks it?

When God commands it. When not an angel, not a created being in the heavens, nothing in the cosmos, there's not a sound in the eternal world. There's a total silence for half an hour. Why couldn't we begin to find a clue for that silence?

The Bible explains the Bible, the Word explains itself. And in Zechariah, I'll just give you, you don't have to turn to Zechariah 2, 12 and 13. And the Lord shall inhabit Judah, his person in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again, we speak into the spiritual Jerusalem, be silent, O all flesh.

Let's be silent. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has raised up out of his holy habitation. It's the raising up of God for judgment. That which has been eternally established from the foundation of the world, the hour has come.

The end of all things is beginning to fall into focus. And I don't know whether it's God meditating, I don't know whether it's rising up. There's something so awesome, there's something so powerful about to happen.

All we know is that there's silence for the space of half an hour. God is seen here, ready to claim his inhabitants. All things are now in place, the time appended from the foundation of the world has come.

In fact, the word used here is a holy hush, a great calm before a storm. It's too holy, it's too incoherent for the human mind to understand it. We do know this, that the silence suddenly ends, and the judgment angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.

They're made ready, in other words, they were poised. They were standing at attention. Now get this in mind please, this is what John is seeing. It seems that John has been brought into the war chambers of our Lady God.

He's sitting in the war council, he's watching all this activity. There's about to, the judgment's about to begin. There's this awesome silence, and then God's prepared with the judgment, with the trumpets that are about to sound, and bring incredible, unspeakable judgments to the earth.

And John is allowed to sit in on this, he's observing all of this. Incredible preparation in the eternal world. The sixth angel is going to resort earth for demonic powers. 200 million demonic horsemen are going to come forth to destroy one-third of mankind, with fire, smoke, and brimstone.

And the Bible said, they were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay one-third of mankind, and the number was numbered 200 million. 200 thousand thousand, which is 200 million.

I don't know if they're human, I don't know if they're demonic, there's an army. That army has been prepared, the Bible says they were poised, they were prepared. The word prepared means poised, standing, made ready.

They were poised, can you imagine holding back an army of 200 million ready to go? The incredible preparation for an army of 200 million, whether it's demonic or human. If it's indescribable, can you imagine trying to hold back those forces?

In fact, the Bible said when the Holy Spirit is gone, those forces will not be held back. Now, the veil separating the physical and the spiritual, if we could just see it lifted, what a sight it would be right now, this activity.

You see, we seem to think that God's just waiting for the last soul to be saved, and when the last soul is saved, and the last human soul, God will just speak the word, and everything will fall in place.

It's just what just happened. No, when God created the earth, he worked at it for six days. And God is working at the preparation for the final hour. Heaven is in movement. Heaven is in activity. For the final hour, right on schedule, one angel after another is going to blow a trumpet and set off these unthinkable judgments.

Hell, lingered with blood, is going to burn up one-third of all the greenery. The seas are going to be polluted. A great sky, a meteor is going to fall on the earth, burning like a torch, and poison the rivers and the lakes and the streams.

The sun and the moon, the sky is going to be darkened. And in the midst of all of this judgment, an angel is going to be appearing in the skies, crying with a loud voice, Woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the judgment yet to come.

Right in the middle of the judgment, an angel, John sees an angel flying through the heavens. Woe, woe, that's just the beginning. Woe to what yet is to come. There will be on earth such torment, men will cry for death and not be able to find it.

John is seeing this. He sees in the spiritual mind all the things that heaven is preparing to pour out. In fact, John was allowed by vision to behold this activity, and it was said, things that must shortly come to pass.

Now we know this is a revelation of Jesus Christ. This final preparations. This is a prophecy of end-time things. Because Jesus appears in the first chapter, and John doesn't even recognize him. The one that he used to lay his head on, he doesn't even recognize him.

His eyes are aflame. Because you see, things now, the Lamb is the Lion of Judah. He's coming now, with a whole different attitude. Now, all things are at hand, all things are coming to an end. And now he's reaching out to the churches and saying, no more coldness, no more lukewarmness.

No, not anymore. The time has come. All things are now ready. And he comes to the church, and he appears to the church with this tremendous call, return, return, return. For the hour of judgment has come.

Babylon has fallen. John sees the angels girded. In Revelation 15, 16, 17, he sees the angels girded for action. Put in a state of readiness, in other words. For the hour of his judgment has come. He sees an angel coming out of the temple with a sickle in his hand.

And a loud voice thunders through the heavens. Trust in your sickle. Weep. For the time has come for thee to weep. For the harvest of the earth is ripe. Another angel comes out of the temple. And he's told, trust in thy sickle.

And gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. For her grapes are fully ripe. Time is ripened. Judgments are about to come. And John is beholding this hundreds of years before it's to happen. He also saw the great preparations for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

You think the Lord is going to speak a word and the marriage supper of the Lamb is going to take place? Oh no, all these preparations getting ready. He has made majestic preparations right now to receive the bride for his son.

What a glorious preparation that must be. John saw it all. Now let me tell you what I'm saying right here now. It seems as though God is saying, let all on earth go ahead, eat and drink and be merry. Let them say, where is the sign of His coming?

All things continue as they were from the beginning. God says, I will prepare. Let them sleep. Let them say what they will. Let them call it good. Let them call it bad. Let them call it anything. I am prepared.

I tell you now folks, while we sit here in Times Square Church, in the middle of babbling, God is preparing. He is getting ready. All things are in a state of readiness now. Hallelujah. Satan is also preparing for the final conflict.

Satan’s Preparation and the Final Conflict

Scripture says, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. For the devil has come down unto you having great wrath. Because he knows he has but a short time. John sees the bottomless pit being opened.

And out of it is spewing an army of demonic lurkers. Faces of men like horses, prepared for battle. Prepared. They've been prepared. They're not a lazy demon in hell right now. They're not one of them asleep.

They had a king over there which is the angel of the abyss of bottomless pit. His name is Abaddon. Satan. Listen to what I believe the Holy Spirit is saying. Satan knows that his time is short. He's come down to the earth.

The battleground is not somewhere in the heavens. The battleground is right here on planet earth right now. The devil has set up his headquarters right here on earth. All the principalities and powers of darkness are headquartered right here on earth.

The devil has come down unto you. He's prepared his forces. His strategy is underway. All hell right now is one big satanic operations network. It's set up. Everything is spilled out of hell. Satan's main object, of course, is the elect.

His object is not the backslidden Babylonian church. The devil's object is to try to shatter and shipwreck the elect, the chosen of God, and remove them from their steadfastness in the Lord. He's going to so thoroughly deceive the wicked that they're not even going to repent when the sun scorches them and they're dying left and right and the judgments fall.

The scripture says there will be spirits of devils working miracles that there will be judgments of God falling upon the earth. The Bible said they will curse God. They will not repent, the Bible said.

They're going to be so deceived that even though they know they're under the judgments of God, they'll curse God. That's deception. Principalities and powers of darkness are right now working around the clock.

There's no rest in the demonic world. There's no relaxing. They're racing through the earth prepared to set up their own kingdom, their own Christ, their own money system, their own religion. Beloved, what do you think is behind, what do you think is behind the adversary forces right now?

This driving force to kill and destroy, what's behind that? The principalities and powers that rule now over their own kingdom. Why in the past ten years, new areas, Aquarius, the revival of the occult, Santana, Cytics, Eastern religions, Gurus, Transcendental Meditation.

Why is it that even presidents of the United States now consult with stargazers and astrologers? Why do our young people turn to acts of devil worship? Why all the outbreak of evil that we've never seen?

It's the destroyer who's come to set up his kingdom on earth. He knows his time is short. He knows it. He's aware of it. Did all these evil things just happen? Is it just the degenerated power of nature?

Are Americans so burnt on sin that we're just going worse and worse because of the flesh? Or is there something more sinister behind it? Oh, yes there is. There's a force behind it, royalty, inhabitants of the earth and the sea.

The devil has come down to you. He's mad, having great wrath. He knows his time is short. It's a masterminded attack. It's well planned. It's a high intelligence. It's a power base being set up. Angels of light and deception are now in training.

There's a devotion to their cause. There are abilities that have been distributed among these demonic powers. Satan's army is not asleep. There's no lukewarmness in hell. They're not a lukewarm devil.

They're not a lukewarm demonic spirit anywhere. They are totally devoted to their man, totally devoted to their cause. They run to and fro, the scripture says. They run to and fro throughout the whole earth.

They never sleep. You see a demon-possessed person, you'll see one that is roaming around the town. No rest. They're going about seeking rest. What's the topic in hell? What's the main message there?

I'll tell you what it's like in hell. It's a very sober time. It's a life and death issue. A call to war. The message there is time is short. Let's work while we still have time. There are no prophets of peace and security in hell.

None. They're not looking at peace and security right now. This is all out there. There is no sloth. There is no laziness. But let me tell you something. I believe the joke of hell must be the total lack of preparation among Christians.

It must be the joke of hell. Where everyone in the spiritual realm, where everyone in the spiritual realm does this furious preparation for the final hour, millions of Christians are falling fast asleep.

It must make angels blush. It must make devils laugh. While they prepare so furiously, knowing their time is short, and in the heavens, all in preparation, angels standing with tents and trumpets in hand, and what are the majority of God's people, especially in America today, in materialistic societies, what is happening?

John the Baptist went before the Lord to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That was his call. Prepare a people for the Lord. John saw the holy city of New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven as prepared as a bride adoring for her husband.

There was a call for preparation, not only in heaven. It's not only to be demonic powers in preparation. The church of Jesus Christ is to be prepared as a bride. There's a call for preparation. Well, the disciples slept through that dark hour, that last hour.

And Jesus called them to watch, and they slept through it. And I wonder if we're not going to have many men in our church today, in the church of America, fast, fast asleep. And in light of that, the Holy Spirit gave me three warnings for the church.

Letting Go of Worldly Possessions

Three warnings. Now, when I say the church, I'm talking about this congregation and wherever the message is heard. I have no delusions that I'm speaking to the world. I'm speaking simply to those the Lord delivered His message to.

First of all, the Lord commanded me to speak this. Just this small voice. The Holy Spirit's there in my heart. First of all, there's three warnings I want to give you tonight about preparation. Hear it in the Spirit, please.

And I'm asking God to help me to say it in love, but I have to say it. God's people are digging in rather than letting go. This is a warning. God's people, many. And I'm speaking in generalities. Thank God for the renderer.

Thank God for the elect. But folks, don't shovel it off now. Receive what the Lord wants you to receive tonight. I'm speaking to myself primarily, and to anyone else who is open to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

God's people are digging in rather than letting go. I want to talk to you about things. Things. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. Jesus warned, beware of covetousness. For man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Now, you can sit here and say, well, thank God the pastor's going to talk about things he's going to talk about, which people he's going to talk about. People have more than I do. Not because I've seen some of the most selfish people in the world who have probably the least of any others.

I've seen people who absolutely live on the streets with more covetousness over their little bag of goods than anybody I've met that had great wealth. Now, it's on both sides. That doesn't put the blame on either side, or either group.

But I want you to follow me, please. Our possessions, our possessions have a tendency to tie us down to this world. Living in the very last of the last days, yet we are wallowing in our things. Heaven and hell are preparing for war, we go shopping.

Uh, brother, sister, this is not a laughing matter. I'm not trying to be cute, but I'll tell you what. If you get away from your prayer closet, the further you get from your prayer closet, the closer you get to Bloomingdale's.

The closer you get to the things of this world, we're becoming clothes hogs. We're trying to buy clothes so we don't end up in classes for sparing it. Heaven and hell are preparing for the final conflict, and we're playing with our prayers.

Our pocketbooks are out of control. It's said if Noah's day, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the Ark of Lot's day. It says they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.

Now, none of that activity is evil in itself. In fact, Noah was building the whole time. He built for 120 years. Noah had to buy and sell to get the food and all the cookery he had to buy, and he had to sell.

His children married and were given in marriage. That's not the point. He said until the day they entered in, and that's what the Lord was saying, these people rejected the message of the last hour. They rejected the message of judgment.

They rejected the message of the prophets. And so they were giving themselves to these things. It was not that those things were evil in themselves, but until the very day, they shut it out. They shut out all the message, all the warnings, all the warnings of the Holy Spirit to be used and disowned, to lay down their idolatry.

And they heard this message, and they went on their way. And what he's talking about is they neglected the message of judgment. They neglected the call of the shepherds and the watchmen. And they went on their way until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

And also, lots of time, until the fire fell from heaven. Nobody was heeding. Nobody was listening. Nobody was preparing. They were digging in. They weren't letting go. They were coming under the bondage of these things and giving themselves to the pleasures of this earth, giving themselves to these things, and not preparing, not awakening or stirring themselves.

I'm going to tell you something. I don't care how much you love Jesus. You will backslide if you don't allow the Holy Ghost to continually stir your heart by the word and by prayer. It's called meekness.

It's called drifting. All through the scripture it says, Awaken! Awaken! Stir yourself! I got a letter from Hong Kong, from Manon Baker, who was in this corporate not too long ago, telling us about the problems and the victories in China.

They have a tiny apartment in Hong Kong. And after this uprising in China, basically, the students began to flee and he had 18 students sleeping on the floor in his tiny apartment. 18 students. And these students got out of China with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Many of them Christians. And to hear, to hear of this primitive love, to hear of those who want nothing to do with our Western culture. They want nothing to do with our American jeans now. They don't want anything to do with our T-shirts.

They don't want anything to do with our rock music. They don't want anything to do with our cars. They don't want anything to do with our houses and our lands and our possessions. There's a cry of these young people out of China now.

Roland Baker said there's a cry from their heart. We want to be with Jesus. They want the freedom to worship and praise. They've been totally cut off from everything material. Beloved, I probably would have to confess I'm a materialist.

Deep in me, I think I'm an ascetic, you know. I keep saying I'm just satisfied going to live in a tent. Really, no, that's not true because I like nice things. And I have to be careful because those luxuries have a way.

Luxuries are sedatives. They're drugs. They're Western alcohol. They're Western cocaine. They're Western heroin. And they're sedating the church of Jesus Christ. And our luxuries are driving us out of the presence of God.

Listen. Nobody on the face of this earth is more guilty than I am. I have to continually read myself. This is a constant uprising in my flesh. And none of you can say amen to somebody else. Take it to heart.

Please take it to heart. Hear what the Spirit is saying. I hear it ringing in my ears. I hear it in my soul. The same words that Jesus spoke about the servants in the cold. He'd given them bed-dressings and He'd given them towels.

And He said, give it a count. Give it a count. Give it a count. There's a story that shook me up. I was reading it this afternoon. And it's of a certain steward. He was accused of wasting his goods. And this aster called him and said, servant, I've lost stewardship.

And that hit me like a knife. I'm going to have to stand before the judgment of the Holy God. Having lived in the last days of time without having an office prepared. And even the devil knows it's late.

I should know it's late. I should be curbing my appetite. This is not legalism. It's the voice of the Holy Ghost speaking to me. Speaking to this church. Shake it off. Shake off the lust for things. Lest it sedate you out of the burden of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But you see the church, we have people digging in in front of their TV sets. I know when I preach against TV, I can feel it. I actually feel it in the spirit. I see people digging in. I don't care what he says.

I don't care what he says. Nobody going to touch my TV. Let's have a dig in. They don't let anything go. They got it all figured out. Saints, I'm going to find out in not too distant future. I'm going to find out if it's prophecy.

I'm going to find out if God was really crying from his heart to his people. We're going to find out whether there was stubbornness. We're going to find some things out because he said you're going to give an account.

I'm going to give an account to obey the Lord, to do it in love and not through legalism. But I'm not even, I quit worrying about that flag legalism. I got a burden from the Lord and I'm just going to shout it out.

Saints of God, we're going to have to give an account. Thou shalt give an account. The Bible said we shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead. Going to have to give an account.

Isn't that something? You saw him under the blood. The Bible said we're going to stand. We give an account. We give an account. These were servants. These were all servants. Give an account. Give an account.

The Coming of the Lord and Christian Readiness

Secondly, God's people are becoming less and less excited about the coming of the Lord. This is a warning. I've heard it as clearly as I've ever heard in my life. You see, there's a new gospel being preached in the land and in the world today that Jesus comes only in the heart.

His second coming is a special revelation to the mind and he opens up himself to the inner man. In fact, the New Agers, that's the key message of their gospel. That's the cornerstone that their matria, that their Christ is going to appear on television simultaneously all over the world.

And people are just going to know, they're just going to look in his face and know that he's the Christ because of the inner revelation in their heart and in their mind. They're going to have a knowing.

They're called a knowing. And oh how that's creeping into the church today. You see, we have Christians today who don't see the world as we should see it, as a sinking ship that's reserved for fire, the scripture says.

It's reserved for fire. They don't see it that way. They see the world as a capital, international capital, so to speak, that's just kind of out of shape and kind of ransacked and run down and a lot of undesirables have moved in.

And they're going to kick out undesirables and remodel the place and re-engovern it. That's not God's work. That's not the picture of this world in the Bible. That's not the picture. The Bible said it's reserved for fire.

There's going to be a new heaven and a new earth. I want you to go to 2 Peter, if you will please, 2 Peter, 3rd chapter. And this should be a chapter that you read from now on, no less than once a week.

And I'll tell you why. Because of the doctrines that are going to be coming down the turnpike. These doctrines that say Jesus is the latest coming is the doctrine of wickedness. A wicked man saith the Lord delayeth.

Or an evil man, the scripture says, the evil man saith the Lord delayeth his coming. 2 Peter 3, 3. Knowing this first. This is 2 Peter, 3rd chapter, 3rd verse. I'm going to read a number of verses now.

At this point I'll read. Knowing this first, that those that come in the last day's scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and they're saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

For this they willingly are ignorant of. That by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water. Look at verse 7. That the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

I want you to skip down verse 10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

See then that all these things shall be dissolved, and melted. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation of godliness? Look in hastening unto the coming of the Lord. In King James, hastening means earnestly desiring the coming of the day of the Lord.

Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens. And in new earth may we dwell with righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. Beloved, while you're still in that chapter, listen to me, please.

They're saying this is not true, that Jesus only comes with clouds. They're symbolic statements. Now, even for the clouds, come in the clouds right now. The clouds represent opposition. They've got it all figured out.

They've got it all figured out. These new doctrines will sound so Christ-like. They will sound so script and scripture. Except, they're going to curse them. They're going to symbolize all of these things.

They'll be symbolic. The clouds, the coming of the Lord will be in the inner man, just a revelation. But my Bible, and they'll call, they call us now who preach the coming of Jesus, escapists. And we're trying to escape the world.

Now, that's okay if you're out in Iowa, or the Midwest, and you don't have to rub your nose in the gutter. You don't have to be around human need. That's one thing. We're on the front lines of evangelism here in New York, right in the middle of Crock City, right in the middle of Dublin, and we spoke the tone, the tone of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're not escaping. We're involved in human ministries. And we intend to stay here. But what kind of message is it? Verse 17, He therefore, beloved, said, You know these things. Before, beware, lest ye also be led away with the error of the wicked.

Fall from your own steadfastness. You know why the devil's going to try to rob us of this hope? It's because it produces steadfastness in Christians. And he's trying to get us away from our steadfastness in him.

Beloved, if you've got your eyes on the coming of the Lord, and you're earnestly, like the scriptures are looking for, and hastening to the coming of the day of God, not just to do this wrath, but His return.

Listen. This whole doctrine, this whole teaching that Jesus is not coming and they get laid off way right into the future, is symptomatic of a lack of devotion to Jesus. Those who are devoted to Jesus want to see Him.

They desire to be in His presence. Don't let anybody rob you of this, folks. It's coming. You're going to hear all kinds of sweet tunes. You're going to hear all kinds of doctrines coming down the road now.

And they're going to be putting off, putting off the Lord, every day away with the coming of the Lord. Oh, He's coming, folks. I've always believed that there's going to be a lot of suffering. The church is going to go through a lot of suffering.

It's going to be purged by fire. But Jesus is coming. He's coming in clouds of great power and glory. Hallelujah. My Bible says that the Jews of Enoch prophesied, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment.

Well, if the Lord's coming just in the heart, He's coming down with ten thousand angels to execute judgment on Him. That's what it says. He's coming with ten thousand to execute judgment. Paul said, For the Lord Himself, that means bodily, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain at His coming shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord.

Therefore, comfort one another with these words. It's a message of comfort. Hallelujah. It's not a message of escape. It's a message of comfort. Do you believe that? Then what changes in your lifestyle are you making?

Shame them that all these things are going to be dissolved. What kind of persons ought we to be in our holy conversation with God? It's not His lifestyle. What kind of changes are we making? Are we living in readiness?

That doesn't mean you walk around in fear. I grew up in that kind of thing. Always fearing that the trumpet would sound and I'd be lost. I would have said a bad word or I would have slipped off the movie and come out and the trumpet would sound and I was left behind.