“The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshipping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood–idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” Revelation 9:20-21
The sixth angel to blow the trumpet brought about great plagues on the earth. These plagues killed off a third of the people still on the earth.
Imagine for a moment how many people who would be. Today there are about six billion people on the earth. If a third were killed, that would be about two billion killed. That is about the population of both China and India together. It is enough to wipe out North America and South America together. That is a lot of people!
When such great death would occur, you would expect people to get the message as to what is going on. Yet, in these verses, you see the people refused to change their ways.
At times I have heard Christian speakers state that God should strike nations with destruction to get their attention. That if God would take everything from a person, he would begin to follow after God.
This is not what usually happens. Most people when struck by God refuse to believe it came from God. They state it was just bad luck or other people caused the problems. Or they follow God for a day or two, then go back to their old ways.
There have been several major disasters in America involving many people: major hurricanes, earthquakes and 9/11. For a while the people of the nation turned to God. Within a matter of a few weeks, however, the people turned back to their old ways: not going to church, not praying, and not talking about God.
Do not allow yourself to be found in this way. Turn from your sins and follow God. If you harden your heart a little now, it will be stone cold against God when Jesus returns. Keep your heart alive for God. Do not play with sinful ways.
I pray today that you will keep your eyes on Jesus; that you will turn from sinful ways; that God will help you keep your heart pure; and that you will follow God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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