Our New Testament scripture reading is from 1 Thessalonians 4. Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you. For ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia. But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more. and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you. That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. But the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." If you have your Bibles, I encourage you to follow along today, not only in the reading of the text, at the beginning of the sermon, but I dare say you will find it most helpful to be able to follow along as we go through the sermon, as, again, I believe it's a very challenging sermon by way of the nature of the content. And I encourage you to, again, be very alert and to mark up your Bible in the sense of underlining, pointing, if you need to take notes, whatever, that would be also helpful, just so that you can stay very much in tune with what is being read as well as what is being said. Our text today is from Revelation chapter 17, and I will be reading verses 9 through 12. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings. Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast." In the previous two sermons we considered the Preterist spurious claim that the book of Revelation was written prior to the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem in 70 AD in the passage there in Revelation chapter 11 verses 1-2. We also considered in Revelation 13-18 that this portion of the revelation wherein we find the number and the name of the beast does not refer to Nero. But there is even a greater degree of confidence according to Preterists found in the next piece of internal evidence to which they point in order to demonstrate their contention that the book of Revelation was written prior to the death of Nero in 68 AD. Namely, our text, Revelation 17 verses 9 through 12. Once again, I do not want to imply that all preterists would agree with what is herein represented to be the interpretive position of preterists on every point. However, I would submit that what is represented here is a popular interpretive view of many preterists. Let us consider then Preterism in Revelation 17, 9-12. The Preterist claims that Nero is identified as the sixth king in Revelation 17, 10 when it says, and there are seven kings, five are fallen, and one is. that sixth king, Preterists, contend is a reference to Nero, who is, according to their position, presently reigning when John penned the book of Revelation. How do Preterists come to this conclusion? First, the Preterists go to Revelation 17.9 which reads, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. It is noted that a key to the identity of this beast is given at this point. This beast and its seven heads represent a city that is historically known to have seven mountains or seven hills. Historically, Rome was called the city upon seven hills, or the seven-hilled city by ancient writers. And a feast by that name was celebrated each year in Rome, the seven-hilled city. Preterists identify the harlot here that sat upon the seven hills of Rome as covenant-breaking Jerusalem that was at one time allied with Rome in persecuting Christians, but was subsequently destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Thus, the Preterist affirms that this beast with seven heads has as its capital in the city of the seven hills, namely Rome. Secondly, the Preterist goes to Revelation 17, 10, where the angel gives a second meaning of the seven symbolic heads. And there we read, and there are, or better, and they are seven kings. Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space. According to the Preterists, the angel not only identifies the seven heads with the city of the seven hills, that is Rome, but also then identifies the seven heads with seven kings, which according to the Preterists are the first seven Roman Caesars. Five of these seven kings or Caesars have already fallen, that is, died. They are, according to the Preterists, Julius Caesar, the first head, or first Caesar, Augustus, the second Caesar, Tiberius, the third Caesar, Caligula, the fourth Caesar, and Claudius, the fifth Caesar. The angel then states in Revelation 17 10 that one is, that is according to the Preterist, one of these heads or Caesars is presently reigning which in the very natural succession of Roman Caesars would make Nero to be the sixth head or Caesar. Now I hope you can see that if the interpretation of the seven heads as the first seven Caesars is true, it would mean that John necessarily pinned this prophetic vision from Christ while Nero was still living and ruling, that is before 68 AD when he died. The angel then declares that the seventh head which the Preterist interprets to be the seventh Caesar in succession, would only reign for a short space or a little while. The Preterist interprets this head to be Galba, who only reigned for about six months due to civil war that fell upon Rome when Nero killed himself, which the Preterist believes to be signified by the deadly wound that the sixth head, or Caesar, received. In Revelation 13.3. Turn there with me very quickly. Revelation 13.3 says, And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. The Preterists would say that the head that was wounded was the sixth head, was Nero. And it was a wound by, it was a self-inflicted wound, a mortal wound. And as a result, not only was this inflicted upon Nero, But, generically, the empire suffered greatly because the empire fell into, for the next year, civil war that brought the empire to the brink of ruin. Now, once again, the case presented by Preterists appears, at first glance, to be very strong in demonstrating that Nero was still living when John was given this inspired vision. But let us take a much closer look here at the text to see if the interpretation of the Preterist really is consistent with and agreeable to scripture and history. Let us now identify two significant problems with the Preterist interpretation of Revelation chapter 17 verses 9 to 12. And this will take up most of the remainder of the sermon. I do want to continue in the next sermon in the same chapter, chapter 17, In this sermon, I'm basically addressing the problems with the interpretation of the Preterist. In the next sermon, I'd like to present what I believe the truth really is in a summary fashion, just going through the passage so that you can kind of put the verses together to see what it's saying. And so let's look at the first problem. Problem number one. As we noted in the previous sermon, the Preterist identifies the first beast that came out of the sea in Revelation chapter 13 generically with the Roman Empire and particularly or individually with Nero Caesar, the sixth head of that beast, as is revealed in Revelation 17.10. There he is According to the Preterists, five have fallen, one is. There, they say, that is Nero Caesar. Preterists claim the head of the beast, that is the sixth head, that persecuted and made war against the saints in Revelation 13, 7, and the number of whose name equals 666, as we saw in the previous sermon, in Revelation 13-18, they say, is Nero Caesar. However, I would submit that the sixth head of the Roman beast cannot be Nero. Let's lay this argument out step by step. Back to chapter 17, and we'll pay you a great deal of profit to follow along in your Bibles. In Revelation 17.8, the angel tells the meaning of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns. Revelation 17.8, where it says, the beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is." You're going to want to underline in this verse or highlighted or something. These words was speaking all of these speaking of the beast was is not shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. And then later on in that same verse was is not yet is. Here we see that the Roman beast with the seven heads is in some sense said to have lived. The beast that thou sawest was. In some sense, the beast was said to have lived. He was. And then, not to have lived. It says, and is not. And then, to have lived again. and yet is, or shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and finally to go into perdition or hell. Now the Preterists understand this to mean that the Roman beast under the first six heads, or Caesars, reigned in imperial power that according to the Preterist is the period of Was. The first six Caesars reigning in imperial power was the period of Was. But then the sixth head, Nero, was wounded to death with a sword by his own hands according to Revelation 13.3 that we looked at just a moment ago. which led the Roman Empire to the brink of ruin by way of a year of civil war in seeking to establish a settled Caesar, after Galba VII had reigned only for six months, to be followed by Otho, who reigned for three months, and Vitellius, who reigned for three months. According to the Preterists, that is the period of Is-Not, that period of civil war, after the beast was wounded, the sixth head was wounded according to the Preterists, that's the period of Is-Not. Finally, there appeared Vespasian, an eighth head, or Caesar, under whom the Roman Empire was revived and rescued from internal ruin and civil war according to the Preterist, that is the period of yet is or shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. But dear ones, I would have you carefully observe that is during the very period of the revived eighth head, the period of yet is, that the beast, as I said, ascends out of the bottomless pit to persecute and make war against the saints for a prophetic, not literal, 42 months. It is not during the period of the wounding of the sixth head that the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. I affirm and I will seek to demonstrate it is during the period of yet is that the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit and persecutes and makes war against the saints. Note first that in Revelation 17 8 there are two sets of three expressions that are clearly intended to be parallel one to another. First, at the beginning of Revelation 17.8 it is written, the beast that was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. Second, at the end of Revelation 17.8 It is written, the beast that was and is not identical to what is said in the first part of chapter 17 verse 8, those two are identical, but then thirdly, and yet is. So I submit that the beast that shall ascend out of the bottomless pit in the third expression of the first set And the beast that yet is in the third expression of the second set of Revelation 17, both refer to the revival of the Roman Empire under the eighth head of the beast. And I would submit that this is made clear when we come to Revelation 17, 11. And there we find a third parallel set of three expressions. Revelation 17 and 11, look at them. The beast that was and is not, notice, even he is the eighth and goeth into perdition. In other words, the beast that shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition in the first part of Revelation 17.8 and the beast that yet is in the second part of Revelation 17.8 is the same beast that is the eighth head and goes into perdition. I hope you can see from these parallel statements that the Holy Spirit clearly intends to show us that it is the revived eighth head of the Roman beast, which the Preterist says is not Nero, but is, according to the Preterist, Vespasian, that shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. Now why is that significant? Turning your Bibles to Revelation 11-7. There we find the reason why the revived eighth head of the Roman beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. And it says, and when they, that is the faithful witnesses or the faithful Church of Christ, shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," this is the reason he comes out of the bottomless pit, "...shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." Thus, dear ones, it is not the sixth head which the Preterists say is Nero that ascends out of the bottomless pit to make war against Christ's faithful church, but is rather the revived eighth head, which the Preterists say is Vespasian, that ascends out of the bottomless pit to make war and overcome the faithful church of Christ. Now let's go to Revelation 13, 7. In Revelation 13, 7, we note it was given to the same revived and healed eighth head, which the Preterists say is Vespasian, to make war with the saints and to overcome them. Now, the Preterists don't believe that that's Vespasian. They believe it's Nero. But I want to demonstrate that even in Revelation 13, The beast that they say individually, particularly, is the sixth head, is Nero that persecuted, is in reality not the sixth head at all, but is in reality the eighth head, which completely upsets the apple cart, the preterist apple cart at that point, I submit. How do we know that it is the revived and healed eighth head of the Roman beast? and not the sixth head, as Preterists teach, that makes war against the saints and overcomes them in Revelation 13.7. First, because it is the same war that is waged against the saints by the Roman beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 11.7, which is read that the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against these faithful witnesses and shall overcome them and kill them. But that beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit we already demonstrated from looking at Revelation 17.8 and comparing it to Revelation 17.11 is not the sixth head that is sent out of the bottomless pit, but is in fact the 8th head that is sent out of the bottomless pit. And secondly, we know that in Revelation 13-7 that it is the revived and healed 8th head of the Roman beast and not the 6th head as Preterists teach that makes war against the saints and overcomes them, because in Revelation 13, 3, it says all the world did wonder after the head that received the deadly wound. No, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say that all the world wandered after the sixth head that received the deadly wound, but to the contrary, it says all the world wandered after the head that was revived and healed from the deadly wound, namely the eighth head in Revelation 13. which is likewise said concerning the head of the Roman beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 17.8 and who is called the eighth head as we've already seen in Revelation 17.11. And it is also the same revived and healed eighth head of the Roman beast and not the sixth head that had the deadly wound that all the world not only wondered after, but that all the world worshipped in Revelation 13.4. Let's just pick this up. In Revelation 13.3, I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed. So, wounded to death is the sixth head. And according to the Preterists, that's Nero. And his deadly wound was healed. According to the Preterists, that's the eighth head. According to the Preterists, that's Spacian. And all the world wondered after the beast. Not after the beast whose sixth head was wounded to death, but after the beast whose head was revived, whose head was healed. And then in verse 4, And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast. Which beast? The one that was revived. The head that was revived. The eighth head. They worshipped that beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him? And then if you go to the same chapter, Revelation 13, Verse 12, I think it's even more clear. And he, this is the second beast, not the first beast, and he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast. That's the beast that was revived and whose head was healed, whose deadly wound was healed." The second beast causes the people of the world to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. And it's to that beast whom all the world wonders after, the one with the eighth head, the one that's revived, whose head is healed. It's that beast that all the world wonders after. It's that beast that all the world is set here to worship. And it's that beast, continuing on to verse 7, that was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. It's that beast, the eighth head, not the sixth head. Thus it should be clear, dear ones, that it is not the sixth head which the Preterists believe to be Nero that made war against the saints. in Revelation 11, 7, as we looked at, and Revelation 13, 7, but is rather the eighth head which the Preterists believed to be Vespasian that made war against the saints. Now here's the clincher. There is no historical record, even though that's what The Bible says it's the eighth head that made war against the saints. There is no historical record of Vespasian making war against the faithful Church of Christ during his reign as Caesar. To the contrary, we have testimony that Vespasian did not persecute Christians as did both Nero and Domitian. In the words of the ancient church historian Eusebius, we read Domitian, having shown great cruelty toward many, and having unjustly put to death no small number of well-born and notable men at Rome, and having without cause exiled and confiscated the property of a great many other illustrious men, finally became a successor of Nero in his hatred and enmity toward God. He, that is Domitian, was in fact the second that stirred up a persecution against us, against Christians. Although, now note this last phrase, although his father Vespasian had undertaken nothing prejudicial to us. And there's a footnote by the editor, Philip Schoff, at this point, that likewise confirms what Eusebius noted about Vespasian. The note of the editor says, The fact that the Christians were not persecuted by Vespasian is abundantly confirmed by the absence of any tradition to the opposite effect. Compare Tertullian's Apologia, chapter 5, where The persecutions of Nero and Domitian are recorded, but none by Vespasius. And yet, as I have hopefully demonstrated to you, it is the eighth head that persecutes. And it is the eighth head, the Preterist says, is Vespasian. Something is wrong with this system. What's the problem here? Preterists have, I would submit, completely misidentified who the seven heads upon the Roman beast are in Revelation 17.10 and who the eighth head of Revelation 17.11 is. For on the one hand, the Apostle John writes nothing about persecution brought against Christians by the sixth head of the Roman beast in Revelation 17.10. It doesn't record any. It doesn't mean there wasn't any, but he doesn't mention any. The sixth head that received the deadly wound in Revelation 13.3, nothing is recorded as to persecution brought by the sixth head against Christians. Now, if that was Nero, don't you think that the scripture would have recorded that it was the sixth head? that brought persecution against Christians rather than the eighth head. Whereas Preterists, contrary to the Apostle John, erroneously claim the sixth head to be Nero, the first great persecutor of Christians, who they also spuriously identify with the beast that makes war against the saints in Revelation 11, 7 and Revelation 13, 7. On the other hand, The Apostle John clearly identifies the revived and healed eighth head of the Roman beast in Revelation 17 11 as the blasphemous persecutor of the faithful church in Revelation 13 verse 7 and in verse 12, who shall ascend from the bottomless pit as we see in Revelation 11-7 and Revelation 17-8, and who goes to perdition according to Revelation 17 verses 8 and 11. Whereas Preterists, contrary to the Apostle John once again, erroneously claim the eighth head to be Vespasian, concerning whom there is no recorded persecution against Christians. Thus, the sixth head of Revelation 17.10, I submit to you, that is ruling is not Nero, as the Preterist claims, and therefore cannot be used as internal evidence to confirm that John penned the book of Revelation prior to 68 AD. That was the longer of the two problems to deal with. Problem number two. The Preterist likewise faces another significant problem in dating the book of Revelation before the death of Nero in 68 AD. When we consider Revelation 1712, there we read and the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast." The Preterist interprets the ten horns of the beast here to be the governors of ten imperial provinces of Rome at the time of Nero who rule with him. But I submit to you this cannot be the case for the following reasons. It cannot be that these are ten provincial governors who rule with Caesar. It cannot be the case. Why? First of all, Revelation 17.12, the verse we just read, clearly states that these ten kings have not yet received a kingdom to reign with the Roman beast at the time that John penned the book of Revelation. Notice it says, and the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet. But they would in the future receive power as kings one hour to rule with the Roman beast. However, the ten imperial governors, which the Preterists claim the ten horns or the ten kings to be, had already received power from Nero to rule as provincial governors over their kingdoms before he died. in 68 AD. They had already received it. They had already received their power to rule, their provinces to rule over. Thus, the ten imperial governors at the time of Nero could not be the ten horns or kings that are in view here in Revelation 17-12. And furthermore, Nero could not be the sixth head. of the Roman beast that was reigning at that time because the ten imperial governors were ruling with him before he died in 68 A.D. and yet here it says that this beast does not have these ten kings reigning with him. So on both accounts this cannot be Nero the sixth head because he did have according to the Preterist, ten imperial governors reigning with him. And it cannot refer to the ten imperial governors either, because they already had their kingdom. They already were ruling when John penned the book of Revelation. Furthermore, I submit that Nero is not reigning as emperor in Revelation 17-12. He is not the one who is reigning. He is not the beast that is reigning in Revelation 17.12, just as he is not reigning as emperor in Revelation 17.10, when it speaks of the head that is. Even as that was not a reference to Nero, as we learned, even as the sixth head does not refer to Nero, as we learned, So here in Revelation 17, 12, when it says, But these ten kings received powers as kings one hour with the beast, that beast there, I submit to you, is likewise, not Nero. For when the ten kings are given power to rule with the Roman beast, they do not rule with the wounded sixth head of the Roman beast in Revelation 17.10 or Revelation 13.3, but rather those ten kings rule with the revived and healed eighth head of the Roman beast. For the angel's explanation concerning the ten kings in Revelation 17.12 contextually follows what? an explanation of the revived Roman Empire under the eighth head that is healed in Revelation 1711. Look what it says. Revelation 1711, and then we'll go right into verse 12. Notice the context. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast, with the beast that was and is not, even he is the ace, that beast, the revived head that was wounded. Now, I would submit that these 10 kings, to kind of bring it together, I would submit that these 10 kings became Western and Central Europe. And we'll go into much more detail in the sermon next. Next, Lord, the next sermon, I'll elaborate on this much more. But I would submit that these 10 kings become or became Western in Central Europe and ruled in a revived Roman Empire when the 8th head was healed in the year 800 A.D. at which time Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the revived and healed Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, crowned by Pope Leo III. Therefore, this prophecy concerning the Ten Kings Revelation 17.12 could not have been realized during the reign of Nero because the fulfillment of the prophecy is linked in time not to the wounded sixth head, which the Preterists allege to be Nero, but is rather linked in time to the healed eighth head, which Preterists claim came after the death of Nero. Having given biblical reasons, dear ones, in this sermon why Nero cannot be the sixth head of the Roman beast in Revelation 17.10, and therefore why Revelation 17.10 cannot be used as internal evidence to confirm a pre-68 AD date for the book of Revelation as claimed by Preterists, it is my intention to return, as I've already noted, to the same text in the next sermon in order to lay out for you what I believe the harlot to be in Revelation 17.9 and why, what I believe the seven heads of the Roman beast to be in Revelation 17.10 and why, what I believe the eighth head of the Roman beast that was revived and healed to be in Revelation 17.11 and why, and what I believe the ten horns of the Roman beast to be in Revelation 17.12 and why. As I close this Lord's Day, let me say what is most likely very, very obvious to all of you. Bible study is hard work. It's not a cakewalk. And this is especially true of a prophetic sermon or Bible study or series of sermons. I certainly do not think I have attained, nor do I pretend to have all of prophetic literature in the scripture wired. However, when an eschatological interpretive system like preterism is developed by a Jesuit priest in order to hide from us a true understanding as to the identity of the man of sin, in 2 Thessalonians 2.3, namely the papacy, and to hide from us a true understanding of the harlot in Revelation 17.4-6, which is the papal church and her daughter churches that walk in her unfaithful path. We can't expect that digging for the truth in these passages is not going to be easy and simple and obvious to us all at a first glance. It's going to require some hard work. Dear ones, the enemy of our souls wants us to be discouraged so that we set down our Bibles and say, who can figure this stuff out? The enemy of our souls wants to mislead us into believing that the Pope is really a godly man at heart with just a few errors that he promotes. Dear ones, Reformed churches used to be united in this basic truth. The man of sin is the papacy, and the Roman church is a harlot from which we must flee. In the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647, in chapter 25, section 6, we read, There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof. But is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition that exalted himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God? That is the historic Protestant position with regard to the man of sin. the son of perdition. But sadly today, that statement that I just read has been eliminated or relegated to a footnote and many reformed denominations. We must flee all entanglement in the corrupt doctrine, idolatrous worship, masses, and holy days for saints to whom they pray. Not only Christmas and Easter, but St. Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day as well. Because these are days that this harlot promotes praying to her saints who intercede according to Rome on our behalf. Now, many may not understand those days to be that, but if we have understanding that that's what those days mean and it is promoting that type of doctrine, God help us to flee from all of those entanglements. That we'd also flee her tyranny over the conscience in forbidding men and women to marry, in commanding men and women to abstain from certain foods at certain times of the year. That we would flee her traditions that have no sanction from the Holy Scripture, and yet are placed alongside of Scripture as equal in authority, or perhaps even higher in authority. Dear ones, this papal church may not presently be or recently have been drunk with the blood of the saints as we read in Revelation chapter 17, at least not as openly as once was the case. But never forget this is the same harlot church from which we are commanded to flee. For when she cannot take the physical life of those who resist her and stand as faithful witnesses against her, she resorts to devilish deception in order to delude and confuse the masses in following after her. That is why, dear ones, a study like this is so important. that we be absolutely clear as to who these characters are in the book of Revelation, that we teach our children to flee from her. The Scripture says in Revelation 18, come out from her. Don't become partakers of her sins and of her plagues. Flee from her. An interpretive system that redefines who one of the chief ambassadors of the devil is by way of her seduction, antiquity, or popularity is a system that must be revealed and not buried if we would preserve ourselves and our children for a thousand generations to come. May God help us to delve into and to be ever so vigilant and diligent in hearing and applying the Scripture as it relates to this topic in our lives. Let us stand in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we do praise Thee and thank Thee for Thy Word in revealing to us, Lord, even Thine enemies, even those, O Lord, who appear to take their seat in the visible church, even those who come as a lamb with two horns and yet speak as a dragon. Lord, we pray that Thou would help us to look beyond the antiquity, the popularity, the numerical masses that follow, O Lord, the man of sin, that follow the harlot. And may we be willing, O Lord, to walk in the wilderness. May we be willing to stay in the wilderness as long as is necessary to preserve us and ourselves, O Lord, from all such entanglements. Not only with the harlot, but with all the daughters who have imbibed and who have drunk of the line of her fornications and her abominations. We ask, Lord, that Thou would hear us. For Jesus' sake, Amen. Hello, and welcome to this introductory video for the Puritan Hard Drive by Stillwater's Revival Books. You'll soon see why the Puritan Hard Drive is a technological revolution in Puritan, Reformation, and Covenanter studies. For over 25 years, Stillwater's Revival Books has provided the worldwide Christian community with the finest in Puritan and Reformation resources, including classic and contemporary printed works, inspirational sermons, audio books, and videos. In recent years our collection of great Christian works has more than doubled, growing to a library that would occupy nearly 130 CDs. The Puritan hard drive is a tremendous library of over 12,500 Christian resources on an external hard drive that fits easily in your pocket or purse. It features the works of more than 800 classic and contemporary authors including John Bunyan, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Manton, Samuel Rutherford, and Charles Spurgeon. Timeless works like the English Hexafla, Fox's Book of Martyrs, Sketches of the Covenanters, and from the Puritan Divines, the complete 34-volume set of the Puritan Fast Sermons. Many of these books are rare and classic titles unavailable anywhere else. Over 25 years in the making, The Puritan Hard Drive is simply the most extensive Christian collection ever released. The Puritan Hard Drive comprises more than 12,500 Puritan and Reformation resources, over half a million pages of great Christian books, more than 10,000 sermons and audio books in mp3 format, providing years of listening enjoyment. over 70 videos. All in all, a library of thousands of exceptional works accessible and affordable to everyone. Included on the Puritan hard drive is a custom search engine that makes it easy to find, browse, and organize the resources in your library. And much easier than trying to wade through a typical file directory on your computer. Connect the Puritan hard drive to any available USB port on your PC or Mac. The drive is self-contained, so there's no software to install or configure. Within moments, you can begin exploring the library by running the custom search interface. It's also a knowledge base with information about each work, including the author, title, description, keywords, and subject category. For you techies, this database contains over four and a half million records of information. For all of us, that means we have an extremely powerful search and study tool. A list of all resources on the Puritan hard drive is available for viewing at any time. Here we see that the list of print materials contains over 2,100 works. This view is ideal for browsing all documents or media files in alphabetical order. by title or by author. The list is rather long, so using the search function of the Knowledge Base is the easiest way of finding resources of interest to you. For example, let's say that my pastor recommended a book by James Henley Thornwell. I can search the Knowledge Base by author by typing his name in this field or by selecting it from the complete list of nearly 800 authors provided at the click of a button. Clicking the search button executes the search and immediately returns a list of all resources by this author. In this case, I've quickly found the book that was recommended to me. Clicking on the green icon opens the resource, allowing me to begin my reading. Further details about any resource can be found by clicking on the book cover icon, which opens the resource detail page. From here, I can browse the details of this work, I can add and save my own notes about it, and open the resource for reading, listening, or viewing. Your search capabilities don't end there. The majority of the rare, classic works on the Puritan hard drive now contain an embedded index. This means that the actual text of these resources is now fully searchable for the first time in history. Enter a search term in Adobe Acrobat Reader. In this case, a search for the word scripture yields instant results. Having searchable text also makes it possible to highlight, copy, and paste the text into another document, such as a sermon, a lesson plan, or a school paper. Less time spent on research means more time for reading, studying, and appreciating the resources in your library. Just another reason why the Puritan hard drive is a technological revolution in Puritan, Reformation, and Covenanter studies. Thank you for watching this introduction to the Puritan hard drive by Stillwaters Revival Books, serving Christians worldwide for over 25 years. Join us in our other videos as we demonstrate even more features and functionality of the Puritan hard drive. For more information, visit us on the web at PuritanDownloads.com. Until then, be well and God bless.