Woe, Woe, Woe
The Fifth and Sixth Trumps
Rev 9
Rev 9:1) And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key
of the bottomless pit. 2) And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun
and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3) And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given
power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4) And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green
thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 5) And to them it was given that they should not
kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. 6) And in
those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. 7) And the shapes of the locusts
were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. 8) And
they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. 9) And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron;
and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. 10) And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there
were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 11) And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless
pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. 12) One woe is past; and, behold, there come two
woes more hereafter.
As I saw the smoke from the oil wells of Kuwait when Sadam lit them on fire, I thought about this verse, the bottomless pit, the
black smoke, the darkening of the sun, etc. From discoveries like Oil, inventions like automobiles and aircraft are made possible. John had no
words for the modern things he got to see when looking into the future, or what he saw may have been a metaphoric vision as most are in
Revelation. Did he see battles, and destruction of oil wells, and helicopters with non fatal, crowd control helicopters so the beasts army can
control the populace? Or is this vision a vision of supernatural beings being unleashed. Something to consider, however God seems to prefer using
men and natural events so as to remain somewhat annonymous to the unbeliever. As Jesus said, a wicked generation seeks a sign, but the only sign
I give you is the sign of Jonah. As he was in the belly of the whale 3 days, so shall the Son of Man be in the belly of the earth 3 days,
(paraphrased). The important thing is to be able to see what is coming and to recognize it when it strikes. If you're still waiting for the
four horsement, then how will you see the trumps sounding.
Keep reading, one more trump and then the sound of the last trump and you will see that all this came together in one beautiful
package.
Rev 9:13) And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before
God, 14) Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. 15) And the four
angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. 16) And the number of
the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 17) And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and
them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and
out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 18) By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and
by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. 19) For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto
serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. 20) And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the
works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can
see, nor hear, nor walk: 21) Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their
thefts.
The sixth trump sounds, and the rivers are dried up allowing the beginning of the final war. This is the one that is described by
many as being the battle of armageddon, the 200 million soldiers. Again, what kind of weapons will they be using? Machines that billow from their
mouths fire and mortar shells, missles packing great explosives. An army of soldiers whose march forward will be relentless and seemingly never
ending.
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