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Chapter 3:
THE SOUNDING of the SEVEN TRUMPETS
The Second of Four Overlays Depicting the Last Days
John then begins his second overlay detailing the eruption of the super-volcano, which sends ash, dust, and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. The mass of debris from the volcano then falls into the sea, saturating it with iron oxide, which make the water appear as blood. A third of the ships are destroyed from huge tsunamis, and a third of all life in the sea dies.
The Seven Trumpets
Next, I saw seven trumpets being given to the seven angels who stand in the presence of God. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the alter. A large quantity of incense was given to him to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden alter that stood in front of the throne; and so from the angel’s hand the smoke of the incense went up in the presence of God and with it the prayers of the saints. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire from the alter, which he then threw down on to the earth: immediately there came peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, and the earth shook.
Just as the ten plagues contributed to Moses that devastated Egypt stem from a single event, so also will the first five plagues in this second overlay result from this single similar event. The eruption is so violent that the whole earth is shaken.
The First Trumpet
The seven angels that had the seven trumpets now made ready to sound them. The first blew his trumpet and, with that, hail and fire, mixed with blood, were dropped on the earth; a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees and every blade of grass was burned.
The eruption begins by spewing ash and sulfur dioxide high above the earth where the vapors freeze; as it falls back down, the frozen sulfur, mixed with the hail, thaws and ignites. The burning sulfur creates widespread fires, which burns a third of the trees and all the grass on the planet. The water is saturated with bacteria, commonly called "blood rain".
The Second Trumpet
The second angel blew his trumpet, and it was as though a great mountain, all on fire, had dropped into the sea: a third of the sea turned into blood, a third of all the living things in the sea were killed, and a third of all ships were destroyed.
The mass of the erupted debris (enough to coat the whole U.S.A. with a layer 5 inches thick) falls into the sea causing tsunamis which destroy a third of the ships. Gasses such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide may also saturate areas of the oceans, causing changes in the viscosity of the water. Ships passing over these areas would simply sink from their own weight, without warning. The sulfur dioxide and iron dioxide poison the water, killing a third of the life in the sea and accelerates the growth of red algae. The iron oxide in the sea, as well as the ash and algae, causes the water to turn red, and the bacteria in the eruption turns the seas red.
The Third Trumpet
The third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star fell from the sky, burning like a ball of fire, and it fell on all the rivers and springs; this was the star called Wormwood, and a third of all water turned to bitter wormwood, so that many people died from drinking it.
Many scholars, as well as scientists, look for an asteroid or comet to approach the earth; and as a means to prevent complete disaster, it will be shattered prior to it striking the earth. The fragmented debris falls into the rivers and springs, poisoning the waters with sulfur, carbon and iron dioxides, turning the water to rust color. John is also continuing his description of the effects from the eruption of the super volcano, as it is followed by the darkening of the atmosphere in the next passage.
The Fourth Trumpet
The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were blasted, so that a light went out of a third of them and for a third of the day there was no illumination, and the same with the night.
The smoke and cloud of ash, sulfur and debris that rises into the atmosphere covers a third of the earth, blocking out the sun for a third of the day, and the moon and stars for a third of the night.
Another interpretation which should not be overlooked, as it is a dire possibility, even probability, is that from the magnitude of the eruption, the earth begins rotating on a different axis, and perhaps a different speed, in which the twenty-four hour day has become a sixteen hour day, a third of the day and a third of the night no longer existing.
This could also be accomplished by a large body coming between the earth and its moon, whereby the gravitational affect would bring the moon closer to the earth and cause the earth to spin faster on its axis. It could also be the combined effect of both the eruption of the super volcano and the striking of the comet.
One should pause here and contemplate the gross effect this would have on the economies of the world. Production decreases, wages decrease, time as we know it is forever changed.
In my vision, I heard an eagle, calling aloud as it flew high overhead, “Trouble, trouble, trouble for all the people on earth at the sound of the other three trumpets which the three angels are going to blow.”
The Fifth Trumpet
Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven on to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft leading down to the Abyss. When he unlocked the shaft of the abyss, smoke poured up out of the Abyss like the smoke from a huge furnace so that the sun and the sky were darkened by it, and out of the smoke dropped locusts which were given powers that scorpions have on the earth: they were forbidden to harm any fields or crops or trees and told only to attack any men who were without God’s seal on their foreheads. They were not to kill them, but to give them pain for five months, and the pain was to be the pain of a scorpion’s sting. When this happens, men will long for death and not find it anywhere: they will want to die and death will evade them.
To look at, these locusts were like horses armored for battle; they had things that looked like gold crowns on their heads, and faces that seemed human, and hair like women’s hair, and teeth like lions’ teeth. They had body-armor like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings sounded like a great charge of horses and chariots into battle. Their tails were like scorpions’ with stings, and it was with them that they were able to injure people for five months. As their leader, they had their emperor, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, or Apollyon in Greek (The most popular rendering of this name simply means Destroyer).
This has a twofold meaning.
First: John is referring to the Book of Enoch which describes the heavenly bodies (stars and planets) serving as “governors” of the creative forces in nature, keeping the powers of those forces in compatibility with life. The falling of one of these “stars” signifies the release of its hold on those extreme forces; thus, no longer being held in compatibility with life, they are free to release the full force of their potential power. The bottomless pit, or Abyss, is the magma chamber of the super volcano; the shaft is the volcano flue.
Second: For sixteen hundred years after the compiling of the “Holy Bible”, this part of the text would remain a mystery. However, God did not want His people to be caught unawares in the End Times, so in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were uncovered, revealing the lost book of Enoch, which relates the imprisonment of the Angel Azazayel with 200 other fallen angels in the Abyss. In ancient times, before such events were classified as mythology, the attributes of this particular angel correspond with those of the Greek God Apollo. It is very likely they are one in the same. Other names of the fallen angels recorded by Enoch also differ from the names of the “gods who descended from heaven” as recorded by the Sumerians, who spoke a different language than Enoch. One can only conclude that if a name could change so drastically (Apollyon, Abaddon) in two different languages at John’s time, they must also have differed drastically during the time of Enoch (Azazayal, Apollo), who was writing at the same time as the Sumerians but in a different language. It is also likely that He (Apollo) would assert himself into the New World Order as a major figure, (here it appears, by heading The Federal Emergency Management Agency); and later becoming supreme leader.
The descriptions of the “locusts” that descend with him appear to be helicopters, such as used by F.E.M.A. In the aftermath, FEMA will send aid to the effected areas. This seems as a result of diseases springing up from the aftermath. It could also allude to the previous mentioned pandemics occurring about this same time. The vaccinations rendered to stop the pandemic will have an adverse effect, causing people to break out with the shingles, which is a reaction to the smallpox vaccine, feels much like a scorpion’s sting, and lasts approximately five months. Christians and Jews refusing the vaccine will not be affected. Also, The New World Order will exclude these from receiving the vaccine as a means to reduce resistance to their one-world religion.
So here, as fantastic as it may sound, the Ancient Alien Theory and U.F.O. Theory come together into REALITY.
Another possible interpretation of this part of the text could simply be an allude to the rise in crime from the existing conditions, in which motorcycle gangs fight for power, territory over control over the remaining resources.
That was the first trouble; there are still two more to come.
The Sixth Trumpet
The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice come out of the four horns of the golden alter. It spoke to the sixth angel with the trumpet and said, “Release the four angels that are chained up at the great river Euphrates.” These four angels had been put there ready for this hour of this day of its month of this year, and now they were released to destroy a third of the human race. I learned how many there were in their army: twice ten thousand times ten thousand (200,000,000) mounted men. In my vision I saw the horses, and the riders with their breastplates of flame color, hyacinth blue and sulfur yellow (alluding to the nations’ colors or flags); the horses had lions’ heads, and fire, smoke and sulfur were coming out of their mouths. It was by these three plagues, the fire, the smoke and the sulfur coming out of their mouths (armed cavalry and tanks), that the one third of the human race was killed. All the horses’ power was in their mouths and their tails: their tails were like snakes (short range missiles), and had heads that were able to wound. But the rest of the human race, who escaped these plagues, refused either to abandon the things they had made with their own hands- the idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood that can neither see nor hear nor move- or to stop worshipping devils. Nor did they give up their murdering, or witchcraft, or fornication or stealing.
Then I saw another powerful angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were pillars of fire. In his hand, he had a small scroll, unrolled; he put his right foot in the sea and his left foot on the land and he shouted so loud, it was like a lion roaring. At this, seven claps of thunder made themselves heard and when the seven thunderclaps had spoken, I was preparing to write, when I heard a voice from heaven say to me, “Keep the words of the seven thunderclaps secret and do not write them down.” Then the angel that I had seen, standing on the sea and the land, raised his right hand to heaven, and swore by the One who lives for ever and ever, and made heaven and all that is in it, and earth and all that it bears, and the sea and all it holds, “The time of waiting is over; at the time when the seventh angel is heard sounding his trumpet, God’s secret intention will be fulfilled, just as he announced in the Good News told to his servants the prophets.”
Then I heard the voice I heard from heaven speaking to me again, “Go,” it said, “and take that open scroll out of the hand of the angel standing on sea and land.” I went to the angel and asked him to give me the small scroll, and he said, “Take it and eat it; it will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.” So I took the little scroll out of the angel’s hand, and swallowed it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach turned sour (the words sounded sweet, but once understood, its message was bitter). Then I was told, “You are to prophesy again, this time about many different nations and countries and languages and emperors.”
Then I was given a long cane as a measuring rod, and I was told, “Go and measure God’s sanctuary, and the alter, and the people who worship there; but leave out the outer court and do not measure it, because it has been handed over to the pagans- they will trample on the holy city for forty-two months. But I shall send my two witnesses to prophesy for those twelve-hundred and sixty days, wearing sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lamps that stand before the Lord of the world. Fire can come from their mouths and consume their enemies if anyone tries to harm them; and if anybody does try to harm them he will certainly be killed in this way. They are able to lock up the sky so that it does not rain so long as they are prophesying; they are able to turn water into blood and strike the whole world with any plague as often as they like. When they have completed their witnessing, the beast that comes out of the Abyss (The New World Order led by Apollo) is going to make war on them and kill them. Their corpses will lie in the main street of the Great City known by the symbolic names Sodom and Egypt, in which their Lord was crucified (Jerusalem). Men out of every people, race, language and nation will stare at their corpses, for three and a half days, not letting them be buried, and the people of the world will be glad about it and celebrate the event by giving presents to each other, because these two prophets have been a plague to the people of the world.” (This could indicate that these two will be killed during the Christmas season.)
Throughout all history, only three people had been recorded as having been taken into heaven without dying, (four if you count Adam, but he was sent back). They were Enoch, Elijah, and Muhammad. Jesus told his disciples that Elijah had returned as John the Baptist, which leaves Enoch and Muhammad to return. Whether Jesus was referring to the role John the Baptist had played, or an actual re-incarnation of Elijah in the form of John the Baptist is not clear. What is clear is that “It is appointed once for all men to die“, which would include those who had been taken into heaven to await their appointed time. Only two prophets return to earth in the Last Days to witness and experience death. It is most likely they will represent Enoch and Muhammad just as John the Baptist represented Elijah. One would be prophesying to the Jews and Christians, while the other would be prophesying to the Muslims.
What most people today do not realize, is that there were two Korans: the first, written by Muhammad himself, was simply a call for his people to return to worshipping the God of Abraham, the second, written later by his followers, included Christians and Jews as infidels. Remember, Isaac and Ishmael were half brothers, making Jews and Muslims half brothers, and Christianity is the fulfillment of the Jewish faith, making all three relatives. These are the ones who hold “The Word of God” which will become the target of the New World Order (Remember the Mayan prophesy concerning it being the Age of the End of the Word of God). They will rightfully claim that it has been the differences of religions which has caused most of the wars throughout history; and by establishing a Unitarian religion; these differences can be abolished. They will assert that the only true god is the “higher spirit” inherent in all humankind.
After the three and a half days, God breathed life into them and they stood up, and everybody who saw it happen was terrified; then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them, “Come up here,” and while their enemies were watching, they went up to heaven in a cloud. Immediately, there was a violent earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand persons were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors, overcome with fear, could only praise the God of heaven.
That was the second of the troubles; the third is to come quickly after it.
The Seventh Trumpet
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and voices could be heard shouting in heaven, calling, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” The twenty-four elders, enthroned in the presence of God, prostrated themselves and touched the ground with their foreheads worshipping God with these words, “We give thanks to you, Almighty Lord God, He-Is-and-He-Was, for using your great power and beginning your reign. The nations were seething with rage and now the time has come for your own anger, and for the dead to be judged, and for your servants the prophets, for the saints and all who worship you, small or great, to be rewarded. The time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth.”
Then the sanctuary of God in heaven opened, and the Ark of the Covenant could be seen inside it. Then came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and an earthquake, and violent hail.
This concludes the second overlay.
