REVELATION 9

The 7 Trumpets: cont.

The ‘Woes’
The last three trumpets are also
called the ‘Three Woes’. Why?
Because they were even more
terrible than the four before them
and also, they were different
because a new religion is here
introduced into the world; a
religion of darkness, almost the
exact opposite to the teachings of
Jesus.
The western part of the former Roman Empire has been brought down
in the first four trumpets. There is no emperor on the throne in the city
of Rome any more. Instead the Bishop of Rome sits on the throne and
rules over both the church and the government. So now the 5th and 6th
trumpets bring attacks on the eastern part, where there still a Roman
Emperor ruling. By the end of the 6th trumpet, the eastern Roman
Empire is destroyed completely also.
The word ‘WOE’ or ‘WO’
here, is a cry of sorrow.
The evil ways of men
bring suffering and misery
on themselves and
others. Only in loving and
obeying Jesus is real joy
to be found.  
“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. 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.”   Revelation 9:1, 2.
If you look back at the 1st chapter of Revelation, you will see there that
Jesus had seven ‘stars’ in His hand and we learned that these were
messengers to the churches. Here we see a fallen star, a religious
messenger, but a fallen or false one. Here we see him open up a pit and
smoke comes out so thick that the sun and air is made dark. Now
remember, these are all symbols, so what does it all mean? This is telling
us about when the religion of Mohammedanism was invented by the man
that claimed to be a prophet. His name was Mohammed, and though he
could not write, his teachings were remembered and written down by
others, and later, after he died, these bits and pieces were gathered
together into a new ‘bible’ called the Koran.
The Bottomless Pit here can mean the dark
and evil elements of the world or any
desolate area and Mohammedism poured
upon the world from the desert lands of
North Africa.
Just as the gospel of Jesus is well
described as light to the world, so this
religion is well described as darkness.
Jesus taught us to seek peace and love our
enemies, this darkness teaches men that
war against and killing their enemies is the
highest and best thing they can do for their
god.
Christianity was never to be forced on
people but Mohamed taught that all
should be forced to obey his religion or
they should be killed. These people were
taught that to die in battle while forcing
people to worship Mohamed their
prophet, or ‘Allah’ as they call their god,
was the best thing they could ever do.
They were told that they then go straight to a wonderful place where they
would have all kinds of beautiful women, wine to drink, and fancy food to eat
forever. So they were happy to make war and didn’t mind getting killed,
fighting for their ‘faith’. This ‘smoke’ made it almost impossible for people
taught like this to see the light of Jesus’ gospel or breath the pure air of Bible
truth. Jesus longs to have these people blinded by the ‘smoke’, to come to
Him and be saved.
“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.” Revelation
9:3 
Here we see two more symbols that make us think of the deserts; the
locusts that would come out of the deserts at certain times and eat up all
the crops; and the scorpion, a nasty, poisonous creature like a long-tailed
spider with a sting, that would strike with the sting in his tail and it would
really hurt!
“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.” Revelation 9:4.
Green things here means God’s true people, who were not attacked by
this power but ‘those that had not God’s seal’ referred to Papal Rome.
Remember, by now they no longer had God’s ‘Seal’, His true Sabbath. The
had set up, and were enforcing a false sabbath.
“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. And in those days shall men seek death,
and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”
Revelation 9:5, 6.
This power tormented the Eastern Roman empire but did not manage to
destroy it completely, so the verse says ‘they should not kill them’.
Notice the five months; this is
prophetic time so a day = a real year.
This means 150 years this force
would be coming out of the deserts
and striking the eastern part of the
former Roman empire. This time
started in July 27th, 1299, so the one
hundred and fifty years reach to 1449.
 However the Mohammedans started
long before that but this five months
was when they had ‘a king over them.’
The tormenting power of these raiders
made life a burden for the eastern
empire, who were getting attacked by
them, they would rather have been
conquered by them and thus stop the
torment.
“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. And they had
hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of
lions. 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.”
Revelation 9:7-9
Here we have a description of what these desert warriors were like. It
talks about their battle horses. The Arabian Desert horses were amazing
animals. They were raised by their owners in the tents right along with the
family and were treated with gentleness so they were very highly trained.
At a word or touch from their master they would run like the wind into
battle, or flee away across the sand.
The ‘Crowns of Gold’ were the yellow turbans these men wore.
They had long hair either braided up or loose and the ‘teeth of lions’
meant their fierceness in battle.
Again it talks about ‘many horses running to battle’; The Arab warrior on
their swift horses did not march in rows or ranks like Greek or Roman
soldiers, they swarmed down onto their enemies on their swift horses
almost as quickly as if they were flying.
“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.”
Revelation 8:11
The rise of Mohamed was in 606 AD
and for a long time after his death,
there was no central king over them.
Each tribe had it’s own ruler; but in
July 27th, 1299, Othman became
king and what we call the ‘Ottoman
Empire’ was set up. We know that
the five months begins at this time
because the prophecy says ‘they
have a king’.
This ‘woe’ ends in 1449 and
the second ‘woe’ starts.
“And the sixth angel sounded,
and I heard a voice from the
four horns of the golden altar
which is before God, Saying
to the sixth angel which had
the trumpet, Loose the four
angels which are bound in the
great river Euphrates. 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.” Revelation 9:13-
15
 Now we see this same
dark religious power but
this time coming from the
‘river Euphates’, which
referred to area of the
country of Turkey. The
‘four angels’ refer to the
four great sultanies;
Bagdad, Damascus,
Iconium, and Aleppo; of
which at that time the
Mohammedan power
was composed.
Notice this time period; an hour, a day, a month, and a year; when it
was all added together it went from the end of the Fifth Trumpet, July 27,
1449; all the way to August 11, 1840. Then this period of an hour, and a
day, and a month, and a year, would end. For this length of time, and to
this date, the power of the Ottoman Empire was to continue.  Did this
empire loose its power at that time? Yes, it did!
On the 11th of August 1840,
on board a ship, the Turkish
leader signed a paper that
took away the independence
and power of the Turkish
Sultan forever. Where, then,
was Turkish supremacy Aug.
11, 1840? It was gone. Who
now held the power? The four
great Powers of Europe.
Up until that time, they had
continued to attack that
eastern part of the Roman
Empire until the last remains
of it were gone and the
modern nations ruled.
This amazing prophecy was pointed out and written up in the
newspapers before August 11, 1840 and when it really happened on
time, many people believed that God’s Word was true.
“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. 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.”
Revelation 9:17-18
What is this? Fire-breathing horses?
That’s silly!
Oh, no it isn’t; at this time gunpowder
and guns were used for the first time
against the people in Eastern
Europe. When the pistols were held
close to the horses as the rode to the
attack, it looked like fire and
brimstone came from the mouths of
the horses. This is also the time that
knights in armor weren’t much use
any more as the armor would not
stop the bullets.
Notice here that it now says the third part of men were killed, where
before they were only tormented. This power brought the Eastern
Roman Empire finally to its political end.
“Having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone”
These three colors red, yellow and blue were the ones these
Turkish warriors wore. And again we see the amazing
warhorses of these desert people; even their horses were
trained to attack and be fierce. They also made great cannons,
and using their power, managed to overthrow Constantinople
where the eastern Roman Emperor had for so long had his
throne.
“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: Neither repented they of
their murders, nor of their
sorceries, nor of their
fornication, nor of their thefts.”
Revelation 9:20-21
Here we see lessons that God wanted
people to learn. The Roman Church
was worshiping images, and they
worshipped dead people as ‘saints’.
When you worship the dead, you really
worship devils. People also make idols
of gold and silver money, always trying
to get as much as they can away from
other people.
The murders, thefts and sorcery are all
part of the false system of worship and
the persecution of all who differed with
them. The ‘fornication’ is when the
church uses the government power to
force her religion on others.
Sadly, the Roman
church did not
learn its lesson
from these woes.
If we have a hard
times or trouble
come into our
lives, it is good to
see if there are
some lessons that
we need to learn. 
CONTINUED IN REVELATION 10