The Seventh Seal: The Blowing of the Seven Trumpets

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. (Revelation 8:1-3)

The "golden altar which was before the throne" is the Altar of Incense, the fifth piece of furniture of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, coming after the golden Lampstand.

The Old Testament Blowing of Trumpets, today termed Rosh Hashanah (the Head of the Year), is the fifth of the feasts of the Lord, the next observance after the feast of Pentecost.

The Christian Church has been at the Lampstand, at the feast of Pentecost, for two thousand years. Now the Lord is moving us toward the Altar of Incense, toward the Blowing of Trumpets (the Head of the Year, that is, the beginning of the entrance of the Kingdom of God into the earth).

The Altar of Incense typifies the place where the Church bows in humility and obedience before her Lord, dying to sin and self-will. The Blowing of Trumpets signifies the coming of the Lord to make war against the sin and self-will of the peoples of the earth, beginning with those who are closest to Himself. It is the coming of the King to wage war against His enemies. It is the entering of the Lord into His temple to cast out the moneychangers. It is spiritual war!

The seven trumpets announce the coming of King Jesus to destroy His enemies, beginning with the forces of darkness that bind His own people. The blowing of the seven trumpets results in the great tribulation. The purpose of the great tribulation is to separate the true people of the Lord from Satan, from Antichrist, from the False Prophet, and from Babylon. The tribulation will perfect the Lord’s true saints and also prepare the peoples of the earth for the appearing of the Lord.

At the end of the great tribulation, that is, at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the royal priesthood, the Israel of God, will be raised from the dead and ascend into glory. As we understand it, the resurrection and ascension of God’s true witnesses of every age will take place "after the tribulation of those days" (Matthew 24:29) and before the bowls of wrath are poured out on the inhabitants of the earth. There is an important difference between the tribulation period and the pouring out of the bowls of Divine wrath.

The great tribulation will expose the sin in the churches, humble the true saints, and prepare the way of the Lord among the nations.

All worldliness, sin, and self-exaltation must be purged from the house of God. The commercial spirit in the churches, the immorality, the entertainment, doing what is right in our own eyes instead of keeping the commandments of Jesus, foolishness, presumption—all must be burned out of the Lord’s people.

When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. (Isaiah 4:4)

And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:5)

There is a multitude of voices in the land today, but only one of them is the voice of the Lord. We have to pray intently in order to discern the voice of the Lord. There is much deception in the churches.

The thunderings of God’s wrath can be heard in the Spirit. The thunderings are a warning of the destruction that soon is to come upon the world.

The lightnings of God’s power will strike the inhabitants of the earth, including the Lord’s own people. Divine judgment already has fallen on numerous saints of the Lord.

Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. All that is not of the Lord Jesus Christ will be shaken and removed from the heavens as well as from the earth.

The first trumpet.

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. (Revelation 8:7)

The hail and fire portray the voice of God in judgment (Psalms 18:13).

"Blood" speaks of vengeance. Cain killed Abel and the blood of Abel cried to God from the ground (Genesis 4:10). All of us are "bloodguilty." We have not been our brother’s keeper as God intends we should. Some have had an abundance of Gospel preaching while others have never heard the name of Jesus. Some have more food than they can eat while in other parts of the world children die of starvation. Some, as the rich man, are full, warm, clothed handsomely while others of mankind, as Lazarus the beggar, are hungry, naked, and homeless.

The rich man was cast into the flames of Hell because he ignored the needs of his neighbor, Lazarus.

We cannot approach God until we have been cleansed of the bloodguiltiness of despising our brother and ignoring his needs. Every human being is responsible for the condition of mankind. The failure of the Christians in Germany, and in the rest of the world as well, to come to the aid of the Jews during the rule of Hitler is a vivid illustration of the willingness of people to concern themselves only with their own welfare. The plight of the people of Uganda and Cambodia, as well as the Christians of Sudan and China, are other examples of neglect by those who could have helped.

Many human beings are in desperate circumstances today, including numerous people who need medical attention. How many Christians of the wealthy nations, as was true of the rich man, are occupied primarily with their own pleasures and kingdoms?

The lust for pleasure is revealed in the abortions taking place. God records every abortion as an act of murder unless God accepts the surgery as being necessary for some vital reason. Every murder of a human being must be accounted for in the day of reckoning. None is forgotten.

For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. (Isaiah 26:21)

"The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain".

Until we reach the place in Christ where we are doing everything in our power to serve God and man according to our own calling and gifts, we are guilty of the blood of the victims of man’s murderous selfishness. We must seek the Lord until we have the assurance we are serving Him with all the strength, wisdom, ability, and material and spiritual blessings He has given us. Only then are our hands clean from bloodguiltiness.

A "third" speaks of a pruning, a chastening, a tribulation, a partial judgment. The tribulation is for our good and makes us perfect. It is the chastening of a Father. When we come to the bowls of wrath, in Chapter Sixteen, we discover that they speak not of partial but of total destruction.

A third of the earth being burned up refers to the judgment that comes on all those who make the earth and their activities on the earth the focus of their way of life. The Lord Jesus advised us to turn away from the things of the earth and to give ourselves to the Kingdom that is in Heaven and soon will come to the earth.

Those who continue to live in the flesh will not be able to endure the destruction and terror at hand. If we do not learn to live both in the heavenlies and on the earth at the same time we will not be able to stand when men’s hearts are failing them for fear.

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33)

But lay up for yourselves treasures in the heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (Matthew 6:20)

Our life is to be hidden with Christ in God. When we refuse to lay up treasures in Heaven, God burns up with the fires of judgment that on which we have placed our heart.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)

Get ready for a third of your earth to be burned up. Set your love on God, on the things of the Kingdom of God. Then you can suffer the loss of your life on the earth and not be overly concerned. The tribulation will loose you from the heavy bondages of earth’s cares.

Judgment is falling on the believers of today as well as on the remainder of mankind. Much of what we have considered to be essential to our life will be removed. Our human attractiveness may be destroyed. Jesus demands our complete attention. It is not Satan who is dealing with us, in most instances, it is the Lord. He is touching our fruitfulness and our attractiveness so we will cease pampering our flesh and attempting to please man, and turn our hearts toward God.

When the Lord begins to deal with us He often prunes back much of the fruit we have born. A "third part of the trees," that is, of our fruitfulness is burned up, along with "all green grass." All that is pleasing to the natural man is blighted.

The burning up of a third of the trees speaks of the partial destruction of our fruitfulness, of that which we have accomplished in life. The Lord Jesus will prune every branch in Himself that bears fruit. The pruning back of our accomplishments will strengthen us in the Lord provided we receive such pruning in an attitude of faith and do not strive to retain that which God is removing.

It always is wise to pray and seek the Lord and then, after we are assured we have done all we know to do, to rest in the Lord and trust in Him. Jesus knows what we need to retain and what should be pruned back.

It may be true that a literal third of the trees of the earth will be burned up. We certainly are not denying a literal interpretation. But sometimes what is taking place in the physical realm is a reflection of a counterpart in the spirit realm.

All the green grass is burned up, referring to that which is pleasant to the eyes. The nations of the earth will be struck by the hand of God. God will cause to wither what is pleasant and delightful in our lives so we begin to turn to the Lord and find solace in Him.

As long as we are taking pleasure in our present life we will not turn to the Lord. When our way on the earth becomes unattractive and painful we will seek Him. That is the purpose of the great tribulation—to turn our eyes and hopes away from the earth and toward the Lord.

The Day of the Lord will come: ". . . upon all pleasant pictures" (Isaiah 2:16).

All the works and delights of the flesh will be made desolate—all that is of Paradise, that is attractive and desirable on the earth. After that, the saints will be used of the Lord to restore the earth.

And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4)

There can be no question that the trumpets are beginning to sound in our day. Numerous Christians are experiencing the chastening of the Lord. If this is happening to you, do not despair. Look only and always to Jesus. He will bring you forth as refined gold if you place your trust in Him.

The second trumpet.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:8,9)

As we have stated previously, the emphasis (in the judgments of the trumpets) on "the third part," refers to the fact that these judgments are a pruning and not a wrathful destruction. There is no mention of a third part in the pouring out of the bowls of wrath, for the bowls of wrath are not redemptive. The trumpets prepare the way of the Lord, while the bowls of wrath fall with destructive vengeance on the rebellious of mankind.

Mountains, in the Scriptures, represent governments, places of power and rulership.

For the Day of the Lord of Hosts will be: ". . . upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up" (Isaiah 2:14).

As the King approaches the earth He begins to judge the places of power, beginning with the "great mountain" of self-will in those who are closest to him. The Lord Jesus sends the fires of tribulation upon us. It is only through suffering that the self-will in us is destroyed. It is at the Altar of Incense that we bow in death before the Lord and say, "Not my will but Yours be done."

The "blood," and the death of the creatures in the sea, speaks of the death of our fleshly nature. When our self-will dies, much of our life dies with it. We do not realize how much of our life and work is proceeding from our self-love and self-centeredness until the Lord strikes at the rule of self that is within us. Then many of our activities are revealed as coming from our own soul rather than from the Spirit of the Lord, and we cease practicing them.

One of the central issues of the Christian redemption is the death of the old man, of the adamic nature. The blood of the covenant that is sprinkled upon us does not bring us into the Kingdom of God until we assign our first personality to the cross with Christ.

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)

The whole problem of antichrist has to do with the preservation and exaltation of the self-life of human beings. Jesus saves us from Satan, Antichrist, and the False Prophet of religious seduction by counting our first personality as being crucified with Himself and our new born-again personality as having been raised with Himself to the right hand of God.

The original sin was not of the lusts of the flesh. The original sin had to do, rather, with discontent with one’s appointed station and the desire to be like God.

Satan proclaimed:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:14)

Satan has injected mankind with the desire to be like God.

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)

God always has desired that man be in union with Himself, that he be part of Himself, that he be the dwelling place of God.

Instead, man, at Satan’s prompting, chose to be a God himself. Man desires to be like God, not to be part of God. This is the difference between Antichrist and Christ.

God cursed Satan by giving him an insatiable desire for "dust," that is, for the flesh of man (Genesis 3:14). From that day forward there has dwelled in the flesh of man the foul, perverted, fiery lusts of Satan and his demons.

Through Christ mankind has been forgiven. Also, the Holy Spirit of God has entered the believers. The Spirit of God wars against the lusts of Satan. Every son of God who follows the Spirit of God puts to death, through the Spirit, the lusts of Satan that dwell in his flesh (Romans 8:13,14).

The original sin, that of desiring to be like God instead of a part of God, remains in the personality of man—even in the personality of the believer who has been forgiven and filled with the Spirit of God.

Today the Spirit-filled believers are at a fork in the road. One branch goes toward the death of the cross where the believer chooses to die, to "lose his head" (Revelation 20:4). The other branch goes toward self-realization. The former leads to glory and very great joy. The latter leads to darkness and barrenness.

The Lord Jesus has a most wonderful experience in store for the believer who chooses to die to his own life. That experience is the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles. It is to be filled with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Those who choose to die to their adamic personality, thus to become part of God, will be protected completely from the deceptions of Antichrist. They will be the house of God forever.

Those who move forward on the other branch are heading toward destruction. Whenever we choose to save our life rather than to lose our life in the Lord we provide an entrance for Satan into our life. We become part of the synagogue of Satan even though we profess to be a follower of the Lord Jesus. Satan entered Peter and attempted to persuade the Lord Jesus to save His life by not going to Jerusalem. Satan entered Judas because Judas was unwilling to lose his life for the Lord. Judas, as was true of all believers who are living in their soul rather than in the Spirit of God, was seeking to use Jesus to accomplish his own objectives. The end of trying to use Jesus to accomplish our own objectives is destruction.

Either we are choosing to be like Christ or we are choosing to become part of Christ. Either we are attempting to gain power, success, prosperity for ourselves or we are choosing to die in the Lord, to decrease continually in order that He may increase. Either we are seeking to persuade Christ to serve us or we are seeking to lay down our own life so Christ may be exalted in us.

The protection God has provided for the enormous deception of the last days is the "Tabernacles" experience, that is, the filling of the believer with the Presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are kept from the deception of man making Himself God by becoming a branch that is abiding in the Vine, in the one true Christ.

The philosophies that have been developing over the past several hundred years are bent toward man making himself a God, man ruling himself, man attaining what man desires. Men have become lovers of themselves. "The rights of man" have been made the highest good, the top priority. This is of Antichrist. It precisely is what Satan is hoping for, for then he can corrupt man’s worship of himself into the worship of Satan.

Communism, humanism and democracy are man-centered philosophies. None is of the Kingdom of God. Both humanism and democracy claim to work for the good of people. But they work only for the immediate physical comfort of people. Because they do not point people toward union with the Lord they actually lead people to harm and eventual destruction.

Throughout history people have revolted against the harsh rule and excesses of totalitarian governments. Eventually they will revolt against Communism because the Communist states rule with harshness and oppression.

The philosophies of the "free world" which exalt the rights and desires of the individual are actually more compatible with the present move of Antichrist than is the philosophy of communism. Communism, at least in a pure form, would stress sacrificing the desires of the individual for the betterment of the state.

We are not promoting Communism. We are merely attempting to challenge the reader to be alert to the insidious danger of a religion or a form of government that seeks to make each individual his own God.

It can be seen today that both Communism and the Muslim religion stress morality. The gross displays of immorality are in the democratic nations which have been influenced by perverted Christian thinking. By perverted Christian thinking we are referring to the stress on belief and forgiveness ("grace") rather than on righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God. The emphasis is on how merciful Jesus is and how much He loves us rather than on obedience to what He commands.

The union of perverted Christian thinking with the philosophies of democracy and humanism have produced an anti-Christian climate that may be more destructive of spiritual growth than is true of the oppressive regime of Communism.

It is time now for the true saints to ask the Lord Jesus to remove from them all these man-centered philosophies and religions for they are of the Antichrist. Those who succumb to them will grow increasingly self-centered until they are of the body of Antichrist. They will suffer the torment of fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb.

The mountain of self-exaltation must be burned with Divine fire. The spirit of self-will, of self-aggrandizement, must die completely. Not one trace of it is to be found in the Kingdom of God. The total destruction of self-will cannot be accomplished in a moment. The judgments of God during the closing days of the Church Age are not sufficient to cause the extinction of self-will, for we find the same spirit of rebellion rising at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age (Revelation 20:9).

Man’s self-love and self-will cannot be tolerated in the Kingdom of God. Self-seeking is the opposite of all that is pure, all that is holy, all that is of Paradise, all that is of the Kingdom. Only those who are willing to become as little children, to be purged of the mountain of selfish ambition, can enter the Kingdom of God.

The "third part of the ships" refers to commerce. The love of money is the root of all evil. No man can serve God and money. These are two different gods.

The backbone of the antichrist world system is money. Nearly everything is measured in terms of money. Nearly everything depends on money. Human security, pleasure and achievement are based on money. The more money one is able to hoard the more successful one’s life has been.

In the Kingdom of God there is no hoarding of money, no attempting to gain security, pleasure or achievement apart from the daily word and will of Christ directed toward us, no seeking of an advantage over others. As the Lord draws near to His servants in preparation for His return to earth the love of money must be purged from us. Otherwise it is impossible for us to enter the Kingdom of God. The wealthy of this world find it extremely difficult to enter the Kingdom of God.

The Scriptures teach us that the love of money is a great evil. We have the example of Balaam, of Gehazi, of Judas, of Ananias and Sapphira. The Lord Jesus warned us that no man can serve God and money. A man’s life consists not in the abundance of things he possesses. Take no thought for tomorrow. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you. The Scriptures are clear on the subject of the love of money.

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. (I Timothy 6:5)

We are to withdraw ourselves from every individual who teaches that gain is godliness, that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing and favor.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (I Timothy 6:9,10)

As we have said, the blowing of the seven trumpets announces the coming of the King. As soon as King Jesus enters through the gates of Jerusalem, through the gates of the heart of the believer, He comes into the temple of the living God. He then looks about Him on every side. He sees the tables of the moneychangers. The jealousy of God comes upon Him and He makes a whip and drives out of the house of God the abomination of the love of riches. He makes His Father’s house a house of prayer.

The third trumpet.

And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from the heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. (Revelation 8:10,11)

This marks the fall from the heaven of secular wisdom and knowledge.

The "lamp" speaks of wisdom and knowledge. The rivers and fountains of waters refer to the mental and spiritual life of which man partakes. The "waters" of human and satanic wisdom and knowledge flow from the educational institutions, from the media, from entertainers, from teachers, scholars, and philosophers, from government leaders, and sometimes from the Christian churches, but their point of origin is the fallen princes in the heavenlies.

The science of psychology has had a profound effect on the sources of information. Yet the origins of psychology and psychiatry are tainted with a materialistic view of the universe, and with the occult in some instances.

People "drink" of all this guidance and information and of the spirits promoting them without being able to discern what is helpful and what is harmful.

Along with these many sources of "water" there also is the water of life—that which is coming from the throne of God. Today it is not always possible for people to discern the difference between the waters that cause death and the waters that bring life and health.

As part of the judgment of the trumpets the Lord will turn a large part of earth’s various forms of "water" into wormwood, into bitterness. That which proceeds from the babylonish [man-centered] churches, from the public schools, from teachers, scholars, and philosophers of the world, from government leaders, from psychologists and sociologists, from playwrights, from the media, will become manifestly harmful.

Multitudes who do not drink of the only pure water, the water of life that comes from Christ, will die. The spirits coming from the fleshly churches, from the teachers of the world, from the editors of the media, will be bitter in the "mouths" of the drinkers and they will die—spiritually and, in some cases, physically.

For example, the public schools of our day teach children to ignore fixed moral standards, such as the Scriptures, and to develop their own values through experimentation. The lingering godliness in our culture has to the present hour prevented the death and torment that reside in such corrupt values to be revealed.

In the days to come, those who ignore the fixed standards God has given, such as conscience and the Scriptures, will find that the "waters" they were given to drink in the public schools have become bitter indeed and have led to spiritual and physical torment, sickness and death.

This already is taking place. We are beginning to reap the harvest.

Mankind does not understand the proper use of the human brain. God did not give us a brain so we would become a God separate from Himself. Our brain is a blessing by means of which we are able to comprehend and enjoy our environment and especially to appreciate and understand God and His Word to us.

When we attempt to use our brain to control our destiny we are employing the brain in a manner contrary to the purpose of God. Education will form a large part of the antichrist system, second only, perhaps, to the role of money. Through education the brain is strengthened in the hope that man will be able to provide a better environment and destiny for himself.

But the Scriptures teach that God has not given the brain to us for that purpose.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6)

The above verse is the opposite of the scientific method of solving the problems of living. The scientific method is employed properly when it is used for the investigation of the material world. But when it is used to guide the human being through life it is usurping the role of the Spirit of God.

We are to trust the Lord and lean not to our own understanding. This is the commandment of the Word of God. We are to acknowledge God in all our ways, that is, our ways of conducting our life. If we do that, God will direct our paths.

Paul taught us that the brain of the natural man, of the adamic personality, is the enemy of God.

Because the fleshly mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8:7)

Educating the human brain does not lead us to God. In order to perceive the will of God for our life we must be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2). Our mind is renewed as we cast ourselves upon the Lord, trusting in Him. Then we receive the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is a different mind from the mind of the adamic nature.

The sons of God are not led through the problems and purposes of life by their minds, by education, but by the Spirit of God.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)

God desires that every believer press into the place in Christ that is his destiny. Only the Holy Spirit can guide and strengthen the believer so he continually and surely moves toward the mark God has set for him. Education can give the believer a fuller comprehension of his environment and an understanding of God’s workings in the past, in the present, and in the future. But the plan for the believer’s life, the manner in which he is to spend each day, can come only from the Holy Spirit.

As we have said, the witness of Jesus must "lose his head" (Revelation 20:4). The only way in which any person can become a true witness of Jesus is by setting aside his own thinking, his own judgment, and entering the mind of Christ. God’s servant is blind and deaf to the wisdom of this world, but he sees and hears that which the Lord is doing and saying.

Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant? (Isaiah 42:19)

The true knowledge of God never can come through educating the human brain.

The only light of men is the Life of Jesus (John 1:4). Jesus is the Truth and the only truth. His Life is our light.

As Christ is formed in us the truth is formed in us. The truth of God is not a series of impressions on the brain. The truth of God is the Life of God that is in us. We have knowledge by that Life. We have wisdom by that Life. We have understanding by that Life.

There is no shortcut, no quick method by which one can come to the knowledge of the Lord. The truth is formed in us as we learn to live by eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His holy blood.

God has made man upright but man has sought out many inventions. Ecclesiastes comments that "much study is a weariness of the flesh." To fear God and keep His commandments is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:12,13).

The Lord enters us in the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles and He becomes our way, our truth, and our life. Our brain serves only to gives us understanding of what the Lord is saying to us. It is the Lord Himself who is our wisdom and knowledge.

The educational systems of Antichrist bring bitterness and death to the human spirit. Blessed is the individual who comes to the realization of this inevitable consequence, who then turns away from reliance on the fountains of human wisdom and knowledge and in a childlike manner places his faith and trust in the Lord His Creator.

The fourth trumpet.

And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. (Revelation 8:12)

The sun represents the Lord Jesus; the moon represents the created realm; and the stars, in this case, may portray the saints of the Church. The obvious Presence of the Lord will diminish as part of the great tribulation. The Christian churches will be corrupted by the world. The testimony of the Holy Spirit through the saints will not be as abundant as formerly. Many Christians will fall through deception.

The cloud of blessing by day will be curtailed. The fire of the judgment of God’s Word, the help God gives us during the "night," will seemingly be diminished.

Whatever literal fulfillment this passage may have, it is evident that the spiritual counterpart is taking place in our day. The light of God’s Presence and Word appear to be diminishing. People from different cities have reported to us there is no church they know of where the Presence of God can be felt.

Some who have been accustomed to the Presence of God in their lives are finding that God does not seem as close to them as once was true. Trouble has come to them and they are not being delivered. Some are plagued with the manifest presence of demons.

Ministers and people are unable to obtain release from the lusts of the flesh. Spiritual darkness is settling in where there used to be an abundance of Gospel light. It is becoming more difficult to seek the Lord. There appears to be a spiritual torpor, an inability to shake one’s self. Deception is widespread. The spiritual light is decreasing. Spiritual darkness is increasing.

The darkness of Antichrist is here now—today, and the darkness will become greater. We are not speaking of events in the future only. We are speaking of the present hour.

(It also is true in the present hour that there is marvelous light and glory for each believer who will turn away from the ungodliness of the churches and seek the Lord with a pure heart.)

Daniel warned us of the authority God will give to the Antichrist.

And it waxed great, even to the host of the heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. (Daniel 8:10)

We understand from the above verse that Antichrist will have power that reaches into the heaven, deceiving and casting down some of God’s stars. This is taking place today as some pastors and evangelists fall through immorality and covetousness.

Antichrist will deceive and overcome the saints through ease and prosperity.

And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power [by Satan’s]: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace [prosperity] shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Daniel 8:24,25)

He will shatter the power of the saints of the Lord.

. . . and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:7)

The Antichrist will overcome the saints who bear the latter-rain witness of the last days, the Gospel of the Kingdom that will be brought to every nation.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. (Revelation 11:7)

Antichrist will wear out the saints by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Also, he will persecute savagely those who do not conform to his way of thinking. He will work both by violence and by deception.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (Revelation 13:7)

As we stated previously, the only protection from the spiritual darkness entering the world is to be filled with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To thus enter the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles necessitates the removal of the love of the world from us, the removal of the love of sin from us, and the removal of the love of self from us.

The love of the world is removed from us as we turn our back on the world, choosing to be a pilgrim and stranger on the earth.

The love of sin is removed from us as we confess our sins, our demonic lusts, repent of them, and ask the Lord to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. After that, we must seek the Lord continually for His wisdom and strength so we may obtain victory over every area of sin.

The love of self is removed from us as we take up our cross and follow Jesus. Suffering and tribulation purge from us the love of the world, the love of sin, and the love of self. Only as we are purified of these can the holy Godhead settle down to rest in us. It is the Presence of the Godhead which preserves us from the spiritual death of the last days.

Let us look for a moment at the four evil forces of the last days.

Satan.

Antichrist.

The False Prophet.

Babylon the great.

Satan is the fallen cherub, the adversary, the accuser of the brothers, the one who desires to be like God and to be worshiped as God.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:14)

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. (Ezekiel 28:14,15)

If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. (Luke 4:7)

We understand that Satan is the father of the unholy trinity (Satan, Antichrist, and the False Prophet). Antichrist, the False Prophet, and Babylon live and move and have their being in the spirit of Satan. Satan is God’s rival for supremacy in the heavens and the earth. God will permit the whole of Satan’s personality to be revealed in the earth as an eternal lesson to God’s creatures of the folly of not abiding in God.

Antichrist is the second person of the unholy trinity. He is the imitation, the counterpart, the rival of the only true Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The spirit of Antichrist is in all human beings. It is the desire of man to be God. In the last days the spirit of Antichrist will be revealed in a man who finally will take his place in the Temple of God in Jerusalem. He will sit in the Most Holy Place declaring He is the Glory of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true and living God. This is the final result of the spirit that is in us, the spirit that seeks to be like God rather than an eternal part of God through Christ.

There is one point we wish to emphasize. The major issue of the last days is the overcoming of Antichrist. This is what the Book of Revelation stresses.

Antichrist already is in us. It is not a case of waiting until a dreadful man appears in the future. Antichrist is a spirit in us we have to overcome now—right now!

Antichrist is the spirit of man making himself God, of attempting to be like God and endeavoring to rule his own environment and destiny.

The last several hundred years of world history have witnessed the emergence of the spirit of Antichrist. The philosophers have brought forth the concept that man is the center of all things. Various nationalities of peoples have risen in revolt against those who have ruled them.

We do not wish to question the rightness or wrongness of the signing of the Magna Carta by King John, the French Revolution, the American Revolution. The tyranny of people in places of power has resulted in rebellion on the part of those abused by them.

But the fruit of man’s struggle is the emergence of rule by the masses of people, a bowing down to "world opinion" on the part of those who would attempt to accomplish anything. The philosophies of democracy and humanism are spreading. Communism and the Muslim religion still control major segments of earth’s peoples. Humanism and democracy will emerge victorious because they appeal to the love of man for himself. Satan perceives that man can be corrupted more easily and more thoroughly by prosperity than he can by violence and fear.

Antichrist rises out of the "sea" (Revelation 13:1). This means Antichrist will come forth from the masses of earth’s people. He is that spirit of lawlessness, of self-rule, that seeks the godship of man. He is in all of us until we are willing to lay down our life, take up our cross, and follow the Lord Jesus.

The antichrist system emphasizes money, education and the brain of man, and finally the occult until it is obvious it is Satan who is in control.

There are at least four aspects of the antichrist system:

The Beast.

The image of the Beast.

The mark of the Beast.

The number of his name.

Our understanding is that the Beast represents man opposing the rule of Christ, man choosing to govern himself.

It may be true that the image of the Beast will be some computerized marvel, some masterpiece of cybernetics employed to solve the problems of mankind. However the image may prove to be money. It may be recalled that Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold (Daniel, Chapter Three). It appears today that money is emerging as the primary God of the world. Everything is accomplished by money. The worship of money is spreading to lands that formerly worshiped idols, or nature, or some personage or object.

The mark is in the right hand or in the forehead (Revelation 13:16). The mark in the right hand suggests that the system works by the strength of man. The mark in the forehead means the individual does the will of Antichrist, just as God’s seal in the forehead of the remnant means the individual does the will of God.

We are not implying that there will not be some type of device inserted under the skin that is linked with a world economic system. There may be such a device. But that is not our problem now. Our problem now is overcoming the giving of our strength to the world system, and the habit of thinking as the world thinks.

The television and the Internet are among Satan’s principal tools for forming our thoughts and imaginations in the image of the world. It is difficult to comprehend the enormity of the evil of television with its ceaseless displaying of the values of Satan. No sincere Christian spends much time on the television programs presented by the world.

If we do not overcome the mark of today we will be helpless when it comes to a governmental demand to become part of the world economic system, the alternative being we can neither buy nor sell.

The number of his name—666—symbolizes man making himself God, seeking to exalt himself, and finally to be worshiped. It is the ancient satanic desire to be like God instead of being in union with God through Christ.

Each believer who would be accepted of God must overcome the Beast, the image of the Beast, the mark in the right hand or in the forehead, and the number of his name.

It is not enough to accept Christ, or to be born again (as Christians employ the term), or to speak in tongues. In order to be accepted of God each believer must overcome, through the Holy Spirit, his governing of himself. He must submit to crucifixion so Christ may live in him in place of Antichrist.

Each believer must overcome, through the Holy Spirit, the God of money. He must seek first the Kingdom of God and allow God to supply his needs. This does not mean the believer is not to work. It does mean all employment becomes secondary and seeking God’s will becomes of supreme importance every day of his life.

Each believer must overcome, through the Holy Spirit, the using of his prime time and energies to serve the world spirit of Satan. He must resist doing the will of the God of this world and be transformed by the renewing of his mind. He must present his body a living sacrifice to God.

Each believer must overcome, through the Holy Spirit, the desire to exalt himself, the desire to be God, the desire to be worshiped by his fellow creatures. He must humble himself unto death, the death brought about by bearing his personal cross, in order that he may become part of the one true Vine—the Lord Jesus Christ. He must renounce for eternity his desire to be a competitor of God, another will in the universe. He must be willing to become one with God.

The believer who does not overcome the Beast, the image of the Beast, the mark in the right hand or in the forehead, and the number of the Beast’s name, will never be accepted of God. He is in danger of being cast into the torment of fire and sulfur. Let the reader take heed!

The only manner in which we can escape deception is by doing what Revelation 14:12 and 13 command. We must be patient. We must keep the commandments of God. We must hold fast the faith of Jesus. We must die in the Lord and allow His Spirit to perform the works of redemption in us.

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2)

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)

From the above verse we see that the only persons who attain to the first resurrection are those who do not worship the Beast (man’s self-rule), or his image (money), and who do not receive his mark on their forehead (fleshly reasoning) or in their hand (using their strength to serve the world spirit instead of God).

The Scriptures state we attain to the first resurrection by overcoming the Beast, his image, and his mark. Let every person who adds to or subtracts from this statement consider the dreadful curse with which the Book of Revelation is bound (Revelation 22:18,19).

To those who teach that by accepting Jesus we automatically are overcomers, let us respond by pointing out it is evident that numerous persons who have "accepted Jesus" still are governing themselves, are worshiping money, are serving the world, are worldly in their thinking, and never have laid down their life in order that Christ may live in them.

Therefore to say that "accepting Jesus" (as we use the term—for it indeed is not a true acceptance of Christ) automatically makes us an overcomer is false and destructive of the Christian redemption.

The False Prophet is the third person of the unholy trinity. The False Prophet is an imitation, a counterpart, of the Holy Spirit. The False Prophet lives by soulish, metaphysical wisdom and power not governed by the Lord Jesus, wisdom and power that do not proceed from the Holy Spirit.

The Antichrist rises out of the sea, that is, from the ranks of mankind. But the False Prophet comes up out of the earth, out of the souls of people.

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Revelation 13:11)

Man is spirit, soul, and body. God deals with the spirit of man. The soul of man can choose to live in the spiritual life of God, or to live in metaphysical life that is of the spirit realm but not of Christ.

The occult always has been with us. The religions of the East understand and practice metaphysical powers that work in and with the soul of man.

Western man has been drugged with materialism. But materialism is not a satisfying way of life. The human being longs for the supernatural. Christ satisfies the hunger for the supernatural for those who walk with Him. Satan stands ready to supply this need for those who reject Christ.

The science of psychology is of the soul. The science of psychiatry also is of the soul and has been known to dabble in the occult. The present-day trend is toward the soulish, toward the occult, as we can determine by studying the curricula of the public institutions of learning.

The False Prophet has two horns like a lamb. He is an imitation of Jesus. He claims that his power (the two horns) is the power of the Lord Jesus, of the Lamb. But his voice is that of the ancient dragon, Satan.

The False Prophet performs wonders (Revelation 13:13). We may note today that miracles are taking place in some instances. It is up to the Christian believers to make sure the miracles being demonstrated are turning us back to the Lord and are not supporting the current man-centeredness of Christian teaching.

If the miracles are supporting the idea that we all are acceptable to God, that no Christian need concern himself with the Judgment Seat of Christ because we are saved by grace, then we need to pray for discernment and we need also to test the apostle.

Today the Spirit of the Lord is calling for repentance and is warning God’s people of judgment to come. Any prophecies or other miraculous actions that support and confirm the current doctrinal position regarding the acceptability of worldly believers on the basis of their profession of faith in Jesus, are not coming from the Lord. Any prophecies or other miraculous actions that support and confirm the current doctrinal position that it is not necessary for us to keep the commandments of the Lord because we are saved by "grace" is assuredly not coming from the Lord. The primary way in which we show our love for the Lord is by keeping His commandments.

The False Prophet advises those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast. After that, the False Prophet gives life (breath) to the image of the Beast and enforces the worship of the image of the Beast.

It is the Christian people of today who are emphasizing the worship of the golden image—money. Some have "prophesied" that in the last days the world’s wealth will be given into the hands of the believers and the world will be required to come to the believers for help.

Already we behold the beginning of the concept of the golden image being supported by those Christians who have been seduced.

We see also the Christian leaders attempting to make believers of the heads of government. They do not stress that the political leader lay down his life, take up his cross, and follow Jesus. They do not make the head of state tremble with the demands of God, as happened with the ungodly Felix (Acts 24:25). Rather, they advise him or her to just "accept Jesus" and then talk in tongues.

Any individual who accepts Christ and talks in tongues, but who does not lay down his own life and follow the Lord Jesus, is a potential antichrist.

The Scriptures are being fulfilled before our eyes. The False Prophet, which is the spirit of religious deception in the Christians, is attempting to make an image of gold for all people to worship and to give spiritual life to the world leaders.

What if the leader receives Christ? What if he speaks in tongues? Do we suppose for one moment he is going to lay down his life and follow the Lord into the crucifixion of his self-life? Rather, the politician is looking for means to strengthen his political life. How many politicians in America are professing to be born again so they may gain support from Christian people?

Our religious works are not accepted by the Lord as long as our self-life is directing us.

The Lord Jesus insists we give up our life and die in Him. He helps us by allowing Satan to cast us into prison. The Lord lets suffering come our way. He will burn that mountain of self with fire and cast it into the sea so the soulish creatures in us will die.

If some evangelist could persuade a world leader to "accept Jesus as his Savior" and to speak in tongues, and then learn to accomplish his own political will "by faith," we would be well on our way to the cooperation between Antichrist and the False Prophet mentioned in Revelation 13:11-15. Why is this? It is because accepting Jesus is not enough. Speaking in tongues is not enough. We come into that which God desires only when we stop planning our own life and begin to find the will of God through prayer and presenting our body a living sacrifice to God. We must lose our own head and put on the Head of Christ.

The False Prophet is spiritual power not coming from Jesus, not being administered by Jesus, but using the name of Jesus. It is under the control of the human soul and mind.

This is where the danger is in today’s revival movements. The people are seeking power rather than the Lord Jesus.

Babylon the great is the fourth of the four evil forces of the last days. Babylon is not the church of the Laodiceans. The church of the Laodiceans is the seventh of the lampstands of Christ. Babylon (man-directed Christianity) never was a lampstand of God, never was of Christ.

Babylon is the spirit of religious organization. Because of the worldwide spread of the Gospel of the Kingdom through the Lord and His saints of the last days, Christianity will, as we understand it, establish a worldwide religion, perhaps absorbing into itself enough of the other religions of the world to satisfy the demands of a majority of the earth’s population.

It appears not unlikely that Babylon, the worldwide Christian Church of the last days, will be located at the site of ancient Babylon on the Euphrates River.

Notice, in Zechariah 5:7-11, there was one woman in the ephah, which may represent the Catholic Church. Then there came out two women, no doubt the Catholic and the Protestant churches. After that, the wickedness of the ephah (basket) was carried to the site of the tower of Babel, of ancient Babylon. There they built a house for it.

The ephah is significant in that the ephah was a basket used for holding grain—a type of the Lord’s people.

The spirit of religious organization, of bringing the Lord’s elect into a manmade structure and hierarchy, has been with us since the first century. A denomination is formed after a revival has taken place with the intention of systematizing and assisting the new workings of the Lord.

Denominations may have been a necessity during the early stages of the Body of Christ. But the spirit that always is in religious organizations will be revealed in the last days, and the Lord’s true elect will come out of all religious organizations and be joined to the Head. The time is not yet. We of today must work within the structure in which we find ourselves.

We understand, then, that Satan, Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the worldwide Christian Church will work together to produce abominations, desolation, and death in the world. Finally the ten kings who give their power and strength to the Antichrist will turn against Babylon and burn her with fire (Revelation 17:16).

We have discussed the judgment on the earth, on the fruitfulness of man, on the attractiveness of the world, on self-seeking, on commerce, and on the educational-spiritual life that proceeds from the mind of man and from Satan. We have called attention also to the diminishing of the spiritual light available to people, and to the rise of Antichrist, the False Prophet, and Babylon.

The final three trumpets reveal further the attitude of God toward the conduct of mankind, and the steps God will take in order to prepare the Lord’s people, and the nations of the earth, for the return of His King—the Lord Jesus Christ.

The fifth trumpet.

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from the heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. (Revelation 9:1)

Now will the denizens of darkness be released from the pit so they may torment the inhabitants of the earth.

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 9:2)

Since the bottomless pit is a spiritual place not found on the earth, it follows that the smoke from the pit also is spiritual.

We notice here the converging of the spiritual and physical realms in the last days. The pit and its smoke are found in the spirit realm. The sun and the air are found in the physical realm. How much the physical realm may be affected as to an actual darkening of the sun and the air we are not certain. We have had the experience of walking down a sunlit road and having the Lord speak to us about the darkness filling the earth. The natural environment did not match what the Lord was emphasizing. This has happened to us on several occasions.

But it is our opinion that eventually the two realms will coincide. Ultimately the darkness filling the spiritual atmosphere must affect directly the physical realm. We do not see this as yet but have no doubt it will take place in the not too distant future.

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. 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 9:3,4)

We understand from the above passage that the judgments are not in chronological sequence. The locusts were commanded that they should not hurt the grass of the earth. But in the first trumpet "all green grass was burnt up." The judgments of the trumpets do not take place in sequence. Rather they are various aspects of the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament Blowing of Trumpets. They are the messengers preparing the way of the King.

The locusts are not permitted to touch the sealed remnant. The Lord’s servants will be exposed like everyone else to the withering hand on the earth and on human fruitfulness and beauty, to the fiery judgments on self-will and on the love of money, to the making bitter of the waters of human life, and to the diminishing of the manifest Presence of the Lord. The sealed remnant will experience the darkness.

But the Lord’s servants will be protected from the excruciating torments of the great tribulation.

The locusts come out of the bottomless pit. Locusts ordinarily would attack the green growth of the earth. But these are locusts whose task is to torment people. There will be a stinging, burning pain like the sting of a scorpion.

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. (Revelation 9:5)

The torment that will follow the sting of one of these locusts must be intense for people will seek to escape the pain by dying.

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 9:6)

Physical death, like sleep, is one of the blessings God has provided for sinful man. Through death we can escape agonizing physical pain and the extreme weariness of old age.

But during the great tribulation there will be periods when people will not be permitted to die. Escape through death will be denied them. This is a horrible nightmare. Here again we behold the converging of the spiritual and physical realms. The torment of the locusts comes from a spiritual army and people are locked in the physical realm by supernatural forces.

It is difficult to conceive of men not being able to die. If someone leaped from a tall building, or blew away part of his head with a shotgun, what would he be like if he remained alive?—if he could not die?

It has been suggested there is a spiritual application here. Perhaps it means also that after sufficient torment there will be some believers who then will be ready to die "in the Lord," that is, they will be ready to turn over their life to Jesus; but He will not receive their offering.

To a greater extent than most of us realize, the ability to seek the Lord is a gift given to us by God. No man can come to Jesus unless the Father draw him, and this is true at all levels of Christian experience. No man can repent or seek after God except as God permits. Repentance is a gift (Acts 11:18; II Timothy 2:25)!

Our ability to draw near to God, to overcome, to die in the Lord, to enter into the rest of God, to be transformed in personality and behavior, are gifts from God. Salvation is held open to us for a short period of time. There are seasons of opportunity (Acts 3:19; John 6:44; Hebrews 3:13).

It may be true that in the near future it will be impossible for us to make the decision to die in the Lord, to enter the rest of God, to find our place of refuge in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is a distinct possibility, a probability. The wise reader will not delay but will give himself to the Lord immediately. He will come to the Lord now, seeking to enter into the marvels that have been prepared from the creation of the world for the closing days of the Church Age.

Many that are last will be first. The door to glory is open and neither man nor devil can close it. But the individual believer indeed can choose not to go through that door, judging himself to be unworthy of the Kingdom of God, by neglecting that which God is offering to him. Fearful indeed is the fate of the person to whom God has entrusted much but who chooses to neglect His Divine calling and follow his own path.

The period of time allotted to the locusts (five months) reveals that God will keep this particular torment under His strict control. In fact, all the plagues and torments with which mankind will be visited will be executed by Satan. But they remain under the careful supervision of the God of Heaven. God is in control—always! Mankind and the earth are God’s creation. God controls everything that happens to people on the earth.

The description of the army of locusts may be symbolic, or literal, or may set forth their appearance in the spirit realm. They may or may not be visible to human beings—we do not know at this time. It is possible there will be a material counterpart of this torment, such as a sickness, or a physical weapon of war of some sort. Perhaps the disease known as AIDS falls under this category.

In any case, the locusts are a woe to the inhabitants of the earth. This is a terrible plague indeed.

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. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. 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 9:8-11)

The angel of the bottomless pit will be leading whatever creatures or instruments these are. The inhabitants of the pit are coming forth to wage war against mankind.

The locusts of the fifth trumpet remind us of the fiery serpents God sent among the Israelites (Numbers 21:6). The Lord Jesus Christ has been lifted up so whoever looks on Him may be delivered. But in the last days men will seek death rather than Him who was lifted up for the healing of men.

The sixth trumpet.

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter. 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 9:12-15)

The "two woes" that are to come "hereafter" may be the events that follow the blowing of the sixth and seventh trumpets.

The four angels have been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year in which they are to be released for their dreadful mission. Again we see that the plagues of the end time are not haphazard but are controlled by Him who knows the end from the beginning.

On the sixth day of creation man was brought forth. At the blowing of the sixth trumpet a third of mankind will be slain, the four angels being prepared for the precise moment of the execution of judgment.

No doubt it will prove to be true literally that one out of every three people on earth will die—well over a billion human beings. This is a pruning of the vine of mankind.

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand: and I heard the number of them. (Revelation 9:16)

A specific number of warriors has been commissioned to perform a specific task on the earth, being under the total control of the Lord.

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. 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. (Revelation 9:17-19)

The description of the judgment of the sixth trumpet is suggestive of a world war. But whatever material form these soldiers may take they will be a manifestation of the four angels, for it is the four angels who have been prepared to slay the third part of men.

The closing days of the Church Age will be spiritually dark, and filled with plagues. So many will be slain during the great tribulation that just the Christians who are killed are referred to as "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" (Revelation 7:9).

The faithful who wash their robes and make them white in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus will be brought up, when they die, to stand before the throne of God. The fervent disciples will be sealed so the spirits assigned to torment and slay mankind cannot harm them.

The sealed remnant also will be before the throne of God, in a spiritual sense, but many of them will be kept alive on the earth in order to be a refuge and place of deliverance for all who call on the name of the Lord in the oppressive spiritual darkness.

Multitudes will not repent even though they have experienced torment and have witnessed the slaying of a large part of the population of the earth.

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)

One may wonder why God would permit the judgments of the seals, the trumpets, the bowls of wrath, the burning of Babylon, and the invasion of Armageddon, to fall on the human beings whom He has created. The reason is, people will not repent. No matter how they suffer they will not repent. How many times was Egypt smitten with destruction? Yet Pharaoh would not repent.

The hardness of the human heart is a wonder. Why are we so determined to resist God?—to refuse to humble ourselves before God? Why are we so determined to have our own way no matter what the will of our Creator may be?

The hearts of people increasingly will become hardened until they are shaking their fists in defiance of God. Even after all the judgments they will be angry at God. After a thousand years of the righteous rule of Christ and His saints, after the nations have been broken to pieces by the rod of iron, mankind still will rebel against the saints at the end of the Kingdom Age so that God has to send down fire on them and destroy them. (Revelation 20:9).

So severe is the wrath of God that the earth and the heaven themselves will flee from His face and no place will be found for them (Revelation 20:11).

We see this hardness of heart today. People will not serve God. The Christian believers are choosing the present world ahead of God.

The churches have assigned all torment to the Jews, to God’s chosen people, so the so-called "Gentile Church" may enjoy Paradise while the Jews attempt (without the Holy Spirit) to establish the Kingdom of God on the earth.

The truth is, Divine judgment begins with the Lord’s saints, with those who are closest to Him. God’s wrath toward the sins of mankind is so extreme the righteous themselves are saved only with difficulty (I Peter 4:17-19). The righteous will suffer much in the last days as they have down through history. But they will be saved if they keep themselves so Satan cannot touch them (I John 5:18).

The closing days of the present age will be a holocaust. The gap between the earth and the bottomless pit will be narrowed. Satan and his angels will be forced down from the heavens and compelled to live among mankind on the earth.

The fallen angels have desired to gorge themselves on the flesh of men, and the flesh of men will be given to them in abundance. What a disgraceful condition for those personages who once had illuminated the heavens with the splendor of their majesty—to be forced to wallow in the rancid mass of rotting flesh, the heaped up corpses of willful humans!

Of those who know the Lord, some will be slain. Some will fall into sin because of widespread lust and deception. Some will be driven from the cities of the earth. Some will be strong in the Lord and be a place of safety for all who call on the name of the Lord.

The last days will be an extraordinary era, and many who serve God during this time will be among the first in rank in the Kingdom of God. It is a period during which an individual can reveal his determination to love and serve the Lord and become a victorious saint.

The last days will not be a time of hilarity and glorification for the saints as sometimes is "prophesied." It will be an hour of the greatest tragedy and suffering and the saints are not exempt. The saints will minister but in "sackcloth," that is, in humility (Revelation 11:3).

There will be no exalted ministers in that day nor the foolishness, presumption, and entertainment of Christian assemblies. Rather there will be a return to the apostolic and prophetic ministry of the first century. It will be a dark hour for all—saints and sinners alike. But the believers who give themselves wholly to Jesus in first-century consecration will be enabled by the Lord to shine in the darkness.

The seventh trumpet.

The seventh trumpet is the last trumpet. When the last trumpet sounds the Lord’s saints, His witnesses of all ages, will be changed from mortality to immortality.

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound [is about to sound], the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)

The "mystery of God" is the forming of Christ in the members of His Body. The sealed remnant will be made perfect during the tribulation, and the great multitude of the redeemed will wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation, Chapter 11 tells of two witnesses who will prophesy as the seventh angel is about to sound. We understand the two witnesses to be Christ—Head and Body. The two witnesses will prophesy during one "week" of years.

The tribulation period, as we understand it, will occur during the second half of the prophetic week of years. During the first half of the week (three and one-half years; 42 months) the true saints will be empowered to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom in all the world for a witness to every nation under the heaven, in accordance with Matthew 24:14 (see Daniel 9:27).

During the "latter-rain" witness, which will take place during the first half of the "week," as we understand it, the saints will cause judgment to fall on the peoples of the earth. They will have authority to shut the heaven so it does not rain during the time of their prophecy.

They will have authority over waters to turn them to blood, and to bring all plagues on the earth as often as they choose—no doubt in both spiritual and physical fulfillment. Those who oppose them will be slain by the Word of Divine judgment that comes from their mouth (Revelation 11:5,6).

The number two, which is associated with the end-time witness (the two witnesses; the two olive trees; the two lampstands) refers to the double power of the Holy Spirit—the Elisha anointing. Christ (the one Lampstand) and His Body (the second Lampstand) will be filled with a double portion of the Holy Spirit to bear witness on the earth of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.

At the end of the first half of the week God will permit the witness to be overcome and driven from the cities of the earth. The Christian witness will be overcome by violence and by deception. It is impossible to overcome Jesus and it is impossible to overcome the saint who abides in Jesus. But many saints do not abide in Jesus to the extent they should, and it appears that the testimony of many of them will be overcome after God lifts the powerful anointing of the last days. The witness must be overcome so the spiritual power that hinders Antichrist may be removed from his path (II Thessalonians 2:7).

During the second half of the week the fullness of the abomination that Antichrist is will be revealed. Antichrist will be, we believe, a Christian. We say this because Judas, who was in the inner circle of Jesus’ apostles, was referred to by the Lord as "the son of perdition" (John 17:12). The same term is applied to the Antichrist (II Thessalonians 2:3; note also I John 2:18,19).

Because of the number of people who have been converted through the ministry of the two witnesses, Antichrist will find it possible to rise to extraordinary political power by gaining the confidence of the new believers and then of the adherents of many of the other religions of the earth.

Antichrist may be a deceived Christian. It is not a large step from the desire of Christians to obtain power from the Lord for their personal material advancement, to the willingness of a Christian finally to yield completely to the concept that God wants to give uncrucified man all authority and power.

Since the first edition of The End-time Judgments the next step toward Antichrist has been taken. We are referring to Dominion Theology, or Reconstructionism. This new form of postmillennialism appears, at first glance, to be positive, faith-filled Christianity. In actuality it is the expression of believers with spiritual gifts who are walking after the counsel of their own uncrucified minds, seeking to build the Kingdom of God apart from the personal intervention and will of the Lord Jesus.

Dominion Theology is gaining many adherents among zealous believers because they are not praying and are not following Jesus in patient, cross-carrying obedience. They are being deceived.

Antichrist will begin by attempting, perhaps in all sincerity, to use Christian principles to solve the problems of the world, as the ministry is attempting today to use Christian principles to solve the problems of people. But Satan will manage to deceive this supremely skillful administrator, this perfect combination of Christianity and humanism, to the point he begins to consider himself to be God. Now Satan has what he is looking for—a human being who, because of his own self-centeredness, has become a Satan-filled imitation of Christ.

Israel, by this time one of the strongest nations of the earth, will resist the efforts of Antichrist to achieve a one-world government. Antichrist will gather together the nations of the earth and go up to battle against Jerusalem. Jerusalem will fall.

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (Zechariah 14:2)

Antichrist will enter the Holy Land. He will sit in the rebuilt Temple proclaiming himself to be the God of Israel, the God of the whole earth. This is the abomination that produces desolation. Now will fierce tribulation fill the earth as the Lord reacts to man making himself God.

The Christian saints and the devout Jews will flee into the wilderness where God will keep them from the hand of Antichrist. The godly remnant of Christians and Jews will be reconciled and will wait for the revealing of Christ in the clouds of the heaven. Some of the Jews may remain in the land of Israel and finally come to accept the claims of Antichrist.

Antichrist will remove from the cities of the earth, by violence and by deception, the testimony of the holy people of the Lord, that is, of the Jews and the Christians. He will "wear out" all but the most fervent and committed of the Christians and Jews by untiring, skillful diplomacy and relentless persecution. God will give them into his hand until the appointed hour has come (Daniel 7:25).

The nominal Christians and Jews, those who accept his worldwide economic scheme, his one-world government, will be subsidized by him. He will invite Christian leaders to participate in his government. He will destroy the spiritual life of the Laodicean church by befriending it.

. . . it shall be for a time, times, and an half [the second half of Daniel’s seventieth week]; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:7)

Peace and safety will fill the earth. Suddenly the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Antichrist will summon the armies of the earth to Jerusalem because he will understand from the Scriptures that Jesus will return to Jerusalem.

The power of Christ will descend before Him and fill the bodies of the sleeping and the living saints, the eternal witnesses of God. They will rise from the dead in the splendor of Divine radiance. The living will be changed from mortality into immortality. The entire light-filled multitude will be caught up to meet the Commander in Chief in the air.

Now the Head and Body of Christ are One and are standing on the spiritual Mount Zion.

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1)

Antichrist and the kings of the earth will witness the ascension into the air of the radiant army of Christ.

And after three days and an half [the second half of the week] the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. (Revelation 11:11)

Antichrist and the kings of the earth then will prepare themselves to fight against the Lord Jesus and His saints.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. (Revelation 19:19)

At this point there will be a massive earthquake.

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of the heaven. (Revelation 11:13)

Notice the expression, "the city." The city mentioned here may be Babylon the great—the world headquarters of the "Christian" religion located on the River Euphrates, the ancient site of the Tower of Babel.

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)

The blowing of the seventh trumpet, the last trumpet, marks the termination of the Church Age. The Lord’s servants from every era of history will be raised from the dead, and then be caught up to meet the returning Lord in the air. The Kingdom of God now is at hand and soon will invade the earth.

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in the heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)

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