Friday, August 24, 2012

                                   THE SEVEN TRUMPETS      by Jeff Pippenger
“THE BOOK OF REVELATION IN CONNECTION WITH DANIEL, ESPECIALLY DEMANDS OUR STUDY.” EDUCATION, 191.

“STUDY REVELATION IN CONNECTION WITH DANIEL, FOR HISTORY WILL BE REPEATED.” TESTIMONIES TO MINISTERS, 116.

The establishment, the growth, and the reign of the papacy as a world-power, is distinctly a subject of prophecy, as really as is the fall of Rome and the planting of the Ten Kingdoms upon the ruins thereof. Indeed, the prophecy of this is an inseparable part of the prophecy of the other. {1901 ATJ, ECE 1.2}

Rev 8:6 And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

-THE SUBJECT OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS IS HERE RESUMED, AND OCCUPIES THE REMAINDER OF THIS CHAPTER AND ALL OF CHAPTER 9.
-THE SEVEN ANGELS PREPARE THEMSELVES TO SOUND. THEIR SOUNDING COMES IN AS A COMPLEMENT TO THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 2 AND 7, COMMENCING WITH THE BREAKING UP OF THE OLD ROMAN EMPIRE INTO ITS TEN DIVISION, OF WHICH, IN THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS, WE HAVE A DESCRIPTION. DANIEL & REVELATION 478-517.
THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS-
  • FIRST SUNDAY LAWS, BY CONSTANTINE 321. “NATIONAL APOSTASY FOLLOWED BY NATIONAL RUIN”.
  • CONSTANTINE MOVED TO THE CAPITAL TO CONSTANTINOPLE IN 330.
  • ALARIC ARRIVES IN 395, AND IN 410 THE CITY OF ROME WAS TAKEN. {1ST TRUMPET}
  • GENSERIC, 428-468. {2ND TRUMPET}
  • ATTILA THE HUN FROM 433 TO 453. {3RD TRUMPET}
ODECER CONQUERED BROUGHT THE FINAL DEMISE OF WESTERN ROME 476.
THIS HISTORY PARALLELS THE FIRST THREE SEALS , WHICH CULMINATES IN 533, WHEN JUSTINIAN GAVE HIS AUTHORITY TO THE PAPACY.
  • FIVE YEARS LATER, IN 538, THE PAPACY BEGAN TO RULE THE WORLD.
THE FIRST WOE-
  • ARABIC ISLAM. A POWER FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. SUDDEN AND VIOLENT IN NATURE. A PROLONGED WAR BETWEEN THE EAST AND THE WEST CULMINATING WITH THE BATTLE OF NINEVEH WAS THE KEY TO AND PROCEED THEIR RISE POWER. THEY WERE TO TORMENT AND HURT THE BEAST THAT WAS—EASTERN PAGAN ROME AND THE BEAST THAT IS—PAPAL ROME.
  • [1]BABYLON
  • [2]MEDO=PERSIA
  • [3]GREECE
  • [4]PAGAN ROME
  • [5]PAPAL ROME
  • [6]UNITED STATES
  • [7]UNITED NATIONS
  • [8]MODERN ROME

  • THEY WERE NOT TO HURT THOSE THAT HAD THE SEAL OF GOD, BUT TO HURT OR TORMENT FOR FIVE MONTHS, 150 YEARS, BEGINNING WITH THE BATTLE OF NICOMEDIA, JULY 27, 1299. THIS BEGAN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE---TURKISH ISLAM
  • AFTER OCTOBER 22, 1844 ACCORDING THE ANGEL OF REVELATION 10 SAYS-”TIME WILL BE NO MORE”
  • THEY HAD A KING OVER THEM, WHO IS THE ANGEL OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT-A DESTROYER BOTH IN HEBREW AND GREEK. {APOLYON AND ABADON]
  • THE FIRST WOE CONCLUDES WHEN THE LAST EMPEROR OF EASTERN ROME, JOHN PALAGEOUS LEFT HIS THRONE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE TURKISH POWER, THEN ASCENDED THE THRONE IN 1449. IN MAY 1453, CONSTANTINOPLE FALLS.
THE SEAL OF GOD-
  • AFTER THE DEATH OF MOHAMMED, HE WAS SUCCEDE IN THE COMMAND BY ABUBEKR A. D. 632 WHO, AS SOON AS HE HAD FAIRLY ESTABLISHED HIS AUTHORITY AND GOVERMENT, DISPATECHED A CIRCULAR LETTER TO THE ARABIAN TRIBES, FROM WHICH THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXTRACT:--'WHEN YOU FIGHT THE BATTLES OF THE LORD, ACQUIT YOURSELVES LIKE MEN, WITHOUT TURNING YOUR BACKS; BUT LET NOT YOUR VICTORY BE STAINED BY THE BLOOD OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN. DISTROY NO PALM TREES, NOR BURN ANY FIELDS OF CORN. CUT DOWN NO FRUIT TREES, NOR DO ANY MISCHIEF TO CATTLE, ONLY SUCH AS YOU WILL KILL TO EAT. WHEN YE MAKE ANY COVENANT OR ARTICLE, STAND TO IT, AND BE AS GOOD AS YOUR WORD.
AND AS YOU GO, YOU FILL FIND SOME RELIGIOUS PERSONS WHO LIVE RETIRED IN MONASTERIES, AND PROPOSE TO THEMSELVES TO SERVE GOD THAT WAY, LET THEM ALONE, AND NEITHER KILL THEM NOR DESTROY THEIR MONASTERIES. AND YOU WILL FIND ANOTHER SORT OF PEOPLE THAT BELONG TO THE SYNAGOGE OF SATAN, W HO HAVE SHAVEN CROWNS; BE SURE YOU CLEAVE THEIR SKULLS, AND GIVE THEM NEITHER QUARTER TILL THEY EITHER TURN MOHAMEDANS OR PAY TRIBUTE.'
  • "It is not said in prophecy or in history that the more humane injunctions were as scrupulously obeyed as the ferocious mandate; but it was so commanded them. And the preceding are the only instructions recorded by Gibbon, as given by Abubekr to the chiefs whose duty it was to issue the commands to all the Saracen hosts. The commands are alike discriminating with the prediction, as if the caliph himself had been acting in known as well as direct obedience to a higher mandate than that of mortal man; and in the very act of going forth to fight against the religion of Jesus, and to propagate Mohammedanism in its stead, he repeated the words which it was foretold in the Revelation of Jesus Christ that he would say." {1897 UrS, DAR 501.1} The Seal of God in Their Foreheads. - In remarks upon chapter 7:1-3, we have shown that the seal of God is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; and history is not silent upon the fact that there have been observers of the true Sabbath all through the present dispensation. But the question has here arisen with many, Who were those men who at this time had the seal of God in their foreheads, and who thereby became exempt from Mohammedan oppression? Let the reader bear in mind the fact, already alluded to, that there have been those all through this dispensation who have had the seal of God in their foreheads, or have been intelligent observers of the true Sabbath; and let them consider further that what the prophecy asserts is that the attacks of this desolating Turkish power are not directed against them, but against another class. The subject is thus freed from all difficulty; for this is all that the prophecy really asserts. Only one class of persons is directly brought to view in the text; namely, those who have not the seal of God in their foreheads; and the preservation of those who have the seal of God is brought in only by implication. Accordingly, we do not learn from history that any of these were involved in any of the calamities inflicted by the Saracens upon the objects of their hate. They were commissioned against another class of men. And the destruction to come upon this class of men is not put in contract with the preservation of other men, but only with that of the fruits and verdure of the earth; thus, Hurt not the grass, trees, nor any green thing, but only a certain class of men. And in fulfilment, we have the strange spectacle of an army of invaders sparing those things which such armies usually destroy, namely, the face and productions of nature; and, in pursuance of their permission to hurt those men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, cleaving the skulls of a class of religionists with shaven crowns, who belonged to the synagogue of Satan. {1897 UrS, DAR 501.2} These were doubtless a class of monks, or some other division of the Roman Catholic Church. Against these the arms of the Mohammedans were directed. And it seems to us that there is a peculiar fitness, if not design, in describing them as those who had not the seal of God in their foreheads; inasmuch as that is the very church which has robbed the law of God of its seal, by tearing away the true Sabbath, and erecting a counterfeit in its place. And we do not understand, either from the prophecy or from history, that those persons whom Abubekr charged his followers not to molest were in possession of the seal of God, or necessarily constituted the people of God. Who they were, and for what reason they were spared, the meager testimony of Gibbon does not inform us, and we have no other means of knowing; but we have every reason to believe that none of these who had the seal of God were molested, while another class, who emphatically had it not, were put to the sword; and thus the specifications of the prophecy are amply met. {1897 UrS, DAR 502.1}
  • THE SECOND WOE-
  • TURKISH ISLAM. A POWER FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT. SUDDEN AND VIOLENT IN NATURE, WITH AN EMPHASIS OF THE USE OF GUN POWDER. THEY WERE TO SLAY THE BEAST THAT WAS –EASTERN PAGAN ROME. DURING THIS TIME THE BEAST THAT IS—PAPAL ROME, WAS ALSO SLAIN.
  • IT BEGINS WHERE THE FIRST WOE ENDS, STARTING THE 391 YEARS AND 15 DAY TIME PROPHECY. IT BEGINS WHEN THE FOUR ANGELS ARE LOOSED.
  • IT ENDS WITH THE IDENTICAL DYNAMICS AS JUSTINIAN AND THE LAST CONSTANTINE, WHEN THE PASHA OF TURKEY SUBMITS HIS EMPIRE INTO THE HANDS OF THE “FOUR GREAT POWERS OF EUROPE”. THIS SITUATION WAS CRETAED BY TURKEY'S LOSS OF POWER, COMBINED WITH THE THREAT OF ARABIC ISLAM (EGYPT) TAKING CONTROL OF THE FORMER OTTOMAN EMPIRE, FORCING THE FOUR GREAT POWERS OF EUROPE TO INTERCEDE. SHORTY THEREAFTER THE POWERS OF EUROPE PARCEL OUT THE FORMER EMPIRE OF THE OTTOMANS.
  • Rev 8:7 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.
  • Mr. Keith has very justly remarked on the subject of this prophecy:- {1897 UrS, DAR 478.1}
"None could elucidate the texts more clearly, or expound them more fully, than the task has been performed by Gibbon. The chapters of the skeptical philosopher that treat directly of the matter, need but a text to be prefixed, and a few unholy words to be blotted out, to form a series of expository lectures on the eighth and ninth chapters of Revelation." "Little or nothing is left for the professed interpreter to do but to point to the pages of Gibbon." {1897 UrS, DAR 478.2}
The first sore and heavy judgment which fell on Western Rome in its downward course, was the war with the Goths under Alaric, who opened the way for later inroads. The death of Theodosius, the Roman emperor, occurred in January, 395, and before the end of the winter the Goths under Alaric were in arms against the empire. {1897 UrS, DAR 478.3}
The first invasion under Alaric ravaged Thrace, Macedonia, Attica, and the Peloponnesus, but did not reach the city of Rome. On his second invasion, however, the Gothic chieftain crossed the Alps and the Apennines and appeared before the walls of the "eternal city," which soon fell a prey to the fury of the barbarians. {1897 UrS, DAR 478.4}
"Hail and fire mingled with blood" were cast upon the earth. The terrible effects of this Gothic invasion are represented as "hail," from the fact of the northern origin of the invaders; "fire," from the destruction by flame of both city and country; and "blood," from the terrible slaughter of the citizens of the empire by the bold and intrepid warriors. {1897 UrS, DAR 478.5}
The blast of the first trumpet has its location about the close of the fourth century and onward, and refers to these desolating invasions of the Roman empire under the Goths. {1897 UrS, DAR 478.6}
I know not how the history of the sounding of the first trumpet can be more impressively set forth than by presenting the graphic rehearsal of the facts which are stated in Gibbon's History, by Mr. Keith, in his Signs of the Times, Vol. I, pp. 221-233:- {1897 UrS, DAR 478.7}
"Large extracts show how amply and well Gibbon has expounded his text in the history of the first trumpet, the first storm that pervaded the Roman earth, and the first fall of Rome. To use his words in more direct comment, we read thus the sum of the matter: 'The Gothic nation was in arms at the first sound of the trumpet, and in the uncommon severity of the winter, they rolled their ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the river. The fertile fields of Phocis and Boeotia were crowded with a deluge of barbarians,; the males were massacred; the females and cattle of the flaming villages were driven away. The deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths could easily be discovered after several years. The whole territory of Attica was blasted by the baneful presence of Alaric. The most fortunate of the inhabitants of Corinth, Argos, and Sparta were saved by death from beholding the conflagration of their cities. In a season of such extreme heat that the beds of the rivers were dry, Alaric invaded the dominion of the West. A secluded "old man of Verona," the poet Claudian, pathetically lamented the fate of his contemporary trees. which must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country [note the words of the prophecy, - "The third part of the trees was burned up"]; and the emperor of the Romans fled before the king of the Goths.' {1897 UrS, DAR 478.8} "A furious tempest was excited among the nations of Germany, from the northern extremity of which the barbarians marched almost to the gates of Rome. They achieved the destruction of the West. The dark cloud which was collected along the coasts of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the upper Danube. The pastures of Gaul, in which flocks and herds grazed, and the banks of the Rhine, which were covered with elegant houses and well-cultivated farms, formed a scene of peace and plenty, which was suddenly changed into a desert, distinguished from the solitude of nature only by smoking ruins. Many cities were cruelly oppressed, or destroyed. Many thousands were inhumanly massacred; and the consuming flames of war spread over the greater part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul. {1897 UrS, DAR 479.1}
"Alaric again stretched his ravages over Italy. During four years the Goths ravaged and reigned over it without control. And in the pillage and fire of Rome, the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies; the flames consumed many public and private buildings; and the ruins of a palace remained (after a century and a half) a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration. {1897 UrS, DAR 479.2} "The concluding sentence of the thirty-third chapter of Gibbon's History is of itself a clear and comprehensive commentary; for in winding up his own description of this brief but most eventful period, he concentrates, as in a parallel reading, the sum of the history and the substance of the prediction. But the words which precede it are not without their meaning: 'The public devotion of the age was impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic Church on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and armies of unknown barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of the North, had established their victorious reign over the fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.' {1897 UrS, DAR 480.1}
"The last word, Africa, is the signal for the sounding of the second trumpet. The scene changes from the shores of the Baltic to the southern coast of the Mediterranean, or from the frozen regions of the North to the borders of burning Africa; and instead of a storm of hail being cast upon the earth, a burning mountain was cast into the sea." {1897 UrS, DAR 480.2}
THE SECOND ANGEL-{GENSERIC}
Rev 8:8 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;
Rev 8:9 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.
  • THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AFTER CONSTANTINE, WAS DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS; AND HENCE THE FREQUENT REMARK,' A THIRD PART OF MAN,' etc., IN ALLUSION TO THE THIRD PART OF THE EMPIRE WHICH WAS UNDER SCOURGE. THIS DIVISION OF THE ROMAN KINGDOM WAS MADE AT THE DEATH OF CONSTANTINE, AMONG HIS THREE SONS, CONSTANTIUS, CONSTANTINE II, AND CONSTANTS. CONSTANTIUS POSSEDSSED THE EAST, AND FIXED HIS RESIDENCE AT CONSTANTINOPLE, THE METROPOLIS OF THE EMPIRE. CONSTANTINE II HELD BRITAIN, GAUL, AND SPAIN. CONSTANTS HELD ILLYRICUM, AFRICA, AND ITALY. (SEE SABINE'S ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 155.)
  • OF THIS WELL-KNOWN HISTORICAL FACT, ELLIOTT, AS QUOTED BY ALBERT BARNES, IN HIS NOTES ON REVELATION 12:4, SAYS: ' TWICE, AT LEAST, BEFORE THE ROMAN EMPORE BECAME DIVIDED PERMANENTLY INTO THE TWO PARTS, THE EASTERN AND THE WESTERN, THERE WAS A TRIPARTITE DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. THE FORST OCCURRED BETWEEN CONSTANTINE, LICINIUS, AND MAXIMIM; THE OTHER, A.D. 337, ON THE DEATH OF CONSTANTINE, CONSTANS AND CONSTANTIUS.'
  • THE HISTORY ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE SOUNDING OF THE SECOND TRUMPET EVIDENTLY RELATES TO THE INVASION AND CONQUEST OF AFRICA, AND AFTERWARD OF ITALY, BY THE TERRIBLE GENSERIC. HIS CONQUEST WERE FOR THE MOST PART NAVAL; AND HIS TRIUMPHS WERE ' AS IT WERE A GREAT MOUNTAIN BURNING WITH FIRE, CAST INTO THE SEA.' WHAT FIGURE WOULD BETTER, OR EVEN SO WELL, ILLUSTRATE THE COLLISION OF NAVIES, AND THE GENERAL HAVOC OF WAR ON THE MARITIME COAST? IN EXPLAINING THIS TRUMPET, WER ARE TO LOOK FOR SOME EVENTS WHICH WOULD HAVE A PARTICULAR BEARINF ON THE COMERCIAL WORLD. THE SYMBOL USED NATURALLY LEADS US TO LOKK FOR AGITATION AND COMOTION.
  • NOTHING BUT A FIERCE MARITIME WARFARE WOULD FULFILL THE PREDICTION OF THE SOUND OF THE FIRST FOUR TRUMPETS RELATES TO THE FOUR REMARKABLE EVENTS WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO THE DOWNFALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, AND THE FIRST TRUMPET REFER TO THE RAVAGE OF THE GOTHS UNDER ALARIC, IN THIS WE NATURALLY LOOK FOR THE NEXT SUCCEDING ACT OF INVASION WHICH SHOOK THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND CONDUCED TO ITS FALL. THE NEXT GREAT INVASION WAS THAT OF ' THE TERRIBLE GENSERIC,' AT THE HEAD OF THE VANDALS HIS CAREER OCCURED DURING THE YEARS OF A.D. 428-468....
  • .....AFTER THE FAILURE OF THIS GREAT EXPEDITION, GENSERIC AGAIN BECAME THE TIRANT OF THE SEA; THE COAST OF ITALY, GREECE, AND ASIA WERE AGAIN EXPOSED TO HIS REVENGE AND AVARICE;
THE THIRD ANGEL {ATTILA THE HUN}
  • Rev 8:10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11 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.
  • IN THE INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION OF THID PASSAGE, WE ARE BROUGHT TO THE THIR IMPORTANT EVENT WHICH RESULTED IN THE SUBVERSION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE......
  • IT IS HERE PREMISED THAT THIS TRUMPET HAS ILLUSION TO THE DESOLATING WARS AND FURIOUS INVASIONS OF ATTILA AGAINST THE ROMAN POWER, WHICH HE CARRIED ON AT THE HEAD OF HIS HORDES OF HUNS SPEAKING OF THI WARIOIR PERTICULARY OF HIS PERSONALL APPEARANCE, MR. BARNES SAYS: “ IN THE MANNER OF HIS APPEARNACE, HE STRONGLY RESAMBLED A BRILLIANT METEOR FLASHING IN THE SKY. HE COME FROM THE EAST GATHERING HIS HUNS, AND PORED THEM DOWN, AS WE SHALL SEE, WITH THE RAPIDITY OF A FLAHSING METEOR, SUDDENLY ON THE EMPIRE. HE REGARDED HIMSELF ALSO AS DEVOTED TO MARS, THE GOD OF WAR, IT IS SAID PARTICULARLY THAT THE EFFETC WOULD BE ON ' THE RIVERS' AND ' ON THE FOUNTAINS OF WATER.'
  • IF THIS HAS A LITERALL APPLICATION, OR IF, AS WAS SUPOSSED IN THE CASE OF THE SECOND TRUMPET, THE LANGUAGE USED WAS SUCH AS HAD REFERENCE TO THE PORTION OF THE EMPIRE THAT WOULD BE PERTICULARLY AFFECTED BY THE HOSTILE INVASION, THEN WE MAY SUPPOSSE THAT THIS REFERS TO THE PORTIONS OF THE EMPIRE THAT ABOUNDED IN RIVERS AND STREAMS AND MORE PETICULARLY THOSE IN WHICH THE RIVERS AND STREAMS HAD THEIR ORIGIN; FOR THE EFFECT WAS PERMANENTLY IN THE 'FOUNTAINS OF WATERS.' AS A MATTER OF FACT, THE PRINCIPLE OPERATIONS OF ATILA WERE ON THE REGIONS OF THE ALPS, AND ON THE PORTIONS OF THE EMPIRE WHENCE THE RIVERS FLOW DOWN INTO ITALY THE INVASION OF ITALA IS DESCRIBED BY MR. GIBBON IN HIS GENERAL LANGUAGE THW WHOLE BREADTH OF EUROPE, AS IT EXTENDS ABOVE FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM THE EUXINE TO THE ADRIATIC, WAS AT ONCE INVADED, AND OCCUPIED, AND DESOLATED, BY THE MYRIADS OF BARBARIANS WHOM ATILA LED INTO THE FILD,
  • AND THE NAME OS THE STAR IS CALLED WORMWOOD [DENOTING THE BITTER CONSEQUENCES].' THESE WORDS-WHICH ARE MORE INTIMATELY CONNECTED with THE PRECEDING VERSES, WHICH EVEN THE PUNCTUATION IN OUR VERIONS DENOTE- RECALL US FOR A MOMENT TO THE CHARACTER OF ATTILA,
THE FOURTH ANGEL {ODOACER} 476 THE FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE
  • Rev 8:12 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.
  • WE UNDERSTAND THAT THIS TRUMPET SYMBOLIZES THE CAREER ODOACER, THE BARBARIAN MONARCH WHO WAS SO INTIMATELY CONNECTED WITH THE FALL OF WESTERN ROME. THE SYMBOLS SUN, MOON, STARS-- FOR THEY ARE UNDOUBTLY HERE USED AS SYMBOLS EVIDENTLY DENOTE THE GREAT LUMINARIES OF THE ROMAN government, ITS EMPEROS, SENATOR, AND COUNSILS. BISHOP NEWTON REMARKS THAT THE LAST EMPEROR OF WESTERN ROME WAS ROMULUS, WHO IN DERISION WAS CALLED AUGUSTULUS, OR THE ' DIMINUTIVE AUGUSTUS.'
  • WESTERN ROME FELL A.D. 476. STILL, HOWEVER, THOUGH THE ROMAN SUN WAS EXTINGUISHED, ITS SUBORDINATE LUMINARIES SHONE FAINTLY WHILE THE SENATE AND CONSULS CONTINUED. BUT AFTER MANY CIVIL REVERSES AND CHANGES OF POLITICAL FORTUNE, AT LENGTH, A.D. 566, THE WHILE FORM OF THE ANCIENT GOVERNMENT WAS SUBVERTED, AND ROME ITSELF WAS REDUCED FROM BEING THE EMPRESS OF THE OWRLD TO A APOOR DUKEDOM TRIBUTARY TO THE EXARCH OF REVENNA.....
  • FEARFULL AS WERE THE CALIMITIES BROUGHT UPON THE EMPIRE BY THE FIRT INCURSIONS OF THESE BARBARIANS, THEY WERE COMPARATIVELY LIGHT AS CONSTRASTED WITHT THE CALAMITIES WHICH WERE TO FOLLOW.
  • THEY WERE AS BU THE PRELIMENARY DROPS OF A SHOWER BEFORE THE TORRENT WHICH WAS SOON TO FALL UPON THE ROMAN WORLD. THE THREE REMAINING TRUMPETS ARE OVERSHODOWED WITH A CLOUD OF WOE AS SET FORTH IN THE FOLLOWING VERSES.
WOW, WOE, WOE
  • Rev 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
  • THIS ANGEL IS NO ONE OF THE SERIES OF THE SEVEN TRUMPET ANGELS, BUT SIMPLY ONE WHO ANNOUNCES THAT THE THREE REMAINING TRUMPETS ARE WOE TRUMPETS, ON ACCOUNT OF THE MORE TERRIBLE EVENTS TO TRANSPIRE UNDER THEIR SOUNDING. THUS THE NEXT, OR FIFTH TRUMPET, IS THE FIRST WOE; THE SIXTH TRUMPET, THE SECOND WOE; AND THE SEVENTH, THE LAST ONE IN THIS SERIES OF SEVEN TRUMPETS, IS THE THIRD WOE.
  • Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
  • FOR AN EXPOSITION OF THIS TRUMPET, WE SHALL AGAIN DRAW FROM THE WRITING FROM MR. KEITH. THIS WRITER TRUTHFULLY SAYS: 'THERE IS SCARCELY SO UNIFORM AN AGREEMENT AMONG INTERPRETERS CONCERNING ANY OTHER PART OF THE APOCALIPSE AS RESPECTING THE APPLICATION OF THE FITH AND SIXTH TRUMPETS, OR THE FIRST AND SECOND WOES, TOT HE SARACEANS AND TURKS. IT IS SO OBVIOUS THAT IT CAN SCARLY BE MISUNDERSTOOD. INSTEAD OF A VERSE OR TWO DESIGNATING EACH, THE WHOLE OF THE NINE CHAPTER OF REVELATION IN EQUAL PORTIONS, IS OCCUPIED WITH A DESCRIPTION OF BOTH,'
  • THE ROMAN EMPIRE DECLINED, AS IT AROSE, BY CONQUEST; BUT THE SARACENS AND THE TURKS WERE THE INSTRUMENTS BY WHICHC A FALSE RELIGION BECAME THE SCOURGE OF AN APOSTATE CHURCH; AND HENCE INSTEAD OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TRUMPETS, LIKE THE FORMER, BEING DESIGNATED BY THE NAME ALONE, THEY ARE CALLED WOES.'
  • CONSTANTINOPLE WAS BESISEGED FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER THE EXTICTION OF THEW WESTERN EMPIRE, BY CHOSROES, THE KING OF PERSIA.
  • A STAR FELL FROM HEAVEN UNTO THE EARTH; AND TO HIM WAS GIVEN THE KEY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.
  • WHILE THE PERSIAN MONARCH CONTEMPLATED THE WONDERS OF HIS ART AND POWER, HE RECEIVED AND EPISTLE FROM AN OBSCURE CITIZEN OF MECCA, INVITING HIM TO ACKNOWLEDGE MOHAMMED AS THE APOSTLE OF GOD. HE REJECTED THE INVITATION, AND TORED THE EPISTLE. 'IT IS THUS, 'EXCLAIMED THE ARABIAN PROPHET, ' THAT GOD WILL TEAR THE KMINGDOM, AND REJECT THE SUPPLICATION OF CHOSROES.'
  • PLACED ON THE VERGE OF THESE TWO EMPIRES OF THE EAST, MOHAMMED OBSERVED WITH SECRET JOY THE PROGRESS OF MUTUAL DESTRUCTION; AND IN THE MIDST OF THE PERISAN TRIUMPHS HE VENTURED TO FORTELL, THAT, BEFORE MANY YEARS SHOULD ELAPSE, VICTORY WOULD AGAIN RETURN TO THE BANNERS OF THE ROMANS. ' AT THE TIME WHEN THIS PREDICTION IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN DELIVERED, NO PROPHECY COULD BE MORE DISTANT FROM ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT(!) SINCE THE FIRST TWELVE YEARS APPROACHING DISSOLUTION OF THE EMPIRE.'
  • IT WAS NOT, LIKE THE DESIGNATIVE OF ATTILA, ON A SINGLE SPOT THAT THE STAR FELL, BUT UPO THE EARTH.
  • CHOSROES SUBJUGATED THE ROMAN POSSESSION IN ASIA AND AFRICA. AND ' THE TOMAN EMPIRE,' AT THE PERIOD, 'WAS REDUCE TO THE WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, WITH THE REMMNAT OF GREECE, ITALY, AND AFRICA, AND SOME MARITIME CITIES, FROM TYRE TO TREBIZOND, OF THE ASIATIC COAST....
  • THE KING OF PERSIA DESPISED THE OBSCURE SARACEN, AND DERIDED THE MESSAGE OF THE PRETENDED PRPHET OF MECCA. EVEN THE OVERTHROUW OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE WOULD NOT OPENED A DOOR FOR MHAMMEDANISM, OR FOR THE PROGRESS OF THE SARACENIC ARMED PROPAGATORS OF AN IMPOSTUR, THOUG THE MONARCH OF THE PERSIANS AND CHAGAN OF THE AVARS (THE SUCCESSOR OF ATILA) HAD DIVIDED BETWEEN THEM THE REMAINS OF THE KIGDOMS OF THE CEASARS. CHOSROES HIMSELF FELL. THE PERSIAN AND ROMAN MONARCHIES EXHAUSTED EACH OTHER'S STREGHNT. AND BEFORE A SWORD WAS PUT INTO THE HANDS OF THE FALSE PROPHET, IT WAS SMITTED FROM THE HANDS OF THOSE WHO WOULD HAVE CHEKED HIS CAREER AND CRUSHED HIS POWER.......[ANTYPE IS AMERICA AND RUSSIA DROWN OUT WAR WHICH IS THE COLD WAR , IN THEWHICH AMERICA WON, BUT BOTH NATIONS WERE SO TAXED THAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO STOP THE RISE OF ISLAM. AT 1940'S-1989] {SENC PART OF DANIEL 11:40}****************THEN ONCE AGAIN ISLAM CAME ON THE SCEEN,WHICH HAPPEN ON SEPTEMBER, 11, 2001]
  • THE ROMAN EMPEREOR WAS NOT STRENGTHENED BY THE CONQUEST WHICH HE ACHIEVE; AND A WAY WAS PREPARED AT THE SAME TIME, AND BYTHE SMA EMEANS, FOR THE MULTITUDE OF THE SARACEN FROM ARABIA, LIKE LOCUSTF FROM THE SAME REGION, WHO, PROPAGATING IN THEIR COUSRE THE DARK AND ELUSIVE MOHAMMEDAN CRRE, SPEEDILY OVERSPREAD BOTH THE PERSIAN AND THE ORMAN EMPIRE. WHILE THE EMPEROR TRIUMPH AT CONSTANTINOPLE OR JERUSALEM, ANS OBSCURE TOWN ON THE CONFINE OS SYRIA WAS PILLAGED BY THE SARACENS, AND THEY CUT IN PIECES WHO ADVANCE TO ITS RELIEF,-- AN ORDINARY AND TRINFLING OCCURANCE, HAD IT NOT BEEB THE PRELUDE OF A MIGHTY REVOLUTION. THESE ROBBERS WERE THE APOSTLES OF MOHAMMED; THEIR FRANTIC VALOR HAD EMERGED FROM THE DESERT; AND IN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS OF HIS REIGN, HERECLIUS LOST TO THE ARBAS THE SAME PROVINCES WHICH HE HAD RESCUED FROM THE PERSIANS.' THE SPIRIT OF FROUD AND ENTHUSIASM, WHOSE ABODE IS NOT IN THE HEAVENS,' WAS LET LOOSE ON THE EARTH. THE BOTTOMLESS PIT NEEDED BUT A KEY TO OPEN IT, AND THAT KEY WAS THE FALL OF CHOSROES.
  • THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.-- THE MEANING OF THIS TERM MAY BE LEARNED FROM THE GREEK, WHICH IS DEFINED' DEEP, BOTTOMLESS PIT, PROFOUND,' AND MAY REFER TO ANY WAST, DESOLATE, AND UNCULTIVATED PLACE. IT IS APLLIED TO THE EARTH IN ITS ORIGINAL STATE OF CHAOS. GENESIS. 1:2 IN THIS INSTANCE IT MAY APPROPRIATELY REFER TO THE UNKNOWN WASTES OF THE ARABIAN DESERT, FROM THE BORDERS OF WHICH ISSUED THE HORDES OF SARACEN LIKE SWARNS OF LOCUST. AND THE FALL OF CHOSROES, THE PERSIAN KING, MAY WELL BE REPRESENTED AS THE OPEING OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT, A FALSE RELIGION WAS SET UP, WHICH, ALTOUGH THE SCOURGE OF TRANSGRESSIONS AND IDOLATRY, FILLED THE WORLD WITH DARKNESS AND DELUSION; ANS SWARMS OF SARACENS, LIKE LOCUST, OVERSPREAD THE EARTH AND SPEEDELY EXTENDED THEIR RAVAGES OVER THE ROMAN EMPIRE FROM EAST TO WEST. THE HAIL DESCENDED FROM THE FROZEN SHORES OF THE BALTIC; “ A STILL MORE SPECIFIC ILLUSTRATION MAY BE GIVEN OF THE POWER LIKE INTO THAT OF SCORPIONS, WHICH WAS GIVEN THEM. NOT ONLY WAS THEIR ATTACK SPEEDY AND VIGOROUS, BUT 'THE NICE SENSIBILITY OF HONOR, WHICH WEIGHS THE INSULT RATHER THAN THE INJURY, SHEDS ITS DEADLY VENOM ON THE QUARRELS OF THE ARABS; AN INDECENT OF ACTION, A CONTEMPTUOUS WORD, CAN BE EXPIATED ONLY BY THE BLOOD OF THE OFFENDER; AND SUCH IS THEIR PATIENT INVETERACY, THAT THEY EXPECT WHOLE MONTHS AND YEARS THE OPPORTUNITY OF REVENGE.' “ THEIR CONSTANT INCURSIONS INTO THE ROMAN TERRITORY, AND FREQUENT ASSAULTS ON CONSTANTINOPLE ITSELF, WERE AN UNCEASING TORMENT THROUGH THE EMPIRE; AND YET THEY WERE NOT ABLE EFFECTUALLY TO SUBDUE IT, NOTWITHSTANDING THE LONG PERIOD, AFTERWARD MORE DIRECTLY ALLUDED TO, DURING which THEY CONTINUED, BY UNREMITTING ATTACKS, GRIVIOUSLY TO AFFLICT AND IDOLATROUS CHURCH, OF WHICH THE POPE WAS HEAD. THEIR CHARGE WAS TO TORMENT, AND THEN TO HURT, BUT NOT TO KILL, OR UTTERLY DESTROY. THE MARVEL WAS THAT THEY DID NOT.
  • THUS FAR, KEITH HAS FURNISHED US WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SOUNDING OF THE FIRST FIVE TRUMPETS. BUT WE MUST NOW TAKE LEAVE OF HIM, AND PROCEED TO THE APPLICATION OF THE NEW FEATURE OF THE PROPHECY HERE INTRODUCED; NAMELY, THE PROPHETIC PERIODS. “ THEIR POWER WAS TO HURT MEN FIVE MONTHS.
  • Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
  • 1. THE QUESTION ARISES, WHAT MEN WERE THEY TO HURT FIVE MONTHS?-- UNDOUBTEDLY THE SAME THEY WERE AFTERWARDS TO SLAY; ' THE THIRD PART OF MEN,' OR THIRD OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,-- THE GREEK DIVISION OF IT.
  • (1) 'THEY HAD A KING OVER THEM.' FROM THE CLOSE OF THE THIRTEEN CENTURY, THE MOHAMMEDANS WERE DIVIDED INTO VARIOUS FACTIONS UNDER SEVERAL LEADERS, WITH NO GENERAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT EXTENDING OVER THEM ALL. NEAR THE CLOSE OF THE THIRTEEN CENTURY OTHMAN FOUNDED A GOVERNMENT WHICH HAS SINCE BEEN KNOWN AS THE OTTOMAN GOVERNMENT, OR EMPIRE, WHICH GREW UNTIL IT EXTENDED OVER ALL THE PRINCIPAL MOHAMMEDAN TRIBES, CONSOLIDATING THEM INTO ONE GRAND MONARCHY.
  • 2. WHEN WERE THEY TO BEGIN THEIR WORK OF TORMENT, VERSE 10 & 11 ANSWERS THIS QUESTION.
  • (2) THE CHARACTER OF THE KING. ' WHICH IS THE ANGEL OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT.' AN ANGEL SIGNIFIES A MESSENGER, A MINISTER, EITHER GOOD OR BAD, AND NOT ALWAYS A SPIRITUAL BEING. “ BUT WHEN DID OTHMAN MAKE HIS FIRST ASSAULT ON THE GREEK EMPIRE?-- ACCORDING TO GIBBON, DECLINE AND FALL, ETC., ' OTHMAN FIRST ENTERED THE TERRITORY OF NICOMEDIA ON THE 27TH DAY OF JULY, 1299.' {5 MONTHS}
THE CALCULATIONS OF SOME WRITERS HAVE GONE UPON THE SUPPOSITION THAT THE PERIOD SHOULD BEGIN WITH THE FOUNDATION OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE; BUT THIS IS EVIDENTLY AN ERROR; FOR THEY WERE NOT ONLY TO HAVE A KING OVER THEM, BUT WERE TO TORMENT ME FIVE MONTHS. BUT THE PERIOD OF TORMENT COULD NOT BEGIN BEFORE THE FIRST ATTACK OF THE TORMENTORS, WHICH WAS, AS ABOVE STATED, JULY 27, 1299.
  • THE CALCULATION WHICH FOLLOWS, FOUNDED ON THIS STARTING-POINT, WAS MADE AND PUBLISHED IN A WORK ENTITLED, CHRIST'S SECOND COMING, ETC., BY JOSIAH LITCH, 1838.
  • AND THEIR POWER WAS TO HURT MEN FIVE MONTHS.' THUS FAR THEIR COMISSION EXTENDED, TO TORMENT BY CONSTANT DEPREDATIONS, BUT NOT POLITICALLY TO KILL THEM. ' FIVE MONTHS,' THIRTY DAYS TO A MONTH, GIVE US ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DAYS; AND THESE DAYS, BEING SYMBOLIC, SIGNIFFY ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS. COMMENCING JULY 27, 1299, THE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS REACH TO 1449. DURING THAT WHOLE PERIOD THE TURKS WERE ENGAGED IN AN ALMOST PERPETUAL WARFARE WITH THE GREEK EMPIRE, BUT YET WITHOUT CONQUERING IT.

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