The Fifth Trumpet
Revelation 9:1-11, "Then the Fifth Trumpet angel sounded and I saw a star from heaven having fallen to the earth; the key to the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit."
"Then out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth. And power was given to them, as scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree; but only those [Japhetic, Hamitic, or Semitic] men who do not have the Seal of God in their foreheads. And they were not authorized to kill anyone, but to torment them for five months: and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will desire to die, and death will flee from them."
"The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. And they had breastplates, like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses running into battle."
"They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek his name is Apollo."
"One woe is past. Behold, two more woes are coming hereafter".
When God was delivering Israel the first time, the last three plagues were locusts, darkness and death, in a very quick succession (Exodus 10:1-19).
The condition of darkness referred to is strikingly like that brought about by the severer form of the wind 'Hamsin' because it is likely to blow during the 25-days before and the 25-days after the Spring equinox (March 20 or 21). This oppressive hot blast charged with much sand and fine dust darkens the air and causes a blackness equal to the worst of the old London fogs. There are many excellent accounts of these storms which often travel as a narrow stream, so that one part of the land is light while the rest is dark. In such a way the land of Goshen was left unclouded while the rest of Egypt was dark on account of the plague of locusts (Exodus 10:12-15).
Out of this smoke which darkened the air came the "locusts."
Physically we live and have our being in that tasteless, odourless and transparent substance called air. We can't see it, but as we breathe we extract vital oxygen to cleanse our lifeblood. Through this medium our five senses of sight, taste, touch, hearing and smell contact the natural world. When an impurity such as smoke darkens the air and the loud buzzing sound of locusts comes out of the smoke, visual and aural communications are severely confused.
The sun that brings light through the air to support natural life types the Son of God, whose revelation shines Light for Spiritual Life. So air types the unseen ether or Fourth Dimension through which we receive Spiritual vision to feed our souls by faith, and commune with the Supernatural realm.
God can only impart His Spirit by understanding that comes through our eyes or ears. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing (or understanding) by the revelation of God's Word." Smoke types impure spirits within the Fourth Dimension that sting a man's soul as a scorpion stings his body and smoke stings and chokes his lungs. By darkening the spiritual atmosphere this "smoke" precludes a clear vision of the revealed Word of God and brings noisome confusion, obstructing judgment as the irritating clamour of locusts disrupts natural communication (Isaiah 14:12; 60:2; Joel 2:2; Zechariah 14:6-7; 60-1204, Revelation of Jesus Christ, 177:270; 60-1208, Thyatira Church Age, 290:19).
Revelation 9:3-4, "Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth: and authority was given to them, 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 who do not have the Seal of God in their foreheads".
These locusts are demons that rise with the smoke of spiritual error that ascends from the bottomless pit. As scorpions sting by raising their tails over their heads but do not kill, these exercise power to hurt men spiritually by raising religious tales contrary to faith and elevate false prophets above their rejected Head, Christ the Word. Their stings spiritually paralyze unstable souls with doctrine, which, like the bottomless pit, have no foundation in God's Word. Lost souls become demons, like the 200,000,000 horsemen bound by Roman creed and traditions (57-0309B, I Will Restore; Revelation 9:16).
James 4:7, "Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Spirits only have the power we yield to them. If we come under preeminence to God's Word and resolutely resist the Devil, he will flee from us. Until the mid-twentieth century Roman superstition and priestly authority held Catholics in their grasp. This certainly prevented them from coming to new birth in Christ, but through fear or respect they resisted the Devil: hereby his demons were bound at the great river Euphrates, the border of empire until the early years of the Laodicean Church Age. They could not cross to the Israelites living safely in the now Muslim lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire, and neither could Israelites cross to the Promise of God.
Two world wars loosened the morality of men and women, causing them to lose respect for the ancient boundaries of church and state and adopt a lukewarm, casual attitude to the authority of God and men. This Laodicean (Judaeo-Communist) spirit among the people loosed the demons previously bound by Roman authority.
In Palestine, locust plagues can occur from March to May—the duration of the Pentecostal feast that types the Gentile dispensation. Locusts strip fields and trees. Almost every spring numberless swarms are carried by the wind from Arabia into Palestine, and having devastated that country they migrate to regions farther north, until they perish by falling into the sea. Israelites were permitted to eat locusts, either raw or roasted and seasoned with salt (or prepared in other ways).
This evening we will study "The Fifth Trumpet." The first four and the Sixth Trumpet were natural persecutions upon Israel for rejecting Christ and the Gospel. Their common feature is that their judgments affect "the third part of men"—Israelites (Revelation 12:4); Shem's share of natural objects, the earth, trees, grass, the sea, rivers, fountains, the light of the sun, moon and stars, which symbolize prosperity. The last three are called Woe-Trumpets, and the woes impact not only Israelites and their impersonators but all of earth's inhabiters, for they are earth's birth pains for renewal arising from the three World Wars of the last three Trumpets (Revelation 8:13).
Satan having already fallen from heavenly grace following his deception of Eve is not actually and finally cast down from heaven. The judicial sentence to that effect received its ratification at Christ's ascension, however he still has access to heaven as man's accuser and as we learn from Job 1:1-12; 2:1-7 and Ephesians 6:12 there is still "spiritual wickedness in heavenly places".
In Revelation 9:1 Satan was given the singular key to unlock the bottomless pit, while "the keys that open the kingdom of heaven" are given to Peter and every saint. These "keys" were the seven measures of faith delivered by the angels to the seven Church Ages. They loosed the elect of their sins and granted them entrance to the Kingdom by revelation of the Word for their day while the non-elect are bound by their sins without, pending judgment because only faith and obedience enable one to turn heaven's key for their Age.
At the close of our dispensation the New Testament saints will have not only "the keys of the Kingdom" but also "the keys of hell and of death." The PART-Word saints will turn the "key of hell," the grave and resurrect Age by Age, while we will turn the "key of death" to unlock faith for rapturing grace, renewed and glorified bodies without death (John 2:19; Ephesians 1:17-20; Revelation 1:18). These keys are but the "third pull"—further revelation of operative faith not disclosed before the season and time.
Since the keys that unlock eternal Life are "faith keys" the key that unlocked the bottomless pit was the "key of unbelief" and intellectual reasoning against faith: psychological propaganda, superstition, man-made tradition and dogma without foundation in the Absolute of God's unchanging Word. Hence the pit is "bottomless." In Revelation 20:1-3 another Angel "having the key to the bottomless pit" will come down from heaven and seal Satan in the abyss with "death and hell" until the general resurrection following the millennium.
Satan's "key" of carnal reasoning against the faith leads to the mark of the beast (Isaiah 28:14-29; Daniel 11:32-35; Revelation 13). By the early years of Laodicea unbelief institutionalized in Protestantism had imprisoned those souls living in waterless cells enabling "the angel of the bottomless pit" to release the demonic souls of the deceased whose names were blotted from or never in the Book of Life (Revelation 9:1-3).
Faith will bind the Devil and his angels, but unbelief will loose them again.
Matthew 7:24-26, "Whoever hears My sayings, and does them, I liken to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock (and his life upon a clear revelation of God's Word): and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon sand." God's unchanging Word is of no effect on one whose life is based on psychology and the ever-changing commandments of men.
When Satan opened the bottomless pit a hot dense smoke came forth obscuring the sun and the S_O_N-Light, darkening the air or fourth dimension through which we hear God speak by inspiration, spiritual dreams and visions, or the strong delusions and oppression of myriad demons "like locusts" that overshadow and eclipse the S_O_N-Light of faith in God's Word.
On his red horse ride under the Second Seal (606 – 1520) Satan was crowned Vicar of Christ or substitute for the Holy Ghost and "took peace from the earth," killing scores of millions of his opponents as heretics, adding political power to the religious or spiritual power usurped over the Holy Spirit on his white horse ride under the First Seal from Pentecost – 606. It was midnight for true believers who remained after the Dark Ages when Satan mounted his black horse under the Third Seal (1520 – 1750). Commending the saints Jesus said, "You have a little strength, and have kept My Word, and have not denied My Name".
"Satan was given the key to the bottomless pit," taking demon power over those who rejected the foundational revelation "justification by grace through faith," joining Israel in apostasy. In the fifth century, a thousand years before the stupendous Roman system of "purgatory" was devised, Augustine of Hippo had said, "Do not be deceived, my brothers, for in the life beyond the tomb there are only two places, there is no third one. . ." (Newsletter 366). Not only was the pope through Satan head of church and state, now he was also "king of the demons from the bottomless pit" (Revelation 9:11) and head of the Holy Roman Empire that embraced most of central Europe and Italy under the rule of the German kings from 962 to 1806. Although it was considered to be a restoration and continuation of the ancient Roman Empire, it had little in common with its predecessor. Earlier, the Frankish king Charlemagne had revived the same name. His Roman Empire lasted from 800 to 925. Revelation 13:2, "the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority".
As king over the demons from the bottomless pit Satan began selling indulgences to commit future sins, Novenas and prayer to release the souls of dead loved ones from the mythical purgatory (Revelation 6:5-6).
The spiritual darkness, ignorance and iniquity of Thyatira has continued on through the centuries of the Reformation until Satan's pale horse ride under the Fourth Seal where he is called Death, and Hell or the grave follows with him to perdition. This element of darkness is also prominent in the Fifth Trumpet and in the Fifth Vial of Revelation 16:10-16, which brings us to the Investigation Judgment in the end time of this our day under the Fourth Seal.
The Fifth Trumpet angel sounds from Sardis to the close of the Gentile dispensation (64-0719M, The Feast of the Trumpets, par. 212-248; Revelation 9:1 – 17:8). The Lord commands the four angels of judgment or spirits that controlled the fourth Gentile world empire under the first Four Seals to restrain the winds of war until the 144,000 elect Israelites have been sealed (Revelation 7:1-3; Matthew 24:22). Thus World War I ended mysteriously before it could become a premature Armageddon.
Revelation 9:4-5, "The demons were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree; [food on which natural locusts ordinarily graze, showing us these are not natural locusts but demons, and that this judgment is altogether Divine]; but only those men who do not have the Seal of God in their foreheads. And they were not authorized to kill them [showing us that these are demons and not an invading army], but to torment them five months: and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man." Gentiles who have rejected the Messages of the reformers or neglected to press into the baptism with the Holy Ghost for new birth are not differentiated from blinded Israelites (Romans 11:32).
Under the Third Seal Jewish communities were expelled from not less than 105 cities and countries often several times, persecuted for not accepting Christianity, made to wear yellow stars, and forced into ghettoes by their rabbis, but they were not killed. I cannot comment here on the five months except to say that under the Fifth Trumpet Satan was permitted to torment the unsealed as he was permitted to torment but not kill Job. Under the Sixth Trumpet, according to C. V. Zeitung, the Central Organ of German Jewry, in 1933 when Jewry declared war on Germany there were 565,000 Jews in Germany. Two-thirds of these emigrated, so that by 1938 only 140,000 remained, and under the second Woe-Trumpet of World War II death struck Shem, the third part of men, but mainly their non-Semitic self-styled Jewish impersonators by the scheme of the Zionist movement to force them to Palestine where they would establish a modern Israel state and infrastructure, which, unbeknownst to the Zionists, will enable genuine Israelites to return to the land of the Covenant in the first half of Daniel's Seventieth Week following the defeat of Israel and a mass exodus of non-Semitic Israeli self-styled 'Jews'.
Revelation 9:7-10 hearkens to Joel 2:1-11 where the resemblance of these "locusts" is likened to horses—spiritual powers (Revelation 6 and 19) but demons God calls "His army" as He called Nebuchadnezzar "My servant." Their crowns symbolize counterfeit authority with a great show of wisdom and sagacity—"faces of men," and the allurements of seeming beauty—"hair like women" but in reality they were cruel; their defense and protection is not righteousness but the iron "breastplate" of Rome. At first they soothed and flattered men with a fair appearance but in their tales was the sting of the doctrines of devils. Daniel said Rome would gain favour "with flatteries" (Daniel 11:34). This speaks of deceiving clerical spirits which will seem so harmless as they unite all the churches in the end time (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 11:2-12; 13:15-18), but whose poison comes from behind, usurping Christ their Head (Isaiah 9:15-16; II Timothy 3:13).
Revelation 9:11, "And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek his name is Apollyon" (Revelation 9:1, Satan "the Destroyer," the angel of the abyss).
Revelation 17:8, "The beast you saw was, and is not; and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. All who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is".
At this time under the Sixth Seal, Satan king of demons will be incarnate in the pope whose office and dogma are from the bottomless pit as they are without Scriptural foundation.
Under the Fifth Trumpet the smoke of impure teaching hid the coming of these demons, which like natural locusts, man cannot control once they are numerous and swarming (Exodus 10:4-6; Joel 2:3-9). As locusts devour grass and any green thing root and branch, these infernal beings attack men unsealed by the Holy Ghost, devouring what little faith they had.
Under the Sixth Trumpet the demons were loosed from the ecclesiastical restraints of Roman Catholicism through unbelief, and in the natural realm they persecute Israelites to death because they are Hebrews, and their Jewish impersonators receive the same fate.
The "squeeze" has been manifesting since 9/11 and obviously since the Covid plandemic. Under the Seventh Trumpet these demons will be loosed on Christ's Bride because we rejoice announcing the end of the Gentile dispensation and warn people to resist Mystery Babylon and refuse her mark of the beast at a time when she and her daughters have organized disaster relief following the sinking of Los Angeles and uniting world religions in order to restore peace following Russia's invasion of mainland USA. Christ's end-time Bride will become a hunted and persecuted little group, but after a brief and powerful demonstration of the Spirit in the manifestation of the Sons of God, not witnessed by the world, we will go to the Wedding Supper of the Lord. Thereafter persecution will come upon the foolish virgin, other classes of the "saved," and elect Israelites (Revelation 12:7-14).
Following Russia's invasion and occupation of mainland USA Rome will activate the federation of world religions agreed upon at Vatican II. Falsely accusing Russia of the intent to impose communist government worldwide, Rome will confirm the firm covenant prophesied in Daniel 9:27 for seven prophetic weeks of years and refinance the US dollar with gold backing and instruct the international banksters to revive the existing banking system. This they will relish as their wealth is in paper . . . underwriting, sub-underwriting, contracts, mortgages, stocks and bonds, crypto and fiat currencies, and should the US dollar not be refinanced they will be ruined. Rome will permit (and perhaps fund) construction of a third Temple in Jerusalem. Russia will withdraw and Rome will hold a mortgage over all national currencies; the global economy will be rescued and with peace restored the UN will acclaim the Devil-incarnate pope inaugural president of one world government.
Religious demons of the Papal Roman Empire would destroy the Bride right now "only He Who now restrains will restrain until the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way" in the translation of the Bride (II Thessalonians 2:7; Matthew 24:22).
Brother Branham said, ". . . the power of the Church moving forward had just upset the whole kingdom of Satan . . . and He saw him as he dropped from his place because God had again given power to His Church . . . He beheld him falling like lightening from Heaven. He was cast plumb out of the Holy Places by the Power of that Church . . ." (61-0808, Thy House, par. E-69; An Exhibition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 16:2; II Thessalonians 1:6-10; 2:1-17; Revelation 16:17). The seventh angel's Message was the "shout" of I Thessalonians 4:16; that cleared the "air" or Fourth Dimension, called the Bride out of Babylon into the unity of the faith without mediation for the manifestation of the sons of God and the translation to meet the Church Age saints and Jesus in clouds of glory (Zechariah 14:7; Matthew 24:27; Revelation 10:7).
Our baptism with the Holy Ghost is the "shout" of a clear revelation of the fullness of the Word that cleared the air, and calls us out from Judaeo-Roman smoke and locusts (Matthew 25:6; I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 18:4), catches us up into heavenly places, and calls a physical translation and resurrection when the "Voice of Christ" vindicates His end-time Bride in the manifestation of the Sons of God and casts Satan out of the "air" onto the earth. Our maturity in the faith will be acknowledged by a mighty earthquake at the Seventh Trumpet, and the Seventh Vial will signal the pouring out of the Latter Rain upon all flesh (Revelation 22:11).
Revelation 16:17-18, "And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done! All seven Vials have been poured out upon the non-elect church goers; let the resurrection commence (Revelation 15:8). "And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great".
This earthquake will end the Gentile Dispensation and sink Los Angeles beneath the Pacific. The manifestation of our 'third pull' will raise faith in the saints who love Him and look for His appearing in the Form of our resurrected and glorified brethren, "The eyes of our understanding being enlightened; that we may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:18-20; II Thessalonians 1:10; II Timothy 4:1-8; I Timothy 6:12-16; Jude 14).
The Authoritative Voice of God in a Bride under preeminence will cast Satan from heaven. He will cease to be "the accuser of the brethren" because the Bride under preeminence is above reproach. The Holy Spirit waved in the Bride will confirm our acceptance, casting Satan down to earth (Ephesians 4:13-18). The earthquake will signal our maturity, and the appearing of the glorified Church Age saints will elevate our faith for translation grace.
Revelation 9:11, "And they had a king over them, who is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue is Apollyon".
According to Proverbs 30:27, natural "locusts have no king, yet they all advance by ranks." These supernatural locusts under the Seventh Trumpet have a king, the King of Lawlessness over the lost souls of the bottomless pit, and his name in both Hebrew and Greek means "destroyer" (Daniel 9:27). The usage of both languages indicates this Trumpet manifests during the Gentile dispensation as confirmed by verse 4 and impacts upon all men.
We are at the very end. The Door of mercy is fast closing, and as Abraham interceded for Lot before God's judgment on Sodom, today Christ's Bride is interceding for her denominational cousins, that they may be called out of spiritual Sodom. But Daniel said, "the wicked will do wickedly, and only the wise shall understand".
God bless you Brethren. When God confirms these things to you from His Word, be sure you share them with others by email and personal testimony. It is later than we think. Let us be about our Father's business and redeem the time. bb880417.htm
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