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NUCLEARWAR
(Continued from page 4)
The fifth angel then sounds.
John sees a "fallen angel" (symbol–
ized by a star ) opening the "bot–
tomless pi
t."
It
is a vision of a
chemical-biological- like war. He
writes: "And smoke arose out of
the pit like the smoke of a great
furnace.
And the sun and the air
were darkened
because of the
smoke of the pit. Then out of the
smoke locusts carne upon the earth.
And to them was given power, as
the scorpions of the earth have
power.... 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; they will
desire to die, and death will flee
from them. And the shape of the
locusts was like horses prepared for
battle .... they had breast-
plates ... of iron, and the sound of
their wings was like the sound of
chariots with many horses running
into battle. They had tails like scor–
pions, and there were stings in
their tails. And their power was to
hurt men five months" (Rev. 9:1 -
10).
The scene of John's vision then
switches.
John again writes of a second
woe: "So the four angels ... were
released to
kili
a third of mankind.
Now the number of the army of
the horsemen was
two hundred
mil/ion.
...
And thus
1
saw the
horses in the vision: those who sat
on them had breastplates of fiery
red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yel–
low ... and out of their mouths
carne fire, smoke, and brimstone.
By t hese three plagues a third of
mankind was killed- by the fire
and the smoke and the brimstone
which carne out of their mouths"
(Rev. 9:15-18).
It
was a vision of an army un–
leashing tremendous firepower and
a dazzling array of weaponry. In
the ensuing war and its aftermatb,
one third of humanity is killed.
The Seven Last Plagues
Now comes the third woe or the
seventh seal- the seven final
plagues. (See Revelation 16.) Here
is a synopsis of the devastation that
ensues:
28
l. The first angel causes a terri–
ble disease, "a foul and loathsome
sore," to come upon that part of
humanity who has the "mark of the
beast."
2. The second angel destroys all
living things in the sea.
3. The third angel pollutes all
fresbwater sources- rivers and
springs of water.
4. The fourth angel affects the
sun so that "men were scorched
with great heat" and fire.
5.
The fifth angel also affects
sunlight by cutting it off com–
pletely and causing total darkness
in the kingdom of "the beast."
6. The sixth angel guides world
events to ultimately bring vast
armies to the Valley of Megiddo in
Palestine for a climactic war incor–
rectly known as Armageddon.
7. The seventh angel represents
the finale of human civilization as
we know it. The
coup de grace
comes in a series of stark events,
sorne of which are described next.
Jobo writes: "And there were
noises and thunderings and light–
nings; and there was a great earth–
quake, such a mighty and great
earthquake as had not occurred
since men were on the earth.
. .. and the cities of the nations
fell. ... Then every island fled
away, and the mountains were not
found. And great hail from heaven
fell upon men ..." (Rev. 16:17-
21).
The heavenly signs and the day
of the Lord culminate in a singular
battle at which the armies of a
world organization bringing all na–
tions together are annihilated. John
tells us that this international mili–
tary force is guided by the spirit
world. "For they are spirits of
demons, performing signs, which
go out to the kings of the earth and
of the
who/e wor/d,
to gather them
to the battle of that great day of
God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14).
A demonic
zeitgeist,
a spirit that
will make the madness of past
rulers seem tame by comparison,
will grip the world. But God will
halt this madness quite abruptly.
The prophet Zechariah's fright–
ful description shows these armies
as
being literally vaporized- as
though they had been caught at the
center of an atomic maelstrom.
Zechariah writes, in Revelation-
like terms: "And this shall be the
plague with which the Lord will
strike all the people who fought
against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall
dissolve while they stand on their
feet, their eyes shall dissolve in
their sockets, and their tongues
shall dissolve in their mouths"
(Zech. 14:12).
Thus, we have read two scenar–
ios of the future. Both are bleak.
But there is bad news and good
news. The bad news: There
is
a
terrible time of war, of famine, of
pestilence coming in the future.
The good news: There is a God in
heaven who will abort the coming
reign of terror-the scientists' nu–
clear winter--on earth.
Manklnd's Last Hope
Christ was asked by bis disciples
while on earth, "What will be the
sign of Your coming, and of the
end of the age?" (Matt. 24:3). He
responded, "For then there will be
great tribulation, such as has not
been since the beginning of the
world until this time, no, nor ever
shall be. And unless those days
were shortened, no flesh would be
saved [alive]; but for the elect's
sake
those days will be shortened"
(Matt. 24:21-22).
The final message of Revelation
is a
message of great hope,
man's
only hope.
It
tells us that represen–
tatives of various nations and peo–
ples will survive the next war and
that the God family will take
charge and transform man's soci–
eties into a God-centered one.
As John wrote: "Then the sev–
enth angel sounded : And there
were loud voices in heaven, saying,
'The kingdoms of this wor/d have
become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of His Christ, and He shall
reign forever and ever'" (Rev.
11: 15).
Micah the prophet majestically
writes in poetic form of this new,
wonderful world tomorrow. "They
shall beat their swords into plow–
shares, and their spears into prun–
ing hooks; nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. But ev–
eryone shall sit under bis vine and
under bis fig tree, and no one shall
make t hem afraid; for the mouth of
the Lord of hosts has spoken"
(Míe. 4:3-4). o
The
PLAIN TRUTH