THE SOUNDING OF THE 4TH AND 5TH TRUMPETS...

“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

“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.” Revelation 9:1

Chapter 24

IN WHICH THE DRAGON IS TURNED LOOSE…

The message of the Revelation will straighten the church out and let her know what Babylon is, and what Babylon is not, and what kind of a stand to take in order to be true to the Word of God. John was in the spirit on the Lord’s Day and if you and I get that same spirit we will understand too. When the seven trumpets sounded, seven thunders uttered their voices, a symbol of understanding of the whole thing, and John was about to write it down, but God said: “Seal it up John, and I will break the seals, one by one. In the days of the seventh angel, in the end of time, when he begins to sound, then the mystery will be finished, I will open it all up to the people, then.”

We’re living today in the greatest light that man has ever known. Things that men have been confused about all down through the ages, and because of their lack of understanding, there has been heartache and strife. It’s setting a lot of people free that have been in false bondage, under a misconception of scriptures. So we look in the Revelation in the 8th chapter today, We will deal with the 4th and 6th trumpet angels together, because it’s a necessity. One clarifies the other. We’re still in the Protestant era of time, down to the very end, my friends, pressing the very date of 1880, and the days when God will bring the truth back.

We begin reading Revelation 8:12 to chapter 9:11, covering these two trumpets, and I pray that God will touch both your ears and your understanding, that you may be able to see the truth that God has hidden here for His people. Beginning with the 12th verse we read, “And the fourth angel sounded and the third part of the sun was mitten, 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 the night likewise. And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound.”

“And the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit, and he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke, locusts upon the earth; and unto them were 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 that have not the seal of God on their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.”

And those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die but death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the horses 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. They had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months.”

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 Appolyon. One woe is past; And behold there come two woes more hereafter.” Herein are some dark sayings. Both Jesus and the prophets gave some dark sayings in the word. It’s some of these dark sayings that the enemy of our soul gets hold of and uses to prop up some false religion. However, for every deep truth or dark saying in the Bible, there’s truth to put light on the saying, somewhere in the Word. And this truth will coincide with every bit of truth that has been revealed by that light. It’s spoken of, as the light that shines brighter and brighter. There may be a greater revelation of light, but it will be the same light. The latest book of a known movement, (that teaches the millennial doctrine) has just come out on the Revelation; literalizes this whole thing. The author says that what John actually saw in the 9th chapter was a B25 Bomber. We just want you to see what foolish things are going forth as interpretations of God’s Eternal Word.

The trouble is: they’re not willing to let the Spirit of God teach them. This is a Revelation of the Church. It has something to do with the spiritual warfare of the church. It has nothing to do with literal things. The author says, “The breastplates of iron were the fuselage, and the sound of many horses in their wings was when they cranked up their engines; many horse power. The sting in the tail was the tail gunner. It all sounds very logical. The sounding of the trumpets, just the same as the opening of the seals and the pouring out of the vials; for there are several series in the Revelation, but each covers the Gospel Day.

For instance, God took the symbol of a woman (a pure woman) to represent the Church and took her through the entire Gospel Day. Why did He do that? He did it to show the parental phase of the church. And to show you that He had to keep the seed, and He kept it down through because He built a church, that the gates of hell could not prevail against. Then, there are the symbolic horses of the Revelation, showing the militant phase of the church; but all you can preach with the seals, is to bring the Church through the Gospel Day. You can take the pouring out of the vials, and all you can do is pour out the vials on false religion down through the same time. It all covers the church through the Gospel Day. The sounding of the trumpets is nothing more than the sounding of God’s warning, trying to get people to see what happened to people who would not walk in the light. They went into darkness and many of them never returned again.

THE FOURTH TRUMPET...

When the fourth trumpet angel sounded out, the third part of the sun, moon and stars were darkened. Everyone who’s ever studied the Revelation has agreed, (we believe) as to what they symbolize. The sun is the New Testament, the moon is the Old Testament, and the stars are the ministers. Or, in other words, the sun, moon and stars are the avenues that God has used to get light through.

God has three avenues through which to give us light, through His Word, through His Spirit and through His ministry. He takes the natural things to teach us the spiritual lessons. They’re the natural avenues used to bring spiritual lessons. They’re avenues through which God sends light to the darkened hearts of men and women.

When the fourth angel sounded, a third part of these did not shine. Can light be broken up in three parts? God can. But how did He do it? During this period of time in Protestantism a third part of the light never shone and we will find out the reason for it, in the sounding of the fifth angel. Let’s read in the New Testament where Jesus broke the light up into three parts. Mark 4:26-28: The kingdom of God is as a man casting seed into the ground, and sleeping and rising night and day and the seed springing up and growing and he knows not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Some may believe that He was just talking about something growing out in the field. No. He said the Kingdom of God was like that. There was a harvest time in the morning. Where did the harvest come from? Jesus brought the seed from the fields of heaven and sowed it down here in the hearts of men and women. Many people don’t think the harvest is coming until Jesus comes again. This is not true. He told His disciples before He left; “Do no say it is yet four months until the harvest. But look on the fields, they are white unto harvest now.” He had faithfully sown the seed and they were ready for harvesting, even then. Why didn’t He let the servants go? Well, because the servants of the household were the Jewish nation, and they had their lamps under a bushel. They didn’t think the Gospel was for anybody but the Jews. As far as they were concerned, they would have uprooted every Gentile, and called them tares, but Jesus had sown the seed in the hearts of some Gentiles and this was ready to bring forth a harvest. That was in A.D. 33.

But He did say that the harvest was to be in the “end of the world”. Now, what’s the Biblical expression of the end of the world? It’s the last or the Gospel Day. 1 Corinthians 10:11: Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Again, in Hebrews 9:26: Once in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. When did He offer Himself? A.D. 33. That’s when the Biblical expression of the end of the world began. We need to dig down and find out what the Word of God says. The saints of God say that they don’t believe in a millennium. Still, they teach that when Jesus comes, He is going to separate the tares from the wheat. We must reap before He comes, for at that time He’s going to destroy the fields. That’s what we’re doing every Sunday night, binding the tares and bringing the wheat in. Jesus not only taught that there was a morning harvest, but He taught right in the 4th chapter of mark, that there would be an evening (light) harvest. He said the kingdom of God is like a man that would sow good seed in the earth and then cover it up. It was covered in the earthly organizations of men, day and night. Then, over here at 1530, He said it would break through, first, the blade, justification; then the ear, holiness or full consecration; then the full corn in the ear, unity. We thank God for full corn. And we thank God for full truth. When people buy corn they pull off the husks to examine the corn and see if it is full. Why? Well, because, they want full corn. So Jesus divided the truth into three parts.

Spiritually speaking, why haven’t we full corn, now? It’s because, there’s too much cob. We put all the time and strength in building up the cob---and not getting any corn. God’s people are starving to death because they can’t eat cob. So, Christ said the light would be released in three portions. And a third par of that light did not shine during Protestantism. The full Gospel preached brings unity and there has not been unity throughout the period of Protestantism. It has only fostered division among God’s people. What kept the light from shining a hundred per cent during Protestantism? We find out in the 9th chapter of the Revelation. “The smoke from the pit darkened.”

Chapter 25

AND THE FIFTH TRUMPET SOUNDED…

We’ll start on the Fifth Trumpet now, in order to find out what hindered the full light from shining in the era of Protestantism. Rev. 9:1: “And the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall to the earth.” Here we have the mention of the ministry again. When you see a star fall from heaven, it’s a symbol of ministers falling from the heavenly position he’s been placed in as an avenue of light, reflecting the light of God to a lost and dying world and falling from that position, or failing to perform the task given him as God has directed, or failing to let all the light shine out in its fullness.

Now, there are some people who, not having a clear vision, say that the fifth trumpet deals with Mohammed. But this could not be. Mohammed claimed Christianity, but we have no reason to believe that he even had the Gospel light. This is a star that has had light and fell from its heavenly position. It once was up there in the heavenly position or it couldn’t have fallen from its position. So, it’s the symbol of a fallen ministry. Now, unto him was given the key of the bottomless pit. Generally people believe the pit is hell, or some deep abyss or a great hole. We read: And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” Matthew 16:9: Jesus said to His disciples: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: “And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.” These keys are the Word and the Spirit. But to bring it down singly, the key is the Word of God.

When we go to preaching, we unlock two things. He was given the key to the bottomless pit. He opened the bottomless pit and there arose a great smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; the sun and the air or the Word and the Spirit were darkened by the smoke. They did not shine, because they were darkened by the smoke. The smoke from the pit darkened them so they couldn’t shine in all their glory. Now it won’t do much good, to talk about the bottomless pit, and it being opened up, unless we know what was in there. There would be very little difference, if the pit was opened and nothing in there to get out. Well, in the first place, the dragon was in there. And we must show you who let the dragon out. But first, we have to show you, who put him in there. Let’s turn to the 20th chapter of the Revelation, which is also a series of the history of the Gospel Church. Revelation 20:1: We begin back in the battle of the Morning Church and go through to the judgment. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in His hand. This ministry back there, had the chain, but lost it. If you lost the chain, you’d better throw the key away, because you’ll get yourself in trouble. If you throw the chain away, you can shake the key around all you want, but you have nothing to bind the dragon with, unless you have the chain.

I saw an angel come down from heaven, (symbolizing a divine call) having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold on that old dragon, (symbolizing Pagan Rome) with all of it’s idolatry and heathenism. When Jesus came, the Church was ordained and started forth. The Dragon (Paganism) had exalted itself to the place of a national religion and was reigning over the people. It was the religion of the day. John saw it there, but thank God, Jesus came and His ministers and they took the chain, and they laid hold on that old dragon, (paganism) and bound him a thousand years, or the period of time through the dark ages, and threw him in the bottomless pit and set a seal upon him. This, mark you, was not the devil, but the dragon, that old serpent, called the devil. Jesus once called Peter, the devil. The devil was just using Peter and speaking through him. The dragon was a false system that the devil was using to work through. He had one deception through those thousand years, the darkness of Roman Catholicism. He had no other deception through there. And a seal was set upon him that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season.

WHAT IS THE BOTTOMLESS PIT?

Roman Catholicism is not deception. It’s darkness. In order to work deception, you must have some truth to put with it. But there was not truth preached for a thousand years, so he had a seal on him. He could not deceive; all he could do was hold the people in darkness. The deception came at the end of that thousand years, when the truth was turned loose. Then, the devil had something to add, or something with which to deceive. The Greek word will help us there, “And bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up. That he should deceive the nations nor more until the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season.” Verse 7: “And Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.” The morning church laid hold on him with the truth and bound him with the chain and put him in the bottomless pit.

Now where’s the bottomless pit? Some say it’s in hell, and some say it’s a deep abyss, but what does the Word of God say? We’ll tell you what it is and then, we’ll look it up. The bottomless pit means nothing more than the earth. No Bible foundation. Rev. 13:11: The first part of the chapter, deals with Catholicism, the second part deals with the second beast or Protestantism; the animal looked like a lamb, but spake as a dragon. The 11th verse said that the beast came up out of the earth; Rev. 11:7: And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill them. The bottomless pit means no more than to be walled in, in a place with no Bible foundation, no bottom to it, because there’s not telling how low you might go.

They bound him with a chain. What was the chain? The chain is the Spirit of God, which has the power to bind. We have no power to bind with the Word. We can read the Word but we have no power over the people; it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to bind Satan. Why is it that the Church of today preaches, but is not able to bind Satan? Well, because she doesn’t have the Holy Spirit with her. Also, the Spirit of God puts the very life in the Gospel.

There’s some truth being preached in Babylon. Does any body pay any attention to it? If the ministers preach against smoking, they just look at him and grin and say, “That’s the way you see it Reverend.” But when they get around where the Gospel is being preached and the power of the Holy Spirit being felt; if they light up, they’ll sneak out of your sight. The Word empowered by the Spirit can still bind the tares. What are we talking about, binding the tares? The Word says that they bound them and put them in the furnace. What’s the furnace? The furnace symbolizes God’s eternal Word. We read in Isaiah: His furnace is in Jerusalem, and that’s a long way from Hell.

A man or woman can come in where the Gospel is preached and be very free. “It’s nobody’s business what I do. Sure, I’ll go along with you and hear that preacher.” But when the Holy Ghost moves in and the truth goes forth and he begins to get bound tighter and tighter, finally he begins to wipe the perspirations from his face and after the truth has tied him hand and foot, then we put him in the furnace and put the heat on him.

Some time back, a brother who drove one of those big double oil tanker trucks in which is hauled formaldehyde, had an accident. The flexible hose blew up in his face when he was unloading one night after dark. In the explosion His eyes were burned out. They shot the hose on him. They took him to the hospital. But he was praising God. And he just kept on praising God until God took all the pain away. The doctor said: “You must be suffering pain.” But he answered: “There’s no pain.” The doctors wept and so did the nurses, who said that they had never seen anything like it. Then, people began to get saved. One of his buddies, who was also a truck driver, came to the hospital and got saved. Another one came one Saturday night and was under such deep conviction that he trembled. That man was cast in the furnace of the Word. I laid my hand on his shoulder and said: “Brother, God is dealing with your soul. You ought to give up and yield to him.” He came to the altar of prayer and prayed through. His clothing was wet from the seat of strong conviction. Later he said to me, “Brother Wilson, when you came and laid your hand on my shoulder, you put me in a furnace.”

This is the kind of power we need. The kind that binds men and women until all he can do is stand in the presence of God and His Word and tremble under the power of God. God’s voice can still make the earth tremble. In too many cases it’s not the voice of God that’s sounding out. We read in the Old Testament: He spoke and the earth trembled, He spoke and it shook, He spoke and it melted. In the 12th chapter of Hebrews, Paul writes: “Whose voice spoke, then shook the earth, but now speaketh from heaven.” God’s not only shaking earth but he’s shaking heaven too. He’s shaking the church. This time it’s removing of those things that can be shaken, that those things that cannot be shaken, may remain. Wherefore, we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. God is going to shake a kingdom out of this confusion that man has brought into the Church. What is this confusion?

Well, for one, ministers preaching what they want to. People professing to be saints, acting and living like they want to. We’re headed for the last earthquake and God is taking us through a shaking time. The souls that cannot stand firm when it comes to them and hold on to God will be shaken loose. Isaiah 17:6: “Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bow, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel. There will just be a few left, when the shaking is done---and note: these are in the most fruitful branches.

Saints of God, we’d had better get a good grip on God and eternal life or we’ll will never be able to hold on when the heat of the fire is turned on us and we’ll go down in the time of the shaking that God is even now giving to the church. Jesus Christ is coming back just for those few berries that will be left and all the rest that were shaken off will be lost throughout eternity. Nothing unclean or those who will no line up with God’s Spirit will ever make it to heaven. And down here on this earth is the place of preparation.

The morning ministry laid hold on that old dragon. They were not afraid of him and we’re not either. We knew a man who was released from a Russian prison camp. His father, who was a minister, was killed there. After several years of suffering, this young man was released. He was asked to speak on Communism. The people ought to know this. But we cannot let Communism and compromise get us off the track of modernism either, for if we’re not mindful, modernism and compromise will eat the very vitals out of the church before even Communism reaches it. The dragon has been loosed. This is the very day in which he would deceive the very elect, if possible. The dragon is in the pit.

They laid hold on him and cast him in the bottomless pit. The Revelation has told us it is this earth. He had once exalted himself to a position as a national religion, but the truth came and cast him down and proved him to be earthly and devilish. No Bible in the religion whatever. That’s where it put him. Put him right down there to the earth, proved him to be earthly; an earthly religion and a devilish religion with no God and no Bible in it whatsoever.

THE DEVIL IS LOOSE TODAY…

You have to remember, this is a spiritual revelation, a book of symbols. This is a spirit. Yet, millennialists talk about binding “it” with a log chain. Wouldn’t that be a trick? The devil’s a spirit and yet they say that he’s going to be bound with a chain. Let’s go to the fifth chapter of Mark. There they tried to bind the spirits called legion with chains. I say again, you can’t bind a spirit with a chain. This all proves---the chain that bound him was the Holy Spirit of God.

Why? Because; it takes one Spirit to bind another spirit. So, they laid hold on the dragon, cast him into the pit and shut him up---and he was to be there until the thousand years was finished. They proved him to be of no Bible foundation. 1 Cor. 3:11, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Then, they proved: as soon as the foundation was laid, God put a building on it; and you can only get one building on one foundation. Therefore, all other religions have no foundation---or have a bottomless condition. That’s exactly how they put him in the pit---no Bible foundation.

In the 20th chapter of the Revelation we’re told that after the thousand years, or this special period of time is fulfilled, he must be loosed for a little season. The words, a little season, is mentioned once in this chapter. Under the fifth seal the “little season” is mentioned again. In both places it just covers the protestant era. It’s just the time period of Protestantism. The whole gospel was again preached in 1880. We still have the same key (the Word) and the same chain (the Spirit) they had back in the early history of the Church. This is where it helps to have a little seventh seal light and understanding.

But the devil is still loose today! No, not where the whole truth is being preached and the Holy Ghost is present to set His seal on it. Rev. 6:9, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. How did these souls get on the altar? They offered themselves as a sacrifice. There’s only one way to get “under” the altar. The sacrifice was put on the altar and the ashes fell through the grate---under the altar. These would not worship the beast or his image and so they were beheaded for they loved not their lives unto death. They laid themselves on the altar as a sacrifice for God. John saw them “over in glory---under the altar”. In the 20th chapter, he saw the souls of those that were beheaded and in the fifth seal he saw the same souls. This seal covers a period of time before A.D. 1530. All the Revelation teachers agree with that. Let’s continue with the scripture: Verse 10, “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And the very next verse tells us (verse 11) And white robes were given unto them every one, and it was said unto them that they should rest a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled as they were. That “little season” reaches to our day; and again in the 14th chapter of the Revelation, something happened. Rev. 14:6, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of the earth and to every nation and kindred, and tongue, and people. (verse 7). Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea and the fountains of waters.” This is when the judgment of God (on false religions) began.

When did he get loose? When the truth began to get going again and full gospel was going out. When men, hearing the truth---fell away from it---and began to build their own creeds and sectarian organizations---then, the dragon was loosed and began practicing his deception again. He was loose from 1530 to 1880---until D. S. Warner and others brought back the key and the chain. The Dragon knows what the chain is. He had it on for a thousand years. It’s just a symbol of the power to bind. So today, we take the pure Word of God and prove that these false doctrines are of the earth, false and devilish and put them in the bottomless pit. We prove that they have no Bible foundation. That’s the word in the 11th chapter of the Revelation, that after the twelve hundred and sixty days (or years), the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit---The 13th chapter of the Revelation said that the second beast came up out of the earth. Then why does it say that it came up out of the bottomless pit? Because; this is a symbol of Protestantism. Any protestant church or any other church you can join, was started by some man or group of men. It didn’t come from God---it came up out of the earth.

The New Jerusalem came down from heaven. And why did that beast come up out of the earth? It was born of man and men brought it forth. But the true Church was in the mind of God and was sent down here for you and I to enjoy. Praise God!