Fifth Trumpet: A
Really Big Show
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Abrupt Change
During the five months
of the fifth trumpet, the devil will
steadily gain a following of
believers through deception. World
leaders will be delighted that
“Almighty God” is on their
side, but a problem will soon arise.
How is religious diversity possible
when “God” dwells among
men? How can Jews, Muslims,
Christians, and Hindus defend
opposing views of God when
“God” Himself lives among
men? How can nations remain sovereign
when “God” is sovereign
over the nations?
At the end of the
fifth trumpet, the devil will
abruptly change his tactics and
demeanor. He will become a
“stern-faced” dictator. He
will make horrible demands and
mankind will be powerless to resist
or stop him. There will be no law
except the law of this demon.
Whatever the devil wants and whatever
the devil commands will be law.
(Hence the descriptive term used by
Paul, “the man of
lawlessness.”) The devil will
demand an end to religious diversity
and his command will be carried out.
He will demand a theocracy be
established and his command will be
honored. (A theocracy is a
church-state government where god
rules as King of kings and Lord of
lords.) For reason beyond the scope
of this study, I also believe Lucifer
will change the weekly cycle to ten
days and establish every tenth day as
the day for worship. Because
he will be “King of kings and
Lord of lords,” who can resist
anything he wants or says? Resistance
to Lucifer’s demands will be
silenced by Lucifer’s demons. “….
And the agony they suffered was like
the sting of a scorpion when it
strikes a man. During those days men
will seek death, but will not find
it; they will long to die, but death
will elude them.”
(Revelation 9:5,6)
Lucifer’s
theocratic government will be
established during the sixth trumpet.
This government is called “an
image to the beast” in
Revelation. Notice how the image (or
the likeness) of Babylon will be set
up: “Because of the signs he
[Lucifer] was given power to do on
behalf of the first beast [the
leopard-like beast, Babylon], he [Lucifer]
deceived the
inhabitants of the earth. [When
the five-month allotted to the fifth
trumpet ended] He ordered them to
set up an image in honor
of the beast who was wounded [in
the head] by the sword and yet
lived.” (Revelation 13:14,
italics and insertions mine)
Using the guise of
admiration for a job well done, the
devil will honor
Babylon’s efforts to establish a
church-state, but he will insist on
modifying Babylon at the end of the
fifth trumpet. Lucifer will move to
eliminate the confusion that diverse
religions create by simply abolishing
the diverse religions of the world.
He will claim that then, and only
then, will there be “one lord,
one faith, one baptism” instead
of seven opposing religions trying to
appease one God in different ways.
The devil will
dethrone the pope. The devil will
outlaw the practice of any former
religion. Consider the importance of
this process. During the sixth
trumpet, the wicked will be forced
to abandon their original religious
beliefs. Prior to the sixth trumpet,
God’s children chose to
abandon their original beliefs
because they loved truth! Those
embracing the gospel of Jesus will
not be able to remain in their former
churches once they begin worshiping
Jesus on His Sabbath day. Meanwhile,
those hanging on to their churches
because they are afraid to make a
change will wake up and discover that
there church and their religion has
been abolished, but they have been
outlawed! The valley of decision has
just ended. Now, everyone will have
to join the church of Satan or the
church of God.
Think about this: When
the masquerading “God”
lives among mankind, there will be no
room for religious diversity.
Lucifer’s theocracy is described
as “the great whore” in
Revelation 17 because everyone
joining Lucifer’s church will
have to prostitute their souls for
survival. The situation will be dire
and all the wiggle room will be gone.
During these developments of the
sixth trumpet, Jesus will send a
final message to those in Babylon who
are still undecided:
“Come out of
her [the great whore, the
theocratic government set up by
Lucifer], my people, so that you
will not share in her sins, so that
you will not receive any of her
plagues; for her sins are piled up to
heaven, and God has remembered her
crimes.
(Revelation 18:4,5,
insertion mine)
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