The Seven Trumpets
Parts 7-9
(The Fifth Trumpet)

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The appearing of Lucifer in the fifth trumpet is unlike the Second Coming in two ways. First, during the seventh bowl, the sign of Jesus and His angels will appear in the sky for a period of about ten days and He draws near the Earth. As Jesus draws near this devastated planet, every eye will be able to see Jesus and His angels because they will encircle Earth and Earth will rotate beneath this glorious entourage. Think of millions forming a huge ring around the Earth. Night and day, as Earth rotates, from horizon to horizon, from East to West, the glory of the Second Coming will illuminate Earth!

 

Revelation 1:7   Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.”

 

The second difference between the appearing of Lucifer and Jesus is that Jesus will not touch Earth at the Second Coming. Instead, Paul clearly says the saints will be called up to meet the Lord in the air. Together, with Jesus, the saints will travel to the Holy City, New Jerusalem. (John 14:1-3) There, the saints will spend 1,000 years reigning with Jesus in judgment. During this time, the saints will determine the amount of restitution that will be extracted from the wicked at the end of the 1,000 years. (We will examine these matters when we study Revelation 20-22.)

 

Nevertheless, the many appearances of the devil with 200 million demonic angels will be so grand, so brilliant, so powerful, so overwhelming that if possible, the very elect would be deceived! You may be wondering, how do we know that Lucifer is going to appear with 200 million angels?

 

Revelation 9:11   They [Lucifer’s angels] had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. [Destroyer]

 

Revelation 9:16   The number of mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.”

 

I think the number of angels that were cast out of Heaven with Lucifer is greater than 200 million. If so, it seems that Jesus limits the number of demons that can attend Lucifer or there would be more demons than people.

 

Now let’s switch gears…. Here’s some history about the Antichrist that you need to consider:

 

Christians have a variety of ideas about the identity of the Antichrist. Most Christians believe the Antichrist is coming, but there is a great deal of confusion about who the Antichrist will be.

 

1 John 2:18   Dear Children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichristis coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how you will know it is the last hour…

 

1 John 4:2   This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 

 

1 John 4:3   but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

 

Ok, the Antichrist is coming. So, who is he?

 

Some Protestants today believe the Antichrist is the pope. This view became popular during the Dark Ages when the Catholic Church persecuted anyone who tried to reform the church or denounce its doctrines. From a human point of view, it is easy to see how people could think the pope was “anti-Christ” and ultimately, The Antichrist. When people are languishing in dungeons or dying at the stake because of religious differences, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who is evil. 

 

After Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517, the Catholic Church became alarmed at the rebellion and growth of  Protestantism. The church tried to combat the growth of Protestantism by burning Bibles and having Protestants put to death, but Protestantism continued to flourish because Protestants were able to demonstrate from the Bible prophecy that a blasphemous power would arise out of the fourth beast in Daniel 7 and it was predicted that it would persecute the saints of God.

 

Since history leaves no wiggle room on the succession of world empires, the fourth beast in Daniel 7 can be nothing other than the Roman Empire. Therefore, the little horn power in Daniel 7 that persecutes the saints has to be the Roman Catholic Church because it is the only enduring religious and political power to rise out of Rome. For three hundred years, Protestants rallied around Daniel 7 as a common doctrine indicating that the Roman Catholic Church was Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, and the pope was the predicted Antichrist.

 

Going to Martin Luther’s day, I am sure you can understand how loyal Catholics became furious at the Protestant movement. Seventeen years after Luther nailed his theses to the church door, Ignatius Loyola founded a secret orderin the Catholic Church called the Society of Jesus on August 15, 1534. Members of this secret order became known as Jesuits. The Jesuit society formed out of a single purpose: The destruction of Protestantism, both physically and theologically.

 

The secret society of the Jesuits caused enormous death, damage and grief. In fact, the Jesuits became so notorious for their wicked deeds that they were evicted from Portugal (1759), France (1764), Spain (1767), Naples (1767), and Russia (1820). Even with the power to inflict a horrible inquisition on Europe, the Jesuits were unable to stop the growth of Protestantism.

 

I should also mention that eleven years after the Jesuits organized, the Catholic Church conducted a council that lasted 18 years in the city of Trent, Italy. One outcome from the Council of Trent was the development of a clever strategy to beat the Protestants at their own game. The Jesuits decided they would thoroughly study the Antichrist doctrine taught by the Protestants and the church would respond to Daniel 7 and the finger-pointing tactics of Protestants with a Biblical alternative. The church would offer an explanation of the Antichrist that would confuse Protestants and defuse their popularity.

 

A Jesuit scholar from Spain, Francisco Ribera, studied into this matter and he eventually came up with the idea that the Antichrist would be an evil man who would come to power down in the distant future, at the end of time. This man would gain the favor of the Jews and he would enable them to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Ultimately, this man would turn on the Jews and become their enemy. This man would bring the world to a catastrophic and through global war. Ribera’s commentary was published in 1590, and Protestants immediately rejected it – until the middle of the 19^th century.

 

Early Protestants knew the Church was trying to “spin” Bible prophecy so that the pope would not be the Antichrist and this made their case and efforts to expose the pope as the Antichrist stronger.

 

About two hundred years are Ribera’s commentary was published the French Revolution began. During this bloodiest of European wars, the pope was taken prisoner by General Berthier in February 1798. When the papacy fell, 1,260 years of papal dominance over Europe ended. The Roman Catholic Church was left badly wounded and powerless.

 

About 30 years after the French Revolution, in 1831, William Miller, a licensed Baptist minister, began preaching that Jesus would return to Earth around 1844. A significant number of people in New England (between 50-100 thousand) became followers of miller and when nothing happened in 1844, the Millerite movement imploded.

 

Miller’s disappointment is important within the context of this study because two things confused Protestants in Europe and the United States after 1844.

 

 First, the historical method of interpretation used by Miller proved to be a disaster. Miller’s embarrassment convinced many Protestant leaders that Bible prophecy needed a fresh study.

 

Second, since the power of the papacy had been destroyed, Protestants needed another Antichrist. The pope was gone.

 

A number of prophetic conferences were held in Europe and the United States during the 19^th century and guess what? Protestants began to adopt the views of Ribera written in 1590! Ribera’s views did not become widely popular within Protestantism until Cyrus Scofield published his Scofield reference Bible around 1909, near the beginning of the twentieth century.

 

During the past 100 years, millions of Protestants have embraced the counterreformation ideas presented by Ribera in 1590. This bit of history explains why millions of Christians today believe the Antichrist will be a man from Europe that rises to power. They believe he will become powerful and prominent. That he will befriend the Jews and help them rebuild the temple. Then, half way through the 70^th week, they believe he will betray the Jews and will cause Armageddon.

 

As I said, the Protestant position on the identity of the Antichrist is diverse. Some Protestants still believe the Antichrist is the pope. They believe the pope and the Catholic Church will control the world someday and everyone who refuses to worship on Sunday will be killed.

 

On the other hand, it should be said that a few Protestants today think the Antichrist was Nero, the Roman Caesar who ruled from A.D. 54 to A.D. 68. He imposed a lot of suffering, death and grief on early Christians. Ironically, the view that Nero was the Antichrist originated with a Jesuit priest. His name was Luis de Alcazar (1554-1613). His 900-page theory, published in 1618 was designed to nullify the doctrines of Protestants. (It is fascinating that two contemporary Jesuit scholars arrived a totally different conclusion about the same time and the church blessed both efforts. So, what does the Catholic Church really believe?)

 

Now that you have a little background on today’s Protestant confusion, I hope you can understand why I believe a great tragedy is in the making. The devil will physically appear on Earth at the appointed time, masquerading as Almighty God and deceiving billions of people, and Protestants don’t have a single Bible text to deal with the topic. Not ONE! Zero.

 

The Antichrist predicted in the Bible is far more powerful, far more evil, and far more destructive than anything possible for a mere mortal to do. The Antichrist to which the Bible points are infinitely more powerful and evil and destructive than any human being could be!   

 

The coming Antichrist has been anti-Christ for thousands of years. He is not to be confined by the limitations imposed on human beings. Lucifer was the highest of the angels, Lucifer was the brightest and the most gifted of God’s creation. Lucifer chose to become a devil and as such, he has used his incredible gifts and talents for evil. For thousands of years he has been doing everything possible to thwart the plans and purposes of God. 

 

He is the original Anti-Christ and he will be given an opportunity to fully present himself before mankind. I want to lift up your thinking and put the appearing of the Antichrist on a higher plane than Nero, the pope or some man from Europe. The physical appearing of the devil is a component of the Great Tribulation which 99.99% of the Christian world does not anticipate!

 

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