EAR, thanks for giving me your links, I’ve read your information. It took a lot of work and thanks for sharing. It seems that God’s people are beginning to understand the prophecies and they will be become clearer as we all study and share this information. We had different approaches but about the same conclusions, and many similar understandings, amazing. I think many are beginning to understand these things now.

 

There is another piece to the prophecies that I’ve studied and am going to share now in what I believe I learned.

 

I’ve written that 3 of the horns on the first beast in Rev 13 are the three divisions, or "waves" of the Islamic Empire from it’s beginning until now.

 

1. Mohammed and the Saracens

2. Abbasids

3. Ottoman

 

And that the 12^th Imam al Mahdi, the 8^th beast with his side-kick Isa and his council of ten men, will "pluck up by the roots" those three and create a United Islamic Empire, and woe to us. I don’t believe "plucking up" means destruction. We have an example in scripture to prove this point. In Daniel 7:4, King Nebuchandnezzar’s Babylonian kingdom was described as

 

"The first was like a lion, and had eagles’ wings; I beheld till its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man; and a man’s heart was given to it."

 

Most believe this to refer to the time the king was mad and his kingdom ruled by others until his mind was restored. So, although it was "plucked" it was not destroyed but in a sort of hiatus.

 

Much like the Caliphate of Islam has been in a sort of hiatus since 1924 when it was eliminated but the kingdom lived on.

 

We know from Revelation that the devil was thrown out of heaven after Jesus died and was resurrected and that at some point he gave his power, authority and throne to someone. I believe it was to Mohammed and thus Islam.

 

Jesus foresaw this and described it thus in Luke 10:18, "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."

 

The Bible describes Satan as a devouring Lion. The symbols in Daniel describe Babylon as a Lion. Babylon, the middle east, is the throne of Satan, it’s not a coincidence that the symbols used match.

 

Rev. 8:13 describes three woes to come, I believe these are the same 3 waves or divisions of Islam. It makes sense that God would give us this information in this book as well as in Daniel. Here we have specific details.

 

"...Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!"

 

Rev. 12:12 again describes this when it goes back and gives us the wider picture,

 

"...woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."

 

REVELATION 9:1-12 - THE FIRST WOE

 

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth;

 

Jesus said the same thing in Luke 10:18. This is Satan’s fall to the earth.

 

And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

 

We know from scripture in Genesis and Peter that demons were imprisoned in the bottomless pit. They are Satan’s agents and he is the one who loosens them. Jesus is the one who holds the keys to hades and of death Rev 1:18, so apparently he gave this key to Satan. I would prefer that Satan had stolen it but we know that Jesus is the man in charge and that all is in His plan for our ultimate benefit.

 

Or, this could be another demon, very powerful, the one called Abaddon/Apollyon, perhaps Satan’s right hand man, if it is not Satan himself.

 

And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

 

Satan has unleashed his demons which are so many that the atmosphere is thick with them. This would be in the spiritual realm but is on earth nonetheless. Remember that there is a great spiritual battle going on all around us that we cannot see directly, except through the results here on earth.

 

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth,

 

The demons directly effect the locusts. These locusts are the arabs/Saracens under Mohammed, or people of the middle east.

 

Ex. 10:13 - locusts come from the east

Is. 33:4 - locusts are involved with the scattering of Israel during Babylonian times

Na. 3:17 - thy princes are like the locusts - regarding Assyria & Babylon

Joel 1:4 - locusts are thought to represent the coming invasion from Assyria

Numerous references to locusts being armies of destruction

 

and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

 

Remember, Satan gave his power to the beast of Rev. 13, which is Islam. These are the first Muslims. Scorpions are used as symbols of chastisement in the Bible in I Kings and 2Chronicles.  Scorpions dwell in the desert, another reference to the desert lands east of Israel, the middle east.

 

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 have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

 

The first Caliph after Mohammed died was Abubeker. When he invaded Syria he gave an eerily similar command to his armies. Over the next 100 years, all the middle east, including Israel, was under the rule of Islam. The following is from Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 51. I have highlighted the portions pertaining to Rev. 9:4...

 

His instructions  to the chiefs of the Syrian army were inspired by the warlike fanaticism which advances to seize, and affects to despise, the objects of earthly ambition. "Remember," said the successor of the prophet, "that you are always in the presence of God, on the verge of death, in the assurance of judgment, and the hope of paradise. Avoid injustice and oppression; consult with your brethren, and study to preserve the love and confidence of your troops. When you fight the battles of the Lord, acquit yourselves like men, without turning your backs; but let not your victory be stained with the blood of women or children. Destroy no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of corn. Cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. When you make any covenant or article, stand to it, and be as good as your word. As you go on, you will find some religious persons who live retired in monasteries, and propose to themselves to serve God that way: let them alone, and neither kill them nor destroy their monasteries:  And you will find another sort of people, that belong to the synagogue of Satan, who have shaven crowns; ⁽47⁾ be sure you cleave their skulls, and give them no quarter till they either turn Mahometans or pay "tribute."

 

During the germanic and mongolian barbarian invasions of Rome and all over the Roman empire, these armies would destroy the landscape.  This is well documented in history and also, I believe, in the Bible.  The arabs and other desert people had a different outlook on this.  Since they lived in an arid climate, vegetation was important for their survival.  Destroying anything green was against their better purposes, for oasis and vegetation were their lifeline.  Therefore, they did not destroy trees, crops, and grasslands; they were too valuable in their eyes.  People yes, vegetation no.  This is another reason why their supposed "Paradise" is full of, (besides 72 pertetual and newable virgins per martyr), water and fruits and vegetables.

 

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

 

Most of the formerly Christian middle east surrendered to the Muslims in that first wave, but paid a heavy price, a chastisement. Here is one example from the same chapter in Gibbons book...

 

A large majority of the people accepted the terms of toleration and tribute; and Damascus is still peopled by twenty thousand Christians. But the valiant Thomas, and the free-born patriots who had fought under his banner, embraced the alternative of poverty and exile. In the adjacent meadow a numerous encampment was formed of priests and laymen, of soldiers and citizens, of women and children: they collected, with haste and terror, their most precious movables; and abandoned, with loud lamentations or silent anguish, their native homes and the pleasant banks of the Pharpar.

 

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

 

The rulers and leaders of the towns and nations were the ones that surrendered to the Muslims. The people were often left homeless and impoverished, and many probably would have preferred death over their desperate condition. This is a characteristic of human nature. Remember the Israelis in the wilderness after the Exodus? They lamented several times that it would have been better to die in Egypt rather than endure the hardships of the wilderness.

 

Ali who was Mohammed’s son-in-law and the husband of the Child Persian Princess Sherbanu, suggested a base move to the Arab Muslim commander Mugheera-ibn-Shu'ba. After the battle of Qadsiyyah, when the Persians had hastily evacuated their capital Ctesiphon, many children and old people had been left behind in the chaos. The older persons were given the choice of accepting Islam or death, many of them preferred to die. But the young girls and boys were taken as slaves and distributed amongst the Arabs as war booty. Among the unfortunate children who were left behind, was Sherbanu a child princess of the Persian King Yazdgard. When the Arabs came to know about Sherbanu (who was then three years old) they presented her as a gift to the Caliph Umar, who in turn gifted her to Mohammed’s son-in-law Ali. At that time Ali was thirty two years old and he decided to take a three year old child princess as his concubine! http://www.historyofjihad.org/persia.html

 

And the shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared unto battle;

 

The arabs were excellent in horsemanship, and they used horses in battle.

 

An on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold,

 

There were a succession of Caliphs. Caliphs were the kings or emperors of Islam. Kings and emperors wear "crowns" whether or not they have them on. They are the seat or head of the government.

 

And their faces were like the faces of men.

 

That’s because they were men.  And wore beards.

 

And they had hair like the hair of women,

 

They wore their hair long and tucked it up under their turbans.

 

And their teeth were like the teeth of lions.

 

This is a reference to their activity under the influence of Satan, the Lion that roars and devours (one has to use teeth to devour), and Babylon, symbolizing the middle east. They devoured the Christian middle east.

 

And they had breastplates of iron, as it were breastplates of iron;

 

They wore metal armor. This is not mysterious.

 

And the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

 

They utilized many horses in battles. This is not mysterious.

 

And they had tails like scorpions and their were stings in their tails.

 

The people they conquered were chastised with poverty, homelessness, loss of possessions, and loss of children. Plus they had to pay the dreaded Jizya tax.

 

And their power was to hurt men five months.

 

In prophecy, usually days = years. Five months is 30 x 5 = 150 days = 150 years. This is how long the Saracen division of Islam lasted. From the death of Mohammed in 632 until 782 when the Abbasids took over. It was during this time, in 733, when the Saracens were defeated at the Battle of Burgundy (the head wound) and descended into a state of disarray, thus prompting the eventual take over by the stronger Abbasids.

 

EAR, in his excellent posts, places the head wound in 1917-1924, which is what I believed for a long time. However, the chronology of the first beast of Rev. 13 places this head wound just before the writing of the Koran into book form just after 732/733 (which HAD to be 100-150 years after the death of Mohammed, according to Islamic historians).

 

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 hath his name Apollyon.

 

Satan is the king behind the earthly Islamic system. I don’t know if Abaddon/Apollyon is Satan himself or his chief demon in command that was loosed when Satan, if it was him, opened up the bottomless pit in Rev. 9:2. Either way, Satan is behind the whole mess.

 

One woe is past and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

 

Rev. 9:13-21, the sixth trumpet, then goes onto describe the Abbasid, Persian, Turk, and other manifestation of Islam that followed the Saracens, and includes the Saladin period. Rev. 10 and 11:1-14 gives us details of events going on during this period of the second woe, up to the sounding of the 7^th trumpet.  Rev. 12 gives us a wider and historical picture to set the scene into context in time to prepare us to understand Rev. 13, on which I’ve already posted.

 

Does anyone else who has studied this understand exactly where the 3^rd woe falls in Rev? The next time woe is mentioned in Rev. 12:12 when the devil comes down to earth. I see this as a historical recap, but maybe I’m mistaken and the devil doesn’t come down until later than I have written about. Any thoughts on this from anyone?

 

Are you all noticing that the rhetoric from the President of Iran is escalating daily, and that the threat of nuclear war is becoming more ominous as the days pass? I really don’t think we have a whole lot more time before his launches a weapon.

 

If I lived in the middle east, I’d get out NOW.

 

I do not agree with withdrawing our troops from Iraq until we get the job done. However, if we plan to nuke the middle east, we will, hopefully, withdraw our troops first. If this is indeed a plan in the works, expect to see troop withdrawal soon.

 

God Bless you all.

 

 

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