11. The trumpets = the birth pains intensify into the tribulation (Rev. 8:6 through Rev. 13)

11.1 Overview

The first four trumpets depict how the wickedness and selfishness of mankind destroys nature,
while the last three depict what happens to mankind itself.

The Devil, who knows that his remaining time as the prince of this world is now very short, of course does not view the ongoing world revival with any joy. Therefore, he is trying as quickly as he can to hinder it through things like local ethnic conflicts and persecutions. Most of all, he would like to bring about the third world war, which would also possibly lead to a great falling away from faith in Jesus.

It will become even worse, of course, when the Antichrist shortly thereafter commences the last great persecution:

• A major reason contributing to such a massive apostasy could be that millions of Christians have likely decided to receive Jesus primarily to be saved out of the trials of the tribulation.
• In that case, they will feel terribly deceived by the promise that "Jesus will come soon and take us before the tribulation begins." Many Christians in China felt this way at the Communist takeover in their country.

But Jesus will definitely keep his promises.

• Out of the tribulation at the time when no one else will repent on earth, and
• Out of the judgments of wrath which follow upon the unrepentant wicked on earth.

11.2 The first four trumpets affect nature

During the time of the first 4 trumpets, the effects increase so that a third of:

• The world's trees, and all green grass are burned up
• The fishes of the sea die, and ships are destroyed
• Fresh water becomes so bitter to drink that people die from it. Pure water becomes scarce.
• The light from the sun, moon, and stars is darkened (over local areas when Gog and Magog war against Israel, and presumably worldwide later on during the nuclear war of the 6th trumpet, when there are massive human casualties))

But now, humankind itself is capable of almost fully bringing about their fulfillment:

• during times of peace, primarily through our selfish lifestyle which among other things consumes far too much energy in the form of coal and oil, but even more
• in times of war through nuclear weapons and biological and chemical warfare.
• Even here I believe in the trend theory. The problems begin with developments in peace time which then naturally become drastically worsened through the effects of war. In any case, this is what seems to apply for the first 4 trumpets.

The peace time burning of fuels such as coal, oil, and gasoline causes:

• acid rain, which not only damages the trees, but also in some extreme cases has already made some drinking water sources unusable, for example on the west coast of Sweden. In Europe, the damage to forests as a result of pollution from fossil-fuel burning has increased drastically. According to a UN report (already in 1995), about 16% overall of our forests are damaged, varying between 6% and 60% for various countries in Europe.
• as a result of acid rain, there is an increase in the acidification of many lakes, leading to the total or near eradication of all fish in thousands of small lakes throughout Scandinavia. Also, in many cases, the fish are inedible from too high concentrations of mercury, which comes from our pulp mills. Even in the great oceans of the world, the fish populations have diminished dramatically since the Second World War. The reason for this is partially due to increased pollution along the coasts, but is primarily from pirate fishing of the oceans by certain nations' fishing fleets.
• the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to increase. The consequences will not only be increased turbulence, which gives rise locally to strong storms, typhoons, torrential rains, heavy snowfall, and longer periods of drought. The most frightening thing to scientists is that the "greenhouse effect" increases the earth's average temperature. In the short run, not only will the deserts grow, but even the agricultural regions of the earth will enter the danger zone, thereby reducing harvest yields. Fertilizers and irrigation, which have tripled the harvest since the 1950's, can no longer produce such an increase. The world's reserve supply of grain is at a record low, less than two months consumption. No new quick-fix formula exists to supply food to the world's population, which is growing at a rate of 90 million people per year. This is the great dilemma of our civilization.
  In the long run, the level of oceans is expected to increase 2 cm per decade, simply because the volume of water increases as a result of the increase of the average temperature of the earth. Some meteorological models also warn of local increased melting at the poles. In addition, there is a risk of a new ice age in the Nordic regions if the Gulf Stream changes course again, as it has done before in history. All of these things would lead to huge migrations of population.
• A fourth peace time problem is the increase in skin cancer. This is caused from the release of Freon from refrigerators, for example, which reduces the all-important ozone layer in the atmosphere, allowing increased UV-radiation from outer space. Even now we need to be more careful with sun-bathing. Things will become even worse in the 2000's, even if Freon release is reduced, since the process in the atmosphere has a delayed effect. The plague during the next phase, which is the bowls of wrath, will become so bad that "the sun will burn like fire" (Rev. 16:8-9).

All together, the acid rain, pirate fishing, drought, and increasing UV-radiation mean diminished availability of food for the ever-increasing population of the earth. Even now, the world loses more cultivable land from drought, erosion, and increased salt concentration than what is won through new cultivation. Without doubt, therefore, the hunger catastrophes of the third seal will worsen.
These severe hunger problems affect the poorer regions of the world during peace time, and affect all war-torn lands during times of war. All of this will likely lead to enormous streams of refugees.

11.3 The fifth and sixth trumpets affect humanity

At the fifth trumpet, the abyss opens and clouds of evil spirits are released. Their assignment is to plague everyone who doesn't have God's seal on their foreheads; that is, all those who do not belong to the Bride.
Just as with the plagues of Egypt in their time, God's purpose is not to torment, but to attempt to wake people up, even by using extreme methods such as violence and war. God desires to help people to even now repent of their wickedness and to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, before the Devil attains world dominion through the Antichrist. Then it will be even more difficult to turn and repent.

Perhaps also now Gog and Magog carry out their military campaign against Israel.

When the 6th trumpet and the second cry of woe are heard, the third world war will break out, as mentioned previously. Then things will become really chaotic. In the countries involved, many large cities will possibly be totally leveled by nuclear weapons and biological and chemical warfare. A third of the earth's population will die. The world economy will spiral into total chaos.

People will then cry out even more for a strong leader who promises to secure world peace and to stabilize the world's economy.

11.3.1 The information war between:

11.3.1.1 God's "two" witnesses and

God's grace and care for people is so great, however, that he will not allow the Antichrist to attain world dominion until people are warned of the consequences. God is so anxious for our salvation that he doesn't leave any possible way untried. Therefore we read in Rev. 11:3-13 about the two witnesses, who carry out at least the last part of their 3.5-year prophetic ministry in Jerusalem, during the time of the second woe.

These prophets are clothed with the same spirit and power which characterized Moses and Elijah:

• Moses' prophetic ministry consisted of warnings, and when they weren't heeded he spoke words of judgment, which were confirmed by signs and wonders. In this way, it was demonstrated to the Egyptians that the God of the Bible is alive and that he has greater power than their pagan gods and magicians. Not until afterwards did Moses get to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt, and to give them God's laws as a moral guide.
• Elijah's prophetic ministry used signs and wonders in the power of God to cause the apostate people of Judah to abandon their idols and to reinstate Jehovah as their one God.
• Even here, I see these two prophets in Jerusalem as the culmination of a trend of growing prophetic ministry, which God has brought about across the entire earth in connection with the last revival.
• The same thing that happened to the people of Judah presumably needs to also be done across the entire earth on a preparatory scale, before the two witnesses finally appear in Jerusalem before a worldwide TV audience. Then, if not earlier, every viewer must take a stand on who is right with their assertions, the false prophet or the two witnesses. This requires that the viewers have as good of a biblical background as possible.
• The Antichrist will be full of hate against the two witnesses, who reveal that he is not the Messiah, but a satanically wicked person. Therefore, to the delight of evil people, he will kill the two witnesses when their mission is complete. But after three days they are resurrected by God's Spirit, and then taken up to heaven.

The Antichrist, who is also called the first beast, will be greatly helped by the person who the Bible calls the false prophet, or the second beast. (Rev. 13)
Just like Hitler had his powerful minister of propaganda, Gobbels, the Antichrist also needs his special spokesman. Behind his appearance, which is a mild as a lamb's, he conceals a voice which is as mighty as a dragon's:

• If the Antichrist receives a mortal wound, he will revive in a way which imitates Jesus' death and resurrection. Through this "false miracle" the world will stand in awe of him.
• The false prophet's goal, then, is to presumably first induce people to choose the Antichrist as the leader of the world, so that he can later induce them to worship the Antichrist as a god.
• The false prophet will be able to give great power to his words through also being able to perform signs and wonders, such as letting fire fall from heaven. He is allowed to do this precisely like the magicians of Pharaoh in Egypt, with the goal of deceiving those who will not for anything seek after the truth.

The fateful decision which every person in the end times will face will be a reprise of the Jews' decision between Jesus and Barabbas. Unfortunately, the majority of the Jews voted for freedom for Barabbas the robber, and death for Jesus who was innocent. The consequence of this was a rebellion of the people, which ended with the Romans destroying all of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Those who choose this time:

• to remain faithful to Christ even under persecution, will be saved by him at the seventh trumpet.
• to compromise by taking the mark of the beast, and submitting to the Antichrist's presumption of authority, will be destroyed during the judgments of wrath which follow after the seventh trumpet.

The orthodox Jews in particular have always dreamed of being able to rebuild the temple which was destroyed due to the Romans in 70 AD. After the 6-day war in 1967, when all of Jerusalem came into Israel's hands, the first obstacle was thereby rolled out of the way.

Another obstacle has been the opinion that the two mosques which were later constructed by the Muslims on Mt. Moriah, that is, the Dome of the Rock, and the Mosque of Omar, stood in the way. More recent archeological excavations, however, indicate that this is not the case. The temple could therefore be built to the side of the mosques on Mt. Moriah. The orthodox Jews have for a long time made preparations for the construction, to begin as soon as it becomes politically possible. For example, it is already said that half of the temple's holy equipment has been rebuilt.

Similarly, there is room for a Catholic basilica, which certain factions within the Catholic reportedly desire to build. In this case, three monotheistic world religions in the end times would be gathered on the Temple mount in Jerusalem. To the rest of the world, it would nicely appear as something of a united world church for the world's three monotheistic religions.

If the Jews have not had time to build the temple before the Antichrist appears, they will undoubtedly receive help to do it from him. If this is the case, he will not do it out of his goodness, but rather so that he can there declare himself as god, and thereby demand the worship of all the inhabitants of the world. But the crux is the following:

The person or organization who bows to the Antichrist (who represents and worships the devil) will become guilty of high treason against the God of the Bible.

11.4 The Antichrist

11.4.1 The person of the Antichrist

The Antichrist will probably be a political figure who appears in two phases:

• in the first phase, he is called the beast, and also the man of lawlessness and the man of destruction.
• in the second phase he is called the lawless one. This period begins when the Devil, who is cast down to the earth, incarnates himself in the Antichrist. Just as Jesus and God are one, the beast and the Devil will then also become one. Their unity continues throughout all the judgments of wrath, and finishes after Armageddon. If one interprets the Bible's statements carefully, these two periods encompass 3.5 years each.

• that in the beginning he seems very kind and helpful. The dishonorable picture we use in the illustrated series therefore depicts only his inner person. This evil remains long hidden for all others except for the Bride. He succeeds then with the diplomatic trick of promising peace and justice for everyone in order to gather power for himself through cunning and deceit.
• For the majority of the world, who are caught in pseudo-Christianity, the Antichrist appears to be a real liberator from old prejudices who gives humanity the ultimate chance for self-realization. In addition, he is an extremely capable social administrator, a super-intelligent leader, and a defender of religions.
• In communist and socialist states, it was usually the political party which was glorified. But in Nazism and in the "beast-state" of the Antichrist, it is the "the great leader himself" who takes center stage.

When he succeeds in cunningly taking over the world, he will begin to violently and forcefully put down every form of resistance.

• appear on the scene as Israel's friend and peacemaker. He will do this so well that in time the leaders of "the united states of Europe" will choose to transfer their power to him. (Rev. 17:12-15)
• quickly begin to show disrespect for holy seasons and laws. He will therefore change them so that they "fit in better with the requirements of the new times."
• be able to institute a common world currency which will not oscillate up and down. One of the weaknesses of the market economy is that the players in the money markets who only think about quick profit can move enormous sums of money between different countries in a very short time. They can thereby cause the currency and economy of an entire country to fluctuate. For example, this happened in Russia. The Antichrist will presumably first succeed in stopping this.
• with the help of computers, begin to regulate all economic transactions on earth. In this way a whole new economic system, entirely without cash will also be instituted with the help of the next generation of credit cards called "smart cards." These will contain all of your personal data. The official motive for introducing these could be lower overhead costs than with traditional transactions involving the currency of different countries. They will also facilitate more effective crime-fighting, since no one will want to rob when cash has become worthless.
• But this will also cause the end of any possibility of private transactions.
• The real aim of the Antichrist is that the only people who can buy the food they need are those who can show on their identification card that they have "taken the mark of loyalty to the beast."

Therefore, the victorious Christian congregation must begin to prepare themselves for some years of self-sustenance in order to survive.

• Many great leaders throughout history have dreamed of becoming a world ruler such as Alexander the Great, Nero in the Roman Empire, and Hitler in our own time. None of these attained it, but the Antichrist will attain it completely or at least partially for a short time.

In an earlier section we gave a summary of the events in the end times which affect the church and Israel from a political standpoint. Here again, however, we will summarize how the Antichrist will persecute the church.

• The gospel must of course be preached first for all peoples before the end can come. Since all who become true Christians thereby must refuse to compromise on the truth that Jesus is God's only way to salvation, they will also become persecuted and hated by all peoples, when the Antichrist demands worship of himself and his unity church.
• The persecution will presumably become the worst after the Antichrist has declared himself as god in the temple in Jerusalem.
• Even those who are closest to us within our families might fall away and betray us.
• Many Christians who refuse to worship the Antichrist will also be imprisoned, tortured, and killed.

• In this time it is essential, however, for us Christians to hold fast our faith in Jesus and to stand secure in the assurance that not a hair on our heads will perish without God's permission. The history of the people of God certainly shows that this type of persecution is not new. Back in the Roman Empire, the Emperor Nero demanded similar obedience and worship from the first-century Christians.
• The three men in the fiery furnace, however, are perhaps the Bible's most striking example for us. They answered in the following way: "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up." (Dan. 3)
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• When they were then thrown into the fiery furnace, the heat did not even singe them, since God sent an angel to help them, one who appeared as a son of God. (Was it perhaps Jesus?)
• Similarly, we Christians are never left alone, not even when we have to go through suffering and persecutions which can make us feel completely forsaken. For even if we do not see Jesus, he is nonetheless present and is even standing right by our side.

Jesus has promised that he will always be with us, and God will also never forget us. (Matt. 28:20; Isaiah 49:15)

• Therefore, when we hold fast to God's promises in our troubles, something great always happens in the spiritual world. This was true when Jesus died on the cross. On the outside, it appeared as a complete defeat. But in the spiritual world, Jesus won the greatest victory in the history of the world.

Now, after Golgotha, it is the church's turn to let the spiritual world know what this victory implies. Jesus has prophesied that not even the powers of hell will be able to overcome the triumphing church of the end times. (Eph. 3:10-11; Matt. 16:18)

1. our society should make in order to survive the third world war, and
2. what we Christians ought to also do in order to survive the period of persecution under the Antichrist.

11.5 Other key figures in the end times

In this section we will be content with just summarizing the various actors in the end time drama. We have met many of them in the previous text; others are new. Since most of them can be found briefly described with both text and illustrations in the midi-text, we will here primarily refer to those sections.

1. The sun-woman and the dragon	in Rev. 12 is illustrated and explained by the illustrations 6.2 and 7.9 in the midi-text, along with its references. The sun-woman is the people of the kingdom of God through the ages, and is called the Bride of Christ in the New Testament. Behind the Dragon stands the Devil himself, who when his influence is more hidden in governmental authority, is represented by various wild beasts, described in section 7 of the midi-text.
2. The two wild beasts.	The first wild beast in Rev. 13 is then the world empire of the Antichrist, which is described by illustration 7.8 in section 7 of the midi-text. The second wild beast in Rev. 13 is the false prophet, who functions as the propaganda minister of the Antichrist, (see illustration 5.7 of the mini-text,and illustration 7.9 of the midi-text). In order to be able to deceive people, he somewhat resembles a meek lamb, who performs great signs and wonders. However, he speaks like a dragon, and he has the right to use all the power structure of the first wild beast against his opponents.
3.The three unclean frogs	in Rev. 16:13-14 are only described here. They are extremely evil spirits of war which proceed out of the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the false prophet in order to deceive mankind into participating in the final battle at Armageddon. (See illustration 5.11)
4. The harlot on the beast	in Rev. 17 is depicted and described by illustrations 6.2 and 7.9, along with their references. The harlot symbolizes all individual Christians, churches, and organizations which have forsaken faithfulness to Jesus Christ. In this, all these have also practically broken the second commandment, which states, "You shall not have any other gods before me," implying obedience and worship of idols.
5. The fall of Babylon	in Rev. 18; 19:1-5. The world-city of Babylon primarily symbolizes political power, but it sometimes also includes not only economic power, but also religious power. The final judgment of God against all of this is summarized in the midi-text of illustration 7.11.
6. Clouds of smoke	flow up out of the abyss which is opened at the sound of the 5th trumpet. (Rev. 9:1-2) I believe this symbolizes satanic evil spirits which incite mankind to begin to hate and to kill one another worse than before. (See vs. 11)
7. The locusts	which followed afterwards out of the smoke in Rev. 9:3-12 have tails and stings with which they have the power to hurt men. The noise from their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They did not, however, have the right to kill men. I can imagine that the prophet is here seeing great military helicopters flying for the purpose of spreading chemical and biological warfare, in order to afflict people without killing them before the 6th trumpet sounds (which begins the third world war). The intention in such a case could be to break down any thought or ability of resistance before the approaching enemy.
8. The horses	in Rev. 9:13-19, on the other hand, killed great numbers of people after the 6th trumpet by means of fire, smoke, and sulphur which came out of their mouths. (This signifies that the third world war has begun) Here, I can imagine that John is seeing tanks, which killed countless people. For the power of the horses to kill was in their mouths = cannons, and tails = machine guns.