The Seven Trumpets

The Fifth Trumpet (First Woe)

Revelation 9:1-3 – And the fifth messenger did sound, and I saw a star out of the heaven having fallen to the earth, and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss, and he did open the pit of the abyss, and there came up a smoke out of the pit as smoke of a great furnace, and darkened was the sun and the air, from the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts to the earth, and there was given to them authority, as scorpions of the earth have authority, (YLT)

Although the Roman Empire fell, the Catholic Church began to gain power. In 606 A.D., Boniface III became the first official pope. As I discussed in Catholicism, the Catholic Church was not true Christianity, and therefore, God brought judgment upon it. To do this, God sent Mohammed, who began preaching in 612. Mohammed is the “star” that Revelation is referring to. The “locusts” in Revelation refer to Mohammed’s followers who are known as the Saracens, Arabs, or Islamic followers.

Revelation 9:4-6 - and it was said to them that they may not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but – the men only who have not the seal of God upon their foreheads, and it was given to them that they may not kill them, but that they may be tormented five months, and their torment [is] as the torment of a scorpion, when it may strike a man; and in those days men seek the death, and they shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and the death shall flee from them. (YLT)

Revelation continues on by saying that the locusts may not harm the grass, trees, or any green thing. It just so happens that Islam’s sacred color is green, and that Koran law forbids them from harming grass and trees. The “trees” is also symbolic of Christians. Revelation calls them men with seals of God upon their foreheads. The Arabs tolerated the Christians as H.G. Wells tells us:

“the Christians were to be tolerated, paying only a poll tax; and all the churches and all the relics were left in their possession.” – H.G. Wells, Outline of History, Section 31.5

Revelation 9:5 says that they are not permitted to kill anyone, regardless if they are Christians. Look at H.G. Wells again:

“everywhere they offered a choice of three alternatives: either pay tribute, or confess the true God and join us, or die.” – H.G. Wells, Outline of History, Section 31.5

This tells us that they were given a choice to pay a fee instead of following Allah, just as Revelation says. Revelation 9:6 tells us that these days will be so painful for Christians, that they will want to die but will not be able to. It is very hard to follow God’s ways instead of following what the world wants us to do. Death would be easier than living another day for God. This can be applied to all of the overcomers during any age. This is also seen in 1 Kings, when Elijah wished for death:

1 Kings 19:4 – and he himself hath gone into the wilderness a day’s Journey, and cometh and sitteth under a certain retem-tree, and desireth his soul to die, and saith, ‘Enough, now, O Jehovah, take my soul, for I [am] not better than my fathers.’ (YLT)

Let’s continue with the next part of Revelation:

Revelation 9:7-9 – And the likenesses of the locusts [are] like to horses made ready to battle, and upon their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men, and they had hair as hair of women, and their teeth were as [those] of lions, and they had breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings [is] as the noise of chariots of many horses running to battle; (YLT)

This passage is simply a description of Saracen horsemen. They wore yellow turbans, had facial hair, long head hair, and had iron breastplates which made noise as they charged their horses into battle.

Revelation 9:10 – and they have tails like to scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their authority [is] to injure men five months; (YLT)

The next verse says that the Saracens conquered people for five months. Five months is about 150 days. If we take each prophetic day to be a year, we get 150 years. Mohammed began preaching in 612 and by 762, Islam had established its new capital known as Baghdad. What events led up to this? After several years of preaching, Mohammed became the leader of many people and they won several battles against the Meccans. Mohammed died in 632 at the age of 62. Abu Bakr was then made the first caliph; ruler of Islam. Islam then began to conquer one nation after the next. In 638 they took Jerusalem, in 641 they subdued Egypt, and in 700 they conquered Algiers. In 718, they attempted to take Constantinople, but failed. We will come back to Constantinople in the sixth trumpet. In 732 they defeated France, and in 755 they vanquished Spain. Finally in 762, caliph Al Mansur constructed Baghdad, which today is known as the capital of Iraq. See the picture below.

Revelation 9:11 – and they have over them a king – the messenger of the abyss – a name [is] to him in Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath a name, Apollyon. (YLT)

This last verse mentions the Hebrew word Abaddon, which means a place of destruction. It can also be spelled Abadan. Today, the city of Abadan is located on the border of Iran and contains one of the largest oil refineries in the world. We can see how the fifth trumpet not only had significance in the past, but can also be applied to people and locations today.

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