"The wierdest bit of the Bible"

[MrVersatile48]

See Rev 8 & Rev 9


Revelation 8 (New International Version)


The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne.
4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand.
5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

The Trumpets

6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,

9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water 11the name of the star is Wormwood.[a] A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"

Footnotes:

Revelation 8:11 That is, Bitterness


Back Mon!

 

[MrVersatile48]

Revelation 9 (New International Version)

1The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
2When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.

3And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.
4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

6During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.
8Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle.
10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.

11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.[a]

12The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

13The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God.

14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
15And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.
16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.

17The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur.
18A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths.
19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

20The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and woodâ€â€idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
21Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Footnotes:

Revelation 9:11 Abaddon and Apollyon mean Destroyer.
Revelation 9:13 That is, projections

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I must apologise for trying to begin this thread just as autologout loomed, last week: I'm sure that, when I hit send, I got a fail message, so I forgot all about it, tyhen was surprised to see that it had printed, but with unwanted extras that I have only just seen & editted

Anyway, it was back in the early '60s that I recall a youth group Bible study when a guy made the comment that I used as topic title

Since then, the world learnt that Chernobyl meant 'wormwood'

The Bible prophecies often get partial fulfilments as warnings from God that final fulfilment is on its way & time is running out

Anyone read the '70s classic, "Revelation Visualised", by Salem Kirban & Gary Cohen - an Arab Christian Professor & a Jewish one working together in Jerusalem with Derek Prince & Lance Lambert, if I recall aright

Anyway, I'll never forget them saying, @ the strange hybrid creature of Rev 9 that, if you see a military helicopter with the sun shining on it, you see the human face of the pilot, the glare of the sun looks like a lion's mane, the 'wings'/blades roar loudly & the biochem sprays shoot out backwards, from the 'tail', so that the crew don't get poisoned by their own payload

No wonder Daniel 12 said to seal up the book till the endtime vast increases in both travel & knowledge would unlock its mysteries

We now have all the hardware needed for both Antichrist's global Big Brother surveillance spyware & for global thermonuclear holocaust as per Rev 16, Joel 3, Zechariah 14, etc

Both napalm & nukes have the exact FX prophesied in Zech 14 - before bodioes hit the ground, their eyes, tongus & flesh are indeed rotted away

Don't miss the instant airlift Rapture rescue of all who love Jesus before the worst time ever comes - see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11

The Coming of the Lord

13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
15According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

18Therefore encourage each other with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5

1Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you,
2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

3While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
5You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
6So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
7For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing




http://www.God.TV showed The Moment After this morning: anyone see it?

I'm sure their main ad for it was for Sat eve

Tell your friends to give Jesus a triump[hal entry into every part of their lives too

As the Bible says, "Anyone who has this belief purifies himself"

God bless!

Ian

 

[cegr]

"Wierdest bit in the Bible?"

Might be Balaam's talking ass in Numbers 22

How about the "dung cakes" of Ezekiel 4?

This book is crazy at times.

 

[MrVersatile48]

Hi CEGR!

I've often said that it's more of a miracle that Almighty God should choose to speak thru a Balaam's donkey of a sinful human being than it was for Him to use that ass to wake up its rider in real hee-haw style! :

Praise God that the Bible so clearly says that God deliberately chooses to put the treasure of His Holy Spirit into us earthen vessels - so that the power & the glory are obviously His, not ours

As for those dung beetle false shepherds/prophets/teachers/messiahs who try to rob Christ's glory for their own pride, prestige & position, that's Satan's attitude, as per Isaiah 14 & Ezekiel 28

It's also the spirit of antichrist, active in the many antichrists prophesied for this climax generation of all history, in 2 Thessalonians 2

Trying to think of an anointed NJ prophetess friend of mine who visits UK when she can - Heidi Owen - do say hi if U know her, OK?

The words of knowledge God gave her about places she'd never seen was awesome - before her first UK visit, a few years ago

But God gave little African orphans visions & words about many teachings & stories from the Bible, when none of 'em had ever seen a Bible

Back in the Welsh Revival of 1904, God had little kids preaching the gospel in their playgrounds & leading their teachers to faith in Christ

That didn't happen in Acts, but Jesus did say that His followers would do even greater things

That means, in His priorities, the preaching of the glorious gospel worldwide is even more vital than Calvary - that's why the Great Commission of Matthew 28 & Mark 16 was the last thing He said, as His top-priority prime-directive, before His friends saw Him ascend back to Heaven on the clouds - & stood staring blankly at the sky till angels said, "Why do you stand staring? This same Jesus will return in exactly the same way as you saw Him go" - Acts 1

Zechariah 14 prophesies that He will indeed come down on the Mount of Olives - to slaughter Antichrist's world armies who dare invade His Holy Land & attack His Holy City

He then rules the world with a rod of iron from Zion for 1000 years in perfect peace & justice, tilll the final rebellion, per Revelation 20

Those who can't believe Almighty God could make this universe in 6 dsays will se God roll it up like a pair of old curtains...

& make the perfect, permanent new one of Revelation 21-22 instantly - spoken into being by His powerful word

All sing Psalm 29

God bless!

Ian