Fifth and Sixth Trumpets

Revelation 9

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

• Fifth Trumpet……Tormenters ariseagainst those without God’s seal on their forehead.
  • An angel of God opens the bottomless pit.
  • The tormenters are as thick as a swarm of locusts and hurt with a sting like scorpions.
  • The tormenters bring harm to those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.
  • The tormenters do not kill, but only torment for “five months”.
  • Inhabitants of the earth will desire to die but death does not come to them.
    • Description of the tormenters.
      • Like horses prepared for battle, crowns something like gold, faces like men.
      • “They had hair like women’s hair, and teeth like lions’ teeth“.
      • Had breastplates like iron and vehicles with roaring motors.
      • Their torment is like the venom of scorpions.
    • The tormenter’s king is Destruction and Destroyer.
• Sixth Trumpet……One third of population is killed.
  • The covenant made through Jesus Christ is kept as global war is unleashed onto the world.
  • A “third” of humanity is killed by a global military.
  • A description of the global military is given.
  • A description of how a “third” of humanity is killed.
  • The global culture of the beast remains unrepentant.

Fifth Trumpet……..Tormenters arise against those without God’s seal on their forehead.
An angel of God opens the bottomless pit. “Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.” Revelation 9:1-2

The star that “fell” from heaven to earth is an angel of the Lord who has been given the key to open the bottomless pit. We can think of a great furnace as being a place where the people of the world have been oppressed, used, and abused, and have a fire of vengeance burning within them. Today, people are being oppressed, used, and abused by the beast that asserts control over physiology to govern over people by imposing upon them what to say, do, think, and feel. Those burning with vengeance, smoking in their detest for today’s world system, is in context with the coming verses where authority is given to those from the bottomless pit to torment those without the seal of God on their forehead.

Also, the power center of the beast is plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague of Revelations 16:10-11, which would correspond to this Fifth Trumpet. The destruction of the power center of the beast makes the government of the beast and its global culture powerless to defend themselves. Spiritually, for the sun and the air to be darkened means that there is nothing pleasant in the world at all, a time of total lawlessness and wickedness. Quite literally, we see how the sun, stars, and moon are darkened, as described in the post on Revelations 8:12. Who knows what could cause the sun and the air to be literally darkened with smoke during the time of the Fifth Trumpet of this post.

The bottomless pit is opened after the first four trumpets sound. The conditions on the earth are horrid with a “third” of the earth destroyed, a “third” of the oceans, marine life, and ships destroyed, a “third” of the fresh waters poisoned, and a “third” of the light of the sun, moon, and stars darkened. It is a time of a severe shortage of resources, extreme inflation, extreme unemployment, people dying of poisoning, etc. The global government is experiencing the collapse of its economic, social, and environmental structure. The opening of the bottomless pit brings more darkness to the earth, and the air needed to breathe has darkened also.

The tormenters are as thick as a swarm of locusts and hurt with a sting like scorpions. “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.” Revelation 9:3

From the furnace arising with smoke, comes locusts with the power of scorpions. The power they have is not like those who govern over people in cities, states, and nations, but have power like a force of global rebels. They have the power to torment everyone who does not have the seal of God on their forehead, as described in the next verse of this post.

Locusts have a reputation of flying in massive swarms and being extremely destructive to the earth, and often are described as being a thick cloud, darkening the sun and the air. In the next verse of this post, they are told not to harm any green thing of the earth. The locusts mentioned here are symbolic of massive swarms of people unleased onto the earth. They have power, but not the power of the global government of the beast…the power center of the beast is plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague of Revelations 16:10-11, which corresponds to what is happening in this Fifth Trumpet. Their power is not the Salvation power of God through Jesus Christ…they are bringing torment, not the Gospel of Christ. The power of the locusts is like the power of scorpions, which is the power to inflict pain and torment. In the midst of extreme economic, social, and climate upheaval, swarms are in every city around the world inflicting pain and torment on those without God’s seal on the forehead.

The tormenters bring harm to those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.  “They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” Revelation 9:4

Click here for a post on the “144,000” who have the seal on their forehead, from Revelations 7.

We know the locusts are not referring to bugs because bugs eat green stuff, but the “locusts” are told not to eat any vegetation. Also, “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.” Revelation 9:7 Also,

The tormenters will not bring harm to what’s left of the earth after the events of the first four trumpets, but torment is brought to those who do not have God’s seal on the forehead. The faithful few followers of Jesus Christ will be spared from the excruciating torment that the tormenters bring. Those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead are those who turn away from believing in God, they mock the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ and ridicule the Holy Spirit who clothes our spirit with Holiness.

Today, someone might question how those who live for the beast can be vulnerable to suffering torment and harmful attacks, after all, at one point those of the global culture were boasting, “Who is like the beast? Who Can make war with him?” Revelation 13:4. The power center of the beast is plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague of Revelations 16:10-11, which corresponds to what is happening in this Fifth trumpet. The government of the beast and its global culture will be powerless and vulnerable to the attacks of the tormenters because people will no longer be empowered with uncanny knowledge, heightened intuition, extraordinary skills, amazing physical abilities and accomplishments, uncanny authority over others, etc. The image of the beast will not be functioning and no longer living and speaking through people. There will be nothing to defend the anti-Christian global masses against the attacks of the tormenters.

The tormenters do not kill, but only torments for “five months”. “And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.” Revelation 9:5

The tormenters are not killing anyone, but they are bringing excruciating torment to them. The people they are tormenting deny the existence of God, mock the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ, and ridicule the Holy Spirit. The tormenters are rebels against the global government and its global culture that had oppressed them before the collapse of the power center of the beast. The torment of those without God’s seal on the forehead carries on for “five months.” The tormenters do not have guns and other types of weapons which are capable of killing. Today, we are already seeing the elimination of gun ownership and the gradual elimination of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. By the time of this Fifth Plague, and well before that, the only ones with possession of weapons will be the global government, but not the global culture.

The “five months” of torment against the global culture of the beast are the “five months” leading up to a global military massacre and the Battle of Armageddon. The tormenters will have their “five months” then the global military rises to action within the events of the Sixth Plague and Sixth Trumpet described in this post.

Inhabitants of the earth will desire to die but death does not come to them. “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.” Revelation 9:6

In the days of the tormenters, people in cities, states, and nations around the world will seek death and will not find it. They will want to die, but death will flee from them. Those people are the ones who do not have God’s seal on their forehead, as mentioned in verse 4 above. The tormenters were, “…commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” Revelation 9:4

Description of the tormenters.
Like horses prepared for battle, crowns of gold, faces like men. “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.” Revelation 9:7

We are living in the days which are steadily progressing towards the last few “days” on earth as described in the Holy Bible. We already see the “shape of the locusts” forming in the world, and they progressively gain momentum as the days progress forward.

We have a pretty good idea of the character of the “locusts” by the symbolism the Holy Spirit gives in the verse above. First, they are shaped like horses prepared for battle. The swarms are warriors hyped and energized for delivering torment to those dedicated to the powerless government of the beast. They are not lowly and peaceful riding on a donkey. They are wearing crowns “something like gold.” Crowns of gold symbolizes someone of great importance and value to a nation of people. The swarms of “locusts” are those who have something like a great importance and value to everyone who has ever detested the oppressive global culture of the beast. The locusts have faces of “men,” meaning they are human beings and not mutant locusts that look like horses with stingers like scorpions.

The symbolisms the Holy Spirit uses to reveal the future are clearly understood when the time is ripe to see it unfolding here on earth. For example, the prophecy about global warming in Revelation 16:8-9 would be too hard to imagine some years ago. Who could ever have imagined that the sun would literally be scorching humanity with great heat. However, now it seems like “old news” because that is all national and global leaders are talking about. Even so, the consequences of the intensity of the sun’s heat continues to get worse, and people still refuse to come to God through Jesus Christ.

They had hair like women’s hair, and teeth like lions’ teeth. “They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.” Revelation 9:8

Today, long hair on men is associated with values of a culture that is different than the values of mainstream society. It’s almost a symbol of social rebellion, unless you are a trans-woman. Trans-women receive cultural acceptance within the anti-Christian global culture of the beast. Aside from all of that, in the days when the world is a literal waste land, hygiene for many people will be a luxury. After all, a “third” of the world’s fresh water supplies has been poisoned by the time of the appearing of the tormenters. Also, utensils for cutting the hair would be astronomically expensive due to a lack of resources. With that, it will be a cashless society with the system of the digital currency being in peril. This tells us that the swarms of tormenters, with their long hair, were never part of the population of the privileged global culture.

They have teeth like lion’s teeth, which means they have the ability to rip to shreds any person they desire to torment. They are able to sink their teeth into a person to rip them apart emotionally, psychologically, and physically without killing them. More than that, they are sinking their teeth deeply into the population of the global culture of the beast in the torment that they bring. Those iron teeth have such a powerful grip in their bite that that they don’t let go.

Had breastplates like iron and vehicles with roaring motors. “And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.” Revelation 9:9

The “breastplates of iron” are not made of silver and definitely not gold. In the Holy Bible, the symbolism of iron refers to a lesser grade or inferior type of protection. One thing for sure, the global tormenters are not wearing the best breastplate, which is the breastplate of righteousness. They are not wearing the protection of Holiness within the torment they bring to the global culture. It can be said that they are hitting below the belt. The swarm of “locusts” are not Christian, and neither are they part of the culture of the beast.

The “sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle,” is the symbolism given by the Holy Spirit which is much clearer to us today than ever could have been 2000 years ago when that verse was written. Back then, their vocabulary did not include words such as horsepower, motors, propulsion, aircraft, etc.

One thing we can see in this year 2023, the sound of wings of a chariot being pulled by many horses is a lot of horsepower propelling a carriage forward. Today, we can associate that with aircraft and motorized vehicles of today, but what will it be when “dirty” fuels are banned? Whatever mode of transportation the tormenters have access to, it is no bicycle, go-kart, etc. The transportation of the tormenters has a lot of power and has wings to be able to fly. It is not armed with weapons because the rebel tormenters are given the command to not kill, so their mode of transportation enables them to carry forward the torment of the global culture.

Their torment is like the venom of scorpions. “They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months.” Revelation 9:10

The power of the global rebels is like the sting of scorpions which brings torment to the global anti-Christian culture. Scorpion stings are flat-out miserable. Their venom is a neurotoxin affecting the nervous system in awful ways, and the rebel swarms definitely get on the nerves of the global government and its global culture. There is no way for the global culture to be able to relax and get comfortable. The torment that the rebels bring lasts for “5 months” leading up to the global massacre and the Battle of Armageddon at the hands of the global government.

The tormenter’s king is named Destruction or Destroyer.

“And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.” Revelation 9:11

The rebels bringing torment to the global culture of the beast have a king which rules over what they do. The name of that king is called Destruction or Destroyer, which is translated from Abaddon and Apollyon. The torment brought by the global swarm of rebels cause an enormous amount of destruction in the process of destroying within the infrastructure and social structure of the global government.

One woe is past and two more are coming. “One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.” Revelation 9:12

The three woes are the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Trumpets. The Fifth Trumpet has been described as the global culture of the beast being tormented. The Sixth Trumpet is global war, and the Seventh Trumpet is described in Revelation 11. That is the return of Jesus Christ, a time of rejoicing for we whose faith is in Jesus Christ, but is extremely woeful for everyone who rejects Him, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Revelations 1:7

Sixth Trumpet……One third of the global population is killed.
The covenant made through Jesus Christ is kept as global war is unleashed onto the world. “Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” Revelation 9:13-14

The “four horns of the golden altar” represent the altar of the Cross of Jesus Christ where we grab hold of the horns of Salvation to offer our life in service to him. The voice that John heard in his vision came from that Altar, to symbolize the eternal Salvation God has in store for His children as they live through the global battle, the Battle of Armageddon. We know God has already heard our prayers, and He puts His seal on the forehead of those who live for Jesus Christ. The faithful few, who hold to the testimony of Jesus, have an eternal reward waiting in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and earth. The “four horns” also represents each direction of the earth, referring to Salvation around the world for whoever puts their faith in Jesus Christ.

The sounding of the Sixth Trumpet relates to a worldwide massacre of people carried out by the global government of the beast (operating through the United Nations). That is described in the next verse and corresponds to the Battle of Armageddon in the Sixth Plague of Revelations 16:12-16. The event of the Sixth Trumpet and the Sixth Plague both happen at the river Euphrates; in this Sixth Trumpet, the angels “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”, which leads to a global massacre by the war machine. In the Sixth Plague, the river Euphrates is dried up to make way for the Battle of Armageddon, as quoted,“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.” Revelation 16:12-16

A “third” of humanity is killed by a global military. “So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.” Revelation 9:15-16

Today, there are four angels in heaven prepared to unleash global war and devastation. The four angels represent every direction of the earth, revealing that the war involves nations from every corner of the planet. The angels bring devastation to what is left of the global government and its global culture. The power center of the beast is plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague od Revelations 16:10-11, which leaves the government of the beast powerless. They will be defenseless and will rely on doing war the old-fashioned way…with guns and bombs…instead of through the physiological empowerment of the beast.

A third of humanity will be killed. How many people will that be in the time when the Sixth Trumpet blows? Today there are about 8 billion people in the world. That number will be drastically reduced through the events of the Seven Seals of Revelations 6, the events of the Seven Trumpets of Revelations 8 and 9, and 11, the Seven Thunders of Revelations 10, and the events of the Seven Plagues of Revelations 16. In other words, of the relatively few people left in the world at the time of the Sixth Trumpet, a third of them will be killed worldwide.

The number of the “horsemen” were 200 million, which are counted among the worldwide population. “Horsemen” represents every person who remains loyal to the atheistic global government, even after the power center of the beast is plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague. They will be hostile, violent, and full of murder towards everyone who comes against them. The “200 million” will also include rebels who held a vengeance against the global government and its global culture, that once oppressed them but now is powerless to rule over what they do, say, feel, and think. The “200 million” will also include powerful people who are able to organize militarily against a powerless global government. The “200 million” will include people who are “drafted” in the war to fight on one side or the other. The “two hundred million” will have their orders to fight as soldiers or will voluntarily fight to bring total destruction to what is left of the world government.

The “200 million” mentioned in the above paragraph would have to include technology of every type involving robotics, and drones. Even today, drones, robotics, and other technology are replacing the need for “boots on the ground”, replacing the need for using people to fight wars. By the time of the sixth trumpet, those “two hundred million horsemen” would include the use of drones, robotic soldiers, self-flying planes, self-driving tanks, etc., which we see described in verse 18 of this post. For nations worldwide to manufacture and accumulate massive numbers of drones, robotics, and other technology would be a fairly easy endeavor over time. We are seeing the use of drones and robotics in wars today, so envision what military battles will look like by the time of this sixth trumpet!

A description of the global military is given. “And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.” Revelation 9:17

The Holy Spirit uses symbolism to describe to us today what the people of two thousand years ago did not have a vocabulary for. Back then, they didn’t have words such as guns, bombs, armored vehicles, drones, tanks, jets, explosions, etc. In order to speak to us today, the Spirit of God spoke to us in symbolism so that the prophecies could be understood in these last days.

In the vision John saw, the “horses” were set upon by identities with breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. Those are the colors of fire, such as flashes of fire. People don’t wear breastplates that shoot out with the color of fire, so that could very well symbolize a robotic army, drones, etc. Even with that said, we know what conventional warfare looks like today, without drones and robotics. We can easily envision someone sitting on a tank, shooting out projectiles from the front gun, while the person sits protected behind the “breastplate” of the tank’s armor. We can envision many other such war devices, such as people firing missile launchers, rocket launchers, flying in a jet plane, etc. The “heads of the lions”, from where comes fire, smoke, and brimstone, describes the roar of artillery, and other such explosions.

A description of how a “third” of humanity is killed. “By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm” Revelation 9:18-19

By speaking of the fire, smoke, and brimstone, the Holy Spirit is describing to us explosions from fire power that the writer of Revelations, and the whole Bible, didn’t have the words to describe. In the Battle of Armageddon, war will be fought by fire power within devices whose power is in their mouth and tails. The power from the mouth is firepower being shot forth, the power in the tails is technology. The power in the tails is like serpents, having heads, which symbolizes a stealth technology that has a “mind of its own” to be able guide drones and robotics on the course they are to go. Those “snakes with heads” are silent, stealthy, dangerous, sneaky, strike fast, etc. That “smart technology”, combined with firepower, is what we are seeing today. Envision what it will be like in the time of this sixth trumpet! And with them they do harm.

Even today, military drones and robotics include submarines, ships, flying aircraft of all types, and land vehicles. Who can say what drone technology will become as the years progress. One thing for certain, drones are drones no matter how much more sophisticated they become, so we are definitely seeing the type of technology which dominates in these end times and going forward.

The global culture of the beast remains unrepentant. “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” Revelation 9:20-21

The refusal to repent leads to the final collapse of the global government, and Jesus Christ returns soon after that when the Seventh Trumpet sounds of Revelations 11:15-19.

Today, we already see how the hearts of humanity have become very hardened to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lawlessness is everywhere in cities around the world and love has gone cold. People prefer to live by the beast that forms what they think, feel, do, and say than to believe in God and acknowledge the need for the remission of sin through Jesus Christ. People welcome the image of the beast to live and speak through them. They are conformed to the mark, name, number of the beast by what they are given to say and do. They refuse to repent of their sin against God.

The beast that gives people what to speak, do, think, and feel gives birth to demons living through people. They habitually come against belief in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, “She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” Revelations 18:2-3 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isiah 5:20

By the time the Sixth Trumpet sounds, even though the power center of the beast is plunged into darkness in the Fifth Plague, the population of the world is so full of lawlessness that they will be numb to repenting from what they make more important than God. They are filled with murder, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, sexual immorality, and thievery. Lawlessness will be done habitually and cold-heartedly.

Even today, habitual mass shootings are becoming normalized, it is horrifying and atrocious. The killing of the unborn is another way of normalizing murder and acclimating people to death and killing. On top of that, the “Jackass” movies are an example of normalizing the suffering of others and making it funny. They are worshipping demons. The list goes on and on. By the time of the Sixth Trumpet, the world will be a murderous, sexual immoral, substance abusing, and thieving place.

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….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1