THE SIXTH TRUMPET IN REVELATION NINE.

Text	Christ's Work	Symbolism	History
9:14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet,	From 1449 to 1840	Christ mediating
Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.	Opening up more knowledge so people may discover truth.	Four major themes emerged and drifted out to Europe and on around the world.

1. Renaissance: While Europe experienced the Dark Age, the Arabs developed universities, large libraries, musical instruments, clocks, science, chemistry, medicine, navigation, philosophy and humanism.
When Constantinople fell in 1453, many scholars fled from the Turks, bringing scientific knowledge as well as Classical Greek and Roman books to Europe. The emphasis on rational thought and science provided a boost to humanism.
2. Reformation: When Constantinople feel in 1453. Hundreds of Greek manuscripts containing passages from the Bible were brought to Europe. The Gutenburg printing press was invented. Men like Erasmus collected Greek manuscripts and printed a Greek Bible in 1516, (Roman?s Bible was the Latin Vulgate) Others like Tyndale translated the Bible in the tongue of the people. The Reformation was followed by a Counter Reformation working to extinguish Protestantism.
3. The Turkish Muslims, with Constantinople conquered, they moved their conquests west. Greatly antagonizing the eastern European countries. This was a big distraction to the Vatican?s attempts to curb the reformation and helped the Reformation to gain a sizable foothold in Europe.
4. The spirit of conquest of the whole world. With the fall of Constantinople it was more difficult for safe travel to India and China for trade. Europe wanted to find a new route to these countries. 1492 Columbus set sail westward to find this route, and found America. Some of the greatest ?slaying? of the inhabitants of the earth followed. Whole empires in the Americas were wiped out, by war and disease. Colonization followed. The whole earth was being affected.
Were 1/3 of mankind slain. Well, count
1. Those slain in the Turkish wars
2. Those slain because they were protestant
3. Those slain in all those religious wars in Europe
4. Those slain due to European exploration and conquests.

Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. John 18:37

WHO IS OUR KING?

Jesus is the "The Lord Our Righteousness" Jeremiah 23:6

He is the master and Ruler of Righteousness, truth, love, life, peace.

BUT THERE IS A USURPER
There is another master ruling down here upon earth, the ruler of disobedience, Eph. 2:2, that is his agenda, to lead mankind into rebellion against God.
He is the master liar, murderer, thief, usurper, and enemy of mankind, and claims all of us as his citizens.

OUR CHOICE
This makes the proper choice of kings vital to each one of us. Yet, unfortunately many didn't think they a had choice concerning who was their King, or even realize that they were already serving an enemy king. When discussing righteousness we have tended to focus on how close we can come to following the rules of the law. The Pharisees did that, but were missing the central author, provider and sustainer of righteousness. They claimed to be God's people, but Jesus told them they were under the wrong king. (see John 8:44)


WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
It's true that "Righteousness is right doing, and it is by their deeds people are judged"( COL 312)

But to stop there is missing the most important part:
for the same author also wrote: "Righteousness is holiness, likeness to God, and "God is love." (1 John 4:16)...and "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10). Righteousness is love, and love is the light and the life of God. The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving Him. {FLB 109.3}

The central focus of righteousness is not on what we eat or say, but rather on who we serve and to whom we belong. We receive righteousness by receiving Him.

Someday Jesus will come to take over the dominion and rule as King of kings and Lord of lords, BUT He has already come to rule according to the verse in Isaiah 9:6 where we read that "the government shall be upon His shoulder".
The kingdom of grace precedes the kingdom of the final glorious kingdom.

Jesus, while here on earth, preached " Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: (Matt 4:17) and He was, already back then, inviting people to seek heaven's citizenship. "John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me has everlasting life.


Now, we can chose to be citizens in His kingdom of grace, being fitted to being citizens of His eternal kingdom in the future.

THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
1. Have I made Him king of my life?
2. Am I serving Him in love which manifests itself in joyful obedience?
Every member in church professes to be His subject, but membership in a church is just an outward action, the real question is are we serving Him in love? It's not a matter of what of adapting to whatever is required normal behavior to belong to the church, the important aspect is -- what does my King want me to do and to be? Are we subjects of the King?

The scary thing is, that by default we find ourselves serving the enemy, but Jesus came to break the chains by which satan has bound us, and to set us free, so we can have a choice.
Since the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan has claimed ownership of all the kingdoms of this world, and he still claims ownership.

But we need to remember satan is a defeated foe. Claim that fact as truth. Don't let him have dominion over you. We do not need to let him dictate our lives. Christ came into this world to give us a marvelous choice, complete with forgiveness, cleansing, power and most important a new heart and spirit of love and righteousness. (Eze 36:26, 1 John 1:9)

He made it possible for us to have righteousness, life, love, peace, hope.

We need to make Him King of our lives. A King Who wants to walk and talk with us daily, and wants us to walk and talk with Him in all of life's situations; to depend upon Him, follow Him where ever He leads.
All His law is about His love for us. If we are willing, He will write that law on our hearts and minds, and we will really keep it from the heart, because we love our King! When we are loving, it is just His love shining through.

Satan is the ultimate king of Babylon. And yes, he has his human agents in his Babylonian kingdom, he will put up an enormous fight to maintain his kingdom. But he is a defeated foe.
Rev. 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him [are] called, and chosen, and faithful.

Christ is King of kings, the true King throughout eternity. The call to come out of Babylon is a call to change who our king and master is. It's a call to make Jesus our supreme and only King, to follow Him where ever He leads.

It is very important to grasp the message of righteousness by faith in the third angel's message, as well as in the fourth (in Rev. 18) which is actually a swelling into a loud cry of the previous three. Good quotes you shared, Wendell.

It's not just what denomination one is a member in (though finding the right church is important as is escaping error and settling into truth). Most important however, is: " who is our Master" Who do we belong to? Who has our heart felt devotion and worship? It is only those who have given themselves fully to Christ, who will receive the Holy Spirit and be able to shine forth, not in their glory, but in God's glory.

Without that, all the adherence to law and knowing doctrine is just surface attachments that fall short of the glory God is offering to all who fully surrender, follow and worship Him.

Here is a great explanation and well put together understanding of this topic:
Premise

Traditionally most people believe that there is a ghost-like ?spirit? inside of our bodies, and when we die, this spirit floats away somewhere, preferably heaven.

I will show that the Bible actually does not support this theory. In fact, according to the Bible there is no spirit inside of us at all. We exist only as mortal bodies, made from dust having been given the breath of life. And it is this ?breath of life? that is confused with, or interpreted as, a ?spirit?.


What Happens When We Die

Scripture says it plainly.

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.?

Job 7:21
Why then do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me, but I will not be."

Job 14:10:12
But man dies and lies prostrate man expires, and where is he? "As water evaporates from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dried up, so man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, he will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.

Psalm 115:17
The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

Psalm 146:4
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing

Over and over again the Bible says that the dead know nothing. These are only a few examples. The dead don?t think. They don?t praise the Lord. They have no consciousness. They return to the earth, as dust. Their plans perish and they cease to exist. Ecclesiastes 3 even tells us that man has no advantage over the beasts. All go to one place, which is dust.


Death Compared to Sleep

Psalms 13:3
Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

1 Kings 2:10
Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

When Lazarus died, Jesus said he was sleeping.

John 11:11-14
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ?Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.? 12 His disciples replied, ?Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.? 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. 14 So then he told them plainly, ?Lazarus is dead".

Why would Jesus compare Lazarus? death to ?sleep? if Lazarus? spirit has ascended into heaven? And why was there no mention of his spirit leaving his body?

Matthew 9:24
He said, "Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him.

Daniel 12:2
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

Daniel was told he would ?rest? until the resurrection.

Daniel 12:13
As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.?

If Daniel?s spirit was to go to heaven after death, then why was he told that he would rest? Why did the angel not say instead, I?ll see you in heaven soon, or something to that effect? It?s because Daniel wasn?t going to heaven. He was going to the dust of the earth. Daniel is now dead. He is not in heaven. He?s dead in the dust of the earth and on the day of the resurrection, he will rise, along with the rest of us.


What Happens When we are Resurrected

The resurrection, as Paul describes it, actually also proves that we have no spirit in us that goes to heaven when we die.
Imagine if we did have a spirit. We would fly up to heaven and we would do whatever we do in heaven. Praise the Lord, play Frisbee, eat BBQ chicken. No matter how you envision an existence in heaven, it would require at the very least that we have a consciousness, a thought process and a free will to continue to make decisions. All of this would contradict the old testament verses above.

It would also contradict the new testament book of 1 Corinthians, because according to Paul this life in a spiritual body, which we imagine in heaven, does not come to us until the very last day, when we are resurrected.

1 Corinthians 15:42
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:46
The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.

Paul clearly states that we are created with a natural body, not a spiritual body. We will be transformed into a spiritual body upon the resurrection. ?The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual?. In other words, when God created us, we were not given spiritual bodies, only natural bodies, but we would receive spiritual bodies later, upon the resurrection.

Our bodies are sewn natural, raised spiritual. This is the point of the resurrection, to make us spiritual so that we can be immortal. So if you believe that we already have immortal spirits that leave our bodies when we die, you have a conundrum.


The Spiritual Conundrum

Imagine the traditional teaching, where we have a spirit and we go to heaven as a spirit when we die. Then please tell me, what is the point of the resurrection?

If we are already in heaven, as immortal spirits, then why would we need to be transformed into spirits on the last day? If it is so, then when our bodies on earth are transformed into spirits, do we end up with two spirits? The one in heaven and the one on earth? Would both spirits have their own separate consciousness? Do our spirits in heaven then join our old bodies which have been transformed? Would we then be a spirit within a spirit? Two spirits? What nonsense!

If we?re being transformed into spirits, then we can not already be spirits, otherwise what would be the point? The point of the resurrection is to make us immortal. To make us spirits. This would be entirely nonsensical if we are already living as spirits in heaven, and this is how Paul?s description of the resurrection proves that we do not have a spirit inside of us that continues to live after death.


Soul (Nephesh)

To add to the confusion, in addition to the obvious body and the presumed spirit, we also supposedly possess a ?soul?. What is a soul? You are a soul.

Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Notice in the verse above that man became a living soul. He was not given a soul. He became a soul. In other words, we do not have souls, we are souls.

The word soul in this verse was originally written in Hebrew as לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ which is transliterated as nephesh. Strong?s concordance defines nephesh as ?a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion?. With this definition in mind, the last part of Genesis 2:7 can be paraphrased as, for example ?man became alive? or ?man became an individual?. It is in fact the very moment when man gained his self awareness and free will.

The same word occurs 754 times in the old testament, so we can?t look at all examples but let?s look at one more.

Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life (Nephesh), and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Here the King James Bible translates it as ?creature that hath life?. Remember, this is the same word that was translated as ?soul? in Genesis 2:7. The more examples you look at the more obvious it becomes that when the word ?soul? is used in scripture it refers simply to ?a living creature?.

So keep in mind the true meaning of the word Nephesh, which can be translated as soul, living creature, person or individual, when you read verses such as?

Ezekiel 18:20
The soul who sins shall die.

The living creature who sins?

The person who sins?

The individual who sins?


The Spirit (Ruach)

On the flip side, there are a number of verses that can be used to support the notion that we all have a spirit inside of us that continues to live after the body dies. And at first glance, some of these verses are very convincing.

For example

Ecclesiastes 12:7
the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

2 Corinthians 5:8
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

James 2:26
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Obviously, the key to understanding such verses is understanding the meaning of ?spirit?. As it turns out, in these examples, the word spirit refers to the breath of God, which is life.

Ecclesiastes 12:7
the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

This verse seems to imply that our spirit goes up to heaven when we die, but actually ?spirit? here refers to the life that God breathed into man in Genesis 2:7. It?s the life that returns to God, because the life came from God.

Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The word used through the old testament for spirit is the Hebrew word Ruach ר֫וּחַ, which can also be translated as ?breath or wind?. In fact, this is how it is translated in various other verses including Genesis 7:15 and Psalm 104:29.

Genesis 7:15
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life (ruach) in them came to Noah and entered the ark.

Psalm 104:29
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

When you hide your face, they are terrified; when you take away their breath (ruach), they die and return to the dust.

When God gave man life, it was his breath/wind/spirit which God gave. The spirit of God is life. And it?s this spirit, this life, that returns to God in Ecclesiastes 12:7

Ecclesiastes 12:7
the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit (ruach ? life / breath) returns to God who gave it.

Other verses clearly explain that it is the spirit of God, or the breath of God, that has given us life.

John 6:63 says The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life.

Job 33:4 says The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.....

Pollution Paradox: How Cleaning Up Smog Drives Ocean Warming

"New research indicates that the decline in smog particles from China’s air cleanups caused the recent extreme heat waves in the Pacific. Scientists are grappling with the fact that reducing such pollution, while essential for public health, is also heating the atmosphere."

"The decline in smog particles, which shield the planet from the sun’s rays, has accelerated warming and set off a chain of atmospheric events across the Pacific that have, in effect, cooked the ocean."

"... modeled the likely impacts on circulation systems of the recent cleaning of the air over eastern China, they found that clearing the country’s smogs caused exceptional atmospheric heating downwind over the Pacific. "

"If the world works successfully toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades, while also continuing to curb aerosols, then we can still expect continued warming for which aerosol reductions are a growing cause. "

"Yang recently coauthored a paper that forecasts a mid-century world in which the warming impact of the clearer air will “far outweigh those of greenhouse gases.” "

By reducing pollution, we cause global warming! Even if the crazy global warmists people get their way, it's still going to warm! But it's not about global warming. It's about totalitarian control of people's lives, to prevent people from traveling, to causing rolling blackouts. Or power only on for a few hours a day.