The Fifth Trumpet and the First Woe (Revelation 9:1-12) 

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

This fifth trumpet judgment is the first woe pronounced by the flying angel in Revelation 8:13. As we view this judgment in the next twelve verses, you will see why the angel was warning us. It is indeed something no man or woman would want to go through. We will approach this fifth trumpet in six parts, working our way through the verses.

Verses 1-2. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. 2 He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.

There are two questions that need answering here. First of all, what is this “star?” Well, there is no doubt that…

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God’s Ten Purposes for Prayer

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

 

This is an excerpt from my book Purpose of Prayer.  You can get it as an e-book at mywebsite.

1.  Prayer is God’s idea as the way to acquire salvation.  Whether it is verbal prayer or a silent prayer of the heart, God has designed that salvation will come to us when we cry out to Him in prayer.  For He has said in His Word, “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).  Hence, God has made prayer a tool that gives expression to our faith and works it out.  Therefore, our prayer of faith acquires salvation—as we ask Jesus into our heart and He comes in and redeems us from our sins.         

2.  Prayer is God’s idea as the means for His will to be carried out in accordance with His great plan.  God has planned from eternity…

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The Fourth Trumpet (Revelation 8:12-13)

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

When the fourth angel sounded his trumpet a third of the sun and the moon and the stars were struck so that a third of their brightness and heat would be reduced.

Again, we don’t know exactly what the cause of this phenomenon is. John MacArthur suggests that it is a supernatural act of God, that He “will supernaturally reduce the intensity of the celestial bodies by one-third.”4 Hal Lindsey believes that the “light reduction will result from the tremendous pollution in the air left from nuclear explosions.”5

In either case, the result will be a radical drop in temperature, producing great changes in weather cycles as well as botanical and biological cycles. More importantly, these changes will make it much harder for all humans to live on planet earth.

But there is a second part to this trumpet judgment. As the earth is still suffering from a…

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Prayer Is God’s Idea

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

There is ample proof, through the life of Jesus, that prayer is God’s idea.  For Jesus, who is really God come to us in the flesh, commanded us to pray, taught us to pray, and demonstrated prayer to us.

He commanded us to pray.  Jesus would not have commanded us to pray unless prayer was His idea and His Father’s idea.  All that He commands the believer is part of His plan.  So when He commands us to “watch and pray,” when he says “ask, seek, and knock,” and when He says “men ought to pray and not to faint,” that indicates to me that prayer is His idea and that He is trying to relay that idea to us.  He wants us to know that it will work if we will do it as He says.

He taught us to pray.  Jesus would not have taken such great pains…

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The Third Trumpet (Revelation 8:10-11)

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

When the third angel sounded his trumpet a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on all the fresh waters. And they called the star Wormwood because a third of the fresh water became bitter and poisonous like wormwood (a bitter and poisonous root); and many died from the waters.

Though Hal Lindsey, again, thinks that the star is another thermonuclear weapon, most commentators think it is a celestial body like a meteor or a comet. Nonetheless, the most important thing here, and in each of the first four trumpets, is the result of what will happen—a third of the fresh drinking water will be poisoned so that many will die.

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5 Benefits of Forgiving Others

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Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

There are so many benefits you can reap when you forgive others.  I will put them into five categories:

1. Forgiving others frees us from the consequences of not forgiving. When we forgive we avoid all the consequences we have previously discussed and more.

2. Forgiving others makes healing possible. When we learn to forgive, God forgives us and cleanses us.  And through that cleansing process He thoroughly heals us of all the pain that our anger, bitterness and resentment have caused us.  Moreover He heals us from disgust and rejection we feel from ourselves (from bad habits) and from others.  His cleansing and healing process is so complete that we will feel like a new person (2 Cor. 5:17).  

3. Forgiving others leads to the growth of relationships.What not forgiving has done to destroy relationships, forgiveness will do to develop and nurture relationships.  And that is…

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The Second Trumpet — Revelation 8:8-9

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When John saw the second angel sound his trumpet something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea (into the oceans and all the salt water bodies); and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the sea creatures died; and a third of the ships that were on the sea were destroyed.

What was the mountain? The bible says “something like” a mountain was thrown into the sea; 4and it was burning with fire. So we don’t know exactly what John saw, but it looked kind of like a burning mountain. And that means that it was very big. Most commentators say that it will probably be a meteor or an asteroid. But Hal Lindsey, again, thinks it will likely be an H-bomb. He states that a hydrogen bomb that explodes in the ocean “would look like a huge, flaming mountain smashing…

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